The 5th Killing School Game.

Yet again, Naegi wakes up with a splitting headache. It was a common occurrence at this point. On the bright side, at least he was starting to get used to the pain. Soon enough, he won't even mind the headaches.

This time, Naegi doesn't bother to get up from his desk. The scene of Junko pressing into her hair pin as she smiled played over and over in his mind. It was replayed in slow motion, it was fast forwarded, it was reversed... He just kept seeing it again and again.

There's more than one way to make me time travel…

Why?

Why me?

A stinging sensation rises in Naegi's chest as tears start to gather in his eyes. It was unfair. Why was Junko doing this to him? Now, he had to go through the game again. Even if he knew everything that was going to happen, he still had to wait several weeks before it's over. And by the time he finishes the Killing Game, he just gets sent back to the start.

Naegi's body starts to tremble and tears begin to fall freely, dripping down his cheeks and onto the desk he was sitting on. His mind felt cloudy - for some reason, he couldn't seem to concentrate on anything. All he could think about was how useless all of this was. Who knew how many triggers Junko had to send him back in time?

Is it all hopeless? Is this… Despair?

…

No.

Junko wants me to 'revel in despair? She wants me to lose all hope?

No.

I won't let her.

I won't let Junko win.

Taking a shuddering breath, Naegi drags his sleeves across his face, drying the streaks of tears. Shakily, he stands up from his desk and begins to slowly walk to the main hall. As he does, Naegi begins to think about his situation.

Junko obviously knows that I'm time travelling - hell, she's the one causing it… So the natural solution would be to somehow question Junko in person (somehow), figure out how she's doing it (somehow) and then have her get me out of this time loop (somehow).

At this particular moment, Naegi felt completely exhausted. There was an alarmingly hollow feeling in his chest - Naegi couldn't even feel his own heart beat. It was only the 5th time he had gone through this - not even double digits yet. But each loop was mentally taxing. The amount of stress placed upon Naegi was beginning to get to him.

He had gone through the same song and dance in hopes that Kirigiri would find an answer for him. But she didn't - once Junko heard that he wanted to stay in the school, she just sent him back to the beginning of the game like it was nothing. One part of him felt frustrated at Kirigiri. The other part knows that he was being unfair for feeling this way.

He approached her with wild stories about time travel and expected her to magically conjure up a solution for him? Kirigiri was amazing, but even that would be too much. He couldn't just dump all of his problems on her and hope for the best - Naegi knew this.

Kirigiri could help him, but she couldn't do everything by herself.

*ding dong bing bong*

"Ahem! Ahem! Testing, testing! Mike check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system! Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then! To all incoming students! I would like to begin the entrance ceremony at… right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at your earliest convenience… Oh yeah, Makoto Naegi, get your butt over here too!"

Naegi curses to himself and quickened his pace. Apparently, he had been stalling for so long that the introductions were already over. It wasn't as if he needed to be introduced to anyone at this point, but no one knew who he was.

This may have changed some things…

Naegi finally reaches the gymnasium. As he does, he hurriedly bursts through the doors. He could practically hear every single head in the room turn to stare at him. Who could blame them for looking though? He was the only one who wasn't in the main hall.

"Well well well!" Monokuma's annoyingly high pitched voice practically shatters Naegi's ear drums into pieces. It was almost as if his voice was amplified every single time Naegi went through a time loop. "Look who FINALLY decided to show up! You're holding up the line here, buddy!"

"So there really was a 15th student?" Kuwata scans Naegi, seemingly unimpressed.

"Unacceptable! For a student to be so tardy… It is inexcusable!" Ishimaru's booming voice stomps on the pieces of Naegi's ear drums. "This is not welcome in a school environment!"

"Sorry. So what's going on here?" Naegi asks, despite knowing full well what was about to happen.

"Oh, it's just an entrance ceremony!" Hagakure says reassuringly. "I dunno why that guy's just talking through the PA system, but I'm sure someone's gonna arrive eventually."

"Right on the money! In fact, now that everyone's here, I can finally make my dramatic entrance! Puhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

*Boing*

Monokuma, accompanied by a cartoonish spring sound effect, pops up from the ground and lands on the podium.

"Huh? A teddy bear?" Fujisaki asks nervously.

"I bet he's the headmaster of this academy." Naegi comments.

Owada turns around to meet his eyes. He looked even more pissed off than usual. "What the hell kind of assumption is that?"

"Puhuhuhuhu! Ahoge boy is right!" Monokuma cackles. "I'm Monokuma, the headmaster of this academy!"

From the corner of his eyes, he notices that Kirigiri narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously as Monokuma confirmed his 'guess'. Not only Kirigiri - but Ikusaba and Maizono seemed to notice that he was acting strangely.

I should really tone it down, huh… This isn't a very good first impression.

"Wait a minute!" Yamada recoils and points at Monokuma, mouth opening and closing like a fish. "The teddy bear can talk?! What is this?!"

"Calm down. I'm sure that there's just a speaker in it." Ishimaru says. Despite his words, he seemed to be disturbed by Monokuma as well.

Here we go again… But I need to stay in line this time.

"I'm gonna kick your ass!" Owada snarls as he cracks his knuckles menacingly.

"Hey guys. We shouldn't be fighting." Naegi steps in between Togami and Owada once again. Now that he thought about this situation, it was extremely obvious that Owada was about to punch him. He should have been able to dodge this from the start.

"The fuck you just say? You some kinda goody-goody bitch?" Owada snarls, training a deadly glare at Naegi. Meanwhile, Togami just smirks pridefully as he watches Owada with amusement. "Get outta my way! The fuck you think you are, my dad?"

"Calm down, Owada." Naegi frowns disapprovingly.

"FUCK YOU!" Owada roars and swings his arm.

*Whiff*

Naegi dodges the punch once again.

Owada stumbles as he misses once again.

"Ugh! Fuckin' prick!" Owada tries to wind up another punch but before he could attempt another hit, Ogami holds his arm back.

"That is enough." Ogami warns with a dangerous aura. The air around her literally crackles as she glares down at Owada. "This is no time to be fighting."

Paling slightly, Owada scoffs. "Whatever."

Ogami nods, apparently satisfied in Owada's answer. She then turns her attention to Naegi. "Nice dodge. I didn't expect you to have such quick reflexes if I were to be honest."

Naegi smiles. "I didn't expect it either."

Naegi convinces Maizono to not kill Kuwata.

Naegi shoves Ikusaba away from the spears.

Naegi helps placate Owada's temper.

Naegi stops Celeste from going through with her scheme.

And now once again, the 4th motive is here.

…

"Puhuhuhuhu! That's right! In fact, from the very start of this whole game, Naegi had been working for me! Isn't that sweet?" Monokuma twirls his wooden stick in his paws, giggling to himself.

"What the hell?! Naegi's a spy?" Owada's head snaps to Naegi as his eyes bulge out in shock.

"No way!" Asahina says desperately. "That has to be a lie!"

Ogami's expression darkens as she looks down at Naegi. "There was another working as a mole all along?"

"I can't say that I'm surprised that Monokuma would make this move." Togami rolls his eyes in contempt. Unlike everyone else, he didn't seem shocked at the new motive Monokuma had given them. "Naegi obviously knew more than any of us. He was the only one that arrived late at the start of the game as well - he could have been talking with Monokuma."

"Kill the traitor!" Fukawa hisses while backing up from Naegi, giving him an evil look.

"Naegi, please tell me that you're not a traitor!" Maizono begs, a look of sheer desperation plastered on her face. She looked like she could start bawling at any minute. "I couldn't take it if you were working for him all this time…"

Ikusaba delivers a chilling glare to Monokuma. "Naegi-"

"HEY HEY HEY!" The monochrome bear interrupts Ikusaba before she could even get past her first word. "Remember the new rule! Or do you feel like going through another execution?"

"..." Ikusaba closes her mouth, but kept her murderous glare trained on Monokuma.

"Oh boy! If looks could kill, I would be bear steak by now!" Monokuma chuckles. "Anyway, I would also like to present a freebie perk!"

"F-Freebie?" Hagakure's head perks up.

"Don't look so interested man!" Kuwata smacks Hagakure on the shoulder roughly.

"Puhuhuhuhu! No, be super interested because this is a good one!" Monokuma guffaws. "Anyone who kills Makoto Naegi graduates right away! No trial, no investigation, you get out of here completely free! No strings attached!"

Naegi frowned but kept silent.

"Do what you will with these motives! Puhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

…

"Is this the honest truth, Monokuma? Has Naegi been a spy since the very start?" Kirigiri suddenly asks. "It may answer some things if this is true."

What?

Naegi whirls around and looks at Kirigiri in shock. This didn't happen before… but now that Naegi thinks about it, some of the dialogue in this scene had changed. People weren't really defending him… they were just surprised. Some acted with disbelief, but no one rushed to defend him against Monokuma's accusations.

"Why, of course!" Monokuma smiles evilly. "Like Togami said, the reason why Naegi was rather late at the beginning of this game… was because we were forging our contract! Puhuhuhuhuhuhuhu!"

"N-No! He and I didn't even talk back then!" Naegi looks around at his classmates in a panic. He tried to find someone, anyone who seemed to doubt Monokuma's words. But all he saw was anger and shock. "I'm not a spy!"

Hagakure frowns. "I dunno man, it's not like Monokuma has ever lied to us before. Besides, I can't lie - you're kind of suspicious."

"If I'm a spy, then why would Monokuma rat me out?! If anything, that just proves he's trying to get rid of me!" Naegi protests.

"Oh, Naegi. Don't play dumb!" Monokuma says giddily, holding his paws to his mouth. "You broke our contract. You failed to find any useful information. And so, our contract is revoked. You aren't just any spy - you're a failure of a spy! Puhuhuhuhu!"

Naegi's face turns as white as a sheet. None of this made sense. This wasn't supposed to happen.

"To be quite frank, Naegi has been on my mind for quite a while." Togami interjects. "He knew before any of us that Monokuma was the headmaster. He wasn't surprised when Monokuma was revealed to be a bear - nor was he surprised when Monokuma revealed the killing game to us either."

"Now that you mention it…" Yamada rubs his chin with his finger and thumb, in an exaggerated thinking motion. "I've noticed that Mr. Naegi had just been keeping silent back then."

Naegi shakes his head desperately. "T-That's-"

"In fact," Togami interrupts with a glare. "Ever since then, I have been observing his reactions carefully. For every single motive that Monokuma had thrown at us, for every single significant event that has happened… Naegi has yet to show even a hint of surprise. It was as if he knew what was going to happen."

"... I can confirm that. I've been observing him as well." Kirigiri nods in agreement. "Out of all of us, Naegi has been the most suspicious."

"Puhuhuhuhu! He's such a terrible actor, isn't he?" Monokuma guffaws. "Yes, since the very start, Naegi has been my pawn! In exchange, I've forewarned him about every single motive. On top of that, I let him have access to all of the cameras in this place!"

"No, that's wrong!" Naegi shouts, panic threatening to overwhelm him. He felt like his heart was about to explode, and sweat was dripping down his face like a fountain. There was nothing ind his mind but pure panic and disbelief. "None of that is true!"

"A-Actually…" Fujisaki tentatively speaks up. "Owada and I were talking alone one day… I think Owada started to lose his temper, but Naegi stepped in and calmed me down at the perfect moment."

Maizono slowly nods, her face ashen gray. "Um… N-Naegi knew that… He knew something about me that he couldn't have unless he saw my a-actions." It looked as if she was choking on broken glass. Her expression was one of utter betrayal.

"So, that's how you knew about what I was doing, hm?" Celeste giggles softly. "It makes sense now. You were spying on me."

"G-Guys…" Naegi says weakly. "I swear-"

"I have no doubt that Naegi knew about the motives either. In fact, it was exceedingly obvious that he had this knowledge. That correlates correctly with Monokuma's account." Kirigiri adds.

"I can't believe that Naegi has been a traitor all along." Asahina looks down sadly.

Ikusaba says nothing, but her face had gone deathly pale. She wanted to say something, anything that could defend Naegi. But as long as Junko was watching her...

"I…" Naegi tries to flub around for an excuse. A way to defend himself. Anything. But his mind fails him. All he could do is sit there, and try to avoid eye contact with the looks of disappointment that were being shot at him.

"Well, Naegi?" Togami glares at him disdainfully. "Do you have an explanation or not?"

Naegi actually had a perfectly legitimate explanation - he was a time traveler. Too bad that there was literally no way that any of them would believe that.

"..."

*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 entray at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then… sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!"

"Hmph. Saved by the bell. I believe that the best course of action for you right now would be to stay in your room. Good luck… Naegi." Togami says, venom practically dripping from his voice.

Wordlessly, Naegi shuffles back to his dorm room, trying to ignore the stares digging into the back of his head. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. For the first time in any killing game, Naegi starts to fear that someone was going to murder him. He had believed in his friends in everyone single instance… but now he wasn't so sure.

But this is my fault, isn't it? It's my fault that I didn't even try to act. It's my fault that I acted so suspiciously.

It's my fault that I acted more distant to my classmates.

It's my fault that I did not act as a friend.

It's my fault that I didn't even try to defend myself.

It's my fault.

My fault.

My…

Fault.

When Junko had first introduced this motive, it took two weeks before Junko got bored and decided to kill Naegi herself. She took action because no one even tried to kill him, despite all of the incentives. But now that everyone thinks badly of Naegi… Junko might not even need to take action.

Junko had recorded Naegi's reaction to her motive. That night, she had played it over and over and over and over and over again to herself, giggling all the while. This was the closest thing Junko had seen to Naegi falling into despair. She needed to treasure this moment!

Naegi's face falling flat as he realizes that his classmates didn't trust him…

His weak attempts at defending his innocence…

It wasn't true despair - more like a mixture of desperation and fear. Still though, it was pretty darn close to despair. And for Junko, this was good enough. Her thirst was temporarily sated.

Temporarily.

Day 4

Makoto Naegi was fast asleep in his dorm. It was currently midnight - 2 hours after the nighttime announcement. For the first few days, Naegi took special care to lock his door each night. But eventually, he lapsed into his old habit of forgetting to do so. Part of it had to do with the fact that no one had tried to attack him so far. The most he had gotten was a few cold stares.

At any rate, Naegi was completely asleep in his room, alone. His door wasn't locked.

Ikusaba wasn't watching this time.

*cree*

Naegi's dorm room creaks open.

…

*pat pat pat*

Soft footsteps emanate from the entrance. They get louder as the intruder approaches the peacefully asleep Naegi, but not nearly loud enough to wake up a person who is in deep sleep. Eventually, the footsteps reach Naegi's bed. The intruder stands right above the luckster.

"This is for being a spy. This is for being a traitor… Makoto Naegi." The intruder whispers to themself.

…

…

…

"Hm?" Naegi lazily rubs his eyes as he suddenly jolts awake.

…

"AHHHHH - urk!"

…

Makoto Naegi becomes the first victim of the Killing School Game.