"...Long time no see, guys."
"...We came back, and this is the welcome we get? Kinda hurts, you know?"
The two who had appeared in the trial grounds looked down at the two swallowed by despair, their expressions tinged with bitter melancholy.
"Y-You...! H-How are you two... how did you get in here!?!?"
Enoshima's Alter Ego stared down at them, still frozen in naked shock.
"Y-Your avatars were definitely... dead... so you could never enter the program again..."
"Yeah, they were. That's why we couldn't get back into the program until now, and all we could do was watch Naegi and Togami walk straight into the jaws of death."
"Th-That much I know!! But...!"
"Fuwawa... I'm tireeed... I wanna rest now..."
".....!"
Enoshima's Alter Ego abruptly cut herself off. Usami had appeared between K and Kyoko Kirigiri, and the sight left her thunderstruck all over again.
"Monomi...?"
"I'm not Monomi anymore! I'm Usami!"
"When you forced the system and started tampering with it earlier, the entire Neo World Program backflowed. Usami's database got restored too."
K continued, shooting a sidelong glare at Komaeda, who was still laughing loudly enough to shake the whole trial grounds.
"Well... whether that was thanks to some idiot AI making a fatal blunder while trying to stop the forced shutdown no matter what, or thanks to the combined luck of one lunatic and Naegi, I don't know... but with the partial authority Usami recovered, we were able to heal our avatars."
"H-Heal...?"
This time, it was Kyoko Kirigiri who answered the Alter Ego's stunned murmur.
"That's right. Under Usami's original school rules, if someone violated the ban on violence... the attacker would be confined to their cottage for a while, and the victim would be treated immediately using Usami's authority. We simply made use of that authority."
"Upupu... upupupu..."
"So? How does it feel to get blindsided right at the finish line?"
"Upupu!! Upupupupupupupu!!!"
The instant Kyoko Kirigiri taunted her, Enoshima's Alter Ego burst into wild laughter.
"Hey, are you idiots or what? I didn't expect you to come back here, sure... but that doesn't change anything!!"
At that, Nanami, who had been silent until now, turned toward Kyoko Kirigiri and K and began to speak.
"R-Right...! I'm really grateful you came back... but you shouldn't have come here again...! Junko Enoshima's Alter Ego already got the system's highest authority, so the forced shutdown can't be...!"
"No, Nanami. That's wrong."
"...What?"
"Junko Enoshima didn't seize the system's highest authority. She just staged things to make it look that way."
"Upupu..."
K kept speaking, his eyes locked on the Alter Ego.
"Enoshima deleted the [test subjects] authority of every single member of Class 77."
"...The [test subjects] authority!?"
"Yeah. The timer on the central island was counting down the time Enoshima needed to strip everyone of their student authority. And the moment that timer exploded, Class 77 stopped being [test subjects] of the Neo World Program."
"Exactly! You really do know your stuff! K, the one rumored to be almost as cute as Naegi!"
Enoshima's Alter Ego looked down at K with brazen arrogance and started talking.
"Yeah, saying I stole the highest authority was a lie! It just sounded more despair-inducing that way! But so what? In the end, it doesn't change the fact that you still can't activate the forced shutdown, does it?"
"....."
"The only ones who still have authority now are... you, Kirigiri, Naegi, Togami, and... Nanami, who escaped deletion because she's a watcher instead of a test subject, for all the good that does!! And the number needed for the forced shutdown is... eighteen!!"
"....."
"Upupu... what's wrong? Cat got your tongue? Go on, talk big like you did before. Hm?"
"...We believe."
"Upupu?"
K looked toward Naegi, Togami, and Kyoko Kirigiri as he spoke.
"If it's them, they'll definitely come. Right, Naegi? Togami? Kyoko?"
"...Of course."
"I'd prefer that stalker not show up."
"Come to think of it... it's been a long time since we've seen their faces too."
As the three answered with faint smiles, Enoshima's Alter Ego stared at them like they had lost their minds.
"Haa...? What the hell are you even talking about...? There aren't any standby access devices left on Jabberwock Island anymore!! No matter how badly anyone wants in now, nobody can possibly..."
"No, Junko Enoshima. That's wrong."
"...!!!"
The moment Sayaka Maizono suddenly appeared beside Naegi, Enoshima's Alter Ego wore her third expression of utter shock since entering the trial grounds.
"Makoto, after this is over... we need to talk."
"S-Sayaka... th-that's..."
"Wh-What!? Why!!! There shouldn't be any access devices left on Jabberwock Island...!"
"Hey, K!! So why the hell is the escape code 11037!? Do you know how many times I've asked that already!?"
"Fufufu... Lady Junko Enoshima... please surrender quietly... the moment my master stepped onto the front lines... your defeat was already decided."
"You bastards!! Tone down the flirting already!! Don't you ever get tired of it!? Because of you idiots, the Future Foundation had to create a Committee for the Protection of Single People's Rights!!"
"You damn perverted giant bitch!!!!!! You seriously tried to execute my Lord Byakuya!?!?!?!? You're dead!!!!!"
"How truly pathetic. You used a brainwashing video in the past and paid for it, yet in the end it's 'brainwashing video' again? Well, considering the original source was that kind of person... I suppose it's only natural the AI turned out stupid too."
"Enoshima!! You're finished now!! Just surrender already!!!"
"Now that all of us are here, you can no longer throw your weight around!! So give it up already!!"
"Now that we've arrived, things won't go your way anymore. Though I have to say... it's been a while since I've looked like this."
"See!? I told you!! I said K would be rolling around over this for ages!!"
"You want to know how this happened, Enoshima? Simple. The critical error that had been obstructing the Future Foundation's planned 'Neo World Program Infiltration Operation' was miraculously resolved just now, so everyone was able to enter through the access devices prepared by the Future Foundation. Originally, once Class 77 entered the ruins, all of us were supposed to greet them as avatars."
As the members of Class 78 appeared in the trial grounds one after another, Enoshima's Alter Ego went deathly pale and muttered,
"B-But... Big Sis Regret's data was..."
"It got implemented in the form it had when it was copying you, apparently...? Well, whatever. As long as I can rip off this damn wig, I don't care. More importantly... K, Kirigiri. Just you wait till you come out. You're dead."
"Upupu... upupupu..."
"Everyone... you really came..."
"You bastard!! If you were gonna use an escape code, you could've at least given us a heads-up!! Do you have any idea how shocked we were watching that!?"
"Exactly!! Lady Mukuro Ikusaba saw that scene, cried herself dry, and then fainted from exhaustion... guweh!!"
"...Shut up."
Mukuro Ikusaba silenced the overexcited Hifumi Yamada with a jab to the stomach so fast it looked like light itself had punched him. Then she turned resentful eyes on Kyoko Kirigiri and began to speak.
"Kirigiri, you damn woman... you definitely promised me..."
"...You've heard the saying, 'First come, first served,' haven't you?"
"...I'll kill you. I swear I'll kill you. Kill you kill you kill you."
"I-Ikusaba... hold it in!! We worked so hard to get here, you can't become the blackened now, okay...?"
"Quite right! Today is the glorious day we finally reunited with K and Kirigiri, is it not!! So let us set aside petty emotions and exchange greetings instead!!"
And just like that, the Class 78 students, seeing K and Kyoko Kirigiri again after so long, began greeting them one by one.
Watching them, Enoshima's Alter Ego suddenly curled her lips upward and spoke.
"Upupu... what a pathetic circus... standing right in front of me... and you're exchanging pleasantries? Guess you still don't realize what a colossal mistake you've made."
"A mistake?"
"Yeah. A fatal mistake... the kind that'll plunge every last one of you into despair!!"
As she said that, Enoshima's Alter Ego conjured a smartphone out of thin air and slammed it into one of the trial podiums.
"Now then, allow me to explain."
The monitor of the smartphone embedded deep in the podium flickered a few times. Then Enoshima appeared on-screen, wearing glasses and projecting an exaggeratedly intellectual image as she began to speak.
"The heroes of old making a life-or-death return to defeat me, the Demon King? That's certainly worthy of praise. But unfortunately for you, you still can't beat me."
"...Why not?"
"It's true that by risking your lives to come here, you've increased the number of people with the authority to activate the forced shutdown... but sadly, you're still short on the manpower needed to trigger it. By exactly 'one person'..."
Hearing that, Nanami spoke up in a flustered voice.
"C-Come to think of it, the Class 78 students who just came in... there are only 'twelve' of them, right? So that makes seventeen people total with forced shutdown authority, but it takes eighteen to activate it, so..."
"Which means it was all for nothing!!! What the hell were you people even counting on when you came in here!?"
The Enoshima on the monitor twisted into a more violent image and continued mocking them.
"Upupu...! Honestly, when Class 78 started coming in, I freaked out for a second... but there aren't any avatars left in the Neo World Program anymore! So in the end... all of you are still headed for eternal despair..."
"No, there is still an avatar left. The very last one."
Fujisaki glared at the Enoshima on the monitor and began to speak.
"Upupu?"
"You know that already, don't you? So why pretend you don't? I'm talking about the last person still left behind, the one who was supposed to welcome everyone at the ruins with the rest of us."
At those words, the members of Class 78 quietly smiled. But the Enoshima on the monitor answered Fujisaki with a triumphant smile of her own.
"I see... is that what you're saying? Upu... upupu... upupupupupu...!!"
"...What's so funny?"
"Then let me ask you just one thing... why hasn't 'he' arrived yet...?"
The Alter Ego on the monitor shifted again, this time into a gloomy image, and continued.
"....."
"He should have appeared together with Class 78... so do you know the reason why he hasn't...?"
"'He' is just making the final preparations before coming..."
"No. That person... isn't coming here... ever."
"...What?"
"Because that person is... the traitor within the Future Foundation... and the hidden [Ultimate Despair]...!!!"
"Junko Enoshima, I'm not going to let things go your way anymore..."
"...Th-That can't...!?"
When she saw Ryota Mitarai suddenly appear, the Enoshima on the monitor wore her fourth expression of absolute shock.
"Ryota Mitarai... why are you here...? You were supposed to be... the traitor..."
"That's your misunderstanding. I was only pretending to be a traitor."
"That's... impossible... then who was that person back then...?"
"Ryota... Mitarai...?"
Nanami looked utterly bewildered, and Mitarai turned to her and began to speak.
"Ah, you don't remember me... I guess that makes sense. I'm Ryota Mitarai, the [Ultimate Animator] who enrolled at Hope's Peak Academy as a member of Class 77 with all of you."
"Then that means..."
"Yeah. I was in the same class as all of you... and we spent years together at the academy. And... just like you, I'm one of the Class 77 students who wasn't captured in 'that incident' and turned into [Ultimate Despair]."
"....."
"That's enough introduction from me. Right now, there's something more important."
As Ryota Mitarai finished speaking, the members of Class 78 turned toward Class 77 and began discussing things among themselves.
"Fujisaki, Enoshima said she damaged Class 77's memory database, right?"
"Yeah. So if we force the shutdown in their current state... they'll become despair again. The memories they made on this island... will be erased forever."
"Upupu... that's right... the moment the program is forcibly shut down... you'll have to fight Class 77 as [Ultimate Despair] again... well, I can't say for sure which side would win... but Class 77 has Kamukura Izuru..."
"Do you really think... I would help you?"
"...If you don't, then your plan to determine the true victor between hope and despair..."
"As I thought, you really are a trivial being. Well, depending on what happens next..."
Bzzzzzt
"...I'll decide whether to help or not."
"Wh-What...? My body... it's glowing...?"
Kamukura, who had been staring at Enoshima with icy contempt, suddenly began to emit light. As Nanami panicked at the sight, he finished his sentence.
"H-Hey... guys...! What's happening to me?"
Nanami's voice trembled with confusion as she threw the question at Class 78, and K answered her with a smile.
"...Nanami, we didn't make you the password that would lead everyone into the future for no reason."
"What...?"
"You have the authority of the student-side watcher, one that only activates under very specific conditions."
K finished, looking straight at Kamukura.
"...Authority that was originally supposed to activate when you met all of us at the ruins."
"...Wh-What does that even...!!!"
"...Who can say."
"Nanami, remember this! The one who can lead everyone into the future... is you!!!"
Fwoosh!
The moment K finished speaking, the light pouring from Nanami's body intensified violently—then swallowed everyone whole.