“Yeah… Good idea.”

As soon as Shuuichi had spoken those words, it was if something had clicked inside of Kaede. Some sort of primal rage, or a memory unlocked within. The initial plan they had decided upon since getting out of the lockers was exploring and searching for other ultimate students within the Gifted Inmates Academy.

Whatever this feeling was, something was compelling her to abandon that line of thinking, the plan that they had created, and go to the nearest desk and smack into it with incredible force. As soon as her palm connected, the table just… Crumbled. It wasn’t enough. She needed more .

Shuuichi could only watch as the confident and seemingly nice girl in front of him rampaged across the overgrowth-filled classroom, knocking over everything in sight. Tables, chairs, miscellaneous objects. She slapped EVERYTHING in the classroom, monocoins flying out of whatever she touched like candy from a piñata. But it still was not enough. Her hair whipped across her face as she made eye contact with the boy. It seemed there was still one last thing left unslapped. He didn’t even time to cower before her wrath was unleashed upon him. He did not disintegrate like the desks or the chairs, luckily, and did not leave any coins behind. After a few seconds, Kaede seemed to calm down. Was she bored? Either way, she left the classroom without another word, leaving a path of destruction behind her. Shuuichi followed anyway.

“A-Akamatsu-san, what are you…?” She was shuffling through the hall like a crab, at incredibly fast speeds. “Side-stepping.” She responded, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Helps you move faster.”

Indeed, Kaede did seem to be moving at a faster speed than usual. Confused, Shuuichi turned on his side and began to “side-step” alongside her, but there was no noticeable change in his pace. “No, no, Saihara-kun. It only works for protagonists. Try it again in Chapter 2!”

“Chapter… What?” Shuuichi questioned, only to be waved off. “Nevermind, Saihara-kun. You wouldn’t get it.” This only brought up more questions than answers, but it seemed that it wasn’t getting resolved anytime soon. At least she wasn’t slapping things now, which was an improvement.

Wait - it turns out Shuuichi had thought too soon, as a valuable looking ornament in the halls fell to Kaede’s disturbingly powerful hand. That seemed to be the only thing in the halls that would succumb to her wrath, as they turned around the corner to meet a girl in deep thought. Her powerful hands immediately began to shake like leaves, her lip quivering as she turned to Shuuichi. “Saihara-kun… I can’t… I can’t slap her…” She sounded on the verge of tears, desperately trying to move her hands. Alas, hallway slapping was prohibited, as her hand physically could not do so. “Wh-why would you WANT to?!” He asked. They didn’t even know the poor girl, and yet Kaede seemed desperate to whack the unsuspecting student straight across her face.

“She… She’s the mastermind…”

“The mastermind of what? What are you talking about, Akamatsu-san…?”

“The mastermind of… something.” Honestly, Kaede didn’t even understand it that well herself. All she knew was that something was telling her this girl was the “mastermind”, and she must be backhanded.

“Okay, whatever you say…” Shuuichi hesitated, but willingly went along with it. It was mostly because he didn’t want to get slapped again - there were still red marks all over his body from the incident in the classroom. Still, it seemed as if some mysterious force was forcing Kaede against slapping in the hallways. That… was an interesting restriction. But if it meant that he wouldn’t hurt more than he already was, that was fine! It also protected the “mastermind”, whatever that meant.

Despite Kaede’s twitching and choked back sobs, they approached the blue-haired girl, who soon introduced herself as Tsumugi Shirogane. Luckily, she hadn’t been perturbed by the display Kaede had put on right in front of her. It seemed that Shuuichi needed to do most of the introducing, as Kaede was quivering in her spot and tugging on his jacket sleeve, muttering something about “the mastermind” and slapping. He decided that he really didn’t want to know what was going on through her head.

After a minute of straight silence, nobody was budging. The air was clearly awkward. Tsumugi was staring at the two as if expecting them to leave, Shuuichi was tugging on the unmoving Kaede’s arm as if ushering her away, but she didn’t move. “Hey, Shirogane-san. Do you want to come with us?” The pianist finally asked, breaking the awkward silence around the three.

Tsumugi blinked, her eyebrows furrowing with confusion. This was not an expected situation, by any means, which meant she had to improvise. That was fine. She was decent at improv! She’s been to enough conventions in-character to know what to do! “Um… Okay?” Perfect.

Kaede’s eyes lit up with a dangerous glint, suggesting malicious intent. Maybe Shuuichi was still an apprentice in detective work, but it didn’t take a master detective to realize Kaede’s intentions. If she were able to lure Tsumugi into a place where she could slap her, then the pianist could unleash her wrath upon the cosplayer. This really was not a good idea.

And so, the trio continued down the halls of the Gifted Inmates Academy, in an unforeseen turn of events. With every note or poster they found on the wall, or a seemingly valuable piece of item displayed as decoration they saw, Kaede would whimper and her hands would twitch, with an urge to knock them right off. In fact, she might’ve actually overcome the restrictions in place and trashed the whole school, were it not for Shuuichi very gently dragging her away.

Eventually, they came across a rather casual-looking figure, with an air that just exuded suspiciousness. Even then, Kaede had a feeling this boy would claim not to be suspicious right off the bat, for some reason. Kaede had a lot of suspicions, in fact. But, wow, did she need to stay in this hallway for ANY longer?

Her hunch turned out to be correct, as the boy introduced himself as Rantarou Amami. “I’m not a suspicious guy, but, nice to meet you.” Yup, DEFINITELY suspicious. Kaede stared at him, observing his body and looking over every detail, before nodding rather strangely. Only bad things could come from this. “I see, I see… So, Amami-kun, do you mind coming with us? We’re trying to look for more ultimates.” It seemed her ultimate goal in the end, was to get inside a room and release everything she had bottled up.

Wait… Was that…? Kaede’s eyes lit up with a different kind of excitement as she rushed to the blue door right next to Rantarou, enthusiastically tugging on the handle. Her face immediately fell, her expression crestfallen as she realized it was locked. “The… The school store… It’s…” She sniffled, looking as if she was about to break into tears at any moment. Unsure of what to do, Shuuichi just pat her back.

All of her worries were forgotten when she caught a look of the double doors directly across from the school store. A cafeteria, likely something that wouldn’t be locked. And, if it were to count as a room, then… oh boy. Rantarou and Tsumugi didn’t seem to realize the gravity of the situation, because they followed her into the dining hall with no hesitation.

As soon as the door closed behind the four, a fire welled up in Kaede, and her hand began to stiffen. Tsumugi and Rantarou were far happier before they were aware of the pain that awaited them. The blissful ignorance was crushed the instant Kaede’s hand collided with Tsumugi’s unexpecting face. From there on out, there was no going back. Chairs, the table, the overgrowth on the floor, the covered up door, Rantarou and Tsumugi, Shuuichi again, nearly everything had disintegrated and left a monocoin behind for her to collect.

And alas, not even the two other new girls in the room could stand a chance against her. She preyed on the redhead first, leaping forward and knocking her over, whacking her across the face with all of her might. The girl didn’t even get a chance to introduce herself, unlike the currently collapsed Rantarou and Tsumugi.

Next, was the girl with a pinwheel in her hair, holding her pigtails together. She was a “neo-aikido” master, yet not even somebody like her could fight back against Kaede’s unstoppable rampage. After all was done, after every chair had been knocked down and her victims had been claimed, she pointed outwards.

“You two! Can you join our group? We’re trying to find other ultimates, to help us get out of this place!” Nobody was sure as to how slapping would help with that, but nobody would dare to speak up. There was silence, which Kaede took as consent. “Great, let’s go!” She chirped, merrily skipping out of the dining hall. The ultimates looked amongst themselves, all with one look that they could all translate - they had made a huge mistake.

“No, no, not that one.” Kaede had muttered, waving off Shuuichi’s questioning of a classroom. “That one’s special. I need to save it for last!” Everyone went silent. Nobody dared question her judgement.

Miu had learned the hard way that you probably shouldn’t call Kaede “Bakamatsu” if you know what’s good for you. Tsumugi thought that she was gonna call Shuuichi out for wearing a hat, not be literally slapped into the floor! There was a classroom that was meant to hold the next introduction, but Kaede seemed to be suspiciously avoiding it, claiming it as important.

They went literally everywhere else after that. The games room downstairs, the library, the courtyard, she inducted everyone she met into her strange group of ultimates.

Maki had initially disagreed, but it turns out being slapped into a bookshelf really helps change your mind about some things. Now, there were 14 people in their group. They were missing, just two more…

Kaede’s hand quivered as she reached the door handle to the classroom - the classroom she had been avoiding the whole time. It wasn’t quivering with the urge to slap. No, this was anticipation. Nobody dared interrupt her moment as she flew through the door and began wrecking the classroom, immediately stopping whatever antics were going on inside.

“What… Is she doing?” A rather mechanical-looking boy asked, completely lost. His eyes looked over to the students crowded outside of the door (a wise choice to avoid being slapped) with handprints covering their skin.

The final desk fell to her palm, spitting out a single monocoin towards her chest. A laugh erupted, bubbling out from her chest and releasing into the classroom. It was maniacal. This was clearly not the end of her rampage, as the remaining two students were about to realize. The robotic student was backhanded once, causing great alarm. Not even the ones she liked the most were safe - they usually got around 20 slaps if they were lucky. It was quickly realized why, however.

Kaede was advancing towards the 16th student in the checkered scarf.

He caught on. He caught on very, VERY quickly. And when he tried to run to the exit, Kaede broke out into a sprint and tackled him with such strength that would put the SHSL Rugby Player to shame, raising a hand. His furious wiggling was no match for her firm palm, whacking into all parts of his body. And that meant all parts. His arms, his face, his legs, his torso, anything in between, nothing was safe. With the force of a thousand suns, the slaps totalled to 243 slaps for the boy in the checkered scarf. How he wasn’t dead was a wonder, but everything in his body burned. This was what Kaede had been anticipating all along, though how she knew what to anticipate was still a mystery.

“That’s for… something,” Kaede said confidently but ultimately hesitated. This boy had committed some wrong, but which wrong it was, she had no idea. She simply knew that that boyish face of his needed a slap. And when her intuition told her something, she needed to follow it, no matter what!

She stood up and dusted her skirt off, noticing the boy whimpering on the ground. He wasn’t getting up? Well, she supposed that was about right - he had a much bigger beating than the rest of the class after all - but, okay, maybe she should’ve figured out what exactly he did before slapping him exactly 243 times. With a little bit of reluctance, she hauled the boy over her shoulder. This would normally cause him to pound on her back relentlessly, but his hands felt like they would crumble to dust if they moved even the tiniest bit, so he grumbled with acceptance.

“That’s all of us, right?” Kaede tilted her head, pausing to mentally count the numbers in her head. “Yep!”

The monitor in the classroom suddenly flicked on, static encompassing it until a shadowy figure of a bear appeared onscreen. Nothing good could last forever, Kaede supposed, and her intuition (which she trusts immensely) told her that this was no good. The (rather cartoonish and squeaky) voice had asked the students to gather in the gym. They were already gathered, so all they needed to do was go to the gym! Any excuse for them to stay in the halls, even for a little bit, was good enough.

So, the 16 students set off to go to the gym. There was complete silence throughout the whole trip, not even a single whine from Kokichi. Maybe it was because he was in too much pain to do even that, or maybe he was just worried that if he spoke then he would be slapped again.

As soon as Kaede’s hand connected with the gym door and pushed against it, she was expecting to be able to slap everything in her sight. However, this was interrupted by an extremely dreaded cutscene, of a strange black and white bear’s arrival in the gym. Somehow, this was an expected outcome for her. Even if the other students were to blink and look at each other with confusion at the scene, she simply dropped Kokichi on the ground (to which he responded with a loud screech) and bolted towards “Monokuma” during his arrival speech.

Despite all the yells of her classmates suggesting it was a bad idea, she leaped forward and tackled Monokuma with all of her force, punting his bear face into the wall.

“V-violence against Headmaster Monokuma is not allowed! You’ve violated a school regulation!” The bear shrieked, thrashing against Kaede’s grip.

“What regulation?”

“The… the school… regula… tions…” Realization dawned on Monokuma. He hadn’t explained the regulations or the rules of the killing game yet. There were no regulations. It was technically okay for Kaede to slap him.

As if to illustrate her point, she slammed Monokuma into the wall with one hand and pulled out her Monopad with the other, showing him the greyed out “Regulations” in the handbook. All of this, what she was doing, it was all technically legal.

“Rise and shine, ursine!”

All five of the Monokubs showed up in their exisals, to forcibly pull Kaede off of Monokuma just so he could explain the rules of the killing game. Luckily, since it was technically legal, they couldn’t execute her. They could, however, restrain her (even though she nearly slapped Monophanie and Monodam right out of their exisals) until the explanation was finished.

After the Monopads had beeped to signal the regulations had been added, it was almost as if Monokuma’s “eyes” were on Kaede, despite their unmoving nature. “And for you ,” he began. “You get an extra rule! Slapping is strictly prohibited!” Only Kaede’s Monopad beeped.

Surely enough, there was an extra regulation in place for her and her alone. The normal images of pegs that had accompanied the other rules were not there, probably because this was completely unplanned.

You could hear the utter sighs of relief that swept through the gym. Finally, her tyranny had ended…. The Monokubs released her from their grip and popped out of their exisals, congratulating their “father” on a job well done.

Except, Kaede raised her hand, and somehow slapped the rule straight out of the Monopad.

There was complete and utter silence. There was another beep as the rule added itself again. She whacked it straight off the pad again.

“Is… Is this even allowed?” Tsumugi asked, sweating bullets. Some students were wisely already making their way into the hallways, as the scene repeated itself over and over again. Since the rule kept being deleted, she was never punished for slapping it out.

“I give up!” Monokuma roared, raising his paws in defeat. “You win! Go slap whatever you want, just, whatever !” He grumbled, disappearing behind the podium.

“Father’s so mad!” Monotarou began to sweat, looking over at the other Monokubs.

“So long, bear-well!”

Kaede turned to the students who were now crowded outside of the gym door. One thing was for sure - she was no normal girl.

“Everything makes sense now!” Her eyes brightened. Clearly, her urges to smack Kokichi and Tsumugi specifically, the voice telling her Tsumugi was a mastermind, whatever this “Chapter 2” was that her brain had told her about, all of it was part of this killing game! She hadn’t connected everything yet, and she wasn’t sure what everything meant. But all of her problems could be solved with only one thing.

She raised her palm towards the last person left in the gym. Which, unfortunately, was Kokichi, who could not crawl fast enough.

“A-Akamatsu-san, we should really get going…”

Shuuichi was met with a hiss as Kaede clawed at the door to the school store desperately. Everyone had since went their separate ways, but Shuuichi had decided to stay with Kaede, to keep her out of trouble.

Now, he was trying to direct her to the library so he could show her a hidden door behind a moving bookcase. Kaede, however, was not to be denied in her insatiable desire to visit the school store. She’d slap the lock until it broke if she had to.

She took a deep breath and slammed against the door with her fists balled up tightly. They did not have quite the same effect as a slap, but it did cave the door in. She picked the splinters out of her hand and fiddled the lock of the school store door from the outside. Now, she could’ve easily destroyed the lock, but Kaede never goes half way. She always goes to the extreme.

She pushed open the broken door that was now dangling, barely attached to the hinges and approached a gacha machine on the counter with sparkling eyes. She fished out hundreds of monocoins from her backpack and slid them into the machine, one by one. Soon enough, she was accumulating quite the collection of items, all stuffed into the endless abyss that was her backpack.

Once she was down to 100 monocoins, she paused, and put them into her backpack again, nodding with a triumphant smirk on her face.

Shuuichi approached her as she tried to make her exit. “Akamatsu-san, do you really think it’s a good idea to carry all of that stuff at once…?”

Kaede’s only response was to hold up one hand, as an unspoken but clear threat of what could happen to Shuuichi if she was questioned too much. The detective fell silent soon after.

“What was it you wanted to show me, Saihara-kun?” Kaede asked after a moment of pure silence, flicking the straps of her backpack and tilting her head. Something was telling her in the back of her mind that it involved the library.

“Ah… It might be better to see for yourself. Come with me.” Shuuichi instructed, making his exit. He was thankful that the hallways had some sort of strange protection voodoo that made sure he couldn’t be slapped.

Sure enough, her intuition didn’t fail her. Shuuichi took her to the library (he wasn’t even expressing confusion towards her sidestepping anymore) and presented her with… a moving bookcase. Oh, right. That was something that had been in the back of her mind, like many other predictions or suspicions. Shuuichi had begun to speak again, but Kaede tuned him out, instead opting to slap the books that had somehow been replaced in the exact spots they were in when they first visited. There were so many perfectly stacked up piles that it was simply hard to resist!

While Shuuichi was thankful that he was not at the end of her palm, he did have something important to tell her. His mouth drew into a thin line. It was probably better not say anything when she was in this state.

As Shuuichi explained that this could be key to trapping the mastermind, Kaede shot him down.

“We know the mastermind already.”

“Would you rather take the chance that your hunch about Shirogane-san is correct? She couldn’t hurt a fly, it seems.”

“I just know these things. She. Is. Evil. And I’ll be happy to go right up to Shirogane and slap her myself, if it’ll stop her.”

“I’m sorry, were you talking about me, Akamatsu-san?” Kaede and Shuuichi both turned to view Tsumugi herself, right behind them, with a look on her face that betrayed the horrific malice in her actions.

“Shirogane?!”

“Don’t play dumb, Akamatsu-san, I heard everything. Maybe heard that you know a little… too much. And don’t bother trying to escape. The doors are locked, and I could easily kill you right here.”

“Saihara-kun is here, and did you forget what his talent is? He can easily expose you in the class trial…” Kaede didn’t show one bit of concern, nor hesitation towards the situation. In fact, she seemed to be completely calm.

“Oh, really? You forget that I control the game. I can manipulate all the evidence so it points right back to your little boyfriend here. And who will vouch for him? Only you! And you’ll be dead! Isn’t that right?” Tsumugi cackled, though her laugh sounded a lot like some sort of generic anime supervillain. Which, to be honest, did not intimidate Kaede at all. Not like much did, anyway.

From out of nowhere, the cosplayer had pulled out a knife - a generic kitchen knife, to be more exact - and swung at Kaede. Her first attempt at an attack had failed, as Kaede simply scuttled to the side with such precision that one would think she had been a crab in her past life. Aggravated, Tsumugi swung again. And again. And many times after that. While Shuuichi was currently searching for a way to help, or even a way out, Kaede was simply dodging every move Tsumugi made.

“Wh… What are you DOING?!” Tsumugi demanded, thrusting her knife forward. All this accomplished was minorly scratching a nearby bookshelf, as the pianist had moved out of the way before the knife could even come close to her.

“Side-stepping,” Kaede explained. “It helps protagonists move faster.” This still made no sense to Shuuichi, nor Tsumugi, who was just getting angrier at this point.

“Why aren’t you fighting back?! Why are you just dodging?!?” Tsumugi demanded once more, tightening her grip around the knife as she attempted to predict Kaede’s next move. The girl moved incredibly strangely, never following a specific pattern, and that’s something that confused the mastermind and greatly pissed her off.

“Oh, do you want me to?” Kaede’s brow furrowed, an innocent look of confusion on her face. It seemed nothing fazed her. Tsumugi immediately knew, this was when she had fucked up. The blonde simply took to raising her hand, and with one powerful slap, the knife fell out of Tsumugi’s hands and slid across the floor.

“I… I…” Tsumugi gaped, looking over at the knife, and then at the girl in front of her who didn’t even break a sweat. “I GIVE UP!” She stomped her foot. If she had the knife, she would’ve surely thrown it on the ground. Her face was red with anger. This was not how it was supposed to go!

“The slapping, the sidestepping, your weird obsession with that school store! None of this was planned! This is NOT how it’s supposed to go!” She wailed with desperation and anger, sounding on the verge of a childish tantrum. “So I give up! Go! Take it!” She tossed something at Kaede, who swiftly caught it. An escape button, and a key.

Kaede nonchalantly unlocked the front entrance to the library and walked out, ignoring Tsumugi’s angry screaming. Shuuichi decided that it was best to just leave as well, trailing behind Kaede awkwardly.

“Hey, Saihara-kun. Can you gather everyone in the dining hall? Not including Shirogane, of course.” The pianist requested, shoving the key into her backpack, that was somehow not overflowing with the amount of items she got from the school store. “Shirogane gave me an escape button. I don’t know exactly where the exit is, so we’re just gonna take it to the dining hall, use it, and see where that leads us.”

Shuuichi opened his mouth, as if to suggest that was probably not the best course of action, but decided against it, politely nodding and hurrying off to gather the others.

“You may be wondering why I gathered you all here today,” Kaede began. “and it’s because Shirogane was the mastermind of the killing game.” She gazed over the crowd of students, who were sitting atop chairs (slappable chairs, but she was polite enough to give them the opportunity to sit).

“Hm~? Hm~? But do you have proof?” Angie’s upbeat smile was still on her face, as she looked over questioningly at Kaede. Of course, there would be doubt.

“The escape button that she gave me is proof enough. Plus what went down there.” There were a few expectant looks, but it was extremely clear that Kaede was not elaborating on the latter part. However, she held out the escape button with pride.

“Are you sure that’s not a trap?” Tenko asked. “If Shirogane-san really was the mastermind, then why’d she give you the escape button?”

“Side-stepping.” Shuuichi piped up. “It’s… It’s one of her techniques. It’s better not to question it, but, I think it’s the real deal.”

“Anyway,” Kaede ignored everyone, instead opening the casing that kept the button shielded. “I’m just going to press it here and see what happens.” She smiled, reaching her index finger out to touch the button.

“Wait, are you serious?!” Kokichi began to sweat, breaking his facade. “What if that’s, like, a bomb?!”

Too late! Kaede already pushed the button. The students waited with baited breath, and…

An explosion sounded.

Not indoors, mind you. In fact, one quick look outside would tell you everything. The wall, the cage that had encompassed the academy, it was just… Gone. It was the real deal. This wasn’t some sort of illusion, or a joke. Somehow, Kaede’s strange tendency to slap things, or her weird intuition, her sidestepping, it all came together to allow their escape.

There was complete silence. Then, there was laughter. Disbelief. And suddenly, everyone was laughing. How on earth did something like this even happen?

As they soon stood at the edge of the broken wall that had encased them in the academy, Tsumugi was nowhere to be found. That was fine. Kaede knew she would leave in her own time. Her intuition was always correct.

Team Danganronpa proceeded to shut down the whole show after Kaede, as no other season could top season 53. All students were allowed to keep their fictional talents, because why not at this stage? So, where are they now?

Kaede went on to become rich after it turns out her furniture regenerates when she leaves the room and spits out real money at her after slapping. She used these funds to buy the entire Gifted Inmates Academy, so she could use the school store at any time.

Shuuichi is still recovering from internal injuries from the many slaps dealt upon him. As a detective, he noticed a strange increase in slapping-related crimes, and is unsure of when it might end.

Rantarou earned enough money to retire from merchandise sales of the two killing games he had been in, but he occasionally appears on TV still to promote causes he is passionate about, such as the eating of avocado toast.

Himiko has been trying to learn how to see into the future like Kaede to prevent killing game-related incidents, but to no avail.

Tenko moved in with Himiko, and has begun to incorporate slapping motions into “Neo Aikido”.

Keebo has been repurposed as a juice maker.

Tsumugi has mastered the art of side stepping to avoid creeps at conventions, and is now on good terms with Kaede.

Kaito’s strange implanted asteroid-disease has been generously cured by Team Danganronpa. He still wants to go to space, but now he doesn’t have any real credentials for it. He’s gonna do it anyway.

Gonta has returned to the forests, where he truly belongs. He was last seen attempting to learn proper English syntax from the local forest animals.

Maki claims to still be an assassin, but is actually working as a child carer, as her false talent suggests. She is embarrassed by this and will deny this if asked.

Ryouma reached the semi-finals of the Wimbledon tennis championships. He claims to have thrown his match as he would be unable to carry a trophy larger than him if he won.

Kokichi has moved DICE’s operations to the Gifted Inmates Academy. He still has to hide, as now Kaede can slap even in the hallways.

Kirumi is currently running for local government. “My dream is to reach the office of Prime Minister”, said the woman who not a year ago had been dressed in a maid outfit for TV fans’ enjoyment.

Miu has started a range of inventions with a “Slap-as-you-Sleep” device.

Angie now claims that slapping is a sacred practice on her island during rituals, and has helped with the rise in slap-related crimes.

Nobody wants to know where Korekiyo is now.

Several members of Team Danganronpa have since been arrested, as the Japanese government has realised only now that trapping people and murdering them on live television is illegal.

THE END