It was now 7:30 PM. Arashi had finished his work for the distress signal earlier this morning, but as it had been raining hard, and the winds had grown stark, he suggested to Masashi that they launch the signal when the weather was clear. The afternoon had passed with no change in weather, but a while ago, the rain had stopped, giving them a short break from the storm.
Hopefully, it won't be long until it stops raining, he thought as he walked hither and thither.
The others were spread throughout the three ships, doing whatever they felt like, and though he had felt less unease from them today, he still could not deny that he had a long way to go if he wanted to mend relations between them. Of course, if the plan worked, then that would not be a problem, but he could not deny the probability that the plan would fail or at least would not immediately produce results. At the very least, he had Mari by his side, as well as others more willing to trust him such as Sister Hikari and Kasumi. He dreaded to imagine how worse things might be if he had fewer supporters, so he was ever so thankful that they had not treated him negatively.
He soon grew tired of staying in his room any longer, whence he left and headed up to the third deck. When he arrived, he saw two people playing around by the river flowing through the garden.
"Ah! Good evening, Sir Masashi!" Kumi said as they both approached him. The other one was Mari, who looked less energetic than the storyteller, though she seemed to have been moving quite a bit, given by her panting.
"And a good evening to you," Masashi replied. "What are you doing?"
"We've been playing around," Mari answered. "Besides his fairy hunting, we've also been playing a few games like tag and hide-and-seek. I must say, Kumi's rather adept in hiding."
Kumi giggled. "Well, that's more due to my small size. And some fairies like to hide in small spaces, so I'm used to being in them! Still, I'm surprised that Mari managed to find me that quickly. It usually takes my friends back at the orphanage much longer to find them."
"Well, I can see the traces that you've left behind whenever you scurry around looking for a hiding spot," Mari answered with a proud smile. "It's like finding small animals whenever they flee from me in my explorations."
The storyteller clapped blithely. "Well, there's no denying you sure are good at finding things, Lady Mari! And while we're resting, let me tell you a tale! It'll certainly make the time pass quickly!"
"All right, that sounds all good," Mari answered before she looked at Masashi. "Oh, and one more thing you may want to know. Earlier this morning, Sister Hikari tried to disable the shooter in the test room. She couldn't, but she found that there was a backup button in the power room."
"There was?" Masashi replied as he recalled the conversation that he had had with the nun the other day. "Did she manage to disable that as well?"
Mari nodded. "According to what she told me, she had managed to disable it, and so it won't work now. She also had put up a warning sign above the button in the test room, and so no one can accidentally trigger it."
"Hmm... Well, that's good to hear, at least," he said.
Masashi bade the two goodbye and watched as Kumi walked to the river, excitedly tugging Mari along by the sleeve. It was rather delightful to see them play around, as if this were but another joyful occasion in their routine. Before he should become lost in fantasy, he wended his way to the main deck.
When he stepped onto the deck, the winds' great chill smote him, and his eyes beheld the dark clouds that blanketed the heavens. Shivering, he quickly walked through the gangway to the cove, which sailed by the woodland kingdom's starboard side. There, he saw Arashi kneeling by a bunch of containers, metal boxes, and the like.
"Ah, Masashi!" Arashi said upon noticing him. "It's rather chilly tonight, isn't it?! But rest assured, once the winds die down, our fireworks show will go off without a hitch!"
"That's swell to hear," Masashi replied. "So what are you doing now?"
Arashi scratched the back of his head. "Oh, nothing much! I'm only checking to make sure that the fireworks may work properly. Once the winds die down, I'll light up some test fireworks later!"
"You can't test any fireworks now?"
"That's right! It's very important to take into account the wind!" Arashi answered sternly. "The wind will affect the fireworks' flight and, in the worst case, cause needless injuries! You understand that, right?!"
Seeing how intense Arashi sounded once he had begun to talk about his craft, Masashi had no doubt about his warning, and so he nodded quietly.
"Good!" Arashi said. "Now, for the fireworks, I've decided to go for a variety of effects. I tried to go for something that didn't look… celebratory, but I'm sorry to say that I couldn't think of any imagery like that."
"Hmm… That's a shame, but it can't be helped, I guess," Masashi said.
As long as they had fireworks to work with, they could use them as a makeshift distress signal and, hopefully, get any nearby ships to notice them. Even though the imagery was rather celebratory, he now reasoned that other ships would still find the fireworks show odd and come investigate.
Not wanting to hinder him in his work, Masashi congratulated him on his progress and then went inside, after which he felt a little warmth coming from the heaters, though it was still somewhat chilly. Since he could only wait for the winds to die out before they should be able to use the fireworks, he had nothing better to do than to wander around. He walked up the stairs to the upper second deck and headed into the arcade.
"Oh, Masashi, it's you. What's going on?"
It was Tanjiro, who stood by the gift shop counter while holding a notepad, and looked at him with a slightly puzzled expression. The room's warmth was even greater than he had thought, and the grinding of the coffee maker on the nearby counter softly rang through the room.
"Nothing much," he said. "What are you doing now?"
Tanjiro lowered his eyes on the notepad. "Not much, really. I'm working on ideas for my next work, since I have some time to myself now. Sayua isn't here right now."
"Really? What's she up to?"
He scratched his cheek as his expression grew troubled. "It's kind of weird… I knocked on her door earlier, and she said she was taking a nap. I'm not complaining much, but now that I think about it, I wonder whether she feels a little unwell."
"Maybe she got a headache, so she's taking a break," Masashi suggested. Though finding her to be far from the pleasantest girl here, he still felt concerned that something might be going on with her.
"Yeah, maybe. It's likely nothing, so I shouldn't worry, but…" Tanjiro sighed as he relaxed his shoulders. "Call it silly, but I find myself enjoying her company more than I expected. I wouldn't say that I think of her as a close friend, but over time, I've grown more and more used to her. And I think… she also is fond of my presence as well."
Of course, Masashi knew full well that Tanjiro's hunch about Sayua's feelings toward him was right. Remembering his own conversation with her a few days ago, he thought it charming that Sayua saw him as more than an intelligent henchman.
"What makes you say that?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
"For one, she seems to look out for me," the writer answered, sounding even meeker than usual, as if speaking before a great audience. "You saw how concerned she seemed when I talked about why I didn't really like Sorao. Yes, she only wanted to cheer me up so that I might do her bidding… but still, I felt a sense of true concern coming from her."
"Huh… That's interesting to hear," Masashi answered, knowing that his guess was not off the mark. "So what do you think changed her opinion of you?"
"I don't know, exactly… Maybe she thinks I'm charming in some way." he said. "I think she may have originally seen me as someone who'd be useful to her, but over time, she's grown to like me. Moreover, she isn't as troublesome as I thought her to be, though I still remember the whole incident involving Kumi's teddy bear…"
The writer spoke with such a meek and well-meaning voice that Masashi could not but wish all the more that things might fare well for him. Tanjiro was such a swell guy, and unlike Sorao, he seemed truthful in his kindness; there was nothing that came off as especially fake. Of course, all people generally did not show all their true feelings, but Masashi saw nothing repulsive about his demeanor.
"Oh, one more thing," Tanjiro said. "You shouldn't go into the staff lounge. Apparently, there'll be a special game event going on, and Murphy plans to partake in it by himself, so he doesn't want to be bothered."
"A special game event, huh?" Masashi said. "Why does he want to partake in it, though?"
"Well… I asked him that earlier, and he said that it might take a while for our rescuers to come," Tanjiro answered. "So he figured it wouldn't hurt to earn more tokens and win some prizes in the meantime."
"Hmm… I guess so."
After leaving the room, Masashi headed up the stairs to the upper third deck, which had only two rooms: the power room and the room that had the water slide, which went all the way down to the lower third deck. He checked out the power room, but found no one there, save the machines that worked silently. The other room also was empty, and besides the treasure chests, maps, and other pirate-looking decorations lying around, there was also the opening of the water slide. Peering into it, he saw darkness and heard the water rushing down. As the water slide would only lead him straight into a pool, preferring not to be drenched, he made sure not to go too near to it.
Masashi then looked out the room's great window, which showed the dark world without. It was a sight that he had passed by every day, but this was one of the few times when he truly beheld it. In the horizon and beyond the crashing waves was nothing but darkness. He had always known that the sea was a great place, but seeing absolutely nothing truly hammered in the point that it was far greater than his mind understood it to be. He could not even make out a ship or an island, as if the ship were sailing through an abyss.
It then occurred to him that Monokuma had not stopped their attempt to execute the plan at all, as if he were not worried about the possibility of their escape. Could it be that he had some means to ensure that escape might not be possible? Or was he simply confident that no ships were in the area? Given his overblown self-image, he hoped that it was the latter, but if the former were true, then were they truly trapped here, forced to keep playing the killing game?
No, I can't give up on this… he thought. After all that's happened, we mustn't give up! We'll escape this killing game and get back our normal lives!
After a long while of wallowing in his thoughts, Masashi grew tired and thought to go check the lower decks. But as he passed by the power room, he quickly turned back, for he had seen someone standing there.
Huh? What's she doing there?
It was Kasumi, who stood by a breaker box on a side wall. Facing away from the door and glancing downwards, she appeared to be mumbling something, as well as holding something in her right hand. He called out her name, but she did not respond. Thinking of alerting him of his presence gently, he approached her, but just as he called out her name, and she turned her head around, he lost his steadiness and ended up stumbling forth.
"Gah!"
And the next thing he knew, he was right on top of her.
"M-Masashi… That's no way to greet people, you know…" Kasumi replied, now looking at him with utter befuddlement.
"S-Sorry..." he groaned.
Kasumi chuckled weakly. "It's all right… Could you get off me, though?"
After they both stood back up, Masashi glanced down and saw what she had dropped upon falling: a can from which a light-brown liquid had been spilled. Judging by the can, it appeared to be soda. The spilled contents, traveling by the side wall, appeared to stop at a small grate on the floor, the soda flowing down through it.
"Sorry about that..." Masashi said as he peered at the spilled sight.
"Ah, no need to worry!" she said, smiling cheekily. "I got this soda only a minute or so ago, so I can always get another one! Besides, it's only a can of soda! It'd be another thing if it were anything important!"
Thankfully, Kasumi had some napkins on her, so she wiped away the mess and threw the napkins and the empty can away in a nearby trash can. At least she felt responsible enough to clean it up.
"Anyway, how are you doing right now?" Masashi asked.
"Hmm?" she said as she put up her usual smile. "I can tell you that I'm doing all right! You don't need to worry about me!"
Masashi held in his groan as he noticed the falsehood in her statement. It was just like the feeling from last night, but the lie here was far more obvious, and this time, fleeing from her would be unwise. Eventually, he set aside his unease and looked her in the eye.
"You say that, but your movements betray you," he replied. "It says a lot that I managed to bump into you, the Ultimate Phantom Thief, when you could have easily gotten out of my way."
"E-Eep…" she groaned as her little smile turned into a little frown.
"Kasumi, there's something on your mind, isn't there?" he continued. "You're free to keep it to yourself, of course, but I think you'd best tell me."
"W-Well…"
She paused for a few seconds as she glanced left and right. Afterwards, she let out a small sigh. "All right, I'll talk... It's nothing huge, really. Since yesterday, I've been thinking about… my bonds with the others."
"Your 'bonds'?" Masashi replied, a little astounded to see that this was the thing that she must have felt anxious about.
Kasumi nodded softly. "I've kept asking myself whether I've been a good friend to the others… I know I'm not someone easy to trust. For example, I think I'm getting along with Arashi, but even after yesterday's reconciliation, I get the feeling he's still wary of me."
"Well… I got the same feeling, too," Masashi said. "But I don't think you should worry too much about it. This kind of thing takes time. Old wounds don't heal in a day."
Kasumi let out a chuckle as she scratched her head, though Masashi could still sense some unease from her. "Yeah, I guess so… My pranks really did a number on him, huh?"
Masashi nodded. "Being tricked into drinking hot sauce isn't something he'll easily forget, I assume."
"In my defense, I thought the prank fitted him! A hot drink for a hothead!" she said, her tone now cheeky. "Anyway… I think most of the others don't dislike me. I know for sure Kumi and Sister Hikari like me."
"True, but I think they like everyone here," Masashi replied.
Kasumi held up her arms to form an "X", however. "Not true! I can tell Kumi doesn't like Sayua and Tanjiro, that much. I talked with him yesterday, and he told me a tale in which the two were members of a bandit gang. He really seemed to like narrating the part in which the hero felled them both. I think he's way too harsh on them, though. Writing them as villains seems pretty passive-aggressive, don't you think?"
Yeah, it kind of is… And I think it's the same tale he wrote on the day we played bumper cars…
It had been the same day in which Kumi had collapsed from lack of adequate sleep, and Sayua had taken the opportunity to steal his teddy bear. And as if that had not been ridiculous enough, it was that very deed that had proven Kasumi's innocence in the class trial. It might be why Kasumi seemed not to think poorly of the two.
"Anyway, I feel kind of hungry for dessert," Kasumi answered. "I'm thinking of getting a snack. Want to join me?"
"Uh, sure, why not…" Masashi replied without thinking. "Maybe there's some food in the Pirates' Rest Spot."
They began their way down to the room.
Wait... Why do I feel so... unsatisfied?
He had no problems with how he had resolved things with her, and yet, he had a niggling feeling that it was only what he wanted to think. In truth, things should have gone in another direction, and had that happened, such a feeling would not abide in his heart now.
No... No, I need to stop thinking like this.
Remembering what he had felt last night, he tried as best as he could not to doubt Kasumi, one of his friends. He was overthinking things and seeing things that were not truly there. That was what he told himself silently again and again. And yet, even once he grew content once more, the same feeling of doubt still abode, and so all he could do now was ignore it as much as he could.
When the two arrived at the lower second deck, at the intersection where the Pirates' Rest Spot was, they saw Hikari standing by the part of the hallway that continued off to the ship's bow. When Masashi bade her good evening, she simply greeted him back before glancing elsewhere with an ever so dreary look on her face. She said nothing back as Kasumi also greeted her, whereafter Hikari mumbled a few words to herself.
"Hikari, is there something wrong?" Masashi asked. "You look a bit troubled."
"I-It's nothing..." she answered gloomily, giving him a sidelong glance. "L-Leave me alone, will you? I-I don't want any company..."
"Are you sure you don't want to go inside with us?"
She shook her head profusely. "I-I've already had enough of the arrogant woman."
"Hmm? Arrogant woman?" Kasumi asked. "Y-You're not referring to me, are you?"
"N-No... You're annoying, but n-not in that way..." Hikari answered.
A few suspicions appeared in Masashi's mind. Wishing not to bother her anymore, he bade her goodbye and led Kasumi inside the Pirates' Rest Spot. Once again, a pleasant warmth entered his body, and he took a few seconds to relish the feeling before he looked around.
"Hmm? You're here... And you're with her, I see."
The only one sitting here was Maiha Hanazawa, the red-haired ballroom dancer, and she shot them an annoyed glance while crossing her arms. For a moment, Masashi wondered what he had done to her that had sprung up such annoyance, but then he realized what the likelier cause of her ire was. He turned to his companion, and for a very short moment, he thought that there had been a glimpse of animosity on Kasumi's face. But his attention was diverted once he heard someone coming out of the door to the kitchen.
"Oh… it's only you," Faye said, looking at him with slight surprise. "Is there anything you need? I've just baked some strawberry cake, so I'm free to help out with anything."
"What? Strawberry cake?!" Kasumi cried out, speaking with her usual chirpy tone. "Ooh, could I have some?"
"She shall not!" Maiha interjected. "She's already had enough food. There's no reason to let her partake of the cake."
"Oh, Maiha, don't you think that's a little unreasonable?" Faye asked, sighing with some annoyance. "I'm glad that you asked me to bake you the cake for dessert, but it won't kill you to let her have a piece."
Maiha scoffed as she lowered her head. "Well... if that's what you, the good cook, think, then I shall drop my objections. But I wish more than ever that she leave as soon as she can."
After Faye went back to the kitchen to finish her preparations, no one said a word, Kasumi and Maiha exchanging no glances with each other. Masashi could hardly say anything, the tension between the two deafening and raising his wish not to unwittingly instigate anything. Thankfully, a few moments later, Faye came out with plates carrying pieces of strawberry cake, at which sight Masashi and Kasumi let out oohs.
As he and the two women began to eat, Masashi noted how loud Kasumi was while she chomped down on the piece of cake, which left a great mess on her lips. In contrast, Maiha took a portion of her piece, her hand moving so smoothly that it almost looked as if it glided through the air, and nibbled on it slowly. She left hardly a piece on her lips as she ate it, and made hardly a noise as she chewed it. Though he had seen both women eat before, this was the first time that they ate together in silence.
"So what do you think of the cake?" Faye asked, standing by the table.
"Delicious…" Masashi mumbled.
Maiha looked not at all displeased as she gracefully crossed her arms. "Indeed. The color and the flavor do not reek of artificiality, and the texture exemplifies sweetness and softness. It is certainly not the work of an average cook."
Such a description seemed to have a great effect on Faye, as she smiled a great smile, her face lightening up. Masashi too was astounded, mainly because he had not expected her to compliment her to that extent.
"Let me have another piece," Kasumi said. "I'm still hankering for more."
"I'd rather that you forbear from eating more," Maiha said, sneering. "It was bad enough having to watch you the first time."
"Huh?" Kasumi turned around, looking at her with an annoyed frown. "What the heck are you talking about?"
"You don't realize how uncouth you looked while eating," Maiha said. "Up until now, I had managed to overlook it, but this time, I cannot but be amazed by your slovenliness."
"Uh, Maiha, maybe you should cut down the criticism a little," Faye suggested. "It's not constructive, helpful, and effective."
Maiha scoffed as she gestured her hand dismissively. "On the contrary. I am helping you further your bond with her. It's important to be aware of your friend's flaws and weaknesses, yes?"
"H-Hey, you're only using that as an excuse to badmouth me!" Kasumi replied, looking more and more flustered. "S-Stop it already!"
Maiha widened her sneer, silently confirming her suspicion, as Faye slipped back into the kitchen. "You seem rather unwilling to accept criticism. At least when I was criticized for not having the qualities of a good leader, I didn't dismiss it."
"Come on, stop..."
"The others may be unwilling to point your shortcomings out," Maiha said, growing ever so bold in her verbal assault. "But I'm not. There's nothing graceful about overlooking unsightliness."
"Stop it…"
"You practically exude unsightliness," the ballroom dancer continued, her voice quicker and louder. "That you are the Ultimate Phantom Thief shows yet another flaw in the way that Ultimates are decided—"
At that very moment, all became dark.
"Wh-What the hell?!" Masashi cried out in shock at the lack of light. "Why are the lights out?!"
The other two women too clamored at this turn of events, and as they moved about, Masashi heard Maiha trip over a chair and cry out in response. It became apparent in those few seconds that the room had undergone a blackout. He tried to make out the other two women, but it was far too dark to see anything.
I-I need some light here… Ah!
He took out his Monopad and turned it on, after which the screen shone a dim light. Though it was still not that bright, it was enough to quell the clamor, and Kasumi and Maiha drew nearer to him. In a few seconds, the kitchen door was opened, and Faye came out.
"Wh-What in the world is going on?" Faye asked, her voice shaking.
"Looks like the ship's power went out for some reason!" Kasumi said, looking rather startled.
Maiha set a finger on her chin. "I sense something is amiss… I believe it's best to check up on the others and see how widespread this blackout is."
When the four left the Pirates' Rest Spot, they saw only darkness in the hallway. There were no windows in the hallway, so any outside light could not help them here. They called out to anyone who might be here, but they were met with no response. Afterwards, Faye suggested that they go outside to see whether anyone was there, to which the others agreed. They trod slowly and carefully to the stairs, and when they arrived at the outside of the cove, they saw Arashi and Hikari.
"Masashi! Miss Nirigiri! Thank goodness you're all right!" Arashi cried out as he and Hikari walked up to them.
"Yeah, I'm glad to see you both here," Masashi replied. "Do you know what's going on? The lights suddenly went out in the Pirates' Rest Spot, so we came out here."
Before Arashi could answer, however, they heard footsteps coming from the side of the ship that carried the gangway, and they saw Mari and Tanjiro rushing thence. Not long after, they heard even more footsteps, and this time, it was Sorao and Sister Hikari.
"Whoa, what's going on, guys?" Sorao asked. "Sister Hikari and I saw the lights were out here, so we came here as soon as we could!"
"It would appear that the power's gone out for some reason," Maiha answered. "We haven't checked the upper decks yet, but I suspect the same thing has happened there as well."
"It doesn't seem to have affected the other ships, however," Mari answered. "Tanjiro and I were at the woodland kingdom."
"And Sister Hikari and I were at the Egyptian palace, and things are all right there as well," Sorao added. "So it looks like the blackout has affected only this ship."
"Correctamundo!"
Appearing amid the group was Monokuma, whose sight nearly made Masashi jump up in shock. He had seen him not too long ago, but the blackout had made him forget all about him.
"This blackout certainly has made things pretty exciting, hasn't it?" Monokuma said, opening up his arms. "It must be a sign that Poseidon has answered my prayers! He must've stricken this ship with his mighty lightning bolt!"
"Oh, come on, you caused this, didn't you?" Faye asked. "It's pathetic, saddening, and embarrassing to see you blame this on a Greek god."
Monokuma tilted his head. "What, how could you blame your dear old captain for this? Besides the fact that I wasn't doing any 'blaming' at all, I can assure you that I didn't cause the blackout."
"H-Hey, wait a minute…" Hikari said, hiding her hands in her kimono's sleeves. "A-Aren't some of us still missing?"
Her observation drew gasps from the others as they looked around them. To Masashi's horror, she was right; Monokuma excluded, there were only ten people here.
"Sayua, Kumi, Murphy, and Haruyuki are missing!" Masashi cried out, whereupon the group murmured to one another in surprise at their disappearance. "Has anyone seen them?"
"I-I actually saw Kumi earlier!" Arashi added, pumping his fists. "He headed upstairs, I think, but I don't know where he went!"
"Actually… Kumi told me earlier that he wanted to play some games in the arcade," Mari said. "So he must've gone there."
"As for Murphy… he should be in the staff lounge now," Tanjiro answered, looking uneasy. "And because of the blackout, the machines should be off…"
"Bzzt! Sorry, but you're 99% wrong about that!" Monokuma replied. "The machines in the arcade go off in a blackout, yes… but the staff lounge is special. Everything in that room runs on a separate power source on this ship, and the blackout hasn't affected it."
"If that's true, then it means Murphy doesn't know that there's a blackout," Faye replied, "and so he must be still playing his game."
"That certainly explains why he isn't here," Sorao added. "So that takes care of him."
"B-But why isn't Kumi here?" Sister Hikari said, her face full of anxiety. "And where are Sayua and Haruyuki?"
Masashi waited for the others to say what they knew about the two, but to his surprise, after a while, no one said anything. Apparently, they had seen Haruyuki on this ship a long while ago, but as for where he had recently been, none of them apparently knew. And as for Sayua, Tanjiro said that she had gone back to her room the last time that they had been together, but once again, none knew where she was.
"Oh! There's something else as well!" Arashi said, eyes widened. "I didn't really want to bring this up, but..."
He pointed at his set of equipment. "My fireworks! My fireworks have gone missing!"
"Wh-What?!" Masashi exclaimed as he and the others looked at Arashi's equipment on this deck. He remembered having seen containers there, but now, there were none.
"But how could they have gone missing?" Mari asked. "Weren't you on the deck this whole time?"
"Um... no," Arashi answered, cheeks reddening as he hung his head down in shame. "I-I had to go to the restroom earlier, and I was gone for a while. But when I came back, I was shocked to see that they were gone! I didn't want to cause a fuss or anything, so I headed off to go find them."
"Th-That's right..." Hikari added. "Th-That was why he went down to the deck below earlier..."
"Then that explains what I heard earlier..." Maiha mumbled to herself.
Arashi shook his head as he gave a hefty sigh. "Anyway... I headed off to the arcade afterwards, but a few seconds after I began my search there, the blackout suddenly happened!"
"Well, this is all very concerning," Mari said. "Not only is there a blackout, but four of us and some of the fireworks are also missing…"
"C-Could one of the four be trying to sabotage our plan to send a distress signal?" Faye asked, looking a little wan.
"I-I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be true," Hikari answered.
"Well, you guys keep assuming that it's one of you that's done this," Monokuma said, raising a paw. "But there are other possibilities as well. We're out here in the open sea, and so it may have been... a ghost!"
"Gh-Gh-Ghost?" Arashi said, growing wan as he gulped. Meanwhile, the others looked at the self-called captain with slight dismay at the suggestion.
"Indeed. Surely you know that many pirates have lost their lives out at sea!" Monokuma replied. "Their ghosts still lurk here, longing for treasure, wine, and all kinds of good stuff. Of course, you may have done something to piss them off, and this is their way to get back at you."
"I-I've never done anything bad to pirates and ghosts!" Arashi replied, drawn into Monokuma's fantastic lie.
"Oh, he's only messing around, Arashi!" Kasumi answered, returning to her usual chirpy expression. "Don't tell me you actually believed him there!"
"No... Of course not!" Arashi shook his head, his tone bolder. "I-I didn't believe that a ghost was behind this in the first place! But to be truthful, I'd rather that it were a ghost that's done all this. It's certainly much better than the alternative!"
Mari raised a finger, among the calmer of the group. "All joking set aside, we should turn the power back on first. Afterwards, we can—"
"It's better if we split up."
As he looked down at his clenched fist, Sorao sounded more serious than usual. Masashi looked at him guardedly, wondering whether he was up to anything.
"If we turn on the power first, the culprit behind this will realize that their sabotage attempt is about to fall apart," Sorao explained. "So they may try to hastily destroy the stolen goods and then play innocent when we find them. But if we split up and spread out first without turning on the power, we can catch the culprit off-guard."
"Oh! That makes a whole lot of sense! We can catch the culprit more easily, then!" Kasumi replied, setting a fist on her other hand's palm.
"Yeah, I agree," Faye said. "What do you say, Masashi?"
Masashi was unsure as to how he ought to respond. On one hand, he could not but suspect that Sorao might be up to something, the wounds from the sting of betrayal aching. But on the other hand, there seemed to be nothing suspicious about Sorao's suggestion. The identity of the one who had suggested it set aside, it made sense to split up in order that they might trap the culprit behind the blackout and the theft. And the others appeared to agree as well, and so there was only one thing to do.
"All right, let's split into two groups," Masashi replied, trying to hide his suspicion of Sorao. "I'll go to the power room to see what's up first. Then I'll check the rest of the upper decks."
"You shouldn't go alone, though," Sorao added. "I think you should take Arashi and Mari with you."
"H-Huh? Why me?" Arashi asked, sounding greatly surprised as if he had not expected to be chosen.
"I have a feeling that things may get dangerous, so with your strength, you should act as an effective bodyguard," Sorao explained. "Besides, you're a pyrotechnician. You have more technical information than the rest of us, so you may prove to be of some help if we need to do something about the power."
"O-Oh, well... that is all true, I guess," Arashi answered, sounding more subdued. "But why Mari? Isn't it enough for us two to go there?"
"Hmm..." Sorao stopped for a few seconds. "If truth be told, I have a feeling that if something bad happens, you'll panic at once and unwittingly do something bad. So someone calm like Mari balances things out."
"Hmm... I suppose it's fitting for the deputy to stick with the leader," Mari replied. "You don't mind that, right, Masashi?"
"N-No... Not at all," he answered. "I guess I can go with you two to check out the power. So the rest of you can go down to the lower decks. It's much larger, anyway—"
"H-Hang on… I don't want to go."
It was Hikari, who showed her usual leery expression.
"I-I'd much rather stay out here… I don't want to be around you people, especially in the dark…" she explained.
"Are you sure?" Faye asked, looking concernedly at her. "It's pretty cold out here."
"No, it's all right," Mari added. "Besides, we need someone to watch the equipment here. Hikari can do that while standing out here."
"And now that I think about it… it's certainly possible that Sayua and Haruyuki are in their rooms," Sorao added, nodding along as he crossed his arms. "Faye, do you mind checking the rooms out? I have a feeling they're not there, but it won't hurt to check."
Faye nodded. "All right… Hopefully, things won't get worse."
"Well, if I were you, I'd keep my expectations low," Monokuma added. "That way, I'd never be disappointed that the world doesn't work as I expected it to! It's amazing that you humans haven't figured that out yet!"
"B-Be quiet..." Hikari mumbled.
"What? Telling me to be quiet? How dare you... is what I would say, but it's about time that we got things started!" Monokuma replied. "It's dangerous to go without a light! Take these!"
Monokuma took out a brown sack and opened it up. Inside were several ordinary-looking flashlights, which each student then took. Once he disappeared, and so it was decided: Masashi, Mari, and Arashi would go to the upper decks and investigate the power room. Meanwhile, Sorao, Maiha, Kasumi, Tanjiro, and Sister Hikari would go to the lower decks; Hikari would stay on the main deck; and Faye would head back to the students' rooms. The objective was to find Sayua, Haruyuki, Murphy, Kumi, and the missing fireworks.
Masashi, Mari, and Arashi headed up to the upper second deck. Though feeling somewhat easy since he had two others with him and a light to illuminate the way forth, it still felt eerie to see the arcade's usually bright lights now gone. There was no music playing from the speakers, and there were no games to be had. There was still some music playing from the other end of the hallway, where the door to the staff lounge was; most likely, the music came from the arcade machines inside. Masashi was curious as to how Murphy was doing, but when he tried to open the door, it would not budge.
"What the?" Masashi mumbled as he pushed against it. "Why won't it open?"
"M-Maybe it's got something to do with the outage!" Arashi suggested, who looked rather shaky, as betokened by his voice and posture.
"I don't think so. The door's not electronic in any way," Mari answered, who spoke with an ever so calm and soothing tone. "To be safe, it's best that we not check up on this right now. Let's focus on the power first and foremost."
The three wended their way to the upper third deck, which had only the power room and the room linked to the top of the water slide. Masashi, leading the way, shone his light in the room warily, as if fearful that something might pop up and kill him. Thankfully, there was no one inside, but on the other hand, there did not seem to be anything resembling fireworks, either.
Masashi shone his flashlight at the floor and found what appeared to be a switch. But it looked as if it had been ripped out of the device that it belonged to. Arashi shone his light on the breaker box near the broken switch, after which he darted to it and opened it. But he leapt back in surprise once it was shown that the circuit breaker was missing its switch.
"No way, no way, no way!" Arashi said, his hands clutching his head. "Someone's broken the switch for the circuit breaker! We can't turn on the power now!"
"Now hang on," Mari said as she stepped inside. "Don't forget that there's an emergency power button here."
She shone her flashlight on the panel of buttons at the other end of the room. The buttons were arranged from top to bottom and were spaced out in a way such that the flashlight shone only on one button at a time. To the right of each button was a label that listed the button's function. Each button also was embedded upon a rectangular panel and had two square locks on the left and right sides of the panel. Presumably, pressing both locks would open up the button's panel and let one see what was inside.
Arashi walked up to the panel and pointed up at a certain button. "Um, it's this one, right? It's labeled 'Emergency Power'!"
"Yes, I believe that's it," Mari answered, looking at him. "And by the way… what's that thing on your wrist?"
"Huh…?" Arashi said as he lowered his hand.
"Your wrist. Your sleeve was covering it up until you pointed at the button. I saw something pink on it."
After a few seconds, Arashi gasped. "Oh, I get what you're talking about! You're talking about my reconciliation bracelet!"
"Your… reconciliation bracelet?"
Arashi pulled up the sleeve of his right hand, which had been covering the bracelet. "This is my reconciliation bracelet! Kasumi gave me it yesterday night!"
"Ah, so you're wearing it now... I'm sure Kasumi would be glad to see this," Masashi replied, happy that her efforts to mend things with him had worked on him.
"Oh… I understand now," Mari said, leaning forth to take a good look at it. "Pink roses… Not too bad. Masashi, you should get me something like this later."
"Huh? But why?" Masashi said bemusedly.
Mari turned around and looked at him with an awfully stern look. "Don't you think it'd be good to have something recognizing my deputyship? Something like a headband or a jacket or—"
"After this whole ordeal is over, I'll think about it," Masashi replied, though he regretted it at once upon realizing the promise that he had made. He could see shock on Arashi's face as the pyrotechnician beheld the scene, though for some reason, he sensed a bit of pity from him as well.
"Anyway, the culprit behind this blackout appears to have simply flipped the switch and broke it," Masashi continued, standing by the breaker box in the middle of the power room. "Now let's go check out the other rooms—"
At that moment, something else broke the power room's silence. Of all things, an extremely faint piano tune rang through the air, which silenced Masashi and his two companions as they turned their heads around in confusion.
"Wh-What is this music?" Masashi said, sweat dripping down his brow. "A-And where is it coming from?"
"It sounds like it's coming from downstairs..."
It was then that Mari moved from her spot to the power room's entrance, and Masashi's eyes were fixated on her, for he awed at how calm she was. Even though he was certain that this piano tune did not bode well, she still went ahead to go find the cause, whatever the danger might be.
"H-Hey, wait!" Arashi cried out as he ran up to her, his face stricken with anxiety. "Y-You shouldn't leave! I have a bad feeling something's going to happen—"
But before he should finish, a moderately shrill scream came from elsewhere, which silenced everyone at once. It was enough to make Arashi stumble backwards, whereafter his head hit a nearby breaker box, and he fell onto the floor.
"Wh-What the hell was that?!" Masashi said as he helped Arashi get back up. "Wh-What was that scream?!"
"Th-That sounded like a... a... a ghost!" Arashi squealed, his face waxing wan.
"Gh-Ghost?" Masashi said, suddenly feeling a chill down his spine. "D-Don't be silly, Arashi... Th-That's only nonsense that Monokuma came up with... It can't be a ghost... right, Mari?"
"It sounded like a man's voice…" Mari said, appearing not to have heard him as she wandered to the part of the room where the buttons were. Even she had dropped her calm demeanor, looking rather disturbed by these events. At that point, the piano tune stopped, though Masashi's unease only grew. "There's something familiar about it..."
"This isn't good! This isn't good at all!" Arashi said while rubbing his head. "Something bad's happening, I just know it! We should head out and look for the others—"
It was then that they heard yet another strange noise. This time, it sounded like something had fallen, though it was far less loud and frightful, and it appeared to have come not from this room but from nearby. A moment later, however, though it was extremely faint, Masashi could hear a groan that had definitely come from a human.
"Th-That definitely sounds like a ghost!" Arashi exclaimed as he scurried off to Mari's side.
No way! Masashi thought, bereft of all calmness. Don't tell me that was...
Before he should finish his thought, however, someone rushed right past him and darted out of the room. It took him a few seconds to see that it was Mari, and he became astounded by how, even though it might be dangerous, she still would find out what had happened.
"Huh...? Hey, wait!"
His wits having returned to him, he ran after her as she headed off into the water slide room, the only other room on this deck. Thankfully, the hallway hence was utterly straightforward, the only difficulty being how quick Mari was. Masashi focused on keeping his eye on Mari and raising his speed if need were, lest he lose track of her. By the time he caught up with her, he had grown a bit tired, and they had already entered the water slide room. A few seconds later, Arashi arrived, panting heavily.
"Y-You guys sure run quickly!" Arashi said before letting out a small groan. "D-Don't leave me behind like that next time!"
"S-Sorry... And, Mari, could you not run off like that next time?" Masashi said as he caught his breath.
"Oh... Sorry. I just felt like seeing what had happened," Mari said, not facing him. "A few seconds could make a huge difference."
"Y-Yeah, but still... Don't you think it was risky to simply run off like that?" he replied. "You could've been hurt or put yourself in great danger. Besides, for all we know, we're still in danger."
"Oh, you need not to worry about that. I assure you, there is nothing to fear."
The man's voice that had come from another part of the room silenced them as they heard footsteps coming thence. Mari shone her light at the man, and when she raised the light to his face, they saw that it was Haruyuki.
"Good evening," he said plainly. "These are rather strange circumstances, are they not?"
"Y-You... You're here!" Masashi said once his speech returned to him. "Where have you been?! We've been worried about you since the blackout started."
"Oh, have you?" Haruyuki said. "Well, I am rather flattered to hear that, but you need not to worry about me any more."
"Like hell we're not going to worry!" Arashi replied, pointing accusingly at him. "Y-You didn't go down to the main deck! Instead, you were... I don't know, but I find you to be very suspicious and creepy, to boot!"
Haruyuki chuckled, looking like his usual self, even in these confusing circumstances. "Is that what you think? How interesting to hear that from you."
"In any case," Mari said, sounding nearly as calm as Haruyuki, "we heard a noise coming from this direction. Did you have something to do with it?"
"Ah, so you indeed heard that..." Haruyuki paused for a few seconds. "To answer your question—"
A certain chime played from the speakers, silencing all the students as they looked around. A light appeared in another part of the room, and it was the monitor through which Monokuma gave his announcements. Sure enough, Monokuma appeared, wearing his usual captain's outfit, and began his announcement.
"A body has been discovered!" he said. "After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"
The monitor then turned off, and for a few seconds, none said anything, looking at one another with shocked expressions.
"No… No, this can't be…" Masashi said once his speech returned to him. "S-Someone's… been killed?"
Though denying at first, he found himself recovering from the announcement's shock surprisingly quickly, as if it had been what they had all been waiting for. It was frightening to see how much such a death knell felt more customary than unusual as time had passed.
"N-No way... That's got to be a joke!" Arashi said, shuddering and quivering.
Mari grew more sullen in her expression as she lowered her head. "But there's no denying the announcement…"
"There is one odd thing, however," Haruyuki said, sounding unfazed by this news. "For the first two killings, Monokuma always told us to gather at a certain place. But this time, he's vague about it."
"Then… something must've happened to the others!" Arashi said as he ground his teeth. "W-We've got to go!"
"Hang on. First, we ought to turn the power back on," Haruyuki said. "Let's go to the power room at once."
The four then left the room and rushed over to the power room. Haruyuki walked up to the panel of buttons at the other end of the room, using Mari's flashlight.
"Hmm…" he said, looking at the Emergency Power button. "The power's meant to turn on if I press this button, yes?"
After Haruyuki pressed it, a light flashed, and the next thing Masashi knew, the darkness that he had become used to was gone, light replacing it, and the power room's dull scenery was restored in his sight. From what he could tell, nothing about the power room had changed; it looked as it had appeared when he had seen it long before the blackout.
The four then left the power room at once and headed down the stairs, making sure to stay together at all times. But when they arrived at the upper second deck, Masashi looked to his right and glanced at that end of the hallway.
"Hey, isn't Murphy still in there?" Masashi asked. "Shouldn't we go get him?"
"Hmm? Are you sure he hasn't already left?" Haruyuki asked. "I'm sure that the monitor plays in there as well."
"Still, it won't hurt to check," Mari said. "There's a chance Murphy's confused about all this, and so it'll be best that we look for him."
The group headed over to the door, and Masashi grabbed the handle and tried to open it. But to his surprise, the door did not budge at all.
"Wh-What the…?" Masashi said as he tried once more. "It's still not opening!"
"Hmm? Did you try to open it earlier?" Haruyuki asked.
"That's right... We thought to check up on him, but the door wouldn't open," Mari answered, her expression growing cold.
"D-Don't tell me…" Arashi said, sweating. "S-Something's happened in there?!"
Haruyuki widened his eyes as he tried to open the door, but it too did not budge for him. "This... is rather curious. I've been in there before, and I'm sure that the door has no lock."
Fear now in the air, Masashi and Arashi pushed against the door with their bodies, hoping that it would fall to their strength. Thankfully, their efforts worked; the door was opened up, albeit ever so little. Then the two used all their might against the door until it was fully open, the door making its usual loud creak. But no sooner had Masashi glimpsed at the room than he saw what had been blocking the door.
"Aah... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Masashi had good reason to shriek, for lying on the floor was Murphy, a bloody wound on the back of his head, his straw hat stained and separated from its owner.
"Oh my God!" Arashi yelled, raising his hands. "Murphy... Murphy's dead!"
"This… This is… awful…" Mari said, covering her mouth with both hands.
Haruyuki too covered his mouth, though the surprise in his eyes looked far milder than Mari's. "Well, now... I certainly did not expect this at all."
Masashi could only stare at the corpse as his tears rolled off his cheeks and landed on the floor dully. Tonight was the night when they were supposed to execute the plan to send a distress signal and hope that someone from the outside world would notice. Then this horrible killing game would come to an end, and they could all head home together. It was a hope that Masashi thought that they had all shared, but the bloody sight proved it to have been a delusion.
Appearing to have recovered from her shock, Mari knelt down by the body. But just as she touched his neck, a groan came from the body.
"M-Murphy?!" Masashi exclaimed as soon as he saw the body wiggle. Murphy, whose eyes had been shut, then opened them ever so slightly.
"U-Ugh… I-Is that you... Masashi?" the Irishman asked.
The four students said nothing at first, looking at one another in amazement that their friend was still alive, albeit barely.
"Y-Yeah, it's me!" Masashi said, stepping nearer to the body and looking him in the eye. "Wh-What happened, Murphy?!"
Murphy winced in pain some more and groaned before he answered.
"I-I… I was only playing my game… as part of the special event..." Murphy said, his voice choking. "Then just as the next level started… I… was hit… from behind."
"Do you know who did it?" Mari asked, looking at him with a grave expression.
"N-No… The attacker… left as soon as they attacked me," he answered. "But… it doesn't make sense… no one entered the room… Then… maybe… was it when I left to go to the restroom? But… still… why... why me?"
Masashi then realized that all he was doing was stand there dumbly, when there was something else that he could be doing.
"M-Murphy, hang in there!" Masashi said. "We'll go get help! We'll make sure you won't die!"
"No… No, don't bother…" Murphy muttered, his arm moving slightly. "I… I can feel it now. The end… is nigh."
Mari looked at the back of his head, where his bloody wound was. "I'm afraid he's right, Masashi. From what I can tell, he's lost far too much blood. It's a miracle that he's still alive right now."
Murphy raised his arm, and it was clear that it took all his strength.
"I… I don't know why we've been put here…" Murphy muttered. "But… even so… I'm glad… that I had the chance to meet you guys…"
"No… No, please stop!" Masashi muttered, but he felt his limbs unwilling to move, as if his words had compelled them to stay put. Neither Arashi nor Haruyuki moved as well, their gazes fixed at the man.
"If you ever... escape this place… could you tell my parents this?" Murphy said, his voice quiet. "I'm sorry… that I've been… an awful son…
"I'm sorry... that I didn't listen to them…
"I'm sorry... that because of my ignorance… I've left... nothing behind… but a mess to clean up…
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
As his sorrowful words came to an end, Murphy lowered his arm and shut his eyes, all life gone from his body. A few seconds later, a familiar chime rang from the monitor.
"A body has been discovered!" Monokuma said. "After a certain amount of time, which you may use however you like, the class trial will begin!"
When the monitor turned off, no one said a thing. For a moment, there had been a chance that this despair could be turned into hope. There had been a chance that their dear friend would not leave them tonight. But with the announcement, it had made one thing painfully clear:
Murphy O'Hagan was now dead, never to feel anything ever again, were it happiness, sorrow, or regret.
Masashi fell on his knees, his eyes fixated on the dead man's face. Though he had seen far too many corpses by now, this was the first time that someone had died before him. There were the executions, of course, but Haruka and Abraham had been killed a distance away from the group, the monitor screens a means of separation between the watchers and the watched.
But this time, the victim had not only acknowledged his presence but also told him his dying words, his dying wish, his last attempt to reach out to the world. It was an experience that Masashi wished that he had never had the opportunity to get.
"Masashi… please, look at me."
It was Mari, who was sitting by him on one knee.
"I know this is awful to look at," she said, "but we can't stay here any longer. There's one other important issue we have to look into."
"Wh-What? What are you talking about…?"
"Have you forgotten?" she replied, staring right into him. "What did we hear after we had found Haruyuki?"
It took him a few seconds to recall it, and Masashi quickly regained his strength and stood back up.
"No… Y-You've got to be kidding me!" Masashi said, his voice shaky. "T-Two of us… are dead?"
Mari gravely nodded. "I can't imagine that Monokuma would accidentally play a body discovery announcement."
Arashi slammed his fist on a nearby wall, grinding his teeth. "Damn it… Goddamnit! Why did this have to happen?!"
Haruyuki clicked his tongue, frowning a little. "There's no point in tarrying. We must head over to the others and see what's happened."
As the four of them turned around, however, they saw someone come out of the arcade, at whom Masashi gasped.
"Sir Masashi? Lady Mari?"
It was Kumi, who looked as he had been when Masashi had seen him earlier this evening. He was even holding his teddy bear, which also appeared to be in sound condition. None of the four said anything, Masashi being so astounded by these latest events that Kumi's sudden appearance seemed normal in comparison.
"Wh-What's going on?" Kumi asked as he walked toward them. "A-And why is Sir Murphy…?"
When he saw the body, however, Kumi froze up at once, his questions reduced to whimpering and shuddering, tears appearing in his eyes.
"Hey, don't worry!" Masashi said at last. "W-We're here for you right now. No one else is going to get hurt, I swear!"
The storyteller, however, said nothing as he buried his face into his teddy bear, weeping quietly. He was too shocked to respond, as if he had been turned into a doll. Masashi figured that it was best to simply drag him along as they looked for the others, and Kumi did not resist when he grabbed him by the wrist. Glancing at Murphy's corpse one more time, he then led the others to the lower decks.
When the five arrived at the lower second deck, they saw no one out there. Masashi guessed that they were all in the room wherein the second victim had been slain. As they neared the middle of the hallway, however, someone came out of the room nearest to the bow.
"Oh! You're all here!" It was Faye, who stared at them wide-eyed. "W-We were all worried about you, since we heard the body discovery announcement!"
"W-Well… How should I put this?" Masashi replied. "Murphy… Murphy's dead. We found him barely alive in the arcade, but he didn't make it."
"Oh… Oh my God…" Faye said, covering her mouth with her hand. "I can't believe it… So it's not only Murphy who's been killed…!"
"Who is the other victim?" Haruyuki asked calmly.
Faye lowered her head, biting her lip. They waited for her to give an answer, but after a few seconds, she turned around and ran to the room that she had come out of. The others followed after her, and as soon as they entered the room, they saw the others, but something else caught their eyes at once. Arashi yelped at once, pointing with a shaky finger at the sight.
There was a body lying face-down before a stack of boxes, the back pierced with a great number of metallic arrows. Blood covered nearly every part of the body, and were it not for the long red hair and the clothes, one could not tell that it was Sister Hikari.
Understanding what he now beheld, Masashi screamed.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen! The bloodshed has happened at last, and following Danganronpa tradition, I've chosen to make it a double murder this time.
Most of you guessed that Sister Hikari would be a victim. She's one of the kindest characters of the cast, and from her selflessness, she's always been more about others than about herself. It's rather tragic that it is she that must go, but that's the way I've planned things out.
As for Murphy, interestingly, I didn't see anyone guess that he would be a victim, so I guess that his death is by far the more surprising one. He's a character that has never really had a lot of presence in the killing game, and he's also pretty simple, as his background, in comparison to those of some other characters, is pretty mundane. And yet, it's his simpleness and mundaneness that kind of sets him apart. At least, that's how I see it.
Anyway, next time, the investigation begins! But for now, I'd like to hear which character you think is the blackened.
