Part 129: Super High-school Level Update #116

Hey, remember the locker room? I think we have a way to open the lockers now.



We can open all the lockers that are still intact, but most are empty. I'll go straight to the ones that aren't.





This locker seems to be in one piece. Maybe I can open it.

* rattle rattle *

...It's locked.



There's a card reader above the handle...

It's probably used as a key to the locker.
It looks just like...

...just like the card readers to the changing rooms on the second floor.

Those card readers are activated by our Electronic Student ID Cards.
So, maybe this locker will also...?

It's worth a try.

I took my own ID card, and swiped it at the card reader.

And then...

* bzzt *

It didn't work...

...It probably only works with the card belonging to the locker's owner. That means it's impossible for any of us to open them.

No, wait...



How about that ID card I found in the secret room?
Okay, let's try it again...!

When I swiped the emergency Electronic Student ID Card at the card reader...

* Beep beep *

Yes! Just as I thought. It's open!

...Let's see what's inside.



This is... not exactly what you'd call a tidy locker.

The owner must have not been a very tidy person.





This is... a crystal ball.

Hm? A crystal ball...?

No, it couldn't possibly be...
There's not way he used this locker...





Are those... playing cards...?

No, they're not. They're tarot cards.
Eh? Tarot cards...?

Aren't they used for fortune telling...?

............
That's... just a coincidence, isn't it?





Text books and notebooks are piled on the shelves.

They're all covered in dust...

The owner of this locker must have not been a very strong student...
...But I shouldn't speak ill of people I don't even know.

Then, without really intending to...

...I picked up a single notebook.

But, the moment I looked at it, my indifference quickly blew away.





............
...Eh?

The name on the notebook, without question...

...is "Yasuhiro Hagakure"...

Is that... our Hagakure-kun...?



In addition, there are several classes worth of material summarized carefully inside.

In other words...

He took classes in this school...?

No, that's impossible...
I mean, Hagakure-kun arrived at this school with the rest of us, just a few weeks ago.

And then, we all immediately got trapped here... We never had a chance to take any classes...

So... whose notebook is this...?










When I swiped the emergency Electronic Student ID Card at the card reader...

* Beep beep *

Yes! Just as I thought. It's open!

...Let's see what's inside.



This locker is mostly empty...



But not completely empty.



A single notepad lies on the shelf.



There is no name written on the cover, so I can't tell who left it here...

But... I'm a little curious about what's written inside...

...I'm sorry if this is invading somebody's privacy, but I'm going to take a quick look...

The handwriting inside the notepad looks like it belongs to a girl.

Furthermore, the letters are all exceptionally tidy and written at perfectly regular intervals.

The girl who wrote them must have been a very meticulous person...

Huh...?

The page I stopped at when I was flicking through the notepad...

...had a number of words I recognized.





The plan is to lock down Hope's Peak Academy and have the students live a communal lifestyle...

I decided to go and talk directly to the man who made that plan.

My father, Hope's Peak Academy's headmaster...

This is what he said to me:

"The goal of this plan is to protect our nation's genius and bring hope to the future."
"The only people who can conquer a calamity are those with extreme talent. Only hope can defeat despair."
"I will not be remiss in calling this plan our nation's last hope...!"
"I must pull you away from a world that has already corrupted its excellent youth, and make you the cornerstone for a better future."
"This is our one and only hope... And I wish to have your cooperation."

...Those were my father's words.
As usual, he just decides things on his own...

A truly despicable father...



That... can't be right...

The owner of this notepad was now clear.

Kirigiri-san... It can't be anyone but her.

But... if this is Kirigiri-san's notepad...

Why is it in this locker...?

Also, what's written here completely contradicts what she told me.
She said she never met her father once after being separated from him as a child...



I decided to talk to the man who made that plan directly.

My father, Hope's Peak Academy's headmaster...



What does it mean...?!

I leafed through the rest of the notepad's pages, confused.

I looked for something that could answer the many questions running through my head...
And then, as I reached the notepad's final page, the questions in my head...

...became even larger.



On that last page...

...Written in shaky letters, completely disjointed from the tidy handwriting on the rest of the pages...



Despair is among us...
That's why we are still alive...

There are two Despair...



What is... this...?
What does it even mean...?
It makes no sense...








The more I investigate, the more confused I become...

Wasn't this locker room used by our upperclassmen at Hope's Peak Academy...?
In that case, why did I find these things inside the lockers...?

Why did I find things belonging to those two...?

A notebook with Hagakure-kun's name on it...
A notepad that seems to belong to Kirigiri-san...
.........
...I'm sure there's a logical explanation to all of this.
Anyway, there's nothing I can do but continue the investigation...
...I have to keep believing in everyone.

That's all there is to the dormitory's second floor. Let's move on. We'll start with the mysterious Monobear door.









Ah, Naegi! Did you come to investigate this room too?!
Is that what you're doing here?



That Monobear door sure is suspicious, y'know...



So, here's what I thought.
If all the locks in this school are open, we can probably go in there now!



But... I was all alone so I got all nervous and couldn't open it...



It could explode or something, and that would be bad! So, you open it, Naegi!

I'm sure she means well, but... why do I get to be the human bomb-detector all the time?





...Okay, I'm going try it!



Ah, wait! I have to hide somewhere! I don't wanna get hit by the explosion!



Asahina-san quickly got on her knees and crawled under one of the desks.

All set! You can open it now!!
............

She... does means well, doesn't she...?

...Here goes!

I was prepared to put some strength into it, but the door was surprisingly easy to open.



There was no explosion. It's just that...

My first impression was...



Whoa...! Science fiction...?!
...Yeah, that's what I thought too.







There are all sorts of bad things in this school, but this place is the worst!!



It's like we're suddenly in a totally different genre!!





There's a trap door set in the floor, but...

...I think all that machinery in front of us takes priority.





What the hell is this machine...?



It looks like some kind of a control panel...

It sure feels bombastic. Like some sort of a military installation...



It looks like a cockpit straight out of a giant robot cartoon, doesn't it? If Yamada was here he would've been ecstatic...
A cockpit...?



A door with Monobear painted on it... A control panel that looks like a cockpit...

...Could it be...?!



Right! Let's get to work! What does this button do?
W...Wait...! D...Don't just start pushing buttons...!



...But, I was too late.

Asahina-san's finger was already pushing the button.

* boing *



...Huh? Did you hear that noise?
I think it came from the other room...
Asahina-san... Which button did you push...?



I...I'm not really sure...
I think it was that one over there. The one that has "Data Processing Room" written on it...
Data Processing Room...?





When I looked more closely at the control panel...

...I saw several buttons with room names printed on them.

Among them, there was one labeled "Data Processing Room".
That's the one Asahina-san must have pushed...

But, the Data Processing Room...

...That's the room on the other side of the door!

That's also where the strange sound we just heard came from. It's the room we had just been in until a few minutes ago...

I'm... going to see what's up over there...



Yeah, you should go. I'm a little scared, so I'll be cheering you up from over here.

Let's go and take a look.



The sound we heard... it's just what I thought it was...





............

It's Monobear. ...Isn't it?



............





H...Hey...!



ROAR!!
ROAR!! Gimme all your donuts!!
............
Is that you, Asahina-san?



Huh? How did y'know?! What gave me away?



By the way, what's in there, anyway? Some kind of remote controlled camera?
Don't you even know what you're controlling...?



I can't really see it from over here...



Ah! Found something!! This button is labeled "self-destruct"!
Asahina-san! Don't push it! Please!



Awww...
...Were you really just about to?

A...Anyway, I think things are clear now.

I think I know the purpose of that control panel...





Let's go back.





Ah, Naegi! So, what was it? What did you see over there?!
It was Monobear...



...Eh? What was?
The thing you controlled just now. It was Monobear.



Monobear...?



Eh?! Are you serious?!
Completely. This control panel is what makes Monobear move.
...Which means the mastermind controlled him from this room all along.

That's right... The mastermind was always in this room...

He had to control Monobear from this room...
But, the monitors showing the security camera footage are in the Data Processing Room. They're in a different room...

In other words...



My theory is that the mastermind can't operate Monobear and monitor the cameras at the same time.



Kirigiri-san was right.



B...But... If the mastermind used this room to control Monobear...
Does that mean he was inside the school with us all along...?
Yeah, that's what I think...

But, if that's the case...



Hee hee hee... I think I'll bearmit you one more hint.
I think I've said it already before, but...
There are 16 and only 16 high school students participating in this school life of mutual killing...
By the way, ever since we started this game, those beary same students are the only people to have set foot in this school.
Those 16 students. No one else.



Is the mastermind really one of us sixteen students...?

............

No... I still can't believe it.

It's impossible... isn't it?






Naegi, what's wrong? You're making a scary face...
Ah, sorry... It's nothing...



If you say so... But, um...



............
...Is there something bothering you, Asahina-san?



I...It's just that this room gives me the creeps...
If the mastermind used this room, he might have set up traps here...

Traps... I can't say it's impossible...

So... How should I put it...?



Do you mind if we leave? There are other places to investigate, after all...
Y...Yeah, you're right...
We can't waste all of our time in this room, anyway...
So... let's go...?
Y...Yeah...





* click *

The second we closed the Data Processing Room door behind us, we heard a strange sound.

What was that...?



Ah! It's locked!! The Data Processing Room is locked!!
..Eh?!



I quickly grabbed the door handle I just let go a few seconds ago.

* rattle rattle *

You're right... it's locked. But, why...?





Of course it's locked. The Data Processing Room was always off limits.
M...Monobear...?!



Hey! That's not fair! Why are you suddenly locking us out?!



I'm doing it for you bastard's sake!
I mean, if that room was left open, I wouldn't be able to move, would I?



If the cuddly mascot is gone, things just wouldn't be the same, you know!
So... that room was really...



It's just as you suspected! That's the room I'm controlled from!



So... does that mean someone is in that room right now controlling you...?



Yes. Exactly.



But that's strange!
We were just in that room and there was nobody there!



There was nobody there...?
Upupupu... did you really conduct a proper search...?



Did you even look under the suspicious door...?
N...No way...!
The trap door...?
Upupu, how unfortunate! You let your big chance escape!



Well, it's not like you could do anything. That door can be locked from the inside, so you wouldn't be able to open it!



...Anyway, this room is going to be locked from now on, so you can't investigate it anymore.
You bastards should take responsibility and let the others know what you found.



Upupupu! Bye-bye!







He's gone... But...



Was he telling the truth...? Was the mastermind really in there, hiding...?
Well, the door did get locked behind us... I think he was telling the truth.



So... just because I wanted to leave the room...
...No, we couldn't open the door he was hiding under even if we stayed inside.
So it's not your fault, Asahina-san.



Y...Yeah...
Hey, we have no time to feel depressed.
The trial will probably start soon. We have to think positively and use the time we have to do whatever we can!
You're right...
But, the only thing I'm good at is using my body...



So, I'll run around and tell everyone about what we saw in there! Leave that to me!
I feel much better now, Naegi! Thank you!
Okay, I'm on to it! See ya later!!

Asahina-san took off at full speed.



Yeah. I must also do whatever I can...!

There is no other way...!