"I'm quite unsure how you managed to gain the Vice Headmaster's permission to do this, but I have no choice but to honor the order." Miaya's eyes glanced over at the four people standing in front of her. Usami's voice was the only thing they could hear in the silent room, her avatar dancing and smiling on screen.

Monaca was far from amused and gave the rabbit avatar a glare, causing her to jump back in fear onscreen.

"Thanks for your cooperation." Hajime replied. "If you'll excuse us..."

"One moment." Miaya said through the cute bunny mascot. "Even though you have permission to talk to Matsuda-kun, I can't have you all barge into his room! That's a security risk and might also cause undue mental stress to the patient."

Hajime sighed. "I'll go on my own, then."

AI Chiaki and Nagito both nodded quietly while Monaca crossed her arms and huffed.

"Before I let you go, allow me to ask a few questions. After all, it's my responsibility to know who exactly is talking to my patient."

"Is this really necessary?" Hajime was about to raise his eyebrow, but stopped himself from doing so as to not give the SHSL Therapist a tell for her to run a further conversation with. "You already know that I'm a friend from his childhood."

"Exactly! It's my job to figure out what happened to him to make him turn out this way."

"The only thing I can tell you is that his mom's death impacted him a lot."

"Is that so? Could you tell me what happened?"

Hajime sighed internally. "I believe she suffered from some sort of brain disease. It was unclear. He never told me exactly what it was. But it was what drove him to go into neurology."

The clacking of keys on an unseen keyboard went on as the former SHSL Therapist looked down at where it presumably was.

"I see! I see!" Usami sounded off. "Thank you, Hinata-kun. He hasn't been very cooperative so what information you've given me has gotten me closer to the root of the issue. Love love!"

"...seriously?"

"What? It's a very cute catchphrase." The real Miaya looked over at a door in the hallway they were chatting in. "Well then, go ahead. He's waiting."

He nodded without another word for her to build off of and walked past the wheelchair-bound therapist. The former SHSL Hope overheard a short exchange before letting himself through the door.

"So, young woman." The Usami avatar asked. "You seem agitated. What's wrong? You can tell big sis Miaya anything you want."

Monaca narrowed her eyes and uttered a single word. "...hah."

Hajime rolled his eyes then turned and faced the SHSL Neurologist. He closed the door behind him and took a seat at the desk, while Yasuke was on his bed with stacks of manga laid in front of him. The black-haired student looked up from what he was reading and yawned.

"About time you visit. Hate me that much?"

"Nah. It's not that, Matsuda. I've been caught up in a lot of shit."

"I could tell. Must be serious if you needed to talk to me."

"Yeah." Hajime exhaled. "Hey, uh, don't take this the wrong way, but you do you remember how we met?"

"What? You forget?"

"Sorry. I've gotten some knocks on my head."

Yasuke stood up from the bed and put on his sandals. He walked over while the brown-haired man sat there, following him with his own eyes. The manga-loving medical prodigy looked around Hajime's head for a few minutes and sighed.

"You're not kidding. Someone messed with your head. Has something to do with your red eye, doesn't it?"

"Yeah. Brain surgery, basically."

Yasuke narrowed his eyes. "Whoever did it was pretty good. Probably as good as me."

"I'd like to remember my past. Forgetting a childhood friend of all things is pretty bad, isn't it?"

"Bad's an understatement. Alright. I'll help you out. But you sure you want to be walking around like that?"

"I made the decision to go through with it. I'm going to keep going with my mistakes."

"...tch. You're sounding like a real protagonist now. Fine." Yasuke's mood was eternally sour, despite the lack of Junko in his life. "Where do you want me to start?"

"How did we meet?"

Yasuke walked away from him and sat on the bed, knocking over a few of his manga from the somewhat-neatly arranged stacks he set. He looked straight at him.

"It's a pretty boring story. But if you need help remembering me, it's a good place to start." Clearing his throat, he began. "See, you know—er, I hope you know—that I don't like people much. Even back when I was a little brat. Some stupid bitch stole something from me and I ran after her. Didn't catch up to her but I ran right into you."

"I see. Did this girl have red hair?"

"Huh? No, she didn't. Think it was more of a pale brown or something."

"Pale brown? Like mauve?"

"I guess. I'm not in-the-know for crayon color names."

"Kind of like Chiaki Nanami, huh?"

Yasuke narrowed his eyes. "What, the SHSL Gamer? You know, now that you mention it..." He abruptly stood up. "That girl owes me 500 yen."

"Whoa, hey, calm down. So we just happened to run into each other?"

"Not just that, but you shoved the hell out of me. We got into a big fight and had the cops called on us."

Hajime smirked. "Guess we got into a lot of trouble."

"That's putting it lightly. No crimes or anything, but we did stick with each other until high school."

"Right. That's when you got scouted for Hope's Peak Academy."

"You were pretty pissed. Your parents did tell you that they'd pay for you to go into the reserve course, but you said it was a stupid idea. 'Main course or bust' was what you said."

Hinata was shocked at what he was being told, considering he had always wanted to go to the academy despite not being one of the elite SHSL students.

"I guess that's what you meant about me being mad at you."

"Well, it's not like you told me you hated my guts. But we definitely did drift apart. So I was basically all alone at this fancy-ass school. Could you blame me for being like this?"

"Sorry. But it's kind of weird. I'd think I'd want to go to Hope's Peak Academy no matter what."

"Me too. If you asked me, it was probably because you had a girlfriend you didn't want to tell me about."

"Huh? A girlfriend? What makes you think that?"

"Might be another lost memory for you, but sometimes you'd cancel some plans to hang out and not tell me why. I figured it was something like that since your folks were fine and said you'd disappear for some afternoons and come back at night telling them you were hanging out with a friend."

"...might've been more than one friend."

"I wasn't trying to get you to air your dirty laundry. Keep it to yourself." Yasuke grumbled. "Some guys have all the luck."

A nervous laugh happened to escape from Hajime's mouth. "Sorry. But sometimes not getting involved with girls might be a better idea."

"I wouldn't know. Who knew you'd turned out to be a horny bastard? Might've gotten in as the SHSL Playboy."

"Mind if I ask you if you have a type?"

"A type of girl I'd like?"

"Yeah."

Yasuke leaned back on the bed. "Me? A girl I'd be able to cry in front of."

"Yep! Don't worry about us, big sis Komaru! It's not like we had anyone really watching us back then anyway. You look totally adorbs."

"Do I? I'm not wearing anything special."

"Oh, it's not what you're wearing." Kotoko smiled. "It's your attitude. Trust me! I was an actress!"

"Well, I guess it makes sense Utsugi-san."

Jataro and Masaru were busy watching a super sentai show on the resort TV. Nagisa looked wholly uninterested in the show.

"Silly boys. Aren't you guys too old for shows like that?" Kotoko teased.

"Don't lump me in with the two of them." Nagisa retorted.

Jataro began to explain himself. "I-It may not be conventional art, but there's a lot to learn about how they use the camera angles for the show. Plus the costumes are pretty c-cool."

"This is a great way to start my hero training!" Masaru grinned from ear-to-ear. "I'll become big and strong with a spirit of justice!"

"Are you quoting the show, Daimon-san?" Komaru asked.

"N-No way, it's my personal mantra!"

The so-called normal ordinary girl giggled while Masaru blushed and rubbed the back of his head. A soft knock came at their door and Komaru went to open it. A nicely-dressed Toko with her hair done showed up at the door, looking extremely bashful.

"You look great, Toko-chan!"

"D-Don't be so loud. It was already weird walking over like this without anyone s-seeing."

"Why are you so embarrassed? Everyone would be impressed, you know."

"Who cares about that? I-It's just weird, okay?"

"Anyway, we should get going! Um...wait..."

"W-What?"

"I think I know what you mean by weird. Are...are you wearing perfume?"

"Well of course I am! W-Why wouldn't I?"

"You not only took a shower but also put on perfume? For me?!"

"W-What are you tearing up for?! Stop it already! You're such a d-dork sometimes..."

The two stepped out of the teens' room and continued bickering within earshot of the rest of them.

"See?" Kotoko smiled. "Totally adorbs, like I said. Ready to go?"

Masaru and Jataro were both still entranced by the colorful action show.

Nagisa shook his head in disapproval. "Doubt these two are leaving anytime soon."

"Well I'm not gonna waste my day in here. Come on, Shingetsu-kun!"

The blue-haired youth turned to his peers. "You guys have your own keys, right?"

"Don't worry about us! We'll catch up or...whatever." Masaru's eyes were still glued to the screen.

"If you get in trouble, don't come crying to me." Nagisa turned away and followed Kotoko out into the resort proper after closing the door behind him.

"Always so responsible. Aren't we old enough to take care of ourselves by now? You don't have to baby them."

"Sometimes I wonder, Kotoko-chan."

"I guess..."

"Did you want to go somewhere?"

"Huh? No, I just didn't want to be cooped up in the room all day. It's a total waste riiight?"

"...yeah. It's always nice out over here. Have you ever been to a place like this?"

Kotoko didn't answer right away, looking spaced out as she processed his question. "Y-Yeah."

"Oh. Sorry. It...had something to do with your...job, right?"

She nodded slowly. "Look at this place. Everyone's smiling. It's like they don't have a care in the world."

"People don't normally think of those things. Especially on vacation." Nagisa stopped walking for a moment. "It's like problems don't exist here."

"It's how people get away from problems, y'know? Are you mad at them too?"

"I probably would've been in the past. But now I'm more worried about myself."

"Sheesh. Did you forget that you're a kid?"

"Kids? Us?"

"Trying to catch up to Monaca-chan?"

"No way. That's not what an adult is. She probably acts younger than any of us now." Nagisa shook his head. "I was so stupid..."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up. You didn't realize. You're just so pure sometimes."

"Yeah, but what do we do now? Heh...I was making fun of Daimon but he seems to know what he wants to do. Would you go back into showbiz?"

"No way. I'm done shining and being adorbs! Besides, no one would want someone as old as I am."

Nagisa couldn't help but cringe at the thought.

"How about you? I mean, you'd go back to school right?"

"...yeah. For all that my mom and dad did to me, it was what I was good at."

"Do you still feel guilty for killing them?"

"They raised me. What they did was wrong to me but I still owe them as their kid. Besides, it wasn't as bad as the rest of you guys."

"Shingetsu-kun..." Kotoko puffed up her cheeks in a pout.

"W-What?!"

"There you go again trying to be cool. To-tal-ly not cool!"

"I'm not being cool." Nagisa sighed. "You guys are all I have left. I couldn't make paradise a reality, but maybe we can have a normal school life."

"That sounds nice... being a normal kid. But you wouldn't want to be normal, huh? Did you want to go to Hope's Peak?"

"Maybe. But honestly, any school is fine."

Kotoko smiled. "And here I was worried you'd push yourself all the way to try and get in!"

"N-No way. I don't want to pass out again."

She grabbed his hand and his face went stark red. "Okay then! Let's be normal kids! Just this once."

He was almost dragged off as they ran out onto the beach.

"Morning, Kyoko-chan!"

"Hina-san. Good morning."

The lavender-haired detective placed her small cup of coffee back on its matching plate, sitting at a small cafe table overlooking the beach. She could see off the corner of her eye the two starkly colored children running onto it. Shifting her eyes back toward the former SHSL Swimmer, she placed her hands together as the tanned woman sat across from her.

"Naegi not with you?"

"No, I'm afraid not. Were you looking for him?"

"Ah no, no." She smirked a little. "Were you able to spend some quality time with him?"

"Not in the way you're insinuating."

"I-I wasn't insinuating anything! Honest!"

"We did have a very heartfelt talk."

"That's good. What did you talk about?"

"The future."

Hina couldn't stop herself from sweating a little. "That's pretty intense."

"Not necessarily. It was not a proposal, by the way."

"Aw." The donut-loving swimmer puffed out her lips. "Way to ruin a girls' imagination. I thought you were getting together for sure."

Kyoko laughed quietly despite her stoic face.

"So then...nothing happened?"

"I learned more about him and about myself."

"W-Well, okay. What did you learn?"

"I live in a world ruled by evidence and logic. Even though I could comprehend hope and despair, I don't think I understood it as well as I thought have."

"Oh jeez. This might go over my head."

"Makoto-kun is a man driven by his duty. It wasn't his dream to become headmaster of Hope's Peak Academy."

"R-Really? A duty to what?"

"If you asked me...it was a duty to us and a duty to our dead classmates."

"Oh..." Hina looked down with wistful eyes. "But he really can't be headmaster here, can he?"

"Unfortunately not. It would be a good long while before he'd be in a position to even be considered. He's not even known as the SHSL Hope here."

"Yeah, that's right. But then what does he want to do?"

"Well, he said..."

The former swimming pro looked at Kyoko expectantly.

"He doesn't know."

Hina exhaled as she was completely let down by the results, making a loud deflating noise. "S-Seriously?"

"If we have no way to go back to where we were, it's a fair answer. Have you thought of what you'd do here?"

"Okay. You have a point. But how'd that tell you more about Naegi?"

"It's what he said afterwards."

"But it really doesn't matter if I don't know what I want to do with my life. It's like a hill."

"A...hill?" Kyoko raised her eyebrow, trying to make sense of what he was saying.

"Yeah." Makoto stood up and leaned against the railing of where they were sitting at. "I want to go over that hill."

"...here I thought I was finally catching up to him." The former SHSL Detective stirred her coffee absentmindedly. "But he was farther away than I thought."

"A hill's not very steep. I think you can catch up!"

"Maybe I can. But someone's been right on his heels this entire time."

"You mean Enoshima-chan?"

"I was wondering what was it that drove her to pursue Makoto-kun. Was it petty revenge against me? Was it just a lust for something she couldn't attain? I was unable to piece it together until recently."

Hina sighed as she looked toward her apologetically. "I don't really understand it all but...it sounds tough, Kyoko-chan."

"Yes. That's a good way to put it."

"W-Well, let's get your mind off it. Wanna run some laps around the island with me?"

"I appreciate the thought, but I'd like to be alone with my thoughts for now."

"...okay." Hina stood up, walking past where she sat down. "If you want to talk, just let me know."

"I'll let you know. No worries."

Kyoko watched as Hina walked off and looked out to the ocean herself in silence.

Hajime, AI Chiaki and Monaca all sighed while Nagito was tidying up Hajime's cabin. They sat all around an ankle-high table.

"We still don't know exactly how she's been doing it. If we confront her without any proof, we won't be able to corner her." Hajime tapped his finger on the table very slowly and carefully, it slightly shaking from every impact.

"That Gekkogahara girl is really nosy. You should let me take care of her."

"Monaca, no."

"C'mon. Besides, you're running out of time, you know. The others obviously know you're not telling them where she is."

"Yeah. But this has to be a solid, air-tight victory. For all our sake."

"Sure, whatever you say big bro." The green-haired teenager shrugged as she returned to her gaming.

Nagito turned and paused his chores. "What seems to be the matter, Hinata-kun?"

"How exactly is she doing this? It's unclear. It doesn't seem to be any sort of strange technology. People get lured to Nanami, but everything after that is unclear. I doubt it's outright magic."

"Perhaps asking 'how' is not how you want to reach the answer." Nagito raised his finger and tilted his head upwards. "You're not the talentless reserve course student that you once were. Try to find another way."

Hajime grunted in slight frustration. As irritating as the former SHSL Lucky Student was, he was right.

"Then why."

The android Chiaki glanced at him when he uttered it, having watched Monaca go through the last level in the RPG the former Towa heiress was playing.

"She's super important to you." Monaca boredly yawned. "I don't get why. She's just one girl."

"It's not that I want to get together with her. After what happened, I doubt she'd want to be with me. But I still owe her something. All I did was watch her die in her final moments."

"I don't wanna be presumptuous, but..." Chiaki tilted her own head upward and placed her finger on her chin. "I'm sure she still cares about you Hinata-kun."

"Well, you're probably the best person to ask. Why do you think so?"

"Cuz... she somehow convinced the version of you here to not go to Hope's Peak. She even got you a childhood friend."

"...when you put it that way, it's a lot clearer. Thanks, Nanami."

"Anytime."

"So she is doing this as a way to right some wrongs and bring hope to everyone, I'm assuming." Nagito mused.

"I wouldn't put it like that, Komaeda, but that's probably why. She's the type to always want to help people out and always do the right thing. She didn't even want you to kill Enoshima."

"A grave mistake on both our parts. A shame I was unable to do it."

Hajime stood up. "Then it's clear. Nanami is not going to stop until everyone crosses over."

"Everyone?" Chiaki asked. "But that's..."

"I wasn't the only one who had an inferiority complex. This is her way of helping the world because she never did like her talent in the first place."

"Oh...poor Chiaki-san..." AI Chiaki raised her hood up and looked down.

Monaca paused her game and looked at both of them. "I'm smart enough to follow the conversation, but it's still annoying to call them both Chiaki Nanami."

"A fair point." Hajime replied. "But what should we call her? Chiaki Two?"

The artificial SHSL Gamer made a bit of a duck face. "Puru, puru, puru..."

"No, no. That's super lame! Even though it'd fit big sis."

"I have a suggestion, if you don't mind." Nagito interrupted.

The other three in the room turned their heads toward the white-haired man.

"Ai."

Hajime broke out into a small sweat. "So instead of being short for 'Artificial Intelligence,' you just make it that as her name?"

Chiaki sighed and looked down. "I think he chose it because it's also the word for 'love,' Hinata-kun."

"Indeed, Nanami-san. You were born from all our hopes and adoration. It would be a fitting name for a spirit as bright as yours."

Monaca puffed up her cheeks as she thought about it. "Yeah, it's cheesy, corny and kinda dorky. It fits!"

"Well, Nanami? What do you think?"

"...it's a name you gave to me. I'll treasure it." Ai smiled. "My own name..."

Makoto looked up at the cloudy sky, taking a deep breath. Immediately he turned around and saw Junko, grinning from ear to ear, walking toward him.

"Upupupupu. Setting up a 'I knew something smelled' joke? So corny as usual, Makoto!"

"No, the air smells pretty damp. It's going to rain soon."

"Finally! I've been sick and tired of all the sunshine and rainbows. Some awful, depressing, despairing weather!"

"You've really been having fun all this time, haven't you?"

"Having fun? Me? Surely you jest." The SHSL Despair posed with glasses and a clipboard. "I'm simply waiting for my chance to make this fun."

"By being around all of your enemies?"

The strawberry blonde blushed. "All that concentrated hatred is amazing!"

"Junko!"

"I'm just making the best out of this. Isn't that what you're always yapping on about? You, with your sick, disgusting hope."

"Kyoko-chan mentioned how you've been doing that..."

"Uuuhuuhuu..." She moved toward him. "Aw, trying to make me jealous?"

"Are you?"

"Yes."

Makoto sighed. "You already know I wasn't."

"Don't ruin this for me."

"The last time you said that to me, you ended up executing yourself."

She twirled her hair while looking at him. "What? It was my first time! Can you really blame me for going out of control like that?"

"Yes."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"...tell me, Junko. What are you planning?"

"Planning? Me? I just want to have fun, Makoto."

He crossed his arms. "Right. But how?"

"Oh you know. Nothing special. Just want to change the world more to my liking."

"Again?!"

"Of course! It's so peaceful, boring, predictable. Ugh."

"You-" Makoto stopped himself and narrowed his eyes at her.

"What? I love that glare of yours, you know."

"You're just trying to push for a fight again, aren't you?"

"Hm? What are you blabbing about now?" She leaned forward while putting her hands on her hips.

"It was the only time you felt alive, right? When we went face-to-face."

Her face went completely emotionless as he hit the mark. "That perception of yours is so damn annoying. I wiped your memories and you were still able to pick up things quick. Like how much of a fake bitch Celes was."

Ignoring the attempt at a subject change, he continued. "Wouldn't that be boring? Doing all that again?"

"Hehe. But this time I'd win, Makoto. C'mon, let's play."

He turned around and walked away from her, with her eyes fixed on the shorter man in front of her. "Do you see that sand dune? It's about as big as a hill."

"It's sand. Are you trying to kill me with boredom?! Because it might be working..."

"Can you see over it?"

"Of course not, stupid! Not even I can see over a hill."

"...what do you think is on the other side?"

"Who cares?"

He turned toward her and rain started falling, starting to soak both of them head to toe. "C'mon. You said you wanted to a play a game. What's over there?"

Junko started to lose her patience, becoming even more frustrated with the fact that her makeup was running. "Ugh. I don't fucking know. More sand?"

"Are you sure? What if there's crabs? Maybe even a beached whale?"

She perked up slightly. "Well...the hell?! That shits still boring!"

"You looked pretty interested, actually."

"I was...just caught off guard. That's all! Ugh, why the hell are you trying to be philosophic? So uncool. Aren't you supposed to just be a cute, lovable dumbass?" Despite her words, she continued looking straight at him.

"I don't think it really matters what's over that hill." Makoto continued. "But I'll keep walking to see what's over it. I might be surprised, or it just might be more sand."

She crossed her arms, keeping her neutral expression.

"It's your choice. We could fight again, or we could go over the hill." He extended his hand toward her.

Rather than come up with a snappy comeback, she just looked at him with a blank stare. Her eyes shifted over toward his open palm, raindrops slowly accumulating in it.

She walked toward him as he stood there motionless. Passing by him, he turned to keep his eyes on her. The rain soaked her clothes enough to show off her figure. No words were spoken between them for what seemed like an eternity.

Lightning crashed as a loud slap went across Makoto's face. He grit his teeth, unable to stop his face from moving in response to the impact. He moved his face back in solid defiance of her strike, and her face was already up against his.

Her breath tickled his lips.

"...you must be the stupidest man on any version of Earth. And I love you more for it."

Her hand cupped where she slapped him, with his eyes looking straight into hers.

"You'd still reach out to a twisted chick like me? I thought I had you figured out, but you're insane."

Being called insane by Junko Enoshima elicited a small chuckle from Makoto Naegi.

"Seriously?! Laughing at a time like this."

"Maybe I've gone a little insane. But I've finally found a dream. And I want to give that chance to everyone, too."

"Want to know my dream?"

"What is it?"

"It's you."

The kiss she gave him was different from all the rough, forceful ones she had given to him over the recent past. It was more soft and earnest. After she pulled away, she kept looking at him while they were continuing to be soaked in the rain.

She whispered into his ear. "Be mine, hero."

"Junko, I..."

"Before you make your dumb, lame and unsatisfying answer...I do have to thank someone."

She grabbed his hand and turned toward the hill, where they both saw her in her signature brown hoodie and uniform. Junko gave a big, creepy grin while Chiaki Nanami narrowed her eyes in response from afar.

ANote

"I never noticed it before, but the show is so stylish!" Angie mused, while watching Shuichi slowly corner Korekiyo during the third trial. "In fact, this entire place is really comfortable!"

"Hey, Angie-san! Who cares about how everything nice looks? Shinguji-san is about to get his just desserts! Stupid degenerate."

"Nyahaha! You shouldn't worry so much, Tenko!" Angie leaned from side to side as she sat next to the SHSL Akido Master. "Things went wrong because we didn't appreciate what we had. It's probably why we got so into the killing game."

"Um, question." Kaede announced.

Everyone looked over at her in anticipation.

"Is...anyone here an actual fan of Danganronpa?"

"...I figured a guy with no prospects would be good in a screwed up game like this." Ryoma replied.

Kirumi placed her hands together as she was the only one standing. "A high-stakes game like this is quite similar to the political arena. It seemed to be a good analogy."

Rantaro sighed as he was sitting on a lone chair, turned around with his arms relaxing on the top of it. "Think you might be the only one, Akamatsu-san."

"R-Really? You guys all joined because of the game itself instead of the series?"

"That's not to say I didn't do my research before the killing games." The SHSL Adventurer added. "It's probably how I managed to make it to the end of one."

Angie looked to be deep in thought. "Wait, wasn't there one other fan of Danganronpa?"

Rantaro snapped his fingers. "Yes, that's right. Saihara-kun."

"Y-Yeah, he was. But..." Kaede looked down. "He really liked all the stuff I hadn't cared to watch. Like the originals. He's more of a superfan."

"It may be why he's still in the game. And in the position of protagonist, no less." Kirumi observed.

"They really pay attention to the background of the participants." Rantaro looked over as the final showdown between Shuichi and Korekiyo was underway. "It may be the basis to why he became the SHSL Detective."

The familiarly-dressed Danganronpa staffer appeared with a less whimsically dressed SHSL Anthropologist in tow. Kaede set her eyes on the mysterious individual who was giving overly practiced instructions to the completely dazed blackened. She noticed some stark white hair sticking out from under the over-sized cap that the person was wearing. As the staffer left, Korekiyo looked at the group while he was being executed on the screen.

"That is not a good thing to make my entrance into."

"Hah! Looks like you lost, Shinguji-san!" Tenko taunted. "You even made Yumeno-san cry! I'll never forgive you!"

"Chibashira-san, please calm down." Kaede warned. "Are you alright?"

"I am...well enough, thank you." He continued to keep his distance.

"So, um, don't take this the wrong way, but are you and your sister..."

"My sister is deceased. Yes. We were close, though not close like that."

"Oh, good."

"Though I do wish she had more friends. Her funeral was quite sparse."

Kaede couldn't hide her nervousness as she was trying to sift between the personality fabricated from the killing game to what she could dig up out of the one she was talking to right now.

Tenko took a defensive stance. "See! I totally told you he's a creep! I mean, look at the way he's dressed."

"While I won't bother to defend my actions during the game, I would like you to not take my look into account when judging me."

Rantaro raised an eyebrow. "So why do you dress that way? Wearing a mask all the time."

"It was because of my sister's demise. She was taken by a rare disease. I suppose the trauma caused me to be more...careful...than others."

Angie smiled. "Oh! He's a germaphobe! Interesting!"

"I had forgotten to bring my gloves to the set, so I've been trying not to touch more than I've needed to. But I digress, my behavior spurned an interest in the behaviors of others as well. Humanity is beautiful. And I say that because life can be so short."

"So that's why you became the SHSL Anthropologist." Kaede stated.

"Indeed. So if you find me staring at you intently while keeping my distance, I am merely making an observation on you. I don't mean any harm. Kehehehe..."

"Well, Akamatsu-san? Do we lock him up or what?" Tenko asked.

"He seems fine. I don't think someone who's so worried about their own health would go out and actually murder people."

"Indeed." Korekiyo held himself by the arms. "Being contaminated with someone else's blood. I shudder at the thought."

Tenko crossed her arms. "Fine. But I'll be keeping my eye on you! Make any wrong moves and I'll have you on the ground in three seconds flat!"