Makoto, Munakata, Juzo, and Miaya went on together. First they reached the power room. Makoto was looking uneasily at all the monitors on the walls, knowing that they were responsible for three deaths and many more could have joined them.
"I know which circuit breakers to switch back on." said Munakata. "So I'll stay here. Sakakura, return to the others and make sure everyone is accounted for. We'll meet up with you once we get the good news."
"Got it, boss." said Juzo.
After shooting a parting glare at Makoto, he left and walked back down the other way.
"What's the deal with him anyway?" asked Makoto.
"Not sure." said Munakata. "But that's not important. Let's get moving, before the attackers outside blast a way in."
He tilted his head down slightly.
"This had better work, or we may be stuck in here for a long time." said Munakata. "I would rather not stay in here until we all starve to death."
"I feel the same way, Vice Chairman." said Makoto. "But at least we're all on the same page again. We'll get through this and nobody else will have to die."
"I hope you're right." said Munakata. "To tell you the truth, I'm impressed by the bravery and confidence Mr. Komaeda showed when he stood up to me as he came to save you. I'm sure he will be a valued member of Future Foundation. Reliable allies are very hard to come by nowadays. It was just foolish me not to look in all the right places. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to realize that."
Makoto smiled.
"That's...that's great." said Makoto. "I'm sure he and Kimura will be very happy to know about this."
"I think they would be happier to be out of this place. And so would everyone else." said Munakata. "Now get moving before our luck changes."
Munakata went into the power room and waited a few minutes before switching one of them back on. He heard the sound of electricity fluctuating through the facility again, though the emergency lights still stayed on. No image of Monokuma came from the wall monitors either.
After what felt like hours, Nagito found himself in another office, staring at a metal prosthetic arm. its alloy had a black color and was very smooth and shiny. The hand was a simplistic design, no more than a pair of pincers. Sonosuke and Ruruka were both sitting together nearby, with Seiko on the opposite side of the room.
"I hope you like it." said Sonosuke. "It's nothing high-tech, but it should get the job done. I scrounged up as much as I could. I owe you for saving us, so consider this returning the favor. Not to mention I'm kind of the reason you lost the other hand you had."
"Thank you for doing this for him, Sonosuke." said Seiko.
"Yeah, well." said Sonosuke. "It was Ruruka's idea."
"Consider it a peace offering." said Ruruka. "From both of us."
"Tell you the truth, I originally planned to make it for Ruruka, in case she wanted her arm amputated to get the bangle off." said Sonosuke. "So consider yourself lucky I went to all this trouble."
"It's absolutely splendid!" sighed Nagito. "You really are the Ultimate Blacksmith!"
He rested his new prosthetic hand into his right hand's palm. He tried squeezing the pincers, and it left his hand very sore.
"Ah..."
"Just try not to lose any more limbs, okay?" said Sonosuke. "Now for you, Seiko."
"Wh-what?" asked Seiko. "What about me?"
Sonosuke pulled out a pair of scissors, also of his own making.
"How'd you like a haircut?" he asked her. "On the house."
Seiko was surprised.
After separating from Munakata and Juzo, Makoto and Miaya entered the monitoring room. The room was still littered with Sonosuke's weapons and Tengan's flechettes. Thankfully, there was just enough equipment untouched by the mayhem for them to use. After hooking up several cables to Miaya's computer, they got to work contacting the outside.
"Are you ready, Gekkogahara?" asked Makoto.
"Ready, Naegi." said the Monomi avatar.
"Good thing we were able to stop this before we lost more than three people." said Makoto.
"Thirteen survivors." said Monomi. "Ironic when you think about it."
"Yeah, that's true." chuckled Makoto. "And Gekkogahara, it's also a good thing you survived. We're all going to need a lot of therapy after we escape."
"Oh, I'm sure you will. But it's nothing I can't handle." said Monomi.
"Let's get started." said Makoto.
He hooked up several cables to Miaya's computer, Miaya typed several commands. The screen turned on. An animation of Monomi plugging two cords together was shown on the screen, followed by static.
"H-Hello?!" Makoto called through the screen. "Is anyone out there? Can you hear me?"
"I hear you loud and clear." said a distorted, bored and monotone voice.
Eventually the picture came in clear. It was a thin young man with golden-blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a black suit and tie, glasses, and was sipping from his cup of coffee. He was seated at a desk and flanked on either side by men in black suits and shades. It was the real Byakuya Togami, Ultimate Affluent Progeny, former classmate of Makoto Naegi, and acting director of Branch Fourteen in the absence of Kyoko Kirigiri.
"You look like you've seen better days, Naegi." said Byakuya. "I trust that the Future Foundation brass has been treating you and your fellow Ultimate Lucky Student well?"
"Listen, Togami." said Makoto. "We have a serious emergency. Me, Komaeda, Hina, Kyoko, and the Future Foundation board members are all trapped inside of HQ with no way out. Also we were just in another Killing Game, like the one we were in at Hope's Peak Academy."
"Oh?" asked Byakuya. "A Killing Game, you say? How many casualties this time?"
"Wait, y-you don't know?" asked Makoto. "But Monokuma said the Killing Game was being broadcasted all over the world."
"Well that's news to me." said Byakuya. "If we had known there was a Killing Game going on at our own homefront, every Future Foundation branch would be scrambling their forces to rescue all of you."
Makoto stood there shocked. If the Final Killing Game wasn't being broadcasted, then what was the point? Why would the Remnants of Despair have their mortal enemies kill each other if not for their own amusement?
"Yeah, I guess that...makes sense." said Makoto. "Now that you mention it, I don't remember seeing a lot of surveillance cameras."
"But still, you haven't answered my question: How many casualties?" asked Byakuya.
Makoto frowned.
"Yukizome, Gozu, and Bandai are all dead."
Byakuya also frowned and then sipped from his coffee.
"Tragic news." he said, solemnly. "They will all be sorely missed."
"But thankfully, we were able to stop the Killing Game before anyone else died. There are also a few people that were injured from all the mayhem that went on inside, but it's nothing that Kimura can't handle."
"Hmm, yes." said Byakuya. "It's fortunate that a medical Ultimate is present and hasn't been killed. And Kimura is the best we have right now."
"I'll say." nodded Makoto.
"Who was the mastermind?" said Byakuya.
"We...we still haven't discovered the mastermind yet." said Makoto.
Byakuya narrowed his eyes. He had no extreme reaction to this news. He simply sipped from his cup again.
"Hmm...interesting." said Byakuya. "I wonder if this Killing Game of yours has a connection to a report I received a few minutes ago about unidentified aircraft approaching a certain island."
"W-what?" asked Makoto. "You don't mean...?"
"Yes, Jabberwock Island."
Makoto began to quiver. His heart was racing.
"What could this mean? Could they be Remnants of Despair? Was this whole Killing Game actually a...a diversion? To keep the Future Foundation distracted while the Remnants swooped in to take over Jabberwock Island?"
"It's highly possible." said Byakuya. "Well a certain Vice Chairman already sent ships to blockade the island, so they'll be able to stop them if they do turn out to be Remnants."
"Oh, he did?" asked Makoto. "I'm guessing he didn't do it to protect the island, though."
"I doubt he cares strongly about any of the people on that island, what with them being former Remnants of Despair and all." said Byakuya. "They probably would've been out for blood themselves."
"Well it's a good thing he sent them anyway." said Makoto. "They might be needed, even if they don't know what they're getting themselves into. But could you send someone for us?"
"Better." said Byakuya. "I'll look into this matter personally, and dispatch choppers to aid Class 77, in case the Vice Chairman's grunts aren't enough."
"Oh, thank you!" said Makoto, happily. "You're a real life-saver, Byakuya. Just be careful. There might already be Remnants outside HQ waiting for you. And, uh, if you see Hiro out there..."
"Yes, yes." said Byakuya. "I'll be sure to save him too. I would say good luck to you, Naegi, but I think that would be redundant."
He sipped from his cup one last time, and then the screen cut to static. Makoto sighed. He collapsed into a chair and looked at Miaya.
"Thank God that this nightmare's coming to an end." said Makoto. "Or at least that's what I would've said a minute ago. But as the saying goes: Out of the frying pan, into the fire."
Kirigiri and Kizakura, en route to the reading room, came to the corridor where Seiko nearly stabbed herself.
"What do you think?" asked Kizakura, looking at the cracked wall and the destroyed wall monitor.
"Things are starting to take shape now." said Kirigiri, looking at the water trickling down to the floor. "I just need to look at the reading room to confirm my suspicions."
"Lead the way, Miss Detective." smiled Kizakura.
Asahina huffed and puffed, and ran out of breath. She had been running nonstep for almost twenty minutes straight. She had come to the area where Seiko had her initial confrontation with Sonosuke and Ruruka. Seiko's mask was still laying on the floor right where she left it, along with torn fragments of her gloves. Asahina decided to pick the mask up and looked at the studs on it. They reminded her of the studs on Kirigiri's gloves.
"I wonder if they shop at the same clothing store." said Asahina.
She stuffed the mask in the pocket of her denim shorts, then she continued on her way.
After ten minutes, Seiko's hair was cut back to its original length and shape from before she swallowed the strength enhancers.
"Thank you." said Seiko.
"Shame I can't do anything about those gloves of yours." said Sonosuke. "I'm the Ultimate Blacksmith, not the Ultimate Tailor."
Sonosuke put the scissors back in his pocket. Seiko, who had been sitting at the far end of the room, walked up to join her husband-to-be.
"What do you think, darling?" asked Nagito, showing off his new hand.
"It's very nice, dear." Seiko smiled. "Sonosuke really came through."
She felt the metal. It was very hard like titanium but smooth like ivory. Suddenly, Nagito put his left arm around Seiko and forced her onto his lap.
"Oh! Nagito!" she said, exhilarated. "Be gentle with me, please!"
"Huh..." said Nagito. "Gentle?"
"What about it?"
"Uh...nothing. Just something about that word made me remember something." said Nagito. "It's...probably nothing though."
There was a knock at the door. Sonosuke's eyes flashed and he instinctively readied a kunai knife.
"Who is it?!" he demanded.
"Uh...it's me, Ryota." said Mitarai's voice from the other side of the door. "Is it okay if I come in?"
"Go ahead!" said Nagito.
Mitarai opened the door and walked inside. He looked very on edge.
"What's the matter?" asked Seiko.
"Kimura?" he asked. "Or sorry, uh...Mrs. Komaeda?"
"You can just call me Seiko." she said to him.
"Okay then." said Mitarai. "I just wanted to check up on you. And Nagito too."
"Something you want?" asked Nagito.
"Uh...actually, now that you mentioned it..." said Mitarai. "I'd just like to borrow Seiko for a moment."
"Are you sick or injured?" asked Seiko.
"No." said Mitarai. "I'd just like a private chat with you about something."
Seiko nodded, then got up and followed Mitarai into the next room they could find that was empty, leaving behind Nagito, Ruruka, and Sonosuke.
"What is it?" she asked him.
Mitarai winced. He clearly had something on his mind. He looked very hesitant about it. In fact, he was very hesitant. He didn't know if he could or should talk about it. Eventually, he cleared his throat.
"Well, I was hoping that I'd meet up with my former friends." said Mitarai. "When we get out of here, I mean."
"Who were they?" asked Seiko.
"The Ultimate Imposter and Mikan Tsumiki, the Ultimate Nurse." said Mitarai.
"I know about Tsumiki." nodded Seiko.
"Yeah, I know." said Mitarai. "I was hoping I could talk to them again. I know they did horrible things when they were members of Ultimate Despair. Especially Mikan. She...she...tried to..."
He stammered, and couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. Seiko placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You don't need to say it, Mitarai." she told him. "I understand."
"I know." said Mitarai. "But I don't blame her for what happened. Junko Enoshima messed with her mind and made her do things, and I watched it all. The Mikan I knew would've never done that to me."
"It's okay." said Seiko, calmly.
"I thought I would talk to you, since you have experience with this kind of thing. With...with Nagito, I mean. What do you think I should do if I ever see them again?"
"Just try giving them a chance." said Seiko. "And try not to tell them what they did in the past. They might not take it too well."
"I'll keep that in mind." nodded Mitarai. "Believe me, after everything we just went through, I need to see them again. More than ever."
"Let's go back." said Seiko.
"Right."
As soon as they went back to the room, they turned to face Nagito, and Mitarai said to him what he already said to Seiko.
"Well I can't promise anything." said Nagito.
"Please, Nagito!" said Mitarai. "They're my best friends in the whole world! If you and Seiko can have your happy reunion, then... well, I want mine next."
"I'm going to need it." he thought. "Especially since..."
"Okay." said Nagito. "I'm just worried Munakata might not take it so well."
"Forget what that guy thinks." said Ruruka. "Even if we get out of here, we're still going to have to put up with him."
Seiko flashed her eyes at Ruruka.
"Oh don't give me that look, Seiko." said Ruruka. "You know just as much as I do how crazy and hellbent Munakata is about hope. He even makes Nagito look half-decent. He was ready to kill every single one of us."
"Well to be fair...so were you." said Seiko.
Ruruka's face was flushed and she clenched her teeth. Despite being the Ultimate Confectioner, her teeth were perfectly clean and undamaged.
"Really? You're still going to defend him?" asked Ruruka. "I know he's your boss, but he was still ready to kill both you and Komaeda."
"He only did it because he had the Future Foundation's interests at heart."
"Baloney!" said Ruruka. "He's just some psycho samurai. What's a crazy guy with a sword going to do for the future of humanity? Between him and that boxer, it's a wonder the Future Foundation didn't fall apart forever ago! I'd have already left a long time ago if Tengan weren't still in charge."
Seiko started growling. Nagito and Mitarai winced. They could feel another argument coming up.
"Well unlike you, at least Munakata never treated me like some indentured servant."
Servant. Nagito felt his jaw drop. He quickly stood up and walked to the door.
"Nagito, what is it?" asked Seiko.
"I need to check on something." said Nagito.
"I'll go with you." said Seiko. "I need to calm myself down. Sonosuke, Ruruka, could you stay here with Mitarai?"
"Sure." said Sonosuke. "It's not like I have anything better to do."
"Me either." said Ruruka, awkwardly. "Nope. There's definitely nothing else I'd rather be doing."
After Seiko and Nagito left, Ruruka and Sonosuke both sat on either side of Mitarai.
"So, uh..." said Mitarai. "Do you two like anime at all?"
"I never really watch it much to be honest, even before the Tragedy." said Sonosuke. "Too busy making weapons or eating Ruruka's sweets."
"Me either." said Ruruka. "Too busy making sweets."
"Huh..." said Mitarai. "I know what it's like to be so caught up in your own talent that you forget to enjoy the simple things in life. So what was going on between you and Seiko anyway?"
"We used to be her friends." said Sonosuke. "Until she and Komaeda got us expelled."
"But hasn't it been years since that happened?" asked Mitarai. "Don't you think with everything going on in the world right now, there's more important stuff to worry about than some high school drama?"
"Some wounds never heal." said Ruruka. "And I'm not just saying that because I have a broken arm."
"Why don't you just have Seiko do something about it?" asked Mitarai.
"Because I don't deserve her help." said Ruruka. "I'm not worth the effort."
Mitarai bowed his head.
"Well, I sometimes felt the same way with my own friends." said Mitarai. "The only two I ever had at Hope's Peak Academy. They helped me when nobody else did, while I didn't do much to thank them. Not because I didn't appreciate them, but..."
He stammered, and shifted in uneasily in place.
"Don't get me wrong, they did terrible things too. Even to me. They were also Ultimate Despair, just like Nagito. But if they've been reformed, then there's hope we can all be friends again."
"Why would you want to do that?" asked Ruruka.
"Because I owe them my life." said Mitarai. "I'm the Ultimate Animator, and anime has always been my passion. My reason for living. I was just so obsessed with working on my animation day and night that if they weren't there to help me, I would've probably died of starvation a long time ago."
He shuddered.
"Though it'll take some getting used to being around Mikan again." said Mitarai. "Especially after she..."
He started shaking. He started thinking about the day when Mikan Tsumiki, brainwashed by Junko Enoshima's despair video, tried to seduce him.
"Mikan?" asked Sonosuke. "As in Mikan Tsumiki? That crazy nurse chick?"
"Yes. Her." said Mitarai.
"Didn't she take over a prison and conduct weird experiments on all the inmates?" asked Ruruka.
Mitarai was starting to get angry.
"Yes. But it wasn't her fault! None of it was! It was Junko Enoshima. She brainwashed her into acting that way. The Mikan I knew would've never done any of that! Not to me, and not to anyone!"
"Okay, jeez." said Sonosuke. "Relax."
"Yeah, maybe one of my sweets can calm you down." said Ruruka.
She rummaged through her pockets in vain to look for something to give Mitarai. All that was left was Seiko's candy, but she didn't want to give it up.
"Aw, nuts." said Ruruka. "I forgot I already gave all of it to Sonosuke. Oh well, I can always make more. As soon as we get out of here, I'm going to make something for everyone. I might even swallow my pride and make something sugar-free for Seiko. Of course, I might need some help with this broken arm and all."
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Then it opened. It was Chairman Tengan.
"What the hell do you want, old man?!" growled Sonosuke. He clearly didn't forget about the fight they had earlier.
"I just thought I'd drop in and check on all of you."
"Well we're fine." said Sonosuke. "We don't need babysitting."
But he wasn't the only one that seemed upset by his presence. Mitarai gripped his smartphone very hard.
"Mitarai, what's the matter?" asked Ruruka. "It's just Chairman Tengan. I thought you and him were friends."
But Mitarai didn't say anything. He started stroking and tapping the smartphone's screen, as if he were searching for a specific app.
"Whatever's gotten into you, young Mitarai?" asked Tengan.
"Mr. Chairman, I really don't want to talk to you." growled Mitarai. "I'm giving you one chance to get out of here."
"Mitarai, why are you so tensed up?" asked Ruruka. "Maybe Seiko can get some stress relievers for you."
"I don't need them." said Mitarai. "Just please...leave us alone."
"Mitarai, what the heck is going on?" Ruruka asked again. "Seriously, what is your problem?"
Mitarai slowly turned to Ruruka. His eyes were glaring so intensely that Ruruka was afraid.
"You wanna know what my problem is?" asked Mitarai. "I'll show you my problem."
He lifted up his smartphone a played a video message he had saved on there. He held it up so that everyone in the room could clearly see what was being played. The whole room was silent except for the video.
"Well, since what's done is done, let's tell everyone the good news." said Makoto. "And the bad news too."
He turned around just in time to see Nagito and Seiko enter the room.
"Nagito, what is it?" asked Makoto.
"I just remembered..." said Nagito.
Nagito turned to look at Miaya.
"Of course, I didn't realize it before."
"What are you talking about, dear?" asked Seiko.
Nagito walked over to Miaya, who started typing on her keyboard.
"Hello, Komaeda." said the Monomi avatar. "Can I help you with anything?"
"Sure." said Nagito. "You're actually the woman I need to talk to right now. Only you're not really that woman. In fact, you're actually a different woman."
"What are you talking about? I'm Miaya Gekkogahara, and always have been."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Sure I'm sure! What's it to you, pal?!"
Monomi was starting to look angry with him.
"No, I'm convinced that you're in fact someone else." said Nagito, narrowing his eyes. "You called me a certain word a couple of times: Servant. There are exactly five people that I know who have ever called me by that word, and only one of them could possibly be talking to me right this very minute."
"Oh, boy." said Monomi, who started sweating all over and pushing her fingerless hands together. "It looks like the jig is up!"
"Yep." said Nagito. "Show yourself, Monaca!"
Miaya's computer screen cut to static, and Monomi disappeared. In her place, a young girl with pale skin, green cucumber-like hair worn in pigtails, and large green eyes with needle-thin manji shapes in the irises appeared on the screen. At that same moment, Seiko walked up to them.
"Long time no see, Servant." said the green-haired girl.
"Monaca Towa." said Nagito. "Fancy seeing you again."
"I finally get to talk to you without using that silly bunny." said Monaca, in a semi-excited voice. "I can't believe how many times I nearly blew my cover by calling you 'Servant'! Lucky for me, you didn't seem to notice."
"Well I kind of had a problem with memory loss." said Nagito.
"Oh yeah, that Neo Whatsit Whatever thing that the Future Foundation set up." said Monaca, who now sounded bored and disinterested.
"Well my memories are coming back now." said Nagito. "Slowly but surely."
"How's it going, meow?" asked Monaca, with a more energetic voice and a big smile.
"Uh, I've been better." Nagito said casually, as if he was chatting with one of his neighbors. "I got stuck in this Killing Game, then everyone thought I was the culprit, and the next thing I know..."
"Nagito, who is this?" asked Seiko.
"Ah, you're here too." said Nagito, with a small grin. "Monaca, I'd like you to meet my wife Seiko. Seiko, this is my old boss Monaca Towa."
"Monaca Towa?" repeated Makoto, who had just joined them. "She's the one leading the Remnants in Towa City! The one that kidnapped Byakuya and tried to kill my sister and Toko Fukawa."
"Yeah, that's her." said Nagito.
"Hi, Naegi!" said Monaca. "Heard a lot about you! Glad I get to talk to you. Personally, I just wish you didn't need your girls and fanboys to help you with everything. I mean Munakata captured you so easily because of that Forbidden Action of yours. Miaya's Forbidden Action was taking a right turn, but that didn't stop her from saving your ass. Still nice to meet you."
She waved enthusiastically at him with a big smile. Makoto said nothing. He was just shocked by this turn of events.
"What's the matter, Naegi? Are you so shocked by this plot twist that you're falling into despair?" asked Monaca, leaning up close to her own computer monitor with a devilish grin on her face.
Then Makoto remembered something.
"You're also the one that's holding my mother and father hostage, right?" asked Makoto. "Where are they?"
"I dunno." shrugged Monaca. "They've been moved around so much that I lost track ages ago."
"You better not be lying!" said Makoto. "I'm gonna find them!"
Then Monaca turned to face Nagito.
"How's Future Foundation been treating you, Servant?" asked Monaca, turning to face Nagito. "I didn't expect you to be there, nor did I expect you to be married to a woman."
"Well we're not married yet." said Nagito. "We're engaged."
"So how would you two like to come and work for me?" asked Monaca. "I'm planning on bringing Big Sis Junko's plan to plunge the world into despair back on schedule. You can be Mr. and Mrs. Servant."
"No." said both Nagito and Seiko at once.
"Servant A and Servant B?" suggested Monaca again.
"No!" said both of them at once, louder than before. Seiko looked angry, while Nagito had his eyes closed and he had a smile on his face.
"Well, it was worth a shot." shrugged Monaca.
"So you must be the mastermind behind this Killing Game!" growled Seiko. "Why did you do this, and what happened with Gekkogahara?"
Nagito now noticed that Miaya hadn't moved an inch since Monaca starting talking to them.
"Is she working with you?" asked Nagito.
"No." said Monaca. "I kinda, mighta...killed her some time ago and replaced her with this android. I've been controlling her remotely this whole time."
Seiko and Makoto gasped. The latter especially took this very hard, since "Miaya" had been one of his closest allies during the Final Killing Game.
"How could you do that?" demanded Makoto. "Gekkogahara is one of the most valued members of Future Foundation! She was one of the creators of the Neo World Program!"
"Well I wanted to get a close look at you, and see if you're everything that everyone made you out to be." said Monaca. "Seeing Servant-I mean...Nagito here was a surprising bonus. Especially considering what's happening on Jabberwock Island right now."
Nagito flashed his eyes.
"What's happening there?" asked Nagito.
"Uh..."
Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu and Peko Pekoyama were standing side-by-side together at the marina of Jabberwock Island. They could just make out a squadron of strange futuristic helicopters was flying towards the Future Foundation blockade. This would be their first sight of the war that Makoto Naegi told them about, the war between the Future Foundation and the Remnants of Despair.
The blockade opened fire. Shells and missiles were fired from the warships, but the helicopters dropped countermeasures in the form of glowing orbs that redirected the missiles towards themselves. The shells also failed to hit their targets in the first volley. Then the helicopters returned fire. From revolving rocket launchers came a barrage of missiles that struck some of the warships head-on. They were several explosions on the decks of the ships, bodies and equipment scattering everywhere, but the deck guns and armed men returned fire. A few Monokopters were shot down, but the rest continued their advance. Despite all the flak and shrapnel in the air, a few Monokopters were able to unload infantry onto the decks of the ships.
These came in the form of Monokuma robots primarily of the Guard variety, as well as human soldiers. Most of them were wearing regular clothes, business suits, and even military and military uniforms belonging to different countries, but all of them had one article of clothing in common: Monokuma Hats, full-face helmets with Monokuma's likeness covering their entire heads. While the Eastern Remnants were largely Asian, Middle-Eastern or Eastern European, their Western counterparts were much more diverse; there were Causcasian, African-American, Afro-Caribbean, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and even Native American people present among the ranks of the attackers. They were mostly armed with Colt M4A1 carbines, the Western cousin of the Future Foundation's weapon of choice, the Howa Type 89 assault rifle. At the front were infantry in full S.W.A.T. gear carrying bulletproof riot shields. They stood alongside the Guard Monokumas in protecting their comrades in the rear from the Future Foundation soldiers' gunfire. Future Foundation soldiers threw fragmentation grenades over the wall of shields, while the Remnant infantry in the back countered with tear gas canisters and Molotov cocktails. Once in a while, the shields would pull back so that the infantry in S.W.A.T. gear could discharge gunfire with Heckler & Koch MP5K-PDWs before quickly sealing themselves up again in their tightly-knit phalanx.
They advanced on, firing their guns and throwing explosives at the ship's crew. After a few minutes, the phalanx of Remnants infantry opened up, revealing a Ball Monokuma spinning in place and then rolling past its fellow Remnants to scatter the line of Future Foundation troops. More men came up from below decks to shoot the orb-shaped robot into pieces with freshly deployed Sumitomo NTK-62 machine guns. Next, they threw smoke grenades at the oncoming phalanx which closed again. Then a cluster of missiles and bullets from the portside announced that a Monokopter had circled around and was now opening fire with an M134 minigun on the Future Foundation soldiers on the front deck. Then machine gun operators were ripped to shreds until they were nothing more than a pink mist, while the others went for cover.
"All gun crew, blast that damn thing out of the sky!" yelled Moriwaki.
The deck guns and batteries stopped firing at their previous targets and were now positioning themselves to shoot down the sole attacking helicopter. However, the Monokopter proved to be very agile. It began dodging every barrage fired at it, firing at everything along the way. Eventually, it was brought down by the deck guns of an adjacent warship. But by then, several Monokopters broke off and were now headed towards Jabberwock Island.
Hajime was carrying Chiaki in his arms back to her cottage. She had dozed off while they were halfway through Level 25. As soon as they were at the door, Hajime set her down and stood her up. Chiaki slowly woke up.
"I had a great time with you, Hajime." she said to him with her misty voice. "Same time tomorrow?"
"No problem." smiled Chiaki.
Suddenly Usami came flying up to them yelling at the top of her lungs.
"Hajime! Hajime!" she hollered, her face contorted with anxiety.
"Wh-what's the problem, Usami?" asked Hajime.
"You need to get out of the Neo World Program immediately!" she said to him. "Jabberwock Island is under attack, and your classmates are in danger! If the core is destroyed, you'll be trapped in here forever! Please come with me to the Ruins! Alter Ego has already opened a door leading back! Now hurry, we haven't a moment to lose!"
Hajime nodded.
"Seems you've got to go, Hajime." said Chiaki, all the sleepiness gone from her. "I'll see you out."
"Then let's go." said Hajime.
After inspecting the corridors and making sure none of the monitors were turned back on, Munakata headed to the monitoring room. He stood by the window he broke earlier and saw Nagito, Seiko, and Makoto talking to Miaya. Or so it seemed. As soon as he saw who was on Miaya's screen, his eyes flashed and became alert. Monaca Towa was talking to them. There was no mistaking it. Was she the mastermind? Were Makoto, Nagito, and possibly even Seiko working for her all along? Under normal circumstances, he would have barged in and interrupted them. But since Nagito and Seiko did undo the entire Killing Game, he decided to play things by ear, at least until he heard more.
"Jabberwock Island is under attack?" asked Nagito.
"Mm-hmm. Isn't it just awful?" asked Monaca, pretending to be upset about it. "It seems that certain Remnants aren't happy that your friends missed out on the Killing School Trip and want to fix that. Or maybe they want their old leaders back. I dunno. Let's hope for their sake that Munakata's fleet can fight them, or that whole island's going to turn into one big bloodbath!"
"You need to call them off right now!" said Seiko.
"Oh, I couldn't do that if I wanted to." said Monaca. "Those Remnants don't answer to me! They're the Western Remnants! They came all the way stateside. And here I am, all the way in Towa City, Japan. There's not much I can do from here."
"Towa City?" repeated Nagito. "So you're not even on this island?"
"Nope." said Monaca. "There's no way I would've made it here alive, so I needed to use this clever disguise."
Nagito looked at Miaya.
"So you murdered Gekkogahara just so you could infiltrate the Future Foundation?"
"Yep." said Monaca, crossing her arms. "Don't like it? Sue me."
"You better watch your back, Monaca." said Seiko. "The Future Foundation will not take this sitting down. They'll hunt you down and exterminate you."
"Oh, tell me about it." said Monaca. "In fact, I have already have someone destroying all my Monokumas."
"Komaru?" asked Makoto.
"Yep." said Monaca. "She and that girl with glasses can't seem to leave me alone. If you'll excuse me, I have to look into those intruders before all my evil plans are ruined."
She was about to reach for a button on the keyboard, when Nagito raised his own hand.
"Wait!" said Nagito. "Please, I implore you to see the error of your despair-filled ways."
"Oh, that's rich." said Monaca. "Considering you're the one that was raising me to be the next Junko Enoshima. Thanks a lot, dad."
Seiko looked at Nagito.
"You...what?!" she whispered angrily.
"Heh, heh." Nagito held up his hands and chuckled nervously. "It's not what you think. You see, I would never do anything to help despair. I just wanted to set her up just so I could watch her fall. Make way for a new hope to triumph over despair."
Monaca yawned.
"To be honest with you, your constant rambling about hope and despair has been really getting on my nerves." she said to him. "It's just the same repetitive stuff over and over. Like why do you people obsess over hope and despair so much anyway? In fact, I'm going to give this Junko Enoshima II thing a few more hours before I call it quits."
Nagito, Makoto, and Seiko looked stunned.
"Really?" asked Makoto. "So you're not going to continue fighting for despair?"
"Oh, I'll still keep doing that." said Monaca. "At least until I get bored."
"Bored?!" repeated Seiko. "You murdered one of my colleagues, three more people are dead because of your Killing Game, and tried to get the rest of us killed...and now you're getting bored with it?!"
"Hey, who said it was my Killing Game?" said Monaca with a cute bubbly voice. "I'm just an observer, remember?"
"Observer?" asked Nagito. "So you're not the mastermind?"
"That's a big noperino, Hope Boy!" said Monaca.
"If it's not you, then who is it?" asked Makoto. "Is it the Western Remnants?"
"Nope, not them either." said Monaca. "But it is someone that's in the building right this very minute. Okay. it was fun talking to you all, but I've got to deal with Komaru."
Makoto was about to say something in protest, but Nagito interrupted.
"Wait, Monaca." said Nagito. "Please wait a moment."
"Awww, what is it now?" sighed Monaca, with a whiny voice.
"Listen, I know that I messed up." said Nagito. "But please, can we give things another chance? You had a horrible life. It was wrong of me to make you fall even deeper into despair than you already were. But I can make up for it, I promise. I can make it so that you really are a Warrior of Hope. Please, let me raise you right. Seiko and I could help you. We could be the parents that you should've had a long time ago."
He slightly nudged Seiko to get her to agree. She nodded reluctantly. While she knew that Monaca was a war criminal, she could tell that she needed help. And since the Ultimate Therapist wasn't going to be an option anymore, the Ultimate Pharmacist could still be the next best thing.
"That's true." said Seiko. "I love helping people."
"With us as your mom and dad, you'll be the greatest defender of hope the world has seen." said Nagito. "I mean...present company excluded of course."
He looked at Makoto.
"Oh, please." said Monaca. "There you go again with all the hope and despair mumbo-jumbo. I think my brother Haiji had the right idea giving up on both of it. Or maybe I should just get rid of you now to finally shut you up."
"Hey, let's not get hasty!" Makoto holding up his hands. "Please, we only want what's best for everyone! I mean we even wanted Junko Enoshima to step down and give hope a chance!"
"Well you did a pretty bad job stopping her from dying." said Monaca.
"Well I wanted to help the rest of Ultimate Despair to make up for it." said Makoto. "You heard my speech about them earlier, right? You know what they all went through."
"Sure I did." said Monaca. "You sure know how to use an intercom."
"He sure does." said Nagito. "Makoto Naegi truly is the Ultimate Hope! I'm just glad I lived to hear it, and Izuru Kamukura's plan was a failure."
Makoto and Seiko's eyes widened, and they slowly turned to look at Nagito.
"Oh, did I say something I wasn't supposed to?" asked Nagito.
"What plan are you talking about, Nagito?" asked Seiko.
"The Monokuma virus in the Neo World Program." said Makoto. "We discovered that someone installed malware that placed Monokuma in the virtual world. If Usami didn't defeat when she did, the whole thing could've been a massive disaster. But we never found out who it was."
"It was Izuru Kamukura." said Nagito. "The other Ultimate Hope."
"Yeah, your partner from Ultimate Despair." said Monaca, with a dry and bored tone in her voice. "The guy that really, really needed a haircut."
"Kamukura?" asked Makoto. "How did you know it was him?"
"Because on the boat ride to Jabberwock Island, he and I had a chat about his plan." said Nagito. "He had a plan to resurrect Junko Enoshima by having the rest of Ultimate Despair die in the Neo World Program. Then the Junko AI that was included in the malware would have taken over their bodies when the program ended."
"Why didn't you stop him?" asked Seiko. "You could've all died!"
"And how do you remember all of this?!" said Makoto, alarmed. "All your memories from your time as an Ultimate Despair should've been wiped from your mind! Was it all for nothing? Do we have to-"
Munakata heard this, and was now steeling himself. To think he was about to give Komaeda the benefit of a doubt. But now he had to take action. But then Nagito interrupted.
"Don't worry, Makoto." said Nagito, raising his left hand. "I have no intention of betraying you, your friends, or Seiko. Especially not Seiko. It's like I told Munakata earlier. Everything I do is in the name of hope."
Monaca looked at the pincer-like prosthetic hand.
"Nagito, what happened to your hand?" asked Monaca. "I mean, what happened to...Big Sis Junko's hand?"
"You knew whose hand it was?" asked Nagito.
"Of course I did." said Monaca. "Did you think a big nasty Demon like you would've been spared by the Warriors of Hope if you didn't have some kind of connection to Big Sis Junko? I knew you had her hand even when the others didn't. Now tell me what you did with it."
"I had to get rid of it to get the arm bangle off." said Nagito.
"Do you still have it?" asked Monaca.
Nagito fingered one of the pockets of his bloodstained coat. He wasn't sure if he should show Monaca the hand. It might worsen her already unstable state of mind.
"Come on! Show it to me!" shouted Monaca.
She started pounding the desk impatiently.
"Show it, show it, show it, show it, show it, show it!"
"Monaca, don't." said Makoto. "Please don't ask him to do that. You don't need this right now. Neither of you do."
Outside the room, Asahina passed by the monitoring room.
"Hey, Munakata." she said to him. "How's it going?"
"Shh..." said Munakata, raising his hand and pointing into the room.
"What's going on in..." said Asahina.
She saw who Nagito, Seiko, and Makoto were talking to. Her big blue eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She hurried and opened the door.
"Asahina, wait!" Munakata tried to stop her, but to no avail.
"Hey!" Asahina approached them. "You're Monaca Towa, aren't you?!"
"That's right!" said Monaca. "Guilty as charged!"
"You killed my little brother!" said Asahina, who seemed unusually angry. "Yuta's dead, blown up into a million pieces because of you!"
"Well that was technically all on Jataro." said Monaca. "He never told anyone not to leave Towa City until after that swimming kid got blown to bits."
"Well I'm still gonna give you a piece of my mind!" said Asahina.
Suddenly an alarm sounded on Monaca's side.
"Oh, sorry but that'll have to wait." Monaca said to them. "I've still got to deal with Komaru and Fukawa. And since I'm not in the mood to get yelled at, I'm just gonna leave Miayabot on auto-pilot."
"Auto...pilot?!" exclaimed Makoto.
"Yep. Have fun with her." said Monaca. "Oh, and Asahina? Sorry I got that stuff on your suit."
"That was you?!" said Asahina.
While typing the code, she accidentally pressed a certain button on the keyboard. Miayabot's eyes started to blink and beep.
"Aw, shoot." said Monaca. "It looks like I activated the homing beacon on Miayabot. Now anyone will be able to find you guys in there."
"W-What?!" gasped Asahina.
"Homing beacon?!" repeated Makoto.
"Great going, Hina." said Nagito.
"Well, let's hope whoever finds you, it's not the bad guys." said Monaca. "Toodles."
She waved her hand and the screen cut to static. In its place a laughing bear skull and crossbones appeared. Miayabot turned its head to look at Munakata, who stood framed in the doorway with his katana drawn. He had heard everything, but what was he going to do next? Before anyone even had time to ask that question, including Munakata himself, they all received that answer.
"Switching to...Elmination Mode." said Miayabot, speaking with Monomi's voice.
Miayabot leaped out of her wheelchair and stood upright. Missile launchers sprouted from her shoulders and long blades protruded from her forearms. Munakata was poised to strike. Friends and/or foes were coming, and the survivors of the Final Killing Game were now trapped inside the Future Foundation headquarters with a killer android. Not to mention the mastermind.