I don't know how I knew, but I knew.

Maybe it was the comfortable bed ('My bed was so hard, and I barely had a blanket, it was a damn sheet and this is a damn blanket'), maybe it was the oddly heavy atmosphere, maybe it was the heat ('this isn't the kind of heat that comes from a heater, there simply isn't any cold and I was just in the dead of winter'), maybe it was the deafening silence - who knows what it was.

But I knew that something was wrong.

Scared, I manage to open my eyes and look around the room I awoke in. It's a bedroom; yet another I've never seen before. I guess I'm starting to make a habit of waking up in strange rooms. The thing about this one, however, is that instead of military barracks, it's a legitimate bedroom. I see the bathroom on my left. I see a table with a few chairs tucked into it across from me, with a shelf next to it. The wall aligned with the bathroom door has a monitor installed, and around the corner is a hallway that presumably leads outside. Behind me are more shelves and a camera hanging from the ceiling. The lighting is very… dim. It's dark.

This would all be very nice if I could remember for the life of me why I'm here.

I… don't remember anything.

…

My name is…

'Your name is Hitaka. Hitaka Yuushi. You are the Super High School Level - 39402385a8032-8452u34752389045'

Right. Hitaka.

What was I doing before this?

Wasn't I at the military base?

'There was a motive. Monokuma messed with everyone's memories, using them to bribe people into killing.'

'Your motive was an article talking about how you were a serial killer.'

Oh, yeah…

My head hurts.

Well, everything hurts.

I'm exhausted.

…

I can figure this out later. This is probably just a dream, anyway. That in mind, I close my eyes.

When I woke up next, I fully expected to be back at the base. But I was still in this weird bedroom. Maybe I should actually get up.

I don't know.

'I feel so…'

'Wrong. Something is wrong. Something is wrong.'

I try flicking the light switch off and back on. It barely gives off any light. Useless bulb. I leave it on, figuring some light is better than none. Next, I go into the bathroom.

'How did I even know this is…?'

I look exactly how I did while I was at the base, at least. Dressed in a camouflage jacket and pants. It's hot, however. Why is it hot? What happened to the cold? My hands slowly go up to undo the jacket, and I slowly shrug it off. Why do I feel so sluggish? So out of the loop?

Maybe a shower would help.

It's a tall glass room kind of thing. I check the shelves under the sink and quickly find towels. White. There are thick, white robes hung up on the door, too. I notice a little badge on its lapel. Like a school badge. Huh. It's not Flying Stars', but it looks familiar.

I'm so disoriented.

Water feels nice, at least.

I run my fingers through my hair, closing my eyes so not to let any water get in them. I'm trying to remember something, but nothing's happening. I don't even remember going to sleep over at the base. Monokuma eventually left after giving us the motive and revealing that our families are alive, and therefore the motives are real, so we all packed up our things and went back to our rooms. I didn't see anyone until that night. I had brought my guitar to the mess hall and tried playing, but I may as well have lost all of my muscle memory, and on that note, any skill I ever had with the instrument. I was rusty. Very rusty.

So I went back to my room after eating, and that's where it cuts off.

Why am I here?

When was I taken here?

…

Wait, what the fuck's going on?

Adrenaline suddenly rushes through me as I realize that this isn't. Right. Not at all. I'm quick to turn off the water, dry off, and get dressed back in the same clothes I just took off. Leaving the jacket on the wet floor, I get out of the bathroom.

Some snooping around led me to believe I'm in a school. This might be Flying Stars… I wouldn't know. I never got into the damn school; I ended up being kidnapped for the game back at the base beforehand.

When I left the room, the first thing I noticed is actually the fact that I felt a bit less sluggish. Tired, disoriented, confused, yes, but overall getting a liiiiittle better. Hopefully. Next, I realized how dark it is out here, too. I can see, it's just very dim. Spooky. I was in a hallway with many doors like the one I just came out of, and they all have plates with our names on them, like the ones at the base. Now, when I say plates with our names, I'm talking about everyone from the game. It's all the same names. I knock on a couple at random, yelling out names, but I don't get any response.

'Where the hell is everyone?'

I pass by a few other random rooms such as a bathhouse, and I notice a few bigger doors. I pass through them to find a cafeteria. Honestly, it was too dark and I was a little too scared to go in, so I didn't bother.

A hallway nearby leads to the actual school itself. There are a few random classrooms, a gym, two tall red doors, both locked. An infirmary. A few things struck me as odd, though: the stairs up were blocked off, any windows were blocked by iron plates, and what I presume to be the entrance/exit has a massive circular door blocking it.

'I've been kidnapped again, haven't I…?'

I mean, there are certain parameters to being kidnapped, and this situation is hitting all of them. Waking up in an unfamiliar room, check. Feeling sluggish, check, though maybe this time it's way worse than the first. No way out, check. I'm stuck.

Again.

'And here I thought that maybe I was free.'

At least things kicked off immediately last time. I've been here for what feels like an eternity now. Looked around every inch of this place except for the others' rooms. I'm bored, oddly enough.

Actually, what's more odd, is the fact that I found myself missing those damn MREs. I haven't been hungry at all (actually, that's pretty odd too), but I decided to go check out the food anyway. I had to actually make myself something, none of these meals were ready to eat. So I grabbed the first thing I saw that didn't need to be cooked or put together - don't have the time to make a huge feast, and I took out a can of diet soda. Why do schools only ever have diet soda? I swear they're worse for you than the regular kind.

Anyway, that's where I am right now.

I lean against the wall outside the cafeteria and crack open the can, taking a look around. Before I take a sip, I examine the can some more, and try to look inside, but I don't think if I even had better light I'd be able to see much. I just don't know if I should trust anything to eat or drink, but whatever. A sip later I realize it tastes fine.

…

I pound on the iron plates in the classrooms. Whoever put these, they aren't playing around. These plates are high quality. As in, all of them are, with nothing better to do I examined each one. They're all some kind of industrial level and nothing short of a bomb is gonna do any damage. They're really trying to keep us in here. Well, no, trying to keep me in here.

Seriously, where is everyone? Am I actually alone in this entire building? Maybe someone's upstairs, or behind the red doors, I figure. Or in their rooms and no one wants to let me in.

'In their rooms…'

I decide to go back to the dorm hallway. I didn't knock on everyone's door yet. Maybe it's like, the middle of the night right now, so everyone's sleeping and no one knows I'm here. At least that's what I'm banking on. 'Sorry to wake you, guys.'

The dorms are set up in an L-shape. One end leads to a wider area where the cafeteria, bathhouse, laundry room and storage rooms are, and the other has another hallway (that eventually leads to the same area) with the trash room and both boys' and girls' bathrooms. Honestly, the scariest part so far is the fact that the boys' bathroom was clean. Spotless. No graffiti, unflushed toilets, food, etc. I really felt like I was in another world. The girls' was the same, but I'm not sure if that's much a difference, since I've never exactly been in one.

Now, as I was doing this, I fully expected one of the doors I knocked on to open.

What I got, however, was hearing the unmistakable sound of a different door opening around the corner.

I froze, realizing that I'm not alone.

"H-" I tried to speak, but I was struck with fear for some reason, and my voice ended up getting caught in my throat.

I try again.

"Hello?" I manage.

There's a pause.

That deafening silence is back. There's no other sound, no background white noise at all. No wind against the door like at the base. Nothing. The silence lasts long enough that I start to wonder if any door ever even opened and maybe I'm just hearing things until out of the clear blue sky, the door slams closed.

"O-Oh, shit!" it caught me off guard, and I practically jump in surprise.

I'm quick to get on my feet and run towards the source of the sound, but there are four different doors around the corner. All of them are closed. I know for a fact I heard one of them close, but how am I supposed to know which?

"Hey! Who's there!?" I shout.

I knock on all four of them, yelling all the while, trying to get whoever that was back out.

Nothing happened.

'What the hell is going on here?'

My legs are shaking.

…

Taking deep breaths to calm my nerves, I nope the hell out and head back into my room for a while.

"I'm tellin' you bro, that thing's out of tune."

I roll my eyes at Toori. "What, you play guitar now?"

"Who's the sound expert here?" he grins. "Here, pass it. Lemme see what I can do."

I hand him the guitar. The fourteen of us are all gathered in the mess hall, most of us still eating. I'm here trying to play guitar again, but I haven't picked one up in a long time. As such I have absolutely no clue what I'm doing.

Well, I say that, but I don't think that's the biggest problem. My mind is on other things.

Hitaka Yuushi: the story of the crazed serial -

I should've forgotten about the dumb thing by now, but…

I can't.

I'm remembering things.

I don't know what the sensation of killing is like. I don't. I shouldn't. I've never killed in my life, and I don't plan on breaking that streak. So why do I remember what it's like?

It's just a very vague something in the back of my mind, but it's there. And it's kind of really terrifying.

"Hitaka. Dude."

I look over and see Toori's arm outstretched, guitar in hand. I thank him and grab it.

"You seem a little out of it, man. You alright?" he asks.

"Yeah, yeah." I wave him off. "I'm just, I don't know, worried."

"About?"

"Tonight. There's fourteen of us now, you think there'll be fourteen of us in the morning?"

"Oh, come on!" Toori actually laughs at that. "Who would take that weird motive seriously? We're gonna be fine."

"Fair enough." I shrug, trying my best to mask the fact that I might be taking this weird motive seriously.

I pause. 'What the hell? Come on. We already know Monokuma messed with our heads. So I shouldn't be worried about this. It's not a real memory…'

"Can't be…" I murmur.

"What's that?" Toori says, having caught that, apparently.

"Huh? Nothing, sorry."

"We should've cooked tonight." Saya, who had been sitting next to us, says with a frown. "These MREs are so bad."

"Hey!" Haru, of all people, protests. "They're good for you."

"She's right. They have to be packed with nutrients to keep soldiers in the field going, after all." Jokuno says, pushing up his glasses with two fingers like some fucking intellectual. 'This guy.'

"Yeah. Soldiers. We're like, high school students. Whatever happened to that?" Dakota asks.

"I think referring to us as soldiers isn't an unfair thing to do." Erik says. "Look at the situation we're in. This isn't exactly fun and games, is it?"

Sakuro grins. "Really? It's kinda interesting so far."

"Yeah well, you never met Kisaki or Sumiyoshi." Asai snaps. "You haven't lost anyone yet."

'Yet…'

She appears to have caught what she just said and regretted it. She turns away.

"Yeah, you're right. But this is my first motive! I'm excited to see how this-"

"Can you shut up, you idiot?"

Placide smiles innocently, looking at Sakuro.

'Wow, that's a surprise.'

"Was she always so blunt? And rude?" Sakuro asks, pointing at Placide.

"N-Not at all…" Aito says.

"She's got a fuckin' point though, asshole." Dakota says as she glares at Sakuro. "There's no need for that shit. So shut up."

"..." Sakuro pauses, looking back and forth between Dakota and Placide.

"What the hell are you doing?" Dakota asks.

"Trying to decide which one of you should go tonight." Sakuro replies, nonchalantly.

'Huh?'

"Wh-wha!? I-I-I'm sorry!" Placide suddenly apologizes, reverting back to her usual self.

"Fuck off…" Dakota shakes her head.

It goes silent for a while, before people decide it might be best to leave. Aito and Masamoto leave together, with Placide following shortly after. Dakota was right behind them. Then one by one, the mess hall slowly emptied, leaving no one but Sakuro to sit at the table.

When I split off from Saya, Toori, and Suzuki - the latter of which who was oddly quiet during the whole ordeal - I suddenly felt very lightheaded and dizzy.

This entire trip may as well have consisted of my head pounding and dizziness of fuzzy memories, but I started to feel sick again from how bad it was. I was so fixed on one thought.

'I remember killing someone.'

I shouldn't. I've never done it before, right?

'It was via knife. I couldn't have used anything else? I had to use such an up close and personal weapon…?'

There's no way.

'The blade slid in easier than I thought it would. I thought I'd have to fight it and put in more effort.'

'It wasn't the loss of blood that told me they were dead, or the gradual lack of breathing, movement. The light in their eyes was suddenly gone, and that's how I knew.'

'...'

'No, wait, didn't I use a gun?'

'Or…'

'I killed two different people…?'

'I know that altogether I shot the gun three times…'

'All it takes is one shot to put someone down. Why did I keep shooting?'

'Why did I shoot again?'

'Did I really kill before?'

"Hitaka!"

I whip around to the source of a voice, trembling.

"Stay back!" I shout, "Get the hell away from me!"

I'm remembering things.

I don't know how I got to this school yet, but I'm starting to recollect memories of that night, back at the base.

"Where are you!?" the voice yells back. It's familiar. I can't tell who it is - well, I have an idea, but it's impossible. I've seen his dead body. I investigated his dead body.

A light suddenly pierces the near pitch black darkness and illuminates the changing room in front of me. It bounces off of the pool's water, as well. I can see the silhouette of someone behind a light the shape and size of a phone, but I can't tell who it is.

"I said get away!" I repeat myself. "I-I'm dangerous!"

Sakuro appeared to want to kill either Dakota, or Placide.

If one of them died, everyone would immediately suspect Sakuro. After all, they suspected me with no evidence but an obviously fake dying message.

'Yeah, sure, but we eventually declared my innocence and got the real killer.'

'But maybe we could just ride out Sakuro being the killer. Maybe no one would question it that much and I would be totally free.'

I take a deep breath, looking at myself in the mirror. I'm pale. My breath is heavy, each one few and far between. I look like this because an opportunity has been presented to me, and I'm wondering if I should jump on it or not.

I can kill someone tonight, get away with it, and regain my memories.

I remember just enough of something I really shouldn't. Being a serial killer is, you know, a serious fucking thing, and I need to know what the truth is.

'What the hell happened to that funeral yesterday? All that shit I was spouting? The hope I had for us?'

'Am I really about to throw it all away?'

"Hitaka, it's not your fault!" he says. The light stopped moving. "You don't need to blame yourself. That was Monokuma's-"

"I'm not talking about that! I've…" I trail off.

"Well, what are you talking about?" he asks.

"I've been dangerous since before the game," I explain. "You don't understand. We got this motive."

"I know. Kill and regain your memories, right?"

"H-How do you know that?" I stutter. He shouldn't have been around to see it.

"Listen, something's wrong. I'm willing to bet you've been implanted false memories. If that's possible, but at this point, I think anything's possible."

"Do you know what my motive was, then…?"

"You were told you were a serial killer."

"Then don't you think it's possible that I've been dangerous?"

"Like I said, anything's possible. Please, come out, I can try to explain what I know…"

From across the courtroom, Erik points a finger at me.

"The only person the killer could have been is Hitaka!"

"Wh-where the hell did that come from!?" I retort, shocked, "You're accusing me again!? Didn't we already do this last trial?"

"Yes, and we're doing it again." he glares. "Because this time, you really are the culprit."

"Th-That can't be right!" Masamoto protests. "What about the funeral? R-Remember? 'The future will be bright'?"

"Yeah! I-I- Hitaka? Are you serious right now, dude?" Toori grits his teeth.

"It was obvious from the beginning that Sakuro isn't the killer." Hizen sighs. "You all just jumped on that because of what he said last night."

"Yeah, seriously! I thought my first trial would've been a hard one…" Sakuro says, shaking his head in disappointment.

"O-Okay, fine, prove it then!" I was so careful. I made sure to clean up every piece of evidence. There shouldn't have been anything.

"There was only one piece of evidence, so good on you for cleaning up the crime, but… You neglected to clean the blood on your door!" Erik says.

I choke. "W-What!? What blood!?"

"I noticed some discoloration in the snow outside. A few spots here and there were darker. At first, I thought nothing of it, thinking it was just dirt…" he says.

"Really? I was sure from as soon as I saw it." Jokuno smirks.

"Still, I was a little suspicious." Erik continues. "I realized there was a very tiny trail, and it led to your room. There was, undoubtedly, pink spots on your doorknob."

"Stop it!" Saya says, "That was nothing, right Hitaka? Tell him what that was!"

'I-I…'

'I washed my hands so much… Over and over and over and over again, I used half the bottle of soap, I- I thought they'd never be clean…'

'So where the hell did this blood come from!? And how didn't I notice it!?'

"E-Eh… um…" I stammer, trying to stall for time as I come up with an excuse.

"I was out, getting food!" I blurt. "And since I was a little out of it from the motive, I cut myself by accident and bled!"

"Didn't the trail come from the opposite direction of the main building?" Hizen frowns.

'SH-SHIT!'

"I-I, I meant- I-"

'What the hell!? Where could I have cut myself? I can only think of the kitchen! I can't say I tripped or something, I just said that I cut myself!'

"Hitaka…" Suzuki looks at me, a confused look in her eyes. Her eyebrows are furrowed. "I don't understand?"

"Are you sure there was a trail?" I ask, trying to regain my composure. I can't just give myself away like that. "I-It probably was just dirt!"

"It was dark, yes, but it was pink, Hitaka. Dirt isn't pink." Jokuno says.

"But it wasn't pink! I saw it too, and it wasn't pink!" Haru pipes up.

"So you noticed it too then, Haru? If you thought it was just dirt, then why did you even notice it?" Jokuno asks her.

"I mean, there wasn't any pink at all outside, okay!?"

'Why is she trying to defend me? She doesn't even have an actual argument and yet…'

"Hang on! The trial just started! Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves?" Saya says. "Are we really going to pin an actual murder on someone based off something like that?"

"Yeah!" I immediately agree, probably too fast.

"He was professional about it, that's why." Hizen sighs. "There wasn't any other evidence. At all. This is all we have to go on."

"And go on that, we will. Monokuma, we're ready to vote!" Erik says.

"Upupu. So fast? Are you suuuuure?" Monokuma asks in a teasing voice.

"Well, unless we come up with any more evidence…" Dakota says, before turning to me. "Hitaka, what the hell's going on here, man?"

"I…"

The light eventually came closer.

"I'm telling you man, I'm not- I'm not an innocent person… I've killed before…" I say, in some attempt to make him turn around.

"I'm not going anywhere."

He stops, right in front of me, shining the light in my face. I bring up an arm to shield my eyes.

"You remember me though, right?"

I look up. He turned the light around to show his face.

It's Kisaki. Kisaki Yukijin. The one that got stabbed, and the one who died.

"Guess what?" he grins. "The whole game's a fake. You never killed no one, and you never got executed - we're all still alive!"

Everyone stared at the vote results in disbelief. Myself, included.

"Hitaka, I…?" Suzuki's stare turns to me. She trails off, speechless.

"Hey! What!? Woah, I- I knew it!" Toori sputters until he finally straightens himself out and says, "Monokuma's the real killer here! And he's blaming it on us!"

"Mhm!" Saya agrees.

There's a few other nods of agreement, but for the most part, everyone's silent.

Myself, included.

"Hitaka, why are you so quiet." Toori says. It came out more like a deadpan statement.

'Because you still think I'm innocent.'

'What the hell am I supposed to say?'

"...My clothes," I mutter.

"What?" he asks.

"I brought water with me so I can wash my hands, so there wouldn't have been any blood on them, but… I didn't wash my clothes before going back inside. So when I opened the door, there must've been blood on my clothes that dripped onto the knob."

"I… no way, dude…"

I look up, away from the podium. "I, uh, I guess that's it, isn't it?"

'I'm not even going to live to find out my past again…?'

'What the hell was the point of all this!?'

'Why the hell did I kill her!?'

I sit on a bed in the infirmary; the most well-lit room on this entire floor. Kisaki said to head there and he'll collect everyone else, so here I am, waiting. My mind is swirling with thoughts. Worries.

'What's Placide gonna think when she sees me again?'

I almost didn't want to see her again. I can't face her after what I did.

…

Eventually, the door crawls open with a creak.

Kisaki walks in. He steps aside and lets two others walk in. Two faces I never thought I'd see again.

Sumiyoshi walks directly at me, and before I realize what she's doing, she raises a palm and promptly smacks me across the face.

"What the hell's wrong with you!?" she immediately scolds. It apparently didn't take much for her to break down as I saw tears well up in her eyes. Behind her, Placide slowly sneaks in, putting herself against the wall.

I wanted to say something. But it's not like I had anything to say, so I looked down at my feet, instead. My cheek felt raw from the sheer anger behind that smack, but I made no move to do anything about it.

"Placide's terrified of you!" she says, pointing behind her at the girl in question. "You- You-"

"Mizuki, please…" Kisaki frowns.

"No one else was supposed to kill!" she outright ignores Kisaki and keeps going, "You said it yourself, didn't you!? You gave us a funeral, you gave a speech, you - "

"Mizuki!" Kisaki raises his voice. "It's not his fault. You should know this."

Sumiyoshi (or Mizuki, apparently) finally stops, opting to instead look me in the eye.

"I deserve this anyway. I- I shouldn't have…" I mutter.

As I trail off, she does something surprising, and takes my hand.

"Are you okay?"

'Wh…'

She sighs. "No, that's not a good question, is it?"

As the tears roll down her face, she takes a deep breath and calms down.

"To, uh, answer your question, no, not quite." I shake my head. "What the hell was that motive? Why did I do that? Why the hell did I kill her?" I ask, as if they have the answer.

Sumiyoshi and Kisaki look at each other, as if they just realized something. Sumiyoshi drops my hand and steps back, next to Kisaki.

"Okay, Hitaka, listen to me for a sec." Kisaki says, crossing his arms over his chest and growing serious. "You probably already got the idea that something's wrong here, right?"

"Well, no shit. I shouldn't be alive and neither should any of you." I say. As those words come out, I flinch as I'm reminded of Sumiyoshi's brutal execution. I look at her, and I see no scars or wounds that she should have. Did the execution never happen or something?

"The game was fake all along." Kisaki says, bluntly. "I don't know how, that's something we haven't figured out yet, but everybody who dies… doesn't really die, assuming the pattern goes the way it is now. They just end up here."

"And let me guess, there's no way out of here?"

"Nah. Only way out would probably be the giant door out in the entrance hall, but there's no way we're opening that any time soon."

"Um…" Placide's voice cuts in. She slowly approaches, trembling fingers clasped together over her chest. "W-We haven't opened the red doors yet…"

"Oh yeah…" Kisaki nods. Sumiyoshi's hand goes up to rub Placide's shoulder, probably to comfort her around me. 'Can't believe that's necessary.'

"Right, I saw those too. What's up with those?" I ask.

"I don't know, but I feel like they might be important…" Placide whispers.

"Oh, they gotta be. Somehow." Kisaki says.

There's a pause.

"You don't remember your talent yet, right?" Sumiyoshi asks.

"Not a damn bit."

"Oh, right. On to the next point, we know whoever kidnapped us messed around with our memories. Maybe a," Kisaki makes hand motions as he tries to come up with the word, "a lobotomy, or something."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Somehow."

"Hitaka, we think you and everyone else were implanted with false memories." Kisaki eventually deduces.

"..." I simply look at him.

"Figured it wouldn't be that easy," he smiles, "Hang on, one more question. You started remembering other stuff, right?"

'Other stuff…'

"I wouldn't call being a serial killer 'other stuff', but I guess I did start remembering that." I reply.

"Yeah, I knew it. Would you have killed if you didn't have those memories?"

I pause, because I realize that no, I would not have. It was the memories that caused me to kill.

"You're not responsible for what happened, okay?" Sumiyoshi eventually cuts in as she gets the idea of what my answer would be, had I actually verbally gave it out. "Monokuma gave you fake memories so you would kill."

'Eh…'

"Remember when I saw you that night?" she asks.

"Yeah. Oh- so that's a real one, then?" I joke. I actually manage to crack a joke.

"Pfft." Kisaki smirks.

"Hope so." she rolls her eyes. "Anyway, I told you I wasn't going to kill, and that I couldn't. Right?"

I nod. 'I also remembered those words when I accused you for murder.'

"It was the truth." she affirms.

"..." I feel like I'm getting hit with these random statements one after the other, and I can't make sense of them. So I, once again, say nothing and let them continue to talk, getting me up to speed.

"I didn't want to. How could I? I…" she shakes her head. "I called out Kisaki so I could talk to him. That's it. But I still had this urge. I wanted to fight it, I thought Kisaki could help me do that, but…"

"It was partly my fault, though. When I realized what was about to happen, I let it happen." Kisaki says, "I wanted to save Sumiyoshi's family. And, well, mine too, of course. I've got a sister back home."

"Anyway, the point is, I think our captor got into our heads when we were kidnapped, and made it so we get uncontrollable urges to kill after a motive. Or maybe it's brainwashing, or who knows…" Sumiyoshi says.

"Goddamn." I say, blinking.

After that, there's another pause. I stop to soak in all this information.

The mutual killing game at the military base was fake the entire time, evident by the fact the 'dead' are still, clearly, alive.

The 'dead' were taken to some kind of abandoned school with no way out (and a lack of lighting).

Everyone has been implanted false memories or otherwise had their heads messed about with to force them to kill.

'Hey, wait a second…'

That last point bothered me.

Sumiyoshi said she couldn't fight an urge to kill. She really didn't seem like the type to kill at all, even after she guiltily took the blame, so she would've been able to stop it, right? The first time around, I thought of it, but I didn't get anywhere near actually going through with it. Meanwhile, I'm the apparent serial killer over here.

And then, the second time around, when I killed Placide, I couldn't fight the urge to kill.

"Hey, I just figured something out." I state.

"Yeah? What's up?" Kisaki asks.

"I didn't get the urge to kill after the first motive while Sumiyoshi did, but I felt it after the second. You think these urges are tied to specific people? For specific motives, even?"

"H-Huh?" Placide's eyes widen. "Wouldn't that mean Monokuma planned the m-murders…?"

"Including who the next killer is…?" Sumiyoshi's eyes do the same thing.

"And the killer after that, and the killer after that…"

"Hey… Uh, this all may be a fake, but I sure felt that execution. And it hurt. Everything that's happened, it's been a physical toll, an emotional toll, it's…" I say, "It's pretty bad. Not to mention at least they're out in the open there and have a better chance of being found by a rescue team."

"So how about we prevent any more 'deaths' from here on out?"

Sumiyoshi and Kisaki's lips slowly curve into a confident smile as I say that. Placide eventually gets what's going on and smiles herself. "You think we can do it?" Kisaki says.

"B-But, wait," Placide's smile suddenly falls, "H-How are we going to contact them?"

"Don't worry about that." Sumiyoshi says. "We'll find a way."

"How are you so sure?" Kisaki asks.

"Because that's hope. We can do it." Sumiyoshi says, with a slow nod that tells me how ready she is for this.

'Hope…'

'Do I even deserve to have hope?'

'Was it Monokuma's fault I killed Placide, or mine?'

'...'

'No, she's alive.'

'I don't need to worry about that.'

'All that matters is that we're here. Together.'

'And that maybe, just maybe, we can do something about this game.'

"So. You've been keeping an eye on us, right?" I say, "Let me see it, too."

"Obviously," Kisaki grins, "Let's do it."

With that, he walks out of the infirmary. With courage in our step, hope flowing through our veins, and literally having been given new life, we follow.

[A/N:

Did someone say plot twists? Because I have some plot twists. Aka, me deciding that it'd be fun if I totally changed what I had planned before and make it backwards. Mainly because I lost any documents for this story and yet still want to continue it. Also I just really love the afterlife idea idk.

On that note, I'm hereby retconning any plot things that happened outside of the base, aside from anything to do with the family motive. Any other shit is cancelled. Because, again, I don't have the docs for this story and don't quite know where that was supposed to go. So it's a new story from here. A fresh start, basically.

Let's reply to some reviews:

FirelightKnight: IT IS NOT DEAD. For... some reason. Somebody stop me from writing this nearly 3 year old fic pls. (also holy shit this will be 3 years old in a few months? ok.) Also pls update TOWOID I will read that. And maybe send a new character because I'm not really sure what I was doing then...

Codester69: SO DID I. Sorry for the incredibly late update, but it has finally updated. I intend on continuing this. Thanks for sticking around, man.

Susurruses: Honestly thank you for that. That was very nice to read. 2016's been... a ride. Better than 2015 though, so it's a start.

Once again, thank you for reading! I wonder how many people will read this lmao. Let me know what you think of the switch-up in the story.]