"Tsumiki! Hurry and give him first aid!"
"Th-The wound is too severe... I-I need medical supplies..."
"Th-There were medical supplies at the supermarket, I think..."
"I-Is this the brainwashing assault of the Dark Devas...? Or else... the meddling of the goddess of fate...?"
"Until the medical supplies arrive, Tsumiki, do everything you possibly can. The rest of you are not to move a single step from here. I'll go to the supermarket myself."
Once the lights came back on, the banquet hall plunged into a cauldron of chaos.
Pigami barked orders at the panicking students, then bolted out of the old building in a mad dash. The ones left behind stood frozen stiff, all except Tsumiki, who was tending to Hinata.
"Haa... haaah..."
"Ugh... nghhh..."
Grievously wounded, Hinata was barely managing to breathe, teetering on the brink of unconsciousness. Beside him, Nanami had collapsed to the floor, letting out broken moans in a state of pure shock.
"So... what the hell happened here...?"
"We checked for weapons over and over just a little while ago... didn't we...?"
"Wh-Who... searched Nanami...?"
"I... I did..."
Owari answered in a voice so small it practically crawled into the corner and died.
"B-But... there wasn't anything when I checked..."
"Are you sure you checked properly?"
"I definitely searched her pockets... but there wasn't any knife or anything..."
"Don't tell me... you only checked her pockets?"
"...Ah."
A frigid silence fell over the room.
In the middle of that suffocating stillness, K strode straight toward Komaeda.
"Komaeda..."
"...Hm?"
Thud!
"Gyaaaah! Wh-What the heck is this now!?"
"K, what are you—"
"What the hell did you do, you bastard!?"
"Haha, that hurts... You've got a pretty vicious punch, K..."
"I said, what did you do!?"
"S-Stop him first!"
K had completely lost his reason. He lunged again at Komaeda, who had been knocked to the floor, but the others managed to restrain him before he could land another blow.
"Why!? Why would you do something like this!?"
"K, why are you suddenly going after Komaeda...?"
"K, calm down first..."
"Answer me, you piece of shit!!!!!!!"
As everyone stared at K in his frenzy of rage, Komaeda...
"Ahah...!"
"".....?""
"Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"
...suddenly burst into wild laughter.
"Wh... what...?"
"Ko... Komaeda...?"
"Th-This is... seriously creepy..."
Watching the students spiral deeper into confusion as one abnormality piled on top of another, Komaeda began to speak in a voice brimming with delight.
"Yes... this is it...! This is the kind of 'despair' I wanted...!"
"Wh... what did you say...?"
"Without this kind of 'despair,' how could you ever overcome it and face 'hope'...?"
"What the hell are you talking about!?"
"Now then, show me the hope you all are going to bring into bloom! Ahahahaha...!"
As he said it, Komaeda's eyes looked as though layer upon layer of darkness had piled up inside them until that very darkness had begun to shine.
Staring into those eyes, thick with a grotesque fusion of hope and despair, the others only grew more disoriented.
"H-He's... gone insane, right...?"
"K-Komaeda's... completely lost his mind..."
"What even is this situation? Why did K suddenly hit Komaeda, and why is Komaeda acting like that now!?"
"K, explain. What is going on here?"
"....."
The students started pressing K, since he at least seemed more lucid than Komaeda, but K remained stubbornly silent.
"Upupupu... what is this situation supposed to be...? Pretty interesting..."
"M-Monokuma...!?"
"Y-You can't get in here!"
"Y-You! How did you get in here!?"
As if things weren't already catastrophic enough, Monokuma's appearance sent the students into full-blown panic.
"I just got the authority a moment ago... um... anyway, now I'm stronger than Monomi even in here!"
"Th-That's impossible... this place is Fuji—"
"That's an NG keyword!!!"
"Ugyaaaaaah!"
After punting Monomi far into the distance with a savage soccer kick, Monokuma turned to K and spoke.
"K... you should count yourself lucky, you know? You almost broke the school rule against violence between students and got yourself Executed! Too bad, huh? If I'd been just a little faster..."
"....."
"Well... Hinata-kun over there is still alive, even if he's lying there trembling like crazy, so the school rules still apply, got it? But if Hinata-kun dies like that... then it's time for a fun Class Trial!"
"Tsumiki! I brought the medical suppl—... what the hell is going on here?"
"Hah? You idiots were running your mouths about trusting each other, and in the end somebody still tried to off someone? Give me a break..."
Seeing Pigami and Kuzuryu enter the banquet hall, Monokuma clicked his tongue in obvious disappointment.
"Tch... it was the perfect chance to hold a Class Trial... what a shame... Well, I guess there's still a chance he could die during treatment!"
"".....""
"Anyway... since a Class Trial might start, you'd better investigate the incident. Of course, since Hinata-kun isn't dead yet, I can't give you a Monokuma File! Upupupu..."
"...Get lost."
"Well then, do your best!"
With that parting shot, Monokuma vanished.
"First, I think we need to understand what exactly happened here."
"Tsumiki, treat Hinata as quickly as possible. The rest of you will investigate with me. Kirigiri, you said you're the [Ultimate Detective], so I'll entrust everything regarding this investigation to—"
"Do we even need an investigation?"
Komaeda cut Pigami off and addressed everyone with a smile.
"The despair we, as Ultimates, have to fight against is already this obvious."
"...What?"
"The culprit in this case is painfully obvious to anyone who looks."
"T-The culprit..."
"That's right. The culprit is that gamer girl over there, trembling and drenched in blood..."
"N-Nanami..."
"Sh-She definitely has blood on her... and she's been panicking and shaking this whole time..."
"So that fragile girl was harboring the chaos of ruin inside her all along..."
Suspicious, anxious eyes poured down on Nanami. And just as Komaeda, watching it all, curled his lips into a quiet smile...
"That's wrong."
"Hm...?"
"...The true culprit in this incident is you, Komaeda."
Kyoko Kirigiri declared it while glaring straight at him.
.
.
.
"Haha, I'm the true culprit? Mind telling me why...?"
"Nanami, will you be okay for a moment?"
"Haa... haaah..."
Kirigiri walked over to Nanami, who was still trembling, took her hand, and spoke gently.
"If we're going to uncover the truth, I need your testimony. I know this is hard, but can you find the strength to do it? For everyone's sake?"
"Hngh... o-okay..."
"Then, Nanami. You were the one holding the knife, correct?"
"Y-Yes. But...!"
"For now, answer only what I ask. Were you the one who stabbed Hinata with the knife?"
"N-No! I was just... just holding it for self-defense...!"
Nanami answered pitifully, and the students immediately began whispering among themselves. Kirigiri, standing amid that unrest, singled someone out.
"Mioda Ibuki, may I borrow your talent for a moment?"
"Wah! M-Me!?"
"Yes... your talent is [Ultimate Musician], isn't it? K told me you have perfect pitch."
"Umm... did I really say that...? Ah, that's not what's important right now! If it's to reveal the truth, I'll help however I can!"
"Thank you. Then can you tell us who said what after the blackout?"
"Umm... after the lights went out, Koizumi-san shouted, 'Wh-What!? All of a sudden!?' and then..."
Ibuki began sorting through the owners of each voice as she retraced her memory. Kirigiri listened for a long while, then suddenly her eyes sharpened at one particular point.
"Yes, that part. Can you repeat that part for everyone one more time?"
"Huh...? O-Okay! So... after K shouted for everyone to stop, Hinata-san said, 'Uwah...! Wh-Who is it? Why are you pushing...!' and after that came Nanami-san's scream and Hinata-san's groan..."
"That's it."
"Y-Yes...?"
Kirigiri turned to the rest of the room.
"According to that statement, Hinata was pushed by someone. In other words, he was shoved into the knife Nanami was holding."
"So Nanami was only holding the knife for self-defense, but someone pushed Hinata toward her, causing her to stab him unintentionally. Is that what you're saying?"
"Exactly."
"Th-Then... Nanami isn't the culprit. The real culprit is the 'someone' who pushed Hinata...?"
"The chaos of ruin that filled that fragile girl has now slipped out and entered one of us... Everyone, be careful! We don't know whose eyes have been blinded by ruinous chaos...!"
"Kirigiri, do you know who that 'someone' is too?"
Amid the uproar, Pigami cut in with a razor-sharp question, and Kirigiri answered without hesitation.
"Yes. I know who that person is as well."
"A-Amazing...! Kirigiri...!"
"Wh-Who is this 'someone'...?"
"Tell us whose body the chaos of ruin has crept into!"
"To prove that, I need your help this time, Koizumi."
"M-Me?"
Kirigiri looked Koizumi straight in the eye.
"You took a photograph before the blackout, didn't you? Show it to everyone."
"Huh...? B-But why...?"
"Quickly."
"O-Okay..."
Kirigiri's tone was so firm that Koizumi, overwhelmed by the pressure, quietly took out the photo she'd snapped earlier and showed it to everyone.
"Hmm... a photo taken right before the blackout, huh? But what's so important about it...?"
"Can you see who was standing next to Nanami in this photo?"
"...Ko, Komaeda?"
Kirigiri glared at Komaeda and drove the point home.
"Komaeda, you were standing beside Nanami right up until the instant the lights went out. Isn't that the perfect position to shove someone into the knife she was holding?"
"Haha... I'm terribly sorry for daring to argue with someone as dazzling as you when all I have is a talent as trivial as luck, but isn't that still a bit too weak to prove that I was the 'someone' who pushed Hinata...?"
After hearing that, Kirigiri turned to Monomi, who had been sitting on the floor this whole time, quietly sobbing, and asked her a question.
"Monomi, could you repeat what you said when you appeared earlier?"
"F-Fuwawa..."
"...Monomi."
"Y-You mean what I said earlier...?"
"Yes. This is to uncover the truth, so I need your cooperation."
"E-Everyone! How was it...!? The surprise party that me and Komaeda-kun prepared...!"
As Monomi awkwardly repeated her earlier line and mimed setting off party poppers, the students' expressions shifted. One by one, they began firing questions at her.
"Y-You and Komaeda prepared it together?"
"Y-Yes... It was supposed to be a party to make everyone happy... so why..."
"Monomi! What do you mean by 'surprise party'!?"
"K-Komaeda-kun told me that if I turned off the lights for a little while during the party, he'd show everyone a surprise that would make them happy... So I used my authority to turn the lights off during the party... and then the moment they came back on, I set off the party poppers..."
As Monomi spoke in misery, the suspicious stares gradually began converging on Komaeda.
"And there's still one decisive fact left."
"D-Decisive fact...?"
"Yes. This will make everything certain."
After saying that, Kirigiri looked back at Nanami and addressed her carefully.
"Nanami, you did well earlier. I know this is difficult, but I need you to help one more time so we can reveal the truth."
"...Okay."
"The knife you were holding... where did it come from?"
"Ko... Komaeda... gave it to me..."
The instant those words left her mouth, every eye in the room snapped toward Komaeda. He, however, merely kept smiling in silence.
"Komaeda, you are the true culprit behind this incident. I was keeping a close watch on your suspicious behavior from earlier, which is why I was able to grasp the truth so quickly."
Kirigiri continued, briefly glancing at K, who had remained silent beside her with his fists still clenched tight.
"Of course, K had also been observing you as closely as I was. That's why he understood the truth the moment the incident happened, and why he reacted so violently."
"Haha, as expected of the [Ultimate Detective]...? What a brilliantly shining talent."
"Th-Then... Komaeda, you really did it!?"
"As expected of the [Ultimate Detective]... amazing!"
"K's pretty amazing too... noticing that right away... I guess partners really do start to resemble each other..."
Komaeda watched everyone's reactions with a mild smile on his face. Then, all at once, his expression went flat. He looked at Kirigiri and spoke in a voice as cold as a blade.
"But then... why is it that someone with such a brilliantly shining talent became everyone's despair?"
"What...?"
"Everyone, the true despair we need to fight isn't me..."
The students tilted their heads, utterly unable to follow him. Komaeda's smile suddenly widened again as he made his declaration.
"The true despair we need to fight... is the traitors, isn't it!? Ahahahaha..."
"T-Traitors...?"
"Why the heck are traitors suddenly coming up now?"
"Quit grinning like a freak... Anyway, this bastard is the culprit, right?"
"That's right. The culprit in this incident is already decided—it's you...!"
"Who cares about some traitors we can't even identify? The right move is dealing with the one standing right in front of us. Those of you with some muscle, help out. Tie him up—"
"Haha, it's nice seeing all of you united... Yes, that's right. Unity is the very foundation of hope. So now all that's left is to pull out the weeds called 'traitors' that would hinder your hope from growing..."
Komaeda paid no mind to the barrage of condemnation. Instead, he spoke with an almost beatific expression.
"Isn't that right, Nanami? Kirigiri? K?"
""....!""