[Danwanron Hakomae] Hope synaesthesia

"Crack."

The hour hand and the minute hand coincide, but only for a second, and then separate slowly.

"Hi, good morning everyone."

Kirikiri raised his eyes, and his eyes flicked over Komaeda and Sapling who were walking from the door, his eyes stayed on the gauze on the white-haired boy's head for a moment, and soon lowered his eyes in disinterest.

The tip of the table knife touched the porcelain plate, then slid down, and the golden yellow heart overflowed from the flat cut surface in the center of the poached egg yolk.

On a new day, it is still the usual breakfast morning meeting.

As the day passed, the number of participants became smaller.No matter whether it is Ishimaru Kiyotaka who finally recovered his energy, Yamada One Two Three who always muttered some Two-dimensional words, or Seres who always persuaded everyone to act calmly with a calm tone, they will never appear again in this place now.

As far as Naegi is concerned, he can't say that he will resent Celes who set up the serial killing situation because of this, and he is not so naive as to think that there is no dark side in everyone's heart.

What really cannot be forgiven should be the man behind the scenes who created a hotbed of despair and pushed everyone to extremes.

"Senior Komaeda, are you okay?" Komaeda, who was sitting on the seat, received a concerned greeting from Asahina, "I heard Naegi-san say that you were also attacked during the search. I'm sorry that I was still because of you I have suspected you since I never showed up..."

"Haha, it's my fault for not appearing in front of everyone, and I deserve to be suspected. It doesn't matter, anyway, I have nothing to do now." He quickly waved his hand to show that he didn't mind at all, and smiled with his eyes bent, "Speaking of it , I'm curious how Naegi-kun helped me get rid of the suspicion?"

The dining table suddenly fell silent.

"Uh... this question..." The girl froze, and the expression on her face became weird.

"What's wrong with this?" Komaeda wondered.

"Because I tied up Komaeda-senpai with the bed." Seedling slowly biting a crispy fried pumpkin pie, fine brown hair covering his red ears, "I used the food from the warehouse. I found the rope, so Komaeda-senpai can’t go out even if he wakes up, and I locked the door of the dormitory before I left, so it’s even more impossible for people outside to come in and attack you.”

Hmmmmmmmm?

Komaeda Nagito blinked, then blinked again.

It seems that even that seedling has not grown during this period.

Kyoko Kirikiri picked up the napkin and wiped the corners of her lips gracefully to hide the faint smile on her lips.

After the morning meeting, it is customary for each to have free time.

Having experienced yet another class referee, Monokuma opened the fence leading to the fourth floor of the school building late last night.The newly opened area includes 2 class classrooms, music classroom, chemistry classroom, information processing room, staff office and principal's office.Except Jugami and Fukawa who were absent in the morning as usual, and Komaeda who went back to the room to rest, the others came to the newly opened area to search and investigate.

Although there are more rooms on the new floor than before, the doors of the information processing room and the principal's office, which are the key points, are locked as the name suggests.

When Ye Yin jokingly and tentatively proposed to break through by force, Monokuma appeared and announced the school rule of "no damage to the locked door is allowed".

Thinking of Enoshima Dunko, who violated school rules by attacking monokuma and was killed as an example to monkeys, his opportunistic thoughts were instantly shattered.

There are not many other valuable clues found. What is worth noting is that the poison stored in the chemistry classroom is placed in the open. Most of them are specially arranged by the guy behind the scenes to encourage cannibalism.

How could a normal school place dangerous and potent poisons so easily accessible?

Wu Qie, who had a cold look in his eyes, suddenly froze for a moment.

A normal school... No, this is not a normal school anymore.

Peak of Hope has long since ended its function as a school, and this fact has already been clearly stated in the letter sent to the principal found by Makoto Sapling.

And that may well have been the case a year ago.

So...not the current Monokuma, but the real Headmaster of Hope Peak, where is that person?

Wuqi pursed the corners of his lips.

She tightened her fingers holding the doorknob, lowered her eyes, and took a deep breath——

"What are you doing here?"

After she uttered the sound, the brown-haired boy who was standing there in a daze trembled all over. At this moment, the black and white bear who was standing opposite him leaped into the air and snatched a piece of paper from his hand nimbly. pieces of paper.

"Photo get!"

"Ah! It's so despicable!" Seedling, who was half a beat slow in responding, shouted angrily.

"Pfft, why is Naegi-san full of flaws? It is the law of bears to be kings and losers." Monokuma said cheerfully, turning his head to look at Kirikiri standing at the door with those small black bean-like eyes, "Oops, a helper shows up, it's 2-on-1! I'm slipping—"

Misaki frowned.

"Mist, Mr. Kirigiri—" Makoto Naomu anxiously shouted, "Stop Monokuma quickly."

She didn't move.

Seedling couldn't keep up with the doll's weird and unpredictable moving speed, and stopped after a few steps, looking at the direction where the black and white bear figure disappeared without saying a word. Sweat flowed from his forehead to his cheeks. Mood.

"It's useless to chase." Wukiri said, folded his arms, and raised his eyebrows slowly, "Mr. Miaomu, why don't you tell me what you saw just now?"

The young man who had already reached her side stopped in his tracks. From the corner of his eyes, he could see that the other party tightened his jaw slightly, and seemed to swallow in his throat, showing obvious nervousness.

"Photos. Like Seres, you might not believe what I saw." He smiled wryly as he spoke, "I also think it's ridiculous that I can see a group photo of Maiyuan, Seres and Yamada , They are obviously dead, but they are smiling so intimately in the photo."

"What did you say?!" Wukiri frowned, "Wait, you mean you've seen similar photos before? Why did you only tell Celes about such an important thing?"

"At first I thought it was just a prank by Monokuma. In the first photo, Kuwata-san, Fujisaki-san, and Owada-san appeared. They were wearing school uniforms that I didn't know, smiling so happily together, and the background was Hope’s Peak’s classroom where the windows are not crucified. Anyone who sees this kind of photo will find it ridiculous, right?” Naegi closed his eyes, wondering if it was an illusion, his voice was inexplicably low, “Kirikiri-san, But just now Monokuma said that these two photos are real."

"If the photo is forged, Monokuma must be the forger. How can you believe Monokuma's one-sided words." There was a touch of accusation in Wuqie's tone.

Seedling took a deep breath.

"I know. It's just that if Monokuma's words are true, maybe it can explain a problem left by yesterday's school-level referee."

He looked at Yukiri whose face changed slightly, and a faint smile appeared on his face at some point.

"Why does Yamada-san know the real name of Seres-san who regards her background as a top secret? Are they...so close?"

"Ahhh—I've searched for so long, but unfortunately the only thing of value was snatched away by Monokuma." Seedling's loud lament suddenly interrupted Kirikiri's thoughts. She turned her eyes and saw that the other party was not quite He muttered happily, "No one will believe my words now."

Wuqie raised his eyebrows, noncommittal.

"It's a pity that I found dust all over my body... Forget it, I'll go to the public bath to take a dip." Miaomu paused, and raised her eyes cautiously, "Student Wuqiri, you are also a little dirty, do you want to come together?" go?"

He spoke beyond measure, with his back to the rear camera, but his expression was tense and timid, as if he was afraid that she would hit someone in the next moment.

I can't tell, this guy...

Wuqie stared at his death-defying face, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Accommodation area, changing room in public bath.

"I just found out now that Komaeda-senpai has been coming in and out of here frequently since Fujisaki-san died."

Seedling sat on the wooden chair, his eyes fixed on the key in his palm.

"He said he likes to take a bath, and the bathroom in the dormitory only has a shower, so I didn't think too much about it."

"So that's the case. Black and white bears didn't install cameras in the locker room. No wonder it didn't find it here."

Wuqie sat with his back facing him. She had a laptop on her lap. It was the faulty computer they found on the second floor of the library. Her hands were typing on the keyboard quickly, her eyes were focused on the screen .

Sapling gave a "hmm" and said, "The Fujisaki incident... I passed out during the search. During that time, my condition was not very good, and my memory was also confused. I don't know that Komaeda-senpai is When and where did you find this computer that was repaired by Fujisaki-san and designed and installed the artificial intelligence program (AlterEgo)."

He slowly tightened his fingers.

"After he was attacked by classmate Seles, with the last of his strength, he stuffed the key to the locker where AlterEgo is hidden in my hand. I originally wanted to tell everyone about this yesterday, but I didn't expect to say it later. So many things can happen."

"That—Naegi-kun told me about what happened recently."

In the center of the computer screen, Alter Ego, who had the same face as Chihiro Fujisaki, wept silently.

"I was here when Komaeda-kun was attacked before, but because I was ordered by Komaeda-kun not to make a sound no matter what happens, I can't violate this mandatory order, not only can't help everyone , and such a terrible thing happened later, I am really sorry."

"It's not your fault at all! Don't take all the responsibility on yourself!" Seedling said hurriedly.

Fog cut sighed for these two guys who were obviously too soft, and changed the subject altogether.

"After Komaeda Nagito found you, what did he ask you to do?" She thought for a moment before adding, "Everything, everything, you are not allowed to hide it, tell me everything."

"Kirikiri-san, you seem to be very wary of Komaeda-senpai..." A drop of sweat dripped from the back of Naegi's head.

"There is nothing suspicious about that person, and only Miaomu-kun can trust him so much." Wuqie said very bluntly, "Oh, by the way, his obsession with you is very real."

"..." Sis, I can't answer your words.

Naegi smiled awkwardly.

"Komaeda-kun asked me to do only one thing, and that is to decipher the encrypted files in this computer." AlterEgo said, "After several days of solving puzzles and calculations, this task has been completed."

After AlterEgo's induction, two valuable intelligence conclusions can be drawn for them:

First, the function of Hope's Peak Academy as a school has indeed ended. This conclusion was confirmed by another channel from the letter that Sapling found in the library.Instead, today's Hope's Peak Academy was converted into a sanctuary, intended to provide refuge for a group of young people during a social catastrophe called "The Worst and Worst Desperate Event in Human History" that occurred a year ago.

Second, it was Hope's Peak Affairs Bureau, or in other words, Hope's Peak itself, that made the plan to abolish the school and shelter.The person in charge of this project is the principal of Hope's Peak Academy. He should be a middle-aged man in his 40s, but now the real Hope's Peak principal has disappeared.

Wuqie was lost in thought, she was silent for a long time.

"I heard about this information from Alter Ego yesterday afternoon." Seedling said in a low voice.

"I can understand that you don't want to scare the snake, but I didn't expect that you would choose to let me know about it first." Hearing this, Wuqie slightly raised his eyebrows, "If I'm not mistaken, I will I should be very suspicious in your eyes because I am invisible."

"Haha, no. I know that Mr. Wuqie is very good. You can always notice details that none of us have noticed during the referee's debate. In exchange, you must have done a lot of investigation work when we didn't know about it." Bar."

Behind Kirikiri, who couldn't see, the seedling raised his head slightly, his warm and soft gray-green eyes shone brightly.

"I trust Kirikiri-san as my partner, um, I also trust Komaeda-senpai who looks very suspicious."

"People like you..."

Wuqie was momentarily speechless.

After a long time, she smiled slightly.

"You didn't die in the first catastrophe after coming here, Sapling Makoto, you are lucky."

"Eh?" Naegi didn't expect to get such an answer.

"Not dying proves that you are destined not to die." Wuqie said flatly, "That's fine, you just keep your faith in your arms until the end."

She seemed to understand a little bit why Komaeda Nagito was so obsessed with this person.

Oh, the phototaxis of dark creatures.

At night, figures swayed through the silent corridor.

——As a token of appreciation for your trust, let me try to trust you too, Naegi-kun.

Sapling Makoto let out a breath, the white mist melted into the cold air in the blink of an eye, and his eyes were in a trance for a moment.

Only this kind of cold can make him feel the passage of time, the alternation of day and night.

His fingers stuck out of his sleeves and touched the door in front of him.

——During the previous exploration, I discovered that there is a hidden room in the tool room of the men's bathroom on the second floor.

Wuqie is really amazing, even the boys' bathroom can be investigated so carefully.

Should I say that she is eclectic, or that she is decisive... In some aspects, her execution ability is simply frightening.And also has very keen insight.

If it were him... If there were any secrets hidden in the women's bathroom, he would probably never find out the secret.

It's a bit ironic that principles can even get in the way in this environment.

A wry smile escaped his lips, and he pushed open the door.

A row of mirrors reflected his figure as he walked by. The head of the faucet of a washbasin was not turned off properly, and the sound of water droplets could be heard in the ears.

tick.tick.tick.

The air in the humid place was even colder, and Makoto Naogi shivered slightly. He looked behind him, but there was no one.

He subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around, and mustered up the courage to open the door of the tool room.

"Squeak-"

There was a tooth-piercing sound of turning in the ear, and the seedling continued to take a step forward, pressing the palm of the hand on the wall behind the cleaning tool.

——Speaking of which, I'm a little surprised that you would choose to act separately from Komaeda Nagito.Are you worried about his injury?

——I understand, but if you continue to do nothing like this, the situation will only get worse.Isn't there a saying like this?Being together is not just for a while.

Together, how warm this word makes him feel.

It's like the warm sunshine in the afternoon, like a bright and intoxicating spring scene, you and I look at each other and smile, fingers crossed.

Unexpectedly, the secret door of the hidden room turned out to be a revolving door structure that can be opened with a push. Naegi only felt that the center of gravity of his body was lowered, and he staggered a bit before he stumbled in.

Now is not the time to indulge in personal feelings, you can't let yourself be weak, Komaeda-senpai may get hurt too.

He didn't want to see what happened that night happen again.

If this crisis can only be overcome by his own strength, then he will overcome it by himself.

——I want to find out the truth and find out the true identity of the man behind the scenes.

Then, we will have countless times and futures, always, forever together.

The light is very dim, only a faint light from behind shines into the room.This is obviously a place that hasn't been visited by anyone for a long time, and the rotten and moldy smell blows at the face.Seedling subconsciously took a few steps forward, his eyes suddenly felt tingling, and he was so sore that he was on the verge of tears, and floating dust could be seen falling down in his blurred vision.

"Here is... the roster of previous students of Hope's Peak Academy?"

He stood in front of the bookshelf, and a thin piece of paper fell out of a book titled "Hope Peak Academy Current Student List". Seedling squatted down to pick up the paper, and read it slowly. That's not old writing:

"You can't leave here... no?" Why can't you leave instead of can't leave?

Before he could think, a dark shadow suddenly appeared on the bookshelf in front of him.

Then, there was a sharp pain in the back of his head, and darkness swallowed his mind.

It's cold, it's so cold.

The wind brushed the hair on his forehead, he moved his eyelids, and slowly opened his eyes.

It was dark as far as he could see, with only a gleam of light cast from behind. His fingers rested limply on the dusty ground, and the dark shadows stretched out of sight.

The icy chill that came from the ground penetrated through his clothes, piercing from the cool skin to the bones.

My head hurts——

Seedling closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, pressed her palms on the rough ground, and supported her body on her elbows to get up.

When his feet stood on the ground, he suddenly felt dizzy. He covered his lips to resist the desire to retch, and his eyes wandered in the dark room.

No, all are gone, all the documents and books originally stored here have been taken away.There were still traces of dust and mess on the empty bookcase shelves, clearly showing the looting that had been experienced here when he was knocked out.

Depression only appeared for a while, and Makoto Naogi still had a little hope, and tried his best to search for things that were still left in the distance.

Unsurprisingly, nothing.

"Ugh--"

He took a few steps back, sat down on the ground, and scratched his hair angrily.

"It's all my fault for being too careless." He muttered reproachfully, putting his hands on his knees, and looking straight at the direction outside the door, "Aside from the public bathroom, the bathroom should be the only one left without cameras installed The place is gone, then you shouldn’t be able to hear my voice.”

Although it was just a meaningless thing, Naegi smiled slightly.

"Unlike Komaeda-senpai, the person who attacked me obviously didn't intend to kill me. Since you want to take back the things here at the risk of revealing your identity, and your actions are also concerned about my life, that is to say , you should be behind the scenes."

He spread out his palm, and there was an inconspicuous scratch in the center of his dirty palm.

"If it's other classmates, it would be the wisest decision to kill me just now." He said slowly, with a somewhat low voice, "At night time, at least most people will abide by the rules and stay in their own classrooms. Room. If you kill me at this time, not only will everyone not have an alibi, but you can also logically blame Komaeda-senpai who lives with me or Kirikiri who guessed that I might move at night... Only the mastermind behind the scenes, for you, killing me so casually will destroy the balance of your game."

Of course, no one would answer him.

Since when did he start to be able to guess the logic of the actions of the black hands behind the scenes?Seedling was stunned for a moment, and then he sighed slowly.

It doesn't matter, even if he misses this opportunity, at least he has really confirmed some things.

For example, the mastermind behind the scenes is in this closed academy just like them, and most of them are hiding in certain corners that they can't find for the time being.

For example, the other party does not know everything about Hope's Peak Academy.

Komaeda walked on the first floor looking for the missing saplings. His eyes swept across the silent classrooms. Behind the small windows of the doors, there seemed to be a dark monster that could devour everything.

His mood gradually became agitated, he frowned unobtrusively, turned around and was about to go upstairs, when he suddenly saw the young man leaning against the wall at the corner.

When Sapling saw him, his tired and dazed eyes seemed to light up for a moment.

"My head hurts—" he drew out his tone.

"Eh?" Komaeda froze for a moment, with a dazed expression, "Isn't this the line I should say?"

Hearing this, Miaomu looked up at him, and burst out laughing.

"That's right." He tilted his head, his gaze was vaguely fixed on the void in front of him, and there was a sigh in his voice, "But, I seem to be a little tired, can Senior Komaeda help me? "

With a thump in his heart, Komaeda frowned subconsciously, his gaze swept across Naegi Makoto's face, the other party sensed his uneasiness, and smiled back calmly.

"Is it possible?" Miyagi asked.

"Hmm... well, of course it's okay." Komaeda nodded hesitantly.

No matter when, no matter what the situation, Nagito Komaeda can't refuse Makoto Naegi.

"However." He changed his tone, his eyes were slightly curved, and the gray-green eyes showed a soft light under the ambiguous light, and he gently held the seedling's cool fingertips, "I think, it's better for me to carry it on my back." You go back."

Because no one speaks, the silent atmosphere always makes people easy to think wildly.

In this kind of environment, there are many, many opportunities for the two of them to be alone, but only this time, the sapling was lying on Komaeda's not-so-broad back, his eyes vacantly fixed on the overlapping shadow of the two, but his head froze. Once felt a violation.

What it was, he couldn't say.

"..."

It may be due to some mild concussion, but the feeling of dizziness and nausea is lingering. In the unbearable endurance, even the details that I have never studied before began to be recalled intermittently, like a kaleidoscope, complicated and complicated. Confused information flashed by, making people confused.

"Hey, Komaeda-senpai..."

Komaeda heard the voice of sapling behind him, and wondered if it was an illusion, but the boy's laughing voice had a hint of doubt and temptation.

"Haha, that's weird, why do I feel like you've grown taller?"

Komaeda Nagito suffocated for a moment.Because there are some memories that have been buried very well by him, just at the end of Makoto Miaomu's words, like a whirlwind, all the pretense and pretense were completely overturned, and his mind was swept away. There have been countless fragments of getting along.

He can understand more clearly from this sentence than anyone else: it is not the seedling Makoto who has been forced to clear everything and look forward to the future from a new point of origin, but has been going to despair with hope that has deteriorated. Nagito Komaeda, who was in prison in the past.

It's like a clam that has been stripped of its shell and lost its shiny and sturdy armor. Even if it is so bloody and drags the ugly soft body, it will not spit out the ugly face of pearls, because the treasure may be exposed to the sun. squirmed.

How he answered Makoto Miaomu in the follow-up, he actually couldn't remember clearly.

People have an immune mechanism to avoid harm. Problems that are unwilling to face and things that are unwilling to recall can be healed by forgetting.

...How ironic, so ironic that Komaeda himself wanted to laugh at this increasingly incompetent self.

It is true that as smart as he is, he has already known that his thinking and emotions are somewhat pathological.

But so what.

If he could change if he knew it, he wouldn't be so trapped in it all the time.

The next morning was pretty normal, the usual breakfast meeting.Kiriri sat on one side of the long table with a plate, and beside him were Asahina and Ogami Sakura who were discussing the tastes of various candies stored in the warehouse. It was rare for Togami to be absent, and he sat alone at the small round table drinking coffee, Fukawa Not far away, it seems to be the personality of a literary girl today. Sapling and Komaeda are sitting opposite the girl group, and the two of them listen to Ye Yin discussing some aliens that are more abnormal than divination and metaphysics with shame on their faces. Strange news.

After all, they have been living together for nearly half a month, and they have also encountered life-threatening tests together. They got acquainted earlier than each imagined. Before they even discovered it, sometimes they communicated with each other. Jokes and jokes are like old friends who have known each other for many years, full of inexplicable familiarity.

After breakfast, as usual, it is the usual time for free exploration. Of course, for some people, it is just a meaningless killing time.Wukiri, who has always been a loner, was the first to get up and plan to leave. When she was arranging her gloves while stepping through the door of the restaurant, something happened again——

"On-campus broadcast, on-campus broadcast, please gather at the gymnasium quickly."

It's that voice again.

It is full of strange cheerfulness and enthusiasm, but it can only make people feel an extremely uncomfortable sense of horror and evil, and the special tone cannot be distinguished even by the age and gender of the speaker.

——Behind Monokuma, what kind of person is manipulating everything?

Naegi bit her lower lip and subconsciously turned her head to look at Komaeda beside her. The white-haired boy who had been staring straight at the screen noticed that he had turned his head and smiled comfortingly at him.

"What's the matter, Naegi-kun?"

Seedling hesitated for a moment, then shook his head quickly, and bent his eyes: "It's nothing."

He had some bad premonitions, but he didn't want to say it to cause everyone to panic. Although it was probably an extravagant hope, it would be great if he was the only one who had a false alarm.

Seeing this, Komaeda's eyes dimmed slightly, but he didn't say anything, just gently took Naegi's hand.

——Possibly, it is another new "motivation" proposed by Monokuma.

At this moment, the same guess appeared in their minds, and they knew each other.

After only 10 minutes, the originally harmonious atmosphere among everyone broke down again.

The new "motivation" is - betrayal.

The monokuma declared in front of everyone that Ogami Sakura, a super high school fighter, was his secret thread among them, and that she was a betrayer.

Okami Sakura didn't deny it.

Facing Ten God's rebuke, Fu Chuan's hostility, and Ye Yin's fear, she didn't say a word, but stood beside Asahina who was defending her with tears in her tacit posture.

The camp is divided into three parts, Asahina who decided to believe in Ogami Sakura, Jugami, Fukawa, and Hagakushi who are wary of Ogami Sakura, and Sapling, Komaeda, and Kiriri who have not directly stated their positions.

Whether it was aroused by the desire to leave here or by threats and lures, Makoto Naegi thought that everyone who had gone through these tests was strong enough to not be shaken by any reason. The provocation was successful.

When external factors cannot shake them, break through from within.

Seedling's heart felt a little cold, because he found that Monokuma knew their weaknesses far better than he expected.

I want to know more and more who is the mastermind behind the scenes. This kind of curiosity may become an inducement that will lead to a murder in the near future.He couldn't help but wryly smiled, but his eyes were very firm.

There will be no good results if you just sit and wait. The real danger is if the student whose identity is revealed continues to hide between them. He speculates that something must have happened between the two that will cause their cooperation to break down. Even if she was a betrayer, she became the enemy of the enemy when she was exposed by Monokuma.

During this period of living together, Ogami Sakura never did anything that really hurt them.

Whether it is the behavior of carefully checking the stability of the steel plates on each floor of the window every time you explore, or the behavior of silent guardians at the scene when a tragedy occurs, or the behavior of taking good care of her best friend Asahina, all show this. human character.

Compared with this kind of traitor status that doesn't play much role, Makoto Sapling is more willing to believe in the great god Sakura he knows in the daily relationship, and he is also willing to gamble on the possibility of this trust.