"Starting today, this will be the temporary lodging for Class 78... no, for all of you Ultimates of Hope."
"If anything is inconvenient, or if there's anything you desire, please call for us immediately. We'll come running with pleasure."
"Then, we hope you have a pleasant day."
The people in suits bowed deeply and withdrew. The students watched them go, then finally let out the breath they'd been holding and relaxed.
"Huaaah... I thought I was gonna die... We're safe now, right...?"
"Probably...? They said this place is a safe house prepared by Future Foundation... so until we head to Future Foundation headquarters, we should be able to stay here safely."
"Those Remnants of Despair bastards... how long are they gonna keep tailing us? At this rate, they look ready to chase us to the ends of the earth..."
Fujisaki, Asahina, and Yasuhiro Hagakure chatted for a moment, then, exhausted beyond words, flopped straight onto the floor.
"...I thought fighting the Remnants of Despair would be rather entertaining... but they were beneath expectations. Frankly, I was a little disappointed."
"Why is it that every time they see me, they start shrieking 'traitor' and throwing themselves at me like lunatics...? At this point, just hearing the first syllable of the word makes my teeth grind..."
"Seriously... I'm sick of seeing Monokuma masks too. Still, one of those remnants came at us riding a pretty nice motorcycle, and knocking him flat and stealing it was kinda fun... even if it exploded not long after..."
Meanwhile, the combat squad—Oogami, Mukuro Ikusaba, and Mondo Owada—were still radiating an ominous, battle-ready aura. Thank God those three were on our side.
"Those freaks kept screaming about taking Enoshima back and charging at us like zombies. It was seriously disgusting... I never thought I'd live to see the day I threw baseballs at actual people. Enoshima's dead weight anyway, so can't we just dump her somewhere and leave her behind?"
"My, and if she were to revive again after that... would Kuwata-kun be taking responsibility...?"
"N-No, I mean... not like that..."
"Then stop whining and be quiet. You're not the only one who's irritated... Hm? Yamada-kun? Why aren't you fanning me right now?"
"Th-That is... my arm's gone numb... I was just going to rest for a little..."
"May I interpret that as you volunteering to become a meat shield?"
"H-Hiiiiiik!! I'll start immediately!!!"
Leon Kuwata awkwardly fiddled with a baseball in his hand, while Hifumi Yamada, sweating buckets, desperately fanned Celestia Ludenberg. He'd been fanning her the entire time we were fleeing from the Remnants of Despair, and at this point I was honestly starting to worry his arm might just fall off.
"Hmph... this is pitifully lacking for a safe house. If this were a safe house owned by the Togami family, I would have dismissed the person responsible."
"B-Byakuya-sama... i-if you wish, I could attend to you..."
"...Just stay still."
"That... means he's grateful you protected him while we were being chased, so he wants you to rest for now... right?"
"That couple too... they're low-key rubbing it in our faces."
"...Shut up."
"B-B-Byakuyaaa... so there was a deeper meeeaning..."
"Haa..."
Togami looked profoundly annoyed after hearing everyone talk, but for some reason, he didn't deny it. Yeah. Reformed Togami really was a tsundere after all.
"Naegi-kun... you're not hurt anywhere, are you...?"
"Sayaka, what about you? You're not hurt either, right?"
"I'm... your assistant, Naegi-kun... so as long as I'm by your side, I'm safe..."
"N-No, I mean, I'm the one who's glad you're beside me..."
"...There they go again."
"Leave 'em alone... if we pay attention, we're the only ones who lose."
At this point, nobody paid any mind to whatever those two did anymore. Well, officially. Even with their heads turned away, their eyes were still sneaking glances over.
"Everyone!! This is precisely the kind of situation where we must not laze around!! Right now, this is a battle of stamina!! Stamina is life itself!! Therefore, anyone who wishes to come exercise with me—"
"Doesn't he ever get tired...? We've been through a horrifying chase scene every single day, and he's still talking about exercise...?"
Ishimaru burned with solitary zeal, then marched off to a corner and started working out by himself. He'd been cheering on the Future Foundation personnel from the front lines even during the chases, and lately he'd practically become a full-fledged cheer captain. Honestly, I had to respect Kiyotaka Ishimaru's passion.
"...K, Future Foundation really is trustworthy, right?"
"Yeah... in the current situation, at least... Though there are definitely a lot of things that need fixing."
"Then I guess we'll have to step in ourselves?"
"That's right... getting to Future Foundation headquarters won't be the end. It'll just be another beginning. So... we should rest while we still can."
After finishing my conversation with Kyoko Kirigiri, I lay back on the sofa, closed my eyes, and sank into thought. Once we got into Future Foundation, there would be a mountain of things to do. We'd have to reform the organization if I wanted to avoid that absolute circus from Danganronpa 3, and we also had to save Class 77.
Well, the world was practically worshipping us members of Class 78 at this point, so maybe things ahead would turn out surprisingly easy. The Future Foundation people had looked completely beside themselves the instant they found us, after all.
Thanks to that, even though we'd been risking our lives every single day in desperate chases against the Remnants of Despair, we were still treated with absurd generosity.
Of course, Enoshima had suffered the indignity of being stuffed into the trunk of a beat-up car, and there'd been a bit of trouble getting Mukuro Ikusaba accepted, but still.
A few people had gotten lightly injured, but compared to everything we'd been through, that was a minor problem. Probably.
"Huh!? This is...!?"
"What? What's wrong?"
"Uh... don't tell me that's..."
I'd been lying there with my eyes closed for a while, lost in thought, when the students' voices suddenly made me open them again. They were all gathered around a shelf, excitedly staring at the bottles lined up there.
"...This is alcohol, isn't it?"
"It really is alcohol...? Why is this here?"
"...I heard this place was originally used by Future Foundation executives. It was probably prepared for them."
When I took a closer look, the shelf was stocked with all kinds of liquor.
'Come to think of it... how long has it been since I last had a drink...?'
Sure, I used to drink alone, but before I came to this world, I actually enjoyed alcohol quite a bit. But after arriving here, naturally, I hadn't had a chance to drink... had I?
I still hadn't recovered the memories of those missing years, so I couldn't be sure. Still, since I'd technically been a high school student, maybe I really hadn't touched the stuff.
"Alright...! Then to celebrate our safe escape from the academy... tonight, we're having a drinking party!!"
"Oooh...! That's a great idea...!"
"A-a drinking party...?"
"...Alcohol, hm. How intriguing."
The moment Hagakure declared it, the boys' eyes lit up and they rushed in, while even the girls started looking pretty interested.
"Wait!! Are you all out of your minds!? We're still minors!! I absolutely cannot permit drinking alcohol!!"
Just as everyone was looking dangerously tempted, Ishimaru—who'd spent the last while acting like a cheer captain—finally reemerged in his true form as the moral committee guy.
"Hey... Ishimaru... the world's already fallen apart, so do we really need to follow rules this strictly...?"
"E-Even so, there are rules that must be upheld...!"
"Besides, we're not really high schoolers anymore, are we? If you think about it, doesn't that make us adults?"
"...What!?"
"Our memories of several years were erased, right? We don't know exactly how many... but anyway, we're not fresh-faced first-years anymore... so maybe this is within acceptable limits...?"
"Ghk..."
The boys, their judgment thoroughly annihilated by the sight of alcohol, cornered Ishimaru with relentless persuasion. Then Hagakure drove in the final nail.
"And besides... if you're gonna function in society, you've gotta be able to drink!! We don't know what kind of rough stuff's waiting for us in this world, so if you can't even handle one drink, you're in trouble, ain't ya?"
"I-Is that so..."
"Especially for someone like you, Ishimaru, who's gonna be dealing with lots of people, alcohol's essential...! I may not look it, but I'm an adult, y'know... so tonight, I'll specially teach you proper drinking etiquette!!"
"....."
Ishimaru agonized over it for a long while before finally speaking.
"Certainly... if one is to preserve public morals... one must understand that which corrupts them... And... if it is drinking etiquette taught by an adult... then perhaps it falls within acceptable limits..."
"Alright! Then everyone who's gonna drink, gather up over here!!"
With a triumphant grin, Hagakure shouted, and one by one, the students began to gather, all wearing fascinated expressions.
.
.
.
.
.
"So in the end... everyone joined, huh..."
Every last student had taken a seat with alcohol beside them. Honestly, I hadn't expected literally all of them to participate, so this was pretty surprising.
"You guys... but have you actually ever had alcohol before...?"
Maybe Hagakure had suddenly grown worried, because he asked the question carefully. The others began answering in fits and starts.
"Th-This body... as the leader of a biker gang... every night after our marches ended... I drank heartily... with my comrades!!"
"...Do you take the heir of the Togami family for someone who can't handle a mere drink? If you totaled the price of all the wine I've had with meals up to now, it would be enough to buy an entire city and still have money left over."
"O-Of course I've had alcohol before...! There was this old baseball club tradition, an initiation where you had to chug a whole basin of booze... and I passed it no problem...! Hah... ha..."
"...I've played gambling games where I had to drink every time I lost chips. Of course, they all ended in my overwhelming victory."
"...I've had drinks with comrades who smuggled alcohol onto the battlefield. The next morning, I was the only one still standing."
"Kyoko Kirigiri, what about you? Have you ever drunk before?"
"...I can probably handle it better than you, so you don't need to worry. I encountered it a few times while solving cases in the past."
"Oh... I see..."
After hearing everyone's stories, Hagakure looked relieved and addressed the group.
"Hmm... sounds like more of you can drink than I expected...? Alright! Then the ones who can hold their liquor should look after the others! Okay, everybody, pour yourselves a glass!!"
And so, with pounding hearts, everyone began to drink.
.
.
.
.
.
"Haa... what the hell do we do now..."
"Seriously... how are we supposed to clean this up...?"
At the moment, I was drowning in bleak despair.
"Bleegh... uweeegghhh..."
"Heehee... it's Monokuma... Monokuma's crawling around all toddly-like..."
"Ah, I'm not drunk, okay? Uuuh?"
Because everyone except me and Fujisaki was catastrophically, gloriously wasted and causing absolute chaos.
"A-Actually... I've... never even touched alcohol beforeeeeee!!!!!!! UOOOOOOHHHH!!!!!"
"I get it, so stop yelling! Owada!!"
"Uweeeggh... actually... the club initiation... was karaoke... uweeegghhh..."
"I gave you a plastic bag!! Throw up in that, Leon!!"
"A-Acshually... I was trying not to drink... so I concentrated harder than ever before... and won without drinking even onceee..."
"Those aren't gambling chips, they're potato chips... stop collecting them, Celestia Ludenberg..."
"...I'm not drunk yet. So shut up and pour me another drink..."
"Why are you holding out dried squid instead of a glass... Togami...?"
"Keeeeeeeyyyyyyy!!! I'm sorrrryyyyyyy!!!!!! Did it huuuurt a lot????????? I did bad..... I'll go slaughter every last one of the Remnants of Despair right noooow... so please forgive me just this once....."
"Fujisaki, help me!!! We have to stop her from going outside...!!!"
"...I think I get why Mukuro Ikusaba was the only one who stayed perfectly fine now..."
I was sweating cold bullets while trying to suppress the rampage of all the idiots who'd boasted so confidently about their alcohol tolerance when suddenly, a scream rang out.
"...Kyaah! Naegi-kun...!"
"M-Maizonooo... I love yooou..."
"I-I love you toooo..."
Sayaka Maizono, who'd been secretly dumping her own drink while continuously feeding alcohol to Naegi, was now rolling around with him while pretending to be drunk. My head already felt like it was splitting open, and I had absolutely no spare mental bandwidth to deal with that too, so I decided to ignore it.
"Kyakyakyakya!!! What is this situation!!!! Did we get attaaacked or somethi—huh!? Byakuya-sama is... acting that cute...?"
"G-Genocide Jack... don't do anything dangerous... try to be more careful with yourself..."
"B-B-B-Byakuyaaaaaaaa-sama!!!"
"D-Don't glomp me..."
With Fukawa passed out cold from alcohol poisoning, Genocide Jack had popped out instead. Now she was clinging to the thoroughly plastered Togami, shrieking in bliss after hearing his honest feelings spill out. I was actually kind of looking forward to seeing how Togami would react tomorrow once he sobered up.
"Ehehehe... it's water everywhere... so nice and cool... I'm gonna swim... swimmm... ehehehe..."
"Asahina... what exactly are you doing on the bare floor...?"
"D-Donut!! It's a giant donut!!!"
"W-What do you—Aaaagh!!!"
"Nom...!"
"G-Get off me!!!"
Asahina had been swimming across the bare floor, then the moment she saw me, she screamed that a giant donut had appeared and launched herself at me. Thanks to that, I spent a good while being eaten by Asahina while flailing for my life.
"I wiiill!! Turn this wooorld!!! Into one where people can succeeeed through effort alooone!!! I sweeeear iiiittt!!!!!"
"Magnificeeent!!! Kiyotaka Ishimaru-saaaaaan!!!!! I too shall support yooou with all my heart and souuul!!!"
"Effort!!! Effort is the only path to survival!! EFFOOOOORT!!!"
d2I2eElUOVowdmMyN1FTaFhCZWJXYzJlRVk3VUxkeFVERGtWVHdUNlZoL29IU20wY1p2NzFiTWViQzA5a0NvTw
The completely hammered Ishimaru and Yamada had their arms slung over each other's shoulders, chanting in unison. Honestly, they seemed weirdly compatible like this, so I decided to leave them alone.
"I did a fortune readinggg!! K!! Youuu... are doomed to keep suffering for a loooong time yet!!! Over and over again!!!! Hehehehehehehehe..."
"Want me to punch you?"
"....."
Hagakure, the mastermind behind this entire catastrophe, was lolling around and cursing me out. Considering he'd collapsed after barely half a bottle, I had no idea what kind of suicidal confidence had possessed him to start a drinking party in the first place.
"Zzz... zzz..."
"Uh... we should probably just leave Oogami alone, right...?"
"Yeah... that's probably for the best..."
"Crrrk... grrrk..."
Compared to the others, Oogami was at least sleeping quietly. Or she would have been, if she weren't grinding her teeth while clutching a shattered liquor bottle in her right hand.
"K."
"Ah, Kyoko Kirigiri? You're not drunk? Thank God... if you were drunk too..."
"Come with me."
"...Huh?"
"I need to go to the bathroom."
"Uh... if you're just going to the bathroom, do you really need me...? You can just go by yourself..."
"Now."
"....."
After spending ages breaking into a cold sweat while trying to restrain the others, K was suddenly dragged out of the room by Kyoko Kirigiri, who said she needed to go to the bathroom. And that night, neither Kyoko Kirigiri nor K came back to the room.
"...At this point, I don't even know anymore."
As a result, Fujisaki—left to deal with everyone alone—finally gave up, grabbed one of the liquor bottles rolling around on the floor, and chugged it. Then, after downing three bottles in a row, he collapsed face-first onto the ground.
And so, the hopes who had saved the world spent one delirious night in a drunken frenzy, blissfully unaware that the next morning would bring a hangover more despair-inducing than any despair they'd ever endured before.