Chapter 13

"I see... The prisoner's dilemma. How very clever of you, Monokuma," said Rantaro, who currently stood beside me since who knows when.

"Huh? What's that?" asked Kaito from my other side to Rantaro.

"We all know that it's better to cooperate rather than betray each other, right? But if you don't cooperate, you will receive more benefits no one else can get. It's an incentive to betray the group to give yourself an advantage," Rantaro shrugged while showing a knowing smile. "With that idea in our head, it will make us less likely to cooperate, and more likely to suspect each other. That's Monokuma's plan."

"And if a murder were to occur…it'd be even more unlikely for us to cooperate," said Shuichi.

"It's likely he created this motive for that sole purpose," said Kiyo.

"Right? I bet you can't stand all the tension in the air, right? So it's better to just kill!" said Monokuma.

"Wh-what..? You are crazy!" said Tenko.

"It seems you are serious in forcing us to participate in this killing game. Personally, I also wanted to know the reason for your actions. Allow me to repeat Mirai's question, what is your true objective?" asked Kirumi.

"His objective doesn't matter. I am done letting him have his way!" exclaimed Kaito, then he lunged forward to grab Monokuma before I could do anything to stop him. But then, the Monokubs suddenly came out in the middle of the room.

"Rise and shine, ursine!"

"Hell yeah! We finally got some volunteers!" said Monokid excitedly.

"Finally it's the time for the Exisals!" said Monotaro.

"We would not let you harm Daddy!" said Monophanie while fuming in anger.

"You bastard better pay attention! This is what will happen when you mess with us!" said Monosuke.

"Wh-what are you planning to do?" asked Kaito with a panicked expression.

The sounds of metal scraping on the floor were the answer for that. My back was chilled at the thought of execution happening.

"Please stop!" I exclaimed unconsciously.

"Run, Kaito!" shouted Kaede.

After that, I could hear the sound of a mechanical machine approaching us. The Exisals charged towards Kaito. I couldn't bear to look at it, so I closed my eyes and turned my head away. Then…

*Crash*

I could hear the sound of crashing metal. An ugly scream followed after that.

"GRAAAAHHHH!"

Huh? That's not Kaito's voice. I opened my eyes and slowly looked ahead, right at the moment when Monokuma was stepped on by Exisals.

*Boom*

In no time, Monokuma was blown up to pieces. Silence descended in the room after that. The Monokubs were the first ones to regain their senses.

"F-Father!!?"

"Waaahhh! Daddy got turned into a scrap of metal!" shrieked Monophanie, before she started vomiting.

"Th-this must be Monodam's fault, somehow!" said Monokid, with a bucket of sweat rolling from his head.

Monodam : "....."

"Wh-what's this? What's going on?" asked Tenko in confusion.

"I am not sure what's going on. But Monokuma's in pieces," said Ryoma.

"S-serves him right! He got just what he deserves!" said Kaito, before he sighed in relief.

"Don't celebrate just yet. I'm certain he has a spare that may appear momentarily," said Kirumi warily.

"There is no spare! Don't trivialize life like that!" said Monophanie.

"When Father is alive, he always tells us cubs… that we should cherish life because we're like snowflakes- unique in our own way," said Monotaro while sobbing.

"If there is only one of him, does that mean Monokuma's dead?" asked Maki.

"Poor Daddy! Let's at least bury him with honors."

"Yeah. Let's cook him low and slow to lock in the flavor," said Monotaro.

"While we're at it.. we should toss in some carrots and potatoes too," said Monokid.

"Ooh and maybe some leftover curry too? You know, the sweet one- my favorite," said Monotaro joyfully. He sure changed his gear fast.

"Now that we're the new headmasters. We should eat more so we can get stronger," said Monosuke.

After that, the Monokubs left, leaving us with scraps of metals which used to be Monokuma.

"Um… what's going on?" asked Tsumugi.

"Hmm… Everything's a complete mess now. But if the final boss is gone.. then that means the killing game is canceled!" said Kokichi.

"Huh!? Canceled? Really?" asked Gonta.

"I don't think so, Monokuma is just a robot. There has to be someone controlling him from behind," said Rantaro with a skeptical expression.

"Hahaha, don't be such a worrywart! Everything is definitely over now," said Kokichi with a wide grin, "Without the Mastermind, continuing the game is basically impossible now. That means…..we win!"

"Yay! We did it!" said Angie happily.

Tenko still looked doubtful, but she forced a smile, "S-so we're not in danger anymore?"

"So we just need to wait until the shuttle bus picks us up, or--" Tsumugi leaned forward with excitement, but her words stopped halfway at Kaede's exclamation, "W-wait a minute! We don't know that yet!"

"Kaede, stop being a buzzkill! Everyone's still annoyed about what you did yesterday!" said Kokichi irritatedly.

He really was an evil little instigator.

"B-but I didn't mean it like that," said Kaede.

"Or...is there still something you would have us do, Kaede?" asked Kiyo.

"Don't tell me you wanna take on that underground passage again?!" asked Miu provocatively.

"....Enough already. We know it's impossible," said Maki.

"...." Kaede was silenced under everyone's gaze, "S-sorry.."

"Kaede.." muttered Shuichi.

"Whatevs, looks like we're done here. Phew, what a relief!" said Kokichi as if nothing happened.

After that, everyone dispersed one by one. Since Monokuma was gone, there was no need to continue our initial plan to discuss the way out of here. Some of us believed that this killing game must have ended, but I didn't think so. Not because I wanted this killing game to continue, but because I felt this was a calm before a storm.