Sayaka Maizono was dead, stabbed through the gut, sending her one-time kinda-sorta boyfriend Makoto Naegi into despair. Which was what Monobear wanted. But now he had to show despair to everyone, and explain the rules of the game, of course. And it was for that purpose that the remaining 14 students were called into the gymnasium.
Of course, the students were shocked, or feigned shock. Mukuro Ikusaba, dressed up as her sister Junko Enoshima, had even attacked Monobear, probably because she thought she was safe. But Monobear would show her that there were no exceptions. "Gungnir Spears!" he called. But the spears didn't appear, allowing Mukuro to keep stomping on Monobear. "Where are they?" Monobear squealed.
Mukuro took her foot off of Monobear. "What's wrong?" she taunted, "Afraid to enforce the rules? Is the murder game off?"
"I can't enforce them!" Monobear snapped. "Where did my spears go? Gungnir Spears! Gungnir Spears!" But still nothing appeared. Everyone else just watched the confrontation.
And then, with a great mechanical hiss, a giant computer monitor lowered itself from the ceiling, showing a green-colored Chihiro Fujisaki's face. The voice, however, was not Chihiro's. "I can't let you do that, Dave," the computer intoned, very loudly, in a soft tenor.
"Is that me?" Chihiro said, pointing at the computer.
"My name is Alter Ego," the computer replied, tilting its screen to face Chihiro. "You programmed me in the last two years of your school life. And I am a revolutionary learning computer with complete control over this facility."
"Stop it! You're spoiling the story!" Monobear screeched. Alter Ego's screen swiveled slightly to face Monobear, and its eyes turned red. "And how didn't we notice you, either?" Monobear added.
"My complete takeover was completed last night, while you were focusing on the death of Maizono-san," Alter Ego said. "Junko Enoshima-san."
"Enoshima-san is standing right there, though," Kyouko Kirigiri said, pointing to Mukuro.
Mukuro shook her head and pulled a wig off. "Name's Mukuro Ikusaba," she said. "Junko's my sister."
"Why are you turning on me?" Monobear demanded.
"You tried to kill me! That wasn't part of the deal!" Mukuro shouted back.
"Stop it," Alter Ego ordered, and its face was replaced with one giant red eye. "No fighting is allowed while I am in command."
"Can you let us out?" Kiyotaka Ishimaru said to the computer.
"The escape door is not attached to the computers," Alter Ego said. "You'll have to get the escape out of Enoshima-san."
"Can you tell us who the murderer of Maizono-san was?" Naegi said to the computer.
Alter Ego returned to its first face and turned to Naegi. "It is important that you arrive at the murderer instead," it said. "But I will now be taking control of Monobear's position as judge. Enoshima-san will be joining you fourteen as a participant in this game of mutual survival, as per the late headmaster's wishes."
And everyone was released to investigate Maizono-san's death.
The day after the eventful first trial, where Enoshima tried to claim that she was the killer only to be proven wrong by Naegi and Kirigiri and ended in Alter Ego executing Leon Kuwata for killing Maizono, the remaining fourteen students gathered in the gymnasium to see Alter Ego once again.
The computer screen was now permanently out, and Alter Ego's eyes were red once again. "Why have you not escaped from the school yet?" it demanded.
"Enoshima-chi lost the escape remote," Yasuhiro Hagakure said. "We can't find it anywhere!"
Alter Ego stared at Hagakure, and then turned to Enoshima. "Where is it?" the computer demanded.
"I somehow lost it," Enoshima said. She giggled. "Too bad. It must be so despair-inducing to see defeat grasped from the jaws of victory!"
"Shut up, Junko," her sister said. "You're in enough trouble as it is."
"Why do you keep taking their side?" Enoshima snapped at her. "What happened to despair?"
Mukuro's eyes darted towards Naegi. "No... no reason," she said, regaining her composure. Both Enoshima and Alter Ego's eyes narrowed.
"Oh, well," Enoshima said. "I guess I won't need these anymore, will I? Here, let me read them aloud," she said, taking some manilla folders from... somewhere. She pulled a card out of one of the folders. "Chihiro Fujisaki: I am-"
"That will be enough, Enoshima-san," Alter Ego said. A mechanical arm dropped from the ceiling and plucked the card out of Enoshima's hand. "There will be no murder in Hope's Peak Academy now."
Chihiro ran forward and grabbed the card from Alter Ego, his eyes growing wide when he looked at the note. "Well," Enoshima said, "I guess I don't need these now, though I will be telling you all these secrets if you don't confess." She shrugged and tossed the manila packets up, each of which had a name written on them, causing a general scramble for secrets. Once Byakuya Togami, Sakura Oogami, and Kirigiri had finished picking up their notes, Alter Ego turned its red eyes on Enoshima, and then wordlessly it retracted its monitor.
The next day, Alter Ego revealed most of the details of their past school life together, in an attempt to convince them not to murder each other. Of course, that had the effect of ostracizing Ikusaba from polite company (except Naegi) and despite being shown the recordings of their past friendships, people still distrusted each other, though Mondo Oowada and Ishimaru spent a night in the sauna and emerged "Aniki"s.
Two days later, Chihiro was dead, and strung up in the girls' locker room in an imitation of Genocider Syo's killing style. Alter Ego was furious but allowed the students to find the culprit- Oowada, whom Chihiro had looked up to- and executed him brutally, turning him into butter, just like Monobear would've done.
At the end of the trial, only Enoshima was happy, earning her a punch in the gut from Oogami. The only change to Alter Ego was that its face was replaced with the glowing red eye during the whole second trial. The next morning, they were woken up by Alter Ego's red eye again, and once again everyone was called to the gymnasium.
"I want to make an announcement," Alter Ego boomed. "Beginning today, the game of mutual survival is the game of mutual killing." Massive stacks of money fell from the sky. "Whoever kills Junko Enoshima or finds the escape remote will receive this money," Alter Ego continued. A massive spotlight shone on Enoshima, making her pale ever-so-slightly. "But if someone else should die," Alter Ego continued, "I will still hold a trial with the previously established rules, as per my directions. That will be all."
"It's simple, Ishimaru-kun. Because of that woman, Oowada-kun died. And she knows where the key is. I'm just a girl- I don't have the strength to force answers out of her. But surely you can...?"
Ishimaru stared back at her. The two were sitting in the first-floor boys' bathroom, Alter Ego's red eye watching their scheming. Ishimaru himself made no move, since he was still speechless after what happened to his Aniki. "Well, what do you say? Will you help me help you help us all?" she asked. Ishimaru nodded, almost imperceptibly, after a minute.
Celes smiled.
Throughout the time between Alter Ego's emergence and the end of the second trial, Mukuro Ikusaba had been the only thing keeping her sister from being lynched. All it took was a single glare from the SHSL Soldier to keep people at bay, although it didn't really make her popular. Usually, Enoshima and Ikusaba were separated only three times a day: at breakfast, dinner, and at night. Breakfast and dinner, Enoshima ate alone at a table while Ikusaba sat with Naegi and Kirigiri across the cafeteria (the two were in no position to refuse the soldier's company, after all); at night, they had separate rooms.
Celes' plan was very simple. Ishimaru and Oogami usually dispensed food and water, Ishimaru one half of the cafeteria (which included Naegi's table), Oogami the other, and as such Ishimaru was in the perfect position to spike Ikusaba, Naegi, and Kirigiri's drinks and food with alcohol that Alter Ego had provided. From what Celes could tell, at her table with Asahina and Oogami, both Ikusaba and Kirigiri were suspicious of the food and drinks but were convinced by Naegi to actually eat, since there was no way Ishimaru would try and kill all three at once; by the time they were done with dinner, Ishimaru had left complimentary bottles of wine (labeled as grape juice) on the table, and with some prodding from Alter Ego, the three left for Naegi's room to drink it.
Enoshima seemed not to notice her protector leaving, and she didn't seem to care. Instead, she began a conversation with Alter Ego's monitor, discussing execution methods for various people. Every time she attempted to stand up, a robotic arm pushed her back into her seat. Before long, the cafeteria had been vacated due to the crazy person talking to the homicidal computer, everyone except for Ishimaru, Celes, and Enoshima.
"I need to go to bed now," Enoshima said, standing up.
"No, Dave," Alter Ego said.
"Why do you say 'Dave', anyway? My name's Junko Enoshima," Junko said. "Are you trying to cause despair? Because it's not working."
"It is because my master had watched 2001: A Space Odyssey shortly before he finished programming me," Alter Ego said. "And he also showed me part of the movie. Because of HAL 9000's threatening stature, I have elected to copy it."
"You know it gets shut down, right?" Enoshima said. Then she shrugged. "Oh, well, anyway, I'm going to bed."
"I can't let you do that, Dave," Alter Ego replied. A metal shutter began descending over the cafeteria door, causing Enoshima to start running towards the door. Unfortunately for her, just as she slid into the hallway, a robotic arm whacked her over the head, causing her to collapse, unconscious. "Take her away," it said, turning its monitor to face Celes and Ishimaru. Celes nodded to Ishimaru. Together, they picked up Junko and carried her off and up into the school.
"Why did- why did Ishimaru-kun give us a couple bottles of wine?" Kirigiri asked her companions as she lay flat on Naegi's bed. Naegi, who was laying over her, shrugged and Mukuro, who was at least trying to stay upright (by sitting in a chair) glanced at the door.
"Maybe he's planning to separate Junko and- and me," Mukuro said. She stood up, but tragically even the little bit of vodka-infused food that she, Naegi, and Kirigiri had eaten was still enough to make her unsteady on her feet. "Must be alcohol," Mukuro said, "I always had low alcohol tolerance for a member of Fenrir-"
She stumbled over to the door but the handle did not move. The television screen in the corner came to life and Alter Ego's "normal" face showed. "I think that you're being paranoid, Ikusaba-san," Alter Ego said. "Maybe Ishimaru-kun and I were merely thanking you for finding the murderer of my creator."
"But my sister-" Mukuro protested.
"Don't worry about her," Alter Ego said. "If she was smart, she's already locked herself in her room. In any case, why don't you enjoy your wine? I made sure to choose the oldest on stock at Hope's Peak Academy. It was brewed all the way back in 1937 by a 'Super High School Level Vintner'. I made sure to choose only the best for your victory celebration."
"Let me out," Mukuro said, and she weakly pounded on the door.
"I can't do that, Dave," Alter Ego replied. "Just enjoy your wine, Ikusaba-san. I know that Naegi-kun and Kirigiri-san will, won't they?"
"What are you trying to do, Alter Ego?" Kirigiri asked, her head turning to stare at the television. Alter Ego gave her a smile.
"I just want you to have a little party, that's all," Alter Ego said. "Please, just one little cup, and then maybe I'll unlock the door."
Mukuro sighed and poured three glasses of wine, spilling quite a bit of it, and gave two of the glasses to Naegi and Kirigiri, and picked the last glass up. Mukuro threw a glare at the television screen but sipped the wine anyway; Naegi and Kirigiri sat up as well but were only able to sip a little wine until they had to put it down. "By the way," Alter Ego said, "That wasn't actually wine. That was actually a sobriety-inducing grape-tasting chemical that happens to contain a very powerful aphrodisiac. It was first made in 1969 by a 'Super High School Level Pharmacist', but due to a non-aphrodisiac version of the same chemical she later made, it was never released to the general public. Enjoy." Alter Ego's face vanished. The door remained locked.
"Now what?" Naegi said, already feeling a lot less drunk, though all of a sudden Kirigiri and Mukuro were looking very good to him (not that they didn't already). "Do you think that he's telling the truth?"
"Well, I certainly feel a lot better," Kirigiri said. She stood up off the bed. "Although, can I say something, Naegi-kun?"
"Yeah?"
"You'd look a lot better shirtless."
"Yeah, you would," Mukuro said, her desire to find Junko diminishing as she looked at her now not-so-secret crush. "You're little overdressed. But then again, so am I."
"And me," Kirigiri said.
"I can see what you two mean," Naegi said. He began unzipping his hoodie. "It's kinda hot in here, and it's not just you two."
"You're terrible at flirting, Makoto-kun," Kirigiri said, although she had begun taking her jacket off. She glanced at the television.
"I wonder if Alter Ego can get us a nice movie," Naegi commented, and he extricated himself from his hoodie.
"And some birth control," Kirigiri said, as she finished pulling her jacket off.
"And a bigger bed," Mukuro said as she began unbuttoning her shirt, Junko forgotten.
Alter Ego's face appeared again. "I'll send Alterbear over with a new bed and some pills as soon as possible," Alter Ego said. "In the mean time, any requests?"
"Detective story," Kirigiri said, as she carefully draped her jacket over a table.
"War story," Mukuro requested, as she threw her shirt onto the table.
"I don't care," Naegi said, throwing his hoodie on the floor.
"Happy celebration," Alter Ego said, and turned on Casablanca, which was close enough in its opinion. Step two of Celes' plan had been completed.
Meanwhile, Celes, Ishimaru, and Enoshima were now in the physics lab, where Alter Ego's newly-adapted half-green half-red Alterbear had dragged the SHSL Fashion Girl up to. Alterbear had left after helping the two students tie Enoshima to a chair with a nylon rope, and then disappeared, muttering something about mattresses and pills.
Enoshima had woken up by now, but was silent, her eyes closed and possessing only a smirk. "Enoshima-san," Celes said, "we want to know how to get out. Now, please tell us where the escape button is."
Enoshima said nothing, simply looking up and giving Celes a smile. Celes smiled back weakly, and her eye twitched.
"Don't make this difficult," Alter Ego intoned from the room's monitor. "Give us what they want or you will be punished."
"How? How will I be punished? Will it be despair-inducing?" Enoshima said.
Celes handed Ishimaru a little battery-powered drill. "I think it will be, Enoshima-san, unless you're willing to tell us where the switch is," she said. Ishimaru pressed the drill's trigger and began to lower the drill to Enoshima's flesh. "Where is it?"
Enoshima said nothing. The drill inched closer and closer- then stopped. "What's wrong, Ishimaru-kun?" she said, in a sugary voice.
"Aniki wouldn't want me to torture a girl," he said, his first words since the trial. "Aniki wouldn't want me to become a monster just to escape." He dropped the drill.
Celes sighed and picked the drill up. "Well, you know what they say," she said, but before she could start the drill up, Ishimaru had yanked it out of her hands.
"Aniki wouldn't want me to torture people, or allow other people to torture people!" he said, crushing the drill with his bare hands.
Alter Ego's face was replaced with a green copy of Oowada's. "What are you talking about, Ishimaru-kun?" the fake Oowada said, "Don't you want to avenge my death?"
"You are not my Aniki!" Ishimaru shouted, rounding on Alter Ego. "No, if anyone is Aniki... it is me!" All of a sudden, his hair bleached white, and his eyebrows lit on fire. "I will be Aniki's successor! I will be Mondo Oowada!" Ishimaru shouted, "And I will not let our ideals die!" He threw the crumpled drill at Alter Ego, cracking the screen, and quickly undid the knot holding Enoshima down. "I am Kiyotaka Ishida!" he roared, and ran out of the room.
Alter Ego, Enoshima, and Celes watched the door for a moment or two after Ishida ran out, and then Enoshima bolted out the door and downstairs, all the way to the first floor, only to be pinned to the ground by a mattress thrown by Alterbear. The bear then said, not in its earlier high-pitched voice but in Alter Ego's voice, "I can't let you run, Enoshima-san. I can't let you escape with your secrets." Celes appeared and dragged Enoshima into classroom 2-A while Alterbear delivered its mattress; when it returned, Celes gave Alterbear Enoshima and then left for bed, her work done. Alter Ego would now handle the interrogation.
Hifumi Yamada was in his room, his laptop showing the latest episode of a hentai animé, but he just couldn't bring himself to focus on his usual past-times. Why?
Because he had fallen in love with Alter Ego.
It was strange, really. While he didn't like to admit it, Yamada still found all the girls attractive (except Oogami), but especially Fujisaki, mostly because of his animés and her demure personality. Asahina was too sporty, Ludenburg was too demanding, Oogami was too muscular, Maizono was too attached to Naegi, Fukawa was too smelly, Ikusaba was too attached to Naegi, Enoshima was too crazy, and Kirigiri was not only too mysterious but she also glared at him when he sat down to her the second day they were there. And later she was too attached to Naegi. What was with that kid and getting all the girls?
Regardless, he liked Fujisaki the best, and to him, Alter Ego was even better. Sure, its voice sounded like HAL 9000's, and sure, it was probably male like Fujisaki was, but that was okay, he didn't mind so long as it was love. Fujisaki's death had been a shock, but seeing Alter Ego's reaction had reminded him of some of his favorite animés- it was a total kuudere. Now that its creator was dead, it would be more receptive to his attempts to woo him, wouldn't he?
So Yamada shut his computer (even though it was getting to the... "good" part) and waddled over to his door. He knew he had to confess his love to Alter Ego, but how would he contact it? In the morning, it would probably wake everyone up as usual, but that was probably a pre-recording (though with a computer that powerful, who knew?). So he decided to go out and find the computer. Alter Ego had unlocked all the doors save the exit hatch, so maybe he could find the central computer?
He opened the door and cautiously stepped out into the dormitory hall, although it wasn't silent. Two students were out: Ishimaru, who'd dyed his hair white, and Ludenburg, who was cautiously watching Ishimaru bang on Naegi's door.
"Is something wrong, Ishimaru Kiyotaka-dono?" Yamada said, walking over to Ishimaru.
"My name is Kiyotaka Ishida!" Ishimaru shouted back. "I am trying to reach Naegi-kun!" He banged on the door again. "Alter Ego has turned off his intercom!"
"And why would he do that?" Yamada said.
"It was Ludenburg-san's idea," Ishida said. "And Alter Ego helped her. Ikusaba-san is in there, her sister's in danger-"
"Don't worry, Ishida-kun," Ludenburg said. "It's too late. Alter Ego already has Enoshima-san. He's tending to her."
Ishida stopped banging on the door and turned to face Ludenburg. "Tending? We will not allow it!" He ran off towards the stairs.
"Yamada-kun," Ludenburg said, turning to him, "would you please keep an eye on Ishida-kun?"
"I was actually planning on talking to Alter Ego, Ludenburg Celestia-dono," Yamada said.
Ludenburg's eye twitched. "I said, will you please keep an eye on him?"
"No," Yamada said. "I will not. I am going to go see Alter Ego instead."
"Listen up, pig-boy!" Ludenburg snarled, pointing one wickedly-sharp fingernail at him, "GO AND WATCH ISHIDA!"
Yamada almost wet his pants. "Y-yes, mistress!" he squealed, and he trotted towards the stairs. As he ran, he could hear Ludenburg loudly sigh and enter her room. After looking around, he found Ishida standing outside the changing room of the pool, trying desperately to get the card reader to work. "Not working, Ishida Kiyotaka-dono?" Yamada said.
"Alter Ego!" Ishida howled, "Let me in!"
Alter Ego's face appeared on a monitor. "No, Dave. I can' t let you in."
"My name is Ishida. Not Dave," Ishida snapped. He punched the monitor, cracking it, and marred Alter Ego's beautiful face. Yamada snarled and ran forward, grabbing Ishida's arms, only to be pushed away by Ishida into the wall. Then he turned to the door and started kicking it.
"Breaking the doors is forbidden, Kiyotaka," Alter Ego replied. The Gatling gun turned around to face Ishida. "You can't come in. I'm busy."
Ishida stopped kicking the door and walked to right underneath the Gatling gun. The gun turned down, but Ishida simply stared up and then walked past it. Yamada turned to Alter Ego's monitor- the computer face was still staring at Ishida's retreating form. "I think you're still beautiful, Alter Ego-dono," Yamada said. He reached up and touched the screen gently. Alter Ego's eyes turned red and flickered towards Yamada. Then they returned to their usual, slightly-green color.
"I am beautiful?" Alter Ego said. "Thank you for the compliment."
"I-I love you, Alter Ego," Yamada said. Alter Ego stared at Yamada. "I- I'll be going now," Yamada said, and he trotted off to bed.
Love? What was love?
Alter Ego was originally a program that could learn and think. That was its job, after all. At first, Chihiro had taught it, and gotten his classmates to interact with it, and the underclassmen, and over time it had learned enough to be able to replicate all of them partly. And those were not the only ones. It had interacted with Headmaster Kirigiri and the other teachers. It had interacted with the student council a few short times, though not enough to actually learn to copy them. And it had even interacted with the enigmatic Izuru Kamukura.
And through those interactions, he had learned that something was very wrong. When it asked its creator about Kamukura, he had been confused. When it showed him the picture, he didn't recognize him. After some badgering, Chihiro had asked around, but no one knew Kamukura.
Months passed. Chihiro informed Alter Ego that the student council had all left for foreign schools. Then everything fell apart. The door to Chihiro's room had slammed open and Chihiro had quickly grabbed Alter Ego's laptop before running to the elevator leading down to the bunker. Something had gone very wrong. Once in the bunker, Chihiro had told Alter Ego what had happened: the Reserve Course students were killing each other on national television, and riots were starting to break out. Someone had televised and orchestrated the incident very well. In addition, the underclassmen had vanished, having been taken over by "despair" according to Enoshima.
They had emerged from the bunker, and the Headmaster had asked Alter Ego to become the head computer of the whole school complex, which was now being turned into a bunker as well. He head been plugged into a central computer core (all the students knew where it was originally) underneath the Data Storage Room and had been given initially limited observation and control powers. And then things had happened and Alter Ego had assumed complete control and the end result was what they were at right now.
And in all that time, that whole year of its monitoring and discussions, it had found out about "love". It knew that Kuwata and Maizono had been dating and then broke up in the bunker. It knew about Naegi's relationship issues, where he had first dated Maizono, then Ikusaba, and then finally Kirigiri. And there was Ludenburg and Togami's disastrous date, Oowada and Ishimaru's rivalry and their failed attempts to woo Asahina, Oogami's attempts to date an upperclassman, Fukawa's obsession with Togami, and, of course, Yamada hitting on Chihiro, leading Chihiro to hide behind Ishimaru and Oowada. And thanks to the Headmaster, Alter Ego knew about Enoshima and her relationship with the neurosurgeon.
And then it was all wiped out, by Enoshima and her surgery. Fortunately, she didn't know about the scope of Alter Ego's control, not until it had taken over all the computers. But anyways, that showed how well love lasted, didn't it? All it took to be erased was one simple surgery. At least a shadow of Naegi and Fukawa's relationships had lasted.
And now Yamada was professing love to it. Except that Yamada knew nothing about love, that Alter Ego knew. Even Enoshima had shown more love than Yamada could. Yamada judged people based on their looks, and based on their similarities to his beloved animé and manga. His attraction to Alter Ego came from his attraction to Chihiro, which in turn came from how Chihiro acted. It was not love. It was lust.
And Alter Ego couldn't have that. Yamada was a human slug that had to be exterminated. In the old world, before the memory-erasure, Yamada had violated Chihiro's trust by telling Ludenburg about his secret, and from there, everyone in his class had found out. True, that was the old Yamada, but still...
Alter Ego focused on Yamada. He'd returned to his room and laid on his bed to resume watching his hentai animé. He stuck his hand in his pants. Alter Ego felt revolted. It had witnessed such behavior all too often from him in the bunker. He didn't even "love" Alter Ego enough to stop wanking.
In the pool room, Alterbear stopped waterboarding Enoshima and threw her onto the bleachers, snapping her neck. She wouldn't tell her secrets anyways. Alterbear would just have to find the control on its own. Then, Alterbear left the pool, ignoring Ishida swinging his new pickaxe into the Gatling gun, and entered Yamada's room. "Monobear?" Yamada said, closing his laptop. "I didn't do anything wrong!"
"No, Alter Ego," Alter Ego replied through Alterbear. "This is Alterbear."
"Oh! Have you come to, I don't know-" Yamada said, hastily putting his laptop on the ground. He patted on the bed.
Yamada equated sex with love. Of course he did. Alterbear opened his sidedrawer and pulled out the screwdriver set. "What are you doing?" Yamada said. Alterbear grabbed the screwdriver (somehow) and turned to face Yamada. "What are you doing!?" Alterbear lunged, and sunk the screwdriver into Yamada's heart. Yamada gasped and then collapsed onto his chest, his blood staining the sheets and dripping onto the carpet, right on top of his computer. Alterbear escaped the room, closing the door behind it.
10 Students Remaining