Disclaimer: The Danganronpa franchise does not belong to me. The content affiliated with this fanfiction belong to Spike Chunsoft and Kazutaka Kodaka. The cover art belongs to the artist, Sakuya. This fanfiction is being cross-uploaded on Archive Our Own, and the authors notes are located at the bottom.
Chapter Four: The New World Order Pt 3
There were a lot of questions on Ryota's mind when taking the topic of the Ultimate Experiment into consideration, it made him wonder exactly what was going on in this killing game, there must have been more than what originally perceived the eye. They were a long way off course from a simple trial of Naegi holding the Remnants of Despair and things were much worse then they ever imagined.
If only there was some way that they could escape this building then all of their questions would be answered. Ryota had a feeling they were now involved in something much bigger than that—and what could be bigger than helping a terrorist organization that helped destroy the world?
Apparently it was this supposed "New Revolution" and the Mirai Holocaust that they have been causing outside of this building. Nothing was more agonizing then being stuck in this building unable to help the world.
Trying to figure everything out this late at night was giving him a headache and it was getting late enough as it is. The good news was there was already another dormitory created on this floor for Ryota to spend the night since boarding the elevator was tiresome to do.
Nothing too special that was noteworthy about the decor of the room, all the essentials that were present in the last three dorms were already here in this one. However, there was one particularly noticeable change about the rooms compared to the last time.
In the center of the room was a retro television set that he hadn't seen in ages, alongside it was a Funbox video game console. That was strange, those were two things that he couldn't even remember the last time laying eyes on. Maybe before the Tragedy had started?
Come to think of it, what was a video game console even doing here in the first place? Obviously this must have been the work of Monokuma. Exactly what were his intentions with using this—was it part of the motive this time around?
Sengoku Asuka Zero.
Why did that name sound vaguely familiar to him, it must have been the name of a video game he once played before all of the chaos of the Tragedy began. Still, there lied the question of exactly what a video game was doing in such a terrible place like this.
He picked up the cartridge and examined it for anything suspicious. "I'm not sure what this is all about...but I just know that Monokuma must have something to do with this."
By this point Ryota was starting to suspect that Monokuma responded everytime that someday said his name because the villainous bear popped out of nowhere again. "Did somebody call?"
"Monokuma, what are you doing here!?" Ryota gasped.
"Remember a few days ago when I said there are 1090 different versions of me? Well, it's definitely true! I've got eyes all around this building and have seen just about everything!" Monokuma grinned.
The dastardly bear's face flushed and started sweating. "I even know what Kizakura-kun's internet history looks like, and let me tell you...that is nothing short of disturbing!"
Ryota just ignored that last sentence. "I'm guessing that you had something to do with this game?"
"You guessed right. I took the liberty of giving Sengoku Asuka Zero its long awaited sequel." Monokuma giggled. "Well not as long awaited as those other games. Y'know the sequels that people waited a decade for, what were they called again? Last Guardian? Versus XIII? Kingdom—"
"What does this have anything to do with the killing game?" Ryota questioned and interrupted his sentence. "No offense, but how are you going to persuade someone with murder with this?"
The bear laughed again. "Upupupu...I had a feeling that you were going to say something like that. Which is exactly why I've decided to make some minor tweaks to the game and add in some specific clues to solving all the big mysteries to this game."
"What do you mean?" Ryota wondered.
"The identity of the missing participant of this killing game is revealed in this game!" Monokuma laughed.
The 16th participant? If Monokuma was outright confirming this then there was no denying at this point that the killing game was not as it seems, somewhere inside of this building secretly lies a participant who kept their identity anonymous from everyone, and the only indication of their existence is the empty podium in the courtroom.
Exactly who could this person be? Were they actually the traitor that Monokuma mentioned earlier in this killing game—a member of the New Revolution that Alter Ego warned them about—or maybe someone completely different.
So many questions and now Monokuma was just going to give him that information in the form of a video game? The two-toned bear's smile had grown even wider upon noticing the look of temptation that presented itself across Ryota's face.
The Ultimate Animator nervously eyed Monokuma and was on the verge of dropping the cartridge, "Is this legit? Will information like that really be revealed if I just beat this game?"
"If you don't believe me then why not just play for yourself ?" Monokuma turned his back and before disappearing again he said, "Go back to your hikikomori days and return to pulling all nighter gameathon!"
He contemplatively stared at the cartridge for a good five minutes and wondered if he should actually play this game. If this were anything like the other motives that Monokuma had dished out beforehand then things wouldn't end well—then again he never actually specified if this were the real motive or not.
Taking this motive at face value, Ryota decided to follow the bears instructions and actually figure out if one of the big secrets of the killing game were actually stored within this game. After all, how bad could something like this be?
All of this second guessing was getting him nowhere so he decided to just shove the cartridge inside of the console and grabbed his control pad.
Sengoku Asuka Zero
Directors Cut
© Monosoft 1984 All Rights Reserved
Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this game are fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Use of these characters without the permission of Monosoft Developers are punishable by law and could result in being punished .
The Ultimate Animator quietly rolled his eyes. The two-toned bear already took over such a large amount of the world that he actually had his own gaming company, though he couldn't help but think that the company name was slightly familiar.
New Game
Load Game
He selected the "New Game" option like any new player would and was met with a loading screen.
"A long time ago in the Sengoku period of Japan, a vicious and merciless Daimyō tyrant named Monokuma has taken over the country with his army of robots, for so long it seemed as if all hope was lost, until the world's most powerful warrior clan known as the Mirai Kikan had all banded together to end the battle once and for all. In the midst of the war many of the foundations allies have been killed and the surviving warriors are doing their best to return order to the world."
The designated protagonist of this tale was a normally quiet and reserved haiku poet who went by the name of Mitarai, a lower class warrior that hardly participated in battles and dedicated a large amount of his time to writing and publishing haikus. His talents were amazing, yet his battle skills left much to be desired, earning him the title of being the "voice of an era".
Mitarai blinked his olive green eyes and found himself waking up in his bedroom as always. This morning started off practically the same as every other would, with him oversleeping after pulling another all nighter working on one of his infamous haikus and was awoken by the candle clock telling him that it was time for another Mirai Kikan meeting.
For the past couple of months when Mitarai wasn't harvesting and gardening, he was secretly working on comic haikus that have become rather quite popular. Someday, he would love to create a haiku that is so great that he can gather his trusty megaphone and scream to the heavens his desire to help others.
Except, maybe that was just some wishful thinking and it was a long way before that ever happened?
According to the rumors that he heard, today was supposedly the day that the warriors of the Mirai Kikan Clan were finally planning their coup de grace on Monokuma and the legion of Ultimate Despair. His greatest dream was that someday the Mirai Kikan and specifically its Holy Leader 「Tengan」 would allow him to battle on the front lines and finally be named a true warrior.
It seemed like ever since he first was accepted into this clan all Mitarai was allowed to do was sit on the sidelines while he watched all of his comrades risk their life to defeat despair, which mostly stemmed from the fact that Mitarai was shamefully defeated by Sword Maniac 「Enoshima」and lost the ability to rescue his former friends. Even though she had been dead for about two years now, the event was something that still shamed him and was considered his greatest mistake.
All he wanted to do was help people in any way possible and prove to everyone that he was a capable fighter.
He rushed straight to their recently remodeled temple—serving as their base of operation for this time—to meet up with the other surviving members of the Mirai Kikan, fortunately none of them seem remotely bothered that he was late by a few minutes or that he stopped for a few minutes to respectfully pray for his deceased comrades that were over the past few weeks.
Due to Holy Leader 「Tengan」recently passing away, the clan was taken over by the War Demon 「Munakata」who seemed to have held all of the legitimate power in the first place. The man was not one to be taken lightly by any stretch of the imagination because of his nearly flawless leadership and swordsmanship skills that made him one of the most feared men in the world. Compared to all of the other warriors recruited in the Mirai Kikan, he was the one who took his job the most seriously, pretty much anyone who crossed him would likely end up on the other side of his blade if they attempted to cross him.
His most trusted ally Destructor 「Sakakura」 had been the most vocal about his opinion about the state of the world and stormily slammed his fist on the nearest table. "How long are we gonna keep this going on? You guys do realize that Daimyō Monokuma has already sent his forces to attack Itsukushima and Shigisan."
"We already know that, Sakakura." War Demon 「Munakata」 stressfully acknowledged. "It's not as if we all want to stand idly while this happens. We need to be vigilant in our efforts of stopping them or else there could be some very serious consequences."
The Iron Fan 「Ando」relinquished a sigh of exasperation from her dry mouth. "And let me guess, you're going to make us run headfirst into enemy territory instead of waiting until the time is right?"
"Do you have a problem with my direction?" 「Munakata」 raised an eyebrow.
"Your crazy ideals are going to get us all killed!" 「Ando」shot back.
"I'd watch my mouth if I were you." 「Sakakura」hissed. "Munakata has been the salvation of this entire clan since old-man Tengan died. He's the reason any of our asses are even still alive!"
"I'd beg to differ," 「Ando」scoffed.
Mitarai was reluctant to chime into the conversation because of all the nonstop arguing that has been going on for the past several days. Ever since 「Tengan」was killed several weeks ago, the Mirai Kikan's clan has slowly fallen apart and 「Munakata」has become more vigilant and stressed out, trying to maintain order and find a way to defeat Monokuma once and for all. In truth, Mitarai actually admired this man a lot when he first took order in the Mirai Kikan and believed that maybe they would be closer to the path of hope under his wing.
Boy, was he wrong.
His idea of "hope" seemed skewed compared to what 「Tengan」believed in. As the self-proclaimed "War Demon" of the Mirai Kikan, he seemed more focused on spreading hope with action and potentially even collateral damage that could very well result in the harm or even death of other people. In his eyes, if it was capable of creating hope, then he would go after it no matter what.
There had to have been an easier way to combat despair than with what he was doing.
The Shot-Caller 「Kizakura」, who was usually known as the free spirited drifter, playfully laughed at the scene unfolding. "It looks like you guys are as lively as ever! I guess it's impossible for the whole foundation to agree on the same thing."
"I unfortunately agree with that statement," 「Munakata」sighed before turning his attention to the messenger of the clan. "In that vein, have you anything to report since the incident that occured a week ago?"
The messenger was the Warmaiden 「Gekkogahara」, a warrior blessed with martial talent, but cursed with a weak constitution that left her prone to illness, she had little chance to make a name for herself on the battlefield. She reached into her satchel and pried open a scroll with information, "Yes. I was told by many of my outside sources that the Zetsubō Clan has already infiltrated a number of our bases and taken out some of the warriors in our clan."
"They what!?" 「Ando」cried out.
"Knew it was only a matter of time before that happened," 「Kizakura」muttered.
"If those bastards take out our main base then we're done for! We've gotta stop these bastards, now!" 「Sakakura」urged.
"Should we—?" MItarai was about to ask before getting interrupted.
"I'm afraid that at this point, we no longer have a choice." 「Munakata」retorted, not even realizing that Mitarai was about to say something. "We're out of definitive options, and if the Zetsubō Clan attacks this base then there will be nothing left."
Most of the warriors were greatly opposed to the idea Zetsubō Clan because so many members of the Mirai Kikan had already been lost and leaping promptly into battle would not make the situation any better, though at the same time, it was not like any of them were in much position to make arguments because 「Munakata」was the man in charge and considered himself the only person to lead the clan into victory by this point. Even Mitarai had his doubts about whether or not this was a good idea, but at this point if it meant being able to stop despair once and for all then he would take it.
All of the commotion reached its abrupt ending when a certain familiar brunette boy rushed through the doors, with an aloof lavender haired woman following him from behind. "I'm here, sorry that I'm late!"
The said voice could only belong to the Ever Loyal hero that once defeated 「Enoshima」in the first attempt at putting an end to this Tragedy, recognized as a hero who may only appear once in a hundred years, 「Naegi Makoto」. Of course, if he was present, then he usually would not be seen without his trusted ally the Dragon of Echigo「Kirigiri」with him as well.
「Sakakura」only rolled his eyes, "Trust me. I doubt anyone is actually concerned that you're late."
「Munakata」frowned like usual and glared at the boy. "Naegi, I would hope that your absence is something that can be justified. Have you or Kirigiri anything to report on despair activity?"
Being that she was his boss, 「Kirigiri」was the one who volunteered to provide an explanation. "Yes, Togami-kun had sent some troops to investigate and they discovered that a Monobeast was released and sent into Kyoto. Some casualties were reported with ten severely injured and three fatally killed."
「Naegi」unfortunately had to nod. "Yeah, and from what he told us, the Monobeast is called Tiger Mecha."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" 「Sakakura」 gasped.
"I figured it was only a matter of time before that happened," 「Kizakura」sighed.
"Yes, those were my thoughts exactly." 「Munakata」responded. "At this point, there is nothing more we can do then strike the enemy before it's too late. If we falter now then all our efforts will be lost."
"But, that's crazy! Jumping in without a plan!" 「Ando」argued back.
"Would you rather we wind up dead?" 「Munakata」asked.
If the group truly were going into battle to protect the remains of their base, their Mitarai figured that now would be a better time then any to finally ask if he could "Munakata-san, I wanted to ask—!"
Realizing that none of the other warriors were making any further objections, 「Munakata」gave a no-nonsense nod. "Then it's settled. As soon as everyone is prepared, we will immediately commence our siege against the Monobeast."
"Munakata-san...?" Mitarai attempted to call out again.
"What, Mitarai!? Can you not see that we are in the middle of an important discussion? This had better be good." 「Munakata」retorted in distraught.
The introverted haiku creator gulped, "I...wanted to know if I could help you all on this mission...I mean I have some skills with—"
"That is not probable. Many of our warriors have already died over the past several weeks, and with your track record of assisting in despair it would be less than ideal to have you accompany us." 「Munakata」 immediately denied it before even giving it further thoughts.
He attempted to defend himself again to no avail, "But I think I can't help—"
"Watch who you're talking to!" 「Sakakura」barked and violently pushed Mitarai out of the way.
"Mitarai, I would suggest you mind me orders if you wish to remain in this clan," 「Munakata」strictly urged the boy. "Am I clear?"
The dirty blonde was left with no other choice then to sadly nod. "Yes, I understand."
All of the warriors left on their mission to combat the Monokuma robots that were attacking and left Mitarai all by his lonesome. The feeling of loneliness cruelly proved itself to be a sensation that Mitarai had long grown used to after his many experiences, for once it hardly even bothered him. More than anything, what plagued his mind the most was trying to help out and be subjected to waiting on the sidelines.
To make matters even worse, there was a very blatant disparity between Mitarai and the other members of the Mirai Kikan Clan that was forbidden from participating in any field work. With the recent deaths of some of the warriors of the clan, all of the responsibilities of food supply and medicine was now relegated to the one leader that was now participating in field work (ergo, Mitarai) which was not as easy as it sounded.
Doing that wasn't the easiest task in the world, Mitarai's specialty was dedicated to spreading culture and education in places of need, and now he was being forced to learn how to properly harvest crops and grow medicinal herbs, neither of which he had the most extensive knowledge about. In lieu of many of the damages caused by Daimyō Monokuma, there was a scarcity in what foods could be grown, and at the minute most of it were just an assortment of different mushrooms.
Mitarai must have planned more mushrooms than he even knew existed. Kusanagi Shrooms? Ashiatsu Shroom? Esudare Shroom? He had no idea what the purpose of these were supposed to be, though he apparently heard its purpose was to make warriors stronger when digested.
The loyal warrior gave an awkward laugh. "Mitarai-kun, sorry about that. Are you alright?"
Mitarai nodded and picked himself off the ground. "Yeah, I'm alright. Thank you."
A couple more laughs were got out before the two boys finally decided to sit along the grassy hill to unwind for a moment. It seems like ever since all of this madness had started, there hasn't even been time to do things like that. Mitarai felt that he needed to ask the Ever Loyal warrior at least once what his agenda could be, usually in these circumstances no one even bothers to give him the time of day and yet he immediately rushed to help him without thinking too much. Taking advantage of the fact that Mitarai was standing right next to the proclaimed "hero" that bested against the likes of Sword Maniac 「Enoshima」, he figured he could finally answer a glaring question on his mind.
"Excuse me, Naegi-san. Can I ask you a question if you don't mind my asking...why are you helping out someone like me ? I thought you would have left already."
The other brunette boy admittedly found himself surprised that he would ask something like that and lightly chuckled. "I kinda thought that Munakata-san's words were maybe a little too harsh, so I came here to come and check up on you. If that's alright?"
Mitarai instantly shook his head, "No, I don't mind at all."
「Naegi」smiled in approval and sat on the grass next to Mitarai. Almost on cue, the two boys started feeling peckish and there rumbling from their stomachs broke the awkward silence between the two. Luckily, Naegi had brought a basket with him that had a freshly made Sweet Bean and Barley Mochi inside that was likely made by one of the chefs in their temple.
"If you don't mind. There's also something that I wanted to ask you." 「Naegi」admitted and used a knife to cut off a piece of the sweet bean to eat. "I heard you mention before that you wanted to be on the field and help others, can I ask why?"
Huh—? Mitarai genuinely could not tell for the life of him if this was meant to be some kind of practical joke or something. Usually this would be the part where someone actually ignores what was on his mind and continues to give him orders to keep harvesting. This might have been the first time where someone actually asked him what he wanted.
The haiku artist realized that he was probably too deep in his own thoughts and forgot to give an explanation. "Well it's because...my friends were lost to despair after Enoshima had taken them and it's all my fault. I don't want the same thing to happen to anyone else."
For some odd reason, 「Naegi」had actually begun laughing at this revelation. Mitarai could not help but wonder what the meaning of this was, "Naegi-san, is something funny?"
"It's just, that sounds like something I would have said. Tengan once said that you and I were alike," 「Naegi」admitted. "I think Munakata-san was wrong not to believe in you, I know that you're capable of doing anything you put your mind to."
"You really mean that?" Mitarai quietly asked.
"Of course." 「Naegi」happily assured him.
Hearing that from a person that he admired greatly meant a lot, it gave him the hope that someday he would be able to properly move forward to fight despair and someday rescue his classmates. Honestly, these days it seemed rare that he would even receive that kind of positive encouragement that seemed to have been lost on the world. Mitarai was going to make sure that he never forgets this and that someday he would be able to help others like he always wanted.
"Hey, Mitarai?" 「Naegi」asked. "Have you ever used a sword before?"
He nodded. "Yeah, just a few times once before. I have minimal experience though, a good friend of mine was a swordswoman and taught me a few things."
"Good," 「Naegi」smiled. "Maybe we can do some practicing, that'll help you win Munakata-san over. How about we spar for a little, okay?"
Mitarai reluctantly nodded. "Sure, but I don't really have a weapon."
「Naegi」reached into his scabbard and brought out a sword for him to receive. "You can use mine, this is the Jūmonji Blade. It was one of the first swords that was given to me, and I'm sure that you'll put good use to it."
He handed the sword to Mitarai, something that greatly surprised him, this must have been the first time he even held a sword since his friends were lost to despair. It was admittedly overwhelming and brought a ton of memories back into his mind. Mitarai wondered if he was even capable of properly using this weapon again?
「Naegi」reached into his other scabbard and retrieved a long katana. "Are you ready for this?"
Mitarai confidently nodded and tightly gripped his katana. "Yes."
As the two readied their weapons, their sparring session had finally commenced, being that both of them were innately pacifists they made sure that their fight mostly consisted of sword clashing and that neither were actually hurting one another. Mitarai could tell that 「Naegi」was definitely a powerful swordsman that should not be underestimated in any way, he knew this was probably the reason why the world held him in such high regard and was considered the clans "hope". Mitarai was certainly no slouch either when it came to swordsmanship, which he assumed stemmed from the training he received from his friend mentioned before.
After a couple minutes of training together, Mitarai eventually dropped his sword in exhaustion. "Naegi-san, you're really good."
A bright smile glistened on 「Naegi's」face. "Thanks, I'm not really the best, there are honestly people much better at the skill than me. You're pretty good yourself, Mitarai-kun, I think that you will make a great—"
The conversation quickly ended short when a horde of vicious Monokuma robots emerged from the garden—all of which shouted "Emergency! Emergency!" as loud as they could—it seemed like their numbers were multiplying by the minute and eventually circled around the entire area. Mitarai gasped, "Monokuma robots! What are they doing here!"
「Naegi」grimaced. "They must have entered the temple somehow! We've got to get rid of them, Mitarai are you ready?"
Mitarai was surprised to see that 「Naegi」had no problem with him fighting on the frontlines, it was something that never happened with him before, he gripped his sword into place and eyed the enemies. If there was a time to show everyone that he was capable of protecting others—maybe it was now? "I'm ready!"
He lunged straight towards a couple of the Monokuma's with repeated horizontal slashes until the autonomous bears all exploded, additionally making sure that he steered clear of the bear exploding every time one was defeated. "Blade Reversal!" he shouted and slid behind a group of Monokumas to stagger them and finish things off with one final slash that finished the job.
"That was amazing, Mitarai-kun!" 「Naegi」gasped in awe. "Where did you learn that?"
"I'm not really sure." Mitarai noted.
"We've got to meet up with Munakata-san and the others! They'll know what to do!"「Naegi」told him.
"Right!" Mitarai nodded in agreement.
The duo leave the garden and make their way further into the temple where they see that other members of the Mirai Kikan Clan have had their hands busy trying to defend themselves from the Monokuma units that were attacking and it seemed like they were forced to deal with just as many enemies as Mitarai was. 「Ando」was facing dueling against a Destroyer Monokuma with her pink Wisteria Fan and producing strong currents of wind—「Gekkogahara」was battling a Siren Monokuma with her Mulberry Summer staff—「Kizakura」was defeating countless Monokuma with nothing more than a swiss army knife—and 「Sakakura」was dealing blows with his bare fists.
"Are you guys alright!?" 「Naegi」cried out.
「Kirigiri」had just finished defeating a Monokuma with her bizzare ramen noodle speare (which made Mitarai feel he was missing some context). "We're fine, some of Daimyō Monokuma's subordinates have infiltrated, though it's nothing we can't handle."
"Where's Munakata-san?" Mitarai asked.
"If I remember correctly, he went outside to deal with the Monobeast." 「Kizakura」 answered.
"He is!? We gotta help him!" Mitarai declared and ran outside.
"Mitarai-kun, wait!" 「Naegi」said.
The reluctant haiku artist rushed outside of the temple in order to help their leader, after losing a lot of the people that he cared about to despair there was no way that he was ever going to let something like that happen again. He caught a witness of the Monobeast they were referring to, which looked to be some kind of mechanical tiger that had a gatling gun on its chest, he wondered if it was even possible to somehow subdue it with a mere sword or if he was going to need some additional assistance.
The beast began shooting a barrage of bullets from its gun right at 「Munakata」which he effortlessly dodged with incredible speed, Mitarai was lucky enough to dodge a couple of the bullets by hiding behind a rock as well and making sure he was kept hidden from the action. With reflexes that replicated that of a real tiger, it was difficult for Mitarai to even figure out how to have a proper opening on this thing, luckily 「Munakata」found himself able to dodge its attacks with little effort.
Tiger Monobeast violently growled and swung the flail on the end of its tail around, nearly taking out 「Munakata」in the process. Mitarai gasped in shock, "Munakata-san! Lookout!"
"What...?" the other man asked before the beast used its flail to violently hit him in the leg, "Aghh! Dammit!" 「Munakata」exclaimed and fell to his knees.
"No! Munakata-san, I'm sorry! That was my fault!" Mitarai said and rushed to the aid of his boss.
"M-Mitarai...?" 「Munakata」repeated. "Did I not tell you to stay behind?"
The taller man attempted to stand back up, but his leg was far too injured for him to continue fighting. Mitarai looked around to see the Tiger Monobeast started walking closer to them, if 「Munakata」was unable to defeat this thing then what good could Mitarai be? At least that's what he thought, even so, if no one stopped this thing then they both were going to be killed.
"Wait, don't move! You're still hurt!" Mitarai told him.
He figured that if the Monobeast remained here then it was going to continue trying to kill 「Munakata」and make his current condition even worse, so Mitarai ran past the beast at a safe distance. "Hey, over here! Your fight is with me!" the haiku artist called out in an attempt to take attention away from his injured boss. It seemed to have worked since the Monobeast decided to ignore the other man and turned his attention solely to Mitarai.
Like a real tiger, the Monobeast pounced right for Mitarai and hardly gave him a minute to react. He quickly used his given reaction time to think of a plan, he quickly shouted "Mist Blade!" and managed to successfully perform a series of slashes from his blade that sent the tiger falling backwards. It only seemed to temporarily stagger the beast, who quickly rose back up to the ground and attempted to attack him once more.
Its claws slashed right at Mitarai and slightly cut his left arm, he slightly tried to ignore this and grabbed hold of the sword once again. Worst case scenario arrived when the tiger began shooting more bullets from its gun, which would have been impossible for someone like Mitarai to dodge. He readied his sword and managed to knock the bullets right back to the tiger, which surprisingly seemed to cause it to fall back.
"Huh...?" Mitarai blinked. "That worked?"
An idea hatched in Mitarai's blind—what if he used its weapon against it? It's possible that it could work and easily defeat the Monobeast as well.
First he would have to await the right opportunity. He continued dodging many of its slashes and waiting patiently for the Tiger Monobeast to once again shoot bullets at the boy, after finding the right chance to strike he swung his sword and knocked the bullets right back at the beast and caused it to fall over.
The Tiger Monobeast had presumably deactivated.
Mitarai could feel his jaw nearly drop, he actually beat this Monobeast? Never did he actually expect something like this to happen, for so long he always viewed himself as the person that was only causing harm to people and make things worse for everyone, but for the first time he actually was able to save other people like he always wanted.
As 「Munakata」started to pick himself off the ground, he noticed exactly what Mitarai had done and found himself in complete shock. "Mitarai...what did you do...?"
Mitarai shamefully dropped his weapon and respectfully bowed to the man before walking away. "I disobeyed your orders. Munakata-san, I'm sorry."
Hours eventually passed after the defeat of the Tiger Mecha, fortunately resulting in less casualties then there usually would be whenever Monokuma attacks. Even if they were unable to fully end the Tragedy in this battle, at least they were a step closer to finally ending the madness that the Zetsubō Clan had started, and that must have been a good start. Once the beast was defeated, word had quickly got out that Mitarai of all people was the one who contributed to defeating it and he figured that it was only a matter of time before 「Munakata」found him and decided to chew him out for disobeying orders—or even worse.
At this point, Mitarai figured his best course of action was to return back to spare himself the shame and immediately returned back to the garden in order to continue planting, he figured he quickly returned back to growing foods and herbs than maybe 「Munakata」would go easy on him, and perhaps even lessen his potential punishment?
Mitarai was right in the middle of digging when 「Munakata」inevitably stood right in front of him. A bandage was now wrapped around the man's leg to treat his injury, though it hardly seemed like the wound was affecting his ability to walk in any shape of the imagination, it almost seemed like he was injured at all.
If eyes could kill, then the menacing blue eyes of 「Munakata」would have killed Mitarai from a mile away. The visual standoff between the two lasted for a good few seconds and Mitarai was positive that nothing good was going to come from whatever was in the process of occurring. "Mitarai, I heard about what you did."
There was no way of lying his way out of this predicament and realized all he could do was take his lumps, Mitarai respectfully fell to his knees. "Munakata-san, I'm sorry disobeyed your orders, I should have listened to you from the start. I understand if you're upset."
The taller man could only look at Mitarai with confusion. "Upset? Quite the opposite, I'm relieved that you were present to assist in slaying that Monobeast, I may not have survived the fight if you had now showed up."
"R-Really!?" Mitarai rose back up to his feet.
"Yes," 「Munakata」answered. "In fact, the reason I came here was to properly apologize for my actions before, it was wrong of me to assume that you were an incapable fighter. In truth, I believe that you are actually capable of doing great things."
"Thank you, Munakata-san, though I don't really think I'm that good." Mitarai modestly defended.
"I assure you that deprecating yourself is unnecessary right now." 「Munakata」assured him. "As a matter of fact, if it is alright with you, I would like to promote you with a different status in the Mirai Kikan Clan."
"A different status?" Mitarai questioned.
「Munakata」nodded. "Yes, how would you like the title of Silent Shōgun in our clan. With a title of such, that means that you would be given the opportunity to participate in more field missions with the rest of the clan and aid us in defeating despair."
"That sounds amazing...but I don't deserve it," Mitarai humbly attempted to decline.
"I insist. It is for that reason that I have also decided to provide you with this," 「Munakata」reached into his scabbard and layed a long silver sword that appeared incredibly sharp with a silver guard and blue grip. "This is one of my best swords, it's called Muryōjukei. I entrust that you will put this weapon to good use, yes?"
"Yes," Mitarai answered as if he didn't deserve it.
Ä mature smile appeared on 「Munakata」. "Very well, then. I expect to see you on the frontlines tomorrow, understand?"
A quivering smile appeared on Mitarai's face and he safely held the blade in his hands, "Yes, sir! I promise that I won't fail you!"
"Complete the trial for more information!"
The screen turned black and Ryota dropped his controller. He was left with a number of different questions, somehow having even more questions then when he first played the game, one of his biggest concerns was what the entire point of this game was in the first place?
If this truly was the work of Monokuma (which he knew without a doubt), then there was no telling that some kind of ulterior motive must have been present as well or some kind of hidden meaning behind this game, the only questions lies in what exactly that could have been.
According to what the two-toned bear had mentioned priorly, the motive was being kept anonymous from all the participants and was left up to mere speculation to figure out what it could be. This was especially confusing since the idea of persuading someone to commit a murder with a video game didn't quite make any sense.
He couldn't forget to mention the foreboding final message that was left after completing the game: "complete the trial for more information", which very obviously was not a good sign. It was almost like Monokuma was confirming that a trial was inevitably on the horizon and that another participant of this game was going to be killed.
The last thing they needed were more casualties, especially since everyone was still getting over what happened during the Izayoi and Kimura trial that was still fresh in the minds of everyone. At this point, who would even take the bait of contributing to a murder?
Right now it seemed like there options of preventing anything from happening were scarce, stopping a killing from happening on the last two occasions were downright impossible and if Monokuma wanted to bring out the despair of everyone else then
"So, Mitarai-kun, what did you think of that little game I put together?" Monokuma popped out of nowhere again to ask. "Please, tell me honestly! How many stars would you rate it?"
"I can't believe you made a game with me." Ryota asked in disbelief. "But why me of all people?"
"Well, saying the game is entirely about you is kind of a stretch. I made all of you bastards a personal individual version of this game that made you the protagonist in each of them." Monokuma explained with a smile.
The bear modestly blushed and scratched the back of his head. "My programming skills are off the charts if I do say so myself. I'd give Alter Ego-kun a run for his money if he saw the amount of time it took to make this game."
Ryota furrowed his eyebrows. "But how did you—?"
"How was I able to make this game, you ask?" Monokuma said before the animator could even finish his question. "Glad you asked! The reason my regime has become such a powerful success because of cheap Monokuma labor!"
"That's not what I mean! I meant how does this relate to the mystery of the killing game?" Ryota continued speaking.
"Hmm...you wanna know about that boring stuff?" Monokuma tilted his head. "Well, it wasn't easy making this video game since I had to repurpose the whole game so that only the surviving participants could survive."
"What does that have to do with the killing game?" Ryota desperately asked.
"My lips are sealed!" the teddy bear giggled. "What good's a story if all the plot twists are told to you on a silver platter? Figure it out for yourself, Encyclopedia Brown!"
And with his usual shtick, the bear descended and disappeared to an unspecified location where he likely retreated. Ryota ignored Monokuma, for now that bear was the least of their problems, in his mind the biggest question was figuring out what the game was referring to when it stated that more information would become apparent during the trial, not to mention how that game even relates to the killing game.
He lacked a single clue how a video game could even possibly manipulate someone into committing a murder, but nevertheless, the idea still scared him to death. Of course, there were still a lot of lingering questions on his mind about how all of this came into fruition—
At least until Ryota looked over at the nearest wall clock and saw that it was roughly 2 o' clock in the morning. How did that happen? Was he really playing for that long and didn't even catch a glimpse at what time it was?
If memory serves, the last time Ryota even remembers staying up this late at night, he was still potently working on his animations and pulling all nighters just to make a few storyboards. It felt quite ironic that he somehow slept better during a mutual killing game.
The Ultimate Animator figured there were better things to do at midnight then contemplated the mystery of this game and turned off the console to get some sleep.
A/N: In this chapter, Ryota plays a video game that is said to help him understand more about the future of the killing game. I wanted to do something similar to the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case like in DR2 and decided to do something similar. For any of my readers that may not be aware Sengoku Asuka ZERO was an iOS RPG that collaborated with the DR franchise in 2017 to promote DR3.
Even some of the names and weapons used in this fanfiction are actually a reference to characters and abilities from Sengoku Asuka ZERO.
I wanted to try something new for this chapter, I've been asked before if Dead or Lie would ever include fight scenes like in the DR3 anime, but I felt that it would retract from the murder-mystery theme of this series, especially since characters like Ryota and Makoto are normally pacifists. So, I decided to compensate by having a couple chapters of this fic that break the typical DR tropes and has action scenes, the first one was Munakata inside the Death Chamber and the second one is this chapter.
