When the first round in the V4-VR was over, the six students reclined in the six seats on the circular platform were like zombies come back to life, sitting up slowly as they pushed off their helmets, dazed and blinking against the bright blue sphere of light that enveloped them all.
"Well? What did you see? What did you see?!" Rinku asked excitedly as she launched herself into the nearest chair, dying to see Rei again.
"Did it work?!" Muni demanded, trying to sound a little more restrained but moving just as quickly as Rinku.
"Y-yes… Yes, it did…" Miyu said, face and voice dazed as she swung her legs around the side of her chair to stand up.
"Miyu." Tsubaki's eyes narrowed in concern as she helped the girl, holding her steady. Although it didn't show on her face, she understood how shaken Miyu was feeling. Oh, Nagisa… Her heart squeezed. Already, she regretted not being more affectionate when she'd had the chance.
Beside her, Hiiro looked just as disbelieving, as if she'd seen a ghost. Perhaps in a way, she had. They all had.
"Are you all right, Hiiro?" asked Aoi, gently resting their hands on Hiiro's arms in a half-embrace as Hiiro hugged herself tightly.
"Yes, yes, I'm… fine…"
"Yes, we saw Rei," Esora was the first and only one to speak coherently. "We saw all of them…"
Towa, meanwhile, was the only one to stay silent. She, too, felt the same stunned haze that the rest of them did, but her mind was racing.
The back of the VR lab, the back of the VR lab, the back of the VR lab… She repeated Noa's final words over and over in her mind. She was dying to let someone, anyone, know, but Noa's other command was equally embedded in her brain. Don't say a word to anyone. Even Shinobu.
The Ultimate Idol Enthusiast's eyes swept around the circle of her peers. Exactly as Noa told her, Shinobu and Kyoko were nowhere to be seen. No doubt trying to find a way outta here… Oh, man, I really hope they can do it! Her stomach squeezed.
"Where are Kyoko and Shinobu?" Esora asked, and then Towa's stomach plummeted.
"Oh, they texted me earlier! Apparently, they didn't want to just wait around, so they went looking for clues," said Yuka cheerfully, pulling out her PheFo to show off a text from Kyoko. At least they're together! Though it puzzled the Ultimate Photographer that the Ultimate FPS Gamer hadn't been more insistent upon seeing her long lost cousin again. Unless perhaps she's nervous about it? Oh, Shinobu, poor thing… She knew emotions were hard for the icy and irritated pink-haired DJ.
"We should probably do the same," Hiiro finally said, nodding to herself just as much as she was to the others. "Who's going in next?"
Hapiara was up first, then Yuka and Rika, who were just excited to explore. Shinobu returned from her far corner in the VR lab. Of course, there was no room for Kyoko, but she volunteered to continue scouting the rest of the lab until there was space for her. As important as Shinobu's mission was, she needed and wanted to see her cousin again. Yuka wasn't wrong about her observation of Shinobu's feelings, but the desire to reunite with Nagisa eventually overrode everything else for the little Ultimate FPS Gamer.
"Can stay and keep watch over them, if the rest of you want to explore too," Dalia volunteered. That was why, at least on the first round, a majority of the students stayed right beside the V4-VR. Some of them were curious, even though the sight of their classmates lying still in the chairs was not very exciting. But Yuka and Dalia in particular had appointed themselves the official bodyguards of the surviving students.
"I wish I could join you," said Ibuki ruefully, back to her hologram "life" (her holo-live?), attached to Towa's wrist.
"No worries, Maho has been an excellent stand-in." Dalia smiled at her old pupil as she helped Rinku, and then Muni, with their helmets.
"—gonna need to take off that headband and—Rinku! No! Don't touch that! It's a live wire!"
"Well, isn't that better than being a dead wire?"
The muscle trio chuckled. Then Marika's teasing, playful voice suddenly sounded off right beside them. "You sure it isn't because you're scared of ghosties and ghouls, Dalia?" she sing-songed. "Didn't want to explore the VR lab all by yourself, did you?"
"Wh-who said anything about ghosts?!" Dalia raised her fists without realizing it, expression turning into fear.
Marika giggled again while Towa gave her a side-eye. I think… I remember that we were friends… Even though I don't quite remember how or why… But I mean, I know I like her well enough, and I've come to like her even more over the course of the Killing Game because she's always been so friendly and chill, but Noa said that Junko girl was pure evil, and she was the Ultimate Fashionista…
Noa wouldn't name any names, but Towa still had her suspicions. And Noa, herself, seemed at least mostly willing to confirm that their game had more than one mastermind. It made sense, too, given the sheer scope of the Killing School Transfer. Was Marika one of them, perhaps an old pal in cahoots with the true, ULTIMATE Ultimate Despair? But of course, Towa couldn't just start calling her out. Not yet at least…
Once Dalia and Yuka were finished talking to Ibuki, Yuka joining Hapiara, Shinobu, and Rika in the V4-VR while Dalia continued to watch over them all, Towa clumsily came up with an excuse to leave Ibuki behind as well.
"Maybe you can guide them again?" she asked. "Or if you wanted to be a part of the muscle trio again." She sweated bullets, hoping everybody would buy it and not question her further. I don't know how I'd handle the pressure. I'd probably crack the second they started interrogating me!
But lucky her, the suggestion of keeping Ibuki near the V4-VR worked like a charm and nobody questioned Towa as she made her way to her own far corner of the VR lab alone.
ooo
I can't even ask IBUKI if she knows what's up. Towa bit her lip in frustration and loneliness as she logged onto a computer with the credentials Noa gave. To her amazement—though perhaps not her surprise—the screen that she was brought to was unlike any other she had seen thus far. As they'd all come to figure out by now, as powerful as the technology in Hope's Pinnacle was, it was severely restricted under the iron paws and claws of Headcatster Monochio, no matter how bumbling it was this Stage.
The screen Towa was brought to was littered with files, far more than any of them had ever had access to before. All she had to do was sit back and relax as someone else controlled the cursor on her screen, breaking through firewall and security feature after firewall and security feature. At last, the invisible force opened a file titled KAMUKURA.
"Don't ask. Just watch," Noa had said, and with more questions than answers, Towa was willing to obey, at least for a little…
Don't get me wrong, it's as sus as hell! But… how else am I supposed to unlock the secrets of the academy? Inside the first file were two more labeled Izuru and Nozomi. Nozomi! That was the lady Noa mentioned!
The cursor clicked on Izuru first and Towa was met with a tall, thin, grim, pale man with long, dark, flowing hair and bright red eyes that looked like gun targets. His gaze was stern and severe, but his expression hollow and empty, and he seemed to stare directly into Towa's soul, although his deadened eyes made it clear that he couldn't care less about her. The text beneath his picture was illegible, written in symbols rather than letters or characters. Then the mouse clicked away from his profile and switched over to Nozomi's and Towa's heartbeat skyrocketed.
NOA?! Although she didn't look exactly like Noa, the new girl on the computer screen still had something undeniably "Noa" about her. Her hair looked just like Izuru's, save that it was white-gold rather than midnight-black, and her eyes were a brilliant cyan rather than a Monochio red. Most unsettlingly of all, though, was the wild look in her eyes. If Izuru was dead inside, she far too alive. Nozomi's eyes were the eyes of madness, burning bright. It was the gaze of one ready to purge and purify the entire world…
But right before Towa could look any further into the files, her PheFo buzzed, and she went flying back to the others.
ooo
"What's up guys, what did I miss?" Towa panted, trying to act natural as she raced back over to her peers. It appeared that the last of the students had taken their first turn in the V4-VR, some of them going in twice for the final round, since there were extra seats open. Muni was one such student, though it was not for the sake of seeing Rei again. She passed it off as technological curiosity, but it wasn't even that either.
Jeez, what the hell was Fukushima going on about anyway? Muni pouted and bit the inside of her cheek, shaking her head as she again set her bunny-ear headband off to the side, hanging it off the back of her V4-VR chair. Although the heart of her first visit inside was indeed the reunion with Rei, right before she departed, Noa had all but tackled her in a sobbing, gushing embrace.
"OH, MUNI, MY PRECIOUS LIL CUTIEEEE!"
"Eeew! Oh, God, Noa! Get the fuck off of me! Stop touching me like that!" Muni flailed against Noa's warm, death-grip embrace, but it did nothing. "I'm not really feel ok with being hugged by a fucking psychopathic mass-murderer, here!" she grunted, and it was only then that Noa finally let go.
"Psychopath? Oh, Muni, the only thing I'm going to kill you with is… kindness! I'll love you to death because you're JUST SO CUTE!" But a moment later, Noa managed to settle back down. Once everyone's attention had finally turned away from them, the other students chuckling to themselves and shaking their heads, Noa whispered into Muni's ear, firmly grasping the other girl's shoulders. Noa's tone changed drastically.
"Listen to me, Muni, if my calculations are correct, there will be at least one more round of survivors visiting the V4-VR. I need you to come back here whenever you can because there's someone you have to meet. It has to do with your past, an old friend you've forgotten, and I don't want you to forget that Hope. I'll create a copy avatar of you so that no one realizes the real you isn't where it's supposed to be!"
What the fuck?! If that ain't sus as hell! But even though Muni continued to scowl and snarl in Noa's arms, completely and utterly distrustful of the other girl, she couldn't deny that her curiosity was piqued. And you know what they say about curiosity killing the… well, you know.
But the person she met upon returning to the V4-VR wasn't a person at all, rather, a rabbit.
"Hey there, Miss Muni! It feels like it's been forever since the last time you came to my office hours! I miss you!"
"Huh? Who the hell are you?!"
"Now, now, Miss Ohnaruto, polite language here only, please!"
As their conversation continued, Muni managed to gather that this rabbit was some sort of AI, a teacher's assistant program, and she was the reason Muni had a bunny-ear headband. The girl had been assisting the ones in charge of designing the rabbit's prototype, and it was one of the loneliest times in her life, as she felt as though she was losing Rinku—the only one she ever truly, really, deeply cared about—to Maho. But the bunny had reassured her that she was more than enough, and that she was indeed loved, even if she didn't feel that way.
"I ordered something for you from online!" she chirped, and a day later, Muni received a package to her dorm that held the bunny-ear headband.
Like Towa before her, as soon as Muni's second trip in the V4-VR was over, she kept her lips pursed. It also went against her every instinct to stay silent, for she was dying to share what she saw, but she wasn't stupid enough that she was just going to go blabbing her mouth about things that were obviously meant to be secret. Oh, Fukushima, what are you up to from beyond the grave? Even now, are you still so persistent?
The very last person to arrive was, like in Muni's V4-VR visit, not a person at all. Though unlike Muni's V4-VR visit, it was not a bunny either, but a cat. That damned Headcatster was back. Every student stiffened, lips curling in distaste as Monochio waddled in.
"Hewwo, evewyone! Mr. Headcatster Monyochio here to say… I TOLD YOU SO!" It cackled gleefully like the bragging child/kitten that it was. "I is smart enough that I created a way to save all of your minds to my computers n' stuff so that even if I kill you, I can bring you back and kill you again and again and again! As much times as I likey! Oh, but don't worry about all dat! At least not yet…" Its voice suddenly became low and ominous and threatening, but only a second later, it was back to its cheerful young chirp again.
"Teehee! I just wanted to give you a lil taste-test of the V4-VR and I hope you found it yummy! Cuz the main course is coming right up!"
Now that the students had irrefutable proof that the mind could be brought back after death with the use of modern technology, it was their job to do the same with the body. That was when the utilization of magic would kick in.
As expected, those resources would be found on the fourth floor, the next floor up, in the library, stacks, and archives. To further incentivize its students, Monochio's long tail shot out behind it into the darkness, and what it reeled back in was a line of metal tabled on wheels, tied together, a white sheet draped over each and every one, the outline of a human body lying beneath. It was all the fallen students' corpses.
The surviving students became even tenser. "I told ya so!" Monochio sing-songed again. "Monyochio isn't messing around with this double-dog dare!" It struck its CKPP pose, its toe-beans again framing its eyes as it winked at them, sitting upright so it could pull off the pose.
The students were disgusted and horrified by how gleeful it was acting, lugging their dead peers around like luggage. But as Monochio had just said, it was merely to prove that it was not messing around with the Stage IV motive either. The students were indeed going to help it unlock the secrets of resurrection. Or else…