#or if na e gi also had his own thing and was as busy and driven as s a yaka

[vv-ispy]

Ships that could have worked out if it wasn't for one (1) thing

[pyropsychiccollector]

Danganronpa: Another IF (Chapter 5, Part 1)

            The return trip to the base level of the school was a solemn one. It was bad enough that they lost Naegi, but Monokuma had decided he hadn’t punished them enough for their defiance. Especially due to the fact Kyoko’s execution was interfered with.

            So… the bear had crushed Alter Ego. Not only by wiping him off the network, but by physically crushing the laptop he was held in. Monokuma had apparently known of Alter Ego all along, and was just waiting for an excuse to crush that little bit of hope they had left. Fujisaki and Kirigiri worked so hard to hook him up to the school’s network… and now the computer program was gone.

            With dead tired feet, the six survivors at last arrived in the dormitory area of the academy. They were too emotionally exhausted for anything…

            Well…

            Until they all caught sight of someone they thought they’d never see again. Walking around and breathing at that.

            Makoto Naegi was alive.

            Alive.

            “Makoto…!” The idol cried out as she was the first to dash over and tackle him with a hug, peppering kisses all over his head and neck. The Luckster had apparently been looking around for them on the first floor, and failing to find them, but he laughed mirthfully as he wrapped his arms around Maizono and stroked her hair.

            “H-Hey…! That tickles!” He snorted with laughter. When the idol reluctantly withdrew her head, but never letting him out of her arms, Makoto could see the tears pricking at her eyes. The Luckster then grew somber, as he knew that he caused Maizono to be like that. “I’m sorry for worrying you… Sayaka…”

            He wiped away the tears that he could, doing his best to calm her down, but the singer buried her head in the crook of his neck and hiccupped and sobbed with relief. Knowing she wouldn’t say anything for a bit, Makoto looked up at the rest of them.

            “I really am sorry for worrying you guys.” Makoto apologized, seeing a couple of them crying, too.

            “You’d better be… y-you idiot…!” Mondo did something between raging and whimpering. Surprisingly, he was one of the ones crying. Sensing the amusement of Celes and Leon, he snapped at them. “I am not crying!”

            “You totally are.” Leon snarked back. He wasn’t crying, but he ultimately was relieved to see Makoto was alright. It didn’t completely undo the trauma of the last several hours… or erase the fact they lost Alter Ego. But, it did majorly soften the blow.

            They had Makoto back with them. That was all that mattered.

            “B-But… how?” Fujisaki asked a question that was on all of their minds, but had been too busy soaking in blissful relief to voice. “We saw your body… it got blown up, too…”

            Makoto felt Sayaka tense in his arms, and he tightened his hold on her to reassure her that he really was there. He stared down at the floor contemplatively.

            “I see… So that’s what Monokuma did. I didn’t know.” Makoto shook his head. “A short while ago, I woke up in a room I didn’t recognize. When I got out, I found out it was the Headmaster’s Office on the fourth floor. I dunno why the Mastermind hid me away instead of killing me outright… Maybe he just wanted to execute one of us because our bonds were growing too strong?”

            Celes held a knuckle to her lips contemplatively.

            “Or perhaps… they did not wish to face judgment in the trial, with us possibly working it out that they were truly responsible…” Celes hummed in irritation. “Although, by making one of us taking the fall for a murder that never happened, they technically broke their own rules already. The ‘game’ became invalid when they tried to execute Kirigiri…”

            Makoto’s eyes widened as he finally realized the mystery girl wasn’t with them.

            “Th-That’s right…! Kirigiri! Where is she?” He asked distressfully. They summarized the trial for him, and he sobered up upon hearing all that happened. “… I see…”

            He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t disappointed in them. Sure, he could understand and perhaps even appreciate that his death left a huge impact; yet in their grief, they had turned on one another, and condemned Kirigiri to death without allowing her to speak a defense. Moreover, had he not returned… they likely would have grown even more distant from one another, and allowed another killing to happen, until there was none of them left. Time and again, he tried so hard to remind them that in their friends’ deaths they had to remain strong. It wasn’t about being optimistic for the sake of being optimistic; it was about living on for the sake of those who’d passed on. Keeping his memory alive would have been a harsh road… but he believed in them. Not because they were Ultimates, but because they were friends who formed bonds even in this grim atmosphere.

            … Still… It was because he believed in them that he wouldn’t let this disappointment weigh him down. Because people could change. People never stopped growing. They were affected because they really cared about him, and he couldn’t fault them for caring… Perhaps this disappointment also had to do with his own powerlessness. If he’d just been stronger or more on-guard, his friends wouldn’t have had to suffer in the first place.

            Makoto hugged Sayaka even tighter, looking up with newfound determination.

            “… Well… we can’t change the past…” The Luckster muttered, but quickly brightened up for everyone’s sake. “But that’s fine! We’ll just have to be even better if we’re gonna beat Monokuma and get out of here. So… where’s Kyoko? Can we get to her?”

            Before anyone could reply, Mukuro slumped to her knees, reminding everyone that she was in fact there as well. It reminded everyone… that they weren’t quite sure what to do with her. But seeing the look of abject shock on her face, it put all thoughts of restraining her on hold.

            “Na…e…gi…” The soldier trailed off breathlessly. It was only just catching up with her that he was alive. That the Mastermind hadn’t killed him.

            Because she hadn’t bought that Kirigiri had killed Naegi. She knew that was a fabricated story, and had voted accordingly. … Not that it mattered, in the end.

            “Mukuro! I’m glad to see you’re alright!” The Luckster couldn’t help grinning, in spite of everything. Everyone else was guarded or wary of the soldier, but Makoto felt they could trust her. Maybe she was once their enemy, but they’d since spent time with her. Not all of it could’ve been fake – she wouldn’t have looked nearly as weary as she did right now if she was faking.

            For Mukuro’s part, she couldn’t comprehend why Naegi was smiling. At her. She… betrayed him. Put him in this awful situation where he and their classmates killed one another… Took away his memories, tricked him and associated with him like she hadn’t done any of those things… He should hate her…

            … But he was grinning, all the same…

            Why did he have to be so nice…? Even to the people who didn’t deserve his kindness…

            “N-Naegi…” Mukuro clenched her hands and brought them to her chest. Her head bowed, the soldier shed hot, slick tears as she sobbed. She wasn’t quite sure she could put a name to this feeling spreading throughout her body… but it was warm. It filled her whole being, and it made her feel a mixture of guilt, sadness, relief, and joy. Was there even a single name for this feeling, or was she just feeling all of these at once? Regardless, she spoke from her heart. “I’m glad… I’m so glad you’re safe, Naegi…”

            She stiffened as she felt a hand on her shoulder a few moments later. She’d been so engrossed in her own emotions that she didn’t register him extricate himself from Sayaka and move over to her. And the look he was giving her… There was so much warmth in those eyes, so much cheer in that smile. It made Mukuro shed more tears…

            And despite the others’ reservations, she looped her arms around his neck and held him tight, crying her heart out.

            Makoto Naegi was alive…

            And she was never letting him go again.

            ~*~

            Once Naegi heard that Kirigiri had gone down a garbage chute, it didn’t take him much time to work out that they could probably get her back if they went through the garbage room. There was a hatch on the floor that they had been unable to open, and he still happened to have that key that he took from the Headmaster’s Office. Sayaka wouldn’t let him go alone, though, so while Mukuro and the others promised to keep Monokuma distracted if he made a fuss, the duo went down to get Kirigiri back.

            It hadn’t been the warmest of reunions, but the mystery girl had accepted Makoto’s story. To her, Makoto was too open and honest to fabricate a story; and she highly doubted the Mastermind would come down to “rescue” her with one of the others at his side. So, as a token of faith, Kirigiri confessed that she recently remembered why she had come to Hope’s Peak, what her Ultimate Talent was.

            She was the Ultimate Detective. The recent successor to a secret line of super-sleuths.

            It made sense, with all the mysteries she had helped solve while here at the academy. And hopefully with her help, they would unravel all the mysteries of the academy and defeat the Mastermind.

            ~*~

            Soon after getting back up top, an announcement went out for everyone to gather in the gymnasium. Likely knowing what this would be about, Makoto, Sayaka, and Kyoko made their way there without delay. Mukuro, Mondo, Fujisaki, Leon, and Celes were already there, of course, as was Monokuma.

            He didn’t look very happy to see Kirigiri.

            “… Okay, I get Naegi… he was gonna be a surprise transfer student, y’know… But why is the should-have-been-executed has been Kirigiri with you?!” The bear raged. He raised a claw intimidatingly. “Did you, perhaps, save her?! And after all the trouble I went through preparing her punishment!”

            “And what if they did?” Kirigiri calmly challenged the bear, much to everyone’s confusion.

            “If the villain is correctly identified during the Class Trial, she alone will be executed… I’m sorry to say it, but those’re the rules. So I’ll just have to punish you again! And this time, I’ll make sure it works!”

            More than a few of them paled at that clear threat. However, Kirigiri kept her cool.

            “If that’s what you want to do, go right ahead.”

            “K-Kirigiri!” Makoto yelped.

            “But before you do, just let me say one thing…” Kirigiri ran a hand through her hair casually. “If you execute me, then you lose… Are you okay with that?”

            Monokuma tilted his head before growing angry once again.

            “Huh? Me? Lose? Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”

            “That Class Trial was just a big setup, right?” Kyoko asked casually. “You intended to have me take the fall for a murder that never happened, and thus put an end to our teamwork. Because we’d gotten to the point where even your mole refused to comply with your demands. There weren’t going to be any more murders.”

            Monokuma stood rigidly.

            “H-Hold on… What are you saying?”

            “Your plan almost went perfectly. My head was on the chopping block, and you had even  ‘confiscated’ Alter Ego. While you did managed to destroy the laptop, you still miscalculated. You never expected a computer program to have lingered on the network, which managed to save my life. And that is the truth. You hid Naegi away and set me up to take the fall for his ‘murder’. If that doesn’t break your precious rules, then what do you call that?”

             Monokuma hummed unconvincingly.

            “Hmm… And so that means I lose? Lemme get this straight—you’re saying the real villain is me, not Naegi?” Monokuma tilted his head mockingly. “Then where’s your evidence?”

            Kirigiri smirked.

            “Isn’t it enough that Naegi is right here?” She frowned as the bear laughed.

            “Nope, you’re wrong!” Monokuma cackled. “There was a real death, I tell you! It just wasn’t Makoto Naegi that got offed. It was the surprise 16th student, my trump card!”

            That got Kirigiri to lose her composure a little.

            “The 16th… student…?”

            “Yup!” The bear confirmed gleefully. “Down in the trial room there’s 16 podiums, don’tcha remember? Well, I had one waiting in the wings! It just so happened she got killed before she could make her dramatic debut!”

            Mondo growled as his hand twitched.

            “Then who the hell got murdered, you jackass?!”

            “Junko Enoshima, of course.” Monokuma showed his dark grinning half proudly. “Surely ooone of you did some research before coming here? Junko Enoshima really was an incoming student, the Ultimate Fashionista! It wasn’t just Mukuro Ikusaba posing as a highly popular model!”

            That got the students to stare at one another. It seemed none of them had done research on their class before coming here… well. No one except Makoto.

            “… He’s right.” Makoto replied grimly. “I remember her name coming up in the online threads… There were a couple of people I couldn’t find any information on, let alone their names – and those were Kirigiri and Mukuro.”

            Leon’s mouth dropped open as the Luckster revealed all that.

            “H-Hold on! Then you’re saying… there really was a murder?! One of us really did kill Enoshima?!”

            Monokuma nodded sagely.

            “That’s cooorrect! The academic coliseum is between you 16 beacons of Hope! There is no 17th student! In these hallowed halls, the only ones left alive were you sixteen students. And now there’s only eight of you~!”

            Celes held a knuckle up to her mouth again.

            “Then you are saying… the Mastermind is one of us…?”

            “Hmm… I wonder…” Monokuma taunted, hinting that was the case.

            Celes hated more than ever that the Mastermind spoke through Monokuma. Searching for tells that he/she was lying was a nigh well impossible task.

            “Well… in that case…” Kirigiri picked up the composure she’d dropped for a little while. “Then we need to reopen the investigation. Because as you’ll recall, we were all under the impression that Makoto was killed. If Junko was killed instead… that changes the case quite a bit, wouldn’t you agree…?”

            Monokuma growled at the smugness in the detective’s tone. He raised a claw threateningly.

            “I figured you’d propose that… So, allow me to propose something in return!” Monokuma belted out a laugh. “Let’s make this the spine-tingling finale! You guys are Hope, and I’m Despair! For you guys to win, not only do you have to work out who killed Junko Enoshima, you have to work out all of the academy’s mysteries! But failing that…”

            “… Then we’ll all be executed.” Kirigiri finished the grim proposal.

            “That’s right~!” Monokuma confirmed. He laughed again. “Of course, you’re free to dismiss the case completely… and you all can return to your normal academy lives… I’ll even let you keep Kirigiri since I’m such a benevolent Headmaster!”

            To be honest, that offer was very tempting. As infuriating as it would have been to remain trapped, at least they wouldn’t have to gamble with their lives when they had made close to no progress in unravelling the academy’s mysteries… But at the same time, if the status quo remained unchanged, then there was nothing to say that Monokuma wouldn’t try something again in the very near future.

            But as they were all debating the pros and cons of both options… Kirigiri spoke for all of them.

            “We will accept the retrial.” She said without any room for doubt. Leon stared at her, mouth agape.

            “S-S-Say whaaat?!”

            “K-Kirigiri…!” Fujisaki yelped. Mondo growled at her.

            “I’ve still got promises I have to keep…! Don’t fucking gamble with my life like you fucking own it!”

            Kirigiri crossed her arms as she eyed them all.

            “You are all misunderstanding… It’s not us who are cornered – it’s Monokuma, the Mastermind who is cornered.”

            Makoto rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

            “I see… We already know they directly interfered with the trial, rigging the results… If we can prove that, then the game is done. We just have to prove that the Mastermind is the villain, and they alone will be executed.”

            Sayaka looked down contemplatively.

            “But… we also have to solve the academy’s mysteries… Can we really do that, even without full access to every room in the academy?”

            At that, Monokuma rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

            “Have no fear! If you do decide to press forward with this suicidal path, in the interest of fairness, I will open every room and floor in the school! You will have the freedom to solve the academy’s mysteries in any way you see fit!”

            … Was the bear messing around with them? First he made the offer to back off sound tempting… and now the retrial was looking like the chance they’d been looking for. If they really were given the chance for a fair investigation… then they’d be fools to refuse this opportunity, even with their lives on the line!

            “There is one minor caveat, though…” Monokuma sneered. “Going through with the retrial means you cannot interact with Mukuro Ikusaba at all during the investigation. She would be your walking, talking cheatsheet, and that wouldn’t be very fair, now would it?”

             … Always a catch.

            “This changes nothing.” Kirigiri asserted. “It’s better to conduct an unbiased investigation than to rely on a single person’s testimony. In addition, she might not even know all of the answers. We will accept your terms.”

            There were some that still didn’t look happy with Kirigiri speaking for all of them… But even they could see this was their chance.

            “All right, honey~! Show me where to ursine!” Monokuma giggled. “Will your Hope win in the end…? Or will my Despair take the crown? I’m so beary excited!”

            With that, Monokuma left with a worried Mukuro, to drag her back to her room for the duration of the investigation… and it was decided the rest of them would split up to explore the new areas of the academy that would open up.

            The second floor of the dorms.

            The Data Processing Center.

            The Headmaster’s Office.

            The whole fifth floor…

            They had a lot of ground to cover.

            ~*~

            Makoto had been reluctant to part ways with Sayaka… but they’d decided that at least three people should investigate the fifth floor, and she, Mondo, and Leon were picked for that task. Fujisaki would investigate the Data Processing Center, and Celes would look into the Headmaster’s Office. Kirigiri elected to investigate the second floor of the dorms, and that’s where Makoto started as well.

            Upon arriving in that area, the Luckster and detective were shocked to discover that it was like a battleground had taken place there. Walls were shattered, and rubble littered the hallways. Dorm rooms were rendered unusable – even the few they could access, there were no clues to be found of the previous occupants. Only wanton destruction and despair.

            There was more than dorm rooms, though. Taking the long way around due to a pile of debris blocking one path, they came across a locker room. The lockers supposedly reacted to e-handbooks, but none of the lockers responded to Makoto’s handbook… of the few that weren’t utterly bashed in and incapable of ever opening again, that is.

            Strangely, though… Kirigiri was able to open a locker. And inside was a notebook that had her handwriting in it. And the text was all entries that she didn’t remember writing; yet the entries implied that she had indeed met with the Headmaster, her father, and this aggravated Kirigiri to no end because it could be inferred she didn’t sever her ties with the man, like she had intended. She… seemed to put up with him, but from Naegi’s perspective the entries suggested she still wasn’t very close with the man.

            The last entry was scrawled out in messier writing, but implied there were “two” Despairs, and Kyoko could only hazard a guess as to what that meant.

            Regardless, this discovery proved Kyoko had once used this locker room. Without a way to check the other lockers, Makoto wouldn’t know if she was the only one from their class that did… So the two of them moved on to the only other accessible room on this floor – the Headmaster’s dorm room.

            Between the two of them, it didn’t take long to work out there was a secret room, and that the only way to get in was putting in a password on the computer. Kyoko tried several different passwords, but none worked; though he was hesitant to do so, he suggested putting in Kyoko’s name. She was certain that it wouldn’t work…

            … but it did. The hidden room opened to them.

            “Is that… a giftbox?” Makoto asked incredulously, as that was the thing that stuck out most in the room.

            “Try not to be too surprised when you open it…” Kyoko had sighed ominously. Determined, Makoto went to remove the lid…

            … and promptly screamed upon finding the remains of a human skeleton in there. Kirigiri explained that she suspected they would find her father in this room, though Makoto perceived some part of her hadn’t wanted to believe it.

            Alter Ego had told them the Headmaster was somewhere in the school, and Monokuma had told them the only living humans left in the building were them 16 students. Put two and two together, and yeah – Kyoko’s deduction made sense that her father probably had died…

            And yet a part of her hadn’t wanted to believe it…

            Further investigation revealed an Emergency Use e-handbook, which Makoto supposed he could use to open up the rest of those lockers. There was also a framed picture of Kyoko as a child with her father… Makoto noticed how this profoundly affected her. Noting that she needed time to grieve on her own – or at the least, sort out her thoughts and emotions on her own – he returned to the locker rooms to try the e-handbook.

            It successfully opened up all the other lockers, though there was only one of them with useful information inside.

            After all, finding a crystal ball, tarot cards, and a notebook with the name “Yasuhiro Hagakure” really seemed to stick out as clues. Especially since the notebook was absolutely filled with notes from classes taken here at Hope’s Peak…

            Just what was going on here?

            ~*~

            Eventually moving up to the Data Processing Center, Makoto heard about what Fujisaki had found. Apparently, all the camera feeds went into this room – and it was glaringly obvious when he saw a bunch of blacked out screens, feeds that had previously belonged to the third floor cameras. But that wasn’t all that Fujisaki had found. There was also a TV with an antenna… and when the programmer had tried seeing what was going on in the outside world, he found the only thing the TV could tune into was the academy.

            Which likely meant the events going on here were being broadcast everywhere…

            The other major discovery, aside from a computer connected to the school’s network, was that Monokuma’s control room was connected to this room. And messing around with it, Fujisaki discovered that the Mastermind would have had to physically be in there to control Monokuma… There was very limited autonomous function. Certainly not enough to speak as much as Monokuma did.

            That was a very insightful clue. That meant there had to be someone else in this academy, because Monokuma had spoken to the fifteen of them in the beginning. And if Junko was killed… Well, there just had to be someone else. Fujisaki said there was no room for doubt.

            … Sadly, as they left the Data Processing Room, the door automatically locked, and Monokuma appeared and announced that room was off-limits from now on. He taunted them for not inspecting the hatch on the floor in the control room, though he admitted the hatch locked from the inside, so they wouldn’t have been able to uncover the Mastermind’s identity.

            Even though Makoto loathed how that was set up, he had to admit he was glad he could trust everyone fully and completely. The Mastermind couldn’t be any of the eight of them because there was no long-range function in that control room. The bear had to be controlled from in there, and that meant a ninth person was still lurking around the academy.

            ~*~

            Stopping by the Headmaster’s Office, Makoto found out that Celes’s main discovery was Mukuro’s student profile. It was insightful to learn more about the Ultimate Soldier, but Makoto had explained to her that the Mastermind couldn’t be her because of what he and Fujisaki had uncovered.

            … Celes was, of course, quick to doubt Fujisaki’s word, considering he was the Ultimate Programmer. In other words, he could be the Mastermind… However, the gambler did at least concede the possibility of a ninth person in the building…

            ~*~

            The fifth floor was similar to the other floors in that it had classrooms with windows that were boarded up with iron plates. From what Makoto could gather, this was just meant to be another floor opened up to them when a murder was solved. There was a dojo with an archery range in the back – as well as sakura trees that gave the room a unique Japanese flavor. There was nothing of major interest in the dojo, from what Makoto and Leon could see.

            Mondo was found in the garden, across from the dojo. There was a chicken coop with four chickens in it, as well as a sprinkler system that went off every morning at a scheduled time. There was the biggest plant that Makoto had ever seen, towering over the whole garden. And there was also a shed, where Mondo had been shocked to find a pickaxe that belonged to him. He knew that it was his because it had the Crazy Diamonds name imprinted on it. Aside from that pickaxe, there was just gardening tools in the shed. Nothing that would help them solve the mysteries of the academy…

            ~*~

            “What… happened in here…?” Makoto breathed as he entered Classroom 5-C. Unlike the other floors, this one had three classrooms instead of two. And this one… was in ruin. A struggle had taken place here, with several people dying, if the chalk lines were anything to go by. There was also so much rotted blood… The smell was absolutely nauseating. And this was where he had found Maizono. “Sayaka…?”

            He moved over to check on her, noting how she seemed to be overwhelmed with this room. She was hugging her arms and looking absolutely frightened. There was no faking that.

            “Wh-What did we do to deserve this…? Are we going to die here?” The idol asked helplessly, and Makoto did his best to console her. He couldn’t believe there’d been so much carnage in one place, either – and going by the signs, the bloodbath in here had happened a while ago. As in months, maybe a year.

            “… C’mon.” He ushered her out of the room quietly. It wouldn’t do either of them very good staying in that stench for long. So they left.

            And they moved over to the Biology Lab… which wasn’t a whole lot better, in hindsight. There was bound to be something gruesome in here, too; it was just like that bear to terrorize them. Though it was different than coming across a murder scene, because the lab was arranged to be like a morgue…

            And the two of them found out that this was where the bodies of their classmates were stored. There were seven lights lit up, indicating seven bodies were stored here. Hagakure. Ishimaru. Asahina. Togami. Yamada. Sakura. And…

            “Huh? Is this supposed to be Fukawa?” Naegi asked in bewilderment. Her face was scorched beyond recognition, yet her clothes were spotless. Beside him, Sayaka shivered, and not just from the cold.

            “Th-That would mean… Monokuma lied… He used Fukawa’s body to impersonate you!”

            That was assuming Fukawa’s whole upper body was scorched beyond recognition, and they’d probably need Kirigiri to know for sure, because it was hard enough pulling out all the bodies to identify them. Still, the fact there were seven lights lit and not eight would imply Sayaka’s accusation was correct…

            And that in turn made Junko Enoshima’s absence all the more suspicious.

            ~*~

            It seemed like Monokuma was very generous with this investigation, because he had something to give to each of them. Makoto let Sayaka go first, and then went in after she returned. Like everyone else, he received an envelope with his name on it, and there was a single picture in it. Monokuma told him to do what he wanted with it, and then the bear vanished without explaining anything.

            The picture… had all of their classmates together. Everyone except him. It looked to be in the evening at sunset, based on the sun pouring in from the windows that couldn’t be seen from the shot; and it looked to be a normal classroom. No childish scribbles on the chalkboard. Everyone looked just so… happy. Like they had never been put in the Killing Game. Like they were the best of friends – even the reserved Fukawa and Togami.

            Makoto decided he needed to talk to Sayaka about it, to see if she received a similar photo. Thankfully, the idol was still in the trophy room right outside the gym when he came back out. And she seemed to have a small fond smile as she traced her finger over the picture; she looked up when he came back out.

            “I’m guessing you got a picture, too?”

            “Yeah…” Makoto smiled back at her. “Everyone in it but you?”

            Sayaka giggled.

            “Yep.”

            It was strange how both of them were so easy to accept that they weren’t in their own pictures… But perhaps that was because this was far from the strangest thing they had encountered since coming here. Having encountered similar pictures before, they weren’t quite out of their depth… just confused.

            “Wanna see mine?” Makoto offered, and he was offered hers in return. Looking at her photo, he couldn’t help feeling the same friendly vibes emitting from it. In a way, hers was plenty similar to his. The picture was taken at sunset… They were all outside and under a tree. and somewhat unsurprisingly, he was toward the middle of the group, Ishimaru to his left and saluting with a giant grin, and Leon to his right with his arm around the Luckster’s shoulders, the baseball star grinning madly as well, as if they were best friends. To the back of Naegi was Sakura, arms crossed and smiling proudly. Celes was to her immediate right, and Junko and Mukuro were to her immediate left.

            Weird how Junko’s face was covered up by Ishimaru’s salute again. It happened in his picture, too. Though unlike in his picture, Mukuro was looking away from the camera somewhat, as if disinterested.

            Yamada, Mondo, Fukawa, and Hagakure were scattered on Leon’s other side, while Togami, Asahina, Kirigiri and Fujisaki were scattered on Ishimaru’s other side. Even the more reserved classmates seemed like they were happy to be in that photo; like they were all friends, and they weren’t just doing this for some yearbook thing.

            Something else Makoto noticed about his and Maizono’s photos was that a lot of the students seemed to be in a brown school uniform… including him, and including Mondo, who didn’t seem the type to wear uniforms. Celes and Leon, unsurprisingly, stood out in the clothes he’d seen them wearing since coming to this academy, but again, that seemed just like them. Leon wanted to be a rockstar, and Celes… well, she had her own fashion sense. She wasn’t the type to let others dictate what she wore – that was the impression Naegi got, anyway.

            “Do you think… Monokuma messed with our memories?” Sayaka wondered, and Makoto had to pause to think about that. Because while the others would say to assume they were forged, to him, these looked too authentic to be faked.

            You couldn’t Photoshop camaraderie such as this… They all seemed to be in-character, too.

            “I’ve been wondering about that, too…” Makoto murmured.