General thoughts:

Ah, the sequel is finished. It was fun for me to write! Hope it was worth reading. So, what do I have to say about it? I think it was a success, personally. I like this sequel more than Graduate Meeting, and I feel that, as a writer, I did improve by writing this and the first part. There's still a lot of room for improvement, though.

First, I personally feel there was some improvement over Graduate Meeting, but at the same time there were some flaws that weren't present in Graduate Meeting. So what, one step forward, one step back? That's not good at all.

I had the outline for this story such a long time ago. As a whole it was meant to be a bit more rigid on what could happen. Unlike Graduate Meeting, there were a few details I defined from the beginning, which I wasn't willing to change in any way. For example, Mitsuhiko was going to be the main character. It was a constant that Yasumoto was going to be the first victim. It was also defined from the beginning that Sasuga and Sugita would be culprits together. It was planned from the very first scenario that Veritas' corpse would create the fifth case, and finally, it was defined this sequel would end with everyone's deaths except Mitsuhiko's.

About the cases, hmm...you know, I think I improved on that. Less reliance on coincidences, more reliance on planning, which I think made sense. I mean, this was an organization full of people who were trying their best to do what they felt was needed to do, all by following Veritas and the Main Board's guidance, but at the same time each person was ruthless in their own way, prepared to care for themselves and maybe a couple people more. Everyone who killed was playing to win – except Mimori – so they couldn't leave anything to random chance.

In contrast, that'd mean everyone would also try to discern the culprits' plans, through use of their own experiences and deductions. This whole cast was full of people who were trying to have the upper hand over everyone else.

The antagonists – the Main Board – and Yasumoto's group caused all this, as you know. Everyone else was more or less collateral damage, byproduct of some poor planning. Not even Mimori, who discovered the Main Board's conspiracy thanks to Fukuyama's carelessness, was able to have the edge over the Main Board, and was set to be killed for that reason.

You know what the first scenario had? Here, take a look and compared to scenario #17, which was the chosen one:

Scenario #1

Main character: Mitsuhiko Hikari

Secondary main character: Kyrie Mimori

Survivors (to the final trial): Mitsuhiko Hikari, Emiko Tanaka/Shizuka Hasegawa-Nakai, Kouhei Kobayashi, Kumakichi Fukuyama, Kyrie Mimori

Case #1

Victim: Chiyo Yasumoto, Mamoru Takayama

Culprit: Akira Hosoya

Case #2:

Victim: Tetsurou Koshimizu

Culprit: Hiyoko Romi

Case #3:

Victim: Sumida Kishio

Culprit: Daisuke Mitsuishi

Case #4:

Victim: Yurie Oyama, Harumi Kayano

Culprit: Kimiko Sugita, Tohya Sasuga

Case #5:

Victim: Veritas

Culprit: Valkyrie, Kyrie Mimori as accomplice

Scenario #17

Main character: Mitsuhiko Hikari

Secondary main character: Koshimizu and Mimori may be the closest thing to this.

Survivors (to the final trial): Mitsuhiko Hikari, Emiko Tanaka/Shizuka Hasegawa-Nakai, Kouhei Kobayashi, Tetsurou Koshimizu, Hiyoko Romi

Case #1

Victim: Chiyo Yasumoto

Culprit: Harumi Kayano

Case #2:

Victim: Mamoru Takayama

Culprit: Akira Hosoya

Case #3:

Victim: Daisuke Mitsuishi

Culprit: Kumakichi Fukuyama

Case #4:

Victim: Yurie Oyama, Kishio Sumida

Culprit: Kimiko Sugita, Tohya Sasuga

Case #5:

Victim: Veritas

Culprit: Wolfenmaus, Kyrie Mimori as accomplice

There were much less scenarios this time, mainly because of the decisions I had taken. That didn't leave that much liberty, so there were only around twenty in total.

Now let's see each chapter...

Prologue: Why is Starting So Difficult?

I had enough. Gathering people around and going one by one, talking about them and all doesn't work very well. It's tedious to write and I'm sure it's tedious to read. You know what, I have a plan for the last part's prologue. If it works, then great! If it doesn't work, well, that was the last attempt so...yeah.

Yep, it was annoying to write the introductions, but the way itself I did it was okay. While the commanders didn't know each other beyond just hearing what they had done, Mitsuhiko was able to see each one and do short exposition about it. You know, the usual. There was nothing special. And then I introduced Lily and Emiko. I remember I was feeling rather nervous doing it! First impressions are rather important, so getting Lily into the story in this moment was going to set the foundation for many moments in the rest of the story.

Did I succeed on that? Uuuuuh...I don't think...I think it could have gone better. It's amazing how in hindsight one sees things one could have done better. Prologues continue being a big weakness of mine. Seriously, let's hope in the last part it is better than in this one and in Graduate.

Chapter 1: Game is On!

And so it started. In the first part I hoped I'd be able to make the sequel's Chapter 1 better than the one in Graduate Meeting, and personally, I think I was able to do that. It wasn't by much, but I think I did. But I wish I had done the chapter a bit more exciting. That's my goal for Chapter 1 in the last part of this trilogy, to make it more exciting.

So, about this one, Yasumoto died and Harumi was set to die. This chapter was intended to be mostly about Mitsuhiko and Yurie's decision to kill someone, and that in turn turning them into suspects. I meant this chapter to be for establishing Mitsuhiko's redemption start, turning from someone who was going to murder Kobayashi – even if it had been spurred by Yurie – to someone who would do a lot of effort to help in the trials and solve everything that was happening in the headquarters.

I'm not entirely satisfied about it, though. The case was kinda average and there were no big revelations in the chapter. It's more of an 'in-retrospect' thing, what with Yasumoto dying, but even then, Chapter 1 doesn't have anything juicy to really talk about.

Chapter 2: In Hindsight That Could Have Gone Better

Least liked chapter I have done in this sequel, I'd say.

In theory the possibility of making a chapter that is about the protagonist locked in a room as consequence of what he did is nice, but in practice it isn't as good as it sounds. I mean, how couldn't I have guessed that being locked in a room meant a lot of restriction in practically everything? I really should have seen it coming, but by the time I realized it was a bad idea I was way into it all...to the point where I had linked the cells and its inhabitants into the murder, so I decided to just keep going ahead.

I'm happy I got the chance of getting rid of Hosoya, though. Maybe a writer shouldn't despise their own characters – it was my creation, hating it is like despising a part of myself – but I did, so I took the chance to make him a culprit.

This chapter also allowed me start with the whole Chemistry Laboratory point, which...didn't get solved in this story. It will in the last part, but for now in this story anything involving the Chemistry Laboratory was a hint to keep in mind.

Chapter 3: Locked Rooms Are Cool

I personally think it's at this point the story started to picked up steam. Hasegawa snapped and tried to murder everyone, and since that didn't work, she tried to help Fukuyama in exchange of getting out, all because she had no faith in Yasumoto's plan anymore. It ends with Hasegawa causing crippling Yurie – which would lead to her death – and being unveiled as a very shady person who may work for the Future Foundation.

The case itself...there's something about closed rooms that make them interesting, even if they're easily broken after some thinking. I tried to not to make the solution that obvious, but the cables kinda gave it away, I think. Still, from the comments I received, the case wasn't straightforward enough – at first sight – to make it obvious, but it had enough logic for one to be able to understand it well once it was solved. I really like it, you know!

I think maybe the consequences of Hasegawa trying to poison everyone could be bigger? Because of the circumstances she was mostly unpunished for that, despite being disliked by all the commanders, so maybe that was a mistake.

Chapter 4: Here Started the Final Day

Yeah, the last two and a half chapters of this sequel took place in the same day, since the trial started to the end of Chapter 6.

Chapter 4's case is my favorite of all the ones I have made. Not only I managed to get lasers and fire involved in the same time, I also killed two people who were rather important for the protagonist. It was actually fun to do! And really, the part where I wrote how Kishio's corpse on fire was launched with a pendulum movement from the Lookout to the fence is something I liked, too.

The murder that happened in this chapter kickstarted endgame, too. If it hadn't been for the ashes caused by the fire the murder of Veritas wouldn't have been solved, or maybe it'd have taken a lot more of time. Not only that, Lily turned into Lilith and Sasuga's Last Bastion code was the first step that would lead to everyone except Mitsuhiko's deaths.

I have only one regret, and it is to have mixed up 'catalyst' with 'accelerant'. A shame, since the events of Chapter 4 were the catalyst for so many things, hahahahaha... hah...oh, forget it.

Chapter 5: We Need a New Leader

Ever since I introduced Veritas I knew he was going to die, but since he was an important character – despite the short amount of screentime he got in both stories – I knew he deserved to have a good enough farewell. He couldn't just be killed off-screen and let it be no more than an announcement for the commanders, so instead he was...killed off-screen, but he was the centerpiece of a case, and it's a case I'm rather fond of! Although I think Lilith dragging Mimori away may have been a bit of a cheap move, I don't really regret doing that.

Leaving that aside, this was the start of the moves that'd lead to the Main Board's narrow win. Their way to try to get Mimori out of the way and make Mitsuhiko a culprit didn't go as they expected it to go, but it contributed to everyone's demise at the end. It was a rather simple plan: kill Veritas, let Mimori get shot and possibly die, and with some luck no one would realize Mimori wasn't the culprit. Unfortunately, the ashes from the hallway destroyed any chance of that happening. Leaving Veritas' body in the Cafeteria was a mistake that almost proved to be their undoing, but their plan had gone well enough to mean that either both Mitsuhiko and Mimori would die, or Mitsuhiko would be the only one alive – and therefore having the Enoshima AI implanted.

I had a lot of fun planning this case, I think I did well with it, and although it did hurt me a bit to know Mimori was dying – she's one of my favorite characters in this sequel – it was something necessary, in my opinion.

Chapter 6: Path to the Bad Ending

Diabolical Contest was always fated to end with almost everyone's deaths and the masterminds getting away. That's them breaks. Of course, it didn't come easy. The Main Board made several plans at once, in an effort of being successful with at least one. Veritas' death, Mimori's death, solving the mysteries of the building, using the mutual killing game to their advantage...thanks to the efforts of the 'survivors' three of the plans were ruined, and the one that did triumph almost failed too.

Do you know what I think? I feel the last trial had a certain spark missing. It lacked something, I'm not exactly sure what, but if I had to guess, it was because the masterminds were known since so early. There was no way the Main Board weren't them, and since the story showed at various points what they were doing, there was no pressure from that side. I think the enigmas were more about Lily's comrades and creator, and what they wanted to do.

Writing this chapter was...extraordinarily difficult. I rewrote the trial parts at least three times – with the exception of Trial Part II - and I feel I forgot something despite all my efforts. I think I bit more than I could chew, I placed way too many questions and enigmas to be solved in one single chapter, and that was a bad decision. It would have been better for part of this all to be solved during the fifth trial.

Live and learn, I guess. I have plans for the last trial of the third part of this trilogy, it should be better, I think!

Epilogue: He's Despairing

Yeah, due to the events in the Headquarters/Delacroix's School, Mitsuhiko Hikari has fallen in despair. How will that affect the third part? That's something I can't wait to write. It's going to be fun to put in words, you'll see.

Also, with this epilogue, both sides are finally fused. Both Akane and Mitsuhiko will take part of the third part, and you'll see how.

CHARACTERS

Mitsuhiko Hikari:

There's something I'm completely sure was much better than from Graduate Meeting: the main character. I'm so, so satisfied with how Mitsuhiko went, compared to Akane, I think couldn't have gone better. Okay, that's lie, maybe making him be more and more condescending the more time passed was not a good idea? But that was kinda a way he developed, he turned cockier the more trials he went through, and I think it was this cockiness what led him to everyone's doom at the end.

It's interesting to have a protagonist with both positive and negative development, and it wasn't easy to write. Maybe it tilted too much towards a specific side?

Also hah! Mitsuhiko was the character most accused, having four different crimes pinned on him and being actually guilty of one of those. Also, that Mimori died because she was shot – the same murder method he and Yurie were going to do to Kobayashi – was a similarity I planned too.

Emiko Tanaka/Shizuka Hasegawa-Nakai:

Shizuka as a character was introduced in Graduate Meeting, the sister Ginchiyo had looked for and never found, and now look at that! Shizuka heard about Ginchiyo's death thanks to the survivors, who joined the Future Foundation. Filled with grief, she went to look for answers by herself and met Sasuga and Yasumoto.

How did she get to the point where she tried to kill everyone? It wasn't really something I planned at first, but one day I had that idea, so I moved a few things around and managed to weave together her murder attempt and Fukuyama's murder plan. Did it go well? Yeah! It did, I'd say! But as I said before it's possible I didn't play very well the distrust and consequences anyone would do against her...

Other than that, I never really had any other plan than making her survive to the end despite everything. While the novelty of having someone completely unrelated to everyone else wore off after a couple chapters, the part of her being from the Future Foundation became the important part of her character. Whether that was actually an enticing thing is up to the reader's opinion, but personally...personally I think she ended being a tad bland. It's unfortunate.

Mamoru Takayama:

Takayama was convinced by Yasumoto to join her group, even though he was never told what she intended to do. All he knew was that Yasumoto wanted order and prevent deaths, and if there was something Tayakama would be compelled to do it was preventing any deaths. Too bad it didn't happen like he would have wanted.

You know, in the first scenario, Takayama would have died in the line of duty, protecting Yasumoto with his life, but...I'm not sure why I changed the plan. Guess I thought that dying and then having Yasumoto die right after that was like an insult to his supposed talent, but I also wasn't willing to change the plan of making Yasumoto die first, so...Takayama was moved to be the second victim from then on.

As for a missed chance...well, the microphones had some potential, but after his death I figured no one would be able to use recordings adequately, so I...I just left those aside. I should have made some sort of in-universe justification.

Akira Hosoya:

Is it a requirement for there to be a major bastard in these stories? I should try to deviate from that next time.

I won't lie, I dislike this guy a lot. The immaturity and behaviors I gave him are behaviors I absolutely loathe, so writing it all was an exercise in perseverance. I can't count how many times I wished I hadn't outlined his character like this, but as a writer I think it's necessary to swallow these bitter pills and just keep going.

I think writing his Free Time events made him a bit more tolerable for me, although due to my own opinions and feelings during the writing of the main story, I didn't feel encouraged to giving him some of the spotlight.

At least the case he made was kinda fun to write.

Kimiko Sugita:

The possibility of having two people the main character would want to protect and keep alive was always interesting to me. It meant there'd be a chance for interactions and motivations that wouldn't spark from dealing with a completely unknown person.

Despite that, I think Mitsuhiko and Sugita didn't interact enough, I think. It's true they had several moments together, and Mitsuhiko's feelings towards Sugita had a part in the fourth trial, but I think they could have interacted more. At least I had the Intermissions to give them some time together, and for that reason both characters acquired some more personality, which is always good.

I had always planned her and Sasuga to be the culprits of the fourth case. She'd mislead readers. Wouldn't one in these stories expect the person who looks like the obvious culprit to not to be the culprit? Well, she indeed did kill Kishio, but she also tried to take blame for Yurie's death. Personally that's one of the reasons why hers is my favorite case so far.

Harumi Kayano:

When writing it's to be expected some of the characters to be left aside, at least in comparison to the first draft, right? Kayano was the big victim in that regard. She was originally going to die in the fourth case, meaning she would have received more time to be alive and take part in the trials. That was something I indeed planned! But I had to move a few things around, which led to her dying first. It's unfortunate, she was going to have some more importance than she did.

There was something that did stay in the final story, though, and that was that she got drafted into Yasumoto's team like Takayama had. That was a sign of the role she'd have in the story, but in the end I had to use that as a base to start creating a case where she was the culprit.

I think the Free Time events I wrote shows how she'd have behave if she hadn't been the first killer. Also, in an alternate universe, it's likely Kayano won the contest and got everyone killed. That'd be the universes where Mitsuhiko and Yurie do shoot Kobayashi to death, as those two would get blamed for Yasumoto's death too. As you may suppose, that meant Kayano would get the Enoshima AI implanted into her, and used as some sort of puppet by the rest of the Main Board. Bad end! Worse end than the one that actually happened.

Tetsurou Koshimizu:

Koshimizu was always meant to be someone to butt heads with Mitsuhiko rather often. Being by far the oldest commander, he thinks he knows better than everyone else. He's not stupid, in fact he can make a rather decent amount of deductions and can help in the trials a lot, but although he respects Mitsuhiko and knows the hunter's conclusions are often correct, he still feels bested by someone much younger than him.

That's the base I had for his character in terms of involvement with the plot. I think I did well enough in that regard! He was just so contrary to Mitsuhiko at times it was fun to write, but despite that, he begrudgingly cooperated and even helped Yurie once she was crippled. As a character I like Koshimizu, that's for sure.

You know, I was so, so tempted to make Mitsuhiko and Koshimizu survive, but in the end I decided to go with the original plan.

Chiyo Yasumoto

Do you know what's the problem when someone who died rather early is the answer to one of the enigmas? That you don't feel too impressed by that, mostly because since they died early then one doesn't feel very attached to them. That was a risk I had to take. Yasumoto was always meant to being the first victim, and I wasn't willing to change that because her death would define how the rest of Yasumoto's group would behave.

So yes, I think that she ended being more a plot device than a character. It's unfortunate.

Sumida Kishio

Hah! The leader who didn't do a thing as a leader, and when she actually decided to get off her ass and do something she got killed for seeing something she shouldn't have seen. That was bad luck.

I can't say I have much to say about Kishio. Unfortunately, there being so many characters and so little space to develop them means a few will be more one-dimensional than others, and unfortunately Kishio is one of them.

Kouhei Kobayashi

Kobayashi was a novice commander, intimidated by his more experienced peers. One would think that getting shot because he was going to be the target of a murder would make him back off even more, right? But it didn't. With his cooperation the first case was solved and Kayano was executed.

From there he was in a constant fight to assert himself among his peers, and it didn't go that well. The moments he tried to be assertive were unfortunately on things he was wrong about, but although he was a bit disheartened, he was on the path towards being a good commander...too bad such path was a dead end.

Kobayashi was one of the kinder people in the Headquarters, but, just like everyone else, he had his own ways to be ruthless. No one takes the commander spot in Diavolos Avante without doing a few immoral things, you know. Kobayashi was an illusionist who was forced to be a bounty hunter so he could have enough money to live, you can imagine what sort of things he had to do during that time.

I think I could have done some more with the character, though. Live and learn, I guess.

Daisuke Mitsuishi

Mitsuishi is one of those characters that need space to grow. He's envious, jealous of other people, and is the kind of person that refuses to easily admit he's wrong. All that is rooted in the need to be an attention whore, and that's something that can make a rather interesting character. Did I do it right? Well...I think I did! But as said before, these stories have a rather limited time to develop everything.

I considered several times to have Mitsuishi living up to the last trial, but in the end, when I was deciding who would live to that point and who wouldn't, I let myself be enticed by Romi, so instead Mitsuishi was the third victim, and his development got cut short. You can see it, he had just faced the annoyed feelings everyone had after he started to milk his contribution in the second trial for all it was worth, and had gotten shouted at. You can guess how it would have gone from there if he had survived, don't you?

But alas. Just like Kayano, he was left aside. I'm sorry, Mitsuishi.

Kumakichi Fukuyama

And finally, the last character in the group of 'I'm sorry you got shafted in the final version, buddy' people: Bear Boy Fukuyama! Oh man. You know what was going to happen in the very first draft? He was going to survive to the end, yeah, and he was revealed as the Main Board's First Accomplice in the third trial, because instead of being the culprit, he managed to get Mitsuishi to kill in his place. From there he had to atone and help as much as possible, and being the only one who knew Mimori was the other accomplice, he became good friends with her.

And unfortunately, all that was scrapped and replaced with Koshimizu living to the end, but unlike Romi-Mitsuishi, I'm happy that Koshimizu lived.

That's the thing with these stories, so many characters have potential and not all of them can fulfill it. That's also the problem with making various scenarios, what happens in one don't happen in others. Kumakichi, I'm sorry for this.

Hiyoko Romi

Ah, Romi. Poor blind woman, stuck in an organization she wants to leave. You know, I was rather excited to have a character like her. How does someone blind deal with cases, and more if at one point she was considered a viable suspect for a murder? She's not completely blind, but her eyes are damaged enough for her eyesight to be extremely blurry. As a concept, it's a character with a lot of potential!

Buuuuut...I don't know, I think the novelty, the reasons why I decided to create a character like her...it was all gone by the time the fourth chapter started, and by the time that happened, it was a too late to replace her. I could have killed her, but then that'd mean there'd be only four characters in the last trial against the Main Board, which would have brought a lot of trouble. It was too late to replace her with Kumakichi or Mitsuishi, too. I had no more option than keep going with her and do my best.

It's a shame, though. I think I didn't do justice to the concept Romi is.

Kyrie Mimori

Hahaha, hey, it's Mimori! My favorite character in this story. I had so many plans for her and almost all of them were achieved! There was one that didn't happen, and it was the part where Mimori was under suspicion of being Valkyrie beyond just mentions. The thing is, by getting her involved in the fifth case, that meant such suspicion wouldn't happen. No one would think Valkyrie was dead, and Valkyrie is not the type to be away from something like a trial if she can get involved with it.

But everything else I wanted with Mimori actually happened! She was an accomplice for the Main Board, she took a big part in the trials, she did everything she did in the fifth case, and she died, inadvertently dooming everyone – although Mitsuhiko had a part on that too. Heck, even her involvement with Vittoria was vital to the story. It could be said this whole story – and the bunker killing game, as that was one of the consequences of their actions – happened because of Vittoria and Mimori. In the first drafts Mimori's flawed investigation of Vittoria's supposed death was the clue that'd lead to the characters thinking Mimori was Valkyrie!

So, all in all, besides Mitsuhiko, it could be said Kyrie Mimori is the most important character in Diabolical Meeting, and I like her a lot.

Yurie Oyama

Mitsuhiko and Yurie's relationship is not a nice relationship. It's toxic, destructive for both, and although they do love each other and support each other, Yurie is a bad influence on Mitsuhiko. Her influence made him leave Hope's Peak and go get involved with Diavolos Avante, she helped him change his name and abandon his surrogate family, and during the contest, she was pushing him to kill Kobayashi, which, in alternate universes, doomed Diavolos Avante and perpetuated the Tragedy. Way to go.

But still, her one redeeming quality is that she's willing to stand with Mitsuhiko despite anything that could happen. That's something Mitsuhiko relies on, and something that keeps him going despite everything that happened, and Yurie knows it and wants to be his crutch. It was a problem when she was crippled due to the hemlock poisoning, and her death wasn't pretty at all...

It was nice to write something like the protagonist having a love relationship when arriving, and that defining a lot of things regarding his behavior in the first half of the story and in the intermissions. An interesting experiment, if you may call it that, and as a whole, I'd say it was a good idea! A protagonist with such relationships with other characters since the start of the story is good! And for that, thanks, Yurie. Her existence helped a lot.

It came a bit at the cost of the possibility she...she may be...a bit of a satellite character? Like, her existence and reason to be in the story relies on Mitsuhiko? That's not good, and something I need to improve in the future, in the last part of the trilogy.

Tohya Sasuga

Sasuga's Free Time events were my favorite to write. There's something rather fun to write when it's about a person who knows they're going to die and want to do as much as they can before it happens. It's unfortunate that it wouldn't ever happen, he was always going to die in the fourth case, as the culprit. He always activated Lily's Last Bastion code, too. His death was a requirement for that to happen.

The relationship between Sasuga and Sugita was much more peaceful than Yurie and Mitsuhiko's. It never got to the point where it could be considered a foil for the main character's relationship, but the part about it being a relationship where Mitsuhiko's childhood friend was in was completely intentional.

Unlike Yasumoto Sasuga actually stayed long enough to be noticed by the readers, I'd say. Was he a good character? Uh...that's something the readers can answer better than me, but I'm satisfied enough with how I wrote him. Maybe he could have a slightly more active role? But he's likable enough, I'd say.

Main Board – Masterminds of the Contest: Valkyrie, Vieiras and Wolfenmaus

Well, technically, they could be considered the masterminds of the bunker killing game too, the people who took advantage of Matsukaze's jealousy and disdain and pushed him to do it.

Do you know what's the unfortunate thing when it's about masterminds? That, unless they're among the group they're tormenting, it's difficult to really care about them. Matsukaze was one thing, these three are a completely different matter. While Diavolos Avante got attention and was the focus of this story, the masterminds themselves were once again more of a sidenote, despite taking active part of the final trial, and their plans shaping up everything that happened.

That's something that'll be changed in the last part, though. It's the last part of the trilogy, the last chance, and I have many plans for these three already. More details about that in the summary for the last part, just a bit further down! And by a bit further down, I mean just one line further down.

The End of the Mutual Killing - Summary

Last part of the World After the End trilogy.

Hope's Peak has been closed for quite a while already, everybody knows it. That's why Azalea Stravopoulos doesn't understand why she has been kidnapped and given a SHSL title. Since when is she the Super High School Level Motivator? She is way too old for high school, too!

In a clearly virtual world, she and other fifteen Hostages have been pitted against each other, once again with one condition:

Kill and get away with it to escape.

The End of the Mutual Killing – Characters

So, as established before, Delacroix's School for the Gifted and Talented originated in France. The branch in Japan had been opened not many years before the Tragedy. The Main Board is also composed by representatives from each continent. Volkos/Kaiji Kudo was the one who mainly dealt with Japan and some areas in Asia, so, to find the other three runaway members, wouldn't it make sense to look in other parts of the world?

That's the sense of the sixteen Hostages. They're all people from different continents, and yes, Valkyrie, Wolfenmaus are among these sixteen. Who would be the mastermind, though? Is it among the sixteen Hostages or is it someone else? Could it be possible things aren't as straightforward as it seems at first glance? How does a mutual killing game help to find the three Main Board members?

That's all the main points to solve during the last part of the trilogy.

Here are all the characters, with the titles given to them by the Mastermind and divided in groups, according to the continents they come from. As you may guess, three of the groups have one of the Main Board members among them, with one having only innocent people. And yep, all of them are beyond the age of someone who would be in high school. The youngest one is 22 years old, after all.

Azalea Stravopoulos – SHSL Motivator

Chrysanthe Stravopoulos – SHSL Gardener

Lucien Balboa – SHSL Marine Biologist

Vittoria Delacroix – SHSL Criminal Heiress

Kikozou Kamiya - SHSL Pharmacist

Aleksey Seryogin - SHSL Thief

Matthew McCoy - SHSL Engineer

Elaine McCoy – SHSL Drama Novelist

Alistair Sullivan – SHSL Child Entertainer

Joanna Da Silva – SHSL Violonist

Patricio Beltrán – SHSL Baker

Dalia Roble – SHSL Ecologist

Thioro Meziane – SHSL Detective

Khotso Thobi – SHSL Astronomer

Kouma Nana – SHSL Marathoner

Runihura Acurio – SHSL Videographer

Yep, there's a new SHSL Detective and a SHSL Pharmacist in this place. It's worth remembering that most of these characters never were Hope's Peak Academy. I won't go into further details right now, of course. That's for when the story is happening.

So, all in all, that's what the story is going to be! The last part of the trilogy and the conclusion of the plotlines established in this alternate story. When will the part start being posted online? Hmmmm...there's some planning more I need to do, but I think it may be posted in a month or a month and half, not with a long wait like it happened last time.

So, thank you for reading! I hope Diabolical Contest was a worthwhile read, and that End is a satisfying conclusion to this trilogy.