"Upupupu... at last... a murder finally happened... congratulations..."
Monokuma appeared before everyone. Looking over the children, who were still standing there like their souls had been hollowed out, he began to speak.
"Well... they killed each other and got killed... murder is still murder... haaah... to think it happened at that exact moment..."
For some reason, even though the murder he had wanted so badly had finally occurred, Monokuma's voice was steeped in a bizarre, heavy gloom.
"Then... even if it's going to be incredibly boring... I guess it's about time for the Class Trial..."
"There's no need to hold a trial, Monokuma."
"...Upupu?"
The instant Monokuma, still sounding utterly deflated, tried to announce the opening of the Class Trial, Nanami cut in with a firm, unyielding voice.
"What's wrong? You're the one who added the school regulation saying that if a 'watcher' dies, a 'Class Trial' won't be held. Don't tell me you're planning to break your own rules?"
"....."
"So stop getting any stupid ideas and let us out of here. Right now."
"Upupupupupu... nothing ever goes my way... but... you still have to go to the trial grounds... there's an exit there..."
The moment he finished speaking, the tower shuddered, and an entrance shaped like Monokuma's face began rising up from the floor.
"Go in there... take the elevator... down... there should be an exit at the end of the trial grounds... then... upupu..."
Monokuma vanished, sagging limply to the very end.
"....."
The moment of escape they had longed for had finally arrived, yet none of the children could bring themselves to move. If they left this place, they would never see the two lying on the floor again.
For a long while, they simply stood there, frozen in place.
"Everyone... I know this is hard, but please don't forget their final words."
The first to step into the entrance was Nanami, who strode forward with quiet resolve through the motionless crowd and reminded them once more of what the two had left behind.
"...So in the end, we have to keep moving forward, is that it?"
"A dazzling future... does something like that really even exist?"
"What matters... is that if we stay here, we'll learn nothing. So... not as your leader, but as your friend... I'm asking you. Let's move forward now."
When even Pigami, who had only just barely managed to pull himself together, made that plea, the others slowly began returning to reality and, one by one, started walking toward the entrance.
"...We need to get out of here if we're going to treat Kuzuryu as soon as possible. Hey, Pekoyama... come with me. We need to support Kuzuryu."
"...Understood."
After watching the others file into the entrance one by one, Pigami quietly headed for the guest room where Kuzuryu was lying, together with Pekoyama.
Meanwhile, even after most of the others had gone inside, Saionji still clung to the two corpses, muttering under her breath.
"I-I'm... the one who was wrong... so why... why..."
Koizumi, who had been watching Saionji in silence, finally approached her and spoke softly.
"...Saionji, let's go now."
"I-I... can't..."
Koizumi grabbed Saionji's arm and tried to pull her to her feet, but Saionji showed no sign of letting go of the two of them.
"Then what... you're planning to stay here forever...?"
"Y-Yeah... me too... here... I'll die..."
Smack!
Koizumi slapped Saionji across the cheek with all her strength.
"Is that really... what you should be saying right now...?"
"Ah... ahh..."
"In front of the two people who sacrificed themselves for Kuzuryu... for you... and for all of us... that's what you're going to say?!"
"....."
"If you want to take responsibility... for what you've done... then do it the way they wished... after you've moved forward... Saionji."
Forcing back the tears threatening to spill over, Koizumi finished speaking, then turned and headed for the entrance, leaving Saionji behind.
.
.
.
.
.
"What... is this...?"
"That's just too cruel..."
Entering the trial grounds in order to leave the Funhouse, the children were met with a sight so grotesque and unexpected that all they could do was let out broken sighs.
"K... Kyoko Kirigiri..."
"Damn it... to desecrate the dead like that..."
"....."
At the sight of the memorial portraits of Kyoko Kirigiri and K placed at the Class Trial seats, some of them seethed with rage, while others sank even deeper into grief.
Pigami, who had been helping gather the others and lead them to the exit, stopped just before stepping out of the trial grounds. Closing his eyes, he murmured quietly to himself.
"...That's one more reason a Class Trial should never be held."
With that lonely murmur, Pigami stepped out through the exit, and the others followed, one by one, wrenching their eyes away from the portraits and leaving the Funhouse behind.
"....."
Eventually, most of them had gone outside. But Hajime Hinata still remained in the trial grounds, staring at the memorial portraits.
"...Haaah."
He had forced himself to keep walking until now, but the moment he saw their portraits, even that meager strength deserted him. And so Hinata thought to himself.
'...Is there really a dazzling future waiting for us ahead? Or maybe... maybe this is the beginning of the killing game. And... can we ever come together again like we used to...?'
The more he turned those thoughts over, the deeper he sank into a mire of darkness. Then someone quietly approached and stopped beside him before speaking in a low voice.
"...Hinata-kun, what are you doing here?"
"Nanami..."
"It's time to let the two of them go."
At that, Hinata looked at Nanami and quietly asked,
"Nanami, how can you stay so calm in a situation like this?"
Hearing that, Nanami smiled and answered.
"Because they're alive."
"...What?"
"They are. Both of them."
".....?"
As Hinata stared at her in confusion, Nanami looked back at him and began to speak.
"How you interpret what I just said is up to you. But remember this much. Beyond this point, just like they said, a brilliant future is waiting for us."
"....."
"So..."
Nanami took something out from inside her clothes and stepped close to Hinata.
"...Nanami?"
"Hold still, Hinata-kun."
She began fastening a personal alarm around his neck, one with a shape that felt painfully familiar.
"That's..."
"It's the personal alarm K always wore around his neck. Remember?"
"...Yeah."
"He said Kyoko Kirigiri gave it to him as a present. Apparently, he never once took it off himself. He even slept with it on. Isn't that kind of ridiculous...?"
"....."
Click.
After fastening the personal alarm around Hinata's neck, Nanami stepped back a little and looked him over. Then, with a relieved expression, she spoke.
"There... it suits you too, Hinata-kun... that's a relief..."
Staring at her, Hinata asked,
"Nanami... why are you giving this to me...?"
"Hinata-kun, now it's my turn."
Cutting him off, Nanami stepped close again. Then she took out another personal alarm and held it out to him.
"...This one is the personal alarm Kyoko Kirigiri used to wear. K gave it to Kyoko Kirigiri. And apparently, she never took this one off either."
"....."
"Put it around my neck."
With trembling hands, Hinata accepted the personal alarm and began fastening it around Nanami's neck.
Feeling his trembling travel through the cord and into her, Nanami spoke gently.
"...You can take your time."
"...Okay."
At last, the personal alarm clicked into place, and Nanami smiled brightly.
"Then... shall we go now...?"
"...Yeah."
And so, hand in hand, Hinata and Nanami walked forward toward that dazzling future.
.
.
.
.
.
Thus the day of that incident came to an end—an incident that had left everyone with wounds that would never heal, and a message more searing than anything before it. Late that night, when every last exhausted body and mind had finally sunk into sleep, one man was quietly walking across the island under cover of darkness.
With a face and eyes utterly devoid of life, the man trudged onward through the night until he finally reached his destination: Jabberwock Island.
"Yaaawn... Komaeda, why'd you ask me to meet you here...?"
"....."
Monokuma asked with a yawn, but the man before him, Nagito Komaeda, merely stared at him in silence.
"You called me out here, so why aren't you saying anything...? Come to think of it, when everyone else was crying and making a huge scene earlier, you were the only one staying quiet. You stayed quiet all the way until you left too... that's not like you at all, Komaeda...?"
"....."
"Hey, I'm getting mad here, okay? If you call someone out—no, if you call out a bear—you've gotta actually say something!"
Monokuma started huffing in irritation, but Komaeda still only stared at him with a hard, unreadable expression. At last, just as Monokuma began grumbling and turned to leave, Komaeda finally opened his mouth.
"...I want to use the supreme weapon."
"Upupu?"
Monokuma stared at Komaeda for a moment, then broke into a smile.
"Upupupupu... well, sure. Since you gambled with five bullets loaded into the gun, of course you can use it whenever you want... but you're already going to use it...?"
Monokuma asked, brimming with curiosity, but Komaeda sealed his lips again and kept that grim expression on his face. Seeing that, Monokuma began speaking to him in a teasing voice.
"Still... for hope to sacrifice itself for despair... that's just soooo despair-inducing, isn't it...?"
"....."
"You always said it, didn't you?! That hope blooms from within despair!! So in this overwhelming despair, what kind of hope could possibly—ah, but wait, hope died, didn't it...?"
"....."
"Hope died trying to protect despair... so that basically means hope lost to despair, doesn't it...? Upupu, upupupupu!!!"
After mocking Komaeda in that needling voice for quite some time, Monokuma suddenly let slip a remark laden with sinister meaning.
"Ah, no... that's not right. There is still one 'hope' left...! Isn't there...?"
"....."
"Don't tell me you're planning to kill everyone except 'her'—the only 'hope' left now...? Now that would be interesting!!! Upupupupupu!!!"
Komaeda, who had listened to all of that in silence, finally asked Monokuma in a hollow voice,
"...So what is the supreme weapon?"
"Upupu... well, it's this...!"
Monokuma grinned, snapped his fingers, and a safe rose up from the ground. Then he pulled a stethoscope from inside himself and, like he was starring in some ridiculous spy movie, began fiddling with the combination dial.
"Hmm... mmhmm... yes! Found it...!"
At last, with a metallic clank just irritating enough to grate on the nerves, the safe opened, revealing a file inside. Monokuma carefully lifted it out, then delicately handed it over to Komaeda as he spoke.
"Here you go... it's a list of the weapons from the Final Dead Room...! Just put a check mark next to whatever you want, and it'll be delivered to your room by tomorrow morning without anyone noticing, okay...? So? Satisfied...!?"
"....."
"Jeez, when you're babbling nonstop you're one thing... but when you shut up completely, you're hard to deal with in a whole different way. I even went this far with the overacting to cheer you up... did it backfire on me instead...?"
Ignoring Monokuma's grumbling, Komaeda took the weapons file and quietly began marking the weapons he wanted.
Watching him, Monokuma curled his lips into a grin and muttered softly,
"Then... I'm counting on you, Mr. 'Supreme Weapon,' okay?"