"Mmm... where... am I...?"
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a strangely familiar space. I looked around for a moment, and it seemed to be the lodgings. But why was I here...?
'I was definitely... at the hospital, experimenting on test subjects...'
Recently, I had been on the verge of completing the cure I so desperately wanted. If I could inject people with that cure—the one that twisted them into despair and wrung joyous screams from their throats—then surely I could cure every last scrap of hope still festering throughout the world.
If I just refined it a little more and spread it across the world... hope would have nowhere left to stand. So I had to finish the cure. But where exactly was this place?
"Ghk...! My head...!!"
I tried to get out of bed first and leave the room, but the instant I stood up, a violent headache crashed into me. No—not just a headache. Memories of every shape and color began flooding into my skull.
'R-right... the Future Foundation...'
That nasty-looking man and that savage woman subdued me right before I completed the cure, dragged me off to the Future Foundation, and forced me into the Neo World Program...
"Hehe..."
As more and more of my memories returned, laughter suddenly bubbled out of me.
"Uhuhehehehe... Junkooo...! So you really did have a plan all along...!!"
Of course. She was Junko Enoshima, the idol of despair itself. To think she had seized control of the Neo World Program and reopened the killing game... Well, naturally. Junko would never have been so pathetically defeated by something as trivial as "hope." That loss back then must have been nothing more than one piece of some vast, monstrous design.
And more importantly... I had clearly been assigned a crucial role in that grand design of hers. Otherwise, why would the symptom of my "Despair Disease" be "recovering my lost memories"? This was proof. Proof that Junko had chosen me.
'I love youuu... Junkooo...'
She had trusted me with an important duty, so I had to fulfill it. My heart trembling with joy, I moved to leave the lodge—only for the headache to spike with such ferocity that I froze in place.
"Kyaaaaaah!!"
The pain was incomparably worse than before. My legs gave out, and I collapsed to the floor.
'Th-this memory...'
Memories I had forgotten until now—memories from Hope's Peak Academy—began to return. For a long while, I couldn't regain my bearings as those memories clawed their way into my mind. But eventually, I forced my confusion down and began to think.
'If these memories are true... then I...'
For a moment, in those hazy recollections, I almost realized something. But I shook my head and drove the stray thought away. Yes, these sudden memories were disorienting—but my plan for Junko would not change. So I would simply use these memories too.
Then... I should examine these memories more closely, and while I'm at it, meet the others one by one and choose which child to kill. Pulling myself together, I stepped outside.
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"Oh my? Tsumiki? What brings you here?"
"What is the matter, young lady?"
"What, do you have something to say...? More importantly, your clothes are kind of..."
Sonia... would be pretty hard to kill under the current circumstances. She was always surrounded by Souda and Tanaka, chatting away with them. Out of everyone here, she was probably one of the safest.
Then again, Tanaka and Souda really hadn't changed much at all. Souda still threw himself at Sonia like a dog desperate to be loved, and Tanaka still rambled on with his absurd theatrics.
I watched them for a while, then quickly lost interest and turned to look for the others. But before I could leave, someone called out and stopped me.
"Huh? What's the pig bitch doing here?"
"I-I just came to check... if everyone was doing okay..."
"Thanks to you, my mood got even worse than it already was. So hurry up and get lost."
"....."
"What? What's with that look? You wanna start something?"
Saionji was exactly the same as ever—past or present—still just as rotten to the core. A surge of murderous intent rose in me, but I couldn't let a moment of anger make Junko's plan less entertaining, so I held it back.
"I-I'm sorrry..."
"Seriously, today you look even more disgusting than usual. Did you roll around in a ditch or something? What the hell is with those ragged clothes? You're seriously pathetic..."
"Saionji, stop bullying Tsumiki."
"Ah, Big Sis..."
"Tsumiki, sorry. You're already having a hard enough time... just forget what Saionji said, okay? Hang in there and keep taking care of everyone! If anything happens, I'll help right away too...!"
"Y-yes..."
Koizumi reacting like that was honestly surprising. She used to take Saionji's side all the time and snap at me too.
Still, Saionji seemed to be following her just as much as ever. In that case... how would she react if Koizumi died? I wasn't sure, but it sounded like it could be pretty entertaining. I should consider killing her.
"Alrighty, alrighty, I know everyone's having a rough time, so I made some snacks! Here, eat up!"
"Hmph. If you've got time for that, help clean instead."
"Coming from the one devouring it more enthusiastically than anyone else, that argument lacks a certain persuasive force..."
"Haha, that just proves my cooking's delicious—huh? Huh? Tsumiki? Why are you here...? W-wait...! Those clothes...! Those clothes...!"
The moment Hanamura saw my torn-up outfit, he collapsed with a nosebleed. There was another person here who had stayed perfectly consistent from beginning to end.
"I don't know what's going on... but wandering around like that is bad in more ways than one. You should repair your clothes as soon as possible."
"Th-thank you... Togami..."
That fraud was apparently still imitating that bespectacled guy from Class 78. He was probably acting as the group's leader too... so if I killed him, wouldn't I be able to plunge the others into despair very quickly?
"How's that wild filly doing?"
"Y-yes... Owari is still in really bad shape..."
"Hmm... hard to believe that idiot would be brought low by something as simple as a cold..."
Nidai would be difficult to kill. The difference in our builds was huge, and he was strong enough to counterattack. Killing him was something I should avoid if at all possible.
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"You finally wake up properly?"
"I-I'm sorrry!! I only meant to sleep for ten minutes...!"
"It's fine. We were taking care of the others in the meantime. More importantly, Komaeda's condition doesn't look good right now."
"K-Komaeda...?"
"Yeah. That bastard's gotten worse. He even stopped spewing his usual nonsense and has just been groaning in pain."
"I-I'll go check on him right now!!"
"Yeah. Please do..."
As I climbed the stairs, I thought to myself:
Every one of the students currently suffering from the "Despair Disease" would be incredibly easy to kill. So why not just pick one and do it?
Of course, for Junko's plan, I couldn't just kill them outright... there needed to be a proper mystery. So what if I lured Mioda somewhere—since she'd obediently listen to anything I said—and used her to build a trick? That actually sounded like a very good idea.
And Komaeda... just thinking about him made me want to laugh. He loved "hope" so much it was nauseating. So what kind of face would he make if he learned that every member of Class 77, himself included, was actually "despair," while the "observers" he'd been obstructing were "hope"?
I was so eager to see it that I almost wanted to give him a little hint. But no... it wasn't time yet. Surely Junko had prepared the perfect climax. His despair should bloom then.
That is, assuming the others could even identify me as the culprit behind the murder that was about to happen.
"Yo, Tsumiki. So, how was it earlier?"
"Y-yes...?"
"What, you're gonna pretend you don't remember? That hot little moment we shared? Ahahaha..."
On my way to Komaeda's hospital room, K—who was sitting on the edge of his bed—called out to me.
"W-well... about that..."
"Hmm... then again... did it not work...? That'd be a problem..."
"Y-yes...?"
He gently lowered Kyoko Kirigiri—who had been sleeping peacefully in his lap—onto the bed, then strode right up to me and pressed a hand to my forehead.
"Wh-what are you doing...!? D-don't tell me...! You're going to... do that to me again..."
Puhahahahahahahaha!!
"K-K...?"
"You're a pretty good actress, Tsumiki!!"
"What are you..."
"So, how does it feel to get your memories back as [Ultimate Despair]...?"
".....!"
The instant my expression stiffened, he smiled in satisfaction and muttered:
"Enoshima must've really been in a hurry... I mean, sure, we kissed, but still... to trigger it this fast... puhuhu..."
"What exactly are you plotting?"
"Ah, relax! I have absolutely no intention of getting in your way! Do whatever you want!! If you need help, I could even lend a hand..."
"I'd be a hundred times better off doing it alone than accepting help from you."
"Whoa there... why so wary? Then again, from despair's point of view, I guess I am someone worth killing. But hey... I'm infected with the 'Despair Disease' right now too... you could trust me a little, couldn't you...?"
"....."
"Hm? You're leaving? Bye then! And good luck!! I won't complain if you kill everyone except Kirigiri!! If you want, you can even kill me—"
Leaving his bright, cheerful voice behind me, I walked down the hallway, lost in thought.
'K... just like I thought, he's dangerous.'
Back in our school days, he had interfered with Junko at every possible turn.
Because of him, Hajime Hinata's transformation into Kamukura Izuru had been severely delayed, disrupting Junko's plans. He had joined forces with Jin Kirigiri to keep Junko in check, and even obstructed the assassination of the steering committee.
The [Hope's Peak Academy's Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event] that was supposed to unfold around the student council had even failed once because of the intrusion of Class 77 and Class 78, whom he had brought with him. Of course... back then, I had fought on his side too. Why did I do that? I regret it deeply.
Well, the [Hope's Peak Academy's Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event] happened by another method in the end, so fine. But still... he framed Junko in front of Ryota Mitarai and turned him against her, and even threw himself into danger to change Mukuro Ikusaba's heart and recruit her to his side...
He even went so far as to cooperate with Matsuda Yasuke, the [Ultimate Neurologist], in an attempt to erase Junko's memories and rehabilitate her. At that point, he was practically Junko's archenemy.
But come to think of it, K wasn't the only archenemy. There had been several others who had obstructed Junko almost as much as he had.
Back in our school days, Makoto Naegi, Kyoko Kirigiri, and Mukuro Ikusaba—who had all been close to K—had also played major roles during Hope's Peak's greatest, most tragic event. Thanks to them, Junko's grand plan to drive the Reserve Course into mass suicide had failed.
She had succeeded in capturing Class 77, Class 78, and the headmaster... but thanks to "that woman" and the majority of the students, the academy itself had still been able to let people escape. Because of that, spreading [The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History] had run into serious complications too.
And if K, Kirigiri, and Naegi had led Class 78, then Class 77 had "that woman." She was the one who always kept our creaking, unstable class together, who got along with everyone without barriers, who stood at the front and opposed Enoshima—our pillar of support...
'Huh? That woman?'
Suddenly, confusion swallowed me whole. "That woman"? Who was that supposed to be...? The moment I tried to remember, it felt like my head would split apart. It was like I'd forgotten someone precious. Just who... was "that woman"...?
"Tsumiki? There you are. You seem calmer now, at least. So... will you teach me the nursing rules now...?"
"Ah... ah..."
"Hm? Tsumiki?"
The moment I saw her, my memories of our school days came back completely.
"What's wrong? If you're still not calm yet, then—"
"N-no... it's nothing... Then, while I take care of Komaeda, I'll teach you the nursing rules too... so please take care of me..."
"Yeah...! I'm counting on you...!"
And as I watched her smile at me... for the first time, I began to hesitate over murder.
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"Fuwaaah... this can't be happening... after all the trouble I went through to get this chance..."
Battered and broken, Monomi stood in her secret space, crying as she held a Magical Stick that had been snapped clean in two, leaving only half of it behind.
"If only I'd been a little more capable... I could've obtained the Magical Stick in one piece..."
After lamenting in a grief-stricken voice, Monomi finally stopped crying and rose to her feet, clutching the broken half of the Magical Stick.
"What's done... is done...! But I still got half of it... so I have to do something with that... somehow...!"
Before long, Monomi began to wave the Magical Stick and mutter:
"Bug removal and activation of the one-time escape code... if I can just do those two things... even if I have to sacrifice my very existence... I'll do it for sure...!"
Even as the current pouring from the Magical Stick washed over her again and again, twisting her face in pain, Monomi gritted her teeth and kept swinging the broken wand.