Tsumugi Shirogane was going down with the game, just like Junko Enoshima...

A lot of people would say she loved it, performing the perfect copycat crime.

But did she?

Only a sicko would enjoy something as twisted as this and Tsumugi wasn't one of those people. She was just your plain, normal weeb who loves anime...

A plain normal weeb who experienced killing games twice, who sent all her classmates to their 'deaths', and... despaired all over it.

A painful feeling that she slowly got used to, until she told herself that it was OK to feel like that. Although, in the beginning, why would she want this? Things were better played out through the screen rather than done by yourself.

Yet have it she will, because she was the mastermind. With that stupid mastermind perk, remembering everything, even outside the damn killing game. And what they wanted out of her or else...

And the fact that she was stuck with her former classmates of Hope's Peak, and Rantaro Amami of all people... which shocked her to no end.

Because... what did that mean? Her classmates, which although they forgotten, she remembered... with their plans, the bunker, their cause. What were they thinking... being here? Why? After everything that was done...?

Because she remembered everything, but she had to play along. She had to put on a good show, she couldn't disappoint them. She had no choice.

'If it's a show they want, it's a show they will get,' Tsumugi thought when the whole thing started, her cosplayer's knowledge of anime giving a good story plot... the need to make this as long as possible and the advantage of knowing her classmates enough giving her a way to stage the killings as interesting and despairing as possible.

And she told herself, 'It's like role-playing. You are supposed to be the big bad mastermind, while there would that one protagonist that would thwart you. And how about the other characters, what casting will play? Oh, it's just like a story. How will it go?'

That was when she started telling herself it was a story, where she was simply a character and the rest were characters and it will have to end soon.

But the ending she knew would be a long way. Because who would want a story with a short ending? Who likes bad endings? Who likes stories that don't even begin?

In the boom and flashes of the dome breaking down, Tsumugi could only think of what she had done, uncaring where this will go.

The only thing she could do as she awaited her untimely death was go back to her story, and thought how everything spiraled out.

Reminiscing as life would flash before her eyes, but of this killing game... instead of everything before.

Before... Tsumugi briefly touched upon, of happier times within her cosplays, conventions, shipping pools, her classmates, festivals...

But she no longer can feel happy about that, it just despaired her instead. Because after everything she done...

So, her mind went about to the killing game instead, a fake story unlike her real memories as she role played throughout it. Never herself, just someone else.

And it was less painful.

Rantaro and Kaede, they were threats. Killing them in one go was the best, even if it didn't go exactly the way she wanted, but the end justifies the means. And the time limit motive was gone, all didn't need to die, they were satisfied and onto the next chapter.

Ryoma and Kirumi, the one with the no will to live and the one with the most. What a neat irony, opposite spectrums that played so well with each other. Two that could have gone far in this killing game, with their intelligence, open mindedness and aloofness, cut so easily by their simple desires. Another two threats down, a lovely chapter. Act three.

... Huh? Did one of the boulders almost hit her? Why didn't it hit her now? What's taking the punishment so long? Ah well, she could go back to reminiscing.

Angie, Tenko and Kiyo. The double kills were always the most famous ones, or infamous depending on your preference. Past killing games always followed that theme and this one was no different.

Angie was so hopeful in thinking that she wouldn't let anyone escape so that no one would kill, Tenko was so hopeful that everyone will rally and she can salvage her friendship with Himiko as they survive together, Kiyo was so hopeful to fulfil his Sister's wishes and maybe his own as well as long as he was here.

They all despaired in the end, and maybe they despaired too. That incest was weird, Tsumugi knew, but she had to work with what she had. And wasn't that the point of the killing game, despair? Adding some now despite bad plotting, maybe especially bad plotting was just what the doctor ordered, isn't it?

Another boulder. Ah... are they teasing her? And the stage curtains open yet again. But there seemed to be a mistake with the character's roles.

It should have been what Tsumugi predicted... and try to enact... of a desperate Miu, a depressed Kokichi and both becoming killer and victim, ending two threats whom she was aware were working together in making cracks of the killing game, of the story. She couldn't have those threats alive.

But something unpredictable had happened. Miu became the victim, Kokichi's hands were 'clean' and Gonta... Gonta of all people, killed.

She had roleplayed, she had told herself the show must go on, she told herself the people were characters to just move the story.

But what was the pain in her heart when she found out that it was Gonta, and the trial went on. Why was it that she lied for Shuichi when all it would do was just point it all on Kokichi, causing only Gonta to survive... the rest dying? When she could have dismissed the lie, subtly push Shuichi into other facts such as Kokichi's setting or Gonta's error and make everything so clear.

But at that moment, she rather die. What an interesting plot twist, wouldn't that be? A killing game that ended with everyone dying except Gonta, ending it nicely. It had gone long enough that ending it here and now won't do much damage for them.

And then Kokichi flipped the script again. And the killing game continued.

'He had always been unpredictable. I could never get a read on him...' Tsumugi had thought, as Kokichi comfortably played the role of villain. But as an active one, instead of the passive one Tsumugi was.

She wondered... how could he do that, unless he was truly evil, in ways even if she knew Kokichi for some time, was still unaware of who Kokichi really is, with all his masks and lies that so benefitted him in this game.

Because she remembered everything and despite him working for them, with their classmates for the greater good, sometimes he never minded 'dirtying' his hands, pulling out tricks, simultaneously betraying and helping people, being a scapegoat in the most unpredictable ways that he came out too much a winner to even know he was a scapegoat to begin with and that's what sets him apart, in more ways than one.

As he derailed the script, with his strength to get over the motive she specifically prepared for him to stop him and his lies that covers every part of him like masks that can never be pried open that she felt the story was going to be hijacked.

And the story was hijacked as 'this world is mine' by Kokichi Ouma, as he made his grand entrance as the mastermind, made everyone despaired, and stopped the killing game with everyone too depressed to continue anything.

She had truly underestimated Kokichi Ouma, hasn't she?

It irritated and angered Tsumugi because what Kokichi did was basically putting things on hold, not ending anything and a story can't be put on hold forever, so she made a Flashback Light, showed them a memory, used a plot device to continue the story.

It was really like role playing. In the end, she was never in charge of the script. She simply could influence the actions of the other role players, subtly teased a storyline and continue it on in unpredictable manner. But she guessed that was what made the story so fun since she was not the writer but the watcher even with something she masterminded.

Because in the end, they were all roleplayers, the story a thing that only the characters influenced until...

Chapter 5. This one somehow excited Tsumugi the most, despite Monokuma's frustration. Which made it all the more fun to Tsumugi, because she never liked that bear... especially after what happened in her previous killing game.

'Ouma-kun really is an enigma or too smart. In the weirdest of ways,' Tsumugi noted, as whoever was in the Exisal, because it could be either Kokichi or Kaito but she had leaned toward Kokichi at that moment, pretending to be himself, declared his intent to battle against Monokuma with what Tsumugi knew was an unsolvable murder case and hey... doesn't that sound familiar?

Tsumugi half wondered what they would think about this. But honestly, it was exhilarating for Tsumugi who wondered what would happen if Kokichi won? That it will finally end like that?

But then, everything was revealed, the story continues on and both Kokichi and Kaito, both who Tsumugi wanted dealt with once upon a time for their dangerous quirks, are done with.

'When will it end?' Tsumugi thought, because she was reminded of her past killing game, when she had to go through with this as a contestant instead of the mastermind and the role she was given. It shouldn't be long, because stories, one way or another, would have to end soon. They need it to end too, after all, for what is to come after.

And then, Kiibo started destroying the school.

All said, Tsumugi got the feeling of another time limit although of Kiibo's own doing and their exploration of everything. Including the mastermind's room and the girl's bathroom.

'Ah... so it would be a reveal ending, and what should I do, huh?' Tsumugi thought to herself.

This would be the very first time that she would have to play as an active antagonist, always being in the shadows. As it was the most comfortable role she had been in.

Because ever since when, Tsumugi had always been a wallflower who blends well in the background, even her cosplaying used mostly to show her pieces of clothing, her masterpieces with passion for others to see. But outside of that, she was quiet, diminutive and never gave much of a presence. So much that outside cons, she had joked about it and even called herself plain. Truthfully, that was when her shtick began.

Even in her roleplays with her other cosplaying friends, Tsumugi preferred not to be a front-liner, contributing instead from the shadows and more interested in how the story goes by other characters than anything.

But now she had to move the story of her own volition, instead of subtly nudging the characters to do so instead.

The final chapter, and as Tsumugi compiled facts that led the story thus far, listened to Shuichi, she had to wonder what they like. And then, she had to remember that they like despair. Tsumugi also remembered past killing games, some she had watched out of curiosity and decided to follow the theme with her own twist. Her own despairing twist and her obvious lie, one she told herself too many times ever since this game started.

Once she was revealed, she referenced a lot about the past killing games, fictionalised the aftermath and then did the meta.

Because that was her despair and lie: that everyone was fiction, that none of this was real and she never sent her classmates to their 'deaths'. She had only sent characters of a story, just to move a plot. It was all fictional, that's why it didn't matter.

In the end, this was what became of her. This was what she believed: that in the end, this was a story and that she herself was also a character of a story, the final antagonist, awaiting her rightful ending.

'And then it will be over,' Tsumugi thought as she smiled maniacally outside and in relief inside as she continued it and gave the survivors a choice. A choice like all the killing games before them... hope vs despair.

So, imagine her surprise when they rejected both hope and despair and were now facing this... the Ultimate Punishment, but at the same time, she also expected it because Shuichi and the others-

... Huh? What was she thinking? What would she know about Shuichi and the others? They were simply all contestants in the killing game, and only met by then for this fiction. What was she talking about?

'... lies... despair... fooling...'

... Hu-?

Crash!

Another boulder but this time it hit Tsumugi straight up, crushing her without any warning. A quick death that snuffed out life too quickly but welcomed oh so much by Tsumugi ever since she first set the stage.

Because as everyone knows, most antagonists, all villains... they always meet a bad end, and a popular bad end for them is... death. And as Tsumugi knew this, she still continued the story that they wanted.

Because she knew death not only ended the story, but also the suffering, burdens and pain... because...

'Finally, it will be over,' Tsumugi had kept on thinking before being swiftly crushed without thought as she reminisced this killing game, an ending she had always wanted... and the curtains fall...

Loading...

0%... 8%... 19%... 34%... 51%... 73%... 88%... 100%.

LOADING COMPLETE.

And then Tsumugi Shirogane woke up from the dead.

'What a cheap cop out,' Tsumugi thought, bitterly wishing she had died as the story intended, but she forgotten.

Just like the previous killing games before her, the Despair Minions, survivors... all that jazz.

She was alive... but at what cost? To just continue living miserably? To now work with the victim that she killed in the game, with the victims pitted in the game as she let it happen because she was assigned as the mastermind?

'It was supposed to be a story... just a story... role play,' Tsumugi thought. It was what she had thought... ever since she was inside that killing game, ever since she was inside the killing game before it, ever since she was captured by those Despair Minions.

Because what else could she do? Everything that happened... ever since the Reserve Course Serial Killing, the Tragedy and when her entire class formed the A2HD just to battle against both the Future Foundation and Despair Minions when their morals, views and goals. It was all like the anime she watched, the ones with apocalyptic settings. Why, oh why, couldn't this be slice of life?

Nevertheless, within a bunch of Ultimates, Tsumugi considered herself plain and normal in comparison and how exactly could a plain and normal person cope with such changes in comparison to her other classmates, some who actually revel in these types of situations (*cough* Kokichi *cough* Rantaro *cough*). It was since then that to cope, she decided to project herself as one of the characters of the anime she watched, thinking what they would do in her boots just like how she cosplayed and roleplayed during those cosplay conventions all that time ago and it helped her along the way.

However, projecting other people, even fictional, to yourself could also lead to harm. It was evident through the two killing games she went through. In such stressful situations, she needed her coping mechanism even more. Despite losing her memories in her first killing game because she was simply a participant then, as the Ultimate Cosplayer, she chose to roleplay whoever she thought would help her survive a killing game. Certainly anime characters have faced worse situations than her and if she could follow their lead, maybe she will have a better chance of survival.

In the end, she did survive but to only return to a second killing game as the mastermind, with her former classmates. She played her part as the mastermind to a fitting end, expecting to die like all despicable villains have. Yet, she was still alive... this was still her reality. But this reality...

'That is not how the story goes. The act ends, the villain dies and the protagonist goes on, learning something profound from such experiences.'

Tsumugi blatantly rejected the reality in front of her. She had roleplayed too much that she thought herself only a character in a story, wanting to follow the plot (that she made up in her mind) as faithfully as possible, even if that meant her death.

'There could be many other plot lines where the mastermind, me, simply makes an appearance, as if back from the dead, to the protagonist. It would do well for a sequel, but... I do not want to be a part of the sequel, because I have no part in it. I died a resounding death as the mastermind for the impact of the story. Let it stay that way.'

To Tsumugi, it felt too much of a cheap cop out to be resurrected back to life just after the protagonist defeated her. It wasn't Tsumugi's type of story... and this story, her story... she wanted it to end. Her final grace.

But that was not to be.

Tsumugi, going forward to her final grave, was stopped shortly by strong hands against her, strong hands that she recognised as Gonta's. Tsumugi was not surprised this happened. There were a lot of Despair Minions that were just like Tsumugi, who wanted to end their sufferings, but despairingly, other Deapair Minions always stop them, so that they could despair together. As they say, misery loves company after all. Just replace misery with despair.

... But wait. Gonta was not wearing a Monokuma mask. All Despair Minions wore Monokuma masks. When she finally had a good look around, she realised that no one wore Monokuma masks. That could only mean...

'They are not... Despair Minions? The killing game... failed?'

Failed... since when has it failed? Why has it failed? If all of them weren't Despair Minions and she was, what would happen to her?

Tsumugi couldn't think this through, caught up in her own thoughts until now to be prepared for such a sudden surprise.

"Gh," Tsumugi let out, as she felt herself constrained, both arms and legs by the rough fibers of a rope as she fell into a sitting position as the person tying her up pushed her down for it. Another person, now standing before her crouched down to meet her eye-level.

"Toujou... san?" Tsumugi asked, now struggling against the binds placed on her, "No mask... not despairing... Why? You... and everyone else? How? The... the killing game had always been perfect. You had died! You are suppose to, and yet... only me? Why only me? Just let me die..."

Honestly, Tsumugi sounded emo, not her type, but then again, that was the purpose of despair at times. To be someone she was not.

"It's even worse than we thought," Kiyo mused, also without mask except the black one that he always wears over his mouth. Really... even Kiyo, who Tsumugi was 100% sure will be a Despair Minion without a doubt for his weird and twisted personality from that incestuous tragedy. Why... how...

But did it matter? In the end... In the end?

Before she could spiral further into those despairing thoughts, something barged her sight, a pendulum that had swung back and forth. In surprise, Tsumugi followed the pendulum's movements and was on her way to being hypnotized.

In the back of her mind, of course she knew she would be hypnotized but once the eyes follow the pendulum, it was nearly impossible to back down.

It now depended whether she would be susceptible to hypnosis or not but... maybe in this vulnerable state, maybe within some deep yearning unknown to her now...

In a low voice, Kirumi could hear, "Your eyelids are getting heavy..."

Suddenly, Tsumugi's eyes were closing slowly and before she knew it, the darkness overtook her, where she wished it was the eternal darkness instead of the short-lived one. Without knowing it, Gonta had let her go and gently placed her on the floor, as she relaxed onto herself, just listening to that soothing voice...

"Listen to my voice, focus on it as you empty your mind out of all thoughts and remember. You dream of the memories of long past as you relax yourself. You remember, of what you really are, what you should have been and what you could be now... and come back to us, once I snap my fingers."

It was soon that instead, she could still hear the drone of words but they were another world away. She could still feel them subconsciously, shaping something in her in the way subjects of hypnosis usually responds to the words of their hypnotizer somehow.

The world was a blur around her, as she could only stare blankly ahead. She probably won't remember any of this since this was only a dream and then back to despairing since she was half aware around now what happens with hypnotism.

What were they doing? Why did they try? Why...?

"Remember the fun times with your classmates, when we were all still in Hopes' Peak. What do you remember about it?"

Flash...

"... because we are your friends~"

"You guys..."

"Haha, it's good to..."

"... dragged me into this?"

"... so cute."

"What's with me in..."

"... in hall of fame."

"... my newest assistant, everyone."

"... little sis~"

"I am no one's..."

"Haha, my..."

Flash...

It came all so clear to Tsumugi, whose surroundings shifted until she felt an out of body experience, or maybe akin to a lucid dream, living the experience of that flash.

She could see and feel herself chatting and gathering around, all happy. She could see a multitude of costumes, the whole class and a cosplay event for funsies. She could vividly see Kokichi in a maid costume as Kirumi jokingly called him her assistant and Rantaro his little sister which Kokichi rebutted immediately. And there had been so many others...

"What's the use of that?" Tsumugi said bitterly, half aware that she was not thinking those words in a dream but actually speaking aloud in answer to her hypnotizer and anyone else listening in,  "Wasn't it all a story in the end, one that was a happy dream before we came to this nightmare, of despair?"

"All memories become a part of the stories we call life. The memories in our stories are always dreams or nightmares we experience wide awake as we live on."

"But do you really believe those stories are not real in your life? Are they stories of the imagination, or stories of your life?"

It was easy, Tsumugi thought, that they were, and always would be, a part of her imagination. It was imagination because that was not her. That happy student cosplaying enjoying the company of her classmates and friends, could not be her. Because if that was her, then what would it say about herself sending her classmates to their dooms in the killing game?

Tsumugi refused to believe herself that cold-hearted, refused to believe that she still did what she did despite her memories. It had been easier to do what she did, had they been strangers and that's why she could do it. It was all fiction played by a bunch of strangers.

So, answer. Answer it was a part of the imagination.

Tsumugi opened her mouth, but the words would not come out. She did not know why and she could only remain silent, as if there were no words to be spoken, until...

'That's a lie!'

Her struggle to answer was interrupted by a familiar voice, one that came out of nowhere in this empty space before he suddenly materialize in front of her.

'You-' Tsumugi gasped, Kokichi Ouma, the usual thorn in anyone's side, came up to her with a smile that spelled trouble. Instead of the straight jacket she was so used to seeing him wear in the game, he was wearing all black, with a checkered bandana that covered his fair and googles that were dangling right above his eyes.

It was an unusual outfit for Kokichi, and Tsumugi wondered...

Flash...

"... spying going on?"

"At least... bandanna... for what?"

"... trademark, let me have my..."

"Nothing to..."

"... OK?"

"What..."

"... too comfortable with... yourself... reality..."

"Says you..."

"... masks all the time... but not only... real self... never..."

"Hmph, who do you..."

Flash...

'... think I am?' Tsumugi finished that sentence in her head once she got out of that dream, back to the Kokichi still in that black garb, smiling at her. It was another memory in a dream, another story inside her head ('Lie', she heard Kokichi whisper traitorously to her).

A story of the time after Hope's Peak, after the Tragedy, just when the Despair Minions started emerging and midway through the Future Foundation's purge on anything despairing no matter what... that she and her classmates decided to do something, anything.

Which was why around that time, with Tsumugi's cosplay skills, she had been acting as a master of disguise, spying on one of the enemies as Kokichi came to check on them, and that conversation...

Even then, she had been roleplaying through different roles, dissociating herself from her real self and towards a persona that could cope through the crazy mess they landed themselves into. Even then, Kokichi could see through her and had warned her, about the masks they wear and the real self within. Tsumugi had dismissed that warning.

She still wanted to dismiss it, but with the apparition of Kokichi, just there, awaiting her answer as much as the others beyond this dreamscape conjured by hypnotism... Kokichi, who looked at her if he knew everything, knew why she could not answer that question. Tsumugi also knew the continuation of the conversation.

"And how about you? A liar at heart. How about your masks and real-self, huh?" Tsumugi had asked, crossing her arms and staring bullets at Kokichi, in that black spy garb, who simply looked at her with a smile in his eyes and face as he answered:

"I never denied my masks nor real-self unlike you, you know? I'm actually an honest liar. Admitting all my lies and truth before me. You should do the same, before you lose yourself."

'So say it, admit it, and don't lose yourself, Shirogane-chan,' the apparition of Kokichi in front of her seemed to be saying to her, as he stared and waited for her answer...

"That was my reality. Those were stories of my life, not my imagination," Tsumugi finally confessed, to the Kokichi in front of her and the rest watching her hypnotized state. The truth she knew along, the truth she denied but cannot help let out as if in confession, as if this was what her subconscious really wanted to say, all along.

As if her subconscious made Kokichi appear before her, just to point out her lies, make her admit to the truth before that Kokichi finally disappeared with a shit-eating smile on his face when his job was done.

... Even in here, he was still an asshole.

"How do you feel about those memories, Shirogane-san?"

"Angry, sad, bitter, regretful, despair... despair... despair..." Tsumugi now mumbled to herself, unable to stop herself before she felt a warm touch on both her arms as she next heard:

"How did you feel about those memories before, Shirogane-san? Before the killing games, before the Tragedy?"

"I... felt happy, it was so much fun. I loved hanging out with my classmates... my friends," Tsumugi admitted.

"Why shouldn't you feel happy now? They were happy memories before. What is the reason they are not happy memories now?"

"Because... because..." Tsumugi struggled, but in here hypnotized and vulnerable state, as she focused on Kirumi's relaxing voice, she was only compelled to speak truth.

"Because those happy memories turned sour the moment I doomed you all. In that killing game. I... killed my friends."

"But we are still alive, aren't we, Shirogane-san? You did not kill us."

"But I did... I did, because I was the mastermind! How... how can you forgive me? How can I forgive myself? This is just despairing... despairing... despair..."

"Shirogane-san... there is nothing to forgive, because after all the mistakes we have made, forgiveness became useless."

"Remember... after the Tragedy, when we have all decided on how forgiveness is useless and what was truly important when we do something unforgivable, when the world gets tough, when we had only ourselves and each other..."

As those words were spoken, she had new dreams of memories she had completely forgotten in her despair, memories she didn't even know she had as if they had been lost in the recesses of her mind, springing up to her now...

Flash...

"You... traitor!"

"What... have you done?"

"... bastard."

"Bitch..."

"Wh- why?"

"How could you...?

"... we do?"

"This..."

"The only thing we can do...

Flash...

They were nowhere near happy memories, as those were the memories at the very beginning of the Tragedy, when all sixteen classmates were just scared little kids trying to survive a damaged world, as they had too many enemies and few friends.

In such a world, even with sixteen of them who promised that they will always stick together, who would always pull through together, nothing had been smooth sailing with betrayals, fights, arguments and nearly deaths. How could anything be smooth sailing in such an apocalyptic world?

There had always been hurt, regret, anger and bitterness. Sometimes, some of them even left the others, before coming back to them or being retrieved back, because those sixteen people wanted to stick together even when few were led astray, no matter what. Even if every action was unforgivable, they still stuck together. Because they swore, even when things gotten tough...

"The only thing we can do, is not forgiveness, but move on. Come back, and face the world together, because we... we needed to move on and see... see to a brighter day." Tsumugi said, in memory, in one she had forgotten so deeply because...

She forgotten once when she was in the first killing game and then she remembered everything again when they made her the mastermind of the next killing game, or so she thought.

Apparently a part of her memories, hopeful memories, were omitted, gaps she never questioned in the despair and fear of the killing game, but now she remembered.

"Then, why is something like this, so different from those other times? Remember, even if you don't believe you could come back and move on, we will always convince you to. Just like you convinced others. Remember..."

The memories did not come in flashes this time, but in apparitions. All fifteen of them, forming a circle around her...

Kiibo, Kaito, Kokichi, Gonta, Miu, Kiyo, Tenko, Angie, Himiko, Kirumi, Ryoma, Maki, Shuichi...

Kaede... who had stepped forward, and then Rantaro, who appeared right behind her, hand gently on the shoulder. Tsumugi squirmed at those two people closest to her, the ones... she caused most pain, but yet...

Both of them smiled at her. In fact, everyone was smiling around her...

'What is so different this time when...'

One by one, starting with Kiibo... they all clasped her hands and she saw each vision, different memories of her and that classmate, some who were bruised and doubting themselves after so much fighting during the Tragedy, some who are down when they couldn't find their loved ones, some who had defected from the others and are being retrieved back as they are being convinced...

In each of those memories, even if she were with others along with that classmate, she was there. There for them, there because...

Then, Kaede clasped her hands into Tsumugi's.

Flash...

"... going to cafes together?"

"Or baking a..."

"... to music..."

"... to cosplaying..."

"And my nails..."

"... normal girls together."

Flash...

And then, Rantaro's hands clasps into hers.

Flash...

"... my sister no matter what."

"Then, take me..."

"... would you... for me..."

"Because wouldn't... sad for the big brother... also refuse... cliche tropes..."

"Haha, so unlike..."

"... support character, and really... you always need someone..."

Flash...

Tears were threatening to spill out of Tsumugi's eyes. Memories somehow forgotten were remembered again, and with them...

"Is what you are facing now so different from other times?"

"No... no, I don't think so," Tsumugi muttered, more timidly as if she was unsure of the answer and yet...

"Please... take a deep breath and relax. Now, once you open your eyes, won't you give yourself a chance, give us a chance? Do you feel despair, if you have this chance in front of you, to move on?"

"If... if I had that chance... then yes, I would move on. But..."

"Shirogane-san, a chance is something given from yourself, not from others. Of course, you will have this chance. When you open your eyes, you will see all of us, and then you will give us a chance to convince you. And then you will give yourself that chance. Then, we will move on... together."

"Together..." Tsumugi said, as she looked around to see that the apparitions had still stuck, smiling and giving a silent encouragement, before one by one, they glowed, lightening up the dark place. Giving such a blinding bright light that Tsumugi...

"So, please open your eyes, and come back to us, Shirogane-san."

And thus Tsumugi woke up from the dream.

***

Tsumugi can't exactly remember the last thing she was doing before coming back. She can't even tell where she was and the people surrounding her. Tsumugi was briefly disorientated, even though hypnotism generally does not give such a feeling. There was another reason she was feeling like this.

And then she remembered. And felt a lot of emotions coursing through her body. The regrets, sadness and anger.

But surprisingly, little despair. She was in pain for her actions, regretted, raged against herself but she didn't feel hopeless. Despair was the least of her problems. This was the reason why she was disorientated. From Despair Minion... to herself.

'Welcome to the land of the living,' Tsumugi thought to herself. She was aware of everything that happened to her during that hypnotism... her lucid dream, reaching a semblance of peace after realisations she  forgotten in her despair and agony throughout her previous killing games. But reaching peace for herself did not mean that she reached peace with everyone here.

She looked almost fearfully towards the rest of the classmates, some surrounding her and others busy doing who-knows-what. Yet her mind chanted:

'Chance... chance... see what happens. Just... see what happens.'

Unfortunately, Tsumugi had yet to believe that herself. She was actually open to the suggestion, even wishing it but... she was reluctant to act on it. Maybe because she knew how people would rightfully act against the big bad like Tsumugi, and yet... it never came, with her classmates who aren't busy just staring at her expectantly.

Tsumugi did not respond to those stares. Not only because of the reluctance, but because multiple questions now spun her mind in this actually bizarre situation.

Other than Rantaro, the rest of her classmates here when they should have been with the A2HD was alarming and what they were doing now were the leading questions in her mind.

Apparently, her silence was too much to take for the others, that they began to start discussing among each other.

"Shirogane-san is not responding. Did... the hypnosis fail?" Kirumi asked.

"Maybe she is in some state of shock. Unlike most of us here who at least have memories of our plan about this killing game, Shirogane-san is left in the dark and has a harder time processing why this is happening."

Huh? They have a plan for a killing game? What kind of plan is it, the kind of plan that would make them recklessly be in this killing game? Are they insane?

"Nyahaha, maybe we just need more of a push. How about another plan H?" Angie asked, her arms wide and looking towards Tsumugi with a zealous gleam in her eyes that simultaneously drawn and repulse Tsumugi towards Angie.

Why is Angie inching closer toward Tsumugi, with her arms still wide open? What is Plan H? Shouldn't Plan B come after the first plan failed? Before Angie could do anything, Kaede stopped her.

"Or maybe we need to bring her back to reality some more, if she is still a Despair Minion after all this. Maybe Plan S would be more suitable?"

Why is Kaede looking at her with such a conflicted expression as she kept looking at her twitching hand and Tsumugi's face? What is Plan S? Isn't that a jump from Plan H? Her lists of questions kept growing.

"Or maybe you guys are still too hasty since we still haven't heard from Shirogane-san herself," Rantaro piped up.

"Mugi, how do you feel? I know there's a lot to explain but I promise everything would make sense once you hear about it."

Tsumugi looked towards everyone, especially those busy with so many other things. She could see Miu working furiously on Kiibo.

She could see three pods hissing open, as Angie, Tenko, Kaito and Kaede now rushed towards those pods, with only Kaede looking back at her, conflicted eyes mismatching the gentle and tentative smile which seemed to encourage Tsumugi that everything would be alright.

Some people who were not busy looked at Tsumugi but didn't do a thing to interrupt her and Rantaro's moment before dealing with their own things.

Little by little, the pieces clicked within her. And she understood one thing.

Tsumugi now slowly shook her head before she finally said:

"They really are people who wouldn't take the opportunity to not only save us but use this to screw the killing game somehow, huh? But just to jump into the killing game all the same, they are insane."

"Yet, your smile says that this is expected. Is it that predictable?" Rantaro laughed a little.

Tsumugi found it surprising and unbelievable that neither of them felt one bit uncomfortable talking to each other, considering killer and victim, because Rantaro must know since he watched it all on those screens but yet... he was still the same old calm Rantaro.

Because maybe it wasn't yet the time and the feelings would come later since everyone seems busy otherwise to care, dealing with Kiibo and the rest and doing who knows what. But she knew eventually, she would have to face the music.

And when they do, Tsumugi had to face it all from her classmates, not just Rantaro nor Kaede who she wronged directly but everyone else considering her mastermind role.

And yet...

'Give a chance...'

It still echoed in her mind and although she was still reluctant, she had yet to reject it because...

Tsumugi now laughed a little, as she answered Rantaro's question:

"Not at all. It is so unpredictable that it actually became predictable. I have never really cared much for RL but that doesn't mean I haven't known and understood you guys like my fave characters. Only you guys are capable of something chaotic and mind-blowing, and this is no different."

Maybe her classmates would do something chaotic and mind-blowing in regards of how they will respond to all the vile deeds Tsumugi's done. Really, she didn't know but she was no longer a Despair Minion. She was out of the killing game.

Her classmates made sure of that, despite everything that happened.

And when she let Rantaro explain everything to her, an abridged version of events that happened when they all died, their discoveries and what they needed to do later, she realised she wasn't far off the mark when it came to chaotic and mind-blowing. She was still shocked about it though.

"So, Mugi, are you in?"

Despite everything, they still wanted her. Maybe for reasons she had yet to know, but they wanted her to join in this cause.

Just like all the times before, as if nothing changed. So, for now, despite so many things yet to be resolved until time tells, she answered:

"Yes, Taro."

Because this is the chance she's given herself, as an atonement for her sins, as a way to rewrite all her bad memories with hopefully good ones.

This was a story, but it was also hers, a story that she should have acted as herself instead of someone else a long time ago. To stop running away and to face everything.

Because it was the least she could do, but only time would tell.

A/N: I have not been hypnotized, nor done any hypnotism so I won't claim any accuracy about my writing in hypnotism. But it had to be done as somewhat a trial for Tsumugi's 'recovery' and was done through fanciful suggestions, finding the self and getting that little push. I just decided to go for emotional and characteristics down, so sue me. ... I also seriously wished I could enact Plan S on Tsumugi but I had no justifiable reason without making any of the characters who have the right to Plan S OOC at any point of this chapter. Dang it, maybe one day, or maybe never. Still can live with this chapter.