The students stood numbly in the courtroom from watching Umeda's execution and even Monokuma looked stunned.

"Oh..." Monokuma finally spoke.

"What do you mean oh?" Masaru seethed.

"I gave him a clear way out. I mean, I know he almost exposed me but I was willing to forgive him," Monokuma said.

"You were willing to break your own rules," Seto corrected, "don't tell me that you actually have a heart to care about—"

"Anyways, what's done is done!" Monokuma interrupted, "I wonder though, why did he just sit there and die?"

"Maybe because he actually had a conscious unlike you," Winona spat out.

"That must have been Shoji's execution," Mizuno said softly.

Masaru tried to hold in both his anger and grief but had to stay strong. If not for him then for everyone else.

"I'm sure they're together now," Masaru spoke, "just like he wanted."

"There is only five of us left," Toma said, "there use to be sixteen. When will this end?"

"It'll end when we make it end," Masaru stated strongly.

Monokuma rubbed his chin with his paw. "And how will you do that?"

"Another trial," Masaru proposed and his classmates let out unbelievable gasps, "not right now, of course."

"Why would you want to sit through another trial at all?" Mizuno asked.

"To finally put a stop to this," Masaru explained, "Our next trial will be the last. We'll be uncovering the mastermind this time,"

Monokuma didn't look threatened by that at all. "Can't wait!"

The bear disappeared and the students left the courtroom as soon as possible.

"This feels surreal." Seto was the first to speak when they made it back to the dorm hallways. "I would've never admit it to his face but I kind of enjoyed Umeda's company. He was an idiot but still fun to be around."

"But... but he was the traitor," Mizuno said and sniffled a bit, "he was also my friend..."

"He was a friend to all of us," Masaru told them, "I know we're all grieving but we need to focus soon for what's about to come."

"He's right," Winona agreed, "we'll be ending this once and for all."

Toma nodded. "Yes. We can do this. For our freedom."

"Alright then," Seto said, "we should get some rest because we have a big day tomorrow."

The other students agreed and they all entered their own dorms. Masaru knew this would be an important trial since it would determine their freedom or not. He would need to go through all his notes including all the clues he had found along the way.

As Masaru got ready to sleep he hoped another memory dream would come to him as another clue like the rest have. Just like Seto said, tomorrow is when they'll start their investigation. And he'll have to tell his classmates everything.

*. *. *. *.

...

Unfortunately, another memory dream did not surface but that was okay because Masaru still had other clues to rely on. He made sure to awake before the morning announcement and grabbed the Danganronpa book from under his bed along with his notepad that was on his desk. He made sure to look over everything and made a note to remember bring up the linguist that Priscilla and him haven't told the others about yet. Only Matsuyama and Umeda knew about that but they're both...

Masaru shook his head. Stay focused.

Masaru prepared for the next day and the morning announcement finally rang when he stepped out of his bathroom. It was time to start their deep investigation and if he really thought about it, Priscilla's plan did work. They found the traitor and now it gave them all the courage to seek out the mastermind.

Masaru left his dorm and headed to the dining hall. When he stepped inside he was relieved to see everyone else already up and was glad they had the same passion for this as he did.

"Alright, where do we start?" Mizuno said as soon as Masaru sat down.

"Do we even have clues that can help us find the mastermind?" Toma asked.

"We do," Masaru stated, "but we would all need to go back to my room if I am going to tell you everything."

"Tell us everything?" Winona questioned.

"There are more things we don't know about?" Seto asked and Masaru nodded.

"I'll go make breakfast first and then we can go to your room," Winona suggested and stood from her seat before making her way to the kitchen.

"You know, I can't stop thinking about what Umeda said before his execution..." Mizuno spoke.

Masaru's eyebrows furrowed then realized what she was referring to.

"The mastermind! It's one of us sixteen students—"

"Right," Masaru said, "that means one of you is behind all of this."

"One of us?" Seto scoffed, "why can't it be you?"

"Because I know it's not me."

"I do not think it is him either," Toma added, "he has been the only one who finds out who the blackened is every trial."

"Exactly," Masaru said with a confident grin.

Seto turned his nose up at him. "You rarely smile but when you do it's so condescending."

After Winona finished preparing breakfast, they all ate then made their way to Masaru's dorm before Monokuma could catch them.

"Looks like a detective's office straight from a crime film," Seto commented as Masaru closed the door behind them.

"So what do you need to tell us?" Mizuno asked, sitting on his bed.

Masaru waved her off of it and she sat at the desk instead with a pout.

"First I would like to start with something about myself that you all don't know yet," Masaru began.

"Okay..." Winona said, sounding unsure.

"When I first arrived at this school I realized that half of my memory was skewed."

"Your memory?" Toma questioned.

"Yes," Masaru confirmed, "there are some things I may remember about my life but the majority I don't."

"Wow." Mizuno breathed out, "and you've been dealing with this all by yourself?"

"Well Matsuyama was the first I've confused to about this. I recently did with Priscilla as well..."

"I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to tell us about this," Winona said, "so anything about your family and hobbies is just... gone?"

Masaru remembered the faces on his family motive video but still nothing came to mind.

"Not much about my family but I do know that I love crime which seems obvious. Sometimes I get memory dreams that come back to me so I'm slowly regaining them."

"What are the memory dreams about?" Mizuno asked then looked to the floor, "actually you don't have to tell us if it's too much—"

"It's fine," Masaru interrupted, "one I had involved me walking into this school on my own. I knew where my dorm was and immediately laid down after accessing it. I wanted to speak with Matsuyama about it since I thought it was strange."

"Of course it's strange." Mizuno shook her head. "All I remember is waking up in my dorm. Not walking into it."

The others agreed.

"That's a bit suspicious but I guess I'm willing to let it slide," Seto said.

"Then I should probably keep what I was going to say to myself," Masaru spoke and the others looked more nervous now.

"How bad can it be?" Winona said, positively.

"I think I remembered a conversation I had with... the mastermind."

"What?!" Mizuno shrieked.

Seto backed away towards the door. "I was trying to keep an open mind but how can that possibly be explained?"

"Are you sure it was the mastermind?" Winona asked.

"It sure sounded like it," Masaru said, feeling sick again, "I asked this person if I was going to be given an execution and they mentioned that they wouldn't ever let me get hurt."

"Sounds like you're an accomplice," Seto said.

Mizuno didn't want to believe it but she also looked unsure and a bit... scared?

"If you can barely remember anything," Winona started, "how do you know you're not the mastermind?"

Masaru had actually thought of that but it couldn't be true. It just couldn't.

"Maybe there is a reason for all of this," Toma spoke, "maybe the memory was wrong?"

Masaru shook his head. "Why would I remember something that isn't true? I hate to say it but it sounded like a had a part in all of this. Like I wanted to participate."

"So an accomplice," Seto confirmed.

Mizuno stood up abruptly. "It doesn't matter. You're on our side now. Right?"

"Yes," Masaru said although something in the back of his mind was saying... "I want to get out of here as well."

"Still skeptical but alright," Seto said, "is there anything else?"

"Well, you all know about Shoji's laptop which contained Monokuma's deactivation and the secret passages," Masaru began, "but what Shoji also had was notes on all us students."

"What kind of notes?" Mizuno asked.

"Just notes on what he thought of us," Masaru explained, "but there was one note about me that was a little strange. He mentioned not remembering anything about an Ultimate Detective on the student list. He did however remember there being an Ultimate Linguist."

"A student list?" Seto asked, "I don't remember anything like that. Didn't really care that much who I was going to school with."

"Maybe Shoji's the only one that did his research," Mizuno guessed, "but I've never heard of an Ultimate Linguist before."

"And why would he not remember an Ultimate Detective being apart of our class?" Toma asked.

"I don't know," Masaru answered honestly, "and before you suspect me again I had a memory dream about my detective duties which proves I'm an ultimate. I was even cooperating with the police."

"That's just even more confusing," Seto said, "why would you be conversing with the mastermind then?"

"Maybe it is part of the job," Toma suggested and the others gave him confused looks so he continued, "if you are a detective then maybe you went undercover to expose the mastermind by working with them."

Toma then scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. "It was just a theory..."

Masaru blinked. "No, you're right. That could be a possibility." It was in character for him to go undercover to expose whoever was behind this. Maybe he's been studying up on the case and finally took action. But why was his memory messed up?

"But is there actually a chance that there could be a linguist?" Winona asked.

"That's what Priscilla and I were wondering," Masaru said, "we thought that maybe the linguist was lying about their ultimate or maybe they are the mastermind."

"Well I only know Japanese and English so I don't think I would make a very good linguist," Seto commented.

"Same," Mizuno agreed.

"Wait wouldn't that mean there are seventeen students then?" Winona asked.

"Geez, I liked it better when we didn't know things," Seto groaned, "this is a lot to take in."

"There's more," Masaru said and bent down near his bed while Seto buried his head in his hands. He then took out the book he had kept hidden and showed the others.

"Danganronpa?" Mizuno read out loud.

Masaru flipped the book open showing the uncovered information and the pictures of Hope's Peak.

"Most of it had been blacked out with sharpie but I used Nao's nail polish remover to remove some of it," Masaru said.

"So that's why you were asking about nail polish back then." Mizuno peered closer at the pages. "Junko Enoshima? Sounds familiar I think."

"It's from those folktales," Seto stated, "you think that's who's behind this?"

"If this person is part of the legends then most likely not," Toma said, "she would be almost a few hundred years old."

"Where did you get this book?" Winona asked.

"The library."

Seto snorted. "You found this in the library?"

"Why would Monokuma just have that lying around where anyone could find it?" Mizuno asked.

"Shoji thought it was because Monokuma wanted us to find it," Masaru said.

Seto made a face. "That doesn't make sense at all."

Toma took the book from Masaru's hands and flipped through it more. "It talks about all the killing games. One was on a beach?"

"I wish we were on a beach," Seto said, "at least we'd be outside. I don't think it's healthy to be stuck inside for so long."

"It's perfectly healthy!"

The students jumped as Monokuma popped up into Masaru's dorm unannounced.

"He's spying on us!" Mizuno accused.

"You can't stop us from taking you down," Winona told the bear.

Monokuma cackled at that. "Why would I do that and miss out on the best trial yet! You all have free range to investigate wherever you like!"

"Wherever?" Masaru questioned and the bear looked unsure.

"You're up to something," Monokuma said with narrowed eyes, "you can explore wherever I deem fit."

The bear disappeared and everyone took a deep breath.

"What now?" Seto asked.

Masaru walked over to his door. "There are three known places where hidden passages are. I want to check them."

The others followed Masaru to the computer room first and they hesitated a bit before stepping inside.

"I hate this place," Mizuno murmured.

"So one of the passages is in here?" Winona asked.

Masaru approached the front wall where he'd seen it move before and felt around for a push in space but didn't find one.

"That's strange," Masaru commented.

The students then followed Masaru to the hallway bathrooms and up to the second floor near the game room next but still no secret door or pathway was revealed.

"I guess they've been shut off," Masaru said.

Mizuno put her hands on her hips. "Well that sucks."

"There's still somewhere else I want to check," Masaru spoke and led everyone back to the first floor towards the library.

Masaru made his way to the back where he had found the hidden door and was surprised to see that the doorknob was back and the outline was much clearer now.

"What is that?" Toma asked.

Winona stared at the door. "Has that always been there?"

Masaru turned the knob and opened the door which revealed a small dark room. Seto then felt around the wall before finding the switch and turning it on.

The room had gray walls and multiple boxes lined against the wall with some on a black table as well. A few papers littered the ground and there was a small trash bin near the door with crumbled paper in it.

"Wow," Seto spoke, "what could this room possibly be used for?"

Masaru walked over to the table and dug through the box that sat on it. Inside were more blueprints and what looked to be documents. He picked up the blueprints first and saw that it was instructions and a layout of the entire school. On how to built it and how certain controls worked.

Masaru saw that even all of the secret passages that the school had were labeled and there were more than he thought. There are two in the locker rooms, one in the kitchen, and even one in the nurses room.

"Look at this," Mizuno said and Masaru looked over to see the documents in her hands.

There was a bunch of information on the costs of everything used to built and be put into this school with a bunch of corporation names they did not recognize. What Masaru did recognize was the small letters at the bottom of each page.

4WD.CO

"That proves one of these families is behind this," Seto said, looking over their shoulders.

Toma pointed at the blueprints. "And this person seems to be able to move anywhere they want around the school."

"Oh! Look what I found!"

Masaru turned around to see Winona holding a few crumbled papers she had retrieved from out of the trash bin. He observed them and saw what looked to be multiple drafts of possible Monokuma designs. He could only tell because each design had the same red evil eye. They all had been scribbled out with pen though with a note at the bottom that said, 'never mind, let's keep it original'.

"Is this where the mastermind keeps all their paperwork or something?" Mizuno suspected.

"I'm surprised we're allowed in here," Seto said.

"Monokuma probably wants us to give it our best shot," Masaru said, "there's no way he would've let us access this on accident."

"Will he really let us win?" Winona asked, "what if we find the mastermind but they still decide to kill us all?"

"I don't think he would do that," Masaru spoke honestly, "he killed his traitor just to abide by his own rules."

"Yeah but didn't he admit to giving his traitor a way out?" Seto brought up.

Masaru knew he had a point and they all continued to search through the room but it was still just more paperwork that didn't make sense to them.

"What is this?" Toma spoke to himself as he inspected a box along the wall then stumbled back, "oh!—"

"What is it?" Mizuno asked, running over.

Masaru peered down into the box Toma found and saw multiple metal rusted Monokumas. Some even looked like the scrapped designs that Winona found in the trash bin.

"We knew Monokuma had copies of himself," Seto stated.

"Yes, but these are in no good condition," Masaru said, "they're probably just trash."

Masaru continued to rifle through the boxes and came across a stack of stapled papers with a title printed out in bold on the front.

The New Tragedy.

Masaru gulped and flipped open the pages.

This world needs to be shown true despair...
This is only my first killing game but I promise there will be more. I wonder if he will be able to solve this mystery; he seemed so confident in his abilities.

The world will know of my existence sooner or later and I do not care if they know my name. As long as he is by my side, I can accomplish anything.

Although, I will need some help...

Maybe I can find my own remnants of despair.

Masaru dropped the stack back into the box and his head pounded alarmingly fast. He was the one the mastermind was referring to in these pages. He just knew it. He didn't know how but it... it just felt right.

"What was that?" Seto asked and bent down to pick the stack back up. The others gathered around him to read it.

"That does not sound good," Toma commented.

"What do they mean by there will be more?" Winona asked, fearfully, "it won't end with us?"

"And what does remnants of despair mean?" Mizuno asked, "is it apart of the legends?"

"Don't know, but one thing's for sure," Seto said, "this person's trying to end the world."

Mizuno scoffed. "That's ridiculous."

"Who do you think the mastermind is referring to in the pages?" Winona asked, still staring down at them, "could it be Umeda?"

"Why would the mastermind want Umeda to solve this "mystery" if the traitor was in on it the whole time?" Seto said.

"Who else could they be talking about?" Toma pondered then glanced at Masaru who was holding his head and breathing heavily, "are you okay?"

Masaru did not answer and stumbled out of the room as quickly as possible. The next thing he knew, he was sitting in the dining hall, hoping some food would magically appear in front of him.

"You could've just said you were hungry," Mizuno said as she walked in with the others behind her.

"I'm not hungry, I'm sick," Masaru spoke lowly.

Mizuno looked frightened. "Not again. Matsuyama was the one to take care of you I don't know what to do. What about soup?" She turned to Winona.

"I can see if we have some," Winona offered.

"I said I'm not hungry." Masaru grit his teeth.

The other four sat down at the table with him looking a bit concerned.

"Do you need to lie down?" Toma asked.

Masaru took a deep breath. "No. I'm fine."

"What do we do now then?" Seto asked, "do we have anything else that can identify the mastermind?"

No one said a word.

"What about the fourth trial?" Winona suggested.

"What about it?" Mizuno asked.

Seto scoffed. "It was obviously rigged. I mean, think about our fact cards."

"He's right," Masaru said, "we know Umeda told the mastermind about Matsuyama's past so Monokuma knew that there were two people that could possibly expose them."

"So Monokuma targeted both Matsuyama and Nao?" Toma asked, "that sounds like cheating."

"It is cheating," Masaru reiterated and bawled his fists, "Monokuma intended for them both to be killed. It isn't fair."

"But that just proves the one behind this is apart of those four rich families for sure," Mizuno said, confidently.

"Four wealthy dynasties," Seto corrected.

"What were the other two again?" Winona asked.

"The Bushida and Watanabe families," Masaru told her.

"What if the linguist is from one of those families?" Seto asked.

Masaru nodded. "That's what I suspected as well."

"So one of us is from one of those families," Mizuno stated.

The table fell quiet once again.

"Well I wish I was from a rich family." Seto laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "Seto Bushida or Seto Watanabe doesn't have a ring to it."

"Well I'm not from one either," Mizuno defended.

"Let's face it, no one's going to admit to it," Masaru said and eyed the four, "but one of us is the mastermind and I promise I will bring an end to you."

Just as Masaru declared that, the bell rang but it wasn't an announcement they've heard before.

Ding Dong!

"Ahem! It is nearly time for battle!" Monokuma's voice came through.

"Battle?" Seto raised an eyebrow, "dramatic much?"

"The class trial will start tomorrow at 7am sharp! It is mandatory so don't be late!"

"This is really happening," Winona breathed out.

"We're finally getting out of here," Mizuno said positively then put her hand on Masaru's shoulder, "I know you can do it."

"With our help of course," Seto added.

Toma nodded. "We will do our best."

Masaru said nothing and kept his eyes on the table. The mastermind was among them and he couldn't afford to let his emotions get in the way. He was going to put all his skills to the test and uncover the person who had put them in this hell.

"Let's just get some rest," Masaru spoke then stood from his chair.

"It's time to put an end to this."