Tremble tremble tremble tremble...
"U-um... Himiko? Are you nervous, by any chance?"
"J-ju-ju-just a little...!"
By evening, everyone had gathered in the gym.
Honestly, because of Hoshi and Harukawa, I hadn't expected "everyone" to actually make it. But for some reason, those two had arrived before anyone else.
When I first stepped into the gym, it looked like Harukawa was shooting Hoshi a deeply suspicious glare. But the instant I came in, she turned her head and started glaring at me instead.
"......"
'S-scary...'
Whenever Ikusaba or Tojo talked about being able to feel someone's "bloodlust," I never really understood what they meant. How were you supposed to physically sense another person's intent to kill?
But now, with Harukawa glaring at me from across the room like she wanted me dead, I finally got the general idea.
'No, seriously... what the hell is her problem...'
Just what kind of document had Harukawa seen to make her stare at me like that? What, had I bullied her back at the orphanage or something?
But... if I'd really bullied an assassin, then obviously I'd have been murdered by Harukawa already.
So... the reason she was radiating killing intent at me had to be because she'd learned some new information about me—something she hadn't known before. The problem was, I had no clue what that information could be.
'Yeah, asking her directly is definitely the fastest way.'
Lately, it felt like way too many things had started piling stress onto me.
As if getting dragged into this grotesque "killing game" wasn't bad enough, my memories were even more gutted than everyone else's, the others all thought I was some trashy middle-school Casanova who caused an incident, I was surrounded by a slaughter-machine puppy and a lunatic maid, and now even an assassin was targeting me with enough murderous pressure to curdle the air.
'Nope. That's it. I have to settle this with her somehow before today ends.'
I couldn't solve the other problems right away, but Harukawa's issue? If it was just a misunderstanding, then clearing it up should fix everything immediately. Before stress-induced baldness came for me, I needed to deal with this fast.
"Th-th-then... from this point on, I shall unveil my magic..."
Right as I was thinking that, Yumeno began speaking in a trembling voice.
"The high-level water-element grand spell I shall perform today, [Underwater Escape]... is a difficult spell... one even I have never successfully cast before... S-so naturally, I am a little nervous..."
"Y-you've never succeeded even once?"
"S-shut up! The spirit of challenge is the very creed of a mage!"
"Nyahaha~! Then... let's reveal the stage~!"
With that, Angie pulled back the curtain, revealing a scene almost identical to the gym I'd seen last night.
"Howdy, y'all~!"
The only difference was that instead of a tank full of piranhas suspended above the giant water tank, Monosuke was dangling there tied up by a rope, with some kind of device strapped to his back.
"We somehow managed to get the big tank, but piranhas were a no-go, y'see! So I decided I'd fill in as the piranha instead!"
"W-what is that even supposed to mean...?"
"Then~ I'll begin explaining the magic show! Everyone, please direct your attention to the tank in front~!"
Smiling brightly, Angie stepped in front of the others and began her explanation.
"First, Himiko will press the timer onstage and enter that tank! Then Angie will draw the curtain around it. If the timer passes 60 seconds in that state..."
"Then I, hangin' up here with a stun device strapped to my back, drop right into the tank! Then Yumeno in there gets electrocuted to death! Same principle as droppin' a hair dryer into a bathtub!"
"Th-then... wouldn't that mean you'd die too, Monosuke? In that case... if you die, even if I were to dissect your body..."
"D-don't just casually assume I'm gonna die!"
"That ain't gonna happen! The stun device on my back'll release enough electricity to kill one person if it falls into the tank, sure, but I've got anti-shock treatment and waterproofing! So even if Yumeno dies, I'll be just fine!"
"I-I'm begging you, please stop talking like I'm definitely going to die..."
Monosuke instead of piranhas... yeah, it felt a little off, but still, the fact that someone could actually die gave the whole thing a nasty edge of tension.
So I watched the stage with a bit of anticipation... but for some reason, Yumeno looked like she was shaking violently. Was it just my imagination?
Tremble tremble tremble...
Nope. Not my imagination. Yumeno's face was turning ash-gray. Was this really okay?
"Anyway, once Monosuke drops into the tank and we open the curtain... if Himiko has been beautifully roasted by electricity, that'll be a huge success! At that point, please give her a warm round of applause~!"
"....."
"Nyahaha~! Just kidding~!"
Yumeno, standing atop the tank, had stopped trembling entirely. Now she was just frozen solid.
"Um... this really is okay, right?"
"...I wonder if Yumeno-san is really okay. She doesn't even have the energy to snap back at the joke anymore."
"Ugh... God... please protect Yumeno-san... n-no, wait, now that I think about it, she's one of Angie-san's underlings!!"
"B-but God works in mysterious— hiiiieeeek!!"
"Mongrel, shut your mouth!!"
"Ughghghgh... s-sstooop..."
"Pyahaha!! So if the trick fails, Yumeno ends up like this underwater!? Wow, that'll be a sight!!"
"Uuuh... ngh..."
Watching Shirogane convulse on the floor after getting shocked, Yumeno started to tear up. If she was going to be this terrified, why had she been acting so confident earlier?
"Th-th-th-then... Yumeno Himiko's... magic... n-no, magic show... w-will now begin...!"
'...This feels ominous. Like something's about to go horribly wrong.'
And so, under a cloud of unease, Yumeno's magic show began.
.
.
.
.
.
Splash!!
"Okaaay~! Then I'll close the curtain~!"
Exactly ten seconds passed between Yumeno diving into the tank and Angie drawing the curtain shut.
'This is... weirdly tense...'
As the suspense started to creep under my skin, I unconsciously clenched my fist.
"..."
Of course, I wasn't the only one tense. The others around me were all watching in total silence too.
"Nishishi... I've got a feeling something's definitely gonna happen~?"
"...Honestly, I am a little uneasy. I just hope the performance ends safely."
"Yumeno-san... she still hasn't come out yet?"
"Well, she only just went in..."
"Saihara-kun, that thing really is safe, right?"
"Yeah... Yumeno-san is the [Ultimate Magician], right? So she should be okay... probably..."
Another ten seconds passed, leaving forty seconds on the clock, and worried voices started bubbling up here and there.
"...Uuugh, I'm getting worried after all. Maybe I should...!"
"Nishishi... Gonta, an audience member interfering in a magic show isn't very gentlemanly, you know?"
"I-is that so? Okay... then..."
"S-she still hasn't come out!? Is this really... really okay!?"
As time crawled onward and the countdown hit thirty seconds remaining, the anxiety only thickened.
"A-at this point, shouldn't it be getting hard for her to breathe!?"
"Yumeno-san!! Are you really okay in there!?"
"Nishishi... this is bad!"
"No way... that can't be..."
And then, when only fifteen seconds remained and everyone's faces had gone deathly pale, it happened.
"H-huh? Huhhh!?"
Splash!!
".....!!!"
Monosuke—who was supposed to fall into the tank only after the countdown ended—dropped in with fifteen seconds still left.
Gyaaaaaaagh!!!
A moment later, screams started erupting from inside the tank, and the students broke into full-blown panic.
"Y-Yumeno-saaaan!!!"
"S-stop it! Stop the magic show!!"
"B-but... he's already fallen in..."
"I-it's Gonta's fault... I should've saved her earlier..."
"That's right! This is Gonta's fault!"
"Hey, dumbass!! You're the one who stopped Gonta from going!!"
"Nishishi... when did I ever do that?"
"Angie!! Open the curtain!! We need to check on her!!"
As everyone shouted themselves hoarse, Angie scratched her head for a moment. Then, once the count reached zero, she pulled the curtain open and declared:
"Nyahaha~! Well then... time's up, so let's reveal what's inside the tank~!"
And beyond the fully drawn curtain, an astonishing sight awaited us.
Bzzzzzzzt!!
"Blub blub blub..."
"H-huh? Where's Yumeno-san...?"
"Why's that bear bastard the one writhing around in agony?"
Yumeno was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Monosuke was thrashing in torment, electricity blasting wildly from his body in every direction.
"I-I was... blub... definitely... waterproofed... blub blub..."
"D-do we have to save him?"
"He's not Yumeno, and he's not on our side, so do we really need to?"
"It's obviously part of the act!! Have you idiots never seen a magic show before!?"
"As expected... this just got interesting!"
"But... where did Yumeno-san go?"
Relieved that the screaming thing in the tank was Monosuke and not Yumeno, everyone started searching for where she'd disappeared to.
"D-don't tell me she already burned up and dissolved in the water..."
"There's no way that's possible!!"
"Yumeno-san! You're safe, right? You are, right!?"
"Ah~! Look over there!!"
Just as everyone was frantically searching for Yumeno, Angie suddenly shouted and pointed behind the crowd.
"How's that!! Yumeno Himiko's magic was a huge success~!"
"Y-Yumeno-saaaan...!!"
Tenko burst into tears and ran toward Yumeno, and most of the students in the gym broke into relieved smiles and applause for the first time in a while.
Then—
Bzzzt!! Bzzzzzt!!
"M-my body... blub blub... it's hot...! F-feels like I'm gonna... blub blub... burst..."
A massive current surged through Monosuke's body as he flailed in the tank, and then his body began to swell.
"T-the Monosuke in the tank doesn't look good at all..."
"H-his body's swelling up, isn't it?"
"For now, I think everyone should back away."
As the students stumbled backward in alarm, the remaining three Monokubs came rushing out and started shouting.
"Hey! Monotaro! You idiot! Why'd you tie a [Memory Flash] core to Monosuke's back instead of the stun device!?"
"S-sorry... my memory's really bad..."
"A [Memory Flash] core releases energy that makes a stun device look like a toy if it touches water!! What are we supposed to do now!? At this rate we won't even get to make the surprise announcement we planned!!"
"Uh... then instead of a surprise announcement, how about we hold a beef-broth festival with nicely boiled Monosuke?"
"...Come to think of it, that's not a bad idea!"
"......"
Of course, as always, Monodam just stood there in silence.
"Gyaaaaaagh!!!"
At last, Monosuke's body twisted grotesquely, holes began opening all over him, and light started leaking out from those holes.
"I-it really looks like he's about to explode!"
"Y-Yumeno-san! Is that part of your magic too!?"
"M-my mana has already been completely drained by the [Underwater Escape] spell..."
"Th-the gym doors are locked!!"
"Damn it! This has to be Monokuma's doing!!"
The students finally grasped how serious the situation was and tried to flee the gym, but for some reason the doors were sealed tight.
"GRAAAAAAAAH!!"
Monosuke's body swelled to its absolute limit, the light pouring from the holes growing more and more intense, until he was literally on the verge of bursting.
And at that exact moment—
Rustle
"...Huh?"
Harukawa quietly pulled an eye mask from her pocket, put it on, and then immediately flattened herself against the floor.
"What are you even—"
BZZZZZIIIIING!!!
"...Ah, don't tell me. Again?"
I started to question her bizarre behavior, but then Monosuke exploded inside the tank, and the savage burst of light flooded the entire gym. I couldn't even finish speaking before I collapsed.
And just like that, wracked by a headache I was experiencing for the third time now but still couldn't get used to, I fell once more into that black void.
'Right... so who is it this time...? Harukawa? Oma? Or is it still Tojo? Or maybe Ikusaba bites me and I die of rabies or something...'
Staring at the monitor that appeared before me again, I started trying to predict who would kill whom this time.
'Yeah... Harukawa's still the most likely culprit... and the victim's probably me?'
Up until now, it had been hard to predict who would kill who, but this time it felt easy. Harukawa had been radiating such icy bloodlust that even an ordinary person like me could feel it.
So once that monitor started playing, there was a very high chance Saihara would be pointing at Harukawa and demanding to know why she'd killed me—
"[Ultimate Anthropologist] Shinguji Korekiyo, you're the culprit behind this serial murder!!"
'You've gotta be kidding me.'
.
.
.
.
.
Time passed, and I eventually emerged from the black void and regained consciousness, but I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes.
'That lunatic Shinguji... why the hell is he suddenly committing serial murder...? Why...?'
Because I'd just learned that Shinguji—that bastard I'd never once expected to kill anyone—would end up carrying out a double murder, taking out both Chabashira and Angie in one fell swoop.
'I thought it'd be Harukawa, who seems to have some kind of grudge against me, or that rotten little demon Oma, or maybe Tojo again, or at the very least Ikusaba somehow... and now Shinguji comes out of nowhere?'
Now I was going to have to add "figure out how to stop Shinguji" to my ever-growing list of problems. At this rate, stress-induced baldness really might be coming for me.
'But... what reason could Shinguji possibly have for committing serial murder?'
Sure, Shinguji was definitely missing a few screws somewhere... but I'd still judged him to be more normal than most of the others. Looks like I was dead wrong.
Because unless someone was completely, irredeemably insane, there was no reason to commit serial murder, was there?
'No, no... that's not it. It could be because of Monokuma's motive. No—it has to be because of the motive.'
Monokuma must have unveiled some unprecedentedly horrific motive. That had to be it. Otherwise, how could someone relatively sane like Shinguji do something as deranged as serial murder?
'The victims are Angie and Chabashira... huh...'
I tried to think of any connection between Angie and Chabashira, but the only thing that came to mind was that they were locked in some weird rivalry over Yumeno, so I gave up.
'No helping it... I'll just have to face this head-on.'
Having organized my thoughts, I decided I needed to warn Ikusaba and Tojo to be especially careful around Shinguji, and then I opened my eyes.
"...You're finally awake?"
"...???"
But when I opened them, instead of seeing the students in the gym staggering back to their feet, I found Harukawa holding a knife to my throat.
"Wh-what the... ngh...!"
I recoiled in terror and tried to back away, but my body wouldn't move. I looked down in confusion and saw that I was tied up tight with rope.
"W-what the hell is this...?"
"Ultimate Cult Leader K..."
"...What?"
"...Are you prepared?"
"...???"
As she pressed the knife harder against my throat and spoke, I—
"Prepared to pay for your sins."
—opened my mouth almost unconsciously.
"Uh... could you maybe go easy on me this time?"
"...What?"
I don't know why, but I had this strange feeling that this wasn't the first or second time I'd gone through something like this.