Toward Another Hope [End of Part 1]
Once the last vote had been cast, the roulette began to spin. Seventeen silhouettes ringed its face — but every person in that room already knew where the needle would stop.
Fireworks burst overhead. A triumphant fanfare blared through the courtroom. The wheel locked onto Enoshima's silhouette, and Monokuma Medals came pouring down in a glittering cascade.
"Wh... what... is this...?"
Junko Enoshima muttered it under her breath, her face slack with disbelief.
"I... I lost...? Me...? Th-that's..."
"What? Don't tell me you refuse to accept it."
"Th-that's not— THAT'S NOT TRUUUUUE!!"
Her expression flipped in an instant — rapture flooding in where shock had been — and she cried out in a voice trembling with excitement.
"This is the BEEEEEESSST!!"
She broke into a dazzling grin, as if she had been waiting for this exact moment her entire life, and launched into a breathless monologue about how exquisite the despair of a final instant like this was going to feel.
The others stared at her, thoroughly sickened. Enoshima didn't notice. She just kept talking, happily, to no one but herself. Watching her, I felt a laugh well up before I could stop it.
"Pfft—HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"...Anyway! The greatest despair of my entire life is— huh...? What? What's so funny...?"
"Pffhk— looking at you right now, how is anyone supposed to keep a straight face?"
"Haaah...?"
I looked her dead in the eye.
"A two-bit lunatic who thinks she's the Ultimate Despair, standing there lecturing us about despair like she's some kind of big shot — and you expect me not to laugh?"
Her voice went ice-cold.
"I'm... a two-bit... lunatic...?"
"What, did you actually think you'd become some world-devouring despair? You couldn't even drive the sixteen of us into it."
"..."
"When that didn't work, you tried to force it with a brainwashing video — and you failed at that too. And you still have the nerve to call yourself the Ultimate Despair? Don't make me laugh."
"..."
"You're not the Ultimate Despair. You're a mentally ill girl. An ordinary student. And the caliber of the despair faction that worships someone like you... well, that says it all."
"I..."
"What are you even trying to argue? You're just a lunatic. That fact doesn't change no matter how hard you deny it."
"Kei... Kei, if you keep this up, Enoshima might snap and detonate every last Monokuma—"
Before Naegi could finish, the monitor that had been playing the despair video flickered — and Fujisaki's Alter Ego appeared on the screen.
"Guys! I finally seized control of the academy's network! Well — Enoshima's Alter Ego was putting up a vicious fight and then suddenly vanished, so I kind of just... snatched it..."
"...I pulled it out just now."
Enoshima murmured it with dead eyes.
"At this point... I really am... sick of all of it... despairingly sick of it... I just... want to die..."
Her face emptied of everything. She reached for the red button at her side.
"Alter Ego. Can you disable that execution button?"
"Hmm... that's not on the school network. It's a wireless remote, so hacking it would take some time..."
"Then restrain Enoshima."
The words had barely left my mouth before Monokumas came bursting out of the walls. They piled onto her and pinned her down without ceremony.
"...What do you think you're doing...?"
"Were you seriously about to pull a stunt like this and then take the easy way out? Not a chance. If you die here, the despair out there will turn you into a god."
"..."
I stepped in close to the girl they had pinned and spoke softly, just for her.
"I'm handing you over to the Future Foundation. Plenty of people will want you dead — but killing you would be a waste. We'll lock you up and peel your real face open for the entire world to see."
"...!"
"A former Ultimate Despair, Junko Enoshima, moved by the Future Foundation until she found hope! Broadcasting that little propaganda piece worldwide would be pretty entertaining, don't you think? Of course, for you, that would be a punishment far worse than death."
"...Hahaha..."
"Then stay put and behave. Don't get any clever ideas."
With that, the boy gathered the students who kept stealing glances at him and vanished somewhere out of sight. Enoshima watched him go, and she despaired, the way she always had — but the old pleasure, the old ecstasy, was gone.
"YEAAAAAAAH!!"
"We won!! Victory!! Hope's victory!!"
"Long live the 78th Class!! Long live the Ultimate Hope!!"
The Future Foundation had erupted into a frenzy.
Right up until that brainwashing video appeared, the mood had been one of despair. The Foundation's leadership had already been forecasting a Second Despair Pandemic and drawing up plans for a last stand.
Then Fujisaki's Alter Ego appeared like a miracle and broke the hold on Kei and Naegi, and everything turned on a dime.
The united front of Naegi and Kei launched bullets of hope that dismantled despair's arguments one after another. The students who had found their hope again all voted for Enoshima, and the clash of the century between hope and despair — the one that would decide the fate of the world — ended in hope's victory.
After that, Kei even stopped Enoshima from taking her own life. For the Future Foundation, it was already more than they could have asked for. And the good news still wasn't finished.
Branch 13 Director Chiaki Nanami listened to the incoming radio traffic with a small smile, and murmured, almost to herself.
"Hinata... you're watching too, right? This... this is what real hope looks like..."
"Haa... it's finally... over..."
"No kidding... so we can get out of here now, right?"
"If we press this suspicious red button that fell when we restrained Enoshima... the front door opens. That's the idea, yeah?"
"It looks shady no matter how you look at it... are we sure this actually lets us escape? It's not a self-destruct button...?"
"Alter Ego already analyzed it! It's the door-open button, for real! We can finally get out of here!"
I walked toward them in a clean, almost giddy mood, watching the others chatter with excitement.
Off in the distance, Naegi and Maizono were talking with their faces flushed red. I hoped their love would keep going strong even after we left this place.
Byakuya Togami recoiled as Genocider Syo suddenly glued herself to his side, then clicked his tongue and kept walking. Fukawa and Genocider Syo's passionate courtship, I suspected, was nowhere near over.
Owada, Leon Kuwata, and Ishimaru were bickering the way they always did. Fujisaki carefully slipped in between them, and Owada thumped him on the back with a playful grin. Ishimaru immediately got on Owada's case, and the teasing argument started all over again. It was such a peaceful scene I almost didn't know what to do with it.
Celestia, making do, had Yamada serving as her slave. He was fanning her with his own sketchbook, and though he looked exhausted, he also looked strangely fulfilled.
Asahina and Ogami were walking together, sipping protein coffee they'd somehow whipped up from somewhere. I was genuinely glad their ending had turned out a comedy instead of a tragedy.
Hagakure approached me with a serious look on his face, held up a contract for me to see — and tore it clean in half.
"Whoa— why would you do that?"
He told me he was done living as a pathetic con artist. Even the sea urchin was growing up. People really were full of surprises.
Junko Enoshima was being dragged along in full restraints by a Monokuma under Fujisaki's Alter Ego's control. She hadn't moved a muscle, her eyes still empty. Despairing, probably. Or something like it.
Kirigiri was walking beside me, interrogating Ikusaba. With the school regulations gone, Ikusaba was spilling old stories without any hesitation — and every time she did, both of their faces went red. What on earth were they talking about?
Come to think of it... how had all of us spent our days before our memories were wiped? I was curious. But that was something we couldn't know. Not anymore. Not unless—
"Ah! That's it!"
I shouted it so suddenly that the others, already heading for the entrance, jumped.
"Wh-what is it...!? Don't tell me Enoshima—?"
"The hell's goin' on now?! I've had it with this crap!"
"Kei...? What's wrong...?"
I left them behind and walked straight over to Naegi.
"Naegi. You borrowed my talent as the Ultimate Counselor earlier, right?"
"Huh? Oh — yeah, I did. I really owed you for that!"
"Then this time, I'm borrowing your luck."
"U-uh...?"
It was time to get our hands on one more Escape Switch.
All of us stood before the door at the front entrance.
In my hand was the button that would open it. In Naegi's hand was the Escape Switch — the device Enoshima had dropped into the prize machine as a joke, the one that would give us back the memories we had forgotten.
Honestly, I had gone into it with a nothing-ventured-nothing-gained attitude, scraping together every last Monokuma Medal that had spilled across the courtroom floor. And Naegi pulled the Escape Switch on the very first try.
Then again, thinking about it, the Escape Switch itself wasn't a one-in-a-hundred-million shot anymore — not after the game was cleared. The odds went back to ordinary. Even so. Ultimate Luck was still Ultimate Luck.
Once we were out of here and safely in the Future Foundation's hands, we would use this switch to restore everyone's memories — mine included. Nothing in the world was more precious than the things we had shared.
"Alright, everyone. We shouldn't just stand around like this. Time to go."
"Haa, I'm nervous... A ruined world... can we even survive out there?"
"It's fine! Kei said so, right? The Future Foundation is coming to rescue us! We'll be okay...!"
"A-are you sure that's not a self-destruct switch...?"
"Just press it already. I have had enough of this place."
"H-h-huh...? The Class Trial is...? L-Lord Byakuya...? D-did we win...?"
Listening to them chatter the way they always did, I couldn't help smiling. I was still watching them when Naegi spoke up.
"Haa... beyond this door... there are going to be plenty of hardships ahead, aren't there...?"
"...Yeah. There will."
"But... as long as I'm with everyone... I'm not really scared."
"...Same here."
Ikusaba, who had been standing quietly at my side, spoke up as well.
"Um... if you're planning to meet the Future Foundation... maybe I shouldn't go with you...? I mean... I..."
"That's all in the past. And the fact that you betrayed them is pretty well known by now — they'll probably take that into account. Besides... I can't just walk away from the person who protected me. We're in this together now. All the way to the end, right?"
Ikusaba's face went red. Kirigiri, who had been watching the whole exchange in silence, shot me a look cold enough to freeze blood, shoved Ikusaba aside, and muttered under her breath.
"I should look into getting one soon... something sturdy... and comfortable to wear around the neck..."
"Uh... huh...?"
"Just hold my hand, you idiot."
I took Kirigiri's hand, a little embarrassed. She looked at me and spoke.
"...Same here, Kirigiri."
And with that, with every one of them watching, I pressed the switch.
The door opened, slowly. For the first time in what felt like forever, sunlight touched our skin. The outside air wasn't exactly fresh — but we felt every bit of it, with our whole bodies.
We took our first steps toward another hope.
In the emptied courtroom, in the middle of that dark space, a Monokuma lay quietly on its side.
".....Upupupu."
A laugh leaked out of the fallen bear. Then its eyes lit up, and it murmured to itself.
"Fun... this is so much fun..."
Monokuma pushed itself to its feet, threw both arms wide, and bellowed with everything it had.
The headmaster of this academy!!
The words echoed through the empty room. Monokuma laughed that unpleasant laugh of his — and then the strength went out of it, and it collapsed once more.
And at that same moment, in the information processing room, Enoshima's Alter Ego — who had planted backup data of herself and barely managed to preserve her existence — was being secretly transmitted somewhere else entirely.