Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The massive high school towers over all the other buildings in this bustling urban area. It's like the school stands at the center of the entire world. It brings in top students from every field imaginable. A government-funded school of privilege. They say that if you come here and manage to graduate, you'll be set for life. With hundreds of years of tradition, it sends the cream of the crop into the work force every year. It was built to raise hope in the nation's future, which makes Hope's Peak a pretty fitting name. Hope's Peak only invites those students who are the truly elite in their field. It's such a popular topic, there are threads online dedicated to talking about the school's attendees. All there was is talk about "ultimate" students, who were way beyond your average high schooler. 

Pangi was among those ultimate students. He had been accepted as the ultimate reporter. He had shown up on TV countless times; despite his young age. He had covered multiple scenes, from murders to things like car accidents. Multiple people had informed him he was one of the best reporters they had, and others had been doing this for years. With this information, he applied for Hope’s Peak Academy, hoping he would graduate so he could be set for life. And now here he was, standing in front of the school where many other ‘ultimates’ were likely inside. 

Pangi looked down at the paper in his hand. It was the acceptance letter, and on it, it informed all students there was a meeting in the main hall at 8 a.m. Not exactly knowing what time it was already, he decided to walk into the school towering over him. 

Immediately he was already overwhelmed with how fancy everything was. The main hall was wide and open, sunlight lighting it up from the doors and windows. Although, the hall was missing something.. Where was everyone else? The question lingered in Pangi’s mind, until he checked the clock. 7:10. He sighed upon reading the time. No wonder nobody else was here, it was still fifty minutes before they were meant to meet here. 

“Well, that was pretty stupid of me,” he mumbled to himself with a slight laugh. Although, with fifty minutes of free time, he decided to explore. At least then he’d be ahead of some of the other students. So, with a deep sigh of slight boredom, he took his first step into the school from the main hall. 

Once he stepped foot into the school, he started to get dizzy. His vision turned and twisted, getting worse the more he panicked about it. Eventually, it faded to black, and he faded out of consciousness. 

-----

Some time had passed, and Pangi awoke on a desk. His head was buried in his arms, as if he just fell asleep in class. Although, when he looked up, he was shocked. This wasn’t a classroom he had ever been in before - plus, wasn’t he just in the main hall of Hope’s Peak? The events of before came washing over him. He had just walked in, got dizzy, and passed out.. Was he moved here?

Instead of being stuck in his own mind, he decided to get up and look around. There were two things he immediately noticed; the surveillance camera, and the metal sheets bolted over the windows. Walking over to one, he knocked on it. 

“Yeah, that’s pretty thick..” he spoke quietly to himself. Looking over at the block above the blackboard, he noticed the time. 8am. It had been almost an hour that he was knocked out. He would’ve been confused and thought about it more, except for the fact the time had dawned on him before he could. Wasn’t 8 the meeting time? With that thought, he left the classroom to find his way back to the main hall. 

The hallway was even weirder than the classroom. The lights were purple, and the floor was black and white checkered. He wandered around, a little lost, but eventually he was able to find the room he was looking for.  Walking in through the door, he made it to the main hall, where everyone was. 

“That makes sixteen,” Pangi looked over to the sound of the voice, tracing who it came from. He has blue eyes and short brown hair, wearing an outfit you would imagine a detective from a movie to wear. 

Pangi looked around at everyone, taking in their appearance. Face, hair, outfit, everyone. He was getting slightly overwhelmed with both the amount of people, and eyes on him. “Hi, uhm, sorry I’m late. I passed out,” he explained, sighing with relief when people’s eyes drifted off him to have their own conversations. Listening in, people were agreeing, and it wasn’t just Pangi that had to go through.. Whatever that was. 

“Hey! Why don’t we go around and introduce ourselves and our ultimates?” Someone had said, a bit louder to get everyone’s attention. It worked, because now all eyes were on them, but somehow they didn’t falter under the attention. She has ginger hair, pink tinted glasses, and a sort of dress he could imagine someone wearing to starbucks during the fall. 

Some seemed on board with this idea, while others were shying away. They were either introverted like Pangi was, or just seemed extremely uninterested. 

“That's a good idea!” someone else spoke. She had longer brown hair, with a pink bow clipped into it. She had a pink top, white skirt, and pink jacket draping off her shoulders. “Then we know what to call each other, and can work together on certain things with our ultimates!” 

He could see the reasoning behind it, and it was rather smart. Getting to know people was probably the best thing they could do right now, especially with how they don’t know what else they’re meant to do. Nobody had come to tell them what to do, or welcome them, so they had to take matters into their own hands. 

“That’s right,” another had responded. He had brown hair with green tips, white button up, and a green knitted v-neck vest over it. “The smartest thing would be to get to know each other, so we can work together in class!” He smiled, opening his arms. 

With that, everyone nodded in agreement, and began conversing. Pangi walked over to the closest person, a blond with a fancy yellow outfit. He wore a small crown, which was slightly tilted on his head. Whether that was from moving around or a style choice, he didn’t know. The other’s eyes brightened as he saw Pangi approach.

“Hello!” he spoke with a smile, giving him a small wave. “You must be coming to introduce yourself, right? My name is Zam! I’m the ultimate pacifist!” he went on, sounding almost excited to introduce himself. 

“I’m Pangi, the ultimate reporter,” he mumbled, still a bit anxious to be meeting people. 

“That’s cool! A reporter, huh? You must’ve covered a lot of cool crimes!” Pangi could tell he was trying to help him be less anxious, and somehow, it was working.

“Yeah, I’ve covered quite a few. The upper guys have told me I’m the best reporter they’ve had in a long time,” he slightly bragged, a smile forming on his face. 

As they conversed, another walked over to the conversation. She had blue hair, a headband with white bunny ears, and a pastel blue school girl uniform. “You two seem interesting!” she spoke as she approached them.

“Oh, hey,” Zam replied, smiling back at the woman. Pangi could feel slight tension between the two, like they have some sort of one sided rivalry going on. 

“My name is Kaboodle, I’m the ultimate animal caretaker, what about you guys?” she asked with a smile, looking between Zam and Pangi. The two introduced themselves once more, before Pangi found it quite awkward and decided to move on to meet some others.

The next people he walked up to were a group of three. For just meeting, they seemed to be getting along pretty well. He walked up and stood for a moment, not knowing what to say, before one of them saw him. 

“Oh! Hello,” the shorter one took notice. He had short, white hair, black shirt and jacket, and blinding yellow pants. “My name is Leowook, but you can just call me Leo. This is Clown,” he gestured to his left to the tallest out of the three. He had longer hair, the back of it down to his shoulders. It was white, with black roots. He wore a fancy black and dark red outfit, although it looked like a jester’s outfit. Pangi shrugged, finding it fitting the guy named Clown had a jester outfit. Although, he couldn’t make out most of his face, due to his hand covering it. “And this is Minute,” he gestured to his right, now. He was taller than Leo, definitely closer to Clown’s height than Leo’s. He, on the other hand, had a much less fancy outfit than Clown. His consisted of a black long sleeved turtleneck, belt, and some baggy black pants. Minute raised his hand in acknowledgement. 

“What are all of your ultimates?” Pangi asked, realizing in Leo’s introductions their ultimates weren’t mentioned at all. 

“Oh, right, I’m the ultimate thief,” he smiled mischievously, holding out Pangi’s sunglasses (which were on his head before). Pangi took them back quickly, and returned them to their place atop his head. “Clown? You’re going to find this funny - he’s the ultimate jester!” Leo laughed slightly, looking Clown up and down. Yeah, that seemed appropriate. 

“I’m the ultimate programmer,” Minute spoke up, before Leo could even start. “It’s nice to meet you,” he held out his hand to shake, which Pangi took. 

“I’m Branzy,” another voice came, he was approaching off to the other side of Clown from Leo. “I’m the ultimate gambler, nice to meet you,” he spoke with a smile. He looked at everyone, but his gaze had lingered on Clown. Maybe they knew each other. 

Pangi introduced himself to Branzy, then moved on to find another small group to introduce himself to. Looking around the room, he found two guys standing with each other, and decided to walk over. Another walked over at the same time as Pangi, so they were now a group of four. 

“Hey guys! My name is Jaron, I’m the ultimate detective. What about you all?” he had asked, looking at Pangi and the other guy. Pangi recognized the one standing next to him, he was the guy that spoke up earlier to introduce themselves. 

“I'm Parrot, the ultimate ornithologist! If you don’t know, that's a person that’s an expert on birds. I guess I’ll be helpful if we have some sort of bird class!” he chuckled. Everyone else around smiled. 

“I’m Rek, the ultimate escapist. Which, by the looks of it, might be useful,” he explained, looking at the bolted metal plates over the windows. They all nodded, Parrot only slightly. 

“Maybe once we’re all introduced you can check those out,” Jaron put a hand on Rek’s shoulder, and he smiled with a firm nod, moving his own hand on top of Jaron’s. 

Pangi sighed. What is with all these people being close, or good friends? Maybe more- looking at Jaron and Rek, definitely more. He began looking around some more, and found another group. “Well, I’m going to go talk to some more people,” he stated awkwardly, before leaving the group.

This was another group of three, all looking.. Rather similar in clothing. Two of them were wearing suits, and the other had a lighter purple outfit that sort of looked like a suit but wasn’t exactly one. The first one had a red suit, open, with a half unbuttoned white button up and a half done tie. He also had red pants, slightly baggy. The last of them was wearing basically the same outfit as Redd, but his button up and black tie were properly done, and his suit was purple with black pants. The two seemed to be in a slightly heated conversation, as the other just stood by with a yawn, seemingly bored, until Pangi walked over.

“Hello there!” The tallest out of them spoke, startling the other two to stop arguing. 

“Hi, I’m Pangi, ultimate reporter,” he said. His nerves were getting better the more people he talked to, but he was still rather nervous. Especially with these three - their vibe was almost.. Intimidating. Definitely not as bad as it was around Clown, but still. 

“I’m Wemmbu,” he took a small bow, one hand going to hold onto his crown so it didn’t fall. What was with the crowns here, were these guys royalty or something?? “Ultimate Mechanic,” he finished, before standing straight. 

“Reddoons, but you can just call me Redd. I’m the ultimate deceiver,” he smirked, looking around at everyone as though he was thinking of who his next victim will be. 

“I'm Ash, the ultimate Business man. I look forward to doing business with you,” he said, crossing his arms. This guy would be helpful in a business class.

“Nice to meet all of you!” Pangi said with a smile, before Ash and Redd got back into the conversation they were having prior. With another sigh, Pangi found another group to talk with. 

This was a group of three people he hadn’t met, along with the Parrot guy. Man, this guy was everywhere, this is the third instance! 

“Oh! Oh! Hello!” One of them spoke out. She was the ginger that called out to everyone in the first place, and looking beside her, was the brown haired one with the pink bow that joined her. To the side of Parrot was someone he hadn’t seen yet. 

“My name is Squiddo, I’m the ultimate comedian!” she spoke, adding a wink and a singular finger gun. Pangi couldn’t help the smile that came to his face, seeing her so upbeat about meeting people. 

“I’m Jumper, the ultimate long jumper!” Pangi laughed slightly, the name and ultimate going together rather well. It’s almost like her parents knew she would end up an ultimate long jumper or something. 

“I’m Spoke,” the one next to parrot said. He had short black hair, and a rainbow bandanna around his forehead. His outfit consisted of a black band shirt over a white and black striped long sleeve shirt, along with a white button up under that due to the collar over the shirts. The shirts were tucked into his black pants, a belt holding them over. “I’m the ultimate fanboy,” he said, which made sense with how he's wearing a band shirt. 

“Alright, has everyone met, well, everyone?” Someone shouted out, Pangi recognized him as Jaron. Everyone nodded. “Alright, let's all come together and talk,” he instructed. Everyone grouped up in a circle, waiting for what Jaron had to say, who was standing ever so slightly in the circle to signify he was going to be talking. 

“Alright, I think it's about time we acknowledge how weird this is. The main entrance is sealed, the windows have metal plates over them, and after talking to some of you, our belongings are missing,” he started. Everyone nodded along. 

“Are you suggesting we were kidnapped or something?” Minute questioned, eyes darting from Jaron, to Minute, and back to Jaron. 

“I..” he began, not quite knowing what to reply with. That was what it seemed like - a kidnapping. Knocked out, and taken from one place to another. 

“I don’t think so,” Rek spoke up. “It could be a part of the school's orientation. Even though it's a rather.. Weird orientation to say the least, they couldn’t have taken us very far. We woke up about half an hour after we were knocked out, and that’s not enough time to bring us somewhere completely different. Especially this many of us.” Everyone seemed to nod along, officially outruling the kidnapping idea. 

The group was quiet, everyone sitting there and thinking. Some seemed pretty deep in though, seeing as they flinched when loud dinging sounded four times from the speakers around. 

“Ahem! Ahem! Testing, testing! Mike check, one two! This is a test of the school broadcast system! Am I on? Can everyone hear me? Okay, well then..” it trailed off for a moment, as if looking for something before continuing. The voice seemed totally out of place. It was so playful, so completely unconcerned... Everyone couldn't help but feel a deep, unnerving dread at the sound of it. It was like hearing someone laugh at the scene of an accident. 

“Ahh, to all incoming students! I would like to begin the entrance ceremony at...right now! Please make your way to the gymnasium at your earliest convenience. ...That's all. I'll be waiting!”

With that, they all looked around at each other, before Clown walked away first. Branzy followed, along with Leo and Minute. After them, everyone slowly filed out, making their way to the gymnasium. 

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

Once they were at the entrance of the gym, some people stayed and had a bit of a look around, while others immediately went in, not wanting to waste any time. Pangi took a moment to look around the room, maybe he’d be able to do a report on his time here when he left!

Once he was finished looking around and taking in the surroundings, he joined the first group in the gym, the others left over following him as well. 

The gym was decorated, it really did look like there was going to be a welcome ceremony after all. Some were looking around in awe, and others wore smiles on their faces. Everyone seemed a little excited for this, ready for the actual opening ceremony. Mostly everyone believed the sealed door and windows would be taken off after, and those were just to keep them in the school. 

“Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Good! Then let's get things rolling!” everyone heard, before a black and white bear showed up on the pedestal up on stage. 

“Is that a teddy bear?” Squiddo spoke up with a laugh. 

“I'm not a teddy bear! I...am...Monokuma! And I am this school's headmaster! Nice to meet you all!” His voice was extremely out of place, with how high and full of energy it was. 

People seemed appalled by the fact it was talking, but Zam snorted. “A teddy bear with a speaker,” he spoke with a smile across his face. 

“I told you already, I’m not a teddy bear.. I’m Monokuma! And I’m your headmaster!!” It yelled, raising it's arms up. 

“Oh god, it moved!” Branzy said, backing up from it slightly. 

“I’m sure it’s just remote controlled or something,” Redd scoffed. 

“How dare you compare me to a child's plaything! You've cut me deep. Deeper than the Mariana Trench… My remote control system is so complex, even the folks at NASA can't recreate or even comprehend it! Ah, but don't make me say stuff that might destroy NASA's dreams. I just couldn't BEAR that!” it spoke, laughing a little at it's own joke. 

Squiddo laughed a little at the pun, causing others to look over at her. “What? It was bad, but I love puns,” she said with a smile. Parrot rolled his eyes, puns were going to be the death of him. 

“Now then, let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony! First, let's talk a bit about what your school life here will be like. Now, ah, make no mistake--you few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world. And to protect such splendid hope… you will all live a communal life together solely within the confines of this school. Everyone will live in harmony together, and adhere to the rules and regulations of the school! Ah, now then...regarding the end date for this communal life… There isn't one! In other words, you'll all be here until the day you die! Such is the school life you've been assigned!”

That made everyone do a double take on what he was saying. They would all be stuck here until the day they die..? Fear was written all over a lot of people’s faces, Monokuma’s words setting in. 

“Oh, but fear not! We have quite an abundant budget, so you won't lack for all the common conveniences.” he assured. 

“You have to be joking, right?” This time it was Jumper who spoke up.

“Yeah, there’s no way we have to live here forever!” Spoke added on, shakiness evident in his voice. 

“You’re screwing with us!” Parrot spoke up, taking a small step forward. 

“I am not screwing with you! I am no liar, of that you can be 100% sure. Ah, and just for your information...you're completely cut off from the outside world. So you don't have to worry about that dirty dirty land beyond these walls ever again!” Monokuma spoke again, still as excited as before. 

“So.. the metal plates, they’re to keep us here?” Jaron asked, putting things together. Typical, he is the ultimate detective after all. 

“That's exactly what they're there for. No matter how much you may yell and scream for help...help will not come. So with all of that in mind, feel free to live out your life here with reckless abandon!”

The more Monokuma talked, the more everyone seemed to get more scared. They were completely cut off from the world, and wouldn’t be able to escape at all. No one would hear them calling for help- they were stuck here. 

“Okay, no, this has to be a joke!” Kaboodle shouted. She didn't seem as scared as some others, more angry. She wasn’t the only one either; Parrot, Minute, Ash, and Redd had anger written all over their faces as well.

“You keep saying this is a lie, or a joke. A bunch of skeptics, all of you. But I guess you can't help it, huh? You all grew up in an age where you're taught to doubt your neighbor... Well you'll have plenty of time to find out whether or not what I say is true. And when that time comes, you'll see with your own eyeballs that I speak the undeniable truth. 

Come, now. What's the matter with all of you? You decided of your own free will to attend Hope's Peak Academy, didn't you? And now, before the entrance ceremony is even finished, you've already decided you want to leave?”

Everyone stopped and looked down. It was their own decision. They came to this academy of their own free will - a place to graduate and be set for life. 

“This wasn’t what we signed up for!” Spoke yelled again. “We came here to learn, show off our skills, and graduate! Go home to family or loved ones and live a successful life!”

Monokuma just laughed at this outburst. “Oh but you know... I guess I did forget to mention one thing. There is one way for you to leave the school…” he trailed off, looking around as each student raised their head. They all seemed eager to hear what he had to say now. 

“As headmaster, I've crafted a special clause for those of you who would like to leave! I call it...the Graduation Clause! Now, let me tell you about this fun little rule. As I mentioned, in order to maintain an environment of harmony here, we rely on a communal lifestyle. And if someone were to disrupt that harmony, they and they alone would be allowed to leave the school. That, my students, is the Graduation Clause!” 

Everyone looked confused. “What do you mean, disrupt the harmony?” Kaboodle spoke up again, asking the question on everybody’s minds. 

“Puhuhu... Well, you know... If one person were to murder another.” Monokuma spoke, his voice losing the high pitch shrill. Almost everyone’s eyes went wide, and some took a small step back. “Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, how you do it doesn't matter. You must kill someone if you want to leave. It's as simple as that.” His excitement had returned, like he was eager to see what student would pick which method. One thing was clear - this bear was a lunatic.

“Puhuhu. I bet that got your brain juices flowing! Beats the heck out of a human catching a salmon, huh? Like I said before, you guys are the hope of the world. But you know... Taking that hope and seeing it get murdered creates a darkened shadow of despair! And I just find that so...darn...exciting!,” Monokuma said with a loud giggle, one that made each person in the room tremble slightly. 

“Let us go! This is a terrible thing of you to do, Once I get out of here I’m going to report-” Pangi began, before getting cut off by the black and white bear. 

“You guys just don't get it do you? "Let us go, let us go!" You keep on saying the same thing over and over and over and over...! Listen. From this moment on, this school is your home, your life, your world. Got it? And you can kill as much as you wanna kill! So go ahead, go on a kill-kill-killing spree!” 

That was when Minute took a small step forward, almost hesitating, before trudging up to this guy. “I don’t know what kind of joke you think you’re pulling, but I’ve had enough of it!” He yelled, now stood in front of Monokuma. He threw a punch, Monokuma catching it without hesitation. 

“Waah! Violence against the headmaster is in violation of school regulations!” Monokuma shrieked.

“Let us out of here!” Minute yelled once more, before Monokuma stopped responding and beeping noise started. Minute was confused, but once it was loud enough for everyone else to hear, Wemmbu yelled out.

“Throw it! Get away from it!” In a panicked state, Minute quickly listened to the voice, and threw Monokuma before backing away for extra measure. The next thing they knew, the sound of an explosion rang out, and Monokuma had blown up. 

Some had covered their ears, and others only winced. It was silent, until someone finally spoke up.

“Is the teddy bear destroyed..? Can we go..?” It was Branzy who spoke up this time; his face holding a look of disbelief. There’s no way it was as easy as that, and he was right to think so.

“I'm not a teddy bear! I’m Monokuma!” Another popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. 

“You just- you seriously tried to kill me!” Minute stumbled away, feeling as though that would be safer in case it tried to blow up again. 

“Well, yes. I was serious about trying to kill you. You did violate one of the school regulations, after all. I'll let you off with a warning this time, but you'd better be careful from now on. Any naughty student who violates my rules won't get off with just a little swat on the butt. And before you ask, Monokumas have been placed all throughout the school. Plus, don't forget the surveillance cameras installed everywhere. And if you're caught breaking any rules, well... you all just saw what happened, right? I won't be so forgiving with my punishment next time, so don't let it happen again!”

Looking around, there was a mix of terrified and confused expressions among the rest of the students. They hadn’t been told any school regulations - how would they know if they were breaking them? As if Monokuma knew what they were thinking, he spoke again. 

“Now then, lastly... To commemorate your joyous entry into our school, I have a little something for you… This is our official student handbook! Pretty cool, huh? As you can see, it's fully digital. So naturally, we call it... The e-Handbook!” He said, grabbing one and handing it to each student. 

“This handbook is absolutely vital to a healthy school life, so don't lose it! When you start it up, it will display your name. Always make sure you have the right one! Also, it's completely waterproof. Splash it, wash it, drown it, it'll keep on ticking! And thanks to its space-age design, it can withstand an impact force of up to ten tons. Very resistant! It contains all of our school regulations, so make sure you review them thoroughly! You'll hear me say this a lot, but any violation of school regulations will not be tolerated. Rules restrict, yes, but they also protect. Society, for example, would be utter chaos without laws. The same thing applies here! Which is why it's crucial we have strict punishments in place for violators. Okay, well...that brings our entrance ceremony to a close! Please enjoy your abundantly dreary school life! And...see ya!” After that Monokuma disappeared, leaving everyone in a state of shock and confusion. 

After a few moments, Jaron spoke up, taking everyone out of their trances. “Alright, I think we all need to calm down. If we’re all in distress, we wont be able to live as close to normal as possible. So, let’s summarize what just happened. We’re stuck here, with no way of contacting the outside world. We have two choices: live here together in peace, or.. kill someone to escape.” He explained, looking around at each person in the room.

“But killing someone- that’s..” Jumper started, before trailing off. Everyone lowered their heads. 

“What’s important now is if anyone is seriously considering this,” Jaron spoke up once again. Everyone looked back up, and at each other. Nobody spoke, everyone just looked at each other like they were the enemy. They had to kill to leave, which meant.. one of them would betray the others.

Pangi himself looked around, noticing the hostile expression everyone wore. He looked down and took a deep breath, before looking at his e-handbook.

Chapter Text

When Pangi opened his e-handbook, the first thing that showed up was his name. Figures, Monokuma did say it has each of their names on it. Tapping on it, a main menu appeared, with a few different icons. He selected the school regulations icon, and the screen changed. 

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

2- “Nighttime” is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off limits at night, so please exercise caution. 

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

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

5- Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras. 

6- Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes “blackened” will graduate, unless they are discovered. 

7- Additional school regulations may be added as necessary. 

Looking up, Pangi had noticed that everyone else was also finished reading the rules from their handbook, judging by the expressions on their faces. 

“What kind of rules are these!?” Redd burst out, holding the tablet in front of him. “These are shit! He really expects us to follow all of these!?”

“Didn’t you see what happened when Minute, albeit unknowingly, tried to break the regulation? That bear almost killed him! I have a feeling if any of them are broken, he won't hesitate to straight up kill you. But be my guest, try it if you want! I for one would like to see what happens,” Parrot replied, tempting Redd. 

“Okay, okay, maybe we shouldn’t?” Zam intervened, earning a scoff from the two who were currently head to head. 

“He’s right, that thing might actually kill you!” Pangi helped. With his words, the two finally split apart. Pangi sighed thankfully; they hadn’t even gotten here that long ago and fights were already starting. This wasn’t good if they wanted to all live in peace.

“Alright everyone,” Jaron spoke loudly for everyone to hear, “all the rules seem pretty self explanatory except for number six. I think we should talk about it,” he said, everyone pulling out their handbooks to figure out exactly what one he was talking about. 

“So, you become a blackened if you kill someone,” Ash spoke the obvious, gaining an eye roll from Redd. 

“That much is obvious, he's probably talking about the second part,” he scowled at him.

“I think it’s saying we have to actually get away with the murder to be able to leave,” Wemmbu spoke up with a grin. “Meaning, you’d have to cover it up well, and not get caught.”

Jaron nodded. “I believe so too. So it’s not as easy as just killing your classmates, we have to be able to cover it up,” he agreed.

“I suggest not worrying about it too much. As long as we all live here together, none of us will die, or get caught,” Minute added. 

“Yeah! Plus, I want to explore!” Squiddo said with a smile. “All of the other doors were locked on the way here, so maybe they’re unlocked now!” 

Everyone nodded, also wanting to explore. 

“Alright, that’s what we’ll do then,” Jaron agreed as people began filing out of the room.

Pangi began exploring as well, going to his own room first, wanting to see the conditions he’d be living in. 

The room itself wasn’t that horrible. There’s a bed, a notepad on the side table, a lint roller on the ground, a tool kit in the drawers, and a paper hanging on the wall. After he looked at everything in the room, he approached the paper to see what it says. 

"Announcement from Headmaster Monokuma: Each room's lock has been designed to completely protect against tampering or lock-picking. Remaking an individual room key is quite troublesome, so please make sure not to lose yours. Your room comes furnished with a shower, but please note that the water is turned off at nighttime. Also, the bathrooms in the girls' rooms include a lock of their own.

Finally, we've prepared a small gift for each of you. For the girls, a sewing kit. And for the boys, a toolkit. The sewing kit includes a map of the body's vital organs. One stab will do the job, girls! For the boys, we believe a strong blow to the head with any of the tools should be ample. Don't think! Just feel! And let's all enjoy ourselves!"

“Huh, that’s interesting..” he mumbled as he read. “So there will be no lock picking, no water at nighttime, and no lock on the boys bathroom..? And then that tool kit I saw earlier,” he looked over to the drawer he found the tool kit in. “God, this is a lot.” 

Pangi hung the paper back up, to make sure he wouldn’t forget the information about the water or the locks. It was useful information he’d like to keep, just in case of course. With the paper back up on the wall, and the room fully explored, Pangi decided to go and explore other places.

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

Although he went to explore, he walked through the halls a little before running into Jaron, Rek, and Squiddo. The three were standing and having conversation, but Squiddo noticed him quickly. 

“Oh! Hey! It’s Pangi, right?” She asked, leaving the other two to walk a few feet and be in front of him. 

“Uh- yeah,” he nodded, taken aback from how close she suddenly was. 

“We’re all headed to the dining hall for a big meeting! Everyone’s going to be there, why don’t you come along with us?” she smiled, holding her hand out to Pangi, which he reluctantly took. She dragged him back over to the other two, and the four conversated as they walked. Once there, the first thing they noticed was that Parrot and Spoke were the only ones there. It looked like they were talking, having some sort of nice conversation. The two were smiling at each other. 

“Hey there,” Jaron spoke, walking over to the two already here. He joined in their conversation, talking with mostly Parrot. Pangi stayed with Squiddo and Rek, and watched as the rest of the students slowly made their way into the dining hall.

Soon enough, everyone was there in the same room, and crowded around the same table. 

“Alright, now that everyone is here, let’s start the meeting! Here, everyone is going to go over what they found during that time. I’ll go first!” Jaron announced, his voice catching everyone’s attention. “Rek, Squiddo and I grouped together to look around. We went through and checked all the windows, ensuring that they can’t be taken off or moved. And.. Well, they can't. Those metal plates won't budge at all.” Jaron then sat back down, allowing another group to go. 

This time, Kaboodle stood up. Her blue hair flowed behind her, and the white bunny ears on her headband bobbed as she stood. “Me and Clown checked out the rooms. We found out they are soundproof, and only the girl’s rooms have locks on the bathroom.”

Pangi stood up as well. “And, as the paper said, we get different kits. The girls got sewing, and the guys got tools.” He added, having also only checked the rooms.

“And the water turns off at night,” Clown said. Pangi was a little shocked to hear his voice; he didn’t think he’d actually heard the other talk since the very beginning. 

“Me and Parrot noticed that there’s stairs leading up, but they’re fenced off. We tried getting through it, but it's no use,” Spoke explained sheepishly. 

“So, there’s at least one other floor, but we’re only able to access the first one,” Parrot continued, nodding at Spoke approvingly. 

Zam then stood up as well. “Redd went to go check if there’s any way to leave, or talk to the outside world, and I followed him. Safe to say, there’s nothing!” Redd sighed, slightly side eyeing Zam. 

“I went and checked out the kitchen,” Minute raised his hand, “I can thankfully say we wont run out of food. The fridge is overflowing with stuff. There’s also a pantry that's stocked full of food and snacks. And, we don’t have to worry about it running out or anything, because Monokuma said it's replenished daily.”

Pangi sighed with relief hearing this. Food was important, and it’s good they wont be running out, even with sixteen of them!

“Monokuma? Did he do anything else?” Zam asked, looking worried. 

“No. He just told me that and disappeared.” He continued. Zam sighed with relief.

“Oh! One more thing!” Jaron shouted before slamming a paper down on the table. It was a map of Hope’s Peak Academy. 

“Wait- when did you get that?” Squiddo asked, not recalling Jaron ever finding or pocketting something like that. 

“And where did you get that?” Parrot added, looking down at the paper. It was a construction map of sadly only the first floor. 

“Doesn’t matter,” Jaron said, “Anyway. All I found were details about the first floor, but this map of Hope’s Peak Academy is the same as it is on this paper. Although, it looks like there had been strange renovations to it..” he continued. 

“So.. this really is Hope’s Peak,” Kaboodle mumbled loud enough for everyone at the table to hear. 

“ This is where the countries future elite are meant to come to learn? That’s ridiculous!” Jumper cried out. 

“And where are all of the other students?” Spoke asked, “We haven’t seen anyone else here but the sixteen of us.”

The room fell silent. Everyone had their own questions, their own doubts, but the more they spoke up about them the more reality hit. They were trapped here, just the sixteen of them, with no way out. They were meant to learn together. 

“I know it seems the investigation may have been useless due to not finding a way out, but we’ve gained some valuable information. It seems splitting up was a good idea, seeing as it made this faster! We may be trapped here, but at least we have each other, and the resources to survive.” Jaron spoke up. He seemed to be the representative of the group. 

“I just.. I don’t want to be trapped here. I’m sure many of you feel the same. I have a life to go back to at home.. Family to be with, friends as well. Being stuck here forever..? How are we supposed to get home?” Spoke said, his voice carrying a small shakiness. Others nodded along, thinking of their lives back at home. 

“You could always kill your way out, like Monokuma said,” Redd spoke up this time, recalling the words they had all heard. If they wanted to leave, they had to commit murder. 

“None of us are going to do that!” Branzy huffed. “Don’t joke about that! We can’t kill each other!”

“All we can do now is adapt to this new life we’ve found ourselves stuck in. No murders, no killing people, just living together in harmony,” Kaboodle said, her voice quickly catching everyone’s attention. “I’ve watched animals have to adapt to new homes countless times, I’m sure we all can do the same.”

“She’s right. There’s not much we can do but learn to live here.” Clown said, adding to the conversation once more. Again, Pangi was almost shocked to hear his voice over the table. 

“You all remember the nighttime rule? The school regulations don’t actually mention us not being allowed to go out at night, but I think we should prohibit it altogether. It would be a lot safer, and soothe the worries and anxieties of many here,” Wemmbu said.

Multiple nods were seen, many agreeing to the plan. “Yeah, if we know people will be roaming at night it’ll be even harder to sleep, thinking about possibly getting killed in our sleep or something,” Squiddo agreed verbally.

“Great! I’m glad everyone agrees. Now, I’m sure we all remember how the water is going to turn off after nighttime, and it’s just about time for that. I suggest if you all want to take a shower, head back to your rooms,” Wemmbu said, standing from his seat. 

“Good idea! I call an end to this meeting, let's all go and take a rest. It seems we have no choice but to spend the night here, so let's all get comfortable!”

With that, everyone dispersed, heading to their rooms or to look around a little bit more. Many took a shower, and some just headed to bed, everyone either exhausted or restless. 

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

Pangi had gone back and taken a quick shower, his mind racing as he did so. This was really Hope’s Peak Academy? It felt more like a fancy prison. He never liked being stuck in one place, and hoped that as they continued their stay the other floors would open up. 

He quickly finished his shower, drying off and changing into pajamas. Once he got into bed, a sound rang out through the speakers. 

“Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially night time. 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 the bed bugs bite…”

Instead of letting his thoughts consume him, Pangi sighed and closed his eyes. He thought about his life at home, and the others that he was now stuck with. They all seemed friendly, albeit some a little more hostile than others. He wasn’t thinking for long before he drifted off to sleep, his exhaustion finally catching up to him.

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

Over the next few days, there were more searches and people got to know each other even more. The only conflicts had been between Redd and Ash, the two got on each others nerves quickly. Redd also seemed slightly hostile, and tended to almost start fights with others as well as Ash, such as Clown. Squiddo and Ash tended to playfully bicker with each other, and Zam seemed to slightly avoid Wemmbu, staying near Reddoons. Apart from that, everyone got along well. Parrot and Spoke got along amazingly, along with Rek and Jaron. Minute, Leowook, and Clown were usually seen together, Branzy following them along. Squiddo and Jumper were also seen around, Kaboodle following in tow. Everyone had their own little groups, and Pangi would hop between them every so often. As a reporter, he was used to bouncing between groups. 

Nobody had found any more clues concerning getting out, or who could be behind the controls of Monokuma. They were sure he was being remotely controlled by someone, but who? That was the real question. Apart from this, the days have been normal. They meet up for breakfast, talk, and then search or lounge around. Everything was going smoothly, and as normal as possible, until Monokuma interrupted their breakfast one morning. 

They were all talking, but the chatter stopped when a yell had sounded. All of a sudden, Monokuma appeared! 

“I can’t take it anymore!! our life here has already begun and a couple of days have gone by, and nobody's killing anybody! I thought all you kids were lazy and selfish, and here you are working together. But I'm totally bored!” Monokuma yelled, looking as angry as a little plush-looking bear could. 

“There’s nothing you can say to make us start killing,” Jaron bit back, earning a few nods from the others. 

“Wait, I think--yes! Ding ding ding! I figured it out! All the mystery ingredients are here--right people, right place. So why hasn't anyone killed anyone yet? That's what I couldn't understand. But I just realized there was one very important piece missing!” Monokuma continued, almost as if a light bulb lit above his head. 

“What are you talking about, you stupid stuffed bear!?” Squiddo asked, food stuffed in her mouth. Breakfast wasn’t over, after all!

“If you wanna know, I'll tell ya! It's motive! Puhuhu! It's so simple! I just have to give everyone a motive!” He said with joy, like a little kid that just got their new toy. 

“What the fuck are you talking about, a motive?” Redd spoke up, irritated his breakfast was interrupted. 

“I have a little video I'd like you all to see. Oh, but don't worry. It's not some pervy "adult" video or anything. Seriously, it's nothing like that! It's a special video for each of you showing what's going on outside the school.”

“Outside the school..?” Pangi asked, shocked they would be given something like that. 

“Here in the school, there's a specific place you can go that has everything you need to watch the video.” Monokuma explained. 

“Then I guess that’s just what we’ll have to do..” Jaron mumbled, surprisingly quiet. 

“What do you want from us?” Kaboodle asked him loudly. She seemed rather angry.

“What do I want from you? Well, if you must know.. Despair. That's all! If you want to know more than that, you'll have to figure it out for yourselves. Do whatever you need to to uncover the mystery hidden within this school. I won't try and stop you.Cuz to be honest, it's entertaining as heck watching you guys search so desperately for answers! So I guess I want amusement from you, too.” And with that, Monokuma disappeared once more, leaving everyone with their lingering thoughts. 

After a bit of silence, Jaron called out to Pangi. “Pangi! You’re the closest to the door, and done with your breakfast. Why don't you go and check it out?” Jaron smiled. As much as Pangi didn’t want to, he couldn’t resist Jaron’s words. 

“I’ll go with him! I’m also done with my breakfast,” Kaboodle said, picking up her trash from where she was sitting. Jaron smiled at her, glad to have some sort of company. 

With that, Pangi and Kaboodle threw away their trash and headed for the A/V room. 

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

His company didn't stay for long. Matter in fact, once they entered the room, they found a box next to the door that wasn’t there before. Looking inside were cases that held DVD’s, each with a different person’s name on them.

“This must be the videos for everyone that Monokuma mentioned! I’m going to go tell everyone!” Kaboodle said, before running out of the room. Pangi giggled slightly as the bunny ears connected to her headband bobbed up and down as she ran. Why she wore those he didn’t know, but it always made him smile to see how they bounced when she moved at all.

Pangi sighed, then rummaged through the box for the DVD with his name on it. Once in his hand, he decided to look around for something to play it. Luckily, he didn’t have to look far, since there was a monitor next to him that had a DVD player hooked up to it. He sat down in the seat, and put the DVD in.

Watching the screen, it showed a screen of static before showing some of his friends from school. It was people he knew well; Bad and Derap. The two were chatting together about how good of a reporter he was, and how they were proud to call him their friend. Pangi smiled, happy to see his friends once more. He missed seeing them every day, along with the people back at the reporter station. Which, who were shown next. And after that? His parents back at home. He was happy to see them, and wished he could return home.

Nothing could prepare him for what he was shown next. The screen went to static once more, before showing his home where his parents were sat. Except, they weren’t there anymore. The area was torn apart, and gloomy. It then showed the reporting station in ruin, blood on the walls. After that, The background that Derap and Bad were apart of, the two of them no where in sight. The building behind them was torn apart, bricks seemed to be falling out of place. 

What was this..? “This.. what?” he spoke aloud, staring at the tv now full of static. He needed to get out of here. He needed to find out if his friends and family were safe, he needed to! “I can’t just sit here! I need to make sure they’re safe!” he cried out, slamming his fist on the desk.

“Make sure who’s safe?” A voice sounded behind him. He turned around in the chair to see Spoke standing at the doorway. 

Pangi took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter. The discs are there,” he pointed to the box. After Spoke, everyone else came in and grabbed their disc. They all went to a different monitor, and played their disc. Pangi was stuck in his own thoughts, until he heard a similar reaction to what he had. 

“What the hell is this!?” Minute said, followed by many others saying close to the same thing. Pangi figured they all saw something close to what he did, loved ones at home, then what looked like an apocalypse. 

“So this is what he meant by motive..” Jaron said quietly, Pangi could hardly hear him over the others chatting. “He’s trying to fuel our desire to leave, so we commit a murder to get out.” he summarized. Pangi nodded along, realizing that as well. 

“Why don’t we all.. Uh, talk about what happened? Maybe that’ll help us get it out of our system, and lower the panic. This is what Monokuma, or whoever is running this, wants. He wants us to be panicked and desperate to get out.” Ash tried to explain, feeling a bit awkward. This definitely wasn’t his comfort zone, and Pangi could tell he was a bit awkward about it, but no one else was taking initiative. 

“I think that’s a great idea! Right Spoke?” Parrot said with a smile, looking to his side at the other next to him. Although, Spoke looked like his whole world was crumbling in front of him. Tears brimmed his eyes, and he had his arms wrapped around himself, nails digging into his arm. He flinched when Parrot started conversation with him, and seemingly couldn’t speak for a moment. 

“I need to go.” He said, before leaving the room with a hand over his mouth. No one stopped him, in fact, some people followed after him.

“Me too. I’m not feeling too well..” Jumper said quietly, before rising from her seat and leaving. With that, a sense of dread was left in the room. 

“I suggest we go back to our rooms for a bit, or hang around. It might just be best to process everything that’s just happened,” Jaron said glumly, different from his usual personality. Everyone nodded along with him though, per usual, and slowly began filing out of the room. 

  Instead of going back to his room, Pangi’s first priority was to check up on Spoke. He definitely seemed the most shaken up out of anyone, and he didn’t want him doing anything rash. 

Turns out? Spoke didn’t actually go too far. Pangi found him easily, seeing as he was just in a classroom down the hall. “Spoke, are you alright..?” he asked, already knowing the answer, but asking anyway.

“I.. you know what? No. I’m not. Why are they doing this to us? Why us ? We haven’t done anything to deserve this!” He cried out, still with his arms wrapped around himself, nails digging into his upper arms. 

Seeing this, Pangi quickly rushed forward, gently pulling his hands off of his arms and placing them in his own hands. “I understand. I know how you feel right now. When I think about what might have happened to my family and friends... But now more than ever we have to stay calm! This is exactly what they want. They want us to lose our composure and stop thinking rationally. Think about it; those videos have to be fake! Because if those things really had happened, the outside would be in an uproar! It’s not like everyone would just let this happen to themselves. So let's calm down. If we all work together, I’m sure we can find some other way out of here, and see for ourselves what might have happened.”

Spoke looked up at him through teary eyes. He then rubbed the water out of his eyes, and cleaned up his face with just his sleeve. “Yeah-yeah. I’m okay,” he mumbled, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. 

“Hey, we’ve got this together. You’ve got me, Parrot, and the others. We’re all going to work together and get out of here, I promise. I’ll get you and everyone else out of here,” he said with a reassuring smile, hugging the other. Spoke sniffled, but nodded. Once he was a lot calmer, they headed for the door. 

“I’m going to go rest, all of that crying has got me exhausted,” he laughed lightly, his good mood returning. Pangi smiled at the other and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best. I’m sure many others also went to their rooms to rest. Hell, I might even do the same!” Pangi said with a laugh, walking with Spoke to the dorms hallway. He walked the other to his room, before splitting off and going to his own. 

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

He fell asleep. It wasn’t even close to nighttime, there were a few hours left, and Pangi fell asleep. He woke up, and noticed the time was past nighttime. With their new self imposed rule, he couldn’t leave, so he just decided to go back to sleep. Or at least, tried to. If he’s being honest? He didn’t sleep much after that. His thoughts were clouded with the video, and how much unease everyone was under. He was worried something was going to happen, and to his despair, he was right. 

After the morning announcement, he got up and got ready quickly. He didn’t have the usual drowsiness that made him take a few minutes to get ready, seeing as he was already awake beforehand. Once ready, he headed to the dining hall to get some breakfast. 

He was one of the first ones there. Wow! What a shocker! Luckily, he didn’t have to sit there long before the others joined him. Once it was 7:30, everyone was there.

“Why’s your hair wet?” Squiddo asked Spoke, a little bit of a giggle. 

“I fell asleep last night before nighttime, and woke up after, so I took a shower when I woke up!” Spoke responded with a yawn. 

After a few more minutes, Spoke started to look worried. He finally spoke up; “Has anyone seen Parrot this morning?”

After this was said, everyone looked to the seat Parrot usually occupied. It’s true, he wasn’t here. Looking around at each other, everyone was thinking or shaking their heads. 

“We need to search for him. Maybe after the motivation yesterday..” Kaboodle’s words drifted off, the implication enough. As much as they didn’t want to admit it or think about it, they knew it was a big probability. 

As they were eating, they made teams to go search. Group one consisted of Ash, Pangi, Spoke, and Minute. Group two was Branzy, Clown, and Kaboodle. Group three was Zam, Redd, and Leowook. Group four was Squiddo, Jumper, and Wemmbu. Then, Jaron and Rek were out in a group together. Once groups were all figured out, they set off in search of Parrot.

Group one, the one Pangi was apart of, was assigned to go and check Parrot’s room. Once they were all there, they all looked around at each other, before being dead set on Pangi. He sighed, and gently opened the door.

What they saw inside made Pangi’s vision flicker. Blood splashed across the carpet, tear marks on the wallpaper, but most of all.. Parrot’s body slumped against the wall. Pangi would’ve passed out, if it wasn’t for the shriek Spoke let out, and the ringing of the announcement through the school. 

“A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED! NOW THEN, AFTER A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME, WHICH YOU MAY USE HOWEVER YOU LIKE, THE CLASS TRIAL WILL BEGIN!”

Chapter Text

Pangi took a deep breath, and looked at the others. Spoke had ran out to find everyone else tears running down his face, and the other two seemed to be frozen in place. That was until Ash went forward, feeling for a pulse on the body’s wrist. He looked back and shook his head.

“He really is dead..” Ash confirmed.

Pangi walked over as well. As a reporter, he knew he had to at least try to investigate the body. One of them had committed this murder, and it was up to him and some others to figure out what happened and who did it. 

Luckily, as a reporter, he kept a camera on him at all times. His big one was taken away, but he still had his smaller one. With that he took a picture of the body, in case they would need to come back to this later. 

Soon enough, the rest of the students had gotten to the room and entered. Everyone had some sort of reaction, making it harder for Pangi to weed someone out. Jumper had thrown up, and Spoke looked close to following. Jaron immediately started investigating the body the moment he saw it. 

“His skin is cold, he wasn’t killed this morning. It must’ve been last night- the murder weapon is obviously this knife in his chest, but, he has slash marks across his arm as well. I think we should all convene in the dining hall and go over this,” Jaron announced to whoever else was in the room, at least three other people. 

“Yeah, alright, I’ll go find everyone and tell them. Are you coming with me, Pangi?” Kaboodle said, looking over Pangi, who was standing right next to her. He looked at Jaron, then at the body, before looking back toward Kaboodle. He was still trying to wrap his head around everything. 

“I- yeah, yeah I'm coming,” he responded, leaving the room behind her. Wemmbu also left the room behind them, likely headed to the dining room and finding people on his way. Pangi and Kaboodle split up the other way, hoping to cover more ground that way. 

After a few minutes, Pangi and Kaboodle returned to the dining room with everyone else. They all stood around the usual table, waiting for someone to speak up. They didn’t want to suspect each other, but it seemed like that's what they had to do. 

“Monokuma has to have something to do with this!” Squiddo cried out, some flinching to her words. They seemed to consider it, before Monokuma himself had appeared. 

“I would never do that! If you can believe anything, you can believe that! Unless someone violates a school regulation, I absolutely will not interfere. I can promise you, I won't do anything that goes against the purpose of your school life here!” He spoke, his shrill voice echoing through the room.

“Then who did it, huh!? Who killed Parrot!?” Ash burst, looking at the monochrome bear. He himself had gotten close to Parrot, and he was devastated to actually see him gone.

“You already know the answer! The one who killed her is...one of you!” Monokuma had said with excitement. The room went quiet. They knew that answer, but they were hoping that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t true. Maybe they would be able to gaslight themselves into thinking otherwise. But with those words.. There was no doubt. One of them there had killed him.

Pangi looked around at everyone, all wearing the same expression. Fear and suspicion. Everyone suspected one another, and it was clear. 

“What’s the matter? You guys all look like you’re about to see a dove get shot up with a Gatling gun! Don’t you remember what I told you when this all began? One of you decided to kill Parrot so that you could graduate! Someone’s just following the rules. And there’s nothing wrong with that! I even congratulate you!” Monokuma’s laugh rang out through the room. He seemed a bit more happier today, more excited. His voice was more shrill, like he was ready to continue this. 

There were many side conversations started, everyone talking with their group about someone having killed someone, and how horrible that is. Pangi looked around, everyone seemed to be freaking out. There’s no way he could weed out who it is just from their reactions now. 

“Okay, that’s enough everyone. Before your conversations continue, I need to confirm something with this stupid stuffed animal,” Kaboodle huffed, taking a step forward to differentiate her from the crowd. “If one of us really did kill him, that person gets to graduate from the school, right?” she asked, her hair flowing behind her as she moved. She seemed to use her hands to talk, moving them around as she spoke. 

After she had asked that, Monokuma burst out in laughter. It was an unsetting noise, and many around the room seemed to feel the same. Usually Monokuma was a little more chill, but it seems he really is excited about the killing finally happening. 

“Naive.. You’re just so naive! You think it’s really that easy? You can just kill someone and waltz on outta here? You’re super naive! Devilishly naive! HELLISHLY NAIVE! No no no, the real thing has just begun.”

“The.. real thing?” Pangi asked, his heart rate slowly quickening. 

“Are you ready!? Allow me to explain the second part of the rule regarding graduation! Just like I explained before, you must kill someone if you want to leave. However...even if you do that, there's still one more part to the agreement you have to upload, remember?”

Everyone thought for a moment, before Branzy spoke up. “You’re referring to rule number six of the school regulations, right? If you are the ‘blackened’ that committed the murder, you can’t be found out by the other students. That is what you’re talking about, is it not?”

“Bingo! It's not enough to just kill someone. You have to actually get away with it! Which naturally means you need a system in place to assess whether or not it's been gotten away with! So, a certain amount of time after a murder has taken place, a class trial will begin! Yup! It'll begin a few hours after the murder! Everyone will gather together, including the blackened who committed the murder. And they and the spotless students will all engage in one big debate showdown!

During the trial, you'll have to present your arguments about who you think the blackened is. And once everything comes to an end, the outcome will be decided by popular vote! If the answer you've arrived at is correct...only the one that disturbed your peace will be punished. The rest may continue their communal life. However...if you choose poorly...then the one who got away with murder will survive, and the rest of you will receive your punishment. Which of course means your school life will come to an end! As far as class trial rules go...that's all there is to it!” Monokuma explained. 

“So uhm, what exactly is this punishment you keep talking about..?” Jumper spoke up, her voice quiet and questioning. 

“Oh, well.. To put it simply.. It’s an execution!” Monokuma said happily, the end of the word being drawn out. 

“What- what do you mean by that?” Spoke asked, looking just as nervous as everyone else. Pangi couldn’t blame him, they basically just got told if you get called you get killed or if you don't guess correctly you die. 

Execution is...execution. Ex-e-cution! Electric chair, bzzt bzzt! Poison gas, cough cough! Torn apart like a paper place in a hurricane!” he laughed manically, going through his options. Does he.. Really have that many executions ready..?

“So, just to make sure I understand.. If we get the culprit right, then only they die. But if we get it wrong, all of us get executed?” Wemmbu asked, hoping for a confirmation. He was sure that’s how it worked, but he needed confirmation anyway. 

What a smart little chimpanzee you are! Look at you, implying you didn't do it without actually saying it! So it's basically what the outside world calls a "lay judge" system, or an inquisition type thing! Which means you'll be deciding who you think the killer is. But judge carefully, because all your lives are on the line! Okay, let me just add the rule I just described to your handbook. make sure to keep it in mind!” He spoke happily.

“Wait a damn minute! A class trial? What the hell is that? I don't want anything to do with it!” Redd yelled out. 

“What!? Are you saying you're not gonna participate in the trial!? Only punishment awaits such blasphemy! I might...I dunno, throw you in a deep, dark, scary prison or something!” Monokuma’s shrill laugh echoed out once more. Everyone took a small step back, watching the interaction unfold. 

“Shut the hell up! Say whatever you want, I'm not gonna be part of this!” Redd continued, his words filling the room. Some looked at him like he was crazy, and some looked at him with agreement, slightly nodding their heads. 

“Don’t be so selfish!” Monokuma huffed, seemingly pouting. 

“You’re the one being selfish! Kill whoever you want, it’s got nothing to do with me!” Redd retorted.

“The evil standing here before me... I'm trembling with fear...!” Monokuma said, bursting out into laughter after a few seconds. “But I won't give in to such evil! It's my style to stick it out and resist till the very end...! If you really wanna get out of here… You'll have to go through me first!” He laughed once more, attempting to provoke the other.

His provoking worked, and Redd began to move forward. Zam grabbed him, and held him back. “Don’t!” he yelled in desperation, trying his best to keep Redd back. 

“Puhuhu.. You’re lucky! Your little friend kept you from violating a school regulation!” he giggled, although looking a little sad. Well, as sad as a remote controlled bear could look. “Defy me and you get shot full of holes, exploded, buried alive, disintegrated...et cetera. So if you don't want that to happen to you, you'd best obey those school regulations!” his giggle rung out once more.

“Anyways! I have something I'd like to give you to help you in your search for the blackened! This little file has all the information I've gathered about the death in question. I like to call it... The Monokuma File! I mean, naturally you guys aren't experts at this kind of thing, so you can only do so much with a corpse. So instead, I've gathered up everything I know about the circumstances and cause of death,” he explained, pulling out a black file. It has the Hope’s Peak Academy sigil, and the words ‘Monokuma File’ on it. 

“What's that? How do I know the cause of death, you ask? Cuz the surveillance cameras picked up the whole thing! I got to see it all go down!”

“So.. You know who killed Parrot?” Jaron asked gently, making sure his emotions stay in check. 

“Of course I do! If I didn't, I couldn't possibly pass a fair and accurate judgment during the trial, now could I?” Monokuma said, his tone changing as he responded to Jaron. It was now more ‘duh you idiot.’

“That’s a good point. The judge has to be able to make the proper decision. That’s…somehow comforting..” He said, in his own little world and not noticing the tone at all. 

Monokuma scoffed, before continuing. “Now then, please put your full effort behind your investigation! After all, you don't have any choice but to give it your best shot! Seriously, you don't have a choice! Okay, so we'll meet up for the class trial...in a little while!” And with that, Monokuma disappeared once again. He left everyone stunned and confused, at a total loss. 

For who knows how long, nobody said a word. Silence had filled the room, and it hadn’t changed. Everyone looked lost and suspicious, all but one person. Jaron. even in such a perversely terrible situation...he didn't show the slightest hint that it had gotten to him.

“Alright, we don’t have time to wallow in depression over this. The worst thing we can do right now is lose all of our faith in each other! That would lead to the same disastrous result in having total faith in everyone. Cooperation is absolutely key at this point. Who you decide to trust or not trust is of course, up to you.” Jaron spoke up, trying to raise the mood a little. They had an investigation to do, after all. 

“Continuing to think and talk about the deceased certainly isnt going to help anything either. Anyone who can't adapt to this place.. Will die. Death is the only think awaiting people who are unable or willing. And if that happens, you only have yourselves to blame,” Clown spoke, his voice low but loud enough for everyone to hear. They all kept quiet as he talked, practically hanging onto every word he said. 

Jaron nodded along. “Right now, doing the investigation and exposing the killer is the most important thing. If we don't, we’re all going to have the same fate as Parrot, and die here.”

“He’s right, we need to begin our search right away. We don’t know how long we have before the trial, and we need to get as much evidence as possible.”

The room was quiet, but it seemed everyone agreed. There was no way around it, they had to do this, and everyone knew it. 

“Before we start searching for the killer, we need to figure out how to secure the crime scene. If we don’t, someone might mess with it or displace things, and that would make the investigation a lot harder, or ruin it entirely.” Jaron spoke up, ready to lead this investigation. It made sense, he is the ultimate detective anyway. 

“You want someone on guard duty, basically. If so, then I’ll do it. I probably wont be able to contribute to the investigation very much, so.. I think I can do it.” Zam said, stepping forward. He rubbed his arm nervously as he talked. 

“Yeah! But we can't just leave you there alone, taking precautions is important. Does anyone else want to stand guard with Zam?” Jaron asked out, looking around at the rest of the group. 

Pangi was about to, when Jumper raised her voice. “I will, I’ll stand guard with him. I also don't think I’ll contribute much, I got dizzy just looking at the body..” she confessed, moving to stand next to Zam. 

“Perfect! You to will stand guard of Sayaka’s room, and watch people as they investigate, making sure they don't mess with anything to deter the investigation,” Jaron said, giving them their instructions. They nodded, accepting their jobs. “Well, we seriously need to start the investigation now. If we don’t, we’ll run out of time. You two head to your spot, and I'm going to go start the investigation. I recommend you all do the same.” After he said that, Jaron exited the room.

“I’m going to get started too,” Kaboodle said, before leaving just behind Jaron. 

Pangi walked out with Zam and Jumper, walking with them to the room. He needed to properly investigate the body afterall. The three of them talked, mainly Zam and Pangi, before they made it to the room. Jumper stayed outside, and Zam came in with him to stand with him.

“This room is a mess,” he remarked to Pangi, his nose slightly scrunching. Due to the body, the room smelled horrid. “It needs some scented spray, too.”

Jaron laughed at that, smiling at the other. “You’re right, it is quite a mess. There must’ve been a bit of a struggle,” he said, walking around in the room. The table was tipped over, and there were slash marks on the wallpaper. 

“Hey, what's that..” Pangi said, before bending over and grabbing something off the ground. It was a room key, Parrot’s name was embedded in it. His room was likely locked, so.. How did someone get in?

“Hey, didn’t Monokuma say something about how only your room key can open a locked door? No lock picking or anything?” Pangi asked Zam, holding the key in his hand. 

“Yeah, it was on the announcement on the wall. It looks like Parrot got rid of his. I almost everyone did, I didn’t though. And I suppose you didn’t as well?” Zam asked.

“No, I didn’t. I want to keep it in case I make it out of here alive. Once I’m out, I’m going to write a report and I’ll need as much evidence as possible. I’m going to keep this from happening again, and have justice for the dead, such as Parrot. What are you going to do when you get out?” Pangi asked, jotting some things down in his notepad before moving on. 

“I.. I don't know. I’ll probably make amends with some friends I left behind, if that video is lying and they’re still there. I may be the ultimate pacifist, but I got dragged along with a bad group that did some pretty bad things. I want to actually befriend them, and maybe try to get them away from all the bad stuff,” Zam explained, watching as Pangi moved around the room, continuing to write things down in his notebook. 

“I see,” Pangi replied, his focus changing to the body in front of him. “The Monokuma file wasn’t wrong. This body must’ve been killed last night, the file says estimated around 11pm. This was just after nighttime, so someone must’ve disregarded our nighttime rule. But after yesterday, I can see why.. Someone must’ve gotten scared something would happen.” Pangi investigated, tapping his pen against his lips. 

“A lot of people slept right through nighttime, though. Maybe you should ask around and see who was awake for the announcement?” Zam recommended, slightly tilting his head. 

“Yeah, that’s a great idea!” Pangi said with a smile, looking over at the blond. 

“I know, I know, I’m a genius,” Zam replied, smiling back at Pangi, who laughed. 

“Alright, I’ve got a few notes down from this room. I’m going to move on and ask people about the nighttime announcement! Thanks for the help, Zam,” Pangi smiled to Zam, moving towards the door.

“Yeah, of course! I’ll be here staying watch, you go figure this out!” 

And with that, Zam watched as Pangi left the room.

With new determination, Pangi was fired up to continue this investigation. First things first; talking to everyone. Something that Pangi.. Well, honestly? Hates. Sure, he’s got to know a few people here, but that certainly wasn’t everyone. Some people still intimidate him, or he just feels nervous to talk to them. But with the cheering of Zam, he felt like he could power through it.

The first person he ran into was Ash. Thankfully, this was someone he got close to. He wasn’t as nervous, and walked over with a smile as he slightly waved. 

“Hey Ash! I have a question for you.”

Ash looked at him confused, before responding. “What is it?”

“Were you awake to hear the nighttime announcement last night?” he asked straight forward, ready to continue. 

“No, I wasn’t. I didn’t go to sleep right after the motivation though, like a lot of people did, I actually hung around Squiddo in the dining hall. The two of us went to our dorms at the same time, and I made sure she got into hers before heading to my own. It was about.. Maybe six, when we got back to our dorms? I didn’t sleep right away. I took a shower, laid in bed for a while, then fell asleep. But I slept through the announcement,” he explained, his expression thinking. 

Pangi wrote a little note in his notepad, before nodding. “Thank you!” he said, before rushing to the next person.

“Uh- you’re welcome?”

The next person he ran into was Spoke. “Spoke! Were you awake for the nighttime announcement last night?” he asked quickly, a little out of breath. 

“Yeah, I was- it uh, woke me up. Why?” He asked, seeming a bit suspicious of the other. Pangi couldn’t blame him, they didn’t know each other too well so it was normal he would be suspicious of him. 

“Just to check everyone’s alibi’s, and when they went to sleep!” he said happily, giving him a smile. “Did you go back to sleep after?”

“I did, I was still pretty exhausted and it’s not like I could do anything anyway. Showers down, shouldn’t be leaving our rooms- plus I was warm.” he recounted, giving Pangi a thinking expression. 

“What time did you go to sleep in the first place?” Pangi asked. 

“Well, I took a nap after the motivation and woke up hungry, so I went and got some snacks from the dining hall. Afterward I came back to my dorm, ate them, and went back to sleep.”

Pangi nodded along. “Alright, thank you!” he said, before moving on to the next person. 

While walking through the hall, the door to one of the dorm rooms swung open and smacked Pangi in the face. “Ow-” he let out, his hand immediately going to hold his forehead. 

“Oh! Didn’t see you there, sorry,” Jaron said sheepishly, closing the door. “I’m in a hurry, I think I found good evidence!” he said, holding up a red piece of fabric. There was nothing special about it, and Pangi didn’t really get it - that was until he saw the purple. The fabric wasn’t red, it was just covered in blood. 

“I’m going to find somewhere to wash this. It may take a while, but this is some serious evidence. It may have something on it, like a design or other colors that will lead to something,” he explained quickly.

“But doesn’t that mean you won’t be working on the investigation?” Pangi asked, a little confused. They needed to have the ultimate detective on the case. 

“Yeah, but it’s okay. I believe I’ve seen everything I needed to. Plus, this fabric really will help. I need to see the proper shade or what’s on it. Good luck!” he said, before he ran off. 

Pangi stood awkwardly, before he began walking again. “Oookay..” he mumbled to himself. Now.. it’s up to him. He can't let Jaron down. 

Luckily, he came across a group of people, all standing with each other. It was Clown, Branzy, Minute, and Leo.

“Hey guys, can I ask you a question?” Pangi walked up, a small notebook in hand. 

“Sure,” Leo replied with a smile. 

“Last night, the nighttime announcement. Were any of you awake for that?” he asked, clicking his pen. 

“I was,” Branzy spoke up, “I was with Jaron and Rek in the cafeteria. After the nighttime announcement, we all headed back to our rooms. The only other person I saw was Spoke, he came out with a few snacks. Which, understandable, since we never really had a dinner all together,” Branzy rambled on. 

“I was also,” Minute said, “Although, I was just in my room.”

“Same here,” Clown mumbled. 

“I wasn’t! I was sound asleep,” Leo smiled, putting his arm around Minute. 

Pangi nodded along, writing in his notebook as they all talked. “Alright, thank you!” he said once they finished, putting his notebook and pen back in his pocket. “That’s all I needed.”

“Alright, see you later!” Leo said before Pangi started walking away. 

Next up was Reddoons. “Hey, Redd, I have a few questions?” Pangi asked, approaching the man. 

“Oh, alright, what's up man?” he asked, giving Pangi his attention.

“Were you up at the nighttime announcement last night?” Pangi asked, pulling his notepad out once again. Redd slightly smiled.

“Nah, I was sleeping.” he replied, smiling as he watched Pangi write it down. 

Pangi looked up, and after a minute, glared at him. He laughed. 

“Yeah, I was awake. I took a shower just before it, I had just gotten into bed when it went off,” he explained honestly.

Pangi scribbled off what he had written before, and wrote the new information. 

“Thank you,” he said, watching Redd nod before he walked off. 

He went around to everyone else here, the only person out of them having been awake was Wemmbu. He said he was just roaming before, then heard the announcement and went back to his room. He was told that not only had Spoke come through the dining hall, where Branzy, Jaron, and Rek were, but Wemmbu had too. He didn’t include that in his explanation, which made Pangi a little suspicious. So, the next place he checked was the kitchen.

Just like he thought, a knife was taken from the kitchen rack. Which means his prime suspects were Branzy, Rek, Jaron, Spoke, and Wemmbu. But, with the purple fabric Jaron had found earlier.. It had to be Branzy or Wemmbu. Pangi wrote down the fact the knife was gone, and moved on. 

Now, he was in the trash room. The only person that could access it was the person on trash duty, which.. That was Wemmbu. It looked like it had started recently too, since it was running. Pangi wrote that down, and continued on. 

“Hey Wemmbu, you’re the trash guy, right?” Pangi asked, walkling up to him again. 

“Yeah?” he asked, showing the key hanging from around his neck, hiding under his shirt. “Why?”

“Did you start it sometime recently? Or give the key to anyone else?” Pangi asked, staying a small distance from the man. 

“Ah, I started it this morning. Every morning when I wake up I come check for garbage, and there was about three bags sitting outside the gate. So, I opened it and threw them away, then started it,” he recalled with a shrug. 

“Alright,” Pangi wrote that down. “Thank you,” he added, before walking away. 

He was about to go and try to find something else to investigate, maybe see if Jaron had any luck with the fabric, but the announcements had gone off. 

“Erm, so ah...I'm getting tired of waiting. What say we just get started, hm? It's time for the long-awaited Class Trial! Now then, allow me to appoint a proper location for the proceedings. Please go through the red door on the 1st floor of the school! Puhuhu. See you soon!” Monokuma’s voice rang out from every direction. 

Knowing where the door is from how much he’s walked around, he went straight for it. Once he opened them and walked inside, he saw everyone else already there. He must’ve been the one furthest away from the doors. 

He was about to start talking, but he was immediately cut off by the announcements ringing out once again. “Puhuhu... Is everyone here? Okay then... Please board the elevator in front of you, which will transport you to the courtroom...where all your fates will be decided. Puhu. I'll meet you all down there. I'll be waiting…” 

With a deep sigh, everyone boarded the elevator. A tense feeling was throughout the air, so thick you could practically cut it with a knife. Everyone was suspicious of everyone else, which may make this trial difficult. Once everyone was in, the doors closed, and the elevator began descending. 

Once the elevator stopped, the doors opened to what slightly looked like a court room. There was a circle in the middle, a spot for each and every one of them to stand. “Creepy..” Pangi muttered, looking at everyone else. 

“Nyohoho! You've finally arrived! What do you think? Doesn't it feel just like a real courtroom? It's like a Hollywood movie set, right!?” Monokuma said, having already been in the room when they arrived. 

“Not even close, it’s total shit,” Redd scoffed. 

Monokuma was silent for a moment, as if contemplating the multiple ways he could kill Reddoons. “Okay, okay, everyone find your assigned seats and sit down! Hurry up now, hurry up!”

With Monokuma’s instruction, everyone made their way to their assigned seats. The seats were arranged in a giant circle. It was set up so that everyone could see everyone else. Which also meant it'd be easy for anyone to transfer their tension and unease onto anyone else... The air seemed to grow heavy as they sat there. On either side of Pangi was Zam and Ash. Across from him was Kaboodle, and next to her stood Clown and Squiddo. Everyone else was on either side of them. 

And so, the curtain on the first case opened. A deadly judgment... A deadly deception... A deadly betrayal.. A deadly riddle, a deadly defense, a deadly faith… a deadly Class Trial!

Chapter Text

“Let's begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! So, your votes will determine the results. If you can figure out "whodunnit" then only they will receive punishment. But if you pick the wrong one... then I'll punish everyone besides the blackened, and the one that deceived everyone else will graduate!” Monokuma explained briefly. 

“And the killer really is one of us, right?” Jumper had asked. It was clear she was a bit nervous about this. 

“Of course!” Monokuma said happily. 

“And, uh.. What’s going on with this picture?” Jaron asked, gesturing towards the picture of Parrot. The color was greyed out, along with a red ‘X’ over it. 

“I feel awful if he got left out just because he died! Friendship penetrates even death’s barrier!” Monokuma responded. “Anyways, that about does it for the preamble! Get ready to get started! First up, is the case summary! Now, let the class trial…begin!”

Pangi took a deep breath. Sure, he had done reports on murders before, and had to explain or elaborate things he had found or noticed, but this was different. He had to be ready to have debates, or for people to not believe him. But at the same time, be ready for people who saw the same thing to back him up. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for this, but he believed he would be able to do this. 

“Alright, so we all know that Parrot is the one that died,” Ashswag started off the summary. 

“And the murder took place in Parrot’s room,” Squiddo chimed in after him, giving Redd no time to give any sort of retort. 

“So, it seems most likely that the killer took him by surprise in his own room, he didn’t even have time to resist..” Rek spoke up, finishing the thought. 

“Sorry Rek, but that’s wrong, actually. Remember how the room looked? With the way things had been damaged, there was definitely a struggle in the room,” Pangi chimed in, taking to his role quickly. He was going to make sure the truth was found out. 

“Oh, so he wasn’t caught by surprise?” Rek asked.

“No, there’s too much evidence of a struggle for that. At least, not fully.”

“So, what’s next?” Squiddo asked, now that the conversation had been a bit cleared. 

“The murder weapon,” Clown stated nonchalantly. 

“There was some kind of sharp object in his stomach- that has to be the murder weapon, right?” Jumper asked. 

“So the killer used some random knife they had on ‘em,” Redd scoffed.

“You’re right, it was a knife, but the fact they already had it is wrong. After looking through the dining area and kitchen, I noticed that a knife was missing from the kitchen set,” Pangi explained, shutting Redd up efficiently. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Redd said.

“So, that means the kitchen knife is the murder weapon,” Spoke said, “But where does that get us? We already knew that, with how the knife was sticking out of him.”

“We have to start with the small things, in order to reveal the bigger things. With this, we’ve learned the knife was in fact taken from the kitchen,” Jaron explained. 

“What if it was Pangi that did it? Especially since he apparently knew just where the knife set was. Maybe he went in secret, when no one else was in the dining hall!” Spoke started. 

“Okay, hold on, I didn’t take the knife?” Pangi said, taken aback.

“Next you’re going to say you’re not the killer! Go ahead, say it all you like-” Spoke continued, before getting cut off.

“What if I have a witness?” Pangi said, an idea coming to him.

“A witness?” he asked.

“Yeah. Branzy.” he pointed out.

“Huh?” 

“Remember what you told me? You, Rek, and Jaron were all in the dining hall last night. Which means, you would’ve seen everyone that came in and out. Who all was that?” Pangi asked, a small smile making it's way to his face.

“Yeah. Spoke and Wemmbu came in, and I was sat with Jaron and Rek. I made some tea for all of us once they got there, and I’m pretty sure the knife was still there. Although, I went to wash our dishes after Jaron, Rek, Spoke, and Wemmbu had all left, and the knife was gone.” Branzy recalled, pointing to each person as he mentioned their names. 

“So there you have it. It couldn’t have been me who took the knife, because I never entered the dining hall,” Pangi concluded with a small smile. He loved when he was right. 

“What if the two of you were working together?” Redd asked, attempting to piece something together. 

“What!? I would never do something like that!” Branzy said, a little hurt. 

“Could you even do that?” Kaboodle spoke up. “If someone were to help, would they become the blackended too?” She asked, looking over to Monokuma, sitting high on his chair. 

“So you ask, and so I shall answer! Each murder is allowed to have an accomplice, but only the one who does the killing will get to graduate!” Monokuma responded. 

“So, in other words, two people are allowed to work together, but one of them wont be profiting from it.” Kaboodle summed up. 

“I don’t see why anyone would want to do that then,” Minute said, his nose scrunching up. “The whole purpose is to graduate, and helping with a murder only helps the other person.”

“But what if they did work together? I mean, we only just learned about this rule,” Spoke added. 

“Ugggh, good grief! Enough already! No, okay!? There are no accomplices in this case! Oh- did I say that out loud?” he said pensively, a little embarrassed he added to the case. 

“Anyway, I didn’t go to the dining hall, and I didn’t take the knife, so I can't be the killer!” Pangi said with a huff. 

“Then we still need to figure who did it. My thoughts are on Branzy, the obvious candidate. He was in the dining hall before and after everyone else,” Kaboodle spoke out, pointing to Branzy. 

“It couldn’t have been me! I left with Jaron and Rek,” Branzy said, looking at the two for help.

“It’s true. We waited until he washed the tea cups, then we all walked to our dorms together.” Jaron added. 

“But then it can be any of you,” Redd accused. 

“Actually, the three of us were in the dining hall when the nighttime announcement went off. The three of us talked for a little bit outside of the dining hall, before me and Rek dropped Branzy off to his dorm at about 11:30, before making our way to mine. Neither of us were very tired, so we sat together in my room for a while. Once the time was about 12pm, Rek headed back to his own room.” Jaron explained. 

“So, you disregarded our nighttime rule?” Wemmbu asked, scoffing. 

“We got a little distracted talking,” Jaron replied pensively, “we didn't mean to disregard it.” 

“Whatever. So with you three cleared, the one who took the knife is between Wemmbu and Spoke,” Kaboodle pointed out. 

“There’s a possibility Wemmbu took the knife, but he didn’t commit the murder.” Pangi said.

“What makes you say he's clear?” She asked, glaring at him.

“Wemmbu is the one with the trash key right now. He started the trash this morning, grabbing the bags left out and putting them in. But, while I was investigating people, I ran into Jaron. He had found a piece of fabric; which, if Wemmbu was the blackened, he wouldn’t have left out that crucial piece of evidence,” Pangi explained, really sounding like a reporter. “Speaking of, whats the update on that fabric?” he asked Jaron.

“Well- the trial started before I could finish cleaning it, and Monokuma said he’d finish it for me,” he said, looking up to Monokuma. 

“I’ll give this to you a little later,” he spoke happily, “you still need to figure out who got the knife, and how they got into the room in the first place.”

“You’re right,” Kaboodle said, “Pangi. What do you think?” 

Pangi sighed, not liking being put on the spot. It’s obvious she may know what it is, and she’s just pushing it onto him. “Well- okay. What did the two of you go to the kitchen for?” he asked, looking at Wemmbu and Spoke. 

“I went for some snacks, since I missed dinner,” Spoke responded.

“I went for water, and took the knife,” Wemmbu smiled mischievously. 

Everyone stopped for a moment, not expecting the sudden confession. The trial room was silent for the first time since they started. 

“What?” Zam broke the silence, eyes flickering between him and Wemmbu. It made sense he would be surprised, he had been seen around Wemmbu on occasion. 

“I took the knife, but I didn’t commit the murder, like Pangi said.” He said, nodding toward Pangi. “It was dark, and I couldn’t really see. But someone tripped me, making the knife fall out of my hand. I haven’t had it since,” he confessed. 

“With that, anyone here could be a suspect. Although, it had to be someone that Parrot would let in. Why don’t you take this now, Pangi?” Kaboodle said, pointing it onto him.

“Parrot seemed to be close with Ash, Spoke, Jaron, and I’ve seen him around Clown occasionally. From what I gathered, Ash was asleep for the announcement, Spoke had woken up to it, Jaron is clear, and Clown was awake.”

“I think one of them is lying,” Jaron spoke up.

“Why’s that?” Ash asked, slightly tilting his head. 

“The piece of fabric I had found was bloody, but there was purple on it. And the only one that could be.. Well, you, Ash.” Jaron pointed out. 

Ash was taken aback at the accusation. “I was asleep during the announcement, I can promise you that. And I’m not the only one out of this group, Spoke has purple on his bandana!” he pointed out, pointing toward the other. 

Spoke took a step back, shock expressed on his face. 

“Well, he did sound a little suspicious when I asked him about the nighttime announcement,” Pangi said, biting his lip. He didn’t want to admit it, but the evidence was clear. There were multiple things pointing to Spoke, showing he had to be a suspect. 

“I didn’t do anything!” he cried out, tears forming in his eyes. “Me and Parrot were really close, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him!”
“And that's exactly what makes you suspicious,” Kaboodle said. “You were close to him, so if you were to ask to come into his room, he would happily let you in without a second thought.” 

“I didn’t do it!” he cried out once more. “I’d never murder someone!”

“Pangi, why don’t you go over the incident all together, and make everything clear. Then, we’ll know who did this.” Jaron nodded toward Pangi. He sighed, before speaking. 

“Well, Spoke became friends with Parrot within the first few days. Out of anyone, he was closest to him. Meaning Parrot would have let him in. But, the had seen Wemmbu go in through the dining room, and waited for him to come out. As he was walking, the blacked must’ve seen the knife on him, and tripped him, taking the knife off the floor before Wemmbu could even react. They must’ve hid somewhere so Wemmbu couldn’t see them anymore, and waited until he left. Once gone, The blackened must’ve went toward Parrots room, knocking on his door to get his attention. They would have given some excuse to Parrot, likely being scared due to the videos. Parrot obliged, likely not wanting such a close friend to be in distress. 

Once they were in there, the blackened readied the knife somewhere Parrot wouldn’t be able to see, and as soon as Parrot shut the door behind him so no sounds would be heard due to the soundproof walls, they lunged. With all the scars on Parrot, it looked like they were swinging erratically. Parrot must’ve fought back, seeing as the room was a mess. But, eventually the blackened had Parrot backed into the corner his body was found in, and stabbed him one more time in the chest, rather deep Parrot then fell to the ground, and the blackened left the room and headed to their own for the night. They then would have changed, likely throwing their bloody clothes in the trash. They then brought out the trash bag to the gate, where they knew Wemmbu would get rid of it in the morning, seeing as he started the trash every morning. 

If it was Spoke, the piece of fabric would have been his bandana, seeing as it does have small sections of purple on it. He must’ve forgotten to get rid of it with the rest of his clothes, and had discarded it somewhere.” 

“I found it in the bathrooms, under some snack bags.” Jaron cleared. 

Pangi nodded. “Spoke had gone for snacks last night, so that makes sense. But, continuing, he was late for breakfast this morning, so I assume he had taken a shower, since he couldn't last night, due to the water being off for nighttime. Isn’t that right, Spoke?”

Everyone listened to him speak in awe. He had a small notepad open in his hand, looking over to it every once in a while. Once done, he looked up, seeing the shock on everyone’s faces. More so, Spoke’s face. 

“Any objections?” Kaboodle said, looking at Spoke.

“Yes!? I didn’t do it!” he cried out once more. “I didn’t do any of that! I’d never commit a murder, nonetheless on someone I’m close with! You have no evidence, there’s nothing that completely clears that it would be me!” 

“We do have evidence.” Jaron spoke.

“You do?” Spoke asked, looking over to the detective in dismay. 

“Monokuma, is that fabric done?” He asked, looking up to the bear. 

“Matter in fact, it is!” his shrill voice rung through the room. He disappeared for just a moment, before reappearing next to Jaron, handing him something wrapped in a towel, before reappearing in his seat. 

Jaron held up the towel, unwrapping it to reveal a rainbow bandana. “There’s no doubt now, Spoke is the killer!”

Spoke didn’t say anything else. He just stood there in shock, tears making their way down his cheeks. 

“Looks like you've reached your verdict! Then are we ready to cast our votes? You all have a lever in front of you. Use it to make your selection! And do remember to cast a vote, if not, you’ll be punished!” he giggled, watching as the students casted their votes. 

“Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What’s it gonna be? What’s it gonna beeeee!?” He spoke, watching as the votes counted up.

“Uh-oh! Looks like you got it right on the money! The blackened in this case, the one that killed Parrot… is Spoke!

“No..” Spoke mumbled, his arms dropping to his side. 

“You really did it? You really killed Parrot?” Ash said, glaring at Spoke. 

“Why did you do it?” Pangi asked. That was the only thing he wasn’t able to uncover. Why?

“It.. the videos. My family is one of the most important things to me, and they were gone. All of them. Mom, Dad, my sister.. I couldn’t afford to be stuck here, I needed to get back to them, to help them!”

“Boy howdy! The entertainment industry must sure be terrifying, huh!? I mean, to try and kill someone just because of those relationships!” Monokuma’s voice rang out, “He seemed so nice and lovely on the outside, but inside...He’d descended into pure madness!”

“No, you couldn’t have,” Squiddo finally spoke up, looking at him with a frown. 

“What the hell..?” Zam added, looking at him with a saddened expression. He had tried on more than one occasion to be friends with him.

“I understand, really I do. Yup yup! You're in utter despair thanks to Spoke’s betrayal, right? Compassion, intimacy, love... The stronger those feelings, the stronger the despair when they collapse!” Monokuma laughed, the sound filling the entire room. His laugh filled everyone with despair. 

“Stop screwing with us! This is all your fault! Spoke being forced to do something like that... All of it... Everything...! It's all your fault!” Pangi yelled out suddenly. Seeing all of these people who were friends with him, all of the distraught- it upset him.

“That’s enough.” Jaron spoke calmly, putting his hand on Pangi’s shoulder. 

Monokuma laughed once more. “Now then! Since you so magnificently revealed the identity of the killer during the class trial...the blackened, Spoke, will receive his punishment!”
“W-Wait, no! I didn’t know that would happen, please! Don’t execute me, I have to get back to my family!” he cried out. 

“No begging, no excuses, you must pay the penalty for breaking the rules!” Monokuma said happily, like he was ready for this since the very start. “Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Spoke, the Ultimate Fanboy! Let's give it everything we've got! It's...PUNISHMENT TIIIME!”

Suddenly, a chain was clasped around Spoke’s neck, and he was dragged away through a door. Everyone rushed to follow. They were brought out to a big arena; one that looked straight out of some fantasy. Spoke was stood in the middle of it, horror written across his face. Nothing happened for a couple of moments, until two things had fallen from the sky on either side of the arena. They were action figures; Pangi didn’t quite recognize which ones, but he was sure he’d seen the characters around somewhere. 

The figures ran to clash together in the middle, cutting Spoke in the process. It was like they couldn’t even see him, and continued their fight, no matter how many times they hit him. Blood spilled to the floor, a massive puddle appearing under Spoke. Eventually one of the characters jumped back, and let out a full throttle magic attack. Once it faded away, both Spoke and the other figure were completely gone. The winning figure stood, raising his sword to the air, then suddenly they were back in the trail room.

“Wooohooo! Extreeeeeeemmmmmeeeee! Man, my adrenaline is pumping right outta control!” Monokuma shrieked, practically jumping with happiness. 

“I-I can't take this anymore...! Do we really have to keep doing this? I just can't take it!” Jumper said, hugging herself. 

“Well hey, if you don't like it… you gotta do is swear to cut all ties with the outside world and accept living here forever! But that's only if every single one of you can get onboard with that.” He said, before dissolving into a laughing fit. 

“You piece of shit! I don't know who you are but I'm gonna pound your ass into the ground!” Redd yelled out, taking a fighting stance. 

“You must really hate me to get so angry, huh? But if you do that, you're barking waaay up the wrong tree. What happened, happened because more than one of you decided you wanted to get out, right? No matter how much time passes, you can't cut free of your regrets from the outside world. You're to blame!” Monokuma accused. “I'm sure once you learn all the mysteries of this school, your thinking will change for sure. You'll think, "Boy, isn't it so wonderful how we all get to live here forever!?"’

Before anyone could say anything, he spoke once more. "I said everything I've got to say! I need to save some of the fun for later!” And with that, he disappeared, and they were all left overwhelmed by a nightmare that came true. 

Spoke and Parrot were now eliminated, leaving fourteen students remaining. 

Chapter Text

Before the elevator had lifted, Monokuma mentioned he would be taking the corpses. With that in mind, Pangi quickly ran toward Parrot’s room. Sure enough, his body was gone, and the blood was cleaned up. It looked as though no murder took place, like nothing had happened. The corpse and room were completely cleaned up, completely spotless. There’s no room to mourn. Just to make sure it did happen, he checked his mini camera. The picture was in fact still there, in all its gory glory. He took a minute looking at it, comparing it to the sight in front of him. After a few minutes he pocketed it. 

With a deep breath, he left the room. He didn’t get to know Parrot or Spoke too well, seeing as they just met the other day, but he was still a little sad to see them gone. Pangi entered the dining hall, where it seemed everyone else was gathered. 

“You sure took your time.” Redd spoke, having watched as Pangi entered. 

“Sorry.. I went to go see the room,” he responded, his personality not as high and happy as the other days. 

“Was it all fixed up? Just like Monokuma said?” Squiddo asked, joining in the conversation 

“Yeah.. everything. The body, blood, the room itself - it's all clean, it's as if nothing even happened in there.” Pangi explained. 

“Hey, cheer up guys! There’s not much we can do if we’re all moping around, being depressed isn’t going to get us anywhere! If we work together I’m sure we’ll find a way out,” Jumper tried, her voice slightly shaking as she spoke. 

“Is that supposed to make us feel better?” Ash spoke up, his lips in the form of a neutral frown. 

“We were already "working together" and yet someone was still murdered. Anyone could betray us at this point. Now that it's happened once, it's a question of when, not if, the next one takes place,” Clown added to the conversation, his voice dark and making a shiver go down almost everyone’s spines. 

“But if we work together against the mastermind, nobody will have any reason to do that!” Squiddo spoke up against them, grabbing a hold of Jumper’s hand and giving her a soft smile. Her nerves seemed to dissipate ever so slightly, and she smiled back. 

“The mastermind seems to be much more powerful than we ever suspected. They took over Hope's Peak, which was supposed to be well defended, then modified it to fit their desire. They created Monokuma, which seems to be incredibly advanced, and they're providing for our every need. And the cherry on top is the execution we witnessed. Everything was planned down to every last single detail. This is not any normal psychopath - the mastermind is fucking insane . It may not be safe to go against them,” Jaron spoke out, explaining. 

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Squiddo asked with a small pout. 

“If we want to escape, we have to play by the rules of the game. Deceiving everyone, and win!” Wemmbu chimed in with a devious smile. 

“No! I don’t want to kill anyone else!” Squiddo said, yelling at Wemmbu. 

“What do you mean again?” He asked back, glancing down at her.

“Spoke died because we all voted for him! It’s really no different from killing him ourselves!” She responded. 

People stopped for a moment, thinking through her words. Sure, someone would kill somebody, but it doesn’t make anyone else different from them when they vote off the other and they get executed. 

“But.. if we didn’t, we would’ve all died instead. Remember? If we get it wrong, everyone but the killer gets killed,” Jumper said, trying to help the other as she helped her earlier. 

“It wasn’t your fault Squiddo, it wasn’t anyone’s fault! If anything, it’s the mastermind’s fault! They started this game, and forced us to vote. They’re manipulating us into playing their stupid game. We should be angry at-” he spoke, before getting cut off by the sound of the announcements. 

“Mm, ahem, 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 is strictly prohibited. Oh, and one other thing... It was totally obvious before that you were trying to make yourselves feel better and justify what you did. See you, see you, don't see you, see you! That's about how much I can see you, even when you try to hide! Now pay attention and remember this well! The burden of judging others is a heavy one to bear . So be well aware of your actions! Order and stability rely on the sacrifice and responsibility of everyone! Okay then...sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite…”

The announcement ended with Monokuma’s ominous voice, and everyone looking between each other.

“Does he really have to keep making bear puns?” Redd asked with a scoff. 

“I think its sort of cute,” Squiddo giggled. “Even if they’re un bear able.”

Redd just sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, that’s it. I’m going to my room,” he said, before walking away. 

“Aww, no round of a paw s?” She asked, looking at the rest of the people. Zam had his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing, Pangi and Jumper were smiling, and Clown gave her a confused expression. Ash rolled his eyes with a smile on his face, and continued on to his room. 

Pangi continued on to his room, smile on his face despite what all had happened. Spoke and Parrot were now both dead, and yet the mood was lifted enough for him to walk to his room with a smile, thinking about the friends that he’s made. Once he got to his room, he went straight to bed, his smile falling as he drifted off to sleep.

--------

The next day, everyone woke up to Monokuma’s morning announcements, per usual. What wasn’t usual, was Monokuma calling them to the gym. Seeing as the few times he did this were for a motivation or the class trial, he figured a motivation was the reason. Although, he was certainly surprised when he entered the gym. 

“OKay! Lift your arms up, and down! One, to three, four!” Monokuma instructed, the people in the gym already following along with him. “Now reach waaaay up, and bend waaaay down! Tighten those muscles! Lets add a little strength, a little speed to those young bodies of yours! Doesn’t this feel just great!? Being stuck inside like this, you’ve got to stay healthy! Especially now that the storage closet is open!” 

“You’re the one thats keeping us inside though?” Jaron spoke, finishing his exercise. 

Monokuma was about to speak, but Kaboodle said something before he could. “So, why did you call us here? I hope it wasn't just to make us exercise.” 

“Of course not! You think I have that kind of free time on my hands!? No! I wanted to make an announcement. Every time you overcome a class trial at Hope’s Peak, a whole new world will open to you! It’d really suck if you had to live here with nothing new to stimulate you. Besides, I know how you kids get these days with your ADD, ADHD. I gotta keep you motivated! So, go ahead, look around!” Monokuma said, his voice ringing through the gym, then disappearing again like normal. 

“A whole new world… Do you think that means a way out?” Jumper asked, hopeful. 

“I don’t think so, it’s very unlikely. Maybe it has something to do with the storage closet being unlocked?” Jaron said, nodding towards the closet. 

“Maybe other rooms were unlocked too! I think we should search the school again, like we did at the beginning!” Zam chimed in. 

“That sounds great! Lets make groups, and regroup here at the end. Rek, will you come with me?” He smiled sweetly toward the other. 

“Of course!” Rek replied, hurrying to the other’s side. 

“Alright everyone! Make your groups and split up, again, meet back here afterward!” 

Everyone began grouping up. Minute, Leo, Clown, Kab, and Branzy grouped. Wemmbu, Squiddo, and Jumper were a group. Pangi and Zam stuck together, then Ash and Redd were their own group as well. Everyone left to explore the rest of the building, except for Pangi and Zam. 

The two wandered over to the supply closet, glancing at each other before they opened the door. Looking around, there was basic exercise equipment such as weights and a pull up bar, and sports equipment for baseball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, and more. 

“Oh hey, a frisbee!” Zam exclaimed, picking up a frisbee from the corner of the room, off of the top of a box. 

“Damn, Monokuma wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted us to exercise,” Pangi spoke, his tone slightly impressed. 

“You don’t think he’s going to make us do all of this right?” Zam asked, looking around the room once more. 

“There’s no way - I’d say maybe a free for all gym? Like, you can grab and use what you want, instead of segments. Plus, remember? He doesn’t have the time for all this. He’s the mastermind, the principle, and hosting this death game!”

Zam nodded along. “Yeah, that is a pretty good point.”

The two looked around a little more, although not much else to look at. The closet was pretty small, and jam packed with all this sports equipment. They only spent a few more minutes there, before exiting the closet back into the gym. 

“We really chose the easiest route, didn’t we?” Zam asked with a laugh, seeing that no one was back yet. It had only been a few minutes, but still. 

“Yeah - I’m sure they’ll be back soon. I guess that just means we get to know each other! So, sorry if this is like a horrible question, but what was on your video?” He asked, making conversation. 

“Oh! Well, just some people I used to be friends with. What about you?” Zam replied, returning the question. 

“Ah, a lot of people actually. Some friends, some guys back at the report station, and my parents. Pretty standard stuff,” he shrugged. “Did your video not show your parents?”

Before Zam could reply, the doors flew open. Wemmbu, Squiddo, and Jumper all walked in. Zam and Pangi greeted them, then Clowns group walked in as well a minute after. Then Ash and Redd walked in, Jaron and Rek following in tow. Jaron fixed his tie as they walked up, and then he spoke.

“Alright, what did everyone find out?”

“The upstairs is unlocked! We found a swimming pool!” Leowook spoke up. 

“I had to stop him from jumping in,” Minute spoke, rolling his eyes. This gained a “Hey!” from the other. 

“It really wasn’t much more than that. There were locker rooms, mens and womens of course, and some.. Big gun hanging from the ceiling. It’s hanging down how the cameras hang down.” Leo continued, crossing his arms at Minute.

“The gun is there to stop people from going into the wrong locker room. Monokuma showed up and told us our handbooks unlock the doors, and if someone sneaks into the opposite gender’s locker room, he’ll shoot us. He said something like, ‘Anyone who commits such indecency will be punished without mercy for their scandalous sexual depravity!’ or something. He also said that loaning someone else our handbooks is prohibited, and not to have sex in the bath house. He doesn’t care what goes on in your private rooms, though.” Kaboodle spoke. It earned some giggles, and a small breath of relief from someone. “That’s all though, apart from apparently some pullup bars in the boys locker room, which is what Leo told me.” 

“Alright, who’s next?” Jaron asked, looking around everyone else. 

“We went to the library,” Wemmbu added. “The shelves were packed with books, although incredibly dusty. There was also an old laptop, also insanely dusty, but it wouldn’t turned on. We tried to figure out if it had any information on getting out of here, but anytime we pressed the power button nothing happened. I’ll probably mess with it later and see if I can fix it, and get it to work.”

Everyone nodded. “The bath house is open now too. Me and Ash checked it out,” Redd said, elbowing Ash with a smile. The other rolled his eyes, elbowing him back. After some of their squabbling, it was nice to see them getting along. 

“What about you Jaron?” Pangi asked, realizing he hadn’t said where him and Rek went. 

“Ah, uhm- the two of us just did a recheck on things here on the first floor!” Jaron said, nodding toward Rek. 

“Uh huh..” Pangi replied. He felt like he knew what happened, but he didn't care much for more details. “At least it sounds like more of the school opens up. It’ll definitely make some of us feel more comfortable with staying here!” He spoke happily. 

----------

(It’s time for the freetime section! This time, I’ll be picking the characters, but after this class trial, you guys can pick! Also leave the suggestion of if you want it apart of the normal chapter, or a separate chapter for freetimes! For this chapter, we’ll be visiting Minute and Wemmbu, along with Branzy!)

----------

MINUTE AND WEMMBU. 

Minute and Wemmbu seemed to be having a deep conversation together. Pangi didn’t really want to interrupt, but he was really interested in what the two could be talking about. 

“Hey! What’s up?” Pangi asked, approaching the two. 

“We’re just talking about the computer that I found in the library.” Wemmbu replied, looking over to Pangi. “I’m the ultimate mechanic, Minute’s the ultimate programmer, so we’re trying to come up with a plan.”

Pangi nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense. What do you have so far?” he asked, curious. 

“I’m taking the laptop with me for a few days. Once I get it up and, well, on, Minute’s going to take it and try to do some sort of programming on it.”

“Yeah! I have a few of the commands already written down, so I don’t have to sit there and think about it. Then if someone wants to use it, they can just use the paper, instead of me having to come and help every time.” Minute explained, showing the paper. “I figure commands are going to be necessary with it, especially considering how old it is.”

“Oh yeah, that sounds like a great idea! Not everyone knows codes and things like that, so it's pretty helpful! I know I don’t” Pangi mentioned, scratching the back of his head. 

Minute nodded, and continued to brain dump onto the paper. Wemmbu seemed lost in thought, so Pangi decided to leave them to it, and let them do their thing. 

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

BRANZY

Branzy was chilling in the library, sitting at a table. He was reading a book, and had others on the table, along with some newspapers. He seemed really into it, and Pangi didn’t really want to interrupt him, but his curiosity got the best of him and he walked on over. 

“Hey Branzy! What are you reading?” He asked, standing over him and the table. 

“Some mystery horror books! They don’t have any newer books by any means, but I'm rereading a series I used to read a lot growing up.” He answered, holding his current book up. 

“What about these.. Newspapers?” he asked, picking one up.

“Ah! Those are about my favorite killer! He’s the deadliest around - and aboslutely fucking insane. His killings are so complex, and gory. One time he pushed and held a guy down on a campfire, which burnt the guys face completely! The guy obviously ended up dying. 

At each of his murder scenes, he leaves a jester mask. It’s his tell - if how insane the scene is doesn’t give it away already. I know it’s crazy, but I’ve wanted to meet him someday for years! It’s like a gamble for my life- he could kill me, or he could let me live and continue admiring him! Either way, it’s perfect,” he fanboyed, rambling about it to Pangi. 

“You don’t care about dying?” He asked Branzy, surprised.

“Well- I wouldn’t want to die of course, unless it was by his hands. If it’s by his hands, or his will, I wouldn’t care. I’d take it happily.” He spoke darkly, staring up at Pangi.

“Oookay..” he mumbled, nodding and putting the newspaper back down on the table. “Well- I’m going to head out. See you later, Branzy!” He said, trying to leave. He was a little creeped out. 

“Bye!” Branzy said with a smile, before getting back to reading his book. 

----------------------- FREE TIME OVER. 

The days went on as normally as they could. Everyone lived, and they all did daily meetups for breakfast every morning. They all were slowly starting to get to know each other, outside their normal groups. Something that he did notice though, was that Ash and Redd were being a lot more friendly with each other. Jaron and Rek stuck together, Pangi never saw one without the other. Surprisingly, he noticed Clown and Squiddo hanging out pretty often, along with the occasional Branzy. Minute was around Wemmbu pretty often, likely talking about the old computer that was found in the library. With a mechanic and a programmer working together, Pangi was sure the computer would be up and hopefully running soon. 

Everyone else would be seen around with just about anyone else, getting to know each other. This was good, it meant that maybe they could keep living without another person dying! Sure, it meant they didn’t get to leave anytime soon, but it did mean they didn’t have to do another trial, or have to deal with another dead body. 

At least, that's what Pangi thought until an announcement rang out through the school. “Ahem! School announcement, school announcement. Nighttime is quickly approaching, but before it arrives... All students, please gather in the gym immediately. Emergency! Emergency!”

Pangi sighed, sitting in his room. He was just about to get into the shower - whatever, he’ll just do that in the morning. He got up with a groan, then found his way to the gym. 

“Man, what does he want this time?” Squiddo complained, “I was just about to do my nighttime routine!” she huffed.

“I was about to get into the shower,” Pangi said, crossing his arms. 

“He seems to like keeping things interesting,” Kaboodle sighed. 

“You got that right.” Jaron replied, rolling his eyes. 

Everyone continued to complain, before Monokuma finally showed up. The talking came to a slow stop, everyone’s attention now on the bear in front of them. 

“I'm low on energy these days. My stitching's even losing all its shine and luster... I'm thinking, it's probably because of this ho-hum, boring old everyday life. I'm looking for something with a little more stimulation, something rife with danger and intrigue! Listen, can I just be frank? The next blacked hasn’t showed up and I’m getting boooored! So, I’ve decided to come up with a new way to motivate you!” 

A few gasps rung through the gym. Some of them figured that’s what they were here for, and others just didn’t want to believe it. A new motive meant someone was possibly going to kill each other - right after all the bonding they all had been doing. 

“Nothing's going to work this time! We’re all friends now, and we’re not going to kill each other!” Squiddo said confidently. 

“Friends?” Kab chimed in. “You’ve all made friends in a killing game ? Are you serious?” 

Everyone was quiet after that, some looking at her in disbelief. 

“She is right. Only one person can leave, and the rest get eliminated.” Clown agreed. Squiddo looked a little sad, but understanding. They all looked around once more at the people they’ve been around with, their friends, wondering who would betray who. 

“Well, without further ado, I present you THIS!” Monokuma spoke, before stacks of money fell from.. Somewhere. “Ten million dollars! I've prepared this graduation present for whichever lucky student makes it out of here alive! Whaddya think? It's ten million bucks! Ten million smackaroos! It's like totally wowie wow wow, am I right!?”

Everyone stared for a moment. They were really looking at ten million dollars. 

“When it comes to motives, money certainly is the gold standard, so to speak. Whether it's in a mystery novel, or the real world…” Jaron spoke, not taking his eyes off of the stack. 

“But- theres no way we’d kill each other for money!” Squiddo spoke up. 

“She’s right, you can't just simply purchase a person’s life.” Ash chimed in afterward. 

“Yeah! No matter what you throw at us, money or anything else, we won't kill our friends!” Pangi added. 

“C’mon, stop trying to act tough! The most important thing is to live a pure and moral communal life!” Monokuma said, before disappearing as usual. 

“There’s nothing to worry about, right? No one will kill for money, that’s- that’s crazy!” Jumper spoke with a nervous laugh. 

“You never know, people could be having money problems or something.” Zam chimed in. “Not me of course, I do in fact have a lot of money.” 

“I’m also good. I have tons from gambling,” Branzy added, sticking his tongue out. 

“Okay, stop. Passing around personal finances is disgusting. Whatever’s going to happen is going to happen without warning, that's the nature of the game.” Kaboodle cut in with a scoff, before leaving the gym. 

The nighttime announcement then went off, earning a sigh from many. They all headed to their rooms, Pangi stopping for a snack before heading in. Once in his room, it was almost like he was overwhelmed with dread. A new motive, possibly a new blackened, meaning another dead person, and another trial. Pangi sat on his bed as his mind raced, finally laying down after his snack was finished. It took a bit to fall asleep, but finally his racing mind quieted down, and he was able to drift off. 

-----

The next day went by smoothly, at least to Pangi. He went about his day as he usually had, showing up for breakfast, then going around the school to see the new areas for himself. First off, he checked out the library. He found Minute and Wemmbu seemingly working together on the computer. Not wanting to interrupt them, he left them alone, and looked around at what books they had to offer. There weren’t any sort of new books, but there were still some he had heard of when he was a kid. 

He then went back to the supplies closet in the gym, wanting to try out some of the equipment. He noticed some of it was missing, assuming that others had the same idea that he had. He figured if anything it would be Ash and Redd, probably contesting each other with a weight challenge. He ended up getting bored, and didn’t actually do anything. 

He came across Zam and Clown, joining their conversation. Squiddo also came over after a little bit, joining the conversation as well. After a little bit Pangi went to the cafeteria to get some food. 

He found Jumper and Kab in there as well, drinking what seemed to be tea. He got himself a snack and sat down with them, talking as well. It wasn’t too far off that the nighttime announcement went off, So the three of them headed to bed. 

Pangi laid in bed once more, satisfied with the day. A murder hadn’t happened, and the day was over! Maybe Monokuma’s motives wouldn’t work this time, now that everyone’s bonded! Pangi closed his eyes with a smile, drifting off to sleep. 

----

“Good morninggg!” Pangi heard, sitting up quickly with a scream. “Nice reaction! I’m glad to see you didn’t disappoint!” 

“Wh-What? Monokuma, what are you doing here?” Pangi asked, after catching his breath. He hated waking up in this kind of way. 

“I wanted to spice things up! So, instead of a school announcement, I’m waking you all up in person!” He replied.

“What- what the hell for!?” Pangi retaliated, now upset. 

“Just for fun. And as long as I’m here, I figured I’d let you hear it right from the bears mouth.”

“Hear what?” Pangi asked, anger spilling and being replaced with confusion. 

“Are you sure you should be acting this laid back? I mean, even though something happened to one of your buddy-buddy classmates?” Monokuma said with a laugh, finding Pangi’s reaction hilarious. “Your face is all blue, like someone on the verge of death!” 

“What- what happened? What are you talking about!?” He yelled, ready to practically jump out of bed. 

“That’s for me to know and you to find out!” Monokuma spoke, giggling as he disappeared. 

Pangi shot out of bed instantly. He quickly changed out of his pajamas, and went running for the dining hall. 

In the dining hall stood Kab, Clown, and Branzy. Pangi looked around frantically, but no one else was in there. 

“Where is everyone else?” He asked, out of breath. 

“Either they’re off trying to verify what Monokuma said, or fell victim to that ‘something’” Kab responded, taking a sip of tea. Why she was drinking that so early in the morning Pangi didn’t know, but it didn’t matter right now. 

“But- I thought there wouldn’t be a killing, nothing happened yesterday!” he spoke, trying to be hopeful. 

“That’s what you think,” Kab snapped back. “But obviously something did. That money must’ve been important to someone, at least important enough to kill over.” she spoke, a bit harshly.  

“I mean.. I think I heard something happening in the pool yesterday - I didn't check it out thinking It might’ve just been Redd and Ash squabbling,” Branzy admitted, slightly looking down. 

“Have any of you seen either of them today?” Pangi asked quickly, coming to the realization.”

“No.” Clown replied, simply. 

“Damnit!” Pangi cursed, before turning around and running out of the dining hall. He went on a frantic search for literally anyone else. The first floor was clear, so he went running up the stairs, where he spotted someone just entering the library. He ran in after them.

Zam and Wemmbu were there, looking around, seeming to be looking for a body. When Pangi barged in, it startled both of them, causing a yelp from Zam. 

“Pangi! Are you alright?” He asked, hurrying over to his friend. 

“I’m fine- have you seen Redd and Ash this morning?” He asked, very out of breath. 

“Yeah, they’re checking the pool right now. We decided to split up to try and find whoever’s body it is - if someone really did die.” He explained, his expression worried. 

“Thank god. I’m going to go check on them,” Pangi said, before leaving the library and heading into the pool. What he saw there was.. Weird, to say the least. Ash and Redd were both crouched over something. Once he walked over, he saw it was a heavy dumbbell with a rope tied to it. Water was on the floor all around it. 

“What the hell?” Pangi asked, slightly startling the other two. 

“I don’t know. We walked in here not expecting anything but- here this is. Do you think - maybe someone drowned someone else, and took their body elsewhere?” Ash said. 

“I mean, there’s no blood, so that may explain it. But then- where’s the body?” Pangi asked, looking around the pool. Nothing was there. 

“Not in here, we’ve searched all around. It had to be dragged to another room. See? The water goes towards the door.” Redd pointed out. 

“Lets look for it then!” He said, standing up. 

The three of them headed out of the pool, and started searching the classrooms around it. The first one was clear, and they were just checking the second one, when pangi felt some sort of liquid drop on his shoulder. Looking to his side, it wasn’t water or anything, it was red. Blood red. Taking a look up, he saw it leaking down from the ceiling tile.

“Guys..?” He muttered, moving out of the way of the dripping. Both of them looked up and saw it. Redd pulled over a stool, getting up and loosening the tile. Once it was loose enough, the body fell, splattering on the ground. Blood quickly spread, and they all gasped. The body was MinuteTech, the ultimate Programmer. 

“A BODY HAS BEEN DISCOVERED! NOW THEN, AFTER A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF TIME, WHICH YOU MAY USE HOWEVER YOU LIKE, THE CLASS TRIAL WILL BEGIN!”

Chapter Text

And with that, a new investigation had started. Another body, another scene, another investigation, and another trial. Thoughts raced around Pangi’s head as he stared at the body. It seemed the three of them were all frozen in shock. It’s not like Minute was any sort of problem to anyone - at least, it seemed that no one had an issue with him. What scared him the most? He had no idea who could’ve done this. It could’ve been anyone! Hell, it could’ve been one of the two other people he was standing with. He shook that thought out of his head. He had to get investigating. 

Pangi looked up at the ceiling tile that Minute fell from. It looked normal - at least, for the most part. Pangi noticed something else was lodged up there- it was barely noticeable from where he was. He got on the stool that Redd had been before, looking up into it. It seemed like a piece of metal of sorts? He wasn’t really able to reach it, so he got Redd to get on the stool instead and grab it. 

“Hah. short,” he laughed, climbing the stool for the second time. He reached in and wrapped his hand around it, before stepping down the stool with it. The item was a baseball bat, the top of it covered in blood. Pangi gasped, Ash looking at it frightened. What the hell was going on here?

“That’s gotta be the murder weapon,” Pangi said, looking between Minute and the bat. “Maybe he was unconscious from almost drowning, came to while the blackened was trying to hide his body, and killed him from the blunt force trauma?” he took a guess, his voice unsure. 

“There has to be more to this, right?” Ash asked, looking between the two. 

“Maybe not. What we have to do now is try to figure out the killer,” Pangi said, before realizing. He took a small step back. “Weren’t the two of you in the pool yesterday? Someone had said they heard the two of you.” he spoke, suspicion laced in his voice. 

“What? No. We weren’t in the pool yesterday,” Ash replied. He looked over to Redoons nervously. 

“Then- where were you?” Pangi asked, his guard still high but not as much as before. 

The two looked at each other, before they both let out a heavy sigh. “We were in the bath house together. We were uh, doing a few.. Competitions.” Redd replied this time. 

“What kind of competitions? Were you using the weights?” Pangi asked, confused. 

“Yes, we used the singular weight found in the swimming pool area. No! It doesn’t matter what competitions we had, all I can tell you is that we didn’t use any equipment, and we didn’t do this! We were together the whole time!” Redd said with a huff, crossing his arms. 

“Alright, alright,” Pangi said, slightly raising his arms. “It wasn’t you guys.” he resigned. Now that it was over with, Pangi decided to check the body thoroughly. The blood was coming from his head, definitely from the blunt force trauma due to the bat. But as he looked the body over, he found something strange.. There wasn’t any rope burn. He figured if Minute were to have struggled, he’d have some sort of rope burn, whether that be on his arms or his legs, he should’ve had it. Although, there is always the chance that Minute had been knocked out and didn’t become conscious until he was in the room, but still. It rubbed Pangi the wrong way. 

“Alright, well, I think I’m going to go and investigate more. I’ll see you guys later,” Pangi said, before waving goodbye and leaving the room. He went back to the pool room, where the weight and rope were still on the ground. 

He kneeled down, taking the loose rope in his hand. Some strings were amiss, and it seemed like there was a least a little bit of a struggle, meaning they had to have tied him up before knocking him out. He found the two ends that were tied together, examining them closely. It seemed they were tugged at, or like he was struggling to undo the knot. The rope itself was thinner from the tight knot as well, so it would make sense if the killer struggled to undo their own knot. What he didn’t get was why the rest of the rope seemed to be scratched or tugged at. Wouldn’t the killer have just undone the rope?

Pangi stood up, nodding to himself. He figured that Minute must’ve been tied up while conscious, struggled, then the killer knocked him out and pushed him in the pool with the weights attached to him. Although, there was still the problem of Minute not having any rope burn. Could he have really struggled that carefully?

 Looking toward the door, there were small puddles along the floor. They were laid out in a walking pattern, presumably the killers after pulling Minute out of the pool. There weren’t any dragging marks, so he assumed the blackened just picked him up and carried him out. He couldn’t see anything else wrong with the room, so he decided to leave it as was. 

Pangi was stuck, to say the least. Whoever this killer was, they hid it well. He didn’t have much written down in his notepad, but it was finally time to talk to people, and try to get witnesses. His first victim person was Branzy, seeing as he was the one who said he thought Redd and Ash were fighting. 

“Ah, there you are Branzy!” Pangi said, finally finding him. The two of them were in the library. 

“Oh, hey Pangi. Were you- looking for me?” he asked, worry showing on his face. 

“Yeah! Nothing bad though,” he waved his hands in front of him. Branzy let out a sigh, before smiling a little less shaky at the other. “I just came to ask you a question. You said you thought that Redd and Ash were fighting in the pool. I talked to them, and they were actually in the bathhouse. When exactly did you hear this going on in the pool?” 

“Oh. They were in the bathhouse, yeah, I remember that now. They were yelling about some competition, I don’t know. I swear I did hear someone in the pool though - I think it was during the day yesterday? Come to think of it, I didn’t see Minute all too much yesterday at all. I think I saw him walking around the second floor, but I was going to get some lunch from the dining room,” Branzy reaccounted. 

Pangi was.. Suspicious, to say the least. Branzy had given him a specific story earlier, and now he had changed it when he brought up what actually happened from Redd and Ash’s POV. Although, it does match up. Redd and Ash said they were doing a few competitions in the bath house, and seeing Minute on the second floor would make sense. He nodded, leaving his suspicions, at least for now. 

“Alright, thank you Branzy! I’m going to head out and see who else I can talk to. Cya later!” 

Before leaving the library, Pangi decided to look around a bit. It didn’t seem like there was any evidence, but what he did find was Wemmbu hiding behind a bookcase, laptop on his lap. 

“Uh- Wemmbu?” Pangi spoke, slightly startling the other. He seemed to play it off as if he wasn’t though. 

“Oh, hey Pangi. If you’re looking for evidence, there’s nothing over here.” he stated. 

“What are you doing over here then?” Pangi asked, looking skeptical at the other. 

Wemmbu pulled the paper from his keyboard, showing it to Pangi. “Thankfully, before the dumbass went and died, he left the page of coding.”

Pangi slightly gasped. He had completely forgot about how Minute was making a coding page, so people could access the laptop other than him. “Does that mean you’re still working on it?”

Wemmbu nodded. “I think I almost have the laptop up and running. I’ll have to try and decipher this coding, but I’m sure it won't be too hard. Sure, it would be faster and better if he did it, but obviously he cant. God, leaving a mechanic to do coding? Eughhh,” Wemmbu groaned, leaning his head back. 

“I’m sure you can get it done, if anyone can it’s probably you. I’ll leave you to that though; if there’s anything I can do for you make sure to let me know!” Pangi spoke, before walking away. 

Just as he was leaving the library, he bumped into Jaron and Rek. “Oh, hey guys! Have you found anything important?” he asked. Although, he didn’t get a response right away. Jaron seemed a little frantic, and Rek looked tired. The scene looked like a frantic detective pulling around his buddy who doesn’t quite understand what’s going on, or didn’t get enough sleep. 

“Oh, uh, not really. Just the base stuff. Rope, weights, Minute’s body, I can't find anything else. I need to find something, anything that may prove who it is. I- I have my suspicion, but I can’t prove it.” Jaron said, looking around the hallway. 

“Where were the two of you yesterday?” Pangi asked. 

Jaron stopped, and looked over at Rek, then back at Pangi. “He was with me the whole time. We were just hanging out in my room.” 

“Did you guys not sleep well? Rek seems- well, a bit tired. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this frantic until now. Is everything okay?” Pangi asked, worry prominent in his voice. 

“I-.. yeah, we’re both tired. He’s pretty out of it, he must’ve not gotten a lot of sleep or had a bad dream or something.” Jaron spoke, looking at Rek worried. 

“If you want, I can take him with me to get some rest?” Pangi offered, also worried about the other. He couldn’t place exactly what he looked like. It was as if he were tired, but not. 

“No! No, it’s okay. I’m keeping an eye on him just fine.” Jaron said, giving Pangi a smile. 

“Oh, alright! Well, I’m going to continue on since you haven’t seen anything.” Pangi replied, moving on from the two. 

Next, he came upon Jumper, Clown and Squiddo. It looked like the two were trying to comfort Jumper, so of course, Pangi went over to see what was going on. 

“Hey, are you alright Jumper?” He asked, walking up with a worried expression. 

“She’s fine, She’s just- her and Minute got pretty close these past few days.” Squiddo replied, Clown nodding along. 

“Me and Leo as well. Of course I’m not as affected about it, it is a killing game after all, but I feel a little bad for the other two.” Clown spoke, slightly looking away. He hadn’t seen Leo since they found the body, and he was a little worried. 

“Speaking about Leo- where is he?” Pangi asked, looking toward Clown. 

“Haven’t seen him since we found the body. We heard the announcement and went to see, but once he saw Minute he kind of ran away.” He explained. If he was upset he either didn’t show it, or his mask hid it all. 

“I’ll go find him.” Pangi said, set on a goal now. 

“Alright.” Clown responded. 

“Please make sure he’s okay,” Jumper almost sobbed out, tears welling in her eyes. “I don’t want to lose him too,” she finished. 

“He’ll be okay. We’re going to make it out of here, I promise. Nothing’s going to happen to him,” he promised, before heading out to find him. 

Pangi had no idea where Leo could be. He’d already been in multiple rooms with no sight of him, so he decided to search down on the lower floor, instead of on the second floor. He checked every other room but Leo’s own. Arriving there, he gently opened the door (you love my ddlc ref) And gasped at what he saw. In the room, Leo was stood upon a chair, just about to kick it out from under himself. 

“Leo no!” Pangi yelled, rushing over.

“I- Pangi? What are you doing here?” Leo asked, he sounded as if the emotion had been drained from his voice. It was raspy, and sad. 

“Me? What the hell are you doing?” He asked, going over to help Leo down. 

“I just- I can’t take it in here. We’re not going to get out, and people are going to keep killing. Minute’s the main person I’ve been around since we got here. Sure there’s Clown, Branzy, Jumper- but he was the first to talk to be and be around me.” Leo confessed, looking to the side. “And- now he’s gone, because someone took it upon themselves to kill him. Who’s it going to be next? Clown? Jumper? Branzy? I can’t do it anymore.” 

“So you want to get rid of yourself, upsetting everyone else?” Pangi asked. “You have this list of people you care about, and they care about you deeply as well. Hell, Jumper is upstairs crying over Minute and not knowing where you are. Sure, I don’t know you too well, but I would hate to see you take your own life when there’s people that care about you. I promised Jumper you would be okay, so that’s what I’m here to make sure of.”

Leo looked almost lost. He held the rest of his rope in his hands, before helping Pangi take it down. “I’m- I’m sorry..” he muttered, stepping off the chair. 

“It’s okay. Lets get you back to Jumper and Clown, I’m sure they’d both love to see you okay.”

“Heh, even Clown was worried?” Leo asked with a small chuckle. 

“He didn’t out right say it, but I could tell he was worried about you. He kept slightly looking around, and I assume it was for you.” Pangi replied, going and opening the door to leave. 

The two of them made their way back upstairs, and found Clown, Jumper, and Squiddo again. 

“Leo!” Jumper cried out, running to him. She was definitely closer with Minute and Squiddo, but it was also obvious she cared about everyone else as well. 

“Hey..” He spoke, hugging her as she ran into him. 

“Where were you!?” She asked, looking up at him. 

“He was just in his room, spaced out,” Pangi said, making eye contact with Leo. 

He gave Pangi a small, thankful smile, before nodding. “Sorry. A lot has been happening, and I sorta just spaced out for a while. Pangi coming in snapped me out of it, and he told me you weren’t doing well.” 

“It’s okay,” Jumper said, sniffling a little as she calmed down. She wiped her face, before letting him go. “The rest of us are still here together.”

They stood there in silence for a moment, before squiddo, surprisingly, spoke up. “Has anyone seen Kab or Zam?” She asked, looking around. Pangi thought about it - he hadn’t seen Zam or Kaboodle anywhere. He’d seen literally everyone else but them. 

“Everyone else has allibies - maybe it could be Kab? There’s no way Zam did it, especially not with him being a pacifist and all. All due respect, I don’t think he could hurt a fly.” Pangi spoke.

“It can’t be though. Me and Jumper were with Kab yesterday, the three of us hanging out. We haven’t seen Zam anywhere, and he might not have an alibi,” Squiddo said. Pangi stood silent for a moment. 

“I’ll go look for him.” He said, before hurrying out the door.

There’s no way it could be Zam. He’s the ultimate pacifist- technically, by his ultimate, he shouldn’t be able to kill anyone. Pangi looked all through the school once more, until he was passing by the bathroom. He heard soft sobbing, and decided to go in and check.

He entered the bathroom, and there he sat. Zam was curled up into a ball against the wall, sobbing into his knees. Pangi was hit with a pang of empathy, immediately regretting and feeling guilty he could’ve ever thought he was the killer. 

“Zam? Hey, are you alright?” He asked gently, coming closer to the other. As Zam heard Pangi’s voice, his head shot up. Tears were streaking down his cheeks. 

“Pangi?” He choked out, his voice cracking as he tried to keep it steady. 

“Yeah, it’s me,” Pangi replied, sitting in front of him. He reached forward and wiped some of his tears. He couldn’t help but notice how pretty his eyes were, or how nice his eyelashes looked when they were all wet and a little darker. His cheeks were slightly red, along with his nose. “What happened?” 

“Redd- Redd started screaming at me.” he said, sniffling as he spoke. Although, it did seem like he was slowly calming down with Pangi just being there. 

“What? Do you know why?” he asked. It wasn’t something completely out of the blue, he can definitely see Redd doing that, but he was curious as to why. Usually Redd hasn’t gotten pissy unless someone set him off. 

“Well, I was hanging around with Ash. He seems really cool. But Redd came in and started yelling that I killed Minute and that I was going to kill Ash next and-” he choked up, “I didn’t do it, Pangi. I didn’t kill him. I- I wouldn’t kill anyone,” he continued, looking down at his shaky hands. 

“I believe you, Zam,” Pangi said. “Can I give you a hug?” he asked. He didn’t even receive an answer from the blond, he just fell into his arms. He continued to sob, and Pangi rubbed his hand along his back. “Shh, you’re alright,” he comforted, holding him close. 

After a few minutes of this, Zam was doing better. He continued to lay against Pangi for a little longer, before the announcements went off. 

“Erm, so ah...I'm getting tired of waiting. Shall we just plunge right in? It's the moment you've all been waiting for...the class trial! You remember where to meet, right? Please go through the red door on the 1st floor of the school! Puhuhu. See you soon!” Monokuma’s voice rung out. 

Pangi sighed. “Alright Zam, it’s time to head out. Come on,” he said, helping the other out. 

“Yeah,” he said, getting up. “Uhm- Pangi?”

“Yes?” Pangi asked, looking back behind him. 

“Thank you.” Zam said, giving him a small kiss on the cheek. “I appreciate it. Let’s get going,” he smiled, grabbing Pangi’s hand and pulling him forward before he could react in any way. 

They all met in front of the elevator, before entering. The metal box slowly descended, everyone feeling heavy unease. As Pangi looked around, he could tell no one was ready for this. There wasn’t the most evidence, at least from what he could find. He didn’t know if he had enough evidence to be able to accurately point out the blackened. That worried him; if he didn’t have enough evidence, and everyone voted wrong, they would all be eliminated. 

Pangi shook his head. He needed to get those thoughts out of his head. Hopefully, with everything he found, and everything everyone else found, they would be able to vote correctly. No, not hopefully, they will find the blacked, and they will all find a way to escape. 

The elevator opened, revealing the trial room, and everyone went to their assigned spots. Portraits stood at some pedestals, those including Parrot, Spoke, and Minute. Pangi took a deep breath, and the trial began.

Chapter Text

For a second time, Pangi looked around. They all stood in their respective places, with three spots containing a portrait. Parrot, Spoke, Minute. They had already lost three, leaving 13 of them instead of 16. And if they get the voting right, they’ll lose another. Everyone looked nervous, and it seemed everyone didn’t want to lose another person, someone in this circle was a killer and no one even knew about it. 

Some harsh coughing from Rek snapped Pangi out of his thoughts. It looked like it did the same for some others too. This was it. It was time to finally start the trial. 

“Okay, I guess we start with the murder weapon.” Wemmbu spoke up, many eyes moving to him. 

“Me, Ash, and Pangi were the first to find the body. It was a metal bat, likely from the new storage closet in the gym.” Redd said, gesturing toward the other two as he spoke.

“But then what about the weight and rope in the pool?” Branzy asked. 

“That’s the problem. The rope was clearly struggled with, and is a lot thinner where the rope was tied, meaning it was pulled on. So, you’d assume, ‘Oh! Someone probably tried to drown Minute!’ but the thing is, Minute doesn’t have any rope burn. With how much struggle it seemed went into the rope, he had to have had rope burn. So it’s either he didn’t struggle, was knocked out, or it was someone else entirely.” Pangi explained. 

“But if he were knocked out, how did he get into the classroom? There were no dragging marks from the water, meaning he certainly wasn’t dragged there. On top of that, I don’t think the killer would’ve struggled that much with their own rope.” Kaboodle said, glaring down Pangi slightly. 

“Maybe someone else came around, pulled him out, and carried him in there?” Ash spoke up. 

“No offense, but there’s not a lot of people here that would’ve been able to do that.” Zam said. 

Redd slammed his fist down on the table. “It was Zam! It had to have been!” 

Everyone was taken aback from the sudden outburst. “How the hell could it have been? He’s the ultimate pacifist, he would never kill someone!” Squiddo interrupted. 

“This situation may be one around that though. Technically he didn’t kill them, they just drowned! He would’ve tied them up and pushed them in, letting the water finish off the job.” Redd replied, glaring daggers at Zam. 

“I would ne-” Zam started, before Pangi interrupted him. 

“If Minute had drowned right there in the pool, then why would his head need to be bashed by the bat? We’ve already established that it was the murder weapon, and the monopad says the final blow was the blunt trauma. Minute did not die from drowning. Whether it played a part in it or not, that’s not what he died from, meaning that Zam was not the culprit.”

Everyone looked at Pangi in awe at how well and easily he handled the situation. Zam smiled, and nodded toward him in appreciation. If he had kept going on his own, then it might’ve made everything with Redd worse. Redd on the other hand, scoffed and folded his arms. Obviously, he didn’t like being proven wrong. 

“What was the state of the body when you guys found him?” Jaron asked, finally taking part in the trial. 

“Well, we wouldn’t have found him if it wasn’t for the blood dripping down. Once we saw that we got up and opened the tile, when his body fell.” Ash reaccounted. 

“So the blood was dripping down? Doesn’t that mean it had to be recent? I feel like the blood would’ve dried out if it weren’t.” Kaboodle added. 

“But the noise in the pool was yesterday. Not even at nighttime either, like, it was during the day,” Branzy spoke up. 

“Has anyone been in the pool since yesterday?” Kaboodle asked, looking around. No one made any move to speak.

“I walked by it, and I thought it was just Redd and Ash,” Branzy said.

“We were in the bathhouse,” Redd argued, looking up toward Branzy.

“Okay, so no one was in the pool, which obviously one of you just wont speak up, but Branzy heard sounds in the room regardless. That means the attempted drowning was done yesterday. Maybe the killer thought Minute had died from the drowning, lifted the body out of the water, and brought him to the classroom? Maybe they gained consciousness and the killer finished them off.” 

“But then you’re disregarding the separate days. The killer had to have walked off for a bit, and Minute must have escaped.” Kaboodle spoke. 

“Actually, I don’t think it was Minute was the one that was drowned at all.” Pangi spoke up. Everyone sent a curious glance his way. 

“What do you mean?” Zam asked. 

“Looking at the rope, it was tattered and looked like there was some sort of struggle. But, when I checked Minute’s body, he had no rope burn. If he had been struggling, he would have rope burn. This has already been mentioned. ” Pangi continued.

“Well, there could be a chance he didn’t struggle. Either he was knocked out before being put into the pool, or someone else or the killer tried to get him out of the rope.” Kab retorted, crossing her arms. 

“Someone would’ve spoken up if they had pulled Minute out of the pool. And even if he was knocked out before being thrown in, he had to have struggled when escaping. The ends were stretched and tattered, meaning the knot was tight and had to be forced out. There was what I can believe is scratching along the rest of the rope, which would indicate some sort of panic getting out. This would mean rope burn or something with his nails, neither of which his body has.” Pangi fought back. “And why would the killer try to frantically get Minute out of the rope? It just doesn’t make sense. These different scenarios do not make sense. The whole thing in the pool had happened yesterday, but Minute must have been killed today. This morning, at least. Before the morning announcements as well, because Monokuma woke us all up basically telling us something had happened to one of us. On top of that, the blood was fresh and dripping. If it had happened yesterday, it would’ve been dry, or had left dry blood stains. None of that was found at the scene."

“Okay, but where was Minute killed then, if it wasn’t in the pool?” Jumper asked, her voice shaky but strong. She seemed determined to figure out what happened. 

“It was in the room.” Redd said. “I found a bit of blood in the opening of the door to the small cleaning storage closet in the classroom.  As the designated cleaner this week, that must’ve been what he was trying to do.”

“So, knowing this information, someone went out of their way this morning to follow him and bashed his head with the bat we found in the ceiling tiles, more than likely from the sports supply closet in the gym.” Ash summarized. 

“Correct! But this also means that someone else was pushed in that pool yesterday, and I think I have a pretty good idea of who.” Pangi spoke, looking over to Rekrap. 

“It wasn’t him! We’ve been together the whole time! We were together all of yesterday, and went to the bathhouse this morning just before the morning announcement!” Jaron quickly said, coming to Rek’s defense. 

“Is there any alibies for the two of you? You could’ve been working together on the murder.” Kaboodle spoke up, crossing her arms as she looked to Jaron. 

“Well- I,..” he struggled with his words, now on the spot. 

“I did see them in the bathhouse this morning,” Wemmbu admitted. “I went in for a few minutes to grab- some clothes I had left there in the locker.” he spoke, glancing to Monokuma for a moment. He almost mentioned the laptop, and that would’ve been pretty bad. 

Jaron sighed with relief. “Okay, but what about yesterday?” Kaboodle asked, continuing her interrogation. 

“You guys have been off on your own quite often,” Zam said, skeptical. 

“And I didn’t see either of you yesterday. I saw everyone but the two of you, and leowook.” Pangi reaccounted. 

“What- me? You think I took part in this?” Leowook spoke out, some sort of weird pout on his face. 

“I’m not accusing you, I’m just saying.” Pangi spoke calmly to the other. 

“We were in the library for a little.” Jaron said. 

“Me and Minute were in the library in the morning. I noticed Pangi had come in, but he left quickly after. Minute left about mid afternoon or so, and I stayed in there. I only saw Jaron come in yesterday, not Rek.” Wemmbu stated. Jaron looked nervous. 

“I stopped by for a few minutes to grab a good book to show him. He was waiting outside the room.” Jaron elaborated.

“Why would he just wait outside the room?” Zam asked. “That seems pretty boring.” 

“Rek, do you have anything to add to this?” Pangi asked. He had seen the effects of being close to drowning. He’s dealt with a client that was almost drowned, and the symptoms with Rek are rather similar. He dismissed it earlier today, but he just couldn’t anymore. He was coughing a lot, and seemed really tired and out of it. It was almost as if he were there bodily, but not mentally. 

“Huh?” he sounded, before shaking his head. “Sorry. Uh, yeah. I was with Jaron yesterday.” he spoke vaguely, blinking hard. 

“So either you two are working together, or one of you are lying! Can you even do that? Work together?” Pangi asked, looking to Monokuma. 

“So you ask, and I shall answer! Each murder is allowed to have an accomplice, but only the one who does the killing will get to graduate!” Monokuma replied with a shrill giggle. 

“Then the two of you had to be working together! There’s no way you weren’t!” Squiddo accused. 

“Wait but-” Jaron started, before being interrupted.

“No but’s! The two of you committed this murder together!” Redd spat out. 

“Monokuma! Does this case have two killers?” Kaboodle asked. 

“There has to be! It had to be both of them! Is it Monokuma?” Jumper said. 

"Ugh, good grief! Enough already! No, okay? There are no accomplices in this case!" Monokuma replied, rolling his eyes and folding his little bear arms. 

This made the room go quiet. They were all so sure, and its been broken again. There weren’t two killers, so it couldn’t have been the two of them together. 

“Wait- Rek, what is your ultimate again?” Pangi asked, breaking the silence. 

“Uh, the ultimate escapist.” he spoke, coughing afterward. 

“Ultimate escapist, huh? The drowning was escaped yesterday, and it was clear that Minute wasn’t the victim. But the one in the rope had to have escaped - I don’t think anyone could’ve escaped a rope like that beside the ultimate escapist.” Pangi concluded. “Now what about the rope burn? Or likely tattered nails? I see you’re wearing gloves today. They don’t look like yours either, they look like they belong to Jaron.” 

“They are my gloves, yes, but it’s because he came to me asking for them! There was nothing wrong with his hand when I handed it to him.” Jaron replied to the glances his way. 

“Okay, but the rope burn. I’m sure out of anywhere, It would be around his waist. Rek, will you lift your shirt a little for us?” Pangi spoke, looking to the other with worry in his eyes. 

Rek reluctantly slightly lifted his shirt, revealing the rope burn they had been searching for. They finally got it, Rekrap was the one that was almost drowned. 

Gasps rang out through the room, and Pangi looked slightly shocked but had a small smile across his face. He had been right in his deduction, with help from his faulty memory of a past case. “You knew about this, didn’t you?” Pangi asked, looking toward Jaron. He looked down. 

“When we went to the bathhouse this morning, I saw it. I didn’t ask, but I didn’t know for sure what it was. It wasn’t until we saw the weights with the rope that I knew what it was, and from there I tried to desperately find out what happened to clear his name, knowing it would be suspicious if people knew.” Jaron admitted. 

“You are right, it is a bit suspicious as to Minute’s killer. Which, we do still need to figure out.” Kaboodle said.

“What are you talking about? It’s got to be Rek, doesn’t it? He probably escaped and went back for revenge!” Ash spoke out, Redd nodding proudly toward his friend. 

“There’s nothing to prove it was, but there’s also nothing to prove it wasn’t.” Zam chimed in, and Pangi nodded. 

“Jaron, didn’t you say the two of you were in the bathhouse before the morning announcements?” Clown asked.

“Yes,” Jaron nodded. “We go take a bath each morning in there, neither of us are too fond of our showers.” 

“Didn’t you guys conclude the murder had taken place before the morning announcements?” Clown asked again, seemingly leading somewhere. 

“Wait, you’re right! Was anyone else awake before then?” Zam asked, looking around the room. 

Jaron raised his hand, which was unneeded since they already knew, but the only other people that did were Wemmbu and Squiddo, who by Pangi’s investigations were both pretty clear. 

“But then- who tried to drown Rek?” Branzy asked. 

“Minute. Minute did.” Rek said. Pangi nodded, while everyone else was shocked. 

“What happened exactly?” Kaboodle asked. 

“Well- he brought me into the pool to do some laps together, get a little bit of a workout. Before I knew it, my vision went black. I woke up in the water, tied up and unable to easily swim up due to the weight. My head hurt, so I assume he knocked me out. I ended up dragging myself out, even with how hard it was, and untied myself.” Rek spoke, coughing a few times between his words. Some were almost slurred, it was obvious he was pretty out of it still.

“I think I understand everything that happened,” Pangi said. 

“Well then, wont you care to put it together for us?” Kaboodle asked, rolling her eyes. 

“Gladly!” he was never the one for sarcasm. “So- Minute brought Rek to the pool, knocked him out, tied him up, and put him into the pool. He left the pool room, assuming he was safe now. There was no evidence that it was him, anyone could’ve done this crime. He went to sleep peacefully, knowing full well he would win and he would gain the money. Why he wanted it I don’t know, but I’m sure he thought he’d have it in the bag. The next morning he went to go do his cleaning duties, going to the closet in the classroom that has the correct cleaning supplies. While he was trying to do that, the blackened came up behind him and bashed his head with a metal bat, found in the gym’s supply closet. I saw the weight missing yesterday, but I had assumed Red and Ash had taken it, later to find out they didn’t. But anyway - after Minute died, the blackened cleaned up all the blood, except for a small blotch of it on the opening of the door, something that Redd had found while searching the room. They then stuffed Minute’s body into the ceiling tiles, hiding the bat along with him. They would’ve been safe, the body would’ve been completely hidden and unfound if it weren’t for the dripping blood and the timing we checked the classroom. And as for the culprit? The blackened is none other than the ultimate escapist, Rekrap!”

No one objected. The evidence seemed concrete enough, and not even Rek himself fought it. “Looks like you’ve reached your verdict! Then are we ready to cast our votes?” Monokuma’s voice rang out. Everyone looked down. Everyone knew who they were voting, and he was just going to take it. “Alright! Who will be chosen as the blackened? Will you make the right choice, or the dreadfully wrong one? What’s it gonna be, whats it gonna be?”

All the votes were casted. They all waited in silence as Monokuma looked at them. “Uh oh.. This time it looks like.. You got it right again! Yes, it is so. The blackened that killed MinuteTech was Rekrap! In case you’re wondering, the votes are NOT unanimous. Jaron chose the wrong answer! You need to be more careful, otherwise TWO people will be punished.”

“I just- I refuse to believe it. I know the evidence, I know how bad it is, I’m a detective for hell’s sake! But- we’ve gotten very close, and- I don’t want to lose him.” Jaron spoke, looking over longingly toward Rek. 

“Ah, teenagers. You two did get close, VERY close in fact!” Monokuma said, giggling. Jaron’s face went red, and he looked away. “But, alas, believe it or not, Rekrap is the super psycho horrible killer! Now then, I’ve prepared a very special punishment for Rekrap, the Ultimate Escapist!” 

“No, no, wait!” Jaron yelled out desperately. 

“Let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’ssss punishment tiiiiime!” Monokuma yelled out, before Rek was suddenly being dragged away. 

The scene itself was almost like a video game. It was the face of a mansion, five floors, seven doors on each floor, one of which leading down to the next level. Rekrap was found at the very top, the big exit doors down at the very bottom. It seemed fine, until Monokuma entered through a door. The door was then suddenly barricaded with wood and nails, and he started chasing after Rek. 

He tried his best to escape. He opened doors quickly, although each one with different dangers behind them. Snakes, bees, spitting thorns, and more would jump out at him. He made it down to the last floor, the last one before escaping, bloody and out of breath, when he opened the wrong door once again. This time, Monokuma was hidden behind it. He jumped out and got behind Rek, then pushing him into the door. From the split second they saw it, it seemed like it was covered in large spikes. With that door closing, blood splurt out, and the screaming stopped. Monokuma wiped his hands on each other, before going through the correct door, and coming out the bottom exit. He cheered, and suddenly they were back in the court room.

Jaron stood, no emotion present on his face. He had just lost the one person he was close with, the one person he felt he could rely on. No one else was that close with the guy, so they weren’t too insanely upset, although many showed empathy toward Jaron and Rek. “I’m- I’m going back to my room.” He spoke, voice quiet and drained of life. No one tried to stop him. They all just let him go. Although he didn’t try to stop the other, Wemmbu followed along with him. The rest stood for a few more moments before also going up the elevator, back to the first floor of the school. No one really spoke, unless it was something small to someone next to them, no louder than a whisper. 

Pangi figured the people hurting the most were Jaron, Wemmbu, and Jumper. For Jaron, he lost Rek. For Wemmbu, he lost the ultimate programmer, the one helping him with the computer. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the time they spent together. And for Jumper, she lost someone that almost seemed like a boyfriend to her. Whether they were actually dating or not, Pangi could tell there was something going on there, whether it be a romantic relationship or just unspoken feelings. 

He himself was rather upset. He didn’t know either of the two well, but they were still all here together, and killing people or being killed. This had come to show that they couldn’t escape the game by pure will. No matter what motivation Monokuma gave, someone would give in. Someone would kill for the reward, and to escape. 

Pangi went to bed worried. Worried about a game that they may not be able to escape, what’s going on in the outside world, and how the hell they were going to escape. Who is the mastermind behind these games, and Monokuma? Why were they doing this? Who was going to be next on the chopping block? 

He sighed as he tried to disperse his thoughts, closing his eyes and hoping to escape into a good dream, getting away from the horrifying reality of his life.