The Weight of a Motive and a Glimmer of Trust

After a few minutes of calming my mind and deep contemplation, I finally resolved to watch my [Motive] video.

I did so not for myself, but solely for the sake of everyone who yearned for freedom.

While it might yield nothing, or even drive me to madness and self-loss, deep down, I was once a pure, kind-hearted, fearless, passionate youth!

Alright! No time like the present!

I immediately rolled up my sleeves, pulled out my student ID, and clicked on the “Motive 2” video below.

My eyes landed on the playback bar and icon, surrounded by an unsettling darkness.

My trembling hand hovered in the air for a moment.

Then, gritting my teeth, I forced myself to overcome my fear and pressed the play icon.

The very next second, a cacophony of crashing and splintering furniture assaulted my ears.

“Tell me what this is?! Huh?!” a middle-aged man in a white collar roared, slamming a wad of cash onto a square table.

“Wh-what? I don’t know what you’re talking about…” a middle-aged woman, lying on the sofa watching TV, was startled speechless by the sudden shout.

“You trying to play dumb with me, huh?! I found this in your pillow! Out with it! Have you been seeing another man outside? Speak!!!”

The middle-aged man lunged forward, grabbing the woman’s collar and yanking her up fiercely.

“Le-let go!! I don’t know!”

The woman struggled desperately, resisting with all her might.

“What are you trying to hide, huh?! Are you going to talk or not!!! If you don’t, do you believe I’ll smash your face in and turn you into an ugly hag?!!!”

Just as the man, enraged, clenched his fist and prepared to strike her face, a radiant young girl suddenly rushed forward, grabbing his waist and sobbing tearfully.

“Dad!! No, don’t hit Mom! Don’t, hit! No, don’t— mmmph!!!”

“SMACK!!!!”

Before the girl could finish her plea, her arms were violently torn away by the man’s hands, and the next moment, a resounding slap landed across her face, its crisp echo reverberating through the entire living room.

For a moment, the girl couldn’t comprehend what had just happened, and she collapsed onto the cold floor, merely feeling her head spin and her ears ring.

“Mmph!… Eh…?”

The girl’s first conscious sensation was the faint smell of iron.

Instinctively, she reached up and wiped the corner of her mouth, revealing an unmistakable streak of crimson.

“Your mom’s seeing another man and you’re still protecting her?! If I don’t slap some sense into you, you’ll be just as delusional, won’t you?!”

The man glared furiously at the girl sprawled on the floor, unleashing a deafening, hysterical roar.

“Mom… found… a man…?”

The girl’s eyes were vacant, her limbs numb, and it took every ounce of her strength to utter those few words.

“Where did that b*tch go?! I’m talking to you and she’s vanished, heh heh… Looks like she really has a guilty conscience, doesn’t she?! Hiding in the room, are we?!”

“BANG!!! CRASH!!!”

The man furiously rushed towards a room, flinging the door open.

Immediately after, the door slammed shut with a thud, followed by the frantic click of a lock.

No, don’t… don’t do it, noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!

A terrifying scene unfolded in that instant.

From behind the closed door came the man’s roars and the woman’s frantic screams of struggle.

Within minutes, the screams gradually devolved into pained wails.

Watching the video, I found it incredibly difficult to breathe, as if I had been wrapped in a blanket for an eternity, feeling as though I would suffocate at any moment.

The girl, unable to bear the oppressive, agonizing screams, crawled back to her feet and pounded on the door repeatedly with all her might.

“Stop hitting her! Stop hitting her!! Stop hitting her!!…”

The girl ceaselessly repeated those three words, over and over, endlessly… repeating.

“Stop… hitting… her…”

Having exhausted all her strength, the girl’s legs gave out, and she knelt weakly on the floor, leaving distinct scratch marks on the door.

Yet… she… was… still… crying… out…

‘Stop shouting, stop shouting! Just stop shouting!!! You can’t do anything, yet you keep begging ‘stop hitting her, stop hitting her’ over and over! Is this futile, idiotic effort supposed to make you seem pitiful?!’

Ugh!!! How— how disgusting… So sickening it made me want to vomit, so repulsive I wanted to smash this student ID!

Why did I suddenly feel so nauseous…?

A sudden retch sent bile surging up my esophagus; luckily, I managed to hold it back, otherwise, that dry heave would have almost brought up the breakfast I’d eaten this morning.

Pooling on the floor was my saliva, and my… tears…

I… why… am I crying…?

How— how strange…

The old me had been so strong; even if I fell off my bike and scraped my knee, I wouldn’t shed a tear from the pain.

Why, then, was I inexplicably… crying now…?

‘Ahahaha… So… it’s a woman’s tear ducts acting up…?’

‘Hahahahah…! Am I truly this fragile? How laughable!’

‘It’s fine… it’s fine… This is all just the past… nothing to dwell on…’

****

“Oh my, oh my~ To think Kamimura-san actually watched the entire video~ That’s truly unbelievable, you know…” Monokuma appeared in my room at that moment.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, staring at it with a grim expression and an exceedingly cold tone.

“Why, to give you a present, of course~ Your luck is quite good, you know~ Very few people get chosen for the grand prize after watching the whole video… and you’re one of them~”

“So, what’s the gift?”

“Oh my, oh my~? Your eyes are filled with hatred and sorrow, aren’t they? Well… I won’t rub it in. The gift is in your personal profile; go have a good look yourself! Puhuhuhuhuhu…”

With that, it swiftly left my room.

“…”

I sat quietly on the cold bed, utterly motionless, gazing up at the pristine white ceiling.

I lost track of how much time had passed, yet I remained in the same position, staring blankly at the ceiling with an icy demeanor.

****

“Knock, knock, knock.”

A soft knocking came from outside the door, the familiar three taps… It must be Takagi Masahiko.

Slowly, I rose and walked step by step towards the door.

As my hand reached out to turn the doorknob, I hesitated for a moment, my right hand pausing in the air.

[If Kamimura-san has any worries, you can… um… come talk to me about them, you know?]

In that moment, for reasons I couldn’t quite name, his words from that night flashed back to me.

‘Perhaps… I should try leaning on someone else’s shoulder…?’

Ultimately, I decided to turn the handle and open the door.

“Oh? Kamimura-san, you’re in your room… I thought you had gone out.”

Just as Takagi was about to turn and leave, he heard the door open and abruptly turned his head to look at me.

“…Is something the matter…?” I asked, attempting to keep my expression as calm as possible.

“Yeah, I got what Monokuma called an ‘additional gift’! But I can’t make sense of the specifics at all, so I wanted to share it with you privately and see if you could help me decipher it…”

“You… trust me that much…? Aren’t you afraid I might use you to do something bad…?” I tried to provoke his caution, hoping to prevent him from being deceived by others in the future.

“Yeah! I started trusting you a long time ago. If Kamimura-san wanted to use me to do something terrible, why did you unhesitatingly help everyone find the right path during the class trial?”

“That’s because…” At this point, I didn’t know how best to respond.

“Kamimura-san, you don’t need to explain anything to me. No matter how difficult your situation, I won’t forget my original intention, and that is—to believe in you.”

With a sincere and earnest expression, he resolutely chose to trust me, and my heart skipped a beat at that moment.

“Oh? Kamimura-san… why are your eyes… so red…?” He furrowed his brows, staring at my eyes with a face full of concern.

“…”

“S-sorry! My apologies for disturbing you, Kamimura-san! I’ll just lea— huh?”

Just as he was about to leave me, in that critical moment, I urgently grabbed his sleeve.

He looked at me with a surprised expression.

“When… did I say you could leave on your own…?”

I spoke without changing my expression, yet absentmindedly glanced towards an empty space, unaware that a faint, indistinct blush was creeping onto my cheeks.

‘This is the first time I’ve ever actively invited someone into my room, and it’s absolutely not because of shyness or anything else…!’