The strength within those two hands gradually weakened as energy left his entire body.

Then, Matsuda finally relinquished his grip on the girl.
Clang.

A sound rang out from the ground. A knife, engraved with the crest of Hope’s Peak Academy,
tainted by blood. The blood dripped down around it, and it soon developed into a sizeable pool
of red.

A warm sensation filled his stomach.

Matsuda then returned his eyes to the girl.

“…Listen, you bitch…”

He was visibly suffering as he spoke.

“B-before I die, you should know that… what I told you was a lie. There wasn’t any kind of
treatment. I’ve been… preventing… you from… remembering… anything, at all…”

I already know that, her voice replied.

The mouth of the girl who responded began to curl into what must have been a smile.

Smiling from the joy of the knife that had pierced Matsuda’s flesh.

And that’s when Matsuda confirmed it:

The person known as Ryoko Otonashi no longer existed.