In the banquet hall, where everyone had vanished and only silence remained, Kyoko Kirigiri, Nanami, and I stood there alone.
"What do we do now... Kirigiri...?"
"The kids made a fairly rational decision. So for now, we have to abide by it. At the moment, we're the weaker party, and they're the ones holding all the cards."
"Haa... Well, I guess the one silver lining is that we didn't end up like Komaeda, trussed up from head to toe and dumped in the storage room."
"....."
After that storm of chaos tore through the room, the kids agonized over it, argued it out, and finally reached a decision.
Komaeda was deemed a dangerous element. They subdued him, bound his entire body, and locked him away in the storage room.
Even while they were dragging him off, tied up like a prisoner, Komaeda kept laughing and shouting for anyone who wanted to commit murder or kill the traitors to come find him. And even after they shut him inside that storage room, he kept laughing for a long, long time.
At this rate, I was seriously worried that laugh would start haunting my dreams.
As for me, Kyoko Kirigiri, and Nanami, we'd avoided Komaeda's fate thanks to everything we'd done up to now, but once the truth came out that we were "traitors," we were confined to the banquet hall.
Still, unlike Komaeda, there were at least a few kids who were still treating us amicably, so compared to him, it looked like we'd be able to live with a little more freedom.
Pekoyama, Nidai, and Owari were taking turns watching the old building, and the others said they'd bring us food every morning, noon, and night on a rotating schedule.
'Whew... This is hopeless. I have no idea what we're supposed to do from here...'
We were free to move around inside the old building, sure, but until the kids finished discussing things again, there was no way we'd be allowed outside. And even if we did get out, that damned extra rule meant we couldn't pass any information on to them anyway.
[Observer Special School Regulation 2☆]
Observers may not directly or indirectly reveal any secrets related to the killing game to the children.
I stared blankly at the added rule on my E-Handbook, then let out a deep sigh and slipped it back into my pocket. Then my eyes drifted toward Nanami.
"....."
For a while now, she'd been crouched all alone in the corner, curled up like a dead mouse.
When I looked at her more carefully, worried, her eyes were hollow, her expression looked like her soul had been ripped out, and every time the slightest sound came from somewhere, she flinched.
Well, of course she did. If you suddenly lost your memories one day, got kidnapped, got forced into a killing game, and then, out of nowhere, were branded a traitor despite having done absolutely nothing wrong and started being suspected by everyone else... who could possibly stay sane?
And on top of that, just a little while ago, even if she hadn't meant to, she'd still gone through the vivid horror of stabbing someone with a knife. It was only natural she'd end up like this.
Right now, she wasn't the emotional pillar of Class 77, and she wasn't the AI of the Neo World Program. Right now, she was just a teenage girl who'd only recently enrolled at Hope's Peak Academy and happened to be good at games.
The ordeal crushing down on her was far too brutal for her to overcome alone. If she was going to survive it, someone had to stand beside her and help.
"...Hey."
".....!"
The instant I spoke, Nanami jolted in shock and lifted her head. Then she stared at me with a deathly pale face.
"Um... maybe we should talk a little..."
"....."
"Hey, are you okay...?"
The eyes fixed on me were trembling, drowned in fear.
"I don't know where to start explaining, but... from the beginning, step by step..."
"N-No..."
"Huh...?"
"I... I don't know anything..."
"Wait, just hold on, first—"
"I said... I don't know anything...! Whether I'm a traitor, an observer, or with Future Foundation, I don't know anything at all!!"
"....."
"I-If I'd known this would happen... I never would've come to Hope's Peak Academy... I just... I just wanted to..."
"Hey..."
"Y-You two know something about these 'traitors,' don't you...! I don't know anything...! This is all a misunderstanding... P-Please, say something...!"
Nanami started spilling words in a panic, terror pouring out of her all at once.
"I... I don't want to die here...! Please... you know something, don't you...! I'm begging you... save me..."
"....."
"I'm scared... everyone's scary... and I'm scared of myself too... I never wanted to hurt anyone... hhk... sob..."
"....."
I needed to comfort her. I knew that. But my mouth wouldn't move. I'd managed to counsel the others just fine until now, so why couldn't I say anything?
"Uh... w-well... so..."
I forced myself to try, but the words never fully formed. They just circled uselessly at the back of my throat. Before I knew it, a crushing tightness had seized my chest, and a maddening sense of suffocation began to swallow me whole.
'Why...? Why can't I...?'
"Sob... hhk..."
The moment I saw the tears spilling from her eyes as she collapsed there and cried, I finally understood the source of the dissonance I'd been feeling this whole time.
'I don't know how to counsel her...'
The Nanami I knew was everyone's support. Everyone's hope.
Back in her school days, she'd been the class representative who held Class 77 together. During the killing game, she'd transcended the fixed limits of a mere program and, by her own will, become the hope that saved every last member of Class 77.
Seeing Nanami like this—fragile, endlessly fragile, crying like she might shatter—didn't feel real at all.
Up until now, every student I'd counseled had come with a clear path. I already knew why they were drowning in despair, so all I had to do was soothe the wounds that hurt them most.
But this situation had never been part of the plan, and I had no idea what kind of comfort I was even supposed to offer.
So I just stood there, blank and useless, unable to say even a single word to console her...
"What are you doing... K?"
"Ah... w-well... I mean..."
"Do what you're best at. You've done it well up until now, haven't you?"
"I... I..."
"What's wrong? Don't tell me your ability vanished at the worst possible moment."
"....."
"It's fine. I believe in you. So if it's you, you can do this, right?"
".....!"
After saying that, Kyoko Kirigiri walked over to Nanami.
"Hhk... sob... everything's... scary... I want it to... stop..."
"Nanami."
"Wh-What are you—!"
She hugged her.
"Now, go ahead and cry as much as you want. Like you're letting all those knots in your heart finally come undone."
"Hhk... sob... waaah..."
"That's right. Don't worry about me. Cry as much as you need until your heart feels lighter."
"Waaaahhh..."
"Good girl."
Her embrace was unfamiliar, but warm.
After being thrown into this absurd situation and tormented by endless anxiety and malice, that first taste of comfort in so long was enough to restore at least a fragment of her badly damaged mind.
"Hh... hhk...!"
Then, all at once, embarrassment hit her. She hurriedly pulled herself out of Kirigiri's arms and fidgeted helplessly, and Kirigiri spoke to her in a gentle voice.
"Good. Feeling a little more like yourself now...?"
"Ah... ahhh..."
"K, your turn now."
"...Yeah."
Before long, that boy who'd been looking at me with strange eyes earlier approached me and began to speak in a serious voice.
"Your name is Chiaki Nanami, right?"
"...Yeah."
"I'm going to tell you the truth now."
"...The truth?"
"Yes. The truth. A very cruel truth—one that may place a tremendous burden on you."
"Th-That's..."
"If you don't want to hear it, I won't say it. The truth isn't always the right answer. Even if you choose not to hear it, we'll still do everything we can to protect you, so don't worry."
"....."
"But... if you choose to hear it, then from this moment on, the three of us will have to fight against an overwhelming despair. Maybe even a despair so absolute it's nearly impossible to resist."
"Overwhelming... despair...?"
"Yeah. For someone who only just enrolled at Hope's Peak Academy, it'll probably be more despair than you can bear."
"...If I say I don't want to hear the truth, then you two are going to fight that despair by yourselves?"
"Well, what else can we do? We'll just treat it like a brutally hard survival roguelike and aim to clear it somehow. I used to love games like that, you know. Something like this... sure, it'll be a little rough, but compared to the games I've beaten, it's nothing!"
"...Really?"
"Yeah, so don't feel pressured. Even without you, we'll be more than enough to—"
Watching him desperately try to reassure me, a laugh suddenly slipped out.
"...Pfft."
"...Huh?"
"Puhaha..."
The knot in my heart still hadn't fully unraveled. Tears were still clinging to my eyes. So why was I laughing?
"Uh... Nanami...? What's wrong...?"
"I don't know... I really don't know... but... seeing you try that hard... it makes me laugh... puhuhu..."
"Huh...?"
"I guess... before I lost my memories... we must've been pretty close, huh...?"
".....!"
The expression of the girl who'd held me so warmly a moment ago suddenly froze solid. I was a little curious why, but for now, I decided to focus on this pleasant feeling I'd finally found again after so long.
"Whew... It's been a long time since I felt something this nice..."
"W-Why all of a sudden...?"
But the pleasant feeling didn't last. A wave of sadness crashed down on me without warning. Before I knew it, tears were spilling from my eyes again.
"Is there still another knot in your heart that hasn't come undone? It's okay, as much as you need—"
"No... no... that's not it... it's not that..."
A little while ago, I'd cried because I was drowning in fear and malice. But these tears now were filled with nothing but sorrow.
'What is this...? It feels like my chest is being torn apart... why...?'
Unable to control my emotions, I shut my eyes. And then the image of that boy—the one who'd been badly hurt because of my mistake—rose up in my mind. Why was his face appearing now...?
"Ugh...!"
"A-Are you okay...?"
"Ahhh... it hurts..."
The moment I thought of that boy who'd introduced himself as Hajime Hinata, it felt like both my head and my chest were splitting open. I clutched at them both, barely managed to calm the pain, and then forced myself to sort through my thoughts.
'Is this feeling... guilt because I stabbed him by accident...?'
At first, I assumed it was guilt. But then I shook my head and changed my mind.
'No... it's different from guilt... this is something deeper...'
"Nanami, don't try to bear it all alone. Tell us. We'll listen with complete sincerity—"
"Hey, there's something I want to ask."
"Something you want to ask...?"
"You two... your memories weren't erased?"
"...Huh?"
"Unlike me, who remembers absolutely nothing, you two still have your memories, right? You were close from the start, and you already knew what an observer was."
The boy in front of me touched the scar on his face and sank into thought. Then he let out a sigh and answered.
"That's true, but... it's not like we remember everything. We only remember parts of it..."
"What kind of relationship did Hinata and I have?"
"H-Hinata? Why are you suddenly asking about Hinata...?"
"I don't know why either... but whenever I think about him... it feels like my chest is tearing apart..."
Hearing that, the boy closed his eyes for a moment. Then he slowly nodded.
"Mm... I can't remember clearly, but... he was probably someone precious to you."
"Someone precious?"
"Yeah. I don't know why, but... that's the feeling I get, really strongly."
"I see... so that's how it is..."
After hearing that, I made my decision.
"Tell me the truth!"
"Nanami...! You've made up your mind...?"
"Yeah...! To atone for what I've done... to save everyone from this killing game... and to protect someone precious to me... I want to fight alongside you!"
"Good! I knew you'd say that...! Then where do I even start..."
"And also..."
"Yeah...?"
"If we're talking about a hard-difficulty survival roguelike... I've played enough of those to get sick of them."
And just like that, everyone's beacon—the light that had nearly guttered out so pathetically—began to blaze fiercely once more.
"You scared the hell out of me..."
And Kyoko Kirigiri, who had been watching the whole scene with inexplicable tension, finally let out a breath of relief, cold sweat running down her skin.