Chapter 4: Moonlight's Twofold Revelation
"Masashi, what are you thinking about?"
It was a cool Saturday afternoon. Many people frolicked around in this small neighborhood park, others merely passing through. On the whole, there was nothing remarkable about the scene. Masashi, only seven years old, sat on a swing alongside Keiko, his younger sister.
"You look like you're thinking about something hard," she said, clad in a simple green dress over a white shirt.
"I-I'm not…" he said, abashed.
"But, Masashi, you're clearly lying," Keiko responded cheekily as she swung on her swing.
"What? No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!"
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are!"
The small-minded bickering went on for a few more seconds before Masashi chose to give up. His sister, though younger only by two years, was awfully persistent, to the point that he wanted to save himself the trouble of arguing against her.
"All right, fine, I'll tell you," he said. "The truth is… yesterday, the teacher told us the results on the test."
"Oh, the math test you took?"
"Yeah."
"What did you get?"
"80 out of 100… Didn't do as well as I thought I would."
"Well, math can be tricky."
"You think I don't know that? I don't think I've ever gotten a perfect score. It's a wonder to even get a score in the 90s. But that's not what bothers me."
He sighed as he looked down at the ground throughout which leaves were strewn.
"One of the others got a perfect score on the test. When I asked him later how he could do it, he kept saying, 'you're nobody special, so you wouldn't get it'."
"What? That was rude of him."
"I thought so, too. But... is he right?" Masashi said. "Am I... nobody special? Is that why I'll never 'get it'?"
For a while, they said not a word, continuing to swing on their swings as a breeze strewed the leaves some more. Eventually, Keiko answered him.
"I don't think you should let that bother you."
"You don't?"
"Nuh-uh. You're not dumb at all. Sure, you're not special or anything, but that just means you're normal."
"Normal? Really?"
"That's what I think. And it doesn't make any sense to make fun of you for that, if you ask me."
"You think so?"
She nodded. "If someone said the same thing to me, that'd be what I think."
It was odd, but Keiko's answer made a whole lot of sense. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing special about him at all. He came from an ordinary family, and he had never heard anyone say that he would become something really special one day. And neither he nor Keiko was one of those young prodigies that everyone would talk about.
But that was not a bad thing. It meant that there was no reason to have the same expectations for him as people had for the prodigies.
The sooner he accepted it, the sooner he could accept things for what they were.
Masashi opened his eyes, and the memory of that one time in his childhood years disappeared. It was odd that he had remembered that day, but in the end, he could not complain about it. Ever since the Memory Bank incident, he had learned the hard way how valuable even the most insignificant memory was.
As he rose, last night's memories filled in the void. Regret and slight pain smote his heart as he recalled the sight of Murphy's, Sister Hikari's, and Arashi's deaths. None of them had deserved it, even though the last of them had become a murderer. It was Monokuma that had been responsible for all their misery.
No, that was not quite true. Arashi had tried to fight against his desire to wreak revenge on Brightmere Research, whence the night before the double murder, he had asked Masashi for help. Masashi had given him an answer, and yet, he was now gone.
Was it all… my fault?
It certainly seemed so. If he had given Arashi a different answer, then he could have truly helped him, and he would not have thought to kill. That was the conclusion that he was drawn to.
But… that's not what Mari said.
"Are you saying… he was destined to die?"
She said nothing for a few seconds. Some doubt seemed to enter her mind, from the slight change in her eyes, but in the end, she answered him.
"That's what I believe."
"Then... you... believe in destiny?"
She nodded softly. "Yes... I follow that line of thinking. But I won't be surprised if you don't."
"If truth be told, I've never thought too much about that kind of thing..."
While trying to reassure him that he was not at fault, she said that Arashi had been destined to die all along. In other words, nothing had been his fault… but it also meant that Masashi had truly never been able to save Arashi.
I don't know what to think...
He got off the bed and took some time to get ready for today. Thinking about it some more was a waste of time right now, and he ought to see how the others were doing.
After adjusting his gray jacket, he left his room and saw no one waiting outside the quarters. The weather looked utterly calm, the heavens clear and sunny. If things stayed like this, then he could launch the fireworks again without a hitch. But the very idea of having to launch them again reminded him brought him no comfort.
When he arrived at the dining room, he expected that someone like Faye or Mari had already awoken and come here. Indeed, Faye was here, but to his surprise, the ones beside her were Sorao and Hikari.
"Good morning," Sorao said blithely, flashing a smile.
"Good morning," Masashi replied back. "You're up awfully early."
"'Early'? Come on, you say that as if I were some slacker, dude," Sorao said before he let out a yawn. "Yeah, totally not a slacker."
"Sounds to me like you didn't get a whole lot of sleep," Faye replied.
Sorao nodded as his smile turned nervous. "Yeah, you got me. I couldn't fall fast asleep that easily... what with last night's events and all."
Faye sighed. "Oh… yes, that's right… It's understandable."
Though she put up a somewhat composed countenance, anyone could see the artificialness in it. She had just lost someone to whom she had had a close connection, and indeed, it would be odd if it looked completely natural.
"You know… I can't help but think…" Sorao said as he put up a sorrowful expression. "Murphy, Sister Hikari, and Arashi are now gone… Makes you think really hard about the last times you talked with them, doesn't it?"
"Th-That…" Surprisingly enough, Hikari did not look at all displeased and sorrowful from hearing Murphy's name. "I guess it's natural to think about that…"
Faye sighed. "The last time I talked with Arashi before the killings, I was telling him that I'd bake him a special treat after the fireworks were launched… If only I'd known…"
"M-My condolences to you," Hikari said, trying to sound soft. "Th-The last time I saw Murphy… I was watching him play one of the arcade games… He'd been saying how much I should give them a try…"
Sorao scratched his cheek. "I can't say my last moment with Sister Hikari was poignant. We were talking only about something pretty trivial."
"Wh-What was it?" Hikari asked.
He looked apologetically at her. "Sleep, of all things."
"Sleep?" Masashi said, astounded. "Were you having trouble sleeping?"
Sorao smiled a sheepish smile. "Yep. I was complaining about how I hadn't slept well lately. Of course, I wasn't having that much trouble, but I couldn't really think of any better things to talk about, you know. She seemed pretty understanding of my complaints, though. Apparently, when she worked to help others, she met those with sleeping problems."
"R-Really...?" Hikari said.
"She sure did," Sorao said, nodding. "She told me a few interesting things about it, and I was pretty grateful for what she'd told me."
His smile disappeared as he sighed a sad sigh and leaned back on his chair, his gaze full of longing.
"Too bad I can't hear any more from her now. It's such a shame that things didn't work out last night."
"Yeah…" Faye added, nodding. "It was all supposed to be a happy occasion, but instead..."
Three more people came into the dining room. It was Sayua, Tanjiro, and Kasumi.
"Good morning!" Kasumi said blithely as if this were only another morning. "Is breakfast ready?"
"Oh… no, I'm afraid not. I suppose I'd better get to that," Faye said, glancing at the kitchen door.
"Um, Faye, do you need any help? You seem like you'd like someone to help you," Tanjiro asked.
"What? Whatever would make you say that?"
She looked askance at him, seeming somewhat more irritated than Masashi would expect.
Tanjiro, on the other hand, raised his hands defensively. "W-Well, I thought that since Sister Hikari wasn't here anymore, you'd have to do the cooking by yourself, and…"
Faye lightened up. "Oh… I-I see… Well, I appreciate the offer, Tanjiro, but I assure you, I'm perfectly fine cooking on my own."
"Whoa! Your voice sounds a bit unnerving for a moment!" Kasumi pointed out.
The pastry chef gasped. "I-I sounded like that? M-My apologies…"
She rushed to the kitchen, Masashi wondering what might be troubling her. However much she might pretend that she was all right, there was no obligation for anyone else to go along with it. Of course, he would not say it aloud, but from everyone else's reactions, her state of mind was hardly a secret.
"You know, Tanjiro, if you're willing to offer help with the cooking, you oughta cook me something," Sayua remarked.
"Um, if truth be told, I'm not that good at cooking…" he replied.
"But you're saying you can cook some dishes."
"Only a few basic things."
Sorao chuckled. "You're not talking about instant noodles, are you? Because that's not what most people would call cooking, dude."
Tanjiro sighed as he mumbled, "Not as if you were any better."
"What was that?" Sorao said, looking at him with a cocky grin.
"Nothing..." Tanjiro replied meekly as he glanced away.
Afterwards, four more people came in: Mari, Maiha, Kumi, and Haruyuki. Once Masashi glanced toward them, he saw that all eleven of them were here.
Wow... all eleven of us.
He could hardly believe that the killing game had reached this point. It felt as if a few days ago, all eighteen of them had gathered here. But because of Arashi's double murder, one-third of the class was now gone.
"Are you all right?"
The one who snapped him out of his trance was Mari, who had sat down next to him.
"Oh, sorry about that," he replied. "I was only… thinking about things."
"Judging by your look, I'm guessing that you've thought something along the lines of 'I can't believe it's only us eleven now'."
"Can't deny that one."
Meanwhile, Haruyuki, Maiha, and Kumi sat at another table, but it looked as if the last had simply been made to follow them. His eyes looked utterly tired, and though his face had the same complexion as it always did, he gave off the same gloomy vibe as the pale-faced Hikari usually did. When Masashi greeted the three, Haruyuki and Maiha greeted him back, but Kumi said nothing at all, as if he had been bereft of his senses.
"He's been like this ever since he came out of his room," Mari said to Masashi.
"Oh… I guess he feels really lost, now that... you know."
"Indeed… How tragic it is," Haruyuki said. Even though they sat at different tables, it seemed that he, as well as Maiha, had heard his answer. "The woman was someone who never particularly intrigued me… but I understand the role that she played in others' relationships. Perhaps we ought to talk about our future plans, now that we are without Sister Hikari."
Upon the mention of Sister Hikari's name, Kumi seemed to let out a small groan.
"Um… Maybe you should talk about this later, Haruyuki," Masashi said.
Maiha let out a disgruntled sigh. "How tiresome it is to behold him even in times of peace."
Despite the insult, Kumi showed no reaction at all, as if he were a hound that would react only to its mistress's name. He really was far worse than he had been after Haruka's death; at least then, he had had Sister Hikari to console him.
Haruyuki chortled. "You certainly care little for the storyteller, do you?"
Maiha scoffed. "He spews nothing but rank hogwash whenever we are forced to listen to him. And the few times when he contributes mean nothing, for anyone on his level could have helped the same way."
"What about his works, then? Do you at least see any literary merit in them?" Haruyuki asked, looking not at all bothered by her open condescension.
"Having heard what comes out of him, I have no desire to read his works," Maiha said. "I wish not to answer the question of whether his works are more tiresome than the tales of the wretched thief's escapades."
Wow, I guess she really, really doesn't think much of him… Masashi thought.
A few minutes later, Faye came out with a tray of the breakfast dishes. This time, it was a simple muffin and two cinnamon rolls. Though they tasted good enough, something about the flavor felt off, as if Faye had not been paying close attention. Nonetheless, no one complained about it, and everyone praised Faye for her cooking.
Well, almost everyone...
Once again, Kumi was the odd man out. Though he did not refrain from eating the muffin, he was eating it so quietly. Meanwhile, all the others chatted with one another, though they were far less lively.
"Mmm... Not too bad," Mari commented as she chewed on her muffin.
Should we talk about it...? No, now's not the right time.
He could not stop thinking about what she had said last night, for it was hard to believe that a girl like her strongly believed in fate. Of course, he could not imagine what a girl who believed in fate was supposed to look like, but certainly, he had never had that impression of her. The more he thought about it, the more confused he was about how he ought to feel about this.
Maybe it was best that he not think about it anymore. But even so, he had a feeling that it would keep bugging him. If he did not find out the truth behind her belief, then he would not be content with how things were.
"So what's the plan now?" Sorao asked once the meal was done.
"Well, we launched the fireworks last night," Masashi answered. "So far, it doesn't seem like help has come yet. I guess we can launch the fireworks again tonight."
"However, Monokuma's certain that our plan won't work," Tanjiro added. "And we learned why last night."
"Apparently, Brightmere Research is funded by a bunch of elites," Mari said. "It explains how Monokuma could freely give away twenty billion yen for the third motive."
Hikari shuddered. "E-Elites… As if it hadn't been bad enough that some shady research group had somehow kidnapped us…"
"Why would they even force us to play this killing game?" Faye asked, setting a hand on her cheek. "It doesn't make any sense… Is this some kind of twisted entertainment for them?"
Haruyuki wagged his finger. "Perhaps… but who's to say that they have no greater purpose in mind?"
"Greater purpose?"
"Many throughout history have wished to fight for admirable ideals through unethical means."
"'Unethical' is understating this," Tanjiro said, letting out a groan full of disgust. "I can't imagine how this in any way is done for good. This whole thing is sheer evil."
"Wow, Tanjiro, despite all your reading and whatnot, you seem to lack imagination," Sorao said playfully.
Tanjiro looked at him, irked. "I don't want to be imaginative about something like this. In fact, even thinking about the possibilities makes me feel uneasy."
"Well, if that's what you're thinking, then I've got something awesome to show you!"
As usual, Monokuma made his unwelcome appearance, which drew groans from some.
"Oh… it's you," Mari said.
"Hey, hey, why are you looking at me like that?!" Monokuma said. "Didn't you hear what I said? I've got something awesome to show you! Or are you those people who need to be told everything thrice?"
"Judging by the last two times you suddenly popped up like this, I doubt it's anything surprising," Sorao replied.
"Y-Yeah… there's another ship for us to explore, isn't there?" Hikari said.
Monokuma heaved a great sigh. "Sheesh, you guys sure don't like to have fun, do you? I mean, only seven people have died so far. What's the big deal?"
"Could you… please go away?" Tanjiro said, bearing an understandable look of irritation.
"Yeah, we've got enough ugly mugs around here!" Sayua added.
Monokuma sniffed as he tipped his white captain's hat. "Why don't you guys love poor little me? As the captain of this ship, I've been making sure that we may not hit an iceberg and act out what happened in that one three-hour film!"
"That one film?" Haruyuki asked.
"Yes, I believe its name was Gigantic," he replied. "I didn't like it all too much. It didn't make me laugh that much!"
"I don't think that film was supposed to be humorous," Tanjiro pointed out.
Monokuma waved dismissively at him. "You may be fine with that, but if I have to sit down and watch something for hours, it'd better be funny as hell!"
Why am I not surprised to hear that from you? Masashi thought as the others sighed once again from the bear's crass remark.
"Anyway… I'll leave you guys to explore the newest part of Brightmere Mirthyard!" Monokuma said. "Adventure awaits!"
Monokuma disappeared, which already relieved him, but there was now the matter of this amusement park's newest addition.
"All right, then…" Sorao clapped his hands together. "Guess we have a whole new world to walk around in now."
"We may as well check it out," Mari said. "Perhaps we'll find something that'll answer our questions."
"Hopefully…" Tanjiro added.
Masashi was by himself once again, all the others having already left. He headed up to the upper deck, and when he glanced at the starboard side, where the pirates' cove was, he noticed that on that ship's starboard side was another ship. When he neared it, he saw at once that it was utterly different from the other three ships, for a somewhat large rectangular building covered up most of the deck. The building looked as if it had been made out of brick, and at the front was several connected stone archways.
There was only one door leading inside, and above it was a red sign bedecked with lights. It said: "MOONLIGHT CITY".
Moonlight City? That's a rather... colorful name.
When he stepped into his side, light bedazzled him at once. It took a few seconds to understand how bright the sight was, for there were even more brick buildings set alongside both sides of the deck. If he did not know any better, he might think that he had somehow arrived at a city street. Light came from not only the windows but also the many tall black streetlights set before every building.
He glanced upwards and waxed in his astonishment. He expected that a plain blue sky was drawn on the ceiling, but instead, the sky was a darkish purple, as if it were evening, and many small stars were drawn through this fake sky. In the middle of the ceiling was a moon that shone its white light rather brightly, as if it were some kind of lamp. Altogether, it looked like a lively otherworldly city whose denizens forever lived under the moon.
It kind of has that fancy look to it... Masashi thought. But it also feels rather festive, too.
The only other noteworthy thing was a set of stairs that went down and were near the ship's bow. It seemed that like the first two ships, there were no upper decks. Moreover, there was a sign plastered on a nearby building's door. It said:
Notice:
All doors in the Moonlight City zone require an ID to pass through.
Under no circumstances may you use anyone else's ID!
"ID…?" Masashi muttered.
"Allow me to explain!"
Monokuma popped up, which made Masashi take a step back.
"This place here… as you can see, it's called the Moonlight City," Monokuma said. "And the rule here is that you have to carry an ID with you to go through a door."
"All right, then… What exactly counts as an ID?"
"Nothing to fret about, I assure you!" Monokuma replied. "For our purposes, your Monopad acts as your ID. Without it, the doors won't open for you."
"Hmm… I think I get it. Why exactly is this rule in place?"
Monokuma leaned to the side. "Well, think about it, Masashi boy. This is supposed to be a high-class city, yes? It's only right that there's all this security!"
"Oh… That makes some sense, I guess. Anything else I should know?"
"Well, whenever you go through a door, your entry's recorded on a security log, but that's about it, really. Just a very small thing!"
"What? That doesn't sound like a small thing—"
"Oh, boy, would you look at the time!" Monokuma said, putting his paw right in front of him. "I have captainly things to do, so I'm afraid we must stop here! Cheerio!"
And like that, Monokuma disappeared in a jiffy.
I don't know why, but something about this ID thing feels unsettling...
Nonetheless, he knew that he could do nothing about it. He searched through his pockets and found his Monopad, which he had hardly used.
He headed down to the lower deck, and as he finished his descent, he was met right away with a building whose sign said "RESTAURANT". The hallway he was in, like the main deck, looked like a street with its many buildings and lit-up windows and streetlights. Wondering how exactly the ID system worked, he opened the restaurant's door, and after passing through it, he waited to see whether anything special happened. However, he was met with nothing but silence.
The restaurant was much smaller than he had expected. The floors, the tables, and the chairs all looked wooden. The walls were of a relaxing beige color, though it had no remarkable decorations other than a few pictures of various blossoms. The door at the opposite end of the room presumably led to the kitchen. It gave off a rather cozy feeling, and with the view outside, it might not be such a bad idea to have dinner here.
"This room… It's rather large, isn't it?" Tanjiro said, who was by himself.
"I guess so," Masashi replied. "Um… Is that all?"
"Er, well…"
Tanjiro fidgeted a bit, and for a while, Masashi waited for Tanjiro to say more, though it took him some time to remember that the writer was not an avid conversationalist.
"This place… It kind of feels as if there were a festival going on, doesn't it?" Masashi said a moment later.
"I guess so. It reminds me a lot of those Western cities in the late 19th century."
"Oh, do you know a lot about that era?"
"Somewhat. I did some research on it while I was coming up with ideas for one of my works. In the end, I wound up using little of it, but it was still interesting to read about."
"I guess you're the kind of guy who likes to do research on his free time, huh?" Masashi replied upon seeing Tanjiro gladden a little. "By the way, where's Sayua?"
"Oh, uh, she's off exploring the other parts of the ship by herself," he answered. "She said it'd be best if we split up this time."
He then let out a small sigh. "I have to admit, it feels a bit weird to be without her now. I'm kind of used to spending most of my free time with her."
"You feel that close to her?"
Tanjiro stuttered for a moment as he blushed. "Y-You could put it that way, I suppose. I'd rather say that we're on good terms."
Hmm... So that's how he describes it, huh.
After he bade Tanjiro goodbye, Masashi left the diner and continued through the hallway. When he reached the end, the hallway took a turn to the left. Surprisingly enough, it was all one long staircase that went down a long way instead of going to the next lower deck. There were two doors on the right wall along the way, and the door nearer to the top was labeled "THEATER - AUDIENCE GALLERY". However mundane it might sound, Masashi still felt compelled to investigate it.
This time, the room felt much larger than Masashi had expected, and the reason was the room's structure. To his immediate left was a railing that overlooked a greater room, and he started to see how this room worked. This whole room was split into two: an upper room, which was the audience gallery, and a lower room, which must have been what the other door on the right led to. Right now, he could look at what was in the lower room, but because of the great height, if he were in the lower room instead, he could not see what was in the upper room. The railing was not tall enough to stop anyone from leaping down to the lower room, but he imagined that anyone who would dare to do such a thing would not fare well, to say the least.
He first focused on the audience gallery. True to its name, many wooden chairs were set up in rows, such that anyone could sit here and watch what was going on below. Masashi could see that this room was meant to be a theater in which certain live shows were held. There were a few other decorations such as a suit of armor beside the wall, but nothing about them looked noteworthy.
Masashi then looked over the railing to see what the lower room was like. From what he could tell, there was a wide wooden platform that extended from one end of the room to the other. There were a few crates stacked on the right wall, and a few miscellaneous objects such as mattresses and bowling balls were lying about as well. They seemed to be leftover stage props that Monokuma had chosen not to remove, which made Masashi wonder what kind of show had been last held here.
Wanting to look around the stage, he went out to the hallway first and continued down the stairs. He then passed through the door labeled "THEATER - STAGE".
"Ah, Masashi, there you are!"
It was Kasumi, who waved at him while standing at the opposite end of the room. Beside her was Kumi, who, however, shared none of her mirth and blitheness as he kept looking down at the floor while holding his teddy bear. They had been standing at an open space below the audience gallary, which explained why Masashi had not seen them.
"It looks as if some show were about to start here, doesn't it?" Kasumi said excitedly. "Reminds me of this one concert I went to."
"Really? How was it?"
"Well, it was a lot tougher making my way out of there with the lead guitarist's necklace, let me tell you!"
Oh, I should've known that's what she meant, Masashi thought. Is there any event where she hasn't tried to steal anything?
He set his eyes on Kumi, who looked not at all engaged with the conversation.
"Uh, Kumi? Are you all right?" Masashi asked softly.
Kumi said nothing, not looking him in the eye.
"Kumi?"
Once again, there was no response. It was if he had been replaced with a lifelike mannequin of him.
"Poor little Kumi!" Kasumi said with her same blithe voice. "Now that Sister Hikari's gone, he's down in the dumps!"
"That's… putting it lightly," Masashi replied plainly. "Now that I think about it, he looks like Arashi after Haruka's death…"
Arashi too had acted as if bereft of his speech, but eventually, he had decided that he must overcome his anger, which had plagued him for far too long. And yet, in the end, he had met his demise, having fallen prey to money's temptation.
Hopefully, history won't repeat itself... Masashi thought. Kumi doesn't have any anger problems, does he? So it won't happen again... I think.
He had a feeling that Kumi wanted to be alone right now, so he asked Kasumi to go with him to another corner of the room to continue their conversation.
"Say, Kasumi, how are you doing right now?"
"Hmm?" she said, staring at him blankly for a moment. "Oh, I'm doing all right! Well, I feel a bit thirsty right now. Even after Faye's breakfast, I'm hankering for a good drink—"
"Uh, sorry, but that's not exactly what I was referring to," he replied. "You were friends with Arashi, right? And now, he's gone… If I were in your shoes, I'd feel really shocked."
"O-Oh… Well…"
Kasumi cracked a small smile. "Ah, it's so swell to hear you're worried about me! But rest assured, I'm fine! I'm not letting Arashi's death get to me!"
Despite that, however, Masashi stayed uneasy. Though at first her tone sounded no different from her usual chirpy one, it had a great enough hint of falseness.
Why, Kasumi? Why do you insist on saying that?
It was the same feeling as he had experienced that one night when she had given Arashi a bracelet to symbolize their friendship. After Arashi had left, Masashi had spoken with Kasumi some more, only to sense that wretched feeling of being lied to.
No… I shouldn't focus on that now. I still have the rest of the ship to explore.
Choosing to set the issue aside, Masashi left the room and went down to the bottom of the stairs. Though the hallway continued off to the right, there was one door to the left, and it said "PARK". When he stepped in, he saw what seemed to be a playground of sorts, as there were a slide and a set of swings placed by the side. But more importantly, no one could miss what lay in the middle of the room.
"Whoa…"
Masashi glanced up at the great Ferris wheel, the room's main attraction. It seemed to be as tall as two decks. More amazingly, the ceiling was far higher than he had imagined. It had the same starry evening imagery that all the other parts of the ship had shown him. He guessed that it was at the same height as the door leading to the theater's audience gallery; of course, the restaurant that he had been in earlier must be above it. Still, of all the rooms that he had entered so far, nay, of all the rooms that he had seen in his time here at this amusement park, this was by far the greatest.
As he walked around the room some more, he stopped by the swings and sat down at one of them, as he could not but recall the memory that had entered his mind this morning.
Keiko... I hope things aren't going too badly for you.
He glanced at the other swing, and though he expected to see no one next to him, he still felt disappointed at the sight. For most of his life, he had spent his whole life with his sister. Whenever they were free, they would go out to play, sometimes accompanied by Masashi's friends. She bore the impression of a kind, gentle girl, and yet, she could become assertive enough with the guys to avoid being seen as the weakest of the group.
Of course, those carefree days never were the same once Keiko had gotten her title of Ultimate Maid. But even then, he had thought that he could still have a peaceful life with her together. At no point had he fathomed that they should find themselves involved in this evil game.
Was it possible that that life would never come back?
Aah...
In a few seconds, he felt tears drip from his eyes.
Even though he was to remain hopeful that things would turn out for the best, he was shaken by the very possibility that the nightmare would never end even after the killing game. Ever since he had been given the motive video, he had learned nothing new about Keiko's current condition.
Was she still alive? Was she being tortured? Was she being made to work in some dangerous place?
Why must he be put in a situation where such thoughts could enter his mind?
What had he done to deserve this?
It took him a few minutes of quiet weeping for him to bear with the fact that right now, he was without Keiko or his friends. Indeed, he was trapped in this place by evil men who wanted to see him suffer. And from the way that things looked, it looked unlikely that those blissful days would ever come back. And those men did not give a damn about that. By trapping him here, they were continuously taunting him that the chances of his bliss coming back were low.
The only way to get his normal life back was to kill. That was what those men were saying. Even though those men were not here, the very set-up of the killing game constantly whispered their thoughts into his head. However much he might try to ignore it, they would creep back into his mind and remind him of his helplessness. But certainly, if he played the killing game, he would be caught, and that blissful hope would be downright impossible to come true.
Yes, that's right... I can't be like this, he thought. I have to find a way out of this... And no matter what, I swear that Monokuma won't have his way with us again.
Notwithstanding his inward oath, however, he still did not feel all that good about this. It was one thing to swear something, but it was another thing to stay steadfast to it. There was no doubt that he would later introduce another motive, and after everyone's usual cries of protest, someone would eventually break and fall for it. He was not so stupid as to think that something that had happened thrice beforehand could not happen again.
In fact, he himself might fall for it. He was no one special. He was a normal guy. If something could tempt an Ultimate, it could tempt him.
Gah, thinking about this isn't doing me any good... Focus on something else...
Masashi went back out to the hallway, which continued toward the ship's stern. As he went along the hall, he saw a door at the opposite end, though he could not tell what the sign above it read. But more interestingly, in the middle of the hallway was an intersection, as there was a set of stairs that went up to only the entrance of a building. It was labeled "BALLROOM". Wondering what it was like, Masashi climbed up the stairs and went inside.
An exquisite well-lit room awaited him, and if the park excelled in its height, then undoubtedly the ballroom matched it with its width. The floor was of a mellow beige color, showing no signs of being sullied, and had a simple but gorgeous floral pattern. The side walls were plainly white, but what gripped Masashi the most was the window opposite to the door, for it was nearly as wide as the whole room and showed nothing but a starry evening sky, the full moon set at the right side. It also came along with some exquisite red curtains, so one could always close the curtains, but with how beautiful the "outside" was, he could hardly see a reason for it. Yes, he could imagine an evening in which various men and women danced here without a care for the world while the moonlight shone brightly outside. It might be a rather romantic moment for him if he had anyone to dance with him.
Two people stood by the window. It was Maiha and Haruyuki.
"Ah… How extraordinary this is," Maiha said, her voice not carrying its usual sharpness. Indeed, she was looking out the window, her eyes relaxed.
"Why, you have a tranquil air about you," Haruyuki said.
"But of course. However tortuous my experience in this wretched place may be, I am pleased that we've been furnished with this room."
Oh, right… Maiha's the Ultimate Competitive Ballroom Dancer, Masashi thought. I guess it's natural she likes this place.
Maiha then turned around. "Oh, you're here, Masashi… Do you need anything from me?"
"Oh, uh, no, not really."
She lowered her eyes, looking at him with slight annoyance. "Then I must ask that you leave me be. I see no reason for your further company." She then faced Haruyuki. "And you too are to leave me alone."
"Hmm? Do you not enjoy my company?" Haruyuki asked, looking none too bothered by her request.
"I admit, you seem more intelligent than the other commoners here. Still, I'm rather disappointed that you seem to trust that wretched thief."
"I can't help it, exactly," Haruyuki replied, keeping his placid voice. "From my interactions with her, I can't think of her as someone who would stoop so low as to commit murder."
Maiha scoffed. "That's your opinion."
"But you must admit, your predictions that she would soon commit a murder failed to come true. Perhaps you ought to reconsider your position."
She sighed as she shook her head in disapproval. "I'm afraid you're mistaken, commoner. I have yet to be proven wrong about her. The killing game hasn't ended yet, and sooner or later, she will act. Don't you think so, Masashi?"
"Huh?" Masashi said once she turned back toward him. "Well, uh… You're not suggesting that we lock her up, are you?"
"It's certainly worth reconsidering. You must agree that my suggestion looks more and more desirable, yes?"
"What makes you say that?"
Maiha sneered. "You suggested that we spend time together to form a 'bond'... And yet, in the end, three more people have left us. Not to mention that we found out that you had hidden your motive video from us. Your so-called bond was bound to fall apart. Shall I go on?"
Gah...
Masashi could not think of a good rebuttal to that. It was true that he had promised that no more murders would happen, and he had truly thought that he could fulfill his promise by having the group form a bond. But not only had he been untruthful about his motive video, but Arashi's friendships had also failed to stave off thoughts of murder. In the end, he had been so focused on revenge on Brightmere Research that he would forsake the bonds that he had made.
And much as he loathed to admit it, Masashi was unsure whether the others were still receptive toward the idea of doing more bonding activities. Maiha's more restrictive proposal would likely be find a warmer reception now.
Is there any way I can even get her to change her mind? Masashi thought as his dismay waxed. Even if I besought her a thousand times, she wouldn't yield at all...
"Hmm? Not convinced, are you?" She sighed as she set her arms on her hips. "Well, take your time, Masashi. Even if it is not the wretched thief that is the greatest threat to our well-being here, my proposal is still worth your consideration."
Haruyuki let out a snicker. "Ah, so you've accepted the possibility that Kasumi's not the most dangerous one here. I must admit, I didn't expect to see such progress from you."
Maiha coldly stared at him, the annoyance in her eyes growing. "You talk too much."
Masashi then noticed that there was a door to the left wall. Instead of going back to the earlier intersection, he chose to see what lay beyond this door. When he stepped outside, he was surprised to see that it was nothing but a staircase, and he had stepped onto the middle of the stairs. He glanced left, in which direction the stairs went down, and saw a corner in which the hallway continued left; remembering the intersection, he assumed that the hallway was connected to that. He then looked to the right, and the stairs seemed to go up a great height. Preferring not to tire himself later, he chose to go up.
To his surprise, at the end of the stairs was a door that said "STAFF ONLY". To the right, however, was a door that said no such thing, and the building to which it belonged was labeled "CLOTHING SHOP". The inside of the shop had neatly arranged rows of clothes hanging on racks, two dressing rooms set not too far from the cashier's counter.
"Sheesh, all these clothes are no good!" Sayua said, looking at one row of clothes. "I said I wanted some new outfits to wear, but come on!"
"Having trouble looking for something?" Masashi asked, though he already knew what the answer was.
Sayua looked at him annoyedly. "You see any casual clothes here?"
Masashi glanced around a little. "There are some, but on the whole, these clothes look pretty fancy…. Something that one might wear to a fancy restaurant on a date."
She heaved a sigh as she sat down at a nearby bench. "Aren't you tired, Masashi? Tired of seeing us wear the exact same outfits since this shebang began?"
"Well, I admit, it'd be swell to wear something new, but I think that's the least of our concerns."
"To you, maybe!" she said. "If that dumbass bear's trying to make me get pissed off at this killing game, he's doing a very good job at it!"
"Please don't tell me that's enough to make you want to kill!"
Sayua snorted. "You're clearly underestimating me. I'm not going to let Monokuma have his way with me any time soon. Besides, even if I won this killing game, what would be the point?"
"Huh?"
"You know the rules: only the blackened gets to live. So if I won, only I would leave this place alive."
It took Masashi a few seconds to realize whom she was indirectly referring to.
"You must've grown pretty fond of Tanjiro, huh?"
"Wh-What? No!" she said, though her cheeks blushed a little. "I-I mean… It's just that… um… shut up!"
"Oh, uh, all right, then."
Masashi bade her goodbye, somewhat relieved to hear what she had said. Vain and haughty though she was, it seemed that she was not entertaining any thoughts of killing.
I guess I have to thank Tanjiro for that...
Done with the shop, Masashi left and tried to see whether the "STAFF ONLY" door could be opened. Despite what it said, he recalled hearing that as long as the door was unlocked to begin with, then it was not against the rules to open it. This time, the door was unlocked, and what awaited him was even more stairs. Thankfully, it seemed to be a pretty short way up, and when he arrived at the top, there was only one door, which had no accompanying sign.
Likely a staff lounge or something like that, he thought.
Sure enough, in this room, stacks of wooden boxes lay next to one another by the walls. There was a couch placed at the left side of the room, accompanied by a small wooden table. Behind the couch were some windows with open red curtains, and right now, all that he saw outside was a calm sky. To the right of the couch seemed to be a copy machine, but he saw nothing noteworthy about it.
"Masashi."
A voice came from behind some boxes, and out came Mari, who looked unsurprised to see him here.
"Oh, Mari," he said. "Do you know what's up with this room? It looks like some kind of storage room."
"That's what this room is, essentially," she said. "According to Monokuma, this is simply a room originally for staff only, but he's unlocked it for us… Not that it helps us greatly. I haven't found anything noteworthy."
"Really? Nothing?"
"I've found only a bunch of things such as bedsheets and stage costumes. There are a few other things such as toy robots, but they aren't terribly important."
"Hmm... That's a shame."
He had not expected that there was something that could be used to help them escape, but hearing that even now still managed to make things feel even more hopeless.
"By the way," she said, "has Monokuma told you yet about the Moonlight City's security system?"
Masashi nodded. "He said something about how each door had a security log that records us if we use our IDs."
"That's right. But apparently, for this room alone, there's no need for an ID. So there's no security log for this room or the staff door you passed through earlier."
"Really? That's…"
Was it reassuring? Or was it worrisome? Masashi had no idea on what to think of this.
"Anyway, have you by any chance talked with Maiha?" Mari asked. "I believe she's gone off to the ballroom with Haruyuki. When I last saw her, she seemed to be thinking hard about something."
Masashi nodded and told her how the conversation had gone. She looked not at all surprised to hear that Maiha had once again become bull-headed about locking up Kasumi.
"I don't know what we should do about her," he said. "I can't really think of anything that'll get her to change her mind."
"Neither can I. I think that you'll have to pressure her somehow into changing her mind... but right now, I don't have any ideas."
"Huh, really..."
If Mari had no ideas, then it was pointless to linger on this subject. He had no plan on what to do about Maiha, so for now, it seemed best that he wait and see how things might change.
"This whole ship seems pretty weird," he said. "The layout's a bit confusing."
"Oh, you haven't taken a look at the map?"
"A map? There's a map?"
"Indeed, I got one at the restaurant. Here's one."
She took out the map from the pockets of her dark blue hoodie. Seeing the ship's full layout, Masashi began to make sense of this new place. There were four lower decks, and so the group could go all the way down to the lower fifth deck.
But what differed from the other ships' layouts was that the decks were essentially partitioned into two. He had entered the city from the ship's bow side, and the hallway in the lower second deck did not go all the way to the stern side, which explained why the hallway was so short. On the bow half were the restaurant, the theater, and the park. The only deck that spanned all the way from the bow to the stern and thus connected both sides was the lower fifth deck. On the stern side were the ballroom, the clothing shop, and the staff room, though the last one was not labeled on the map.
Quite a complex ship… I guess that kind of reflects what a city is, though.
One room caught his attention, however. At the bottom of the stairs on the stern side was a room labeled "MUSIC ROOM". It was the only room that he had not yet checked out.
"I haven't checked it out yet, either," Mari said once Masashi had asked her about it. "Let's go check it out, shall we?"
Masashi and Mari left the staff room and headed down the long set of stairs.
As they walked abreast each other, he began to find this scene to be oddly soothing. Perhaps it was the dim lights that came from the nearby houses' windows, or perhaps it was the fake starry night sky. But for a moment, he thought that they truly were going on a short evening walk through the city. The thought bedazzled him so much that it felt rather surprising to see that they had reached the fifth deck already.
The music room, to the right of the stairs, was much smaller than Masashi had expected, given that the park, opposite to this room, seemed to be the ship's greatest room. There were a few chairs at the left side of the room as well as an ornate red carpet, and the walls were decorated with such ornamental weapons as a sword and a club. But to the right was a piano, and near it was a cabinet of glasses and bottles of sundry sizes.
More importantly, however, when Masashi and Mari had entered the room, a tune had come from the piano. A certain man had been playing on it and had stopped upon their entry.
"Ah, Masashi, Mari, welcome!"
It was Sorao, who was with Faye and Hikari. He had spoken with a grandiose voice, as if he were speaking to an audience.
"You've just missed my performance!" Sorao said. "I was playing these two ladies here a piece."
"It was… beautiful. Breathtaking. Marvelous," Faye said.
"I-It sounded… magical," Hikari said.
"That must've been quite a piano performance," Masashi said.
Sorao, however, shook his head. "Piano? I'm afraid you're mistaken, man. This is no piano."
"It… isn't?"
"Nope. It's a celesta," he answered. "Don't forget, I'm the Ultimate Celesta Player. The celesta looks pretty similar to a piano, but it sounds pretty different."
Sorao then played a short piece, and the moment music began to fill the air, all could tell that it sounded very much unlike the piano. Instead, it sounded more like a music box, and Masashi could not but envision a dark forest in which bright magical creatures such as fairies would pop up and light up the scene. It was such a shame, then, that the playing came to an end.
"Well? What did you think?" Sorao asked, smiling.
"It… well… I'm speechless," Masashi said.
"It truly sounded magical," Mari said, sounding a little delighted.
"E-Even the second time around, it sounded no less special…" Hikari said. "Wh-What was that piece, anyway?"
"You don't recognize it? And here I was, thinking you were more cultured," Sorao replied jokingly. "Anyway… it's a pretty well-known piece. It's Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. It was used in the ballet The Nutcracker."
"No wonder it sounded familiar!" Masashi said. He had never seen a ballet in person before, but from the short clips that he had seen of ballet, it truly looked like a mesmerizing experience.
"You truly are skilled!" Faye said. "It puts my piano playing in shame!"
Sorao looked at her, astounded. "What? Faye, you play the piano?"
She nodded. "Only for fun, though. In the end, my cooking skills outweigh my piano playing ones."
Sorao let out a hearty chuckle. "Well, it's a bit surprising to hear that you play the piano… but I'd have been even more surprised if you had said you played the celeste. It's not exactly the best-known instrument."
"It's far from obscure, but it's not an instrument most people would think to specialize in," Mari said.
"Indeed… It's a special talent," he said proudly. "I can play the piano, too, just so you know… but in the end, it's the celesta I return to."
He then let out a sigh, staring at the celesta with content eyes. But before he could say anything more, someone suddenly appeared. It was Monokuma, who was clapping his paws together.
"Such a wonderful piece! As expected of you!" Monokuma said. "But I'm more a jazz kind of bear, really… If only you could do jazz, then we'd be the best of buddies."
"Wh-What do you want?" Hikari asked.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Can't a bear come and compliment a guy for pressing some keys really well?"
"When you put it that way… I feel like saying you're wrong," Faye said.
"Hmph! How rude!" Monokuma said. "Anyway… Now that you've unlocked the fourth level, you deserve a little reward! Check this out!"
Monokuma then took out what seemed to be a piece of paper and handed it to Masashi. As soon as he looked at it, however, he widened his eyes and gasped in shock.
The duties of a killing game's overseer are as follows:
Select an environment in which the killing game will play out.
Adjust the environment through additions and modifications.
Select incentives that will likely make the subjects think about killing.
Give the host directives to carry out decisions related to the above duties.
Use available protective measures to cut off any outside interference.
Monitor the camaraderie among the subjects, and make changes if need be.
"This… What the heck is this?" Masashi said.
"What, you don't remember?" Monokuma said. "Didn't that silly waiter give you a certain note?"
"Oh!"
It was then that he recalled the note's contents.
"The eighteen Project Shining Morrow participants from Camp 7 have been designated as the subjects of the upcoming killing game. The overseer has been deemed ready."
"Wait… Don't tell me that you're talking about the overseer mentioned in the note!" Masashi said.
He remembered what the group had said when talking about the overseer.
"Hmm… Good point," Masashi said. "There's little that we can do with this information right now, so I don't think we should focus much on it."
"Uh… I have one question, actually."
It was Tanjiro, who had a rather troubled expression.
"The last part of the note… mentions something about an 'overseer'," Tanjiro explained. "Who is this overseer?"
Sayua raised a hand dismissively. "What, is that all? It's obviously Monokuma, that lame-ass bear that keeps calling himself this ship's captain!"
"Yes, that makes sense," Sister Hikari added. "He's the one that enforces all these rules and forces us to participate in the class trials. That sounds like what an overseer of this killing game does."
"Oh… I guess that makes sense…" Tanjiro said as he lowered his head.
"Oh, come on, Masashi boy! What other overseers could I be talking about?" Monokuma replied.
"Why?" Mari replied, looking at him curiously. "Why have you given us this piece of paper?"
"Y-Yeah, I don't see any point in giving us a list of your duties," Hikari added.
Monokuma chortled. "Oh, let me assure you, being the captain's not as exciting as you think it is. Most of the time, when I look at the surveillance cameras, I don't see you guys do anything interesting. It only gets exciting if one of you begins to come up with complicated murder schemes, or if you're making some sweet, sweet love."
"Stop saying those things!" Faye said.
"Bah, no one likes a party pooper like you!" Monokuma said, waving his paw dismissively at her. "Anyway, now that I've given you the note, I no longer have any purpose in this scene. See ya later!"
He disappeared, having offered them no explanation for this odd gift, and no one looked any the easier from his departure.
"Th-This is weird…" Hikari began. "Why did that bear think to give us this?"
"Hmm… It doesn't say anything particularly helpful," Faye said. "Nothing about this killing game's purpose… Nothing about what Project Shining Morrow is… It may as well be worthless."
"I'm not so sure about that, Faye," Sorao said, raising a hand. "There's one part that stands out to me."
"Huh?" Masashi said. "What are you talking about?"
"You see the line about how the overseer is supposed to give 'the host' directives?" Sorao said, pointing at that line. "Who exactly is that?"
"Yeah… Come to think of it, it sounds odd," Masashi replied as he scratched his head. "First, an overseer… and now, a host. Who in the world are these people? There aren't any clues."
"No… I don't think that's quite right," Mari said. "I can think of one person who may be the host."
"Wh-Who?" Hikari asked.
Mari crossed her arms. "Who else but Monokuma himself?"
Masashi and the others gasped.
"Monokuma?" Faye said. "But… that can't be right! He's the overseer, isn't he?"
Mari shook her head. "No… Monokuma has never confirmed that fact for us. When we read the note, we reached that conclusion since it made the most sense at the time. But with this new information, shouldn't we think twice about our conclusion?"
"Th-That's true, but…" Hikari said.
"It makes sense, doesn't it?" Mari said. "Someone else is the overseer. Monokuma's simply the one that carries out that person's decisions. Hence, the 'directives' mentioned in the note."
"Hmm… That may be true, but…" Sorao said.
"If that's not enough, think about this," she continued. "If Monokuma were the overseer and not the host, then wouldn't one of his duties be 'make sure to enforce the rules'? That's one of the key parts of the killing game, isn't it?"
Masashi gasped. "Oh! That's right! I didn't notice that!"
"When you put it that way, I guess it makes more sense that Monokuma's actually the host..." Faye said, though with some reluctance.
Hikari scratched her cheek. "B-But… if that's true, then who's the overseer?"
It was then that Mari's expression grew bleaker.
"Look at this line: 'Monitor the camaraderie among the subjects.'"
"Wh-What about it?" Hikari asked.
"To put it simply, everyone, if Monokuma's not the overseer, then it has to be someone else monitoring us. Who else besides Monokuma do you think can do that?"
"Uh, people working at Brightmere Research?" Masashi said.
"That's true, but I was thinking more on the lines of someone we've seen in person."
It was then that Masashi understood what she was trying to say.
The "overseer", the mastermind of this killing game, was not Monokuma. He was simply acting as the host and doing the overseer's bidding.
It was someone that Masashi and the other innocents had seen before.
It was one of the eighteen participants themselves.
No... No, that has to be a lie.
It was ridiculous.
It was one thing for a bunch of heartless elites to agree to this sick experiment, but all the others that he had seen and spoken with since his time here were, on the whole, good people. Even the worst of them would never stoop so low as to work with Monokuma.
It was cruel to even think about such a possibility.
And yet...
He could not deny that Mari might be right about this. Nothing about her theory conflicted with all the information that they had.
"Goddamn..." Sorao said, he and the others having drawn the same conclusion with utter amazement. "Who would've thought... that there's a mole among us?"
"Sad as it is to say it, it's pretty likely," Mari said, her tone slightly gloomier.
Faye nodded grimly. "And not only that… but don't forget the note we found a while ago. It said that the overseer has been 'deemed ready'. Now that I think about it, it could only mean that the overseer was trained to blend in with us."
"N-No way…" Masashi said weakly. "One of us… has been making us do all these horrible things… Choosing these locations, making all these motives, gladly watching us die one by one…"
"It's hard to believe, I know," Mari said, frowning a small frown, "but we can't deny that one of us has been masterminding this killing game the whole time."
"S-So who is it?" Hikari asked. "I-If one of us is the overseer… then shouldn't we find out who it is as soon as we can?"
"That's what I was thinking as well," Sorao said, nodding. "In fact… I think I know who this stinking overseer is."
"Y-You do?"
Sorao smirked. "You haven't figured it out? It's Maiha."
"What?"
Everyone looked bewildered.
"Maiha… Are you serious?" Faye said.
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
"I-I don't know… You usually say some pretty stupid things," Hikari replied.
"Oh, come on, give me more credit than that!"
Sorao scratched the back of his head. "Let me explain myself. Don't you think it's kinda weird that Maiha's been rather… standoffish? It's like she may not associate herself with us."
"I don't know… It seems like typical arrogance," Masashi said.
"Y-Yeah... Not as if we had started out with only one arrogant person," Hikari said.
Sorao looked not at all deterred, however. "The overseer is to observe how we're all doing… but at the same time, maybe Brightmere Research has forbidden the overseer from closely interacting with us. After all, the overseer's only here to make sure that things go smoothly, right? That's what overseers usually do, right?"
"Hmm... I can't say that sounds wrong," Masashi said.
"Great, you get my point! So the scientists or whoever's working at Brightmere Research wouldn't want the overseer to interfere with our affairs, because it's all part of this experiment. That's my theory, guys."
"It doesn't sound too far-fetched, but... are you sure Maiha simply doesn't want to hang out with us?"
Sorao clicked his tongue as he shook his head. "Well, if that were the only reason I had, then I wouldn't be accusing her right now. But don't you remember what Monokuma told us last night? You know, what he said about Brightmere Research?"
Faye gasped. "Some elites are backing this project…"
"Exactly. Don't you think it's weird that Maiha, who's part of a rich family, somehow managed to be involved in all this?" Sorao said. "It doesn't make any sense… unless she actually has a connection to these elites in the first place."
"Th-That's…" Hikari said, her voice shaking.
"No offense, but I think you're jumping the gun here," Mari replied. "If her being an elite is a good reason to suspect her, isn't it right to also suspect Futaba as well? She was the daughter of the powerful Inoshishi family, after all."
Sorao grimaced as he glanced down at the floor.
"Yes, but… Lady Inoshishi's gone now. The overseer has to be alive right now. The note says that the overseer has to choose the killing game's locations and motives. And the killing game's still going on, so..."
"Th-The one masterminding this game," Hikari added, "m-must be someone who's survived so far."
Sorao then looked Masashi in the eye. "Come on, man, don't look so doubtful about it. Don't you think Maiha's likely to be the mastermind? It explains all her antagonism, doesn't it, dude? Think about anything suspicious she's done so far."
"Well..."
Indeed, there had been that one time when he had gone to the Memory Bank, and had come across Maiha. She had claimed that she was going out on a walk, but for all he knew, that could have been a lie. Maybe she had gone there as part of her duties as the mastermind.
Wait a minute… This feels like a trick.
Of course it must be. This was all coming from Sorao, who had been proven to be shady and questionable, after he had failed to overthrow Masashi as the leader. There was little reason to think that Sorao was simply offering an innocent guess.
"Then what do you think we should do?" Masashi asked, choosing his words carefully.
Sorao smiled a small smile. "Maybe we ought to lock her up."
"L-Lock her up?"
"Yeah. I don't exactly like it, but this is the mastermind we're talking about. If we stop her, then maybe we can actually end the killing game, you know!"
"Y-You have a point... She is pretty suspicious," Hikari said, looking uneasier. "I'm not sure whether we should lock her up, though."
"But you are willing to talk about the idea, aren't you?" Sorao said.
"I suppose."
Faye nodded. "I don't know for sure, but something about Maiha makes me think she may be up to something."
But now that Masashi thought about it, Sorao's reasoning was not all that strong. Even with what they knew about Brightmere Research now, that she was an elite was not concrete proof that she had some connection to Brightmere Research. And her antagonism seemed to be a part of her personality rather than her being forbidden to closely interact with the group.
Still, once the seeds of suspicion were sown, the others would be tempted to think that they could simply end the killing game by cornering the overseer. Even though individually, those qualities of Maiha's did not strongly suggest that she was the overseer, together, they painted a rather suspicious picture of her. And Maiha had done nothing to get herself some friends, having insisted that she be left alone. Hence, if the time were to ever come when someone must be chosen as the likeliest one to be the mastermind, few would hesitate to choose her.
But Masashi's mind was filled more and more with doubt about Sorao's intentions. Given that Sorao seemed earnest in his suggestion, one thing was clear: Sorao saw Maiha as a hindrance. Whatever Sorao might be up to, he sensed that he ought not to let him have his way.
He had to kill the idea now.
"I understand what you're saying—"
"We'll think about it."
To his surprise, Mari stopped him.
"You will?" Sorao said, giving them both an puzzled look at first. "Well, glad to hear you're open about the idea! I was thinking that you might be more hesitant about it."
Mari nodded. "At this point, it's right to be concerned that Maiha may be working with Brightmere Research. Masashi and I will talk more about what to do about it."
Sorao smiled as he set his arms on his hips. "I'm looking forward to hearing what you plan to do. You're our leaders after all."
Mari then asked Masashi to go outside with her. Wondering the reason for her interruption, Masashi nodded along and followed her to the hallway outside.
"Um, Mari… Why did you stop me?" Masashi asked.
"I knew what you were about to say," she answered, looking straight at him. "You were planning to say that you couldn't accept Sorao's idea, weren't you?"
"Well, I wasn't really planning to hide the fact, really. Are you saying we should listen to him, though?"
She shook her head. "Of course not. He's clearly up to something by suggesting that Maiha be locked up. But shutting down that idea at that moment might've stopped me from executing my idea."
"Your idea?"
She then beckoned him to come closer. As soon as he did, she whispered into his ear and told him all the details.
"Wh-What? You want me to do that?" Masashi said, smitten with surprise that she would suggest such a thing.
"Can you think of a better way to solve this problem of ours?" Mari asked.
He took a few seconds to think. "No... But still, what if it fails?"
To his surprise, she took no time to think about her response. Instead, she smirked as she crossed her arms. "Whatever happens happens."
What? What kind of response is that? Masashi thought. Wait a minute, those words...
He recalled the first time when he had met Mari Anzai. She had been standing at the bow of the ship, staring off at the heavens. When Monokuma had bidden everyone to go to the dining room, she had shown no signs of concern at all, even though no one at that point had been told what was going on. Yes, she had used those very words to show her lack of worry.
But now Masashi understood the choice behind her words.
It was all up to fate...
To a believer of fate, whatever was to happen would happen, and so, back then, it had not worried her at all that Monokuma might pose a danger. But in a way, this lack of concern led to a growth in daring for her, and she had used the same words to suggest that Masashi agree to her plan. Of course, it was nothing dangerous, but he was worried that if things went sour, then there might be unintended consequences.
Still, there was a chance that it might work. If it did, then he would clear himself of one of his problems, and he would be one step nearer to having things become normal again.
"All right... I'll give it a try."
Hello! Chapter 4 has begun at last! Can you believe that we've already gotten this far?
This time, the remaining students enter a city wherein the night never ends. This ship's structure is a bit complex, since it has four lower decks, and they're essentially partitioned into two. I've already planned out much of the chapter, but as always, if I want to add something, then I have some room to do so.
Now that the beginning of the chapter is here, what are your predictions? Who do you think will bite the dust? How will the characters change? Once again, I'm interested in hearing your responses!