Before we begin, I have to address something. You know how I kinda made a chapter of Fictional Epicenter when Chapter 2 of THIS story was going on? Yeah, I kinda wanted to change up the 18-player lineup for that killing game, so… I'm wondering if it's okay to delete it now. I have seven new faces in mind for it to replace some of the existing ones. I know it was already a dumb mistake to make a chapter for Epicenter when Nexus is still going on, but I want to rectify it. Alright enough about that, time for a new part after it's forever since the last one, enjoy! (And don't worry about Fictional Guardians, the last entry of the trilogy, and the rest of Nexus, nothing has changed and it will stay that way)

Chapter 5: Dawning of the Dead Part 4 (Daily Life)

Remaining Citizens: 9

Ai Mizuno (Zombie Land Saga): Ultimate (Zombie) Idol

Aoba Kuronuma (Durarara!): Ultimate Manipulator

Ryuji Sakamoto (Persona 5): Ultimate Track Star

Emma (The Promised Neverland): Ultimate Moral Compass

Bernadetta von Varley (Fire Emblem: Three Houses): Ultimate Recluse

Gold (Pokémon Adventures/Pokémon Special): Ultimate Hatcher

Espio The Chameleon (Sonic The Hedgehog): Ultimate Ninja

Miles Morales (Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse): Ultimate Successor

Yu Ishigami (Kaguya-sama: Love Is War): Ultimate Pessimist

Ai's POV

"So… are you saying the real Seto Kaiba is the one behind all of this then?" Espio took a second to respond to my claim.

"I honestly doubt that, why would someone like him design a city based around people he wouldn't know? He's from a different world from them after all." I shoot down that question quickly.

"I see… you also mentioned that this theory could also work hand in hand with mine, correct? In other words…."

I finished his sentence for him, "An Ultimate from the previous killing games could have disguised as him, and kickstarted the killing game with the first murder."

"Thus making them the mastermind, or at least in league with them. That is very much possible, however one question remains… which one of them could it be?"

"Right, from what I estimated, there's 16 people per game. Which means 1 out of 848 participants in 53 killing games… dear god that sounds terrible. How did this keep going for so long?" I contemplated.

"I am wondering the same thing, such a horrifying thought." Espio shook his head as we peered into the book once more.

"Hm… I think we can just narrow it down to just three killing games, since the city has only focused on Ultimates from 1, 2, and V3. That makes it so much easier." I sigh in relief.

"Indeed it does… so which one of them could have been the Fake Kaiba?" Espio asks, scanning each face.

"Well, I think one is possible. This Ultimate Imposter character, an individual with the ability to disguise as anyone easily, even down to their voice." I turn to the page that their information is on.

"... Are they really that accurate with their disguises?" The chameleon puts out another question, while raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at the previous entry and then back to this one, notice something off?"

I look back at the first killing game's page, and now I see what he means. There's two Byakuya Togamis in the first and second killing games, although one of them is much…. Larger than the other. Either Togami got interested in competitive eating, or the larger one was our Ultimate Imposter. Kaiba was certainly skinny on screen, the fake one we met as well.

"Looks like the Imposter was not our guy. So what now?"

I look at the book once more and I'm left without any ideas. Not a single person seemed to have some kind of skill when it comes to disguises. Aside from one girl named Mukuro, nothing, but that's when I noticed something on V3's page…

It was like a switch just flicked in my brain.

Ideas began to flow through as soon as I found what I was looking for.

The different costumes Monokuma was seen wearing.

The references he makes while talking to us.

The store that has media depicting us as… fictional characters.

Our person of interest was—

"Oh, good evening you two!"

God damn it.

Aoba stepped into the light with a smirk on his face, "I assume you have discovered something really important. Do you mind—"

"No." Me and Espio bluntly told him.

"As predicted. I assume that you're investigating the whole Fake Kaiba thing as well as the mastermind, right? I'm not too interested in the former, more on the latter actually."

"Really now? You're trying to find the one behind everything, huh? For what reason could you use that information for?" Espio stood up and scowled.

"Probably to find another way to win this damn game and go home. Already have the gold card, so I might as well make my victory a clean sweep by finding the mastermind and killing them too." Aoba scratches the back of his head as he leans against the light post.

"Hmph, and seeing the two of us here together at night might give you something to tell the others and turn them against us?" I lowered my eyebrows in suspicion.

"Heh, like they'd even believe me. And even if they did, they already showed their blind faith in you already. It would be a waste of time. Still though, I think sharing who you at least think it could be can help ALL of us, so try not to keep the information to yourselves, eh? G'night!" Aoba says before walking away yawning.

If he's right about one thing, it's that we shouldn't keep this information secret.

"It's getting late, we should head back now as well." Espio tells me.

"Wait, but I—" He interrupts me before I tell him what I found.

"Save it for tomorrow, although I feel like telling me and everyone else who you think the mastermind is… that may lead to dire consequences. Knowing their identity would make a person anxious, wanting to call them out immediately through Monokuma. Perhaps it could even… use force to get to them." Espio explains and I then realize what he means.

I remember Misato attacking Monokuma when this whole game began, and it led to him exploding. Monokuma, in his own words, enjoys the thrills, chills, and kills of this game, who knows what could happen if we take that away by revealing the identity of his puppet master. Just imagining it has me hesitating…

"But…"

"Be on your guard Mizuno-san. Choose how you are going to use the information you have found, may it prove beneficial to you and the others."

He disappeared in a puff of smoke, before I could tell him a thing.

Ugh… damn it all!

MONOKUMA THEATER

"It's good to take a hiatus once in a while, it gives you time to think about what to do when you return!"

"Sure, some people might just stop paying attention to you or your content, but who the hell cares?!"

"As long as you have loyal people around, you can just keep making the stuff you enjoy!"

"Thank you for reading Danganronpa: Fictional Nexus! Why the heck are you all still here?"

I definitely need to tell a few people soon, I don't care what Espio said last night.

Keeping secrets this big away from the others can cause some major trust issues. I mean, who would just not tell someone important details that could benefit them? I understand what he's getting at with it potentially putting a person in danger, but they all have a right to know.

"Ai? Something wrong?" Emma asked, her breakfast ending up on her cheek.

I blinked twice after being broken out of my thinking session, "I'll tell you later, let's just finish eating."

I chew on my egg sandwich as I try to figure out when I should tell the others about the mastermind. Everyone else, sans Bernadetta, Espio and Aoba, was here in the lobby with me eating away at the food we've grown accustomed to each day.

I hear Gold let out a loud burp and I'm reminded of one thing that everyone has not been accustomed to: manners.

"So… what's it like? Being both a zombie and an idol." Ishigami asked.

I found it a bit strange that he would try to make conversation, but might as well, "There's quite a lot of difficulty when trying to hide my secret. We end up having to put on makeup when we go out to do jobs in public, and having to practice moves and lyrics often to prepare for concerts. Somehow though… we pull it off despite many, MANY, close calls."

Ishigami continued to eat his breakfast as he looked at me with tired eyes, "For example?"

"Well…" I popped off my arm for a demonstration and it made Ryuji spit out his drink, "Our body parts can come off easily, like a doll's. So if we're not careful, one of our heads could go soaring into the crowd."

"D-Damn that's creepy… and kinda cool." Ryuji softly chuckled, "But, you don't, y'know, turn other people into zombies right?"

"No, we can't do that. One of our members, Number 0 as you may know her, ends up biting people and it's more of an inconvenience than anything dangerous…" I give an awkward smile at my answer.

"Neat." Ishigami stated.

"So… how have things been progressing while I was MIA?" I asked them.

"Oh, Gold and Ryuji ended up finding something interesting by the docks when the S.S. Koizumi was being built." Miles told me and my interest peaked.

"Really? Is it something worth looking into?" I looked at the two who found it with skepticism.

"Uh… yeah it might be, but first I gotta say something real quick. Something happened that day and… I wanted to make it right." Ryuji then approached Emma, who looked away from him.

Was there some disagreement between them?

"Sorry kid, I was being an asshole. I guess I wanted to forget everything that happened a few days ago, and figured that trying to pretend everything's cool would help. It didn't, and I got angry at you, so… I'm an idiot. Are we cool…?"

"..." Emma stayed silent until going in for a hug, "We are. I'm sorry too."

The rest of us smile, happy that there's no tension between them, and that whatever happened is cleared up.

But now back to the topic at hand.

"The broken piece of the boat was the word "shiro" in kanji. What does that mean? Hell if I know." Ryuji explains.

"Shiro…" I say softly, but Espio's words echo through my head once more.

"Be on your guard."

I sigh, frustrated at how indecisive I'm being with when to tell everyone.

"And nothing has changed here in the main area, so maybe we should go back to the new island?" Miles suggested.

"Seems to be our only remaining course of action now. Let's set sail!"

We all rush into the subway and it takes us to the boat. Surprisingly it works just fine without Monokuma steering it, must be on a set course and has an autopilot (auto helmsman?) feature.

I think the two most prominent places on this island are the Lucksters & Lolitas casino and the Statue of Zetsubou. Might as well go for the former first.

Slot machines galore over here! A few blackjack and poker tables as well, and even a bar, which made me think for a second on whether I'd be of drinking age. Physically and mentally I'm 16 forever, but chronologically I'm in my 20s... There's also the factor of whether or not zombies can get intoxica— okay I should stop now.

I then hear a tv turn on, and see it was Ryuji who had hit its switch.

"Oh, whoops. Didn't know you were in here." He said.

"I'm not one to make a scene. What are you doing here?"

"I actually found this lying on the floor before you came here, and I was just curious to see what was on the disc. Just looks like some weird show…"

Ryuji hands me a dvd case of a show titled Durarara!x2, it had a bunch of people on it, like a woman in a black jumpsuit and a biker helmet obscuring her face. More notably however…

"Aoba…" I said as I looked at the case and back to the tv screen.

I see him trying to make a deal with a person named Mikado, and he appears to have his "Blue Squares" with him. Why does one of them look like a cat? Whatever. He gives him the same condescending smile that he's shown to us countless times, but then his expression fades.

Right when the two are about to make their agreement official, Mikado stabs a ballpoint pen into Aoba's hand.

"HOLY SHIT!" Ryuji reacts appropriately, as we both watch in horror.

He refuses to remove it until Aoba complies with his demands, Aoba must have done something to make this guy this angry at him…

"Um… Is it bad to say that he deserved it?" Ryuji asked me, and I shook my head.

"He certainly did, as cruel as that may sound. And it seems Aoba has made many enemies in his world as well."

"No kidding, shoulda known a creep like him was a gang leader. But why leave this here?" Ryuji cringed after seeing the pen finally yanked out of Aoba's hand.

"Don't have a clue, this dvd must have come from the otaku department store though."

There has to be a reason that he took it from there, and knowing his mind there could be more than one.

*Ding dong dong ding*

No…

Not now…

Not again…

I clicked on my e-Handbook and my fears have been realized once more.

"A body has been discovered! Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the city trial will begin!"

I could feel the same shivers going down my spine that they had before… but then it only intensified.

"A body has been discovered! Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the city trial will begin!"

"I-It played twice?! What the hell is this?!" Ryuji yelled out in surprise.

"Then… that could mean…" I didn't even want to say it, even if it turned out to be true.

Miles then bursted through the door, "Guys…. Just come with me."

He grabbed onto us and swung his way over to the Statue of Zetsubou. When we got there, a small crowd had already gathered. Monokuma was standing there as well, but he was just silently looking up at the statue, which was now painted red in blood.

And right below the statue…

A broken, bloody Bernadetta.

And clutching her, Espio, who was now nothing but an empty husk. Wounded in both his chest and right hand.

There was one more thing that all of us had noticed, as both despair and anger welled up inside those of us remaining.

Aoba was nowhere to be seen.

Thank you for reading. See you all next time.