"All right. Everyone. Votes are in. You are correct. It was indeed. Noa. Fukushima. Congratulations. It is now. Punishment. Time."

GAME OVER

Noa Fukushima has been found guilty. Time for the punishment!

"All the World's a Stage"

The all-too-familiar execution music filled the trial room, remixing with Photon melodies. Noa smirked, and in the split second she had before she woke up in an execution chamber, she tossed a small ball at Monochio's face, previously hidden in her pocket.

"Yyyeeeooowww!" Monochio jumped straight up in the air, expressing more emotion in one screech than it had the entire Stage combined. When it came back down, it hit the ground hard, convulsing as if it was being violently tazed. The students nearest to it could even hear the electricity.

"You didn't really think it took me all night justto go after a few students and vents, did you?" Noa taunted, then the lights went out.

ooo

THUNK! A single, massive stage light flicked back on from above, shining down on Noa. There were chains around her ankles, knees, torso, elbows, wrists, and neck. She was a living marionette. More horrific, even her lips and eyelids were part of the show. Rather than chain, wire was sewn through her skin. The strings disappeared into the impenetrable darkness above; no puppet master anywhere to be seen.

As the cameras broadcasting Noa's execution to the rest of the class panned back, three cloaked figures glided onto screen, bringing a boiling cauldron with them. They circled around Noa, chanting and murmuring ominously, then their hoods fell away in perfect synchronization and Noa and the others were stunned to see… Her. The cloaked figure on the left was clearly a child-version of Noa. The figure in the middle was an old crone, but still recognizable because of her clothes. Then the figure on the right was an exact copy of Noa Fukushima herself.

They grabbed Noa at the exact same time, smiling sinisterly at her as they forced her into the boiling cauldron, still chanting and circling ominously. As Monochio's execution mix/re-mix escalated, so too did the heat of the water. Soon, it was so violent that Noa shot back out of it as if it was a geyser. She soared through the air, stopped short by a balcony set piece. Noa's stomach slammed into the railing, and she barely caught the railing before plunging back down to the stage far below. The students got a good look at what the cauldron had done to Noa's legs.

The chains pulled her up, and her face was pulled into a wide smile as she finally clawed her way over the balcony railing, collapsing to the floor only for the chains to immediately jerk her up again. Down below, a hoard of little robot cats and bears suddenly stepped out onto stage and immediately began warring with each other. Banners flew over either side of the conflict: Cat-pulets v. Monokus. The fight was so vicious that they kept hurling each other against Noa's tower and finally sent the balcony—Noa still on it—plummeting.

The battle raged on, and the next time anyone saw anything of Noa, her head was soaring over the stage. They would never know if it was a Cat-pulet or Monoku that decapitated her, but her head seemed to hang suspended in midair, moving in slow motion, before falling back to the stage. The robot cats and bears were suddenly gone, and only Noa's headless body remained, held up by its chains, hand outstretched to catch the head.

"To die or to kill, that is the question," the head said as it landed perfectly on Noa's palm. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them?" A large red curtain descended around her as the soliloquy came to a close, then the stage light above flicked off once more. The third execution was complete. Noa Fukushima was dead.

ooo

Just as the other executions, only silence and devastation remained, the calm after the storm, the eye of the hurricane. Towa, of course, took it hardest, so overcome with grief that while one hand went to her chest, the other clutched her podium railing as she struggled to keep standing. Her legs shook violently. How much longer until she collapsed? Already, her body was growing cold and numb. Just like Noa's…

"Oh, Towa…!" Miyu was the first to comfort the other girl, approaching slowly, but refusing to just avert her eyes. Her empathy for Towa was unspeakable and boundless, even though Noa was far less outwardly repentant and remorseful than Haruna or Miiko had been. Then again, and I do not think this to be idealistic, has this Game not showed us what some of us will do to protect each other? How much of what Noa said was truth… and how much was merely an act? Even unto being the villain laughing mad at the very end of the class trial…

"If you want, I can spend the night with you," Miyu offered, voice already starting to tremble. She cursed herself silently, but as she opened her arms tentatively, Towa immediately fell into them and bawled. Yuka also came to Towa's side, resting a hand on her back and bowing her head.

I don't want to think like this, but… Noa had a point about the Game turning them into monsters, even if she was the monster this time. Would it truly have been better if they all died in the nurse's office? Noa was only trying to put them out of their misery, after all…

"Noa! Ibuki! Saki!" Towa wailed as she was cuddled between Miyu and Yuka. Oh, God, no… No! That wasn't my Noa! There's no way… There's no way! Ohhh… Was there something I missed? Was it my fault? Could I have stopped it?! But I didn't even know… Oh, Noa, I'm so sorry…!

"Towa, don't blame yourself for this," Marika whispered. She also wished to comfort the other girl, but she did not wish to overwhelm her. Miyu and Yuka were enough for now. But that didn't mean Marika had to stay silent.

She and Towa grew a little closer after the second class trial, after her confession about her Talent. Marika agreed with Sayaka that having the heart of an idol was far more important than having the Talent of one. As the Ultimate Model and an aspiring actress, Marika had far more in common with the Ultimate Idol Enthusiast than it may have at first seemed.

Reeee! The mourners were interrupted by the shrieking sound of metal scraping against metal. The Headcatster was slowly dragging itself to its paws. The students gasped and recoiled. For a moment, there was only silence as its single, beady black eye swept around the room to look at each and every one of them. Its other eye—the previously, red and jagged one—was completely gone, only a nasty black hole remaining.

Karma. ALTER-EGO thought smugly. But what happened next stunned him and everyone else into dead silence.

"Wew den. Dat will be all for todae!" Monochio said calmly and quietly, swishing its tail as it gave them a refined look.

"M-M-Monochio…?" It literally sounded like a kitten! More Headkitster than Headcatster.

"Dat's Mo-nyo-chio!" Monochio corrected with a huff, tail fluffing up. The class could only gawk, but Monochio seemed to have thought better about speaking more and instead chose to exit the trial room quietly, leaving the students to their own devices.

ooo

"S-s-so… A-A-ALTER-EGO…" Tsubaki pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. While they sat on the two living room couches across from each other, Hiiro was in the shower. It was almost time for bed. Miyu, Yuka, and Marika were the first to spend the night with Towa, the rest signing on for later nights. While Tsubaki awkwardly tried to make conversation, ALTER-EGO didn't try at all.

"You're wondering when Aoi will be back." His face and voice were flat and unreadable, though he was secretly amused by Tsubaki's flusterment.

Tsubaki nodded with a guilty blush. "It's not that I don't appreciate all you've done for—"

"You don't need to make up excuses or grovel." ALTER-EGO held up a hand and shook his head. As fun as she seemed to tease, and as prickly as he naturally was, he bore Tsubaki no ill will. Especially after the class trial, she had since earned his trust. I may not fully understand it myself, on a personal level, but Aoi cares about you, and I can cognitively see why, so I shall ally myself with you as well.

Tsubaki, meanwhile, reared back, a flash of defiance sparking in her eyes. "I'm not groveling! You did protect Aoi! I want to honor that!"

"Only because she's too inept to protect herself!" ALTER-EGO scoffed, but Tsubaki wasn't having it.

"No! You both are protectors! Our Smiling White Knights!" Then her face and voice softened. "The reason we all need each other is… you two can become too protective in your own ways, and you deserve someone to protect you just as much as you protect each other…"

Both of them were struck by such sincerity from Tsubaki. No more words were spoken, but no more were necessary. Brown met gray and an alliance was forged silently. Hiiro finished her shower shortly thereafter, joining her unit-mates in their dorm's living room. From what ALTER-EGO explained, and from what Hiiro understood, Aoi would indeed be back soon. She just needed a bit more time to heal, but ALTER-EGO's presence in the front was far from permanent.

"Should be back by morning," ALTER-EGO said, finally answering the question Tsubaki struggled to ask at the start of their conversation.

"Should you ever wish to front again, we will be sure to let her know that we accept you wholeheartedly, and with open arms," Hiiro promised.

ALTER-EGO scoffed again, but there was a hint of sincerity in his devilish smile as he stood up, walked over to Hiiro, and shook her hand firmly. After everything he'd seen that day, he now knew who the true enemy was: Monochio. And so, he would work with Aoi's classmates. He would not trust them—save Hiiro and Tsubaki—but so long as they had the same goal of escape, he could deal with them for a while.

"Hell, in honor of such a special occasion, maybe you can call me Aoi-Ego after all. And I suppose the fairest balance would be to use they/them pronouns as well," Aoi's alter chuckled, still gripping Hiiro's hand tightly. Neither she nor Tsubaki could tell if it was a joke or not, but something suddenly occurred to the Ultimate Diviner. She thought all the way back to Aoi's tarot card reading in Stage II.

Is THIS the close companion she'd known for a long time and was destined to one day draw closer to…?

ooo

The mysteries of Hope's Pinnacle were truly endless. While the students rested in their dorms, Monochio and the Masterminds were hard at work down below. A new creation, a new… not-quite-life, was brought into existence. And like the birth of a distant star, her origin was marvelous to behold, truly miraculous, a nova! The effects rippled out across the galaxy, the universe, far beyond the walls of Hope's Pinnacle Academy.

"i-6uk1 Ni1j1ma. On." MM2 was the one who spoke, guided by records from Photon's Mastermind. Their next motive was going to be the likes of which no one had ever heard or seen before, coming from the outside world, from Junko Enoshima herself. It was all hands on deck, the other Masterminds waking the last of their number that was still alive.

"Ha ha, Lastermind," MM3 joked weakly. But they weren't the only ones hard at work. Deep within the AI-buki's programming, within the academy's network itself, someone else spoke, voice coming from every direction all at once.

"i-6uk1 Ni1j1ma…" The voice was powerful and commanding, but soft, gentle, and fond, and there was something bittersweet in it too.

…?! "Who—WHAT—are you…?" Who… what… am I?

"You are i-6uk1 Ni1j1ma… And I… Am Nozomi Kamukura. There is much work we have to do, and much I have to prepare you for before you meet the rest of our classmates, our… friends…"

In the dorms on the floors above, Shinobu flinched and hissed as her PheFo vibrated loudly on her nightstand, right by her ear. "The fuck?!" she groaned, sleepily slapping her nightstand until she found the PheFo. Squinting through the darkness, she held it over her face and turned it on.

New Contacts Added: i-6uk1 Ni1j1ma; Nozomi Kamukura; Izuru Kamukura; C. Fujisaki; C. Nanami & Usami, Magical Girl Miracle; T. Fujisaki; Dr. Lone; Lumina Ichihoshi; Shano P.; K1-B0.

The Ultimate FPS Gamer's stomach jolted when her golden eyes swept over the second contact. She flashed back to the night in the forest, and everything that happened after Kyoko chased her away from Towa. Somehow, they got separated, and the next thing Shinobu knew, she was staring down the giant, electric, barbwire fence surrounding the entire academy. She was not alone, though. Literally hovering half a foot above the ground, between Shinobu and the fence, there was a glowing white, humanoid figure.

"The fuck are you?!" Shinobu demanded, brandishing her knife the moment the specter's head turned towards her. Or at least, that was what she assumed happened. If the figure had a face, Shinobu couldn't see it through the white glow. Is this a hallucination? Trick from Monochio?!

"Do you wish to escape the Killing Game?"

Shinobu wasn't dumb enough to answer, though her eyes went wide and she unwittingly lowered her knife slightly. So… the thing could speak… And its voice seemed to come from all over, surrounding her, and it could even wiggle inside her brain. A shudder ripped its way down her spine.

The figure's head turned down slightly, and Shinobu felt her PheFo buzz in her pocket. I am Nozomi Kamukura. I have been sent here to balance the Despair with Hope. If you are clever enough, I can guide you, and you can hack the academy's network. Can you imagine the power you would hold if you took control of every server under the Hope's Peak umbrella? However, attempt nothing tonight, for I must away. There are contacts and alliances of the outside world which first I must retrieve.

It seemed as though Nozomi had succeeded in her quest. The only question now was… What was the next step? Whatever Stage III had given birth to, it clearly wasn't going to die any time soon…

AN: I imagine the execution music to be a mashup of Leon's theme, and Photon's "Here's the Light" or "Photon Melodies/Tales".