Class Trial

The final class trial took place in a harsh gray classroom without even the picture memorials of the students.

Himeno-san, Sayuri-san, Tatsuki-san, Kurogane-san and I took our places once more. Technically speaking, Tatsuki-san was in Taiga-san's seat, but she'd only been in her actual seat for the first trial, so we'd almost forgotten about the difference.

Mom stood behind me, looking around. As a teacher, she was used to assigning seats, so she was at a bit of a loss when it came to not knowing where she belonged.

"So I'm finally entering the courtroom," Mom said, "but here should I stand?"

"Wherever's open," Monokuma said, "since there's plenty of free space. Just remember- as a teacher, you don't get a vote."

"All right," Mom said. "Then I'll stand next to my daughter."

Mom then took Akira-san's place at my right.

"Now that all the players are here, the final exam shall begin," Monokuma said, "one in which you answer questions about the killing game to earn the right to graduate from here."

"That seems simple enough," I said, "but how will we know that we've answered the questions to your satisfaction?"

"If you get it right, I'll tell you," Monokuma said. "The only exception is the question of who the traitor is, since you'll have to vote for that person like always. If you get it wrong, then everyone besides that person gets punished."

In most cases, teachers could be trusted to fairly grade essay questions and other assignments whwere there was no one "right" answer. I was fully aware that I was not the best student, so my average to poor grades in composition, science and other non-math subjects weren't all that surprising. However, I knew that out of the five people Monokuma had executed, two hadn't killed anyone and one was responsible for an accidental death, fairness was too much to ask.

"Let's start with the easiest one," Monokuma said, "one that I'm sure you all know by now. Where are we?"

"The Neo World Program," I said. "For those who don't know, it's a virtual reality simulator. Does that sound about right, Monokuma?"

"You're on the right track, Nagato-san," Monokuma said, "but you'll have to go into more detail if you want full credit.."

I sighed. If this was the easy part of the graduation exam, then I could already tell that we wouldn't have a very pleasant time.

"I found documents discussing the program," I said. "In it, we operate avatars based on our selves from when we entered Talent High School. Unfortunately, if we die in the Neo World Program, we are reduced to a vegetative state in the real world."

"Still on the right track," Monokuma said, "but what makes you so sure that this is a virtual reality simulator?"

"The strange occurrences while we were here should be ample proof," Himeno-san said, "as would the Despair Diseases on the fourth island. If you want solid proof, though, it's the fact that we didn't see any living things apart from the seventeen of us on the islands we visited. Kirishima-san noticed this, after all."

Perhaps the flora on the islands were alive, as were the microscopic organisms that had infected us, but the seventeen humans who'd been plugged into the Neo World Program were the only ones alive.

"Yes, and I have two notebooks here," I said, "in which Akira, Kirishima-san and I recorded our observations of the islands, including what Himeno-san just described. Is that enough evidence, Monokuma?"

Monokuma nodded approvingly, which was a bit reassuring.

"It is," Monokuma said. "Now that you've established where you are, the next question on the list is how you got here."

"The first thing that comes to mind is 'the traitor betrayed us,'" Kurogane-san said, "but I'm sure you'd think that's too obvious."

"Exactly, Kurogane-san," Monokuma said. "You're going to find out how the traitor did it."

This trial was going from collecting simple facts to using deductive reasoning, but that wasn't anything we couldn't handle. Today's investigation had provided ample evidence, so we only needed to put it together.

"To begin with, it seems like common sense to assume that the school was safe," Tatsuki-san said, "and all of us were recorded on video agreeing to the Shelter Plan."

"I believe so, too" Mom said, "although I saw a disciplinary report for Kojima-san sneaking off campus around White Day. Maybe he had his doubts about the whole thing."

"But he agreed to the Shelter Plan, too," Tatsuki-san said, "so maybe he went off campus to buy chocolate for a certain girl."

All of us knew what girl Kojima-san had in mind from the very beginning. The only question was whether his unauthorized excursion was simply to get a White Day gift for Akira, or whether it was related to the Shelter Plan.

"It's possible that he, along with the rest of us, had reason to doubt that Shelter Plan would work," I said, "but I don't think that was necessarily the impetus for his departure."

"That may be so," Mom said, "but it was after all of you agreed to the Shelter Plan, so maybe Kojima-san changed his mind."

"He may have," I said, "but I think this is more relevant."

I got out the note that I had found under the door to my dorm room

"While we were still at Talent High School, I received this note," I said. "It informed me that the Shelter Plan had been compromised, and someone associated with the junior class, most likely a member of Ultimate Despair, was the culprit. We apparently met up outside the school, and were abducted."

"Good point," Tatsuki-san said. "Not only were we asked to leave behind our friends and loved ones, but we were also asked to trust Talent High School with our lives. If we didn't think the Shelter Plan would protect us, we had no reason to stay inside the school."

"Indeed," Mom said. "Schools, as institutions, have a great impact in the lives of their students, especially in crises like the one you were facing at the time. It's important to be worthy of that trust."

"Well said, Sensei," Sayuri-san said. "Personally, I think it's more likely that the letter writer is the untrustworthy one. Do you know who sent it, Chiyuri-chan?"

I shook my head, glad I wouldn't have to say the person's name just yet. Not only did I not want to believe it, but I didn't feel fully confident in my theory at the moment.

"Unfortunately, no," I said, "although the part with the signature has been torn off. I do think that the letter writer is likely the traitor, though."

"So we don't know who sent it," Sayuri-san said. "Does the handwriting match anyone's?"

I glanced at Himeno-san, who shrugged.

"Unfortunately, we don't know for sure," Himeno-san said, "but I'm sure Kanae and I never wrote it. We can compare the note with some sources of handwriting- Chiyuri and Akira's notebook, Kirishima-san's notebook, and the letter you sent me- so I'm sure none of those people wrote it"

"That does narrow things down a bit," Kurogane-san said, "but how do we know that whoever wrote it wanted to deceive us?"

"Good question, Kurogane-san," I said. "To begin with, the letter writer seems to know that the Shelter Plan was compromised."

"Yes, it seems so," Kurogane-san said, "assuming that isn't a lie meant to prey on our sense of unease, of course."

I shook my head. Kurogane-san wasn't wrong to be skeptical of the note, as I most likely should have been back when I received it, but it was still important evidence.

"Yes, but there's proof that there was a real security breach," Mom said. "According to a staff-wide email, someone apparently placed a listening device in the headmistress's office, although only the faculty and staff were told about it, and I suspect that this person is the traitor."

"True," Sayuri-san said. "We also found a voice message from Kagami-kun- the mastermind behind Talent High School's killing game- to someone, possibly Enoshima, in which Kagami-kun mentioned an 'informant.' That informant is most likely connected to Ultimate Despair."

"If that's true, then they likely played on our fears that the school was no longer safe," I said, "then lured us out and had us abducted. Perhaps they were even the one responsible for putting Kagami in touch with Enoshima."

After making my point, I decided not to mention Kagami unless it was relevant to the discussion at hand. While Talent High School's killing school life and killing school trip were almost certainly connected somehow, Kagami's actions likely would be of little help in proving the traitor's identity, since he didn't even seem to know himself.

"I thought so," Kurogane-san said, "but I still can't help but think that the planted bug was just a way of tricking us into thinking that the Shelter Plan had been compromised, and fooling us into leaving."

"That's a possibility," I said, "although it's also possible that someone was spying on the headmistress and transmitted that information to a third party- likely Enoshima."

"Either of you could be right," Sayuri-san said, "but since there was an actual killing game inside Talent High School, it's possible we would have been caught up in that if we'd stayed."

In other words, damned if we did, damned if we didn't. Judging from how Class 33 had lost about as many people as we had by the time the traitor had been exposed, it didn't seem as though there was a right answer to that problem.

"From that, I can gather that the person responsible for betraying us may have known about the killing game, but likely had a different agenda," I said. "Nevertheless, such a person was responsible for deceiving us and tricking us into being abducted by Ultimate Despair. How does that sound, Monokuma?"

"Correct," Monokuma said. "You're on a roll so far."

For a moment, I felt glad, but I knew that all these questions were merely a warm-up for the main event. Perhaps the traitor was fine with us finding the answers to the small questions, but they'd do anything to avoid being uncovered.

"The next one's going to be a bit more difficult," Monokuma said. "What's the goal of the killing game?"

"I'd say 'to get us to kill each other,'" Tatsuki-san said, "but there's more to it than just that, right?"

"You're not wrong about that, Taiga-san," Monokuma said, "but yes, there's more to it. Since the question's a bit vague, I'll give you a hint- why did I choose talented students like you?"

The six of us paused for a moment. After a moment, I realized that the answer was one of the things that the three killing games involving two different schools had in common.

"Because we're symbols of hope," I said, "and seeing the best and the brightest break down and kill each other will foster despair."

"You're on the right track," Monokuma said, "but despair in whom? This killing game has a very specific group in mind."

"He's right," Sayuri-san said. "As we discovered earlier, there didn't seem to be any proof that this killing game was broadcast live to the world, like the others were."

I recalled what we'd discovered, then thought a bit farther back to find the answer. After a moment, I recalled something Monokuma had said.

"In that case, it's the sixteen of us," I said. "You said you wanted us to become the sort who could take joy from despair. I don't know how you plan on doing so, but that's what I gather."

"Another right answer!" Monokuma said. "Now that you know that this game is for the sake of Ultimate Despair, you should have an easier time finding the traitor's identity."

Sayuri-san frowned and shook her head.

"Now that I think about it, I'm not so sure the mastermind's part of Ultimate Despair," Sayuri-san said. "Maybe they have an ulterior motive, like Kagami-kun seemed to."

"Perhaps they do, Sayuri," Himeno-san said, "but remember what we heard about Ultimate Despair. Given what kind of people they are, they take joy in killing those who are close to them- classmates, students, friends, sisters, children or girlfriends. It's possible that the traitor is not only that twisted, but also good enough at hiding their true nature to pretend to be normal, and if that's true, they could be any of us."

"I agree," Kurogane-san said. "Most of the killers had motives that could be guessed if you knew them well enough- from self-preservation to protecting those they cared about- but I don't think any of us ever showed any indication that we're like the psychopaths in Ultimate Despair."

In all our previous class trials, we could establish who was safe to trust by ruling out whoever couldn't have committed the crime. In Asakura and Kirishima-san's case, all the living students were spotless, so all of us could work together to find the truth. This time, however, Mom and my classmates had all been reasonably cooperative during the investigation, but one of them was the traitor.

"Looks like you're already getting started on the big one," Monokuma said. "Which of you is the traitor?"

We all looked around, seeing suspects in each of us. I didn't know about the others- who they were willing to accuse or how sure they were- but I wanted to stop the pointless finger-pointing before it started.

"I know I was the one who got the note," I said, "but please believe me when I say that I'm not the traitor."

"I believe you, Chiyuri," Mom said, "since the culprit is most likely whoever sent you that note. I believe- or at least want to believe- that I am not the person in question."

"Me too," Sayuri-san said, "especially since Himeno says it's not my handwriting."

"I am not the traitor, either," Himeno-san said.

"Ditto," Kurogane-san said, a bit at a loss for words after hearing four of the other six suspects deny it.

Tatsuki-san nervously fidgeted, knowing that she'd be suspected if none of the other five doubted each other. She was about to speak when Monokuma cut in.

"So if all of you are telling the truth, then it's Taiga-san," Monokuma said. "Like Junko-sama, she's a younger twin sister who watched her older sister die. It all fits, doesn't it?"

"N-No..." Tatsuki-san said. "I... I know I betrayed you all by trying to graduate in the second trial, but I swear I'm not responsible for us ending up here!"

"I don't think Tachibana-san is necessarily lying," Mom said, "and it may be possible that none of us are. What if, for example, the traitor pretended to die, and is currently in hiding somewhere?"

The rest of us shook our heads. As much as we wanted to believe that the traitor was one of the students who had already died, or a third-party unconnected to the class, the facts didn't support what Mom was saying.

"That isn't a bad theory, Nagato-sensei," Himeno-san said, "but I think we could confirm that each of the murder victims was, in fact, dead. As for the culprits, Yamazaki-san was torn apart and set ablaze as we watched his execution, so he could not have survived or been replaced by a body double."

"The same went for Taiga," Tatsuki-san said. "I know for a fact it was her on stage, before she got burned to a crisp. The only body switch that happened was when she took my place going into the courtroom."

Tatsuki-san wiped away a tear.

"I saw Akira stabbed to death," I said. "The blood-soaked corpse at the end was unmistakably her."

"Kirishima-kun was the same," Kurogane-san said. "We saw his dead body at the end of the execution."

"That just leaves Nobuhiro-kun," Sayuri-san said. "Maybe the roof collapsing was just a ruse to hide his body, but I saw him impaled beforehand."

Mom nodded sadly, conceding our point.

"Yes, it's true that the eleven other students are dead," Mom said, "but it's possible that dying in the Neo World Program may not kill them in real life. If so, Monokuma's claim that they are still alive may be true, in a way."

I wanted to agree with Mom, since Miura-san had told me that our dead classmates were, in a sense, still alive. On the other hand, Miura-san had also told me that whether they were alive didn't matter, so the traitor was still one of us. Of course, hearsay from someone we'd never met, while technically admissible evidence for the class trials, wouldn't convince many people, so I had to find some other way. Perhaps Miura-san knew the traitor's identity, but she wasn't here yet, so it was up to me.

"Assuming he's telling the truth, of course," I said. "At the very least, it seems most likely that the traitor was alive when we set foot on the final island, or else he would not have added a motive involving killing them."

"Yes, and the motive that time was that the traitor was someone who wasn't supposed to be with us," Kurogane-san said. "Asakura-kun, who'd gotten in through nepotism, and Karita-kun, who'd pretended to be a con artist, could fit, but aren't any more likely than Nagato-san or Kojima-kun."

"Yes, but I think we can rule Higurashi-san out on that count," Mom said. "Before the year started, and before we lost our memories, I'd heard about him participating in his school's student council election, where he had a visible and publicly known role. I did some research on him, and even watched a video of him giving a campaign speech, so his talent is the genuine article."

"Yes, he told me about his work for the election, too," I said. "Maybe it's just me, but I can't help but feel as though we're going down the wrong track."

While I probably had an ulterior motive for saying this, since I was a suspect, I knew that there were too many people who fit this description. Only one person had betrayed our class, and we had to find out which one person didn't belong here while everyone else did.

"You have a point, Chiyuri," Mom said, "but considering that two people were killed on the last island and we only needed one murder victim besides the traitor to start the investigation and class trial, either one could be the traitor."

"Perhaps," Himeno-san said, "but the last time Monokuma gave out this motive, he told us that Kanae didn't count, so Yamazaki-san would have to get through the trial in order to survive and graduate. Because of that, I know Kanae isn't the traitor, and doubt Yamazaki-san is, either."

"That's right," Monokuma said. "Now that you've ruled out one suspect, good luck finding the traitor among the other sixteen."

As untrustworthy as Monokuma was, this assistance didn't put us that much closer to discovering the traitor, so I had little reason to doubt him. Despite that, something didn't sit right about the motive involving killing the traitor, especially how Monokuma had used it twice and no one had killed the traitor either time.

"Speaking of the first motive, I have a question for Monokuma," I said. "If Mom was the traitor, and one of the students somehow killed her, would they be eligible to graduate without a class trial?"

"They would, Nagato-san," Monokuma said, "but they'd also be punished for breaking the rule against harming the prisoner. Graduation means you get to leave, not that you're exempt from punishment, which is why if two killers get away with their crimes, they and everyone else would get executed."

"I think that makes sense," Kurogane-san said. "In go, as well as virtually any other game, you aren't allowed to break the rules even- or rather, especially- if doing so would enable you to win. If you cheat, you'll be punished according to the rules of the game, usually with disqualification."

While the killing game definitely wasn't fun, like other games, it was meant to be a competition, in which you had to work within the rules to win. Maybe that was part of the reason why Monokuma didn't have us fight each other in a no-holds-barred melee, but instead had a game of cat and mouse between the blackened and the spotless.

"So even assuming someone could murder me through the bars of my cell, they'd be rewarded with summary execution," Mom said. "However, I couldn't do anything to impact the investigations or trials, and couldn't try to graduate. Do you suppose Monokuma wanted to keep me alive or let me die?"

I shrugged. Since this wasn't one of Monokuma's questions, there might not have been a right answer, but that didn't mean I could afford to be flippant when replying to it.

"Either is possible," I said, "since he sees all of us pieces on a game board, which he uses to continue the killing game. He enjoys watching us kill each other and be executed, but doesn't want us to die in ways that don't further the killing game. In fact, he can't kill us unless we break his rules."

"That explains why Monokuma didn't just kill me at the beginning," Mom said. "But what about the traitor? Is that person similarly expendable?"

I nodded, having come to understand the traitor's true role in the game. Not only was the traitor responsible for bringing us all here, but their existence in the killing game gave us reason to kill each other.

"Yes," I said. "Monokuma once told me that the death of the traitor wouldn't inconvenience him, which may have been why he used that person as a motive in the killing game. I personally find that easy enough to believe. If he's anything like Enoshima, who betrayed and killed her sister, he has no qualms against letting anyone die- an accomplice, a friend or even a loved one. If Ultimate Despair is involved this time, it's likely that the traitor is cut from the same cloth as him."

"Quite true, Chiyuri," Himeno-san said, "but if that's true, then he could be any of us who have people we care about. I'd like to deny being the traitor, since my oldest friend died and the girl I love might share the same fate, but if the traitor enjoys the despair of losing loved ones, I can't rule myself out, can I?"

"I... I guess not, Himeno," Sayuri-san said, "but Kanae-chan was also my friend. By that logic, I'm no less suspicious than you are."

"And no more suspicious than anyone else," Himeno-san said. "Most of us liked Akira, especially Chiyuri, and Mihama-san was on decent terms with almost everyone, even if you were likely her only real friend. Not everyone liked either of them, but I still have a hard time picturing anyone as being twisted enough to enjoy watching them die."

The bizarre thing about Ultimate Despair was that they didn't necessarily kill people because they hated their victims and wanted them to suffer, but because they cared for their victims and wanted to enjoy the despair of losing a loved one. The six of us grieved for those we'd lost in our own individual ways, so if any of us was the traitor, then that person would have been pretending to be a decent person for over a month. That kind of acting would be difficult for even an actress of Akira's caliber, and practically impossible for everyone else.

In any case, I could tell that neither Himeno-san nor Sayuri-san wanted to suspect the other, even if both of them knew that they themselves were not the culprit, either. I couldn't blame them for that, since I'd probably do the same thing if I had a boyfriend in this class, and was glad as they were that neither of them was the traitor. Of course, I had a duty to uncover the traitor's identity, as well as evidence to identify the traitor, so I set out to do my duty, just as either of them would have if they were in my position.

"Both of you have a point," I said, "but to add to what I said earlier, Monokuma must not have planned to include the traitor. As such, he had to improvise, and so came up with a role for the traitor to play in the killing game. If that's true, then... of course."

"Of course what?" Mom said. "Did you figure something out?"

"As we discussed earlier, on the previous island, we were told that the traitor was someone who wasn't supposed to be here," I said, "and I only just realized what he meant by that. Monokuma recognized that person the first time he saw them, so identifying them should have been that easy for the rest of us... even me."

I took another look at Kirishima-san's notebook, and let out a long sigh, no longer able to deny the truth. At this point, I was sure of the identity of the person behind all our troubles... and it was the last person I wanted it to be. It had been difficult to accept that Akira had been responsible for accidentally killing Mihama-san, and this person was the one person I wanted to suspect even less than her.

But I knew I couldn't afford to look away from the truth- for my sake, for the sake of those who'd died, for the sake of those who stood with me now, and even that person's sake. Uncovering the traitor's identity had become my responsibility, just as identifying the first three culprits had been Akira's, so I had to say the name of the person responsible. I turned to the person in question, looked her in the eye and spoke.

"In other words, I know who the traitor is," I said. "It's you, Mom."

The others looked at me skeptically, Mom most of all. Mom had raised me not to tell lies, and was confident that I'd learned her lesson, but that didn't mean that she accepted what I was saying as truth. Neither did the rest of my friends, even though I'd managed to expose Kirishima-san, Asakura and Karita-san, and helped us find the truth in the first three trials.

Of course, I didn't blame them, since I knew I wouldn't have believed Miura-san if she'd been able to tell me that Mom was the traitor. As such, I knew convincing the others would be an uphill battle, but I also knew it was one I couldn't afford to lose.

"This isn't the time for jokes, Chiyuri," Mom said. "I realize we may be at a dead end when it comes to the traitor's identity, but desperately throwing out wild accusations won't get us anywhere."

"I'm entirely serious," I said. "Mom, do you remember what Monokuma asked you just after we boarded the Ursa Major?"

"He asked why I was here," Mom said, "and I told him that I was the school chaperone, even though he didn't accept my answer. In order to rob the students of an authority figure, he had the Monodrones take me to the cell below the ship."

Mom's conclusion was a reasonable one, especially since I once believed it myself. I wanted to be able to believe it, but knew that we'd need to find the truth if we wanted to get out alive.

"I remember that, too," I said, "but I only realized the significance of it today. Back then, he was saying that you were the one who didn't belong on the trip. On the fifth island, we were so caught up on which of the students who'd gotten into the school through nepotism or, in Karita-san's case, deception, might be the traitor that we didn't realize that our teacher was a more likely candidate."

"You might be right about that," Mom said, "but recall Rule #1. The trip is only for Talent High School students and teachers. Under them, I have as much right to be here as the rest of you."

"Yes, it is true," I said, "but those are the school trip's rules, not Monokuma's rules. He can add his own rules, but he can't remove the ones that are already in place."

I honestly didn't know why that was the case, although it didn't seem to inconvenience Monokuma too much. The rule against student violence was no longer a deterrent to us killing each other, but a justification for Monokuma executing the culprit.

"There's also the issue of precedent," Sayuri-san said. "No adults- well, no one who graduated from high school- participated in the previous killing games. Monokuma was fine with a pre-teen like Miharu-chan participating, but he only wanted Ultimates and symbols of hope to kill each other."

While Hagakure-san had apparently gotten held back a few years, he was only twenty years old. Mom was twice his age when I got into Talent High School, not to mention a college graduate, so she stuck out like a sore thumb among people who were sixteen or seventeen when they got into Talent High School (make that roughly nineteen or twenty today).

"True," I said. "The rules say Mom, as a Talent High School teacher, was allowed on this trip, but not that she has to be here. Monokuma couldn't kill her unless she'd broken a rule, but he could keep her out of the way and use her as a hostage."

If Monokuma knew me, he must have known it was unlikely that I would commit murder and betray my classmates, even to save my mother. He must have instead been hoping that I'd suffer anguish knowing that I couldn't hope to escape from the killing game with my mother, and that if another killer got away, I'd end up dying with Mom.

"Yes, and that's why I thought Chiyuri might be tempted by the second motive," Himeno-san said. "It's easy to guess that she cares a great deal about you, Nagato-sensei."

"I know," Mom said. "My insistence that we treat each other like teacher and student during class wasn't meant to keep our relationship secret, since anyone could tell we were related by our matching surnames. Because everyone knew we were related, I wanted to make sure that no one thought I was playing favorites, or that Chiyuri was acting like she deserved special treatment."

While Mom had told me what she had many times in the days leading up to my coming to Talent High School, her doing so for the umpteenth time caused me to remember something from the more recent past.

"I didn't mention this earlier," I said, "but Miura-san gave me a hint at the traitor's identity. She asked whether any of my classmates were with me, then asked whether Mom was around. I said 'no' to both questions, but Miura-san seemed more relieved to hear the latter answer."

"That could be just because it was proof that no one could listen in on your conversation," Mom said, "although that theory doesn't explain why she didn't just ask whether 'anyone else' could year you, rather than asking about the students, then about me."

"Exactly," I said. "Miura-san was cut off before she could tell me the traitor's identity, but she said that she didn't want to have to tell it to me. She knew it was someone close to me, and since she didn't know much about me apart from my being your daughter, I doubt she knew who I was friends with."

It was possible that when I was at Talent High School, I had an entirely different relationships with my classmates. Maybe Akira was only an acquaintance to me back then, and while I doubted that I could ever be friends with an asshole like Asakura, maybe we could have learned to tolerate each other. For some of us, the killing game pushed us closer together when we'd otherwise have little reason to become closer, while in other cases, the tension prevented us from truly becoming friends, even when we survived long enough for that to be possible.

"It's possible that Miura-san might not know the traitor's identity," Sayuri-san said, "but I think that effectively sums it up. Monokuma not only wasn't allowed to kill Nagato-sensei, but still had a use for her."

"I suppose that explains the role I played in the killing game," Mom said, "but how would I get the entire class there?"

I paused for a moment, thinking carefully. We'd technically already answered how the traitor had accomplished this, but we still had yet to prove how Mom did it.

"Let me ask you this, Nagato-sensei," I said. "When you tell your students to do something, you expect to be obeyed, right?"

"I do," Mom said. "Teachers are meant to provide guidance to the students, and therefore, it is in the students' best interest to obey their teachers. Of course, teachers must also be worthy of the students' respect and trust."

I knew Mom was telling the truth. She'd always been my role model, and while treating her as a teacher was an adjustment, my respect for her was genuine. Of course, that made this part all the more difficult.

"That's my first reason," I said. "Higurashi-san and I often struggled to get everyone to trust us, but you could command our obedience as an authority figure, and as my mother. As such, it's possible that you tricked us into thinking that the Shelter Plan had been compromised, and convinced us to go with you, not realizing that it was a betrayal."

"Good point, Chiyuri-chan," Sayuri-san said. "Even if Nagato-sensei wasn't our teacher or your mother, she is an adult. Most teenagers, with some very noticeable exceptions, would simply trust that she knows what she's doing and take her at her word, simply because she has more knowledge and life experience."

I recalled one of Sayuri-san's author's notes, in which she'd said that she was wary of writing relationships with wide age gaps between the partners, lest there be a power imbalance in the older person's favor. How large of a gap was acceptable depended on the parties' ages and personalities, but she wouldn't even dream of pairing a forty-year-old adult with a teenager, especially not when the older person was also a teacher. Because of that, she clearly understood that most of us implicitly trusted Mom, as well as how that trust could be abused.

"Speaking of which, there's the note from the traitor," I said. "Not only does the salutation address me by my first name, without honorifics- granted, Akira and Himeno-san refer to me the same way- but the handwriting seems familiar."

"It doesn't match Akira's notebook, so she most likely couldn't have written it," Himeno-san said, "and I don't think Chiyuri has ever seen my handwriting before. It seems most likely that you wrote it, Nagato-sensei."

"That sounds logical enough," Mom said, "but could you please show it to me, Chiyuri?"

I passed Mom the note, and she examined it carefully, getting a close look at the handwriting for the first time.

"There's no mistaking it," Mom said. "This is my handwriting."

I was a bit caught off-guard at how easily Mom had admitted to it. Knowing that she'd written the note convincing me to escape Talent High School wouldn't be enough to condemn her, but she could have denied writing it, and I wouldn't have been able to conclusively prove otherwise. Most of the previous culprits had only helped us by making mistakes, so Mom being willing to admit to something that helped further establish her guilt almost made me doubt whether she really was the traitor. Unfortunately, it wasn't the only piece of evidence I had, so I pressed on.

"There's more," I said. "The email sent out to the faculty informed us that you had been made aware of the Shelter Plan before any of the students had been called into the office. You were also under strict orders not to tell anyone- including your daughter. Of course, someone placed a listening device in the office, someone who knew in advance that the headmistress would be speaking with the students."

"Yes, and the recordings confirmed this, too," Tatsuki-san said. "Not even Chiyuri-san, Asakura-kun and Kojima-kun had heard of the Shelter Plan before being called into the office, and wouldn't have been able to plant the listening device in there in advance."

"But the note said that there was a traitor in the junior class, didn't it?" Mom said. "That would mean that Kagami-san was responsible for all this, wasn't he?"

"Not necessarily," I said. "He was the mastermind behind the Talent High School killing game, but he wasn't part of Ultimate Despair. Besides, there's another member of the junior class who could have betrayed us- the teacher. By this point, we'd moved up a year, and had become Kurosawa-sensei's students, but most of us probably felt some respect for our old teacher."

Mom looked heartbroken. She'd always taken the responsibility of being a teacher seriously, which was why she insisted that I treat her like one, so it naturally followed that she didn't think much of those who failed to do their job or abused their students' trust. She'd been a respectable teacher for many years, so I could only imagine how hard it would be to realize that she was responsible for so many of her students dying.

"Ordinarily, this would be the point at which the culprit confesses to the crime," Mom said, "or at least says something during the trial that helps prove their guilt. But I swear that I do not remember betraying you all. I wish I could say that I did not do such a thing, but without my memories, I can't be certain."

"That's right, Sensei," Tatsuki-san said. "I trust Chiyuri-san's detective work, but you were the one who recommended investigating the headmistress' office and A/V room, which helped us find the evidence that proved that the person responsible for the listening device was most likely someone who worked for the school. Not many of the blackened were this helpful- except Azuki-san, who was a special case."

In other words, since the culprit responsible for bugging the headmistress's office was most likely connected to the traitor, Mom had helped us get closer to finding the traitor's identity. I could only think of two reasons why Mom would have done such a thing if she were the traitor- either she had so little faith in our investigative abilities that she didn't think we'd make the connection, or she didn't remember betraying us.

"I don't believe Mom's lying to us, per se," I said. "After all, it seems as though the Neo World Program removed all our memories of the past two years, and the traitor was no exception. Mom not only forgot the traitor's identity, but also whatever caused her to betray us, so she made a wholehearted effort to help us find the traitor who'd caused harm to her students."

"I guess the purpose was twofold," Himeno-san said. "First, it would reset the majority of us- apart from you and your mother, Kanae and I, and the twins- to being strangers, and make it easier for us to kill each other. Second, it was possible that at least some of us knew the traitor's identity, so we would forget that bit of information."

At that point, I remembered that we did, in fact, know the traitor's identity. Not only was it likely that we'd immediately realize who had double-crossed us, but I had a bit of evidence that proved it.

"You're absolutely right about that, Himeno-san," I said, "especially the latter part. After I stepped through the school door, I had a vision of the past, in which Akira and I were locked in a cell on the third island- or rather, the third island in real life. Back then, we knew who'd brought us there."

The conversation came back to my head, and the missing bits were filled in.

"I heard a juicy tidbit from Kanae while we were exercising in the courtyard," Akira said. "She overheard a conversation between Nagato-sensei and our guards this morning. Apparently Ultimate Despair will take us to the office building in the north of the island in the fairly near future."

"I see," I said. "Are they going to... to execute us?"

"Hell if I know," Akira said. "If Nagato-sensei and the others wanted us dead, I think they'd have killed us already. They mentioned something called the Neo World Program, so I think they're going to use it on us."

"What's that supposed to be?" I said.

"Kanae didn't hear any details," Akira said, "but it can't be anything good. Our captors are Ultimate Despair, after all."

"You know, Akira..." I said. "I'm so sorry things ended up like this."

"It's not your fault, Chiyuri," Akira said. "I don't think any of us except your mom knew how this was going to turn out, and she was the one responsible. In hindsight, the only reason I can imagine her being the traitor is that I already know it's true."

"You may be right," I said. "But at this point, I suppose it's too late to do anything about it, isn't it?"

"Maybe it isn't," Akira said. "After all, Class 33 escaped from Talent High School, so maybe..."

I recited what I'd heard as best as I could remember it.

"When I had the vision earlier, I didn't hear any of the proper names," I said, "so it didn't prove anything. I guess it's hard for you to just take my word for it, but if any of you happen to remember something like that, then I'm sure that we'll easily be able to discern the traitor's identity."

"I believe you, Chiyuri-chan," Sayuri-san said. "If nothing else, what Himeno proposed is entirely plausible."

I didn't hear any argument from the others, not even Mom.

"So, if what you're saying is true, and I'm the traitor, then we're wrong about at least one of our assumptions about the traitor," Mom said. "We'd thought that they were covertly working to further the killing game, but how could they if they didn't even know they were the traitor?"

"Bingo, Nagato-sensei," Monokuma said. "The students were the ones who were supposed to do the killing, after all."

As far as I recalled, there were no instances in which the traitor's help was necessary, even if they were aware of their identity. By truthfully revealing that one of us had betrayed the class, Monokuma thus made it more likely for us to distrust and kill one another.

"It's as Monokuma says," I said. "If you, as the traitor, entered the Neo World Program and lost your memory, you wouldn't be willing or able to help him. I guess that's another reason why Monokuma wouldn't have been inconvenienced by your death."

"True," Sayuri-san said. "Nagato-sensei wasn't an Ultimate, so she had no role to play in the game, but Monokuma couldn't kill her, either."

"Yes," I said. "As we found out, both the Hope's Peak and Talent High School killing games were between the Ultimate students of each school. There's also a photo showing the rest of the board of directors hanging from a gallows, save for one member, who was used as a hostage."

"That's right," Kurogane-san said. "Judging from the picture, it seemed Ultimate Despair was responsible for the execution."

"I agree," I said. "But since we don't have anything indicating that our families were taken hostage to motivate us to kill, then it's likely that Ultimate Despair spared you because you were a member."

Upon further reflection, Mom had probably changed in the last two or three years, ever since I'd gotten into Talent High School. But was it possible for her to change so drastically in such a short period of time? She'd been through a lot- losing her husband, raising a daughter as a single mother and being the target of scorn and mockery, but she had her support systems- friends, family and faith- and swore to keep going in order to do her job as a teacher and a parent.

Mom didn't seem fully convinced. This was probably the best news that we could offer her at this point- that regardless of what she'd done in the past, the version of her standing here right now hadn't done anything wrong since going into the killing game- but she didn't believe it.

"Let me ask you something, Chiyuri," Mom said. "When you and the rest of the class checked the bridge, did you see anyone up there?"

"Not at all," I said. "According to Monokuma, no one had ever gone up to the bridge ever since the ship left port for the first time."

The others nodded. Since we'd all gone up together, and Mom was the only exception, there was barely any point in answering the question.

"I thought so," Mom said. "My question is this- how is it possible for Monokuma to steer the ship without a captain or crew in the bridge? Surely people would have to steer the ship, wouldn't they?"

Most culprits who asked me that question did so in a desperate attempt to find some weakness in my argument, but Mom genuinely wanted to know. Mom's question was no less deserving of a good answer, so I regretted only being able to give speculation in response.

"To put it simply, he could do that if he uploaded his consciousness there," I said, "through the Alter Ego program. He can be multiple places at once with his body doubles, so it's possible for him to copy his consciousness there, too."

"Yes, that's certainly possible," Mom said, "but is there any proof that it's been used?"

"There is," I said. "When I spoke with Alter Ego alongside Tatsuki-san, he said that apart from him, there were eighteen individuals logged in to the program, two pairs of which were copies. The first pair are the Tachibana sisters, while the latter is the traitor, whose consciousness was uploaded to Alter Ego. The natural assumption is that Monokuma has the traitor's consciousness inside him...or should I say her?"

All this time, we'd thought of Monokuma as male, if only because of his voice. If Enoshima ran the killing game through Monokuma, that would be a convenient misconception for her, just as it would be for the copy of Mom's consciousness this time.

"That sounds about right," Tatsuki-san said. "All we need to do now is prove that Nagato-sensei's consciousness is inside Monokuma."

"Indeed," Mom said. "Do you have any ideas, Chiyuri?"

I paused to think for a moment. While I'd only known my classmates for about a month, I'd known Mom for all my life, so I was extremely familiar with her various habits.

"I don't know if you noticed, but Monokuma had a distinctive way of talking to others," I said. "He generally addressed everyone by their last name and '-san', regardless of gender."

"Good catch, Nagato-san," Kurogane-san said. "While the more polite students use '-san' on the girls, they often use '-kun' on the boys. Others, like Kojima-kun and Azuki-san, generally don't bother with honorifics."

There was also Sayuri-san, who used first names on everyone who would let her, and Kirishima-san, who used "-kun" on both boys and girls, but that was beside the point. Only a handful of individuals matched Monokuma on that regard, including our prime suspect.

"Exactly," I said. "And, of course, Mom speaks to others that way- including me, when she's acting as our teacher. I'll admit that I generally use last names and '-san' on most people, partly because of Mom's influence, and partly because I attended all-girls schools for much of my childhood, but we just proved that Mom was the traitor, she fits the bill much better."

Mom, however, didn't seem to be entirely convinced, or at least seemed to be playing Devil's Advocate.

"That may be so," Mom said, "but I can think of three other people who talk like we do- Tsukimura-san, Himemiya-san and Mihama-san."

"I'm not so sure, Sensei," Sayuri-san said. "Chiyuri-chan, Kanae-chan and Himeno use first names on their friends. As for Miharu-chan, she once told me that the only reason she's this formal with everyone is because we're older than her."

"For Kanae, calling me 'Himeno-sama' was a very difficult habit to break," Himeno-san said, "regardless of whether our school expected her to call me 'Himemiya-san,' or I wanted her to call me 'Himeno.' I had the same problem, and feel rather awkward calling her Tsuki...mura-san. My parents drilled the importance of good manners into me, but I personally find it hard to be that formal with my friends, and Kanae's the same way."

Himeno-san raised a good point. Out of the many things that made us who we were, our habits and the things we did were probably the most indicative of our true selves, since they often leaked through when we tried to pretend to be someone we weren't.

"Speaking of slip-ups, I noticed something even more important," I said. "In the aftermath of the third trial, Monokuma called me 'Chiyuri,' apparently by mistake. At the time, there were only three people who called me by my first name- Sayuri-san, who used '-chan' on me, Akira, who'd just been executed, and you, Mom. I didn't think too much of it at the time because I was grieving Akira's death, but that seems like a mistake you would make."

Mom nodded, and said, "Yes, it is." Because she knew she would slip up and call me "Chiyuri" from time to time, we agreed that if one of us called the other by the wrong name during class, that person would merely make a polite correction. As Jesus said, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"- it wouldn't be fair for either of us to judge the other too harshly for a mistake we could make ourselves.

"Oh, dear," Monokuma said. "I should've known that you'd read too much into one tiny instance of my calling you by your first name."

"Back then, I didn't have nearly as much evidence as I do now," I said. "As for the clues I had, I either didn't understand their significance, or didn't want to believe that they pointed to Mom."

"The rest of us felt the same way," Tatsuki-san said. "Since most of us were strangers at the start of the killing game, it was easier to suspect the people we'd only just met than the people closest to us."

I agreed, but at the same time, knew that a lot could happen in two years. Something had caused Mom to betray us, but was it even possible for someone to change so drastically in a year or two? I'd have to find the answer to that question another time.

"All this sounds rather convincing," Mom said, "but do you have any proof that I logged into the Neo World Program intending to serve as the traitor?"

"I can only guess your intentions," I said, "but I found a list of logins in the laundry room. The seventeen of us each had a pod, numbered NWP-001 through 018, except for 004, which was out of order. NWP-013, however, activated after the others, only to run into a system failure, at which point the occupant switched to another pod and logged in."

I got out Kirishima-san's notebook and pointed at Mom's entry in the list of names and serial numbers.

"Kirishima-san came up with a list of serial numbers for each person," I said, "and according to that list, Pod NWP-013 belongs to you."

"That's... that's right," Mom said, "but what does that mean?"

Ordinarily, Mom would be the one to answer that question, but I had to take a stab at this.

"This is only a guess," I said, "but I assume that you had originally planned to stay out, but at the last second, you logged in, to take part in the killing game for some reason. This would explain why even your first login attempt was just before the rest of us logged in. As a result, Monokuma decided to keep you out of the killing game."

"Ah, yes, this again," Kurogane-san said. "I recall us wondering why the traitor would willingly enter the killing game, but it seems as though they did, anyway."

"What about the rule we mentioned earlier?" Sayuri-san said. "As Chiyuri-chan pointed out, Monokuma would instantly punish anyone who tried to kill Nagato-sensei, so she would have no reason to fear being harmed."

Himeno-san shook her head.

"Unless she was executed," Himeno-san said. "As I said earlier, I thought Chiyuri would try to graduate on the second island because it would be her only chance to save her mother and graduate with her. If that didn't happen, Nagato-sensei's only chance of surviving would be for us to get through every class trial, as well as the graduation exam. Even if we found a way to escape the killing school trip, we'd likely have to leave Nagato-sensei behind, since the rule also prohibits us from freeing her."

"I know what you mean," Tatsuki-san said. "I realized that would have been the only way for me to graduate with Taiga, even if I didn't go through with it until Kojima-kun tried to kill Taiga."

I knew I was one of the people most likely to be tempted by the motive, apart from the twins in Cabin F1 and the childhood friends in Cabin F3. Of course, in the end, the person who'd tried to graduate for that reason turned out to be someone who wasn't all that close to his roommate, and his murder attempt forced the true killer's hand. As obvious as Kojima-san's crush on Akira had been, I couldn't say I'd predicted that outcome.

"Those are some good points," I said, "but none of us predicted that there would be such an opportunity... or that Monokuma would set up a rule forbidding any of us from trying to free or kill Mom. Mom's consciousness might be inside Monokuma, but the two of them are fundamentally different people."

"Yes, we are," Mom said. "I honestly can't fathom what would have driven me to betray my own students, including my daughter."

"Neither can I, Mom," I said. "The only thing I'm sure of is that you changed some time after I got into Talent High School, but I don't know how or why it would be possible for that to happen so quickly. Unless I missed something, it most likely happened in a year or two. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but..."

"I think there's evidence for that," Himeno-san said. "Enoshima didn't meet the rest of Class 77-B until their final year at Hope's Peak, so she must have converted them to Ultimate Despair in less than a year. The change happened too quickly to be natural, but it apparently happened anyway."

Perhaps we'd discover the truth about what happened to Mom by investigating Class 77-B, but we couldn't do so right now. For now, the cold, hard truth was that Mom had betrayed us to Ultimate Despair, and we could only speculate about her reasons. Despite that, the person standing by my side was the mother I remembered, and she was having a harder time with this than anyone else.

"I... don't know what to say," Mom said. "I don't remember any of this, and I certainly don't want to believe it, but the facts support it. But even so, I still can't bring myself to accept that I did something so terrible."

"Then I'll go over the events of what happened," I said, "and if anything seems out of place, please let me know."

To begin with, we, the sixteen students of Class 32 of Talent High School, are not merely strangers to each other. Even apart from those who were childhood friends or twin sisters, we actually know each other from having went to and graduated from Talent High School. But those memories, along with the name of the person who betrayed us, were stolen from us.

When the world descended into chaos, we were supposed to take shelter in Talent High School, but the traitor deceived us. They sent me a note informing me that the school was no longer safe, since a traitor was connected to the junior class, and asked us to escape. Since all of us, I, most of all, trusted that person, we did as they said, and fell into their trap.

Ultimate Despair abducted us, but did not kill us outright. Instead, they kept us imprisoned, and eventually inserted us into the Neo World Program. Their goal was to hold a copycat killing game inside there, just like the ones that had taken place inside the walls of Hope's Peak Academy and Talent High School. Using the Alter Ego artificial intelligence technology, the traitor uploaded their own consciousness to the program, which assumed the guise of Monokuma to continue the "tradition" of the killing games, and disguise the traitor's identity.

The traitor's plan went perfectly, but then, on a whim, they decided to enter the game themselves. Not having any use for the traitor, but unwilling to harm them, Monokuma had the traitor imprisoned. As such, the traitor became an unwitting participant in the killing game, unaware of the crimes they had committed.

The traitor, the one responsible for this killing game... is my mother and our teacher, Yukari Nagato.

Mom sighed, then had a bittersweet smile on her face.

"I still don't remember anything," Mom said, "but I'll trust that you're right about this."

"So will we," Himeno-san said. "For the sake of Kanae, Akira and everyone else who died, let's bring an end to this."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Then it's settled!" Monokuma said. "Will you choose the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one?"

I, along with my four remaining classmates, voted for Mom, who won unanimously. We saw yet another dice roll with Mom's face, and a "GUILTY" sign.

"Looks like you're right," Monokuma said. "The traitor- the one who betrayed your class- is none other than your teacher Yukari Nagato, also known as the Ultimate Despair. I knew you could do it"

"As did I," Miura-san said.

Suddenly, I saw Miura-san appear to my left, where Karita-san had once stood. She wore a charcoal gray blazer-style uniform with a red and blue striped necktie, probably her old school's uniform. Her blazer had a name tag with her name in kanji, as well as an unfamiliar school crest, so I could tell that she didn't go to Saint Mary's or any other school in the city.

"Miura-san!" I said. "You really made it!"

"I'm sorry for the wait, Nagato-senpai," Miura-san said, "but it looks like you found out the answer yourself. I wish I could have told you, but..."

"It's fine," I said. "Not only was Monokuma listening to our conversation, but I had to figure it out for myself. I probably wouldn't have believed it if anyone else had told me Mom had betrayed us."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Miura-san said with a smile, "since I was once in the same position myself."

As a fellow survivor of the killing games, Miura-san must have realized that my classmates and I not only were intelligent enough to find the truth behind each case, but were strong enough to face that truth. Perhaps she and I hadn't been friends, or even very close for a senpai and kohai, but we could understand and trust each other.

"That being said," Miura-san said, "I'm sure you wouldn't have minded a little help given the situation and what was at stakes, right, Senpai?"

"You're absolutely right," I said, "and you helped us a lot. Thank you very much."

"You're most welcome," I said. "Speaking of which, the others should be here soon."

Before I could ask Miura-san who "the others" were, she cleared her throat and her expression hardened.

"It's been a while... Nagato-sensei," Miura-san said.

As Mom glanced at Miura-san with an expression that said, "Do I know you?" I noticed that Miura-san wasn't looking at her, but at Monokuma.

"Looks like my secret's out," Monokuma said. "Well, there's no point in keeping up this charade any longer. Behold; the truth you all worked so hard to uncover."

Smoke began billowing from Monokuma, followed by a blinding flash of light. As the light faded, we saw that the courtroom had changed. It was now a platform in a large yellow void.

When the smoke cleared, we saw someone who looked very familiar. The person looked like Mom, but there were two major differences. The first was the colors- while Mom's left half looked normal, the right side of her hair and suit- her jacket, her pantyhose and her shoes- were white, not black. The second was that Mom was huge- she was standing in the void past the edge of the courtroom, and the part of her that we could see was at least six to eight meters tall. The third was that there was a jagged, curved scar on her left eye, so red it looked as though it was still bleeding.

Having gotten our attention, "Mom" placed a smartphone down, which showed a more human-sized version of her.

"Hello, class," "Mom" said.

Author's Notes

Thank you for your theories. I'd like to congratulate DarkXTheDragonKnight on finding the mastermind's identity, particularly picking up on some of the clues. JCarp came close to identifying the traitor, but Himemiya is ruled out by a simple factor; in the Desperate Measures side story, she kills Tatsuki in front of everyone else on the third island, then allows herself to be executed in a way that's impossible to fake her death (she gets shot full of crossbow bolts). I'd originally hoped that Sasaki would be the red herring, just like I hoped Edogawa would be the red herring in Where Talent Goes To Die.

Next up is the confrontation with the mastermind, as well as the revelations behind unanswered questions, and the epilogue will follow that. I'm mostly done with each of them, but it may be a little while before I'm done with them; the fic should be complete by the end of the month. Part of the reason why I uploaded the chapter when I did is because of the timing- namely, it's Mother's Day.

Here's the unused X marks for the students who didn't die(or whose memorials weren't shown). In Taiga's case, her portrait was unused because Monokuma considered Tatsuki to have been the one who died, while Higurashi's portrait never actually showed up.

Nagato: Two crossed coiled phone cords.

Sasaki: An X in the shape of two manga artist pens.

Himemiya: Two crossed arrows.

Taiga: Two musical notes.

Kurogane: A cross-section of the borders between four tiles on a go board tilted 45 degrees, with black stones to the left and right.

Higurashi: Two crossed microphones.