Side Story — Ultimate Despair Kei
Maizono lay crumpled on the floor, the knife she'd meant for Kei having found nothing but empty air. The last traces of killing intent had drained from her eyes; she stared at the ground with a gaze as hollow as a gutted room. Having let go of everything, she looked utterly spent...
And that despair of hers? It was rather lovely to look at.
She was finally ripe for him to work on. Time for his specialty to come out and play.
"Hey. Earlier you asked why nobody else was struggling as much as you, right?"
"....."
"That's a pretty obvious question... It's because you're the weakest one among us."
".....?"
"Look at yourself. You just tried to kill me, and the second you failed, you gave up on everything and collapsed on the floor. Did you think sitting there like a lump would make it all go away? What a stupid bitch."
"Aaah..."
Carving into a person's heart with a voice like ice was one of his signature talents. Even someone in a perfectly sound state of mind would feel their chest seize up listening to him tear them apart. But hearing that same abuse when your heart was already in pieces... wouldn't you just want to die?
"Want to hear something fun...? The truth is... I'm one of the masterminds behind this killing game."
"W-What..."
"That little stunt you just pulled? It was broadcast to the entire world."
"Th-That's a lie...!"
"It's not a lie... Every last one of your 'fans' out there... just watched your ugly, wretched self get stripped bare for all to see."
"Ah... aah...!"
How does it feel? You were ready to commit murder and walk out of here for the sake of your group — and now, even if you did get out, you wouldn't be saving anyone. You'd just be torn apart by fans all over the world. How does that feel?
"You're lying!!!"
Maizono started convulsing again, and the man flashed a grin and gave a little wave of his hand. All right — my cue. Fellow children of despair ought to look out for each other, don't you think?
"Upupupu...? Did you call me...? Kei...?"
"Monokuma... pull up the footage. Ah, not that brainwashing garbage. The live feed."
"Kei, honestly... I already told you I'm never using those brainwashing videos again... Could you please treat that as a shameful little chapter of the past and let it go...?"
"Haaah. Just play the damn video..."
"Upupupu..."
The moment Kei and Monokuma started chatting so casually, shock carved itself across Maizono's face. A second later she was scrambling for the knife that had skittered far across the floor.
"Y-You were the mastermind... You were the mastermind all along...! Haha... That's right, I didn't do anything wrong...! I... I never did anything wrong...!"
She was half out of her mind, ready to charge with the knife raised — and then she saw the footage Monokuma had thrown up on the wall, and her whole body started to shake.
"Ah... no... this is..."
"....."
Maizono trembled under the malice pouring in from every corner of the world. Then, with dead eyes, she turned the knife toward her own throat and gathered her strength...
"Whoa there. Can't have that..."
".....?"
Kei caught her wrist in a flash and leaned in to whisper.
"You're supposed to kill me and get out of here, remember? And then you've got fans to meet, don't you? Press conferences... autograph sessions... TV appearances... ah, wait. You can't do those anymore, can you?"
"I want to die..."
"Hm?"
"I... I don't need any of it anymore... Everything I am... is gone... So... I'm going to die..."
"Mm... I'm not particularly going to stop you from killing yourself... but there is a better option than just dying. Something good for you, good for the 78th Class, and good for all those fans of yours out there. Interested? Want to hear it?"
".....?"
His eyes were despair stacked on despair — a gaze sunk so completely into the abyss that not a single sliver of light remained. He began to speak.
"Instead of dying here... you perform the feeling you're experiencing right now. For everyone. How about it...?"
"The feeling... I'm experiencing...?"
"Beauti...ful...?"
"Yes... How do you feel right now? And I don't mean that sarcastically... I'm genuinely, seriously asking what your heart is doing."
"..."
"Haha, well... you want to die this instant, don't you? You've given up on everything? Yeah? Am I wrong?"
"....."
"But have you ever, in your entire life, felt an emotion this intense...?"
".....No."
Kei's eyes smiled. He picked the thread right back up.
"Good girl! Accepting and understanding the feeling inside you — that's an excellent attitude! It's a prerequisite for joining the ranks of despair, after all! And as a reward... I'll be confiscating this knife."
"Aah..."
"Anyway... that emotion you just felt... what if you could make someone else feel it too? How do you think that would be...?"
"That... thaat..."
"Intoxicating...! Everyone, resonating with what you feel right now...! Everyone would understand you..."
"They'd... understand me...?"
"That's right... The 78th Class... your fans all over the world... even Naegi... they'd all understand you. If they fell into despair, that is...!"
"Despair... if they despaired..."
"Perform... despair... people who... understand me..."
"All right, decide, Maizono. What's it going to be? Kill yourself here... or become despair with us...?"
Kei pressed the knife back into her hands. Maizono stood motionless for a moment. Then she hurled the blade far away, and when she looked at him, her eyes held neither hope nor the emptiness of a vacated soul. They held despair — and nothing else.
"I want to... become despair... I want to become despair... and share what I feel... with everyone... with my fans... with Naegi...!"
"Hahahahahahahaha!! That's it, that's exactly it!! Ahahahahahahahahaha!!"
Kei laughed himself hoarse. When the laughter finally died, he spoke to her in a voice gone utterly serious.
"Yeah..."
"All right then... our idiot detective is waiting outside, and we can't afford to look suspicious just yet... so how about we put a little knife-cut on that face of yours...?"
He had already remade Maizono's eyes into a mirror of his own. And now, with an expression of perfect calm, he picked up the knife and drew it across his own face. Really... he was just too cool.
After that, Kei went down the roster, plunging the kids into despair one by one.
"A scrawny, gloomy-looking coward who spends most of his time shrinking into himself — how the hell does a guy like that have a heart that strong...?!"
"Mm... what are you talking about?"
"Are you even listening to—"
"I'm not the one who's strong. You're just pathetic."
"...What!?"
"Then again, I guess that's only natural for a guy who let his big brother die, then soothed his own conscience by saying it was for the gang, and had the nerve to take the leader's seat afterward..."
"Y-Y-You son of a bitch!! How do you know about—!"
"But hey, you know what? Everything I just said was broadcast live to the entire world."
"...What!?"
Owada stared at the footage blooming across the sauna wall, and his body locked up. Kei watched him with open amusement, then broke into a grin.
"Owada... what a shame, huh...? That dirty little secret you wanted so badly to bury... already laid bare for the whole world to see."
"Ah... aah..."
"Well? Did you despair? You did, didn't you?"
"....."
"Haaah, Junko... breaking people is this easy... so why did you ever bother with those boring brainwashing vid—"
"Upupupu... I said go easy on me..."
He tossed me a playful smile, then turned back to Owada with despair already settled in his eyes.
"Owada... you're exhausted. Exhausted from forcing yourself to be strong... exhausted from hoping..."
"....."
"But despair never wears you out, no matter how much of it you do... Isn't that fascinating...?"
".....Ha."
"This fascinating thing called despair... don't you want to share it with everyone...?"
"...Hahaha. Haha."
Kei glanced back at me and said it as if he were noting the weather.
"Enoshima. Add one more."
"Celes... you lost that bet rather spectacularly, didn't you...? Fufufu..."
"Y-You... why are you smiling like—"
"Come along to my room."
"Wh-Who do you think you—"
"Your life is hanging on whether you listen to me right now, you know...? And it wouldn't just be your life... I could always have you crawl around naked in front of every last one of the others, oinking like a pig..."
"I-I'll follow you! I'll follow you, all right!!"
"Ufufu... good girl..."
He took Celes back to his room, and he didn't come out again until morning. Honestly... I'm jealous.
"If you could save only one... the person you love, or an innocent stranger... which would you—"
"Haha... you're talking about Kenshiro, aren't you?"
"H-How the hell do you know about—"
"What do you mean? Kenshiro protected you until the very end... and then he died. Ah, right — you wouldn't remember that, would you... kukuku..."
".....!"
Kei showed her the footage of Kenshiro's final moments, and while Ogami was still drowning in despair, he folded her over to the mastermind's side. From that point on, there wasn't a single kid left who could stand against him.
"Kei... you think you can do this and just... walk away..."
"Haaah... extras really do deliver extra-worthy lines, don't they... Honestly, I don't even think you lot are worth the despair... but Junko wants it, so..."
"I... I can't take any more... I'll do anything... please, just some food..."
"E-Even water... please, Kei! I'm begging you!!"
"In that case... fight each other. Starting now."
"What...?"
"Only the winner gets a meal."
".....!"
He locked Kuwata, Yamada, Hagakure, Ishimaru, and Fujisaki in a room and put them through a weeks-long survival gauntlet. They had banded together once, to resist him. On the twenty-third day they started tearing into each other even when it wasn't ration time... and by now, they hated one another completely. It looked like the moment for his specialty had arrived.
"Hhk... I'm sorry... I'll never... I'll never resist again..."
"A little quiet, don't you think...? Ogami, make her louder."
"...Understood."
"KYAAAAAAAAAA!! I'm sorry!! I'll do whatever you say!! Please!! I'll never—"
Asahina held out to the bitter end. But after days upon days of torture at the hands of Ogami — the person she'd been closer to than anyone — her heart finally gave way.
"....."
"Good. She's in the perfect state to work on."
He looked down at Asahina's vacant eyes with open satisfaction, and then he began to breathe despair into that empty gaze.
"Genocider Syo... give it up already."
"As long as Master Byakuya holds on, I won't give—"
"Ah, did I forget to mention? Togami already fell to despair a while back..."
"What...?"
"It's simple, really. I told him the Togami family had collapsed and the outside world was finished, and that even if he walked out of here, Ultimate Despair was far too vast for the Togami name to ever be rebuilt — far too vast for hope to ever rise again. He despaired completely."
"M-Master Byakuya... I... I held on this whole time believing in him alone..."
"By the way, Genocider Syo. Doesn't your whole body itch? You go out of your mind if you don't kill someone. Don't you?"
"I promised Master Byakuya!! No more killing...!"
"No, Genocider Syo. That promise is void."
"M-Master Byakuya...!"
"Walk the path of despair with me... Together, we'll smash this wretched world to pieces... And for that... I need your power, Genocider Syo."
"Ah... aah..."
Genocider Syo and Fukawa had been holding on for Togami's sake. The moment he fell, they fell with him. What a pity, for a murderous fiend. Even their despair wasn't of their own will — it was handed to them. They don't even understand the real flavor of it.
"You stupid detective... You couldn't even find the 'despair' hiding among the kids until things had gotten this far... and in the end, you let every last one of them fall! Congratulations! You're an honorary Ultimate Despair!!"
"Nngh... nngh..."
"Well then. Your turn to despair..."
"Even if it kills me... I won't let things go your way... Kei..."
"Hmm... even after learning that you killed your own father with your own two hands?"
"W-What did you just...?"
"When Jin Kirigiri pieced everything together, it got extremely dangerous... He'd walked away from the family of his own accord, but you really can't fake a detective's blood, can you?"
"What are you talking about!!"
"But at the last moment... caught between your father and me, you chose to trust me, and you killed him yourself. Thanks to you, the last scraps of hope never even got to counterattack — they just folded, limp and pathetic!! Ahahahahahahaha!!"
".....!"
The foolish detective girl watched the video of herself murdering her own father, and of all the kids, she was the last to fall into despair. She really was a persistent one. And... I never did like the way she fawned over him.
"Enoshima... Kei... why? Why would you do all of this...?"
At the last class trial — a formality, nothing more — Naegi had taken a unanimous vote. He glared at us, his face twisted with fury, and demanded an answer.
That troublesome little "lucky" brat. No matter how hard we tried, we couldn't make him despair. In the end, not long after the killing game began, Ikusaba had outlived her usefulness, so we killed her, planted the corpse, and forced his execution.
"Well... to show the world, of course..."
"What...?"
"You, the 'hope' that never breaks... we wanted to broadcast the moment you finally sank into the eternal despair called 'death.' To rip out the last remaining remnants of hope by the root. That's why we did all of this."
"Th-That's—!!"
"I'm not interested in a loser's excuses...? Enoshima. Carry out the execution."
"Upupupu..."
The execution began, but the press kept malfunctioning — and Naegi slipped death a full five times. Then Maizono murmured, You're boring now, too... and he closed his eyes. The press came down, and he was flattened like dried squid.
And so... for a moment, that unbreakable hope had given us a genuine scare. But Kei turned the crisis into an opportunity, and we plunged the outside world into despair exactly as planned. The Future Foundation had already come apart. The handful of disgusting little hopes that remained either took their own lives, broken by the endless despair footage... or became despair themselves.
"So. What are we doing with those kids?"
"Turning them loose on the world. Together with the 77th Class seniors we so carefully despaired ourselves, they'll wipe out every last scrap of hope. Not a single piece left."
"Hahaha... I see..."
I looked at Kei with a face full of happiness. He looked back at me with smiling eyes, and after a brief kiss, we spoke at the same time.
"Shall we get going?"
We'd made a promise. When everything was over... we would die together.
Broadcasting the sight of our deaths to the entire world, and plunging even despair itself into despair one last time — that was our final plan.
The sound grows louder. So does the heartbeat racing toward the despair about to arrive.
I glanced sideways... and there he was. Kei, my companion, the one who had understood me better than anyone, leaning against the desk and smiling at me. I asked him a question.
"Well? Are you satisfied?"
"Yeah... thanks to you."
"Upupupu... I felt it from the moment we first met. You were my only one — the only person who would ever understand me. There were a few twists and turns at the start, sure... but in the end, we get to share this last moment together, don't we?"
"Haha. Yeah..."
From the instant I saw those wary eyes of his at our first meeting, I knew. This boy was the soulmate who would finally satisfy me. And my super-analytical prowess had not let me down.
The press was right behind us now. I closed my eyes with a peaceful expression and took his hand. He closed his eyes too, his grip gentle around mine, and together we despaired for the last time in our lives, waiting for that final, perfect despair.
But... how did Kei and I end up on the same side...?
A question surfaced, sudden and uninvited. When had he and I become allies? No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't find the moment. The more I turned it over, the more my head began to ache.
Upupupu... well, it's the last moment anyway, so what's the point of dwelling on it...? Just... enjoy this.
But that was a trivial thing. Trivial, compared to the enormous despair about to arrive.
"Upupupupupupupu!!!"
"Ahahahahahaha..."
And so, the world fell completely into despair.
"Deputy Director. This bitch is laughing."
"First meaningful change in three months. Should we attempt interaction?"
"Leave her. She's probably dreaming about plunging the world into despair."
Of course, only inside the delusions of a single madwoman.