(3rd Person's POV)

"Hmmm..." Sora hummed as she investigated the body of the mystery assailant. "...Ah!"

She widened her eyes slightly as she glanced at a...thing on the ground. She picked it up, staring at it curiously.

Is that...some kinda key? Is that the key that Kyoko stole?

---

 "What was it, then?"

"I stole this..."

"Is that...a key?"

 ---

Oh yeah, that's right. The key she stole was shaped like Monokuma. This doesn't like anything like that...

"Then...what is this? And what's it for?" Sora quietly mumbled to herself.

"What is it? Did you find something?" Byakuya walked behind her.

"It's certainly something, alright. I found this thing near the body." Sora showed him the object.

Byakuya stared at it. "I've never seen this key before. What could it possibly go to...?"

"So even you don't know, huh?" Sora sighed.

But Byakuya smirked as he looked towards Sora. "Shirayuki...I'm going to give you a very important task."

"...What." Sora deadpanned.

"That key might give you access to certain areas we thought were locked."

"A-Are you talkin' about...?"

"The bio lab, the data center, the headmaster's room, and the dorm rooms on the 2nd floor... It's in your hands."

Oh, so now I'm your errand girl? Sora rolled her eyes. Great...

---

Bursting open the door of the garden, Sora headed out as she left the others with the burnt body. She stared at the object in her hand as she clenched it into her fist.

"This key..." Sora mused. "I think I know where this could be useful."

Power-walking throughout the walls of the 4th floor, she finally found the place she was looking for. This key gave Sora a certain vibe. Namely, it looked like a piece of circuitry. So the place that would most likely work would be...

"The data lab..." Sora's feet stopped as she reached the door of the data lab.

This place...it was definitely locked before...

"Welp. Here goes nothin'...." Sora said as she inserted the electric-looking key into the key hole.

CLICK!

"I-It fits!" Sora quietly exclaimed. Then this is the key to the data center! Looks like all that running around managed to pay off. "I gotta go tell everyone else!" As she ran to the garden.

---

"So, you're back." Byakuya folded his arms as Sora entered the garden once again. "How'd it go?"

"This key...it's for the data center on the fourth floor." Sora told him.

"Then we can get into the data center now!?" Hiro exclaimed.

" Interesting... But why did the now deceased have that key on them?" Byakuya wondered to himself, glancing at the body. "I suppose we'll just have to go to the data center and find out."

"Yeah, I think you're right." Makoto nodded as the group headed to the fourth floor.

---

On the fourth floor...

"Here we are." Byakuya said.

"Looks like the door is still unlocked..." Sora added.

"Hey, so...when you open that door, there's not gonna be another huge KABOOM like before, right?" Hina spoke up.

"You're asking that question now?" Hiro started sweating.

"Don't worry. We have Shirayuki." Byakuya smirked.

"...Excuse me?" Sora raised an eyebrow.

"It's in your hands..."

"...Seriously?"

"It means I trust you."

Bullshit. Sora rolled her eyes again. You're just usin' me...

Regardless, Sora walked up to the door and placed a hand on it. Letting out a sigh, she slowly opened the door and...

...Nothing happened. 

Blinking twice, Sora let out another sigh, this time out of relief. She then started walking around as she took in her surroundings and gazed at the room's certain scheme.

In a word, the room was...strange. Well, all the rooms up till now were strange, but this room had a...special kind of strangeness. It wasn't a surface fear like the rest of the school. Here, the fear was lurking beneath the surface... The room was filled with that kind of dread...

"Hey, that's--!" Hiro extended a trembling hand and pointed towards all the monitors on the wall.

Each monitor displayed a different section of the school. The dorms, the classrooms... Every part of the school was covered.

"Th-This is...!" Makoto stammered.

"It's a direct feed from every single surveillance camera...!" Byakuya widened his eyes. "All the cameras in the school feed back into this room...and they're displayed here on these monitors. So the sole purpose of this room...is to watch us."

"To...w-watch us!?" Hiro repeated in shock.

"Then this room is...!" Hina trailed off.

"The mastermind's private room, without a doubt." Byakuya nodded as he finished what Hina was about to say.

The mastermind's room, huh? So...all this time, they've been watching us...

 "Then I think this settles it." Byakuya spoke up.

"Huh...?" Hina turned to him, looking confused.

"The body in the garden... If they had the key to this room, it can only mean one thing. That was the body of Mukuro Ikusaba, and she was the mastermind." Byakuya assumed.

"Then the mastermind is dead? Like really really dead!?" Hina widened her eyes.

Byakuya nodded. "It would seem so."

"F-For serious!?" Hiro exclaimed.

"It's too bad they had to g-go and die...before Master could k-kill them himself!" Toko smirked.

Sora folded her arms unconsciously, looking unconvinced. The mastermind...is dead? Could that really be true? Does that mean...it's all over? Because, I mean...that body...

Whatever happened, they obviously didn't die a natural death. So who was it that...?

"B-But...if the mastermind really is dead..." Hiro spoke up. "That means we can finally get outta this hellhole! We gotta hurry up and find the exit! C'mon!"

"No. We have to check this area thoroughly first." Byakuya said, halting Hiro from beelining out of the room.

"Huh!? But what about the exit!?"

"If the mastermind truly is dead, we can leave whenever we decide to. But right now...we need to find out why the mastermind set up this life-or-death game in the first place. And I'm bothered by the fact that the mastermind was obviously murdered."

"M-Murdered!?" Hiro sputtered out.

"So you think so too, huh?" Makoto looked at him.

"Naturally. The state of the corpse makes it plain as day. There is absolutely no doubt the mastermind was murdered." Byakuya said confidently.

Hiro made a frustrated sigh. "Wh-Why's it gotta be that way!? I mean, who could've even done it!?"

Byakuya rolled his eyes. "That's exactly why I said we need to investigate the purpose and identity of the mastermind."

"Now do you u-understand, you useless insect!?" Toko narrowed her eyes at Hiro. "You're banned from t-talking to Master ever again!"

The mastermind's purpose...and why they were killed... This room may very well hold the answers to those questions... After all, the mastermind must have spent who knows how much time here...

"Okay then, let us begin our search. It's time to uncover the identity of the mastermind." Byakuya said.

Sora sighed as she began. First, she walked over to the insane amount of monitors on the screen.

The mastermind's...really been using these things to spy on us...

"Creepy..." Sora made a disturbed expression before strolling towards the bunch of computers that were all lined up. They look like high-performance PCs. Nothing like the ancient laptop Alter Ego and Doppelgänger were installed on...

"They're all on, but they seem to be locked." Byakuya remarked.

"So what, we can't do anything? Just use your fighting spirit to force your way in!" Hina suggested.

"What c-century are you from...?" Toko commented.

"The mastermind must've been using these to monitor the network. And Alter Ego and Doppelgänger..." Makoto said.

"You may well be right about that." Byakuya conceded. "But there's no point in thinking about it now."

Makoto sighed. "You're right..."

Sora would then look to see a large door with a picture of Monokuma on it. 

What's this now...?

She placed a hand on the knob and...

RATTLE, RATTLE!

"Damn, it's locked..." Sora let out a sigh.

"The door's locked, huh? What if you use the key that opened this room?" Hina suggested.

"Good idea..." Sora nodded as she used the key.

RATTLE, RATTLE!

"Nope, that won't work either." Sora folded her arms. "It doesn't even fit into the keyhole..."

"Oh..." Hina frowned before perking right back up. "Well, don't worry about it! Everything's fine. The mastermind's dead, right? So nothing's gonna happen to us!"

"I guess..." Sora shrugged.

But...even if - and that's a huge IF - the mastermind's dead, Sora can't keep thinking about the door. But worrying about won't do her any good right now.

---

"Hrm... Hrm hrm hrmmm..." Hiro looked to be working on some sort of television with a T.V. cable, before his eyes lit up. "Oh...! Oh oh oh oh oh!"

"...What's wrong?" Makoto asked.

"Good news for all you Saturday morning kiddies out there! I think I got the TV working!" Hiro grinned.

"Really!?" Hina exclaimed in joy.

"Now all we gotta do is...switch it on!" Hiro said.

"...Then do it." Byakuya ordered.

"Friggin' idiot mastermind! All "you guys need to cut free from your regrets of the outside world"..." Hiro grumbled. "And they were sitting here watching TV the whole time! They really thought they could get away with it...?"

Hiro switched the T.V. on. Static made its way on the screen, before it soon disappeared and was then replaced with...

...Them.

"Hm...?" Hiro tilted his head in confusion.

"Huh...? This is..." Makoto trailed off.

"What the...?" Sora leaned her upper body forward, hand behind her back.

"It's the feed coming from...the surveillance camera monitoring this room, isn't it?" Hina said.

"Huh? That's weird..." Hiro looked confused.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Byakuya narrowed his eyes.

"That's really weird. Hmm..." Hiro scratched his chin.

"Y-YOU'RE weird...!" Toko growled. "Weird in every way p-possible. And not j-just weird... Super weird!"

"But...this TV isn't hooked up to anything but the antenna... So how is it showing the camera feed?" Hiro wondered.

"Did you try changing the channel?" Hina suggested.

"Oh, good idea. Let's give that a try." Hiro went through each channel, one by one. But on every channel it was just the students. Just a live feed of them standing in the data center. "What the heck...?"

"Is it broken or something?" Hina guessed.

"No... There must be some kind of trick to it, some weird setup..." Hiro assumed.

"A trick? What kind of trick!?" A high-pitched voice inquired.

"I'm not sure, but..."

"...Huh?" Toko widened her eyes in shock at the source of the voice.

"...Huh?" The voice repeated.

"Wh...?" Hina sputtered as she saw it, too.

"Wh...?"

Hiro then looked to see what all the fuss was, and soon he knew what got everyone so shocked.

It was Monokuma.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTT!?!?"

Chapter 36: End

To be continued...?