Vote for despair, and they would be released into the outside world, into the rampaging apocalypse they had seen on the courtroom screens. Vote for hope, and they would all be punished, just as if they had voted for the wrong culprit in any other class trial.

Makoto... almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was this seriously Enoshima's ultimatum? To either vote for an uncertain future or vote for a horrible execution? Sure, neither option was desirable, but this almost seemed too easy!

"It's okay." Any other time, Makoto might have been surprised by how calm he sounded. But, his friends were clearly spiraling, thrown off by the truths that had been revealed and the ultimatum they had been given. He had to help them re-focus.

Glaring at Enoshima, who hid behind the Monokuma plush, Makoto pointed out the obvious flaw in her ultimatum. "Nobody would actually vote to kill themselves, right?"

"Oh, let me just mention one more thing," Enoshima said, seeming to ignore Makoto. "When I win, to punish you guys... You'll have to stay here till you grow old and die. No fighting, no killing. That's your punishment."

Makoto blanched. 'What...?'

"You mean..." Hagakure gasped. "We'd just..."

"We'd have to just... live here?" Asahina whispered.

"She's saying she'll let us live!" Genocide Jack exclaimed happily.

Enoshima dropped the Monokuma plushie, shoulders drooping, face a picture of dejection. "If you're not happy with that," she said, wiping away a few welling tears. "Then go ahead and punish me, and make your way to the outside world."

Replacing the tears with a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, Enoshima straightened and fixed each of them with a severe look. "Enter a world fallen from grace, where only despair exists. Where you'd likely be dead within a day."

"Wh-What are you saying?" Makoto stammered, fists clenching. "So no matter what, we're doomed...!"

"Wait a sec!" Enoshima shouted, smacking her hands against the podium and making Makoto jump a little. "I just got hit with an inspiration bomb..."

The glasses were gone, her eyes and voice wild with excitement.

"Dying of old age is boring as shit, right? The audience at home isn't gonna dig that at all! So, here's what'll happen! One of you will get to experience an instant, super impressive punishment!"

"What!?" Asahina's voice was high with a mix of indignation and horror. "Y-You can't just–!"

"Do you mean to say..." Togami interrupted, slow and uncharacteristically timorous. "...you'll execute one of us?"

"And I get to decide..." Enoshima's wild smile somehow got decidedly more deadly. "...who's gonna hafta suck it down!"

In an almost mocking manner, Enoshima pointed a red-clawed finger at the person across from her like a condemning judge. "Naegi! You're up!"

His heart stopped. The world stopped. Everything just seemed to stop.

"...M-Me?"

Enoshima giggled, smushing her hands against her cheeks. "Yeah! You've been acting up, causing all kinds of trouble! I haaate you!"

Then, she turned serious. Or what seemed to count as serious for Enoshima.

"So, let me make this clear," she droned, covering her face coyly. "Everyone has two choices in front of them. If a single person votes for 'hope' to be punished... then only Naegi will receive a harsh punishment, and the rest of you will live here in peace."

Then, she placed both hands on her hips, exclaiming dramatically, "If, on the other hand, you desire to see us punished, then you must all leave this place."

Then, the glasses were back, as was the stern look as she continued to lecture them on her terrible ultimatum. "I will force you out, ensuring you all die horrible deaths in the outside world."

Finally, she busted out the rock-on symbols with a wild cackle. "What I'm sayin' is, if you sacrifice Naegi, the rest of you will get to live out your lives!"

'Sacrifice me...? B-But that's–!'

Makoto couldn't breathe. This... This was moving too fast! Everything had stopped just a moment go, but now it was moving too fast, just like Enoshima and her portfolio of personalities!

"What?" Enoshima cooed from behind the Monokuma plush. "Has your resolve softened? Have you lost confidence? Are you afraid of being punished? Don't you have faith in your friends?"

Friends? Right, of course, his friends! They were friends, and they needed each other right now! The world snapped back to normal, and Makoto quickly regained his breath.

"N-No!" he exclaimed. "That's not it...!"

"It's okay," Enoshima said gently, plushie discarded and glasses re-donned. "You're right to be afraid. It would seem all of those around you have realized the futility of going against me."

He was going to refute her automatically. After all, as confused and afraid as his friends were, they had to realize that they couldn't just submit to this!

But then he saw them.

All of them - Hagakure, Asahina, Togami, and even Genocide Jack... They were all avoiding his gaze, faces darkened by despair.

"G-Guys...?"

Enoshima sniffled, wiping her eyes. "It's so beautiful... Your lovely faces, eroded by despair, have come together as one... Besides..."

Picking up the Monokuma plushie, Enoshima turned to the one other person Makoto hadn't checked on yet. Or rather, had been too afraid to check on yet.

"Kirigiri," Enoshima exclaimed from behind the plushie. "You could never betray your father, could you?"

"...What?" Kirigiri stared at the Ultimate Despair uncomprehendingly - an expression Makoto had never before seen on her face until this trial.

"I mean, the headmaster's only wish was that all of you would survive, right? That's why he tried to trap you all here, after all! The least you could do is try to honour your dead father's wishes. Puhuhuhuhu!" Enoshima released Monokuma's signature laugh.

Kirigiri gaze fell, and with it, Makoto's heart.

"Kiri...!" he gasped.

"One person's despair is enough to seal your fate!" Enoshima shouted, back to her wild personality. "Isn't that just the most hopeless outcome ever!?

"So who do you think's gonna give in?" she asked, smushing her face again. "Whose despair is gonna sign your death warrant!?"

His death warrant. The words echoed in Makoto's mind. Was his life really in the hands of everyone here? And if it was...?

"No one..." It took Makoto a moment to realize he had spoken.

No, not just spoken, refuted.

Because it was not just his life on the line right now, it was everyone's lives, whether Enoshima or anyone else realized it or not. And even if it was just his life, Makoto could think of no better people to trust with it. So, he bolstered himself and shot Enoshima a sharp glare.

"Nobody's gonna give in to despair!" he shouted. "We're not gonna lose to you!"

Something changed. Enoshima was staring at him, completely blank-faced. There was no little accessory, no obvious indication of her having put on another personality. It was just Enoshima, staring at Makoto like he was some uninteresting exhibit at a children's museum.

She sighed. "So boring. Stubborn till the very end, huh? Well, that's fine. Then let's just hurry up and get it over with. It's time for the final vote. Everything will come to an end. Your stupid hope..."

The blank mask broke for just a moment, and in her eyes Makoto could see nothing but pure and unadulterated hatred. "And your stupid life!"

The final vote. This was it. The moment that would determine, not just his life, but everyone's lives. And seeing all his friends, with their downcast faces and unmotivated stances, Makoto knew that it was all up to him. He had to make them remember! Convince them not to give up! Because to live in despair... That wasn't really living at all.

So, Makoto met Enoshima's hateful gaze.

"We won't give up...!" he asserted. "As long as there's hope, we'll never give up!"

"Ah, ah, ah." Enoshima replaced her glasses prop, tutting admonishingly. "Don't start breaking the rules now, Naegi."

A warning bell went off in Makoto's mind. "...What do you mean?"

"It's voting time," Enoshima reminded him calmly, looking at him over the rim of her glasses. "We've both said our piece, and now it's time to vote. No more arguments, no more pleas."

"Wait, what...!?"

"Now!?" Kirigiri gasped.

"Puhuhuhuhu!" Enoshima chortled from behind the Monokuma plush. "And don't forget to make extra sure to vote! After all, you wouldn't wanna be punished for something like that now, would you? Not when we're sooooooo close to the end!"

"Not yet!" Asahina cried. "We need more time to–!"

"Nope! No more time! Everyone, grab that lever and give it one last big ol' yank!"

Everything was moving too fast again. The courtroom seemed to fill with panicked energy as everyone looked from Enoshima, to the voting dial, to each other, to Makoto.

"E-Everyone...!" Makoto somehow managed to find his voice, slamming his hands on the podium, mostly in an effort to keep himself steady. "Don't lose hope now!"

"You got fiiiiiive seconds!" Enoshima announced. "Five!"

"What do we do!?" Hagakure yelped.

"Four!"

Togami snarled frustratedly. "Dammit, I need time to think!"

"Three!"

"Oh, no!" Genocide Jack swooned. "If even Master doesn't know what to do...!"

"Two!"

Asahina seemed to be hyperventilating. "I can't- I can't do this...!"

"One!"

In a flurry of panicked motions, everyone, save for Enoshima, pulled their voting lever.

"What's it gonna beee-eeee?!" Enoshima sang, and slammed her plushie onto one of the courtroom buttons.

The courtroom screens lit up, displaying the voting slot machine. Makoto clenched his fists, nails biting into his palm as he watched the options spin by rapidly. As the slots slowed, Makoto could glimpse the faces of each of his classmates, both dead and alive.

One slot.

Two slots.

Three slots.

The slot machine lit up cheerily.

Makoto's face took up all three slots.

GUILTY.