"Ugh... my head..."
I pushed myself upright through a savage headache, only to find myself surrounded by pink in every direction.
"Yaaawn... I slept great..."
"My, oh my... where are we...?"
"My mana... this place is provoking an astonishingly powerful reaction."
"W-What!? Where are we!?"
"Sleepy... I'm going back to sleep..."
"N-Nanami! Wake up!!"
The others were still too bewildered to understand what was happening, but I grasped it instantly.
'Shit...'
In the end, we'd been trapped inside the Funhouse.
'At least I packed food in my bag, so for now we're saf— huh?'
I tried to steady myself and check the supplies, but my back felt strangely light.
"M-My bag!! Where'd my bag go!?"
"K...? What's wrong...?"
"Guys!! Did any of you see the bag I was carrying!?"
I asked in a panic, but all I got back were blank, clueless stares. Which meant... don't tell me Monokuma...?
"Upupupu!! K, thanks a bunch!! You packed it with nothing but my favorite foods!! I had an absolute feast! Upupupupupu!!"
Monokuma suddenly popped out from the middle of the group, his mouth stuffed full as he chewed and mocked me. Then he tossed my bag back.
With trembling hands, I checked inside.
Every last bit of the months' worth of food I'd prepared was gone.
"Upupupu... no cheap tricks allowed...!"
"...Ha."
My mind went blank in the face of that sky-high pettiness. Monokuma shot me a sidelong glance, then cheerfully shouted to everyone.
"Anyway... welcome to Strawberry House!!"
The others immediately started demanding to know what he was talking about, and Monokuma launched into an explanation of the Funhouse's structure.
'W-What do I do...? If this happens...!'
Of course, none of that explanation reached my ears. I could only spiral into panic. In the original story, a murder happened just three days after the food supply was cut off.
Sure, that killing had been brought about by Nidai and Tanaka sacrificing themselves for everyone after hope had started to collapse—but that only meant the others had been driven to that brink in a terrifyingly short time.
As far as I knew, two weeks was the absolute limit a person could survive without food and water. Monokuma was saying he'd cut off both starting now, so the limit was two weeks from this moment... no, that was only under minimal activity. Realistically, it'd be less. And if Monokuma forced us to exercise every morning, then maybe even less than that...
"What!? You're saying you'll keep us locked in here until a murder happens!?"
The sudden shout snapped me out of my thoughts, and I finally listened.
"Upupupu... and that's not all... there's no food, either! Your little 'body clocks' are your time limit!! So before you all starve to death, either commit murder... or get along and starve together!! Your choice!"
"N-No way...!"
"And just so we're clear... only good old-fashioned murder counts, okay? 'Suicide' doesn't count, so don't waste your time!!"
"W-Why...!?"
"Because if two people get released into the world instead of one— I mean, die— wouldn't that be way more despair-inducing!? Upupupu...!!"
Monokuma started muttering to himself, but nobody paid him any mind. They were too busy standing there, frozen solid.
Honestly, even I—someone who'd known this was coming from the start—felt my heart drop all over again hearing it out loud. So what must it have felt like for the others, hearing it for the first time?
"Before you get too weak to kill anyone, you'd better hurry up and murder somebody!! See ya!! Upupupupupu!!"
Monokuma vanished, but the silence he left behind clung to Strawberry House like a suffocating fog.
"Standing around here in a daze won't accomplish anything, right? For now, why don't we explore the building?"
The one who broke the silence was Komaeda, now standing there with all his restraints gone—apparently Monokuma had removed them. It was an absurdly reasonable thing to say, which only made it feel more uncanny coming from him.
"...No! I don't want to starve!! I don't care if I die of starvation... just let me eat first!!"
"Calm down, you idiot!! First, we need to understand the situation—"
"Ugh... no food... for me, the [Ultimate Cook]... this is the worst place imaginable..."
"N-No food...? T-That's impossible..."
Nobody was about to trust Komaeda, whose credibility had already hit rock bottom. So the moment the silence broke, everyone plunged straight into collective panic. Even Pigami—our supposed pillar of stability—started freaking out at the words "no food." At this point, I had to step in.
"U-Um... for now, everyone, try to stay calm... and maybe we should search the building thoroughly...?"
In truth, it would probably be pointless. But if I left them like this, they'd all spiral. Better to give them some kind of purpose, even if it was flimsy.
...Of course, even that was nothing more than buying time.
"R-Right...! If we got in here, then there has to be a way out too!!"
"Yeah... doing something is better than just standing still..."
"Then let's split into pairs and move separately..."
And just like that, everyone started forming teams to investigate the building.
"Miss Sonia...!! Please, form a pair with me...!!"
"She already left with Tanaka."
"W-What did you say!?"
"Ahaha, wow... shot down in spectacular fashion..."
"N-No... this can't be happening...!"
"H-Hey!! We said pairs of two...!"
Souda, on the verge of tears, suddenly lit up with desperate determination and bolted after Sonia and Tanaka. Then Nanami muttered, "At this point, it feels less like she rejected him and more like she's actively avoiding him..." Which somehow made Souda look even more pathetic.
"N-Nidai... what do we do...? I... I seriously can't handle starving..."
"That's only because you're weak!! Come with me!! I'll train you so hard you won't even have the breath to say something like that—"
"Both of you, knock it off...!!"
By now, fighting had become such a reflex for Nidai and Owari that they were about to start brawling on instinct. I had to desperately stop them before sending them off to investigate. Thanks to that, I burned through a ridiculous amount of energy for nothing.
"Waaahhh...!! There's no dreams, no hope, nothing anymore...! We're all gonna die in here!!"
"Saionji... calm down..."
"Big Sis Koizumi! Aren't you scared too!? Not just you—why is everyone acting like they're fine!?"
"Everyone's scared, just like you... they're just not showing it. For everyone else's sake..."
"...Sniff."
"So... let's just do our best a little longer, okay?"
"Ugh... o-okay..."
Koizumi soothed Saionji with practiced ease, then led her away. Under normal circumstances, I would've felt proud seeing how much Koizumi had grown. But in a situation like this, pride was drowned out by the bleak certainty that even resolve like that would eventually shatter.
"Peko... let's go."
"Yes, young master."
Kuzuryu and Pekoyama moved together as naturally as ever. But unlike before, Pekoyama wasn't trailing behind him anymore. She was walking right beside him.
That sight almost made me smile.
But with my mind in such turmoil, what came out wasn't a smile. It was a bitter one.
"Togami, I can't give you food anymore... but do you want to walk around talking about food instead...? Whenever I talk food with you, I come up with all kinds of great ideas... and in a situation this vicious, I'm sure something incredible will—"
"...Fine. As always, we'll overcome this crisis. If you come up with a good idea, make it after we get out of here. I shall personally taste-test it."
"Right, but before that... could you maybe tell me what happened between K and Kirigiri in the last killing game...?"
"Th-That's..."
Hanamura was walking off with Pigami, blood pouring from his nose. Judging by how visibly uncomfortable Pigami looked, Hanamura was probably saying something filthy again... but what kind of dirty talk could he even possibly have with Pigami...?
"I-I'll!! I'll move around alone!! I committed a sin worthy of death against everyone, so I have no right to go with anyon—!"
"Tsumiki! Don't say that—come with me instead!!"
"M-Miss Mioda!? B-But I... I committed murder..."
"That wasn't Tsumiki acting on her own will!! So Tsumiki didn't do anything wrong!!"
"Even so... I'm... dangerous... disgusting..."
"Enough!! Quit beating yourself up and get moving already!!"
"H-Hyaah!!"
Ibuki grabbed Tsumiki with her usual easygoing force and dragged her off to investigate the building. Yeah... whatever else could be said about her, she really was a good person at heart.
"...Hinata. S-So, um..."
"N-Nanami, we should..."
"Ah, y-you go first...!"
"N-No!! Nanami started first, so..."
Watching Nanami and Hinata stumble over each other like that finally drew a genuine smile out of me. Well, no matter what anyone said, those two were the fundamental couple. In a way, this was only natural. Just this once, I found myself praying with all my heart that their ending wouldn't be a tragedy.
.
.
.
.
.
"Looks like everyone's gone..."
"K, should we get moving too?"
"...Yeah."
Ever since what happened in the park yesterday, I couldn't bring myself to look Kyoko Kirigiri in the eye. So I avoided her gaze and started to head off to investigate the building—when someone called out and stopped us.
"You two, wait a second..."
"Komaeda?"
The one who'd stopped us was Komaeda. He looked at me—tense and bristling with suspicion—then broke into a bright smile.
"If you don't mind... could I come with you? There are some things I want to ask... and some things I want to confirm..."
"I thought we agreed to move in pairs."
"Souda ran off on his own, so I lost my partner. Well then..."
"We haven't said we're okay with th—"
"I'm in your care, dear observers of the Future Foundation...!!"
"....."
Without the slightest regard for what we wanted, Komaeda trotted along behind us and immediately started firing questions about the observers.
"There's one thing I'm curious about... the Class 78 students who got dragged into a killing game were you two and Togami, right? So why is the 'observer' Nanami instead of Togami?"
"....."
"The fact that you can't answer means there really is something there, huh? If I had to guess... maybe some kind of rule prevents you from revealing that you're observers...?"
"....."
"More importantly... how are you going to crush despair this time? You embodiments of hope? The overwhelming despair I've always wanted has finally arrived... so I just can't wait to see what kind of dazzling hope will smash it to piec—"
"...Shut up, Komaeda."
I finally snapped and cut him off. Komaeda closed his mouth and started walking in silence. Watching him, a scene from the game suddenly flashed through my mind.
"...Komaeda, I have a favor to ask."
".....?"
"No, never mind..."
If he entered the Final Dead Room and saw the truth, I could already picture how catastrophically he'd spiral out of control. At that point, the difficulty would probably jump to something like fighting two Enoshimas at once.
And the original Enoshima had already become several times more petty than before, which meant [Enoshima's Alter Ego] had probably become several times more petty too. If Komaeda got thrown into that mix on top of everything else... just imagining it was horrifying.
Still, I couldn't exactly tell him, "Don't go into the Final Dead Room." That would be the same as pointing directly at it and announcing that it was an extremely important place.
So instead, I changed tactics. I'd just keep an eye on Komaeda and make sure he never got into the Final Dead Room in the first place. It made me uneasy, but it was probably the best option I had.
"....."
"Komaeda, stop following us..."
"Quit tailing us and get lost."
".....!"
Komaeda had been silently trailing us this whole time, but when both of us finally lashed out at him, he gave a small smile—then disappeared.
Kyoko Kirigiri watched him go with a hard stare, then quietly spoke.
"K, let's talk for a moment."
"...Hm?"
"The situation you were talking about... was it this?"
"....."
"K, the resolve I told you about yesterday still hasn't chang—"
"I'm not going to sacrifice you. Ever."
I declared it to Kyoko Kirigiri with a rigid expression. She looked at me for a moment, then pulled me into an embrace.
"...Just as I thought. Our K... is kind."
"Kyoko..."
She tightened her arms around me and spoke again.
"I won't bring that up anymore... so let's keep doing our best until the very end..."
"Yeah... like always... I'm counting on you, Kyoko."
So we held each other and exchanged that vow.
But hidden from view, on the faces neither of us could see, our expressions were darker than ever before.
.
.
.
.
.
"At this rate... aren't they really going to sacrifice themselves!?"
"Tch... those idiots..."
"B-B-Byakuya... your lip is bleeding...!"
"Authorize the infiltration operation right now!! I don't care what anyone says, I'm going in!!"
"Ikusaba... even if you go now... it'll just be a pointless death..."
"Damn it... when my fortunes are this accurate... it hurts like hell..."
"M-Mr. Naegi!! Are you sure the hint was delivered properly!? Then why aren't they reacting...!?"
"Please... notice it, K..."
And all the while, the members of the Future Foundation watched that scene with raw, restless anxiety.