The next morning, everyone gathered in the dining hall.
"So where's that dead-fish-eyed bastard?"
"What the heck... He's the one who told us to meet in the dining hall this morning..."
"That guy... didn't run for it, did he...?"
That is, everyone except Hoshi, the one who had summoned us all here.
"Um... Hoshi-kun still isn't here yet, so... would it be okay if Gonta talked about something he found this morning...?"
"Gokuhara-kun? What did you find this time?"
"Yeah... you know that writing we found before, the one that said 'The world is O'... there are more letters added now."
"More letters?"
"It said, 'This world is O ki's thing' this morning... Gonta's too dumb to know what that means, but... I thought maybe you guys would understand..."
"About that writing, when I checked it before, it said 'The world is O ki's thing.' At the time everything was so chaotic that I let it slide... but now that I think about it, isn't that weird? Who keeps adding letters to it?"
Watching the others earnestly debate the meaning of the graffiti made a sigh slip out of me.
'That... was originally a clue with just "The world is O" in it, but Oma keeps adding letters little by little until eventually it becomes "This world belongs to Oma Kokichi."'
Once that graffiti was complete, Oma would launch his plan to trick everyone by claiming he was the Mastermind and bring the killing game to an end.
Well, whether it was the Oma I saw in the game or the Oma I'd taught for a year, there was no way he was actually the Mastermind. He'd only carry out a stunt like that to destroy the killing game...
'And that plan ends in failure... with only Oma losing his life.'
So now that I'd regained my memories, I needed to pull Oma onto my side somehow. At a point when I still had no idea who the true Mastermind was, he was the most capable person here and the one least likely to be the Mastermind.
Sure, he was a troll in the same bloodline as Togami from Danganronpa 1 and Komaeda from Danganronpa 2... but that also meant he was every bit as capable as those two.
"Upupupu!! So this is where you all were!!"
"What the hell? Why didn't the dead-fish-eyes guy show up, and instead the pervert bears did?"
"We're not pervert bears!!"
"That's right! We're...! Wait, who were we again?"
"Monotaro, how can you forget that?!"
"......."
I was in the middle of thinking all that when Monokuma and the Monokubs suddenly burst in. Even in the game, whenever only the Monokubs showed up, people called them the boring-kubs, but now that I'd regained my memories and was seeing them with my own eyes, they really were even more boring.
That said, it seemed the rule was the same here too: one of them got wrecked at the end of every chapter... so did that mean Monodam was next?
"So then, what brings you here this time?"
"Upupupu... Why, I came to give you all a present!!"
"Really? What kind of present this time? Hurry up and give it to us! I'm excited!"
As Oma's eyes sparkled and he pressed him for it, Monokuma grinned and opened his mouth.
"Alright! Then... first, take this object that'll unlock a new area!!"
The moment Monokuma said that, Saihara stepped forward almost automatically. I guess he'd gotten so used to being the one who handled opening new areas that it had become second nature.
"Alright, then... I'll announce the new motive!"
"W-what!?"
"The new motive... is this key card..."
"Mukuro, snatch it."
"Upupupu!?"
In the original story, Oma was the one who snatched that key card. But I couldn't let that happen here.
The true nature of the key card was the "right to confirm the outside world," and Oma would use that right to witness the ruined world outside, then negotiate with Monokuma and begin plotting.
Well, even that was just groundwork for his lie that he was the Mastermind... but if I wanted the upper hand in any conversation with him, then naturally I had to secure that key card myself.
"...Mukuro, you hold onto that key card."
"Got it."
"Hey, hey, K... are you finally starting your dictatorship? But... I'm the Supreme Leader, you know? Don't steal my identity!"
"Shut it, you little menace."
Seeing Oma stare at the key card with that disappointed look on his face, I was once again convinced I'd made the right move by acting first. That expression was one I knew well from his days as the student with the highest demerit count at Saishu Academy whenever he got caught trying to pull some especially serious prank.
"Upupupu... Well, there isn't any school regulation saying you can't monopolize a motive... so you guys figure that out yourselves! Now then... onto the next present!"
As Monokuma said that and turned toward the dining hall doors, they swung open, and a face that hadn't been seen anywhere until now finally appeared.
"H-Hoshi?"
"You bastard... where the hell have you been until now?"
"Nishishi... the Mastermind is the present? Monokuma, your taste in gifts is awful."
"Seriously~! Calling that a present is kind of a stretch~?"
As the others started protesting, Monokuma spoke with a deeply suggestive smile.
"Upupupu... Hoshi is absolutely a present! Because... yesterday, he was 'eliminated' from being the Mastermind, and his memories were erased!"
".....I have no idea what you're talking about, but you'd do well to stop these jokes. I have a tennis final coming up shortly."
"......"
'Damn it. No wonder Mukuro, Tojo, and I searched the entire school top to bottom yesterday and still couldn't find him...'
Just what kind of "something I need to do" had gotten him captured by Monokuma and reduced to that? And what did "eliminated" mean? Come to think of it, I was pretty sure Monokuma had used the same word with Shirogane too...
"Now then... shall I give you the last present?"
With that, Monokuma pulled out a [Memory Flash] from inside his body.
"Sure, a treasure hunt might be fun... but isn't that just a waste of time? For the sake of efficiency, I'll leave it on the dining table, so grill it, boil it, do whatever you want with it!"
After tossing out those words, Monokuma vanished, and before long the Monokubs disappeared too.
"Then... should I start?"
At last, Akamatsu picked up the [Memory Flash] and looked around at everyone for permission.
In truth, the [Memory Flash] was a device that implanted false memories, so using it would only poison the situation further... but if I tried to stop them from using it now, I'd really turn into a dictator.
And besides, I was curious what effect that [Memory Flash] would have on me now that I'd regained my memories, so I decided to let it happen.
Bzzzzzt!
As Akamatsu activated the [Memory Flash], the others, starting with her, began collapsing one by one.
'What...? This feels different from before...?'
And I was no exception.
Thud.
And so everyone, including K, collapsed.
But...
"...Heh."
There was one person alone who did not fall, and instead smiled.
.
.
.
.
.
"K, where are you going right now...?"
"Where are you headed?"
Because of the [Memory Flash] used in the dining hall, all of us, myself included, remembered the "meteor impact." And thanks to that, the others had been plunged into profound anxiety.
I spent a long time trying to calm them down, but I couldn't wipe the gloom from their faces. Well, that was only natural. I was the only one who knew those memories were fake.
Of course, part of the reason was also that Oma had stirred the pot by suggesting this place might be the afterlife we came to after dying in the meteor strike.
Anyway, after watching Oma sow chaos like that, I made my decision.
"...I'm going to meet Oma."
I needed to have a talk with him right now... no, not a talk. A negotiation.
"Huh? K-chan, what's up?"
After searching for him for quite a while, I finally found him in the courtyard, taking an evening stroll through the sunset, and I approached him.
"...I came to talk."
"With me? Talk? Wow! Seriously!?"
"...What, you don't like that?"
"No, it's just that you don't seem to value your life very much!"
"...What?"
"I mean, I'm the Ultimate 'Supreme Leader' who reigns over the underworld, right? If you get close to me... things could get troublesome in all sorts of ways!"
"...."
Yeah, it was definitely a good call to have Tojo and Ikusaba waiting far away. Otherwise, by now, Oma would probably have been dangling in the air by his collar in Mukuro's or Tojo's grip.
"Well then, now that you've learned my secret... die!"
At this rate, I really might need to keep Oma away from those two for a while.
.
.
.
.
.
"That's the hundredth draw already!! K, quit messing around and let's settle this!"
"......"
I'd accepted his suggestion that we play rock-paper-scissors to lower his guard... and we'd just hit our hundredth tie.
'Well, this is nothing.'
Back at school, I'd played rock-paper-scissors with this guy around a thousand times and we still never got a result. A hundred ties was downright mild.
Still, how exactly did someone read human psychology so perfectly that he could force tie after tie in rock-paper-scissors? Oma really was impossible to figure out.
"Let's stop wasting time on this dumb rock-paper-scissors game and talk about why I came to find you in the first place."
"Okaaay~! I was getting tired of dragging this out too!"
"Oma, let's work together."
"Nope!"
The instant I said it, Oma rejected me as if he'd been waiting for the chance. He really was a nightmare to handle.
"I mean, Dictator K seems to love cooperation, but...
I've told you over and over, haven't I? Cooperation just means getting used by Monokuma! So I have no intention of cooperating with you guys..."
"I think you've misunderstood something... I'm not asking you to cooperate with everyone..."
I looked straight at Oma with a serious expression and spoke.
"...I'm asking for cooperation between just the two of us."
"Huh? And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"Let's be honest... no, I guess that's asking too much from you. Anyway, your goal is to destroy the killing game, isn't it?"
"Nope. I'm enjoying the killing game more than anyone!"
"Really? Is that why you kept adding to that graffiti?"
At those words, Oma fixed me with a cold smile. He might be my student, but he really was terrifying.
"Judging from the letters that have appeared so far... before long, you're going to complete the message, 'This world belongs to Oma Kokichi.' Am I wrong?"
"Now that you've figured that out... I really do have to kill you, huh?"
"Of course, that's a lie too, right?"
"How'd you know? K, you're amazing after all!"
I could keep fencing with him like this a little longer, but if I wasted too much energy here, he'd only seize the initiative and start playing me instead. So I decided to get to the point.
"I know what you're trying to do. And... I'm willing to help you do it."
"K-chan wants to help me? Well, that's awfully nice! But I still don't trust you, you know! Though if you swear to join my secret organization as one of my underlings..."
"Listen seriously. As proof that I'm willing to cooperate with you from here on out, I'll share the key card we got earlier with you. So in return, you share your plan with me."
"Nishishi... K, you're a really interesting guy... Now I kind of want to scout you for my organization. Interested?"
"...If you agree, come to my dorm right now. I'll use the key card there."
"Well, let me think about it for a second! About how I can recruit you into my giant 'secret organization,' I mean!"
As expected, wresting control away from him wasn't easy at all. That expression on his face meant he'd become interested, yes, but also more wary.
If this kept up, he wouldn't come to my dorm until he was fully convinced about me. And that would be a problem. If I wanted to destroy this killing game, I needed to get that troll Oma onto my side somehow.
'...Alright. Let's try it.'
After turning it over in my head for a moment, I decided to cast bait into the water. If you wanted to hook a suspicious big fish, you needed bait worthy of it.
And the bait I was about to throw him now would be irresistible to him. With his personality, there was no way he could let it pass without biting.
"Oma, the die has already been cast."
"...Huh?"
"So the choice is yours, you cheerful little leader of a secret organization."
"........"
No matter how slippery he was, hearing the real name and motto of his secret organization come out of my mouth had to hit him hard...
"You really are interesting! I've got a few things I want to ask you too... so I'll make a special exception and hang out with you for a bit!"
"...A second ago, you said you'd think about it."
"Nishishi... that was a lie! I was planning to follow you from the start!"
"...Then come with me."
'Okay!!'
Looks like my big-fish fishing expedition was a smashing success.