Alike Yet Different
I woke to Monokuma's morning broadcast — a ritual that had, by now, become just another part of daily life.
"Ugh... my whole body's stiff..."
At least the supermarket had sleeping bags, so we weren't stuck on the bare floor. It still wasn't a real bed, though, and every inch of me felt like it had been wrung out overnight.
I glanced around. Nanami and Kirigiri were already up, getting ready to head out.
"You're awake?"
"Yeah..."
"Good. We should head out soon, so get yourself ready."
"Today... I really have to go apologize to Hinata..."
Yesterday's motive still had my mind in knots, but this was no time to sit around feeling helpless. I needed to finish getting ready and go talk the neutrals around.
I was right in the middle of getting ready to leave when someone knocked on the door.
"Um, I brought breakfast."
"Oh, Koizumi? Thanks."
Koizumi had come by with breakfast. I took the tray she held out and slipped in a question.
"Koizumi, where do you stand on today's vote...?"
"...Honestly? I can't say I trust you guys all that much. I mean, given the situation, can you blame me?"
She had a point. Blindly trusting suspicious people in a situation like this would be just plain stupid.
"Yeah, I get it. But if today's vote comes down on the side of trusting us, I'd like you to watch what we do after that and maybe reconsider."
"...I'll accept whatever the vote decides. And depending on how you guys act from here on out, I might change my mind. So you'd better not try anything stupid."
Koizumi couldn't stand unreliable guys, and she had a bit of a sharp edge — but at the end of the day, she was one of the more level-headed people here. Winning her trust would definitely help. Right now, though, I didn't see much chance of getting her to drop her guard.
"By the way, this food looks pretty great. Did you pick it out yourself? Really, thank you..."
"It's nothing... Haah. If only that Komaeda guy would just eat what he's given, like you people..."
"Huh? What about Komaeda...?"
"Actually, I went to drop off a meal for Komaeda before I came here... and he said he didn't want rice, he wanted me to bring him toast instead. Does he even understand the position he's in?"
Watching Koizumi fume — the sheer absurdity of it written all over her face — I suddenly thought of last night's game. In the original, Koizumi got a letter from Kuzuryu and let Komaeda talk her into going to play. This was exactly that moment. Don't tell me...?
"Um... Komaeda didn't say anything weird, did he?"
"Honestly, that guy deserves to be tied up like that... Huh? What did you say...?"
"I mean... did Komaeda say anything... loaded? Anything that felt off...?"
At that, Koizumi's smile went stiff, and she started stumbling over her words.
"H-huh...? What are you talking about...? I... I don't know anything about that...?"
"....."
"A-anyway, I just remembered I have something to do... I'll be going now...!"
Looks like Komaeda had gone and done a Komaeda again.
If Koizumi's reacting like that, there's a really good chance she already got Kuzuryu's letter...
I'd asked Togami to keep an eye out for anyone playing the game, just in case Kuzuryu tried something. Had he failed to stop him? If Koizumi ended up playing too, things would get seriously dangerous. I had to stop her from—
"Hold it. Where do you think you're going?"
I bolted after Koizumi, desperate to stop her — and ran straight into Pekoyama at the entrance.
"No, I just—"
"I believe the rule was that no one leaves until everyone has finished breakfast, and that at least two escorts must accompany them."
"....."
And so it wasn't until everyone had finished breakfast that I was finally able to leave the old building with Kirigiri and Nanami — a heavy feeling sitting in my chest the whole way.
Before we left the old building, we'd talked through how to spend the remaining hours. The vote was tonight, after all.
Kirigiri had originally planned to stick with me today. Then she looked at me for a moment, thinking, and muttered that if I ran into the opposition kids, something bad would probably happen. When I asked what that was supposed to mean, she sighed at me and declared she'd go talk the opposition around herself.
Nanami said she wanted to go apologize to Hinata, which left me, naturally, with the job of finishing off the remaining neutrals. And so Nidai was assigned to watch Nanami, Owari to Kirigiri, and Souda — who'd shown up claiming he had something to take care of — got stuck with me as a last-minute fill-in.
"Hey...! Kei...! Help me...!"
"Huh...? What's go—"
"Look over there! Just look!!"
I followed Souda's burning glare. Sonia and Tanaka were talking.
"My, Tanaka's hamsters look quite lively today as well!"
"Do not be deceived by appearances. These are my loyal retainers, the Four Dark Devas of Destruction. Should an ordinary human behold their true forms, their minds would be unable to endure—"
"In the kingdom of Novoselic, there is a saying: to know a person's heart, look at the animals they keep. And by that measure... Tanaka, you must be a truly wonderful person."
"I... I am grateful..."
Tanaka hid his face behind his scarf and looked away at Sonia's praise. Watching them, I couldn't help but smile.
"Aw, that's sweet..."
"No! Sweet is! Not okay!! You said you'd help me!!"
Souda wailed, his voice cracking. Come to think of it, those two were neutrals. This was the perfect chance to talk them around.
"Uh... hey... how's it going...?"
"Kei? It has been some time since we last spoke..."
"Familiar. Where have you left your master, that you wander alone?"
"...Huh?"
"The terms of your master-servant pact must be rather loose. As expected — the conditions of a contract shift according to the sorcerer's preferences..."
"I have no idea what you're talking about... anyway, I was passing by and saw you two talking... I was hoping we could chat for a bit..."
"A conversation? With us?"
"Yeah, um... so..."
I'd said I had something to talk about, but now that I was here, I couldn't think of a single thing. I racked my brain for a moment, then gave in and decided to use my cheat code: knowledge from my previous life.
"To think that Kirakira-chan, who operated in Spain, was actually Japanese...! That's incredible...! How on earth did you discover their identity...!?"
"Ki... Kirigiri and I are a pretty well-known detective duo, you know... hahaha..."
"What was their name again...? Hi... Hiji..."
"Hijirihara Takumi. A guy who travels from one bizarre crime scene to the next, killing murderers. Figuring out who he really was took some doing..."
"Th-then...! Do you happen to know the identity of Genocider Syo as well...!?"
"I... I do, actually..."
"I-I'll do anything — just tell me who they are...!"
To get on Sonia and Tanaka's good side, I used every scrap of knowledge I had. I'd started by suggesting we just chat, to get to know each other — then, casually, I framed it as a case Kirigiri and I had investigated, and let slip the kind of serial-killer intel that would make Sonia's eyes light up.
Thanks to her delightfully off-the-wall, niche tastes, Sonia had always been fascinated by murderers. Just as I'd expected, the moment I name-dropped Kirakira-chan and Genocider Syo, her eyes sparkled and she started warming up to me fast.
In Chapter 2, Sonia mentioned Kirakira-chan in the library, and Pekoyama even put on a mask and imitated them during the trial. I'd seen their identity in the Danganronpa spin-off manga Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer, and I was very glad I had.
Sorry to Hijirihara and Fukawa, whose identities and murder records had just been casually broadcast to the Future Foundation — but it couldn't be helped. Fukawa had been recruited by the Future Foundation knowing full well who she was, so she was probably fine.
Though... Hijirihara was working at the Future Foundation too, wasn't he? Had his identity already gotten out?
Eh, whatever.
The guy ran around slicing up murderers for a living... and even if it was a spin-off, he had protagonist plot armor. He'd figure it out.
"Hoh... so you accessed the Thump-Thump Breeding Diary website. Not bad, for a mere familiar... However, you shall never grasp its true nature—"
"Hey... Tanaka... the truth is..."
"What is it...?"
"I'm... also a member of a secret mage organization..."
"What...!?"
I whispered it to Tanaka and felt my entire soul cringe. The Thump-Thump Breeding Diary was a site Tanaka ran, supposedly for posting pictures of the animals he raised. But judging by what Tanaka said in the game, it was probably a place where he shared his dark-lord aesthetic with his subscribers. I'd dangled the bait carefully — and landed a big one.
"How dreadful... that is not a space a mere familiar should trespass upon... Just how terrifying must the magical power of that girl, your summoner, be..."
"Well, I am the weakest of the Four Heavenly Kings she commands, so..."
"I-impossible...!"
I spent a while playing along with Tanaka's dark-lord theatrics, forcing myself to ignore the goosebumps crawling over every inch of my skin. By the end of it, we'd gotten surprisingly close. It was going to be a pain for a while... but if it won us the vote, I didn't care.
"Alright, everyone... I'm counting on you for today's vote!"
"Of course! There's no way Kirigiri and Kei — hunters of serial killers — could be on the wrong side! I've decided to trust you both!"
"My true power has yet to return... Were I to face you in open combat now, the losses would be considerable. I shall postpone our confrontation until after we escape this place — when the seals upon myself and the Four Dark Devas of Destruction are broken..."
"Haha, thanks, everyone! See you later!"
I turned to go find Kirigiri, feeling considerably lighter —
"I... I just wanted to talk to Sonia once..."
"Huh...? Souda...? What's wrong?"
"...I'm voting against trusting you....."
"W-wait... what...?"
Souda was thoroughly sulking. Talking him down ate up a considerable amount of time.
"It's time."
"Hahh... I hope this goes well..."
"...Let's do our best, everyone."
Time passed, and evening arrived — the hour of the vote. Nanami, Kirigiri, and I gathered at the entrance to the dining hall to compare notes on how the day had gone.
"Nanami, did the apology to Hinata go okay?"
"Yeah... I apologized as best I could. Hinata smiled and accepted it, which was a relief, but... it's still not enough. Isn't there some way I can show him I really mean it?"
"Hmm... what about giving him a gift...? The Monokuma gacha machine has all kinds of stuff. I've been picking up coins here and there — I'll lend you some, so go try your luck."
"Th-thank you...!"
"Don't mention it... Anyway, Kirigiri, how did it go on your end?"
She grimaced.
"The opposition kids are on extremely high alert. Kuzuryu swore at me and threw me out the second I showed up, and Pekoyama refused to speak to me at all."
"Hmm..."
"As for Koizumi and Saionji... the moment I so much as appeared nearby, they quietly slipped away. I never even got a chance to talk to them. Forcing a conversation when they're that wary would only backfire."
"That's a shame, but... it is what it is... On the bright side, I think I got through to Sonia and Tanaka, and Nidai and Owari seem pretty well-disposed toward us... I wonder about Tsumiki, though..."
At the mention of Tsumiki, Kirigiri smiled.
"Don't worry. I've already talked Tsumiki around."
"Whoa... nice work..."
"...Alright. Let's head inside."
"Yeah..."
And so the three of us stepped into the dining hall, tension coiled tight in our chests.
"So, how about it...? Komaeda...?"
"Ahaha... now that's despair for you... Perfect fertilizer for hope..."
"Upupupupupu..."
"Excuse me...! Please wake up!"
"Nnh..."
"Hurry! The cloaking function is about to shut off!"
"Whoa!? Monomi...?"
"Hinata! To stop Monokuma's atrocities... I need your help...!"
"My help...?"
Meanwhile, at that same moment — in the old building's warehouse and in Hinata's cottage — four beings, alike and yet somehow different, had split into two pairs and were laying their own plans.