This is the final chapter of this story. And boy does it have a bunch of stuff. Disclaimer: I don't own Dagan Ronpa or Ace Attorney.

Chapter 6: If the Ten Little Sailors Saw it Coming

The sixteen students made there way down the elevator. They were confident they had all the answers and were ready to fight back and beat the Puppetmaster at his own game. They made their way into the trial room and walked over to the podiums, each standing in front of the podium with their name on it. Tora took his spot just in front of the throne, and from his left stood, in order, Hagakure, Fujisaki, Togami, Celes, Kuwata, Fukawa, Yamada, Naegi, Maizono, Ishimaru, Ikusaba, Oogami, Kirigiri, Oowada, and Asahina.

Once they were all in place, a pillar of fog appeared in the center of the room. When it cleared, the real Junko Enoshima was standing there. "Decided to show yourself so soon?," Togami asked. Enoshima smirked. "I've been going over the security footage for the past few weeks, and apparently a lot of stuff has been happening behind my back. Since you already know I'm involved I decided to just skip the bullshit and reveal myself right away. I normally would have had you go through the motions of proving it, but there's one thing that bothers me."

Tora smiled. "You're referring to our theory that you're not the mastermind behind all this like you think you are. That's okay, we happen to have ample evidence. First of all, in spite of our constant prowling around the school, Monokuma, who we're pretty sure was controlled by you, has only appeared sporadically, and only during the first couple weeks, or to give our incentives for killing each other." "And those incentives are very important," Kirigiri said, "You were surprised when we accused you of rigging the game to your benefit, and you were clearly under the impression that those incentives were meant to be equal opportunity."

"Hey yeah, about that," Enoshima said, "Just how did one of those movies get bodies in them? I checked them all before I had them distributed." "We did find an alternate version of Maizono's movie," Fujisaki said, "But it's not the one she saw. The one she did see had all four members of her girl group sprawled out across a dark stage." Enoshima was clearly shocked. "Then there was the notes with all our secrets on them," Naegi said, "Somehow Tora got slipped a fake one."

Tora showed the note he had, the one that said he had prader-willi syndrome. "What the hell?," Enoshima said, "I know for a fact you don't have such an illness." "Naturally," Tora said, "After all you've known us for the last two years. But that's just more proof that you couldn't possibly be the mastermind behind all this." "There is also more evidence of someone other than you being the real mastermind," Kirigiri said, "Alter Ego. He told us that there were eighteen students inside this school, and no one else. But count the number of students here, and there are only seventeen."

"We also have knowledge of the machine in the physics lab," Naegi said, "Ikusaba thought it was an air purifier, so I'm guessing you do too. However, the machine was apparently made by the Super High School Level Neurologist, Yasuke Matsuda." "That can't be," Enoshima said, "That machine was built after I killed Matsuda." "Interesting," Yamada said, "And when pray tell did you supposedly kill Master Yasuke Matsuda." Enoshima thought for a second. "It was just before our class field trip." "Impossible," Yamada said, "You may not realize this, but after bumping into the machine my memories returned."

"Hold on," Enoshima said, "You even know about your memories being stolen? How on top of this mystery are you? This is going way too fast for me." Yamada adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat. "As I was saying, with my memories back I can distinctly recall Master Yasuke Matsuda being one of the students who saw us off the day we left for that field trip. If you don't believe me, perhaps Master Genocider Shou could collaborate. After all, the mastermind would have needed her memories intact so that she could confirm for us the awful truth behind this mystery."

Fukawa looked nervously at Togami, who simply nodded. She then tickled her nose with her pigtail and sneezed, turning back into Genocider. "Hello! It's your surprisingly family-friendly serial killer here!" "We need you to answer us one question," Togami said, "Do you remember seeing Yasuke Matsuda alive just prior to our field trip to the Jabberwock Islands." "Sure do," Genocider said, "I was in control when we headed off for the airport, so I saw him plain as day. And plain is just how I'd describe that quack. Seriously, who wears hospital slippers with their school uniform."

Enoshima gasped. "Wait... If you guys saw Matsuda alive... Then... Then... What's going on?! I thought I was the one in control! Why is nothing making any sense?!" Tora nodded to Hagakure, who brought out a switch. "Just to warn everyone," Yamada said, "This may turn out to be uncomfortable for a second or two." Hagakure hit the switch, and all the students except for Yamada felt a serious electric shock. The shock was enough to knock Genocider out, turning her back into Fukawa when she came too. "Huh?," she said as she regained consciousness, "Hey... It's all coming back."

She looked over to Togami, who gave her a warm smile. Fukawa beamed, realizing he remembered the relationship they shared. Ikusaba looked to her sister, who had dropped to her hands and knees, the microchip now on the ground in front of her face, "Enoshima?," Ikusaba said, concern in her voice. Enoshima trembled for a bit before screaming out, "Damn you Matsuda! You said you wouldn't do your experiments on girls anymore!" Tora smiled. "Good to see you're back to normal." Enoshima whirled her head around, and was greeted by the sight of her lover.

"Tora!," she said happily as she threw her arms around Tora's neck, "Thank goodness I remember everything again." She calmed down a little. "What in the world was I doing?" "There's been a lot of that lately," Oowada said. "Now that we all have our memories back," Togami said, "There's something important I'd like to address. The murders that have been avoided so far. Don't they resemble the Dangan Ronpa game we played during our last day on the Jabberwock Islands?"

Kuwata nodded. "The first five at least. Maizono attacking me with a kitchen knife, but then me turning the tables on her. Oowada nearly braining Fujisaki with a dumbbell. Celes trying to pull off a double murder with one of the victims as an accomplice. Oogami getting attacked by Hagakure and Genocider and still surviving. Ikusaba on the verge of being impaled by a dozen or so spears. Definitely similar to the openings of that game. In fact those same notes were later found inside the school mainframe by Alter Ego."

"This whole thing has been one giant mind game meant to sow despair," Naegi said, "Which would be the perfect plan for a neurologist. In fact, Matsuda has often said his goal in life is to master the human mind, in every sense of the word." "Well then," Tora said, "Let's get it from the horse's mouth. Fujisaki?" Fujisaki nodded and brought out the laptop that he had brought with him. He typed in a few commands. "Enoshima, you might want to get out of the center of the circle." Enoshima got out of the circle and joined her sister, who embraced her. "Gotta say sis," Enoshima said, "You really know how to pull off that look." "Thanks I guess," Ikusaba said, "Though I prefer my regular uniform."

After a few seconds, a hidden panel opened up beneath the throne. Oowada and Oogami walked over and reached inside. "I think I got something," Oowada said, and the two of them pulled up and threw Matsuda right into the center of the circle. Tora looked inside the room and saw it was a fully functioning command center linked to the cameras around the building. "Now, I know what you guys are thinking," Matsuda said, "But the truth is, Enoshima's been playing you from the beginning. She set things up to make me look the real mastermind."

"My powers say otherwise," Tora said, "And you're definitely generating a ton of red psyche-locks." "But she's the one who lead Mankind's Most Despair-Inducing Event," Matsuda claimed, looking at Enoshima expectantly. Togami raised an eyebrow. "I was under the impression that it was called 'The World's Most Despair-Inducing Incident'." "You weren't supposed to speak up," Matsuda said, then clamped down on his mouth. Togami grinned. "I thought so. You were trying to get Enoshima to correct you in an effort to make her look more like the true mastermind. Naturally, you were aware we all knew what that horrifying incident was really called."

"Besides," Tora said, "A set-up like this would have taken a long time. After all, the incident occurred a year after we all arrived at this school. The first clue was your experiments on mind alteration. Enoshima even complained that she was afraid you might have been taking advantage of her during her temporary bouts of amnesia." "There was also the incident when Tora was called to one of the empty rooms," Kirigiri said, "My father later showed him a security video showing a person in that room, apparently waiting to kill him."

"Yeah," Matsuda said, "But I was in the physics prep room at the time. Besides the pickax the person wielded had the name of Oowada's gang on it." Tora grinned. "It's time likes these when my father likes to shout..." He pointed an accusatory finger at Matsuda. "OBJECTION! We never said what room I was called to, which was the physics prep room by the way. And the security footage I was shown only showed a person's silhouette, no sign of any weapon of any kind. One would think the person meant to strangle me with their bare hands."

"And for the record, saying you were picking out a random weapon based on fridge logic won't fly here," Hagakure said, "A person doing something like that might call out 'baseball bat' off the top of their heads. It's the most common type of weapon one would find at a high school, even one like Hope's Peak. But you specifically named the pickax Oowada found that had the name of his gang on it." "Wow," Asahina said, "That actually made sense. I'm impressed Hagakure." Hagakure blushed. "I was wondering where that pickax came from," Oowada said, "Even after I got my memories back, I still couldn't remember any of my gang needing one."

"More than likely," Maizono said, "It was meant to be the murder weapon that killed Tora. However, I don't think whoever meant to use it planned on framing Oowada. Everyone at school knows none of his gang owns a pickax. I think it was meant to be an obvious red herring. Oowada, was there anything else on the pickax besides your gang's name?" "Come to think about it," Oowada said, "I did notice a red press-on nail stuck in the handle." "You see," Matsuda said, "That nail most definitely belongs to Enoshima."

"That's wrong," Naegi said, "Enoshima's nails aren't even fake. Don't forget she holds the title Super High School Level Model. Only someone with perfectly natural beauty would be granted a title like that. The only one using press-on nails was Ikusaba when she disguised herself as Enoshima, and this was long after the incident had even occurred." "Besides," Togami said, "How would the nail have even been stuck inside the handle anyway?" "It couldn't have happened when it was being held," Fukawa said, "Even if the nail fell off, it would have fallen to the ground. Most likely it was stuck in there on purpose."

"Another thing," Tora said, "When I observed the figure in the security video, what I could see of them was decidedly male. And, they were wearing a distinctive pair of slippers." He pointed to the slippers on Matsuda's feet. "As to why you would try to kill me, I can only assume you were planning on making my corpse resemble you to further make it seem like you had been killed prior to The World's Most Despair-Inducing Incident." "Too bad for you," Togami said, "You misjudged Tora's condition. From the notes we received, you assumed he had prader-willi syndrome, a mental condition. This is likely due to your observations of us."

"Among the files Alter Ego found in the mainframe," Fujisaki said, "There was a psychological profile on each of us." "What does that prove?," Matsuda asked angrily, "This school never had a Super High School Level Psychologist!" "They didn't necessarily have to be made by an actual psychologist," Oogami said, "Most neurologists have a degree in psychology as part of their work. And you would often display your's for all to see." "That reminds me," Ishimaru said, "Several awards were missing from the display case in the gym's anti-chamber. Several of them belonged to us for our own accomplishments while at the school, but another that was missing was Matsuda's psychology degree."

"So based on the snacking Tora would do to calm his stomach pains," Kuwata said, "Matsuda believed he had prader-willi syndrome, but that it was under control. This proved to be a serious mistake. If Tora really had such an illness, he would have still kept his appointment, being the professional attorney he is. But we've all seen how uncomfortable those stomach pains make him. The first sign of them, regardless of what's he'd doing, and he'll go for the nearest edible item to calm his stomach." Matsuda looked stunned. "It's... A physical condition? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"Two reasons," Tora said, "First off, you seem to only focus on mental conditions, and don't even bother with physical ones. Second, even if you had considered a physical ailment, the condition I have is so rare it hasn't even been named, let alone registered in the medical books. We also have the evidence that shows you were planning on specific murder scenarios, designed to pick us off one at a time. Since you've likely been monitoring this trial from the hidden room behind me, there should be no need to go over it again."

"This whole plan would have started at the very beginning of the game here," Togami said, "You had already altered our mental state, using the microchips to both remove and alter memories for all of us, powered by that giant machine in the physics lab, which as we know is your own creation. Likely you removed the fifteen members of our class for some other plot, since there's no indication they are dead." "Enoshima would have already been set up inside the room controlling the Monokumas," Naegi said, "Which we've found were created using a program Fujisaki made. Ikusaba and Enoshima were woken prior to us, under the impression they were to be accomplices in this horrible game."

"Then Ikusaba, disguised as Enoshima," Tora said, "Infiltrated the group. But warning flags went up with me immediately due to the large number of psyche-locks, both red and black, that formed over the group. Then you began manipulating Enoshima's words using hypnotic suggestion. After the game was introduced, you waited a few days before introducing the first incentive; the movies of the outside. Most of them were the same, but Oogami's was a subtle blackmail notice. However, you had things planned so she wouldn't have to submit to Monokuma's demands. Then there was Maizono's movie."

"Seeing that movie," Maizono said, "Seeing my friends and not knowing whether they were still alive, I completely freaked out. Suddenly nothing else mattered except escape. Much to my shame, I decided I had to kill someone. It couldn't be any of the girls, they wouldn't have excepted an invitation. Of the boys, Naegi was right out. I could never bring myself to kill him. At the time, with my memories gone, I didn't Fujisaki was a boy. Togami and Tora would have ignored my invitation suspecting a trap. Ishimaru would never have broken curfew, and Oowada was too tough for me handle. Yamada would have ignored it since he prefers 2D women, and Hagakure just seemed to nice."

"Basically," Tora said, "What it boils down to is that Kuwata would be the only target she could possibly bring herself to kill. However, she was not meant to be a murderer, but a victim. Because her nature would cause her to hesitate, it meant there was a good chance that her target would fight back and kill her instead. But she wasn't thinking this at the time, she was only thinking on how to give herself an alibi before planning anything." "As it turned out," Naegi said, "She was hoping to use me for that very purpose, asking to switch rooms with me under the pretense of fear. But this too, lead to her hesitation since she didn't want to betray me."

"Up until a certain point," Togami said, "Everything proceeded as you planned. Naegi, concerned for Maizono's safety, agreed to the room swap and told her of the misaligned door on the shower, which was no doubt built that way on purpose to leave evidence that would help us solve the murder." "Earlier that evening me and Oogami spotted Maizono in the cafeteria," Asahina said, "She said she was just getting something to drink, but that's probably when she grabbed the kitchen knife without us seeing." "Then after the switch," Kirigiri said, "She wrote the invitation on the notepad in Naegi's room and slipped it under Kuwata's door. She then returned to Naegi's room and waited."

"Naturally I was stoked to get that invite," Kuwata said, "I had no idea Maizono had murder on her mind. But shortly after I set foot in the room, I heard her heavy breathing. Sensing danger, I took a step away from the bed just as Maizono took a swipe at me. That's when I noticed the practice sword Naegi had brought to his room. A defensive weapon like that would certainly stand out, especially since it originally came from the display case in the gym. So I grabbed it to defend myself then counter-attacked, breaking Maizono's wrist."

"Naturally this would have caused her to drop the knife," Togami said, "She then grabbed it in her other hand and headed into the bathroom. Since the room was not hers, it obviously wasn't locked, but due to the misaligned doorknob it would have appeared to be to anyone who didn't know the secret. Kuwata's next thought would have been talking Maizono down, but to do that he needed access to the shower. So he went to get the screwdriver from the toolkit he had been provided. Of course, since this was actually Naegi's room, there was one in there, but Kuwata wouldn't have known that."

"Up until Kuwata grabbed his screwdriver," Tora said, "Everything went as you planned. But during the night, Maizono's condition and the contents of my movie kept me up, and then my stomach pains kicked in. As I stepped out of my room, I spotted Kuwata with the screwdriver sticking out of his pocket. And that's when all your plans started to fall flat." "If not for Tora's timely intervention," Ishimaru said, "Kuwata would have used the screwdriver to take apart a non-existent lock. The resulting aftermath would have ended in tragedy for Maizono."

"The notes have Maizono writing Kuwata's first name in her blood behind her back," Kirigiri said, "But they would have been from her perspective, while anyone looking at them head-on would have seen a series of numbers. As for the rest of the cleanup, first there was the lint roller in Naegi's room, which Kuwata was meant to use to remove any trace of him in the room. However, this would have also removed all of Naegi's hair, which would be a tell-tale sign that someone other than Naegi had been in the room."

"You've also gotta think that after something like that," Oowada said, "There would have been a lot of blood on Kuwata's jacket, he would need to get rid of it, and that meant the furnace room. The furnace was locked and only one person would have the key each week, and that week it was Yamada who had the key. However, Hagakure mentioned he had somehow forgotten his crystal ball in the laundry room that very night." "I see," Yamada said, "Kuwata would have been forced to use the crystal ball to turn on the furnace without opening the grate, but that's a total distance of ten meters."

"Tch," Kuwata said, "Ten meters for me is nothing. I didn't earn the title Super High School Level All Star for nothing. Of course, this would leave the shards of the crystal ball and the turned on furnace as evidence. Not to mention with the way I would have balled up my jacket to throw it into the furnace, there's a good chance at least part of the sleeve would have fallen out and landed on the ground." "With the body being in Naegi's room," Togami said, "Suspicion would have fallen on him temporarily, but not long enough for us to get the wrong culprit."

"There was also part of a later set-up prior to what would have been the first investigation to consider," Kirigiri said, "Even though no murder had occurred, we still had to be made aware of the existence of the class trials. And this was where Ikusaba was meant to be killed. From their individual perspectives at the time, Enoshima thought herself the mastermind and Ikusaba a willing accomplice trying to get her sister's approval. Enoshima, what was going through your mind as Ikusaba played the part of trying to fight back against Monokuma."

Enoshima thought back, and it was clear how painful the memory was. "At the time, I was thinking of delivering Ikusaba despair out of a misconceived notion of sisterly love." "The Spear of Gungnir trap," Tora said, "It was meant to be voice activated, and a note naming it was right on the podium. For Matsuda, it would have been necessary to kill at least one person in front of us to make us breakdown psychologically and realize the gravity of the situation. However, I noted the unusual behavior Ikusaba was exhibiting, and moved to intervene. This ruined your set-up ahead of time."

"Needless to say," Ishimaru said, "Our debate at the trial would most certainly have resulted in Kuwata being found guilty and promptly executed. Then came the next incentive, the secrets you had found about us, most of which were based on our psychological profiles. You had earlier altered Oowada's mind to make him think he had never told anyone about how his brother died protecting him from his own mistake, when in reality everyone knew."

"The thought of everyone finding out about that day," Oowada said, "Would have pushed me close to the edge, but not quite over it. However, you knew this, and were planning on another secret to push me to murder someone, specifically Fujisaki's. He was more than willing to reveal his secret. You were counting on him to unintentionally set me off. If I had done that, I would have been obligated to hide Fujisaki's secret for as long as possible." "Prior to this incident," Ishimaru said, "Oowada and I had a sauna duel. Oowada kept his clothes on as a handicap, and during the time we spent there his ElectroiD broke due to the extreme temperatures."

"The idea would be that Oowada would be forced to grab Kuwata's ElectroiD," Celes said, "By this time Kuwata was supposed to be dead, as was Maizono and Ikusaba. The rules set up at this school prohibit lending out ones ElectroiD, but they said nothing about borrowing one from a dead student. A convenient loophole put in place intentionally. The idea was for Oowada to use one of the dead girls' ElectroiDs to access the women's changing room and place Fujisaki in there, swapping out the posters and carpets as well. Essentially Oowada would have been forced to move the entire crime scene. But of course there would have been some unforeseen pieces of evidence in place to ensure Oowada would have been found guilty. First was the fact that I had bumped into Fujisaki prior to him heading for the changing rooms."

"Then there would have been the posters," Naegi said, "Bashing someone's head in with a dumbbell would have caused a lot of blood splatter, likely getting it on the poster and carpets. In the men's changing room is a poster of a gravure idol, while the women's changing room has a poster of the popular boy band Tornado. Swapping those poster's would have been a dead giveaway that the crime scene was not where it was initially believed to be." "Additionally," Oogami said, "The day before that I had spilled some of my protein coffee on the carpet in the women's changing room. That would have provided proof that the carpet had been switched as well."

"Naturally there was more to this," Togami said, "Up until I noticed the discrepancy in the movies I thought we would be playing a fair game. With this mind-set, it was only natural that I would want to test the skills of the others to see if they were worthy challengers. It wouldn't have taken us long to realize Fujisaki was missing, and in searching for him I likely would have utilized the loophole regarding the ElectroiDs to search the women's changing room. For me, it would have been a logical first place to search. And upon seeing the dead body, my first thoughts would have been using the extension cord I've been using for the reading lamp in the library to crucify the body in an attempt to frame Genocider Shou for the murder. Of course this ruse would have eventually been found out, of that I'm certain."

"But a few things went wrong with the plan from the get go," Kuwata said, "Since I dodged a bullet after Tora prevented me from killing Maizono, neither of our ElectroiDs were up for grabs. Neither was Ikusaba's after Tora prevented her death, especially since we had her locked up in the infirmary by day and her room by night, for a while at least. That meant that instead of relying on the ElectroiD of a dead student, Oowada had to get his replaced... Again." Oowada snickered, remembering he had also broken his ElectroiD during his and Ishimaru's first sauna duel.

"Kuwata had taken to patrolling the hallways before retiring for the night after his close call," Celes said, "And spotted Fujisaki, most surprisingly, entering the men's changing room. When he heard Oowada was in there, he panicked, knowing it would be dangerous for any two people to be alone together. While Tora's prevention of Maizono's murder relieved a lot of the tension in our group, it wasn't completely gone, and the threat of our secrets being exposed was starting to make it rise again. He entered the changing room just in time to warn Fujisaki, but got struck in the arm for his troubles."

"Acceptable loses," Kuwata said, "What's one arm that can heal against a life that can't be recovered? It was still painful however, which is why I screamed so loud, causing Tora and Celes to come running. It also broke Oowada out of his fury, making it easy to talk him down. Naturally after that, everything came out into the open." "Instead of two murders," Tora said, "We simply had two injuries. Plus in all likelihood, the threat of exposing our secrets was a bluff. But your plans were far from done. In fact, you knew that Fujisaki was almost expecting to die at some point, and in fact he had created a program that could help the survivors escape."

"I fixed up the old laptop using the toolkit in my room," Fujisaki said, "And then created Alter Ego with it. Naturally the best place for me to hide it was in the changing room of the bath on the first floor, since there were no cameras." "With Fujisaki dead and Oowada executed," Kirigiri said, "You had to rely on the severity of the situation bringing one of us to find Alter Ego on our own by accident. That would most likely have been Asahina, likely sneaking out to grab some doughnuts from the storeroom." "Yeah," Asahina said, "I always tend to pig out on doughnuts when I get upset."

"Of course considering the nature of Alter Ego," Naegi said, "She may have initially mistaken it for Fujisaki's ghost. Then, of course, came the next incentive, the ten billion yen. Where did you even get that anyway?" "Don't you know?," Togami said, "Matsuda has gained a small fortune on several patents he owns for psychology-based inventions. He would often brag about it to his peers. Regardless, while on the surface the money could be seen as being directed at any one of us, the truth is that most people here neither needed nor wanted the money. Only Hagakure or Celes would have been tempted by it, and since Hagakure was such an obvious choice he quickly decided against making any plans to kill for the cash."

"This of course left me as the obvious mark," Celes said, "While my plan for committing murder was well thought out, even it had a handful of holes just waiting to be poked through. Alter Ego noticed that an unused rule existed that would prevent any of us from killing more than two people. And of course we already knew that only the villain of any murder could graduate, so an accomplice would normally be out of the question. But what if two people committed two murders in collaboration?" "Naturally," Kirigiri said, "There would be a chance of both of them graduating."

Celes nodded. "My first step was to secretly take Alter Ego. Since I was a familiar face he did not scream. Next I hoped to take advantage of Yamada's apparent crush on an AI program. There was also an additional element which was supposed to be included, but was ultimately taken out of the equation. That is, Ishimaru's 'Ishida' form. With how close Ishimaru and Oowada had gotten, with Oowada executed Ishimaru would have been devastated. But all it would take was a few choice words from Alter Ego to invoke Ishida and everything would have been set up for the next murder in Matsuda's overall plan."

"The night I tried to kill Ishimaru," Yamada explained, "Celes invited me to her room. She claimed that Ishimaru had first raped her, then blackmailed her into taking Alter Ego. Of course if everything had gone to Matsuda's plan, Alter Ego would have been told to scream not only at the sight of a stranger, but myself or Ishimaru as well. And if there's one thing I won't stand for, it's rape. While it seems inconceivable that Ishimaru would do anything so heinous, Celes is a very convincing liar, and with Ishimaru in his Ishida state we wouldn't have been sure what he was capable of."

"Naturally a fall guy was needed to set things up," Celes said, "So I had Yamada slip Hagakure a letter to meet us in the art room at 1:00 that night. We were able to render him unconscious and set him up in the Justice Robo suit Yamada built. Then I took a picture of Yamada carrying Hagakure in such a way that it would look like Yamada was being abducted. We then then had him stashed in the lockers near the pool area." "After that a second note was delivered to Ishimaru," Yamada said, "Telling him to meet us in the physics lab at 6:00. Just for the record, we were able to lure them in by telling them we had found a hole to the outside and didn't want Monokuma to know about it."

"If I had gone alone at that point," Ishimaru said, "I would not be standing here right now. Yamada had been lying in wait to kill me with a hammer from the art room styled up to look like a 'Justice Hammer'. And if not for Oowada, Yamada most certainly would have killed me. From there Celes's plan involved misdirection. She was planning on faking attacks on her and Yamada and claiming a madman was roaming the school, attacking people with progressively larger hammers. After the first two attacks, Yamada was meant to play dead and be 'discovered' by Celes and two others, likely Naegi and Asahina. At the same time, Oogami, Togami, and Fukawa were meant to discover my corpse at the same instant."

"This would have set off something called a 'corpse discovery announcement'," Tora said, "Quite obviously one hasn't been used, but it's meant to go off once three or more people discover a dead body. This of course was the first flaw in Celes's plan, as one would have gone off for each body. After all, you can't 'rediscover' a corpse, and Celes's plan would have been far from done. Since Yamada would obviously still be alive at this point, using transfusion bags for faking his death by the way, he would have wiped off his glasses, gone to move Ishimaru's corpse to the art room, and waited for Celes. That would have been the point when she was to kill him using a regular hammer."

"Of course I would have had to wash it," Celes said, "But that was an additional flaw. There was nothing to wipe off the hammer, and the rest of the hammers were covered in dust and gravel from chiseling statues. The blow to Yamada's head would also cause him to remember everything from before as well, and his final moments he would have named his killer... Using my real name. As we all know, when our ElectroiDs boot up, they start by showing our real names. However, several things at this point prevented me from following through with my plans. The first was the fact that I had already told the others my real name in an effort to remove our secrets as a threat."

"Then there was the fact that Togami suspected a mole in the group," Oowada said, "Naturally he was meant to do this anyway, but nothing was supposed to come of it since the mole's role was yet to occur. However, Ishimaru grew concerned about the possibility. Sure, he would have answered the letter regardless, and on time too, even if he had reverted to Ishida. But now he had someone he could trust to help watch his back. Namely, me." "Celes's plan," Kirigiri said, "And by extension the mastermind's, relied on Ishimaru showing up alone. But because Oowada was there to back him up, he was able to intercept Yamada before he could kill Ishimaru."

"And at that point," Yamada said, "I was knocked into your machine, which controls the microchips. An electrical disruption was created as a result, frying the one I was unknowingly wearing." "At the same time," Tora said, "Celes, due a combination of guilt and a realization that her plan was sure to fail, came knocking on my door and admitted to everything. She then led me to where Hagakure was still knocked out." "Of course with Fujisaki still alive through all this," Naegi said, "He was able to update Alter Ego frequently. And we had a plan in place to have Alter Ego converted into a virus to take control over the whole building."

"That part was easy," Fujisaki said, beaming, "As an expert programmer I've had experience with every type of computer virus ever created. The hard part was hiding Alter Ego in such a way that he could not be found." "One way or another hooking Alter Ego up to the network would be essential," Tora said, "But it was also part of your plan. There was only one place where Alter Ego could be hidden, the secret room in one of the bathrooms. However, instead of simply leaving it in there, we left it inside and then sealed the door in such a way that only we could open it again."

"In the process of doing this," Celes said, "Tora, Naegi, and myself stumbled upon Monokuma and Oogami fighting. Tora and Togami had already speculated that Oogami was the mole, but also had reason to believe she was being blackmailed. The idea had been to drive her to suicide to fulfill the conditions set out for her, but this was prevented due to the realization the your 'hostages' may already be dead." "Your proxy, that is to say, Enoshima," Kirigiri said, "Was also to attack Naegi at one point and cause him to stumble across the scene alone. If that had happened, he would have been reluctant to reveal what he saw."

"Most of your incentives and the actions meant to be taken by Enoshima had the same theme of sowing mistrust among us," Togami said, "This was especially apparent during the not-so-surprising reveal that Oogami was the mole. Naturally she would have wanted to reassure as that she wouldn't kill any of us and then take her own life. The first part of this certainly happened, with Hagakure and Fukawa attacking Oogami out of perceived self-defense and reflex, respectively. Asahina later found Oogami, injured but in no danger of dying. Oogami was to send Asahina away and lock herself in the rec room, where she would ingest some poison taken from the chem lab and thus kill herself."

"If that had actually happened," Asahina said, on the verge of tears, "I would have nearly gone off the deep end myself. Monokuma was then meant to hand me a fake will made to make me think ill of the others. That would have led me to try and frame myself for the crime, thus causing all the remaining students to be executed. Naturally this would have been prevented, after which Oogami's real will would have been revealed in a vain effort to rub salt in the wound." "Of course this should have been the point where Alter Ego would have been 'destroyed'," Togami said, "But being a program, and by this time already entered into the school's network, only the laptop would have been destroyed."

"Then would have come something really sadistic," Oowada said, "Using Ikusaba's body to frame Kirigiri. From the proxy's perspective, it was a chance to get her out of the way. For the real mastermind, it was a chance to set up his proxy to take the fall." "Of course by this point I was meant to be dead," Ikusaba said, "But the mastermind would have had Enoshima pretend to be me, giving the illusion that I was still alive and moving secretly through the school." "By keeping a number of doors strategically locked," Ishimaru said, "The real truth would have been easy to hide. The mastermind was also counting on one thing during the trial... For Togami to start accusing Kirigiri and then for Naegi to take the fall for her, then during the execution Alter Ego was meant to save him and have him dropped into the garbage chute."

"At which point," Kirigiri said, "I would have gone in to save him. This would have cornered the mastermind's proxy, forcing one final trial not only to solve Ikusaba's murder, but also to discover the truth behind what was happening at this school. That was when Enoshima was meant to take the fall for the real mastermind and be killed, thinking she was the mastermind. That would have taken the heat off of you, Matsuda." "Needless to say," Tora said, "This first part of all this was destroyed completely on a number of levels. We suspected the existence of a proxy, we had prevented Ikusaba's murder, and to add insult to injury, instead of forcing us into despair, we've only grown stronger together."

"Face it Matsuda," Naegi said, "Even with our memories gone we were able to work together to stop your plans. Granted they might have worked if Tora was not around, but it was because you miscalculated that he was able to prevent any of us from dying." Matsuda couldn't help but be stunned. "This... This is impossible... My plans ruined... BECAUSE OF A STOMACHACHE?!" Enoshima grinned. "Always expect the unexpected when it comes to my boyfriend." "There's only one thing I don't get," Maizono said, "We assumed the mastermind was moving forward out of boredom, but I somehow think that was just a false personality trait forced on Enoshima. What was the real reason you moved on in spite of each stage of your plan failing?"

Matsuda started to chuckle, then broke out into a full-on maniacal laugh. "I'll tell you this much, you're right in thinking your friends are still alive! But my partner, Izuru Kamukura, has them right now! The next stage of our plan needs to go off at a precise time! We made a phony prophecy to our followers, the reserve students we deceived into thinking this school was creating murderers! Once Enoshima was executed, they were all to commit suicide, and leave your friends to take the fall as the leaders of our cult! Right now, as we speak, the mess created by The World's Most Despair-Inducing Incident is being cleaned up by an organization called Future Foundation! The seven surviving students were meant to join them, find the friends they could not remember, and have them 'rehabilitated' using a virtual reality simulator of my own design! Kamukura is in possession of an AI version of the false personality I gave Enoshima, which he intends to use to infect the entire world, and spread his despair!"

Togami scoffed. "Well, I've had just about as much of this man as I can take. Since the rules of the trial state that the mastermind will be executed if he loses, I suppose all we have to do is vote on it." Matsuda's eyes widened as the slot machine spun with there votes, landing on all three of his faces. The big red button appeared, and Alter Ego's face lit up on it. 'I found something really weird on this thing Master. Something called "Super Duper Nasty Torture".' "Oh that," Enoshima said, "That's basically a combination of all the executions that have occurred. Though, since none of them have been used, it'll default to all of them."

Tora smiled and walked over to the button, then motioned for Enoshima to join him. "It's good to have you back babe," he said. Enoshima giggled. "It's good to be back... Babe." They shared a kiss as they pressed the button. Instantly the chain collar shot past the students and grabbed Matsuda by the neck, dragging him to the execution chamber to suffer all the torment meant for the others.

Light at the End

Matsuda landed on the wooden platform before the chain wrapped around his neck nearly choking him to death, then continued to pull him along.

Sayaka Maizono's Final Performance

Matsuda was dragged into the middle of the giant mantrap, which slammed shut, injuring him.

Detention

Matsuda found himself under the giant crusher, which slammed on top of him before quickly lifting back up and letting him be dragged off again.

Human Disqualification

Matsuda got dragged through the snow and ice as several rocks rained down on him.

Super Fujisaki Bros

Matsuda was placed in the chair with the strange device and got shocked as a result of the game over in his head.

A Dozer Master

Matsuda passed under the giant shovel just as it slammed down onto his back.

Prime Minister Kiyotaka Ishimaru's Inaugural Parade

As Matsuda flew through the parade scene, the sniper rifle shot him in the shoulder.

Versailles style Witch Hunt Stake

Matsuda was dropped into the flames just long enough for the fire truck to land on top of him.

First Kiss Prank

Matsuda was left on the ground just long enough to get run over by the giant roller.

Water Illusion Show

Matsuda was dragged though the water tank as the sharks nipped at his heels.

Deciding Match of the Whole Galaxy

One by one Matsuda passed under the aliens as the tried to land on him, with the final one succeeding.

Watch Out, Booko! Great Monster Invasion

Various laser beams fired at Matsuda, who got singed by a few of them.

Quiz Time! I Heard There's a Chance of 30%!

Matsuda was dragged right into the C door, which opened it's mouth wide to slam down on him.

Motorcycle Death Cage

Matsuda found himself electrified as he passed through the openings in the cage.

Million Fungoes

Matsuda was helpless to defend himself as he got pelted with baseballs.

The Space Journey

Matsuda was locked inside the rocket, which fell over and blasted off for a short distance before crashing and opening up, allowing Matsuda to be dragged further.

Spear of Gungnir

Matsuda had all his limbs impaled by the multiple spears that came out of nowhere.

Disbarment

Matsuda finally stopped at the mock witness stand, just in time to get crushed to death by robotic judge's giant gavel.

In spite of the knowledge that the man behind their confinement was gone, the sight of his blood all over the final execution chamber still left many of them sick. They didn't regret what they did, after all he was planning on doing the same to most of them. But it still wasn't a pretty sight. "Just looking at all the ways he had set up for us to die," Asahina said, "What sort of monster comes up with this stuff?" Enoshima sighed and reached into one of the pockets on her blouse. "Well guys, what's say we get out of here?"

She held up the exit module for the front door. "This was in my pocket the whole time," Enoshima explained, "My guess is once Matsuda had me executed as the mastermind, he intended to release the survivors since his experiment was officially done." Suddenly Tora looked like he was in pain. "Actually, how about we grab one last meal here? Maybe take the time to grab a few things for the outside." About an hour later, the whole gang was standing by the front door. Celes had grabbed the ten billion yen, thinking it could be used to fund a rebuilding effort. Fujisaki had found the original bear that the Monokuma dolls were modeled after. Other than that, all they took were a few changes of clothing.

"You know," Enoshima said to Tora, "Once we're on the outside, we need to find Tsumiki. I'm worried about her." Tora nodded. "So am I Enoshima. If Kamukura is who I think he is, then she and all our other friends are in danger." Enoshima pressed the button on the exit module, causing the door to open up. Outside, the students were surprised to be greeted by the roar of applause. Many of their friends and family members were right outside the entrance of the school. Maizono cried tears of joy at being reunited with her friends from her girl group, Oowada was soon surrounded by his gang, cheering his newfound source of strength, and Naegi happily reunited with his own family.

Tora looked around the happy scene, joyous even with the after-effects of The World's Most Despair-Inducing Incident in the background. Then he saw a familiar face step out of the crowd. "You know," the man said, "I've been known for using some crazy methods to turnabout a serious situation, but I don't think I've ever done so by having a stomachache." Tora smiled. It was his father, Phoenix Wright, along with his mother Iris and his adopted sister Trucy. "So you were the one who started Future Foundation. I should have known." "Well what did you expect?," Phoenix said, "The world had just gotten out from under the Dark Age of Law. I wasn't about to let it sink into despair so soon after it was picking itself up."

He pointed to the giant screen that had been set up outside the school. "Some crazy guy with white hair hijacked the media broadcasts and said we would be shown a spectacle. My guess is he was expecting you guys to kill each other in their. But as it turned out, all that happened was a series of events that simply gave everyone more hope that you would all make it out okay. So I gathered the team I assembled, came to Japan, gathered as many of your friends' families as I could find and brought them here to greet you when you got out." "Thanks dad," Tora said, "But it's not over yet. Fifteen of our friends are still being held by that madman. We need to find them as soon as possible." Phoenix smiled and placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Don't worry son. We will."

To be continued...

SURPRISE! Phoenix Wright makes a cameo. MORE SURPRISE! Someone does die, it's just not one of the 78th class. Yeah, you guys had to figure Matsuda was gonna get offed once he was revealed as the true mastermind. But Kamukura is still a threat. Now, the third book in this trilogy is gonna take a lot longer since I'm still waiting on a translated version of Super Dangan Ronpa 2 (which the third story will follow a little more closely), but it will come, so keep an eye out.