"Mmm..."
The room spun.
My head was swimming so badly it felt like the whole world was rotating around me. When I forced my eyes open, I saw a ceiling I recognized.
"My cottage...?"
Chiaki Nanami clutched her splitting head and began retracing what had happened, trying to piece together the situation.
'After breakfast... I was playing a game for a bit on the first floor of the hotel... then Pekoyama called for me...'
Pekoyama had approached me while I was completely absorbed in the game and said there was something she wanted to discuss with me in private.
When I asked what it was, she actually blushed and said she thought she'd misunderstood the traitors all this time, and that she wanted to apologize.
I waved it off and told her there was no need to apologize, but Pekoyama kept insisting—almost pleading—that she wouldn't feel right unless she did something to make amends. So in the end, I let myself be led back to my cottage by a Pekoyama who seemed desperate for advice.
Once we got there, Pekoyama sat down, made an awkwardly embarrassed face, and handed me a drink she'd prepared.
She said that even if she wanted to apologize, she didn't know how to give gifts, so this pitiful little offering was the best she could manage. Then she asked what kind of present would satisfy K and Kyoko Kirigiri. I was earnestly giving her advice when a sudden wave of drowsiness hit me, and I couldn't fight it off...
'Wait... a sudden wave of drowsiness...?'
Something about that was wrong. Sure, I was always sleepy and nodded off all the time, but not so sleepy that I'd black out in the middle of talking to someone.
And... what was this dizzy, muddled feeling that still lingered even though I'd already slept and woken up? Where had Pekoyama, who'd been talking with me, gone...? And on top of that... the room looked strangely disheveled...
As I sat there thinking it over, a voice suddenly rang out beside me.
"F-fu... fuwawa! Miss Nanami, you're awake!"
"Mo... Monomi...?"
I stared at the suddenly appeared Monomi with a blank, bewildered expression, and she immediately began speaking in a frantic rush.
"Th-this is bad! At this rate...!"
"What happened, Monomi...?"
"K is... in danger...!"
"K... K-kun...?"
"That's right...! Right now, K-kun is... uwaaaaaaaaaagh!!"
Monomi tried to say something urgently, but then she screamed as if she'd been electrocuted and collapsed onto the floor.
"Wh-what's wrong with you!?"
"That cowardly Monokuma... even giving this much information... comes with restrictions..."
"K-kun is in danger!? What in the world do you mean...?"
"Play the game, Miss Nanami!"
"Th-the game...!?"
Monomi began pleading with Nanami in a desperate voice.
"There's still... a hidden ending that hasn't been discovered yet... The bonus you get for seeing that ending... it's the only way to break out of this situation!!"
"You mean that game machine in Jabberwock Park? But I already..."
"A secret route was just added! There's no time to stand around like this! If you want to save K...!"
"O-okay...! I'll go right now...!"
With that, Nanami hurriedly got ready and sprinted with Monomi toward the game machine in Jabberwock Park.
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"Hahh... this is nice... just lazing around in the sun like this... it feels downright therapeutic..."
"Souda, just a moment..."
"Yesss! Sonia! What is it!!"
"Well... I was trying to hand out drinks to everyone, but there are a few people I can't seem to find...?"
"Hmm... really...?"
Sure enough, there were fewer people on the beach now than when they'd first gathered. Souda tilted his head and started counting the students.
"One... two... um... six, counting me and Sonia...?"
"I'm certain there were nine of us when we first gathered..."
"Huh... what's going on...?"
After stroking his chin and thinking for a moment, Souda walked over to Kyoko Kirigiri, who was sitting alone under a parasol in the distance with her face faintly flushed.
"Uh... Kirigiri...?"
".....?"
"You said you're the [Ultimate Detective], right..."
"...So?"
"Ah... haha... it's just..."
The moment Souda told her that several people, including K, had vanished, Kyoko Kirigiri's expression curdled with terrifying speed.
"...Since when have they been gone?"
"Uh... K... the last time anyone saw him, he came out of the beach house earlier and rushed into the dining hall... and Koizumi and Pekoyama... I was too focused on Sonia to really..."
"...Koizumi? Pekoyama?"
"Yeah, those two are missing too, so—"
Before Souda could even finish, Kyoko Kirigiri twisted her face into a grimace and immediately started striding toward the dining hall.
"Huh...? Kirigiri? Where are you going...?"
"Hm...? Souda? What's wrong...?"
"Something's up! I smell an incident!"
"D-did someone get hurt again...?"
"Huh? What now?"
Seeing the murderous edge in Kyoko Kirigiri's demeanor, the students who'd been searching with Sonia for the missing group sensed that something was very wrong and began following after her.
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'You idiot... what the hell did you do this time...'
Chewing anxiously on her lip, Kyoko Kirigiri began tearing through the dining hall like a bloodhound on a trail.
He wasn't the kind of person who would open up to her that much, then leave her behind and vanish on his own. And they'd definitely promised to go swimming together. So for K to disappear out of nowhere... and to disappear along with "Koizumi" and "Pekoyama" at that... it was blatantly suspicious.
"Uh... hey... Kirigiri...? You don't have to worry that much... maybe they just went to the supermarket for a bit..."
"What about Koizumi and Pekoyama? Are you trying to tell me the three of them all went to the supermarket together like good friends?"
"Uh... I mean, it's not impossible... is it... ah, no, wait... maybe it is...?"
When Kyoko Kirigiri shot him an icy glare, Souda smacked his own loose mouth weakly with his hand and shut up.
Turning her gaze away from him, Kyoko Kirigiri suddenly caught a strange scent. It was unpleasant, yet oddly familiar—like something branded into her body.
"Chemicals... what kind of chemical smell is this...?"
"C-chemicals...?"
"...Tsumiki, do you smell some kind of chemical too?"
"Uh... ah... now that you mention it..."
Tsumiki closed her eyes and carefully sniffed the air around them. Then she opened them again and, in a crawling little voice, reported the identity of the smell to Kyoko Kirigiri.
"Uh... could this maybe be... chloroform...?"
".....!"
Unlike Kyoko Kirigiri and Sonia, who were visibly startled by that answer, the others just scratched their heads with blank confusion.
"Chloro... what...?"
"A technical term has appeared! I do not understand it!"
"What's that supposed to be...? Can you eat it?"
As the others floundered in confusion, Sonia's eyes lit up and she began proudly lecturing them with her knowledge.
"You don't know chloroform? It's famous, isn't it?"
"You know what it is, Sonia?"
"Yes, of course! It shows up all the time in crime dramas, and in Serial Killer X-Files too!"
"Gyaaah! Every example is terrifying! I'm starting to get chills!"
"S-so then... what is that chloro-whatever...?"
Sonia leaned in with a meaningful expression and whispered to the tense group.
"...It's an anesthetic."
"An... anesthetic!?"
"Yes! The one from movies and manga—where they soak a handkerchief with it, cover your nose, and you pass out in one shot! That's what they call chloroform!"
"Th-that's right... b-but... knocking someone out 'in one shot' with chloroform... that's actually a common misconception..."
"What? Really!?"
"Ah... um, I-I wasn't trying to nitpick or anything...!"
"Tsumiki's right. The idea that you can knock someone unconscious in a few seconds with a chloroform-soaked cloth is a common myth. In reality, if you want to make someone pass out with chloroform, you'd have to keep their nose covered and force them to inhale it continuously for at least several minutes."
"Y-yes... exactly..."
At that, Souda made a puzzled face and asked,
"Really...? But... even if it's not as crazy as people say, it's still dangerous stuff, right? So where'd it come from? It wasn't in the supermarket..."
"Probably... from the pharmacy... When the second island opened, I went there to get medicine for Hinata's treatment... and they had all kinds of chemicals there..."
"Mm... setting that aside, why does that smell linger so strongly here...?"
"Because whoever it was kept inhaling the chemical until they were fully anesthetized. That's why the smell is still here."
"Then... does that mean someone was drugged here...?"
"B-but... if someone was being anesthetized with chloroform... the victim would've struggled violently..."
When Tsumiki timidly offered that thought, Kyoko Kirigiri suddenly spoke to everyone in a low, trembling voice.
"What if the person being abducted was so physically weak that even if they resisted, they posed no threat at all to the culprit trying to anesthetize them?"
"Uh... someone like that exi—w-wait, don't tell me...?"
"And... what if the person being anesthetized... did resist violently... but failed...?"
As she said that, Kyoko Kirigiri bent down and picked up a small machine fragment lying on the floor. It was the button from the personal alarm she'd given K not long ago.
"Th-that... isn't that the one K wore around his neck...?"
"...This isn't a simple missing-person case."
Kyoko Kirigiri made the declaration to everyone gathered there, her voice steeped in rage she wasn't even trying to conceal.
"This... is a kidnapping."
".....!"
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"Hey. Wake up."
"...Nnngh."
"You'd better get up. Now."
".....?"
When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar place. For a split second, I felt relieved to recognize the banquet hall in the old building, where I'd been spending time lately with Nanami and Kyoko Kirigiri—but that relief evaporated the instant I understood the situation I was in, and my face went deathly pale.
"Mmph! Mmmph...!"
"You'd be wise not to struggle. If you keep trying anything stupid... I'll use force."
".....!"
My whole body was bound tight, and my mouth was sealed with tape. Panicking, I thrashed even harder, trying somehow to break free, but then Pekoyama picked up a wooden sword and slammed it hard into my stomach, forcing the resistance out of me.
"Mmmgh...! Mmph...! Nghh...!"
"Next time, it'll be your head."
"....."
"P-Peko! Right now, you're... violating the school rules..."
"I am young master's tool. I was prepared to accept something as minor as breaking the rules. And besides, depending on whether or not your story proves true, that woman over there will soon—"
"I-I can't let you do this alone... I'd rather I...!"
Following their line of sight, I saw Koizumi staring at us with a face drained by terror. Koizumi was bound from head to toe too, with tape over her mouth.
"Now then... tell me where 'that photo' is. If you do... I'll let you live."
".....!"
"I'll remove the tape for a moment."
"Hah... hahhh..."
"Now. Speak."
"A... photo...? What are you even..."
"So your life means nothing to you."
"Aaaagh!!"
"Talk. Right now. If you don't... you're going to have a horrible time."
How did those two find out about the [clear bonus]? I hadn't seen this coming at all. I had to explain—fast.
"W-wait! I think you've got the wrong idea...!"
"The wrong idea...? From the very beginning, you two were working together... trying to conceal the truth... and now you want to call it a misunderstanding?"
"What are you talking about...!?"
"Judging by the way you suddenly interfered last night... you clearly knew the truth too, didn't you?"
"Th-that's..."
"Peko told me... you met this morning... But instead of telling me the truth... you chose to hide it. And after that... what did you do? Went swimming? That's it...?"
"No! That's really a misunderstanding!! After swimming, we were going to come apologize to you...!"
"Shut up!!! You think I'm gonna believe that now, you son of a bitch!!!!!"
Kuzuryu grabbed me by the collar and screamed in my face.
"Hand over this 'photo' right now!! If you don't... I'll kill you too for being part of this!!!"
Most likely, after realizing the existence of the [clear bonus], those two had mistaken me—the one who'd had direct contact with Koizumi—for someone who'd actively tried to cover up the truth, unlike Kyoko Kirigiri or Nanami. That was probably why they'd kidnapped me out of sheer resentment. Well... out of the three of us, I was the weakest too.
More importantly, this was bad. Kyoko Kirigiri had the [clear bonus] right now. I didn't know whether she was carrying it on her or had hidden it somewhere... but I was certain she was the one holding onto it.
"I don't know..."
"What!?"
"I said I don't know!! And even if I did, I couldn't tell you!!"
If I told them the truth, Kyoko Kirigiri would be in danger. I couldn't allow that. Even if I died here, I'd protect Kyoko Kirigiri.
"You little shit...!!!"
"Young master, please leave this to me."
Pekoyama pulled the furious Kuzuryu away from me, then fixed me with a sharp, glinting stare and spoke.
"Have you ever been tortured before?"
"Ugh..."
"Ordinary people can't endure even a few minutes before they lose consciousness... I wonder how long you'll last."
"Pekoyama... I should..."
"Please stop. Isn't that why you have me—your tool?"
"Th-that's..."
"...Leave it to me."
Coldly turning away from Kuzuryu as he kept trying to say something, Pekoyama pressed the tape back over my mouth, then declared in an icy voice,
"Then let's test just how long your pathetic little resolve can hold out."
And so, the horrible time began.