We split into pairs and started a full-scale search of the building, combing through every nook and cranny. But this was a sealed space to begin with, and there was barely anything to investigate, so the whole search ended up feeling almost laughably anticlimactic. Once everyone finished, we regrouped in Grape Tower.
"Then... now that everyone's here... let's each report what we found."
Pigami, thankfully, had earned even more credibility with the others after the kids learned he was one of the survivors of the killing game from Class 78. Of course, Kyoko Kirigiri and I were also being trusted more than before thanks to that.
"First... the most important point is this... there really isn't any food here!!"
"I-I heard starvation is seriously horrible...! Before it comes to that, maybe we should just eat one of Tanaka's hamsters...!"
"How rude! What are you saying!?"
"H-hwaaah!? I-I'm sorry, Sonia!!"
"Hmph. If a mere commoner like you laid a hand on the Four Dark Devas of Destruction, you'd be consumed by the hellfire of the underworld. Be grateful to Sonia."
Of course, there wasn't any food in this building. Hell, there wasn't even water. Honestly, if there had at least been water, maybe we could've endured somehow. Monokuma's petty malice was hitting me all over again.
"Ahaha, since I found it, I'm sure it's probably worthless information, but... I went to the Monokuma Archive on the third floor..."
"Can we tie that bastard up again or what?"
"Unfortunately... there wasn't any rope we could use... so for now, we'll just have to settle for sticking close to him and keeping watch..."
As I listened to Komaeda's report about the Monokuma Archive on the third floor, I kept hoping—desperately—that Monomi might show up somehow, but it didn't happen.
In the original story, Komaeda brought Monomi back from the Monokuma Archive on the third floor... At this point, I was starting to worry that something had seriously gone wrong.
"Then now, hear the report of this one!"
"From what I found while investigating each of the rooms..."
After that, we listened to Tanaka's report—he was bizarrely delighted that he'd found a wireless toy motor somewhere and identified it as a ship part—and Kuzuryu's report comparing the guest rooms in each building. Naturally, none of it did much for me. I already knew all of it.
"Mmm... then, now that everyone's reports are done, I guess it's my turn...? To get straight to the point, I think the Grape Tower we're in right now and the Strawberry Tower from earlier are the same building."
"What...? Are you serious...?"
"Most likely, beyond that door with the strawberry mark on it, Strawberry House is connected."
"Hmm... yes, that does seem to fit the structure..."
"And the strange thing about this space is..."
The others started discussing the possibility that Strawberry House and Grape House were connected, and then moved on to the oddities of the linked structure. But that guess was half right and half wrong.
They thought there was a passage to Strawberry House beyond that door, but that door was supposed to be decorative. The building was structured with Grape House on floors one through three, and Strawberry House on floors four through six. They were connected, yes—but not horizontally. Vertically.
Which meant that when we took the elevator to the other house, we'd actually be moving from the first floor of Grape House to the fourth floor of Strawberry House, and vice versa—from the fourth floor of Strawberry House to the first floor of Grape House.
In the original story, that trick gets used for murder. But as long as I'm here, that won't hap—
"Upupupu!! Correct! Correct!! As expected of the Ultimate Gamer... you're pretty good at puzzle games too, huh!?"
"So... my guess was right after all."
"E-Eeeeh!?"
"K? What's wrong?"
What the hell was this? I was right in the middle of smugly reviewing my game knowledge when Monokuma suddenly opened the door with the strawberry mark and walked in, startling the life out of me. Beyond the open door, I could see Strawberry House. But that door was supposed to be decorative... wasn't it?
"Whoa... it really is connected!! That's amazing!!"
"Every time it opens and closes, the colors in here change... so weird..."
Watching everyone open and shut the door in fascination, Monokuma started talking.
"Actually, I was planning to install a pretty neat trick here... but that trick was built on the assumption that by now at least one of you would've rebelled against me and gotten turned into a robot! Since you've all been way too well-behaved, I had no choice but to scrap the trick!!"
"W-What... are you even talking about...?"
"Geez, if Monomi hadn't disabled School Regulation #1 back then... Anyway, it totally killed the mood, so I just changed it into a structure with no twist at all. Well, the elevator's kind of a leftover side effect of that..."
The others looked completely lost, but I finally understood why the structure had changed. There was no Mechamaru Nidai now, so that trick couldn't be used in the first place. No wonder Monokuma had lost interest.
"Hey... I don't know what you're babbling about, and I don't want to, so could you just go away?"
"Yeah, seriously. He keeps popping out and rambling to himself."
As the others spoke with icy contempt, Monokuma scratched his head and replied,
"But... my conversation partner Monomi disappeared, so lately I've developed this habit of talking to myself..."
"Right! Monomi!! Where did Monomi go!?"
When I demanded an answer, Monokuma just grinned.
"Who knows... maybe she's trapped somewhere getting tortured? Upupupupupu..."
"...Damn it."
If that was true... then the situation was even more hopeless than I thought. What the hell was I supposed to do now?
"Upupupu... by the way, have any of you seen some kind of weird object or anything? If you do, report it immediately!! Whoever reports it gets a Monokuma Medal as a present...!"
Monokuma started trying to tell us something else, but by now the others had apparently decided to ignore him completely. Without even sparing him a glance, they just resumed talking among themselves.
"Still, I thought that door was the exit... So does this building really not have an exit after all...?"
"Maybe if we clear the Final Dead Room, an exit will—"
"Absolutely not!! Monokuma said there's a 'supreme weapon' in there!! And on top of that, you'd have to risk your life!! I cannot allow anyone to go somewhere that dangerous!!"
"Y-Yes, Sonia..."
Come to think of it, the Final Dead Room still supposedly contained a "supreme weapon." In the original story, the secret of the building's structure was the "supreme weapon," but what was it now?
'No. Don't get curious.'
I tried to crush that curiosity before it could grow, but the anxiety wouldn't go away. Even I was tempted. So after a few more days—once everyone was physically and mentally cornered all the way to the brink—would the others really be able to resist entering the Final Dead Room?
That thought made my head start throbbing again. I was clutching it and massaging my temples when Monokuma suddenly shouted,
"Hey!! Come on!! Don't just ignore a person... no, a bear, like that!!"
"Come to think of iiit... what time is it nooow...?"
"From what I saw in the guest rooms earlier... it should be around 10 PM by now."
"Eeh!? How is it that late already!?"
"Upupupu... you're still ignoring me... Fine then. But can you ignore this too?"
Monokuma cleared his throat, then made his declaration.
"For the time being, there'll be no announcements to signal morning or night!! If you miss my broadcasts that much... just commit a murder and get out of here!!"
He flashed a vicious grin at the flinching group, then vanished.
"Well... there are clocks in the guest rooms, so... we can just check those."
"But... it's already past 10 PM...? Now that you mention it, I'm starting to feel sleepy..."
"Since we don't have anything to eat, it'd be best to rest as soon as possible and conserve our strength."
"Then... let's all call it a night for now and meet again tomorrow morning."
Once Pigami neatly wrapped things up, everyone nodded and started to head for the guest rooms—only for Hinata to suddenly cry out.
"B-But wait, there are only five guest rooms per building, right? And there are... eighteen of us!?"
"Ah... you're right."
"W-we're over capacity!! At this rate... eight people are gonna have to sleep outside...!!"
"There's no need for each person to use a room alone. People who wish to can pair up and share a guest room."
"Hold on, the rooms have different grades... what are we supposed to do about that...?"
Kuzuryu, who had investigated the guest rooms earlier, cautiously cut in after hearing Pigami's suggestion.
"Each building has two luxurious rooms, one standard room, and two shabby rooms. So we'll need to decide how to divide them up."
"...First, decide the pairs who'll share rooms. Then each pair can send out a representative to play rock-paper-scissors. Once the results are in, first place chooses a room first, then the next, and so on."
Everyone seemed to agree with Pigami's solution, when Kuzuryu quietly made an announcement.
"...I'll share one of the shabby rooms with Pekoyama. We still haven't fully atoned to all of you yet."
At that, everyone froze and stared at Kuzuryu. Looking flustered under the weight of those gazes, he started talking again.
"W-What are you all looking at me like that for...!? This is nothing compared to the damage we caused you guys..."
"No, that's not it... Kuzuryu... aren't you forgetting one very important detail?"
"...Huh?"
"Y'know... a boy and a girl... in the same room... so that means... eheheheheheheh..."
"Kyaaaah!! Hanamura!! There aren't any medical supplies here...!! If you get another nosebleed...!"
Hanamura lost control of the sleazy little demon living inside him, started gushing blood from his nose, and collapsed mid-sentence—but his meaning got across to everyone perfectly. As the others coughed awkwardly into the silence, Kuzuryu's face went bright red, apparently only now realizing the implication.
"Ah... ahh... right... th-that... yeah... definitely..."
"Y-young master... I-I... I'm not ready yet..."
"P-Peko...! That's not what I meant..."
The others were watching Kuzuryu and Pekoyama with open fascination as the two of them stared at each other, red as tomatoes and babbling incoherently—then the next voice froze everyone solid.
"Then I'll share a room with K."
"Huh? O-Okay? Kyoko...?"
"There are still some things between us we haven't finished discussing."
Kyoko Kirigiri said it while looking straight at me. The instant I met her eyes, a chill crawled over my entire body. I whipped my head around in a panic, feeling like a mouse cornered by a cat, but everyone else was avoiding my gaze with all their might.
"Then... that's two pairs decided... and the rest are..."
"N-No, wait... Peko and I..."
"H-Hey, guys? Um... mixed pairs are maybe... aaagh!!"
Kuzuryu and I both tried to protest in a hurry, but Kuzuryu was so embarrassed his voice practically vanished into the floor, and I had no choice but to cut myself off halfway through because Kyoko Kirigiri stomped on my foot.
"...Karma, K."
"P-Please... go easy on me this time..."
As everyone watched our farce with weary headshakes, Owari suddenly piped up with her usual sunny bluntness.
"Then I'll room with Nidai!! I haven't been getting full-body massages much lately, so my body's all stiff... this works out perfect!!"
"...I don't mind."
Those two agreeing so casually seemed to break the dam, and suddenly voices started flying from every direction.
"Then I'm rooming with Koizumi!! Nobody else better come!! If it ain't Koizumi, I can't stand it!!"
"Then... shall we share a room together?"
For some reason, Koizumi glanced at me before answering Saionji in a faintly regretful voice.
"I-I think... sleeping outside probably suits me after all... Ah, b-but I'm fine!! I'm used to this kind of thing..."
"Why are you trying to sleep outside!? You're sleeping with me!!"
"Fweeeh!! I-I couldn't possibly be so presumptuous...!"
"Ah!! Where do you think you're going!? Don't run away!!"
While Ibuki chased after the blushing, fleeing Tsumiki, Hanamura latched onto Pigami and stubbornly tried to apply for the roommate position.
"Come on... if we share a room, I'll do all the chores... yeah? In exchange, all you gotta do is tell me about that love story that bloomed during the killing game..."
"....."
Pigami wore a slightly troubled expression as he considered how to deal with that, when Sonia's bright voice rang out from nearby.
"Hmm, is this... the sort of atmosphere where roommates are being decided according to the pairs from earlier? Wonderful! In that case, my roommate would be Tanaka..."
"D-Does that mean... I-I would...?"
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!! Over my dead body, that is the one thing I refuse to allowwwww!! Just kill me insteaaaaad!!"
"Ahaha, Souda-kun... looks like I'm the only one left for you, huh...? Well, I'm pretty worthless, but if someone like me is good enough for you..."
"Get loooooost, you bastaaaaard!!"
"S-Souda-kun, calm do—"
"Everyone else is out here licking and sucking and doing every kind of freaky crap!!! So why am I the oooonly oooone!!! Gghhhhhh..."
"Oh dear... he fainted. Well, becoming roommates with someone like me... I guess that's understandable... I'll take responsibility and carry Souda-kun back to the lodging. Ahaha..."
Komaeda looked awkwardly down at the unconscious Souda, who had blacked out clutching the back of his neck, while Sonia gazed at Tanaka with sparkling anticipation.
"I've always dreamed of having a roommate...! Then, I look forward to it!! Tanaka!!"
Thanks to that, Tanaka's face turned scarlet, and he hid it behind his scarf while muttering something under his breath. Then, from farther away, I heard another tiny, shrinking voice.
"T-Then... I-I guess... we're the only ones left...? Hinata...-kun...?"
"Uh, um... yeah... I guess so... B-But... are you really okay with sharing a room with me...?"
"E-Everyone else... is pairing up based on the groups from earlier, so... um, I-I guess it can't be helped..."
"R-Right... yeah... can't be helped... aha, ahaha..."
Hinata and Nanami stood there with their heads bowed, faces red, mumbling to each other.
Seriously... was this still the main story, or had we somehow wandered into Dangan Island?