Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 1: Unfortunate Upbringing

Hajime was six when Rufus – his Russell Terrier – was ruthlessly run over by a car due to Hajime unceremonially tripping on the little cracks on the sidewalk, which made him fall face-first into the cold, hard asphalt which caused him to let go of the leash placed on Rufus’ neck. The dog automatically taking that as a sign of encouragement didn’t waste a second rushing towards the street where his fate was sealed.

Hajime still remembered the vague memory of sobbing at the unmoving corpse that used to be his friend. His face, knees, and hands full of scraps, his tears mixing with the blood running down his nostrils did not make for a flattering sight. Though at the time Hajime couldn’t have cared less.

Rufus had been his birthday present. Hajime wasn’t too fond of his birthdate – January 1st – it was lame to be celebrating his birthday when everyone else had something else to celebrate. But being presented with Rufus was one of his most joyful memories, the dog was so tiny that Hajime could easily pick him up with his two hands. He couldn’t wipe off the smile that etched itself in his face for the days afterward, he felt as if helium was running through his bloodstream, making himself lighter and content, utterly happy.

His parents normally overworked themselves raw to earn the right amount of money to support themselves. They weren’t neglectful by any means, they just didn’t have much time for him when they came back home bone-tired. He never held it against them, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t feel lonely in their home.

Rufus was the best company he could’ve asked for, he could play all day with his furry companion throughout the house. Rufus lived until his seven months of life, by that point the dog had had a growth spurt, and Hajime found himself having a hard time trying to lift the dog.

Losing his dog had hurt, way more than the few scrapes and bruises from the fall ever could’ve. Those healed away after a few days, the first week was the roughest, mainly because Hajime couldn’t help but feel that it was his fault. His parents made their best attempt at consoling him, but ultimately it was futile, he was inconsolable, and would stay that way for weeks to come. The wound in his heart was far deeper and gruesome than the scrapes.

It was just so unlucky. If he just had had a tighter grip. If he just hadn’t tripped. If there just wasn’t a crack on the sidewalk. If...

It was just so... Unlucky.

Hajime didn’t consider himself a fatalist. To believe that fate existed and that everything was already set in stone, that reality unfolded at destiny’s whim, was merely ludicrous. To believe in fate, was to believe life had no meaning whatsoever. Or that’s what Hajime thought.

Though the concept of destiny seemed far too unrealistic to him, the concept of luck was a different matter.

It was around that time that Hajime became aware that luck was not always good, and that even good luck could lead to something bad. And for some unknown reason, Hajime constantly found himself in the middle of unfortunate events. Similar as if he was the eye of the storm itself. From minor things such as forgetting his keys, getting caught in sudden weather changes, clumsily faltering on the steps, getting sprayed with murky water from a passing car.

To major things like the time his bus collided with a car at high speed which killed the car’s driver instantly and left him with a broken arm from the impact, or the time he was mugged by a petty burglar that stole the phone that had required months of savings, or the time he had to rush to the hospital due to an inflamed appendix just when an unexpected downpour started, the news had said earlier that day that it would’ve been sunny with barely any chance of precipitation.

But for all the bad luck that transpired in Hajime’s life, weirdly enough, it was always – some times - followed by something good. When he was getting his arm plastered he ended up meeting Lisa, a girl whose friendship was good while it lasted, she ended up moving away a few years later. As for the burglar, a couple of seconds after escaping with his phone he was dramatically run over by a police cruiser, his phone was broken in the process, though Hajime couldn’t help but feel the wicked wave of satisfaction when the mugger was arrested. Ultimately, Hajime had to go through an appendicectomy, but he was none the wiser at the time, that during the surgery the doctors discovered a tiny tumor located close to his colon, according to the doctors it was highly unlikely for such a tumor to be found in that area, but fortunately enough they managed to extract the tumor without any complications. With the biopsy was confirmed that it was actually a malignant tumor, but due to the fast diagnosis, Hajime didn’t spend too much time with treatment. Though it never escaped his mind that the cancer, as short-lived as it was, could come back someday.

Hajime never saw anything good come out of Rufus’ death.

As he grew older it became clear to him that his bad luck was somewhat tangible, not something he could control, no, but certainly something he could count on. Not in a good way though. Playing any type of game showed to be quite boring, his luck affected the cards he got, the numbers of the dice, the places where his opponent would play a piece, it wasn’t impossible to win per se, but it became downright excruciating. Bingo, Mahjong? Forget it. And as a result, Hajime found himself indulging in books and novels since apparently reading wasn’t affected by his bad luck.

Nonetheless, Hajime quite enjoyed keeping to himself and going through his books, it was comfortable and peaceful in the way it was predictable. It was in his control.

His parents never bought the bad luck thing, always saying that he was imagining things or that his bad luck existed because he believed in it.

That he was superstitious.

Hajime could understand if said luck wasn’t so prominent in his life, as it was, his parents’ disbelief mostly annoyed him. Thankfully they never happened to be on the receiving end of his bad luck – that they knew of – Hajime still had an inkling that it was his fault that both his parents lost their jobs at the same time a few years back. Fortunately, his stroke of good luck showed itself in the form of them finding new jobs, better jobs. Though jobs that kept them even more away from home.

Unlucky. That was the word that could summarize Hajime Hinata.

Even so, it came as a surprise when he received the letter.

Hope’s Peak Academy was a government-sanctioned high school located in the center of the city. In a school whose purpose was to the development and research of talents of exceptional youngsters, only the most talented students in various areas of knowledge were selected to become students there. The students instead of taking an entrance exam were scouted by the school itself, the school received a lot of prestige as well as funds, so much so that every student that successfully graduated from Hope’s Peak was guaranteed to have high positions in whichever professional area. The school’s reputation precedes it. Everyone wished or dreamed to be scouted in order to partake in the world of opportunities and prestige that the school would surely provide.

Hajime never gave it much thought. To hope that he of all people would be scouted was something to laugh at. Entertaining those kinds of thoughts would only lead him into a road full of disappointment and regret. Hajime wasn’t talented, at all. Even if he tried to learn or to be good at something, his bad luck was always there accompanying him every step of the way, making sure to crush those childish dreams and aspirations.

Hajime kinda wished that more things weren’t influenced by his luck. By the way things were going, he would become the self-entitled Ultimate Reader. He was seriously considering the idea of applying for a part-time job at the local book store a few blocks. That way he could indulge himself in as many books as he pleased. Though he was unsure if it was a good idea, with his luck, it was likely the entire book store would be caught on fire on his first day, and he would be banned from ever frequenting it again.

And still, he received the letter.

Mr. Hajime Hinata

Greetings, Student!

It’s with great honor and hope for the future that we compose this letter.

   We recently held a reverse lottery to select one ordinary student to attend our school.

   As a result, you have been selected, and we invite you to join us as the Ultimate Unlucky Student.

   Included is an orientation guide of Hope’s Peak Academy.

   To accept this invitation to become part of the Hope’s Peak Academy 77th class, please fill out the attached enrollment forms in their entirety, sign the enrollment contract, and return all documents within the next month. Enclosed is an addressed, pre-postmarked envelope for the administrative branch of our campus.

   Upon delivery of the aforementioned documents, your enrollment will be complete, and travel arrangements will be made for you - you and your family need not worry about a single detail.

Please, don’t hesitate to call: (XX) 99XX-XX02, for any doubts you may have.

Congratulations.

We excitedly await your reply.

Sincerely,

Hope’s Peak Academy Office of Admissions and Enrollment

Hajime at first had thought it to be a prank, a bad joke of some sort. That line of logic became more and more flawed as he went through the forms and enrollment contract. He felt numb, the pads on his fingers must’ve frozen over, it felt like someone alien was controlling his body as he read the letter over again.

When he read it for the fifth time the prospect that the letter was official was sinking deeper by second. A mix of confusion, hope, and suspicion reigned in his mind as he tried to assimilate what it all meant.

How could someone like him do you Hope’s Peak to start with? "If the letter is indeed official" a small voice in his mind said.

Ordinary Student...?

Ultimate Unlucky Student.

As Hajime recorded the title addressed to him, he couldn’t contain the regal laugher that came with it. It was indeed ironic. Hilarious, even. Selected via a reverse lottery. What did that even mean? Did they randomly draw every single student’s name from the country except for his? Yes, hilarious indeed.

Hajime was still skeptical about it, but when he showed the letter to his parents, they didn’t question it at all, rather, they jumped at the conclusion that the letter was legitimate right away, Hajime couldn’t remember the last time he had seen them so happy and excited for him. For some reason, the vision of them proud of him for something that was so out of his control, something he hadn’t accomplished by any merit, left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He felt bad to feel that way, he knew that his parents did not mean it in a bad way, but he couldn’t help but feel that way.

Hajime ended up accepting the invitation. Reluctant as it was.

He had many calls with Hope’s Peak’s Office of Admissions and Enrollment. They assured him that the invitation was official, and when he questioned about the Unlucky Student status, they responded saying that they truly believe in something as abstract as luck and that they’d be pleased to have him join their school.

When asked about the reverse lottery, the man on the phone gave a hard laugh before telling him what transpired during his selection. Apparently, they had had two lotteries, on the first one, a girl was selected as the Ultimate Unlucky Student, but for some unknown reason, the letter that the girl was supposed to receive ended up getting damaged after a convoluted chain of events that included the theft of the mail man’s byke that gave way to a car crash where one of the cars exploded due to gas leaking. The letter was destroyed during the explosion according to the man, he said that their department was so intrigued by the turn of events that they decided to have another lottery that selected Hajime as the new Unlucky Student.

Hajime was left with even more doubts than when he started the phone call. He wasn’t entirely sure if he believed in the story the man had told him, but being a prime witness of his luck’s antics throughout his entire life he found himself inclined to believe.

And that’s how he finds himself in front of Hope’s Peak now. Soaking wet due to the unforeseen pouring rain that chose the most convenient time to get Hajime – who hadn’t brought an umbrella - drenched. He wasn’t amused, at all.

The towering structure of Hope’s Peak seemed to look down upon him, the gates that had no right to be that tal loomed over him as a forewarning for him not to dare go past them. As he made his way through the eerie gates he felt as if at any second someone would pop up and tell him that it was all a mistake and he wasn’t desired in such a place that clearly wasn’t made for him.

Nothing of the sort happened. Hajime wasn’t sure if he felt relieved or not.

“Are you okay?” A smooth voice asked in front of his face. “...You seem pretty out of it.”

Hajime couldn’t place a face to the voice, but the lack of answer didn’t seem to bother whoever was talking.

“To be honest, I’m also... No, everyone else feels the same, too.” The voice gave a little pause before continuing. “Since we suddenly... got put in this weird situation.”

Another pause.

“...Hey, are you listening?” Hajime hadn’t realized, but at some point, his eyes had unconsciously opened at their own accord. He was also lying on the ground for some reason. As his vision became clearer he noticed the owner of the voice looking quizzically at him. It was a boy with light hair and pale complexion, his eyes a weird hazel tone with subtle tints of grey.

“W-Wha-...?” Hajime mouthed. His tongue felt heavy and sluggish inside his mouth, his eyelids now open were burning, similar to when he spend the night away trying and failing to fall asleep. “Where...?”

Hajime slowly got himself up still feeling dizzy and the prickly sensation of the blood running around his body once again, his head still felt a bit foggy but he made an effort of blinking the black spots from his vision.

“Hey, are you sure you’re okay?” The boy asked looking concerned for his state, Hajime suspected that he wasn’t looking at his best at the moment.

The first thing that Hajime’s brain registered was how bright everything was, he was blinded for a few seconds at the too-bright rays of the sun. He could feel the white sand underneath his shoes, right at that moment a soft breeze of tropical air oozed through them. It quickly became clear of their location. A tropical beach, of all places. Hajime remembered something about an island, and... a rabbit.

“The rabbit...?” Hajime muttered under his breath. “...tropical island...?”

“Oh, Usami you mean?” The boy asked calmly. “Yeah, she said we’re on a tropical island. I understand why you would be so nervous.”

“W-Who are you...?” Hajime forced from his lips. The boy was still eyeing him worriedly but seemed to decide to go along with his questions.

“Oh, I supposed we haven’t introduced ourselves yet, right?” The boy said conversationally. “...I’m Nagito Komaeda. Nice to meet you.”

The boy – Nagito – gave Hajime an enthusiastic salute as he beamed at him. Personally, Hajime didn’t know how someone could be so calm in a situation like this.

“Ah, along with my introduction. I guess I’ll also tell you about my talent so you know why Hope’s Peak Academy chose me.” Nagito said serenely. He gave a soft sign as if deflating disappointed. “Well, even if I tell you, in my case, it’s a pretty disappointing talent...”

“A disappointing talent...? What do you mean?”

“I’m lucky.” Nagito explained.

“W-What...?” Hajime wasn’t expecting ‘lucky’ to be the boy’s response, whatever that meant anyway.

“It’s not a joke or anything...” Nagito quickly assured him taking his tone as offended. “That’s my actual talent. I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student, or at least that’s what I’m called anyway.”

“Ultimate... Lucky Student?” Hajime couldn’t stop himself from prying.

“Through a country-wide lottery, apparently only one ordinary student is selected to attend Hope’s Peak Academy as the Ultimate Lucky Student.” Nagito explained patiently to Hajime. “And that lucky winner just so happens to be me.”

Hajime fell silent.

Ultimate Lucky Student? Was Nagito really ‘lucky’? He spoke about it to Hajime without a care in the world. Maybe if Nagito was talking to someone else the other counterpart would’ve reacted differently at something such as luck. But for Hajime, the concept of luck was too real and frightening to brush off. If Nagito really was who he claimed to be, what did that meant? That he was the opposite of Hajime? It was just weird.

Hajime’s silence must’ve been too long, for Nagito’s eyes creased a small bit.

“You seem troubled.” Nagito commented.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I’m not troubled, it’s just...” Hajime didn’t know exactly what he was feeling either.

“No, it’s fine. I have mixed feelings about this, too.” Nagito quickly reassured him. “I declined at first, I didn’t think I deserved it, but they said they really wanted me to attend. Apparently, this so-called ‘luck’ of mine is a talent that even the school doesn’t fully understand...”

Hajime couldn’t take his eyes off Nagito while he babbled about how amazing Hope’s Peak was. Scrutinizing the boy in an attempt to see through any lies he might’ve been telling. But Nagito didn’t strike him as a bad guy. His appearance was scruffy, what with the wild almost-white locks all around his head and the long, dark forest-green coat hanging loosely on his shoulders, his tall, gangly frame made so that he was a bit hunched. But his posture indicated he was pretty comfortable, even though they found themselves on a tropical island apparently.

“And what about you?” Nagito asked gently.

“Oh, I’m...” Hajime felt a bit embarrassed at being called out on the absence of his introduction but quickly recomposed himself. “I’m Hajime Hinata. And well... Weirdly enough, I’m the Ultimate Unlucky Student, I guess.” Hajime involuntarily scratched his neck at the awkwardness of revealing his ‘talent’.

From the way Nagito’s eyebrows disappeared into his wild curls, Hajime suspected that ‘unlucky’ was the last thing he was expecting to hear.

At that very moment, a small ripple of water unforeseen by the boys splashed all over Hajime’s shoes, the salty water quickly leaving his socks soaking wet and dooming the rest of his afternoon.

“Crap!” Hajime exclaimed frustrated. “S-See... Case in point.”

Nagito still hadn’t taken his eyes off Hajime but opened a big smile at his display. “Wow Hajime, how lucky I am to be meeting the Ultimate Unlucky Student.”

Hajime huffed but didn’t manage to hide the small smile on his lips. Taking their circumstances, it was ironic to think that they would meet. “Likewise.”

Nagito seemed intrigued by his talent, but decided not to pry as they made their way around the beach. It was far bigger than he would’ve expected it to be. It was accommodating a hotel, cottages, a restaurant, an airport, a supermarket, and a ranch, of all things. It was large, too large. Even though they were in the open it felt oppressing somehow.

Hajime had a vague memory of meeting up with the other students minutes prior to the rabbit – Usami – entering the classroom and explaining their situation. Hajime wasn’t sure how to feel about the rabbit, it was undeniably suspicious that something of the sort would happen. It seemed too good to be true, Hajime was certain that Usami was scheming something, what that was, he didn’t know.

The e-handbooks were quite informative and advanced in Hajime’s opinion. Containing information about the island and the other students, what he was skeptical about was the ‘rules’ of the said “School Trip”, they seemed... normal. But with Hajime’s luck, something bad was certainly bound to go awry, most likely on his account.

The other students were... okay. All with their distinct personalities, mannerisms, and talents. They appeared to be nice enough, most of them at least, Hajime wasn’t sure how to feel about the foul-mouthed yakuza guy. When he introduced himself as the Ultimate Unlucky Student he was pretty sure that most of them thought he was joking or something, Hajime didn’t bother correcting them, it was best to leave them to assume whatever they wanted.

“It’s good to have you here, Hajime.” Nagito said as they walked back to the restaurant. “I confess, I was feeling a bit out of place, what with my talent and all. But I’m glad someone such as yourself appeared.”

Hajime found himself sharing the sentiment.

Nagito was easygoing and to have someone that was there in similar circumstances was a relief in itself. Though he was still surprised to have met the Ultimate Lucky Student; he didn’t give much thought about why Hope’s Peak would want someone like him to attend, but if they wanted someone unlucky to deepen their research, it would make some amount of sense to have the opposite too.

Hajime was curious if Nagito was really lucky. If so, was it the complete opposite of his bad luck? Did it work differently? Was it even real? Hajime’s head was filled with questions, but instead, he decided to retribute the politeness and kept quiet about his rambling thoughts.

As they approached the beach, one of the monitors spread all around the island starting displaying a recording of Usami smiling jovially while sitting on an armchair. The rabbit confessed her happiness due to everyone meeting each other and requesting everyone to return to the beach. Nagito didn’t seem fazed at all, but Hajime felt the exact opposite. It was unsettling, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that his luck would make an appearance and screw with everything. He started questioning if he was just being paranoid. The other students didn’t appear to be as pessimistic as him, but he just couldn’t help it. It was his nature.

As they gathered in preparation for whatever Usami had in mind for them, they started discussing what they’d found around the island. According to the musician – (Ibuki), Hajime made an effort to remember the girl’s name – the island was divided into other small islands, which made it an archipelago. Hajime mostly kept to himself, it wasn’t as if he had something to contribute to the discussion anyway.

When Usami finally showed herself it was to deliver the Usami Strap, a little strap with a plushie of Usami, if you squeezed her tummy it talked.

“I’m Usami... Magical Miracle Girl ★ Usami. I’m an itty bitty girl who’s sweet like milk”

Everyone was pretty underwhelmed by the rabbit’s special present. Usami gave one to each student, but the majority just threw it away at the ocean once Usami turned her back. Hajime didn’t see a reason to throw away the present, he was curious if there was something else to it, so he just strapped it to his pocket for the time being.

Usami seemed pretty upset about their disinterest in the strap, but ultimately conceded to reveal the other special present. A party. On the beach. His classmates were excited by the prospect of swimming, most of them anyway.

Hajime was far from eager to get close to the sea, much less to go swimming. Thankfully, his feelings were shared by some of his classmates, the Byakuya guy simply stating his distaste for ocean water, while the gamer-girl appeared to be falling asleep on the spot. Hajime didn’t bother to question the reason behind why the yakuza wasn’t joining the others.

Hajime felt like a complete stranger, even to himself. He thought he would like to join the others and act without a care in the world, but he was scared of what his luck would entail. He probably would’ve just ruined everyone’s fun, so it was best for him to stay away.

“Won’t you join us, Hajime?” Nagito asked, already changed into his swimsuit.

“I don’t know... It’s best if I don’t.”

“Well, I won’t force you to do something you don’t want to, but I’d be glad if you had fun with us.” Nagito reassured. Hajime wanted to, he was aware of that, the only thing holding him back was his luck. After pondering about it for a couple of seconds he agreed to stay close to the chore, where the most the waves could do was to soak him.

He should’ve expected.

It was always like that, without fail. After Hajime took off his shoes and politely asked for the gamer girl – Chiaki – to watch his long-sleeve shirt, the blinding blue sky suddenly turned into the darkest shade of grey. In mere seconds. Without any explanation whatsoever.

The cheerful mood quickly bled out in a matter of seconds. No one quite comprehended what was happening. Hajime’s own mood became bitter. Of course, something like that would happen, why wouldn’t it? He knew it would happen and still did it. It was just so unfair it made his teeth ache.

“The hell’s happening?!” The gymnast girl asked looking wary.

More yells were shouted quizzically at the sudden change of the environment. Usami appeared to be just as shocked, with her tiny black eyes creasing worriedly. It made Hajime feel even worse with the knowledge that wasn’t Usami messing with them. The only explanation was his luck had meddled with the weather in order to ruin their plans.

Behind him, the monitor close to the coconut palm turned on and started displaying a dark silhouette. Hajime couldn’t make out any resemblance to a human form from the silhouette. Whoever, or whatever it was, commanded them to go straight to the Jabberwock Park. The laidback and gleeful voice was so out of place that it started unsettling Hajime to his core, maybe it was just a bad omen, but the cheerful voice creeped him out.

Still not fully aware of what was going on, the students had no other choice but to follow the command. Usami was unusually quiet, whatever was on Jabberwock Park seemed to disturb her greatly, and even though Hajime still suspected of the rabbit’s intentions, he wasn’t eager to meet whatever awaited them.

The bear. Robot? Plushie? The self-proclaimed Monokuma came as a surprise for Hajime. Usurping Usami’s role of teacher – headmaster for Monokuma’s case – the bear announced the start of the “killing school trip”, whatever that meant. Hajime stopped paying attention, he only wanted to get out of there, to wake up from that terrible nightmare on his sheet rumpled bed, not very comfortable, but safe.

The bear continued tormenting Usami as he explained the “rules” of their predicament. Seeing Usami’s – now Monomi’s – tearful face made Hajime feel bad for the rabbit. Monokuma whatever it was, was without an ounce of doubt was their enemy. Stimulating them to start killing one another and mocking them for being afraid, taking amusement out of their misery, out of their despair.

Hajime couldn’t comprehend how such a thing was possible, to start with. Usam-Monomi’s existence in itself was, at the very least farfetched, edging towards unrealistic. Hajime couldn’t come up with a logical explanation for some of the things the rabbit apparently was capable of. And now, faced with Monokuma and his Mono-Beasts, the situation they found themselves in seemed to come out of a fantasy book.

That only proved to Hajime that he could not underestimate his luck.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 2: At Destiny’s Whim

“Hajime...?” Nagito asked cautiously. “Are you alright? I mean, it’s a dumb question, but...?”

“I’m-...” Hajime had only now noticed that most of the students had already walked away from Jabberwock Park, he had no idea where Monokuma or Monomi went. For a few seconds, he thought he had imagined it all. But Nagito’s paler than usual face and the stiffness of his shoulder said otherwise. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look very fine...” Nagito commented doubtfully. “I know, it’s a lot. I’m also not sure what to think of it all. But, do you mind accompanying me to my cottage?”

Hajime had the inkling that Nagito’s intention was to him accompany Hajime to his cottage, but he didn’t bother to point it out, in actuality, he was glad that someone took him out of his own head.

The walk was mainly quiet. Neither of them attempted to break the silence, it was better that way, Hajime wasn’t sure if he could muster anything at the moment. It felt nice to have someone in his company without having to interact very much.

When they got to their cottages he took notice of the lights coming out of the majority of the cottages, understandable, it seemed that everyone wanted some space from each other, Hajime shared the sentiment.

“Well, here we are.” Nagito commented idly as they came at Hajime’s cottage door, which proved his theory from earlier. “You probably want some space now, right? That’s okay. I also need to digest everything. So good night, Hajime. See you tomorrow.”

“Good night.” Hajime forced himself to respond. He was glad Nagito didn’t associate what had happened with Monokuma with his “talent”. He was surprised that no one had said anything, really. He suspected that was due to no one taking him seriously. Nagito appeared to be the only other student that believe in his luck.

When he entered the dark cottage and locked the door behind himself, the bone-deep exhaustion settled on his body. Now that he was alone he could just crumble on the bed without any prying eyes. He hadn’t noticed how tired he was. He felt petrified as if he couldn’t move a single finger even if he wanted, and he definitely did not want it at the moment.

He couldn’t remember falling asleep, his deep slumber prevented him from any bad dreams he might’ve had, not that he usually dreamed anything anyway. Though to be wakened by Monokuma’s morning announcement made his blood run cold as the events of the day prior clashed into his brain. Some deep chamber in his mind expected him to wake up and realize everything was just a bad dream and the products of his imagination, the announcement made sure to crush that hope in an instant.

Funnily enough, he had a good night’s sleep. It was rare for him to sleep well, his insomnia made sure to keep him awake a substantial part of the night. Ironic it was to have a good rest after what transpired the day before, maybe it was the good underneath the bad.

According to the announcement it was morning already, it was later than what he used to wake. Not wasting much time he showered quickly and put on a new pair of clothes. Weirdly, there were stacks of the same clothes in his wardrobe, Hajime didn’t bother to question why, that was far from his biggest problem.

Getting out of his cottage and locking it behind him, he made his way to the restaurant, he was already feeling hungry, he didn’t record eating anything for... a long time. He was surprised at how he hadn’t noticed up until now.

The chatter coming from the second floor of the hotel indicated that he wasn’t the first. As a matter of fact, when he entered the restaurant he noticed he was one of the last to arrive, the other students were caught in conversation, some preferring to stand on the sidelines by themselves.

“You’re late, Hajime... and where is Kazuichi? I thought you were together.” Byakuya reprimanded him. Hajime wasn’t sure what to make from the affluent progeny, at first glance he appeared to be strict, but not malicious.

“Sorry. I woke up with the announcement. I don’t know about Kazuihi though, haven’t seen him.” Hajime explained.

The others’ attention was focused on him since he was the last to arrive yet, he wasn’t a fan of attention at all, but Kazuichi chose that exact moment to enter the restaurant with the swordswoman trailing quietly behind him.

Byakuya informed him that he had something important to tell them – after he had devoured an entire plate of goods – and proceeded to stuff his face in his breakfast. It did not go unnoticed to Hajime the amount of food spread throughout the tables, everything seemed to be of fine cuisine, the students first speculated that it was the doing of the Ultimate Cook – Teruteru Hanamura -, though the boy very explicitly confirmed that the food was not his doing.

Hajime didn’t care, he took a plate and put a considerable amount of food, he stayed far from the seafood dishes, Hajime was extremely allergic to it, he believes it was due to his luck since he always found it to seem delicious. It wasn’t pretty when he tried it for the first and last time, still unknowing of his allergies.

As he walked back towards a chair, his foot got caught into some kind of cord, with the sudden pull on his foot he tripped and dropped into the floor discourteously. A loud crashing sound resonated around him as once again every single pair of eyes turned towards him.

“Ahhh!” Hajime heard a scream right behind him. “Oh... No no no no no! I-I-I tripped!”

His breakfast was in ruins, he would have to change his clothes, his long sleeve shirt was soaping and stained from food. He grabbed his tray and got up from the ground.

“How in the world did you end up in such a... compromising position after tripping?!” Byakuya asked the nurse - who Hajime noticed -  was spread on the floor with cords tangled on her calves. How the girl managed to get herself in that position was indeed intriguing.

Some of the other students laughed and commented on her embarrassment. Their attention promptly focused elsewhere. Mahiru, the Ultimate Photographer, was the one to command the others to help the girl – Mikan -.

“M-Mikan... are you okay?” Mahiru asked gently. When the girl confirmed being alright her gaze moved at lightning speed towards Hajime, she wasted no time pointing her finger at him and accusing him. “And what hell were you planning, huh?! Making her trip that way! You men are all a bunch of degenerates.”

“I don’t know if you noticed but I fell just as hard as she did, why would I even plan on doing something like that?!” Hajime countered vehemently, his gloomy mood could’ve only intensified by his luck’s display, which he had no doubt was responsible for his predicament.

“Calm down you two. We have more important matters to attend to.” Byakuya chastised them coldly. “Though I’m not quite ready to stop eating breakfast, I should begin my talk. First, I have a question for you all. Under these strange circumstances, what do you think we need right now?

Many of the students came up with suggestions, but Nagito’s guess that what they needed was a strong bond in order to face Monokuma as a group seemed to please Byakuya. The affluent progeny self-intitled himself as the leader of the group aiming for disciplined leadership. His forceful attitude was met with some criticisms, especially from Mahiru, but ultimately, the idea of Byakuya’s leadership was accepted by most of the students, the large boy made a promise to protect and guide every single one of them.

Hajime had mixed feelings about it, he agreed that they should work as a group, but he wouldn’t just play by Byakuya’s whim, he was no authority to Hajime, but he decided not to comment anything as of now. Byakuya appeared to be reliable enough, Hajime would see how good of a leader the boy would turn out to be.

Byakuya guided them back to Jabberwock Park to show them the massive bomb-like countdown that was placed in the place where the statue used to be. The timer would reach zero in 21 days according to the countdown. No one had any idea what it meant, not even Monomi who claimed not to be in on Monokuma’s scheming. The rabbit was alive, even after one of the Mono-Beasts had shot her stuffing out the day before. They shouldn’t have been surprised, she was a robot of sorts, after all.

Byakuya brought up the possibility of a big organization being behind their situation, given all the strange occurrences they had faced, it was a plausible theory, though one they couldn’t confirm.

Byakuya’s leadership appeared to have been a good idea, everyone was in high spirits, even making jokes and mocking each other. Hajime didn’t relate. His mood only worsened at the bomb – or whatever it was – discovery. Not only they were trapped, but now there was the constant threat of the damned countdown, everything seemed uncertain.

In the end, the ominous countdown mystery remained unsolved, but the others didn’t appear to be as preoccupied as Hajime was. What he wouldn’t give to be that laidback, not that he could ever afford to. Nagito’s speech about trusting each other appeared to appease everyone else, and though he shared the sentiment of union, he didn’t really trust anyone there, not yet at the very least.

Hajime decided to go back to his cottage, he wasn’t fancying the ultimates' companion at the moment.

Unfortunately for him, Monukuma had other plans, a little after the night had befallen, another announcement was played ordering them to go back to Jabberwock Park, Hajime didn’t feel like going back to the park at all, but as tempting as it was to defy the bear, Hajime was scared of what that would lead him to. Nothing good he presumed.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t take a little more time to walk there. As it was, he was the last to arrive at the park. Placed in front of the bomb was what he assumed to be a stage. The other students were chatting about what Monukuma intended to do, whatever it was it couldn’t be good.

“Once again, you’re late... Did you lose your nerve?” Byakuya inquired.

“No, I was asleep when the announcement was played, it took some time to get dressed up again.” Hajime lied smoothly, he wasn’t sleeping, at all. However, Byakuya was not privy to whatever he might’ve been doing. He could at least defy Byakuya.

“...Anyway, it seems everyone is here.” Their so-called leader seemed to have bought it.

Mahiru and Fuyuhiko were bickering on the sidelines, the yakuza, as usual, was portraiting his irritated face and shouting his lungs off at both the photographer and Nagito who tried futilely to defuse the situation.

“I’m not your friend, dumbass! When did I ever become friends with you bastards?” Fuyuhiko exclaimed. Signing he continued. “Hmph, let me make it perfectly clear... I can do it, y’know.”

“W-What?!” Mahiru stuttered at the yakuza’s statement and the others appeared to be all focused on their argument at this point.

“Oh? You didn’t hear me? Then I’ll repeat myself just once for you. I said... I can do it.”

It was quite clear the implications of what Fuyuhiko could do. Even so, to be so blatantly admitting it in front of everyone in an attempt to cause fear did not sit well with Hajime.

“For someone who’s planning a murder, you are quite open-mouthed about it.” Hajime found himself saying without hesitating. Maybe he would come to regret this decision, but the surprised look on Fuyuhiko’s face was priceless.

“The fuck did you say to me, bastard?!” The yakuza raged at Hajime’s petulant tone. “What the fuck do you mean with that?!”

“Nothing. I’m just saying.” Hajime responded deciding not to poke the bear any longer, Fuyuhiko was already as irritable as it was.

Fuyuhiko didn’t seem happy about it but stayed silent for the remaining time. Everyone else went quiet after their short-lived discussion. He could feel some of their eyes on his back, but he didn’t find in himself to care.

Monokuma showed himself right after it, dressed in a blue suit and red tie, for the fright of some. Mainly Kazuichi.

“It looked like you guys were arguing... so I wasn’t sure when to actually show up...” The bear said. “It looks like I showed up at an awkward time!”

“Why’re you dressed up like that?” Chiaki asked quizzically.

“Oh, didn’t I mention that this is my costume for the fun time in my recent broadcast?” The bear questioned. “Since we’re on a tropical island, I’m here to do my two-man comedy routine!”

“But can you do a two-man comedy routine all by yourself?” Sonia asked politely.

“Of course not, that’s why I brought my partner.” As he said it, Monomi appeared dressed in a cute pink dress and whimpering about not being notified of the event. Hajime was not eager to watch this comedy routine...

“Do we really have to watch it?” Hajime questioned with a pained expression.

“Yes! It’s mandatory, I spent some good time preparing for this show, so everyone needs to watch it.” Monokuma answered annoyed, Hajime fell silent not wanting to get into the bear’s nerves.

Hajime didn’t pay much attention to it, wanting the show to just finish so he could go back to his cottage. But then Monokuma started implying Monomi was a villain.

“Monomi... went out of her way to erase your memories!” Monokuma said excitedly. Monomi looked as if what he said was a complete shock to her. “You guys don’t even remember how you got to this island, do you? Well, that’s because Monomi stole your memories.”

“Wait, what are you saying all of a sudden?!” Monomi asked worriedly.

“But that’s not everything! Monomi also took all your memories from when you were all students at Hope’s Peak Academy. What a shocker!” Monokuma continued amused. “You guys aren’t even freshmen y’know. You just thought that because Monomi took you school memories, phuhuhu.”

No one made a sound. As he took his eyes off the two robots he looked around, but all he found was their troubled gazes, everyone was still digesting what they’d just heard. Hajime himself didn’t know what to make off of it, what Monokuma was saying was insane, stolen memories? As if...

However, it was true that they couldn’t remember how they got to the island, much less anything about a school life at Hope’s Peak.

When Monokuma finally finished the show, the students quickly started questioning him about the school memories the bear had mentioned.

“Ahaa...haha... There’s no way” Ibuki commented, giggling nervously. “Because I just entered Hope’s Peak Academy, and then I was brought to this island right away...”

“That’s because that’s how you remember it.” Monokuma responded with his paws trying to hide his sardonic smile. “All thanks to Monomi stealing your school memories...”

“The hell you’re saying?! There’s no way we can believe something like that!” Hajime shouted, the sound of his voice made him cringe a bit, he hadn’t meant it to sound so nervous.

“Man... I wonder what happened to your friends and family after all these years.” Monokuma ignored him. “They’re probably worried sick about you... Maybe?”

The panic he felt was apparently spreading among the others too, everyone piping up to exclaim how ludicrous it was to have to lose their memories.

“It’s not a lie... If it was a lie, then explain this. The moment you arrived at Hope’s Peak Academy you all felt a strange dizziness..” Monokuma countered.

Hajime’s blood ran cold, it was vague, but he did remember feeling said dizziness as soon as he entered the building.

“How-How could you know that?!” Mahiru questioned.

“Phuhuhu... Why, that was the cut-off point.” More complaints erupted from the group, but Monokuma fastly brushed it aside. “But don’t worry... I’m a generous guy! I can give you back your memories!”

They all fell silent.

“However, there’s a catch..”

“Don’t tell me the catch is...?” Chiaki asked quietly with a firm grasp on her backpack’s strap.

“Phuhuhu... Figured it out yet? That’s right, you guys have to kill each other!” The bear explained laughing humorously at the end. “You guys wanna know, right? You want your school memories returned to you, right?”

No one answered.

“Then you better start killing one another! A penny for your thoughts, and a murder for your memories! That’s my bargain.”

“Hey, stop running your mouth.” Akane said darkly, her posture indicated she was one step from jumping on the bear. Which was a no-no according to the new rules implemented by Monokuma.

“Oh my, why so angry? You guys are just a bunch of cowards, that’s why I’m giving you a motive.” Monokuma reasoned. “Otherwise, you would never start the killing.”

“What are you saying?!” Nekomaru shouted at the bear. “There’s no way we can believe this crap of memory loss!”

“But more than that, what you guys really don’t believe is each other, right?” Monokuma countered idly.

“W-What do you mean...?!” Mahiru questioned looking disheveled.

“You guys don’t know each other. Which means...” Monokuma continued without paying her any mind. “None of you realize a traitor is hiding among you, right? I mean, why are there sixteen of you? If a total of fifteen students from Hope’s Peak Academy were arranged to come to this island...”

“Wha-What are you saying... All this shit about traitors doesn’t make any sense!” Fuyuhiko argued, but even the irritable boy didn’t seem to be very sure of his own words.

“...It’s obviously nonsense.” The swordswoman said.

Monokuma continued monologuing. Hajime wasn’t particularly leaned to hear whatever it was. Thankfully, the bear not long after disappeared, though he instigated surrounded all of them. Even after Monokuma’s boisterous laugh faded, the students remained glued to the spot.

“I-Is t-there really a t-traitor among us...?” Mikan asked meekly. “Ah! It’s not me by the way! I know I may look suspicious but... it’s not me!”

“Is it right for us to believe that crap?” Hajime questioned the group. “I-I mean, why would Monokuma tell us about a traitor? What would he gain with that?”

“To make us suspicious towards one another.” Nagito answered eyes locked on Hajime’s.

“Exactly. That’s exactly what he wants, for us to distrust each other.” Hajime was confident in that. He couldn’t be sure if Monokuma was telling them the truth or not, but it was certain that his motivation was to cultivate suspicion among them. “I don’t really believe in this talk of a traitor, t-though I am curious about the school memories that he mentioned.”

“Yes, but if you were the traitor that’s exactly what you would say, right?!” Kazuichi shrieked hiding his face on his hat.

“Enough of that! I’m also not inclined to believe that there’s a traitor among us.” Byakuya chastised him.

“You would know right, Monomi?” Peko questioned Monomi who could’ve just as well had faded in the background. “Is what Monokuma said true? About our memory loss... and the traitor...?”

Monomi had actually started sweating all over her fur. “Uhm, I mean... Everyone needs to look to the future... That’s why we shouldn’t look at the past. So, keep your eyes fixed upon the future, a-and do your best!” Without further ado, Monomi disappeared, her speech followed by depart didn’t provoke much credibility.

They decided to call it a night by that point. Everyone was troubled as it was, Hajime wanted nothing more than to pass out on his bed. Before he could’ve proceeded to do just that, Nagito waved at him in a way to call him.

“Hey...” Hajime said. “Tough night, huh?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what to think, honestly.” Nagito scratched behind his ear as he avoided Hajime’s eyes. “Do you... Do you reckon Monokuma was lying?”

Hajime averted his eyes too. He didn’t know, Monokuma could be telling the truth, if so, should he believe it? Sometimes ignorance is the best option, mainly because your attitudes could be influenced by that knowledge. If Monokuma shared the truth, then Hajime was confident that there were ulterior motives behind it, and he did not trust that for a second.

“I think Monokuma is our enemy. And as such, we shouldn’t take what he says at face value.” Hajime answered. It was true, he refused to believe or trust Monokuma. His answer appeared to please Nagito as he huffed and gave him a small smile.

“I guess you’re right, I believe that if all the Ultimates join their forces, no despair can shake them.” Nagito said confidently. Hajime didn’t overlook the way he said ‘them’ and not ‘us’, but decided not to pry. He and Nagito exchanged good nights and he hastily entered his cottage. He went straight to bed, not before hitting his toes on the center table. As usual.

When Hajime entered the restaurant a couple of minutes after the morning announcement the next day, was to be faced with only a couple of his fellow classmates. Sonia and Nekomaru sat quietly at one of the tables, and Hajime could hear Teruteru from the kitchen.

Hajime also chose an unoccupied table and sat there waiting for the others, for once he wasn’t the one late. It wasn’t long before the restaurant was filled with people, the only missing being Fuyuhiko, Hajime wasn’t surprised by the yakuza’s absence.

“Rejoice, everyone...” Byakuya’s voice resonated through the silent-struck restaurant. “I have decided to throw a party tonight.”

“A party? What for...?” Akane asked with her mouth full of food.

“Yes, a huge party that will last from sundown to sunrise.” Byakuya confirmed.

“A party until the sun comes up?!” Ibuki asked.

“Just so we’re clear, I will not allow any absences. Your attendance at this party is absolutely mandatory.” Byakuya declared firmly.

“Hey... Now is not the time to be talking about stuff... like partying!” Kazuichi complained.

“On the contrary, there is no better time than this...” Byakuya countered matter of factly.

“I agree with Byakuya.” Nagito piped up. “It wouldn’t do us any good to stay bumped out like this. In fact, it’s exactly because of the situation we’re in, that is best for us to get to know each other and have some fun.”

Hajime could understand, but the prospect of being at a party made him nervous. Not only because of the tiring social interactions but also his luck, that could choose any moment to make its appearance.

“Anyway... It’s of virtual importance that we all stay in the same place tonight.” Byakuya added. Hajime didn’t know what to make of that.

“...You say that with such significance.” Gundham commented idly.

“It’s decided! We’re having ourselves a party!” Byakuya declared again.

Some of the students were enthusiastic about the prospect of a party. Others - much like himself - were a bit wary of a party that would last the entire night. Well, it wasn’t as if he had much sleep anyway.

He munched his breakfast silently as the students decided on the location of the party, Byakuya exclusively remarked that it needed to be somewhere inclosed, which ruled out the restaurant and cottages.

Nagito ended up suggesting the old building near the hotel. Hajime personally hadn’t entered the place yet, but from what it looked from the outside it didn’t give the most welcoming appearance.

“However, Monomi has forbidden us from entering that old place. Something about the renovation.” Peko recalled.

Monomi appeared from thin air the next second to tell them that she would allow them to enter the building, the rabbit explained that she wanted their bonds to strengthen, Hajime wasn’t sure about that, but it was convenient that the rabbit allowed their entrance in the building.

“But if it’s in the middle of a renovation, wouldn’t we need to clean it first?” Mahiru questioned, already looking annoyed at the prospect of cleaning the building.

“Wow, I have never done the dirty work known as ‘cleaning’ before. I am excited to finally experience it!” Sonia commented excitedly, Hajime wouldn’t suspect her of all people to be excited about something as boring and bothersome as cleaning.

Except for Sonia, the others didn’t want to get their hands dirty, – Hajime included – Nagito suggested that they used a drawing to decide whoever would be on cleaning duty. Hajime did not like that idea one bit.

“To be honest, I already prepared a drawing because I assumed something like this would happen.” Nagito explained as he took a bunch of chopsticks from the pocket of his jacket. “Whoever draws the chopstick with the red mark on it will be in charge of cleaning, okay?”

“Wait, a drawing...? Wouldn’t it be better for more than just one-“ His protests landed on deaf ears as Hiyoko quickly moved towards Nagito and snatched one chopstick from his hand, beaming brightly when the one he picked didn’t have a red mark.

“Well then, let us entrust our destinies to the whims of the drawing!” Gundham exclaimed as he also took a non-marked chopstick from Nagito.

One by one, everybody took turns pulling the chopsticks from Nagito’s hand. It remained only two chopsticks, one for him and the other for Nagito himself. Hajime huffed annoyed, of course it would’ve come to this. The Ultimate Lucky Student and the Unlucky one. Hajime stepped forward and pulled one chopstick without any further ado, no delaying the inevitable.

The chopstick he held was with no surprise the one with the red mark. Huffing indignantly he showed the red mark to his companions. Hajime was neither surprised nor amused by his luck’s display.

“Of course it’s me...” He commented frustrated. Looking at Nagito he found the white-haired boy eyeing him surprised, his long lashes almost hiding behind his hair. Hajime guessed that cemented how ‘powerful’ his luck was to Nagito.

“Wow Hajime, not looking very lucky, are you?” Kazuichi mocked him amused. Some of them chuckled at his misfortune, while others felt a little bad for him.

“Very well Hajime, we’ll be relying on your services.” Sonia said in an encouraging tone. Hajime nodded idly. He was annoyed at the drawing, but it wasn’t as if he had any better things to do, at least it would serve him as something to do.

“Then I’ll handle the cooking.” Teruteru said smugly. “I just need to prepare my ingredients, then I’ll start cooking in the old building.”

They began to chatter about their expectations from the party. It was decided that the party would start after nighttime. Not feeling very talkative, Hajime excused himself from the restaurant and marched towards the old building. He might as well start the cleaning now, if he didn’t the others would not be pleased, and he wasn’t particularly interested to hear their complaints.

After taking a look inside the building, it became clear that in comparison to the hotel, the building was worse for wear. Making a quick trip to the supermarket he grabbed the cleaning products and brooms. The wooden floor was dusty as if it hadn’t seen water for years, though the walls appeared to be surprisingly clean, small miracles.

No longer after he started, Teruteru entered the building accompanied by Nekomaru carrying most of his ingredients. The premises of the building were bigger than he imagined, the dining hall specifically was the larger room of the edifice, and – except for the storage room – was the one needing the most cleaning. Just his luck.

Thankfully, Nekomaru agreed to move the tables to the dining hall for him and helped him place the carpet. Hajime wasn’t one for decorating, but he felt the need to make the littlest effort.

Nagito came by once offering his help. Hajime refused, not because he was mad or anything, but mainly because he didn’t want something bad to happen, who knew what more his luck could do, and deep down, he wanted to clean everything by himself, give his mind a time to breathe. Thankfully, Nagito took his decline for what it was and started preaching about how awesome Hajime’s talent was, an altruistic and hopeful talent according to him. Hajime felt that Nagito was teasing him, but kept it to himself.

It took him the entire day to clean everything. Well, the dining hall, mostly. There was no possibility of him cleaning the storage room, the max he did was move some of the boxes in there and discovered the hatch that led to under the floor. Hajime had seen in a video game that those kinds of building normally had a space under the floor, to what means that served Hajime had no idea.

Teruteru even commented how dangerous it was to have something of the sort in such a decadent place.

He didn’t bother with the kitchen or the office. The kitchen was surprisingly stocked with utensils and if it was dusty that would be Teruteru’s problem, while the office just wasn’t that dirty, to begin with.

Byakuya entered the old building not long after he finished cleaning. With him, he carried two metal cases.

“What’s that for?” Hajime asked eyeing the boxes suspiciously.

“I found them in the supermarket.” Byakuya informed. “This one is for any dangerous items I find during body checks. And the other is for... emergencies let’s say.”

“Body checks...?”

“Ohh~, a body check? I’m looking forward to it.” Teruteru said overhearing them, he had just exited the kitchen and walked in their direction.

“Since I’m hosting the party, it’s necessary for me to take all security measures.” Byakuya was definitely not asking for his opinion, and while it was weird for him to be doing body checks on the others, contrary to Teruteru, Byakuya didn’t strike Hajime as having any ulterior motives. “You should take a shower and come back in a more presentable way.”

It annoyed him that Byakuya was right, he was all sweaty and filthy from the cleaning. Taking that as his excuse he fastly went back to the comfort of his cottage. Washing off the grime and putting a new pair of long-sleeves and a crumpled pair of pants that were thrown on the center table, Hajime made his way back to the old building.

The nighttime announcement was broadcasted just as he pushed open the door.

“For once you’re early.” Byakuya stated. “Now then, stand up straight and raise your arms.”

Hajime reluctantly raised his arms and let Byakuya perform the body check, it was extremely awkward, not that Byakuya demonstrated feeling that way by any extent. He acted like it was something essential.

“You don’t appear to be carrying any dangerous items.”

“Why would I be carrying something dangerous..,?!” Hajime questioned indignant.

“Never you mind. I’ll allow your passage now, you’re one of the first to arrive so go wait in the dining hall until everyone is here.” Byakuya said already turning his back on him. Hajime felt like showing his middle finger at the boy, but seeing how childish that would be he merely walked down the hallway and entered the dining hall.

There he found Nagito leaning against the wall, close to the air-conditioner.

“So you’re early too, huh?” Hajime asked as means to start the conversation.

“Yeah, I know Byakuya said to come after nighttime, but I feel bad arriving late, especially since you went through all the trouble to clean this place.” Nagito said smiling at him. The boy was awfully cheerful most of the time, Hajime felt a bit envious of his carefree demeanor. He wondered if there was something to do with his ‘talent’.”

“Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, feel free to ask me anything you want, Hajime.” Nagito conceded without hesitation.

“It’s just that...” How could he phrase it without sounding like a lunatic? To talk about something as abstract as luck was... weird. “Is it true? Are you really lucky?”

Nagito seemed surprised by his question, though not weirded out. With a hand on his chin, the boy answered calmly. “Yes, I suppose so.”

Hajime’s face was blank, a mask covering his incredulity. Was he serious? Maybe Hajime had phrased it wrong, and Nagito misunderstood him. Before he could say anything the boy continued avoiding Hajime’s eyes as he spoke.

“It’s hard to explain, but for every bad thing that happens to me, good luck will always shine through, in the end. That’s the reason why I love Hope’s Peak Academy so much! Because it serves as the foundation to your hopes to shine even brighter, that’s what I believe.” Nagito said vehemently. Nagito was even more mysterious than he had originally thought, if what he said was true, then... what did it even mean?

“You keep saying ‘you’ and ‘yours’, why not include yourself...?” Hajime pried.

“Oh no, I wouldn’t dare. I’m nowhere close to being like one of you Ultimates. I could never be as hopeful as you guys.” Nagito responded seriously. “My good luck, as fortuned as it is, always brings bad luck, it’s a cycle you see.”

“Well, it would be the same for me then...” Hajime commented. If Nagito wasn’t an ‘Ultimate’ as he liked to put it, then what did that even make Hajime? His good for nothing ‘talent’ was the farthest thing from ‘hopeful’ that he could imagine. “My so-called talent only causes bad things to happen. All the time.” Hajime emphasized.

“I don’t think so, Hajime.” Nagito said looking him straight in the eye. “I don’t want to sound presumptuous to assume that your talent is anything similar to mine, but I believe your luck works in the opposite way that mine does.”

“What do you mean...?”

“My talent is selfish. You see, even my good luck only serves the purpose of getting me what I want or could desire, but in the end, all of that is taken away by bad luck. That’s why I can’t ever be as hopeful as any of you.” Nagito explained, not taking his eyes off Hajime’s. “It serves no other purpose but that, that’s why I don’t like it very much.”

Hajime wasn’t sure how Nagito’s luck worked. If it worked. If it did, was it anything close to the way his work? If so, then he could comprehend what Nagito was saying. To some extent.

“But your talent appears to work differently. I’ve been watching and it seems that your talent retains everyones’ bad luck to yourself. Just like today, you picked the chopstick with the red mark because the others didn’t want to be in charge of cleaning duty, that way you spread good luck to all of them! At the cost of your own good luck, I suppose, but that’s exactly why I think your talent is so altruistic, Hajime!”

Hajime couldn’t help the wave of embarrassment that went through his body. Never had anyone taken him seriously when he talked about his luck. For Nagito to not only understand what he was talking about, but also believe that his bad luck was something good was disconcerting. Hajime didn’t share his thoughts, his mixed feeling about his luck have been whirling in his mind for years now. All the bad things he brought upon himself and others, the mild inconveniences, the accidents. Hajime did not believe that his luck served a greater purpose than merely tormenting him.

Nonetheless, it was nice to have someone think that he was good, altruistic even.

“Thanks.” Hajime’s face was flaming at Nagito’s words, but he forced himself to thank the boy. “I also believe that you... can be hopeful, or whatever...”

Nagito seemed pleased with Hajime’s conviction.

As they chatted some non-sense with each other, the dining hall started to fill with their classmates. Akane was by far the most enthusiastic about the party, babbling about all the delicious food spread on the tables by Teruteru, and indeed it was an impressive amount of food, everything looked perfectly cooked.

“Though that iron plate appears to be bolted to the wall, it’s actually bolted to what’s known as ‘window’.” Hajime overheard Gundham muttering to himself.

“What do you mean?” Hajime asked intrigued by the breeder’s muttering.

“There are no windows in this dining hall at all. I assume those iron plates are covering them.” Gundham explained. It was true, that was something that Hajime first noted the first time he had entered the dining hall, the windows were bolted shut, he first assumed it was due to the renovation Monomi kept talking about. “Hmph, San-D... It appears your fur is rustling more than usual today...”

Hajime excused himself when Gundham started talking to one of his hamsters. He didn’t seem to be a bad person, given the way he treated his pets, but god was the guy weird.

“Thank you for waiting.” Byakuya’s firm voice ringed in the enclosed space. “Teruteru is in the kitchen and it appears that... Fuyuhiko did not come.”

“I apologize. I informed him of the party, but...” Peko said.

“You don’t need to apologize, y’know... It’s not your fault that he chose not to come.” Mahiru quickly reassured.

“It’s fine... If it’s only one person absent it shouldn’t be a problem.” Byakuya confirmed. “He won’t be able to do anything...”

“What does that mean...?” Hajime asked.

“Hm, more importantly, we have an issue to address first.” The affluent progeny said. “The issue is to safeguard this duralumin case that contains all the dangerous items I could find.”

“Safeguard it? What about the storage room?” Sonia suggested

“Can’t we just leave it here...?” Kazuichi suggested instead.

“I’ve already placed a lock in it, but even so...” Byakuya added.

“What if someone guards it. That would make it safe, yes?” Peko suggested. “I can guard it if that’s okay.”

“Huh, but won’t you be lonely all by yourself?” Ibuki asked worriedly.

“It’s fine, I’m not really good in situations I have to be around lots of people, anyway.” Peko assured.

“Hahaha, if I wrote a song about this, the title would definitely be ‘Lonely girl in the storage room’.” Ibuki remarked cheerfully.

“However, Teruteru went through all the trouble of preparing the food, if it’s okay I’ll take a plate of food with me.” Peko requested.

“It’s fine, but I wouldn’t go to the storage room if I were you. That’s the only place I haven’t cleaned at all.” Hajime remarked. There was no way he would’ve come even close to cleaning that place, even if he wanted to.

“Of course, ‘cause you were lazying around, weren’t you?” Mahiru questioned irritated.

“I spend the entire day cleaning this place the best I could! Plus it’s not like I knew anyone would need the storage room of all places.” Hajime responded petulantly, as if she could judge him when he was the one to work his ass off all day long.

“Then the office should suffice it.” Byakuya stated. Peko took the case and her plate of food and walked out of the dining hall.

“All right! Then let’s start eating!” Akane shouted, her eyes fixed on the table beside her.

“Actually, there’s another issue.” Byakuya informed.

“Another issue...?”

“Monokuma, of course. He’s the one thing that could disrupt the entire party.” Byakuya added.

“Aawww right! Then I just have to beat the crap out of Monokuma and then I can eat, right?!” Akane concluded, her demeanor changing completely as she prepared to fight.

“Wait a sec... If you pick a fight with that thing, you’re just gonna get perforated.” Nekomaru advised against it.

“He’s right, fighting Monokuma is out of the realm of possibility, it would be more prudent to think of a plan.” Byakuya said.

“...I’ll do something about it.” Chiaki volunteered unexpectedly. Both Byakuya and Kazuichi seemed wary at first. But as Gundham suggested, Chiaki would try to convince Monomi to stick up to them in case Monokuma showed his face. Chiaki quietly made her way out of the dining hall following Peko’s steps.

Hajime didn’t know what it was, but he felt like something was off. A bad feeling curling in his insides. Maybe it was anticipation or just anxiety, he wouldn’t know. Or something else entirely...

If he was being honest with himself, he felt a bit envious of Chiaki, Hajime was tempted to get an excuse in order to get out of the party, just as Peko had said, he wasn’t very good with lots of people. Instead, he resolved to stand in the far corner with his back against the wall, observing was easier than interacting. Nagito followed suit and placed himself beside him to make him company as they made idle conversation.

“It doesn't seem like you’re enjoying the party very much...” Nagito had taken a cup of punch was already halfway through it, Hajime wasn’t a fan of the beverage, he had picked a cup more as a means to keep his hands occupied.

“I feel a bit out of place. Not much one for parties and stuff...”

“I get what you’re saying, I’m not one for noisy places either. But I find the intentions behind this party magnificent, that’s why I’m participating too.” Nagito said taking another sip from his cup.

“Hey! What is that?!” Byakuya’s voice echoed around the room. The boy was pointing his fingers at an arrangement of meat placed gracefully on one of the tables. In a matter of seconds, he was standing in front of the table and wolfing down the meat on the four iron skewers. “These are dangerous objects! I must confiscate it.”

His sudden lack of mannerism – ‘pigging out’ according to Mahiru – caused some protests among the others, mainly Akane who was outraged by Byakuya ‘stealing’ her food. Byakuya on the other hand argued that the iron skewer needed to be dealt with. Hajime thought that was quite an... unorthodox method, but he was better off not antagonizing their self-entitled leader.

Teruteru was also not very happy with Byakuya messing with his arrangement, the both of them went to the kitchen with the pretense of getting rid of any dangerous items. Hajime couldn’t understand where Byakuya’s paranoia was coming from. The guy was going above and beyond being cautious, performing body checks to safeguard dangerous items. It made Hajime a bit apprehensive, something must’ve happened to cause Byakuya to act in such a manner.

Allowing himself the chance to relax, Hajime followed Akane’s lead and picked a plate for himself, it was the best choice he had made in the day, Teruteru as weird and obnoxious he could be, was most definitely worth the title of Ultimate Cook. The taste of his dishes danced around his tongue, flavors mixing with it each, it was spectacular.

His mood lightened as he stuffed himself, the atmosphere around them was filled with contentment, his peers enjoying a good time in each others’ company, Hajime included. Unfortunately, Nekomaru chose that instant to start talking about gross things and insinuating he had to relieve his biological needs in the bathroom that was according to him locked. Hajime’s appetite was gone by the time Nekomaru – not very cordially – informed them that he would shit his pants if he didn’t go to the bathroom.

Byakuya returned a few moments later and stayed watching over everyone. The way he was acting resembled an uptight camp monitor, to Hajime’s amusement.

He went back to the wall once again when Mahiru asked everyone for a group photo, Hajime wasn’t a fan of those, or photos at all for that matter, but Nagito was already posing for it, it would be awkward to be the only one not doing so. He gingerly made a salute pose to the camera and waited for Mahiru to be done with.

He pressed his back against the wall and was about to take another sip from his glass when a weird electrical noise resonated to his right, the noise was so out of place that it appeared that he wasn’t the only one that took notice of it. The air-conditioner had turned on, for some goddamned reason.

As if on cue, suddenly, all the lights from the old building went out.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 3: Dreadful Night

The sudden lack of light startled Hajime out of his mind. He was not a fan of dark places.

A commotion of voices traveled around in the dark, exclamations and questions merging during the chaos, swallowing them whole. Nagito had been standing right beside him, as he lifted his arm and took a step forward to latch onto the boy, all he found was empty air.

Unbeknownst to him, when Hajime made to give another step, he noticed a second too late the string that had wrapped itself around his foot. As he made to move back the cord pulled at Hajime’s leg back which caused him to lose his balance. The cord, whatever it was, must’ve been attached to something, and whatever that something was it came crashing down to the floor alongside Hajime.

“The hell! What’s going on here?!” Byakuya shouted into the darkness.

Hajime’s forearms had taken the full brunt force of the fall, as he squirmed on the floor to get his foot unstuck, the farthest thing Hajime expected to hear was Monomi’s voice.

“I’m Usami... Magical Miracle Girl ★ Usami. I’m an itty bitty girl who’s sweet like milk”

Amidst the blackness, Usami’s voice echoed around the walls of the dining hall, causing Hajime to get even more disoriented. He launched his hand to the cord now wrapped around his ankle, as he forced the cord free from his ankle whatever it was attached to came with it, landing inches from his foot.

“Monomi?!” Ibuki shouted.

“Turn the damn light on! I can’t eat like this y’know!” Akane’s voice came a little farther to his left.

“You guys? Where are you? W-Wasn’t the blackout... just in the kitchen?” Teruteru said maybe a few steps from him.

“Perhaps the breaker overloaded...?” Came what Hajime suspected to be Sonia’s quiet and frightful voice.

“Hold on a sec! I’ll go along the wall and do something about it...!” Kazuichi said followed by his loud footsteps.

With a loud zapping noise, the lights came back on just as suddenly as they went out.

Hajime finally pulled himself up from the floor as he frantically looked around. Nothing looked out of order, except the lamp that was now crushed to pieces because of Hajime's stunt, some plates of food were also smashed on the floor. Inspecting the floor he noticed that his foot had been caught in the lamp’s power cord.

The other students appeared to be fine. Shaken, a bit frightened, but fine.

“Th-This is...!?” Sonia exclaimed, covering her mouth with a hand.

Laying on the floor in a rather... compromised manner, was Mikan.

Hajime was baffled by how the girl managed to get herself in such a position. Her legs were trapped in a chain of sausages and her private parts were covered by a plate of food. The scene was so out of the realm of reality that it was edging towards comical if it wasn’t so embarrassing.

“M-Mikan?!” The girl whimpered from the floor while the others laughed and mocked the girl. Hajime just found the situation mortifying.

Mahiru helped the girl up and told her to be more careful about her tripping. Hajime did not believe for a second that someone could trip in such a... creative way.

After Sonia and Mahiru consoled Mikan, Akane didn’t waste a moment to go back to stuffing her mouth. Hajime also noticed that Nagito was caressing his right arm as if to ease the pain.

“Are you alright...?” Hajime asked him.

“Yes, something just hit me in the arm during the blackout.” Nagito informed. Looking at the shattered lamp a few inches from them, Hajime concluded that the lamp was the thing that had hit Nagito. It had been quite the fall, after all, the force must’ve launched the lamp in his direction.

“I’m sorry it was me, I-I tripped on the damn cord... I don’t even know how.” He did know how though, his luck never ceased to surprise him. “The lamp must’ve hit you.”

“Oh yeah, that might be it. But don’t worry Hajime, I was more spooked than anything.” His tone was sheepish as if embarrassed from the hit. His eyes darted from Hajime to observe around them. “Hm, where’s... Byakuya?”

At Nagito’s question, Hajime’s eyes darted around the room in search of Byakuya but as Nagito implied, he was nowhere to be seen.

“Huh, where did mister Ham Hands go?” Hiyoko asked pouting.

At that moment, Kazuichi returned to the dining hall looking frustrated.

“Oh, you reactivated the breaker, Kazuichi?” Mahiru seemed surprised by Kazuichi’s feat.

“No, it was all dark, I couldn’t even see the office.”

“Then how did the lights turn back on?” Mahiru asked.

“Who knows...”

“Don’t ‘who knows’ me! Geez, you’re so useless.” Her mood changed for the worst at quite a fast pace.

“Ha! I knew something was wrong, no way you would be so unusually useful.” Hajime wasn’t sure why Hiyoko enjoyed so much to torment both Kazuichi and Mikan. He presumed it was because they were the easiest targets, but why she did it at all was beyond his comprehension.

“Kazuichi did you see Byakuya on your way to the office?” Hajime asked to divert attention.

“No, there was no one there.”

“No one...? But Peko was guarding the office, was she not?” Sonia inquired quizzically.

“She wasn’t there either.”

Now that was strange, Peko had no reason – that they knew of – to leave the office, coupled with Byakuya’s disappearance, the bad feeling from earlier began unfolding in Hajime’s veins. Something was not right.

“I’m getting... a little worried. I think we should try to look for Byakuya.” Nagito it seems, was sharing his sentiment of unsettlement. They decided to search for the boy around the building, Nagito suggested for Hajime look at the entrance hall and he wasted no time doing so.

Getting out of the old building was a relief in itself, the cramped space wasn’t doing any favors for his nerves. Standing close to the staircase were Chiaki and Monomi, they were in a weird silence just watching out.

“Chiaki...?”

Turning around both Chiaki and Monomi seemed surprised to see him. The rabbit even shrieking startled.

“Oh, Hajime... Did the party end...?” Chiaki drawled sleepily.

“Hahh! I sure hope not, I still haven’t gotten in yet.” Monomi exclaimed.

“No. But have you seen Byakuya?” Hajime said ignoring the rabbit, he was not eager to have Monomi hanging out with them.

“Byakuya...? Did something happen?”

“There was a blackout in the building, and when the lights came back on he was nowhere to be seen.”

“No, I haven’t seen anyone.” Chiaki responded creasing her eyebrows slightly.

“I see...” His hopes weren’t high by any means, but still. “By the way, Monomi didn’t you appear in the dining hall during the blackout?”

“Blackout...? This Monomi over here has been dutifully watching out for Monokuma here with Chiaki.”

“Well... Okay, I’m going back in, if we find him I’ll let you know.” He fastly whirled around and entered the building once again. Chiaki’s confirmation only made the tension in his gut more prominent. His hands started prickling and his skin started losing sensitivity.

Where is Byakuya...?

His anxiety got only worse when he reencountered the other students in the dining hall without Byakuya.

“He didn’t go outside, Chiaki said she hasn’t seen him.”

“He wasn’t in the storage room either.” Nagito remarked.

“What about Peko? Has anyone seen her?” Sonia asked distressed.

“No, I looked around the office again and she was not there.” Kazuichi scratched his neck looking suspicious at Peko’s disappearance.

“Hajime, are you all right?” Nagito’s tone indicated he was concerned, but also, cautious.

Meeting the boy’s gaze he quickly deflected. “Yeah...  I’m fine...” His insides belied his words, but he just couldn’t help it. He felt as if he was edging closer and closer to a precipice, inches away from falling and having to face the abyss. The anticipation before realizing something horrible.

“Hey what’s that smell...?” Akane who had continued eating as they talked, lifted her head from her plate and gave a curious look around the dining hall. Mikan as a means to answer went on a tangent about how the flatulation process worked.

“No, I’m not talking about that... It smells like blood...”

Hajime’s entire being froze. His hands started shaking and his legs grew weak.

“B-Blood...!?” Mikan squeaked.

“It’s coming from there!” Akane pointed at the back of the room. The table where the lamp had been placed, the floor around the table was an entire mess, broken plates and rests of food dripping on the gaps on the floor.

They reunited around the table. Except for the mess, the table was inconspicuous, it didn’t appear to be anything wrong with it.

“I also scent the odor of blood oozing from underneath the table.” Gundham commented, petting one of his hamsters that had shown its head around his scarf.

Hajime couldn’t move, he didn’t want at all to pull the tablecloth and see what was lying beneath it. Somehow he already knew, deep down he already knew the anticipation eating away in his insides was because of this. His ears started to ring and he felt nausea claw its way through his throat.

Hajime did not want to see what was under that table.

Nagito at his unresponsiveness stepped forward and gently placed a hand on the tablecloth, just as gently he pulled it up.

Lying underneath the table was Byakuya.

Facedown, lying in a pool of his own blood, blood that was sprayed on the inside of the tablecloth. A knife was placed close to his hand together with a pair of night-vision goggles.

A body. Completely immobile.

Dead.

Hajime promptly jumped back a hand flying to cover the scream that was soon to leave his mouth. Showers of screams rang from all sides.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

Hajime’s eyes darted from Byakuya’s body to the monitor right on top of the corner on the back wall.

“Hahahaha! Finally, it happened! A body has been discovered! Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the class trial will begin.” Monokuma’s voice echoed around the room that had fallen silent.

Sonia and Mahiru were gasping horrified at Monokuma’s broadcast. Kazuichi looked one second from throwing up everything he had on his stomach, which Hajime wasn’t that far from doing himself. Nagito was completely still, he hadn’t moved at all.

“Byakuya?!” Sonia shrieked.

“I-It can’t be...!” The freezing cold that had settled in his bones suddenly melted, the former anticipation now turned desperation burned his skin, his pores now dilated and transpiring cold sweat despite his scorching skin. He could hear his heart beating louder and louder.

“Good gracious... Things quickly took a turn for the worst...” Monokuma had appeared a few steps from him. Hajime visibly recoiled from the bear’s voice. “On this tropical paradise known as Jabberwock Island, the very first murder has finally taken place!”

“H-Hold on! Then... does that mean...!?” Nagito inquired also taking a step back.

“Phuhuhu... Of course... Byakuya was killed by one of you.”

His legs had turned into lead. He was quite sure he had a fever, his skin was burning but he felt cold somehow.

“Just look at his face, a face filled with regret that his life was ended by force, for someone else’s selfish desires... If this isn’t murder, then what the hell could it be?!” Monokuma gave a shivering laugh. “Byakuya was most certainly sacrificed by someone who reeeealy wanted to leave this island.”

“I-It’s lies, you’re full of crap!” Hajime shouted at Monokuma, though in a dark part of his mind he knew that the bear was in fact, telling the truth.

The doors to the dining opened and Chiaki, Nekomaru, and Peko entered with astonished faces as they gazed at Byakuya’s body.

“I see, I see... It appears that Fuyuhiko is the only one not here...” Monokuma drawled. “But no worries, he most certainly heard the body discovery announcement, and soon enough, all of you will gather so we can start the class trial!”

“Cl-Class trial... Does that mean...?”

“That’s right, from this point on, you guys have to investigate and uncover the blackened culprit!”

“There’s no way...! Someone actually killed Byakuya... it can’t be!” Mahiru’s outburst seemed to shake the other students out of their stupor.

“I w-won’t believe. There’s no way something as hopeless as that could ever happen!” Nagito shouted at the bear, his skin was paler than usual and some of his locks were sticking on his forehead drenched in sweat.

“If you’re thinking that way, it means you guys are already being conned by the killer.” Monokuma explained. “Now, now, let’s begin. An impassionate battle between you and the blackened! Aaaand it’s already started! It started the moment one of you plotted to kill someone!”

Monomi appeared from thin air just as Monokuma finished. Both robot plushies ended up fighting with each other – Monokuma beating Monomi – to the rabbit’s misery. Soon after the two of them vanished and left the tick uneasy silence that permeated through them.

“I’m sorry... But I-I can’t do this...” Tears started to run down Mahiru’s face, her normally bossy behavior was nowhere to be found at the moment. Hajime was holding tears of his own.

“I cannot abide by this!” Sonia declared with silent tears running down her cheeks. “Now that I have finally made friends... There is no way I can doubt them...!”

“It doesn’t matter if you can ‘abide’ by this or not... If it’s for our survival, then we don’t have a choice.” Hiyoko said with a dark expression.

“Argh! Why do I have to be in a situation like this?! I just wanna go home!” Kazuichi’s tears were by far the more pronounced.

“However, it’s just like Hiyoko said, if we’re going to get killed for not doing it... then we must do it.” Peko’s stern expression wasn’t showing much, but the tense line on her eyebrows displayed how nervous she actually was.

“I... I still can’t believe any of us killed Byakuya... That’s why... I’ll do it.” Nagito declared confidently. “I’ll investigate Byakuya’s death in order to prove that there’s no killer among us. Because the only enemy we have is which is trying to crush us... This despair!”

Hajime didn’t feel slightly as confident as Nagito. He wanted to bolt away from that place and just... run.

“Before you start can I say something?” Chiaki piped up. “In closed-circle detective games, the player usually has to decide on who’s going to guard the crime scene...”

“Oh yeah, so that the killer can’t destroy any evidence, right?” Hiyoko agreed.

Ibuki suggested for Nekomaru guard the crime scene due to his physic. But that possibility was thrown out the window the next second when Nekomaru sprinted out of the dining hall screaming. He was a really sensitive guy despite his looks.

Mahiru volunteered to watch the crime scene with Mikan who would perform an autopsy on Byakuya’s body, it was clear that the girl was frightened but was encouraged by Mahiru’s bravery. Bravery that Hajime was far from sharing.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t up to Hajime. He had to do it, liking it or not.

Nagito suggested they trust their intuition given that they were mere amateurs, and he was right, they were far from anything close to a forensic specialist. As they prepared to take action, Monokuma appeared once again.

“TAA-DAAA! You thought it was time for the investigation, buuuut...” The bear drawled humorously “The Monokuma File! Just as I thought, you amateurs need this, right?”

“Monokuma File...?”

“You see, the Monokuma File contains precise information regarding the body. I’ve brought it to ya, so you guys can smoothly proceed with the investigation. I’m such a nice guy!”

After he finished explaining he disappeared again.

The bear had handled them each with a tablet of sorts. But as he checked the contents, he realized what Monokuma had meant with ‘information regarding the body’.

The victim’s body was discovered in the dining hall of the old building near the hotel Mirai.

The estimated time of death is 11:30 p.m.

The victim was repeatedly stabbed over ten times between the throat and abdominal region, resulting in death.

Aside from that, the body has minor rashes on the skin and burst blood vessels in the eyes.

It was unbelievable. Stabbed over ten times? How could someone be so cruel?

And as much as he hated to admit, the Monokuma File seemed to be quite relevant for their investigation. Containing the time and cause of death was of extreme importance.

“Monokuma File #1” has been added to the truth bullets.

“So the stab wounds are the cause of death, huh? Yeah, we could figure as much.” Nagito commented looking thoughtful.

“T-Ten times...?!” Mahiru was holding a new wave of tears by her tone.

“It says that the time of death is 11:30 p.m., it was certainly during the blackout, but we can’t infer anything from it, given we have no means to check the time.” Peko remarked. The swordswoman was right, Hajime couldn’t fathom what time it was, even so, it could prove to be useful to have the information.

“What about Mahiru’s camera?! It’s a digital one, right?!” Ibuki said waving her hand energetically in the air. For as excentric and absentminded as the girl was she did have a good point.

“Oh yeah! I’ve been taking pictures the entire party, I’ll make sure to look through them and find the ones closest to the time of death.” Hajime thought the girl was relieved of having something to do.

“Hajime, can you investigate with me?” Nagito had moved closer to him and his voice was stern and quiet.

He hated it. Hated that his luck would go to such lengths as this to torment him, but just like Hiyoko said, they didn’t have a choice. He nodded at Nagito’s request and moved closer to the back of the room where Byakuya’s body hadn’t moved an inch.

And it never would anymore.

The knife close to his hands was by far the most perceptible clue of the crime scene. Not only was the knife covered in blood on one side, but there was also some fluorescent mark painted on the handle. Mark that was also found in the duct tape stuck on the underside of the table. It was incredibly weird. For some reason, night-vision goggles were also close to Byakuya, laying a few inches from his hand.

The bloodstains splattered on the inside of the tablecloth were worth the fact that the boy had been stabbed over ten times.

Hajime didn’t know what to think of it.

“Knife” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Bloodstains Under The Table” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Night-Vision Goggles” has been added to the truth bullets.

Remembering the weird sound of the A/C turning on by itself instants before the blackout, Hajime examined the timer and it was indeed set for 11:30 p.m. That confirmed that whoever killed Byakuya was aware of the A/C timer, it was too coincidental to be a fluke. Plus, the night-vision goggles and the glowing paint supported the theory he was formulating that the blackout had been intentional. Byakuya’s time of death and the A/C timer proved as much.

“A/C Timer” has been added to the truth bullets.

The last thing that remained to be investigated was the metal case that Byakuya had kept close to himself, For some reason it was open, Hajime clearly recalled that the case was shut before the blackout. A bunch of odd things was randomly thrown inside the case, pepper spray, nightsticks. What did catch his attention was an empty case, a hard plastic case, Hajime couldn’t fathom what had been stored previously.

Also inside the metal box was a tiny key, Hajime was sure that it was the key to the case containing the dangerous objects. Peko had been guarding it in the office. They could investigate the other metal case to see if anything was taken from it.

“Byakuya was guarding this case pretty closely, for it to be open now... Was it Byakuya the one who opened?” Hajime was following the same train of thought as Nagito, judging from Byakuya’s demeanor since the start of the party, it was quite farfetched that the boy would’ve allowed anyone to be privy to the case’s content.

“Is it possible that Byakuya knew something was going to happen?” Hajime thought out loud. “It would explain why he was being so cautious, paranoid even...”

“I agree, Byakuya might’ve known something we didn’t.”

“Duralumin Case” has been added to the truth bullets.

After examing the area the two of them quickly took off from the dining hall to leave Mikan to do whatever she had to. The first place they went was the storage room, the place was as messy as Hajime had left, but something caught his attention.

“Are those irons?”

Laying on the ironing board were three irons, all turned on for no specific reason.

“Yeah, I didn’t give much mind when I searched here for Byakuya, but now that we found his body, it struck me as weird, do you know anything about it?” Nagito asked thoughtfully.

“No... I barely wasted any time trying to clean this mess, but these irons were not here before, I would’ve noticed.” Someone else had put the irons there, Hajime knew that for sure. Why though? Only when Hajime went to take the irons off the power that the realization come to him. “A power surge...!”

“Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Someone set both the irons and the A/C timer. I can only assume it was intended to cause the blackout.” Nagito’s eyes drifted away to avoid the irons, his expression was of utter disappointment, Nagito had made a realization of his own.

Someone had settled the irons there.

The boy had confidently stated that he did not believe that one of them had killed Byakuya, and as much as he hated to acknowledge, Monokuma didn’t appear to be fooling them. The evidence was all around.

Without an ounce of thought, Hajime placed his hand on the taller boy’s shoulder, squeezing softly in an attempt of comfort. Hajime was far from being good at those kinds of things, but he wished that he could – even if slightly – reassure Nagito.

In return, the boy gave him a small smile. A sad smile. His spirits seemed to dim, but their responsibility to discover the culprit did not.

“Irons In the Storage Room” has been added to the truth bullets,

Hajime moved away from his gaze.

Despite the fact that the storage room was all clustered, his eyes did find something even more out of place than the irons. Tugging at the brim of Nagito’s sleeve, he indicated what he had found.

Stuffed carelessly on the laundry hamper was a bloody table tablecloth. It was splattered with blood on the center. That only proved the fact that the culprit had gone into the storage room both to create the circumstances of the murder and hide evidence. Though the tablecloth was so carelessly hidden that it brought the question: was the culprit in a hurry?

“A tablecloth? I wonder how did it get that bloody?” Nagito said pensively.

It was the only possibility he could think of. If they intended to hide it, they could’ve put more effort into doing so.

“Storage Room Tablecloth” has been added to the truth bullets.

There wasn’t much else to investigate in the dusty storage room, so they promptly made their way out.

“I think we should start asking people what they know about. Get their testimony and alibis, those kinds of things.” Hajime nodded at the boy’s suggestion, it was true, they needed to shorten the suspect list for those who didn’t have an alibi, otherwise, with no prime suspects in mind, the trial would consist in throwing the blame back and forth.

“You’re right, there has to be some clue that the others might know about.”

They walked in on Sonia inspecting the fire door looking rather perplexed.

“Um... There is something I mean to ask you.” Sonia’s eyes moved from the door to them.

“Uhm... Sure, what is it?”

“It appears that only that wall that is in a different color and material... Why is that?” The princess asked.

“It’s a fire door, I think. It’s a door used to prevent a fire from spreading by containing it when closed.” Hajime felt a bit foolish explaining something so trivial as the purpose of a fire door. But given Sonia’s upbringing, her ignorance towards certain things could be expected.

“I see! It is like a barrier! Just like lining up plastic bottles around the house!” The princess’s eyes were sparkling mesmerized by the fire door’s usefulness.

“You know about how to prevent cats from getting inside... but you don’t know about fire doors...?” Nagito questioned looking amused by Sonia’s ignorance. “Well, I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Fire Doors” has been added to the truth bullets.

Kazuichi met up with them in the office's entrance and asked if they had the key for the duralumin case’s key, so he could check if any item was taken from it. Seeing that they couldn’t be the only ones to investigate, they left the key with the mechanic, who was followed by Hiyoko – for the boy’s torment - to the office, since they couldn’t leave anyone alone with evidence.

Nagito voiced his desire of checking the kitchen just in case and Hajime found himself following.

The kitchen had been the cleanest part of the building, it was surprisingly stocked with equipment, but now it seemed to lack the majority of it, though an enormous piece of meat was placed on the counter. When asked, Teruteru informed them that Byakuya had confiscated all the knives and forks when they had gone to the kitchen, along with whatever he had found to be ‘dangerous’. Teruteru seemed outraged by Byakuya’s antics, but since he had already finished most of the dishes, it wasn’t much of an inconvenience.

“Yeah, it’s a little disappointing, you prepared all those dishes but in the end, only a few people ate it.” Nagito said simpatetically.

“After I worked so hard to cook the world’s most refined party dishes, only a few people actually tasted them...” Teruteru appeared to be very displeased by that fact, so Hajime quickly praised his culinary since he had been one of the people who ate it.

“Party Dishes” has been added to the truth bullets.

Another noticeable thing in the kitchen was the equipment list. After taking a look at it Nagito concluded that the knife used to stab Byakuya was not taken from the kitchen, which could only mean that someone had hidden the knife somewhere else. From the strict way Byakuya was performing the pat-downs, there would be no way he would’ve missed someone hiding a knife.

The list also informed that the kitchen was supplied with five iron skewers, an iron plate for barbecue, and a portable stove to cook hot pots. Hajime didn’t think it was of any relevance but kept it in mind, nonetheless.

“Kitchen Equipment List” has been added to the truth bullets.

“It’s clear that whoever killed Byakuya went to large lengths with their plan.”

“Yeah... It’s hard to believe someone would do that...” Nagito was looking more discouraged by the second. “Let’s get going, Nagito...”

The boy nodded and followed Hajime out of the kitchen. Their destination was to Byakuya’s cottage, maybe in his cottage would be an explanation as to why the boy was so paranoid. He had promised he wouldn’t let anyone become a victim, maybe that promise hadn’t included himself.

As they left the old building, a strange scene unfolded before them.

Chiaki and Gundham were on their knees trying to do something with the railings under the building.

“...Huh, what are you guys doing...?”

“ ‘What am I doing?’, you say? Ha! Now that is a foolish question!” Gundham shouted indignantly. Hajime was not eager to know the reason behind Gundham’s aggrieved state.

“Um, we’re just checking to see if we can get under the floor from here.” Chiaki explained more intelligible.

“Who said it was futile? Who decided it was impossible? How did you know I cannot recover my earring?!” Gundham continued looking straight at Hajime.

“W-What? What are you even talking about?” If there was someone on the island Hajime didn’t want to be on the wrong side, that person was Gundham. He wasn’t convinced that the boy was magical or anything, but seeing that Hajime’s luck was ludicrous in itself, he didn’t want to take any chances.

“If it is possible to get under the floor, it’ll change our understanding of the murder... I think.” He could follow her reasoning, though he also felt it would be farfetched, Chiaki herself didn’t seem too confident about her theory either. “So I thought... It was important to check it.”

 “I see... Under the floor, huh. I never considered thinking of it like that.” Nagito pondered beside him.

“...What do you mean?”

“Think about it. The carpet you laid didn’t reach the table where Byakuya’s body was found, right?” Nagito explained, Hajime still couldn’t see where he was going with it, and the chilly air outside the building was starting to make his fingers numb. “And... the dining hall floor had huge gaps between the floorboards.”

As Nagito spoke Hajime realized what the boy was inferring to. “You’re saying... It’s possible that the killer was under the floor when they killed Byakuya?!”

“That’s what I thought, that’s why we’re trying to get under the floor from here.” Chiaki reasoned.

“Well...?”

“Hmmm... I guess it’s not possible to get under the floor from outside. The building is surrounded by firm fences, so there’s no way to sneak under the floor from there.” Chiaki put a finger on her chin and eyed the navy sky.

“Well, it seems that you can’t get under the floor from the outside, then. That’s a relief.” Nagito said gladly.

“A relief? Why?” Hajime had the impression that Nagito was far past the point of just being a chill guy, Hajime liked his company but at the same time, he wasn’t really sure how to react to some things the boy said.

“Well, because if it was possible to get under the floor from outside, there’d be only one logical suspect. The only person who didn’t come to the party and doesn’t have an alibi.”

Fuyuhiko

It had been a long time since he had last seen the yakuza, which he was glad, but it did strike him as odd that Fuyuhiko didn’t show his face for the investigation. If he wasn’t the culprit, his life was at stake just as much as anyone else’s.

“I... suspected him, too. That’s why I was checking to see if it was possible or not.” Chiaki explained. He didn’t blame them for suspecting Fuyuhiko, he would’ve suspected him too. “Speaking of which... Not long after I began guarding the entrance... Fuyuhiko came here.” Chiaki added as she recalled the conversation she had with the yakuza.

According to her, Fuyuhiko might've wanted to be part of the group, but can’t be honest about it. Hajime found that hard to believe. Although he couldn’t find any reason as to why Fuyuhiko would lurk around the old building.

“Chiaki’s Account” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Gaps in The Floorboard” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Even though we don’t know his intentions, I don’t think we have any reason to doubt him.” Nagito commented. “That’s a relief, I’m glad.”

“You keep saying you’re glad, but we still have no conclusive clue to point out the killer.” Hajime couldn’t hide the slight bit of annoyance at his tone. However, Nagito just rolled with it and gave him a toothy smile and suggested for them to stick to the plan and verify Byakuya’s cottage.

“As long as the possibility is greater than zero... that will suffice.” Gundham proclaimed seeming encouraged by Nagito’s resilience to the idea of not having a killer among them. “I will most assuredly reclaim the Hell Hound Earring with my own two hands!” He remarked as he got up from the ground and made his way inside the building once more.

Not interested in the least by Gundham’s antics he pulled Nagito by the arm and walked the path to the cottages.

As they got close to the cottages area, a sudden realization hit him.

“The storage room!”

Nagito eyed him peripherally looking curious about his sudden outburst. “...Storage room...?”

“I remember... There’s a hatch. There’s a hatch in the storage room, you can get under the floor from there!” Hajime yelled, eyes wide open. “I forgot! I-I don’t know why... B-But there is! You can get under the floor from there.”

“Is that true..?” Nagito had fully whirled towards him.

“I’m sorry... I honestly don’t know how I could forget this.” Hajime had an inkling that his bad luck was behind it.

“I see... Well, that at least answers that question. I didn’t see anything when we were there though.”

“It’s behind a few of those boxes. Shit, we could’ve investigated down there if I...” He felt a bit ashamed for being so absent-minded, especially in a situation as serious as the one they found themselves in.

“Don’t sweat it, Hajime. It’s been a very stressful night, an entire day for you I suppose. At least you told me.” He gave Hajime one of his usual smiles and they finished the journey to Byakuya’s cottage.

“Hatch To Under The Floor” has been added to the truth bullets.

The door was locked, as to be expected. Nagito had the idea to call for Monokuma and persuade the bear into unlocking the room for the sake of a fair trial – Nagito’s words -. Monokuma looking amused by their attempt of persuasion, allowed them to enter the cottages, Hajime didn’t waste much of his mind on why a magic spell would open a door.

“It’s... tidy.” Byakuya’s room was neat as to be expected, the covers neatly arranged to embrace the bed, Hajime would bet that if he swiped his finger on the floor it would’ve come out clean. Hajime felt a bit disconcerted when he compared it to his own room.

“Indeed...” Nagito entered the cottage and went straight to the central table where a conspicuous note was placed on it. He swiftly grabbed the note and roomed his eyes on the piece of paper. When he finished his lips parted while his eyebrows hid behind his bangs.

“What is it...?” Hajime took a step forward and stood on his tip-toes trying to read the note from behind the boy’s shoulder.

BE CAREFUL!

The first kill will happen tonight.

Someone will definitely kill someone.

“The hell...?!” It was clear that the note was the reason for Byakuya’s weird behavior. The calligraphy was quite peculiar, straight lines in an almost robotic-looking way. Though given that he never saw anyone writing, he couldn’t recognize it.

“This pretty much settles it. This note might be the whole reason behind why Byakuya decided to throw a party in the first place.” Nagito’s lips trembled a little as he shifted his footing. “He was trying to create a scenario where no one could be killed, that’s why he chose an enclosed space.”

“And he didn’t say anything to not create a panic... Even so, how could he be so hellbent to believe it?” If he had received the note himself, Hajime doubted he would’ve batted an eye, maybe he would get anxious and cautious, but not to the lengths Byakuya had undergone.

“If the note was true or not, I don’t think it really mattered to him. He did promise he wouldn’t let anything happen with us, didn’t he?” Signing frustrated Nagito sat on the edge of the bed and crossed his arms. He looked... defeated, to some extent. “Never thought he would end up like that, though...”

The already unsettling atmosphere of the room grew ticker with grief and regret as their silence befell them like a heavyweight on their shoulders. Hajime wanted nothing more than to flee from the room where Byakuya resided. Instead, he took a few steps into the room and sat down next to Nagito.

He was at loss for words. He wanted to reassure the boy but didn’t have the slightest idea as to how. Hajime never was one to friends, not really. His luck had a part in that too, but mostly, he just wasn’t the kind of person who could socialize easily, if he was being honest to himself, he was awkward. Always unsure and uncertain about how he should act around others. Though he didn’t feel that way in Nagito’s company, at least not most of the time. He didn’t like to assume but he thought he found a kindred spirit within the boy.

“Look, if it makes you feel better... I don’t think he would’ve allowed any other way...”

“...What do you mean...?”

“It’s just... I feel like, for all his up-tight manners... I think if he had the choice, he wouldn’t have chosen to put any of us in danger on his behalf.” The moment the words slipped from his mouth Hajime sensed the incoming wave of mortification. “I mean, to take his place... I mean-“

“I get what you’re trying to say. I... think that as well...” Nagito’s voice was quiet, but once unleashed in the deafening silence of the cottage, it was downright impossible not to hear it clearly. Hajime moved his head to the side avoiding looking at the boy, even if Nagito had understood him, it didn’t lessen his embarrassment.

“...We should...“

“You’re right. There’s no time for mourning. There are still some things we need investigate.” Nagito pulled himself from the bed and offered a hand to Hajime, he reluctantly grabbed the boy's hand and stepped out of the cottage.

“Threatening Letter” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Hey, Hajime. Could you make me a favor? Can you go question everyone else on my behalf?” Nagito suddenly asked, stopping on his track in the middle of the wooden path.

“What do you mean? Aren’t you coming with me...?”

“I don’t think we have much time, and I wanted to confirm something, but I’m not confident that there’ll be enough time to do the two things.” Nagito reasoned earnestly. He was facing Hajime again, even though he didn’t elaborate on what he wanted to confirm, Hajime felt compelled to accept his request.

“Sure... I’ll fill you in later.” He would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious, or if Nagito said was true at all. Maybe the boy was just tired of his company – which Hajime could understand wholeheartedly -, but he didn’t want to demand Nagito to investigate with him. The boy thanked him and in a second he was walking in the opposite direction.

Not feeling nearly as disposed as he was mere seconds ago, Hajime fastened his journey back to the old building.

On the entrance hall, Ibuki was walking around in circles with her arms crossed behind her back while muttering rapidly to herself.

“Ibuki...?” It was kind of weird seeing the normally extremely energetic and loud girl just wandering with no destination.

“Apparently, a great man once said, ‘Investigations should be done on foot’.” The musician said pointing her fingers at her head with closed eyes. “Sooo, that’s why I’m also using my feet! I’m just walking around for no particular reason!”

“I see...” Hajime did not, in fact, see. But decided it was better to just brush her non-sense to the side. “I meant to ask you, Ibuki. As a musician I assume you have good ears, right?”

“Yep, yep! Not only do I have a perfect face, style, and personality, but I also have perfect ears!” Her eyes seemed to sparkle at the reflection from the dim lights.

“Okay, if your ears are so good, perchance did you hear what happened during the blackout...?”

“Leave it to Ibuki! Let’s see... the first person who raised their voice during the blackout was...”

Ibuki went on an unexpected detailed speech of what had transpired during the blackout, including him tripping on the lamp’s power cord and his grunts of pain following the fall.

What piqued his curiosity was what Byakuya had said during the blackout.

What the hell? What’s going on here?!

Th-This is...!

Maybe Byakuya was reacting at something, or maybe his reaction was the cause for whatever had happened after.

“Ibuki’s Account” has been added to the truth bullets.

Excusing himself he ran towards the dining hall, the prospect of reviewing Byakuya’s body made his stomach clench, but he didn’t have the luxury of no to. Besides, Mikan must’ve already finished her autopsy.

“Hey! Where the hell did you wander off to?” Mahiru interrogated him indignant as if he was just fooling around the whole time.

“I was investigating...” He was most certainly not indulging himself in that argument.

“Well, if you weren’t slacking off, then I guess it’s fine.” Hajime felt a prickle of annoyance at his skin. It wasn’t as if he needed her approval in the first place.

“So... Did you find something?”

“Well... just take a look at this.” Mahiru picked the camera hanging around her neck and started going through the photos of the night. “Using the two photos I took before the blackout, I tried to pinpoint where everyone was standing... I ended up creating this diagram to make it easier to visualize.”

She picked a sheet of paper from the table and shoved it in his hands. It was somewhat detailed, even those who weren’t present at the dining hall were presented with their supposed locations or lack of thereof in Fuyuhiko’s case. Hajime was located close to the table and the power cord, during the blackout, with Nagito right beside him, which was correct.

“I’m sure this will come in handy.” Hajime had a nagging feeling that it would be extremely useful sometime during the trial, but he didn’t voice his platitudes, he was certain Mahiru wouldn’t take it well, to begin with. “What about Mikan, has she found something?”

“Um... If you like, I can tell you a little bit of what I want to say.” Mikan’s timid tone reached his ears having overheard him.

“Sure, what have you found?”

“Um... I tried to perform an autopsy on Byakuya and... discovered there were several puncture wounds around Byakuya’s chest and abdominal region.” Mikan recounted firmly, but she descended into tears as she went on the details. “I-It can be assumed that... a very thin, sharp object around... 5mm in diameter... was used... to stab him... over and...-“

“Okay, I got the gist of it. Was there anything else...?” Hajime interrupted her before the girl started crying her eyes out.

“Um... Yes...” Mikan smudged away the tears and tried to recompose herself. “I-I noticed that there were... burst blood vessels on his eyes and... there were also rashes around his throat...”

“Burst blood vessels?” Hajime was far from having any relevant expertise in the medical area, but it seemed unusual to him for a body to have blood in the eyes. “What does that mean?”

“Um... well, normally... subconjunctival hemorrhage it w-would be caused for many not concerning reasons but... coupled w-with the rashes... i-it could mean poisoning...”

“Poisoning?!” When could’ve Byakuya even gotten poisoned? “Are you sure, Mikan?”

“I-I-I don’t know...! It could be, but... It could mean something else... I’m sorry...!” Trying to avoid a new wave of tears Hajime promptly assured her of the importance of the autopsy. He felt uncomfortable being close to Mikan, the girl was always been mocked or sobbing on the corner, it made him feel bad for her, on the other hand, he was wary of talking to her, it felt like walking on eggshells, and Hajime could not be trusted to not stomp down on those shells.

“Mikan’s Autopsy Results” has been added to the truth bullets.

*Ding dong, bing bong*

“Alrighty guys, it’s finally time! That’s right. It’s time for the long-awaited class trial! Now then, I shall tell you all about the meeting place. At the central island of Jabberwock Island, there is a mountain with my adorable face carved into it, it’s called the Monokuma Rock! Once you’re there. Please proceed to the underground by taking the elevator located at the secret entrance.” Monokuma’s broadcast informed. Hajime didn’t recall any that could resemble a ‘Monokuma Rock’ but decided not to think much about it.

It was finally time, he dreaded whatever was in stock for them. Previously that night, Byakuya was bossing them around and declaring they would have a party. The guy had good intentions despite Hajime’s first impression. Now Byakuya was dead. Murdered, by one of the people he promised to protect. Gave his life to protect.

The thought almost made him gag.

“It’s time... Argh, how could something like this have happened...?” Mahiru covered her mouth with a hand as her eyes traveled to Byakuya one last time, then around the dining hall. Hajime thought she was trying to force her mind to go back the few hours before the body discovery announcement. Hajime could relate to that desire to just go somewhere else.

“We better go... I don’t want to give Monokuma any reasons to mess with us.”

“Yeah, okay, let’s move...”

As instructed by Monokuma they went to the central island and found most of the other students already waiting there eyeing the mountain suspiciously. Just like Monokuma had said, the mountain was carved with a bunch of Monokuma’s head. It was anything but ‘adorable’.

“Tch...! I still can’t believe he’s dead!” Hajime heard Nekomaru muttering. Ibuki and Teruteru joined him in disbelief of the situation.

“...Where are Gundham and Fuyuhiko?” Chiaki asked taking a look at everyone but not finding either of the boys.

“Ah, I know! They probably ran away!” Hiyoko responded throwing her hands in the air and letting a mirthful laugh.

“Aw hell naw! There’s no way I’d let them escape, you know!” Monokuma said as he dragged Fuyuhiko ungracefully by the collar, the yakuza said plenty of unpleasant things to the bear who merely laugh it off. Some of the unpleasant things edged towards downright distasteful, brushing Byakuya’s death off as if it wasn't anything of relevance.

It pissed him off.

“You’re life is just as much at stake as ours, y’know!” Hajime might’ve come to regret telling Fuyuhiko off later, but that was future-Hajime’s problem. Byakuya for as a pain in the ass as the boy was sometimes still had died intending to protect them all, Fuyuhiko included.

“I have nothing to do with this shit! You were the ones who decided to kill each other off. And I didn’t ask you to do anything for me, you dumbass!” Fuyuhiko shouted irritated pointing a finger at Hajime.

“Exactly. And if we get through this, you’ll have all our asses to thank for doing your work for you.” Hajime remarked enraged at the yakuza’s dismissal of Byakuya’s demise and turned away from Fuyuhiko before he could answer anything.

“W-What did you say you motherf-“ Fuyuhiko had been taken by surprise by his sudden outburst if the stuttering was anything to go for. The other students were also eyeing him stunned by his unusual irritation. Hajime at the time wasn’t at all caring.

“Stop it, you two, that’s enough...!” Nagito said trying to defuse the situation. Thankfully, Fuyuhiko seemed too disturbed at the argument and just brushed his reaction off after calling him a ‘fucking bastard’.

Gundham made his dramatic entrance right after, informing them on how the main character arrives when they intend to, and whatever. Monomi had also made her appearance and exposed her intentions of attending the ‘class trial’, Monokuma as to be expected, mocked her about how big of a masochist the rabbit was.

“He told us to come, but... how do we get there?” Teruteru prompted poking his index fingers together.

At that moment, a screeching roar echoed in the empty night sky all around them, it startled some of the students, including Hajime. The earth was shaking and one of the Monokuma Rocks opened its mouth, the loud noise it seemed, was coming from down its throat.

Just as sudden a platform came out from the statue’s mouth and descended into them. Unfortunately for Hajime, the platform hit his left foot and an instant searing wave of pain exploded in his toe fingers. He yelled sharply as he pulled his foot from underneath the platform.

“S-Such a suspicious aura...! Even Crimson Steel Elephant Maga-Z is trembling with fear...!” Gundham shouted holding his scared hamsters with both hands.

“Fuck! Where the hell...!” The pain was pulsating through his bloodstream, his toe finger all throbbing, Hajime felt hot tears starting to form inside his eyelids. Frustrated he punched his tight with enough force to cause a bruise, but he had hit something more than just his pants.

“I’m Usami... Magical Miracle Girl ★ Usami. I’m an itty bitty girl who’s sweet like milk”

“The hell...!” Hajime ignored his pain for a second as he shoved his hand into his left pocket only to return with a Usami Strap.

“What are you still doing with that crap?” Kazuichi narrowed his pointy eyes at him.

“Are you alright, Hajime?” Nagito said overlapping Kazuichi, he pressed a hand to his arm as he eyed his stomped foot.

“Yeah- I mean no...” Hajime shook his head as he leashed his frustration and pain. “I forgot I have kept it, I don’t even know how it got here – Argh!” A new flash of pain flowed through him.

“Is it broken, or what?” Akane asked curiously trying to get a look at Hajime’s toes.

“N-No I don’t think so...”

“Isn’t it better if Mikan checks it before we go...?” Mahiru suggested.

“No, no, we don’t have time. It’s not broken, let’s just... get this over with.” He truly just wanted to fall facedown on his mattress and get swollen by unconsciousness for hours to come, swim in the lands of oblivion, and forget about the last couple of days.

“Why were you even holding that for? It’s so disgusting. I threw away as soon as that rabbit-pig gave it to me” Hiyoko remarked.

“I felt bad for her... So I just kept it...”

“Hmph, weirdo...” Hajime ignored her barbed words and walked towards the escalator despite the lingering throbbing on his toes.

“Usami Strap” has been added to the truth bullets.

They rode the escalator in oppressive silence and settled inside a compartment on Monokuma’s head. When everyone was inside the compartment started to descend deep into the ground with a roaring sound.

“This... is an elevator!” Nekomaru stated the obvious from the right corner on the back. They were all scattered around the enclosed space, only a mere foot of distance between everyone. Hajime stepped closer to Nagito who was standing on his right side and whispered.

“Did you confirm it?”

“...Confirm what...?” Nagito questioned puzzled.

“Whatever you went to confirm.”

“Oh...! Yes, but it wasn’t anything extraordinary or anything, I went to the supermarket to see if that little case on the metal box Byakuya was carrying was from the night-vision goggles.” Nagito had placed a hand over his ear to avoid curious ears. “And turns out they were.”

Hajime looked at Nagito’s pleased expression and nodded appreciatively. Despite the boy downplaying it, his discovery was of great relevance, it could explain plenty of his doubts.

"Nagito’s Account” has been added to the truth bullets.

“When the blackout had occurred I was curious as to why Monomi entered the party all of a sudden. But now we know it was actually your strap.” Nagito commented.

“Me too. I even asked her early, but she said she didn’t know what I was talking about, at least that explains it.” Hajime signed before adding. “Though if I’m being honest, I had no idea it was in my pocket.”

“It was truly lucky that we had that mystery solved in... quite a creative manner.” Nagito teased him by his display of bad luck – good luck -.

“Oh, shove it.”

Their short banter finished as quickly as it started, and once again the dreadful silence embraced them. They were going deeper and deeper, how could that even be possible?

Hajime’s scattered ponderings came to a halt as the door of the compartment opened again to give view to an enormous circular courtroom. Monokuma was sat on a throne in the middle of the room. In the center in front of the bear’s seat were circularly placed various podiums, all facing each other. To Monokuma’s left side Monomi found herself wrapped in tight ropes hanging from the ceiling, while on his right a big monitor was attached to the wall.

“Ta-da! This is the class trial field! How do you like it? It’s a special place that will decide your fates!” Monokuma announced.

“Tch... what the hell is he thinking...!? Locking us in a shitty-looking place like this...!” Fuyuhiko raged. “Are you fuckin’ crazy?! Don’t mess with me, asshole!”

“Phuhu... Complain all you like, I’m used to it by now.” Monokuma giggled not scared in the least. “C’mon, you’re wasting your time and energy. Hurry up and take your seats where your names are written!”

No one had any other complaints. It was a futile endeavor anyway. Just as Monokuma ordered, they all walked to the podiums each of them was assigned. The tension in the air grew so tick that Hajime’s breath was shortened, the panic he had stifled since discovering Byakuya under the table was crawling back to him in torrents.

They had to find out by any means necessary who had done that. There was no choice other than sacrifice the culprit, as cruel as it was. That was their only hope.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 4: Dancing On The Edge Of a Knife

He placed his trembling hands on the podium in a feeble effort at regaining his composure. Never had Hajime been in the presence of a quiet so suffocating. He was already used to how silent his house got when no one was home, the echo running through walls and corridors like a sentient entity in itself, following his every footstep.

The silence it seemed, was the same in the courtroom, looming over them with the threat of helplessness of their disturbing predicament. The silence was as tangible as any of the students standing skittishly in their podiums. Byakuya’s was filled with a picture of the boy crossed with an ‘X’.

From the way the courtroom was designed, you couldn’t hide behind anything or anyone, they were all facing each other, standing almost shoulder to shoulder and with no means to hide their expressions. Each of them laid bare and exposed to the others’ eyes.

It was utterly unsettling.

“Now then, let’s start with a simple explanation of the class trial. During the class trial, you will present your arguments for who the killer is, and vote for ‘whodunnit’.” Monokuma’s jovial voice broke the oppressing silence. Hajime wasn’t sure if the silence was preferable or not. “If you vote correctly, then only the blackened will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong person... I’ll punish everyone besides the blackened, and that person will earn the right to leave this island!”

“S-Such a cruel rule...!” Monomi whimpered from where she was hanging.

“Before we begin, I’d like to confirm one thing. Is there really a killer among us?” Nagito questioned looking directly at Monokuma. The boy must’ve still had some lingering hope that it was all the bear’s scheme. Hajime wasn’t that optimistic.

“Most definitely... There’s no doubt that the blackened is lurking among you. Such a sad state of affairs, isn’t it?” Monokuma kept mocking and explaining the intrinsics of the trial and how it was completely fair. “Now, let’s begin!”

“Y-You’re telling us to begin... but what are we supposed to do?” Mikan asked avoiding all eyes.

“No complainin’, let’s just settle this with our fists!” Akane took a fighting stance as she connected her fist to her palm. Kazuichi tried to chastise the girl, but Fuyuhiko got there first and completely ignored Akane’s remark.

“Didn’t that Byakuya bastard got killed in the dining hall, huh? Then everyone there is a fuckin’ suspect.”

“We get it. What you’re really trying to say is that you’re not the killer, right?” Mahiru completed his logic already looking annoyed by Fuyuhiko’s implications.

“A-Anyway... why don’t we try talking about the most pressing issue on our minds?” Nagito interrupted the argument that was soon to come. “Like, where we found the body. It’s very strange to find a body underneath a table.”

It was true. Hajime was so caught up in finding clues and theorizing that it escaped the obvious incredulity of the fact.

“Yeah... Let’s start with that mystery.” Chiaki seconded his idea.

“It is weird that the body was at the back of the dining hall. Under the table, no less.” Gundham remarked.

“After killer murdered Byakuya... They probably moved his body there.” Kazuichi stated confidently, though Hajime could see the flaw in his argument from miles.

“That’s not what happened. The killer did not move the body.”

“Uh? Why not?”

“You sound fairly sure of that...” Gundham’s voice was a tone lower than normal, unsure of Hajime’s confidence.

“Don’t you remember? When we found the body there was plenty of blood everywhere, but no signs the killer actually dragged the body through it.” Nagito answered on his behalf.

“I see...! They’re right, there weren’t any stains on the floor.” Mahiru supported.

“Arghhh! And here I thought I had a genius idea!”

“Too bad you’re soooo stupid and boring and unpopular! Your life is meaningless!” Hiyoko sniggered behind her hand looking entirely pleased by Kazuichi’s reaction.

“But then how did Byakuya’s body get under the table?” Ibuki questioned.

“I think it’s safe to say that he was killed under that table.”

“So you think he was killed under the table?!” Nekomaru cried out.

“So Byakuya snuck under the table for unknown reasons, and that’s when he was killed...” Nagito ignored Nekomaru and explained their hypothesis. “Then, shortly thereafter, we found his body under the table.”

“Th-That does make sense, but... why did he go under the table?” Nekomaru relented.

“Obviously he was hidin’ so he could surprise us. That guy was always a big jokester.” Hajime closed his eyes and sighed at the incredibility of Akane’s views towards Byakuya’s personality.

“Hmm... Maybe he panicked during the blackout and dove under the table...” Teruteru suggested.

“It’s a blackout, not an earthquake! Just ‘cause the power went out doesn’t mean he’d dive under the table!” Nekomaru countered. Hajime had at first thought that that was the case, but as he proceeded investigating that line of thought got more flawed.

“I’m pretty sure that the reason behind that is connected to what Byakuya was doing during the party, don’t you think?” Nagito provided.

“Do you mean... the search for dangerous items?” Sonia guessed.

“Yes. Byakuya was wary of all dangerous items since the beginning of the party. So the knife we found must have something to do as to why we found his body lying there.”

“Knife...? Oh, you mean that thing that obviously screams, ‘I am the murder weapon!’?” Ibuki stated the obvious as usual. Hajime was uneasy as to how some of the students appeared to be so unaffected by what had happened. He thought it was a facade, a way to divert their mind from the atrocity that took place right under their nose.

“Byakuya probably noticed the knife was hidden there... so in order to get it, he moved under the table.” Nagito added.

“He was particularly sensitive to the presence of dangerous items as suggested, so I cannot deny that possibility...” Gundham stated. “But how did he notice that there was a knife under the table?”

“He couldn’t have known beforehand, right? He would’ve confiscated, for sure.” Mahiru was right, From how paranoid Byakuya was acting, there would be no way he would’ve overlooked something like that.

“What if he saw it at the moment...?” Chiaki piped up. “Like, maybe he saw someone trying to take the knife out from under the table...”

“That’s not possible.” Peko stated sharply.

“You sound rather confident about that...” Nekomaru commented.

“Of course. I have proof to back me up.”

“Phuhuhu! This is almost like a real trial!” Monokuma laughed turning a bit pink on the white cheek on his right side.

“It’s true though, Byakuya ducked under the table during the blackout."

“But if that’s the case, Mr. Ham Hands would’ve seen the killer take out the knife...” Hiyoko countered. “And it was super pitch-black...”

“Byakuya couldn’t see in the dark either.” Peko affirmed.

After what Nagito had told him in the elevator, it became clear that the one using the night-vision goggles was, in fact, Byakuya.

“No, that’s wrong. I’m pretty sure Byakuya could see in the dark.”

“And why do you say that...?” Peko’s eyebrows creased at his unexpected rebuttal.

“It’s pretty obvious... You can’t see in the dark, no matter what. If Byakuya moved under the table, the only reason for that would be to confront the culprit who was taking the knife, correct?” He was being vague purposefully. He assumed Nagito was the only other person who knew about the goggles’ case. Maybe the killer could have a slip-up. “If so, then automatically he had to be wearing the night-vision goggles.”

“No, that’s obviously wrong! It was the other way around!” Mahiru shouted unnecessarily loud at Hajime, who was standing right beside her.

“And why would that be?”

“It’s common sense, my god, just think for a second! The killer would be totally blind otherwise.” Her argument was solid, Hajime wasn’t sure how the killer managed such a feat either, but he also knew for a fact that they didn’t use the goggles.

“I’m not sure how the killer did it. But Byakuya definitely was the one to use the night-vision goggles.” Hajime said standing his ground and staring right back at her.

“What you’re saying makes no sense! And how would you even know?” Mahiru’s eyes narrowed in on him, as surely her suspicion coursed through her.

“Because inside one of those metal boxes we found a tinier case. Nagito went to the supermarket and confirmed that it was the case for the night-vision goggles.” Hajime crossed his arm and attempted to look more confident than he felt.

“W-What...?!”

“That information could’ve been delivered to us earlier...” Sonia remarked smiling gently and tilting her head a bit.

“Yeah, Miss Sonia is right! You could’ve started with that!” Kazuichi exclaimed supporting Sonia, unsurprisingly.

“Well, I just said it.” Hajime felt a bit disconcerted by the failure of his stratagem. “Plus, Byakuya was the only person who could’ve opened the duralumin case, since he was guarding it, in the first place.”

“Okay... When you put it like that, it makes sense...” Mahiru reluctantly relented.

“Then, does that mean that the knife was inside the case, too?” Teruteru asked. "Since the night-vision goggles were there, it wouldn’t be weird for a knife to be in there, too!”

“It would be weird...” Chiaki countered.

“I agree, the other duralumin case with the dangerous items was still in the office when I checked.” Kazuichi scratched behind his neck and send a cautious look in Peko’s direction.

“Also, there was duct tape left under the table where the body was found.” Nagito supported. “They must’ve hidden the knife by duct-taping it to the underside of the table.”

“Oh... So that’s why we found duct tape there...” Mikan commented pulling her arms in front of herself.

“Huh, even Byakuya couldn’t have noticed a weapon hidden like that.” Nekomaru remarked.

Nothing was said for a few short seconds.

“...This may be off-topic, but why was Byakuya acting so paranoid?” Peko asked. “He went to the trouble of hiding an entire self-defense kit and even night-vision goggles.”

“I know, right? He went above and beyond being just cautious, from the obsession with dangerous items to perform a body check.” Mahiru concurred.

“That’s easy to explain. Nagito and I went to Byakuya’s cottage for that same reason.” Hajime took the piece of paper from his pocket and passed it along to the others. “It seems to be a threatening letter...”

“Who would’ve written such a dumb, threatening letter like that...” For once he agreed with Hiyoko, the letter was... dumb. If someone was about to commit a murder, the last thing they should be doing would be to advertise it. Though he suspected that the purpose of the letter wasn’t exactly that.

“It doesn’t matter yet... So, Byakuya became paranoid because of this threatening letter?” Peko questioned.

“Actually, he probably decided to throw the party because of the letter.” Nagito reasoned, his demeanor calm and earnest. “By doing so, he tried to create a situation that the author of the letter couldn’t act.”

“But the letter might’ve been a prank...” Teruteru pointed out.

“Regardless, he couldn’t take the risk, could he? He did promise to protect us all.” Nagito countered. “He also couldn’t have told us, we would’ve panicked, for sure.”

“So he tried to do something about it without telling anyone?” Sonia inquired.

“Tch! Screw that noise! Who the hell wrote that letter?!” Akane was seemed ready to beat the crap out of anyone who raised their hand.

“It had to have been the killer.” Teruteru responded.

Was it really? Hajime wasn’t entirely sure. Whoever wrote the letter should have some relevance to the case, great relevance even, but they would only know for sure discussing it.

Breaking the silence that had once more settled around them, Sonia spoke up.

“I regret that I must return to this topic. But I just realized something concerning the night-vision goggles.” Sonia seemed uncertain to return to that matter but continued. “If Byakuya was indeed wearing those goggles... how did the killer manage to navigate in the dark?”

Her question was pertinent. That was something that had been bothering him for some time now.

“You’re right!” Teruteru consented. “How did both Byakuya and the killer navigate in the dark with only one pair of goggles?”

For a mere second, Hajime cogitated the possibility that Byakuya was planning a murder himself. He stopped indulging those thoughts as he recalled the letter. Byakuya wouldn’t have sent a letter to himself. Plus, he was the victim.

“I think the glowing paint on the knife was what the killer used to retrieve it.” Nagito responded. “The duct tape was also marked with glowing paint.”

“B-But... doesn’t that mean... the killer painted them in advance?” Mikan stuttered quietly. “I-It’s like... they knew the blackout was going to happen...”

“They should’ve already known. That’s the reason behind the glowing paint.” Chiaki pointed out.

“...Which means whoever set up the blackout is the killer!” Hiyoko stated looking smug at their discovery.

“We can’t be sure as of now. But that’s likely case” Hajime said.

“Wait... so that means that whoever was in the office with the circuit breaker is the killer...” Hajime already knew what was coming out from Kazuichi’s mouth minutes before it did. The boy was visibly refraining himself from saying it for a long time now. “Which mean is you, Peko Pekoyama!”

Peko hardly appeared to be surprised as well.

“Eek! Peko killed poor Byakuya?! Was this island not big enough for two glasses-wearers?!” Ibuki dramatically paraphrased.

What did take their attention was the unforeseen moving of her podium slightly towards the middle of the circle of students.

“W-W-What the flying wreck is that!” Ibuki exclaimed clamping her hands on his mouth afterward.

“Phuhu... When someone gets accused, is only natural for them to be interrogated.” Monokuma remarked from his throne. “And our morphenomenal trial grounds are happy to suffice that dynamic! It makes the trial more realistic, y’know.”

After the shock wore off, Hajime realized how uneasy it was. It was as if Peko had entered the witness stand and been treated as a hostile witness.

“...I’m not the killer.” Peko simply stated. Kazuichi’s accusation hadn’t fazed her at all.

“Oh, guess she’s not!” Akane said.

“How can you believe her so easily!” Hajime also felt frustrated with Akane’s absentmindedness, but he wasn’t inclined to believe that Peko was the killer either. Or that she caused the blackout at the very least.

“It wasn’t her.” Hajime countered. “I admit that I’m curious as to why she wasn’t at the office when she should’ve, but the blackout wasn’t caused by the breaker, that’s for sure.”

“Well Peko, where were you?” Hiyoko asked eyeing the swordswoman sardonically.

“I... Well...” Peko seemed more nervous about the prospect of answering the question than at Kazuichi’s accusation. “I guess it’s no time for pleasantries. I locked myself in the bathroom.”

Hajime... was not expecting that answer. Though, it explained some things.

“No way! That’s just an excuse!” Kazuichi countered.

“No... I don’t think so. Nekomaru did mention before the blackout that someone was locked inside the bathroom.”

“That’s right! I tried a dozen times but it wouldn’t open, I was at the brink of shitting myself.” Nekomaru confirmed.

“Y-You locked yourself in the commode? You should’ve said so earlier!” Kazuichi complained.

“There’s no way she’d actually say that! Gosh, you’re so insensitive!” Mahiru chastised the boy angrily. Peko was looking very much not comfortable with the topic.

“If she locked herself in the bathroom for that long, there’s no doubt... It’s shit.” Nekomaru stated and then gave a humorous laugh. “GAH-HAHA! Aw, There’s no way she’d admit it! There’s no way she’d admit she was taking a shit!”

“I can’t believe you! Were you all raised in a locker room!” Mahiru took offense at Peko’s behalf, Hajime thought the girl was one step from stepping out of her podium and smacking the two boys. Nekomaru at least seemed apologetic about his crude commentaries.

“I-It’s fine... Let’s just talk about something else?” That was Peko’s desperate attempt at changing the subject and Hajime couldn’t agree more.

“Agreed.” Peko’s podium returned to its original position as she was proven innocent.

“But still, you were in the bathroom for a long time, right? Did you get food poisoning or something?” Hiyoko inquired.

“When I stepped into the office my stomach suddenly started hurting. That’s why I was unable to leave the bathroom... Including when... the blackout occurred...”

If that was true, it pretty much ruled her out of the suspect list. And Hajime was inclined to believe her, she sounded sincere enough.

“Still, your stomach pain... Was it really just a coincidence?” Fuyuhiko questioned looking suspicious.

“Stop butting into other people’s business, especially if you didn’t do any investigating.” Hajime was having the impression that Mahiru’s complaints were turning into provocations.

“Heh, I’m only buttin’ in ‘cause you fuckin’ idiots are outta your element.”

“What do you mean by coincidence Fuyuhiko?” Hajime wasn’t a fan of said coincidences, for various reasons.

“What I mean is... Is it possible someone slipped her some laxatives?” Fuyuhiko responded looking annoyed at their inquiries. “Because if so, the killer could’ve tripped the breaker as soon as that girl left the office, don’t you think?”

“I see! That might’ve happened.” Akane agreed.

“I don’t know about any laxatives, but I doubt the breaker has actually anything to do with the blackout.” Hajime informed the others.

“Huh, and what would you know about that?” Fuyuhiko sneered, his rage at Hajime must’ve still been boiling in the yakuza’s blood. Hajime didn’t care.

“Indeed. You sound as if you know quite a lot about the intrinsics of this case...” Gundham remarked also eyeing Hajime with suspicion.

“Well, I assume Nagito and I were the ones that investigated the most, which make some of the things about Byakuya’s death a bit more clear to us.” Hajime explained not batting an eye to their implications.

“Then, pray to tell... would you care to explain those things, ?” Gundham had closed his eyes and a sarcastic smirk took his expression.

“I’m sure that the blackout was caused by a power surge.” Hajime felt the need to roll his eyes at Gundham’s mocking tone but refrained from doing so in the last second. “Nagito and I found three irons in the storage room, according to Nagito they were turned on when he first searched for Byakuya there.”

“It’s true, someone had set all three irons on, for no apparent reason.” Nagito confirmed sending a nod to Hajime’s way.

“Stupid fools! Three irons?! There’s no way that’s enough to cause a power surge!” Nekomaru protested loudly.

“Maybe, but it would cause a power surge if it was coupled with the A/C and all lights on the building, right?” Nagito argued.

“Precisely, someone also messed with the A/C timer, it was programmed to activate at 11:30 p.m.”

“11:30 p.m.? But... that was Byakuya’s time of death, wasn’t it?” Mahiru asked alarmed.

“Wait a sec, A/C timer...?” Kazuichi questioned looking thoughtful. “Now that you mentioned it, I saw the same time programmed on the A/C on the office, too! It was programmed to activate at 11:30 p.m.!”

Hajime hadn’t personally checked the office, but Kazuichi’s testimony was enough to settle all the doubts regarding the cause of the blackout.

“That pretty much settles it, then. It was a power surge.” Chiaki stated. With that out of the way, their discussion could now flow more fluently.

“The culprit really went to all fuckin’ lengths to accomplish their plan, it seems.” Fuyuhiko remarked idly.

“Yeah, the killer is so sly... I’m starting to worry that we may never actually find them.” Hiyoko commented, her expression turning into a mischievous mask.

“Personally, I find the killer frighteningly thorough. It’s just like Fuyuhiko said, they went above and beyond to ensure their plan worked.” Hajime felt uneasy at the thought that someone would orchestrate such a malicious plan, and for what ends? Selfish ends, he was sure.

“You don’t have to worry, because... they’re just a petty killer, right?” Nagito commented taking a look at everyone, his eyes lingering a bit on Hajime. “There’s no way everyone will lose now. Because in the end, hope always wins. That’s what I believe!”

Nagito’s statement was somehow... ominous. Hajime didn’t know it was only him but it felt like the tension in the air thickened. His words caused an uneasy feeling to start to creep in his insides.

“Even so, we’re still far from finding the killer...” Hajime said as means to divert attention.

“Not really, you dumbass...” Fuyuhiko sneered. “You said that the culprit set the A/Cs timers and put irons on the storage room, right? Then we only have to look for who could’ve done that, and not everyone could.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Akane seconded, for once focusing on their discussion. “Tonight was the first time I even entered that old shack. So it’s not me.”

“That logic is a bit flawed...” Nagito started, his former unsettling tone gone. “The irons were probably already in the storage room, and any one of us could’ve messed with the A/Cs. Huh, what a shame!” In the end, he sent a smile and a mild wave in the yakuza’s direction.

“What the fuck are you implying...?” Fuyuhiko was not buying into whatever Nagito was saying. His face had grown a pale shade of red from pure outrage.

“He’s just saying! After all this time, we still haven’t made any progress!” Hiyoko clarified with a dark look at Fuyuhiko.

“Huh? Even though we’ve been arguing for so long?!” Sonia questioned troubled by their lack of conclusive clues.

“Unfortunately, It’s the truth...” Nagito appeared to share the princess’s distress. “Despite the fact that we discussed this at length, there’s not a single clue that points to the killer...”

For a moment it seemed as if Nagito was going to add something else, but then refrained himself and just looked at his feet.

“Is there really no other clue?” Peko asked. “Perhaps we should start just making questions, no matter how trivial it may seem.”

“Doubting each other... There’s no way that’s healthy behavior. I just can’t stand this anymore!” Nagito exclaimed exasperated completely disregarding Peko’s suggestion. His demeanor was oozing distress now, if Hajime concentrated he could see the faint tremble of his hands.

“I-I don’t wanna do this either...” Teruteru agreed from his podium.

“Me too! P-Please, take me home already!” Mikan cried out.

Like a domino, the others’ composure began to crumble. Hiyoko joined their complaints and started crying furiously – though Hajime wasn’t sure if it was a sincere reaction -. Even Mahiru had made a futile attempt in hiding her nervousness, the girl was tugging at the hem of her skirt as if it was a lifeline.

“Coupled with the fact that there’s not a single clue that leads to the killer... It only makes this even more meaningless...” Nagito declared.

“That’s wrong!” Chiaki yelled.

It was the highest Hajime had - up until now – heard her voice get. Her normally lazy and drawled tone was so inherently of her personality that hearing her yell stroke everyone silent. Hajime even stopped nibbling his lower lip, he hadn’t even noticed when he had started it.

Feeling self-conscious by her outburst, Chiaki lowered her arm and quietly clarified. “...I think.

“What you do mean...?” Hajime found himself asking.

“Cuz... We’ve already found a clue that might point to who the killer is.” Chiaki declared to his astonishment. Was it true? But what kind of clue would point out the killer and they all had overlooked? Hajime was a bit skeptical, to say the least.

“A clue, you say?” Gundham pried voicing his disbelief.

“You know who the killer is?!” Akane to the contrary was already on the boat with whatever was about to come out of Chiaki’s mouth.

“The killer? I dunno... But we do have a clue about a suspicious person... I think.” For all she was saying, Chiaki wasn’t exactly exhaling confidence.

“I see... Then care to tell us? What’s this clue you’re talking about?” Nagito’s mood made a one-eighty again. Hajime couldn’t start to fathom what was going on with the boy. It made him antsy.

“First of all, let’s try thinking about how the killer was able to obtain the knife during the blackout.”

“We already covered that, they used the glowing paint as a mark.” Hajime said feeling a bit disappointed at the gamer’s suggestion. For all his lack of faith, he hoped he was proven wrong for once. He suspected his luck saw through him, as usual.

“No, no that... I mean, before that.” Chiaki explained lifting a finger to emphasize her claim.

“Before...?” Hajime wasn’t exactly sure what the girl meant. To obtain the knife the killer had surely moved to the table, then they grabbed the knife on the underside with the glowing paint mark. Byakuya with the night-vision goggles had seen them and went for the knife, ultimately dying under the same table.

“Are you talking about how the killer got to that table?” Hajime was stupefied. Not only he had totally overlooked that mystery, but Akane of all people had caught onto that. Mortification swelled in his veins as his blood rushed to the surface. Their situation aside, Hajime considered himself a self-proclaimed admirer of criminal novels, to miss something as crucial as that was embarrassing. It wounded his dignity. Or the half-assed excuse he called dignity, anyway.

“Wait, I made a diagram with everyone’s location just before the blackout, maybe that way we can find something.” Mahiru pulled the sheet of paper she had shown to Hajime just before the announcement. “Here it is...”

Mahiru passed the diagram along and he was one of the first to get his hands on it. When Mahiru had first shown him, Hajime hadn’t given much attention, he merely stored the knowledge of the diagram in the back of his mind. But as he took another look at it, the compromising contents of the diagram made themselves clear. Hajime had been the closest to the table. Not only that, he was literally beside the A/C and Mahiru had also drawn the lamp on the sheet of paper with the reason of feeling it might’ve been important. The implications contained within that mere piece of paper would not go past blind eyes.

He should not underestimate his luck.

His fingers started to tremble and a blank canvas could be envious of how pale he surely was at the moment. Hajime certainly felt the blood rushing away to who knows where. He cogitated to shred the paper with his blunt nails and force, to just refuse to pass it along, hide it away in his pants. Anything. Though Hajime knew deep down that would compromise him even more.

Reluctant as it was, Hajime passed the diagram along.

He averted his gaze down, not daring to look in anyone’s direction. Mentally, he was praying to whichever god who’d listened. Prayed that his peers would take the coincidence for what it was, a coincidence.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, they did not.

“The desk lamp is connected to the table...” Chiaki spoke out. “They could’ve used to get to the table.”

“The desk lamp...? I hope you don’t mean they turned on a light or something.” Nagito inquired, Hajime had the impression the white-haired boy was meaning to derail Chiaki’s train of thought somehow.

“No, that’s not why I mean.” Chiaki clarified. “I think the killer used the power cord connected to the lamp to feel their way to the back table.”

Hajime involuntarily gulped the saliva that had filled his dry mouth.

“By doing so, they would’ve reached the table and would’ve grabbed ahold of the knife due to the glowing paint, is that correct?” Sonia stated, realization painting her expression as the true meaning behind the diagram befell her.

“Yes, and there’s only one person here who could’ve done that...” Hajime wouldn’t know for certain since his eyes were cast downward, but the prickly sensation of her eyes was drilling into his skin. “Hajime... It was you, wasn’t it?”

“M-Me...?!” Hajime was aware that it was coming. Although no matter how prepared he pathetically tried to be, the accusation startled him nonetheless.

“Yes, you! Judging from everyone’s positions before the blackout... You were the only person near the power cord!” Mahiru yelled from two seats beside him, again he couldn’t bring himself to stare at her.

“Which means, the only person who could’ve felt their way to the table using the cord was... Hajime!” Nekomaru stated closing his fists aggressively.

Hajime barely escaped falling down his podium when it moved a bit forward to the center of the ring.

“Th-That’s a coincidence...!” His hands were gripping the edge of his stand so tightly that the knuckles had gone utterly white, stopping the circulation entirely.

“But still... You had a chance, didn’t you?” Peko inquired sternly. “A chance to hide the knife under the table.” Her tone didn’t leave room for interpretation, and it wasn’t as if Hajime could refute her either.

“Hey, wasn’t Hajime the one cleaning the dining hall, too?” Mahiru spoke from his right, due to the new position of his podium his back was to her, and he didn’t have in himself to turn around. “If so... You would totally have a chance to hide the knife!”

Hajime couldn’t stop shaking, he attempted futilely to reign his body but it was a pointless endeavor. His eyes were about to get wet from being scrutinized from all angles, accused of an atrocious crime, a crime he had nothing to do with. And yet...

“T-That’s...!”

“If you take into account the power cord and his cleaning duty, he’s the only one who could’ve done it!”  Teruteru shouted apprehensively pointing a finger straight at him. The podium moved a bit more to the center, a few more feet and he would be standing in the middle of the courtroom.

“Y-You’re wrong...! I’m not the killer!” His hand flew to his chest to emphasize it. “I-It’s all wrong! I-it’s a-all a misunderstanding, please believe me!”

“If it was one coincidence, we could be lenient... But having so many...” Sonia commented, she wasn’t eyeing him, differently from the others whose gazes were making his skin crawl. “Would something so coincidental even be possible...?”

“It’s no fuckin’ coincidence. This motherfucker has been lying from the start, trying to get us all killed, weren’t you?!” Fuyuhiko was looking more pissed than Hajime had yet to see. "That's why you were so eager to investigate, right?! So you could mislead us!"

At Fuyuhiko’s input, his podium moved again, now he was standing in the very middle of the courtroom, all eyes on him.

“Yay! It’s decided!” Hiyoko cheered gracefully.

How could have this happened? Him being accused of murder, they thought he killed Byakuya? Just like that? It was so unfair, Hajime was enraged that his luck would go that far to torment him.

“I didn’t choose to be on cleaning duty! I-I-I wasn’t the only one who could’ve hidden the knife either!” Desperation had already bled into his voice, it was quite a pathetic sound, he cringed just from listening to it.

“Oh yeah, we picket the chop-stick thingy to decide cleaning duty, right?” Akane asked.

“Exactly! I didn’t rig the drawing, I was against drawing to start with!” Hajime’s argument was far from solid, but with the turmoil going in his mind, that was the best he could come up with. “I couldn’t have messed with something like that!”

No one responded to his claim at first, but then Kazuichi started tugging at his beanie and gave him a dubious stare.

“Yeah, but... you’re the Ultimate Unlucky Student, aren’t you...?”

Since he introduced himself, Hajime was waiting for the other shoe to drop. He was pleasantly surprised that no one had made a big deal out of his ‘talent’. At first, they might’ve assumed it was a joke or just nonsense. After seeing various displays of his luck might’ve just amused them at the time. To have the thing he feared the most thrown at his face in the worst time possible stunned Hajime speechless.

He had no refutal. It was true, after all. He was the Ultimate Unlucky Student. So much so, that he found himself in the predicament he was now.

“No way something like that exists! Stop saying nonsense!” Mahiru yelled at Kazuichi who shrank on himself.

The tears that had been gathering around his eyes spilled all at once. Even after investigating, giving his all to try to discover the killer to end like this. He was so... tired.

Hajime was tired of these constant displays of misgivings and malicious coincidences. His bad luck was like an old friend by now. No, not a friend. Companion. Tangible enough to be one more person inside that courtroom, mocking and playing him.

“It does exist...” Compared to how desperate his former tone had been, his voice now sounded nothing more than a whisper. “...That’s the whole reason you’re accusing me in the first place...!”

His quiet words ranged through the courtroom. All eyes were on him again.

“The hell you’re talking about?!” Fuyuhiko was clearly not inclined to believe whatever he said.

“... I know it’s weird, but it’s true. I am unlucky, it has been that way for as long as I can remember...” He wasn’t expecting anyone to believe it, if Hajime wasn’t constantly at the receiving end of his own luck, he likely wouldn’t believe it either. “I am truly... unlucky.”

“Hey, you guys! This guy’s a major liar!” Hiyoko commented once again with her cheerful tone.

“I regret to say this, but... I find it hard to believe...” Sonia stated disheartened.

Would they actually vote for him? There had to be something else. There was something that could prove his innocence. He only needed to lead the others to believe it.

“Whether or not I’m lying, there must be something that proves I’m innocent!" Hajime pleaded. “There’s still a lot to talk about Byakuya’s death. N-Not only that, you’re all assuming I used the power cord, but during the blackout, I-I tripped over it, the lamp and some of the plates on the table were all shattered, you can’t say you didn’t see!”

“Y-You t-tripped...?” Mikan pried eyeing Hajime behind her short bangs.

“I’m not believing that! You could’ve just destroyed the lamp to use it as an alibi, just like you’re doing now!” Kazuichi exclaimed.

“I’m not buying that load of crap either...” Fuyuhiko supported.

“I don’t know if you’re the killer, Hajime.” Chiaki said seriously. “But all these pieces of evidence prove that you’re suspicious, right?”

Another gulp. He could feel the cold sweat running down his neck, the tears had stopped for the time being, but he was sure the tear tracks weren’t painting a flattering sight.

“Hajime is telling the truth.” Nagito had kept quiet until that moment, neither coming to his defense nor supporting the accusation. He merely stood there. Watching. Even so, he was relieved to hear his voice supporting his claims.

“What do you mean?” Nekomaru asked.

“I mean that he’s telling the truth about his luck.” Nagito clarified. “I know it’s weird to talk about luck as if it’s something tangible, and I don’t want to compare Hajime to me at any extent, but in that sense, I think we’re quite similar.”

The other students were just as much baffled as he felt. Through the short conversation, they had regarding their talents, Nagito stated his distaste towards his luck, much like Hajime it seemed to be a burden to the boy, though for some reason he regarded Hajime’s luck differently, stating that his bad luck was the equivalent of everyone’s good luck in the end. Hajime couldn’t disagree more.

“There’s a reason behind why Hope’s Peak accepted Hajime and the likes of me.” Nagito had his arms crossed and he was looking more earnest than Hajime had ever seen the boy yet be. “It’s true, my talent sucks, but I’m still the Ultimate Lucky Student, you know. The same goes for Hajime, he’s the Ultimate Unlucky Student.”

An eerie silence installed itself on the room once more.

“He... seems to be serious...” Peko said, seeming confused with Nagito’s speech about luck, and It was to be expected. To all the others, ‘luck’ was nothing but a concept.

“Are you saying... that ‘luck’ is real...?” Mahiru asked, also dubious of the Nagito’s words credibility.

“Yes, that’s exactly it. Though I’m sure Hajime’s luck is nothing like my useless talent.”

“How can we believe in something like that?!” Teruteru exclaimed, not convinced in the least.

“But you guys have already seen it, right?” Nagito inquired. “I mean, his bad luck is... quite distinct. The trippings, the escalator falling on his foot...” Nagito gave a pause before looking at Hajime for the first time since he had started speaking. “... getting picked for cleaning duty...”

Nagito was right, they had witnessed various ordeals caused by his luck. Even so, he didn’t think his little misfortunes would be enough to satisfy their doubts.

“The Evil Fourth Eye has already enlightened me with the knowledge of his curse.” Gundham declared seriously, “The mortal known as Hajime Hinata is worthy of the title of Child of Misfortune.” Gundham was the last person Hajime was expecting any kind of support, the breeder being a little ludicrous or not, was supporting him nonetheless. “Wahahaha! Yes, such a deviled hex, I pity you, you petty mortal!”

Despite the ‘petty mortal’ comment, Hajime was incredibly glad that the boy – even if in his own way – believed Hajime.

“You cannot be that stupid, can you?!” Fuyuhiko sneered at Gundham’s show of faith.

“I wasn’t the one who hid the knife or took it during the blackout, but even if you don’t believe me, there’s already evidence that proves I’m not the killer!” Hajime shouted, he wanted nothing more than for his podium to just go back to its original position.

“There’s already evidence?! That seems like, super important!” Ibuki stated.

“I’m not going to believe anything else you say. You’re probably going to lie.” Teruteru remarked eyeing Hajime as if he had any right to judge him.

“It’s not a matter of want or not, is it?” Chiaki pointed out.

“There’s something that’s been bothering since I discovered, actually, since Mikan discovered...” It had been bothering him, Mikan’s autopsy proved to be more useful than expected, the possibility of poison the nurse had mentioned had been drilling on his brain since he was made aware of it, but even more intriguing was the entry wounds on Byakuya’s body. Hajime was no forensics expert, but 5mm was nowhere near long enough in diameter to have been a knife wound. Plus, since the first time he saw the knife, something struck him as strange, Byakuya had been stabbed over ten times, despite that, the knife wasn’t completely covered in blood, merely a side of the blade was engulfed in the boy’s blood. “I’m pretty sure that the knife is not the murder weapon.”

A ruckus started, shouts were thrown his way, mainly Fuyuhiko, Teruteru, and Ibuki. The formers were the more skeptical, and Ibuki was loud just for the sake of it.

“You said Mikan discovered...?” Chiaki questioned putting a stop to the protests.

“Yes, during her autopsy.”

“I-I-I did, according to my autopsy, the e-entry wounds on Byakuya’s body were of 5mm...” Mikan explained.

“5mm?! That’s like, waaay skinnier than a knife!” Ibuki yelled.

“Not only that, Mikan told me that she also found rashes and burst blood vessels on Byakuya’s body.” Hajime continued. With Mikan vouching for him, and with Gundham and Nagito’s support he could gather as much credibility as he could. “Which could be interpreted as symptoms of poisoning.”

“P-Poisoning...?!” Fuyuhiko, at last, appeared to be giving his words a once over rather than brushing it off.

“Y-Yes... I-I mean, I’m not sure since I couldn’t perform any exams that would confirm it, but...” Mikan looked at Hajime who was still placed in the center of the room. “...the symptoms do indicate the possibility of... poisoning.”

“Byakuya was... poisoned?” Sonia asked horrified.

“But when Mr. Ham Hands was poisoned? He was looking totally fine!” Hiyoko asked, also seeming perplexed about the possibility of poisoning.

“That guy Byakuya was stabbed over ten times! There’s no fuckin’ way he died by poison!” Fuyuhiko protested.

“I’m not saying that poisoning was his cause of death. It says on the Monokuma File that the stab wounds led to his death.” Hajime conceded, it would be fairly farfetched to consider poisoning the cause of death. Nevertheless, it was crucial evidence. “But it also doesn’t say if there were any traces of poison, or something else.”

“In that case, Monokuma would know wouldn’t he?” Nagito questioned taking his eyes off Hajime and gazing towards the throne. “So... Was Byakuya poisoned?”

The bear stayed ominously silent at the boy’s inquiry.

“Hey, say something!” Mahiru ordered.

“Huff, Geez... You’re pretty annoying for noticing something like that.” Monokuma finally said. “Well, but if you noticed already, I might as well tell you... Yes, I omitted that information from the Monokuma File.”

“What?! Why? Why would you hide it in the first place?”

“You see, it would be no fun if I just gave you guys all that there was to know about the case, right?” Monokuma reasoned. “The class trial would have no mysteries at all!”

“You omitted it, huh?” Nagito pried. “If you went to the effort of hiding it, it must be true.”

Monokuma didn’t respond to the boy, though his silence was confirmation enough. Hajime felt a wave of relief course through him, even if he was still a suspect, he wouldn’t be the only one. He hoped, at least.

“Wait, we can’t just believe this fucker like that!” Fuyuhiko braved snapped. “He’s probably only trying to mislead us again, there’s no one else who could’ve hid that knife!”

“We don’t exactly need to trust Hajime’s words. Mikan and Monokuma are basically vouching to what he’s saying.” Nagito countered smoothly. “Now that we have this information, I think it’s safe to assume that Byakuya was poisoned somehow.”

At last, his podium moved slightly back, not to its original position, but now he had more leverage to the room.

“Still, it’s a little weird to think he was poisoned, if he felt bad he would’ve said so...” Mahiru argued.

“Perhaps he would’ve omitted that too...?” Sonia suggested. “After all, he did keep the threatening letter from us.”

“Poison wouldn’t affect Mr. Ham Hands, he was so huge that the poison would never travel through all his body.” Hiyoko chuckled mischievously.

“But the poison wasn’t the cause of death, right? Maybe he didn’t even feel it until he died.” Nekomaru proposed.

“Since we don’t know which poison the killer administrated, it’s hard to determine its characteristics.” Peko stated.

“And how can we know that the Byakuya guy was poisoned by the killer?” Fuyuhiko inquired staring drills into Hajime. “We’re getting sidetracked here, if the killer poisoned him, then it would have no reason to stab him during the blackout, whoever poisoned him was not the one who stabbed him.”

“That’s right! Why would someone beat a dead horse?” Akane agreed.

“D-Dead horse...?!” Sonia seemed scandalized at the foreign expression. And as much as he hated to admit it, Fuyuhiko had a good point.

“Even so, Byakuya had to be poisoned not long before he died.” Hajime countered, Fuyuhiko was obviously inclined to prove that Hajime was the one who did it, and if the conversation returned to the topic of the knife he wouldn’t have much to refute given his lack of conclusive evidence. “Also, it’s clear that Byakuya was unaware of being poisoned, there couldn’t be many instances where he could be poisoned, right?”

“That’s right. If Byakuya was poisoned for a long time we would’ve noticed.” Chiaki seconded.

“Hey, Mr. Ham Hands ate a whole bunch of those ‘churrasco’ things, right?” Hiyoko pointed out.

“Yeah, he completely pigged out on us. But could he have gotten poisoned that moment?” Mahiru asked.

“I don’t think there would be any other moment for him to get poisoned. Unless he ate something while he was in the kitchen, that is.” Nagito argued, looking at Teruteru.

“No, he only went to the kitchen to confiscate all the utensils.” Teruteru clarified. “Huh, treating kitchen utensils like dangerous weapons, what an outrage.” The boy seemed to take real offense at Byakuya’s actions.

“Wait, but that would mean the poison was in the churrasco. Teruteru did you poison the food?!” Kazuichi shouted at the cook.

“How scandalous! I would never compromise my dishes like that!” Teruteru protested outraged.

“It is suspicious though, if you take into account that both Nekomaru and Peko had... stomach problems, it would make some quite amount of sense that the food was compromised someway.”

“But if someone slipped some laxatives into the food wouldn’t Akane have stomach problems, as well?” Mahiru was right, Akane had indeed eaten way more than any of them combined. Even so, the list of those who had actually eaten Teruteru’s dishes was fairly small, except for Nekomaru and Peko, only Akane and Hajime himself had tasted the food.

“Perhaps the culprit spiked specific dishes...” Gundham proposed.

It was a possibility, a great one at that. Although if so, for all the culprit knew, any and everyone could’ve taken a bite out of the compromised food. Would the killer really have left their plan to rely so much on luck? Hajime’s eyes involuntarily met Nagito’s on the opposite end of the courtroom. Hajime stood right in front of the white-haired boy, since his podium was closer to the center, he could easily perceive his eyes, eyes that looked nebulous, Hajime couldn’t make out any expression on his face. He quickly averted his gaze. Nagito had defended him, if he was the killer it would be of his great benefit to throw Hajime under the bus, yet the boy had stood up for Hajime. The least he could do was give him the benefit of doubt before throwing unfounded accusations at Nagito.

“At any case, anyone could’ve slipped the laxatives and even poison on the food.” Chiaki pointed out. “We should move the discussion elsewhere for now, like the 5mm wounds, I wanna know more about that.”

“Mikan are you sure about the entry wounds diameter?” Sonia inquired politely.

“Y-Yes... T-They were very thin and... yes, I’m s-sure...” Although her tone didn’t spire much trust, it was enough for Hajime. His podium appeared to think so too as it moved back a few feet again. He still wasn’t cleared of suspicion, but to not be on to the center of the room anymore was an immense relief.

“You better be fuckin’ sure about that, or else I’ll sell your ass to a fuckin’ whorehouse!”

The yakuza’s threat only served to frighten Mikan out of her skin and to earn himself a reprimand from Mahiru.

“But how can the knife not be the murder weapon? It’s like, all covered in blood.” Kazuichi asked.

“Actually, the blade was covered in blood on only one side.” Hajime finally found the perfect opportunity to voice his inner doubts regarding the supposed murder weapon. “The Monokuma File explicitly says that Byakuya was killed with over ten stab wounds, to the abdomen and throat, despite that, the knife is not nearly enough covered in blood for that to be true.”

“I-I noticed that too...” Mikan stated.

“So the knife really wasn’t the murder weapon?” Hiyoko asked.

“I can follow your reasoning. But that leaves us with a big question. What could the real murder weapon be?” Peko asked. Hajime had an inkling of what the weapon could be, but if he was right, then he would’ve had to handle that particular information quite delicately. “Actually, an even bigger question, if the murder weapon is not the knife, then how did Byakuya get under the table? We had assumed he saw someone grabbing the knife, and that was how he ended up getting there.”

At her inquire the room went quiet with the lack of any insight on the matter.

“Maybe, Byakuya did see someone going for the knife...” Nagito proposed, breaking the silence

“Of course he did, he saw that bastard going for it!” Fuyuhiko pointed at Hajime, frustrated that no one agreed with his suspicion as wholeheartedly as him. “I’ve been saying this from the start!”

“I didn’t!”

“Yeah, but it’s fishy that you were the closest one from the table.” Teruteru said.

No matter what he said he had no proof of not doing any of those things, they had no actual reason to believe him. Unless he could show them proof, their suspicion would stand, and his words would stay just that, words. Regardless, their priority at the moment wasn’t to discover the one responsible for placing the knife, but who had killed Byakuya and their plan.

“Look, I did not place that knife there, nor was I planning on killing anyone.” Hajime gave a loud sigh as he forced himself to resign his suspiciousness as of now. “...But for the sake of the discussion, you can assume that I was the one who did it.”

“Argh, so it really was you!” Kazuichi’s accusing tone rang around the room.

“Are you confessing placing the knife under the table?” Peko’s tone was the complete opposite, calculating and scrutinizing.

“No... But I’m aware of my lack of evidence that proves I didn’t.” Hajime avoided everyone’s eyes again as he confessed his inability to prove his innocence. “Even so, our priority is to find the real killer, and reveal their plan, if we keep going in circles on the matter of who placed the knife we’ll only be losing time.”

“He’s right, right now it’s more important for us to understand how the murder happened.” Chiaki consented. As the others agreed with the plan, his podium once again moved forward, he was already expecting it this time, though it didn’t lessen the anxiety it brought.

“So... how should we proceed now?” Sonia asked unsure of how to begin their discussion.

“I must bring again the question, what could’ve been used as the murder weapon?” Peko repeated.

“It couldn’t have been anything from the case on the office, I think.” Kazuichi said. “The items Byakuya had collected were still all there.”

“Yeah, of course you wouldn’t know for certain, since you’re so useless.” Hiyoko mocked. “But I did count everything on the case! There were 20 forks, 20 knives, 4 iron skewers, and a screwdriver.”

“You can count?!” Akane asked looking awfully surprised.

“Of course, I can! What do you take me for, you brain-dead bitch!”

“Anyway, Hiyoko’s information actually proves that the knife under the table wasn’t taken from the kitchen.” Nagito said meaning to interrupt the petty argument that was bound to start. “It also tells us something else, have you noticed, Hajime?”

Hajime wasn’t expecting the boy to ask him for validation, and he felt embarrassed at not understanding what Nagito was trying to imply at first. But the realization came quick, he was talking about the kitchen’s equipment list.

“The equipment list... I remember it saying there were five iron skewers on the kitchen, right?”

“Correct. When we check it, it informed us that there were exactly 20 knives, 20 forks, 5 iron skewers, an iron plate, and a portable stove.” Nagito informed the other students. “Which means we’re missing an iron skewer.”

“Huh, could that be the murder weapon?” Mahiru asked.

“It might as well be, 5mm would be pertinent of the diameter of a skewer.” Peko clarified.

“I agree, if it fits the requirements that well, it must be true.” Chiaki seconded.

Hajime agreed as well, he was suspecting that for quite some time now. Finally, they had gathered enough evidence to pinpoint another suspicious individual.

“Teruteru, could’ve been you?” Hajime was not going to wait a moment to get suspicion out of himself, even if his educated guess turns out to be wrong – which was more than likely – they would at least had learned something more about the case. Or at least he hoped.

The boy was combing his hair casually not paying much attention to the conversation – or pretending not to -, which caused a few seconds delay for the cook to react. “Wh-What?!”

“Teruteru is the killer...?” Mahiru asked.

“You’re the only one who could’ve used the iron skewers weren’t you?”

“W-Why am I being treated as the killer in the first place?!” Teruteru was visibly alarmed at the accusation, though he seemed sincere, Hajime couldn’t help but hope he was right on his guess.

“Because we already established that it was more than likely that Byakuya was both killed and poisoned by the iron skewers, the churrasco meat was also stabbed on a skewer, wasn’t it?” Hajime explained. “Is it just a coincidence?”

“I did no such thing! The fifth iron skewer was missing from the start, I have nothing to do with it!”

“But can you prove it, Teruteru?” Chiaki pried. “We only have your word for it, right?”

“I-I-I...!” Teruteru’s podium moved forward with his lack of defense. “Anyone could’ve entered the old building and taken the iron skewer!” Teruteru protested. “You also have no proof that I was the one who did it!”

“If you think of this logically, it’s true that he wasn’t the only one who could’ve taken the skewer.” Nekomaru reasoned. “The poison and laxatives could’ve been set by anyone too, I guess...”

“Yes! Exactly!” Teruteru shouted. “And I was at the kitchen during the blackout, I only managed to move towards the dining hall by following along the wall, and it took me some time, too! There’s no way I could’ve gone all the way to that table!”

Hajime knew that it was no coincidence, he had to believe it wasn’t, especially now that he realized that they might’ve been overlooking something from the very start. Byakuya’s body was discovered under the table, the lack of bloodstains on the floor would indicate that the body wasn’t moved, which means he died under the table. Even so, did that also mean he was killed under the table? Hajime wasn’t so sure of that.

“Maybe, Byakuya wasn’t killed under the table...” Voicing his hypothesis, Hajime took a look around his peers, they didn’t seem to get it from only that vague remark, so he wasted no time in elaborating. “I’m saying that, maybe, the killer wasn’t in the dining hall at all.”

“No, there’s no doubt that Byakuya was killed under that table.” Gundham stated swiftly. He wasn’t the only one giving Hajime wary glances.

“No, I know, Byakuya was killed under the table.” Hajime consented. “But that doesn’t mean he was stabbed under the table.”

Even with his coaxing, it seemed the others weren’t catching up with his logic.

“Do you mean... under the floor?”

Chiaki’s quiet voice resonated within the courtroom.

“Yes, I think the killer may have stabbed Byakuya from under the floor.” Hajime confirmed it. “It would explain quite a lot.”

“U-Under the floor?! The hell you’re on about now?!”

Hajime didn’t flinch at Fuyuhiko’s intimidating voice. He was sure that he was right, and he would go to any lengths to prove it.

“The floor had gaps in it, and I noticed that the carpet you lied on the floor didn’t cover the table his body was found, too.” Mahiru commented. “But if that’s true, how did the killer got under the floor, I mean, it’s not like there was a passage, right?”

“Actually...” He knew he would look even more suspicious for withholding information, however, it was necessary for the progress of their discussion. “There is a passage to under the floor.”

“Huh, what’s this all of a sudden?!” Kazuichi inquired. “Why didn’t told us that sooner?!”

“B-Because it didn’t come up to me until now.” Hajime answered as fast as he could without hesitating and not allowing the quiver on his voice to show. “There’s a hatch door to under the floor on the storage room.”

“Is that true...?” Peko also wasn’t too eager to believe him, it seemed.

“The Child Of Misfortune is correct. There is a secret passage of doom located on the storage room.” Gundham once more seconded his claims and settled his words as being truthful. “I, the Supreme Overlord of Ice, Gundham Tanaka, adventured myself in a lonesome battle through the undergrounds of that direful facility in order to retrieve the Hell Hound Earring! With my Four Dark Devas of Destruction, it was of no concern! Hahaha, tremble with fear fools! Behold my power!”

“What should I do?! I’m embarrassed just listening to him!” Hiyoko whined putting both hands to cover her ears. Although Gundham’s mannerisms didn’t ooze with much... reliability, it was still someone vouching for him. That had to be enough.

“Anyway, it seems that you can go under the floorboards from the storage room.” Peko said returning to the topic at hand.

“Then that may be how the killer killed Byakuya.” Despite Chiaki being the one to accuse him in the beginning, she was the one who was sticking up for his suggestions, she was listening at the very least.

“No, I don’t think it’s a possibility. It’s definitely how the killer did it.”

“And how do you know that?” Mahiru pried.

“Because Nagito and I found a bloody table cloth discarded in a hamper in the storage room.” Now that his theory was getting more and more plausible, the clue of the bloody table cloth made sense. “The killer most certainly used that table cloth to block the blood splatter. It’s needless to repeat that Byakuya was stabbed ten times, the blood would’ve sprayed everywhere, and it did, seeing that even the insides of the table cloth were splattered with blood.”

“I see... If the killer used a table cloth to block the blood from under the floor, they could’ve easily discarded them in the storage room when they came back.” Nekomaru consented.

“Exactly, and that is a major clue and not only because it tells us how the killer managed to murder Byakuya, but it also serves as an alibi for most of us.”

“A-An alibi...?”

“A-A-Alibi! That’s suuuper important for an investigation, y’know!” Ibuki shouted for no reason whatsoever.

“Yes, you see, if the killer used a table cloth under the floor, that means that whoever killed Byakuya wasn’t at the dining hall during the blackout.”

“I-Is that true...?!” Teruteru’s voice was quivering at its edges from nervousness.

“What a bunch of crap. You could’ve used the tablecloth to stab Byakuya under the table and then just dispose of it in the storage room.” Fuyuhiko protested.

“Not at all, it was a blackout, no one could see in that darkness, to make such a long trip in the dark would not only be impossible for me but to whoever was on the dining hall at the time.”

“That’s true, what would have the killer done if we caught him with a bloody table cloth.” Nekomaru supported. “It’s not something they could hide either, right?”

Case in point, the killer similar to everyone couldn’t see in the dark, they probably didn’t have another pair of night-vision goggles with them, which meant that they not only knew about the blackout, they should’ve known that someone would have tried to get the knife. As they got deeper into the mystery of Byakuya’s murder, it became more likely the possibility of two persons planning a different murder. Whoever poisoned the food had no reason to stab Byakuya, in the other hand, whoever planned on stabbing someone had no reason to poison someone else.

Hajime hated to think that there was not one, but two people among them who had intentions of killing.

Another thing that was bothering him was how the possible two killers both knew about the blackout, they couldn’t be working together, since one was clearly planning to murder the other. Maybe one of them discovered the other’s plan somehow? If the culprit had planned to both poison and stab his victim, what would they gain with it? Make the trial more complex and strange? Or maybe they planned to kill the person who was planning the murder, that way they could’ve pinpointed the crime on someone else? Or maybe they planned on killing more than one person, one with the poison and the other person planning the murder via the skewer as a means to make the trial more convoluted, that way they could easily blame the person reaching for the knife for the poison.

There was a big list of possibilities, even so, Hajime felt that the answer was something along those lines, after all, creating a trial where they had more doubts than answers would be the killer’s main priority.

“But then, whoever went under the floorboards had to leave the party, right?” Teruteru questioned. “Then who wasn’t at the party again?”

“I don’t think we need to discuss this matter further, but I was incapable of leaving the bathroom.” Peko informed.

“I was at the kitchen, but I constantly went to the dining hall to deliver my dishes.” Teruteru said sweating a little.

“I was keeping guard at the entrance hall, I think Monomi can attest to that.” Chiaki said looking at the hanging rabbit.

“Yes! This Monomi over here is your witness!”

“Then that only leaves Fuyuhiko!” Mahiru accused heatedly. “It was you, wasn’t it?!”

The yakuza appeared to already have seen that coming, it apparently didn’t change his feelings about it though.

“W-What the fuck are you saying?! I’m not the killer!”

“Oh yeah...? And what happened to the tough guy who was saying things like, ‘I can do it’?” Mahiru asked, quoting Fuyuhiko in a mocking way.

“Don’t mess with me! I’ll fucking kill you!”

The two of them shared some barbed words until Chiaki stopped them.

“No, I don’t think it was Fuyuhiko.” Putting an end to their bickering. “I saw him outside the old building earlier. Plus, me and Gundham made sure to check if there was any passage to get under the floor from the outside, and there wasn’t.”

“I can attest to that.” Gundham confirmed.

With that suspicion cleared away, Hajime felt the need to bring the topic again.

“The killer didn’t get under the floorboards from outside.” Hajime started. “Which means they were inside the old building, and the one closest to the storage room was you, wasn’t it Teruteru?”

“E-Even so! It was a blackout, all the lights in the kitchen were off, even the stove was powered by electricity!” Teruteru was edging hysteria judging from the higher pitch on his normally smooth voice.

“Yeah, it was all pitch-black when I went to the hallway, I couldn’t even see the office in that darkness, and that room was way closer than the storage room.” Kazuichi agreed.

“Yes! Even if I wanted to I couldn’t move through that darkness!” Teruteru pointed an accusing finger at Hajime.

That proved to be a flaw in his logic, Kazuichi couldn’t be lying about his testimony. Though the kitchen and storage room were fairly close, it would still be hard to navigate in the dark.

“Then let’s try to discover how the killer navigated in the dark.”

“Did they use another pair of night-vision goggles?” Hiyoko suggested.

“No, there’s no evidence that shows the existence of another pair of goggles.” Nagito countered.

It seemed that everyone was at a loss for ideas, Hajime himself didn’t have any conclusive guesses for his part.

“Screw this, I’m gonna go with my gut...” Akane said. “What if they used a light?”

A light...? It sounded unrealistic at first, but also...

“...I think Akane may be right...”

“Oh, I was right?!”

“Huh, but didn’t that guy say he couldn’t see anything in the hallway?” Fuyuhiko questioned pointing at Kazuichi.

“I know, but there was something the killer could’ve used to navigate in the dark.” Hajime spoke and paused to let his words sink deeper. “They could’ve used the portable stove.”

“P-Portable stove?!” Ibuki repeated louder.

“Yes, the portable stove not only is small enough to carry, it’s also not powered by electricity.” Hajime explained. “The killer could easily walk around the hallway using its flame during the blackout.”

“I see... I never considered the portable stove, but what Fuyuhiko said earlier stands. Kazuichi would’ve seen the light from the stove, right?” Nagito questioned.

Hajime stopped for a second trying to explain the contradiction. Then he remembered what Sonia had said earlier during the investigation.

“I see! It is like a barrier! Just like lining up plastic bottles around the house!”

“I think... they used the fire door.”

“Huh, the fire doors?” Sonia asked quizzically.

“Remember what you said when you questioned us about them, Sonia?” Hajime said eyeing the princess. “You said the way the fire doors work is similar to a barrier, I think the killer used them to avoid anyone seeing the light from the stove.”

“You mean like a wall...?” Chiaki asked. “I guess that makes sense, I think.”

“And there was only one person who could’ve done that.” His eyes met Teruteru’s once again. “You’re the only one, Teruteru!”

Before the boy could say anything in his defense his podium moved forward again, now he and Hajime were basically at the same distance from the middle.

“Y-You’re only making vile accusations!” Teruteru shouted at him. “You have no proof of what you’re saying, not at all!”

“And yet, you’re the only person who could’ve used the portable stove, and don’t even try to deny it.” Hajime pressured. “Nagito and I went to the kitchen and saw the portable stove there, so don’t play dumb and say it was also missing.”

“Th-That’s j-just...!”

“C-Can you e-explain this Teruteru...!” Mikan quired forcing each word from her mouth.

“Y-You’re just making things up!” The cook’s countenance was getting a darker shade of red from his effort to not lose his composure at once. “I c-can’t believe it, no way I can believe it! That’s all a bunch of assumptions!”

He wasn’t making things up though. Teruteru was the sole person who could’ve committed the crime, given the circumstances, no one who was present at the dining hall at the time could’ve done it, Chiaki had Monomi as a witness, the same was for Peko and Nekomaru. Fuyuhiko also had an alibi because of Chiaki and Gundham’s investigation. That would only leave Teruteru.

“It’s no conjecture when we’re presented with this much evidence.” Peko’s firm voice echoed. “Is it true, Teruteru? Was it you who killed Byakuya?”

Hajime was far from pleased to point fingers at someone, he hated with every fiber of his body when that had been done him not much long ago. Regardless of his distaste, it was something imposed on them, it was that or die, so in the end, the choice was easy enough.

“I-I... Why would I do something like that in the first place?!” Teruteru shouted. “You’re cruel, too cruel!”

“Is that your defense? You’re gonna start whimpering and expect us to believe you?” As Teruteru delayed his defense, not only Mahiru but everyone else grew even more suspicious of the boy.

"...Teruteru, that attitude is so not like you" Nagito commented showing a look of distaste at the cook.

“H-How could I have killed Byakuya when I didn’t know about the blackout, at all?!”

Finally, the thing that’d been bothering him for so long was brought up. How could’ve Teruteru known? Did the third party warn him about his plan? No, that couldn’t be it. Perhaps he discovered it by himself?

No matter what he could formulate in his mind, it would be useless if he couldn’t corner Teruteru, and in order to do that, he had to prove the existence of not just a second person planning a murder, but also their plan being discovered by Teruteru somehow.

“It obviously was you!” Kazuichi screamed indignantly.

“But... we determined that someone other than the killer attempted to retrieve the knife, haven’t we?” Sonia’s question would lead them once again to the foundation of his entire logic, the only flaw in his argument. “Wasn’t the one who caused the blackout the same person who tried to get the knife?”

“Now that you mention it, didn’t that wuss over there said that he was the one who did that?” Hiyoko was clearly referring to Hajime, and though the comment fomented the need to answer in a likewise tone, it would ultimately lead them nowhere.

“Did you know about Hajime’s plan Teruteru? Be a man and speak up.” Nekomaru didn’t hesitate to assume he had been the one who hid the knife. Despite the hurt the comment brought, at this point, the others needed to have an edge of suspicion towards him. If Hajime couldn’t break through Teruteru’s argument that he wasn’t aware of the blackout, their debate would cease. They would start to only throw the blame back and forth.

No matter the consequences, Hajime had to prove the boy’s knowledge of the blackout, even if it cost his own credibility. Even if his actions would end up protecting the truly responsible.

“O-Of course not! H-How could I even have-“

“He does know... Because I told him.”

His words it seemed, disturbed every single person in the room, spreading a wave of uneasiness through the sudden and remote confession.

“...W-What did you say...?!” Mahiru said voicing her shock.

“The hell you’re on this time?!” The yakuza’s shout was followed by yells and inquires from all sides.

“I’m saying that I told Teruteru about... my plan...”

“Y-You’re lying! He’s lying, he- he’s lying, I knew nothing of that!”

“D-Did you really... planned on killing Byakuya...?” Mahiru’s face went from shocked to downright horrified. “How could you...?!”

His hands went back to their trambling selves, he forced the shame to stay away from his face as he confessed to a failed crime he didn’t commit. He hated it, that hate was coiling deep on his insides, lashing out at the prospect of protecting the real culprit, frustrated tears also started to prick his eyes, Hajime swiftly wiped them away before he humiliated himself further.

“I’m n-not gonna give my reasons, but... i-it’s the truth.” He could not find in himself to look at any of them.

“Damn wrong! Da hell you’re sayin’, you country hick?!” Due to Teruteru’s agitation, a weird accent commenced showing itself in his voice. It was far from anything Hajime had ever had the displeasure of hearing.

“Is that really true, Hajime?” Nekomaru had placed both his hands on his hips and looked at Hajime head-on, forcing himself not to be pulled under by the manager’s stare Hajime meekly nodded his head twice, not trusting his own voice to not show how ashamed and affected he was by his lies.

“I’ve been saying this from the start, this bastard has been lying from the very start!” Fuyuhiko for all his harsh words gave the impression to be pleased with being proven right in his suspicion. Hajime wouldn’t give the yakuza the satisfaction of looking down on him. That task was already reserved for his abhorrent luck.

“Then I shall ask you, what were you seeking to accomplish sharing your schemes in such a manner?” Gundham’s deep voice permeated through him.

Swallowing loudly, he forced his throat to undo the knot that had settled, almost choking him on his own breath.

“...B-Because I was trying to make a more complex case, that’s why I told Teruteru.”

“You didn’t tell me shit!” The boy’s accent was getting worse with each phrase, his irritation clear on the pronounced veins that appeared to be about to pop. “You lying little fast-food-eating hick!”

“More complex...? What do you mean with that?” Mahiru asked.

“Because Teruteru was also planning a murder, if two murders happened it would be way more confusing for everyone to solve it, I-I also presumed that there would be two blackened, or so I thought.”

“No, no, that’s against the rules. I mean, if we have more than one murder is fine since I’m a generous guy, but if more than one person commits a murder, then the one who killed the first victim ends up being the blackened, it’s first come, first served.”

Monokuma’s rules were - as to be expected – made along the way, the bear had not said a thing about any of that before. Hajime hoped the bear would’ve stayed quiet, but it was asking for too much it seemed.

“You two were planning to kill two people?!” Ibuki yelled.

“No, no, no, no! I did nothing of that!”

“Teruteru would poison someone’s food a-and I-I would take the knife... But my bad luck got in my way and I tripped on the power cord...” Teruteru was not wrong in calling Hajime a ‘lying little hick’, he felt foul and filthy with the torrent of lies dripping from his mouth. “...But I think Teruteru... planned on killing me too... w-when I tried to retrieve the knife. That way he wouldn’t take any risks, he could throw the blame on me, I think...”

“I see, he was planning to strike the moment the knife was retrieved... That would explain why the killer went to the trouble of poisoning Byakuya and then stabbing someone else under the floor, I guess...” Nagito remarked, he wasn’t looking at Hajime, and for that he was thankful, he did not want to picture the stares filled with disappointment and disgust he was certainly receiving from all ends now.

 “This makes no sense! If Teruteru was planning to kill you, then how did Byakuya die instead?!” Mahiru questioned.

“It was because of the glowing paint, right?” Chiaki suggested. “I mean... if Hajime did trip on the power cord, Byakuya probably saw him trying to get the knife, so when he took the knife himself, the killer must’ve struck the moment the glowing paint moved, I think...”

The gamer’s theory was pretty much what he had gathered himself. He couldn’t find any other motive behind Teruteru’s actions, he was sure the boy not only knew about the blackout but also who had planned it.

“Th-Th-That’s wrong, b-b-because I... I was at the dining hall during the blackout! I asked loud and clear if the blackout was only in the kitchen!” For a second Hajime thought that the cook would’ve confessed or at least bury himself deeper, but similar to anyone who desired to live, Teruteru would deny until the very end, his struggles wouldn’t cease until they proved without an ounce of doubt that he had done it. “How can you explain that, huh?!”

“It’s true! Ibuki heard Teruteru’s voice in the dining hall, his voice it’s handsome, unlike his face.” Ibuki consented eagerly, and as much as he hated that the girl chose that moment to enter the discussion with something noteworthy of saying, if he tried, he could also recall Teruteru’s voice coming from amidst the darkness. Though that didn’t mean the boy was at the dining hall.

“Are you sure Ibuki...?” Peko inquired not placing much faith in the musician’s statement.

“Yes! Ibuki swears on her honor!”

“The gaps on the floorboards-...!” Both Hajime and Chiaki stopped as they spoke at the same time. The girl was at the same page as him, since she had loads more of credibility to her word Hajime decided to stay quiet and let Chiaki voice their explanation. “...The killer could’ve used the gaps on the floorboards to talk from under the floor. If they did that, it would seem as if they were in the dining hall during the blackout...”

The argument was solid, Teruteru appeared to also have realized that as he was sweating rivers at his lack of defense.

“So it really was you, Teruteru!” Hajime wasn’t eager to be at the receiving end of Mahiru’s anger. Unfortunately for the boy, his podium was now at the same distance as Hajime’s to the center.

“But... but-but-but-but-but...!” Teruteru was babbling frantically as he combed his hands on his styled hair.

“I see... so he brazenly shouted from under the floor to make us think he was in the dining hall.” Peko stated.

“H-Hold on a second!”

“Haha! He’s shitting on his pants right now!” Hiyoko was delighted from Teruteru’s despair, and as much as Hajime hated to admit it, he was glad too.

“What’re y’all even saying anymore!? I’m telling you I was in that damn dining hall during the blackout!”

“I’m not sure... I believe he was there, but I also believe he wasn’t there...” Sonia’s indecision was met with relatability from some of the others who were also skeptical about Teruteru’s statements.

“Does it really matter if you believe him or not?” Hajime wasn’t sure if he should be speaking at all, but he had to convince them, he only wanted this to finally end, his feet were growing numb from standing and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could withstand his peers scrutinizing stares. “If you think about it, he’s the only one who could’ve done it.”

“W-What do y-you mean...?”

“It’s the simple process of elimination. No one who was at the dining hall can be the killer because they couldn’t navigate in the dark, Peko was in the bathroom and Nekomaru can attest to that. While Chiaki serves as Fuyuhiko’s alibi and Monomi is her witness to being on the entrance the whole time. That only leaves Teruteru.” He hoped his explanation was enough to sway the others, especially the more skeptical like Fuyuhiko.

“A-And how can you prove *you* were at the dining hall, huh?! You can’t prove it, can you!?” It was quite pitiful to see the boy throw such a sad defense at him, desperation was already bleeding through his voice, and even if Hajime didn’t answer Teruteru, he was sure that the majority of his classmates were already convinced of the boy’s culpability.

“Look I don’t wanna say any shit. But he’s right, how can we trust this motherfucker when he planned on killing someone from the start?” Fuyuhiko piped up. “What says that he’s not just throwing the blame on Teruteru to get rid of suspicion?”

Fortunately for Hajime, he had proof of being at the dining hall during the blackout, unlike Teruteru.

“I can prove I was in the dining hall, actually.” He grabbed the strap in his pocket and showed it to the room. “I presume I’m the only one who still has the ‘Usami Strap’, right? If so, then Ibuki you can attest that you heard it talking during the blackout, right? It activated when I tripped on the lamp’s power cord.”

“Oh yeah! Ibuki was kinda curious for why Monomi showed herself in that pitch-blackness.”

“Now that you say it, I was wondering that too...” Mahiru pondered.

“This is my proof, where’s yours, Teruteru?” Hajime was taken aback as his podium – finally – retreated back to its original position, in counterpart, Teruteru’s was now in the middle of the ring

“Da-Da-Da-Daa...!” It was quite a pitiful sight to see the boy almost salivating and fat tears shedding down his chin. He wondered if he looked like that when first accused, he could still feel the phantom sensation of his tears drying on their own. “I-I get it! You set me up! Y-You guys set me up for this!”

This is it. Hajime thought, he managed to pin the blame on Teruteru, the boy had no other means to evade the truth, not even if he lied to himself. Relief washed over him, but it was more like it was pouring cold water on his veins, he felt... faul. Exposed. A liar.

Nevertheless, Teruteru’s sins were no one else’s fault but his, whatever the motivations and circumstances that led the boy to commit such an abominable act, didn’t excuse his actions. It was him or them.

“Then where is the murder weapon?! If I’m the killer, then where is the murder weapon?!”

“Aww, what should do?! His accent is only getting worse!” Hiyoko complained covering her ears.

“Who cares where he hid the murder weapon? After all of this he could’ve easily hidden the skewer anywhere on the kitchen.”

“...I guess you’re right.” Sonia consented, averting her eyes from Teruteru.

“Y-You’re a-all wrong... I’m not the kind of person... who would... kill someone...” Every word was spoken with a sob breaking through the boy’s body. “...I- would never...” The Ultimate Cook gave a feral yowl as he succumbed to tears. The action could’ve just as well been a confession of guilt.

“It seems... This is the end.” Peko remarked.

“Geh-hehe... It looks like your argument has come to a close! Well then, let’s proceed to the nerve-wracking voting time! ” Monokuma’s over-excited voice was met with no enthusiasm whatsoever from the other students. “Now then, please pull the lever in front of you and cast your vote. Oh and just a reminder, make triple sure you vote for someone, otherwise...” It was clear the implication the bear was making so Hajime wasted no time in finding Teruteru’s picture and pulling his lever.

As everyone cast their vote, Monokuma quickly continued. “Who will be chosen as the blackened?! Will make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one?!” Monokuma pressed some button on his throne and the monitor placed over his head displayed an interface of a slot machine with their avatars instead of symbols. The three slots started to roll and ended up on Teruteru’s avatar.

“Correct! That’s right! This time, the blackened responsible for killing Byakuya Togami is Teruteru Hanamura!” The bear laughed hysterically, a huge contrast to the looming atmosphere that had settled around the students. Teruteru kept on denying as his mouth foamed around the edges.

“Out of all these people... Are you saying a ponce like him killed Byakuya?” Fuyuhiko was more conflicted about the fact that Teruteru was the killer instead of Hajime, he was sure.

“But...” Nekomaru gave a loud sneeze, though it wasn’t enough to barricade against the force of his tears. “Whyyy?! Why did you kill him?!”

“I-It was a mistake... I’m telling you, it was just a mistake...” Teruteru hiccuped. “I... was only trying to save you guys...”

“Save us from what?” Mahiru pried.

“F-From him!” Teruteru shouted and pointed an accusatory finger at Hajime.

“M-Me?!”

“Yes, you! Y-You set me up for all of this, I-I was trying to protect everyone, but...” Hajime didn’t fathom what Teruteru was going on about, nevertheless, it wasn’t doing Hajime any favors. “I received t-this a little before the party started.” Teruteru shoved his hands on the pocket of his dolman and retrieve a crumpled piece of paper.

BEWARE!!!

Someone is planning to commit a murder at the party.

They’ll cause a blackout and stab someone in the dark.

They hid the knife underneath a table in the dining hall.

“I didn’t know what to think of it at first, but then I checked and the knife really was there, and I... I thought...” The boy went back to sob. “I was only trying...”

“Teruteru... what are you saying...?!” Despite his efforts, his desperation had bled into his voice. What had even happened? Why would someone even send a letter like that? The threatening letter, Hajime presumed, was mainly to control Byakuya’s actions, but what was the sender seeking with the other letter? “Y-You know just as much as me that I-I was lying!”

“Y-You’re a lying vermin. You were trying t-to kill someone and set me up f-for this...”

“You were also behind this?!” Gundham appeared fairly shocked that Hajime could pull something like that. Hajime himself was the main witness to his incompetence and lack of ability to accomplish such a feat.

“I-I didn’t...!”

“I’m not believing a single word that comes out of your mouth.” Despite her cold tone, Mahiru seemed to ooze pure hatred towards Hajime, who unconsciously shivered at the look in the photographer’s eyes.

“I-I saw the glowing paint in the knife and that was confirmation enough, and I-I...”

“But then why did you end up killing Byakuya?” Sonia interrupted the boy to ask the question everyone was expecting an answer to.

“I don’t know! It was supposed to be the killer, but then why did Byakuya end up dead?!” Teruteru’s fingers fled to his hair as he combed it until it was all disheveled and greasy due to the amount of sweat on his palms. “Why?! Why did Byakuya had to die?!”

“Teruteru... h-hate me as much as you want, but be sincere. You know I didn’t tell you shit about whatever plan I might’ve had.” He could feel the sweat on his own temples dripping down his face. He couldn’t make a much better sight than Teruteru right now. “I lied about telling you my ‘plan’, why are you defending the true responsible-“

“Shut up! I don’t wanna hear your lies anymore, enough of it!” Akane shouted at him dangerously, he didn’t manage to hide the wince it caused. Instead, he took a step back from the gymnastic. He wanted to merely vanish from the face of the earth and return after decades to where no one would remember who he was.

“But Teruteru, if you were trying to save us then why didn’t you say anything?” Kazuichi asked. “I mean, why take matters into your own hands...?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Because he was trying to kill someone just as much as that lying rat over there!” Hiyoko exclaimed giving the cook a murderous glare that shouldn’t be possible for her childish countenance.

“Is that true, Teruteru?” Peko also appeared to be disgusted by the boy’s true intentions.

“I-I-I-I-I...!” Taking the easy way out, the boy returned to his whimpering instead of answering the shameful question.

“Maaaan, you guys are such a pain. You keep babbling about how much you trust and want to protect each other, but in the end, you’re all afraid of who might stab you in the back, right? Just like Teruteru!” Monokuma started laughing and moving his little feet around. “But I guess in his case it was a stab to the front...”

The bear’s commentary made nothing to erase the oppressive mood.

“Hey, is it really okay for us to leave this crazy bastard alone like this?” Fuyuhiko asked. “Isn’t it better if we just kill him off?!”

“W-What?!” This time Hajime took a stride back, he was as farther away from the other students as he could.

“Kyaaah! ‘Kill’, he said! High school students are so violent these days!” Monokuma remarked humorously before adding. “But the person who’s gonna get killed now isn’t Hajime. It’s Teruteru.”

“...Eek?!” That managed to cease the cook’s crying.

“Phuhu, what’s the matter? You didn’t forget it, right? Cuz I told you already at the beginning, right?” Monokuma placed his paws on his mouth trying to hide his mocking smile. “If the blackened killer loses... a fun punishment awaits them.”

“W-What do you m-mean...? That was just an accident, I-I didn’t mean to...!”

“It doesn’t matter if it was an accident, self-defense, or intentional, a murder is still a murder!” By the new shade of red on Monokuma’s white fur, it seemed that the bear wasn’t buying Teruteru’s story at all. “If you kill someone that’s murder!”

The boy futilely attempted to convince the bear to feel any sympathy. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work.

“H-Hey! Save me, you guys! I was only... trying to stop Hajime... so...!”

“Be honest... After learning about the plan, you saw an opportunity, right? You probably thought no one would find out if you killed them after messing with their plan, right...? That’s the whole reason you used poison too, I am correct?” Teruteru’s feeble denies were met by deaf plushie-ears as Monokuma continued. “In truth, you were just desperate to kill someone... and willing to sacrifice everyone else to survive, right? Just be honest already, at least in the end.”

The words were spoken without an ounce of hesitation or care for the boy’s state. Cruel, raw, visceral words. It didn’t make them any less true though. Teruteru for all he was saying, had the intention to kill and sacrifice all of them without thinking twice. No matter what brought him to do this, his actions couldn’t be excused. The same went for the one who placed the knife.

“I... I just needed... to go home... No matter the cost!” The Ultimate Cook fell to his knees and moved his hands to rest on his head as a new wave of tears ran past his eyelids. “...B-Because she’s waiting for me... My momma is... w-waiting for me at home...”

Teruteru explained about his mom’s condition and how he made a herculean effort attempting to deny Monokuma’s words about their memory. Ultimately, it wasn’t enough. He believed so much so that he forced himself to deny it.

“T-Teruteru...!” Sonia was holding both hands to her chest while silent tears streaked down.

“So you did believe Monokuma.” Peko for all her normally stern expression was looking pained by the boy’s story.

“Damn it! You were saying you didn’t believe it this whole time... So why?!” At that point, most of the students were sharing the despair Monokuma so avidly tossed at them.

“I-I don’t... It can’t be true... It j-just can’t... right? I only wanted... to be sure...”

In reality, Teruteru had, in fact, believed. So much so that it led him into a denial spiral that caused him to act too drastically.

“I’m sorry... I didn’t want t-to sacrifice any of you. ...But it was the only way... Haha, I think... I’m the one... who went crazy...”

“I’m starting to get bored... Wanting to ser your mom is such a boooooring motive to kill. So let’s proceed with the fun part, shall we?!” Monokuma interrupted Teruteru’s babbling. “It seems there’s no point in basking in the afterglow, so let’s hurry up and begin the punishment!”

“N-No, you can’t!” Monomi piped up, only to have her face punched by Monokuma, throwing her to the other side of the room.

“H-Hold on... please. I’m not asking for forgiveness anymore. But... at least-” Teruteru commenced only for Monokuma to completely ignore him.

“I’ve prepared a special punishment for Teruteru Hanamura, the Ultimate Cook!”

“Call me ‘chef’! No, wait that’s not what I-“ Gulping a bit of the saliva dripping from his mouth the boy continued. “P-Please... tell me what happened to the Hanamura diner... to Momma?”

“Let’s give it everything we got! It’s... punishment time!”

“L-Lies... I-I won’t believe it. I... won’t... believe... it.” Teruteru took a lungful of air before letting a desperate roar. “MAAAAAAAMMMAAAAAAAAA!”

Monokuma promptly pressed the button that had surged on his throne. On the screen, Teruteru’s avatar appeared and Monokuma came over to his avatar and started dragging him out of the screen while a message displayed.

GAME OVER

Teruteru has been found guilty.

Time for the punishment!

All of a sudden a chain-like leash drapes itself on Teruteru’s neck and forcibly pulls the boy through the courtroom as the boy struggles futilely on his restraints. On the screen in front of them, a live recording starts playing, from the screen Teruteru could be seen stuck to a pole on the beach.

A helicopter comes from the horizon and shoots a missile at Teruteru. Hajime closes his eyes as to not witness the remnants of the explosion. To everyone’s surprise, the explosion didn’t cause any injuries, it merely covered the boy from head to toe in yellow gunk.

Another missle followed right after and this time the blast seemed far larger than the previous one, still, Teruteru was unharmed, but now all covered in flour. As the helicopter flew upwards the chains that tapped Teruteru followed suit. In a matter of seconds, the boy was being carried away upside down by his feet.

Monokuma’s intentions became clear once the helicopter moved towards an erupted volcano, Teruteru without any leverage to struggle couldn’t help but descend into the molten lava slowly. It was a horrific thing to witness, but worst even was the knowledge that Teruteru was probably being burned alive even before he was submerged into the lava. Ironically, the lava was mercy, it wouldn’t be long after the boy perished from the extreme burns. If he was lucky, he wouldn’t even feel anything, having his nerves suffer such damage that the synapses would’ve stopped altogether. That would be the best-case scenario. Hajime wouldn’t know if that was the case though. He couldn’t help but close his eyes and feign ignorance to the atrocity being displayed in front of him.

“Extreeeeme! Phew! The adrenaline is rushing through me!” Monokuma’s pleasure was their despair. Hajime found himself sharing silent tears with the other students. Teruteru was dead. Just like that. An instant alive and in the other, he was gone. A candle in the wind. Their mortality never made itself known quite that much before, after all, they were all human, disposable, easy to wound, easy to kill.

“-...The same applies to murder.” Monokuma had gone on a tangent that Hajime felt no need to acknowledge, the phantom sensation of something wrapping around his neck and choking him left no room for his mind to wander.

“Y-You’re the one who drove him to do it!” Mahiru shouted at the bear.

“Well, it can’t be helped. Rules are rules and this is the killing rule after all!” The bear said cheekily. The nonchalant demeanor of their torturer made his blood boil with indignant rage for the situation they were forcibly placed. For Byakuya who lost his life for nothing. Even for Teruteru who had perished without knowing what happened to his mother.

“W-What are you saying...!” He took a step forward from the back of the room and glared with all his anger at the monochromatic bear. “You’re the one who’s breaking the rules!”

“Huh? I can’t just let that slide... What do you mean...?” Monokuma’s cheerfulness was swiped in a second and now the bear stared at Hajime with the same fury, his left red eye seemed to glow a little brighter at being called out on his dumb rules.

“You kept saying all that crap about a motive... about our school memories and all. But you still refused to tell Teruteru what happened to his mom and his diner.” Hajime took another step forward. “Why didn’t you tell him?! He had a right to know!”

“Yeah... us too... We all have a right to know...!” Fuyuhiko for once didn’t care that Hajime was the one talking. “Hey! Hurry up and tell us! What did you mean earlier when you mentioned our ‘school memories’?”

“Oh yeah, I forgot... I did promise I would return your school memories, right?” Monokuma placed both his hands on his mouth as a mocking smile took his features. “...But I never said when I would return it, right...?”

“Wha-...?!”

“That’s not fair!” Akane stated looking deadly in Monokuma’s direction.

“Of course, I’m going to return it someday. It’s just not exactly clear when that ‘someday’ will be...”

With a last roaring laugh at their stunned faces, Monokuma excused himself and vanished from sight, shortly followed by Monomi.

Defeat.

That was the best word to describe the feeling that settled amongst the students. They were powerless against Monokuma and his whims. Their lives were nothing but a means to the entertainment of the sick minds of their kidnappers. Hajime hated feeling so helpless.

Among his swirling thoughts, one was more prominent than the others. A simple realization. One that concerned the whole reason why they were present in a courtroom with two of their classmates no longer with them. It had been nagging since the start of the class trial.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t voice his thoughts. No one would hear a word he had to say, anyway.

But within that looming air surrounding them all, Hajime realized the only person who could’ve not only planned but also accomplish the entirety of that plan.

After all, Hajime was the only one who could’ve known all along.

ACT 1: Destination Despair

END

Surviving Students: 14 Remaining

Chapter Text

ACT 2: Ensnared On a Web Of Cold, Hard Truths

CHAPTER 5: A Liar’s Penitence

The elevator ride was uncomfortable, to say the least. No one met anyone’s eyes as if a silent accord had been made to leave everyone alone to deal with their internal turmoils by themselves.

Hajime respected that accord in place of a better thing to do. He tried to concentrate on the rumbling sound of the elevator to distract his mind, it proved to be an inefficient effort. The students were holding their breath from anticipation, awaiting the other shoe to drop, even though they had already witnessed the harsh reality they were entrapped within.

Hajime himself felt numb, the pain in his foot long forgotten in the stead of surviving through the class trial. The blood rushing in his bloodstream though was ice cold. He couldn’t help but feel responsible somehow for what had transpired, no matter how much he told himself he didn’t necessarily do anything wrong, he couldn’t escape the guilt that sat on his shoulders.

Most of all he felt ashamed. He lied through his teeth and he had no one else but himself to blame for the position he had put himself in.

Actually, he had one other person to blame.

In his catatonic state, Hajime didn’t realize he had moved until he found himself facing the door of his own cottage. Plucking the key from his pocket he unlocked the door and entered without looking back once.

Despite the full moon, the room was pretty dark, shadows coiling and merging at the corner of his vision, Hajime merely dropped himself face-first on the mattress and closed his eyes as a means to avoid having to look around. He wasn’t expecting much sleep that night, if at all. The silence in his cottage never showed itself to be quite so loud, the phantom memory of Teruteru’s screams echoed on the walls of his head, making it even harder to feign ignorance at the atrocities that had happened.

But no matter how much he tried, reality would be there to slap him in the face and force him to face the events of the night.

Letting out a deep sigh, Hajime turned around to lay on his back and idly watched the shadows dance on the ceiling of his cottage. What should he do? It was futile to wish a few hours of oblivion no matter how much he desired. He was restless. Exhausted. And yet, he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep.

He had so many questions. Why did he do it? What were his motivations? Why he didn’t follow through with his plan? Did he hesitate or was stopped somehow?

Despite all the conflictual feelings traveling through his body, betrayal was more prominent. It wasn’t something Hajime was used to feeling, not really. His expectations of others were low to nonexistent, coupled with his luck always messing with everything around him caused Hajime to experience a lonely childhood. So no, betrayal was not something Hajime was used to. And yet, he knew that the awful knot that had settled on his throat and the deflating of his spirits were caused by that distinct feeling that left a foul taste on his mouth.

Nagito.

Without any doubts, he had been the one to place that knife under the table, the one who caused the blackout, the one who probably sent the letters to Byakuya and Teruteru, who were now dead. Hajime wanted to deny, to face away from it, but deep down he knew. He had known.

Hajime wasn’t aware how long he stayed that way, laying on a bed of his own misery counting the seconds for... he wasn’t sure what for.

Getting tired of absentmindedly contemplating what would be his course of action. Hajime got up from the bed and made a move towards the door. He pulled the door so roughly that for a second he thought the door would’ve come off its hinges. That wouldn’t be a first.

He quickly moved past Byakuya’s cottage and stood in front of the door of the cottage beside it. Nagito’s.

For the first time since the end of the horrific class trial, Hajime looked around to see if someone was watching him, confirming his solitude in the cold night his gaze returned to the door of Nagito’s cottage.

He hesitated to knock. Not sure if it was due to anticipation or fear. Maybe it was both.

Hajime forced his hands to form a fist and knock on the boy’s door, taking a deep encouraging breath. It was a bad idea. No, it was a terrible idea to confront Nagito about his discovery, Hajime being correct or not. Instead of following his logic, he opted to give in to his instincts and would face whatever was in stock for him, head-on.

The door opened more quickly than he expected it to.

Nagito stared at him bewildered, he wasn’t wearing his coat that normally hang loose on his shoulders, he was sporting his white t-shirt patterned with the weird red symbol and still wearing his pants. Hajime deemed that the boy must’ve been in a similar state as him, wide awake at the dead of night, unable to get a brink of much-needed sleep.

“Hajime...?”

He hadn’t noticed he stopped breathing, so taking a quick breath he gathered the shreds of bravery that had been dimmed through the short walk to Nagito’s cottage.

“Can I... talk to you?” His voice had sounded more breathless than he intended, given that he had cried his eyes out a few hours prior, he didn’t imagine himself having the most welcoming countenance. Nagito however, didn’t seem to be fazed by his appearance, since he stepped backward and opened the door a little wider in a lieu of invitation.

Hajime stepped into the cottage and kept close to the door to make sure the boy wouldn’t lock it, as it was Nagito merely closed the door and sat on his bed looking expectantly at Hajime. From the way the boy hadn’t hesitated to let him in, he must’ve been expecting Hajime. Even if Nagito didn’t believe Hajime was guilty of planning someone’s murder, he couldn’t fathom the boy being so careless as to accept Hajime in his room at the dead of night, unless he had expected.

“Also couldn’t get any sleep?” Nagito asked from the bed.

“...Yes.” Now that Hajime was in the boy’s company he wasn’t sure what to say. Should he be upfront and drop his suspicions on the boy right away? Or maybe it was best to test the waters before sharing his peace of mind, after all, he couldn’t know how Nagito would react to being caught. Hajime forced himself to move and sat rigidly on the small couch facing Nagito. “...I wasn’t the one who caused the blackout... nor did I place the knife there.”

It took a couple of seconds for his words to sink in, Nagito hadn’t moved his gaze from Hajime at all.

“...I know”

Two words were enough to petrify his entire body. Nagito knew. Which meant that he probably was also aware of the whole reason that brought Hajime to his cottage so late. A visit that Nagito was expecting for the likes of it.

“...You know.” Hajime repeated almost whispering as the breath left his lungs.

An unsettling silence engulfed them in the enclosed space. The air was so heavy with tension that Hajime felt like he could choke on it. Neither of them had made a move since sitting, which only contributed to the eerie atmosphere.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” The words traveled through the room and Nagito still didn’t move a muscle, completely unresponsive, as if he hadn’t heard Hajime’s question at all. It wasn’t really a question in the first place, despite that, the boy’s silence spoke volumes.

“Well, since you figured it out I guess there’s no reason not to admit it.” He answered so smoothly that someone could’ve inferred that they were speaking about the weather or something just as frivolous.

“You... how could you...!” The nonchalant response injected a sudden wave of rage into his blood. “How?! Why would you do that?!”

“That may be hard to explain, but do you remember when we were talking about my luck?”

“W-Wha-?! What does that have to do with anything?!”

“Remember when I told you how after every bad thing that happens to me, good luck will always come in the end? Well, hope is the same. No matter how great and daunting the despair may be, hope will always shine through, that hope is just as great as the despair you face. I also know that hope will never lose to despair.”

The conversation had derailed so strongly that Hajime felt his anger oscillate at the sudden turn of the topic. What did ‘hope’ had to do with what he planned?

“If you’re wondering how I did it, I just hid the knife in the storage room when I went to offer you my help on cleaning the old building, I also set the timer on the A/C in the office during that time. When you finished cleaning I was the first to arrive at the party, so I quickly placed the knife and set the A/C in the dining hall. There was also enough time for sliding the warning on the gap under the kitchen's door to Teruteru, I trusted my luck for it to work out.”

Hajime had figured as much, he was the only person who knew Nagito had been the first to arrive at the party, that was what had made Hajime certain he was the one responsible for everything in the first place. Still, hearing it all from Nagito was a completely different matter.

“What are you even talking about...?! You planned to kill someone and leave us all to die here, what does ‘hope’ has to do with that?” Hajime questioned voicing his inner doubts.

“Oh no, you misunderstand me. I have no intention of escaping this island and leaving you all to die like that. Actually, I-...” Nagito pulled his legs to rest them on the mattress. “I never thought I’d be the one to survive...”

That declaration made his body freeze all over again. All the rage and indignity washed away in an instant by the body-numbing admission.

“But I did... and isn’t that just magnificent?” Nagito’s eyes were transfixed in wonder at something that Hajime couldn’t at all see, as if a great phenomenon was unfolding in front of him, a phenomenon that Hajime wasn’t privy to. “After all my efforts, I was the one to survive... I guess it’s to be expected from someone like me, but... I think it was because of you, Hajime.”

When Nagito lifted his eyes to meet Hajime’s, he wasn’t completely sure what the look in his eyes really meant. What the emotion transpiring from them actually was.

“B-Because of me...?”

“You see, Chiaki was right about the power cord scheme, I intended to reach the knife through feeling my way with the power cord, but I never managed, and you know why, right?”

His blatant confession of his actions made Hajime even more agitated. When he entered the cottage he was prepared for an argument, a discussion, a fight even. He wasn’t expecting for Nagito to merely confess his intentions and motives, – which Hajime couldn’t entirely comprehend yet – his light tone over his actions made for an even weirder conversation.

Noticing he hadn’t answered the boy’s question yet, he nodded his head stiffly. He knew the reason behind Nagito being unable to reach the knife.

“It was your luck. Your luck impeded me from accomplishing my plan. I’m certain of it.”

“Y-You... You really wanted to kill someone...” Hajime was starting to believe that his bad luck was also behind this, behind Nagito’s doings and crushing the expectations he had created regarding the boy. “I... should’ve known... It’s always like this...”

“No Hajime, I intended to be the one dying tonight.” Nagito explained quietly. He got up from the bed and walked towards the couch Hajime was sitting on, when he was close enough he kneeled in front of Hajime. “That’s what’s fascinating. You know, my talent is the worst, but I am the Ultimate Lucky Student, I prepared the entire plan, I set everything up, and was prepared for what to do during the blackout. Even so, my plans crumbled because your luck interfered.”

Hajime was completely still, his hands that seconds before were slightly shaking had stopped entirely, hands that Nagito promptly had ahold before continuing on his explanation.

“I was confident in my luck that I would be able to pull it off. And yet... you prevented it without even trying, Hajime. Your luck proved once again to be way more powerful and superior than mine could ever hope to be.”

His hands were cold in contrast to Hajime's scorching skin. As Nagito progressed with his monologue, Hajime only got deeper and deeper in his doubts and incertitude regarding the boy kneeling in front of him. He was being buried within a dense layer of his own uncertainty by the second.

“O-Once again...?” Another knot was starting to form and Hajime forced himself to swallow it before it could completely close his airways.

“Yes, I prepared that drawing for cleaning duty and intended to be the one who was picked to clean the old building. That was the first time I witnessed the greatness behind your talent, I admit I was a bit skeptical at first, but I was proven wrong time and time again. You Hajime, even if unintentionally, stopped my deeds every step of the way, and I know that it’s because of the influence of your own hope, wasn’t it? Your talent prevented me from getting exposed at the cost of your own credibility and reputation with others. I find it amazing that a talent as hopeful as yours would grant good luck even for scum like me.”

“You... You just stayed quiet and let me take the fall...!” He was so overwhelmed by the turn of the conversation that he wasn’t sure how to react, maybe he should’ve just banged the door open and rushed to his cottage or started a brawl with Nagito. However, he couldn’t find in himself to move away, his curiousness prickled to know what Nagito really meant with what he was saying. “Y-You also knew about... Teruteru and you just-“

“I apologize for that, but I was testing something.” At Hajime’s enraged gaze the boy quickly elaborated. “When your luck saved my life, I was intrigued as to why. I realized that your luck saved my life because you had strong hope. However, Teruteru ended up killing Byakuya because he also had strong hope, so I decided to watch which hope was stronger, yours or his. I planned on helping him, but that idea was discarded the moment you were suspected as the killer, even though all the circumstances were against you, you fought your way towards the truth, towards the hope you believed in.”

“I-I don’t understand what y-you’re saying... at all...”

“I was mesmerized by how far you went to prove Teruteru guilty and save everyone, even taking the blame for my doings. Sacrificing yourself in the name of others...” Adoration. That was the emotion contained in the luckster’s eyes. It was a scary realization. “It truly was a great display of hope. I know I have no right to say this but, I’m honored I was alive to witness something as great as that!”

It was too much, Nagito’s expression of devotion to his incomprehensive thoughts made for a too overwhelming experience. Hajime yanked his hands away from the cold contact and got up from the couch in a swift move. He gave his back to Nagito who probably was still kneeling on the floor, he passed a hand through his tousled hair and tried to assimilate what he was hearing.

“Y-You’re insane... H-How can you say something like that...?!” He whirled around to face Nagito once more, the dormant rage resurfacing again. “Byakuya and Teruteru are dead! T-They’re gone! And for what? For nothing! What kind of hope is that that people have to die for it?!”

“I don’t expect you to comprehend the beliefs of someone as worthless as me.” Nagito said getting up from the floor. “But you, out of everyone else, would understand what I’m saying, to some extent at least, right? You know just as much as myself the veracity of our luck. Especially the bad aspect of it.”

Nagito took a step forward and Hajime stayed glued to the spot.

"...What do you mean?"

“That bad luck would’ve come sooner rather than later, it’s inevitable. It always comes, and you know that just as much as I do, right?.” He did. Hajime’s first instinct was to deny and shout how deranged the boy was, but he did know that his bad luck would catch up to him one way or another, Nagito was not misdirecting him or even lying, he was telling an absolute truth for the both them, and for that reason, Hajime stayed quiet. “I have a great distaste for the bad things that happen around me, but they’ll happen anyway, me liking it or not. Don’t you ever feel... powerless?”

Nagito’s expression for all his lively speech about hope, turned a bit sad at the mention of their bad luck, and indeed, Hajime felt helpless about the predicament he found himself in due to his luck. A neverending cycle of misfortunes, a cage with no escape, ensnared on the strings of fate itself. Who wouldn’t feel powerless?

“I do believe that no matter how big and daunting the despair may be, the hope that will proceed it will always be greater. But not having any control over my bad luck does get a bit... frustrating.” That was what Hajime felt that brought him close to Nagito in the first place, even being unaware of the extent of his luck, he could easily relate to the boy’s struggles regarding something that had such substantial influence on their lives, and yet, was so out of their control. “At least when I’m the one who’s causing it... I can get some control over it.”

An unconscious chuckle left Hajime’s lips. It sounded more wounded than amused by any means, but it still felt wrong to hear such an out-of-place sound resonate around the room when breaching a topic as morbid as their friends’ death.

He hated to acknowledge, but Nagito was not saying anything out of the realm of reality, at least not for Hajime. He knew quite well how tempting it was to be the perpetrator of his own misfortunes. To choose which calamity would cross his path, not because he liked nor for any ulterior motives but to feel a thin sense of control. A poor excuse of control, but control nonetheless.

Consciously moving his foot a bit to the side so it would hit the wall, willingly leaving his keys behind, not moving out of the way from an obvious projectile, or loosening his grip on a plate or cup, which caused him to spend a few insufferable minutes cleaning the shattered pieces from the floor.

“I- So t-that’s why...?”

“Yes, it’s part of the reason.”

“B-But why go so far?! T-They’re both dead...!” Hajime was ashamed of the incoming tears that streaking down his face. His face had gone red due to the frustration of relating to Nagito, who blatantly admitted to planning someone’s murder. Regardless, he couldn’t help but empathize with the boy, since Hajime bore the same burden, only to a different aspect.

Nagito stepped forward again closing their distance. “It’s like I said, I won’t be arrogant enough to expect you to follow my reasoning, but since you’ve asked, I have no right to deny you the truth.”

Deep down he knew how messed up it was to comprehend and relate to Nagito’s mentality. Maybe he was just as insane as the boy, he had no foundation to stand for be judging Nagito. He didn’t think he would’ve done something as drastic, but he did understand why Nagito had done it, even if it was wrong. Very wrong.

“T-Then why didn’t you say anything to the others?” Hajime fixed his eyes on the boy’s taller frame, his locks were shining a bit in the dim-lit room, some of the moonlight managing to reflect through the open window.

“I believe that true hope can be born when two different hopes clash together. And I was proven right when you proved Teruteru’s culpability. If I had said anything, I would’ve only gotten in the way of your ascension. I’m sorry, I regret that I was the reason why the others lost their trust in you. I know that poor apologies from trash like me must mean nothing to someone like you, but if you so want, I shall offer to assist you in whatever you may find me useful for.”

“...What do you mean with that?”

“You already proved to me how powerful your hope is, Hajime. And I’m willing to do whatever you deem fit. If you wouldn’t mind me offering, of course. I would never impose my company onto you.”

He knew it was completely absurd whatever Nagito meant by that, but in a cavernous part of his being, he felt relieved. It made no sense to feel that way, on the contrary, actually. He should’ve been weirded out and scared shitless from the nonsense dripping from the boy’s mouth. Yet, he was relieved. Perhaps it was due to him being all alone, especially now that no one would give him the time of day. Everyone would most likely gonna ignore, or be downright hostile towards him. Not that he could complain, after all, he brought that on himself, despite Nagito’s actions.

Perhaps, he was merely scared of being alone.

“...I should go...” He wasn’t about to indulge the sick thoughts plaguing his mind. He couldn’t afford to. Plus, he was exhausted, both physically and mentally, his confrontation with Nagito perturbed him more than he was expecting, he entered the boy’s cottage awaiting a shouting match and was met with declarations of devotion. Yes, it would do him some good to have a few hours alone, preferably trapped in a dreamless sleep.

“Oh, sure. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable in my presence, Hajime. Good night.” Hajime was already past the door by the time the boy finished speaking. A few long steps later he was inside the safety of his cottage once again. After locking the door he slid down the door and tried to reassemble his thoughts.

Dragging his body to the bed and pretending the entire night was nothing but a bad dream was his mindset for trying to get a sliver of sleep.

Coming morning, Hajime didn’t bother to get out of bed with the announcement. He seriously doubted anyone would be pleased if he showed his face, and also, Hajime wasn’t feeling too confident that they wouldn't attack him or something. So he decided to spend most of the day locked inside the safety of his room.

To his surprise, someone pressed the bell to warn him of their presence. He contemplated the idea of merely pretending no one was at the cottage, but he had an inkling suspicion of who was at the other side of the door.

Right to his predictions, Nagito was standing amicably holding a trail of food.

It was a bit disturbing seeing Nagito so relaxed after the events of the previous night.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Hajime. But you didn’t show up for breakfast so I offered myself to bring you some food.” He placed the trail in front of him and Hajime took it without taking his eyes off the boy.

“Thanks...”

“I know you must be feeling down, but if you allow me to say, I don’t think you should lock yourself in your cottage all day. No matter how gloomy you may be feeling, you should go past this hardship!”

Hajime didn’t know what to make out of the enthusiastic speech. If Nagito was going to pretend as if nothing had happened, then Hajime would act likewise. Maybe it was for the best to avoid getting stuck up on everything the boy said.

“I don’t want to see anyone else right now, thanks for the food.” He closed the door before Nagito could respond and promptly ate his fair share of breakfast. Even if he didn’t want to get out, it didn’t mean he wasn’t starving.

He was glad that Nagito cared enough to bring him food, otherwise he would’ve spent the entire day sulking inside his cottage with nothing to eat. He was too distracted with the food to ponder about who had made it since Teruteru was no longer available to offer his services.

As much as his desire to defy everyone was big, he was getting restless by the minute staying in his room. With the sun barely visible over the sky, Hajime decided to get out of the cottage, even if just for a few minutes. Since it was getting dark, he didn’t expect to bump into anyone, though he was wary of his luck working against him as per usual.

At first glance, the island was the same as it had been the day prior, the change he did notice was when he arrived at Jabberwock Park. Since their first encounter with Monokuma, the Mono-beasts were guarding the other four islands that constituted the archipelago. Now for some reason, the Mono-beast from the second island was missing, Hajime was sure that the other students had figured out the same thing. Maybe that’s why they weren’t anywhere around? It would seem reasonable to explore whatever premises were now available to them.

He returned to his cottage and waited until the night-time announcement so he could come back to the second island and make his own exploration, he wouldn’t take the chance of being spotted during the evening, so the night was the most favored time of being left to his own devices.

Fortunately for Hajime, his precautions didn’t fall flat. There wasn’t anyone in eye range that could spot him. The second island much like the first had a variety of buildings, the strangest one was a ruined construction. Some trees were sprouting from the concrete and it made for an eerie sight, the modern school-like construction graphed by the earth, Hajime felt uneasy at the sight of it and got out from there as fast as he could. He was not about to hang out near a building that was practically screaming its descent into the ground.

The beach-house and diner were accommodable, the pharmacy wasn’t as inviting, for some reason there were a bunch of medicines that Hajime was fairly sure shouldn’t just be laying around for anyone to take it. But by far the library was his favorite location. It was spacious and the number of works was outstanding. There were books placed in piles all around the place, the shelves were entirely stocked and it was wonderful. A little messy, but wonderful.

He started going through the items in the hopes of finding something interesting. Ultimately he did find it, not as much as the book found him for that matter. He was going through a pile of murder mysteries when an inconspicuous book fell right on his head. After sending a thunderous glare at the piece of writing, his mood quickly made a one-eighty as he saw the title.

Twilight Syndrome Murder Case / Book Edition

The book at first glance was unremarkable. The title itself was a bit pretentious but what caught his attention was the image printed on the cover. An image portraiting the renowned Hope’s Peak Academy. The academy stood as tall as he remembered it, the only difference being the nice warm weather that the picture was taken in.

Also odd was the publisher – MonoTv – which was the same logo he had seen during Monokuma’s stand-up. Even though the last thing he wanted was to be caught in whatever Monokuma was playing, he couldn’t deny the sliver of curiosity the book provoked inside him.

The fact that his luck caused the book to fall on him only served to make him even warier.

Taking the book along with some murder mysteries he went back to his cottage, now at the very least, if he decided to lock himself in his room again he would have some kind of distraction. A predictable one at that.

For the first time since he got to the island, Hajime relaxed. A couple of hours into the night were spent reading as a means to prevent his mind from dwelling on his problems, throwing himself in another world built with words. The familiarity of reading was a bonus, it was comfortable and safe to be doing something that his luck couldn’t affect. It was one of the few instances he could defy his bad luck.

Halfway through a book, Hajime’s mind returned to the so-called Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, he dismissed his current book and went to search around his stack for Monokuma’s book. It was quite thin so Hajime assumed it must’ve been something frivolous. True to his predictions, it was frivolous, just in a more... creepy way.

The story takes hold in four days, following a group of friends who witness a supposed murder of a girl from their high school. For some reason, the characters have no names, instead, they’re called ‘Girl A’, ‘Girl B’,   and following, which was incredibly weird. Why would someone write a story and not bother to give the characters something as crucial as a name?

Apparently, there was a pervert who broke into the school and stole a swimsuit from the girls’ locker room, said pervert was the assumed killer of the girl in the music room. Turns out, the killer was actually ‘Girl E’, who was protecting ‘Girl D’ from the ‘dead girl’, it was implied that the victim was tormenting ‘Girl D’ for some reason and ‘Girl E’ took the problem into her own hands. In the end, ‘Girl D’ discovers her friend is the culprit but decides to not denounce her to the authorities.

The story finishes with ‘Guy F’ coming into contact with some evidence tempered by ‘Girl E’. The last chapter tells how the supposed brother of the victim gets his revenge against his sister's murderer, ‘Girl E’.

The plot was pretty cut and dry. The story felt... shallow. At first, he thought it was just Monokuma messing with him and making him waste his time, but it seemed the book had more to it than he imagined. On the back cover, it was said that the story was non-fictional, which Hajime had his doubts about. But yet more interesting were the credits. Monokuma was responsible for all the editing and diagramming of the book, the only factor he didn’t take credit for was the cast.

Tsumiki               Koizumi              Satou             Kuzuryu

Saionji                 Mioda               Kuzuryu

He didn’t recognize all the names but he was sure that Koizumi stood for Mahiru and Tsumiki for Mikan. Mioda, Saionjia, and Kuzuryu also sounded familiar to him, though he wasn’t sure why there were two Kuzuryus listed.

What did Monokuma intend when he put the names of his classmates on something like that, additionally the fact that the story was intitled as a work of non-fiction made for an even weirder predicament. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. But if he assumed that the contents of the story were verisimilar, that would be a completely different problem.

If the characters were indeed inspired by their classmates then it was easy to deduce who was inspired by who. ‘Girl A’ was surely Mikan with how shy and meek the girl was, ‘Girl B’ must’ve been Hiyoko, given her foul-mouthed personality plus being short. Ibuki would be perfect for ‘Girl C’ and her energetic personality, the same was for Mahiru being ‘Girl D’ since she also carried a camera. As for the others, Hajime wasn’t sure, the name ‘Satou’ didn’t ring a bell, as for the Kuzuryus he wasn’t sure from where he had heard the name before.

Regardless, unless the book proved to be something of relevance, Hajime was going to merely let it gather dust on his desk since he wasn’t about to do a rereading so soon.

Not long after he drifted off to sleep. The books also helped with his insomnia, he kept reading until he just fell asleep. Hajime was sure it wasn’t much of a healthy habit but he kept doing it nonetheless, after all, some sleep is better than no sleep at all.

The next day he was still distressed about the prospect of facing any of the others, he had talked with Nagito, but he wasn’t sure what to make of their discussion. If he was honest, he was more uncertain about what to think. He felt like he was wronging both Byakuya and Teruteru by being relieved at the understanding between him and Nagito, not to mention the whole ‘hope’ crap.

Despite all the crazy talk, Nagito was still the only one who bothered enough to bring him food. He had first thought that it was a facade displayed by the boy but during their talk, Nagito was too earnest to not be telling the truth, his beliefs, twisted as they may be, were truthful.

He wouldn’t say he trusted the luckster, but he trusted his drive. Hajime would maintain him close for the time being, regardless of the boy’s instability, he was the closest thing Hajime had of an ally in that place. The boy himself spelled it word by word, and coupled with the fact that his life could very much be at hazard due to the other students targeting him, Nagito became his best option to rely on. And that was saying something.

Hajime wanted nothing more but to spend another day reading inside the confines of his cottage, but he knew nothing good would come out of reclusing himself. Also, he doubted Monoluma would allow him to avoid the others, sooner or later the bear would find an excuse to torment him, he was sure of that, there was no escaping it. The best he could do was to deny Monokuma from the satisfaction.

Gathering the little courage he had he opened his door and made his way out. He supposed it was around 13:00 p.m. since the morning announcement had been played for a few hours, he hoped with not much conviction that he wasn’t going to meet with anyone, that shred of hope was crushed the second he closed his door behind him. Standing a few feet away was Nagito walking down the wooden path with another trail full of food once again.

“Hajime! I came to bring you food. How lucky! I thought you were staying at your cottage again.”

He wasn’t surprised with his luck, but in consideration, it could’ve been way worse, maybe it was a small mercy that it was Nagito and not Fuyuhiko for instance.

“Thanks.” Hajime took the trail from Nagito’s hand and walked towards the beach without much of a fuss, Nagito following suit. Though Hajime’d rather eat in solitude, Nagito had presumably spent the day with the others, so at the very least the boy would be able to tell him how high the tensions were running within the group.

In Hajime’s mind, the beach was the best place if he wanted some peace, as long as he stayed a good foot away from the ocean. The landscape was pleasant enough and given how large of an island it was, Hajime doubted anyone would find him there, he hoped at least.

Sitting on the white sand with the trail placed carefully on top of his crossed legs, he dove into the food uncerimonically. Nagito sat beside him maintaining a respectful distance and glanced at the horizon.

Hajime made no attempt to break the awkward silence. Nagito seemed pretty comfortable too, so he saw no reason to bother with pleasantries as of now. It was also mainly because he was uncertain about what to say to someone who had admitted his intention to die the last time they talked.

However, Nagito it seemed, was oblivious to the tension that had installed between them.

“Did you know? Monomi apparently defeated one of the Mono-Beasts, the second island is free for us to explore now, do you wanna go there?”

“I went there yesterday.”

“Oh, you did? Everyone spent the entire day going through the new facilities, the others were still gloomy about what happened, but I’m sure that soon enough the hope inside each of them will grow into something marvelous.”

“You’re still going on about that...?” Hajime said in between bites.

“Of course, I truly believe that regardless of the despair, your potential to greatness is unaccountable invaluable!”

Hajime wasn’t going to start a discussion regarding the boy’s ideals at the moment, mainly because Nagito sounded convicted of his beliefs, but even so, he felt the need to chastise the boy if he so happened to be contemplating pulling a stunt like that ever again.

“Look, I get it that you want everyone to get along and be... ‘hopeful’ for whatever reason. But Nagito, I’m serious, do not even imagine doing that kind of shit again. I understand that it’s... frustrating to be at our luck’s whim all the time, but going that far is too much, you hear me?” Hajime expected his glare to be at least half threatening as he wanted it to.

“Huh, but don’t you see Hajime? In order for everyone’s hope to shine, they have to go through hardships, too. And I’m ready to become everyone’s stepping stone, there’s no greater honor than to be the foundation for your morals to ascend!”

“And what good is ‘hope’ for if someone needs to die for it?!” It was complete rubbish, even if he tried to relieve it, it just couldn’t get into his mind how Nagito could think like that. Offering himself as a sacrifice for what? Hope? What did that even mean? Hajime had an inkling suspicion that Nagito was also unaware of its meaning. “Whatever, just... don’t. Okay?”

Nagito appeared conflicted with his lack of comprehension but ultimately nodded. “I understand the nuisance I am more than anyone, so I’ll abide by your wish, after all, you already showed me how strong your hope can be.” Nagito relented and gave a small laugh at Hajime’s firm tone.

He wouldn’t be naive to take his word for it, but it was best than nothing he supposed. Though he wouldn’t put past the boy to be lying, it was better to keep an eye on him in any case.

“Incidentally, did you explore the old ruin?” Nagito asked returning his gaze to the ocean.

“The building that’s one step from falling apart?”

“Well, yes. Chiaki found something interesting there, there was a passage to enter it, though it was guarded by a machine-gun, only deactivated by a password apparently, also, it seems that neither Monokuma nor Monomi knows what’s inside the building. Monokuma repeated that whole thing about a traitor too. Do you really think he’s lying about that?”

“I don’t know... I don’t wanna believe Monokuma. But if there really is a traitor, it’s not like we can know who it is, right? And if it’s true that our school memories were stolen... that would make things even more complicated.”

“...I guess you’re right.”

Hajime had finished eating and didn’t bother to continue the conversation. Nagito it seemed, felt the contrary.

“I wonder what good luck is coming our way...”

For the first time since they arrived at the beach, Hajime eyed the boy sitting beside him. Nagito appeared to be utterly calm. No lines on his expression or anything that indicated any agitation, his eyes and posture looked almost... serene. That had been the first impression he had of the boy when he woke up on this same beach. He wondered if Nagito’s mind was different than his stance implied. Was he conflicted, antsy, afraid even? Hajime honestly didn’t think he’d get an answer if he asked. Not a sincere one anyway. The boy’s self-deprecating tendencies normally biased his opinions regarding himself.

“What do you mean...?”

“We were put in this place in the middle of nowhere, encouraged to kill each other to survive... Wouldn’t you say that’s the worst of lucks?”

Hajime maintained his eyes fixed on Nagito and hummed as a lieu of a response.

“No matter the bad luck that comes, good luck you certainly override it, so I’m a bit curious as to what good luck is coming our way.”

Nagito’s usual casual and peaceful tone of voice could easily be confounded with sarcasm and cynicism, but Hajime felt that the boy truly believe that, he was sincere about his condition. And why wouldn’t he be? Hajime had to face the same reality to some extent.

“Was that why you tried to...?”

“...Yes.” Nagito’s eyes moved from the ocean to nowhere specific on the beach. “After every bad incident in my life, something good would come right after. And I mean, my luck sucks, but it’s something I could always trust.”

Once again they’d returned to the topic that connected them.

“... I get what you’re saying.” Hajime said, eyes also darting to the sand on their feet. Attending Hope’s Peak was of such good luck that Hajime was extremely suspicious, knowing of his tendencies to small tragedies, he had no doubt that it was a ploy orchestrated by his luck to torment him in a whole different way, giving him the impossible to take away from him when he least expects. Given that now he found himself in a ‘killing game’, as Monokuma had referred it to, then yes, what incredibly bad luck.

Hajime didn’t realize when he started laughing. It sounded raspy and out of place even to his own ears, each chuckle causing his body to tremble uncontrollably. His cheeks flushed at the sudden reaction, his eyes gathered drops of tears on its edge from laughing so hard.

The look Nagito sent his way was concerned but also a bit amused as if he wasn’t getting what was so funny.

“I’m sorry, it’s just...” Reigning against the impulse to keep on laughing, Hajime continued. “It's just like you said, we're in the middle of nowhere, trapped in an island with a sadistic teddy bear who encourages us to murder one another, not to mention his Mono-Beast, I mean, what’s even up with that? Giant robots armed with heavy weaponry? Where are we? A television show?” Hajime kept laughing like a lunatic. It was too insane to be real, and yet, there they were.

“It is quite... hilarious.” Nagito huffed, a prickling of humor painting his voice. “Hey Hajime, do you think we’ll get out of here?”

Hajime ceased his laugh, took a deep breath, and went back to stare at the sand. He didn’t know. The outside world didn’t appear to miss them at all, no rescue had been performed, it was as if their existence was merely erased and no one noticed their absence.

“I don’t know... I sure hope so...”

Nagito sent a smile at him but Hajime avoided seeing it by closing his eyes.

It truly was a ludicrous situation. It was borderline insane.

Having had enough of the scorching sun, Hajime got up and Nagito did the same, his coat had been smeared with grains of sand. How the boy managed to walk around the whole day with a coat that big in the tropical weather was astonishing. His own long sleeve was starting to get plastered on his back due to how bad he was sweating.

“How the others are doing? Have they said anything?” Hajime asked as he walked towards the restaurant with his trail in his hands, for one second he almost forgot it on the beach, but quickly recalled that littering was a school rule and he wasn’t about to test if Monokuma would be lenient about it.

“They’re wary, Hiyoko and Fuyuhiko are pretty hostile towards the group. Fuyuhiko also said that he thinks you’re the traitor, I don’t know the others’ opinion of that, I think they’re not trying to think about it.”

He wasn’t expecting anything less. Regardless, it didn't contribute to lightening his already dark mood, though it had been their lies the responsible for his situation right now. It didn’t make it any less hard.

He was a bit antsy about showing his face at the restaurant, maybe someone was still hanging out in there and wouldn’t be too happy to see the guy they presumed had attempted murder at one of them. Though since Nagito was with him, Hajime hoped that the boy’s luck would work in his favor this once.

Surprisingly, it did. Discarding the trail on the sink he bade Nagito goodbye and went back to his cottage, he wasn’t going to push his luck, and if he was honest to himself, he felt tireless after the conversation with Nagito, not to mention the bad night sleep from the day before.

Unfortunately, his happiness of returning to his cottage for the rest of the day was short-lived as when night-time arrived, Monokuma called all students without exceptions to go to Jabberwock Park. For Monokuma to get them out of their rooms at night promising curry for the first one to arrive, it certainly wasn’t anything good, that’s for sure.

Hajime wasted no time in bolting out of the door towards the park, but not for the curry, he didn’t want to bump into anyone on the way, they would probably snide him and express their distaste of him, and he seriously wasn’t up for anything of the sort. It definitely wasn’t because of the curry.

Unfortunately for Hajime, Akane was already there by the time he pulled himself into the park’s premises. Seeing that she was the first, she yahooed in victory not batting an eye at Hajime, he was at least thankful that the gymnast’s mind was distracted enough with the promises of curry to give Hajime a bad time.

“Ah, so you finally decided to show your face, huh?” Fuyuhiko on the other hand seemed to be brimming with antagonistic intent. Though the condescending tone rubbed him the wrong way, Hajime knew better than to fall for the bait.

“Hey Monokuma! I was the first to get here, that means I get dibs on the curry!” Akane shouted at the bear that had appeared from thin air.

“No need to worry. I’ll treat you to my special-made Monokuma Curry tomorrow night. It’s an extremely delicious curry made from unknown meat, wilted vegetables, and a mysterious brand of rice!”

Hajime was unreasonably disappointed at that, though it was obvious it had been obvious that it was a lie from miles away.

“What did you bring us here for?”

“Huh? You haven’t noticed yet?” Monokuma inquired, then pointed at an arcade machine. “The reason why I summoned you guys is because of that.”

“Ah! Isn’t that an arcade machine?!” Chiaki asked eagerly.

“That’s correct! Soooo I would like to start the long-awaited Recreation Time to begin!”

“Hey, what’s the game? How many games are on this?!” Chiaki was the only soul excited with Monokuma’s announcement, it was to be expected from the Ultimate Gamer he supposed.

“I’ve only prepared one game... but it’s truly a gem! Do you know that ‘famous game’ that everyone’s been waiting for a sequel to? Well, I made a brand-new game instead!”

“Famous game?” Hajime liked the concept of video games, but it was an activity he normally avoided due to his luck.

“Now then, I shall present it!” Monokuma stood behind a stand as the enormous screen beside it displayed the logo of the game. “Tadaaa! The name of the game is ‘Twilight Syndrome Murder Case!”

“Twilight Syndrome...?” It was the same title from the back he had picked on the library, which confirmed it was no coincidence that that book fell on him. Not that he thought it was a coincidence in the first place, he had long been made aware that there was no such thing as ‘coincidences’ for him.

“Twilight Syndrome is an adventure game series... The first one was released in 1996. It’s about a group of high-school girls who go exploring in order to verify numerous urban legends.” Chiaki explained.

There were a bunch of complaints, mainly from Hiyoko and Nekomaru who criticized the whole concept of adventure games, even Chiaki was a little down stating that Monokuma had tainted the series she was a fan of.

“I was also a big fan of the series...” Nagito said upset at Monokuma’s meddling.

Monokuma was not amused in the least by their complaints, actually, he seemed a little pissed.

“And why did you bring us here? It’s not like you want us to enjoy ourselves...” Hajime said to divert attention to the elephant in the park.

“Puhuhuhu... you certainly noticed the good part. That’s right, this game is gonna be your next motive! The motive you need to kill people!” It was nothing more than what he was expecting. “After all, I’m gonna get bored if the next blackened doesn’t show up soon!”

“This game... is the motive?” Chiaki asked.

“In truth, this game’s theme is a missing link.” Monokuma explained. “You know, it’s a recurring theme for mysteries, right? It’s kinda like a hidden connection.”

The mention of a missing link appeared to pique the others’ curiosity.

“If you’re interested... then try playing it!”

“...O-Okay...!” Mikan responded.

“You can’t! You gotta say no! It’s a trap!” Mahiru yelled at everyone.

“Hey, if it’s the motive, won’t it be okay if we just don’t play it?” Kazuichi suggested uncertainly. Though it was a good idea in theory, in practice they couldn’t know for certain if everyone would welcome that logic. Maybe someone would sneak around and play the game when no one was watching.

Hajime felt like doing that himself.

“Wha, wha?! ...that never occurred to me.” The possibility had most definitely occurred to Monokuma. “...But, are you sure you wanna do that? Learning the motive means you’re gonna be prepared, you know. Humans that are prepared... and humans who aren’t... I don’t have to tell you which is strong and which is weak, right?”

“...W-What do you mean?” Mahiru questioned sternly.

“For example... if someone secretly played it, that person might come and kill you.” Monokuma laughed sardonically at their haunted faces.

“W-What are you on about?!” Kazuichi was oozing distress if the fat droplets of sweat running down his temples were anything to go by.

“You guys are all enemies, you know? Is it really all right for your enemy to have an advantage?” No. It was not alright, he hated being played by Monokuma out of everyone, but the bear did have a point, though Hajime was also curious about how the book and the game were related to one another since the book didn’t seem like a motive at all. Though it did leave him with a few questions. “If you’re going to just ignore it, then do whatever you like, even if you’re fully aware of the situation. Bye byeee!”

With that, the stuffed bear vanished and as of normally, left a tangible presence of tension within the group.

“Uhh, what should we do?” Nagito asked them.

“E-Even if you ask me... There’s no way I’ll know...” Mahiru remarked.

“Anyway, it would be dangerous to carelessly touch this game. There is no mistaking that.” Peko said, her tone more firm than Mahiru’s.

“You’re right... it might be better for us if we wait and see how it plays out.” Sonia seconded.

“But it’s just like Monokuma said, what would happen if someone played the game secretly?” Hiyoko brought up a fair point, Hajime wasn’t about to abide by his peers’ convictions. “Whoever gets the motive would become the hunter and the rest of us would be the prey.”

“That’s a pretty messed up way to think about this!” Ibuki yelled.

“But it’s true.” Fuyuhiko chimed in. “Heh... it’s your loss if you end up dying. All we need to do is kill if we want to win.” Fuyuhiko eyed Hajime scorningly and turned his back on the group. “I don’t want to end up like Byakuya and Teruteru.”

The students started bickering about whether or not they should play the game, Hajime wasn’t paying too much attention to it, he had already made his mind about the matter.

“Motive or otherwise, it doesn’t matter... I won’t let another killing happen.” Chiaki’s statement rang around them. It was a pretty bold thing to say, it’s wasn’t like she really could do anything if someone decided to act otherwise. “I will never... ever... let another killing happen.”

Seeing that he had no more pretense to stay there, Hajime without a sound make his way back towards his cottage before anyone paid any undesired attention to his presence.

It was already nighttime, it wouldn’t take long before the others also returned to their cottages. While he waited for everyone to get situated, he was going to continue reading his crime novel. There was no chance of him not playing that game, he wanted answers as to what that book had to do with anything.

After a couple of hours had passed. Hajime without ceremony left his cottage and sprinted as quietly as he could towards Jabberwock Park.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 6: The Sharp Knife Of a Short Life

His steps were as loud as a gunshot in the dead of night. Not even the ocean crashing to the shore was enough to smother the eerie silence. He felt like he was being watched for some reason. Actually, it was more than likely that he was indeed being watched, considering Monokuma knew everything that happened on the island via the cameras all around.

Since no one was supposed to know of his whereabouts, Hajime quickly ran towards the arcade machine and powered it up. The image on the menu screen was the same as the one on the cover of the book.

Hope’s Speak stared back at him from the dim light of the monitor screen. He pressed start.

It was... disappointing.

Much like the book version, the game was about high-school girls that witness the murder of a girl. It was practically the same, the plot and characters stayed the same, only now he had a visual representation of the events. What was different was that the game only contained the second and fourth day of the story at first glance. After ‘Girl E’ gets killed with a metal bat, a game-over message appears accompanied by another message: ‘Down five’.

Pressing down five times he unlocked days one and three. And much like the book, it explains how ‘Girl E’ was behind the murder of the high school girl while ‘Girl D’ became an accomplice by omission.

Once again as he finished the game, the credits rolled and some of his classmates’ names were listed as the cast of the game.

Kuzuryu. Hajime had already an inkling of who that name belonged to. Taking his e-handbook from his pocket, he found it through the students’ profiles. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu. Which meant that the implications the game was making were much more serious. Was that what Monokuma was after? This game was supposed to be the motive after all. But how could someone believe a line of crap like that?

Hajime surely didn’t. He still had his doubts regarding the supposed lost memories, but to think that the contents of the game that Monokuma – of all people – had created were true, was a bit farfetched. Regardless of the game being based on real events or not, those were Monokuma’s exact reasons for creating the game, to ramify the group and plant seeds of distrust and suspicion in their minds.

He hoped no one would be quite as foolish to believe it either.

Hajime was ready to leave when Monokuma himself appeared behind him.

“Yaaaay! Congraaaats! Miracle Congratulations! You have finally beaten Twilight Syndrome Murder Case! Now that you played this game through to the end, you should already know...” Monokuma gave a pause waiting for Hajime’s reaction. He stayed silent glaring at the bear. “That’s right, that game is a nonfiction game based on an actual past incident! The school life you no longer remember is the setting for this story.”

“Is that what you want us to believe?”

“It’s not what I want you to believe, it’s the very cold, very hard truth!” The bear laughed echoed in the empty night air. “Now then, as for the ending prize that I’m supposed to give you as a reward for clearing the game...” Monokuma turned his back to him and simply stated. “...I won’t give it to ya!”

“Ending prize...?” Hajime hadn’t heard a word about that.

“There was only one ending prize, and I already gave it to the first person who beat it!” Monokuma explained between giggles at Hajime. “Too bad!”

Monokuma vanished as quickly as he appeared and left Hajime alone with his own thoughts. Someone else had beat the game before Hajime then. He was pissed that he had come a little too late, the sole purpose of playing the game at all was to unravel the mysteries surrounding it, and it ended up being a fruitless effort.

Left with nothing better to do, Hajime made for going back to his room but then realized that someone else had entered the park’s premises.

Nagito.

His hair was more chaotic than usual, white locks flying in every direction in a gravity-defying manner. He supposed the boy must’ve been lying in his bed waiting for the right moment to secretly get out of his cottage in order to play the arcade machine, just like Hajime.

“So you came too...”

“Hah, I can’t say I was expecting to see you here, Hajime. I was hoping to not get caught, but I guess it should be expected of someone as incompetent as me.” Though his words were harsh, he didn’t seem that upset by Hajime’s presence. “Though if it’s Hajime, I don’t know if it is a good or bad luck display. You came to play the game too?”

“Yes... I wanted to confirm something.” Hajime would let the boy have his own conclusions about Monokuma's motive, and he opted to omit the fact that he had a book with the same contents of the game. “Though someone else played it before me, Monokuma mentioned something about an ending prize for the first who cleared the game.”

“Oh, so you’re not the first?” Nagito had closed the distance and stood right in front of Hajime stretching his arms over his head. “How unlucky...”

“Screw you.” Hajime rebuked without any heat. “Well, I’ll leave you to it, then.”

Hajime left the boy to his own devices and entered his cottage with a frustrated sigh. He wasn’t up to keep his reading, not for the moment, now he only wished for the oblivion he could only find in the depths of sleep.

The headache that accompanied him in his awake was far from pleasant. The morning announcement was yet to be played, which meant that he had had just a couple of hours of sleep, which was better than nothing by any means.

Seeing that he wouldn’t get any more sleep, Hajime prepared himself for the day and decided to get to the restaurant before anyone. Of course, there was the chance that some of the students could’ve already been there, but even if that was the case, Hajime’s stomach was growling with hunger, he knew he couldn’t pass another day only eating what Nagito brought to him.

Despite his hunger, he knew that sooner or later he’ll have to face the other students. It was best to take matters into his own hands than to leave it to his luck to figure out the worst way to take things.

Hajime wondered if the group’s tension had gotten worse after Monokuma presented the motive, would they suspect him playing the arcade? He could always say their accusations were unfounded, after all, Nagito had been the only one to see him the other night and he doubted Nagito would say anything about that. Though it wasn’t as if they had any right to judge him, one of them had played the game first.

Despite his bravado, Hajime still hesitated when he entered Hotel Mirai, he couldn’t hear anyone on the floor above him, but that didn’t mean no one was there. Taking a deep breath he climbed the staircase as quietly as he could, which proved to be a worthless endeavor when his foot hit the underside of the step with the subtleness of a car crash.

As it was, there were already a few students that startled at his almost-fall, what for a discreet entrance.

Mahiru and Sonia were together sharing confused glances at him, Akane and Nekomaru were standing by the side already eating their breakfast. Hajime decided to sit together with Nagito who sat at the far back table of the restaurant, the boy was the only one who would’ve welcomed his company anyway.

“So... What did you make of it?” Hajime questioned as he sat on the chair beside the boy, keeping his tone light to throw suspicion off the topic of the motive.

“It was... very enlightening.” Nagito commented taking a bite of his toast.

“Yeah, you could say that...” Hajime got up from the chair and went to grab some toasts himself. By the time he was back, the announcement had already sounded and some of the other students had arrived at the restaurant. Hajime gave them no mind and went back to his seat. “Who do you think was the first to clear the game?”

Hajime doubted Nagito knew anything about the identity of the third party, but he was curious as to what the boy had to say about it.

“Well, it’s quite rude to point fingers you know.” Nagito sends a smile his way. “But since you’re demanding the opinion of trash like me, I would think both Chiaki and Fuyuhiko are the most likely.”

Nagito’s words could be made his own. His prime suspects were also the gamer and the yakuza. Fuyuhiko and his standoffish nature made for a big desire to defy everyone's expectations, while Chiaki looked pretty excited about the game before Monokuma announced it was a motive. Additionally, her heartfelt speech about not letting another killing happen could be interpreted as her taking any precautions against something like that happening again, which included being aware of the motive.

Yes, Chiaki was the most likely to have played the game, but it wasn’t as if he could merely walk up to her and confront her about it since it would be clear that Hajime had also played the game. The last thing he needed at the moment was to get even more suspicion thrown at him.

Just thinking about it made the migraine he was sporting worsen, he closed his eyes attempting to block the light and avoid any more painful pangs. The noise that started to form among the students was not helping his state either.

He finished eating breakfast as fast as he could, he wasn’t going to tempt his luck and inflict his presence on the others, he would do as best as he could to avoid any kind of unwanted attention, keeping a low profile was his best course of action as of now.

“Uh, Hajime? If it’s not too presumptuous, could you... accompany me to the library?” Hajime turned on his back and stared at Nagito, his tone was almost meek, he couldn’t remember Nagito asking him for anything, and he couldn’t fathom why the boy would want Hajime to accompany him to the library. Nagito taking his silence as an impassionate refusal quickly amended his ‘improper’ request. “Oh, I’m sorry, I know better than impose trash like me in your company...”

“Sure, let’s go.” Hajime would rather be alone for time being, but Nagito, weirdly enough, was someone he could stand, despite the boy’s self-deprecating mannerisms and deranged ideals, Hajime found himself enjoying the other’s company. Besides, he still had his doubts regarding the boy’s intentions. Nagito had assured him that he wouldn’t try to do anything malicious anymore, but it was best to keep an eye on him than to leave him be.

Together they departed towards the library without saying anything, if the others had noticed their interaction, they stayed quiet about it.

The library was as clustered as the first day, piles of books scattered haphazardly on shelves and tables. Nagito’s spirits were quite high, Hajime wasn’t sure if it was due to Hajime agreeing to come along or the library itself.

“Do you also like books?” Hajime asked, voicing his curiosity.

“I do. Reading it’s one of the few things I enjoy doing. Not that it’s of any importance what someone like me likes anyway.”

“Me too.” Hajime answered disregarding Nagito’s dismissiveness. “It’s one of the few things that my luck can’t influence.”

“Oh, so it’s the same for you?” Nagito appeared surprised at the revelation.

“I mean, yes. I can’t play games or anything like that, since I always lose. But I can read books just fine, actually, I think my luck kind of helps me a little in that regard.”

“It... helps you...?”

“Yes, I think... I like crime novels and stuff, since the plot is normally encompassed in investigations and deductive guesses, I almost every time get it all wrong. Which is not necessarily a bad thing since the endings become more surprising that way.” Hajime explained, Nagito was listening to his every syllable as if it was the most interesting subject he had ever heard about. “Though my favorite characters die all the time, it can’t be helped, I guess.”

Nagito gave an amused chuckle and started going through the stocks of books. Hajime sat on one of the chairs and watched as the boy tumbled a stack of books to the ground. Nagito picked a random book from the mess he produced and exclaimed in excitement. Apparently, it was the sequel to a book series he was a fan of. ‘How lucky!’ he said.

After Nagito had gathered a couple of reading materials to himself, they went back to Hajime’s cottage, he wasn’t sure how to feel about having Nagito in his own room, but it wasn’t as if the boy could do anything, so he didn’t protest.

Nagito for all his convolutedness was surprisingly sensible, he told Hajime he also liked murder mysteries but he liked to have a bigger repertory on his shelves, he had picked a few romance and drama novels among the thrillers.

They kept goofing out about their experience with books. And for a few hours, Hajime forgot where he was, he forgot about the killing game, about Monokuma and Monomi, the students that probably were garnering loath towards him were a distant thought on his mind. Hajime never really had any friends, not for a long time. Even so, he felt... happy with Nagito’s serene companion. Deep down he knew that he shouldn’t feel that way, mainly because of the things Nagito had done, but also because maybe his friendly interactions with Nagito were merely foreshadowing the bad luck that was certainly approaching him.

It was the same for Nagito, Hajime thought. The boy had already explained how his luck cycle worked and to what lengths it influenced his life. And somehow, his talent seemed as daunting as Hajime’s own. Nagito could be called ‘Ultimate Lucky Student’, but as he explained more what that really meant, Hajime couldn’t find that lucky at all.

Though the boy was indeed lucky. Hajime made sure to test it out, he made a rapid run for the supermarket and grabbed a deck of cards and board games. As it was, Hajime lost every single turn, no small wins whatsoever, the sun was setting down by the time they had gone through chess, snake and letters, and a bunch of different card games. Now they were currently in their seventh hand of poker. Nagito had the majority of the hand-made chips putting a huge gap between the two of them. It was going to be the last game since Hajime didn’t have enough chips to last another turn. After Nagito shuffled the deck and delivered Hajime’s cards, he almost groaned at his pathetic excuse of a hand, Nagito on the other hand wasn’t giving much with his expression, Hajime petulantly changed all five cards since it was the game turn anyway. Nagito didn’t change a single one and went all in once again – insisting it was only fair to Hajime.

Hajime was expecting to pick another crappy five cards that would leave him with a low-high card. What he didn’t expect, was to have drawn an entire royal flush of spades and all its glory. He was actually startled by it, his stare was so fierce that it could’ve penetrated a hole in the cards.

“What’s wrong, Hajime?” Nagito asked with a hint of mischievousness in his voice. “Perhaps you got a good hand?”

“...Yes, actually.” Hajime croaked as he showed his cards to Nagito, who seemed even more stunned than Hajime himself. Nagito also showed his hand revealing an immaculate straight flush of hearts.

Hajime won.

A startled laugh escaped his lips at his sudden victory. His impossible victory. It sounded more histerical than anything but it didn’t seem to bother Nagito as he also joined him on his fit of laughter, after all, Hajime’s victory must’ve been just as surprising as Nagito’s loss.

“I-I can’t believe it...!” Hajime exclaimed breathlessly. “W-Was it you? Did you want me to win?”

“No, it wasn’t me, but it was to be expected that a talent as exceptional as yours would be no match for mine.”

“What are you saying?! I lost every other game!” Hajime said between giggles.

“But you won when it counted, didn’t you?” Nagito countered smiling softly.

Not really, he thought. But it was undeniable that he was feeling quite content with himself. Beating the Ultimate Lucky Student on a game that was based purely on luck was a great feat, especially for the Ultimate Unlucky Student. Though it was weird, he won with an unbeatable hand, while Nagito had literally the second-best hand of the game, the chances of getting a single royal flush in a five cards change were impossibly slim, to beat a straight flush in the same game was unthinkable, and yet, it happened.

Luck was rather scary.

“It’s getting late, I should go back to my own room.” Nagito said as he got up from the ground after they’d guarded all the game pieces and cards on their respective boxes.

“You’re right, it’s already dark...” Hajime felt strangely light, they’d had a peaceful afternoon just playing silly games and talking about books, it had been awesome. Hajime couldn’t remember the last time he felt wholesome about something so frivolous. He enjoyed Nagito’s company a lot, and if he was honest, he yearned for more.

While they were hanging out, not once did it occur to Hajime what Nagito had done or where they were. His mind was elsewhere entirely, his problems vanished for a couple of playful hours into the day.

Should he feel guilty for having such a good time? Maybe. Hajime couldn’t find in himself to do it though.

So much so that his good luck didn’t end up on the poker game, Hajime went to bed and was met by a restful sleep, no dreams, no nightmares, just the comforting embrace of slumber.

“Ahem... Hope’s Peak Academy’s School Trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make. Good morning, everyone! Looks like today is gonna be another perfect, tropical day! Now then, let’s show some enthusiasm and make sure to give it our all today!”

Hajime cracked an eye open at Monokuma’s infuriating voice from the monitor. He looked outside the window and just like the bear predicted it was another sunny, tropical day. Hajime wouldn’t mind if a downpour started, if only to defy Monokuma’s previsions. Though, given the already humid weather and high temperatures, Hajime quickly banished the thought.

He could hear the ruckus on the top floor before he entered the restaurant, Akane and Hiyoko were discussing something about candy while idle chatter fluttered around. Sonia was the first to take notice of him and turned around to greet him.

“Hello, Hajime.” Her cordiality was dignified by her status, he would bet that she wasn’t nearly as fond of him as the smile on her face implied, even so, she treated him like anyone else, and for that he was grateful.

“...Good morning.”

“Haaa! Don’t talk to the likes of him, Miss Sonia!” Kazuichi who surely had been waiting for an excuse to talk to Sonia placed himself in front of the princess as if Hajime was an assailant. Hajime was not in the mood to dignify the mechanic’s pathetic antics with a response, so he merely walked past him and got himself breakfast before Kazuichi played an exhibitionist stunt.

Seriously, couldn’t the guy get a hint?

He sat on the far back table near a window, Nagito entered the restaurant a few minutes later, just like yesterday, they ate quietly while the others let them be.

“...Is Mahiru missing?” Gundham’s deep voice resonated through the restaurant.

Hajime looked around and indeed, Mahiru was not among them, except for himself and Fuyuhiko, normally all the students met at the restaurant every morning.

“She’s always here every morning, it’s strange for her not to come...” Nekomaru remarked.

“I wonder if she’s not feeling well.” Sonia commented worriedly.

“Maybe she just needs a little time for herself. She was a little disturbed after the whole motive thing, right?” Nagito suggested, having both finished eating they went discarded their empty plates on the sink.

“Yeah, but that was before yesterday, I mean if she doesn’t feel good, that’s fine... But there’s a small chance that she’s...” Kazuichi derailed, as his pointy eyebrows creased.

“A s-small chance that she’s what?!” Hiyoko shouted at the mechanic.

“Hm? I saw Mahiru, she was outside the hotel.” Akane informed in between bites of her own breakfast.

“O-Oh... I see!” Kazuichi gave an awkward chuckle and scratched behind his head at his offensive implication.

“Don’t say such spooky things.” Hiyoko chastised. “As punishment, how about you run around in a circle three times, say ‘woof’, and jump off a cliff?”

Hajime felt like returning to his cottage but decided against it. He was still wary of his peers, but except for the gaudy mechanic, they hadn’t made a fuss about his presence so far, so for now he would stay, it’s not like he could avoid them all the time, that island was as large as it got. One way or another, they would need to learn how to coexist together.

“She said she wanted to be alone. I even asked her to come eat with us, but she turned it down.” Akane continued.

“M-Maybe... she’s planning to play that game...”

Hiyoko harshly reprimanded Mikan for even considering that Mahiru would stoop as low to play a video game. As it seemed, the game was a rather sore point to the others, who’d prefer to avoid the problem at hand instead of working on it. He couldn’t say he agreed with that logic.

He and Nagito made idle conversations as the rest finished breakfast. As they were making their way to the stairs, Kazuichi approached them looking a bit cautious.

“Hey, Nagito. Got a second?”

“Oh, what is it, Kazuichi?”

Kazuichi eyed Hajime disdainfully and leaned forward to whisper quietly on Nagito’s ear, despite his effort on discretion, Hajime still managed to hear him.

“Today, 2:30 p.m. Come to the supermarket... Don’t tell anyone about it.”

With that the mechanic took off without looking back, leaving the two of them perplexed as to why act so ominous about a meeting.

“What did he want?” Hajime asked, feigning obliviousness.

“He wanted to meet at the supermarket, at 2:30 p.m...”

“For what?”

“He didn’t say.”

“And are you going?” Hajime took the first step towards the stairs and Nagito followed right behind. “I mean, what if he’s planning something shady?”

“I don’t think so. But don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing nefarious or anything.” Nagito did not seem to be fazed at all at Kazuichi’s suspicious behavior, Hajime himself probably would’ve refused to go if he was the one summoned.

“Well, you do you.”

The day appeared to be hotter than normal, the sun sending stronger waves of infra-red at the large beach making the air dense with humidity and heat. He could already feel sweaty in places that were far from comfortable.

Hajime and Nagito spend some time in the diner on the second island, which amazingly seemed to be the cooler place on the entire island, Hajime didn’t question the reason why, he could only be grateful for the alleviation on the suffocating temperature.

“Hey, do you think someone will take Monokuma’s motive seriously?” Hajime asked out of the blue, that question had been nipping on the edge of mind since he played Twilight Syndrome. He wondered if Monokuma was incentivizing everyone to play the game by indirectly leading them to believe they had to. Hajime certainly was more than intrigued after picking up the book from the library. Maybe that was Monokuma’s doing, and if making Hajime play the game was the bear’s ulterior motive, it worked quite well.

“Well, the game says it’s a work of nonfiction, which means that the events of the game were actually a real murder case, that involved some of our classmates too.” Nagito answered not fazed by the sudden inquiry.

“Yeah, but you believe it?”

“Monokuma’s has been saying from the start that our school memories were stolen by Monomi, if that’s true, then it’s likely that we would’ve forgotten something as important as that. I suppose you already figured it out the people who were characters in the game, right?”

“Yes, Fuyuhiko was ‘Guy F’ who killed ‘Girl E’, and Mahiru was ‘Girl D’ the accomplice. But then, does that mean that Fuyuhiko has a sister? I mean, he never talks about himself so I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, but that would mean she was killed, right? By whoever ‘Satou’ was.”

“I thought the same thing, I’m sure that those two ‘Kuzuryu’ on the credits were listed there purposefully. Actually, I think this motive was specially designed for Fuyuhiko and Mahiru.” Nagito informed placing a hand to his chin.

“Yeah, I know...” Mahiru had been portrayed as an accomplice to the murder of Fuyuhiko’s supposed sister, and Fuyuhiko as a vengeful, grieving brother who made justice with his own hands, taking into account Fuyuhiko’s personality and occupation, it was not too unrealistic to consider it could be true. “I think it’s better for us to keep an eye on them, maybe that’s the whole reason why Mahiru wasn’t at the restaurant today, she could’ve played the game and found out about it herself.”

“I think that might be the case too.” They stayed quiet staring out the window at the empty parking lot, it made no sense to have a parking lot on a deserted island, there certainly weren’t any vehicles around.

As Hajime absentmindedly rested his temple on his fist he noticed someone entering the parking lot and going towards the beach house’s tunnel. It wasn’t hard to decipher her identity due to her shining orange kimono standing out against the dull street.

Hiyoko didn’t even notice them, following her way to the Chandler Beach without giving a look at the diner.

“Wonder what she’s doing...” Hajime said.

“Probably meeting with Mahiru, the two of them grew really close after Mahiru taught her how to tie her sash.”

“She didn’t know how before? But that’s like... her whole thing, right?”

“Yes, but apparently she didn’t know how, actually, she started smelling pretty bad because she refused to take a bath and untie her kimono.”

“Really? Wow...!” Hajime found it funny that the girl didn’t know how to wear her own clothes, especially someone as standoffish as Hiyoko. “She’s probably going to the beach...”

“Speaking of going somewhere, I think it’s better for me to go to the supermarket now.” Nagito responded.

“Right now? Didn’t he tell you the meeting was at 2:30 p.m.?”

“He did, but I don’t want to be late, you know. It’s insolent to leave an Ultimate waiting for trash like me to arrive.” The harsh words towards himself were spoken without an ounce of hesitation, it was kind of weird and saddening that the boy had such opinions about himself.

“Do you want me to come with you? You know, just to be sure?” Hajime didn’t think that Kazuichi would attempt something against Nagito, especially because Hajime was aware of their encounter. Regardless, the way the mechanic had phrased his request implied that it was an important matter, why he wanted to discuss it with Nagito of all people was even more intriguing.

“Kazuichi said to not tell anyone, so I think it’s best for me to go alone, whatever it is it must be something private.” Nagito wasn’t questioning why his presence was solicited either, so Hajime decided not to pry.

“Well, whatever. I’m gonna get something to drink, this heat is becoming unbearable.” The diner, it seemed, only had hot water from the faucet and coffee, which Hajime had an immense distaste towards.

“There’s a refrigerator on the beach house, I’m pretty sure there’s a lot of cold drinks in there.” Nagito got up from the booth swiftly. “I’ll be going now Hajime, see you later.”

He waved his hand at the boy as he left the diner and made his way to the first island.

He would be lying if he said that he wasn’t curious about what Kazuichi was planning. It was a bit embarrassing to admit that he was dejected by not being invited to whatever it was.

Sighing deeply he got up and left the diner, he wouldn’t be hanging alone in the place all day, so he decided to take Nagito in his advice and went to the beach house. Chandler Beach was one of the most beautiful places on the entire island, the soothing movements of the waves coupled with the very thin, very white sand made for an extraordinary landscape.

It was really weird, Hajime thought. The island itself was massive, filled with a diverse variety of facilities and it was stocked with whatever they needed, from basic supplies to frivolities such as a beach house, and yet, it felt like too little space, it felt oppressive in how large it was, it felt suffocating in its weather and endless ocean.

It was incredible how he could feel caged in such an open setting. This island for all its commodity was nothing but a jail, trapping them from the outside world to never escape, to never be missed.

From the way things were going, it was becoming less likely that rescue would arrive by the day. Not that that hope was big to start with, even so, the helplessness and unfairness of the situation made no favors to his gloomy mood.

He turned his back to the ocean and entered through the main door of the beach house, the place looked professional and tidy, the closet door was open ajar and there was a sign saying that the showers were out of order, and just as Nagito had said, the refrigerator was stocked with cold drinks, a tangible wave of relief washed over him at the prospect of relieving his overheated body.

He walked towards the divine refrigerator containing his salvation when he heard a small rumbling sound coming from the closet.

“Hiyoko?” Hajime realized that he had not seen the girl since she made her way to the beach house, she wasn’t outside and he was fairly certain that they couldn’t have missed each other on his way here. No one responded, and he couldn’t hear any sound either, it didn’t appear to have anyone beside him on the beach house, even so, the silence that proceeded his question made him uneasy to the point of raising goosebumps on his arms’ hair.

Returning his attention to the refrigerator, he opened its glass-made door and plucked one fresh, cold water bottle, the sudden movement caused him to drop the bottle to the ground, he closed the refrigerator’s door but when he bent down to pick up his drink he heard the swift sound of movement to his right.

Hajime didn’t find out what the sound was because as soon as he turned his head to the side he was roughly hit on the temple the brutal force sent him forward, his forehead met the glass door forcefully making him helpless to struggle against the sharp claws of oblivion that overtook him.

Throbbing, insisting, raging pain coursed through him, it was hard to perceive where it started and where it ended, a cycle of slow suffering that didn’t cease its torment on his body.

Consciousness slurred past his wounded mind, a heavy fog blocked his senses, only leaving space to insufferable pain. Muffled sounds and voices met his ears, but the small energy he still had left wasn’t enough to decipher it as more than the byproducts of his hurt mind.

A drowsy eyelid opened but he couldn’t see anything, blurred shades danced on the edge of his vision but he couldn't make out anything clearly, the throbbing distracted him from anything but the pain. He thinks he can hear someone cry out but he can't acknowledge it or comprehend it whatsoever.

Though he took notice that he was laying on a hard surface, likely the floor by how frigid it was, he could also feel something sticky under his right palm, some hoarse groaning sound came out of his throat, or so he thought it did, he wasn’t sure.

His entire body started to tremble, a roaring wave of pain washed over him as he tried to move from the ground, now he was fairly sure that a sharp cry had left his lips, he took a shallow intake of breath and tried to reign in his uncooperative body.

“H-He’s still alive!” Someone shouted above him, he felt a hand being placed on his shoulder and another on his face trying to maneuver his head. Hajime attempted to say something coherent but only a soft whimper came out.

“Are you serious?!” He felt a tiny pressure on his temple and a choked cry left his mouth, the pain as excruciating as it was helped him ground his thoughts on reality. As soon as the pressure was gone a piece of cloth was firmly wrapped around his temples, he could feel the cloth getting swamped in an instant. “H-Holy crap!”

“W-What...?!” Hajime stammered, his lungs grew heavy as he pathetically tried to pull himself up.

“P-P-Please don’t m-move...!” He opened his eyes to see Mikan hovering over him with a panicked look on her face, the nurse promptly took another pack of bandages from her apron and started working on his wound. A dry cough left his lungs and a pang of pain flooded with each rasp of his throat.

“Hajime, can you hear me?” Now that some consistency of conscience returned to him, he realized that the room was filled with people, Chiaki was holding a finger close to his eyes as a doctor would do to a trauma patient in one of the tv dramas he watched once.

“I-I can...”

“Is he alright?” Hajime recognized Nagito’s voice as the boy approached them. “Hajime, I’m so glad you’re alive!”

“Crap, t-this is insane...!” Kazuichi shrieked from the corner.

“W-What happened...?” Hajime croaked, his thoughts were all shambled and he was too disoriented to understand what was happening, he remembered entering the beach house and then... pain.

“Someone attacked you, can you remember what happened? Who it was?” Chiaki asked rapidly.

“P-Please, it’s better not crowd him... right now...!” Despite her clear distress, Mikan’s hands were steady as she cleaned and bandaged his wound, he looked down on himself and noticed the pool of blood he was laying on, his blood. The prospect of his own death stared back at him from the murky reflex his blood had created, the cold hands of death never seemed quite that close before.

“He’s trembling.” Nagito informed the girls.

“H-he lost plenty of blood and is probably on a b-bit of shock. We need to give him fluids and warm him up... The w-wound stopped bleeding on its own, but... it shouldn’t have...” Mikan’s worried gaze was prickling the back of his neck as she carefully wiped away the blood that had streaked down his face due to the cut from the refrigerator’s door.

“I’ll get something for him to drink” Mahiru had tears streaming down her flushed cheeks and turned her back on them to leave the beach house in search of the fluids.

“Hajime, do you remember who attacked you?” Nagito asked sternly.

“...N-No.”

“Mikan, can you take care of him? I hate that this had to happen, but we need to investigate for the class trial...” A crease had formed on Chiaki’s brows as she got up from the floor in front of Hajime. It took a second for him to register what Chiaki had said.

“Class trial...?”

Nagito looked troubled at his inquire and averted his eyes to his right side and when he moved out of the way, Hajime saw.

A gruesome trail of blood a few feet away from his own that led to Hiyoko’s pale, cold, immobile body, her normally telling expression now completely blank, her face was as pale as a sheet of paper, somehow Hajime thought that his appearance wasn’t too far from that either. The girl had her back to the back door of the beach house and the bleeding from her head seemed to have streaked down the bottom of the door, tainting it with coagulated blood.

He could feel his entire body starting to shiver without his command, the few droplets of blood still coursing through his veins seemed to rush away from his extremities, his fingers grew ice-cold as the color drained from his face even more.

Hiyoko was dead.

The traditional dancer for all her foul-mouthed attitude hadn’t done anything inherently bad towards any of them, her usually bright kimono was now smeared with the evidence of her demise. The girl despite being a high-schooler was so little that at first, he confused her with a middle-schooler, now with her lifeless corpse leaning in an awkward angle on the door, that impression turned more prominent.

“H-How...?!” The knot on his throat was threatening to choke him if he so dared to speak another word.

“Kazuichi found you two in here, we heard the body discovery announcement and rushed over, we thought...” Nagito swallowed dry and continued. “We thought you were both dead...”

“Hahahaha!” Monokuma had appeared from the thin air and laughed at their misery. “You’re looking a bit pale there, Hajime. Lost a lot of blood, didn’t you? Well, it seems that Hiyoko has enough to donate some to you, don’t you think? Hahahaha!”

“S-Shut up...!”

“You guys are so mean to me, and here I was bringing the Monokuma File to you insolent children...” Monokuma stared at the floor as he handed them Monokuma File. “Buuut, since I’m such a nice guy, I’ll even help Hajime! Here take this!”

Monokuma shoved a tiny red pill into his hands and stood in front of him looking pleased with himself. “There, swallow up!”

“T-The hell you’re on?!” A ring resonated through his head at the loud tone of his voice.

“That’s a blood replacement pill! It replaces a certain quantity of blood in your bloodstream after some time, you’re welcome!”

“I-I never heard anything of the s-sorts...” Mikan said dubiously.

“And w-why should I believe you...?” At his raging fury at the bear, he grew lightheaded again.

“Well, if you need a reason, then it’s because I can’t have you dizzying off in the class trial, right?” Monokuma placed his paws trying to cover his smile. “You had plenty of time to die already, but since you’re still alive, you’re just as much a participant on the investigation as anyone! And I’m the kind of guy who hates favoritism, so the class trial has to be fair for everyone, even for a crippled, barely-alive student like you.”

He restrained himself to not jump at the bear, causing a scene was the last thing they needed right now.

“It says on the rules that Monokuma can’t directly interfere with the students unless you break a rule, so...” Chiaki though also mistrustful of Monokuma’s words, was more open-minded to the idea of such a ludicrous pill.

“A-Are you serious?! You’re going to trust M-Monokuma...?!” Hajime certainly didn’t.

“I agree with Chiaki on this, Hajime.” Nagito said as he took a look at the pill still in his hand. “Though Monokuma doesn’t have your best interest in mind, if it can help you recover even if a little, it’s worth a try.”

Begrundily, Hajime swallowed the pill dry and waited for any sudden changes. “There’s no way this thing works.”

Mahiru returned with two water bottles by the time Mikan had finished her ministrations, and shoved it on Hajime’s hands, he took a generous jug of it and settled on the ground.

“Wait... Why did you go away to get this? There’s a lot of water here...” He slowly whirled around to look at the refrigerator, which now had a big web crack on its glass, but even weirder was the absence of any water bottles. Hajime remembers taking one himself, though he never had a chance to drink it, where did all those drinks get?

“Missing Water Bottles” has been added to the truth bullets.

With Nagito and Mikan on each side of him, he managed to get up, surprisingly without feeling queasy altogether. His legs were still shaky, but he could stand on his own, Mikan must’ve used some medicine on the gauze she had pressed on the wound since the area around it felt a bit numb.

They had an investigation to lead, not only for their own sake but for Hiyoko’s too. It wasn’t the time nor place to be slacking off, especially the others, he couldn’t become a liability to them and hinder their search for the killer, as much as he wanted to drop dead on a comfy, soft bed, he couldn’t. All their lives were at stake.

For all it’s worth, Hajime started to feel like his blood was rushing in his body, it must’ve been the effects of the pill. He only hoped it didn’t do anything funny.

It was best to start at the beginning, so he promptly started to read the Monokuma File at once.

The victim is Hiyoko Saionji. The estimated time of death is around 2:20 p.m.

The scene of the crime where the body was discovered is inside the beach house at Chandler Beach.

The cause of death is a single killing blow to the head with a blunt instrument.

There are no other conspicuous external injuries, and a small quantity of anesthetic was found in the victim’s bloodstream.

Around 2:20 p.m? That was before Nagito’s meeting with Kazuichi, seeing that the boy had left the diner earlier, Hajime might’ve entered the beach house at the space of time between 2:00 p.m and 2:20 p.m. since Hiyoko was most definitely not dead by the day he arrived there. Hajime had been attacked before 2:20 p.m and passed unconsciously.

He was also curious about the mention of anesthetic on her bloodstream, was it the killer who injected her some anesthetic or something?

“Monokuma File #2” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Hajime Entering The Beach House” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Hiyoko... probably wants us to do this, too. She would want us to reveal the truth behind her death.” Sonia stated resolved despite the creasing on her expression.

“I-I understand... If everyone’s doing it, I will do it too but...” Mikan, on the other hand, had no qualms in showing how truly nervous she was. “B-but... please give me a little time... Please give me time to calm myself down a little. Also... I will go and tell the others who aren’t here about this...”

“You’re right... the others are probably confused since they only heard the announcement and not where the murder took place.” Nagito assured the girl who quickly made her way out of the beach house.

“Then... let’s begin.” Chiaki said sternly. “Who killed Hiyoko Saionji...? Why was she killed...? We got to find out and resolve this already.”

Chiaki was right, they had no time to waste, they had to put all their efforts into trying to uncover the truth lying beneath the case, no matter the costs.

Looking around, Hajime found the quite obvious murder weapon lying a few feet from Hiyoko’s body, a bloody metal bat discarded on the ground next to the trail of blood on the ground. Something about it struck some sense of familiarity.

“This metal bat...”

“It’s the same... as in Twilight Syndrome Murder Case. There’s a girl in the game who was killed just like that, with a blow to the head with a metal bat.” Chiaki explained, at his troubled look, the gamer must’ve connected the dots. “Did you... did you also play the game, Hajime? Is that why you’re curious about the metal bat?”

Seeing that the girl had already deducted as much, it was pointless to lie and deny his knowledge regarding the game. “Yes, I did.”

“I see...” Chiaki pulled her cat-patterned hoodie over her head in what Hajime thought was an act of self-reassurance. “Then I’m sure you noticed that this case is strongly connected to Twilight Syndrome... I think.”

Indeed the similar position of the body and murder weapon could not be a coincidence, that much was obvious. It was left to them to uncover the mysteries behind it.

“Metal Bat” has been added to the truth bullets.

Peko and Sonia were speaking about some gaudy mask that was placed close to Hiyoko, Sonia got worked up about something and excused herself as she rushed out of the beach house for reasons unknown.

“What’s up with her?” Hajime hoarsely as he approached Peko.

“It seems that she knows something regarding this mask.” Peko answered instantly. “If that’s the case, then I shall wait until she decides to talk about it.”

Hajime round in on Hiyoko’s body and couldn’t shake the sense of wrongness. They didn’t have the luxury to wallow in sentiment or to mourn her death as if it was merely an inconvenience to them, it was just completely, utterly, inherently wrong.

Hiyoko was leaning on the door facing the road, effectively blocking it from the inside. Was it Hiyoko herself that crawled to the door? The trail of blood that led to the door certainly backed up that possibility, maybe she used her last ounce of strength to move towards the door.

“Trail Of Blood” has been added to the truth bullets.

He walked towards the refrigerator once more and peered at the bloodstain his head had left, it was a miracle that he had not only survived but also escaped the trauma without any aggravation consequences as it seemed.

It was truly... lucky.

Hajime didn’t want to contemplate what his survival meant, if he continued on that line of thought he would accomplish nothing but to create turmoil in his already troubled mind.

He averted his eyes from the place he was previously laying on his blood and noticed a trash can on the corner beside the refrigerator, it looked inconspicuous enough, but what caught his attention was the number of empty plastic bottles discarded on it. They looked exactly like the one he had gotten from the refrigerator, but now the contents were nowhere to be found.

“Trash Can” has been added to the truth bullets.

Chiaki and Nagito were talking about some footprints on the sand, Hajime entered the conversation and inquired what they were discussing.

“We think these footprints are a clue that might come in handy for us.” Chiaki explained pointing at the footprints, it was easy to spot the ones that had been imprinted after the body discover since they looked like they were avoiding stepping close to the other ones.

“Those are mine.” Hajime stated and pointed at the pair of footprints that faced the entrance to the beach house.

“We figured as much since it doesn’t show the person leaving the beach house.” Nagito consented and then whirled around to be face to face with him. “By the way, Hajime. When you entered the beach house, was Hiyoko already dead?”

“No. There wasn’t anyone in here, I came just to get a drink and when I was about to leave someone attacked me, I didn’t see their face but I think I remember hearing something in the closet. They probably were hiding in there.” Hajime knew that Nagito would believe his testimony, but he was less confident that the others would buy his story given his precedent on Byakuya’s case.

“So Hiyoko wasn’t here at the time?” Chiaki pried.

“A-Actually, Nagito and I saw Hiyoko walking towards Chandler Beach a bit before I went to the beach house, but on my way here I didn’t see her at all.”

“I can attest to that.” Nagito confirmed.

“So Hiyoko came to the beach house after you were attacked?”

“I guess so. The Monokuma File says that Hiyoko died at 2:20 p.m. and Nagito and I parted ways at the diner a few minutes before 2:00 p.m., I think. So she probably was killed around the time I was passed out.”

“There is another pair of footprints next to yours, and these ones do leave the beach house...” Chiaki said and eyed the sand thoughtfully.

“You reckon they’re the killer’s?”

“Maybe.”

It seemed as if Chiaki was being vague purposefully and it bothered him that he couldn’t know for sure, her normally calm and lazy attitude served to confuse his perception further. The fact that she was probably wary of sharing information with him only unnerved him even more.

“But didn’t Kazuichi find us? Couldn’t the footprints be his?”

“I already asked him, and he said these ones were already here.”

Hajime himself couldn’t recall those footprints being there when he entered the beach house, which meant that someone other than Kazuichi had both entered and left the beach house after he was attacked. It couldn’t have been Hiyoko since she didn’t leave, so it was more likely that they were left by the killer.

“Footprints on The Beach” has been added to the truth bullets.

Mikan had brought Gundham and Nekomaru with her and meekly excused herself to perform an autopsy on Hiyoko’s body. The two boys were perturbed by the sight of one of their friend’s corpse but didn’t have anything to add to the investigation. Fuyuhiko once again didn’t show his face, though the yakuza’s antics infuriated him, he was glad for his absence to some extent, after all, Fuyuhiko was at the top of his suspect list.

“Hey, Nagito.”

The luckster was reading the sign on the shower room that informed it was out of order.

“What is it, Hajime?”

“Chiaki said that Kazuichi was the one who found us here, right? But weren’t the two of you together...?”

“Oh yes, we were. We met at the supermarket around 2:30 p.m. and went together to the diner, soon after the girls arrived too. It happens that the girls were planning to go swimming at Chandler Beach this afternoon, Kazuichi overheard their plans and wanted to accompany them.” Nagito explained. “He went ahead to the beach house to prepare things, and that was when he found you.”

So that was the reason behind the secret meeting then.

“Why did he call you them, couldn’t he have gone alone?” If Kazuichi wanted to do anything inappropriate, why call Nagito to accompany him?

“That’s because it’s weird to fake a coincidence alone.” Nagito didn’t appear to be bothered at all by being used as an accomplice for Kazuichi’s plans.

“I see, and did you guys see anything weird?” If they arrived at the diner short after meeting at the supermarket they could’ve seen something important.

“Well, we found Fuyuhiko close to the diner, but as soon as he saw us he made his way back to the first island. Also, a little after we entered the diner, we saw Mahiru through the window, she was a bit far so I couldn’t see properly but... she looked a bit troubled. She rushed away from there too, so...”

Nagito eyed him with a knowing look to make his implication clear. Mahiru was close to the beach house during the time of the killing. According to Nagito, Fuyuhiko was also close to the crime scene, he was sure that information would be useful during the trial.

“Nagito’s Account” has been added to the truth bullets.

“It seems the shower room is out of order.” Nagito said changing the subject.

“That’s right... the shower’s being repaired, so water won’t come out...” Monomi stated, appearing from nowhere. “But what about hot water? Well, that’s impossible too.”

“Wow, what a waste of space.” Nagito said haughtily.

Monomi started whimpering at their judgemental gaze and left soon after.

“We might as well go in.” Nagito assented and pushed the door to the shower room open.

“Shower Room” has been added to the truth bullets.

The shower room was pretty nice and spacious, the ceiling was quite high with the glass box almost reaching it. As per usual, a camera and monitor were placed on the walls, aside from that, the only remarkable thing about it was the iron-barred windows high on the wall.

Akane had already entered and was exploring the room.

“Hmm, guess no one’s in here...” The gymnast said disappointed. “I was thinkin’ the killer was hiding here after they failed to escape.”

“It wouldn’t be that easy.” Nagito commented idly eyeing the window, it was fairly narrow and it was so high up that he doubted that even Akane would be able to reach it. Regardless, he had a feeling that the window was important somehow. “I guess it would be pretty hard for someone to escape from that window.” As if to prove it, Nagito stood on his tip-toes and stretched his arm as far as he could, and even then, it was far from reaching it.

“We should confirm it, just to be safe, right?”

“Huh? You’re still thinkin’ about the window?” Hajime nodded at the girl. “Aw right, I got it! I’ll pitch in and help you out! C’mon, you two give a piggyback and I’ll check the window for you.” Hajime was a bit hesitant to serve as a stepstool after losing so much blood, but Monokuma’s pill appeared to have helped him, and Akane did not seem like she would take a no for an answer.

He placed his hands on the wall beside Nagito and Akane jumped on their shoulders right after, the girl was quite heavy and he could already feel his knees shaking from the pressure. “This iron bar isn’t even pinned down. Looks like you can open and closed it pretty easily.” Hajime looked up and indeed, Akane had her head out of the window.

“Hajime, it’s not cool to peek at a girl’s skirt, you know...” Nagito said disapprovingly.

“W-What?!” The blood he’d lost suddenly made itself noticed at the rush of color on his face and ears. “I wasn’t - Don’t say such stupid things!”

Akane jumped off their shoulders and flashed them a wide grin. “Isn’t this a big discovery?”

“Yeah, but even so, the window is quite high, I don’t think they could reach it alone.” Nagito remarked.

“But if two people worked together like us, it wouldn’t be a problem, right?” Akane asked.

“That would mean the killer had an accomplice. Plus, if that was the case the accomplice would still not be able to get out from the window.”

“But if you really think about it, just one person could get outta here without help, right?” Akane questioned thoughtfully. “Like... a freakin’ ninja could do it, ya know?! A ninja can climb fences and walls no problem, right?”

“That’s... not the case...”

“W-What?! But you’re the one who said the window was suspicious!” Akane appeared genially offended at Hajime shooting down her dubious theory. “Tch... It was such a waste of time to help you out! All you saw was my panties!”

“No, I didn’t!” Hajime was not eager to wallow in embarrassment in front of the two of them, and since the shower room had nothing else remarkable, he left without saying anything more.

“Iron-Barred Window” has been added to the truth bullets.

Hajime went to the last place left to investigate. The closet.

The small enclosed space was utterly messy, random beach stuff, wetsuits, surfboards, innertubes all clustered around the room. Hajime had heard a noise coming from here, he was positive of that, could it have been Hiyoko? The killer? Would anything have gone different if he had bothered to check it after he saw the door was open? It didn’t matter anymore. Hiyoko was dead and they couldn’t change that, her life was forcibly taken from her, and Hajime would've been in the same situation if not for his miraculous display of good luck.

His throat tightened at the reminder of his mortality that pronounced itself in the form of the still lingering prickles of pain radiating from his skull. Alone in the privacy of the closet, Hajime shed silent tears for Hiyoko. He wasn’t a fan or anything close to her, even so, he couldn’t help but mourn her loss.

His fury at the killer would serve as fuel for Hajime to find the one responsible for such a ruthless act. He needed to believe they would.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 7: Most Deepest, Most Darkest, Most Awful Secrets

The dark closet room was inconspicuous enough, Hajime found no trace of anyone who could’ve been hiding in there. Despite the lack of clues, he couldn’t shake the feeling in his gut that someone was hiding inside the closet, Hiyoko or the killer were in the closet when he entered the beach house.

He searched around the room some more and the only thing he found that might’ve been a clue was that one of the surfboard cases was open and inside of it was a bit damp, he found no reason for the entire inside surface to be clammy, but it was. Aside from that nothing stood out in the dim-lit closet so he wasted no more seconds in the unsettling space.

“Damp Surfboard Case” has been added to the truth bullets.

Hajime wiped the moisture soaking his eyes and stepped out of the closet, most of the students seemed to have dispersed while he investigated, Mikan stood close to the body, examing it as best as she could while Ibuki futilely attempted to do some examination herself, but the girl kept gagging from nausea every couple of seconds. Peko on the other hand, looked more somber than usual standing with her arms crossed in front of her.

Nagito stood close to them and appeared to be asking Mikan regarding her autopsy.

“Um... I tried my best to perform the autopsy, and I was able to find out... Hiyoko was definitely killed by a blow to the head. She was probably... struck from behind by one blow... Based on the scar... the weapon is clearly the metal bat.”

The nurse hadn’t said anything that they couldn’t have assumed, but then she quickly added.

“But every dark cloud has a silver lining, as they say... um... it looks like Hiyoko didn’t suffer.”

“What do you mean?” Hajime inquired curiously.

“Ah, um... There’s no doubt... she died instantly.” Mikan responded sorrowfully. Hajime couldn’t help but notice that the girl was sincerely mourning Hiyoko’s death, despite the traditional dancer constantly verbally harassing Mikan, the thought that her attacker had been gone didn’t seem to register at all with the girl. Hajime didn’t know why that surprised him, maybe he was a bit deranged himself.

“Her death was instant?” Nagito asked.

“Yes...”

The fact that Hiyoko couldn’t have moved to the back door didn’t go unnoticed to him, if Mikan’s autopsy was correct, it meant that the killer themselves placed the body in that position, given the amount of blood present on the crime scene, the killer must’ve gotten rid of the blood that stuck with them somehow.

“Mikan’s Autopsy Report” has been added to the truth bullets.

“And... there’s another thing I found...” Mikan said after hesitating for a second. “Um... during the autopsy, I discovered this in Hiyoko’s pocket.” Mikan shoved a hand in her apron and plucked out a bloody sheet of paper and put it on Nagito’s hand. Hajime craned his neck to the side to read what was written.

I was going to tell you in person, but I couldn't find you so I put this in your mailbox.

About what we discussed earlier, is it okay if we change the place? I want you to come to the beach house on the second island. The time is still the same at 2:00 p.m.

It seems there's someone who wants to interfere with our meeting. Let's keep it a secret.

Until then, let's try not to see each other for a while. It would be bad if they started suspecting us for no reason.

-Mahiru Koizumi

“This... letter...”

“I-If this letter is real, it would mean Hiyoko met up with Mahiru, right...?” Mikan inquired, the girl seemed to be a little ashamed for assuming things, but Hajime had no right to judge her, he was thinking the exact same thing.

“Yes... Plus, Hiyoko’s estimated time of death was around 2:20 p.m., which means they met up for twenty minutes prior to her death.” Nagito said, voicing Hajime’s own speculations. If the letter was legitimate, it would implicate that Mahiru was Hiyoko’s killer, it would be too coincidental to have another killer when the two of them were supposed to meet.

But would Mahiru have done something like that? Hajime wasn’t particularly fond of the photographer, her bossy demeanor bugged him quite a lot, yet he couldn’t picture her being a cold-hearted killer, maybe his opinion was biased but he couldn’t help but feel it was... too obvious.

Would Mahiru leave such incriminating evidence lying around like that? He knew that the girl was no idiot, nor was the killer. He was sure that the girl was hiding something relevant to the case, especially after hearing Nagito’s testimony, but Hajime had an inkling that the killer took advantage of the situation, after all, the killer’s main priority is to throw someone else under the bus, just like Byakuya’s case.

He couldn’t be sure as of now, but he would avoid falling for any red herrings the killer might’ve set.

“Letter On Hiyoko” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Where’s Chiaki?” Hajime asked as he took the gamer’s absence.

“She went to Jabberwock Park, she said she was going to play the game again, just to be sure.” Nagito said as he made to get out from the beach house himself, Hajime followed behind the boy, after all, there wasn’t anything else to investigate in the beach house. Also, the grim atmosphere that had settled in the place was enough motive for taking the first bait to follow Nagito out there. When they got to the door Nagito turned back before speaking. “Ibuki, Mikan, can the two of you meet us at the airport in a few minutes?”

The two girls were intrigued by Nagito’s request, but seeing that there was nothing for them to do either they agreed.

The two boys left the beach house and walked at a fast pace towards the first island, Hajime wasn’t sure where Nagito was leading him.

“You’re going to play the game again, too?”

“No, actually, I intend on doing something else.” Nagito said looking straight forward. “Will you help me, Hajime?”

“Depends... what’re you planning?” He would not follow nor help Nagito in whatever shady ploy he might be scheming. He liked to think he had gotten closer to the boy, but there was still a lingering suspicion from the previous class trial, though Hajime was fairly sure the boy wasn’t Hiyoko’s murderer, Hajime wasn’t psychic and couldn’t know what exactly was passing through Nagito’s mind.

“I want to visit everyone’s cottage.” Nagito stated nonchalantly.

“W-What? Why?!”

“I wanted to make sure whose those footprints we found leaving the beach house.” Nagito explained swiftly looking unbothered by Hajime’s uncertainty. “I was hoping we could get some samples of everyone’s shoes.”

“Like... comparing footprints?”

“Yes! I saw that on a movie once, and given our situation, I think it will come in handy.” It sounded silly, but Nagito was not wrong, it would help the investigation if they could determine who left the beach house.

“Okay, but how are you gonna get inside everyone’s cottages?”

“Monokuma obviously. Just like we did on Byakuya’s trial.”

Nagito mentioned the last trial without a trace of hesitation or remorse whatsoever, aside from the confrontation later that same night, they had avoided the topic at all costs, acting as if nothing had happened at all, as if their classmates’ death were nothing but a mere incident from a long, long time ago. Hajime was not certain about how he should feel about it.

Hajime decided to brush it off, for now, it was not the time to dwell on those things.

Before they advanced to their peers’ rooms, Nagito went straight to his cottage and collected a pen and various sheets of paper, probably to take the samples, Hajime guessed.

As Nagito predicted, Monokuma was only too pleased to let them enter the other cottages, all in the name of a fair trial the bear had said.

He felt intrusive getting inside of everyone’s private rooms, he certainly would’ve not taken well for someone invading his privacy, his cottage was the only place he could have a slight sense of safety. He tried not to question it much, simply picking a shoe and outlining it on the paper with the pen.

As to be expected, they couldn’t enter Fuyuhiko’s cottage, apparently, the boy was inside it and Monokuma refused to allow them in, not that he’d be willing to anyway, he was not about to put himself in an enclosed room with Fuyuhiko.

The last cottage they visited was Mahiru’s, instead of entering through, Nagito knocked on the door a few times and waited patiently until it swung open.

Mahiru stared back at the two boys, wet red-rimmed eyes and disheveled hair, he supposed she was laying with her face in the pillow while crying her eyes out, the Ultimate Photographer wasn’t looking at her best, but Hajime was not insane enough to share his thoughts.

“What do you two want?” She wiped her nose with the bottom of her wrist to get it rid of any snot that might’ve been dripping.

“We wanted for you to come to the airport so we can discuss some things about the case.” Nagito answered paying her appearance no mind.

Mahiru didn’t seem to be pleased by their presence, at all, but the girl also knew she couldn’t just hide the entire time in her room, and like it or not, Nagito’s offer was an excuse for the girl to recompose herself.

“Okay... just give me a minute, you can go on ahead.” She closed the door again lightly dispensing them without another word. Hajime wouldn’t bet that the girl would really show up at the airport.

“Hajime, I have a plan. Would you like to hear it?” Nagito said as they walked away from the wooden path.

“...Sure.” Despite his obvious suspicion towards Mahiru, Nagito was not bothered in the least by not being able to take the sample from her footprint, which rang a bell in Hajime’s head, maybe the boy was already expecting that, it also didn’t go unnoticed to him that he called only Ibuki, Mahiru and Mikan to the airport, the three girls that appeared on Twilight Syndrome Murder Case. Was Nagito planning to question them about it? “Is this about the game? That’s why you’re calling them to the airport, right?”

“Yes, that too. But honestly, I was aiming to lure Mahiru out of her cottage.” Nagito explained as they stopped below the shadows hotel Mirai was casting on the ground. “I’m positive that there may be some clue on her room, you have to agree that a lot of evidence points to Mahiru being a prime suspect.”

“I do agree with that, but what do you want me to do? Okay, she’ll leave her cottage, but she’s definitely gonna lock it again.”

“I know, but then you can just ask Monokuma to let you in.” Nagito reasoned calmly.

“I see...” It was a sound plan as far as he could tell, Monokuma would help them for sure, even if it was merely for his own amusement. “But what’re you expecting to find in there?”

“Actually, I was hoping you could be the one to search around her cottage, I want to take their testimony regarding 'Twilight Syndrome', they were all characters in that game, so I want to question them if they remember anything. If you don’t find anything, you can just outline her shoes on a paper like the others.”

It was a good plan, not only they could get the girls’ testimony, but Hajime could also explore Mahiru’s cottage for any hidden clues that the girl might be concealing from them. It was a good plan. For anyone but Hajime to carry the plan out.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea...” Due to Hajime’s response, it seemed Nagito understood that his plan was flawed, but Hajime quickly corrected the assumption. “I-I mean, with my luck, something bad is surely going to happen.”

“Don’t worry, Hajime. I’m sure you’ll surpass your expectations, there’s no doubt!” Nagito declared his belief in Hajime without thinking twice, he was divided between feeling flattered and dubious, but since it was Nagito, he decided it was best to just go along with it.

“Okay... I’ll try. But don’t expect anything.” Hajime said taking the last sheet of paper from Nagito’s hand and entering hotel Mirai as to hide from Mahiru who was going to pass through there soon enough. As it was, Hajime saw Mahiru walking towards the airport a few minutes after Nagito had parted, without wasting any more time, Hajime rushed to the last cottage on the girl’s side. True to Nagito’s prediction, Monokuma was delighted to be ‘of service’.

He tried his best not to feel like a weirdo about invading a girl’s room as he fumbled with the door’s handle. The echo of his steps inside the cottage was almost eerie, Hajime had more important things to do than to acknowledge how wrong his invasion of someone else’s privacy was.

First and foremost he looked for a pair of shoes under the bed and carefully outlined it and wrote Mahiru’s name on the paper for identification. With his main task completed, Hajime started going through the girl’s things as meticulously as possible, which wasn’t much when he would accidentally stomp or hit random pieces of furniture all around the room.

Mahiru had pinned some of her photographs on the wall, all of them were of the students smiling, he noted that some of the pictures from the party were also there, a peaceful and content moment of all of them frozen in time by the lens of a camera. Hajime wished he could go back and try to amend all the messes that proceeded after the pictures were shot, but given his luck, it was more likely that he would make things even worse by interfering.

Similar to his own, the photographer’s cottage was fairly unremarkable, nothing out of the ordinary, much less anything that screamed ‘suspicious’. A couple of minutes passed as he searched the room vigorously to no avail. When he was seconds from giving up his foot slipped on the mat on the floor and sent him toppling down on his ass, sharp pangs traveled through his coccyx.

In the middle of his swearing, his eyes landed on the yellow envelope that had come out from the bellow the mat, which now laid all crumpled on the floor. With the pain on his tail bone forgotten, he promptly took the envelope in his hands and opened it.

A few pictures stared right back at him as he plucked them from inside the yellow paper, the first one was of a broken vase and some red flowers resting on the ground, the three other pictures were far more alarming. The same picture that appeared on the game over screen of ‘Girl E’s’ dead body, a shot of Mikan, Ibuki, and Hiyoko all dressed in uniforms standing in a hallway, and a picture of the dead body of a blond girl on a music room.

It was all incredibly weird, especially the photos of his classmates, Ibuki was posing where Mikan seemed to shy away from the camera, while Hiyoko looked frustrated by something, lips pouting and eyes avoiding the camera. The atmosphere portrayed in the picture was completely different from the one they experienced on the island. Hajime had no idea when those pictures were taken, but he was fairly certain that involved the missing memories issue.

At the back of the envelope, Hajime noticed the Monokuma designed postmark on the top corner, the only conclusion he could draw was that the envelope was the ending prize Monokuma had mentioned before, the pictures were meant to solidify the events that transpired in the game, probably encouraging the one who earned it to believe whatever crap Monokuma wanted them to. But why was this on Mahiru’s cottage? Was she the one to play the game first? Somehow he found that unlikely, at the time of the motive reveal she was quite disturbed by the prospect of another killing.

The envelope brought more questions than answers, though its value was undeniable, that was certain.

“Ending Prize” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Entrance Hall Photo” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Broken Vase Photo” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Victim's Crime Scene Photo” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Girl E's Crime Scene Photo” has been added to the truth bullets.

He tried as best as he could to tidy up the mess he had created in the Mahiru’s room without much success, he left right after with the ending prize and sample in his hands and dove towards the airport. Monokuma would call out the investigation at any moment now, he hoped that Nagito managed to get something out of the girls, though he wouldn’t bet on it.

It seemed he arrived at the airport just in time as he saw Nagito and the girls walking out of the airport, he hid the ending price underneath his shirt at the sight of Mahiru and caught up to Nagito as the boy took notice of him.

“I got it.” Hajime informed quietly.

Nagito rapidly stood by his side to accompany him back to the beach house before the girls could catch up.

“What did you find, Hajime?” Nagito asked as he inspected the envelope now in his hands.

“A bunch of photos, I’m pretty sure they’re the ending prize thing, take a look.” Hajime answered as he started stroking the bandage on his head to check if it had stopped bleeding for good. He would need Mikan to re-do his bandages once the trial was over, he was appalled by how well his body was responding despite the amount he had bled.

“This is... interesting...” Nagito commented while going through the photos.

“What about you, what did they say?”

“Not much, they don’t seem to remember anything from the game, though this confirms that those three are the characters of the game. It also means that Mahiru must’ve played the game at some point. She’s clearly suspicious, that’s pretty much decided.” Nagito said smiling at the photos.

“Don’t you think it’s a little too obvious, though?” Hajime inquired thoughtfully, the pieces of evidence pointing toward Mahiru were too solid, it made him second guess the clues they’d found, the pieces fit all too well for his liking. “I mean, I’m confident that the footprints on the beach house are also hers, and everything just seems... weird to me.”

“Oh, so you felt it too, huh?” Nagito asked side-eyeing him. “I agree, I think Mahiru is just a red herring, the killer is probably trying to frame her.”

“So I’m not the only one who thinks that...” Hajime couldn’t help but feel a little relieved, for Nagito’s suspicions meant that it wasn’t too farfetched to think the way he did.

“Personally, I would much rather if Mahiru isn’t the killer, a conclusion as simple as that would do no good to make everyone’s hope shine brighter. I truly hope that both the blackened and yourselves do your best to follow the hopes you believe in.”

Hajime wasn’t surprised by the luckster’s speech, of course, the boy would think Hiyoko’s death was merely another instance where their ‘hopes’ could shine once more. Nagito’s twisted views toward the atrocities that came their way bothered Hajime quite a lot, he could relate to how his luck influenced his life on a rigid pattern, bad luck followed by good luck, he had no doubts that his vehemence regarding hope was caused by the cycle of bad and good in his life. He couldn’t blame Nagito either, it was only natural for him to think like that, Hajime would’ve done so too. To acknowledge that fact didn’t change, however, how frustrating it could be.

Despite his discomfort with Nagito’s words, it wasn’t as if he could convince the boy otherwise, even less at a time when they had to discover their classmate’s murderer.

Arriving at the beach house once more they quickly compared the footprints with the samples at hand and just as predicted, Mahiru’s sample matched perfectly the footprints left in the sand.

“Footprints on The Beach” has been updated to the truth bullets.

“It appears you were right, Hajime.” Nagito said contently.

“I’m not liking this...”

Hajime had no idea who could’ve done it, despite their efforts in acquiring clues, there was no conclusive evidence that pointed at who the killer was. Mahiru was by far the most suspicious of them all, but his gut was screaming that it was all wrong, at the same time that it made sense for her to be the blackened, it was just like Nagito said earlier, it was too simple of a conclusion, it was too convenient for the real killer.

But thinking along those lines he realized, the killer intended to frame Mahiru, there was no doubt about that, the letter Hiyoko received was more than proof enough, no one who was planning a murder would leave such important evidence on the crime scene, Hajime was certain that that had been purposeful. Maybe if both he and Nagito stayed quiet about their suspicions, the killer would take an opportune moment in the class trial to sell Mahiru down the river. If so, that would make them mightly suspicious themselves.

Unfortunately, their time was over, Monokuma appeared on the monitor and they could hear his announcement echo around the silent beach house. Peko and Sonia were the only ones inside the beach house and quietly passed them and walked towards the Monokuma Rock in the await for the beginning of the class trial.

Seeing that they had no other choice, they followed suit.

“It seems it’s now time...” Nagito said serenely without a hint of worry in his voice.

“...I can’t believe we’re doing this again.” He really couldn’t, he had a small hope that Teruteru’s end would discourage anyone from attempting it again, as usual, he was proven wrong.

Hajime couldn’t shake the uneasy in his insides, in the last trial he had some theories to work with, but now, he was quite lost at the intrinsics of the case, he had one prime suspect that was probably been framed and the possible motive of the crime, nothing else. But he remembered what Nagito had said once, something about the hopes of the spotless and hope of the blackened clashing together. Hajime wasn’t alone here, he could and should rely on the others, they were all fighting the same enemy, after all.

Alone or not, he was tired, exhausted even, between their walk to Monokuma Rock his head grew dizzy again, a heaviness settled on his shoulders from the strenuous effort on the investigation. The numbness on his wound bled through his whole body, he could only feel his feet with each step, his face completely blank devoid of any expression.

What he wouldn’t give for passing out once more.

“Jeez, making me waste my sweet-ass time...” Hajime heard as they approached the monument, Monokuma was staring heatedly at them and was not amused in the least by their tardiness. “But there’s another problem to deal with besides you punks... Where the hell is Fuyuhiko?!”

It seemed that once again the yakuza refused to show his face, Monokuma appeared to be on the very verge of popping a vein with the boy’s defiance.

“That guy... he totally ditched! He totally ditched my appointment!” Monokuma said, as his very shiny, very sharp claws came out from his furred paw. “He... pisses... me... off...!”

A burst of maniacal laughter came from inside the teddy bear as his body suddenly started to deform and the bear grew extremely... jacked. His dizziness was long gone as he stared dumbfoundedly at Monokuma’s new form.

“...I’m right here.”

The students whirled around to look at Fuyuhiko who had just arrived, the boy appeared to be mostly annoyed by the situation.

“...Ah, huh?” Monokuma groaned.

“Ah, Fuyuhiko, you came... I was worried about you.” Chiaki said diverting attention to herself.

“There’s nowhere for me to run, anyway... so no matter the ending... I have to accept, right?” Fuyuhiko stated. “But still, I’m a yakuza! Accepting defeat is not an option!”

“Well... It’s all good if the trial heats up, it’s all good.” Monokuma commented, the softness of his voice belied his tense frame, he kept repeating the same phrase as if it was a mantra. “Anyway, looks like everyone’s here, so let’s depart now!”

“So it begins... the beginning of the end...” Gundham declared from the side.

This time, Hajime made sure to keep a fair distance from the escalator he knew was coming, and as a precaution, he manually put Nagito in front of himself to prevent any annoying incidents.

“Now then, let’s keep our spirits high, everyone! We need to give our all and work together in order to solve Hiyoko’s murder!” Nagito declared encouragingly, the group didn’t seem to be bothered by the luckster’s speech, though some of them gave Nagito wary glances.

Once more inside the elevator, they started to descend into the ground. The rumbling sound was making his head hurt, differently from the first time, they all stayed quiet, no murmurs or whispers, only the screeching roar from the elevator.

Hajime didn’t know how to feel in the oppressive mood, he was nervous that’s for sure, anxiety gnawed at his mind as he listlessly tapped his foot on the floor. The knowledge that inside that cramped space, one of them was a cold-blooded killer was creating knots in his throat, that person had murdered Hiyoko and almost did the same with Hajime.

A cold shiver ran through his spine at the reminder of his almost-death experience. It had been close, too close for comfort.

Whilst he dwelled on his troubled thoughts, the elevator stopped and its door opened as a bell echoed around them.

“Aim! Defeat the boring routine!”

Monokuma was already seated on his throne with Monomi dangling around wrapped with her tiny, furry body restraint with thick ropes connected to the ceiling.

“So, I’ve decided to redecorate. How’s it look? Mr. Monokuma’s redecoration is awesome, isn’t it? It’s not like I’d allow you to think otherwise anyway!”

The trial grounds were totally different, where once stood courtroom bleachers, now a hue blue light was shined upon the artificial beach Monokuma had designed, coconuts lying on the clear, white sand that led to the same podiums from the first time.

“To go to the trouble of doing something this elaborate... Really, what are your true intentions?” Sonia questioned.

“Nothing, really... Essentially, this killing game is just to kill time anyway.” Monokuma responded bashfully.

The others were not pleased by the bear’s comment, Hajime wasn’t giving it much thought. The only matter roaming his mind was Hiyoko’s killer, he looked around at each of his classmates’ faces and tried to decipher who could be the blackened lurking among them.

It was useless. He couldn’t pinpoint anyone without any compromising evidence, which he was lacking.

They stood in the same positions on the podiums, Hiyoko’s was now marked with an ‘X’, Hajime couldn’t help but shudder as he stood beside it, somehow it felt like being next to Hajime had infected her with his bad luck. Teruteru’s, on the other hand, was crossed with a fork and knife, a sick joke that Monokuma surely found hilarious.

“Well then, let’s first discuss the motive! That masterpiece of gaming: Twilight Syndrome Murder Case!” Monokuma declared after a long, repetitive explanation of the class trial.

“Whaaat? Who cares about that game?!” Ibuki drawled annoyed.

“The outcome of this trial should be determined by whether or not we find Hiyoko’s killer...” Gundham proclaimed somberly.

“Nevertheless, we shouldn’t ignore it. After all, that game is the motive this time.” Nagito countered.

“Yeah... you’re right... Then let’s try discussing that first.” Chiaki seconded.

“I’m sure everyone who’s beaten the game already knows that it’s based on an actual murder case.” Nagito continued. “Addionately, ‘Twilight Syndrome Murder Case’ is a nonfiction game, also, some of us are characters in that game.”

“Characters? Some of us still haven’t played the game. Give us a detailed explanation.” Peko requested.

“So... I think it’s better if we clarify who are characters in the game first.” Chiaki suggested. Hajime already knew where the girl was trying to lead them to, so he took his cue.

“There are seven characters, I’m pretty sure they’re Mikan, Hiyoko, Ibuki, Mahiru, and Fuyuhiko.” He wasn’t yet sure how the others would take his words, but he couldn’t merely keep quiet because of their dislike towards him.

“Uahh... M-Me?!” Mikan cried from the other side of the courtroom.

“Huh, the hell am I doing in a game like that?!” Fuyuhiko shouted furiously at Hajime.

“But Hajime is right, I’m also pretty sure the five of you are the characters in that game.” Since Nagito’s words had more value than his own the others didn’t question much the luckster’s confirmation.

“You said there were seven characters, though. What about the other two?“ Nekomaru inquired.

“One of them, ‘Girl E’ is called ‘Satou’, but we don’t know who that might be, though I don’t think she’s important to the case, the other one is the high school girl who dies at the beginning of the game, and she’s...” Hajime wasn’t sure if he should outright said it, Fuyuhiko would definitely make a fuss about it, but the fact that there was two ‘Kuzuryu’ listed was one of the biggest clues regarding the game. “...she’s listed as ‘Kuzuryu’.”

“Hey, the fuck you just said?! What the fuck this has to do with my name, and what do you mean ‘she’?!” As expected Fuyuhiko was not happy to have that information thrown at him.

“Hajime is not saying anything wrong, in the staff roll on the game’s credit there are two ‘Kuzuryu’ listed, ‘Guy F’ can only be Fuyuhiko’s character, and in the game, he mentions that he has a little sister...” Fuyuhiko seemed to grow a shade redder at Nagito’s implication, Hajime didn’t know if it was from frustration or embarrassment.

“A little sister...?” Akane asked dubiously as she side-eyed the yakuza who stood on her right side.

“Hey... You said the game is a work of nonfiction. That means Fuyuhiko’s little sister is...” Gumdham’s insinuation rang on the suddenly gone-quiet courtroom.

“Yeah, I have a little sister...” Fuyuhiko admitted. “Somethin’ wrong with that?! It’s just a fuckin’ game, don’t go mixing up some video game with reality!”

“But that’s not just a game... It’s definitely based on true events, that’s why it’s the motive.”

“Don’t go making shit up, bastard!” Nagito’s insistency was apparently getting on the yakuza’s nerves. “If she was the type to die easily, I’d have fuckin’ killed her myself a long time ago... I mean, when I first entered Hope’s Peak Academy, she was mouthin’ off to me as usual and... s-sent me off. It happen just the other day!”

“You’re probably thinking like that because you’ve lost your memories...” Monokuma commented from his throne.

“Shut the fuck up, bastard!”

“I see... so you’re not gonna accept it, huh?” Hajime himself wasn’t certain about the contents of the game, but if all of them just refused to believe in it, their discussion would stall.

“What about you? Do you suspect Fuyuhiko, Hajime...?” Mahiru who up until that point had stayed quiet decided to speak up.

“I do, somewhat. I don’t know for certain if he’s the killer, but if Monokuma is telling the truth, then he’s the one who has the biggest motive to commit a murder.”

“You-... You have some nerve to be saying that!”

“Anyway, we at least established who all the characters in the game are.” Chiaki interrupted before the argument could escalate. “Now we just need to discover why ‘Girl E’ was killed.”

“She was killed by ‘Guy F’ as revenge for his sister’s murder.”

“What do you think, Fuyuhiko? Apparently, ‘Girl E’ was killed to avenge your little sister.” Nagito inquired well-spoken, which was not the tone of voice you’d be expecting when making such intrusive insinuations.

“You’re fucking persistent... I don’t care what that game said at all... but...” Fuyuhiko sounded more annoyed than anything, but he seemed to hesitate at the end. “I-Is... that true...? ‘Girl E’, she... she killed the first victim?”

“It’s true.” Chiaki confirmed.

“Wait a minute! The mystery hasn’t been solved yet! You haven’t determined what the murder weapon was yet!” Monokuma interuppeted.

“Who cares about the murder weapon?! We already know who the killer was!” Ibuki whined.

“Not cool! I went through all the trouble of making this death march, so you gotta stick with it to the end!”

“Do we really have to? I mean, ‘Girl E’s’ murder doesn’t really have anything to do with this case.” It was pretty much settled, it would be extremely redundant to go over a crime that had nothing to do with Hiyoko’s murder.

“Yeah, I don’t see any reason to go over it, either.” Nagito agreed.

“If I’m saying that you’ll stick to the end, then you’ll stick to the end! No more whinnying.” Monokuma had already made his mind, it seemed it was futile to try to negotiate. Thankfully, Hajime already knew exactly what had transpired in the game’s murder case, the book edition of Twilight Murder had way more details than the arcade.

“It was a swimsuit, there... happy?” Hajime said as he sent an unimpressive look at the bear’s throne.

“A swimsuit...? That’s the murder weapon?” Kazuichi questioned.

“Yeah...” Bringing up the details of the game’s murder was a great opportunity to voice another thing that had been bugging him. “By the way, this may be off-topic, but I feel like I have to ask. Were you guys ‘encouraged’ to play the game too?”

“Encouraged? What do you mean?” Mahiru inquired softly.

“You see, I already knew about ‘Twilight Syndrome Murder Case’ before Monokuma announced it as a motive."

“You knew...?!” Fuyuhiko appeared to be quite surprised at his admission.

“I went to the library and found the book edition of ‘Twilight Syndrome’, at the time I didn’t know what it was, I thought it was just a bad story Monokuma had created for some odd reason, but then he announced it as the motive, and I was... curious to know what that was all about. That’s why I played the game.”

“You found a book of the game...?!” The tension in Mahiru's eyes belied the soft manner she tried to phrase her question.

“Are you serious?! Why didn’t you say anything earlier?!” Kazuichi on the other hand sounded quite offended by his omission.

“I didn’t want anyone giving me crap, so I stayed silent about it. That’s why I’m asking now, did any of you find something like that book, something that encouraged you to play the game?”

No one said anything, so Hajime decided to take it as a no.

“That’s how you know ‘Girl E’ killed the first victim with a swimsuit?” Chiaki asked returning to the topic at hand.

“Yes, the book was the same as the game, though it had a little more detail, it said on the book that ‘Girl E’ stuffed the swimsuit with gravel and struck the first victim with it, there wasn’t anything else relevant though. Honestly, I didn’t even understand its purpose until I played the game.” It was a half-truth, as soon as he saw the names on the credits he grew weary of the book, but that was something the others didn’t need to be privy to.

“Well, Monokuma...? Are you satisfied now?” Nagito as well as Hajime was eager to move to another, more interesting matter.

“Ahh, the happiness you feel when the mystery you create is solved... Only producers know this feeling of ecstasy!”

“Yeah, Yeah... But the really important talk begins now...” Nagito continued. “Girl E’ had someone who can be called an accomplice. That person was actually... ‘Girl D’.”

“Huh, ‘Girl D’...? Who’s that?” Akane asked paying close attention to the conversation.

Hajime already knew what would proceed as soon as the words left Akane’s mouth, he took close attention to everyone’s reaction as Nagito went to answer the gymnast.

“...It’s Mahiru.”

Following his statement, the courtroom went quiet for a few uneasy, agitated instants.

“What?! Mahiru is the accomplice?!” Ibuki yelled seeming genuinely surprised by the revelation. Mahiru herself had gone completely white, the color dripping from her usual rosy cheeks.

“Wait, so... Mahiru helped ‘Girl E’ kill the first victim...?” Nekomaru the same as Akane, was making quite the effort to keep with the discussion.

“No, ‘Girl D’ discovered that ‘Girl E’ was the one who killed the high school girl, but decided to not report her to the authorities, so even though she had nothing to do with the killing itself, she’s still an accomplice...” Hajime was fairly certain that Mahiru was innocent in Hiyoko’s murder, but he was curious as to how the others would digest that information.

“It’s also good to point that the reason behind ‘Girl E’ crime was to protect ‘Girl D’. The victim apparently was harassing ‘Girl D’, and when ‘Girl E’ found out, they ended having an argument.” Chiaki added.

“M-Mahiru... i-is that true...” Mikan held both her hands to her chin while trying to hide her eyes behind her odd-cut bangs, it sounded like she was one step from crumbling in on herself.

“N-No! Of course not! Monokuma has to be lying, I d-don’t remember anything of that!”

“But that’s because of our school memories, is it not?” Peko inquired coldly.

“Monokuma keeps saying that, but can we trust him on that?” Despite his obvious reluctance to accept that fact, Kazuichi appeared to be starting to consider that possibility as a reality. “And I mean... ‘Guy F’ killed ‘Girl E’, right? So Fuyuhiko wouldn’t remember killing that girl either, right?”

“The hell you’re saying?! I already said it! That game is complete bullcrap!”

“That’s all you can say. If that game is telling the truth, it’d be a huge problem for you.” Nagito commented looking straight at Fuyuhiko.

“I feel obliged to question. Those of you who were characters in the video game, do you truly not remember such an incident?” Sonia who also had maintained a contained stance since the beginning decided it to be a good moment to enter the argument.

“No, I’m telling the truth... I can’t remember anything...” Mahiru explained.

“Th-That is... I’m terribly sorry but...” MIkan stuttered.

“They don’t remember! That’s obvious! ‘Cuz their school memories were like totally stolen!” Monokuma explained sounding rather pleased with himself.

“Remembering or not! It’s clear that that guy was the one who killed Hiyoko!” Kazuichi said pointing a finger at Fuyuhiko who stood separated from the mechanic by only Akane.

“Tch... You sure do talk a lot of shit... Well, I’m used to it by now...” Fuyuhiko said looking at the other side with a huff.

“But is it safe to say that Hiyoko’s murder is related to that game?” Peko question looking thoughtfully.

“I mean, the killer most definitely played the game at the very least, Hiyoko was killed the same way as ‘Girl E’, if they’re related in some other way I don’t know.” No to mention the metal bat that was also the same murder weapon used on ‘Girl E’.

“See! Fuyuhiko was crystal clear that he would play the game, remember?!” Kazuichi was fairly sure that Fuyuhiko was indeed the culprit, and though Hajime was also inclined to believe that, he would not jump to conclusions when his life was on the line.

“Even so, doesn’t it seem too obvious?” Peko it seemed was with a similar mindset regarding their situation. “I mean... There’s a possibility that it’s a trap set by the true killer.”

“A trap...?! What kinda trap?” Akane asked.

“Just like they said, the true killer played that game and most likely found out about the relationships between the characters. That person could be using that knowledge to try and set up Fuyuhiko.”

“Are you saying that a completely different killer murdered Hiyoko and used the game motive as their cover?” Sonia pried.

“Isn’t that what happened, Mahiru?”

“W-What...?!” As if on cue with Peko’s accusation, Mahiru was pushed forward and Hajime could see from where he was standing that the photographer’s hands were shaking.

“Don’t you understand? I’m saying that you might be the true killer.” Her voice was extremely firm, she looked kind of scary given her blood-red eyes and rigid posture. Hajime could almost feel the edge of the pointed stare being sent to Mahiru’s way from the girl standing beside him.

It was bound to happen, sooner or later they would bring up Mahiru’s suspicion. Despite the bunch of clues pointing to her, his opinion that she was being framed stood. Now it was left to them to prove it, one way or the other.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 8: Karma

The tension of the sudden accusation was brought onto all of them at once, some of his classmates appeared to think Peko’s choice of words to be questionable, but Hajime knew that that line of thought would be shot down quite quickly.

“Why do you doubt Mahiru, Peko?” Ibuki questioned seriously for once.

“Do you know where she was today? She was at the beach house, the scene of the crime.”

“I-I...” Mahiru knew just as well that there was some evidence that proved her presence at the beach house, it seemed that the photographer wasn’t oblivious to her own suspiciousness. “H-How could you even know that?”

“It’s easy. Mikan found a letter on Hiyoko’s body that was sent from you to Hiyoko.” Peko’s firm tone maintained itself as the swordswoman proceeded with her allegations. “Mikan, if you would be kind to show her the evidence.”

Mikan very slowly and hesitantly took the bloody letter from the pocket of her apron and passed the letter along.

“I see... So Mahiru was able to arrange a meeting with Hiyoko by exchanging letters with her.” Gundham voiced.

“Wh-What...?! N-No this letter is... fake! It has to be fake!” Mahiru’s reaction sounded pretty... legitimate. Her eyes were already prickling with tears from pure fear. “Please believe me! I-I don’t know anything about this letter!”

“But you can’t deny that you went to the beach house, right?” Nagito piped up from the opposite side of the room.

“W-What...?”

“I mean, we have proof that proves that you went to the beach house...”

“You have proof?” Nekomaru asked.

“You all noticed those footprints in front of the beach house, right?” Nagito clarified. “There was Hajime’s and another pair of footprints entering and leaving the beach house. In order to figure out who those footprints belonged to, Hajime and I went into everyone’s cottages and took samples of everyone’s shoes to compare with the footprints on the sand. With that, we realized those footprints were yours, Mahiru.”

“You did what?!” Clarity downed on Mahiru as she realized the entire reason why Nagito had called her out of her cottage. “Y-You couldn’t, that’s so...!”

“That’s so creepy!” Ibuki yelled indignantly.

“Well, I’m sorry for the inappropriateness of invading your cottage, but... how can you explain it, Mahiru?”

“It’s a trap! It has to be a trap, I would never kill Hiyoko like that! Why would I?!”

“Oh snap, I remember now! I totally saw you!” Kazuichi declared covering part of his mouth with his hand. “Me and Nagito met up at the diner a little after 2:30 p.m. to go to the beach, and we saw you rush away right after we arrived.”

“I see... So if she met Hiyoko at 2:00 p.m., killed her, then ran away afterward... I think a little after 2:30 p.m. is a reasonable time for you to have witnessed Mahiru.” Peko concluded.

“Y-You’re wrong... it’s all wrong...!” Her pleas fell on deaf ears as her podium once more got close to the inner ring.

“Also, you passed by the diner too, Fuyuhiko. So you should’ve seen Mahiru, right?” Kazuichi questioned.

“No, I didn’t...” Fuyuhiko dismissed looking at the side. “It was just a coincidence that I passed by the diner. I paid no attention to the beach house... I went back to my cottage after I saw you. I didn’t see anyone during that time.”

“What a hell of a coincidence...” Hajime couldn’t help but comment, he was not prone to believe whatever came out of the yakuza’s mouth.

“It’s the truth, deal with it...”

“Anyway, that letter and Kazuichi’s testimony says it all. You were meeting up with Hiyoko at the beach house.” Peko said, returning their attention to the topic at hand.

“I didn’t write that letter... I’m telling you the truth!” Desperation bled through her voice as the other students seemed to give her wary glances.

“You probably planned on killing Hiyoko during that time, but it was unexpected to you Hajime arriving at the beach house, so you must’ve hid inside the closet and attacked him in an opportune moment, isn’t that right?” Peko argued.

“Is that true, Mahiru?” Akane asked as she stared down at the girl.

“No! It’s not true, someone is... someone set me up for this... please believe me...!”

Letting that discussion go any further might blindside them in the long run, Hajime wanted to let it play out while he observed everyone’s reaction. Though he wasn’t expecting most of the students to overlook some of the major clues present on the crime scene. Nagito it seemed, was with a similar mindset, bringing up topics here and there, but ultimately, a mere spectator to the battle of wills before him.

“I don’t think Mahiru is the killer.”

His voice resonated around the courtroom claiming the students’ attention to himself.

“What do you mean you don’t think it was her? There’s already a whole fuckin’ lot of proof against her!” Fuyuhiko shouted at Hajime’s sudden support towards Mahiru.

“Even so, I don’t think it’s her...”

“And why, may I ask you, your suspicion does not befall on her?” Gundham’s deep voice echoed around him.

“To be honest, it looked weird to me from the start.” Hajime explained. “It’s just like Peko said, doesn’t it look too obvious? Would Mahiru really leave such an incriminating piece of evidence on the crime scene in plain sight like that? And not only that, but for someone who’s supposedly planning a murder, it just looks too messy to me.”

“Messy?” Akane inquired.

“Yes, she both entered and left the beach through the front, right? But why did she do that? It makes no sense for her to leave those footprints there as evidence connecting her to the crime. Even weirder, assuming she’s the killer that would mean that she blocked the back door with Hiyoko’s body, by doing so, she would close her other way out of the beach house, forcing her to leave the footprints.”

“Kehehe... I have captured the flaw in your reasoning!” Gundham declared looking straight at Hajime. “You’re assuming that Mahiru was the fiend who placed Hiyoko’s body on the back door, but what about this? After she hid in the closet and attacked both you and Hiyoko, while you fell unconscious, Hiyoko should’ve used her last ounce of strength to crawl away from her assailant, effectively blocking her killer’s passage from the back door. Seeing no other means to escape the crime scene, Mahiru was forced to risk herself on the alternative path.”

“I hate to say this, but that punk’s right. This would explain why she left the footprints there.” Fuyuhiko seconded.

“No that doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Huh?! Of course, it makes sense!” Fuyuhiko sounded pretty pissed at being contradicted.

“You see, that couldn’t have happened because Hiyoko died instantly, she couldn’t have crawled her way to that door.”

“I-If you keep making shit up... I’ll fucking kill you!” Fuyuhiko raged.

“B-But... according to my autopsy... Yes... there’s no doubt that Hiyoko died instantly.” Mikan quietly stated trying to shy away from the yakuza’s line of sight.

“I-Instant death?” Akane appeared to be fairly surprised at the revelation.

“That’s not all either, there was a large trail of blood leading to Hiyoko’s body, don’t you remember? The killer must’ve dragged her body there to block the back passage.”

Though his logic made sense, it seemed like most of the students were a bit hesitant to take his word for it.

“I’m pretty sure her death was instant, too. I mean, her injury was only a single blow to the head.” Nagito declared eyeing Hajime. “That’s why Hiyoko isn’t the one who blocked the door. Someone else used her body to block it.”

“On that note, if Mahiru was the killer, she would’ve entered through the back door, right? After all, by the time she got to the beach house, Hiyoko would still be alive before she supposedly killed her, but that’s not what happened. Mahiru entered through the front door, which leads me to believe that the back door was already blocked by the time she got there.”

“I get what you’re trying to say, but aren’t you making a bunch of assumptions?” Nekomaru inquired with his hands on his hips.

“Damn right he is! There’s no way I’m believing him!” Fuyuhiko consented.

“I-I don’t want to believe him either, after what happened with Teruteru... there’s no way I can trust him...” Kazuichi was also inclined to distrust Hajime with all his might it seemed.

“But it’s no assumption, right?” Chiaki asked the others. “I mean, what he’s saying does make sense. If Mahiru was the killer then that would mean she could’ve entered the beach house by the roadside door, which is way more practical to enter through the back door since it’s closer. But for some reason... she didn’t.”

His hypothesis when supported by Chiaki seemed to bring more credibility to his words as the other students digested the information. It was frustrating to have his words belittled due to the unfortunate events he was prone to.

“I see... it would be much better for her if she entered through the back door...” Akane contemplated.

“Then why don’t we ask her?” Peko suggested. “She should be able to provide us an answer to that matter.”

All at once, all the attention previously laid on Hajime was transported to Mahiru.

At first, the girl seemed to be making an enormous effort to reign herself in, but after taking a deep breath she opened her eyes towards the so-called jury. “I admit... I went to the beach house, and the back door was indeed locked. But I did not kill Hiyoko nor did I attack Hajime! I would never do something like that!”

“It’s too fucking convenient for you to say this now!” Fuyuhiko stated.

“I must agree. It does become suitable for you to attest to his theory.” Gundham remarked matter-of-factly.

“Mahiru... even though I don’t think you’re the killer, I know for a fact that you know something that you’re not telling us.” The ending prize being hidden in her cottage was proof enough that she was withholding information. “So tell us now. What really happened?”

“Should we be ruling her out as the killer this quickly?” Kazuichi questioned.

“If you suspect her, then it’s in your best interest to hear her testimony, right?” Nagito inquired, and it seemed that his words were effective seeing that any possible objection was shot down.

“Okay... Okay, I’ll tell you...” Mahiru was nervous, that was clear, who wouldn’t in her position? Regardless, it was of utmost importance to know what she had to say, the girl knew that just as much. “You’re right, I-I was supposed to meet up with Hiyoko. But I wasn’t the one who called the meeting, I truly don’t know anything about that letter... Actually, I was the one who receive a letter...”

Mahiru searched on her skirt’s pocket and retrieved a crumpled sheet of paper. She passed along the roll of students, Hajime watched the student’s countenances as they read through the letter. Finally, it reached him.

I was going to tell you in person, but I couldn't find you so I put this in your mailbox.

About what we discussed earlier, is it okay if we change the place and time? I want you to come to the beach house on the second island at 2:30 p.m.

It seems there's someone who wants to interfere with our meeting. Let's keep it a secret.

Until then, let's try not to see each other for a while. It would be bad if they started suspecting us for no reason.

-Hiyoko Saionji

“Letter Mahiru Received” has been added to the truth bullets.

“This is...”

“So you received the same letter as Hiyoko?” Sonia inquired quizzically.

“We were already gonna meet each other to talk in the afternoon, but then I received this letter in my mailbox, so I thought Hiyoko would like to keep it private by changing the time and place we would meet, but... I mean, I had no reason to refuse, so I just went to beach house...” Mahiru explained. “When I got there... she was already...” Mahiru bit her bottom lip and ceased to talk.

“I’m not gonna fall for this bunch of crap!” Fuyuhiko declared fiercely.

“Hey, now that I read this... aren’t the meeting times off?” Nakomaru questioned as he gave the letter a once over.

“It’s also strange that the letters intended to replace both the time and meeting spot.” Sonia stated.

“M-Mahiru! Since you’re the one who wrote it, what do you think?!” Ibuki inquired.

“I didn’t write it! I’m serious, How many times do I have to tell you?!”

“The killer must’ve forged both letters.” Hajime remarked, it was the only thing that would make sense, that way they could manipulate both Hiyoko and Mahiru’s actions.

“The killer forged them so they could manipulate their actions... Yeah, that’s how we should think about it.” Nagito said voicing Hajime’s own speculations.

“That seems very likely. In fact, if you compare both letters...” Nakomaru said eyeing the letters carefully. “Confirmed! Just as I assumed, the handwriting is the same! The contents match, too!”

“In doing so, they were able to control Hiyoko and Mahiru to their bidding... like a netherworld puppeteer.” Gundham commented seriously.

“Based on what the letter said, you arrived at the beach house at 2:30 p.m., right?” Hajime asked Mahiru, whose podium had now returned to its original position.

“It’s most important what happened beforehand. What on earth happened there?” Peko inquired. “You said that when you arrived at the beach house Hiyoko was already dead, correct? Then Hajime should’ve arrived there earlier than you.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Since they were both attacked, that guy had to be there before, right?” Kazuichi said roaming his eyes over Hajime. “When did you arrive at the beach house?”

“I’m not certain of the specific time, but I’m pretty sure it was a little after 2:00 p.m.” Hajime explained. “Also, when I got there, Hiyoko was most definitely still alive...”

“She was still alive? Did you see her for you to be sure?” Chiaki asked, Hajime wasn’t sure what she intended with the question, he had already told her that he hadn’t seen her when he went to the beach house.

“Her time of death says it all, 2:20 p.m. When I entered the beach house, Hiyoko’s body was also not there, so she had to still be alive by that time.”

“Yeah, Hiyoko was definitely killed in that room, the killer could’ve moved a body, but not blood, that’s for certain.” Nagito seconded.

“I see... so Hiyoko arrived at the beach house after you were attacked. But then that would mean she got there after the meeting time...” Peko said.

“No, I don’t think that’s it. I think... Hiyoko was already at the beach house when I got there.” It was the best opportunity to voice another issue that had been strange from the beginning to him. Where was Hiyoko? Both Nagito and him saw the girl walking towards the beach house, yet, there wasn’t any sign of her when he himself arrived there. “I’m pretty sure Hiyoko was inside the closet when I entered the beach house.”

“Inside the closet...? How do you know that?” Fuyuhiko inquired firmly.

“Hajime and I saw Hiyoko walking towards Chandler Beach when we were hanging out in the diner, Hajime told me that when he went to the beach house he didn’t see Hiyoko anywhere. That’s what you’re talking about, right Hajime?”

“Yeah... when I was attacked, I remember hearing a small noise coming from the closet. I’m confident that Hiyoko was there.”

“Hiyoko? But wouldn’t it be more likely that it was the killer hiding in order to surprise you?” Sonia questioned tilting her head a bit to the side.

“Actually, I think the both of them were inside the closet. Hiyoko and the killer.”

“What?! That makes no sense...!” Kazuichi proclaimed dubiously. “I mean, I can understand the killer hiding, but why would Hiyoko do the same?”

“I’m fairly sure that Hiyoko wasn’t hiding. She was probably sedated by the killer.” The others didn’t seem to be buying his story at all, and in retrospect, it did sound a little nonsensical, but Hajime knew he was right about that. “There is evidence that can establish that fact.”

“What evidence is that?” Gundham inquired irritably.

“The Monokuma File says that a small amount of anesthetics were found in Hiyoko's bloodstream. It makes no sense for Hiyoko to be ingesting anesthetics, right? What other reason there is to be found anesthetics in her blood?” He knew there was no other reason but for Hiyoko to have been sedated.

“I noticed that too. I think you’re right, she was probably sedated when she entered the beach house at 2:00 p.m.” Chiaki said tapping her chin. “That would explain why anesthetics were found in her bloodstream.”

“But what kind of drug could have the killer inject her with? The Monokuma File states there were no other external injuries...” Nekomaru inquired placing his fists on his hips. “Did the killer force her to swallow something?”

“Um... Actually, th-there was chloroform in t-the drug store... if inhaled, it can be used as an external anesthetic...” Mikan explained avoiding everyone’s curious gazes. “...I-I thought that place seemed unsafe. They even have prescription medicine laying out in the open.”

“If you were aware of that from the start you should’ve done something about it!” Kazuichi accused, followed by Mikan’s meek flow of apologies.

“Hey, it’s not her responsibility to take care of those kinds of things, you could’ve also done something about it but didn’t!” Mahiru said coming to Mikan’s defense.

“So that settles it, Hiyoko was sedated by the killer and stuffed into the closet.” Chiaki said interrupting the petty squabble. “But why would the killer even bother in doing that?”

“Maybe they were planning something else, but their plans were interrupted by Hajime arriving at the beach house!” Ibuki’s theory was pretty much what Hajime was suspecting as well. The killer was entirely oblivious to Hajime going to the beach house, maybe they weren’t planning on killing Hiyoko at all... but then...

“I think Ibuki is right... I think Hiyoko wasn’t the intended target.”

“Wasn’t the intended target? She ended up dead y’know?!” Akane protested.

“I see... It makes some quite amount of sense for the killer to be none the wiser as for Hajime arriving at the beach house, after all, the killer wouldn’t have any reason to incapacitate Hiyoko in such a manner if they were planning on killing her.” Gundham pondered eloquently. “However, given that Hajime’s presence was an extreme risk to their plan, they had no other choice but to knock him unconscious and kill Hiyoko instead.”

“But... that would mean...”

“Yes, the killer was most likely aiming to kill you, Mahiru.” Nagito completed the girl’s thought. “That’s why they had to dispose of Hiyoko when Hajime entered the beach house, they were aware that you would be making your way to the crime scene soon, and if you saw Hajime slumped on the floor and bleeding like that, you would probably run away immediately, just like you did.”

Crap, if he hadn’t entered the beach house, then...

Hajime couldn’t help but entertain the thought that maybe Hiyoko was dead because he inconveniently choose to go to the beach house, but if he had chosen otherwise, would Mahiru be the one dead instead? He didn’t know, could never know. Keeping indulging in those kinds of thoughts was an exercise in futility. It would bring him nowhere.

“But still, why sedate Hiyoko?” Ibuki questioned.

“I can only think that they were trying to frame her, if the killer managed to kill Mahiru and Hiyoko was found at the scene of the crime, that would leave close to no room for doubt about the guilty party, right?” Nagito explained looking around the courtroom.

“So the killer tried to frame Hiyoko...” Akane said quietly crossing her arms in front of her chest. “But Mahiru, didn’t you see anyone when you arrived at the beach house:”

“No, I only saw... the two of them... I thought they were both dead. I looked around at the closet and the shower room, but there wasn't anyone there.” Mahiru admitted. “When I didn't find anyone, I just... rushed away from there... I was so afraid... I ran as fast as I could, I was afraid you guys would accuse me, and I mean... I didn’t know how to explain everything ...”

“It’s understandable. That’s a pretty normal reaction for someone who just discovered a body.” Nagito reassured with his usual unassuming tone.

“But if Mahiru didn’t see anyone when she went there... Then where was the killer?” Kazuichi asked.

“Probably hidden. After all, there’s no way they would leave Mahiru to her own devices, if she messed something in the crime scene, they would need to fix it, right:” Hajime was fairly sure that that had been the case.

“I agree, for such a convoluted plan to work, it would need the culprit’s utmost attention;” Sonia asserted convicted.

“But there wasn't anyone there! Not in the closet, and not in the shower room. Are you saying that they came back to the crime scene?” Mahiru grew a shade paler as the weight of her realization sank in.

"How did the killer even hide in the first place? It's not like the beach house is that large, y'know?" Kazuichi asked scratching behind his ear.

Hajime thought a little about that dilemma and manage to get an answer pretty fast. Recalling the damp surfboard case, it was the only place he could think that the killer could've used as a hiding spot.

"Actually, there was a place the killer could've hidden. There was an open surfboard case in the closet. It was certainly large enough to fit someone, and when I investigated it, it was damp for some reason..." Hajime explained.

"A damp surfboard, that's your evidence?" Fuyuhiko questioned unimpressed. "It's not weird that a surfboard case would be damp, right?"

"Yeah, it wouldn't be unusual, but... did anyone go surfing?" Chiaki asked and received no response whatsoever. "See? No one went surfing. And I also found that surfboard case a little weird, I mean... why was it open in the first place?"

“Huff, fine... I get it, the killer attacked those two, and then hid in that surfboard case waiting for Mahiru to discover the bodies, or ‘body’, in that case.” Fuyuhiko pried sternly. “But then what?”

“What do you mean?” Chiaki looked serenely in the yakuza’s direction as she played with the straps of her backpack.

“What I’m saying is: We still haven’t established how the killer managed to leave the beach house. I mean, sure, I can believe they hid, but then how did they leave? The roadside door was blocked, and if it’s impossible to leave through the beachside without leaving footprints... Then how do fuck did the killer escape?”

Fuyuhiko... did bring a valid point. Since the culprit had bothered to block the back door and couldn’t leave from the beachside, it did beg the question. How?

“What about that window in the shower room?” Akane suggested.

“Don’t you know how high that window is? There’s no way the killer could’ve reached it.” Fuyuhiko argued.

“B-But what if, for instance... she had help from someone...?” Mikan asked as she tried to make herself as small as possible.

“They mighta’ve reached it by riding someone’s shoulder, but then that person woulda be left behind.” Akane swiftly countered her own argument.

“Is it possible that an object was used? A rope, for instance...?” Sonia questioned with her hands pulled tight in her front.

“And what happened to the rope after they used it? And don’t say something stupid like they threw it outside!” Fuyuhiko protested.

“Of course not! That would violate the school trip rule!” Nekomaru was correct, despite being set by Monomi, the third rule explicitly said that littering was prohibited, no one could simply dispose of an object like that.

“But then, how did they do it?” Kazuichi mumbled as he combed his hand on his beanie.

“What if the killer didn’t need to leave the beach house?” Peko who had been quiet through the majority of their late discussion had entered the conversation at last.

“Huh, what do you mean, Peko?” Ibuki sounded most intrigued with Peko’s statement, though she was far from being the only one. The swordswoman’s suggestion brought the room to a halt.

“I’m saying that it’s possible that the killer didn’t have to leave the crime scene at all.” Peko explained with her eyelids closed as if she was pondering about something.

“No... I don’t think that could be the case, they would certainly be discovered if th-“

“I’m saying that you could be the killer, Hajime.” Peko cut him off, opening her eyes and staring sharply at him who stood at her left side. Following her accusation, his podium moved a little forward, though it was a small distance compared to the last time.

“What?! And why do you think that?” Hajime was glad that he managed to keep his voice from breaking at the sudden turn of events.

“We already established that the killer couldn’t leave the beach house through the back or front doors, which only leaves the window in the shower room as the culprit’s only escaping route, but they couldn’t have escaped from there either. That only leaves one possibility, the killer didn’t leave the crime scene.”

He could understand where the girl was coming from, but it couldn’t be more wrong, just like Hiyoko, he was also a victim, he was merely at the wrong place at the wrong time, as per usual. The only reason he was alive was that he had been... lucky.

In retrospect, now it seemed that his luck kept him alive for him to dwell on more accusations and suspicion threw his way, he wasn’t sure if he should be grateful or not. Probably not, considering his history, his luck didn’t save him due to any good intentions.

“Took the words out of my mouth.” Fuyuhiko stated giving Hajime a disgusted look. “I knew it this crazy fucker had something to do with all of this!”

“You cannot be serious! How could I have killed Hiyoko in the first place?!” Hajime yelled as he went forward once again. “I don’t expect you who couldn’t even bother to investigate to know, but I almost died too, you know!”

“You look pretty alive to me!” Fuyuhiko yelled back, the yakuza’s face had grown red from his ire aimed at Hajime. “You know... that’s something that’s been bugging for a long time now. You keep saying that someone attacked you, but you’re still alive, aren’t ya? What kind of clumsy dipshit would leave a witness behind like that?! You could pretty much be lying, once again, so you can bail your way out of this!”

“Do you really think I would almost kill myself like that?! And for what? An alibi?!” Hajime asked as he felt his resolve start to tremble, despite hating to admit, Fuyuhiko wasn’t too wrong in his conclusions, Hajime couldn't explain it himself the reason the killer let him live. If they were even aware of his survival in the first place. However, he was not the culprit, and once again his abhorrent luck was scheming to throw him off once more. “I was hit in the head so hard that I passed out for a long damn time, I woke up laying on a pool of my own blood. Do you really think I would go that far?”

“I’m not buying any crap that comes out of your mouth.” Fuyuhiko responded sharply as he averted his gaze.

“But he’s not lying, Hajime seemed to be in a pretty bad condition when we found him... I think.”

Chiaki’s unsure tone made no favors for his stance, he honestly couldn’t say if she was trying to defend him or not. He assumed that despite the circumstances she was still wary of him, given her hesitancy in releasing information during the investigation, he could assume nothing else.

“Then why don’t we ask Mikan? She was the one who tended to his wounds, was she not?” Sonia suggested with a small crease between her brows.

“Yeah, what about it, Mikan?” Kazuichi asked seeming to have already forgotten his previous critics regarding the nurse.

“Umm... I mean, I-I... There is no doubt that his injury was real... there were trauma signs on his temple a-and the cut on his forehead did seem to have bled a lot... b-but... it’s not impossible but... his injury had stopped bleeding for some reason... It’s possible that his blood coagulated fast enough... so...” Mikan had mentioned something similar when she was treating him, she sounded confused as to why his wound had stopped bleeding, but Hajime was in the same boat as her.

“So his injuries weren’t as bad as he’s wanting us to believe, is that it?” Fuyuhiko claimed and continued cutting Mikan off without letting her rephrase her statement. “Then that settles it! This motherfucker was the one who killed Hiyoko!”

“We should not jump to conclusions here. After all, we only get one chance to vote, also, didn’t this happen in the last trial, too?” Nagito said gracefully crossing his arms. “Hajime was suspected and in the end, he ended up not being the culprit. So let’s hear him out on what he has to say.”

“I would also like to understand Hajime’s position in this. If you’re not the killer, then please, provide us with some explanation.” Sonia demanded sounding as cordial as ever, though Hajime wasn’t unobservant enough to confound her demand as anything but the strict command that it was.

“I... I also don’t know why the killer let me live... I don’t even know if they were aware of it. But you cannot believe I would go as far as to smash my head into the refrigerator like that.” Hajime was unsure as to how to proceed with his testimony, he knew he couldn’t merely appeal to his peers’ sympathy, he needed some evidence. “Plus, me and Nagito were together a little before 2:00 p.m., he was actually the one who suggested for me to take a drink from the beach house, and right after he went on his way to meet up with Kazuichi. How could I have planned something like that?”

“However true that tale may be, it would still be possible for you to manipulate the situation, once you sent the letters to your targets, it would be quite easy for you to time between Hiyoko and Mahiru’s arrival at the beach house.” Gundham countered making some weird hand signals as his deep voice echoed around the room.

“But that’s not the only reason I couldn’t have done it! I mean, the killer didn’t just attack us, they also sedated Hiyoko and moved her body to block the roadside door, and Hiyoko bled a lot, right? So whoever moved her body had to have a lot of blood soaking their cloaths, right?”

“Oh! That means that the killer would need to wash off, right?! Since no one saw anyone drenched in blood!” Ibuki remarked lifting her hand into the air.

“That wouldn’t be possible.” Peko protested curtly. “Remember, the shower room was out of order, no one could’ve washed off the blood.”

“Plus, that wouldn’t be an issue for the guy who was already supposedly covered in his own blood!” Fuyuhiko seconded heatedly closing his fist so tight that his knuckles went white. “You used that facade of being hurt not only to get an alibi but to cover your own dirty work, didn’t you?!”

“What-?!”

Crap...

“Is that true, Hajime?” Chiaki pried quietly.

“It’s not! It’s not true, at all!” Hajime shouted, he was now once more close to the center of the ring, somehow, the prospect of being locked in the middle of the courtroom, where he couldn’t hide from prying eyes was more terrifying than the false accusations. “The only reason I’m standing right now it’s because of that freaking pill Monokuma gave me!”

“That is true. My blood replacement pill is of the utmost, newest technology! But don’t get used to it, it can have preeetty nice collateral symptoms!” Monokuma said hiding his mirthful smile.

“Wa Wha-?! Hey, don’t go giving kids odd pills like that!” Monomi disapproved pathetically from her rope.

“Huh, but they’re not really kids anymore, y’know?” Monokuma questioned looking surprised at Monomi’s – apparently – obliviousness to their ‘age’.

“Enough you two! There’s no way we can believe that a ‘pill’ would replace blood like that!” Kazuichi protested indignantly.

“I-I also found it very weird... I never heard of something like that before...” Mikan mumbled from her stand.

“See! Even the Ultimate Nurse has never heard about something like that!”

“But Hajime did seem a little better after taking the pill, when we found him he was pretty pale, and it didn’t seem to be because of shock or anything, just blood loss.” Nagito countered.

“Keeping discussing something as trivial as that will bring us nowhere. For now, our prime suspect is Hajime.” Peko interfered with her eyes closed once more as she phrased her line of thought. “He had the means and opportunity to have killed Hiyoko and cover his steps with his injuries, that for all we know, could be self-inflicted. Not only that but Mahiru also didn’t see anyone inside or leave the beach house at 2:30 p.m., ten minutes after Hiyoko was killed. With no evidence that the killer left the crime scene, Hajime is the only possible culprit.”

She was right. No matter how deeply Hajime’s instincts screamed at him to refute, to shout that she was wrong with all his might, he couldn’t. Because she was right. Once more he was put in the spot, victim of the intruding gazes of his supposed class members, being judged as not only a liar, but a murderer. And the worst: He couldn’t defend himself.

Looking at the case from the perspective Peko had provided, it was clear. Hajime was the only one with the opportunity. He couldn’t explain how the killer fleed from the beach house, they sedated Hiyoko and then attacked Hajime when he made his inconvenient appearance and messed up their plan, being aware that Mahiru was coming they instead killed Hiyoko and hid inside the closet. After she was gone, they had plenty of time to escape since Kazuichi discovered the body a long time later.

Somehow the killer wasn’t seen by any witnesses, not even for those who apparently were in the diner nor by Mahiru and Kazuichi, the ones who discovered Hiyoko’s body. So how...?

...!

A flare of realization ran through his mind as if a flash from a camera being shot in front of his eyes.

Kazuichi and Mahiru were the only ones who found Hiyoko’s body. From their testimonies, no one else was there who could’ve also entered the beach house, and yet...

“Monokuma, I wanna clear something with you.” Hajime stated instead of coming right away with an answer to his classmates’ inquiry. “It says on the rules that only after three or more people discover a body that an announcement is made. In this specific case, is the killer also included among those three or more people?”

“What...? What does that have to do with anything?!” Akane questioned looking annoyed.

“Umm... Well, you see... something like that is... just what is supposed to be...” Monokuma answered a little unsure of his phrasing.

“What does that even mean?” Hajime was not buying any of the bear’s crap. Especially with the way his voice started to quiver by Hajime’s line of questioning.

“The body discover announcement is meant to notify everyone that a body has been discovered and to keep things fair, not for any deduction. I know it sounds like an excuse, but it is what it is. And as long as I keep things ambiguous, I can respond with some kind of flexibility.” The bear reasoned.

“Okay, I get it.” Hajime said between gritted teeth. “But in this case, depending on how the announcement was made, your ‘three or more people’ rule could be deadly, y’know!”

Most of the students were eyeing him as if he was insane, not understanding what exactly he was going for by asking Monokuma of all people those weird questions. The bear, on the other hand, was simply eyeing him with an irritate aura encompassing his furred body.

“Jeez, you’re so annoying! Going on about such a minor detail!”

“It’s no small detail depending on what’s your answer! Plus, you said it yourself, didn’t you? If you want this trial to be fair, then tell us, is the killer among those who discovered the body?”

“Fine, fine... I’ll tell you!” Monokuma huffed outraged as he went back to his usual demeanor. “No, for this particular case, the blackened is not among those who discovered the body.”

The muscles on the edge of his lips flexed involuntarily as he smirked in triumph.

“But what does that have to do with anything?” Nekomaru inquired, also not following Hajime’s line of thought.

“By the way Monokuma, if someone like me, who was unconscious and then a body appeared in the same room, would I also be included among that rule, too?” Hajime asked completely ignoring Nekomaru.

“...No.” Monokuma said as his left eye got a little brighter.

“Oh, I see... So that’s what you were looking for huh, Hajime?” Nagito, on the other hand, was eyeing Hajime with his sharp eyes from behind his white curls and sending him a pleased smile. It seemed that Nagito had also noticed the discrepancy regarding the body discovered announcement, but had stayed quiet until now. Hajime wasn’t surprised.

“What are you two mumbling about?” Mahiru asked, already impatient with their bunch of questions.

“Isn’t it obvious?! Monokuma said it himself, the killer was not included in the body discovery announcement, and neither was I!” Hajime responded fiercely.

“Of course, you weren’t! Because you and the culprit are one and the same!” Fuyuhiko argued.

“Perhaps, but if that’s the case, then explain to us how the body discover announcement was played?”

“What...?!” Fuyuhiko despite his certainty in his culpability, seemed to be thrown off by the question.

“I-I see... you’re talking about having one person short, right?” Mahiru realized.

“Cut it out, just say what you guys are talking about already!” Akane exclaimed.

“It’s quite simple, Akane. What Hajime is saying is that if neither he nor the killer triggered the body discovery announcement, then who else besides Kazuichi and Mahiru discovered Hiyoko’s body?” Nagito inquired as he looked around the ring of podiums.

“Oh shoot, that is true! I didn’t notice at first, after learning the truth regarding Mahiru’s circumstances I thought that Hajime had been the third party who discovered the body, but now I see that cannot be possible.” Sonia explained for the ones who still hadn’t gotten it their logic.

“Which can only mean one thing, the killer whoever they are had an accomplice. Someone else discovered Hiyoko’s body, but has kept quiet about it until now.” Once and for all, his podium returned to its original position, he signed deeply as he could relax for the moment.

“And since Monokuma confirmed Hajime’s theory, that clears him out of suspicion, for that the likelihood of him being the killer is pretty low now that we know the killer had an accomplice.” Nagito explained joyfully. “As to be expected of yourself, Hajime! Despite the bad luck thrown your way, you managed to grasp such a subtle detail to prove your innocence!”

“Umm, are you alright dude...?” Kazuichi asked looking a bit uncertain as to Nagito’s reaction.

“Anyway, now we know that someone is silent about their involvement in the case, we must discover not only the killer but also their accomplice.” Hajime said as a means to return to the topic at hand and divert the attention off Nagito.

“But an accomplice...? That is just too...!” Sonia held her hands close to her chest as she digested the information.

“So is that how the killer managed to flee the beach house? Someone helped them?” Akane asked looking thoughtful. “Then they totally escaped by that high window!”

“Haven’t we already discussed this? Even if someone was helping them, the accomplice would've been left behind.” Fuyuhiko protested looking annoyed at Akane.

“I know but... My gut is telling me that the killer must’ve escaped using that window.” Akane despite banking her belief on something as vague as a gut feeling, sounded and seemed pretty much serious about her input. Hajime couldn’t judge her, for he felt the same way, that window was just too convenient for the killer if they so happened to be able to utilize it.

“May I suggest an idea?” Sonia questioned looking around at her peers that now had her attention. “Since we’ve established that there is an accomplice, why don’t we check everyone’s alibi during that time?”

“That’s a good idea, it might provide us with another clue.” Chiaki consented.

“Of course, it’s a good idea, I wouldn’t expect nothing less from Miss Sonia.” Kazuichi’s remark fell on deaf ears as they started to discuss their potential alibis.

“I’ve already said this, but Nagito and I were together at 2:00 p.m., then he left to meet up with Kazuichi and I went to the beach house.” Hajime felt the need to repeat his testimony to make clear his stance on the matter.

“I can attest to that. After I left the second island I went to the supermarket and Kazuichi meet up with me at 2:30 p.m.” Nagito explained swiftly.

“That’s right, and then we walked to the second island where we found Fuyuhiko by the diner.” Kazuichi attested as he gave a wary glance at the yakuza. “A little after that, we saw Mahiru rushing away from the beach house and a few minutes later the girls started to arrive at the diner.”

“Yes, Ibuki and Mikan were already in the diner’s premises when we arrived, then Chiaki came wearing a swimsuit, and then Akane who was a little wounded from a fight with Nekomaru, Peko came right after, she had her sword with her and said she had taken a swim around the island so she was a little soaked, and the last to arrive was Sonia who had trouble wearing her wetsuit.” Nagito detailed explanation served to clarify some aspects that Hajime was still unsure about.

“Girls’ Arrival At The Diner” has been added to the truth bullets.

“That is correct, I must say that I visited the beach house around 1:00 p.m. in order to retrieve the wetsuit. But of course, there wasn’t anything suspicious about it.” Sonia consented, looking down at the ground due to her lack of clues.

“I can attest that Akane and I were fighting, I had to get rough with her, otherwise she wouldn’t have left me alone.” Nakomaru stated.

“What about you, Fuyuhiko and Gundham?” Hajime pried.

“I just returned to my cottage.” Fuyuhiko responded curtly without elaborating anymore.

“I was occupied with the procedures of a dark errand that was brought to my attention by one of my Four Dark Devas of Destruction, ‘San-D’.” Gundham started and before he could continue with his nonsensical monologue Hajime cut him off.

“What we do know is that Kazuichi and Nagito have alibis since they would’ve been seen by someone if either of them were the killer or the accomplice seeing that Hiyoko died just ten minutes before they meet up. Mahiru also is off the suspect list since she was one of the people who discovered the body.”

“Mikan and I were already together a little before 2:30 p.m., too! So we’re clear!” Ibuki informed them.

“By the way, I feel like I should ask, just in case.” Nagito piped up. “Monokuma, now that we know that the killer may have an accomplice, what happens to that accomplice if the blackened graduates?”

“Oh, it’s simple. Only the blackened gets to get away, if someone helps in the killing of someone, only the one who actually killed the victim is considered the blackened.” Monokuma responded matter-of-factly.

“I see, so they’d be sacrificing their life if they decided to cover for the true killer...” Hajime mumbled out loud. “Well, then... Will the accomplice come forward and confess, if you don’t you’re gonna join us in the execution if we vote wrong.”

He hoped that fear and the survival instinct would prevail within the supposed accomplice, they would have no choice but to admit their involvement with the case, but not only that, they would have to also point a finger at someone. The killer should also be aware of their predicament if they knew their accomplice would spill the beans.

Surprisingly, the courtroom went silent, a few tense seconds passed as all eyes roamed at each other’s countenances, expectation eating at them for the final moment where someone would confess.

Nothing happened.

“Oh... So they’re not willing to come forward?” Nagito questioned seeming a bit surprised by the lack of reaction.

“But if they stay silent they’ll die! No matter how shameful it is, there’s no way someone would give up their life like that, right?!” Mahiru shouted from her podium.

“Unless they were prepared to sacrifice their own life for someone else...” His eyes involuntarily met Nagito’s, the boy’s serene face was as unassuming as always, and it seemed that he was quite aware of the thoughts Hajime's mind was currently accommodating. But despite his primary suspicion, Hajime knew that Nagito couldn’t be behind all of this, he had a solid alibi and Kazuichi attested to it.

Even so, he couldn’t help but feel the pinpricks consuming his skin from the reminder that Nagito had been the one to suggest his visit to the beach house.

“It seems they are unwilling to come forward, so let us proceed with the trial.” Peko suggested.

“I agree, it’s more important for us to find out the killer instead of the accomplice.” Chiaki consented.

He knew exactly where the conversation would derail again if they returned to the topic of how the killer evaded the beach house, but after hearing their testimonies, Hajime had started to think along a line of logic that could potentially point to a possible killer.

“Hey, remember when we were talking about how the culprit must’ve gotten blood on them when they moved Hiyoko’s body?” Hajime started. “What if they washed it off?”

“We already discussed that the shower room was out of order, dumbass.”

“No, I’m not talking about the shower room, I think the killer got rid of the blood in some other way.” Hajime explained, completely ignoring the ‘dumbass’ comment from Fuyuhiko. “Now that I think about it, something has been odd since the start of the investigation...”

“Odd...? What was odd?” Gundham questioned.

“The reason I went to the beach house was to get something to drink, and before I was attacked I managed to get a water bottle from the refrigerator. But once I came back to consciousness I couldn’t find any water bottles, not even the one I had in hand.”

“So what? You think the killer washed the blood off with water bottles?” Akane asked incredulously.

“Yes, I do.”

“That would not be possible, there’s no evidence that proves that theory, and believing your word isn’t enough at this point.” Peko protested firmly, her tone leaving no room for questioning.

“It’s not only my word. Inside the trash can beside the refrigerator were a bunch of empty water bottles, the killer must’ve not had any other option than to leave it there, after all, they couldn’t dispose of it in any other way without breaking the rules of littering.” Hajime reasoned.

“Now that you mention it... I went to get some drinks from there yesterday too and there were a lot of those water bottles!” Kazuichi surprisingly consented.

“S-So t-that’s how the killer got rid of... the blood...?” Mikan asked.

“It’s the only way. There is a rule in the beach house that states that no one can change clothes inside it, so the killer couldn’t have just had a change of clothes.” Chiaki informed. “Plus, I also saw those discarded water bottles, so I think it makes sense.”

Now that he realized the method the killer used to wash the blood off of them, something in the events described by both Kazuichi and Nagito rattled him as strange. The girls had arrived at the beach house around the same time, but except for Ibuki and Mikan, they weren’t together, but more importantly one of them...

“Peko... Is it true that you were swimming?’

“Yes, I attempted to swim to a blocked island for about three hours, but I didn’t manage to get there, it seems the bridges are the only method to travel between the islands.”

“Why are you asking that, Hajime? Do you suspect Peko?” Ibuki said looking at Hajime quizzically.

Hajime waited a second to formulate the best way to go around the matter and the coldly responded.

“Yes, I do suspect her.”

Peko despite the accusation didn’t say a word, instead, the girl closed her eyes peacefully as she took a quiet deep breath.

“Peko is it true...?” Sonia asked perplexed, taking the swordswoman’s silence as an admission of guilt.

“No, however, I shall ask you this: why do you suspect me?” Peko answered, opening her eyes at once and staring at Hajime head-on.

“It’s more than likely that the killer used those water bottles to wash off the blood, and if so, you Peko, who claims to been swimming is the only person who was seen wet, but did anyone actually see you swimming?”

“Hold on, you bastard!” Fuyuhiko roared. “You all saw her at the diner... You never saw her near the beach house, right?! So maybe she was swimming!”

”No one even saw her swimming!” Kazuichi countered.

“No... I saw her...” At the confused glances he received, the yakuza continued recomposing his firm tone. ‘I... After I ran into you bastards at the diner, I crossed paths with her on my way home... So there’s no doubt, she would’ve arrived at the diner from the opposite direction of the beach house.”

“S-So... Peko is not the killer...?” Mikan asked hopefully.

Hajime knew Fuyuhiko was lying, he couldn’t know for sure his reasoning behind it, but with the sudden manner he tried to defend Peko, he was sure that both of them were involved in Hiyoko’s murder.

“No... we can’t believe what Fuyuhiko is saying.” Hajime stated, looking straight at the yakuza.

“W-What did you say, you-!“

“I agree with Hajime. We cannot take Fuyuhiko’s word for granted.” Nagito said, surprisingly coming to Hajime’s defense. “Fuyuhiko, if you saw Peko, then provide us with some evidence.”

“Y-You...! And why are you believing this motherfucker and not me?!”

“We already established the existence of an accomplice. I’m sorry, Fuyuhiko, but it’s just really convenient for you to say of all times that you saw Peko...” Chiaki appeared to have something else to say but decided against it.

“Not only that, but you said earlier that you been in the diner was a coincidence, and then you said you didn’t see anyone, did you conveniently forget to tell us?” Hajime was glad that his memory didn’t fail him, the detail that Fuyuhiko was by the diner had rubbed him the wrong way from the beginning, he could only be grateful that he embraced that detail.

“Nghh...!” Fuyuhiko seemed to be biting his tongue by being caught in his own lie. Instead of backing down though, he recomposed his face and returned to the argument. “N-Not so fast...! It’s too soon to decide she’s the killer! We haven’t discovered how to killer was able to leave the beach house!”

“N-Now that you mention it... It’s true...” Mikan said.

“We already know that the roadside door was blocked and they couldn’t leave without leaving footprints. Then how the fuck did the killer escape?!”

“Why are you all fired up, Fuyuhiko?! You’re not the suspect, Peko is.” Ibuki questioned connecting both her index fingers in front of her face.

“Wh-Who cares about that?! Answer me! If you have an explanation then show me what you got!” Fuyuhiko shouted at Hajime.

“Actually, I might have an answer to that.” Hajime said quietly but resolutely. “If Peko is the killer, then she could’ve used her bamboo sword in order to reach that window in the shower room.”

“W-What?! Don’t be a fuckin’ idiot, how can someone even use a sword for that?!”

“It’s pretty possible, to be honest. She could’ve used the sword as a stepstool so she could reach the window. Akane, Nagito, and I tested and it’s possible to get to that window if you could use a stepstool.”

“You see, I knew it! I told you it was a ninja! A ninja could’ve climbed that wall easily!” Akane said grinning widely. “Ninjas know a climbin’ trick where they lean they sword on a wall and use the handguard as a stepstool.”

“Wow! Just like a Japanese ninja!” Sonia exclaimed avidly.

“I found it weird when Nagito mentioned that Peko had brought her sword when she was supposedly swimming. I mean, what use would that be?” Hajime explained as he observed Peko’s reaction. The girl seemed as stoic as ever, he couldn’t read her at all. “Tell us, Peko... Did you kill Hiyoko?”

“Now hold on just a second, you bastard!” Fuyuhiko shouted once more. “You’re sayin’ she used her sword as a stepstool and went out the fuckin’ window?! Then what about the sword?! It would’ve been left in the shower room, and she wouldn’t be able to recover it, dumbass!”

“Well, that’s easy! She could’ve merely tied the sword bag on the sword... And after she climbed up the window, as long as she hauled the bag up toward her, she could’ve recovered it easily.” Fuyuhiko for once had gone silent, not without a startled choke at Hajime’s swift rebuttal.

“I see... That’s an incredible deduction, Hajime... Not only the bamboo sword but even the sword bag too... She used them both to escape.” Nagito commented thoughtfully as his eyes gleamed with something assembling amusement. “Simply put, only Peko could’ve performed this feat! An escape plan befitting of the Ultimate Swordswoman!”

An uneasy silence settled around following Nagito’s words.

“Is it true...? Did you kill...Hiyoko...?” Mikan asked almost incomprehensible with how quiet she spoke.

“W-Wait a minute! We can’t decide just yet! You’re all making a bunch of assumptions-!”

“It’s fine.” Peko said interrupting Fuyuhiko at once, her tone displaying finality.

“W-What?” Fuyuhiko was almost struck silent with Peko’s words, his voice clearly quivering without his command.

“I said it’s fine...” Peko repeated louder and cleared. “Saying anything more would be an exercise in futility.”

“Y-You’re... You admit...?” To say Hajime was surprised would be an understatement. He knew his deductions were correct, they were sound. But he sure wasn’t expecting Peko to admit it so freely, without a fight or even attempting to argue her case, the contrary, he was sure she would persist in the effort to prove her innocence, instead, Fuyuhiko – her supposed accomplice – was the one to take the burden with the discussion. But why was that?

“Among flowers, the cherry blossom; among men, the samurai.’ I command your decisiveness, at least...” Gundham remarked somberly, as he regarded Peko with interest. “Very well. If you admit, this ends now! Let’s cast our votes!”

“Agreed... Hurry up and vote...” Peko said stoically.

“Ah, hold on. Let me confirm one thing first.” Chiaki said.

“Can it wait until after the voting?” Peko asked a little stern.

“This is important and it relates to the voting... It’s about your motive...” Chiaki answered trying to see through the swordswoman’s hidden feelings. “Because, in the end, you had no connection to the events depicted on ‘Twilight Syndrome Murder Case’, right?”

“Not only that, we know that Fuyuhiko who has the biggest motive of us all is her accomplice. Why is that? It would make more sense if Fuyuhiko was the killer, but...”

But... he tried to defend her. And why Peko - of all people – would be willing to take the fall for Fuyuhiko like that? What could’ve convinced one or the other to sacrifice their life like that? Was Peko merely a red herring? But if so, why?

“Hmph, so it’s about that... If I must answer that question... I must say that it was for the sake of justice...”

What?

“Justice...?” Hajime voiced out.

“In order to... protect the justice of this world...” Peko continued. “I do not sully my hands for personal grudges... There is only one reason I kill... For the sake of protecting justice! Justice is what makes humans human... It’s a virtue human beings should be proud of...”

Peko went on a tangent about the importance of justice and its unyielding power and greatness. Hajime was stupefied beyond belief, as the girl kept sprouting on about justice, even Fuyuhiko seemed a little taken aback by the display of... nonsense.

“I-It’s fine... Just stop it...!” The yakuza stammered.

Despite the boy’s insistence for the girl to stop, she kept on speaking nonsense. When she finally declared herself as the infamous ‘Sparkling Justice’, apparently a ruthless serial killer who is known for killing criminals for the sake of justice according to Sonia. The princess had informed then that the weird, childish mask placed on the crime scene was from some anime that was televisioned around her kingdom, which supposedly was the mask that ‘Sparkling Justice’ normally uses to cover their identity.

But despite her knowledge regarding the intrinsics of such a serial killer, the princess sounded a bit unsure about Peko’s revelation. Hajime himself was struck silent by the delirious speech from the swordswoman, he couldn’t find himself believing a word that the girl was saying.

“You... You cannot believe that we’re buying that crap...!” Hajime found himself saying looking wide-eyed at Peko.

“W-What the fuck?!” Kazuichi yelled looking downright terrified at the girl’s monologue.

“Umm... Ibuki is a little lost right now.” The musician commented scratching her head with a confused look on her face.

“It is a bit hard to believe I must admit...” Sonia said eyeing Peko dubiously.

Peko on the other hand was akin to a statue, the girl had gone completely still, not moving a single muscle, her expression frozen in an indifferent mask.

“Despite her claims being somewhat pertinent to ‘Sparkling Justice’ motto, there is one fact that is known about ‘Sparkling Justice’ that is contradictory to what Peko is saying.” Sonia continued. “You see... While I was at the library I discovered an exclusive interview with the serial killer, and it was transcripted in Spanish, so it leads me to believe that ‘Sparkling Justice’ is, in fact, Spanish!”

Peko remained quiet as Sonia explained her discoveries, Fuyuhiko on the other hand, was sweating buckets.

"Cut it out, Peko. We know you're lying about being 'Sparkling Justice' or whatever..." Hajime said without removing his gaze from the culprit. "Tell us the truth, what is this all about?"

Peko however stayed silent.

"Well, if she's not about to talk then what about you, Fuyuhiko?" Nagito asked. "There's something that I feel should have been brought up sooner, but while Hajime and I entered everyone's cottages to get the samples, Hajime found the ending prize of 'Twilight Syndrome' inside Mahiru's cottage."

"T-The ending prize?!" Mahiru questioned surprised at the reminder of the photographs inside the folder. "Th-That's right, someone left that folder in my mailbox with a note instructing me to play that game, and I... I'm sorry but I did play the game..."

"It was Fuyuhiko, wasn't it?" Hajime pried.

"Yeah... I think so... The note said something about 'what you did to my little sister' so... I don't think it could've been anyone other than him." Mahiru replied somberly.

"I-... I don't have to tell you, bastards, anything!" Fuyuhiko shouted from the top of his lungs a little breathless at the end.

"Were you planning on killing Mahiru because of what happened in the game?" Nagito asked calmly. "I can understand that, what I can't understand is what Peko has to do with anything..."

"It's futile to keep going on about this matter... Let us bring an end to this and cast our votes once and for all." Peko said, breaking the silence that had been installed in the room.

"And there's also that! You're pretty eager for us to start the voting, aren't you?" Hajime couldn't help but feel unsettled by Peko's nonchalance at the prospect of her death.

"But it's already settled, isn't it? Peko is the only one who could've done it... You said it yourself." Nekomaru stated.

"I... I know that Peko was the one to attack me and the one who blocked the door with Hiyoko's body, but..." Hajime swallowed dry as his eyes moved between the swordswoman and the yakuza. "Fuyuhiko's presence at the crime scene is just... too vague. We don't know why they're working together, and the fact that we can't be sure of which one of them killed Hiyoko is..."

"I understand your hesitation... But the murder weapon was the bat, right? Peko, the 'Ultimate Swordswoman' could've handled that weapon with mastery, so I'm quite sure she was the one to kill Hiyoko." Nagito stated.

"I know... It's just... Peko seems too calm, doesn't she? She's been insisting for us to start the vote for some time now, and that worries me..."

"Are you saying that you think that the killer is in actuality, Fuyuhiko?" Sonia asked looking just as concerned by their predicament. "But that would mean that... Peko is the accomplice...!"

"But how can we know for sure?!" Akane shouted.

"You can't." Fuyuhiko said, his cheeks were still a bit pink from the discussion, his face glistering from sweat, but his countenance only displayed resolve. "Monokuma, there's nothing else to discuss... Start this goddamn vote already..."

"What?!" Various voices resonated together at Fuyuhiko's request.

"We can't start the vote without being certain of who actually killed Hiyoko!" Hajime shouted at both of them. Who maintained their eyes cast down and mouths closed. "Are you two... seriously gonna...?"

"So that's your strategy now?" Nagito asked, and despite the boy normally looking as calm as ever, he could sense a bit of irritation burning deep within the luckster's gray-green eyes. "I have to say... It's a little disappointing, you know... To take your stubbornness this far... Such despair..."

"Shut the hell up, you fuckin' weirdo!" Fuyuhiko yelled.

"Well, I was getting kinda bored, anyway... So...! It seems like you guys don't have anything more to argue about. Then let's proceed to the voting time!" Monokuma announced to the terror of everyone but the culprits who stared intently at the screen that appeared in front of their podiums. "And remember, you better vote for someone!"

The bear's words were followed by a bunch of loud protests from the students that were still unsure of who to vote for. Hajime stared furiously with shaky hands at the screen before him, his eyes traveled between Fuyuhiko and Peko's avatars as he dwelled on his uncertainty. His brain said that it was Fuyuhiko, that Peko's intentions by insisting to start the vote were to get them all to vote incorrectly, he didn't know why the girl would sacrifice herself like that, but it would explain her eagerness to start the vote. While his instinct said it was Peko, the only one capable of killing Hiyoko with a familiar weapon such as the metal bat, Fuyuhiko himself had tried to prove her innocence, even lying in the process. What was the reason behind one protecting the other?

Who was it? Who actually killed Hiyoko?

With less than five seconds left, Hajime quickly pressed on Fuyuhiko's avatar.

"Well then, let us see the results!" Monokuma said as the big screen above his head start displaying the slot machine interface. “Who will be chosen as the blackened?! Will make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one?!” As he finished the machine started rolling and came to a halt at Peko's avatar. Hajime wasn't sure if he should feel relief or dread.

"Oh, would you look at that! You guys are cutting pretty close you know? It wasn't a consensus at all, seven votes against six, now that's what I call exciting!" Monokuma announced.

"Is it right? Is she the killer?! Tell us!" Hajime shouted at the bear, his protests weren't alone as Kazuichi, Ibuki, and Nekomaru joined him at the request for the results.

"No, it's incorrect." Peko stated, gazing nowhere in particular, dead-looking eyes showing no emotion at all. "My duty... has already been finished. My duty as a tool... has already been completed in full."

Hearing those words Hajime couldn't help but shiver, the unbearable weight of dread encompassing his limbs at Peko's declaration.

"H-Hey... Be clearer! What was your purpose?!" Nekomaru asked loudly despite the crack in his voice.

"I have no purpose... I am just a mere tool." Peko answered.

"A-A tool...? What do you mean...?" Mikan asked, trembling a bit from where she was standing.

"She called herself a tool... so you're saying that Fuyuhiko was the one to use you?" Nagito inquired crossing his arms on his chest. "I see... But I'm still a little confused as to what you mean with that."

"It means that I'm a simple tool to be used as he sees fit." Peko responded coldly.

"What you're saying makes no sense... What are you even trying to accomplish with this?" Hajime asked breathlessly.

"As I said before, I exist as nothing more than a tool. I had no motive for killing Hiyoko... No reason to kill... not even the will to kill..." Peko explained with a creepy expression. "I was simply used as a tool. As long as I am a tool, I cannot defy my orders."

"H-Hey...! What's goin' on, can anyone gimme a simpler explanation...?" Akane inquired distressed.

"It means... I'm not the killer." At her words, his knees almost gave up on him. "The true killer, who used me as their weapon to kill Hiyoko Saionji, was Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu!"

"What?!" Even Gundham, normally the most composed of them all was taken aback by the revelation.

"I see... That's what you were aiming for all along." Nagito commented, not looking the slightest disheveled by Peko's words. 

"No... I have no aim. But my young master does. My young master has planned this from the start." At the mention of a 'young master', Hajime looked at Fuyuhiko, who was looking worst to wear similar to all of them. He couldn't discern his expression, though. Was it shame? Nervousness? Anticipation? "This is the truth of this case."

Fear?

"That's a problem... If Peko's allegations holds up, that means our vote was incorrect..." Chiaki said with concern bleeding into her voice.

"No... That cannot be true." Hajime said surprisingly finding his voice amidst the insanity before him. "No matter how you look at it, Peko is human. Even if she truly believes what she's saying, there's no way that you could call her a tool."

"That is not for you to decide, now we just have to wait for Monokuma to announce the results-"

"To hell with it!" Hajime shouted at Peko as a new surge of rage burned inside him. "You're just a tool?! Then shut it! You have no place to be talking; Let's ask the one you keep saying that used you. C'mon Fuyuhiko, stop staring at nothing with that constipated look on your face and tell us! Is Peko just a tool to you?! Because from where I'm standing, it looks like you were hellbent on trying to prove her innocence!"

Fuyuhiko stared at Hajime almost hauntingly. A deer caught in the headlights. The yakuza's eyes were frantic and the normally scowl planted on his face was nowhere to be found, instead, his rosy cheeks and delicate features as prominent as ever. For the first time since meeting the boy, Hajime saw Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu for the teen that he was, the boy behind the foul language and and crude mannerisms.

"Exactly, Fuyuhiko. Is Peko just a tool to you?" Nagito consented.

"I...! Wh-What...?!"

"Young master...?"

Despite the sudden frickle sliver of sympathy he felt for the boy, that sentiment had no right on a class trial. Especially on a situation like they were in.

"You can shut your mouth, Peko! We're asking Fuyuhiko's opinion on the matter!" Hajime said ruthlessly.

"You- You don't talk to her like that, you son of a bitch! I'll fuckin' kill you!" The haunted look was gone as soon as it came.

"And why should Hajime weight his words with her? Isn't she just a tool? As far as I know, a tool don't deserve any respect or consideration." Nagito said coldly, but surprisingly coming to Hajime's defense once more.

 "Sh-She's not a tool!"

Fuyuhiko's words echoed around the sudden silent courtroom. It seemed that their offenses towards Peko were the last straw for the yakuza, whose eyes were shining with tears at this point. His cheeks were flushed from either embarassement or rage. Maybe both. The pathetic excuse of his usual intimidating bravado was lost among the tears and the clear pain showing through his eyes. It didn't make for a flattering sight.

"She's not...!"

"Y-Young master!" Peko's early indifferent exterior seemed pretty distressed at her master's outburst.

"I-I'm sorry, Peko... I guess... I couldn't go through with it after all..." His tone sounded utterly defeated, he couldn't bring himself to lift his eyes off the ground as he continued. "Cause... if that's actualy what I have to do to survive... I'd just feel ashamed of myself. And... if I admit that... It means... you really are just a tool to me. How many times have I tell you... I don't want a tool given to me by the Kuzuryu Clan."

"Young master...!" Peko's expression morphed into pure disbelief as she looked at Fuyuhiko's trembling frame.

"Ohh my, so this is how it turned out! And here I thought it would be more gruesome and heartless... Man, how disappointing." Monokuma said after the long while he spent watching things play out. "Which means... everything happened thanks to her meddlesome actions!"

So Peko was the killer...

Hajime should've felt bad about the wave of relief Monokuma's words sent to him. Or maybe not, after all, his concerns were legimate. For one more vote, they could've all died. Hajime had almost caused their death because of his paranoia.

Hajime felt himself lost in his own mind for a few minutes, his consciousness only coming back after some deep, lungful breaths.

"I am terribly sorry I won't be able to serve by your side until the very end... young master." Hajime heard Peko saying and taking him off the turmoil that had installed itself in his head. The girl was smiling sweatly at Fuyuhiko as she bade him good bye. It was such an unusual expression to see on the swordswoman's normally stern face that Hajime averted his eyes, it felt as if he didn't have the right to invade a moment as intimate as that.

Peko proceed to apologize to everyone else for her actions, and requested them to not blame Fuyuhiko for her reckless wish to protect him. As plead to not let another senseless killing such as that to ever happen again. Hajime took a step back off his podium as he turned around in a petty attempt to give the two some sliver of privicy. He forced himself to not hear the words being spoken, but it wasn't enough, he still caught Peko wishing that Fuyuhiko would remember her and the boy's guttural scream as Monokuma announced that it was punishement time.

"P-Please Peko! Don't go...! I need you! Don't leave me!" The viceral pleading made some tears of his own start to prick his eyes.

GAME OVER

Peko has been found guilty.

Time for the punishment!

Hajime wasn't sure how Peko who was a second before standing at his back, was now being displayed on some place around the island. She held her sword tight as a swarm of enemies that assembled Monokuma rushed to attack her. With unrelenting strenght, Peko cut the enemies as if they were made out of paper, every hit extremely precise and graceful.

He noticed a second too late that she wasn't alone by herself. Amidst the fog of enemies, Fuyuhiko stood there trying to get to the girl without much sucess given how dense the mob around Peko was. As the girl kept destroying enemie by enemie, Fuyuhiko managed to get a little bit closer, but when he least expected, an enemie jumped in front of him trying to get Peko from behind, reflexively, Peko swang her sword across the enemie. Unfortunately, the robot wasn't the only thing she cut through, a thin line of blood smeared at Fuyuhiko's right eye as realization downed on Peko.

Her sword forgotten on the ground, Peko held Fuyuhiko's lump body as the inevitable approached. Hajime closed his eyes as the samurai-themed robots one by one impaled her body relentlessly. Until the very end, Peko protect Fuyuhiko as best as she could while serving as his body shield. Not a single cry was heard leave the girl, he couldn't help but appreciate how the girl defied Monokuma until the very end.

ACT 2: Ensnared On a Web Of Cold, Hard Truths

END

Students Remaining: 11?

Chapter Text

ACT 3: Of Wisdom, Lies, and Tyrants

CHAPTER 9: Silver Lining

Hajime felt tired.

A burden that should’ve been lifted from his shoulders only grew heavier. An ache in his temple that should punctuate the legitimacy of his actions only served to remind him that his survival caused someone else’s demise.

Maybe he should feel bad about it. Maybe not. Either way, he felt both relieved and ashamed at Peko and Fuyuhiko being the ones dead. Despite the circumstances that brought the two of them to commit their crime, their death meant their survival.

Hajime couldn’t bring himself to think otherwise. No matter how shaming it was to be alive at someone else’s cost, he couldn’t bring himself to prefer the other option.

In the end, it seemed that the mentality of both the spotless and the blackened had the same foundation. Sacrificing others for your own selfish sake.

But that wasn’t what had happened between Peko and Fuyuhiko. Peko despite claiming and emphasizing the fact that her existence was to serve as a mere tool, still wanted to save the life of the one most important to her. Willing to sacrifice both her life and body in order to protect the one who she not only served but loved.

Was it selflessness or selfishness? Hajime couldn’t distinguish anymore. Because if so, then the ones being selfish were the ones who fought to uncover the truth, and it couldn’t be considered selfish to fight for one’s own life. And at the same time...

Hajime felt tired...

He could distantly place the sound of anguish sobs echoing around him. He didn’t acknowledge it. The turmoil in his mind was louder than anything happening around him right now. Remotely, he felt his legs moving as he approached the elevator, he couldn’t stand to be in that room a second longer. It seemed that his classmates agreed as well as they followed Hajime.

His breathing was labored for some reason, he was sweating despite how cold and tight his skin felt, the loud, raging sound from the ascension of the elevator mingled with his own thoughts as he stared fixedly on nowhere specific trying – and failing – to get a semblance of composure.

Distress emanated from every single pore of not only his but also his classmates’ bodies. Once again they were standing there with the remanents of the despair that followed their decision to sacrifice one of their peers. It took longer than usual for the elevator to arrive at the surface – or so it seemed. Some of the more desperate rushed out of the elevator as if it was on fire, there was frantic shouting and yelling but Hajime couldn’t bother to discern whose it was.

He numbly descended the escalator but was struck out of his trance when he heard Nagito - who had stayed behind as well – muttering softly at his back.

“I can’t believe it...”

Hajime’s eyes flew towards where Nagito was looking and he could that in the middle of the crowd of students was very bloody, very wounded Fuyuhiko laying on the once soft, clear sand; now stained red. Peko’s body was nowhere to be seen, Hajime tried to not get caught in that fact.

“H-He’s still... He’s still breathing!” Mikan screeched from where she was kneeling beside Fuyuhiko’s lump body. Sonia tried to take his arm that was surrounded by cuts but decided against it due to her lack of medical knowledge. Mikan herself was overwhelmed by the number of wounds on Fuyuhiko’s body, unsure how to proceed and what to treat first.

“D-Do something! Hey! You need to save him!” Kazuichi yelled with tears in his eyes. Hajime had the suspicion that the boy was making a herculean effort to not throw up.

“I-I’m trying! But his blood! He won’t stop bleeding out! His pulse is getting weaker...!” Mikan responded with a yell of her own for once. Hajime couldn’t exactly see the total extent of the yakuza’s injuries, but he could only imagine by the amount of blood oozing out from each tear on his skin.

“Serves him right.” Monokuma said after appearing a few feet from the crowd surrounding Fuyuhiko. “Were you filled with hope at the thought of saving her? That’s why you ended up like that.”

“Wh-What are you so laid back about?! You need to hurry up and save him!” Monomi yelled from the spot where she had appeared. “It’s your duty to save him!”

“...Duty?” Monokuma asked confused as he tipped his head to the side.

“Cuz... It’s written in the school trips rules.” Monomi stated surprisingly firm. “If only the blackened gets executed, then Fuyuhiko shouldn’t be allowed to be executed!”

Monokuma stayed silent for a few short seconds as he considered the rabbit’s words until he relented.

“Jeez! I guess I have no choice! Well, there’s no way I can violate a rule... Even if it’s me. Fine then! I’ll save!” Monokuma took a doctor’s uniform out of thin air and walked toward Fuyuhiko. “Good thing I’m prepared. Just leave the rest to me! Doctor Killgood!”

A blaring sirene resonated from far away until an ambulance appeared on the horizon at full speed. Hajime couldn’t even start to fathom where it had come from, but once the ambulance parked near them, another Monokuma came out from the vehicle with a gurney where they promptly placed Fuyuhiko’s groaning frame.

“We gotta get this patient to the Monokuma Hospital ER and get him into 24 hours observation, stat!” Monokuma said as he entered the driver’s seat and waved at their astonishing state. “Sooo, see you later!”

“U-Umm... is it really okay...? To leave this to Monokuma...?” Mikan asked worriedly.

‘It can’t be helped...” Akane huffed frustrated as she kicked at the sand below her. “It’s not like there was another way...!”

“He’s gonna be fine.” Chiaki reassured. “He’s probably gonna get better and come back to us.”

“Then... all we can do is wait...!” Nekomaru stated clenching his teeth.

“I-I know it’s terrible but... he caused Hiyoko’s death... and I...” Mahiru had tears streaking down her flushed face as the words stuck in her throat. “...I know I shouldn’t think like that but...’

“It’s understandable to think this way.” Sonia said putting a hand on the photographer’s back “H-However... we must put that aside for now since Peko has already been punished... Or else we will not be able to advance forward...!”

Fuyuhiko would live. Or so they hoped. But for how much longer? With each day that passed, the countdown from the bomb on Jabberwock Park got closer and closer to the zero mark, and Hajime kept asking himself what would happen when it did. Was it really a bomb? Was it strong enough to destroy the entirety of Jabberwock Island? Otherwise, it wouldn’t make much sense for a bomb to be placed in such an obvious location, but if that were to be true, that would mean it was an atomic bomb, and if so... what did that mean to them...?

Hajime found himself conflicted on his feelings regarding the yakuza who was in a suck a precarious state. Fuyuhiko, - even if indirectly – was responsible for both Hiyoko’s death and Hajime’s wounds, which could’ve easily put a less unfortunate man to their grave. He couldn’t pretend that the almost-death experience hadn’t affected him greatly. The dull, terrorizing numbness that had spread through his body as his blood poured beneath him.

Despite all of it, he didn’t wish for the yakuza to die. Not so meaninglessly. He didn’t see eye to eye with the boy, and he surely wasn’t eager to be in his company soon either. But he didn’t want him to die.

With Monokuma gone, the remaining students were left with nothing to fret over anymore. The sky had grown orange and Hajime guessed it wouldn’t be much longer for the sun to set. He cogitated to stand there and watch as the excruciating day finally came to an end, giving way to the welcome silent, serene aspects of the night.

However, he could barely keep himself on his feet anymore, his knees were about to buckle at any given moment, and it seemed that Monokuma’s pill effects were wearing off, his head grew light and dizzy. He wasted no time and made his way for his cottage.

Fumbling a bit with the keys, Hajime managed to open his door after letting the keys fall twice before he could focus enough to fit it in the keyhole. He dropped to his bed without any further ado and passed out almost immediately, escaping his cruel and painful predicament, losing himself in the restful void of sleep.

What brought Hajime back to the reign of the living was an incessant but light knocking on his door. The sun was cruelly up in the sky and sending rays of sunshine down upon his cottage that found itself with its curtains wide open, which meant that his skin was been scorched by the sun while he slumbered oblivious to it all.

What terrible luck...

Groaning while getting to his feet, Hajime walked wobbly towards the door and found that it wasn’t locked as it should’ve been. He opened the door ready to grumble at anyone who would dare to wake him up after the hell of a day they had gone through, but anything he had to say was drowned out by the loud squeak that followed the also loud bang of the door’s hinges hitting the wall with more force than necessary.

“Eeek! I-I-I’m sorry...!” Mikan said as she defensively placed her arms in front of her face. “P-Please don’t hurt me...!”

“Mikan...?” Of all the people still on the island, he surely wasn’t expecting Mikan to be the one standing on the other side of the door. “What do you want?”

“I-I’m sorry to be bothering you... i-it’s just... I wanted to... take a look at your injuries...to make sure that...” Understanding the girl’s concerns, Hajime spared her to formulate further and just took a step back as the nurse wearily stepped inside his cottage.

Without saying anything else, he dropped onto the bed and removed the old bandages that he noticed were smeared with dried blood. The dull ache in his temple still persisted but it had thankfully dimmed during the night, while the cut on his forehead stung occasionally, but Mikan had apparently done a great job at closing it when she tended to it before the trial.

Mikan seemed to be more comfortable not having to talk as she pulled the bag with medical supplies she was carrying and placed it on the bed right beside him and started to examine him once more. The nurse despite her meek and submissive attitude seemed to be pretty competent while practicing her area of expertise, her hands moved fast as she replaced the bandages and applied disinfectant to his cut.

“It doesn’t seem to have worsened during the night... it’ll take some time to heal completely, but as long as you don’t aggravate it further, you should be fine.” Mikan said without stuttering once, she definitely looked more relaxed in her own element.

“Thanks. I didn’t manage to clean it yesterday... Too tired...” Hajime said without elaborating further.

“I-I was getting a little w-worried, because... well you didn’t show up for breakfast and... the others thought that you were unconscious due to your wounds, so... I came to check on you...”

“Wait... the morning announcement already...” Hajime looked around his room and indeed, the sun seemed pretty high in the sky already, judging by how illuminated his room was. “I... must’ve slept through the announcement. I didn’t even notice...”

Mikan excused herself shortly thereafter, saying that she would tell the others he was alright. Hajime had the inkling suspicion that the girl was a little distressed while in his company, but it was hard to tell for sure with Mikan, the girl was put off by nearly anything and anyone.

 Taking a quick bath he walked towards the restaurant to satisfy his incessant pangs of hunger that made themselves known as soon as he was coherent enough to rationalize his lack of nourishment from the previous day.

It seemed Mikan wasn’t lying about his tardiness as he entered the restaurant and found no one else in sight. What he found instead was an altar-like memorial with four candles and some pictures of some of their late friends. Maybe it was for the best that he wasn’t there at the time they set it. He wasn’t eager to be around anyone at the moment either, not after once more being doubted and falsely accused of murder, again. Perhaps it was childish to hold it against his classmates but he just couldn’t help be feel offended by their clear distrust. And Hajime felt he was righteous to feel that way, after all, contrary to their beliefs, Hajime hadn’t done anything against them to receive such treatment. Not that they would ever believe him anyway.

As he finished his breakfast in the peacefulness of his solitude, Monomi appeared at the restaurant.

“Oh, hey you, Hajime!” The rabbit said.

“...What do you want?” Hajime repeated the same phrase he told Mikan earlier the day.

“Huh, well... I just wanted to tell you that I defeated another Monobeasts and the third island is available to explore, now!” Monomi responded excitedly. “You weren’t here when I told everyone so... I’m telling you now!”

Hajime just ushered the annoying rabbit away and didn’t question her as to why she hadn’t done the same when the previous island had been free for them to explore.

Having nothing better to do, Hajime left the restaurant at once and walked towards Jabberwock Park, and just as Monomi had informed him, the Monobeast in charge of the third island was nowhere to be seen. He crossed the bridge to the third island taking his time.

“So this is the third island, huh...?” Hajime muttered under his breath as he took in the disparaging atmosphere from the third island. The buildings and structures looked old and uncared for, the entire premise oozing abandon, similar to a ghost town, especially taking into consideration the fact that there was no sign of any residents to be found.

It was truly ominous.

He walked a few meters as he arrived at the Electric Ave, a bunch of street booths placed around filled with electric appliances at the back of the narrow alleyway. A couple of machinery parts and some boxes were laying in some storing room. It definitely seemed shady.

Laying inconspicuously on a display were a bunch of laptops, the computers looked old-fashioned and rundown, though, by their appearances alone, Hajime supposed they could be still used as some two-way communication device if they could manage to connect it to the internet.

He took a laptop from the shelf and tried to turn it on. Surprisingly, the laptop’s screen went a hue shade of blue as it initiated its program, as to be expected there wasn't a slim bit of signal or anything that would entail some kind of means of communication. The only thing he found on the desktop was an icon with the name ‘Usami X File’.

Clicking twice on the icon, some kind of document file displayed on the screen, it seemed to be some kind of report about the ‘Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event In Human History’. According to the file, some revolt from the Reserve Department Students from Hope’s Peak Academy was caused by the dissatisfaction of the student body regarding the treatment they received, which was different than the Primary Department. Their coup against the school originated in the so-called ‘Tragedy’, where some huge authority started to spread their influence worldwide. The file talked about such influence as if it was some kind of infection that caused riots and acts of terrorism all around the planet in no time. A phenomenon that couldn’t be explained by mere logic, once the movement was utterly subversive and full of ‘despair’.

As Hajime was about the get to the bottom of the document, the laptop suddenly stop working, it wouldn’t turn on anymore no matter how many times he tried, in the end, the laptop had become just another pile of trash.

It was to be expected, Hajime was never one to find any appeal in electronics and such, not because he didn’t understand or due to lack of interest, no, it was more like something he could never hope to exceed at, his luck would turn all those fancy computers and gadgets into nothing but a bunch of mechanical parts that had no use whatsoever. Being via completely destroying the components or trashing the hardware entirely, his luck was just no good around those kinds of things. It was given that he managed to turn the laptop on at all.

“Hey, can’t you react with more gusto?!” Monokuma said from behind him. “Don’t you know how very, very important this scene is?!”

“Ha, so you were the one who created that file, did you?”

“...My, my, what makes you think that?” Monokuma asked placing his paw on his chin and tilting his head to the side.

“You’re the only one who would’ve come up with such an idiotic story like something as ‘The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Catastrophic Event in Human History’, sounds a little pretentious to me.” Hajime said sardonically. “And by the way, what did you mean with ‘Reserve Department’, did something like that even exist?”

“Oh, you’re talking about ‘The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History’? That really did happen, y’know.” Monokuma responded matter-of-factly. “As for the ‘Reserve Department’... Well, they were a bunch of nobodies who couldn’t stand the burden of their own monotone existence. Seriously, those guys were just so average that you would look like a celebrity among them.”

“So you have nothing useful to say, as usual.” Hajime retorted coldly, ignoring the comment about his averageness. Thankfully, Monokuma appeared to be as full of Hajime as Hajime was of him and disappeared right after.

Continuing on his exploration, he was faced with the more than intriguing ‘Titty Typhoon, what seemed to be a music venue judging by its interior. A small stage with gaudy curtains on the back, a piano, a balcony with shelves stocked with drinks, and a storage room filled with many different musical instruments and stage equipment. He was sure that Ibuki would be thrilled to visit the place – if she yet hadn’t that is.

Another facility present on the third island was the motel at the very edge of the ghost-like land. It looked pretty rundown so Hajime didn’t bother to explore inside it. No doubt if he dared he was bound to get his dust allergies to flare like crazy.

The hospital was by far the most ominous of all the buildings there, that’s for sure. Hajime didn’t have many happy memories of hospitals, especially not one that was so small and carelessly cared for as the one he found himself standing in front of now. But unlike the motel, the hospital seemed to be a little more relevant to whatever clue he might find, so with no other choice, he entered through the front door.

“You’re late, Hajime. Looks like you’re the last one.”

Nagito was seated in one of the chairs in the waiting room looking pleased with himself despite being completely alone in the creepy hospital.

“Last one...? What do you mean?” Hajime asked as he came to stand before the boy.

“There are patients rooms lining up the hallway, but everyone is apparently gathered at the room at the very back.” Nagito responded calmly.

“What for...?”

“Oh, you don’t know? It’s where Fuyuhiko was hospitalized by Monokuma since yesterday.”

Oh... so he survived. I guess that makes sense...

He asked Nagito the same.

“Yes, he survived. It was so lucky that he managed to hold onto life despite such major injuries!” Nagito expressed his opinion.

“It has nothing to do with luck...” Hajime disagreed quietly as he avoided Nagito’s confused gaze. “Peko sacrificed her own life and body to protect Fuyuhiko. Until the very end... Ans she did it, apparently...”

Nagito stayed silent eyeing him with a hint of warmth inside those grey-green orbs, contemplating his words as if he had said the most intriguing thing he had ever heard.

“You’re right... It had nothing to do with luck.”

That stare made something in his gut stir in a weirdly pleasant way. Trying to distract himself from the feeling he changed the subject.

“Why aren’t you there, though? Don’t you want to see him?” Somehow Hajime already knew the boy’s answer to that.

“Miss Sonia, as to be expected from the Ultimate Princess... She cordially invited me to come... She’s very much in touch with the feeling of us common folks.” Nagito explained looking down at his palm. “Nevertheless... I know my place, and I’m not reckless enough to go along with her. Since it’s going to be such a touching scene, a worthless thing like me would just be a nuisance, right?”

Hajime took a seat beside the boy and stared intently at the door leading to the hallway.

“I don’t think so...” Hajime truly didn’t, despite Nagito’s twisted ideals of hope, he still was far more comfortable in the boy’s presence than anyone’s on the entire island. “But I... get what you’re saying. I don’t think I would be welcomed there, either.”

“Nonsense, Hajime! I’m sure that the others would be delighted by your presence!” At Hajime’s more than scrutinizing stare Nagito decided to backtrack on his remarks. “Or perhaps not...”

They stayed like that for a few awkward seconds where neither of them could bother to break the uncomfortable silence that had encompassed the atmosphere around them. Hajime really didn’t like hospitals, the monotonous aura surrounding a place like that gave him the chills. Normally, he would be totally into a peaceful, and sometimes even boring environment but somehow hospitals twisted that concept into something malicious in his opinion. He couldn’t explain it himself, it just felt like the silence and peacefulness were foreshadowing the imminent calamity that was surely approaching.

He honestly couldn’t stand it.

“Hey, do you wanna go somewhere else?” Hajime asked returning his eyes to Nagito.

“Somewhere else? I’m immensifully glad that you would offer such kindness to someone like me, Hajime. But I don’t want to impose trash like me onto you.” Nagito responded without batting an eye.

“It’s no kindness.” Hajime said a little frustrated by the boy’s usual self-deprecating comments. It seriously frustrated him to no end when Nagito twisted his words to make them be whatever he thought was fit. “I don’t get you at all sometimes. I mean, what’s even your reasoning behind all the crap you say about yourself?”

“Oh, I know better than anyone how much of a worthless, piece of trash I am, so-“

“You keep saying that, but you also overestimate everyone here, including me. If the reason why you think of yourself as worthless it’s because of your luck... wouldn’t that be the same for me?”

Nagito looked softly at him as a gentle smile appeared on his dry lips.

“I don’t think so at all, Hajime.”

“Me neither.” Hajime said with a sense of finality, putting an end to the argument.  An argument that in his mind shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

Judging by Nagito’s countenance it was clear that the boy completely disagreed with Hajime, but decided against restarting the petty squabble once again.

“Well, if you insist... then sure. Where would you want to go?” Nagito asked instead.

“Umm, I still haven’t looked at the movie theater yet, so... want to go there?”

“Sure!” Nagito said as they both quickly made their way out of the hideous hospital. Somehow he got the impression that Nagito was also not a fan of such a place. Perhaps there was a story behind that.

The movie theater was... normal. Or as normal as its appearance could hope to be anyway. The entrance was decorated with some weird-looking movie posters certainly created by Monokuma given how the bear was present in each and every one of them. The movie theater foyer was filled with Monokuma merchandise that Hajime was sure to stay far away from. There was even a food and goods corner at the back.

“I admit I wasn’t expecting it to look so... ordinary.” Nagito commented regarding the ambiance.

“Yeah, me too. So you haven’t come here, yet?” Hajime said as looked around in the means to find something shady but returned with nothing.

“No. To be frank, I’m not the biggest fan of movies...” Nagito said with a sigh.

“I’m not one for movies either, too much that could go wrong...” He had the inkling that Nagito understood pretty well what Hajime meant.

“Right?! There was this one time when the movie theater caught on fire because of some air-conditioning problem and we had to evacuate the place super fast before the smoke could suffocate everyone.” Nagito consented with the most natural smile as he spoke about the tragic incident.

“Well... nothing that drastic happened to me. Mostly my seats would be taken and people would accidentally drop their drinks and food all over me. It was just so irritating.” Hajime explained as they moved towards the movie theater room only to be interrupted by Monokuma.

“Wellllcome!” The bear congratulated them appearing from thin air. “We’re currently showing the masterpiece of filming ‘The Wizard of Monomi’!”

“So you’re really showing a movie?” It felt dumb to ask such an obvious question like that, but since it was Monokuma he was talking to, he was sure there was some kind of catch, after all, there was no way the bear would provide them with ‘entertainment’ because of his oh-so generous heart.

“Of course, I am! Are your eyes just for show? This is a movie theater, y’know.” Monokuma answered in a beat.

“It certainly can’t be anything good if you were the one who made it.” Hajime retorted defiantly.

“Oh, you’re talking about the shoddy piece of crap that that game was, right? Well, don’t worry your little brain, ‘cause this movie is a total masterpiece.”

“Is this a motive? I can only see one reason for you to be that eager about us watching this movie.”

“But even if it was, shouldn’t we watch it so we can be prepared. Avoiding our problems is not the same as dealing with them, Hajime.” Nagito said in a prickly manner that Hajime was confident was that the boy was trying to annoy him. However, he did have a point.

For now, it was better to lay back.

“Fine... Let’s see what garbage you have prepared for us.” Hajime conceded.

His criticism falls on deaf eats as Monokuma excuses himself away to ‘accommodate’ his so precious viewers. Not one minute later the fluorescent sign atop the double doors leading to the movie theater displays the word ‘Enter’ in small green letters.

Without wasting any more time the boys enter the movie theater that is surprisingly tidy and settle down on their seats as the projector screen played some nonsensical trailers of movies starting some shady version of Monokuma.

The Wizard of Monomi is... as he predicted: Complete, utter garbage. So bad that Hajime actually felt glad he had watched it with Nagito since at the very least the two of them managed to get some good mockery to laugh out of the poor attempt at movie-directing. It could’ve been the worst spent two minutes of his life, but with the luckster’s company, it was not only bearable but enjoyable even.

Leaving through the front door snickering at Monokuma they quickly move on to the first island once more.

The movie ended up being more welcomed than he anticipated. After the gruesome events take took place less than 24 hours ago, Hajime didn’t know, but to be chuckling at a terrible movie with someone he was – liking it or not – fond of, was exactly what he needed to alleviate some of the heavy and suffocating guilt over Peko’s death, which had been plaguing his mind from the moment of his awakening that noon.

“Thank you.”

The words escape his lips before he can even register it, though after they’re out, Hajime doesn’t mind that they did. He’s glad he said it.

“For what?” Nagito questions as they keep on their path. “I’m sure whatever it is, it’s a waste to be thanking me, Hajime.”

Hajime gives an indignant huff as he keeps staring forward. “Is that an automatic mechanism of yours? Always saying something degrading about yourself as soon as someone tells you something vaguely nice?”

“Well, I am a nuisance so...”

“Do you think it makes us feel better when you put yourself down like that?” Hajime asked still avoiding the boy’s eyes. It just frustrated him how he couldn’t understand some aspects of the boy he considered so alike to himself. “Or maybe you do it because it makes you feel better instead...”

“That’s outrageous, Hajime! Trash like me doesn’t deserve self-assurance or any reassurance at all!” All too predictable, the boy once more wastes no time in painting an over-exaggerated bad image of himself.

“I can understand that you don’t hold yourself at the highest pedestal, but if you really don’t need any self-assurance, then stop saying all that crap.” Hajime countered firmly as he quicked a bit of sand in front of him. “It only makes everyone feel bad when you say those things about yourself, you know?”

At last, looking in Nagito’s direction, he noted that the boy seemed a bit troubled with what Hajime had slapped him in the face with. He wasn’t privy to what was going on within the confines of Nagito’s head, but he had an inkling that maybe the boy was questioning his own mannerisms a little. Hajime knew it could be a bit cruel to say such things, but he didn’t care enough to regret saying it.

“Thanks.”

Hajime repeats it once again, while side-eyeing Nagito to observe his reaction. Nagito looks at him a bit annoyed while his ears grew a pale shade of pink, but then relents as he looks the other way and responds quietly.

“It’s fine...”

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 10: We’re Gonna Rattle This Ghost Town

There was something foul lurking beneath the calm waters of Jabberwock Island. A malevolent aura permeates deep within the confines of their location.

Hajime honestly can’t start to fathom what is it. Where is it. Where it is hiding. But he knows it’s there. Just out of their perception, shrouding itself in clear skies and nice weather. Brimming with uncharacteristic quiet malice similar to the halcyon waves that hit the shore unrelentlessly, day by day, night by night.

He’s not aware of when he started to get that perception of the island. Maybe it had been from the beginning, he just didn’t know how to acknowledge it yet. Perhaps that had been the reason why he had passed out on the day they arrived there. Perhaps his senses were so utterly overwhelmed by that malice that he simply fainted from its shock.

Staring up at the ceiling from his cottage, Hajime couldn’t help but dive deep into those foolish thoughts.

He had made an unconscious effort to avoid indulging himself in the possible reasons behind their confinement on the damn island, he tried to avoid letting his mind wander on its own to prevent any disappointment or frustration that would sure to be waiting for him at the end of every thought regarding their predicament.

However, while lying face up in the chilly air of the night, Hajime couldn’t bring himself to avoid thinking about it.

What had brought them there? Were they being punished for something? Was it only unfortunate for them to be there? A prank of fate?

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t reach an answer. He probably never would. Not on his own, and maybe... that was for the better. Who could even guess whatever nasty conclusion was waiting its moment to tear him apart when he finally reached it.

Despite that, the closest thing he could assume of their situation was that his luck had – once more – had a great play into it.

His luck was by far, his greatest foe.

His longest companion.

His heaviest burden.

Sighing deeply he turned on his bed and hugged his pillow close to his body.

If he wasn’t more down to earth, he would believe they were all already dead, that this was the cruel limbo that they arrived after some miserable lives. Unfortunately, Hajime wasn’t naive enough to believe that. Maybe it would be easier if he believe it, at least he would have an answer to the problem, regardless of how messed up that answer may be.

His stomach was churning, Hajime was the farthest thing from hungry.

How could their situation even be possible in the first place? The fact that both Monokuma and Monomi exist should be enough to conclude that Hajime was entirely insane and was probably just hallucinating everything up until that point. Appearing and disappearing whenever and wherever.

The discrepancies about the location itself, the Monobeasts, the godly power and influence Monokuma seem to have in every single aspect of the place, even the wheater is not a limit to the stuffed toy.

Hajime isn’t sure how many days have passed since their arrival, time became a freckle thing, moments escaping his grasp like sand between his fingers. Sand that coated the entire premises of their cage-like whereabouts.

How did they end up here?

Memories are seemingly gone from their tortured minds, like dust resting on old furniture, one moment there, and then suddenly it is no more. That was by far the scariest aspect of their imprisonment. To lose not only your freedom and family, but to forget about who you once were. Who you had become. Forget yourself.

Could it really be done that easily? Just like that? No, it was impossible. There’s no such thing as wiping memories away, there couldn’t be.

And yet...

Hajime didn’t notice when his exhausted brain returned to the lands of the living as he blinked dazedly at the same white ceiling, only now it was illuminated by the tranquil sunlight of the morning. A new day commences as the sun pulls itself high into the sky once more. It commences as Monokuma appears on the monitor again to recite his usual announcement.

It would do him no good to keep entertaining those thoughts, not now. Not when he didn’t have the possibility of having any of his questions answered. So instead of dwelling on useless troublesome things, he got prepared for the day and left his cottage behind, walking in the restaurant's direction – early for once.

As he passed through the door, Mahiru was ready to walk up the stair as she whirled back to see who had entered the building. She seemed surprised to see Hajime instead of the others who normally attended the meeting post-morning announcement.

She turned her entire body so she could look at Hajime properly, the girl had some pronounced bags under her eyes and her complexion was a little more pale than usual as she made a conscious decision to interact with Hajime.

“Hey... It’s good to know you’re fine.” The photographer said a bit unsure about how to start a conversation with him. He couldn’t blame her, he felt the same way toward her. Toward the majority of the people still left.

“Yeah... you, too.” Hajime wasn’t certain if the girl was forcing herself to talk to him out of some sense of politeness, or for the sake of civility. Hajime wasn’t sure if he should appreciate the effort.

Mahiru blew a heavy sigh from her nostrils and glanced down at the floor, then she returned her eyes to Hajime, now containing a bit of what he thought was determination flaring in her orbs.

“Look, I know we don’t see eye to eye in most things.” Mahiru said. “But I wanted to thank you... for defending me in the trial.”

He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t any kind of expression of gratefulness. He didn’t know how to respond to that. Normally, when people talked to him, ‘thanks’ were far from the things they had to say to him.

“Don’t sweat it. I knew you weren’t the culprit, I did what I had to do, that’s it.” Hajime said after some awkward seconds. It was best to downplay his actions and keep to himself as usual. Mahiru despite not being offended by his blunt response, seemed to not agree with his words.

“Even so, no matter what were your reasons. Thanks for proving my innocence after...” As the recollection of what transpired in the trial appeared to flash in the girl’s mind, she cut herself off before continuing. “...After everything.”

If he was being honest with himself, Hajime would acknowledge the slight sense of relief that ran through him with the girl’s sincere thanks. He just wasn’t used to those kinds of interactions, so it was better to just let it play out.

“It’s fine. I’m glad that I could help you then.”

Mahiru seemed satisfied enough with his response and without waiting any longer she walked up the stairs to the restaurant, Hajime following behind her.

Boisterous laughs could be heard as they made their entrance, Nekomaru and Akane were apparently competing to see who could devour their breakfast first – (it wasn’t a pretty sight), Sonia and Mikan were on the sidelines transfixed by the uproar created by the two of them, while Kazuichi was transfixed on Sonia, as per usual.

Not everyone had made their appearance yet, which Hajime was glad for, that way the attention wouldn’t be entirely on his person while they accommodated themselves in the precinct when they arrived.

As more students filled the tables, he exchange some pleasantries with most of them, though nothing more relevant than ‘good morning’ and ‘hey’s’. Nagito had sat with him as they idly chatted about some of the books they were now reading. Hajime wasn’t reading much himself, not for his usual standards, that is. The same couldn’t be said to Nagito, who apparently had finished some suspense novel the former night. ‘An incredible ride it was’. Or so the boy had said.

Despite the more welcoming manner the others treated him compared to the previous days, Hajime didn’t want to hang around that much. Mainly because he didn’t know how to act or interact with the same people who judged him so fiercely, who threw such dirty looks at him when accusing him of an atrocious crime.

And also because he felt guilty to feel that way.

He knew, deep inside him, that it wasn’t right to fault them for being logical. Hajime liked to think he was logical, too. Perhaps it was hypocrisy talking, but he couldn’t help but grudge them for not even listening to his allegations, for not caring enough and taking the easier answer as the right one. He didn’t blame them, not really. It didn’t mean that he had to like it.

Not only that, but the last trial in some kind of way was worst than the Teruteru’s. Hajime had to prove his innocence once more, yes. But somehow, Peko’s drastic decisions didn’t seem as selfish as Teruteru’s. He couldn’t explain it, in the end, the both of them were trying to achieve something by getting the rest of them killed, he knew he shouldn’t be sympathizing with them, but he guessed it was only human to do so. The weight of Peko’s death was still heavy around his shoulders, after all, he had been the first one to point fingers at her. Maybe, someone else would’ve done it regardless, but he couldn’t shake the impression that he had been the one – even if indirectly – to sentence her to death.

It was an awful thought to have. A terrible one. It would do him no good to keep munching over it. He should just let go of it, but he couldn’t, especially when he remembered the whole reason behind Peko’s actions.

Fuyuhiko.

He hadn’t bothered to show his face to the yakuza since... everything. He probably was still in that hospital room, all by himself. Somehow he couldn’t picture Fuyuhiko enjoying being alone now, not entirely. He was sure that Mikan was keeping a close eye on him as he recovered, but having Mikan as a company was sure to be more stressful than anything.

He didn’t know if he could face Fuyuhiko. The worst part was that he wasn’t sure if it was due to fear or guilt.

It was hours past noon and Hajime found himself reading over the same paragraph for the third time, his brain not able to discern the meaning behind the transcripted words. Trying to read was the way he found to distract his mind from the intrusive thoughts that wouldn’t budge until being acknowledged.

He decided to end the pretense of reading and with the slight sliver of bravado he could find, he marched towards the third island. For some reason, it seemed to take longer than normal, or perhaps he wasn’t moving as quickly as he thought at all. Either way, he could feel the torrent of nerves drowning him as he finally reached the hospital’s front doors.

There was still the opportunity for him to flee from there, to pretend he had never been there in the first place and merely erase the memory of such a foolish decision.

Hajime knew that wouldn’t work. Just like avoiding Fuyuhiko wouldn’t work. The boy had lived, which was good; Hajime didn’t want him to die, but it meant that they would have to see each other around, for better or worse. If he turned around right now, he would be just postponing the inevitable, the only difference being that now he had control over the situation. He could choose to see Fuyuhiko, he could also choose not to. Whatever it was, it was his decision to make, not his luck’s.

Swallowing the anxiousness that was threatening to choke him, Hajime steps inside the hideous building, and this time he tries not to hesitate to walk around the corner to the hallway leading to the yakuza’s room.

There were four rooms in the hallway, as he moved along it, he found that Fuyuhiko’s room was the last one near the stairs to the second floor. The wall opposite the doors was displaying some kind of sick joke, probably created by Monokuma, as some ‘doctors’ made some surgical procedure for an unknown ‘patient’, through the bleary windows Hajime could see the ‘doctors’ disposing of the ‘patient’ right after they finished operating.

He stood stock-still in front of Fuyuhiko’s door debating if he should use his last chance to escape. No matter how much his mind yelled at him to get lost, he couldn’t move a single finger. Taking a deep breath trying to appear at least a bit more confident than what he actually felt, he opened the door.

Fuyuhiko was sitting up on the bed with his back turned to Hajime, the yakuza seemed almost entranced by the view outside as he made no indication to have noted his presence.

“I’ve already told you, Mikan... I’m fine.”

As he said the words, Fuyuhiko turned around and Hajime took notice of the bandages wrapped around his right eye. The eye Peko had wrongfully damaged with her – unfortunately – extraordinary instincts. The other eye widened reflexively as he took sight of Hajime standing awkwardly at the door frame.

They stared at each other for a few seconds that felt like long, dragged out minutes, before Fuyuhiko broke the silence, at last.

“What do you want here?” His voice despite how harsh it was, didn’t seem to hold any heat as he continued to eye Hajime impassively.

“I...” What did he come here for? If he was honest with himself, Hajime didn’t know either. “...I’m sorry.” He decided to go instead.

Fuyuhiko kept staring at him as if he was waiting for the other shoe to drop and for Hajime to declare the real reason behind his visit. Hajime on the other hand was regretting ever setting foot in the hospital at all, his body flared with nerves as his skin grew tight from the hard stare pinning him in place.

“Tsk... Sorry for what, dumbass?” Fuyuhiko disdained at his apology, and within reason since Hajime wasn’t aware himself of what he was apologizing for.

“I just...” Sighing out the frustration that had built up during the short time since he entered the room, Hajime tried to organize his thoughts and express them in words to the best of his capabilities. “I’m not gonna pretend to know how you’re feeling. I never lost someone important the way you did... I also don’t think I did the wrong thing, but I... In the end, I was the reason why Peko was exposed, and I... feel guilty about it.”

He lifted his gaze that had traveled to the floor as he spoke and looked at Fuyuhiko deep inside his eye.

“I know it makes no sense. I don’t know why I feel that way myself, it’s just... I feel like I have to apologize, that’s it.” Not able to withstand the lack of reaction from Fuyuhiko, he averted his gaze once again to nowhere specific around the hospital room. “You don’t have to accept it if you don’t want to, I’m just saying...”

His gut was churning with the more than unsettling silence that followed his poor excuse of an explanation, worst yet was the accessing manner Fuyuhiko’s eye roamed over him, he couldn’t fathom whatever was going on inside the yakuza’s head, and that unnerved him to no end.

Exhaling a deep breath, Fuyuhiko averted his gaze from Hajime at once and stared fixedly on the spot where his hand rested on his lap.

“I should be the one apologizing.”

Hajime’s breath hitched at the revelation. Fuyuhiko seemed to be trapped in the confines of his own mind as he kept staring at nothing and everything at the same time. His expression looked utterly... defeated. It was such an abrupt change on his normally annoyed face that it couldn’t be anything but wrong.

Once again he felt like he shouldn’t be privy to this aspect of the yakuza. It made him feel bad to be witnessing the boy in his most weak state, his most helpless state. He wanted to bolt out of the room.

“I hope you get better soon.” Hajime declared as he turned around to left the room as he closed the door behind him with the utmost delicacy to not disturb the yakuza in any way.

He honestly wasn’t sure how to interpret their conversation. It wasn’t the most complex or longest of conversations to be had, but it unnerved him nevertheless. He shouldn’t be surprised that he would leave the room with as many if not more questions than when he entered, but somehow he didn’t expect things to go the way they did at all. He was expecting Fuyuhiko to rage at him and shout his lungs out at him for having the audacity to show his face near him, or even for things to get violent and the yakuza – even in his weakened state – to lash out physically at Hajime.

That wasn’t what happened.

Somehow, the apology he received unsettled him more than any barbed words that the boy could’ve thrown at him. It unnerved him in the way it wasn’t expected, the way he couldn’t be sure how to feel about it. He surely wasn’t delighting himself in the humiliation that was certainly eating at Fuyuhiko’s insides for apologizing. He, a yakuza, apologizing to Hajime, of all people.

He didn’t wait long to leave the hospital, the oppressing atmosphere coupled with the extremely stressful interaction gave him the biggest excuse to get out as fast as he could.

It seemed that he had spent way more time than he imagined on the act of trying to talk himself out of seeing Fuyuhiko judging by the orange hue the sky was presenting as he passed through the hospital’s front door.

He was completely oblivious as the hours went by without him noticing, for him the day had barely begun, and now it was already coming to an end. Well, it couldn’t be helped, he supposed.

He enjoyed the sunset at the very least, it wasn’t too warm nor too cold, it was undeniable how ethereal it the sun looked as it bled into the night, awaiting its moment to reappear once again when morning comes.

He got to his cottage and fell with his back on the mattress with a tired sigh. He wasn’t aware of when exactly he ended up falling asleep, but it probably was between the overwhelming urge to flee from his room and digesting through the events that had transpired in his interaction with Fuyuhiko.

He was brought back to reality in the form of Ibuki Mioda rattling his door’s hinges in a desperate way to get inside. It was probably some time after night had fallen that Hajime was abruptly woken up from his slumber with the loud bangs coming from his door.

For a single second, he debated if he should let whoever was causing so much fuss inside his cottage, maybe it was dangerous even, but ultimately he opened the door to understand why of so much noise outside his room.

“Nice to have met ya!”

Ibuki nearly punched his face when she found no resistance to her incessant ‘knocking’. When she realized he had opened the door and she quickly lifted her left and greeting.

“It’s the past tense of ‘nice to meet you’! You know, since we’ve already exchanged ‘nice to meet you’s’!” The girl elaborated at his bewildered stare.

“What are you doing...?”

“Allow me to apologize for surprising you with my sudden visit!” Ibuki responded swiftly. “I’m sooorrryyy...!”

Hajime didn’t want to be mean, but Ibuki certainly could be annoying when she wanted to, the worst part was that he didn’t know if it was deliberate or not, if it wasn’t, he didn’t want to be the sour guy who would call her out.

“What do you want?” He decided to say instead.

“Well... you see... everyone received these invitations.” Ibuki responded and handled what could only be a very gaudy, very exuberant invitation.

“... A recovery party for Fuyuhiko?” Hajime asked as he read the contents of the invitation, it specified to go to the ‘Titty Typhoon’ at 9:00 p.m. for a party meant to celebrate the yakuza’s recovery. “Isn’t he still in the hospital though...? Is this your doing?”

“I-I-I don’t know what... you’re talking about... at all...” Ibuki grew a little pink on the cheeks as she averted her eyes and touched the pads of her fingers together.

It was definitely her doing.

“Well, I have some preparations to do, so I’ll go ahead! I’m counting on you!” The girl left as soon as she came and left Hajime wondering what was the whole point of the entire ordeal. He didn’t know what Ibuki intended with a supposed party to celebrate Fuyuhiko’s recovery, especially since the boy was most definitely hospitalized the last few hours. Whatever it was, Hajime found himself curious as to what was gonna happen.

He had nothing to do with himself, after all, he already had enough of moping around his room for the day.

 The walk towards the Titty Typhoon was a monotone and satisfying one, though as soon as he got close to it. he could hear the cacophony resonating from inside the building. He had a minute to talk himself out of entering the music venue, but regardless of his choice, Nagito decided it was an opportune moment to show up.

“So you were also invited?” The boy said standing beside Hajime who was still considering his options.

“Sure did.” He responded and took in Nagito’s appearance. “Let me guess, Ibuki brought your door down to tell you about this... supposed recovery party for Fuyuhiko?”

“She did. Though I’m a bit intrigued as to what this recovery party would entail, I thought that Fuyuhiko was still recovering in the hospital from his injuries.”

“He is...” Hajime responded with a long-suffering sigh to indicate that he was just as lost as him.

“I see...” They stared at each other with blank faces for the duration of a few seconds before they combusted into sniggers at the whole ordeal that made no sense whatsoever.

“Well... I guess there’s only one way to find out.” Nagito said between giggles and opened the door once and for all. Hajime felt obliged to follow along now that they had met up, he sure wouldn’t want to be left alone to decipher whatever the commotion was.

As it was, Ibuki was on the bright-lit stage with her guitar and she seemed ready to start performing right there and now. She waved enthusiastically at the two boys as she noticed their entrance and moved on to announce the new song she would be performing to them tonight.

“All right, I’ll start singing this song with full-on energy! So put your hands together for: ‘From me to you too’!” The musician said as she connected the cable of her guitar to the amplifier and played the first chord. Hajime knew it had been the wrong decision to follow Nagito inside as soon as the music started. He had been somewhat aware that Ibuki played heavy-metal music and he thought it was kind of funny seeing that the girl all but screamed ‘pop’, but to acknowledge and experience that fact was completely different.

The music was so loud and clashing that he thought for a second that a plane had crashed just outside the venue, it was overwhelming how the loud sound waves vibrated his cranium to a point he merely passed out from the sensation. Thankfully, it seemed he wasn’t the only one. Nagito had his hands covering his ears and his expression was rather telling how he felt about the music. Sonia and even Gundham were in similar states of shock by the sudden intrusion in their senses, the princess tried to be polite about her distaste for the song as she endured gracefully through the torture. Gundham, on the other hand, was frantically attempting to protect his Dark Devas from such suffering as he futilely covered their ears.

Surprisingly, the only one who had any semblance of enjoying the song was Mikan, who was timidly tapping her hands together in rhythm with the beat and smiling softly as Ibuki performed with the utmost energy she could summon.

When it finally ended, Hajime couldn’t help the sigh of relief that left his lips, it seemed he wasn’t the only one either as everyone stared wide-eyed at the musician who was bowing down at the audience, being met with only disgruntled silence and the excited clapping from Mikan.

“Thank you all for lending me your precious time and ears, y’all!” The girl said returning from her bowing position.

“I feel like my eardrums stopped functioning...!” Nagito said with utmost terror on his face, Hajime winced in empathy as he knew exactly what that felt since he was going through the same thing.

“Wh-Wh-What the hell was that?!” Kazuichi screamed utterly horrified at Ibuki’s song.

“I-I must admit that... I’m not used to these kinds of... music genres...!” Sonia stated while trying to not sound offended at the girl’s performance.

“When she told me she played heavy metal I never imagined it would be... this...” Mahiru commented with her hands still clasped around her ears.

“Now that we’ve already caught our breaths, let’s give it everything we got to the next song!” Ibuki yelled from the microphone. “Now that this recovery party is in full awing, I’ve got a ballad prepared that totally fits the mood... Grab a partner and slow dance to... ‘I Squeezed Out The Baby, But I Have No Idea Who The Father Is’.”

“Wait, there’s more...?!” Nagito asked as his face morphed into utter despair.

At the prospect of having to suffer again through such torment, Hajime wasted no time in grasping Nagito at his sleeve and making his way to quickly bolt out of there. Just when he was reaching the door, Monomi appeared right in front of it, effectively blocking his way to safety out. He was about to kick the stuffed rabbit out of the way when she yelped at him.

“Hwaa! Please, don’t go bumping into me!” The rabbit cried placing her furred paws protectively over her head.

“Get out of the way. Now!” Hajime threatened as Ibuki was about to start playing again.

“H-Hold on! Now’s not the time! Now’s not the time to enjoy a fun party!” Monomi couldn’t be more wrong in her remark but that was the least of his concerns at the moment.

“What do you want?!”

“A-Akane... Akane is...” Monomi babbled. “Akane is duelling Monokuma!”

Her words it seemed, had caught everyone’s attention, including Ibuki who fell silent on the stage, the temperature appeared to have dropped several degrees in the short seconds it took for Monomi’s words to sink in.

“Wh-What did you say?!” Nekomaru questioned alarmed from his place near the stage.

“A-At this point... Akane’s gonna be in danger... Please do something... to save her!” Monomi said worriedly.

“That stupid fool!” Nekomaru yelled at no one in particular. “No... I’m the one who was a fool... It was my mistake to not keep my eyes on her! Dammiiit! This failure will haunt me for the rest of my life, or my name isn’t Nekomaru Nidai!”

“N-Now it’s no time for regret! Let us make haste!” Sonia declared.

“Monomi, where are they right now?” Hajime asked the rabbit that had started crying once more.

“U-Um... They’re at the beach we first arrived at this island...” Monomi responded. “Please hurry! If you don’t, Akane is gonna get killed!”

“You don’t have to tell me! I’m going full speed ahead!” Nekomaru shouted as he ran startling fast past Hajime and Nagito who were the closest to the exit. The others followed suit with batted breaths to comprehend what was really going on.  Arriving at the beach they witnessed Monokuma delivering a powerful blow to Akane’s stomach which caused the gymnast to land hard on the sand with a hand on her belly.

“Looks like you’re just barely avoiding any fatal injuries...” Monokuma said with his sickeningly sweet voice. “Yep, at least your agility is worthy of praise. But did you only challenge me to show your sweet dance moves?”

“Goddamn it! Why... Why can’t I even graze you with one of my attacks?!” Akane gurgled out in her position kneeling on the ground.

“Well, you know... we’re on completely different levels. That means we view the world differently.” Monokuma responded. “Puhuhu, it’s obvious you can’t win.”

Despite having run across an entire island, Hajime felt chills run down his spine at Monokuma’s nonchalant tone, he knew damn well why Akane attacking Monokuma was such a big deal. They were completely helpless in this situation, once you broke a rule, nothing was standing between you and Monokuma’s perversity.

“She can’t... even graze him...?” Kazuichi asked looking shocked by the prospect of Akane - the most agile out of all of them – not being able to land a single hit on a stuffed animal. “How can that be possible?”

“As far as speed is concerned... Akane is far faster than any athlete I’ve ever seen! How could she not even been grazing him with her attacks?!” Nekomaru inquired with the same wide eyes as Kazuichi.

“However... because it’s possible, that’s why she’s in this situation, right?” Nagito said catching his breath from the exertion of the run. “As long as she’s ended up like that, there’s not much we can do about it.”

The others sent disbelieving looks at Nagito for his comment, but Hajime knew the boy’s assertion couldn’t be more right. At the moment, Akane was at Monokuma’s mercy, if they tried to interfere in any way they would join her in the punishment that was sure to follow.

“You guys stay back...! I’ll take it from here...!” Nekomaru said as he entered a fight stance. “This is Nekomaru Nidai’s final firework! Make sure you sear it into your eyes!”

“Now then, it looks like everyone’s here, so I might as well finish this!” Monokuma declared as he pulled a weapon out of thin air. Hajime unconsciously took a step back while Nekomaru took one forward. “Didn’t I say I won’t allow any rule violations against me? This... is what happens when you break the rules!”

Loading whatever canon he was holding, Monokuma took aim at Akane still heaving from their fight.

“Disappear!”

Monokuma pulled the trigger with no hesitation, a millisecond later a blast shot from the canon straight at Akane, the last thing he saw was Nekomaru moving at outstanding speed to place himself between Akane and the blast.

The world around them became stark white while a dim ring resonated throughout the whole island. Their surroundings, scenery, and every sound were blown away by the impact. It was all completely white. The only sound he heard was Akane’s desperate voice calling out to her coach as he took the bullet for her.

“N-Nekomaru!”

The world went back to normal. Hajime could see Akane was now kneeling in front of an utterly wounded Nekomaru, who now had torn clothing soaking wet with his blood, despite the obvious, painful injuries, the team manager was smiling at Akane. He discerned that they were talking lowly with each other, but Hajime couldn’t quite grasp what it was due to the lingering temporary deafness caused by the blast.

“-G-Get a hold of yourself! Nekomaru!”

“Akane... The time I spent with you... i-it... it wasn’t so bad...” Nekomaru said forcing himself not to choke on his own blood. “Don’t... die... Akane...”

Those were Nekomaru’s last words as his final breath left his now rigid body, his muscles relaxed while his lips were left a tad bit open with the deep exhale. He could distantly hear Akane roaring Nekomaru’s name, but at the time, Hajime only had eyes and ears to the team manager who mere moments ago was burning with life, who jumped into harm's way to protect Akane from her unavoidable fate.

“Wha-...? Wha-Wha-Wha...? Holy Craaaap...!” Monokuma muttered loudly with his back turned to them. “Instead of the rule violator... Akane... What a major failure! I ended up killing Nekomaru, who had nothing to do with this!”

“You...! How could you...?!” Hajime breathed out furiously.

“H-He’s not dead! I-It’s faint... but his heart’s still beating...!” Akane announced as she placed her ear to Nekomaru’s chest.

Mikan pressed her fingers to his pulse and then nodded frantically at Monokuma in confirmation.

“Then you gotta hurry and treat him!” Monomi yelled at a still moping Monokuma.

“That’s right, you need to save him!” Hajime said, his voice was trembling at the edges but he couldn’t care less at the moment. “If you don’t... You’re gonna be the one who violated a rule, Nekomaru had nothing to do with this...!”

“Then let’s just say we’re even!” Monokuma said returning to face them all.

“What...?!”

“In exchange for forgiving Akane for breaking the rules, let’s just say Nekomaru was the sacrifice...” A block of ice dropped in Hajime’s gut. “So isn’t it okay to say we’re even?”

“Y-You’re not gonna save him?!” Monomi inquired lifting her hands in the air with desperation.

“Jeez... guess I have no choice. It’s annoying, but it’d be boring if he died a meaningless death...” Monokuma said looking at the ground for a couple of uneasy seconds. “Sooo... for today only, I’ll activate my special trump card.”

All of a sudden, a familiar ring coming from far away resonated over the quiet night, it gradually became louder, and in no time at all an ambulance was parked beside Nekomaru’s limp body. Monokuma said the same cliche lines he had said when Fuyuhiko had first been hospitalized. When he finally took Nekomaru away, Hajime had only ears to his erratic heart drumming in his rib cage. Akane wore a desolated face as she stared fixedly at the space where Nekomaru's still fresh blood was splattered on the ground.

"H-He's gonna be fine..." Mahiru said from the sideline. "He has to..."

Hajime truly wanted to believe, but... the way Nekomaru had taken his last breath spoke of such finality, that he was sure that the team manager had passed away. Perhaps it wasn't too naive to believe in his survival, Monokuma had proved time and time again how much power he wielded, how many impossible feats the bear had already accomplished by merely existing.

Was it too foolish to want Monokuma to be capable enough to save the man? It most likely was, but regardless, he couldn't help but wish it so.

Standing there on the first island as they were showered in the moonlight, tremors ran through Hajime as a feeling of deja vu invaded his senses, returning him to when he felt that intrinsic malice present on the island. The sentiment of utter terror never was so prominent as in that moment. Somehow, he felt like he knew what it was. It was in the back of his mind but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't place just what it was exactly.

The cause behind the tremors was obvious though, the familiar sensation that prickled every pore of his skin and turned his legs into lead...

Despair.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 11: Fortune Favors The Bold

The period between what transpired on the first beach and Hajime getting inside his cottage was blurred in his mind by the time he woke up the next morning. His body was fully entangled with the blankets and his pillow was nowhere in sight. For a sleepy slurred moment he thought he had dreamed up the entire fiasco that the ‘Recory Party’ ended up being.

However, that was just wishful thinking. His legs were still a bit sore from running through the entirety of two islands' premises and his stomach was unusually empty while his mouth felt foul in contrast to his tongue due to what proceeded Nekomaru’s wounds. It was hazy but he could faintly recall emptying his stomach on the toilet a little after arriving at his room.

The morning announcement had just played and Hajime was uncomfortably warm in the embrace of his sheets. His skin was glistered with sweat all over and it was downright bothersome. As he pulled out of bed a migraine started to develop and his mood only soured from there. After taking a quick shower, he found himself still uncomfortably warm and a furious pound inside his skull.

He felt sick.

It was probably because of being both dehydrated and malnourished. The first thing he did when he entered the restaurant was to alleviate his dry throat. There was an unusual lack of his classmates present in the restaurant, which was probably because of what had happened with Nekomaru, he couldn’t imagine anyone being energetic after one more of their friends’ life being hanged on a thread.

He could certainly not imagine how Akane was feeling. He didn’t want to be the guy that pointed fingers at others, but ultimately, it was her fault. How dimwitted someone had to be to act so recklessly to the point of endangering not only theirs but their friend's lives? Perhaps they were just too different for him to even start to comprehend her actions, he surely wouldn’t have done something so idiotic.

Nekomaru had looked dead. At the time, Hajime knew without a doubt that the man was dead. How could someone survive an attack of such proportion? Sure, the man was ripped, he probably could bend Hajime with a single finger. He had no doubt that the manager’s body was able to withstand enormous damage, but even so... it was a miraculous feat. Especially since Monokuma had every intention of obliteration Akane. He hoped the man would get better.

The firsts persons to enter the restaurants were Sonia and Kazuichi, Hajime would suspect that that wouldn’t be too weird of an occurrence if it wasn’t for the unusual brusk manner the princess was pulling at Kazuichi’s obnoxiously yellow overcoat. Not two steps into the restaurant and she shoved the mechanic down the stairs as he yelped in surprise.

“That’s what you get for being such an annoying prick!” The princess said as she howled with hysterical laughter.

Nagito bear witness to the whole thing as he followed up the stairs and passed Sonia without much as glancing at her.

“Nagito, what...? What the hell is wrong with Sonia?!” The princess didn’t seem to acknowledge their presence at all.

Nagito stood still staring at Hajime intently. For a second he thought the boy either hadn’t heard him or was intentionally staring him down for some odd reason.

“Hajime, be careful! That’s probably not the real Sonia!”

“Huh...?”

“I know. The real Sonia is already dead.” Hajime could only stare unbelievingly at the boy in front of him as he sent a side-glance towards the very much alive – though acting weird – princess. “That’s why that’s probably... Sonia’s clone!”

“What kinda crap is that?! Are you serious?!” Despite his irritated tone, Nagito talked as if what he was saying was the absolute truth, if it wasn’t for the absurd content within his words, he would take it at face value.

“Also, I heard from Monokuma that Nekomaru couldn’t be saved.” His breath hitched at the boy’s sudden remark. “It’s unfortunate but... a transfer student is apparently going to come soon as a replacement... So let’s give that person a warm welcome!”

“What are you on?!” He was lying, Hajime knew that. But why tell such nonsensical lies? What was he trying to pull?

“Hey, keep it down you bunch of dickwads! I don’t want to hear your tiresome voice!” It was so uncharacteristic of Sonia to use such foul and loud language that he was a bit taken aback to respond with likewise rudeness.

Kazuichi had walked up the stairs once more clutching his arm as tears filled his eyes as he eyed Sonia with an utmost wounded expression.

“Miss Sonia...? I’m so sorry. I’m such a bother, ain’t I?” The mechanic shrank in on himself further by looking so distraught that Hajime could swear he could see the boy’s body trembling with a silent sob.

“What the hell are all of you dipshits playing at?!” The words left his mouth before could stop them. “I’m serious! You’re all starting to piss me off!”

At the ruckus they were causing, the other students arrived at the restaurant curious about all the yells being thrown around on the upper floor.

“What are you guys doing?” Chiaki asked as she approached the group.

“Indeed. It begs the question as to why you’re causing such tumult this early in the morning...” Gundham consented as he stood in a fighting stance, ready to ‘obliterate’ any possible threats they may present.

“I don’t know! They’re all acting like lunatics!” Hajime shouted at the newcomers.

“I’m not hearing that from a total sociopath like yourself, dickcheese.” Sonia countered moving to take a plate and fill it with breakfast and ignoring the multitude of people staring slackjawed at her mannerisms.

“You shut the fuck up you skanky bitch!” Hajime retorted furiously, though he most certainly didn’t intend to use those words. He covered his mouth as soon as the words left his lips, he looked at the others in utmost terror as he realized what he had just said. “Oh my god, I-i don’t know what-“

“You...!” Akane said with a murderous glare at Nagito. “I’m gonna crush until there’s nothing left of ya!”

“Hey, get it together all of you!” Mahiru’s voice echoed around the restaurant. “What has gotten to you people?!”

“That little midget over there told me that Nekomaru was near the hospital earlier.” Akane explained maintaining her gaze on Nagito’s every move. “But it was a lie! Couch Nekomaru was nowhere near the hospital! He lied to mess with me, and there’s no way I’ma gonna let that slide!”

“And why are you so angry at him? Nekomaru is only in the state he’s in right now because of your lack of discernment. If you had at least one brain cell in that head of yours, nothing like that would’ve happened.” Hajime clasped both his hand to cover his mouth as once again the vile words spilled from him involuntarily.

Akane and the others were shocked as they eyed him with incredulous gazes, Akane on the other hand seemed like she had taken a punch to her guts.

“What the hell...?! I-I didn’t mean to say that...!” Hajime said desperately.

“Can anyone explain to me what the fuck is going on here?”

Hajime was saved to explain his cruel words by Fuyuhiko who was eyeing them all suspiciously, the yakuza was dressed in his usual sharp-looking clothes and the only trace of what had happened to him was the new black eye patch covering his right eye. Ibuki and Mikan were following right behind him, the latter portraying a similarly confused gaze, while the former...

“Pardon me everyone, but do you happen to have some time to spare?”

Ibuki said stepping forward with a hand on her forehead saluting them.

“It may be rude of me, but I would like to say my greetings first thing in the morning!” The musician straightened her posture and lifted her chin high. “Good morning! I look forward to working with you all today!”

“I-Ibuki...?!” Mahiru asked a little perturbed by the uncharacteristic polite way Ibuki was acting.

“Yes! I am Ibuki Mioda!”

“S-She’s been acting this way since we found her today...” Mikan said looking worriedly at Ibuki. “She said she was paying her respects for Fuyuhiko... before eating breakfast...”

“So? Can someone explain what’s happening?” Fuyuhiko repeated his earlier question.

“Fuyuhiko, don’t go near Hajime! He’s trying to kill you when you fall asleep!” Nagito shouted taking a step back away from Hajime.

“Stop lying through your fucking ass, Creepshow!” Whatever it was, Hajime couldn’t control his mouth. He felt himself grow fifty different shades of red at the humiliation of having his own filter stolen from him. How utterly mortifying.

Fuyuhiko for his part was looking on the verge of yelling his lungs out at their weird antics. However, the yakuza contained himself and instead let out a heavy sigh and looked in the other’s direction for answers.

“We don’t know what’s gotten into them, either...” Chiaki responded to the silent inquiry with a crease on her brows.

“And what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be bedridden or something?” Mahiru asked Fuyuhiko with a sharp edge on her usual demanding tone.

“I wasn’t about to waste one more minute uselessly laying on that bed the whole day like a damn incapable.” Fuyuhiko said avoiding eye contact with the photographer. Despite the strange ordeal they found themselves in, the tension in the room increased ten-fold with Fuyuhiko’s arrival. Thankfully, no one seemed to bother mentioning the elephant in the room given they had more important matters to attend to at the moment.

“I-Ibuki... she has an extremely high fever. That’s... probably the cause she’s a-acting so weird...” Mikan stated before the tension could densify any further. “J-Just touch her forehead... y-you’ll see what I mean...”

Mahiru who was the closest to Ibuki promptly placed her hand on the musician’s forehead withdrawing it as soon she made contact.

“Oh my god...! She’s burning up!”

Hajime - who was silently observing Nagito who had sweat running down his temples – approached the taller boy and placed his hand on the boy’s head similar to Mahiru, and just as the girl had said: he was burning up.

As if on cue, Monokuma appeared out of nowhere and was looking very pleased with himself. Naturally, Monokuma’s good mood could only mean even greater bad news for the remaining students.

“My goodness! That’s obviously bad!” The bear said half-attempting to hide his snigger behind his paws.

“Of course you have something to do with this, you nasty, lowly cur...!” Hajime said with as much venom as he could muster.

“Oh wow, you seem pretty pissed about something. I wonder what got your pants in such a twist!” Monokuma mocked him. “Now, now, looks like everyone is here, so let’s start with the explanation...”

Monomi interrupted Monokuma suddenly but it was shortly silenced by Monokuma's incessant harassment.

“I’m pretty sure you guys have already noticed since you’re all so quick-witted! That’s right, this is the new motive that I’ve given you!”

Hajime swallowed dry as he tried without success to contain the curses that left his mouth.

“This is the Despair Disease!” Monokuma announced with an eloquent laugh.

“Despair disease...?!” He didn’t know if he should react with similar laughter at the absurdity of it all, or crumble with terror at the prospect of Monokuma’s sovereign power being capable of creating such a thing. He felt his temperature getting higher and his limbs become lax under him.

The other students decided to react with much usual surprise at the revelation.

“You know, there are extremely tiny insects that can’t be seen with the naked eye living on this island.” Monokuma explained with a pink hue to his cheeks. “It’s not like I added them recently. I just never told you about them. Anyway, the endemic disease spread by these insects is called the Despair Disease!”

“I-I never heard... of... such thing...!” Mikan said dubiously.

Of course she hasn’t. No self-conscious professional would name a disease in such a silly, offensive manner.

“Then let me tell you about it! As the name suggests, the Despair Disease is... A really annoying disease where you get a high fever, along with various symptoms that are full of despair! Those symptoms are different based on the person...” Monokuma explained pointing his paw at Nagito and Sonia. “For instance, Nagito is afflicted by the Liar Disease... Sonia has the Brusque Disease... Ibuki has the Gullible Disease, I guess?”

Monokuma turned his head and gave a mirthful smirk in Hajime’s direction.

“And of course, Hajime is being afflicted by the Truth Disease.”

“Truth...?” Hajime stared incredulously at the bear. “What part of this is related to any kind of truth, you mud-dirty tanuki?!”

“Well, it’s not really a ‘Truth Disease’ you see... It’s more like a... ‘Speak Your Mind Disease’. But don’t people normally assume that whatever they think is always the truth? Take something like religion, for example, people keep preaching about some god in the skies when they have no actual reason to believe in its existence, right? And yet... they truly believe that to be the truth, and don’t accept it when others disagree.”

“I-I don’t care about your dumb-ass analogies! How the hell do we get rid of this thing, shithead?!” The rash words came easy to him now that he truly meant to say them.

“So what?! They just had to get symptoms that are the opposite of their normal personalities?” Fuyuhiko asked sharing his incredulousness.

“It’s not like all of you guys are down with the sickness yet...” Monokuma remarked non-chalant. “But be careful! Sometimes the Despair Disease can get passed from person to person just like a cold!”

“I-It’s contagious?!” Mahiru questioned taking a healthy step away from the place she was standing near Ibuki.

“Don’t put your guard down just because you don’t have the disease. It’d be awful if everyone got sick...”

“So that’s why Miss Sonia is acting this way, I knew something must’ve happened to her to be treating me with such cruelty!” Kazuichi said with tears still smeared on his face, but now a hint of determination glinted in his eyes as he took Sonia’s arm and beckoned her to follow him. “Come, Miss Sonia, I’ll keep protected from all these sick common folk!”

“Ewe, get your dirty paws off me, you greasy creepo!” Sonia protested and took her arm away from the mechanic’s grasp as if it was the most disgusting thing she had ever had the displeasure of coming across. Hajime on his part, voiced the situation exactly as it was.

“Can’t you get a hint? She wants nothing to do with you. Spare us all the second-hand embarrassment and just stop making a fool out of yourself.” Hajime said in a beat. “Honestly, I think the only reason she doesn’t call you out on your bullshit regularly is that she feels sorry for you.”

The room grew silent for a moment as the cruel words sank in. Hajime didn’t have an excuse for that one, he wouldn’t put it quite like that, but the words he said weren’t a complete lie. Though he could always blame it on his condition if it came to it.

“Hahaha! Couldn’t agree more, grumpy pants!” Sonia laughed with derision. Kazuichi was on the verge of tears once again, but he seemed to have convinced himself that Sonia’s attitude was solely due to the disease – which was probably the case, anyway.

“More importantly, are you saying that a killing will occur soon after everyone falls into a crazy state?” Chiaki asked concerned with what the conditions entailed.

“Isn’t this quite a novel idea?” Monokuma asked happily. “A killing that occurs while everyone has a completely different personality! Think of all the murder tricks!”

“And how we are supposed to treat such illness?” Gundham asked protecting his hamsters from view.

“Is... there a need to treat it?” Monokuma asked back as if he couldn’t fathom why they would want to get rid of such an awful disease. “I mean, this Despair Disease isn’t supposed to make you suffer. It’s a disease that cures your soft hearts! Your soft hearts towards killing!”

Isn’t supposed to make us suffer my ass. Hajime thought as he had to support his weight on the table beside him to not crumble to the ground like a ragdoll. It felt like his limbs were melting from deep within, every cell protesting the abuse it was suffering from the unbearable heat coiling and spreading throughout his entire body.

“You bastard, you better stop talking about this bullshit!” Fuyuhiko yelled furiously at the bear.

“I sort of agree with the dirty tanuki. This disease has only brought some of you some personality at the very least.” Sonia remarked hiding her smile behind her hand.

“I’ve decided! As an apology, I’m going to commit murder! Are there any charcoal briquettes somewhere?!” Nagito asked looking pretty determined with the impossible plan his mind had just orchestrated.

“All of you stay quiet! Nagito, Sonia, Hajime and Ibuki... you guys stay put!” Mahiru commanded taking the reins of the situation.

Despite agreeing with the photographer, he couldn’t help the hint of annoyance that came with being ordered around.

“Who do you think you are to be bossing me around?” Both Hajime and Sonia spat at the redhead.

“To tell you the truth, Nagito Komaeda is just a fake name, I’m sorry I kept it a secret till now.” Nagito said in a completely serious tone.

“Oh, I see!” Ibuki nodded her head believing Nagito without an ounce of doubt.

“It’s no use. They’re totally outta their minds right now.” Akane stated staring at them frustrated by their antics.

“Maaan, I’m feeling great today! This Despair Disease is awesome! You should all get it too!” Nagito exclaimed and took a staggering step forward in the direction of the group with open arms. “There’s no such thing as Hope, therefore we should all die from this Despair Disease...!”

Hajime could easily see how Nagito’s body was trembling all over, how the hair from the back of his head was plastered on his scalp due to the amount of sweat there present. He found himself also taking a step toward the boy and flimsy legs.

“That’s... the... only... way...!” Nagito’s voice had become ragged and he sounded as if he could barely inhale any air into his lungs. Hajime swiftly moved behind him and caught the boy when he collapsed on his back. He was glad he was able to save Nagito from the pain of the fall, on the other hand, he had his knee had taken the full brunt of the force as it smashed on the floor, a strangled yelp of pain left his lips as he himself felt moments away from passing out.

“Shit...!” Nagito’s sudden collapse seemed to freeze everyone in their place as they shared shocking gazes at the lump, foaming form in Hajime’s arms. “Help me get him to the hospital already! Or are any of you dimwits expecting me to do it by myself?!”

Despite his demand, no one made a move to help him and Nagito to get up. They were all frozen in place, reluctant to approach either of them. Ibuki was the only one who obliged his request and promptly placed herself on Nagito’s other side and with as much strength as the two of them could muster they pulled the boy on an unsteady hold.

His head was killing him with a throbbing that pulsed through his whole weakened body.

“Here let me help you.” Another pair who hands reached for Nagito and with a much more firm grip pulled him upwards. Hajime was surprised to see that it was Fuyuhiko of all people to be the one to help them. Despite his earlier injuries, the boy didn’t look like he was exerting himself at all. With Mikan and Fuyuhiko replacing Hajime’s slack grip they together with Ibuki managed to support Nagito’s weight and rushed out of the restaurant towards the hospital.

With the other students in tow, Hajime followed them as fast as he possibly could without dropping dead on the ground. When they arrived, Mikan and Fuyuhiko were leading the ill to their respective rooms.

“I=I... will go make the infected change their clothes, and then I’ll have them sleep in the patient rooms.” Mikan said as she entered the first patient room and Fuyuhiko placed Nagito on the bed at once. “Y-You too, Hajime... It’s best if you rest as well...”

“I don’t need a slow-witted bitch to tell me what to do...!” Hajime covered his mouth once more and nodded his head frantically trying to convey that those were not his words.

Sonia was being dragged into the room next door by Kazuichi and Mikan seemed to have instructed Ibuki to change her clothes in the last room near the stairs, which only left Hajime with the room in between Sonia and Ibuki.

Much like Nagito’s, his room presented with a hospital cot, an empty drip hanger, a small uncomfortable-looking poltrone on the bedside, and a nightstand on the opposite wall. Searching inside the nightstand he found a navy blue hospital gown and wasted no time getting rid of the clothes now clinging to his body like a second skin with how much he was sweating underneath the warm cloth.

He climbed up the cot and rested his head on the cheap pillow Monokuma was offering in his poor excuse of a hospital. Eye-lids growing heavy with the stinging pain from the irritation of the sclera, despite his body being more than upset with its condition, his breathing stayed somewhat normal til Mikan entered his room and performed some physical exams as he lay limply on the bed. The nurse recommended the much-needed rest and drinking lots of fluids to stay hydrated.

Mikan, however, wasn’t the only one to visit Hajime. Apparently, both Fuyuhiko and Mahiru had volunteered to assist the nurse in whatever she needed. Which in retrospect made a lot of sense, no matter how good of a nurse Mikan could be, it was simply impossible for her to take care of four sick people at once. Mahiru told him that Akane, Chiaki, Gundham, and Kazuichi were staying in the motel close to the third island in case an emergy surfaced, seeing that they were infected by a contagious disease, the infected and their care-takers were in quarantine for the time being. Also according to Mahiru, Kazuichi had been hellbent on volunteering to help treat Sonia but Mahiru had not allowed it due to his dubious intentions. Hajime didn’t think the mechanic would try anything nefarious, but it was better that day. His mouth, however, said that Kazuichi would certainly do otherwise.

Waking up from a terrible, uncomfortable night's sleep, the first thing he did when Mikan barged into the room to check on him was to ask about the other patients’ status.

“How they’re doing?”

“Um... well... Ibuki and Sonia are doing all right for now... though Sonia is being a little problematic, she’s not the most willing patient but... I’m certainly not letting anything happen with her...!” Mikan said with an unusual confident tone. “As for Nagito... well... his condition hasn’t improved as of yet... his case is more complicated due to his weak constitution, his fever is my main cause of concern right now...”

“What are you good for if you can’t even reverse his state, huh?”

“Hyaa...! I-I’m sorry... Y-You’re right, I have to do better... I can’t let his condition worsen anymore than it already is...!”

During his short time being hospitalized, Hajime discovered that his ‘Speak Your Mind Disease’ was complete bullshit. Sure, sometimes whatever he thought was translated into words, into the most inane and cruel of comments, but most of the time it acted on its own and spelled whatever was more conveniently cruel to the closest person in his vicinity.

Wasting an entire day wandering the confines of his own feverish mind was the farthest thing from fun he could ever imagine. He never felt so much self-loathing for not having the foresight to bring a mere book with him. He doubted he would’ve been getting any reading done in his current state.

Mahiru had come to his room and delivered a trail of food and placed an IV fluid solution on his arm. Once asked about how she knew how to do it, the girl responded with the same heat as Hajime’s nasty words.

“I’m no Ultimate Nurse, but I can take care of something as simple as this!”

Unfortunately, Hajime only managed to have a few bites of the toast, his stomach wouldn’t bear any more than that. The photographer also informed him that Nagito’s condition had apparently worsened the previous night, the luckster had stopped breathing for a few seconds until Mikan managed to resurrect him, though he was still unconscious.

As soon as he heard the words Hajime broke into a cold sweat. Why was Nagito the one suffering the most out of the four of them? Normally it would be Hajime to be in that position, he wouldn’t be surprised at all if his own condition started to go downhill at any moment.

Mahiru’s words kept crashing in the confines of his mind for the duration of the day, by the time he realized, night had already fallen when he stopped trembling. Nagito couldn't die because of this disease, right? Monokuma wouldn’t allow so, it would be pointless for the boy to die just like that, it would be the opposite of what Monokuma was looking for. Thinking along those lines, Hajime realized that in actuality, Nagito’s critical state was Monokuma’s best-case scenario to get a murder to happen. The boy would be completely helpless if some ill-intended individual tried to do something against him.

Crap...!

Was it really okay to trust in all three of their care-takers? He felt a little bad to distrust them when they were risking themselves by helping them, but he couldn’t be sure of what was going through their minds, therefore, their intentions were all but words, after all, anyone could lie. Not to mention, the fact that they were risking themselves only made them more prone to try something if they did end up infected by the disease, that was the motive after all.

Mikan came a little before the night-time announcement to check up on him a final time to replace his bag of fluids and measure his temperature with a thermometer. When he asked her about Nagito's well-fare the nurse reluctantly refused to share another patient's case with a patient so as to not aggravate his psychological state.

He told her to go to hell.

It was long past the night-time announcement by the time he finally decided to get out of the bed with shaking legs using his drip hanger to stand on his two feet, as quietly as he possibly could he got out of his room for the first time in 24 hours. Walking out of his room he was met with cold, eerie silence. It was to be expected, Mikan had told him earlier that Mahiru and Fuyuhiko had to sleep in their cottages because of the hospital’s rules installed by Monokuma, which meant that Mikan was the only non-patient who was staying in the hospital in the late hours due to Nagito’s critical condition.

He walked past Sonia’s door and a little reluctantly turned the handle on Nagito’s door.

To his surprise, Mikan was nowhere to be found. He thought that the nurse would surely be watching over Nagito throughout the whole night in case the worst came to worst, but the nurse was not there. Entering the room at once, Hajime closed the door behind him and moved slowly with the help of the drip hanging until he was beside the bed where Nagito found himself unconscious.

The boy’s skin was white as the sheets he lay on, which only accentuated his already pale complexion. Hajime placed a careful hand on the boy’s forehead and came with the same result as the last time.

No... it’s worst than last time...

Nagito, despite not showing it, was burning inside out.

There was no way for a person to be able to withstand such body temperature. No wonder he was passed out, his body must be collapsing from the inside out, he was no doctor but he knew that if the boy kept going that way, sooner rather than later his organs would stop altogether, unable to support the high fever. Hajime never felt so powerless while sitting there on the poltrone beside a dying Nagito, barely managing to keep himself on the ball, legs trembling and face dripping sweat. He could see the life slowly draining out from Nagito's face, second by second.

Like a slow suicide.

His body fighting against itself, there would be no winner in that battle. It would only leave behind an empty shell of who once was.

Hajime carefully lowered his head to rest on the mattress, from that distance he could feel the tangible heat emanating from the boy's body. Like a furnace, only in a bad manner.

He wasn't aware when he had started crying but the tears descended his face listlessly, smudging his face with the cold sweat still dripping all around. If his appearance reflected at least slightly how he felt then he sure was making a sorry sight. He wanted nothing more than crumble and stop... being.

Perhaps it was easier that way, he could merely fall unconscious similar to Nagito, and just indulge himself in the bottomless pit of oblivion his slumber would bring. During the first few hours he experienced the symptoms of the Despair Disease, Hajime had thought he had for once drawn the long stick, despite how annoying the 'Speak Your Mind Disease' could be, he at the very least could maintain his consciousness and awareness, at least he was still himself. Now, sitting on that damned poltroon watching as Nagito took a step closer to death by the minute, Hajime felt anything but lucky.

"You fucking lunatic... You better not try to get away from here the easy way... Aren't you supposed to be lucky, goddamn it...!"

Silent sobs wracked his body as he crumbled, just not in the way he wanted.

His whimpers got so strong that it shocked his system so thoroughly that he forgot how to breathe for a few seconds. It felt like drowning and swimming up through the surface in order to inhale some much-needed air just to be pushed down by the tide of grief once again.

"You can't die on me you son of a bitch...! I won't let you..."

His eyes must've been irritated to no end when the sobs finally ceased, he himself felt a step away from succumbing to exhaustion. If it wasn't for the IV supplying him with fluids he was sure he would be passed out right about now. Maybe that would've been for the best.

Nagito was dying.

Hajime knew for certain that no matter how much good luck Nagito had, it would be overshadowed by Hajime's own bad luck. He had no doubt about it.

Nagito would die.

There was no stopping it. Monokuma wouldn't lift a finger to help, no matter how much he begged and cried. The only way to stop this would be if someone died. Monokuma had been extremely intransigent about it, he would only 'cure' the infected once the killing started again.

...

Was that it? Was that how he intended to tempt them with murder? Kill someone to save yourself or someone else.

Nagito would certainly die if someone else wasn't killed in his stead. And the only way to save him was...

If a murder happened...

Bile crawled its way up from his stomach, but he forced himself to swallow it down, it left a rancid taste on the back of his throat but it served to center him a little midst his delirious state. Hajime couldn't kill someone, not only he was too weak at the moment to do it, it would be a moot point if he was to die after saving Nagito or vice versa.

No. Hajime couldn't have blood on his hands like that.

But if someone was to die, how could he have them killed if he couldn't do anything direct towards them? Was it even possible? Perhaps if he managed to sabotage something and cause an instance where someone's killed by accident? No. Monokuma wouldn't accept it as an accident. Maybe he could try to cause someone to commit a murder? But how though? The easiest targets would be either of the two other infected due to their weakened state. Suicide would've been the best option to minimize the number of victims but there was no way either of them would-

Hajime slumped down on the poltroon as the sudden realization struck him.

Ibuki.

The Gullible Disease.

Her symptoms were pretty serious, she believed whatever crap Nagito was saying to her. If her symptom was that extreme, did that mean he could convince her of anything, even...

It was horrible, terrifying that such cruel and malignant thoughts could fill his head in instants, how his feverish mind could jump to such inhumane conclusions. Perhaps it was just his luck that he normally was caught in between the sword and the cross. To save Nagito's life would be to sacrifice someone else's, as it was, to save Nagito was to sacrifice Ibuki.

Getting up from his seat Hajime moved to the door with Ibuki's room as his destination. When he placed his hand on the handle though, he heard footsteps coming from the hallway. At first, he thought he had heard it wrong but when he heard those same steps landing in front of Nagito's door he had confirmation that someone was standing right in front of the room. Separated only by the door.

Without thinking he reached for the latch screwed on the wall and locked both of them inside the room. Hajime stopped breathing altogether when the person on the other side attempted to open the door. Whoever they were, they seemed surprised at not being able to enter the room, though they kept their bewilderment to themselves as they made no sound indicating their identity when trying once more to get inside the room.

Taking a shaky step back Hajime plucked out the needle injecting him with fluids out of his vein and made a half-assed attempt to block the door with the drip hanger. Stumbling down he opened the nightstand's drawer and with flimsy fingers grabbed the small scissor stuffed inside it, once with the improvised weapon in hand he pointed it towards the door in case the assailant would make any further attempts to enter the room.

As he stood there pointing a pair of scissors at nothing but air, bearing the overwhelming silence trying to discern any moving or noise coming from the outside of the room, Hajime thought that perhaps it was Mikan returning to check up on Nagito, but that thought was thrown away as fast as it was perceived once  Mikan would've at the very least make herself known instead of creepily trying to enter an obvious locked room.

No. Whoever was beyond the door clearly intended to harm Nagito. There was no other reason for them to be lurking around the hospital at such late hours.

But who was it?

After some minutes that felt more like hours, the faint footsteps echoed throughout the hallway until they ceased altogether. Despite the suspicious person seemingly gone, Hajime wasn't foolish enough to drop his stance just yet, he might've stayed that same way for a couple more hours for all he knew. When no more sounds could be heard, Hajime rushed to Nagito's side and checked on his breathing, as to be expected, it was ragged and shallow, his chest barely rising with each out-of-sync inhale and exhale.

Adrenaline was still rushing within his bloodstream, that was probably the only reason he was still able to stand, otherwise he would most certainly have succumbed to his own symptoms by now, despite them not being nearly as critical as Nagito's, his fever and the ache spreading through his whole body was nothing to laugh at.

Nonetheless, he had to save Nagito. If he was honest, deep down he knew that his efforts would be for nothing, his luck wouldn't allow him to succeed in whatever he planned. Regardless, he couldn't just stand there and wait for the worst, he knew that if he left the room he was basically walking towards his own death, there was still the shady person who was likely waiting up for him to leave, even so, he couldn't care less, he was sure it was his delirious mind, there wasn't any other explanation.

But maybe he would succeed this time, perhaps fortune favored the bold.

There wasn't another choice. Hajime still with scissors in hand unlocked the door and without making any sound got out of the room. Glancing at both ends of the corridor he was met by the same chilling, unnerving silence. Ibuki's door at the very end of the corridor, for a second he thought he had seen a shape at the very beginning of the stairs, but ultimately it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He walked on the tip of his toes towards her door and this time, without hesitating he entered the room with no qualms. He expected Ibuki to be resting serenely on her bed like the good patient he suspects she was, maybe even being alert and bored out of her goddamn mind for being trapped in the hospital room all day, he was only not expecting this...

Empty.

Ibuki's room was completely empty. The musician was nowhere to be found. He even tried to see if the girl was hiding behind the folding screen but there was no sign of her.

What the hell's going on here...?!

Where was everyone? For some reason, Mikan was absent from her post of on-call nurse, not only that but now Ibuki was missing too. Not to mention the suspect wandering around the hospital.

Without thinking twice, Hajime rushed back as fast as he could with a pounding headache to Nagito's room. Locking the door behind him once more he slid against the door and stayed there a few seconds catching his breath. Slowly getting up to his feet, he returned to the uncomfortable poltroon and sat there to check on Nagito's pulse this time. It was weak, as far as he could tell at least.

What's going on...?

Did something happen with Ibuki? Was it the person lurking in the corridor? What did they do to her?

No matter the circumstances, the only thing Hajime could do for the moment was to protect Nagito and himself by being locked inside the safety the room provided, at least until dawn, there was no way he was about to spend a single more day in this hideous place. He would wait until either Fuyuhiko or Mahiru showed their face in the morning so he could get himself and Nagito the hell away from that place. If they couldn't trust the people that were supposed to care for them, then what was the point in staying hospitalized at all?

Though, if something did happen with Ibuki, he supposed the disease wouldn't be a problem anymore. Maybe he should feel bad for wishing something had happened. Maybe not. It didn't matter anyway.

"I'm such a piece of trash, ain't I...?"

Hajime intended to stay the whole night vigilant in case the suspect returned. Unfortunately for him, the whiplash from his previous activities caught up to him sooner than he expected. He wasn't aware at which point he had fallen asleep, but he woke up to the sunlight invading the room and casting the shadows of the night away as dawn gave way to morning.

He was still clutching the scissors firmly like a lifeline, and perhaps it was. His joints ached more than anything and his back was protesting the bad posture he fell asleep in. Scratching his eyes to get rid of the blinding blurriness that settled like a heavyweight on his lids, Hajime got up and was met with green-grey eyes staring intently at him.

"You're... looking quite refreshed today, Hajime."

His breathing ceased as he took in the boy who a couple of hours prior was one step from jumping at Death's lap, now, he had dark bags hanging underneath his eyes and his hair was in an uncharacteristic mess. His eyes weren't clogged by a feverish haze anymore, overlooking the worrisome paleness that lingered in his features, Nagito looked alive.

"As if you have any room to say anything, dipshit."

Relief washed over him in waves, his own eyes started to prick with newborn tears, but he restrained himself and blinked them dry before he could make more of a fool of himself. Checking the boy's temperature once more he noticed with some comfort that it seemed to be lower than the last time. Nagito had some drool slipping down his chin so Hajime grabbed some gauze from the drawer and cleaned it up before the boy could do a bigger mess.

"All alone with Hajime, huh...? I can't stand being in the same room as you."

Hajime startled at the sudden words, but one look into Nagito's eyes was sufficient to discern that it was merely the disease speaking.

"Well fuck you too..." A ragged laugh left Nagito's lips at not having his lies taken to heart. Though, he didn't know how to exactly take the boy's lies since they naturally reflected the opposite of what he meant. Using that logic, it meant that Nagito was glad he was there? It was better to not dwell on that as of now.

"A-Are you back on yourself now?" Hajime said after drinking some water from a forgotten plastic cup laying around.

"I'm most certainly not myself right now, as a matter of fact, it would be recommended for you to stay close to me so you can avoid the infection."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Hajime helped the boy sit on the bed and with some convincing managed for the boy to stand on his own two feet. "Listen here worthless trash, w-we need to get the hell away from here, okay? There's some pretty messed up shit going on here and I'm not sleeping another night here."

"Of course not, there's nothing to fear in the safety of the h-hospital, Hajime. Your p-paranoia must be getting the best of you." Nagito said with a hint of frustration in his voice. "Mikan is probably gonna barge in at any moment now. She's gonna be pretty pissed when she finds out that you're stealing a patient from her."

"So you agree." Hajime said pressing a wet gauze on the boy's forehead to try to lower his temperature a little more. "C'mon, I don't wanna stay here a second longer."

He didn't know who was leaning more weight on who by the point they managed to get past the door. Hajime maintained a firm grip on Nagito in one hand and the other was occupied with his faithful scissor in case he needed to defend themselves.

"We should most definitely stay away from the on-call room. There's probably no one there." Nagito whispered in Hajime's ear.

"The on-call room?" Hajime asked whirling his head to the side to get a clear view of Nagito's expression. The boy looked way worst for wear than he originally thought, it shouldn't have surprised him at all given how bad his condition was, but it still shocked him a little to see Nagito in such a fragile state. He got a better grip on the boy and made him lean more of his body against Hajime to try to mitigate the brunt of walking around. "You think someone's there?"

"Why would anyone be in the on-call room? That would be outrageous!"

Did that mean Nagito thinks someone's there?

Instead of walking toward the lobby, they turned around and very slowly climbed up the stairs step by step. Hajime was more than sure that he would miss his footing and drop the two of them to their imminent death, but it seemed like Nagito's luck was finally taking action as both of them managed to arrive at the second floor without any incidents.

He had yet to visit the hospital's second floor, but there were only two rooms it seemed. the one closest to the stairs was the on-call room and the farther away was labeled as a conference room. Despite the nervousness of being alone with Nagito in the building, Hajime opened the on-call room's door to examine whatever was inside.

Contrary to Nagito's supposed belief, the on-call room was also empty. The eerie sense of wrongness came back to him as he recalled entering Ibuki's room a couple of hours ago, just to find her room similarly desert.

Pulling him out of his mind, the morning announcement started playing on the monitor screwed on the ceiling as Monokuma's joyful voice invaded his ears. it was finally morning, which as slimly comforting as it was, there would be other people walking around, people that weren't there to harm them. Or at least he hoped so.

"Damnit, it's already morning! I had an important meeting to attend in the conference room. Now I'll be too late." Nagito lied looking sharply at Hajime.

Conference room? Did Nagito want him to take them there?

"What do you think I am? Your personal servant that has to carry your sorry ass all around, your majesty?"

Ignoring his own complaints, Hajime, as careful and firm as he possibly could while supporting Nagito took them both to stand in front of the conference room's door. This time though, that sense of wrongness only grew sharper and more intense even before they entered. Seeing Hajime's hesitation, Nagito took it upon himself to turn the handle and push the door lightly letting it open itself with an uneasy creaking sound.

Everything was pretty dark, he could barely see anything inside the room. With the hand holding the scissors he searched for a switch and turned it up as soon as his hand made contact.

He wished he had turned back when they had the chance.

The lights turned on and his eyes immediately focused on the body hanging from the rope attached to the ceiling. Dangling from one side to the other with open, dead eyes staring at nothing and a stepladder knocked down to the floor right below her was...

...the body of Ibuki Mioda.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 12: Chaos Theory

A deafening ring invaded his ears as his senses were encompassed in numbness as they stood petrified in that small dim-lit room. His tongue grew heavy and a silent scream was lodged in his throat. Their breathing had stopped altogether while they stared transfixed at the body, which was the only cause of noise inside the conference room. The friction of the rope scratching against itself while the body slowly dangled back and forth was thunderous in contrast to the wicked post-mortem silence that had installed itself in the uneasy atmosphere.

Neither of the boys made any indication to move, their minds had no room for any nervous stimulus to move a fiber of their being as time halted the second they discovered Ibuki’s body.

They probably would’ve kept staring at it for hours on end if not for the sudden alarm diverting their attention away.

Ding Dong Bing Bong

“A body has been discovered!” Monokuma’s voice played somewhere inside the room, Hajime couldn’t bother to move his eyes away to know where exactly the monitor was positioned. “After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!”

Click

The weight of guilt over Ibuki’s death quickly made itself known as soon as the transmission was over. Despite not being the one at fault, Hajime was just as close to being the one who would’ve caused Ibuki’s murder with her own hands. To think that the only reason he wasn’t a murderer was that someone else had gotten to her first, did not lessen the horridness of his actions.

“Haha... And to think we-“ Nagito started saying but was soon cut off.

Ding Dong Bing Bong

Hajime could only feel his eyes widen uncomfortably inside his sockets at the shock of hearing the dreadful alarm go off once again.

“A body has been discovered!” This time Hajime whirled his head frantically until he was facing the monitor that started displaying the announcement all over again. “After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!”

Click

...What?

“This can’t...This can’t be right, right?!” Hajime found his voice and asked a little hysterically. “This can’t...!”

“Hahaha...! I see, we’re gonna escape the island now that someone else has passed away...!” Nagito spluttered a little out of breath. His voice had become more of a wheezing than anything as Hajime tried with all his might to support the both of them. “B-But we should... use their deaths and drown in this... despair... yeah, that’s what we should do.”

“Oh, my! You guys are looking like you’re one step from losing all your marbles, aren’t you?”

Hajime was startled out of his stupor by Monokuma’s usual sudden appearance behind the dual, the bear was eyeing them with utmost amusement. His white, right side had a cheeky rose painting its fur as if the bear was holding back a laugh. Hajime, on the other hand, must’ve also been flushed, though his reason behind it was entirely different, Hajime was furious, so much so that the prospect of facing punishment for ravishing the teddy bear was becoming far too worth it in his mind by the second.

“Well, either way, that’s not the reason I came here, because I came here to give you this!” The bear announced as he shot with lightning speed two darts at Hajime and Nagito simultaneously. Not able to sustain his balance, Hajime recoiled back reflexively and the two of them went crashing down near the stepladder casually knocked over.

“Fuck...! W-What did you do?!” Hajime yelled at the bear as he tried to manhandle Nagito up from the floor.

“You should be thanking me. Since we had not one but two killings, I decided to free all you losers from this despair disease.” Monokuma answered nonchalantly as if a murder was an everyday occurrence, which considering the last few weeks, it actually was. But what did rattle Hajime to the core was the confirmation of the two body discovery announcement played one right after the other.

Two people had died.

Who was it? Who was the other victim?

The only silver lining among the situation was that at least he knew for sure that it wasn’t Nagito one of them.

Nagito, who was currently coughing his lungs out after having taken the dart to the back of his right arm. Hajime plucked his own dart out of his left shoulder leaving some drops of blood to run down the curvature of his shoulder blade.

Despite still being furious at the bear, he could tangibly feel whatever was injected into him take effect, it was as if the substance present inside the dart was evaporating every single malady that was engraved in his cells, spreading quickly through his system via the bloodstream in order to eradicate any traces of the virus that was causing the Despair Disease.

“H-How...?!” After no time at all, Hajime felt as fresh as he could ever hope to feel after being put through such a terrible illness, it was utterly astonishing, really. How Monokuma managed such an otherworldly feat was beyond him.

“Don’t get all ‘How? Who? And when?’, now. I was getting kinda bored with all that Despair Disease crap, so now that you guys have an investigation to do, I’ll spare everyone the bother.” Monokuma responded reading his thoughts. Though Hajime didn’t buy for a second that the only motivation the bear had was to ‘spare them the bother’.

“As if you’d do something like this for nothing, you only want us to be conscious during the trial, just admit it!” Hajime voiced his opinion.

“Anyway...” Monokuma drawled as he reached behind himself and took two Monokuma Files and placed them in each of his hands. “I’ve also come here to deliver... The Monokuma File! One for each of you.”

Nagito, who up until that point managed to struggle his way to a sitting position, caught the Monokuma File in Hajime's hand and immediately proceeded to check it over. Seeing that the boy seemed to be cured of his symptoms as well, Hajime decided to follow his lead and glanced down at the Monokuma File.

The victim is Ibuki Mioda.

The scene of the crime where the body was discovered is inside the conference room localized in the hospital.

Ibuki Mioda's cause of death was a crushed windpipe as a result of choking.

There are minor external injuries on her hands and no trace of foreign substances such as poison was found in the victim’s bloodstream.

The Monokuma File this time didn’t state anything that he couldn’t have figured out by himself just by looking at Ibuki’s corpse, which was frustrating at best and extremely dangerous at worst. Monokuma was purposefully omitting information, which could only mean that those pieces of information were crucial if they wanted to solve the case. But there was one lack of information that confused him the most.

“You said that two victims were killed, but... it’s only showing Ibuki here.”

“Of course, I wouldn’t want to reveal the biggest mystery to you oblivious lambs just yet, so I’ll update the other Monokuma File when you discover the other body.” Monokuma answered easily. “Oh, don’t give me that look, it’s the same for the others too, y’know!”

Without sparing them with another word, Monokuma vanished as quickly as he had shown up to Hajime’s relief. He couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t have jumped at the bear’s neck otherwise.

“This is pretty interesting... wouldn’t you say so, Hajime?” Nagito asked addressing Hajime at once.

“There’s nothing interesting about this...” Hajime felt justified in feeling irritable at the moment as his eyes roamed once more at Ibuki’s body. Despite not being the killer, Hajime felt that his hands were stained with blood all the same. No matter how delirious he was at the time, it was no excuse to attempt what he did.

“That’s true, but I’m referring to the fact that the body discovery announcement for Ibuki’s body was played even with only the two of us here. Wouldn’t you say that’s pretty odd?” Nagito corrected with his usual unassuming mannerisms, Hajime wasn’t fooled for a minute.

“I... also noticed that... Which means someone else found her body before us...”

Nagito assented to their shared conclusion and the both of them eyed Ibuki’s body one more time with suspicion.

“Monokuma File #3.1” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Ibuki’s Body Discovery Announcement” has been added to the truth bullets.

There was no time for mourning, as usual, they had limited time to gather as much evidence as they possibly could to bring the guilty party to justice. Except it wasn’t justice at all, Monokuma’s punishments were extremely cruel and the farthest thing from ‘just’ he could imagine. Regardless, it didn’t lessen the need to uncover the culprit, just like with Teruteru and Peko.

“It seems she was standing in the stepladder and then knocked it down and was strangled to death by hanging herself.” Nagito commented taking a closer look at Ibuki’s body. Hajime decided to look at the stepladder instead, it didn’t particularly strike him as of any importance, there were no scratch marks or any evidence that would support the fact that Ibuki had indeed knocked the stepladder herself, though there wasn’t much to imagine seeing that there was no evidence proving the contrary.

“Oh! Look at her hands, Hajime!” Nagito piped up from his position next to the body, the boy was now examing Ibuki’s palms and from afar Hajime noticed that there was some kind of mark on the inside of her hands. “Here, take a close look.”

“Are those...?”

“Yeah, it would seem they’re rope burns.” Nagito confirmed as they inspected the dead girl’s hands, in both sides, there was raw skin peeling off her fingers to the center of the palm. The wounds – like those described on the Monokuma File – were minor at most, even so, it was too strange for Ibuki to have rope burn in her hands, that certainly was no coincidence. “I wonder where she got those from...”

“Stepladder On The Conference Room” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Condition Of Ibuki’s Body” has been added to the truth bullets.

Aside from the obvious, it didn’t seem to be any other important clues laying around, though Hajime did find two things that looked out of place. A used candle was hidden behind a couple of doors pilled in the corner which seemed a little off for some reason, and the reason why the conference room was so dark was due to a blackout curtain that was blocking the sunlight from entering the room.

He wasn’t sure if the curtain was important to the investigation or not, but found it better to retain the information in case he was proven wrong.

“Blackout Curtain” has been added to the truth bullets.

“I don’t think there’s anything else for us to find here...” Hajime commented looking around the room one final time. Hajime couldn’t stand to be stuck a minute longer in the suffocating atmosphere of the conference room.

“Agreed.” Nagito assented and without any further ado, they left the room at last. “If Monokuma’s words are to be believed, then we have a double homicide on our hands, which makes it two investigations at the same time. So we’ll have to find where the other body is so we can cooperate with the others.”

Everything Nagito said was true but Hajime couldn’t help but stare at the boy who moments earlier could barely stand on his own two feet while lies drooled out of his mouth on a whim.

“Are you okay? You’ve been... in pretty bad condition since the start of all of this. Aren’t you feeling any symptoms or something...?”

“No, not at all! I have never felt better if I’m being honest.” Nagito responded cheerfully as they descended the stairs. He somehow found that answer to be quite ‘Liar Disease-y’, so despite being in a stable condition as of now, Nagito probably still sustained some lingering effects.

“If you say so...”

The two of them entered Ibuki’s room since it was the first to the stairs. The patient room wasn’t as dark now that morning had washed the shadows away, but the wrongness of it all persisted.

At first glance, there was only one thing that stood out for all. At the right corner of the room, right behind the bed, there was a drip stand toppled over with a faint stain of blood on its extremity. He was immensely grateful for no pool of blood, but the fact that there were traces of blood would indicate that someone was attacked with it. Was it Ibuki? The Monokuma File didn’t say anything about any injuries that could’ve been caused by the drip stand.

Which begged the question: Whose blood was that?

“Drip Stand” has been added to the truth bullets.

Aside from that, Ibuki’s room was in perfect condition, nothing out of place, exactly like Hajime remembered from hours prior.

“Blood, huh? I wonder if the murderer used this to incapacitate Ibuki.” Nagito commented from the corner.

“We can’t know for sure if it’s her blood though, the Monokuma File doesn’t say anything about it...”

“That’s true, and I also couldn’t see any blood on Ibuki’s body when I examined it, so I’d say this is probably someone else’s blood.”

“Are you sure...? Could it be from the other victim?” Hajime asked swallowing dry.

“Perhaps... we can’t know anything for certain now.” Nagito approached the cot and started to go through it without much care as he pulled the sheets off in search of something. In the end, he did find something, though Hajime couldn’t fathom why something like that would be hidden in Ibuki’s hospital bed.

“Is that a... tote bag?” The aforementioned tote bag looked pretty simple, beige tone with a Usami face imprinted on the lower right corner. He could faintly recall seeing it close to the goods balcon in the movie theater a few days ago, he hadn’t paid much attention to it so he couldn’t be sure.

“It would seem so... Ha, pretty lucky of us to find this here wouldn’t you say so?” Nagito said as he placed the tote bag on the bed. Hajime didn’t mention that Nagito had been the lucky one to find it. “Though... I wonder why this was hidden... It sure seems like someone didn’t want us to find this.”

“Tote Bag Found In Ibuki’s Room” has been added to the truth bullets.

“We should probably get things done here fast. We still need to regroup with the others.” Hajime said antsy to get out of there.

“You’re right, don’t let me slow you down, Hajime.”

“Don’t say dumb shit.” They left Ibuki’s room and entered the corridor, just before they could leave to the lobby, Sonia exited her own patient room next to Hajime’s dressed in her normal pristine clothing, her hospital gown nowhere to be seen, the princess looked quite surprised to see the two of them wandering around.

“Oh my, you’re here too...!” Sonia exclaimed silently looking at the pair. Despite her normal clothing, Sonia was far from looking her usual ethereal self, the girl had also gone through the worst of what the Despair Disease could offer. Mikan and Mahiru had mentioned that the girl wasn’t the best of patients, but it was clear that thankfully her condition wasn’t any worse than Hajime or Nagito’s. Even so, her complexion was similar to Nagito’s in its paleness and sickly aspect.

“I’m glad I found you... I heard the announcement and thought...” Sonia murmured averting her eyes.

“We’re... We’re glad you’re okay too.” Hajime said also looking a bit disconcerted at the attempt at small-talk in such h dire situation. “How come you’re dressed like that?”

“Oh, Monokuma informed me that he placed a pair of clothes in each of the patients’ rooms so we don’t need to walk around wearing these gowns.” Sonia eyed their navy, sweaty gowns with a hint of polite distaste. He could relate to the sentiment since his own garment was currently growing exponentially uncomfortable to walk around with. “I also heard from him that there are two victims this time... I’m... feeling rather lost at the moment...”

More disconcerting yet was to bear witness to the princess’s clear distress, it seemed that she was taking the news much worst than the two boys. Hajime wondered if there was something wrong with him for not being in a similar state, he did feel guilty about it, and the fact that they had lost not one, but two more people was horrifying. Nonetheless, they had no other choice but to move forward. It was cruel, and Hajime felt filthy with how numb he had become when dealing with such atrocities.

“Anyhow... I shall try to find the others to let them know we’re fine.” Sonia said regaining a bit of her composure. “And in regards to Ibuki, have you seen her?”

At both Nagito and Hajime’s silence and avoidance of eye contact, the insinuation made itself clear enough.

“I see...” Without gracing them with her tears, Sonia turned back and walked away from the hideous hospital where their friend’s life was taken.

“If you wouldn’t mind, I’m going to change as well, Hajime.” Nagito said and Hajime wasted no time in doing the same. As Sonia had said, Monokuma had indeed delivered a pair of clothes to his bed. He hated that the privilege of changing his clothes was conceded by Monokuma, however, he had no time for complaints.

“Hajime, I don’t want to impose my impertinent doubts onto you, especially since I was barely hanging on a thread the whole time, but... why were you in my room when I woke up?”

They had changed into their usual attire and were now in the lobby ready to bolt out of the building. Nagito however, stopped him at the exit and asked him something that seemed to be bothering him.

“Well... that’s...”

How could Hajime even start? The events that had preceded the discovery of Ibuki’s body had taken a seat back in his mind while they investigated the crime scene. He knew he needed to explain things to Nagito he just wasn’t sure how to.

“Oh... I see... Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone, Hajime.” Nagito said taking Hajime’s hesitancy as some kind of guilty sentence. “I wasn’t sure if it was actually you, but... I’m willing to play along with your plan, just let me help any way I can.”

“No...! No, that’s not...!” Hajime frantically denied Nagito’s assumptions. “It wasn’t me, seriously! It’s just that... a lot happened last night.”

“Well... sorry for assuming then, I should know better than that.”

“It’s fine... It’s just... You weren’t in good condition. Actually, it’s just like you said, your life was hanging on a thread.” Hajime explained not knowing how he could face Nagito when he did have every intention of harming Ibuki that night, despite his motivation being for their sake. “I was... scared. I thought that you’d die. I’m not gonna lie, I was... tempted to try something, but... it seems like someone got to Ibuki before me.”

Taking a deep breath he mustered the courage to look straight at Nagito’s eye.

“I’m not the killer, but while I was in your room to check up on you, someone tried to force their in, and It couldn’t have been Mikan, I think. I wasn’t in good shape myself but I managed to lock the door before they could enter, and thank god I did... I honestly don’t know what would’ve happened if I didn’t.”

Nagito stayed silent as Hajime went on.

“By the time I... went to Ibuki’s room, she wasn’t there. I’m pretty sure that the killer must’ve taken her away by that time, I’m not sure what time it was, but it was already far past midnight.” Hajime skittered on his toes uncertainly. “I was afraid that the strange person would attack you when I left so I rushed back to your room and decided to stay for the night to keep watch over you until morning.”

Nagito didn’t appear to be disturbed at all, merely blinking owlishly as Hajime told his story.

“Well... thanks for saving my life then, Hajime. I don’t particularly understand why you would’ve done so, but I’m grateful nevertheless.”

“You don’t have to thank me...”

“Hajime’s Account” has been added to the truth bullets.

Not delaying the inevitable any further, they stepped out of the hospital once and for all, they were marching towards the center of the third island when Mahiru and Fuyuhiko came sprinting in their direction.

“Oh my god, you guys are safe!” Mahiru said as she came to halt in front of them, her cheeks were as flushed as her hair. “Sonia told us that you were in the hospital and that Ibuki...” A painful look crosses her features at the mention of the girl’s name.

“No shit, when we heard the second body announcement we thought, that something might’ve happened to Nagito...” Fuyuhiko said as his already rosy cheeks grew a shade darker from the exertion. “I can’t believe it though... Is it Ibuki really...?”

Hajime nods without uttering a single word.

“If you two are going to investigate then you should go to the music venue.” Fuyuhiko informed them curtly. “By the way, where is she?”

At first, Hajime didn’t understand the question but Nagito was quick to clarify.

“The conference room on the second floor.”

With that, Fuyuhiko and Mahiru went on their way to the hospital while the two boys finished their walk to the music venue. Kazuichi was standing outside the venue looking one second from spilling his guts on the asphalt.

“Man, I can’t stand any more of this.” Hajime and Nagito didn’t bother to acknowledge the mechanic’s ordeals, but they understood Kazuichi’s state as soon as they stepped inside the music venue. For some incomprehensible reason, the heat inside the venue was overwhelming, not to mention the putrid smell that was emanating from the place.

The sight that welcomed them, however, was the most shocking, even though he should’ve already been prepared he couldn’t help but shudder as he saw the limp body laying on the stage, similar to Ibuki a rope was dangling from the neck and raw scars could be seen even from afar.

There, laying on the searing music venue’s stage was the body of Mikan Tsumiki.

So that’s why they couldn’t find her anywhere in the hospital. She was here all along...

The remaining students were already doing their own investigation by looking around the venue, Chiaki and Gundham were standing close to the body examining it as thoroughly as they could. Akane and Sonia were chatting about some destroyed paraphernalia thrown on the ground listlessly.

“What is this?” Hajime asked the two girls as they acknowledged his presence once he walked closer.

“Kazuichi has informed me that he created these gadgets called ‘Surveillance Camera Unit’ to maintain communication between the people in the hospital and the motel. They apparently have a camera and video function, they work similarly to a ‘video calls’, or so he mentioned.” Sonia was still looking rather sickly than normal, but nothing compared to when they met at the hospital.

“And why would this be doing here?”

“I... do not know.”

“I know what that’s doing here!” Akane unexpectedly said.

“You do...?!” Hajime couldn’t contain the confusion that dripped into his voice.

“Of course, I do! Mahiru told us that Fuyuhiko and her had seen a weird video a little before they called us at the motel. She told me and Chiaki that she saw someone hung themselves at the music venue and then we rushed here the four of us.” Akane explained with a hand on her hip. “When we arrived the door was locked though, I had to use my Ultimate Move to break it open!”

The door to the music venue was most definitely not ‘broken’ given the frame was still on its hinges so he wasn’t sure how much he could believe Akane’s words, but in case the girl had exaggerated her story at some point he could always confirm things with Chiaki.

“Surveillance Camera Unit” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Akane’s Account” has been added to the truth bullets.

Nagito had gone to inspect the body together with Chiaki and Gundham and were now exchanging whatever information they could provide to one another. Hajime not wanting to stay out of the loop was prompt to join them.

“-I’m glad the rest of you are fine now.” Hajime caught the end of Chiaki’s sentence while Nagito smiled at her pleasantly.

“What could you guys find?” Hajime asked in order to bring attention to himself.

“Ha! ‘What could you guys find’ - he says.” Gundham quoted him mockingly as he entered his usual fighting stance where he pointed two fingers at Hajime threateningly. “I shall be the one asking you the methods of which you used to be cured yourselves so quickly of the foul illness Monokuma inflicted upon you.”

“It wasn’t any herculean feat at all, Gundham. Monokuma was the one to cure us, it seems his power is great enough to even create and eradicate a disease on a whim.” Nagito answered swiftly before whatever Gundham was planning could escalate.

“Hmm... I see... So our enemy is far more powerful than he originally looks to be...”

“Anyway, we were trying to discover something that could indicate the time of death, but... well, it’s not like any of us have enough expertise as Mikan did...” Chiaki interrupted before the breeder could initiate anything else. “It says on the Monokuma File that Mikan died from a crushed windpipe so... the cause is likely the hanging, I think.”

“Oh, you’re right...! We only got Ibuki’s Monokuma File, but now that we’re here it should...” Taking the Monokuma File out of his pocket he check it up again, just as Monokuma had said another folder was now available to them to inspect.

The victim is Mikan Tsumiki.

The scene of the crime where the body was discovered is inside the music venue on the third island.

Mikan Tsumiki's cause of death was a crushed windpipe as a result of choking.

There is one external injury in the back of her head and no trace of foreign substances such as drugs was found in the victim’s bloodstream.

It was more than disappointing to see that Mikan’s Monokuma File was almost identical to Ibuki’s, though the external injury on the back of her head caught his attention.

“Monokuma File #3.2” has been updated to the truth bullets.

“So no time of death in here either, huh?” Nagito voiced Hajime’s own concerns.

“If what Mahiru said is to be believed, then Mikan would’ve climbed the stepladder and hung herself with that tote bag on her head a little before the morning announcement...” Chiaki informed them and pointed to another identical tote bag with a Usami’s imprint at the corner. “The side of the stepladder has just a bit of blood on the sides, too. I think it might be from the injury in her head perhaps... I don’t know.”

“Did she really fall from the stepladder though...?” Hajime couldn’t possibly believe that both their death were suicide or a coincidence for that matter. Whatever had transpired that culminated in the girls’ deaths, Hajime knew for a fact that it was all related somehow. “Plus, I think there’s a reason as to why the music venue is so hot, I’m pretty sure the killer messed with the A/C so we couldn’t determine a time of death.”

“So we couldn’t determine a time of death, you say...?” Gundham pried from his side.

“I’ve read somewhere that when a body is exposed to hot or cold temperatures it’s hard to discern the exact time of death, because of the decomposition or something...” Hajime clarified a little bashful since he had read that in one of his crime novels, he hoped the information was pertinent enough in comparison to reality.

“I think it’s right to assume that as well, good job, Hajime!”

“It’s nothing...” Hajime responded a little embarrassed at Nagito’s praise.

“Stepladder On the Music Venue” has been added to the truth bullets.

“A/C’s Temperature” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Hey, was Ibuki... you know, killed the same way as Mikan?” Chiaki questioned the two of them.

“Yes, she was hanging from the ceiling of the conference room as if she had fallen from the stepladder.” Nagito responded.

“I see... Well, we should investigate Ibuki’s death as much as Mikan’s. I’ll just check the storage room and then I’ll go to the hospital.”

Chiaki marched towards the music venue’s storage room while the three boys stood close to the stage.

“Well, I guess I shall share with you mortals the events that preceded the body discover.” Gundham announced with his deep, overdramatic baritone tone. “The group who stayed at the motel consisted of myself, Akane, Chiaki, and Kazuichi. A few minutes before the morning announcement, both Fuyuhiko and Mahiru graced us with their presence claiming that someone was trying to hang themselves in the music venue. Not long after that, Akane and Chiaki followed them to the music venue and the body discovery announcement was played then.”

“So the three of you have alibis for before the announcements then?” Hajime questioned as he made an effort to retain all information.

“That is correct, though I should inform you that Kazuichi was also present at the motel at the time. When we heard the body discovery announcement, Kazuichi left his room in a hurry due to his worries about Sonia’s well-being.”

“Well, thanks for telling us, Gundham.” The boy in question merely nodded his head and trailed after Chiaki to the storage room.

“Gundham’s Account” has been added to the truth bullets.

Now that they could examine Mikan’s body of their own accord, Hajime noticed that the Monokuma was correct that there was a minor laceration on the back of her head that had a bit of dried blood on it, which led him to believe that she had been attacked with the drip stand on Ibuki’s room. How did that happen was another story.

Aside from her injuries, Hajime found it strange that Mikan was wearing an identical hospital gown to the one the patients were using. It made no sense for the nurse to be wearing that but for some reason she was. Was it the killer who changed her clothes? But why?

“So this is the rope she used to hang herself...” Nagito muttered not at all interrogative as he groped the rope in his hands testing its hold. “And she covered her face with the tote bang...”

“It would seem so.”

Nagito kept staring at the rope as if there was something regarding it that was only privy to his eyes. With the boy’s intense regard for the rope, Hajime felt the need to examine it more thoroughly in case he missed something that Nagito had caught on, if that was the case, he doubted that Nagito would give him the answer right away, he would make sure that Hajime reached whatever conclusion he was persuing by himself.

“It’s... frayed, isn’t it...?”

At once, Nagito’s eyes jumped in his direction as the object of his intense gaze became Hajime.

“Yes, it is.” It sounded as if the luckster was subtly trying to goad him to a conclusion.

“Umm... well... it’s weird, right?” Hajime said awkwardly. “I mean, why would it be frayed in the middle of the rope...? If it was to be frayed... it should be on either extremity, right?”

Nagito didn’t respond, instead, he only smiled at Hajime knowingly and got up from the place he was kneeling next to the body.

“Condition of Mikan’s Body” has been added to the truth bullets.

“Rope Used For Hanging Mikan” has been added to the truth bullets.

Moving his attention away from the body, Hajime noticed a single candle that found itself in the near center of the stage. He didn’t recall seeing it there the day Ibuki invited them all to the ‘Recovery Party’. It rubbed him as weird given that there was also a candle in the conference room, perhaps that was purposeful?

“Candles In Both Crime Scenes” has been added to the truth bullets.

By the time they entered the storage room, Chiaki and Gundham had already moved to the hospital. As to be expected, there wasn’t anything noticeably out of place, it was still stocked with stage supplies and instruments. Though now that he was looking for, he saw that behind some wallpapers, there was a box filled with ropes, Hajime was the farthest thing from a specialist, but he was confident that both ropes used the kill the girls came from the venue. It was too convenient for the killer for that to not be the case.

“Music Venue’s Storage Room” has been added to the truth bullets.

The time Monokuma was conceding so they could investigate must’ve been coming to an end seeing they couldn’t find anything else of relevance in the music venue.

At the exit of the venue, however, appeared to be something suspicious.

A pair of drum sticks were cracked in the middle left on the floor and some semitransparent glob was sticking to the edge of each side where the double doors connected. Hajime took a closer look and stuck a finger at it.

“Is this... glue?” The glob certainly smelled of chemicals like some weird products did, with its consistency, Hajime couldn’t see what else the thing could be.

“Akane did mention that the door was locked, didn’t she? Perhaps the killer locked the door using glue, and then tried to cover their actions by breaking the drum sticks.” Nagito suggested.

“Yeah... that might be it.”

“Semitransparent Glob” has been added to the truth bullets.

There was only one more thing that he need to know, and it was in regards to what Akane had said about Mahiru seeing a video of Mikan hanging herself. He needed her account of the facts that preceded Mikan’s death in order to determine something that has been bugging him from the start.

Nagito had no complaints and merely followed Hajime back to the hospital compliantly.

Hajime managed to catch up with Mahiru while the photographer was investigating Ibuki’s room on the first floor.

“Oh, you came back to investigate?” The redhead asked once she stepped out of the gloomy atmosphere of a late patient.

‘Not really, actually, we came here to ask about what happened this morning. Akane and Chiaki told us that you saw some kind of video of Mikan hanging herself or something, is that true?”

“Yeah... It’s true.” Mahiru confirmed as she gazed downcast. “Due to the rules Monokuma installed, me and Fuyuhiko couldn’t sleep in the hospital so we went to our cottages and meet up here during the morning announcement and informed the people on the motel team about everything. I had just gotten here when the camera unit started playing the video... at first, I didn’t know who it was because they had a tote bag on their head, but... I recognized the music venue... Fuyuhiko was just entering the door when I rushed out of the hospital...”

“I see... So you couldn’t see if it was Mikan or not, right?” Hajime suspected that the fact that ‘Mikan’ covered her face was more than a little purposeful. The pair of identical tote bags corroborated the theory that maybe the video Mahiru saw wasn’t exactly what it looked like. After all, if Mikan would simply film herself taking her life, then what need would there be to hide her face? Not only that, but Mikan was also attacked, the killer was trying to misguide their interpretation of the case by making them assume it was a suicide when it wasn’t.

“Mahiru’s Account” has been added to the truth bullets.

On cue, Monokuma appeared on the closest monitor to announce the investigation was over and that they should proceed to Monokuma’s Rock. Neither Hajime nor Nagito were keen on wasting a second longer in the dreadful hospital after all that had transpired there the few previous days.

He had the sense that the mood amongst the group was gloomier and tenser than ever, probably due to the double homicide they had in their hands, or perhaps because of the hopelessness of it all. It didn’t go past Hajime just how close he could’ve been the one to be at fault for this if he had been a little quicker to act.

Somehow, he felt like for once he was lucky to be late. Normally it was the other way around, and that concerned him, but maybe Nagito’s luck was also at play here, which he didn’t know if it was comforting or worrisome.

“This is all certainly really strange... don’t you think so?” Nagito asked when they arrived at Monokuma’s monument.

“I do... It just seems all so convoluted... I honestly don’t know what to think of it.”

Nagito hummed in acknowledgment as the rest of the students filled the escalator that led them once more to the elevator. They were now only nine now, soon to become eight, and who knew what had happened to Nekomaru. During everything that happened, Nekomaru had become the least of his worries, he felt a little guilty to have forgotten the team manager so deliberately.

Somehow both the silence and noise coming from the elevator was excruciating. Not even Akane who normally would say some nonsense was up to idle chatter at the moment.

Whilst the elevator descended deeper and deeper into the earth, Hajime started a second to contemplate how much insane the situation they were was. Not that he hadn’t spent a substantial amount of time dwelling on it before, but in the confines of the loud and contained space, he couldn’t help but let his mind inevitably wander through those thoughts.

It was all so insane and ludic, that they kind of grew numb to it, but from an outsider, the prospect of being trapped on an island with a megalomaniac teddy bear was nothing short of madness. Yet, they had grown compliant.

The mind was so uncharacteristically illogical sometimes.

And now, here they were again.

Forced to participate in some cruel affair disguised as some misguided pretense of trial in order to find the culprit behind their friends' murder.

Hajime was truly unlucky, wasn’t he?

He took a look at the boy who stood at his side.

“Will you help me this time, too?”

He had an inkling suspicion that deep down Nagito wished to turn the case more complicated so ‘his hope could grow even greater!’, but instead of confirming his suspicions, Nagito smiled once again at him.

“If you insist, then I’ll gladly do it.”

He didn’t know if perhaps Nagito was only saying what he wanted to hear, but either way, he was glad. Hajime wasn’t alone in this, not really. And Nagito, despite his oddities, understood in a manner that no one else had before, and maybe that understanding went both ways.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 13: Bitter Little Thing Called Guilt

Monokuma had once more redundantly explained the dynamics of the class trial while the students bear witness to his incessant bickering with Monomi who predictably as always made her distaste clear by awkwardly insulting the self-proclaimed headmaster’s machinations.

Now there were two empty podiums on each side of Nagito’s own, much like Hajime himself. They were now the only ones who were separated from the group, no neighbor student present on their stands, only a black and white photo with a red ‘X’ painted on the front placed on each side of the two boys facing each other, it somehow gave the two of them the air of detachment from the others.

Nekomaru’s stand, on the other hand, was simply vacant. No picture nor Nekomaru was positioned on it. Hajime was uncertain as to if that was something good or not.

Amid the tense silence that followed Monokuma’s monologue, the remaining students were sending lingering gazes at one another, hesitant to say the first word, or perhaps it was uncertainty as to how to begin their debate.

“So... how should we start?” Kazuichi decided to break the silence, it wasn’t too surprising that he’d be the one to do it seeing how he was squirming under the tension.

“I... don’t know, either...” Mahiru responded while caressing her arm in an attempt of self-reassurance.

“No kidding! What happened in that hospital?! Ibuki and Mikan were staying there, right?”

He wasn’t surprised that Akane didn’t comprehend, if it wasn’t for him witnessing what had transpired the previous night, he wouldn’t have a clue as to what happened either.

“I also find myself a bit lost as to how the events unfolded...” Sonia commented idly.

“Then why don’t we start from the beginning? When was the last time Mikan and Ibuki were seen? Alive that is.” Chiaki suggested, taking charge of the discussion as serene as ever.

“I think that would be the two of us, Mahiru and I.” Fuyuhiko piped up. “Unless some of the patients remember seeing Mikan before the nighttime announcement.”

“I do, actually. She came to check up on me minutes before it was played.” Hajime informed them.

At his affirmation, Fuyuhiko nodded and continued.

“There's a rule at the hospital that no one can stay there once nighttime arrives, the exception being the patients and in case one of them needs to be accompanied, Nagito was in a bad condition so Mikan was staying with him." Hajime hadn't read the notice board himself, he was eager to leave the hospital as fast as he could, but given that that information could become useful later on, he decided to keep it in mind.

"That's right! If anyone broke that rule I'd have to punish them adequately." Monokuma affirmed from his throne.

"Hospital Rules" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Since we couldn’t sleep at the hospital, the two of us had to go back to our cottages during nighttime and leave Mikan with the patients. A little before the morning announcement we went back to the hospital to communicate with the motel team.” Fuyuhiko continued.

“That’s right, I created the Surveillance Camera Unit with some scraps I found in the electric ave, it’s pretty old-fashioned but it works just right to communicate.” Kazuichi confirmed.

“And what was that tale I heard about Mahiru watching as Mikan took her own life?”

Gundham didn’t seem to have a problem mentioning the elephant in the room, his bluntness felt kind of refreshing given that the supposed video was the piece of evidence that bothered Hajime the most.

“It’s true... I saw someone with a hospital gown and that weird tote bag we found placed on their head, they climbed the stepladder up and then... and then they hung themselves...” Mahiru took a deep breath trying to reign the trepidation that bled into her voice. “It was all super creepy, there was only a candlelight, but I recognized the music venue’s stage so I ran there as fast as I could...”

“I was on my way to the hospital when I met up with her, she looked pretty disturbed so I followed her to the venue, when we got there, the door was locked, so we went to the motel so we could gather the others.” Fuyuhiko added.

“Yes, I can attest to that. Akane and I followed them to the music venue and then Akane burst the door open.” Chiaki confirmed. “That’s when we discovered Mikan’s body.”

“But the body discovery announcement sounded twice, in a really short timespan at that.” Fuyuhiko pointed out, that fact had also been nicking at the back of his mind since the second Nagito had brought it up. “So, who exactly discovered Ibuki’s body?”

“Nagito and I were the ones to discover her body in the conference room.” Hajime spoke for the first time since entering the trial rooms.

“Just the two of you?” Kazuichi asked voicing everyone’s doubts about his statement. “I thought miss Sonia was with you guys. How did the announcement trigger then?!”

“We don’t know. Nagito pointed that out too when it happened, Sonia wasn’t with us but the announcement triggered nonetheless.”

“It is true, I wasn’t present when the body was discovered, I was lying in bed when I heard the announcement play.” Sonia attested.

“Wait, so the other person to discover the body was... the killer?” Kazuichi asked scratching behind his back uncertainly.

“I think so... I mean, who else would’ve discovered the body?”

“Either way, since we don’t know when Ibuki was killed, then we have no clue that could point to the time when the killer ‘discovered’ the body, right?” Chiaki argued. “I think we should try to establish their time of death, it wasn’t in the Monokuma File, so Monokuma must be omitting it because it’s important.”

“But how should we proceed given the lack of information regarding their whereabouts since last night?”

Gundham wasn’t exactly wrong about their lack of clues concerning anything relating to the girls’ possible time of death, but Hajime knew two things: One of the girls had definitely died during the night, it would explain what he had witnessed in Nagito’s room and the fact that Ibuki was missing from her room. Another thing that looked odd was the endeavor the killer had put in trying to cover the time of death.

If they used common sense, the easiest conclusion they could arrive at was that Mikan had killed herself minutes before her body was discovered at the music venue, but if that was the case, why would the killer bother messing with the A/C’s temperature? Why would Monokuma not put an ‘obvious’ piece of evidence in the Monokuma File?

Hajime could only think of one reason for that. Mikan wasn’t killed that morning.

“I think Mikan was killed last night.” Hajime voiced as much.

The prospect of Mikan being murdered the previous night didn’t seem to be wandering anyone’s mind at all judging by their questioning gazes.

“No, there’s no doubt Mikan died just after I saw that video.” Mahiru contested in an instant. “Plus, the music venue’s door was locked, and there’s only one entrance, which means that Mikan was the one to lock herself in the venue and then filmed the video.”

“But it doesn’t make much sense if that was the case, does it?”

“What doesn’t make sense is what you’re saying. I saw Mikan hanging herself, there’s no way I saw it wrong or something! Also, Mikan died from strangulation, right? Then there’s no doubt she died from hanging herself. The scenery also matched the music venue, the candle was still there too...”

Mahiru did not look pleased with having her testimony being questioned, though Hajime could understand, it didn’t make it any less misguided.

“I get what you’re saying, I’m not saying that you misinterpreted what you saw, but if Mikan was the one to hang herself, then how do you explain the surveillance camera unit being destroyed at the scene of the crime?” Hajime argued crossing his arms in front of him. “I mean, she wouldn’t have a chance, right? She would already be dead, she couldn’t destroy the camera after recording the video. Plus, if that really was Mikan, why cover her face with that tote bag? It wouldn’t matter if she did.”

“That’s...!” Mahiru seemed to mull his words over as she trailed off. “...That’s true! I didn’t... I didn’t realize that!”

“But even if that was to be true, it still doesn’t explain how the venue’s door was locked.” Gundham inquired uncertainly as to what to think about Hajime’s musings. “If Mikan’s death was not a suicide, then it leaves us with a much bigger mystery: How was the killer able to leave the venue?”

Hajime was fairly sure as to how that happened.

“It’s just like Mahiru said, if they blocked the door from inside, the killer would not have been able to leave either.” Sonia reminded them.

“What if they didn’t leave the venue at all?”

All eyes were on Fuyuhiko as he suggested the possibility.

“Which means... when we broke out the venue, the killer was still inside!”

“They were...?!” Mahiru asked surprised at the prospect of a killer lurking amidst the crime scene.

“If that’s the case, the only suspicious people are the ones without an alibi for that time. And the only person who didn’t have an alibi for the time was you, Kazuichi!” Fuyuhiko shouted threateningly at the mechanic.

“W-What the hell?!” The mechanic looked seconds from popping out of its socked with how open-wide they were.

“You heard me right, aside from you, everyone else has an alibi for the time when we discovered the body.” Fuyuhiko explained with a firm tone. “Akane, Chiaki, Mahiru, and I were together for the body discovery announcement, the same goes for Hajime and Nagito. Sonia was in the hospital with the Despair Disease, and we met up with Gundham at the motel. Which only leaves you!”

“There’s another person who doesn’t have an alibi. You know... Nekomaru.” Nagito stated calmly for the first time since their discussion started.

“Nekomaru? What does he have to do with any of this?” Akane questioned irritated at the mention of the missing team manager.

“I don’t know, but I sure would like to know why he isn’t here.” Nagito responded pleasantly.

Nagito made his insinuation clear enough, so Monokuma promptly responded.

“Don’t you worry about him, he’s still being treated for his wounds, more importantly, can you guys move on with the discussion? Time’s up when I’m bored y’know.”

“Anyway, you’re still the only one who could’ve done that!” Fuyuhiko insisted.

“No, that can’t be right, Fuyuhiko.” Hajime countered.

“That is correct, despite his low status and seeming lack of memory, Kazuichi was present at the motel when we marched to the venue.” Gundham reasoned with an air of superiority.

‘He was...?!”

“Yes, he was. But that’s not all, that drumstick we found, didn’t it look weird to you guys?” Hajime pried. “I mean, it looked weird, right? Almost unnaturally so. Well, from what I can infer, it was unnatural, I think the door wasn’t blocked by the drumstick at all, I’m pretty sure they used glue instead.”

“Glue?! How could they lock a door with glue?!”

“It’s pretty simple actually, you just have to apply it on each side where the door connects in the middle, that way you can even lock the door from the outside too, without having to lock yourself in.” Nagito explained.

“I see, but a door that was merely stuck together with glue wouldn’t be able to put much resistance against anyone trying to break in.”

Gundham was correct in that sense, though Hajime was sure that that wasn’t the killer’s motivation to lock the door at all.

“It doesn’t really matter... The killer only did that to make us think the door was locked from the inside.” Voicing his own train of thought, Chiaki continued to explain with a distressed Fuyuhiko. “I agree with Hajime, the drumstick looked pretty suspicious to me too, I think the killer might’ve placed it there as a diversion.”

“So the drumstick was a trap the killer set on purpose...?” Fuyuhiko inquired less sternly this time. ‘Then I... I totally fell for that fuckin’ trap!”

“There’s another reason as to why I suspect Mikan was killed last night.” Hajime announced nicking the edge of his lips as he thought of the best way to put into play his own testimony. No doubt that someone wouldn’t believe him entirely, both of his lack of trust and possible compromised account due to being afflicted with the Despair Disease, but nevertheless, it was crucial to the others to know what he had witnessed. “It was after the nighttime announcement that I went to Nagito’s room.”

“You... went to Nagito’s room?” Mahiru did not seem convinced. “How? You were still conscious, but your condition wasn’t that much better than his.”

“I know, but... I was worried for him after you told the state he was in, so I went there when no one would stop me and...” Hajime stopped for a second to phrase his words better. “Well... Mikan wasn’t there for a stater, since Nagito was in such bad condition I thought she would be around him all the time in case he got worse, but she was nowhere to be found. I stayed there for some time and well...” Now that he thought about it, he would need to do his best to hide his actions when he visited Ibuki’s room. “I got a little worried, you know. So I went to check on Ibuki to see if perhaps Mikan was there, but... Ibuki wasn’t there either.”

“Neither of them were at the hospital...?” Akane asked unsurely.

In retrospect, it would be more likely for him to have checked up on Sonia given her room was closer to Nagito's, but he couldn't lie about that and have Sonia belie his claims.

“I don’t know if they weren’t at the hospital. But they weren’t where they were supposed to be.” That should suffice it, it wasn't exactly a big lie, and the clues he was sharing were nothing but the absolute truth. “Not only that, a little after I returned to Nagito’s room, I heard someone walking in the hallway, I ended up locking the door from the inside, and whoever it was tried to enter it. I’m sure that it wasn’t Mikan, if it was her, she would’ve said something, but the person only stayed silent and then walked away a few minutes later”

“I get it, but... why did you go back to his room? Wouldn’t it be better to return to your own room? And how did you know it was someone shady who was on the other side before you locked the door?”

He knew that his story wasn’t the most convincing, as it was, Mahiru wasn’t too eager to believe his every word either. He could keep filling his account with as many lies as he desired, but he knew that if he did it, sooner rather than later those lies would be revealed and he would be suspected once more, just like it happened with Teruteru’s case.

He could never keep his guard down with his luck.

“I just... I felt really creeped out by all of it.” Hajime responded with the truth instead. “I was scared... and... I didn’t want to be alone either, not to mention I was also fearing for Nagito, what if someone tried something with him? I don’t even know it myself why I locked the door without hesitating, it was... instinctual.”

Despite his not-so-thorough explanation, he wasn’t lying. He didn’t know what caused him to lock that door so suddenly. Now that he thought about it, it was becoming ever more likely that it was Nagito’s own luck influencing Hajime to protect the boy. It was certainly easy for him to believe, but it wasn’t like he could explain that to the others.

“It’s true, Hajime and I stayed locked inside my room until morning.”

Hearing Nagito’s voice after so much time explaining his side of the story was a little jarring. For someone who was so loud in his own way, the boy had the talent to escape his mind when he stayed silent for too long.

“Things are a bit hazy, but I remember regaining consciousness at some point during the night, Hajime stayed with me the whole time.” Nagito had most definitely not regained consciousness nowhere near during the night, Hajime would be extremely mortified if that was to be true. Which means Nagito was lying to cover for him.

“Well, that means you both have alibis then, right?” Chiaki asked.

“Yes.”

With Nagito supporting his claims, his testimony gained credibility, and with that, it became crucial evidence. Now, they only needed to lure out the culprit hiding amongst them.

“So, where does that leave us, then?” Kazuichi inquired.

“It’s pretty suspicious that both Mikan and Ibuki weren’t at the hospital at nighttime. The obvious conclusion would be that one of them killed the other but...” Chiaki trailed off wracking her brain into making sense of the situation. “It wouldn’t make sense now that both of them are dead, I think.”

“No, the contrary, it makes a lot of sense.” Nagito interrupted.

Having not said much throughout the entire trial, now that the boy was willing to talk, all attention was turned to him.

“We already have proof that may establish the reason why the two victims left the hospital.”

“Is that so? Hmph... If you're gonna cry and beg like that then I guess I'll hear about your wild theories."

“Indeed. Inside Ibuki’s room, we found a similar tote bag to the one on the venue and a drip stand that had some blood on it, it wasn’t much, but it was definitely blood. If you recall, the Monokuma File states that MIkan had an external injury on the back of her head, probably caused by some blunt object, right?” Nagito continued not entertaining Gundham’s antics. “I think that Mikan fell unconscious after the attack”

“So you’re saying that she was attacked with a drip stand? Then what? That doesn’t tell us how the killer managed to take her unconscious body to the venue, nor does it explain what Ibuki has to do with any of this.” Fuyuhiko pointed out unsure to trust Nagito’s speculation.

“Oh, that’s easy to explain. Ibuki was is one of the victims, that’s true, but what if she wasn’t just the victim?”

Silence settled on the courtroom at the impossible prospect of Ibuki being more than a mere victim in the case.

“W-What are ya saying?! She’s dead, y’know!” Akane yelled from her place next to Fuyuhiko who had grown a new shade of red.

“No shit! What is that supposed to mean?!”

“Calm down, Nagito is not saying anything absurd.” Hajime came to the boy’s defense.

“I’m sorry, but there’s no way I can believe that Ibuki... what? Are you saying that Ibuki murdered Mikan like that?! She would never do something like that...!” Mahiru stated.

“You’re all forgetting that Ibuki was also one of the infected by the Despair Disease. Not only that, but her symptom was pretty serious too, she had the ‘Gullible Disease’, she was believing every non-sense Nagito was saying, taking everything we said to her at face value.” Hajime reasoned with the group. “Not to mention, she also had no problems with taking orders, you guys remember when Nagito passed out in the restaurant? She was the first to help me maneuver him after I demanded it.”

“What does that mean then? That the killer convinced Ibuki to...?”

“I’m not sure, Mahiru.” He truly didn’t. “Mikan wasn’t killed with the blow to the head, so even if Ibuki was the one who attacked her, it wouldn’t make a difference, but it would explain how the killer managed to move the body. It would be much easier if they had someone else’s help to carry it to the venue.”

“I see, that would also explain the reason behind the foul murders that took place. Once Ibuki became a witness to the killer’s plan, she also became a risk they couldn’t ignore, thus her death ensued.”

Gundham once again couldn’t be more right. No matter how you looked at it, there was no reason to kill two people. You gained literally nothing with it, in actuality, it only gave them more evidence to try and discover the killer’s identity. It was a liability. Even so, two of them had died. The only reason he could fathom was that the second victim had to die in order for the killer’s plan to work.

“I think that’s the case, I can’t think of another reason why the killer committed two murders.”

“There’s another interesting thing. The ropes used the kill both Ibuki and Mikan were taken from the venue, which means that the killer must’ve killed Mikan there and then went back with Ibuki to the hospital to take care of Ibuki.”

Nagito’s suggestion sounded pretty solid, the ropes would indicate that the killer traveled between the hospital and venue at least once.

“That’s probably why they chose to act at nighttime, since Fuyuhiko and Mahiru weren’t going to be there, they could go back and forth between the crime scenes with no problem.” Chiaki stated as she tilted her head to the side.

The most opportune moment to commit a murder. Mikan would be completely alone with the rest of the patients who could barely put up any resistance against their assailant. Mikan, the girl who could barely stand up for herself on the best of days.

“Even so, if Ibuki Mikan was killed last night... then what was that video I saw?” Mahiru questioned at once. “It was the music venue, I’m certain of it, the curtains and floor were the same, even the candle was still there, and I saw someone hanging themselves, I’m not lying about this.”

Hajime didn’t know what to think about the supposed video. On one hand, Mahiru could be saying the truth, she might have seen someone hanging themselves by the surveillance camera, but on the other hand, there was still a non-zero possibility that she was the killer. If so, it was highly convenient for her to lie as much as she pleased in order to hide what may be an inconvenient truth to her given she was the sole person to see the ‘video’.

However, Mahiru was pretty adamant about what she witnessed, which gave a bit of credibility to what she was saying. If she had forgotten all about it the second a discrepancy was presented, that would make her mighty suspicious.

“It’s possible that the video wasn’t filmed at the music venue at all.” Chiaki remarked with an unusually somber tone. “...I think.”

Just as fast as it came it was gone with the girl’s uncertainty regarding her claims.

“Huh? No, there’s no way it wasn’t.” Mahiru argued. “Actually, now that I think about it... Kazuichi, did those cameras have a recording function?”

“It's a cheap-ass surveillance camera, you know? There's no way it'd have a sweet recording feature.” Kazuichi denied it as he repositioned his beanie on his head. "The fact that it managed to connect with the hospital all the way from the music venue is amazing in and off of itself."

“Despite Kazuichi's desperate repair efforts, it seems it could not transmit from the music venue to the hospital."

Hajime thought for a second that Kazuichi could’ve been lying about the recording function. If he secretly managed to apply that feature to the surveillance camera the rest of them would be none the wiser.

Despite that, he didn’t have any evidence to contest that fact,

Though the part where the camera’s connection between the hospital and the music venue was miraculous was interesting.

“So Chiaki may not be wrong at all, right?” Hajime inquired thoughtfully. “If the connection would be that bad from that distance, it’s more than likely that the video was filmed somewhere else, right?”

“Maybe, but... Where would the video have been filmed then?” Fuyuhiko asked.

“Actually, there was a place that was pretty similar to the music venue. Suspiciously so, actually.” Nagito piped up from the other side of the room.

“The conference room, right?” Hajime continued the boy’s logic. “I noticed that there was a candle in each of the crime scenes, the curtains on both the music venue and conference room were pretty identic too.”

"The curtain...? Wait, now that you mentioned it, didn't the curtains from the music venue look different when Ibuki performed for us?" Mahiru recalled, and indeed they were, Hajime didn't remember it earlier but he was sure that Ibuki had chosen a pretty goudy yellow curtain during her show.

"That is correct, I recall Ibuki using a different curtain during her performance...!" Sonia confirmed.

"So the killer went through the trouble of changing the curtains to... look like the conference room? Is that it?"

"It would seem so. The killer intended to make the conference resemble the venue in order to confuse us." Hajime answered a bewildered Fuyuhiko. "That way, they could make us believe that Mikan had hanged herself at that moment when in actuality she must've already been dead by that time! That has to be it!'

"It would also explain why the person on the video had their head covered. That way we wouldn't be able to confirm the identity of the victim on the video." Nagito highlighted.

"If we have this much evidence, then it's not just a theory, it has to be the killer's plan, right?" Chiaki was correct, it had to be. This entire predicament wouldn't make any sense if not. That was what the killer was after, to create an illusion that would deviate their logic, misguide their thoughts, would cover the truth beneath a thin, almost unnoticeable layer of lies.

"With that, there's no doubt. Mikan died last night, or at the very least, she was already dead come morning." Hajime was confident in his claims, he had had that inkling from the beginning.

"But this must be a surprising turn of events for Mahiru." Nagito said in a disconcertingly enthusiastic tone. "You never suspected that the video you saw at the hospital was being filmed in the conference room."

"It is..." The girl responded a little antsy at the sudden weird way Nagito phrased his statement. Hajime supposed it wasn't unusual for the photographer to react that way, Nagito tended to talk in nuances, always oscillating between his polite and calm manner, to the unhealthy hope-obsessed lunatic one. "Though, if that's the case, then it means that... Ibuki was the one I saw dying, right? How could that be?"

A valid point, Hajime thought. Though a point that brought them to the same matter.

The Despair Disease

"That brings us to a crucial point of our debate." Nagito claimed. "If Mahiru really saw someone hanging themselves, then it's likely that Ibuki was commanded to take her own life."

"You're saying that someone made her kill herself?! Just because of that disease?!" Akane said exasperatedly. "No way, no way she would do that!"

"However, we cannot rule out the possibility." Hajime interrupted. "Mahiru, tell us, you saw the person actually hang themselves alone, or did something else happened?"

"No, nothing happened. I saw them placing the rope around their neck and then kicking the stepladder to the ground. If that was Ibuki, then there's no doubt, I saw her killing herself."

"Crap... This is so... fucked up." Kazuichi looked sick from Mahiru's testimony.

"Indeed..." Sonia wasn't looking much better either as she averted her eyes as if imagining the scene Mahiru had witnessed.

"I get it, so that's why you said this is a crucial part of the debate, right?" Chiaki said addressing Nagito's earlier comment.

"What do you mean, Chiaki?" Mahiru inquired, yet not understanding where they were going with their talk.

"'Cause, if the killer was the one to kill Mikan, and Ibuki killed herself... then what are we supposed to do?"

"What...?" Fuyuhiko seemed to be in a similar state of confusion.

"What Chiaki is trying to say is that if that were to be the case, then we have two killers in our hands." Hajime clarified at last.

It was as if a switch had been turned in their minds as their eyes flew open with shock.

"T-Two?! Wait a fuckin' minute, that can't be it. Even if Ibuki was the one to kill herself, the one who made her do that was the killer, right?! We just discussed this!"

"That's right, there's no way she could be considered a killer!" Kazuichi consented together with Fuyuhiko.

"But that's not for us to decide, Monokuma is the one who knows what goes or doesn't in the class trials." Nagito reasoned way more calmly than he probably should. "So Monokuma, would you mind explaining this to us?"

"Well, you see, A suicide means you've killed the most important existence of all: yourself. Of course, in that case, I wouldn't have anyone to punish, but I guess in a pinch I can always punish Monomi."

"Well, and what that would entail in our case, where there is the possibility of being two killers?"

"Um... I guess I never told you guys but, there is a rule where only two murders can happen for class trial, and in case there are two murders caused by different people. only the first killer becomes the blackened. It's a 'first come, first served' kind of deal."

"So what you're saying is that we need to discover the person who killed Mikan, right? Since she was the first victim as we concluded."

"I'm not telling you whose killer you gotta find, that's your job. Though you're right in the sense that you have to find the first victim's killer."

A hint of mischievousness crossed Nagito's eyes for a second before he could school it down. He had noticed something that they still haven't, whatever it was Hajime knew that the boy wouldn't merely tell them, not directly that is. He wasn't surprised in the least, despite Nagito agreeing to help him, Hajime knew that the luckster wouldn't waste an opportunity to make them work for the conclusion. Somehow, that didn't incite the wave of anger and betrayal Hajime thought was sure to follow, in some weird 'Nagito-y' way it made too much sense for him to be displeased about it. He only hoped that if - for some misadventure, they weren't able to get to the right conclusion - Nagito would push them in the right direction if worse came to worse.

"But even so! How can Ibuki be counted as a killer when she was forced to kill herself! That makes no fuckin' sense!" Fuyuhiko shouted infuriated at the bear. "It's the same as pointing a gun at someone and threatening to kill them if they don't do it first! You would still be the murderer regardless!"

"Puhuhu... perhaps so, but remember that the Despair Disease was the motive this time, also, everyone is responsible for themselves on this island." Monokuma responded by not reciprocating the animosity at all. "You're all pretty grown-up after all."

"What does that mean to us though? I mean, Monokuma might consider that Ibuki killed herself but... we gotta find who killed Mikan, right?" Kazuichi questioned trying to proceed with the discussion.

"T-That is right... We must move forward in our debate in order to... find the culprit." Sonia sounded pretty shaken by it all, similar to Mahiru who was on the verge of tears once again, and it wasn't for nothing. Ibuki was forced to take her own life when she was in her most vulnerable state, when she couldn't put any resistance between her and the ill-intended wishes of her true murderer.

It was...

Awful.

The worst was to know that he had no right to think like that, not at all, not when he was willing to do the same, not when he was a step from making Ibuki do the same.

Ibuki had the bad luck of falling ill, of being afflicted with such an awful symptom. Somehow, Hajime's own symptom was to laugh at in comparison, which was even more hilarious. It was as if his bad luck had become contagious since he arrived on the island, as if Ibuki was contaminated by his talent. His good-for-nothing talent that for some reason, decided to spare him the same hopeless end Ibuki had met.

"Summing up, the video Mahiru saw was legitimate, though instead of Mikan, it was Ibuki the one to hang herself, which means Ibuki wasn't killed directly by the killer, she was afflicted by the Despair Disease and couldn't help but to oblige with any demands made by the true blackened. As for Mikan, she was likely killed last night, when there would be no witnesses to notice her gone, except for Hajime who confirmed her absence from the hospital. The Monokuma File deliberately omits the time of death from us, which can only mean that if we knew when Mikan was killed, it would probably give the culprit away."

Despite Nagito's thorough retelling of the case, he had an inkling that he was - similarly to the Monokuma File - also deliberately leaving some things out. Especially the possible involvement of Ibuki in Mikan's murder. There were still some pieces of evidence that couldn't be explained yet.

"So we should check for alibis, right?" Chiaki asked playing with the straps of her backpack.

"However, the majority of us were either recovering at the hospital or sleeping at the motel and cottages." Gundham pointed out.

"Yeah, but we can discount the people at the hospital, aside from Hajime and Nagito, the rest of us doesn't really have an alibi." Mahiru's voice had settled into a dimmed version of her normally bossy tone.

"Are you sure we can rule them out though?" Kazuichi asked sounding quite uncertain of the redhead's suggestion. "I mean, of course, I don't suspect miss Sonia, but those two could be plotting something."

"And what exactly would we be plotting? Even if one of us were the killer, the other would still die, you know?" Hajime put more bravado into his words than what he really felt since that was half a lie. Nagito had said with all the insinuations that he would be glad to help him cover his tracks when he had assumed Hajime was the culprit, Hajime knew that the boy wasn't kidding, the boy had been too earnest about it.

That was Nagito's problem, his duality was kind of frightening in some instances. The boy was made of extremes, it wasn't hard to believe once you realized that his own life was only compromised in nuances, one after the other. Normally, anyone would associate an abstract concept such as 'hope' relating to something good, or merely that, a concept. Nagito on the other hand took that to new heights, his obsession with hope wasn't that hard to comprehend once you were also exposed to the influence of luck, having bad events preceding good ones and vise-versa sure made it easier to believe that phenomenon as a fact rather than a peculiarity.

That twisted view regarding hope made Nagito optimistic to a fault, that fault being the boy belittling everyone's grief and despair. It was an extremely tactless and selfish thing to do, but who could blame Nagito? In his eyes, there was no reason for wasting your time on mourning and grief, why waste your time on those feelings fomented by despair once you knew something better would come out of it?

Except it wasn't exactly like that.

From the days he spent in the boy's company, Hajime had noticed that Nagito seemed to confuse good luck with hope and bad luck with despair, it didn't particularly seem like an absurd belief at first, but Nagito couldn't be more wrong about that.

Luck was a singularity reserved for people like them. People who couldn't influence the good or bad aspects of their life without a much greater power intervening in it. It was out of their hands and there was little they could do about it.

For other people though, luck - the same as hope - became another abstract concept.

Hope wasn't inherently good, sometimes it was better to have no hope at all than to have it shattered by despair. Despair that sometimes could be so powerful and devasting that would leave nothing in its way that could perhaps become something good at a later time. Because despair didn't serve any greater purpose than that, it wasn't meant to create something better, something holy from its abandon. No, despair was merely that, a name given to a feeling of utter helplessness in the hopes of comprehending it.

It was chaotic, it was reckless, it was indiscriminate, and it didn't lead to better things.

That was the crucial point Nagito didn't seem to understand.

"I agree with Kazuichi. You shouldn't rule us out just because we were sick at the hospital." Nagito responded happily at Kazuichi's reluctance.

"What are you even saying? You were the one to testify in Hajime's favor!" Mahiru did not look the slightest amused by Nagito's modest attitude.

The boy in question didn't bother to give a response and merely laughed it off as if the whole affair was nothing but fun. He could distantly see Mahiru's fist clenched with undeclared annoyance. He couldn't blame her, when he put his mind to it, Nagito could be very rattling. That didn't mean he was wrong in his remarks.

"Nagito's right. we're still overlooking something."

They were, Hajime was sure they were. Something that Nagito had already figured out by the likes of it.

"Overlooking what?" Gundham eyes him curiously.

"I mean, Mikan was taken from the hospital, right? The ropes were taken from the venue but she was attacked at the hospital, probably in Ibuki's room since that's where we found the drip stand, but how was the killer able to carry Mikan's unconscious body to the venue?"

"They asked Ibuki to help them, right? If they commanded Ibuki to do it she couldn't help but comply." Chiaki answered.

"Yes, but... how was the killer able to do that in the first place? I mean, it shouldn't be possible for them to do that."

Hajime was trying to lead them to the right conclusion on their own terms, he felt a bit bad about how thrilling it felt to be on the other end of that display of knowledge. Normally it was Nagito holding up a carrot in front of their faces while guiding them through the right answer.

"Are you talking about... the hospital rules?" Chiaki questioned at once.

Indeed. Despite not reading it himself, Fuyuhiko had said that as soon as nighttime came, everyone except the patients and Mikan had to leave and not return until morning. Monokuma had attested to that at the beginning of the trial. However, if that was the case, then how did the killer manage to attack Mikan and kidnap Ibuki? They would need at the very least contact with the two of them.

"Yes, I am. It doesn't make sense, right?" Hajime prodded. "If no one is supposed to be on the hospital's premises during nighttime, then how did the killer manage to get to Ibuki and Mikan?"

"You're...right...!" Fuyuhiko's single eye widened as he digested the new information. "They shouldn't have been able to enter the hospital at all! But then... how did they do it?"

At the question, Hajime's eyes inevitably traveled towards the princess who seemed to have shrunk in on herself as soon as Chiaki mentioned the hospital's rules.

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it? The killer was able to do all those things because they could be at the hospital around that time. The killer is one of the patients,  that's what I'm trying to say."

Silence shrouded them in its embrace at the accusation he had thrown in the courtroom.

"What?!" Gundham yelled from his podium.

"What...?! W-What the fuck are you saying?!" The realization of what he said seemed to make itself clear to Kazuichi first and foremost. "How dare you accuse miss Sonia?!"

"Wait a minute... If Hajime and Nagito have alibis then... is that true?"

Shock and skepticism traveled in waves between the entire group. Mahiru wasn't exclusive to it as she eyed Sonia questioningly while the princess avoided everyone's eyes with something not unlike shame in her features.

"No, of course it's not true! they're only making all this up so they can get away with killing Ibuki and Mikan, aren't you?!" Kazuichi's face had become one shade lighter than the pink of his hair with how furious he was. His sharp teeth were never quite as prominent as it was now.

"It is... difficult to believe your theories when we're presented with no evidence I may say..." It seemed Gundham didn't waste any time regaining his composure from his previous obvious shock.

"Even so, what Hajime told us is pretty pertinent, isn't it?" Chiaki, on the other hand, was more prone to believe what he had to say. "Sonia, you were the only person who was at the hospital and doesn't have an alibi... What do you have to say for yourself?"

For the first time during the trial, Sonia's stand moved forward as she was laid bare for all of them to see. The princess - much like Hajime and Nagito - was still not looking at her finest. Dark bags surrounded her eyes as her lids closed with obvious signs of distress and her mouth grew tense at the edges.

"I-I..."

"No need to say anything miss Sonia, there's no way we can believe you would do something like that!"

Kazuichi was so on the deep end of his beliefs about Sonia's innocence that he wasn't about to let her or anyone else contradict his beliefs. That conviction, however, was based on just that, a belief.

"Kazuichi, I know you don't want to consider it, but that's the only possibility we have left. If you have a better one, then please tell us."

"I already said it, didn't I?! You two keep saying you have alibis, but you can't prove it, can you? For all we know, you could be fucking lying to us!"

"I'm not taking his side or anything, but the last time I saw Nagito he was on the verge of death, Mikan was doing all she could and couldn't to maintain him stable, so how did he just get better all of a sudden?" Hajime was sincerely hoping that they wouldn't bring up Nagito's sudden recovery, mostly because they couldn't explain it themselves. One moment he was bad and the other he got better. There was nothing else to it.

"Even if we were lying about that, don't you remember? The body discovery announcement played twice, didn't it? Since Nagito and I were the only two to discover Ibuki's body, that means someone else did it before us. The only person who could've done that was Sonia, remember?"

For once, that was a fact they couldn't argue around. Mainly because Sonia herself had admitted previously that she wasn't with them when they found Ibuki's body.

"T-Tha-That's...!" It seemed that his argument made even Kazuichi at a loss for words. That silence didn't last long, as was to be expected. "No way! Huh-huh, no matter what, I can't believe miss Sonia would ever-"

"That is enough...!"

At last, Sonia spoke. Her stand hadn't moved an inch, but despite that, the girl's silence had almost made her fade completely into the background, which was a bit embarrassing how startled everyone was at the princess' sudden harsh chastise. Her tone, however, belied how she was actually feeling judging by the tears pouring out in long, discrete streaks of her eyes.

A silent sob wracked her body. Hajime thought it was due to much training for the princess part that she was able to contain her desperation so competently.

"Enough already... I feel so ashamed... Please, let us proceed with the vote..."

Hajime could only stand there with how much shame and regret he could sense oozing off from Sonia. He didn't expect the princess to confess to it at all. He was prepared to shoot down any arguments the girl could throw their way. It felt somehow, anti-climatic. Perhaps it was extremely inadequate to think like that considering their situation but he couldn't help it. Perhaps he had grown too used to things never working his way, to never getting anything done unless everything had gone to shit first.

Or perhaps... something was wrong.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 14: Epiphat On a Tyrant

Paranoid.

That was one of the things people could say about Hajime. It was only natural for him to be that way given the plethora of mishappenings that surrounded his existence. Second-guessing and suspecting intentions became more of an instinct than a personality trait. When you knew everything could and most likely would go wrong, it was easy to be wary when things worked a little too well for him.

Perhaps it wasn't healthy, he doubted it was. He couldn't help it.

However, for some reason, the circumstances they found themselves in now were a little more aggravating. Sonia was in the middle of the courtroom and the tears wouldn't stop despite the princess forcing herself not to make a sound. Her composure in the face of such despair was deeming of a true princess, Hajime thought.

Despite the wrongness he felt about the whole affair, he didn't think those tears were anything but genuine, it couldn't be an act nor an attempt at gaining sympathy via demonstrating such raw regret, not intentionally at least. Seeing all the clues and evidence until now, there wasn't any other conclusion to arrive at. Sonia had to be responsible for both Ibuki and Mikan's death. They couldn't be wrong about that. Especially now that the girl herself had admitted to it.

Then why did he feel so antsy about it?

"I'm so-so very sorry... I cannot bear this any longer..." Sonia said in between cracks in her voice. "Please, pardon me..."

Kazuichi was shocked into silence as tears formed on the edges of his eyes. Gundham wasn't looking that much different, only lacking the tears but the tense line on his brows belied his seemingly cold stance.

Dread spread throughout the entire room with the confession. Mahiru was as white as a sheet of paper and her mouth hung loose in astonishment, while Fuyuhiko and Chiaki stared at the princess with stupefied countenances.

"What the fuck...?!" Left Fuyuhiko's lips.

"Why... Why would you do this?" Mahiru asked.

"Yeah, why?! Weren't you our friend?!" Akane - unlike Mahiru - was more furious than confused judging by the glare she was sending Sonia's way.

"There is... no excuse for what I have done..."

Tense silence encompassed them once more with the unanswered questions and lingering suspicion.

"You were influenced by the Despair Disease, right?" Chiaki's gaze grew with pity at the realization.

From what Hajime could infer, Chiaki was correct in her assumption. He wasn't any close to Sonia, but regardless of proximity, from what he could make of the princess she would not go down to such lengths in order to escape the island - if that had even been her motivation. Despite her high standing among the other students, Sonia never failed to be polite and treat everyone fairly, somehow, not even Hajime thought that she was being anything but organic with her mannerisms. If it wasn't for all the evidence against her, Hajime would have had a hard time picturing the princess committing an atrocious act such as murder.

But in the end, Sonia wasn't the one at fault here. Not really. Not when like Ibuki, Sonia was helpless regarding her circumstances, Hajime himself wasn't thinking straight when delusional from the fever.

The true guilty party in all of this was looking down upon them from his throne while delighting himself in their suffering.

"T-Then it wasn't her fault! How could it be her fault when Monokuma is the one who infected them with that disease?!" Kazuichi shouted at the bear who promptly made his distaste with such excuses clear.

"How many times do I have to tell you?! The Despair Disease was the motive, being afflicted by it or not, murder is still murder!"

"You're awful...!" Mahiru spat at Monokuma with newfound rage.

"Yeah-Yeah I know... You never cease to remind me, y'know." Monokuma said having the gal of being hurt by Mahiru stating the truth.

"Fuck you, you son of a bitch!"

It was futile. No matter how much they cried and whined about it, Monokuma would never change his mind, not when it interfered with his precious game. His word was law and they had no say in it, they had no other choice but to oblige by his rules as he deemed fit.

"No... I should be the only one at fault. I was so scared and... so very tired, but... I must take responsibility for what I've done. Enough of hiding in cowardice."

"Miss Sonia..."

Whilst Sonia was staring fiercely at Monokuma in a mild attempt at defying the self-entitled headmaster, Kazuichi for his part was looking one step away from pathetically succumbing to tears.

"Hmph, I respect your conviction, Sonia." Gundham commented somberly not lifting his gaze from the princess. "Very well, if it's decided, then let us proceed with the vote."

Logically, it was better for them to vote and be done with the whole ordeal once and for all. But despite how genuine Sonia was being in regards to her confession, he couldn't help but feel like they missed something.

"Wait... umm... can we just go over what happened first? Sonia, could you tell us exactly what happened? I think we should understand the case before we decide to vote..."

"I..."

"Why though? She confessed, didn't she...? Let's just end this already." Fuyuhiko's voice was unusually tender as he said that, averting his eye to the side with a similar saddened expression due to the circumstances.

"No, I agree with Hajime. We need to know exactly what happened first." Chiaki seconded his suggestion.

"We should discuss the matter until everyone is satisfied. Or that's what I think, not that any of you should hear anything I have to say that is." Nagito said with a hint of mischief to his voice.

Most of the students didn't seem that comfortable going over the case after Sonia had already confessed. Probably thought it would be irrelevant once the result wouldn't change. Kazuichi himself was about to berate Hajime when Sonia interrupted him.

"If you wish to know then I... I have no right to deny."

He wasn't expecting the princess to agree so readily but it seemed that Sonia was truly regretful over everything, and would do anything in order to redeem herself as best as she could while she still lived.

Even expose the murder scheme that led her to this situation.

"I was afflicted by the Brusque Disease as you know and... while I was still conscious, I wasn't entirely in control of my actions." Sonia started. "A little before nighttime fell, Mikan came into my room to examine me one last time. I knew she would be going over to Hajime's room who was next door so I left and... went to Ibuki's room." Sonia took a deep breath and cast her eyes down to the floor. "I convinced her to knock out Mikan as soon as she entered the room, and so she did. I tried to enter Nagito's room... in order to administrate some medication into his bloodstream and then blame Mikan for it, but... Hajime didn't lie, the door was indeed locked, and so I had Ibuki help me carry Mikan's unconscious body to the music venue, and then... you already know how it turned out."

The words were spoken with nothing but great shame, he could faintly see the tip of the princess' ears grow red from humiliation.

"Then the two of you went back to the hospital and when morning came you commanded Ibuki to film while she committed suicide, right?" Nagito pried, not bothering with any form of courteousness as usual.

"...That is correct."

"You also altered the crime scene after Ibuki died, right? That's why you were counted among the 'three or more people' rule." It was more of a statement than a question but the girl nodded in affirmation.

"I did... I hid both the tote bag and candle away. I also placed back the camera used for recording after Mahiru and Fuyuhiko went away and then I returned to my room..." Another sob escaped her as she pleaded for forgiveness. "I am so very sorry... please, pardon me..."

The atmosphere was heavy with an oppressive feeling that Hajime couldn't put his finger on. Perhaps it was regret, shame, or even despair itself. But it felt bitter rather than desperate, it felt like a burden on their frames rather than all-encompassing.

Perhaps it was sorrow.

Sonia had given them a pretty thorough explanation all in all. Though it didn't go past him that she had not commented about a detail that seemed to be the crux of the entire argument.

"Sonia, I just want to ask one thing... How did Mikan die? She was hanged at the music venue, but she wasn't killed by the hit on the head, and obviously, she wasn't the one to hang herself. Then how did she die?"

That was the question, wasn't it? Just how did Mikan die? It was a detail that was easy to overlook since they had established that Mikan had died before Ibuki, but it hadn't been something they had talked about, not really. Sonia had been the one to orchestrate the murder plan, so logically it was safe to assume that she was the one to kill Mikan.

But was that it? Two pieces of evidence, in particular, contradicted that line of thought.

"I-I... Please, don't force me to say it..."

"Enough already! Just... enough! She already told you everything..." Kazuichi shouted at Hajime, despite his loud and outraged tone, Hajime could decipher nothing but desperation eating at the boy.

"Yeah! Just leave it... some things we're better off not knowing..." Akane seconded.

The majority of the students appeared to agree with the gymnast on that point, trying to shy away from the horrendous truth they knew was awaiting them if they searched for it.

"Well, I know I'm being intrusive and all... and I mean, I have no place to say this... but the question Hajime made is pretty important."  Nagito countered as he sent a disarming smile towards Kazuichi, a smile that inherently had no right to be placed on someone's lips in a moment like this.

"What do you mean?" Gundham asked once Kazuichi made no move to respond to Nagito's affirmation.

"I mean that we have to vote for the person who killed Mikan, right? Monokuma said it himself. So we need to know how Mikan died so we can vote correctly;"

"It won't change a thing, will it?" Akane asked not comprehending the point Nagito was making.

To Hajime, however, the implication was crystal-clear. The two of them had come in contact with the clue that pointed to the manner Mikan was killed.

"During the investigation, Nagito and I inspected the rope that was used for hanging Mikan, and... well, the rope was frayed in the middle, as if it was rubbed strongly." Hajime said trying to guide the rest of the students to the same conclusion he and Nagito had arrived at. "From what we can make of it, Mikan was strangled with that rope."

A few seconds of silence pass as the students digest the information.

"So what...?" Kazuichi finally says breaking the silence with a small voice.

"Huh?"

"So what? That doesn't change anything. Mikan was strangled, there's no difference between hanging and strangulation..."

"Though hanging and strangling seem similar, they're very different. The scars they leave would be different too." Chiaki pointed out.

"Well, we can't know for sure what Mikan's scars were from given that we don't have the medical knowledge to determine that, but if Mikan was hanged, the rope wouldn't be frayed in the middle, instead it was more likely that the end connected to the baton lighting would be the frayed part." Hajime explained.

He was confident in his assertions, there wasn't a more practical way for the killer to have killed Mikan, hanging the unconscious girl would be much more difficult, especially since there was the risk Mikan could've woken up from her passed out state.

"The Monokuma File complicates this, too. It never specified hanging or strangulation." Gundham remarked with his arms crossed.

"Then tell us, Sonia. Was that what happened?" Hajime was quite curious to see how the princess would respond to their deductions. More precisely, he was yearning to know who exactly had strangled Mikan.

It was obvious that the princess had not wanted to delay things any further than necessary, so Hajime's inquiries were probably not well-received by the girl. However, she was in no position to deny them an answer, she had told them that herself.

"Your deductions are correct... Mikan was killed by strangulation." For a moment it appeared that Kazuichi was going to drown himself once more in a new wave of flooding tears with the admission. "It is my fault... I'm the blackened."

"Are you, though? Were you the one to drape the rope around Mikan's neck and then strangle her with it?"

Sonia visibly flinched at the visual prospect Nagito's question brough. The fact that the boy had said that with an inadequately straight face only collaborated to make the tension in the room grow thicker.

"What the hell are you saying, you freak?!" Kazuichi had no qualms in voicing his distaste toward Nagito's unpleasant idiosyncrasies.

At first glance, Nagito's way of formulating that question would indeed look extremely tactless and cruel, yet, Hajime couldn't have put it better himself. Ibuki was under the effects of the Gullible Disease, when inspecting her body right after discovering it, they had found some burns running along with the extent of her palms and fingers. Those burns - despite being peculiar - hadn't been brought up in their discussion up until now. Why were Ibuki's hands in that state? As if rubbed strongly against some kind of fiber, similar to the rope used for hanging the nurse.

Could the musician possibly be the one 'responsible' for Mikan's death?

"No, I wanna hear the answer to that, too."

"Huh, didn't she already say it?!" Akane inquired a little more hostile than necessary

"No, not really. She told us it was her fault, which is... true. But the issue at hand here isn't if she's responsible or not, the issue is if the killer is actually her... or if it's Ibuki..."

Wide eyes stared dazedly at him. His own eyes didn't leave Sonia's frame in the middle of the ring, the princess had once more taken to avoid their prying eyes while keeping her mouth shut on the matter.

"Ibuki...?! What are you even talking about?" Mahiru questioned looking more confused by the prospect of suspecting Ibuki than anything else.

"I don't know if you noticed, but Ibuki's body had a minor detail that could be a decisive clue to deciding the killer of this case;" Nagito started before Hajime could say anything. "I'm talking about the rope burns on her hands, of course. It's weird, right? Why would we find an external injury like that on Ibuki?"

"She did...? Sorry, I didn't pay that much attention to her hands..." Fuyuhiko said looking down as if sheepish about his lack of insight.

"Are you saying that Ibuki was the one to... murder Mikan?" Chiaki's countenance was constituted by a semblance of horror at the prospect of what really had transpired the night prior.

"I don't know, I mean, there's only one person who knows what really happened." Nagito responded with closed eyes and a smile playing on his lips.

Brought once again to the spotlight, it was visible how hard the princess was trembling from the short distance she presented from the others.

"Miss Sonia... please, tell us what happened..."

Having even Kazuichi plead with her to share what she knew seemed to shock Sonia out of the confines of her own mind for a brief moment.

"I-I... It's true..." More tears and snot dripped down her face with each sniffle that left her. It was the most indecorous state he had seen the princess as of yet. "I commanded Ibuki to finish MIkan off..."

"That is...!" Not even Gundham was exempt from the horror the notion of the truth presented to them.

So it was like they had presumed. If Sonia - for whatever reason - had induced Ibuki to commit murder in her stead, what did that mean for them? Monokuma had been adamant about the Despair Disease being the motive, following that logic, Ibuki would have become the blackened instead of Sonia. If that was the case, then what was the purpose of killing the two girls? Was Sonia delirious enough to cause murder simply for the sake of it?

"Does that mean...?" Unbeknownst to him, the words left his lips.

"What should we do now? How can we determine the blackened if Ibuki was the one to strangle Mikan?" Chiaki spoke out directing the words to Monokuma more than anything. The bear, however, didn't seem to interpret it that way or was simply playing dumb.

"No! Ibuki has no fault in this. I am the culprit of this case, there's nothing else to it... I am the deplorable blackened who caused the demise of both Ibuki and Mikan!"

The desperate edge that bled into Sonia's voice could not be misinterpreted by anything if not pure anguish.

"Sonia... if what you're telling us is true then-"

"No, I cannot tarnish Ibuki's name any further! I refuse to sink any lower than what I've already done!" Sonia declared with a much firmer conviction than she previously lacked. "I... I refuse to...!"

"Well, but that's not up to you to decide, is it?" Nagito chimed in. "Monokuma is the one who decides who's the true blackened. So Monokuma... what's your verdict?"

Monokuma for his part, stayed completely immobile to the inquiry, showing no emotion whatsoever.

"Huh, is he asleep or somethin'?" Akane asked sounding already pretty done with whatever Monokuma was doing.

"I wish I was... Your discussion just keeps going in circles and circles, it's so much boring..." The bear drawled the last part as if the 'boredom' of it all was physically paining him. "Also, I don't have to tell you anything! I'm not about to spill the beans on who you guys need to vote for, that's completely up to you!"

Monokuma's silence posed an immense threat hanging over their heads. If he truly wasn't willing to clarify their doubts, that meant they would need to either guess the blackened or carve the truth out of Sonia somehow. From the determined glint that had resurfaced on the princess' eyes, he doubted that she would be willing to share anything else with the rest of them.

What worried him the most, however, was the possibility that Sonia lied to them.

The impasse was born because they couldn't trust her words. Undoubtedly, Sonia was the prime perpetrator and responsible party for what had transpired. The issue, however, was which of the two possible culprits was considered the blackened by Monokuma's rules. As a last resource, Sonia could be manipulating everyone into voting for Ibuki in the pretense of sparing her life given that she had 'commanded' Ibuki to kill Mikan instead of doing it herself. But for all they knew, Sonia could be lying. If that was the case, they found themselves in a tremendous dilemma.

As far as Hajime was concerned, aside from the burns on Ibuki's palms there wasn't any other evidence that would implicate the true blackened.

If this was all an elaborate ploy to place the blame on someone else...

"Wait, but doesn't that mean that miss Sonia isn't the culprit...?" Kazuichi it seemed, had reached the same realization.

"That's right! If Ibuki was the one to kill Mikan, then she's the blackened, right?!" Akane said with a hopeful glint overtaking her eyes.

For a moment it seemed as if no one was questioning the validity of that reasoning, not considering that this could very much be a trap set by the killer. As far as he could tell, Sonia wasn't acting, at least not completely, everything just seemed and sounded too raw to be anything but legitimate, but he couldn't trust the girl's morale to be strong enough for her to accept punishment without even trying to defend herself - regardless of how guilty and regretful she felt.

"No, regardless of how you look at it... there is no doubt that I'm the culprit. Me commanding Ibuki to end Mikan's life was what caused both her deaths, therefore... I'm the blackened."

"However, if Ibuki was the one to force Mikan into the ranks of the dead, that would make her the one we shall vote for." Gundham countered taking her statement at face value similar to Kazuichi.

"Can we really trust what she's saying, though?"

He knew he couldn't let the discussion derail any farther than that without bringing to their attention the possibility of a lie being played on them. It was far from pleasant to be the one doing it, but it had to be done nevertheless.

"I mean, she could be lying about commanding Mikan to do it."

"What?! Don't you fucking know what this means? If Ibuki was the one to kill Mikan, then miss Sonia doesn't have to die here, too!" It shouldn't come as a surprise that the mechanic would automatically jump to the princess' defense despite not having any concrete proof of her alleged innocence.

"No kiddin'! Do you want her to die or somethin'?!" Akane chimed in, not sounding pleased at all at his interference.

"That's not-!"

"But if Ibuki was the one to strangle Mikan, then we can't say that Sonia is the blackened, right?. You guys said it yourself, the burns on Ibuki's hands would suggest that she was the one to do this." Fuyuhiko argued more undisturbed than the other two.

"I know, but-"

If it's true... then we can't vote for Sonia." Mahiru whispered almost inaudible to their ears. "We... won't have someone else die."

It was clear from her tone and expression that the photographer wished more than anything for that to be the case, for as sad and horrendous the prospect of Ibuki having been forced to take her own and someone else's life was, the mere possibility of not losing someone else was somewhat tangible now that the idea had infiltrated their minds. Now they could hope for that ending, hope for the conclusion where nobody else had to perish in order for them to survive.

Hope wasn't inherently good. The situation they found themselves in explicitly exemplified that.

Sometimes, it was best to not hope at all.

They yearn for hope because they despair. They despair because they yearn for hope.

Somehow those words felt familiar to him.

"I'm not saying that that's what I want... But I think we should seriously discuss whether Sonia could be lying about this or not."

It was easier said than done, but the least he could do was bring that possibility to their attention, even if they disagreed on it.

As it was, they clearly did. The exception was Nagito, who for his part just stayed silent observing everything from the opposite end with an unassuming smile.

"I have had enough of lies... I will take my parting as noble as I can, come what may." Resolute was the best word he could describe Sonia at the moment. Despite not nearly looking as pristine as her usual self, it was clear why the girl had the Ultimate Princess title. A title that meant much more than simply having a fortunate upbringing,

"Yeah, that's right! I have to believe miss Sonia...! I-If I don't... then what even is left for me to do...?!"

It was strangely uneasy to witness Kazuichi acting so foolishly brave. He could never picture himself acting likewise, trusting so deeply with so shallow reasons. It irked him a little to think the boy would be willing to not only sacrifice his, but everyone's life just so he could blindly place his trust in an idolized version of what he thought was his 'true love', or whatever.

"I... wanna believe her too... We already lost so many..." Mahiru's statement was less than encouraging, he wasn't sure if she was saying it more to herself than the others.

"You... you cannot-!"

"I get what you guys mean. I do doubt her, but I still want to believe in her." Chiaki cut him off abruptly. "Though, Hajime is not wrong to think like that. We have to be careful when voting, Monokuma will definitely not spare us if we get it wrong."

"I don't really get it, but those burns on Ibuki's hands sure are suspicious. My gut is tellin' me that those burns musta being 'cuz she strangled Mikan!"

"You cannot possibly be thinking of betting our lives on a hunch!" Hajime yelled at the complete nonsense Akane was spitting at them.

It wasn't like he couldn't understand what they were feeling. He did understand because he felt the same way, he didn't wish for Sonia's demise in some twisted sense of justice, and he most certainly didn't want to give Monokuma the satisfaction of tormenting them a little more. It was because he understood that he knew they couldn't merely do what they desired. The sick game Monokuma forced them to play wasn't one cemented in emotions and whims, quite the opposite actually. They had to follow logic, not due to any sense of duty but because there was no other choice.

"Sonia, how can we know for sure if what you're telling us is true?" Fuyuhiko asked, at last putting the suspect to give them information.

"I don't know how I could convince you. But the reason I did what I did was to evade any suspicion being thrown my way. I wasn't in my right mind, but... I still didn't wish to be punished in case my plan went wrong..."

It was truly impressive that despite how shameful what the princess confessed was, she maintained her pose without wavering, not hesitating to deliver their request as best as she could, disregarding her own honor while doing so.

"That would explain the motive behind why you commanded her. But if you planned on turning Ibuki in Mikan's killer and also making her take her own life, then why bother with a murder at all?" Chiaki pried.

"In my delusional state, I believed I would still be considered the blackened once Ibuki was dead, mainly for the fact that I am at fault for the atrocity that befell us. Turning Ibuki in Mikan's killer was naught but a ploy on my part." Sonia said with a wounded expression.

"I understand now. By having Ibuki murder Mikan, you could shroud yourself in a layer of security given by the evidence left on her body." Gundham commented somberly from behind the princess.

"...That is correct." Sonia repeated once more.

With that final confirmation, it seemed that things were settled. He couldn't hide his unease regarding how the other students wished to proceed with the vote. Hajime was at a loss, Sonia's testimony didn't appear to have any holes, and the princess couldn't be feigning the outbursts or the emotion that bled into her while confessing her doings.

Despite his instincts screaming at him to shout his disagreement, to refute every single word that Sonia had stated, he couldn't. Even if he kicked and screamed, there wasn't anything for him to say. All the cards had been laid upon the table already.

Or so he hoped.

At last, their discussion came to an end. Hajime wasn't entirely too sure if he was relieved or frightened. Similar to the previous voting times, he could never cease the nerve-wracking tension that traveled through his body when it was time to make a decision that could ultimately lead to all of their deaths. Regardless of how sure they were about the real culprit.

Last time, Hajime had voted incorrectly on Fuyuhiko. They had got it right by one vote. It had been too close for comfort and once again he felt as if they were in a similar situation. Except for this time, the majority of the students were already settled on a decision.

Voting for Ibuki as the culprit.

"It sure has gotten pretty quiet in here. Does that mean that is alright if we proceed to the voting time?" Monokuma asked expectantly, just waiting for their consent in order to relish himself in the uncertainty that was sure to follow once they had finally cast their votes, without the possibility of taking it back.

Silence meant consent in Monokuma's dictionary as he enthusiastically declared the start of the voting time.

"Well then! Please use the letter in front of you and cast your vote, and just a reminder, you better vote for someone! It's voting time!"

He was tempted to go against his better judgment and cast his vote on Sonia, but logic was logic. After all, it wasn't a game of whims, he knew that better of all.

He voted for Ibuki.

He truly hoped that it was the right answer. He trusted that luck would for once have nothing to do with it.

"Well then, let us see the results!" The big screen from above descended from the wall and start displaying the slot machine interface. “Who will be chosen as the blackened?! Will make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one?!”

He had completely ceased breathing as each slot passed rapidly on the screen, getting slower and slower each second, seconds that seemed like minutes by the time it finally halted on Ibuki's avatar.

All the crushing weight of exhaustion and apprehension was washed away in the instant that the slot machine sentenced Ibuki as the guilty party.

For a moment Hajime felt like succumbing on the spot, let his knees buckle under him as he flippantly fell to the ground, and stayed there for as long as necessary, regardless s of how utterly mortifying that would be.

Since waking up from the hospital and starting the investigation, he was yet to have a second to stop and simply rest. A moment to simply rest his head on the pillow and not have to worry about his well-being, about Nagito's well-being.

A moment without fearing for his life.

"Oh darned it! I was excited that you'd all get it wrong this time... but unfortunately, you voted right. The brutal murder of herself and Mikan Tsumiki was the Ultimate Musician, Ibuki Mioda!"

"No... Ibuki is not to blame for this..."

Sonia was in tears once again, her face contorted with hard lines over her pained expression.

The macabre atmosphere left no room for celebration.

While deep inside he was glad for Sonia's life being spared, it didn't escape his mind, however, the reason behind why that was; that Ibuki had been forced to murder and to suicide. Despite the fact that Sonia was influenced by the disease, it left a bitter taste to think that one of them had been capable of it. Even bitter was the knowledge that he had been one step from being in the same position.

The princess couldn't have put it better, It was truly shameful. Somehow, he could relate to Sonia in that aspect.

"Jeez, you're all so moody it's like someone died... Oh, well!" Monokuma snickered from behind his paw at his pathetic attempt at inadequate comedy. When no one gave any indication of reacting, the bear bristled at them with distaste as he made his way out. "Ah! So annoying, I'm done with y'all moping around, you're starting to get my fur all frizzly!"

Thankfully, Monokuma appeared to have had enough of them and vanished right after he delivered his comment.

"I plead your forgiveness... I know I have no right in requesting this, but... I shall repent for what I have done." Sonia said to the whole room, her eyes glassy and irritated but not spilling tears anymore. 

"Miss Sonia... This is all really messed up. But it wasn't your fault, it could've been any one of us in your shoes right now, and... we have no other choice but to move forward."

Kazuichi's words were pretty empathetic to Hajime, a little too much in his opinion. Nonetheless, it seemed that those were the exact things the others needed to hear at the moment as they reign themselves in.

"He's right... I'm no saint but I... I still want to do my best. That's what this is all about, right?" Fuyuhiko remarked as a soft expression took over his features, the reminder of Peko ringed in Hajime's brain as he reprimanded himself. It was greatly hypocritical to be judging either of them for the things they'd done when he was after the same thing just a few hours ago, especially considering Sonia's inability to act otherwise.

"You're right. We cannot change what has happened, but... we can only move forward. Move forward and live in the name of those who are gone." Mahiru stated rubbing the tear tracks away with the back of her hand and giving a small, sad smile to Sonia.

For a moment it seemed like the princess would release a new lagoon of tears, instead, she refrained from it and tried to reciprocate the smile.

It was impressive, Hajime thought. Despite all the horrendous adversities that led them to this moment, they were still willing to do their best in the face of such crushing circumstances. Hajime couldn't bring himself to feel like that.

It was likely his pessimistic nature speaking, he couldn't possibly see himself trying to do his best after the events that unfolded. It just seemed... meaningless.

What good would it do to be acting so positively? It certainly wouldn't be making them any favors when that hope was crushed by yet again another daunting despair. It was inevitable, as long as Hajime was there, he knew they wouldn't be getting a slight semblance of peace. The same applied to Nagito, his fickle luck cycles were as based on bad luck as much as good for what he had witnessed, so maybe it was destiny that the two of them were there together to lead the other students to their imminent doom.

Ha, as if.

Retrospectively, Hajime and Nagito were a separate batch of the group. Their own singular category amongst the Ultimates, isolated and yet orbiting around.

It was better that way, anyway.

The sky was an orange hue tone by the time they had left the courtroom's underground premises. More than anything, Hajime craved the softness of his bed in contrast to the quiet of his room.

No one seemed to notice as he took his way off towards his own cottage.

Little mercies.

He could only recall falling on his bed and losing consciousness just as soon as he landed on the comfortable mattress. The night sky was shining with a thousand million stars that bear witness to the seemingly peaceful tropical island by the time he was plunged off his slumber by a small knocking on his door, the sound was faint, almost too faint, but his body judged it loud enough to wake him.

Still dazed from the nap, Hajime grumbled as he maneuvered his body towards the door trying and failing to not bump into anything.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Nagito had been the one on the other side. It's not like any of the others would've bothered to see him.

"Oh, you were sleeping? I guess it makes sense, I'm terribly sorry for bothering you with my presence like this."

"What do you want?" He sounded harsher than he intended but Nagito as usual didn't seem to mind as he motioned to the inside of his room in a silent request to get in.

Hajime stepped aside and opened the door wider so the boy could pass. Nagito was standing in the middle of the room eyeing Hajime with interest who had taken a seat on his bed.

"So. what's up?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing."

Whatever he was expecting the boy to say, it certainly wasn't that.

"You do...?"

"Of course! I know I shouldn't be such a torn on your side but I was concerned with how you were dealing after the trial."

He thought that Nagito would say something else. to correlate the true reason behind his visit but the boy didn't say anything else as they stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"Thanks, I guess." It was a little disconcerting to be hearing words of concern, coming from Nagito of all people, but it did make him feel better regarding the situation. After the trial, he had been under some sort of numb trance until he arrived at the safety of his cottage, and the pretense of sleeping his exhaustion off, he hadn't been in a good state of mind to be contemplating much during that time, though now that Nagito brought the matter up, he did was curious about one thing.

"You knew, right? About Ibuki?"

Yes, I did have my suspicions."

"Why didn't you say anything earlier then?"

"Um... well, it's not like I didn't know that you would figure it out sooner or later, so I decided to not get in your way. Plus, I have to admit that I wasn't entirely sure if Sonia was putting up an act or not." Nagito responded hiding his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

"Even so, you could've said so sooner."

Nagito stared at Hajime for a moment as if Hajime was asking the silliest thing ever before responding.

"What would have been accomplished if I just said it? You guys fought hard in order to get to the truth, by doing that your hopes were able to shine even brighter!"

He wasn't surprised by his reasoning, if he was being honest, he already kinda knew it. It didn't make it any less irritating, though. He could've spared them all the trouble and anguish of going through everything, instead, he decided to keep quiet to himself while relishing as their issues progressed further and further. as they dived deeper into the ocean of uncertainty and suspicion insured by Monokuma and themselves.

Regardless, arguing with Nagito about his morals would certainly do no good for either of them. It's not like he could change the boy's mind so promptly by saying some words. No, Nagito's convictions ran much deeper than that, it was engraved into his being, he could tell. After all, there was a foundation to some of Nagito's beliefs, twisted as they may be.

There was no changing that.

"I also came here to... express my gratitude towards you." Nagito continued when Hajime made no indication to respond.

"Huh? Gratitude towards what?"

"Well, you did save my life last night, right? If it wasn't for you, I would've certainly been one of Sonia's victims."

"You... You don't have to thank me for that..."

"I do, though. If I'm honest with you, despite being in a regular unconscious state, I was still mildly... aware, of my environment. I remember wishing that you would be there with me and... well, I am indeed lucky, ain't I? You visiting me was truly an act of good luck on my part."

"No, I-" It hadn't been an act of any kind of luck. Hajime had been worried, he thought Nagito wouldn't have survived till the next morning. But if Nagito was telling the truth, did that mean that he was influenced by the boy's own luck to protect him?

It didn't matter, anyway. The prior reason for Hajime's actions the previous night had been of his own volition. If luck had anything to do with it, then luck could go to hell.

"It wasn't your luck that brought me there." Hajime said instead.

Judging from the slight crease on the boy's brow, it was clear to see that Nagito differed in his opinion, though he kept his thoughts to himself as he gave Hajime a small nod and smiled.

"Well, I'm not gonna impose my presence onto you any longer, have a good night, Hajime."

Without saying another word, Nagito walked towards the door and was midway through when Hajime spoke.

"Wait...!"

Nagito stopped with one foot outside the cottage as he whirled around to face Hajime who had jumped up from the bed.

Hajime wasn't certain what he intended to say at all, his reaction had been more compulsive than anything but...

He walked towards Nagito who in his full height had a good few inches on him, which was a bit disconcerting. His hands were sweaty and he could feel his chest growing heavier with each labored breath he took. What was he even doing?

Nagito appeared to be as bewildered as he felt, he could only imagine his appearance after just waking up from hours of sleep, he could feel the heavy bags underneath his eyes that were most certainly not making him any favors.

Despite all of that, Hajime wasn't a coward, or at the very least he wasn't too fond of thinking of himself as one.

Taking a deep breath and gathering much-need courage, he leaned into Nagito's space while slightly lifting himself on the tip of his toes as he placed a languid kiss on the luckster's cheek. 

Once returning to his original position, he could faintly outline the furious rush of blood on the boy's face as he stared with wide, stupefied eyes at Hajime. The kiss hadn't pertained for more than a few seconds but he could also feel the blood coloring his cheeks all the same.

"Just don't do anything stupid." He managed to choke out before closing the door a little more frantically than he intended on Nagito's face.

Despite his utter embarrassment, he couldn't help the smile that slipped on his features due to the phantom sensation lingering on the tip of his lips.

ACT 3: Of Wisdom, Lies, and Tyrants

END

Students Remaining: 9?

Chapter Text

ACT 4: Trapped By The Ocean's Symphony? Not Anymore

CHAPTER 15: Do Ultimate Robots Dream of Clockwork?

Every cloud held a silver lining. Or that was the saying anyway.

Thankfully, Hajime didn't have to suffer much through his mortification from the previous night, once he had hit his head on the pillow again, it wasn't long before he buckled under the pressure of sleep deprivation.

The sun, the same as always, rose from the neverending, blue-filled horizon with lethargic effort. The first thing to cross his mind as he bolted consciously once again, was that the countdown on Jabberwock Park was nearing its deadline. He had no idea how many days were still left, he had lost count of it some couple of days ago, and he somewhat relished in the ignorance that it brought.

Nowadays it seemed that it was all a monotonous repetition of everything. Regardless of how days remained, he was positive that Monokuma would surely announce another new way to torment them, trying as best as he could to influence another murder to take place. It was also more than likely that the fourth island would be unlocked so they could explore it at their own discretion.

How terrible horrible it was that that had become their routine of all things.

An inert fear clawed its way from the depths of his brain. The Despair Disease had been by far the most dangerous obstacle they had faced up until now. Especially considering that both Hajime and Nagito had been unlucky enough to be contaminated. Compared to the two previous motives, the peril had grown exponentially, which left Hajime to wonder if the next one would be as atrocious or even worst than the Despair Disease.

He certainly wouldn't put past Monokuma.

The countdown brought the notion that soon enough, one way or another, this whole ordeal would be over.

He honestly couldn't discern if he was excited about it or dreading what it would bring.

Would the responsible people for putting them there kill them once it was all over? That sounded preposterous judging by how they were all sitting ducks compared to the seemingly omnipotent presence Monokuma presented. If whoever put them on this island wanted them dead, then they would've all perished by now.

Despite knowing all the mishappenings that could ensue once the timer reached zero, Hajime found himself thriving for the finality of it all.

He was far from suicidal, but perhaps it would be best to put them out of their misery once and for all. The wariness cemented on their doubts only served to surround them with the uncertainty of something as outwardly as a tomorrow. Somehow, the complete lack of knowledge regarding their future was more daunting than anything Monokuma could pose them with.

There were only nine of them left now. They were still to be made aware of Nekomaru's wellbeing, but until Monokuma graced them with that information it was best to not nurture any false hope.

Not half of them had passed away, yet the island only grew more claustrophobic and desert with each and everyone they'd lost.

With those thoughts filling his head, Hajime walked toward the restaurant in the hopes of satiating his hunger, which made itself quite pronounced by how much his stomach was growling.

It seemed he was making an unhealthy habit of sleeping with an empty stomach.

A somber atmosphere encompassed the entirety of the restaurant and its habitants. Most of them were already present quietly munching their breakfast not daring to break the tense silence.

Sonia it seemed, was the only one missing from the meeting. He wondered if it was due to some sense of guilt or inappropriateness given her guilty verdict.

He couldn't blame her. Not when he had done the same a few weeks ago when the one accused of planning a murder was him. Despite not being the one at fault, Hajime couldn't stand the thought of imposing his presence in such hostile territory.

The tension seemed to pass unnoticed by Akane whose mouth was barely supporting the huge amount of food she was stuffing herself in. Kazuichi and Mahiru were seated adjacently to one another, though the scene couldn't be more disturbing. He presumed Mahiru had attempted to comfort the mechanic while the same stayed in a catatonic-like state and she felt just bad and decided to sit next to him as some form of consolation, Hajime guessed.

Nagito startled a bit when Hajime settled himself on the boy's side as if not expecting Hajime to grace him with his person. As per usual, there wasn't much to be found on the boy's trail, a half-eaten toast, and some fruit, it was a given that Nagito's body managed to function with so little nourishment.

"Um... H-Hajime...!"

"What?"

He knew exactly why Nagito was this skittish near him, the memories from the kiss he had given the luckster were far from fading. It was only natural for an awkward air to be born from that development, however, Hajime couldn't find in himself to regret it. It had been pretty spontaneous of him to act so unbiddenly. He presumed it was the delayed relief he felt over their survival, the euphoria that came from living yet another day.

Truthfully, he couldn't tell what had prompted him to kiss Nagito the previous night, he just felt like it and pursued his wish without hesitating.

He couldn't know if the boy reciprocated the same feeling, given Hajime's luck it was more than likely for that to be the case, regardless of it, he doubted Nagito would tell him otherwise though, the boy appeared to believe he had no saying in anything, subverted to whatever the world deemed fit without the right to complain. Which was why Hajime thought it better to act normally, he wouldn't coax Nagito into anything, much less treat him differently from before.

He was fond of Nagito. Despite all the twisted ideals and morals and the more than dubious schemes, he found a kindred spirit in the boy, something he never thought he would find in his life, especially not in a situation as horrendous as the one they were at the moment.

It was somewhat freeing being able to acknowledge it.

Of course, he wasn't safe from the embarrassment,  though regretful he wasn't, nor was he ashamed of showing his infatuation, regardless of the gesture being as small as a kiss on the cheek.

"I mean, I'm sorry for last night if I made you feel uncomfortable or anything..."

The words were more for Nagito's benefit than what he truly felt.

"Oh, I get it... I knew it had to be a mistake, it's ludicrous to think you would lower yourself to the level of trash like me. You must be disgusted, aren't you?"

"Don't twist my words." Hajime chastised a little annoyed that Nagito would assume he was disgusted. "I don't regret it, I just... don't want you to feel uncomfortable about it."

Nagito pondered for a moment, expression giving nothing away, though Hajime suspected that he was mostly confused and disbelieving of Hajime's words seeing how bad of an opinion he had of himself.

"Then why did you do it?" Nagito asked. It was hard to decipher his tone, he didn't sound angry nor expectant, merely awaiting.

"I..." felt like it. "I like you, okay? I enjoy your company and I consider you my friend... maybe even more 'cause you...  because you understand."

Indeed, Nagito understood more than anyone how it was to be like them. That being true didn't make admitting his feelings to Nagito any less ignominious, no matter how much he tried to contain his blood to rush to his face. 

"I see..." Nagito didn't appear to actually see anything, or merely was deciding against showing anything on his expression. A few awkward seconds passed as Hajime made his utmost effort to avoid eye contact. "Well, I can't say I understand your tastes, Hajime. Not caring to be in the presence of scum like me... Haha, you sure are something else, huh?"

Hajime wasn't entirely too certain about answering such a weird question, so he decided to shrug his shoulders before the conversation could escalate to an undesirable territory.

Breakfast resumed peacefully, and somewhat eerily silent as the students mouthed their food not sharing conversations. That silence, however, did not last, Monokuma appeared out of thin air in the middle of the room with the gloomiest look he had yet to see on the furry toy's face

"My, my... you guys are so~ boring. Look at your solemn faces and dead eyes like a fish! What even are you? Office workers?"

"And what do you care? Are you here to announce another motive? If so, just do it and get lost."

"Oh, wow... Mr. Cranky Pants sure is sour today, huh? Man, all kids these days have attitude problems or something."

Hajime pointed the middle finger at Monokuma without gracing him with a vocal response.

"Are you here to deliver a new motive, though?" Nagito asked returning the conversation to more important matters.

"Huh, a new motive? Oh, are you guys that bloodthirsty to be yearning for a motive right after two of your friends kicked the bucket? Hah, I knew you guys still had in you." Monokuma said looking disgustingly satisfied and proud like a parent who just witnessed their kids graduating, which now that he considered it,  wouldn't be as inappropriate as it sounded given how Monokuma liked to call the act of getting away with murder.

"If it's not a motive... then what is it?" Chiaki asked moving her gaze away from her portable gamepad.

"Oh, you know how it's said that life has ups and downs? It's fun because downs come after ups, but if life was full of downs, wouldn't it get boring?" Monokuma questioned sheepishly scratching behind his head with a white stubby arm. "So in order to make you guys feel better, I've come here to tell you that Nekomaru is ready to be discharged."

Movement ceased as Monokuma finished speaking. Akane had a fair amount of droll descending her chin as she stopped midway through some seafood dish.

"Where?! Where is he?!" The gymnast shouted gulping the last of the food bolus in her mouth.

"He's at the first island, but-" 

Akane wasted no time in bolting out of the restaurant with surprisingly large and nimble jumps as she speeded down the stairs.

"Is Nekomaru, alright? He is, isn't he..." Despite her expectant gaze, it seemed Mahiru was in the waiting of Monokuma suddenly shouting 'sike' and crumbling with the sliver of hope that bloomed from the news of their classmate's survival.

"Um... 'alright'?... how should I say this... hmm..." Monokuma couldn't elaborate any further as all the students - Hajime included - followed Akane's steps and rushed out of the restaurant towards the first island. Arriving there more than a little breathless they were met with anything but what they were expecting to see. Akane was stock-still standing staring at the huge mass of sentient machinery staring right back with yellow, headlight-like eyes shining prominently even in contrast with the blinding sunlight.

"What the-!"

"Yo! I kept you waiting!"

No one spoke as they gawked transfixed at the Nekomaru-like automaton whose voice couldn't be confounded with its deep edge encompassing a much jovial tone underneath.

"Hey, what's going on?! Perhaps you don't remember my face since we haven't seen each other in a while?! That's pretty sad you know. That's too much! Gaaaah-hahaha!"

"Um... Who're you?" Akane asked more uncertain than Hajime had ever heard her.

"Huh? You too? What's going on? If you're messing with me... I'll stop doing 'IT' with you!"

Another pregnant pause ensued as the robot's words failed to prompt any reaction whatsoever.

"Um... Nekomaru...?" Chiaki said almost whispering. "Haven't you... noticed it yourself?"

"Oh, you mean this body? Gah-Hahaha this is nothing!" Robot-Nekomaru lifted his arms and closed his fists in the air as his eyes shone a brighter yellowish hue while his metallic chest puffed. "The name's Nekomaru Nidai! I've been reborn in the rivers of hell!"

It is Nekomaru...!

How could it be? It was as if Nekomaru's conscience and sentience had been implanted into a very advanced, very intricate piece of machinery that had no right to exist. How could something like that possibly be possible? Was Nekomaru's real body underneath all that paraphernalia? If so... How?

It was beyond insane, beyond crazy, beyond the realms of reality. Was Monokuma truly able to do something as farfetched as to 'reconstruct' one's own body? Did the plushie truly have so immensurable power?

Hajime felt queasy just thinking about it.

"Ahh...Aaahhh...Aaaahhhhhh..." Various sharp gasps resonated over the island from behind them. When Hajime looked back he was met with Sonia gaping wide-eyed at the supposedly Nekomaru with her mouth hanging open, "Aaaaahhhhhhh!"

Sonia's eyelids trembled as she stumbled a discoordinated step back looking as if she was about to faint. Gundham ran forward swiftly and managed to prevent the princess from falling on her back.

"Miss Sonia! W-Where did you come from?!"

"Oh, my...!" The princess mumbled trying to stand without leaning into Gundham who was inching away.

"You are in luck that I have lowered my legitimate defenses, otherwise you would've already been withering from the deviousness of my poisonous contact abilities!" Gundham remarked taking his hands off Sonia when the princess managed to stand stable on her own two feet, Kauichi was hovering near her glaring daggers at Gundham who glared right back, though lacking the mechanic's heat.

"Nekomaru...? Is it you?" Akane spoke more bewildered than anything.

"Gahaha! No matter how you look at it, I'm still me!" The energetic robot responded.

"What are you saying?! This... This isn't like you at all!" Mahiru shouted with her eyes almost jumping out of orbit.

"Jeez, you guys are a strange lot. You all have such big, wide eyes..." Neko-Mechamaru commented, bringing attention to their astonished reactions. "Oh, perhaps you've all fallen in love with this metallic body of mine?" The boy-man-robot said scratching his chin smugly.

Sonia, now composed, was still eyeing the robot with utter dread.

"Pardon me... Monokuma invaded my cottage to notice me about Nekomaru, but... I never imagined..."

"Hey, man! Don't go scaring miss Sonia with that weird mask of yours!" Kazuichi complained about not being aware at all of the current predicament.

Hajime could only observe while a bickering argument started as Kazuichi attempted ineffectively to remove the supposed 'mask' Nekomaru was using.

The situation as a whole was so absurd that Hajime chuckled at the mere concept of incorporating someone into a robot. 

"You know what? No, I'm not dealing with this shit right now." Hajime stated to no one in particular as he made to walk away from the scene.

Kazuichi gave a screeching scream as he realized that it was no mask covering Nekomaru's face, his entire body was now made of metal, cables, and electricity, or so Hajime suspected.

"How... are you even okay with that...? It doesn't even compare... to my eyepatch..." Fuyuhiko worded uncertainly. "How... can you accept that body?"

"It's better to just be alive!" Monokuma stated not waiting a bit.

That seemed to shock the others into silence at the simple - yet truthful admission.

"It's better to just be alive... Hey, don't you agree? If I'm still alive, I can talk to you all. If I'm alive, I can still fight... It doesn't matter what happened to my body! Not one bit!"

"Y-You're amazing...! Nekomaru is brimming with hope...!" Nagito said a little breathlessly as he wrapped his arms around himself in a one-sided hug.

Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko sent questioning gazes at Nagito's weird phrasing and ominous antics but Chiaki was soon to divert attention.

"Anyway, I'm glad... that's fine, right? Right? Nekomaru definitely came back to us..."

"My, my? Am I interrupting your touching reunion?" Monokuma butted in out of nowhere.

Monomi appeared right after wailing about Nekomaru's state. "Kyaaa! W-Why is Nekomaru a robot?!"

Indeed, that was the question of a million dollars. How in the world was such an inane affair possible? Where were they? An anime?

"Unfortunately, It was truly difficult to save Nekomaru from the jaws of death..." Monokuma muttered giving his back to them. "But they don't call me the 'Psychopop Magician' for nothing! Oh my goodness! Such a wonderful Before-and-After has occurred!"

"It appears to be a little too dramatic! Thanks to that, I'm getting stabbed by all these envious stares!" Nekomaru remarked scratching his neck as if sheepish.

"Was Monokuma really able to do that? Is he really that amazing?" Kazuichi asked, his tone sharing both fear and amazement at the proof of Nekomaru's conscience being implanted into metal and circuits, given his expertise, Hajime supposed that was an even greater feat in the mechanic's eyes.

"Stop admiring him..." Akane spat viciously, though her attention was far from being focused on Kazuichi, instead she was looking threateningly at Monokuma. Her stance was tense with unleashed animosity that Hajime could feel coming out in waves off the gymnast. "You stupid stuffed toy! Don't screw with people's bodies like that!"

"Hold on... if you harm Monokuma, you're gonna..." Fuyuhiko said before Akane jumped towards the bear and almost landed a swift attack on Monokuma who barely dodged the attack. Hajime froze as he saw the scene unfolding, Akane was too reckless to be once again trying to battle against the headmaster.

"Puhuhu, you intend to defy me yet again? You're quite the barbarian..." Monokuma stated looking pretty pissed with Akane's audacity. "Jeez, this time, you'll definitely fall prey to my Monouma Bazooka!"

Once more, the world became stark white as Monokuma plucked his infamed Bazooka out of nowhere and took aim at Akane. Like a deja vu, Nekomaru placed himself between the blast and the gymnast in order to protect her.

Except for this time, Nekomaru was still standing proudly with no injuries - in his case damage - whatsoever, the only hint that something collided with his frame at all was the singed parts on his metallic chest.

"Gahaha! That didn't faze me at all!" Mechamaru's boisterous voice echoed through the gone-quiet island.

"Coach Nekomaru!" Akane was already surveying Mechamaru's body looking for any injuries Monokuma's attack could've prompted.

"Ha! You don't have to worry about me! There's no way such a flimsy hit would put me down again, you know?! That's why we have to keep pushing forward, no matter what!"

In spite of the obvious changes in the body, Nekomaru's beliefs and identity remained the same, if not doubled over in expression. His mannerisms and loud personality aside, Hajime did believe that there wasn't a shred of doubt clogging the team manager's ideals, a belief so strong, so immutable that could rival even Nagito's.

"But how...? H=How are you like that?" Hajime couldn't help but question.

"Don't you mind that! Even I am unaware of how I came to this state, but can't say I'm not glad for it."

Only you would be...

"Are you fucking serious? He took that blast and doesn't even have a single scratch?" Fuyuhiko said looking troubled by the whole affair.

"Awesome...! H-He's... seriously a real robot..." Kazuichi muttered fascinated with Mechamaru, though Hajime couldn't see, he was sure droll was running down the mechanic's chin. "Hey, can you let me disassemble you?! Can you let me disassemble you and show me your insides?!"

"NOOOOOO THAAAANK YOOOOUU!" Nekomaru responded avidly. "If I get disassembled, I'll end up dying!"

"Oh, yeah, I suppose I should fill you in..." Monokuma interrupted with a paw on his mouth. "Even though he's a robot now if Nekomaru gets killed, it's still going to count as murder, okay? Of course, it's possible that Nekomaru is going to kill someone instead;"

"Don't say such foolish things, that'll never happen!"

"Well, with all that in mind, please enjoy to your heart's content this thrilling, crazy-awesome killing school trip together!" Monokuma delivered a dire round of laughter before he disappeared.

"It's... gonna take some time for me to mentally process this..." Fuyuhiko muttered under his breath. Hajime couldn't agree more, with how things had gone the last thing he was expecting to witness on the island was Nekomaru coming back from the dead as a robot, of all things.

"Me too... It's all just so... unrealistic..."

"Hey, you guys... It's not like I transformed into a monster. I just came back as a robot, you know?" Nekomaru with a pinch to his artificial brow.

"I'm sorry... I can't really see a difference." Chiaki said with an impassive face. He could comprehend what she was saying to some extent, if you looked past the obvious changes, Nekomaru was still the same in spirit. That had to count as something.

There wasn't anything they could do but accept. Since they set foot on this island, all they've been doing is accepting, complying, and adapting to the oddities they've been presented with. The impossible became normalcy as the delusional transformed into reality, and all they could do was... accept.

It was infuriating.

The island was its own world built on sand flakes and ocean tides, on murder proceeded by trials, on omnipotent, repulsive stuffed toys whose domains were far greater than they had any right to be.

A mad world.

Causes, reasons, circumstances, foreshadowing... those concepts had no space on here. That's what it means to live in a mad world

After the initial shock had dissipated, Hajime found it prudent to not dwell on it, wasting his brain way by trying to assimilate an out of depths situation would be making him no favors, and hanging on to each detail would make for an exercise in wastefulness. Especially given that they had more pressing issues to attend to once Monomi declared her victorious streak against the Monobeasts once more. 

No faster than he was gone, Monokuma appeared again and punched Monomi in the face, sending the stuffed rabbit to dive deep into the ocean as the bear laughed in delight.

"Yup, yup! Despite what that annoying rabbit did to my Monobeast, I sure have prepared a bunch of stuff you guys might find interesting." Monokuma stated cheekily hiding his never-ceasing sardonic smile behind his paws. "Such as... your students profile from your time at Hope's Peak Academy! And, and, and, and... clues of the Future Foundation!"

Future Foundation...?

"Future Foundation...?" Hajime rumbled not understanding what Monokuma was referring to.

"Yeah, Future Foundation, the organization also known as World Ender, the guys who ended the world!"

At Hajime's lack of reaction to the mention of such childish names for an organization, Monokuma grew exponentially more aggravated by his obliviousness.

"Jeez, have you been under a rock or something?! Or perhaps lost on a tropical island? Well, I guess I can't fault on that one but - even so! Didn't you pay attention when I explained this the first time?!"

"The first time?! This is the first I'm hearing about this!"

"Oh..." Monokuma stopped altogether and tilted his head as he stared impassively at Hajime. "Is that so...? Well, can't be helped, bears do have a short memory, you know?"

"I guess you weren't with us Monokuma first told us this, huh? I recall he first told us about World Ender when we were exploring the ruins on the second island, I guess it escaped my mind to tell you, Hajime." Nagito explained as he smiled pleasantly at him. "I'm so sorry, as to be expected of such a useless waste of space such as myself to withhold important information from you;"

"Don't say shit like that." Hajime huffed indignantly at Nagito's self-loathing premisses. "More importantly, is this Future Foundation - World Ender or whatever - the ones responsible for bringing us here?"

"They sure are, it's all thanks to them and Monomi, of course!"

So now they had a name for the people responsible for their predicament, he didn't know if it made him feel better or worse. Though it didn't go unnoticed to him the fact that Monokuma was so diligently offering this information. He wasn't naive enough to take Monokuma's words literally, especially since the bear disassociated himself from Monomi and whatever group she belonged to from the very beginning.

"Anyway, do your best to explore! Take caaare!" And just like that, he was gone.

An unsteady silence permeated the air as soon as the bear had dispersed.

"...So, what should we do?" Chiaki asked.

"Our only option is to go... obviously... we might find something that can take us home..." Kazuichi grumbled not happy in the least with Monokuma's antics.

"I seriously doubt that..."

"Indeed, to ponder the possibility of such opportune discovery is naught but wishful thinking." Gundham stated.

Left to their own devices yet again, the group of students dissolved into their predetermined lot and went ahead to uncover the supposed mysteries awaiting to be discovered. Gundham cordially invited a hesitant Sonia to travel to the fourth island with him and together they went up ahead followed by Chiaki, Mahiru, and a furious Kazuichi, who couldn't stop sending glares in the breeder's direction. Akane and Fuyuhiko were fussing over Nekomaru who wasn't wasting words at how great he felt about his new condition.

Not deeming it worth hanging back with them, Nagito and Hajime started a slow-rhythmic stroll to Jabberwock Park. Truthfully to Monomi's words, the fourth island was now available for them to explore, wherein the island provided them with a semblance of a quest, Hajime couldn't stop the lingering dreadful reminder that the only reason that was possible was due to two more of them losing their life.

The fact that they were faced with the possibility of uncovering any shred of information regarding their predicament was both exciting and discouraging, in spite of how much they hoped for a good ending - Gundham was completely right, that was nothing but wishful thinking. If Monokuma was lenient enough to provide them with relevant information, it merely emphasized how helpless they were, it meant Monokuma was confident enough to share that information without risking any backlash from them.

It pissed him off.

It infuriated him to one end the manner they were being played. Misguided to believe in a sliver of hope, all in the name of despair.

His thoughts might've been showing on his face as Nagito commented once they crossed the bridge.

"Why such a long face, Hajime? Aren't you excited about what's waiting for us?"

"Can't say I am. Even if there is something of importance hidden on this island, it's bound to have a catch to it. Monokuma wouldn't be as kindhearted to just give us information like that for nothing."

"While I do understand that, shouldn't you be more positive? Instead of cowering over this uncertainty, you should face it head-on!"

"I don't want to hear that from the epitome of optimism." Hajime responded drily as he took in the eccentric appearance of their new destination. From afar it was clear to distinguish the thematic aspect of the new facilities laying on the horizon. "Is that an... amusement park?"

"It does look like one."

It was as if the entire island was built upon the amusement park thematic, balloons were even floating in the air with helium levitating them towards the atmosphere. A giant castle could be seen at the very back, its towers reaching the highest point yet of the sky. Vivid colors danced all around, making everything look exciting, fun, amazing, and thrilling even. Somehow it felt...

"...It feels even creepier."

"Haha, why'd you say that?"

Despite playing dumb, Hajime had an inkling that Nagito was quite aware of what Hajime meant with that.

The first attraction of the apparent amusement park was a pretty messed-up excuse for a horror house, its appearance was similar to an oversized dollhouse, with brick walls and an over-the-top roof surrounded by a short fence. Judging by the mailbox, it was easy to discern the house as Monomi's, though it seemed Monokuma had taken pleasure disarranging it. Whatever cutesy building it was supposed to be had been converted into a haunted house of sorts.

What a pitiful sight.

"E-Ever sine he took m-my magic stick... he's being doing whatever he pleases..." Monomi whimpered from behind them. Hajime could not honestly bring himself to care, which led to him and Nagito brushing her off as they continued on their way, leaving her to a stone-faced Chiaki to deal with.

The castle wasn't that far off the road they were trotting on, the building was immense, Hajime felt nothing but a mere ant staring up at the towering premisses of the rocky palace. For an unknown reason, there was a picture of a cartoonish mouse smiling broadly at them from the gate leading inside the castle.

'Nezumi Caslte' it said.

All the members of the golden trio were staring up in amazement - plus Mahiru - Sonia especially had a keen look of nostalgia flashing behind her lids. While Gundham spilled on over the grandiose of such structure and architecture. Kazuichi was merely annoyed by the whole thing.

"Oh, my! It does resemble my abode back in Novoselic! Though, I suppose it is the farthest thing from a mice house..."

Mice house...? Whatever.

"Kyaaaaa! No, no, no! Mice are the only thing I can't handle!" Monomi shrieked as she trotted alongside Chiaki.

"Huh? What do you mean you don't like mice?" Kazuichi inquired not too gently indicating how displeased he was by their presence - not only Monomi's.

"Ugh...Ugh...Ughhh...!" Monokuma grumbled popping in front of them. As weird as it sounded, Monokuma appeared to be...gloomy.

"...Don't tell me - you're afraid of mice too?"

"Well, we're siblings after all... Tee hee..." The bear scratched his head but as he whirled around and was met with the mouse character once again he jumped out o the ground in fright. "N-Noooo! N-Not mice! I don't like themmm!"

"Nooooo! Not miiice...! They're gonna chew through my ear!" With their distaste towards mice made clear, both Monokuma and Monomi didn't waste a breath vanishing away to wherever they went when they weren't present.

"Hahaha! I see, I see... So even a beast as powerful as the likes of Monokuma possesses its weaknesses. Hm, that of course comes as no surprise to me, after all, I have ownership of the Evil Fourth Eye!" Hajime couldn't care less about Gundham's incessant drone, though it was interesting to know about Monokuma's repugnance towards mice.

He doubted, however, that it would ever come in handy.

"Ha! As if! You're so full of crap..." Kazuichi muttered irritably.

"I don't expect a simpletom menace such as yourself to comprehend even a shred of the knowledge I possess." Gundham retort not deeming Kazuichi with a glance.

"W-What did you say?! I'll show you who's a menace!"

"Cease this bickering!" Sonia demanded sternly placing herself between the two boys. "That is no way to act towards a classmate, Kazuichi!"

"B-But... miss Sonia...! He started it...!"

"And I am finishing it." Sonia declared with a tone that left no room for arguing.

"No kidding! Gosh, you're such a brute! Always going for violence, I would say I'm surprised, but you know I'm not." Mahiru consented swiftly.

Kazuichi did not look happy at all, regardless he shrunk in on himself at the princess' command, though once she had turned her back on him, the glare he sent Gundham's way was nothing short of murderous, the breeder, however, either didn't noticed or was simply choosing to not acknowledge the mechanic's existence.

Hajime couldn't care less about a petty quarrel such as that, so diverting attention from it was his best course of action.

"Should we try entering it?"

Seeing that no one had any objections, the group stepped forward and attempted to force open the large, rustic wooden doors. To their chagrin, the double doors were tightly shut.

"Guess that's that..."

"Indeed, that is disappointing. I was hella excited for exploring the interior..." Sonia sighed. Hajime was not about to correct the princess' on her manners of speech, that would be extremely embarrassing for the both of them. He also was fairly sure that Kazuichi would remember the vendetta he had against him if he so dared to share some words with the object of his obsession.

Deeming the palace as useless as it could get, the group wandered about until they walked into the roller coaster entrance;

The other trio, composed of Akane, Fuyuhiko, and Nekomaru, were already hanging out in the reception. As soon as they stepped inside, Monokuma popped in front of the students.

"Hello there, my enthusiastic students! I see that you're all excited to ride the super amazing Monokuma Roller Coaster, right? Well, it would be best if I finished with the renovation first, but - I can always make an exception for my lovely students."

"Monokuma Roller Coaster? Now that's a stupid name to call it." Fuyuhiko said snidely.

"Yeah, there's no chance I'm getting in that thing." Kazuichi said holding his beanie on top of his head.

"Now, now, don't say that! I also prepared a prize for you!" Monokuma contested with a neutral smile.

"I've bein' waiting for a long-ass time already! I wanna ride it now!" Akane shouted running to the middle seat of the roller coaster in await for it to start its percurse.

"Yep, yep, that's the spirit!"

"Wait a minute! Akane, are you seriously going to ride this thing just like that? What if it's a trap?" Mahiru inquired with both hands on her hips and a concerned frown painting her face.

"It could be fun... I think." Chiaki droned not looking worried in the least.

"Um, might I ask... where will this ride take us?" Sonia asked tilting her head in confusion.

"It won't take us anywhere, it's just gonna circle around and take us back here." Chiaki took it upon herself to explain.

"What... is the meaning behind that?"

"...You fiend, have never gone to an amusement park?"

"I am embarrassed to say that we do not have these in my country." Sonia responded with all politeness, though averting her gaze elsewhere.

"I see... I've only gone to an amusement park once myself during my childhood..." Gundham commented with his arms crossed in front of himself pondering his words. "But it was an amusement park in hell filled with man-eating demons!" He corrected without wasting a beat.

"Huh?! There are amusement parks in hell?! I have never heard of such a thing! By all means, please allow me to accompany you next time!" Sonia had stars shining in her eyes at the mere concept of such an atrocity. Her naivete was kind of funny if he so admitted within the confines of his own mind.

"Don't do it Mis,s Sonia! That guy has a habit of lying!" As usual, Kazuichi diminished Sonia's own opinions to get in between their interaction, which didn't seem to faze Gundham in the least. as he continued their conversation.

"The entrance fee is the blood of a virgin! I shall offer up your blood as tribute!" He let out a gurgle of laughter.

"Oh... that is a shame... it seems my blood cannot be used as the entrance fee..." Sonia remarked disheartened.

For a second, no one spoke a word or took a breath in as they digested the too intimate information the princess was sharing. From his peripherical vision, he could discern Kazuichi's eyes comically wide in their orbits. Deciding that he had no intentions of listening to the insufferable discussion that was bound to come, Hajime cut to the chase.

"So, what should we do? I'm personally not really keen on riding this thing."

"But it's a waste of time if we just keep standing here, right? Plus, Monokuma said there was a prize, so why don't we just try riding it?" Nagito suggested lifting his hands in the air to emphasize his point.

"I agree, it shouldn't be that bad if we just tried... I guess."

"Huh-huh, no way I'm going, I get super car-sick, y'know!" Kazuichi complained. "A-And hold on! Wh-Why do we have to 'just try riding it'?!" 

"...Nekomaru, can I leave this to you?" Nagito asked completely ignoring the mechanic's disbelieving shout.

"Understood! Leave it to me!" Nekomaru roared as he dived in Kazuichi's direction, the mechanic screamed his lungs off and desperately struggled to the best of his capacity, despite that, it wasn't enough to deter Nekomaru from forcing him into one of the seats of the roller coaster.

Seeing that there was no debating anymore, everyone entered a compartment and took their seats. Hajime ended up with Nagito on his side in the penultimate compartment, behind them Nekomaru took an entire compartment to himself and his rather bulky physic,

"All aboard the Great Ultra-Delicious Coaster!" Monokuma exclaimed as he pressed the button on the panel to start the locomotive. Not one second later the roller coaster took off at ultimate speed.

It was as if his face was being pulled back by the scalp, the tempered air rushing over his face with swift abandon. He could faintly make out some shouts and yelling coming from the passengers in front of them, but nothing he paid too much mid to, not when his biggest concern at the moment was to not let his hands slip from the safety in front of him.

At some goddamn point, something small hit Hajime in the eye ever so vigorously due to the speed they were racing. He couldn't help but yowl at the sudden rush of pain in his left eye, Nagito turned his head slightly to the side and he could make out his lips moving to say something but Hajime didn't hear a thing, the sound waves not quick enough to reach his ears.

When at last they finally returned to the roller coaster's entrance, Hajime moved a hand towards his throbbing eye to examine if it was something serious. Thankfully, the pain was reduced to his lids rather than the inner region of the socket, though he could barely see anything past the swollen flesh of his eyelids.

"Crap...!"

"Hajime, are you alright?"

Turning around he was met with Nagito's face hovering a few inches away from his, his countenance displaying mild concern.

"Something hit me in the eye... this fucking shoddy piece of crap...!"

"Hey, hey, what are you complaining about?! Wasn't the ride fun? I spent a long, long time getting this place all tidy up, y'know?" Monokuma inquired looking frustrated and wounded at the same time.

"Screw you! The hell was even that?! Something just hit out of nowhere!"

"Oh, you mean one of the screws popped out? Well, I did say that I should've had finished with maintenance before you guys rode it, huh? Guess this turned out to be a valuable lesson on safety precautions for all of you."

"I could've lost my eye, you bastard! T'hell would've I done if it happened?! " He noticed Fuyuhiko raising an eyebrow at him. "I-I mean, not that..." Whatever.

Hajime harumphed at the damned bear in frustration but arguing with Monokuma was an exercise in futility.

"You sure are unlucky, huh?" Fuyuhiko commented still side-eyeing him.

"No kidding..." Mahiru agreed. When she realized who she was agreeing with, her face contorted into a frown as she averted her gaze elsewhere.

Amidst all the troubles they were faced with, it had escaped his mind that for a short period, Mahiru had grown a bit close to Hiyoko. The lingering resentment towards Fuyuhiko was far from fading, he could tell that just by the look on her face. He wondered how they had managed to help Mikan in the hospital when she could barely look his way.

Hajime himself was conflicted with everything that had transpired, after all, he had escaped death by nothing but luck. Despite his conversation with Fuyuhiko, things weren't as simple as forgiving and forgetting. Hajime couldn't merely erase the disorienting sensation of waking in a pool of his own blood; the only aspect that kept him from distancing himself from the yakuza as much as he could - was that he truly believed that Fuyuhiko - despite his share of blame - hadn't meant for everything to end up like that.

The yakuza himself had lost someone dear to him.

Though he couldn't blame Mahiru for feeling distraught either.

"How about the prize? You said there was a prize, right?" Chiaki questioned Monokuma, taking attention off of Hajime for now. Nagito patted him awkwardly on the back in an attempt at reassurance.

"Of course! I'm a bear who keeps his promises, you know?" Monokuma hid his hands behind his back and when they returned he was now holding a journal-like item. "Here it is, your treat is a file!"

Chiaki took the file from the bear's stubby paws as the group surrounded her to get a glimpse of what it was all about. Hajime only managed to make out the 'Future' written on the front.

"Wait, is this a file from the Future Foundation?" Mahiru inquired a little unsure as to the veracity of the content. "Is it okay if we...?"

"Sure is, do whatever you like with it." Monokuma consented.

With everyone gathered around her, Chiaki opened the file.

The contents within it were as astonishing as they were tragic - if not borderline ludicrous. According to the file, Hope's Peak Academy had ironically become the site of the 'Killing School Life', due to a mastermind's influence which locked the students inside the school and forced them to kill one another. Similar to their own situation, the students grew paranoid with each passing day occasionating the killings that proceeded the several days in confinement. The twist was that in the end, some of the remaining students were able to counterattack the mastermind who paid with their life.

Culminating into the six last students escaping from the school.

Much to their surprise, there were photos from each of the survivors,

"Are those...?" Sonia pondered.

"They havet' be!" Akane assented.

Hajime roamed on that page in specific and his eyes caught one of the survivors.

Makoto Naegi, Ultimate (Un) Lucky Student.

The boy was picture perfect of... average. Nothing too outstanding regarding his profile, normal brown hair, and eyes, not ugly nor handsome, just... normal. Which he wouldn't have associated with a talent such as the ones Nagito and himself possessed.

"Is that...?" He heard Kazuichi's breath hitch.

"Wow, I barely recognized him!" Nekomaru shouted.

"What... is he doing here?" Nagito asked from Hajime's side and pointed toward one other surviving student...

Byakuya Togami.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 16: The Second Mouse Gets The Cheese

Byakuya Togami's portrait stared right back at them emanating snobbish disregard although being nothing but a picture.

While the Byakuya they knew was large and overbearing despite his good intentions, the one on the file was thin and looked like the personification of pretentiousness. Nonetheless, it was impossible not to recognize him, that was Byakuya despite the evident difference in appearance.

What was Byakuya doing in a file like that? How could that be?

"What is that Byakuya bastard doing in this?!" Fuyuhiko shouted outraged at the discovery.

"Th-This... definitely looks like Byakuya...!" Gundham uttered shocked.

"What... does this even mean...?" For once, even Nagito appeared to be disturbed by the prospect of a killing game happening inside of Hope's Peak of all places. It wasn't too surprising for Nagito to react that way, after all, the boy believed vehemently that the school had the utmost goal to nurture hope - a place where the symbols of hope could use as the foundation for their achievements. To think that a place as well-suited and renowned as Hope's Peak could fall from grace so drastically was to bring anyone to a halt.

"No kidding... what's this 'Killing School Life' they're talking about?!" Kazuichi asked looking a bit queasy by the concept.

"It looks like the killings we're involved in resemble the set of killings that happened before..." Nagito commented regaining a bit of his composure. "And... that took place inside Hope's Peak."

"Hold on... did these fucked up murders actually happen inside the Hope's Peak Academy? There's no fuckin' way the teachers or the police would let that happen!" Fuyuhiko contested - though, for someone who didn't believe in the events mentioned on the file, he looked pretty rattled by it.

"However... what if the Future Foundation - World Ender - was the one to initiate this?" Gundham prompted sounding as solemn as ever.

"You mean to say that that organization was the one to take over Hope's Peak Academy then?!" Nekomaru inquired.

"No way... Th-There's n-no way that it true...!" Mahiru held a hand covering her mouth in horror.

"If Byakuya were still alive, we would've been able to learn the details of this... How unfortunate."

Nagito's comment hit a little too close to home given how at the end of the day, he had been the one at fault for their leader's death, at least as far as the other students knew. Thankfully, no one seemed to share Hajime's discomfort, more focused on worrying about the revelation that Byakuya had been a participant in yet another killing game.

"However, we lost our memories, correct? That should have applied for Byakuya as well." Sonia pointed out.

"Not if he was the traitor..."

In actuality, it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that Byakuya was the supposed traitor. Hajime recalled that the affluent progeny - same as Hajime - had outright assumed that Monokuma's speech about a traitor was nothing but a bunch of crap. It would be beneficial to the traitor if they had enough influence to deviate anyone's suspicions towards his person. Byakuya's treacherous individual would also pose as an answer for the file on their hands now.

In spite of all that, Byakuya had been killed. Not only that but the boy had also gone to all extents to prevent a killing, which would contradict his theory.

Given his luck, the chances of Byakuya really being the traitor were slim. It would be too much of an easy conclusion for it to be true, too convenient for them to pursue it as fact. He was certain of it.

"Huh, Byakuya was the traitor...?!" Akane it seemed, had taken his hypothesis to heart.

"H-Hey! Don't go saying that! You can't just assume he was a traitor, not to mention that he's dead!" Mahiru, on the other hand, did not sound happy with his presumptions.

"I-I mean, I don't think there's a traitor either, but... it would explain this, right?" Hajime said pointing to the file sitting in Chiaki's hand.

"He's right... it is suspicious that Byakuya participated in another killing game, or at least I think so." Chiaki surprisingly said coming to his rescue.

"E-Even so...!"

Akin to Mahiru, the others didn't appear to enjoy entertaining the idea that Byakuya could've been a traitor of the Future Foundation hiding among them with nefarious intents.

But even if Byakuya turned out not to be the traitor - it begged the question: What did the information contained in the file mean?

"Anyway, as long as Byakuya is no longer with us, we have no choice but to ask Monokuma..." Nagito suggested not sounding very pleased by the fact. "So... how does the Killing School Life that occurred in Hope's Peak relate to this island?"

"All I can say is..." Monokuma at some point had given his back to them. "All the answers are in your lost school memories!"

Useful as always.

"Then give it back already! Just give us our memories back!" Akane threatened Monokuma who couldn't be more nonchalant.

"No, no, the Future Foundation was the one to steal your memories. I am in no condition to give them back in my state right now."

"Regardless, it's unforgivable... I will never forgive those who try to trample hope... They should all be destroyed...!" Hajime couldn't recall ever seeing Nagito angry but there was no mistaking his tone. His right knuckles were white with how hard he was closing his fist, making his already pale complexion look ghostly.

In the end, Monokuma wouldn't be willing to give them any answer. Their paranoia and discord were what the bear lived for, after all.

"What should we do know? Is there something else for us to discover?" Somehow he doubted.

"If I'm not mistaken, there is still the 'Funnyhouse' to explore, correct?"

"The Funhouse, and we can only access it if we're all together." Fuyuhiko corrected the princess as they made to move out of the roller coaster's entrance towards the Funhouse.

It was a short walk, but long enough for an uneasy silence to encompass their group as everyone digested what had been uncovered about Byakuya's supposed past. Hajime was surprised no one had reacted any worse if he was honest. If even Hope's Peak was taken over by the Future Foundation then - what was going on in the world? How was the world outside this island? It couldn't be any worse than being trapped and forced into a killing game... right?

Hajime was starting to fear the worst.

If the Future Foundation - World Ender or whatever crap they decided to call themselves - really had the power and resources to kidnap all of them, Ultimates students from one of the most influential schools in the world, and steal their memories while doing so, then what was beyond their capabilities?

Just thinking about it made him sick.

Why were they brought there in the first place? Was there even a reason? With each passing day, it seemed that the answer was becoming a very unpleasant one.

The locomotive that would lead them to the Funhouse was with no surprise Monokuma thematized, as was everything in this godforsaken place. He never thought the combination of black and white would enrage him quite that much.

As if on cue, the monochromatic teddy bear popped up on the side of the train tracks.

"You don't need to be so cautious. it's not like it's gonna speed up, drop, fly, or anything else."

"I-I'm gonna believe you this time! So you better be telling the truth." Kazuichi's naivete was pathetic at best and dangerous at worse.

"The fact that you don't think we should be cautious only brings me to think that we should." Hajime spat not making an ounce of effort to hide his distaste.

"Alright then! Let's go!" Akane shouted and entered the small train once Monokuma made sure to open its entrance gate.

As he sat on the last seat with Nagito on his side, a sudden tension invaded his senses. He couldn't place what had caused nor he discern if the feeling was anxiety or anticipation. His hands grew cold as the train started slowly moving and entered the tunnel. He was nervous, nearly sweating cold from the situation but he still couldn't put a finger on his reaction. The only thing he associated with was a bad omen.

Hajime couldn't keep still with slight tremors running over his body.

As he dwelled on the uncertainty of what was going on, he realized. Amongst all the doubts and questions they formed with the file they received, Hajime had forgotten somewhere along with the discussion that he was panicking. He had forgotten just how elusive Monokuma could be, how devilish he was, hiding his awfulness behind a carapace of false childish mischievousness.

"Ladies and gentlemen! This train is heading toward the Funhouse!" Monokuma yelled from the front wagon. "Allow me to guide you all to the world of surprises in this train that runs toward glory! Please be careful where you step. Also, it's dangerous to step up all of a sudden!"

He had forgotten that Monokuma had yet to deliver them a motive.

"...Well, it's not like you have time to do that."

Just as Hajime made to jump out from his seat, a large mass of white gas surrounded them. Hajime noticed a little too late that the gas was oozing off the holes on the walls of the dark tunnel.

He barely heard the shouts and yelling from his peers. His body was getting languid and lethargic as his thought process slowed significantly.

It was no time until they fell unconscious to Monokuma's cackling laugh resonating around them.

Awareness returned gradually to his still dozed body. The lingering throbbing pain from his left eye and the brightness he could sense in the other one made him center himself on the present.

Opening his right eye, bright neon red bombarded his sight. Through his hazy vision, he could faintly make out some strawberry icons moving along the walls. Everywhere.

It made him dizzy just from the prospect of it. To experience such atrocity first-hand was nearing unbearable.

It seemed Hajime had been the last to wake from his passed-out state judging by the bunch of voices expressing surprise and confusion echoing in the room.

"Mmm... Why was I sleeping in a place like this...?" Chiaki droned with a trail of drool running down her chin. "Oh well, I should go back to sleep a little longer..."

"Wh-! A-Are you narcoleptic or something...?!" Hajime griped indignantly as he slapped her on the back hard enough to impede her from curling in on herself on the ground again and falling asleep. Chiaki grumbled in annoyance but thought better than to try again.

"I assume... that this is that gas' doing..." Gundham commented looking more rattled than normally.

"Damn it...! What the hell is this place?!" Fuyuhiko was visibly enraged at their predicament. He could see a fairly large vein almost bursting with his stress.

"Could this be... the inside of the Funhouse?" Nagito pondered with a hand holding his chin thoughtfully.

"Yes, indeed! Welcome! To the interior of Strawberry House!" Monokuma announced appearing from thin air like usual.

"Strawberry House...? Isn't this the Funhouse?" Mahiru asked, still sporting some dark rings under her eyes.

"Of course it's the Funhouse. Strawberry House is just a part of the Funhouse!"

"A 'part', you say...?"

"Now then, allow me to explain already!" Monokuma moved his hands on his back and returned with some kind of map, he placed it on Nagito's hands since he was the closest to the bar. "Tadaaa! This is Strawberry House in its entirety! You are currently in the indoor park located on the third floor. As you can see... there's a lot of background equipment with strawberry designs. How fancy! On the second floor, you'll find a lounge that's perfect for refreshing up, and I've prepared five guest rooms that are lined up like BOOM! Also, they're divided up by quality grade."

Monokuma went on to explain the intrinsics of the three types of rooms he had disposed of for them. Apparently, the two deluxe rooms were both soundproof and had a good insulation system. The standard room wasn't as good but fairly decent. While the crummy rooms had severe airflow and draft problems.

Hajime wasn't paying too much attention to the bear's ramblings, but - if Monokuma had gone to the trouble of preparing rooms, that could only mean that he expected them to stay at that obnoxious tower. The fact that he had abducted them to the Funhouse was alarming enough.

"...That concludes the explanation for the second floor. Last but not least, on the first floor, there's a room called the 'Final Dead Room'! You can enter it at any given time, but be careful... especially when you pick the difficulty setting..." Monokuma continued with mirth in his eyes. "Leading from the first floor there is the Strawberry Hall, which leads to the upper dupper amazing tower standing in the middle of it all! Its name is Strawberry Tower!"

"You just keep rambling and rambling..." Akane huffed in annoyance.

"Well, that concluded the tour, though I guess it is hard to understand with my wordy explanation, huh? So please, use your own two feet to explore the inside of the Funhouse at your discretion... Any questions?"

"Hell yes, we have questions!" Kazuichi yelled at the seemingly none-the-wiser bear.

"To bring us to a place like this... what do you intend for us to do this time?" Gundham questioned, cutting to the chase instead of uselessly bickering with a demoniac plushie.

"That's right I have a bunch of questions, but let's start with that one first!" To see Kazuichi consenting with Gundham - his mortal enemy - sure made for a terrible harbinger.

"Ah, didn't I explain it to you...? This is the motive this time. An escape game!"

I knew it.

With his suspicions confirmed, Hajime could tangibly feel the rush of blood to the outer areas of his system at how furious he was. He knew that following along with Monokuma's plans could bring nothing but trouble for them, and yet, they still had fallen for his trap.

"An... escape hame...?" Sonia inquired not comprehending what the bear meant with it.

"The concept of this game is... a closed circle inside another closed circle... Like Hope's Peak Academy back then, this Funhouse is a complete closed space."

This wasn't good at all. If Monokuma was going as far as to remove their liberty to cause another murder, then what was next? Not to mention the claustrophobic, oppressive atmosphere the entirety of the Strawberry House appear to have. Hajime could not see himself staying trapped within that place for much longer.

"There's only one way to get out of this closed space building... When the killing begins! I'll let you guys out when the next killing happens! Let the escape game begin!"

Without any further ado, Monokuma vanished, thankfully making himself scarce before Hajime could've ripped his stuffing out.

"Goodness...! I cannot believe it! Trapped until the next killing happens... that is too...!" Hajime was uncertain if the light on Strawberry House was messing with his vision but Sonia had gotten much paler than her original complexion.

"This is no good. I knew this was a trap but - to think that it would be so straightforward..." Nagito mumbled.

"How very foolish of me! If only I had erected a magic barrier, I wouldn't have had to breathe in that gas...!"

"I ended up letting my guard down and fell asleep!"

Both Gundham and Nekomaru were clearly upset by the whole ordeal, and it wasn't surprising - Hajime himself was fuming with bottled aggression. Though he didn't want to know how Nekomaru could've fallen asleep being a robot, of all things.

"Like, why would gad even work on you?!" Kazuichi asked the question of million dollars. "That's supposed to be when you make your move!"

"Gas shouldn't pose a problem but... if they activate my sleeping mode, I won't stand a chance."

"...Sleep Mode?" Akane eyed Nekomaru's metallic body up and down in a confused manner.

"That's right, it's a cutting-edge function that puts my other functions to sleep, even if I have insomnia... Just press the button on the back of my neck, and I'll be forced to enter sleep mode!"

Hajime couldn't fathom why such an important function would be triggered by a button on the back of his neck. But Nekomaru's situation was so absurd in and off of itself that some sleep function was the least of his concerns.

"That makes no sense! You're a robot, aren't you? Then you obviously don't need sleep!" Mahiru stated not looking convinced at all.

"In order to awaken from sleep mode, I just need to set the alarm on my chest!"

"Your ches-? You know what, never mind." It was better to leave it at that, not worth going over every detail related to the illogical circumstances they were in.

"He probably wants to live like humans as much as he can... Such is the sad nature of robotic organisms..." Gundham remarked sternly.

"Anyway, it's best if we try to find an exit, right?" Chiaki suggested, finally taking the conversation somewhere useful.

"I doubt there is one. Monokuma wouldn't make such a big deal out of this if there was a convenient way out of here, don't you think?" He was certain there was no escaping this, he would bet that Monokuma had worked thoroughly in order to eliminate all possible escape routes. The only way out was when another killing happened, he was sure of it.

This was the motive after all.

"I agree, if there was an exit this wouldn't be a closed space, right? It would make Monokuma's motive meaningless." Nagito consented.

"What are two dumbasses giving up for?!" Fuyuhiko yelled loud enough for his words to ring around the oppressing red-colored room. "If we were brought inside this place, then there's definitely an exit out somewhere!"

He considered saying that there wasn't anything to hope for at that point, but he decided against it seeing that he couldn't be sure how both Fuyuhiko and Nagito would react to being told the truth.

"A-Amazing... A heart that refuses to give up until the very end... That must be hope..."

Case in point.

"Yes, I understand! Then let's explore the inside of this building with that map we got!" Nagito continued as if his loud pondering thoughts were the most casual thing in the world whilst the students gave him a weird look. Fuyuhiko, especially, sneered at the boy's antics but ultimately decided against saying anything too berating.

Nonetheless, it wasn't as if they had anything better to do but to explore the location they were in, so without more complaints, they trotted to the flight of stairs which stood close to one copy of the map Monokuma had shown to them earlier.

The second floor - as Monokuma had informed - contained a lounge followed by a hall with a bunch of doors, five in total. What caught his attention, most especially, was the inside of the lounge, which contained a wall clock and to their astonishment, a telephone.

Despite the initial euphoria of the prospect of calling someone - anyone - for help, their fickle hope fell flat once they noticed that the telephone had no digits whatsoever, the only button had a conspicuous grape symbol stamped on it. When they clicked the button and the phone started ringing, they waited for a few seconds, it appeared that the call was connecting somewhere, though no one was picking up.

The majority of the class had gone to inspect the rooms, so Hajime opted to descend to the first floor to see if there was anything useful, though he doubted it.

What he found instead, was the bathrooms that were in front of the stairs, the dubious Final Dead Room Monokuma had mentioned, and an elevator.

He couldn't understand the presence of an elevator on the first floor given that the other two floors had no such thing. A basement, perhaps?

His theories remained unproved given that the elevator didn't seem to be working. The button to call it had an identical grape symbol, he couldn't fathom why.

As he approached the ominous Final Dead Room, Monokuma appeared right in front of him effectively blocking his way and nearly giving him a heart attack on the spot.

"Ahh! W-What the hell do you want?!"

"Allow me to explain! The Final Dead Room is a challenge offered by your headmaster Monokuma! Only those who win the Life-Threatening Game that occurs in this room... will be able to reach the Octagon, the fabled holy land where the Ultimate Weapon sleeps!" Monokuma chirped. "Now then, if you're willing to risk your life to continue living. Then you totally should visit the Final Dead Room!"

"I'll pass..."

Just listening to Monokuma's voice hitching with excitement was enough for him to refuse the offer outright. He was certain nothing good would come out of it.

"Jeez, you're no fun. Though, I wonder how long this bravado of yours will last..." Monokuma snickered at him before vanishing as if he was never there to start with.

Taking a deep breath to reign in his nerves, Hajime mulled over what the bear had said. An Ultimate Weapon? Sounded like hyperbole if he ever heard one. Coming from Monokuma made it even less surprising given the history and tendency the bear had to twist and overvalue every bit of information he provided them with, normally with the intention of either sowing discord among the group or bait them into something - just like the entire Funhouse fiasco.

Hajime was certain it was no different this time. Leaving the Final Dead Room alone was their best course of action. He hoped the others would reach the same conclusion as well.

Reuniting with the rest of the students, they marched toward the hallway leading to the supposed Strawberry Tower. Pressing yet again another button, the electric slide doors opened for them and they were met with an identical door on the other side of the ring-like room, except this one had a grape icon instead of a strawberry. Unfortunately, the same obnoxious bright-red thematic surrounded the entirety of the tower, save for the ceiling, which was so high up he couldn't discern anything past a certain point. Aside from that, there were pillars adjacent to both doors and on the floor, there was a neon-white outline of Monomi - Usami more specifically - with a strawberry in her mouth.

"Perhaps... this door might be the exit!" Nekomaru exclaimed as both he and Akane rushed toward the door. Letting out a battle cry, Nekomaru tried with every fiber of his strength to open the door as he clutched the handle with all his might. As it turns out, the grape door didn't budge at all, no matter how much Nekomaru and Akane tried to pry it open.

Seeing that their efforts were futile, the group was left to return through the strawberry-patterned hallway, except now, Monokuma was standing right in front of the elevator.

"Hello! So, were you guys able to get a feeling of the Strawberry part of the Funhouse?"

"Part...? You say it like there is more to this place." Nagito commented.

"He did say that Strawberry House was only a part of the Funhouse earlier, right?"

"Oh, yeah! I must've forgotten!" Hajime didn't know what to make of the more than awkward interaction but decided to shrug it off.

"Well, you're both right! That's why there's this thing called contact elevator!" The monochromatic bear informed. "But it's not to say that just because it's called an elevator, it means it moves vertically. This is an elevator that moves along a rail, so even moving horizontally is easy as pie!"

"And this elevator takes us somewhere else?" Mahiru probed.

"Ding, ding, ding, correct! This elevator will take you to the Grape House!"

"Grape House...? You keep talkin' about all this fruit but where is the real deal?!" Akane questioned indignantly.

"Oh, don't you worry about that now, we'll get to that in a second. But for your information, the Funhouse is an enormous building that's made up of other buildings. Anyway, I'll see you guys there..."

Left with no other option but to comply, comply they did.

Entering the cramped elevator felt more familiar than he would've liked. The remainder that so many of them were lost due to their own hands couldn't be crueler. Despite that, the Funhouse elevator had the privilege of not making a sliver of noise compared to the trial one, probably due to not descending to the ground, Hajime assumed. The interior was composed of puzzle pieces in all colors, though that served as an advantage since the illumination from the inside wasn't that good, which was an incredible contrast to Strawberry House as a whole.

His eyes were getting sore from the strain of such radiance.

As the remotely silent elevator ride came to a halt once they reached their destination, the remaining students poured out of the confined vicinity, grumbling about the too bright illumination as well - he took some morbid satisfaction by the fact that at the very least, he wouldn't be suffering alone. Although now, their location was grape-patterned with hues of light green instead of red.

Which wasn't much better.

Monokuma was already awaiting their arrival and didn't was a breath to proceed with the explanation of the Grape House. Apparently, not only were the decorations different but the whole structure was now one of six sides building, similar to a hexagon. The first floor was fairly the same, save for the fact that there was no Final Dead Room; the same went for the second floor, which accommodates five other guest rooms. Whilst the third floor lodged the 'Monokuma Archive', which held promises of good literature, according to Monokuma.

Given the name of the installation, it was bound to be a bunch of crap.

"...Any questions?" Monokuma asked after finishing his monologue.

"Yeah, like, I'm starting to get hungry. Where's the food, anyway?" Akane prompted once again. This time instead of brushing her off, Monokuma stared fixedly at her mulling the question.

"Huh? Is that even necessary?"

A chill crept over his shoulders at the confirmation. Not only were they trapped, but also left to starve. It shouldn't be that surprising seeing that Monokuma was trying to force another murder, however, to be as blatant as to give them a starvation time limit felt too deliberate.

"Wh-What are you sayin'?! Of course it is!"

"But it's supposed to be an escape game, so how can there be any tension when there isn't a time limit?" Monokuma chuckled gleefully at them as realization dawned on the students. "So I decided to use your stomachs as your time limit!"

"You c-cannot be serious...!" Fuyuhiko stuttered

"Well, simply put... kill someone before starving to death!" Monokuma howled a sick round of laughter invaded their hearing like sandpaper being scratched on the confines of their tympanum.

"H-How... How much more of this we'll have to take until he's satisfied?!" Fuyuhiko raged as he stomped furiously at the floor.

"I-Is he serious...? Y'know, about not havin' food here...?" Akane on the other hand looked downright dismayed from the revelation, it was a bit disturbing seeing the girl who usually was so hot-headed, getting so depressed in a matter of seconds. "No way! T-That can't be, I don't mind starvin' as long as I can eat!"

Akane's desperation only served to highlight how severe of a problem this new motive presented for them. In actuality, Hajime was kind of wary that Akane would let her stomach speak louder and end up attempting murder in the foreseeable future. Of course, the motive was a problem for all of them, the case with Akane was more pronounced due to her love for eating, but there was no escaping for any of them.

Monokuma had gone far and beyond this time, Hajime thought with a searing feeling of dread clawing up his insides. As if the Despair Disease hadn't been bad enough, now, sooner or later, the starvation would force their hand one way or another. Now, they were presented with two choices: either wait for someone else to take the plunge and take the fall, or risk themselves becoming the blackened.

Hajime already knew which option he would take.

The second mouse is always the one who gets the cheese, after all.

In order to take their mind off the biggest issue, they roamed around Grape House to confirm everything Monokuma had said. As it was, no new leads were to be found, much to their collective disappointment. Nothing too out of the ordinary was to be found in Grape House, much like Strawberry, it merely served to confine them and drive them crazy. Hajime had read somewhere that people tended to go batshit insane way faster in both claustrophobic places and settings with exacerbated decorations. Two criteria that the Funhouse reached perfectly.

A detail that didn't go unnoticed by him though, was that when pressing the button to open the door to Grape Tower, it took a few long seconds until it finally allowed their entrance.

He didn't know what to make of it, though, so for the time being, he just put the information on the back of his head.

Chiaki by observing the structures of both houses deduced that in reality, Strawberry Tower and Grape Tower were the same building. Her theory was pretty pertinent if you took into consideration how the maps of both towers were similar to one another, The fact that the doors leading to the other houses weren't accessible only corroborated her hypothesis.

Nagito informed them that the Monokuma Archive was as useless and a waste of space as the name suggests it, containing records and other paraphernalia relating to Monokuma's accomplishments and whatnots.

"So, that's it? N-No exit... No nothing...?" Kazuichi asked peeling the fragile skin of his own lips with utmost nervousness.

"It would seem so." Nagito concluded with a smile, not looking bothered at all by the situation, at least not nearly as anyone would be expected to be anyhow. Seeing that it was Nagito, he probably believed that the dire circumstances they found themselves in were naught but a means to a better end. A belief of which Hajime vehemently disagreed.

"That bastard really wasn't kidding, huh? He won't let us out, not until..."

"You better stop that line of thought now! It won't do us no good to think like that!" Mahiru chastised Fuyuhiko before he could finish, though the insinuation was clear enough. Monokuma wouldn't move his feet on the matter, they either died from starvation, or someone died, as simple as that. That simplicity left them with no room to struggle, which was the cruelest part of the motive the bear had presented them with. The confinement, although bothersome, could easily be adaptable after some time, but having to wait until someone else dropped dead to preserve their life was abhorrent.

Cowardly even.

However, he wasn't about to expose his thoughts to his companion. Inwardly, they were all thinking the same, but to out the truth was to paint a giant target on their back.

"However, if we're not presented with an outdoor, then our fate has been set: remain stagnant in this loathsome pit of hell. And that is certainly not something I can condone, to stay idle is nothing short of losing the will to live." Beneath all the weird speaking patterns, Gundham wasn't entirely wrong with his ideology. That didn't mean they had a better choice.

"Even so, why don't we try to prove my theory then? I mean, let's try leaving something on the floor, and if when we get to Strawberry Tower it's still here, we can conclude both towers are the same... I think."

"But aren't ya forgettin' the most basic problem? Like, the walls and the floor are all different colors, no way they can be the same buildin'." 

"You didn't notice? They're just lights on the floor being shined on the walls. If the walls are white and some colored light is shone on them, they start reflecting that color. The same must go for the Usami's image on the floor, it's probably just being projected." Nagito sounded pretty sure about his assertions and Hajime found it pertinent enough. 

With their minds made up, they proceeded to test Chiaki's theory, not before Nekomaru informed them of the presence of multiple sensors placed inside the tower, apparently, the sensors were programmed to detect movement, which could only mean that the sensors were the reason for the doors leading from both Grape and Strawberry House inside the Tower wouldn't open when the other was being used. That way, the illusion that the Houses were totally separated from one another gained some credibility, but that was nothing but a pretense, they were in a Funhouse, after all.

It turns out, that Chiaki's assumptions were correct, as to be expected. By leaving her student e-handbook behind on Grape Tower they were able to retrieve it from Strawberry Tower.

"That reminds me..." Nekomaru remarked as everyone ceased their discussion regarding the weird structure of the Funhouse. "Whatever happened to the Monokuma announcement?"

"The announcement...?"

"According to my internal clock, it's already past 10 p.m.!"

"That late already?!" Sonia wasn't the only one to be surprised by the hour, since the Funhouse had no windows, they didn't have a single shred of a clue as to what was the actual time. All in order to drive them mad, he would bet.

"Yep, yep, every single day, up until now, I have consistently let you know when it was morning and night. But that privilege is over! What, did you guys mistake me for some kind of pretty alarm clock?!"

Monokuma had once more made his distasteful presence known.

"I wouldn't say pretty..." Hajime retorted out of spite.

"Ah, well... It's totally true that I'm pretty, but..." Monokuma went on, completely ignoring him. "For the time being the Monokuma Announcements are on hiatus."

"Of course they are..." Mahiru spat, scowling at the bear.

"But don't you guys worry your pretty little heads over it, I'm already planning on something to replace the Monokuma Announcement... Puhuhuhu!" Monokuma drawled before popping out of view again.

At the very least, they had those clocks on the second floor of both Houses, so they wouldn't be completely oblivious to the environment outside.

"It's already 10 p.m., right? I'm getting sleepy just from hearing that..." Chiaki yawned tiredly.

"Since we don't have food, it might be better for us to conserve our energy, especially if we're to be here for a long time..." Nagito suggested. "For now, let's just decide our room assignments."

"Room assignments...?"

"That's true, there are ten rooms in total, yeah?" Kazuichi said scratching his head through the beanie.

"Then let's separate between boys and girls. To keep things simple." Mahiru suggested not really leaving room for arguing, not that anyone but Kazuichi would've done so anyway.

"Then ladies first. Now then, choose which house you would like!" Gundham declared more loudly than necessary for the sake of dramatics.

"Then let's go with Grape House, this red light is starting to make my eyes strain." Chiaki decided.

"But there's only four girls and six guys, there's one too many..." Hajime stated the obvious. Deep down he was a little annoyed at Chiaki for choosing the House he intended to reside in, but it's not like he wasn't expecting it. How unfortunate.

"Oh, that's right! Then one lucky guy can sleep on Grape House, right?" Kazuichi's eyes shot open and his cheeks grew a little pink at the prospect of sleeping so close to the girls. Particularly speaking, Hajime thought that the mechanic's attitudes toward the girls were downright pathetic, edging creepy sometimes. Mahiru for her part had no such inhibitions in making her opinions about the matter known.

"There is no way that you, of all people, will room with the girls! If one of the boys has to sleep on Grape Tower, then let it be..."

"Oh, how about Gundham?!"

Hajime could see the moment Kazuichi's face contorted into a desolate, inquisitive frown at hearing the princess' suggestion.

"I mean, I don't mind... I think."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I don't care either way." Akane said cleaning her ears with the tip of her fingers.

"Well... If everyone is okay with it, then fine." Mahiru didn't look utterly satisfied with the choice but given that she would be outvoted in case she complained, the photographer relented.

"What?! Why does that freak get to sleep close to the girls?!" Kazuichi's protests - despite being loud - were totally ignored by Gundham's accepting the invite.

"Very well, I shall consider your request. As a matter of fact, the seeds we found contained in Grape House, would come in useful to nourish my Four Dark Devas Of Destruction."

"Regarding the rooms, they differ in quality as well, correct? Whatever should we do about it." Sonia pointed out.

"There's only one way we can settle this... Playing rock, paper, scissors!" Nekomaru shouted already moving to gather the boys who would reside in Strawberry House before Hajime could make his protests known.

"Wait - what?! A-Are you serious...?!"

"Hell yeah, let's do this!" Kazuichi consented obviously taking advantage of the situation, knowing pretty damn well the reason behind Hajime's complaints.

"Huff, whatever." Fuyuhiko complied lifting his right arm from his pocket to rock it in the air to play the stupid game.

Left with no other choice but to follow suit, Hajime - very displeased by the injustice of it all - relented once he realized there was no changing their minds, especially because Nagito wouldn't lift a finger to back him up. Not when he was so outnumbered.

With no surprise, Nagito won the first round without an ounce of effort, claiming the Deluxe Room as his prize. It was astounding that he managed such a feat when playing against four other opponents. Kazuichi won second place and made his delight clear, which only served to irk Hajime further - the idea of stomping on the boy's shark-teethed face was becoming ever so enticing.

Nekomaru guaranteed the standard room by playing rock when both Fuyuhiko and Hajime played scissors. Contrary to Kazuichi, the robot demonstrated his excitement in a lesser boisterous manner - surprisingly. Fuyuhiko didn't seem to mind losing all that much, Hajime on the other hand was fuming. 

"To hell with this...!"

"Don't be like that Hajime!" Nagito said laughing at his expanse, maybe it'll turn out that that's an act of good luck in the end! You never know!"

"As if..."

 Retiring for the night came as both a blessing and a curse, he had already met his limit interacting with the others, but to be left alone to dwell on the confines of his own mind wasn't the nicest thing ever, especially given the too bright and unpleasant decorations the Crummy Room presented. Despite the terrible airflow and disturbing his surroundings could be, Hajime found himself grateful to escape his harsh reality for some time while he slept.

Unfortunately for him, sleep didn't come easy. His hunger was already making itself pronounced with the uncomfortable tightness on his stomach and the growing tension in his intestines. 

He thought - with no sense of honor - that if it was to a killing to happen, that it happened soon. He was no doctor, but he knew that after a few days, most of them would be in no condition to get from bed, and in truth, why would they want to? Moving around would only cause further exhaustion and deepen their malnutrition. Thus, making them an easier target.

Who would need to die in order for the rest to survive? Hajime wondered with his head growing dizzy from fatigue.

Who would need to be sacrificed for the 'greater good?'

He didn't know. But he sure as hell wouldn't be the foolish one to die in this place.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 17: Excruciating Stagnancy

Awakening from what was possibly the worst night of his life, the first reminder of the awful previous day he received as his senses came back was the prickling pangs of hunger that overnight seemed to have spread to more than just his stomach. His body was more like lead with how exhausted he felt, despite the fact that some time along the night he had managed to fall asleep - however short his slumber had been.

His head wasn't that much better either, not with how lifting it made his ears drum inside his skull with each pound of his heartbeat. Disorientation hit him hard as the obnoxious interior of his room grew clearer with each blink of his eyes. He could feel how chill the air outside of his thin blankets was as he moved to sit up on the improvised 'bed' - if he could even call it that.

A sigh left his parted lips as he confirmed that instead of a dream, the nightmare they were living was in truth, reality.

With how bright the entire room was, he had no idea how late -  or early - it actually was. Not that it mattered anyway, it wasn't as if they had anything more to do but dwell on their misery. Not until someone else died. He doubted it would happen soon though.

Perhaps it was senseless to think like that. Cruel, possibly. Hajime didn't care either way.

His skin was slick with barely dried sweat and he felt dirty, Foul even. There wasn't a shower anywhere around the building, Hajime had checked inside the bathroom on the first floor, but not even water could be found when flushing the toilet. It seemed Monokuma had taken his good damn time making the Funhouse as inhabitable as he could. The place was horrendous enough to give convulsions to an epileptic, Hajime was sure of that.

He wondered how much longer he could bear to stay there.

He was about to go back to mopping in the confines and privacy of his room for the rest of the day - night? - when he heard knocking on his door to his utmost dismay. Cursing at his bad luck, he fumbled with his sheets and managed - or tried to - put some minimal semblance of tidiness by combing his fingers through his greasy scalp.

In case the one behind the door was someone as loud as Nekomaru or Kazuichi, Hajime pulled on the handle a little harsher than he normally would in an attempt to startle whoever was bothering him when he really didn't wish for anything except to drown his sorrows by laying on his not-too-comfortable bed.

As luck would have it, Nagito was the fortunate one to stand amicably on the other side, not looking any more disheveled than normal. Perhaps his normally shabby aesthetic was a blessing in disguise for the boy in a situation like this. How lucky for him.

"Good morning, Hajime! I'm sorry to be such an annoying thorn on your side in the morning, but - I imagined if it was up to you, you'd stay locked inside your room the whole time. And that's not a very hopeful attitude to have in a despairing moment like this, right?"

Hajime stared blankly at him for a few seconds before deigning his assertion worth to respond.

"I wonder what would be a 'hopeful' attitude when faced with food and water deprivation..."

"Haha, we sure find ourselves in dire circumstances, huh?" Hajime countered not batting an eye at Hajime's passive-aggressiveness.

Having already woken up, it made little sense to stay in his room now that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep easily again. Not with how his abdomen was churning relentlessly, he felt as if a void was being formed in the middle of his being. Sucking in every little last nutrient it could reabsorb to keep his body functioning.

As he stepped out of the room, his stomach rumbled embarrassingly loud.

"A-Are you good? I mean, are you feeling ok?" Hajime questioned the boy quickly to divert attention swiftly.

The effort was not lost on Nagito, but taking mercy on him, the boy decided to merely smile serenely at him.

"You don't have to worry about me, Hajime. It's no problem at all, I'm not really used to eating much, anyway." The words spilled fast and with such aggravating ease that Hajime couldn't help but flinch slightly. Given that Nagito was normally his sole companion during breakfast, he had witnessed the bare minimum of sustenance the boy ingested on a daily basis.

Hajime himself wasn't anything compared to Akane, who could devour plates and plates of food without an ounce of effort, but he still tried to eat as much as his body demanded. A concept that was completely lost on Nagito due to his inferiority complex, he probably didn't think himself worth enough to eat adequately, Hajime thought.

"Even so." Hajime grumbled. Arguing about it would accomplish nothing but exhaust their energy further.

The clock on the lounge indicated that it was nearing 8:00 a.m., which proved his suspicion that Nagito had dragged him off the bed way too early. Fuyuhiko was also seating alone by the lounge seemingly lost in thought as he stared fixedly at the phone that supposedly would connect to Grape House, the yakuza, however, was as tidy as ever with his short hair slicked back and his suit without a single wrinkle to be seen. He couldn't fathom how he managed it. Hajime could only imagine the terrible state he was in comparison.

"Couldn't get much sleep either?"

"Tsk, not really. Not to mention that that annoying tanuki came to bother me when I came here to the lounge."

"So Monokuma is up and about, huh?"

"No shit, he popped up as soon as I left that crappy room of mine, trying to entice me to kill someone before I got too weak or some shit."

"That... sounds exactly like him." It seemed Monokuma wouldn't waste an opportunity to remind them of their misery, he wasn't expecting anything less from the devilish stuffed toy though.

He didn't linger too much on the lounge sharing Fuyuhiko's company, he still wasn't sure where exactly they stood with each other, and forcing some kind of interaction would only make things awkward for the both of them. The yakuza, for his part, seemed to share the same sentiment as he remained silent as Nagito and Hajime made their way downstairs.

Hajime felt extremely self-conscious as he relieved himself in the bathroom, he couldn't stop thinking that by urinating he was also excreting the much-needed water and nutrients that would at some point be reabsorbed into his body by his kidneys. Logically, he knew that the urine present in his bladder couldn't be filtred anymore, but knowing those facts about his physiology didn't reassure him in the least.

Together they entered the elevator as they moved to Grape House. Once again Hajime couldn't help but feel unnerved, though this time, he attributed that to another reason.

"This elevator... It's so weird... Monokuma said it moved through rails but - it's not just silent, it makes no sound at all."

"It is intriguing, isn't it?"

"I mean, is it even possible? It would have to be some high-tech elevator to accomplish that, that's for sure."

"I think so as well, color me impressed, honestly!"

"I wouldn't go that far, nothing coming from that stupid-ass bear can impress me..."

"You sure despise him, huh?" Nagito asked as though he found it amusing that Hajime completely loathed the bear that was forcing them to kill each other.

"Don't you?!"

"Of course I do." Nagito answered without hesitating. "It's because I hate him so much that I can understand that Monokuma and all the despair he represents, is nothing but a stepstone for hope to shine brighter."

Nagito's opinion of Monokuma only served to cement how Hajime's own view of their situation couldn't differ further.

"I don't know how you can make such logical jumps, but..." In actuality, Hajime did know. "I don't believe there's any deeper meaning to all the shit we've been through. No way you can call this fate or whatever because if so... then what are we even doing?"

Hajime let out a deep sigh of frustration.

"We're only getting out of this damned Funhouse when someone dies... and all because of Monokuma. He both built and entrapped us here. I just cannot believe this serves a greater purpose."

"What a hopeless way of thinking, Hajime." The other said chuckling lightly. "Though, I would think that this Funhouse was created by Monomi given there is a projection of her in both towers." Nagito said in a not-so-subtle attempt to change the topic.

In Hajime's opinion, Monomi and Monokuma were two sides of the same coin, both annoying, and useless, and he couldn't bear to waste away his time in their company for whatever reason. Especially considering that Monomi had but admitted her share of the blame for both messing with their memories and bringing them to the island. Although he wasn't privy to her motivations - contrary to Monokuma - he couldn't think of a good explanation for erasing their memories.

Since he had gotten to this island, Hajime had put that thought on the back of his head, trying not to think much of it, he didn't want to acknowledge the horror that the prospect brought. Having supposed school years just gone like that, it was terrifying to even consider. And yet, it was likelier and likelier for that to be the case with each day they wasted away on the damned tropical island.

Was he a different person, Hajime wondered. If it was true their memories gone, then he oughta have been a different person back then - whatever that entailed. After all, memory was the most important factor in building someone's personality; experiences and interactions were the cruces of every human mind. He wondered if the person he had become was someone he would've felt proud of.

He doubted.

In the end, whoever he had been, was unfortunate enough to have their memories erased by the supposed Future Foundation.

He couldn't help but scowl at the bitter taste that the entire situation brought to his mouth. Losing one's memories, was no different than losing oneself.

Who knows? Perhaps Hajime had become someone worth his salt, perhaps things changed at some point, and maybe his path wasn't as troubled as he once thought it would've been.

Regardless of whether those things were true or not, he wouldn't ever find out. Not when all his reality encompassed at the moment was the abhorrent island they resided.

An open cage that led to nowhere.

What a fucking joke.

He wasn't too keen on lingering in such depressive thoughts though, if he continued on that train of thought he would soon arrive at the dubious future that was in stock for them. He couldn't help but fear that when whatever this was over, Monokuma would simply terminate all of them on the spot. It wasn't as if anything was holding back the bear - or whoever controlled it - from merely killing them all with one of the Monobeasts he enjoyed so much to exhibit.

The mere possibility made him shudder.

"What did you do before... all of this?"

Nagito seemed a little surprised by the inquiry. They were currently lazing around the Monokuma Archive after trying without success to find something that Nagito might've left slip by on his first inspection. Once they had visited Grape Tower to confirm the others' well-being, there wasn't much left for them to do if not explore what could've provided them with some other clue.

Of course, there was still the Final Dead Room to enter, but no one - Hajime included - was willing to explore it on their own, much less desired to discover what the Life-Threatening Game entailed.

So the next best option was the obnoxious Archive. Though he hated to grant Monokuma's narcissistic statues with more than a glance, the Archive - ironically enough - had by far the best interior design, solely for the fact that no bright lights were being shoved down his face. Though having to bear witness to all of Monokuma's eccentricities was starting to shrink his mood even further.

Despite all that, it was the most calming place to be found inside the Funhouse.

"Hah, I didn't really do anything of relevance. I don't think I have anything mildly interesting to tell you, to be honest."

"Indulge me, just tell me something, anything really. It's not like we have better things to do anyway." Hajime grumbled, making his utmost effort to not acknowledge the growing feeling clawing its way up to his throat with each word he spoke. His mouth and throat were so dry that their surface felt more like sandpaper, his lips were already scabbing over with dead skin and Hajime couldn't stop the compulsion of wetting them in saliva, which only caused a vicious cycle of mild sooth followed by the acid sensation of his lips getting even drier than before.

"Well, If you insist... Um... Oh! I did have a dog when I was younger!"

That... wasn't exactly what Hajime was expecting, but it was interesting indeed. 

"Really?"

"Yes, his name was Sunny."

"Sunny?" Hajime couldn't help but give a humorous glance in the boy's direction.

"He was the family's dog, so I wasn't the one to name him. Well, I guess that's obvious since the name was pretty fitting."

"How so?"

"He was super big, his white coat was really thick too, and he was always jumping everywhere when I was a kid. I guess you could say he had a sunny personality."

Nagito's countenance took a somber aspect as he seemed to recall old bitter-sweet memories of his childhood.

"He ended up passing away a little after I turned five, he was hit by a truck of all things... Ha, how unfortunate..."

It wasn't as if Hajime wasn't expecting a happy ending in that story, but to know that Nagito had gone to such a similar experience as himself was... bittersweet. One more arbitrary connection their luck had provided.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be! It was bound to happen sooner or later, at the very least, I don't think he suffered much. It happened all pretty fast."

Hajime had no idea what to respond to that. When Rufus died, it had been nothing short of excruciating. He had held the dog in his arms while feeling the creature's life slipping through his fingers like sand. He felt as the dog's heartbeat grew weaker with each beat. If he focused, he could recall how his hands ached with the scratches he had gained from the pavement.

Nagito approached the subject as if it was an everyday notion, but Hajime knew that deep down it was anything but.

After all, he knew exactly how it felt.

"I had a dog too, y'know." He decided to share with the boy, instead of calling him out. "His name was Rufus. He was the only pet I ever had. He... passed away too. A car ran over him... I tripped out of nowhere and let go of his leash. That was enough for him to run ahead and get hit."

Hajime wasn't certain if he was saying all of that to sympathize with Nagito or if he was merely projecting his own experiences with the boy. He certainly wasn't trying to reassure him, though he suspected Nagito would assume otherwise given the small, sad smile playing on his lips.

They stayed like that for some time, sitting with their backs on the wall with eyes roaming listlessly.

"How old were you?" Nagito asked barely audible.

"Six... I was six years old."

Nagito considered him for a brief second before averting his eyes again with a huff of a deflated snort.

"Me too... I think. How coincidental, don't you think?"

"Really?" Hajime couldn't start to fathom if it was just a weird coincidence or if Nagito was messing with him but - it sure sounded strange. And funny. "Ha, it seems we truly are connected, huh?"

"I sure hope not! To burden you with any kind of connection to me would be outrageous!"

Despite the harsh words, Hajime couldn't contain the round of laughter that left him. Of course that would be Nagito's response. Though this time he wasn't sure if the boy had truly meant it. His normally self-deprecating comments lacked their usual unbidden nature. It's not like he could blame Nagito though, he could only imagine what had transpired in Nagito's life up until that point.

"Hey... you didn't really answer me before..." Hajime spoke again after a few quiet seconds had passed. "How was... your life out of this hell hole?"

Hajime took notice of Nagito's countenance searching for any reaction the repeated question might've prompted. The boy didn't seem surprised that he had returned to that matter, though a small sigh left his lips as if he was counting on Hajime overlooking his early deflection.

"It's just like I said... There's really nothing exciting to say about me. I'm as boring as I get."

It sufficed to assume to Nagito was not comfortable talking about it, whatever it was.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to..." Hajime couldn't help but itch in curiosity, though he had enough tact to drop it if the boy truly didn't want to share it with him. However, a small conniving part of him wished that dropping the matter would stimulate Nagito to act otherwise, accepting to open up seeing Hajime's willingness to cease his inquiries.

It seemed, he was with luck.

"It's not that... I wouldn't even know what to say. Though I guess you're curious about my luck, right?"

Hajime neither confirmed nor denied the accusation. It also seemed that he wasn't as subtle as he imagined.

"I mean... yeah, pretty much." It would be futile to lie at that point anyway.

"Well, it's just like I told you. My luck first made itself known when I was a kid, around five or six, I'm not really sure anymore. I came from a wealthy family and just after Sunny's demise, my parents and I went on a vacation to San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos archipelago. Everything went smoothly the week we stayed there, though when we were about to board the plane, the plane was hijacked." Nagito chuckled lightly at that. "Wouldn't you say that that's just terrible luck?"

"Yeah... it sure sounds like it."

"But surprise, surprise! A meteorite fell at the right moment... I mean, for a meteorite it was the size of a closed fist, but it was potent enough to kill the hijacker, isn't that just the best of luck?" Hajime couldn't help but widen his eyes in response. "Unfortunately, the meteorite also hit my parents, which killed them instantly..."

From what he and Nagito had discussed in their previous conversations regarding the topic, Hajime could infer that Nagito's own luck was nothing to laugh at, nor to be envious of. However, as annoying and unfair as Hajime's bad luck could be, it had yet to bring him to such extremes as the ones Nagito was talking about.

"But ultimately, I ended up gaining a huge inheritance and I was also emancipated, thus retaining my independence. So in retrospect, the end result of all that was good luck!" Nagito spoke with a chilling casualness regarding such unsettling and obviously traumatic events that Hajime couldn't help the shudder that ran through his body.

Are you for real? The words danced on the tip of his tongue, but he refrained from letting them out. After all, he knew Nagito wasn't lying, nor was he faking his reaction either. 

"There was this time when a serial killer kidnapped me and stuffed me in a trash bag, he was holding me for ransom but - well, unfortunately for him, there was no one to pay it. Coincidentally, I found a lottery ticket inside that trash bag, and once I had been taken in by the police, I checked out the numbers without giving it much thought..." Another smile spread on his face, though his eyes stared far off into nothingness. "Guess what? I won. I was the lucky winner of 300 million dollars! Even I was amazed by this act of good luck!"

What could Hajime even say to that? He wasn't even certain about how to feel. Should he congratulate him, pity him? He didn't know. What he did know was that now he could understand some of Nagito's mentality, if just for a bit. Bad luck followed by good luck, he had mentioned that before. Hajime had believed him, of course he had. Why wouldn't he? It was easy to believe in the impossible when the impossible was his most defining trait.

He had not considered, however, just to what extent those acts of bad and good luck were capable of.

Hajime felt a little self-conscious all of a sudden. His own bad luck was abhorrent and he hated it. But to a certain level, it couldn't be compared to Nagito's it seemed.

For all his luck impeded him to accomplish anything, he still had his parents - however absent - he didn't have to witness their sudden death nor had he been a victim of a serial killer of all things. He still had a home - He hoped. Whilst Nagito spoke as if the calamities he was subjected to were as simple as casual daily occurrences, Hajime could tell it was anything but given the underline grief hidden amidst small smiles and tense eyes.

Somewhat, he had an inkling that Nagito had still more to tell if he so wished.

"I feel bad complaining about my luck, now." Hajime said, trying to ease the tension that had been building up for some time now. Nagito seemed to welcome his attempt despite how obvious it was. "My bad luck is nothing compared to yours..."

"You don't need to feel bad at all, Hajime! I could never compare a talent as brilliant as yours to trash like mine!"

"Can you even call it that though? A talent, I mean. It's more of a burden than anything... It's just so fucking... bothersome."

Nagito made to answer him but Hajime cut in first.

"I know you think that my 'talent' is all altruistic and stuff but... I don't believe that, not really. If that was the case then... I mean, what greater purpose did my dog dying accomplished? Nothing, I tell you. It accomplished nothing. It was just bad luck for the sake of it..."

"What a despairing mindset, Hajime..."

Without intending to, Hajime had insured tension once again with his rumblings.

"Maybe so, but - it's the truth."

He doesn't know for how long they stayed like that. Lost in their mindscapes, dwelling in the unfairness of it all. For a few moments, Hajime had even forgotten where they currently were. Had forgotten the crushing hunger and dehydration he was suffering.

For a few moments, he had forgotten.

As if it wasn't enough, Monokuma appeared to make do with his promises and by the time night came he announced his new way to torture them.

"In order for you guys to get your energy back, I'll be providing a special service with all my heart!"

Hajime was already getting ready for bed when Monokuma suddenly barged into his room to taunt him about his growling stomach. Hajime couldn't muster the energy to yell at the insufferable bear. That didn't mean he wasn't entertaining the thought of ripping all of Monokuma's stuffing out with his own two hands. Now that would provide a good night's sleep if he was oh-so-fortunate to dream about it.

"So, everyone please gather at Grape Tower tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m.!" Despite being right in front of him, and the fact that he was by himself in his room, Monokuma was speaking as if to all the other students. Hajime didn't care enough to ask him about it though. Instead, much more troublesome was-

"Seven in the morning...? You must be joking..." Except he knew damn well that Monokuma wasn't, in fact, joking. "How we're even supposed to wake that early...?!"

"That's your responsibility so you figure it out! Also, being late is strictly prohibited! Bye, bye... Puhuhuhu!"

By the time he had parted ways with Nagito, it was already a little past 10:00 p.m., which would give him an entire 8-9 hours of rest if he didn't have any trouble falling asleep, that is. He wouldn't really bet on it though, his hunger pangs were worse than the previous night and his throat was downright brittle, he could faintly feel his vocal cords getting inflamed by lack of moisture to grease them, no matter how much he tried to mitigate it by swallowing his spit.

Encaging himself in the thin blankets of his futon, Hajime managed to desperately ignore his hunger in order to get a couple of hours of sleep.

He woke up with a start, the growling in his stomach hadn't ceased at all. In fact, Hajime felt as hollow as ever, an emptiness so devoid of anything that for a few seconds he dozed off without even realizing it, only to be brought back by the chilly air traveling inside his room with leisure. Adding insult to injury, he was reminded of Monokuma's announcement.

At once, he managed to pull the blankets away from his exhausted frame and made to lift himself from the bed. It took him an embarrassingly amount of effort to accomplish such a minimal feat, which only soured his mood even further by the time he got to the lounge. As his luck would have it, it was only 5:45 a.m., an entire 1:15 hours he could've spent not wasting his energy, instead, he would be waiting until it was finally time for whatever Monokuma was planning.

Hajime didn't dare return to his room, he was too tired to not immediately fall back asleep, and he was afraid he wouldn't be able to wake up from his slumber in time.

He was not yet defiant enough to not follow one of Monokuma's orders.

Those 1:15 hours were the longest yet to exist in his life. His joints started to ache at some point between the first minutes he stationed himself on the lounge and every time he glanced back up at the clock, only a few minutes had passed. He cogitated taking a small nap but the lounge was even colder than his room, which made it barely possible to get any rest.

Fuyuhiko and Nekomaru got out of their rooms with 30 minutes to spare, Nakomaru bragged about his internal clock that never failed while Fuyuhiko grumbled about the terrible night he had. Both of them descended the stairs and went to Grape Tower not really expecting Hajime to follow.

When the clock hit 6:45 a.m., Hajime finally got up from the lounge and banged into both Kazuichi and Nagito's rooms to warn them before they could get themselves late. He normally wouldn't be that diligent, but he wasn't taking any chances.

Kazuichi was less than pleased to his face first thing in the morning, but the mention of the possible punishment was enough to send him on his way. As for Nagito, it appeared that the luckster was already awake too, just waiting for the right time to leave the comfort of his deluxe room.

Thankfully, the three of them arrived at Grape Tower in time, the rest of the students had been zealous enough to already be present. Monokuma was waiting for the three of them with batted breath as he counted down the seconds before it hit 7:00 a.m. To Monokuma's utter dismay, they weren't late, and as so, he couldn't punish them any way he intended.

"Oh man, I'm pooped! I totally thought you guys would be late..."

"But we're not. So you can't do anything about it." Hajime answered not sparing the bear with a glance.

"Even so! You guys were almost late, he was totally going to punish you if you were a second late!" Mahiru scolded sternly.

"Crap! N-No way...! No way he would do that, right...?!" At the very least, Kazuichi appeared to be shaking from fear of the possible punishment. Hajime himself couldn't say he wasn't a little apprehensive at the prospect, but what matters is that they weren't late. And that was that.

"Anyway, now that we're all gathered up here, I shall present you the reason why I called you all here!"

"An explanation would come in due time..." Gundham commented.

"Very well! You see, you guys are all losing your drive because you're burning rubber down the unhealthy highway, right? So I decided to help you guys recover your health. I'm offering this service so you can all feel healthy again!"

"Healthy? As if you'd want that you bastard..." Hajime couldn't have agreed more with Fuyuhiko.

"From this day on, I'd like you to make Monokuma Tai Chi part of your daily routine every morning!"

"Monokuma Tai Chi...?" He had no idea what 'Tai Chi' was, nor did he want to, but he knew he would end up knowing as soon as Monokuma yelled around to get the music started.

What followed, was the most excruciating waste of time and energy he could've imagined. Monokuma forced them to 'exercise' in a very calm, though excessively harsh manner. Hajime wasn't entirely sure if Tai Chi was actually a thing or if Monokuma had come out with it on the spot. Regardless, the activity only served to dwarf their already lackluster strength.

By the end of it, Hajime was sweating, the back of his shirt was plastered on his back and he positively didn't want to think about how bad it would start to stink given they were lacking showers. The only two who maintained the same enthusiasm Monokuma was looking for, were Akane and Nekomaru, who moved their bodies in synchrony with the bear's commands. Though even Akane was complaining when the session of Monokuma Tai Chi came to end.

Their already low spirits only dimmed with the utterly unnecessary exertion. After all, the one and only reason for Monokuma subjecting all of them to such a travesty would be to tire them out to new proportions. And by the looks of it, his plan had worked quite well, Hajime was sure that the result had met his expectations.

"M-Man, no way we're gonna have to do this every day... T-There's no way, right...?!" Kazuichi whimpered from his slouched position on the ground.

"I-I can't move..." Akane muttered with a miserable look overtaking her features.

Despite their complaints, Hajime thought that Nagito was the worst to wear. The boy was breathing erratically and was sweating rivers, his cheeks were all flushed even though he wasn't nearly doing as much effort as Akane and Nekomaru.

"Are you alright...?" Hajime asked stepping close to the boy.

"Y-You don't..." The boy took a deeper breath. "have to worry about me, Hajime."

Nagito's state suggested the contrary, that he must worry very much, but he decided not to say anything, instead offering his shoulder so the boy could lean some of his weight on him.

Nagito didn't complain about the gesture so he took it as a win.

"Guys... I don't think I can do this again...' Akane murmured miserably.

"If this persists any longer, it wouldn't surprise me that something really did happen..." Gundham said.

"I-I don't wanna die here... I place like this...!" Kazuichi shrieked desperately. "If I-I'm gonna die in a place like this... I might as well..."

"Might as well what?" The insinuation was as clear as day but Hajime wanted to see if the mechanic would be thoroughly idiotic to the point of admitting his thoughts.

"S-Shut up! Y-You know as well as I do that if this goes on... everyone's gonna starve to death..." The boy placed his hands on his beanie as some tears ran down his eyes.

"Perish the thought...!" Sonia intervened at last.

"But he's totally right, y'know! I'll make sure that you'll attend Monokuma Tai Chi every day without fail! Unless... if something big happens, puhuhuhu..."

Kazuichi's sudden outburst marked the end of their suffering as Monokuma so-eloquently announced his departure and left them with promises of the torture yet to return.

"I hate him so much...!" Mahiru was as red in the face as her hair, though Hajime suspected it had nothing to do with the Tai Chi but with the frustration of the entire situation. The helplessness he was sure. The ineffable knowledge that they were only getting out at someone else's cost.

"I understand how atrocious our circumstances are at the moment but... we should not let Monokuma's desires invade our minds." Sonia remarked a little less convicted than her usual self. It wasn't too much of a surprise regarding the princess' change in demeanor, she was taking the events from the last trial best than he would've imagined but seeing that Sonia was the Ultimate Princess, it made a little more sense. After all, what was royalty if its foundation wasn't composure?

"I-I'm sorry, I-It's just...!"

"Indeed, the dire circumstances we found ourselves in are far from agreeable, thus inviting chaos to ensue." Gundham commented, his tone lower and raspier than usual. It seemed that not even the great Lord of Ice could sustain the scarcity of supplies without any backlash.

"I don't really like to exercise..." Chiaki complained from her spot close to the door. From the bleary haze clouding her eyes, Hajime would bet that she was about to return to her room and sleep for the rest of the day.

Hajime was tempted to follow suit.

Taking Chiaki's disposition as his cue, Hajime didn't wait any longer to go back to Strawberry House. As troublesome as it was to not be able to clean themselves, Monokuma had the decency to leave some of their uniforms in their respective rooms. A privilege that Hajime couldn't be more thankful for. Despite it being provided by Monokuma.

What do you do when you have nothing to do?

It was late into the afternoon on their third day in confinement and Hajime had no idea what to do with himself. The wisest option would be to stay locked inside his room without the risk of someone barging in and making an attempt on his life. The two most likely candidates being Akane and Kazuichi; Though he didn't think they would try anything as of yet, he wouldn't be as bold to trust his life in the hands of the desperate.

However appealing the solitude would be, being alone made it impossible for Hajime to think of anything but the hunger and thirst he was feeling. His mind wouldn't cease to torture him with the cravings attacking his system. Thus proving it impossible for Hajime to be left to his own devices.

Despite being n the middle of the day - at least according to the clock (He would have no idea otherwise) - the temperature inside the Funhouse was as low as he could remember, making him grimace once he stepped out of his room.

Strawberry House's second floor appeared to be deserted except for Hajime himself and Nekomaru who was apparently chilling by the lounge.

"Hello, Hajime! I expect that you had a good nap. After all, is crucial to rest up after exercising!"

"...It's not like I had any other option now, did I?"

"Hahaha! I guess that's true enough!"

He wasn't too sure how to act around Nekomaru, or with people similar to Nekomaru. Without considering the fact that the former human manager was now a robot, of all things. He also finds Nekomaru too... liven. He can't say he spends much time around people like him, not that he spent too much time with anyone in particular before the school trip, if at all. But he tends to interact with people either similarly secluded like him or just someone whose personality isn't tiresome and overbearing like Nekomaru's.

Though since the opportunity presented itself, Hajime decided to question something that had been bugging him for a little while now.

"Hey, I'm sorry if it's offensive or something, but - do you even feel hungry anymore?"

"No, not at all!"

That was somewhat... disconcerting. More so with Hajime swallowing dry making his throat ache even further,

If Nekomaru was to be believed then the motive Monokuma provided worked against all but the literal robot among their group.

"However, I do need to be charged up, and I forgot to bring my charger with me! So I'm also suffering from the lack of 'food', so to say!" Nekomaru amended quickly. Judging from the coach's swiftness, the look on Hajime's face must've been a dead giveaway to what he was thinking.

"Oh, I guess that's... well not good, but-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I don't judge you for thinking like that." Nekomaru made no indication to elaborate on what he meant with 'thinking like that', though it wasn't needed anyway, Hajime knew exactly what the manager meant. "Everybody is doing their best to endure what Monokuma is putting us through, but somehow it seems I'm not putting nearly as much effort! That is unacceptable!"

He wouldn't go as far as to say that Nekomaru wasn't suffering just as much, but Hajime was a bit confused about what Nekomaru's robot status would implicate.

"Don't think like that... If anything, I'm glad that we'll at least have you to stay sane..." In truth, maybe he wasn't being entirely honest with Nekomaru, he couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy at the boy not feeling hungry. Though his enviousness was completely unwarranted, Nekomaru had lost his body in order to not feel any basic needs, after all. "To be honest, I-I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to endure this..."

"Nonsense!"

"Huh...?"

"If you give up that soon, then you might as well admit defeat!"

Defeat? It's not like we have a chance to win in the first place, Hajime thought bitterly.

After all, victory would entail that all of them would escape safely from this cursed Funhouse. Escape from this claustrophobic cage stuffed inside a larger one. It would entail that they wouldn't need to wait for someone foolish enough or with a martyr complex to either sacrifice themselves or die trying to escape this hell.

He agreed that this was nothing but a game. A game tasked to entertain the sick fuckers who were watching. A game created to amuse Monokuma's despair fetiches. Though not a game that was made to be won. Not at all. Especially not for pawns like them.

"It's not admitting defeat... You know as well as I do that..." someone will have to die.

"Even so! Thinking negatively like that serves no purpose at all! I can see that because of your talent, you're pretty pessimistic it comes to those things, right? That's why you just hang out with Nagito, right? Because he understands whatever is going on with you?"

It was alarming that Nekomaru could've so correctly guessed those aspects regarding Hajime's personality as a whole, but given how distant he had been from the get-go, maybe it wasn't too surprising that someone had ended up figuring out some of the reasoning behind his mannerisms.

Or perhaps he just underestimated Nekomaru's cognitive abilities.

"My, pessimism - as you call it - is very much warranted." Hajime said not able to contain the bite in his tone.

"Hahaha, I guess so, I guess so! But if you keep thinking about what can go wrong, then you'll never be able to see what can go right!"

From the easy response he gave Hajime, it sounded as if he truly believed that. Without an ounce of doubt. Hajime didn't share the sentiment, however, there was something that Hajime was curious about, something he wanted someone else's input on, and Nekomaru presented as the polar opposite of Hajime's opinion on the matter.

"Nekomaru... Do you think we'll manage to get out of here?" 

"Of course we are!"

"I-I don't mean the Funhouse. I mean, the island as a whole."

Nekomaru instead of answering right away placed a hand on his chin and after a few seconds of looking thoughtful, he responded.

"We will. No doubt about it. I don't know when or how, I don't even know if I'll be among the ones to get out of here, but - I'm sure of it! No matter what happens, we'll definitely escape this island! Or my name isn't Nekomaru Nidai!"

It was spoken with so much conviction, so much faith, and certainty that it was tauntingly appealing to believe it. It was optimistic, to an extreme. Nekomaru had no doubts, even if he wasn't the one to escape, he had total faith that the rest would, or at the very least someone would. It was hopeful, maybe a foolish hope, but hope nonetheless.

As tantalizing as it was-

Hajime couldn't find himself believing it.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 18: Curiosity Killed The Cat

He couldn't sleep.

Amidst the somber silence permeating his room, he wasn't able to indulge himself in a mere restless nap.

No, of course he couldn't, his body trembled with not only cold but the shrinking of his stomach. He was no expert in biology but he knew enough to get by, he supposed his body was already deep in a state of ketosis, searching for extra body fat to get by, however, he also knew that was not as good as it sounded. Normally it wouldn't be too much of a problem, though, in a situation of pure starvation, that meant that his brain would not be getting enough energy to function properly, thus putting his cognitive abilities in even further jeopardy.

He was never the athletic type, but he supposed he did have a fast metabolism.

A fact that he couldn't be more ungrateful for at the moment, given that his body would probably be cannibalizing itself in a faster passe than normal, breaking down the proteins in his cells searching for amino acids in order to overcompensate the lack of glucose in his blood.

Truly, what a shitty situation.

In fetal position, he tried to no avail to conceal his shaking frame from the cold bite of the freely-roaming air inside his room. After his chat with Nekomaru, he had quickly deterred to his room so as to not waste any more energy than necessary. He was still a little troubled with everything they had discussed, Nekomaru showed such certainty that for a few moments, Hajime was enticed to believe every and each word he spilled, but ultimately, they were just that:

words.

If nothing else, his incessant hunger pangs proved how unequivocally wrong Nekomaru was.

Hajime never hated being right quite that much.

What he wouldn't give to be proven wrong.

However, the reality was what it was. No matter how much he whined about it, he couldn't change it.

A round of dry coughs escaped his lips. He was probably on the brink of catching a cold, which would do him no favors whatsoever, on the contrary, it would only turn him into an even greater target, to contract a sickness right after being cured of the Despair Disease was laughable, really. Just his luck.

In his wandering thoughts, his mind reeled back to the Monokuma Tai Chi that was slowly approaching them with each second that passed. He would need to make sure that he wouldn't miss it, he couldn't afford to, and on the other hand, he wasn't too confident that he could go through with it again. His muscles were still aching with the exertion, and not in a good way. He at least hoped that the others wouldn't be in a much better condition than him. It was a bit selfish to wish that the other students were just as bad to wear as him, but he couldn't find it in himself to stop it.

Contrary to what Nagito seemed to believe, Hajime was a truly selfish person.

He wondered if he would be able to wake in time again. He wondered if the others would be able to wake up in time again. Kazuichi was certainly still asleep when he knocked on his door early that morning. If Hajime hadn't bothered, would the mechanic have been killed? Would they still be trapped in here if so?

Should he not bother and see what happens...?

Perhaps so, although he doubted Monokuma would be as lenient as to allow their departure if the one to kill someone was himself. In the bear's book, punishment and murder must have different meanings when it's convenient.

He hated.

He hated this whole thing. This helplessness. This game.

Until when would they need to endure such hell? When would it end? Would it ever end?

Probably not, Hajime scoffed.

Would Hajime be the weak link this time? Would he be the one murdered in the hopes of freedom? Or it would be the other way around? Would he be the fool to make an attempt at someone's life? He wondered if Nagito would offer his help again like the last time, would he be willing to lie in Hajime's favor? Hajime didn't doubt that the boy would, not in the slightest.

From what he could gather from all the interactions he had with the boy in the last few weeks, Nagito's most prominent personality trait was his clear self-loathing. He could still recall their conversation right after Teruteru's execution, how deranged the boy sounded as his mouth brimmed with malice, how his twisted views on what hope should be dripped from his lips in an unsettling speech.

There was no doubt-

Nagito intrinsically believed that if his death could provide a path for hope to 'shine', then it was more than worth sacrificing his life for it.

What a sad purpose...

Yet, as selfish as Hajime was, he couldn't bring himself to do something like that. To act similar to Nagito's luck, and just take and take from the boy without an ounce of remorse.

Yeah, Hajime couldn't do it. Maybe he was too weak to even try-

or maybe he wasn't as selfish as he wanted himself to believe.

Either way, Hajime couldn't bear to stay stagnant anymore, to lay still in that dark room trying to preserve the little strength he still had, couldn't bear to keep in wait for someone to be the fool instead of himself.

Because despite not having anything else to be done, there was still somewhere to explore.

The Final Dead Room.

Ever since they had been entrapped inside the Funhouse, Hajime had made a conscious effort not to think much about the eerie room. Monokuma sounded too excited when he announced the existence of such premises, which could only mean bad things were waiting behind the clown-themed doors. However, with each passing hour that they were confined inside the same building, with nothing new to see or to explore, the Final Dead Room became ever more enticing to enter.

Curiosity killed the cat. Although that may be true, starvation would also lead the same cat to a more agonizing death.

Without dwelling on the matter any further, Hajime got up from his futon trying to make the least amount of noise as possible, even though no one would've heard him in the first place. Putting on his shoes, he swung the door partly with the utmost care, peering through at the lounge in search of any unwanted fellow students still awake.

Fortunately - or not - the lounge appeared not to be occupied.

Stepping out of the room, Hajime briefly glanced at the clock marking 10:05 p.m., making sure that all the doors to the rooms were shut closed, he lethargically made his to the first floor.

As soon as his foot landed on the strawberry-patterned tiles on the first floor, his eyes roamed the Final Dead Room. The unsettling atmosphere encompassing the attraction was elevated given his solitude in the building. Approaching the doors made nothing to erase his fidgeting, once close enough he placed his palm on the handle and stood there. Immobile

His palms were sweating despite him only walking down the stairs and for once not even the chilly air was enough to calm his nerves down.

Should he go through with it? What about the Life-Threatening Game Monokuma mentioned? Could he survive it?

Minutes must've passed before he was pulled out of his roaring mind and spared of his emotional turmoil with the arrival of Chiaki.

"You can't do that...!"

To say that he was taken aback would be a big understatement, Hajime's hand flew away from the door's handle as if he was zapped by it, he whirled around to see Chiaki walking towards him from the elevator. 

"You shouldn't go in there... You won't find what you are looking for..."

"I-I-I wasn't...!" The words felt feeble even in his mouth, he was self-aware enough to know how much of a lie that was.

"All that's there is a Life-Threatening Game... Even if you clear it, you'll only find the weapon Monokuma prepared..."

He knew that. He didn't need Chiaki to remind him how much of a bad idea it was trying to enter the Final Dead Room, he knew what would be waiting for him. That knowledge, however, didn't lessen the loathsome hunger tearing down his insides, it didn't satisfy the curiosity brimming in his skull. But it seemed his plan was doomed from the start, after all, there was no way he could either clear the Life-Threatening Game or even attempt to enter the Final Dead Room in the first place, Chiaki's presence was proof enough.

"What are you going to do with that weapon once you obtain it? Will you need it...?" Chiaki asked not really looking for an answer.

Hajime could only stare at the girl, he was more than a little frustrated and the patronizing way Chiaki was eyeing him was making no favors to his mood. Of course he wouldn't need the godamned weapon, especially not now that Chiaki had witnessed his attempt to 'retrieve it'. Chiaki wasn't deterred by his silence as she maintained her tensed frame beside the door.

Hajime was too tired and irritated to linger any further, with the utter failure of his plan, he merely turned around and walked up the stairs without saying anything else to Chiaki.

He supposed the girl would stay there for a little while to confirm Hajime was indeed returning to his room and not in wait for her to make herself scarce. He couldn't care less if she did.

The weaker his body got, the less sense everything made, and the less he could make sense of his own thoughts and instincts. 

Despite not having any more intentions of returning to the first floor, Hajime had no desire to return to his room either. If he did so, he would go back to where he started: listlessly stirring in his thin futon as a means to take his mind off the unrelenting hunger pangs.

No, Hajime didn't want to go back to his crappy room. He didn't trust himself not to do something stupid in his borderline delirious state.

Without dwelling too much, he trotted toward Nagito's door and unlike the Final Dead Room, he wasted no time knocking on it.

Unlike earlier in the morning, this time Nagito took a few minutes to answer, Hajime didn't necessarily mind, at least it gave him some time to formulate what he would say before he had to interact with Nagito.

"Hajime...? Are you alright?"

It seemed Hajime was so deep into his own thoughts that he had failed to notice yet again someone's presence, Nagito had opened the door too quietly for him to hear and had probably seen the sad sight that was Hajime Hinata.

"I-I'm fine, but... can I enter...?"

Despite having the time to gather his senses, Hajime was still at a loss for what to say to Nagito, he hoped his request wouldn't weird the boy out given it was pretty late in the night, especially with the current circumstances. If their positions were swapped, Hajime would most certainly be second-guessing the other's intentions. After all, unexpectedly asking to enter someone's room whilst in the middle of a killing game did not sound as innocent of a request as he was aiming to portray.

The implications were completely lost on Nagito who promptly swung the door wider making space for Hajime.

Once inside the bedroom, Hajime couldn't stop the wince of annoyance at the hideousness of the entire room, vibrant colors and overstimulating decorations were gathered all around the blue-patterned walls and hot pink, a rainbow on the right wall reaching the farthest point on the adjacent wall. Seeing all the ruckus present in Nagito's room made him reconsider his not-so-brilliant idea.

His crummy room was looking like a far better option by the second.

"I thought you were already fast-asleep, Hajime, ehe."

"I was... I mean, I was trying to, that is..."

Nagito didn't appear to be bothered by his lack of clarification, instead, he looked almost wishful and giddy.

Now that he was inside the room, it would be awkward to just stay standing as he was so as to give himself something to focus on, he sat on the edge of the mattress as Nagito hovered over him a few steps back.

"I'm sorry to wake you up so late... I know I shouldn't be wasting my energy, but... I-I tried to enter the Final Dead Room..." Hajime said, moving his hands to rest behind him, sustaining his weight, which grew lesser and lesser with each passing day.

Nagito contemplated his words as he stood there, unwavering.

"Did you clear it?"

Lifting his eyes from the floor, Hajime met those greenish eyes with a minimal attempted semblance of collectedness.

"No... Chiaki impeded me. She caught me trying to sneak in just now." However embarrassing it was to admit it, it was far better to relay the events that transpired on the first floor with Nagito than to keep things to himself. After all, who was he to know if Chiaki wasn't gonna make use of that information for some other means, for all he knew, everyone else would be made aware of what Hajime had intended to do once morning came.

"I see..." Nagito muttered lighter than a whisper, moving closer towards Hajime's frame seated on the bed, the boy quite literally hovered above him as he spoke his next words. "I think I know what you came here for, Hajime... And I'm all up for it."

Hajime could only freeze with surprise at the sudden closeness, his cheeks flamed instantly with whatever Nagito was trying to insinuate, the boy's lips pulled on the corners displaying a quite deranged smile that overtook his features. Nagito's own cheeks were colored as he descended even further on Hajime's personal space.

"I don't mind if you kill me, Hajime~ But if that happens, I want you to let me help...!" Nagito spoke maniacally, his eyes never leaving Hajime's own.

His breath stuttered as he was enveloped in the void that was Nagito's irises, flashing with something akin to hope.

"W-W-What...!?"

"That's what you came here for, isn't it? I can see that you're already at your limits, we all are, really. But that's why you tried to go into the Final Dead Room, correct?"

What is talking about...?

"What are you saying?! N-No, you're wrong...! Why would I want to kill you, are you-" insane? "...You got it wrong, okay? I-I don't want to kill you, at all!"

At his refusal, Nagito's stance became a little disappointed as the layers upon layers constituting his eyes dimmed tremendously. Hajime had no idea how the boy manage to do such large logic jumps but he couldn't be more off the mark with his assumptions.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for assuming! That was so presumptuous of me, I should know better." Once again, as if nothing had happened Nagito put a veneer of casualness to camouflage what was hiding underneath. In retrospect, it was a little frightening that he was capable of such a feat, to school his emotions so efficiently, to treat his own hypothetical murder as something yearnful instead of repulsive.

"How can you even think like that?! Why... why would you want me to kill you?" Hajime asked, despite not being entirely sure if he wanted to hear the answer.

Nagito didn't respond immediately, instead opting to discern whatever he was observing in Hajime's fierce stare.

"Because that's your hope, isn't Hajime? To escape from both this Funhouse and this island, right?" Nagito questioned with a mild tone.

It wasn't exactly an outrageous assumption, he most definitely wanted to bolt away from this island as soon as he could, if he had a choice, he would've done so by the time Usami still had any semblance of authority. However, he did not have a choice, the alternative - killing someone - would only bring destruction to his door, there was absolutely no way he could accomplish killing someone and getting away with it. He knew that more than anyone, after all, his luck would never cease to turn a bad situation even worst.

Even if Nagito was willing to throw his life away, Hajime wasn't willing to take the boy's life like that.

"I do want to get out, but - even if I was willing to kill you... that would all be for nothing..."

"You're so pessimistic, Hajime! Your views on our situation are truly despairing!" Nagito exclaimed light-heartedly as if they were bickering about the most nonsensical thing they could've muster at the moment when in truth, the topic was anything but.

"And I don't want you to die either, y'know." Hajime added to emphasize his aversion to the boy's death.

Nagito regarded him again, scrutinizing him from his position, awkwardly sitting on the bed not knowing what to do with himself, coupled with severe starvation and dehydration, he probably wasn't making a flattering sight. Which made it all more impressive that Nagito wasn't that disheveled compared to the others, perhaps, for some reason, the starvation wasn't affecting him as much.

But why?

"You know, Hajime... At first, I thought that you and I were a lot alike. When you first declared yourself as the Ultimate Unlucky Student, I can't say I wasn't a little surprised, I didn't even understand, actuality. I thought that you and I were the same, miserable bystanders watching the others from afar while we dwelled on our luck... I guess you felt that way too, right? That's why you kept close to me at the beginning."

A miserable bystander? He supposed that it wasn't too farfetched to link himself to such a title. After all, Hajime was exactly that, a miserable bystander, watching others conquer what he could never hope to achieve due to his 'talent'. Keeping close to himself and just... observing from afar. Nagito's statement was so true, that before all this, before the island, before entering that classroom, before Hope's Peak, Hajime was the personification of those two words.

A miserable bystander.

Yeah, that fit quite right.

"But I couldn't have been more wrong about my assumptions! You already proved more than once how strong your hope is, how beautiful it is to witness it blooming...! Which only makes me all the more surprised that you keep tolerating me at all! Huh, I wonder... what bad luck I'll be facing for this... Just thinking about the bad luck that's waiting for me is making me feel all tingly!"

"Y-You- You don't have to treat the fact that I'm... interested in you as if it's some act of good luck or something." Hajime grumbled without wishing to give attention to the first part of Nagito's rant.

"But it is. I just want to be grateful that there's someone who would be interested in the trash like me..."

Nagito spoke as if it was truly unthinkable of someone ever laying their eyes upon him and having any feeling other than utter repulsion, as if the thought was completely unprecedented, ludicrous even. Since they had talked about how much their luck affected their lives, Hajime started to comprehend the origins of Nagito's self-loathing, he understood that Nagito saw himself as nothing but a chaos instigator, spreading misery to his vicinity regardless of its effects on the neighbor parties.

He could understand that, but - it felt that that was merely scratching the surface of it all.

"Nagito... There is something else, isn't it? Something you're not telling me..."

Once more, Nagito took to regard him serenely before a smile tugged at the edge of his lips.

"You're more perceptive than what meets the eye, huh Hajime." It didn't sound like an inquiry, so Hajime stayed quiet. "Well I don't mind, it's not really a big deal anyway. It's like I said before, my parents are dead, and I have no relatives or friends, or even acquaintances. So it took direct action against me..."

Hajime needed no elaborating on what 'it' meant - there was only one possibility on what it could be, after all.

"A little before I got accepted at Hope's Peak Academy, I received my diagnosis: Stage 3 malignant lymphoma, and to top it off... it's accompanied by frontotemporal dementia."

For a few moments, silence descended upon them as even the sound of their breaths ceased. Hajime only had eyes for the deprecating smile playing on the boy's lips as he faced Hajime with not fear, nor ire, but simply casualness. A despondent acceptance. Hopeless compliance in the face of his fate.

He was fairly confident that lymphoma was some type of cancer, but frontotemporal dementia could only mean a degeneration of the brain's cells in the area responsible for memory and personality. The area responsible for making a human, a human. The area where differed humans from wild animals, what drove them by logic instead of merely instincts.

"Huh...?"

"Even now... my brain is deteriorating bit by bit while I'm speaking to you..." Nagito continued not bothered in the least with Hajime's eloquence - or lack of thereof. "According to the doctors, my life expectancy is about half a year to a year. Though it's a little weird... When I was accepted at Hope's Peak, I could swear that things had balanced it out, but - these killings are occurring, and... I'm a little confused, to be honest."

Nagito took a seat right beside Hajime, his left leg contorted a little awkwardly to the side leaving space so his torso was facing Hajime, though his eyes wandered somewhere else.

"After I received my diagnosis, my life had become a rollercoaster ride! But no matter, I know that in the end, everything's gonna be alright. The only reason I'm still alive is because I always believe there is hope..."

Sighing softly, Nagito returned his eyes to Hajime's shocked countenance.

"Do you understand me now, Hajime...?"

The knot choking the breath out of him impeded him to say anything, but he supposed it wouldn't make a difference in the face of his stunned mind.

Nagito was gonna die.

Nagito is dying.

A turmoil of emotions hit him just as suddenly. Pity and anger washed over him in torrents, scorching his insides as new-found tears prickled the corner of his eyes. The compulsive spasm of a cough reigned on his throat which was barely getting any air past. His hands felt both clammy and freezing, his blood appeared to rush somewhere else, away from the peripherical regions, leaving behind a numb embrace.

How was he supposed to react to such admission?

He couldn't. And so, he didn't.

"You know, it's weird... Because of my self-righteous thoughts, everyone distanced themselves from me. I mean, I was fine with that while I was still healthy but - dying alone is... quite lonely."

"Y-You're...!" not alone. Hajime couldn't bring himself to say it. They both knew it would be a lie.

"...I read a book about something like that the other day."

His thoughts jolted.

What?

"It was right of me to cite a book written for the masses. Thanks to that, I was able to gain your empathy. Yes, I'm satisfied now." Hajime could only stare openly at the boy in front of him.

"...W-Was all of that..." a lie? 

No, it wasn't. It wasn't due to how tense Nagito's shoulder had grown, that tension had spread to the corner of his lips that spasmed involuntarily, belying Nagito's words. His eyes recovered from the dullness that had settled in while he told his story. No, not even Nagito would be able to pull something like that off. There was no feigning such pure despair.

"...Have you finally decided to kill me?" Once more, the deranged edge on his eyes returned, the layers of his irises clashing over each other in miasmic whirls. "If you want, I'll prepare the perfect crime. Then you can kill me...and you'll be saved...! You won't have to keep rotting on this abhorrent island, won't have to waste away in this stagnant place."

In a similar fashion to the first discussion they had right after Teruteru's trial, Nagito's clammy and freezing hands take a hold of Hajime's own.

"You can do it! I believe in you! After all, you tolerated someone like me this entire time! I'm sure a bright hope is waiting for you at the end of it, Hajime - I'm entirely sure!"

His growing disbelief ceased as the desperate and breathy sound Nagito's voice made. This wasn't Nagito toying with him, this was an act of desperation.

Pure and clear.

He could feel the tremble on Nagito's hands, how his pupil dilated in the prospect of dying at Hajime's hands.

Is that it, Nagito? That's what you've been looking for all this time, isn't it? A meaningful death, something good to be born from your sacrifice, isn't it?-

the great hope lying just beyond that daunting despair, isn't it? Someone to remember you once you're gone, right? Someone to maintain you alive in their memories, someone to anchor you to this world-

someone to not let you fade away.

That's what you want more than anything, isn't it?

Because you're scared.

You're scared to pass away.

Despite how much you treat yourself as a worthless grain of sand in the entirety of a beach, just one more speckle of dust in the universe, one more drop of water amidst the ocean, you're still scared to be remembered as such, aren't you?

You're scared to vanish away.

Overwhelmingly desperate, just as Nagito - Hajime frees his hands and places them on the sides of the boy's head and kisses him.

It's a  far cry from anything he had read in the few romance novels that had crossed his way. Nagito's lips were chaste while Hajime's own was nothing short of a sand-paper, their heads were angled awkwardly, and Nagito's skin felt cold to the touch, a nice contrast to Hajime's flaming body at the moment.

Even so, Hajime hoped that for a first kiss, he had made a good job trying to portray what he felt.

Nagito's palms fisted lightly on the hem of his shirt as if he had no idea what to do with them, Hajime found himself in the same predicament - ultimately, deciding on sliding his hands to the luckster's shoulder.

Despite the coldness of the boy's skin, Hajime could feel some of the heat start to radiate from where they were touching, he felt no small bit of embarrassment that the tears that had gathered in the corner of his eyes were spilling listlessly down his flushed cheeks.

He tried very diligently to express any sense of comfort he could muster through each second they stayed glued to each other, trapped in their weird entanglement of lanky limbs.

Lost in the escapade of their own creation, minutes must've passed, or only seconds, or hours. Hajime wasn't coherent enough to know, he honestly didn't care either.

When they finally pulled away from each other in a desperate attempt to regain their breaths, Hajime closed the little distance between them to lay his forehead to the other's, it might've felt out of turn or a little corny, but Hajime really didn't have the energy to worry about such frivolities, and he wished to make known the understanding that had settled between the two of them.

Nagito was sick. Dying slowly at the hands of his own frail body.

Not only that but his mind was also compromised, hence the boy's fascination with hope elevated to the extreme.

But ultimately, Nagito just wanted his approaching death to have a meaning. A purpose.

Wanted to have someone to inherit his soul, to not forget.

After all, luck aside, Nagito was only human.

A lonely human, whose death date was already settled. A scared boy who had no one else to share his burdens with.

Hajime could be that someone, for as short as their time might be, Hajime felt a kindred spirit with Nagito, a boy who understood what it felt to be on his skin, who knew how unfair the world was, how despairing something as powerful such as luck could be. Nagito had been Hajime's first friend. As silly as it sounded, the realization couldn't have been more true. He only ever had acquaintances, shallow relationships that he couldn't even bother to recall, his parents were more absent than not.

And he was fine with that. He was fine being alone, he welcomed the solitude, being by himself, dealing with his own problems alone, complaining to himself on and on about how unlucky he was. He had made the best out of the hand he was given. And he had been fine with that.

He can't see himself returning to that now, not after everything. Not after witnessing the horrors that had transpired on the island, he hated so very much, not after almost dying at the hands of those he would've called 'classmates'.

He wasn't fine with not having the company of the boy who despite being so different, was so akin to him. Somehow, during the weeks they had spent together trapped on the island, Nagito made Hajime not be fine with returning to how he once was.

"Aha, I don't even want to think about the terrible, terrible luck that's waiting for me... Just the thought is despairing..." Nagito breaths out, their forehead still touching.

"It has... nothing to do with luck." Hajime grumbles in between exhales.

Adjusting their uncomfortable positions, Nagito's head rested on his shoulder while Hajime copied the gesture, their arms enveloping each other in a light embrace.

"You're too kind, Hajime..."

"It also has nothing to do with kindness."

They remained like that for a long time, or so Hajime suspected, he wouldn't know the difference between one minute to an hour while inside the madness-inducing Funhouse. Despite the hunger and restlessness, Hajime felt somewhat alleviated by resting his body close to another's, sharing body heat, and caressing each other's back with languid movements with a finger.

Somehow, his problems seemed smaller. Or at least his perception of it.

"Can I...-" Hajime felt the heat rushing to his face once again, he was thankful for not having to look Nagito in the face. "sleep here, tonight?"

Nagito hummed in agreement.

Since his travel to the first floor, he had forgotten how exhausted he was. His head was heavy and his eyes were burning from exertion, a dull ache traveled through his body as if kneading him to the marrow of his bones.

Slowly disentangling themselves from one another, they laid down on the surprisingly soft bed, the sheets were a little thicker than his own but given the room had good insolation, he didn't bother to get under the covers. They stayed like that, eyeing the other with narrow, lingering gazes and fingers searching for a twin hand to knot itself to.

He supposed that the two of them together, starving slowly to death, would make quite the sad sight. Clinging to life and one another, two boys lay side to side in the wait for a calamity to implode.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all. They were so young, they were kids. And yet, they were thrown into this awful situation, where their already troubled lives were played with for someone's entertainment, endlessly, until they succumbed to whatever was spat at them next.

But for those short moments he laid there with Nagito,  a few centimeters separating him from the luckster, none of that mattered.

It didn't matter that they were both unlucky. It didn't matter that Nagito was dying - wasting away, as the boy had said.

None of that mattered.

Because for those few, tranquil moments, they were nothing but two boys lying beside each other.

As they lay there, Hajime gradually lost consciousness, for once not dreading tomorrow.

-

-

-

"A body has been discovered! Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the class trial will begin.”

With a start, Hajime jumped out of the bed, scrambling away and ending up falling shoulder-first to the ground. A curse left his lips as he pulled himself together, once he got up his gaze zeroed in on Nagito's side of the bed, which fortunately was still occupied by the luckster, who was gazing half-lidded at his scruffy form.

As the announcement cut out, Hajime left a small sigh of relief.

He knew how gross and utterly wrong it was to be relieved for hearing the body discovery announcement, and yet - he couldn't help but feel utter-

Relief.

At the very least, it appeared that he wasn't the only sinner in the vicinity as Hajime heard something akin to 'finally' being mumbled by the boy with his face on the pillow.

"W-Who do you think...?" Hajime questioned with a hoarse voice once he had put his shoes on, after doing a more than usual time-consuming search for them.

"Umm, it's not ideal that I try to guess. After all, if I do, it's likely I'll get it right, y'know." Nagito answered with a humorous smile planted on his face. It wasn't a lie either, if Nagito did guess who had died, Hajime had not an ounce of doubt he would get it right, therefore, cursing that person to death.

Or at least that's how the two of them saw it.

The same would probably apply to Hajime as well, once he wished for someone's safety, that person would most certainly turn out to be the victim. Thus, Hajime made the smart decision to not think at all, not until they truly discovered the body, not until they knew that they wouldn't be sentencing someone to death with a mere thought.

He had no idea where the body was, nor who had been the unfortunate - or fortunate - one to walk in on it.

Stepping outside the room, they were met by Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko arguing quite loudly in the lounge area.

"-why would that piece of crap be blaring so loud earlier?!"

"I-I don't know either, okay! M-More importantly - What the hell is going on?! W-W-Who was the one who died?!" Kazuichi yelled in histeria.

For some reason, the two of them were peering over the clock, which now was absent from its spot on the far wall and was residing on the lounge's desk. According to the clock, it was currently 7:05 a.m. A chill ran down his spine as he realized they had been late to Monokuma Tai Chi, though his worries didn't last long as he recalled Monokuma saying that if a killing happened they would be free of the activity.

"So you heard the announcement too, huh?"

The boys' heads whirled around to face Hajime and Nagito who had entered the lounge area.

"S-So it isn't neither of you two...?" Kazuichi mumbled with a hint of what Hajime could only discern as disappointment.

The urge to give the mechanic a piece of his mind was quite appealing but it wasn't worth the effort.

"Do you guys know where the body is?"

"No, but it's clearly not in Strawberry House, I would've noticed otherwise. Plus, the elevator isn't working, it's all busted, that piece of crap!" Fuyuhiko responded, stomping down the floor with barely-contained fury.

"The elevator...?"

Was it the killer then? Messing with the elevator in order to sabotage their investigation?

"N-No kidding! And we can't even go to Strawberry Tower, either! The buttons are all messed up!" The mechanic shrieked, his scratchy voice hurting his ears.

"So... what are we supposed to do? Where even is Monokuma?"

As if the world had heard him, the inconspicuous telephone that could supposedly connect both houses, started ringing. The noise echoed around the entire floor given the oppressing silence that had insured in the Funhouse after the announcement had gone off.

Fuyuhiko being the closest one to it, wasted no time putting his ear to the receiver.

"Hey, what the hell is going on in there?!"

As the other side of the line responded, the other three boys stared at Fuyuhiko intently as he focused on whatever was being said, waiting for whatever information the other group could provide.

"So, who was it...?" Hajime asked once the yakuza had put the phone down.

"It was Chiaki-

Hajime couldn't help but widen his eyes as he froze on the spot.

"-she said that... Nekomaru is dead."

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 19: Semblance Of Hope, Facade Of Despair

"-Nekomaru is dead."

He thought that he would've felt an irking chasm of grieve being open in his chest when he finally discovered the identity of the victim, he thought he would've cursed the name of the one responsible but-

Hajime felt nothing at all.

It was concerning how the knowledge of Nekomaru's demise didn't rattle him in the least. He wasn't affected by it.

It was one more name in a vast list of people who had met a gruesome end on this island. One more fatality crosses their way, giving a path to the next one.

A chilling apathy overtook his senses, the cold air from the Funhouse seeping into his bloodstream and freezing it all over.

Relief and now this, truly - he must be losing his sensibility, his tact. No one should be growing accustomed to such things, and yet - there Hajime was, having to force himself to look sorrowful at the news when in truth, he was nothing but utterly relieved.

"What happened?" Hajime managed to groan out.

"They found him at Grape Tower... Chiaki said he was destroyed but we can't know for certain if we don't see it for ourselves." Fuyuhiko spat inraged. "And we can't do that! All because this damn fucking elevator is a piece of trash!"

"The killer messed with it, correct? I don't see another reason for it to be busted." Nagito commented from beside him.

"Yeah, it sure was, it wasn't working at all. Plus, Chiaki said something about Strawberry Tower being locked from the inside with some chains and shit, so we can't go there either."

"I see... So we're thoroughly rendered useless, huh? What a shame!"

Nagito's unpresuming elated tone seemed to strike a nerve in Fuyuhiko's already foul mood as the yakuza yanked the collar from the boy's shirt.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, huh? Why're you all smily and shit?! Nekomaru just died y'know!"

"He sure did~!" A joyful voice resonated from the lounge's entrance, irking his very last hair by just the sound of it. It had been a few long hours since the last time he had the displeasure of hearing Monokuma's voice personally. The bear, as to be expected, was looking thoroughly delighted with himself, probably fantasizing about the events that transpired.

He was waiting for the day he could rip its stuffing out.

"Hello there everyone, I'm your Headmaster Monokuma!"

"Why the hell are you presenting yourself again?!" Kazuichi shrieked, pointing an accusatory finger at the unassuming bear.

"Well, that may be 'cause of your forgetful heads! You all ditched me, y'know? I was all excited about Monokuma Tai Chi and then no one appeared... You all stood me up... Apuhuhu..." The bea whimpered looking dejected.

"You're not that sad."

"Um, I guess you're right! Seeing that another killing has occurred, I don't really mind that you ditched Monokuma Tai Chi, that thing was a bore anyway."

His chagrin must've been evident on his face by the cheeky smile Monokuma was sending his way. Opting to fish for information instead of wasting time in pointless banter, Hajime asked.

"Are you gonna give us the Monokuma File or what?"

"My, my, you're so impatient. Is that because you're going through withdrawal? I mean, after so long, your blood must be bumping to start another investigation, right?"

Another snide remark was at the tip of his tongue, but it seemed Nagito had already heard enough of that and got there first.

"So, where is it?"

"Before you get into that, I came here to deliver this!"

Monokuma without further ado handed a zip bag to each one of them, containing red bean bread and a bottle of delicious, cold milk. It was pretty simple and there was nothing extravagant at first glance, regardless, Hajime felt a little embarrassed that the sight made his eyes water with the mere prospect of food.

"And, as a bonus item... The Monokuma File! C'mon, satisfy your hunger and do your very best in the trial to come!"

Hajime had stopped listening to whatever crap Monokuma was saying ever since his eyes had landed on the zip bag. He was far from being a fan of red bean bread, always thought it was too sweet, and the consistency wasn't for his tastes, which made it all more ignominious to be in a state of trance with the bread in his hand.

He tried as much as he possibly could to savor each and every speck he could chew. Occasionally downing his milk in between bites to get as much nourishment as he could, not daring to let the precious crumbs fall on the floor.

The situation just wasn't any more embarrassing given that the other boys were in the exact same mindset.

"It's fine if you eat, but can you hear while you're at it? I want to discuss what we should do in the investigation." Nagito questioned as everyone sent him wary gazes.

"What do you even want...?" Kazuichi asked, emptying his bottle of milk. "It's not like there's anything we can do in the first place! Both Strawberry Tower and the elevator aren't accessible anymore!"

"While is true that the killer is responsible for that... They made a huge mistake, there's no way the 'Symbols of Hope' will give up because of this little setback." Nagito's tone suggested no room for arguing - as if he was stating the bare obvious. "There's no way everyone will just... cross their arms and wait for the class trial."

Kazuichi was looking at each second more likely to do just that.

Hajime wasn't particularly interested in whatever 'hope' speeches Nagito was praying about, however, he agreed in the sense that they couldn't just wait until the last second to do something. After all, the killer must've tried to render them useless for the investigation in an attempt to hinder the investigation. If they had gone through the trouble of trapping them inside, there was bound to have something they were trying to hide from them. A secret they were afraid of being found out about.

It was only logical.

"He's right. Even if we can't access the crime scene, we still have the Monokuma File, we can do our best to gather clues from this side of the building."

"Plus, Kazuichi, you should be able to fix the elevator, right? It's not for nothing that you're the Ultimate Mechanic, after all." Nagito said, coaxing the unwilling boy in being useful to them.

"Hey, hold on a second! I m-may be a mechanic, but - not even I can fix anything if I don't have the tools for it!"

"What do you mean? Don't you always keep that screwdriver of yours?" Fuyuhiko questioned uncertain.

"Yeah, but Monokuma took it from me when we got here! And it's not like this place has anything useful that I could use to fix it!"

"I see... so the only problem would be the tools, correct?"

"I-I mean... Yeah, mostly..." Kazuichi answered, a little puzzled at Nagito's wording.

"Then it's truly fortunate that I brought this with me! Here, you can have it, Kazuichi!" Nagito took the mechanic's hand and placed an odd-looking multi-tool switchblade-like item, Hajime couldn't really put a finger on what all of those tools were doing in an item so small. "With this, the elevator won't pose as a problem anymore, right?"

"I-I mean... I guess... But, hey, don't go putting any unwanted expectations on me, will ya!"

"Where did you even get this? And why bring it with you?!" Fuyuhiko wasn't alone in his confusion, Hajime had no idea Nagito was carrying that with him at all. For him to have 'predicted' the need for such a tool was oddly-

fortunate.

If it wasn't for the fact that Hajime knew for certain that Nagito couldn't be the killer, he might've suspected that the boy was related to the case somehow. As it was, Hajime and Nagito both had an airtight alibi, at the very least they wouldn't have to go to any lengths to prove their innocence. Sure, it may be a little embarrassing to disclose the reason behind their alibi to the others once they were questioned, but it was a necessary malady, he supposed.

He wondered who had been the fool this time.

Since Nekomaru's body was found inside Grape Tower, it would suggest that the killer was also from Grape House, (Akane, Chiaki, Gundham, Mahiru, or Sonia), especially if you considered that people from Strawberry House were locked from entering Grape House. However, not only was that a convenient alibi, but it also overlooked the fact that the elevator was unequivocally sabotaged from Strawberry House according to Fuyuhiko.

If that was a ploy, that would entail that the actual culprit would be from Strawberry House.

Unconsciously, his eyes landed on both Fuyuhiko leaning on the strawberry-patterned wall and Kazuichi who was making his way down the stairs to fix the elevator.

Was either of them the killer?

It would sure insinuate so.

If he had to guess, it would be Kazuichi.

It was too soon to be pointing fingers though. After all, Hajime had yet to check the Monokuma File.

And so he did.

The victim is Nekomaru Nidai, AKA "Mechamaru" after his robotic transformation.

His body was discovered in Grape Tower, which is inside the Funhouse.

His head is severely damaged and beyond repair, so that shall be considered the cause of death. Despite the fact that his arms and legs are dismembered. These limbs were actually designed to be detachable, and it seems they separated due to a severe impact.

Aside from that, several other areas of this body are damaged. Because of this, many of his functions seem to have shut down.

So severe impact was the cause of death?

It would be more helpful if they could see the body for themselves but as it was, it would have to be enough.

"Monokuma File #4" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Hey, Fuyuhiko, before Nagito and I got here, you were discussing something with Kazuichi, weren't you? What was that all about?"

It was better to try and maintain a timeline on things, that way it could possibly help them establish a time of death since in this case, Monokuma wasn't kind enough to provide them.

"Well, if you're asking I might as well share with you," Fuyuhiko grumbled as he straightened his posture. "Yesterday, I was so hungry that I couldn't get a bit of sleep. I figured it was nearly morning already, so I went to the lounge to check the clock. It turned out I was totally off, it was around 5:00 a.m. While I was there, I heard someone leaving their room and when I looked at the stairs, Nekomaru was there. He hadn't noticed me, and I was too tired to follow him."

A crease formed on the yakuza's forehead. 

"If I knew something like this would happen... I would've mustered the strength to follow him..."

"Is that true? Hm, I wonder why Nekomaru was wandering off that early in the morning..." Nagito remarked by the side.

"I was thinking about that too... I mean, I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep so I stayed there in the lounge, staring off into space for no reason, waiting until he came back... And that's when the clock started ringing all of a sudden, it was 5:30 a.m., and the loud noise even caused Kazuichi to leave his room and see what was causing the ruckus... Thanks to that alarm, I... I totally forgot about Nekomaru..."

"I see... so you were in the lounge during that whole time, yes?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Fuyuhiko nodded at Hajime's question.

"But what were you doing during that whole time? By chance, were you thinking about everything that's happened so far and getting chocked up...?"

Not even Hajime could school his features into nonplussedness at Nagito's sudden bluntness. What the hell was that kind of question, anyway?

"W-Wha-?!"

"...Huh?! Was I right...?"

"...Of course not, you asshole! Y-You're completely wrong!"

Hajime stepped between the two to finish the stupid quarrel Nagito was starting.

"Nagito, let's not be... unwarranted."

Fuyuhiko was still fuming with unleashed aggression at the truly uncalled-for comment Nagito had thrown at him, but thankfully, opted to just glare Nagito's way.

"Fuyuhiko's Account" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Clock In The Lounge" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"By the way, now that I think about it... Neither of you showed up when the alarm was blaring, not even after the rumbling noise... Where the hell were you?" The yakuza's eyes sharpened at his own realization, irises displaying clear distrust.

"To be honest, we didn't hear anything... I have no idea what 'rumbling noise' you're talking about but I didn't hear anything..."

Fuyuhiko didn't seem to believe that wholeheartedly, the contrary actually. Regardless, if he held any questions against them, it appeared that he would be saving them until the trial.

"One more thing, Fuyuhiko. If it's not too much trouble, could you please check all the clocks in the building after Kazuichi fixes the elevator? Both in Strawberry House and Grape House." Nagito requested, his early rude assumption already forgotten, or merely brushed aside. Hajime wouldn't know.

"Huh? Why?"

"I'll... tell you later."

"Sure, I can do that. But why are you asking me?! Why can't you do it yourself?!"

"We'll check it ourselves too... later. It's just best to have more than one person to verify certain pieces of evidence." Hajime interveined once again. Not entirely sure of what Nagito was looking for with his request, though he had an inkling suspicion of his reasons.

"Hmph, fine! Whatever!"

Fuyuhiko lagged on the lounge as Hajime and Nagito made their way downstairs. He wasn't too keen on staying more time than absolutely necessary in that place. At the very least, inside the rooms, you could just shut your eyes and delve into the soft embrace of darkness. It had slipped from his mind how disconcerting it was to strain his eyes on the abhorrent decoration inside the Funhouse.

Kazuichi was already examining the elevator when they reached the first floor, contrary to his belief, the call button wasn't damaged in the least, not on the outside, that is.

"Hey, so... what caused the elevator to break anyway?"

"Ah, it's you... Well, to answer your question: the safety device is messed with..." It seemed he wouldn't be getting any elaboration on that.

"But the control panel is not. Does that mean that the killer traveled back to Grape Tower and damaged it from there?"

"Yeah, it would seem so. I'm confident that whoever disabled the elevator, did it from Grape House, the elevator is also stuck there..." Kazuichi scratched behind his ears, his features looked pained, as if a migraine was forming at that exact moment. "Can you just... y'know, let me do my thing? I don't really like when people hover over me while I'm working!"

Given how irritable the mechanic was, Hajime was not eager to waste his time staying in the boy's vicinity.

"Elevator" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Leaving Kazuichi alone, they directed themselves toward Strawberry Hall. Differently from the elevator, the button to enter Strawberry Tower was completely trashed, with cut wires spreading everywhere on the panel. There was no saving that, he doubted even Kazuichi would be able to fix the button with the lack of resources they had.

"There's no saving this, I guess..."

"Indeed, it seems that our culprit did not wish for us to arrive at Strawberry Tower, or in that case, Grape Tower." Nagito commented from his right side.

"They sure didn't," Hajime sent a glance at the boy and recalled what he had requested of Fuyuhiko earlier. "You think the killer messed with the clocks, too?"

"Oh, that is... hmph, well it seems you already figured that out, huh Hajime? Well, it's not like I'm certain of anything, really. It's just a hunch." Hajime did not think that that had been just a hunch, Nagito had probably put some thought over his theory, and given the circumstances, it wasn't a bad, logic, either.

"It's a good hunch," Hajime said, playing along. "Awfully specific but - a good hunch nonetheless."

Could the killer also have messed with the clocks? It wasn't too farfetched to think so, after all, if it wasn't by much, the killer could alter their perception of time however they pleased and they would be none the wiser to it.

"Button To Strawberry Tower" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Oh, by the way, Hajime. When Kazuichi is done fixing the elevator, could you perhaps do something for me?"

"...Sure."

"Could you retrieve the multi-tool I gave him and verify something? I want to know more about how the elevator works, and there's a compass on that multi-tool, so I'm asking if you could use that compass to see if anything funny happens when you ride the elevator?"

Weird. But not unreasonable.

"Sure, I can do it. But tell me - where did you even have the time to bring that here? I mean, I think the question is: Why did you bring it with you at all?"

"Oh, I don't mean to seem suspicious or anything, I had it with me since I got to the fourth island." Circling around the question without really responding to it. Hajime wasn't a fan of being talked down, but if Nagito didn't want to share, then that was his problem.

"And why can't you do it yourself?" In all instances, Nagito should be able to follow through with his requests by himself, yet, he had delegated the work to Hajime and Fuyuhiko instead.

"You see, there's only one more place for us to explore: The Final Dead Room, I intend to investigate it."

With his suspicions confirmed, Hajime could only sigh in defeat. He didn't wish for Nagito to put himself in harm's way, but given the circumstances, they had to investigate the Final Dead Room. Nagito, the one 'favored' by luck, would certainly be the most adequate candidate for doing so.

That wasn't to say that Hajime appreciated the idea.

"I see... Do you-do you want me to come with you?" He most definitely didn't wish to accompany him, Monokuma had very explicitly warned them about the Life-Threatening Game. Despite being worried for Nagito, he had faith that the boy would perform admirably in whatever game it was, after all, the killer must've done so as well without the perk of 'good luck'.

The same didn't apply to Hajime, whose life would be very much at risk.

"I would rather not," Came the responsive not even a second later. "I wouldn't want to put your health in jeopardy, Hajime. Seeing that I'm already at death's door, I'll gladly be the pariah to take on this burden. If I can't even do that, then what am I even good for?"

His expression soured at the reminder of Nagito's health state. Before that discovery, he had associated Nagito's pale complexion with genes but he was starting to suspect that it was due to his condition.

"You're not a death's door," Despite wanting to believe his own words, ultimately, it still tasted like a lie. "But... I know I can't convince you not to. And we do need to know what's up with this room, so just - be careful, okay?"

"There's no reason for you to be worried about the likes of me, Hajime. But if it serves as any reassurance, I'm not planning on dying quite yet."

It didn't serve to reassure him in the least.

"Chiaki told Fuyuhiko that the door leading to Strawberry House was blocked by chains, right? This means that the killer has already played the Life-Threatening Game, so try to gather as many clues as you can there, especially in regards to that Ultimate Weapon Monokuma mentioned." Focusing on the investigation for the moment was the best he could do. Getting caught up in every single thing would lead them nowhere.

Despite having satisfied their crushing hunger - for the time being - their lives were still at risk. They couldn't afford to not unravel everything there was to.

He hated to give Monokuma any credit, however, the bear had been right in the sense that Hajime had grown used to this mindset. It was terribly sad to have lost his sensibility to such a degree. The accumulation of his peers' bodies resulted in chilling pliability.

"Just don't die." Closing a hand on the boy's sleeve to try and get his point across, Nagito was eyeing him with something akin to amusement shining in his irises.

"I'll do my best not to. Not that it means anything, but I'll do - my best, that is."

Hajime walked him to the clown-themed entrance and watched as the boy entered the room without a second thought, not a single shred of hesitation painting his stance.

Much the opposite to Hajime, whose hands were shaking with anticipation. He had grown too used to things not going his way, not working out in the end, and even while dealing with someone like Nagito, someone who was inherently lucky, Hajime still feared that somehow, his luck would find an avenue to create chaos.

It always did.

That scared him a whole lot.

Nagito said that his luck was altruistic, but - what if he was wrong? What if instead, Hajime's bad luck spread to those around him. It wouldn't be unprecedented - not after Rufus.

What if his bad luck was stronger than Nagito's good luck?

It might've been a bit presumptuous to assume so. His talent couldn't even be compared to Nagito's luck which was founded on nuances - apexes, and bottoms.

Regardless, he couldn't help but feel uneasy about it.

"How disappointing..."

To think that I was expecting something greater from that bear is truly becoming of trash like me.

At first glance, the inside of the Final Dead Room was as abhorrent as he should've expected of something designed by Monokuma. Eerie, degraded walls surrounded him from the four sides, bars were blocking the door in front of him, mocking his inability to escape the trap he had walked in on. Not a second had gone by when he heard the door he had just passed through being locked. As if it wasn't enough, another set of bars blocked his entrance, leaving him utterly caged.

Despite it all, Nagito felt a pure thrill invading his bloodstream with such bad luck. Vasodilation struck his body as pinpricks washed over him entirely, the urge to itch his scalp and chest was tantalizing, temptation overriding his senses with such abandon that he grew dizzy, his sight blurred with the delicious agony wrecking over him during those few moments.

But he didn't allow himself relief, he wasn't deserving of it.

So he endured with as much dignity as he could muster - if he could even call it that.

Unfortunately, it so happened that he wasn't alone in the room. Monomi was whimpering disgracefully not too far from the back corner, complaining about how she had been locked inside for days. Nagito couldn't help the frustrated sigh that left his lips - he had no use for a creature such as Monomi. Her uselessness could rival Nagito's own, the annoying rabbit was an amalgamate of hopeless hope.

He despised it.

Hated almost as much as he hated Monokuma.

The difference was that Monokuma, at the very least, had his role to fulfill. A harbinger of despair, spreading chaos and helplessness with his antics, but ultimately, that despair would only serve to nourish the hope growing inside the Ultimates - nothing more, nothing less.

Similar to himself, Monokuma's purpose was cristal clear: be a stepping stone in the name of hope.

As it was, Nagito took some delight by indulging himself in the escape room game orchestrated for them. He had never had any similar experience before = not game-wise anyway.

With Monomi's feeble help, he managed to clear the room faster than he would expect from someone like him, which only indicated how decrepit the puzzle was. Aside from the mild annoyance that the game could provide, he was yet to bear witness to the so-called Life-Threatening Game. His suspicions were confirmed once he had gone through the last step, opening the bars from the exit, and a stand containing a revolver ascended from the floor. It didn't go unnoticed to him, the symbol of the same revolver being displayed on the locked door.

Monomi being the hindrance that she was, had omitted a vital piece of information with a half-assed excuse, as usual.

"You seem to have something on your mind..."

Um... I-It's just that when I first got here, I received a letter..."

"A letter...?" It didn't surprise him in the least that she had retained such a clue from him. No matter, it would give him the information the others needed, even if he had to force it out of the stuffed animal.

"I thought it was just a prank...! So I didn't have a chance to tell you...!"

"Enough with the excuses, just show me the letter already." His patience thinned with each time he interacted with the useless bunny.

Apparently satisfied with the trouble she created, Monomi took the letter from her diaper and handed it to Nagito. He couldn't quite hide the grimace painting his countenance in disgust.

Ignoring his chagrin, his eyes landed on the letter.

Solve the mystery of the Final Dead Room and you will obtain the right to play the Life-Threatening Game.

About the Life-Threatening... It's a Life-Threatening Roulette.

PS: You are held liable for setting the roulette's difficulty! Depending on the difficulty, I've prepared special prizes

but make sure you don't overdo yourself~!

"I see... so that's what it means."

"W-What does it mean...?"

"It means that everything up till this point was just the opening act, from here forward, it's the real performance."

Nagito wasn't particularly worried, not really. What was there to worry about in the first place? A game of Russian Roulette was nothing but a puny little attempt at danger, it posed no risk to him, After all, Nagito had nothing to lose, nothing to risk - thus, victory was the only possible outcome, regardless of the results.

"I guess I just need to load the gun and play, right?" The revolver was a little heavier than he expected, though the feeling of wielding it was another matter, as petty as it sounded, the gun inexplicably exuded a sense of comfort that he rarely could associate with anything else.

"No! You c-can't do that! There's a one in six chance of it firing the bullet!"

"One in six chances? Isn't that too easy? I mean, this is supposed to be the Life-Threatening Game, right? So... shouldn't it be the opposite?" Nagito opened the cylinder and stared idly as he removed one single bullet. "Remove one bullet from the cylinder... and then used when there are five bullets loaded..." he smiled. "Yep, that would make for a more thrilling game!"

"Wh-What are you saying...?!" Monomi for once sounded more troubled than pathetic by his display.

Not really bothering with whatever complaints Monomi had, Nagito readily placed the gun to his head and enveloped his finger around the cold trigger.

"I've only removed one bullet... which means that now I only have a one in six chance of surviving."

"D-Don't do it! Please stop!"

"I mean, it's a boring talent, but - even I have an Ultimate Level talent, y'know. I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student. If I can't win when there's a one in six chance of success, then what kind of Ultimate talent is that? If my luck gets me killed like this... there's no way you can even call that talent. That's why, if I'm truly the Ultimate Lucky Student, then I have to survive here, isn't that right?"

Not able to delay any further, Nagito quickly pulled the trigger, no hesitation clogging his action whatsoever.

Click

-

-

-

Click

The door in front of him finally unlocked as the previous red symbol turned green.

"Ha, so it's finally over, right? It seems I cleared the Final Dead Room!"

"..." Monomi was eyeing him weirdly while her chubby body shivered slightly. "I-I... I'm scared of you Nagito..."

"Huh?" Nagito didn't know what could've warranted the useless toy to fear him. Regardless, it was of no importance. "Anyway, let's go, the Octagon should be just beyond that door."

"Final Dead Room" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Congratulations, Nagito!" Monokuma praised him once they had entered the Octagon. "And... you even challenged yourself at the highest difficulty... I have a modest present for someone like you! Now then, this first!"

The bear handed him a file much similar to the one they had received after riding the roller coaster. He couldn't understand why Monokuma would give him the Future Foundation's File once again, so he questioned the bear.

"Just think of that as an extension of that previous file." Monokuma said, dismissing his concerns.

"I see..." An extension, huh?

"Let's see, and one more special prize... Here ya go!" Monokuma gave him another file, though this time, it had Hope's Peak crest etched on the front. Noticing the curiosity brimming in his eyes, the bear continued. "That's right, that file contains your student profiles from your time at Hope's Peak Academy. Meaning, they're profiles you don't even remember."

"Ha... It's still hard to believe that someone like me would've bothered the Ultimates with my presence... how disgraceful of me."

He truly couldn't fathom such a thing being real. He wasn't one to turn his face away from the truth, but - he still wished for their stolen school memories to have been nothing but Monokuma's bluff. 

"Puhuhu...!"

"...What are you laughing for?"

"Oh, it's nothing, really. I just find it pretty ironic that you, of all people, were the one to get your hands on the student profiles. I'm not really sure if you're lucky or unlucky..." Without meaning to, his hands trembled a little at the mention of bad luck. There was still a debt to be paid, after all. Hajime had kissed him the previous night, an act of such good luck was bound to demand a daunting round of misfortunes. "Yes, Nagito! You might be the one who makes things much more interesting!"

Monokuma seemingly done with him, proceeded to drag Monomi back to the Final Dead Room given she hadn't played Russian Roullete, he was thankful to have them gone, their presence too noisy for his likes.

He was excited to check the student profiles but decided to save it until he was done investigating the Octagon. The place was filled with different kinds of weapons and equipment, a bunch of fridges were lined close to the wall and once he opened them, he discovered the broad variety of poisons lodged inside each of them. Thankfully, the Octagon's walls weren't decorated to drive others mad, differently from the Funhouse.

But what truly caught his attention the very second he walked in was the sunlight filtering through a small glass window on the wall. Nagito wasn't particularly fond of the sun, in truth, it was pretty much the opposite, but to see its light after the long days of imprisonment was refreshing if nothing else.

What he found laying beyond that glass pane, was far more enlightening than the sun could ever hope to be.

"Huh...?! T-This is...!" Not even in his most wild thoughts did he ever consider the possibility that was staring right back at him from the thin window separating him from the outside.

A bubbling laugh escape his throat as he stared transfixed past the window.

Yes, this is definitely interesting...

" Ultimate Weapon" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Hajime was for a lack of a better word: skittish.

Quite some time had gone by since Nagito's departure to the Final Dead Room, and he was yet to know about the boy's wellbeing. Of course, Hajime had no idea what was waiting behind the clown-themed door, so Nagito might have been still completing the game - being that whatever it was.

Regardless, that knowledge made no favors in subduing his nerves, the contrary actually. The lack of any sign only served to submerge him into the vast ocean of doubt clogging his brain. After the first few minutes, Hajime had moronically tried to enter the room, only to be faced with the door locked tight, probably a mechanism that made it impossible to enter the Final Dead Room once it was occupied.

With no courses of action left to follow, await he did.

At some point, Fuyuhiko had descended to the first floor as well, leaning against the wall adjacent to the elevator, observing while Kazuichi kept his efforts on fixing the elevator.

"Hey, when are you gonna finish with this? It's been a whole two hours y'know!" Two hours, Hajime thought. If it wasn't for Fuyuhiko mentioning it, he wouldn't have known, not for certain. Despite Nagito's long departure, he thought that only a matter of forty minutes had passed.

Nagito's theory regarding the clocks only gained more credibility with each second that flew unaccounted.

"H-Hey, don't go yelling at me now! I'm almost finished, anyway..." Kazuichi mumbled the last part under his breath.

True to his words, the elevator was ready to board not too long after that. Fuyuhiko muttered something that could only mean 'finally' and the three of them entered the elevator, not wasting a second longer. Two hours had gone by; Monokuma was likely itching to start the trial, and they were yet to visit the crime scene.

No time to waste and no sign of Nagito.

"Hey, give me Nagito's multi-tool, he asked me to retrieve it for him." He recalled Nagito's request at the last second as the doors closed.

"What?! Why should I give it to you?!" Sounding more affronted than necessary, Kazuichi pointed a finger at his chest.

"Because it's gonna help on the case, and you don't want to hinder us, do you?" Cold annoyance bled into his voice as he stared the mechanic down with narrow eyes. "Unless..."

His point seemed to get across as Kazuichi shoved the multi-tool at him with an indignant huff.

With the compass finally in his hands, Hajime observed with surprise as the needle in the center rotated 180º degrees during their travel to Grape House. Just like the other times, the elevator made no sound indicating their movement whatsoever, and yet, according to the compass they hadn't merely moved to the adjacent tower, but moved around it for some reason.

"Compass' Needle 180º degrees Rotation" Has been added to the truth bullets.

He begrudgingly admitted to himself that he was more relieved from getting out of the red-patterned building than actually working on the investigation. Grape House, though far from ideal, was a much more merciful environment to the eye than Strawberry House could ever hope to be.

Kazuichi lagged behind them, inspecting the elevator from this side, while Fuyuhiko sped towards the second floor to check over the clocks as Nagito had requested. Hajime on the other hand wasted no time in directing himself to the crime scene. The quicker they got done with it, the better. Time was slipping through his fingers like sand, with each minute that passed, they were dragged down further under the torrent of doubt and uncertainties.

All thoughts came reeling back once his eyes landed on Nagito who stood near Nekomaru's body, which was all destroyed parts and mangled limbs splattered on the ground. The boy's back was to him, yet to notice his arrival,

"Nagito..."

Despite the surprise at finding the boy at Grape House, he was utterly relieved at finally being made aware of his state, Sure, it had been only two hours, two hours of radio silence as he dwelled with the possibility of Nagito succumbing to whatever lay behind the ominous Final Dead Room.

To have his worries dimmed was a victory in itself.

However, that enthusiasm for assembling once again seemed to be one-sided. Nagito whirled around to face him with cold, assessing eyes, scrutinizing him, as if trying to see what was hiding underneath his skin. It was a far cry from the usual humble and cheerful demeanor, he certainly hadn't received such a stare from the boy before.

"Y-You're safe..." The quiver in his voice was a little more evident than he was comfortable admitting.

"I am, indeed. So you've finally decided to join the rest of us?"

"Kazuichi only now finished fixing the elevator, we just got here."

"I see..."

The tense silence didn't dim in the least, in fact, it appeared to grow exponentially during the short few seconds they stayed there staring at each other. Hajime felt as if he had done something wrong without really knowing about it; as if he had pushed some invisible boundary that he wasn't privy to. It did not make any favors in calming his nerves.

"What happened in the Final Dead Room, anyway? How did you manage to get here, too?" Hajime said, trying to quell the oppressive atmosphere that had descended upon them.

"It didn't happen anything worth writing home about, really. The Life-Threatening wasn't even life-threatening at all. Though, I guess I can't say that some of the information I discovered was useless. Monokuma gave me another file of the Future Foundation - an extension of it, according to him."

"An extension? And what was in it?"

"It probed the Killing School Life in a little more detail, but nothing that interesting, really. However, I did notice that both the Killing School Trip and Killing School Life have some similarities..." Nagito crossed his arms as he glanced back at Nekomaru's body. "You see, the first killing happened with someone being stabbed in an unexpected place, the second, it was revealed a serial killer among the group - allegedly, in Peko's case. And the third murder was actually two killings that happened in succession."

"...It can't be a coincidence, right?" It couldn't. Given that Monokuma was the one to plan the motives that would drive them to kill their classmates, he surely must've had someone in mind with each motive, just like he did with 'Twilight Syndrome Murder Case'.

"I agree, it doesn't really seem to be just coincidence. Plus, there was something interesting regarding the fourth murder, it apparently was suicide." 

Was Nagito implying that Nekomaru's death was a suicide too? Though he could see the similarities between the other cases, he wasn't too sure about the last one. By the looks of it, Nekomaru did not appear to have committed suicide, if so, he had gone a little over the top.

"Wheater that means something or not, we should keep it in mind."

It sure was.

"What about the Ultimate Weapon? Did you find anything about what it could be?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't..." Nagito sighed as if Hajime's question was the most bothersome thing to ever roam the earth. "Is there any reason I should answer that?"

It was as if ice-cold water had been thrown on his head. He couldn't even start to fathom the reason behind Nagito's sudden change in demeanor towards him, but whatever it was, Hajime had no obligation to merely stand there and deal with the boy's impudence. If Nagito was irked with Hajime, then the least he could do was explain why.

"Well, maybe because our lives are on the line here. But if you wish to die in this abominable place, be my guest."

"I was the one to clear the Final Dead Room, and I'm free to divulge any clues I obtained there as I see fit, right?" His tone was borderline mocking, as if daring Hajime to contest his claims. The urge to hit Nagito square in the face never was as prominent, but he reeled his emotions in.

He had to remind himself that not only was Nagito ill, but he was also mentally ill. Despite his medical knowledge, he could make an educated guess that sudden mood changes were among the possibly very long list of symptoms related to his maladies.

"Do whatever you want." Hajime bristled instead.

Sidestepping the boy, Hajime bent down to get a closer look at Nekomaru's frame. On closer inspection, he noticed that there was some kind of wire whirled around his damaged torso, which was leaking oil all around, not only that but a big hammer was sitting on the ground without a single scratch on it, standing out like a sore thumb in contrast to the destruction of both Nekomaru and the pillar now lying on the floor.

There was no apparent reason for the enormous stone pillar to be tumbled down, except for Nekomaru himself, that is.

Just what the hell went down here...?

Nekomaru was also lying in front of the door leading to Strawberry Tower, according to Chiaki the door was locked with chains, and indeed, now Hajime understood the killer had gone through the trouble of both chaining up the door and messing with the button on Strawberry Hall.

The culprit had orchestrated a pretty convoluted plan, with too many details to possibly be a spur-of-the-moment thing.

No-

The killer had been quite thorough in their machinations.

"Nagito's Travel To Grape House " Has been added to the truth bullets.

"State Of Nekomaru's Body" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Tipped Over Pillar" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"New-Looking Hammer" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Chain" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Gn! Nekomaru...! Are you... serious...?!" All at once, all the other students had gathered inside Grape Tower once again, some looking better than others, but most of them with ragged expressions adorning their frames. Mahiru and Sonia were sharing dark bags resting under their eyes, clear signs of a restless night. 

"Crap...! I don't know who did this, but... this is pretty fucked up...!" Fuyuhiko spat, looking sick from the state of the crime scene.

"Now's not the time to get sentimental. C'mon, we need to hurry up and investigate." Nagito prompted from the side. At least they could agree on that.

"There's nothing else to investigate, though. We looked through everything already." Mahiru sounded more dejected than anything, defeat underlining her stance completely.

"No, you haven't... There's still Nekomaru's body, correct? We might not have Mikan anymore to perform autopsies, but Kazuichi should be able to disassemble the body, right?"

An unmoving silence settled in the room at Nagito's suggestion. In a matter of seconds, the already gloomy atmosphere was filled with dense tension.

"Is that true...? Are you about to disassemble Nekomaru's body?" Sonia was nothing short of scandalized by the prospect. A reluctant part of him could admit that Nagito's idea wasn't that senseless, on the contrary, their clues were already scarce as it was; none of them had the luxury to go out of their way to avoid gaining more evidence.

"D-Don't screw with me! Hasn't coach Nekomaru been through enough?!" Akane was by far the angriest with the idea if the dangerous edge on her gaze was any clue.

"Been through enough...? We need to perform this investigation to find out who the killer is." Nagito responded with no care, his tone as casual as always. A starking contrast to the content of his words. "Or perhaps you don't want to know, Akane? Maybe you don't care about what happened to Nekomaru..."

"Wh-Why you-!"

"If you suck at using your brain and you really want to know who the killer is, then try not to interfere so much."

Cold and biting. It seemed that the newfound animosity wasn't reserved exclusively for him.

He wasn't sure if he should feel any glad about it.

"C'mon Kazuichi, what are you waiting for? Monokuma is gonna call the end of the investigation at any time now, just hurry up." Kazuichi appeared to think about arguing with Nagito but aside from the unwarranted rudeness, Nagito was right. Hajime not waiting for Kazuichi to formulate his retort shoved the multi-tool back in the mechanic's hands.

Nagito's change in attitude towards the group didn't go unnoticed by the others, though it seemed no one was keen on bringing attention to the fact.  

Turns out, that despite the early disagreement, Nagito was right about new clues yet to be discovered, mainly regarding Nekomaru's body. With most of the students observing, Kazuichi managed to open Nekomaru's chest cavity which displayed his internal clock, its needles were stuck at 7:30 a.m., indicating that the alarm was set to go off at that same time.

Which was weird considering they had to group up at this same place at 7:00 a.m. for Monokuma Tai Chi. Hajime couldn't see Nekomaru getting late to the activity, so perhaps it was the killer's doing?

"Clock's Alarm Timer" Has been added to the truth bullets.

As luck would have it, Nagito found another weird piece of evidence as he crouched near Nekomaru and rolled the body a little sideways, hiding under the body was a raw scratched doorknob, the screw appeared to have come out with it too, and the handle was much too similar to the ones of the doors leading to Strawberry Hall, though that specific doorknob could only pertain to the opposite door.

"Geez, it's just like I imagined... I can't leave this to you guys at all... Look at this, you were about to lose a major piece of evidence like this one," Hajime pretended to not have heard to prevent any argument that could've possibly been born from the comment.

"Doorknob" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Following through his words, Nagito seemed to be in complete control of the investigation, taking the reins of the case. Hajime was observing him from the side, trying to discern what had changed those hours they stayed away from each other, what could've happened in so little time to make Nagito change his demeanor so abruptly.

And to think they were sleeping by each others' sides a few hours ago.

Just his luck.

The boy commanded Kazuichi to fix the button of Strawberry Hall in order for them to investigate, suggesting that the mechanic could use parts from Nekomaru himself to get the job done. Kazuichi, as was to be expected, was more than a little hesitant to follow through with his orders, ultimately, he had to relent to Nagito's passive-aggressiveness.

Sonia offering to help might've also had a play in that.

By the time the mechanic had finally dealt with the button on Strawberry Hall, Hajime was getting agitated with the amount of time Monokuma was offering, it sounded like too much kindness for the bear to be so lenient.

It unnerved him.

However, as they approached Strawberry Hall, he started to suspect the reason behind Monokuma's 'generosity'. For some unexplainable reason, when they entered Strawberry Tower, the scene of the crime was the exact same. The body, pillar, oil marks, everything was in the same perspective as if they had entered from Grape Hall. As if the floor of the tower itself had rotated 180º degrees.

Of course, they had suspected that both Strawberry Tower and Grape Tower were the same - they had confirmed it even. That, however, was thrown out the window the moment they were faced with the supposed impossible.

Ding Dong Bing Bong

"Well, it seems it's finally time... Let's proceed with the class trial, shall we... To tell you the truth, I'm tired... Extremely tired! I feel like spending the rest of my life hibernating already! Phew... though I don't really feel like it... I'll show you my serious side once you come to the class trial."

Click

The end of their time felt nothing short of intentional.

"Strange Feeling On The Tower" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 20: Ignorance Is By Far The Greatest Shame

As if they hadn't yet crossed the limits of unrealistic, a giant, stone-carved Monokuma head came imploding from the very ground they were standing on.

Thankfully for most of them, they were standing in the peripheric areas, the same didn't apply to Hajime who faltered immediately once the damned sculpture shook the floor whole.

A myriad of boulders rained on him, some more harmful than others.

Ultimately, nothing more than a minor inconvenience in the face of a much more daunting threat. The enormous sculpture opened its mouth, beckoning them to enter the very familiar province that oozed malice in each inch of its premise. A promise of doom for at least one of them. A fate sealed as soon as they stepped forward.

Reluctant as they all were, there was no making Monokuma wait. 

Hajime realized with some hint of amusement that the group from the last class trial had maintained the same.

Given that Ibuki had been considered the blackened, and that Nekomaru wasn't in any condition to participate, it ensued the exact same group of students being thrown into the same situation once more. Then again, that wouldn't be their second time doing this.

Nine of them remained. Soon to become eight. Or one.

It all depended on them.

The absent spots on his sides underlined an abysm of distance from everyone in the courtroom more than ever. Before, he could just look forward and be met with Nagito staring right back, a companion to help him get through this awful affair. Now, he was faced with searing annoyance, or worse yet. Numb indifference.

Now, he had no partner in this. No one to lean on. He was all by himself. To have some of the others turn on him would only take the drop of a hat. His alibi was as good as nothing if Nagito decided to push him under the bus.

Would he do that, though? Frustrating as it was, he wasn't sure where Nagito stood in this case. Whatever had warranted the boy's disdain towards the group, had to be serious enough to make him treat the Ultimates he adored so much with such scorn.

Depending on how severe that change of heart had been, Hajime feared that Nagito could cause more problems than mere snide comments.

"Very well, I guess it would be a bit redundant to go on and on again about the rules, right? So, why don't we commence the class trial once and for all?! I have to admit, giving you guys so much time kind of blew my enthusiasm away a little..."

Small mercies.

"So... what should we begin with?" Mahiru started, breaking the small silence that had settled.

Indeed, where should they start from? Despite doing his best, Hajime was at a complete loss. He had no suspects in mind, no suspicions worth mentioning given his lack of evidence. The only thing he knew for sure was that neither he nor Nagito could've committed the crime.

Not to mention the bizarre manner the Funhouse was built, what he thought to be the truth had been completely twisted as soon as they entered Strawberry Tower.

When he had to fend for himself, he didn't have a clue about what had happened.

How unfortunate.

"There is quite a lot that intrigues me regarding Nekomaru's death..." Gundham spoke out. Hajime couldn't recall the last time he had heard his deep timbre brimming with an outlandish air.

"Me too, it all seems very weird to me. Like, what was even the cause of death? The Monokuma File didn't really specify, I think."

"It was listed as a severe impact, right?" At least that he could understand. Nekomaru's body had been mangled and downright painful to look at, despite his transition to a robot body. Only a severe impact could've caused such injuries on Nekomaru, who took Monokuma's bazooka to the chest and walked away as if it was nothing.

"Yeah, and I'm sure it was that pillar, my gut is screaming that coach Nekomaru died 'cause of that pillar!"

Despite Akane's gut not being reliable evidence to follow through with that logic, he could understand where the gymnast was coming from. The tall stone pillar had been tipped over for no apparent reason, Nekomaru's blood - oil - splattered on its apex indicated that at very least, Nekomaru had had contact with it during the events preceding his demise.

"What are you saying? What about that hammer? If that wasn't the murder weapon then what the hell was something like that doing there?!"

"Huh...?"

"Well... it's pretty obvious, isn't it?"

"Huh...?"

"The heck you're 'huh-ing' me for?! We all saw that hammer right beside Nekomaru's body!"

The interaction between both Kazuichi and Nagito made for a disconcerting thing to witness. Not only was Nagito presumptuously disdaining at the boy's remarks, but the condescension exhaling from him was dense enough to cut with a knife.

"But there was no oil staining that hammer, right? If the hammer had been the murder weapon, then I think it would've left a mark of oil on it, right?" Chiaki's argument was sound, unlike Kazuichi's rushed assumptions. The hammer did look brand-new, which seemed totally out of place in contrast to the messy crime scene.

"I noticed that as well, the hammer looked pretty new to me. Not a single scratch." Hajime agreed before Nagito could interfere again with his newfound petulant attitude. "I think it's safe to assume that the killer probably planted that hammer there to mislead us about the murder weapon."

"I agree. Also, despite the hammer not having any sign of oil in it, the pillar did have marks of oil. Perhaps Akane isn't too far off with her guess." Mahiru pointed out.

"Yeah, I'm 100% sure! Coach Nekomaru got clobbered with that pillar!"

"No one could withstand a blow from that pillar... However, even if you used all your muscle strength, it would be impossible to wield it as a weapon." Hajime hadn't checked it himself, but he could only imagine how heavy the pillar actually was. He doubted even Akane would be able to lift it.

"Gundham's right, we tried to move it - the four of us. And even that wasn't enough to move the pillar, not even a slight bit." Chiaki consented.

"But there's one dude who could've lifted that pillar!" At their puzzled gazes, Akane continued. "Coach Nekomaru's robot body! With that dude's super-strength, liftin' a pillar would be easy!"

"So he lifted the pillar and what...? Beat himself with it?" Fuyuhiko sounded less than impressed with the gymnast's suggestion.

"No way! Nekomaru would never commit suicide, he's not that kind of guy!"

He couldn't help but shiver at the word suicide. Recalling what Nagito had said about the 'Killing School Life'.

"Then even if Nekomaru could lift that pillar, this has nothing to do with the case at all!" Kazuichi retorted annoyed.

Akane stopped short on whatever she was about to say. A second passed before she started to scratch behind her ears.

"I guess you're right..."

"What the heck!" Just like Kazuichi, Hajime was a little constipated with Akane's sudden change of heart. Though it hadn't been the first time Akane had played a stunt like that, he thought.

"Um, what if there was a way of using the pillar as a weapon without having to lift it?" Having gotten everyone's attention, the princess elaborated. "Couldn't have Nekomaru being crushed by the pillar? That way, there would be no reason for the killer to lift the pillar but only to tip it over, correct?"

"It's a plausible theory... but with the power of the Evil Eye I was able to notice something no mere human could." Gundham started ominously as ever. "If Nekomaru truly succumbed to the power of that pillar, the remnants of its abandon should've rested on top of his body, yet, there were no fragments to be found."

"Fragments...?"

"Now that you mentioned, it's true! While we were investigating we saw that the fragments were scattered underneath Nekomaru, but there weren't any on top of him...!" Mahiru piped up, her eyes brightening a little, their earlier dullness abated for the moment. "I actually considered that too, but... that's probably not what happened..."

"I-I see... That was entirely... my bad..." Sonia on the other hand looked pretty dejected having her theory being shot down.

"Don't worry miss Sonia... E-Everyone would assume that..."

"Anyway, wouldn't it be better if we discussed what happened before you guys found the body?" Hajime was still in the dark about much of what had transpired in Grape House before and during the investigation. To clear those facts from the beginning would be the best way forward. After all, this time, the case presented much more questions than any answers. "Things like, who found the body, when and whatnots."

"Very well. then I shall share with you the details of the incident. Um...We discovered Nekomaru's body a little before 7:00 a.m., we were heading for Monokuma Tai Chi at Grape Tower, and then we found the body. Gundham, Chiaki, and Mahiru were also with me." The princess explained.

"Gundham was with the three of you that early in the morning...?! D-Don't tell me he..."

"Imbecile! I'm not some woman with flexible legs!"

"No kidding! Can't you get your head out of the gutter?!"

Hajime should've seen it coming from miles away the inappropriate way Kazuichi would interpret the princess' words. Mahiru was as offended as Sonia given the new shade of red painting her face.

"Anyway, we met up on the first floor, and when we went to Grape Tower, Nekomaru's body was there, that's when the announcement sounded." Chiaki finished before the petty squabble could gain proportions. "Akane came rushing to the tower right after."

"We heard the announcement too, from Strawberry House, obviously. As I recall, we found out that the elevator was out of order, which left us stuck." Fuyuhiko added.

"That's right, and when we tried to get into Strawberry Tower, the button on Strawberry Hall was all messed up. We couldn't get to the tower 'cause of that." Kazuichi said, scratching his beanie. "Plus, there was that weird chain that you guys mentioned."

"Uh, so what? What we do need to know is how the killer murdered Nekomaru with that pillar!" Akane was apparently back with her convictions.

"How much longer are you gonna focus on that pillar?! Just let it go already!" The back and forth between the mechanic and gymnast was starting to wear on his nerves.

"Th-There's no way I can let it go... I'm positive that... Nekomaru was killed by that pillar..."

"Why are you so certain about that...?" Fuyuhiko said, voicing everyone's doubt at that point.

"I just... I have a feeling."

"A feeling, huh? That's just your instincts."

Akane wasn't the sole one to have instincts. Through the various class trials, Hajime himself relied on his 'gut' more times than he was comfortable admitting. But a feeling was just a feeling in the end. If had nothing else to back it up, then it was hard to follow through with it.

"...But we can't say for sure that that instinct is wrong, can we?"

Having kept quiet for a long time, Nagito seemed to step up once again to lead the conversation.

"There's another way to use that pillar to kill. You just haven't noticed..."

Gazing patronizingly around the courtroom, Nagito was starting to irk the other students as much as Hajime.

"And would you care to share?" He sure as hell wasn't too fond of begging for Nagito to share whatever information he was withholding as of now. But despite the awful demeanor he was treating them, Hajime didn't have the luxury of pettiness. None of them had.

For a moment the boy didn't say anything, his scrutinizing gaze wandering over their heads. "...You guys are the same as usual. You're unable to clear the path to the future with your own powers, so you just stand there and falter..."

A derisome humorless chuckle leaves his lips.

"What a waste of talent! And you intend to fight the Future Foundation? You make me laugh!"

As much as he hated to admit it, the mockery plaguing Nagito's tone made something deep inside him recoil. Like a chasm had opened in the pit of his stomach at once. The boy seemed to be unaware of it - or he didn't care.

"And what the fuck are you on about?! Is this what? Just a game to you?!" Fuyuhiko appeared to also be on the limits of his patience with Nagito's attitude.

His indignation might as well have fallen on deaf ears.

"Regardless... It's not like I want to die with the rest of you, so I guess I should lend a hand."

It sure doesn't sound like it. Hajime refrained from telling him.

"Hey, Nagito... what happened to you? Why are you talking like that?" Contrary to Fuyuhiko, Mahiru decided to approach the elephant in the room with caution.

"I learned an important lesson: Ignorance is by far the greatest shame." Nagito acknowledged the photographer, though his eyes were glued to Hajime. "But to answer your early question: Using just the pillar wouldn't be enough, in order to kill, the killer would need a specific item to make that possible."

"A specific item such as...?" Gundham pressed.

"The Ultimate Weapon, of course."

For a second everyone ceased breathing.

"So you do know what it is..."

"Well, it's not like the bunch of you haven't seen it yet."

It seemed that despite being willing to start participating in the discussion, Nagito was still reluctant to provide them with the answers they wished. Instead, opting to drop crumbs of pragmatic questions at them, testing to see if they were capable of figuring out the mystery by themselves. Goding them with a patronizing air surrounding his act of benevolence.

It irritates him quite a lot.

"Stop with this cryptic act of yours. Just get to the point already." His words had brought close to no reaction from the luckster.

"Jeez... I'm trying to. But if you want to know about the Ultimate Weapon, you'll have to first discover the mystery of the Funhouse."

"The mystery regarding the Funhouse...? Then I think it must have something to do with the structure of the Funhouse, correct?" Sonia said, following the thread Nagito had tossed. "We have managed to discover that both Strawberry and Grape Tower are one and the same! Is that perhaps the mystery of which you speak?"

While her logic was sound in regards to the buildings being the same, there were still many lingering secrets about the Funhouse and its structure.

"I mean, I agree that they're the same tower, but - don't you remember? When we entered Strawberry Tower, instead of us seeing Nekomaru's body in front of the doors, not only his body but the whole crime scene was in the exact same perspective as when we entered from Grape Tower. Why was that?"

"Couldn't it be like... the floor rotated 180º degrees or something. I wouldn't put past Monokuma to do something like that just to confuse us." Kazuichi suggested. Though he didn't sound as if he truly believed what he was saying. "If it is, then it could've passed as the exact same place."

"If so, then what? Do you think such a simple answer is the correct answer?"

"And do you have a better idea? If so then say it." If Nagito kept up with his act, the class trial was bound to be a hundred times more unbearable than it already was.

"..."

Of course he would stay silent.

"Look, there's no doubt about the towers being the same; Chiaki's experiment with the handbook confirms as much. We just have to figure out the reason behind that weird occurrence on Strawberry Tower."

"Fine, I'll tell you guys a big hint that'll help you solve the secret of the Funhouse." Nagito spoke at last.

"Hmph, it seems you'll stick to your role as a jester. No matter, such foolish efforts in obscuring the truth shall fall short in comparison to my powers!"

"Of course I'm gonna keep at it. Otherwise, this whole class trial would be meaningless, right? It's also important for me because it'll help me... determine something."

Determine...? Determine what?

His mind reeled back to the Final Dead Room. What had Nagito seeing it? There had to be some explanation for the one-eighty turn in his personality. Hajime could only wonder what would cause Nagito to change so severely in a matter of hours.

"And how do we know that this hint of yours is any good?! It's pretty suspicious that you're the only one that knows about it!" Akane pointed out, not really in the mood for Nagito's games. He could certainly relate to that.

"It's because he cleared the Final Dead Room, isn't it? That's why you know more than you're letting on." That was the only possibility, after all. "What did you find in there, Nagito?"

At first, it seemed Nagito would remain silent, but after thinking better of it, the boy started.

"You're right, I did clear the Final Dead Room, and the hint is what I saw just after I cleared." Nagito placed a hand on his temples. "In the depths of the Final Dead Room, there was a hidden room surrounded by concrete - The Octagon. But instead of explaining, it's best if I show you... At an opportune time, I found a perfect camera in the Octagon."

A creepy smile overtook his features as he took a digital camera from his pockets. After having selected a specific photo, he passed the camera around.

When the camera finally reached his hands on the opposite side of the room, Hajime was alight in uncertainty as he wasn't too sure what exactly he was looking at. The first thing to catch his attention was the vast woodland being displayed from a certain high ground. Since arriving at the island, Hajime was yet to see such macroflora, which meant that wherever the Funhouse was located, it was a fairly large distance from the facilities they had visited.

To the left side of the picture stood a tower, most likely the one connecting Grape and Strawberry House. At first glance, nothing really stand out to him, but Nagito's next words made him pause.

"I took this picture from the Octagon, which was beyond the walls of the first floor of Strawberry House. So, can you find what's weird about it?"

With the knowledge that the picture was taken from the first floor of Strawberry House, something did start to feel... off. Mainly because of the perspective in which the picture was shot, the camera was positioned above the trees, not nearly close to the ground. If Nagito's words were to be believed, then there was definitely something off with their conception of the Funhouse up until that point.

"This...! This is too high to be the first floor, right?"

"Well, that too. But that was the only thing you noticed? So short-sighted..."

Searing tendrils of embarrassment pulled at him as he clenched the camera tighter in his grip. An uninvited flush tinted his cheeks with the humiliation. Eyes glancing down at the picture again, he inspected the photo a bit more thoroughly in search of whatever seemed so obvious to Nagito. And in the middle of those troubling thoughts, he noticed-

the tower.

With their current theory, the same tower connected both of the opposing houses that constituted the Funhouse. However, looking at the picture, he noticed there was no structure behind the tower.

It was empty.

There was no Grape House to be seen, not as it should've.

What could that even mean?

"There's... There's no Grape House on the other side of the tower. It should be there but - it isn't...!"

"A-Are you sure...?!" Fuyuhiko, the one closest to him asked, his hand signing to him to hand over the camera again.

At once, their perspective of the Funhouse has changed yet again. The camera passed through everyone's hands as the students now eyed the picture with new eyes.

"H-He's right! From everything we gathered until now, Grape House should be behind the tower, but-!" Tense lines crossed Mahiru's face. "There's nothing there...! It should be there!"

"That does pose as a problem..." Gundham commented.

"In summary... this is the truth contained in this photo: The first floor of Strawberry House is located in a high area, and Grape House is not behind the tower. From this point on... do your own thinking. Now that you've finally met the same requirements as me, if you guys truly are 'Symbols Of Hope'... you can easily solve a mystery like this." Nagito spat, sealing his lips for the time being.

Most of the students eyed him warily, unsure of what to make of his remark.

But what could it mean? How could both houses connect via the tower if they weren't parallel to each other? Not only that but the fact that Nagito had somehow gone from the first floor of Strawberry Tower to Grape House was also something to consider. As far as they knew, there shouldn't be any passages that would allow him to do so-

Unless-

"Nagito, how did you even go to Grape House? The elevator was busted and you couldn't have left the Final Dead Room, so... did you find a secret passage in the Octagon, too?"

"Um... so you noticed that, huh? Well, yeah, I did travel from the Octagon to Grape House, to the third floor to be more specific."

From the first floor of Strawberry House to the third floor of Grape House. There's only one explanation for that.

"Then that has to be it! The only thing I can think of is that both houses are connected vertically. If so, then it would explain why there's no Grape House behind the tower, and why the photo Nagito took was from a high area! Strawberry House must be above Grape House!"

For the first time since entering the courtroom, Hajime felt confident in his hypothesis. He supposed that that was a good enough answer to satisfy Nagito's tastes given how convoluted it all was. And it certainly was the farthest thing from deviating from the truth, he thought.

"Wait... you're saying that both houses are the same building on different floors...? Not two different three-story buildings?" Fuyuhiko sounded unsure, but it seemed the rest of the group was starting to entertain the idea. 

"I never thought about the two buildings being the same but... it does make sense, right?" Chiaki creased her brows, her forefingers tapping mindlessly at the straps of her bag.

"But what about the shape of the buildings? I mean, both houses were in different shapes, you know? Grape House is six-sided and Strawberry House is four-sided." Kazucihi inquired, not looking too certain himself.

"It never occurred to us that they were the same building because it was structured with two different shapes." Chiaki went on to explain. "A quadrilateral and a hexagon, overlayed atop each other to misdirect how we would perceive them. And it worked, didn't it? Disregarding the tower... we fully believed that the two houses were two separate, distinct buildings."

"That's also probably the reason why Monokuma put us to sleep before we got here. So we wouldn't see the outside of the building once he brought us in." Nagito added, still with a stoic countenance, not showing anything.

"You've just been Kuma'd!"

Of course, he shouldn't have expected anything less from the abhorrent bear.

"Don't you think that a weird-structured building like that deserves to be called a Funhouse? Personally, I do!" Snickering behind his paws Monokuma leveled them with mirth. "You're right! Those two houses exist on different floors in the same building!"

At the very least, now they could proceed with the discussion on more than hunchs and assumptions. If Monokuma himself was confirming their suspicions, then there was no doubt that it was true.

"But hey, what about the towers? Are they also overlayed over each other?" Mahiru asked crossing her arms.

"They have to be, Strawberry Tower must be on top of Grape Tower as well."

"However, if they're different floors of the same building... then why Nekomaru's body was found in both places?" Gundham inquired, looking not too certain about the topic.

Indeed, there was still the secret of how Nekomaru's body moved from one floor to the other. Another thing that was bugging him was how they entered Strawberry Tower at all. Given how it was tightly shut from the other side with chains, there was no apparent reason for the doors to have opened, even if Kazuichi had fixed the control panel on Strawberry Hall.

And yet, it did.

"...What if the body simply moved?" Chiaki said, bringing attention to herself once again.

"Simply moved...? But how? It shouldn't be possible." Fuyuhiko grumbled from beside him.

"Can't you think of a device that does exactly that? Transporting something in between floors?"

Was she-

"Chiaki... are talking about an elevator?" That's it, right? An elevator, such a simple answer and yet one that made perfect sense.

"Yep, that's what I think. I mean, don't you think it makes sense? If the tower was an elevator itself, it would explain why Nekomaru's body was transported to both places, right?"

"Wait... now that mentioned, I always wondered why when I pressed the button it took some time for the door to open... so, was that us just waiting for the room to arrive?" At the realization, the photographer lagged on her stand as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders.

"Just like an elevator!" Akane eloquated.

"While I can understand your thinking... that still begs the question: Whatever happened to the doors on the far back door?" Sonia asked, her hands positioned gracefully in her front. "When you enter Grape Tower, there's a Strawberry door on the far back door, and when entering from Strawberry Tower, that door has a Grape symbol on it. Not to mention, those chains locking Strawberry Hall, what happened to them?"

"That's right, plus the doorknob of the Grape door was missing too!" Kazuichi added, quickly to support Sonia.

"But if the tower was designed to make it so that only the floor move, it would also explain that. You see, now that we know that the buildings are connected vertically instead of through the tower, we can perceive those doors as mere props. They were probably put there just to mess with us. The floor of the tower would move, while those doors would stay in their position to create an illusion, to make it seem like they led towards the other house."

Taking a breath, Hajime returned Nagito's glance.

"That would also explain why the chains didn't stop us from entering Strawberry Tower since they weren't really blocking that door, but the one on Grape Tower."

"Man... I'm totally lost on this tower thing..." Akane grumbled under her breath, though loud enough to echo in the suddenly quiet courtroom.

"Indeed, it is hard to follow but... I think I can picture what Hajime is saying." Sonia nodded. "Those doors were there to cause us to falsely believe that the doors were connected to where the picture signified, correct?"

"It was actually very effective. Because of that, we totally misunderstood the building's structure." Chiaki consented.

"And with that, we arrive at another conclusion." Nagito started. "The killer messed with the buttons on Strawberry Hall and also placed chains on the door with the strawberry design to avoid us entering Strawberry Tower. But why was that?"

Apparently, Nagito would pop in and out of the conversation as he pleased, no need to comment about it and derail the discussion any further.

"To avoid discovering the secret of the Funhouse..." Nagito himself had just said that, then... "And well, that implicates that the killer also knew about it. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone through all that trouble to hide it from us. Though we already knew that, after all, they must've got the hammer and chains all from the Octagon, right?"

"While I agree with some aspects of your conjecture, you're progressing much too quickly... There's still a contradiction concerning the building's structure, concerning the contact elevator I may say." Gundham interrupted before they could jump to another topic. "If that elevator moves vertically, then when your back is facing the elevator, both houses should be on the same side. But... does this reflect reality?"

Same side...?

"In Grape House, when your back is to the elevator, Grape Hall is on your right, whilst in Strawberry House, when leaving the elevator you're faced with Strawberry Hall on your left side. Which means, that the houses are on opposite sides of the tower." Taking a threatening stance, Gundham finished. "Answer me, fiend! What does that mean?!"

Gundham's grandiose mannerisms aside, Hajime had truly not caught up on the fact that, indeed, both halls leading to the towers were on opposite sides when leaving the elevator. Such a minor detail had completely gone through him. However, he did possess the explanation for that matter.

"Actually, I think I know why that happens. During the investigation, Nagito asked me to use the compass on his multi-tool while riding the elevator, and... well, it appears that the elevator rotated 180º degrees before arriving. At the time I had no idea why, but now I'm pretty sure it was just Monokuma putting another layer of uncertainty to mislead us."

Uncertain looks were shared between the students, roaming around Hajime and Nagito.

"He asked you to do that? But why?" Kazuichi asked with his menacing tone.

"And an elevator that can rotate 180º degrees... is that even possible? It sounds like something from an amusement park...!" Fuyuhiko frizzled, staring daggers at Monokuma sitting comfortably on his throne.

"Well, a Funhouse is an amusement park attraction, you know! And since the building doesn't need to be structurally practical, it makes for splendid fun!"

Hajime could certainly share the yakuza's chagrin, to turn an amusement park attraction into what the Funhouse had become, twisting those concepts into some horrifying show made his stomach churn - and not only with hunger.

"Whatever, this means we're done with the secret of the Funhouse, right? Then let's hurry up and start talkin' about important stuff..." Akane fisted her hand hardly. "What's the Ultimate Weapon that killed Nekomaru?! And how did they combine it with the pillar?! Hurry up, Nagito! Spill it out!"

"Huh? You still don't know what the Ultimate Weapon is yet? It's what I found at the Octagon, you know?" Nagito sighed once again, as if a wave of disappointment was washing over him. Leaving behind nothing but the bitter taste of unfulfilled expectations.

"But wasn't the Ultimate Weapon there? On the Octagon?" Mahiru questioned, her tone light as if restraining herself to not shouting at Nagito for his petulance. Probably trying to coax the boy into revealing what he was withholding. Hajime knew more than anyone how ineffective that would be.

"That's different... I learned the true identity of the Ultimate Weapon on the Octagon."

"...Learned?" Nagito seemed to weirdly emphasize the word. As if it contained a deeper meaning than you would realize at first glance - considering it was Nagito he was talking about, then it was more than just a suspicion.

At last, Nagito let his arms fall to his hips, eyes regarding the entirety of the courtroom, though his gaze seemed to linger on Hajime for a brief moment.

"The true identity of the Ultimate Weapon is the Funhouse."

Contrary to the others, Hajime wasn't as caught off guard at the revelation. No, he already had an inkling that that was the case. For Monokuma to have mentioned an 'Ultimate Weapon' at all, was suspicious enough. He was certain the bear would do his best to make this Ultimate Weapon turn out to be something - if not unexpected, disappointing. It appeared that for once, he guessed right.

"Which means the killer used the building structure as their weapon to kill Nekomaru!" Nagito declared, sounding a little livid for the first time since the class trial had begun. "Like me, the killer probably realized the secret of the Funhouse through the scenery. With that knowledge, they used the Funhouse and its structure to orchestrate their murder plan. Which is the reason why the killer went through so much trouble to try and keep us away from discovering that."

A familiar smile overtook his features.

"But more importantly... using the building itself as a weapon... such a spectacular crime...! Ahahaha! It truly deserves to be called the Ultimate Weapon!"

An eerie silence followed Nagito's speech. The students looked more troubled than ever, eyeing Nagito as if he was a wild animal of some sort. Disgusted and at the same time entranced by what the boy was saying.

"...W-Way to pat yourself on the back!"

"Huh...?"

Kazuichi was the first to break the silence, pointing a finger at Nagito's direction with a troubled look.

"Y-You heard me right! F-From the very beginning... you're acting all weird and shit, and now you're saying crap like that...?! Y-You're the killer, aren't you?!"

"Yeah... Nagito's been actin' pretty weird, huh?" Akane mumbled, her eyes grew a tone sharper as they landed on Nagito whose expression had morphed into an eerie blankness. "Hey... were you the one who killed coach Nekomaru...?" Her voice took a dangerous edge.

This time, the silence was more deafening than anything. Hajime could only stand there and watch as Nagito looked at them with utter-

distaste.

"And so what if I did?"

The sound of grinding metal that followed Nagito's podium moving forward was the only thing resonating around the courtroom.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 21: Verdict

What the hell was he doing?

Hajime was stunned silent as those words kept reverberating inside his skull over and over. Clashing around his brain with aimless purpose.

"Nagito...! What are you doing?!"

At last, he managed to externalize his inner turmoil. His voice ricochet in the half-empty room, harsh and desperate, not too unlike a snarl.

Closer than before, now that his podium was a few steps away from his own, Hajime stared furiously at the boy in front of him. Nagito, on the other hand, appeared to be seeing right through Hajime. No recognition whatsoever, or at the very least, the boy was an expert in hiding behind a chilling mask of nonchalance.

He couldn't decide which was the worse.

"What am I doing...? Isn't it clear? I'm confessing."

Hajime recoiled inwardly, hands gripping with too much force on the railings surrounding his own podium. Was this some strategy to lure the real killer into accusing him? A rue set to catch the culprit in an opportune time?

He had an inkling that it was anything but.

"You're admittin' to it! I knew it! You've been lyin' to us this entire time, weren't ya?!" Hajime had the impression that the gymnast was one step from jumping from her podium and tackling herself to Nagito's neck.

"H-How could you...?!" Sonia wheezed, looking scandalized.

Gundham and Chiaki were also sharing troubled looks as he eyed them. No wonder, Hajime would be in a similar state if not for the fact that he knew Nagito was lying. No matter what the boy could try to say to convince him otherwise, Hajime knew he was innocent. Which begged the question: Why was he lying?

If Nagito was planning something, Hajime wouldn't want to interfere. If he did, that would only cause the boy to look with even more scorn towards his person. Regardless, he couldn't let this situation escalate any further. If he omitted their alibi any longer, their credibility would be nonexistent by voting time.

If that were to happen...

"What the hell are you saying?! We both know there's no way you're the killer!"

Once again the attention zeroed in on Hajime. Though Akane was still sporting a murderous glare at the luckster.

"And what do you mean with that?" Gundham asked, probing for an explanation.

"I mean exactly what I said! Nagito cannot be Nekomaru's killer!"

Most of the students looked stunned, some more than others. Akane certainly wasn't buying it.

"Hey, are you stickin' up for him?!"

"Yes! Yes, I am. But I'm not just sticking up for him, I know Nagito isn't the killer. I don't know why he would 'confess' to this, but - we serve as each others' alibi in this case."

"Alibi...?" Fuyuhiko himself wasn't sounding too convinced of the matter. "Then why didn't you guys say so sooner?"

"Because up until now we were only discussing the murder plan, alibis have yet to be made our topic. But I guarantee you, I was with Nagito throughout the whole night. He couldn't possibly be the killer."

"I-I don't know, you kept silent until now... d-don't tell me-! Are you helping him get away with it?!" Kazuichi shouted, voice shakier than ever, eyes almost falling out of their sockets with how comically wide they were.

He knew it wouldn't be easy to convince them. Far from it. Now that Nagito had downright admitted - like the idiot that he was - things would only be worse.

"And why would I help him?! Do tell!"

"I-I don't know! But the two of you have been pretty buddy-buddy with each other, right? So it makes sense that you wouldn't want him to die!"

"Of course I don't want him to die! But I don't want to die either, you know!"

"I think we need to calm down... Shouting at each other will lead us nowhere..." Chiaki muttered in her usual subdued tone, though her words couldn't have been clearer following Hajime's statement. "Hajime, is it true that you were with him the entire night?"

He took a long breath to quell his nerves.

"Yes, it's true... I went to his room right after-" Hajime recalled the previous night. Chiaki had witnessed him attempting to enter the Final Dead Room in the dead of night, welling up on his own misery and hunger. It had escaped his mind for a second.

Eyeing Chiaki carefully, Hajime sighed and hoped for the girl's discretion. "-right after I met up with you... I don't know what hell he's playing at, but he's not the killer."

"You met up with Chiaki before you went to Nagito's room, is that it?" Sonia asked, her voice unwavering with benevolence - or at least, the semblance of it.

"Yes." He said, eyes not leaving Chiaki's.

"Is what he says the truth, Chiaki?" Gundham inquired.

For a second, the gamer stayed stoically still, until-

"Yeah, it's true... I was hanging out on the first floor of Strawberry House and Hajime was wandering around, it was around 00:00 a.m., I think..."

00:00 a.m.?

"Um, Chiaki... are you sure?"

At first, Chiaki didn't seem to understand exactly what he was asking, the tilting of her head was telling enough.

"I mean, I remember that when I returned to the lounge it was already past 10:00 p.m..." Hajime informed her. He was sure it was past midnight, h had checked the clock himself before knocking on Nagito's door. For some reason, during his haze, that memory had stuck on his brain, burning itself deep within.

Similar to when you memorize a random car's license plate... Or not. Who was to know with his luck.

"Um, I'm not too certain, but - I would remember if it was that early still... I think."

Now that was weird. Perhaps either Chiaki or Hajime were confusing things, however, it felt like there was something more to that; It flashed on his mind the request Nagito had made to Fuyuhiko, asking the yakuza to check all the clocks. In the end, they hadn't really checked themselves.

"Either way, that doesn't matter at all! The time you met up isn't important, we need to find who's the killer, goddamnit!" Akane interjected, though he agreed they had to press on forward, he couldn't help but feel a little irritated with the gymnast. For all intents and purposes, their perception of time could've been totally messed with by the killer's foul play.

"Yeah, that's true. We need to find out who was the one who killed Mechamaru using the structure of the Funhouse." Chiaki relented, going right back into topic.

"But is it really okay to believe that the building's structure is the Ultimate Weapon? Nagito said it, you know?" Kazuichi declared, not looking too sure if Nagito's credibility was well enough to be taken into consideration.

"There's no way I'd lie in such an important moment. I don't wanna die either..." His previous confession belied his words. Nonetheless, Nagito seemed to retain a semblance of normalcy once again - or as close as he could get to it. "If this was a murder for the sake of hope, then I'd gladly sacrifice myself, but as it is..."

Yeah, spoke too soon.

"Kehehe... You say such falsehoods..." Gundham chuckled gravelly before taking an intimidating stance - or at least what he thought it was. 'There is no such thing as murder for the sake of hope. Murder is simply murder... Forcibly sacrificing others for one's own desires...! Even one diabolical as I would avoid such actions!"

"I see..." Nagito responded in utter disinterest.

"Anyway, why don't we try to uncover how the killer used the Funhouse, to commit his murder? I think it would be easier if we clarified the cause of death first." Chiaki suggested.

Cause of death, huh? It wasn't specified on the Monokuma File, but by seeing the body, Hajime had realized that whatever had caused the manager's death, certainly made a ton on his body. If they hadn't clarified that the hammer wasn't the murder weapon, Hajime would be prone to believe the killer had smashed Nekomaru with it. However, that wasn't the case.

His body was all mangled and splattered on the ground like he was beaten by a blunt object. Though the killer wouldn't have used the building's structure if that was to be it.

No, that wasn't the answer.

"Could he have... fallen to his death...?" As far as he could rationalize, that would be the only option to leave Nekomaru's body in such a state and still use the so-called Ultimate Weapon.

"Are you sayin' they pushed him off? But where'd they pushed him off from?"

"I'm... not sure..."

"Indeed, I can't think of a location that would allow the killer to push Nekomaru off..." Sonia commented, a pensive look crossing her expression.

"It might be possible in the tower." Akane said, seeming to arrive at a response to her own question. "You could push him off the fourth floor when the elevator was on the first floor!"

"No, that can't be what happened. Did you forget how the tower's elevator functions? When it's on the first floor, the door to the fourth floor won't open." Mahiru pointed out.

"Hmmm... but my gut is goin' crazy right now!"

Akane's gut feelings aside, Hajime didn't think that the girl's assertions were incorrect, not completely. After all, if there was somewhere in that building that could serve as a 'cliff' of sorts, it would be the interior of the tower. They just had to find out how the killer used that feature of the Funhouse in their scheme.

"Then how about this? After locking Mechamaru inside the elevator, the killer moved the elevator from the fourth floor to the first floor and made use of the drop." Chiaki offered, her hands clasping half-heartedly at the straps of her backpack.

"Hold on, did you forget? The tower has a sensor inside it. As long as there is a moving object in the tower, there's no way the elevator would move." Sensors? Hajime had totally forgotten about them. He could faintly recall the conversation they had regarding the Funhouse on the first day of their confinement. Four days never lasted for so long.

"Then what about Nekomaru's sleep mode?" Fuyuhiko questioned. "He did comment about it... said that if the button on the back of his neck is pressed then all the functions of his body would enter some form of stasis."

"Oh yeah, I do remember him telling us about that." Mahiru assented, her bright red hair kept falling a bit to the side, which caused the girl to move it back in short segments of time. "If Nekomaru was in sleep mode, I think the sensors wouldn't have triggered. Because he wouldn't be considered a moving object, right?"

He could barely recall the existence of those sensors. Overall, in this case in specific, Hajime was lacking quite a lot of clues and information that might become valuable. He wished he could rely at least a little on the others. They were all fighting for their lives at the end of the day.

"However, even if they moved the elevator in that manner, Nekomaru would have just moved along with it." Gundham countered, tittering to himself at their 'utter foolishness' most certainly. "There would be no fall for him to die from, yes?"

"But if you arrange it in a certain way, you can cause a drop within the elevator." Chiaki asserted, lifting a finger to her front. "The arrangement more specifically."

"You're talking about that doorknob, right? That shit looked suspicious as fuck..." Indeed, the yakuza was right. The placement of that doorknob was extremely suspicious, more so when they discovered the absence of that same doorknob on the door with the Grape design. Something had caused the doorknob to fall off its hinges, whatever it was, it would take some amount of force to do so. He had overheard Nagito commenting that even the screws were pulled off.

"The doorknob, huh? That thing was all scratched, right?" The photographer's eyes narrowed as her mind reeled. "Could the wire have scratched it? It would make sense, right? Nekomaru was all tangled with it."

Indeed he was. The wire rounded Nekomaru quite a few times before the tip tied on a loop, that could've potentially been tied to the doorknob, hence the scratch marks.

"That's probably right. It would explain why that wire was there and also how the doorknob was pulled off." Chiaki agreed. "Plus, if the killer used that arrangement, it would be possible to kill Nekomaru from the height... I think."

"I see it now! If the elevator moved while the looped part of the wire hung by the doorknob... he would be suspended in midair!" Sonia's realization ran across the courtroom, gaining varied reactions. Gundham and Kazuichi appeared to be stunned, while Akane looked murderous once again.

"That's right! He was so~ well hung! Kinda like-"

"You better not finish that...!" Monomi interrupted before Monokuma could finish his humorless stunt. Though, however inappropriate it was, it confirmed their suspicions.

"Then that's it. The killer made use of the elevator's unique feature: only the floor moves, then proceeded to create a drop so Nekomaru would fall to his death."

Yeah, their theory was becoming more solid by the minute-

"So what if they created a drop?! There's no way you could make him fall and die just like that!" The mechanic's voice resonated. "B-Because, if Nekomaru is suspended in midair... how do you get him to fall, he was in sleep mode, right? It's not like there was anyone to 'push him off'..."

He could understand that it was a fair point, though not one as big as Kazuichi was portraying.

"Well, Nekomaru did have his alarm set on, correct? The clock must have frozen in the same instant Nekomaru died. So I think it's possible that the killer programmed his internal clock to trigger in order to make him fall."

"Even so... that doesn't answer how he fell...!"

Of course it does. When Nekomaru woke up and saw himself hanging, he would probably try to move, right?"

"That's right... if I woke up from an alarm just to find out I was hanging upside down... I would totally freak out." Mahiru appeared to be picturing the exact scene in which Nekomaru found himself, it didn't look like a flattering position at all.

"And then, in order to make him fall from the force he generated, the wire was hung at the tip of the doorknob, so it would be easier to slip off." Nagito added, returning to the conversation once again after his confession stunt. "In actuality, the scratch marks were all on the tip, right? And for the entire doorknob to have come off, Nekomaru must've struggled much more than expected."

"Was that... unexpected by the killer, too?" Sonia asked.

"It had to be, after all, it gave an important piece of information, otherwise it would've taken much more time for us to figure out what happened."

"No shit, if they knew something like that would happen, then they would definitely do something to cover it up." Fuyuhiko spat, a frown overtaking his features as if acknowledging the killer's thoroughness was irking him. Hajime could understand the feeling.

"Now I get it! Coach Nekomaru fell and landed on that pillar! I'm sure of it!"

At last, they had reached the point in their conversation that Akane was longing for all along. As the girl said, that had to be how Nekomaru ended up colliding with the pillar. A sigh of relief left him at having at least one more mystery uncovered, little by little they neared the imminent truth. He wondered how the culprit was feeling at this exact moment. Were they nervous that their plan was being unraveled right in front of their eyes, with them not being able to do anything about it without giving them away? Or were they collected with the knowledge that the group was yet to reach an impasse?

"So that's why the pillar shattered, and why oil was spilled all over the place..." Gundham mused to himself quietly, he supposed the breeder wouldn't be fond of bringing attention to his earlier wrong assumptions.

"See, I told ya guys the pillar was the weapon! My gut was totally right!"

Hajime was reluctant to admit that - indeed, her gut had been right.

"I'm glad for you Akane. However, at this point, it is quite difficult to find a clue that'll lead to the killer..." Sonia muttered, looking dejected by their circumstances.

"Well, I'm positive Nekomaru's clock was set for 7:30 a.m., so if we map it out from there-"

"Hold on, baby Gangsta."

"S-Stop calling me Baby Gangsta!" The yakuza spluttered, red burning his face in humiliation.

"What'd you say? The alarm was set for 7:30 a.m.?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I just said. Didn't you check it yourself? His alarm was set for 7:30 a.m."

"No, that's impossible. 'Cause, even if I slept in a little, I still arrived at Grape Tower before 7 in the morning."

"That's true...! All of us got to the tower a little before Monokuma Tai Chi started!" Mahiru had found the body along with the other girls, which made everything more complicated if what she was saying was true. "No way the alarm could've gone off that late!"

"It appears yet another contradiction has been birthed..."

"Could have the killer tampered with Nekomaru's clock somehow?" Sonia suggested.

"No that can't be it... Nekomaru told me about that fancy clock of his when we visited the fourth island. It's a radio clock or something, apparently, those things can't be tampered with." Fuyuhiko pointed with his thumb towards Kazuichi one podium away from him. "Kazuichi should know more about it, though."

Kazuichi didn't seem to be comfortable having attention brought to him.

"Um... well, if it really was a radio clock, then yeah, they couldn't have messed with it."

"Then maybe the clocks on the lounges were the ones the killer messed with." Mahiru pointed out, not looking too sure about her suggestion.

"No that can't be either. Nagito had asked me to check all the clocks in the building earlier and I confirmed that both the clocks in Strawberry and Grape House are compatible."

So the clocks were compatible? But that contradicted the difference in time experienced by both him and Chiaki last night.

"If there's no possibility that the time was tampered with, then we must doubt that human's testimony..."

"No, Mahiru is not lying...! Please believe us, we're telling the truth!"

At Sonia's pleading, Gundham noticeably grew many shades of red and hid the majority of his face under the scarf resting on his neck. A futile effort, given how pale his complexion was.

"Then... maybe it's a misunderstanding..."

"I never misunderstand!" Akane's blatant lie was far from believable, though he didn't suspect the gymnast was wrong in her convictions.

"What if the killer messed with both clocks then? I mean, the fact that Chiaki and I remember meeting each other at different times must mean that the killer had yet to sabotage both clocks, right? Plus, if they wanted to alter our perception of time, they would need the two houses to be on the same hour-cycle."

"A-All the clocks...?!" Fuyuhiko quipped.

"That's right, that would explain why you couldn't discern that even by checking all the clocks."

"I see... so the killer messed with the time inside the whole building by messing all the clocks..." Nagito's ponder was edging unnecessary seeing that he was the first to suspect as much. 

"Tch... There's no way I'd notice that..." Fuyuhiko still seemed to be peeved for having fallen for the killer's trap.

A bubbling laugh escaped the luckster not a second after.

"...That is truly fantastic!"

"Stop sayin' weird shit! Now's not the time to be pleased, what's important is for us to know how much the time was off!"

"Well..." Fortunately, they did have a clue to figure that out. "Since I recall meeting with Chiaki around 10 p.m., while she thought we met at midnight, I suppose the time was off by two hours."

"Oh, that's right. Nice catch, Hajime." He wasn't used to receiving any praise, and he certainly didn't think he deserved to receive one for such a minor thing but decided against chastising the girl. The last thing he needed was to have the photographer hounding his ass over nothing. "But two hours early or late?"

"I... don't know."

"But that shouldn't be hard to figure out, right? After all, if Nekomaru's radio clock can be trusted, then I think it's right to say that 7:30 a.m. was his time of death;"

They did have Kazuichi and Fuyuhiko's confirmation on the radio clock. Chiaki's assumptions sounded solid if nothing else.

"I also agree with Chiaki. However, how should we determine when 7:30 a.m. was in our time?"

"I would assume that it had to be earlier, correct? Otherwise, it would interfere with Monokuma Tai Chi." Gundham responded Sonia, though his timbre sounded a bit toppled down a bit.

"Hey, Akane... What about that rumbling sound that you mentioned when we were investigating?"

Akane was pulled off from her own mind with a small start as her eyes roamed on the photographer. "The rumbling noise? I did hear it, I thought it was an earthquake or something so I went right back to sleep."

Rumbling noise? It wasn't the first time such noise was mentioned, yet, Hajime stayed completely oblivious to what it was.

"What's this rumbling noise you guys keep talking about?"

"Correct if I'm wrong but - it should've been Nekomaru, right? Given that he fell three stories and landed on a pillar no less, should have caused such a ruckus like Akane mentioned." Sonia's eyes were composed as she lay her explanation.

"We heard that rumbling noise, too...!" Kazuichi jumped to say once Sonia had finished.

"Yeah, we heard it when we were by the lounge, right after the clock ringed." Fuyuhiko agreed, nodding lightly.

Hajime could only observe as the discussion progressed further while he lagged behind for not knowing anything about such rumbling noise. It felt a little disconcerting. At least, it seemed he wasn't the only one.

"...What is it, Sonia?" Gundham inquired, also noting the constipated look crossing the princess' countenance.

"Oh well, despite Akane commenting about it... that sound everyone heard... I did not hear it at all."

A bunch of confused faces turned to Sonia.

'You probably didn't hear it because you were sleeping or something." Kazuichi offered with a tiny bit of caution, as if trying not to contradict the princess. In retrospect, the reason why both Nagito and Hajime hadn't heard anything was also due to their asleep states.

"I could not sleep at all... I was awake the whole night with hunger pangs..." Once reminded of their hungry states, more than one stomach started growling in the courtroom. Hajime covered his face being quite aware that one of those was his.

"I also didn't hear it... Nagito didn't hear it either."

"Don't go putting words on my mouth."

Glancing at the boy in question, Hajime couldn't hide the evident irritation in his tone.

"So you heard it?"

"What is important is for us to use that rumbling noise as a reference, that way we might determine how exactly our time was off." It didn't go past Hajime how the boy avoided answering the question.

"I heard that sound at 5:30 in the morning."

All eyes landed on Akane with a hand on her hips, looking as unassuming as ever.

"...Huh? You can tell?" Confusion clogged Chiaki's voice.

"I instantly woke up and left my room... and that's when I saw the clock in the lounge."

"Then it's just like Hajime said. If we heard the sound at 5:30 a.m., and Nekomaru died at 7:30 a.m., then the clocks must have been off by two whole hours. We thought it was 7:00 a.m. when we arrived at the tower, in actuality, it was far later than that." Chiaki concluded, rearranging the hairpin on her bangs.

"But two hours?! That much?!" Akane wasn't the only one to react with astonishment. It was indeed scary how volatile their minds were to lose track of two hours like that.

"However, that still begs the question: Why did the killer tamper with our perception of time? What did they accomplish by doing that?"

"The reason is obvious: so they could lure out just Nekomaru." Silence bestowed upon them with Nagito's statement. "After all, as we just discussed, Nekomaru was the only one not affected by the killer's tampering."

"Because of his radio clock..."

"Correct." Nagito nodded to Mahiru. "Using the Monokuma Tai Chi, the killer was able to lure him out with precise time, while the rest of us remained in our rooms, sleeping none the wiser to their schemes. From there, the killer's plan was a splendid success, That's all it means."

A shiver ran over him at the chilling cunning it would take to perform such a convoluted plan. There was no doubt in his mind that the killer - whoever they were - had spent a lot of time going through everything. Which would implicate that they would have visited the Funhouse much earlier than Nagito. But who could it be? And did they have an ace up on the sleeve?

Uneasy bled into his bloodstream. He couldn't help but feel like they were still being played by the killer.

Like everything they uncovered was planned to be discovered.

Was allowed for them to find out.

"Then when I witnessed Nekomaru early in the morning..."

"That's right, you thought it was around 5:00 a.m., right? But it was actually 7:00 a.m. At that time, he must've been headed to Monokuma Tai Chi, right on schedule."

"I think that explains what Monokuma had told us early." At Chiaki's words, a loud gasp could be heard from the throne. "He commented that everyone had ditched the Monokuma Tai Chi. At the time I didn't pay too much attention but... I think this is what he meant."

"Aw jeez...! That's well... how should I put it? Um... how was it? Tripping over a foot... or something like that."

"Are you talking about 'tripping over someone else's fault?" Monomi offered while dangling from her rope.

"No! That's wrong! Too bad!"

"Let's ignore them, what's important is that now we have drastically decreased the number of possible suspects." Nagito pushed forward, caring little about the plushies' quarrel.

"Huh... why would that decrease the number of suspects? Don't be a friggin' liar!" Kazuichi did not look convinced. Judging by others' expressions he wasn't the only one. Hajime himself was a bit lost as to where exactly Nagito was going with this.

"Before you jump to the conclusion that I'm lying, why don't you wait for what Fuyuhiko has to say?"

All eyes zeroed in on said yakuza.

"W-What? Me?!"

"Yes, you. Or did you forget what happened right after you saw Nekomaru? You said you stayed in the lounge..."

"Are you talking about that alarm?"

"Alarm?" Most of the girls looked quizzically at the mention of another alarm.

"Yeah, a little while after I saw Nekomaru going down the stairs the clock in Strawberry House lounge started going off. And now that you mentioned it, I recall it was just before that rumbling sound occurred." Fuyuhiko's eyes grew sharper as realization sank in. "That's it... so that's what it is... I get it now. If Nekomaru died the moment we heard that rumbling sound, then whoever doesn't have an alibi for that time is a prime suspect!"

"Really?! Was there anyone who didn't have an alibi during that time?" Akane pleaded, shocked to finally get closer to a conclusion.

"I see... that's true. The sound was so loud I couldn't help bolting from my room. But thinking about it... there were two guys who never left their rooms. And we were on the same floor so it's pretty weird they never showed up." Eyes already buried into them, Kazuichi points to both Nagito and Hajime, a snarl leaving his lips. "The two of you! You're the ones responsible for this, right?"

At that exact moment, Nagito's podium returned to its earlier position, except now, Hajime's made it company on the center.

"W-What?!"

"H-Hajime and Nagito...?! What are you saying?! Didn't they say they were together the whole night?" Mahiru retorted, surprisingly coming to their defense.

"A-And who's to say that they're not lying about that, too?! I-I mean, you have to admit that it's pretty convenient to them to say that when there's no one to confirm it. Plus, just ask Fuyuhiko. The two of them didn't show their faces at the lounge at all!"

"That's.. true. For some reason, neither Hajime nor Nagito appeared." The yakuza confirmed, not looking too happy with the way the discussion had went. "You guys didn't come out, even though the alarm was going off like crazy."

"But even so, I'm not saying I believe them wholeheartedly but - Monokuma already said that there can only be one blackened. What would either Hajime or Nagito gain by taking the fall for the other? I don't know if they would do that... I think."

"Because we didn't! We didn't even hear the alarm nor this rumbling sound everyone keeps talking about!"

On the other hand, Nagito kept quiet on the other side of the room. His gaze filled with scorn as it roamed around the students.

"Nagito say something, damnit!" He couldn't defend both of them if Nagito would choose to be a bastard and keep silent. It would only make them look more suspicious.

"..."

"If you don't hurry up and answer, I'm gonna suicide dive you!" A foot met the rail of her podium as Akane prepared to make do with her promise.

"I guess I shouldn't have expected anything more... You guys are always taking the easy way out. Every single time. It's kind of boring, really." Pressing a hand to his temple, it seemed as if Nagito was going through a migraine. "But it's not like I wanna die because of your incompetence, so I'll talk-"

"What Hajime says is true. Neither of us heard either the alarm or the rumbling sound."

"You didn't?" Sonia asked.

"Hmph, it is purely the foolish talk of the weak." Gundham said, sporting a cocky smile. His demeanor overflowing with condescension.

"You guys didn't hear it? You're definitely fuckin' lying!"

"H-However... that is also true for me..." Sonia pointed out, contrary to Kazuichi, her tone brimmed with uncertainty. "It is obvious that I did not hear the alarm at Strawberry House... but I did not hear the rumbling sound either. Is that not strange? I mean... everyone else heard it."

"To be honest... it's not just them. The same goes for me, too." Startled looks focused on Chiaki who was playing with her cat hoodie. "I was in a pretty deep sleep so I thought that's why I couldn't hear it, but... It wasn't that. I probably couldn't hear it at all."

"Couldn't hear it...?"

"You still don't know... Just think about what all of us who didn't hear it have in common, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Nagito quipped. "Although, I guess you should count Hajime out."

Hajime was ready to retort with fervor at the boy's remark until he comprehended the underline of Nagito's words. What Nagito, Chiaki, and Sonia had in common. That would be...

"What Nagito, Sonia, and I have in common is that the three of us own a deluxe room. If you recall, Monokuma told us that those rooms are all soundproof. That's why we couldn't hear anything."

"Deluxe rooms..." Mahiru mused.

"That's right, the deluxe rooms possess superior sound insulation." Nagito nodded with his eyes closed. "And with that, we reached a great conclusion. With that information, Nekomaru's true murder should be clear;

All at once, the turbulence in the courtroom started.

"Wha-?!"

"Seriously?!"

"H-Hold on a sec! Why does that lead to who the killer is?!"

"Why...? Well, that fact just now is a very important clue, and a decisive factor in identifying the killer." Responding to Akane's question with much presumptuousness, Nagito crossed his arms as if to say that they should figure the rest themselves.

So the deluxe rooms were a major clue, huh? Hajime was starting to understand where Nagito was coming from. After all, if taken into account, the fact that the deluxe rooms were soundproof would contradict someone's testimony. That person was-

"Yeah, I get it now... Tell me, why Hajime didn't hear the alarm when he was staying in a crummy room?! He should have been able to hear it!"

Before Hajime could make his own accusation, Kazuichi cut him short. His podium was yet to move backward and it seemed that the mechanic had brought back attention to that fact.

"How many times will I have to tell you? I spent the night in Nagito's room, we both were in the deluxe room, that's why I couldn't hear the noise!" Eyes flashing towards the mechanic, Hajime continued. "And you are the one who owns us an explanation, Kazuichi. Or are you gonna play dumb once again."

"Kazuichi owes us an explanation...?" Sonia tilted her head to the side.

"O-Of course I don't miss Sonia... t-that's just one more of his-"

"Yes, he does. Because even though the four of us who were staying inside a deluxe room last night weren't able to hear either the rumbling sound or the alarm, Kazuichi was able to hear both. Despite also being accommodated in a deluxe room." Hajime could only imagine the harsh look crossing his own features. "You tell us, Kazuichi... how were you able to?"

"Wh-Wh-What are you saying...?!"

"It's because you weren't in your room, correct? You were out, putting your murder plan into action weren't you?!"

A twisted kind of satisfaction coiled within his core, licking away into his insides with the terrorized look Kazuichi was displaying. The mechanic's stand moved closer to the center, joining his and Nagito's.

"S-Stop saying crap! I-I-I'm not a killer! You are! Just like with Teruteru and now with Nekomaru!"

"Hajime is right though, with all the evidence we've gathered up until now, you're the only possible culprit, Kazuichi." He sure wasn't expecting Nagito's aid in proving his argument.

"Y-You two are-! You're just lying through your teeth. you fuckers!"

"Are they really?" Mahiru's tone was anything but pleasant, the mechanic must've felt it too if the instinctive flinch was anything to go by. "You still haven't answered: How were you able to hear the alarm inside your deluxe room?"

"T-The thing is... I wasn't in my room at the time... I went to the bathroom a-and when I was getting back the alarm started blaring all of a sudden! That's what happened." Kazuichi crossed his arms in front of him, probably in an attempt to hide the tremors that were certainly shaking his hands. Hajime didn't believe his tale for a second, it sounded too convenient for the mechanic to just say that now out of all times.

"Ha, you foolish creature. Do you expect us to entertain such feasible lies?"

"You shut up too!"

"But even so, I would assume the reason you couldn't return to your room was because of Fuyuhiko, correct?." Nagito pried.

"M-Me?!"

"Yes, seeing that you stayed hanging by the lounge after you witnessed Nekomaru, the killer was unable to return to their room. It's obvious that if you stayed in the lounge from that earlier, the killer wouldn't be able to go back and not risk getting spotted by you."

"Even though Nekomaru's murder was... a death trap, it would still require the killer to prepare the murder in advance." Chiaki added, looking pitifully at Kazuichi who started to tremble like a leaf. 

"That's right, they would need to get to press Nekomaru's sleep button and wrap him in that wire to connect it to the doorknob."

"I-I told you already! I went to the bathroom! Y-You're all making this up 'c-cause... i-if I truly was the killer-" Kazuichi swallowed his terror and returned pointing at the boys adjacent to him. "-then why would I bother f-fixing the elevator or the open Nekomaru's chest or fix the button to Strawberry Hall?!"

What Hajime was fearing finally presented itself. So that's what trump card he was holding? Using his willing collaboration to gain leverage? Hajime seethed in his stand, knowing all too well that the mechanic's strategy would be accepted by at least some of the students. After all, why would Kazuichi have revealed so much information to them if he was the killer?

It made no sense.

And yet, it did.

Because Hajime couldn't see any other possible killer. He was certain that Kazuichi was the culprit, his reaction from early proved as much. He would only need to prove it to the other students.

"That's... right. Kazuichi was the one to fix the button of Strawberry Hall, wasn't he? I'm not taking his side or anything, but... why would he do that if he was the killer?" Mahiru, it seemed, was already leaning towards the middle ground. Not trusting completely, yet indulging the deception.

"It is hard to believe... that he would go to such extents to provide us with essential clues..."

"However, it's well to note that he could have predicted such circumstances and willingly cooperated in order to establish a veneer of innocence to his actions." Gundham on the other hand appeared to sport a similar mindset to his own. Not buying Kazuichi and his story full of holes.

"W-Wait a minute, so who's the killer?! Hajime or Kazuichi? You guys just keep on ramblin'!" Akane slammed her hands on her podium. "Now tell me... which one of you did it!"

"I-It was him! Of course it was him! I would never kill Nekomaru!" Kazuichi would stick to his story, no matter what. He would cling to that tale as hard as he could and would lie all he pleased because he knew if he faltered - he was dead. However, Hajime wasn't just going to accept death like that either, not after everything they had gone through. The only thing needed was three other votes against Kazuichi to retain the majority. Nagito, despite his new standoffish manners, had made clear that he wasn't planning on dying with them, so they only needed to convince two more given Gundham didn't believe the mechanic.

"What are you saying makes no sense. You're telling them that for some unfathomable reason, both Nagito and I worked together to kill Nekomaru? And to what end?! It would be a death sentence for the accomplice, you know!"

"N-N-Not if one of you were willing to die for the o-other!"

"Huh? Hajime is gonna die for Nagito?"

"No, I'm most certainly not!" Hajime snapped at Akane's dumb question.

"I'm also not willing to sacrifice my life for the likes of him."

Despite the snide comment, it proved their point quite well.

"Lies! Y-You bastards are all sprouting lies!"

"But if what Hajime and Nagito are saying is true, then they both have an alibi for the whole night, right? The killer couldn't have put their plan into action until around 7:00 a.m., and you, Kazuichi, do not have an alibi for that time... I don't want to accuse you, but... the excuse that you went to the bathroom does sound suspicious."

At Chiaki's controlled voice, Kazuichi shuddered in desperation as tears licked his eyes.

Seeing the opportunity, Hajime pushed forward.

"There's something else, too. You keep saying that you willingly cooperated, but you were pretty reluctant in doing so. Plus, the fact that you were able to repair both the elevator and the Strawberry Hall button seems weird to me. I mean, if I was the killer, I would have made sure that both of those things were destroyed beyond repair, even to the Ultimate Mechanic."

Perhaps it wasn't the best of arguments, certainly not the most solid, but that wasn't important. It was important to present those arguments in a way that would entice others to believe it.

Without faltering.

"Th-That's-!"

"You also mentioned something about the killer messing with it from Grape House, you did that to make us think the killer was from Grape House, didn't you?!"

"N-N-No! You're lying, I-I didn't do that...! You're s-screwing with me!"

"But I... I did hear you talking about this with them, Kazuichi..."

Hajime staggered at hearing Fuyuhiko's remark. The yakuza appeared to be completely serious about his stance, his single creased sharply on his brows and his hands were displayed on his side. Announcing a lack of tension that contrasted greatly with his countenance.

"You did say something about that... I remember..."

He did? Hajime couldn't recall if Fuyuhiko was indeed with them when Kazuichi had told them about the elevator. He wasn't even sure if Kazuichi lied about it, for all he knew, the mechanic had messed with the elevator from Grape House and then went back to Strawberry House through the Octagon or something.

What is this...? Is Fuyuhiko...?

"Wh-Wh-Wh-What are you saying...?! Y-You weren't there... why are you...?" A flash of realization crossed Kazuichi's eyes. "You... You're helping them?!"

The yakuza opted to stay silent, letting his words float around the room, believing him who may. Hajime couldn't put a finger to it, but the act seemed nothing if not calculating.

"Are you serious, Fuyuhiko...? Did he really...?" Mahiru couldn't finish whatever she was saying. Not when Kazuichi was shouting his lungs out in outrage in the yakuza's direction.

"You... son of a bitch! S-Stop lying, you rat!"

The yakuza's stoic expression didn't budge.

"Hey, are you done already? 'Cause if this ends up turning into a shouting match, I might as well call for the vote, you know."

Monokuma's interjection gave pause to whatever retorts were about to be shouted out. Kazuichi specifically grew ten shades paler at the mention of voting time. Hajime for his part, didn't consider beginning voting time as a bad idea. Now that they received Fuyuhiko's support, he was sure more people would be prone to vote for Kazuichi, and ultimately, that was all that mattered.

No amount of arguments would be enough to change Monokuma's verdict. He just wanted to end this at once. Return to the island and satisfy the lingering hunger consuming him.

Was that asking too much?

"I do not feel comfortable starting the vote without knowing for certain if Kazuichi is or not the culprit."

"Miss Sonia..." Lips curling in a wounded gesture, Kazuichi's hands shook with shame. Or so Hajime thought. "I-I..."

"Just admit it already. Delaying the conclusion of this trial will accomplish nothing, you know? Even if everything we said up 'til this point was a lie - which it isn't... your reactions are proof enough of your culpability."

Unmerciful, and somewhat cruel. Nagito spoke in such an easy, and repulsive manner that Hajime had to contain the responsive recoil his senses gave. Now that he was close to the boy, he could gather the emotion clouding those xanadu irises.

Indifference.

For Nagito, this trial had reached its point where it was irrelevant to keep going. The result was already clear and retard its prosecution was meaningless and tiresome.

"Are you okay with that, Kazuichi? From what I've gathered until now, your devotion to Sonia seems quite vigorous. I wonder... were you willing to let her die so you could escape? Was that your hope?" A sickening laugh engulfed them. "If so, then I must admit... what an incredible sight it would've been. Watching as you sacrificed your devotion to prioritizing your survival! Such a splendid act of..." As if registering his own words, a sour look crossed his face, shadowing his previous radiant smile. "...despair, wasn't it?"

No one said a word. The tension suffocates any possible input.

"I-I..." Tears streaked down the mechanic's eyes. Stunned beyond responsive, not daring to deny what he ultimately knew to be the truth. His eyes slid slowly towards Sonia whose stance was tense with Nagito's speech. He could only imagine what was going through the princess' head at the moment. "I didn't..."

It was useless. His lack of response spoke volumes in the courtroom resonating with unleashed sobs. It was a pitiful sight, that's what it was. Nothing great about it as Nagito had suggested.

He barely acknowledged as both their stands returned to normal and Kazuichi's moved to the center.

"Very well, it appears your argument has come to a close! Now then-"

"W-Wait a minute we still haven't-!"

"-please press on the panel and cast your vote."

"Y-You c-can't do that! We're still-"

"And don't forget to make sure you vote for someone."

"Just wait a second, please!"

His pleadings fell on deaf ears, as the panel in front of them lit up, ready to have their vote cast. Hajime didn't waste a second. Others were more reluctant in doing so, especially with Kazuichi's miserable pleadings, begging to not kill him. In the end, all votes were accounted for.

“Who will be chosen as the blackened?! Will make the right choice or the dreadfully wrong one?!” Hajime was sick of hearing that, he hoped it was the last time.

"Hmph, damn... you got it right again. That's such a letdown... can't you guys just die already?"

Nothing could be heard but the torrent of sobs coming from the center of the ring.

"Although, there's always next time, right?" 

"I-I don't wanna die...! Please...!"

His throat was tied shut, almost choking on air as his lungs stopped altogether. He didn't want to witness what was to come.

"Why did you kill coach Nekomaru, damnit! If you didn't then nothin' of this would've happened!"

"I-I'm sorry, I-" Snot dripping down his face without an ounce of shame. "I was starving! I didn't want to die! I-I would've died there...! I didn't- I didn't want to die...!"

"A mortal succumbing to its primal instinct... It is unfortunate that you lacked the power to quell it."

"S-Shut up! I... I don't wanna hear that from you..." His eyes found Sonia once again. "I-I'm so sorry, Miss Sonia... I'm sorry, please forgive me..."

The princess in question closed her eyes and took a silent, almost imperceptible breath before resigned to glance at the culprit.

"I can't forgive the act of murder, that is... aksing too much..." Hajime thought that she would end there, leaving the mechanic more distraught than ever, but against his expectations, Sonia continued. "However, you're not the only one to blame for this... Monokuma has been the one to force us all to commit these heinous crimes. I am no different than you in that aspect. So you need not request my pardon, for I... am just as guilty for what happened with Ibuki and Mikan." 

"Miss Sonia..." The princess was also shedding tears, though quietly and more suppressed.

"Jeez, you guys sure know how to poop a party, huh? Well, anyway, I can't see this conversation going anywhere so..." A malicious grin was flashed at them. "Let's give it everything we got 'cause-"

"No, please! I-I-I'll do anything, I swear I'll do!"

Hajime lowered his head, desiring to be anywhere but there.

"-It's punishment time!"

"No, I don't wanna- I don't wanna die!" The loudest shriek yet tore its way through Kazuichi's throat.

The sound of chains could be heard right after.

GAME OVER

Kazuichi has been found guilty.

Time for the punishment!

ACT 4: Trapped By The Ocean's Symphony? Not Anymore

END

Remaining Survivors: 8

Chapter Text

ACT 5: Smile At Hope In The Name Of Despair

CHAPTER 22: Aimless Wander

The rattling sound of chains was no stranger to Hajime.

Not after hearing that same noise proceeding a terrible, cruel, gruesome execution. The sound had engraved itself deep inside his skull by the time the third class trial had come.

And once again, all Hajime could do was resign himself to the following scene. The spectacle, as Monokuma would call it.

Deaf to Kazuichi's beggings, Hajime stared fixedly at the screen displaying the 'show'.

Kazuichi was brought to an enclosed room, at first it was pitch black save for a dim lamp above his head. Then suddenly, the entirety of the room blinked with red spots. Soon enough, the room lit up all of a sudden and it was revealed to both the mechanic and the audience the real identity of those red dots.

Bombs.

The room was filled with them, all over the place. On the ground, laying on a shelf, resting on a poltroon; everywhere you looked. A threatening sight they made. Yet, Hajime could only stare stoically as Kazuichi's terror increased exponentially.

At the ceiling of the room, Monokuma popped his head through the hole and dropped a pair of scissors and a screwdriver, not before saluting the mechanic with a malicious smirk;

The severity of the situation descended upon Kazuichi as he desperately dived to get his hands on the tools and started working through the first bomb he could get his hands on. The mechanic had only five minutes, nothing more nothing less.

Hajime knew it would be impossible for the mechanic to accomplish anything, not in so little time. The boy seemed to realize that as well, instead of examing the bomb more thoroughly, he merely cut one of the wires, the blue one, in the hopes he would be lucky enough to not explode it.

It turns out it worked.

Gasps filled the courtroom with the unlikely feat. Kazuichi himself couldn't believe his eyes as he turned the bomb around and watched as its timer froze. Not wasting a single second, he dived into the floor and gathered a bunch of bombs near him, cutting the blue wire in all of them as quickly as he possibly could. Mahiru and Sonia were cheering for the mechanic's success quietly under their breaths, like a prayer they mumbled, tears running down their eyes.

Hajime noticed before anyone else. A minor detail that would cost Kazuichi his life.

An acid smile plastered on his face as he sighed indignantly.

Indeed, this execution was nothing but that = an execution.

Kazuichi had no chance from the very beginning. He already knew that; all of them knew - yet, Monokuma created a pretense that would bring a thin sliver of hope, just to be crushed when the timer inevitably reached zero.

And it would reach zero, regardless of how much effort Kazuichi put into disarming the bombs.

When Kazuichi had finally cut the last blue wire, with a healthy 15 seconds left, a sob of relief wracked through his body.

That happiness was short-lived as he took notice of the still pepping engulfing the entire room. As it was, it seemed that contrary to Kazuichi's belief, the blue wire was not the universal disarming mechanism for all the bombs. Despite closing his eyes moments before the timer reached zero, Hajime still witnessed the look of pure terror preceding the ringing sound of explosions.

Hajime didn't bother to linger any longer.

He made his way to the elevator and slumped himself on the corner. 

An appealing laugh could be heard even in the confines of the elevator.

No reason to dwell any further on pretenses, Hajime sprinted towards the restaurant once they had finally reached the island again. Akane was quick to follow on his heels and eventually surpassed him, bursting through the stairs on a rampage.

The others, still grieving the absence of one more classmate were more mannered and hesitated a bit before delving into their primal instinct - as Gundham would put it.

Their meal was done rather quiet, save for the sound of them wolfing down their food. No chit-chat nor awkward conversations were shared, only the desire to satisfy their wounded appetite.

Not wishing to be in anyone's company for the moment, a thought occurred to Hajime; without remaining in the restaurant anymore he trotted towards the library. The sun was barely hanging in the sky, hours slipping by listlessly unbeknown to them. Reaching the second island he couldn't help but linger by the ancient ruins.

The macabre atmosphere did an excellent job in keeping him away from it, but looking at it now - it felt somewhat nostalgic.

He couldn't put a finger on why, though.

Clustered with many titles, the library remained the same mess he could remember. However, he had taken notice that there was some kind of order to such chaos. Normally the books from a genre were prone to be stocked among others from the same genre. And so, Hajime went on his purchase of a specific medical book - actually, more of an archive.

ICD-10

International Classification of Diseases.

It took him way more time than he would've liked, but in the end, an enormous archive landed on his feet. It was similar to an encyclopedia about diseases, almost every pathology should be enlisted in the many pages.

Though he wasn't in the mood to read as of now. Retracting back to his cottage, Hajime placed the archive on his table and left through the door immediately right after. Night had already fallen and many of the students had preferred the privacy of their rooms; the same didn't apply to Hajime, who couldn't see himself locked inside his cottage anytime soon.

With no destination in mind, Hajime paused by the pool area. Not too far from the wooden path, yet not too close either.

Kazuichi is dead, he thought dispassionately.

One more to succumb to this little hame they were playing. Because that's exactly what it was - a game.

Should they have let him struggle?

Should they have discussed the intrinsics of the crime? Allowed him to weave his own story in the hopes of a chance to survive?

Maybe not.

Hajime couldn't think of a more cruel thing if not to give hopeless hope to a despairing man.

No, perhaps it was best that things ended the way they did. Perhaps there were worst things in stock if different decisions had been made.

What did it matter in the end that they hadn't breached the topic of the sleep mode button, or how the mechanic was able to tamper with clocks, and whatever countless other avenues they could have followed?

Ultimately, it didn't matter.

The result wouldn't have changed.

Kazuichi would still be considered the blackened.

What mattered was that he was the one dead, while the rest of them guaranteed some few days of survival. Who knew when Monokuma would start his devilish schemes once again? Judging by how many days were left on the countdown, he suspected the bear would be making an appearance far earlier than usual; making good use of the time left to torment them.

Hajime sat on the edge of the pool, shoes and his pants' hems emerging in the water.

What was waiting for them?

It wasn't the first time he questioned where they were being led to; uncertainty clawed at him with incessant gnaws. What was the point of surviving one more class trial? Contrary to Nagito's beliefs, there was no hope lying on the horizon. Although, Hajime couldn't be sure of whatever the boy believed.

Not anymore.

When it rains it pours, or so they say.

Dejected, Hajime splattered his tired limbs on the cold tiles and rested his back on the ground; a plethora of stars dancing in the night sky.

Was he a dead man walking? From where he was standing, it seemed to be the case for all of them; waiting until the countdown reached zero and Monokuma finally decided to take them out of their misery.

Though, 'taking them out of their misery' sounded too much of a stretch. It's more likely that he'd extract every tiny bit of despair he could get.

Despite all the hatred he harbored for the island, its view of the stars was inarguably outstanding. He didn't understand the first thing about constellations and the like, nor did he have a habit of staring at them, but in the solitude of his own mindscape, he indulged in observing the navy blue sky with listless focus.

What's next? he asked in the confines of his mind.

How could the situation become even more gruesome?

He wasn't foolish enough to think that Nekomaru's case would be the last. He knew it wasn't, in no time someone else would die, and he could only hope it wasn't him.

Half the class was gone, either punished for their crimes or victim to one's selfish desire.

Who would be the next fool? Who would be the next foe?

It was only a matter of time, really. Given the previous two motives, Monokuma was only getting antsier and crueler with his methods; the bear probably knew they would need extra 'motivation' after the first few kills, which led him to force them to kill one another, much like what happened to Kazuichi and Sonia.

Such dirty tactics were not beyond the abominable creature.

...

His stomach growled.

Despite filling his face with food and water during the rest of the day, that persistent hollowness was hesitant to leave him. His throat in a similar state was throbbing with a deep ache, scratching his esophagus.

At least now there was no reprieve. If he so wanted, he could fall to his temptations and devour all the snacks in the supermarket, drink as much water as he could, drink until he was stock full. Though he suspected that hollow pit in his gut would persist, regardless of how he tried to get rid of it. He wondered if the hunger had left its mark on his body, like a scar that throbbed upon the touch.

Yeah, perhaps that's it.

Four days never lasted so long.

But they were over now. Those long four excruciating days were gone and they had left the Funhouse. His eyes weren't straining with the obnoxious lightning, nor was he trapped inside a building with no sight of the sky.

He wasn't sure if he could bring himself to abandon that now, not for the comfort of his bed or the warmth of his sheet. No, at the moment the open sky was his solace, the proof that he lived to see the outside once again.

Yeah, what's important was the now. He survived and should keep doing so, no matter what.

Even if it was to just have one more look at the sky.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD): Progressive isolated aphasia

Other specified degenerative diseases of the nervous system:

Grey-matter degeneration [Alpers]

Subacute necrotizing encephalopathy [Leigh]

---

Despite the archive not entering into too much detail and his lack of any relevant medical knowledge, Hajime could get the gist of it.

Brain rot, to put it simply.

Accompanied with a Lymphoma, no less. It didn't take a genius to know the severity of such a diagnosis. Nagito was dying. But that's nothing new, the boy had said it himself,

But to see the proof of those words rang a sense of finality.

Coupled with Nagito's sudden change in attitude, he could only suppose about what had changed so drastically, and if so, did Nagito's condition contribute to those changes?

He couldn't be certain. And he wasn't about to throw it in Nagito's face either, the boy had confided in him and he found himself unable to betray that trust, even after all the casual cruelness Nagito showed towards him.

He wondered how much time the boy had left.

Nagito had said something about six months to a year, but-

what about their stolen school memories?

Since they arrived, Monokuma had been adamant about how Monomi had taken years' worth of memories, but if so, then how was Nagito still alive? For all intents and purposes, he should be already dead. Yet, here they were; trapped on a fucking island, middle of nowhere, years apart from what they could recall last.

What for?

He wondered if the response to that question would be worth its repercussions.

Probably not.

His eyes returned to the archive resting on his table, so thick it took a good chunk of his morning to get to the relevant part - unfortunately enough, the summary was missing.

However daunting the despair may be, hope is always laying just beyond. That's something Nagito would say in the face of this. In actuality, if there was someone who could survive this... it would be Nagito, right?

Ultimate Luck and everything.

Acknowledging the power of Nagito's luck made nothing to lessen his worries. He was rendered completely helpless, with nothing to do about it. Perhaps it was a little unfair to feel like that; Nagito was the one who was helpless in this, not him. After all, the boy was the one paying the price in the end. Paying with his life.

Nagito was the one to endure the pain his symptoms were certainly causing him; the one to go to sleep with a death sentence hanging over his head - in his head.

While Hajime could only hope.

Hope that for some miraculous act of good luck, Nagito would not only get to see the end of this game but was also get to live long after it's over.

It was far past the afternoon, if his guess was correct, then the next island should be open by this point. Monomi had yet to delay a single day after a trial to defeat one of the Monobeasts. Which sounded pretty suspicious in retrospect, as if the plushie was waiting until they completed another 'level' of the game. Almost like a reward.

Always refreshing their hope to find something useful that could take them out of the island, only for them to be stomped by the weight of their own expectations.

Indeed, it was more likely than not that Monomi and Monokuma were two sides of the same coin. Naturally, Monomi would need someone to control or overwatch her actions, the same with Monokuma. There was no shred of doubt in his mind that the toys' mannerisms were not pre-scripted, after all, how could some top-notch technology be used to create a robot-bear and robot-bunny?

No doubt there was some deeper meaning for their creation.

Hajime left his cottage in a monotonous toll, no destination in mind. What was there to do anyway? Sure, he could maybe explore the new island but - what could that accomplish in the long run? At most, please his boredom for some hours until the dissonance of the situation rang over him again.

Leisurely, he walked towards Jabberwock Park, not expecting to cross anyone on his way. As luck would have it, his expectations served the only purpose of being defied.

Standing there, observing the chronometer run with a resolute countenance, was Fuyuhiko. What drew his attention, though, was the smoking stick caught between the yakuza's fingers.

"Are you... smoking?"

Fuyuhiko turned around, clearly not expecting someone else in the vicinity but overall not bothered by Hajime's presence, as if expecting someone's appearance sooner or later. His single eye widened slightly and he was fast to throw the cigarette on the ground and fastly stepped on it, erasing any evidence of the previous smoke dancing over his head.

"No." Stepping closer, Hajime couldn't hide the skepticism on his face. Fuyuhiko for his part didn't send any outrageous remarks at him for questioning his honesty. Instead, propping his hands inside the pockets of his vest and returning his gaze to the bomb that could possibly decide the outcome if worst came to worst. "I don't smoke that crap, it's just..."

A minute passes where the two of them maintain the silence. Hajime doesn't dare to break it, it feels as if Fuyuhiko is resigning himself to unveil some deep secret, or merely sharing some aspect of him he would not normally disclose to others. 

"My mom used to smoke them all the time and I... got used to the smell."

"I see..."

Hajime could understand. Trying to emulate a semblance of normalcy amidst a completely hostile environment was something he was no stranger to. The main reason he had stocked his room with books during the first few weeks was to regain some kind of resemblance to his daily life. His life before this hell. He supposed it was the same to the other students, all trying the best they could to take their minds off the awful plight they were trapped in.

Perhaps Fuyuhiko's daily life was outrageously dissonant to his own, given his Ultimate Yakuza title. But ultimately, despite how violent and disturbing their 'home' could be, all of them just wished for this nightmare to come to a close.

Yet, Monokuma always seemed to have other things in mind for them.

"You miss them? Your family, I mean."

"Nah, they were a bunch of crazy-ass assholes. Aside from Natsumi, but even she was an annoying bitch most of the time."

Hajime didn't know what brought Fuyuhiko to open up like that to Hajime of all people; about his dead sister, no less. However, Hajime found it prudent to not bring attention to that fact, not if he wanted to maintain all his fingers intact.

"It's weird... I don't really know if I miss my parents or not." Hajime decided to say instead, contributing to the conversation by driving away the attention from Fuyuhiko's family. "They're not bad or anything but... they're never really there."

It's been long since the last time his thoughts were reminiscent of his parents. It had been so long since he last saw them, and yet, he could remember it clearly as they congratulated him for getting the Ultimate Unlucky Student title. A title he won by merits none of his own.

The bitterness of the memory lingered even now.

Fuyuhiko said nothing, only acknowledging Hajime with a subtle nod. 

Another minute went by as they indulged in the comfortable silence that settled, the sun was high in the clear sky, and a gentle breeze ran over the park. It was another beautiful day accompanied by even nicer weather.

Hajime longed for a storm, for rain pouring down relentlessly with power only the ocean could offer. Just for a change. But the island kept its scary climate routine, displaying a clear contrast to the activities going down on the island.

A veneer of wonder hiding the malice underneath.

Befitting the locale of the Killing School Trip.

Sneaking a look at the boy beside him, Hajime recalled the incident on the class trial the previous day. Fuyuhiko had been one vital aspect in alleging Kazuichi's culpability. However, it wasn't just that, Fuyuhiko hadn't merely helped them he had-

"Hey, Fuyuhiko... yesterday, on the trial..." Gathering as much courage as he could, Hajime continued. "You lied, didn't you?"

Contrary to his expectation, the yakuza didn't snap at him for asking such a thing, actually, it appeared Fuyuhiko was waiting for this moment, waiting for Hajime to confront him about it.

"I did. No use denying it now."

"Why...?"

The boy pondered for some seconds before responding.

"I knew he was the fucking culprit, the way he was acting just... seemed odd to me. Call it instinct if you will, I don't give a shit."

Even so, for him to blatantly lie like that, to take such a big risk, sounded extremely reckless or-

on point.

Whatever it was, it didn't matter now, not really. What was done was done and they survived. They had 'won' against the killer, thus their lives were preserved, just to be put at risk once again when the next murder occurred.

"Thanks. I know you didn't do it for me or anything, but - thanks, anyway."

"Tsk, whatever." Not wasting more words with Hajime, the yakuza whirled around and left the park. Hajime stayed there, stuck to his place, watching as seconds bled into minutes.

Only four days left.

The fifth and last island was by far the least enticing in Hajime's opinion.

A metropolitan architecture surrounded the area entirely, tall buildings engulfing its premises, creating a suffocating ambiance to it. All around were metallic gears and Monokuma stylized structures. It all felt too much sci-fi-ey, saturating the island's bounds with grey and silver.

It certainly made him feel unwelcomed.

The facilities included a Monokuma plushie factory, a military base, vendor stalls, and some Sea King Industries - which was likely where the Monobeasts came from - all sharing a similar atmosphere. A dead, dry environment containing nothing useful as usual.

Some of the students still idly remained around, Sonia and Mahiru were hanging out by the military base, the princess appeared to be pretty enthusiastic from afar, so Hajime decided to leave them to it. Sooner right after, they were all gathered by the vendor stalls, all except for Nagito, who had yet to show his face according to Fuyuhiko.

"It would seem he has vanished from this realm..." Gundham commented ominously once Chiaki asked about it, with the conviction far too steely for the topic at hand.

"Don't say stupid crap..." An annoyed harumph left him at the absurd statement.

"Anyway, did any of you manage to find any important information about the Future Foundation?" Mahiru took a seat on a stool and they were eager to follow, conglomerating in a semi-circle, ones more comfortable than others.

Sonia and Fuyuhiko started to list some files they had found regarding the Future Foundation, though nothing that could be relevant to them, the credibility of such information was also shaky given Monokuma would certainly have been the one to plant them around. Thus, any piece of information they could come across should not be taken at face value.

"However... it is no mistake to assume that the Future Foundation is behind everything that has been going on." The princess stated, placing her hands on the counter.

"Are we sure about that...?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Huh, what do ya mean?! If they're not our enemies what even are they?!" Akane clearly didn't believe that in the least. The vendor stalls were filled with a generous amount of ramen and the gymnast wasted no time getting her face full of it. Hajime was a bit surprised she was even paying attention to listen to what they were saying. "You're not gonna say they're our allies, right?"

"No, that's not it... It's just something I've been thinking about." Fuyuhiko didn't sound so certain about his statements either; looking to the side, Hajime could only see the prominent eye=patch. "Monomi works for the Future Foundation, right? She pretty much admitted at this point. Monokuma is the one encouraging us to kill each other, but Monomi is always opposing him."

"That is naught but a false display of innocence. By shrouding herself as a slow-witted animal, she intends to lower our guards and exploit that weakness when necessary."

"No, I don't think she's pretending. They clearly hate each other." Gundham didn't seem to be happy about Chiaki's disagreement but remained silent on his stool.

"Are you trying to say that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend', or something?" From the skeptical look the photographer was sending Fuyuhiko's way, she was also not buying his conjectures.

"However, despite Monomi and Monokuma opposing each other, it is possible for both of them to be our enemies." Sonia countered.

"Look I'm just saying..." Seeming to regret opening his mouth as a whole, the yakuza crossed his arms in defiance.

"Don't worry, I was thinking about that, too." Hajime reassured, trying to defuse the possible altercation that could emerge between Fuyuhiko and Mahiru, whose interactions were still strained. "Though, I think it's a little optimistic to think of Monomi as an ally. To be honest, opposing Monokuma or not, she clearly was designed with a purpose in mind, and as long as we're not sure of what that purpose is... we can't take her loyalty for granted."

"I don't trust that stupid pig at all! Especially with a traitor on the lose." Akane commented in between slurps.

"Akane, perish the thought! There is no traitor among us, I am sure of it! That is simply a false entity that Monokuma made up so we would be suspicious of each other."

Sonia spoke with a conviction, no doubt shadowing her belief whatsoever. Hajime didn't share the sentiment in the least, not when his luck was involved. At first, he was also a bit hesitant to believe Monokuma's word, but given how drastically things went downhill, he had no shred of doubt about the existence of said traitor. He was entirely unaware of their identity, no clue at all.

But he was sure they were there, sitting on a stool with them, far too close for comfort.

"Weak... how weak..."

A voice brimming with afresh characteristic disdain rattled their discussion. Hajime didn't need to whirl around to know the exact look Nagito was sending their way, not when he had exclusively bore witness to it during the investigation.

"Instead of facing the problem directly and overcoming it... you're desperately trying to run away... That weakness... is hopeless."

Putting a damper on the mood completely, most of the students turned to eye the boy with confusion written all over their faces, not at all comprehending what Nagito was going on about. Ultimately, Hajime was also not entirely sure, not when the boy refused to be in his company anymore.

"As usual, you guys just keep running around in circles... What are you, hamsters?" Averting his gaze to Gundham, Nagito sardonically hid his mouth with a hand. "Ops, if I compare you to hamsters will I get yelled at by the weakling standing before you, Sonia?"

"What did you say...?" Not even Gundham could escape the surprise of the chaotic reasonings behind Nagito's hostility.

"And what have you been up to, then?" It was best to divert attention for now, after all, Hajime was the only one aware of Nagito's 'true nature' - he could only imagine the shit show it would be if Nagito decided to make his twisted ideals known to the rest. Though he doubted the boy would bother to waste a single breath with them.

"Well, I was in the middle of looking for someone?" Surprisingly, the response wasn't accompanied by the usual bristle. Rather, he gives a cursory glance around the island, as if dispassionately making a last search with the eyes. "I thought that person might've already arrived... but I guess I was wrong. Or maybe they're hidden in a secret location, watching us carefully..."

"The hell you're sayin'?! Is there someone else on this island?"

Akane wasn't the only to show immense discomfort at the mere prospect of someone shady hiding right under their noses and them none the wiser to it - Hajime included.

"It's probably the survivor from the Killing School Life."

"Huh?" Chiaki placed a hand on her chest at the sudden assumption. Many of the students were looking at their peers as if to say 'is he for real?'. Hajime on the other hand was thus far expecting something as astounding as that. After all, that would explain a lot of things, including-

"You're talkig about Byakuya, right?"

"...Huh? Oh, I see... you've only reached that stage..." Predictably, the scorn returned with no forewarning.

"Stage? What stage?! You're the one who's not makin' any sense!" Akane protested, for once not enjoying being talked down in regards to her intellect.

Nagito seemed to share her annoyance.

"What I'm saying is that, why would Byakuya - a survivor of the Killing School Life - die in vain like he did at the very beginning...? Don't you think it's strange?"

He had been asking himself the same thing. Indeed, the whole thing regarding Byakuya surviving another killing game sounded too much of a stretch, and yet-

"What the hell do you mean?!" Fuyuhiko inquired loudly, his patience already running thin with Nagito's antics.

"The issue is not with what he means! Please take back what you said about Byakuya dying in vain!" Sounding completely outraged, Sonia got up from her seat in an instant, her voice leaving nothing to imagine about her real feelings. "You have been acting very strange lately! I do not like this version of Nagito we have been witness to!"

"No kidding, it's gettin' on my goddamn nerves!"

"Aww... it looks like I'm being hated..." Spoken like a true victim, Hajime had to shove the impulse to gag down his throat. Tone dripping with forged desolation, Nagito taunted them for reacting badly to his offensive remarks. It was starting to wear thin on his patience. And worst, it felt as if Nagito was doing it for that exact reason. "Well, that's understandable. There's no way you guys can even comprehend my suffering... Knowing the truth... can be pretty painful in its own way."

"And what truth is that?" Against his better judgment, Hajime couldn't help but want to know what 'truth' Nagito discovered. What did he find out that would warrant such a change in his behavior?

"Curious, are you?" Another taunt, smile mocking him for his ignorance. As if daring him to beg further, to lick his shoes in the chance that he would reveal his big discovery.

Hajime refused to do so.

"But... why don't I tell you guys after we've found out who the traitor is? To tell you the truth, I still don't have a clue about who they are, but - it won't take me very long!" A shattering laugh invaded their ears as Nagito continued. "You don't have to worry... I'll weed out the traitor even if it costs me my life!"

"What are you saying?! Nagito... why are you acting so weird all of a sudden?" Mahiru's usual confrontative front was replaced by a wary stance, goose bumps running down the length of her arms, as if truly scared of Nagito and what he intended to do.

"No shit, the hell is up with this 'even if it costs my life' crap?"

"If I'm able to wipe off all the despair in this island, will I...?" Nagito was turning a deaf ear to them once again. "Will I become... the Ultimate Hope?"

A chill ran through Hajime at the words. What the hell was Nagito up to? For him to be announcing so blatantly that he intends to expose the traitor and along the way become the 'Ultimate Hope' - naturally, nothing good could come out of it. Perhaps to the other students, it was nothing but an asinine remark, some nonsensical crap that mattered little at the end of the day.

Hajime, however, wasn't fooled by the underline hidden beneath the declaration.

For Nagito, the despair brought by his luck was nothing but a prelude to the hope just beyond that darkness. Just a stepping stone with the purpose to make hope shine brighter.

If Nagito had put in his mind to become the Ultimate Hope-

then was he intending to cause an act of Ultimate Despair?

"What the fuck are you talking about? Have you finally lost your damn mind?" Fuyuhiko was not amused by the display of nonsense.

"Now then, I should get going... But if you see Monokuma again, there's something I want you to tell him."

"Huh?" Despite not knowing what it was, a compulsive sense of dread spread through his spine, foreshadowing what was to come.

"Tell him not to worry because I'm planning to go all out. Besides, the next one will probably be the last..."

The implication was not lost on Hajime.

"Nagito... what do you mean?" The same seemed to apply to Chiaki too. The gamer had wide eyes and a disbelieving expression; staring at the luckster with the utmost caution, almost as if he was a wild animal.

"Bye, now."

Without gracing her with an answer, Nagito turned around and left. His steps echoed in the suddenly quiet ambiance.

Hajime watched as he went away and he was powerless to stop him. Powerless to know what he was planning to do.

"D-Don't tell me... is he...?"

"It damn well sounds like it."

"Such a doomed existence... It unnerves even the Four Dark Devas...!"

Hajime was deaf to the other students' intrigue. His mind was reeling from the interaction just now, unable to care about their thoughts regarding the situation. What truly worried him was Nagito's intentions at the moment.

Not bothering to say anything else, Hajime made to follow.

Whatever it was, Hajime knew Nagito was about to do something reckless. And it was down to Hajime to try and figure it out what.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 23: Barbed Trust

Jogging back to the first island, Hajime wondered where Nagito could have gone.

Lagging behind for too long, he had lost sight of where Nagito had gone. For all he knew he could have delved into any other islands for whatever reason he saw fit.

Though he suspected that the boy would have returned to his cottage after dropping the bomb of a declaration. Hajime couldn't help but be perplexed with Nagito downright admitting that he was planning a murder, or at the very least insinuating so.

What could the boy have been trying to get from them?

Was he pressuring the traitor to act recklessly in order to find an opening to expose their identity? That's the only reason he fathoms why Nagito would make such a boldfaced remark. He wasn't paying too much attention to it, but he had caught wind of the other students discussing whether they should try to restrain Nagito to avoid any malicious intentions he could harbor against them.

Hajime had neither supported such a dumb idea nor proclaimed his distaste toward it.

Mainly because he was worried.

Worried about and for Nagito.

Ultimate Hope. If Nagito was truly purchasing to birth such a notion, then what did that mean for their situation? What could Nagito do to warrant such a senseless title in his mind?

Become the Ultimate Hope? What a bunch of crap.

Knocking three times on the boy's door, Hajime prepared himself for what could possibly come next. The room was silent, too silent in actuality - he was prone to believe that Nagito wasn't in his room. Feeling somewhat relieved for delaying the confrontation further, Hajime was about to leave when the door opened.

"Oh, so it's you..."

A familiar cold trepidation clawed its ugly hand on his chest. He wasn't expecting Nagito to welcome him with open arms - no, quite the opposite. Since they had gotten separated during the investigation, Hajime had resigned to accept Nagito's sudden behavior change, associating it with some of the symptoms the boy was suffering from.

Despite knowing that he was most likely right about it. To take Nagito's autonomy and blame it all on his condition felt like a vile violation of the odd trust that had been building between them. Undermining his will and summing it up as a mere sick mind was an outrageous prospect.

He hoped with a twisted sense of dread, that this was truly Nagito talking. Despite all the wounding indifference being shown to him, somehow it felt better believing that Nagito still had a hold of his own mind. That's why he couldn't contain the slight flinch at hearing the derision leaking in Nagito's tone.

"It doesn't surprise me that you came here. Let me guess, you came looking for me to try and discover what I'm up to, is that it?"

As his luck would have it, Nagito was right on the money, and Hajime was as guilty as charged.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it."

"I see... how predictable." A smile without any humor behind it plastered on Hajime's face, had already foreseen the snide retort coming. "And what makes you think I owe you an explanation?"

He took a deep breath.

"You don't. But I think you're planning to do something stupid - very stupid, I may say. What the hell do you mean with this Ultimate Hope thing?" From the annoying hint in Nagito's eyes, he suspected the boy was one step from closing the door on his face. Stepping forward to avoid him doing just that, he continued. "Even if you're planning something... why tell that to everyone like that? Are you trying to discover who the traitor is, is that it?"

"I thought I made that clear already. Why do I have to repeat myself?"

"How do you even plan on doing that?" Hajime said, ignoring the backhanded response. "I mean, I could understand if you said all of that to put the traitor on edge but - the others are also planning to do something about you, you know? If you truly intend to try something shady, they'll try to restrain you or something."

"Oh, and are you worried about me?"

Despite the innocent look on his face, Hajime could discern as clear as day the mocking underline hidden underneath that false sense of commend. And yet, he couldn't have been more right.

"Yes, I am!"

It wounded the bit of pride still reminiscent of him to confess it. He knew that Nagito would sneer in his direction at the admission, his eyes turning judgemental for whichever reason he had for looking down on him. But it was exactly that - Hajime was most concerned about Nagito.

"I see... should I be flattered, then? Sorry, I'm not used to these kinds of things. You seem to have gotten the wrong impression so now I'm in an awkward situation like this."

Retracting on himself to the onslaught soon to come, Hajime prodded.

"Wrong impression of what?"

"Of that kiss. We were both delusional from hunger and quivering from despair, and now you're holding all these expectations of me, almost as if I signed a contract or something. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but don't you think it's a little childish acting like that? It was just a kiss, after all."

You liar.

Hajime was tempted to shoot back, to rip the pretenses Nagito was settling between them to shreds. Acting oblivious to the obvious wounds he was inflicting.  Talking as if he was reasonably turning him down when he had been the one to hold his forehead to Hajime's and whispered softly-:

I don't even want to think about the terrible, terrible luck that's waiting for me.

He knew Nagito was lying. Exploiting this cruel, foul lie to avert Hajime's attention from the reason he came to talk to him.

Yet, Hajime felt his eyes pricking with humiliation. Bailed fists locked on his sides as he stared at the boy whose hands held a delicate part of his heart, and watched as that same boy tore it to pieces right in front of him.

He tried to say something but discovered he had no voice to speak; throat knotting tightly without his consent.

Saving the bit of dignity he still held, Hajime turned around in a swift move and took away from the scene.

A new day brought new opportunities, or so the saying goes.

Hajime wasn't too fond of those inspirational speeches, shallow words inscribed by people trying to maintain a false sense of wisdom. Because truly, if they knew anything about hardship, then they should also know the falsehood of their claims. No opportunity landed on someone's doorstep as easily as a new day. Considering where he found himself at the moment, his assumptions were proven right with each day they spent on the island.

Or perhaps Hajime was just pessimistic.

Leaving his cottage come morning was a laborious task in itself, yet, Hajime forced himself out. Not allowing himself to reprieve from wallowing in his misery. Instead, he put up a pretense of nonchalance that he did not feet, and marched to the restaurant, expecting the remaining students to be gathered up for the morning reunions.

Normally he avoided participating. Today was a different story; wanting anything, even the idlest of chats to serve as a distraction.

As per usual, Akane was wolfing down her plate while Mahiru and Sonia watched the gymnast in stunned fascination. Gundham was by the end of the table, quietly whispering to his hamsters as he passed them some seeds of some sort. Hajime sat on the empty chair beside Fuyuhiko who had regained his normal scowling face, sole eye drifting over them with a displeased air - though he knew very well that if the yakuza was truly irked with their presence, he would have made himself scarce a long time ago.

Chiaki was dosing on her seat; Gameboy laying on the table with inert fingers not able to hold it.

"Now that we are all gathered, I must bring attention to the matter at hand," Gundham announced; arms crossed over his chest exhaling a powerful stance that was belied by his hamsters a few inches away munching their breakfast. "What shall we do pertaining to Nagito?"

"A-About that... Are we really doing something about it?" Sonia wasn't looking too sure herself about it.

"If he's really planning on trying a murder, then yeah, we should lock him up or something," Fuyuhiko said, making clear where he stood in this. "I don't have a fucking clue on what has got into him, but - we can't let another trial happen."

"Watch your language, will you?" Despite her exasperate front, such complaints fell flat in the face of a serious matter like this. Mahiru seemed to notice this as well as she deflated and averted her eyes to the side. "I'm not sure if locking him up is the right thing to do, though... Like, what caused him to act the way he's doing? I didn't think he was that kind of guy, and to suddenly change like that..."

"We can't let another killing happen... I'm not too comfortable with this either, but... it's the best we can do... I think." Rubbing the sleep off her eyes, Chiaki straightened on her seat as she started to peck at a piece of toast.

"What are you guys even thinking about doing? It's not like we can keep him locked forever." He couldn't find in himself to completely oppose their plan, not when he didn't know how far Nagito intended on going with his plan - be that what may.

"I will offer my support in subduing the fortune one, only I will be capable to defeat such tremendous power."

"I'll help too if I need." The yakuza nodded towards Gundham, not commenting on what 'tremendous power' their target possessed.

"Despite not being sure about this, If all of you are in accordance, then I shall issue a decree! We are to restrain Nagito as peacefully as possible in order to prevent any incidents from occurring."

No one protested her declaration - Hajime included.

"But when are you guys doing it?" Mahiru seemed to be squirming on her seat with tension. He couldn't blame her, not when they were discussing someone's incarceration - Nagito's incarceration. "How are you even going to do it?"

"It's easier if we can lure him to the restaurant and get him when he's not expecting. It's probably best to tie him with ropes or some shit." Fuyuhiko suggested.

"That's fine by me! When he enters through the door I'm gonna dive kick him!" Having finished her meal - for the time being - Akane smacked her fist on her palm, threatening to make do with the promise she made at the trial. Hajime would not be eager to be on the other side of the gymnast's dive kick.

"Akane, you are not to do such a thing!"

The girl in question brushed Sonia's chastise off, not really promising to maintain composure.

"What about you, Hajime? Will you help with the plan?"

Hajime wasn't expecting Chiaki of all people to call him on it. The gamer stared at him with characteristic stoic eyes, her face not displaying any kind of emotion whatsoever. Not that he could see, anyway. "I'm asking 'cause you're the one closest to him, so..."

"It's fine. I don't know what happened to him either, but..." Hajime had a suspicion, but he wouldn't reveal it to any of them. That secret was entrusted to him, and he would do well to keep it that way. "I agree that he's probably going to do something dangerous... so it's better if we can prevent it."

Having brought attention to the fact that - indeed, Hajime was pretty close to Nagito, the room grew silent with a static tension, no one was directly looking at him. Except for Akane, who went back to devour some bananas.

"Then... can you be the one to lure him out?" Fuyuhiko asked from his right side, treading across the invisible boundary that was to request such a thing. "It's gonna be easier if it's you."

"I can try. But I don't think it'll go much better if it's me, he doesn't want to see the back of me."

Some of the girls sent a pitying gaze upon him. He wouldn't outright say it, but there was nothing he wanted less than their condolences.

"It truly is worrisome that something could have altered Nagito's behavior so severely..." The princess rubbed heedlessly at her shoulder, not managing to convey an ounce of her previous fervor.

"Tsk, no shit."

Fuyuhiko's spat sealed the end of their conversation. Hajime went to get his own plate while some of the others departed with quiet byes. Not too long after, Hajime was the one to seek solitude once more. Better digest his own thoughts alone where he could pretend that things were as bad as reality proved to be.

The afternoon found Hajime inside the cool air the diner offered.

Longing for an arbitrary sense of relief, Hajime hid on the last chair where no one would be able to see him clearly if they wandered around the second island, not really doing much but dwelling on his feelings and musing about what a shitty situation they were.

The diner's serene ambiance helped in grounding him at the same time it encouraged his daydreaming.

He could recall the last time he had visited. Nagito was with him; they had shared nonsensical gossip while waiting until Nagito had to leave to meet up with Kazuichi. Little did they know a murder was occurring not too far from there. Nagito had left with the promise of a 'see you later' and Hajime had almost died during the same hour.

He wasn't quite sure if he would label that as a happy memory, but it certainly was a far cry from the sharp indifference he was being regarded with.

Taking another sip from his drink, he noticed the liquid had gone too lukewarm for his tastes, causing it to go stale on his tongue. Deeming it not feasible to drink anymore, Hajime threw it in the closest trash bin, noting idly that his throw had gone completely off the mark and made a mess on the floor.

How unfortunate of him.

He wouldn't lift a finger to clean it up, not when he wasn't breaking any rules; while inside a facility it couldn't be considered littering.

Fully intending on returning to his reflections, Hajime didn't notice as the door to the diner opened to reveal someone else's presence.

"Oh, so you're here, too."

Startled into shock, Hajime whipped his head towards the voice the find Chiaki carrying an excessive amount of snacks in her arms, some of it barely hanging on with her awkward hold.

"Chiaki... what are you doing?"

Given that he was on the far end of the diner, the girl staggered a little until she dropped all the snacks on his table, not really asking for permission before dropping herself on the opposite seat.

"I come here to play games now and then. The air conditioner is pretty good, too."

Seeing that he wouldn't be getting a better response from the girl, Hajime settled back in his seat, head resting on his palm, gaze returning to the window. For a moment he thought the two of them would remain in awkward silence until the gamer started to rummage inside her cat-designed backpack.

"Do you wanna play with me?"

This time, Hajime wasn't as surprised by the girl's voice. She was offering a Gameboy to him, this one navy blue, totally different from her usual pink one.

"I'm not really good with these."

"Don't worry, winning or not, what's fun about games is playing them, right?" Hajime wasn't exactly referring to gaming in itself, more like the many ways his presence could potentially be a hazard to the Gameboy's life span, but ultimately decided to take it. Even if he managed to break it, who was to say that there wasn't another way laying around, and if it didn't-

well, it mattered little to him.

"Fine."

Chiaki suggested for they to start with Mario Kart, a casual game that even Hajime with his lackluster knowledge in games was capable to understand its mechanics. As it as to be expected, he ended up in last place in all games, while Chiaki won first place in all but one game. The pattern continued for the majority of the time they kept playing, though Hajime wasn't as annoyed as he once would be.

After all, it was just a game.

A distraction to entertain their minds.

They weren't betting anything, much less their lives.

Their pseudo-normal afternoon came to an end when the sun started to set. By the time they noticed, the two of them had managed to go through all the snacks the girl had bought, which left him wondering if she was already expecting someone's presence in the diner. Either way, he was glad that she did.

Hajime and Chiaki weren't the closest people on the island, he had barely spent any time with the girl since the beginning of their life in this hell. Most of their interactions came in the form of arguing during class trials; as sad as it was, that wasn't the case for only Chiaki. Despite their interests also diverging quite a lot, they had found common ground in the few hours in each other's company.

"Here." Hajime said, handing the Gameboy back to Chiaki.

"You can keep it. That way you can play whenever you want." Chiaki stored her own Gameboy back in her backpack as she made to leave.

"I don't think it'll survive its stay with me, but... thanks." He was thanking her for more than the Gameboy. He didn't know for what exactly, but it was more than the Gameboy.

"No worries, it's more fun to play with friends, after all."

Afternoon bleeding into the quiet aspects of the night, Hajime wound up in his cottage, making his best effort in getting through a new chapter of his fairly lackadaisical book.

Despite not feeling up for anything, he didn't possess a single somnolent bone in his body at the moment for just laying down and resting.

No, it was more than just not being sleepy. He was antsy; anticipating.

Gundham and Fuyuhiko had passed by earlier to announce they were ready to put their plan into action; ready to get Nagito off guard and restrain him before he could cause any harm to others or himself.

Hajime - no matter how bad he felt about it - had ultimately corroborated the scheme as much as the others, even offering his help in luring the boy out to the restaurant.

They were probably all positioned by now, awaiting for Hajime to make his move. Of course, there was always the likely possibility that Hajime would fail in accomplish his part of the plan. Especially taking into consideration the detail that Hajime had, in fact, warned Nagito about such measures. Even so, he couldn't help the flicker of petty indignance in the face of the boy's cruelty. 

A part of him wished to repay Nagito with the same sense of indifference and detachment. A vicious, sick part of him that cared little about the inner workings of the boy's current behavior.

Yet, he sported the pretense that he was doing it all for the boy's own sake.

Perhaps that was quite a preposterous thought to be indulging in.

After all, Hajime was far from a selfless person.

Perhaps Hajime was doing this for his own sake.

Nevertheless, whatever Hajime decided to do, he would have to do it now. Nighttime had just started, and so had the timer for their plan.

Putting the book aside, Hajime went to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. A moment passed before he moved his eyes from the reflection staring right back.

He had already compromised himself in this strategy, had given his accordance; there was little to be done now-

The doorbell went off.

Instinctively, his whole body ceased as a sense of dread overlapped his previous anxiety.

Somehow, Hajime knew before opening the door who would be the one standing behind it.

"Why hello there, Hajime."

It was said with the politeness of a razor-thin blade shaving through his skin. Peeling back whatever anticipation he had held and replacing it with a dull, hollow throbbing sensation.

"What do you want?" He wasn't about to play Nagito's game. Not when he was still inside the imitation of safety that was his room.

"Huh, what do you mean? You guys have business with me, right?"

So he did know they were planning something. He wasn't surprised, not when Nagito's intellect by itself was far greater than he let on. That was without considering his luck, which was certainly playing a major factor in his discovery.

At Hajime's unresponsive state, Nagito sighed dejectedly.

"Well, I guess this is good timing, to be honest. I have some business to discuss with you guys, too."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"If everyone's already at the lobby, that saves me a lot of trouble." Looking at Hajime sharply, he continued. "And... I want you to come to the lobby too, even though you're not directly involved in the plan, I suppose."

So he knows even that, he thought. Hajime had to refrain from swallowing at the scrutinizing stare laid upon him.

He wasn't foolish enough to believe Nagito was unaware of his very clear involvement. No, if the boy knew about their plan to that extent then he was merely fishing for something. Setting a silent trap in wait for Hajime to fall for it.

He refused to give him what he wanted from this conversation.

"Anyway, let's hurry up to the lobby." Hajime could discern the intrinsics of the farse of a smile Nagito was hiding behind. This courteous persona he was performing was nothing but a cheap facade, a facade made to warp Hajime's conceptions and create a hint of doubt in his mind; made to make him second guess himself for how dissonant the person standing in from of him was from the one who mocked him the last day.

They both knew that the other knew.

Yet, neither brought attention to it.

"Fine."

Despite not having a single thing he would detest more than spending any amount of time with Nagito at the moment - he would gain nothing from stepping aside and letting the boy do as he pleased. Besides, regardless of what Nagito had planned, it seemed they had little say in stopping him right now. Not when the boy himself was willingly walking into the trap set for him.

Completely aware of the existence of said trap.

Indeed, it was best for him to come along, as reluctant as he was.

Leaving the cottage area without sharing any other words, the two walked in tense silence for the duration of the stroll.

He consciously lagged behind a bit so Nagito would be the first one to approach the door. Somehow, it felt like the boy had seen right through him as he stepped in front of him and opened the door without the slightest hint of hesitation.

As soon as he entered, Akane promptly jumped at Nagito. Arms enveloping the boy's neck with a healthy loosed grip; enough to keep him still, but not enough to hurt. Hajime was colored surprised that the gymnast had sufficient self-control to not choke the life out of the boy.

"All right, I got him!"

"Um... what are you doing?" 

"Don't judge us for this... but we're gonna tie you up." Fuyuhiko responded, rope already in hand. Chiaki, Mahiru, and Sonia were nowhere in sight, probably away while the boys and Akane did the job.

"Haha, tie me up?"

"There is no use of feasible attempts at struggling." Gundham stated, albeit maintaining his distance.

"I'm not struggling." Indeed, Nagito was pliant in Akane's hold, not trying to force his way out of her embrace at all.

"W-What the hell...? You're being strangely cooperative..." Fuyuhiko commented, passing a loop around the luckster's wrists. He averted his gaze towards Hajime who was hanging by the entrance door, watching the scene unfold without contributing anything. That single eye seemed to ask: 'Did you warn him?'.

"You guys are really disappointing... How long are you going to continue behaving so shortsightedly?"

"Huh...? What are you talking about?!" Movements slacken for a moment to glare quizzically at the infuriating boy.

"It's fine if you don't understand... You can just see the end without knowing." A smirk replaced the distasteful sneer off his face as Nagito's eyes brimmed with characteristic malice; malice Hajime hadn't seen for some time now. He could perfectly recall Nagito pleading for him to take his life and escape the island; could perfectly recall what proceeded that tumultuous conversation. "Now then, let' begin! The beginning of the end of Jabberwock Island!

Alarmed by the declaration, Hajime was about to step forward, shake the boy roughly enough to get a cohesive answer out of him when - on the edge of his eye, a bright light appeared.

A loud detonation followed the trembling air.

Hajime only reared back as if something hit him square on the temples.

An explosion of darkness engulfed him. Unable to see anything, a hand reached to his temple, and he could faintly feel the wetness to it.

A sensation of deja vu struck him. Lying in a pool of his own blood, miraculously surviving a killing blow.

A cacophony of sounds was the only thing to differ from that awful memory. He might have lost consciousness for a few moments, Opening his eyes, the screeching roar of the flames was drowned by maniac laughter.

"It's amazing! These amazing fireworks sure befit the beginning of the end! It's over! This is the end! The killings are done for good! Scapegoating the weak in the name of 'justice', while fearing when the others will stab you in the back... This game of self-righteous hypocrisy ends now! And to that... I will destroy Jabberwock Island!"

He couldn't move his eyes away from the Nagito, little did it matter that the background was immersed in fire or the smoke starting to form and clinging to the ceiling.

Almost like an unfolding tragedy; like a building collapsing right in front of your eyes - horrendous, yet fascinating - he was both mesmerized and sickened by the sight, his stomach reverberating with such polar emotions.

"That was kist a demonstration. That's why this is the beginning of the end. The actual bomb I'll use won't be nearly as weak."

Actual...?

"I've set up a large number of bombs in a certain area of the island. If those bombs explode... It'll be enough to destroy Jabberwock Island!"

Deafened to the commotion around him, Hajime had only attention on Nagito. Transfixes as the boy went on in his mad rant.

He could faintly acknowledge Monokuma making his appearance but was too stunned to pay the bear any mind, nor to what he had to say.

"In two days at noon from now on, this island is destined to sink into the sea!"

"Where... where did you hide them...?" Akane was standing to the side, looking worse for wear after the impact. Judging from all the cuts adorning her arms, he suppose she must have taken the brunt of it, while Nagito appeared to be completely untouched.

How lucky of him.

"Mmm... I can't tell you." The boy responded sufficiently. "It'd be easy to leave you on your own, but it just wouldn't be fair if I did that! So how about this? If the traitor comes forward and reveals their identity to me, I'll reveal the bombs' location."

What is going through your head, Nagito?

What do you hope to achieve with this?

Despite how thunderous his mind whirled, no words left his lips. 

"Ha wa-wa! What's the meaning of all of this?!" Monomi shrieked, suddenly popping out of nowhere. "N-Nagito... what are you planning to do?"

"Hey, c'mon now! Nagito was about to weed out the traitor, don't go interfering like that!" Monokuma protested, making sure to display his sharp claws to Monomi's misery.

"Do I really have to say it?"

Acknowledging that he wasn't obligated to answer anything, after a pregnant pause, Monomi continued.

"I-It's no use... The traitor shouldn't be able to reveal their identity on their own..."

"...Huh? What does that mean?"

"...Do I really have to say it?" Parroting the boy with a surprising edge of hostility.

"My, my... you guys are totally eyeing each other and letting sparks fly! I'm gettin' all hot and bothered..."

"Stop saying shit and detain him already!" Fuyuhiko raged at the bear who was looking quite pleased with himself. Despite his smaller frame, Fuyuhiko was oozing with killing intent. "He's breaking the rules, isn't he?! Then do something!"

"Breaking the rules...? How so?"

"If this bastard detonates a bomb powerful enough to kill more than two people then he's going against the rules, isn't he?!"

"I see... you do have a good memory, huh?" Monokuma scratched the top of his head sheepishly. "Well, if he ends up breaking that rule then I'll have to punish them severely."

"But that's only when someone breaks that rule, correct? You can't punish someone for breaking a rule before they've broken it, right?"

"Puhuhu... yep! Saying you're gonna break the rules isn't against the rules! So right now, there's no way I can punish this!" The bear laughed at their expanse, mocking the sliver of hope they held. Fuyuhiko was about to shove his foot on the plushie's face but reigned his temper before he could regret doing something stupid. "Punishment always happens afterward, not before! Those are the rules of society!"

"But you guys don't have to worry. As long as the traitor comes forward, there should be no problem, right?" A raspy chuckle resonated, sounding breathless in its timbre. Nagito's arms held a loose embrace on himself, as he mumbled under his breath. "It'll all be fine... I'm pretty sure everything will work out in the end..."

Hajime whose loose limbs were still barely standing his ground started to tremble with dread.

"After all the time we've spent together, I believe in you guys." Another chuckle. "And more than anything... I believe in my Ultimate Luck!"

Not sparing any other words, Nagito walked away. Passing Hajime who was still crouching by the door, not even deeming him with a gaze or any kind of acknowledgment.

Almost as if he wasn't there at all.

The madness emanating from Nagito's body had seeped into his bones. He was expecting something to go down, something bad, but - never had he expected things to go so thoroughly wrong.

For the first time since he arrived at the island, Hajime was-

afraid of Nagito.

"Puhuhu, Nagito is so reliabe! I don't even have to do anything 'cuz he's shaking things up!" Monokuma snickered at the whole scene.

The rest of the girls had reached the restaurant at some point, yelling hysterically about what had happened, what had caused such a wreck on the restaurant's first floor. He paid them no mind.

He headed out without a single glance back, not bothering to linger any longer. Not caring about what the others had to say about the unfolding events.

Nagito's earlier words during the week wouldn't stop hampering his thoughts.

I'll weed out the traitor, even if it costs me my life!

He gets it now. He understands to what lengths Nagito would go to accomplish his newfound goal.

Taking the entire island as his hostage to create a situation where the traitor would be forced to reveal themselves. It was genius, really. Befitting of the boy he had known during the past few weeks.

But what would Nagito do if the traitor didn't come forward?

What would happen if they couldn't, just like Monomi said?

Would he truly-

kill them all?

Would he truly let them die like that?

For the first time, Hajime didn't think the boy would give it a second thought before he ruined the island; before he ruined them altogether.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 24: The Turbulent Calm Before The Storm

Who could it possibly be?

A traitor hiding amongst them. From the very beginning that was an idea planted inside their head by Monokuma himself, an avenue used with the sole purpose of seeding discord within the group; to dwindle the small fragment of trust that the students held towards one another.

At first, Hajime had seen the prospect of a traitor as nothing but a scheme. In truth, he was still fairly confident of his assumptions were true. Monokuma himself had been clear on his intentions to undermine the group and make his absolute best to create situations where cooperation would be strenuous, if not nonviable at times. Hence the unsteady atmosphere that reigned supreme during the first few days; all attempting to keep up an appearance of a united front, only to have it shattered by Nagito's planning and Teruteru's execution.

The blame for the incident fell on Hajime's unfortunate shoulders. He mused it would be sensible if the other students suspected him of being the traitor given his supposed involvement with the first killing.

However, he was no traitor.

Moreso, he suspected the traitor's identity was yet to be discovered.

The most likely candidate would naturally be Byakuya Togami, whose presence on the island was suspicious in itself given his previous involvement with the Killing School Life. It would make some amount of sense if the survivor from the last killing game infiltrated their class with some unknown intent; following the Future Foundation's orders or merely pretending to be one of them.

Despite that, it was hard to believe that Monokuma would reveal such information so freely. Perhaps the bear had grown tired of the tirade and decided to put an end to it, throwing yet another wrench in their logic to put them exactly where they started.

Yet, Hajime couldn't believe such an easy conclusion was the correct one, especially taking into consideration the luck factor that was certainly playing a major role in the whole thing.

Nothing would come as easy as a file in hand telling them explicitly who the traitor was; no, it would take more than that. He recalled Nagito's words: if Byakuya was indeed the traitor, then would he have been the first victim? Could something as thematically ironic as that happen?

He wasn't sure.

He wondered if the traitor was even aware of their ideation.

Monomi had said: 'The traitor shouldn't be able to reveal their identity on their own', but could that be true? If so, then they were doomed in case Nagito truly decided to go forth with his plan.

However, the concept of a traitor being oblivious of their identity defeated the purpose of a traitor in the first place.

Thus, it was likely that said traitor was still roaming around, bypassing them as just another unassuming student.

Akane - Chiaki - Fuyuhiko - Gundham - Mahiru - Sonia

Which one of those could be the traitor?

...

It was useless for Hajime to dwell on possibilities, Ultimately, his guess would be wrong and there was nothing he could do. Until they had more information, the traitor's identity would remain a mystery; unfortunately, a mystery that their lives depended on solving.

He finds it hard that the traitor would reveal themselves - if they even could, that is.

The only two things he knew for certain were the impossibility of both himself and Nagito being the traitors. It wouldn't make any sense at all if that were to be the case, it would terminate the purpose of even thinking about the situation.

No, he was sure neither of them could be the traitor working under the Future Foundation.

Which begged the question What was the Future Foundation after?

Sonia had brought a fair point, was the institution their declared enemy? Obviously, they were the main reason behind their kidnapping, Monomi had basically confirmed it, nevertheless, Monokuma's suddenly showing up on the island didn't seem to be something predetermined to happen - or at least they made it look like it wasn't. He felt completely lost in regard to the organization. Monomi's existence in itself made him question the veracity of her supposed goodwill.

Ultimately, the Future Foundation had the potential to be either their foe or ally.

And until that revelation was made, the rest of the students had no means by which they could discern that unprompted. The lingering doubts were by far their greatest enemy at the moment.

That, and Nagito's plan, that is.

Ding Dong Bing Bong

"Gooood morning, everyone! Looks like today is gonna be another perfect, tropical day! Now then, let's show some enthusiasm and make sure to give it our all today!"

Click

The morning announcement came as an unpleasant reminder that he would need to get up some time soon.

Hajime had been resting ever since returning to his cottage after the disastrous events that transpired last night, and yet, he barely got any sleep. Thoughts running wild and his head throbbing with his untreated wound.

Overall, he felt no desire to leave the confines of his bed, too fatigued to bother attending the meeting as of now; body too exhausted to make a move. A metallic sound is ringing in his head and for some damn reason, the back of his head is emanating a peculiar, uncomfortable heat.

Despite all of that, Hajime would gain nothing from lagging in his room doing absolutely nothing - but what would he accomplish by leaving it, anyway?

He wasn't sure.

Against his best judgment, Hajime pulled himself out of the warm embrace of his sheets and trotted towards the bathroom to take a look at his wound. It definitely wasn't looking pretty, clogged blood clang to the skin above his brows, and his face wasn't the best of sights either, what with the dark lines painting the perimeter of his eyes.

After washing his face and the old blood away, Hajime noticed the small, red scar that the explosion's fragments left behind. Raw and still aching, a mark to cement the reminder of Nagito's descent into madness. Though, madness sounded like a bit of a stretch - sounded too simple to describe the boy he shared his affections with.

Regardless, it wasn't important, if he deemed fit, he could always cover it with a hat or something.

Reluctant to leave his room, Hajime dawdled sitting on his bed and trying to stabilize his head enough to start the day with a cohesive mindset - or as cohesive as he could muster. His growling stomach was motivation enough to get him out as soon as it made its presence noticed.

He staggered a bit when he reached the restaurant.

The entrance was totally trashed; broken glass was cast on the ground and dark spots marked where the fire had eaten at the structure. There was no fire anymore, Monokuma or Monomi had probably taken care of it as soon as they had a chance, but the destruction Nagito had caused was evident by taking a single glance at the scene.

As he stepped inside, he took notice of the tarnished furniture that used to reside in the interior region of the restaurant's lower section. Charred chairs and plant pots were askew on the floor, listlessly displaying the tumultuous events of the previous night.

What didn't escape his attention was the perfectly intact camera hanging from the ceiling, staring right back at him; mocking him with an elusive sense of knowledge privy only to its lenses.

How lucky it was that Nagito avoided destroying the camera. If he had recklessly demolished it, then Monokuma certainly would have more to say about his detrimental antics. He had no doubt that the boy was thoroughly trusting his luck to put up his performance into play.

As he was about to walk up the steps, the remaining students came rounding back to the lobby, all with stressed looks and a disconcerting laugh following their hurried steps from above - a rattling sound that Hajime had started to associate with the boy who wouldn't leave his mind.

"What's going on? Where the hell are you hurrying off to?"

"That bastard Nagito is playing with us, that's what's going on!" Fuyuhiko the closest to him yelled, making sure to let the party above know what he thought of the whole ordeal.

"Why did ya stop me, Mahiru?! I would totally break him in pieces until he told where he hid those bombs!" Akane shouted, marching past Hajime with animosity brimming from her frame. The photographer in question was rounding on the gymnast trying to calm her down by patting her on the arm warily as if expecting Akane to lash out at any moment.

"Akane, violence would have accomplished nothing in such a scenario." Sonia chastised, though not looking much better in the face of the gymnast's fury.

"What did he do now?" Hajime asked Chiaki who lagged behind and stopped beside him.

"He told us the bombs are somewhere we haven't gone to yet." Chiaki pulled her hoodie over her head. "But... I'm not really sure if he's telling the truth."

"Why would he tell you that? Isn't he trying to weed out the traitor?"

"He said the traitor may come forward if they see us struggle to find the bomb. I not gonna be very effective... I think."

Most of the students had gone out near the pool area, and Hajime felt compelled to follow them, wanting to know more about this new development.

"-More importantly, let us head to the ancient ruins." He heard Sonia mid-sentence. "Since Nagito informed us the bombs are located somewhere we have never visited before, then the only place it comes to mind is the interior of the ruins."

"No... there was some other place, too;" The yakuza commented, hand lifting to meet his chin. "What was it again... That castle in the amusement park... I forgot its name but we haven't gone there either."

"Oh, I do remember it...! It's Nezumi castle or something. It was locked the first time we got to the fourth island for some reason." Mahiru pointed out.

"Then we should check the castle first. We still don't have a clue about the password to enter the ruins, and I think it's pretty dangerous for us to just try to guess it." Chiaki stood on the sidelines, similar to Hajime who wasn't wishing to get caught in the middle of his classmates' discussion.

"That's right. It would be downright suicidal if we tried to put any random shit on that." Fuyuhiko sighed, not looking too pleased with their lack of clues. 

"The same goes for Nagito, too. Without the password, he wouldn't be able to enter the ruins either, so the bombs are probably not there... I think."

Hajime didn't comment about the very real possibility that the boy could have discovered this password with pure luck. Maybe he had risked choosing a random password and managed to get it right. Hajime certainly wouldn't put such a feat past the boy's capabilities.

"Then let's get going, it's best if we go as fast as we can, right?"

"Hell yeah! I'll get there in no time!" Akane responded to Mahiru and sprinted away towards their destination, not looking back for a second to see if the others were following at all.

Hajime made a conscious effort to stay at the very back, something felt off about the whole situation. He knew well before they arrived that there would be no bombs for them to find; neither any clue of their supposed location. He knew Nagito wouldn't simply give them a hint like that, not after last night; not after the ruckus and the grandiose announcement of the beginning of the end.

No, Nagito wouldn't play a stunt like that only to give them the answer right away.

He had no idea what the boy was planning, but it could only mean bad news for the rest of them.

And his suspicions were confirmed when they arrived at Nezumi castle only to be faced with the castle's entrance all destroyed.

Concrete blocks were carelessly resting on the ground, having been spurged from the wall they use to inhabit. Darkness ebbed from the inside of the building, racking his nerves even further with the prospect of entering the castle.

"It wasn't like that before...!" All the students were staring back at the hole with worry, much like the photographer. Hajime was not fond of the idea of entering the place, whatever lay behind could not be worth the trouble. He had a dim sensation that they were walking in on a trap, yet he couldn't bring himself to alert the others of the possible peril.

"So this is the place, huh? He could only enter if he exploded the wall, no fuckin' question about it." Fuyuhiko, oblivious to his worries, wasted no time in getting inside, not caring if this whole thing was a ploy or not.

"T-Then the bombs are inside here...!" Akane followed suit, uncaring for Chiaki telling them to be careful.

Forcing a dry swallow, Hajime made to move. He was already here, if this truly was a ploy then they had already fallen for it, no use not facing it head-on.

Contrary to its exterior, the ambivalence contained in the castle's interior was shocking. Shadows lingered on every corner, chased away by a dim light that shone from above. Taking a closer look, its ambiance resembled a gothic church, what with the nonsensical amount of pillars and the ceiling peering over them.

"Is it just me, or does it seem there are no bombs to be found here...?" The princess commented, her voice echoing around the room with eerie resonance.

"It's not just you, there are no bombs here." He concluded, after a mere glance at the castle's premise. It didn't come as much of a shock to him who didn't nourish any hope for this goose chase. The same couldn't be said to the others whose dejection was evident in their faces.

"If the bombs are strong enough to blow up the entire island, they should be pretty big..." Chiaki pondered, more to herself than to the others. "But I don't see anything. I don't see where they could be hidden, either."

"So the bombs ain't here...?!" It downed on Akane the exercise in futility it was to trust Nagito's words.

Taking a step further inside, Hajime noticed an inscription on the floor. The font was a dire contrast to the castle's aesthetic, seemingly put there intentionally.

"And what is this...?"

To all subjects:

The password to guide everyone to the future is

---------

Where he supposed there should be a password was all scratched making it impossible to read anything, though it wasn't uniform nor simply erased. No, it seemed as if someone had done that quite voluntarily, making sure no one else would be able to discover such a password.

"This password... it could only be..."

"Do not tell me this is where the secret to the Ruins of Doom was hidden?"

"'-guide everyone to the future' could that be referring to the Japanese word that's written on the door?" Sonia's theory was exactly his own. And the fact that someone - most likely Nagito - had been able to discover this secret all by themselves would pose a major problem to them. 

"But... if we can't read the password, then there's nothin' we can do." Akane concluded.

"It is a rather tragic moment..."

Chiaki who stood closer to him was eyeing the inscription with a quizzical look.

"I wonder who erased this..."

"It was Nagito."

His tone left no room for discussion, though many of them sent him knowing looks, already suspecting the same. After all, the only reason they were here in the first place was that the boy had goaded them to. Now, with the recognition that the boy held a key piece of knowledge over them, it would only corroborate for them to fall deeper into his schemes.

"But, wait... if Nagito was the one who erased the password..." Worry crossed over the photographer's countenance. "Does that mean he hid the bombs inside the ancient ruin...?"

His thoughts stuttered for a second.

Realization dawned on the others as horror painted their frames. Knowing the password, Nagito could have easily planted all the bombs within the security of the ancient ruins and incited them to discover that by themselves. Cementing just how severe they were wrapped around his fingers.

"Damnit! That actually makes a lot of sense!" Fuyuhiko spat, expression growing murderous.

"And he gave us a hint to what...? Shove reality on our faces...?!" The photographer griped. "How cruel can he be?!"

"The Fortune One does show some lofty levels of malice... Not even I would make my foes flounder for their lives." Gundham's tense shoulders spoke volumes about how much the boy was truly feeling about the situation. The nerves must be getting even to the Dark Lord of Darkness or whatever.

"In the end-" Hajime hissed a sigh. "-it all comes down to the traitor revealing themselves. Nagito won't accept anything less. That's why he lured us here, so we could confront that fact. I'm sure of it"

Dread seeped into their bodies with the confirmation that there was nothing any of them could do.

"Hey, whoever's the traitor just hurry up and fess already! We're all gonna die if ya don't!"

"Akane...! We cannot entertain the thought of a traitor among us!" It would seem the princess would insist on disbelieving the existence of said traitor until the very end.

"Let's stop... Fighting among ourselves won't help in anything." Chiaki was looking as dejected as everyone felt; glancing down at the floor with a crease in her brows. "More importantly... let's work hard to find the password to that ancient ruin." A more determined glint passed through her gaze. "As long as we cooperate and explore all over the island, we might be able to find it, you know?"

"Do you really believe that?"

Not really managing to keep his thoughts to himself, Hajime couldn't help but share his piece of mind.

"This is the only place where we could find the password. There won't be anywhere else, I have no doubt about that."

"Pray to tell, how would you be so certain?" Gundham's question made nothing to deter his sour mood.

"You guys should not be underestimating Nagito's luck. If he doesn't want us to discover the password, then we won't. There's nothing to be done about it... as frustrating as it is."

Fury invaded his bloodstream as he turned around and walked away, not able to be in anyone's company for the moment.

"If you guys want to look around for a non-existent password you can be my guest. But I'm not wasting my time on a wild-goose chase."

Hajime trotted as quickly as he could. Not bothering to testify the bitter air he had left behind with the others, not bothering to maintain any semblance of receptivity to the hopeless hope they were welcoming with open arms.

"Ah, so you finally showed up."

Having skipped breakfast earlier in the morning, Hajime decided against returning to his cottage right away, not when his stomach's protests could be heard from miles away. Hajime was hungry as hell and the frustration from the whole Nezumi Castle affair only corroborated his appetite. Little did he know that by going back to the restaurant he would be faced with the person he wanted to see the least at the moment.

Talk about bad luck.

"Ah, so you're here." Emulating the same tone and derisive resonance, Hajime prodded for a similar reaction from the boy. To no avail, Nagito maintained his caustic, indifferent composure. 

They remained still for moments that lingered for longer than minutes in his headspace, staring at each other as if trying to look underneath the other's skin; to see what was lurking underneath the veneer of human flesh.

Hajime couldn't tell what he was seeing. The boy in front of him was the same who he shared a kiss amidst a despairing situation; the same whose life he saw seeping away from his feverish body in a silent, silent night; the same whose cold, freezing hands enveloped his own and declared how powerful the hope residing within him was.

They were the same and at the same time-

something had changed.

And it seemed Hajime would not be privy to what exactly happened.

He could also not be privy to what Nagito sees when looking at him. Perhaps his perspective had twisted somewhere along the road, most certainly, his opinion regarding Hajime had drastically warped into some degrading, bothersome existence.

Despite knowing that, he wished to get a glimpse of what went through his head when those grayish green landed on him. As harmful as he knew it would be.

"So, have you finally decided to confess?"

As fast as it came, the trance was gone. Shattered by too familiar harshness and scorn.

"Confess to what?"

A look of confusion crossed the luckster's features before giving way to a sardonic smile. Hajime knew exactly what he was about to hear before the words even left the boy's mouth.

"Oh, I see. They didn't tell, huh? Well, I guess they didn't think it was necessary to inform the likes of you, not when there's no chance for you to be the traitor, right? The Future Foundation would never trust their plans to someone like you."

Predicting the cruel words made nothing to diminish their effect. A wave of boiling anger erupted within him, mixing with the frustration of being completely helpless with all the shit show going on around him.

"What do you even want?" Hajime gritted out, arms leveling at Nagito's frame, indignation smeared across his face. "You're going to explode the island, and then what? You're doing this just for the laughs and giggles or maybe you're just lying about all of this, is that it? Because, even if the traitor do reveal themselves, what are you even going to about it?"

Nagito did not respond, for once his stance went off-kilter.

"The hell are you planning, Nagito? What has gotten to you that would warrant taking the whole island hostage? Or do you enjoy watching us flounder around like a bunch of headless chicken?"

"Would you want the answers to all those questions in the first place?" The boy said, interrupting his rambling.

His expression was unchangeable, a marble statue displaying all the grace of his sickly ivory complexion. Hajime wasn't sure which was worst: the cruel contempt or hollow apathy.

When it came down to Nagito, Hajime wasn't sure about a lot of things.

"Because if you don't, then don't waste my time asking these pointless questions." Nagito stepped forward, for a second he thought the boy was walking in his direction, but shortly realized he was walking towards the stairs, not gracing him with another glance as he stepped past him. "Well, I guess this was overall a waste of time. If the traitor hasn't shown up yet, I doubt they'll be coming after me."

The last part was spoken more to himself than to Hajime. As if pondering out loud, uncaring to the other's presence.

He was tempted to lash out; to grab the boy by the shoulders and shake him hard enough for him to regain what he had lost between those hours in the Funhouse; shake him until he could understand the meaning behind all of this.

He didn't.

It wouldn't get him anything, anyway. Only more pointed comments and maybe alight some heated anger out of the boy, which was looking better than the biting apathy by the second.

Nagito left, leaving Hajime all alone by the restaurant.

He could hear his own breathing with how still everything had gone. Almost as if the ambiance was completely unperturbed by his existence, much like Nagito walking past him; blase in regards to such a pitiful being.

Against his will, tears escaped his grasp, silently running down his cheeks and clinging to his chin.

It wasn't just Nagito who caused them to fall, not exclusively. Hajime was afraid; afraid of tomorrow, afraid of what would happen-

afraid of Nagito.

And he was completely helpless and hopeless to it all.

His luck truly was an abhorrent instrument. Playing him like a fiddle, making him struggle, giving up something nice only to have it crushed right in front of his eyes. A cruel, malignant, spiteful concept born from his own misfortune - but now, he started to suspect that those calamities weren't unique to him, not after all the deaths; the trials; the executions. No, it would seem Hajime's presence on the island as a whole was provoking disaster by simply being.

Was it all his bad luck?

He wished it wasn't, but the intrusive thoughts wouldn't cease their harassment of his mind, not letting him room to breathe nor to think straight.

How childish, he admonished himself. Crying because of a first kiss that held too much expectation from the other party, clinging to an erroneous concept of reciprocity.

He was a fool, that's what he was.

Yet, acknowledging that fact made nothing to lessen the putrid humiliation festering in his insides.

Regardless, Hajime came to the restaurant to have a decent meal and that's what he would have. Little did it matter if his appetite was long gone, if he had to force himself to eat then he sure as hell would.

He would pick shred by shred of his dignity if it meant that it would restore it even a little.

Taking his plate, Hajime downed spoonful by spoonful of the soup reminiscent of one pot still on the stove. Somehow, it tasted more like bile than anything, yet, Hajime forced it down his throat.

Spoonful by bitter spoonful.

It has been a long time since he last thought about his mother.

They weren't close in any stretch of the word. Never would, to be honest.

But he recalled when he was really young that she would do her best to answer all of his questions. All children have that phase in which incessant questions and doubts clog their infant's head.

Why is the sky blue?

Where do the babies come from?

Why do people die?

Awkward questions that would surely take more than a couple of seconds for any comprehensive parent to answer without breaching any distasteful subjects with their children.

His mother was never one for cautiousness, something Hajime was glad for. She had no such qualms in spelling the beans about those awkward matters, much to his father's utter mortification.

One of his most clear memories of that time, however, was when he asked about the calm before the storm.

That had been long ago, too long for him to remember it so vividly.

He had read and heard about the term sometimes and grew puzzled by its semantics. After all, there was no calm in a storm, quite the opposite, actually. Yet, it was a pretty common thing to say, and it rubbed him the wrong way how people were saying such controversial remarks.

His mom had chuckled at his exasperation and told him:

"You see, Haji, when a storm is coming, normally, right before it hits, there's no sign of it coming. That's why people the 'the calm before the storm'. It means that something bad is about to happen but you can't see it coming, or something like that."

For some reason that had stuck with him.

He kept on recalling those words every time his luck felt like making a move on his life.

He discovered that the saying was quite credible, for luck always waited the most unassuming of times to make its move; always patiently waiting for the best moment to strike; to cause the most damage.

Like his mother had said, there were no warnings before the storm raged with all its power; no sign whatsoever.

This is why Hajime became wary of the calm. If the storm was already raging, then at least he wouldn't be surprised by it.

Which is when Hajime stepped foot inside the restaurant the next morning, he knew something disastrous was about to happen. The air felt stale with the sound of silence, though it wasn't a complete calm either, from above the stairs he could hear that other people were roaming around.

No sooner had he taken the first step on the stairs, than a loud crashing sound resonated throughout the entire premise, shaking the floor above as if something - or someone - had just hit the ground with force.

Honed instincts from years of being the target of one such luck, Hajime jumped up the stairs at record speed to see what was going on.

The worst-case scenario unfolded in front of him.

"Playtime's over... Now... where did you hide the bombs?!"

Akane was thrown to the ground on top of Nagito, hands closing in on the boy's fragile neck, eyes wild with rage as she shouted her piercing demand.

"...T-That hurts... But I'll never tell..." The gymnast's grip grew stronger, almost blocking the luckster's pathways. "...T-Try... torture i-instead..."

"Torture...?!"

"S-Stab my fingers with that f-fork over there... or m-maybe scoop my eyes with that spoon-"

Nagito's words did nothing to lessen the girl's fury, only serving for her to tighten her hold on his neck, this time, completely blocking air from entering his lungs; the boy was turning a worrisome shade of red as he struggled to breathe.

"That's fine with me... just die already...!"

Broken from his trance, Hajime didn't think twice before throwing himself at Akane with all he had. Of course, he was no match to her heavier and powerful frame, but desperation was a good enough fuel as any to shove her off the boy successfully. At last, Nagito took deep lungfuls of air as color returned to his pale lips.

"W-What the hell you think you're doing?!"

His voice was alien to himself, filled with indignant rage and utter shock from the situation. His eyes were wildly wide and he could only imagine the frenzied look on his face. His vision had sure bled red from his self-righteous fury.

"Akane...!"

"Shit...!"

Acknowledging the gasps and someone cursing under their breath, Hajime noticed at once that they weren't alone in the restaurant. Au contrare, all the other students were present and witnessed the unfolding scene, not lifting a finger to stop what was happening.

"And what were the rest of you waiting for?! For her to kill him?!"

No one answered; Akane herself was getting out of her stupor as if only now realizing what she had been about to do.

Hajime was beyond himself with anger. How could they let something like that happen? What if Hajime had been a couple of seconds late? What if Akane had gotten to him earlier?

Dread seeped into him by just imagining it.

Nagito truly was lucky, wasn't he?

From the corner of his vision, he could see the boy slowly getting up from the ground.

"Thank you, Akane... I got to see my dead dog again. I haven't seen him in ages." The mentioning of the dog - Sunny - earned a flinch from Hajime.

"The hell were you even thinking to piss her off like that?" Fuyuhiko - despite also being astonished by Akane nearly killing Nagito - was not forgotten about the anger towards the boy.

"Um... I didn't mean to do it, though..." Amicable as he could ever muster to be, Nagito turned to the side to address Hajime this time. "Anyway, thanks for saving me. I own you one."

Empty words, he almost calls him on it.

"If you truly mean that, please tell us the password to enter the ancient ruin." Sonia requested, not wasting a second to get to business.

He was expecting the boy to gain his prominent disdainful gaze by having the princess demand such a thing; instead, Nagito merely looked confused about her request.

"The password? To that ancient ruin? What are you going to do with that?" Neither confirming nor denying his knowledge about the damn password.

"This jester is utterly unnecessary, we already know you are in possession of the key to that wrecked place." It would seem playing dumb would earn Nagito no favors judging by Gundham's intimidating tone. "That is where you hid those bombs, correct?"

"Yep, I did..." As easy as ever, Nagito admitted. No trace of flummox to be found in him. "...until yesterday."

A chuckle echoed around the suddenly gone-quiet room.

"What-What do you mean yesterday?" Mahiru spoke, at last.

"How can I put it...? There wasn't anything interesting in those ruins... just some familiar scenery." That hateful smile continued on full display. "I got bored of it. Also, if I hid them in there... it would be completely meaningless, right?"

It would seem Akane wasn't the only one Nagito's mockery was getting to.

"So even if you had managed the learn the password to the ancient ruin, it has no meaning anymore." Having the gall to sigh dejectedly at them, Nagito crossed his arms. "Now that I've moved the bombs somewhere else."

How could you have possibly done that?

Hajime wanted to question the credibility of what he was saying, but retained himself; for all he knew, Nagito could have very much relied on his luck to accomplish this feat - after all, he was sure the boy would exploit his talent as much as it was needed.

"But that's where you hid them, right?"

Nagito stared intently at Chiaki without saying a word.

"Anyway, I guess it was right for me to move them. They were about to be found out before the traitor confessed." A hand moved to rest on his forehead. "Well, it's not like it really matters... In fact, that might be better."

No sooner the hand moved than that wretched smile came back.

"...To make hope shine even brighter!"

The others were having none of it. Hajime himself stepped away from the boy once he saw Akane wasn't a threat anymore; not wanting to share any proximity with the boy, the boy who taunted them with the unbelievable tale of hidden bombs powerful enough to destroy an entire island.

"Stop talking crazy and just tell us where the fucking bombs are hidden!" The yakuza stepped in front of the luckster and grabbed for his collar, making the difference in height nonexistence with how overwhelming his presence was. He supposed if Hajime was in the boy's shoes he would certainly cave in from fear. Though fear seemed like an outlandish concept to Nagito's ill mind.

"Looks like you're in a hurry... well, it's understandable. After all, time runs out today." The boy said, looking down condescendingly at the yakuza, not fazed at all by the underline threat underneath his demand. "But sure, I'll give you something to work with. The place I hid the bombs this time is... a place all of you visited at least once."

Hajime knew at once that this other 'hint' was complete bullshit.

There was no possibility in his mind that Nagito would just reveal that to them. No, something else was in play here, he didn't know what, but he was certain Nagito was on to something.

Ultimately, he didn't care.

Regardless of what he had in mind, Hajime was tired of this back and forth; tired of being played, and exhausted of Nagito as a whole.

So he kept quiet, listened with half-attention to the conversation as he willed his mind to drift elsewhere. Not wishing to be caught with the boy in his head, Hajime absents himself from whatever was schemed.

He was just so tired.

Let Nagito do whatever he wanted to.

What petty struggle Hajime could put up would accomplish nothing, anyway. Nagito had his luck, and as long as he had that-

Hajime was helpless to stop him.

"-And not only that... I believe in you all. I believe in the time we spent together." Hugging himself with a deranged hazy gaze, Nagito made for an eerie sight. "And more than anything... I believe in my Ultimate Luck!"

Grating on everyone's nerves the boy follows to leave the restaurant, not before delivering one last sentence.

"So it's going to be fine... as long as you believe in hope with all your heart, the path should open..."

Nagito walked away.

"Damn him! The hell does that bastard think he's doing?!" Fuyuhiko stomped on the floor hardly; Hajime suspected it was a less harmful way to relieve his nerves.

"We don't have time to waste arguing among ourselves... we should probably go, now... I think."

"We should hurry and search for the bombs! We should still have time to stop them!" Sonia stated, looking as determined as ever to put a stop to Nagito's tinkering.

"But where should we even look for? I mean, everyone has basically seen pretty much what there's to be seen on this island. A place where everyone has gone at least once could be anywhere!"

Hajime didn't share the photographer's distress. Not when he was sure that Nagito's plan was something else entirely. He had no idea what it was, just that it was bad enough to warrant the boy to go through such extremes.

"We should split up and cover as much ground as we can. That's the best chance we have to find the bombs." Chiaki suggested, for once sounding certain of her observations. There are seven of us, we can split and everyone can search in one of the islands."

"Fine. It's not like we have any other options." The yakuza seemed antsy to get this over with, not able to wait until this whole affair was over.

"Then... leave this island to me. I already have the layout of this island in my head." A new flame of determination also alighted within Akane, her tone more serious than normal and her stance controlled, a complete contrast to minutes ago.

"Leave Sonia and me with the second island. It's the largest one so it's better if more than one person searches there." Mahiru offered; Sonia had no rebuttal.

"Then let Chiaki search the central island, Hajime you search the third island with the hospital... If Gundham goes to the amusement park, then I'll look in the final one." Fuyuhiko delegated the duties quickly, not bothering to let the rest choose which island they were searching on, so as to not waste any more precious time. Nonetheless, it irked him that he was left with the island he hated the worst.

"Ley's hurry and find these bombs... then we can take care of Nagito once and for all." Chiaki puffed her cheeks in frustration.

Hajime himself wasn't caring too much about this whole search. But he would welcome the chance to stray away from the group, especially after they acted so nonchalant about what had just happened.

The students not waiting for another cue readily stormed out of the restaurant.

Hajime maintained a sedated pace, not bothering to exert himself to the length of getting uncomfortably sweaty in this wheater. The chances of him actually finding the supposed bombs were slimmer to nonexistent - although his luck could prove itself to be the hassle that it was and it would turn out that the said bombs to be planted right under his nose, only for him to disregard the possibility.

Ha, that would truly be unlucky.

More so, if Nagito was counting on his luck to have Hajime oversee them.

How tragically ironic it would be. Stiffing a morbid laugh under his arm, Hajime continued his way towards the hospital - the only location he would bother to search.

Despite reminiscent of a time when he was rendered completely incapable by deliriousness, the hospital was by far the most interesting facility. And Hajime found himself intrigued if Nagito would be hiding something in the place.

His expectations weren't high and soon enough he was proven to be right.

Nothing to be found.

Checking the on-call room had been fruitless and Hajime wasn't too fond of the idea of spending a single more second on the wicked place.

It came as a surprise when Fuyuhiko came rushing in his direction, not one minute after he had left through the hospital's entrance.

"I-I found them...!" He said out of breath, coming to stop a few steps away.

"You did...?"

"Yeah, it's near that stupid factory where the life-sized Monokuma plushies are made..." Catching his breath, Fuyuhiko propelled him forward so they could go on their way while talking. "I warned Gundham and he went to get Mahiru and Sonia, I'll go fetch Chiaki and Akane by the first island!"

Not waiting for Hajime to accompany him, Fuyuhiko ran back as quickly as he came.

So he did find the bombs, huh?

Hajime did not like the sound of that. Regardless, he directed himself to the final island; after all, he had yet to enter the Monokuma factory.

No sooner had he stepped foot at the factory's entrance than a disquieting sense of foreboding coiled from within him.

His hand was touching the door's handle when he stagged and tried to make sense of what he was feeling. He came out empty-handed, he couldn't put a finger as to what caused him to warrant such a reaction.

Hesitant to enter the factory, Hajime stepped back and whirled around trying to ease off the looming atmosphere that has suddenly overwhelmed him.

His gaze lay on an inconspicuous door that led to some sort of warehouse. Given Hajime hadn't come close to the factory when the new island was within exploring bounds, he hadn't known about its existence.

Walking towards the door, the suffocating feeling only increased in intensity.

Grabbing for the handle, Hajime tried to open it as lightly as he could, as he was about to open it wider-

it didn't budge.

He tried again with a little more force but it still wasn't moving; only a small window could be ajar, it felt like something was blocking the door from opening completely.

Suddenly brought out of his thoughts, Hajime realized he could hear something from inside the warehouse. Some kind of music was playing, pretty loud even, but he gathered that the warehouse was pretty dark, he couldn't see someone just hanging around by here.

He was about to force the door open when a hoard of people came rushing towards the factory.

"Hajime, what're you doing?! I said the bombs are in the factory...!" This time Fuyuhiko was accompanied by all the other students, except for Sonia who was oddly absent from the party. "Uh, whatever we don't have much time!"

While the others entered the factory with no hesitation dwindling their steps, Hajime reluctantly walked away from the warehouse after wasting some seconds dwelling on it; dread oozed from his body with each uncertain footstep he took towards the factory.

The murky feeling was choking the air out of him, drowning his other senses into a queasy stasis.

He entered the factory. Wishing to distance himself from whatever malevolent episode was going on with the warehouse.

(Deep inside, he had an inkling as to what it was)

A roaring engine of a truck was the first thing he noticed upon entering the factory, the students were discussing what to do in regard to the very frightening sight of the said truck loaded with small, but numerous devices that could only be the so-called bombs.

"We can't try to disarm it! If we mess something up it's going to blow right on our faces!" Mahiru hissed at the gymnast who was about to do just that.

"But then what are we supposed to do?! We don't have Kazuichi anymore, but if we leave it alone until it explodes..."

Hajime tuned out their discussion, his attention prioritizing the suspicious laptop propped on the running machine, now turned off. He flipped its screen open and at the same moment, some kind of program started running.

And almost immediately, a video started playing.

"Why hello there everyone. Great work..." Silence resonated around him. "So you did find the bombs, huh? Believing in you was completely worth it."

At first impression, it seemed like a video call but upon further inspection, he realized it was a video message instead.

"A video message...?! If he's got somethin' to say, he can say it to our faces!" Uncaring for Akane's complaints, Hajime kept on listening.

"To tell you guys the truth, it's not hard to stop the bombs from exploding. As you probably noticed, there's a card reader on top of the metal box, you only need to scan an e-handbook in order to disarm the bombs." At this, both the breeder and the gymnast were eager to do just that. "However, if you want to disarm the bombs... you'll have to use the traitor's e-handbook."

Of course it is.

"To be honest... I have already discovered the traitor's identity-" Everyone grew silent once more. "-but I got a little annoyed that they never came forward. So if things stay this way... it'll look like I lost, right? So why not have it like this: the traitor is the only one who holds the power to save everyone, all of our lives are in their hand. Whether or not you save them is up to you."

Nagito on the screen chuckled as if he had no business with all of this.

"I'm really excited to see how things will turn out."

And with that... the video ended.

From the edge of his consciousness, he could discern the others saying something, probably going around the new piece of information Nagito had fed them. Hajime, however, was entranced by the laptop's screen that had gone dark again.

It felt off.

Everything about this felt off.

A familiar foreboding of tremendous bad luck gnawed at his head with unrelenting abandon. Hajime was staring down at the abyss of misfortune that would soon engulf him completely, and he was impotent to stop it.

Chiaki came forward and scanned her e-handbook.

For a second nothing happened, then-

"Looks like... it was wrong. Who's next?"

"What is the meaning of this...?!" Gundham questioned scandalized. "What if the bombs were to explode in the face of a failed attempt?"

"...But they didn't."

The boy spluttered at that.

Their bickering didn't last much longer as suddenly, the roaring truck's engine ceased its work. All eyes were on the bombs that suddenly were making noise of their own.

"What is...?"

"Run! We need to run, now!" Mahiru shouted. No one was keen on questioning the command. Backs turned to the bombs and they were nearing the exit when the doors bolted open to reveal Sonia, of all people.

"It is alright! It is not a bomb!"

A dazzlingly light began to overflow the inside of the factory. Fireworks flared all around, bursting from the 'bombs' into the high ceiling.

Dumbfounded as they were, it escaped their notice as the laptop's screen lit up again. Nagito's smug face stared right back at them in patronizing contentment.

"So...? Were you surprised?"

No, he was tempted to answer. Not when he suspected the veracity of those bombs from the beginning. But he would be lying if the last minutes didn't get under his skin with the possibility of his assumptions being incorrect.

"Seriously... think about it. Do you really think there are enough bombs to destroy an entire island? Even if there were... a guy like me would never be able to use it." Indignation brimmed out of all the students, anger coiling inside them by the mockery they were stricken with. "So how did it go? Did the traitor come forward? If I had to guess... I'd say they didn't, right? It'd make me very happy if you guys could tell me."

Hajime only eyes to the screen.

"I'm at the warehouse next door-"

At once, Hajime whirled around and marched without a glance back toward the warehouse, not bothering to hear the end of the message. In no time he was back to facing the warehouse's door. A hand came banging right at it.

"Open up, Nagito! I know you're there!" Despite his protests, he couldn't hear anyone approaching the door, only the loud music being played. "Open this up already!"

Forcing his way through the door, it finally budged, Hajime almost fell flat on his face with the resistance suddenly gone. As he gathered, the warehouse was totally pitch-black, he could barely make out anything. The loud music drowned anything else that could have been heard.

Then, out of nowhere-

the warehouse caught on fire.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 25: House Of Cards

Hajime couldn't say he had much experience with fire, and the very few instances he had had contact with it weren't particularly pleasant either.

He had once made the abysmal decision of trying to cook by himself, only to almost put the entire house on fire and let himself be charred by its flames in the process - that little act of misfortune had earned him a small scar on the tip of pinky. Thankfully, as time went by it had left only a mild discoloration at the very tip, go figure.

He was used to things malfunctioning, accidents, and even detrimental situations to himself.

But despite always alluding to the very real possibility of putting something on fire with his luck, Hajime had yet to accomplish this feat.

Until now it would seem.

Fire engulfed all the warehouse's expanse, not leaving a single speck of dust unscattered by the flames. Hot gushes of air escaped through the crack the door offered, almost burning Hajime's face off with the steam.

Taking an unconscious step back, his eyes were transfixed by the yellow, orange, red waves dancing inside the previously dark room. Alighting and warm and burning.

He didn't know what to do.

Or think.

Voices echoed on the edge of his hearing but he was entirely oblivious to it, he had eyes only for the warehouse.

Nagito had been there, his mind supplied. But was he, really? Nagito wouldn't get the warehouse to burn with him still inside it, not if his luck had any say in it. A trap then? Was he looking to get someone or Hajime himself to get caught in this fire? But if that was the case, why had he failed? Certainly, if that was his objective, he would be able to accomplish it with his luck, right?

Hajime didn't know what he was staring at.

He couldn't see beyond the wall of flames blocking the true purpose of this.

"What is the meaning of this..." He muttered to no one in particular, taking one other step away from the scalding heat and choking smoke.

"Hajime...!" Taking his attention off the calamity unfolding right in front of him, Sonia placed some kind of red bottle into his hands with frantic eyes. "We must put out this fire this instant! Take care not to inhale the smoke, we should throw the grenades from the door at the same time."

With shaky fingers, Hajime held the red compartment with a fierce grip, knuckles going white with the force. Time took a sedate pace as all the students readied themselves to throw the fire grenades; someone started to count down to zero - Hajime couldn't discern who. When he saw the others throw their grenades at the fire, he did the same.

An incessant ring obscured his hearing; the sensation painful enough to drown out the tumult going on around him.

"Hey... is it just me, or does it feel like the fire's not goin' out at all?" 

"Does it not seem like the fire is intensifying?! If the fire continues to rise, it will enflame the ceiling!"

"This fire assimilates to my Infinity Unlimited Flame! If its power source is as potent as my own, then we shall not be able to put it out!"

"Sh-Shit, this is bad... we've already used all the fire grenades...!"

"What are we gonna do?! All we can do now is pray for rain!"

No sooner had Akane said her ludicrous remark than water started to pour down at the fire from the ceiling. All students - Hajime included - stared disbelievingly as the sprinklers did their work, albeit a little late.

"Oh... the sprinklers... They must have detected the smoke and turned on..." Chiaki commented idly as water continued to pour out of the sprinklers, extinguishing the fire bit by bit until there was only hazardous smoke trailing in waves out of the warehouse's door.

Just as they thought things couldn't get worse, Monokuma showed up with an enraged expression.

"What the heck! Man, my merch is all drenched! It got splattered with water and now is soaked! Fury gave in to weird depravity. "I-It's so w-wet...! Uhh, it makes my fur go all ruffled...!"

"Go bother Monomi, just stay out of way, we need to go in there!" Hajime was having none of the bear's bullshit, he needed to get inside the warehouse as fast as possible.

"Huh? Ah! Time out! Time out! You can't! Nuh-uh! No way!"

"What?!"

"Smoke and hazardous gas are still spread throughout the warehouse, so it's gotta ventilate for a while." The bear reasoned with a smug air, daring Hajime to contradict him.

"H-He's right... no way we can get in there now..." Taking a breather, Mahiru and most of the others distanced themselves from the warehouse. Hajime kept close, counting down the seconds for him to enter the eerie place and discover what the hell was wrong with it. Because something was most definitely wrong with that place.

Skin itching, Hajime stared as seconds bled into minutes.

"All right, I'm sure it finished ventilating by now." Monokuma placed his paws on his belly with a self-satisfied look. "Also, I'm finally starting to feel better! Just because my merch was ruined doesn't mean I should be depressed about it forever! Whenever I feel depressed I always ask myself this: Why are your eyes on the front? So we can move forward! Don't be sad about what has already happened, be positive!..."

Monokuma having finished his speech about toxic positivity, Hajime didn't waste another moment diving into the warehouse.

A charred odor permeated the place, leaving the air saturated with burnt, his throat almost choked by the mere idea of inhaling. Anxiety, confusion, and fear mixed unpleasantly in his gut. Anticipation, his mind supplied. The feeling wasn't too dissonant to when he was locked inside Nagito's patient room, waiting for something to happen behind the other side of the door blocking them from a strange party.

He hated it.

Hated the way his hands were shaking uncontrollably without any reason - though there was a reason, he only didn't know it yet.

But the moment was coming; he could feel it.

And he was dreading every second of the wait.

"Hey everyone... did you know about that curtain?" Chiaki pointed to the back of the warehouse, where a dark green curtain was burned to a crisp, only its upper level remaining, but what was strange about that was- "I didn't notice until the curtain was burning but... there's space at the other side of it, too."

In accordance with Chiaki's words, the warehouse expanded further beyond the tattered curtains. Walking deeper into the room past the bunch of Monokuma panels laying on the floor, the group approached the curtain with slow methodic steps, as if walking on a minefield.

No sound could be heard in face of the oppressing atmosphere. Everyone held their breaths, even if unconsciously.

For Hajime, it was like taking the last step toward a bottomless abyss of despair, waiting to swallow him whole.

In that one step, Hajime finally discovered the true source of malice he had been feeling for so long; what he'd been dreading ever since setting foot on the final island had finally made itself known.

His mother had been right. There was some semblance of calm before a storm.

Hajime was truly unlucky, wasn't he?

He... had no idea what he was looking at. His mind went blank and he couldn't move his eyes away from the scene - the horrific scene.

There was no sound, no hushed whispers, only the deafening ring of the malevolent silence brimming from the back of the warehouse.

In front of him, laying on the ground with blood streaking down the floor-

was the bloody, bloody remains of Nagito Komaeda.

Time had stopped and a bubbling, choked laugh sliced through his throat, breaking the exorbitant tension of the silence at once. It was not a happy sound, not in the least.

Cackles gave way to sobs in a matter of seconds. His eyes shut tight with tears but the memory had already burned itself deep within his mind: Nagito's eyes were wide open with what he could only suppose was excruciating pain during his last moments.

A numbness not unlike from when he had almost died, consumed his body once again.

A spear stabbed the boy right in his center, a survival knife embedded into his right hand, duct tape covering his mouth and bloody wounds adorned all of his thighs and hands.

A gruesome scene, that's what it was.

How could things have escalated like this? Who could have done this? It wasn't Nagito, right? No, it couldn't have been - it couldn't have been, it couldn't have-

"Wh-What-?!"

"What... is the meaning of this...?!"

"No fucking way...!"

"I-Is he really dead?! He's not pretendin' to be dead, is he?!"

Nagito was dead. Despite the frightening expression forever frozen on his face, there was no denying it; the boy wasn't moving and that was telling enough. No one could survive those wounds, no one...

no one except, Nagito.

Maybe, somehow, for some reason, the boy had - miraculously as it was; as unlikely as it was - survived. Hajime took a step forward ready to check his pulse-

"A body has been discovered! Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the class trial will begin.”

-

-

-

How foolish.

Nagito was dead.

There was no denying it.

"No way...! Is he really dead?!" The severity of the situation seemed to down on Akane just now.

"It is more than that. If the body discovery announcement was made... it would entail that the Fortunate One was murdered." It rang crystal clear what Gundham was insinuating. Another killing, another trial. That's how things worked.

"Then... it's going to start again...?" Chiaki asked uncertainly, a troubled look painting her expression. "The class trial... it should start soon, right? Then..."

"Yep, we gotta do it! We gotta find out who Nagito's killer is!" Monokuma said from behind them, startling an unsuspecting Mahiru and Sonia. "No matter who you guys sacrifice, you're determined to survive and leave this island, right?"

No one answered.

"Then the time for action is... now!"

Monomi appeared right after to try one other of her feasible attempts to stop Monokuma. Hajime tuned them out as he stared at Nagito's body once again.

There was no doubt. Nagito had suffered a lot before that spear impaled him on his middle. The cause of death was obvious by just looking at it, and until the spear landed, Nagito had suffered.

Who could have done this?

Gritted teeth and clenched fists, Hajime was blind to anything else but the Monokuma File in full display at the damn bear's paws.

"-Ah, does that mean... you guys are getting bored of this school trip?" Monokuma questioned, delaying the files' delivery. "Don't worry! The end is near!"

"The end...? What the hell you mean with that?!"

"Don't make a face like a pig who's about to become bacon! You've already noticed it, right?" Ignoring Fuyuhiko's doubts completely, the bear proceeded to snicker at the yakuza's expanse. "There are only two days left on the time, y'know?"

"Whatever will happen to us when the timer reaches zero?" Despite being apprehensive about what Monokuma could answer, Sonia forced the inquiry out. Rather they know what would befall them than to wait in obliviousness. "Surely, you can inform us."

"Hm? The Killing School Trip will be over." Spoken matter-of-factly, Monokuma merely tilted his head to the side in confusion. As if what he was saying was the most clarifying and obvious thing in the world. "Well, anyway, without any more further ado... it's the Monokuma File!"

Hajime understood now what that sense of foreboding meant, it was pretty clear. It would seem his luck had taken its time to create the absolute worst scenario.

But then-

did Nagito's luck fail him?

Could Hajime's bad luck have overpowered even the boy's good luck?

He didn't know what to think anymore. Only that Nagito had died - had been killed. Somehow the sense of wrongness still lingered in the air, making him uneasy as expectant despite having already discovered the body.

Regardless of how Nagito was killed, Hajime was certain there was something else behind it. This was no simple homicide, of that he was sure.

He didn't know if he could trust any of the others, for all he knew they could be responsible for this.

But-

if there was one thing he could trust, it was their luck, right?

Right?

Would Nagito truly have been killed against his will? Would his luck even allow it?

His thoughts were in shambles, too detached from one another for him to start to make sense of the situation. Instead of pondering on useless 'could be's', Hajime decided to focus on the task at hand as of now.

The victim is Nagito Komaeda.

The body was discovered inside the warehouse near the Monokuma Plushie Factory.

The estimated time of death is believed to be noon sharp.

Not only is there a spear stabbed in his stomach, but there are also multiple stab wounds on each of his thighs. Furthermore, there is a laceration on his left arm and a knife impaled through his right hand.

Despite the shitty situation they were thrown in, it never crossed his mind that he would be reading this Monokuma File - Nagito's Monokuma File.

The urge to fall down into tears once more was tempting, tempting enough to make him reconsider even bothering with the trial at all. Swallowing down that desire, his eyes returned to the file.

Unfortunately, it didn't tell them much.

If Monokuma was giving a time of death then the time Nagito died wasn't an important clue to deciphering the killer's identity. Besides that, the file didn't contain anything that couldn't be discerned by just looking at the body.

Utterly useless.

"Monokuma File #5" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Something that wasn't mentioned on the Monokuma File, however, was the boy's restrained limbs. All but the hand impaled with the knife were tied firmly with ropes. Nevertheless, the rope on his right hand was probably burned by the fire, which wouldn't make a difference given that the knife would prevent any kind of movement the boy could muster.

Coupled with the deep wounds on his thighs, Hajime extremely doubted that the boy could have inflicted that upon himself. No, it wasn't possible. Someone else must have done it.

But even so, to go to such lengths to kill Nagito... it was insane that someone could act with that much cruelty, regardless of how they felt towards the boy. If the goal was to kill, the killer had no reason to act with brutality such as that; thus, he could only infer that the killer was after something else, probably torturing Nagito for the bombs' locations.

Almost choking on the searing of his own fury, Hajime closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Survival Knife" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Burned Rope" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Torture Wounds" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Aside from himself, Chiaki and Fuyuhiko were the only other ones investigating the body. The rest were too repulsed by the scene - including Gundham - to hang around the body, instead opting to take a look around the area. 

"That spear... I'm pretty sure it came from Nezumi Castle... I think I saw it propped by the wall when we went there." Chiaki spoke in her usual mild tone, though it was clear she was less than comfortable with this investigation. "Could the killer have gone there to fetch it beforehand?"

"I don't know, but this whole thing is pretty weird to me... Like, why did they bother to use a spear in the first place? It makes no sense to me." Moving around the body, the yakuza crouched down to take a better look at it. "We can only be sure that this is what killed him. As for why the killer used it..."

Forcing himself to talk, Hajime pointed towards the end of the spear, where for some reason blood was coating it entirely, except for a small section of the cord.

"Why there's no blood there?" The other two eyed where he was pointing and an inquisitive crossed their expressions.

"I'm... not certain." In accordance with Chiaki, Fuyuhiko just shook his head.

"Spear of Gungnir" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"That's not the only thing that's weird, either." Chiaki carefully took Nagito's cold, bloodied left hand and opened it slowly, probably finding some resistance due to rigor mortis. Hajime tried not to think about it. "Here, the palm of his left hand has a suspicious blood splatter. I don't why but... it cuts off in the middle of his palm."

"That's weird as fuck...  or was he like... clenching his fists?" Fuyuhiko took the palm in his hand and flipped it around. "You see, there's blood only above the middle joint of his fingers." The yakuza clenched his own fist to demonstrate. "Yeah, that's probably it, his fists must have been clasped like this, so when the spear impaled him, the blood splatter didn't get to the inside of his palm."

Looking through that perspective, it did make more sense to think that to be the case.

"Blood On Left Hand" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Once more, his eyes traveled back to the immobile body of what used to be Nagito.

He must have been agonizing. Those glassy eyes were stuck in painful connotation, staring off at nothing and everything at the same time. He closed the boy's eyes, hating the clammy coldness clinging to his skin.

He hoped Nagito wasn't feeling this pain anymore.

Whatever that would entail.

Also crouching down next to Hajime, Chiaki ripped the duct tape off Nagito's mouth in one swift movement.

"Wh-What the hell are you doing?!"

"Ah, it'll be fine. I'll put it back right away once I'm done investigating here." Lost to his indignance, Chiaki went back to observe Nagito's mouth. "Ah, the blood on Nagito's face... it looks like it mostly came from the slice on his left arm... Hmm... there's no blood under the duct tape, though."

"Yeah, the duct tape must have been covering his mouth when the killer sliced his arm, it's not unusual for that to happen," Fuyuhiko commented easily. Though the insinuation that the yakuza was used to these kinds of affairs was not lost on either Hajime or Chiaki who side-eyed each other in silent accordance. "See, the duct tape had a bunch of crinkles, as if it was sticking to the inside of his mouth. He was probably desperately moving his moth under the duct tape."

Fuyuhiko's assertions made nothing to ease the culminating pit of sorrow in his chest.

"Duct Tape" Has been added to the truth bullets.

There wasn't anything else to be found on Nagito's body. He wondered if he had grown accustomed to this barbarity. He was staring at Nagito's body; his first friend; his first-

He was dead, and now Hajime had to uncover who caused it.

Had he grown numb to all of this?

Had he lost his sensibility?

He wasn't sure which was the worst: being the same and having his heart tattered like the first time, or becoming as abnormal as the situation.

Hajime got up from the floor and turned his back to the body, he wouldn't be able to be inside the warehouse for much longer; he wouldn't be able to tolerate another single minute in this malice-ridden scene.

Mahiru was close to the crisped curtain, taking pictures of it together with some oil lighter resting on the ground and the many Monokuma panels that conspicuously drew a pseudo straight line towards said lighter.

"This is probably what caused the fire." The photographer informed him, pointing to the lighter. "Oil lighters like this one can continue to burn even when someone lets go of them."

He... didn't know that.

"You think the killer used some kind of setup to get the curtains on fire?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they used these panels." Placing her hands on her hips, the girl pursed her lips; eyes clearly avoiding straying towards where Hajime had just come from. "The panels were lining up too perfectly to the lighter, no way that's a coincidence, right?"

There was no such a thing as a coincidence.

"That must be it. The timing of the fire was too precise for it to be anything else." Too clinical to not have been premeditated. It was only left for them to discover by who.

"Monokuma Panels" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Oil Lighter" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"What about this thing?"

Hajime nudged the noticeable Monokuma plushie thrown on the floor. Given they were in the warehouse where the bear stuffed his valuable merch, it wasn't weird to find one of the many, many plushies to be stocked here. The weird was the hole in its stomach coupled with the sheer amount of blood surrounding that same hole.

"I... I don't know, really. It was just there close to... him." It was clear Mahiru was making a herculean effort in not thinking about Nagito. He could somewhat understand, it made things easier if he considered the body as 'the body' instead of Nagito.

Just another case instead of his friend's murder.

Yet, he couldn't help but remember with vivid clarity the agonizing look Hajime found him in.

"Monokuma Plushie" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Closer to the exit was Gundham; at some point, the blaring music had ceased, and Hajime had been far too immersed within his own mind to take notice up until now - so the breeder must have turned it off. The boy was muttering lowly what Hajime could only guess were enchantments under his breath, not looking away from the device.

"Did you turn it off?" Hajime stepped closer, trying to get a look at the MP3 player.

"I take no credit for that, for the intriguing magic contained in those 'sprinklers' was enough to quench the flames and this mysterious apparatus."

For some unfathomable reason, it had escaped his mind the fact that the sprinklers could have very well busted the device.

"Oh, I see." Nevertheless, it didn't explain why the killer would go out of their way to prepare something like this. Were they trying to conceal Nagito's screams; his calls for help? Or was it something else?

"Ha, what a feasible attempt at a ruse! To dare attempt to trick an opponent as powerful as I, this fiend sure has courage, I give them that."

"Yeah... Indeed."

"MP3 Player" Has been added to the truth bullets.

The sky was as blue as all the previous days they had wasted in this miserable place. Clouds danced around leisurely without a care and the warm air was a shocking contrast to the chilling, oppressive aura inside the warehouse.

The world moved on.

The island continued to be the same large cage that it was meant to be.

They were still its prisoners.

Nothing changed, yet everything did.

The air felt heavier than before, or his lungs were just sedated from uncovering the body.

Who knows?

Hajime certainly didn't.

He was no different than an insect that had fallen upon the weight of its own body. A brittle house of cards crumbling down on itself with the mere movement of the wind.

He should keep going. He should go to the factory and try to make out the inner tinkering that led Nagito to do all of that; try to figure out how the killer could have taken advantage of the boy's plan and put it against him. Or perhaps even more likely - who was cooperating with Nagito to get him killed.

Who was the accomplice?

Who was responsible for this?

Against his better judgment, Hajime took off from the final island. He doubted Monokuma would give them much leeway in regards to investigating time; the malevolent bear was probably counting down the seconds until he could announce the awaited commencement of his esteemed trial. Hajime had an inkling that Monokuma was looking forward to how things would transpire, especially taking into account the wrongness of Nagito's murder.

Hajime knew intrinsically that Nagito's death had a deeper meaning behind it.

After all, the boy would never allow himself to take an unsatisfying death. No, if Nagito died, then there was a meaning behind it - a great hope that would shine through the darkest pit of despair his demise would bring.

Yes, there was no doubt about it.

If Hajime couldn't trust either his or Nagito's luck, then he would believe in the boy's ideals.

Maybe it was delusional of him to think like that. To risk his life by believing in such an unsteady logic - but it wasn't logic, not really. It was pure instinct; Hajime was all but diving into the quagmire of uncertainty that Nagito's death had produced.

He did believe in Nagito, and by believing in him he was faced with the doubts that waggled that faith.

He supposed belief was all about taking leaps longer than what one's legs would be capable of.

Too distracted by his own asinine thoughts, Hajime hadn't noticed where his feet had dragged him to.

He stared at Nagito's cottage. Right beside his own and looking no different from the other many times he had gone there, yet a palpable aura surrounded its premises; oozing a characteristic malice Hajime had started to associate with Nagito.

This was his cottage, after all.

"Monokuma can you open this for me?"

Despite less than a second ago not being nowhere near Hajime's location, Monokuma appeared out of thin air as soon as he was prompted, adorning his usual cheeky grin.

"Ask and you shall receive! Avada-Kedavra! O-Ops, I mean that's the wrong spell." Giving an awkward cough the bear tried once again. "Alohomora!"

A low click could be heard from the lock, cementing the fact that their locks were also electric, guaranteeing Monokuma access to their rooms at any time. Though that wasn't news, Monokuma had already established his oppressive omnipresence a long time.

Not wasting more words with the mascot, Hajime entered Nagito's abode.

The first thing to cross his mind as soon as he set foot in the room was: what was Nagito thinking inside this room?

He had thought that he had figured out the inner workings of the boy's mind during the period they stayed confined in the Funhouse, and he supposed he did. But somewhere along the way, that understanding gave way to utter uncertainty after Nagito had left the Final Dead Room.

Now, standing in the middle of his room-

Hajime couldn't even guess what was going through the boy's mind.

One thing that drew his eyes was the colorful, pink treasure box resting on the boy's table, standing out amidst the opaque decoration. Hajime wondered where Nagito had even got such a thing.

He recalled the boy saying that he liked pretty things, but he couldn't see Nagito going out of his way to purchase such a gaudy item. Having something to occupy his mind with, Hajime jumped at the chance of getting to see what was hidden inside it.

To his inevitable disappointment, a Monomi's designed notebook stared back at him from the bottom of the chest. Which only made things even more confusing. Nagito certainly did not harbor any soft spot for Monomi to warrant the boy to possess a notebook of hers in his cottage, especially once Hajime flipped through the notebook's content - a bunch of sloppy, child-like drawings containing entries that looked more like chicken scratch.

The thing was all of an ignominious diary informing the events that transpired since the day they arrived on the island.

At first glance, it appeared to be Monomi's diary. He couldn't even start to fathom where Nagito would have acquired it nor his motivations behind it.

The only entry to get his attention was the one on day 16: 'We've been in the Funhouse for three days! Everyone is hungry and on edge! Hajime tried to go into the Final Dead Room today. He's probably on his last straws.'

He could remember that day crystal clear. It was the same day Hajime had sneaked into Nagito's deluxe room and where the two of them shared their first kiss after a confession of murder ideation.

Despite how twisted it may sound, it was one of the best memories he had of this wicked island.

Ultimately, the notebook lacked any relevant clue that could point to either the traitor or blackened, rendering it completely useless.

"Monomi's Notebook" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Another conspicuous artifact of furniture lodged inside the boy's room was a mini-refrigerator standing on the back wall. Hajime's own cottage had no refrigerator so he wondered if Nagito had been the one to supply one for himself. Out of curiosity, Hajime opened the refrigerator's door expecting to see cold drinks and snacks the boy might have been storing, only to be faced with a large bottle of poison.

Completely empty, except for the poison.

Monokuma's Special Poison, (For poisoning use only) is said on the label. Not caring much for how dangerous it could be, Hajime took the brown flask into his hand and turned it around to read the warning label on the back.

Poison made specifically for killing someone! It's Monokuma's Special Poison! This enchanted liquid is highly potent and takes effect immediately. Please handle it with care.

Hajime returned the bottle to the fridge and finished reading from a distance.

Though its volatility is low, this liquid is very dangerous when vaporized. In a gaseous state, is denser than air, it breaks down in minutes, and it is susceptible to hydrolysis. Keep this liquid secure by storing it in a cool place in a glass or plastic container, away from sunlight.

A chemical crafter with the sole purpose of killing? What was something like that even doing in Nagito's cottage? Did he plan to use it? Did it correlate to his murder at all?

Questions and more questions pilled up about the bizarre circumstances surrounding Nagito's death. Hajime was at a loss of what to think of it. It was clear Nagito had been the one to store the poison; the boy had most likely acquired the chemical while still on the Octagon, back in the Funhouse. The refrigerator was brought to his room in order to keep the poison secure.

But why go through all the trouble of securing a poison he would ultimately not make use of?

He couldn't understand it.

He couldn't understand it, at all.

"Monokuma's Special Poison" Has been added to the truth bullets.

More worrisome yet was that somehow, Hajime felt like this wasn't to be taken lightly. This clue, whatever its purpose, would certainly bring them to an appalling realization. Everything felt too deliberate to not have been planned out.

Gnawing at the poor skin of his lips, Hajime tried without success to make sense of the information presented to him.

Just what was going through your mind, Nagito?

What would you use poison for?

Taking a seat at the bed, Hajime stared off into nothing. His bones and feet were tired from walking around the islands and he wanted nothing more than to lean back and let the smooth sheets shield him from the ongoings outside the cottage; shrouding him for the miasmatic trial that was approaching with each second that went by.

He didn't lean back.

Instead, he sagged down and averted his gaze to the floor, lethargic fingers enveloped one another.

Sitting there, alone with nothing but the sound of his own laborious breath - Hajime felt the crushing weight of loneliness.

He was far too used to its presence, a constant burden he had to carry ever since his less-than-pleasant talent decided to make itself known. He had grown used to it, sometimes even preferring it to the rancid, bitter taste of disappointment that would certainly follow any deeper interaction he decided to have. If you knew your actions were doomed from the start, then why bother trying?

As nihilist as it sounded, it couldn't be more true to the likes of Hajime.

Ha, the two of them were really cursed, weren't they?

Unwelcome tears streaked down his face once again; Hajime let them, not bothering to wipe them away or pretend he wasn't hurting. His throat convulsed in spasmodic takes of air.

Hajime was truly and utterly alone.

He didn't know what to do with himself and for a fraction of a second, the prospect of giving up on this useless effort to prolong his miserable life was tantalizing; to just stand aside and let everything come crashing down and be all noncaring for it, seemed ideal. But Hajime was too afraid to give himself up like that.

Too much of a fool.

Ultimately, he knew he was just prolonging the inevitable.

The lot of them had already a timer going off to announce their end in two days. He had no doubts about what would happen once the timer reached zero; he wasn't fooled by Monokuma's hopeful promises that they would get to leave this island. If they happened to leave the island, Hajimehad no illusion that everything would be alright - no, quite the opposite. 

They had yet to hit rock bottom, and until they did so, there was no going up.

Nagito had said that ignorance was by far the greatest shame; Hajime wasn't sure if he shared the same opinion; for ignorance would be the best remedy in his case.

Ignorance was by far a better option than the throbbing numbness of grief.

The back of his feet met some kind of foil causing his mind to reel back from his wander. Getting up and crouching down to the floor, Hajime took a look under Nagito's bed. Despite the room being overall tidy, Hajime found some kind of blue, metallic foil and a plastic bag from the supermarket containing some items. He reached for both; the piece of metal was nothing but that - trash. As for the plastic bag, Hajime's eyes grew wide as he retrieved rubber gloves and a gas mask from inside it. 

The items, despite being stuffed under his bed within a supermarket bag, did not come from the supermarket - Hajime had yet to find such articles there. More likely, the boy must have gotten those from the military base. But even so, finding those objects only corroborated the fact that Nagito intended to minister the poison somehow.

A festering dread started to exude from the chasm inside his chest.

"Piece of Blue Paper" Has been added to the truth bullets.

"Rubber Gloves And Gas Mask" Has been added to the truth bullets.

Judging by the worrisome results he had obtained from exploring Nagito's room, Hajime could only imagine what else the boy could be concealing away inside the privacy of his room. If merely taking a look through his fridge and under his bed was enough to reveal what could only be a murder plan - he feared what he would find in case he made a more thorough search.

He started by the many books Nagito had stashed on his shelf, looking inside them in search of any hidden clues the boy might have guarded. Hajime had used a similar trick before; guarding notes inside specific pages of certain books, only to have it found out later due to his luck - which wouldn't hold true for Nagito in case the boy did the same.

Wherein Hajime was doomed to fail, Nagito was doomed to succeed, right?

Yet, Hajime held in his hands a file containing the student profiles of all the sixteen students from Hope's Peak Academy that had been kidnapped by the Future Foundation.

It felt so-

easy.

Hajime could barely believe it himself.

He was resigning himself for hours of search; to never even find anything.

But he had found what he was looking for on his first try.

Goosebumps trailed the hair on his arms.

Perhaps Hajime was looking too deep into things, but still, it all felt so... strange; orchestrated even.

Brushing the feeling off for the moment, his eyes scanned through the pages detailing their academic data. Unfortunately, there was nothing alluding to the years the years-worth of memories they had lost. It did contain - or better yet, lacked - something just as interesting:

There was no student profile of one Byakuya Togami, instead, two pages filled with question marks adorned the profile of someone possessing the talent of Ultimate Impostor.

Nothing to be known of said individual. No name; no sex; no age; no photos.

It could barely be considered a student profile.

He wasn't sure where Nagito had gained possession of this information, but he had no doubt the boy had incorporated this within his plans. But that would entail that Byakuya - or whoever was passing as Byakuya - wasn't the traitor; otherwise, Nagito wouldn't have gone to such lengths to weed out the traitor.

No, whoever the traitor was, they were still among their ranks.

More likely yet: they were probably Nagito's killer.

"Hope's Peak Academy File" Has been added to the truth bullets.

As if on cue, Chiaki entered through the door without any further notice. Hajime was embarrassed to admit that he was startled a little by her sudden appearance.

"Oh, so you were here."

Her tone wasn't accusing but dull, yet Hajime couldn't help the prick of humiliation.

"Y-Yeah, I..." Sighing, he placed the file onto the table, in clear sight if Chiaki decided to have a look at it as well. "I was trying to find something... Turns out I did, take a look around and you'll see what I mean."

Stepping sideways, Hajime left through the door simultaneously as Chiaki got further inside.

Now, waiting was all that was left for him to do.

Bing Bong Ding Dong

"What is most important to living things...? Well, personally, I think time is. I mean, your bank account may go up and down, but time will inevitably run out, right? That's why we gotta cherish time. There is nothing more wasteful than wasting time. So... time's up. We will begin the last class trial, so please gather at Monokuma Rock!

Click

Last class trial, huh?

He wasn't expecting anything less.

Chapter Text

CHAPTER 26: Foolish Belief

This is it.

Those were the first thoughts to cross his mind once the trial grounds were revealed.

Dissonant to the previous arrangements, the grounds were decorated with an industrial design, much too similar to the final island's own aesthetic: all metal and technology.

Monokuma sat by his throne, a pleased smile painting his forever-frozen expression; awaiting the students to take their position so they could start this last despicable rendezvous.

As detached as he was, Hajime barely noticed his feet taking him to his usual podium, right in front of Nagito's own, which now resided with a tribute plaque with the boy's photo; a grotesque 'X' intersecting his face.

Hajime averted his eyes as soon as they landed on it.

Disgust swelled in his guts for Monokuma making fun of Nagito's death. If he didn't know better, he would have dragged that thing down as soon as he saw it. Unfortunately, Monokuma would surely execute him on the spot if he so dared.

But what would be the fun in that? He was sure the bear would say something along those lines.

Nagito had said that he was yearning for a powerful hope. A hope so devasting and bright that despair wouldn't stand a chance in its wake.

He doubted the boy's trial would accomplish his goal.

Monomi, unlike the many other times, wasn't restrained by ropes, instead, she stood by the said in a lower stand a little to Monokuma's right side. The bear made some witty comments futilely trying to gauge a reaction out of the rabbit who stayed stoic through the whole ordeal. Even after Monokuma had scrubbed the floor with her face.

"S-Stop this at once! I feel bad for Monomi!" At Sonia's demand, the bear returned to his seat leaving a limping rabbit behind.

"You're right, now's not the time for me to horse around with Monomi. The class trial has started, after all. The victim this time is Nagito, who was attempting to reveal the traitor for everyone else's sake... Who in the world killed him? I'm so~ curious!"

His taunting managed to stir some of the aching anger swirling inside him.

"If he really died because he was trying to reveal the traitor... then there's no doubt! The killer and the traitor are one and the same! They were probably trying to shut Nagito up!"

He didn't discredit Fuyuhiko's line of thought. In an objective way of thinking, the traitor was their only clue to determining Nagito's killer, for they were the only one who had a motive to kill; even more so given that Monokuma himself had not offered them a motive this time around.

However, that seemed to be too obvious.

"A-Are we really sure that that's the case...?"

Mahiru appeared to agree as well.

"Huh? Are you trying to protect the traitor? W-Wait... don't tell me you're the traitor?!" The problem contained in Fuyuhiko's theory lies in how suspicious it would look for anyone to oppose that assumption. Despite how much sense it made, there was a non-zero chance that the traitor - whoever they were - were not responsible for this. And as long as there was a chance, Hajime was not about to overlook that possibility - not when he knew quite well how perverse his luck could act.

"Wha-?! Stop accusing me all of a sudden! I'm not defending the traitor at all, gosh!"

"Puhuhu... that's more like it... why don't you guys hurry up and start arguing already!"

Both the photographer and yakuza settled in their nerves once Monokuma made his enjoyment of the situation clear.

"What I'm trying to say is: if the traitor is the killer... then why did they have to torture Nagito like that? Wouldn't it be easier if they just... you know, finished him off?"

"In regards to that, couldn't the traitor also been looking for the bombs set in the factory? If so, then it's pertinent to believe they were desperate to put an end to Nagito's schemes."

Gundham's point also made some amount of sense, for the traitor must have been oblivious to the fact the bombs were fake - or were they? He couldn't tell, not without any more information.

"About that, Nagito's mouth was shut with the duct tape, right? Why did the killer do that if they were trying to torture the bombs' location out of Nagito? He wouldn't be able to tell them anything... I think."

The duct tape had been a matter they had breached during the investigation. There were only two reasons why the killer might have used it: either to smother Nagito's agonizing screams or as a ploy to lead them in circles.

But-

"Fuyuhiko had mentioned something about the crinkles in the duct tape; the center was sticking to the inside of his mouth."

"Yeah, there's no doubt that the tape was covering Nagito's mouth even before the torture began." Chiaki consented. "Plus, remember how weird it was that there was no blood under the duct tape?"

The yakuza nodded in accordance.

"The blood on his face came from his left arm, so that means the tape was on his mouth even before that."

"Tape or no tape, we might as well decide it on rock, paper, scissors... let's get to the important part, everyone!" Hajime agreed with Akane that they shouldn't be dragged around by minor details, but completely overlooking the clues was no good either. "Like, what does that even matter?"

"It matters because now we can be sure that they used the tape to keep Nagito silent. He was likely struggling under the duct tape while the killer tortured him."

"However, if they only wished to seal his mouth, they did not need to hurt him with such ferocity." Indeed, they needn't. Whatever brought to killer to act so savagely, it certainly played a part in their plan, or else-

or else they had completely lost their mind.

"Maybe they just had a big grudge against him... I mean, Nagito was holding the whole island hostage." Adjusting his eye patch, the yakuza continued. "I'm not saying they were right to do it, but... who knows what crossed the killer's mind."

"Then... are you saying the killer was trying to make him suffer? But that is too...!" Sonia covered her mouth with the mere thought of such cruelty.

"But if so, that's freakin' crazy... did they go psycho or somethin'?"

That would certainly be a plausible reason for Nagito's body to be so thoroughly wounded. But no matter how much he entertained the thought, something still didn't sit right with him.

"No, it's not as simple as the killer going crazy... they crafted a pretty detailed plan for that to be the case. They were thorough enough to set fire to the entire crime scene and get rid of evidence that was probably inconvenient to them."

"But who could have done that?" Mahiru asked.

Who could have done it, indeed.

"When the fire started, everyone in this room was in front of the warehouse. So it's safe to say none of us set fire to that warehouse, correct?"

"However, the timing of the fire was just too perfect for us to consider it to be a casualty of fate." Gundham gently shot the princess' argument down. "As soon as Hajime broke through the door, the fire started. It is no mistake to assume that some trickery was used."

"A setup, you say?" The princess didn't seem to mind being contradicted at all.

"It was probably those Monokuma panels, right? I mean, I even commented with Hajime that they look pretty weird." Browsing through her camera, Mahiru showed the remaining students some of the photos she had taken from the scene. "Here, you see? They were probably lined up towards the oil lighter that was still burning on the floor, and when Hajime opened the door, they tipped over and caused the lighter to lit the curtains... or at least I think so."

"Yeah, I agree as well. Even before you guys arrived at the final island I tried to enter the warehouse, but-" Hajime scratched his head, unsure of how his being near the warehouse would look. "-there was some resistance; like there was something blocking it from the other side. It took some force to get the door to open."

He let them digest the information.

"I see, kind of like a domino effect, right?" Chiaki tilted her head to the side.

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Hm, interesting... I gather the purpose of that devilish music device was to smother the sounds of these panels falling over." Hajime was n agreement with Gundham as well. When opening the door, he could barely see or hear anything; no way that hadn't been part of the blackened's plan to cover their steps. He couldn't discern any other reason for them to bother playing music so loud like that.

Yeah, the one responsible for this was no lunatic. Quite the opposite, they carefully planned everything in their plan, leaving little traces that would lead back to them.

A crafty bastard they were.

"Yeah, that's most likely how the fire started... at least, that's how it looks..." Chiaki held her own arms and looked dejected despite the progression in their discussion.

"You don't sound very sure of that." Not that Chiaki ever looked certain of anything.

"You mentioned that you could barely open the door, right? But like, with the blocked doorway... there wasn't enough space for a person to fit through, right?"

No, there was no space that a person could fit through. That had been obvious, but-

it had slipped his mind.

Hajime was no fool, he knew very well how likely it was that this whole murder scheme might have been planned out by Nagito himself. He couldn't think of someone else on the island who would give so much thought to a murder plan, if not the boy himself.