A/N: So the killing game was going to be one chapter, but it got so long I had to split it up into two. Remember when Extra Life was supposed to be short? Yeah, me neither.

You may notice Chiaki's birthday from last chapter has disappeared. That's because it's been edited and moved to this chapter, since DR1 actually has a concrete date: the fifth trial happens on April 1st, according to the execution's title screen. That's on Day 23, and that means DR started March 10th. 4 days before Chiaki's birthday. Oops. But in my defense that is a very easy-to-miss detail (I didn't notice it until a buddy pointed it out).

Disclaimer: Some dialogue here is taken directly from the game. Obviously, that isn't mine.

"What did Monokuma mean, second killing game of Hope's Peak?" she asked Kamukura-kun when the shock had worn off, twisting in her seat to peer into the kitchen where he was. Monokuma had cheerily informed them that the broadcast would begin at 8 AM tomorrow before signing off. Air had resumed, but she was definitely not in the mood to watch anime anymore. She'd sat there, numb, as Kamukura-kun nonchalantly got up to do the dishes. How were you supposed to react to something like this?

Chiaki couldn't get Kirigiri-gakuenchou's body out of her mind. She'd never seen anyone die right before her eyes. Yes, she'd seen people die in her video games and movies and anime, but those had all been fake. And it was easy to pretend this was fake too, just another TV show, but Kirigiri-gakuenchou had been a real person. Someone she'd seen on campus. And Monokuma's words, about killing games and the 78th class, were buzzing about her head like Bite Bugs.

Kamukura-kun put away the plate he was holding before he answered. "Shortly after I met her, Enoshima organized a killing game to show me despair. She brought me to the old school building, where she had summoned the student council. Using intimidation tactics and blackmail, she manipulated them into a mass slaughter. All but two perished in the initial conflict: one hid and faked falling into a coma, and was murdered by Enoshima's lover some time later. The other attempted to kill me with a chainsaw." He didn't elaborate on what happened after; he didn't need to.

She blurted out the first question that came to mind. "Are you okay?" And wow, that was stupid; obviously he was, or he wouldn't be standing in front of her.

He turned, raising an eyebrow marginally. "What a pointless inquiry. Except at the very end, my life was never in danger, and I knew nothing of and cared nothing for the other participants; their deaths had no emotional impact on me. There was no way for the experience to leave mental scars."

Cold as always, she thought with a wince. Rather than settling her down, his words had only agitated her further. Clutching her cane, she rose and joined him in the kitchen. Without looking he handed her a plate, and she moved to put it away, hoping keeping busy would alleviate the distinctly unpleasant feeling of ants crawling across her skin.

He continued, "The Steering Committee tried to cover the event up by claiming the council had been called overseas. But Enoshima used footage of my presence there to pin the blame on me, leaked it to the Reserve Course, and incited them into the Parade. She also used the footage to create her brainwashing video. The first killing game was, essentially, the linchpin for the greater tragedy."

"So…this killing game is going to be like that? Some kind of battle royale?"

"Doubtful. Enoshima is a fickle creature, and the first killing game was very swift. A longer, drawn-out one would carry her message of despair better. So she has likely modified it."

Chiaki gave voice to the faint, foolish hope fluttering inside her. "Is there any chance of them being rescued before it starts?"

"The Future Foundation will attempt one; however, the building was converted into a shelter. It is meant to survive outside attacks. Additionally, Enoshima has likely set up extra defensive measures. I calculate the odds of a rescue succeeding to be almost nil."

He paused, turning away from the sink to meet her gaze. "The question is, what will you do, Nanami? Should you watch this Killing Game, you will likely witness events you find emotionally distressing. From a medical standpoint, I do not recommend it, but I will leave the final decision up to you."

Her grip on the next plate tightened, and she stalled. "I…I think I have to watch it. If I need to stop, I will. But I have to know they'll be alright." Not knowing would be worse than knowing. And she could ask Kamukura-kun to just tell her what happened, but…well, he didn't exactly sugarcoat things.

His face was unreadable as he nodded. "Very well. Set your alarm early and I will meet you downstairs."

The next morning, he had breakfast waiting for her in the living room. Accepting the offered plate of miso soup and eggs, she sat on the couch, nervous butterflies taking flight in her stomach as Kamukura-kun turned the TV on. At 8 sharp, the broadcast begun with a brunet boy dozing on a desk. A colorful nameplate flashed on the screen, informing them his name was Naegi Makoto and he was the Ultimate Lucky Student.

"Oh, by the way," Monokuma explained, briefly popping up out of nowhere, "Naegi-kun and his classmates have all had their memories of their time in Hope's Peak taken from them. I hate adhering to a cliché plot device like amnesia, but it was necessary to set the mood, you know? I mean, what good is a murder mystery show if there's no overlying mystery to solve? Upupupu…" And just like that, he disappeared.

Of course Enoshima has something like that at her disposal, Chiaki thought grumpily. The antagonists always started with more power than the protagonists, but just once it would have been nice for the opposite to hold true.

They watched Naegi-kun sleep for a few more minutes before he jerked awake with a gasp, staring around with wide eyes. He took everything in: the iron-plated windows, the security camera, the childishly scrawled pamphlet on his desk. Confusion crossed his face, and he rubbed his forehead like he was trying to remember something.

After a few moments of holding that pose, the brunet uncertainly made his way to the entrance hall, the broadcast trailing his steps. The rest of his class was hovering there, and Chiaki watched him go around introducing himself. As with Naegi-kun, Enoshima had nameplates appear to inform them of all the students' names and talents, though it was mostly unnecessary. Several of her classmates had been fans of Maizono-san's idol group, she'd heard Kuzuryu-kun grumble about Hagakure-kun's debt more than once, Nidai-kun and Owari-san had talked up a storm about sparring with Ogami-san…other than Naegi-kun and Kirigiri-san, Chiaki had been peripherally aware of all of Class 78 in some way.

When Naegi-kun spoke to Enoshima, the gamer frowned and leaned in, studying the screen with a furrowed brow. There was something…off about her. Subtleties in her face that didn't line up with Chiaki's memory of the strawberry blonde. Sure, it had been dark, and a while ago, and she might be remembering wrong, but…something was off. Naegi-kun seemed to notice it too, for he commented on her not looking like she did on the magazine covers. She laughed and waved it away as special editing, and that seemed to convince the Ultimate Lucky Student. But Chiaki was still uncertain.

It was the eyes, she decided. Enoshima's eyes had been piercingly blue, glinting like ice, and this one's weren't. She remembered that clearly.

"That girl doesn't seem like Enoshima," she told Kamukura-kun.

"You would be correct in that assessment."

She waited for him to elaborate. When he did not she prompted, "So…who is she?"

He stared at her. Realization dawned. "…You aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"It will be interesting to see what conclusions you draw," was all he said, and she pouted, turning back to the screen.

Trepidation built up in her chest as the intercom came on, Monokuma's discomforting, cheeky voice calling the students to the gym. Chiaki wished she could somehow warn them what was coming, watching them act like it was a joke as they trickled away. Kuwata-kun even talked about napping. She bit her lip, hating her helplessness.

Monokuma made his entrance, and there was a rather humorous segment of the students' alarmed exclamations. Then he started to lay the rules out for them, and by extent, the audience. Class 78 would be forced to live inside the school for the rest of their lives, no outside communications allowed—and now Chiaki understood why Enoshima had taken their memories, besides wanting 'a show'. Hope's Peak Academy was probably one of the safest places on the planet, if it had been converted into a shelter. Yet the students would think it a prison, since they didn't remember the Tragedy. Naturally, they all clamored to leave. And that was when Monokuma dropped the bombshell she'd been dreading: the only way out was to kill.

Silence fell.

"K…kill?" Naegi-kun finally squeaked, his voice cracking.

"Beatingstabbingclubbingbeheadingburningsuffocatingstranglingslaughteringvoodoocursing… The method doesn't matter. 'Only a student who kills someone can leave'. It's a very simple rule. The most evil of actions leads to the best of outcomes." Monokuma grinned, exposing his sharp teeth. "I hope you all cooperate."

All fifteen of them seemed frozen by fear and shock. The bear giggled. "Upupu… This heart-thumping feeling of distress… It's just as if the salmon suddenly started assaulting people… Like said before, you bastards are often called 'the world's hope'. Making such 'hope'-filled kids kill each other—such a 'despair'-filled situation—my heart is all a-thump with excitement!"

The taunting and mocking continued until Owada-kun snapped, stormed forward and grabbed Monokuma by the face. Ignoring his squawk about violence towards the headmaster being against the rules, the delinquent lifted him up in the air. He cursed and yelled, spittle flying out of his mouth as the bear suddenly, eerily, went quiet.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP—

Chiaki's eyes widened. She'd played enough video games to recognize that sound. "Oh no—"

Kirigiri-san seemed to recognize it too. "It's dangerous! Toss it!"

"Eh…?"

"Just do it!"

Looking baffled, Owada-kun threw Monokuma high in the air. Mere seconds later, the bear exploded in a ripple of fire, sound and light. Ash and charred bits of metal and fur rained down upon the gaping teenagers. And that was when Class 78 seemed to realize they were not, in fact, being pranked.

Another Monokuma popped up and scolded them for trying to break the rules, quashing any hopes they may have had about the danger being past. That was the end of their resistance. The students were all silent, gray-faced and stricken, as he finished his speech. They wordlessly accepted the Electronic Student IDs he handed out. And they stood there, staring at each other with apprehension, long after he disappeared.

Enoshima had apparently decided that Naegi-kun would be the "protagonist" of her twisted game; the broadcast followed him around the school, showing his interactions with the other students and his unwavering optimism. Chiaki melted a bit at how sweet and just adorable he was; he reminded her of a puppy. Or maybe Kingdom Heart's Sora? That seemed a more fitting analogy.

"It's so nice that he and Maizono-san were able to reunite," she commented as the duo talked about dreams in the trophy room. "It's sweet when childhood friends can meet again, don't you think?"

"She is using him," Kamukura-kun said flatly. His only opinion on Naegi-kun was "his luck patterns are difficult to analyze"; other than that, he held the same indifference to him as for every other member of Class 78. Most of the socializing bored him, so he was multi-tasking on his laptop at the same time, monitoring the Future Foundation's forces as they repeatedly threw themselves at the doors. Chiaki had only looked at it once in curiosity; the number of strewn bodies kept her from doing so again.

"That's an awful thing to say!"

"She is. Japan places its idols on a pedestal; she has an image to keep. Fraternizing with those beneath her social status would tarnish that image. And Naegi, an ordinary student who possesses a boring talent like luck, is definitely beneath her social status."

Chiaki glared. "Well maybe Maizono-san doesn't think social status is everything. It shouldn't be, anyway."

Still, the days crawled by uneventfully. Class 78 cobbled together a semblance of order and schedule, and the broadcast followed it, running from 7 AM to 10 PM every day, every channel—likely because, Kamukura-kun hypothesized, murders were most likely to occur at the designated 'Night Time'. This was Enoshima's way of keeping them in the dark just as much as the students.

On the game's fourth day, March 14th, before they turned the television on, Kamukura-kun brought over a pair of boxes. "Happy Birthday and Happy White Day," he droned, sounding anything but.

Delighted warmth bubbled in Chiaki's chest—she hadn't been certain Kamukura-kun would notice the occasions, given his dour opinion on birthdays and holidays. But then uncertainty and guilt overshadowed it, and she bit her lip. "Thank you, but…it feels kind of wrong to celebrate while Class 78 is going through that game."

"As opposed to celebrating while the world is destroyed?"

"Fair point," she conceded, taking the boxes and opening them. It would be nice to forget about reality, even for a little while.

Despite what she'd said to Kamukura-kun about his birthday, hers had never been particularly celebrated, either. Partially because of the misfortune of it falling on White Day, partially because she'd had no friends, and partially because her parents had always been so busy; their only acknowledgement of the date had been the larger-than-usual amount of pocket money they threw at her and the dismissive "do whatever you want today". She'd still enjoyed the occasion, treating herself by binge-shopping new video games and eating gallons of ice cream, but it wasn't until Hope's Peak that she'd had her first real birthday party. Once she'd realized how much she'd missed…how could it not become important to ensure her friends felt that same level of love?

The White Day present was a collection of handmade chocolate truffles, way too extravagant to be proper return presents for her measly chocolates. It was rude to refuse though, so instead she only puffed her cheeks and said, in a tone brooking no argument, "You've got to share them with me, okay?"

He made a non-committal noise, which she decided to take as assent. Chiaki placed the chocolates aside and turned to the other present, opening it to find a book with a red leather cover. Looking inside, she saw the insides were blank, transparent with room to slip in square pieces of paper.

"…A photo album?"

"You have been keeping the pictures I obtained of your friends stacked on your dresser, where they can fall off and get lost. Practicalities' sake supports a place to store them."

Touched, her lips parted in surprise, then turned upwards. "That's…that's a really thoughtful gift. Thank you, Kamukura-kun." Chiaki darted forward to give him a quick hug, which he accepted with stoic grace.

Tilting her head to the side as she released him, she added, "You know, I don't have a picture of you. Don't you think we should remedy that?"

"I did not see a reason to bring a camera. I suppose I can obtain one at the town if the matter is of such importance to you, though I fail to see why."

"Well, it's important to me because you are, and I want something to preserve that. And we can just use your phone, can't we?"

"A phone's camera is of inferior quality compared to a proper one."

"Maybe, but…don't you think that adds a bit of charm, in its own way?"

She and Hinata-kun had once used her phone to snap a picture together, when they'd gone out to the local game arcade. They'd been riding the subway there, so they'd been jostled by the people around them, and the picture had been blurry and off-center and she'd been in the middle of a blink, but she'd loved it. It was the only one of Hinata-kun she'd had, and she used to look at it every day after he left, folding and unfolding it until she'd memorized the creases.

It was gone now, of course. Either shipped back to her parents with the rest of her possessions or lost in the Tragedy. Just another thing she couldn't get back.

Kamukura-kun didn't look like he believed her, but he did agree to two photos. One of just him, one of the two of them together. They had to shuffle close together to fit in the viewfinder; her head was nestled on his shoulder, her hand resting beside it. Little sparks seemed to crawl from the point of contact, and Chiaki was suddenly aware of the hard planes of his body pressing against hers.

If my life were a dating sim, she thought inanely, cheeks aching from her smile as she stared into the camera, this would be a CGI.

What an…odd thought to have, huh?

The click of the phone brought her back to reality. Kamukura-kun stepped away from her, and the thought abruptly dissipated. Her face felt oddly warm, and she coughed self-consciously, hoping he hadn't noticed. Attempting to cover her awkwardness, she peered at the screen.

He wasn't smiling in either picture, of course. But they were still lovely, and when he printed them out, Chiaki placed the one of him with the rest in her album. The two of them together, she folded in her shirt's pocket and nestled above her heart.

On Chiaki's birthday, Enoshima released motivational videos to get the students to kill. And the day after, everything changed again.

Maizono-san looked like a broken doll, lying there, her head lolling to one side and her limbs abnormally limp. A knife was embedded in her stomach like a morbid pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Dried blood caked the floor and wall of the shower.

Chiaki swallowed, watching Naegi-kun scream and scream until he fainted. She was a bystander, and she was shaken by this; how much worse was he feeling, then, when he'd known and cared about Maizono-san? If it had been one of her precious classmates there instead…

Pounding footsteps echoed, and Ishimaru-kun came charging in. "Naegi-kun! What caused you to—" With a surprised yell he tripped over the unconscious boy's body. Grimacing, he lifted his head and came face to face with Maizono-san. His face paled; his mouth opened and shut for several minutes before finally spluttering "W-W-What…?"

Kirigiri-san was next, deftly stepping past the tangle of limbs at the entrance. Her eyes widened a little, but that was her only visible sign of surprise. As she moved, pressing two fingers to Maizono-san's neck, the school's intercom dinged. "A body has been discovered! All students, please make your way to the gym for a special assembly with your headmaster!"

Ishimaru-kun scrambled backwards, looking ill. "Body? Then…Maizono-kun really is…?"

There was a stampede of footsteps, and the rest of the students burst onto the scene, clogging in the doorway, trying to peer over each other's shoulders. Fukawa-san alone hung at the back, eyes squeezed shut, mumbling "I'm not gonna look, I'm not gonna look," over and over. "Goodness," Celeste-san said mildly, one hand delicately covering her mouth. "Is she really…?"

"It seems so." Kirigiri-san rose, looking resigned. She cast Naegi-kun's body a glance. "Could someone pick Naegi-kun up and bring him with us? We'd best not tarry any longer than we have."

"Wait!" Hagakure-kun stepped forward on shaky legs, his casual grin ever-so-slightly strained. "Th…This is…still just a prank, right? I-I mean, it looks very real, that b-blood is very convincing, but—"

"Are you blind, deaf or just dumb?" Togami-kun sneered. "She's clearly dead."

"Nope!" The Ultimate Clairvoyant's smile looked very forced now, and he shook his head back and further, muttering in a lower tone, "Nope, nope, nope, it's not real, none of this is really happening…"

"Leaving the idiot aside…" Pushing past a shaking Fujisaki-san and a wide-eyed Kuwata-kun, Owada-kun forced his way into the tiny bathroom, coming nose-to-nose with the young woman. "Did I hear you right? Are you really suggesting we listen to that punk-ass bear?! He's the bastard who caused all this!"

"I know, and that's exactly why I'm saying we should." Her cool response snapped Owada-kun's mouth shut. Kirigiri-san's gaze swept over the students, making sure to look each one in the eye. "Like it or not, we're prisoners here. Monokuma oversees our comfort and our lives. It's best to comply with him for now…who knows what else he might do otherwise?"

And, well, that was that, wasn't it? So Ogami-san picked up Naegi-kun, and the students headed out to the gym. There, Monokuma had them wait for Naegi-kun to wake up, and once he did…Chiaki's heart twanged in empathy, seeing his pale face and teary eyes when he was told that no, he hadn't been imagining things—his friend really was dead.

But he didn't have any time to mourn, as the bear leapt into the explanation of what was to come next. And Chiaki was shown that just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, they could.

They'll have to go through a trial? They'll have to sentence one of their classmates…one of their friends…to death, or they'll all die? That's just…too cruel.

Apparently, she wasn't the only one who thought so. She watched Not-Enoshima storm over to Monokuma, throwing up a big fuss about how she wouldn't do this. He warned her to fall in line or else be locked up, but it had no effect. Her heel came down on the stuffed bear, stomping him into the floor as she sneered. And then—

Chiaki shrieked, recoiling back as innumerable spears shot out of the floor and impaled the strawberry blonde. Oh god, blood, there was so much blood. Hollow eyes widened, and quivering hands pawed at the spears. "…Huh…? …What…? …That's…strange…why…was…I…?"

And with a final shudder, Not-Enoshima went limp. The spears retracted, and her body fell to the floor with a wet thump. A red pool slowly formed around her. As the corpse spasmed in the last of its death throes, Yamada-kun screamed. Fukawa-san moaned and covered her eyes, her thin frame trembling. Fujisaki-san's eyes welled with tears, and several others gaped in disbelief.

"Boring," was all Kamukura-kun sighed.

"Do you have any ideas on who did it?" she asked Kamukura-kun as the students morosely investigated, a dark cloud visibly hanging over them. Chiaki had played her share of mystery games, and was compulsively piecing together the different clues in her head. But it was hard when she couldn't investigate herself and had to go off what Naegi-kun was seeing. Not to mention still being shaken by what she'd just seen, the deaths of two young women her age.

For some reason, the scars on her torso had ached, seeing what happened to Not-Enoshima.

"I have already deduced who the killer was, yes." Then, rather than saying who, he turned and fixed her with his sharp gaze. "Tell me, Nanami: do you believe Naegi Makoto killed Maizono Sayaka?"

"No." She interlocked her fingers together, dropping them onto her lap. "I…I won't deny I thought he might have for a moment, when they said the crime scene was his room. But looking at how hard he's working, and at some of the evidence itself…no. More than that…I don't believe he would kill someone he cared about."

"You have no evidence to support that belief."

Her lips twisted into a wry smile. "I've told you before, haven't I? There's no logic to believing in someone. I just rely on what my heart's saying."

"Then who do you think the culprit is?"

"…Kuwata-kun. Those English numbers Maizono-san left as a dying message…if you flip them upside down, they spell out his given name." Something she'd only recognized because Pokémon's Unown alphabet had a basis in English. She'd been thinking 11 and 0 looked like "N" and "O", and had tried to figure out what "NO 37" could mean. Then she'd thought that if the first two were letters, maybe the others were too, and after a bit of struggling found the answer. "I'm just not sure how he was able to get in the room."

Kamukura-kun did not answer, and all conversation ceased completely. They stayed that way for the rest of the investigation, until finally Monokuma announced it was time for the students to gather at a set of red doors on the first floor. At that, Naegi-kun wrapped up his investigation and hurried through the halls to the appointed place. Goosebumps rose on Chiaki's skin as he drew closer to the doors, sickeningly familiar. He pushed them open, and the gamer's blood ran cold when she saw what lay beyond:

An elevator, the doors sliding open with a cheerful ding and suddenly the arms around her tightened in a squeeze, like a farewell, before shoving her. Caught off-guard, she stumbled and fell, her elbow banging painfully against the floor. Blinking back tears of pain and shock, she turned, wanting to ask what was happening and Naegi-kun was talking to the other students as they piled in, pleading innocent, but his words were nothing to Chiaki's ears, just meaningless syllables. "That's why you were chosen," Yukizome-sensei breathed, smiling coldly. Her breath was coming up rapid and shallow. From the corner of her eye, she saw Kamukura-kun's head sharply turn towards her as she hunched over, hands gripping her shivering arms.

The doors slammed shut in front of her teacher's face; the camera followed the elevator down. It was dark and the metallic rattling was loud and she was too stunned to move as it began its descent; all she could think was Tsumiki-san…Yukizome-sensei…why? There was pain in her arm from where she'd landed on it wrong, but it seemed inconsequential compared to the pain in her heart. Her throat was too clogged by betrayal to speak; all she could do was stare up at the rapidly-shrinking image of her teacher as the elevator carted her off into darkness.

"Nanami."

Memories of Tsumiki-san's apologetic face, the crazed look in Yukizome-sensei's eyes, floated before her. She didn't understand why they'd done this, and she could only ask their phantoms, uncomprehending, why?

"Nanami."

Eventually, she managed to get herself into a sitting position. She didn't dare try to stand; her legs felt like jelly, and the elevator was shaking so much. Her heart pounded faster and faster, trying to escape out of her chest. Her tongue was heavy and dry in her mouth.

"Nanami."

It was pitch black; she couldn't see anything. It was just her and the darkness and the rattling…was gone. Slowly, the gloom around her melted into the blurry image of…a living room? She blinked, once, twice, to make sure it wouldn't disappear. Somehow she'd ended up on the floor, curled into the fetal position. Her toes dug into the tatami, a feeble anchor.

The TV was turned off. Kamukura-kun was crouching in front of her, watching her. He stayed a good distance away, and once he saw he had her attention, spoke lowly and carefully, like he was talking to a frightened animal. "It is March. You are not in Enoshima's domain. You are in the mountains with me. We were just watching the killing game broadcast. You are safe. Repeat it."

His words broached the haze around her. It was like surfacing from too long underwater, and she gasped harshly. "It's…it's March." Not September. "I'm not in Enoshima's domain. I'm in the mountains with you. We…were watching the killing game broadcast. I'm…" Safe. Safe, safe, safe. "I'm safe."

Still speaking in that slow tone, he asked, "What did you flash back to?"

Chiaki squeezed her eyes shut. "Elevator," she croaked. "I was…with Yukizome-sensei, at the elevator…she p-pushed me in…" Saying the words brought the memories squirming back to the forefront of her mind, wriggling like maggots, and she whimpered. The tears clinging to the edges of her eyelashes spilled over.

"You were triggered by the sight of the elevator Class 78 entered. That is all. It was not real. You are not back there."

His words bumped together in her brain meaninglessly, until they eventually fumbled into place. Elevators are a trigger for me? They had been keeping an eye out for triggers, and found one in dungeon-crawlers with a first-person perspective, like the Wizardy series. Losing that had sucked, she'd really liked that series. But though he'd taught her some strategies to cope with it, they hadn't known about elevators, and discovering a trigger so suddenly had left her unprepared to use those methods. Her body shook, head throbbing as she tried to focus on the here and now.

"Do you want water?"

She shook her head.

"Do you want your rabbit?"

She nodded. Chiaki pried her eyes open and stared straight ahead at his legs as they rose and moved out of view. A few moments later, they returned.

"Nanami, you need to uncurl to hold her."

Slowly, she did, just a little, just enough for there to be room. Yumigami's soft brown form was deposited into the slim space between her torso and her legs, and she burrowed her face into her fur. Yumigami was warm and alive and safe. Her heart began to slow down, but she still couldn't stop trembling. Kamukura-kun ran a detached eye over her.

"You still seem distressed. Further physical contact is likely necessary. Are you alright with that?"

Was he asking permission to touch her? Her first instinct was to flinch away, because he would be close and Yukizome-sensei had been close and she'd been pushed—

But it was Kamukura-kun.

"…Okay," she whispered.

Even so, she instinctively tensed as he sat down beside her. His hand hovered in the air, as if he were deciding what to do with it, before it extended and wrapped around her shoulders. She closed her eyes and pressed closer into Kamukura-kun's side, relishing the weight of his arm around her and his warmth and the sound of his heartbeat. At that moment she felt incredibly protected, like nothing could ever get to her here, and she honestly would not have minded staying in his arms forever. It's okay. I'm safe. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay…

In the end, they missed the first trial. Her flashback had only lasted a minute or two, but it took an hour before she was mentally sound again. And she just…had not wanted to deal with the killing game, so she and Kamukura-kun played silly, non-violent video games for the rest of the day.

Chiaki felt awful, weak and ashamed, when she woke up the next morning and realized the entire class might have died. She was beyond relieved when Kamukura-kun carefully turned the TV on and they saw the class doing a radio exercise at the gym. "Thank goodness…they solved it. I guess it was Kuwata-kun after all." The redhead was conspicuously absent from the assembled students. She hoped his death—because what else could "punishment" have meant?—had been swift.

"Correct." And then Kamukura-kun laid out the most probable sequence of events: how Maizono-san most likely wasn't just a hapless victim, but an attempted killer herself. How she'd probably been the one to take the knife from the kitchen. How she'd lured Kuwata-kun in, planning to kill him and frame Naegi-kun for it, only to be slain by her intended victim.

"As I said…she was only using Naegi," he concluded.

Chiaki shook her head. "No…I don't believe that's true. She left that dying message, didn't she? Surely…she must have felt remorse, and wanted to save Naegi-kun."

"There are other explanations for that. Spite, for one."

"True. And we can't really ask her, so I guess we'll never know for sure." She smiled, a bit sadly, and placed a hand over her heart. "But I still choose to believe she was acting with good intentions. Because…humans are pretty complicated. Even if she was using him…it doesn't mean she never cared."

He did not respond, and in somberness, they went back to watching the broadcast.

A/N: You might think it odd Chiaki gets triggered by elevators and not the specific phrase "Punishment Time", but triggers can be anything, really. Even something as apparently inoffensive as cologne. And since getting pushed in that elevator is what sealed her fate, it seemed likely to me she'd subconsciously associate them with danger.

I tried to recap the game's events quickly (since y'all know what happened already, so there's no point in boring you with exposition) while still offering perspective. Hopefully that worked.