Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. So, first off, thanks to those who answered my question about twitter, as well as those who answered my questions regarding original writing. My curiosity is sated for now with the former, and the latter helped me some with making a decision.
Speaking of which, I've decided to start writing on the site Royal Road, and posted the first chapter for the book "The Silver Wings" there (Now named "The Silver Wings: Goliaths"). Like here and at AO3, I'm going by the name Spirit Soldier, so if any of you are interested, come check me out there. Hope to find you guys there.
Anyway, that's all I want to say for right now. Now, let's start the long-awaited viewing of the fifth chapter. I hope you guys enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.
Chapter 89: Watching Chapter 5: 100 Miles; Pain of a Junk Food Junkie Part 1
"Mukuro Ikusaba."
The screen lit up to show the same scene from before, Kyoko whispering in Makoto's ear. "What…?"
"Mukuro Ikusaba…" Kyoko repeated, "The sixteenth student, lying hidden somewhere in this school. The one they call the Ultimate Despair. Watch out for her."
The small recap of what's been revealed caused several heads to turn to the named girl, some discreetly, others not so much. Said girl retained her stiff look, keeping her focus on the screen.
"Kyoko told me to watch for her… Mukuro Ikusaba…" narrator Makoto spoke, right after the screen turned black, "That was three days before… the next incident."
That caused heads to swivel back towards the screen, eyes widening in alarm and growing fear.
And then several felt their stomachs drop at the next sentence…
"Three days before we would be faced with another murder."
"Another murder?!" Hiro exclaimed fearfully, holding his porcupine hair, "There's gonna be another murder?!"
"Are you shitting me?!" Leon exclaimed in frustration, "After seeing the survivors unite for once…?!"
"No… no, it can't be!" Hina shook her head in denial, a frantic look now across her face, "Sakura sacrificed herself in order to stop this! She took her own life so we would stop seeing each other as enemies…!"
"What would be the cause for murder this time?!" Taka questioned, looking quite anxious, "What other motive is there for one of us to break?!"
"I think the more important question is who…" Byakuya stated, eyes narrowed, "Who's the next student to fall… and who's the murderer?"
The group fell silent at that question, a question nobody wanted to even guess at, especially those who were a part of the six remaining survivors.
However, that fear and dread found itself being wiped away…
The screen then lit up once more to show the masked figure from the third chapter, a knife deep into their chest. "Three days before the worst thing so far could reveal itself…"
…And replaced with shock and bafflement at the scene displayed to them.
"What the- isn't that the masked dude we saw before?!" Leon exclaimed incredulously.
"Why the hell are they dead?!" Mondo questioned next, a baffled look across his face.
"This is such a sudden reveal of events!" Hifumi stated in clear confusion, "To say a murder is going to happen, and then show who the victim is?"
"And why is it so bad that they're dead?" Hiro pointed out, his fear now replaced with the same felt befuddlement, "Isn't that a good thing?"
"A murder is never a good thing, Hiro!" Taka refuted automatically, focusing on the fortune teller's words for the moment, "We should never celebrate the death of a human being!"
"Regardless of morality, I don't think it's solely the death of this individual that Makoto is referring to…" Byakuya cut in, eyes still on the screen, "After all, someone had to kill the masked individual for them to be dead."
The group caught the implications of the Togami heir's words, and immediately a good portion of the class went pale once again.
'Interesting~...'Junko thought with some glee. Honestly, she thought the masked figure was herself, but with that figure now dead? That sent her analytical mind running even more theories.
(Chaper 5 - 100 Mile Dash; Pain of a Junk Food Junkie - Daily Life)
"...Huh?" Was all Leon could say, rather dumbly at that. It was clear that the shifting of emotions was getting to him, as well as several of his classmates.
"I thought we were finished with these stupid titles…" Byakuya said with clear annoyance.
"Maybe there's some special meaning behind that title…?" Sayaka suggested, tilting her head and scratching her cheek a tad, "Can't say what it is though…"
"There likely is," Hifumi spoke up, straightening his glasses in his usual fashion, "The other chapter titles, as I now think about it, were clearly foreshadowing the events of those viewings. The second chapter, for example, was referring to the relationship between Mr. Fujisaki, Mr. Ishimaru, and Mr. Oowada, and how it ended in tragedy. My own chapter is reference to myself, and the investigation surrounding Robo-Justice."
"The fourth chapter likely refers to Sakura, and her sacrifice, an apology to the remaining survivors," Toko surprisingly joined in, "And the first chapter likely points to Sayaka's willingness to do whatever it took to escape; survive, as it were. It could also refer to Leon's actions possibly, or even the entire game itself and its starting of it."
"So, in other words, there's likely a hidden meaning within this title," Hifumi continued on, "It's also very likely that Miss Kirigiri is involved, just from the picture itself. But we'll need to watch in order to figure out what exactly that meaning is."
Their response… was befuddled stares from the group. Hearing those two talk about their literature/anime knowledge was one thing; the two actually speaking in tandem was very much another. It's very rare to see those two be on the same wavelength…
"There's not much use theorizing what's going to happen…" Kyoko was the one to break the silence, looking as nonplussed as usual, "We just need to watch, and see what could transpire."
"Kyoko…" Makoto looked at his detective friend with concern, "You're not worried about being featured here…?"
"As I recall, you were also featured in one of these titles," Kyoko reminded him, "As was Hina. Yet both of you are still alive as of this current viewing. So, I won't worry over mere possibilities."
"Okay. If you say so…" the lucky student conceded, recognizing those good points.
"In the meantime, the day after Sakura's class trial…" narrator Makoto stated, "That morning, in the dining hall…"
The screen lit back up, to show the six remaining survivors gathered in the dining hall. "So, let's begin the usual post-trial investigation," Byakuya declared.
"Hey, you didn't make small talk or anything!" Hiro protested, "We never just get straight to the point like that!"
"If you want to keep up with me, you must refrain from pointless small talk," the Togami heir said in rebuke.
Seeing this caused several sighs and eye rolls from several of the students. "And we're back with our regular schedule douche, folks…" Leon announced dryly.
"Probably should've seen this coming…" Sayaka sighed, shaking her head, "Guess Byakuya will always be Byakuya…"
"What? Did I say anything untrue?" the Togami heir questioned in response, raising an eyebrow at his classmates, "Small talk is a pointless waste of time if we're moving to defeat the mastermind. I won't bother with it, so you shouldn't as well if you want to keep at my pace."
"That ego of his is unreal, seriously…" Hina muttered to herself.
"Jeez, how high is that horse of yours?" Hina sighed.
"He just acts like that to hide his own insecurities. That's what I like to think, anyway…" Hiro guessed.
"Excuse me, imbecile?" Byakuya spoke towards Hiro, sounding absolutely offended at the claim, "What nonsense about insecurities are you speaking about?"
"Well, maybe you feel insecure as the heir to your family's name, or whatever," Hiro explained defensively, holding his hands up, "Or maybe that you're the youngest, and doing that. I mean, anyone would feel at least a little insecure about all that."
The Togami heir stared at the fortune teller blankly for a moment, before shaking his head and directing his time back at the screen. He won't bother wasting time with this.
"Regardless, if you want to defeat the mastermind, you need to follow my lead," Byakuya stated in his usual arrogant fashion, while ignoring Hiro, "They creep around the school like a mouse, but the mastermind's pride is as bloated as a cow's udder. And no matter what it takes, I will rid this world of them…"
"Oh, Master~...!" Toko sighed dreamily, "You sound so cool~..."
"Ugh…" Hina, on the other hand, groaned in annoyance, "How can anybody have THAT big of an ego?"
"And after the humbling the asshole received before…" Mondo grumbled, arms crossed.
"As Sayaka had said, Byakuya will not let go of his hubris easily," Taka sighed, "At the very least, we should be grateful he's no longer participating in the killing game."
"..." Toko looked as if she wanted to say something but kept quiet.
"Hey, Toko… you've been pretty quiet," Hiro pointed out, having taken notice of her silence.
"..."
"Man, you're so boring now!" Hiro laughed, "You just sit there, like a mushroom. Gonna start calling you Miss Mushroom!"
"E-Excuse me?" Toko glared at the fortune teller for that. "How a-about I call you M-Mr. Porcupine then?"
"Hey, leave my hair out of this!" Hiro protested, holding said hair, "Besides, it was future me who said that!"
"And y-you wouldn't s-say the same thing now?"
That got Hiro quiet, knowing very well that he would have.
"..." The writer gritted her teeth, but otherwise, kept quiet.
"Okaaaaay, what's the strange silence?" Leon questioned with a raised eyebrow, "Usually Toko would have a word or two with Hiro from that comment."
"Totally," Hina nodded in agreement, also tilting her head in confusion.
"...Wait a minute," Sayaka spoke up, suspicion clear in her face, "Did he…?"
"She didn't snap back at you…" Hina remarked in surprise, now paying attention as well.
"Her talking makes things difficult. So, I told her not to open her mouth without permission," Byakuya explained casually.
"...He did," Sayaka deadpanned, not at all surprised. And, judging by the looks of some of her classmates, they were just as unsurprised as she was.
"Seriously?!" Hina exclaimed, mouth agape, "But what about when she needs to eat? Or drink water?"
"It's Byakuya. I very much doubt he would care," Celeste pointed out.
"Very true. I wouldn't," Byakuya himself said, no shame whatsoever.
"And Toko's okay with that?" Hiro spoke up, disbelief in his own tone, "For real?"
"It's Toko, dude," Leon pointed out blankly, "Dude could ask her to walk on hot coals, and she would do it happily."
"..." Toko stayed silent, unwilling to confirm or deny such claims.
"What?!" Hina exclaimed incredulously, "But if she can't open her mouth, she can't eat! Or drink water!"
"I don't care," was Byakuya's uncaring response.
"And you're okay with that Toko?!" Hiro questioned the writer.
"..." The response he got was silence.
"Jeez, how low is that rock you're hiding under…?" the fortune teller sighed.
"Deep underground, probably," Junko remarked with slight amusement.
"Just what does she see in the asshole…?" Mondo grumbled, mostly to himself, "I just don't fucking get it…"
"I'm honestly as lost as you bro…" Taka stated, shaking his head.
"I just hope she'll be able to eat or drink at some point…" Chihiro murmured worriedly.
"Do you have to treat her so badly, Byakuya?" Sayaka asked the heir exasperatedly, "I'm not even asking you to be nice to her, just not mean."
"She'll follow me around no matter what I say or do," Byakuya said in retort, "I might as well make use of that, and make sure she's less annoying."
"O-Oh, Master…" Toko giggled, daintily covering her mouth, "Always treating me so nicely, yet roughly…"
"...I'm not gonna even bother saying anything to that," Leon said flatly in response to Toko's words.
"I believe this is the small talk Byakuya warned us against," Kyoko pointed out.
"And yet… I let myself get involved," the heir sighed in admittance, "But now it is finished. I will never allow you to drag me down to your level again."
That earned a few snorts and giggles from the students. "Not so above it all, are ya Byakuya?" Leon remarked teasingly, grinning under the glare of the Togami heir.
"What do you expect? He likes to hear himself talk so much, there's no way he could avoid making small talk," Sayaka stated, giggling.
"Yet I initially moved to start the investigation immediately," Byakuya retorted back, "It would've happened if the dunces hadn't decided to protest."
"Who are you calling a dunce?!"
"Can you not be so mean?!"
Byakuya ignored the cries of outrage from Hina and Hiro.
Byakuya then started walking out of the dining hall. "We're going to begin our search. Stop running your mouths and start moving your legs."
The group looked at one another before following Byakuya's lead. The scene switched to Makoto, now on the fifth floor of the building.'So, here I am on the 5th floor of Hope's Peak Academy…'Makoto mused to himself,'And it's totally different from all the floors we've seen up till now.'
"For some reason it feels… unpleasant," the luckster murmured to himself.
"Now we're at the fifth and final floor…" Byakuya mused, a hand over his chin, "The biology lab, the dojo, and the greenhouse are now accessible to us."
"The final floor…" Taka repeated to himself, looking tentative, "Do you think the fifth floor will provide us with enough clues? Be it for the survivors or for us?"
"I don't think we can rely on these floors to provide us with all the answers we need," Kyoko stated, eyes narrowed. At this point, it's becoming clear: one way or another, their future selves will need to confront the mastermind themselves.
Changing the subject somewhat, what does Mr. Naegi mean when he said the floor felt unpleasant?" Hifumi inquired curiously, "Hasn't the entire school felt ominous from the start?"
"I think my future self meant that the fifth floor has a different atmosphere compared to the rest," Makoto said, taking a guess at his own feelings, "We probably wouldn't know unless we were there ourselves…"
"..." The scene switched to Makoto inside a botanical garden, the lucky student staring dumbly at a giant flower-looking plant in the middle of the garden. Once he processed what he was seeing…
"Uwah!" he screamed out in shock, "Wh-What is this…?"
"That monster of a plant is still around?" Leon remarked with a bit of surprise, "Thought it would've died off by now…"
"It was planted by the Ultimate Botanist…" Sayaka pointed out, "So it was probably made to where it would have a lot of longevity, even without water."
"That doesn't make it less freaky," Leon said in response.
'This thing is super weird, super creepy!'Makoto freaked out in his head,'Flowers aren't supposed to get this big…!' He then muttered to himself, "Is this thing… real?"
As he took a step closer to the flower…
"WATCH OUT!"
"Wh-?!" Makoto jumped back at the sudden appearance of Monokuma.
Once again, the bear's appearance caused some of the students to jump in shock. "Every time!" Leon exclaimed frustratedly, "Why does that always take us by surprise?!"
"I think it's because even though we know he does that by now, it's still something that happens with no warning or hint," Makoto told his friend, letting out a tense breath of his own, "Like, even if we watch a horror movie and know jump scares are gonna happen, it doesn't make us less jumpy."
"That's a Monokuma Flower. I came up with the name myself," the bear claimed, "Try and touch it, and you're in for some real excitement! Your heart's all like whoa! and the plant's like snap! and your flesh is all like bluuurgh I'm dead!"
'In other words… it's a monstrosity,'Makoto concluded, sounding dead serious in his head.
The serious sounding tone earned a few giggles. "My, my. Overdramatic, aren't you Makoto?" Celeste teased slightly.
Her response was a blank look from the luckster. "You can see the flower for yourself, don't you?"
"Fair enough, I suppose," the gambler said, still giggling.
"It's pretty frickin' amazing, if I do say so myself!" Monokuma said in praise for the plant, "A student at Hope's Peak added improvement after improvement, and created this miracle creature! The Ultimate Botanist… Although, they don't go here anymore. They died during the Tragedy!"
The students perked up at this. "Another student dying during the Tragedy…?" Celeste mused, fist over her mouth, "That is becoming quite the pattern…"
"Does this mean a lot of our fellow students died because of this Tragedy?" Taka asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"It definitely seems that way…" Sayaka mused in agreement, a frown across her own face, "But was it just the result of the Tragedy happening? Or because… Hope's Peak is directly involved with it somehow?"
"We would have to watch more before we can make any conclusions…" Byakuya interjected, looking thoughtful himself, "But yes, more and more it does seem to be like Hope's Peak could end up heavily involved in this event."
"By the way, despite how it looks, that flower is super practical!" the bear added, "It can eat paper, plastic, even people! So it's totally good for the environment!"
"Of course the psycho would dig that monster of a plant…" Mondo grumbled, arms crossed.
"Such an eco-friendly creation is vital for the future growth of a healthy society! Not that I'd know anything about that myself!" Monokuma then let out his evil laugh, before disappearing.
Shaking his head in annoyance, Makoto aimed his eyes back on the giant flower. "Whatever it is, I'd better keep my distance."
"No doubt," Taka stated with a firm nod, "I still remember when Hiro got much too close to it."
"Don't remind me…" Hiro shuddered, recalling the near-death experience.
The next thing the luckster checked out was a large, wooden cage.'Is this… a chicken coop?'Makoto thought curiously,'What's a chicken coop doing here?'
Taking a look inside, he saw that indeed, there actually were chickens in there.'This place even has chickens, huh?'
"Chickens!" Hina exclaimed happily, her eyes lighting up, "Oh, I love chickens! They can fatten them up, fry them up, and enjoy nice plates of fresh fried chicken!"
"Wouldn't that mean… killing them though?" Chihiro pointed out, physically wilting at the thought.
"Oh, they won't be killed for nothing, Chihiro!" Hina attempted to reassure the programmer, "They'll be dying for a cause. To fill up our bellies!"
That didn't make the programmer feel any better. While he isn't really a vegan, the thought of killing a living thing doesn't sit well with him. It can make eating meat difficult at times.
'They're… just regular chickens, right?'the luckster though nervously,'Like, they don't eat people, or lay bombs instead of eggs, or something crazy like that…?'
Makoto narrowed his eyes on the chickens. After a moment of staring, he broke off the stare. "It seems safe…"
Of course, the lucky student's suspicion towards the chicken caused the group to laugh, while said lucky student turned red in embarrassment.
"You sure they're safe, dude?" Leon asked in mock seriousness, with a clear grin across his face, "Sure they're not bio-enhanced? That they don't breathe fire? Maybe it has a second form?"
"Maybe those chickens aren't alive. You could be looking at zombie chickens…" Junko joined in, her grin matching Leon's, "You might have to wait for them to lay eggs to see if they have bombs…"
"Lay off…!" Makoto groaned, covering his red face, "Future me saw a lot of crazy stuff already, okay? Excuse me for expecting crazier!"
"Such an active imagination…" Sayaka cooed teasingly, ruffling her crush's hair, "Don't worry. Those chickens are completely normal and safe to be around…"
"Sayaka…!" Makoto whined. His embarrassment didn't lessen when he heard giggles from both Hina and Celeste. Even Kyoko and Mukuro had amused smiles across their faces.
As he broke away from the chicken coop, Hiro went up to him. "Oh, you like chickens too, Makoto!?" the fortune teller asked him, "Yeah, I love these little guys. They're seriously cute, right?! And there's exactly five of them!"
"Exactly…?"
"Five! You know, the number that comes after four and before six? At least, in terms of natural numbers…" Hiro began explaining himself, "Anyway, whenever the number five pops up, that's a good omen! It contains the mysteries of the cosmos. It's a number of power! A refreshing number on par with hand-squeezed, all-natural lemonade!"
'He never lets me get a word in edgewise…'Makoto sighed to himself.
"Do I even want to know where he got this stuff from…?" Leon whispered to his couchmates.
"I vote no, unless you want to risk a headache," Sayaka answered, shaking her head.
"Anyways…" the fortune teller then looked up to what appeared to be the sky, "At first I thought I saw blue skies, but turns out they just painted the walls and the ceiling!"
"Not a surprise, considering that any source of light is blocked everywhere else…" Taka sighed, with a small slump of his shoulders.
"Though why bother painting the fucking ceilings?" Mondo questioned, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "What's the point in that?"
"Perhaps to give the greenhouse an authentic feeling…?" Hifumi suggested.
"Or to remind us of what has been taken from us…" Celeste offered as a more negative point of view.
"Oh, but the plants are real. It's been a while since I've smelled vegetation. It helps me relax," Hiro claimed… before completely changing his tune, "...That's not what you're thinking, is it?!"
"Huh…?" The lucky student could only blink in confusion. "Why, is that bad?"
"Don't you get it?! Don't you realize… the true horror of plant life?!" Hiro exclaimed to him.
"..."
"..."
"...What?" was the flat question of one Leon Kuwata, voicing nearly everyone's thoughts.
"It's there, just beneath the surface. Beneath their calm exterior, they're always watching, and waiting…" the fortune teller stated, "And when they decide they can't leave us in charge of Earth anymore… they'll put their plan for global human extinction into action!"
"..."
"I'm serious!" Hiro insisted.
"..." The lucky student decided to just walk away and go somewhere else.
The future Makoto's feelings were shared amongst the class, expressions ranging from confused to just blank.
"Yeah, what future me said is true!" Hiro spoke up in defense of himself, "It's obvious once you look beneath the calm exterior, especially at the more carnivorous plants! First chance they get, they'll reveal their true selves! Count on it!"
"..." No words can describe the feeling they all felt at the utter stupidity they had just heard, even when some feel they should be used to Hiro's… tales at this point…
"No one speak. Don't bother entertaining a word for the fool," Byakuya ordered, looking absolutely done with the fortune teller, "Just ignore… that, and continue."
"Wha-?!"
"One word, and I'll find time to castrate you."
That shut Hiro's mouth with a click, the fortune teller unwilling to test that threat. The others didn't make any form of protest to the Togami heir's order and just silently put their attention back on the screen.
The next scene showed Makoto looking around the toolshed.'This place seems totally disorganized,'he mused to himself,'From a lawnmower to fertilizer, flowerpots to farm tools…'
'And against the back wall… is that a pickaxe?'Curious, the luckster went over and picked up the pickaxe.'Huh? There's something carved into the handle of this pickaxe…'
"Crazy… Diamond…?" Makoto read aloud.
That caught the attention of the group. "Crazy Diamonds…?" Taka repeated what Makoto had said, turning towards his friend, "Bro, is that your pickaxe?"
"Hell if I know," was Mondo's reply, looking as confused as the others, "I don't remember owning a pickaxe."
"That probably means that it's something your future self bought at some point," Makoto mused, "Another thing that hasn't happened yet, just like with the second picture."
"But… why did he get a pickaxe?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow, "Plan to use it as a weapon or something?"
"Like I said, hell if I know." This time, the biker averted his eyes away from the others, unable to look anyone in the eyes, something that Makoto noticed, and caused him to bite back a chuckle.
He guessed it's still embarrassing for Mondo to admit that he plans to be a carpenter.
The next scene showed Makoto, along with Kyoko, at a dojo.'Even though this room is totally enclosed, there's a cherry tree planted here,'Makoto thought with some surprise, looking at the sakura trees,'And it's in full bloom.'
"I still question how the school was capable of maintaining sakura trees in such enclosed spaces…" Taka muttered loudly to himself.
"It's best not to question it, dude," Mondo replied back, shaking his head, "A lot of crazy shit happens at Hope's Peak."
"It's quite elegant," Kyoko mused, her gaze on the sakura trees.
Makoto turned towards her, curious. "This is what you consider elegant…?"
"I lived overseas for a long time, so this kind of Japanese-style scenery is refreshing," Kyoko explained.
'But considering our situation, isn't it kinda… out of place?'Makoto thought to himself.
As the lucky student looked around the dojo, he occasionally glanced back at the lavender haired girl, the events of yesterday playing in his head.'What Kyoko told me yesterday…'Makoto mused,'What the heck did it mean…?'
A flashback of Kyoko's warning to Makoto was then shown.
'I wonder… will this chapter give us more information regarding Mukuro? Possibly Junko as well?'Kyoko wondered. It's clear that Mukuro's identity holds a lot of importance, at least as of right now. And it makes the theory of her and Junko being a part of this more and more plausible…
"Um, Kyoko…?" the luckster finally decided to speak up.
He was met with a quick answer. "I'm not going to say anything."
"...Huh?"
"Before anyone says anything, remember that there are still cameras around the school." Kyoko interjected, just before any outrage could be formed or spoken. "We can't talk about information that we've gained, information that the mastermind doesn't want us to know, while they're listening in."
That curtailed any of the questions and feelings of frustrations from the group, all of them seeing Kyoko's point. Sayaka, in particular, took a breath, her rising anger diminishing now.
"I can't say anything…" Kyoko narrowed her eyes, darting them towards the surveillance cameras. "...You understand why, right?"
Makoto's eyes lit in understanding.'She was trying to tell me that whatever it was, it's important. The mastermind can't find out. But how did Kyoko get her hands on information that could be that important…?'
"I mean… is the information obtained truly that important…?" Taka questioned, an uncomfortable churn of his stomach being felt, "After all, it's about a class that's already deceased. How can…?"
"Don't play ignorant. The title that Kyoko spoke of tells us there's more to Mukuro than we thought," Byakuya answered coldly, "And as I stated before, we may have known that Mukuro had died, but they don't. So, Kyoko would obviously find this information important."
"You still think that Mukuro is working with the mastermind?" Hina questioned, getting a tad angry, "Why are you so quick to accuse her? To believe anything from Monokuma?"
"It's information that was under lock-and-key, information the mastermind clearly did not intend for us to obtain," Byakuya said in retort, "It's not something we can just disregard as false."
"I think the point Byakuya is trying to make is that the information could lead to more being revealed to us," Kyoko interjected, before a fight could break out, "That's especially true for our future selves, whose memories were wiped and who have no knowledge of Mukuro before-hand. So, they'll act on what's been found, which could result in finding more."
That settled the class down, with them focusing back on the TV. Mukuro, meanwhile, let out a small breath, relieved that no one attempted to question her again.
'I won't be safe forever,'Mukuro thought grimly, 'Sooner or later, this viewing is gonna reveal Junko and I.'Which means that she'll need to make a decision soon: whether to stand alongside her classmates, if they'll still have her… or continue to stand by Junko, no matter what.
And the answer doesn't feel any easier than it was before…
"We're finished here," Kyoko said curtly, ending the conversation.
"Ice Queen~"
"Will you ever get tired of calling me that?" Kyoko asked the baseball star flatly.
"Nope," was Leon's immediate response, ending the word with a pop.
'And just like usual, I didn't understand anything any better than before…'Makoto sighed to himself.
"Yeah, that's our story for the past few days…" Sayaka herself sighed, "We're over halfway into this viewing at this point and there's not even a hint as to who the mastermind is…"
"Yeah, no shit…" Mondo groaned, "Can't we just get a name so I know who to beat the shit out of?!"
"Perhaps all will be revealed near the end," Hifumi offered, "And like with every proper mystery, it'll connect all the disconnected clues that have been gathered as of right now…"
"That… would seem to be the case," Celeste mused, "If the viewing of this future is as beneficial as our host says, and we look at this as a mystery show, we'll likely obtain the biggest pieces of this puzzle at the end of this."
"Exactly, Miss Ludenberg!" the fanfic creator exclaimed happily, pushing his glasses up, "What we're watching is a mystery show that our future selves are experiencing. And our missing memories, the event that is the Tragedy, and the mastermind's identity will all be revealed at the end, connecting the dots that have been kept separate!"
"I still think it's messed up to think of this as a fucking show…" Mondo grumbled. Nonetheless, spirits were up as the group felt hopeful that they'll get answers at some point.
Shaking his head, the luckster turned around and headed out the dojo.'Alright, I got a few more classrooms left to visit, and then I'll be-'
The scene cut to show Makoto looking absolutely horrified, face completely pale and eyes dilated. The thing that horrified him? A wrecked, bloodied classroom filled with slash marks and bullet holes.
And just like that, lifted spirits were replaced with the feeling of horrified shock. Bodies froze, skins went ashen, and pupils dilated as they took the familiar look of death.
And, just like that, the questions they all held doubled in length.
And that's the end. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As I mentioned before, I'm gonna be aiming for quicker updates, as I do want to get this story done soon. Wish me the best in that regard. And again, if you're interested, check out my original writing at Royal Road; I would like to get readers over there. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you later.