Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A blonde teen lay in bed. She woke up, her hair a mess, and put on her uniform not paying much attention to her surroundings. She opened the door with a smile to start her day.

“First day of scho-” Opening her amethyst eyes she wasn’t met with the hallways of her home, or even the city setting she was used to seeing. No. Instead, she was met with a tropic paradise. “WHAT IN THE WHERE?!” Kaede looked around confused, her eyes finally landing on a trio of boys.

People! Maybe they know what’s going on! She ran over to them excitedly.

“Howdy Hey! I’m Kaede!” She introduced, startling the darkest-haired teen. The smaller brunette just laughed at her excitement. After chatting with them for a moment they settled down. “So you guys are just as clueless as me?”

“Yeah, sorry…” Makoto apologized with a nervous smile.

“Well… Dagnabit…” 

“... just say damn.”

Damn, I’m short…  Makoto sighed. Hajime looked around while Shuichi began to explain what he knew.

“We’re on a deserted island… At least that’s what the rabbit said…” He revealed. 

“Rabbit?” Makoto and Kaede questioned.

“Dude.” Hajime chided.

“Did someone say rabbit?” Just then a stuffed rabbit appeared. She smiled at turned to Shuichi. “Thank you for finding the remaining students! You’re a good Detective! Gold Star!” Usami waved her wand and a star sticker appeared. 

Wow! This is getting chaotic. Kaede thought to herself as Flight of the Bumblebee popped into her head. Makoto seemed to notice her stressed smile. 

“You ok?”

“Just gonna think of Nocturns to calm me down!” She replied honestly. Makoto nodded sympathetically.

"Now everyone, hold hands and I'll take you to the others for orientation," Usami announced.

"We don't need to hold hands. We're not kids." Hajime stated. 

"Ah… I guess You're right…" she quickly regained her energy and pointed with her stick. "This way to the Park!"

They followed her to a large park with 44 other students waiting. Usami instructed them to take a seat while she climbed up the statue there. Among the crowd questions about who or what Usami was were whispered.

"Hello, my darling students, I am Magic*Miracle Girl Usami, your teacher, and chaperone. I would like to formally welcome you to Hope's Peak's 'Tropical Love-Love Trip'. I do hope you all get along!" There was a moment of silence before someone raised their hand. 

"It is unconventional to start the school year off with a trip! Shouldn't we be in class?" Taka asked. 

"Don't worry! You kids still have some schoolwork to do! This is a school trip after all. It is all listed out in your student handbooks." Usami calmed. "Your handbooks contain student profiles, a map, the rules, and a place to receive and submit assignments." A few nearby students glared at Taka. "Hope's Peak just wants you to hone your talents and cultivate bonds of hope!"  Thus the students began to explore the island that would be their home for the indefinite future.

Chihiro, Miu, Kazuichi, and Kiibo explored the airport, discovering planes that were unable to take flight. Inside the airport was a cute little arcade Chiaki resided in. Despite being pretty involved in her game, she greeted Kaede, Makoto, Shuichi, and Hajime, dragging Hajime into a few games.

Sakura, Hina, Akane, and Nekomaru investigated the cabin neighborhoods on the beach. In particular, check the amenities that the cabins held in common. Learning, aside from items pertaining to a person's talent, the cabins were studio apartments containing a bed, kitchen, a place to do laundry, and a small bathroom. The small cabin was soundproof. Mukuro, Ryoko, Tsumugi, Hifumi, and Ryota checked the neighborhood layout, searching for some sort of pattern.  The cabins were set up in 6 little culdesacs of 8 cabins. There was no obvious rhyme or reason as to who was in which ‘neighborhood’. 

Celeste, Gonta, Sonia, and Kirumi were… Well, Celeste had roped them into a tea time, with Kirumi as the server. Celeste and Sonia were drinking tea, while Gonta accompanied them as a ‘gentleman’. Fortunately, at the nearby farm Gundham, Himiko, Tenko, and Peko were being productive, and by productive, that means they were fawning over the animals… Well, Tenko was fawning over Himiko. Ryoma was there too but was distanced from either of the groups. While Fuyuhiko was just outside the farm.

Maki had been dragged to the supermarket by Saionji. Teruteru was also there taking stock of ingredients. He made a life comment toward… anything that moved and looked legal… Only to get scolded by Nagito, Taka, and Mondo. All this while Kokichi claimed to be hurt, but ran from a fretting Mikan. Sayaka explained there were all sorts of stuff there including clothes, and food, among the other random seeming items.

Kyoko, was checking out the perimeter of the island and having Mahiru take pictures. Another group chatting about, exploring the perimeter, was Rantaro, Kiyo, Kaito, and Hiro. Though they seemed more casual.

Angie, Leon, and Ibuki were… Doing something at the laundry mat involving music and art. Or so they claimed.

While Byakuya was investigating on his own, and Toko had stayed at the park claiming no one invited her… Only to get dragged into Kaito’s group last minute against her will because she claimed no one invited her and that would not stand! Not with ‘Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! The Ultimate Astronaut! Wait Toko, where are you going? Have you written any books about Space? Space is Cool! And Aliens! Hiro’s right! Aliens are cool too!’ 

“Attention all students! Please meet at the beach in front of the cabin neighborhoods for a wonderful party! Love-Love~” Usami announced. The students quickly gathered at the… Tropical Island-themed party with flowers, tropic-themed food and drink, and Tikki torches. “I hope you all had a wonderful first day here on the island. Now let’s celebrate the start of a wonderful trip!” 

“Shut it rabbit! I’m heading home!” Fuyuhiko announced stomping off.

“Stop throwing a fit and have fun!” Kaede ran after him grabbing his arm.

“Blondie’s gonna die,” Mondo stated bluntly.

“Shorty or Music notes?” Toko nodded.

“One is a Yakuza and the other has accidentally flirted with just about every girl she’s seen.”

“... She didn’t flirt with me. She just talked to me about my books and old classical music.”

“Tenko will go defend her from that degenerate ma-”

“Look they are returning!” Sonia pointed out. 

“Kaede! Did that degenerate hurt you?”
“Don’t worry. He just made a lot of violent sounding threats.”

“Do you, or do you not, want me to kick his ass?” Mondo nodded at Fuyuhiko, who flipped him off.

“He’s harmless.”
“I’ll fucking kill you!” Fuyuhiko threatened.

“Violence is a no-no!” Usami stood between you. “Why can’t you be love-love like the girls?” Mondo and Fuyuhiko glance over at the groups Usami pointed at: Hina and Sakura, and Tenko and Himiko.

“Two of those people are lesbians,” Mondo stated pointing at Tenko and Hina. “One of the others is taking a nap on the gamer…” Himiko leaned on Chiaki as the pink-haired girl began to play on her device. “And I think the Oger, is just enjoying being one of the girls. Which Hina and Tenko have insisted that she is.”

“Love-Love~”

“I’m going to stick my ‘Love-Love’ up her stuffed-” 

“Hey look, you aren’t the shortest one here.” Kaede teased running off. 

“YOU CAN’T JUST SAY THAT SHIT AND RUN OFF YOU PIANO IDIOT!” Fuyuhiko shouted after her.

“We should do something,” Hajime suggested.

“She’s probably fine, it kinda looks like she’s enjoying herself.” Makoto smiled. Sure enough, Kaede was laughing as Fuyuhiko chased her around the party.

“She’s definitely enjoying herself.” Shuichi chuckled.

“Sure is,” Monokuma stated. “Ah, youth! So fleeting, much like life.”

“Is that another stuffed animal?” Kazuichi asked poking Monokuma with a stick.

“I’m not a stuffed animal I’m MONOKUMA!”
“OH NO, YOU DON’T!” Usami tackled the bar and they began to fight. 

The students began to watch the display, curious and confused as to what was going on.

“Kubs!” Monokuma shouted.

“Kubs?” Soon five more bears joined the fight, Ultimately defeating Usami, transforming her into a half-pink rabbit wearing an apron, because when I draw this later I will NOT be drawing her in a diaper. “No! No! No!”
“Upupupupupu! Nothing beats family!” Monokuma announced.

“So what the fuck just happened?” Hajime asked.

“Easy, I, your wonderful headmaster Monokuma, have overthrown your stupid teacher!”

“What do we do with the teacher Papakuma?” Monokid kicked Usami.

“Not my squishable tummy!”

“No violence! Violence makes me sick!” Monophanie groaned.

“Seriously, Monophanie, I can’t remember where you get that from!” Monotaru laughed. Monokuma snapped his fingers.
“I was gonna make that useless rabbit my sister-”

“WHAT?!” Usami shouted.

“But my adorable kub made a good point! Monophanie had to get that from?” Monokuma beamed at Usami. “Obviously from your mother Monomi!”

“EH!? I’m not their mother!”

“Mother!” Monotaru and Monophanie tackled Monomi.

“Look, Mommy! We’re both pink!” 

“I-WILL-GET-ALONG-WITH-MOTHER.” Monodam sat by Monomi.

“Why are you all just accepting this as fact!?” Monomi screamed.

“I’ll ask it again; What the fuck just happened?”

“Oh this is a killing school trip, hope at least a good half of you are down with murder.” Monokuma stated offhand waving the students off.

There were 48 variations of ‘What’, ‘What the fuck’, ‘Are you serious, and ‘This is a joke right, among the students as Monokuma unceremoniously dropped that bomb.

Chapter Text

Everyone stood there in shock as Monokuma’s words sunk in. 

“Killing… Murder…” Makoto felt his blood run cold. Everyone was looking at one another with suspicion, not knowing who they could trust.

“You got it right on the money kiddo!” Monokuma announced. “Burning, bludgeoning, battering, you name it! It doesn’t even need to start with a B! You could try an S! Strangulation! Starvation! Stabbing! Don’t limit yourselves to one letter!” 

Most backed away from the people who seemed to be obvious killers, mainly Mondo, Fuyuhiko, Ryoma, and Mukuro. 

“No! Don’t listen to him! You need to build bonds of friendship!” Monomi cried. 

“Papakuma said they're gotta murder, so they're gonna murder!” Monokid shouted.

“Have fun! And don’t forget to read the updated school rules~” Monokuma started dragging Monomi away, the kubs following after the bunny and bear.

Silence surrounded the students, in stark contrast to the fun tropical-themed party surrounding them. Distrust surrounded all of them.

Kaede shook her head and pulled out her handbook, climbing onto the refreshment table.

“Rule 1: Students shall reside on the Island for the foreseeable future.” She announced catching everyones attention as she read from the handbook. “Rule 2: Nighttime is from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. Certain facilities will be unavailable during this time, such as the laundromat and Supermart, more locations may be added in the future.” 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Fuyuhiko shouted.

“Reading the school rules obviously,” Kaede stated as if it was normal. “Can everyone hear me?”

“Ibuki is having trouble in the back!” Ibuki stated. Taka blinked and stepped in front of the table Kaede was on.

“I will assist in informing everyone of the school rules. I am told my voice reaches far and wide!” Taka shouted. “Ibuki! Can you hear me clearly back there!”

“Like a rock concert! Wooo!” She cheered. With that Taka took over reading the School Rules to everyone.

Rule 3: No littering or Destroying anything on the Island without permission

Rule 4: With Minimal restrictions, you may explore the island

Rule 5: The Lead Chaperone may not interfere with students unless a Student breaks the rules

Rule 6: No student is allowed to use Violence against the Chaparone

Rule 7: The Lead Chaperone may add rules as needed

Rule 8: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

“In addition to these rules, I suggest we add a few of our own,” Celeste announced as Taka finished.

“What kind of rules should we add?” Sonia stared confused.

“I hope she doesn’t try to ban the use of my magic,” Himiko mumbled. Gundham nodded.

“Nor mine, it would be regrettable.”

“... I do not foresee either of those being a problem.” Celeste calmed with a smile. “Rather, we should ban being out during nighttime hours and set up a security force. If it were only 16 of us, it would be easier to trust everyone's words, however with 48 of us, I would feel more at ease if there were volunteers at night watching over to make sure no one tries to take Monokuma up on his offer.” There were murmurs of agreement. “Do we have any volunteers?”
“I will volunteer!” Taka announced.

“We’ll probably need at least 3 or 4 people per night for the night watch.” Kaede nodded. “But rotate them out so the same people aren’t always exhausted.”

“I’ll join Taka! I like staying up to see the stars anyways.” Kaito raised his hand.

“Tenko wants to join! I’ll keep the degenerate males from trying anything!” 

“Akane and I are volunteering as well!” Nekomaru announced. “Training at night will lessen the chance of someone getting caught in our training.”

“If it’s only a few times a week I don’t mind joining.” Peko offered.

“Then I will join as well.” Sakura nodded. 

“Me too!” Hina giggled. 

“I’ll join too,” Mondo announced. “Not that I think the chicks can’t handle themselves but I feel weird letting them do this and not giving a hand.”

“I don’t trust these fools will adequately protect me. I will be joining as well.” Byakuya announced.

“Good, we don’t want to protect you anyways!” Hina stuck her tongue out.

“He’s one of the worse degenerates.” Tenko agreed.

“I’ll help! I can use it as a way to write and practice music!” Leon offered. 

“It’s in my area of expertise in a way. I don’t mind pitching in.” Mukuro finished off.

“Alright. We’ll have four people every night and rotate two people out each night. Taka, I trust you and Nekomaru to figure out the schedule!” Kaede announced.

“Understood!” Taka soluted while Nekomaru laughed and pulled the volunteers aside to work out a schedule.

“Any other concerns?” Kaede turned back to Celeste.

“We should meet up in the mornings for a role call here on the beach when the weather permits to share what we’ve learned.”

“Oh! I’ll make sure the food is so delicious it’ll make your mouth water, and that may not be the only thing that gets- OW!” Teruteru rubbed the back of his head and glared at Nagito.

“I will assist Teruteru with the food and make sure he doesn’t add anything suspicious.” Kirumi offered.

“You’re a saint Kirumi!” Mahiro smiled at the maid. “But I don’t think it’s safe for any girl to be alone in a room with that guy!”

“Teruteru not safe for Ladies?” Gonta asked. Celeste smiled and walked over.

“Mahiru is right, Kirumi’s too valuable to let Teruteru harass her. I’m not sure how much cooking help he’ll be, but I’m sure Gonta here would be more than happy to make sure you're safe.”

“Gonta want to help, Gonta gentleman!” He looked to Celeste. “Lady Celestia is working very hard to teach Gonta to be a gentleman.”

“Protect all ladies is the job of a gentleman.” Celeste nodded.

“If it will assist Gonta in his goals I’d be more than happy to let him join us in the kitchen.” Kirumi bowed.

“Gonta is a fine specimen himself, and he’s gullible enough to- OW! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT STICK?!” Teruteru glared at Nagito holding the remains of Usami, now Monomi’s, magic stick. 

“On the ground.”

“Should Gonta protect Teruteru?”

“That is not needed.” Celeste patted his arm. 

“But gentleman protects others.”

“Gentlemen protect ladies and other gentlemen.” Celeste clarified before pointing at Teruteru. “ That is not a gentleman.”

“Anyone else have any other concerns?” Kaede shouted to the group. Sonia raised her hand.

“Not a concern but merely a suggestion.” Sonia started. “Since we are all cut off from society here should we not create some sort of leadership community?”

“Like a student council?” Kiyo asked.

“Precisely.” After much… Debating… the Council was selected. Kaede, who had been a leader of sort’s till now, Taka, who had experience as a Student Council member, Sonia, who has experience leading people without Violence, Sakura (it was supposed to be Nekomaru represented the sports gang, but Tenko didn’t want a boy representing her), Kirumi joined as a request from everyone, and Angie who insisted on being included.

“Alright, anything else?” Taka asked. Everyone stayed silent. “If there are any other concerns please come to a member of the student council!” He bowed as if to release everyone from the meeting.

Most students left in their separate groups without another thought. 

“This won’t do, where’s the Love-love?” Monomi appeared out of nowhere.

“It’s ok… I think.” Chiaki assured from her game. “It’s just the first day. I’m sure everyone just needs time to warm up to each other.”

“Let’s go! Kazuichi and I are going to see if we can get one system to play all your games!” Chihiro shouted

“And I’m gonna see if I can make it so you can play while you sleep! FUCK YEAH!” Miu agreed. 

“See? I already made some pretty cool friends.” Chiaki started walking to the others.

“Thank you, Chiaki…” Monomi watched Chiaki walk off with Miu, Kazuichi, Chihiro, and Kiibo. The rabbit smiled before leaving herself.

Chapter Text

Everyone met the next morning as agreed, even the reluctant ones were dragged by more enthusiastic members.

Taka went through everyone getting their name for role call, while Gonta helped Kirumi serve the food she made with Teruteru.

Kaede sat at a table with Shuichi, Makoto, and Hajime. Nagito had wormed his way onto the table as well.

“The meal options this morning are Omurice, Fluffy Pancakes, or Toast. If you have any dietary restrictions let me know and I will work around them.” Kirumi announced holding a note pad.

“You don’t have to do that Kirumi. We can grab our own food.” Makoto announced.

“Please allow me to train my talent.” She smiled back. The group ordered their food together.

“Everyone seems to be getting along.” Nagito beamed. “I would be more worried if we di-”

“Whaaat?! You two know eachother?” Tenko and Hina were pouting. The comment seemed to be directed at Sakura and Peko.

“We attended the same middle school, though Pekoyama was my sempai.” Sakura lightly bowed her head.

“I was surprised to see Sakura here.” Peko agreed before holding her hands up. “Not in a bad way! It’s just… Sakura has always been talented I’m not surprised she was scouted as well, it’s just.”

“Even if we attended the same school you didn’t think we’d cross paths, much like middle school.” Sakura helped explain earning a slightly exasperated nod from Peko. “I always admired your focus, I am glad for the opportunity to become closer.”

“As am I.” Peko agreed.

“Don’t leave Tenko out!” Tenko practically lept in their laps. “Tenko want’s to be included in the Adorable martial artist group!”

“Pretty?” Both seemed caught off guard.

“Sakura is definitely cute but I’m not-”

“Peko is the Pretty o-” Both stared at eachother confused before laughing.

“Peko’s right Sakura! You’re super cute!” Hina huffed. “And Peko, you’re like a bunny!” The tanned girl made bunny ears with her hands. “Super cute!”

“Me? A bunny?” Peko blushed very deeply. “I’m not…”

“She’s gone nearly as red as her eyes how cute!” Tenko squealed. 

A camera flash went off.

“Sorry, I just thought such a friendly atmosphere would make for a great picture!” Mahiru smiled. 

“What about Big Sis, Maki and me?!” Hiyoko asked hanging off of Maki. “We’re being friendly!” Despite the blondes words the brunette looked like she had been grumbled about how kids always liked her despite no matter what she did.

“I’ve got a ton of pictures of you two already.” Mahiro tried to appease. 

“Picture’s are we doing picture’s Ibuki want’s pictures!” Ibuki bounced over. 

“Alright, alright stop pushing.” Mahiru laughed out.

-------

After breakfast everyone began breaking off into groups again.

“Makoto, do you think I could have a moment of your time?” Kiibo asked. 

“Uh sure.” Makoto shrugged. He glanced back at his usual ‘group’ and saw Chiaki dragging Hajime off already.

“Hey, hey, Hajime, play with me.” She tugged him by his wrist. 

Meanwhile Kaede and Shuichi were… Well Kaede was trying to get his hat to see his eyes better and Shuichi was shyly dodging her.

“I don’t have anything going on.”

“Thank you. Kazuichi and Miu said they could upgrade my shell to be more humanoid but…” Kiibo looked a bit shy. “I wouldn’t have any clothes. You seem to have the most ‘normal’ style among everyone so I was hoping for assistance at the supermarket picking out new clothes.”

“If you think I can help. I’m happy to.” Makoto smiled as they walked. In the distance he heard something hit the ground and Kaede shouting ‘Got it!’.

Kaede trumpfantly started running away with Shuichi’s hat.

“Kaede!” Shuichi chased after her as she weaved around the different groups.

“Music buddies!” Kaede ran behind Sayaka and Ibuki. The other two blinked in confusion, noticed the hat, and then the flustered Detective.

“Ibuki will take that!” Ibuki beamed taking the hat and bolting off. Kaede ran in a different direction giggling.

“Hi, Shuichi what can I do for you?” Sayaka beamed.

“Kaede stole my hat, did you see where she went?” Shuichi avoided eye contact. 

“ Kaede went that way.” Sayaka pointed out. She giggled as Shuichi ran off after her. He found her chatting with the more athletic students.

“-So we’re playing keep away.” Kaede finished explaining. 

“Great way to exercise!” Nekomaru complimentated. 

“Seems a little mean.” Peko chided.

“The degenerate deserves it!” Tenko argued. 

“Looks like Shu finally caught up.” Hina pointed out.

“WHere’s my hat?” Shuichi gaspsed out.

“I dont have it~”

“What!? Kaede!”

“Ibuki took it.” Shuichi suddenly recalled Ibuki running off the opposite direction of Kaede. Hina, and Akane shared a look before bolting ahead of Shuichi.

“Keep away!” Hina giggles. “Ibuki wait for us!” Shuichi looked like he was ready to pass out.

“THis will help you build your stamina!” Nekomaru patted him on the back.

Shuichi had spent most the afternoon playing ‘keep away’ with the girls against his will, he finally got his hat back when someone passed it to Mahiru, who quickly chided all the girls.

“Geez, I expect this from someone like Hiyoko or Himiko, but you girls...” Mahiru scolded.

“We’re just having fun.” Kaede defended. “Plus I wanted to see Shuichi’s eyes better.”

“Ibuki just had too much energy.”

“Hina said I couldn’t outlast her.” Akane added. 

“And I thought Hiyoko was childish.” Maki sighed. 

“It’s going to be time to turn in soon, everyone appologize to Shuichi and go back to your cottage.”

“Okay, Mahiru…” 

“Thank you for the help.” Shuichi replaced his hat on his head. 

Chapter Text

Kaede woke up to knocking on her cottage door the next morning. While she was always cheerful in the morning she wasn’t a morning person. So half asleep, in her PJ’s she opened the door.

“Mornin’...” She sleepily rubbed her eyes. She was almost certain her hair was a mess.

“Good Mo-Mo-Moorning Kaede!” Ibuki greeted. “Ibuki was talking with Hina, Sayaka, Tenko, and Angie and we decided we should have a girl's night tonight.”

“Girls night?”

“Yeah improve the bonds of friendships between all us girls!”

“You’re silly Ibuki.” Kaede smiled. “Sounds fun, do you need me to help spread the word.”

“Yes please.”

“Alright let me get dressed and wake up.” Kaede waved the other girl off. 

By the time Kaede finally woke up the morning announcement had been broadcast. From experience she knew her neighbor to her left, Chiaki would probably still be asleep, along with Himiko who was a few houses in the same direction. Kaede hopped down her staired and skipped up Chiaki’s knocking on the door. She heard shuffling then a sleep Chiaki opened her door.

“Hey, Hey…”

“Mornign Chiaki, Ibuki’s setting up a girls night, you in?”

“... Sounds fun I could bring some games for everyone to play.” Chiaki smiled sleepily. 

“Great, I’ll see you tonight, try not to sleep through it~” Chiaki nodded and pointed at her napping bodies cottage. 

“Himiko will want to show off her Magic… I think…”

“I was just heading there now!”

-----

Sonia and Himiko had already made plans to do some sort of ritual with Gundham and Kiyo that night. Toko was being forced to attend by Rantaro and Kaito, who encouraged her to make more friends. Hina had basically agreed for her and Sakura, which ensured Akane would attend. Sakura had asked Peko to come. Mahiru agreed and talked Hiyoko into coming even without Maki, who flat-out refused with Kyoko.

Miu refused claiming to have plans with ‘the boys’ which was her nickname for Kiibo, Kazuichi, and Chihiro who seemed unbothered to be referred to as a boy. Celeste agreed to go so long as Kiruimi was there to assist her in her nighttime routine. Mukuro seemed on the fence until Tsumugi and Ryoko mentioned it could be fun. This left Mikan who ‘didn’t want to impose’ but would likely get dragged to the event by Ibuki anyway.

“You’re fools for trusting each other.” Byakuya chided over breakfast when he overheard the party planning.

“And you're an asshole.” Kaede spat back. 

“Yeah, even if we were inviting guys we wouldn’t invite you!” Sayaka tuck her tongue out at him. 

“Tch. Fine end up dead for all I care.” Byakuya grabbed his breakfast and moved.

“Ibuki thinks we should add pranks to the girls night and TP his cabin.” Ibuki grumbled. “He ruined Ibuki’s happy mood.”

“I’m sure it would brighten our neighborhood spirits for him to get a a bit of karma for his terrible attitude… I think.” Chiaki smiled. 

Hajime passed by the table with a smile.

“I didn’t hear anything, and definitely won’t set up some guys night to distract Mr. Rules from some well deserved revenge.” Hajime said before looking for Taka. “Hey Taka can we chat buddy!”

“Maybe you girls should postpone the party.” Kaito said from his table where he was hanging out with Rantaro, Kiyo, and Hiro. “We were just discussing the weather and it looks like storm clouds are forming.”

“Perfect weather for the ritual I’m preparing with Gunham and the ladies.” Kiyo looked excited.

“Just keep the ghost shit in your cabin and away from us.” Hiro pointed between himself and Kaito. 

“Dude, I may hang out in your cabin, it’s further from whatevers gonna go on at Kiyo’s.” 

“Bro’s night?” Hiro beamed.

“Bro’s night! Ey, Rantaro, you in?”

“Sure, we should invite some of the other guys while we’re at it.”

------

Everyone filtered into the cabins at the end of the day or a cabin agreed upon by their group. The girls party was being held in Ibuki’s neighborhood with the agreement the girls would split up into the nearby girl cabins as they got tired. They grabbed tarps and poles from the Super Market to shield themselves from the rain. This way they could all hang out all night and not disturb any other activities that night, some of the girls even offering their cottages to the boys in the neighborhood to borrow for the night.

Except Teruteru, they figured he could deal with the noise as they didn't trust him in ANY ones house. 

It started raining with a bit of wind but the girls didn’t let that stop them.

“Truth or Dare!” Ibuki chanted. “Truth or Dare!” 

“How embarrassing…” Toko grumbled. 

“Come on Toko, lighten up.” Hina cheered. “Or we’ll tell Rantaro you went to bed Early.”

“No! Don’t you fucking dare! He’s already on my case!”

“I’ll go first… Tenko, truth or dare!” Sayaka plopped down.

“Oh...Tenko chooses truth!”

“Are you gay or bi, I genuinely can’t tell.” 

“Tenko’s…” Tenko blushed. “Tenko likes girls… Girls are just…”

“Ibuki gets it.” Ibuki encouraged.

“How can you not like girls?” Hiyoko agreed. 

“So true.” Hina leaned on Sakura. “Girls are the best~”

“Celeste, Truth or Dare!” Tenko quickly tried to move the conversation, with flushed cheeks.

“I do not trust this group with dares yet.” Celeste revealed.

“If you had to pick someone on the island to marry tonight, who would it be?” Tenko plopped down. Everyone looked toward her.

“Excelent question… I’m torn, Kirumi is such a fine specimen, she fits everything I’m looking for except for gender, however Gonta has some work to do before he meets my standards.”

“So you like Gonta?” Hina giggled. “That’s so sweet Celeste.”

“He wants to be a gentleman and it suits me to have a gentleman, no?” Celeste looked around. “Mrs. Sayaka.”

“Dare.” Sayaka wanted to get this party started. 

“Oh… Very brave.” Celeste looked around. “Let’s start it off light. Write an anonymouse love letter, give it to another girl and she’ll randomly put it in one of the boys’s male boxes.” The girls located stationary and Sayaka handed the latter to Ibuki.

“If you put it in Teruteru’s or Byakuya’s I will never forgive you.”

“Ibuki will do it in secret~” Ibuki stuffed the letter in her shirt to secretly deliver it later. 

The dares were silly ones, ding dong ditch one of the boys, switch clothes with another girl, blind fold make up. Though Sakura got dared to kiss another girl after revealing she was Bi. Sakura ended up kissing Hina who seemed very aprpeciative and started giving out less silly dares after that. The truths were about eachother’s pasts, if they were into guys or girls, did they have any crushes on the island yet.

“Well Kaede?” Sayaka leaned toward the pianist. “Who are they?”

“Aside from half the girls here?” Toko teased.

“You can have crushes on girls?” Kaede blinked.

“... Kaede what do you think Bi and Lesbian mean?” Mahiru asked in a joking tone. “Did you grow up sheltered?”

“ Very.” Kaede admitted. After some light explaining of the joys of LGBT+ Kaede nodded. “Oh… Then yeah like half the people on the island are my type in some way or another. But…” Kaede’s cheeks went pink. “Shuichi’s very pretty without his hat on… I think it eye’s are mesmerizing.”

“You two would be so cute together!” Tsumugi  agreed. “It’d be like a real life Kaori and Kosei~” 

Lightening began to crack. 

“It’s starting to get really nasty out.” Kaede noted. 

“Or my close friends who enjoy the occult have summoned something.” Celeste joked. 

“S-Sakura we should head inside.” Hina looked scared. Sakura nodded, admitting it was starting to get worse than she was comfortable with.

Is she afraid of thund- 

Lightening struck a nearby tree and most the girls began screaming and scrambling to get inside Ibuki, Tsumugi’s, and Angie’s cottages. 

“Man, it’s getting really bad.” Kaede noted everyone was shaking from the rain and the very scary experience. 

“Aww, too bad, we were having so much fun.” Angie seemed bummed. “God wanted to see how daring the girls were.” 

“Gross, you just wanted to see us get n- AAAH!” Hiyoko screamed at the thunder and ran to Mahiru. “Whhaaa! I HATE storms.”

“Are you doing alright, Kaede?” Peko asked. 

“Huh… Just a bit shaken.” Kaede admitted. Peko went to the bathroom to grab towels. 

“We should dry off, don’t want anyone catching colds.” 

----

Angie had fallen asleep on her couch, while Mahiru and Hiyoko ended up in a corner under a blanket and some towels.

Kaede had fallen asleep on the bed once the storm died down a bit, because the thunder kept her up. Peko had stayed up all night keeping her mind off the storm and keeping an eye outside. There was a panicked knock at the door.

Kaede woke up a bit sleepy and opened the door.

“Sorry for waking you all after your festivities last night!” Taka bowed. “But something awful has happened.”

“He found Byakuya’s house.” Hiyoko quickly giggled from the back.

“Do we know who was on guard duty last night?” Taka asked Kaede. Kaede thought back to the schedule. 

“Sakura, Tenko, Hina, and Peko. They figured since they’d be up all night at the party they’d take the shift.”

“What's wrong?” Peko asked.

“Did you see anyone suspicious heading to the beach last night?” Taka pressured.

“No.” Peko turned her head.
“Taka, what’s going on?” Kaede repeated.

“... I believe members of our elected council should see first and decide what to do from there.” Taka seemed… Less energetic. Kaede returned to Peko. 

“Angie, you and I will go with Taka, Peko can you and Mahiru gather everyone in the common area between the neighborhoods? Direct any council members to meet us on the beach.”

“Understood.” Peko quickly exited the cottage to begin rounds. “I will also instruct the security members to keep others from the beach.”

“Good idea.” Kaede and Angie followed Taka out to the beach.

When Taka led them to the beach the girls couldn’t believe their eyes. Face down in the sand was Ibuki in the clothes she had worn to the girl's night.

Chapter Text

Ibuki Mioda, who had organized a girl's night the previous day was lying face down in the sand, unmoving.

Ding Dong Bing Bong 

The sound broke Kaede from her trance. 

“Wow! You kids must be bloodthirsty, I didn’t even have to give a motive for someone to be murdered! Upupupupu~” Monokuma’s annoying voice was suddenly very clear. “A Body has been discovered, after a certain amount of time a Class trial will be held. Please gather on the main beach, labeled according to your maps.” 

“What?” Taka looked around.

“I guess that decided what we’re going to do to handle this…” Kaede gently murmured. She had to think fast, the rest of the students would be heading this way. “Taka, go meet up with the other student council members and help them and the security team stop the rest of the students. The more people on the crime scene the harder it will be to preserve it.”

“Understood. I will instruct a perimeter to be made around this area of the beach.”

“Angie once everyone is here I want you to grab the Detectives, Mahiru and Mikan.”

“Ah! To perform an Autopsy.”

“And start a Primary investigation. We will slowly and methodically let others into the crime scene once they're finished in groups of four. Starting with people who are most likely to be able to tell signs of death due to their talent or hobbies.”

“Kiyo, Fuyuhiko, Mukuro, and Ryoko will be the Secondary investigation group.”

“I want you, Taka, and Sonia, to figure out the investigation groups from there.”

Once Taka was in sight and creating a perimeter with the night watch turned security team and other student council members, Angie ran up past him to grab the four people Kaede specified. Kaede went past the security team and looked around.

“Makoto, Hajime, can you two come here?” She signaled. 

“Uh… Sure… but why?” Makoto asked. “Not like we’re particularly useful in this sense.”

“We have teams investigating, guarding, and organizing. I’m honestly doing my best to have my bases covered. But we need testimonies. You two are some of the more well-liked members of the group. So you guys are going to gather testimonies from everyone. I don’t care if there’s overlap they may share something with one of you that they don’t share with the other.”

“We can do that.” Hajime gave a thumbs up.

“I can help with that,” Rantaro ran over with Toko, Hifumi, and Kirumi. “I’ll help gather testimonies, the more the better, right? I also grabbed the faster writers in the group so we can have physical versions of the testimonies.”

“Great idea. You three.” Kaede pointed to the writers. “Try to get word-for-word testimonies as much as possible.”

“I… I don’t have to go near the body do I?” Toko practically begged.

“If your not comfortable don’t push yourself. If you had a talent that would be of use by investigating the body or you were a murder mystery writer I would’ve suggested it, but since you focus on romance stick with Rantaro until it’s his turn to investigate. After he gathers testimonies from everyone we’ll want copies for the Detectives at minimum.”

“48 testimonies are going to be a lot to gather and Copy,” Kirumi admitted.

“We’ve got to do what we can before Monokuma starts for a trial.”

“Which is why I’m here.” Monokuma appeared out of nowhere. “I’m surprised at how capable you are.” He circled Kaede. “But enough about that I’m here with something that may help… And so are my kubs. Behold the Monokuma File 1!” He started handing out tablets. “This should have useful information on the victim's death.”

“How awful, one of my students couldn’t have done this…” Monomi was sulking in the corner, rubbing the back of a barfing Monophanie. 

“... Looks like I have to hand out their monopads…” Monokuma grumbled marching off.

“We should at least check it.” Hajime urged. “It looks like you have The Ultimate Detectives and Mikan running an autopsy anyway. If the cause of death matches we know the information is valid, if it doesn't we toss them.”

“It could hold valuable information.” Makoto agreed. Kaede reluctantly nodded.

Victim: Ibuki Mioda

Height: 164cm/5’3 

Weight: 129 pounds

Cause of Death: Drowning

Time of Death: Unknown

Other Injuries: Victim Appears to have been hit in the head with a blunt object, leaving a cut just above the hairline

Shuichi looked over the file.

“They say the time of death is unknown,” Shuichi noted. Mahiru looked pale but took pictures of the crime scene as Kyoko had instructed.

“Likely so we’d have a harder time figuring out the killer.” Kyoko nodded, before turning to Mikan. “But they didn’t account for all our talents pooling together. Mikan do you have an estimated time of death?”

“Well… I can’t give an exact time, as the sea likely cooled down her body, but It’s been less than 8 hours. It has to be.” Mikan confirmed. “And while she died of drowning,” Mikan moved Ibuki’s hair. “She has a slight injury here. If I had to guess she hit her head, and it caused her to inhale water or even knocked her out causing her to drown.”

“The time of death should be easier to figure out, I mean Ibuki held that party last night…” Shuichi reasoned.

“We need to confirm what time in the morning Taka found the body and if it happened to be warm.” Kyoko agreed. “And we need testimonies from all the girls at the party to when they last saw Ibuki that night.”

“I can get a list of all the girls at the party made.” Mahiru offered. “The ones who made it and how long into the party they stayed up. I took loads of pictures. Though I can’t guarantee time. None of us were paying attention.”

“If we know what time the party started and about how far into it Ibuki disappeared we can estimate her time of death.” Kyoko seemed pleased with Mahiru. “I’ll leave the list to you. Mikan, keep checking the body, if it goes stiff before the trial we know it was roughly 8 hours from the point it went stiff.”
“I’ll… I’ll try,” Mikan nodded. 

“I’m going to inform the Student Council Mikan needs to stay near the body.” Shuichi ran off to Taka and Sonia and explained the situation, what they learned, and Mikan’s reasoning for staying by the body.

“I understand. We will follow your and Kyoko’s lead on this.” Taka bowed. “As you are the most equipped to handle this.”

“In the meantime let’s talk to Kaede and see what else she’s set up.” Kyoko nodded toward Shuichi and Mahiru to follow her. 

Kaede was in the middle of the students who weren’t part of the main teams, all of them mad they couldn’t enter the crime scene as the secondary group entered.

“I’m sorry everyone, but it’s the best way to preserve evidence.”

“What if one of the first two groups held the killer?!” Miu argued.

“That's why we have groups of 4 going in and security keeping an eye inside and outwards of the crime scene.” Kaede tried to reason with the group.

“Those in later groups will have less time to investigate,” Kazuichi added. 

“I’m with them, it seems unfair, Kae.” Kaito apologetically added.

“Nothing is stopping you from investigating elsewhere.” Kyoko interrupted. “Kaede’s just trying to preserve the primary scene. But it may not be the only place that holds evidence. For example, you all could get testimonies from each other or investigate the party.” 

“Wow! Everyone dog-piled on poor Kaeyayde real quick!” Kokichi wrapped his arms around her. “I’d never do that~”

“... You started this whole mess!” Kaede quickly called out. 

“Nihihi~” Kokichi laughed and ran off. 

“After this is over remind me to hit him…” Kaede grumbled to no one in particular.

“Noted.” Mahiru patted Kaede’s shoulder, making her take note of the group.

“Oh, hi guys, I assume you're finished?”

“We gathered as much as we could, hopefully after everyone's done we can get a second look at the Crime scene before the trial happens,” Kyoko informed. “I’d like to know about the party. Anything that stood out.”

“Hina and Sakura kissed, it was a sight to behold~” Teruteru mentioned.

“... Right, we locked you in your cabin because we didn’t trust you not to sneak into the party and none of us wanted you in our cabins overnight.”

“I’m not complaining, darling.” Teruteru started heavily breathing. “I got a front-row seat to all that acti- OW!”

“Wow! That tree must’ve been hanging onto that dangling branch all morning, Lucky it didn’t hit me.” Nagito beamed. 

“...” Kaede chose to ignore that situation as Nagito somehow had it handled. “What can I do for you guys?”

“Mahiru’s using her photos to make a list of the party-goers and when they left the party, I was hoping to get your point of view of the party, since it will help narrow down Ibuki’s time of death.”

“Uh… Sure. Not sure how much help I’ll be.” Kaede admitted. “We all met at around 6 in Neighborhood E, since Angie and Ibuki had organized the event primarily, we decided to hold it there. I don’t know what all the boys in the neighborhood did but I let Shuichi stay in my cabin.”

“Thank you for that, I’m sure the party was fun, but the quiet was nice.” Shuichi smiled.

“We had music and Chiaki had brought some different games to play and eventually Ibuki started truth and dare. We played that for a couple of hours, but as it got later people started trialing off into the cabins. Ryoko was the first to turn in, I know she, Mukuro, Celeste, and Kirumi were going to stay in Tsumugi’s cabin, in fact, I saw most of them run in there when we had to turn in because of the storm.” Kaede explained. “I was in Angie’s cabin with Peko, Mahiru, and Hiyoko. I think the rest of the girls ended up piling in Ibuki’s cabin… You’d have to ask the girls who were in that cabin if Ibuki was among them.”

“Why did the party end?” Kyoko asked.

“Oh lightning struck a tree and we all freaked out.”

“I was unphased by the lightning.” Peko countered.

“... Most of us freaked out,” Kaede then explained who she assigned to the job of testimonies for them. 

“Wow Kaede, you thought of everything.”

“I kind reversed engineered it, like, if I were the culprit what would help me get away with the murder? Well, I thought of it as if I were going to steal my sister’s dress, and pretend Ibuki was the dress and pretend the dress got ruined-” Kaede blinked realizing she was rambling. “Anyways I put myself in the culprit's shoes as much as possible while trying to… Not think about it as much as I could.” Kaede's fingers twitched. “Honestly trying to keep everyone calm and organized is helping keep my mind off the fact Ibuki’s…” Tears welled in Kaede’s eyes. “We didn’t know each other for long but… She was a really good friend from what I could tell.”

“Gonta brought tissues!” Gonta had run over.

“Why did you have those?” Kaede accepted the offering nonetheless.

“Chihiro crying as well.” Kaede looked in the direction Gonta had come from and sure enough, Chihiro was crying, Kirumi and Kazuichi trying to calm her down. “Celeste says when Lady in need Gentleman must help. Chihiro and Kaede nice ladies in need of tissues, so Gonta help!”

“Gonta, I will require your assistance soon. It will be our turn to investigate Mrs. Mioda soon.” Celeste was holding a parasol over her, she looked the very part of a Victorian mourner.

She probably didn’t have to change her outfit much. 

“Gonta understand!” Gonta bowed to Kaede then quickly returned to Celeste’s side, taking the parasol from her hand to shade her.

“Shuichi, let’s split up and gather evidence,” Kyoko announced. 

“Huh?”

“You’re a Detective right you shouldn’t need my help to run an investigation.” 

“But-” Kyoko walked off without another word.

“You worried, dude?” Kaito asked.

“No, it’s just. Kaede do you wan-”

“Hold on Shu, Kokichi’s trying to get past security!” Kaede ran off as well. 

“If you need an Assistant I can help. I mean I probably can’t do much in the ways of detecting, but if you just need a second set of eyes and someone to bounce ideas off of I’d be happy to help!” Kaito gave a thumbs up.

“Actually, that would be great.” 

“Alright, Boss,” Kaito joked. “Where to?”

“We should check out along the beach and see if we can possibly find anything relating to Ibuki.” 

-------------

“Apologizes, but I didn’t attend the party,” Sonia informed Makoto. “Himiko can vouch for me, we were together with Gundham and Kiyo the entire night! We were attempting to summon a demon Gundam that could control to leave the island!”

“Nyeh… When the storm hit I was even too scared to go potty alone, Sonia or a deva had to come with me so I could focus and create a mana barrier.” Himiko lifted her hand to her shoulder. One of Gundam’s hamsters crawled down her witch hat to meet her hand. “He’s been loaning me Jum-P because our Mana types are similar.”

“There wasn’t a moment any of you were alone.”

“Not a chance! I would not miss the opportunity to see a mage summon a demon for a demon lord!” Sonia’s eyes glittered. 

“The She-cat borrowed my bed as the storm was too wicked for her or the mage to traverse. I insisted they stay.” Gundham stepped in front of Himiko who looked tired. “Now begone mortal! You’re a leach on the Mage’s mana!”

“I can vouch that none of us left Gundham's cabin last night, whenever I tried to leave his hamsters woke him up and he’d block the door,” Kiyo explained. “And we were far enough from the party for the festivities to not interrupt our ritual.”

“Alright, if you think of anything let us someone know.” Makoto sighed. 

“Keep your head up. It is likely that many people outside the party didn’t witness anything.” Kirumi tried to comfort. 

“I just kind of feel like I’m failing at the job I was assigned.”

“You’re doing exactly what was asked of you, you can’t help if no one can give a testimony that would be helpful to the case.”  Kirumi comforted. “Though with this many people, it’s improbable no one saw a thing."

“I saw something.” Teruteru approached.

“Come along Makoto, I saw the Detectives talking to him earlier, we should focus on people who haven’t been interviewed just in case.” Kirumi gently nudged Makoto away shooting a glare at Teruteru.

-----

Hajime had gathered testimonies from everyone who had been at the party. All that they could really remember was that there were too many of them to focus on who was where when.

“Did any of you notice Ibuki had gone missing?” Hajime asked.

“After the tree was hit by lightning,” Chiaki revealed. “Most of us ran to Ibuki’s Cabin since she had mentioned earlier having noise-canceling headphones. I noticed Ibuki missing and asked Sayaka if she saw her. But we both thought maybe she had accidentally gone into Angie or Tsumugi’s cabin.”

“Ok, so by the time you guys started to head to bed, Ibuki had been missing, at least from where she was meant to be, about what time was that?” Hajime asked.

“Almost 2 am… I think… I remember glancing at a clock and thinking it was later than I expected.” Chiaki glanced at Sayaka for confirmation.

“I was too freaked out by the tree to notice.” Sayaka apologized. 

“If only there was a way to confirm when that tree was set on fire.”

“Master Hinata, may I make a suggestion?” Hifumi asked. 

“If you stop calling me that.”

“I refer to everyone in this manner.” Hifumi countered. “Anyways, what if we ask our captors? Surely they’d have some idea of the tree catching fire.”

“Would they really tell us?” Hajime didn’t seem convinced.

“The rabbit might. Plus, Kaede did say to get as many testimonies as possible.” Hajime let out an annoying sigh and approached the rabbit comforting the barfing bear.

“Hey, Monomi?”

“Wha-, you students are calling me that too now?” Monomi’s ears flopped sadly. 

“Can we ask you something?”

“If it’s within my knowledge I will answer!” Monomi beamed the best she could. Monophanie turned to say something. “No, no, dear, you’ll just get sick again if you turn around and see what happened to poor Ibuki. Why don’t you go make flower crowns?”

“Ok!” Monphanie began playing with some nearby flowers.

“How may I help?”

“The storm last night, know anything about it?” Hajime asked.

“I know it wasn’t in the forecast originally…” Monomi sighed upset. “But I couldn’t do anything about the weather last night without my magic wand…”

“According to all the ladies, there was a tree struck by lightning.”

“Ah yes, it was about 1:27 am. I had to run out and put the fire out before any cabins caught fire!” Monomi revealed. “Monokuma originally told me and the Kub’s to do it, but I couldn’t let such young children get into a dangerous situation even if they are Monokuma’s kubs.”

“Thank you!” Hajime smiled, at last, they were getting some sort of timeline down. 

-----

“Ibuki… Ibuki…” Kaito’s eyes searched the beach. “Nothing here screams Ibuki.”

“Let’s try to think… How would the killer have gotten her out here?”

“Oh! I got an idea. You be the killer and I’ll be Ibuki!” Kaito gave Shucihi a thumbs up. 

“That… Might actually be helpful…” Shuichi smiled. 

“Ok. So I’m Ibuki. I’m throwing a girls-only rager. Convince me to go out during a storm.” 

“Hey, Ibuki… Do you want to storm watch on the beach?”

“Fuck yeah! Ibuki’s an adrenalin junky!” Kaito did a pose. “Maybe we could even go swimming!”

“That’s an excellent point, though!” Shuichi agreed. “Ibuki is… was… the type of person who wouldn’t need much convincing. She just wanted everyone to have a good time.”

“A daredevil too. The amount of times we had to stop her from jumping from somewhere dangerous in the short few days we’ve been here…” Kaito sighed a bit remorseful. “Bummer we won’t get to do that anymore… She…” The detective heard the hurt in the astronaut's voice. No one had known anyone for very long here, but there were certain people who were making their mark on others. Who would be dearly missed if they died, Like Ibuki.

Kaito and Ibuki probably would’ve hung out more if she hadn’t… Shuichi frowned. 

“After this is over… We should hold a funeral.” Kaito announced. 

“The trial or getting off the island.”

“Both…” Kaito looked off into the distance wistfully. Shuichi joined him, hoping to find answers out there in the distance. “Hey look rocks! Maybe we can get a better vantage point from there!” The taller teen ran off, Shuichi trailing behind. 

Once they made it to the rocks Kaito climbed the largest.

“There are pools next to these. You could probably cannonball them safely.”

“Be careful!” Shuichi shouted. “Some of these are sharp enough to cut yourself on, and if you fall you could get a concussion!” 

“Worry wort!” Kaito laughed, only to slip and nearly bash his head on the rock. Luckily he caught himself, still cutting his hand up. Shuichi ran over to help only to-

“Kaito look at this.” Shuichi gestured to a collection of rocks. “Can you go grab Kyoko? She’ll want to take a look at this.”

“Right…” Kaito didn’t move. “Which ones Kyoko?” Shuichi stared at the other teen in disbelief. “There's 48 people on this island, it’s hard to memorize every one.”

“Long lavender hair, purple eyes, she’s going to be the other person who seems like they know what they’re doing.” Kaito nodded running off. “Let her know we found a really important piece of evidence.”

------

Fuyuhiko stared at the body from beyond the ‘security’ line. It made him uneasy in a way he couldn’t describe. Something about Ibuki’s head being injured made his stomach turn. 

“Is everything alright?” Peko asked.

“Fuck off.”

“I’m merely trying to help.” Her hands were up defensively. Fuyuhiko sighed annoyed. “If it makes you feel better, a lot of us are feeling uneasy about Ibuki’s unfortunate demise.”

“I’m a fuckin’ Yakuza! This is nothing!” 

“If only I had been more alert this…” Peko let out a short sigh. The short blond let out a sigh.

“Look… At least the girls you were with were fine. Don’t feel guilt for those you couldn’t protect, but pride for those you could.” Fuyuhiko comforted. 

“Thank you.” Peko smiled softly. 

“Don’t go getting a big head, the entire group’s banking on you and other meatheads to keep us alive.” He put his ‘big bad yakuza’ act back on. “I think their fucking idiot’s relying on others for protection.”

-----

Something that sounded like an annoying police siren began blaring all over the island. Those with more sensitive ears like Kaede had to cover their ears from the noise, while the more easily spooked jumped and shouted. Most of the people given specific jobs for the investigation felt their stomachs dropped. No one felt like they had enough information, save for maybe Kyoko.

“Alright, shitheads! Make your way to the AirPort, the trial will begin shortly!” Monokuma’s announcement flooded everyone with dread.

Hajime watched quietly as everyone filtered into groups, most with those they had already been hanging out with. Everyone was already leaning on each other for emotional support, even though they were all practically strangers.

Kaede could hear snippets of conversations here and there.

“I’m scared.” Himiko whimpered. “What if my Magic’s not enough? What happens to us?”

“Worry not, Mage, I will see to our collective safety.” Gundam gently coaxed. 

“I believe that your magic will be sufficient!” Sonia encouraged. “Especially combined with Gundam.”

“I don’t want to do this, what if they bring the body back out?!” Toko panicked. Rantaro dragged her behind him.

“Close your eyes and go to your happy place, got it?” He calmed. “And if it’s still too much, I can cover your eyes.”

“You just want an excuse to touch me! Pervert!” Toko screeched, earning a laugh from the stylish boy. 

“Hina, you’ve been quiet.” Sakura’s voice sounded worried. 

“I just… I wish I could’ve done something… If I had just been better, Ibuki would still be here.”

Everyone is working so hard to be helpful and balance their mental health. Kaede couldn’t help but feel guilty for eas dropping a bit. Those vulnerable moments weren’t meant for her. Half of these people barely talked to her. And she had already let them down. Under her guidance, Ibuki was murdered. 

“Kaede?” A hand met her shoulder. Kaede nearly elbowed the owner only to realize it was Shuichi, who had returned from investigating. “Everything ok?”

“I don’t want to do this.” She admitted. Shuichi nodded sympathetically. 

“Me neither.” He tried to think of something to comfort her. “Hopefully this will go better than my last murder investigation.”

“What do you mean?” 

As they walked Shuichi explained the story of his hat, why he wore it, and the effect it had on him. Kaede listened the entire time without interruption.

“Now I kind of feel like an asshole for stealing it.” She winced. Shuichi shrugged.

“I got it back in the end.” Kaede grabbed his hand, stopping them right in front of the airport.

“Shuichi,”

“Y-yes?”

“When the day comes you ditch the hat, I want to see it,” Kaede demanded. “I want you to look me dead in the eye and promise I’ll be one of the first people to see it.”

“P-Promise.” 

As they entered the airport they noticed everyone falling into a single file line. At the end was Monokuma handing out tickets, which apparently was their seating arrangement for the trial. 

Slowly they all entered the large plane, standing at their assigned podium and waiting for a monokub to come and harness them onto their podium. 

“What is the purpose of this?” Taka demanded.

“Saftey!” Monophanie announced. “Wouldn’t you rather be attached to the plane when we’re up in the air?” 

Makoto’s brain was spinning, what was the purpose of the trial taking place in the air? Was this just a form of torture? Who killed Ibuki? What would happen if they failed to reveal the killer?

This started the Class trail. 

-----

Authors note Bonus: The sketch I made for the trial seating chart

Chapter Text

“Let’s start with the rules of the class trial,” Monokuma announced. “The purpose of the trail is to reveal the Blackened. In this trial, you will play the Prosecutor, Defendant, Judge, and Jury!”

“And if we fail?” Kyoko asked.

“If the Innocent’s reveal the Blackened only the Blackened will be punished.” The bear left a moment of silence. “However, if the Blackened tricks the Innocent’s, then everyone besides the Blackened will be punished!”

“How do we decide who we believe the killer is?” Taka asked. “And what does ‘Punished’ mean?”

“Easy, at the end of the trail you all will vote. Majority vote wins, though you will get a special reward for a unanimous vote, besides the blackened. And Punishment means Punishment.” Monokuma shrugged. “Good old-fashioned Execution. And I get to play the role of executioner!” 

Panic filled the students as the plane took off. Shouts of fear, for both the threat of death and the planes taking off. 

“W…What’s this?” Toko pointed at the nearby podium with a picture frame on it. The picture looked to be of Ibuki, with an electric guitar and mic making an X across her face, almost looking as if it was painted in blood. 

“Why should the Victim miss out on the trial just because they died?” Monokuma shrugged.

“So, we’re not immune from the trial just because we died.” Kyoko rephrased.

“Exactly!”

There were a few moments of silence as everything washed over the group. Ibuki was truly dead, and if they didn’t discover her killer they were all dead. That is except for the killer. Everyone began to eye each other suspiciously.

“Let’s start with what we know.” Kyoko took charge of the trial. “We know the victim is Ibuki Mioda. “Mikan can confirm that the autopsy report given to us by Monokuma is accurate.”

“Yes!” Mikan’s response came out as a shout as if she hadn’t expected to have been involved.

“The girls can confirm that the time of death was at least before 1:30 am. As that’s when a tree caught of fire and all the girls scrambled to the cabins.” Hajime added. “It’s at this point all the party girls can confirm no one saw her.”

“The party started at 6, if I recall correctly,” Celeste added. “Which means the time frame for her death is about 7-8 hours.”

“I think we should rule out who it can’t be,” Shuichi suggested. 

“Why are Kyoko and Shuichi in charge?! It’s not fair!” Kokichi shouted.

“They’re detectives, they have the most experience with something like this of course-” Kaede tried to calm.

“He’s yelling in my ear,” Celeste complained. “May I switch seats?”

“Absolutely not,” Monosuke announced. “All seats are assigned for a reason.”

“But they were randomly assigned?” Monotaro countered. “We thought it would be funnier that way.”

“Tenko is surrounded by degenerates!” Tenko shouted. 

“Too bad!” Monokuma started. 

“Can we get back on track?” Fuyuhiko announced. “I don’t feel like dying.”

“And the rest of us do?” Miu challenged.

“Shut it, skank!”

“Sk-Skank?!”

“Miu’s bad breath is bothering me!” Kokichi shouted.

This is getting out of hand. Kaede thought as everyone started shouting and arguing over nothing. 

“Cover your ears.” She quietly warned those around her, except Kokichi, who had started this whole mess. Hifumi and Chiaki gave a confused look but listened, while Angie simply nodded, covering her ears. Kaede then took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs. 

It was full of everything that had been bothering her the past few days. Showing up here without any recollection of how. Being informed they were stuck here. Ibuki’s murdered. Everyone is leaning on her, yet arguing with her. Tears were in her eyes by the end.

“Holy shit,” Fuyuhiko mumbled amongst the silence. “You ok?”

“No! I’m stressed and afraid! ” Kaede used her sleeves to wipe her eyes. “I don’t want to die! I want to go home and hug my sister! I want to be able to argue with my dad over things he thinks are stupid! I want my brother to threaten me and we both know it’s a joke.” She blurted everything out. “But everyone keeps arguing with me and starting shit!”

“Hey, it’ll be ok.” Makoto comforted. “Taka?”

“Yes!”

“Can you and Kirumi help keep us on track? That will probably help everyone's mental state.” Makoto requested.

“Of course!”

“We would be delighted to help.” Kirumi gave a slight bow of her head.

“Can we just get back on track please?” Kaede sobbed. “We can worry about everything else when we get out of here.”

“When most of us get out of here.” Kiyo corrected. “If all goes well poor Ibuki’s murder won’t be making it out of this.”

“Let’s not worry about that.” Kyoko took control back over. “Thank you for getting everyone's attention, Kaede.” Kaede nodded, still wiping the tears from her eyes.

Kaede… Shuichi stared at her, she was nearly across the room from him, but even from there he could see her shaking from the stress. I’ll get us out of here. 

“When was the last time anyone saw Ibuki?” Shuichi asked. “If we can pinpoint around the time she went missing we can start collecting alibis.”

“The party started around 6, right around sunset, and Ibuki was definitely there until the sun rays faded from the sky.”  Kirumi recounted. “Roughly 70-100 minutes… We can confirm  Ibuki’s presence till about… 7… 7:30.”

“That’s still 7-ish hours we need to account for.”

“I was with the She-cat, the Mage, and the curious one from the time the light faded in the skies till the announcement this morning!” Gundham announced.

“Who?” Toko grumbled.

“Sonia, Himiko, and myself,” Kiyo explained. “I was observing their attempts to summon a demon to aid our escape.”

“Himko and I didn’t even use the facilities alone!” Sonia confirmed. “The storm caused Himiko and I distress and the two of us felt safer moving as a unit!”

“Gundham and I put a barrier on the cottage! There’s no way anyone in our group left! ” Himiko announced.

“Chihiro, Kaz, and I were working on Kiibo.” Miu announced. “We worked long and hard all night long~”

“Wow, two girls?” Teru teased. “Good job Kazuichi.”

“Miu! You’re giving them the wrong idea!” Chihiro cried. “It wasn’t anything like that. Kiibo just wanted to look more like the rest of us…”

“We did nothing of a sexual nature.”

“ The rest of the girls were at the party, I think, ” Chiaki announced.

“Then we should start working on the alibis for the guys,” Mondo suggested.

“I was hanging with Kaito and Hiro,” Rantaro announced. “Taka and Hajime were with us too.”

“Kiyo and the creepy gang freaked us out. Rantaro’s presence is calming.” Hiro admitted.

“I was happy to be included!” Taka announced. “But I can confirm once the five of us were together we were stuck as a unit the whole night! Kaito fell asleep in front of the door!”

“Sounds like the rest of the guys were on their own, ” Mukuro announced. “So they don’t have an alibi.”

“Actually, I saw Fuyuhiko keep checking on the party,” Teruteru announced. Everyone turned toward the gangster. “I was locked in my cabin for the entirety of the party.”

Wait a second… That doesn’t sound right. 

“ No, that’s wrong! ” Kaede shouted, catching everyone's attention. “Chiaki, repeat what you said.

“Other than Chihiro, Miu, Himiko, and Sonia, the rest of the girls were at the party.” Chiaki tilted her head confused.

“Oh, I see.” Kiyoko nodded.

“What? What do I miss?” Chiaki looked between the women.

“I was not in attendance,” Kirigiri revealed. 

“You weren’t alone, Maki refused as well!” Kaede announced. “Is there any way the two of you can confirm each other's alibi’s?”

“No. I was enjoying a night to myself.” Maki announced.

“I’m not one for such ‘festive’ events.” Kiyoko shook her head. “Afraid I have no alibi.”

“To be fair, none of us at the party do either .” Kaede comforted me. Hajime blinked.

“I’d like to circle back to something from earlier,” Hajime announced. “Fuyuhiko-”

“Fuck off.”

“Why were you checking on the party?” Fuyuhiko sighed, annoyed. He looked around as if he was choosing his words.

“I’m gonna look like a creep otherwise…” He groaned. “Kaede looks like my little sister....” Fuyuhiko admitted. 

“Ah, you projected your brotherly protectiveness onto the pianist.” Kiyo summarized. Fuyuhiko shrugged.

“I can at least confirm that Kaede never left the party.” Mahiru went through her camera at the gangster's statement.

“He’s right. Kaede’s in all of the pictures…” The redhead turned to Monokuma. “Is there a way to display evidence and photos clearly to everyone?”

“Of course!” Monokuma hit Monodam’s head, causing the kub to hit a button. Two of the large walls suddenly revealed themselves to be screens. 

Mahiru blinked, she didn’t know how, but the screens were connected to her camera. She went through the photos. Sure enough, Kaede was either clearly in all of them, or you saw a blip of her hair or skirt on the edge. The photos had timestamps on them too.

“We should’ve checked these out first!” Makoto bounced. 

“What? Excited to see a bunch of girls?” Toko was insulted.

“Around the end, we can see when Ibuki disappears!” Makoto pointed out. Mahiru went over the last 10 pictures, sure enough after a picture taken at 11:13pm, Ibuki didn’t appear in any, but the rest of the girls did off and on. 

“11pm -1:30am is only 2-3 hours,” Kirigiri announced. “One of the unaccounted-for students, or partygoers could’ve snuck off with Ibuki.”

“It would’ve had to have been a girl,” Fuyuhiko revealed. “She kept chasing me off.”

“So all of us guys have an alibi?” Ryota asked.

“Not so much an alibi, but a lack of opportunity.” Kyoko corrected. 

“Which is as good as an alibi, right?” Makoto questioned.

“In this case, yes.”

“So, all of the guys, Sonia, Himiko, Miu, Chihiro, and Kaede, have Alibi’s…” Hajime summarized. 

“Mahiru, the pictures themselves are evidence.” Hiyoko pointed out. “Besides I was by her side the entire night!”

“Without Maki, Mahiru was the only thing keeping Hiyoko in attendance!” Tenko agreed. “They even peed together.”

“... Does anyone in this fuckin room pee alone?” Mondo asked. Chihiro and Ryota raised their hands. “...Gonna be real… Did not expect an actual answer. Also, that's a very small number for the amount of people here.”

“While I trusted my classmates, I thought it best to use the buddy system!” Taka announced. “That way should anything happen I would ensure me and my compatriot were innocent.”

“Not that you needed an alibi this time,” Maki grumbled. 

“Something’s bugging me,” Sakura announced. Everyone turned toward the large woman. 

“That you were invited to the party?” Hiro asked.

“Hey! Sakura’s a beautiful lady!” Hina attempted to climb off her podium to reach him.

“ That’s a girl?!” Hifumi announced. 

“I’ve known Sakura since middle school. I can confirm her gender.” Peko raised her hand. “And I am insulted on her behalf that you can’t see her for the lovely girl she is. Just because she’s taller and has muscle definition.”

“Looks like they failed to work out their minds along with their muscles.” Nekomaru shook his head.

“Don’t worry Sakura, Tenko knew you were a girl!” Tenko beamed. 

“I am relieved my friends and senpai could tell.” Sakura smiled, blush dusting her cheeks. Peko patted her arm.

“If anyone insults you and your femininity I will kill them,” Peko reassured.

“I’d rather not have to condemn you for murder.”

“We have gotten off track,” Kirumi stated, trying to redirect everyone back to the trial. “Now, What was bugging you?”

“Well… The other injuries on Ibuki…” Sakura pointed out. “A lot was happening that night. Did she accrue them during truth or dare.”

“Ibuki did get a lot of stunt dares. ” Sayaka reasoned.

“Yeah, but I don’t remember her falling. ” Akane disagreed

“While Ibuki was energetic, she was also rather clumsy. ” Mondo pointed out. “Kaito and I had to rescue her from high places a bunch. ”

“Maybe when We TP’ed Byakuya’s house? ” Kaede suggested. “I mean Chiaki tripped and hurt herself.”

“That was YOU!?” Byakuya shouted.

“Kaede as a Student council member, I expect better of you!” Taka scolded.

“And you shouldn’t,” Kaede argued back. “ He deserved it. ”

“Can anyone confirm Ibuki’s injuries? ” Celeste asked.

Wait. I can… With a little help. Shuichi realized.

“ I agree with Celeste! ” Shuichi announced. “I can confirm Ibuki’s injuries, at least where they happened .”

“Right! The rocks I nearly split my head open on!” Kaito laughed.

“Idiot,” Maki grumbled.

“An idiot who found a clue, Mrs. Lone wolf.” Hiro countered.

“How about not an idiot at all?!” Kaito argued.

“What did you find, Shuichi?” Kyoko got back on topic while Kaito argued with Kokichi who joined in on the ‘idiot’ argument. 

“We found a large rock covered in blood… It was too big to lift.”

“So Either Ibuki was pushed… Or…” Hajime reasoned. Makoto’s eyes widened.

“This was an accident…” Makoto’s statement caused a cold silence to fall over everyone. “Think about it! Who here would kill Ibuki? Even if they found her annoying, no one would kill her for that.”

“Would that still count as murder?” Angie wondered out loud.

“Absolutely! Ibuki’s death could’ve been avoided!” Monokuma announced. “In this case, the murderer counts as someone who should’ve and could’ve stopped Ibuki but didn’t.”

“Can you give that hint away, Papa?” Monophanie asked. 

“It's the first trial.” He waved off. 

“This was an accident!” Kaede shouted.

“An avoidable accident!” Monokuma countered. “Even your happy brigade of idiots suggested moving your little shindig. Technically I should count all the girls at the party as the blackened, but each case only gets 1 blackened.”

“Oh…” Teruteru’s voice broke the silence. Everyone stared at him. Hajime was the first to connect the dots.

“Did you see something?” 

“I… I saw a lot of things that night…” His voice no longer held the regular bravado everyone was used to. 

“If you don’t tell us, we’re all dead.” Kaede nervously fiddled with her hands.

“But She might not be the killer,” Teru argued. “Could just be a coincide-”

“It’s not.” Hina sobbed. 

“Hina?” Sakura stared at her.

“Makoto was right…” Hina broke down. “It was an accident…”

“What are you talking about? You are one of the sweetest girls here…” Mahiru couldn’t believe what was happening.

“But I couldn’t stop Ibuki…”

“Hey… Hina.” Ibuki tugged on Hina’s sleeve. Sakura and Tenko were in the middle of an arm wrestling match, most of the girls distracted cheering the two girls on. 

“What’s up?” Hina barely tore her eyes off them.

“Want to go for a swim?”

“In this weather?” Her full attention was now on the pierced girl.

“Come on, exciting right.”

“I don’t know…. Even I would struggle in this weather.”

“We’ll just swim around in the shallow area by the beach,” Ibuki begged. “Ibuki wants to mark this off her bucket list.”

“Ok… But we’re gonna be careful. ” The two girls snuck off from the crowd. 

The pair giggled as they splashed around a bit. But Ibuki got a little too brave and started climbing the rocks when Hina’s back was turned, staring at the sea.

A huge wave was coming.

“We should go back in now.” Hina started running back to the beach.

“What?!”

“I said- IBUKI!” The wave crashed down, knocking Ibuki over. Luckily for Hina, the thunder covered the sickening sound of Ibuki’s head cracking on the rocks.

Hina ran over to try and help her but the waves pulled her into the sea. There was no way to save her. She was as good as dead… And so was Hina if she tried to retrieve her.

“I… Didn’t know what to do… So I just… Came back to the party…” Hina finished her story. Most everyone was frozen in shock.

“Hina… There was nothing you could’ve done at that point.” Sakura tried to comfort.

“I should’ve stopped her entirely, or let someone else know where we were going. Maybe anyone else would’ve convinced her to not do it. ” Hina was hyperventilating. 

“I think that settles it.” Monokuma announced. Most began to argue for Hina’s innocence. “And remember! A majority must vote for the correct Blackened or Everyone dies. ” Hina took a deep breath.

“You all better vote for me!” She locked eyes with the softer hearts of the group, and her closer friends. “If nothing else I can die for the reward for everyone voting unanimously.”

“Hina, don’t say tha-”

“Sakura, please ,” Hina begged. “For me, and Ibuki. To protect everyone. Vote for me.”

“In front of you a touch screen will open up. Simply click the picture of who you believe the blackened is. Don’t worry you will have to confirm this choice before your vote is placed.” Monokuma announced. “Will you make the right choice? Or the Dreadfully wrong one? Iiiiiit’s Voting time!”

A digital countdown from a minute appeared on the screens. 

“Did I forget to mention I put a timer on this? Just to make sure no one makes cold feet~”

“Anyone who votes wrong on purpose I’ll break your bones.” Mondo threatened. 

“I’ll help,” Fuyuhiko announced. 

“Oh so scar-” 

Bang. 

“WHY DOES HE HAVE A FUCKING GUN?!” Toko screamed. Fuyuhiko had a smoking gun pointed at the sky.

“Oh it was in my luggage.” He shrugged. “For my talent.” 

“And you brought it to the trial… Because?” Kaede questioned. 

“For something exactly like this.” 

“It is effective.” Kyoko shrugged. 

“ Times up! ” Monokuma announced. “Let me take a moment to tally the votes.” Hina nodded, nails digging into her palms, eye’s focused on the ground. “What a great group of investigators. You all got it right. The Blackened of this case is Aoi Asahina! The Ultimate Swimmer! Congratulations~” His unmoving smile somehow got darker. “And now…

It’s PUNISHMENT TIME! ”

No one knew what to expect. But Hina falling through the hole below her podium and her harness unlatching wasn’t it. As far as her nearby neighbors; Gundam, Himiko, Sonia, and Kiyo, could see she fell into the sky and see below. 

Sonia and Himiko escaped their harnesses and ran to Gundham, who put himself between the other two and the closing up hole.  Sakura fell to her knees at her podium.

Everyone began filtering toward their comfort groups as their harnesses released them, and the screen’s sprung back to life.

It was like the title card of an anime or Cartoon. “High Dive” Through the ‘V’ in Dive was crossed out turning the word into ‘die’. In the corner was a subtitle “Ultimate Swimmer. Asahina Aoi Execution: Executed”. The title card itself looked to be some sort of circus act curtain opening to what looked like a ‘Shallow Dive’ trick: A High Diving board above a shallow pool.

“I… She can survive this! It’s a magic trick!” Himiko sounded hopeful. “I’ve seen this before!” Hina seemed to have found the camera, giving it a reassuring smile before divine. A few of the onlookers had to look away, but they heard Himiko cheering. “I told you!”

“Kid, it ain’t over.” Fuyuhiko started, something in the bottom of his gut told him this wasn’t the end. The bottom of the pool opened up letting her dive become deeper, which she did. Once past the bottom she glanced up just in time to see the hole close up.

“No!” Himiko screamed. Gundham covered her eyes. Hiyoko buried her face in Maki’s skirt as Hina gasped, air escaping. The swimmer shook her head, cleaning it to search for an exit.

“There’s a drain!” Mukuro announced, despite her hopeful voice, she was blocking Ryoko’s view of either screen. 

Hina swam down, though the floor of the pool kept lowering without causing an air gap at the top. The camera zoomed in for a moment. Everyone who could still see was confused but started cheering once the plug came undone.

“Good job Hina!” Sakura’s voice was the loudest.

“That’s our girl!” Akane joined in. 

Shuichi ran over and used his hat to block Kaede’s view of Hina’s body floating along the surface of the draining water. Plug held loosely in her hand.

However no one was spared from the gut wrenching scream Sakura let out.

----

The Trial Room’s carrier landed. It took Nekomaru, Mondo, and Gonta to get Sakura out of the thing. Sakura was shaking. 

No one could say anything to comfort her. Most of the group walked ahead, but Shuichi, Hajime, Makoto, and Kaede stopped. 

“It would’ve been better to die trusting our friends than witness that .” Hajime bitterly decided.

“Don’t say that!” Makoto shouted. “We need to live on for Ibuki and Hina! Do you know how upset they would be to hear you say that!? Is it ok for us to mourn their loss? Of course. We’re only human! But to wish not only yourself death but everyone else ?! Don’t be selfish.”

“We just had two of our friends die, dude! We don’t know who's next!” Hajime shouted back. 

“We need to do whatever we can to stop there from being a ‘next’.” Shuichi said, stopping the fight. “Now that we know if you were unable to prevent a preventable accident we can set up more safety measures.”

“Let’s wait till tomorrow… I need to sleep and some time to process. I’m sure everyone does.” Kaede nodded toward the cabins. She noticed people not entirely going to their own, but rather, groups went toward the nearest person in the group's cabin, save for a few of the loners. “Are you guys gonna be alright alone tonight?”
“Honestly? I’m a bit anxious. I know we’re probably fine but…” Hajime rubbed his arms.

“Come on.” She tugged Shuichi’s arm, nodding at Makoto to follow. “You guys can stay in my cabin. I’ll put some classics in my stereo.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Pretty sure I can trust you guys.” She raised Shuichi’s hand with hers jokingly. “Besides who’d be dumb enough to kill me with a Detective nearby.”

“Dibs on the couch.” Makoto gently pushed Hajime and began running.

“What! Hey! You can’t just call dibs!” Hajime chased after him.

“You snooze, you lose! I grew up with a sister!”

“He’s really good at staying positive.” Kaede laughed. Shuichi squeezed her hand with his. This made the blond look at him.

“Kaede. I promise you will get to be with your whole family again.” He reassured me. “If it’s the last thing I do. ”

“Shuichi, I-”

“If I have a promise like this, it makes it easier to do the things I have to for any potential future trials.”

“You really shouldn’t make promises like that. You don’t know what you could be promising.”

“I’ll figure it out.” Shuichi smiled, blushing a bit. “I… I want to figure you out.”

Chapter Text

Hello, I'm an idiot. The Investigation and Trial probably made NO FUCKIN SENSE because I forgot to post the THIRD DAILY LIFE PART, and didn't notice for over 2 MONTHS.

If you're reading this after July 2024, Congrats you didn't have to deal with Hess being a fuckin idiot. 

The only reason I noticed this was I was working on the NEXT 'chapters' daily life segment and realized the chapter numbers on Ao3 and my Doc DIDN'T MATCH UP.

Thankfully I did because while the trial cover a bit of the context lot of IT IS MISSING WITHOUT THAT CHAPTER! Haha!

Will update with an ACTUAL UPDATE SOON.

Chapter Text

The next morning, everyone sat quietly at breakfast. Sakura had been dragged there by Nekomaru and Akane. No one knew what to say to comfort her. Everyone was a tad on edge, sitting slightly away from one another. What could anyone do to break the silence?

“I wish there was something we could do to help everyone grieve faster.” Komaeda plopped down with his food by Hajime’s group. 

“Everyone grieves at their own pace…” Hajime tried to explain. “And… Everyone processes trauma differently.”
“It is why most cultures have burial ceremonies!” Kiyo announced. “Perhaps we should have one to honor the energetic Ibuki and kind Hina?”

“Like a funeral?” Toko scoffed. 

“Precisely. Funerals give those in the living realm closure.”

“Oh! I will make a beautiful tribute!” Angie grabbed Mahiru. “Come, come, we will need pictures of them.”

“You should write a poem, Toko!” Rantaro poked her. 

After talking with most of the group, everyone decided to hold a funeral in a few days, with a few people taking on tasks to make it feel more legit.

“Kirumi, I believe Gonta’s in need of your assistance!” Celeste beamed. “You see, the proper attire for a funeral is black, but I’m afraid my compatriot doesn’t have any black clothes, and while others can just find it in the market…”

“Gonta’s larger build makes it difficult.”Kirumi realized. “I’d be delighted to help!”

“Oh my, we will need dark clothes.” Sonia realized. “We will also need Jars of their favorite things!”

“Jars?” Gundam blinked.

“In my home country, you fill a jar with the deceased's favorite things, such as foods, and light a fire in the jar. Once all the items have been burned to ash you spread it over your doorway to let their spirits know they are still welcome and loved in your home!” Sonia explained.

“What a fascinating tradition, are there any other traditions of mourning we should follow?” Kiyo beamed.

“Ah, yes, the deceased lover or family must wear the deceased's favorite flower.” 

“Sakura!” Himiko ran over to the large woman. “What was Hina’s favorite flower?”

“Lilie,s I believe…” Sakura blinked at Himiko. “Why?”

“We need to find you lilies!” Himiko announced. “Gundam, can you help us search?”

“Certainly, little mage!” Gudham ran over. “I will go help the mage locate the proper flora!”

Kaede smiled, it seemed putting their energy into something seemed to be what most people needed to get back to semi-cheerful. 

“It’s good to see everyone so happy.” She beamed. 

“Kaede! I must speak to you about a few things!” Taka pulled her to the side. Shuichi raised a brow, but figured Taka was one of the least likely to murder someone.

“What’s up?”

“Fuyuhiko shot a gun during the Trial. I went to retrieve it and he berated me with cruel language!”

“Ok…”

“So far, the only person he responds positively to is you …”

“You want me to confiscate the gun from him?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll try, but we’ll need someone trustworthy to hold onto it.” Kaede shrugged.

“We also must flag down Monokuma; he promised us a reward for voting correctly.”

“I think it’s best if we do it during breakfast, as most everyone shows up there. I even saw Kyoko and Maki there this morning.”

“At this current point, I trust our fellow classmates to not harm one another, however…”

“You don’t want to doubt anyone, but we all barely know each other…” Kaede caught onto his train of thought.

“I think the student council should have a meeting about preventative measures.”

“Alright, let’s try to get the Council to meet during dinner then. I’ll grab Kirumi and Angie, if you can grab Sonia and Sakura.”

“Sounds like a plan!” 

Kaede sighed as Taka ran off. 

“Everything ok?” Shuichi gently asked.

“Just… A lot, you know. We’re all just students. And we’re being put into this stressful situation and having to lead ourselves… As the voted leader, it’s a lot to worry about.”

“It won’t be forever. I’m sure someone will notice some of us have gone missing eventually, and then the police will come searching for us.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I just gotta stay positive.” Kaede shook the negative thoughts from her head. “Let’s check on everyone and see what they're doing!”

Shuichi followed Kaede all over the island, doing a mini roll call of all the students. Miu’s group of Chihiro, Kiibo, and Kazuichi was using Nekomaru and Mondo’s help to gather materials for some sort of escape boat. Rantaro and Kaito had gone exploring to find evidence of where the island was located, Kyoko joining them out of curiosity. Most of the other students were either doing what they claimed they would earlier or trying to cheer up Sakura.

“You. Help me clean up my cabin.” Togami pointed at Kaede.

“Sorry, I’ve got Student Council leader things to do.”

“I know it was your idea to deface my cabin.”

“Bold accusation.” She pretended to be shocked. 

“It could’ve been anyone on the island,” Shuichi mumbled.

“What was that?”

“You’ve pissed off a lot of us on the island. And we don’t want to kill you, so someone must’ve pranked you.” Kaede explained. 

“You’re admitting people want me dead.”

“I don’t want to do the investigation on your body.” Kaede defended. “I’m just lightly suggesting being less of a dick.” That earned a snort of laughter from Shuichi.

“You have something to say?”
“Wha- No… I just… Thought…” Shuichi backpeddled. 

“Everyone’s thinking it.” Kaede defended Shuichi. “Now, don’t you have a cabin to pick up?” With that, Togami marched off in a huff. 

-----

“Give me the gun, Fuyuhiko.” Kaede knocked on Fuyuhiko’s cabin door.

“The fewer fingerprints on it, the easier it’ll be to investigate.” Fuyuhiko countered.

“If you don’t give it to me, Taka’s just gonna harass you for it.”

“I’m not giving you the fucking gun.”

“I’m not above wrestling it off your body.”
“Fucking, if I give it to you, will you go away and leave me alone?” He slammed the door open.

“I promise to be as little of a nuisance as possible so long as you cooperate.” Kaede countered. 

“Annoying bitch.” Fuyuhiko handed her the gun, removing the bullets first. 

“Thank you~” Kaede ran back to Taka and the rest of the student council, who had procured a lock box. 

“One of us will keep the box, and another the key. We will tell no one outside this group who has what.” Taka announced. 

“I believe at least one item should be given to Sakura, as she’s the strongest here,” Sonia stated.

“Angie volunteers to take the key!” Angie bounced. 

“Are you ok with the lock box, Sakura?” Kaede asked.

“I will guard it with my life.”

“Hopefully it doesn’t come to that.” Kirumi countered.

“Wel,l make sure it doesn’t!” Taka shouted. “Now we should gather everyone and demand that reward Monokuma mentioned.”

“Then we can hold the funeral for Ibuki and Hina.” Angie beamed.

------

The council decided to hold the funeral first, then demand the reward from Monokuma. All the students gathered, some of the loners just at the mention of the reward. 

Sakura and Mikan were selected as the deceased's closest friends, wearing their favorite flowers. The funeral was a hodgepodge of traditions and cultures, but it felt fitting. 

“It’s hard to believe their actually gone. Even though we only knew them for a few days.” Makoto stated. “Feels like we knew them longer, if that makes sense.” Sayaka nodded.

“I feel the same way.”

“Maybe its because their energetic personalities.” Chiaki twiddled on her game, earning a high score. “Made it easy to feel close to them.”
“That must be it.” Hajime nodded.

“Now that the funeral has concluded, I shall hand the reins back over to the Student Council,” Kiyo announced, catching everyone's attention.

“Hello, fellow students!” If Kiyo hadn’t caught everyone's attention, then Taka’s shouting would’ve. “We gathered here not only to honor our fallen students but to demand what we were rightfully promised by our so-called Headmaster.”
“Get off the stage!” Kokichi laughed from atop Komeda’s shoulders.

“Please keep all remarks to yourself till the end of the presentation, Kyahaha~” Angie shouted back. 

“Monokuma! Where are you!?” Sakura shouted full of fury.

“I’m here, I’m here.” Monokuma climbed up from nowhere. “What's with all the grim attire?”
“None ya.” Kaede countered.

“We were promised a reward for our efforts.” Kirumi pressured.

“Such materialistic students, your teacher must’ve failed you.” Monokuma shook his head. “How are you holding up, Honey?” To the side, Monomi was balancing taking care of all the kubs.

“If I were programmed to curse, I’d-” 

“Now, for your reward, let’s meet back at the park. I set something up special for you… And change those damn clothes, it's making me depressed.”