Chapter 44

I had hoped to wrap this story up by March 30th for the five year anniversary of Chapter 1. But then all this (in the world) just happened. 2020 has been something else. I know it's literally been a year since I last updated,.

. Fujisaki was standing in front of the Data Center when Monokuma himself came out of the room. He pushed the door closed behind him. Fujisaki could feel the metallic and the grated floor beneath his shoes. The two stood face to face. Another encounter. More information to be discovered. Fujisaki was determined to get something out of Monokuma this time. This whole trial was a basically a giant exception. The students needed to try actions, catch errors in Monokuma's responses, and finally prove themselves once and for all.
. "Fujisaki."
. "Monokuma."
. The two continued to stare at each other. Monokuma put his paws behind his back and began pacing back and forth. For a bear 75 centimeters in height, it didn't have the same effect that Monokuma was hoping for, even with the Kill Bill siren noise playing in the background.
. "If you're a girl under the age of twelve and you're high on marijuana, don't ride your bike." Fujisaki tried.
. "I'm not a twelve year old on marijuana!"
. Fujisaki caught the wording, and could only stare back.
. "So you're a teenager high on marijuana?"
. "Forget the marijuana!"
. Finally, Fujisaki smirked as Monokuma scurried off. "You know, real ninjas-" He didn't bother to finish the sentence as Monokuma was out of earshot. As intelligent as Monokuma's operator was, it would be impossible to focus on every student simultaneously, at least in theory. But given the state of affairs, it wouldn't be the most outlandish thing to happen, particularly with surveillance everywhere. Fujisaki stood in front of the Data Center.
. Togami had just exited the data center. Wordlessly leaving as soon as Fujisaki entered, Togami meant to speak with Monokuma again. Togami, himself, began to head down to the third floor. He passed Maizono at the top of the stairs.
. "There was more to that Kill Bill siren?! I had no idea. Oh, hey Togami. Find anything?"
. Togami grunted noncommittally.
. "I take it your escapades in the headmaster's office were successful?" Maizono asked.
. Togami looked at her.
"The data center, even more so. Don't worry, I left everything the way I found it."
. Togami walked off, smirking.
. "Guy must still be pissed off about the whole Trial Six stunt Kirigiri and I pulled off." Maizono observed, as she moved onto the fourth floor. She had been methodically examining the school, and it was only naturally that eventually she start running into her classmates.
. "PEPSI MAN!"
. Maizono raised her middle finger. "I swear to god, I will shove one of those Game Gears up your ass so hard you'll need a feeding tube."
. "Woah. Did you just say feeding tube?" Ishimaru was surprised. "How did you know?"
. "Wait, what?" Maizono was surprised. "You're alive. How? And feeding tube?" Not thirty seconds ago to her, Ishimaru could have been considered a corpse to Maizono. So why was he suddenly standing in front of her? And why was it Ishimaru? Why wasn't it Naegi? She wanted Naegi. Ishimaru was not Naegi, would never be Naegi. Did he even matter at this point? Did anybody else even matter in the end? None of them were Naegi. None of them were ever going to be Naegi.. Of course her classmates mattered. Of course they did, what was Maizono thinking? That jolt near abdomen was back for a brief moment.
. "I...uh... am not entirely sure, myself." Ishimaru was sheepish and still getting caught up with current events. "Glad to see you're alive. When Kirigiri initially told me about your...uh... gambit, I thought you were dead."
. "Nope alive and kicking. And still hating that goddamn Pepsi Man song."
. "Oh, what are you complaining about?" Monokuma said over the intercom. "You know you love it, Maizono."
. "I'm sorry. What?" Ishimaru was confused.
. "I think you missed the part where I explained about my traumatic backstory involving this song." Maizono was heavily sarcastic.
. "So Monokuma is being as you would call it, a dick." Ishimaru sighed.
. "Now you're catching on." Leon said, slapping Ishimaru's shoulder. For a brief moment ,a bit of normal everyday life surfaced. But only a brief moment, as Ishimaru continued to take in his new surroundings. Ishimaru had yet to see anything above the second floor, so while his classmates were familiar with the layout of floors, he was not.
. "I'm sorry. This is a whole lot to process. It's very off-putting to see someone alive after you've seen their corpse." Maizono noted.
. "But technically we didn't see his corpse. We only thought we did." Leon said. "It's a cardinal rule on TV. Nobody's dead until you've seen their corpse."
. "How did you survive?" Maizono asked.
. "Okay, you know that biology lab on the fifth floor that we found him in?" Leon took to explaining for Ishimaru. "Turns out it was a makeshift morgue. And Monokuma stored him in it. Gave him a feeding tube for nutrients. And kept him knocked out with gas. Genocider only discovered him by accident."
. "That seems somehow very in character and yet unbelievably brazen of Monokuma." Maizono commented. It was unbelievably brazen of Monokuma.
. "Are you really surprised? Monokuma has been attempting a Nolan Ryan impression since Day 1. He loves pitching things at us as fast as possible." Leon retorted.
. Maizono glanced at the Data Center and at Leon. Leon had come to the same realization about Ishimaru.
. "Ishimaru, … do you know about the Data Center?"
. "What about the Data Center?" Ishimaru was confused.
. "No, you don't." Maizono grimaced. "Well, we might as well get it out of the way now. It's not pleasant knowledge."
. "Huh?" A sense of dread welled up inside Ishimaru.
. "We're being broadcast to the whole world."
. "Excuse me?" The words hadn't registered with Ishimaru. How could they? He had been isolated from his peers. He had been taken out of the game near the beginning to be reinserted later, as a distraction. And Ishimaru wasn't going to pretend otherwise.
. "We're being broadcast to the whole world?" Ishimaru needed confirmation. Leon provided it. "Why weren't we told this from the onset?"
. "Monokuma would have had zero chance of a class trial if we had all known about this from the beginning." Leon said. "How you act around other people and how you act around only those you know well are likely to be very different."
. "Yeah, I suppose."
. "There's no way Celeste would have attempted her murder if she had known that she was being broadcast to the entire world."
. "Celeste attempted a murder!" Ishimaru was surprised. "I knew she wasn't exactly emphatic, but to go to actual murder? What was the motive?"
. "Money." Leon said, grimly. "It was all for money."
. "Only money?" Ishimaru said. "For what? There must have been a good reason. Was someone in life-threatening debt?"
. "I see you're still as naive as ever." Maizono observed. " There was no debt. It was greed and greed alone. You missed most of the developing cynicism."
"No. It was to purchase a castle from Europe and to hire butlers." Leon said. "At least that's what she said at the time ."
. "What?" Ishimaru couldn't believe it. The idea of someone murdering for luxury money was foreign to him. Desperation try to get out of crippling debt was logical, if morally dubious at best and an impossible situation at worst. He could follow that line of reasoning. But murdering someone solely for profit was a foreign concept to him.
. "I was almost murdered because Celeste wanted a castle. She had the knife to my throat and everything." Leon continued, the resentment building in his voice. His grudge towards Celeste would not be let go so easily.
. "She attempted to kill you? I see why you hold a grudge towards her." Ishimaru came to an understanding. "What stopped her?"
. "Togami." Maizono said, as though it made perfect sense. Ishimaru still needed context.
. "Togami? I didn't take him to be the type to try and save someone." Ishimaru was confused. What in the world had happened to his classmates while he was out?
. "He didn't." Leon said. "Celeste wasn't the only one with a murder attempt. Luckily, her spite to survive overtook her sociopath tendencies. She didn't want him to have his own murder attempt. And even then it was only because Togami had a knife against her own throat."
. Ishimaru's eyes widened. "What?" That was not what he had expected. Togami had really been willing to go that far too?
. "I was there." Maizono said. "Celeste realized that if she didn't kill Leon. Togami couldn't get away with murder. There's a rule that states a culprit can only kill a maximum of two people. In the presence of three people, Togami would have either left a witness alive to doom himself during the class trial or he would have been executed for breaking the two murder rule."
"Wait, you were there." Ishimaru asked.
. "Yes." Maizono said. "And no murders can be committed with among a group of four people. It's almost ironclad if you think about it."
. "You're not entirely off the hook either." Leon pointed out, remembering Maizono's initial response to the chain of knives. "'Well, we either have a 50-50 shot between Togami and Celeste as the next culprit' was not appreciated. I still end up dead in this scenario." Leon said. "And I do not appreciate that. What? Naegi wasn't in danger so I don't give a flying fuck about the death of anybody else?" Leon sniped at Maizono.
. "Hey, the situation was deescalated." Maizono pointed out. "Everything worked out."
. "That doesn't mean it was originally a good idea in the first place." Leon countered.
. "I...uh... need to sit down." Ishimaru said. "This is a lot to take in."
. "There's plenty of chairs in here. Come on. Let's go inside." Maizono said grimly as she opened the door to see Fujisaki continuing to inspect the Data Center.
. "Ishimaru!" The programmer was just as stunned as his classmates had been. "This is ridiculous. Just when you think there's no more possible developments, Monokuma has the balls to pull this off." On one hand, Fujisaki was relieved to see his classmate alive. On the other hand, he couldn't help but feel that Monokuma had planned this out as yet another distraction in the endgame. Monokuma relished complicating their lives with half-truths and new developments at every turn.
. "Fujisaki. I'm glad to see you survived." Ishimaru was relieved. "But what's with the change in wardrobe?"
. "Oh, about that. I'm a guy."
. "Excuse me?"
. "I'm a boy. A guy. A dude." Fujisaki clarified. "Real clever, Monokuma. The Blue Sphere Special Stage Music?"
. "Huh?"
. "Oh this music is from Sonic 3 and Knuckles. It's from both types of Special Stages. Chaos Emerald and Super Emeralds."
. "Not this game again." Leon sighed. Nothing in this damned school ever seemed to be unimportant.
. "Fun fact, the special stages originally had the instructions 'Get Blue Balls'."
. "There it is." Maizono sighed. "Thank god Monokuma indulges in your love of references."
. "That's the pot calling the kettle black." Fujisaki pointed out.
. At this fact, Leon burst out laughing. "Oh wow, that explains so much. She must have been looking for an opportunity to get back at you. It's still amazing that even though she's pitching complications to this whole 'School Life of Mutual Killing' like a Nolan Ryan fastball, she still has time to be so petty towards Fujisaki."
. "I'm sorry, 'she'?" Ishimaru was confused. "Monokuma's operator is a female? You mentioned it before, but how could you possibly know?"
. "Yeah, I mean, we've confirmed that there are sixteen students in here."
. "Sixteen?" Ishimaru needed to be caught up. "This is all very strange."
. " Really? Not everything else?" Maizono asked."Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
. "Well, that too. But... come on."
. "Yeah, it's a pretty big clue that the mastermind is female." Maizono noted. "We had fifteen students. Eight guys, and seven girls. If you're going for gender equality, you would need one more girl."
. "That doesn't make any sense."
. "It makes perfect sense. The most likely suspect is Mukuro Ikusaba, who has been confirmed to be female. Although, that name..." Maizono continued, before abruptly switching tracks.
. "But anyway, we've confirmed that there's been a sixteenth student in here the whole time. You have to assume that there were eight males and eight females to start. With Fujisaki being a male, all eight males were accounted for. And what do you know, the sixteen student, Mukuro Ikusaba is definitely a girl. Several of us have seen her file. Even if it's not her, it's probably another girl doubling up."
. "I see." Ishimaru couldn't argue with that reasoning. But in his brain it definitely made sense about the mastermind being a female. At the end of the day, there were distinct differences in the way an unhinged girl might have thought versus the way an unhinged guy might have thought. A guy would have just distributed weapons for a free for all. These motives, however, were too premeditated and the slow pace, grind-it-out-and-suffer path favored by Monokuma so far definitely pointed in that direction. And if they were being broadcast on television like his classmates said they were, then that definitely lend details to the mastermind's personality and accompanying motives.
. "Are you all right?" Fujisaki said.
. "Yeah, hopefully it's just side-effects from being unconscious for so long. was in the Biology Lab. In a container in the makeshift morgue with a feeding tube attached to my arm. And I was kept sedated with gas." Ishimaru explained as he sat down in a nearby chair, explaining how he got here.
. "Excuse me?" It was Fujisaki's turn to be caught off balance with Ishimaru's explanation, and how he had gone from a presumed corpse to standing right in front of them once again.
. "There's a makeshift morgue in the biology lab?" Fujisaki asked, incredulously.
. "Yes." Ishimaru was blunt. There was no point in beating around the bush. While his classmates had been under threat of being murdered, he had been (relatively) safe. Hidden away in his pod, he had missed the developments and now was having to play catch up. It made him feel isolated. He had hoped that Hope's Peak would have been a fresh start for him socially, but now he was out of sync with everybody else again. Maybe that was why the mastermind had isolated him.
. "Unbelievable." Maizono said, turning to the cameras with begrudging respect at Monokuma's gall to pull off this stunt.
"Yeah, well that makes sense. Unlike Monokuma's choice in music!" Fujisaki admitted before getting sidetracked at Monokuma's choice. "You really chose Darude's Sandstorm?"
. "Not just Sandstorm by Darude!" Monokuma's voice came over the loudspeakers. "I chose the extended 7 minute version released about a year later!"
. "Oh goddamn it." Fujisaki said as Ishimaru was taken aback at the foul language.
. "What happened to you, Fujisaki?" Ishimaru asked.
. "You might have been asleep most of the time. But in case you hadn't noticed. Things have changed. You were expecting a consistent status quo? Nope. Something's always happening. Gotta keep up with the pace."
. "Should we help him?" Ishimaru asked.
. "Nah. This room is full of computers. It's best for all of us to catch up." Leon admitted. "We might only be in the way if we were direct."
. Fujisaki continued to look around at the dozens of screens showcasing everything in the school. A profile shot of Kirigiri showed her in the trash room. The security camera was angled in such a way that it captured the expressions on her face.
. Monokuma's voice still echoed in Kirigiri's mind. Everything she learned was fresh, but soon it would be time for her to show her work. It had been a long time coming, but the same could have been said for all of them. But for those that were dead, for those that were alive. Would it be enough at the moment of truth?
. "So Kirigiri, you heard the announcement?" A voice arrived to her back. It was Celeste.
. "Duh." Kirigiri replied.
. "I see." Celeste replied, no longer carrying the trace of the faux European accent in her voice from the first day. "Your class trials changed the status quo. So I took advantage to ease on in as I currently am."
. "Odd choice of words, but that makes sense." Kirigiri's voice was curt and technical as she glanced at the camera. She could feel Monokuma's interest in this conversation. The headmaster's daughter was involved after all. Kirigiri had set this up. She had to rise to the occasion.
. "Kirigiri." Celeste's voice cut her thoughts. "It's going to be okay."
. "You're not one to offer comforting words."
. "I like living. The mastermind has an issue with you. I suppose we'll find out why soon enough."
. "I can't argue with that." Kirigiri turned to face her with a slight smile. The two girls were nearly at eye level from across the room. If the surviving students were going to outmaneuver the mastermind, they had to be on the same page. That was easier said than done. Ishimaru, in particular, desperately needed context for a lot of what had happened. She sighed and asked herself how she could have missed the fact that the original body hadn't been Ishimaru. Had it been another Reserve Course student in disguise?
. Kirigiri left the trash room. Her pockets might have felt heavier, but her conscious felt lighter.
. "Anyway, what is this place?" Ishimaru had finally taken the room in. "All of these surveillance cameras? Is that what Monokuma has been using to spy on us?"
. "You haven't been told it yet?." Fujisaki said, realizing that Ishimaru still hadn't learned a key portion of their situation.
. "What?"
. "We're on television."
. "What? As in? How?"
. "This is being broadcast all over the place. Monokuma said it's all over the world. She's claimed to hijack the airwaves."
. "You can't be serious. Monokuma must be lying!"
. "Lying or not. That's the assumption we have to work with." Leon sighed."Everybody has been seeing our reactions in glorious 720p quality. Fuck. I'm sure my catcher is laughing his ass off at this. That dick."
. "As I thought." Fujisaki continued, coming to a conclusion. "The mastermind. She can't control Monokuma and watch us on surveillance at the same time."
. "What? Why?" Maizono asked.
. "Has anybody found something to control Monokuma in here?"
. "Well, no." Leon admitted.
. "Exactly, and this is the surveillance room. Which means Monokuma is controlled in a different room altogether. Not this surveillance room." Fujisaki explained.
. As if to mock Fujisaki, Monokuma followed up Sandstorm with "Dragostea Din Tei". Fujisaki could see the bait.
. "Fine. You know what. Bring it. I can listen to anything you throw at me." Fujisaki replied as his eyes finally turned to the Monokuma door. He went to open it. It was unlocked.
. "Hey guys, take a look at this." The control room had the level of technology that Fujisaki expected from the Monokuma control room. He looked around and saw screens everywhere. On both the left and the right hand side, there were two screens with the numbers 12491. He watched as they both incremented up to 12492.
. "Well, Fujisaki!" Maizono said. "Get to work!"
. "Ding. Dong Ding. Investigation time is now over. Everybody proceed to the trial room!"
. "Son of a bitch. He knew exactly what he was doing." Leon said. "To time it like this."
. As they all left the Data Center, they heard a click.
. "It's locked." Fujisaki turned the door knob.
. "Of course it is." Monkuma appeared. "I can't exactly move around if you're all in there."
. "Damn." Leon said. "I thought you said all the rooms would be unlocked."
. "I never said they would stay unlocked."
. "That means the mastermind is in there, right now." Maizono pointed out.
. "So it can't be one of us?" Ishimaru said.
. "Not necessarily." Fujisaki said. "I hate to say it. But automation could be at work here. Locking the room as soon as the trial starts." The four of them stared at Monokuma, who waddled away.
. With that, there was nothing left to do except go to the trial room for number seven. As Maizono, Leon, and Ishimaru descended down the stairs, Fujisaki stayed behind to take a last look at the door before the trial. His head rested against the door. The yellow lighting shown above him. As fast paced as this school life was, it was about to get even faster.
. As they reached the bottom of the staircase, Ishimaru had a pertinent question for Maizono.
. "So... Maizono. Is Naegi really in the dumpster?"
. "Yes."
. "Are you sure he's going to be all right?"
. "I find your lack of faith disturbing." Maizono said, stopping on the stairs, dramatically closing her fist to complete the impression.
. "You're not Darth Vader." Leon said.
. "No. I'm not. I'm more awesome." Maizono gestured dramatically with a thumbs up.
. Leon raised an eyebrow in skepticism.
. "You're certainly pumped for this:"
. "Of course I am. I owe this mastermind for what she's done." Maizono cracked her knuckles and put on her best fake smile, the one she used to keep her idol group in line when they were getting too rowdy.
. "Uh, Leon, how long will this be going on?"
. "How long is Naegi presumed to be in danger?"
. "Oh. She's scary."
. Maizono walked past the pair of them. At the start of this, everybody would have been at a loss for words, but now it was just accepted. For all of his smart ass remarks, Naegi wouldn't actually do anything against someone else. He didn't need to. He had Maizono. That would be enough and everybody knew it.
. "I need to stop in the kitchen for something. So you guys go on ahead." Maizono said in front of the recreation room before breaking out in a mild jog down the stairs.
. "Has everybody changed as much as she has?" Ishimaru asked, as the theme song to "Phoenix Ranger Featherman R" came on.
. "Yeah."
. "You seem nearly the same."
. "Eh, I try to keep a level head. Same instincts as on the pitcher's mound."
. "Really?"
. "Well, I mean if you came after me with a knife that might cause me to panic. But I don't think that's happening." Leon admitted, as the two rounded the first corner.
. "That would cause most people to freak out a bit." Ishimaru understood that much as the two passed the second floor bathrooms.
. "Well, better than making demons fly out of your nose." Fujisaki commented, jogging up behind them.
. "Excuse me?" Kuwata and Ishimaru both stopped.
. "Undefined behavior? From C and C++?" Fujisaki posed the question. "As long as the language standards are met, a program can interpret any undefined behavior any way it wants."
. "But how do you get demons out the nose?" Kuwata was concerned.
. "It's a logic thing. To quote it, 'Permissible undefined behavior ranges from ignoring the situation completely with unpredictable results, to having demons fly out of your noses.' The resultant term 'nasal demons' is older than we are."
. "Seriously?" Leon was concerned.
. "Yeah, it's something my dad hammered into me while I was learning programming. Over and over again. Leaning on undefined behavior while creating a program is unacceptable. Language interpreters and programming environments are always changing."
. "Wait, this 'nasal demons' term is older than we are?" Ishimaru noticed.
. "Well, it's got thirteen months on me. February 25th, 1992. I know, I've seen the archived text with the date and time. This whole setup has just been one nasal demon after another." Fujisaki said as the three of them passed the nurse's office, and headed towards the red door where beyond that, lay the trial room. Kirigiri was already there, leaning against the wall, waiting for everybody else. She was staring straight ahead, lost in thought.
. "Well, I hope we don't need nasal demons to take on Monokuma." Leon said.
. "Excuse me?" Kirigiri was confused.
. "It's a programming term." Fujisaki explained.
. "Ah." Kirigiri needed no further elaboration, gripping the present box she held under her arm. "Well, let's do our best to finish this."
. "It is no use saying 'we are doing our best.' You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.'" Togami had arrived, and he seemed more than ready to get this show on the road. If there was an audience like Monokuma claimed, this school life had gone from a lifestyle to a competition. He excelled at competitions.
. "Winston Churchill." Ishimaru remarked, having recognized the quote.
. "Indeed." Togami replied.
. The gated elevator waited for the rest of their classmates. First, it was Celeste, and then it was Genocider. Last was Maizono.
. "Is everybody ready?" Monokuma's voice broke out over the school. "Then get into the elevator."
. The students gathered into the elevator. They spread throughout it. As the elevator doors closed behind them, the low rumblings of a descending box echoed throughout.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There's only one (or perhaps two) chapters left. And then it's on to whatever's next.