Day 29

Yet another morning dawned for us. I knew from the moment I woke up that we'd reach the fifth island today. This time, the morning announcement had an additional message.

"We will be heading to the island today," Monokuma said. "Each of you have been provided a suit to wear, so please dress appropriately."

I put on my suit as I listened to the weather forecast, which predicted sunny weather all day. I took the notebook I had gotten from Akira-san with me, but left Kirishima-san's in my cabin. Even though both notebooks fundamentally served the same purpose, I thought of Kirishima-san's as a source of information that I could refer to when necessary, but saw Akira-san's as one that I'd fill together with her. Kirishima-san had entrusted me with his findings, while Akira-san believed I could fill her role, so I had no intention of letting either of them down.


At breakfast, the other three girls, as well as the three boys who bothered to show up, wore their suits. As I expected, the boys wore dark trousers instead of skirts, but that was the only difference. I was a bit glad that Monokuma made the girls wear ties, since I'd feel a bit odd wearing a button-down shirt and a blazer or suit jacket without a tie.

All of us looked nice, even if it wasn't too different from the boys' usual appearances in blazer-style uniforms, something that also went for myself and the blazer-wearing Tatsuki-san. It was a bit of a surprise to see Himeno-san and Sayuri-san dressed that way, but considering that the former had considered working in an office job, she'd probably wear a suit every day.

"I'm curious about something, ladies," I said. "Did any of you have trouble with the tie?"

"I had a little trouble," Sayuri-san said, "since the tie isn't like my sailor fuku's neckerchief. Luckily for me, Himeno-chan gave us some help, since she wore one at her old school."

Himeno-san smiled, glad to be of assistance.

"When Taiga and I got accepted into Talent High School, we decided to get some practice wearing the tie," Tatsuki-san said, "It'd taken us a while to learn how to tie the neck ribbon for our old high school, so we wanted to make sure we were ready for our new school. We wore our dad's neckties with our uniform while we were at home, and one day, almost went to school dressed like that, before Mom stopped us and made us change. We ended up barely making it to school on time."

Tatsuki-san sounded nostalgic as she recalled a memory she shared with her sister in happier days. All of us were probably wishing we'd never come here, or at least that the killing game had never happened, but there was a time when we'd been excited about getting into Talent High School- a recognition of our talent and a gateway to future success. Even after everything that had happened, I couldn't fault my past self for feeling that way.

Monokuma appeared, dressed in a black cap and gown with a shirt and tie underneath it. It seemed a bit strange for him to wear a collared shirt when he didn't even have a neck, and his robotic paws were probably not dexterous enough to button up the shirt or tie his tie. Maybe the traitor had helped him get dressed, or maybe this copy of Monokuma came with clothes already on him.

"Good morning, everyone," Monokuma said. "I see you're all dressed appropriately... including Asakura-san, who decided not to show up for some reason."

"I guess you used the camera in our cabin to check on him," Karita-san said. "Is his being a no-show a problem?"

"Not exactly," Monokuma said, "as long as he remembers to get off the ship by 9 AM... but in that case, it'll be his problem. I'm paying him a visit as we speak, and passing along this message."

So for now, we didn't have to worry about Asakura being out of the loop, or being suicidal enough to needlessly violate Monokuma's rules. Still, while Asakura had never fit in with us, things had never been as bad as they were at this moment. If he wasn't even willing to make the bare minimum effort to associate with us, then I feared the worst.

"Now for the news," Monokuma said. "Every day, there will be two lectures held; a morning lecture at 10 AM and an afternoon lecture at 2 PM, each of which will last an hour. Attendance isn't mandatory, but I won't be held responsible for anything that might happen to you if you don't show up."

I checked the rules and saw that Monokuma had added the part about the lectures to them. As I finished looking at the new rule, I saw that Monokuma had sent us the syllabus, which showed the lectures.

Towa University: Special Spring Break Classes For Class 32 of Talent High School

A study of the people, organizations and events leading up to the biggest, most awful, most tragic event in Hope's Peak's history.0

All lectures will take place in the Nagisa Shingetsu building's lecture hall, located in the southeast part of the island. (The document included a map with the location of the hall marked on it)

Morning lectures will take place at 10 AM and afternoon lectures will take place at 2 PM.

Day 1: The Study of Talent

Morning: Opening Ceremony

Afternoon: Schools of Talent: Hope's Peak and Talent High School

Day 2: The Killing Games

Morning: The Hope's Peak Academy Killing Game

Afternoon: The Talent High School Killing Game

Day 3: The Tragedy

Morning: The Rise of World Ender

Afternoon: Remnants of Despair

Day 4 and Beyond: TBA

"The one exception is today," Monokuma said, "since the morning lecture will be replaced by the opening ceremony, which is mandatory."

"What about the fourth day on the island?" Higurashi-san said. "Do you have anything planned?"

"I might," Monokuua said, "assuming you lot manage to make it that long without someone getting killed, which doesn't seem likely given your track record. If a murder does happen before then, and you manage to get through the class trial, I'll hold the lectures that I didn't have time for while en route to the last island."

Monokuma had a point, since most of the murders took place on the third day after reaching the island. Despite that, there was an exception- namely, the previous island.

"But never fear, students," Monokuma said. "I could ask the Ultimate Guitarist to put on a show... oh wait, she died. Maybe the Ultimate Songwriter could fill in for her instead. For now, let's just get through today, tomorrow and the day after that. Later!"

Monokuma left once again, and I turned to Tatsuki-san, who seemed less bothered than usual.

"A concert, huh?" Tatsuki-san said. "That might not be such a bad idea, actually."

"Oh, I agree," Sayuri-san said. "I'd love to hear your music some time."

"Me too," I said.

Himeno-san nodded, with a smile on her face, as did Higurashi-san and Kurogane-san.

"I appreciate that," Tatsuki-san said. "I'll still need to practice , but I'll let you know when I'm ready. My best guess is the day after tomorrow."

"Take your time," I said, "and let us know when you're ready. Since our schedules are open, I recommend making your announcement at breakfast on the day of your concert."

"Will do," Tatsuki-san said.

Tatsuki-san's promise was not a sure thing, since there was no guarantee that any of us would be around tomorrow or the day after that. Despite that, I appreciated having something to look forward to, rather than spending every day afraid that someone might end up dead by the end of the day.


Higurashi-san and I visited Mom. After greeting us, complimenting us on our appearance and hearing our report, she got down to business.

"So we've reached the fifth island," Mom said. "It's obvious that Monokuma will try to get you to kill each other once again, but I can only imagine how."

"Most likely by forcing us to do so," I said. "On the first two islands, he offered us an incentive, while on the next two, he threatened our lives. Neither is at all pleasant, though."

Even as I said that, I wasn't sure there was any specific pattern to the motives. If what I said was true and Monokuma was using harsher motives to push those of us who'd resisted the previous motives over the edge, he should have saved the deserted island with limited food and water for last.

"Anyway, I'm sure you understand what to do by now," Mom said. "Explore the island and make note of any points of interest or clues you find. Follow all of Monokuma's rules, since we don't want any needless deaths. Stay out of trouble, and try not to needlessly provoke Asakura-san. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Higurashi-san and I said together.

"Good," Mom said. "You know, you've been here for so long that I wonder whether you even need my help, limited though it may be."

"I'm glad to have it, Mom," I said.

"As am I, Sensei," Higurashi-san said. "To be honest, I wonder whether, if you'd been able to supervise us as our teacher, more of us would be alive by this point."

Mom sighed. She clearly regretted how things turned out as much as Higurashi-san had, so it seemed rather pointless to remind her of her guilt. Of course, Higurashi-san didn't seem 100 percent sure Mom would have been guaranteed to make a difference, and neither did Mom.

"Perhaps they would," Mom said, "which would explain why Monokuma keeps me down here. Of course, as a teacher, I can only show you the correct path and trust that you will take it."

I knew that Mom had a point. If she'd been present when I'd gotten into a fight with Asakura, maybe she could have mediated our dispute or handed down punishments to the two of us, but it was unlikely that she could have stopped the fight entirely.

Speaking of the rules, I realized that while Mom was a prisoner, Monokuma refrained from harming her as long as she followed his rules. It would seem like it was easier for him to kill her at the get-go, but did Monokuma hold himself to his own rules? Or did Mom have her own role to play in the killing game?


The eight of us exited the ship and saw that the island before us was fairly large. It looked like the campus of a modern university, and a sign up front, "Towa University," seemed to confirm this.

We found a map of the island at the shore, and found that the island was relatively flat and mostly circular, with seven buildings circled around a quad, each some distance from the beach. We'd docked at the south end of the island, and found that it was a relatively short walk to the Kotoko Utsugi Quad. All of the buildings were, by my estimation, a few minutes of walking apart from each other, and their front doors faced the quad.

To the southeast, there was the Nagisa Shingetsu Hall, a building with various classrooms and a lecture hall. It was one of the larger buildings in terms of its footprint on the island, but was only two stories tall.

To the east, there was the Sonia Nevermind Library, a four-story tall library in an odd shape; the bottom two floors were light green and hexagonal, while the top two were red and rectangular, and the latter two seemed to be a fraction of the first two floors' size.

To the northeast, there was the Teruteru Hanamura Dining Hall, a flat one-story building. Like with the other dining locations we'd encountered on our cruise, students were responsible for serving themselves.

To the north, there was the Monaca Towa Center for Science and Technology, which apparently doubled as the school's administration center. At five stories, it was the tallest building on the island, and each of the floors was relatively large.

To the northwest, there was the Jataro Kemuri Gallery, a relatively small two-story art gallery. The outside was garish and it seemed to have rusted pieces of metal welded to the sides; it stood out even more than the library.

To the west, there was the Ibuki Mioda Center for Performing Arts, which seemed to be about the same size as the lecture hall. It didn't seem too odd, but when I actually looked at it, it had a sign labeled "Titty Typhoon" in English out front for no apparent reason.

To the southwest, there was the Nekomaru Nidai Center for Athletics, a two or three story tall gymnasium that had the Masaru Daimon Playing Fields behind it in a peninsula that jutted out behind the performing arts center.

Our first destination was obvious enough, so we set out to the Nagisa Shingetsu Hall's lecture hall, getting a glimpse of the quad in the process. It had a series of eight paths, leading to each of the buildings, with a circular path going around the center. There were small grassy areas, a few trees and benches to sit on all over, making it the perfect spot for a picnic. Of course, we didn't have time to stop, since we had places to be, and so headed straight to the opening ceremony.


The Nagisa Shingetsu Hall had several classrooms around the building. In the center of the building, there was a single lecture hall that took up much of the interior space; the main floor of the lecture hall was on the first floor of the building, while some of the back rows of the seats could be accessed from the second story. There were probably at least a hundred seats in the lecture hall, enough to seat the class many times over even if everyone had survived this long.

Six members of the group- myself, the other girls, Higurashi-san and Kurogane-san sat down in the center of a row that was near the middle of auditorium, albeit slightly closer to the front than the back. Karita-san sat at the front of the auditorium, while Asakura moved toward the back.

Sitting in a university lecture hall while wearing a suit, I actually felt like a real college student attending my school's welcoming ceremony. Since I was the sort who would struggle to get into a good college, I'd be quite proud of myself if I actually managed to get into a good school. I couldn't help but miss the days when I worried most about my grades and entrance exams, rather than which of my schoolmates would be still alive tomorrow.

Once all of us were seated, Monokuma stood up on the podium and spoke to the microphone.

I'd like to thank you for coming to Towa University's opening ceremony, and congratulate you on getting into this school. You eight are the first class to be admitted to this prestigious educational institution.

The world has changed. In the past, a college degree was the ticket to a good job that would enable you to earn a living, but today, earning a living is the least of your concerns. You will need to adapt and survive in a world that may not need the skills that you cherish most, and that has less need for an education than for good survival instincts.

This school will give you what you need. By the time you leave here, if you live long enough, you'll understand how and why the world changed as it did, and what your place in the new world will be. You'll also gain the mental fortitude you need to survive in a world that has given up on hope.

So you should make the most of your time at our school, and learn as much as you can. It won't be an easy time but if you have the right mindset, it might just be fun. Thank you for your time, and I hope you have a fulfilling stay at Towa University.

Monokuma bowed deeply, concluding his lecture. He actually sounded like a real teacher, even if his lectures weren't remotely acceptable at any real school.

"So there's going to be at least five more lectures," Sayuri-san said. "Surely Monokuma knows that having someone delivering a lesson to a large crowd is an amateur's method of giving exposition?"

"Maybe it is," Himeno-san said, "but while I may not be a writer, I can see situations where people would just want the information given to them straight out, without worrying about boring the reader. If I was a character in a story and met the one person who knew everything that's going on, I'd ask them to sit down and explain it to me. It's a shame that this time, that person is Monokuma..."

"You're right about that, Himemiya-san," Karita-san said. "If I were you, I'd be careful not to unquestioningly believe whatever Monokuma might say."

Himeno-san turned to face Karita-san, as did I. At this moment, it occurred to me that Karita-san, who'd been the last to sit down, had chosen his seat strategically. In addition to keeping as much distance from Asakura as possible, he could hear anything the six of us might discuss.

"Fair enough, Karita-san," Himeno-san said. "That said, while Monokuma isn't above lying, if the status of the outside world is as bleak as he implies, he doesn't need to lie to drive us to despair."

"You're right about that," Karita-san said, "assuming what we 'know' about the rest of the world isn't a lie, of course."

"Maybe it is," Himeno-san said. "Of course, Monokuma knows that if we discover that he's lying, we're less likely to believe him. He's thus unlikely to tell unnecessary lies... at least not if he might get caught."

"I can tell he's pretty sure that won't happen," Karita-san said. "After all, when have we ever tried to call his bluffs?"

Karita-san's question, one that we didn't want to answer, brought the conversation to a halt. After a minute of silence, he eventually got up and left. We sat in silence for a moment or two, then the rest of us left the lecture hall to begin exploring campus.

As strange as it seemed, all of us took Monokuma's words at face value even though none of us liked or trusted him. None of us were willing to break any of his rules, from not leaving or boarding the ship by the deadline to attacking him directly, since we "knew" we'd be punished with death, even if we hadn't seen anyone actually being punished. We were willing to sentence the blackened to death because we "knew" that the alternative- the spotless being executed- would be even worse. Even the blackened who'd sought to graduate committed their crimes because they "knew" that if they succeeded, Monokuma would keep his promise and let them go. Like Karita-san said, all of us were too scared to find out whether Monokuma's threats were empty, which might be one reason why so many of us had died.


We didn't have a plan for exploring the island, so I decided to start with the most important-looking building- the Monaca Towa Center for Technology and Science to the north. It was on the other end of the quad, so after a leisurely stroll that took a few minutes, I arrived at the technology center, a five-story office building.

Once inside the lobby, I saw a map of the building and a list of the floors. Each of the floors seemed to be rectangular, with a hallway going around the floor in a figure eight. From what I could tell, there were labs and offices on the outside of each floor, while bathrooms, supply closets, and the elevators were on the inside. Speaking of elevators, there were two- one to the north and one near the entrance to the south- while the stairs were in the middle. The first elevator was more or less a standard one, with a call button on the outside, a thick sliding metal door, and a digital display above the door that had a number denoting what floor the elevator was on. The "3" that the front elevator displayed seemed to indicate it was on the third floor right now.

The list of the floors was as follows.

Floor 1: Biology

Floor 2: Physics

Floor 3: Chemistry

Floor 4: Programming

Floor 5: Technology and Robotics, Administration

I decided to start with the ground floor, which had several classrooms and laboratories around the outer edge of the floor. There wasn't too much that was noteworthy in this wing of the building, as while the labs had a good amount of equipment, there weren't any specimens. The blackboards were mostly clean, although I saw one picture of meteorites flying at a city that looked like Tokyo, with the caption, "A virus from a meteorite? What is this, some kind of crappy sci-fi film?", which ended up being good for a chuckle.

Once I was finished, I called the rear elevator, which, fortuitously, was already at the ground floor, and stepped inside. The elevator inside was mostly nondescript, with one button for each floor, a couple other buttons that were used for emergencies, and a digital display showing what floor the elevator was on. I tapped the button labeled "2" and ascended to the second floor.


On the second floor of the building, there was a physics lab, and I saw an air purifier, a large machine that took up most of the room. Upon further examination, I saw that it was actually a replica, and wasn't even turned on.

I noticed a plaque posted on the air purifier. After giving the device's formal name, it said that it was the brainchild of the Ultimate Physicist of Hope's Peak Academy, and had been "borrowed' by Talent High School. Perhaps they meant "stole," but if this bit of technology could save lives, it only seemed fair to share it.

I didn't find much else on the floor, nor did I spot any of my other classmates, so I decided to head up to the next floor.


I headed to the third floor of the building, and saw the chemistry labs.

The first one that caught my eye was a lab saying "Dangerous Poisons." Apparently, Sayuri-san had noticed it, too, since I saw her looking at a cabinet full of dangerous poisons. If she'd gone straight here, she probably had a better sense of priorities than I did, at least when it came to exploration.

"Oh, hello, Chiyuri-chan," Sayuri-san said. "I suppose this cabinet full of poison speaks for itself, doesn't it?"

I nodded. Practically anything could be used as a murder weapon, but poison was one of the few things that couldn't be used for anything besides killing.

"It's fairly obvious what we should do with it," I said. "Unfortunately, we probably can't dispose of them without running afoul of the 'no littering' rule.

"That's exactly right, Nagato-san," Monokuma said. "You think I'd let some perfectly good poison go to waste?"

"If you say so," I said. "I guess it's fairly convenient that robots can't be affected by poison, is it?"

"You could say that," Monokuma said. "Anyway, I've got good news and bad news. The good news, like I said earlier, is that you can't just dump out the poisons- you have to at least try to kill someone with them. The bad news is that none of the chemical vials, or any other container with poison in it, can leave this building."

So Monokuma had helpfully closed one loophole- someone dumping the chemicals into another container and taking that container out of the building, probably to kill someone.

"And one more thing," Monokuma said. "In the rare chance that any harmful chemicals happen to get out of the building, putting them into the food in the dining hall is strictly prohibited. If you want to kill someone, you've got to be more creative than that."

"I'm glad you're making things a bit more difficult," I said, "but there's still no shortage of murder weapons around campus."

"Quite astute of you, Nagato-san," Monokuma said, "so I'm sure that you'll think of something. In my day, we committed murders with knives, dumbbells and hammers, not high tech stuff like giant robots, hydraulic presses and electric hammers. Use some imagination, and you'll go far. Later!"

Monokuma departed.

"So at least no one can take the poison out of this building," Sayuri-san said, "but what can we do about it, apart from you and Nobuhiro-kun asking everyone not to come in?"

"That's... basically it," I said. "In a nutshell, the killing game is about Monokuma giving us the means and the motives to commit murder and try to graduate, and all we can do is restrict access to those means and give reasons not to try to graduate. Since anyone who wants to kill someone inevitably finds a way, I guess it boils down to whether we're decent people at heart."

"You could say that," Sayuri-san said. "The prospect of killing someone and sacrificing everyone else for your own survival is a terrible one, and I don't see any way to justify placing so much value on your own life that you'd cause harm to so many others. I think Tatsuki-chan is the one who's most aware of that, which is why she believed that she didn't deserve to live."

I was at a loss for words for a moment. Trying to graduate was obviously a terrible thing, but even so, I couldn't really bring myself to hate the blackened... least of all Akira-san, who hadn't even become one by choice.

"Tatsuki-san was desperate," I said, "just like Yamazaki-san was. She thought her sister would ultimately die if she stayed in the game, while Yamazaki-san didn't think we would get through this. The only way to overcome that desperation is to have something to believe in enough that you won't compromise it just to survive"

"You're right," Sayuri-san said. "What I believe is that none of us deserves to die. No one's life is inherently worth more than anyone else's, so no one is expendable, and no one person is worth sacrificing everyone else. As painful as it was to lose Kanae-chan, Miharu-chan and Akira-chan- the latter two on the same day- I won't give up on caring for others."

"I'm glad you think so," I said. "I guess that's what puts you apart from those who killed others, right?"

"Well, Tatsuki-chan understands this, too," Sayuri-chan said, "which is why I can forgive her, after all. Despite believing what I did, I still voted for her, simply because I had no other choice."

"Neither did I," I said, "but when we do have a choice, we owe it to ourselves, our friends and those who have died to do the right thing."

I realized that the class trials temporarily united all the spotless against the blackened- the selfless wanted to keep as many alive as possible, while the selfish wanted to keep themselves alive- and the only problem was that we didn't know who the blackened was. Perhaps it would be someone who'd always come off as unpleasant and only out for their own interests, or it would be someone who'd professed ideals that they didn't actually believe in. One way or another, we'd have to face a harsh truth, and someone would have to die.


I went to the Programming center on the fourth floor. The floor had rooms full of computers, from laptops and desktop PCs to giant mainframes that were at least the size of a refrigerator. Unfortunately, while all of the computers had power, none of them had any access to the internet.

While looking, I saw a document titled "Alter Ego: The Future of Artificial Intelligence." The document was too long and technical for me to read it in its entirety, but the basic gist of it was that this project was meant to develop an AI with human-like sapience. The most shocking part was that the document claimed that the project could not only equal a human's intelligence, but perfectly replicate someone's consciousness.

The thought of achieving anything like that struck me as impossible, since we were more than our minds and our bodies. We also had feelings, memories and desires, small things that stirred us to seek to truly live, rather than just get from one day to the next. I was probably the only Christian in this class besides Mom, while the rest of us were probably Shintoists who didn't openly identify themselves as such, but one thing we all had in common was a belief that people had a "soul" of some kind, or at least a part that makes us human, even if it doesn't persist after death.

As I was reading, Monokuma stopped by.

"Ah, hello again, Nagato-san," Monokuma said. "Doing some light reading, I see?"

"Perfect timing, Monokuma," I said "I actually wanted to ask you something. Did someone's consciousness get uploaded into your robotic brain?"

"That's possible," Monokuma said, "but I'm not saying who."

"Because that person's the traitor?" I said.

Monokuma shook his head.

"Again, I'm not saying," Monokuma said, "but I will tell you this. Even if I am the Alter Ego version of someone in this class, killing my flesh and blood self won't inconvenience me in the slightest. As to whether I've already done so, or whether I will... again, I'm not telling."

"Interesting," I said. "So the questions you won't answer will probably be key to determining who you really are, and who the traitor is."

"Maybe they will, maybe they won't," Monokuma said. "You might try asking around if you're so keen on finding out, but be warned- the traitor will never spill the beans. See you this afternoon!"

As Monokuma left, I pondered his parting words. If he seemed confident that the traitor who'd betrayed their entire class wouldn't betray him, either, then it was most likely that the traitor's memory of the betrayal had been erased along with all the others of the past few years.

One thing was clear. If we set out to kill the traitor, our attempt would almost certainly result in an innocent person's death, and a person who'd acted out of good intentions being executed. No one would benefit from that outcome, except Monokuma, so I hoped we'd never have to experience that.


I went upstairs and found the Kazuichi Souda Robotics Lab, which was at the rear end of the fifth floor, just across from the elevator. For some reason, the lights were off in the windowless lab, which was pitch black inside; all the other rooms were illuminated by the midday sun shining through the windows and/or the lights. I fumbled around the wall next to the door and flipped the light switch upward, turning on the ceiling-mounted ights..

There was a conveyor belt running along the back wall, but I didn't see any sort of parts on it. There were a few robotic arms on the conveyor belt, but they were standing idle, not working or obstructing whatever objects might be carried on the conveyor belt. There were also a couple monitors, but while they seemed to be turned on, I couldn't quite decipher the data that they were showing. Off to the side, there were a few robot prototypes, all of which looked like miniature Monokumas.

Once again, Monokuma showed up to play tour guide.

"Welcome to the Kazuichi Souda Robotics Lab, Nagato-san," Monokuma said, "and congratulations on being the first to make it there."

"Thanks, I guess," I said. "Does the lab make copies of you? If so, is that why you have extra copies of yourself"

"As if," Monokuma said. "Machines break down or can be used against you, so I have no need of things like that. Besides, I would have been in real trouble if I'd run out of copies before we made it here."

"I thought so," I said. "Is that why you have a rule against attacking you? Because you're afraid one of us could destroy you?"

Monokuma laughed out loud.

"Let me ask you this," Monokuma said. "Do you swat a fly because you're afraid of it causing harm to you? No! You swat it because it's a pest, and because you can. Rule 9 exists for one purpose- to see which of you are dumb and/or suicidal enough to defy me. I'm personally glad none of you value your life that little- not even Taiga-san- since it'd be boring if none of you wanted to live. Then again, it'd be boring if none of you were willing to risk your lives, either."

I briefly imagined the scenarios Monokuma described. In the former scenario, we'd probably end up attacking Monokuma in a futile act of defiance, try to unlock the bridge or throw ourselves overboard. In the latter scenario, we'd probably go through the motions and end up staying at the first island for the rest of our lives. I wasn't happy with the way things had turned out, but it was a lot better than either of those scenarios.

"Anyway, the eight of you who are still alive seem fairly sharp," Monokuma said, "so I'm sure you'll keep things interesting. Until next time!"

Monokuma departed. Having seen all there was to see here, I decided to move on.


I looked around the administration section, which was directly above the part where I'd entered, just across from the elevator nearest to the entrance.

My first stop was a security office- a place where the security could store equipment and monitor the cameras set up around campus. Like with the prison, we couldn't actually use any of the cameras, since the monitors were turned off.

I did, however, see Higurashi-san, who was looking around. When I walked in, he turned to me.

"Ah, hello, Nagato-san," Higurashi-san said. "You came at just the right time."

Higurashi handed me a walkie-talkie.

"I found a pair of these in here," Higurashi-san said. "They should have enough range for us to stay in contact even if we're on opposite ends of the island."

"That's certainly useful," I said, "but is there only one pair?"

"I'm afraid so," Higurashi-san said. "For now, we should hold on to these, as the leader and vice-leader of our class, and as Asakura-kun's most likely targets. If you feel threatened, please give me a call."

"Understood," I said, "but what about Karita-san? It's possible that Asakura might try to harm him... unless he thinks he'd be too obvious of a suspect"

Higurashi-san sighed and shook his head.

"If there were a third one, I would consider giving it to him," Higurashi-san said, "but I am concerned that he may use it to deceive us. We can only trust that someone as self-centered and concerned for his own survival as he is will do everything he can to stay alive."

"Fair enough," I said. "So now that we're going to use these to keep in touch, shall we practice how to use them?"

"Yes, let's," Higurashi-san said. "If you want to call me, first you..."

We spent a little while testing out the walkie-talkies to make sure we knew how to use them. Higurashi-san then left the building ahead of me, doing one last long-range test to confirm that I knew how to answer the walkie-talkie. Higurashi-san was a bit fuzzy on the lingo used while communicating on it, so he decided not to give me a hard time if I didn't conclude my transmissions with "Over" or sign off with "Over and out." We were all out of our element in various ways, so having trouble with walkie-talkies barely mattered in he grand scheme of things.


After I finished practicing talking over the walkie-talkies with Higurashi-san, I stopped by the university president's office. The office looked like what you might expect of a school administrator, with a fancy desk, a few bookshelves and a giant portrait. On the desk, there was a desk plaque saying "Monaca Towa" in kanji. The office also had a laptop and a phone, but the laptop seemed to be broken, and the phone, while plugged in and receiving power, had no service.

The portrait at the back was the most striking. There was a young girl in green hair posing with someone I recognized- Junko Enoshima, an up-and-coming fashion model. I didn't know who the girl was, but I assumed she was Monaca Towa, the university's namesake. I personally found it a bit hard to grasp that the university was named after someone so young, unless the girl in the picture was named after the founder, and was the founder's daughter or granddaughter.

"I'm glad to see you found this place, Nagato-san," Monokuma said. "Were you hoping to meet with the person in charge of this campus?"

"Not exactly," I said, "because we haven't seen a single person apart from the seventeen of us in this class. I don't have any reason to believe that will change now."

"Nope, none at all," Monokuma said. "It's not as though this is a real university, anyway."

I wasn't exactly surprised. This island had all the major facilities associated with colleges- places to hold class, study, do research, put on performances and exercise, among other things- but it was lacking in many other places. Where would the students and faculty live? How would people get here, apart from by ship?

"It doesn't seem as though any of this is," I said. "All these empty buildings on remote islands, with no sign of disuse or disrepair. Are all of these places made just for us?"

"Not all of them," Monokuma said. "At least one of them is real."

"I'm guessing the island with the prison?" I said. "It seemed like it was in the worst condition."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Monokuma said, "because you haven't seen the last island yet. Speaking of which, you should probably focus on the rest of the island for now. Later!"

Monokuma disappeared once again. He seemed oddly evasive, so either I was on to something, or he was right and I was getting ahead of myself... assuming both weren't true. There was no point worrying about this, though, not when I had pressing concerns, so I headed to the near elevator, took it back down to the ground floor, and exited the building.


After finishing my investigation of the Science and Technology Center, I chose to head counterclockwise around the island, since I wasn't hungry for lunch just yet.

My next stop was the art gallery. On the first floor, the "3D Floor," there were sculptures, metalworking projects and other such things. An entire room held a gallery of weapons, from a katana with a gold leaf sheath and hilt to a "Spear of Gungnir," a long metal spear with a cord attached to the rear end of it. Another room held five miniature replicas of what looked like giant robots, labeled "Hero," "Priest," "Warrior," "Sage" and "Mage," as if they were classes in a role-playing game. Yet another room had all sorts of Monokuma-like sculptures.

On the second floor, the "2D Floor," there were paintings, photographs and other pictures. Most of the art in there was rather disturbing, showing riots, Monokuma's head placed on national landmarks, and even a few parodies of famous works of art and movie posters that featured Monokuma in some way or another.

I found a wing of the gallery dedicated to Talent High School, and Kurogane-san was there. He didn't seem to notice me when I approached.

"Oh, hello, Kurogane-san," I said.

Kurogane-san said nothing, since he was staring at a portrait, although I thought I saw a tear roll down his face. I turned and saw that the wall he was facing had four portraits of Talent High School's two most recent classes.

The first was a portrait of Class 32 of Talent High School- namely, us- dressed in gray blazer-style uniforms with white dress shirts and red neckties. The shorter students, like me, were seated in front, while the taller students, like Kumakura-san, stood in the back. Someone had drawn Xes on the faces of everyone who had died on the killing school trip, although one could still recognize the dead students. For those who didn't know their names, there was a list of names beneath the photo, listing us in the order we sat- row by row, from left to right.

The second was a picture of the 32nd Student Council of Talent High School. There were five people shown- myself, Higurashi-san, Himeno-san, Mihama-san and Tsukimura-san, the latter two of whom were crossed out. Apparently, according to the caption, Higurashi-san was president, I was vice president, Mihama-san was treasurer, Himeno-san was PR rep, and Tsukimura-san was the secretary. It seemed a bit hard to believe that this photo was real, but if we'd forgotten the past few years, anything was possible.

The third, the one Kurogane-san was looking at, was the Class 33 class picture. Like our class photo, it also had two rows of eight students each- one seated, the other standing. If the Xed out students were dead, then Class 33's death toll was noticeably greater than ours, as there were only four survivors- two girls and two boys. According to the list of names, the surviving girls were named Kaori Miura and Sae Edogawa, while the surviving boys were Shinichi Inoue and Yusuke Tezuka. I'd heard about Edogawa-san's Aiko Aizawa books, as well as a few works of art by Tezuka-san, and had even seen an article about Inoue-san, but Miura-san was an unknown with a strange talent, "Beginner's Luck." Miura-san aside, they seemed famous and accomplished enough to earn admittance to Talent High School once they got into high school.

The last portrait was the student council picture. There were only two survivors out of the five girls in that picture- Miura-san and Edogawa-san.

"So if the people with crossed out faces are dead, other Talent High School students must have died," I said. "What do you suppose happened to them?"

"I don't know," Kurogane-san said, "but maybe they were caught up in another killing game. But if that's true and most of Class 33 is dead, that means..."

I checked the list of names again and saw "Shiro Kurogane" on it. Sadly, he was one of the twelve students who had been Xed out.

"So your cousin's dead..." I said. "I'm sorry..."

"I don't want to believe it," Kurogane-san said. "I'd like to think it's just a coincidence that whoever vandalized our class photo only crossed out the ones who died, and that the same applies to Shiro's class photo. But if Shiro was invited to Talent High School because of his talent for shogi, his class probably ended up in a killing game, just like ours, and if so, he probably did, in fact, die."

I didn't know what to say to that, since I couldn't think of any way to offer comfort to Kurogane-san. We'd already lost half the class, so it wasn't too hard to imagine our numbers being cut in half again, just like with Class 33. Perhaps one or both of us would die by the end.

"What's worse, if Shiro is indeed dead, I don't even know how or why he died," Kurogane-san said. "Did he get murdered? Or did he kill someone, and did he end up getting executed? I'm not sure I want to find out..."

"Neither would I, if I had a cousin in your situation," I said. "I know this doesn't mean much, but..."

"It's good enough," Kurogane-san said as he wiped away a tear. "Thank you."

Kurogane-san asked for some time alone, so I let him leave the gallery by himself; the last I saw of him was when he was heading to the men's bathroom. I couldn't follow him in there, nor did I want to.

I looked at the portrait, I saw one of the crossed off faces- Reiko Mitamura- and realized that if she was also Chairman Mitamura's granddaughter, then she and I were first cousins. She seemed like an accomplished young woman, being the Ultimate Proofreader and the student council president of Talent High School, but even a promising life like hers had been cut short. I wished I could have gotten to know her better, and perhaps might have ended up being like an older sister to her, rather than an unwanted child her grandfather and the rest of the family didn't want to acknowledge.

A terrible thought occurred to me; what if the Tragedy, by ripping many families apart, forced us to rethink the concept of a family? Would orphans be stigmatized as much if the vast majority of us, likely including my classmates, had lost our parents? I felt awful thinking that, since I didn't want anyone else to grow up without one or both of their parents (at least not if those parents were halfway decent), but I knew it probably had ended up happening to many children in Japan and the rest of the world. The only question was how many of our families were alive, and how many were mourning the loss of their children.


My next stop was the Nekomaru Nidai Center for Athletics. It had a few wide open gymnasiums that could be used for indoor sports, as well as weight rooms, a pool, a locker room and storage spaces. Behind the gym, there were some playing fields for soccer, baseball, American football, and a couple other sports. This was probably the largest of the five islands we'd visited,

One place I visited was the archery dojo, a wide open practice space with some targets set up and artificial cherry blossom trees behind the target. Naturally, Himeno-san had come to investigate it.

"Hello, Chiyuri," Himeno-san said.

"Oh, hello, Himeno-san," I said. "I see you found the archery dojo. I guess it's nice that they have something for your sport here, right?"

"I suppose," Himeno-san said. "According to Monokuma, the only sports offered here besides archery are boxing, kendo, fencing, aikido, judo, karate, wrestling, weight lifting and baseball- all of which involve martial arts or the use of something that could easily be used as a weapon. I asked about the playing fields and he said that apart from the baseball field, the rest were 'just for show'."

"That's quite like Monokuma," I said, "so I suppose this is another place to get some potential murder weapons."

I took a look at the eight lockers, each of which was locked with a strange key. Unlike a standard key, which was a small piece of metal with teeth that could turn the cylinders in a lock, or the card keys we used to get into our cabins, it was a piece of wood with notches carved into it. There were eight keys available, and a sign said that each person could only have one.

"So I'm guessing that only the person with the key can access the lockers?" I said.

"It seems so," Himeno-san said. "Monokuma doesn't want us disposing of the bows or arrows unless we plan on using them to commit murders. Of course, it'd be more than a little hypocritical of me to do that, since I haven't gotten rid of mine."

"I personally don't mind," I said, "since you have proven trustworthy so far."

Himeno-san smiled appreciatively.

"There's one more thing that's bothering me," Himeno-san said. "Why are there cherry blossom trees in this dojo? And why are they blooming?"

"I don't know," I said. "It should be spring in reality given the date and temperature, but I'm not sure. After all, these trees should only be able to bloom outside, since they need sunlight, rain and nutrient-rich soil."

Oddly enough, I felt fairly comfortable with my uniform- never so hot that I'd need to take off my blazer or switch to a short-sleeved shirt, nor so cold that I'd need to put on a scarf or overcoat. At my old school, on the warmer days in late May, the school would look the other way if we decided to take off our blazer in class, and during the summer months, Mom would often wear a blouse and skirt rather than a suit.

"You're probably right about them being artificial," Himeno-san said, "but do you know what season it is?"

"I'd guess it's spring," I said, "but I honestly can't say for certain. Since we lost our memories, and have forgotten at least two years, we can't say for certain that it's spring."

"That's true," Himeno-san said. "The last island had a White Day chocolate sale, but nothing indicating that it was recent."

"If it was two years ago, then the chocolate, as well as most of the other food we had, probably wouldn't be edible anymore," I said, "but none of us have gotten sick as a result of eating bad food, have we?"

Himeno-san nodded. There was a possibility that the Despair Disease had been contained in our food, but if it had, then it was likely that all of us would have developed symptoms on the second day on that island, not just Tatsuki-san and Kumakura-san.

"I actually had lunch at the dining hall just before coming here," Himeno-san said. "Not only is the food edible, but it's quite delicious, and this is coming from someone whose family employs a chef."

"My mom's a fairly good cook, too," I said, "but if it gets your recommendation, then I'll gladly check it out.'

Since I was starting to feel hungry, I decided to cut short my exploration of the athletic center get something to eat.


I located the Teruteru Hanamura Dining Hall, where lunch was available in a buffet, and I ate with Higurashi-san. The food was as good as Himeno-san had described, but the dining hall looked more akin to a diner than a fancy restaurant, so I felt a bit overdressed in my suit. If this place had been located near my old school, I'd have gone in casual clothes, since students weren't allowed to make stops on the way home while in uniform.

As I was eating, I noticed a sign on the wall, saying, "NO HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS ALLOWED. VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT."

"So Monokuma doesn't want us poisoning each other's food," I said. Is it possible that he added this rule after Kumakura-san's murder?"

"It's possible," Higurashi-san said, "but I think that since the food is out here in the open, he doesn't want someone to just dump some poison in the food and wait for someone to eat it- to the culprit, it wouldn't matter who gets poisoned as long as they get away with it."

Since those who were desperate to graduate were prepared to let everyone else die to achieve that goal, that naturally meant that they were willing to kill anyone. Kirishima-san had only chosen Kumakura-san as his victim because Kumakura-san was the most vulnerable, so if someone had fit the bill, Kumakura-san would be alive, and that person would be dead.

"I'm glad he did," I said. "Someone could hypothetically poison our food supply, and hope it kills everyone else."

"That won't happen, Nagato-san!" Monokuma said.

I turned to my left and saw Monokuma again. As my mild surprise faded, I wondered if anyone else was seeing him as often as I was today.

"I'd like to take the moment to add a new rule to the killing game," Monokuma said. "If anyone kills three or more people, they will be punished without even having a class trial."

I checked my student handbook and found the new rule there, like with the others, from rules that were in place all the time to one-time-only rules that only applied to a single island. The list of rules was getting so long that I was having trouble keeping track of how many they were.

"That's good," I said, "but why add that rule?"

"For the same reason that I don't want you dumping poison in the food," Monokuma said. "You don't just have to be cruel enough to kill a classmate, but smart enough to get away with it. If not for this rule, someone could go on a killing spree and slaughter their class without even trying not to get caught. The killing's fun, but watching the blackened and spotless battle it out in the class trial is even more fun."

"I see," I said, "but why even allow a second killing?"

"Just to give the blackened a bit of leeway," Monokuma said. "If someone saw the killer committing the crime, they'd be done for, but I'm willing to give the killer a chance to silence the witness and get away with the crime... as long as they get away with that murder, too. That way, they get penalized for making a mistake, but still have a chance to win."

I couldn't help but sigh and shake my head. The deaths of two classmates- one murdered the other executed- was tragic, but if a killer was thwarted by a witness spotting them in the act, then at least the spotless wouldn't have to fear being executed. Under these rules, Kojima-san would have had to kill both the twins at the costume party, and could potentially have gotten away with his plan.

"But that's enough for now," Monokuma said. "I'm looking forward to what the next murder plot is."

Monokuma vanished under a table, then left without a trace.

"Those rules are rather inconvenient for the spotless, aren't they?" I said.

"They often are," Higurashi-san said, "but from Monokuma's perspective, they enhance the killing game. In any game, rules don't just limit your options, but force you to work around them. For example, basketball wouldn't be nearly as fun if the rules allowed you to carry the ball across the court; instead, they force you to learn how to dribble the ball and keep the opposing team from taking possession of it."

"I guess you have a point," I said. "If you think of it as a battle between the spotless and the blackened, it does seem fair."

Higurashi-san nodded, but seemed to notice I felt uncomfortable.

"Don't get me wrong, I know the killing game isn't at all fun," Higurashi-san said, "but maybe, if we understand Monokuma's perspective as the one running the game, maybe we can be better prepared to do something about it."

I had to agree, but as I did, I wondered if Higurashi-san was the traitor; after all, this rule might have been the result of his input. Then again, making the killing game last as long as possible, and forcing the players to be cunning and ruthless to survive, were only natural goals for whoever was responsible for setting it up, so maybe Higurashi-san wasn't the only one who'd have thought of such a thing.


After lunch, I found the Sonia Nevermind Library, the only building I knew of that wasn't named after a Japanese person. Just like the outside, the walls, floors, ceiling and furniture of the lower two floors were mostly colored a pale green, while the upper two floors were colored light red.

Like any respectable library, it had all sorts of books, sorted by type. Most of the books were the kind that you'd find in a standard college library- from academic textbooks to fiction (whether the kind that's assigned in literature class or the kind students read for fun) to the occasional DVD and music CD. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be much that was published in the last two years, so there was little hope of my finding any clues.

As I was searching, I found the final Hidden Monokuma in a gap on the shelves on the fourth floor. Once I did, the real Monokuma arrived; he'd been showing up before me a lot today.

"And that's six!" Monokuma said as he appeared before me. "Congratulations to the ladies of Cabin F-4; you've won the competition!"

"Thank you very much," I said, "but I suppose that congratulation's the only prize I'm going to get."

"That, and your sense of accomplishment," Monokuma said. "You've made it through five trials and, with Azuki-san's help, collected all the Monokumas. There aren't many people who can say that."

I winced. Even though I'd always known that Akira-san and I had been the only ones seriously trying to collect the Monokumas, we weren't the only ones who wanted to get through this killing game alive.

"Half of my classmates are dead by now," I said, "and each person who cares about others has lost at least one person important to them. They might be grateful they're still alive, but I'm sure they wish this had never happened."

While Higurashi-san had never been especially close to Kirishima-san, losing his cabin mate hadn't exactly been easy for him. He was the kind of person who mourned every death, even including people who had wronged their classmates in various ways. Because of that, he'd probably be one of the few who'd be sad about Asakura dying.

"You're right on both counts," Monokuma said, "but when it comes to those suffering the pain of loss, that's their problem. You wouldn't feel this much pain if you weren't attached to people."

I didn't believe that for a moment. Mom still cried herself to sleep some nights thinking about Dad, but she refused to give up her memories of or love for him. To her, the pain of losing the man she loved wasn't nearly as bad as giving up the ability to love others, or forgetting the good times she'd shared with him. Of course, Monokuma probably had his own reasons for becoming the kind of person he was, so I chose not to debate this with him.

"You clearly don't understand just yet," Monokuma said. "I'd say it's because you're still young, but there are kids your age who already learned this lesson, not to mention some who are younger than you."

"You mean those in Class 33 of Talent High School, or Class 78 of Hope's Peak?" I said.

"Basically," Monokuma said, "but there are some even younger than that."

I shuddered at the thought. Even now, after everything I'd experienced, I still thought that childhood was meant to be a time of innocence, so I could only imagine what someone would have to go through to warp them so much. Or was changing so drastically even a natural development? Maybe no one could say with any certainty.

"For now, I'll take this Hidden Monokuma back to your cabin and let you think about this," Monokuma said. "Remember that not all of you are getting through the killing game- not the sixteen who started and not even the eight of you who are left. See you in the afternoon!"

Monokuma departed with the Hidden Monokuma, leaving me with much to think about. Since it was getting close to 2 PM, I decided to finish up my investigation of the library and head over to the lecture hall.


A little before 2 PM, we went to the lecture hall for Monokuma's next lecture. Since we had about 10 minutes left before the lecture, we decided to hold a meeting to discuss our findings thus far. Surprisingly enough, Karita-san and Asakura actually sat a little closer to us to listen to what the others had to say. Higurashi-san mostly listened to what other people had discovered, although he shared some of his findings. After we finished, he turned serious and made a decision.

"Based on what Nagato-san and Sasaki-san shared with us about the poison in the lab, and how it cannot leave the building, I have come to a decision," Higurashi-san said. "From this point on, the technology center is off limits. I trust that none of you have any objections?"

"It might not be a good idea to put it that way, Higurashi-kun," Karita-san said playfully. "When you say 'don't go there,' that makes people want to go there even more."

"I'm saying that because there's no benefit to doing so," Higurashi-san said. "I'm confident that Nagato-san, Sayuri-san and I investigated the place thoroughly, and found very little information, except for what Nagato-san found in the office."

"You mean the part about the school, as well as all but one of the other islands being fake?" I said.

Higurashi-san nodded. At this point, since there was no point in arguing about making the technology center off limits, we reached an unspoken agreement to change the subject.

"Ah, yes, I remember that," Himeno-san said. "Building all those facilities seems like an expensive proposition. If Monokuma isn't planning on selling them or using them for anything else, I doubt he could recoup his losses."

"Yes, quite true," Higurashi-san said. "It seems we're back to the issue of how he got the resources necessary to hold this killing game. Of course, it's almost certain that Monokuma doesn't plan on turning a profit with this, nor does he have any interest in doing so."

"Fair point," Kurogane-san said, "but I still can't figure out what he thinks is worth all this time, effort, money and death."

Most of us didn't know, either, which probably was proof that we were still sane and relatively decent human beings even after all this time. That didn't mean that Monokuma didn't have his reasons, though, so I sought to share them with the others.

"Apparently, he wants to teach us a lesson of some sort," I said, "and he doesn't seem to mind that half of us died without learning that lesson. In fact, he wants us to be grateful that we got as far as we did."

"I personally can't fathom what Monokuma is trying to teach us," Sayuri-san said, "but he isn't wrong to point out that life is about competition, or that not everyone can win. Not only were we lucky enough to get into Talent High School, but before that, all of us managed to overcome the competition to get into the high schools of our choice. As a manga artist, I had to prove myself to get serialized, and compete with the other manga for reader votes. I'm sure the rest of you know where I'm coming from."

The others silently concurred. Like Sayuri-san, Tatsuki-san had to perform well to convince music fans to dedicate part of their entertainment budget to supporting her, while Himeno-san competed with other archers in competitions, and Higurashi-san had to help his candidate win the student council election.

"Still," Sayuri-san said, "while I can't say for sure what all of the people who failed to get serialized or get into my high school ended up doing, they weren't killed for losing."

"Nor did they deserve that," Himeno-san said. "They may not deserve the opportunities that the winners earned for themselves, but there are other roads for them to take in life."

Asakura, who'd mostly remained silent, scoffed.

"Well, isn't that magnanimous of you," Asakura said. "I bet the lot of you, being winners in life, feel really proud of yourselves for being compassionate to the less fortunate."

"I have nothing to prove by acting that way, Asakura-san," Himeno-san said, "at least not to people like you. Most people wouldn't see a teenage maid with mediocre grades and no talents outside of household chores as worth her time, but Kanae was one of the kindest people I've known and one of the dearest friends I've ever had. You may have proven yourself the Ultimate Tech Support, but even if you deserve that title more than Chiyuri does, I consider her my friend, which is more than I can say for you."

I smiled appreciatively at Himeno-san, while Asakura could only glare at her. He'd struck me as usually more argumentative than that, so was her dismissal of the importance of talent that convincing?

We decided to drop the conversation for now. Within a couple minutes, at 2 PM on the dot, Monokuma arrived and began his afternoon lecture.

As you may know, Hope's Peak Academy was founded by Izuru Kamukura in order to aid the study of talent. For many years, it educated class after class of the best and brightest of Japan's high schoolers, many of whom went on to achieve great things in their respective fields. The culmination of years of research was also named Izuru Kamukura, and in a twist of cruel irony, the one who went on to end the school bore the name of the school's founder. But that's a story for another day...

Three and a half decades ago, Talent High School, a similar institution, was founded, ostensibly to study talents that Hope's Peak overlooked. Not at all coincidentally, a significant portion of the class was related to school administrators. Despite being smaller, the school proved a popular choice among those who couldn't get into Hope's Peak, enough so that the school created a Reserve Course to gather revenue. Talentless students who were born to wealthy families could pay for the privilege of attending Talent High School, albeit without an Ultimate title or access to the main course.

Eventually, Hope's Peak, running short on money to continue its research, followed suit, resulting in a deep divide between the Main Course and Reserve Course students, as well as the murders of two of the latter group. But that's a story for another time...

There are two lessons that both Hope's Peak and Talent High School taught, more than anything else. The first is that there will always be a divide between the haves and the have-nots, the talented and the untalented. The second is that even the symbols of hope can be corrupted and fall to despair. But like I said, that's a story for another time.

I almost fell asleep during the Talent High School portion of the lecture, since much of it was what I knew already. Despite being bored, I stayed awake, partly because some of the material was new to me, partly because the lecture was so short, and partly because I'd never been able to fall asleep in a well-lit classroom while my teacher was talking, no matter how tired I was.

After the lecture ended, Monokuma stayed behind and spoke to us.

"Anyway class, there's something I've been meaning to tell you lot," Monokuma said. "As fun as this killing game has been, I'm sorely disappointed that none of you have managed to kill the traitor!"

As galling as it was that Monokuma would say such a thing, he wasn't wrong. The only person who had sought out the traitor, Yamazaki-san, ended up killing Tsukimura-san when she stumbled upon him making preparations. Given what had happened, Yamazaki-san probably wasn't even ten percent sure that Tsukimura-san was the traitor.

"So what do you intend to do about it?" Asakura said.

"I'm going to give you lot your motive," Monokuma said. "Not only am I reinstating the offer to let you graduate without a class trial if you kill the traitor without getting caught, but you also get a hint to the traitor's identity. At least one member of the class isn't supposed to be here, and the traitor's almost certainly one of them."

We paused for a moment.

"What do you mean by that?" Sayuri-chan said.

"That's for you to figure out on your own," Monokuma said. "I wanted to make it a bit easier to find out that person's identity, not give it away and ruin the fun."

"If you say so," Asakura-san said. "We all know that under these rules, Nagato's the only person who qualifies, right?"

"So quick to jump to conclusions, Asakura-san!" Monokuma said. "What gives you the idea that Nagato-san is the traitor?"

"It's obvious," Asakura said. "She's the only person who got in through family connections- namely, having a Talent High School teacher as her mother."

Monokuma made a "Tsk-tsk" sound.

"The only person?" Monokuma said. "There's no less than three such people here, including you! Oh, and Kojima-san, but he's dead now."

Asakura and Kurogane-san turned white. While this was obviously news to Kurogane-san, I didn't know whether Asakura was more shocked to learn that he'd gotten in through connections, or that everyone else knew about it by now.

"It just so happens that those two are related to members of Talent High School's board of directors," Monokuma said. "Asakura-san's maternal uncle is Jiro Kusakabe, a member of the board, while Kojima-san's mother's cousin is Yukino Ishigami, a fellow member of the board. As for Nagato-san, she isn't just Nagato-sensei's daughter, but Chairman Takehiko Mitamura's granddaughter."

So unlike me, the other two got in because of people on their mother's side of their family, hence why none of us had the same family names as the relatives who served as our benefactors. In my case, the fact that Mom raised me as a single parent and gave me her maiden name meant that I was a Nagato, rather than a Mitamura.

"What do you mean 'at least'?" Karita-san said, his voice making it clear that he was not asking for, but demanding an answer. "It's possible that there are others that you haven't mentioned, right?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Monokuma said. "All I said was that I was going to give you a hint. It's up to you to figure out whether there are any, and if so who they are. Happy hunting!"

As Monokuma left, I realized that unlike every island besides the third one (which was the motive), Monokuma wasn't willing to wait a day to bring out the motive. Perhaps the only reason he waited a day after we got to the fourth island was to give us time to contract the disease. In any case, Monokuma had made it clear that playtime was over, and he expected to see one of us commit murder very soon.


Asakura stormed off by himself the moment the lecture ended, while the rest of us left the lecture hall together, assembling outside the building. I had misgivings about sharing my deepest secret with the others, especially considering what everyone had just heard, but knew that if I didn't do it now, I might never get another chance.

"While we're waiting, there's... a confession I need to make to you all," I said. "It's about what Monokuma revealed after the lecture."

"We're listening, Nagato-san," Higurashi-san said.

I nodded, then took a deep breath, as the others listened attentively.

"What Monokuma said is true," I said. "My father, who was hit by a car and killed before I was born, was actually the son of Talent High School's chairman of the board, making me the chairman's granddaughter. The chairman made a deal with Mom to enroll me in Talent High School in order to buy her silence about his son having a child out of wedlock. That deal involved me being made the Ultimate Tech Support."

"I always knew Asakura-kun thought you didn't deserve the title," Sayuri-san said, "not to mention how petty he was. But did he know what you just shared with us?"

"I don't think so," I said, "since he always assumed that I got the title because of Mom's influence, not Dad's. I'd always assumed he was the 'real' Ultimate Tech Support, so I never realized he'd gotten his title the same way."

"Maybe he didn't, either," Karita-san said, "or maybe he was worried people would find out about him. It's even possible he was projecting his insecurities, and thought you were the real deal. You've certainly got better manners than he does, so that seems plausible."

I let off a chuckle at Karita-san's unexpected vote of confidence, even if it was mainly given because he didn't like Asakura, either. That being said, I always knew how I'd gotten the title, and was trying to put people's suspicions of me to rest.

"I know that some of you may suspect me of being the traitor, as Asakura does," I said, "and I know that seemingly trustworthy individuals have betrayed us in the past, so that suspicion is not unwarranted. However, I hope to keep as many of you safe as possible, for as long as possible, so I ask you- please believe and trust me."

I bowed deeply while making my humble request, but as I rose, I saw that most of the others had reassuring smiles on their faces.

"Don't worry about that," Karita-san said. "I'm hardly a sucker, but it would be a pretty bad idea to out yourself as one of those who don't belong just like that if you were planning on deceiving us. Besides, we don't know for certain that one of the people who got in through connections is the one Monokuma's talking about. There's at least three of them- well, at least two alive now- and no way of knowing what sets the traitor apart from the others."

Karita-san sounded oddly nervous, for someone who lived or died based on how confidently he could sell a lie.

"I agree with Karita-kun," Sayuri-san said. "I don't know who the traitor is or why they'd do such a thing, but the Chiyuri-chan I know isn't that kind of person."

"Quite right," Kurogane-san said. "Maybe there's a possibility that we're wrong about her, but I don't want to be."

"Neither do I," Himeno-san said. "I'm quite familiar with people who present themselves as nicer than they actually are, often to ingratiate themselves with me and my family. Of course, I don't think Chiyuri's someone like that."

I smiled approvingly. In the past, anyone who even got a hint that I was an illegitimate child would have mocked me and ostracized me, but my classmates accepted me for who I was. Maybe it was an exaggeration to say that I wondered why I'd even bothered keeping that secret, because I knew why, but I was glad I'd taken the plunge.

"In any case," Higurashi-san said, "we have no reason to suspect Nagato-san of being the traitor. Even with Monokuma's clue, I doubt that there is any obvious evidence pointing to the traitor, so we should not jump to conclusions as to who that person may be."

The others seemed to accept what Higurashi-san said, but the one person who seemed likely to do something reckless was not among them, and that was worrisome. Before today, being alone with Asakura had been unpleasant, but now, it could potentially put my life in danger.


Not long after the lecture, Himeno-san pulled me aside and asked me to come with her to the performing arts center. The building was a bit like the lecture hall in that the largest room was a stage that could be used for anything from music performances to plays, and there was a backstage area with large lockers that could be used to store equipment. We met up in that back room and began to talk.

"So what do you want to talk with me about, Himeno-san?" I said.

"Let me ask you something, Chiyuri," Himeno-san said. "Do you suspect that I might have gotten into Talent High School without earning my place?"

"Why would I?" I said. "Because your family's rich?"

Himeno-san nodded. Since I was now the unofficial expert on Talent High School, she was willing to listen to what I had to say, rather than complain about whatever assumptions I made.

"That's one reason," Himeno-san said. "There are those who believe that I have a sense of entitlement due to my privileged upbringing, and that I'd consider myself worthy of an Ultimate title even if I'm only competent at archery. Such people also believe that if anyone is wealthy enough to 'convince' Talent High School to give me a title, it would be the Himemiya family."

"I see," I said. "Well... I don't know. I don't think it's possible to buy an Ultimate title. Your parents could have easily paid for a Reserve Course tuition, though."

The tuition for the Reserve Course was high enough that, "If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it." Himeno-san seemed rather intelligent, though, so she could probably have gotten into a comparatively prestigious school for a much lower fee.

"That's right," Himeno-san said. "While my family is wealthy enough to buy anything that can be purchased with money, we prefer to exercise soft power, such as calling in favors. The Himemiya family is powerful enough that people are willing to go quite far to curry favor with us."

After a moment, Himeno-san shook her head.

"Unfortunately," Himeno-san said, "while our network of acquaintances and business partners is large, and its members are wealthy and influential, we don't have any inroads into Talent High School's administration. Therefore, the first we heard from the school was after a recruiter noticed my talent and asked to speak to my parents about bringing me to the school as the Ultimate Archer, having observed a competition and spoken with my coach and team captain. I can be as sure as possible that I earned my title. Besides, if my parents wanted to buy a title for anyone, it would be for my eldest brother, who will inherit the family."

I couldn't help but envy Himeno-san's confidence. While she didn't have much of a chance of inheriting her family due to being one of the younger children (and possibly also due to being a girl), she was able to do what she needed to without her insecurities or her shortcomings holding her back. Of course, I realized that she probably had her own struggles of her own, so I couldn't necessarily her life was easier, even if her upbringing was more comfortable than mine.

"What about Tsukimura-san?" I said. "I doubt that her talent as a maid working for your family would have been noticed unless the recruiter was lucky enough to be invited over to your house."

"Very perceptive, Chiyuri," Himeno-san said. "While talented service employees can get scouted if a recruiter happens to stop by their establishment during their shift, Kanae had virtually no chance to run into one... if not for Mother's planning. Mother invited the recruiter to our house, in a room that Kanae had cleaned that morning, and asked Kanae to brew and serve everyone tea. Mother also 'hinted' that Kanae just so happened to be a high schooler who went to my school."

"And the recruiter took that hint?" I said.

Himeno-san nodded.

"The recruiter came to talk about me," Himeno-san said, "but by the end, she ended up also asking about Kanae, and with one phone call, sold the school on the idea of bringing in the Ultimate Handmaiden. We both got invited for interviews, and were both accepted into the school as fellow Ultimates. At the time, both of us were really happy."

"So was I when I got recruited," I said. "I hoped to be known for something other than an illegitimate child born out of wedlock."

Himeno-san paused for a moment and looked me in the eyes. I didn't find a hint of judgment in those eyes, merely understanding.

"To be honest," Himeno-san said, "I did hope to prove myself as something other than a member of the Himemiya family, since archery is the one thing I can call my own. My teammates call me 'Himemiya-san' or 'Himemiya-senpai' as appropriate, but they judge me by my worth to the team. To them, I'm either the star of the team, or a first-year who upstaged her upperclassmen- my family is irrelevant."

"I guess that's good," I said, "if you're being judged by who you are rather than who your family is."

It wasn't too hard to imagine what life would be like if I'd been a legitimate child of Himeno-san's family. Perhaps I wouldn't have a complex about the circumstances of my birth, although I would probably struggle to prove myself to my strict parents. Of course, I knew that in that case, I would no longer be me, since Chiyuri Himemiya would be a significantly different person than Chiyuri Nagato or Chiyuri Mitamura.

"I may not be the best person to say this, Chiyuri," Himeno-san said, "but you are more than who your parents are. Your being the daughter of our teacher, the son of the headmaster or a child born out of wedlock matters less than what you do with your life."

"Thank you, Himeno-san," I said. "It means a lot coming from you."

Himeno-san smiled. While I'd never imagined us becoming friends at the start of the cruise, I was glad she'd chosen to open up to me.


Not long after my conversation with Himeno-san ended, I met up with Karita-san on the quad, who beckoned me over to speak with him. After looking about to make sure no one was within earshot, we sat down on a bench together and spoke in hushed tones.

"I've got a question, Nagato-san," Karita-san said. "How do you manage to fake an Ultimate Talent, anyway?"

"Why ask me?" I said. "Even if I got into Talent High School because of my father, I didn't play any role in how they chose the talent for me or... expedited the process of choosing me."

"You're the only real choice I have," Karita-san said. "Kojima-kun's dead and Asakura-kun's… well, Asakura-kun."

I couldn't help but snicker at his comment about Asakura. After composing myself, and getting my expression back to a straight face, I decided to take a stab at answering his question.

"Like I said, I think only the Talent High School administration would know," I said, "but if you're that interested in my opinion, I could share my theories. Just take them with a grain of salt."

While it seemed almost condescending to ask someone like Karita-san to exercise a bit of skepticism when hearing claims that may or may not be true (even if I was being perfectly honest with him), he didn't seem to mind.

"Deal," Karita-san said. "What are your thoughts?"

"As far as I know, the student in question has to be able to demonstrate at least some ability for their talent," I said. "For example, an Ultimate Singer would, at minimum, need to be able to lip-sync to recorded music, so someone who was obviously tone-deaf or unable to speak wouldn't qualify. Ideally, you should be able to sing at least well enough that an idol singer agency would be willing to give you an audition, albeit not necessarily well enough to earn the title. If you have to cheat, you need to do so well enough not to get caught. Do you understand?"

"I'm following you so far," Karita-san said, "but why not give all the 'fake Ultimates' really desirable Ultimate titles? Ultimate Singer sounds like a title people would love to have- even Tatsuki-san, the Ultimate Guitarist, has a more specialized Ultimate title."

In hindsight, I realized that the Ultimate Singer title wasn't the best choice for an example, since it was a bit too famous and attractive, as Karita-san said. That said, it was probably easiest to explain how best to fake the title, so I decided to stick with it.

"That's a good question," I said. "It's possible that since some Ultimate titles require the bearer to have achieved fame- or at least, someone worthy of the title ends up becoming famous- then it wouldn't be possible to simply conjure a famous singer out of the ether. Therefore, those who aren't worthy of becoming Ultimates but were still promised admission to the Main Course get titles that are easy to fake."

I then realized the reason why Himeno-san worried that Tsukimura-san was one of those "fake" Ultimates- her talent fit squarely into the "easy to fake" category. Considering that only the Himemiyas, their staff and their guests would see her work, and even the latter group might see only a handful of the servants, not many people would question whether Tsukimura-san deserved her title, or challenge her for the title.

"I see," Karita-san said. "As a con artist, that makes sense. I know a little bit about all sorts of things, but I know I couldn't pretend to do something I can't. I can't sing to save my life, so I couldn't have become any kind of Ultimate Singer."

While it was reasonable enough that someone like Karita-san would have a certain professional interest in this sort of thing, was that really all there was to it? He kept his cards close to his chest, so maybe it wouldn't be wise to assume that he was merely curious.

"Anyway, Karita-san, why are you so interested?" I said. "You have an actual Ultimate title, albeit not a respectable one, so there's no need for you to fake one."

"So you say," Karita-san said, "but are you sure about that? After all, maybe I'm such a good liar that I managed to trick the school into thinking I was a great con artist."

I paused for a moment, unsure of what to say next. A moment later, Karita-san snickered.

"Just kidding," Karita-san said. "The reason I'm asking is, as you might have figured, because of our current situation. Maybe there's a fourth Ultimate who got in through nepotism."

"That's certainly possible," I said. "Monokuma did say 'no less than three,' although that leaves open the possibility that there's only three."

"Glad you noticed," Karita-san said. "You'll have to think outside the box if you want to find the traitor here. Monokuma wants us to kill each other, not necessarily find the traitor, so he'll likely do everything he can to try to force us to guess while preventing us from finding out that person's identity."

While Karita-san had a point, I had to ask myself- would killing the traitor end this? The traitor was apparently responsible for us winding up in here, but Monokuma was the one continuing the killing game, so even if that person died, nothing would change. At this point, nothing we could do was likely to derail Monokuma's plans, so keeping as any of us alive as possible was the only goal worth pursuing.


In the evening, as the sun started to set I found Kurogane-san eating by himself at the dining hall and, after getting my food, sat down with him. He politely agreed to let me keep him company, but didn't really say much until we were done eating.

"Sorry if I seem quiet, Nagato-san," Kurogane-san said. "I've had a lot to process today."

"I... I know," I said. "Not only did you hear about your cousin likely being dead, but you had to learn that Kojima-san didn't earn his title."

I worried that I'd made a mistake by so bluntly addressing the source of Kurogane-san's anguish, but he laughed awkwardly and nodded.

"Nailed it," Kurogane-san said. "I know it sounds pretty silly, worrying about whether he was a 'real' Ultimate Game Designer after finding out that he attempted murder just before his death."

"I don't think so," I said, "The latter's something he did, while the former's a part of who he is."

The fact that one's talent was part of who they were- the thing they loved most, were best at and had invested most of their life toward perfecting- was part of the reason why I felt so out of place among my fellow Ultimates, who should have been my equals. Since my talent was a fake, I couldn't help but worry that I was also a fake, especially seeing as how I tried so hard to seem likable when around my schoolmates. Maybe Asakura's inability to fit in wasn't just due to being a jerk- maybe he knew he didn't belong and so kept his distance from the rest of us. If that was true, he didn't just envy me, who shared the title that he thought should have been his, but also the rest of our talented classmates. Whatever the case was, I doubted I would get an honest answer.

"Exactly," Kurogane-san said. "Not only do I have to wonder whether he willingly took advantage of the offer, but I have to do so without hearing what he has to say for himself."

"So it's just like what he did before his death," I said. "Do you know what you would say to him if you had a chance to talk about it?"

"Not really," Kurogane-san said. "I guess the first thing out of my mouth would be, 'Why?' Why was he willing to kill Taiga-san- if not both the twins- and then let me and everyone else besides him and Azuki-san die? Why did he make a deal for an Ultimate title he didn't necessarily earn? I still want to hear those answers, even if I know I might not like them."

Kurogane-san sighed. He was prepared to face the truth about Kojima-san, no matter how harsh it would be, but it was a moot point since Kojima-san would never answer his questions. It didn't help that whatever Kojima-san had to say for himself was unlikely to be worse than what Kurogane-san had come up with on his own.

"In the end, I guess you can only choose to trust based on what you see in someone, and hope that you're right about that person," Kurogane-san said. "I was wrong about Kojima-kun, but that doesn't mean I'll completely give up on trusting others in the future; I'll just be a lot more careful about who I trust."

"That's a wise decision, Kurogane-san," I said. "Even though several of us betrayed our trust, I couldn't have gotten this far if I hadn't trusted Akira-san and my other friends."

"I'm glad to hear that, Nagato-san," Kurogane-san said. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you decided to trust us with what was a very personal and painful secret."

I thanked Kurogane-san, and as I finished eating, he told me a little more about the Kojima-san he once knew. Kojima-san clearly wasn't Akira-san's type, and I couldn't forget how he'd betrayed us and tried to kill Taiga-san, but I was hesitant to call him a bad person- of course, neither was Tatsuki-san. Maybe there had to be some sort of consequences for the traitor or those who had committed murder, but none of them had to die, so I wished there was a way for all of us to escape alive- even Asakura.

I then thought about those who had sought graduation, especially Yamazaki-san, and realized that they generally had no faith in our ability to succeed by working together. They weren't necessarily wrong to believe that given our track record, but once they reached that realization, the only road ahead of them was likely betraying others to graduate, a bit like how in the Prisoner's Dilemma, you might respond in kind to an anticipated betrayal, getting both of you a long sentence in order to avoid the longest one. Because of that, I was worried that Asakura would be next to seek graduation, even if I had no idea what any of us, I, least of all, could do to dissuade him.


At 8 PM, all of us returned to the ship one by one. Higurashi-san and I went to the gangplank and counted five of us returning. After the fifth one returned, the gangplank raised; apparently, Asakura had made it to the ship before anyone else had.

Higurashi-san and I stopped by Mom's cell to report on the news. She was not only disturbed by what she heard, but also very unpleasantly surprised.

"I... I honestly had no idea," Mom said. "I knew that Asakura-san was the son of an employee, but not that he was the nephew of a member of the board. The administration is somewhat tight-lipped about which relatives of their students are attending, and insist that the teachers not treat them any differently."

"I don't think they have to worry about you doing that, Nagato-sensei," I said. "You've always made sure I knew what was expected of me."

"I appreciate that, Nagato-san," Mom said. "You're a student that most teachers would be pleased to have in their class. Unfortunately, some relatives of Talent High School are not nearly as cooperative."

Asakura definitely came to mind, even thought I didn't know for certain whether he knew that he'd gotten in because of his uncle's influence.

"That's an understatement," Higurashi-san said. "Do you think it's likely that one of them wants to bring down the school, or let their classmates die?"

"Not very," Mom said, "I personally cannot think of any reason why the students who got in through connections would willingly betray their class. This killing game not only causes the deaths of Talent High School students, but also harms the institution itself, where your father, Asakura-san's uncle and other students' relatives work."

"It is possible that they hate their relatives for some reason," I said, "but even though I never met Dad, I still love him. He was the one who brought me into the world and made you happy, Mom, so I could never hate him."

Mom smiled warmly, and said "Thank you, Chiyuri." Some fatherless children like me would resent their fathers for leaving them and their mothers behind, but I knew Dad wasn't to blame. He'd been willing to take responsibility for getting Mom pregnant and raise their daughter- me- together, but he'd died before he could get the chance to. His father probably was afraid that Dad would be seen as an irresponsible, selfish and lecherous man, but while some people might end up having that image of him if they learned that I was his daughter, I knew better.

"I'm also having a hard time imagining the traitor's motives," Higurashi-san said. "Of course, the motives of anyone willing to be party to the killing game are beyond me, even after all this time. The one thing the four blackened so far- as well as the would-be blackened Kojima-kun- have in common is that they probably wouldn't have resorted to murder if not for the killing game. The traitor, however, not only was responsible for us ending up here, but willingly endangered their own life as well."

"In other words, none of the killers are the traitor," I said, "and probably not Kojima-san, either."

"That sounds most likely," Mom said, "but earlier, you said Monokuma had said that none of you had killed the traitor, didn't he?"

"He did," I said, "using that exact wording."

"If he can be believed, that would rule out the four victims, Kojima-san included," Mom said, "but everyone who is still alive, as well as the four who have been executed, are possible candidates."

In other words, there was a chance, albeit small, that Higurashi-san or I was the traitor. That being said, even if Higurashi-san was the culprit, I doubted that he would have been afraid enough to try to preemptively silence Mom (and thus violate the rule against harming the prisoner).

"Good catch, Mom," I said. "If Monokuma intentionally used that sort of clever wordplay to deceive us, he's not too different from Karita-san."

"An apt comparison, Nagato-san," Higurashi-san said. "Of course, Karita-san is just one of several possible traitors."

"Quite true," Mom said. "Whatever the case may be, Higurashi-san, Chiyuri, please remain vigilant and remember this- if the traitor's goal is to get you to kill each other, they may not need to do anything."

It was an unfortunate reminder that while the traitor had gotten us into the killing game, Monokuma gave us reasons to kill, and we were the ones who actually did the killing. Asakura's suspicious behavior and callous disregard for others made him a strong suspect for the traitor, but it was at least as likely that he was simply a useful tool to the traitor's goal of inciting murder- nothing more, nothing less.


I headed to the laundry room to wash some of my other clothes while I was wearing the suit. Amazingly enough, the Ursa Major's laundry machines didn't require us to sort our laundry or choose the appropriate settings on the machines. That was quite fortunate, since the member of the class who'd been the best at doing laundry had also been the first to die.

As I was sitting there, I got a bit bored, and I decided to check the records to see whether anyone's clothing had blood on them. The records, which went all the way back to the start of the cruise, showed one entry for Taiga-san (who had a nosebleed on the first day), a few other entries with the girls' underwear (take a wild guess...) and one entry for Asakura's uniform (which was my fault). The only question was whether the next murderer would try to wash their bloody clothes; I couldn't find a single laundry machine on the fifth island.

I thought for a moment about why Asakura might try to commit murder. It was certainly plausible that he'd try to graduate, since he didn't care about the rest of us, but why hadn't he tried yet? It was possible that he hated any one of his traitor suspects- myself, Higurashi-san or Karita-san- enough to kill at least one of us, but surely he knew that it was likely that he'd end up being executed, or perhaps being killed in the course of his murder attempt.

Even now, after all this time, and after so many murders, the thought of someone being willing to commit murder and the rest of their classmates die was still horrifying to me. Maybe this was proof that even after everything I'd experienced, I was still human, after all.


After returning to my cabin, I saw the sixth hidden Monokuma had been added to our collection. Three of them- the one from the ship, the one from the first island and the one from the third island- were on Akira-san's desk, and the rest were on mine. Between the two of us, we'd completed the collection, and accomplished a goal that had taken a month.

"We did it, Akira-san," I said, despite knowing that she could no longer hear me.

Even though Akira-san was gone, the fruits of her effort remained. She'd saved the majority of us three times, and while our numbers had been whittled away with each class trial, if it hadn't been for her, most of us would be dead by now. The works she'd appeared in had been committed to DVDs and digital copies, and would be watched for years to come.

It wasn't just Akira-san. All the other dead Ultimates had left behind their legacies. Their lives had tragically been cut short, but they'd made their marks on the world, as well as on the lives of those who cared about them. Just like them, Dad, the former Ultimate Tutor, had been killed in an accident before he could raise me, but he and Mom had given me life. I'd once heard that no one was ever truly gone, and after seeing that the impact people left behind, for good or for ill, persisted even after their deaths, I couldn't agree with that more strongly.

As I went to bed alone yet again, I took a look through the notebooks Akira-san and Kirishima-san had left behind, and thought about all the things the dead had left behind for the living- the goals they couldn't accomplish, valuable information gleaned from their observations or mistakes, and the hope to end the killing game. Not all the dead were selfless enough to entrust these to us out of an altruistic regard for those left behind, but that didn't mean that the rest of us weren't obligated to learn from what had happened and try to end the killing. Unfortunately, with Asakura having become even more of a pariah and wild card than before, and Karita-san as untrustworthy as ever, this would be no easy task...


Monokuma Theater

To right the countless wrongs of our day, we shine the light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise.

What a wonderful world such would be.


Author's Notes

Since this Chapter features a stop at a college campus, I'd like to make a shout out to J Carp's New Hope University: Major in Murder- a fangan found Fanfiction dot net and on AO3 that features a killing game at an American college. If you read the reviews, you may notice an "open letter" from Katy Thorson, that fic's Ultimate Lesbian Romance Author, to Sasaki in which they politely debate their views about lesbian romance; Sasaki's initial letter is posted a a review on NHU:MIM's review sesion on Fanfiction dot net.

Unlike other chapters, the motive has already been revealed this time. As such, it may not follow the same five-chapter structure as other chapters(sailing to the island, arrival at the island, the motive, the murder investigation, the trial). As I mentioned earlier, there are 10 installments to go.

Incidentally, do you think there is a "fake Ultimate" besides Nagato, Kojima and Asakura, and if so, who is it?

The omake follows up on the rules mentioned in the last chapter, and shows what it might be like if it was a standard school trip for Chiyuri's school. I may do a Side Story showing what life might be like if the cast attended Saint Mary's.


Omake

Akira-san and woke up in our room in the modest yet comfortable Kyoto hotel that hosted our class. It was late September, the season for school trips at Saint Mary's, and the tail end for the summer uniform period, which lasted from the first Monday of June until the Saturday before the first Monday of October.

As Akira-san and I got dressed, I noticed that she wasn't exactly thrilled to be wearing our summer uniform- a jumper dress with a short-sleeved dress shirt and our school necktie- since she wasn't much of a fan of skirts or ties. She looked nice, but the look wasn't exactly her style; a pantsuit or a boy's uniform would be more her style. Unfortunately for her, the school rules didn't give us any choice.

"Just checking, Chiyuri," Akira-san said, "but we have to wear the uniform, don't we?"

"Yes, we do," I said. "Nagato-sensei made it very clear that this was a school trip, and all school rules still apply unless noted otherwise. That's why I'm not calling her 'Mom' here, after all."

I'd gotten the lecture about showing Mom the respect she deserved as a teacher, as well as keeping our public and private lives separate before I started going to Saint Mary's, and got some practice in my first year at the school. It was still a bit awkward to treat my mom as just another teacher, but I was mostly used to it by now.

I got out my smartphone and called up the digital version of the student handbook. Saint Mary's banned cell phone use at school, but the trip was another story. Students were asked to bring their cell phones to keep in touch with their parents and for use in an emergency, as long as they used those phones responsibly.

"Let's see," I said. "Students shall wear the uniform as prescribed by the regulations while school is in session, and for school-sponsored activities. The winter uniform shall be worn from the start of the school year in April until the end of May, as well as from the beginning of October until the end of the year in March. The summer uniform shall be worn from the start of June until the end of September, as well as for school-sponsored events during the summer vacation. Students are not to make stops on their way home from school while wearing their uniform."

"Yeesh, I almost forgot how many stupid-ass rules there were," Akira-san said.

"That's just a few of the rules for the uniform," I said. "There's also rules against overly long or short skirts, nail polish, makeup, footwear apart from black socks or pantyhose, tattoos, piercings, dyed hair, non-school approved outerwear..."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Akira-san said. "I'm pretty sure there's a rule against being late for breakfast, and we're going to break that one if you recite all the others."

Akira-san left the room and I followed her out. All of us had to make compromises and sacrifices in order to follow the school rules, even if they weren't the daughter of a teacher. Akira-san understood that, too, which is why she went along with the uniform rules, even if she didn't like it.