Rantaro was staring down Keebo as the robot floated above them. He watched through his Exisal, his eyes darting to a specific screen. One that enabled the feature that Tsumugi told him about. This "secret weapon"...

Granted, the feature was already enabled this entire time... Maybe Keebo didn't notice... Maybe it would work...

But it didn't just rely on him. Kaito, too, had to play a part. And in order for this to work, he had to be more convincing than Rantaro. It was unfortunate they didn't have any time to practice...

The boy took a deep breath. Now was the time. He wouldn't fail. They wouldn't fail...

He thrust his arms to the side, and as he spoke, Kaito's voice boomed out of the Red Exisal.

"I won't let you hurt these people! These Exisals can take enough hits to outlast your battery's charge! Now's the time for you to give up, Keebo!"

Keebo tilted his head, sending another blast towards the machine. One which was blocked by the Exisal's arms, the impact sending sparks flying from the wires. Smoke began rising, and a small fire sizzled up as well. Yet, the Exisal stood its ground. Rantaro shook its arm a few times to put out the blaze.

"Me? Give up? Those things are nothing compared to me. Two hits, and you're already on fire. There's no way you can survive until morning."

As the other Exisals slowly moved back into position, it was now Rantaro's voice that emanated from the Blue one.

"We will survive - all of us. Especially Tsumugi. She deserves a better life than these Killing Games."

Keebo began growling, releasing a tightened fist to point a finger at the girl. His jetpacks flared in anger.

"Better life? SHE was the one who chose this life!"

Tsumugi yelled back, still hiding behind the Red Exisal.

"That was before! Now, I choose him! I choose Rantaro!"

"You can't! The Mastermind only has one choice - and it's to continue the Killing Game!"

A response came from behind Keebo - so he wheeled around again to face the sound of Rantaro's voice.

"Keebo, do you understand? She chose me, instead of all of you. The Killing Games are over. Done. She's abandoning them. And there's nothing you can do about it. I'm going to defeat you, and Tsumugi and I are going to escape this school, along with everyone else!"

Rantaro smirked from the sidelines. The two of them were doing wonderfully. Shifting the conversation to their relationship made Keebo want to attack Rantaro, in the hopes that Tsumugi would return to her old ways once the person she cared most about was dead. And now that there were no more distractions, Keebo would be able to unleash his full power against anyone he wished.

The real question was, where is the real Rantaro?

Keebo paused for a second after the comment, and lifted an eyebrow.

"Are you certain?"

The voice agreed, "Yes, of course. The bond between us is unbreakable."

Keebo muttered a few words under his breath, albeit loud enough to be heard from the ground.

"Let's test that..."

Instinctively, Tsumugi shouted, "Rantaro, watch out, he's-"

"Tsumugi, it's fine, it'll be-"

But before he could finish, a sinister grimace rose on Keebo's face as his jetpack let out a fire as bright as the sun. He smashed into the Blue Exisal within milliseconds, sending the both of them on a crash course towards the far reaches of the courtyard. The other four pilots dove in to follow, yet they were no match for the robot's pure speed. Keebo forced the Exisal to the ground with an deafening explosion - the shockwave almost enough to knock Tsumugi off her feet.

"Rantaro!", the girl shouted.

The students watched the site with desperate eyes. Smoke rose like a meal microwaved for too long, slowly clearing away from the site of the crash. Keebo's shadow could be seen slowly rising, and as he got to his feet, he aimed his blaster at the machine's front hatch and released, the pulse whisking the smoke away.

Keebo stood over the now-dysfunctional Exisal, and gripped the door. His eyes were glowing brighter, and more intensely than before.

"Rantaro... You would've been lucky to die in that crash... Because if you didn't..."

In one motion, he ripped the hatch off the machine, revealing who was inside. And for the first time in the fight, Keebo was frozen in shock. His eyes widened - and the robot went mute.

Sitting there in the destroyed Blue Exisal's cockpit was none other than Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars. His outfit was stained pink due to injuries from the crash, but the boy was still alive. Grinning, and coughing up a few ounces of blood, the astronaut let out one word. The Exisal's garbled voice changer picked it up as well, converting the man's voice to match Rantaro's - almost as if both of them were speaking at the same time.

"Gotcha."

"Wh-What?"

Keebo turned backwards to face the other students standing near the dormitories. His eyes zoned in on Tsumugi, who was smirking at him. He clenched his fists - but froze again once he realized something else.

The Red Exisal was no longer protecting them.

"Miu!"

Less than a second passed before a voice could be heard from the robot's side - Kaito's voice, from the Red Exisal. Before Keebo could turn to face it, he felt the sickening impact of the Exisal's fist against his metallic body. The robot flew a hundred feet before smacking the ground, tumbling three or four times over.

The Pink Exisal reacted to her prompt quickly, diving headfirst towards the fallen boy. She swiftly gripped him tightly with the Exisal's arm, holding him hostage as he tried to squirm free.

"Ha, you're mine now!"

The other two Exisals flew over and parked next to Miu's. Angie decided to begin punching Keebo, the robot's body recoiling with each hit.

"Face the wrath of Atua's divine punishment!"

"Hey- Let me- go-"

After seeing the group successfully capture Keebo, Rantaro let out a large exhale. He turned off his Exisal's voice changer - which was converting his voice to match Kaito's, necessary for the deception to work. And it worked flawlessly... He'd have Tsumugi to thank for that...

Rantaro approached the group in his Red Exisal and waved off the aggressive artist.

"Angie, calm down, we don't want to kill him."

After a sigh, Angie stepped away, "Ah, alright..."

Rantaro parked his Exisal directly in front of Keebo, and opened the hatch so the two of them could see each other, face to face. Before he would take off the robot's antenna, he'd attempt to speak to him first. After all, those were real people on the other side... Maybe once they knew defeat, they'd actually listen... Keebo still wore the same scowl, but he'd have to try...

"Keebo... It's time you took a breath and realized... Look around. There are fifteen people here who were thrown into this Killing Game unwillingly... Fifteen real people, even though their personalities are complete fiction. I know this is just a show to you, just entertainment... But what we are going through is real. To watch real people murder each other... People who have just started to become friends...

"You should all be disappointed in yourselves. Especially about Tsumugi. She finally found love, and you're forcing her to continue to bend to your will? That's not right. All she wants is to have a normal life... And you should, too.

"I understand it's not easy. Danganronpa is your life. And, well, it was ours, too... To just have something like that stripped away from you... It's difficult... I can promise you that we will be there to help. If you all need more entertainment, I promise I'll try my best to give you something to fill the void. But you all have to trust us and work together, so we can get over this...

"So... What do you say?"

Rantaro finished talking, and took a few seconds to catch his breath, watching the robot. Yet, even after the speech, Keebo remained motionless. The sickening scowl was still plastered on his face, but his arms and legs went limp, signifying that he had given up. Rantaro squinted, and as he looked closer, he could sense the robot slowly vibrating, as if there was an earthquake that only he was detecting.

Before the boy could comprehend what was happening, Tsumugi's panicked voice broke the silence. She yelled from across the courtyard.

"Everyone, run! Keebo's viewers are lending him power! He's going to set off a massive energy blast!"

Rantaro felt a pang of fear. He thought they'd already won... It seems this robot could overcome almost anything...

Unfortunately, he wasn't within an arm's reach of Keebo's antenna, so he promptly closed his Exisal's hatch and jetted away as fast as he could. Not a second passed before Rantaro's vision was flooded with bright white. His ears popped as his Exisal was forced to the ground - throwing him around in the cockpit.

The machine rolled in the dirt, pieces and shards of metal flying everywhere. An arm broke off, and at one point even the hatch flew off, exposing Rantaro. After another rotation, the seatbelt unhinged as well, thrusting the boy from his seat.

Rantaro smacked the ground with a thud, leaving him gasping for air. The boy's vision became blurry. His chest and arms were bruised, he was bleeding in a few places, and he might have a broken rib...

But he couldn't give up. Not now... Not after all they've been through...

He opened his eyes as best he could, and placed his palms on the singed dirt of the once-green courtyard. Painstakingly, Rantaro pushed himself off the ground, getting his feet under him. He stood up quickly, and as such, he almost fell over. But as he dashed forward, his momentum kept him upright. He was focused on only one thing.

Tsumugi.

The girl gasped as she saw Rantaro sustain his injuries. Her teary eyes were wide, her mouth agape in terror. She instantly began running towards him. If he hadn't immediately motioned to get up, she'd have feared the boy was dead.

The two met in a soft embrace - the girl not wanting to further agitate his wounds. She let out a slight smile, as much as she could given the current situation.

"Are you alright?"

The boy chuckled, "I'll be fine... We've got bigger things to worry about..."

He was right. Tsumugi looked around at her formerly pristine courtyard. There was what looked like a meteorite crater in the lower area, where Keebo let off his energy blast. The other three Exisals were scattered around, each suffering similar damages to Rantaro's. Slowly, the students exited their machines and began limping towards the larger group. Even Kaito, whose clothes were stained with blood, joined their macabre march.

She then turned to her left, and saw her once-unparalleled school, also in shambles. The wreckage of Keebo's attack was still covering a few victims. Shuichi and Maki were out first, and Tsumugi watched as they pulled the others out from underneath the rubble. After a minute, the group made their way to the dormitory gathering as well.

The girl wondered why Keebo wasn't going after these clearly vulnerable students, but she realized his monstrous attack must've taken a lot of energy from him. She'd hoped it would've been enough to drain his power supply until tomorrow, but as she watched, she knew that wouldn't be the case.

Keebo was still flying, albeit lower than usual. Sparks and stray electric currents were flickering around his body, and despite the dents and gashes in the robot's armor, he continued to remain conscious. Every second, he inched closer to Tsumugi and her group of students, his height increasing as well.

He'd need some time to recharge, but the fact of the matter was that they had been defeated. Just like her DRV3 academy, her plans had been destroyed as well. And as much as she refused to give up, she almost wanted to.

The robot flew high above them, circling the dormitory until his back was to the school. He was breathing heavily as he stared at the students like darts. The stragglers from the two defeated groups caught up, and not after long, the fourteen of them were together, collectively watching the robot that had so thoroughly crushed their Hopes.

Keebo began to speak. His voice was hoarse and slow, as if every word burnt his throat.

"You... got lucky...

"Such... a strong attack... And you're... not dead...

"Well... You'll just have... to wait... in Despair... until I kill you..."

"How fitting... For an end... to Danganronpa 53..."

Tsumugi refused to believe it. There was no way all their hard work, all their fighting, would go to waste. Amidst tears, she yelled up at the robot, her voice wavering.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Keebo contemplated the comment, and after a second, responded.

"You still... seek for... our concession...

"If we wanted... to concede... we would've done so... ages ago...

"And n-nothing... You can say... Will stop us...

The robot spoke with a snarl, his tone unchanging from earlier today. He uttered one last statement before holding up his arm gun at the students.

"Now enjoy... your final moments... on this earth..."

Tsumugi stared into the barrel of the gun as it began lighting up. The darkness of the students' Despair would soon be replaced by the shining Hope of the viewers - which had proved to be immensely powerful.

And without the energy to fight on, both her and the students would surely be killed. She was desperately searching for, attempting to grasp any semblance of a plan that would save them. Anything. It didn't even have to be something that'd work every time...

But her mind went blank. There was nothing they could do to fight back against the Hope Robot. Their resources were exhausted...

Was this... Was this truly the end?

The girl then turned towards the classmates standing beside her. Kaede was covered in dust, and her left leg had a large gash along the ankle, but nevertheless she stood tall. Next to her, Shuichi was cradling his injured arm, yet he still stared upwards at Keebo. Maki, despite her bruises and scrapes, was doing her best to hold up Kaito, who continued to cough up blood. And their eyes were fixated on Keebo as well.

The other students did the same. Each and every one of them was on the verge of collapsing, yet they displayed the same strength and determination as they did before the fight started.

Even Rantaro. As she turned to him, she fell into his green eyes as if the two of them were still watching movies the other night. Tears began flowing down her cheeks. She was so thankful for his actions that day, the actions that would change her life.

So who was she to let it go so easily?

Tsumugi didn't know what they could do, or how they could win. But at least she'd be strong until the bitter end - just like everyone else. She needed to take the Hope in front of her and reach for it, seize it.

But with Keebo's gun almost charged, what could they do?

His gun buzzed with energy, almost enough to evaporate all of them. Seeing as it was just about time, the robot spoke up again.

"Do you have... any last words... for the audience?"

Tsumugi turned back towards Keebo, but looked higher, above him. Her eyes gazed past the robot and up at the sky - the fabricated starry night. It was at times like these when she wished Angie's Atua was real. She hoped there was some god, some supreme being that heard her silent call for help, and would come save them from this fate. But a few seconds passed, and the situation remained unchanged.

Taking a deep breath, the girl returned her eyes to Keebo, who was preparing to shoot. She froze.

And that's when she saw it.

The Hope that she needed. The Hope that she so frantically searched for.

And the one that would save them from this Bad End.

Her head jolted to turn to Rantaro. And it seemed that he knew as well - he was looking at her with the same expression that she had.

Tsumugi gave him a confident nod, and the boy returned it. This was their Hope, their last chance at their future together.

Without further hesitation, Tsumugi spoke up at Keebo's request.

"Yes."

Keebo inspected the girl, determining if there was indeed a trick up her sleeve. Eventually, he allowed it.

"Go ahead... We're waiting..."

With another full breath, she focused on Rantaro. The love of her life. Despite him being in pain, his expression was still warm and inviting. The cool, night wind rustled his hair, setting free some of the dirt that settled in from the crash.

The girl spoke up.

"Rantaro, there are so many things I'd like to say to you now. But I fear we might not have enough time. So I'll keep this short...

"Rantaro... Thank you for opening my eyes... I love you..."

The girl pushed forward and kissed him, placing her hands on the boy's shoulders. She closed her eyes, savoring the moment as much as she could. A second passed. Five seconds passed. Ten seconds passed. And the two of them still held their pose, a potent demonstration of love.

Hopefully her distraction gave them enough time...