Makoto Naegi had barely slept at all. Wandering into the cafeteria, face pale, movements slow and unsteady, twisted visions of yesterday flooded his mind. The discovery of Leon and Yasuhiro's decomposing bodies. The mind-bending class trial and the exposing of that most uncomfortable truth. Mukuro's speech… and her inevitable execution.

Sixteen students had entered Hope's Peak Academy.

Five of them were already dead.

Had Mukuro's plan succeeded, the number of survivors, currently eleven, would have been reduced to zero.

Would that have been better, he wondered, leading himself to his usual seat? Would it have been better if all of them had just been executed in one fell swoop? The game would have ended. The fear of the next murder, the next trial, the next maniacal execution… all of it would be over.

Mukuro was trying to save them, in her own horrifying way.

At some point, almost without realising as he dwelled in his own pool of thoughts, Makoto had found himself in the kitchen. His stomach rumbled. Apparently he was hungry.

Oh, yeah. Breakfast was a thing, wasn't it?

His eyes met with a cereal box on the counter.

He thought of Leon.

Makoto decided to skip the cereal today.

It wasn't long before Monokuma was gleefully announcing that the next floor of the school was unlocked. It wasn't long until the exhausted class, somehow finding the strength to quietly chatter among themselves, began their exploration of the uncharted rooms.

Makoto felt adrift, even as Sayaka struck up chatter with him. He replied, of course, wandering the strange new hallways, scouring the various rooms on offer. Celeste had taken a particular liking to the games within the Recreation Room (no surprises, thought Makoto, considering she was the Ultimate Gambler), all the while the Ultimate Moral Compass declared his delight that there were more classrooms on the floor.

"If only there were still classes to be taught," Kiyotaka had muttered with a sigh, sad eyes wandering the desktops, as if imagining all the pencils and pop quizzes that could have been.

"He's a strange one," said Sayaka as she and Makoto left the prefect to his own devices, "isn't he?"

"He's different, sure," Makoto replied, making his way to the next set of rooms, "but he seems to just want the best for us, I think."

"I suppose having classes would be better than… well."

She didn't say it, but Makoto knew exactly what she meant. The killing game. Lessons and lectures and homework and detention would all be better than the situation they were stuck in now. It was the way Hope's Peak should have been. He had come here to prosper, not suffer.

How had it all gone so wrong?

The conversation quickly shifted to another topic.

Good.

The art room, and the adjoined storage room at the rear of it, proved uneventful. The rooms were filled with exactly what Makoto would expect. Had it not been for the camera hanging from the ceiling, always and forever watching, it was easy to forget about the killing game in here. There were no visible shutters. No shocked, traumatised faces. No blood or weapons. No bodies.

Just simple, innocent art...

...and a marble statue of Monokuma, of course. Just to ruin the atmosphere with the usual insufferable bout of despair.

"It's horrible, isn't it?"

Sayaka gripped Makoto's arm as the pair spun around, gasping in unison at the voice that had arisen unexpectedly from behind them. There, now in front of them, stood Kyoko, arms folded and eyes wandering elsewhere as usual. Quiet. Collected. Not seeming to realise (or care) that she had just scared two of her fellow classmates to near-death.

"K-Kyoko! Where did you come from?!"

"I've been here the entire time," she replied to the Ultimate Lucky Student, tone as sharp and cool as always. "You just weren't paying attention. Which, given the circumstances, is quite the risk."

She wasn't wrong. Makoto was glad it was only her, and not some murderous lunatic ready for round three of the class trials.

"I'm glad you're here," he said. "I've been meaning to talk to you since… since yesterday."

"What about yesterday? It happened. It's over. It's not worth dwelling on. We have to keep moving forward."

"No," said Makoto, "I mean I have to ask you something."

Kyoko didn't say a word in reply, but her gaze quickly met his, brows lightly furrowing, the fold of her arms tightening by a fraction. Clearly, she was listening. Sayaka stood quietly aside Makoto, watching on in interested silence.

"You were a huge help in the trial yesterday, Kyoko," said Makoto. "Without your knowledge, I'm not sure we could have solved it. You picked up on the things that we wouldn't have. How do you know so much about all of this? About dead bodies and investigations and everything, I mean?"

For a moment, nothing happened. Kyoko kept up the eye contact, her shoulders tense, lips pursed. Makoto stared back at her, awaiting his response, eager to clear up the questions running through his head. Yet his answer didn't come.

Kyoko turned her back, and made her way to the door.

"Kyoko," Sayaka cried, "come back!"

"I'm heading to the last room," Kyoko replied without looking back at them. "Feel free to join me."

The pop-star and the luckster exchanged glances. It looked as if they had no choice. Within seconds, they were walking alongside her as she entered the hall, making her way toward the final room on the floor. The one that was oddly distant from the others.

"Can you answer my question?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I have my reasons."

"What are your reasons?"

With a near-silent sigh, Kyoko stopped in her tracks. "Why are you so interested in me?"

"You're not like the others," said Makoto. "You're capable with crime scenes in a way that we aren't. You can handle trials like they're easy. It's useful, but it doesn't make sense. You're the one mystery that I haven't solved yet. Kyoko… what's your Ultimate?"

The question clearly made her uncomfortable.

"There's no pressure," said Sayaka, "we're just curious, is all!"

"I don't know," she replied suddenly, before breaking back into her previous pace. Makoto and Sayaka scurried after her.

"Wait," said Sayaka, "you don't know?

"No."

"How can you not know?"

"I don't know," said Kyoko, tone definitely more defensive now as they approached the doors to that final room, "because I can't remember. I've lost my memories. I can't remember anything before… before all of this."

"You can't be serious. Come on," Sayaka continued, "just tell us the truth! I promise we'll keep it a secret. You don't have to lie."

Was she really lying? She looked defensive, without a doubt, and her face was even paler than usual, but… there was something about her words that didn't strike Makoto as false. Maybe Sayaka could pick up on something he couldn't (she did have fantastic intuition, after all), but… no. Kyoko seemed to be telling the truth.

"Believe it or don't," said Kyoko. "It doesn't matter to me. I've told you the truth. Now stop asking."

Sayaka parted her lips to speak again, but Makoto put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, and he shook his head. This wasn't an argument she was going to win. She quickly closed her mouth.

Kyoko pushed open the door to the room labelled 'PHYSICS LAB', and the pestering pair followed her close behind.

The room they entered was like something out of the future. Highly scientific in its appearance, with bits and pieces of technical equipment that Makoto knew he would never understand. In the middle of the room was what appeared to be some sort of giant air purifier of sorts.

Kyoko froze as her wide, violet eyes set themselves upon it. She wore a face Makoto had never seen her with before. She brought a gloved hand to her forehead, staring up at the contraption before her eyes squeezed shut. With a grunt, her head bowed forward, teeth visibly clenching.

"Kyoko! Are you okay?"

At first, she didn't reply to him, still appearing to be suffering from some sort of agonising migraine. Yet, as it settled, she raised her head again, breath heavier than it had been a moment ago, a light drop of sweat on her brow. Shakily, she looked from the purifier to Makoto.

"I think I've seen this room before," she said suddenly. "I feel like I've been here in the past. I… I remember it. The purifier, the floor… it's familiar."

What was she talking about? It was impossible for her to have seen it. She had entered the school along with the rest of the class – on the day they were all forced into the killing game. There was no way she had ever set foot in here before! Yet, just like her claims of amnesia a moment ago, there was something about her words that rang true. Makoto couldn't place it, but he was certain she wasn't lying. That much was clear.

"You couldn't have been," said Sayaka, practically (or was it literally?) reading Makoto's mind. "How can you remember a place you've never been to before?"

Kyoko didn't reply again, falling into another bout of her trademark silence.

"It doesn't make sense," Sayaka concluded, looking to Makoto for reassurance. "…Right?"

"I'll be going now," said Kyoko, turning and making her way for the door again. "I need to think. Don't follow me."

With that, she left.

Sayaka kept staring up at Makoto, confused.

Makoto was just as lost as she was.

With each passing trial and each new floor, it seemed that Hope's Peak Academy just kept getting stranger and stranger.

"So, the piece of shit finally shows his face."

Of all the reactions Makoto had expected to Byakuya entering the cafeteria that morning, it hadn't been that.

Yesterday, when everyone had explored the new floor, Byakuya and Touko had been nowhere to be seen. Mondo, grumbling for the length of the day, had made it clear that he wanted to see him for, he said, a 'man-to-man talk'. Yet night had come, sleep had followed, and Byakuya had maintained his distance.

It was only this morning, two days after the trial that had revealed his utterly callous nature, that he finally showed his face, wandering in as if all was well. He held his head high as usual.

"Mondo! Language!" Kiyotaka snapped.

"I'm here for breakfast, not a confrontation," Byakuya replied to the biker without expression, making his way toward a seat. "Take your grievances elsewhere. Preferably as far away from me as possible."

The eyes of the room, fully packed with the remaining eleven students, watched the scene as it began to unfold.

"Guys, come on," said Asahina, "don't do this."

"Y'know, you really have some fuckin' nerve to show your face here, jackass," said Mondo.

Byakuya, one leg crossed over the other, didn't even look at him.

Mondo responded by rising from his seat. Eyes fixed on the Ultimate Affluent Progeny, he began to made strides toward him, long coat swaying behind him with every step.

Uh-oh.

"Creepy little bastards who play with corpses for fun aren't the kind of people we want around here, you got that?"

Now it was Touko's turn to rise from her chair, pointing an accusing finger at the taller figure in front of her. "L-Leave M-Master alone!

"Oh," said Byakuya, finally turning his attention to the biker, "were you saying something? I didn't hear you. I don't often pay attention to the shrieks of creatures as utterly microscopic as you."

"You arrogant little jackass," said Mondo, breathing so hard that his shoulders rose and fell with visible anger. "You fuck with the bodies of two of our friends for your own satisfaction, and you still think you have the right to speak? You still think you have the right to even breathe while they're dead?"

Byakuya's eyes narrowed.

"Is that a threat?"

Mondo slammed his fist into the table aside him. "YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT IT'S A FUCKIN' THREAT!"

"Enough," said Sakura suddenly. "Both of you. Stop it!"

Neither seemed to hear her.

"If you plan on killing me, then I invite you to try," said Byakuya. "In fact, I welcome it. Though I strongly doubt that you possess the basic cognitive functions required to do it in the first place. Feel free to make a fool of yourself, brute."

Mondo punched the table again.

"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"

Within seconds, a white-suited figure was rushing to fill the space between them, pushing Mondo away from the trust-fund maniac still seated smugly on his chair. "Mondo, stop! Violence isn't the answer!"

Mondo's anger quickly turned from Byakuya to the prefect.

"Get the fuck offa' me," he grunted, pushing the slimmer figure away. "Don't try and stand in the way of justice, you goody-goody little bitch. This bastard crossed a line, and he has to pay for it. Try and stop me, and you're just as bad as he is!"

Makoto looked around the room.

He was the only guy who wasn't involved in this now, he realised. He stayed seated next to Sayaka, watching on quietly, hoping that it wouldn't escalate further.

Yet Kiyotaka's expression of outrage quickly shattered that hope.

"Don't you dare say that! I'm nothing like him," said Kiyotaka, "or Touko! I uphold the rules and the morals of this school, but those morals apply to you, too! Stop it or I'll have to take action against you!"

Oh, boy.

"Action against me?" Mondo looked like he was about to burst into laughter. "What fuckin' action? If you haven't noticed yet, school's out. We don't have classes or detentions. We have murder and class trials and killer fuckin' teddy bears, and we're all stuck with it! Be a man, wake the hell up already and get off my goddamned back!"

"I'm more of a man than you could ever be! Real men don't punch tables like animals and threaten to kill others! You're nothing more than a coward!"

"A coward? A coward?! You're really think you're more of a man than me, huh tough guy?" Mondo leaned in to the prefect's face, pupils like pinpricks, teeth bared. "Then why don't you fuckin' prove it?"

This definitely wasn't going to end well. If it wasn't already obvious, now it was inevitable.

"I don't need to prove what's already obvious!"

"Damn right you do! There's a sauna across the way. If you really think you're so tough – if you really think you're in the right to defend pieces of shit like Richie Rich and his creepy little groupie here – then let's prove it! Me and you, man versus man, tonight at the sauna, heat on full blast!"

Kiyotaka's expression turned from frustration to one of surprise.

"You… propose an endurance contest?" He barely took the time to breathe before roaring out his answer. "Challenge accepted! We'll settle this tonight and you'll see how wrong you are!"

Mondo began to back away from Byakuya and Touko, seeming to have completely forgotten about them, his gaze now exclusively reserved for Kiyotaka. "Fuckin' bring it on!"

"Prepare to lose!"

The pair of them continued their shouting match in front of their stunned classmates, exchanging fighting talk and personal jabs. As quickly as they had begun to argue, they both made their way out of the cafeteria, heading their separate ways in order to "train for victory," as Kiyotaka had put it.

Makoto had been able to crack quite a few mysteries during the class trials so far. Yet the mystery of how an argument between Mondo and Byakuya had somehow turned into a sauna showdown between Kiyotaka and Mondo would be one he knew he would never get to the bottom of.

The cafeteria was quiet.

Disbelief reigned strong.

This was going to be interesting.

Knock knock knock.

Huh?

Someone was at Makoto's door. He had only just woken up, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes, exhausted after the battle last night. Somehow, he had found himself roped in to be the 'witness' of the sauna showdown, only to end up feeling too tired as the minutes turned into hours and he retired to bed. Mondo and Kiyotaka had still been in the oven-like room the last he had seen them, still holding out, neither accepting defeat.

He hoped they had survived it.

Makoto wondered who the victor had been, too, certain he would be finding out in the next few minutes in the cafeteria. It was painful to admit, but he was just a little excited (aside his grave concern) to hear of the outcome.

None of that mattered now, though. His focus was on the door as he opened it, quickly being greeted by the typically serious face of Kyoko Kirigiri.

"Oh, Kyoko," he said. "Can I… help you?"

"Bathhouse. Now."

"Huh?"

"Bathhouse," she repeated, voice a low whisper, "now. Act casual. Don't draw attention to yourself."

She gestured to a nearby camera with her eyes, bringing Makoto's attention to it. Her message, suddenly, was clear. Monokuma was watching.

Still, the request worried him. Why the bathhouse? That connected to the sauna, didn't it? Oh no.

Oh, no.

He prayed that something hadn't happened as he quickly dashed back inside, throwing on his shoes, before making his way down the hallway behind Kyoko.

Had one of them been unable to withstand the heat, he wondered? Had their pride taken them to the point of no return, ultimately bringing about their end?

No.

No, surely not. They would be fine, right?

Right?

The taste of anxiety fresh and uncomfortable on his tongue, Makoto made his way into the little room. The same room where Junko's body had been found last week. The room where Hifumi had killed her.

He shook his head.

It wasn't worth thinking about.

To his surprise, the room was busy with his fellow classmates. Everyone was present. Everyone was alive.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

There, in the corner, were Kiyotaka and Mondo. To his surprise, their arms were around each other's shoulders, their faces bearing the widest grins he had ever seen. Kiyotaka caught sight of the Ultimate Lucky Student – the last of the lot to arrive – and beamed.

"Makoto! Welcome!"

He wasn't accusing him of being late. That was unusual. Yet still not as unusual as the suddenly overly-happy dynamic that had suddenly blossomed between the pair who, this time yesterday, had been engaging in rage-stoked fighting talk.

"Taka," said Asahina, "keep it down! We don't want Monokuma to appear!"

"Hey, don't listen to her bro," said Mondo, patting the prefect on the back, "I think your volume was perfect."

"Thanks bro!"

"Quiet, the pair of you," said Byakuya, arms folded as usual. He, with the others, stood gathered around a sight that Makoto could barely make out past their respective figures. They encircled the lockers at the side of the room, one of which appeared to be open.

Sayaka was quick to hurry over to him, taking his arm and pulling him closer.

"What's gotten into those two?"

"No-one knows," Sayaka replied, whispering. "They've been like this all morning. They won't tell us who won the sauna battle last night, either. They keep saying it doesn't matter. They've been permanently cheerful and they keep calling each other 'Bro'. They've gone from enemies to best friends overnight… it's weird."

Just when Makoto thought Hope's Peak Academy and its residents couldn't confuse him any further, there he was; finding himself utter speechless.

Maybe it was best not to question it.

"C-can we just get down to business already?" Fukawa fidgeted impatiently, eyes darting from the locker to the approaching Makoto. "I j-just want to get this over with and have breakfast already."

As Makoto came closer to the lockers, he expressed disbelief.

There was a laptop in there, currently under the control of Chihiro, whose dainty hands typed away at its keys. She typed in command after command, executable after executable, clearly busy on her task.

"That's a laptop," said Makoto. "Where did that come from? Does it work? Can we contact the outside world?!"

"I found it," said Chihiro, stopping her work for just a moment to look back at him. She seemed a tad more confident right now than she usually did. Maybe it was because of just how strongly in her element she was; carrying out the very task that her Ultimate was named after. "It was in the library when we first arrived on the second floor a few days ago. I was the first one in there, and I… well, I hid it. I thought maybe Monokuma had left it there by mistake, so I grabbed it before anyone could make a scene and bring it to his attention, and I stashed it in my locker."

"Which I still don't agree with," said Byakuya. No one bothered responding to him.

"Won't the cameras pick this up?" Makoto looked around, only to realise the error of what he had just said.

"There aren't any," said Kyoko. "The steam fogs up the lens – it would be pointless to have it in here. The simple truth is that this room might be the only dark spot in the entire building. It's the only place we have that's outside of Monokuma's surveillance network."

"What's to stop him from just walking in?"

"Nothing," she replied. "That's why we're keeping as quiet as possible."

Another few seconds of typing and tapping passed until, suddenly, Chihiro backed away from her locker with a smile on her face. The laptop screen lit up a solid green.

"I've been working on this in secret since the day I found the laptop," she said, sounding proud of herself for once.

Suddenly, a face emerged onto the green. A face that looked… exactly like Chihiro's own. It blinked, looking around, almost as if it was a real person. A chorus of gasps and "oohs" and "ahhs" filled the room.

"Everyone," said Chihiro, "meet Alter-Ego!"

The face on the screen blinked again.

Chihiro turned to the keyboard, typing in what she said aloud. "Hello, Alter-Ego."

The face smiled. "Hello, Master!"

"Wait, wait, wait," said Mondo, "it's callin' you Master? Why not Mistress?"

Chihiro tensed up at that.

"O-Oh! Well, um… I… it's just a bug, that's all. I've been meaning to patch it out, but I haven't had the time. J-Just ignore that!"

"What exactly is it?" Kiyotaka leaned in close for a particularly detailed view, Mondo's arm still firmly around his shoulder.

"It's an artificial intelligence," Chihiro replied.

"Wait, you can make intelligence that's artificial?!" The prefect's shock was so immense that Makoto wouldn't have been surprised if he had fainted.

"Y-yes, you can," Chihiro chuckled softly, turning back to the device. "Alter-Ego is designed to be able to think like and act like you and me, but with the added bonus of having the mind and the capabilities of a computer. The laptop had no data on it at all when I got it – it was completely reduced to the factory settings, and it doesn't seem capable of connecting to the internet, either. But with Alter-Ego, we don't need any of that."

"What do you mean?" Mondo seemed just as curious as his prefect compatriot did.

"Alter-Ego can do quite a lot. She can speak to you. Answer questions. Solve puzzles… and also hack networks. If we hook this laptop up to the school network – and we do it without Monokuma noticing – then we might be able to get some information from it. We might be able to find out what's really going on here. We could find the identity of the Mastermind – maybe even a way out!"

Was that really true?

Was it really possible that Chihiro was onto something here? Sure, she was the Ultimate Programmer, so Makoto hardly doubted her skills, but… it all seemed too perfect. Too easy. Was there seriously a chance that this 'Alter-Ego' thing could help them?

He hoped so.

Whether it was true or not.

"We could use Alter-Ego to try and contact the outside world," Chihiro continued, "and ask for help to co-ordinate an escape!"

"Wait," said Kiyotaka, "isn't that against the rules? Rule #1 says 'Leaving campus is a punishable offence.' If we try and escape, and Monokuma catches us..."

"It's a risk we'll have to take," said Kyoko. "We don't have any other choice. If we stick to Monokuma's rules, we're only trapping ourselves further in his game. This might be our best shot to get out of here. We just have to be careful."

Chihiro turned back to Alter-Ego.

"Alter-Ego," she typed, "can you help us escape?"

"I'll try my hardest, Master! I'll do whatever it takes," the AI replied. "I promise, I won't let any of you down!"

Makoto struggled to wrap his head around the idea of the technology. Maybe it was best not to question it.

"Finally," said Sayaka gleefully, "something to feel hopeful about!"

She wasn't wrong. Makoto could feel it, too. Like the first dandelions in spring, signally the end of the long, cold winter, hope was starting to blossom in his heart again. There was a chance of their escape. It ran with a risk, yes, but what didn't in this school? It was this or nothing.

They were going to get out of here, and they were going to do it together!

"I promise," said Alter-Ego, "I'll get you all out of here if it's the last thing I do!"

Expressions of delight were shared across the room. Sighs of still-tense relief.

Makoto watched as Mondo pulled Kiyotaka closer.

"The mastermind's days are numbered," said the prefect with overflowing enthusiasm, receiving enthusiastic nods of agreement and muted cheers of celebration from his classmates in return.

Kiyotaka, bright red eyes fixated on the laptop, smiled brightly.