Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The massive high school towers over all the other building in this bustling urban areas. It's like the school stands at the center of the entire world. Hope's Peak Academy. It brings in top students from every field imaginable. A government-funded school of privilege. They say that if you come here and manage to graduate, you'd be set for life. With hundreds of years of tradition, it sends the cream of the crop into the work force every year. It was built to raise hope in the nation's future, which makes Hope's Peak a fitting name.

There are two things you need to attend this school. One, you already have to be attending high school. Two, you have to be the very best at what you do. No ordinary student could enroll here. The only way in is if you are scouted by the school itself. And standing there at the gate of the ultimate school filled with the ultimate students... was me.

Before we go any farther, I guess I should introduce myself. My name's Kiyoka Maki. 

I stood before the gates of Hope’s Peak Academy, holding back locks of my hair as the wind blew it into my face. I brushed the hair behind my ear with my left hand... I was holding my dark blue pleated skirt with my right hand. I looked normal. I wore a white button up shirt, a green tie, and my bob cut was blond with an orange ombré. And oh, there’s also that pleated skirt I mentioned earlier. My shoes were plain - just brown shoes and some white ankle socks. I was chosen by the lottery that Hope’s Peak Academy holds every year. That makes me the Ultimate Lucky Student. Don't get me wrong, I love my talent and will always be grateful that I was chosen, but it’s just a miracle that a plain girl like me was chosen.

I was also invited to attend Class 79th - on the same day that they’re moving to this all girls’ boarding school called “Starlight High.”

I’m also unusually tall for a 16-year-old.

I dusted down my skirt and smiled. 

This was going to be a wonderful semester.

...Or so I thought.

Prologue: Welcome to Despair High

Darkness. That's all that surrounded me. It was a strange feeling, but, even stranger, it was comforting, oddly enough. I'm not sure why, but I wasn't bothered by this unknown void I had found myself in. I felt as if I could stay here forever, embracing the darkness and the security it offered. I didn't know why or how, but I knew when the darkness faded away, that I would enter a twisted, horrid world, full of deceit, madness, and despair. I grasped at the darkness, trying my best to hold it tight, yet my efforts proved to be in vain when that darkness, peaceful and serene, was torn from my hold. I was falling. I was dying. I was living. Was I living? Did I even exist? None of that really mattered as I slowly opened my eyes. I existed now, and this was the hell I was thrown into.

Soon, I had managed to fully open my eyes, much to my dismay, but what greeted me was unexpected. It was more darkness. Of course, this darkness wasn't nearly as comforting as one that came before it, but I couldn't let that get to me. And that's when I noticed something worrying: I was in a very enclosed space. I couldn't even move my arms a few inches before hitting cold metal walls that cornered me from all sides. I managed to turn and see 3 slits along one of the walls, warm light pouring in from the other side. I suppose the sight of freedom was what finally got me to fight against my confinement. After struggling against the wall for a bit, I leaned back and managed to kick the wall, which was actually a door, open, almost sending it off its hinges.

“It was just a locker?” I realized, pushing open the deformed door. “Sounds a little cliché to put someone in there.” Finally looking outside, I saw a classroom as I stepped outside. “A little odd having one put in the classroom. “How did I get—?”

BANG!

Startling me into bracing myself for harm, the locker door beside mine flew open and across the room, denting further against the wall on contact. Someone stepped out cautiously. She turned out to be a tan girl with yellow eyes roughly my height. She wore an un-buttoned short sleeve blue shirt with a short white skirt. The skirt was so short, it only covered any naughty bits. Her hair was fluffy and blonde. Strangely, she was barefoot.

”Ugh… my head…” She groaned. 

“Are you okay?” I ran over to the blonde girl.

”Yes,” the girl said.

”I’m Kiyoka Maki, the Ultimate Lucky Student. What’s your name?” I asked.

”Yo! I’m Marissa Higa, but my friends just call me Mars!” The girl said. “I'm the Ultimate Entomologist. I get that most people are grossed out by insects...but if people take the time to learn about them, you'll find that a lot of species make very good pets.”

“Ehehe...no offence, but I think I'll settle for a cat or a dog.” I responded. I felt a little mean, but it's like not she could magically stop thinking badly of something so creepy looking. “So...what does that title entail, exactly? Have you collected the most bugs in the world?” I tried to spin the conversation in a more positive direction.

Marissa seemed to brighten up at that. “Ah, well, collecting specimens is one aspect of it, yes. But I also do a lot of work in other areas- like helping safely remove dangerous insects from a building, or saving endangered species, or even discovering new ones!”

She was talking excitedly now, practically gushing. It was pretty cute in all honesty, even if I wasn't a fan of the subject matter.

”Who else ended up here?” I asked. 

“Apparently, there are 15 other Ultimates here.” Marissa said.

“We should meet them, then!” I said. 

“Okay!” Marissa said, dragging me out.

I could tell this was not gonna be a normal day.

Outside the door is a corridor. It’s your typical school hallway.

But most importantly a girl was there, poking around as if looking for something... perhaps she had shared the same fate as Marissa and myself?

"Look, a cute girl!" Marissa gasped, a smile returning to her face as she jogged over. I followed her.

She had wavy red hair tied up into a ponytail with a white hairband setting it back. She had brown eyes. She wore a red sundress, reaching to her knees, a black belt, white tights and black Mary Janes. 

"So, I'm guessing you are stuck here, too?" asked Marissa.

"If you mean 'woke up here for some reason', then yes," the woman spoke as she held her hand out to Marissa. "My name's Akane Taira.”

“...Are you enchanted by Miss Akane? Well, that probably can’t be helped. She’s known as the Ultimate Princess, which means she’s actual royalty.” Marissa said.

I have royalty in my class? Lucky…

"So, it would seem that we have all been brought here for some reason... the question is, why?" Marissa pursed her lips.

"Sure doesn't seem like any kind of kidnapping I've heard of," Akane sighed. "Wonder what kind of ransom they're asking for? Good thing my family has pretty good kidnapping insurance."

"Damn," I mumbled. "...Wait, Marissa said there are seventeen of us?"

"Ah, yes. The others are searching the rest of the school as I speak," said Akane

"I see... well, guess we can go introduce ourselves," I suggested to Marissa. "Maybe they've found something." Marissa nodded in agreement and we left the princess to her search.

Further down the corridor, we heard a voice.

”Fuck me… this door doesn’t unlock…”

We then saw the owner of the voice. It was a different girl standing in front of a mysterious door.

She had long blue hair and red eyes. As for attire, she was wearing a white long sleeved shirt under a blue blazer with a light yellow cloth wrapped around her left arm and gold epaulettes, a black tie, a long blue skirt, black knee boots and a short black cape over this attire. She was rather tall, too. 

She then noticed Marissa.

”Hey! Don’t go sneaking up on people like that, bug bitch!” She screamed, stepping away from the door. 

She then noticed me.

“My my...what a pleasure it is to meet you in such a place...A young woman like yourself shouldn’t be wandering these halls all alone~.. My name? I am much more interested in getting to know yours...but I’ll introduce myself for you. My name is Takara Kinjo, the Ultimate Supreme Leader.”

“You’re… like a dictator?” I asked.

“Yes.” Takara laughed. “I was just about to open this door until I got rudely interrupted by that blonde bastard over there." She pointed at Marissa. 

“I forgot to introduce myself as well.” I said. “Ultimate Lucky Student is my talent. I-I'm Kiyoka. Kiyoka M-Maki.”

“You peasant can bow down before the Ultimate Supreme Leader herself.” Takara laughed.

As soon as we were out of earshot, I slapped Marissa. “That Takara is gonna be fun.” I said.

”I love fun people!” Marissa said. 

“I was being sarcastic!” I shouted.

”Let’s leave Takara alone for now. And let’s meet everyone else.” I said cheerfully, a bounce in my step. “And you get to be my partner, Marissa!”

“Don’t I get a say in this?” She grumbled, but I could see the corners of her mouth quirk upward slightly, and she didn’t pull away this time.

“Nope.” I responded cheekily, to which Marissa rolled her eyes. And together, we started to walk down another corridor, our destination unknown.

Chapter Text

Unlike the rather stark corridor containing the classrooms, the passageway I and Marissa found ourselves traversing was considerably more colorful. The walls and floor were a bright red, and the ceiling lights were tinted red as well. As with the first corridor, it was rather hard on the eyes.

"The design of this place makes no sense." I said, squinting. "Not to mention, aside from the colors, doesn't everything seem kind of...bare?"

"Hm...you're right." Marissa agreed with a nod. "The walls are all plain, aside from signs above doors. If this really was a school, wouldn't there be things like posters, noticeboards, that sort of thing?"

"Oh, wait. What's that over there?" I said as I pointed at some kind of door labeled “Kitchen”. "Let's take a closer look, Marissa!"

"Ah, okay..." Marissa mumbled as I pulled her along.

We entered the Kitchen, as the room was apparently called, finding it to be exquisite in design. Everything was white or stainless steel, there were copper pots and pans hanging from hooks on the walls, and hand-forged knives clinging to a magnetic strip. Four gratings on the terracotta tile floor allowed for the easiest form of cleaning: simply hosing everything down and letting the water drain away. The pantry, cupboards and refrigerators were fully stocked with every utensil and appliance we could ever need, as well as a plethora of fresh and dry ingredients; we wouldn't be going hungry for quite some time.

Two more people were checking the place out... both girls.

One girl had long blue hair held by plain white clips and violet eyes. She wore a white T-shirt under a grey cardigan, a light blue skirt, black socks, grey shoes and a light blue backpack.

The other girl was a tall pale girl who had messy black hair in two twintails tied with dark purple hair scrunchies. She wore a black coat over a dark purple top, a white tie, and a red tartan skirt. She had a pair of yellow swim goggles on her head. Her feet were covered by dirty grey work boots with several stains, resembling paint, tar, and a few scorch marks.

"Well, uh... I'm Kiyoka Maki, Ultimate Lucky Student," I introduced myself.

“I’m Yamako Kisaragi, the Ultimate Fanfic Creator!” The blue haired girl said. “And this is my adopted sister…”

"I understand my appearance may be unnerving, but I am a student here just like the rest of you." The pale girl, Mikako Kurokawa, said. She was apparently Yamako’s adopted sister. She had introduced herself as the Ultimate Inventor.

"So, what brings you two lovely ladies here?" asked Yamako. Marissa and I explained our plight and our hopes in that someone had found a clue as to why we were here, or more importantly, a way to rescue ourselves. "Sounds just like us…” Mikako said. “It seems we all passed out at the gates…”

We next entered a dining hall area.

A tall woman was there.

She had wavy red hair and orange eyes framed by glasses. She wore ripped skinny jeans and a short camo top you might see in some sh*tty jungle adventure movie under a dark blue hoodie and white sneakers. Bandages were wrapped around her hands from the elbow down.

“...State your business.” She blatantly told us while staring.

“Well, I just want to introduce myself. Is that alright with you…?”

“An introduction…” She looked down for a second as if she was embarrassed. “Understood, I don’t mind.”

“I’m Kiyoka Maki. Nice to meet you.”

We kept talking a bit, learning about the girl. Her name was Rei Mekaru, and she was the Ultimate Martial Artist. 

She was so cold, we just left her.

We took our leave and decided to go into a door that led to the Laundry Area next. It was rather plain, with white tile walls and floors, some tables and chairs and a shelf that contained irons, laundry soaps and fabric softeners. There were six washing machines arranged in a row on one side of the room and six dryers on the other, with a collection of ironing boards leaning against the far wall. There was a girl looking around inside.

She had wavy dark pink hair with a lilac ombré, tied into a side ponytail and she had pink eyes that glittered in the light. She wore a white dress shirt, with an artic blue blazer over it and a rainbow patterned suit tie that wasn’t fastened up. Her skirt was light pink and hemmed with sequins. She had socks which were light yellow with dark purple splatters. Red sneakers with pink laces rounded out her colorful appearance. 

"'Sup?!" The colorful girl yelled as she noticed us.

“We’ll, I’m Marissa Higa. The Ultimate Entomologist.” Marissa said. 

"Ah, so you're the Marissa Higa that I've been hearing about lately," the girl said. "I've heard that you rescued several wasp nests from buildings!”

“Yeah…” Marissa said.

She then turned to me. “I don’t know your name..."

"Kiyoka," I answered. "Kiyoka Maki."

”I’m Hibiki Otonokoji, the Ultimate Effects Artist!” The girl said.

“Miss Hibiki is known as the Ultimate Effects Artist.” Marissa explained 

“The Ultimate… Effects Artist?”

“She’s not just an effects artist… After all, she’s an Ultimate. She’s traveled all over the world and provided special effects for movies.”

“This place has great acoustics!" Hibiki pumped her fist in the air. "...Too much damn white, though. I can't wait to find some spray paint and fix that!"

I strode past Hibiki. "Thanks for your help, Hibiki. This girl isn't going to rest until she solves this whole thing!"

"Best of luck to you on that."

I nodded, then raised my eyebrows at Marissa. "You coming, Shuichi?"

Marissa jumped, awakening from her own thoughts. "R-right. Lead the way, Kiyoka."

Though we had a better understanding of the layout of the building, and met some interesting people, we were still no closer to discovering what was happening or what to do.

'Still, I feel...happy.' I thought, my head buzzing and my blood pumping fiercely as I walked away from Hibiki with purpose. 'For all intents and purposes, I've only been 'alive' for roughly an hour. So in a way, I've lived the most exciting life of anyone here....'

'What a strange world.'

Chapter Text

Next, we decided to check inside the Store, as the door leading to it called it. As soon as I laid eyes upon it, I knew that this was no ordinary store.

There was the usual fare of snacks, drinks, T-shirts and books, but there were also houseplants, works of art, a suit of armor, a massive decorative vase, building blocks, perfume bottles, gummy vitamins and a giant drawing mannequin displayed all around the room, as well as numerous other random objects. Against the wall sat a black and white vending machine labeled as a "MonoMono Machine".

A girl browsed the shelves. She had dirty blonde hair in a ponytail, and brown eyes. She wore a white button up under a brown jacket, a blue chest ribbon, a grey pleated skirt, white socks and brown shoes.  

"So... have you found anything we can use for a rescue in here?" Marissa asked, grinning at the girl.

"No..." The girl shrugged. "Anyways, where are my manners? I'm Haruka Kobashikawa, but my friends just call me Haru. There's no need to fear with big sis around!"

"Miss Haru is the Ultimate Programmer.” Marissa told me. “She has developed many programs that many have said could change the entire future of technology. That, combined with her looks, has made her extremely popular… especially with the men.” 

"Now, where is a laptop..." Haruka muttered to herself.

We then checked out the warehouse on the other side of the corridor. Thus far, it looked to be the biggest room we’d seen, enormous shelves and stocks containing almost anything the mind could conceive. All of it was stored in boxes and packages, but at the ready for personal use among expected vegetation.

Two people were there. 

"Oh, come on! A guitar's gotta be in here somewhere!" A girl said. 

"This place has everything!" A second girl marveled.

My eyes lit up in excitement as she strode over, though Marissa just stared with her mouth wide open.

"Um, hello there!" I called out. "Who are you two?"

The girl who had been looking for a guitar turned to me. She had short blue hair in a bob cut, which almost looked like mine if it weren't for the fact that it had streaks of
pink, white and light blue in it. She wore a maroon hoodie overflowing with light blue fleece, a light pink tartan skirt falling to just below her knees, black ripped tights and boots. There was also a black leather case on her back shaped like an acoustic guitar.  

"Hello there!" She said. "Satsuki's name is Satsuki Iramani! The Ultimate Musician! At ya service!"

"She's known as the Ultimate Musician." Marissa explained. "She used to play guitar in an all-girl band that was super popular with high school boys. Apparently, their hit single, 'Love in the Night', sold over a million copies." A super popular high school girl band... That sounds familiar... "Due to creative differences, she left the band to pursue a solo career."

Creative differences?

The other girl turned to us. She had long, fluffy dirty blond hair collected into low twintails. She wore a cute maid’s outfit with lilac sleeves and a frilly apron of an identical color. A red ribbon was tied around her collar. She had white silk gloves covering her hands, black tights, boots on her feet which were black with little red bows on the ankles, and a black hairband with a white bow on the right side.

"Satsuki can get... very energetic." She said. "Ultimate Maid Katana Inori here! Nice to meetcha!"

“So... a maid, huh? Makes sense to me, you’ve got the uniform and everything.” I said.

Kanata chuckled softly. “I have served many masters and pride myself on being able to accomplish any request. In fact, the services I get requested for the most are cleaning and cooking.”

We left the warehouse and headed to a library. 

It was full of books... and one girl carefully examining one.
"O-Oh, hey there," she waved once she noticed us. 

She wore a grey military-style jacket over a white blouse and a black ascot tied around her neck, white leggings underneath a grey pencil skirt and knee-length boots. Her hair was short and black, pinned back with a hair clip that was black metal rather than plastic, with one end sharpened into a point and one side forming a serrated edge.  Her build was very slender, but I could easily tell she was also quite muscular.

But what really caught my attention was the black bag slung over her shoulder. With its long, thin shape, it wasn’t hard to guess what was hidden inside.

"Hi... I'm Kiyoka Maki, Ultimate Lucky Student. This is my friend, Marissa Higa."

"R-right..." The girl stuttered. "I'm K-Kana. Kana…Yamaguchi…"

"That shy girl over there is known as the Ultimate Swordswoman. It’s hard to believe someone's who so timid could be so skilled with a blade. I’ve heard she’s a kendo master and that most adult men don’t even stand a chance against her.” Marissa said. "But she's skilled with other blades, and she even does fencing..."

She looks so sweet and timid... but some appearances can be deceiving...

"Well, we do have five more people to meet," Marissa said. "I hope they're not as cruel as Takara..." She sighed, shuddering at the memory.

‘Only five more people left to meet. What happens after that is anybody’s guess…still, we’ve all got to do what we can.’ I nodded with determination and followed Marissa through the door.

‘But…I won’t lie and say I’m not worried. Just…don’t think about it. For now, we have to stay positive.’

‘We have to.’

Chapter Text

Going down another floor, we reached the school’s basement. We were hesitant to go down from how eerie the atmosphere already threatened to become, but no less braced ourselves for potential danger. Putting fear behind them, we continued around the boarding school’s inner bowels.

“Sup?” a girl’s voice yelled. 

"Ugh... didn't I tell you to stop yelling in here?!" another girl’s voice growled. 

“Can you show me your loins? There’s a lot of poison in them, and there’s only one way to get it out…” The first voice said.

“Get your perverted hands off me!” The other voice screamed.

“Stop right there!” I demanded, bursting into the room with Marissa. “You leave that poor girl alone!”

“Instead of telling me so, why don’t you direct that to her?”

I looked at the girl who said that. She had short black hair, and dark blue eyes. She wore a red tracksuit. Her suit was left zipped open to her belly button, exposing her white bandeau bra, and she wore black boots and a galaxy hairband in her hair.

The girl she had apparently been harassing was tall and had short white hair and blue eyes. She wore a girls school uniform in black, grey and white, with a knee length skirt. She also had a yellow chest ribbon. She was holding a book.

It didn’t take Marissa long to understand what was going on. She hurriedly made her presence known. “S-stop!”

The black haired girl stopped.

”Don’t go touching people’s… parts like that!” She said.

“S-sorry,” the black haired girl said. 

“Okay…” was all I could think to say. “Let’s not get too perverted. Why don’t you guys tell us your names? Start over a bit more.”

The black haired girl sighed. “I'm Ayame Hatano, the Ultimate Astronaut.”

“Ayame is the Ultimate Astronaut.” Marissa explained. “Her circumstances for gaining that title are...well...they’re unique, to say the least.”

“Unique?” I asked.

Marissa nodded. “Ayame ended up faking documents to become an astronaut trainee. Granted, afterwards she spent three days in jail for falsifying information, but JAXA was so impressed by the results that they decided to let her in anyways.”

“Yup, that’s me.” Ayame nodded.

“I’m Kirsten.” The white haired girl spoke. “Kirsten Uehara. Ultimate Writing Prodigy.”

“Kirsten’s official title is “Ultimate Writing Prodigy.” And it’s not hard to see why. She wrote her first best selling novel at the age of 10 and has written 7 more since.”

Eight best selling books… how cool!

Close to the library, we moved into what the map implied was some sort of A/V Room. To our surprise, it was the bleakest room we had encountered so far. Were it not for the shelves of DVD’s and the projection screen sitting at the front of the room, one could easily assume it’d been desolate for centuries. 

A girl was looking around for something. She had yellow eyes and long pink hair. 

As for attire, she was dressed in a light blue shirt above a skirt that ended above her knees. It was white in color, with a belt made out of seashells that tied around the girl’s waist. Her hair was pinned back with a seashell hair clip with a seaweed like ribbon adorning said hair clip. A pair of sandals adorned her feet.

“I’m Kizuna Tomori!” She chirped brightly. “I’m super excited to meet you all!”

“Kizuna is the Ultimate Swimming Pro.” Marissa explained. ”She’s the fastest recorded swimmer in Japan’s history. She’s gotten the nickname “The Mermaid of Japan” due to her grace and beauty while effortlessly gliding across the water.”

"My name's Kiyoka Maki," I chimed in.

“There’s two more people for you to meet,” Kizuna said. “One of them went through these doors over there and the other went to the dorms.”

”Okay,” Marissa said. “We’ll meet them!”

Through the doors, past the threshold, and into the unknown we went. Upon freeing ourselves from inside, out of it we saw…

Blue skies. Bright sunlight. A gentle wind swaying past locks of hair and loose clothing.

Just then something clattered nearby, causing us both to jump. A few moments later, a girl turned towards us, holding a tennis racket.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you guys," she apologized. Her long, black hair perfectly complimented her light purple eyes, the left covered by her bangs. 

She was wearing a white long sleeved button up shirt, rolled up to her elbows, under a purple vest. She also had a purple skirt over some black ripped tights and some brown shoes. She had a demin jacket wrapped around her waist. It was covered in oil stains. 

“This isn’t my usual wrench, but it will have to do…” She muttered.

“I’m Kiyoka Maki, and this is Marissa Higa…” I introduced. 

“My name is Nanako Yomiuri! I’m the Ultimate Mechanic!” The black haired girl said.

"As expected from someone called the Ultimate Mechanic, Miss Nanako is a savant when it comes to fixing machines.” Marissa said.

“Ultimate Mechanic...there probably isn’t any vehicle you can’t fix.” I said.

“Of course! Whether it’s an old junk car or a broken laptop, give me a wrench, a screwdriver, and a roll of duct tape and it’ll be good as new!” Nanako said, her eyes sparkling. 

“We should meet our final student.” Marissa said.

Right across from where we had met Nanako, we entered a circular blue building labeled “Dormitory” in three whole places. Going inside, we found just that; 17 room doors.

Oddly enough, each door had a plaque on it with someone's pixelated avatar, each one unique. Even Marissa's and my own avatar appeared on two doors, but despite seeming that they were ours specifically, the doors were still locked.

"That's odd," I muttered.

“Okay, okay…” a voice murmured.

Standing in front of her own bedroom door, a girl was writing something down.

She seemed notice us. She turned around.

”Didn’t see you there!” She said. She was tall and slender - one glance at Marissa and I knew she was already smitten.

She had wavy blond hair, and pale yellow eyes. As for attire, she wore a brown trench coat over a white dress shirt with a yellow tie, a black skirt, purple knee stockings and brown shoes.

She had a red pencil behind her right ear. Around her neck was black string with a notepad hanging off the end. On her head sat a brown fedora.

"A-Anyways, I-I'm Kiyoka M-M-Maki, the-the U-Ultimate L-Lucky Student...a-and who might y-you be?" I stuttered.

“Well, I was just looking for the latest scoop. You see…” The blond girl said. "Wherever there's a scoop, my pen is never far behind! Ultimate Journalist, Madoka Sannoji! At your service!”

“Miss Madoka has a promising future as a young journalist.” Marissa said.

“This whole situation is making me tense!” Madoka continued. “What a crazy scoop this is gonna be!”

And then... a strange sound echoed throughout the speakers strewn all around the school. Little did I know that, though innocuous by itself, it was a sound I would come to dread.


BING-BONG, DING-DONG!

Before anyone else could speak, a strange voice echoed out from every speaker in the area, though the attached monitors remained blank.

"...Hello? Testing... testing... mic check, one, two... Alright, seems like everything's working! Phew."

It was a voice unlike anything I had ever heard in my life. It was... robotic, unnaturally cheerful and nonchalant. I didn't realize it at the time, but something about that voice... my blood ran cold as I processed what it was saying, and my breath hitched in my throat.

"Now, I'm sure you're all extremely confused about your current situation... waking up in a strange place with no way out, freaky, huh? But do not fear, just follow my instructions and I'm positive you'll feel a little less lost!"

The voice continued on, way too pleasantly for my liking. Its inflections, its unseen mannerisms... its very existence just felt so... wrong. Like a cursed video.

So wrong. So... hopeless.

"Everyone, please make your way to the school gym! Once you're all here, I'll be more than happy to get this little party underway! Toodle-loo!"

As we walked with trepidation towards the gym, I only needed to glimpse my friend beside me to calm myself. I mean, even in the face of danger, I knew that deep down, Marissa and I could handle anything.

If only I knew then just how wrong I was.

Chapter Text

We walked together to the gym. Nobody had noticed it, but at some point in time a plain, wooden podium had been set up on the stage.

"Oh? When did this happen?" asked Ayame.

"And why isn't there anyone behind it?" Kirsten added impatiently. "I thought we were going to have our questions answered now."

"Perhaps they are merely putting the finishing touches on whatever speech they have planned for us," Mikako mused, fiddling with her goggles.

"Or, maybe they're scared of gettin' their head bashed in," Rei snorted.

"C'mon, I don't have all day to waste!" Takara shouted angrily at the podium. "I have far too many important people to mingle with to be stuck here with these peasants!"

But, as more and more girls began to voice their complaints, nothing happened. Finally...

"Here I am! Sorry to keep you waaaiting!" the strange voice called out, very close by but still hidden away. And before anyone knew what was happening, it leapt out from behind the podium with a flourish.

Boing!

And so, we came face to face with the source of the voice... I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but definitely not this. It appeared to be a teddy bear about one and a half, maybe two feet in height. Its design was unsettling - its right half was pure white with a black button eye, but its left half was jet black with a glowing, red eye in the shape of a bat wing and a grin that ripped all the way to his ear, full of large, sharp teeth. Its belly was white on both halves, with its bellybutton protruding like a small tumor.

The bear didn't move or speak after appearing, however. Everyone was silent for a few moments as we reassessed the situation.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Yamako was the first to break the silence.

"Uh..." Madoka mumbled.

"It's a bear..." Nanako pressed her lips together.

"Wow, that thing is rad!" Hibiki squealed. "I wish I had a bear like that..."

"You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're kidding..." Takara tutted. "There's no way a fucking stuffed bear is our captor. Is this some kind of stupid joke?!"

"Joke?! Why you little-" the bear suddenly snarled in an angry, yet excitable voice. Three razor-sharp claws poked out of his paw as it shook it angrily at us.

"GAH! IT TALKED!" yelled Haruka.

"I'm the one and only... Monokuma! And I am the Headmaster of Starlight Academy!" the bear announced.

"What happened to the real headmaster, if you're suddenly the headmaster?" Akane asked.

"Akane, don't worry about that headmaster for now..." Monokuma said. "This school is only open to you seventeen special little Ultimate cretins."

"So, we each have some kind of special talent... then what exactly do you want from us?!" Takara ordered. "You must want something."
"Huh... well, aren't you a wise girl?" sneered Monokuma. "Fine... there's only one wee little thing I want from you guys..."
"...Which is...?" I gulped. Somehow, I knew the answer was not going to be a good one.
"I want you all... to murder each other."
In an instant my heart dropped into my stomach. I was expecting a horrible answer, but this... this was outright bad.
...M-Murder...?!
Everyone around me reacted much the same way, with horror, disbelief and shock.
"Uh... I-I don't think I heard you right..." Nanako giggled nervously.
"Oh, you heard me, sweetheart," Monokuma smirked. "I. Want. You guys. To murder. Each other."
"O-Oh... T-That's what I-I thought y-you said..." Nanako giggled even more nervously.
"A-ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Haruka screamed, her face going purple. "Y-YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"
"But I am," the bear replied matter-of-factly.

 “What. A. shaaame~ A killing game for you peasants? How unfortunate. Maybe I should even get my hands bloodied to be rid of you all.” Takara laughed. She didn't seem as scared as the rest of us.

“C-can this truly be...have...have we really been tricked into something so...d-distasteful?!? Answer me at once! Who the hell controls you!?” Akane shrieked, pointing to the podium.

"A bunch of girls get forced into a game of death? This is more the realm of 2D than 3D!” Yamako mused, her eyes sparkling.

"Wait, you can’t do that! If we were going to have to kill each other anyways, why didn’t we just stay outside of this place?!" Hibiki screamed.

"Let me elaborate more," Monokuma said.  "Now... I want you guys with your Ultimate-level talents to participate in a killing game."
I felt Marissa grab onto my hand. "K-Killing game?!" she stuttered. "W-What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Well, glad you asked, Miss Mars." Monokuma said. "This school is sure relaxing, isn't it? You'll be relaxing... forever. Nobody will ever find you!"

Marissa's grip on my hand tightened. "...S-Seriously? Nobody will find us...?"

"In other words, I hold the power of life and death over each and every one of you," Monokuma leered. "You can't leave without killing someone... or without my saying so."

"This is real," Monokuma laughed. 

Takara pointed at the bear. "Why you are holding me here, Yogi Bear?"

"Don't compare me to that picnic loving bastard!" Monokuma screeched. 

Silence.

"Awwww... where is my daughter? Daddy needs a hug..." the bear moaned.
"What? Daughter?" I bristled, unwilling to believe there was possibly another murder-craving bear in our midst. But suddenly...

A girl leapt out from behind Monokuma.

She looked like Hibiki, but unlike the effects artist, she had pink ribbons in her hair, which was in twintails and straight instead of wavy. She wore a trench coat - the left side of which was pitch black and the right side was white - over a light pink button up shirt. She had a light blue pleated skirt - knee length - with a white stripe at the hem, light purple socks with dark yellow hearts, and red buckled shoes. She wore a surgical mask - which was also half-black, half-white. And she held a bunny doll, which was white on the left side and black on the right, its scarlet right eye threatening. This bunny doll, though, had round bear-like ears instead of pointy.

"Uhh... Is it me, or is that girl giving off kinda ‘quiet and shy but will murder you in your sleep’ vibes right now?" Kanata asked.

"Appearances are truly deceptive... There is a true monster hidden behind that innocent facade!" Ayame pointed.

"Is Satsuki really seeing this?" Satsuki slumped in disbelief. "Is this for real? Did someone lace her food?!"

"This isn't the time for that! What on earth is happening here?!" Kirsten gestured wildly.

"Y-You are here for a killing game." the girl said. "I'm Kanade O-Otonokoji... I- I'm the Ultimate Despair Beautician... But just call me Mono-Kanade. I'm not participating in this killing game, though."

"Soooo... juuust to be sure, in case I've been drugged or some shit..." Kirsten cocked her head. "...Are we really stuck here with a creepy girl and a Five Nights at Freddy's reject? And we'll apparently get out if we kill someone and get away with it? Oh, noooonononono... there has to be another way out. How else did we get here?!"
"There's nothing to explain... this is simply how it is, so please don't bother," Mono-Kanade shrugged. "...You can't get out of here. You can go outside, but you can't escape."

So many thoughts were racing through my head, I wasn't quite sure which emotion I should've felt the strongest about. First, I had received my acceptance letter to Hope's Peak... and now this?! Being held captive with sixteen other students... by an insane robot bear and an equally insane girl that wanted us to kill each other?! 

"Oh, yea... go hand 'em out, would ya Kanade?" Monokuma pushed surprisingly gently. Mono-Kanade produced a bunch of black and white computer tablets and handed one to everyone. "Your Monopad is essential to living a perfect school life! They're waterproof and contain all of the rules of the school, so be sure to review them thoroughly!"
"Eh? You want us to kill each other, but there's rules?" blinked Hibiki.
"Oh, yea!" nodded Mono-Kanade. "These are the rules, if you're not bothered."

A screen lowered down.

A title card appeared, a crude drawing of Mono-Kanade on it. 

Mono Kanade Explains The Rules of the Killing Game!

Rule 1-All Participants are to remain in this school until the Killing Game comes to an end.

Rule 2-In order to end the game, a participant must take a life without getting caught.

Rule 3 - The most people a culprit can murder is two. 

Rule 4-All participants who commit murder are labeled as “The Blackened” and must pass the  Class Trial in order to escape.

Rule 5-Before the trial, the participants who have not committed murder, henceforth known as “The Spotless” will be granted a period of time to investigate and find as many clues as possible.

Rule 6-The trial will only end when the blackened is found.

Rule 7-If found, the Blackened will be punished, and the Spotless will continue to live in this school.

Rule 8-If not found, the Spotless will be punished, and the Blackened will be allowed to leave this school.

Rule 9-The game will continue until (at most) two participants remain living.

Rule 10-” Nighttime” starts at 10 PM and continues until 8 AM. Everyone must be in their rooms and asleep by that time or be punished.

Rule 11 - Violence against Monokuma and/or Mono-Kanade is strictly prohibited.

Rule 12- Monokuma or Mono-Kanade will never participate directly in the murders.

Rule 13-A body discovery will occur whenever 3 or more participants discover a body.

Rule 14-Participants may explore as they see fit.

Rule 15-Additional rules may be added at any time.

The screen turned off. 

"What does punished mean?" Takara asked. "Does it mean we get thrown into a prison and stay there for an unknown amount of time?"

A horrible smile flickered across Monokuma's face. "Punishment is just a polite way to say execution. I wonder what sorts of punishments we'll get to see?"

Sweat began dripping down my face as I imagined the gruesome fates that possibly awaited us. 

Monokuma then began to laugh. It was a loud, obnoxious laugh that echoed through the room carelessly. Mono-Kanade also joined in, showing that they too didn't care about what might happen to us. They found pleasure in this. All the while, me and the other students just stood there, dumbfounded as to how we ended up in this new kind of hell. 

When I received my acceptance letter to Hope's Peak Academy, I didn't expect to meet sixteen other students, much less get told by this bear how we're stuck here forever.

But things had taken a horrible turn for the worst.

Being stuck here with those other 16 students, and being forced into a killing game...

It was the icing on a terrible cake of despair.

 Received Gift!

 "Bunny" Doll

Prologue: Welcome to Despair High

END

Remaining Students: 17

Chapter Text

Monokuma Theatre

In any school, Mr. Monokuma would be a kind teacher. But when I think about what's coming up...

...I'm just so full of pride and joy.

Our ceremony earlier today was absolutely splendid. Thank you all very much.

Remember that you're all students of Starlight High and strive to refine your ideals.

I swear to you, I will send you all off into a new tomorrow!

End of Monokuma Theatre

Chapter 1: I'd Bet My Life on It 

Daily Life

We all sat down together at the longest table in the center of the Dining Hall. It was after the killing game had been revealed.

"...Now what?" Marissa asked after a few minutes of silence.

"I have an idea," suggested Haruka. "I understand it's kind of lame... but if we get to know each other a little better, it'll go a long way to build trust and camaraderie."

"I... guess so," Takara sighed as she glared pointedly at Hibiki. "Alright... tell us all a little bit about yourself."

"Okay..." Hibiki said. "I'm Hibiki Otonokoji, the Ultimate Effects Artist! Nowhere is safe from me and my paints! I love movies!"

"Okay, I'm Nanako. Nanako Yomiuri. I'm a mechanic who've fixed many machines."

"I'm Madoka Sannoji. They call me the Ultimate Journalist. I have the sweetest, kindest fanbase and they've been nothing but supportive since day one of my career." She smiled. "And... oh, Kiyoka! Maybe you've heard of my brother, Mikado? He's a magician."

"Yeah, actually..." I said. "I've been to one or two or his magic shoes. Mainly just pulling bunnies out of hats, though."

"Yea... that's him, alright," Madoka chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Ugh, enough interruptions!" Takara snapped. "Let's keep going and get this over with."

"Okay, well... I'm Rei Mekaru." She sighed. "They call me Killer Karate for my stoic doing of martial arts. I'm undefeated."

"I'm Takara Kinjo. As the Ultimate Supreme Leader, I have countless connections to just about every single person in a position of power, allowing me to pretty much become ruler of this world when I graduate Hope's Peak. Ever get bored of something in this world? Let me know, I can change it anytime."

"Well, I'm Akane Taira, Ultimate Princess.  I am the Princess of a small Kingdom in Europe called Novoselic. My invitation to Hope's Peak was more political than anything, but I've quite enjoyed my time in Japan, until now at least."

"I'm Mikako Kurokawa... everyone calls me Milky... Kiyoka, you can, too. And, uh, I invent things. There's no way I could invent anything unless I was passionate about it, though... oh, and me and Yamako are adopted sisters."

"Yup. I'm Yamako Kisaragi! I write fanfics about my favorite fandoms and sell them at conventions. I can get a months' worth of candy with all the cash I get."

"Hold on, isn't fanfiction when you make original stories staring already existing characters? Wouldn't profiting from that be illegal?" I asked.

"Maybe if you did it in America, but fanfiction here in Japan is way more respected. Have you never been to a convention?" Yamako asked.

"Satsuki's name is Satsuki Iramani! Satsuki's the Ultimate Musician! When we get outta here, Satsuki can play the guitar for you!"

"I'm Haruka Kobashikawa... yea, I'm a programmer. I've been one ever since I was three. But please, just call me Haru!"

"So, I'm Kirsten Uehara... The Ultimate Writing Prodigy. Guess they started calling me that after I wrote some best-selling books. One even won a reward..."

"I'm Kana Yamaguchi... I-I am the Ultimate Swordswoman. Won all kinds of tournaments. I practice everything from fencing to kendo..." 

"Well, I'm Kanata Inori! The Ultimate Maid! I've been requested for all types of things, like cleaning and cooking!!

"I'm Ayame Hatano, Ultimate Astronaut! I love space."

"I'm Kizuna Tomori! I love swimming, and I've even been called 'the Mermaid' because of it!  I guess you could say that's why I've been labeled the Ultimate Swimming Pro!"

"I'm Marissa Higa... I love insects. I've studied them."

It was now my turn to talk.

Oh, dear... what am I gonna say...? 

"I'm Kiyoka... Kiyoka Maki," I sucked on the insides of my mouth as I thought carefully about what to say. "I won the lottery and became the Ultimate Lucky Student. I just... don't really like it. If anything, cosmetics and fashion are my true passion!" I said.

Takara glared at me for a while longer before sighing. "...Fine. Anyway, that's that. Now what?"

"What time is it?" Yamako grumbled. "I'm hungry."

"It's nearly nightime! We must have been talking for a long time. I'm kind of hungry, too." Mikako said.

"How about we make ourselves some dinner, then?" suggested Kanata. "A full stomach will settle our nerves."

"Yea, there's plenty in the kitchen," said Nanako.

"Ooh!" Kizuna gasped happily. It seemed as though dinner was on everyone's mind at the moment, so Marissa and I got up to join the others as we headed towards the kitchen.

Most of us made or gathered enough food for only ourselves to eat, although Kanata made some curry and encouraged the others to share with her.

After eating I decided to head to my dorm room to get some sleep.

It was fairly large, having a king-sized bed, a coffee table, a few desks and drawers, and a TV. There was also a fancy stand on the coffee table that had the key to the room on it. Near the back of the room was a bathroom and shower.

I got into some pajamas and got into bed. I couldn't help but think about everything that's happened today. So much happened. I got invited to Hope's Peak, and then I woke up in a locker within a strange boarding school. I met 16 teenage girls who were also kidnapped. I saw how incredible Ultimates are, and then I was thrown into a killing game with them. It's hard to believe all this happened in one day. Well, I should probably try to get some sleep. I shouldn't worry about it too much. With that, I slowly closed my eyes, and let whatever dream awaited me take hold.

I woke up, blinking the sleep from my eyes.

Monokuma’s voice echoed.

"Goooood morning, everyone! It is now 7am and Nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"

I was starving, so I decided to get dressed and grab myself some breakfast.

Courtesy of Kanata, a fantastic spread had been laid out on the table. There was a wide selection of food, including: fresh fruit, french toast, bread pudding, yoghurt and granola, pancakes, sticky rice, and cereal. It looked like a feast for Kings, making me feel like royalty rather than a lucky student. I had never experienced something quite like this before. 

Before I could enjoy the food, there was a more important matter at hand. I took a quick glance around the room, taking a head count. Including myself, I counted seventeen people, which meant everyone had turned up for breakfast.

I began to stack my plate with pancakes and fresh fruit. "Kanata, did you make all of this?" I eyed up the food in front of me.

“I did.” Kanata nodded. “Please let me know if it is not to your liking, and I can prepare you something else.”

“This is more than enough,” I replied gratefully.

I wasn't sure how Kanata had been able to make so many dishes all by herself. Had she gotten up extra early to cater for all of the students? This was the only possibility that I could think of. She really was the Ultimate Maid. 

“Good idea,” I said.

I decided to walk around the school after lunch. Three rooms were now open to us.

The door I found myself in front of was labelled “Ultimate Lucky Student’s Lab” with a picture of a four leaf clover on the front.

”What’s this?” I asked Monokuma.

”This is your talent research lab!” Monokuma said.

“Talent research lab?” I asked.

“Yep!” Monokuma nodded. “Each student has their own Ultimate Research Lab in order to hone their talent. A student dying before their lab is discovered does not prevent others from entering it, though.”

”I thought they would be locked.” I said.

”Nope!” Monokuma said as he vanished.

I opened my door.

Inside was a casino. 

“This should be fun,” I thought to myself.

There was a pool table there.

”Why is this a casino?” I asked Monokuma as he reappeared in front of me. 

“This also doubles as a lab for an Ultimate Gambler!” Monokuma replied. “For now, it’s just Lucky Student Lab.”

Thanks…

I also found that Marissa had discovered her own lab.

Her lab was cheerful and bright, with a mini forest towards the back of the room. However, I couldn't appreciate the beautiful nature, because I had spotted the boxes of bug cages that occupied the entire length of the wall. 

"Ahhh!" I yelped. "T-there's r-real bugs in here! That’s way too many bugs for my liking!” I eyed up the wall in horror.

I ran out. 

And finally, we found that Hibiki also had her own lab. It was a film set, covered in paint. There were various spray paint cans there. 

It was obnoxiously bright.

Ugh…

I got out my Monopad.  

Who should I spread time with today?

< Haruka

I decided to talk with Haruka. But first, I needed some gifts.

So I went to the store and spent my Monocoins on the MonoMono Machine. I was surprised to find that the palm-sized plastic capsules could contain anything from fresh food and drinks, books, jewelry and clothes to small live animals, video games, dolls, random objects and tchotchkes, full-sized furniture items and even weapons! But my heart relaxed as I saw that each of the weapons were mere replicas and not suitable for causing harm.

I got a Nintendo Switch, a sci-fi book, and a notepad.

Spend Free Time with Haru?

> Yes

Kiyoka: "Hey! Let's go to the beach!"

Haruka: "Hmm… I'm a little busy right now." Kiyoka: "Why?"

Haruka: "I'm busy programming something with my laptop. Plus, I did not know there was a beach."

Kiyoka: "How did you get into programming, Haru?"

Haruka: "I don't know. I just knew that I wanted to do it."

Kiyoka: "You mean you chose it because you have no other hobbies?"

Haruka: "I won't lie, I was bored. I wanted to become a pilot, but there's a rule for women becoming pilots. It's frowned upon in Japan, in fact."

Kiyoka: "I see… But there are other hobbies, right? There has to be something you like, right?"

Haruka: "I kinda like gaming."

Give Haruka a gift?

< Yes

> Nintendo Switch

Haruka: "What a perfect gift."

Kiyoka: "Thanks. Tell me about your first ever program."

Haruka: "The first one was a game. I was ten years old. It was a 2D platformer, but I wasn't satisfied with the graphics, so I improved them." Kiyoka: "Like those games on the switch that have new graphics?" 

Haruka: "Yes. The old graphics were pixels. I made the pixels into 3D models."

Kiyoka: "How did you do that?"

Haruka: "I created a new programming language for it."

Kiyoka: "A new programming language? Wow, that's… impressive." Haruka: "I was only ten at the time. I used Blender."

Kiyoka: "Do you want to go to a beach later?"

Haruka: "Yeah, sure. I'll tell you when we meet."

You and Haruka meet up at the beach. It's indoor. 

Haruka: "I'll tell you about the game."

Kiyoka: "Okay."

Haruka: "It was called Super Paper Maria."

Kiyoka: "Sounds familiar."

Haruka: "I loved this RPG called Super Paper Mario ever since I got a WII. I wanted to remake it, but genderbent."

Kiyoka: "Why did you want to remake it?"

Haruka: "I wanted to make it as an RPG, but I couldn't find a way."

Kiyoka: "You should have used RPG Maker."

Haruka: "I have it. But I wanted to make it more action-oriented. I also wanted to add a lot more characters and a lot more in terms of story and dialogue." Kiyoka: "But SPM was perfect!"

Haruka: "Yes, it was perfect. I was satisfied with it. But I wanted it to be even better."

Kiyoka: "You want to remake it again?"

Haruka: "You bet. I want this to become a game that everyone can love." Kiyoka: "What platforms is it currently on?"

Haruka: "It's on the Nintendo 3DS. I'm planning on making it for the Switch."

Kiyoka: "Wow, you are so ambitious. That's a lot of work." Haruka: "I know. Some people find it mentally draining. I'm the Ultimate Programmer, though."

Kiyoka: "I can't believe you haven't gotten tired of programming."

Haruka: "I know. It's a miracle, Kiyoka. Other than that game, I'm working on an AI right now."

Kiyoka: "An AI?"

Haruka: "Yes. It's a very hard AI to code, though."

Kiyoka: "Why?"

Haruka: "It's supposed to be modelled after myself."

Kiyoka: "Wait, did you make this AI to be your slave?"

Haruka: "No, I created it to be my twin sister."

Kiyoka: "Your sister?"

Haruka: "Yes. I have a twin sister."

Kiyoka: "Wow. That's so cool."

Haruka: "Or I will, sooner or later."

Kiyoka: "I wanna meet her one day. You have to tell me her name, though."

Haruka: "It's called Alter Ego. I'm still debating on a full name, though. I'm thinking of Hana."

Kiyoka: "Hana Alter Ego. That's a pretty name."

Haruka: "Thank you. Now, I have to go. I have a date with her." Kiyoka: "By date, you mean creating her."

Haruka: "Yes. Bye."

You've finished your freetime with Haruka.

Haruka’s Report Card has been updated!

I sat in my room.

I didn’t give Haruka the notepad or the sci-fi book.

But as far as whether I’d give some more people those two things or not…

...we'll have to see about that...

Soon, it was night again.

Monokuma’s voice filled my ears.

"Ahem... This is a school announcement. It is now 10pm. As such, it is officially Nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall area will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited."

Hm... probably to restock the food...

"Okay then... sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite..." And with that abnormally-cheery bedtime wish, the monitor switched off. A cold chill shot through my spine.

But as soon as I stepped inside the shower, the hot water melted my worries away, and the soap carried them down the drain. Warm and comfortable, I got into my pyjamas, crawled into the bed, finding it very soft and cozy, almost like lying atop a cloud.

There's nothing to worry about... nobody’s going to kill anyone... we'll all escape from here... together.

My eyes grew heavy, and I drifted off into sleep.

Chapter Text

Monokuma’s voice was the most painful thing to wake up to, and that was in a very literal sense. At certain points sounded cold and sadistic, but at others he sounded like a whiny three year old. Nonetheless he had managed to wake me up.

I almost robotically marched to the dining hall area after getting dressed.

Haruka had made progress on the AI of herself. 

I got myself some pancakes.

The mood was bright and sunny.

Suddenly, Monokuma dropped down from the ceiling. "Aaaaand that's my cue to appear!" he grinned as he posed whimsically.

"GAH!" Haruka screamed, falling out of her chair.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!" Hibiki scooted backwards in her chair until she hit another table.

"You! What are you doing here?!" Takara snarled, pointing at the black and white bear. But before he could answer...

Mono-Kanade dropped down from the ceiling as well.

"Why the hell are you guys here?!" Kizuna wailed, shielding her face with her plate.

"Geez, it's loud in here... what's all the ruckus about?" asked Mono-Kanade.

"You did just scare the crap outta us just now!" Kirsten growled. "Why are you here?!”

”Well, I’m here to give you a little something.” Monokuma said. 

“Is it something bad?” Ayame groaned.

"Isn't there?" Monokuma giggled. "It's a little thing called 'motive'. And I've got the perfect one to kick-start this killing game!" He then triumphantly held up a mysterious box. “Listen up everyone! This is a box of… Despair Videos!"

The last two words hung chillingly in the air.

”What’s that?” I asked.

”Take one.” Monokuma said, taking out 17 discs. 

I took one and put it on my Monopad.

It bleeped.

”Your video has been installed into your Monopad! Watch it!” Monokuma laughed.

”Here goes nothing…” I said.

I tapped on the newly added app. It had Monokuma’s red eye on it.

It showed a video of my younger brother, Ryutaro, sitting on a couch.

It was a rather nice looking apartment.

”Hi, Maki!” My brother said, waving.

”Hello, Ryu!” I waved back.

Suddenly, my Monopad went black, turning back on a few seconds later. The apartment  was the same it had been a few seconds ago, except blood was now splattered and smeared everywhere.

My brother was gone.

A message appeared: “Your family is dead. Kill so you can see them again.”

Then the video ended.

To my dismay, the others had indeed watched their Despair Videos.

“What the fuck?!”

“This… This can’t be real!”

”MY FAMILY!”

”My brother!”

”Nikei, NO!”

It wasn’t hard for me to connect the dots that their videos were similar to mine – Perhaps a loved one or family member was on them. None of them were trying to hide their fear or anger on this matter…

“Your families are all dead.” Monokuma said. “If you want to see your dead families again, you must commit murder! There is no other way to put an end to this motive."

“We wouldn’t commit murder over something like that!” Nanako insisted passionately.

“Famous last words.” Monokuma retorted. “You don’t even know what you’re going to be dealing with yet."

Then he left.

Nobody spoke a word for a long while. Only eyes shifted back and forth, everyone now casting suspicion on everyone else. This motive was pretty bad... the question was whether someone here would be fine with committing one murder as opposed to fifteen of them.

Everyone had families, and now those families were being threatened right in front of them. Was it enough to make any of them break? ...Was it enough for me to break...?

I headed back to my dorm, horrified by what I saw.

I needed to talk to someone, anyone to get the motive off my mind.

So I decided to take the notepad and talk to Madoka.

Kiyoka: "Hey, Madoka!" Madoka: "H-hey!"

Kiyoka: "Tell me how you got into journalism to begin with."

Madoka: "Well, I was given a notepad on my tenth birthday. I became president of the newspaper club. My journalist career was started when I was eleven."

Kiyoka: "So I was wondering, how did you get to know the editor-in-chief?"

Madoka: "I was in the same class at school as him."

Kiyoka: "You went to the same school? I thought you were from a rich family!"

Madoka: "I'm the brother of Mikado. Have you heard of him?" Kiyoka: "Yes. I've been to a few of his shows. He's a magician."

Madoka: "That's right. His shows are quite popular in Asia, so I've been to many of them. When I was in elementary school, I took part in many of his shows." Kiyoka: "So you were like his teenage assistant?"

Madoka: "Yeah, I helped him out a lot. He's my older brother. He also took part in many of my school events."

Kiyoka: "That's weird. So did I."

Give Madoka a gift?

< Notepad

Madoka:  "I think you're a very kind person, Kiyoka. You're a wonderful student and I'm really happy you're in my class. I'll be sure to take good care of you."

Kiyoka: "Monokuma's given us these despair videos. Mine showed my brother. What did yours show?"

Madoka: "I think you'll find out soon. We'll see you soon."

Kiyoka: "See you soon."

Madoka’s Report Card has been updated based on your experience with her!

I only had the scifi-book left.

Sooner or later, I had to give it to someone.

At nighttime, everyone fell asleep.

I was no different. After a quick shower, I settled down into my bed, with a book I had borrowed from the Store. It was titled "Maths Problems" and sounded fascinating at the time. I read right through Monokuma's evening announcement, and turned on my nightlight, getting a pen.

I finished the book perhaps an hour and a half later. After having solved all of the puzzles in my mind, I turned off my nightlight and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

I reflexively buried my face beneath the covers as Monokuma's morning announcement played. The sudden brightness of an instant sunrise was sufficiently muddled, allowing me to wake up a little more comfortably. I braced myself for the chill of leaving my bed, hopped out and headed off to breakfast.

“So, what was on your Despair Video?” asked Rei, leaning forward.

I saw that Madoka wasn’t happy - the usually stoic journalist was frozen in fear. Tears were welling up in her eyes.

She finally spoke. “I watched my despair video again last night.” She spoke. "It was a video of my brother’s death."

"Oh no..." Nanako said.

"I can’t tell if it’s real or fake... But it appears he was killed with a machine gun." Madoka said.

”So that was what was on your video, then.” I said. “I’m sorry about your brother.”

”Also!” Rei said. “I’m fighting against Kiyoka soon, so stay tuned for that!”

And so, after putting my dishes away I left the cafeteria, wondering what to do. I wandered around the school with my sci-fi book in hand, finding nothing that particularly interested me. I eventually went outside, hoping for the closest thing I could get to fresh air.

Suddenly, I noticed Mikako nearby.

Spend Freetime with Mikako?

< Yes

Kiyoka: "Hey, Mikako! Wanna hang out?" Mikako: "Sure!" Kiyoka: "Great! I'll pick you up in an hour!"

"An hour?" Mikako complains. Kiyoka: "I'm just joking. Now, do you want to say how you got into inventing in the first place?" Mikako: "Okay, I was the top of my class in high school. I was always good at science and maths, but I think my parents wanted me to be an engineer, not an inventor." Kiyoka: "Yup. Some parents can be bastards." Mikako: "Why did you say that? I don't understand." Kiyoka: "Never mind. So, wanna get started on your latest invention? It's gonna be a big surprise!" Mikako: "Yes. I'm working on a machine to make ice cream." Kiyoka: "Aha!" Mikako: "What?" Kiyoka: "My favourite food. I know how much you love ice cream, so I bet you're gonna love this invention of yours." Give Mikako a gift?

< yes

< Sci-fi book

Mikako: 

Mikako: "Thanks, Kiyoka! This is awesome! I'll read it later." Kiyoka: "Okay." Mikako: "I bet you're wondering about my adopted sister, Yamako." Kiyoka: "Yeah? What about her?" Mikako: "Well, I'm really close to her. I can read her mind." Kiyoka: "Seriously? How?" Mikako: "I'm working on an invention which can allow me to read Yamako's thoughts."  Kiyoka: "What does she think about?" Mikako: "I can't tell you that. It's a secret." Kiyoka: "But..." Mikako: "She's the Ultimate Fanfic Creator for a reason, Maki." Kiyoka: "I know, but I want you to stop writing these fictions and become a real inventor!" Mikako: "I can't do that, Kiyoka. Not yet." Kiyoka. "Why?" Mikako: "I just can't. But I'll try my best. Okay?"

"Okay." Kiyoka: "I really like you, Mikako." Mikako: "Thanks for the support, Kiyoka. Now would you like to hear about the worst thing Yamako ever did?" Kiyoka: "Yeah, tell me." Mikako: "It was the day of Yamako's birthday. She baked some cupcakes. She added a special white powder to the batch, though…"

Kiyoka: "I... think I can see where this is going." Mikako: "Yamako's birthday was on a Monday. She handed them out in the morning, before classes began. By the end of the first class, the parking lot was full of ambulances. They were vanilla cupcakes with a chocolate ganache frosting... that had been laced with poison, which was the white powder. The frosting was also decorated with rock candy, to cause abrasions in the mouth when chewed, and to let the poison into the bloodstream. Out of the 48 people who had eaten a cupcake... 16 of them died, and most of those who were saved never fully recovered from the poisoning." Mikako: "Yamako..." Kiyoka: "I know." Mikako: "I'm sorry, Kiyoka. I should have told you sooner." Kiyoka: "What happened after this poisoning?" Mikako: "The school suspended Yamako for two semesters. We had to take down her website and all her fanfics." Kiyoka: "I see." Mikako: "But Yamako someone found a new website. She's uploaded the taken down fanfics on them." Kiyoka: "Where can I find it?" Mikako: "Well, I can't tell you that. I'm sorry, Kiyoka."

"Anyway, you were saying about my favourite food." Kiyoka: "I was. How did you discover ice cream?" Mikako: "It was a day when one of my inventions went wrong." Kiyoka: "What was it?" Mikako: "It was a special device. It exploded, and I got burnt on my arms. I was in the hospital for two weeks. The hospital was really nice, though. They gave me ice cream." Kiyoka: "Really? What flavour?" Mikako: "Chocolate." Kiyoka: "Really?" Mikako: "Yeah, I asked for some when I was in a comma." Kiyoka: "Coma?" Mikako: "Yes. The burns on my arms where so severe that they sometimes put me in a coma. They made a machine that talked for me." Kiyoka: "What did it say?" Mikako: "It said 'ice cream'. Repeatedly." Kiyoka: "How long were you in a coma for?" Mikako: "One week." Kiyoka: "Wow. That's a long time." Mikako: "Yeah, I know. But I eventually woke up." Kiyoka: "And then you invented ice cream?" Mikako: "Close. I invented a new flavour." Kiyoka: "What was it?" Mikako: "Vanilla." Kiyoka: "Really?" Mikako: "Close. It was mint vanilla." Kiyoka: "So you can read minds now, right?" Mikako: "Yes. I'm pretty sure I can, but I haven't tried it out." Kiyoka: "Looking forward to your progress! Catch you later!"

Mikako’s report card has been updated based off your experience with her!

My freetime with Mikako had brought forward many facts. The fact that Mikako was working to read Yamako’s mind… the revelation that Yamako had been responsible for a horrible poisoning... and the story of how Mikako had discovered ice cream.

By the time I returned to my room, it was almost time for Rei’s fight with me.

It was said to be taking place in the library.

I entered the library…

”Hey, Rei!” I said. 

No response. 

I walked closer.

I screamed in horror. 

Because lying on the library floor, in a pool of blood, was the crumpled body of Rei Mekaru.

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: I'd Bet My Life On It

Deadly Life

My vision swirled. My body felt cold and leaden. I couldn't stop screaming, even as my breath finally gave out. The sight of Rei clawed its way through my eyes and buried itself in my brain. The world seemed to lose all color except for the vivid tones of gore, and time felt like it had slowed to a crawl.

"Maki?! What's wrong?! Why-" Mikako was the first to enter the room, quickly stopping dead in her tracks. "Oh! Oh... oh no..." She covered her mouth with a hand, trembling in shock.

"What's all the screaming about? What's going on?!" Kizuna and Akane were the next to enter a few moments later. As soon as their eyes laid upon Rei's body, they froze as well.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Akane screamed her lungs out.

"GAAAAH! Oh god, no, Rei!" Kizuna's face immediately lost all of its color. 

"A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather in the gym for further instructions!”

I heard everyone talking in hushed whispers as they made their way to the gym.

Oh, Rei... who could have done this to you...?!

At last, we gathered in the gym. I tried my hardest to calm myself. The hushed whispers quickly grew in volume and terror as one by one, everyone realized who hadn't shown up.

Monokuma then showed up.

“...Welp, let's get this started, I guess."

"U-Uh... get what started?" asked Nanako nervously.

"Like we said before... we're gonna hold a class trial so you bastards can find Rei Mekaru's killer," Mono-Kanade smirked.

”Get it right, and the blackened will die a gruesome, horrible death. Fail, and not only wi the blackened manage to avoid execution, the rest of you will suffer fate rightfully theirs…” Monokuma added.

Kanata was horrified. “That’s so horrible! Either we sentence someone to death for shedding an innocent's blood... or we all die horrible deaths…”

Madoka was not having any of this!

The journalist ran towards Monokuma. "Don't you fuck with me! What the hell did you do with my treasured brother?!" She demanded, holding the bear hostage under her shoe.

”Oh no!” Kanade said. “Someone chose to be bad! Time for you-know-what, Monokuma!”

”Yes, you heard me right!” Monokuma said.

“I invoke the mighty summon spell,” he then said. “To me, Godly Spear Gungnir!”

Suddenly, a hundred spears came out of the floor. Before the young journalist had time to even process what was happening, these spears pierced every single part of her body.

They shredded her organs, and tore her body apart until Madoka became nothing more than a pile of meat and bone fragments. 

Blood sprayed everywhere, getting caught in our hair and clothes. Blood landed on Mono-Kanade. It landed on the floor. It covered the walls. Pieces of bone, flesh and organs went everywhere. I didn’t even know a single girl could produce that much blood. 

The spears retracted. 

Akane gasped, while Yamako screamed. Mikako had a hand to her lips.

”It’s only the first chapter and our journalist is dead!” Kirsten said.

"And that's the punishment for attacking your Headmaster!" Monokuma said.

“M-Madoka!” screamed Marissa. 

Everyone else had no response to this frightening display of power. As much as I hated to admit it, Monokuma had us all completely under his control, under penalty of death.

"Anyway... I have something to give you to help you in your search for the blackened!" Mono-Kanade said.

I heard my Monopad bleep. ”It’s the Monokuma File!”

"Now then, please put your full effort behind your investigation! After all, you don't have any choice but to give it your best shot! ...Seriously. You don't have a choice. ...Okay, so we'll meet up for the class trial... in a little while!" And with that, Monokuma disappeared with Mono-Kanade before we could say anything else.

And nobody said anything else for quite some time. I couldn't even will myself to form words. We were left stunned, confused, terrified... terrified at the fact that one of us... had actually killed... and that if we didn't find out who had killed Rei Mekaru, we would all die. It was a situation that more-or-less forced us to look at each other with suspicion... for myself, the Ultimate Lucky Student, it was the worst situation imaginable.

Finally, Takara broke the silence. "Alright, now's not the time to panic. We must begin this... investigation."

"She's right," Nanako sighed. "If we do nothing, then all of us will meet Rei's fate. Cooperation is paramount!"

I sighed, closed my eyes and steeled my nerves, stepping forward and garnering the attention of everyone present.

"Alright... let's go."

Minutes later, we all piled inside the library.

”Where do we even start?!” said Kirsten. “I’ve never written a detective book before!”

"Well..." I started. "First we should search the crime scene, I think. Then we'll need to collect some alibis for the time of the murder...”

Yamako nodded. “Yeah! I’ve written some detective fanfics before. Uh... we need someone to autopsy the body... Mikako, can you do that?"

”Y-yes…” the Ultimate Inventor said as she kneeled down near Rei’s body.

“Then, let’s get this investigation started!” Satsuki cheered.

Investigation Start!

"Well... I guess we should start with whatever Monokuma sent to our Monopads," Marissa suggested. I dug out my Monopad and tapped on the newly-added Monokuma File tab.

The victim is Rei Mekaru, the Ultimate Martial Artist. The body was discovered in the library. Cause of death is a puncture wound to the back of her neck.

"Oh? What's this?" Marissa asked as she motioned to a small panel of wood in the far left corner, so expertly hidden it nearly blended in perfectly with the wooden walls. She touched the panel, and it swung outward with a creak to reveal a dark tunnel.

"A secret passage?" Nanako asked as she and I hurried over to investigate. 

It was indeed a secret passage.

We then headed to see how Mikako was doing with the autospy.

"Hey Milky, whaaaAAT THE HELL?!" Marissa stumbled backwards suddenly. The body soon came into my view, and I stood dumbstruck as I saw what she was doing.

"Hm?" Mikako looked up innocently as some of Rei’s left ribs hinged back into place. Despite the fact that the martial artist's torso had been cut open, her entire left rib cage had been separated from his sternum, and what appeared to be her left lung was sitting on a towel beside her, there was remarkably little blood on her clothes. "What's up?" she asked as her hands dug back into the rib cage.

"I... uh..." I stammered, barely able to hold onto the boning knife any longer.

"...Oh! Is that the murder weapon?" Mikako asked nonchalantly, taking it from my grasp. I took the opportunity to wobble backwards a good ways before falling on my butt, nearly vomiting.

"What... what the hell are you doing...?!" Marissa gagged.

"An autopsy, what does it look like?" Mikako replied. "...Or, at least what I think an autopsy is like." She wiggled a hand around inside what I could only guess was the corpse's mouth. "...Yep! Pierced through the throat.”

I decided to focus on the crime scene itself.

There was glowing green paint near Rei’s body.

Nearby, there was a kitchen knife. It was bloody.

Mikako picked the knife up, carefully sliding the knife into the thin slit on the back of Rei’s throat.

"Yep, that's the murder weapon!" she nodded after peering into the empty cavity. "Fits perfectly."

I noticed there was a book near Rei’s body.

She was holding it.

I then headed to the computer lab. Haruka was already working. She explained to me that she had been working on a program for the police investigation. "I mean, the investigation for Rei's murder." Haruka clarified.  I understood. I left Haruka.

I then decided to ask Kirsten for her alibi. She told me that she was reading in her dorm.

I understood as well.

"It's time for the long-awaited... Class Trial!" Monokuma cheered. "Now, then... allow me to appoint a proper location for the proceedings. Please go through the red door outside the library!”

It was time.

Time to find out who really killed Rei Mekaru.

Time to either correctly condemn someone to death, or die in the attempt.

Yet even if it was for the greater good, killing one to save the rest... it still felt despicable. Even if it was theoretically justice for Rei... it still wasn't ours to give. It felt like nothing would ever be right in the world ever again. It felt like a childhood innocence being so cruelly ripped away by cold reality. It felt like losing everything you'd ever known and loved, slowly and methodically as you were forced to watch with unblinking eyes.

It felt like... despair.

Finally, we met up with the others just in front of those crimson double doors. Half were silent, half were whispering under their breath, too quietly for me to hear. My closest friends gathered beside me, giving me the courage to open the doors.

Inside was a rather small, rather plain room, save for what appeared to be an elevator at the other end. Once we had all piled inside, a monitor on the wall buzzed to life.

"Puhuhuhu... is everyone here?" Monokuma asked, a frightening smile on his face. "Okay, then... Please board the elevator in front of you, which will transport you to the courtroom... where all your fates will be decided. I'll meet you all down there... I'll be waitiiiiing..." he giggled as the monitor cut to black. Immediately afterwards there was a creaking, grinding noise as the metal grating barring entrance to the elevator slid away, inviting us all inside.

We have no choice... but to get on this elevator...

"Well, c'mon, let's get this shit over with," Takara grumbled as she shoved a sobbing Kanata inside the elevator. One by one, the rest of us followed suit, until I was the only one left to board.

I have to discover the truth behind Rei Mekaru's death... I have to... condemn one of us to death...

I took a few deep breaths to calm my furious heart.

...But it must be done... if it'll save the rest of us. For Rei’s sake... I swear I'll find out who the real killer is!

I walked inside the elevator, my heart threatening to race ever faster, reaching a previously-thought impossible climax as I took my place in the middle of the group. The grating slid back into place in front of the doors, which finally closed.

The elevator began its descent.

Chapter Text

The elevator sank deep into the earth - past Starlight High's foundation, and past what I had estimated the maximum depth of the underground portion of the barrier to be. I could feel my heart racing faster than ever as it creaked and groaned along its way. Sweat beaded on my forehead and dribbled down my face in tiny streams, making me feel even more uncomfortable. I had entered the elevator intent on focusing on the clues the investigation had unearthed, but the more time passed by, the more my mind was fogged over with dread.

The others around me were mostly just as anxious, although some tried their best to hide their fear beneath false bravado. Their terrified silence was all too palpable. 

Finally, the elevator gave out one last creak and came to a jolting stop. The doors slid open, a large room lay just beyond. Nobody moved a muscle until I cautiously stepped forward into the courtroom.

And what a garish courtroom it was! The walls were covered in a garish gold-leaf and ebony checkerboard pattern, with solid-gilded pillars to complement them. Red carpets adorned the white marble floor, and red curtains hung from the walls. So much red and black and gold, I couldn't help but imagine that the very walls were dripping with blood.

In the middle of the room, 17 wooden podiums sat in a ring.

Over to one side, a wooden throne decorated with red banners sat high above us alongside another throne.

And atop that other throne sat Mono-Kanade. "Welcome to the class trial!" she and Monokuma (sitting on the redbanner throne) shouted in unison. 

"Just as the prophecy foretold!" Mono-Kanade's eyes lit up.

"Does this look like a courtroom?" Monokuma says.

"...Not in the slightest, no," Takara mumbled. "And I've been in quite a few of them before."

"Now, then... there are podiums over there. Please take your places!" Monokuma said.

We walked around the podiums and took our places. From my position, in a clockwise order, Kizuna stood to my left, followed by Takara, Kirsten, Kana, Nanako, Kanata, Akane, Hibiki, Ayame, Satsuki, Haruka, Marissa, Mikako, and finally Yamako to my right. Between Mikako and Marissa was the empty podium of Rei, but in her place was a photo of her face on a long stand. It had a bloody fist print over her face.

Likewise, between Ayame and Satsuki was a portrait of Madoka, just like Rei's, but unlike Rei's, Madoka's face was crossed out with a bloody X.

Poor Rei Mekaru. I didn't know her that much, but she was kind inviting me to fight with her.

If that was any indication, she didn't deserve to die. 

One of us had seemingly murdered the Ultimate Martial Artist... was it really just a coincidence? Why did the killer target her? Could we even trust that killer?

Unfortunately for us, we had to do our best to solve this mystery. Mono-Kanade had seen to that.

I could only hope that the culprit had truly made their murder too difficult for us to solve.

CLASS TRIAL, ALL RISE!

“Now then,” Monokuma began. “let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! During the trial, you'll present your arguments for who the killer is, and vote for whodunnit. Vote correctly, and only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong one...I'll punish everyone BESIDES the blackened, and whoever deceived everyone will graduate!”

My heart pounded against my ribs. 

"What are those ?" Haruka asked, as she pointed to both the pictures of Rei and Madoka.

"Friendship lasts, even from beyond the grave... it'd be awful if those two got left out just because they croaked!" Mono-Kanade said.

"Okay, that about does it for the preamble... get ready to get staaaarted! First up is the case summary. Now, let the class trial... begin!" Monokuma cheered.

I took a few deep breaths, though they barely helped. Anything I had noticed, anything I had found, I had to be ready to speak up about anything and everything.

...Oh, god... I don't know if I can do this... but... but I have to... or we'll all die here!

"Alright... so... uh, how do we start?" Nanako asked slowly.

"Well," Kirsten put a hand to her chin, "it's been a long time since I've had to testify in a court... Why don't we just start with the facts and go from there? Let's go over the crime scene."

"Yes, usually that gets people talking," Yamako nodded.

Non-Stop, Debate, Start!

"The victim was Rei Mekaru," Haruka said.

"The murder took place in the library ," added Mikako.

"Cause of death? Rei was stabbed through the heart! " finished Satsuki.

...Wait, no, that's not what happened!

"Wait, that's not right!" I shouted in alarm, drawing everyone's eyes on me. 

BREAK!

"I don't think Rei was stabbed in the heart." I said.

"You're right," assured Mikako. "I found out that she was stabbed in the neck during my autopsy."

"Oh. Oh yea! Whoopsie," Satsuki shrugged.

"'Kay, so that's one step down," said Yamako. "...Now what?"

"Hmm... let's discuss the murder weapon, then?" Nanako suggested. "We need to determine what caused Rei's death."

As everyone stood silent, I wracked my brain for anything that could've been used as a weapon that I'd seen during the investigation.

Non-Stop Debate, Start!

“I already figured out the murder weapon.” Mikako spoke.

”What is it?” Marissa asked.

Mikako brought out the knife that she had tucked in her pocket. “This was found near Rei’s body.” She explained.

”You seem to know about knives, don’t you, Mikako?” asked Takara. “I think you did it!”

"No, it's alright, Takara," Mikako sighed. "I expected I'd be under suspicion... It’s invetiable in trials.”

Mikako’s right… Maybe I can prove she’s innocent!

"Wait, that's not right!" I shouted again.

BREAK!

“Mikako didn’t kill Rei.” I said.

“So there’s no good reason to suspect Mikako then," said Marissa.

"Hmpf!" Takara simply crossed her arms and pouted, her face scrunched into ugly contempt.

"Well, now that that's over with..." said Yamako. "Now what?"

”There was some green glowing paint near Rei’s body.” I said.

"I believe she's suggesting that perhaps that paint had something to do with Rei's death," Nanako explained.

"Alright, so let's talk about that paint, then!" said Haruka.

Non-Stop Debate, Start!

“It was near Rei’s body.” Marissa started.

“I wonder how it got there.” mused Ayame.

“Maybe the killer used it to mark Rei’s location?” asked Hibiki.

"Yeah, I can agree with that!" I nodded.

BREAK!

”The killer probably used it to mark Rei’s location.” I said.

“Let’s go over what we know so far.” Mikako said. “Rei was stabbed in the back of the neck with a knife. I'm sure... it fit the hole perfectly.”

"...YOU GUYS DON'T WANNA KNOW HOW SHE FIGURED THAT OUT. TRUST ME," Marissa added queasily, and strangely in all caps.

“Green paint was probably used to mark her location, too. It does seem that the last few clues we have to discuss would be our best chance at solving this mystery." Mikako said.

"Ugh, don't tell Satsuki we have to rely on some dumb alibis and the library..."

"Why? Because it appears to be the one important detail in this trial? Because you didn't come up with it?" Takara pointed at the Ultimate Musician.

“Okay…” Satsuki said.

“Alrighty!” Haruka’s eyes sparkled. “Let’s start by pinning down some alibis!”

Non-Stop Debate, Start!

"We can exclude Kirsten, correct?" Yamako asked.

"Kirsten said she was reading a book. So we can assume she’s innocent then." Nanako nodded.

“What about Haruka, though? She said she was working on a  new program to help with our investigation!” Kizuna said.

”Yes. I. Was.” Haruka said.

"Then you two are in the clear.“ Mikako said.

”Which leaves us with 13 possible killers in our midst.” Marissa said.

”But they’re all good people!” Akane said.

“Yeah, I can agree with that!” I chirped in.

BREAK!

”Most people in this room are innocent.” I said.

”Alright…” Akane said.

”You know, my top suspect is Kirsten!” I declared.

Kirsten pointed at me.

"I'm sorry, but that's wrong!" The Ultimate Writing Prodigy cried out, garnering everyone's attention. 

“Rei is so sweet!” Kirsten cried.

Understatement of the century…

“I would never harm her! I- wait... no, I can easily prove my innocence!” Kirsten continued on.

Rebuttal Showdown

Kirsten: (pointing) I can prove I’m innocent!

Kirsten: (crossing her arms) I have an airtight alibi!

Kirsten: (hands on hips) Why did you start suspecting me all of a sudden!

Kirsten: (angry) You dumb bitch!

Kirsten: I didn’t kill Rei!

Advance!

Kiyoka: (accusatory) I think you did, Kirsten!

Kirsten: (angry) I’m! Not! The! Culprit!

Kirsten: (grabbing her hair) You’re a bastard!

Kirsten: (thinking$ Can you prove that I’m not the killer for once?!

“I’ll slice through that argument!” I said.

BREAK!

“You have an alibi, Kirsten.” I said. “That means the killer can be anyone.” I said.

Suddenly, everyone turned to look at me.

Oh no… I ended up being a suspect. 

I betta prove I’m innocent, then…

”I’ll turn this lie into the truth!”

Perjury!

BREAK!

”Guys, I’m not the killer, right?” I fibbed. “I was… playing billiards.”

“Thank god.” Nanako sighed.

”Now we have to go over the final clue.” Marissa said.

Non-Stop Debate, Start!

“What’s that?” Hibiki asked. ”Should it be some dumb letters or something?”

"Not quite," I put my hand on my podium. "There was a secret passage! That gives the killer a possible means of escape!"

"...There were?" Hibiki recoiled in surprise. "Where the fuck was I when you found this?"

“I found it with Kiyoka and Nanako during the investigation,” Marissa confirmed.

”It did look used…” Nanako pointed out.

”Yeah, I can agree with that!” I said.

BREAK!

”You’re right, Nanako.” I nodded. “The secret passage did look used… I think the killer used that to escape.”

”That’s very likely.” Nanako nodded.

While everyone listened to Nanako... realization finally hit me.

It hit me like a punch.

Oh... oh, god... no...!

My eyes widened until my pupils were pinpricks. My heart shattered as my legs threatened to give out beneath me.

No... no! It can't be... it's not fair!

I felt my supper begin to force its way back up my throat. Though I kept it down, my skin felt damp and clammy from sweat. shivered.

"Uh, Maki? You feelin' alright?" Ayame looked over to me worriedly as I stared at the floor.

No... I don't want to say it... I can't...!

But as I looked up towards Marissa... towards Mikako, Yamako, Satsuki, towards all of my friends... I knew deep down that it had to be said. To save the lives of my friends... my next sentence... would save all of us but one.

...I must. If I don't... we'll ALL die here!

"You look pale," said Kirsten.

"I... I think I figured out who killed Rei Mekaru." As everyone gasped and asked who, I scanned their faces one last time before I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the accusation.

“Haruka?” I asked. “I think you lied about your alibi.”

Chapter Text

"Whoa, whoa, WHAT!? I DIDN'T KILL REI!" Haruka screamed.

"Haru, I think you lied about your alibi!" I refuted. "You were too vague on it, and that's a little too on the nose for my liking, you know!"

"B-But...it's impossible!" Haruka desperately said.

"Haru, you need to either give us an explanation or a rebuttal." Marissa said. "The evidence and the discussion we have had are pointing to you as the culprit."

"B-B-But…" Haruka stuttered.

Takara rolled her eyes. "Haruka is too sus, like, I would be surprised if she is actually the culprit since she is too SUS!"

"But we need to discuss a piece of evidence we haven't discussed yet, before we decide if Haruka is the culprit," Kana said.

Non-Stop Debate, Start!

"So, we know that Haruka probably killed Rei ... But what do we have to discuss first?" Nanako questioned.

"Simple." Mikako said. "There's a book near Rei's corpse."

"I wonder where she was going with that." Yamako wondered.

"Maybe she was going to read it before her fight with you , Miss Kiyoka?" Kirsten asked.

That's a good point. Not to mention...

"Yeah, I can agree with that!" I said.

BREAK!

"I think Rei was going to read a book before she fought me," I explained.

"..." Haruka stared down at the ground, muttering something I couldn't hear to herself.

"Haruka, I still think you killed Rei." I spoke.

"I...I…" Haruka couldn't speak. She just looked terrified that she was being accused of something so vile. It hurt me to keep pressuring her like this, but I had to. To make sure we all survive, and that the game ends. Meanwhile, Monokuma was just giggling to himself, trying to hold back his laughter. Even Mono-Kanade looked put off by his behavior.

"Don't you have...anything to say about these accusations?" Marissa asked her.

"A-Anything to say…? E-Even if you keep saying all that stuff… I still don't get it…" Haruka clutched her shoulders even tighter than before as fear enveloped her. "Hey, let's stop this already! You're mistaken!" She then cried out. "C-Cuz we're friends, right!? Weren't we going to work together to escape this killing game?" Before she could try to guilt trip us even more, I cut her off in defiance.

" This is a class trial ." I loudly stated. "You aren't allowed to leave until we prove you're the killer."

”B-But you can’t prove I-I did it!” Haruka stuttered incoherently, grabbing her hair before erupting with laughter.

Haruka… you’re a bit insane…

"No... I refuse to believe this!" Haruka shouted. "How exactly do you purport that I killed Rei?!”

“I can prove it here.” I said sternly. “Your alibi sounded made up, and you knew what Mikako was going to do with her autospy, and you knew about the knife and the paint and the library, and you didn’t react near Rei’s corpse, to my knowledge! I think that you have something to hide, Haruka!”

“I’m not hiding anything!” Haruka insisted. “I’m not hiding anything!”

Now, it was just me and Haruka, who appeared to me much differently than she did in reality. She was wearing a long white dress, reaching to her ankles, and she was barefoot. She was holding a golden goblet, wine in it in one hand and in the other, a harp. On her head was a glowing golden halo that went with the pair of angel wings on her back.

Argument Armament 
START!

It’s all a bunch of lies!

Are you guys really falling for this shit?

It wasn’t me, you liars!

This doesn’t prove anythin’ at all!

After that hit, Haruka’s wine-filled goblet vanished into thin air, the tempo picking up with the difficulty in getting through to her.


I AM INNOCENT!

I DID NOT KILL REI!

YOU DARE ACCUSE ME?!

WHY WOULD YOU ACCUSE ME?!

Off went the halo and angel wings, exposing more of Haruka being anything but at the moment with the tempo going even faster than it had before.

No...

I-It wasn't me!

You can't prove I did it, Kiyoka!

There’s no way into the library where Rei was!

Now with Haruka’s harp gone, she was dead center, exactly where I wanted her to be.

FINAL BLOW!

How could I have gotten into the library to commit the murder!?

YOU
USED
A
SECRET PASSAGE

“It’s all over!” 

And with that, Haruka fell onto her knees, screaming. Her hair was a mess. Her clothes were all torn and ruined.

Her final argument was over.

BREAK!

I gasped as I realized one final truth, blinking away my tears.

”Haruka, I think you crawled through that secret passage in the library.” I spoke.

“So, you’re definitely Rei’s killer, then.” Yamako said.

”This mystery was too easy.” Mikako commented.

"I... I..." Haruka panted, staring at the floor, drawing out the syllables until he finally admitted defeat. "That... wasn't... what I wanted to do..."

"Welp, you tried..." Satsuki sighed before perking back up. "Uh... can we go over the whole thing again, from the top? Satsuki... kinda needs to hear it again... just to be sure."

"Right, yeah... I-I can do that," I swallowed hard, then cleared my throat. “This is how it all went down!”

Closing Argument!

ACT 1

”This incident started yesterday with the reveal of Monokuma’s motive: he gave us personalised videos showing that our loved ones had been brutally killed. Most of us were disturbed by this horrible motive, save for the eventual culprit, who decided not to do anything about it. Today, Rei Mekaru, Ultimate Martial Artist, decided to invite me to the library to fight. That... that was the last time anyone saw her alive.”

ACT 2

"While I was talking with Mikako Kurokawa, Ultimate Inventor, the culprit decided to head to their computer lab. To make a program, they said. But in reality... they were preparing a murder.”

ACT 3

"The culprit grabbed a kitchen knife and some glowing green paint. These things would later help them out when they were committing their crime. Meanwhile, Rei was in the library, getting a book to read while she waited for me. This would be the last thing she ever did.”

ACT 4

”While Rei was reading the book, the culprit crawled into a secret passage and marked her location with the glowing paint. When Rei was putting her book back after a few minutes of reading it, the culprit seized this chance. They crawled even further and ended up behind Rei. Who had decided to take the book out for some reason. The culprit then stabbed Rei in the back of her neck, killing her.”

ACT 5

"Once she was dead, the culprit then left the library. During the investigation, I asked the culprit for their alibi. The culprit told me that they were working on a program to help them during the investigation, but it turned out to be a lie that ultimately worked against them.”

“Someone here is definitely the one who killed Rei! And that someone is none other than the Ultimate Programmer herself, Haruka Kobashikawa!”

BREAK!

Haruka’s face went pale. “I…I…”

"Hmph... Just goes to show you... absolutely no one can be trusted in this situation," Takara turned her head disapprovingly, her nose in the air.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Monokuma suddenly shouted, startling everyone. "At least save it for the end of the trial! Sheesh!"

"Looks like the debate's finished, so that means it's voting time!" Mono-Kanade added.

Seventeen large buttons appeared. Each button was brightly lit and had one of our faces on it.

“Press a button to vote!” Mono-Kanade said.

"At last... the heart-racing excitement as the blackened and the spotless finally face off..." Monokuma monologued in grandiose fashion, quickly joined by Mono-Kanade as her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"IT'S VOTING TIME!" they cried in unison. A huge TV monitor lowered from somewhere high above, stopping just above Monokuma's throne. I heard groans of lamentation all around me as I stared at the buttons, feeling sick to my stomach. Haruka had been so nice to us all… 

Haru... why did you have to do this...?

I sighed and closed my eyes as I pressed Haruka's button. 

"Puhuhu... it seems the voting has finished!" Monokuma giggled. "Now then, let's see the result!"

The giant monitor lit up to show the words "Voting Results", then switched to display our names next to images of our faces, arranged into two tidy columns. Fifteen red tallies were under Haruka’s name and beside her face. 

"Who'll be chosen as the blackened?" Monokuma continued to taunt. "Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beeee?!"

The giant monitor's image died for a second, only to next display a wheel labeled "Verdict" divided into seventeen sections, each with a pixel icon of one of us on it. A ball appeared and it rolled around the sections in a clockwise fashion, gradually slowing down until it came to a stop right on Haruka's section. Bells rang in celebration, and coins and confetti fell from the ceiling as the Ultimate Programmer's name flashed across the screen, as if to further rub in the despair we all felt.

Flashing lights only served to emphasize the most important feature. A single prominent word.

"GUILTY!"

CLASS TRIAL, END!

ALL RISE!

"Uh-oh! Looks like you got it right on the money!" Monokuma laughed. "The blackened in this case, the one who killed Rei Mekaru... was none other than Haruka Kobashikawa!”

“Rei?” Haruka asked, hiding in a secret passage.

”Yes?” Rei asked the programmer.

”I’ve been meaning to ask… but are those Despair Videos fake? My parents were brutally murdered on my video.” Haruka said.

”We don’t know.” Rei replied. “We don’t know if those videos are real or not until we kill someone.”

”Are you saying that my parents could still be alive?” Haruka asked with sparkling eyes. 

Rei shrugged. 

Suddenly, something in Haruka clicked. 

“That’s it!” The programmer said. “Thanks Rei! I have the chance now! I’m gonna find out what really happened to my parents!”

“W-what?” Rei said as she realised what Haruka was implying.

The programmer brought out a knife.

”No! Put down that knife!” Rei pointed at Haruka.

”I won’t.” Haruka said. “You will be my chance to find out what happened to my parents.  I’ll try to be quick, okay?”

She raised it over Rei’s head, aiming it at the back of her neck.

"But... I did not mean to...!" Haruka sobbed, as she recollected why she killed Rei. “I… I just wanted to find out what happened to my parents!”

“What.” Takara snarled icily.

“Allow me to explain.” Haruka said. “When Monokuma announced the motive, I watched my Despair Video. It showed my parents getting horribly murdered. I was so scared that I wanted to find out if it was real. I got a kitchen knife just in case of emergencies and I headed through a secret passage to the library, where I marked the location of Rei, the person I wanted to talk to, with green paint. I talked to her, wanting to know if they were real. Rei said that we didn’t know. She was probably being mean… And that’s when I realized that I had the chance to learn what happened to my parents…”

"You killed her because she was mean," Kirsten muttered quietly in an angry monotone. "I don't believe this..."

”Maybe?” Haruka shrugged. “I don’t know.”

”That’s the truth! Every shred of it!” Mono-Kanade said. “Haruka killed so she would know what became of her parents. She’s not lying!”

“How tragic.” Takara said, deadpan.

“Don’t kill Haruka! She’s always been so nice to everyone! We have laws-!" Kanata shrieked.

"Screw the laws, I'm Monokuma!" The bear’s expression fell suddenly. "You’re so kind, Miss Maid, I almost don't even want to go through with the punishment."

Oh...?

Though I dared hope he truly would let Haruka live, it took only a few seconds for me to realize Monokuma was smiling behind that frozen grin of his. I could feel the air thickening with despair as he quietly giggled, and that giggle soon grew into raucous laughter.

"But what kind of bear would I be if I went back on my word?! It seems there's no point in basking in the afterglow, so let's hurry up and begin the punishment!"

"No!" Kizuna cried.

"You can't!" Satsuki shouted. “Haruka is Satsuki’s friend!”

”Now then, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Haruka Kobashikawa, the Ultimate Programmer!” Monokuma announced.

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her!” Mikako shouted.

”Haruka’s so kind! She doesn’t deserve to die!” Yamako sobbed.

I saw tears build up in Haruka’s eyes. “Big sis is sorry… Now, Monokuma… Please… Please tell me what happened. Are those videos real!?”

“LET’S GIVE IT EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT!” Monokuma shouted.

“Please! Tell me!” Haruka pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks. “What happened to my parents?!”

”It’s PUNISHMENT TIME!” Monokuma announced.

Haruka broke down crying.

A large, red button appeared before Monokuma. He grinned with excitement as he pulled out a hammer, hopped and did a somersault in midair, smashing the button as he landed. The screen underneath the button lit up. It showed a pixelated animation of Haruka standing. A pixel version of Monokuma marched over to Haruka, and then dragged her off-screen by the hair while horribly upbeat music played.

GAME OVER

Haruka has been found guilty.
Time for the punishment!

As a hazard alarm began to blare, the courtroom descended into a sudden change of mood.

Surrounded by her classmates, Haruka stepped back, nervous expression and light scowl on her face. 

From the ceiling came a metal collar with both halves of Monokuma’s face on each side, a chain attached to it.

Suddenly, the collar latched onto Haruka’s neck. As she tried to undo the collar, the chain proceeded to drag her out of the courtroom and into the ceiling with the upmost brutality.

 The monitor lit up, showcasing the ensuing despair for us to witness.

The Perfect Program (It’s Even Polished to Perfection!)

Haruka landed in a giant computer. Outside of the computer, she appeared as a pixel icon of herself.

Monokuma, dressed as a programmer, appeared with Mono-Kanade and the madness began.

Monokuma sat down at the desk and started to type code into the computer. 

At first, nothing happened.

In the computer, Haruka was confused.

Maybe she could walk free!

No such luck.

To Haruka’s surprise, the computer world started to shake.

This was a computer bug!

Then thousands of spiky… things appeared and started to attack Haruka, slicing her body all over.

Soon, Haruka was streaked all over with little lines of blood.

Her eyes watered from the pain, but Monokuma didn’t seem to care.

Then Mono-Kanade jammed all the keys in the keyboard, and a wall of fire appeared behind Haruka.

This was starting to turn into a virus!

Soon, pretty much the entire computer world was on fire.

Seeing a non-fire section, Haruka ran through the flames, getting burnt in the process.

She kneeled down in the non fire section, closing her eyes…

And then Monokuma got angry, and he threw his coffee onto the computer.

This sent an electric shock to the program, which hit Haruka and electrocuted her from all angles like she'd been hit with a high powered taser. 
"AAAAAAAAAAH!" The Ultimate Programmer screamed in pain.

Then the computer started to glitch out, and it turned off, but not before showing this message:

“WE HAVE FOUND A PROBLEM IN YOUR BROWSER. PLEASE RESTART. ALTERNATIVELY, THROW YOUR DUMB COMPUTER AWAY!”

Monokuma smirked as Mono-Kanade hit a button. The computer fell into the pit that had opened on the desk.

The computer fell and fell, until it landed on a giant pile of trash. 
Somehow, in the computer world, Haruka was still alive.

She got up.

And then the world started to get smaller.

Haruka screamed in horror.

She was in a trash compactor!

With a sickening splat, the laptop was slammed from all sides. I nearly vomited at the sickening crunch of bone and the messy squelch of guts, while a few of the others gagged, scrambling for anything resembling a container.

As blood began to leak from the garbage compacter, the machine spat out a small, perfect cube of garbage and black metal.
A tinge of blood seeped out of the cube.

And we could do nothing.

Nothing but watch in fear…

The monitor finally deactivated.

"YAHOOOOOOOO! EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEME!" Monokuma shouted gleefully.

The reaction was immediate as everyone digested the brutal display that we had just seen. The immediate reaction for some was screaming, none louder than…

“AAAAAAAAAAH!” Kanata screamed, diving behind her podium away from the mad bear.

“Oh my god oh my god what the heck is this what the heck--” Kizuna babbled as she fell back onto her rear end.

"Are... Are you fucking serious right now...?!" Akane gasped, furious tears streaming down her face.

Yamako wordlessly squealed and leapt for the nearest person, who ended up being Mikako, nearly throttling the poor inventor to death as she squeezed hard begging and pleading in an indistinguishable stream of noise.

“You are one sick bastard!” Nanako groaned, still holding her stomach and trying to take deep breaths.

Takara wheezed, "What the fuck was that?!"

"Only psychopaths would kill someone like that..." Kirsten frowned. While she wasn’t too fazed by the brutality of the execution, her face was twisted with deep concern.

Satsuki stood like a weeping statue.

“Is that what happens when we get punished?” Hibiki asked.

”Nope!” Mono-Kanade said. “That was only for Haruka! Each of you has a social punishment planned!”

"This... this is far too cruel..." Kana whimpered. "I can't bear to see anything like that again..."

"It won't..." Ayame crossed her arms. "...I'll make sure of it. No one else is going to die like that!"

Monokuma laughed. “You’re threatening to stand up against me? No, that’s rule breaking! And breaking rules results in execution! So unless you wanna die a slow and painful death like Miss Journalist and Miss Code both did recently, then don’t stand up against me!”

Then he left with Mono-Kanade.

Nobody spoke again for quite some time. The despair, the anger, the grief in the room hung over us like thick clouds, weighing us down and preventing anyone from moving. I wracked my brain with ways we could still escape, but my thoughts were as weak and fleeting as mist.

So much had happened today.

Finally, Kanata forced a whimper out of her throat. "I... I-I can't take this... I w-want to go h-home..."

"Well, we can't," Takara sighed. "And now if someone kills someone else and does get away with it? We're all dead, too."

"...No one's gonna kill anyone else," Marissa rasped, sniffling back tears. "I'm gonna make sure of that."

"Oh? And how do you think you're gonna-"

"Takara, that's enough," I cut her off. "I agree... we can't let our fears get the better of us. We need to stick together, now more than ever." She glared at me for a few seconds before conceding with another huff of contempt.

"Yea... I'm with everyone else on this one," Akane nodded. "If we don't trust in each other, then this could very well happen again. And I really don't want to see another death, or an execution."

"...Can we please l-leave this place?" Kanata asked timidly. Kirsten wrapped an arm around her as we headed back to the elevator. It began to rise a few seconds after we had all boarded, and we began our ascent.

As the doors opened back up, we trudged into the school and into the dormitory, exhausted both physically and mentally. Everyone walked straight into their rooms, myself following suit. 

I let out a deep sigh and flopped face first into my bed, too drained to even shower first.

Then, I succumbed to a fitful sleep.

Received Gift!

Programmer’s Laptop

Chapter 1: I’d Bet My Life on It

End

Surviving Students: 14

Chapter Text

Monokuma Theatre

Mr. Monokuma... Mr. Monokuma, do you have a second?

I...I don't really like myself. I don't really have any skill or hobby I can say I'm super good at...

And my grades are totally average too. My reflexes are okay. Not great, not awful.

I could get into a decent college, where I'd make a few friends. Maybe even find a normal girlfriend...

Which is exactly why I don't like who I am!

I understand that now!

My life is just one giant copy-paste!

I don't have any imagination! I'm a perfectly average cardboard cutout!

You see what I mean, right Mr. Monokuma!?

End of Monokuma Theatre

Chapter 2 - Secret Dreams: A Cursed Story

Daily Life

"Goooood morning, everyone! It is now 7am and Nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"

As grating as Monokuma's voice had been, it was nearly intolerable as his morning announcement graced my ears. The sun's sudden rising was dimmed by my tightly-clenched eyes.

Haruka, Madoka and Rei were dead. Dead... nobody had thought it possible, but it was the truth. 

My stomach growled loudly. Three girls had perished, but that didn't change my need for food. With a heavy sigh, I left my bed and began making my way towards the cafeteria.

I gently shut my door and locked it, and walked quietly. As I passed the stairs to the upper rooms, I couldn't help but gaze sadly up them towards Rei's room, then Madoka’s, then Haruka's, all three now locked tightly shut.

My footsteps echoed softly as I entered the cafeteria. As I got some food and sat down, the others began slowly trickling in until we were all present. Everyone looked equally depressed.

Breakfast this time was noticeably different, but not in a good way. It felt eerily quiet without Haruka, and I missed Rei and Madoka. Three people were gone; three lives lost...and it showed. In such a short space of time, I had really grown fond of my classmates. It wasn’t like losing two strangers, I had lost two friends. 

The memories of yesterday swarmed my mind - the discovery of Rei’s body, Madoka breaking a rule, the trial, the execution...

God, the execution. I would have nightmares about that for the rest of my life. However long that ended up being. No matter what she’d done, Haruka just didn’t deserve to die like that. No one did. It was inhuman.

"I can't believe this isn't a bad dream..." Kanata sighed. "We're all still here... and yesterday... really happened..."

We did need to talk about what had happened yesterday. It was horrible to think about, but sitting there in silence pretending that nothing had happened was only going to make us feel worse.

“Haru’s death was so brutal…” Mikako said.

The very mention of Haruka's execution made my blood run cold. Its brutality had been mentally scarring. I knew that I was never going to unsee it, but desperately wished I could erase it from my memory.

“I agree. ” Kizuna remarked. “It was basically a horror movie, but a million times worse.”

“We should take extra care not to break any rules.” Nanako said.

“I don’t ever want to see something like that again.” Yamako squirmed. “I can’t even begin to imagine what it must’ve felt like…“

"Goooood morning, my lovely little students!" Monokuma suddenly leapt onto the table with a clatter, causing quite a disturbance.

"What do you want, you little bastard?" Takara growled through her teeth.

“I was here to give you a prize…” Monokuma said.

Hibiki was eager. “A prize?”

“Four prizes actually.” Monokuma went on. “But, if you want me to go, I will…”

I could see from a mile off that Monokuma was trying to use reverse psychology on us. Prizes sounded too good to be true. Whatever Monokuma was offering could be part of a new motive.

“That’s a bit twisted,” Marissa spoke up. “Why would we want a prize for our friends dying?”

“You make it sound so bad when you say it like that!” Monokuma laughed. “Consider this a prize for successfully clearing the class trial.”

“Show me the prizes!” Hibiki demanded, stomping her foot like a spoiled child.

“With pleasure!” Monokuma smirked. “Kanade!”

Grinning with excitement, Mono-Kanade’s eyes sparkled. “Look at all these prizes we’ve got for you! An Ocarina! A Dragon’s Gem! An Ancient Passport. And I’ve got some Hexagonal Crank from a zombie game for you.”

“What an exciting bunch of shit!” Monokuma laughed. 

I scrunched my face at the items; it looked like a load of junk.

“Kanade, hand out the prizes!” Monokuma ordered.

On Monokuma’s command, Mono-Kanade distributed the presents between the students. Hibiki was given the Ancient Passport, Kanata was gifted the Ocarina, Marissa had the Hexagonal Wrench, and Takara ended up with the Dragon’s Gem.

“Who knows,” Monokuma smirked. “You might even find some new rooms…”

With that, Monokuma left in a hurry, taking Mono-Kanade with him.

We decided to split up. I ended up with Yamako, Mikako and Marissa.

"Welcome to the dream team," Yamako grinned playfully.

With all four groups decided, we all separated, branching off in different directions in an attempt to learn the secrets of the school. It took a lot of searching, and walking in circles, but me and my group finally made their discovery outside, by the exceptionally high gate opposite the dormitories. Using the hexagonal wrench, we opened the gate, revealing a spiral staircase.

Their discovery led us to a courtyard, which contained two tall buildings. I found myself standing on a pathway, which was surrounded by water, so I took extra care where I stood.

“This looks exciting!” Mikako exclaimed.

The first of the two buildings was glitzy and glamorous, surrounded by bright lights, that were projecting into the sky. The massive lettering on the roof labelled this building as a casino, revealing its identity before we’d even stepped inside.

“A casino...I wasn’t expecting that.” Marissa scratched her head.

“Me either,” I said. “They certainly never had one at my old school.”

Across from the Casino was the second building. A neon sign rested on the roof, which read ‘Hotel Kumasutra’. There were plenty of windows on the outside, which seemed fitting for a hotel. However, I couldn’t quite understand why there was a hotel when we already had dorm rooms.

Mikako looked to the group for our opinions. "Where should we search first?"

The Casino was closest to us, but Yamako bossily led the way to the Hotel. “Follow me!” 

In front of the hotel, there was a pavement sign, which I only noticed upon getting closer. It described the ‘Love Suite’ with some details on pricing. It didn’t take me long to realise the hotel’s true purpose. 

Mikako’s eyes widened. “Is...is this what I think it is?”

“I...I think so.” I grimaced. “A Love Suite is pretty self-explanatory…”

”Let’s explore the casino.” Marissa grumbled.

The Casino was a lot more entertaining than the hotel, mainly because we could actually get inside. There were a handful of different games for them to play, where they could win ‘Monocoins’. The coins could be exchanged for prizes, but nothing too exciting. Not to mention the exchange rate for prizes was rather high; I couldn’t see myself spending hours at the slot machine in return for some tat. I knew things could be boring around Starlight High, but hopefully never that boring.

“I think we’ve seen all that there is to see around here,” I concluded. “We should probably go and check on the others.”

Kanata, Akane, Kirsten and Kana had worked together with the Ocarina to uncover a swimming pool. I found them in the new location, which could be accessed from outside, just to the right of the main building. 

“A swimming pool huh…” I remarked, making my presence known. “At least this makes more sense than a Casino.”

“Ah, hello!” Kanata greeted me.

“Look what we found!” Kirsten said.

I took some time to properly study the room, which is when it occurred to me just how fancy this pool was. “I’ve never seen a school pool that’s this nice before.”

“It’s like we’re at a five-star hotel!” Kanata agreed. “The water looks incredible!”

Hibiki then appeared. “The ancient passport has led us to the discovery of Ayame’s lab.”

“We should go,” Yamako said.

Ayame’s lab was an astronaut’s paradise, what with starry wallpaper and the like.

“Hey!” Ayame greeted us with a wave. Satsuki, who was by her side, gave a small nod.

“Woah, this is awesome!” Mikako exclaimed, admiring the room in all of its glory.

”Let’s see what the others are up to,” Yamako said.

We left the lab. We decided to go upstairs to see if any new discoveries had been made there. I immediately noticed that the dragon statue had disappeared and a new hallway had opened up there instead. Logic suggested that this was the result of the Dragon's Gem Takara's team had been in charge of. The new space had opened up the second floor, making Starlight High feel a lot wider than it previously was.

As we eagerly walked down the new corridor, we found a mysterious door with a purple frame.

”So, this is Kizuna’s lab.” Yamako sighed, opening the door.

I can’t say I expected anything different for Kizuna’s lab. It’s just a normal indoor pool, with the lanes and such. There are also some high boards, but generally... It was just a pool. 

So the lab of the Ultimate Swimming Pro… is a pool. It’s a fucking pool. What the hell?!

“We should leave. This lab labs.” Mikako pointed out.

”Let’s go to the dining hall area.” Yamako said.

Having solved the secrets of the four mysterious objects, we gathered in the dining hall; their agreed meeting spot. Once everyone was seated at the table, it was time to discuss what we had found. 

"Well, these items turned out far more useful than I ever imagined," Hibiki said, opening up the conversation. 

"Yeah, they weren't just useless junk after all!" Yamako exclaimed. 

"So, what did everyone find?" Kanata asked. "We used the Ocarina to unlock a swimming pool!" 

"We used the wrench and discovered a casino and hotel," Marissa contributed. 

"A hotel?" Kana repeated. "What's the point in that?!"

"Is it nicer than the dorms?" Ayame asked. "If it is, I'm moving." 

"Trust me, you don't want to go in there," Mikako warned us. "It's a sex hotel..." 

"The ancient passport led us to Ayame's lab," Hibiki shared. "That is the only room we found."

"Oh, really?" Nanako said. "We actually found a lot with the Dragon's Gem. It opened up the second floor. We even found Kizuna’s lab!”

I wanted to talk to someone. I decided to talk to Takara. 

I got an umbrella from the MonoMonoMachine, and headed to Takara’s dorm.

Spend Freetime with Takara?

> Yes

Kiyoka: "Hi, Takara!"

Takara: "What do you want?"

Kiyoka: "Well... It's a secret..."

Takara: "What?"

Kiyoka: "I'm going to ask you a favor."

Takara: "What the fuck is this favor?"

Kiyoka: "Would you like to talk over some tea?"

Takara: "I don't want any fucking tea!"

Kiyoka: "Well, would you like to go to a rock concert?"

Takara: "Maybe another day. But I would like a milkshake."

Kiyoka: "What?"

Takara: "A milkshake."

Kiyoka: "You want me to get you a milkshake?"

Takara: "Fine."

Kiyoka goes and makes Takara a mint chocolate milkshake. Kiyoka: "So, how did you become a supreme leader, Takara?"

Takara: "I dunno..."

Kiyoka: "Really?"

Takara: "I can recall some details. Mind if I tell you?"

Kiyoka: "Sure."

Takara: "Well, I have a small part in a play called "The Birth of The New Era of Jesus." I've been doing it for a few months."

Kiyoka: "Really?"

Takara: "Yeah."

Kiyoka: "Doing a stage play is hard work, I bet. I was an actress in a stage play in preschool, so I know from personal experience how hard it is to act in plays!"

Takara: "It's not easy. But the pay is good, so I'm willing to put in the effort."

Kiyoka: "Tell me about your home life."

Takara: "I live with my aunt. She takes care of me, basically."

Kiyoka: "Does she treat you badly?"

Takara: "She treats me good. It's better than my dad."

Kiyoka: "Does she beat you?"

Takara: "Uh no! My aunt doesn't beat me."

Kiyoka: "Does she yell at you a lot?" Takara: "My aunty treats me as a baby. It's so embrassing! I'll tell you about my dad."

Kiyoka: "How did dad treat you?"

Takara: "My dad treated my family horribly."

Kiyoka: "Oh, why?"

Takara: "Because he was rich and had a big company."

Kiyoka: "So, did you hate your dad for that?" Takara: "I did. And you can't blame me! For example, he groomed us all from a young age."

Kiyoka: "Groomed you? How?"

Takara: "He'd invite us to his office. He'd give us presents. That's how he groomed us." Kiyoka: "What else did daddy do?"

Takara: "One of my siblings was a spoiled brat who yelled a lot. My daddy was so pissed that he…"

Kiyoka: "Your dad hit him/her?"

Takara: "No, he killed him/her."

Kiyoka: "Killed him/her?"

Takara: "Kinda."

Kiyoka: "Kinda?!"

Takara: "My father cut out his/her tongue."

Kiyoka: "WHAT?!"

Takara: "He did it with a pair of scissors. After that, my sibling was mute."

Kiyoka: "That's fucked up."

Takara: "I know. Even for society's standards."

Kiyoka: "Did you ever want to kill your father?"

Takara: "I guess. But I never had the chance."

Kiyoka: "I think you did." Takara: "I'll tell you more. My brother died in an accident a while back. However, some people think that brother's death was no accident and that it was arranged by Father himself in order to eliminate an unworthy heir to the family."

Kiyoka: "Did you know the person who died?"

Takara: "Yeah, that was one of my friends."

Kiyoka: "Oh."

Takara: "It was my brother. I just told you."

Kiyoka: "Oh."

Takara: "So, are you going to tell me your secret?"

Kiyoka: "Yes. I used to wet the bed."

Takara: "WHAT?"

Kiyoka: "I wet my bed."

Takara: "That's fucked up."

Kiyoka: "I know."

Takara: "I'll tell you more about my father. A brother of mine once stole his wallet."

Kiyoka: "You mean, like, someone robbed him on the street?"

Takara: "No. My brother just stole his wallet. Father was not happy."

Kiyoka: "Really?"

Takara: "He was so fucking mad that he threw my brother into an insane aluysm."

Kiyoka: "You mean, like, he had him locked up?"

Takara: "No, he just had him under house arrest."

Kiyoka: "How long did your brother say there?"

Takara: "Five years."

Kiyoka: "FIVE FUCKING YEARS?!"

Takara: "Yes."

Kiyoka: "That's really… fucked up."

Takara: "I know. He was alone for those five years."

Kiyoka: "It must have been horrible for your poor brother. It's a miracle he isn't foaming at the mouth now."

Takara: "It was horrible."

Kiyoka: "I'm sorry."

Takara: "It's okay."

Kiyoka: "Do you want to kill your father?" Takara: "I've thought about it."

Kiyoka: "Really?"

Takara: "Yes."

Kiyoka: "Have you ever… tried to kill him?"

Takara: "If I'm trapped here, then it's probably not feasible."

Kiyoka: "So, what are you going to do?"

Takara: "I'm going to wait for a good opportunity. I can't do anything before that."

Kiyoka: "I'm here to give you a gift."

< Give present to Takara?

< Umbrella

Takara: "Really?"

Kiyoka: "Yeah, you can keep it."

Takara: "Thank you."

Kiyoka: "No problem."

Takara: " It's cathartic spending time with someone like you, after spending my life with my insane alisyum escapee dad."

Kiyoka: "Yeah, it's… weird, but okay."

Takara: "We're probably more alike than we think."

Kiyoka: "Probably."

Takara: "Thanks, Maki. Catch you later."

Kiyoka: "Later."

Takara’s report card has been updated based off your experience with her!

Our evening meal was nearly silent. Some of us even elected to take our food to our rooms to eat in solitude. Deep down... I couldn't blame them. We’re they traumatized by Haruka and Rei and Madoka's deaths? Just... why...?

Before I knew it, Nighttime had arrived. A hot shower did little to clear my mind of worries, but it did allow my tired body to relax. After drying off I slipped under the covers, hoping that sleep would push those thoughts out of my mind.

Chapter Text

8am came annoyingly quickly. I awoke to the taunting prattles of Monokuma on the TV, tuning them out the best I could. I got out of my bed and threw on my clothes. At least there was a hot breakfast awaiting me.

I made my way to the Dining Hall, gathered together some food and sat down. Everyone else was here eating as well. Breakfast was mostly uneventful. The only conversation that really took place was that of Yamako asking everyone what their favorite foods and desserts were. 

We all finished our meals, put the dishes away and went our separate ways, I returning to my room to continue thinking.

But after an hour or so, despite all my effort, I came to no conclusion. I sighed in frustration, flopping onto my bed.

Ugh...

...

Hm... maybe if I talk to the others, I'll get a better idea of what to do...?

Besides that... I was pretty bored. With a bit of effort, I pushed myself off of the bed and left my room.

After getting a pen off the MonoMonoMachine, I wandered the school halls, looking for someone, anyone to talk to. Eventually, I found myself in the library.

My heart pounded. This was the place where Rei had died, where Haruka had become a blackened.

I then saw the secret passage... which only reminded me of the fatal clue that led to Haruka's conviction of murder, and subsequent execution.

I shuddered at the thought. Even going near the passage would be a horrible reminder of our current reality.

I saw Kirsten sitting on a beanbag, so I sat on the beanbag next to it.

Spend time with Kirsten?

< Yes

Kiyoka: "Kirsten, what are you doing?"

Kirsten: "I am trying to write a new story."

Kiyoka: "Why?"

Kirsten: "Because, I am bored."

Kiyoka: "You're the Ultimate Writing Prodigy, right?"

Kirsten: "Yeah."

Kiyoka: "Then, just do it already."

Kirsten: "But it's hard."

Kiyoka: "Try, you'll get better." Kirsten: "It's just writer's block. Writing new stories after some bestsellers is hard. That's probably why so many people either never start a book or never finish it."

Kiyoka: "I had wanted to start my own story but eventually gave up on the idea, so I know from personal experience how hard it is to write new stories!"

Kirsten: "Well, I'm sorry, but I think I'll have to put my writing on hold for now. I still have homework to do."

Kiyoka: "But...!" Kirsten: "Do you wanna know how this writing career got started?!"

Kiyoka: "Sure!"

Kirsten: "I had some stories in my head since I was little. I wrote them down, and one day, I had published my first book!" Kiyoka: "What was the worst thing you ever did with books?"

Kirsten: "Well, I had a friend. She loved me. She wanted to become like me, but she was bullied for her interests."

Kiyoka: "What did you do?"

Kirsten: "I went to her, and decided to give her something special…"

Kiyoka: "And then what happened?"

Kirsten: "I gave her a vial of green liquid. Later that day, the school held a lunch making contest. My friend particated in it, and she gave the resulting lunch to the whole school. However, she put in the green liquid…"

Kiyoka: "I think I can see where this is going…" Kirsten: "She didn't eat the lunch, but everyone else did. At the end of lunch, ambulances were called. The lunch was poisoned! Out of the thousands of people who had eaten lunch… half of them died and the other half never recovered from the poisoning."

Kiyoka: "Who did it?!"

Kirsten: "No one knows. But ever since then, I've been too scared to write."

Kiyoka: "Did you get hate for it?"

Kirsten: "Yes. I was blamed for the deaths and I had to eat my own lunch everyday."

Kiyoka: "Oh… that's horrible."

Kirsten: "It is." Kiyoka: "What happened then?"

Kirsten: "I couldn't go outside without being met with rotten tomatoes thrown at me." 

Kiyoka: "That's horrible."

Kirsten: "It was."

Kiyoka: "And that's why you write now?"

Kirsten: "Yes." Give Kirsten a gift?

< Pen

Kirsten:  "What is this?"

Kiyoka: "It's a pen, just something I was looking at."

Kirsten: "Why?"

Kiyoka: "Just something I thought you might like." Kirsten: "Thanks, Maki. See you later." 

Kiyoka: "Yeah, see you later."

I set off again. There was still quite a bit of time to kill until dinner, and then Nighttime.

...Boy, is it boring around here. But I guess that's to be expected...

But then I remembered that I had found that interesting book about unsolved puzzles from the MonoMono Machine in the Store, and I had a fair amount of MonoCoins left. Deciding I'd spend a few and see what I got, I made my way to the store.

I gambled on the MonoMono Machine. I got the book.

I headed to my dorm, used a spare pen, and solved all the puzzles.

Eventually, it was dinner time. The mood seemed a little lighter now that some more time had passed; more people were talking to each other quietly. I grabbed a plate, served myself and sat down with my friends to eat. Now that my mind wasn't so weighed down, I joined in my friends' conversation, and soon my worries were compartmentalized. I actually found myself enjoying the moment, as if we were all out at a restaurant together.

Unfortunately, our peaceful meal was soon interrupted. I nearly choked on my hayburger as Monokuma and Mono-Kanade suddenly dropped from the ceiling above and landed on the table.

"Hellllllllo, my dear students!" he grinned widely as his body squirmed and wiggled.

"What the hell do you want now, you bastard?!" Takara spat out.

Mono-Kanade smiled. "Weeeeell, if ya really wanna know... we’re bored now."

"Oh, boo hoo," Satsuki muttered sarcastically.

"Really! I thought you girls were supposed to be an easily-frightened bunch. But here you are, thinking rationally and working together!" Monokuma’s red eye flashed as he brought his paws to his mouth in a giggle. "I'm so proud of you all, my dear students!"

"Y-You are...?" Kanata shrank back cautiously.

"Yep! So, as a reward, here’s your next motive!” Mono-Kanade said.

“What’s this motive about?” asked Kana.

"So, this time, it's... embarrassing moments and secrets!" he giggled through his teeth as Monokuma trembled with laughter.

"Ooh! An oldie but goodie!" Mono-Kanade remarked.

"As long as you're alive, it's a given that there's things you don't want other people to know about you... so I did a little investigating of my own, and I dug up some of your darkest secrets!" Monokuma smirked.

"You... y-you did...?" Marissa shivered uncomfortably.

"And those embarrassing memories and secrets are all contained in your Monopads," Mono-Kanade darkly chuckled. Sure enough, I heard a couple of soft pings around the table, as well as in my own pocket. "Of course, if you all got your own secret, then all you'd have to do is keep your trap shut, right? So I've mixed them all up and you've all gotten somebody else's secret! ...And who knows how eager they'll be to blab to their buddies all about it."

My heart pounded against my rib cage. 

“If nobody kills, then in 48 hours, I’ll reveal your secrets to the entire world!” Monokuma cackled.

“Now, I need a coffee.” Mono-Kanade said.

Monokuma then left, followed by Mono-Kanade.

And so we sat in silence for a while, the motive fresh in our minds. We all had been given someone else's darkest secret... who's did I have? Who had mine...?

"...W-we have to kill so our secrets won’t be exposed...?" Kanata shrank back, horrified at the thought.

”Looks like it,” Mikako said.

"Takara, please calm down," I took a few steps towards her. "Don't do anything rash! We need to-"

"We ain't gotta do SHIT!" she interrupted, furiously pointing at me. "I'm getting outta here, and if you don't wanna die first, then stay the FUCK outta my way!" And with that final outburst, Takara ran out of the dining hall before anyone could speak.

Mikako followed.

Those of us left were stunned into an uncomfortable silence. Now that one of us had openly declared their murderous intent, I couldn't help but wonder if the thought was mulling about in anyone else's mind.

We solemnly made our way back to our rooms, as Nighttime was only minutes away. I could hear Mikako shouting at Takara as we entered the dormitory, but the others wanted nothing to do with either of them and went straight to their rooms, lest they wind up being attacked. Before retiring to my own room, I quickly walked up the stairs to see Mikako yelling in vain at Takara's closed door.

"Seriously, don't even think about doing anything! You hear me?!" she scowled as she beat on the door with her hands.

"Did she go in her room?" I asked.

"Yep, ran right in and slammed the door shut before I could follow," Mikako sighed grumpily. "...I know the rooms are soundproof, but do you think the door is knock-proof?"

I shook my head. "I-I don't know... but maybe you should just let her be alone for now. I'd rather she not come suddenly bursting out wanting to fight."

Mikako grumbled, but ceased her attacks on the door. "Fine... she just... she just better not, ya know? I really don't wanna go back down there again..."

"I know... none of us do," I bent my head down. We stood in silence for a few moments until Mikako yawned. I yawned too just a second later.

"Well, good night," said Mikako.

"See you in the morning, Milky," I replied. We both made our way to our rooms. After a soothing shower, I crawled into bed.

I checked my Monopad.

Some words were on the Pad, ones that confirmed I had a certain blonde’s secret:

Marissa Higa is a virgin.

Chapter Text

It was the millionth time I had woken up to the sound of Monokuma’s voice since the day before Rei was killed. The night was restless, my thoughts continuing to go to Takara, who might have been planning murder as I laid in my bed. I remember dreaming about her doing just that, and despite all my attempts to protest my mouth wouldn’t work. It was like it had been glued shut, and as she was dragged into her execution, I found myself woken up. I wanted to think it was just a nightmare, but I knew that wasn’t true.

Takara might become a blackened… I should go get some breakfast…

Breakfast was somber. Everyone was paranoid for their lives.

“I'm positive that Takara is going to kill someone sooner or later.“ Mikako said.

Yesterday, Takara had announced her plans to kill someone. I couldn’t blame the inventor.

Three days ago, what we saw was a real dead body and a real execution... I didn’t want to see another one.

Three days ago… Rei died… Madoka broke a rule and was torn apart… and Haruka got brutally executed for Rei’s death...

“We should build some trust,” Yamako spoke. 

“Yes, adopted sis.” Mikako said. “And see where that leaves us.” 

After breakfast, we all left to talk around the school. I headed for my dorm room. 

I decided to read a book to pass some time. I soon finished it.

That left me with nothing to do, and plenty of time to kill.

Sadly, since there was no point in rereading it, I would have to settle with chatting with someone.

I decided to talk to Hibiki.

So I headed to the store, and got a book on how to date people and a makeup set.

Then I headed for her dorm.

Spend time with Hibiki?

< Yes

Kiyoka: "Hibiki, sup?"

Hibiki: "Hm? Oh, nothing much. Just hanging out."

Kiyoka: "Uh huh. With who?"

Hibiki: "Kirsten. She's so cute! I'm working on asking her out. However, I couldn't find any romance advice book, and I wanted to see if there was one so I could be informed of things to possibly avoid doing in my asking-her-out."

Kiyoka: "Really?"

Hibiki: "Yeah, I don't want to scare her off or anything."

Kiyoka: "I found this matchmaking book at the store, though I don't know if it's what you want." Hibiki: "Give me an example of what's in the book."

Kiyoka: "Well, for example, some girls don't like it when you compliment their mothers."

Hibiki: "Really? What else?"

Kiyoka: "Some girls love chocolate."

Hibiki: "Chocolate? That's bad, isn't it?"

Kiyoka: "No, it's not. You should try it."

Hibiki: "What are things I should avoid when I'm asking Kirsten out?"

Kiyoka: "You shouldn't make her feel obligated to go out with you."

Hibiki: "Okay, I got that."

Kiyoka: "You shouldn't kiss her." 

Hibiki: "Okay."

Kiyoka: "You shouldn't have a long distance relationship until you're older."

Hibiki: "Got it."

Kiyoka: "Only men kiss women they love. Some people's anti-LGBT personality will not be profitable if you kiss Kirsten."

Hibiki: "Okay."

Kiyoka: "Women hate it when you pay for dates." Hibiki: "Okay."

Hibiki: "What else?"

Kiyoka: "Well, you shouldn't tell her that you love her. You should just keep it to yourself."

Hibiki: "Got it." Kiyoka: "Now then, what's the worst time you ever confessed to someone?"

Hibiki: "In elementary school I had a crush. He wanted to be an actor, but he was bullied for his interests."

Kiyoka: "I got that impression. Anyway, what did you do?"

Hibiki: "I hid behind my books and made random noise to avoid him seeing me."

Kiyoka: "So you pretended to be shy?"

Hibiki: "Yeah."

Kiyoka: "That's a good one. If you do that, you'll have her fooled."

Hibiki: "Okay..." Kiyoka: "What does this have to do with my question, though."

Hibiki: "My actor wannabe crush loved snakes. One day, he asked them for the acancoda snake. He wanted it as a pet, and adored its appearance. I didn't want to give him such a horrible pet, due to how anacondas kill their prey by slowly squeezing the air out of its lungs until it suffocates to death."

Kiyoka: "But you didn't give him the snake."

Hibiki: "No, I told him to go to the pet store and buy one."

Kiyoka: "Yup, cute girls can be right bastards at that age."

Hibiki: "Anyways, my crush… he was ecstatic when he got the snake." 

A small smile graces her lips at the memory.

Kiyoka: "Then what happened...?"

 Hibiki: "It wasn't until the next week. While my sister and I were absent from school, my crush decided to take his giant acandona snake in school…"

Kiyoka: "...I think I can see where this is going,"  Hibiki: "He sat it down in class before the day began. By the end of the first class, the parking lot was full of scientists. The snake had eaten his whole class alive. Even his teacher!"

Kiyoka: "What happened then?"

Hibiki: "I had to spend the rest of the school year dealing with the aftermath of my crush's action. Every time I see a snake, I think of him. I shudder." Kiyoka: "How?"

Hibiki: "It was all over the news, even where my sister and I had gone. I dreaded returning home, fearing the police would be waiting for me."

Kiyoka: "I think I can relate."

Hibiki: "Anyways, I just wanted to share that story with you. It was a cute one."

Kiyoka: "Thanks." Hibiki: "Regardless, what about I tell you about my sister?!" Kiyoka: "Okay."

Hibiki: "My sister's name is Kanade. She is a beautician. She's rather shy, but nice. Mind if I tell you about the worst thing she ever did?"

Kiyoka: "I'm all ears."

Hibiki: "Kanade had a friend. She loved baking. She was gluten-free;

though."

Kiyoka: "I see. So what did she do?"

Hibiki: "Kanade talked to me about this. You see, alongside being an effects artist, I'm also a little prankster. When I learned about the joy pranking brought me and started to do it more and more, my sister was never really all that fond of it. I'd pranked her a couple times by then, harmless stuff. And I was upgrading to more and more tricks with the rest of the class and neighborhood, really building up a reputation for myself as a prankster. But I always left the more severe pranks alone when it came to my sister Until I had this really great idea for her friend, one day."

Kiyoka: "Go on,"

Hibiki: "You can see where I'm going with this, can't you?"

Kiyoka: "I sure can."

Hibiki: "It started like any other day at school, really. I'd felt that my reputation as a prankster was starting to go stale by that point, and knew I had to do something to bolster it up again. And so I came up with this ingenious idea. I got my sister and the entire class in on it. I lured my sister's friend to the classroom with me after lunch, purposely made her open the door first. And when it did, a bucket of flour collapsed onto her."

Kiyoka: "What!?"

Hibiki: "The reaction was pretty instantaneous. I'd gathered the whole class - and my sister - inside to watch it happen. I remember a few things here and there about what happened that day. The explosion of raucous laughter, for instance. The slaps and pats on the back for a prank well done. The vomiting my friend did. And that look in her eyes when she realized I'd done it."

Kiyoka: "What look?"

Hibiki: "It was of hatred. I dreaded going home, knowing that my sister's friend's family would be waiting for me. I've never had any run-ins with the family to this day…"

Kiyoka: "Why? What did they do?"

Hibiki: "I don't know… they've never spoken to me…"

Kiyoka: "Hibiki, come on! They must have reason. What did they do?"

Hibiki: "They just moved to another city."

Kiyoka: "What did you do after you got home?"

Hibiki: "I didn't talk to my mother."

Kiyoka: "Why not?"

Hibiki: "I was afraid she'd ground me."

Kiyoka: "So you went to your room and stayed there until everyone left?"

Hibiki: "Yes I did."

Kiyoka: "That was pretty dastardly of you, Hibiki."

Hibiki: "I know. I deserved it."

Kiyoka: "Dumping flour on your friend? Making her throw up? You feel guilty for something like that, right?"

Hibiki: "Of course I do. I'd rather not dwell on it, though."

Kiyoka: “I understand…”

< Give Hibiki a Gift?

> Makeup set

Kiyoka: "I'm sure you don't need any convincing that you should try makeup. But I'm also sure you don't want to get your whole face covered in it."

Hibiki: "This reminds me of my sister… I loved Kanade, so thanks!"

Kiyoka: "Alright. Just remember to put it on properly."

Hibiki: “Thanks. See ya later. Now, I’d better find Kirsten…”

Kiyoka: “Good luck confessing your love to her.”

Hibiki’s report card has been updated based on your experience with her!

I then headed to my dorm room. That entire time I had been talking to Hibiki, however, I couldn’t help but feel a strange connection to her, one that I couldn’t completely understand.

Maybe we were starting to become lovers?

A hour later, I headed outside my dorm, and came across a letter:

“Head to my lab everyone. It’s time for an insect meet and greet. Love, Marissa.”

I liked Marissa, so I decided to head to her lab.

When I got to Marissa’s lab, everyone was there.

Kizuna, Ayame, Kanata, Kana, Kirsten, Satsuki, Yamako, Mikako, Akane, Nanako…

And Marissa was also there.

”Why are you all here?” I asked them.

”Marissa sent us this letter.” Akane said.

“It was the same as yours.” Nanako added.

”Why did you even have this in the first place?” I asked Marissa.

”Well, Takara told me everyone here hates insects. I wanted to get you to all like insects in this meet and greet!” 

“And I’ve arrived.” I said with a deadpan voice.

“Yes, you’ve arrived, Maki!” Marissa’s eyes sparkled. “My 'Insect Meet and Greet' is off to a smashing start!"

"Yeah, sure.” Kanata said.

“This is clearly hell,” Kirsten blinked. “We should leave.”

”You want to leave my Insect Meet and Greet?!” Marissa said.

”Yeah.” Kirsten said.

”But you have to stay behind!” Marissa begged.

”Fine…” Kirsten sighed. “I’ll stay for your stupid meet and greet.”

“Now, then!” Marissa said. “Let the Insect Meet and Greet begin!”

She then got out multiple containers of various bugs.There were more than possibly countable—wasps, beetles, termites, mosquitoes, hornets, and, worst of all, cockroaches.

Yamako made a retching sound. “I don’t wanna do this.”

“But you have to!” Marissa said, looking at the fanfic writer, before smashing every container on the floor.

Every bug in those containers was now in the room.

And the Insect Meet and Greet began.

If there was one thing Kirsten had been right about, it was that this was hell. 

Countless bugs were crawling up Nanako’s leg as she tried to shake them off to no avail. 

A giant centipede had landed on Kirsten. “AAAAAGH!!! Help! Get this thing off me!” The writing progidy screamed.

“I think it looks stunning on ya!“ Kanata laughed.

“Even in some of Satsuki’s concerts there aren’t this many bugs!” Satsuki swatted fiercely, splashing bits of paint onto the grass wherever she went. “Take that! And that! Paint attack!” she yelled at the insects.

“Aww, the bugs are giving you little kisses!” Marissa exclaimed, blissfully unaware of the torment she was bringing upon her guests. “How cute!”

”Oh no! The bugs are burying sister alive!” Yamako screamed, digging into a pile of bugs which, upon closer inspection, was burying Mikako alive. She must have been completely surrounded by bugs and they piled onto her.

Akane, Kana, Kizuna and... well, I guess myself, did their best to get bugs out of their hair and mouths.

Ayame was probably the one who was freaking out the most, running around like she was on a marathon in an attempt to get away from as many bugs as possible. 

The Insect Meet and Greet continued without mercy.

"What happened, Takara!? You should be here by now!” I screamed.

After awhile, our bodies became very exhausted. We were so close falling asleep. Once we were at this state...

Takara appeared.

"Ughhh! There are bugs everywhere! How nast-I mean, how nice~." Takara said, hiding a disgusted expression from the sheer amount of insects in the room.

“You’re back, Takara!” Marissa exclaimed as if it was the happiest day of her life. “We had all sorts of fun with my bug friends!”

"You guys okay? You all look like drowned sewer rats,” Takara said, only receiving a few angry glances in response.

Marissa then started putting all the bugs back into their containers, much to the relief of everyone in the room.

"What the hell, Takara... You said that we hated bugs!” Mikako shouted.

”Oh, I lied.” Takara said. “I don’t really like bugs, though.”

“You know what hating bugs means!” Marissa said, not her usually cheery self.

"Oh god... oh, fuck..." Takara mumbled, shivering violently in place.

"Y-Yeah! Takara wouldn't lie to you, Marissa. We're friends!" I said, hoping Marissa's fury would be quelled. Unfortunately…

"Oh… So it’s not a lie. Then I’m happy… Let's have fun with bugs all night…" Marissa said with a serious glare. "Who wants to pet more bugs!?"

"Eh?" That was the only sound Takara could make in our new found fear.

"Now! We must run while we still can!" I shouted to the others.

So we ran out of the lab, leaving Takara at the mercy of Marissa.

"Okay, Takara." Marissa sparkled as she took out boxes with  several different insects—from wasps, to beetles, to termites, to mosquitoes, to hornets, and even cockroaches—all crawling in them. "Let's get started. It's just the two of us."

"What? You said there would be other people here!" Takara screamed.

"But you bullied those other people into doing the prior meet and greet with me." Marissa exclaimed. "This is your justice."

"No, it isn't—"

"Yes, it is." Marissa giggled.

Takara groaned. She didn't want to do this. She wanted to go home. Marissa then opened the boxes.

Insects filled the room. Takara screamed, bugs crawling up her legs. Marissa laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Takara tried to get away, but Marissa pinned her arms down.

"Hey, it's okay." Marissa said. "You have to stay here."

Then some worms dropped onto Takara's head.  She screamed and screamed. Marissa laughed. Takara tried to get away, but Marissa had pinned her arms again.

"It's gonna be fine, Takara." Marissa whispered. "You just have to adore the meet and greet."

More bugs swarmed the supreme leader, as she tried to escape. Soon, she was crawling and covered in bugs. She couldn't even see anymore.

Then her world went dark.

When she woke up, she was on the floor, covered in bugs. Marissa was standing over her, laughing. "Serves you right, supreme bitch." She laughed.

"But . . . but you said you'd help me." Takara said, her voice hoarse from screaming.

"I know." Marissa giggled. "And you're covered in bugs."

"I . . . I . . . but . . ."

"But you're still a bitch." Marissa said.

"I . . . but . . ." Takara whimpered. "Justice has been served." Marissa said. 

The bugs were still covering Takara. Marissa walked out of the room, leaving Takara behind.

What a cruel trick. Takara screamed as she crawled around. She wanted to get them off, but she was too weak. Her clothes had been ruined. Her hair was a mess. She was too weak to move. Her skin was covered in bug bites. She was filled with bugs. She cried as bugs crawled all over her. She was stuck in a room. She was a wreck.

She was gonna get out by the morning, she decided. Then she'd get her revenge on Marissa. She was still too weak to try to get up, so she just cried. But soon, her strength returned.

As I watched this scene through the window of Marissa’s lab, I giggled, although I could feel myself sneering inside. An utter jerk getting their well-deserved comeuppance... that feeling of righteous indignation, finally sated and banished away once things had been put right, once vengeance had been taken and the sinners had been punished...

...It reminded me of the way I felt when I had packed a disgusting sandwich in my bully’s packed lunch in middle school.

Ah, justice.

Serves that bitch right.

The others had left me alone. 

After watching Takara’s just desserts, I decided to go to bed.

I returned to my dorm to wash the insect dirt off my hands. As I changed into my pyjamas, it came to my attention that tomorrow was Monokuma’s deadline. At 3.pm, if a murder hadn’t occurred, our secrets would be revealed. My mind began to whir, wondering how different things would be in just twenty-four hours time. It brought a large sense of sadness that sooner or later, nothing would ever be the same for us.

Desperate to escape from my negative thoughts, I turned out the lights and climbed into bed; afraid for what tomorrow had in store.

Chapter Text

Another morning, another breakfast. I made my way to the dining hall as usual. To my surprise, a couple of people had beat me to the food.

Takara was sitting in a chair, sipping on some coffee.

She wasn’t as calm as she was yesterday. Wide, shaken eyes and zombie-like movements indicated that she was now above and beyond frightened. Disturbed and disgusted. Unsure of how to process... well, anything.

She was entirely traumatised. I let out a chuckle at how ridiculous she looked right now.

”Mars, I also helped you make that Insect Meet and Greet yesterday along with Takara,” Hibiki told Marissa. “You really did a number on ‘em… They were running, screaming... talk about a party!”

“It’s a shame you weren’t there,” Marissa said.

A certain writing prodigy was not in the room. 

“Hey, Satsuki.” I asked with concern. “Have you seen Kirsten?”

”Satsuki has not seen her, no," she shrugged. "Not that Satsuki really wants to see her, anyway, not after Takara’s little fit the other night."

“I’ll go get Kirsten,” grumbled Hibiki as she left the dining hall area.

Mikako sighed. “Marissa’s Insect Meet and Greet last night gave me nightmares."

"Me too," said Yamako.

"I KEPT WAKING UP TO THE SOUND OF MY OWN SCREAMS," Nanako added sadly and in all caps, strangely.

"Good thing the rooms are soundproof..." Takara grumbled, shooting a glare at the mechanic.

"Ya think Kirsten’s still in her room?" Ayame asked Kizuna.

"Maybe," said the swimmer. "Or perhaps she's lurking about in the school somewhere." Kanata whimpered.

"Well, if she does happen to find a way out or something, I hope she's at least polite enough to tell the rest of us about it," Kana said as she wrapped her left arm around the maid. "...Without violence, of course."

With breakfast finished, I returned to my room, though there was little reason to. While the days spent in this sadistic prison were utterly boring, it was still far better than the alternative.

What should I do today...?

...Guess I'll go find someone to talk to.

I left my room and began wandering. After some time, I eventually found myself in the store.

Mikako was there. 

"Hey, Milky," I greeted softly as I approached.

"Oh! Kiyoka!" she jumped a little, but quickly relaxed.

As I gambled on the MonoMonoMachine, I eventually found a steampunk manga.

I decided to then talk to Mikako.

Spend time with Mikako?

< Yes

Kiyoka: "How are you doing?" 

Mikako: "Fine. Why?"

Kiyoka: "Well, today is the day. In seven hours time, Monokuma is going to expose our deepest, darkest secrets, unless a murder occurs."

Mikako: "So?"

Kiyoka: "So? So… this means we have seven hours to get ready. I'll help you if you want."

Mikako: "For a short time, Marissa and I traded secrets in an attempt to get closer with each other, only for the secret I received to actually be… yours."

Kiyoka: "Yeah, I know. We have time to catch up, don't we?"

Mikako: "Yeah, we do."

Kiyoka: "What did my secret read?"

Mikako: "It said that ‘Kiyoka Maki has failed to find her parents multiple times.'" Kiyoka: "Oh no..."

Mikako: "Marissa had your secret, originally. I've since given it back."

 Kiyoka: "Yes, I've failed to find my parents multiple times."

Mikako: "That's so terrible. What about I use your DNA to invent something? Like a tracker, to help you find them?"

Kiyoka: "I could try. It's worth a shot, right?"

Mikako: "Yeah. Let's do it."

Kiyoka: "Yes."

Kiyoka allows Mikako to cut off a little strand of her hair. Mikako: "Now I'll create my DNA Tracker!"

Kiyoka: "Milky, will you ever reveal to me what your secret was or will that remain a mystery forever?"

 Mikako: "As far as whether or not I'll reveal it... we'll have to see about that..."

Give gift to Mikako?

Steampunk Manga

 Mikako: "Thanks, I suppose?" Kiyoka: "I thought as the Ultimate Inventor, I think you'll like this… So, about earlier…"

Mikako: "Let me guess... you want to hear all about some of the worst things I've ever done as an inventor?" 

 Kiyoka: "Well…"

Mikako: "It's only natural that you're curious. Just let me know if you start feeling nauseous and want me to stop."

The inventor smiles slightly, a dangerous gleam in her eye.

Kiyoka: "O-Okay..."

Mikako: "Let's see... there's quite a few stories to tell, where shall I start...? Yes. Weirdest, stupidest, and worst. Those are usually what Yamako asks me for."

Kiyoka: "Well, I'll take your word for it. So… Let's start with your worst, then." 

Mikako: "Okay, worst would have to be when Yamako decided to take over the place for the day."

Kiyoka: "That was just the most recent incident. There were others."

Mikako: "You're right, Maki. You're childhood friends with me. Anyways, I was away for the day, and I asked Yamako to take over as my adopted sister." 

Kiyoka: "Is that like an Ultimate power thing?"

Mikako: "Not really. It was just a way to make the work place less boring."

Kiyoka: "Fair enough." Mikako: "I tried to tell Yamako how to run the place, but… she wouldn't listen."

Kiyoka: "She took over, and gave all the jobs to me, while she spent all the time shopping and playing with her dolls."

Mikako: "You're lying, Maki." Kiyoka: "What really happened?"

Mikako: "I was working on a new invention, and Yamako kept interrupting me and stealing the idea."

Kiyoka: "Yamako stole your idea?"

Mikako: "Yes. And that was only when I was in charge. Do you wanna know what happened when Yamako was in charge?"

Kiyoka: "Sure."

Mikako: "My sister started by making a new invention by stealing my ideas."

Kiyoka: "What was the invention?"

Mikako: "She invented a way to freeze people to death by holding a hose in their mouth and running dry ice into their lungs." Kiyoka: "Oh no…"

Mikako: "I agree. She started by going after her school and freezing all her classmates and the headmaster and all the teachers."

Kiyoka: "She killed them?"

Mikako: "Yes. Dry ice was in their lungs."

Kiyoka: "Then what happened?"

Mikako: "The police arrived and saw her holding a hose in the face of a crying girl. They arrested her."

Kiyoka: "I can't believe you let her get away with it." Mikako: "But Yamako froze the police to death as well. She broke out of prison."

Kiyoka: "What happened after Yamako managed to avoid jail?"

Mikako: "She decided to head to my workplace and hold a wild party. She invited all her friends. It was a wild party!"

 Kiyoka: "What happened during this party?"

Mikako: "Yamako got drunk, and she used her hose invention to freeze over half the people she invited to death. 100 people had been invited. Out of the 66 people who had gotten frozen... 17 of them died, and most of those who were saved never fully recovered from frostbite."

Kiyoka: "Geez… What happened after that?"

Mikako: "She then went to Asda and got 100 doughnuts… and some coke."

Kiyoka: "You said she froze all her friends, including the headmaster. Did she go to jail for that?"

Mikako: "She nearly did, but she managed to avoid it. Anyways, she also got a big bag of flour, and hung it from the ceiling above the door, just in case the police arrived. It was a booby trap…"

 Kiyoka: "You're joking." Mikako: "She wanted to ruin your reputation, so you would never work in Japan again."

Kiyoka: "Whose?"

Mikako: "The police's."

 Kiyoka: "That's bad."

Mikako: "My sister then got a camera and some dolls. She then sat in the living room, and ate and chilled. Eventually, a knock on the door was heard."

Kiyoka: "I-I think I see where this is gonna go…" Mikako: "I arrived, and I triggered the trap. I got covered with flour."

Kiyoka: "The police arrived, and they called an ambulance for you."

Mikako: "No, that's wrong! I was shocked to see my workplace in a terrible mess."

Kiyoka: "Well, that's what you get for stealing ideas."

Mikako: "I really wish I never set eyes on that bitch."

Kiyoka: "Yeah, me too." Mikako: "We had to send Yamako to a new school."

Kiyoka: "Why?"

Mikako: "Well, she didn't understand how to be a good person. It was as if she was a wild animal."

Kiyoka: "But she was still your sister." Mikako: "True. But how can you let a girl back in her old school when she murdered over a million people with a ice hose?"

Kiyoka: "It's a personal issue, not a work issue."

Mikako: "You're a horrible person, Kiyoko."

Kiyoko: "Kiyoka, not Kiyoko!"

Mikako: "Whatever."

Kiyoko: "I've made my decision."

Kiyoko: "I'm going to kill her."

Mikako: "Please, don't." Kiyoka: "Regardless, what was the weirdest thing you've ever done as an inventor? I've heard about the worst."

 Mikako: "Well…"

Kiyoka remains silent.

Mikako: "Weirdest would have to be the time I took up a challenge."

Kiyoka: "Challenge?"

Mikako: "Yeah, the time I took up a challenge from some punk who was better at video games than I was."

Kiyoka: "Video games!"

Mikako: "Yes. He filled a swimming pool with treacle and dared me to swim in it."

Kiyoka: "What did you do?"

Mikako: "I got in the pool and swam all the way to the other side."

Kiyoka: "Then what?" Mikako: "I did it in my clothes."

Kiyoka: "What happened?"

Mikako: "I got all sticky, so the punk decided to use it to his advantage. He got a bomb and put them in a pillow. So imagine my surprise when I opened the door, only to get feathers in the face."

Kiyoka: "Did he admit his mistake?"

Mikako: "No."

Kiyoka: "Did you press charges?"

Kiyoka: "Just wondering."

 Mikako: "It was all over the news, even when Yamako had gone…"

Kiyoko: "Okay, I'm gonna kill her."

Mikako: "Wait, before you go, can I ask you something?"

Kiyoko: "Yeah."

Mikako: "Mind if I tell you about the stupidest?"

Kiyoko: "Stupidest?"

Mikako: "Yeah, the stupidest thing I've ever done as an inventor."

Kiyoko: "I'm all ears." Mikako: "Well, the stupidest thing I've ever done... hard to pick just one, as some people I know seem to use me to invent different ways of trying to get themselves killed every day..."

Kiyoka: "What one did you pick?"

Mikako: "I used myself as a guinea pig to test out some new weapons."

Kiyoko: "A guinea pig?"

Mikako: "Yes. It was for a scientist. He had invented some top secret weapons and he decided to use me to test them."

Kiyoko: "Oh, what did you do?"

Mikako: "Well, the first test was just to make sure it wasn't going to explode in my face."

Kiyoko: "I understand. What happened in the second test?"

Mikako: "We went to an open air festival. I sat on a bench and waited for the sun to go down, while he sat in a boat with a big lantern to light up my face." Kiyoka: "What weapon did he test on you during that festival?"

Mikako: "A giant laser that was supposed to burn through anything it hit."

Kiyoko: "What happened?"

Mikako: "I got burnt pretty badly."

Kiyoko: "Oh…"

Mikako: "I was sent to the hospital."

Kiyoka: "Was hospital life horrible?"

Mikako: "No, not at all. The food was great."

Kiyoko: "So, did you tell the doctor what caused the burn?"

Mikako: "It was all over the news, even when Yamako had gone. I dreaded returning to the doctor, as I feared he would be hunt me down. So, I cut off all contacts with him."

Kiyoko: "Why?"

Mikako: "I couldn't risk him finding me."

Kiyoko: "What did you do?"

Mikako: "I decided not to tell Yamako what caused my time in the hospital."

Kiyoko: "Why?"

Mikako: "I loved her. I couldn't risk her finding out and worrying."

Kiyoko: "But she was in danger." Mikako: "Danger of being used by that same scientist as a Guinea pig…"

Kiyoka: "Oh…"

Mikako. "Yes... that was the day I learned that life simply isn't fair."

Kiyoko: "I'm sorry I asked."

Mikako: "It's okay. It was a long time ago."

Mikako: "Now goodbye. Thank you, Mki." Kiyoka smiles in return.

Kiyoko: "Bye, Mikako."

As I headed back to my dorm, I saw a note:

Confession Club. Library. 9 a.m.

- Nanako

“Confession Club?” I asked. I decided to go to the library.

Nanako was sitting on a beanbag. Everyone (save for Hibiki and Kirsten) was there.

I sat down.

“As you guys know, at 3 p.m. today, Monokuma is going to expose our secrets,” Nanako began. “I know this has been causing a lot of paranoia in the group. So, I’ve organised Confession Club to put a stop to anything bad happening today. I know we already talked about this, and everyone was against the idea, but I think this is important. The deadline is six hours away and the tension has only grown.”

“So, what are you proposing?” Mikako asked.

“That we all share our secrets,” Nanako said. “It’s our last chance to beat Monokuma at his own motive.”

“What’s confession club?” asked Yamako.

“The idea behind Confession Club is that we can all talk about our secrets and explain the reasoning behind them. Maybe it’s something terrible you’ve done in your past, or something else. I just think it’s better that we take the time to expose our own secrets, rather than have Monokuma do it for us.” Nanako explained.

"Well, so long as you guys all consent, shall we go ahead with Confession Club?" She asked.

There were a series of nods; we agreed. 

"Great!" Nanako smiled. "Since this was my idea, it’s only fair that I go first.” 

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” Marissa asked.

“Positive,” Nanako said confidently. She then sighed. “My brother and I often swapped places.”

”That’s a weird secret.” I said.

”I was up the other night silently cursing our uncannily similar looks: same dark hair nearly the exact same shade, same purple eyes…even our heights are only an inch apart. Fate has been cruel to me to have me look nearly identical to Nikei, my brother.”

“Who’s this brother of yours?” I asked.

”He’s a journalist. He’s written articles for the newspaper.” Nanako explained. “I sometimes suspect that Nikei wanted a twin sister so that he could use me to take his place at events he did not want to attend due to our strong physical resemblance to each other. My Despair Video… had him on it.”

"So...who wants to go now?" Yamako asked. 

I volunteered to speak next, since I was sat directly on Nanako’s left. I retold the story of my past, sharing the details of how I failed to find my parents.

“Can I go next?” Yamako asked, since she was sat next to me, making her the next in line.

“If you feel comfortable to go next, then sure,” Marissa said.

“Okay,” Yamako nodded. “My secret...is not nice. I do not want you to hate me.”

“Don’t worry Miss Kisaragi,” Nanako said. “Confession Club is a judgement free zone.”

Yamako then told me what Mikako had told me the day of Rei’s death. How she had responsible for a horrible poisoning.

"Well, you haven't heard mine yet..." Marissa said.

"Do you want to go next?" Nanako asked.

Marissa nodded. 

She then told everyone about her being a virgin.

Marissa had been open and honest about her secret, so now, it was Mikako's turn.

She cleared her throat. “I’m bisexual,” the Ultimate Inventor admitted. “My sister is a lesbian. My parents view the LGBT community we’re apart of as a descent into madness.”

”Your parents sure are bad people…” I sighed.

“My turn, now!” Kanata said. 

What secret did the maid have?

“You see, I secretly practice eugenics…” Kanata admitted.

“You want children?” I asked.

”I haven’t gotten pregnant, yet…” Kanata said.

"But yeah, that's about it," She concluded with a shrug. "Now you know my secret. Kizuna, you're next." 

"My secret sounds worse than is it," Kizuna began, pre-empting us with a warning. "Which is why I've decided to stay here at Confession Club, because I want to explain myself properly. It seems that Monokuma has manipulated it, to make them sound worse than it actually is." 

“What secret is it?” Marissa asked.

Kizuna sighed. “I’m into BDSM.”

”Ew… Y-You’re into that shit?!” Takara stammered in horror. Kizuna nodded solemnly.

”Kinda… I loved porn magazines and bondage, and so far I'm enjoying gag balls.” Kizuna shrugged. “I’m a bit of a pervert.”

"I can see why your secret sounds very strange and bad when you take it out of context," I said. "But now that you've explained this to us, things make a lot more sense."

"Confession Club was actually a pretty good idea, Nanako," Kizuna said. 

"I'll take that as a compliment," Nanako grinned. "Thank you for sharing, Tomori." 

The secrets went by fast. They ranged from silly to normal to serious.

Eventually…

"And that leaves me..." Akane muttered, before uttering a sigh. Until now, she'd been very quiet; listening to the secrets, rather than giving her opinion. "Well, there's not much to say, really.”

“What’s your secret?” I asked.

”Well…” Akane said. “I wear padded bras. It’s embrassing, I know.”

"It's horrible for Monokuma to choose this as your secret," Marissa frowned. 

"That bear is such an asshole!" Yamako exclaimed. 

"Well, now that I've told you my secret, I'm off," Akane then left the library.

We then all left the library.

I then decided to spend time with Yamako and Mikako. We spent the evening playing some board games found in the warehouse, holed up in Yamako's room with snacks and refreshments, gossiping and laughing. I let out a contented sigh - with them, I could truly relax and let down my guard.

Now it was time to find Kirsten.

I asked Hibiki for her whereabouts.

”She’s in the storage room,” she said.

”Okay,” I said, heading to the storage room.

I stepped inside the storage room...

I wish I never saw what I then saw.

Kirsten Uehara was there.

If you were to see her with no context, you would assume she was still alive.

Her face looked still alive, with her eyes shut, and her mouth in a peaceful smile. It was the rest of her body which told the story of her murder.

Kirsten was hanging from a rope suspended from the ceiling. There was blue paint all over her. But worst of all was the noose biting deeply into her throat, her legs dangling about a meter off the floor. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't tear my eyes away from that sight.

No... not again... no!

It had happened again. Someone was dead.

Kirsten was… dead.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Secret Dreams - A Curse Story  

Deadly Life

The muscles in my face stiffened, and my legs began to wobble. I let myself sit down with a thud in disbelief.

Poor Kirsten... you were so kind, yet a bit stoic... but you didn't deserve to die... not like this...

Quickly the room began to fill with the others, save for Hibiki. I dry-heaved at the sight and looked away.

"Wh-What the hell is this?!" Ayame stammered.

"No! Not again, no!" cried Kana.

”KIRSTEN!” sobbed Kanata.

"A body has been discovered!" Monokuma’s mocking voice jeered. "Everyone, please make your way to the storage room!"

At once, Hibiki skipped into the storage room, hearts in her eyes. “Kirsten, I’m ready! To make my confession of love to ya ~!” She sang.

She then noticed the expressions of horror on our faces. “Huh? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” I said, holding out my hands in disbelief. “What’s wrong?! Kirsten’s fucking dead. That’s what’s wrong!”

”Oh…” Hibiki sighed, staring at the corpse.

Monokuma then appeared.

”Hey, bitches!” He said. 

Mono-Kanade was standing next to him. "How does it feel now that you've got a second murder victim on your hands?"

“Not good.” said Kizuna as she pointed to the noose. “Kirsten’s dead! Who killed her?!”

"Kizuna? We won't know for sure unless we investigate," Mikako said softly. But she was largely ignored as everyone else stared at the bear in disbelieving horror.

"...So you're gonna have the trial after all?" asked Monokuma.

"Also, you'll be needing this!" Mono-Kanade said.

Monokuma's red eye glowed, and I heard the Monopad in my pocket beep in reply.

"Now then, do your very best to investigate! I'll see you later at the class trial!" With Mono-Kanade following him, Monokuma vanished.

"...Do we r-really have to...?" Akane sniffed after no-one spoke for a few moments.

"I'm afraid so, Akane," sighed Yamako.

“KIRSTEN WAS MY MOTHERFUCKING FRIEND!” Kanata crossed her arms. “Whoever did this, they're gonna be sorry they thought about doing this!"

"Whoever did it, they had their reasons," Mikako closed her eyes. "And Monokuma is ultimately guilty of putting us all in this situation in the first place. But even so... killing another person like this is simply unforgivable."

"...Y-YEA! W-WE CAN'T LET MONOKUMA GET TO US LIKE THIS!" Nanako nodded in agreement, sniffling back tears, and also in all caps.

"Then what say we get started, then?" Yamako hardened her gaze. "Who knows how long we have until we must make our case."

She’s right... we can do this, if we all work together...

"Let's begin, then," I nodded.

Investigation, Start!

"Okay... first thing's first, I'll check the Monokuma File," I spoke to myself, trying to will my hands into not shaking anymore as I tapped on my Monopad. 

The victim is Kirsten Uehara, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy. The body was found in the storage room. Cause of death is a crushed windpipe as a result of choking.

Looking around the room, I saw that Mikako had gotten Kirsten down from the noose and had begun examining her body.

”Milky, what are you doing?” I asked.

”Yup, Kirsten was strangled, alright.” Mikako said. “But Kirsten’s also covered in a blue paint… and her eyes are closed. Since that's the case, I figured that Kirsten was killed in her sleep.”

I continued to look around the room. Nothing else seemed out of the ordinary until I thought to examine a corner. I’m glad I did, because I saw an empty container of blue paint.

Maybe this was why Kirsten was covered in blue paint…

I then found Marissa, and we explored more of the room.

We found a wooden plank.

”Was this always there?” Marissa asked.

I wonder...

I and Marissa then decided to talk to Hibiki.

“Hibiki, what were ya doing?” I demanded.

“Well, I was taking a pee.” Hibiki said.

Okay…

We then found Takara and Nanako.

”I don’t wanna see another bug again…” the mechanic said.

"Are you talking about the Insect Meet and Greet?" I asked.

"Yeah. We were trapped inside Marissa's lab for hours until Takara got back.” Nanako replied.

"Right…" I said nervously. "But the Insect Meet and Greet...it might end up being important later on. Perhaps we should make note of who was there."

"Well, most of us save for Hibiki was there." Angie told me.

"Then Takara left us alone with Marissa, leaving us to suffer with her thousands of bugs…" Nanako said with a distraught expression.

"I'm starting to be really happy I stayed in my room during this time." Hibiki laughed a bit.

"Then Takara returned."

"And that's when Takara was forced into her own Insect Meet and Greet. Karma!" Nanako exclaimed.

"Yeah... I don’t know how long I was stuck in there…" Takara told us.

I mentally took notes in my mind. “I suppose we should keep these alibis in mind. It might be handy."

We then headed to Mikako.

”Remember the secrets?” I asked.

”Yes.” Mikako said. “Well, we should keep our Monopads. They might come in handy during the trial.”

”I agree.” I said.

The monitor buzzed to life, and Monokuma appeared. "The time for unparalleled hedonism... has come to an end!" he monologued. "Come! Now is the time to fight the decisive battle! The hostility of fresh blood! The insanity of a contest of wits! The class trial is finally raising its curtain!"

"...Was any of that really necessary?" Hibiki blinked.

"Soooo... meet up where you know where to meet up! Once you're there, please proceed to the underground by taking the elevator. Puhuhu, I'll see you soon!" And with that, the monitor went dead.

"Alright, it’s time," Kanata spoke in an authoritative tone. "Whichever sorry bastard here killed Kirsten, I'm going to find you, and you're going to fucking pay for it!"

"I agree!” Kana spoke. “Kirsten was our friend, and she must be avenged!”

Within moments, we reached those crimson doors. I had hoped I'd never have to step through them again, but fate had not been kind. My hand trembled as I opened one of the doors, finding everyone else waiting, hesitating to get into the elevator.

"Not again... I'm not mentally prepared for this..." Akane whimpered.

"I don't think any of us ever will be, Taira," Nanako shivered.

"Damn it... damn it! Why'd this have to happen again?!" Satsuki cursed at nobody in particular, kicking the ground.

However... moving forward is the only option.

Somehow I moved my arms, stiff from fear and anxiety, and pushed the button. The elevator's doors creaked open before us, and we tentatively walked inside. I felt my breathing grow short, and I soon realized that I felt slightly dizzy.

...Oh god... help me...

A rumbling sound filled the elevator, and the surrounding space began to fall.

Chapter Text

As we descended, my mind was assaulted with despair, no matter how positively I tried to think.

Such dark, swirling thoughts... I suddenly stopped breathing. My consciousness began to fade from the pressure. I tried to endure that pressure by standing firm, steeling myself for what I had to do. I willed myself to breathe, one gulp of air at a time. 

And eventually... the elevator's vibrations gradually weakened before thunking to a stop altogether. The elevator doors opened up to the trial room. This time, the walls were patterned to resemble flowers and bushes and floors of fake grass covered the floors. 

Two new portraits stood tall in the stands. Haruka’s, which was covered in a few lines of pink 1s and 0s (01011000 00001010), neatly typed over her face, like a command line. Ironic regarding both her talent and her execution. And Kirsten, who (like Madoka) had a grotesque 'X' over her face. 

“Do you enjoy Mr. Monokuma’s spring ’redecoration’?” Mono-Kanade taunted us.

"Forget it... let's just get this fucking waste of time over with," muttered Takara. Everyone walked despondently to their assigned podiums, myself included. Now inside that damned room, now standing behind that damned podium, I was even closer to losing yet another life I had sworn to protect.

It's starting... the class trial is starting...

Kirsten Uehara, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy… She always seemed so introverted and aloof, but she was such a kind girl. Quiet but otherwise friendly, she loved books. Such a shame that she was killed…

Kirsten… I’m sorry. We’ll find your killer, and bring them to justice. I promise.

CLASS TRIAL, IN SESSION!

“Now then,” Monokuma said again. “let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! During the trial, you'll present your arguments for who the killer is, and vote for whodunnit. Vote correctly, and only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong one...I'll punish everyone BESIDES the blackened, and whoever deceived everyone will graduate!”

"I just can't believe it... why? Why would one of us put us all through this again?" Kana whined sadly. "Why did you kill Kirsten?!"

"Why don't we start with the autopsy," Nanako said, sounding somewhat confident. "Perhaps any doubts we have about Ms. Uehara's death will be made clear."

Alright... so we're going to talk about the body... I need to listen carefully in case anything weird comes up!

Non Stop Debate, Start!

"Let's begin with the cause of death," said Mikako, though her tone suggested that she already knew where the conversation would lead.

"Ugh, do we have to? We found poor Kirsten hanging from the ceiling of the Storage Room!" Kanata's face paled.

“The cause of death was strangulation!” Yamako said.

"Yeah! I can agree with that!" I broke in.

BREAK!

“The Monokuma File says that Kirsten died from strangulation.” I confirmed. 

“Should we start discussing the killer already?!” Takara groaned. 

“But we haven’t started discussing the murder yet!” Yamako groaned.

”We should get to that later!” Takara retorted. “Can I start by stating the obvious? The killer is Marissa!”

“Wait, what?” Marissa asked.

”I’m with Takara on this one!” Hibiki said. “It has to be Marissa!”

“I agree!” Nanako said. “My top suspect is Marissa!”

"Hold on!" Monokuma, who had been silently watching on his throne behind them, giggled ominously. “Dare I say that there is a... split opinion in this room?! Oh, so exciting! I've been waiting since the first trial for this moment!" 

“Wait, what?” Nanako asked.

"Right, you guys didn't do that last time... I was really hoping that you would argue more in the last trial, but it was too damn easy…” Monokuma said. “Now then, Starlight High proudly presents our morphenomenal trial grounds!"

(BGM)

A slot appeared in Monokuma’s throne. He then brought out a key, inserted it in the slot and turned it. Suddenly, the bases of our podiums glowed with bright, blue light. I had to grip on my podium so I wouldn’t fall to my death. All around me, everyone’s podiums, even those of the deceased, were levitating into the dead center of the room in a perfect helix, then sliding left or right until we had been divided into two teams.

One side consisted of Hibiki, Takara, Nanako, Ayame, Kizuna and Akane. This side believed that Marissa was the culprit. The other side consisted of me, Yamako, Mikako, Satsuki, Kanata, Kana and Marissa. This side believed that Marissa was innocent and that there was another suspect. 

IS MARISSA THE CULPRIT?

DEBATE SCRUM, START!

“I’m telling you, the culprit is Marissa!” Hibiki spoke first, in defence of the culprit Marissa theory.

Yamako fought back, providing a strong argument. "We don’t know who the culprit is! Anyone could have done this."

Takara went next. “Marissa and Kirsten were at the same meet and greet!”

Mikako instantly had something to say. ”The meet and greet was the first time they ever interacted with each other!” 

“Marissa doesn’t even have an alibi!” Nanako said. 

“Alibi?” Satsuki asked. “Most of us have alibis! Even Marissa does!”

“Kirsten was on a rope! We saw her body! Marissa strangled her!” Akane cried.

“Marissa didn’t have anything to do with that rope,” Kanata disagreed.

“Marissa killed Kirsten! The blue paint proves it!” Ayame put forward.

 “Marissa might have loved blue, but she’s not the killer.” Kana rebutted.

“Marissa went in the storage room, and almost certainly killed Kirsten.” Kizuna said bluntly.

“Marissa is definitely not the culprit,” I pointed out. “She didn’t kill Kirsten!”

THIS IS OUR ANSWER!

BREAK!

The podiums returned to their regular spots on the ground. Marissa wasn’t the culprit.

Suspicion isn't on her for now... good.

“Before we were so rudely interrupted,” Mikako said. “We have to discuss the body.”

Non Stop Debate, Start!

”So Kirsten was found hanging from a noose.” Kanata said.

“She almost certainly committed suicide!” Takara crossed her arms.

I have to agree with Takara somehow…

”I’ll turn this lie into the truth!”

Perjury!

BREAK!

”Takara’s right.” I spoke. “Kirsten probably committed suicide!”

“That didn’t happen.” Mikako said. “Look at the rope. It’s frayed. Kirsten didn’t commit suicide! She was murdered, AKA strangled!”

I frowned. Mikako had confirmed everyone else’s suspicions.

This was definitely murder.

“Now we have more trivial things to discuss,” I said. 

“Yes, we do.” Yamako said. 

Non Stop Debate, Start!

“Kirsten’s body was covered in blue paint,” Mikako said.

“Maybe it was a painting session gone wrong?” asked Satsuki.

Yamako shook her head. "That still doesn't work." She frowned. "You can't get that much blue paint in a painting session, and Kirsten was drenched in it."

“I mean, she was covered in a lot of blue paint.” Nanako said.

“Maybe the culprit invited Kirsten to paint and it went wrong?” Ayame suggested.

God, no, that's not at all what the investigation meant!

"Wait, that's not right!" I exclaimed. 

BREAK!

”Kirsten wasn’t invited to paint,” I said. “I found proof.”

"Maki, do you have any ideas?" Akane asked me. "What piece of evidence can we draw a conclusion from?"

What piece of evidence..?

That’s it!

”During the investigation, I found a wooden floorboard and a blue paint pot...” 

Mikako didn’t need a non stop debate to fill in the blanks. “Ah…” 

Yamako laughed. “I suspect this is gonna be a classic seesaw homicide! You know, the culprit jumps on a wooden floorboard and kills the victim, though this time there’s blue paint and there’s no sickle and shit?”

“Now, now…” I said. “No more silly seesaw jokes. Let’s focus on alibis.” 

“I agree with Maki,” Takara said. “Let’s go over alibis. If we do that, we're sure to find our culprit."

"That should be simple enough. After all, most of us have ample alibis, since we were detained by Marissa inside her lab." Mikako said. 

So we've figured out how Kirsten died, and are now ready to try to figure out who could have killed her. There aren't a lot of people without alibis, but we'll have to scrutinize them thoroughly to make sure we've found our target. And if we're able to find them, then I'll do everything I can to prove that they were the one who killed Kirsten. And so, the class trial continued, along with our search for our culprit.

"Alright! Let's pin those alibis down!" Yamako declared.

"We can exclude the people who were trapped in the Insect Meet and Greet, correct?" Nanako asked.

"The people trapped in Marissa's lab were stuck there for hours. So we can assume they're all innocent then." Akane nodded.

"The people who were at the Insect Meet and Greet…" Ayame began. "Were most of us.”

“That means the only person who wasn’t at the Meet and Greet without an alibi is…" Kizuna began.

”Hibiki.” I said.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” Hibiki exclaimed. “I have an airtight alibi and I can prove it!”

Rebuttal Showdown

Hibiki: (angry) I hate this fucking trial! My top suspect is Marissa!

Hibiki: (confused) Why the hell do you keep insisting it’s me?!

Hibiki: (thinking) Almost everyone was at that Insect Meet and Greet!

Hibiki: (crossing her arms) For all we know, Marissa could have killed Kirsten!

Advance!

Kiyoka: No, we already discussed why Marissa couldn’t have killed Kirsten.

Hibiki: (pointing) I have an airtight alibi!

Hibiki: I can prove it!

Hibiki: (thinking) I wasn’t at the insect meet and greet!

Hibiki: (angry) I was in my motherfucking room!

“I’ll slice through that argument!” 

BREAK!

“Hibiki, you were in the toilet.” I said sternly. “Remember?”

”Oh, I was.” Hibiki said.

”That’s too vague of an alibi, though.” Marissa pointed out.

I let out a deep sigh. There was only one other avenue of discussion we could take... the one everyone dreaded to mention, including myself.

"...I'm afraid there's only one other thing we can talk about to point us in the right direction."

"Fiiiiinally," Takara groaned. "Time to settle this... now we talk about the motive. Which of us has each other's secret? We'll have to reveal them."

"Uh... d-do we really have to?" Nanako cringed.

"Yea, I was kind of hoping we could, like... not," Kanata glanced away. Keeping my expression as neutral as possible I tapped on my Monopad, where a new tab had been added this morning. It was flashing obscenely, begging to be opened. I stifled a sigh and opened it.

The tab stopped flashing, and I was greeted by the same “Marissa is virgin” secret I had found the night of the Insect Meet and Greet.

“Here, how about this," I shook my head. "We all have someone else's secret, right? When it's your turn, just point to the person whose secret you have. You don't have to say anything else."

"Aww..." Monokuma huffed.

"Oh... yea, I guess that's okay," Ayame nodded. He still took a moment to compose himself before pointing to his right. "Uh... well, I got yours, Kizuna."

"Oh! You did?" Kizuna chirped before pointing back. "Well, I guess that's alright. I got yours too, Ayame!"

"Alright... well, I have yours, Kiyoka," Marissa pointed at me. My heart immediately felt lighter - I knew my secret of failing to find my parents was safe with her.

"Ah. I have yours as well," I replied, pointing at her. Her face visibly brightened, and she gave me a slight nod.

"I have Kanata's secret," Kana spoke up, pointing at her.

"Hey, I got yours, too!" The maid smirked as she pointed back. 

"Satsuki has Nanako’s secret!" The musician pointed at Nanako.

"I got yours too, man..." Nanako pointed back.

"Er... well, I have Mikako's secret," said Yamako.

"And I have yours as well, sis," she replied.

"I've got Takara's secret," Akane said, her eyes slightly narrowed as she looked at her.

"Hmph... and I have yours, Taira," Takara replied, meeting her gaze. "It would seem that we've all been arranged into pairs. Whoever has one person's secret, that person has the other's. And guess who we haven't heard from yet...?"

Could it really be that easy? Only one of us hadn't spoken... and they were staring at the ground. My lips pressed together as I thought about the clues, and as I considered them, everything began to click.

It still didn't make sense, though... why? Why would they go this far?

"You... you had Kirsten's secret, didn't you... Hibiki.”

Chapter Text

"Ah... hahahaha..." Hibiki chuckled nervously. "Great joke, Maki, except I don't think now's the time."

"I wish I were joking," I spoke quietly as I stared at the Effects Artist, tears threatening to blur my vision. We all stared at Hibiki in disbelief. After a few quiet moments, Hibiki's (brief) calm facade began to shatter.

"...Wait... you guys... you really think I did it?!" Sweat began to bead on her forehead. "No! No, I didn't kill her!"

"Then why did you have Kirsten’s secret?” Mikako pressed.

“You almost certainly did... so you're the one who did it!" Yamako added.

"I am NOT!" Hibiki pointed at the fanfic creator angrily. "Look, it can't have been me! I-I have an alibi!"

Yes, Hibiki said she was in the toilet… but she wasn’t at the meet and greet! So... she doesn't actually have an alibi!

“Hibiki... you've got some explaining to do!" I threatened, pointing at her.

Hibiki began to shiver. I think this was the first time throughout this whole ordeal that I'd actually seen the usually cheery effects artist be scared. “I don’t want to die!” She screamed. “I want to live! You have no proof that I’m the fucking culprit! It’s Marissa!”

I better prove to Hibiki that she’s the culprit! And at the same time, I can prove Marissa's innocence here! 

(BGM)

With her hair down, Hibiki was now dressed in a black paint splattered shirt and a dark pink skirt. Over this attire, she wore a black hooded cloak. She also had a black mask that covered half her face. She had knee black boots. In one hand, she was holding a scythe. In the other hand, she held a spray can. Out the spray can came a rainbow.

Arguement Armament, Start!

What the fuck did you just fucking say to me, you little bitch?! 

I'll have you know I'm the most famous effects artist alive! 

I can have you cancelled anytime I fuckin' want, Kiyoka! 

I want to speak to the fucking manager of this place! 

The rainbow disappeared with one hit. 

Tempo Up!

You are pathetic compared to me, you lucky bastard! 

You'll never be anything close to me, you faggot! 

I'm more fucking beautiful than ALL of you!

You're all just a bunch of fucking lowlife peasant dumbshit fuckwads that'll never get anywhere in life!

The spray can vanished. 

Tempo Up!

Leave me the fuck alone!

I‘m not the dumbass killer!

Is this just to kill me?!

The culprit’s really Marissa!

With the scythe gone, Hibiki was now helpless.

Final Blow!

You have no proof that I’m the fucking culprit!

You

Had

Kirsten’s

Secret

”It’s all over!”

With her cape in tatters, along with the rest of her outfit, Hibiki laid on the ground in agony.

BREAK!

I wished with all my heart that it it wasn't true, but I knew that she had stated a final, desperate lie.

I'm sorry... but this is my proof!

"There is, Hibiki..." I sighed, defeated. “You had Kirsten’s secret, and you almost certainly did the same thing that Haruka did to Rei to her.”

Hibiki then leaned on her podium.

"I'm sorry... really, I'm just... oh fuck I'm so scared!" She finally broke down, shoulders heaving as she cried. "I know I fucked up! I don't want to die! Not here!"

"We've discovered our culprit. It’s time to vote!" Takara cheered.

“Hold on a minute…” I said, bringing the trial to a halt. “Takara...why are you so desperate to vote?”

“Because I hated Hibiki!” Takara said.

”We shouldn’t vote until I’ve brought this trial to a close,” I shook my head.

"Well, let's go over this one more time, just to be 100% sure," said Nanako as Hibiki sobbed on her podium. "I mean... doesn't hurt to be thorough, especially if all our lives are on the line."

"Okay," I nodded, taking a deep breath. “This is how it all went down!”

Closing Agruement

ACT 1

“This started with the second motive Monokuma presented to us: our deepest darkest secrets. But we didn’t get our own. We received the secrets of another. Last night, Takara   tricked Marissa into gathering people into her research lab for an Insect Meet and Greet to try to get everyone to like bugs more. This, however, was just a lie. I can't help but wonder if the suffering the victim endured during the Meet and Greet was really worth it. After she managed to escape the Insect Meet and Greet, Kirsten Uehara, Ultimate Writing Prodigy and the victim in question, peeked at her secret. It was apparently so interesting, that she went to discuss it with the secret's owner... who unfortunately, turned out to be her killer.“

ACT 2

”That night, while Takara endured her own Insect Meet and Greet, Kirsten got up out of bed and sought out the owner of the secret she had read. This would be a fatal mistake.”

ACT 3

"At this time, the killer had gotten Kirsten’s secret and was hanging out in the storage room. When Kirsten approached them, wanting to know the details of the secret, the killer reacted by setting off a special trap with a seesaw mechanism they had prepared in the storage room ahead of time. In this trap, they set up a wooden board, and jumped on it, causing a can of blue paint to fall over all Kirsten, covering her in the stuff and knocking her out.”

ACT 4

“Once the culprit was unconscious, the killer had a rope, so they decided to use this to their advantage. They killed Kirsten by strangling her with the rope. The killer then fashioned one end of it into a noose and hung it from the ceiling. The killer then grabbed Kirsten's body, put her neck through the noose, and pulled down tight to make it seem like she had hanged herself.”

ACT 5

”The killer then left the storage room, and went to the toilet to fake an alibi. After they got themselves an alibi, the killer finally returned to their room for a nice, calming shower.”

"Despite the deliberate attempts by the culprit to mislead us into thinking the culprit was Marissa, this was in fact an act of cold-blooded murder committed by the Ultimate Effects Artist herself, Hibiki Otonokoji!"

BREAK!

Having tried so hard to keep my voice steady throughout the speech, it finally cracked as I said her name. Again, I felt no sense of justice or righteousness in my heart... only despair. Tears dripped from my eyes as I looked over towards Hibiki, who had finally managed to stop crying. Her entire face was painfully inflamed and red.

"...Y-Yep... I-I think that about c-covers i-it," she forced a grin. Around the room, people began wailing, already mourning one of our best friends. "Monokuma... go ahead..."

"Roger that!" Monokuma smiled cheerfully, entirely unaffected by the mood of the room. "The heart-racing excitement as the blackened and the spotless finally face off...!"

"IT'S VOTING TIME!" Monokuma and Mono-Kanade cried in unison.

The seventeen buttons were revealed. A huge TV monitor lowered from somewhere high above, stopping just above Monokuma's throne. I heard groans of lamentation all around me as I stared at the buttons, feeling sick to my stomach.

I sighed and closed my eyes as I pressed Hibiki's button.

"Now, then... it seems the voting has finished!" Monokuma giggled. "Let's see the result!"

The giant monitor turned on to show the words "Voting Results", then switched again to display our names next to images of our face, arranged into two tidy columns. I felt my heart skip a beat as thirteenth tally marks quickly appeared beside Hibiki's face and under her name. 

"Who'll be chosen as the blackened?" Monokuma continued to taunt. "Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beeee?!"

The giant monitor's image died for a second, only to next display the wheel with all our pixel icons on it. A ball appeared and it rolled around the sections in a clockwise fashion, gradually slowing down until it came to a stop right on Hibiki's section. Bells rang in celebration, and coins and confetti fell from the ceiling as Hibiki's name flashed across the screen.

“I…” Hibiki said. Then she started to sob loudly. A painful lump formed in my throat as I watched Hibiki cover her face with her hands, collapsing onto the ground and bawling.

"Wait! Don't you guys want to know what the secret Miss Hibiki tried so desperately to keep secret was?!" exclaimed Monokuma.

"What?! No! Please, no!" Hibiki begged desperately. But it was too late.

Monokuma had displayed what had been on her Monopad on the monitor for us all to see.

Hibiki Otonokoji is responsible for a camp closing down

Hibiki then got up, her face falling.

“I’ll tell you the story of Kirsten’s secret, before Hibiki tells you all about her secret!” Monokuma said. “Once upon a time, Miss Kirsten Uehara was a young author. Miss Uehara was very popular with the kids. Because of her looks, I suppose. Anyways, the children followed Miss Uehara well, and even Miss Uehara, who was not the best at social interactions, could be herself with the kids. Like a symbiotic relationship. One day, one of the kids came crying to Miss Uehara. They said that their dad was horrible to them. Miss Uehara heard about this, and she decided that action had to be taken. She got a knife, and went to the bad father’s house. That night, the father was brutally murdered. From that day on, Miss Uehara played with the kids at day, and at night she killed people. She was basically an assassin. Sometimes her day and night job would overlap. Because some kids had bad people for parents.”

”Kirsten wasn’t a murderer!” Kanata stammered in horror. Monokuma nodded solemnly. 

“Now, Hibiki, care if you tell them your secret?” Mono-Kanade asked.

Hibiki sighed. “…Fine. Once, I was at a summer camp.”

“You were at a summer camp?” asked Marissa. 

Hibiki nodded. “Yes. My parents sent me there. One day, I had a talent contest in this camp. I was ready to show off my painting skills to the world! I had a meeting first. It was very important! Unfortunately, I had a rival. She was a horrible rich girl. So, I did something really, really bad.”

“Which was?” Mikako pressed.

“Well, during the meeting, I snuck some constipation tablets into my rival’s drink,” Hibiki said. “As you can imagine...she got a pretty upset stomach and could barely leave the bathroom. She had to get picked up early because she felt so unwell. Then I showed off my painting skills to everyone. I couldn’t even enjoy the moment, because I knew my rival was stuck home alone, missing the talent show. I felt terrible!”

"Then what happened...?" breathed Nanako.

”It wasn’t until tomorrow.” Hibiki sighed. “I was entertaining myself by practicing trick shots on the billiards table in the Recreation Room when the coach told me to come outside.”

“For what?” Yamako asked.

”I don’t fucking know…” Hibiki shrugged. “Anyways, when I was walking around a field, I saw a group of kids playing. Suddenly, I noticed a hornet’s nest near me. I decided to do something terrible. I ripped out a chunk of the buzzing comb. A bunch of hornets came out of the beehive. I ran away, scared. While I somehow didn’t get stung, everyone else wasn’t lucky. While I was drinking juice, the field was full of ambulances. The hornets had stung the kids! Out of them all… 2 of them died, and the rest never recovered from getting stung."

A somber silence hung in the air, thick like mist. My mind raced with horrible thoughts born from that information, while it struggled to shut it out at the same time. My fingers felt cold, my lips numb.

"How... H-How...?" Nanako mouthed.

"It was all over the news, even where I had gone," Hibiki continued. "I dreaded returning home, fearing the police would be waiting for me. But eventually, my parents picked me up. The camp then closed. The day after I came home was horrible. Everybody hated me. Camp was a lot of people’s only reason for living, so it pissed many people off that it had been shut down. They had crowded me as I walked into the taxi, yelling and jeering and screaming at me the whole way to school. The days after that were filled with overwhelming paranoia, sleepless nights of restless screaming and nightmares. Death threats arrived in the mail. Eventually, my hate stopped.” 

I could feel my heart break as I watched Hibiki break down, burying her face in her arms as she slumped onto her podium and cried.

Nobody spoke for a few moments... what could we say?

"...And on that bombshell, I think it's time for the main event!" said Monokuma.

"Oh, no..." I gasped, realizing what he meant by that.

“In other words, let's begin! The punishment time brimming with despair!" Monokuma said.

Hibiki then sobbed. “No!”

"This time, for the Ultimate Effects Artist Hibiki Otonokoji... I've prepared a special punishment for you!"

“I…I… don’t want to die!” cried Hibiki.

"Let's give it everything we got!" Monokuma shouted.

Hibiki broke down crying.

”It’s punishment time!” Monokuma screamed.

The large, red button appeared before Monokuma. He grinned with excitement as he pulled out a hammer, hopped and did a somersault in midair, smashing the button as he landed.

Game Over

Hibiki has been found guilty. 

Time for the punishment!

We watched as the effects artist was whisked away to her death.

The monitor lit up.

Hibiki stood on a brightly-lit stage, before a massive crowd of Monokumas. A microphone appeared.

Despair: The Movie

Hibiki was then grabbed by robot hands and forced to say a few words. A apology for killing Kirsten.

The Monokumas booed and jeered as Hibiki said this apology. They produced tomatoes, eggs and other produce from nowhere in particular and began throwing them at Hibiki as hard as they could. Hibiki kept on saying her apology, as she was being assailed by the rotten fruits and vegetables.

Some of the Monokumas now resorted to pulling out various rocks and even empty spraycans - and throwing them at Hibiki along with the rotten food.

Now being hurt, Hibiki looked around. She then spotted an exit door. 

Body dripping with sweat and rotten vegetation, she ran off the stage and through this door.

Outside the door was a dark film lot. 

More Monokumas appeared, with both photographic and video cameras. Lights flashed everywhere, making her cringe and squint.

Her exposed skin gradually started to incur burns across it with every single flash of the camera. Seemingly realising this, Hibiki began to attempt to dodge the camera flashes

Suddenly… she stepped on a spike. This spike went straight through her foot, causing Hibiki to scream in pain.

More traps were activated as Hibiki stumbled through the film lot, blood dripping everywhere. Spray cans were even brought out by the Monokumas and they started spraying her.

Soon, Hibiki was beaten, battered and bruised, clutching her chest as she breathed heavily. All this time, she'd been trying to make it to the end of the film lot.

She saw a door.

She opened it. 

Imagine her surprise when she only got glitter in the face. One particular sharp piece cut into her right eye, half blinding her.

Her clothes looked as if they were about to fall off. 

Suddenly, a Monokuma jumped out the door and peeled the skin off Hibiki’s chest, and we got a… detailed lesson in human anatomy.

Hibiki screamed in pain.  

Unfortunately, Monokuma’s fun had only just began.

He then plunged his claws into Hibiki’s chest.

The effect artist’s screams became unbearable to listen to as he began to disembowel her with his claws. Blood splashed on the floor and dribbled out of her mouth. 

Soon Hibiki was reduced to an empty shell, save for her collapsing lungs and her heart. As she struggled to breathe and stay conscious, having lost too much blood to make any more noise, Monokuma, drenched in crimson, slowly gripped Hibiki's heart, looked her right in the eyes with a smirk... and tore it out.

Somehow, Hibiki was still alive despite having no heart.

 She had lost consciousness, though.

A Monokuma then pressed a button.

Below Hibiki was a machine. It was a rather odd-looking machine. It was full of buzzsaws, and it had a pipe at the end.

Hibiki fell through a trapdoor, and into the machine, disappearing in a bloody spray.

Soon, a spray can was taken to the pipe.

Something poured out of the pipe.

Monokuma then pressed down on the nozzle of the spray paint can, and began to spray over the walls of the film lot. To my horror, seeing the red liquid spraying out of the can, I knew it wasn't red paint and the thought of what it was made me want to throw up.

My legs shook violently, my blood ran cold as ice. The sheer brutality of Hibiki's death rendered me unable to move or even talk. I kept staring at the screen in shock until it finally switched off.

I felt my knees cave in, only for Mikako to catch me. She nodded solemnly, before gagging. 

“Did you love the execution?” Monokuma asked.

“That was even worse than Haruka!” Ayame shouted, even as she held a quietly weeping Kanata against her shoulder.

“You sick bastard,” Nanako spat, glaring at Monokuma with impressive levels of fury.

Kana set one hand on her face, covering her eyes and blocking me from seeing most of her reaction, save for her grimace of disgust.

Yamako screamed and hid behind her podium. “This place is a nightmare!”

Takara cried. "I... I can't take this anymore... even Hibiki was killed so brutally..." She spoke, before wailing. "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! I DON'T WANNA DO THIS ANYMORE!"

“For Hibiki to suffer such a fate!!” Akane broke down into sobs. “It’s too much! It’s so beyond cruel!!”

Kizuna collapsed to her knees, her cheeks bulged, then she ducked her head behind her podium to spare us the sight, but not the sound, of her heaving up sick.

Satsuki cried. “Satsuki wants to go...Satsuki wants to go...home!”

Monokuma then vanished.

We then headed into the elevator.

The twelve of us that were left, that is.

As we rode the elevator back up to the school, I stared at the ground.

My mind was filled with… despair.

I found myself drifting off, dreaming of nothing but an endless field of darkness. In a way, it was the most peace I’d had since this killing game began.

It wouldn’t last.

Received Gift!

Spray Can

Chapter 2 – Secret Dreams: A Cursed Story

End

Surviving Students: 12

Chapter Text

Monokuma Theatre

Happy New Day!

I'm the kinda guy who doesn't want to celebrate a new year. I wanna celebrate the dawn of every new day!

Because every new day deserves celebrating! So…

Once again, happy New Day!

End of Monokuma Theatre

Chapter 3: The Girl Who Looked into the Evil Abyss

Daily Life

"Goooood morning, everyone! It is now 7am and Nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"

Yet another identical wake up from Monokuma. For a moment I wondered if that damnable bear had set this alarm to run automatically while he slept in, but it reminded me that he probably enjoyed watching us suffer... not like we were all suffering already. 

Flashes of shades of red exploded behind my eyelids... at once reminding me of last night's events. I gasped quietly as my eyes shot open.

"You okay?" Marissa asked, arriving, as I blinked rapidly.

"Yea, just... oh god, did last night really happen?" I droned, my heart feeling heavy. Remembering Kirsten's body hanging from the rope... the revelation that Hibiki had been responsible for a summer camp closing... how she had cried and tried, but failed, to prevent her execution...

The most horrible part of the trial yesterday hadn’t been the gore-filled execution, though. It had been the fact that Kanata had lost a friend. Kirsten was gone.

Against all my hopes at the beginning of this ordeal, four of us were already dead, and it hadn't even been a week. What was going to happen to us next? Would one of us kill again, despite our reaffirmations to work together?

My stomach rumbled. Marissa had already gone for breakfast, and I followed her.

I could hear Kanata's quiet sobs as I entered the dining hall. I sniffled as I grabbed a simple glass of water and made my way to the table. 

Everyone was crying.

Even when Mono-Kanade and Monokuma arrived, they didn’t catch a break from crying.

Finally, I spoke up. “We lost two people yesterday.” I said. “But we have new items. Let’s explore the school!” 

Nanako facepalmed. “Y’know what? Let’s scrap the teams; they’re a bad idea. We can all go round together.”

I wasn’t confident that this was the best solution, however I he also didn’t feel like spending the next few hours waiting around trying to sort out team politics. At least if we all went around together, we could stay on the same page.

“So, does anyone have any ideas where these items might belong?” Ayame asked. “We’ve got a hammer, a key, and a ninja scroll.”

”There’s only one way to find out!” Marissa said.

We found ourselves near a door. Mikako turned the key in the keyhole on the door, and it exploded. Luckily, no one was hurt.

“This leads to the third floor,” said Yamako. “Hopefully, it will be nice.”

The Ultimate Fanfic Writer was wrong.

Once I finally reached the third floor, I found myself in a poorly lit hallway, which had a different feel to it compared to the rest of the boarding school. It felt outdated and old, which was a stark contrast to the second floor. This floor seemed to be styled around traditional Japanese culture and felt like an entirely separate place.

This floor certainly felt atmospheric, but not in a good way. It was dark and oppressive, not to mention claustrophobic. It made me miss the bright colours of the dining hall. 

Suddenly, I noticed Kanata next to a door. “My lab!” She said, her eyes sparkling.

She opened the door, and I followed her.

Kanata’s talent lab was spacious, with an antique feel running throughout. The centre of the room was occupied by a large dining table, where three mannequins sat, dressed in all of their fineries. On the far left of the room was a storage space, where we discovered vacuums and washing machines. 

“I love it here ;)!” She said.

I left the maid alone.

I then found Kana next to a door, holding the Ninja Scroll.

I pointed out the obvious. "Looks like you’ve found your own lab."  

I then helped Kana scan the ninja scroll into the door.

Kana’s lab looked more like a storage room. There were two large dragon statues by the wall across from entrance. On the walls at the sides there were racks, displaying a variety of swords. Both kendo and... actually dangerous ones.

“This floor is very creepy,” I said, leaving the lab.

I then found a glass panel. Mikako and Yamako were there.

With a generous amount of force, the Ultimate Inventor hurled the golden hammer at the glass pane. It instantly shattered into thousands of pieces, revealing a hidden passageway. Thankfully, no one was hurt. 

Mikako admired the new space. “We were right!”

The three of us then headed down the passageway and found a lab.

It was actually another library.

”I think this is Kirsten’s lab.” Mikako said. 

“Kirsten would have loved it here.” sighed Yamako. 

Kirsten would have loved her lab? Damn, Hibiki really screwed things up for us by killing her...

”Let’s leave now.” Mikako said. “This place is giving me the creeps.”

We then left the horrible third floor.

At the dining hall, we discussed what we had found.

While we headed back to the dorms, I wished to spend time with someone. So I gambled on the MonoMonoMachine, and got a wrench.

I then headed to talk with Nanako.

Spend time with Nanako?

> Yes

Kiyoka: "Nanako, what do you feel like talking about today?"

Nanako: "We could talk about the class rankings. I think that's something that will have an effect on your future career."

Kiyoka: "Tell me about your family life, first, Nanako."

Nanako: "My dad works a lot so we don't have much time together, but we're still close."

Kiyoka: "What about any possible siblings?"

Nanako: "One. A little younger than me."

Kiyoka: "Hmm, sounds like a sister. So you're an only child?"

Nanako: "No. My brother is called Nikei."

Kiyoka: "Tell me about your brother."

Nanako: "Nikei's into video games and he is a little bit of a loner."

Kiyoka: "How does he feel about your decision to be a Mechanic?" Nanako: "He's a journalist, and journalists can get clean. However, I'm not a journalist. As a mechanic, I work with machines a lot, especially vehicles. As a result, I tend to get oil spilled on my clothes. Maintaining machines can get...messy."

Kiyoka: "What does your mum think of your career choice?"

Nanako: "I don't know. She died when I was in middle school."

Kiyoka: "…oh. Are you and Nikei twins?"

Nanako: "Yes, we are."

Kiyoka: "How long ago was it since she died?"

Nanako: "It's been years. However, Nikei's basically a mother to me. I sometimes suspect that Nikei wished for a twin sister so we could swap places when Nikei didn't want to attend certain events."

Kiyoka: "I see… I'm sorry. I didn't know. I was just…thinking about my own mum who died when I was still young. I'm sorry to have brought up such painful memories." Nanako: "It's okay. Mind if I tell you about what my brother did once?"

Kiyoka: "Of course not."

Nanako: "You see, Nikei's mischievous role-swapping hit a new low when my birthday rolled up."

Kiyoka: "A low? Nanako, what are you talking about?"

Nanako: "My birthday is on the tenth day of the tenth month."

Kiyoka: "That's oddly lucky."

Nanako: "I know. My brother wanted me to take his place because he had an important interview coming up. So he…"

Kiyoka: "What did you do?"

Nanako: "I took his place in the interview."

Kiyoka: "What happened?"

Nanako: "Nikei was forced to fix machines when he was mistaken for me."

Kiyoka:  "Karma."

Nanako: "Mind if I talk about what happened to my brother?"

Kiyoka: "Go ahead."

Nanako: "Nikei got covered in oil."

Kiyoka: " Serves him right." Nanako: "Nikei then went to work without taking a shower."

Kiyoka: "He probably doesn't realise how disgusting that is."

Nanako: "During the interview, Nikei was mistaken for me. As a result, the interviewer praised him."

Kiyoka: "What did the interviewer say?" Nanako: "He told Nikei that he was truly a mechanic."

Kiyoka: "What did Nikei say?"

 Nanako: "He said ‘I'm not a mechanic! I'm a journalist!"

Kiyoka: "And what did you say?"

Nanako: "I told the interviewer that my brother swapped places with me."

Kiyoka: "And how did the interview end?" Nanako: "The crowd laughed at Nikei."

Kiyoka: "The crowd laughed at you?"

Nanako: "Yes. Well, they were cheering for me because I gave a great interview."

Kiyoka: "Why did they laugh at Nikei, though?!"

Nanako: "He was covered in oil. He was wearing stinky mechanic clothes."

Kiyoka: "O.o"

Nanako: "I know. It was embarrassing for him." Kiyoka: "What did Nikei say?"

 Nanako: "He said ‘This is so bad! I can't even get my hair out of the goop!'"

Kiyoka: "What did you say?"

Nanako: "I told him to change out of his clothes. And I gave him a handkerchief to use to get the oil out of his hair." Kiyoka: "What was Nikei wearing when he had gotten mistaken for you?"

Nanako: "He was still wearing his coat and hat."

Kiyoka: "Ah, Nanako, you're so smart."

Nanako: "Well, I'm a twin. I have a twin."

Kiyoka: "Huh?" Nanako: "Nikei's the twin. And now you know about how he got covered in oil."

Give Nanako a gift?

< Wrench

Nanako: "Kiyoka, I've been looking everywhere for something like this!"

Kiyoka: "What?"

Nanako: "I want you to accept my gift!"

Kiyoka: "My, you really are a thoughtful person."

Nanako: "I am." Kiyoka: "What happened after your brother got covered in oil? How much oil was he covered in?"

Nanako: "He was covered in enough oil to fill a bucket."

Kiyoka: "Really? You're not bullshitting me, are you?"

Nanako: "No." Kiyoka: "How did you brother get covered in oil in the first place?"

Nanako: "He was fixing a rusty car. However, he tried to do so with a screwdriver, and it exploded oil all over him."

Kiyoka: "That's horrible."

Nanako: "I know."

Kiyoka: “How did your brother’s workers react to seeing your brother covered in oil?”

Nanako: “They laughed.”

Kiyoka. “That’s karma for a journalist.”

Nanako: “Thanks, Maki. See you later.”

Nanako’s report card was updated based off your experience with her!

I had spent time with Nanako.

She had been a kind hearted girl.

I headed back to my dorms. It was night.

Nikei sounds like a nice person… I wonder how he reacted when he got covered in oil?

The thought made me chuckle as I closed my eyes.

Chapter Text

After I woke up, I headed to the Dining hall.

Most of us were already there eating a lighter breakfast than normal, their conversation sunny and pleasant. Even Takara seemed less irritable than usual.

Gee, why didn't we think of this sooner? What a great idea...

At breakfast, Ayame announced her plans for a party. It would take place a few hours later.

I had a lot of time before the party. I decided to talk to someone.

Maybe Ayame.

Without a gift this time, I headed to Ayame's lab. 

There, we did a lot of stargazing, and talked. We then discovered that an astronaut and a lucky student aren't different.

I then headed to my room. After a few minutes, it was finally time for the party.

I got into my best dress, I then headed to the party.

Everyone was in their best dress. "Alright, everyone! Let's get this party started!" Ayame shouted happily. The kitchen doors burst open and Ayame walked into the Dining Hall, balancing a tray full of burgers on her head. Yamako followed, holding the rest of the food.

When all had been placed on the main table, there was a large pot of stew, fried grains, bread rolls, salads, even a huge punchbowl filled with a sugary, light pink liquid.
"And that's not even counting what's for dessert!" the Ultimate Fanfic Creator beamed. 

“Who wants beer?” Nanako declared, holding up a can. “Catch ‘em before they get cold!”

“Oh, me! Me!” Mikako cried, holding up her hand.

Nanako looked around her and turned back to Button. “No, Button!” she said loudly, shaking her head while smiling mischievously. “You absolutely cannot have any alcohol, and that is final!” She winked at Mikako and handed him a beer can, holding a hand to her lips to call for her silence. Kizuna was struggling not to burst into giggles.

“Oh thank– I mean, oh, what a shame,” Mikako said, winking back. “It’s fine. I won’t drink any beer then.” He pulled the tab – the can emitting a faint hiss – and took a large gulp. She smiled for a moment, then scrunched her face up in disgust and swallowed. “That was horrible!” she said, sticking out her tongue. “That’s what adults like? Ugh… I’m never drinking beer ever again!”

“Eh, you’ll grow to like it,” Nanako said, chugging from a can of her own. 

Soon, all our troubles were forgotten as we gorged ourselves. Ayame and her helper had given it their all when it came to making the food as perfect as possible. No senses were spared: the dishes arranged and plated into works of art, the delicious sizzles filling the air along with the various scents, the textures and crunchiness, the sweet, salty, sour, savory and bitter flavors - all danced and mingled and swirled amongst each other perfectly. It was culinary heaven... and that was only the first course.

The dining hall was abuzz with lighthearted conversation as Ayame and Yamako brought out the desserts, and that's when the party really started. Besides a towering chocolate cake covered in enchanted fondant effigies of everyone in the school (even a strangely tame and playful Monokuma, whose head was immediately bitten off by Takara), there were fruit pies, fruit tarts, cookies, cupcakes, donuts and candies. Satsuki walked over and turned on the karaoke machine, dragging Yamako with her to sing a duet. While the former sang with all the grace and beauty one would expect from an Ultimate Musician, Yamako shouted
more than she sang, eliciting cheers and laughter.

During all this, I was grabbing myself a slice of cake and some cookies.

I bit into my slice.

To anyone else, it tasted like chocolate.

But to me?

It tasted like victory.

Chapter Text

The morning came. I dragged myself out of bed, and headed to the dining hall.

Finally choosing some oatmeal with a tiny jar's worth of strawberry jam lumped on top, I sat down and ate. Soon the others joined me, and the cafeteria became abuzz with light conversation. Breakfast soon ended, I headed to my room.

I needed to talk to someone. So I gambled on the MonoMonoMachine, and I got a porcelain doll. I then decided to talk to Akane.

Spend time with Akane?

< Yes

Kiyoka: "What'cha doing, Akane?"

Akane: "Dunno."

Kiyoka: "Hey, you're not still sulking about that fight are ya?"

Akane: "No..."

Kiyoka: "Would you like some tea?"

Kiyoka shows Akane the way to the kitchen, and the Ultimate Lucky Student and the Ultimate Princess have a nice conversation.

Kiyoka: "I've never heard of a story where a princess hides under the guise of a normal girl at a school, don't you know?"

Akane: "You basically described me."

Kiyoka: "H-Huh?"

Akane: "I'm going undercover while I'm at this school."

Kiyoka: "What for?"

Akane: "I dunno... I feel like I need to do something. Helping people is fine, but I wanna do more."

Kiyoka: "I know from personal experience how hard it is to be normal. Especially if you're the only normal girl vs 16 insane alysumn escapees."

Akane: "Exactly. So if I'm a normal girl, I can at least do something to help people."

Kiyoka: "Like what?"

Akane: "Make tea for them."

Kiyoka: "Huh? A princess making tea for her boyfriend's teachers?"

Akane: "Yeah. That'd be pretty funny, right?"

Kiyoka: "I'm the straight girl to everyone's weirdness, you know?"

Akane: "I know. I'll make the tea, then you'll go tell them the truth about me."

Kiyoka: "Huh? No, that's way too much work." Akane: "I could tell everyone myself, but it would kill me lol. I get worried that people might not want to talk to a Princess like me, so you're very kind."

Give Akane gift?

< Porcelain doll

 Akane: "Ah… you're so nice…"

Kiyoka: "Yeah, I am. I'm nice to everyone."

Akane: "Especially if you're the only normal one and there's 16 insane alysum escapees here." Kiyoka: "Exactly."

Akane: "You're interesting, Maki. You're so interesting in fact, that you're special. People are like onions, full of layers. And you're so full of layers that I can't figure you out."

Kiyoka: "I like onions."

Akane: "Me too."

Kiyoka: "I'll go get the tea ready." Akane: "For if we decide to talk again."

  Kiyoka: "Farawell."

Akane: "Hmm?"

Kiyoka: "Farawell."

I got into my dorm room for a nap…

A loud horn sounded from somewhere, and I was rudely woken up.

”Gah!” I screamed.

As the horn started blaring, I ran into the showers and stripped.

I turned them on…

However, within seconds of the water touching my skin, I shrieked and leapt out of the shower.

“Ahhh!”

The water was boiling - scolding even. It had barely touched me but my skin was stinging as if I had been on fire. I was genuinely fearful that I would have obtained third-degree burns if I had stayed under the water for more than twenty seconds. Since I had jumped out of the shower in such a panic, the shower was still running. Without stepping back inside, I reached into the shower, avoiding the water, and fiddled with the nozzles. I attempted to turn down the temperature, but no matter what I did, nothing changed; the water would not cool down. Giving a defeated sigh, I turned off the water for good, accepting that I couldn't wash. 

I ran outside, throwing my clothes back on.

When I headed to the dining hall, everyone was waist deep in thick, black oil.

Monokuma then hopped onto the table.

“This third motive is called ‘Hell on Earth’. Every hour, a hellish living condition will happen!”

Then he left.

"So it seems like the different aspects of the motive change every hour," Nanako mused. "In order of lethality. First horn, then the hot showers, and now the oil,"

"There are approximately 10 minutes to go if it changes every hour, so we better get ready for the next part of the motive," Marissa whispered to me, checking her watch.

(10 minutes later...)

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH,"

The speakers had only been on for 30 seconds and I was already sick of the screaming. Apparently, Monokuma's next 'fun little surprise' involved every speaker in the school being blasted at 100% volume. With my sensitive ears, I guessed it was twice as worse for her than everyone else, so I resorted to stuffing my ears with cotton balls to block out the noise.

That still didn't help block out the screaming though, so I ended up curling into a ball in the Ultimate Lucky Student's lab, trying not to think about what Monokuma did to cause someone to scream this much. I counted the hours instead.

HOUR 5: POISON FOG

Even though Monokuma assured us that the poison wasn't lethal, it still paralyzed all of my limbs, leaving me sore and stuck on the floor of my lab, sticky from the now receded oil of Hour 3 and unable to move.

HOUR 6: SCORCHING HOT

It especially didn't help that all of the water sources, INCLUDING THE POOL, got drained completely, so I and Co spent the hour in our swimsuits, trying not to get sunburns and failing rather miserably.

HOUR 7: BLOOD
Hot thick blood filled the school, and we couldn’t escape it. This lasted for a whole hour. It got in our mouths, our eyes, everywhere. 

I really didn't know how much longer I could stand this living hell.

Chapter Text

I woke up with a headache. 

Ugh…

Maybe it was because of the motive?

I hopped out of bed and headed to the dining hall.

Ayame was gone. “Where’s Ayame?” I asked.

Marissa shrugged. “The motive is bad enough already. We only have 10 or so minutes until the swarm of flies in our labs disappear and the Icy Cold gets ramped up, so we should find her before then," she said.

“Unless we kill.” sighed 

”I’ll go get her,” Nanako said. “But first, I’ve gotta make Akane her tea.” 

“I’m having some tea.” Akane clarified. “And Nanako’s gonna prepare it for me. She’s putting something special in it.” 

So, we had 10 minutes until the icy cold came.

I decided to talk to someone about what to do with the motive.

I headed to Mikako’s room, and sat down.

Kiyoka: "Mikako, this is serious."

 Mikako: "I know."

Kiyoka: "We shoudl talk about the motive."

After a brief pause, Kiyoka decides to go on.

Kiyoka: "Monokuma's made every hour hell for us. He's called this ‘Hell on Earth.'"

Mikako: "He's right."

Kiyoka: "We can't give up. We can't let this happen."

Mikako: "Unless we kill."

Kiyoka: "Correct."

Mikako: "Well, I have an idea. It's risky, but it might work."

Kiyoka: "Go ahead."

Mikako: "What about I pick someone, and trick them into giving someone else poison? Nobody will know who became the blackened, so we all vote wrong in the class trial and get executed."

Kiyoka:  "That's risky, but doable."

Mikako: "I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it. I'll do it."

Kiyoka: "You shouldn't."

Mikako: "What's wrong?"

 Kiyoka: "We would all get executed. And what have we seen of the executions so far? Students being crushed, being turned into paint."

 Mikako: "So… about that plan…"

Mikako decides that, since she's the one that has to do it, she should do it.

Kiyoka: "What?"

Mikako: "Just lying! I had wanted to trick someone into poisoning someone so we would vote incorrectly and get executed but eventually gave up on the idea." Kiyoka: "Thank god."

 Mikako: "Sorry, Maki."

Kiyoka leaves Mikako without another word.

I sat in my room. Only 5 minutes until icy cold arrived.

Unless someone killed.

I kept repeating those 3 words in my mind, hoping it would stick.

I eventually decided to check on Akane with a couple of friends, to see how she was doing.

I headed to the kitchen with Takara and Kanata.

Only to see a horrific sight.

Akane was slumped over on a stool, blood dripping from her mouth. Blood was seeping down her red dress. 

Next to her, slumped in another stool, was Ayame. Blood was soaking through her black hair. A bloodied brick was next to her.

For the third time, there had been another death, but unlike the last two times, there were two victims.

Murder had happened, and it was worse than ever before.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: The Girl Who Looked Into The Evil Abyss

Deadly Life

“A body has been discovered! Everyone, please head to the kitchen!”

As I stared in horror at the two bodies, everyone else appeared. 

“Two victims?!” Yamako screamed. 

“Why those two?” cried Kanata.

Then Monokuma appeared and gave us our files. Then he vanished.

It was time to begin the third investigation.

Investigation, Start!

POV THIRD PERSON

She starts by checking the Monokuma File.

"There are two victims this time: Akane Taira, the Ultimate Princess, and Ayame Hatano, the Ultimate Astronaut. Both bodies were found in the kitchen. Akiane's cause of death is poisoning, while Ayame's cause of death is being hit over the head with a brick."

 Kiyoka then looks around the kitchen for clues. She notices that there's a green bottle next to Akane's tea. The label says "Lemon Verbena Scented Tea." Kiyoka figures that this bottle of tea must've been part of the murder plot. Then, she sees a box of baking soda and a mop. "Maybe this was used to mix in the tea?" She says. Then, she sees  a puddle of water on the floor. "I wonder why there's water here... Wait, there's a drain in the floor." "Maybe this was used to mix in the tea?" She says. Then, she sees  a box of baking soda and a mop. "Maybe this was used to mix in the baking soda?" she says.

Kiyoka then remembers what the victims were wearing when they were found. "Maybe this was used to mix in the tea?" She says. Then, she sees  a piece of string tied to the brick and some scissors.  "There was string here and scissors, so maybe the brick was tied to the string?" she says. Finally, Kiyoka notices a piece of paper with some handwriting on it. It says "Drink me."

This is like Alice in Wonderland, she muses. Then, she notices something else. "There's a piece of paper on the ground that says 'Drink me.' It looks like it fell out of someone's pocket," she says. Finally, Monokuma said that it was class trial time.

Kiyoka heads to the elevator, and she joins everyone else there. For the third time, they were gonna to be here.

Kiyoka wanted to pretend they were good girls for a little longer. 

Chapter Text

I remained silent during the trial, listening to everyone argue about the double murder. It seemed to take hours, but eventually, the culprit became clear.  

The culprit was Nanako.

The usually excitable mechanic was now calm.

”I did not kill Ayame and Akane, I tell you.” She said, clutching her podium. 

Nanako, you definitely killed Ayame and Akane! I’m gonna prove it to you!

Argument Armament, Start!

VS Nanako Yomiuri

Nanako started off. "The motive's gone, now. I am not the killer! Ayame and Akane are dead!"

 "What? How do you know that? You weren't even there! And they're not even here, are they? Who are you to say they're dead?" Kiyoka demands. "I heard the BDA, and I found their bodies!" Nanako refuted.  "I saw their bodies, I was there when they died! There is no way anyone could have gotten to them if I hadn't done it!" "I think you did it," Kiyoka pointed. 

Nanako broke down crying. "I didn't kill them! Don't you believe me?! I-I'm your friend, damnit! Why would I kill them?! You guys don't understand... Please, I can't die!"

"Fine," Kiyoka said. "I believe you. I'm not going to let you die."

Nanako started to cry harder. Then she turned mad. "I-I... I didn't! I DIDN'T KILL THEM!" She screamed in protest.

"What did you use?" Kiyoka asked.

"A... A device! I used a device to kill them!" 

"Show me." "I used a brick to kill Ayame, for example! But that's if I'm the killer." Nanako confessed.  "Nanako, where's your proof you killed Akane and Ayame?" Kiyoka asked. Nanako then turned mad. "You have no fucking proof that I killed Akane! You must know my mruder weapon!" She pulled out her hair and started to cry and scream. "NANAKO, WHERE'S YOUR PROOF?!?!" Kiyoka yelled, exasperated. "Fine!" Nanako said. "If I am the culprit, then you should know what I used to kill Akane!"

 As Nanako's words reverberated in the lucky student's mind, an image came to Kiyoka. Murky and dark, from the depths of her memories. As it came to the surface, Kiyoka saw its shape... and the final clue revealed itself. Suddenly, it all became clear.

I can prove it was you!

BREAK!

“I do know your murder weapon for Miss Akane,” I said.

”You do?” Nanako asked.

“There was poison in the tea," I replied.

"Wh-What?!" Nanako choked.

“So… N-Nanako… Nanako really killed… Ayame and Akane?” Yamako whimpered, hiding her mouth behind her hands, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.

“Yes… I don’t think there can be any doubts now…” I said. “If we look through this case one more time, then there’s no reason to disbelieve Nanako orchestrated this entire thing!”

It was time for the closing argument.

Closing Agruement!

ACT 1

"Let's paint a picture just for a moment; our culprit wakes up in the middle of the night. I don’t know this, so this is just a theory from me. They head to the warehouse, and get a brick and a piece of string.” 

ACT 2

”Still with me? Okay. The culprit decided to test a theory. They went to the kitchen, where Ayame Hatano was, and tied the brick above her head with the string. The culprit then got a pair of scissors and cut the string, dropping the brick on Ayame’s head and killing her.”

ACT 3

”So, Ayame was dead. It was at that moment that the culprit decided to hatch their second plan; the plan to kill someone else. They waited until breakfast, and when questioned about Ayame’s disappearance, they said that they needed to make Akane Taira her tea - a deadly mistake that would cost them further down the line.”

ACT 4

“When making the tea, the culprit mixed in honey, sugar and other things - including a certain poison. They then served Akane the tea, probably expecting her to drink it. Hell, they even wrote a note, ‘Drink me.’ And drink it Akane did! And the poison, of course... k-killed her.”

"I know you killed Akane and Ayame! Nanako Yomiuri, Ultimate Mechanic... I might never forgive you.”

BREAK!

Nanako just stood there. “Monokuma, I’m ready.” She said.

I pressed Nanako’s button. 

"Who'll be chosen as the blackened?" Monokuma continued to taunt. "Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What's it gonna be? What's it gonna beeee?!"

Then Monokuma showed a wheel labeled "Verdict" divided into seventeen sections, each with one of our faces on it. A ball appeared and it rolled around the sections in a clockwise fashion, gradually slowing down until it came to a stop right on Nanako’s section. Bells rang in celebration, and coins and confetti fell from the ceiling as the Ultimate Mechanic's name flashed across the screen.

And for the third time, it displayed a single word.

"GUILTY"

CLASS TRIAL END! ALL RISE?

"Me, oh, my. Three is a magic number after all! You kids did it again! The one who killed Ayame and Akane was Nanako Yomiuri!” Mono-Kanade said.

“Why did you kill Ayame and Akane?! Why?” Mikako demanded. “Tell me!”

Then…

Full insanity broke out of Nanako.

She laughed.

”Ha hah ha!” Nanako giggled.

Nanako... was this really your personality...? Or has this killing game simply driven you insane...?

”I did so because I want to be executed!” Nanako laughed. 

You want to get executed and die a horrible death, Nanako?!

I watched as Nanako went batshit insane. 

“Now then, I’ve prepared a special execution for Nanako Yomiuri, the Ultimate Mechanic.” Monokuma said.

Nanako turned to Monokuma. “I wonder what execution I’ll get!” She said.

”Let’s give everything we’ve got!” Monokuma announced. “It’s punishment time!”

The large, red button appeared before Monokuma. He grinned with excitement as he pulled out a hammer, hopped and did a somersault in midair, smashing the button as he landed.

Game Over

Nanako has been found guilty.

Time for the punishment!

Nanako was dragged away by Mono-Kanade. However, rather than shrieking in terror, the mechanic squealed with glee as if she were on a roller coaster. I could only watch with blurry vision as she was pulled away from me, screaming her name as I held out my hand in vain. She disappeared into the darkness as the monitor turned on.

Nanako was brought before a car with a timer. The hood was open. She was given a wrench.

Metal Massacre

Metal hands were then grabbed by Nanako and she was forced to mend the car while the timer counted down.  

Eventually, Nanako sighed in relief, only to suddenly scream in pain.  A buzzer sounded. It seemed that Nanako had been unable to fix the car in time, and it had clamped shut on her right hand.

This was confirmed when Nanako lifted up the bloody stump where her right hand had used to be. 

Nanako was then pulled to a broken machine, and forced to mend that.

When the buzzer sounded again, confirming Nanako hadn’t fixed it with the stump, a spike went through her foot.

At this point, Nanako screamed even louder.

Despite all the blood that poured on the floor, Nanako continued being forced to mend machines, even if it hurt her. 
Her clothes looked like they were about to fall out, and were covered in blood and oil. 
Eventually, Nanako was made to fix another car.

This car was complex, though, and Nanako collapsed on the ground, unable to take it.

A trapdoor opened underneath her as the buzzer sounded.

Nanako was dumped on train tracks.

And then, a train charged towards her, intent on running her over. Nanako blinked, her mouth open in a silent scream; she couldn't hope to move fast enough to get out of the way in time. 

A horrible crunch and a wet scraping noise filled my ears as the train passed by, jolting slightly as the wheels ran Nanako over. And as the train drove off into the darkness, I couldn't help but stare.

Not even bones were left intact. Just a pile of red goo with various white shards sticking out.

The monitor switched off.

Yamako screamed.

Takara went into hysterics.

Mikako vomited.

Behind me, I heard Kanata faint.

As Monokuma said something, my vision swirled.

We headed back to our dorms.

With a melancholy sigh, I rolled over and fell asleep.

Received Gift!

Mechanic’s Wrench

Chapter 3: The Girl Who Looked into the Evil Abyss

END

Surviving Students – 9

Chapter Text

Monokuma Theatre

As long as you're human, there will always come a point where you wish you could do things differently.

Even a baseball player in the major leagues…

Even a soccer player touring Europe…

Even a famous singer who started her career as a backup dancer on a sketch comedy show…

She makes a brilliant debut, but instead of going for more, she marries some third-rate actor and retires.

Every human has regrets, has things they'd like to go back and change.

But I don't! Cuz I'm a bear.

End Of Monokuma Theatre

Chapter 4: Blood Red Is Not Your Color

Daily Life

I woke up in bed. But due to yesterday's fiasco of a trial, I had a hard time getting out of bed. Eventually I was able to get ready for the day and leave my room.

Breakfast was very sad.

”Is no one gonna talk about the fact that 3 more people died yesterday?” Takara said. 

Even when Monokuma brought us a video game console and revealed that the fourth floor was unlocked, everyone was sad.

We decided to explore the fourth floor.

The fourth floor of Starlight High was decorated with light blue wallpaper and light purple carpets, with purple and teal lights shining from the lights above, bathing the hall in cool, calming colors.

And of course, there were two new labs! 

Satsuki’s lab: It was basically a concert stage. How original.

And then Haruka’s lab. How sad. She had died as the culprit of the first trial, so I didn’t feel okay seeing her lab.

I was too mentally drained from the trial yesterday to talk to anyone. So I just napped in my room.

Eventually, night came, and I was so bored I fell asleep anyways.

Chapter Text

Outline

Kiyoka wakes up, and goes to breakfast.

After breakfast, Kiyoka decides to talk to Satsuki, discovering that the ultimate musician loves metal.

After talking to Satsuki, Kiyoka discovers there’s a spa. 

Basically a spa chapter.

There, happy?

Chapter Text

We were eating breakfast in the dining hall. Breakfast was mostly uneventful. The only conversation that really took place was that of Satsuki asking everyone if they were happy about Haruka’s death. The truth was, none of us were. We were all furious and devastated that she had died, that her death was so violent and gruesome. 

I headed to my dorm to chill for the day. 

Before long, I got bored, so I decided to talk to someone, anyone.

So, I got a paintbrush off the MonoMonoMachine and decided to talk to Yamako.

Talk to Yamako?

< Yes

Kiyoka: "H-hey, Yamako."

Yamako: "W-what's up, Kiyoko?"

Kiyoko: "I just wanted t-to c-come say hi." Yamako: "Yes! Would I like to tell you about some infamous fanfics I wrote?"

 Kiyoka: "Yes."

Yamako: "Good, because I wrote a whole bunch of them."

 Kiyoka: "What fanfic should you tell me about first?"

 Yamako: "I'll tell you about Dipper Goes to Taco Bell." 

Kiyoko: "O-okay."

Yamako: "Just let me know if you start feeling nauseous and want me to stop!" 

Kiyoka: "No, I'm good."

Yamako: "Alright, let's begin."

Kiyoko: "Let's."

Yamako: "Okay, first of all. It's based off a TV show I loved called gravity falls."

Yamako then told Kiyoka about the nasty fic called Dipper Goes to Taco Bell.

Kiyoko: "It was so nasty. It wasn't even funny."

Yamako: "That's the point. My fanfic was so nasty that it was removed off fanfiction."

Kiyoko: "I'm sorry. But it was fun to read. Why did you stop writing?"

Yamako: "I sorta don't write anymore. Writing's mentally draining."

Kiyoka: "Do you do art?"

Yamako: "Yeah. I'm really good at it. I should probably draw the Dipper fic I had in mind."

Kiyoko: "That nasty Fic?"

Yamako: "Haha yeah. I should probably draw that."

Kiyoko: "Dipper Goes to Taco Bell?"

Yamako: "Yeah. That fic. I can draw it."

Kiyoko: "Wait, I have some money on me. You can buy a pencil and paper if you want."

Give Yamako gift?

< Paintbrush

Yamako: "Okay. Thanks."

Kiyoko: "So, what're you going to draw?"

Yamako: "The worst fanfic ever."

 Kiyoka: "What's that?"

Yamako: "My Immortal."

Kiyoka: "That harry potter fanfic?"

Yamako: "Yep. The one and only."

Kiyoko: "No way. That's the worst. I've read it."

Yamako: "You have? I've done too."

 Kiyoka: "Yes, and I've never been able to scrub it from my memory."

Yamako: "Me neither. I'm scared to re-read it. I don't know why I even bother to read it."

Kiyoko: "What's the second worst fic?"

Yamako: "My Brave Pony Starlight Fleet."

Kiyoko: "That one was made for the show My Little Pony?"

Yamako: "Yep. What about it?"

Kiyoko: "I've also read it. It's just as worse as My Immortal, if not even more so."

Yamako: "Is it?"

Kiyoko: "Yep."

Yamako: "Okay."

Kiyoko: "So what's the third worst?"

Yamako: "Cupcakes. God, Cupcakes…"

Kiyoko: "You wrote Cupcakes?"

Yamako: "Yeah. I was probably depressed at the time."

Kiyoko: "Okay. What's the second worst?" Yamako: "Rainbow Factory. It and Cupcakes are basically gory graphic torture one shots that have nothing but shock factor… way too bloody for MLP."

Kiyoko: "No way. That's awful. I'll never be able to look at that show the same way again."

Yamako: "Yes. Cupcakes is basically about making ponies into cupcakes. And you don't even wanna know what Rainbow Factory is about."

Kiyoko: "I do too! I wanna know! I wanna know!"

Yamako: "You don't. That's how bad Rainbow Factory was for me."

Kiyoko: "I'll never be able to look at it the same way again. That's what I'm saying."

Yamako: "Anyway, that's all I can think of." You and Yamako finish talking and part.

I just hung out with friends for the rest of the day. Before I knew it, Nighttime had arrived. I had myself a nice, hot shower, nestled into bed with one of my library books and read until I fell asleep.

Morning came. Groggily I pulled myself out of bed, my back already turned to the abrupt sunrise as I left for the dining hall. I quietly grabbed some food and sat down to eat, watching the others slowly trickle in.

Suddenly, Mono-Kanade’s voice echoed.

”Everyone, please gather to the Ultimate Programmer’s lab!”

Haruka’s lab? Oh no…

Haruka and Rei and Madoka’s deaths replayed over and over in my head, one after the other and all at once. I squeezed my eyes shut as I covered my ears, grinding my teeth in anguish. I don't know how long I stayed there, lying on the floor, huddled into a ball.

But eventually, I felt a gentle touch on my back. In an instant, I snapped out of my visions and gazed up into Mikako's face.

"Maki... are you alright?" she asked worriedly. I took a few quick, deep breaths to compose myself before answering.

"Y-Yea... I'll be a-alright..." I said.

“Let’s head to the Ultimate Programmer’s lab, then!” Yamako said.

We headed to the lab, where Mono-Kanade and Monokuma were.

9 chairs sat in the room in a ring, each with a VR set attached.

“This will be your enterace into…” Monokuma said.

Mono-Kanade finished his sentence. “The Neo World Program.”

Chapter Text

I know people are gonna go scream "PLEASE UPDATE" in the comments of chapter 27, but... bad news.