Hajime looked toward the two other super-geniuses with a bored expression. Kyoko shifted her eyes between the former reserve course student and her sworn enemy, the SHSL Despair. Makoto sighed as he looked at all three of them staring at each other in complete silence.

"What did you find out, Hinata-san?"

Hajime pushed two pictures forward, displayed on his own phone, on the table they were standing around.

Junko raised her right eyebrow as she took a good look at the people in them. "These two? Huh..."

"There could even be more accomplices."

Makoto's eyes widened when he finally decided to gaze on the two photos. "Are...are you sure about this? I mean, I know you don't mess around but..."

"Unfortunately, yes. These two are the two who are the most likely."

Kyoko picked up the phone and took a closer look. "What basis do you have for accusing these two?"

"One of them hasn't been seen by any one of us. Yukizome-sensei confirmed that he's on the island with them. And the other..."

The stoic detective tapped her left finger on the table as she waited for a response.

"I can only hope I'm wrong about the other."

"So what's the plan, then?" Makoto asked.

"We need to find them and capture them. There's no telling what they're capable of." Kyoko replied. "Is that okay with you, Hinata-san?"

After a short silence, Hajime nodded slowly. "Yeah. It'll be fine."

Komaru suddenly spoke up. "Um...want to share what you guys found or what?"

"There's no time. Who knows who else will be pulled in?" Kyoko ordered.

"B-But who are we supposed to catch?"

"I'll explain on the way, Komaru-san. I'll be heading out first with them. Makoto-kun, take a group out along with Byakuya's men for another search party. Hinata-san, I trust you'll be leading your own group. Time is running out."

Kyoko left the room with Komaru shortly after, leaving Makoto without an opportunity to object.

"Do you think we can find them?"

Hajime sighed. "Maybe. The mastermind most likely knows we've been looking for them. That person was responsible for us showing up here in the first place. But...I need more evidence."

"Evidence? Didn't you just say that it's those two that are responsible?"

"I just...I just need to make sure." Hajime left without another word.

Junko grinned, alone in the meeting room with Makoto. "Oh, Kamakura. How the mighty have fallen."

"I don't think you have room to talk." The SHSL Hope replied.

"What?! I'm fucking amazing!" She snarled while he walked over to the door, facing away from her.

"Aren't you at least empathetic to what he's going through right now?"

"Oh, I understand it. But I couldn't care less."

"Junko!"

"Upupupu." She moved quickly toward him as if she was gliding. "Isn't it so funny how our names are so common?"

"...what?"

"Makoto and Junko, of course! Don't you know how many people are named them? And yet, here we are, the only ones with those names that matter."

Taking a pause, Naegi breathed in and exhaled deeply. "So, what's your point?"

"It's like someone said: look! Hope and despair can come from anyone!" She grins widely. "But is that really true?"

"Of course it's true. We saw it with our own eyes, didn't we?"

"Nonononono. Not at all! Not at all!"

"Then what did you mean?"

"Could others really be the SHSL Hope and SHSL Despair? Do you think it could've been different?"

"...maybe. I can't say for sure."

"Then who would they be, Makoto? C'mon! Name them name them name them!"

"I wouldn't be able to name them on the spot like that."

She moves within his arm's length.

"Seriously, I'm drawing a blank here."

"I mean, if you want to be technical..." She starts playing with his ahoge. "It could be anyone, you know? Crazy alternate universes exist, don't they?"

"Yeah. They probably do. But why bring it up?"

"You still couldn't really imagine others taking up those roles, could you?"

"Why would I want to do that? There's really no point."

She softened her hard grin into a close-lipped smile. "Exactly. All I see is you."

"W-Wait, what?"

Junko forcibly embraces Makoto and leans her head right up against his cheek. "You want to know why? It's fate. We were destined to walk hand-in-hand!"

"You're always so dramatic."

He turned the door handle and opened it. Byakuya and Mukuro were waiting outside with a few of the Togami subordinates.

"Hmph. I was about to have Ikusaba break down this door. It seems my hunch wasn't too far off the mark."

"Hello there, oh dull sister of mine."

"Hello, Junko-chan." She stopped herself from bowing slightly. Looking over to the person her sister attached onto as if she were a parasite, she smiled. "Naegi-kun."

"Are you guys ready?"

"Kirigiri-san went off in a hurry. What is going on?"

Makoto's eyes shifted over to the side and saw Sayaka standing there.

"Ah! Naegi-sensei." The SHSL Idol smiled nervously. "We aren't interrupting anything, are we?"

"You did ask for this." Byakuya spat. "I'll assume you have an idea of what you actually hope to achieve."

Junko smirked. "Greedy."

"Let's walk and talk. It's important."

Makoto started to walk forward, the avatar of Despair in tow. Mukuro and Sayaka flanked his sides while Byakuya took a position behind them all, flanked by his staff.

"Seems we've got some prime suspects for the people behind all of this." Makoto answered. "The question is now where did they go?" Makoto bit his lip. "Maizono-san, did you have a strange dream last night? Maybe there might be a clue there."

Sayaka shook her head. "I'm afraid I haven't. Who are you looking for?"

"Chiaki Nanami and Ryota Mitarai."

"Sorry, Hajime-kun." Chisa slumped her shoulders. "I don't know where they are. I haven't seen either of them since breakfast."

"I see. Do you know where they went?" Hajime asked.

Nagito and the A.I. Chiaki were flanking him on both sides, with Monaca holding the man-sized Monokuma as if they were schoolchildren waiting for the bus near them.

"No. I'll call up Kyosuke and Juzo-kun to help look for them. And then if they don't show up for lunch, then I'll ask the rest of the class to look for them so they won't be alarmed."

"Thanks, Chisa-san."

The former SHSL Housekeeper walked past the group, looking back at Hajime one more time before leaving the room.

"...you've been uneasy since you summoned us, Hinata-kun. What's wrong?" Nagito asked.

The android girl looked at him curiously.

"I'm...not sure if I should still be doing this."

"Hinata-kun, were you not the one who warned us about the dangers of letting these actions go unchecked?"

"I was but...if it really is her doing, is stopping her the right thing to do?"

Nagito crossed his arms and looked down.

"Hajime-nii." Monaca pouted. "Are you seriously going to let something like a conscience get in your way? Aren't you supposed to be cool?!" She let go of Monokuma and crossed her arms.

The artificial Chiaki placed her hand on Monaca's shoulder and shook her head.

"Ohoho, I get it. You're still guilty over Miss Fanservice's death, aren't you?!" Monokuma taunted. Hajime balled his hand into a fist and swung right at the murderous bear, breaking him to pieces, leaving wreckage and a dented wall.

"Awww, Kuma-chan. You shouldn't have said something sooo stupid." The former Towa heiress sighed. "He would obviously know where to hit to avoid triggering the explosion, you silly bear."

"Hinata-kun." The artificial SHSL Gamer finally said. "Why do you think stopping Chiaki-chan is the wrong choice here? Haven't you already analyzed the situation?"

"I know! But I just can't help it." Hajime bit his lip. "Damn it, I should've just stayed as Kamakura."

She shook her head. "No. Just because they tried to make you something inhuman doesn't change the fact that you're still human, right? If an AI like me can have feelings, then you should be able to feel even more. And you should embrace it."

"It gets in the way."

"No. It makes you stronger."

Monaca rolled her eyes. "Yeah right..."

"If she's really the one behind everything, then you should already know why she's doing it. And not because of all those talents in you, but because you knew her. Becuase you can empathize."

"That's the problem. I know why."

"Then you can tell her why she's wrong." A warm smile appeared on her face. "And if you find yourself stumbling on what words to say, then we're here to help you."

"Ah. I understand now." Nagito opened his arms wide. "You are actually afraid of her, yes? I don't blame you. Her hope is quite potent. But, as Nanami-san said, we're here to help."

Hajime raised his eyebrow, smirking slightly. "I'm well aware of the brand of help you like to give, Komaeda."

"My methods may be questionable, but they do bring results do they not?"

"Please control yourself when we finally find her."

Nagito laughed softly. "It seems you've bounced back."

"A little bit. But I think I can face her."

Monaca tapped her chin. "If she's anything like our big sis Chiaki, I don't see how she's so scary."

Hajime looked at his open palm, with no bruises or scratches left from when he punched the robotic mascot of the killing games. "You might understand one day. If you let yourself."

"Ugh. No thanks. The last thing I need is to become sappy like everyone else."

"Is that so? Guess that's too bad, Monaca."

The door suddenly swung open and Hajime immediately looked over. Mahiru and Hiyoko barged in without warning, completely out of breath.

"Hinata!" Mahiru yelled. "We—we lost them."

"Lost who?"

"We noticed that Kuzuryuu and Peko-chan were acting kind of weird. We tried to follow them, but I think they noticed us following so they started to run. We couldn't keep up."

Taking another deep breath, Hiyoko brought out a smug expression. "S-Seriously, Koizumi-nee. I bet those two just wanted to make out in the bushes or something. They've always been a couple of shady weirdos."

"It's still a lead. Can you show us where you lost them?" Hajime asked.

"Yeah. This way."

"See anything, Toko-chan?" Komaru yelled as she leaped across a building, landing next to the former SHSL Literary Girl.

"N-No. There's no one over here."

"Darn it! It can't be this hard to find those two."

"W-Well, aren't they both basically shut-ins? Being out-of-sight must be part of their SHSL talent for them."

"I don't think that really counts." Komaru rubbed the side of her right cheek with her finger. "I mean, I like anime and video games too, but you don't see me staying inside all the time."

"W-Well, you're different."

"Hey, I'm not that different! There's a lot of girls who take those hobbies the same way I do."

"Sure, whatever you say Komaru."

"Well, this is bad timing. I was hoping we would have some time to go out together."

"G-Go out? But we're always with each other."

"I mean, yeah, but I want to go on a date!"

Toko started blushing madly and bit her lower lip. "A d-date. Komaru, since when did you become so bold?"

"Bold? Huh?"

"A romantic date for two, including the bedroom."

Komaru sighed while Toko bridged her two index fingers together along with her trademark awkward smile.

Kyoko calmly arrived on the roof the two were on. "Not to interrupt, but we are on urgent business."

Hina ran up right behind her. "Kyoko-chan. I think I saw a guy that kinda looked like what you were describing. But..."

"But?"

"He's a lot fatter than what you said he would be."

"Is that so? Where did he go, Hina-san?"

The former SHSL Swimmer pointed down at the street below them. "He went toward that way. He wasn't running very fast."

"Everyone, with me." Kyoko ordered, leading the charge to where the target ran down.

The four women ran down the street with the locals and tourists giving them funny looks as they passed by. Reaching what looked to be a local school, they found a single person hanging in front of the gates there.

"N-Naegi?!"

"Makoto, what are you doing here?" Komaru asked. "Where's the rest of your group?"

"Oh, I just had them go on ahead." He replied. "We're looking for him, right? He went that way."

"I see. Very well." Kyoko responded, but did not move.

"Is something wrong?" The man with the ahoge inquired. "Don't worry about me. I'll catch up."

Hina looked confused. "Well, if you say so."

Kyoko crossed her arms. "We're not just looking for one person. There's also another. Where is she?"

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"I see. So you're not an accomplice. At least where Chiaki Nanami is concerned, SHSL Impostor."

"S-Seriously you two. He's way too fat to be Naegi." Toko chided.

"I was about to say..." Hina murmured.

"Hinata-san alerted me to your presence." The former SHSL Detective explained. "You were disguised as Ryota Mitarai for the past few days, fooling your entire class. Where is he?"

Still in Makoto Naegi's visage, the SHSL Impostor answered. "What will you do to him, Kirigiri?"

"I assure you no harm will come to him. I only wish to talk."

"You mean an interrogation."

"I didn't deny it. How long have you been in this world?"

The heavyset impostor gave her a serious look. "For about a month or so."

"So later than the rest of us, but earlier than some of your classmates."

"Wait? Did it actually work?"

"...so you're not privy to the methods of the mastermind."

"Mastermind?!" The SHSL Impostor stepped back in shock. "We're not doing anything wrong!"

"You and your group have disregarded any possible consequences from your actions. Have you not realized that what you've done has not only taken us from our rightful homes, but also caused damage to this alternate reality?"

"It... has?"

Komaru nodded. "Yeah. There's been crazy earthquakes and angry robots popping out of nowhere. People died!"

Sweat started to form on the nameless individual's face as he was hearing this. "I had no idea. I thought they were just coincidences."

"I see. I won't harass you any longer. But it's important that we see Mitarai-san. I'll ask again... where is he?"

A long sigh came from the large individual. After a few moments, the doppelganger made eye contact with her.

Mukuro motioned over to everyone else as she looked around the corner.

"Guess you're good for something, wolfie." Junko grinned.

The former SHSL Soldier's eyes moved over to her to acknowledge the backhanded compliment and then back at where she was looking. She could see the backs of the two members of yakuza that she spotted while they were on the move. Makoto and the others were right behind the two despair sisters, while the Togami Corporation bodyguards were securing the perimeter from any wandering bystanders.

"They know we're here." She whispered, looking back at the former SHSL Lucky Student.

He nodded in response, with her taking out her combat knife and rushing toward them. As a swift motion, Peko blocked the strike with her own sword. Immediately twisting the knife toward the SHSL Kendoka, Mukuro's strikes were continually blocked by the swordswoman's katana.

"You again? It seems the powers that be have granted me a chance for a rematch." She swung directly at the freckled former mercenary and it was blocked by the sheer force behind the combat knife.

"How the fuck did we end up here?" A now-eyepatched Fuyuhiko yelled behind from Peko. "And why the fuck are these two bitches alive again?!"

"Stay behind me, young master."

"Ikusaba-san, I didn't mean for you to start fighting!" Makoto shouted.

Junko growled. "Hey! Don't stop the fight, it was starting to get interesting."

Mukuro's eyes narrowed. "You haven't changed much."

"I only regained what I had lost." Peko's grip on her hilt tightened. "It was the greatest failure of my life."

"Peko!" Fuyuhiko sneered. "Don't blame yourself for what these two pieces of shit did. We didn't see it coming."

"Hey!" Makoto demanded. "This is no time for this. We need to talk."

The former SHSL Yakuza stared down the SHSL Hope. "Fine. But only because I've got a debt to pay. Tell that mutt of yours to stand down."

"Ikusaba-san." He pleaded.

Her eyes still locked to her opponent, Mukuro moved backward slowly until there was enough distance between the sword and herself, standing right in front of Makoto and Junko.

Sayaka sighed in relief. "Good. I was worried a fight would break out. You seem to really know a lot of people, Naegi-sensei."

"The less incidents we cause, the better. The last thing we need is for the media to catch wind of this." Byakuya glanced over at Makoto. "Though, technically, we're too late on that."

"Like I'd even write about this. Come on, Togami-kun."

"You better fill us in on what the hell's going on here." Fuyuhiko demanded.

"Yeah. Of course. But... is it just you two here? What was the last thing you guys remember?"

"Well, we were wondering where people were disappearing off to on Jabberwock. We decided to look ourselves and suddenly there was like...some kind of monsoon or something."

"What?"

"Yes. The winds became perilous. We were on the fourth island when we had to seek shelter." Peko continued for her young master. "Suddenly the roof over the building we hid out in had its roof torn straight off. The rain poured on us and then I blacked out."

"Yeah? Same thing happened to me." Fuyuhiko commented.

"Ohoho... a deadly storm? Now that's new." Junko mused. "Wonder if that's going to happen here?"

Her vocal pondering caused most of them to grimace.

"We'll just have to stop it before it gets to that point." Makoto declared.

"Don't make it sound so simple." Byakuya adjusted his glasses. "Or did you form a plan right here and now?"

"You don't have to put me on the spot like that."

"Typical Naegi."

"We just need to find them."

"These two have gone undetected while we have been here." Byakuya turned to the two members of Class 77-B. "Do you have any idea where they are?"

Fuyuhiko shook his head. "Nah. It was just me and Peko here. We didn't see anyone."

"If they just crossed over, there's a good chance that whoever led them here is still around somewhere." Makoto suggested.

"Precisely. They won't leave this area. It's on lockdown." Byakuya smugly pointed out.

"Togami-kun, did you forget that they have access to brainwashing anime?"

"Well that's—hmph. Seems it had slipped my mind for a moment." The former SHSL Heir looked away with his arms crossed. "I'll go ahead and contact the teams."

Makoto looked over at the SHSL Idol, who was quiet the entire time. She had her eyes closed with her hands together. Mukuro, meanwhile, was scanning the area for any trace of the potential third person.

"Naegi-kun. He ran down the alleyway." Sayaka murmured.

Makoto froze for a few moments before acknowledging her. "Alright."

Mukuro pushed past Fuyuhiko and Peko, rushing down the alleyway. The gray-haired sword maiden raised an eyebrow as they followed her down, eventually leading to a dead end. There was a steel door attached to a building, along with a dumpster that presumably belonged to whoever or whatever was inside. Makoto approached the heavy-looking door and tried opening it.

"Looks like it's locked."

Junko decided to move forward and check around the dumpster. Seeing a small light from the corner of her eye, she swiftly moved toward it and found herself face-to-face with a cell phone containing a familiar-looking animation.

"Junko? Hey! Did you find him?"

She didn't respond. Mukuro immediately readied her knife, with Peko readying her sword at the same moment.

A small male immediately leaped past where the SHSL Despair stood, holding out his phone. Everyone immediately was either captivated or looked away while he started to run past them all. Makoto heard the footsteps and went after him, catching up to him within a few moments. He tackled the SHSL Animator and brought him to the ground. Ryota, deathly terrified, pointed his hypnotic anime right at the Makoto, but he grabbed the phone and forced him to drop it on the floor.

"W-Why didn't it work on you?!"

"I don't know, Mitarai-san. But I'm sorry. It's over."

Junko looked over both of them while the rest were still recovering.

"It didn't work on you?!" Ryota screamed. "But a weaker version of my animation worked before!"

"Yeah, before." She smirked. "I was hoping you'd rough him up a little, Makoto. Two twinks going at it? Kinda hot."

"Wh-what?!" Ryota had a face of disappointment and fear.

"There it is! Ahahahaha! It's been a while since I've seen that face, Mitarai." Junko looked euphoric. "It's a good look on you. Maybe I should've gotten you with the rest of your class back then."

"S-Stay away!" He tried trashing and shaking Makoto off, but he happened to be one of the few SHSL individuals that was weaker than the former SHSL Lucky Student.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Makoto yelled, then turned toward the smaller male. "We need to talk."

"Naegi-san..."

Hajime and Chisa sat across from the former SHSL Impostor (who was not diguised as anyone, sporting his normal long black hair) and former SHSL Animator. The two tried not to make eye contact with both of them. Kyosuke and Juzo were sitting off to the side, observing the questioning.

"Impostor-kun. Ryota-kun." Chisa began. "We just want the truth from you both. And we also need to know where Chiaki-chan is."

The former SHSL Hope continued to examine them in silence. Ryota kept dropping a few looks toward him while trying not to look either of them in the eye.

"Are you guys trying to protect her?" Hajime asked.

"W-We weren't doing anything wrong a-and..."

The almost-supernatural impostor shook his head slowly as he looked at Ryota with a pitying look.

"Did you lie to me, Mitarai?"

"No! I didn't! We were just trying to get everyone to a better world, right?"

"Was living in exile that hard for you?" Chisa asked. "I'm grateful to be alive again, don't get me wrong. But what you guys have been doing is dangerous."

Juzo looked outside of the window while Kyosuke watched quietly, focusing on Ryota.

"No, it's not that! I was fine...living away from everyone. Especially after what I've done and tried to do."

"So it was guilt. Is that why you didn't talk to me?" Hajime asked.

"Y-You probably have a therapeutic talent in you. I was willing to live with my guilt for the rest of my life."

"What did Nanami tell you? The one that you know."

"She..." He shook his head. "Look, she's not wrong! Why did all of those people have to die because of one high school girl?!"

Hajime replied with his own question. "Why did Hope's Peak have to make a superman?"

Ryota didn't answer.

"Why did the entire world's fixation on SHSL students lead to this bullshit?" He glared at Juzo, who pretended not to notice. "Bringing back people from the dead is all fine and good, but don't pretend that our world was perfect."

"Then we can have a perfect world here!"

"Did you think that's even possible? You haven't really seen the world out there, have you?"

"W-Well, I..."

"That anime of yours. Were you going to broadcast it to the whole world?"

"No! I wasn't! It was just so I could bring people to—" Ryota stopped himself.

"I see." Hajime replied. "You used your hypnosis in order to bring Class 77-B to wherever Nanami was telling you to bring them."

"...y-yes."

Chisa looked straight at him but maintained a soft, sweet tone. "Ryota-kun. What happens when the people are replaced?"

"They—they..."

"Take a deep breath. We only want the truth."

"She called it being reformatted."

"What happens when they reformat?"

"They start changing. Things start getting replaced all over their body."

"You've seen it?"

"Yes." Ryota nodded. "I...don't know the specifics on how it happens, but..."

"That explains why Kuzuryu has his eyepatch now." Hajime added. "But Nanami didn't say how or why it was being done?"

"Everyone looked okay after it happened. So I didn't ask."

"How long have you been working with her?" Chisa brought up.

"Since we got to this island. I told the Impostor after I brought him here and asked for help."

The SHSL Impostor nodded. "I had no idea what was going on until I arrived here and was filled in by Mitarai."

"Where is she now?"

Ryota shook his head. "She said she wanted to space out bringing people here on the first day. But lately she wanted people to come in as soon as possible. She probably realized that you were getting suspicious about her. But I only talked with her whenever we would see each other in the hotel."

"That doesn't explain how the rest of us got here. But I'm sure Chiaki-chan was involved in some way." Chisa stated. "Hey, Hajime-kun. Don't look so down. We just need to find her, okay?"

"...yeah. Okay." Hajime looked over to the others. "Any other questions?"

Juzo grunted but didn't say a word. Kyosuke looked both of them over as he walked over to the table they were sitting around. Ryota looked straight at him and gulped.

"No man is an island, Mitarai-san. You'd do well to apologize to your classmates."

The former vice chairman of the Future Foundation nodded and everyone stood up, leaving the two to talk among themselves.

Kyosuke turned to Hajime as the others stood up in the hallway when they exited.

"Hinata-san, what's our next step?"

"We don't know where Nanami's gone. But we'll be combing every nook and cranny for her. But I have to ask a certain person some questions."

"I see. I take it you're talking about Yasuke Matsuda. Go ahead. You have my permission."

Hajime nodded and started walking with a purpose. AI Chiaki and Nagito looked at each other for a moment while Monaca immediately walked after him. The two decided to follow.

Kyoko brought over two cups of coffee while Makoto was looking out at the sunset from the resort.

"It's a little chilly today. Thanks, Kyoko-chan."

"I understand you're not the biggest fan of coffee. But they did run out of tea. And hot cocoa."

He smiled. "You bringing this to me is nice enough already."

"It's definitely nice to have a whole plethora of people cooperating so we can have some time to relax. Your ideals have been made manifest."

"Sure, I guess. But I wasn't worried about being right."

She chuckled. "Yes. Of course not."

"Hey. I wanna ask you something."

"Hm? This is rare. What do you need, Makoto-kun?"

"I was wondering what you were planning to do for the future. If we can't go back, I mean."

She took a sip from her cup. "Well we can't exactly be heads of Hope's Peak here, can we? To tell you the truth, I'm unsure. And I'm fine with that."

"Really?"

"Yes. After all, I didn't originally see myself as Vice Headmistress of Hope's Peak Academy during my time in school."

"You were a patient teacher with me."

"That doesn't necessarily translate into being a good one for a whole student body." She turned to him. "May I remind you that you were also a good student."

"Well I wasn't exactly expecting myself to become Headmaster either."

"You've always been a symbol of hope, Makoto-kun. And you can lead when you really put your mind to it."

"I've heard that a few times before, but I always can't really accept those compliments."

"Impostor syndrome?"

"No, no. I guess I always felt like I could be doing more."

"Explains why you're more proactive than usual. How about you? What have you thought of about the future? Perhaps with whom you'd cohabit with?"

"C-Cohabit?" He cleared this throat and took a sip of his coffee. His cup wasn't straight black like Kyoko's was, but had sugar and cream in it.

"Oh. Were you thinking of marriage, then?"

"T-That's..."

"You always seem so squeamish when discussing romance." She leans over and looks closely at him. "It certainly isn't some sort of trauma."

"I'm just a little bashful about it is all."

She placed her hand on her chin. "I think I'm beginning to understand."

"Um, wait. What?"

"There's no need to be so nervous. After all, I am probably far more nervous than you are."

"You? Nervous? I mean it makes sense. You're always pretty good about keeping your emotions in check."

"I'd say my upbringing has done far more than keeping them in check. I've had to catch up to everyone else when it comes to expressing myself. Even more so now."

"Now? Oh..."

Kyoko gave Makoto a neutral, poignant look. "She's been getting to you. Enoshima is, if nothing else, one of the most persistent individuals I've had the displeasure of knowing."

He sighed as he sunk into his chair slightly. Looking back at the lavender-haired maiden, he didn't say a word but studied her face for a while. She found herself unconsciously moving slightly backward and not trying while straining to keep eye contact.

"She's made it where it's impossible to ignore her."

"I suppose my general inexperience with this has been my own Achilles' heel. But it seems we've gone off topic. What do you want to do for your future?"

"Well, I..."

ANote

"It certainly seems idyllic when murders aren't occuring." Kirumi observed as she was closely watching the footage generated from the season.

"Eh?" Kaede sounded.

"It's quite peaceful and beautiful in a way."

"I suppose. The Monokids do give me the creeps, though."

"Well they're basically like Monokuma. Murderous bears when you get to the core of it." Ryoma stated.

Rantaro had his hands put together. "I don't have a good feeling about this student council."

Kaede blinked a few times as she watched Angie on-screen. "I see what you mean. Do you think she's suspicious?"

"Maybe. But it could easily be a false flag."

"Really? Do you think they'd invest so much in letting this happen that it would go unresolved?"

"You never know. After all, didn't it look like you'd be the protagonist of this season?"

"I guess you have a point there."

"I would defer to the veteran of killing games." Kirumi affirmed. "Such shows as these certainly love to utilize misdirection."

"Does it make good TV, though?" Ryoma asked.

"That would be a far more subjective question."

"Oh! Right!" Kaede mused. "Amami-kun, I wanted to ask what you meant a few days ago about—"

As if to block the SHSL Pianist from probing further, the door opened up and revealed two new arrivals with the same staff member hiding beneath a cap and sunglasses.

"Why do you always wear those? Do you not have any other set of clothes?"

The staff member didn't acknowledge the question and gave the two girls who just arrived the same instructions given to the rest of them despite being completely spaced out. After he said his piece, he walked out of the room leaving Tenko and Angie to look around.

"W-We're alive?! Akamtasu-san!" Tenko cheered up as she ran over with a cheerful expression. "What...oh right...this is the Team Danganronpa place, right?"

"Yes, Chabashira-san." Kaede smiled. "It's good to see you're okay."

"Yeah! You and Tojo-san are okay!"

Rantaro smirked. "I'm alright, too."

"Oh. Yeah. Good to see you Amami-san." The SHSL Akido Master looked far less interested in him. "Er...wait, what the heck? I'm being rude for no reason."

"Don't worry about it. These guys messed with all our heads. You guys were in there longer than us, so it's not too surprising."

"I-I don't need to be cheered up by a degenerate male like you!" She covered her mouth as she spouted out her trademark line. "Whoa, hey. I know men can be pigs but I know I'm not usually this rude."

"I'm not offended. Already told you."

"Sheesh...look at you. Being all cool."

Ryoma studied the two new arrivals. "So you're saying the longer we stay in there, the more screwed up we get?"

"That's my guess. None of you guys were like this before."

Kaede nodded. "Yeah, that's right. We became way more colorful when we got into the killing game. Speaking of which..."

Angie was busy taking in the sights rather than looking at her fellow killing game contestants. "It's so drab in here. Maybe with the help of Atua, I can spruce this place up! Nyahahaha!"

"Um, Angie-san?"

"O-Oh! Kaede! Sorry, I was lost in my imagination again."

"Hey, it's okay. Come over."

Ryoma looked at her with distrust while she walked over. "You going to preach about Atua again?"

"You know, I don't exactly know what an Atua is." Angie smiled, while leaning from side to side. "I guess it's something they made up! Yayyy!"

"Hey, Angie-san! Did you know who killed you?" Tenko asked. "I bet it was one of the guys!"

"You are actually right! Good job, Tenko!"

"Who's the creep that took your life?!"

"Korekiyo!"

Everyone else looked back at Rantaro.

"Guess I was right." He mused.

"He was always so creepy! Ugh!" Tenko spat. "Figures he'd become a killer sooner or later."

"Hey!" Kaede put her hands on her sides while confronting her. "Don't you remember that they messed with us? Who knows what he's actually like?"

"Knowing this, he probably killed me too with that weird séance thing!"

Kirumi gave a disapproving look. "We have not gotten to that point yet. Please do not spoil the show."

"S-Sorry, Tojo-san!" She blushed madly while Angie continued to look at everyone with a big smile.

"W-Well, all we can do is see how this plays out." Kaede motioned for them to take some empty chairs laid out around the big screen. Tenko quickly takes a seat while Angie skips along and sits on her chair with her legs crossed.

Kaede leaned over to where Angie was sitting. "Oh, um, I wanted to ask..."

"Sure! Ask anything!"

"Are you actually a foreigner? Your Japanese is really good."

"No, silly! I mean, my dad is, but I was born on Japanese soil! And I didn't have many friends because of how I looked!"

"Oh..."

"But you guys are like my friends, riiiight?"

"Yeah. We're friends, Angie-san."

"Yayyy! Thanks, Kaede!"