The Unsettling Motive

“You lot, seriously… you’re still hoping the police will come and rescue you? You might as well give up on that dream. Besides, if you’re so desperate to leave, all you have to do is kill someone, right?” Monokuma addressed everyone.

“You monster! You’re the one who trapped us all here, and now you want us to kill each other!” Ishii Yoshimi roared furiously.

“Huh?! Hey! Don’t you dare slander my innocence! The one who trapped all of you here is actually one among yourselves! How dare you twist the truth? I’m truly heartbroken…”

“Wh-what?!”

“One of us…?”

“That’s a lie… isn’t it?”

“Un… unbelievable…”

“So, one of us is the mastermind behind this, the one who wants us to kill each other, right?” Suzuki Minoru calmly inquired of Monokuma.

“That’s right, that’s right! The one who trapped you here is the mastermind, and the one making you kill each other here is also the mastermind!”

“Who… who is it?!” Akahira Yuusuke angrily demanded of everyone.

“It’s not me!”

“It’s you, isn’t it… Suzuki Minoru? You’re the mastermind, right?”

“Oh? I never realized my demeanor was so masterminds-like? I truly appreciate the compliment.”

“Are you saying you’re not the mastermind? Then why were you just encouraging everyone to kill?!”

“Isn’t killing the only way to escape this place? So tell me, besides killing, what other method is there to leave? Please don’t suggest childish notions like everyone uniting to defeat Monokuma, because… the mastermind might just stab us in the back at any moment, you know?”

“You!…”

“Monokuma, whether or not this ‘mastermind’ you speak of truly exists, we will absolutely not harm anyone else’s life!” Takagi Masahiko retorted, pointing at Monokuma.

“Puhuhuhu… Really? Alright, alright, back to the main topic…”

“It’s been almost two days since our school life began, yet still, no one has emerged who wants to kill another.”

“Hmm… Although you all live in an era of peace, for me, it’s truly a bit boring…”

“No matter what you say… we won’t kill anyone…”

“I see, I understand now! Ding-ding-ding~ A sudden flash of insight!”

“Location, characters, and environment—all these elements fit a mystery, so I was puzzled as to why no murder had occurred yet…”

“Oh right, one crucial thing is still missing~”

“Wh-what thing…” Takagi Masahiko felt an inexplicable sense of dread towards Monokuma.

“It’s the ‘motive’!”

“Honestly, no one even reminded me of such a simple thing… It seems I’ll have to personally provide everyone with a ‘motive,’ puhuhuhu~”

“Huh…? What do you mean? ‘Motive’…?” Akahira Yuusuke asked, his voice tinged with anger.

“’Motive,’ what’s that? Can you eat it?” Arisumi Momoko innocently asked Monokuma.

“Oh, that’s right, I have some videos I want to show everyone!”

“You rotten bear, don’t ignore me and deliberately change the subject!” Akahira Yuusuke was utterly enraged by Monokuma’s dismissal.

“And by the way… no, they’re not R-rated or perverted videos! They’re really not that kind of thing!!”

“Stop with the nonsense and get straight to the point!”

“It’s about the secrets hidden behind your backs~”

Upon hearing the word “secrets,” everyone’s faces blanched, their reactions betraying the unspeakable pasts they had endured.

“You… do you actually know our past secrets?!” Katagiri Mimi stammered, filled with trepidation.

“No, that’s impossible…! This creature must be spreading falsehoods! Everyone, don’t be fooled by it!” Takagi Masahiko tried his best to remain calm, yet despite his efforts, beads of sweat involuntarily trickled down his forehead from the tension within.

“Whether I’m lying or not, you’ll see for yourselves. I’ve already sent the videos to each of your electronic student IDs! You absolutely must watch them!” After uttering these words, Monokuma inexplicably vanished.

“…………”

Everyone fell silent, Monokuma’s words enveloping them like an invisible birdcage. In that moment, they were unknowingly transformed into “caged birds,” unable to escape, unable to move.

“I’m going back to my room…” Even Furuhata Jun, typically a man of few words, could no longer endure the oppressive atmosphere.

“Me too…”

…Everyone dispersed, leaving the dining hall to return to their rooms, presumably to prevent others from prying into their “secrets.”

Before leaving, Suzuki Minoru cast a cryptic remark:

“Life is like a play, everyone wears a masked facade, performing their respective roles until the final curtain falls and they exit the stage…”

In the dining hall, only Takagi Masahiko and I remained.

“Kamimura-san… will you also watch… that video?”

“…Yes, I will. After all, it concerns my past…”

“But if a murder truly occurs, how are we supposed to stop it? I don’t know…”

“Everyone has the right to know the secrets they’re unaware of, and murders are unpredictable… Therefore, the only thing we can do right now… is to uncover the truth and the culprit after a murder happens, so that not everyone falls victim.”

Despite being a transmigrator, I found myself powerless to prevent this mutual slaughter, and even more likely to become someone’s sacrifice. Monokuma’s scheme filled me with a sliver of despair.

I returned to my room, sitting on the bed and staring blankly at the ceiling.

It was merely a video, yet why did it make me so melancholic? My secret… No, the more I thought about the video, the more I understood its implications. After several internal struggles, I couldn’t resist my curiosity and opened the video.

…………….

The video showed me with three other girls, the surroundings appearing to be a ladies’ restroom. In the very next second, however, the ‘me’ in the video was suddenly slapped across the face. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, and then ‘I’ was kicked to the ground by another girl, while a third person grabbed ‘my’ hair and shook ‘me’ back and forth. Their mouths moved incessantly, and from their lip movements, they seemed to be hurling insults. Yet, ‘I’ simply sat on the floor, motionless like a puppet, allowing them to punch and kick.

Every second of the video felt utterly suffocating, the déjà vu so vivid that every part of my body throbbed with a dull ache.

Ultimately, I couldn’t bring myself to watch the entire video and closed it. Although the nauseating footage was gone from my screen, the mental anguish it caused had awakened my previously blank memories.

Several related fragments flashed through my mind, and I pressed my hands to my head, exerting all my strength to resist the intrusion of these memories.

‘Filthy things… get out of my mind…’

‘Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out, get out!’

I rushed into the bathroom, splashing cold water onto my face, then submerged my entire head into the sink.

I tried to stimulate my skin with the icy cold, using the water to wash away the noise in my mind. A few seconds later, I abruptly lifted my head, gasping for fresh air.

Finally… I managed to calm my unruly mind… I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

She seemed to be grinning at me, saying, “Thank you for splashing cold water on me and granting me such disarray.”

I dried my hair with a towel, then dragged my exhausted body to bed, falling into a sleep I hadn’t realized I needed.