"Wh-What are you talking about...?"
"Us... [Ultimate Despair]?"
"That's right. You all were [Ultimate Despair], the ones who helped bring the world to ruin... After Junko Enoshima was defeated by Class 78, you continued operating as the Remnants of Despair."
"Y-You think we'd actually believe that!?"
"Upupupu, what's with the reaction? We were on the same side until just a little while ago. Honestly, that hurts my feelings..."
"N-Nanami!! Say something!! That's all a lie, right? It has to be, right!?"
The students turned desperate eyes toward Nanami. But Nanami only stood there, pale as death, staring at Hinata.
"Upupupu... They do say silence is tacit consent, don't they? Well, I guess it makes sense. Nanami already knew you were [Ultimate Despair]!!"
That sent a fresh shockwave through the group.
"I... I heard [Ultimate Despair] was some organization that destroyed the world and carried out terrorism..."
"That's right. [Ultimate Despair] is a group that spreads nothing but despair regardless of what anyone says around them... forcing it on others, killing, burning, making atrocity part of everyday life."
"A-Are you saying... we did things like that...?"
"Th-There's no way..."
After Naegi's successive bombshells, the students stared at him with eyes that didn't believe him... no, eyes that refused to.
"Ahaha, it's only natural you can't believe it... but every word of that is true."
"...Komaeda?"
"Because the bonus file I got for clearing the Final Dead Room... had the exact same thing written in it..."
"A-a bonus file?"
"Yeah. After reading that file and realizing everyone except the watcher was [Ultimate Despair]... I tried to massacre all of you. Everyone except the one person left, Nanami! Of course, that included me too!"
Komaeda dropped that lunatic confession with perfect calm, and the others answered with expressions of pure revulsion.
"You psycho..."
"Seriously, we should've just left him there..."
"So... in the outside world, we were basically in almost the same state as that guy...? Damn it, that's way too horrifying..."
"Naegi, why did we fall into despair? Nobody here seems evil enough to have done something like that."
From amid the shell-shocked students, Hinata asked Naegi the question. Naegi closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at all of them and answered.
"The reason you became despair... is because you came into contact with Junko Enoshima, the leader of [Ultimate Despair]. And right now, you're undergoing the [New World Project] in order to remove her influence."
Naegi continued, his gaze cold as ice.
"The only reason you're able to seem this normal right now... is because of the Future Foundation and the [New World Project]... In the outside world, you destroy your families, your comrades, even your own bodies without a shred of mercy."
"W-We'd never do something like that...!!"
"That's right!! Even if we did despair, isn't it possible we despaired... y'know... gently!?"
"M-Me... hurting people... I can't even imagine it..."
"Y-Yeah...! No matter what, family, friends, even our own bodies... that's...!"
As Hinata challenged Naegi, everyone started throwing their own protests at him.
"Don't look away!!"
But the instant Naegi roared that at them, a savage pain lanced through everyone's heads. They clutched at their skulls and collapsed to the floor.
"Urgh...! Wh-What... is this memory...?"
"Th-This is... me...? I... why... why would I..."
"Th-This is... too... horrible... isn't it...?"
Naegi looked down at them and declared in a glacial voice,
"That's right. Those are the things you did."
"....."
"Well? Have you despaired over the people you were in the outside world?"
"P-Please... stop now..."
"...So what exactly are you telling us to do?"
"Why did K and Kyoko Kirigiri... sacrifice themselves... for people like us...?"
"If this... is the truth... then maybe it'd be better to just..."
"But you can't fall into despair here!! Hope still exists!!"
"Upupupu... That's right. If you 'graduate,' hope definitely exists!!"
As he said that, Monokuma scribbled something onto a sketchpad and showed it to the students.
"See? Just like it says here, all you have to do is press graduate and it's over!! Of course... K and Kyoko Kirigiri won't come back to life... but you will wake up with the memories of this world intact!!"
"Th-That means..."
"Exactly!! If you choose to graduate, you can throw away the life you lived as [Ultimate Despair] and make a fresh start!! Well? Isn't that hopeful? On the other hand, if you choose to repeat... you'll spend the rest of your lives inside this program!! Well? Isn't that despair-inducing?"
After Monokuma laid it out so neatly, the students began discussing it in hushed voices.
"C-Can we really... go back out into the world...?"
"Even if we leave like this... that doesn't erase what we've done... So maybe... it'd be better to stay here..."
"S-Sonia!! What are you saying!? Do you know how hard we've fought to get out of here!?"
"We can't let Kyoko Kirigiri's... and K's sacrifice... become meaningless..."
"But... what we did... was too horrible... Even if we go outside... we can't just live like nothing ever happened..."
"Hey, could you hurry up and decide already?"
As the discussion dragged on, Naegi started sounding irritated.
"There's only one answer, so why is this taking so long? Do I need to wait even longer?"
"M-Mr. Naegi!?"
"There's only one path where hope can be seen, isn't there? Choose graduation and move toward hope. That's the only path left for you...!!"
"He's right, everyone. If we repeat here, we won't move forward. We'll just stop. I can't accept an ending like that."
When Hinata backed up Naegi's words, the others began murmuring to themselves.
"Yeah... Even if we lived on this island forever... in the end, this world is still fake... What meaning would that have...?"
"I... made a promise...! That I'd go outside... and build gravestones for those two...! So no matter what anyone says, I'm going out there...!"
"That's right... If we don't move forward from here... then K and Kyoko Kirigiri's sacrifice will become meaningless in the end... For their sake too... we have to keep moving..."
"When we wake up... what'll happen to us? Will we be free? Or will the Future Foundation detain us? I don't know... but still, it's gotta be better than staying in this miserable world."
As the students' positions gradually began to settle, Monokuma's eyes gleamed and he spoke again.
"Well then... looks like the time has finally come! It's decision time now... Will you graduate, or repeat? Press the button in front of you and choose!!"
At those words, everyone silently lowered their eyes to the button displayed on the monitor before them. Watching them, Naegi began his final push.
"Make sure every last one of you chooses 'graduate.' Because graduation is the path that leads to... hope..."
"Wait!! Everyone, hold it!! Something's wrong after all!!"
"N-Nanami...?"
"Upupupu?"
"Huh? Hey, what exactly is supposed to be wrong?"
Nanami looked at everyone and began to speak.
"Don't you remember that moment from earlier?"
"That moment from earlier...?"
"What do you mean...?"
"When we met Alter Ego in the classroom!! Think back to what happened then!! If you do, you'll understand why this situation is strange!!"
Nanami shouted desperately at them. Then Naegi glared at her and spoke.
"What do you mean, strange?"
"If you really are Makoto Naegi... then say again what you told us when we met earlier!!"
"Upupupu? You already met the adorable and famously lovable Naegi-kun? When? Upupupupu?"
"....."
At Nanami's words, Naegi fell silent, and one by one the students' expressions shifted into realization.
"C-Come to think of it... the plan you told us earlier... wasn't this at all, was it?"
"Th-That's right!! This is completely different from what you said before!! What the heck is going on here!?"
"You... definitely said that forced sh—"
"You little brat!! Could you shut up already!?"
"W-We definitely knew that fact... so why didn't any of us think of it sooner?"
As the students spiraled into confusion, Naegi calmly began to speak.
"...You mean the part about forced shutdown?"
".....!"
That only plunged them into confusion all over again.
"What? He knows!?"
"Th-Then... is that person really Makoto Naegi after all?"
"W-Wait... but if he says that here and now..."
"...Monokuma, so you really did know we were about to use forced shutdown."
"Upupupu! Upupupupu!!"
Nanami glared at Monokuma while Monokuma snickered under his breath. Then Naegi opened his mouth again.
"The original plan really was to use forced shutdown. But just now, Monokuma completely seized control of the forced shutdown system."
"...What?"
"The moment you press forced shutdown, all of you will die. So we had no choice but to abandon that operation."
Naegi looked over the students' stiffened faces and continued in a level voice.
"Which means the last hope left to you is... 'graduation' alone..."
"No, that's wrong!!!"
"Wh-What!? Another one just showed up!?"
"T-There are two Mr. Naegis...?"
"Th-This is confusing!! Which one's real and which one's fake!?"
"Upupupu, well obviously the one who just came in is the fake, right?"
"No!! You're all being played by Monokuma right now!! You absolutely can't fall for this!!"
"No, that's wrong!! I'm the real one!! That guy who just showed up is a program Enoshima planted in here!!"
In an instant, the trial grounds became a cauldron of chaos.
"You can't press graduate!! The moment you do, Junko Enoshima's personality will be forcibly overwritten onto every single one of you!!"
"No, you have to press graduate!! The moment you press forced shutdown, all of you will die!! This is just a trick by Monokuma to stop you from reaching hope!!"
"Wh-Who are we supposed to believe...?"
"Th-This is too confusing..."
As the two Naegis kept clashing, the students' brains began to overload.
"....."
Meanwhile, ever since Naegi appeared, Hinata had kept his mouth shut and watched the situation in silence.
"...Hinata-kun. No... you over there."
Nanami quietly spoke to him.
".....?"
"I don't know why you're standing there in Hinata's place, or what your objective is, but..."
"....."
"I'm going to move toward the future. And at the end of it... I'll definitely bring Hinata back."
Leaving him with those words, Nanami turned toward the two Naegis still arguing and shouted,
"There's a way to tell which one of you is real and which one is fake!!"
"...What?"
"Ah, don't tell me..."
"Say what the password is to open the door to the ruins, the password that will let everyone move toward the future!! The one who says it is the real Makoto Naegi!!"
"....."
At that, the Naegi who had been insisting graduation was hope twisted his face and fell silent.
"That password is..."
But the Naegi who had just appeared broke into a triumphant smile, pointed straight at Nanami, and shouted,
"You!! Chiaki Nanami!!"