"N-No way... If that's true, then we... we...!"
"We're inside a program right now...?"
"No way, sirs! Where the heck did technology that high-end even come from!?"
"A synesthetic virtual world project created by people like the [Ultimate Programmer], the [Ultimate Neurologist], and the [Ultimate Therapist]...?"
"Then... all those weird phenomena that kept happening... it was because this place is inside a program..."
"L-Look over there!!"
Among the students, who had gone pale and were muttering in shaken voices, Saionji suddenly screamed and pointed at the ceiling... no, at the place where the ceiling used to be.
"Wh-What the heck is that!?"
"N-Numbers are floating around..."
"I-It was totally normal just a second ago..."
The ceiling of the laundry room had vanished, and numbers drifted through the air, constantly changing. Only after witnessing that grotesquely abnormal sight did the students truly begin to grasp that they were inside virtual reality.
"Actually, this place has looked like this the whole time from the very beginning."
Nanami spoke up from among the students, who were staring around in alarm.
"...What!?"
"Until a little while ago, it was still holding its shape pretty well... but ever since we came into the laundry room, it's been like this the whole time. I think once you all recognized that this place was inside a program, you started seeing the same world I see."
"...Nanami, you knew this place was inside a program?"
"...Yeah. But there was a reason I couldn't say it. I'm sorry."
When Nanami drove the final nail into it, the students fell silent in shock. In the middle of that suffocating silence, Saionji suddenly turned to Nanami and asked in a trembling voice.
"I-If this really is a virtual world... then K and Kyoko Kirigiri... they aren't dead, right?"
At those words, the others lit up at once and hurriedly piled on.
"R-Right...! If it's virtual reality, then even if you die here, you wouldn't die in the real world, right!?"
"Then... those two are safe!? Thank goodness, sirs!!"
"Ugh... then that memorial service was... s-so embarrassing..."
"Ahahahahaha!! I knew it!! There was no way people with terrifying magical power on par with mine would die that easily!"
"Th-That's a relief... I still... still have a chance to take smiling photos..."
"Upupupu... Sorry to rain on your little hope parade, but you're completely wrong...!"
Monokuma suddenly popped up among them and began jeering at the students.
"Death in this world means death in reality too... and that goes for K and Kyoko Kirigiri as well! Upupupupu!!"
"Y-You're lying! How could dying in virtual reality kill someone in real life!?"
As Saionji shouted with her fists clenched tight, Monokuma pulled a pair of glasses and a graduation cap out of thin air, put them on, and turned toward her.
"Ahem. The [New World Project] uses cutting-edge psychotherapy methods to convert memory data from a synesthetic virtual world into reality, and therefore..."
"Wh-What are you even saying...?"
"...Anyway, the important part is this: if you die in here, the shock hits your brains outside too, and you die!! In other words, K and Kyoko Kirigiri are brain-dead right now!!"
At Monokuma's devastating declaration, Saionji turned to Nanami with desperate eyes.
"N-Nanami... that... that's a lie, right...? P-Please tell me it isn't true... okay...?"
"....."
"S-Say something... please? Please..."
"Come on, Nanami! Spit it out already...! Nice and clear! Upupupupupu...!!"
As he said that, Monokuma grinned while staring at the E-Handbook in Nanami's pocket. Because of that, Nanami could only start to speak, then clamp her mouth shut and bite down on her lip.
"....."
"...So it really was true."
When Nanami closed her eyes and said nothing, Saionji finally muttered in a voice gone limp with despair.
"I wanted to meet them... and apologize..."
As the atmosphere curdled into grief, Monokuma smiled in satisfaction and opened his mouth again.
"Well then, see you soon at the graduation exam...! Upupupu...!!"
Monokuma vanished, and silence hung over them for a long while.
"...Let's get out of here for now."
"....."
And so the students trudged out of the laundry room after Pigami.
"Looks like they aren't even trying to hide that this is a program world anymore..."
"Urgh... I'm getting dizzy... I can't even tell what's ground and what's sky..."
"It feels like we're walking through empty space..."
What spread out before the students as they left the laundry room was a hallway made of numbers and lines. Fighting off their dizziness, they began walking carefully down the corridor.
"Everyone, did you know? Actually, the placebo effect is..."
"Humans are seventy percent water... Isn't that scary...? Seven out of every ten people around us are water..."
"Did you know? Giraffes clean their ears with their own tongues, and then..."
"Mm... hope... future... ahaha..."
As they walked down the corridor, the students suddenly started babbling nonsense.
"...Um, guys?"
"Huh...? Wait, why am I here...?"
"D-Did I doze off for a second?"
"What did I just say...?"
When Nanami asked cautiously, the students flinched, tilted their heads in confusion, and then their eyes glazed over again as they resumed muttering gibberish.
"...Is this a bug?"
As Nanami looked after them one by one and continued down the corridor, someone approached her side and whispered:
"...Are you prepared to be shown the future?"
".....!"
Nanami froze for a moment at the chillingly cold voice, one that somehow felt eerily familiar. But the instant she came to her senses and looked beside her, the only one there was Hinata, mumbling something under his breath.
"...Hinata-kun?"
"I... I... huh...?"
"...What did you just say?"
"...Uh, well... I was thinking..."
Hinata trailed off, then before long his face went blank again and he started muttering nonsense.
'...What was that? That voice?'
Because of that, Nanami spent the entire walk down the corridor lost in thought, but in the end she couldn't figure out who that voice belonged to.
"Wh-What is that...?"
"Gyaaaah!! A g-ghost, sirs!! A ghost showed up!!"
"Huuuuuhhh!! N-Nooo, I hate ghoooosts!!"
"Calm yourself. That too is merely a hologram."
"...Hello?"
"I-It talked, sirs!! It's a real ghost!!!"
"Bloop bloop..."
"H-Hey! Get a grip!!"
When the students entered the classroom, something shaped like a human figure floated in midair and spoke to them. They were startled at first, but after everything unbelievable they'd already been through, they adapted quickly and began talking to the mysterious figure.
"W-Who are you...?"
"I'm... the master of the [New World Project], [Alter Ego]. I was the one constructing and managing this virtual reality."
"Th-Then get us out of here right now...!"
"...Sorry, that kind of important authority belonged to the 'watchers.' And on top of that, Monokuma has already stolen most of that authority..."
"Hey... do you know where this place is?"
"This is... inside the [New World Project], built using Jabberwock Island as its foundation. As for what the [New World Project] is... you all already understand that pretty well by now, don't you?"
At those words, the students remembered what had happened in the laundry room and fell into silence.
"...Why were we imprisoned here?"
In the middle of that silence, Hinata quietly spoke up.
"...I'm sorry, but I don't have the authority to tell you that..."
"Then tell us about the watchers. You just mentioned them, so you should have the authority to explain that much."
"...The watchers are divided into three guide roles and one student role. Those roles are..."
"The guide roles are Monomi, Kyoko Kirigiri, and K. The student role is Nanami. Right?"
"...Yeah. Monokuma stole the authority of those guide roles. That's why something this horrible could happen in what was supposed to be a peaceful world where murder was never tolerated."
After hearing that, Hinata sank into thought for a moment before asking another question.
"Then what exactly is Monokuma?"
"Monokuma is... a virus that infiltrated the [New World Project]. I don't know how it got in, though. The [New World Project] isn't connected to any network... and judging by the level of influence it has over the program now, it seems like it must have infiltrated it a very long time ago..."
"Forget that. Doesn't Monokuma have some kind of weakness...?"
"No matter what, Monokuma only stole the watchers' authority, so he's currently restricted by the 'watcher rules.' Therefore, if you want to send everyone outside the program, you have to follow the proper procedure—"
"Upupupu!! That's far enough!! Even if you're playing god, any more hints than that are a no-go!!"
Monokuma suddenly barged in and cut himself between the students and Alter Ego.
"If it's come to this, then I'll have to move the graduation exam up a little... move it up... move it up... Upupu... upupupupu..."
"Wh-What...? What's wrong with this bastard?"
Monokuma's eyes gleamed as he advanced toward the students, but then he suddenly started spewing bizarre nonsense.
"Within the rapid fall defined by the definition of existence we must always dream of utopia and by doing so form the self and this proves various kinds of generality"
"M-Monokuma... there are two of him... no, three of him, sirs!"
"What the hell is happening right now?"
Bzzzzzt!!
"Wh-What? The room...?"
"S-Shouldn't we get out of here!?"
"The door won't open! We're completely trapped in here!?"
To make matters worse, the colors of the entire room suddenly inverted and the whole place began to shake, sending the students into a full-blown panic.
"E-Everyone, get down!!"
"Why does this keep happening over and over again!?"
"I'm... so tired now... please... just let me rest..."
Despite the students' desperate cries, the violent trembling continued, and they had no choice but to stay crouched on the floor for quite some time.
"Urgh... my head..."
"Bleegh... huuurk..."
"W-Where are we...?"
"It looks kind of like the classroom from before... but something's off..."
Once the shaking finally subsided, the students who had been lying flat on the ground slowly began to rise one by one.
Bzzt... bzzzt...
"L-Look over there...!"
"Wh-What's happening this time...?"
"Isn't that the [Alter Ego] we met earlier?"
"No... the silhouette's different from [Alter Ego], isn't it...?"
In the dead center of the now-distorted classroom, someone's silhouette floated in midair.
Bzzt... bzzzt... Is... someone... there...?
"I-It's talking...?"
"...Yeah, we're here. Who are you?"
I'm speaking to your world right now... through Alter Ego.
"Yeah, we got that already, so tell us who you are!!"
After you all disappeared from that space, we could no longer observe you... but we've been watching over you this whole time.
"...I don't think it's hearing us at all."
Even though Monokuma made it impossible for us to interfere with your world... the fact that Alter Ego has given me this chance to speak to your world like this means there must be someone there, right?
"But that silhouette... doesn't it look kind of familiar, sirs?"
"That ahoge on top of his head... I don't know why, but it feels weirdly familiar..."
And from what we've seen while watching you all up to now... everyone should be there together. So I'll speak under the assumption that all of you are there.
The man reflected in the silhouette took a brief breath, then began to speak in a grave, resolute voice.
I am a member of the Future Foundation's 14th Division, and currently serving as the acting branch head of the 13th Division... My name is Makoto Naegi.
"".....!""