Ultimate Psycho (Danganronpa 1 x Male! Reader)

Chapter Eight

3rd Person POV

The day after the second class trial started exactly how everyone anticipated it to, with most of the students all meeting up in the dining hall just after the morning announcement. However, the atmosphere of the entire room was extremely tense, as expected.

"Today's count kinda sucks, huh? Toko and Byakuya still refuse to show up..." Yasuhiro points out to everyone as he looks around the room. He was right, it was definitely far more scarce then the last time everybody was gathered here, but the main table wasn't as empty as it could've been, as F/N was actually sitting there as well, as opposed to his seat in the far back corner of the room.

"And I haven't seen Miss Asahina anywhere." Hifumi points out, to which everybody else except for a few look around the room and sure enough, he was right.

"She said her stomach was hurting, so she's taking it easy in her room for today." Sakura lets everyone know.

"That is rather unusual for her. Normally she is so full of energy." Celeste points out with a curious tone in her voice

"That's exactly why I'm so worried? I hope there isn't anything seriously wrong with her." Sakura says as she stares at the dining hall's entrance, waiting for Aoi to come through the door as energetic as usual. At least that's what she hoped to happen.

"Was she really that freaked out by Alter Ego last night? Well... I guess I've got no right to talk in that regard." F/N mumbles under his breath as he rubs the drowsiness from his eyes.

"So it's just the nine of us, then?" Kyoko asks

"It looks that way..." Makoto answers her

"It's times like this where the committee chairman needs to get things going with a BANG!" Yasuhiro exclaims as he shoots up from his seat and points at Ishimaru

Unfortunately, Ishimaru didn't respond to, or even acknowledge, yasuhiro's words. He just stared forward at nothing in particular, his face pale and empty. He looked more akin to a corpse that was magically able to sit upright as apposed to a living breathing person.

"Or not...?" Yasuhiro mutters as he gets a good look at the state Ishimaru was in. Everybody, except for probably Celeste, felt awful for him. They wished they could help but most didn't know how.

"...." F/N stares at Ishimaru with a musing gaze, he felt sort of obligated to help Ishimaru put due to maybe guilt. Or maybe he's just intrigued by Ishimaru's plight. Who knows.

"So, I mean...what's gonna happen now?" Hifumi asks everyone. "We haven't found any way out, and we have no idea if help's ever gonna come. Ngh! Now I'm all depressed just thinking about it..." He admits with a downcast expression.

"We simply have to make the best of things- do our best to get along and live here together in peace. Forget about the outside world, and accept this new life. That is the only hope we have now." Celeste advises him

"What...? To live here forever...?" Hifumi questions her, he almost thought she was joking for a second.

"Here we have every convenience. We have food, clothes, our every need is seen to. Why are you dissatisfied? In fact, let me ask you this? What is it about the outside world that you long for?" Celeste asks him.

"Competition, discrimination, victimization and violence... As society grows, so does its perversion. In which case, is our current situation not-"

"Demon Angel☆Pretty Pudgy Princess..." Hifumi mutters under his breath, interrupting Celeste's speech.

"Hmm?" Celeste hums curiously; as to her, what hifumi said was complete gibberish.

"Meggy, the drill shop owner, the bunny-eared Amazon, Catgirl Dogboy, Robo Justice and the Galactic King... And...! And-!"

"What are you talking about?" F/N asks him with a confused expression, though between you and me, he knows what Hifumi was talking about and just didn't want anyone else to know.

"What I mean is, there's no 2D here!" Hifumi exclaims, his expression being one of both frustration and disappointment.

"The mastermind puts such base desire to their advantage, bending you to their will..." Celeste tells him

"Ignoring that guy's nonsense, I disagree with you Celeste. You want us all to just give up and accept living here forever? That's inconceivable! You guys can't give up, you shouldn't give up! Whether you all work together to defeat the mastermind and end the killing game, or you work against each other and best everyone else in a class trial, you must do everything in your power to win. After all, beauty can never flourish from giving up. That would be nothing but a complete waste." F/N says with a disappointed expression as he shoots up from his seat.

"You know, if Hina was here she would've probably told you how weird you were being and to knock it off. So in her place, I'll say it instead!" Yasuhiro speaks up. "You're being super weird and you should knock it off, man." He tells F/N who scoffs at this. He was ready to say something else, but Kyoko tapped his shoulder and motioned for him to sit back in his seat by pushing his shoulder down.

"...Well, I suppose if everyone understood where I was coming from, things would be significantly less fun." F/N concludes as he sits back down in his chair.

"Okay, well, anyway... Since Taka's like, catatonic..." Yasuhiro says, disregarding what F/N had just said "As the oldest one here, I'm officially stepping up to take the lead! So! We're all gonna work together and spend the rest of the day searching the school!"

"Searching...?" Makoto wonders aloud, as he didn't know what exactly there was to search.

"Well, I mean...since the class trial is over and all..." Yasuhiro trails off.

"...there should be new places for us to investigate." Sakura says

"Yeah, that's the ticket! Maybe we'll find some kind of clue this time!" Yasuhiro tells everyone.

"Then once we're done eating, let's split up and begin looking around. Do you have any problem with that, Celeste?" Junko asks the girl,as she felt she was most likely to speak up anyways.

"Hmm... There may well be a discovery waiting for us which may further enrich our life here." Celeste says with a innocent giggle following afterwards.

"Er, no...the point is to look for clues." Hifumi clarifies for her.

And just as that was going on, the door to the dining hall flung open, and Jill came bouncing in, ecstatic and obnoxious as she always is.

"Your friendly neighborhood serial killer has arrived! Did you miss me?! Just admit it, you guys totally missed me!" Jill exclaims as she stands in front of

"What are you doing here?" F/N asks Jill.

"Woah there, what's with the look on your face and tone of your voice?! You look like you didn't miss me!" Jill points out as she runs over to him and holds a pair of scissors to his face. "You know I gotta say... that annoyed look makes you give off the impression that you're disgusted by me. Stuff like that really gets me hot and bothered if you didn't know." As soon as Jill says this, F/N immediately slides his chair back, far away from Jill.

"That's disgusting." F/N tells Jill as he stands up from his chair and points at her. "But at this point I shouldn't be surprised. Everything gets you, "Fired up." He points out.

"You better believe it baby..." Jill responds in a deeper tone than usual.

"Honestly I'm not all that surprised you two are getting along. It's kinda fitting the too weirdest ones here would." Yasuhiro points out.

"You've got probably the second most skewed idea of getting along I've ever seen in my life." F/N tells him.

"Whatever, let's just leave already and investigate." He grumbles.

"Well first we should have breakfast. It wouldn't be a good idea to search on empty stomachs." Sakura suggests.

"Fine, just make it quick. Are you gonna eat too, Taka?" F/N asks Ishimaru, who is still staring into space.

"...Uh, good talk." F/N mutters under his breath as he takes his seat once Jill backed off.

***

***

Eventually everybody finished eating their breakfast, except for F/N, as he said he wasn't hungry; and Ishimaru, for obvious reasons.

Regardless, everyone had went their separate ways for the investigation, so Makoto was on his own to search the newest area of the school.

First place Makoto felt like checking out was a room that was filled with a load of things to pass the time. Card games, board games, magazines and other things of the like were all here. It seemed like a decent addition to the school. At least there'd be more to do now.

"Huh. So is this room like...?" Makoto mumbles as he looks around the room.

"A recreation room. It's a place for students to come and relax." Celeste speaks up as she looks away from the set of tabletop games she was looking over to speak with Makoto.

" I never would've imagined a school having a place like this..." Makoto admits as he checks out

"Well, no normal school would. It has Othello, shogi, even a dartboard and a pool table. And look at this... They have even provided us with a remarkable number of magazines." Celeste tells Makoto as she points towards the magazine rack F/N was standing at.

"Honestly, most of the things here are pointless tabloids about garbage fashion and beauty tips, some are alright though." F/N informs the both of them as he closes the magazine he was looking at and puts it back in the rack.

"Even if they may not be the most interesting, I'm sure they will certainly be helpful in keeping our boredom at bay." Celeste tells him.

"Ring ring ring! Hello there! Allow me to explain!" Monokuma says as he pops into the room. "We've got fashion, motorcycles, martial arts, video games, baseball, science, all kinds of magazines!"

"Oh, but nothing dirty! This is a school, after all. If you need a quick fix, check out the swimsuit mags!" He mentions.

"And will you be adding to our collection as new issues come out?" Celeste asks the obnoxious bear

"Sorry, no can do. Even if I wanted to, right now magazines are kinda..." Monokuma pauses as he looks off to the side, not bothering to finish his sentence.

"Kinda what...?" Makoto asks him.

"Oops! Nothing, never mind, no no no! Anyway, that's it for my explanation. Bye-bye!" And just like that, Monokuma was gone, leaving the three remaining people confused.

"... What he just said..." Makoto mutters with furrowed brows.

"Could he mean that he can't get his hands on magazines? If so.... why not?" F/N asks, but Makoto just shrugs his shoulders.

"Life here would be that much nicer if he could add some new issues once in a while. How disappointing." Celeste mutters with a downcast expression.

"That's what you're worried about?" F/N asks her as he starts walking towards the door.

"Well, whatever. I'm leaving now, there's nothing important here anyways." He adds as he opens the rec room door for Makoto to walk through since he was also leaving.

"Thanks." Makoto mumbles under his breath as he leaves the room.

"Yeah. I'm guessing you're gonna investigate the other rooms here." F/N surmises, and Makoto nods his head.

"Do you, uh, wanna come with me?" Makoto offers F/N, who looks off to the side and thinks for a moment. Eventually he shrugs his shoulders and takes Makoto up on his offer.

"Sure, I guess. Let's go." F/N says as the two begin walking.

The two walked for maybe a few minutes together, stopping at a few classrooms to check inside and finding nothing important in all of them.

Soon enough, they turn a corner and meet Kyoko, who was just coming out of a classroom. She seemed to be in deep thought about something.

"Oh, hey Kiri. How is your investigation going?" F/N asks Kyoko, who looks up at him and Makoto.

"I have been searching for quite some time now, and so far the most noteworthy discoveries that I've made is that there's a physics lab and an art room. I also found a huge machine of some kind in the physics lab. I wonder what it does..." Kyoko mutters.

"Huge machine in the physics lab? Guess we know what to check out first, Makoto." F/N says as he taps Makoto's shoulder.

"Yeah. Guess we should get going." Makoto says. "Thanks, Kyoko." He says, and the two start walking away.

"Before you go." Kyoko calls out to them, catching their attention. "I wanna speak with F/N about something."

"Me? ...Sure, I guess." F/N says as he and Makoto walk back to Kyoko.

"Ah, you can still go, Makoto. This is a bit of a private conversation between me and F/N." Kyoko tells Makoto.

"O-Oh, sorry about that. I'll just go to the physics lab then." Makoto says as he starts backing away with a sheepish look on his face.

"I'll meet you at the lab then, Makoto." F/N tells Makoto as he is leaving.

"Yeah. See you." Makoto mutters as he turns a corner.

"...."

"...."

"Uh..." F/N turned towards Kyoko with a confused expression, as she was completely silent. "...Did you wanna... talk?" He asks her.

"Yes. It's about Chihiro's secret." Kyoko tells him. Seems like she wasn't planning on beating around the bush.

"...what about it?" F/N asked her.

"I wanted to know how you knew about it. I have a suspicion that he didn't exactly tell you, considering what Monokuma had said when explaining Mondo and Chihiro's story."

"You wanna know?" F/N asks her. "I suppose telling you wouldn't be all that bad, but... only you can know. If you tell someone else then don't ever expect to get another secret out of me." F/N tells Kyoko as he reaches his hand into his scarf and pulls out a few small envelopes, the same ones Monokuma gave out for his motive. Of these envelopes, the names of Mondo, Chihiro, Makoto, Toko, and Kyoko were written on each one respectively.

"Man, I'm glad to finally take these out. It was starting to get uncomfortable." F/N mutters as he hands Kyoko the envelope with her name on it.

At first, Kyoko's expression was as neutral and aloof as usual, but when she opened the envelope and read the slip of paper, her expression became almost surprised for a moment, before becoming oddly serious.

"How'd you get your hands on the motives Monokuma made for us? I don't recall ever losing my motive." Kyoko says with a stern expression.

"Relax, Kiri. I didn't break into anybody's room or anything, all that happen was Monokuma approached me a little bit before handing these out to everyone and asked me to stir the pot, get another murder to happen. Though, I didn't actually manage to make use of these things. So now I just have a bunch of useless scraps of paper." F/N explains to Kyoko.

"I see..." Kyoko mutters under her breath as she seems to be in deep thought about something.

"May I see your motive, F/N?" She requests.

"Mine? I don't think it's much of your concern what my motive is." F/N tells her.

"Well, I could say the same about my own motive, but I'm guessing you read it, didn't you?" Kyoko asks F/N, who nods.

"Well, I guess it's only fair when you put it like that, but... you and I have to make a small little promise with one another before I can give it to you." F/N tells Kyoko as he reaches into his back pocket and takes his own envelope out. "You have to promise never to tell anyone else what you read here. After all, I never told anyone about what was under your gloves. It's none of my business anyways." F/N explains to Kyoko, who is visibly upset after hearing what he said.

"Fine. Just don't bring it up again." Kyoko tells F/N as she snatches his envelope from his hands and reads the contents inside. Of course it took only a moment to read the single sentence... Yet, Kyoko was rather quiet for a good while. F/N wasn't all that surprised, but he still felt a little on edge from how quiet it was.

"...If I asked, would you answer honestly?" Kyoko eventually said something as she folded the piece of paper and handed it back to F/N with a surprisingly calm expression.

"If I told you the absolute truth, I doubt you'd believe me." F/N answers her as he takes the paper from Kyoko.

"Is it something that unbelievable?" Kyoko wonders out loud.

"Well... do you find it believable that I don't remember what this note is talking about?" F/N asks Kyoko.

"You don't remember?" Kyoko mutters as she looks off to the side.

"Yeah. But I don't think it's not true... I have this feeling that it isn't a lie. I-It's... kinda hard to explain." F/N explains to Kyoko.

"Well, I do believe your story. I understand what you're feeling to an extent." Kyoko assures F/N, who looks a little confused by this.

"You do? Is there something wrong with you today, Kiri?" F/N asks Kyoko, who looked a little amused by his reaction.

"Well... I don't know if I should really be telling you this, but there is a reason why I haven't told anybody about my talent." Kyoko explains.

"...I see." F/N mutters. "Then I suppose this means that this is the mastermind's doing." He concludes.

"Maybe..." Kyoko says under her breath. "Anyways, that's all I held you up for. So you can return to your investigation in peace." She explains to F/N.

"Uh... alright. I guess I'll be seeing you later on in the dining hall." F/N responds as he starts walking backwards in the direction Makoto went in earlier.

"Goodbye." Kyoko says as she leaves.

"...yeah." F/N mutters as he also leaves.

***

***

"This is the physics lab?" Makoto mutters under his breath as his eyes scanned over the vast room he was in with both shock and awe present on his face. "It's less like a classroom and more like some kind of research institute..." He comments just as F/N walks into the room.

"What is that?" F/N asks with clear surprise in his voice as he points towards the enormous sci-fi-esque machine in the center of the room.

"This bad boy is a water fountain!" Monokuma exclaims as he pops into the room and sits on top of a water fountain that was in the far corner of the lab. "It's a decorative reservoir used to dispense water."

"Wha-? I know what a water fountain is?" F/N tells Monokuma as he groans in annoyance. "I'm clearly talking about this thing." He adds while motioning towards the big machine in the room's center.

"Watch out!" Monokuma shouts at F/N as he gets in-between him and the machine and pushes him away from it and almost knocks him into Ishimaru, who was standing there the entire time, silently staring off into space.

"What's the problem now?" F/N asks Monokuma.

"What, you wanna do some quantum leaping!?" Monokuma questions him

"Huh...?" Makoto exclaims

"That's a time machine! Pretty awesome, right? It was designed by a student right here at Hope's Peak! The Ultimate Physicist... However, they don't go here anymore. They died during The Tragedy!" Monokuma explains to him

"A time machine...?" Ishimaru mutters as he turns to Monokuma. "Seriously...? So... it can go back in time...?" He asks to which Monokuma nods. "Okay, then... let me get in there... If I can go back to the past...then I can..." Ishimaru trails off as tears begin pouring down his face.

"This time I'll stop Mondo for sure-!"

"Oh, sorry, not possible. This particular time machine can only go back one minute. It comes in handy when you, like... leave your pizza bagels in the microwave one minute too long." Monokuma breaks the news to him, which makes Ishimaru pause, as all the color drains from his face.

"Aren't all microwaves set on a timer no matter what? How do you leave it in for a minute too long?" F/N questions monokuma.

"One minute...?" Ishimaru mutters

"Hmm... You sound disappointed." Monokuma points out

"But actually, I was lying about the whole thing anyway. There's no such thing as time machines!" He admits

"What...?" Ishimaru can't feel his legs anymore, he wasn't even standing at this point. He had already fallen to his knees, a sick and disgusting feeling filling his stomach and throat. He felt like he was going to throw up all of a sudden.

"Honestly, it's just an air purifier." Monokuma admits as he waves Ishimaru off.

"Air purifier...?" Makoto inquires.

"It can produce clean air no matter where you're at. With that thing, you could even live on Mars! But what with the discombobulating gravity and deadly low temperatures, you prolly don't wanna live on Mars even if you had this." Monokuma explains to him.

"Anyway, this machine is the reason you guys have all this delicious air. So don't go messing with it! You break it, and it's your butt!" He shouts before suddenly leaving.

"Air purifier..." Ishimaru mutters as he stands up and looks towards F/N, who was standing beside him with a worried expression.

"Taka... are you alright?" F/N asks him.

"He was lying, wasn't he, F/N?" Ishimaru asks while placing a hand on F/N's shoulder.

"Lying about what?" F/N asks as he tries pushing Ishimaru's arm away, but he just grabs ahold of F/N with both hands, pushing his scarf up a bit to be able to properly grab him by the collar.

"About that damn time machine!" Ishimaru shouts. "He was lying about it being an air purifier! He just- He just didn't want me to stop Mondo before he did it! He just didn't want me to ruin his killing game! So... So I can go back and stop everything!" Ishimaru says as he hangs his head.

"Taka...." F/N mutters as he looks at Makoto, who looked just as downcast as he did.

"God damnit...!" Makoto grumbles as he clenches his fists.

"It's... It's not a time machine, Taka. It's just an air purifier. You can't fix what has already happened." F/N tells Ishimaru, who is completely silent. "Once somebody is dead... nothing you do will bring them back. They're forever immortalized as a fleeting memory... forever a gaping hole left in the human heart. Incapable of being refilled by anything." F/N explains to Ishimaru as he lets out a sigh. He pulls on the scarf he was wearing, waiting for Ishimaru to let go of him.

"I see...." Ishimaru mutters as his hands fall to his sides while standing up straight, that empty and lifeless look he had this morning back with a vengeance.

"Taka...."

Ishimaru turns around and stares at the air purifier in silence. He's made it clear he doesn't want this interaction to continue any further.

"We should get going then." F/N says to Makoto as he nudges his arm.

"Yeah..." Makoto mutters as he and F/N leave the lab, and let Ishimaru be alone just as he requested.

***

***

"Well, is there anywhere important we have yet to search, Makoto?" F/N asks as the two leave the physics lab.

"On the way over here, I think I saw a room that looked to be an art lab. We could try checking that out." Makoto suggests. And with no reason to disagree, F/N goes along with this idea and follows Makoto to the art room.

"Now that I'm getting a good look around, it does seem like some normal art room. But... something about it is just... off." Makoto mutters to himself as he looks around the art room, taking note of some of the works here as well as Hifumi, who was also looking around the room.

"Well, well. Look at all this equipment! It certainly scratches that artistic itch of mine... Art supplies, of course, but they've also collected all kinds of sculpting tools!" Hifumi points out to Makoto, who had his attention grabbed by some of the sculptures around the room.

"So, Hifumi...do you like sculptures and figurines and stuff?" Makoto asks Hifumi.

"Well normally, I limit myself to 2D. But figurines are like, borderline 2D, so it's okay." Hifumi responds.

"How does that even count as borderline?" F/N asks in the background as he puts down the chisel he was holding, but Hifumi didn't seem to catch that

"I'm a fan of Charanbo, Pumpkinhead, and I especially admire anything that Saburo Ronppongi makes. Charanbo's ability to express the movement of muscles is exquisite, as seen in his Mama Cat series. Pumpkinhead is like a little sculptor fairy, representing this century's greatest quality! Saburo Ronppongi, meanwhile, is known for his Mecha Musume series, which led to a worldwide tour." Hifumi begins explaining to Makoto, who has no idea what he's talking about.

"Truly they can only be regarded as the Elite Four!" Hifumi exclaims.

"But... one of your elite is missing." Makoto points out

"Well the Elite Three just sounds stupid, now doesn't it!?" Hifumi asks him with an almost offended look.

"Besides, that empty seat rightly belongs to... me! Hmhmhm. It begins... Today begins my reign as the legendary ruler of the next century!" He adds.

"I see... Well, good luck with that." Makoto tells hifumi as he gives him a thumbs up and backs away.

"Do you have any idea what he was talking about just now?" Makoto asks F/N who just shakes his head.

"I think he just explained the fnaf lore to you." F/N responds as the two of them walk into a separate room attached to the art room. It seemed to be a repository of sorts.

There wasn't much to the place, just a few extra supplies for paintings and sculpting. However, Makoto happened to notice something sitting on the floor in the center of the room, so he called F/N to take a look at it with him.

"What is it, macaroon?" F/N asks Makoto, who cringes at the nickname he gave him, but he didn't wanna mention it.

"There's... something on the floor. It looks like... a picture." Makoto mutters as he stretches out his hand to pick it up, but when he gets a good look at the photo, he freezes.

"Huh...?"

What Makoto saw in that picture that freaked him out so much was Chihiro, Leon, and Mondo. And they were all smiling together, as if they were enjoying their lives. It seemed so normal, so natural, to Makoto. Yet... he was completely taken aback. Surely, all three of them were long since dead, so what's this pictures deal?

"What is this...?" F/N asks as Makoto picks up the photo and stands up.

Questions started racing through both of their heads, one after the other.

"Why is it only these three people? What are they doing together? How come they're smiling like that? When was it taken? Who took it? Where's the camera they used? How'd they get it developed?" Makoto mutters, a confused look present on his face as he tried to make sense of it all

"As weird as them being together in general is, I find the background of this image a little weird. Mostly the window and the fact that there's no metal plate covering it." F/N points out to Makoto.

"Which must mean, wherever this picture was taken... It wasn't here at Hope's Peak...?" Makoto mutters, unsure if this is the right answer or not.

"I'm not sure..." F/N admits as he looks off into space, as if he was lost in thought. Though he was quickly snapped out of it when somebody showed up.

"That's mine! Give it back!" Monokuma appeared out of nowhere and snatched the photo from Makoto's hands before he even realized it, and any chance he had at answers went with the photo.

"You peeked, didn't you!? Well, they all had some pretty dazzling smiles, huh?" Monokuma asks Makoto and F/N while folding the picture and stuffing it in his... pocket? Pouch? Interdimensional storage space?

"They were definitely living their school life to the fullest. It's like they ripped a page right outta the book of youth!" Monokuma exclaims

"What's going on with that picture? Do you know...?" Makoto asks him

"I'm not tellin' you nothin'!" Monokuma shouts before abruptly leaving.

"...Why can't he give me a straight answer for once?" Makoto asks himself.

"Maybe one day." F/N assures Makoto as he pats him on the shoulder before they both decide to just leave. They spent maybe another five or so minutes looking around the rest of the third floor, and aside from some empty classrooms nothing else was worth noting, so they just head back to the dining hall to tell everyone else about their findings.

When the two arrived at the dining hall expecting the the others to just be already sharing information, all they saw was everyone else just arriving to the meeting place at the same time as them, and also finding Aoi now by herself in the dining hall.

Makoto tried to talk to her whenhe noticed her, but his voice was immediately drowned out by the others as they rushed into the dining hall. F/N didn't even try talking over everyone, as he thought it would just annoy Aoi even further.

"Hina!" Sakura exclaims as she rushes over to Aoi, looking over her with a worried expression.

"Huh? I thought she was sick or somethin'." Yasuhiro recalls

Everyone had rushed past Makoto by this point and crowded around Aoi. Being surrounded by everyone like that, Aoi looked really uncomfortable.

"Are you feeling better already?" Sakura asks Aoi, who tries to ease her worries with a smile.

"Y-Yeah... I ate a few donuts, and that really helped a lot." Aoi assures her

"You do love those donuts..." Makoto mutters.

"That's true. In fact... I don't think I've ever seen you eat anything else so far." F/N points out.

"But... wasn't it your stomach that was hurting, Hina?" Celeste asks Aoi, who seemed to be a little surprised by the question.

"Well, my stomach ache kinda made me hungry, so...you know... Er, ahaha... I guess my memory's kinda fuzzy lately..." Aoi claims with an uneasy laugh.

"They say that a goldfish will eat however much food you give it, even if it's about to burst. Miss Asahina's pretty much the same, it looks like." Hifumi points out, which just makes Aoi kind of upset at him.

"Hey! You of all people don't have any room to talk!" Aoi shouts at him.

"Maybe so, but you gotta admit he makes a good point, Hina. I can't remember a time when you didn't feel like eating." F/N points out.

"Wha-? You make it sound like I'm some kind of food obsessed fatty!" Aoi responds to him.

"Uh... I mean..." F/N mutters as he crosses his arms and looks away from Aoi.

"Anyways... I was worried about you, Hina." Sakura tells Aoi, who looked at her with an apologetic expression.

"S-Sorry..." Aoi mutters

"Who's cares about all that? More importantly..." Jill chimes in as she gets up in Aoi's face with a serious expression

"H-Huh...?" Aoi exclaims as she takes a step back from Jill, who had shifted her gaze downwards towards Aoi's chest

"Jeez, your knockers are HUGE! What the heck, did you convince them to double up on milk production!?" Jill asks Aoi.

"What?!" Aoi exclaims as she backs off from Jill and hides behind Sakura.

"C'mon, you can't not tell everybody your secrets. Even F/N is dying to know." Jill tells her.

"Why'd you involve me in this conversation?" F/N asks Jill.

"Stay away from her, fiend." Sakura commands Jill, anger present on her face.

"A-Anyway...first thing's first, we should talk about what we found. Right, Taka?" Yasuhiro asks as he turns to Ishimaru, who was staring off into space.

"...."

"...Right." Yasuhiro mutters

"Well, I don't expect you to have investigated at all, but... do you have anything you wanna tell us, Hina?" F/N asks

"Um, I wasn't able to help much with the investigation, but...I did make one discovery..." Aoi begins

"It didn't happen to be a donut-related discovery, did it?" Yasuhiro asks her

"What does that even mean?" Aoi questions Yasuhiro with a confused expression before shaking her head. "Never mind... It's about the nurse's office! Remember? There's one on the 1st floor, right?" She tells everyone.

"I remember. But it's locked." F/N tells her.

"Actually... not anymore." Aoi says

"Did you find any protein in there? Or even vitamin supplements would be fine." Sakura asks Aoi, looking rather hopeful as she did

"I did look, but no dice... Just a bunch of headache medicine and over-the-counter stuff." Aoi disappointedly tells her.

"I see... That's disappointing." Sakura sighs

"It is disappointing. Like the end of the world is already here..." Aoi mutters

"I'm pretty sure it's not that disappointing." Junko tells her.

"Well, whatever. How about you Jill? Did you do anything useful?" F/N asks Jill

"The long road to maidenhood begins with a single step... That road may begin with only wrinkly old men, but it will end with strapping young adorable boys!" Jill tells F/N.

"What the hell are you talking about...?" Yasuhiro asks her.

"Kyeehahaha!" Jill cackles.

"I sincerely apologise to everyone for even thinking of letting her speak at this meeting." F/N tell everybody as he pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Uh... it's fine." Makoto assures him.

"Okay..." F/N sighs as he turns to Kyoko. "Hey, Kiri. Did you find anything useful?"

"There was a rather remarkable physics lab on the third floor. In the middle of the room, there was a machine bigger than anything I've ever seen before..." Kyoko informs everyone.

"Oh yeah, apparently it's an air purifier." Makoto tells her

"Huh? What's something like that doing there?" Yasuhiro asks him.

"Is the device really that big?" Sakura wonders

"I... really don't get it." Aoi mutters

"...." As the conversation about the air purifier went on, Ishimaru could feel a sickly feeling welling up within him, as I get was about to throw up. His expression remained as empty and hollow as it now always was.

"Oh, I just remembered!" F/N exclaims as he places his fist in his palm. "I saw Byakuya a little while ago." He tells everyone.

"What!?" Jill exclaims as she run over to him. "Where!? WHERE WAS HE!?!?" She shouts

"Have you not heard of personal space before?" F/N asks as he tries to push Jill away from him, but she holds a pair of scissors to his neck, or rather his scarf in this case.

"Where. Was. HE!?" Jill asks once more in a threatening tone.

"You have to say please first." F/N tells Jill, who groans and stands up straight.

"You're lucky I like dominant men..." Jill grumbles.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." F/N tells her.

"C'mon F/N... could you tell me where my handsome master is? Pretty please~" Jill begs F/N.

"As long as you promise to get out of here and look for him." F/N tells her. "I saw him in the locker rooms with a stack of books. He probably got those from the library."

"So THAT'S where he was hiding! I won't let him get away from me! Kyehehe..." And Jill was gone.

"Was it really necessary to snitch on Byakuya like that?" Yasuhiro asks F/N.

"Did you want her to stay here?" F/N questions him.

"Is... is she okay?" Aoi asks him

"We should not concern ourselves with her." Celeste assures Aoi.

"However, there is one piece of good news. There just so happens to be a rec room up on the 3rd floor! I have no doubt that our student life here will be even more enjoyable because of it." Celeste assures everyone.

"Hmhm. Will someone join me in a game of Othello sometime?" She asks everyone with a light giggle accompanying her words.

"Well, as for me, I searched the entire 3rd floor, but...all the windows in the halls and the rooms were blocked off." Sakura tells everyone.

"I wish they'd give this a rest already, for serious! Gimme back my bright blue skies!" Yasuhiro begs.

"Just forget about it." Celeste suggests.

"You make it sound like I dropped a nickel or something! This is our freedom were talking about!" Yasuhiro reminds her.

"Just to be sure, I went from one end to the other, testing each metal plate. None of them budged. It would seem escape via the 3rd floor is as impossible as we feared..." Sakura adds

"I see..." Makoto mutters.

"Okay... what about you, Hifumi? What did you find?" F/N asks.

"There was an art room on the 3rd floor, and it had all kinds of gear. Myehehe... Now I'll be able to recreate all my favorite anime characters!" Hifumi says with excitement in his voice.

"Oh yeah! Speaking of anime, that reminds me... I found something while I was looking around!" Makoto recalls as he pulls out a camera.

"Hrm... a digital camera?" Yasuhiro says.

"That's what it seems like..." Makoto tells him.

"Does it still work?" Aoi asks

"Yeah, it seems fine." Makoto says

"Well then, let's see it!" Yasuhiro asks as he snatches the camera from Makoto's hands to check it out, but he quickly becomes disappointed

"What the heck? This thing is like a kid's toy! It looks like it can store like five pictures, maybe? It doesn't have a timer or anything!" Yasuhiro complains.

"On top of that, its appearance seems... questionable. Is this some kind of anime character? Strange..." Celeste mutters as she takes a look at the camera.

"Rude! She's not strange!" Hifumi chimes in. "She's Princess Piggles, from "Demon Angel☆Pretty Pudgy Princess!" He tells Celeste.

"Oh, you recognize this, Hifumi?" Junko asks him.

"Of course I recognize it! It's a super rare prize that was given away at a bingo contest at a big anime convention... You have any idea how much I had to pay that guy to get my hands on it!?" Hifumi exclaims as he takes one more look at the camera, only for a look of realization to wash onto his face.

"Wait... that's my camera!" He realizes.

"What!?" Makoto exclaims

"Wh-Where did you find it!?" Hifumi asks Makoto as he grabs him by the shoulders.

"In the physics lab..." Makoto says

"It's my most prized possession. I brought it here with me, but I lost it the first day, along with my phone." Hifumi tells him.

"Why would it have reappeared in the physics lab then...?" Junko asks out loud.

"Yeah, why...?" F/N mutters.

"Agh, but look at it! It got all messed up!" Hifumi says as he takes a better look at it.

"Like when someone steals a sticker from your collection, or you buy a secondhand shirt... Well, that's it..." He says with a sigh

"Huh? That's it...?" Makoto questions him

"It's not mint condition. I don't need it anymore..." Hifumi tells him.

"But weren't you just saying how much it meant to you?" Junko questions him with a confused expression.

"Then..." Celeste begins. "May I have it? I might be able to find some sort of use for it. If any of you would like to borrow it, please feel free to ask."

"Well... I can't really imagine any of us are gonna need to take any pictures or whatever..." F/N responds

"Yeah, true..." Makoto says as he hands the camera over to Celeste.

"Oh right, now that everyone else is done, you mind if I tell you guys something? I found something that's... kinda been bothering me." Makoto begins

"What is it?" Kyoko asks him.

"I found this weird picture in the repository. Apparently Monokuma took it..." Makoto mentions

"A weird picture? You mean, like... dirty!?" Aoi gasps.

"No, not that kind of weird. It was...a picture of Leon, Mondo, and Chihiro all together." Makoto clarifies, which happens to catch everyone's attention further.

"Why was something inappropriate the first thing to come to your mind?" F/N asks Aoi.

"Don't make it sound like I'm a weirdo!" Aoi tells him.

"Wait, wait... Those three...?" Kyoko questions Makoto

"And the three of them were... laughing. It looked like they were just having a good time." Makoto recalls.

"It showed the three of them together, laughing? When could it have been taken?" Sakura wonders

"And there's more... In the picture, there weren't any metal sheets covering the windows." F/N mentions.

"You saw it too?" Yasuhiro asks him.

"Then... the picture wasn't taken here?" Kyoko mutters quietly.

"But, I don't recall hearing anything about them knowing each other before coming to this school." Celeste mentions

"You probably just imagined it! Monokuma cast a spell on you!" Yasuhiro tells Makoto

"No! I saw it, I'm telling you! F/N was there too!" Makoto assures him.

"But if it wasn't taken before we got here, or after we got here..." Sakura trails off

"I bet they're all still alive! They left the school and then took that picture!" Yasuhiro claims

"That's impossible. After all... we saw it with our own eyes. They're all dead." Kyoko reminds him

"So we have to figure out when that picture was taken..." Makoto mutters.

"Monokuma most likely forged it. I can't imagine any other possibility." Celeste claims.

"Maybe. Or... we could just have our facts mixed up. Maybe... we're missing some piece of the puzzle..." F/N theorizes.

"And what may that be...?" Celeste questions him.

"Um.... If I knew that, then I wouldn't be thinking that we're missing some portion of a whole." F/N tells her

"Stay focused, man! Don't let Monokuma's bullcrap sidetrack you!" Yasuhiro tells him.

"...." F/N doesn't really respond to him, he just hums under his breath as he looked to be pondering something deeply.

"Yasuhiro is right. But more importantly... On another topic, there is something that has been bothering me. I would like to discuss that." Celeste says.

"What's bothering you, Celeste?" Makoto asks her

"It's about Hina..." Celeste says as she turns towards the girl.

"What? Me!?"

"You said your stomach hurt, did you not? But I believe that was a lie. What really happened?" Celeste asks Aoi

"Huh?"

"It varies from person to person, but whenever someone lies, they tend to have a way of showing it. It is called a "tell" something that you can't hide, no matter how hard you try. Whenever Hina lies, the tip of her nose gets just a little bit longer." Celeste explains as she points her clawed finger at Aoi's nose.

"What!? For real!?" Aoi exclaims as she backs up and covers her nose.

"Actually, no." Celeste says

"Huh...?"

"But your reaction just now confirmed it- you were lying." Celeste tells her

"Th-That's no fair!" Aoi whines

"How on Earth did you even fall for something so dumb? I'm one hundred percent sure that nobody above the age of seven should fall for something like that." F/N tells Aoi.

"Shut up! You're making it seem like I'm stupid or something." Aoi tells him.

"Are you?" F/N asks.

"No! I'm not!" Aoi claims

"Hmhm. If you are going to lie, at least try to lie convincingly." Celeste tells Aoi as she covers her mouth with her hand and giggles at her stupidity.

"Hina...be honest. Were you lying about your stomach ache?" Sakura asks Aoi, who nods her head in shame.

"Y-Yes..."

"Why...? Why would you lie about that?" Sakura questions her

"Are you feeling guilty about something!?" Hifumi questions her

"No, that's not it at all! It's just... I mean, I have a reason for it!" Aoi claims

"A reason...?" Makoto asks.

"To be honest...I didn't have a stomach ache. I did it cuz...even if I came and told you the truth, I thought you wouldn't believe me..." Aoi explains to everyone.

"The truth...?" Makoto inquires

"...I saw it." Aoi whispers with a fearful expression

"Saw what...?" Hifumi asks

"A ghost..." Aoi tells him.

"Oh my god..." F/N sighs in disappointment and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"A ghost...? You mean like, THAT ghost!?" Yasuhiro exclaims

"Is there more than one ghost...?" Kyoko asks with a slightly ammused expression.

"B-But... I mean, ghosts are..." Makoto mutters.

"See! I told you you wouldn't believe me!" Aoi shouts

"I-It's not that I don't believe you, but..." Makoto trails off

"...I believe you. No matter what anyone else might say, I will believe whatever you say, no matter what. So...can you tell us exactly what happened?" Sakura requests of Aoi

"If you really mean that, Sakura... then okay. I'll tell you. Umm, so... it happened last night." Aoi begins.

"I was in bed, but I couldn't get to sleep. I just kept thinking about everything that's happened up till now. I ended up just getting more upset... So to try and cheer myself up, I thought I'd go get some donuts."

"Donuts again? Is that seriously the only reason you left your room?" F/N questions Aoi

"And you ignored the rule regarding nighttime..." Celeste mentions

"I know, sorry. I feel really bad about that..." Aoi mutters.

"Anyway, please continue." Sakura tells Aoi

"Well... So I left my room and headed for the warehouse. But then I started hearing a strange sound that was coming from the direction of the bathhouse. So I headed that way and went inside. The locker was halfway open, so I took a look inside... And I saw a human shape, surrounded by a pale green light. There's no doubt who it was... It was Chihiro!" Aoi exclaims

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Hifumi screeches when Aoi says this.

"N-No way...! A gh-gh-gh-ghost!?" Yasuhiro mutters through his chattering teeth.

"It is simply not possible. You must be mistaken. Just as in most cases of "paranormal" activity, it was born from your weakened mental state." Celeste assures Aoi.

"No! I know what I saw. F/N told me he'd go check it out when I ran into him after I... retreated! Ask him." Aoi tells everyone, who looks to F/N for confirmation.

"That wasn't retreating, you just ran away like a scaredy cat. You weren't even looking where you were going and almost ran into me." F/N clarifies for everyone. "As for what I saw, it probably wasn't a ghost. But... it definitely isn't anything ordinary." He explains.

"What did you find?" Makoto asks him.

"...Not here." F/N mutters.

"What...?" Kyoko questions him.

"Some people... don't know how to mind their own business..." F/N elaborates as he tilts his head in the direction of the surveillance camera in the dining hall, which gets Kyoko immediately understands that whatever he saw is something Monokuma can't know.

"...Then all we have to do is go see for ourselves, right? Let's just go to the bathhouse and see what Hina saw." Kyoko suggests to everyone.

"It is a waste of time." Celeste claims

"Maybe, but... there's no harm in it, right? If we don't find anything, that'll be the end of it." Makoto tells her.

"You're gonna go try and see a gh-gh-ghost...? Is that really a good idea? It might put a curse on you!" Yasuhiro warns everyone.

"You can wait here if you want." Aoi tells him.

"I don't wanna be alone! Take me with you!" Yasuhiro pleads

"What are you going to do, Celeste?" Kyoko asks the girl.

*I suppose I have no choice..." Celeste admits with a sigh.

"How about you, Mr. Ishimaru? Are you gonna wait here?" Hifumi asks Ishimaru, who responds only with silence. He didn't even bother looking in Hifumi's direction.

"...I guess that's a yes." Hifumi mutters nervously as everyone else leaves the dining hall.

***

***

"I-It was right here... I saw it right here in the dressing room!" Aoi tells everyone as they enter the bathhouse

"Urg... I'm getting goosebumps..." Yasuhiro groans as he stumbles into the room

"Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!" Hifumi shouts from right next to him, startling Yasuhiro

"Shut up! What if he actually shows up!?" Yasuhiro yells at him.

"Hina... where was it you saw Chihiro's ghost?" Sakura asks Aoi, who points at a seemingly random locker

"Well, I heard a sound...and when I opened the locker... I saw a kind of... pale outline of Chihiro..." Aoi tells her.

"And you saw the same thing, F/N?" Sakura asks F/N

"Uh... I will say, it definitely looked like Chihiro." F/N admits just as Makoto opened up the locker to find a laptop inside.

"...a laptop? What's something like that doing here?" Makoto wonders

"I remember seeing this... it was the laptop we found in the library." Kyoko points out to everyone.

"But how did the laptop get from the library...to here?" Makoto asks

"Also... I guess it's in sleep mode, but...the power is definitely on." Kyoko realizes

"Huh? But I thought it was broken..." Makoto mutters.

"I would bet that Chihiro fixed it. After all, he was known as the Ultimate Programmer." Junko concludes.

"More importantly... Hina, you said you saw a green light, yes? Surely you did not mistake the light of the monitor for a ghost?" Celeste asks Aoi, who couldn't even respond to that question.

"...."

"I am surprised you are able to dress yourself in the morning." Celeste sighs

"Oh man. If I had the "loves clueless girls" attribute, I would've fallen in love big-time just now! I'm so glad I don't have it... because you fit that bill to a t!" Hifumi tells Aoi

"Well I didn't really expect to find a freaking laptop inside a freaking locker, okay!?" Aoi shouts at him

"It's okay. I mean, anyone can make a mistake like that." Yasuhiro tries to reassure her. "As a matter of fact, one time I thought I'd spotted a grey alien, but it turned out to be a tadpole!"

"Don't compare what happened to me to one of your stupid delusions!" Aoi tells him

"Don't be mean! I was just trying to make you feel better! What if I get all depressed forever now!?" Yasuhiro shouts back.

"But listen, isn't this really strange? What's this laptop even doing in here?" Junko asks everybody

"Maybe someone hid it here." Kyoko suggests

"If that's the case, we found it pretty easy..." Yasuhiro tells her.

"...Whoever put it here, I don't think they were trying to hide it from us." F/N tells everyone.

"Huh...? What do you mean?" Makoto questions him.

"Why don't you take a quick look around? Tell me what is different about this room compared to every other." F/N tells Makoto, who just sighs and starts looking around the room.

"Why can't he ever just tell me what he means outright?" Makoto sighs as he thinks back to why F/N wouldn't tell them what he saw in the locker room directly back in the dining hall.

"From the looks of it, he didn't want Monokuma to know what we were talking about with the camera. So... that means..." Makoto took a look at every corner of the ceiling and sure enough, there weren't any cameras present in the room.

"There's... no surveillance camera." Makoto tells everybody else.

"Precisely. There's no camera in here. Which means, this is the one spot where the mastermind is blind." Kyoko adds

"So you're saying someone put the laptop here so the mastermind wouldn't know about it?" Hifumi asks

"And what Hina saw wasn't the ordinary glow of a computer screen. It was... the figure of Chihiro, shining pale green." Kyoko tells him.

"I mean, even F/N said he saw something that looked awfully similar to Chihiro when he checked." She reminds everyone.

"I think it would be best if we investigated this laptop in a little more detail." F/N suggests.

"So first of all, we have to wake it up." Makoto mutters as he starts hitting random buttons on the keyboard, and eventually the display turned on and glowed a pale green. There were a bunch of different icons on the desktop.

"There! The icon on the far left." F/N points out

"What is it...?" Makoto asks as he takes a closer look at it. "It says... Alter Ego?"

""Alter ego" literally means..."another self," I believe. In the field of artificial intelligence, it is not uncommon to create different aspects of a personality. You can consider it something like... a pen name." Celeste says

"Could you let me see it, Makoto?" Kyoko requests, so Makoto of course stands aside and let's Kyoko move the cursor to the app icon and press it, activating the application. Which led to...

"Master! You're here!" Alter Ego exclaims as soon as the application is launched

"I-It's a ghost! Buddha and sweet baby Jesus, save me!" Yasuhiro exclaims as he gets on his knees and puts both of his hands together.

"Calm down. It's not a ghost." F/N assures him as he helps him get back to his feet.

"Huh? Then... what is it?" Yasuhiro asks him.

"I'm sure if we just talk to it, we'll find out." Kyoko concludes as she began typing something on the keyboard.

"What are you?" Is what she types down before taking her hands off the keyboard, awaiting Alter Ego's answer

"Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Chihiro Fujisaki..." Alter Ego says, before giggling nervously. "Eheh... I always get so embarrassed introducing myself."

"Th-That voice... The tone and everything..." Makoto mutters with a dumbfounded expression

"It's... Chihiro." F/N says.

"Alter Ego... I've heard about this kind of AI program, but I've never seen one for myself." Kyoko mutters.

"AI program...?" Makoto mutters, clearly not knowing what that is.

"It's how Chihiro earned his title of Ultimate Programmer. The AI lives in a computer, and by repeating different tasks, it gains knowledge and grows bit by bit. Apparently, Chihiro used a support vector machine and reinforcement learning to develop it... Eventually, he came up with a breakthrough in artificial intelligence design." Kyoko concludes

"Support vector machine...? Reinforcement learning...?" Makoto murmurs with an extremely confused expression. .

"To put it simply, it's a learning method for computers." Kyoko simplifies for him

"If you wanna know more... just Google it, okay!?" Hifumi tells Makoto

"But if this AI continues to grow, it will become more than just a piece of software to help people. Some say that an AI like this might someday replace people." Kyoko adds.

"And that is why it is called Alter Ego? A fine choice then, I must say... It can create memories, have thoughts, and "grow up." The process isn't much different from how humans work." Celeste concludes. "If you were to raise your own AI that way, it would make perfect sense to refer to it as your alter ego."

"A second, perfect personality that can never forget or grow old. That's what Chihiro created. That's... Alter Ego." Kyoko says

"Kyoko... How do you know so much about this?" Makoto wonders, but he never gets an answer from her.

"Anyway, so he fixed the broken laptop and put his own program on there. That is what this means, yes? Then he brought the machine to this dressing room, where the mastermind would not be able to see it." Celeste surmises

"Hmm, but you know... All this about "Master" and whatnot... Yes, yes..." Hifumi mumbles as his glasses begin to fog up "I... I believe I'm on fire..."

"I thought you were only into 2D..." Yasuhiro says

"This is the most EXCELLENT 2D possible!" Hifumi exclaims

"But he's a guy! And also a computer program!" Yasuhiro reminds him.

"Oh, that aspect is no problem." Hifumi assures him.

"That... aspect?" F/N mutters.

"Anyway, let's talk to him a little more." Kyoko suggests before beginning to type on the computer once more.

"How much do you know about what's going on?"

"Master only gave me a general idea... But I do know things have become very grave. He found himself caught up in this without any warning..." Alter Ego responds

"Why are you here?" Was Kyoko's next question.

"Are you asking what Master had planned for me? Well... He wanted me to analyze the massive number of files stored on this laptop. I believe the files are related to the school, but the protection on them is surprisingly strong. So it's taking me a little longer than I thought. But here's what Master must have been thinking: The fact that the files are protected so tightly means they must contain some important secret. For example, perhaps... the secret of this school." Alter Ego surmises

"The secret of the school!" Makoto mutters just as Kyoko quickly asked her next question

"How much longer until everything's unlocked?"

"Umm...it's gonna be a while. But I'm definitely gonna do it, so you can just leave it to me!" Alter Ego assures everyone.

"So because of how long it would take, he designed Alter Ego to handle the workload." Kyoko mutters

"Smart. It also means that the work remains uninterrupted, even after his death." Celeste responds juas as Kyoko typed something in.

"Keep it up. But be careful not to let the mastermind notice you."

"Don't worry. I've got a secret plan all ready, just in case... Actually, I can see what's going on using my built-in webcam, so if anyone suspicious shows up... I'll just scream for help real loud!" Alter Ego says

"It's a pretty... basic plan, I have to say..." Makoto mutters

"That is fine during the day, but nighttime is a concern..." Celeste speaks up.

"Huh? Why?" Makoto asks her.

"Have you forgotten? All our rooms are completely soundproof. Once we close our doors, he can scream as loud as he wants but we won't hear a thing." Celeste reminds everyone.

"Okay, then how about once it's nighttime, we each take turns guarding the dressing room?" Hifumi suggests

"There's a good chance the mastermind would notice us all going in and out of the dressing room like that. It's way too suspicious for them to not try and find out why we'd do that." F/N tells him.

"Then... what can we do?" Makoto asks everybody.

"Once nighttime comes, I'll leave the door to my room open. Then there's no way I can miss Alter Ego yelling." Kyoko offers.

"B-But...if you leave your door open all night, then..." Yasuhiro trails off at the end...

"There's a chance I may become a victim myself, I know. But I'm not as weak as you may think. I wouldn't go down without a fight, I assure you." Kyoko tells him

"I don't disagree... but still, you could get hurt..." Makoto mutters with a concerned tone in his voice.

"Oh, are you worried for her, Makoto? Aww, that's so sweet." F/N tells him in an almost mocking tone.

"Why'd you say it like that?" Makoto questions him.

"Well anyways, if you guys really have a problem with Kyoko keeping her door open at all times, I'll do the same as well, so even if something does happen I'll be there as well." F/N offers to everyone.

"Uh, are you sure? I mean, there really is no way for you guys to defend yourselves if you're sleeping and someone like the mastermind sneaks into your room." Makoto tells him.

"If the mastermind, or anyone else for that matter, wants to try and kill me... I'm always down for a fight." F/N tells Makoto with a sinister expression on his face. The way he said it, to Makoto at least, exuded confidence similar to Kyoko. Unlike her, however, F/N almost sounded expectant when he spoke, as if he was either hoping things would come to that, or he already thought it would happen sometime soon. Makoto didn't dare speak his mind, especially considering he knew F/N definitely wouldn't answer truthfully with everyone around here.

"Umm...would you mind if I asked a few questions?" Alter Ego spoke up and caught everyone's attention immediately.

"I haven't seen Master for a while. When you got here, I thought it was him, but... Is Master...?" Alter Ego trails off, and doesn't finish that sentence. For a split second, Kyoko seemed to not know what to do. But she recovered just as fast, and quickly began typing. Her answer was clear, concise, and direct.

"Chihiro is dead. Mondo killed him."

"I see..." Alter Ego mumbles with a saddened expression. "To be honest, I knew all along... I knew the chances that Master would survive this situation were very low... So...I was prepared for this moment. I guess ever since I spoke to F/N last night and noticed how he acted when I asked him about Master, I've had a bad feeling ever since..." Alter Ego surmises.

"Well, guess that made breaking the news a lot easier at least..." F/N mutters as he lets out a shaky sigh.

"Somehow I feel kinda... sorry for her..." Hifumi mutters.

"I can't even imagine how it must feel to lose your "other self"..." Aoi adds.

"It is a simple computer program. It does not have feelings." Celeste tells them with no hesitation in her voice.

"Are you sure about that...?" Hifumi asks her.

"Anyway, that's enough for today. If we linger here too long, the mastermind will start to suspect something." Kyoko says as she types one last sentence for Alter Ego

"I'll come back later."

"Yes, please do! It's a promise, okay? Bye-bye!" Alter Ego exclaims before the computer screen fades to black, presumably because it was turned off.

"Hurm..." Yasuhiro grumbles under his breath as he ruffles his hair. Something seems to be bothering him.

"What's wrong, Hiro?" Makoto asks him.

"Oh, nothing. I was just wondering if we might be able to get this laptop online. Then we could call for help from the outside..." Yasuhiro suggests

"But this is just a dressing room. I don't think you can get online from here..." Junko tells him

"Well if we take it out of here and find somewhere that does have online access." Yasuhiro says.

"Th-That's way too dangerous! The mastermind would find out in no time!" Hifumi tells him.

"Oh, yeah... true." Yasuhiro sighs in disappointment

"This is no time for taking needless risks. For now, I'll monitor the progress of the file analysis. I'm confident we'll uncover some kind of clue once it's finished." Kyoko assures him

"This feels like a detour more than anything else, but... I suppose it can't be helped." Celeste sighs.

"Well, for now all we can do is wait for Alter Ego to finish his work." Sakura tells everyone

"So, should we get going?" Yasuhiro asks.

"Yeah." F/N says

"Goodbye! We'll be back, I promise!" Hifumi says to the now deactivated Alter Ego with a sorrowful expression.

"C'mon, Hifumi, let's go!" Aoi disappointedly tells Hifumi as she starts pushing him towards the door

"O-Okay..." Hifumi mutters as everyone leaves the dressing room, and as soon as they were all in the hall, Aoi chuckles as she haughtily puffs her chest out while nudging F/N's arm.

"Isn't it awesome!? I ended up doing something totally awesome, right!?" Aoi exclaims as F/N glances at her with a puzzled expression. "You called me a scaredy cat and made fun of me, but I ended up doing something super helpful." She brags to F/N, who scoffs.

"You still screamed like a baby and ran away when you thought you saw a ghost, so you're still a bonafide scaredy cat. Plus... you only left your room because you were hungry. So, I attribute more of this to your stomach than whatever is bouncing around in your head." F/N tells Aoi, who seemed to get annoyed with F/N's response.

"Well, then that's just another reason to add to the never ending list of why donuts are the best..." Aoi mumbles under her breath.

"Ha... well, I guess your obsession with food was good for something after all..." F/N admits.

"Dun da-da duuun! Hina has gained enough experience to level up!" Monokuma cheers as he suddenly appears next to the students

"So... what was this awesome something?" He asks everyone.

"M-Monokuma!" Makoto exclaims in shock at Monokuma's arrival.

"You guys all seem in remarkably good spirits. Did something happen!?" Monokuma asks

"N-No, nothing in particular...!" Makoto assures him, but Monokuma isn't buying it.

"Ooh, keeping secrets? No fair! I demand an exclusive interview!" Monokuma whines

"Denied, denied, super denied!" Hifumi shouts at him.

"Y-Yeah, just because you demand something, doesn't mean we have to do it!" Aoi tells Monokuma.

"Do it...? You mean, like, do it do it?" Monokuma asks.

"Wait, what? What do you mean, do it do it?" Aoi questions him

"Ewww, gross! You said do it!" Monokuma shouts

"What!? You said it first!" Aoi shouts back at him.

"Just ignore him." F/N suggests.

"Well if you must know, we were just talking about going to the bathhouse. We have not had a chance to relax in some time." Celeste speaks up.

"...Huh?" Makoto exclaims.

"But unfortunately, the bathhouse is not divided into men and women sections. So we decided to do rock-paper-scissors to decide which group would go first. Hina won the match for us, and that is why we are all so pleased." Celeste explains the story to Monokuma.

"Y-Yeah, that's right! Speaking of which..." Aoi mutters as she clears her throat and looks at all of the boys.

"Okay boys, pack it up! Why don't you head on back to the dining hall or something? We're gonna take a nice, long bath!" Aoi commands them all.

"Ahhh, jeez, what're ya gonna do, right!? We lost, fair and square!" Yasuhiro says with a look of defeat on his face.

"What a shame." F/N adds

"Well, ladies? Shall we go?" Celeste says to all of the girls.

"Well, I don't really feel like going in the bathhouse right now. So you guys can go without me, I'll just head back to my room." Junko tells them all.

"Very well, see you all later then." Celeste says as she and all the girls enter the bathhouse while Junko goes back to her dorm, leaving only the boys left.

"U-Umm..." Hifumi mutters as he nervously looks around. "Nuts and dammit! We totally lost! Another day without getting to take my very first bath here!" He complains

"Y-Yeah, but... tomorrow for sure! You'll definitely get that bath tomorrow!" Yasuhiro reassures him.

"Okay, so... should we head back to the dining hall now?" Makoto suggests.

"Hooooold on! Something's strange here... VERY strange!" Monokuma shouts at them

"Strange? What do you mean?" F/N questions him

"What's strange is... this is the perfect chance for you to sneak a peek!" Monokuma tells the boys

"...Huh?" Makoto exclaims with a dumbfounded expression

"Ng-gh-gh! Th-That's...! You're absolutely right!" Hifumi shouts.

"Seriously...?" F/N mutters

"I thought you were all about the 2D..." Yasuhiro tells Hifumi.

"All of you need to shut up, sit down, and listen to what I have to say... An opportunity like this doesn't come along very often... It's the ideal setting of a man's fantasy!" Monokuma tells all of them.

"Well... if you guys really want to, I can't do anything about it. But, I'll just go back to the dining hall." F/N tells them all as he points his thumb in the direction the dining hall was in.

"Come on, F/N... this is an opportunity in life you must never pass up! I mean, when will you ever get another chance at seeing Hina's voluptuous figure no longer contained by the fabric it's always wrapped within? Or better yet, you may get an exclusive look at the mysterious beauty of Kyoko in all its glory, completely and utterly exposed to your eyes! If that's not a man's fantasy I don't know what is!" Monokuma tries to convince him.

"...what?" F/N questions Monokuma with a completely stupefied expression.

"Oh, oh! What about Celestia's soft and beautiful skin, or Sakura's... muscles? If you're into that thing I guess." Monokuma adds.

"Why are you so adamant about this?" F/N questions Monokuma, unable to even comprehend what's going on anymore.

"I just want to see the man's fantasy carried out as it should be. Also it would be kinda funny if a class trial came from this." Monokuma tells him. "Look! Even the innocent Makoto is contemplating the idea!" He adds as he points at Makoto, who didn't seem to be so keen on the idea, but wasn't outright dismissing it either.

"Makoto... don't tell me you really want to see the "Mysterious beauty of Kyoko in all its glory" like Monokuma said." F/N says, but Makoto just sighs and looks at the bathhouse door.

"Oh my god..." F/N sighs.

"Well F/N, what will it be?" Monokuma asks

"... just so we're clear, if we get caught... a body is going to be discovered." F/N tells the other boys.

"That's true, which is why I'm prepared to go down with you all." Hifumi tells him.

"Are you kidding me?! If we get caught I'm leaving all of you behind to save myself! There's so way I'm dying over something this stupid!" F/N clarifies for them all as Monokuma walks to the door and pushes it open, motioning the boys to go inside.

"Okay... Let's go!" Makoto mutters as all of the boys walk inside the bathhouse again with the "man's fantasy" burning in their chest.

"Puhuhu... Have fun in your man's fantasy...! Have a smashing good time..." Monokuma says as the door shuts.

"So they really are taking a bath. Is this what Celeste meant about lying convincingly?" Yasuhiro points out in a hushed tone.

"Mr. Hagakure, please refrain from pointless whispering. We're deep in enemy territory here..." Hifumi whispers. "Just up ahead is the bathhouse. And there awaits... a great dazzling passion!" He tells the other three stooges just as Makoto walked up to the door and was ready to take a peek inside.

"You better not get us caught, Makoto. If we somehow manage to keep our lives, we'll never hear the end of it." F/N reminds Makoto while waiting for him to open up the door

Makoto looks at him and can't help but get cold feet after hearing him say that.

"Um... maybe we shouldn't actually do this." Makoto says as he takes his hand away from the knob.

"No way... we can't back out now. Just steel your nerves and grasp the man's fantasy Monokuma told us about." Hifumi tells Makoto, who just sighs and puts his hand back on the knob, opening it gently, inch by inch. It was almost impressive how Makoto maneuvered his hand like a master craftsman, to avoid making even the slightest sound.

And with a gentle push, the door cracked open, and all four of the boys took a peek inside, and there they gazed upon the man's fantasy... in its purest form...

Most of them were completely enamored by what they saw. Hifumi and Yasuhiro were both freaking out from how lucky they must've been to get to see this, while Makoto was covering his face, but he may have peeked through his fingers to take another look just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating or anything, so none of them noticed what F/N had.

You see, while everyone else had been too caught up in the craziness of this situation, F/N could barely even acknowledge the things he was seeing as he was noticeably flustered by this entire situation. However, his embarrassment soon turned to fear as he could've sworn while he was looking around the room, he and Kyoko had ended up making eye contact, her disappointed yet almost amused gaze meeting his shocked one.

F/N didn't know if he had imagined it or not, but he wasn't going to risk it at all, so he quickly tapped Makoto's shoulder after moving away from the door, and when Makoto looked over to him, he signaled for them to leave, which Makoto, still red in the face, quickly agreed with. So they all left.

***

***

"I'm not sure how to put it, but...I always feel refreshed after a job well done!" Hifumi exclaims with a satisfied expression on his face as the three boys enter the cafeteria.

"A 3D body isn't so bad in its nude state, I suppose." He adds.

"But still... I just can't believe it. I can't believe that ogre's a girl!?" Yasuhiro exclaims.

"Aren't you glad we chased the man's fantasy, Mr S/N?" Hifumi asks F/N, who looks back at him with a stupefied expression.

"Stop talking about it, if they come back and hear you mentioning it, I'll kill you before they can." F/N threatens Hifumi, who immediately zips his lips.

"Was this... really okay?" Makoto asks himself as he lays his head on the desk. "Well...I looked, too. So, I guess I'm gonna have to say yes..." He decides, but he still feels pretty guilty about the whole thing.

Eventually, they heard the buzzing of busy voices growing louder. The girls had finished their baths, and joined the boys in the dining hall.

"Ahhh, man what a nice bath!" Aoi sighs with a satisfied expression on her face. Seems like they had a good time.

"Getting a chance to stretch out and relax after all this time was a true pleasure." Celeste adds.

"Indeed." Kyoko adds as she takes a seat beside F/N and glances over to him. She was about to ask him a question, but Sakura spoke up

"Normally, after a long bath I like to make myself a nice protein coffee, but..." Sakura trails off as Monokuma shows up to address the entire class.

"Sorry, no time for that!" Monokuma says

"That's what I figured..." Sakura sighs

"...Huh?" Monokuma exclaims.

"We were just saying in the bath how it was about time for you to get up to something." Celeste explains to him.

"After seeing how happy we were, an evil little monster like you would never let that last for long." Kyoko adds.

"Y-You're all so terrible to me..." Monokuma whines as he starts sniffling as though he were holding back tears

"Everyone's so cold and mean! Even after I got presents for you all!" He complains

"...Presents!?" Makoto inquires

"Hmmm? Oh, have I got your attention? Puhuhu. Then let's head to the gym, where your presents await!" Monokuma orders all of them. "No questions, no dilly-dallying! Get a move on, and everything will become clear!" He says before leaving.

"Wh-What is it...? What are you scheming this time!?" Hifumi asks Monokuma, but he was already gone.

"He's probably going to repeat the same thing again. Providing us with a motive to get things moving..." Kyoko surmises

"...Again?" Aoi mutters as she looks down in disappointment.

"So long as we live and breathe... Monokuma will never let this killing game end." F/N tells everyone as he stands up. "If you don't like it, then do something about it." He advises before leaving the dining hall.

"...I don't want to... I don't want to do this anymore..." Aoi continuously repeats to herself.

"Me either. I'm, like, totally traumatized..." Yasuhiro says

"It's okay. We have Alter Ego. I'm sure he'll find something that'll help us. So for now... we just have to endure it, come what may." Kyoko tells everybody before she leaves as well.

And with heavy feet, the others made their way to the gym. But when they arrived, there was already someone waiting for them.

"To be kept waiting by the likes of you. Rest assured, if we had access to firearms, you'd all be dead." Byakuya scoffs with a disdainful expression once everyone finally showed up.

"Byakuya...? Did you get here early?" Makoto asks him.

"Did you forget how to walk? Is that why you're late? It's simple- right foot, left foot. Right foot..." Byakuya explains to them all.

"Hmhmhm. The same as always, I see. Her, on the other hand..." Celeste says as she looks back to Toko.

"Oh, she's back to her Debbie Downer self, huh?" Yasuhiro asks.

"I heard what sounded like a sneeze, and she was back to her old self." Byakuya tells him.

"So now she goes from manic to depressive whenever she sneezes? Seems kinda late to add that into the mix..." Hifumi says

"Why does e-everyone keep making fun of me...? I hope you all win the l-lottery and get hit by a b-bus..." Toko mutters.

"Well if it makes you feel better, I prefer you than Jill any day of the week." F/N tells her, but Toko just scoffs in response.

"So when you wanna say something mean, then you can talk, huh?" Aoi asks Toko.

"Anyway. It looks like everyone's here. Which means..." As soon as Sakura stopped talking, Monokuma finally decided to reveal himself.

"It looks like everyone's here! So then, let's get started!" Monokuma cheers as he pulls out a red button and hovers his paw over it.

"Come on, out with it. What kind of motive have you prepared for us this time?" Byakuya questions Monokuma

"Whatever you subject us to, we will not break." Sakura adds

"Yeah, that's right! We're not gonna lose to you ever again!" Aoi shouts at Monokuma, who just chuckles.

"Puhuhu... You don't have to get so defensive. Calm down! I've decided to change things up a bit this time. Up till now, I've been using the WOOSH of the North Wind to get you all moving. But sometimes you gotta use the Sun to light a fire under someone's butt! Ahh-hahaha!" Monokuma cackles as he pushes the button in his hand

"So without further ado, I give you... THIS!" After saying this, stacks upon stacks of money fall from the ceiling and pile up on the stage, completely filling it with money.

"Ten million dollars! I've prepared this graduation present for whichever lucky student makes it out of here alive! Whaddya think? It's ten million bucks! Ten million smackaroos! It's like totally wowie wow wow, am I right!?" Monokuma exclaims

"So that's the motive you've prepared, is it?" Kyoko asks.

"Ten million dollars is..." Makoto mutters

"It's not nearly enough." Byakuya says.

"Yeah... ten million really doesn't sound all that appealing to me." F/N admits with a disappointed sigh.

"When it comes to motives, money certainly is the gold standard, so to speak. Whether it's in a mystery novel, or the real world..." Kyoko mutters with a curious expression.

"B-But... There's no way we'd kill each other for money!" Aoi claims.

"She's right. You can't simply purchase a person's life." Sakura adds.

"Well, some people would do anything for money. And money can change people..." F/N mentions. "It's pretty much a fact that the richer someone is, the more likely it is that they'll just be unhappy with life. I mean, when you're rich, it's hard to have relationships, especially one's where trust is present. I mean, who's to say your best friend or significant other isn't just after whatever number is being displayed in your bank account." He says.

"It's so weird that some pieces of paper and a certain number in one's bank account can cause so much strife." F/N says.

"Uh... what point are you trying to make here exactly?" Hifumi asks F/N.

"Point...?" F/N asks with a confused look, as though he was snapped out of a daze. "O-Oh, uh, sorry. There was no point..." He embarrassedly admits.

"Well, whatever. You can say ten million or however much, I don't give a crap about money! For serious!" Yasuhiro shouts at Monokuma.

"Yeah... they're all right... Whether it's ten million, or any other amount of money... No, not even just money. From now on, no matter what you do, we won't kill our friends!" Makoto claims.

"C'mon, stop trying to act tough." Monokuma sighs. "The most important thing is to live a pure and moral communal life!" He adds before leaving abruptly.

"Th-There's nothing to worry about, right? Nobody would kill a friend... for money, right?" Aoi asks everyone.

"Have you so quickly forgotten the lesson from last time? You can't judge others by your own standard." Byakuya reminds her.

"Y-Yeah, there might be someone here who's having m-money problems!" Toko says.

"Personally, I've earned over one million dollars from my gambling efforts. My life is... comfortable." Celeste claims

"H-Hifumi? What about y-you!?" Toko asks as she turns towards the boy in question.

"I'm a super popular content creator! I don't have any problem making enough to buy my comics and DVDs!" Hifumi says

"Th-Th-Then...!"

"Just stop. Pressing others about their personal finances is... ugly." Sakura tells Toko

"U-U-U-Ugly!?"

"Don't worry. Either way, whatever's going to happen will happen without warning. That is the nature of this game." Byakuya tells everyone.

"Whatever. We should probably just get going now. It'll be nighttime soon anyways." F/N tells everyone.

"Ah, wait! I forgot I had one more thing to tell you all! Don't go yet!" Monokuma exclaims as he bursts through the doors of the gymnasium, huffing and puffing as if he sprinted over.

"You're back? What is it that you want?" Kyoko questions him.

"I just wanted to ask you guys something. How much do you all trust each other?" Monokuma asks them.

"Enough to know your motive isn't going to work this time, if that's why you were asking!" Makoto tells him.

"I see, I see. Another question..." Monokuma says in an ominous tone. "How much do you think your answer would change if I said there was a traitor in your midst... working for me?" Monokuma asks everyone, which makes them all freeze and look at each other.

"Who... is it?" Junko questions Monokuma, which makes him cackle.

"Well Missy, if you really must know... it's F/N." Monokuma tells her as she points to the boy in question.

"...."

"Uh... F/N, he's lying isn't he? Did you do something to upset him?" Makoto asks F/N, who doesn't answer. He just stares at everyone else.

"Um... Mr. S/N?" Hifumi mutters. "Is what Monokuma claims to be true, actually true?"

F/N doesn't respond verbally. All he does is slightly extend his arms outwards with a smug expression, his empty eyes meeting everyone else's.

"F/N... that's not funny. Just tell us it's not true already." Aoi pleads with him, but her voice isn't as desperate sounding as her words. She just sounds... tired."

"Oh come on... you guys should be grateful about this." F/N speaks up. "I mean, this has gotta be the least surprising news you've gotten since we got trapped in this place." He tells the others.

"I don't understand though." Sakura says. "Monokuma... he's killed so many people already while getting us to kill each other, and he's trying to do it again. Why would you ever work for him?" She questions F/N.

"Why...? It's because I don't want this killing game to end. Ever." F/N admits. "This game is nothing short of a conduit for absolute beauty. Hope and Despair meshing together, to create an amalgamation that is the very embodiment of beauty in its purest form. A way to test who may be eligible to become... the Ultimate Beauty. That is what this killing game is meant to do. And that is why I, the one who can appreciate beauty more than anyone else in this world, must do my solemn duty and make sure all goes according to my and Monokuma's plan." F/N explains to everyone as he paces around the gymnasium.

"I-I don't.. what?! What are you talking about anymore?" Aoi questions F/N with a distraught expression.

"Aw... Hina." F/N begins. "Don't be sad... I'm doing this because I truly love all of you and I just want you guys to reach your full potential." F/N reassures her as he stops walking and stands at attention. "As for why I chose to team up with Monokuma for this... it's because I know I can trust him. The two of us do go way back after all. Ain't that right, Monokuma?" He inquires while looking over to Monokuma, who was not only silent this entire time, but almost seemed to have a troubled look.

"Yeah..." Monokuma finally speaks up. "We go waaay back." He says with uncertainty present in his voice.

"See...?" F/N asks as he looks over to Kyoko and tilts his head to the side and looks her directly in the eyes. Kyoko stares back at him, confused as to why he looked at her like that, but she then remembered what Monokuma said and how he said it and her mind immediately started racing...

"It's no use. I don't understand anything that this guy is saying at all!" Yasuhiro says in reference to F/N.

"I don't blame you. It seems he's completely snapped. I guess it was inevitable all things considered." Celeste says.

"Sheesh. You guys should really learn a very important life lesson." F/N sighs as he starts walking towards the door. "It's rude to talk about people who are listening..." He adds in a threatening tone while holding his pointer finger over his lips with a smile filled with pure evil.

And with that he had left....

Monokuma didn't even bother to say anything when he left. No one liner, no cryptic words, nothing. He was just... gone. Leaving only the remaining students to talk amongst themselves.

"This is bad... F/N knows about Alter Ego and soon, the mastermind will too." Sakura whispers to Kyoko.

"I don't know... something about all this is fishy. I feel like F/N is still hiding something. Not just from us, but the mastermind as well." Kyoko admits as she looks upwards.

"What do you think it may be?" Sakura asks.

"I... I don't know..." Kyoko admits with an almost troubled expression.

"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite..."

"It's that time already, huh...?" Aoi mutters in a shaky voice

"...Before we separate, let me remind you... Starting tonight, I'll be leaving my room door open to make sure nothing happens to Alter Ego." Kyoko reminds the others.

"Didn't F/N say he'd do the same? Shouldn't we be worried about that?" Yasuhiro asks.

"Well, if he really wants to keep his door open, I can't do anything about that. But, it doesn't make much of a difference if he does or doesn't." Kyoko assures him.

"I will just have to make sure not to let him best me to Alter Ego if something does happen. Also... just because my door is open, don't assume that will make me an easy target. Or the predator may suddenly find itself the prey..." Kyoko's voice was calm and composed, but it was clear she meant what she said.

"Okay, okay, Let's just head back to our rooms everyone! And don't think about that whole money thing! Got it? Good! Then let's break!" Yasuhiro tells everyone.

"...How was that? Pretty good, right Taka?" He asks Ishimaru, who was still staring off into space blankly.

"...Right." Yasuhiro mumbles as he and the others go back to their rooms, leaving Kyoko and Junko as the last remaining ones.

"Junko... how come you decided to stay till now?" Kyoko asks the girl, who was uncharacteristically silent.

"...Kyoko. I'll keep an eye on F/N, okay? I feel like... something isn't right." Junko tells her.

"I see..." Kyoko mutters. "I would tell you to be careful, but you seem pretty confident that you'll be safe. Plus... my intuition tells me you know how to defend yourself well enough... I don't know why though." Kyoko admits with a confused expression. Junko doesn't respond,so eventually, they both decide to leave at the same time, waving goodbye once they split off to go to their dorms...