Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I'm not really that special.

To be honest, most people probably have more talent in their pinky than I do in my entire body. Sorry, that's just a saying my teachers used to tell me.

And if all of that were true, then how did I end up here?

My eyes gaze at the large building ahead of me. It looks so grand and majestic.

The building's name is Hope's Peak Academy. It's the best school for high school students to attend; no question.

If you're talented at something, then this school will most likely give you a call. However, that isn't how I got enrolled here...

...I tried my luck and applied through a raffle.

Not the most honorable way, but it was something.

My parents always wanted me to attend an amazing school such as this one. They say it sets you up later in life, so how could I skip the opportunity?

I don't have anything to be proud of, but at least I'll be going to school with so many talented people. I remember logging into several chat logs just to see what type of Ultimates were gonna be going.

An 'Ultimate' is a student that excels in their craft. Say a sports player is super good at baseball—they'd be considered the Ultimate Baseball Player.

Ah, I just realized I never introduced myself.

Hello! My name is Claire, and I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student. Don't think much about the name, it comes with the raffle.

Sure, I would've liked to have a real talent but I'm just not cut out for that. I've grown up average my entire life up to this point.

I'm just...average. Inside and out.

Maybe the other Ultimate's skill will rub off onto me and I'll leave here with a new outlook. But for now, I'll do anything I can to make a name for myself.

I'll be in class with the likes of the Ultimate Scientist, Ultimate Mechanic, Ultimate Therapist, even an Ultimate Ventriloquist!

I looked at my phone, seeing the time read 7:15 AM. I am kinda early, but I'm sure the door's will be open. According to Google, the school opens at 6:30 AM.

Now all that's left to do is to take my first step onto the campus. This first step inside the building will make me hopeful for a better future! A future where I'm not just average!

I stepped inside the entrance of the building, seeing that no one else was around.

You'd think a couple of other people would be here by now. Surely I'm not the only one who likes to get a jumpstart on things...

But just as I was about to take my second step, everything went blurry. My vision darkened and my body felt loose. My head began to pound like somebody had just hit me with a metal pan or something.

My legs gave out on me and my body started to descend to the floor. It's like everything was moving in slow motion. I didn't have any control over my body!

I tried to muster up enough strength to say something, but the words came out as a croak.

Before I could feel the floor connect with my face, I passed out.

•••

Tick...

Tick...

Tick...

"Huh—?" I suddenly jolted awake.

My vision slowly came back to me. I could see again!

"What is this?" My surroundings were classroom-like, but more enforced? There were metal plates covering the window and security cameras in the corner of the room.

The cool air came down on me from the air vent above my head. I felt cold. How long have I been here?

My hand went down to my pocket to check my phone, but it wasn't there. I felt around my shorts for a brief moment, but my phone was nowhere to be found.

I slowly grew frustrated, but I was still concerned more than anything. "The hell?"

"Where is my...?" I mumbled to myself before sighing in defeat. Maybe I dropped it at the entrance.

Wait, how do I even know I'm still at Hope's Peak? I've been through enough school entrances to know that you don't pass out when walking in them.

I pushed off the floor and found the strength to stand. The chair slid across the floor, making a screeching noise that only lasted momentarily.

My eyes went down to the desk, where I saw something lying there. It was a torn piece of paper with something written out in red pen.

'HEY THERE, NEW KID! I'M SURE YOU'RE SCARED AND CONFUSED, BUT I WILL EXPLAIN IN DUE TIME!'

So...someone is here? If this is a faculty member of Hope's Peak, I'm definitely suing and then I'm gonna be swimming in this school's profit.

Who does this type of stuff to people? I thought I had been kidnapped!

I went over to the classroom door and slid it open. The hallway on the other side was dark and quiet. There were several colored lights illuminating the hall, but they were very dim.

"Hello?"

I called down the hallway, my voice coming off as a raspy whimper. My throat was a little sore. I didn't drink anything before coming up to the school because I was in a rush.

Who knows how long I've been out for.

My body grew enough courage to begin walking. What I assume is still Hope's Peak has a very ominous feeling to it. And if it is orientation day, where are the other students?

Maybe I can wait outside?

I turned down a hall that led to the entrance of the school. If nobody is in here, then that means there's no reason for ME to be in here.

The hallway isn't long at all, but the fact I could hear each of my footsteps echo down the hall—it felt endless.

Before any real tension could set in, the sound of a male voice caught me by surprise.

"Hey, are you another new kid?"

I stopped and whipped my head to the right. I coulda sworn the entrance was further down this hallway?

"O-Oh, yeah." I confirm with a shaky nod. "So, you guys must be the other students?"

"Seems as much." One of the boys with glasses pressed up to his eyes replies as if that was obvious.

So these are the other Ultimate students. My mind swept away from the disturbing silence from the school as 15 other people are also inhabiting its space as well.

A tall girl with sock puppets covering her hands spoke rather enthusiastically, "Today's supposed to be the first day of class! Well—that was until I passed out and woke up."

"Wait, you passed out and woke up too?" The surprise on my face was probably clear.

"It happened to all of us." Another girl mentions.

What is really going on here? There is no way people really allow this school to...I don't know, knock their students out!

"It's interesting, yeah. It makes me wonder if they used some type of odorless gas. But I still woulda noticed that..." spoke a teen with spiky hair that went down his back.

He's wearing a white lab coat over his black and white shirt and black pants. He also has on black boots.

He must be the Ultimate Scientist.

"Wait a sec." The girl with the sock puppet hands spoke up, "Why don't we go around and introduce ourselves before getting into anything else?"

"Why do we have to know each other's names? We're friggin trapped in here!" A protest came from one of the other boys who also has long hair, however his is tied with a bow at the end.

"We should at least know each other's names and talents." The girl didn't back down, but she did come off as more apprehensive. "Then we can figure out a way out of here."

The boy sighs and clears his throat. "Whatever. Let's make this quick. I'm Oliver, the Ultimate Analyst."

"W-What is that?" A boy with a kinda dainty figure asks shyly.

"It means I'm not a fucking idiot."

Was all of that necessary?

"But you are a fucking asshole." The black haired teen next to me said under his breath.

I held in a laugh as the introductions continue. Next up was the girl who proposed the idea in the first place. She started—

"My name is Lana! I'm the Ultimate Ventriloquist!" She says with a contagious smile.

Another one of the girls looked with a confused expression. "So you talk with your hands?"

Lana lifts her left hand, which has a sock puppet on it. "Pretty much." The sock puppet began to speak, or that's the illusion it left. Her mouth never moved, making it seem like the sock puppet itself is speaking.

She then lifts her right hand, "It's more complicated than that, but I can explain later."

I honestly never thought much of ventriloquism, but she does it so effortlessly! It's super cool, but it definitely takes a lot of time. She has way more patience than me.

"That's boring! My name is Zip and I'm the Ultimate Pirate!" A girl that was just a little taller than me exclaims.

Her outfit says that by itself. She has a black pirate hat with the classic white bones and skull in the middle of it. Hanging off the side of her pants was a hook.

"Pirate?" Lana's left sock asks, "Like the ones in the movies?" The right finishes.

"What OTHER pirates are there?" Zip asks with a frown. "I take what I want and never give it back!"

"So, you should be in jail?" The boy with the lab coat snorts.

Zip laughs somewhat nervously, "...yeah!"

"I don't see you lasting long in this school...Zip." He smiles while saying her name. "Anyway, I'm the Ultimate Scientist. Name's Edward."

So he's the one I've heard about on the news! Well, he did burn down a city...but he also created a cure for several severe diseases! He's more ahead than most professionals!

"That's cool." Zip mumbled.

After his introduction, somebody new stepped up. "I'm Kevin, the Ultimate Scholar."

His voice is somewhat how you'd expect a nerd to sound. No, he doesn't have a lisp, but he still sounds...nerdy? I dunno how to explain it.

It didn't stop Edward and Zip from almost bursting out in laughter though. I guess those two are going to be the bullies of the class...

And isn't Edward a scientist? He's technically a nerd too!

"I-I'm Abbie...the Ultimate Artist."

"Heya! I'm Lizzy, the Ultimate Fashionista!"

"And I'm Petunia! I'm the Ultimate Tailor!"

The introductions started flowing in quicker.

A punk-rock dressed boy was next. He looks at the group, "Skell. Ultimate Rockstar."

There's a girl next to him that has a big smile on her face. It's creepily wide, but she seems nice enough. "And I'm Riley, the Ultimate Knife Duelist!"

Or not...

A girl with a...computer screen...for her face went next. Her voice sounds like a mix of Siri and the automated voice message system you get after a call doesn't go through. It just has more emotion behind it.

"Hiii! I'm Ruby, it's nice to meet you all! I'm the Ultimate Web Designer!"

Her bubbly attitude's contagious! Honestly, seeing her smile made me want to smile!

Standing a little ways behind her was an anthropomorphic cat with black fur and big, beady eyes. His body resembles a pencil sharpener with a book lying on top of it.

His tail also wasn't normal, as it's a long pencil shaving instead of a normal cat tail.

"I'm Cubbie." He waves slightly, "The Ultimate Bilingual Student."

Bilingual? That means he can talk in different languages! Oh, that's sooo cool! I've always wanted to learn another language, but they're words were too difficult to put into a sentence.

"You're bilingual?" Kevin asks, taking interest in Cubbie's talent. "Can you say something in Japanese?"

Cubbie thought for a moment before speaking, "Anata no megane wa hontōni sutekidesu ne, tomodachi.” He finishes with a meow.

“That’s fascinating.” Kevin looks awestruck by the cat’s speaking ability.

Another one of the girls then proceeds. What was shocking about her physical appearance was that she is speaking without a mouth?

“Hello, everyone! My name is Bubble and I’m the Ultimate Cleaner!”

Is she made of soap? If so, then that is the perfect talent for her. She’s literally made of soap!

“Well,” one of the taller boys began, “I’m Engel and I’m the Ultimate Therapist.”

He looks exceptionally kind. Just standing next to him brings me a tranquil feeling. Therapy was definitely the right route for him to take.

He’s pretty cute too—

“What about you, brown head?” Oliver points in my direction, kind of knocking me out of my daydream. “What’s your talent?”

“O-Oh, uh.” My head kinda lowered unintentionally, making me look shy. “My name is Claire and I’m the Ultimate…Lucky Student.”

Compared to them, my talent isn’t much at all. Well, it really isn’t even my talent. The only reason I’m ‘lucky’ is because I was chosen over God knows how many people to be here.

That’s random chance, not luck.

“Luck?” Edward snickers. I can tell a rude joke is coming, so I might as well get ready—

“Bzzt!”

A monitor that sat on a wall behind Kevin and Cubbie buzzed to life. The screen displayed a glitchy and dark image. It’s too difficult to see what it was trying to show.

“Ahem! Ahem! Is everyone all accounted for? One, two, three…sixteen! Alright! It seems we’re all here! Why don’t you all mosey on down to the gymnasium for Hope’s Peak very, very important first day speech!”

“I’ll be waiting!”

The screen shut off afterward.

“That was weird.” I said aloud.

“Well…” Oliver began his march to the gym, “…I guess I’ll see the rest of you there.”

Edward and Zip followed close behind.

Skell silently took his leave, with Kevin and Cubbie doing the same.

Before I knew it, it was just me and Engel standing alone. I look over to him, “So, we should get going?”

He nods, “Yeah.”

We start to walk in the direction of the others, “By the way, I think being lucky is cool.” He spared a smile, “I know a lot of people don’t believe in luck, but I do. So to have that as your talent…you must be really lucky.”

I chuckle a bit and stare straight again. “Thanks. I like your talent too, Engel. I could never do it though. You must have a lot of patience.”

I don’t know what this school has in store for me, but hopefully I’ll be able to survive the first week in this academy.

•••

Chapter Text

The 16 of us ventured to the gymnasium.

I walked next to Engel, who was observing the hallway very intently. I was curious about our surroundings as well, but I was more interested on who called us to the gym.

"We're here." Engel said, bringing my attention back ahead of myself.

I stared at the double doors that stood before us. "Oh." Engel went ahead of me.

For a therapist, Engel's arms look pretty muscular...

"Claire?" Engel stared at me with the door open. "You coming in?" Everyone else was already inside the gym.

"Y-Yeah!" My cheeks flushed a tinge of red as I quickly moved into the gym.

Engel followed behind me as I heard the door close.

"Why the hell did they call us into the gym anyway?" Oliver crossed his arm and pencil limb with an impatient huff.

Edward responded, "Why did you listen to their orders instead of asking that question earlier?"

Oliver rolled his eyes. For someone who claims he isn't an idiot, he sure does act like one.

"I admit the passing out and waking up in chairs thing was weird as hell—" Zip started, "—but it looks like orientation is gonna continue just fine!"

Her encouraged attitude didn't really spread to the others, but I did keep a sliver of confidence with me. Things seem odd as of now, but hopefully all of this is like a misunderstanding or something.

Petunia rolled her eyes, "I don't care how they do it! We can totally sue for like, I dunno, not wanting to be gassed?!"

"I thought the same thing." I mumbled inaudibly.

Petunia was pissed. I can understand her anger, but it's not like Hope's Peak meant anything cruel by it, right? Maybe this is just how they do things here at Hope's Peak. It's a weird way, sure, but entertaining I suppose.

"It still doesn't answer why we're here." Kevin was the one to remind us. "Why call us to the gym if there isn't anyone to—"

Microphone feedback screeched through the gymnasium, making me yelp and cover my ears.

The others did the same while the feedback continued.

After what felt like an eternity, the feedback stopped and silence followed. Well, that was until—

"Ahem! Ahem! Alright! Am I on?"

It was a feminine voice with a very thick accent. Her words were almost unintelligible for me.

"Okay, good! It's time to get things rolling!"

Our attention was now on the stage in front of us. Seconds felt like hours as we waited for whatever was speaking.

Suddenly in a blink and you'll miss it moment, a small black figure leapt onto the stage.

The group let out a collective gasp.

"Ew, what is that?" Lizzy gagged at the sight of the small creature.

"It's a...cat?" Cubbie tilted his head. "I thought I'd be the only one here."

"Hey, I'm no cat!" The small figure exclaimed, "I am MonoCircle!"

MonoCircle? What does that even mean...? This has got to be the strangest thing I've ever seen in my life. It's literally a talking...four legged...animal?

"And I am this school's headmaster! It's super nice to meet all of you!"

She sounds so carefree and happy, but so...I don't know, sinister. Maybe it's just my thoughts from earlier trying to scare me. Waking up alone in that classroom was pretty freaky.

The 'headmaster' of the school moved on the podium, shifting herself to stand on her hind legs. I don't know how that's possible, but she did it.

"Now, let me see you salute your headmaster a good morning!" She saluted to us with a :3 smile on her face.

In slowly faded as she realized none of us gave her a good morning back. She sighed and dropped back down to all fours.

"Now then, let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony!"

"First, let's talk about what your school life here will be like." She seemed pretty eager to get this started. "As we all know, you students represent the hope of the world! And to ensure that the representations of hope stay safe..."

"...you'll all live a communal life within the confines of this academy!"

"What?" Some of the others asked.

Wait, is she saying we're staying in here...for the rest of the school year?"

MonoCircle ignored their confused voices and continued, "Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and regulations of the school."

"Is that...legal?" Bubble murmured.

"Now, as in regard to the day you'll be leaving...there isn't one! You'll all be in here until the day that you die!"

What is going on? How can she say this so happily? This isn't Hope's Peak, is it? She's still messing with us, she has to be! No way, no way—!

"W-What'd you just say?" Abbie asked. "Until the d-day we die...?"

MonoCircle shook her head. "Fear not! We have an abundant budget, so all of your needs won't be ignored." She said that as if it'll change our minds.

"That isn't—!" I went to call him out, but Zip's voice overlapped mine.

She yelled, "Do you really think we give a damn about the budget of this dump?! Stop screwing with us, dammit!"

"I'm not screwing with you!" MonoCircle's voice raised higher over Zip's already booming one. "Do you really think I have time to mess with you right now?! That's a disgrace to this fine institution!"

"Come on, do you really expect us to believe this?" Asked Engel suspiciously. "I don't care if the school is behind this, this is just a really bad joke."

Skell agreed as well, his quiet voice nudging into the conversation. "Yeah. You can really cut this out now."

"Why do all of you assume I'm joking?" MonoCircle questioned with a tinge of curiosity in her tone. "Well, that's what I'd expect from children raised to always doubt thy neighbor."

She's talking about it as if it's just easy to accept. There's no way in hell I'll just stay here forever! There's still people outside of school that I wanna see.

"Living here forever wouldn't be...satisfactory." Kevin scratched the back of his head. He didn't show it, but you could hear the uneasiness in his voice.

MonoCircle let out a little laugh, "Upupupu...well, you're the ones that decided to attend the academy with your own free will! Right?"

"Oh, but you know...I forgot to mention one tiny detail! There is a way for you to leave the school..."

"Why don't you enlighten us?" Oliver stared on inquisitively.

"Since I'm the headmaster, I've made up a little special clause for those of you who'd like to leave! I call it the graduation clause!"

She blabbered on about this 'clause'. The tension heightened because we could tell she was about to reveal what it was, but honestly I wish she never did.

"Now, as I mentioned, in order to maintain an environment of harmony here, we rely on a communal lifestyle. And if someone disrupted that harmony, they and they alone would be allowed to leave the school."

"What do you mean by 'disrupt the harmony'?"

Oliver was the first to ask.

It just felt like the cat was trying to get into our heads or something. First she says we have a graduation clause, then vaguely explains what it is.

MonoCircle laughed again, but this time there was something off. "Puhuhu...well, y'know."

"If one person were to...murder another."

"Murder—?!" Bubble backed away. She was standing in front of me so I couldn't see her face, but I'm sure it looked much like mine.

A face of pure surprise and fear.

MonoCircle shook her head before continuing, "Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking...things of that nature. You must kill someone to leave this school. No exceptions."

I could feel my blood run cold. I could see it on the faces of my classmates that some of them were already shaken by MonoCircle's words.

"If you weren't paying attention before, I'm sure I've got your attention now!" MonoCircle exclaimed, "Remember what I said earlier? You guys are the representation of hope in this world—so watching that hope turn on one another in the worst fashion creates a world of...

...despair."

I don't think she's joking. To be honest, I doubt she ever was or ever will be. I'm standing in a room of 15 other people who also want to leave this place.

But all 16 of us know what we have to do in order to see the outside world again.

Is it even worth it? Is leaving this school that important to where you take someone else's life? It couldn't be that serious, it just can't.

"W-Why do we have to do that—why can't you just let us out?" Lana asked, her voice wavering.

"Because that would defeat the entire purpose of the graduation clause." MonoCircle replied as if the answer was obvious.

I mean, it was, but it was also inhumane. Why would anyone want to kill someone else?

Questions flowed through my head like a river. There were so many that I didn't know which one to start with. It was just too much.

"Do you really think we'll kill each other? Nobody's that desperate to leave." Robby tried to keep a straight face.

"And how would you know?" MonoCircle asked a question of her own. It was surprising what just a few words could do to somebody.

'How would you know' was so little but it went a long way. The truth is, we don't know. Someone could say one thing and mean the other...they could be lying. Nobody knows what you're thinking except yourself.

MonoCircle watched the panic set in. The smile on her face remained.

Robby let out a sigh, he knew the little cat had checked him. “I don’t…” he mumbled.

“From this moment on, this school is your home, your entire world! Understood?” She looked for positive answers, but didn’t get any.

“You’re literally crazy!” Petunia called the headmaster out. “Cut this shit out and let us go!”

MonoCircle groaned at her defiance. “Let us go, let us go! It’s always ‘let us go’! Didn’t you hear what I just said? This school is your entire world now! There is no letting you go!”

Petunia slowly began to lose her voice, but the argument didn’t lessen. “We’ll call the police!”

“With what device?” MonoCircle asked.

“We’ll scream!”

“They won’t hear you. Don’t you get it? You’re completely, unmistakably, very truthfully trapped inside this school.”

Petunia didn’t want to hear it. Well, none of us wanted to hear it, but she told us anyway.

She told us that we’re trapped no matter what we do. The only way to escape is to kill another person standing next to you. It isn’t right. It isn’t right at all!

“Ohhh boo-hoo!” MonoCircle fake cried, “You’re living inside of a school with limited rules! Why not get your murder on and go on a kill-kill-killing spree!”

We looked at one another to see if what we were all hearing was real. Everyone wore the same concerned face. Oliver lacked the surprise, he looked more interested than worried.

Skell was the same. Honestly, I don’t think he can make any other face than neutral.

“So our only escape option is murder?” Edward thought it over while stroking his chin like a generic scientist would. “Either that or live in this place forever.”

“Live in a school forever…my worst fear realized.” Riley stared ahead. She looked like she was already about to go crazy.

Oliver spoke up, “It doesn’t matter what we think. What matters is—who’s already thinking about killing?”

To that, nobody answered. We all kept quiet. Everyone kind of glanced at one another, already suspecting each other of doing heinous acts.

Everyone just looked each other in the eyes. Perhaps if we looked hard enough we could get a read on what the other was thinking.

A single thought ran through my head and probably everyone else’s.

‘Will somebody betray us?’

And this is how my school life begins. Thrown into a world of unknown possibility by the paws of a being not even half of my size.

If I knew Hope’s Peak Academy was going to turn out to be a slaughter house, there’s no way in hell I’d accept the offer. However, it’s too late for ‘what if’s’.

The only ‘what if’ in my mind is…what if I die in here?

Only time will tell.

•••

PROLOGUE: AN INTERESTING BUNCH

—END

Remaining Students: 16/16

Chapter Text

DAILY LIFE
•••

"I see that you're all going to adjust nicely!" MonoCircle nodded her head at us before backing away, "Well, wish we could chat some more, but you all gotta get adjusted to your new life!"

"By the way, that table isn't sitting there for aesthetic! There's 16 e-handbooks there for each of you! All of the rules are on it—make sure you read it!"

With that, the little kitten-like creature vanished behind the podium.

A beat of silence followed. All of us just kinda looked at each other before someone broke the silence.

"Staring at one another isn't going to help us now." Kevin spoke with authority behind his tone.

Once he said something, a couple of others began as well.

"He's right." Engel said, "We can't sit around and wait for nothing."

"So, let's do something." Bubble stated with a newfound confidence. She looked determined. "There's no way we can just stand around looking dumb."

"What exactly are we gonna do?" Zip asked.

Edward facepalmed before looking back at the pirate, "Look for a way out, dummy." He said it in a joking manner, but he still sounded urgent. "Zip, you're cute, but you have no brains."

Zip blushed lightly. A little smile came to her face, "I'm cute?" It was silent, but a few of us could still hear her.

Oliver groaned, "Get a room. We're looking for a way out Edward, not a way into Zip's pants."

"Before that," Cubbie approached the table that MonoCircle talked about earlier, "maybe we should check out these handbooks." He held up two of the devices.

Kevin followed, "Agreed. We can't walk around without knowing what the rules are." He took the spare handbook Cubbie was holding. "I'd hate to see what she has planned for those who don't follow regulations."

Engel went up to the table as well. He took one of the handbooks and then picked up another one. "Hey, Claire!" He called my name out before tossing the second one to me.

I wasn't prepared for the sudden gesture, but I managed to catch the handbook anyway. Whew, that would've been embarrassing if I dropped it.

The others went for their own handbooks, picking up the ones with their designated names.

I turned mine on and it displayed the school's crest, my name following quickly after. From the main menu, I selected the School Regulations icon.

The screen faded to black before the screen came back. On the top left of the screen, it read 'Regulations'. In the middle of the screen, the first rule was showing.

Rule 1:

Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

It's not as if we could even leave the school regardless. MonoCircle would probably end us before we got the chance. That isn't a good thought, but one that's very realistic.

With the first rule down, I scrolled to the second.

Rule 2:

Night time is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Rule 3:

Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and the student will be punished accordingly.

Even an offense as minor as dozing in class is punishable? With every rule, my hope dwindled.

Rule 4:

With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.

Rule 5:

Violence against Headmaster MonoCircle is strictly prohibited! This includes destruction of CCTV cameras.

Rule 6:

Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes a 'blackened' will graduate, unless they are discovered.

Rule 7:

Additional school regulations may be added as necessary.

"Woah, that's a lot." Zip looked up from the handbook with a frown. "I don't even read this much outside of school."

"...the rules were like two sentences long." Edward mumbled.

"These rules are bull." Lizzy shut her handbook off. She looked frustrated, but so did Petunia. "Man, why did I accept this offer?!"

"You can't beat yourself up over it now. Let's just try and figure out what's going on." Engel said in an attempt to calm her down.

"Can we talk about these rules for a sec?" Ruby gathered our attention back to the regulations.

We all looked at her. She was looking at her E-Handbook as if she had a breakthrough. "Specifically rule number six."

"Anyone who kills will become a blackened and will graduate, unless they're discovered." She read the regulation out loud.

"What does that mean?" Robby asked from across the room. He was also looking at the handbook.

"It sounds like the killer is only eligible for graduation if they don't get caught in the act?" I threw out a suggestion.

I don't know what else it could mean. Catching somebody in the act of murder perhaps cancels out their attempt to graduate? Thing is, what would we do with that person?

Lock them away from everyone else? Keep people to watch over them? It sounds like a lot of work on our part.

"Why worry about the rule pertaining to murder if you have no intention to kill?" Oliver looked around the room, but mainly at Ruby.

"I was just curious is all." She replied.

"Curious on what it meant so you could see what would happen if you tried to kill? Is that it?"

Why is Oliver trying to paint Ruby out to be a bad guy? I know tension is high and everyone is paranoid, but this is uncalled for!

"She didn't mean anything by it, Oliver." I came to her defense. The girl smiled slightly as I did so.

"We're all stressed right now, no need to go blaming people."

Oliver made his way through the crowd. Nobody went to stop him. "If I'm gonna explore this place, it'll be on my own accord. There's no way I'll put my trust into you...people."

"Fuck you too, dude." Edward flipped him off while Oliver went for the gymnasium door. "Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."

Oliver pushed the door open and it closed behind him. Well, now it's just fifteen of us.

"Someone's got a stick up their ass." Skell rolled his eyes. Even though our situation is scary, I find it funny that Skell only speaks to insult Oliver. "We'll find a way out of this place. Hopefully together."

"How about we get to searching this place." Cubbie brought us back to the subject. "We don't have a lot of time."

I agreed, "He's right."

The only thing I want is to find a way out. I'm not sure if there's any way to defeat MonoCircle, so outsmarting her is the way to go. We'll find a weak spot in the school, or maybe even break our way through the wall or something.

Please tell me there's a way out of here.

This place gets worse by the minute. Being stuck in here for the rest of my life just won't due. We have to get out! But I refuse to lay a finger on any of these people. We'll escape together.

All of us.

•••

The seconds felt drawn out to minutes. The minutes felt drawn out to hours. Why does this place feel to prolong my sense of time?

Just searching around the school felt like a task that would take days, or even weeks.

An attempt to get to the second floor ended with the sight of a metal gate blocking our access. We were confined to the first floor—there was nowhere for us to go.

Oliver's still missing. The rest of us conjured back to the cafeteria to discuss what we found, which was little to nothing.

Why did this happen to us? Out of everyone on this planet, it was us. Is this selfish thinking? If given the chance, would I choose sixteen other people to take our spots...

...I don't want to sound selfish or rude in any way, but I most likely would.

I feel like anyone would. This is just—it's too much!

"Damn." Zip was visibly frustrated.

We didn't come up with anything helpful at all during the investigation. The school is fortified in every way.

"Now what are we gonna do? We're undoubtedly trapped in here." Bubble looked around the room, but nobody had an answer for her.

"Don't lose heart friends." Lana's left sock puppet said, being followed by the right. "We've only been searching for an hour or so. We still have a time—"

"—s-sorry to interrupt you, but...we'll still be trapped in here..." Abbie's head hanged low.

"We're not going to just magically find a way out. I don't want to believe what MonoCircle said, but she's in control of the entire school."

Abbie ripped through Lana's attempt at a heartfelt speech. He didn't mean to discourage her, but it was true.

"What if s-she hurts us for trying to escape?"

A scenario was thrown into the air. It's one we didn't even consider.

"Abbie..." I went to say something to calm his nerves, but there was nothing I could say. I couldn't think quick enough to even try. "..."

"I-I just don't want to see anyone get hurt." He finished.

"Don't be a pussy. We'll find a way out." Edward reassured him in an...odd manner. "MonoCircle can't keep us trapped here forever. If I have to spell it out for you dummy's, if we don't kill, there's no game."

That's true for the most part. If none of us kill one another, then MonoCircle wouldn't have much of a game, so she'd probably let us go! Or...she'd kill us and try again with other people.

I wouldn't want to risk that.

There's always a risk with every opportunity we take. All of the risks end with death for us and despair for MonoCircle, which is exactly what she wants.

"Who's to say she just won't kill us?" I mentioned.

That knocked Edward off of his high horse as he tried to stammer out an answer. "Well, we'll just—we can...there's gotta be a way to—"

"He doesn't know." Riley huffed.

Everything that I previously thought about this place was wrong. The school's namesake is turning out to be ironic. Hope's Peak is nothing but a hell of an institution.

"Not as smart as you thought, huh?" Zip jumped on the opportunity to tease the scientist.

"Shut up!" He grumbled. He pulled his black-rimmed glasses over his face. Maybe out of embarrassment.

Engel sighed, "This'll take a while...probably longer than we initially thought. We can still find a way to—"

"Get out?" Lizzy asked with folded arms and a very doubtful look. "We've only been here for like six hours and I'm already tired of that lie."

"We looked around, didn't we? There was not a single way of escape on the floor. Whoever put us in here found a way to knock us out without even hitting us, there's no way they'd leave an escape route."

"Odorless gas isn't that hard to find—or even make for that matter." Edward said, but was ignored by Lizzy.

"Jeez, how are we the hope of the country...?" Skell shook his head.

"Better question is—" a voice came from the entrance of the cafeteria, "—how are all of YOU the hope of this country?"

It was Oliver! He stood in the doorway with a thick textbook in his hands. "For a group that conducted such a thorough investigation, you certainly missed a lot."

He walked up to the group and set down the textbook on the table. "According to this book, this really is Hope's Peak."

"What?" Zip looked over the side of Oliver's arm, trying to read the cover of the book. "Is that...Hope's Peak Academy's Interior Guide?"

So we weren't moved to another location. MonoCircle wasn't lying. This building we're in, is in fact Hope's Peak Academy. The most prestigious school in the country.

Oliver started, "Pages 1-34 have a layout of the first floor. The dorms, the AV room, the gymnasium, the cafeteria we're in, even the bathhouse."

"There's no doubt about it; this is Hope's Peak."

"Was there any...I don't know, exits in the guide?" I asked quickly. If the rooms were labeled, surely emergency exits were as well. "Or any possible way of escape?"

"No." He replied bluntly, "The pages with exits labeled have all been torn out of the book."

He flips to the index of the book. "Look here." He pointed at the index, "The book says that the first floor exits are on page 33." He flipped back to where page 33 was.

It was gone. The book went 31, 32, 34...

"It makes me wonder how long this was planned." Oliver mumbled to himself but I was within earshot to hear him.

"For anyone who goes out of their way to put metal plates on with windows and security cameras in each room has certainly put in enough time to take away exits." Kevin moved up to the table, looking at the textbook himself.

That was true. Things started to look worse by the minute, but it'd be wrong to lose all hope. If seeing us descend into despair is what MonoCircle wants, then we'd be playing into her paws.

"Maybe we can wait her out?" Ruby suggested, her automated voice cracking through the morbid air. "The police would surely realize us missing in a couple of days, right?"

"You're a literal computer, how about you contact them!" Oliver pointed at the girl's head.

Ruby looked away, "I can't...! There's something in the network that's blocking contact! You don't think I've tried to get into contact with the police already?"

"The only thing we can do is wait for our families to say something about it! They'll start to miss us, right?"

"To hell with that idea!" Lizzy whined, "I want out of this place now! As in RIGHT now!"

"You're going to die."

Her voice struck so sudden, that I had completely forgotten she was here. Lizzy turned back to Riley, who was staring back at her.

"What did you say?" Lizzy leaned forward a bit as if she didn't hear the girl correctly the first time.

Riley repeated, "You're going to die."

"You've been going on and on about how you want to get out of here. Voicing your concern at every little problem. You're making yourself look weak in front of potential murderers."

"None of us are going to kill anybody." I tried to knock that idea out of the air, but Riley didn't care.

"We're all in the thick of it now." Riley continued, her eyes staying on Lizzy. "Sharks know when there's blood in the water—just like how people know when someone is scared. Keep acting like that and you won't survive long."

Lizzy looked completely dumbfounded. "W-What the hell are you saying?" Riley took her eyes off of the girl and began to address all of us.

"We're going to have to adapt to this lifestyle if we want to survive long enough to see the outside world again. If you can't adapt, you can't survive."

"And what do you know about adapting?" Zip questioned the knife-fighter, who laughed in return.

"I'm a knife-fighter, pirate. I'm forced to adapt."

Adaptability. It was something I'm not accustomed to, but it'll have to become my best friend in this game. What Riley said stuck with me, and hopefully it sticks with the others.

"I guess that brings an end to our first investigation around the school." Lana's right sock puppet mumbled. "Hopefully things'll be better tomorrow."

We have been looking around all day. It's no surprise that people want to pick this back up tomorrow where we're all energized. I'm tired, but I'm also stressed out.

I don't know if I'll be able to get any sleep. What if MonoCircle tries something while we're sleeping and we wake up without our legs or something?!

"Yeah, let's all unwind. No need to overwork ourselves." Engel agreed.

"We're done for today?" Zip asked groggily. "Thank goodness. This sailor's beat." With that, the girl walked out of the dining hall and down to the dorms, I suppose.

“Good night, friends!” Lana herself waved to the remainder of us with her left sock puppet.

Skell silently left the room.

“D-Don’t kill me in my sleep…please…” Abbie walked out of the cafeteria, trembling.

Lizzy and Petunia walked out at the same time.

A few others also filed out of the cafeteria and went to their rooms.

"Engel." I got his attention, "D-Do you really think there's a way out of here?"

Engel saw the fear written about my face and smiled. "Of course I do. A way out that doesn't involve maiming one of our classmates. It's my job to stay positive in a crisis."

"We'll be ok, Claire. Now come on, I'll walk you to your dorm." His cheeks suddenly flushed blue, "J-Just in case—y'know?"

"Yeah." I smiled.

Engel and I left the cafeteria and made our way to the dorms.

•••

"If you need anything, my dorm is right down the hall." Engel pointed down the hallway that was lit with red lightbulbs. "Have a good night!" He waved back at me before setting off to his room.

"Good night." I said back before closing my door.

That boy is so nice. Well, he is a therapist. He's supposed to work well with stressed out and traumatized people. That's probably why I feel so tranquil around him. Even his voice can soothe me—wait...

I'm getting off track, I need to go to sleep!

The dormitory's walls were red with a pattern all around. My bed sheets were pink, which I hear are different than the boy’s, whose sheets are white.

I kicked my shoes off while unzipping my blue and white jacket. I dropped it to the floor on top of my shoes. As tough as it was today, I’m glad to at least still have some hope of escaping this place.

Before I could get into bed, the intercom buzzed to life.

‘Bing Bong Ding Dong’

“Ahem! May I have everyone’s attention? This is a school announcement! It is now 10 PM. Night time has started. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited.”

“Okay then! Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let your classmates bite…” The intercom clicked off.

I got into my bed, a wave of exhaust washing over my entire body. All of that searching really did a number on me. No worries, I’ll be back up tomorrow morning to search again!

No matter what it takes, we will get out of this school and we will tell the police of what’s going on in here.

I will get out of here.

I’ll be damned if I die inside of a school.

•••

Chapter Text

DAILY LIFE
•••

'Ding dong, bing bong'

It's like my eyes had just shut for bed.

"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and night time is officially over! Time to rise and shine!"

When the morning announcement woke me up.

Somewhere in my slumber, I had forgotten all about my entrapment in this school. But as soon as my eyes adjusted to my surroundings, the cruel reality set right back in.

The metal plates covering the windows blocked everything out. We were only relying on MonoCircle to be truthful to us when it came to the announcements.

For all we know, it could be 6 p.m. right now.

But, what should I do today?

Maybe I should go to Engel so we can look around some more. Everyone did agree to search around the school more.

With a bit of hesitation, I slipped my jacket and shoes back on and went outside.

•••

I opened the door, finding Kevin and Cubbie already talking to one another in the hall. Once they noticed me, both of the boys spared me a wave.

"Good morning to you, Claire." Cubbie purred.

"Morning." I greeted back.

I left the two to their conversation and went for the cafeteria. Once I arrived, I noticed that more of my classmates were inside.

Skell, Riley, and Ruby sat at one table.

Lana and Abbie were sitting together.

Edward, Zip, and surprisingly, Oliver were sitting together as well.

I coulda sworn Edward didn't like the analyst. What changed overnight?

Then I saw the boy I was looking for. Engel sat at a table. He didn't seem to be thinking about anything at all; just mindlessly bringing the green apple to his lips and biting down.

"Good morning, Engel." I went up to his table.

Once he noticed me, he smiled and brought his hand back down. He chewed and swallowed before replying, "Good morning, Claire. Did you sleep well?"

"Not really..." I sighed, my smile faltering. "It's kind of hard to in this place."

"Yeah." Engel mumbled.

There was an awkward beat of silence that ensued. Maybe it was the morbid air in this place that drained my energy, or the fact that I just woke up.

"Do you think we'll find anything today?" I asked to clear the air.

Engel shrugged at the question, which was surprising. "I'd be lying if I said yeah. I don't believe in giving up though!"

I don't know what to believe. Our first day in this place was obviously not what we were expecting. Now on our second, it's like we're still stuck in the same place we were yesterday.

Progress was slow.

"I wish we could see if it was actually morning." Engel, changing the topic, suddenly spoke.

"Hm?" I turned to him, "You must be talking about the metal plates on all the windows, yeah?"

Engel nodded, "Mhm. Sunlight is a natural part of my day...well, until we got stuck in here. This really sucks."

Well, he didn't have to say that for all of us to know it. This does suck. Being in here sucks. The rules of this school suck. Last but not least, MonoCircle sucks.

"Yeah." My voice died down a bit. "The school itself isn't that bad. But we still need to find a way out."

"And get back to our families." Engel said with a confident grin.

That's the plan. Hopefully it comes into fruition.

"So, you're like...the smartest scientist?" I heard Oliver asking Edward. "Like, over people that've made a career out of it?"

His voice was laced with curiosity. It was followed by a confident chuckle from the scientist himself.

"Of course! That's why they had me leading almost half of the nation's projects. It comes naturally to me."

Sounds like somebody has no humility. That isn't surprising coming from someone that is as...vocal as Edward is. He is kind when he wants to be, but the rest of the time, he's super mean.

Like when he called Abbie the p-word. I don't like that word, so I'm not gonna repeat it.

"And what about you?" He looked at Zip, "Are you just a random ass pirate?"

"Hey!"

"What?"

Zip huffed, "I'm not just some 'random pirate'! I'm one of the best pirates to set out to sea!"

"Said all the other pirates that set out to sea." Oliver teased further, clearly getting under Zip's skin.

"I've claimed over 10.8 million dollars of goods on ships!" She defended her ultimate title. "All done without a single gun being fired!"

"From you or from the ships you've stolen from?" Edward asked, intrigued.

"Both." She replied, "It may not look like it, but the crews on cargo ships do carry guns."

I don't know why I'm listening in on their conversation, but it is kinda interesting. I didn't even know pirates were still a thing nowadays.

"You must be really brave." Edward sighed, clearly fawning over the girl. What's crazier is that she didn't even notice.

"Totally!" She lifted her hand up with a confident smile, "I am the best pirate there ever was—or will be!"

Well, if getting out isn't an option, I can always get to know everyone better.

I looked around the cafeteria, trying to find someone (that isn't Engel) to talk to. My eyes trailed to Lana and Abbie. They were pretty nice and not too obnoxious like Lizzy and Petunia.

I moved forward, catching the two in the middle of their conversation.

"Oh, Claire." Lana's eyes shifted from Abbie's to mine. Her left sock spoke, "What's up?"

"Hey...and nothing much." I took a seat next to Abbie, "Actually, since we're stuck in here I wanted to get to know everyone more."

"That's fair." Abbie mumbled.

"Well, we do have some free time." Lana herself pondered, "I am still quite paranoid as well! Maybe it'll be good to get our minds off of this whole thing and just hang out like normal school kids, yeah?"

"Exactly what I was thinking." I smiled.

Abbie seemed unsure.

"I-I don't know..."

"What's wrong Abigail?" Lana's sock puppet asked concernedly.

He began, "I just can't get the killing stuff out of my head. I'm sorry, but I'm just super nervous..."

"Hey, it's okay." Lana moved around the table to be closer to him. "That's why we're doing this; to get our minds off of the bad stuff. Shouldn't you also want to get that out of your head?"

"Yeah, but..." Abbie went to make his point, but Lana suddenly reached out for his hands.

"!!!" Abbie gasped.

It'll be fine." She smiled.

Did I step into the middle of a rom-com?

"O-Okay." Abbie sighed.

Looks like we'll need to keep Lana around to motivate him! She does give off a super nice energy. Like when you're around her, you feel like you can do anything.

"The first couple of days are gonna be tough." I said aloud. "But if we all just keep calm and stay on the same page, we're definitely gonna get out of here."

"Keep calm? Stay on the same page? Get outta here?!?!"

My eyes widened at the sudden voice that sounded from behind me. It was a voice I hadn't heard since yesterday in the gym. I turned around and saw MonoCircle sitting on the long table in the middle of the dining hall.

She was smiling despite yelling at me just a second ago.

"What is this talk I hear about 'getting out of here'? Hm, Claire?" She asked quickly.

I almost froze in place. This was the first time she was referring to just me—!

"Y-You heard me, cat...thing!?" I shout back awkwardly.

Everyone in the dining hall had been drawn to this little confrontation. That's when I realized that everyone in the school had made their way to the dining hall.

Everyone wasn't here just a moment ago.

"We're going to get out of here soon enough! And when we do, we're going straight to the cops!"

I made a daring proclamation. To be honest, I'm speaking on impulse. What I said just felt right in the moment.

"Upupupu! Don't make me laugh!" MonoCircle giggled, "This place is locked up like Fort Knox! Or Alcatraz, whichever one you feel is better secured! Now think about those places, and imagine them more fortified!"

"That's what Hope's Peak is..."

Her menacing tone sent a chill sweat down my forehead.

"Don't start any problems with that thing, Claire." Kevin warned from behind me. He was urgent, which only made me more nervous. "Who knows what she can do."

MonoCircle flashed her claws, "Care to find out?"

I slowly shook my head. Since when did little things become so threatening?

"Well, since I'm here..." MonoCircle started, changing the subject, "...perhaps I should get the inside scoop on how your first days went!"

"Did everyone become accustomed to the school's daily life here?"

"Like hell we did." Lizzy rolled her eyes begrudgingly.

"That's good to hear." MonoCircle continued.

She stood up and began pacing around the table carelessly. "I didn't really expect killing on the first day, so this is no surprise."

"Where's the fun in killing when you barely know one another? It'll just be sooo much better when you all learn more about one another!"

"You're really persistent about this murder thing." Riley mumbled. "What is it with you and murder?"

"It's fun!" MonoCircle argued, "The best of the best trying to survive in a game where your friend could be the one slitting your wrist at night...it's just so...!"

She looked...aroused?

"Yuck." Zip gagged.

Well, I guess making friends is out the window. MonoCircle successfully watered the already planted seed of fear inside of us.

Making friends is also making yourself a target.

But if you don't speak to anyone...you still become a target.

What are we supposed to do? How are we supposed to leave? I know these questions are supposed to answer themselves along the way, but even one day has been long enough.

“What a way to start the day.” Robby sighed, resting his head on his arms.

MonoCircle danced around the table for a bit before disappearing. I swear that thing can pop up anywhere. Hopefully not when I’m taking a shower.

“If this is a taste of how the rest of this day is gonna go, I don’t like it.” Ruby said what was on the rest of our minds.

“I agree.” Cubbie mumbled.

I guess it’s time to really get the day started.

Chapter Text

Daily Life
•••

After my little spat with MonoCircle, I spent a couple of hours checking out the rooms we already searched. I know there's not going to be anything there that wasn't there before, but it was worth checking.

Accompanying me was Engel, Lana, and Abbie.

We were looking around the trophy room that led to the gymnasium.

"S-So...are we looking for anything specific?"

Asks Abbie, his eyes moving around the trophy room.

"Not really." I replied, my hand pressing against the trophy case glass. "Anything helpful at this point."

"I don't think we'll find anything like that in here." Engel sighed while standing upright. "No matter how hard we look, it's like she's accounted for everything."

"Of course she did." Lana huffed, annoyed.

Our second day is starting to look much like our first. Sure, it was nice spending time with my classmates, but it was under a very unfortunate circumstance.

"I wanna get out of here." Abbie sniffled.

"Don't we all?" I looked at the gloomy boy. That's when an idea came across—something that'll take his mind off of this place.

When we looked around yesterday, I took specific notice of a couple of rooms that were all about the first floor. Especially since all the other floors aren't accessible as of now.

"Hey, why don't we go to the art room?" I went over to the shorter teen with a smile.

The mention of the art room grabbed his attention, likely due to his talent. "A-Art room? Why?"

"So you can paint, of course. The ultimate artist should want to make some art, yeah?"

He looked at me for a moment, then at Lana and Engel, who nodded at my plan.

"Yeah, show us something neat!" Lana agreed.

Abbie's face slowly turned red. "A-Ah! I-I can't d-draw or paint with s-so many eyes on me—!" He stumbled over his words.

Oh, right. I remember reading about Abbie on one of Hope's Peak's forums. Everybody loves him because of his shy demeanor. And cause of the fact he somewhat resembles a girl.

I've seen some...uncomfortable things to say the least.

"Come on, it'll be fun! Like a live art performance!" Lana tried to encourage the boy further.

And just like magic, his mind was made.

"Well...I guess I can..." He looked down.

•••

I opened the art room door, the smell of fresh paint and art utensils wafting into my face.

"Pretty calming?" I looked back at Abbie, who awkwardly shuffled into the room.

"Somewhat." He responded while heading further into the room. This place seemed to be like a fortress of solitude for him. "Reminds me of home at least."

His nervous energy seemed to dissolve when he entered this room. I mean, that's probably how it is for all of them.

"So, what would you like to draw?" Engel asked while moving a chair closer to himself to sit down.

Abbie moved to one of the tables that had a big piece of paper already lying there. "It kinda just comes to me...like in the moment, y'know?"

Engel nodded as Abbie grabbed a pencil. "Right now, I feel stressed, but safe too. I'm scared, yeah, but I feel like there's some people I can trust."

Wow, I've never seen somebody draw off of straight feeling alone. No guide, no instruction, just plain feeling.

Abbie began drawing, the pencil gently grazing the paper at the beginning, barely leaving a trace of lead behind. Suddenly, the pencil trace became thicker as he pressed down onto the paper more.

I couldn't really tell what he was going for at first, but it looked like the outline of a person, or something like that.

The chair next to me creaked as Lana leaned to my ear, "I wonder what it is?" She pondered, her eyes still on Abbie's work in progress. "It looks perfect so far."

Now he looks carefree. It was only him and his canvas now. If only it could stay that way.

Sketching the piece didn't take long, but what else would I expect from the Ultimate Artist? Abbie dropped the pencil and stared at the paper longingly before looking at us.

"I'd have to come back to color it in, but this is it." Abbie moved away from the paper and allowed us to move in.

It was of a small boy with tears streaming down his cheeks. What was pretty odd was that the boy was smiling.

I looked back at Abbie, who was waiting for feedback.

"It's awesome—!"

"It's so beautiful!" Lana squealed, acting like a crazed fangirl.

Abbie immediately blushed at Lana's excitement. He lowered his head a tad, "R-Really?"

Lana put her sock puppet hands on his shoulders and shook her head repeatedly, "Yeah, it's amazing! You're such an amazing artist! You didn't even color or paint and I love it!"

"T-Thanks—!"

"You deserve so much money for your work! I just know you're so much more famous than me, you probably worked so hard to be an artist!"

"P-Please slow down—!"

Engel and I shared a look as the girl showed her love for the art. He smiled before laughing at the girl's antics, making me do the same.

Well, I guess this little calming session is over.

I believe I grew a little closer to these three today.

•••

I returned back to the dining hall alone. Abbie and Lana were still in the art room, and Engel had returned back to his room due to a little headache that took him by surprise.

Still in the dining hall, Zip and Edward were eating a meal that was most likely prepped by the latter.

I wish I could tell what time it was without MonoCircle's announcements. It's only a matter of time before I lose track of the days as well.

Though, I still feel like there's still some time to waste today. Maybe I should go see what some of the others are doing.

I headed for the dining hall exit, leaving Zip and Edward to their...date?

Without even taking a look around, I noticed Skell sitting next to a blocked off part of the school. It was where the next floor began, but obviously we weren't allowed in yet.

"Skell?" I approached slowly.

The guy was super quiet, so I didn't wanna rush at him with a happy attitude; who knows what he'd do to me. And besides, the only time I've ever heard him really speak is when he's insulting Oliver under his breath, which is pretty funny.

Upon hearing his name, the boy whipped his head around to face me. "...need something?"

Wow, he really is a loner.

"Uh, no. I was just trying to see what you were up to."

Skell looked at me for a little longer before turning his head back to the gated wall. "I don't know, really. I'm just thinking about home."

"You miss it?" I asked while sitting down as well.

"Something like that." He replied, "I miss making music to say the least."

When you take an Ultimate away from their talent, of course they're going to miss it. I'm not even sure you can make any music in this place.

"I'd expect that from the Ultimate Rockstar." I chuckled. "Y'know, for someone to have the title as 'rockstar' you are pretty docile."

"What you hear in my songs isn't my real personality. I only do that because it sounds good." Skell admitted.

Rock isn't really my genre, but I did take the time to listen to a few of Skell's songs when I was in that group chat with a bunch of others trying to claim the 'Ultimate Lucky Student' title.

On the first listen, I would've that that Skell was going to be a person that would love to talk all the time. Even in some of his 'emo' songs, it gives the impression that his personality is really out there.

So when I look at him now and see that's he's a total shut in, I feel super dumb for thinking anything else!

"You sound super introverted. Do you even do concerts?" I probably could've worded that better...I sound like a jerk! I kinda spoke without thinking.

Skell, ignoring the rudeness I spat, shook his head. "Obviously I do concerts. That's just different. When I perform, I'm surrounded by people that want to see me. That's the entire reason they're there."

"But when I'm just out in the world, I'm just like everyone else."

I subconsciously leaned forward, interested. "And what's that?"

"A nobody."

That's a pretty lame outlook on life. He does know that he is literally a celebrity, right? People would sell their souls to be in his position! He talks about it as if he isn't happy with what he has.

"You aren't just a 'nobody', Skell. You create pieces of art that people love to listen to. You're probably even some people's inspirations."

Skell remained silent for a moment before—

"I suppose."

I didn't expect him to agree with me there, but I'll take it!

It's good that I can have a conversation with the gloomiest of people.

I think Skell and I grew a bit closer today.

Just as I stood up, I heard the chime of the school's bell go off.

'Bing bong, ding dong'

Night time? Wow, I had way less time than I thought.

"This is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m.  As such, it is officially nighttime! Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point will be strictly prohibited."

"Okay then...sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let your classmates bite..."

"Well, goodnight Skell." I turned back to him, seeing that he's now also standing. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night." He said back before walking off to his dorm.

•••

Now inside my dorm, I was about ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow will mark the third day in this place.

We tried to find a way out, it's clear that we won't find it. Perhaps it's time to wait MonoCircle out. No killing game, no entertainment.

She'll be bound to let us go at that point.

With that thought in mind, I drifted off to sleep.

•𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫•

“Looks like we’re in the meat of this situation now, eh?” MonoCircle swayed around innocently.

“I’ve been feeling a bit sluggish all day! Then I realized, I haven’t eaten anything at all! When you don’t eat, you’re cranky!”

“That’s where the term hangry comes from—you’re hungry and angry!”

“After feeling like that the entire day, I dropped a fine steak down my gullet and I was right back to normal! I’m just glad I was able to eat before I did anything irrational.”

“Bon appétit!”

•••

‘Ding dong, bing bong’

7 a.m. already?

The last thing I want to do is get out of this bed, truthfully. That was the first time I’ve gotten some good sleep.

But as MonoCircle went through her daily routine of announcing the day—it was clear I didn’t have any choice in the matter.

I threw the sheets off of my slightly unclothed body and got ready to begin the day.

•••

“Morning.” I yawned while walking into the dining hall.

It was pretty early, so only Kevin, Cubbie, Ruby, Engel, and Bubble were here with me. I guess we’re what people would call the ‘good kids’. Following the schedule to the tee, doing what we’re told, stuff like that.

Following us were people that had a more flexible schedule. Those people would be Abbie, Lana, Lizzy, and Petunia.

Finally there were the ones who didn’t care about MonoCircle’s morning announcement at all and just walked to the beat of their own drum. Those people being Zip, Edward, Riley, and Oliver.

At least all of us were still here.

“That’s everyone.” Said Kevin.

“I’m about tired of being in here.” Petunia grumbled, “I can literally feel the school air turning me uglier by the day.”

Edward scoffed, “That isn’t a thing.”

“Oh, whatever. You’re just mad you’re stuck looking like that.” Petunia pointed an accusing figure at the scientist, who gasped at the insult.

A few of the others snickered, which prompted to Edward to clinch his fist in response. “This isn’t over!” He declared.

“But it is right now.” Engel stepped in. “We have bigger stuff to worry about.”

“You can say that again.” Ruby spoke.

Day 3 and we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. It makes me wonder what tomorrow’ll look like.

Before we could get into any morning report, the school chime went off again.

“Hold it just a second!” MonoCircle exclaimed, “I need everyone to grab their hind quarters and move to the gymnasium for a mandatory school meeting!”

“Hind quarters?” Riley tilted her head.

“Your ass.” Zip answered, “It’s pirate talk.”

“Oh.”

Looks like MonoCircle has a different plan for us today. The anticipation slowly began to rise as we all got up from our seats and proceeded to the gymnasium.

•••

“When I look out and see all of you standing there so very much alive, it really pisses me off!”

We hadn’t spent a minute in the gym, and MonoCircle is already bashing us about this killing game again. In fact, yesterday was so calm that I had almost forgotten about it.

But here she is with an unwanted reminder.

“So I’ve been wondering, ‘how do I get these stubborn little bastards to commit a little homicide?’ Then it hit me! Maybe if I just take something away, you’ll have no choice!”

“Take what away?” Robby crossed his arms in annoyance. “You already took away our freedom! What else do you want?”

“Good question!” MonoCircle pointed a paw at him. “I want entertainment! I want to see somebody’s blood run down the other’s hands as they take their life mercilessly! That’s what I want!”

Lana gagged, “That’s disgusting!”

“Anyway, I’m taking away your food and water supply!” MonoCircle announced cheerfully.

We gasped as a collective. Is she crazy?! Taking away our food and water?! How is that at all fair?!

“Are you insane?!” Lizzy shouts.

MonoCircle snickered, “That’s what my therapist asks. But no, I’m not! You don’t wanna kill? Fine! You won’t get anything to eat from now on! Not until I see some bloodshed.”

This game just got 10 times more difficult.

How could I forget that she’s in control here? She can do anything she wants to us—we’re her play things! There was never a way to wait her out, how could I be so stupid?!

She has control. She will always have control. And if nobody here dies, we’re all dead.

MonoCircle started a crazed laugh as we all looked around at one another silently. The pressure was on.

If I looked hard enough, it’s like I could tell what they were thinking. This time, it wasn’t ’who’s gonna betray us?’, no…

…this time it was ‘Who’s gonna die first?’.

Chapter Text

Daily Life
•••

"I hope you don't mind your next few meals being rotten." MonoCircle giggled before falling backwards on the podium, disappearing from our line of sight.

She left us with a terrible dilemma. Don't kill and die, or kill and eat.

I know I wouldn't harm anyone here, but if we can't eat or drink, we're bound to die in like three days. Even if we don't eat, our bodies still need water every day!

"We're gonna die..." Abbie's shaken voice filled my ears. I turned to him and he was literally shaking. "We're all gonna die...!" He took a step back, unintentionally falling over.

Everyone watched in silence. Honestly, we were all too frozen to do anything.

Lana wasn't completely stiff with fear, so she went over to Abbie, kneeling down next to him. "W-We're not gonna die, Abigail." She said with an unsure tone.

She was scared too. Obviously, who isn't scared right now? One of us could be dead by tonight if someone acts upon this.

That's when I saw Oliver making his way to the exit of the gymnasium. What's with him? He acts like he isn't in danger walking around this place alone. If he keeps that up, he'll be the one dead.

"Oliver, where are you going?" Cubbie asked him, making him turn back to us with a serious expression.

"To the dining hall." He answered, "If she really took all of the food, then I want to see what she left in its place."

With that, he turned back around and continued for the dining hall.

As much as I don't like him, he's quick to make the correct decisions. And that face...he looked concerned about this as well.

"Man, that guy's hot." Riley spoke aloud, catching a couple of us off guard.

She's clearly not fazed by this little killing motive.

Lana got Abbie to his feet, but he was still shaking. "I'm gonna take him back to his room...if that's alright with the rest of you?" She looked to us for confirmation.

Kevin nodded, "Go ahead. We need to ensure everyone's safety first."

Lana donned a smile and mouthed a 'thank you' to Kevin before leaving the room with Abbie. Once they were gone, the rest of us filed out of the gym and to the dining hall.

•••

"Fuck." Oliver cursed under his breath, looking inside the kitchen to find rotten fruit and vegetables in place of the fresh ones that were there just this morning. "She's already replaced it."

The smell was terrible. It was the equivalent of several rotting corpses piled on top of each other.

When the smell filled my nose, I had to force myself not to throw up. I assume Lizzy had to do the same because she hunched over and moved out of the kitchen as soon as she stepped in.

"She really took away all of our food." Ruby looked around for a moment before going up to the fridge.

God, I don't even wanna know what it smells like in there.

Since Ruby can't smell anything to begin with, she was brave enough to open the refrigerator. Once she did, a new smell came to us.

Spoiled milk, spoiled meat, etc.

Ruby couldn't smell it, so she just stood there, but it was literally killing the rest of us so we moved out of the kitchen. It won't take long before that smell infests the dining hall. Even if we keep that door closed, the vents will distribute it throughout the school.

Then the entire school will smell like that.

Zip was bent over a trash can, throwing her guts up. Standing over her was Edward. He rubbed her back gently, trying to comfort her in any way he could.

"S-She's fucking sick—!" Zip groaned out, lifting her head from the trash can. "I haven't even smelt something that bad out at sea!"

"What are we gonna do...?" Bubble threw the question on everyone's minds out there.

Nobody could answer it, which didn't seem to surprise her.

"There's nothing we can do." I openly admitted.

As of now, all hope was lost. It's only a matter of time before we have to drink and eat. What are we gonna do, drink dirty water and spoiled milk? That'll kill us faster than not eating and drinking!

"We can't survive like this." Kevin mumbled the obvious. Even someone as collected as him began to look nervous. "Nothing's fresh, nothing's good. Something has to change."

He looked around at us, then back to the kitchen door. He looked like he was trying to plan something.

I guess the only thing I can do now is try to stay away from the kitchen.

With that being said, I'm gonna go to my dorm.

It's pretty clear how everyone feels about the food situation, so I don't have to linger around here.

•••

I spent the next twenty minutes or so just doing whatever in my dorm room. I could do anything but go to sleep since it's technically still 'school hours'.

That's when the doorbell rang. It caught my by surprise, but I was still pretty quick to get to the door.

Who could it be?

I got to the door and opened it, seeing Engel on the other side.

"Hey." He greeted. He sounded exhausted. "How are you holding up?"

I let out an unsure sigh. "That's a good question. To be honest, I don't even know myself. A part of me wants to say everything's gonna be fine, but the other part..."

"...the other part knows we're screwed."

Engel stared for a second before replying, "I feel the same way. It's getting tougher to stay positive in all of this."

I stepped back, inaudibly inviting the boy in.

"Especially when MonoCircle is forcing our hand in murder. It's unjust." He said while accepting my invitation. "She knew none of us were gonna snap."

"Which is why she introduced the motive. I guess the joke's on us." I took a seat on the edge of my bed.

He did the same.

MonoCircle remembered she's the one pulling the strings. Where did she find all of that rotten food from anyway? Did she have it from the start? Or was it something she came up with on a whim?

I suppose those questions don't matter much.

"Do you really think we can hold out like this?" I looked at the Ultimate Therapist with just a sliver of hope left. He could see it. The hope draining from my body. "I-Is there a way for us to continue living like this?"

Engel exhaled deeply. His eyes went from me to the floor in front of us. "Do you want my honest answer?"

"Mhm."

"I don't think we can. It's impossible. We can't consume rotten food—we can't drink dirty water. If we had the stomachs of dogs maybe, but we don't. I'd like to stay hopeful, yeah, but I also have to be realistic."

Engel finished, leaving the room silent once again.

He noticed my silence and started, "Sorry if that was too much..."

"It's fine. That's just reality." I scratched the back of my neck nervously. "There's nothing we can do about that."

"Yeah." Engel shook his head slightly. "Oh! I almost forgot why I came in here to talk to you!"

That grabbed my attention. I definitely thought we were gonna share a little moment of 'we're screwed' and call it a day.

"Oh? What's up?"

A little smile came to his face, "Even admits our little situation, Kevin and the others thought it'd be a good idea to throw everyone a little party."

"A party? Where?"

"In the dining hall tomorrow. We're gonna use the rest of today to set up everything we need. Kevin asked me to come back here to see if you wanted to help?"

Well, we may not have food at this 'party', but it'll be a good way to get our minds off of our food crisis.

I wonder who else agreed to this?

•••

Engel managed to get me out of my dorm and back into the school's halls.

We met up with Kevin, who had also gotten Cubbie, Ruby, Bubble, Lana, and Abbie with him. Looks like everyone else wasn't enthusiastic about the party.

"Looks like everyone's here." Kevin counted.

"Now, how exactly are we gonna set this up?" I asked curiously.

Kevin answered, "I found old party supplies in one of the storage closets. It looked like there was enough to fill up the dining hall."

That's cool. Too bad we won't have anything to eat there.

"I've already established a few roles for some of you." Kevin pointed to Lana, "Lana and Abbie are on decoration. Ruby and Bubble both agreed to look at the layout of the dining hall. Some of the tables are gonna have to be moved."

"Cubbie and I are planning out the activities, and that leaves you and Engel."

"What are we gonna do?" I asked.

"You're on cleaning duty." Kevin assigned us a role. "The cleaning supplies are in the janitor's closet. Mops, brooms, whatever you need."

I'm not exactly happy about cleaning, but if it means it'll boost the morale around this place, I'm about ready to try anything.

Engel shook his head, understanding. "That's fine with me. Hopefully everyone's gonna feel a little better after this."

"I hope so too." I added with a smile.

"We've got the rest of today to set everything up." Kevin announced, "Then we'll get everybody to come down tomorrow for a very much needed break."

That sounds like a plan. With our instructions being clear, Engel and I went off to the janitor's closet to get the necessary supplies to clean up the dining hall a bit.

•••

"Alright, you ready?" Engel picked up the wooden handle of the mop, dunking it into the soapy water.

I gave him a thumbs up with one hand, the other hand clenching a mop of my own. "Ready!"

We took our mops out of the water and dropped them down onto the floor below. For some reason, cleaning with him was pretty fun! Just two friends trying to make the best out of a crappy situation.

Engel used the mop cart to slide to the other side of the room, using the mop as a paddle of some sorts. "I thought you weren't excited to clean, Claire? What's with that smile?"

"You made it fun!" I giggled, trying to imitate what he was doing with the mop cart. I moved across the room as well, almost falling several times in the process.

With this little way of cleaning, we saved some time and mopped the room pretty quickly. It wasn't the most efficient way, but it's still pretty cool.

"Here, I'll put the mop cart up for you." Engel beckoned for me to push my cart over to him, which I did.

"Thanks."

Engel pushed his mop cart out of the dining hall first, then pushing the other. While he does that, maybe I can see everyone else's progress.

I left the dining hall and saw Kevin and Cubbie with a box labeled as 'toys'.

"What's in there?" I gestured to the box sitting between the two boys.

Cubbie answered, "Just a bunch of toys we found. Frisbees, board games, balls, and a couple of other things."

"Did you and Engel finish cleaning?" Kevin asked, getting a confirming 'mhm' from me.

"Yeah, he just went to put the mops away." I pointed down the hallway behind us. "Do you need us for anything else?"

"No, no, that'll do. I wanna thank you for agreeing to clean in the first place. It's definitely been difficult to keep it together, so this means a lot."

"Anytime." I grinned.

"Well, you guys are good to go for today." Cubbie relieved me and Engel from work as he picked up the box, "The rest of us kinda have some work to do."

Cubbie and Kevin moved the box into the dining hall, leaving me in the hallway alone.

Just a second later, I heard footsteps approaching from behind me. I turned back, seeing Engel stop just a couple inches away from me.

"That janitor's closet was hard to find." He exhaled, fixing the blue feather on his head. "And the doorknob on it almost didn't open."

"Is it broken?"

"Not broken, but you have to pull the doorknob back and then twist to get it to open."

For a headmaster that walks around saying this school has zero flaws, she can't even afford proper doorknobs...

"Well, I'll remember that when I definitely visit the janitor's closet again." I said sarcastically.

Cleaning isn't really my thing. In fact, it's Bubble's thing! So how come she didn't volunteer to come clean when it's literally her talent? She probably could've gotten this whole place spotless in five seconds if she wanted to.

Unless she just really wanted to look at the dining hall layout with Ruby. Those two do spend a lot of time together—just like I do with Engel.

I've never really been around anyone who just radiates warmth. That's how I feel when I'm with Engel. I feel so safe and warm—and this is getting weird.

"But since we don't have anything to do and it's probably about to be nighttime anyway, I guess I'll just head back to my dorm."

"Alright. Goodnight, Engel."

"Goodnight, Claire."

We went our separate ways.

•••

Just as I made it back to my dorm, the nighttime announcement went off. MonoCircle said the same thing in the same tone each time. I'm starting to believe that it's just the same recording each time.

Today was pretty tiring, so hopefully I can get some good sleep on an empty stomach. If I fall asleep fast enough, perhaps I can trick myself that I didn't eat anything today.

I lost my jacket and shirt and slipped into bed.

It took a minute, but I did manage to fall asleep.

•𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐂𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫•

“Looks like you’re back with me again!”

“A party…aren’t parties just so fun? Usually there’s cookies, cake, and soft drinks for everyone to divulge in!”

“Parties always tend to bring people close together, y’know? Something tells me this party won’t be any different.”

“There may not be a feast, or cake, or cookies—but something tells me this party is to die for.”

“See you at the party!”

•••

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗱.

Chapter Text

Daily Life
•••

"Wake up, wake up, wake up! It's the 7th hour of the day!" MonoCircle exclaimed into the intercom, switching up her daily routine.

Annoying, but efficient since it did wake me up.

I groaned and sat up in my bed, the cool air of the room kissing my skin.

Not even a minute awake and I have chills. That's gotta be a bad sign. I guess time will tell.

I moved my sheets to the side and headed to the bathroom for a shower, dragging my shirt with me.

•••

I swung my dorm door open, seeing the familiar sight of the hallway on the other side.

"Alright...let's get the real day started."

I stepped out and closed my door behind me. It's still early, so I don't expect all of the party supplies to be set up—especially since the nighttime announcement went off a couple of minutes after I went to my room.

I was quickly proven wrong when I walked inside the dining hall and saw the decorations all in place. My eyes widened with surprise as I looked around the whole room.

How fast do they work?!

The others were also marveling at the decor. Lana and Abbie stood there, proudly admiring their work.

"How long did it take for you guys to do this?" I asked while getting closer to them.

Lana turned to me with a prideful smirk, "Maybe fifteen minutes or so. It wasn't hard with this guy." She nudged Abbie, who turned red a little. "He even asked MonoCircle if it was alright if he painted the walls."

"As you can see, he got permission."

It was like stepping into an entire new world. A world of tranquility and hope. Only Abbie could bring something like that to life through a painting.

It was painted to match an underwater theme. It almost looked real!

"I-It's nothing." Abbie rubbed his shoulder nervously, "This only took like four minutes at best."

"Four minutes for this?" I took a second look around the room, throwing my arms up in a 'do you see this?' motion. "If you can do this in four minutes, I wonder what you could've done in ten!"

Abbie spared a little smile, "Thanks."

"Who turned this place into sea world?" A confused Oliver asked while walking through the door. "I feel seasick just walking in here."

Behind him was Zip, who's entire face brightened when she saw the new interior. "Oh my—!" She ran into the room, almost knocking Oliver over.

"Ah—!"

"This is so pretty!" She exclaimed excitedly, "There's even a giant squid! Ohhh, and there's a sperm whale over there—look, a sea turtle! It's so pretty, so very pretty!"

"I kinda forgot that she's a pirate..." Abbie admitted with a little chuckle. "I painted like this because Lana loves the ocean."

"How long did this take you?" Oliver asked while taking a seat at one of the smaller round tables.

Abbie answered, "Four minutes."

Even Oliver looked impressed. "Not that the Ultimate Painter should be doing anything less than marvelous in that timespan. This is expected of you."

Looks like the party's ready to get started! Not that I'm saying we should begin a party at 7 in the morning, but it's nice to see everyone in good spirits.

And since Kevin went into the kitchen and stuffed the vents with thick towels to keep that nauseating smell trapped inside, we won't even have to worry about it from now on.

Everyone else entered the dining hall, their faces changing from the usual morning face to utter shock.

"Woah." Petunia awed while walking through the door. "Did I just step into the entrance of an aquarium?"

Lizzy, who was right behind her, looked surprised as well. "Reminds me of that time I went to the beach. Granted, I got punched by a crab, but it was still cute."

Kevin stood by the table in the center of the room, waiting for everyone to be present. Once he counted all of us up, he began.

"I know we've all been stressed out for the past couple of days. I believe that a party is a good way to calm everyone's nerves and keep us all united. Agreed?"

A collective murmur spread about the room.

Then there was the sarcastic scoff of doubt coming from Oliver's direction. "Really? You think a party is just gonna fix everything that's going on? We still have to eat. We still have to drink."

"One day of fun isn't going to erase those facts."

"That may be true," Kevin quickly responded, "but if we can forget about our ordeal for even just one day, that's good enough for me. It'll show our captors that we're still together through this."

It's good to see that Kevin can stay hopeful through this. Hearing him speak like this is definitely making me more hopeful than I was yesterday, or even the day before last.

"Hmph." Oliver went silent afterward.

He's probably hoping this entire thing crumbles down in front of all of us. But I don't have time to worry about him being a downer, the only thing I'm worried about is not being to stuff my face with food again.

I won't kill...but I want to eat so bad.

And I know I'm not the only one that feels that way.

It's been a struggle telling myself not to break. There isn't anyone here I'd harm willingly, not unless I'm provoked to.

"And while we're in here, we don't have to worry about the rotten smell from the kitchen." Kevin pointed a finger to the kitchen door, "Cubbie and I made all air entries into the kitchen air tight. No air can slip in or out."

"Thank God." Zip exhaled. "I don't think I've ever smelt something as bad as that. And I've smelt whale guts."

Edward scrunched his nose at the thought of whale guts. "Let's maybe not talk about guts at the table."

"Why not? It's not like we're gonna eat anything."

"Yeah, that's true..." Edward shook his head.

Ruby jumped in, "But that's still disgusting."

"Also true." Edward pointed at her.

"Hey, when does this party get started anyway?" Lana brought the attention back to Kevin, who went to answer without hesitation.

"Right after these short messages—!"

MonoCircle leapt onto the table, making us jump. Some of us more than others.

"What do you want now?" Engel asked.

MonoCircle danced around the table for a bit before getting into her reasoning. "What headmaster doesn't bid their students a good morning personally? I just know you're all dying to eat some good breakfast this morning!"

She's really taunting us. Even the mention of food is enough to make my mouth start watering. Not to mention the need for water. My throat is so dry, especially since I just woke up not too long ago.

The first thing I do after waking up is drink a glass of cold water. And since I can't do that (thanks to MonoCircle) the only thing I've tasted is the dry sensation of my tongue.

"No fucking shit we're thinking about food!" Shouts Petunia angrily.

MonoCircle snickered, "Someone's hangry."

"Hell yeah, I'm hangry. I haven't been able to eat or drink for God knows how long. I'm tired of this! I want a good meal!"

"Is that right?" MonoCircle tilted her head, "Then you know what you have to do! Get up and murder one of your classmates! I mean, it's not that hard to understand."

"One of you just has to die."

"How many times do we have to tell you we're not gonna kill each other?" Engel's brows furrowed with hate for the little creature. "You won't break us."

MonoCircle laughed in response. It's what she always does. It's annoying how she takes everything as a joke! Being serious with her is so useless.

"If you don't kill each other, dehydration surely will." She gave us a grave reminder. "I hate to force the beginning of a killing game, but you've really given me no choice. Nobody wants to see you sit around all day!"

"So get to it!"

And just as she came, she was gone.

"I swear I hate that bastard." Lizzy grumbled, Petunia doing so as well. "Can we go ahead and get this party started before I pop a vessel?"

Kevin shrugged, "Ah, well I did want to do this later in the day, but no time like the present, I guess."

And with the okay from Kevin, the party was underway.

Sure it was only like 7:20 in the morning, but time passes by so fast in this place. This party will probably feel like thirty minutes before 10 o'clock rolls around.

"Skell, if you may."

Skell?

An electric guitar boomed into our ears.

"Jesus!" Robby yelped, turning his head to see Skell in the corner of the cafeteria with a small stage set up for him.

"When did that get there...?" I paused, giving Skell enough time to bring his hand down to the guitar strings again.

This time he began playing one of his songs, catching our attention. That's when a frisbee came flying overheard. It whipped by me and hit Edward in the head.

"Ah—!" He gasped as the plastic toy bounced off of his dome. "Who threw that?!" His eyes scanned the room, landing on a guilty looking Zip.

His angered expression immediately stopped. "Oh." A mischievous expression took its place, "You won't get away with that!" He quickly picked the frisbee up and threw it back at her.

It perfectly zipped by everyone and hit the girl in the face. The frisbee didn't even get to fall before she grabbed it and threw it again.

It didn't even get to soar toward Edward at all as it hit Oliver in the face this time.

"Uh oh." Zip ran out of the dining hall quickly, leaving a clearly frustrated Oliver in his seat.

The Analyst picked the frisbee up with one hand and exited the cafeteria. It's clear who he's going after, but I wonder if he'll catch her; she was running super fast.

As for the rest of us, the party's just begun.

•••

I honestly don't know how long it's been since the party's started. If I estimated correctly, we started around 7:20-ish. If that's the case, then it has to be around 12. I thought having no food would make this party pretty boring, but I've been entertained ever since we've started.

Alongside Skell's performances, Lana's been doing her own with her sock puppets.

Abbie's been showing Bubble, and Robby how to paint with a couple of the big pieces of paper he found in the art room.

Cubbie is teaching Lizzy and Petunia French.

And here I am just watching everyone have fun. Despite what Oliver believed, we really do look united still. MonoCircle took away necessary items to our daily lives, but we didn't falter.

We adapted, just like Riley said we should. At this rate, MonoCircle will be forced to give us our food and water back! Because I definitely didn't want to try filtering faucet water when I have no idea how.

MonoCircle would probably turn off the water before allowing us to drink it from the sink.

Before I could I think about it too much, Engel came and sat next to me.

"Why are you sitting alone, Claire? Are you feeling alright?"

"Oh!" I was snapped out of my thinking, "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about how cool it was all of us are able to stick together throughout all of this."

"Yeah." Engel looked ahead, "Having nothing to eat is really taking a toll on us, whether we show it or not. But the fact that our main enemy is still MonoCircle shows that we're doing something right, y'know?"

"Yeah." I smiled. "And we have Kevin to thank. Hosting this party was an amazing idea. I mean, everyone is socializing with someone. Nobody's left out."

"If we keep this up, maybe she'll change her mind." Engel stayed hopeful.

He then gasped as one of the straps on his overalls snapped open, the button falling out. "Oh, great." He groaned. "This is the second time this has happened."

Engel stood up and picked up the fallen button. "I'll be right back, I have to fix this."

"Oh, no worries." I giggled. Seeing him frustrated over something so minor is pretty cute.

I watched him as he left the dining hall, most likely going back to his dormitory.

It still reminds me that I am still just the Ultimate Lucky Student. Everyone has something to show off, then there's me. I can't exactly show off luck, especially since I am a very unlucky person. It still surprises me I won that raffle.

Sometimes I wish I didn't. I mean if I didn't, I wouldn't have met all of these amazing people, but at the same time I wouldn't be stuck in a killing game with nothing to eat.

That's when the music Skell was playing on his guitar suddenly cut off. It was an abrupt screeching sound, so my hands immediately went to my ears to dull the noise. I even heard a couple of the others let out a terrified shriek.

"Calm down..." Skell lowered the guitar, "...the speaker's just blown out. I don't know how, I wasn't even playing that hard."

"Maybe the speaker's just broken?" Robby got closer to the black speaker, crouching down to get a better look.

Skell hummed in thought, "Could be. Kevin said he found it stashed inside of a janitors closet. The only thing that would make a speaker blow out like that is water inside of it."

"Maybe some mop water or an unsealed bottle?" Bubble proposed.

"Could be." Skell set the guitar down on the chair he was sitting on and unplugged the speaker. "Either way, I don't want this thing electrocuting us, so no more music. Sorry."

"Like we wanted that trash in our ears anyway."Edward scoffed, "Nobody listens to rock anymore, dude."

Skell, taking slight offense to Edward's words, retaliated, "My most streamed song has 1.1 billion streams."

"1.1 billion idiots."

"What's your problem—?"

"What's going on?" Kevin walked back inside the dining hall, catching wind of the argument the Scientist and Rockstar were about to have.

Edward crossed his arms and faced away from the group. "Skell thinks 2000s rock is still popular."

"Don't disrespect my talent." Skell, despite being quiet, didn't back down from Edward.

"Can you two calm down?" Kevin let out an exhausted sigh, coming in between the two. "There's no need to start problems when we're here to prove we're still together."

"Don't make me laugh—you really think we're still good?" Oliver couldn't help but put his two cents in, "We're hungry, we're thirsty. It won't be long before someone takes initiative and kills."

"It sounds like you want it to happen? We should all be looking at you as our first suspect if a murder does come up." Cubbie voiced his concern.

"Then you'll be sorely mistaken." Oliver left it at that.

A beat of silence followed. Why does this always happen? It's like this group can't be positive at all! Don't they understand we can't show that there's cracks in the group? MonoCircle is watching closely, waiting for us to turn our backs on one another!

Why can't we stay together?

"Hey, where's Abbie?" Lana took a glance around the room, not seeing the artist anywhere.

"He probably got tired of all of the arguing that was taking place in here." Lizzy placed her hands on her hips, taking a shot at Skell and Edward. "I would leave too."

While that is true, it isn't like Abbie to just up and leave just because an argument is going on. He always struck me as the person who wouldn't want to be alone in this place.

"Abbie wouldn't just leave because of an argument. He's stayed here throughout all the other ones." Lana argued.

Just as we thought we'd have to start a search party, the dining hall door clicked and swung open. We thought it would've been Abbie walking into the room to tell us he's fine, but it was Engel, who successfully got his button back onto his overall strap.

"Why's everyone looking at me like that...?"

"Did you see Abbie at all?" Lana asked, her voice more concerned.

Engel shook his head, "No, why?"

I could feel the tension in the room get thicker. Where is Abbie? There's no way what I think happened actually happened! It's just not possible, right? We all agreed!

"God..." Lana's voice cracked, but she kept it together. "...l-let's go look for him! We have to!"

"She's right. We can't leave no room unchecked. Got it?" Bubble was the one to set off the search.

"Yeah." We all replied.

•••

Me, Engel, and Lana all decided to look around together. With all of us searching in smaller groups, we're going to cover more ground.

"Try and breathe Lana." Engel told her, his hand on her back. "We'll find him and he'll be fine. I promise."

I don't think Lana took those words to heart because she still looked scared for her friend. If I was Abbie, I would definitely be in the art room. He said it himself that he felt the most calm in there.

So that's where we checked first. If we're lucky, he'd be inside drawing or painting a new masterpiece.

'Please be in here...' I mentally prepared myself before opening the door.

Nobody was inside the art room. As much as I wanted him to be in here, he wasn't.

"Maybe he's at his dorm?" Engel suggested.

"Edward and Zip are already checking down there. And Kevin, Ruby, and Cubbie are checking out the gym." I reminded Engel of everyone's whereabouts.

"Where does that leave?" Engel pondered.

"The laundry room, the sauna, the changing room, the kitchen, the storage room..." I listed a few names off of my memory. This school is so big, I'm sure I'm missing a few.

"Abbie wouldn't have any reason going to any of those rooms though. Well, maybe he had dirty clothes to put in the laundry, but..." Engel tried to make sense out of his disappearance, but he couldn't. He left without telling anyone.

That's not like him at all.

"What about the kitchen?" I threw out another room.

Honestly, I don't think he's in there, but it wouldn't hurt checking. We're almost all out of options at this point.

Lana swallowed, "I don't even wanna go near that place. Besides, Abbie would be the last person to go near that foul stench anyway. I don't wanna be rude or anything, but I know him more than you guys."

"We understand, Lana. We really do, but where else could he be? We have to consider every option." Engel didn't give in. He knows as well as I do how difficult this is for her, but we need to put what we think we might know to the side.

"A-Alright." Lana nodded, "Let's check."

We left the art room, quickly going back to where this search started. I could only pray for his wellbeing while moving throughout these halls.

I don't understand how we let him slip out of our sight like that. He's so quiet that I thought he was there the entire time until Lana mentioned he was gone. Why'd you have to go and sneak off, Abbie?

We made it to the dining hall, seeing some of the others have already congregated back inside.

"Any luck?" I asked them before moving over to the kitchen door.

"Nope." Zip crossed her arms, "I got tired of looking after three minutes. He's the one that decided to go missing, not me!"

"Agreed." Edward sided with the pirate girl, "We shouldn't even be wasting our energy looking for him. If he wants to sneak off, I say we let him."

I didn't expect them to be much help anyway. All those two ever do is flirt and complain. Kinda like Lizzy and Petunia, but they're still useful.

Lana grumbled out an insult at the two before bringing her hand down on the kitchen door. "Should we hold our breath?"

"Definitely."

"Are you gonna go in the kitchen?" Zip immediately backed away into the corner of the dining hall. "Are you crazy?! Why would he be in there of all places?"

"It smells like death in there!"

"Yeah, yeah." Engel waved the girl off before inhaling sharply.

The three of us held our breath and opened the kitchen door.

What we saw immediately made our breath go away.

In fact, I felt like I couldn't breathe.

I heard the bloodcurdling scream come from beside me.

It was Lana.

"Oh my..." Engel choked.

We found Abbie.

He was lying on his back, a pool of blood behind his head.

His eyes were wide open, old tears still finding their way down his cheeks.

He was motionless.

He wasn't making any sound.

He was dead.

•••
𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲.

Chapter Text

Deadly Life
•••

"Woo!" Cheered MonoCircle over the intercom, "Looks like our game is off to a good start!"

Zip and Edward rushed to the kitchen, the others doing the same. "What's with all the noise—ah!" Zip gasped in horror upon seeing the boy's deceased body.

"What the hell—?!" Edward took a step back.

Even Skell, who normally wore a blank face, looked shocked. "Oh, man..."

"A-Abbie..." Lana went to the shorter boy's side. She knew he was gone, but still found the need to comfort him. "Why would a-anyone do this—?!"

"Lana..." Engel started, but Oliver cut him off.

"It's obvious. If we kill, we leave. Seems like someone's already cracked under the pressure. The only question is: who?"

"I wouldn't mind not finding out." Robby shook nervously.

"But you're gonna have to!" Announced MonoCircle, randomly appearing in the corner of the room. The sudden sound made an already paranoid Lana jump.

"You think I'm gonna let a killer walk free? Nope! That's just not how the cookie crumbles around here!"

"What are you saying?!" Zip raised her voice at the little furry creature.

Oliver followed up, "According to your rules, if someone kills and doesn't get caught, they get to walk out of these doors, correct?"

MonoCircle huffed, "There's more to it than that!"

"Killing someone and not being caught is easy if you think about it! In your 'normal society', an official court case would be held to figure out who killed them, right?"

"Obviously. But this isn't a 'normal society'. You locked us in here." I said.

MonoCircle sighed, shaking her head at me. "I try to bring a little bit of the real world in here and this is the thanks I get? You're not being fair to me at all, Claire."

"Anyway, what that rule means is, you have to participate in a court case to get away with the murder!"

"Court case?" Petunia tilted her head, one of her ears dropping down as well. "Spare us that crap! It's obvious you're the one that killed him! Bludgeoned the poor kid before he had any idea!"

MonoCircle flashed her claws at the tailor, making her flinch despite being across the room. "I don't wish to get my paws dirty unless absolutely necessary. I wish I could take credit for this kill, but it wasn't me!"

"The killer is one of you." There was a sinister tone behind that sentence. It honestly made my blood turn cold.

"And one of you knows that all too well!" She continued, adding to the suspense. "By the way, since a murder has taken place, I'll go ahead and get rid of all this rotten food. See how I'm keeping my word?"

The little animal instructed us to step out of the kitchen for a moment. We did so, but silently.

It looks like all of that stuff Oliver said was true. We really were destined to start butchering one another. Poor Abbie just happened to be first.

He was so kind and innocent. The artist didn't deserve the hand he was dealt. I'm sure everyone knows that much. That's why I wonder who would ever kill someone like that? He had no enemies here, nor did he ever argue with anyone.

We have to find out who did this.

"Alright, it's all cleared out!" MonoCircle let out a sigh and stretched. "Man, that was pretty nasty. Who would eat that crap? Anyway, let me tell you how our little judicial system works in here."

"Among you is a murderer, but you all know that much. In here, we consider them as a 'blackened'. If the blackened is discovered during our court case, they get a one way ticket to punishment."

"Butttt, if the jury guesses incorrectly and choose an innocent person—everyone but the blackened will be punished!"

Punished? I could only imagine what she was talking about. It didn't sound fun in the slightest, but that's most likely the point.

"Punishment...?" Bubble asked weakly. "W-What does that entail?"

"Guess incorrectly and find out, dear!" MonoCircle laughed, "I'm sure you're all gonna want to be investigating this scene here, so I'll go ahead and get out of your hair! There's plenty of time to kill you later!"

She disappeared before our eyes, leaving us with a bunch of unanswered questions.

"Well, you heard the thing." Oliver said with folded arms. "We need to investigate so we don't get 'punished'."

"W-Where do we even start?" Asked Ruby.

Oliver knelt down, examining Abbie's head specifically. "There's no damage done to his face or stomach. And the blood is coming out of the back of his head, so we can say he was taken by surprise."

"Then there's this." He pointed at a metal vent grate that lied next to Abbie's corpse; it was bloody as well. Oliver's eyes trailed upward, a vent being directly above where Abbie lied. "Did the grate fall on him?"

"You heard what MonoCircle said. It was a murder! Wouldn't a vent grate falling on him be considered an accident?" Zip asked, getting Oliver's attention.

"Unless someone messed with the screws." He stood back up, "I don't want to die today, so I'm gonna be investigating this crime." He then suddenly called on two of our peers, "Zip, Riley."

"Hm?" The two hummed.

"As a pirate and a knife-duelist, do you two have any combat experience?"

"...are you trying to make us suspects?" Riley put her hands on her hips.

Oliver groaned, "No, fool. I'm trying to get you two to watch over the crime scene so nobody tampers with it."

Zip gagged, "And be stuck in here with a dead body? No way!"

"Come on, Zip. We don't have much choice." Edward tried to persuade the girl. "Just do it this one time and we'll figure out who the killer is without any obstacles."

It took a second, but the girl finally cracked under pressure and sighed. "Fine. I'll stay in here with the stupid body."

"Don't say that about him!" Lana shouted, walking up to the pirate girl.

Cubbie got in between the two. "Cool it, Lana. More violence isn't going to solve anything. Calme-toi (Calm down)."

"Yeah, Lana." Zip smirked at her, but Cubbie turned back to her. "That goes for you too. Don't provoke her." Zip rolled her eyes and went over to a counter, sitting on it.

And just like that, we were subjected to investigate Abbie's body. Honestly, it would've been better not finding out who killed him—since now we know that someone else in our group is destined to die.

Or maybe we'll die instead.

A ping came from my E-Handbook, alerting me to pull it out. I turned on the screen, seeing new information.

"It's details of the case." I said aloud, making others pull out their handbooks as well.

"It gives us time of death, where he was killed, but where it should say murder weapon, there's just question marks." Kevin announced. "I guess it's because there was no obvious weapon at the scene."

"But there was." Lizzy interjected, "That metal vent grate was covered in Abbie's blood. Who's to say someone didn't hit him in the back of the head with it or something?"

"Then it would say the murder weapon was the vent grate..." Bubble mumbled.

Even with some assistance of the handbook, all questions weren't answered. It was still unclear what dealt the first and only strike on Abbie. What could've been used to kill someone...?

"It also says it was blunt force trauma." Engel pointed out, "So we need to keep a look out for any blunt objects."

Petunia scoffed, "So like 95% of the entire school?"

Engel shrugged, not noticing her sarcasm. "Pretty much. It's better to start with what we know, and we know he died to blunt force trauma. We can go from there."

There's no way to tell what killed him. There's so many blunt objects lying around that the killer could've used any one of them to end poor Abbie's life. It wouldn't have been hard considering the boy was on the weaker side.

And because of his thick hair, it's impossible to see if there were any indentations or splits in his head. All we saw was his hair soaking in blood. It's disgusting to think about, but it's also very real.

I hate how this is real. How someone decided enough is enough, and killed another.

The only upside to this is that all of the rotten food was finally replaced with fresh food again. Am I saying Abbie's death was a good thing? No. Is it beneficial that we can eat and drink stuff again? Yes.

"How about we split up and take a look around." Suggested Ruby. "Look for any possible blunt objects with...I dunno...blood still on it?"

"The killer could've easily washed the blood off of the object." Kevin mentioned, striking down Ruby's suggestion a tad. "Not to say it was a bad idea, but it just seems unlikely."

"No, it's fine." Ruby nodded. "We have to consider every possibility. I still believe looking around would help. Maybe there's something we're looking over."

"She's right." Cubbie stepped in to agree, somewhat surprising Kevin. "If there's any chance that we're glancing over a clue or the killer forgot to cover something, we should take the opportunity."

Kevin thought about it more, "Well...when you put it like that. Alright, I'm in."

We were split up into groups. Oliver, like always, investigated alone, leaving the others to their own. Zip and Riley couldn't leave the crime scene, so they just looked around the kitchen to see if anything blunt could've did the boy in.

Edward went with Robby, while Petunia and Lizzy obviously got together to search. I was with Engel, and Kevin was with Cubbie.

Lana, Bubble, and Ruby were all searching together as well.

Engel and I walked down a long corridor, our eyes taking second glances over places we'd normally ignore. "I still can't believe he's gone." Engel suddenly spoke. "We just talked to him earlier."

"I know." I sighed, my eyes gluing to my feet. "He drew for us...and told us he trusted us."

"A soul like his should be in heaven. Well, if that's a real place. I don't know your religion and I don't want to offend you."

I giggled, "You're fine. We both know Abbie was an angel. Hopefully it is real so he can go there."

"Hopefully Lana will be okay." Engel brought up another topic. "She knew him the best out of all of us, so..."

"Yeah." I agreed.

Just seeing his body made her scream bloody murder. Who knows what she’ll do when she finds out who killed him. What will we do when we find out who killed him? MonoCircle has a punishment in mind, but that doesn’t mean that the ‘students’ still can’t pass judgement.

We turned a corner, being met by another ominous looking corridor. “Leave no room unchecked, right?” Engel looked at me, then back at the hallway.

“That’s right.” I sighed, getting ready for a lengthy investigation.

We started with the first door in the hall. It led to a regular classroom that didn’t seem to have anything inside. I almost keep forgetting this place is a school and would have regular classrooms in it.

Engel and I moved on to the next room. It was another classroom, one that looked identical to the last. “I’m already tired of this.” I admitted with a grunt.

“But we have to…” Engel spoke in annoyance. Searching the whole school wasn’t exactly on his to-do list today. “Come on, we’ll try to make short work of this hall.”

And that’s what we did. Every room down the corridor was searched thoroughly. We didn’t find a single thing, but I guess we can rest assured that the murder weapon wasn’t something in a classroom.

“Well, that’s it for us.” Engel scratched his head.

I crossed my arms, “We didn’t get anything out of that.”

“Except confirmation that the murder weapon wasn’t placed in a classroom.” Engel snapped his fingers out of boredom. “Come on, we’ll say there was nothing down here—” he suddenly stopped.

“Oh, we didn’t check this.” His claw pointed to the janitor’s closet.

In any other situation, the janitor’s closet would be the LAST place I’d expect. However, this is a killing game so what do I know?

“Isn’t this the one with the messed up door?” I asked while approaching the closet door. Engel nodded and went to put his hand on the doorknob. “Careful.” I blurted out silently.

“Don’t worry.” Engel did the trick to opening the door. He pulled it back and the door came swinging open, creaking a little. “I doubt there’s anything—!”

Cutting him off was a mop falling out of the janitor’s closet. It startled me, forcing a yelp to come out of my mouth. Engel held back a laugh, seeing the unjustified fear written across my face.

I fumed after noticing what it was, but Engel chuckled. “Calm down, calm down.” He leaned over to pick up the mop, but he froze.

“What’s wrong?” I stepped forward cautiously. “Engel…?”

“Blood.” Engel stood upright, his eyes still on the mop. “The handle! There’s blood on the mop handle!”

My eyes trailed down to the wooden handle of the mop. Sure enough, blood that hadn’t even dried yet was on it.

The mop was the murder weapon.

Chapter Text

Deadly Life
•••

+ BLOODY MOP has been added to Truth Bullets

This murder wasn't random at all...! Someone spent time to plan Abbie's demise.

I would've thought otherwise until we found the bloody mop, and the mop bucket filled with water that turned red.

"I-It wasn't a freak accident or anything." Said Engel. He was physically disturbed by what he saw, probably more than when he saw the body. "MonoCircle was right..."

"...one of us killed him."

Even though MonoCircle already told us that, it was still nerve racking to hear. Especially coming from a guy as positive as Engel, who never wanted to assume the worst in a person.

"Engel..." I started, but his frown was quickly replaced with a comforting smile.

"...I'm fine. We have to continue looking around, alright?"

I honestly can't tell if he's forcing himself to go on or not. It's obvious he doesn't like this. I mean, only a psycho would enjoy doing anything like this...

"Come on." He held his hand out for me, noticing my frozen figure. "We'll be fine, okay? I promise."

He's putting on his best act for me. Engel's trying not to break down for me...

"Alright. I trust you." I took his hand, allowing him to lead me down the hallway.

We found two other students looking around the school. It was Lizzy and Petunia! The two of them were leaving the dormitory hallway, frustrated looks on their faces. I assume that they either found nothing, or they're tired of searching.

"Ugh, I'm tired of looking around this place! We didn't even find anything!" Petunia whined.

Or both...

"No luck?" Engel read their expression, coming to that conclusion.

Lizzy huffed, grumbling something before walking off. Petunia looked at Engel and spared him an answer, "That means no. Seriously, how come we have to do this?"

"We have to figure out who killed Abbie, Petunia." Engel's words weighed heavy. "If we don't, then our lives are on the line."

"I know that, obviously." Petunia scoffed. "But what's the point? If someone's willing to kill Abbie, who's to say it won't happen again? The only reason I agreed to come check this place out is because I don't wanna die." She pointed behind herself at Lizzy, "And I don't want her dead either."

"Well...I appreciate your honesty." Engel chuckled apprehensively. Petunia and Lizzy are live wires—say one thing wrong and they'll both be at your neck. "But I wanna know something...if you don't mind answering."

Petunia's ears perked up curiously. "What's up?"

"Did you or Lizzy happen to like...see or even hear anything...? I know our dorm rooms are soundproof, but I don't think that's the case for the entire school." Engel explained, hoping that the girl would have anything to share about the case.

Petunia looked up, pondering. "Well..." she hummed. "I saw that mechanic guy handing Abbie a note. It was folded pretty small, but I didn't think much of it at the time..."

"...but I also saw him with us the entire time inside the cafeteria so it wouldn't make any sense for him to be Abbie's killer..."

+ PETUNIA'S ACCOUNT has been added to Truth Bullets

Mechanic dude? Who the heck is...? Wait, Robby?

Robby handed Abbie a note...what is that about?

"Should we see what Robby has to say about that?" My eyes trailed to Engel, who was already looking at me.

"Yeah." He agreed, "Do you have any idea where he's at?"

"I do." Petunia answered for me, "Last time I saw him, he was going to the gymnasium with that annoying ass scientist. What was his name, Eddie?"

"Edward." I corrected.

"Same diff." She dismissed with the wave of her hand, walking off to Lizzy.

It looks like we have some questioning to do! According to Petunia, Robby most likely isn't the killer, but still handed Abbie a note that could be linked to the murder.

Let's see what this is really about.

•••

Engel pushed the gymnasium door open, being greeted by the effort-filled grunts of Edward as he lifted up the heavy wooden podium.

"Jesus, is this thing made out of iron?!" He dropped it down, a thud noise echoing through the large room.

Robby appeared from behind the curtains, struggling to carry a small box. "T-There's something in here." He grunted, dropping the box next to Edward. "Let's see."

"Robby!" Engel called him out from the other side of the gym.

Robby stopped what he was doing, leaving Edward to break open the box. "Yeah?" He dropped down from the stage.

"Can we talk for a sec?"

Robby grew a skeptical look, "About?"

"Petunia said she saw you handing a note off to Abbie. We're not insinuating anything, but what was that about?"

Robby stared silently, almost as if what he was hearing was unbelievable. "It was just a folded note that I found on the floor with his name on it. I didn't bother looking at what it said because that isn't any of my business."

"And you gave it to Abbie, right?" Engel followed up, receiving a nod in return.

At least we know Petunia wasn't lying.

Well that could've potentially stopped Abbie from dying...I believe whatever was on that note led him to his death. There's no other possibility, right?

+ ROBBY'S ACCOUNT has been added to Truth Bullets

+ NOTE TO ABBIE has been added to Truth Bullets

"Did you see anything else that might be helpful later?" Engel continued, "The chance of you being the one who did this is super low, so I don't think you'd have anything to hide...right?"

"If I knew anything else, I woulda said it." Robby replied while scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I'll tell you what, if anything else comes up, I'll let you know."

And that concluded our talk with Robby.

He's pretty low on my list of suspects, especially because he looks like he's pretty organized. Somebody like him wouldn't go off the rails and murder someone.

The person he's partnered up with is a different story...

"Edward!" Engel called out, stopping me just before I had said his name. "We have to talk!"

The scientist groaned while getting off of his knees. "Talk about what? Can't you see I'm busy?" He miffed, not sparing us the time of day.

Engel sighed, taking note of Edward's uncooperative nature. "That's nice and all, but—" his eyes narrowed sternly, "—I wasn't asking. Come down, please!"

Reluctantly, Edward kicked the little box aside and dropped down off of the stage, a little scowl present on his features. "We're looking for clues, shrink. Hurry this up so you'll get outta my hair."

"Don't worry, this won't be long. Just answer truthfully." Engel assured him, that appeasing smile returning to his lips.

Edward scoffed out an insult that was inaudible to the both of us, so Engel ignored it and went on with questions. "We probably won't have the time to ask everybody, but did you see anything at all during the party?"

"Pfft, that's your tactic?" Edward crossed his arms, "You think people are just gonna start lining up to tell you the truth? And what if I was the killer, what makes you think I'd say anything?"

"If we don't get anything, then we can suspect you. Can't we?" I jumped in, defending Engel.

Edward's smile wavered. His black claw went to his goggles, adjusting them. "Eh, I guess that's true. I didn't see anything incriminating at the party, and everyone's been pretty lax about this."

"Trust me, they're trying their best not to break down." Engel corrected him. "If you read their faces, you can tell." As a therapist, I guess reading people is a pretty nifty trick.

Edward started, "I don't have time to learn that shit. I'm worried more about survival—"

"Put some pep in your step, peeps!" Exclaimed MonoCircle over the intercom. "We're getting this trial underway in exactly five minutes!"

'Five minutes?' I felt my heart drop. We're gonna need way more time than that! There's way more things to figure out before trial time!

Engel knew that all too well. "We're gonna have to move fast." He whispered, but he was speaking to me. "Thanks for nothing, Edward."

"Anytime." Edward played in to the boy's sarcasm.

We left the gym, trying to get all of our facts right. The mop was used as the murder weapon, not the vent grate. According to Petunia, Robby handed Abbie a note with his name on it, and according to Robby, he didn't know what the note said.

There's also the bloody water in the mop bucket. Whoever killed him cleaned up some type of mess. Question is, where's the spot they cleaned? Mopping up a part of the floor would've left some obvious wet spots—so where are they?

Hopefully someone else can make some sense out of this. For some reason, I feel like there's more to this than what we see.

"You okay?"

Looks like I got too lost in thought.

Engel looked concerned, gazing down at me with a slight frown. "If this is too much, we can just sit down for a minute..."

"It's fine." I smiled, "I'm just thinking about that mop."

"What about it?"

"Ending Abbie's life wasn't the only thing it was used for. The killer cleaned something up, but we haven't been able to find any evidence of that."

"Hey, don't worry. Don't forget, there's 15 of us. They're bound to find something."

I pray he's right about that. There's no more time to look around and we've gathered enough clues to at least have something relevant to bring up during the case.

"You ready?" Engel asked me, sounding unsure himself.

"Not really. I don't want to do this, but if it means we live to see another day, then bring it on."

He smiled at that, even laughing a bit. "It's nice seeing you confident, Claire."

With a very obvious blush taking over my cheeks, I faced ahead and avoided eye contact. No way am I gonna get flustered right before the trial of my life! I have to stay focused!

But just the thought of this boy laughing is making me blush. How stupid is that...?

"Your guy's investigation is over?"

Bubble, Lana, and Ruby came from another hallway. They looked exhausted, which is fair considering the circumstance.

“Yeah.” I answered, “Did you guys find anything?”

“Well—”

“It’s time!” MonoCircle popped up before us, scaring the living daylights out of everyone. “Let’s get this party started! Kindly report to the elevator that’ll take you to the trial room that-a-way!” She pointed ahead.

At the end of the hallway was a door with a label above it that read ‘ELEVATOR’. Since when was this not the first floor…?

“You kids go ahead and go, I’ll gather the rest of you!” She vanished, leaving us no other option than to step inside the room.

“I am so not ready for this…” Bubble admitted solemnly.

I doubt anybody’s ready for this. This following elevator trip might be the final elevator I ever go down! It’s nerve racking, but I can’t lose my sense now. If I can just do this as logically as possible, we’ll win.

We can bring Abbie’s killer to light!

“Did MonoCircle force you guys onto the elevator too?” Cubbie asked, stepping inside the room. He was followed by the others, who must’ve found each other beforehand.

Engel shook his head, “Yep.”

Once everyone was inside the room, the elevator dinged and the gate slid back.

There was a bit of hesitation from Engel, which gave Oliver enough time to step by and get on. “Waiting for something?” He looked back at the rest of us.

Engel boarded after him, followed by Zip.

“This better go well.” Edward said before slowly getting inside the elevator.

The rest of us went in at the same time.

Once the elevator was full, it dinged once again. The gate slid back into place and locked. There was no going back now.

A motor began whirring, the elevator starting to descend simultaneously. The bumpy ride was silent. Nobody dared to say a single word. Honestly, I preferred it like this since this ‘trial’ is going to be filled with several minds trying to come to one conclusion.

I have to be ready for anything. Standing near me is the murderer of Abbie, but I don’t know who. My eyes darted around the elevator, catching a glimpse of everyone. Some looked more ready than others.

I want to be able to push ahead, no matter what happens during the trial…

…good luck everyone.

Chapter Text

Deadly Life
•••

"Way nicer than what you expected, eh?" MonoCircle sat on a vibrant throne that wasn't too far away from the court stands.

We all stood frozen in the court room, nobody sure what to say or do.

"Why are there sixteen stands if one of us is dead?" Cubbie pointed at the sixteenth stand that had a framed picture of Abbie standing behind it.

Not only is that super creepy, but also disrespectful. But what else did I expect from someone like MonoCircle? She's the embodiment of pure evil.

MonoCircle giggled at Cubbie's observation, "Something like that needs an explanation? The answer is child's play! I wouldn't want Abigail to miss out just because he's dead, now would I?"

I stared longingly at the grey photo of Abbie. His neutral expression is an image that'll be burned into my head for a long time. Especially since he was alive just this morning.

"Well, find your spots!"

We quickly filed in behind the wooden stands, leaving a circle area with nothing inside in the middle.

"What a fine time to practice some judicial laws, eh?" The fuzzy cat-thing joked sadistically, knowing what she had in store for us. "I hope you're ready to start the debate for your lives!"

That weighed heavy. We have to figure out who did this! Not just for Abbie, but for our survival as well.

Lana unsurprisingly took the stand right next to Abbie. She looked determined (but still sad) as well. She's just as ready as the rest of us!

"It's time for...!"

[CLASS TRIAL: START!]

MonoCircle sat up on her throne, clearing her throat. "Ahem! If you can figure out who the 'blackened' is, then only they will receive punishment! But if you pick the wrong one..."

"...I'll punish everyone except them! Then that person will go on to graduate!"

Oliver scoffed, a confident smirk on his face. "Yeah, we know the stakes of this trial. No need to remind us."

"And the killer is really one of us?" Bubble asked, still hopeful that one of us didn't murder another.

MonoCircle shot the girl a thumbs up...or actually a paws up. "Correct!"

"I say whoever did it just go ahead and say it." Zip whistled as if her plan would work.

Skell, on the other hand, didn't appreciate the pirate's foolish input. The rockstar began, "If you aren't going to stay anything useful, shut your mouth."

"Huh?!" Zip's tone immediately switched to that of a pirate, "How dare ye! Ye wanna come o'er here 'n say dat t' me face, bastard? I'll cut ye up rather nicely, landlubber!"

Skell's usual emotionless face momentarily contorted into an annoyed one.

"Can we get back on track here?" Lana asked, looking at the two with growing frustration. "Look, how about we start with the stuff we know for certain?"

"What about the murder weapon?" Ruby suggested.

Lizzy went to scratch the back of her head, somewhat looking away from the group. "I...kinda don't know what it is..."

Petunia snapped her fingers, recalling something she saw at the crime scene. "Wasn't it that metal grate? The thing was covered in blood, and was lying right next to him."

"What else could it be?" Asked Bubble.

[BLOODY MOP]

"Hold on a sec'!" I stopped any proceedings before we got the first thing wrong. "The metal vent grate wasn't the murder weapon! It was a bloody mop!"

A collective of gasps resonated around the room. Some were convinced, but others...

"A bloody mop...?" Edward tilted his head with a snort, "If you're gonna say somethin' at least make sure it's true."

"It is true." Engel cut in, dragging Edward's attention back to them. "We looked around and found the mop inside the janitor's closet."

"'N where's the proof? Wha' if ye two teamed up t' commit a murder 'n ye're jus' tryin' t' keep yer tale straight?" Zip, still using her pirate accent, called us both out. For some reason, she was being very aggressive.

"Team up?" Before either of us could make a defensive statement, MonoCircle laughed. "As if I'll let this game go by that fast! You think I'm punishing two of you little brats at a time? Nope! I want this despair to last."

"What are you saying?" Oliver impatiently inquired.

"That there's only one murder per person! Two people can't kill one person! And even if they did, the person who dealt the final blow would be the only one to graduate!"

Well that was an unexpected assist.

"Blisterin' barnaclesblimey. They might 'ave nah teamed up, but dat doesn't mean one o' 'em didn't commit the murder!" Zip reminded the rest of our classmates.

"The same thing goes for you too. You know that, right?" Riley queried, her nails subconsciously scratching against the wooden stand.

Zip surrendered just a bit. It wasn't a full retreat, but her body language calmed. "O' course I know dat. Be ye callin' me squiffy?"

"Nobody understands what you're saying, gosh!" Petunia was about ready to rip her own fur out.

"So the murder weapon is a broom—where does that get us?" Robby wondered, glancing around the room for an answer.

"That somebody bludgeoned him. Depending on how thick the broom is, it'd take a couple of swings to do somebody in." Oliver assumed, "Then again, the artist was on the verge of being considered a girl, so...maybe all it took was one swing."

"Don't talk about him like that!" Lana shouted at the analyst, who ignored her threat.

Even if he's gone, he still has a loyal friend. Maybe one day when I'm gone, I'll still have somebody by my side. Let's just hope today isn't that day.

"Let's continue." Kevin spoke. In his hand was his E-Handbook, which was being used to recall the basic details about the case. "We were all present in the cafeteria while finding out Abbie had went missing. Something that's been bothering me is that he didn't really have a reason for leaving the room in the first place."

"Maybe he had to go to the bathroom?" Robby rested his arms on his trial stand.

"No...there would've been...evidence at the scene if he did." Cubbie reluctantly spoke.

"So what other reason would he have left the room?" Lizzy's hands found themselves at her hips.

I have to think. The trial isn't as stressful as I thought it would be, but I still have to keep a steady head.

What else would make Abbie leave the cafeteria?

[NOTE TO ABBIE]

"That's right!" My sudden epiphany surprised the others. "Sorry—but I think I know why! Robby, you said you handed Abbie a note that you found on the floor, right?"

"Yeah. It had his name on it, so I thought..." Robby trailed off, going silent.

"I assumed this before, but I believe that note has something to do with his death." It was a pretty iffy chance, but I'd be willing to bet my money on it.

"How so?" Petunia had a newfound interest in what I had to say. Usually she'd be blowing anybody off.

"Somebody writes Abbie a note, yeah?" I began, trying to see if everyone was on board. Once I got understanding nods, I continued. "Whatever is on this note makes Abbie leave the room—or maybe makes him meet up with somebody. And then the person he meets up with kills him. Makes sense?"

"Good job." Engel whispered to me. It was hard to keep back a smile, but I did. I couldn't get confident now. We still have so much to solve.

"Barnacles, why do we 'ave t' do all o' dis hard stuff?" Zip lowered her head, simultaneously rubbing her eyes.

Edward sighed, patting her back. "One step at a time, Zip. But can you please stop with that voice...?"

"Sorry. It happens when I'm mad or nervous." Zip chuckled, reverting back to her normal voice.

"Hey, the handbook gives us a time of death.” Petunia held her E-Handbook in her hand, pointing to the screen to indicate where the time of death was. “We were in there for most of the morning and some of the afternoon, yeah? Maybe from 8 to 1 o’clock?”

“But we’re basing that off of an estimate since we don’t have any real way to tell time in the school.” Engel said.

“We can still assume it’s the right time.” Skell crossed his arms. “And since we all saw Abbie in the dining hall for several hours, it shortens the timeframe from when the murder occurred.”

Bubble commented, “It says he was killed at 12:58, but it was at least twenty minutes after that before we found him. Nobody checked the kitchen because of the rotten smell.”

“The killer knew what they were doing at least.” Oliver carelessly spoke like he already had it all figured out. “Dropping off the body in a place where nobody would go is a good idea.”

Everyone gave Oliver an odd glance. It’s strange how he could make light of this dire situation. What’s with this guy?

“Why are you talking about it like you’re proud of their work?” Lana gritted her teeth, showing off just how sharp they were. “How do we know you didn’t do this?!”

“That’s quite simple, really. Why suspect me for this murder when I was planning another?”

“WHAT—?!” A shocked Edward backed away from his stand, his eyes wide.

The rest of us did the same, looking at Oliver with either surprise or disgust fueling our bodies. W-What the hell! Is he being serious?! He was planning to kill somebody—?!

“You…you were gonna kill somebody—?!” Engel couldn’t believe. We were all on the same boat.

Oliver stared, his expression growing more serious. “I expected that reaction, but try to think clearly. Abbie was never my target, nor did I ever pay the boy any attention.”

“That doesn’t mean anything! You just admitted to wanting to kill!” Robby shouts, even pointing at the white-haired male.

“You’re sick…” Even Cubbie was disturbed by his actions. “…you’re actually sick…”

“Y-You killed him…?” Zip stuttered.

Oliver looked around at us, probably wondering why we all were hurling insults at him. He’s crazy…! He was gonna kill somebody! Why would he say something like that in the middle of a court case?!

“That’s a bold move.” MonoCircle chuckled.

At least somebody’s enjoying this…

“Did I kill Abbie? No. Like I said before, Abbie was never my original target. He would’ve been useless in my plan, so there wouldn’t have been any point.”

He continued on, leaving us stunned. The air became thicker by the second, the silence stretching across the room.

“T-Then w-who were you gonna kill!?” Bubble asked what was on all of our minds.

Oliver stared at her longingly. His lips curved ever so slightly, giving the girl a little grin. “We went days without eating and drinking.”

“Soap would’ve gotten rid of both of those problems.”

“W-What are you saying?” Bubble’s soapy hand trembled as what Oliver was saying became clearer and clearer. “Why are you talking about this?!”

“It would’ve been easy. Lure you in, kill you, eat you, then nobody would’ve ever found your body. And since there’s no body, there would’ve been no trial. An unsolvable mystery about the case of the missing bubble girl.” Oliver massaged his temple, sighing nonchalantly.

Bubble sniffled, dropping down to her knees.

This is not how I expected things to go…

“Bubble…” Ruby went over to the girl, putting a hand on her back.

Riley watched attentively, a little smile on her face. She’s just as crazy as Oliver, so I wouldn’t be surprised if her opinion on the boy didn’t change. She probably wouldn’t have told any of us if she found out about his master plan to…eat Bubble.

This whole trial is falling apart…at this rate, we’ll never find the real killer! Why did he even say anything about his plan?! All he did was derail the debate!

“You kiddos better get everything back in order if you wanna survive!” MonoCircle hummed joyously. “But you can keep crying, Bubble! I just love that despair!”

Bubble did just that. Engel left his stand to crouch down next to the terrified girl.

“Hey, it’s alright.” Engel managed to make her look up. Her eyes were flooding with tears (or water in this instance) that just kept getting absorbed back into her bubbly skin. “Come on, we have to keep talking. He can’t hurt you, we won’t let him.”

What type of person would want to eat soap anyway? LIVING soap at that? Does he have no regard for life at all?

“Breathe.” Engel talked the girl through a basic breathing exercise. One that she really needed. “In and out. Follow my lead.” He breathed in, then out.

She did the same, the tears coming down slowing.

“Someone should really knock some sense into that guy.” Skell spat louder than normal.

Lana grumbled, “We’re never gonna finish at this rate.”

Just great…! Oliver caused this disturbance on purpose. Is he trying to get us all killed or what? Up to this point, he’s been spouting shit about survival, but he’s still willing to mess up the entire trial? This has got to be a fucking joke…!

“Looks like you all need a little recess!” MonoCircle stared down at us from her chair, but then shook with realization. “Oh, wait! This trial can’t be paused! You better stop focusing on trivial matters and get back to the main subject at hand!”

“Because I won’t have a problem killing all of you except the blackened.”

A shiver ran down my spine. She isn’t kidding. We have to pick up the pace! It’s now or never.

Let’s get this trial started again.