(3rd Person's POV)
In Towa City, Big Bang Monokuma was stomping through the town with the adults cheering it on from the rooftops. The Monokuma Kids were running away from the robot in desperation. An army of Monokumas jump out and try to attack it, but the Big Bang Monokuma would just destroy them with a wave of its staff.
Meawhile, inside the Big Bang Monokuma, Haiji triumphantly laughed. "Haha, did you see that!? Who's the boss now?! As long as I control this Big Bang Monokuma, those little Monokumas are like nothing!"
"..." Komaru looked nervous, looking concerned as she was holding Akira and Toko's hand.
Haiji turned his head back to the girls with a grateful smile. "Good work you three! You guys are the saviors of this town!"
"Ah, yeah..." Komaru nodded with some hesitance.
---
Meanwhile...
On a television screen, Monaca was watching the chaos unfold. Despite her units getting absolutely overpowered, she had a smile on her face, looking pleased with how things are going.
"Greetings!" The Servant approached her. "I came to say my goodbyes."
"Huh? Going already?" Monaca pouted. "But this is where the fun starts!"
"Fo' real, though!" Kurokuma chimed in. "The real deal starts now! It's like you finally get the girl of your dreams, so now you can start wearing her underwear whenever ya want! Hahahaha!" He burst into laughter. "That example was pretty clever! Let's put that shit on a calendar!"
The two sweatdropped, with the Servant putting his head down and sighing while Monaca simply stared at him in a deadpan manner.
"By the way..." The Servant lifted his head back up. "There's something I should tell you."
"Oh, what!?" Kurokuma jumped down from his throne. "Is this it!? You're finally gonna come out of the closet!?"
The Servant sighed, ignoring what he just said. "...I've received word from the Monokuma Kids on watch. An intruder has entered Towa City. And they came alone."
"Alone? I see... Was this someone from Future Foundation?" Monaca asked.
"I don't know. But I recommend caution-—"
"Hey, hey! Look at that!" Monaca turned her wheelchair around as she heard the Big Bang Monokuma stomping around. "Wooow, the impact! Looks just like an action movie, meow! Ufufu, if this keeps up...all the children might end up getting killed."
"...You're in quite a good mood, hm?" The Servant noticed. "Despite the fact that your plan is about to be ruined."
"Ruined? You talkin' about ruined!?" Kurokuma grinned. "Monaca's plan is totally goin' smoothly! Toootally!"
The Servant raised an eyebrow. "Smoothly? You call this smoothly?"
"Sorry..." Monaca turned her wheelchair around to face the Servant. "I know you helped me out and everything, but this plan is a secret even to you."
"By any chance...is this plan related to The Successor of Junko Enoshima?" The Servant correctly guessed.
"No! Zip zip your mouth!" Monaca puffed her cheeks out.
"Well, it does not matter what you're planning. In the end, hope shall win the day." The Servant folded his arms.
Kurokuma chuckled. "So to prove your little point about hope or whatevs, you brought on the despair, huh? Well, that's just fuckin' stupid! It's like goin' to the desert to drink some tasty water!"
"It's totally contradictory, riiight?" Monaca agreed.
The Servant let out a soft laugh. "No, you misunderstand. In order to get rid of all the despair, you first must let it flourish. Wait until the despair has grown to its largest size, and then burn it, all the way to the roots. And after that, only hope will remain. That is the world I seek. There is nothing contradictory in that. ...Well, not that it even matters."
"Ptoo! So you're gonna burn the crops and salt the Earth, huh!?" Kurokuma barked.
"Ufufu, you really are amusing, Mister Servant." Monaca admired before looking up at him in the eyes with a blank expression. "Despite the fact that you know you've fallen into despair, you still fight for hope... Could it be from Big Sis Junko's influence? Or were you always like this?"
"..." The Servant didn't respond.
"Who cares, Monaca!? Just let this chump exit stage left already!" Kurokuma urged. "There's somethin' way more fun and refreshin' waitin' for ya!"
Monaca nodded. "Yep, that's right! I'm reaaally looking forward to it. Ufufu... Just how will the world look through the eyes of The Successor?"
Kurokuma laughed. "Monaca, you're so into it! Your heart resonates! Hot enough to burn!"
"Thank you, Kurokuma... For giving Monaca such a splendid plan..." Monaca smiled as she hugged him.
Kurokuma made a flop-sweat. "Uh yeah, stop it... Your little hills... Up against my body... Ah, are you pushin' those little buds on me!? Aw, you doin' this on purpose, Monaca? Monacaaa!"
"..." The Servant made a quick grimace, but it just as quickly disappeared.
Monaca let go and faced the Servant. "Thank you for your hard work, Mister Servant. I'm sure we will not see each other ever again."
The Servant nodded as he left.
---
Meanwhile, back in Towa City...
The Big Bang Monokuma kept stomping towards the enemy base while the adults were armed with countless weapons. Suddenly, the giant Monokuma stopped as the girls and Haiji stepped out.
"Mister Haiji! We're all here, sir!" A man said.
"Good. Thank you." Haiji said as he walked to the front, facing the other adults. "Everyone! Hear me out! First off... I gotta apologize to you guys." He let out a sigh before continuing. "The reason I was always down in that base wasn't because I was waiting for an opportunity... That was just an excuse. Really, I was just scared shitless by those kids. Heh... Makes me a pretty bad leader. But then someone snapped me out of it. Those three girls over there, neither kids nor adults..."
The adults turned back to see Komaru, Aki, and Toko. "H-Hi..." Komaru nervously waved.
"Thanks to them, I've finally woken up. No matter how scared you are, if you want a hopeful future, sometimes you gotta fight for one." Haiji said with a determined look in his eyes. "So never again! Never are we gonna hide and cower and lose what we care about! Now it's time to stand up! With our hands, we're gonna take back this city! We have the power now! With Big Bang Monokuma, we can do this! So listen up! Teach those deranged kids who really runs this town! Towa City! Our home! Our town!" He raised his fist up into the air as the crowed roared with support.
"Th-This is..." Toko lightly bit her thumb. "Things are turning for the worse..." She said, looking at the Big Bang Monokuma.
"Isn't it better if the adults are...a little more calm?" Komaru looked nervous.
"Probably, but we can't just tell this group to keep level heads. They'd turn on us." Toko pointed out.
"I dunno why...but I don't like the feeling I'm getting from all this..." Akira mumbled.
"You too, huh...?" Toko nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, Hiroko approached them, holding Shirokuma's head. "Yo... Got a sec? Shiroro wants to talk to you guys, right away."
"Shirokuma! Good timing! There's something we have to talk about, too." Komaru said.
"So you guys are worried too, right? It'd be bad if the adults attack the kids, riled up like this..." Shirokuma responded.
"You think so too?"
"Haiji seems like he's holding a grudge... Not just against the Monokumas, but the children, too. If they end up fighting like this... Both the kids and adults will end up killing each other."
"K-Killing?"
"I knew it..." Akira folded her arms with a sigh. "This is bad..."
"Why did it end up like this...? I mean, didn't you want the adults to fight back, too?" Toko looked at him.
"Well, just like you, I didn't know that Haiji had that kind of weapon." Shirokuma told them. "The reason I tried to motivate them was to give them the power to protect themselves. But Big Bang Monokuma isn't about protection. It has the power to destroy. If the adults and kids fight one another with the power to destroy, the damage would be terrible."
"Hey... Is there anything we can do to maybe calm them down a little?" Komaru suggested.
Hiroko shook her head, looking at Haiji and the adults, the former still doing his speech. "The way they are now, I doubt it."
"We don't have to be afraid anymore! We might lose our lives, we might take lives, but either way, we will not be afraid anymore! Today, we make the memorial of our victory! We make the memorial of the kids' defeat!" Haiji yelled, which resulted in the increase of supportive roars in the crowd.
Toko grimaced. "It's hard to believe these are the same adults that were so scared earlier... They want blood."
"The moment they saw that stupid huge Monokuma, their eyes lit up." Hiroko noted. "Yeah, maybe it is their last hope... But maybe it's far too big of a hope. There's no way they'd listen to us if we told them to go easy because they're just kids..."
"Shirokuma, do you have any ideas?" Komaru inquired.
"There is one..." Shirokuma said.
"Well then, hurry up and say it!" Toko urged.
"The Monokumas running amok in town aren't moving on their own, like me. There must be a device somewhere giving them orders."
"Somewhere?" Komaru tilted her head.
"I would guess that the controller is at Towa Hills, the kid's HQ." Shirokuma revealed.
"If we get to Towa Hills before the battle gets out of hand, and destroy that device..." Hiroko trailed off.
"Yep, the Monokumas will stop functioning all at once, and the kids will no longer have an army. If you guys do that, I'm sure you can prevent the fight between adults and children."
"Yeah, it's not like they're a group of fanatics who would attack defenseless children... I hope." Hiroko added with a slight uneasiness in her voice.
"But who's going to do it? It sounds really dangerous..." Toko muttered.
"Ah... About that..." Shirokuma nervously trailed off.
Toko's face turned deadpan, knowing exactly what he was about to say. "...You better not tell us to do it. Sneaking into heavily-guarded enemy territory to look for a device that's who knows where... That's just begging to get killed."
"But when the Big Bang Monokuma starts attacking, the Monokumas will be busy dealing with that... If you use that as a distraction, it won't be impossible to break into Towa Hills."
"Wh-Whether it's possible or not isn't the problem! Why do we have to be the ones to risk our lives?"
Akira sighed. "Well, we might as well. We've risked our lives countless times before against huge armies of Monokumas. At this point, we're a trio of one-woman armies."
"A-Aki!? You're not seriously...!?" Toko snapped her head to her.
"S-She's right." Komaru timidly agreed. "Besides, in order to save Byakuya, we have to go to Towa Hills anyway, right...?"
"Y-Yeah, but a device used to control Monokumas is obviously going to be well guarded... No matter what the plan is, it's just not possible." Toko tried to argue.
"I know I'm asking you for a lot... But you two are the only ones I can rely on anymore! I beg you, you guys are the only ones who can save this town!" Shirokuma pleaded.
Toko looked down at the ground. "Save this town? What do you mean? That's not what we're in this for. We're...not heroes or anything, y'know? Why put us in that situation?"
"Wait, Toko." Komaru spoke up before confidently nodding. "I'll try."
"H-Hey, what are you saying!?" Toko looked at her as if she was insane.
"I know it's dangerous, but even then... I can't just leave it like this. I know I'd regret it later on." Komaru pointed out.
"...Maybe...you want to be like your brother? You admire him?" Toko assumed, a smirk growing on her face.
"I-It's not like that!" Komaru blushed in embarrassment.
Toko snorted in amusement, Komaru's reaction speaking volumes. "Hmph, so it's definitely like that. I knew it... You have a brother complex."
"No seriously, it's not!"
"Oy vey..." Akira rolled her eyes.
Shirokuma smiled. "Komaru... You've grown. I'm so glad to see you like this."
"That's what's been bothering me..." Toko mumbled.
"Huh?" Komaru wondered.
"Watching this new you... For some reason, it concerns me. I don't know..." Toko frowned.
Komaru chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I'll be just fine. After all, I have some reliable friends named Toko and Aki!"
"Th-That's... Well, it's true, but..." Toko trailed off.
"So? It's the final hour, what are you guys gonna do?" Hiroko asked.
Toko sighed, but relented. "Fine... You want me to go, right? Happy? Jeez, like I even have a choice..." She complained before sternly stating. "However, the objective is rescuing Master! Everything else is secondary!"
"Yeah, okay." Komaru smiled.
"This is...the finale, huh...?" Akira made a small smile as the girls walked off.
"Thanks, you three! Thank you so much!" Shirokuma cheerfully thanked.
"...Hm, looks like it's about to begin." Hiroko noticed as the Big Bang Monokuma started to move again.
The adults charged into the streets of Towa City, using their weapons to beat the crap out of any Monokuma robot that came their way. The Monokuma Kids looked on in terror as they ran off. And inside the Big Bang Monokuma was Haiji Towa, looking very smug and sure of their victory.
"We should hurry." Komaru said as she looked on at the chaos.
Toko took a deep breath. "Master... If our plan succeeds... Catch me in your open arms, Master!"
"Let's do this. It's now or never." Akira said as they headed off.
---
Eventually, they made it to the doors of Towa Hills. Komaru rang the bell and the door opened for them.
"We got in pretty easy, huh?" Komaru noticed. "Maybe it's because Big Bang Monokuma is making such a mess..." She turned to see Toko frantically looking around. "...Toko? What're you looking around for?"
Toko sniffed around before widening her eyes. "Th-There's no mistaking it... Master is here! The red string tied to my pinky... I can feel it tugging!"
"But in a building this big... It's gonna be hard to find him." Komaru pointed out.
"Well obviously, all we have to do is catch the head brat and make them spill... And while we're at it, we can make them stop controlling the Monokumas. Two birds, one stone." Toko said. "Knowing those brats, I bet they're somewhere up high where they can watch it all go down." She guessed.
"Yeah, that seems likely..." Akira nodded in agreement.
"But from here on, we can't let our guard down. The Monokuma controller has to be well protected. Let's buckle up and get moving." Toko advised.
"Yeah... Let's end this. Personally, I'm hoping for an easy ending." Komaru made a confident smirk.
"Heh, yeah, that sounds good." Toko chuckled. "And while the credits roll, you'll be all jealous watching Master and me passionately embrace..."
Komaru sweatdropped. "...Yeah, I don't think I'll be jealous of that..." She mumbled as the girls went in.
---
"C'mon...!" Toko pressed the button the elevator as they were now on the 3rd floor, but nothing would happen.
"It's no use... It's not budging." Komaru said.
"Do we need a card key like we did for the elevator at Towa Tower?" Toko wondered.
"Then... We can't use this elevator, huh?"
"But it doesn't look like the other elevator's gonna move, so we have to work with this one."
"Wait a minute... Would Haiji maybe have a card key? He is the heir to the Towa Group..."
"Even if he did, that coward mole is in the middle of a fight with his Big Bang Monokuma..."
"The "coward mole" you're talking about... That wouldn't be me, would it?" A voice said from behind as the girls turned around to see Haiji walking up to them.
"Haiji" Komaru gasped.
"Wh-Why are you here!?" Toko asked.
"Same reason you're here. You're looking for the device to control Monokumas, right?" Haiji guessed.
"You too?"
"The Monokumas from all over Towa swarmed me all at once. Even with Big Bang, there were too many. So the plan's changed. Destroy the controller first, make the enemy lose their edge. After the Monokumas are out of the picture, we're just dealing with kids. We can turn this around."
"Is that...Shirokuma's advice?" Toko nervously muttered.
"...Hm? So what if it is?" Haiji cocked his head to the side.
"Ah, no... Nothing." Toko shook her head.
"But I had no idea you two were already here. No wonder we didn't run into too many of 'em." Haiji remarked.
"Anyways...good timing. Do you have a card key for this elevator?" Komaru gestured to it.
"...No, we don't need a card key for this... This elevator only works with retinal identification." Haiji told them.
"Retinal? Is that an animal...?" Komaru confusingly placed a finger on her chin.
"...It means eye..." Akira sweatdropped.
"But... Why's it locked in the first place? This lock shouldn't be on unless it's been manually set. Last time I saw, it was open..." Haiji mumbled. "So who locked it? Don't tell me... Is this also her doing? She trying to toy with me...?" he lightly clenched his fist.
"Stop your creepy mumbling to yourself and open it. Your eyes will work fine, won't they?" Toko folded her arms.
Haiji sighed, shaking his head. "No, the only thing that can release the lock is the eyes of Towa Group's chairman."
"The chairman? Your father? You said... He was missing." Komaru recalled.
"Missing, right..." Haiji rubbed the back of his head. "I only said that because... I didn't want to admit it... ...The old man is dead. The kids killed him."
"What!?" Komaru placed a hand over her mouth in horror.
"Wait a minute, if he was killed, then retinal scanning isn't even gonna work anymore!" Toko realized.
Haiji shook his head. "No, as long as we have his eyes, the scanner should still work. So... All we gotta do is bring the old man's body back here."
"...H-His body!?" Komaru looked shocked.
"Yeah. I think that's what whoever locked this door wanted me to do. After all... His body is on this floor."
"On this floor?"
"Yeah, on this floor for sure. He was killed right before my eyes. The old man was killed in the Chairman's Office on this floor. Throat torn out by Monokumas... I... I ran away, but... I'm sure his body is still in the office." He pointed to a hall. "The Chairman's Office should be at the end of the hall over there. I'll leave the rest to you."
"You're...not coming with us?" Toko furrowed her eyebrows.
Haiji growled. "If I have to go along with her sick little games... I'd rather give up entirely. Besides, it might be faster to just destroy this whole building with Big Bang Monokuma."
"Wh-What're you talking about!? We're still in this building!" Toko pointed out.
"I know, I know. I'm just kidding." Haiji said as he walked off.
"Haiji..." Komaru mused. "He's acting differently now for some reason. And who's the "her" he mentioned?"
"..." Toko didn't respond as the girls went down the halls to find the dead body of Haiji's father.
Chapter 21: End
To be continued...?