Chapter Text
Miu Iruma is a genius.
Of course she is; she's the Ultimate Inventor, the self-proclaimed "girl genius." She can make anything she wants with almost no effort at all. She's celebrated across the world for her work; she's smarter than 90% of the people here.
So why does it still feel like something's missing? And why can't she figure it out?
She's always been more comfortable with guys. In elementary school, she always just preferred them. Girls were always so fussy, airheaded, obsessed with their looks. Guys….were simpler. Never "Go away Iruma, we don't care about your new machine." or "There goes Iruma, one of the guys." Boys always gave her attention.
And as she got older, the nature of that attention….changed. She learned that she could use her body to get whatever she wanted.
But her discomfort isn't with her gender, right? Yeah, she feels a little out of place being included with the girls in the Academy, but that's not because she isn't one of them! She's just not like other girls. That's all. And that's okay! Plenty of girls don't get along with each other. It's normal. Miu. Is. Normal.
Okay, that’s enough inner monologuing. Miu comes back to reality, staring at her own reflection in the mirror.
Right, shower.
See, she's gonna take a shower right now! She's perfectly fine with seeing her naked body. No dysphoria at all! When she looks in the mirror, she understands why guys think she's so hot.
Miu chides herself. Thinking about something as trivial as gender? In this situation? She should be more worried about her own survival. Gotta stay on your toes. Make sure no one catches you off guard. Kaede just died! One of the few people here who took an interest in her.
One of the few girls who took an interest in her. Ever.
Not that it matters now.
When she gets out of the shower, she tries her best to go to sleep.
--
If she has dreams, she doesn’t remember them.
After breakfast, Gonta talks about some letters he found on a rock. “Horse a”. Too soon to tell what that’s about.
Kokichi fucks everything up, as usual, by insinuating Gonta could be killed because he’s too gullible. The gears--no pun intended--in Miu’s head start turning. If she ever needed an out…
But no. She couldn’t do something like that. Besides, Gonta seemed to like her. She could use that to her advantage, if it came down to it.
Then there’s Kokichi. Miu, as previously established, is not stupid--she can tell he knows more than he lets on. The others are just too stupid to pick up on it. They’re like cattle. Bumbling about, getting picked off one by one for the slaughter. Miu and Kokichi are clearly superior to everyone else in the killing game, intellectually at least. But Kokichi’s such an asshole to Keebo, it’s hard to like him. Miu doesn’t think she would ever be able to work with him, let alone be friends.
Miu gets so invested in her internal monologue she hardly notices when the bear himself shows up. Then those annoying ass cubs show up too, and she desperately tries to slip back into internal monologue mode. Why are those little shits even here? They just feel like a waste of time. Everything they say and do is pointless, and they’re not even entertaining like their pops. Maybe the apple does fall far from the tree…..
Wait, a reward? Miu likes rewards.
Oh. It’s just some random crap. Of course it is. She doesn’t know why she expected anything different.
Tsumugi says some bullshit about trying them around campus. Maybe they unlock shit, like a video game….? Well, this is a game, in a way. Kaito sticks Shuichi with being the trier outer. The garbage Monokuma’s vermin spawn gave them all unlock more Ultimate Research Labs: Himiko’s, Kirumi’s, Gonta’s, Ryoma’s, and Maki’s. Maki doesn’t let anybody into hers. She’s just making herself look even more suspicious. Miu decides to check out Ryoma’s. That kid’s like three feet tall and has a deeper voice than all the guys here. And he looks like a fucking cat. Not a cute cat either, more like a starved alley cat that keeps getting into fights. What’s his deal?
Shuichi comes into the lab. Go time.
Shuichi asks Ryoma about his lab, and Ryoma tells him he’s not playing tennis anymore.
“Tennis? Who the hell plays a hoity-toity sport like tennis?” Miu asks him. In her experience, tennis is only played by rich people at country clubs who think they’re better than you. Obviously they’re not, playing such a brainless sport. Tennis has, like, no strategy to it. What’s the fun in that? Besides, isn't the net taller than Ryoma? How could he even play?
Ryoma says nothing.
“Ohhhh, that’s right. I totally forgot. You’re a tennis player, aren’tcha?” Obviously Miu didn’t forget. And she knows he just said he’s not playing tennis anymore. It’s just fun to push these idiots’ buttons.
“It’s fine if you forget. That was a long time ago,” Ryoma says with an air of an old man recalling his youth. Boring!
Miu tries to push the conversation in a more interesting direction. “So when you killed a mafia boss with your badass tennis skills, was that a long time ago too!?”
“H-hey! Come on, Miu…” Shuichi tries to defend Ryoma. Miu doesn’t know why he would bother. If Ryoma had the balls to kill someone, he should be able to talk about it.
“What? It really happened, yeah?” It would probably be best to keep an eye on any seasoned killers here.
“Yeah...it’s true.” Ryoma confesses. And bam, straight onto Miu’s watchlist. “Thanks to that...even if I escape from here, I’ll just go straight to a different prison.” Ryoma stares wistfully at the tennis court. “Hmph...so it’d be meaningless for someone like me to play tennis now…”
Ryoma? A “seasoned killer”? Yeah right.
“Are you a little bitch!? Cuz you’re actin’ like a little bitch right now!"
Shuichi just stares at her, mouth agape.
“Wh-what’s with the staredown? You’re...scaring me…” Not really. Miu doubts Shuichi could do any actual damage….physically, at least.
Now that Ryoma’s secret’s out, Miu takes a look at the automated racquet machine. Yeah, she could probably mod it and add it to her sex dungeon….
Research lab. She meant research lab.
Shuichi takes a look at the shower room. “A shower room! Why don’t you boys go in and give each other a good scrubdown!? You’re already the perfect height, Ryoma! You’ll be lined up juuuuust right when you turn around to face Shuichi!” Honestly, Miu isn’t that into the idea of Ryoma fucking anyone. But it’s fun to tease.
Ryoma looks at Miu like she’ll be his next victim. Damn, tough crowd.
“I-I was just kidding...I-I thought you’d laugh…”
Shuichi leaves, and Ryoma is still staring at her. Time to move on.