"We have to break in ourselves. It's the only way. I'll do it myself if no one else wants to help."
Tsumugi was frozen at the entrance of the library. Her bones were locked with fear, threatening to turn her into a statue if she remained still. Keebo was getting increasingly aggressive with the others, and considering people were fighting amongst themselves as well, things did not look good.
"Gonta not understand... Why break down door?"
"Did no one else find anything?"
"Nyeh, we should probably break in... If the robot is telling the truth..."
Everyone's voices slowly formed a cacophony in her mind; too many that she couldn't understand anyone. They grew louder and louder until someone spoke up, yelling at the group to keep quiet.
Kaede Akamatsu stood atop a short bookcase, hands cupped around her mouth.
"Everyone, stop!"
It somehow worked. One by one, the students fell silent, accepting the girl's request and turning towards her. Once all the voices stopped, Kaede jumped down lightly, her pale, yellow hair bobbing about her head. The girl then continued speaking.
"We shouldn't let Keebo's claims get on our nerves. We need to work together to find our way out of this mess. And that starts with taking turns speaking."
Everyone nodded in agreement, but the room stayed quiet. At least until Kokichi stepped forward, raising his hand as high as he could. A playful grin appeared on his face.
"Can I go-"
However, Kaede dismissed him immediately, raising a finger in response.
"No. First, let's hear Keebo's side of the story. He's the one who brought up the plan, after all."
"Oh, ok..."
Kokichi turned around and moped back a few feet, with Keebo taking his place. The robot was standing tall and stiff. His eyes were focused, his expression bitter. It was the first time that Tsumugi saw the robot angry. This surely wouldn't bode well for her...
Was turning off his inner voice not enough? Could I have disabled him completely? Was there anything I could've done, to salvage this terrible situation?
Keebo was like a domino, the first one in the line. Harmless, if remained untouched. But all it took was a light push, and everything could come crashing down, no matter how hard Tsumugi tried to set the pieces up in her favor.
She was still motionless as Keebo nodded towards Kaede and began lecturing the students, pointing to the bookcase in the center of the room.
The bookcase that hid one entrance to the Mastermind's hideout.
"Thank you. As you all know, we spent the entire day searching for the secret entrance to the Mastermind's hideout, which we are sure is behind this door. Accounting for everyone's investigations, I've concluded that we've found nothing. I'm sure you all reached the same conclusion as well. However, there's one other thing we learned today.
"That Monokuma isn't active. He hasn't given us the morning announcement, and he also has not given us that motive he promised. If he's not active, he cannot punish us for rules we break. That means there's no consequence to breaking into the Mastermind's hideout now. And, if we do so, we'd have an easy way of determining the identity of the Mastermind as well. Remember - Rantaro is trapped inside the hideout - and provided he is still alive - he could instantly tell us the identity of his captor."
The robot then turned towards the strongest member of the group - Gonta Gokuhara. He reached out with a warm hand, giving him a smile that someone like him couldn't refuse.
"Gonta, you're with me, right? Let's break down that door together."
Gonta's eyes widened, but they focused on Keebo. He appeared to be thinking about whether to accept or not, but Tsumugi knew. She knew he'd join the robot. It's in his character to be overly nice to people...
Shuichi's voice broke the silence. It was still a timid voice, but one that was growing more confident.
"Keebo, wait one second. Did no one really find anything? Let's go over our results one more time."
"Yes, I haven't made any errors. Miu and I thoroughly searched the gardens, and we have confirmed that no secret passages exist there."
Kirumi, Tenko, and Kaito responded, each of them restating what they reported earlier.
"The first floor is all clean. Korekiyo, Ryoma, and I made sure to examine every room."
"No passages in the courtyard, either. Me an' Himiko looked all over."
"We got this basement covered, too. Maki Roll and I checked everywhere."
Maki's face reddened at that. She shied away as Kaede joined the conversation.
"The Casino and the Love Hotel don't have any passages. I know Shuichi and I did a good job."
At that last comment, Kokichi couldn't help but chime in, his voice sarcastic as usual.
"Ohh, the Love Hotel! Shuichi definitely did a good job in there! You kept that card on purpose, didn't you, Kaede?"
Shuichi immediately hid his face in his hat. Although Kaede did blush a bit, she countered Kokichi's claim.
"Kokichi! No, of course not! Where'd you search, anyways?"
"Oh. Me an' Gonta searched the Dormitories. With my lockpicking skills, I got into all of them. I can guarantee that there's a 0% chance of anyone's Dorms containing a secret passage. Aren't I helpful?"
Gonta could only confirm Kokichi's statement.
"Gonta agree, but Gonta did most of looking. Kokichi mostly play with helicopter toy."
"But Gontaaaa, drones are so much funnnnn!"
Not even a second afterwards, Angie Yonaga's hand shot up, her bright coat shifting. A shiver went down Tsumugi's spine as the girl responded.
"Angie and Tsumugi report nothing suspicious on the second floor!"
Everyone's eyes fell on the girl, yet Angie's beaming grin didn't dissolve. Kaede seemed a bit surprised at her entrance.
"Oh, Angie. When'd you get here?"
"A minute ago. Me and Tsumugi did arrive a bit late."
Angie turned around and pointed towards the doorway, where Tsumugi still stood, not having the energy to enter the room or the awareness that she needed to do so. The students' stares were like a blast of cold air onto an already freezing wanderer. Her breaths grew shorter, and her head began to feel light. Kaede began walking towards the girl.
"Tsumugi, are you ok?"
Come on, Tsumugi! Say something! Anything! It's all over if they realize your plan!
She broke the ice around her right arm, raising it up to her face, scratching her cheek in awkwardly.
"Um... Yeah... I just need to... go to the bathroom. I'll be right back..."
Kaede nodded, and Tsumugi thawed out a bit. Step by step, she made her way towards the stairs and up them, into the dimly lit hallway. Her arms drooped down as if she was a zombie, weak-willed and empty minded.
After reaching the women's bathroom, she slowly pushed the door open. The bright pink wall color and clean, white tiling did nothing for her demeanor. Slowly, she began wandering towards the storage closet, where the secret passageway actually lied.
They need to die... All of them...
But even if I reactivate Monokuma, there's no way he'll still listen to me...
She grabbed the door, and tried to push it open, but her body wouldn't let her.
There was no point. No reason to hide, or to do anything. She may as well just collapse to the floor to die, since they were going to kill her anyways...
Her hand tightened around the doorknob, and she balled her other one into a fist and began banging on the door in a rage.
Because I disabled Monokuma, Keebo's going to break down the door to get into my hideout. And once he does, he can turn the audience's voice back on. The audience can tell him the Mastermind. And then I'd die.
I'd have to convince him otherwise... But someone like me can't do that... Right?
And besides, even if I did, I'd be going out of character. Which will basically reveal myself as Mastermind. Which resulted in the same thing...
Argh! All I needed was one day... I shouldn't have equipped him with guns in the first place...
She stopped once she noticed a dull pain in her hand, and after a few breaths, she couldn't help herself. Tears began flowing down her face, dripping quietly onto the tiled floor. She pressed her head against the door, and cried.
All of this planning, all of this tension that I've been experiencing... It was all for nothing... All for me to fail... Leave it to plain old me to come up with such a flawed plan...
She stood there for a few minutes, wallowing in her self-pity. After a while, the tears stopped, and she stepped over to the mirror. She swayed side to side, almost falling over, so she set her hands on the sink to balance herself. She lazily looked at the reflection shown in the glass.
She saw a girl whose eyes were red from crying. Whose hair was messy, whose glasses were off-center. And whose clothes were the same dull shade of blue as everything else...
No matter how much confidence she gained or lost, it didn't matter in the end. It was all fake, all just fleeting moments to get her hopes up so that she could succumb to her own Despair. The cold, hard truth was that she lost.
In that mirror, she saw a failure.
But was that really her?
Now that she thought about it... who was she?
She stared into her eyes, trying to find the answer to that question as if it were written in small letters across the mirror...
Well... she was a cosplayer, who loved putting herself in the shoes of others. She was a Mastermind, who brought about fifty seasons of Despair. She was plain, hiding behind her own insecurity, always having to follow directions.
But most of all... She loved Rantaro. She loved him so much that she couldn't stand to erase his memories before this game. She worked on this plan long and hard so that they could be together.
Was she someone who would just give up?
Images of her encounter with Rantaro in the library flashed back into her head. The things he said to her... He wanted her to break free from all of this, from all of her insecurities, so she could be herself...
"You're perfect just the way you are. You don't need to be anyone else."
And the motivational words of Kaito, just last night... Even the words she herself spoke to Angie...
"When you're down, and you want to give up, just tell yourself that you can do this. You can do anything you put your mind to. I know that you can, but you have to be the one to tell yourself."
"You have to be yourself, make your own decisions, embrace your own feelings, make your own mistakes, and move on. That's how you grow as a person. And that's how you'll find happiness. Not someone else's happiness. Your own."
All this time, she's been forcing her flamboyant, impulsive Mastermind self back, in the fear that if anyone saw it, they'd immediately suspect her. Without that resolve, she couldn't fight against the others. But what would happen if she released her restraints...
If she took all of her learnings from the past few days... All this confidence she's been building... And combined them with her real, hidden personality... She'd grow into someone much stronger.
She might be able to do this.
And if she failed, it didn't matter. At least she'd have given it her all.
She reached down towards the sink and turned the handle, gushing cold water into the drain. She cupped her hands underneath the stream and threw some onto her face. The water stung, but it was refreshing. After wiping her glasses off, she looked at herself in the mirror one last time.
Her eyes were set, her smile fearless. The remnants of what she saw a minute ago were gone - as if a ghost had left her body. Tsumugi took a deep breath and released it.
I can do this. All I need is one day... Then I can use my blackout light to erase their memories... As long as I can convince Keebo to wait, then I can turn the tables...
Now, what was the one thing that stopped them from breaking in before...
She turned around in place and marched towards the bathroom door, throwing the door open. She ran down the hallway, practically jumped down the stairs, and slid over to the library entrance, the tall shelves of multicolored books coming into view.
All of the students were standing near the back, in small groups to the side. However, Keebo was in front of the hideout entrance, his body already transformed. A jetpack extended out of his upper back, and his right arm became a laser gun, capable of destroying almost anything... Including that door...
But Tsumugi wouldn't let that happen. She threw a finger at Keebo, making sure to yell as loud as she could.
"OBJECTION!"
Keebo swiveled around to face the sound, as did the other students. Tsumugi knew none of them were expecting such a yell from someone like her, but it didn't matter. She needed to do this. For herself. For Rantaro. And for everyone else.
Tsumugi began waltzing into the library, her heels clicking in the silence like the ticking of a clock in an empty room. She passed short bookcases overflowing with dusty books, staring at the others, who returned her glances with incredulity. As she stepped within five feet of Keebo, she paused, resting her hands on her hips.
"Tsumugi?"
"Keebo, you don't need to blast away that door."
The robot chuckled nervously, "Uh, did something happen, Tsumugi? You're acting quite strange."
She could tell everyone else expressed the same sentiment - curiosity. And rightfully so - her character change was jarring. But she already thought of an explanation for this - and she wasn't going to wait for the right time. She wasn't going to back down. Not this time.
"I've been thinking... Even though we've only known each other for a few days, we're still friends. So if there's a chance that any of us could die from breaking into the Mastermind's hideout, I don't want to take it!"
Tsumugi could've heard a pin drop in the next few seconds. No one moved a muscle. Keebo eventually folded his arms, addressing the girl with a cold stare.
"Please enlighten me, how would any of us die from doing so? I doubt you'll change my mind, but you can surely try."
This was it. This was the moment of truth. The decisive battle of wits between her and Keebo. One she didn't quite want to happen, but she anticipated anyways.
All these Killing Games, she was forced to take a back seat and watch the others solve each case, so she didn't reveal her true nature as Mastermind. However, during the Mastermind Trial, she'd be the one leading, commanding the lucky survivors to submit to her. Enduring the smaller cases made the finales worth it for her, where she was allowed to argue to her heart's content.
Yet, there was still something that they lacked. Originality. She already knew the outcome of every murder. She had her script to follow whenever she revealed herself. There was nothing new, nothing unique about any of those events...
This was different. To participate in a debate like this, as her true self, with the outcome unknown, gave her strength. Thrill coursed through her veins, the ambient daytime melody, although still playing, was dulled in her mind, being replaced with the lively trial beat.
This was it.
Let's get ready for a Class Trial!