“Hey there Naegs! Wanna take a bath with me?”

Hagakure pops this question out of nowhere as soon as Naegi leaves his room.

“Ahh!” Naegi jumps and rubs his chest. The morning announcement had played only 5 minutes ago, so Naegi was still relatively drowsy… until Hagakure gave him this shock. Just how long had he been waiting out here? “What are you doing outside of my room?!”

“Don’t worry about it!” Hagakure says cheerfully as he pulls Naegi into a tight hug. “Just come on, take a bath with me! Just us two guys, whaddya say?”

Suddenly, Hagakure leans in and whispers into Naegi’s ear. “Meeting in the lockers. Everyone else is there too.”

Now that Naegi thinks about it, this had happened last time as well. They had been hiding Alter Ego from Monokuma, but somehow he knew about it anyway. That meant that all of this secretive stuff was probably useless. But since there was no way that Naegi should be able to know this, he should go along with it for now.

“Erm… Sure! I was about to take a shower anyway.” Naegi says.

“That’s the spirit! Let’s go!”

But instead of letting Naegi follow him, Hagakure practically drags Naegi all the way to the locker room, ignoring Naegi’s various protests.

“We’re here!” Hagakure yells as he shoves Naegi into the locker room.

“Ack!” Unfortunately for Naegi, the speed Hagakure had been dragging Naegi at combined with the sudden push was a bit too much for his legs to handle. He falls onto the floor awkwardly, nearly faceplanting.

“Ow…” Naegi mutters as he slowly gets up. He could practically feel everyone staring at him.

“Well now, look at who finally decides to join us.” Togami says, smirking.

“The morning announcement just played. How did everyone know to come here so quickly?”

“Ha! Yeah, that’s my bad dude!” Hagakure laughs sheepishly while rubbing his head. “I passed notes to everyone but I forgot to make one for you!”

“You mean I was the only one to not get a note?” Naegi groans. It seemed like his bad luck had played out once again.

“Sometimes, I seriously doubt your supposed lucky talent.” Owada comments.

“Um, anyway… Since everyone is here, I’d like to show everyone what I’ve been working on… It might help us get out of this school!” Fujisakis says nervously.

“Go ahead and show us already. I’m bored…” Leon sighs as he leans against the lockers.

“Hey!” Owada steps up, facing Leon. “Be patient and let him do his thing, will ya?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“There’s no need to delay now that Naegi has arrived.” Celeste says as she smiles patiently at Fujisaki. “Please, tell us about your project.”

“R-Right!” Fujisaki turns around and opens a locker that he was standing in front of. “So, I found a broken laptop a couple of days ago and I had recently repaired it.”

“A laptop?” Kirigiri says. “I remember seeing one in the library earlier.”

“Ah, I’ve been wondering where that went.” Togami says.

“Y-Yeah, um… Without further ado, I would like to present…” Fujisaki opens the laptop and places it on a bench. She then takes a deep breath and presses the power button. It boots up quickly and displays a floating head in front of a green background. It looked exactly like Fujisaki. “The artificial intelligence, Alter Ego!”

…

“Oh, so many faces! Hello!” Alter ego says, smiling.

“Huh? Is that…”

“Why is your face on it?”

“Oooh! A virtual girl!”

“What is this?”

“Um… I c-can explain!” Fujisaki, who was clearly getting flustered by all of the comments tries to raise her voice in order to explain further. Unfortunately, the programmer was only drowned out by everyone else. Nearly everyone gathered around the laptop and started bombarding it with questions.

“Hey! Are you really an AI?”

“Interesting…”

“Can you hear us?”

“SHUT THE HELL UP! ALL OF YOU!” Owada, who had been keeping quiet since Alter Ego was presented, finally snaps. “JUST LET FUJISAKI FUCKIN SPEAK, HUH?!”

…

“T-Thanks Owada.” Fujisaki clears his throat.

“Alter Ego is a deep learning AI, meaning that none of its responses are pre programmed. Essentially, it’s like talking to a real person. There are some noticeable differences though. For example, it’s very curious and will try to learn about any subject that it does not know about.” As Fujisaki starts talking about Alter Ego, he seemed to turn into a different person. All of the anxiety on his face suddenly disappears and he could speak clearly. “I’ve tasked it to decrypt some files that were on the laptop. If there’s something important hidden there, then it could potentially help us.”

“Oh! This 2D girl is amazing! I’m on fire!” Yamada says, pumping his fists in the air in excitement.

“Dude, it’s a guy.” Hagakure says. “And a computer program.”

“Anyway…” Fujisaki clears his throat, interrupting Yamada’s banter. “I guess it would be better to just let Alter Ego explain. You can communicate with it through typing.”

As to demonstrate, Fujisaki turns to the computer and promptly starts typing away at the keyboard.

*click clack*

Explain your purpose.

“Yes master!” Alter Ego says in a cheery tone. She seemed genuinely excited too explain about herself. “You have tasked me with analyzing the massive number of files on this laptop!”

As Alter Ego begins to speak, the students naturally starts crowding around the laptop, clambering to get a closer look at the AI.

“I believe that the files are related to the school, but the protection on them is surprisingly strong. So it’s taking me a little longer than I thought. But as Master had explained to me, the fact that the files are protected so tightly means they must contain some important information.”

How much time before you finish decrypting the files?

Alter Ego frowns slightly. “I’m not sure, but I’m trying my best! It may take another couple of days, at the least.”

Celeste nods approvingly. “Using the AI to handle the workload? Smart choice. An AI can work faster and harder than any human, after all.”

“And don’t worry about the mastermind finding Alter Ego!” Fujisaki chimes in. “I’ve got a secret plan all ready, just in case. Alter Ego can see what’s going on using the built-in webcam, so if anyone suspicious shows up… I’ve programmed it to scream real loud!”

“That’s a pretty basic plan.” Ikusaba deadpans.

“Not only is it basic, but it's also extremely flawed.” Togami says. “Have you managed to neglect the fact that we would all be in our rooms during the night? Our rooms are sound proofed.”

Kirigiri raises her hand slightly. Though it was only a small gesture, it still managed to capture the attention of everyone in the room. “Once nighttime comes, I’ll leave the door to my room open. Then there’s no way I can miss Alter Ego yelling.”

“Huh? Won’t that leave you vulnerable?” Hagakure points out.

“I’m not as weak as you may think. I won’t go down without a fight.” Kirigiri states with complete confidence.

Naegi stares at the detective with awe. Even though he had already seen this play out once, it was still impressive seeing how brave Kirigiri is.

“Hey, since Ikusaba worked with the mastermind, couldn’t she help decrypt that stuff a lot faster?” Kuwata asks.

“That’s a surprisingly good point.” Celeste comments.

“Surprisingly?!”

“I would, but I’m afraid that if I were to spill out all of these secrets, then Monokuma may interfere. The mastermind would want things to be as balanced as possible.” Ikusaba sighs.

“Hmph. What a terrible excuse.” Togami says, rolling his eyes. “First of all, Monokuma shouldn’t even know of the existence of Alter Ego yet. There are no cameras here. Why can’t you just type information into Alter Ego? Secondly, why would Monokuma care about things being fair? This may be a game, but it's one that he has complete dominance over. He even lets himself add rules to his liking whenever he wants.”

“Trust me - Monokuma definitely knows that Alter Ego is here. He wouldn’t overlook such a glaring weakness. Besides, didn’t you see the rule Monokuma has added? I would be executed on the spot if I were to reveal information like that.” Ikusaba calmly counters Togami’s arguments. “Plus, if Monokuma didn’t care about things being fair, he would be able to kill anyone who even annoys him. Both Naegi and I would be dead if Monokuma didn’t care about the rules.”

“Wait, Monokuma knows about Alter Ego?” Fujisaki puts his hands over the laptop protectively while looking around the room in a panic, as if Monokuma was somehow hiding in the locker room. “How?!”

“I suppose Monokuma would know because there are two traitors here.” Togami glares at Ogami and Ikusaba.

“I have severed my ties with the mastermind.” Ikusaba says, returning Togami’s glare with one of her own.

“It is the same for me.” Ogami says, nodding.

“And I should trust your word because…?”

“Hey! Ikusaba was almost killed by Monokuma! Of course she wouldn’t be working for him anymore! Plus, Monokuma already revealed that Ogami used to be a mole to everyone! Why would Monokuma do that if Ogami was still working for him? A mole would be useless if everyone knows their identity.” Naegi argues.

“Hmph.” Togami scowls but doesn’t argue the point.

“If the mastermind really knows about Alter Ego, then…” Fujisaki gulps anxiously.

“Then there isn’t much we can do about it.” Kirigiri interjects. Despite the fact that their one advantage over Monokuma might be compromised, she doesn’t seem deterred in the slightest. “For now, all we can do is wait for Alter Ego to finish his work.”

“Well, I guess there’s not much to do here then. I’m gonna get going.” Asahina says.

“I shall leave with you.” Ogami nods and trails behind Asahina.

“Goodbye! We’ll be back, I promise!” Yamada drools as he waves goodbye to Alter Ego.

“Come on, Yamada… Don’t be a creep.” Hagakure shakes his head disapprovingly.

“O-Okay…”

“We were just talking about going to the bathhouse. We have not had a chance to relax in some time.” Celeste lies cleanly.

“...Huh?” Monokuma tilts his head quizzically.

“But unfortunately, the bathhouse is not divided into men and women's sections. So we decided to do rock-paper-scissors to decide which group would go first. Hina won the match for us, and that is why we are all so pleased.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s right!” Asahina nods frantically before turning to face the boys. “Okay you guys! Why don’t you head on back to the dining hall or something? We’re gonna take a nice, long bath!”

“Ahhh jeez. What’re ya gonna do, right? We lost, fair and square!” Hagakure goes along with the lie, feigning defeat.

“Well ladies, shall we go?” Celeste’s poker face doesn’t falter for even a second. As the other girls hesitantly nods, she smiles and walks calmly back into the locker rooms with the other girls following suit.

“Nuts and dammit! We totally lost! Another day without getting to take my very first bath here!” Yamada moans dramatically.

“Yeah, but… tomorrow for sure!” Hagakure pats the otaku on the back reassuringly. “You’ll definitely get that bath tomorrow!”

“Hey hey hey! This is the perfect chance for you young bachelors to get a peek, ya know?” Monokuma’s face turns red as he rubs his paws together. Sweat had even begun rolling down his face, somehow.

“Huh?” Hagakure blinks.

Not this again… Naegi shakes his head.

“You’re absolutely right!” Yamada gasps.

“I thought you were all about the 2D.” Hagakure says.

Monokuma raises both of his paws up. “All of you need to shut up, sit down, and listen to what I have to say. An opportunity like this doesn’t come along very often. It’s the ideal setting of a male fanta-”

“No.” Naegi bluntly interrupts. It was bad enough for him to do this once, he wasn’t going to do it again.

“Wha-”

“I’m actually gonna go and grab a meal in the dining hall. You two have fun.”

10 minutes later…

“I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SORRYYYYYYYYY!” The sound of Yamada’s screech fills up the entire school. It sounded like someone was scratching a chalkboard with their nails.

“I’M INNOCENT! MONOKUMA FORCED US TO DO IT!” Hagakure’s voice quickly follows.

Naegi sighs as he sees Yamada and Hagakure, both with some new bruises on their faces, run into the dining hall. Hagakure even had a red palm print on his cheek.

And right behind them…

Ikusaba, Ogami, and Asahina, still wrapped in their towels, chasing the two boys with murderous glints in their eyes.

“GET BACK HERE YOU PERVERTS!” Asahina screams as she runs after them.

“I will not forgive these indecent acts!” Ogami adds.

Ikusaba doesn’t say anything, instead deciding to focus on the two targets ahead of her. Surprisingly enough, the pair were managing to stay just ahead of the girls.

“So, they really were peeping on all of you?” Naegi asks nonchalantly as Asahina passes him.

“Huh?” Asahina, along with Ogami both back up and glance at Naegi curiously. “You knew about it?”

“Monokuma told us to do it, but I didn’t really expect them to actually go through with it. Especially since the Ultimate Soldier was in there as well.”

“Well those perverts really did go through with it!” Asahina sighs and shakes her head.

“If nothing else, I’m glad that you kept your dignity.” Ogami gives him an approving smile.

“Yeah…” Naegi blushes slightly as he remembers peeking on the girls the last time that this happened. He still doesn’t know exactly what possessed him to do something like that in the first place. At the very least, he considers himself extremely lucky (for once) that they didn’t get caught… especially since it looked as if Kirigiri were staring right at them.

“Now then Hina, shall we catch up to Ikusaba?”

“You bet! She might need backup! See ya later Naegi!”

“See ya… good luck.”

Come on, out with it. What’s the motive this time” Togami crosses his arms and scowls pointedly at Monokuma.

The students of Hope’s peak were all at the gym, called by Monokuma for what is presumably a third motive. Despite there already being two, no one had been killed thus far. Of course, this was thanks to Makoto Naegi… though no one knew that he had prevented both murders.

“Are you all ready for this? Puhuhuhuhu!”

“Shut up! There’s no way that any of us would try to kill anyone!” Asahina objects.

“Indeed.” Ogami nods pridefully. “We shall beat any motive that you give us.”

“This may be the best one yet! Don’t get too cocky!” Monokuma raises his arms and cackles giddily. “Puhuhuhuhu!”

A trap door opens on the ceiling and a mountain of bills falls out. Somehow, all of them managed to land in a neat row on top of the podium, just in front of Monokuma.

*Fwup*

“BOOM! ONE BILLION YEN!”

…

“One billion smackaroos for the lucky student that graduates first!”

…

“”Enough to set you up for thirty lives!”

…

“Hey…” Monokuma starts sweating nervously and looks around the room with an expectant look in his eyes. “Why isn’t anyone saying anything?”

“Not enough.”

“Huh?”

“A billion yen? Please. I can make that much in a single week.” Togami grins pridefully.

“To put a price on human life… disgusting.” Ogami glares at the monochrome bear with contempt.

“Oh get off your high horse! Ya know you want it! Anyway, please feel free to discuss the latest motive together! Au revoir!” Monokuma gives off one more laugh as he disappears - “Puhuhuhu!”

“I-I say that we tie up anyone with money problems!” Fukawa shrieks and points at Hagakure.

“Wh-What?!” Hagakure waves his hands in a panic. “I wouldn’t take a life just to pay off my debt to the yakuza!” Even though he was denying it, there was a visible strand of drool dripping from the side of his mouth and his eyes had a dreamy look to them.

“Shut up! Y-You’re definitely going to be the first murderer!” Fukawa hisses.

“Oh, come on! Why are you singling me out?” Hagakure protests. “It’s not like I’m the only one here with money problems, right?”

“Well,” Naegi starts. “I’m by no means rich but I definitely have enough to get by.”

“I have made hundreds of millions off of gambling.”

“Armies all over the world look to hire me for my talents.”

“I can make as much as I need to with baseball. I’m even on some trading cards!”

“I am often hired to solve cases as a private investigator.”

“I make plenty from my live performances.”

“Sports magazines pay me to model their gear!”

“People from all around the world line up to buy my manga!”

“A-All of my books are bestsellers!”

“Me and my gang make plenty from winning bike races.”

“Ha! I’m a diligent worker! Why, I had been working four jobs at once before I was invited to Hope’s Peak!”

“I win martial arts tournaments all around the world.”

“I often get hired by companies that want to upgrade their cyber security…”

“You are all beggars compared to me.”

With each sentence, Hagakure’s face turns paler and paler.

“... W-Well, I still wouldn’t stoop so low as to murder anyone, okay?”

“Money is certainly the obvious choice for motives… It’s a golden standard in both the real world and in mystery novels.” Kirigiri comments, putting her hand up to her chin.

*ding dong bing bong*

“Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then… sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite!”

“Ten already, huh?” Asahina yawns tiredly. “Alright, I’m going to my room.”

“Okay, okay, let’s everyone just head back to our rooms! And don’t think about the whole money thing! Got it? Good! Then let’s break!” Hagakure claps his hands together once and gives everyone a thumbs up before running off to his dorm.

“He is SO murdering someone…” Fukawa mutters under her breath.

As Naegi walks back to his room, he begins to formulate a plan to stop Celeste. He knew that it would be much more difficult to stop Celeste. In Maizono’s case, she was completely filled with doubts even as he carried out her plan. And Owada’s crime only happened in a fit of rage. Celeste’s murder however, was carefully planned and executed. Plus, she was dead set on getting out of this place, even if it meant killing everyone else.

Despite what she says, it’s obvious that she wants the money… She killed Yamada for it after all. So how should I stop her?

“Ahhh! Someone hellllppppp!” Yamada screeches in terror.

“Yamada, what’s going on?” Naegi asks. Hagakure invited Naegi to another ‘bath’. Somehow, he had forgotten to make a note to give to Naegi… again. So Naegi ended up being the last one to arrive to the lockers… again. He had just arrived at the locker rooms when Yamada started freaking out.

“Mr. Naegi! Save me! I’ve never asked you for anything, but I’m asking now!”

“What happened?”

“She’s trying to kill me!” Despite their size difference, Yamada attempts to hide behind Naegi as he points at the detective.

Ah. Naegi thinks to himself. I forgot that Yamada falls in love with Alter Ego.

“I never said that I was going to kill him. I’m simply asking him why he made the same mistake twice.”

“H-Huh? What did Yamada do?” Asahina asks anxiously.

“He snuck into the dressing room in the middle of the night and accessed Alter Ego without permission. And when I caught him last night, he was hugging the laptop and breathing strangely.”

“What were you doing?!” Maizono stares at Yamada with a disturbed expression.

“I thought I made myself clear yesterday, but since being subtle didn’t work I suppose I have to clarify myself further…”

“Hyaaaaaah! Please don’t kill me!”

“I’m not going to kill you - merely instruct you.”

“Ngh… gh!” Yamada puts his hands up to his face in fear.

“Um, Yamada…” Naegi says gently, patting the otaku on the arm. “Could you tell us what happened?”

“I-I mean, you see… Talking to her was just so much fun! And I j-just…”

“Whoah! Okay, time out! I can’t even believe that I’m about to ask this, but Hifumi… you’re not gonna tell us that you fell in love or anything, are you?” Hagakure asks, clearly mortified at the mere thought of something like that happening.

“Hah! That I, the cold-blooded killing machine of the underworld would ever fall in love?! That’s…” Yamada pauses as his face slowly contorts into shock. “Wait. Is this… love?!”

“I happened to do a psychic reading for a certain famous CEO once and that guy was seriously madly in love with a mannequin. He had a wedding and everything! And your eyes just now… I saw the same look in HIS eyes!” Hagakure says, backing up as far away from Yamada as humanly possible.

“Shut up! She’s not a mannequin, She’s an ANGEL!” Yamada shouts, stepping towards the laptop. “And don’t bother telling me that angels don’t exist! What we have can’t be def-”

“S-Stop it!” Fujisaki intervenes, stepping between Yamada and Alter Ego. He had an uncharacteristically angry expression on his face. “Don’t you DARE act all creepy like that to Alter Ego!”

“Eeek!” Yamada screeches.

“Ha! Well said!” Owada laughs approvingly.

“If you k-keep acting like a creep to Alter Ego, then I’ll… I’ll program him to hate you or something!”

“AIEEEEEE! No! Please, anything but that!” Yamada drops to his knees and puts his head to the floor. “She’s the only girl to ever understand me! She didn’t call me weird or disgusting when I told her about my hobbies. She acted interested! So please, don’t make her hate me!”

“Alter Ego was not interested in who you were . It was interested in what you knew . It is an artificial intelligence. It exists to learn. Of course it wanted to hear about information it didn’t know. You are an expert in many things Fujisaki could not have known about, for what it’s worth. Alter Ego wants that information. That is all.” Celeste states bluntly.

“... I know that. But stil…”

Fujisaki shakes his head, apparently disgusted. “Owada, I know this might be too much to ask, but… can you try to make sure that Yamada doesn’t keep lusting over Alter Ego like this?”

“No problem, bro!” Owada cracks his knuckles menacingly. “I won’t let him hog Alter Ego!”

“... I’m afraid I can’t let you do that. I can’t withdraw… Mr. Owada. Since I have this opportunity, let me say this right now. Destiny has bound me and her together in the Gordian Knot of true love!” Yamada jumps up and points a finger at Owada.

“Yamada! I must ask that you calm yourself! It is not appropriate for students to do such indecent acts, especially against a computer!” Ishimaru retorts sharply.

Meanwhile, Naegi observes this scene with interest.

So it’s Mondo that Yamada is rivaling himself with instead of Ishimaru?

“Stop bein’ a creep dude! Wanna get smashed?”

“I punch at the speed of light! I shall not yield to your threats!”

“That’s enough.” Kirigiri interjects. “Yamada, Alter Ego belongs to Fujisaki. I ask that you stop sneaking out to talk with him, lest the mastermind finds out.”

“B-But, the mastermind already knows!” Yamada argues.

Kirigiri shakes her head. “While it is certainly plausible, it is still not for certain. It’s better to be safe.”

“Yeah! So Stop creeping on him!” Owada shouts, slamming a fist into his palm.

Ogami assumes a menacing stance as she stares down at Yamada. “If you wish to disturb our peace, you will have to get through me as well.”

“Until Alter Ego has finished his work, don’t do anything weird. Have I made myself clear?” Kirigiri asks coldly.

“Y-Yes…” Yamada stares at the floor dejectedly, dragging his feet as he exits the changing room.

“Phew… Thanks guys.” Fujisaki lets out a breath of relief.

“Ha! No problem, bro.”

“I’m kind of worried about Yamada to be honest…” Kuwata says. “Falling in love with an AI is really bad news.”

“You’re right." Kirigiri nods. “That’s why we have to stop him from interacting with it. Besides, who knows?”

“Perhaps his obsession could lead to the first murder.”