"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You're the Mastermind?"
"Th-that's a lie, right? It has to be a lie! Honestly, your jokes are terrible, sir!"
"...You're seriously saying you're the Mastermind?"
"...Can't believe it? But is there any better answer for all the contradictions we've seen so far?"
At that, the kids who had been firing rebuttals at Hoshi gradually fell silent, one by one.
"Well... technically, a coma isn't death... so under normal circumstances, there shouldn't have been a body discovery announcement. But if the body announcement went off, then..."
"That means either Hoshi-kun deceived the Mastermind, or he is the Mastermind himself. And if you ask me, the latter sounds way more likely."
"Exactly~! I worked so hard treating K's wounds, and you're telling me I somehow failed to notice he was only comatose? No way~! From the start, this whole thing was a setup between Monokuma and Hoshi~!"
"Nishishi... but here's what I'm curious about! If you really are the Mastermind... then why pull something like this? Wasn't the Mastermind's whole objective to make everyone kill each other in a killing game?"
The four quickest minds in the room started pressing Hoshi without mercy. The sight of it was honestly a little terrifying. They looked like hyenas circling prey that had finally stumbled.
And wow, Angie really was black-hearted to the core. Just look at her, blending in with those three brainiacs like it was the most natural thing in the world. The dissonance between that and her usual "Nyahaha~!" routine was almost enough to give me whiplash.
"Well, I'm sure you've all got plenty you want to hear right now... but I have something I need to do immediately. We'll continue this conversation tomorrow morning in the dining hall."
"W-wait!!"
Hoshi, who had been under relentless scrutiny from the four of them, suddenly vanished from the classroom with blinding speed.
'Damn it... and now Hoshi's little bombshell just gave me one more thing to worry about...'
I already had more problems than I could count, and now I had to keep my guard up around Hoshi too. There was no telling whether what he said was the truth or just a bluff.
"......."
Anyway, after Hoshi disappeared, a long, oppressive silence settled over the room.
"Nishishi... anyway, K-chan, congrats on coming back from the dead!"
"That's right~! Anyway, this turned out great~!"
Then Oma and Angie lit up, stared straight at me, and immediately started trying to reel me in.
"To celebrate your miraculous return, join our student council~! I'll even treat you like an executive, K~!"
"If you're going to join anything, join our class student council alliance! Then I'll protect the secret you're carrying for the rest of your life!!"
"......."
If I still had amnesia, I probably would've been dragged around by these brilliant little headaches. But after spending a full year getting tormented by them, I'd become a seasoned professional at handling this bunch.
So. Time to sort out the situation and start laying down countermeasures.
"Tojo, who's in the student council and the class student council?"
"The student council consists of Angie-san, Chabashira-san, Kiibo-kun, Yumeno-san, and Shinguji-kun, who was just neutralized. The class student council consists of Oma-kun, Gokuhara-kun, Iruma-san, and Shirogane-san."
"I see..."
I turned it over in my head for a moment, then spoke.
"...Ikusaba, Tojo. Over here."
"Mm."
"Yes."
"Saihara, Amami, and class rep... no, Akamatsu. Is there anywhere among those groups that you actually want to join?"
"N-no..."
"Not really."
"Not particularly..."
"Good. Then work with me again."
"...What?"
The three of them looked slightly taken aback, so I let out a sigh and continued.
"Whew... well, if you want to sit back and watch Saishu Academy get torn apart by a student council full of Angie-led cultists, or by Oma's class student council alliance causing chaos everywhere, then sure. You don't have to help."
"........"
The three of them mulled over my words for a moment, then their expressions hardened and they stepped over to my side. Watching that, I allowed myself a satisfied look before turning to Momota.
"Hey, Momota!! Mind lending me your strength?"
"M-my strength?"
"Yeah!! If everyone's going to work together, then you're absolutely essential!! I'm asking you!!"
"A-alright!! Then this Momota Kaito-sama will lend you his strength!! So what do we do first, K?"
Hearing that, I smiled at Oma and Angie and answered.
"We shut down these rule-breaking clubs that started up without a teacher's permission."
"Nyahaha~! K, you got way more interesting after coming back to life~!"
"Yeah! You're practically acting like a homeroom teacher!"
"Get the hell out of here, you little chaos gremlins."
"K... I'm counting on you."
"Don't worry, Momota. I'll wrap this up cleanly."
With overwhelming numbers on my side, I dissolved both the student council and the class student council, then forcibly dragged Angie and Oma out of the classroom too, even though they kept insisting they wanted to stay because this looked fun. I even shoved out Momota, who was watching us with naked concern in his eyes.
"........"
"...Hey."
Because I needed to talk to Harukawa alone.
For the record, Ikusaba and Tojo had desperately tried to stop me, but after I put my foot down, they finally gave up. Right now, the two of them were glaring at us from the other side of the door.
Well, now that I'd gotten my memories back... nothing like that would happen again. And besides, Ikusaba had already beaten Harukawa senseless, so she probably didn't have the strength to pull anything now anyway.
"......"
But looking closer, her eyes were dead. Completely dead. She'd probably been verbally flayed alive by the others after killing me. Or maybe Ikusaba's beating had done more damage than I'd thought.
'Well, it is her own fault... but knowing the truth, I can't just let this slide. And... seeing a kid I taught for a whole year like this is kind of pitiful.'
I still didn't fully understand the whole cult leader business, since my memories weren't completely restored. But at least I had enough to clear up Harukawa's misunderstanding. Thank God for that.
Thinking that, I took a deep breath and finally said it.
"I got my memories back."
".....!!!"
Harukawa's eyes flew wide open. She lifted the head she'd been hanging low and stared at me.
"....Ghk."
She instinctively reached out toward me, but the pain surging through her body made her arm fall limply back down.
"Y-you... then... did you remember the cult leader's memories...?"
But her eyes still carried killing intent.
"No. The memories I got back weren't the cult leader's."
"Then... what did you remember...?"
"I remembered your precious friend."
".....!!!"
Her expression changed in an instant. A moment ago, just looking at her had chilled my chest. Now her face was painfully, desperately fragile.
"I-if that's true... then say her name."
"...Her name is L."
"...What?"
Harukawa's face immediately started to curdle. Yeah, I should probably keep talking before she gathered enough strength to punch me in the face with everything she had.
"...It was the name my friend's younger sister gave her when she still had no name. And you accepted it."
"Th-that means!!"
"That's right. She's alive."
".....!!!"
And there it was again—another violent shift in expression, this time pure shock. That made four already. Since when was Harukawa this emotionally expressive?
"N-no way..."
"Why? You were the one who wanted to give her a name. Are you upset because someone else ended up naming her first?"
"You're lying..."
"Don't worry. You smiled and said it was a good name too. Her face back then was pretty funny, actually."
"Don't lie to me!!!"
Now Harukawa looked furious. Fifth expression change in no time flat. A new record. If Momota had seen this, he would've been fascinated.
"You... you don't have any proof...! And besides, you were close to her even before I was taken away... so... so...!!"
"If you don't want to believe me, then don't."
"...What?"
"But once we get out of here, you're going to see her again. Will you be able to handle that when it happens?"
"...Get out of here?"
She asked that in a trembling voice, and I answered calmly.
"All of you... you're all incredibly important to me. So I'm going to get every last one of you out of here alive."
"...."
"Mm... well, Shirogane still needs investigating, and I have no idea what Hoshi's deal is, but still. The fact remains that all of you matter to me."
"......."
"And once we're outside... I'll make sure you pay for torturing me. So look forward to it."
"...Pay?"
"...It'll be a truly horrible punishment. So for now, let's say I've forgiven you while we're in here."
"...."
I left Harukawa staring blankly at me and finished my sentence as I walked out of the classroom.
"So hold your head up. Momota told me to pass that on."
After leaving those words behind and stepping out, I smiled to myself with a nasty little edge.
'Harukawa... just you wait until we get out of here... you're getting ten demerits and three months of bathroom cleaning.'
The thought of handing down such a devilish punishment—one that would even rob her of time to go on dates with Momota—made my heart pound with wicked delight as I kept walking.
'Now then... should I go deal with the delusional one next?'
Taking care of Shinguji turned out to be easier than expected.
"A bastard who's never killed anyone in his life... what the hell are you acting tough for...?"
"N-no...! I've already sent nearly a hundred women to my sister's side..."
"Shut up."
"...He appears to be severely unwell. I think we should keep him restrained for the time being."
After taking a few educational blows from Tojo, who ranked near the top of Saishu Academy in raw combat ability, and Ikusaba, who reigned at the absolute summit, Shinguji had become wonderfully well-behaved. He was currently tied up and keeping his mouth shut.
"......."
"...You didn't kill him, right?"
"I'm not an amateur like him. I can tell the difference between killing someone and knocking them out."
To be fair, it was Ikusaba who knocked him out and made him behave. Sure, he wasn't exactly cured right now, but if we repeated this every day, maybe his delusions would eventually get beaten out of him.
'Whew... do you have any idea how hard it was taking care of that guy...'
Shinguji was actually a pretty pitiful case. The shock of losing his sister during [The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History] had left him with a grotesque delusion—that he was a serial killer, and that he had to murder people to make friends for his sister.
Thankfully, he'd never actually carried it through... but in the early days, he was constantly attempting murder at school, which made him a colossal headache.
So I'd spent a full year hammering him down with demerit point bombardments, bathroom-cleaning duty, and counseling. And then that damn Mastermind reset the kid.
Which meant that now I had no choice but to use the fast, efficient method known as "the rod is medicine."
I did feel a little sorry for him, but this was all born from a teacher's heartfelt wish for his student to turn out well... so for the time being, I'd just have to grit my teeth and raise the rod—no, raise Ikusaba.
"K... I'm really glad you came back alive."
"...Thanks, Tojo."
"If anything like this happens one more time... then I'll tie you up too, K."
"...."
Tojo was great in a lot of ways, but she always took things way too far.
Back at school, she wouldn't even study. She spent all day waiting on me hand and foot instead. I kept telling her it was too much, but it never did any good.
And then, for some reason, a vague memory surfaced—Kyoko Kirigiri staring at her with an icy glare. What was that about?
"K... is it true? You really got your memories back?"
"...Not all of them. Just some."
"Th-then..."
"You really are something, you know that? Following me all the way here."
"Th-that means...!"
"Well, you're already here, so what can I do? Keep helping me from here on out."
"...Hehe."
I seriously had no idea what she saw in a married man with two kids that made her follow me this far.
Well... I was tearfully grateful that she'd risked her life to protect me, but why did I suddenly feel like I needed to barricade the entrance to the love apartment?
"So then, what are you planning to do now?"
"Who knows... what should I do..."
Honestly, I still had no clue what this killing game was even for.
Now that the biggest twist of Danganronpa 2—that everything was fiction—had completely collapsed, trying to grasp the Mastermind's intentions was basically impossible.
Come to think of it, the Mastermind's actions were suspicious too. They'd absolutely had the chance to kill me, but instead of finishing me off, they chose to keep me alive.
And on top of that, for a killing game run by Monokuma—the living embodiment of cheap, underhanded pettiness—this one had been strangely light on the usual dirty tricks.
Still, what I had to do was obvious.
"...I guess I'll just smash this killing game to pieces and save everyone."
"That sounds exactly like you, K."
"Leave the smashing to me... you just focus on saving everyone, K. Every time you get hurt, my heart drops into my stomach..."
"Right. I'll leave the smashing to you. I'll save everyone, and then..."
This was my third killing game.
I'd faced countless crises. Countless turning points. Countless agonies.
But the principle I'd chosen for myself when I first saw the first motive in the first killing game still hadn't changed.
No matter the means. No matter the method. I would crush the killing game thoroughly, mercilessly, and completely.
With that conviction burning inside me, I boldly declared it to Ikusaba and Tojo, who were smiling in front of me—and to Kyoko Kirigiri, who was probably watching this scene from somewhere unseen.
"...I'm going to make sure this ends with everyone happy."
"An ending where everyone is happy... that really does sound like you..."
In a dark room, a woman stared at a monitor.
"You really are..."
A girl with long red hair, wearing some kind of intricate device on her head, watched the scene on the screen with fascinated delight.
"You never give me a chance to get bored...! Upupupupu...!"
She gazed at the monitor in rapture for a long while, then suddenly went blank and muttered under her breath.
"...Wait, who was I again?"