Chop it short. Killing game, 16 students, stuck on an island

Nekomaru becomes wary of the fact that Akane is appearing less and less frequently in front of the others. He believes she may be training on her own, something he is against as her self-appointed manager. During the concert organized by Ibuki Mioda, Monomi appears to tell the others that Akane is dueling Monokuma. Furious, Nekomaru rushes over and throws himself in front of Akane, shielding her from a bazooka launched by Monokuma.

Nekomaru is injured severely by the blast and is rushed the hospital by Monokuma, who insists that Nekomaru will ultimately live..

Nekomaru returned as a robot on the sandy beach, much to the surprise and shock of the others, but Nekomaru didn't appear to mind.

“The name's NEKOMARU NIDAI!!! I've been reborn in the rivers of hellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!!”

The concerned and understandably shocked responses come in

“N-Nekomaru...? Is that you...?”

“No matter how we look at it... this isn't you at all...!”

“Gahaha! No matter how you look at it, I'm still me!” “…” “Jeez, you guys are a strange lot. You all have such big, wide eyes.. Oh, perhaps you've all fallen in love with this metallic body of mine!? Gahahahaaaa!!! I already know what you want to say just by looking in your eyes! Then again, I am a former team manager!”