Chapter 41:
DeMarcus Cousins left the Pelicans and joined the Warriors on the MLE! I get why he did it. I don't like it, but I get it. Fucking Achilles. And Rondo's gone too. Joined the meme team on the Lakers with JaVale McGee and Lance Stephenson. Oh, and some guy named LeBron James. #DoItBig
. "It wasn't you, Maizono." Fujisaki said, somberly. It was too convenient. It was too neat. The loose ends were all tied up. Could Occam's Razor have really been violated here? Of course, it could. Occam's razor was just a suggestion at this point. Nothing in this school was ever that simple or that straightforward.
. "What?" Maizono said. "Of course, it was me. I just admitted it. I even have the motive and everything."
. "When did you take the key?"
. "I'm sorry?"
. "The key Kirigiri had. To unlock the Biology Lab. You couldn't have gotten it when you inspected the body. At that point, the other corpse was already in there. And don't tell me she gave it to you willingly. Kyoko Kirigiri is not suicidal."
. "Well, I mean..." Maizono stammered. "I took it when I killed her."
. "But how would you have known where she had it?"
. "I searched until I found it."
. "There wasn't enough time. And there was no guarantee she had the key on her body. She could have hidden it somewhere else. And the whole premise of covering up the murder requires us confusing the body. You needed that key."
. "Oh well, it doesn't matter now." Maizono said.
. "I think it does." Fujisaki started as the elevator came down and opened. Standing there within the elevator case was the poker face of a familiar pale-haired girl.
. "Hello." Kirigiri said. "Thanks for the heads up with the receiver, Maizono."
. The class with the exception of Maizono was stunned. Monokuma spat out his soda. "How are you still alive?"
. "Simple. I used the biology lab. How nice of you to keep the corpses of former Reserve Course Students in there. I found a pair that could both pass as me in a pinch. It's good thing Monokuma has a policy of never touching the dead bodies."
. "How long had you guys had this planned out?" Leon said.
. "Ever since the end of Trial five." Kirigiri said. "Really, the whole plan hinged on the fact that Naegi was out of picture. Even if everything went south, Naegi still couldn't executed if he didn't get a culprit wrong. Besides, it formed the backbone of the plausible motive Maizono needed to 'kill' me off."
. "Well, that that pretty settles it." Togami said. "If Monokuma is willing to have additional corpses prepped, then that means there are some trials under question. Well, Monokuma?"
. "Uh..." Monokuma was stunned. He hadn't been expecting the tables to turn like this.
. "How about this?" Kirigiri mused. "Shall we head to the gymnasium to discuss the further details of an arrangement? It's only fitting."
. Monokuma grumbled noncommittally. But he knew the students were starting to generate some counter-play.
. "Damn, Kirigiri." Leon said, as all of them headed towards the elevator. "You really pulled one on Monokuma. And you got Maizono to agree to your little scheme."
. "Well, yeah. I needed both you guys and Monokuma to buy that someone had murdered me. And the only person with a conceivable motive that would fool Monokuma was Maizono."
. "It was my pleasure, Kirigiri." Maizono said faintly smiled.
. "You know, what was the point?" Togami said, haughtily. "So what?"
. "I wanted to show the world that Monokuma was really willing to bend his rules. So to speak." Kirigiri said. "If he was willing to execute Maizono, even though he never actually saw the 'murder' take place."
. "You got him good, Kirigiri." Fujisaki begrudgingly admitted.
. "Wait, so that means we can visit all the places we couldn't before." Fujisaki said.
. "Indeed." Maizono said, optimistically. "If we can play this right, we've got him right in our sights!"
. The students got into the elevator. Kirigiri had a difficult for her, but necessary statement to make.
. "First to all of you, I must apologize. I put all of you in grave danger. That was never my intention." Kirigiri said.
. "Your intentions were pure?"Leon said, waxing lyrical.
."If the mastermind had discovered you in the middle of your investigation, he would have killed you and pinned it on Maizono. And no one would have been the wiser." Fujisaki admitted. "And there would be no way we'd have a way out. So maybe all of us should be thanking you. Both of you."
. "I'd be lying if I said this wasn't the endgame." Kirigiri started, nearly choking up for the first time in many years. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't think the mastermind had one more trick up his sleeve. I'd be lying if I could promise your safety."
. "No." Leon said, shaking his head slightly. "We should have promised yours."
. "Thanks guys." Kirigiri said with a smile.
. "Did one of you guys sneak onions in here from the kitchen? I'm tearing up here." Genocider asked, lightening the mood.
. "And there's the quip. We just can't help ourselves." Fujisaki couldn't help pointing out the lampshade.
. The elevator reached the first floor and opened into the static hallway. It was time to move. Fujisaki recognized the importance of the moment. The climax would soon arrive.
. "We've jumped from this situation's equivalent of procedural programming to the more advanced object-oriented programming." Fujisaki felt the need to comment.
. "Dude, we have no idea what you're talking." Leon said. "I'll take your word for it though."
. "That's the programmer at heart." Maizono said. "It's nice that at least one of us has kept a clear through line of who we are."
. The students advanced towards the gymnasium. All of them paused at the atrium. The red banners bearing Hope's Peak crest still hung from the ceiling. The silver trophies still stood in the trophy case. The wooden planks were still brown. The blood-red tiles leading to the door were still unchanged. But in a school where lifespans were measured in murders and class trials, six trials ago, fifteen walked in. Now only seven would trek through the doors together one last time. It had been hammered in before, it would be hammered in again. The sequence was the same. It was stand and fight.
. "I'm going to be honest, knowing Monokuma, I'm not sure we're all getting through this." Kirigiri admitted.
. "One last fight for the road?" Leon said. "I can dig it."
. Togami adjusted his glasses. He smirked slightly. This was going to be fun.
. "Whatever awaits us, I'll slice and dice if necessary." Genocider replied.
. "This isn't physical. It's mental." Fujisaki said.
. "Will you quit hyping this?" Celeste said. "Let's get down to business."
. "I didn't know defeating the Huns was on the agenda." Maizono quipped.
. "Full cheese." Fujisaki deadpanned.
. Monokuma poked his head through the door. He was getting frustrated.
. "Are you pricks going to actually come in or are you just going to continue to pose dramatically?"
. "We're on television!" Maizono pointed out. "It would be wrong to not play it up at this point!"
. "She's not wrong." Leon said, making a karate chop position with his hand.
. Monokuma's eyes twitched.
. "Well, well, well, your creator has done well!" Fujisaki said, running with Maizono's suggestion."The eye twitch! They really thought of everything. What, did they give you spiked knuckles too?"
. "You seven are like a bunch of brats. I treat you guys like honored guests, and this is how you repay me!"
. "Honored guests. He says." Fujisaki responded.
. "Bitch, I could sue you out of existence." Togami said.
. "Woah. How is that possible?" Leon said.
. "If my love thinks this is something similar to a Shakespeare play then who am I to judge?" Genocider excitedly threw out her snake tongue.
. "Huh?" Maizono said.
. "You forgot! I'm pulling double duty here as both the Ultimate Serial Killer and the Ultimate Literary Meister. Eh, wait, that doesn't sound right. What does sound right?"
. "Fiend?" Celeste said, off handedly.
. "Ultimate Literary Fiend! I love it!" Genocider said. "From now on, I'm the Ultimate Literary Fiend!"
. The seven entered the gymnasium. Monokuma was punching a frozen salmon like a boxing bag. The golden curtain on the stage had a picture of a tree on it.
. "We've said it before and we'll say it again. You're trapped in here with us just as much as we're trapped in here with you." Maizono said.
. "Hey, I don't need lip from you!" Monokuma said. "
. Maizono smirked.
. "You know, you'd probably would have had a better result if you had been a rabbit or a hamster." Fujisaki seized the opportunity.
. "A rabbit or a hamster?" Monokuma replied. "But neither of those are intimidating."
. "I suppose being a hamster would be better than smelling of elder berries." Celeste said.
. The rest of the class looked at her as a basketball fell from the ceiling.
. "Oh, like you guys don't do it too."
. "It appears even inanimate objects have great sense of timing." Fujisaki couldn't help pointing out.
. "So what are your demands?" Monokuma asked, getting backing on track.
. Kirigiri started off. "We want a re-do of Trial five."
. "Really?"
. "Yes. If not, that just means you lose. Not that that matters to you." Kirigiri pointed out.
. "How?" Monokuma monotonously replied. "Explain! Explain! Explain! I mean, since this game started, the only people alive in here have you been you sixteen students."
. "Dalek impressions won't help." Kirigiri said. "However, you set up Trial five yourself. I was getting in your way, so you wanted an excuse to kill me."
. "Get on with it." Togami said. "Everybody knew that already."
. "The setup is just as important as the payoff." Kirigiri said. "I was supposed to be chosen as the blackened and then executed, right?"
. "And?" Celeste said as Monokuma remained silent.
. "But when Naegi chose to overlook my lie, your plan came crashing down." Kirigiri said. "You never imagined a person would actually act like that in that position. And in response to that unexpected development, you responded by changing things on the fly, proclaiming Naegi the blackened."
. "The guy had a hell of pair." Leon said.
. "Naegi didn't kill Ikusaba." Kirigiri said.
. "How absurd!" Monokuma said.
. "All I require is time, and I can prove it." Kirigiri said, speaking more to the audience watching than Monokuma himself.
. "Why should I give you time?" Monokuma said.
. "Because for the rest of the show the viewers, the whole people you put this show on, will be left wondering whether or not Trial five was legitimate, and an illegitimate trial undermines your whole point. And that's even before one considers the fact that you were all set to execute Maizono for 'killing' me, even though I wasn't dead. Imagine if you had killed her and I showed up alive later. What happens then?"
. "But you did show up later!" Monokuma said.
. "Only because I wasn't going to risk another life like that."
. "I knew the stakes, I willingly did it." Maizono said. "It was a gamble, and it payed off."
. "If you want to earn our despair "fair and square" then I suggest you take my advice." Kirigiri recommended. "Only this time, you have to follow the school regulations to ensure a fair trial. It's time for one last showdown –one final battle between hope.. and despair."
. "Naegi rubbed off on you." Kuwata commented.
. "Well, it would make for a proper climax, wouldn't you say?" Kirigiri pointed out.
. "That's all well and good." Fujisaki thought. "But why would the mastermind agree to this?"
. "Interesting. Beary interesting indeed. But I throw in conditions of my own. You have to solve everything. Now, what you've suggested may be pawsible. It would certainly make for one honey of a climax." Monokuma said.
. "Everything?" Fujisaki asked.
. "Not just Trial five, but how you guys were locked in here, and everything that's happened since your first day."
. "I take it you accept, then." Kirigiri asked.
. "Deal." Celeste said.
. "Wait!" Leon said.
. "We don't have a choice." Fujisaki said.
. "If we do things your way, that'll be enough convince both you and the viewers. And it would cause you unbearable despair." Monokuma proposed. "Then I'm pre-beared to agree to your terms. Will your hope win out? Or will my desbear claim victory...? Let's have one final grizzly showdown!"
. And with that, Monokuma left the gymnasium, leaving the students in there.
. "So what do we do now?" Leon asked.
. "I would have thought that be obvious." Celeste replied. "What else can we do? We split up and investigate."
. "Yeah, but how?"
. "Or... we could ask Monokuma for some assassin mountain goats." Leon jokingly suggested.
. "I'm sorry? What? Assassin mountain goats?" Celeste was confused.
. "Not this again." Fujisaki said, caught slightly off-balance by Celeste's confusion.
. "What? I still think it would make a kick-ass movie."
. "Yeah, of pure WTF variety."
. "I don't care what you guys do. But I'm heading to the headmaster's office."
. "Wait, Togami."
. "Oh, like I'm going to let you, the headmaster's daughter, be the only one to investigate the headmaster's office."
. "I mean, he's a dick. But he's right." Fujisaki said.
. "Really, man?" Kirigiri looked at the programmer.
. "What can I say? A person can get away with being an asshole if they're right. Togami is a textbook example of that."
. "Hey!"
. "What? I was just proving my point."
. "Do all of your points revolve around calling me an asshole?"
. "Well, I mean...until you stop being an asshole..."
. "Well, since we started with eight guys and seven girls. It's safe to assume Monokuma's operator is a girl." Genocider said, snipping her scissors. "So I say, let's cut this bitch down."
."What is with you and scissors anyway?" Maizono asked.
. "I guess we'll be prepared if we're faced with deadly paper." Leon said.
. "I wash my hands of you nonsense cretins." Togami said, as he walked way.
. "Oooo, the ivory tower can't figure out how to associate with the common man. Let me put on my shocked face!" Fujisaki continued.
. Togami gave Fujisaki the middle finger as he continued moving.
. "Hey, are you guys going to actually start moving or are all you guys going to do is witty banter?" Monokuma said over the loudspeakers. "Is this all kids are good for these days?"
. "Public class Question. Open bracket. String Answer. Semicolon. GoodFor. Closed pair of Parenthesis. Open bracket. Answer. Equals Sign. Yes. Semicolon. Closing Bracket. Closing Bracket. Backslash. Backslash. Try me." Fujisaki replied.
. "What the fuck was that?" Leon asked.
. "Well, Monokuma was basically asking for a no-argument constructor. So I wrote a rough draft of the Java code equivalent."
. "The fuck?" Monokuma was flustered. "You can do that?"
. "Backslash. Backslash. Can the programmer conceptualize and comment on simple object-oriented code in his head without an environment to run it on?" Fujisaki pointed out.
. "Code, huh?" Kirigiri said.
. "Look, Java tends to be the second programming language learned after C++. Believe me, I could start throwing in Python or Ruby too if I damn well feel like it. Hashtag. Don't test me. "
The students went their separate ways.
. Leon leaned against the staircase railings of the second floor leading down to the first floor, reflecting on all that had happened. The rest of them were fighting for their very lives while Naegi had been in a dumpster for several days. Wait, how was he eating?
. Celeste passed Leon on the way down.
. "Hey, where are you going?"
. "Checking the first floors."
. "You think Naegi is still alive?"
. "I know he's still alive."
. "You sure?"
. "Of course, Maizono has been putting food in the dumpster several times over these past few days. It travels down to him." Celeste said, as she walked away.
. Maizono recognized the next song from when she performed in Club Escapade over on Tatsumi Port Island. It was called 'AntiDepressant O44.' She was in the store room and as she gazed upon the piles of stuff.
. "How can they afford all this stuff? Are they making that much money off their damn "killing game" broadcast?" That's the only way I can think of for them to be able to buy all this." she thought.
. "Whoever they are, they must be adult! A dirty, awful, evil adult!" Maizono finally said out loud in childish frustration.
. "Peas in a pod." Monokuma said. "You know, I know a few kids who might actually agree with that sentiment."
. "Huh?"
. "What the hell do you mean?" Maizono said as she looked at the far right shelf. "There's all kinds of food here. Ingredients, snacks, candy, everything. I'm sick of all of it! I wanna go out for dinner! I want fast food! Eh, I wonder if I should clean out that fridge before we leave."
. "And what about your diet?"
. "Fuck my diet at this point." Maizono sighed. "It's taking everything I had even to just "think" about mocking them. How do Fujisaki and Naegi do it?"
. "Well, I'm off!" Monokuma said.
. Maizono begrudgingly left the store room and moving onto the laundry room. She didn't expect to find much, but she wanted to work her way from bottom to top.
. She stared at the first laundromat at the table.
. Maizono looked up. "You know that swimsuit is still there! Who does it belong to?"
. Maizono was stunned. It had Hagakure's name on it. "Naegi has been lied to! In so many ways!"
. "Huh. There are a bunch of magazines. Wait..." Maizono took note of one in particular. "Oh, oh, oh. No way."
. She moved onto the bath and closed the locker where Alter Ego had been kept. It was a sad reminder of what they had lost these last two trials. She moved onto the sauna.
. "Ah the heat is messing with my head. That being said, you know, if you pronounced Thursday as "Thaursday".. that'd be kinda funny... That's it. I'm getting out of here." Maizono thought to herself.
. As the lights switched from white to purple, the first classroom beckoned. Maizono entered 1-B. She gazed at the clock.
. "Time waits for no woman."
. The classroom hadn't changed much since the first days. The chalk board still contained the message. '"This blackboard belongs to us now!" – Secret Beauty.' The windows were still completely covered by the metal plates.
. Monokuma had switched the songs playing on throughout the school.
. "I'm sure we'll get out of here soon. No... we absolutely HAVE to get out." Maizono was determined as she moved onto the other classroom. Her mind drifted back to sometime around the third trial.
. "I already told you earlier tonight. Don't reveal me. Otherwise, I'll kill you or Naegi."
. "Why the fuck am I remembering that? That muffled voice was supposed to be Yamada."
. Classroom 1-A, the scene of Hagakure's death. It was probably the first time any of them had been in there since the investigation. Monokuma had cleaned up the room nicely. It was like it had never even happened. No trace,
. ""Hello, Maizono."
. "Monokuma."
. "Consider this on the house."
. "Is this a photo?"|
. "No, it's a Rai-Net Access Battlers card." Monokuma sarcastically replied. "Of course, it's a photo! And if my calculations are correct, when you look at it, you're going to see some serious shit."
. He slid a photo to her. Or at least what appeared to be a photo from Monokuma. She reluctantly took it and slid it into her pocket. She would have plenty of time to gaze at it later.
. "Wait, have these giant stereos always been here?" Maizono commented as she swiveled in one of the office chairs. The box containing the motive videos were still here. She wondered if everybody else had gotten theres.
.. She went into the front hall. Nothing had changed. The entrance was still blocked by the giant metal slab. She remembered her first meeting Naegi all those days ago.
. "Hi, I'm Maizono Sayaka. I look forward to getting to know you."
. "I'm not a doll, you know. I'm alive!"|
. "Huh? Did you hear me?"
. "I'm psychic."
. "Huh?"
. "Kidding. I just have really good intuition."
. "Huh? Hey, by any chance..,?"
. "Now what?"
. "Yeah, it must be. I'm sure of it."
. "Hey, Naegi. Did - "
. "Jeez you guys! How long do you plan to waste our valuable time with this ridiculous back-and-forth!?" Ishimaru had interrupted her, and kept interrupting, much to her dismay.
. "Sorry. Naegi. We can pick this up again and later.
. "I'm psychic? Really, Maizono?" Maizono thought back. "You run into the old classmate to end all old classmates and that's what you go with?"
. Maizono wracked her brain. How had it all gone so wrong?
. Her frustration was briefly forgotten, as the guns actually reminded her of Robocop.
. "I really don't have time to be thinking about Robocop. Still, what a great movie..."
. Maizono continued to look up and down the hall. The green light tinted the halls in front of her. To her left, yellow light shown down, while back towards the dorms a purple glow emanated from the hell. Something about the hall bothered her, and then she flashed back to her idol days where everything had to be color-coordinated.
"Wait, I know what it is! The color scheme is slightly off! The yellow should be orange! Although, I feel like I've seen a purple, yellow, and green color scheme somewhere before. ... Or has the stress gotten to me?"
. While it was true that yellow and purple were color contrasts, the color that triangulated with violet and green was orange. How the hell was this relevant? It was a distraction. Then again, while they were unconscious, Monokuma had set up the atmosphere. It was always possible this could mean something, now whether it was intentional or not was something else.
. "Eh, I'll save it for later." Maizono thought about it.
. Maizono moved onto the infirmary. Not much was there. The trash can contained no clues. The blood bags hadn't been disturbed. Or had they? Too much time had passed since the trial. There's no way the mastermind wouldn't have adjusted them back while they were asleep. No evidence would be found here. She gazed on to the side of the wall. There was a diagram of the human heart. Had it always been there?
. Monokuma appeared before her … again as she left the infirmary.
.. "So, Maizono. Here you are."
. "What, is there some sort of fascination that you have with me, Monokuma?"
.. "Oh, look, without Naegi around, it's two of our main characters!" Monokuma said.
. "What?" Celeste said as her presence became apparent. "You can't be serious."
. "Are you trying to get into our heads?" Maizono said.
. "Yeah, well, ain't this scene?" Monokuma said.
. "As opposed to a goddamn arms race?" Celeste replied.
. "Really?" Monokuma said. "You haven't changed."
. "What? I had to say it." Celeste replied as she walked away.
. Monokuma slinked away. Things were really coming together.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This took a really long time to fine-tune as you can see by the opening note. But after all, I needed to start setting some things up for the finale (and crossover sequel if I ever get to it). Not to mention, replaying parts of Chapter 6 to get a feel for this portion of the game. Seven trials (and the accompanying victims and murderers) have been my plan for the last several years. (Wow, I really have writing this fic a long time.) Though some of the planned details have been changed since 2015.