Danganronpa: Hope for the Hopeless/Chapter 1 - Aftermath

## Story

The ride up went fairly quickly albeit silently and eerily enough to feel as though it was going to last forever. And it didn’t help that the gravity of the situation was laid bare. For starters, one of our classmates did not come back up with us. But in case that wasn’t bad enough, we all knew how easily that most of us were tricked into turning on each other. In fact, a few of the others looked around at their fellow classmates. I didn’t know the exact reason but it was probably a reevaluation of whether or not they could be trusted.

But at long last, the elevator came to a screeching stop. A few sparks could be seen near the top but nothing became of them. The door opened for us to leave whenever we wished. And a few of us did begin to make a few paces towards the double doors when Senji spoke up.

“So are we going to stick around a listen to Naya’s last words?” Senji asked while holding up the recorder that Naya had stolen from me. At that, everyone more or less stopped and turned around to face him. Likely as eager yet dreading to hear them as I was.

“Hmm. Why don't we head to the AV room? It’s got more than enough seats for us and I kind of want to get out of here as soon as possible.” Sama added. “This whole shaft has been giving me the creeps ever since he died.”

Seno just nodded in agreement. He still seemed distant after what he had done but he looked up long enough to agree with Sama. Truth be told, he likely wanted to get out of here too and i couldn’t blame that. I could blame him for a lot of course, but not that. “That sounds- reasonable-”

I just glanced over at him and nodded before Machi caught my attention. “Can we go somewhere else? I’m currently working on something in the AV room that might be important to our escape.”

“Maybe your escape but quite frankly, we don’t care Machi.” Wakuni asserted in warning tone as he tapped his fingers by his side. “If one of your murder plans gets messed up then too bad we’re doing it anyways.”

Machi crossed her arms. For a second it looked like she was going to make a retort, but she took a deep breath and tried to reason with him. “I’m not doing anything like that in there. I’m just picking up drone footage. The same that Nishi showed you during the class trial. Look, I’m not an idiot-”

“I do believe that that is debatable.” Shiro cut in.

“I know you all hate me for what I did but that doesn’t change the fact that you want to get out of this god-forsaken lodge like I do. And messing up the footage is only going to delay that.” Machi continued ignoring Shiro save for a quick glare that she made at her.

“Machi is correct I believe.” Sasori reluctantly added as he drew a sigh at the end. “Perhaps we could go some place else. It isn’t ideal but the cafeteria will serve the purpose without the worry of messing with our investigation.”

Most of the group nodded or gave their consent in some other way. Judging by their earlier reactions, nobody trusted Machi anymore. But it looked as though they knew at least that it was in their interests not to interfere with the search.

And with that, thirteen of us headed towards the cafeteria. We went past the AV room and the front room of course and we made it to the front door of the cafeteria without a hitch. Finally, we all sat down at one of two tables. Six of us sat at one table and seven at another. I was at the seven person table.

“Is everyone ready?” Senji asked as he stood up in front his seat and held the recorder up in front of himself for all of us to hear.

“I think so Senji.” Koike said with a tired smile as she looked around the room for support. Everyone agreed. “I know it’s a bit much to take in after what happened but she was trying to save us all so she deserves to have everyone listen. Just play it Senji.”

At that, Senji clicked the play button on the recorder. Too late, I had forgotten that he might not know how to use the thing but luckily he knew how. If he hadn’t there would be no telling what would’ve happened. He probably would have accidentally deleted the message or messed it up in some way. But luckily, he just clicked the play button.

“Hello? Is this thing on?” Naya’s recording cackled. It sighed. “Well if you’re listening to this, it means I was murdered by Yasui Katai. So perhaps I should explain myself and my actions. I’m not an idiot. I knew that there was a possibility that he was lying to me. But when Yasui showed me a plan to smoke out the mastermind behind all of this it looked like it could have worked. I knew it was dangerous, but we were all in danger anyways. Besides, if I have a chance to save everyone here, and everyone gets to return to their futures unharmed, isn’t that a chance worth taking?”

Naya’s recorded voice paused and for a moment, I thought that was the end. Yet, Naya’s voice just continued in the same somber tone. “Perhaps it’s just me-. Well, I have quite a few apologies to make so let’s start with the small ones and work up to the big ones. First, I would like to apologize to Nishi since this is her recorder. Make sure she gets it back. Second, I would like to apologize to the group. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there to stand by your side in the trials and tribulations to come. I only hope that my memory will live on and help you to persevere through whatever is to come. My third apology is to the group as well. This plan was never meant to carry over to a class trial and I am sorry for the danger that I have put you all through.”

Naya’s voice continued once more. “Finally, I have a special apology to Koike Juichi if she is listening. I realize that I have very likely framed you to be my killer since I’m dead. I know I have put you in grave danger and I know i’ve likely turned most people against you on top of endangering you. I just wanted you to know that that aspect of the plan was never meant to make it to the class trial as Monokuma calls it and I hope that one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” Naya stopped again. “Well, I have to get going. I know that we didn’t really know each other well, but I hope that you can remember me fondly. I will see you on the other side.”

There was a bit of a silence that lasted for about a minute. During which, I was pretty sure I could see Seno’s and Eto’s eyes both start to glisten. It made sense given that they were the closest to Naya before she died. Yet even those who barely knew her looked more droopy than they had been before listening to the recording. I myself looked down at the floor before something interrupted the pause.

“I think- I think i’m headed back to my room.” Koike said delicately as she finally broke the silence. “Everything that has happened today has given me a lot to think about. Uhm, you said you wanted to speak with me Senji. You can if you want but you don’t have to.”

“I do actually. I have quite a few things that I wanted to say to you after the trial.” Senji said in reply but even he sounded a little lost as though he was being stirred back to reality. “It will be just a minute though. You can go ahead if you want. I’ll catch up to you in a second.”

“Well, if anyone needs me-” Seno said as he started to get up but he sighed nonetheless. “I doubt it. But if anyone needs me i’ll be in my room.”

“I Think i’m just going to head to my room too if that’s alright with the rest of you guys.” Eto said with quite a bit less energy than usual.

Nobody protested Koike, Seno, or Eto leaving. After all, it had been a really bad day between Naya’s death and Yasui’s beheading. Between those two events, I would even go so far as to say it was the second worst day of my life. So, neither I nor anyone else had any qualms when the three of them headed out the front entrance of the cafeteria for their rooms.

Senji gave them all one last wave before they left and looked over to me with the recorder still in his hand. He carefully handed the thing over to me. I didn’t want to touch because it was stained with Naya’s blood but I knew that I needed to take it for her sake. I delicately looked down at it wondering whether the blood would ever wash away or if I even should try. I could probably get a plastic container to put it in and I wanted to protect her memory after all.

“So what are you going to do with it?” Senji asked as he stepped away from me. He took a quick glance at the door but otherwise gave me his attention.

I thought about that for a second but it didn’t take me too long to come up with an answer. “I’m going to put it in one of those plastic containers from the storage room. Then when I get out of here. I mean, when we all escape from this place, I’m going to try and have it sent to her family. Failing that, I’ll bury it.”

Senji nodded sincerely. He seemed a bit jarred for a moment when I mentioned getting out of here, but quickly reverted when I amend my statement to all of us escaping. “That sounds like an excellent idea. I’m sure she would have loved that.”

“In the meantime, I’ll see if we can find a place to bury Naya and possibly Yasui after I’m done talking to Tanabe.” Yakawa explained from behind Senji near the front door. Apparently, he and Tanabe were the least jarred by the recording and the former was headed out as well. Of course, I supposed it made sense in Yakawa’s case. But regardless, the paramedic continued. “Speaking of which, I’ll be waiting for you Tanabe.”

With that, Yakawa headed out the door. But Tanabe didn’t make him wait too long before he left out the front doors himself without giving us so much as a word. He bit his lip as though he wasn’t too happy about it though but it was impossible to tell whether it was the meeting or the message from Naya.

“Well, I suppose I’ll take my own leave. I promised Koike that I would catch up with her and I would be remiss if I broke my promise.” Senji said as he finally recollected himself fully and broke the silence. With that, he pushed the front door and stepped into the hallway leaving the seven of us behind.

At that, Wakuni started to get up. “Well, I guess I’m going to- hey wait a second! Where the heck is Machi?!” Wakuni said as he looked around the room rather quickly with a clear irritated glare on his face as his eyes darted around. That was when it dawned on me that she hadn’t been with us since we left the lift and I looked around wide-eyed with surprise from the initial realization.

“I could have sworn that I saw her come in here with us,” Sama said as she narrowed her eyes before she pointed an accusatory finger at Sanda. “Tricks are your sort of thing. Is this another one of your illusion games? Because this is serious.”

“You can’t just go blaming me when you see things Sama.” Sanda defended as he crossed his arms indignantly. “There are a lot of reasons why she could have gotten away. It isn’t like she was the only thing on our minds after all.”

“Darlings can we cut the bickering for now. We’ve had a tremendous loss today so we are all on edge.” Shiro cut in in the most soothing tone she could muster before the argument got any worse. “If it really is so important that we find her then perhaps we could examine the AV room?”

“Except I’m right here you idiots.” A voice said from the back entrance to the hallway. I looked over in response and it was Machi standing there with both hands on her hips and the double doors closing behind her.

“And what exactly have you been doing Machi?” I asked somewhat calmly but with a small amount of disdain in my tone. I was still sore from the fact that she made plans to murder me and I imagine that she picked up on this pretty easily because she avoided looking at me directly in the eyes.

“I found something that might help us get out of here sooner,” Machi said as she narrowed her eyes in a somewhat unimpressed manner. “I need you all to follow me as quickly as you possibly can. I don't know how long it will last.”

Machi pushed and held open the door for us as she waited there expectantly for a few seconds. Yet she we only met with disappointment as we all just looked at each other and stayed seated exactly where and as we were.

“Well don’t all rush up here at once.” Machi sarcastically said with a sigh at the end as she stepped back in and let the door close behind her. “Guys, I know you don't trust me. After all, you have no reason to. But consider this, how could I possibly harm any of you if there’s seven of you? I have no reason to lie to you about this.”

“She’s got a point.” Sanda reluctantly said at last as he stood up to make his way for the door. “I suppose there’s no harm in checking this out. There are seven of us so it isn’t like she can try anything if she is lying.”

That was enough for us. We all got up with varying degrees of hesitance and made our way to Machi who in turn, opened the door for us. With that, the whole group filed its way out of the cafeteria and towards the hallway in the greenhouse where the first murder happened. Finally, Machi joined us and took the lead as the doors to the cafeteria closed behind her.

I tried not to look over at where it all happened though luckily for me and everyone else who couldn’t resist looking over there, the glass was too fogged from the heat inside for us to see inside properly. It was equally fortunate that it didn’t take us long to get to wherever Machi was taking us. But after a few moments, Machi stopped at the sprinkler controls and I sighed at another reminder of how I found Naya’s body in the then damp greenhouse.

“Since you stopped here I assume the sprinkler system has something to do with it.” Sasori began as he looked around cooly but with what appeared to be mild caution. “But between you and me, I hope it’s important enough to bring us back here after what happened to Naya.”

“But of course it is.” Machi added dryly as she tapped the screen of the control system. “Since you seem to know how it worked Wakuni, you can correct me if I’m wrong but it was supposed to go off at 7:30am correct?”

“-well yes. I checked it well before the murder took place and it has always been set 7:30am.” Wakuni confirmed as he stepped up towards the controls. At first I wondered if he knew, but the way he manipulated the screen made it obvious that he did. He sounded calmer than before but he still frowned at Machi as he passed. “I know that a few of us know how the thing works and presumably the mastermind behind all of this knows as well because there’s a password required to change the settings and I doubt they’d just wait for us to figure it out.”

“Exactly.” Machi said as she stepped aside in a clear effort to keep her distance from Wakuni that the latter would have picked up on if he weren’t distracted. “I don’t know how to work that thing but I do know that the current settings are displayed and it doesn’t say it’s fixed to 7:30am.”

At that, we all looked at the monitor of the controls. I didn’t understand how to make the thing work or the password required to change the thing. But the current setting was luckily flashing in red and it didn’t say 7:30am. Instead, it was changed to a condition. Namely, when Yasui entered the shed.

“Yasui wouldn’t have changed that.” I said as I strained to remember the facts of the murder. Namely the circumstances that surrounded it. “If he knew the password, then he would have been in on whatever is going on here and he wouldn’t have needed to commit a murder to escape in the first place.”

“Not necessarily-” Wakuni cut me off without so much as turning around to look at me as he flipped through the controls. Wakuni couldn’t change the controls himself, but he had no problem making a changelog display in blue below the conditions. “But I doubt he could have done it anyways. If you look at the time the settings were changed, you’ll see that it was at 9:55pm yesterday. But we all went to the library around that time.”

*(Yeah, but most of the group was probably en route to the library entrance at that point. Almost anyone could still have done it. Though come to think of it- I can probably cross everyone I saw on the way off of the list of suspects.)*

“Machi, Seno, Yasui, and I didn’t go to the library.” Sasori amended earning himself a minor scowl from Wakuni. Nevertheless, he continued. “It doesn’t matter though because I watched the three of them and none of them left their rooms. There is no way that Yasui could have changed those settings.”

“So that means that it had to be someone who knew about the murder in advance and wanted to make sure it went according to the plan.” Shiro chimed in tapping her chin in thought. “But that begs the questions of who would want the murder to succeed?”

“Well the only people who knew about the plan were Yasui, Naya, Monokuma, and the mastermind.” I surmised. “I highly doubt that Monokuma is going to randomly aid one of us in our murders, Naya didn’t know that she was going to die, and Yasui couldn’t have done it. So that leaves us with one choice.”

Some of the group stopped to think before Sanda raised the obvious question in a more hopeful tone than before. “Well if we know that the mastermind did it, can we figure out who the mastermind is?”

There was a silence after that as we all tried to think of an answer at that but one by one, each of us shook their head, slumped their head, looked at the ground, or looked away. I desperately tried to think back to what had happened that night and strained myself to recollect what I saw. Yet nothing came up that led to who did it. All I knew, in fact, was that it didn’t look as though anyone whom I saw on my way to the library could have done it. That only narrowed the pool of suspects by two or three people if I remembered correctly, but that was better than nothing.

“Well that’s a shame.” Sanda said as he reverted back to his previous tone of voice but this time with a slump. “Well, we’re better off now than we were before. If any of you need me, all you have to do is give me a holler.”

At that, Sanda sort of slumped away into the hallways that led to the lounge and eventually his room. Wherever he was headed, I didn’t care at the moment. It wasn’t that I didn’t care but I had just learned that the mastermind had helped Yasui with his murder and that he was someone who fiddled with the panel. Perhaps if I asked enough people, I might even be able to piece together who it was by virtue of not having an alibi assuming that it is one of us in the first place.

I internally shook my head. It might not have been any of us who planned this killing game so trying to confirm between the group which of us could have done it or not could potentially hurt our cause. Still, I did take note of Sanda’s attitude however but I was sure he’d feel better by the morning. If not, I’d go talk to him.

“I’d better get going to. I’ve already shown you everything I’ve found here so I’d better get back to the AV-” Machi began as she slowly backed away from the group. It wasn’t until then that I realized the distance in which she had backed herself up.

“I don’t think so Machi. After what you pulled earlier, I’m going to follow and make sure you aren’t planning to kill any of us.” Wakuni said in dead serious tone with an equally matching glare. Then he turned to us in a softer tone. “Don’t worry guys, I’ll be careful and you know I’m with Machi so it isn’t like she’ll try anything anyways.”

“Fine.” Machi said in a warning tone. “But you’re just going to waste your time. I’ve already told you at the class trial that I could’ve killed any of you by now if I wished and Nishi even showed you pictures. But whatever, just don’t touch anything.”

At that, the crowd slowly started to disperse. Machi and Wakuni were the first ones to go and they obviously went to the AV room. And after that was Shiro, then Eto, then Sasori, then Saeki, and at last, I was left alone to go freely to wherever I wished within the lodge.

Luckily, I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I wanted to check on Koike and Eto later but for now I would be content with getting answers from Seno. I wasn’t pleased with what he had done but if it I could get one thing out of him, then I needed to make sure that he didn’t flippantly accuse someone like he had with Koike ever again. So, I turned around, went down the hall that Sanda went down to the intersection, went down the stairs, and found my way to Seno’s room once more without any trouble.

I rung a bell by the side of the door. It wasn’t obvious, but I knew it would be there from the times that other people had rung the bell to my bedroom. All the while, a mixture of determination, sorrow from Naya’s death, and a trace amount of apprehension swelled in me. To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect from Seno.

The guy was clearly upset over what he had done if his post-trial attitude was anything to say so he was likely to be sluggish to answer. That was a given. Yet I didn’t know how he would react to my presence. I highly doubted that he would do anything dangerous of course or I wouldn’t have gone to him, but I didn’t want to make any enemies by showing up at the wrong time and demanding answers.

*(Maybe this was a bad idea-)*

Before I could think twice about my decision, Seno answered the door. From what I saw his room looked the same as before so that was a good sign. He swung the whole thing open before talking to me. “Hey Nishi, come for a visit?”

I nodded and stepped inside leaving the door behind me ajar. The tone of his voice sounded like something in him broke but aside from that, he could barely look me in the eyes and his eyes were red from before. And with the class trial fresh in my mind, I knew very well why. Naya’s death hit us all hard and Seno has his actions to deal with on top of all of that.

I pitied him so it took me a few seconds to recollect my thoughts and ask him my question in a tone as stern as I intended. I crossed my arms as well as I looked for an answer from him. “I actually came to ask you a question. Why did you keep blaming Koike for the murder? I know that there has to be a reason for it and I want to know now so that it doesn’t happen again.”

Seno just sat down on top of his bed, looked at me, and drew a sigh. “Yeah, that’s understandable-” he finally said with a nod. “It’s a long story but the short answer to all of it is that I was stupid.”

“I have plenty of time and I’d appreciate it if you told me.” I said. I wasn’t trying to be too demanding, but I made it clear that it wasn’t a request with my tone of voice.

Seno just nodded. “Alright then. Well- remember when I told you that I knew about prior killing games? I think I’ve already told you that but in case I haven’t I have found plenty of information about them when I researched Hope’s Peak Academy. So when I woke up here, I knew right away what was going on. Oh, and I’m willing to bet that we’ve spent at least a year as friends but had our memories erased but that is beside the point.”

“Wait- what? How is that in any way besides the point?” I said as I blinked twice while trying to wrap my mind around the very concept. I didn’t know any of these people so to say that I potentially used to friends with people like Yasui or Machi almost made me stagger from surprise.

*(Did I really know these guys before I met them? Did Yasui kill an old friend of his?)*

“It’s beside the point that I’m trying to make. Besides, that isn’t even a fact that we know for sure yet.” Seno amended sternly before relaxing and resuming his previous tone. “So where was I? Oh yeah, when Monokuma showed up, I knew he would be pushing for us to murder each other. But I really didn’t want to go through a killing game and I didn’t want you guys to either. So in my desperation, I made a plan. I thought that if I could convince everyone that we all could get out of this alive, then it might become true. So I created the illusion of safety as best as I could in order to unify everyone. Naya didn’t know it was fake either but she sure helped.”

“But clearly that plan didn’t work out.” I stated a little colder than I intended but truthfully as I just finished recovering from the possible revelation from earlier. “Why did you do everything you did when I discovered that Naya had been killed?”

“Well at first off, I really did think Koike killed her.” Seno answered as he looked down at the ground. “But mostly, I didn’t want to let go and I didn’t want to give up on somehow making everything work even after two of us died. It was stupid of me to insist that Koike was the culprit even after everything you and Senji showed us, but I wanted to be right so badly. I wanted to be the hero and catch the killer soundly enough to make the next guy think twice about whether or not he could get away with it. I suppose you could say that I subconsciously tricked myself. But now- well we only won by luck and I don’t know what will happen to us now. We lost-”

“Try to cheer up a little Seno.” I said in the most comforting tone I could muster. Particularly after the one from my previous comment. I did draw a sigh however. “I’m not happy about what you did but I don’t want you to think that we can’t get out of here. We just have to persevere long enough to escape or for rescue to come.”

“Yeah-” Seno began as he trailed off and looked away with an expression that showed that he didn’t believe either of those possibilities. He did however, play along for whatever reason. “So now what do we do?”

“Well that’s the other reason why I came here.” I explained as I took a step forward and pointed at him. “Koike undoubtedly feels terrible about being accused today and I think that it would do you both good if you apologized to her so I also came to recommend it.”

There was a brief pause after that but after about ten seconds of silence, Seno grit his teeth and responded. “What if she doesn’t respond kindly to that? Everyone knows that I’ve caused her more trouble than she had a right to.”

I just shook my head. I didn’t know exactly what he meant by not responding kindly, in fact, that was the only reason why I didn’t glare at him, but if it was anything serious then I doubted that Koike would do it and I explained it to him. Albeit with just a trace of disdain in my voice. “If you’re worried about retaliation then don’t be. I highly doubt that anyone like Koike would do anything to you but even though I’m not certain, I know for a fact that trying to make amends won’t hurt. On the contrary, it might help your standing with her.”

“True.” Seno reluctantly agreed with a sigh. “Well if nothing else, I know I need to stop treating her like a killer when she hasn’t done anything.”

“You would probably be wise to do that Seno.” I surmised with a minor scowl upon hearing confirmation of my suspicions. “We are in a killing game of course so we shouldn’t blindly trust each other, but we can’t treat each other like killers when we haven’t done anything. Otherwise, those who are abused could easily wind up becoming actual killers.”

“Hmm.” Came a voice from outside the room.

Both Seno and I turned around with a startle to pinpoint the source of the voice and it turned out to be Saeki standing outside in the halls. It was about that time that I looked at the door to Seno’s room and noticed that I had left it open. In hindsight, it was great if Seno tried anything foolish but bad for privacy.

“I’m sorry, was I interrupting something? I just noticed that the door was open and thought I’d stop by to make sure everything was okay.” Saeki added thoughtfully as she managed to give the two of us a weak but sincere smile in spite of everything that had happened.

“No, you aren’t interrupting anything,” I said as I shook my head. “I was just talking to Seno but we’re just about finished.”

“Alright-” Saeki said with a minor glance that didn’t make it look as though she believed me. “I was just headed to my room so I will be there if either of you needs me for anything.”

With that, Saeki left Seno and I to just awkwardly look back at each other until I finally spoke up again. “So I will be going now. Just don’t forget what I said. Do what you can to make up for your mistakes without taking unnecessary risks, try to move on, and don’t give up. I don’t know how much closer we are to escaping but it’s closer than you think.”

Seno opened his mouth as though he were going to say something but in the end his kept quiet. In turn, I turned around and slowly made my way out of the room. This time however, I turned around and gently closed the door behind myself. Once I heard the click, I turned around once more just in time to barely avoid running into Senji. I recoiled but thankfully I recovered myself.

“Oh, hey Senji.” I said a little calmer than I had been the last time I spoke to him. I still wasn’t happy about what had happened but I was happy to have two things from Seno that I wanted. “So what brings you here? Are you headed to your room?”

“I was actually headed to your room Nishi.” Senji stated as he forced a quick smile. “There is something important that I need to talk to you about in private if you don’t mind.”

I maintained a neutral expression, and I tried not to let what he said affect me, but my mind quickly raced with possibilities as to Senji’s intents for wanting to meet me in my room. For some reason, I felt a cold chill as I remembered what happened earlier today. Because as much as I wanted to, I just couldn’t shake what happened to Naya. Senji didn’t seem to be a killer but Yasui managed to trick me so I just wasn’t sure about anyone anymore. To be fair, it was probably because he was the first to ask to talk with me in private in my room and because of the last murder happening this morning.

I forced myself not to put too much concern on the matter. Besides the fact that someone was going to come to my room eventually, I had already spoken with Naya in my own room before and I had two other recorders as well. They weren’t active at the moment, but Senji didn’t need to know that. And besides that, a part of me knew that all of my precautions were probably unnecessary.

“Yeah Senji, you can come. Although I do have to warn you that I have everything recorded. For uh- well to be honest, I wanted to put that system in place to deter anyone from doing anything stupid. I don't think you would do anything of course but precautions don't hurt anyone right?” I began and the but Senji rose his right hand to stop me right there.

“No problem at all. I assume you’ll be using the other recorders.” Senji calmly and correctly guessed. If he was upset about me possibly recording him then he showed no signs of it. “You don't have to answer that. but- I would like to ask that you delete whatever you record once i leave. That shouldn’t be too difficult for you right?”

I just nodded and headed to my room. It wasn’t too far because it was in the same general area as all the other bedrooms and before I knew it, I had pulled out my ElectroID, swiped my card, opened the door, and put my ElectroID back as I stepped inside.

Senji followed me inside of my room of course and he gently closed the door behind us. It locked with a click and everything went as it should have. But as he closed the door, I couldn’t help but tense just a little. I reminded myself that despite being the first time I was in a locked room with someone, it was very unlikely that they would do anything. Especially not Senji and especially not with the system he thinks I set up. With that, I exhaled and relaxed.

Of course, I swallowed knowing full well that I needed to be better prepared next time. “So you wanted to talk about the trial?”

“Correct.” Senji said with a nod. “Impressive room by the way but I digress. You should have given yourself more credit during the investigation. Not only did you come through for Koike twice when I couldn’t but you were also the first to find the actual killer.”

“Thanks.” I said. At first, it made me draw a smile ins spite of everything. But then I frowned as a thought made its way to the back of my mind and I chose my next words cautiously. “Why do I have a feeling that you didn’t come here just to tell me that though?”

“Also correct.” Senji said with less enthusiasm in his voice than before. “I wouldn’t count on me being the only person to take notice of you if I were you. I do not wish to alarm you but it would be irresponsible not to bring up the possibility of future killers taking notice of your first performance. I will be watching my back as well of course but I know that I have to warn you.”

At that, I sat down on my couch, closed my eyes, and let it sink in for the longest time before I opened my eyes and responded. “I- I overdid it didn’t I? I just put everything together one by one and guess I got carried away. But I swear I was telling you the truth about my lack of experience in murder mysteries.”

“You did what you had to do Nishi. I thank you for that and Koike certainly thanks you for that.” Senji said as he drew a sigh of his own before pulling out a small plastic container out of his coat. “Speaking of which, I have a few other matters to discuss. First, I took the liberty of finding a container for that recorder if that is still what you want to do with it. Second, It’s going to be rough for Koike but I’ll see to it that she gets through this. That and she wanted me to thank you for helping her prove her innocence. And lastly-”

Before Senji could continue, he was interrupted by an all too familiar announcement. I thought that Monokuma might have forgotten given everything that happened, but somehow, he remembered. And really, I don’t know why I ever doubted him.

Ding dong, bing bong.

“Attention everyone. The time is now 10:00 P.M. It is now officially night time. Goodnight everyone and rest well. You never know what tomorrow will bring.” Monokuma said from the monitor.

There was only a short pause after that before Senji put the container next to me and resumed what he was saying. “The last thing I wanted to say is that you have both remaining recorders in your pocket. A lie might dissuade some people but you really should follow through with hiding those. Maybe even grab a knife as a deterrent. Obviously, I didn’t kill you but there was nothing to stop me if I wanted to.” Senji just looked me in the eyes and sighed again. “Sorry to trouble you Nishi. I’m going to leave now. Just- be careful.”

At that, Senji made his way out of my room, closed the door behind him, and left me to sit in my room and think about the realization that I had in fact, made myself a fairly easy and desirable target. That and the fact that he saw through all of my precautions. I shuddered violently at the realization the moment that Senji that left the room. Luckily it only lasted a moment though.

And when it was over, I went on with my life. Albeit with my heart beating a few bpms more than usual. I pulled out the bloodied recorder to place it in the container. That turned out to be a mistake as it only sent another chill down my spine as a stared at it.

But I finished after a few seconds and finally placed what was now Naya’s recorder in the container before closing the thing. It would be best if her body could be delivered to her family for a proper burial and whatnot but they deserved to know her final thoughts as well. Until then, I Had to keep the recorder safe.

I got up from the couch, opened the drawer, and put the thing inside on top of the sewing kit, and drew another sigh after all of it. I wouldn’t have been anywhere close to as concerned if it weren’t for what happened to Naya. I needed to trust others of course and I wasn’t going to stop doing that. But Naya was a perfect example of why I should not blindly trust anybody. Eventually, I shook my head as though to shake the thoughts away and focused instead on the current situation.

Monokuma had declared it to be night time and I wanted to try to sleep and just forget about the day. But I couldn’t just do that because there was one more thing that I needed to do before I went to sleep. Eto could wait until tomorrow but for now, I needed to check up on Koike. She was the first to find the body, she was accused by most of the class, and she had the roughest day out of all of us. I wanted to put off talking to her because I had my own problems to deal with but quite frankly, she deserved a visit from me.

With that taken care of, I put my remaining two recorders down on the stand and headed out the entrance to my room. Like always, I closed the door behind myself until I heard it click and backed out into the hallway. This time though, I looked around just in time to see Yakawa passing by. And if the scowl on his face was anything to go by, he was pretty ticked.

“Is something wrong?” I cautiously asked. When he stopped and turned around, I even took a step back.

“Yeah somethings wrong!” Yakawa began shouting before he shook his head and forced himself to calm down. “Sorry, I realize that you don’t know. Naya’s body is gone. Monokuma claims that he disposed of it along with Yasui’s. The point is that neither of them are getting a proper burial. They’re never going to leave this lodge.”

“Why would he do-” I began to ask as I was taken aback by the initial shock of it. However, I recovered and frowned. “He did it for despair didn’t he?”

“Despair, Sanitation, a can show you the whole list if you want!” Came a cheerful voice from behind me. I no longer flinched at it but I knew that it belonged to Monokuma and I glared at him accordingly. He pretended to cower before standing up as though it were some sick joke of his. And to be honest, it probably was his intended reaction.

Not that it mattered, I still crossed my arms and glared at him all the same. “Is there any reason why your here or are you just here to torment us?”

“I was passing through and I thought I would answer one of my student’s questions. Yeesh, and this is the thanks I get for it.” Monokuma replied indignantly. “By the way, I think you will be happy to know that everything is functioning normally in this wing.”

“Right.” Yakawa said calmly but through clenched teeth. “Because the only thing you want to kill us is each other right?”

“Bingo!” Monokuma said with an excitement of someone who had won the lottery. Apparently missing the blatant rhetoric of the question. “Goodnight. I’m headed to check the rest of the school so I’ll give you one more friendly piece of advice before I leave. You better be ready for tomorrow because it’s going to be a big day for you!”

Yakawa and I watched as Monokuma disappeared. I wasn’t sure what he meant by the fact that Tomorrow would be a big day for us but a small wave of dread crept up in the back of my mind in addition to the irritation that I felt. And judging by the frown that Yakawa had, he was just as uncertain, worried, and ticked off as I was about the whole ordeal.

“So uhm-” I began as I scratched my head nervously in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Why did Tanabe end up trashing the pharmacy and the first aid station?”

It should have been telling that that was the subject I chose but it was the first thing that came to my mind to be honest. Particularly since the last time I saw the guy, he said he would talk to Tanabe about it. Besides that, I was also a bit curious about the subject. Or any subject really that wasn’t Monokuma, what he did, or what he was going to do to us.

But Yakawa just shook his head and sighed. “It’s nothing serious. He just needs medical help that we do fortunately have access to. I won’t tell you anything beyond that though because it would violate medical confidentiality and I’m only telling you what I did because Tanabe said I could explain that much. But I promise it’s nothing to worry about.”

At that Yakawa stopped, thought of something else to say to me, and tried to speak more calmly to me. “So where are you headed? It’s night time after all.”

“Yeah, I know. Believe me, I want to end the day as much as you do but I’m going to talk to Koike first.” I said with a nod of agreement. “I think she had it the worst today. Don’t worry, I know it’s dangerous at night time and I’ll be careful.”

I forced a quick reassuring smile that he returned with his own before speaking up. “In that case, it’s on the far end of this hallway. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

With that, Yakawa went into his own room, closed his door behind him, and left me to head over to the room which he directed me to. I did so within a few seconds without too much trouble. And like before, I rung the bell. To be honest, I didn’t know whether she would feel up to getting the door or if she was even awake at this point but I wouldn’t have been too upset. The point was that I needed to try. And if I couldn’t talk to her now, I could always wait until tomorrow.

*(Assuming she doesn’t do anything drastic but I doubt that someone like her would do anything so soon.)*

It surprisingly didn’t take very long for Koike to answer though she was just wearing a T-shirt and what was evidently a hastily thrown on skirt when she did. Not only that, but she swung the door open enough for me to get a view of most of her room.

It was a lot like mine, for starters, there was a bed in the same position that mine was in. The nightstand and bathroom doors all looked the same as well and the closet was only an exception for being divided into dry clothes and diving stuff such as a wetsuit. Of course, I only noticed because the doors were open. But the main differences were the colors of the walls and furniture. The walls of course were a light sea blue and the roof was white.

Likewise, there were several pieces of useful diving equipment in the back of the room all sorted neatly in racks, stands, and hooks including a few breathing apparatuses, a chemical tank, some sort of cold diving gel, several manuals, and something that was labeled as a hypothermia kit. Not that I knew any of the details because I could only tell by how they were labeled. Finally, there were several water tanks opposite of her actual bed. Each with some species of fish.

Of course, it didn’t take me long to refocus on Koike when she gave me a weary smile and spoke up. “Oh- hey Nishi. Thanks for what you did back there. I’m pretty sure I owe you and Senji my life and possibly Saeki too so really, thank you for saving my life.”

I bit my lip. If I were being truthful, there was something that came to mind when Koike said what she did but it was not a good idea to discuss. It was a bit of a selfish thought of how Saeki didn’t really deserve her gratitude since she didn’t defend her and only accused someone else once she was acquitted. Of course, she didn’t need to hear either it from me though and I felt a small sting of guilt as I thought it.

Regardless, I opted for the more obvious question instead. “Are you alright Koike? It’s been a rough day for all of us.”

“Isn’t that the truth.” Koike said sourly and with a frown. “I’m about as fine as you can be for someone who saw a dead body, got accused by two-thirds of the class for killing her, and witnessed someone get executed right in front of them. In other words, I want to put this behind me as soon as I can. I’m not saying a want to forget about those who died of course-”

“But you want to put the experience behind you.” I said as I nodded knowingly. I closed my eyes and drew a sigh before opening them again because I could relate. This was not a fun day to live through to say the least. “So what did Senji talk to you about?” I asked in a more lighthearted tone in a desperate effort to improve the mood.

“A lot of things really.” Koike said as another smile started to creep on her face in spite of everything. “He said nice things about me, he tried to reassure me as well but mostly he offered practical advice. He said a lot of people would be trying to reconcile with me and that they didn’t mean any harm but they were misled. He also said that if another murder were to happen that he would remind the group of this one to make sure that one person is never singled out again. And the last thing he talked about was recommending people to go to for counsel. He offered to help of course but he also recommended that I ask you for help if I needed it coincidentally.”

“He’s right.” I agreed wholeheartedly. “I’ll take proper precautions like anyone here would but I’m more than willing to help someone like you through hypnotherapy or any other way I can. All you have to do is say the word.”

Koike just nodded as she took it all in. “That would be great. Just not tonight. Tonight I just want to get to sleep. I’m not- I’m not sure if I’ll be able to sleep but I’m definitely going to try to fall asleep as soon as I can. I just want today to end you know?”

“I agree with that. It won’t be easy for me either.” I said as I crossed my arms. I stopped for a second but I made an offer to her. “I could always hypnotize you if you want. You would fall asleep faster and I know you’d sleep better too.”

Truth be told, it wasn’t an offer that I was usually prepared to make if it meant going into someone else’s bedroom and especially not in a mutual killing game. Because as one might expect, it could be dangerous. But this was Koike, she had just witnessed a murder and execution, this was her room which would make her suspicious of anything happened, and I was pretty sure I was stronger than her. Put all of those factors together and I was felt more than safe in helping her. Besides, she deserved it.

“I’m afraid not.” Koike delicately declined. “It’s not that I don’t trust you but it’s a bit much to let you put me to sleep alone in my room in the middle of a place like this. I’m sorry. It’s nothing against you-”

I relaxed my arms and nodded again in agreement. “I understand Koike. Everyone’s being cautious. Maybe you’ll change your mind once we’ve spent more time together although I hope you don’t need my help by that point. Anyways, goodnight Koike. Sleep well.”

*(Or atleast sleep at all if you can.)*

“Goodnight Nishi.” Koike replied before she waved goodbye and shut the door. I looked around but once again, I was left alone in the hallway to do whatever I wanted.

Of course, I didn’t have anything I wanted to do except end the day as soon as possible. I thought about what happened to Yasui and still sent a tingling sensation up my spine. I’d never forget what happened today and there would certainly be repercussions, but I wanted today to end at the very least and put whatever I could off until tomorrow.

With that in mind, I headed back to my room nearby, pulled out my ElectroID, and waited for the door to my room to click open. When it did, I closed it behind me and repeated the same ritual that I always did. I put all of my stuff where it belonged, cleaned up, changed, turned off the lights, and got ready to go to sleep.

I didn’t so much as land on my bed as I did fall on my bed. Shortly after, I closed my eyes and let out a long sigh. The bed hadn’t changed but it was softer than I remembered. And shortly after, that a wave of exhaustion overcame me and I realized that I had been this tired since Senji left my room. After that, it was all a blur. A few thoughts raced through my head like how I wished this could be a dream and that I was happy to be alive. But all that I could concretely remember anything in particular after that was quickly succumbing to unconsciousness.

## Trivia

* Despite the plot being the same and Nishi living through this chapter, the creator was previously going to call this one “Death of a Hypnotherapist" just to trick everyone.
* The previous title was scrapped however because the creator knew it would take too long to complete the chapter and answering responses would have led to spoilers.