"Naegi?" A concerned voice asked. "What happened?"

The voice turned out to be Maizono. I then noticed everyone else standing around the entrance to the A/V room. They stared at me, faces full of confusion.

"Wh-What's going on?" Asahina asked in concern. Without a word, I pointed to the cardboard box.

"Is that what Monokuma was talking about?" Asked Leon.

"What's on them?" Ishimaru asked as he approached the box. Following suit, everyone else gathered around the box, and each of them grabbed the DVD with their name on it. One by one, they each rushed to a monitor.

It didn't take long for them to react.

"What the fuck…?" Mondo muttered in shock.

"Th-This can't be real, right? It has to be fake, right!?" Panicked Asahina.

"Yeah, no way it's real." Leon said trying to comfort himself.

"I can't t-take it anymore…" Fukawa worried before screaming. "I c-can't take this anymore! Let me out of h-here!"

As soon as I saw their reactions, I know… They'd all seen something like what I'd seen. Nobody even bothered trying to hide their fear and confusion.

Except for her. Even now, she was totally calm.

"I see…" Said Kirigiri. "So this is what he meant by motive. He wants to fuel our desire to leave so that we're more likely to start killing each other."

"It is the classic "prisoner's dilemma"." Stated Celeste.

"…Huh?" Questioned Yamada.

"Let me use an example." She began. "Imagine two countries are on the brink of war. But both countries want peace, and each commits to scaling back their forces as a sign of good faith. But there's a chance that one country may betray the other, so each country fears lowering their guard. The result is that neither scales back their forces, and they both end up betraying each other. In other words, the fear of invisible treachery becomes the greatest enemy of stability."

"That kinda sounds l-like us right now…" Worried Fukawa. "Everyone says they'll work together, but in our hearts we're all afraid that someone might betray us…"

"Don't put those awful thoughts in our head!" Exclaimed Ishimaru. "That's exactly what they want us to do!"

"You can say that, but maybe you're thinking that once everyone drops their guard, you can just…" Began Leon. Ishimaru cut him off.

"What?!" He gasped.

"This is exactly what Monokuma, or whoever's behind this, wants." Explained Sakura. "They want us to fight. Don't you see?"

"Yeah, you're right." Agreed Chihiro. "We all need to clam down…"

"Okay, then." Junko spoke up. "Maybe we should start by all just… Talking. Maybe if we all just talk about what we saw, that'll help get everything out of our system. Besides, I think we're all super curious, right?"

I wonder what was in everyone's videos… I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious. I thought Maizono would be a good place to start, since she's my assistant after all.

"Hey, Maizono…" I said as I turned to her. She was completely silent and looked both scared and worried at the same time. The screen showed the same thing that was on mine; text that said ' Look for the answer after graduation!'. I figured whatever she saw on there made her this way.

I spoke again. "What was in your video, Maizono?"

Silence.

"What's wr-wrong?" Fukawa asked impatiently. "Just hurry up and t-tell us…"

Maizono began shaking. "Maizono?" I asked her calmly. Gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"…Stop it!" She suddenly yelled as she pushed my hand away ran out of the room.

"Maizono!?" Exclaimed Asahina. I began to run towards the door, but Togami's voice stopped me.

"Let her go." He said.

"I-I can't do that!" I shouted. "I have to go make sure she's okay!"

"I h-hate romantic comedies like this." Fukawa stammered. "I don't care what happens to her, personally…"

"That's because you're totally thoughtless!" Snapped Junko.

"I'm… Really worried." Said Asahina.

"Then why don't you go do whatever you think you have to?" Asked Celeste. "We all don't all have to stick around together, right? Speaking of which, I have my own things to take care of. Goodbye."

Celeste then left the room, after some babble that I couldn't keep up with, everyone went their separate ways. But I don't have time to worry about that right now. I have to go find Maizono!

I ran out into the hall and began searching all around the school. The gymnasium, the bathrooms, even the dormitories. I eventually found her in one corner of an empty classroom.

She was sitting in a chair, hands on her knees, staring absently at the floor. She looked like maybe she was upset, or angry. Or, no…

…She didn't have any expression at all.

There was nothing on her face that you could call emotion. It was as if her original mask had been stripped away.

I eventually spoke up to gain her attention. "M-Maizono? Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" She said meekly. "I'm fine."

She then began panicking. "Actually, no… How could I possibly be fine? What did we do to end up like this…? Why are they doing such terrible things to us…? I want out! Let me out of here right now!"

"Maizono! Calm down!" I yelled. As she thrashed around, I grabbed her by the shoulders and began talking calmly to her. "I understand. I know how you feel right now. When I think of what might have happened to my family, I think of escaping, too. But now, more than ever, we need to stay calm! This is exactly what they want. They want us to out composure and stop thinking rationally. Think bout it; those videos have to be fake! Because if those things really happened, people out there would be in an uproar. Out families, the police, everyone! Right?"

Maizono was completely silent.

"So, let's just calm down, okay?" I asked her. "Otherwise, we've already lost."

I knew I was trying to convince myself just as much as her. I kept repeating those words to myself, to clear away the images that had been burned into my brain.

Be clam, okay?

Just be calm…

"As long as we work together, I'm sure we can find some way out of here." I continued. "And help might even come before that."

"But… What if there isn't a way out?" Worried Maizono. "What if help never comes?"

"I-If that happens…" I began. Trying to find the right words to say.

But when I found them, I instantly regretted it.

"…Then I'll get you of here myself! No matter what it takes!"

When I said that, I paused… I had no idea what came over me.