"K-Kirigiri-san?"
At the end of my bed stood Kirigiri, her presence having woken me up. I'd been sleeping peacefully otherwise, despite my fever. She gazed at me, not flinching when seeing my eyes open suddenly. Instead she began speaking, but I couldn't hear her voice in my exhausted state.
"I can't…what are…you saying?"
My eye lids were heavy, and I couldn't stop them from gradually falling shut. Consciousness floating beyond my reach, I could only make out a few words before I succumbed to my limits, still thinking about why she was in my room.
"Naegi-kun…sorry…kill…you…"
Diiiing Doooong… Diiiing Doooong…
"Good Morning, you guys! It is now 7:00 AM! Rise and shiiiine! Let's make today into the best day it can be!"
With the improvised alarm I had woken up to everyday for the past few days, I rubbed my weary eyes as light streamed through my fingers and groaned. Normally, I could have gotten up within the minute, but today, I'm struggling to. My head is still swimming from that fever.
Recalling what had happened last night, I expect it wasn't just a dream but I can't really remember. If it wasn't, I wonder why Kirigiri came by. It must have been important, but thinking back to it, I can't recall anything but the slightly creepy image of her standing at the end of my bed, staring at me. She looked… sad? Was that just my imagination?
Making the decision to catch up to her later before I say anything, I checked the knife hadn't moved out of paranoia mostly, before heading towards to the impromptu daily meeting of the remaining students. Knowing the knife was secure in my drawer, I made my way towards the cafeteria. Any distraction would be a good one right now.
It seems oddly quiet today. Usually I would have heard the faint murmur of discussion by now. I guess everyone is tired today. Walking through the door to the cafeteria, I hardly notice that no-one but Asahina was actually around as I head into the kitchen for some food.
Almost falling backwards on the chair she was rocking on as she noticed me walking past, she sprung to her feet and stops just a foot in front of me.
"Naegi-kun! You had us worried last night!"
"H-huh?"
"You weren't answering your door! We thought you might have been, y'know, killed… Seriously, where were you?"
"I wasn't feeling too good. I went to bed early to get some rest. I didn't hear you guys come by…" I say, a hint of curiosity in my voice, "wait, why were you looking for me?"
"Eh, it's a long story. A bunch of stuff has happened whilst you were asleep. I'd tell you but it'd be quicker to show you!"
In a flash, Asahina grabbed my sleeve and was pulling me out of the cafeteria before I realised what was happening.
"H-hey, I wanted to get breakfast!"
"No time! Togami wanted everyone to the gym pronto!"
Disappearing out the door without me, she was out of sight almost immediately. I mutter an apology to my stomach, to which it protests with a loud groan, before I follow her. As I left the cafeteria, I could still hear the thumping of her feet and slamming of doors as she runs towards the gym.
Begrudgingly making it to the gym with my stomach still in protest, I push through the door to find everyone crowding in the centre around something. As I approach, I get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, and pushing my way through them, I see what had me worried.
"W-what happen to Monokuma?"
The bear lay in the centre of the gym, uncharacteristically quiet and in several pieces. Hagakure was kneeling besides him, tinkering with his body as Fukawa held his legs and Asahina held the head. Everyone's heads turned to see me speak if only to acknowledge me before turning back to what they were doing. With a little bit of caution, I kneel the other side of our inactive tormentor's body to Hagakure, as he sat hands-deep in the bear's mechanical insides.
"Oy vey, what makes you think you're special, sleeping whilst we all work?" Togami sighed, giving me a scowl and a suspicious glare. He wasn't the only one to seemingly begrudge my night's sleep as, without skipping a beat, Fukawa also gave me a glace, albeit less menacing.
"Y-you got a lot of n-nerve showing up n-now when the rest of us haven't got any s-sleep!"
Had they been up all night? Hagakure's yawn provide some supporting evidence for that assumption. As I began to look at what he was doing, my stomach decided that now wasn't the time.
"Hey, 'Hina. Did you bring breakfast? Naegi sounds like he could use it!" Hagakure laughed, following up with another yawn.
"Aw shoot. I'll be right back!" she shouted back, running off before I could offer my assistance. Nevertheless, my stomach seemed to accept that with one final grumble, allowing me to move on.
"What happened to Monokuma?" I ask, unable to hide my curiosity. Hagakure just responded with another laugh.
"What do you think? We dismantled him. Togami found him in sleep mode here last night, but I can't find anything wrong with the mechanics, dude… I wonder why he's not working."
I turn to Togami to ask him, but he just huffs. "Yes, I did. I wanted to ask him about the treasure he had stolen but I found him deactivated right here." My first thought is that Monokuma would probably see this as violence against the headmaster, and I wasn't too keen on getting myself impaled by spears. Seeing the worry on my face, Togami offered some comfort, despite talking in his usual disinterested demeanour. "Relax. We're in no danger. He's been unresponsive all night. I doubt he would being to wake up now."
Despite Togami's reasoning, I'm still a little suspicious. Where has the mastermind been all this time, if they haven't been operating Monokuma? The more I think about it, the more it unsettles me. Kirigiri might have some idea…
"Where's Kirigiri?" I asked, looking around. I can't believe it took me to realise that she's been missing this whole time.
"We thought Kiri' might be with you, dude, since neither of you were answering your door last night" Hagakure explains, examining a large black spherical object he just pulled from Monokuma's chest. At first glance, it looks to be a ball, but a second examination reveals a fuse.
"Oh, a bomb" Togami looks as unimpressed as ever, but Hagakure's reaction couldn't been any less different.
"A-a-a-a-a Bomb?! What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do?"
"I'd be careful if I were you. There's a motion sensor in there."
Hagakure was positively quaking, and the bomb he held shook violently in his hands.
"Hagakure, calm down! You're going to make it go off!" Asahina yelled, standing behind us with arms full of donuts. She too seemed to be scared witless.
"Oh, I forgot to mention I turned it off."
What?
Did he just… Did he do that on purpose?
"Oh… Ahahahaha… Don't scare me like that!" Hagakure protested quite loudly. With a few laughs at the situation, everyone takes some food from Asahina (some more begrudging than others to eat "peasant food") before taking a step away from the dismantled Monokuma to sit down.
It's quiet about now, and the atmosphere is calm. It was nice to let my guard down, even for a little bit, whilst everyone relaxed at chatted. But soon, the familiar need to get back to work set in, and the calmness of the last few minutes faded.
The question still wandered my mind: what happened to the Mastermind? With Monokuma's apparent shutting down, I could only assume something might have happened, and without skipping a beat, Togami picked up on it.
"Naegi. Is there something you're hiding from us?" Accused straight of the mark, I went into defence mode.
"N-no! It's just… don't you think it's strange? If Monokuma isn't working, where's the Mastermind?"
My question seemed to take even Togami by surprise, even if he was trying to hide it. "I want to know that myself. Let's go."
Everyone freezes as breakfast comes to a sudden end. It is only Fukawa who follows Togami in standing up. "Hey, where are you going?" Asahina asks, her mouth full of donut still. Almost as if to make it as dramatic as possible, he doesn't turn to us but instead leans over his shoulder, before stepping into a higher position.
"The Headmaster's Office. We're going to break in."
The stunned silence, apart from Hagakure choking on a donut, lasted all too long before Asahina spoke up. "Wait! That's dangerous! Don't you remember the rules?!"
Togami smiled, before sneering at her. "That's fine if you want to take the coward's route. But I think you'll find I know what I'm doing."
"But, dude, what if Monokuma shows up?! We're going to be in a heap of trouble if he finds out."
"He won't find out."
"But how can you be so sure?"
"I didn't think I'd have to explain it, but I suppose I shouldn't have overestimated you. He hasn't woken up so far. That means something must have happened to the Mastermind. And if something has happened to the Mastermind that means no repugnant bears to deal with. Now, I'm going to find our way out of here. Will you bow under the pressure? Or fight?"
"Ah… M-my white knight knows exactly w-what he's doing! How dare you q-question him?!"
Asahina had had enough at this point. "Fine, but if he gets us killed, I'm going to slap him again."
Fukawa immediately responded my squaring up to Asahina as best she could. "D-don't you lay you f-filthy fingers on him, you wh-"
"That's enough. Let's go." Having reassured that no-one was going to opt-out of our excursion, he led the way by walking off.
"W-wait for me, m-my love!"
"Sakura, give me strength…"
"I've got a b-bad feeling about this, dude! I predicted something like this would happen!"
Everyone ran off after our fearless 'leader', leaving me in the gym with the dismantled Monokuma. I needed a moment to collect my thoughts before I could run off. The silence echoed around me as I took a few deep breaths, clearing my head.
"Kirigiri, where are you…?"
"So…many…stairs… Why…did…the…office…have…to be…so… far up?"
I wasn't the fittest person in the world, but I'd hardly expected four flights of stairs to have me gasping for air for so long afterwards. Dragging my legs, it was almost certain that I'd be the last one there again.
Rounding a few corners and finding no door to the headmaster's office, it occurred to me that I might not actually remember where it was, yet before I could pull out my ElectroID, someone screamed.
"I guess… that's my cue…" Even having picked up the pace slightly, it seemed like forever before I found the room I was looking for.
I had expected to find everyone at the door, trying to get in, yet there was no reason to believe any of them had been here, except for Fukawa. She lay unconscious in the open doorframe to the headmaster's office. Strange. I thought it would be locked…
As I made my way past Fukawa, I could have sworn I heard her mumble something, but I ignored it. Only a step more and I had found the others, all standing in a row. They were blocking off my view of the office and I couldn't see much as I peered through any gaps between them.
"H-hey, guys? What's wrong?" No-one responded, as I pushed my way through them, and I too found myself stunned into silence by the sight before me: the office was in disarray, sheets of paper scattered everywhere, the desk filled with several thick books, piled upon one another, and the coffee table in the centre of the room lay in several flattened pieces.
It took me too long before I noticed exactly what I should have been looking at. A corpse lay against the headmaster's desk, slumped over as its face was hidden from sight. A knife stuck out of its abdomen, and there was some blood on the back of its head. Despite all the times I'd seen my friend's lifeless bodies, I wasn't prepare for the realisation of who it was.
"K-Kirigiri-san?"
