Alright, so the previous chapter was pretty much met with "But y tho"s across the board, and I'm still trying to figure out if that's a good or a bad thing. Probably a bit of both. Though I think it also wins the award for "non-epilogue chapter with the most reviews," so that's interesting. Guess my reader base just can't get enough of Toshi. TIME TO MILK HIM FOR ALL HE'S WORTH!... Nah, screw that.
Anyway, in this chapter, we'll see Hajime and his friends attempt to stop Nagito and solve the mysteries of the island! Will they make any progress? Well, seeing as how this isn't the finale, probably not!
I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 35
Blown Away
The next morning, Hajime and his remaining friends gathered in the dining hall for breakfast once again. As soon as everyone was seated, Nekomaru placed his metallic hands on the table.
"Okay! It's time to talk about our game plan to stop Nagito! You guys don't mind if I explain while the rest of you eat, right?"
"A-Are you... really going to do it?" Sonia asked.
"Of course! It's too dangerous to let someone like Nagito roam free! That's why I stayed up all night thinking of this plan!"
"We get it... Hurry up and tell us your plan already..." Hiyoko whined.
"Alright, so! After thinking about it for a while, I realized this whole situation is kinda like a game of Capture the Flag. Except, instead of a flag, what we're trying to capture is Nagito himself. And there's only one of him, and five of us! So I think we should use our numbers to our advantage to overwhelm him. First, one of us will act as a decoy, and lead Nagito to the lobby downstairs. Hiyoko, can I trust this position to you?"
"What? Why would I ever agree to a plan that involves getting near that creep?"
"You won't have to actually do anything. As soon as he's in the lobby, the rest of us will jump him and tie him up! Plus, as a dancer, you're more agile than any of us, so if he tries anything, you have a good chance of getting away."
She rolled her eyes. "How am I supposed to lure him, anyway? I doubt Nagito's cultured enough to notice any of my appeal."
"That doesn't really matter. Just tell him you want to talk to him or something. Knowing his curious nature, he'll definitely show up!"
"Anyway, the rest of us just need to be ready to attack, right?" Chiaki asked. "Do we really need all of us for that?"
"You were able to restrain Nagito before on your own, were you not?" Sonia recalled. "And since then... you have become even more powerful."
Nekomaru stared down at his body. "Well... I did have Maki's help back then. But I guess you have a point. I doubt there's anything Nagito could do to even scratch me! Still... it'd probably be best to have at least one other person. Someone else to tie him up while I hold him down."
Chiaki seemed to be lost in thought for a few seconds, before saying, "...I'll do it."
"Huh? Really?" Hajime asked.
"If it'll prevent another killing, then I'll do it. And... as long as Nagito is a threat, Maki's also more likely to do something rash, don't you think? The sooner we deal with him, the sooner we can start thinking about what to do with her."
"All right! If there are no more objections, then it's decided!" Nekomaru declared.
"Hey... Sonia and I haven't been given roles." Hajime said. "What should we do?"
"Well... I was kinda planning on having everyone there. Strength in numbers, and all that. But I guess you two are technically free..."
"In that case, Hajime shall accompany me. There is somewhere I must go!" Sonia insisted.
"Right, I guess that's fine." Nekomaru looked down once again, and muttered, "I sort of feel like I lost control of this conversation a few lines back..."
"Trust me, I don't think you were ever in control to begin with." Hiyoko laughed.
"Where do you need to go, Sonia?" Hajime asked.
"I shall tell you in due time. We will be discovered if I speak too loudly."
"You two are gonna be alone... at a secret spot..." Hiyoko pouted. "Is now really the best time to be thinking that kinda stuff?"
Nekomaru clapped his hands together. "Right! Well! We'll carry out the plan tonight. All of you... make sure you prepare your bodies, minds, and spirits! Let's disperse for now."
Everyone started moving to do just that, but they were interrupted.
"...Actually... I have something to tell you guys..." Hiyoko admitted. "It's... something Maki told me, a while ago. I think it's important that everyone knows."
"Huh? What is it?" Hajime asked.
"This was back before Mikan's trial. She was trying to get me to trust her, so she decided to tell me one of her secrets. She said... She said that this isn't her first killing game. She was apparently part of a different one before all this."
"Wh-WHAT!?" Nekomaru gasped.
"That's... That's impossible..." Chiaki muttered.
"Do you think she could have been lying about that?" Hajime asked.
"I don't know... Like I said, this was before she went all psycho-crazy... But her goody two-shoes act was probably all a lie, too. Still, I thought it sorta made sense. Didn't it always seem like Maki wasn't surprised or scared by anything that happened to us? She was always just creepily investigating, or cracking jokes."
"Now that you mention it..." Sonia agreed. "While she would always be upset when we discovered a body, she never recoiled from the sight of them. She even took the weirdest things, like Monokuma and Monomi, in stride. Just like we've been doing, after all this time..."
"It would also explain why she was so aloof at the beginning." Nekomaru noted. "She knew it was likely some of us would die, and didn't want to risk getting attached to anyone..."
"I guess that's another thing we can say Mikan messed up, huh...?" Hiyoko muttered.
"Did you have a chance to ask her anything about her killing game, specifically?" Hajime asked.
"She said... The mastermind of that game is definitely not the one for this game. She said they liked to twist the rules a lot more, and the motives were "more interesting," whatever that means... From the way it sounded, the only reason she survived was because she lived long enough to figure out who the mastermind was, and they just gave up after that."
"What the heck...? That sounds like an... apathetic mastermind."
"But if a killing game like that really did happen, wouldn't it be on the news and everything!?" Nekomaru asked. "I feel like at least one of us would remember something like that."
"Not necessarily..." Sonia said. "The criminal underworld is quite expansive, and there are many large operations that even the police are unaware of. Perhaps Maki's killing game was being staged by some nefarious organization like the ones behind this game, and they were broadcasting it to an audience of sponsors?"
Hajime shook his head. "Given that her talent deals with crime, I guess that's not impossible... I want to say that something like that could never exist, but given everything we've seen so far... It's not far-fetched at all."
"Besides... maybe it was on the news, and the rest of us just don't remember it." Chiaki suggested. "It could have happened at some point during the two years of memories we lost."
"But didn't Maki also lose her memories?" Hiyoko asked. "She wouldn't be able to remember it either, right?"
"What if she didn't?" Chiaki asked.
"What do you mean...?" Nekomaru asked.
"It's something I've been thinking about for a long time. Doesn't it feel like Maki doesn't belong, sometimes? Like, there's something about her that feels different from the rest of us."
"Something... different?" Hajime repeated. "Like what?"
She pulled her hood over her head and stared at the floor. "I don't know. It's hard to explain..."
"Do you think... this game was created specifically to target her?" Sonia suggested. "Perhaps the mastermind is related to a past case she helped solve, and is trying to get revenge?"
Chiaki shook her head. "No... that's impossible... I think..."
Nekomaru stroked his chin in thought. "Anyway, it's pretty clear that Nagito is the greater threat at the moment. Maki will only act if she has to protect herself. Nagito is pretty actively threatening us. We should focus on him first, then we can figure out what to do with Maki."
She nodded. "Yeah, I agree."
"Still... it is disheartening to learn that there are still so many mysteries to solve." Sonia said. "We have barely solved any of the mysteries we were already aware of, but more still keep cropping up!"
"Well, I don't think we really need to solve those mysteries, right?" Hiyoko noted. "As long as we can just get off this island safely, that's all that really matters."
"Hmm... I wonder..." Chiaki mumbled.
With that, the morning meeting came to an end, a sense of uncertainty still hanging in the air.
"Hajime... you are late." Sonia scolded.
As he entered the hotel lobby, Hajime eyed the clock. "Huh? I'm right on time... Wait, should I have come a little earlier...?"
"A little earlier...? In my country, you are severely punished if you do not arrive 13 minutes before an arranged meeting time."
"For such an orderly country... 13 minutes is a pretty arbitrary rule."
"Oh I see, this is culture shock... Then I guess that can be overlooked."
"So where are you planning to go? I just have to come along, right?"
"Of course... it is a place that pertains to this discovery we made yesterday." She held up a familiar-looking file.
"...Jabberwock Island Development Plan!? Did you... find something out about it!?"
"How should I say this...? After reading this document over and over again, I suddenly realized... The Future Foundation was planning to rebuild a facility on this island to use as their headquarters..."
"You're talking about the large administrative building on the central island, right? But I couldn't find a building like that anywhere. Maybe they said something about a different island...?"
"Or, what if their plan suddenly changed and they had to use a different facility?"
"...A different facility?"
"Was there not a facility on this island inscribed with the symbol of the Future Foundation...? As I recall, the ancient ruin on the 2nd island had such a symbol on its door..."
"Yeah, you're right... The Japanese word for future, "mirai," was inscribed there. If that's the case... that ruin might be connected to the Future Foundation, right?"
"The discrepancies in the document are strange, but there is no doubt that that ruin is quite suspicious."
"Sonia... After hearing all this, I want to go there as much as you do. I'll definitely come with you."
"Then... I may not be competent, so please be patient with me."
As the two arrived at the ancient ruins once again, they stared up at the high-rising building that blocked out the sun, taking in its imposing stature.
"No matter how many times I see this place... it certainly gives me the willies..." Sonia muttered. "...Well, we should not dwell on that. After all, we are here to search for clues."
"...All right, let's start." Hajime said.
As the two approached the massive vault door blocking the entrance into the building, Sonia stared at the insignia. "There is no mistaking it... The Japanese word for "future" is inscribed on the door. But this facility... Now that we have taken a better look at it... It... bears an uncanny resemblance to Hope's Peak Academy... Why is that?"
Hajime's attention fell on the wall-mounted machine gun protecting the door, then to the keypad. "That's probably it... This is probably the key. This door will probably open if we input the correct numbers..."
"We have discussed this before as well, but it would be dangerous to test it haphazardly. If we make a mistake, it is possible that we will be fired upon by that gun. I can think of no other reason for that gun to be there."
"As long as that's a possibility... it'd be bad if we acted recklessly."
"That is right. Courage and recklessness are completely different. If you were shot at by a gun like that, you would have more holes in you than a Beatrice's nest..."
Hajime gave her a look. "...You mean a "bee's nest"?"
"I-In my country... we use the expression, "Beatrice's nest"!"
"A-Anyway... right now, we definitely shouldn't test it out so recklessly."
"In order to open this door, we must find the password first. Or... destroy the door with some kind of explosive force."
"Nah, that's impossible... This door looks extremely sturdy. It's definitely better if we find out the password instead. All right, all we have to do next is find out what that password is. It's a good thing we came here so we could at least find that out..."
"You are right..." Sonia agreed reluctantly.
The two turned to leave, disappointed that their search turned up so little. As he left, Hajime took one last look at the door.
"As usual... it's a mystery, huh..."
After sunset fell and night took over the island, Hajime sat in his cottage, the anticipation of the plan being the only thought on his mind.
He was pulled from his thoughts when the doorbell rang. "...The doorbell? Is someone there?" His whole body tensed up instinctively, but he tried to tell himself that there was nothing to fear. "Not that I can help it... I mean, so much has happened since we arrived at this island..." As he mumbled, he made his way over to the door and pulled it open.
"Why hello there, Hajime." Nagito greeted, quickly stepping into the room before Hajime could shut the door.
"N-Nagito!? You... What are you doing here...?"
"...You sure ask weird questions. I mean... you guys all have business with me, right?"
"...Huh?"
"Hiyoko invited me to the lobby. She said she had something she wanted to talk to me about. Everyone put her up to that, right?" He paused a moment to see Hajime's reaction. "Looks like... that's a bingo, huh? But it's good timing. I have some business with you guys, too."
"You do...?"
"If everyone's already at the lobby, that saves me a lot of trouble. And... I want you to come to the lobby too, even though you're not directly involved with the plan..."
"You... even know that..."
"Just as I thought... you were left out, huh. But that's understandable. Since you're the only one who isn't an Ultimate, you've basically been left out from the start."
He smiled when he said it, and Hajime could only return a pained glare.
He raised his hands in defence. "I'm only joking... Don't make such a scary face."
"Your joke... isn't funny."
"You shouldn't take me so seriously. Oh well... Anyway, let's hurry over to the lobby. I don't know the details of your plan, so I'm actually looking forward to it. I wonder what you guys are going to do to me. When we first arrived at this island, we were friends who explored this place together! So let's go already!"
"...Fine, let's go."
"...Yeah."
The two left Hajime's cottage and began walking to the hotel. Nagito didn't seem to be in any particular hurry, and Hajime was purposely lagging behind him. He kept shooting him nervous glances, as if he could snap at any moment. Because, knowing Nagito, he definitely could.
"I don't know what you guys are planning but like I said, I also need to talk to you guys about something. Isn't that a strange coincidence? It's like there's something we both need to tell each other..." The two of them stopped just before reaching the door to the hotel. "What happened, Hajime...? What are you so nervous about...?"
"I'm... not nervous..."
"Haha... you're a terrible actor... Oh well... If you're going to slow down like that, I'll go inside first."
He did so. The moment he crossed through the doorway, he was wrapped in Nekomaru's gigantic metal arms.
"...All right, I got him!"
"...Um... What are you doing?" Nagito asked.
Chiaki approached him, holding a coil of rope. "Don't judge us for this... but we're gonna tie you up."
"Haha, tie me up?"
"There's no use struggling!" Nekomaru declared, shuffling around to keep Nagito in his grasp.
"...But I'm not struggling." True to his words, Nagito hung limply in the robot's arms.
"Huh...? What the hell? You're being strangely cooperative..."
Nagito shook his head. "...You guys are really disappointing... How long are you going to continue behaving so shortsightedly? You gotta look at the big picture, you know..."
"What are you talking about?" Chiaki asked.
"It's fine if you don't understand... You can just see the end without knowing. Now then, let's begin! The beginning of the end of Jabberwock Island!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Hajime saw a bright flash. Flames burst forward from the corner of the room, pushing even Nekomaru away with their force.
The air shook. Darkness overcame everyone in the room, rattling their minds and likely knocking them unconscious. A short time later, Hajime managed to open his eyes slowly, taking in the scorched wreckage of the hotel lobby.
"Wh-What's... going on...?" He muttered, but he couldn't hear himself speak. His own voice was drowned out by maniacal laughter. He looked up toward the source of the laughter, and the image before him would forever be burned into his mind.
Nagito, standing before a backdrop of flame, cackled and wheezed, emptying his lungs of any clean air they contained, replacing it with the smoke and ash of the exploded lobby. "It's amazing! These amazing fireworks surely befit the beginning of the end! It's over. This is the end. The killings are done for good! Scapegoating the weak in the name of "justice," while fearing when the others will stab you in the back... This game of self-righteous hypocrisy ends now! And to do that... I will destroy Jabberwock Island!"
At that last sentence, Hajime forced himself to his feet. "Wh-What do you mean...?"
"That was just a little demonstration. That's why it's the beginning of the end... The actual bomb I'm going to use isn't nearly as weak. I've set up a large number of bombs in a certain area of the island. If all those bombs explode... The force will be enough to wipe out this entire island!"
"Wh-What the hell are you saying...!?" Nekomaru asked. "If you do that...!"
"Of course, I doubt we'll walk away from this unharmed... But... there's no other way. The actor is expected to leave the stage during the finale."
"I-Is he... serious...!?" Hiyoko asked.
"N-Nagito... P-Please stop...!" Sonia begged.
"Y-You're... crazy...!" Nekomaru shouted.
"...No... that's... not it... I'm not the crazy one here... The one who's really crazy is-"
"My my, this guy..." Monokuma shook his head, appearing in the middle of the wreckage and debris. "I'm totally shocked! Seriously, I'm totally shocked! That's all I can say about this turn of events!"
Nagito ignored him. "The bombs I set are timed! They're set to go off in two days at noon! I've prepared so many powerful bombs that the one that just exploded doesn't even compare... According to my calculations, they're powerful enough to blow up an entire island! Which means in two days at noon, this island is destined to sink into the sea!"
"Are you... serious...?" Hajime asked.
"Do you really think I'd go this far for a joke?"
"Where!? Where did you set them up!?" Nekomaru asked.
"Mmmm... I can't tell you... It'd be easy to leave you on your own, but it just wouldn't be fair if I did that! So how about this? If the traitor comes forward and reveals their identity to me, I'll tell them where I hid the bombs!"
"Ha-wa-wa! What in the world is going on!?" Monomi asked, appearing next to Monokuma. "I-Is everyone all right!?"
"C'mon c'mon! Don't get in the way!" Monokuma snapped. "Nagito was in the middle of weeding out the traitor!"
"Ha-wa-wa!? N-Nagito...? What are you planning to do?"
"...Do I really have to say it?"
"...I-It's no use... I mean... the traitor shouldn't be able to reveal their identity on their own..."
"...Hm? What does that mean?"
"...Do I really have to say it?" She echoed.
Monokuma glanced between them, giggling to himself. "My, my... You guys are totally eyeing each other and letting sparks fly. I'm gettin' all hot and bothered..."
"D-Don't just stand there... Why don't you stop him...?" Hajime asked.
"...Huh? Stop him? Why would I have to stop him?"
"The rules, remember? The same blackened can only kill a maximum of two people... If he blows up the entire island... Th-That's going to kill way more than just two people..."
"I see, you sure have a good memory... Like you said, if any student breaks that rule, I have to punish them severely!"
"But that's only when someone breaks that rule, right?" Nagito asked. "You can't punish someone for breaking a rule before they've broken it, right?"
"Yep! Saying you're gonna break the rules isn't against the rules! So right now, there's no way I can punish this!"
"Wh-What the hell...!?"
"Punishment always happens afterwards, not before! That's just the rules of society, right!?"
"But even so, there's no need to worry about that in the first place." Nagito assured. "As long as the traitor comes forward, this can all be resolved peacefully... It'll all be fine... I'm pretty sure everything will work out in the end... After all the time we've spent together, I believe in you guys. And more than anything... I believe in my Ultimate Luck! So... it's definitely going to be all right..."
With that, he turned and walked out the door. No one dared to try and stop him. They were scared. Terrified. No matter how much evil Nagito had done in the past, no one had expected him to go this far.
"Puhuhu, Nagito is so reliable!" Monokuma cheered. "I don't have to do anything cuz he's shaking things up!"
"D-Dammit...! Is he serious about those bombs...!?" Nekomaru asked.
"As long as the traitor comes forward... he'll tell us where the bombs are... right?" Hiyoko asked. "Then... maybe someone should just say they're the traitor... so that we can get the information..."
No matter how long they sat there, no one was willing to come forward.
The students returned to their cottages for the night, attempting to sleep off the shock and fear caused by Nagito's plot. In the morning, they would have to come up with another plan to stop him.
Nagito approached the park on the central island, looking up at the countdown timer. Only a few days remained. What would happen when it reached zero? He had a few theories, and he was certain he wasn't the only one.
"I'm glad you answered my summons." He called out to the other person in the park.
Maki turned to him. She looked no less tired than she did at the Funhouse, nor did she seem any healthier. She met his gaze with bloodshot, heterochromatic eyes. "I figured I didn't have any room to refuse, given that you're holding this entire island hostage."
"So you already heard about that. Interesting."
"Blowing up a hotel lobby isn't typically the kind of action that gets brushed under the rug." She explained. "Just because I haven't been letting anyone see me doesn't mean I haven't been keeping on eye on them."
"So, I assume you already know what my condition is, right?"
"Is that what this meeting is about? You think I'm the traitor?"
He laughed to himself. "Quite the opposite, actually. Out of everyone here, you're the only one I know for sure isn't the traitor."
"Is that so...?"
"However, you're also quite the enigma yourself. Tell me... have you ever heard of someone named Albert Wright?"
She suddenly glared at him. "Wh-Why would you think that?"
He reached into his pocket and produced the Future Foundation file he earned from the Final Dead Room. "I didn't mention it to the others, because they likely wouldn't have believed me anyway, but the file mentions someone in the previous killing game who didn't fit in, either. Albert Wright, who was apparently brought to this universe from a different one, using a machine created by the Ultimate Physicist. He was taken in as the Physicist's apprentice, and attended the Reserve Course. It's quite a tall tale, isn't it?"
"I suppose so."
"But I know it has to be real. After all, if anyone could create a machine that can allow travel between universes, it'd be the Ultimate Physicist, right? But the really weird thing is... in Albert's home universe, there are no Ultimate students. Instead, the lives of Ultimate students, and the events of our universe, are depicted in his in the form of video games. So before he even arrived here, Albert already knew everything that happens in these killing games. Isn't that just mindbogglingly crazy!?"
Maki flinched from his sudden shouting. "So, what? You think I know this boy because we're both mysterious? That's quite a stretch, Nagito, especially for you."
"It's not just that. In the same way both killing games have similarities with each of the killings, I noticed a certain pattern found in both you and Albert's behaviours during the games."
She didn't respond, simply waiting for him to elaborate.
"For the first murder, Albert avoided making unnecessary contact with either the victim or the killer. He didn't want to influence the events of the game too much, so he did his best to stay in the background. This is similar to how you acted during the second murder of our game. You obviously played the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, but refused to act on any part of the motive."
"That was simply because I was being thorough. Besides, the motive wasn't designed for me, so I had no reason to act. That isn't proof of anything."
"On its own, I'd agree. But like I said, there's a pattern to your behaviour. For the second murder, Albert tried to prevent the murder by befriending the victim. By being in the right place at the right time, he hoped to prevent a run-in with the killer, but all that accomplished was changing who the victim was. For you, this is just like how you acted during the third case. You became close with the killer, no doubt hoping to prevent her from doing anything rash, but in the end, the outcome was the same."
She glared, but once again didn't respond.
"As for Albert's third case, he tried to interfere more directly, but ended up becoming the prime suspect for the case. Just like when you tried to stop me from committing murder during the party, but ended up causing more damage in the long run."
"What's your point, Nagito?"
"Please, let me finish. For the fourth case, Albert revealed his true nature to the other students, hoping to prevent the suicide that was supposed to occur. But instead, his explanation of the events only strengthened the victim's resolve, and she took her own life anyway. Furthermore, Monokuma twisted the rules to say that Albert was the blackened, having killed the victim with "psychological warfare." In the fourth case in our game, you abused a loophole in the rules to cause three people to commit suicide, and Monokuma blatantly allowed a rule violation simply because you beat the Final Dead Room. These two incidents are pretty much opposites, don't you think?"
Maki took a measured breath. "And I thought I was the resident Criminologist. I suppose I can see where you're coming from on this. Still, I have to say I don't like being compared to someone who sounds like he failed so utterly."
"I don't know about that... I think he's admirable, in a way. A normal student who was able to serve as a stepping stone to the Ultimate students, without needing to sacrifice his own life? I wonder what he's up to nowadays. Perhaps he's finally sacrificed himself, or maybe he's still out there, inspiring people greater than him to even greater heights. I think he's the kind of person I'd like to be, someday."
She scoffed. "Coming from you, that's not surprising. Though I think it's likely that, if they survived a killing game together, the Ultimate students probably consider him a friend. How would you feel about that?"
"The Ultimates are free to think how they want, so long as Albert himself accepts his place as a-"
"As a stepping stone, yeah. Why did I expect anything different?" She shook her head. "Tell me, Nagito, what point are you trying to make? Are you accusing me of being from another universe as well?"
"What if I am? Are you?"
"If I were, what would that change, exactly? I'm still me, warts and all. My place of birth matters very little in the context of this game, doesn't it?"
He noticed that she was dodging the question, and very blatantly at that. Still, he answered her question. "It wouldn't change anything, per se, but a lot of pieces would start to fit together if that were true. It would also make things a lot easier on my end, since you could provide me with exactly what I need."
"What you need...?"
"The traitor's identity. If you're under the same conditions as Albert was, you would know the traitor's identity, just like how you know about the murders, wouldn't you?"
"As I already said, I had no way of knowing about the murder plots. Those patterns you listed are just coincidence. I can assure you, I have never, and likely will never, play any video games detailing the events of this killing game, or any other killing games that might occur in this universe. Does that answer satisfy you?"
He eyed her for any tells, any signs that she was lying to him. From what he could tell, she wasn't. "I suppose so. But you still haven't told me whether or not you know the traitor's identity. There are still other ways you could figure that out, without being from another universe."
Her mismatched eyes pierced him. Even from the start, the contrast between her eyes was unsettling, but ever since her mood took a hit from the third trial, they became downright creepy. It was like having two people stare you down at once.
When she finally responded, she answered his question with another question. "If, hypothetically, I did know the traitor's identity, why should I tell you? Would it benefit me in any way? What do you plan to do with that information?"
"...I just want to keep hope alive. Any hope at all, even the smallest speck of it... As long as I can do that, I don't really care what despair does. I would prefer if it was eliminated completely, but with things as they are now, I have to keep my priorities straight. So for someone like you, who has completely become a puppet of despair... Normally, I would say that you should be killed for the sake of hope. But if you're willing to give me what I want, then I can accept leaving you alive for now. I know that's all you care about, right? Staying alive..."
She averted her eyes, staring into the ground. "I have... too much to lose. Too many legacies on my shoulders. For my survival, no cost is too great, no line is uncrossable, no atrocity is too terrible... It's all worth it in the end." She closed her eyes, and seemed to be repeating the last line to herself as a mantra.
"Then tell me who the traitor is. Tell me, and in exchange, I can tell you the location of the bombs I have stashed away. I'll even go with you to help you disable them, if you want. All you need to do is tell the truth."
She seemed to grow even more pale than usual. "Right... the truth..." She stood up straighter, squaring her shoulders. "The truth is... I don't know the traitor's identity. As far as I'm aware, there may not even be a traitor on this island. It may just be something Monokuma made up just to mess with us."
Nagito stared at her for a few seconds. "I can't believe it... I mean, after all this time..." He smirked. "I've finally learned just how much of a terrible liar you are, Maki."
"Call me what you wish... I've given you my answer."
"I suppose even if I know you're lying to me, I can't make you tell me what you know. Which is disappointing, I was really hoping we could get through this the easy way. But it seems you're fine with risking your life on this one. I wonder, who are you protecting, that you would go to such lengths for?"
"I'm not protecting anyone." She fingered her cat-ear hairband. "If I knew the traitor's identity, I would tell you. But I can't tell you something you don't know. Unless you want me to just throw out a random name?"
He sighed. "I guess we're done here. I've discussed everything I wanted to with you, and you haven't shown any willingness to cooperate. I guess this is good night, for now."
"Very well. Good night, Nagito." She turned and began walking off. He noticed another odd thing. She seemed to be walking with a bit of a limp, trying to avoid putting weight on her left foot.
He called out. "Oh, and Maki?"
She stopped, but didn't turn to face him. "What?"
"I should probably tell you. For the fifth case, Albert didn't get a chance to participate. I just felt like you should know that."
"...Hey, Nagito?"
"Yes?"
"...You aren't trash. I know telling yourself that you are probably provides some comfort, but it's not true. You're smart and cunning, and your luck presents you with plenty of opportunities. I think the only reason you aren't willing to become something more than a stepping stone is just because you're scared of the responsibility of being someone special. But I think you should strive to be better than just another Albert Wright. Because, whatever the case... the rest of us never expected talent or wanted a stepping stone out of you. We just wanted you to be our friend." She sighed. "...But that's just my two cents. Good night."
He watched as she left, unsure what it was she was trying to tell him. Was she trying to weaken his resolve? Perhaps things could be the way she described them, in another time and place. Perhaps he could have been someone special, on some level. Perhaps he could have been "friends" with everyone, in a way. But there was no room for any of that now. In this situation... there was only one way out.
Sins must be answered for. The guilty must be punished. Despair must be eliminated from this island.
Well, Hiyoko's spilled the beans, so now everyone's in on Maki's secret. What will they do now that they know this? Probably make a bunch of assumptions and then question Maki about it, when they next run into her. That's usually how these kids operate.
Looks like Maki's still on speaking terms with Nagito, though. He wouldn't be my first choice for conversation partner, but to each their own. And now, we finally learn just how much information Monokuma fed Nagito about the previous killing game, and about Maki's circumstances. Obviously, he wouldn't have all the answers, but Nagito's consistently shown to be one of the smartest characters in the entire franchise, so it makes sense that he'd be able to draw some conclusions based on the available evidence.
Also worth noting is Maki's little speech to him before she leaves. Was she just trying to get under his skin, or did she legitimately mean what she said? If the latter, why wait until now to tell him that? Is she just trying to do a little bit of good to make up for her actions thus far? Also, compare it to how Albert treated Toshihide in the previous chapter. If you saw each interaction without knowing the characters, who would you assume is the nice one and the bad one? Just something to chew on, until Maki makes her next appearance.
In the next chapter, we'll see how Hajime and his friends are planning to deal with Nagito. Again.
