Chapter 44: Day 40
Naegi stood by Togami in the gymnasium as they waited impatiently for Monokuma to arrive. Togami tapped his finger against his inner forearm, watching as the others paced, chatted with each other, or waited silently. It was the first time Monokuma was late for his own back-up announcement, and while he appeared stoic, Togami's mind raced with the possible implications.
"Where do you think he is?" Naegi whispered.
Togami shrugged. "Who knows…" He glanced down, then blushed slightly as he whispered back, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm great," Naegi answered with a wide grin. "How 'bout you?"
Togami returned the smile. "I'm fine."
"Did you have fun?"
"Yes, it was…quite enjoyable. And you?"
Naegi nodded. "Maybe we can do it again sometime?"
"Let's wait a bit to recover, first," Togami noted with a smirk. "Then perhaps we can–"
"Gooooooood morning, everybody!"
Monokuma's cheeky voice echoed throughout the gymnasium, and Togami glanced up to see the bear standing on the stage. Dressed in graduation robes and a graduation cap, Monokuma stumbled as he carried a large stack of papers in his arms. "My apologies for taking so long, but the printer kept jamming! Stupid printers never do anything you need 'em to do, I swear!"
"And what do you have for us now?" asked Maizono.
"Yeah, and what's with the papers?" inquired Enoshima.
"These are the report cards you're looking at getting! After all, I am your headmaster, and it's important that you know where your grades currently stand before your potential graduation!"
"Report cards…?" Togami thought with a frown. "Just what the hell is this bear playing at now?"
One by one, Monokuma walked around and distributed the 'report cards,' which Togami saw were just single sheets of paper, one for each student. His frown deepened as the students' eyes widened as they were passed out, and a few looked in confusion. When Monokuma finally reached Naegi and him, he swiped the paper from Monokuma's paw and looked down.
At the top was his name, followed by the list of Monokuma back-ups they had made so far in a chart. Next to each back-up was a large D in red. But when Togami read to the bottom, he noticed that there was one remaining space for the last Monokuma, what he read as being a "Warlockuma." An empty block next to it was, no doubt, where Monokuma would put his arbitrary grade.
But that wasn't what bothered him. What bothered him was the section above the "Warlockuma." Instead of a back-up name, it instead read "Investigation into Hope's Peak Academy."
And it had a large D next to it, too.
"What the heck is the 'investigation'?" Hina asked.
"I haven't done any investigating beyond my Tarot cards," Hiro remarked.
"This game of putting back-ups together that we've been playing hasn't struck me as a murder mystery, myself," Yamada noted.
"Hold onto your horses and let me explain!" Monokuma shouted as he rushed back up to the podium on stage. "And by let me explain, I mean I'll let Kirigiri Kyoko and Togami Byakuya, your friendly neighborhood sleuths, explain!"
"What?!" All eyes shot to the two, half looking at Togami and half at Kirigiri. Togami's eyes widened, and he glared up at Monokuma, who was lounging on the podium with a demonic smirk across his face.
"So this break really was a trap?" Togami countered as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"Nah, not a trap, per se," Monokuma stated. "I just thought you'd all get a lot further along than you did. Even with my hints, you didn't get much going! Kind of embarrassing for the Ultimate Detective, wouldn't you say, Kirigiri?"
"The Ultimate Detective…?" Kuwata whispered as all eyes now shot to Kirigiri.
"Is that your Ultimate title?" Taka inquired.
"That's right, you never did tell us your title…" Maizono muttered.
Togami thought Kirigiri would be more upset; however, the girl remained as stoic as a marble statue. She nodded and stated in a sharp voice, "Yes, that is my title. And I suppose this means, Monokuma, that you are no longer allowing us to investigate this matter secretly."
"That's correct!" Holding up the report card, Monokuma proclaimed, "Here's the deal-io. Up until now, you've all basically failed every single course. Sure, you passed by on technicalities, but that's about it. And for you all to graduate from this esteemed academy, I need more than that from you Ultimates! I'm going to need at least two As to bring up your averages!"
"Since when the fuck have we been gettin' graded?" Owada shouted as he pointed at Monokuma.
"Since I said so!" It was the non-answer Togami expected. "But anywho, what's important is that right now, you're 0/2 on the whole As thing. So you've got 10 days, starting today, to get two of them."
"But how are we going to do that when we only have one back-up left?" asked Fujisaki.
"By finishing your investigation, of course," Monokuma stated. "You all, in addition to completing the back-up, will need to finish the investigation into Hope's Peak Academy! And to do that, I figured the current team would need more support! So now, everyone will be involved!"
"H-Have y-you guys b-b-been investigating th-this whole t-time?!" Fukawa nearly screamed.
Togami sighed heavily before glancing up at Monokuma. "So we work on the back-ups in the morning, then the investigation in the afternoon." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Are the doors going to be unlocked, or are you going to continue hiding things from us while demanding we find answers?"
"Each day, something new will be unlocked," Monokuma answered. "Some days it'll be just a boring classroom, and other days, it'll be something super important. I'll leave that up to your imagination."
Togami growled, but Kirigiri spoke up just as he was about to throw an insult the bear's way. "What do we need to solve regarding the investigation in order to receive an A?"
"You need to find three things." Holding up his paw as though he could count with multiple fingers, the animatronic bear listed, "You need to define what the Tragedy is, you need to figure out why you all specifically are still here, and you need to figure out what happened to the lovely headmaster who oversaw the whole thing."
At that, Togami shot his gaze over to Kirigiri. He saw the slightest twitch in her expression, and he could tell she was doing everything possible not to give away her emotions. He had to commend her; he himself struggled when Monokuma brought up his duel weeks prior. Continuing with his monologue, Monokuma said, "Once you have those three riddles solved, I will give you an A. Right now, you're sitting at a D 'cuz you figured out the first piece. You've got the definition of the Tragedy, after all. Thanks to my friendly nature."
"You mean, the…" Fujisaki bit his lower lip and muttered, "'The biggest, most awful, most tragic event in human history'...?"
"Yeeep, that's it!" Monokuma exclaimed.
"That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard," Enoshima complained.
"It sounds like an epic filler plot in a tragic tale," Yamada noted.
"How in the heck did my cards not predict such a thing?" remarked Hiro. "I demand proof of this!"
"Oh, you all will get proof!" Monokuma stated. "After all, four of you guys managed to snag the D grade."
"Wait, so…" Taka glanced around at them. "Who all was actually doing this investigation?"
Togami looked over to Kirigiri, who looked right back at him. She shrugged, then turned to look at Taka. "It was myself, Togami, Fujisaki, and Naegi," she answered.
"M-M-Master was i-investigating?!" Fukawa cried out.
"We don't have time for this," Togami haughtily pointed out. "Our minutes are ticking for working on the back-up. Monokuma, send us the template for this 'Warlockuma.' We can all spend the rest of the afternoon discussing our investigation, but we're wasting precious time."
"While I'm curious about this investigation, Togami does have a point," Ogami noted.
"Yeah, I'm curious too," Owada remarked. "But we gotta get the fuck outta here, and that means startin' this damn back-up."
"Your wish is my command!" Monokuma proclaimed, quickly adding, "Well, this wish, at least." Everyone's e-Handbooks vibrated, and Togami swiftly pulled it from his pocket to see the convoluted mess that the animatronic bear was requesting.
"Of course it has an insane amount of parts to it," Togami lamented. "He's giving us ten days to complete this–No. Wait a minute."
He looked back up. "Are you still going to force us to take a day off during this time?"
"Nope! The only rule is no work after 12:00 pm on the back-ups! That'll give you all plenty of time to explore and finish your investigation!"
"Then let's get started!" Taka proclaimed. "Teams, you know the drill! We have a lot to find, so let's begin splitting up!"
"And just what about the investigation team thing?!" Enoshima exclaimed as she placed her hands on her hips.
"If you wish to waste time on that, be my guest," Celeste retorted. "For what it's worth, I myself would like to hear from the four over a hot cup of tea at lunch."
Kirigiri nodded. "We will explain everything this afternoon," she stated. Togami realized that they had to accept defeat; Kirigiri and he had pushed so hard to hide the team for so long, but now, what was the point?
Once again, Monokuma had made his move. So they had to respond in kind.
Nodding in agreement, Togami stated, "Everyone, bring notebooks and pencils to lunch. We have much ground to cover and very little time to do it. Otherwise, Taka, assign the groups. We're still wasting time."
"L-L-Look at M-Master giving o-orders!" Fukawa squealed with joy. "He is s-s-so in his e-element!"
"Brother, you and Ogami will take the music hall!" Taka began to rattle off. "Hina, Maizono, and Enoshima, you all take the gardens. Kirigiri, you will take the nursing station! Togami and Naegi, look through the art room! The rest of you, with me to clean and ensure nothing is left untouched!"
Everyone began rushing out of the gymnasium, including Monokuma, who sauntered off stage as if proud of his accomplishments. Kirigiri and Fujisaki swiftly approached Naegi and Togami, however, and up close, Togami could see the frustration etched in Kirigiri's expression.
He shook his head. "There's nothing we can do now," he noted, stating it out loud as much for himself as for the others.
"Should we have told them sooner?" Fujisaki quietly asked.
Kirigiri shook her head. "No. But…" She looked down at her report card, then back up at the others. "Now, we have our plan. We work in the mornings and investigate in the afternoons. We get everything in order. And we…we solve the riddle of this school."
Togami nodded in agreement. "Then let's get moving." Grabbing Naegi's hand, he stormed off, Naegi following alongside him.
After all, they only had 10 days left. 10 days to figure out why his memories were warped, why his family never came to find him, why the corporation never stepped in. All the cards were now on the table.
Togami had never accepted failure, and he wasn't about to start.