The ship I'm riding is swaying violently.
Thanks to that, I can't sleep, and I can't rest in peace.
Even so, I was more satisfied than I had ever been.
Because what awaited me next was something "unpredictable."
"Hey... is that really true? You have the talent of 'luck' too?"
"...A trivial talent like luck is something I possess in abundance."
"Ha, figures... I knew it. So that's why that happened back then..."
The boy sitting in the corner and talking to me had an easygoing manner and a face that looked kind enough... but underneath, he was rotten to the core.
That was why he had joined her and me in carrying out something like that.
"Kamukura... did you predict things would turn out like this too...? That Enoshima would lose, and all of us would end up captured like this...? Hm...?"
"....."
"Looks like even you didn't see things ending up this way...! Hope really is incredible!! Ahahahahaha..."
To be honest, it was true that I hadn't expected things to unfold in such a dull fashion. The very 'she' who first awakened me to the concept of 'irregularity' collapsing in such a foolish way, of all things.
Still, because that too had been something I failed to predict, I was forced to take an interest in it. Well, if I hadn't received 'that message,' it would have been an interest that faded away before long.
Thanks to 'that message,' which rekindled my dying curiosity, I was able to face the 'unpredictable' event that was about to occur...
"Hey, but... Kamukura. No, Hinata inside you. From your answer just now, I figured something out... Your choice back then really was for 'her' sake..."
"...I also possess the talents of a fighter, a murderer, and an assassin."
"Haha... so that really is your sore spot... But from what you just said, I can more or less tell what happened—"
"Komaeda, how did you get in here?"
Just as the boy in front of me was smiling and muttering to himself, the door suddenly opened and three people entered the room.
"Well, I got lucky and found the key to the room... I just wanted to ask a former accomplice who caused Hope's Peak Academy's Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event something, so I dropped by for a moment..."
"No... not that. I mean how you got out of your restraints and made it all the way here... Haaah, whatever. Arguing with you only hurts me. Drag him out."
""Yes, sir.""
At the command of the man standing in front, the suited men behind him dragged the white-haired boy away.
"Hahahahahaha!! What comes next, I wonder? Luck? Misfortune? Despair? Hope? If even Kamukura doesn't know... then this is really something to look forward to, isn't it? Hahahahahahahahaha...!"
"...What a damn pest."
The man made a thoroughly fed-up face, then turned to me and spoke.
"...Search him. Thoroughly. Until not a speck of dust turns up."
""Understood.""
"K, you've already searched him dozens of times... why the hell are you so..."
"Kamukura... what exactly are you after...? There's no way you'd let yourself get captured this meekly... There has to be something. There has to be..."
He glared at me with open unease as they searched my entire body, then spoke in a low voice to the two women standing beside him.
"Nanami, Kyoko Kirigiri, maybe this time... I should handle it alone..."
"K...! I told you...! If it means getting those kids back... I'd dive straight into hell...!"
"K, calm down. Fujisaki checked the [Neo World Program] over and over, and he said there was nothing wrong with it. What you're worried about isn't going to happen."
"....."
""Nothing suspicious!""
"...Haaah."
They searched me for quite a while, but found nothing on my body. Naturally. I am merely a guest invited onto the stage, and an actor. Of course, my turn will come at the end... but I am not the one who built the stage.
Those three had worked surprisingly hard for such dull creatures, but it seemed they still hadn't found the internal 'turncoat' and 'traitor.' Which meant, in the end, they were sailing together with everyone on this ship toward an unpredictable future.
Would that future, one even I could not predict, contain hope? Or despair? Whatever it was, I would know soon enough.
For the time being, I would not be able to participate as myself, but at the final moment I would see it with my own eyes—
"Kamukura, I don't know what you're thinking... but would you like to talk for a bit?"
"...Talk?"
"Right... nothing major. Just some simple small talk..."
"...I possess the talent of a counselor in abundance as well. So I suggest you abandon the idea of counseling me."
"....."
That man staring at me with a stiff expression had been rather interesting at first, but now that I had grasped his secret to some extent, he no longer stirred much in me. The moment I find order within irregularity, I lose interest.
"...Kamukura. Even if you stood on despair's side, your actions have been blatantly strange. The most suspicious of all was your recent visit to Towa City. What exactly did you go there for?"
"...Towa City?"
"Just as I thought. The disappearance of Monaca in Towa City and your trip there are definitely connected somehow—"
"It was for an exceedingly trivial reason, and it ended in an exceedingly trivial way."
"...What?"
"...I also possess the talent of the [Ultimate Detective]. So I suggest you give up on interrogating me any further."
"....."
After hearing me, the detective fell silent in thought. Judging by my talent for analysis, she seemed to be trying to grasp the meaning behind what I had said.
She had probably been digging into that incident with considerable focus. But as I just said, it was a trivial case, not worth digging into at all.
I had heard there was a successor to 'her,' so I visited Towa City once to confirm it for myself. But thanks to the white-haired boy who had just been dragged out, 'her' successor had already grown nearly exhausted with both hope and despair.
Well, after exchanging a few words with me, she vanished with some purpose after speaking with the ones who had prepared this whole affair, perhaps having attained some kind of revelation... but that 'purpose' was so unbearably trivial that I decided to lose interest.
More importantly, the island was beginning to come into view. There, at last, I would be able to answer the question that had occupied me for so long. Between hope and despair, which one was more—
"...Hinata-kun."
"...?"
"I've only just now managed to work up the courage to say this..."
"....."
"Thank you, and... I'm sorry. For making you bear that choice alone..."
"...I am not Hinata. So there is no reason for me to receive an apology from you."
"...Even so. I'm sorry... I truly am."
"As I said, there is no reason for me to receive an apology from—"
She stepped closer to me, and then—
".....!"
She pulled me into an embrace and kissed me.
"Let's definitely meet again, Hinata-kun."
At last, she gently pulled her lips away, gave me a sad smile, then turned and walked out.
"So even someone who can know anything can't understand his own heart, huh? Or maybe you do know, and you're just forcing yourself to ignore it?"
"...I hope the three of us can have fun together again soon, Hinata. Just like old times."
Eventually, the other two turned and left the room as well, and I was alone again.
"As expected..."
All of it had gone exactly as I predicted. The only thing I could not predict was what would happen after arriving on the island and entering the program. What would happen on this ship, at least, I had foreseen well enough.
And yet...
"...You really are dull."
Why, then, was I crying?
"Still as ever."
This was something I had not predicted.
.
.
.
.
.
"Ugh... my head..."
I sat up, a violent pain lancing through my skull.
"...This is a classroom?"
When I looked around, I saw a blackboard, desks, and chairs. No doubt about it. It was a classroom.
'Why am I suddenly in a classroom...? I was definitely... with the others in front of the ruins...'
I was sure of it. The others and I had been trying to enter the ruins with the collapsing island behind us. So why the hell was I suddenly in some classroom I didn't even recognize?
'Let's see... we reached the ruins on the second island... and when Nanami entered the password into the ruins' keypad... the entire island started collapsing... and then... suddenly my head started hurting...'
For some reason, my memory of those final moments was hazy. Every time I tried to recall it, the pain in my head only got worse. In the end, I gave up on forcing the memory back and let out a sigh as I stood.
Ding dong, bing bong! "Ah, ah! Mic test! Mic test!"
"Gah, y-you scared me... what the hell!?"
Monokuma's announcement was cutting in and out badly. No, it wasn't just Monokuma's announcement that was strange... this entire space was...
'Hm? What was I just thinking...?'
Something felt off, but I couldn't tell what. I tried to think it through for a moment, but my head just started throbbing again, so I gave up.
Wait, did Monokuma just say, "Welcome to Hope's Peak Academy"? Was that even possible? Hope's Peak Academy...? Weren't we just on Jabberwock Island?
And a "graduation exam"...? What the hell was Monokuma trying to make us do this time?
'I don't know what a graduation exam is... but somehow, it feels like the end is getting close...'
"Graduation" was a word that symbolized an ending, wasn't it? Which meant this wretched killing game would soon be over, one way or another.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, fear began to bloom from somewhere deep inside me. When the end came, would Monokuma really let us go that easily? Or was he waiting with one final trap to kill every last one of us?
My memory was fuzzy, but wasn't this the same Monokuma who had blown up the island with bombs and started collapsing the whole thing? Piecing the situation together, it seemed we'd somehow managed to evacuate into the ruins, but if Monokuma's announcement was still playing, then we were obviously still inside his sphere of influence.
'Damn it... how far is he planning to follow us and torment us, anyway... Monokuma...'
Right now, the only thing I could do was open that door and head to the gym. But was that really the right choice? Maybe I was about to step willingly into a pit of death.
I wanted to move, but my feet wouldn't budge. My reason was screaming at me to open the door and go forward, but my instincts were shrieking that I absolutely must not open it.
In the end, unable to make any choice at all, I could only stare helplessly at the door.
Then—
Creak...
"Hinata-kun...?"
"...Nanami?"
The door opened, and she stepped inside.
"I-I... Nanami... I..."
"....."
She strode straight toward me, took my hand, and started leading me back toward the door.
"Hinata-kun. This time, I won't let you make the choice alone."
"....."
"So let's move forward together. Toward the final chapter that will end everything. Toward the future."
At her words, the fear and hesitation strangling me vanished like a lie. So I answered her with a bright smile—the girl who had given me courage, lightened my burden, and above all else, allowed me to forge a bond more precious than anything.
"...Thanks, Nanami."
"...No, thank you."
And so, just like in that last trial, we left the classroom hand in hand.