[Side Story - Ultimate Despair K]
Sayaka Maizono had tried to stab K, failed, and collapsed to the floor. Now even the urge to kill had drained out of her, and she could only stare blankly at the ground. That listless, emptied-out figure, as if she'd abandoned everything...
It was pretty damn despair-inducing. Which made it a lovely sight.
She was finally in the perfect state for him to start working on her, which meant it was time for his "specialty" to come out.
Hey. Earlier, you asked why nobody else was suffering as much as you, right?
.....
What a stupid question. It's obvious... because you're the weakest one here.
.....?
Look at you. You tried to kill me, failed, and now you're just sitting there after giving up on everything. Do you seriously think everything will be solved if you just crumple up and quit? Idiot.
Ahhh...
Gouging into people's hearts with that icy voice was one of his specialties. Even when you were perfectly fine, hearing him spit contempt like that made your chest drop. So if someone heard it when their mind was already collapsing like hers... wouldn't they want to die?
Want me to tell you something fun...? The truth is... I'm one of the Masterminds behind this Killing Game...
W-what...?
What you just did? It was broadcast live to the entire world.
N-no... you're lying...!
I'm not lying... All your "fans" out there across the world... they just watched every last inch of your ugly little breakdown.
Ah... ahhh...!
How did it feel? You were willing to commit murder to get out for the sake of your group, but even if you escaped, you wouldn't be preserving the group at all. You'd just be torn apart by fans all over the world. So? How did that feel?
You're lying!!!
As Maizono started convulsing again, the man grinned and flicked his hand. All right, my turn to help. Despair ought to help despair, shouldn't it?
Upupupu...? You called for me...? K...?
Monokuma... show her the footage. And not that idiotic brainwashing video. The live feed.
K, honestly... I told you, I'm never using brainwashing videos again... Can't you just forget that embarrassing chapter of my life...?
Ugh. Just play it...
Upupupu...
The moment K and Monokuma started talking so casually, shock flooded Maizono's face. Then, in a panic, she sprinted for the knife lying far away.
Y-you... you were the Mastermind...! You were the Mastermind all along...! Hahaha... right, then I didn't do anything wrong...! I... I wasn't wrong at all...!
Half out of her mind, Maizono snatched up the knife and charged forward—then froze, trembling violently, when she saw the footage Monokuma projected onto the wall.
"Ugh...! The worst! This is the worst!!"
"That bitch is supposed to be an idol...? ptooey!!"
"That's not Maizono!! Give... give me back my Maizono!!"
Ah... no... this is...
"Ha, haha... even in a situation like this... I held on because I kept thinking about her... but now... there's no hope left... I think I'll just despair now..."
"I knew it. Girls like that always look nice on the outside, but inside they're twisted as hell."
"I was in the same middle school class as her... she always thought she was so special... looked down on all her classmates... I knew she'd turn out like this someday..."
.....
Shaking under the malice pouring down on her from the entire world, Maizono's eyes went dead. She raised the knife to her own throat and, with sudden force...
Whoa there. Can't have that.
.....?
K caught her arm in an instant and whispered to her.
You need to kill me and get out of here, right? Then you should go meet your fans, shouldn't you? Hold a press conference... do autograph events... go on TV... Ah, wait. Guess you can't do that anymore?
I want to die...
Hm?
It's... all meaningless now... everything I had... it's all collapsed... so... I'm going to die...
Hmm... I don't particularly care if you kill yourself... but there is one method that's better than just dying. It'd be good for you, good for Class 78, and good for your fans outside too. So? Want to hear it?
.....?
With eyes buried in a perfect abyss, layered over and over with despair until not a single glimmer of light remained, he began speaking to Maizono.
Instead of dying here... perform the feelings you're experiencing right now for everyone else. How about it...?
The feelings... I'm experiencing...?
That's right... despair! Despair!! The most beautiful emotion in the world... despair!!!
Beauti... ful...?
Yeah... How do you feel right now? Ah, I'm not mocking you... I'm seriously asking what you're feeling.
...
Haha, well... you probably feel like dying this very second, right? Like giving up on everything? Right? Isn't that true?
.....
But have you ever felt an emotion that intense in your entire life...?
.....No.
The moment K heard that, his eyes curved into a smile.
Good. Accepting and understanding the emotions in your heart is a wonderful attitude! It's a prerequisite for becoming one of despair, after all! Now then, as a reward... I'll be confiscating this knife.
Ahh...
Anyway... if you could make other people feel what you're feeling right now... how do you think that would feel...?
That... that would...
Ecstatic, right...! Everyone would empathize with your feelings...! Everyone would finally "understand" you...!
Understand... me...?
Exactly... Class 78... your fans all over the world... even Naegi... they'd understand you... if they despaired too...!
Despair... if they despair...
So... how about hoping for despair from now on...? By performing despair for everyone... you can fill the world with people who understand you...!
Perform... despair... my... people who understand me...
Now decide, Maizono. What'll it be? Will you kill yourself here... or will you become despair with us...?
After K handed the knife back to her, Maizono stood still for a moment. Then she hurled it far away... and looked at him with eyes that were neither hopeful nor soulless, but filled with that very thing—despair.
I want... to become despair... to become despair and... with everyone... with my fans... with Naegi... I want to share my feelings...!
Hahahahahahahaha!! That's it, that's it!! Ahahahahahahahahahaha!!
K laughed uproariously for a long while. Then he cut himself off and spoke to Maizono in a grave voice.
Welcome to becoming Ultimate "Despair"... Maizono...
Yeah...
Now then... our idiot detective is waiting outside, and we can't afford to attract suspicion yet... so how about I carve up my face a little?
At some point, he'd already transformed Maizono's eyes into the same kind as his own. With a perfectly calm expression, he picked up the knife and dragged it across his own face. Seriously... he was so cool...
After that, K drove the others into despair one by one.
How could a scrawny, creepy-looking coward like you, who acts timid all the time, possibly have a heart that strong...!?
Hmm... what are you talking about?
Did you even hear a word I just—!
It's not that I'm strong. You're just pathetically weak, aren't you?
...What!?
Then again, I guess that's only natural... coming from a guy who sacrificed his own brother, jerked himself off with excuses about doing it for the gang, and shamelessly took the leader's seat...?
Y-you... you bastard!! How do you know about that—!
But hey, did you know? What I just said was broadcast live to the whole world.
...What!?
Watching the footage that appeared on the wall of the sauna, Mondo Owada went rigid. K watched him with obvious amusement, then slowly bared a grin.
Owada... what a shame. The disgrace you wanted to hide so badly... has already been exposed to the entire world, hasn't it...?
Ah... ahhh...
Well? Despairing yet? You are, aren't you?
.....
Honestly, Junko... it's this easy to drive people into despair, so why bother using stupid things like brainwashing videos and ruining the fun...?
Upupupu... I said cut me some slack...
He flashed me a playful smile, then turned back to Owada with those same despair-soaked eyes.
Owada... you're exhausted right now. Exhausted from forcing yourself to be strong... exhausted from trying to hope.
.....
But no matter how much you despair... you never get tired of it, do you...? Isn't that strange...?
.....Heh.
So how about sharing that strange despair... with everyone else...?
...Hahaha. Haha.
K turned back to me and spoke flatly.
Enoshima, add one more.
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Celeste... you lost our bet in spectacular fashion, didn't you...? Fufufu...
Y-you... why are you laughing like that...?
Come with me to my room.
W-who says I have to—!
Even though your life depends on whether you obey me right now...? Well, not just your life... I could also make you crawl around naked in front of all the others while squealing like a pig...
I-I'll come! I'll come with you, all right!!
Ufufu... smart choice...
After taking Celestia Ludenberg to his room like that, he didn't come out again until morning. Honestly... I was jealous.
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If you had to choose... between the person you love and an innocent stranger... which one would you save...?
Haha... are you talking about Kenichiro right now?
H-how do you know that name...?
What are you talking about? Kenichiro protected you until the very end... and died. Ah, right. You don't remember, do you? chuckle
.....!
After showing her footage of Kenichiro's final moments, K recruited Sakura Oogami—who was already drowning in despair—to the Mastermind's side. From that point on, there was no one left among the students who could oppose him.
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K... after doing all this... you think you'll get away with it...?
Ugh... extras really do say extra-tier lines. Honestly, you people don't even seem worth driving into despair... but Junko wants it, so...
I-I can't... take any more... I'll do anything... please, just give me food...
A-at least... give us water, K! Please!!
Then... from now on, fight each other.
What...?
Only the one who wins... gets a meal.
.....!
After locking Leon Kuwata, Hifumi Yamada, Yasuhiro Hagakure, Kiyotaka Ishimaru, and Chihiro Fujisaki in a room, he forced them into a survival game where they had to fight to stay alive for weeks. They had originally banded together to resist K, but on the twenty-third day, they started fighting even when it wasn't food distribution time... and now they hated each other completely. Which meant it was finally time for him to use his specialty again.
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Kgh... I'm sorry... I won't... resist again...
You're speaking too softly... Oogami, make her scream louder.
...Understood.
Aaaaaaaahhh!! I'm sorry!! I'll do whatever you say!! Please!! Never again...!
Aoi Asahina resisted until the bitter end, but after being tortured for days on end by Oogami, the person she had been closest to, her spirit finally snapped.
.....
Good. She's in exactly the right state for this now.
He looked at Asahina's empty eyes in satisfaction, then began pouring despair into them.
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Genocide Jack... stop giving up.
As long as Master Byakuya keeps holding on, I won't give up eith—
Ah, did I forget to tell you? Togami already despaired a long time ago...
What...?
It's simple, really. I told him about the fall of the Togami family and the destruction of the outside world, and that even if he got out of here, the despair forces had grown so vast that there was no hope of rebuilding the Togami family—no hope of hope rising again. He fell into perfect despair after that.
B-Byakuya...! I've endured all this time because I believed in you and only you...
By the way, Genocide Jack. Doesn't your whole body itch? If you don't kill, it drives you insane, doesn't it? Isn't that right?
I promised Master Byakuya!! I swore I wouldn't kill anymore...!
No, Genocide Jack. That promise is canceled.
B-Byakuya...!
Walk the path of despair with me... Together, we'll smash this disgusting world to pieces... and to do that... I need your power, Genocide Jack.
Ah... ahhh...
Genocide Jack and Toko Fukawa had endured by clinging to thoughts of Togami, so the instant they learned of Togami's despair, they collapsed into despair themselves. What a shameful pair of killers. Even their despair wasn't their own choice, but something forced on them by someone else. They really had no appreciation for despair's true flavor.
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You idiot detective... You couldn't even find the despair hidden among the students until things got this bad... and in the end, you drove everyone into despair! Congratulations! You're an honorary Ultimate Despair now!!
Ugh... ngh...
Well then, now it's your turn to despair...
Even if I die... I won't do what you want... K...
Hmm... even if you learn that you killed your father with your own two hands?
W-what...?
When Jin Kirigiri figured out everything, he was pretty dangerous... He left the family of his own accord, sure, but I guess you really can't fool a detective's blood, can you?
What are you talking about!!
But in the final moment... you chose to trust me over your father, and with your own hands you killed him. Thanks to you, hope never even got to launch its last counterattack before it was crushed pathetically!! Ahahahahahahahaha!!
.....!
That stupid detective bitch was the last of the students to fall into despair after watching the video of herself killing her own father. She really had been stubborn. And besides... I hadn't liked the way she kept fluttering around him.
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Enoshima... K... why did you do all this...?
At the final trial, held only as a formality, Makoto Naegi—who had received a unanimous guilty vote—glared at us in frustration as he asked.
That troublesome little [Ultimate Lucky Student] just couldn't be driven into despair no matter what we tried. In the end, since he had no more use value not long after the Killing Game began, we had no choice but to tamper with Mukuro Ikusaba's corpse—she'd already been killed—and force through his Execution.
To show it to the world, of course...
What...?
We staged all this so we could broadcast to the world the sight of you—an unbreakable "hope"—finally falling into the eternal despair of "death"... and uproot the last surviving remnants of hope from the world completely.
Y-you can't!!
I don't want to hear excuses from a loser... Enoshima, carry out the Execution.
Upupupu...
Even after the Execution began, Naegi escaped death five whole times because the press machine kept malfunctioning. But the moment Maizono muttered, You're boring now... he quietly closed his eyes and let the press flatten him into dried squid.
And so... there had been a brief moment when even unbreakable hope made us feel a flicker of danger, but thanks to K turning that crisis into an opportunity, we were able to plunge the outside world into despair exactly as planned. Future Foundation had already collapsed. The few remaining scraps of revolting hope... either despaired and killed themselves after watching the endless stream of despair-filled footage... or became despair themselves.
What are we going to do with those kids now?
Set them loose on the world. Let them wipe out every last trace of hope alongside the Class 77 upperclassmen we personally and lovingly drove into despair.
Hahaha... I see...
I looked at K with a blissful smile. K smiled back with his eyes, and after sharing a brief kiss, we spoke at the same time.
Shall we get going?
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Boom!Boom!Boom!
I had made a promise with him. Once everything was over... we'd die together.
Broadcasting our deaths to the entire world and making even despair itself despair one more time—that was our final plan.
Boom!Boom!Boom!
The sound of the press machine grew louder. And my heartbeat, thrilled by the despair that was about to arrive, grew louder too.
Boom!Boom!Boom!
When I glanced to the side... K, my partner, the one who had understood me better than anyone, was leaning against the desk and smiling at me. So I asked him a question.
Well? Are you satisfied?
Yeah... thanks to you.
Upupupu... I knew it from the moment we first met. You were my one and only person who could understand me. Sure, there were all kinds of twists and turns at first... but in the end, here we are, sharing our final moment together.
Haha, yeah...
From the instant I first saw the wary look in his eyes, I knew it. This boy, of all people, would be the soulmate who could satisfy me. And my [Ultimate Analyst] talent had not disappointed me.
Boom!Boom!Boom!
Now the press machine was right behind us. I closed my eyes with a peaceful expression and took his hand. He gently held mine and closed his eyes too, and together we despaired for the last time in our lives, anticipating the ultimate despair.
But... how did K and I end up on the same side...?
Then, all of a sudden, a question surfaced. When had we become allies? No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't remember the moment it happened. The more I worried at it, the more my head began to ache.
Upupupu... well, it's the final moment anyway, so what's the point of overthinking it...? Let's just... enjoy this moment!
But that was trivial. Compared to the colossal moment of despair about to arrive, it meant nothing.
BOOM!!!
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Upupupupupupupu!!!
Ahahahahaha...
Crunch!!!
And just like that, the world fell completely into despair.
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Upupupupu... upupu... upu...
Vice Chief, this bitch is laughing.
This is the first meaningful change we've seen in three months. Shall we attempt interaction?
Leave her. Looks like she's dreaming about plunging the world into despair or something.
Of course, all of it existed only inside the delusions of a single madwoman.