MY ULTIMATE
"Hi, my name is Jonathan Robert Alan Kevin Morris, and I have short ebony black hair with grey streaks that I never let get longer than an inch or so, and icy blue eyes like limpid tears. A lot of people tell me I look like that uncle of theirs that used to bet on horses all the time but never had much luck. I'm not related to Gerard Way, but I wish I were, because my ageing Goth niece tells me he's a major fucking hottie. I'm English, and I'm 43 years old."
"…Okay…" said Hajime Hinata.
Nothing in his life so far had prepared him for responding to a statement of that kind from a guy he had just met whilst exploring a tropical island on which he and fourteen other students from his high school were imprisoned. Especially given that he couldn't actually remember a large part of his life so far.
Was this guy another Ultimate, or some minion of Monokuma? If he was an Ultimate, how come Hajime hadn't met him at the same time as all the others, before that homicidal bear took over? And what would a foreigner have to do with Hope's Peak Academy anyway? Unlike Sonia Nevermind, Jonathan didn't look like any kind of royalty. He looked like a typical middle-aged Englishman, albeit a well-dressed one.
He struggled for some kind of small talk, any kind. "Hey, that's a pretty nice suit. Did you get it from Hot Topic?"
"No, Marks and Spencer," said Jonathan. "I've never heard of…Hot Topic."
"Yeah, actually we don't have it in Japan either," said Hajime, awkwardly. "So I have no idea where that came from. Oh well, just forget it."
"Actually though, the suit is relevant," said Jonathan, "because without a well-tailored gentleman's suit, how could I be…THE ULTIMATE SCHOOL INSPECTOR!"
Some intense anime action and music followed, although to be honest Hajime was getting kind of blasé about all that after meeting thirteen other Ultimates. Still, at least he had an answer to one of his questions.
"The Ultimate School Inspector, eh? That sounds…pretty interesting," lied Hajime.
Jonathan shrugged. He'd been in schools often enough to spot an unconvincing fib. "Well, I suppose to most pupils it sounds even more boring than being a teacher. But, as far as my profession goes - last year I inspected 330 schools. One every working day. In the failing ones, I'd give speeches to the pupils and the staff, and by the end of them I had people on their knees and weeping, life-long enemies hugging each other, hardened delinquents vowing to give up crime and handing in their knives, teachers who'd given up all hope telling me I'd renewed their faith in their profession. And by the end of the year none of those schools were still failing."
"I see," said Hajime. Well, at least the guy seemed to live up to his title. "So what brought you to Hope's Peak?"
"I was just visiting. Part of a trip to Japan to study your country's educational methods. Honestly, there weren't any other school inspectors who spoke Japanese. And, well, that visit's the last thing I remember before I found myself on this island."
By now, other students, looking around the island too, had begun to file into the air-conditioned, rather antiseptic, lobby of Jabberwock Airport where Hajime and Jonathan were having their conversation. They looked curiously at their new companion. At least he was more interesting than the non-functioning planes on the unused and scorching strip of tarmac facing them.
"Hey, Hajime," asked Kazuichi Souda, "who's this?"
"Hi, my name is Jonathan…"
"Ah, actually it's fine, you don't have to do the whole thing," interjected Hajime rapidly. "This is Jonathan Morris, the Ultimate School Inspector."
"Say what now?" muttered Kazuichi under his breath. Hajime tried to shush him, but it was too late. Clearly, he wasn't the only one in the group with doubts about this interloper.
"Hold on - this makes no sense," said Mahiru Koizumi, hands on hips. "A school inspector? Why would that be anyone's Ultimate talent? And why is he so much older than the rest of us?"
Hiyoko Saionji had a theory. It was a mean, nasty little theory, but then, it was one of Hiyoko's, so no surprises there. "I know exactly what he's here for! He must be a paedo! Come on, you guys, what other kind of grown man would want to hang around on an island with a bunch of defenceless teenagers? I know your kind, Jonathan – get lost before we bury you in the sand and leave you for crabs to eat!"
There was a shocked silence.
"Hiyoko!" said Hajime. "God, shut up! You always take this stuff too far! You can't prove that! He's a school inspector and he was visiting Hope's Peak before we all got…transported here. Stop saying such weird things about people!"
Jonathan seemed unfazed by Hiyoko's outburst. "You don't need to defend me, Hajime. If your friend wants to believe that, if any of you do, I can't stop you, even though it isn't true. But before you make up your minds about me, let me tell you one thing; I think I can get us all off this island. I've seen what's keeping us here, and I think it's something we can overcome, if only we all work together."
"WHAT? YOU FIEND!" thundered Gundham Tanaka. "How do you know of these things when you weren't there to be told about them? Why should we trust this offer of yours? CONSIDER YOUR ANSWER CAREFULLY, HUMAN, FOR WOE UNTO HE WHO SEEKS TO DECEIVE THE SUPREME OVERLORD OF ICE!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Jonathan.
"Wow," Jonathan replied. "And I thought my introductory speech was a bit dramatic."
"SILENCE, YOU FOOL! NO MAN CAN HAM LIKE THE GUNDHAM CAN! And, anyway, you're avoiding my question."
Jonathan looked around warily at the circle of young faces. "OK, OK, I get that you're suspicious. But you know we're under constant observation here. I have to be careful what I say. Let's go back to your hotel. Maybe you'll be less suspicious when you see that I've got my own cabin there."
"Jeez, that's going to make us less suspicious?" muttered Mahiru. "Sounds like a set up to me."
"Come on, guys," interjected Nagito Komaeda. "I mean, I'm the least important person here, but think of all the hope that could come from putting our trust in Jonathan!" He unleashed a throaty and unnerving cackle.
"Ugh, that does it!" said Hiyoko. "Let's all get back to the hotel before he gets the chance to act like a complete weirdo again!"
There was a lot of glancing around and shrugging, but no-one was prepared to argue. They headed out of the airport building and across the car park towards the Hotel Mirai.
Hajime lay on his stomach in the under his bedclothes, his face visible only by the light from the screen of his phone. Monokuma's 10pm announcement had been made a few minutes before, and as usual he had turned his light off. The room was dark, the space under the sheets a small illuminated cavern.
"OK," he typed into the phone. "Everyone in position, as agreed? Under ur sheets, phones out!"
Messages flashed up on the screen, ranging from "yeah", to "under sheets, cock out lol" from Teruteru Hanamura ("Ugh, please!" thought Hajime) to "Nope! Right under a camera!" from Hiyoko. Chiaki Nanami asked, "Why r we messaging each other in the dark like this guys? How can we be sure Monokuma won't hack us? We aren't in Persona 5."
"We can't be sure," texted Jonathan. "But he'll definitely know what we're doing if we have a big meeting right under one of his cameras. It was the best way I could think of doing it in secret."
"OK buddy," replied Kazuichi. "So how come u knew about Monokuma and his plans before even meeting us?"
"I woke up in the middle of Jabberwock Park," typed Jonathan. "Was looking for signs of life somewhere. Made it over the bridge to the first island & found the hotel & my cabin. & Monokuma found me. That's when I got his explanation of everything. Plenty of evil laughter too."
Jonathan had been right about having his own cabin, although it was tiny and looked like it had been hastily converted from a caretaker's storage hut to accomodation, as though his presence here was unexpected. In spite of what Mahiru had said, Hajime was reassured that at least this man was in the same boat as the rest of them, not some kind of spy.
"So how can we "overcome" Monokuma then?" asked Kazuichi.
"Lol if he says "by the power of friendship" I'm out" texted Hiyoko. "I need my beauty sleep."
"No. Look, I've got a family back in England and I can't waste time stuck here that I could be spending with them. I want a quick solution. So I was thinking more of "by violence"" replied Jonathan.
There was a brief pause in the flow of messages, as if people had been temporarily shocked into silence.
"Lmfao are you serious?!" came Kazuichi's reply. "Have u seen those giant robots he has guarding the bridges to the other islands? We'll all be killed!"
"Yes, we will if we attack them frontally. But not if we can lure them into a trap. I have a plan…"
It was after that message that the questions started flooding in.
Hajime was woken from sleep by the usual morning announcement, and rolled over on to his back with a groan. He felt particularly unrefreshed after last night's "meeting." It had gone on so late, and afterwards he had lain awake into the early hours, too buzzed on adrenalin to sleep. At last, a plan of escape with some chance of working! Wasn't it…?
Reluctantly, Hajime opened his eyes and turned on to his side in preparation for getting out of bed. The first thing his eyes focused on was a pair of black drainpipe jeans wrapped around a pair of skinny pipe-cleaner legs.
"AAAHHH!" he cried out, startled. "Damn it! Is that you, Nagito?"
A glance up into the piercing grey eyes and unkempt mass of white hair of Jabberwock Island's most eccentric resident confirmed that it was.
"I've been watching over you all night, Hajime," said Nagito.
"WHAT!? Jesus, Nagito, how the hell did you even get in here?"
"Oh, the locks on these cabin doors are pretty easy to pick, especially with my luck. It's almost as if they were designed for…moments like this."
"This is not a moment, Nagito. Not in any picked my lock, sneaked into my room and you've been watching me sleep like some bug-eyed loon!"
"Aw, don't be hard on yourself. You don't sleep like a bug-eyed loon."
"That is not what I meant…just get the hell out of here!"
Nagito laughed. "As expected. It's no more than trash like me deserves. But I was so excited, Hajime! This plan of Jonathan's…it gives me hope! So much hope! Doesn't it do the same for you? The Ultimates can defeat Monokuma and escape our captivity, allowing your hope to shine even more brightly!" His eyes glittered.
Fuming, Hajime got up out of bed. He was so angry, he didn't even care that he was only in his underwear.
"I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU FEEL ABOUT THE PLAN, NAGITO! SCRAM! VAMOOSE! GET OUT!"
He pointed towards the door. Suddenly, and without warning, it flew open and a tall, dark figure burst through. It was Gundham, his long coat and scarf flowing behind him. Even Nagito seemed momentarily taken aback by the interruption.
"VILLAINS! CEASE YOUR EVIL SCHEME OR FACE THE WRATH…Oh." He saw Nagito and the semi-clad Hajime standing in front of him and his pallid face flushed red. "D…did I come at a bad moment, Hajime? I heard loud voices, and saw your door was open. I thought perhaps SOME FIEND…but never mind, I'll be off."
Hajime slapped his open palm into his face and sighed.
"No…thanks Gundham. It's OK, Nagito just popped over to see me, but now he's going too. Apparently it's open season on coming into my bedroom without knocking this morning."
"Right…I'd better head over to the restaurant for breakfast then," said Gundham hastily, and disappeared.
"Yeah, me too!" said Nagito, and followed him awkwardly.
"I'll join you both once I've got dressed," Hajime called after them.
Meanwhile, Jonathan was facing some tough questions. Having got up and walked from his cabin to the restaurant, he had been intercepted in its furniture-cluttered lobby by a welcoming committee – Chiaki, Mahiru and Sonia. They were all wearing serious expressions.
"Good morning!" said Jonathan.
"Ah, hello, Jonathan," replied Sonia. "Jonathan…we need to talk with you…discreetly."
"What? Well, can't it wait? I'm really rather hungry. I was hoping I could get something to eat."
"No, Jonathan, it cannot wait. We need to discuss…your thing."
"My…thing?"
"Hey," interjected Mahiru, "you were the one who was going on about being careful what we said in public! That's why we need to be discreet, like Sonia says."
"Oh, right, I get you! OK, let's sit down over there." He led them to a large leather sofa that faced away from the nearest camera. They slouched into it as low as they could, and spoke in whispers. At least that reduced the chance that what they said would be heard or seen. "Well, what about…my thing?" said Jonathan.
"We think it's too risky," said Mahiru. "I know you think you can deal with the giant robots, but if you're wrong about that, there's nothing to stop Monokuma using them to kill all of us."
"Well, he probably wouldn't want to do that," said Jonathan. "After all, it would ruin his game if all the players were dead."
"But even if he doesn't do that after he's won," said Chiaki, "there's nothing to stop him putting any of us who survive somewhere far worse…I think. Like in a prison. Or keeping us all on different islands, separated from each other. Somewhere we'd have no chance of acting together against him or of protecting each other ever again. The point is, we only get one chance to use your solution and it might not work when we do."
"Well, maybe you're right," said Jonathan. He gestured impatiently. "But what's the alternative? Is there anything Monokuma can do against us that's much worse than what he's doing anyway? He's trapped us here and he's planning to make us kill each other, one by one. Do you just want to sit here while he goes through with that?"
"But as long as we're together, we can look after each other, can't we?" said Sonia.
Jonathan's face darkened suddenly. "No, you can't, Sonia. Look, you know who was nearest to the truth last night? It was Hiyoko. Friendship isn't some kind of …magic, or something. It's useless unless you use it to fight together against whatever's oppressing you. This is real life, girls. The only way you stop the monster killing you is by killing it. You use force. That's what we've got to do now. I don't know, you're not much older than my own two daughters. Maybe you're still too young to have experienced it yet in your lives, but sometimes violence really is the only solution."
Mahiru reacted to this like potassium to water. "Jeez – how patronising!" snapped the red-head. "What do you know about what we have and haven't experienced? You know, you're a typical man. You don't care about whether what you do might endanger other people, as long as you think it'll achieve your goal! It's so selfish!"
"Oh, and wanting not to do anything dangerous isn't selfish? People will die!"
"Guys, please don't let's argue!" begged Sonia. But things had gone too far for that. Mahiru jumped to her feet.
"You know what, I'm finished with this! I'm going back to my cabin, cos suddenly I don't feel hungry any more. Say hi to the others for me, Sonia."
She stalked angrily out of the lobby, followed by Sonia, calling, "Wait! Mahiru, hold on!", and nearly bumping into a confused Nagito and Gundham as they walked through the door in the other direction. Hajime sprinted in a few seconds later, barely noticing Mahiru in his haste. Chiaki and Jonathan were left sitting awkwardly together on the sofa.
Chiaki sighed, pulled up her hood and took out her phone, which began bleeping electronically as she re-started the casual game she had been playing before Jonathan arrived.
"That didn't go very well, did it? I only wish I was better at handling disagreements…oh, well, excuse me, Jonathan. Enjoy your breakfast."
"What on earth was all that about?" asked Nagito.
"Oh, nothing," said Jonathan. "We just had…a small disagreement, nothing more."
"Guys, Mahiru and Sonia still think Jonathan's plan sucks," said Chiaki, without lifting up her head.
"AH!" said Gundham. "There is division in our ranks! SOWN BY SOME VILE FIEND, NO DOUBT! Yet, we must persist in the face of opposition, FOR WHAT MAN OF VALOUR ALLOWS HIMSELF TO BE DISCOURAGED BY SUCH BETRAYALS!?"
"For heaven's sake, Gundham, not so loud!" pleaded Jonathan. "We're being spied on, remember!"
Nagito clapped a hand on Jonathan's shoulder. "Don't worry, bro. You shouldn't let yourself be discouraged by these little set-backs. You're our hope-bringer!" He chuckled. "We'll bring Mahiru round to it, I'm sure."
Hajime stood there listening to all this, panting from his unaccustomed run and unable to speak. Once he had caught his breath, he said:
"And you, Chiaki. What do you think about it?"
Chiaki didn't respond, or even look at him. The game on her phone kept bleeping away. And that left Hajime so downcast over breakfast that even Ibuki Mioda's usual cheerful "Good nom…nom…nomming!" failed to raise his spirits.
Later that day, they had a further round of covert messaging for Jonathan to confirm the details of his scheme. It was becoming clearer now who was and who wasn't willing to take part in it. Neither Mahiru, nor Sonia, nor Hiyoko participated at all. Fuyuhiko Kuzuryuu hadn't even been involved in the first discussion, in keeping with his usual approach of not wanting to have anything to do with the other students if he could help it. Hajime had no idea where he even was. And as usual, without Fuyuhiko, they also didn't have Peko Pekoyama.
Oh well, thought Hajime, at least Gundham, Nagito and Kazuichi were still willing, not to mention Akane Owari and Nekomaru Nidai, both of whom had got particularly animated at the prospect of engaging Monokuma in open battle. For some reason Teruteru was still keen too, although Hajime didn't quite understand why. He'd assumed Teruteru would want to go with the side that had most girls on it.
And Chiaki…well, she was still there at any rate.
Dammit, thought Hajime, why does it matter so much to me what she thinks? Because he was starting to realise that it did. It wasn't as if he was that impressed that she had won the Call of Duty:Black Ops 4 category at the International eSports Games against an entire team of Americans who had wept openly afterwards. Even if President Trump had tweeted that it was a black day for the US and he was literally shaking right now.
OK, well maybe that last bit was kind of impressive. But still, she was only a mauve-haired chick who was good video games. It wasn't as if she was an expert on strategy or warfare or something…was she? But, then, was the Ultimate School Inspector, either?
"It's nearly full now," said Kazuichi. The usual faint chlorine smell emitted by the hotel pool was gone, replaced by a much stronger, if equally chemical, reek. It was just as well that Monokuma didn't have sensors that could detect smells, if he even had a sense of smell. Under cover of the darkness and the shadows cast by the adjoining buildings, Kazuichi had been crawling around connecting new, temporary pipes to existing ones and setting up pumps, draining the pool of one, stable, liquid and filling it with another, much more volatile, one.
"There," said Jonathan. "I told you there had to be tanks of petrol somewhere. All this electric lighting, giant robots, not to mention the vehicles. I just knew Monokuma had to have generators somewhere. After all, this is real life. It's not as if the island has its own power station."
It was almost as if he was trying to reassure himself. "You forgot the cookers," said Teruteru. "I mean, they need electricity too."
Hajime coughed discreetly. The petrol fumes were sticking to the back of his throat. "OK, Jonathan, you proved your point. We found it."
"Ah, sorry," mumbled Jonathan. He turned to Nagito. "Have the rest of you got everything set up?"
Nagito saluted, as though he were the junior officer in some war film. "Yessir! All in place and it just needs activating."
"Right!" replied Jonathan, and turned back to Kazuichi. "And the detonator?"
Kazuichi brandished a grey plastic box in his hand. Lengths of wire were hanging out of one end of it. "It's ready!"
From out of the shadows nearby came a sigh, merging with a yawn. "Guys," mumbled Chiaki, "that old Game Boy may not look like much to you…I think. But it has sentimental value for me and that's my only reserve battery. So can we get on with this, so I can at least find out whether it's going to survive the night or not?"
"I'm not too sure about your priorities here, Chiaki," said Jonathan. She shrugged. "But anyway, let's get going!"
They scrambled away from the petrol-filled pool and to a spot on the grassy fringes of the hotel, behind a large palm tree, in whose shadows the group crouched. As they ran, Kazuichi threw the ends of the wires into the pool and let the wires out behind him, until they trailed all the way back to the tree.
"This could really get messy," he muttered. "Are we sure there's no-one left in the cabins?"
"I texted everyone who isn't part of this to keep away from the hotel," said Hajime. "Even got a reply from Fuyuhiko asking "Hey, what are you bastards up to now?""
"Ugh, this must all look so suspicious," said Chiaki. "I warned you about Monokuma hacking our phones!"
"Well, it's too late to pull back now," said Jonathan. "If the worst comes to the worst – well, Mikan has set up a temporary hospital in Usami's Ranch."
"That's not at all reassuring," said Chiaki.
"Shush!" hissed Jonathan, who had been looking at his watch. It was time. He stood up, turned on the light on his phone and waved it in the direction of the hotel buildings. The response was almost immediate.
"Right you are!" bellowed Nekomaru. He drenched the wooden wall of Jonathan's cabin with more petrol from a jerry-can, ran a short way and threw a lit match on to a trail of petrol leading to the wall. Flames shot up the trail, then the wall itself, in a gratifyingly movie way and the cabin was soon ablaze.
Silhouetted against the flames, Nekomaru and Akane ran, jumped, pirouetted and cart-wheeled around, broke a couple of windows, and generally made as much noise as was humanly possible for them. That was a lot. They were joined by Ibuki. As instructed by Jonathan, the Ultimate Musician had got hold of a microphone and loudspeaker from the island supermarket and positioned herself some distance outside the hotel perimeter. She launched, at full volume and backed by her own mix-CD in a boom-box, into a tuneful and self-penned ditty called "Dracula's Run Out Of Brides Now, So He's Shacking Up With His Cousins Instead."
"HEY, MONAKUMA, WHERE ARE YOU?!" roared Nekomaru. "COME OUT, YOU OVER-STUFFED, SOCIOPATHIC PLUSHIE, AND FIGHT LIKE A REAL MAN! OR BEAR, WHATEVER!"
"YEAH!" shouted Akane. "WE'RE BRINGING YOUR LITTLE GAME TO AN END, FATSO! COME AND FEEL OUR BURN!"
The reaction was not long in coming. High-pitched laughter echoed around the island. "Pu-hu-hu-hu! So you wanna play rough, eh? Fine by me, but you're gonna live to regret this! Pu-hu-hu-hu!" Monokuma appeared over the horizon, seated on a jet bike, bazooka over his shoulder. And as Jonathan had hoped all along, his four mechas had joined him in flight, in pairs.
"He's taken the bait!" said Jonathan, and slammed his left fist into his right hand.
"SCREW YOU, MONOKUMA!" yelled Akane. "YOU'RE NOT A REAL VILLAIN, YOU'RE JUST SOMETHING A COMPUTER PROGRAMMER THINKS IS EVIL! LIKE, EVEN YOUR LAUGHTER IS A CLICHE! AND SO GIRLY!"
Monokuma and the robots had drawn closer. "Right, that's it! How dare you mock my evil laughter!" he cried. "Eat this snack,Akane!" The bazooka spat out a gout of flame behind the jet bike, and at the same time, the lead pair of robots fired their lasers, sending red beams arcing out into the darkness.
But Nekomaru and Akane weren't Ultimate athletes for nothing. At the perfect moment, they each flipped themselves to one side, out of the path of the missile and laser beams. The missile hit Jonathan's blazing cabin, which exploded, strewing lumps of burning timber and roof tiles and wrecked furniture across the hotel site, where they promptly set fire to other cabins. The beams hit two palm trees, and they went up in flames too.
"Pu-hu-hu-hu! Don't worry, I'll get you soon!" called Monokuma, as Akane and Nekomaru scrambled for cover.
"He's going to destroy the whole place!" cried Hajime. Monokuma and the robots screeched towards Jonathan's group, preparing to turn around and come back again.
"No, he isn't!" said Jonathan. "Do it, Kazuichi!"
Kazuichi pressed hard on the A button of the Game Boy in his hand. An instant latter, the petrol in the swimming pool exploded, just as Monokuma's party flew over it. A massive orange ball of fire and a wave of heat fired up and out, knocking everyone on the ground over on to their backs and setting alight pretty much everything in the hotel complex that wasn't already on fire.
As he scrambled to his feet, Hajime heard a high pitched scream. The flames had hit Monokuma, setting him, his jet bike and his robots alight.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" shrieked Monokuma, as the jet bike veered wildly off course and ploughed into the ground near the restaurant, where it threw its lot in with everything else and exploded. There were harsh metallic clangs as bits of the bike and its rider flew into the air and hit the ground across the site. One black-and-white arm landed right in front of the group behind the palm tree.
There was a second of relative silence, save for Ibuki's screeching in the distance.
"Oh, my God, I think we actually killed him!" cried Kazuichi.
"Hold on, it's not over yet!" replied Nagito. The leading robots, hopelessly damaged by the petrol blast, had fallen out of the sky and crashed into the countryside beyond the hotel, smashing into it with a thunderous boom like a couple of fighter jets breaking the sound barrier.
But the second pair had been more on the fringes of the blast. They were thrown back into one of the burning cabins, neatly transforming it into a heap of burning splinters. They weren't quite finished yet, and, like groggy boxers after a particularly hard punch, the two robots began to get to their feet.
"Do you see them, Nekomaru?" shouted Jonathan.
"Don't worry, it's all under control," came the Coach's gruff reply. Before the mecha could fully rise, Nekomaru and Akane ran at them, carrying a huge net made from several football nets obtained from the supermarket and tied together. Around its sides, they had strung bar-bells, weights and other heavy gym equipment, and they now flung it over the robots.
"HHHIIIIYYYAAAHHH!" shrieked Akane, as she hurled the net. The sudden extra weight was enough to drag the groggy robots back down to the ground and leave them floundering there.
Now, it was Gundham's moment. He leapt from under a walkway, where he had been hiding, brandishing what, Hajime reflected, would probably have been a frankly unjustifiable double-headed battle axe, had this been anyone else but Gundham.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! TASTE THE WRATH OF THE DARK OVERLORD OF ICE!" roared Gundham. He smashed the axe into the head of first one robot, then the other, carving through the armour plating in a shower of sparks. Both heads promptly exploded, followed by the bodies and Gundham barely had time to jump to one side before being caught by the blast.
"Wow," said a disbelieving Kazuichi. "We did it. We actually defeated Monokuma."
"We did…I think," said Chiaki.
The group behind the palm tree looked into each other's faces for a moment. Then Hajime called out:-
"We won! We won!"
Everyone hugged each other and began to dance around ecstatically in a circle. Over by the still burning cabins, Akane, Nekomaru and Gundham were also celebrating, fists pumping and Gundham waving around his axe.
Dizzy with excitement, Hajime turned to Jonathan, "So what do we do now…huh?"
For, before Jonathan could reply, there was a sudden flash of white light, like lightning, and…he was gone.
When Jonathan came to he was lying on his back, staring up into something completely white and blank and bright. He turned his head to one side, then to the other, and realised that the view was just the same – blank white void. Alarmed, he struggled up to his feet, but that changed nothing. He was standing on a white void, facing a white void, and behind him and to either side was nothing more than a void.
"My God," he thought to himself, "what just happened? We were having our moment of triumph, and then…this? Where am I? Have I died? Did Monokuma summon reinforcements we knew nothing about?"
"Ah, hello there, Jonathan." A voice broke the silence, coming from behind him, where a moment before there had only been emptiness. Jonathan spun around and faced towards it. A middle aged Japanese man was sitting in a rather battered looking green armchair and smiling at him, slightly awkwardly.
"Who the hell are you?" demanded Jonathan. "And what am I doing here? I should be with my friends, celebrating our victory together."
The man glanced at the floor, looking almost embarrassed. "Jonathan, I'm afraid that isn't going to be possible."
"Why not? Who says not? You? Who are you to decide that, God or something?"
The man sighed. "Well, in a manner of speaking, yes. I mean, I created the place where you were until a moment ago."
"Then send me back there!" demanded Jonathan.
"Again, I'm very sorry, but that just isn't going to be possible. Well, not in the way you would want it. Perhaps you would prefer to sit down…I have some unwelcome news for you."
"I will not sit down! If you have something to tell me, tell me here and now and with no prevarication."
The man shrugged. "OK, Jonathan, if you'd rather do it that way. I'm afraid the truth is…you don't actually exist. Nor do any of the people you've just been fighting with or the things you've been fighting against."
"No, that's impossible…that's a lie! How can Jabberwock Island not exist? I've just been there! This is reality, you can't just wave a magic wand and make it go away!"
"No, Jonathan. It's not reality, it's fiction. And I have that magic wand, because it's my fiction. You're a character in my video game, just like everyone else you've been meeting for the last few days, and you're causing problems for me. If I let you carry on as you've been doing, the story will end prematurely and, well, it won't be possible for people to complete the game. I simply can't allow that to happen. That's why I brought you here."
"No…no!" stammered Jonathan. "That can't be true – I'm real, not fictional! I'm a school inspector…the Ultimate School Inspector! I have a job, and a wife, and two children, and I need to get away from this island so I can see them again!"
The man shook his head. "You only have a wife and children because I wrote them into your backstory. They're just like you – made up. They don't exist. You can't get back to see them, because they aren't anywhere to be seen. The same with your Ultimate talent."
Jonathan sank to his knees, tears filling his eyes. His interlocutor got up from his chair and placed his hand gently on Jonathan's shoulder.
"I'm sorry to have to tell you these painful things, you know. It doesn't give me any pleasure, believe me. But in my job, you have to be lots of people. Sometimes the hero, sometimes the villain. You can do all kinds of things with a story, even change people's lives. But only if you tell the story that you want to tell, and at the moment, you're stopping me from telling it."
There was a long silence. Finally, Jonathan spoke, his voice cracking. "So what are you going to do with me?"
"I'll give you something no fictional character before has ever had – a real choice. Normally, you don't get them. It looks to the reader, or the player in my case, as if you're deciding what to do next, but really you have no option but to do what I was always planning for you. But this time, you really decide. I could just pull some kind of deus ex machina, bring Monokuma back to life and have him defeat you and the kids. That probably means someone else has to die and you have to be executed for it, or vice versa. Honestly, I'm not quite sure how I'm going to work that in and have a meaningful class trial, but I'm sure it's possible."
Jonathan shook his head. "No, not that," he said. "After what you've just told me, I'm not sure it matters what happens to me. But the kids…it would leave them defeated and divided. I would have achieved nothing and left them with nothing, except I suppose knowing that they can't solve this situation with force. No-one deserves all that, even if they aren't real."
"As you wish," said the man. "But the only other choice I can see is for you simply not to have been in the game at all. That you cease to exist and I restart from the beginning."
Jonathan breathed in heavily, and thought for a moment. Then he smiled. "You know what, I think I have another plan…"
As the sun sank into the western sea, its fading light made the grotesque carved heads of Monokuma Rock cast huge shadows over the peaceful lawns of Jabberwock Park. Fourteen students of Hope's Peak Academy stood in those shadows, dazed with shock, fear and exhaustion, and almost unable to move. They had just witnessed – no, just brought about – the horrific death of one of their number for the brutal murder of another, and they were struggling to process those facts or to decide how best to react to them.
For a long time, no-one spoke. Then, finally, Hajime said:
"Come on, guys, let's go back to the hotel. I know how everyone feels about Byakuya and Teruteru but…we can't stand around here all night. It won't do anyone any good. We have to sleep."
"Sleep?" muttered Mahiru. "Jeez, you think any of us will be sleeping much after what we've just seen? If you do, Hajime, you're more cold-blooded than I thought."
"Well, maybe we won't, but at any rate we've got to do something." With a sinking heart he wondered how they would manage without Byakuya Togami, the nearest thing to a leader they had. As for Teruteru, well, you couldn't really say even he'd deserved to end his life that way.
"I agree, guys…I think," said Chiaki. "We have to move on."
Nagito suddenly looked excited. "You're right, Hajime, we have to do something. You know, we may all be despairing now, but this could just be the stepping-stone to an even brighter hope, created by the Ultimates! I sometimes think…"
"Ah, who gives a fuck what you think, Nagito?" interrupted Fuyuhiko. "Come on, you bastards, let's get moving, before this idiot keeps us here forever with another stupid speech!"
Hastily, everyone began to walk away from the Rock and in the direction of the bridge to the first island.
In another Jabberwock Island entirely – a strictly unofficial and non-canonical one, of course, but just as real as the first one – fourteen jubilant students of Hope's Peak Academy and a school inspector stood on the beach of the first island, looking out over the blue waters of the sea as the sun rose.
There was still a strong smell of smoke from the now burnt out ruins of the hotel, but neither that nor some sheepish looks on the part of those who hadn't been present for the battle against Monokuma could dampen the sense of relief that they had survived the horrors that had been facing them, without losing a single life.
Fortunately for those at the hotel the previous night, Mahiru had already told Chiaki the location of the cave where Fuyuhiko and Peko had been hiding out. She had planned to use it as a refuge if necessary and had taken Hiyoko and Sonia there once they all saw Hajime's message and fled. Everyone had been able to shelter there overnight, although the small cave had been pretty crowded as a result and Fuyuhiko complained loudly.
Also, after an incident in the early hours that he disputed, the students collectively decided Teruteru should sleep outside the entrance.
Now Hiyoko ran around the beach shamelessly claiming that she "knew all along we could beat that bear," while everyone ignored her as best as they could. Akane and Nekomaru, who didn't seem at all tired by their exertions, wrestled noisily, and Mikan busied herself finding some throat pastilles for Ibuki, who had completely blown her voice singing during the fight.
Chiaki thought to herself about how pleased she was that her Game Boy was unscathed. Well, her two Game Boys, actually! She mentally reserved that joke to share with Hajime when they could get some privacy. It was kind of a rip-snorter, so she shouldn't waste it.
Jonathan and Hajime stood together, a little way from the others.
"So – what are we going to do now?" asked Hajime. "I mean, we have to get home now, don't we? We can't just stay on this island forever."
"Oh, of course," said Jonathan. "I was thinking of building a boat. After all, even with the hotel burnt down, there's still plenty of wood in one place and another, and we have Kazuichi to help us build it. It should be reliable."
"A wooden boat!" said Hajime. He looked out across the width of the ocean spread out in front of them, which seemed so large as to make such a craft seem as fragile as an eggshell. "I don't know about that. Will we be able to get back to Japan all on our own by rowing, or sailing?"
"Hajime," said Jonathan. "After everything we've been through, I have the feeling someone up there is on our side. A…higher power, if you will. Call it Fate, or Chance, or even a Person. And with that, I think we can pretty much achieve anything if we put our minds to it."