"Ma'am, we believe we've track the location where Kirika, Seiji, Takashi, and Tomoki were taken." the man in the black suit said.
It had been eleven days since the game had begun, but the Future Foundation still had yet to act. Whoever had set it up had made sure to keep the location a secret. With certain events happening, the process of locating them had slowed. Fortunately, a breakthrough had occurred.
The man handed a file to the woman in charge. The redhead took it and quickly scanned its contents.
"Alright, this looks good." she smiled. "I'll leave this matter in everyone's hands. Bring them back safe."
"Yes ma'am." the man said as he bowed. He left the room leaving the leader by herself.
This operation would have to commence without their leader. As important as rescuing four of their members were, she had to leave to attend the trial of a certain 14th Branch member.
The branch gathered a team to retrieve the people. One day, just one more day, and they'd be rescued. Hope was all they had that they'd be safe.
Tomoki awoke before the announcement went off. He quickly readied himself and left. Today was the day all would be revealed. It had been a long journey to arrive at this conclusion. Unfortunately along the way, several good people had been lost. He kicked himself for it, but he knew that couldn't let him stop. If he had, the identity of the mastermind wouldn't have been found.
He opened the door and walked out of the dorms to the main entrance. Now that the ban on supplies had been lifted, he would meet everyone in the mess hall to end it. Tomoki founded the reception desk.
A quick shadow blew past him. Before he could do a thing, he felt a cold, metallic object in his throat. With a simple gesture, the object was dragged across his neck. A warm, crimson liquid gushed forth.
Tomoki collapsed to the floor. As the life left his body, his eyes looked at his attacker. A devious smile plastered their face as they observed his last breath.
"So…it was…you…"
DING DONG!
"Attention, this is not a drill! All people present proceed to the main entrance. If you are not present in five minutes, you will be executed. That is all."
All aware of Monokuma's intent should they disobey, the remaining survivors did as they were instructed. Aiyaka and Kirika entered the room followed shortly by Sora. The trio spotted Monokuma casually leaning in the reception desk.
"Now everyone, please turn your attention behind me!"
"Wait, what about-" Sora started as he spotted what Monokuma wanted to show them.
Laying prone, his face turned to the right, was Tomoki. The Ultimate Strategist was surrounded up top by a pool of blood; the upper portion of his white shirt stained crimson.
"Upupupu, not exactly what you expected this morning, huh?" the bear taunted.
"Why you…" Aiyaka started.
"Now wait a moment, Ponytail." the bear grinned. "This is a cause for celebration!"
"What the shit do you mean by that?" inquired Kirika.
"Why just look at how many people we have now." the monochromatic mastermind spoke. "With only three peeps around, we can't hold any trials after this one no matter the outcome. As such, we've reached sudden death. With this comes rule changes. The trial will be two fold. Not only will you determine who killed Mr. Hana, but who the person pulling the strings is. Although, they might not be mutually exclusive. Now, with these stipulations, all rooms on the building will be unlocked. Feel free to search to your heart's content. I'll explain the trial portion when we get there, but just know your lives depend on this. So long now." With that, the bear disappeared behind the desk.
"I'm glad we get to squash that bear soon." Kirika gritted.
"Agreed. Now this nightmare will finally end." Kirika said.
"Um…" Sora cleared his throat. "I don't mean to be that guy, but how do we investigate this?"
"Hmm, what do you mean?" questioned Aiyaka.
"Like, do we go together or split up?"
"We split up." Kirika bluntly put. "This way we cover as much ground while avoiding time constraints."
"Considering this is all or nothing, I'll go with that." Sora agreed.
"Okay then, we'll see each other at the trial." Aiyaka waved. "Let's crush this mastermind."
After leaving the other two behind, Sora took off immediately for the fourth floor. With Monokuma's explanation of the entire building being able to be searched, he sought out the intercom room. Having no doubt that was where the robotic bear was controlled from, he needed the answers.
Standing before the door, he reached out and turned the handle. Just as the bear had stated, the door opened and ushered him inside.
The intercom room was modestly sized. Along one wall, monitors displaying every room lit the dark space. In front of them, as expected, an intercom system connected to the monitors and provided access to them. What stood out to Sora though, were two other machines.
Walking over to placed on the intercom, he observed what appeared to be a time operated recorder. Testing his theory, he pushed the playback button.
"Attention, this is not a drill! All people present proceed to the main entrance. If you are not present in five minutes, you will be executed. That is all."
Walking over to the other machine, this device seemed different than the last, yet similar in ways. Like the previous one, it seemed to record things, but it appeared to have a space to plug something adequately sized in it.
Sora notes these machine as he exited the room. With time not on his side, he went about to check on other matters.
With Sora and Kirika leaving to check elsewhere first, Aiyaka took the opportunity to observe the corpse. On the ground was the former Ultimate Strategist and unofficial leader of the hostages, Tomoki Hana. His body currently laid with his front on the ground and his head turned right as if he took note of his attacker with his last breath.
The ponytailed girl grew closer to the body and observed the blood pooled around it. The blood appeared to have originated from his head area. Taking a moment, Aiyaka gently turned the body over. Visible on him now was a single slash wound on his throat. Despite looking all over, no other wounds could be found.
Stepping back a little, Aiyaka noted the blood on her hands. Whenever this occurred, the blood hadn't been there long enough to entirely dry.
Having checked the body, she looked around for the murder weapon. Try as she might, no object fit the description of the injury inflicted. Resolving herself, she went off to the storage and dorm rooms in an attempt to find a possible location for it.
Following her separation from the group, Kirika went down to the "Shrine Room". With every door not leading outside opened, she'd find out what was hidden behind that sealed door. As she opened the door, a strange odor hit her.
The room was a featureless, white room with no doors or windows save for the door she came through. Against one wall was a long, steel table with various tools and metal objects on it. Another wall bore a giant display case. However, what drew her attention was a horrific scene.
There on the ground in front of it laid a badly disfigured corpse. On the other wall was a big, dried blood spot that ran down to the body. Close by on the table sat a monitor with small dots of brownish-red splashed on it. For the body itself, it's face appeared caved in and slightly burnt all over. Whoever the body belonged to, she couldn't tell. Best Kirika could make out was it seemed to be wearing a lab coat.
Having to look away from the body, she finally noted the main object on display nearby. The thing was a metallic, skeletal contraption about five and a half feet tall. While unfinished, half of one arm seemed to be covered in a realistic, skin-like substance. Whatever it was, Kirika had never seen something this advanced.
The clock ticking ever closer, the artist gathered herself and left the room. Today, these events would end.
"Everyone, stop what you're doing. Yes dear children, time has come at last! Come one, come all to Monokuma's Maniacal Murder Mystery Finale! We've heard the fans clamor for more, but sadly all good things must come to an end. As such, everyone proceed to the trial room for the finale. Will the two remaining hopes triumph or will despair rein supreme? You won't want to miss this. This is Monokuma's Announcements signing off for the final time."
It was a chance encounter that changed my life. On the day of the opening ceremony of the 78th Class, I met Junko Enoshima. That was the day I fell in love and the world opened up to me.
Now as I stare at these ten others, I slip myself among them. My love may be gone, but her legacy isn't. Here, despair will bloom once more.
All things must end. Every beginning has one. And here, here marks the end of what began all those years ago.