Danganronpa: ReProgrammed

Pain of a Junk Food Junkie: part 16 [END]

As nighttime drew closer, Chihiro waited patiently in his room for the hour. When it came, the intercom on his door buzzed. Wasting no time, he went to open it, knowing all too well who was waiting on the other side. Kyoko stepped in with her usual firm gait, and made it clear she was ready for action.

"I think I have a bit more faith in your scheme now that I know Monokuma doesn't know about you-know-what," Chihiro said, suspiciously eyeing the security camera in his room.

"Before we do this," Kyoko said "Chihiro...do you still have that letter?"

Chihiro sighed "Yes, I stashed it away in the drawer where I put the knife. But like I said, I have no intention of opening it before you come back."

"Alright then," she said "let's get started. I'll be counting on you."

Chihiro still had a feeling of unease swirling up inside of him, but he'd already come this far, and things had worked out since. He was still trustworthy of Kyoko.

"Before we get started..." Chihiro said "there's somewhere I'd like to go with you first..."

"Oh...?" the gloved girl looked at him curiously.

"I didn't think we'd be coming back here again..." Kyoko raised a curious eyebrow as they returned to the hidden room in the second floor bathroom. As they had arrived, Chihiro had carried a small pouch with him and placed it down on the singular table. He opened it up and pulled out the laptop inside, placing it on the table and starting it up.

"So...that's the laptop Monokuma gave you?" Kyoko asked.

"Yes," Chihiro said "I made a request for him to give me a laptop and a USB. This process wouldn't have been possible without either of them. Mind plugging it in for me?"

Kyoko reached into the draw and withdrew the network cable that the Mastermind had foolishly decided to leave in the room. She plugged it into the wall, and then handed the other end to Chihiro, who inserted it into the laptop. A few seconds later, a familiar face appeared on the screen.

[Greetings Master,] Alter Ego smiled [how may I be of service?]

"So he survived," Kyoko couldn't stop herself smiling when seeing that Alter Ego was in perfect condition once again "you really had even me going for a second...How'd you pull it off?"

"It sounds funny, but it's only thanks to Monokuma that this was possible," Chihiro smirked "after all, he provided me the exact things I needed to make this work. When he gave me the laptop, I was pretty much up all night working on the program. That program obviously being the fake Alter Ego."

"And that fake Alter Ego was the one that we saw get executed in the gym I suppose?" Kyoko asked.

"Yeah. Monokuma didn't look into it far enough to realize that the AI had barely any sort of power or defensive mechanisms. He fell for the oldest trick in the book."

"But how did you know that the fake one had been executed instead of the real one?" Kyoko asked.

"It's actually pretty simple. There was a certain thing that allowed me to tell the difference," he smirked "remember how the fake Alter Ego greeted us the few times that he did?"

[Just leave the rest to me,] Alter Ego smiled [I'll find something. I know I will! You can count on me Chihiro.]

[...Chihiro...?] the laptop responded [is that you?] But before the AI's creator could respond...that's when it began...