Yuu

I'm scared. I'm sure that's not a surprise to anyone, but I think it's warranted now. Kana and Monterio are alive. So is Bisque. Keiji. Sayuri. Everyone else. And it just feels too good to be true. These choices are gonna suck. I'm absolutely certain. We got off too easy considering how massive and terrible this whole set-up is. And I can't let myself off the hook, either.

Hibiki tosses Monokuma aside. It's foreboding, cause Monokuma has been a major threat and an imposing figure for months, and now he just gets chucked away with zero effort. Without Hibiki, Monokuma is just a plushie with a metal skeleton. The Mastermind stands on the table, gracefully avoiding our piles of evidence. He towers over us now, and it makes my breaths shake. "Option one. We go with our original Plan A."

"And what's that?" Fujiko asks.

"Well... I'm sure you all will be rather pleased to hear... none of this is being broadcasted live. And the time that's passed in the real world is much shorter than the time that's passed here."

"Like how our fear simulations can feel like they take hours when they only really take like twenty minutes?" Ren points out.

"Exactly! What a smart cookie. You've all been gone a month. We planned for that. In the real world, nobody is alarmed at all!"

Azumi tilts her head. "Is that why we believed this program was to last a month? Documentation– and Wakumi's recollection of her captain's experience– indicates that the original program was shorter. A weekend in the past, and possibly a week for us."

"Double correct! Wow, you guys are getting really good at this!" It's terrifying how quickly he can go from his cynical, nihilistic nightmare self back into the doting, praise-filled facade.

"But that's impossible, right? We have letters from our loved ones talking about being visited by Monokuma. They're clearly aware that the reason we're gone isn't fair play," I point out, showing off the messages we got a while ago.

Hibiki's response is to step on the letters, bending at the waist to stare me down. I flinch, and honestly, it's even enough to make Fujiko shudder, too. "C'mon. Think a little harder and you'll see why that's a non-issue. I believe in you." I turn my head to face her and block my profile with my hands defensively. What does he want from me? I can't think when he's this close. It turns my thoughts into moths. What does that even mean?! Breathe, Yuu. You have to breathe.

Chimon is the one who answers. "Monterio's tip asked how those messages were made... I've been wondering about that for hours now. We have samples of handwriting because of those letters of recommendation, and every sender matches up. Assuming White Daisy Room has a decent enough forger on board, they could've consulted us for the actual content. I know what my parents would've said to me, and it lined up pretty damn well with what I got."

"And there we go. Chimon, I bet you were the type of student teachers had to ignore because you'd answer every question if they let you." He shifts uneasily in response. "Now that we're caught up to speed, Option one, good ol' Plan A. We reach the 'end state' of the simulation that we planned out. Meaning, just like the latest seasons of Danganronpa, we have two or fewer original participants remaining. I'll have to execute all but two of you. It will hurt, and it will hurt bad, but we'll have finished this smoothly. Everyone will wake up just like you do at the end of the fear simulations, including your 'dead' friends. The simulation will then start airing live, and according to your contracts– yes, I had you sign contracts– you won't be able to stop it. The ones of you who are supposed to be dead? Gonna go into hiding. Forever. Or change your entire identities, depending on what you prefer. But hey! Everyone is alive and safe!"

"Why did we have to sign contracts?! This is legally binding?!" I freak, feeling my skin crawl. Control your breaths, dammit!

"We signed contracts because this was a sort of trial run. Team Danganronpa wants to know if they'll be allowed to host new seasons if nobody actually dies," Gou explains, crossing his arms. "But since our revenge scheme was important to us, only authorities know it's fake. We'll have to act out a fake ending, a reason for the sudden executions. This'll become a legit conspiracy."

"What the fuck," Fujiko says flatly. It looks like she wants to be surprised but really isn't. Too much crazy bullshit today already.

"Wait, but I thought you said everything went according to plan. Now you're saying there are too many of us? We didn't reach the end state?" Chimon says. I see him try to hide a smirk.

"Umm... well, that was my fault. I jumped the gun and started this trial too early. I just— I was upset about Wakumi, cause Hibiki kept a lot of stuff hidden from me in Tozen's case, and, well, I made an impulsive decision. But he was flexible, so we did this now. It was as close to the plan as we could've expected. We never even had to change Inheritors."

"Gou, don't act like it's something bad you need to blame yourself for! Because of you, we actually have the chance to back out of this!" Ren encourages.

"Speaking of that... What is our next option?" Azumi asks. She's got a pencil and is making a chart. Choice number. General summary of the choice. Pros. Cons. I'm glad for it. If we didn't have someone keeping track, I think I'd forget details. The severity of the situation keeps catching up to me, threatening to overwhelm me.

"Well, here's the problem. The machines don't like shutting off before we reach an end state. It takes too much energy. Takes... trade-offs, as it were. Option two," Hibiki smirks, turning around to face her. "Some of our behind-the-scenes workers will fiddle with some settings real quick to keep the seven of us safe, and then we unplug the machines. We'll probably still fashion up a fake narrative ending. And the reason for that is... your friends will be comatose."

"Is it like the second game? They believe they're dead, so they stay unconscious?" Chimon continues. This one is one of the only killing games they told us about.

"Yeah! I guess you could call this the SDR2 ending! But let me point out, this isn't a video game. The chances are very low that all ten of your friends will wake up again, and if any of them do, their lives will be changed FOREVER. We have no guarantee that the government will stay hush-hush if you aren't all safe at the end of this. If they do, then... refer to option 1, your friends can never live their normal lives again, yada yada. If they don't, we're all in for a hell of a PR storm. Starting Danganronpa again in order to inflict suffering on the people who hurt you, and to chew out society... it'll certainly shake things up, and probably not in a good way. Imagine how people will treat the Blackeneds... they may not be actual murderers, but that sure was the intention." I shiver. I wish that realizing they were alive did anything to quiet the guilt in my head, but it doesn't. As if to rub it in, Hibiki quirks his head. "Besides. It's more than likely that at least SOMEONE will die for real. Or stay a vegetable for decades."

Ren is the one to ixnay that idea first. "We can't do that to them... the others can't make any decisions right now. It's our responsibility to do what's best for all of us, not just the six who got lucky enough to 'survive.'"

"The dancers are alive, and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that... to jeopardize the lives of anyone we just got back," I agree. "So far, it seems like we only really know what we don't want to do," I swallow. I tap the table eight times. I know that it's one of my sister's compulsions, but when I was little, she'd tell me it chased away nightmares and bad luck. I'm not a very superstitious person anyway. But I need something. Anything. Mom, Dad, Ayame... I hope you're thinking of me right now. I need wisdom.

We all need wisdom. Or we could make a mistake as bad as last time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fujiko

We're here, at the end. All my friends figured out everything about this icky situation we made for ourselves. They've always been so cool and smart, and I'm prepared to follow them into whatever choice they think is best. I'm glad I don't have to do it alone. We've already messed up a lot– to my relief, we weren't brainwashed enough to agree to a REAL killing game, but still– so I kinda don't trust myself. The first two choices weren't all peaches and cream, and I know the others won't be, either. I also know that my life is gonna be totally different once this is over. I think, when I agreed to do this, I probably didn't understand all the consequences. I still don't. Why wasn't I smart enough to realize I had no idea what I was signing up for?

Azumi's eyes are deep. "Alright, I have documented this... even though I am relatively certain that will not be the path we select. What next? Also... how many choices do we have?"

"Four! Hit the machines' off buttons thrice and we come up with a fun little concoction I call... Option three! Everyone wakes up in prime physical condition! No death, no comas, no revenge scheme streamed to the entire world!"

"But?" I ask.

"No memories! At all! Well, no episodic memories. You won't remember a single thing about who you are, who you love, what you've accomplished, what you've overcome. You'll pretty much just have motor memories and semantic memories– facts you've learned." When he says that, I accidentally start thinking of things. Drinking juice and playing in the yard with Mayumi... stealing some of Mom's blush to try it on for the first time... Hayate giving me my jewelry box, accepting me as his little sister. Getting my dyslexia diagnosis. My first time being part of a beauty convention.

"Kana and Monterio... they just... wouldn't know each other anymore," Chimon murmurs.

"But..." I sigh, "at least they'd be alive to start over again." None of us say anything after that. The idea seems so big and scary.

"Option four?" Yuu asks tentatively.

"Forced shutdown. Two of us– I'll even volunteer myself here, so you only have to choose one– eject from the simulation and basically power the machines with our life force. The fifteen of you wake up, memories fully in-tact, and go back home. The government may or may not tattle, and that could cause you issues. But if they don't, your families will be none the wiser, and you could say that the two deaths were a tragic accident. Either way, Danganronpa is donezo FOREVER. No reviving that dead horse, mind my morbid idiom."

"What do you mean, eject?" Ren's eyebrows are furrowed in concern.

"Wanna see?" Gou offers. "Don't panic, by the way. This is gonna look bad, but I swear I'm fine." We nod, and he plops the helmet on my head before... like, just passing out. Head lolling forward, muscles totally useless, eyes closed. For half a sec, I wonder whether he just, like, died or something, because that would be totally shitty and the LAST thing we need right now, but then I hear his voice through his helmet's speaker. "Fujiko! I'm in the real world. My avatar doesn't have my consciousness right now, so it's kinda just an empty meatsack. This is technically only something the Mastermind and Inheritor can do, but Hibiki can grant that permission to anyone." I tell everyone what he told me, and then suddenly he's back in his body, giving it life.

"Wait! So when we kept falling asleep during our Free Time Events..." Chimon trails off, surprised.

"Yeah. I ejected and made you guys conk out. Hibiki said I had to at least let you all see a little, for the sake of solving the mystery. I wanted to protect your privacy... but that clearly didn't work out much. Most of your personal junk got dragged to the surface anyway... Azumi's accident... Chimon's love issue... Ren's sister... I should've just let you all know everything. It would've made this less painful for you."

"See? Told you this one wasn't my fault. I love my little cousin's boldness, but it really crops up at the most inconvenient times."

"Thank you, Gou. It may not have worked out, but thank you for trying to protect me," Chimon nods. I think about my own secrets, not as important as his but still safe, because of Gou.

"Thank you," I repeat. A little shaky relief loosens his face.

"So those are our four options. One: carry out our revenge plan, elect two to return to their homes, and the rest of us stay out of the public eye for as long as we live. Two: leave our friends comatose, only to be forced into hiding if they are fortunate enough to awaken, and also potentially upheave our entire lives. Three: wake up safe, as a whole group, but with no memory of any of our life experiences whatsoever. Four: choose a sacrifice to martyr themselves for everyone else, with the only possible consequences for those remaining being the aforementioned upheaval," Azumi repeats.

"Wait."

"Is there seriously something else?" Ren asks. His smile looks like it's gonna fall away with any more pressure.

Gou's gaze gets steely and he faces Hibiki. "You're hiding something from them. Why?"

"What are you talking about? I gave them all their choices. We even went over this a couple nights ago."

"But then why did you give me such weird instructions?"

"I'm serious, Gou, I have zero clue what the hell you're even saying. Are you feeling okay? You sure your head's not getting scrambled cause of your emotions?" Hibiki stops standing for a second and sits on the table, resting the back of his hand on Gou's forehead like he's checking for a fever. It's almost tender, and it makes me hurt for Gou. I see his own hand reach up a little bit, as if to keep Hibiki there, but he stops himself.

Then he tries to pretend nothing is happening. "Guys, I was told that I needed to be in the group investigating the simulators. My job was to make sure nobody had any accidents. The Quit Simulation button couldn't be tapped three times in a row or we'd have an amnesiac on our hands. And above all else, I couldn't let ANYONE touch that Forced Shutdown button. After lasting so long, to die to the machine so close to the end would be... devastating. But he gave me a third direction. Hold the Quit Simulation button down. Every time you use it, hold it until the pod closes. He said it was just a maintenance thing, but I'm starting to think that's a lie."

"Are you insinuating that there is a fifth option?! An even safer one?!" Ren leans in, eyes alight.

"I– I don't know. But it's possible."

"There's no fifth option. Gou, you can eject and ask someone. They'll tell you exactly what I did. You're getting everyone's hopes up for no reason. Arguably even hurting them."

"Guys? What should I do?" he hesitates.

Chimon puts a hand to his chin and I watch as he thinks. "Eject. Ask someone. Call his bluff. Even bad news is better than trying it out without knowing what could happen to us."

Azumi holds up a hand before Gou can leave. "I do not trust Hibiki. I am unsure what is possible, but if he could prevent Gou from getting back in and relaying the message, we could be in a difficult position."

Hibiki scoots closer toward the center of the table. "Wow! I hadn't even thought of doing something so twisted. You guys all have such active ima–"

And before I can figure out what's happening, Yuu lunges as far as he can and pulls Hibiki toward us. What?! What?! What?! A sharp tool is angled at Hibiki's neck. Yuu breathes heavy, and his hands shake like crazy. "L-Leverage. Now, if he values his life, he can't pull any bullshit while Gou's gone." The words are airy, like he can hardly force them out of his mouth. We're all still. Silent. Like we're being held hostage, too.

"Ah, I see. Now isn't this interesting? Did you secretly like killing? The feeling when your arrow pierced her chest? The color that burst out of her? This time, you won't have any insanity plea to protect you," Hibiki hisses. I reach to cover his mouth. Yuu can't even wipe the sobs from his face, cause that would mean moving the weapon.

"Gou, hurry up!" he demands. Before he's even finished his sentence, Gou's body becomes a ragdoll again.

"Let me hold it, Yuu!" I plead.

He shakes his head. "You're too weak. If I hand him off to you, he'll wiggle away before the awl's even in your hand. Besides... your conscience is clean, Fujiko. I c-can't make you do it." I feel Hibiki smile under my hand. Azumi stretches as far as she can, trying in vain to do anything about this.

What feels like a stupid amount of time later, Gou's back, and the instant he is, Yuu drops the tool. Now he goes limp, but it's out of relief and exhaustion. Maybe even fear. Hibiki scrambles away and glares. Gou, on the other hand, is beaming. "Guys! I think something crazy is going on! I asked, and they told me that was an emergency protocol! In case any of us had a major medical problem while we were in the simulation! They said it would be a clean, easy release for anyone in the simulation!"

"Oh my God! Oh my God, we're all gonna be okay!" Ren laughs, raising his hands to the sky. Everyone joins in the happiness, but I'm getting a sick feeling. The armrest of our chairs slides away and a voting panel is there now.

I need to shake this. I don't need to speak up because there's nothing to say. I'm not smart. I haven't really made any good realizations or actually helped the group this whole time. They know what they're doing. Even Chimon isn't doubting it. If Chimon doesn't see anything wrong with this, there's nothing wrong. That pit in my tummy is probably just me being stupid and misunderstanding this whole situation. This is the person who confuses "offend" with "defend" and can't even say the word "obvious" correctly.

In what sounds like Kana's voice, I hear a scream ring through my head. "DO SOMETHING! YOU NEED TO BE A LEADER!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chimon

We're about to vote– there's even an Option Five now, with a broken lock icon like we discovered it. We're going home. Finally. We made it.

"STOP!"

Hibiki scoffs. "Jesus, what is it with you people? You made a whole new impossible workaround to get out of the consequences of your choices, and you still aren't satisfied? Or does Fujiko need 'everyone goes free' to be dumbed down even more?"

"Hey! You don't get to talk to her that way anymore! You've done it too much already," I snap. "What's bothering you?"

"Stop! Stop, don't vote! There's something seriously wrong with this! I don't understand why Hibiki would let Gou tell us something so major when he can take his voice away so easily! Please give me half a second to figure out what's fishy!" We wait on her for a little bit, and then her eyes go wide. "Gou, you said you always held down the button, right?"

"I did." His body language shrinks again and he gives her a look of concern.

"Then something bad will happen! It's like when you two tried to quit the arcade simulation. I couldn't remember being in there at all. If we do this, we'll forget EVERYTHING we went through in here, and the only memories we'll have are the ones where we wanted to do this! We'll go back to how we were, and this will start all over again!" Her fists are balled up, she stands despite her ankle constraints, and she looks at each of us with a fire in her eyes.

"Holy shit... holy shit, I almost ruined everything. I almost–" I pull on my key necklace and bite my lip, looking away. I feel this sprout of shame in me. I should've been more careful, should've thought this out more. I should've remembered how scared Fuji was that she couldn't rememberI should've known there was no perfect answer. My carelessness nearly cost us everything.

"Y-You mean... he was playing mind games with me again? He wanted me to think of this and do it without discovering what it really does?"

"It was a test, Gou. To see if things had changed like you claim. To see if you would try and get away with all of it scot-free. You all jumped at the chance. Yuu even held an awl to my neck just for the possibility. You're not good people. Stop pretending like you are."

"I was never going to stab you! I just needed you to think I would!" Yuu screams in self-defense, still quaking.

"Anyway, that's all bullshit, you bastard!" Ren demands. "There's no way in hell this was a stupid test of character. You wanted to trick us so that you'd have another shot at your damn 'fuck the world' plan, pure and simple. I'm not gonna let you get away with passing the blame again. And I can't say we didn't want to 'get away' with it. Of course we want to avoid pain, that's the nature of people. But if you think a single one of us aren't literally mortified by the way we manipulated each other and set off on this plan to emotionally destroy basically everyone in our lives, then you clearly don't understand us the way you think you do!" He flings his arm in Yuu's direction.

Despite him making his intentions clear, he's still torn up over what he did. His face is as pale as when we discovered he was Kana's Blackened. He's muttering, and I can't tell exactly what it is, but it looks like "Why would I do that? I'm sick," over and over. I understand that feeling, now. There's so much self-hate.

Azumi speaks gently, trying to summon her maternal energy even now. "Gou... I do not know how to phrase this in a way that will not sting, so I beg your forgiveness in advance. Hibiki will continue to hurt you. He will hurt everyone around him, and he shows no desire to stop."

"I-I know! I mean, um, I... should understand. I do understand. I just..."

"Disconnect," I say, "between what you know and what you feel." I know that it's not my fault we nearly started this all over again.

"He wasn't always like this, I swear. He was my babysitter. He would host anniversary parties for my parents... and my aunts and uncles. He taught me how to use a go-kart, got me into racing. He was a good person!" he justifies. It makes me think of Papa. I stopped being able to love people when he hurt me the most, but up until that point, I felt so conflicted... I'd lost my hero, but I couldn't make myself stop wanting him to be happy. Couldn't stop wanting to be close to him. And now I feel that way again. But that doesn't erase what he did. Before I can tell him anything to that effect, Hibiki goes on the offensive again.

"Ah, perfect, wise Azumi. Always ready to give sage advice, when she doesn't have to be the one following it. Like losing her composure during the schism. Or how she chewed out Ren for being mad at her and Tozen's secret-keeping but suspected Chimon for the same reasons. Or how she nearly got everyone KILLED for Ren?! And was WRONG?! Ducky, I've known you for over a year now. You've known me for less than a day. Gou? His whole life. If you're gonna try to turn my very impressionable cousin against me, I need to point out your hypocrisy and your lack of context."

Yuu opens his mouth to defend her, but she holds up a hand. "No need to retort. I deserve it. I have caused grave injury with my self-righteousness throughout my life. I was blind to this fault until somewhat recently." She places her hand to her heart. "Thank you. Now that I am aware, I can start to change. I let myself judge others without noticing how stagnant I was, and quite frankly, I needed a kick in the ass to get out of my rut." I snort out of pure surprise, and she smirks at me. "However, I shan't allow you to deflect any further."

"P-Please stop insulting my friends," Gou murmurs. "It doesn't make you seem very right."

Something dawns on me. "Hey, wait! Even with your test of character claim, you're trying to gaslight us! We passed the test! We passed it because of Fujiko! She changed! At the beginning of the killing game, she wouldn't have rocked the boat! She wouldn't think she could help us in any way but moral support! And with you picking apart her confidence all day, it's fucking incredible that she found the courage to do that! She didn't even know exactly what was wrong, but she had enough faith in herself to make us wait! And then she figured it out! She's not stupid! She's never been stupid!"

She smiles at me and shyly tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'm not stupid. We're not perfect people, but I like to think we're getting better. People need to be given that chance."

Hibiki gives a long-suffering sigh. "Cool, whatever, you're not stupid, White Daisy Room is different now, and everything is rainbows and sunshine. You still have to pick. But congratulations! You have five choices now. Your loved ones would be so proud of you, if they could see this."

It feels weird to think this. But with even a tiny victory, with Fujiko blooming like she is now, I feel a little more sure of myself. No matter what choice we make, it will hurt. But I think we can make the right one.