Luck Dreams of Hope

"....."

"Ahaha. Watch your step on the way out..."

Komaeda offered the farewell to Kuzuryu as the other boy left the warehouse, then sank into thought, his silence so complete it was almost frightening.

Good... I've created the crisis. Now show me hope again this time, too... you Traitors... no. All of you True Hopes.

Komaeda yearned for hope.

He did not merely yearn for it. He loved hope to a degree that bordered on despair itself, and the article of faith at the center of that love was this: no matter how colossal the despair that came crashing down, hope would never lose.

That was why, if he could only witness that intoxicating instant when hope collided with hope and burst into light — the Absolute Hope born from that collision — there was nothing he would not do.

In other words, for the sake of hope, Komaeda would not mind being used and thrown away. He would not mind becoming a stepping stone for everyone else. He would not even mind being killed.

For a person like that, one principle had recently come to govern every action he took: subjecting the Traitors to trial and despair.

The reason he had arrived at this conclusion was a memory that had suddenly flashed through his mind the moment Monokuma declared that everyone's memories had been erased. Or rather than a memory, exactly — it was more like a keyword.

Komaeda had been briefly thrown into confusion by the memory that had lanced through his mind. But the instant he understood that it was not a passing thought — that it was a concept driven into his brain with startling, immovable certainty — a tremendous ecstasy washed over him.

True Hope. If even he thought of them in those terms, how magnificent, how vast, how beautiful must that hope be? If he could only behold, with his own eyes, a hope so far beyond anything his wretched self could ever imagine, Komaeda would have nothing left to regret in this life.

There was a problem, however, with simply taking this unstable memory at face value — this fragment that had surfaced the very instant the mastermind made their announcement.

He had no way of knowing whether this was his luck activating, causing a piece of his erased memories to break free... or whether the mastermind had planted it in him as a ploy to conceal the real hope.

And so Komaeda had begun subjecting the Traitors to trial and despair. If they truly were the True Hope, they could not possibly fall to something as paltry as despair. He would give them trials and despair with his own hands and judge the truth for himself. By Komaeda's standards, it was an entirely rational, entirely reasonable decision.

To that end, he had tried to make Nanami — one of the Traitors — kill Hinata. He had also cast a vote of no confidence in the ballot on whether the Traitors could be trusted, hoping to see them sealed away permanently in the old building.

And yet, even with his luck lending those plans a hand, the Traitors had overcome every trial and every despair with a hopefulness that left him astonished. His own wretched talent of luck was one thing. But people against whom despair itself was so powerless... was that not hope, beyond any doubt?

If they endured even this latest trial, then they were the True Hope. That would settle it.

And if that were so... the hope that those True Hopes would create, standing alongside the Ultimates who were hope's very symbols... how fantastic would that be?

An ecstatic expression spread across Komaeda's face as he pictured the moment despair would break and the hope they had all forged together would blaze in splendor. Then, abruptly, he sank back into thought.

Still... misfortune should be arriving soon, shouldn't it? Granted, I was bound hand and foot and locked in a warehouse, and I did get chewed out by the hopes I so admire... but for using luck back to back like that, the misfortune ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feels far too small...

He considered what great misfortune might be coming, then let the thought go. It was misfortune headed for his worthless self. What did it matter?

Telling himself that he could endure any amount of misfortune for the sake of hope, Komaeda buried his face in the food scattered across the floor and began to eat.

He never imagined that misfortune would arrive at a moment he did not expect, in the worst possible way.

"I... I finally got a signal!"

"Go ahead! I'm listening!"

"Fuwawa... I'm no help at all, am I... I'm sorry..."

"A... a game...?"

The radio, its signal deteriorating by the second, cut out completely. Monomi's face went slack with disappointment, and she murmured to herself.

"Fujisaki... did you already have to go? I still had so much I wanted to say..."

She sat there for a moment, looking thoroughly pitiful. Then her expression hardened with resolve. She cried out, and vanished somewhere into the island.

"You'd better be ready, Monokuma!!"

Soda and I were currently holding our breath in the restaurant near the beach on the second island, waiting for the girls to arrive.

"Hey! Kei! Get your head in the game! We're supposed to be watching for whether the girls show up or not, remember!?"

"Huh? Oh..."

"If we miss Sonia at this rate, the whole thing's a bust!"

I could not concentrate. I was about to see Kirigiri in a swimsuit. How, exactly, was I supposed to keep my head on straight?

"Still... I wonder what kind of swimsuit Sonia's gonna wear...? She's a foreigner, so... a bikini, right?"

Thanks to Soda, I was now picturing Kirigiri in a bikini. The mental image was so overwhelming that my face went scarlet.

"How do I put this... between the bikini top and bottom, that Pegasus-like purity and fantasy... mmph...!"

I clamped a hand over Soda's mouth before he could keep feeding me these deranged daydreams. This was absolutely not because I was a creep. This was entirely Soda's fault for describing things in such graphic detail that I couldn't stop imagining them.

Besides, Sonia was going to show up in a wetsuit... Poor Soda.

We waited a long while. Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.

Come to think of it... wasn't this around the point where Kuzuryu was supposed to pass by the restaurant...?

Well, any number of things had already diverged from the original, so Kuzuryu probably wouldn't come this way either. Most likely it was a ripple effect from Koizumi deciding she was going to apologize.

Kuzuryu had agreed to go with Koizumi after the beach trip and help talk things through, so they ought to have it sorted before the day was out.

"Wait! Over there, that's...!"

"Hm?"

Soda was pointing at Tsumiki and Mioda.

"Hey! Heads down! They still can't find us yet...!"

"Forget it. Pretty sure they've already spotted us. And they're heading this way."

"Wh... what...!?"

Tsumiki and Mioda stepped into the restaurant and, catching sight of us, launched straight into conversation.

"Huh? What're you guys doing here!?"

"Ah, h-hellooo! The weather's really ni...ce today, isn't it...? Uuuugh... I finally managed a normal greeting...!"

"Uh... you two... I mean... this is, uh... what a coincidence...!"

"A coincidence, you say?"

"Right, so... we just happened to be in a place like this, and, well, one thing led to another..."

"Something's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fishy...! Your eyes are darting around like a salmon about to spawn...!"

"Th-that's not... what do you even..."

If I left the acting to Soda any longer, we were going to get thrown out. I was going to have to step in.

"I came to see Kirigiri."

"Huuuh!?"

"Wh-what!?"

"We promised to meet here, that's all."

We had not, in fact, promised any such thing. But a convenient lie was what this awkward situation required. I was mildly concerned about how I was going to clean this up later, but that was a problem for future me.

"So we figured we'd grab a quick bite with Soda here until it was time to meet her... What about you two?"

I delivered the lie with a straight face and glanced sideways at Soda, who stared back at me with round eyes and quietly gave me a thumbs-up. Lucky bastard.

"Is that all it was...? Well, we were gonna enjoy a swim with the other girls, so we came here to eat first."

"Oh, yeah? Then... mind if we tag along!?"

Soda jumped in, practically vibrating with excitement. Mioda told him he'd have to get Sonia's permission, then ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠went and sat down at a table on the far side with Tsumiki and started eating.

"Kei... I take it back...! When it counts, you actually come through...!"

"No... you just can't act..."

"Anyway, did you bring a swimsuit? I already put mine on underneath!"

"Ah. A swimsuit?"

"Yeah... a swimsuit! You can't swim ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with us if you don't have one! If you didn't bring one, you can use this spare I packed..."

"No need. I brought my own."

There was no universe in which I was going to stand in front of Kirigiri wearing the bold, military-olive speedo that embodied Soda's deranged fashion sense. I had packed a perfectly ordinary pair of black swim trunks.

"...Tch. Fine, whatever."

"Why do you sound disappointed!?"

After that, Soda and I fell into idle conversation. Then the door suddenly opened, and someone walked in.

"H-hey... sorry I'm late..."

"O... Owari...?"

Owari stepped into the restaurant in a swimsuit, covered in blood. She'd probably gotten into another brawl with Nidai somewhere and ended up like that.

Still... wasn't Nanami supposed to be the first one through that door? Well, it was a minor thing, and it wasn't as if this was the first or second detail that had diverged from the original. I decided not to dwell on it.

"Th-those wounds are serious!"

"Huh? If I just put some spit on 'em..."

"C-come with me right now! I'll give you first aid!"

"I'm fine, really..."

"Owari-saaan! Over here, please!!"

I watched Tsumiki — her talent as the Ultimate Nurse fully awakened — march Owari toward the restroom with a brisk competence utterly unlike her usual self. And then the door opened again.

"It's rather noisy in here. What happened?"

The one who entered was Peko Pekoyama. Fortunately, there was not a drop of water on her. I would have been a little nervous if there had been, but as expected, Koizumi changing her mind seemed to have altered fate.

"....."

Pekoyama shot me a hard look, then went and sat down at a seat far away from us. She still didn't trust me much, apparently.

"Heeey... everyone's already here?"

This time it was Koizumi who opened the door.

"A school swimsuit...? Pretty classic..."

"Wh-what? I thought it was just going to be the girls! Why are you two even...!"

Koizumi, who had arrived in a school swimsuit, went red to the ears, stopped halfway through the doorway, and bolted back outside.

"It may be classic, but they do say the old ways are the best ways... yeah..."

"....."

I was giving Soda a look of profound secondhand embarrassment — he hadn't even noticed the ice-cold stares gathering around him as he delivered his appraisal — when a familiar voice reached me.

"Kei...?"

I turned my head, and... Kirigiri was standing there.

"Uh... uh... uhhh..."

Kirigiri stood in the entrance wearing a sky-blue bikini. The sight of her was... it was like...

Hnnnngh... Kirigiri-nee... I'm dead...

As the price of beholding a goddess, every cognitive function in my brain shut down. I stared at Kirigiri with my mouth hanging open, looking thoroughly ridiculous, when she suddenly started walking straight toward me.

"Ah... uh... yeah...?"

She came right up to me, took hold of the security-buzzer cord hanging around my neck, and pulled my face in until it was inches from hers. Then she whispered, very quietly.

"Y-yes..."

I let myself be led away by the cord around my neck, and a single thought occupied what was left of my mind.

Am I... actually... dying...?

And Pekoyama, watching the two of them, glared with a sharpness that could have cut glass. Then, under her breath, she began to mutter.

"Nanami didn't have it... so one of those two must."