View from the Afterlife
by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters or scenarios, etc.

Chapter 1: The First Trial

"This wasn't part of the script… That bitch! She betrayed me! And after I was nothing but a loyal soldier!"

"Keep it down, Enoshima-san; I'm trying to watch the trial."

"…Maizono-san? Wait, where are we? Aren't I dead?"

"…Your voice sounds different." Sayaka, or more accurately her spirit, turned away from the "screen", if you could call it that, where she was watching the proceedings of her murder trial at Hope's Peak Academy. "Who are you?"

"…Mukuro Ikusaba. Junko is my twin sister, and no, I don't know why we have different last names. I was pretending to be her at her orders. My 'outburst' was supposed to get me punished, yes, made an example of…but she actually had me killed!"

"…Are you saying that Enoshima is the one behind all of this?"

"That's right. The Ultimate Despair. She's responsible for all of this. I thought I was her closest confidant…but it seems that I, too, was just a pawn. …So now that you know who killed me, who's the guilty party in this murder?"

"…If you're asking who killed me, it was Leon. That's what those 'numbers' mean—I really hope they figure that out. Because the real 'guilty party' in this mutual killing…is me."

"…Of course. That's why we're here. To relive our guilt and despair in it, all for my sister's sick pleasure. Though this still shouldn't be possible unless that weirdo with the hamsters really does have occult powers."

"'Weirdo with the hamsters'?" Sayaka asked.

"The rest of Ultimate Despair. They're a rather unstable bunch…many of them were a bit off even before Junko dug her claws into them. You'll likely be seeing the handiwork of another of them fairly soon."

"…I'd rather not watch that part." She switched off the "screen" once it became clear that the remaining students had correctly identified her killer. Mukuro was honestly surprised that such a thing was possible. Before long, Leon arrived and noticed Sayaka.

"…You bitch! You betrayed me!" He hit her in the face. "…Wait, how are you here right now? Am I in hell? Are you a devil sent to torture me for my sins?"

Sayaka calmly took the hit. "I deserved that. And if anyone's being tortured here, it's me. After all…it's just as much my fault that we're dead as it is yours."

"…Maizono-san? It's really you?"

"Yeah. You understand why I had to do it, right?"

"Because you're a selfish bitch?"

"Well, that, but that's not what I meant. After all, you'd already gotten your revenge for that, right? No, I meant why I had to betray you yet again as I lay dying." Leon didn't respond. "It wasn't because I wanted to spite you for killing me—although Celes-san was right when she said that it wasn't self-defense; that you could've just walked away when I locked myself in the shower instead of chasing after me and killing me. No, it was because if I let Naegi-san take the fall for you, I'd be dooming 13 innocent people to death instead of just one." She thought about this statement for a moment. "12 innocent people."

"You didn't seem to have any problem dooming those same people to death when you planned to kill me and frame Naegi-san."

"Yes, because that was self-preservation, and as we already established, I'm extremely selfish."

"…Wait, how did you know about what Celes-san said? And that there were only 12 of us left after my execution?"

Sayaka turned the "screen" back on. "You weren't exactly wrong when you said we were being tortured for our sins. We can see everything that happens there from here. I…switched it off as soon as you were voted guilty because I didn't want to see your execution."

"Pretty shoddy torturers, then. If you were really being tortured, you'd have been forced to watch. Who's she?"

"Mukuro Ikusaba. The not-so-innocent person. That was what you meant, right, Maizono-san? That not all of the people there were so innocent?"

"…Correct. By your own admission, you were placed there as a plant by the mastermind of this 'High School Life of Mutual Killing'. I pity you, because you were killed by someone you trusted, even loved…but you're not innocent."

"Oh, gee, now doesn't that sound familiar?" Leon asked sarcastically.

"…I deserved that, too."

"So, wait, what happened to Enoshima-san?"

"The 'Enoshima' you saw killed was me. The real Enoshima, my twin sister, is responsible for this entire event, as well as for The Tragedy. She's the one pulling Monokuma's strings, so to speak."

"I can understand why you don't trust her," Leon said to Sayaka.

"I wouldn't from your situation, either. Death brings a lot of clarity, as well as a lot of regret. I believed that I wasn't like the other members of Ultimate Despair; that I was supporting my sister of my own free will rather than because she had brainwashed me…but that was a lie. She used my feelings of familial love to manipulate me. In a way, I'm no different than Tsumiki."

"Who?"

"Another member of my sister's group. I'd say that you should pray you never meet any of them, but seeing as how we're already dead, the world would probably be better off if you did."

"And you said she—your sister—feeds on despair?" Leon asked. Mukuro nodded. "Well, then, she's got plenty of it here. I got executed as a murderer and I seem to have the fewest regrets. That thought alone is pretty depressing."

"…You don't regret killing me even a little?"

"Of course I do. Just apparently not as much as you seem to regret attempting to kill me and frame Naegi-san."

"…I hope no one else has to go through this."

CCX: Well, there's the first chapter of this. We're probably going to pick this up again after Chihiro's death, or perhaps we'll skip right on ahead to early Chapter 3. Until then, this is CCX, signing off.