"How many times will you go through this before you finally learn that you can't beat despair?"
Despite all that he's gone through, Naegi was still naive. He should have known that whatever he said, no matter what he did, Junko wouldn't submit. He would fight to the end to see him fall under her 'punishment', and it was only now that he realized it.
I need to investigate this school without tipping her off… If she finds out what I'm trying to do, Junko will just send me back in time again. I have no idea how many failsafes Junko has, but she probably has so many that it wouldn't be worth my time.
…
Not worth his time? The way he was now, time had no worth or meaning to him. In fact, he really could just keep going back in time until he finally traps Junko. But if he tried to do that, he probably would really go insane.
Naegi laughs humorlessly. It was a shockingly empty laugh, one that even scared himself. It didn't sound like him at all - it was too robotic, too emotionless. Was that really what he sounded like? Was that what lay beneath the layers of acting Naegi had been putting up?
Shivering slightly, Naegi sits up in his bed. Any time now, Maizono would come visit his room. She would apologize, and then tell him that someone had tried to get into her room. After that, she would ask to switch rooms for the night. If Naegi wanted to, he could probably recite her entire speech by heart. He had memorized everything she said here - not because he tried to, but because those words had seared itself into his brain.
*knock knock*
"Here we go." Naegi mutters to himself. Slowly, he gets up from his bed and walks over to his door. This time, it felt like there were weights tied to his limbs, weighing him down. This was because he had a plan this time. A plan that would give him and Kirigiri the chance to investigate the entire school. It was a desperate move, something that Naegi would have never thought of doing. But he was backed into a corner - or at least that was what it felt like.
Naegi opens the door. As expected, Maizono was standing there weakly.
"Sayaka? What are you doing out here so late?" Naegi asks, fake concern tainting his voice. He knew that she was making herself look weaker so that she could convince him to let her stay in his room. But he also knew that she really did feel weak from the motive video. She was just playing it up a bit.
"Sorry to bother you, but something weird just happened." Maizono says softly.
"Something weird?" Naegi replies.
The only chance that Naegi has ever gotten to investigate the whole school was when Junko had unlocked everything for the final case, which happened right after Naegi's failed execution. He had gotten practically unrestricted access to every room in the school. But in order to get to that point…
His friends would have to die.
"Just a little while ago, I was laying down in my room. And all of the sudden, my door started rattling and shaking."
Maizono would have to be murdered.
Kuwata would have to be executed.
And many more would have to die in the same fashion. All of this was necessary if Naegi wanted to reach the 'end point' of this Killing Game. He had spent the hours leading up to now agonizing over his choice. Sure, time traveling meant that everyone could just be revived again. He wasn't going to escape the time loop yet, just find information. So on paper, wouldn't letting his friends die be worth it?
On paper, yes. But in practice?
...
"So, what happened?" Naegi asks, but only for the second time.
"After a while, it just… stopped. I let some time go by, then I got up and opened the door to check outside. But there was nobody there." Maizono shivers and looks down at the floor pitifully.
"Someone tried to force their way into your room? But who would do that?"
This won't be pretty. Naegi thinks bitterly to himself.
----------------------------------------
Naegi runs from the cafeteria as soon as the other students started to discuss her absence. It was the same as last time - he switched rooms with Maizono and the next morning, she was absent from the meeting. Naegi knew fully well what happened but still panicked and ran to his room to check on her anyway. It wasn't even an act - he just felt compelled to do so.
He enters the room and immediately enters his restroom.
Naegi had made the decision to let Maizono attempt her murder plan. He willingly decided that temporarily sacrificing his friends would be an even trade for stopping Junko's plan.
This isn't the wrong choice. It doesn't matter anyway. Everyone will come back to life, just like how they've always been doing. This is actually for their own good. Naegi tries to reassure himself, but it doesn't stop the crushing weight of guilt from falling onto his heart.
The guilt of course, came from the body that was laying down right in front of him. There it was, Maizono's body. She was sitting down on the floor up against a wall. Like last time, a knife was stuck into her corpse and the word LEON was written upside down next to her.
The last time he had seen this, he had screamed and fainted. That was because he wasn't expecting it.
This time, Naegi didn't do any of that. All he did was stand there silently, a feeling of sickening guilt rising up his chest. Resisting the urge to vomit, Naegi suddenly remembers that he should act. If he didn't, then the Killing Game wouldn't go the same way. Maizono's death would be in vain.
Vain… it doesn't matter if it's in vain. Naegi thinks bitterly. I'll just go through it again anyway. None of this even matters. But I'll try anyway. I'll try because it's what I have to do. I have to act, and then I'll have to let my friends kill each other. I'll let them kill each other because I want to save them.
That's why I'm doing this.
"AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" Naegi screams.
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The investigation goes by in a blur. Naegi kind of just wandered around his dorm aimlessly with a blank look on his face. Somewhere in the back of his head, he had registered that Ikusaba had died as well. He didn't see it happen, nor did anyone tell him about it, but he knew. Ikusaba was dead. Soon, Kuwata would join her. Just like last time, everyone treated him as if he were the killer. He wasn't really worried though - he knew that he could easily prove that he didn't murder Maizono.
In the blink of an eye, Naegi suddenly finds himself standing in the school's trial grounds. He hadn't even noticed that they had all walked here. His mind seemed cloudy - he couldn't focus too much on anything without getting a headache. All he could think about was the fact that his friends were dying again. He was replaying a nightmare.
"... Naegi, do you have a rebuttal? You have been keeping rather quiet lately."
Kirigiri's sharp voice breaks through his thoughts. Blinking, Naegi looks around. All of his classmates were staring at him - some looked suspicious, and some looked amused. Monokuma in particular was giggling like a schoolchild, spectating them with his ever present grin.
"Ah." Naegi numbly nods. He didn't know what accusation had been thrown at him, but proving Kuwata to be the killer would be easy enough. "Well, Maizono left that message in her dying moments, right? 11037. If you look at it upside down, then it spells out LEON."
…
"Woah! Naegs is right dudes!" Hagakure exclaims. "Does that mean he didn't do it?"
"What?!" Kuwata looks at him incredulously, face quickly turning red. "Naegi obviously planted that message there! He's just tryna frame me! Naegi's the killer, not me!"
"But that's not all." Naegi continues. "In the trash compactor room - there was Hagakure's broken crystal ball next to the incinerator, along with a white piece of fabric. It was during the night, but there were gaps between the gates. Being the Ultimate Baseball Player, you could have thrown your blood-stained clothes into the incinerator and then used the ball to press the button to activate it."
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
"Bullshit!" Kuwata yells.
"By the way… Maizono's room had my nameplate on it, and my room had her nameplate on it. They were switched around by Maizono. This was because Maizono was planning to murder Kuwata, by inviting him to 'her' room."
"Bullshit!" Kuwata repeats. There was an angry batch of veins sticking out of his forehead and one of his eyes was twitching. He looked so furious that he looked like he could have exploded at any moment. "You don't got a lick of evidence! I'm not taking this shit!"
"Actually…" Kirigiri raises her hand. "There was a notepad in Naegi's room that proves that she did invite someone over during the night. A page was torn out, but I shaded in the next page to find the indentations. She most definitely wrote a note to someone.
Yamada shifts around uncomfortably. "Erm, I suppose that this means… Mr. Naegi is not the killer?"
Celeste smiles softly. "I suppose not. He disproved our accusations rather quickly, I must say. Perhaps our luckster is sharper then he appears to be."
"No! NONONONONONONONONONO!" Kuwata screams. "You don't got no evidence! It's all circumstantial! She was found in your room, that means you killed her! Stupid!"
Naegi sighs heavily. He forgot how desperate Kuwata was during this case. But if he recalled correctly, he could show him another piece of evidence - the one about the tool kit. That shut him up last time, and that should shut him up this time.
And it did.
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Naegi sits on his bed and stares at his wall. He couldn't sleep, not after what just happened. He checked and just like last time, Maizono's body was gone without a single trace. And just like last time, Kuwata was dead. He was executed in the same way, stoned by thousands of baseballs. Naegi didn't want to watch his execution again, but he did anyway. Once again, guilt rises in his chest as he watches Kuwata die. All of this was his fault. In fact, you could say that he was as guilty as Monokuma was at this point. It didn't matter if all of it would reset in the end. It didn't matter if he was doing this so that he could actually save them.
They aren't really dead.
Naegi must have repeated this to himself thousands of times by now. It was a half truth. Right now, they really were dead. Maizono, Kuwata, and Ikusaba were all dead. Their hearts had stopped beating and their brains had stopped working. Not a single ounce of life remained in their corpses.
But it would all just reset. In fact, Naegi could kill himself right now. He could kill himself, and see them again. They would be back to the land of the living. But if he did that, then all of this would have been a waste of time. There would be little point in going back now.
So Naegi sticks to the plan - he goes through the whole Killing Game in the same way. His mask had slipped during the first trail, but he acted through the rest with ease. He probably didn't even need to act, as Junko wouldn't have accused him of being a traitor this time around. But he was so used to faking his emotions that he acted anyway. He would act, even if he didn't need to.
Naegi goes through the ropes again. He goes through each day, each investigation, each trial, everything. Of course, Naegi couldn't do it all perfectly - but he went through it well. The first Killing Game was something that Naegi could still recall clearly. From Naegi's perspective, it had happened over a year ago. Despite this, he could remember it as if it had happened yesterday.
So he does it all again.
He sits back and watches each and every death unfold in front of him. For every person that dies, Naegi feels their soul weighing down on his heart. Despite this, he moves on anyway. Like he keeps telling himself: They aren't really dead.
----------------------------------------
*BANG*
Naegi sits in his desk, staring straight forward as a Monokuma lectures him. He slowly moves backwards as an incredibly large compactor bangs on the floor behind him. Each impact caused the entire room to tremble, almost like a small earthquake.
*BANG*
It was nearly time. Naegi had finally reached the end. Naegi had expected to be relieved once he got to this point. But he doesn't feel relieved - he just feels empty. As if someone had sucked the soul out of him. He wasn't scared at all either. After all, he knew that this execution would fail completely, and that Kirigiri would save him from being trapped in the trash room.
*BANG*
Naegi's desk finally comes underneath the compactor. It stalls.
Fujisaki's face appears on a screen - no, that wasn't right. Fujisaki is dead. Owada had murdered him by smashing his head in with a dumbbell. After that, Owada was executed for his crimes. Alter Ego's face appears on a screen, replacing the mocking face of Monokuma. The compactor doesn't fall. It doesn't kill Naegi - instead, his desk just falls backwards into the open trash chute.
Naegi, along with the desk he had been sitting in, falls into the garbage dump. Since Naegi had been bracing himself, he managed to keep consciousness after the fall. Still, falling from such a height was bound to hurt quite a bit. Really, Naegi was lucky that he hadn't died.
"Ah… that smarts." Naegi groans as he pries himself out of the mangled mess that was once a desk.
All there was to do now was wait for Kirigiri. Naegi was prepared though. Before the trial, he had thrown a couple bottles of water and some food along with a book down the trash chute. This would make the wait a little less boring.
Sighing, Naegi looks up into the abyss he had fallen from. It was quite a large distance - if Naegi weren't so lucky, he would have probably broken a few bones or fractured his skull.
Now that he had a bunch of time on his hands, he rethinks things one more time.
In order to get to this point, he had to sacrifice Maizono, Ikusaba, Kuwata, Fujisaki, Owada, Ishimaru, Yamada, Celeste, and Sakura. That was well over half of his friends, of his classmates. Now, they were little more than corpses.
Despite his numbness, Naegi still felt the weight of their deaths on his soul. He had known them for years. They had gone to school together, survived the apocalypse together, and went through this damned killing game together more times then Naegi could remember.
"They aren't really dead." Naegi says out loud, as to reassure himself. This wasn't permanent. For their sakes, Naegi will escape this hellish time loop.
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*CRUNCH*
Jumping a bit, Naegi glances over to the newest pile of garbage that had been thrown down. Naegi quickly discards his empty bottles of water and his book and quickly walks over to the mound of trash. He knew that Kirigiri was somewhere in there, but he shouldn't have known it. Once again, Naegi puts on his mask. He would not let things go wrong now of all times.
"I wonder if there's something still edible in here." Naegi mutters to the garbage pile, rummaging through it.
"I suppose that I could be considered edible, but I wouldn't recommend trying it." A familiar stoic voice comes from the pile as something rises up from the trash. She seemed completely unperturbed by the fact that she was covered in garbage.
"Oh! Kirigiri?!" Naegi exclaims.
"This place smells awful." Kirigiri brushes off some trash from her shoulders and shoots a glance at Naegi. Just like last time, Kirigiri had an empty cup of noodles on her head. It could be sort of strange how some things lined up like that. "You look like you're doing better than I expected."
"Wh-What are you doing here?!" Naegi asks incredulously.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to help you."
"Really?" Naegi says hopefully.
"Here." Kirigiri hands him a plastic wrapped red bean bun, as well as a fresh bottle of water. "I imagine that you're quite hungry, considering the fact that you were about to go through a pile of garbage."
"Thanks a lot, Kirigiri!" Naegi greedily shoves the bun into his mouth and gulps down the water. He wasn't actually that hungry, but it would be suspicious if Naegi didn't act like he was. As he finishes, Naegi paths his stomach with a satisfied look. "Ah, now I have the energy to keep going."
"So, you still haven't given up." Kirigiri says softly.
"Of course not! After all, the fact that I can keep going forward is about all that I'm good at anyway…"
"Well, that's not such a bad thing to be good at."
"But Kirigiri… Why did you come down to rescue me?"
"To pay a debt. During the trial, you knew that I was lying. Despite this, you didn't say anything. I knew that you were covering for me, yet I didn't do or say anything to help you. I let Monokuma try to execute you. I abandoned you."
Naegi shakes his head. "But you came down here to save me! You didn't abandon me."
Kirigiri narrows her eyes. "No, I did abandon you. I abandoned you in order to save my own life. You saved me life, but I couldn't bring myself to return the favor during the trial. Liste, I'm not trying to make excuses but there was a reason why I had to live."
"The reason you had to live?" Naegi gives her a questioning glance.
"I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything, including the reason I have to survive."
…
I already know all of this. I know everything. In fact, I know more then even Kirigiri knows. But I guess I should keep up this act for a small while longer.
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"Looks like this is it." Naegi stops climbing up the ladder and glances down at Kirigiri. The climb up here was both excruciatingly boring and exhausting. Not only did he have the monotonous task of climbing back up to the school, but he also had to go back and forth with Kirigiri on her expositional dialogue. The climb felt like it took days.
"On the other side, Hope's Peak is waiting for us." Kirigiri says with a slight hint of exhaustion in her voice.
"I guess this connects to the hatch near the trash room, huh? Well, here goes nothing." Naegi says, putting out his right hand to push up against the hatch.
*Creak*
It opened with ease.
"Well, we're back. Finally." Naegi gets up from the ladder and sits on the ground, stretching his arms. "That took forever…"
"I can't believe how long that ladder was." Kirigiri says, sitting down next to Naegi.
"So… now what do we do?" Naegi asks in a hushed whisper, as if the mastermind might have been listening in on them. "Of course, I'm glad that I didn't die. But if Monokuma finds out, then he might just execute me again. I'm worried about you too, Kirigiri. You helped me, so Monokuma might…"
"Well, let's just ask the mastermind himself." Kirigiri deadpans.
"W-What?!"
"With the security cameras all around the building, we won't be able to hide for long anyway. Trying to hide from the mastermind would just be wasting time at this point."
Naegi rubs the back of his head. "I suppose that's true."
"Don't worry." Kirigiri says firmly. "What you think will happen, won't. Trust me."
Naegi almost bursts out laughing as he hears this. She thinks that he didn't know what would happen? No, everything will happen exactly the way he thinks it will. He remembers what happens after this almost perfectly. In fact, he could have written an entire script and it would have probably been accurate.
"The mastermind is the one ensnared here." Kirigiri continues. "They stood exposed during the investigation into Ikusaba's death. There was a moment where the mastermind let their guard down. If we can talk to Monokuma, we can confirm it. And it'll be better for us if we go to him directly before he finds out that you escaped."
What an incredibly high stakes plan… Not like I'm one to criticise though. I pretty much put the lives of everyone here on the line with my plan. They all died so that I could continue.
Then, Naegi remembers that he could practically bring them back to life. Another fit of laughter threatens to escape him, but he somehow manages to swallow it.
"Monokuma should be in the gym. Let's get going." Kirigiri says, standing up from the floor.
Right. It was time for the last hurdle. And then, finally, Naegi could solve this issue. Even if he didn't get it on the first try, he would get it on the second, third, or even hundredth try. He would have unrestricted access to the entire school. There must be a clue hidden somewhere.
Naegi would solve this issue. He would, at last, be able to save everyone.
And they would stay saved.
Forever.