Chapter 3: Removing Redundancies
The Painful Blade of Truth
An ear-shattering siren blared through the courtroom as red strobe lights flashed blindingly from somewhere above them. The timer above Monokuma's head folded into itself and descended behind his throne.
"Alright, time's up! No more talking!" Monokuma declared once the siren stopped and the lights returned to normal. "There was indeed only one blackened in this case, which means… it's voting time!"
By this point, Phoenix was unsurprised when a slot machine appeared in front of him, but this time, it represented the possible end of his life. Would the majority of students end up voting for Peko, or would they follow Apollo's plan?
He, Kyoko, and Nagito were definitely voting for Peko. If everyone else followed Apollo's plan, then Makoto would have the most votes.
Please, Phoenix begged mentally. Please don't let this be the end.
He looked at Maya, who was staring at her own slot machine with a conflicted expression— how he wished he was able to communicate telepathically with her. He eyed Peko, who was remaining remarkably stoic. Finally, he looked at Nagito, who had already pulled his lever and was watching the results of his machine.
Phoenix selected Peko's pixelated icon and pulled the lever with a shaky hand.
The slot machine activated. The pixelated visages of the remaining ten students blurred together as the slots spun rapidly. —Click!— The first slot settled on Peko. Was he making the right choice? —Click!— Even if Peko was the killer, would it matter? Was their class doomed to be executed for voting incorrectly? —Click!— He held his breath as his dread grew without bound. The final slot slid into place. Now came the moment of truth.
Phoenix breathed a small sigh of relief as his slot machine shook, erupting with flowers and spewing monocoins from its dispensary. However, the sound of the tumbling coins was noticeably lower than before— in fact, looking around, less than half of the slot machines were celebrating victory. For the first time in a class trial so far, he heard a unique sound: several loud buzzes intoned from six of the ten slot machines, their podiums remaining free of monocoins. Only he, Kyoko, Maya, and Nagito had been "graced" by the fanfare.
"Oh, my! This was quite a close one!" Monokuma gasped dramatically as the slot machines retracted into the podiums, which themselves slid into the floor. "However, it looks like there are just enough votes for the blackened to call this a victory!"
Phoenix felt his legs wobble slightly. They were going to survive. Maya had saved them.
Monokuma chortled. "Yes, the blackened in this case was indeed the Ultimate Swordswomen, Peko Pekoyama!"
Apollo fell to his knees.
From across the courtroom, Peko looked at her liege in shock. "Th-this can't be!" she gasped. "I can't be the blackened! Monokuma made a mistake!"
"A mistake?" Monokuma cocked his head. "You stabbed Ema and Leon with your sword. Do you not remember that?"
"With her sword?" Chiaki repeated. "I thought the weapon was a knife…"
"Oh, that was a red herring!" Monokuma explained. "She actually… Well, I guess I should summarize the entirety of her actions for those of you who are still in disbelief." The bear sneered at Apollo in particular as he said this. "Her bamboo sword actually has a real blade hidden underneath the stalk. She lured Ema to the storage room and stabbed her throat, then used some of her blood to dirty a knife before hiding her under the canoe. When she and Apollo went to the storage room, she had him find the board games while she positioned Ema's body on the ground. He didn't notice a corpse lying right behind him as he walked out of the room! And he claims his eyesight is great?"
Phoenix clenched his fists as Monokuma cackled before continuing.
"During the party, she used her sword to stab Leon through the throat while Klavier searched the ground for his guitar thingy. He, too, didn't notice a corpse as it slumped to the ground behind him! Finally, when she went to the kitchen to get Maya, she took the opportunity to frame her by dropping the knife under the fridge as Maya left before her! It was a master-class in subterfuge! She made an excellent blackened."
"I may have performed the act, but I am naught but a tool for my master!" Peko cried out. "How can you call me the blackened when I have no free will?"
"Peko, what are you talking about?" Makoto asked as he helped Apollo to his feet, his small frame struggling to support the already diminutive lawyer.
"Peko here believes herself to be nothing more than a tool," Nagito explained casually, flicking a stray hair aside. "She thinks the blackened in this case should have been Apollo, since considers herself a mere extension of him."
"This is the truth!" Peko insisted. "These results are flawed!"
"But why?" Maya asked desperately. "Why did you kill Ema and Leon?"
"For my master!" Peko exclaimed. "To free him from the confines of this village!"
"Peko…" Apollo whispered as he leaned on Makoto's shoulder. "Why couldn't I tell you were lying?"
"Because she didn't believe she was lying," Nagito answered. "Do you see now why I couldn't let her survive this case? She doesn't believe herself to have an existence. She thought that her committing the murder was equivalent to you committing it. Even as an Ultimate, she has no hope for herself. That kind of life deserves to be a stepping stone, just like me."
Phoenix ferociously stomped on the pile of monocoins lying at his feet. "No one deserves that!" he screamed at Nagito.
Nagito remained blissful and merely smiled at Phoenix.
Peko walked through the room to Apollo. She took his hands in hers as he leaned his forehead against her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, young master," she whispered. "I failed you."
"I didn't want this…" Apollo whimpered. "I didn't want any of this…"
"Yes, you're very tragic, you didn't mean for this to happen, yadda, yadda!" Monokuma parroted. "Listen here, swordy. You claim you don't have free will? Then why would you have committed these murders to begin with? The tiny, tragic lawyer over here clearly didn't want you to. The only way you could have acted against his will is with a will of your own!"
Peko stared regretfully at Monokuma. "I just… I thought…"
However, before she could say any more, Monokuma jumped down from his throne, landing at Apollo's feet. He produced a flashlight of some kind and clicked it on, shining the radiant beam directly in Peko's face.
The response was immediate. Peko's entire body froze up, her muscles tensing and her face frozen in an expression of confusion. After a few moments, Monokuma turned the flashlight off and hopped back to his throne. Peko slumped down, inverting the supporting role between her and Apollo. When she regained control of her motor functions, she stepped away from Apollo, seeming horrified.
"What… How did you…" she stammered. "How could I forget? Fuyuhiko…"
"Okay, that's enough post-trial shenanigans!" Monokuma declared. "Everyone get ready!"
"No!" Apollo begged. "Not again! Please!"
Peko pulled Apollo into a final hug. His hands reached desperately for her as she stepped into the center of the room, preparing herself for what they all dreaded.
"Let's give it everything we've got! It's… Punishment Time!"
~~Peko Pekoyama has been found guilty!~~
~~Time for the execution!~~
Ninja Warrior:
Peko fell through a perfectly positioned trapdoor, landing gracefully in a small dojo reminiscent of an older monastery. She drew her sword from her back, the fine blade no longer hidden behind a bamboo facade.
A single dart shot out from a hole in the wall. She contorted her body, barely avoiding the projectile as it snapped into the wall behind her, grazing the red ribbons on her chest. A large executioner's blade swung from above her, but she jumped out of the way, pressing her back against a wall.
A spike stabbed through the wall, impaling clean through her left thigh. She stumbled to the ground, shifting her sword to become a crutch. However, she was soon forced to use her weapon to defend herself as Monokuma, dressed as a samurai, walked into the room.
Monokuma ferociously swung his blade, only to be deflected by Peko. She balanced on her right foot, parrying every attack he tried to land on her. When a second Monokuma appeared behind her, she ducked to the ground, letting the two bears clash blades with each other.
A second spike emerged, stabbing through her right foot and anchoring her to a single spot. Another three Monokumas entered the room, all wielding identical weaponry.
Peko continued to defend against their onslaught. Every swing of the Monokuma's swords was parried or dodged, even as Peko stood rooted to the ground by a hole in her foot.
The clash stopped when a final figure walked into the room— a short, blond-haired boy wearing a black suit reminiscent of the mafia. She froze as he stepped towards her, pushing past the Monokumas, who had stopped their assault. He extended his hand, and when she grasped it, a final blade emerged from the ceiling, cleanly slicing the off-guard Peko's entire body in half. The two halves of her collapsed to the ground as the unnamed boy and the five Monokumas disappeared.
Was Phoenix growing numb to the pain, or had he simply become better at ignoring it? At this point, the gruesome death of his friends had become a nightmarish routine from which he could never escape.
Monokuma returned, appearing in the center of the room. "One more down! Nine to go!" He clapped. "Are you kids excited? I know I am!"
Phoenix gritted his teeth, ignoring Monokuma's taunts. He would not let this break him.
"What's the matter with you all?" Monokuma complained after hearing no responses. "Are you giving me the silent treatment now?"
"What did you do to Peko?" Apollo demanded, pointing at the bear. His finger quivered, but his voice was steady.
"What kind of question is that? I executed her," Monokuma replied. "You just saw it!"
"You know what he's referring to," Phoenix said icily. "The flashlight. What was it?"
"Puhuhuhu!" Monokuma laughed in response. "Oh, that! It's just a little something I invented called the flashback light!"
"The flashback light?" Chiaki questioned, tilting her head.
Monokuma grinned maliciously. "It can help you remember the memories I stole from you!"
"The memories…" Kyoko repeated cautiously, "you stole from us."
"Yep!" Monokuma answered happily. "We're about halfway through this game, so I figured it was time I told you. I've stolen memories from all of you. Namely, your existence as Hope's Peak students. Years of your life, gone! Just like that!" He snapped his claws.
Phoenix felt his mind grind to a halt. Everyone else in the courtroom behaved similarly to him— standing blankly at Monokuma, wondering if he was telling the truth.
"Oh, come on!" Monokuma griped. "You must have noticed by now, there are unexplainable gaps in your memories of your past. Things that you feel like you definitely should know, but just can't quite recall? Those are the things I've stolen from you!"
Phoenix felt his heartbeat accelerate. He had lost his memories? His memories of his classmates, seven of whom were now dead at the hands of each other?
"Was the short boy in her execution someone she had forgotten?" Nagito asked brazenly. "Fuyuhuko, I think she said?"
"Fuyuhiko," Kyoko corrected.
"It doesn't matter what memories I gave back to her," Monokuma wagged his finger. "She's dead now! What matters is what memories I can give back to you!"
"Why are you telling us this?!" Klavier demanded. "Why bother stealing our memories in the first place?!"
"It's all a game," was the answer. However, Monokuma was not the one to respond to Klavier— instead, Nagito was the one to speak up.
"The game doesn't work if you remember your bonds with each other," Nagito explained. "The hope you all had no doubt cultivated at Hope's Peak would have been too strong for Monokuma to overcome."
"Well, that's not the only reason…" Monokuma pouted, seemingly incensed at having had his logic figured out so readily by Nagito. "There are some big reveals yet to come that would have been ruined if you still remembered everything! Speaking of…"
Then, Monokuma patted himself down, as if he was searching for his car keys. After failing to find his desired object, he pointed at Kyoko.
"You!" He declared. "What did you do with it?"
The faintest of smiles appeared on Kyoko's face. "With what?"
Monokuma stamped his foot childishly. "The roster! I know you have it!"
In response, Kyoko reached into her inner jacket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. "I felt it would be best to hold onto it until after the trial."
"Kyoko, what's Monokuma talking about?" Maya asked.
Kyoko gracefully unfolded the paper before holding it out to Maya. Monokuma watched gleefully as Maya's face quickly became one of confusion and uncertainty.
More curious than ever, Phoenix stepped over to the pair and peered over Maya's shoulder. What he saw was very similar to a piece of paper he had seen before, lying on the copier in the bookstore.
The page held 15 photos, laid out identically to the one he had seen previously. Of the 15 students on the page, Phoenix initially only recognized three: Chiaki, Nagito, and Peko. However, upon further inspection, the final student on the page looked quite familiar.
"Leon?" Phoenix and Maya said in unison. It was unmistakably him, but he looked vastly different. His cheeks were rosy, his hair was shorter and blonder, and his outfit was much more akin to a school uniform than his normal "punk" style.
"Oh, yeah!" Monokuma snickered. "The person you knew as 'Leon' was actually…" the bear paused, letting the class suffer in anticipation.
"The Ultimate Imposter!"
…
Phoenix blinked once. Twice. Leon wasn't Leon? His first instinct was to reject this claim, and yet… It explained a lot. "Leon"'s physical form was less than athletic, and him not actually being a baseball player made sense. It also explained why he was so obsessed with abandoning his talent and becoming a singer— perhaps that's what the real Ultimate Imposter wanted to be?
Regardless, why was he among 4 of the 16 students in the village on the paper Kyoko had just shown them?
Monokuma laughed. "I can see the gears turning in your little heads! Allow me to elaborate: The Ultimate Imposter is no one. They have no name, age, or gender. They lived their life as other people, sometimes filling-in for celebrities or helping someone be in two places at once. Their entire life was spent pretending to be someone else. In this village, they claimed the identity of the Ultimate Baseball Star, Leon Kuwata!"
Apollo breathed in shakily. "Why did you hide this, Kyoko?" His firm voice was completely at odds with his expression, which was reminiscent of a wounded puppy. His lip trembled. Phoenix understood what he was thinking— Apollo thought two more of his friends had betrayed him— Leon, or rather, not-Leon, and Kyoko, for hiding not-Leon's true identity.
"I didn't know Leon's true identity, all I saw was that he looked quite different on this piece of paper. Either way, I did not want us to spend time on this during the trial when it had no bearing on the case," Kyoko explained simply as she tucked the paper back into her jacket. "I fully intended to reveal this once everything had been resolved."
"Why did Leon have that paper to begin with?" Chiaki pondered.
"I left it lying on the desk in the study," Monokuma answered. "Clumsy me! I guess he was the first to stumble upon it, and managed to hide it from the rest of you!"
Maya blanched. "He… hid this from us?"
"Isn't this delicious?" Monokuma goaded. "Your own 'friend' was lying about his identity to all of you! He never cared about any of you to begin with, he was just playing a role! He doesn't even have a name, so he stole someone else's and used that to fool you all! And the best part? You once knew him as he really was! At Hope's Peak, he eventually revealed his true identity. But with his memories gone, he reverted to his old, distrustful self-"
"You're wrong."
Monokuma, for once, seemed taken aback by the quiet ferocity in Phoenix's voice as he pointed at Monokuma. However, he quickly shook off the effect and giggled.
"Oh? And why am I wrong?"
"Leon's last action in life was ensuring we found this," Phoenix elucidated. "When we found his body, his hand was in his pocket. I can't speak from experience, but I imagine being stabbed in the throat would cause you to instinctually try to cover the wound with both hands. Instead of doing that, though, Leon reached for the paper as he died, making sure we'd find this clue in the end. He wanted us to know. He was still our friend, and nothing you can say will change that!"
Monokuma pouted. "Man, you're boring! I drop two great reveals on you and all you want to talk about is friendship? Give me a break! How many more of your 'friends' are going to have to die until you realize the truth?"
"The truth?" Klavier asked skeptically.
Monokuma nodded. There was no playful expression on his face, nor a hint of joking in his tone. His voice was more deadly than ever before when he said: "I always win."
With that, Monokuma vanished.
The sun had begun to dip behind the mountains as they emerged from Fey Manor, the golden light illuminating the village completely contrasting with the dark mood hanging over the remaining students. Not only had they lost three of their friends in just a few short hours, but they were now armed with the grim knowledge that they had spent years together at Hope's Peak, and Monokuma had stolen those memories from them.
Phoenix spent more time than he would have liked sitting in his room, contemplating the day's events. Would Monokuma ever give them their memories back? He doubted it. The only way it would happen is if he killed someone, which was out of the question.
He felt nauseated. The friendships he built, the clients he defended, the talent he accrued— all of it, stolen by Monokuma, never to come back. How could he move on from this?
He also felt concerned about Apollo. Twice in a row, the class trials had been due to the person closest to him committing murder for his sake. With no Peko to enable his anger, Phoenix suspected his grief would now manifest itself as depression.
The biggest question on his mind, though, was simple: What would tomorrow bring?
Right on cue, a knocking noise awakened him from his stupor. He quickly stood up and opened the door to see Nagito standing at his doorstep.
Although Nagito did not seem to have currently any particularly malicious intent, the aura radiating from him put Phoenix on edge. Perhaps it was merely the knowledge of how Nagito usually behaved.
"...Can I help you?" Phoenix asked uneasily after Nagito remained silent for an uncomfortable amount of time.
"Well done at the trial today," Nagito said as soon as Phoenix finished speaking. "Not only did you successfully identify the killer, but when Monokuma told us about our memories and Leon's true identity, you used the despair to climb to an even greater hope."
Phoenix pursed his lips. "Are you just here to congratulate me?"
Nagito shrugged. "I suppose. Your achievement was worth recognizing, but I worry many of the other Ultimates are not yet ready to face the mastermind. I will do my part in helping them reach new heights, and I'm asking you to help them ascend the ladder I will construct to ascend to your level of hope."
"If your method of 'helping' is committing a murder, then you can forget it!" Phoenix declared. "Surely you must realize there are better ways to help us!"
Nagito sighed. "I don't necessarily intend to commit a murder. Senseless killing serves no purpose. But, if an opportunity arises where committing a murder, or assisting in one, will serve the greater good, I will do so without hesitation, as you well know."
Phoenix gritted his teeth. "Killing someone cannot possibly be justified as 'for the greater good.' There's always another way."
Nagito shook his head. "I disagree. But, who knows? Maybe my bad luck can ensure you have good enough fortune to find another solution out of this village."
"Look, Nagito: I get that I'll never be able to convince you that your way of thinking is wrong. You're dead-set in your ways, no matter what any of us say. I know this. But, I want you to seriously reconsider the notion that your life doesn't matter. It has an impact, whether you like it or not."
Nagito smirked. "You're a smart person and a competent lawyer, Phoenix. But you're not always right. I'm afraid this is one of those times where you're dreadfully wrong. But don't worry about me— I've fully accepted my role in society. Anyways, I'll see you tomorrow. Maybe the village investigation will yield something valuable. Something about our memories, perhaps?"
Nagito walked away. Phoenix didn't want to call after him, but one question had been nagging at him since the trial.
"How did you know?" Phoenix asked before Nagito was out of hearing distance.
The luckster turned around. "How did I know what?" he asked innocently.
"How did you know it was Peko?" Phoenix elaborated. "You couldn't have known about Makoto's discovery in the kitchen, or that Maya was even there to begin with."
Nagito grinned eerily. "She knew too much during the investigation. More specifically, she let it slip that she knew Ema's corpse had been hidden somewhere in the storage room, despite neither of us saying anything about that. But that alone didn't guarantee her guilt. Instead, I bluffed!"
"Bluffed?" Phoenix repeated.
Nagito nodded eagerly. "I'm surprised you can't recognize a bluff when you see one! I pretended I knew with 100% certainty who the killer was to throw Peko off her game, and I left the legwork of proving it was her to you! I knew I would never be able to put the clues together like you would. But, with her verbal slip-up and your deductions, I was able to confidently say she was the blackened, so thanks for that!"
Phoenix clenched his fist. Apparently, even when Nagito was on his side, Phoenix couldn't help but play right into his hands. He considered saying several choice words to the luckster, but instead, he merely sighed and closed his door, re-entering his thoughtful daze.
The sun dipped fully behind the mountains and the landscape darkened under the night sky. Once the nighttime announcement rang, Phoenix finally stood up. He had spent enough time being confused and unsure. Now, it was time to act.
He marched out of his room and purposefully strode towards Kyoko's yurt. He rapped his knuckles on the door, waiting only a few seconds until Kyoko emerged.
"Are you here to get the book back?" she asked bluntly.
Phoenix nodded. "That's not the only thing I'm here for, though. We need to talk about everything that has been uncovered so far."
Kyoko sighed. "Alright. Let's go."
She brushed past him and began walking towards Fey Manor. Phoenix stood confused for a moment before shrugging and following after her. She silently led him down the dirt path, their footsteps the only sound in the quiet night. They moved past Fey Manor and towards the warehouse. Phoenix was getting a little sick of spending all his time there.
However, instead of walking into the door to the warehouse, she led him around the side. They stopped at about the halfway point of the outer wall.
Finally, Kyoko turned around and spoke to him in a hushed voice.
"What would you like to talk about?" she asked.
"That file you found, of the 16 students," Phoenix began. "It's the same as the one I found with you and Makoto on it."
Kyoko nodded. "I figured that was the case, but I was unable to confirm it thanks to Monokuma."
"What do you think it means?" Phoenix asked. "How many more files are there going to be?"
Kyoko tapped her right index finger on her chin. "Perhaps they're multiple lists of candidates for our class. I imagine the school has a large pool that they narrow down to 16 invitees."
Phoenix shook his head. "That can't be it. Why would Makoto and Nagito be on the lists? They're the Ultimate Lucky students— even Hope's Peak wouldn't know who they were until after their name was drawn in the raffle!"
Kyoko's response was a bemused smile. Phoenix sighed.
"Were you testing me just now?"
She nodded. "And you succeeded. My initial theory at first was that it was a list of candidates, but I had to eliminate this theory for the same reason as you. But it does raise another question, one which we've had since our first day in the village. Any guesses what it is?"
Phoenix paled slightly. He had no idea what Kyoko was referring to. "Um… Is the question: Who brought us here?" Phoenix asked, feeling like he was bluffing to the judge in court.
Kyoko's cold stare was equivalent to a penalty. Phoenix flinched slightly. "Wait, wait," he said hurriedly. The solution was coming to him. He felt a little ridiculous for not immediately getting it based on the context. "It's about Makoto and Nagito, isn't it. Why do they have the same talent?"
Kyoko nodded. "Precisely. And after analyzing both of them for a long period of time, I do genuinely believe both of them were invited to Hope's Peak via the raffle. Which means one of two things happened."
"Hope's Peak made a mistake?" Phoenix guessed.
She nodded. "That's one answer. The other, and the one I think is more likely… is that the people that were brought here were from different classes of Hope's Peak."
Phoenix instinctively wanted to shout 'Objection!,' but… he couldn't, and not just because he was trying to be quiet. Kyoko's theory was absolutely plausible.
"So Chiaki, Nagito, Peko, and Leo— The Ultimate Imposter are all from the same class?" Phoenix clarified.
"And Makoto and I are from a different class. That still leaves a large number of people unaccounted for, though. Are you sure Makoto and I were the only ones on the roster you found?"
Phoenix pursed his lips. "I can't say for sure. I only had it in my hands for maybe five seconds before Monokuma stole it."
If Kyoko was disappointed, she didn't show it. She merely nodded, before continuing: "My theory is that a small group of people from each grade at Hope's Peak were kidnapped and brought here, for a total of sixteen. If there are four from Chiaki's class, and possibly three or four from Makoto and my class, then we have two more classes yet to find."
"But why bother?" Phoenix questioned. "Why not just kidnap an entire class? It seems a lot easier."
"I don't have enough information to answer that," Kyoko answered. "It's possible they did kidnap everyone, and are holding four killing games."
"FO— four killing games?" Phoenix repeated, barely containing his initial shout of surprise. "How? How can one organization have this much power?"
"All it took was two twins to apparently bring down Hope's Peak," Kyoko reminded him. "And don't forget they had Izuru Kamukura on their side, who was quite literally the most powerful human in existence. Speaking of, the fact that our memories were stolen explains why we don't remember any of the events described in the book, which is one mystery solved."
"Speaking of twins…" Phoenix trailed off. Kyoko had written the phrase 'That's Dahlia's twin' in the book, talking about the photo of someone who appeared to be Dahlia that he had discovered.
Kyoko shook her head. "I know where you're going with that. But I don't think the set of twins you're referring to is who you think they are."
"How do you know?"
"First of all, the book never indicated they were identical. And secondly, Monokuma hinted in the first trial that someone outside of our group had received an incorrect talent. We're now confident that he was referring to Ultimate Despair, and that means it couldn't be anyone within our group."
"I guess that lines up," Phoenix sighed. "Why'd you, um… bring that up to begin with, then?" He found it difficult to keep tiptoeing around the subject, but Kyoko had made it clear she didn't want to speak directly, just in case they were being listened to.
She pursed her lips. "It's still something to keep in mind. That clue existed for a reason, we just likely haven't figured it out yet. We're still missing eight chapters. A lot has yet to be uncovered, both in the book and in this village. Like I said yesterday morning, I just want you to keep it in the back of your mind as we go forward— it may recontextualize some clues."
Phoenix felt inclined to agree. In his experience, mysteries often had one thread which could be followed all the way to the solution. Often, that trail was blocked by other, smaller mysteries, which served to complicate the crime. He felt as though they had yet to discover the true path to the truth— right now, they had been solving the smaller mysteries.
However, his mind was wired to never stop pulling on the threads— he would not give up until he reached the truth. He felt a kinship with Kyoko in that regard— he had no doubt she was the same.
"Is there anything else we can answer with the information we have right now?" Phoenix wondered aloud.
"You tell me," Kyoko responded.
He sighed. "I don't think there is, but I suspect that will change tomorrow morning. Something new in the village will be unlocked, and with it will come several new mysteries and potential clues."
"I agree."
"Well, I do have one more question," Phoenix added hastily.
Kyoko raised her eyebrows expectantly.
"Why here?"
Kyoko smiled again. Perhaps it was Phoenix's imagination, but he felt she was a more open person than she had been when they arrived. He suspected Makoto had been a big part of that.
"I found a metal detector in the police department in the warehouse," she explained, gesturing to the building next to them. "I used it around the whole building, and this area seems to be the furthest section from any metal, and therefore listening devices. It's not perfect, but it's likely the safest location to speak."
Phoenix marveled at Kyoko's foresight in finding a place like this to begin with. "That's smart," he complimented. "Now then, should we head back?"
She nodded.
When the pair made it back to the collection of residences, Kyoko silently handed him The Tragedy before walking briskly back to her own yurt.
As Phoenix closed the door behind him and prepared for the next day, in spite of everything that happened, he felt a sense of hope. Losing Ema, Leon (or rather, the Ultimate Imposter), and Peko tore him up. The fact that he had lost years of his life to Monokuma was like a constant punch to the stomach. The possibility that four killing games were going on at once was unbelievable, and yet all too plausible.
However, despite everything, the conversation he had with Kyoko proved to him that it wasn't worth giving up. Monokuma had seemed angrier than usual after the trial, and Phoenix suspected it was because the bear had not been able to rile the students up like he planned. That, alone, was proof that their sadistic headmaster was not untouchable.
He would bring Monokuma and the mastermind down. It might not happen quickly, but he knew he was capable of doing it with the help of his friends.
Phoenix felt the fire of determination growing in his soul. It had been there since his first day in court— some days, it was dimmer than usual. When he was cornering a culprit, it flared brighter than the sun. But no matter what, it never winked out. There was no way he would let Monokuma be the one to extinguish it.