"Peko...! Calm down...!"
"Young master... young master...!"
Trying to rein in the rampaging Pekoyama was far harder than I expected. She had already drawn the wooden sword hanging at her waist, her face gone cold enough to freeze the room solid, and I had to cling to her pant leg and beg for what felt like forever before I finally managed to calm her down.
"So... what the hell happened here...?"
"Tsumiki... caught the Despair Disease. And her symptoms... you know what they are, right...?"
"...Despair Disease."
"Yeah... for her, this was basically unavoidable..."
"Illness... flees when you beat it hard enough."
"Wait, wait!! If you hit her with that, she'll die! No, no, no!!"
Apparently, thinking I'd calmed her down had been nothing but a delusion. Even after that, she kept failing to control her rage and trying to use that wooden sword, which had me sweating bullets.
"...I will take young master with me. I shall care for him until he awakens. And you... gather the rest of the nursing staff. This appears to be an emergency."
"The rest of the nursing staff..."
"Well, 'the rest' is basically just Togami. So I would appreciate it if you brought him here immediately."
With that, Pekoyama tightly bound the utterly unresisting Tsumiki in bandages, dumped her in the hospital room, then slung Kuzuryu over her shoulder and vanished.
"...For now, we've survived the worst of it. The real problem starts now."
Wiping away the cold sweat running down my face, I headed downstairs to get Togami.
"...What an exceedingly troublesome situation."
Togami, who had come running the instant I called for him, let out a heavy sigh at the sight of Tsumiki tied up like a hostage.
"I'm sorry... I should have been here after all..."
"Togami, don't blame yourself too much. This isn't your fault."
He clearly felt deeply guilty for not being here in advance to help us. But he had also needed to keep the motel group under control, so I couldn't be angry at him for that.
After hearing me out, Togami smiled faintly for a moment, then returned to his usual arrogant expression and spoke.
"In that case... we have no choice but to secure additional nursing staff. The number of patients has increased, while the number of caregivers has decreased. And of all people, Tsumiki—the one with the best nursing ability—has come down with the Despair Disease..."
"I'll take charge of Tsumiki. I think I can keep her stable."
"...Granted, you did subdue Tsumiki by yourself before Pekoyama arrived..."
"Are you sure you don't need my help, Nanami? If you do, then at any time..."
"Let's start by putting down that wooden sword you're holding."
All of a sudden, I found myself newly impressed by K in his normal state. He must have pushed through situations several times worse than this while coordinating the others and counseling the kids. A little momentary lapse on his part... maybe I should let it slide.
"What happened!? Kuzuryu's... on the verge of dying!?"
"Tsumiki... Tsumiki tried to commit murder!?"
"Puhh... that disgusting pig bitch... I knew she'd do something like this."
"So in the end... it's finally happened, hasn't it...? Murder..."
"S-Sonia! Please don't cry...!"
"So ruin has finally swallowed those pitiful boys and girls."
Right as I was thinking that, the kids from the motel suddenly stormed into the hospital room and started shouting over one another. Barely suppressing the dizziness crashing over me, I asked them a question.
"...Um, how did you all get here?"
"K came running to us and said Kuzuryu was in critical condition...!"
'Oh, seriously.'
Yeah. I should probably stop overlooking his little deviations from now on.
"Ding dong, bing bong!"
Morning came.
I woke up feeling stiff all over, then...
"Ugh...?"
My body felt absurdly heavy. I couldn't get up. Was this sleep paralysis or something? Well, I had pushed myself pretty hard yesterday...
"Mnn..."
".....!"
Someone was lying on top of me. Judging by the fact that it was a girl, it had to be a ghost. Damn it, I'd heard ghosts show up during sleep paralysis, but this was my first time actually seeing one.
"G-Ghost...!"
"Snore... snore..."
But something felt off. For a ghost, the texture was way too... nice. And also... there was something strangely familiar about it, like I'd felt this somewhere before...
"Hinata-kun, it's time to switch. Sorry you've had to work so hard because of me..."
"....."
Nanami pushed open my already unlocked door, apologizing as she spoke—then froze solid the instant she saw me.
"...Hinata-kun. What exactly do you think you're doing right now?"
"Uh... huh!?"
Looking closer, the person on top of me was Tsumiki. Why the hell was Tsumiki on top of me? And with the blanket pulled over us, too. Anyone who saw this would absolutely get the wrong idea...
"Hinata-kun?"
"S-So, uh..."
"So what?"
"...I don't know either."
"....."
Nanami's expression began turning glacial. This was bad. I had to clear up this misunderstanding, fast...
"Mnn... next time... please be gentler..."
"...!?"
"Ha..."
If I asked Monokuma to show me the CCTV footage, would he actually do it...?
"I'm telling you! We kept taking turns all night, and yesterday I pushed my body so hard that I accidentally lay down on the bed and dozed off for a second, and then somehow Tsumiki ended up climbing on top of me...!"
"....."
"N-Nanami... please believe me..."
"....."
"Nothing like what you're thinking happened! If anything, I almost suffocated to death! That's all!! Please believe me!!"
"Hoo..."
Yesterday, after everyone had gathered in the hospital room, we decided that at this point we all had to pitch in and help care for the others, while taking turns sleeping back at the motel.
As for Tsumiki, since there was no telling when her Despair Disease might make her snap again, we decided to isolate her in our lodging instead of the hospital.
The only people staying by her side were me—the only one who seemed able to control her—and Hinata, who came along because he was worried about me.
We laid Tsumiki down in my room and agreed to take turns watching over and caring for her, but... Hinata-kun had somehow ended up fooling around with Tsumiki. Frankly, it was a tremendous shock.
"You get it, right? This is a complete misunderstanding..."
"Hinata-kun, I'm disappointed in you."
"Ghk...!"
Honestly, I knew Hinata-kun wasn't that kind of person... but his reaction was pretty cute, so maybe I'd let him squirm for just a little longer.
After listening to Hinata-kun's tearful excuses for quite a while and finally magnanimously forgiving him, he at last looked relieved—though now he kept sneaking glances at me, trying to read my mood.
I put on a mildly sulky expression, and every time Hinata-kun looked my way, I deliberately turned my eyes aside. Sweat immediately started beading down his face.
...Yeah. This should let me keep the upper hand for a while.
"Huh...? Where am I..."
"Tsumiki, you're awake...?"
".....!"
Tsumiki rubbed her eyes and sat up. She looked around for a moment, then the instant she saw me, she recoiled in horror and started trembling violently.
"S-Stay away from me...! Please...!"
"Tsumiki, don't do this. Let's just talk for a—"
"Get away! I said get away from meee!!"
Tsumiki started thrashing around savagely. Thank God we'd tied her up with rope we brought from the supermarket before she woke up.
"Tsumiki... don't do this..."
"Hinata...? It's been a while, hasn't it...? In more ways than one."
"...What?"
"You used to say everything was boring, so why are you here now, playing at friendship? Were you just a boring person in the end, too?"
".....?"
Hinata tried talking to her to calm her down, but all he got back was incomprehensible nonsense. Uneasy at what she'd said, I carefully asked Tsumiki a question.
"Um... what do you mean by—"
"Aaaahhh!! Don't... talk to me!!"
"...Hinata-kun, I think you need to ask her yourself."
"Tsumiki, what are you talking about?"
"...Ha, have you really lost your memories? Kamu—"
"Upupupu! Mikan, that's far enough!!"
".....!"
Tsumiki had been speaking to Hinata-kun in an icy voice, but the instant Monokuma popped out, her entire attitude flipped a full one-eighty.
"J-J-Ju!!!"
"NG! That's an NG word!! K's already been dropping spoilers so much I'm dying of anxiety over here...! If you start doing it too, what am I supposed to do!?"
"I-I'm so sorryyy!! Then... what should I call you?"
"Upupupu? What should you call me? Why... I'm Monokuma, obviously."
"Y-Yes!! Monokumaaa!!!"
Watching Tsumiki stare at Monokuma with that rapturous expression made something twist unpleasantly inside me. Before I even realized it, I was speaking to her again.
"Tsumiki, why are you groveling to a creep like him...?"
"....."
"Did you forget your promise? That you'd never debase yourself before anyone ever again, that you'd think of everyone and keep moving forward...?"
"...Ugh."
"Upupupu... useless...! I was worried something like this might happen, so I layered in several le— ah! Oops, that's an NG word too!!"
As usual, Monokuma kept muttering to himself and snickering, but I decided to ignore him completely and pour out everything I wanted to say to Tsumiki.
"Tsumiki!! Is this really what you want? Truly!?"
"...Of course. I... will do... as Monokuma desires..."
"Look me straight in the eyes when you say that, Tsumiki."
"...Ngh!"
"Is this really what you want?"
"Aaah... a... a... no... nooo...!"
"...Please. Tell me the truth."
"No... nooo..."
Leaving behind those broken words, Tsumiki collapsed limply.
"Upupupu... figures. Compared to an actual memory-erasing device, completely deleting memories with nothing but a program virus is difficult after all, huh...? K was one thing, but now even Nanami's unconsciously starting to remember..."
"Monokuma. I'm not going to let Tsumiki keep moving according to your will anymore! Tsumiki is on our side, now and forever!! So get out of here already!!"
"Upupupu... this is like an old lover and a current lover fighting over one woman...! Cliche, sure... but that's exactly why it sells!"
"I don't know what you're babbling about... but I do know your plan is starting to fall apart! So just give up already and let us—!"
"Upupupu...?"
When Hinata shouted at Monokuma in a fury, Monokuma turned to look at him, then started speaking with a smile.
"Hinata... hearing you talk about giving up is pretty hilarious, don't you think?"
"...What?"
"Don't mind him, Hinata-kun. Monokuma's just spewing nonsense again."
"There was one idiot at Kodaka High School who lived every single day having already given up on life, though..."
"...Ghh!!!"
At Monokuma's loaded words, Hinata suddenly clutched his head and staggered.
"H-Hinata-kun?"
"My... my head..."
"Upupupupupu!! Now I get why everyone's so desperate to drop spoilers!! This is exhilarating!!"
"You... what did you do to Hinata-kun...?"
"Nothing much... I just hated seeing you all so full of yourselves, so I poked at one of his ugly old scars a little!! Anyway, I'm off!"
Monokuma scratched his head and disappeared, but Hinata was still clutching his head in agony.
"I... I... what is this memory...? Everyone's... looking at me like I'm some kind of freak... and that guy too, he said he was going to Hope's Peak Academy for 'that'... what the hell is this...?"
"Hinata-kun..."
"What... what am I supposed to be...? What... am I...!?"
Seeing him suffer like that made my chest feel like it was being torn apart. If I left him alone like this, I had a terrible feeling I'd regret it for the rest of my life.
...At least this once, I wouldn't let that happen.
"You're you, Hinata."
".....!"
I pulled him into my arms and began to speak.
"No matter what kind of talent you had, what kind of existence you were in the past, or what kind of person you were during your school days... the you who exists right now is shining as yourself."
"Nanami..."
"So... please, never make that choice again... please..."
"....."
Once again, strange words slipped from my mouth without my understanding them, but right now, that didn't matter at all. Hinata and I stayed like that for a long time, holding each other tightly and sharing our warmth.