Part 123: Chapter 5 Deadly Life, Part 1

Just to make things clear...



Last night, I was attacked by someone wearing a mask... And whoever that was--now they're...



I don't know why, but now they're laying dead in front of me...



: Kyeeehahaha! I told ya, there's a corpse hangin' out here!
: Are they really...dead? Is this really a dead body...?
: You need to begin looking around right away. However... Be ever so careful. There's no telling what you might find.
: ...







We need to find out who this actually is... But there's no way to tell with the mask covering their face like that. And the white coat they're wearing makes it impossible to tell anything about the body itself. The victim is a total mystery... But one thing I *do* know...



...is that whoever this is, they attacked me last night in my room. But why...? How did they wind up dead in here!?



: Their heart isn't beating, they're not breathing, all signs of life have come to a complete stop... Thanks to the knife that's been driven into their stomach, their clothes are stained a bright red. It appears the bleeding has stopped, but the blood that's there is still wet. Be careful you don't touch it and get some on you...
: How can you be so calm at a time like this? Who *is* it!? Their face and body are all hidden, so I don't have a clue...



: I'm pretty sure it's a girl at least...
: Huh? How can you tell?
: Well...I think I see the outline of her chest. And just the general shape of the body... Yeah, the more I look, the more I'm sure it's a girl.

Really? Then it could be--!

: Kyeeehahaha! Okay then!



: Let's just tear the mask clean off!
: Wait, don't--!

But by the time he called out, it was already too late. Toko's hand shot out toward the mask. And in the next instant...

*KABOOOOOOM*





...there was a blinding light, and a deafening roar. The body...blew up. It blew up it blew up it blew up it blew up it blew up it blew up it blew up it blew up!



My vision started to darken. I prepared to pass out. But then...

: Hurry up, put out the fire.

As my consciousness attempted to float away, that voice reached up and pulled it back down to Earth. Someone pressed something into my hands. It was...a bucket of water.



: Come on, dump the water on it.
: O-Okay!

The upper half of the body was on fire. I took aim and tossed the water as hard as I could.

*SPLOOSH*



Thankfully, that was enough to put out the fire. It died down, leaving behind only the unpleasant smell of burning...







: I-I guess that took care of it...
: But what the hell, man?
: It...exploded?
: I...had a bad feeling about that body. But I never imagined it would explode... And now the body...
: It's burnt to a crisp! That's beyond well done, man!
: Don't compare it to a steak! I'll never be able to eat steak again...
: But now that the body's charred, I really have no idea... How are we gonna find out who it was...?



: Who isn't here right now?
: ...Huh?
: If we consider who's not here, that will quickly narrow down who it must be.



: There's only one person missing...
: It's...Kyoko.
: K-Kyoko!?

Then that dead body...is Kyoko? No! That can't be right!



: Calm down. I didn't say it was Kyoko.
: But, I mean...who else...?
: There *is* one other person.





: The mastermind...
: What!?
: Th-The mastermind!?
: Come on, there's no way! The MASTERMIND got char-broiled!? Get serious!
: I agree, normally the idea wouldn't be worth considering.
: But I have reason to believe it may be true.



: The mastermind being dead would explain that other matter, wouldn't it? Monokuma can hardly move around if its master is dead, right?
: B-But...that corpse is a girl, right? It doesn't make any sense! I mean, remember what Alter Ego said?



: So that same person may very well be the mastermind who planned all this out. And according to the files, the headmaster is a man in his late thirties. It seems possible, even likely, that he's somewhere in this school right now.



♪ Music fades out. ♪

: He said the mastermind is some middle-aged dude, right? Which the corpse obviously isn't! Then could that mean...the mastermind *isn't* the headmaster...?
: Is it the teenage girl Kyoko told me about? The Ultimate Despair...?





: Huh...?
: Mukuro Ikusaba...the sixteenth student at Hope's Peak...
: ...What are you talking about?
: The other day, Kyoko confided in me... She said there was a sixteenth student here in the school.



: I think you'd better tell us everything you know.
: W-Well, all Kyoko told me was...



: Mukuro Ikusaba... The sixteenth student, lying hidden somewhere in this school... The one they call the Ultimate Despair... Watch out for her.
: It sounded like Kyoko thinks Mukuro Ikusaba is the mastermind.



: No...the headmaster isn't the mastermind, I'm sure of that.
: What...?
: I don't have proof yet, but I have no doubt I'm right.



: There's another student here, and it's a female? That *would* match the body's characteristic...
: And that phrase, the Ultimate Despair--it sounds super mastermind-y, doesn't it?
: Okay, so...the mastermind is this girl Mukuro? And she's a student here? And she's the Ultimate Despair? But if she's been hiding here in the school like some teenage Bigfoot...how'd she wind up burnt to a crisp!?
: None of this makes any sense! To just suddenly show up and then die!?
: I think we'd better take a closer look at the body. There may be some clues to help us figure out exactly who it is.



♪ Music cuts out. ♪

: Ah! Hey, wait!
: ...What?
: A-Aren't we forgetting something? You know...Toko?
: Oh yeah! She got totally blown up, huh!?
: Forget about her. I'm sure the explosion vaporized her.





: Nn...gh...!
: Oh! She survived!
: Oh...she survived...



: Huh? What just h-happened...? Master...?
: You declared for the whole world to hear that you would never again inhale a single molecule of oxygen.
: Oh. Then...I don't mind b-breathing in the carbon dioxide you exhale. That's enough for m-me to live...
: This is the strangest back-and-forth I've ever seen...







I should take a close look at the body one more time...

: Watch yourself, Makoto. She may be dead, but she's still a girl...
: D-Don't worry. I don't plan on touching the body all that much.

I'm not Kyoko, after all...





: The only thing we can interact with is this...thing on the ground.



There's something next to the body. It's...a key? Is it what Kyoko took from Monokuma?



: But what did you steal?
: I stole this...
: A...key?

But looking at it, I could tell it wasn't just any key. It was shaped like Monokuma. It was probably the only key of its kind on Earth.


That's right. The key she stole was shaped like Monokuma. This isn't anything like that.

: Then this key is...?



: What is it? Did you find something?
: Yeah... This was on the ground near the body.
: I've never seen this key before. What could it possibly go to...?
: So even you don't know, then?



: Makoto...I'm going to give you a very important task.
: Huh...?
: That key might give you access to certain areas we thought were locked.
: You mean...?
: The bio lab, the data center, the headmaster's room, and the dorm rooms on the 2nd floor... It's in your hands.

So I'm your errand boy now...?





: I don't know about you, but that key gave me one very specific vibe.



: Namely, it looked like circuitry.



The door to the data center was definitely locked before.

: Okay, let's give it a shot...

When I went to insert the key I'd found in the garden into the keyhole...

*Click*

: It fits!

Then this is the key to the data center! I'd managed to unlock the data center...! I guess all that running around paid off...

: I have to go tell everyone else!

I immediately headed back to the garden.





: So, you're back. How'd it go?
: I found out which room the key goes to. It's the data center, down on the 4th floor.
: Then we can get into the data center now!?
: Interesting... But why did the now deceased have that key on them?



: I suppose we'll just have to go to the data center and find out.
: Yeah, I think you're right.