Chapter Text
Days at the Academy have been quite weird after Ryoma and Kirumi's trial. Nothing crazy has happened yet, which in itself is crazy.
The Monokubs say their daily announcements, run around in the Exisals and look out for anyone to not break the rules. Monokuma has been fairly quiet too. No new motives or ideas for murders, when they ask him the only thing he does is laugh and disappear. Everyone gathers from time to time to discuss things. Breakfast gets awkward quickly, but they find a way to talk. They basically stay in their friend circles most of the time.
No new murders so far, it makes it feel normal for once… Shuichi can only dream of it staying that way. Training with Kaito has done him good, mentally at least. It gets him to do something else and not be sad all day thinking about their dead friends.
Of course, until his own mind brings it back to torture him, just because.
Walking around the building doesn't do it for him, but it is better than staying in his room for the entire day. He tries exploring for new areas, included the new third floor… Not very nice being there, but something has to help them get out of this hell. He simply has to ignore the crackling floor, the statues— Couldn't Monokuma come up with something scarier?
He leaves quickly for the next floor. There's not a lot in here but it's definitely better than the one above. The Research Labs for his classmates make him wonder if he'll still be around for when the Detective's Lab is available. Kaede's Lab was pretty nice with all the CDs and the piano at the center. His could be full of unsolved case files, or one of those corkboards with pictures and red pins and strings like in movies. He knows first hand that's not how detectives works (or at least his uncle, and therefore him, don't), but Monokuma seems to be into movies way too much to pay attention and get a hundred percent accuracy. The Monokubs do put a lot of efforts into them, who knows.
He walks down to the first floor, no one's around the hallways...
Or so he thought until Keebo appears, running around like crazy. From the hallway to the basement to Class A, then out of it, where he notices Shuichi.
"Saihara, I need help! Please!!" Keebo grabs him by the shoulders, lowering his voice modulator and looking around paranoid.
"What happened?"
"It's Oma, I-I think he's trying to kill me."
Keebo gets behind him, using his body as a shield, like that's going to do anything.
"What?! Are you sure— What did he do!?"
He looks around too, a little less paranoid than the robot but worried. He finds Kokichi coming down stairs, where Shuichi was moments ago, but he never saw the other boy around in the floor. The wall covers them enough so he doesn't notices them, and instead goes the other way.
"Do you want me to talk to him or—"
"What? No! Are you crazy!? He's going to kill us both!!" Keebo retreats, slowing siting on the floor with his head in hands.
"I think we are fine. Did he hurt you or something?" Shuichi sits next to him, checking as best as one with zero knowledge about robot anatomy can.
Nothing looks out of place, no scratches or lost screws. It should be quite hard to hurt or kill a robot, he believes, because the other robots in this place have died way too easily. Monokuma can come back easily though, it might take more them for them to reconstruct Keebo.
"No, no. He keeps saying he wants to be with me, if we can spend more time together. I said yes at first, but now I'm scared! He hasn't said anything robophobic yet either."
"…Is that a bad thing?"
"Of course not, but it's not like him. He asked me to go to Iruma's Lab with him this morning, he's going to shred me to pieces!!!" So that's why he ran in the first place. That does sound like Kokichi.
"But I don't think he knows how to do that…" Not to mention the difference in strength, if he finds a way to dismantle Keebo to begin with.
"No, but she does! He could manipulate her to break me— Wait, I think I hear him! I have to go!" Keebo sits up and runs away as fast as he came in, getting out of the building entirely.
Shuichi follows suit and starts walking away from their spot. As if they haven't had enough of Kokichi at the trials, they have to look out for him not killing their robot friend? Can't he give them a break for five minutes—
"Saihara-chan!"
Kokichi appears behind him. Shuichi freezes in place, until the other boy reaches him. He takes a step back instantly, just to be sure.
"O-Oma… H-hi. How are you, what do you need?" says Shuichi, trying to act normally and failling.
"I'm good, thanks! Have you seen Keebo by any chance? I've been looking for him aaaall morning, but he keeps running away from me…" He looks down sadly, arms behind him. Even his body language is weird. What kind of tactic is this to lure and kill them?
"Sorry, I haven't."
"I see... Thank you, anyways. See you later then." He waves goodbye and turns around walking from where he came from, still sad. Was he about to cry?
.
.
…That's it? No jokes, no insults? He didn't say anything because I lied?
"Wait! Why are you looking for him?" Now Shuichi is the one going after him.
"Mh? Oh, nothing important. I just wanted to talk…" He looks down again. Shuichi doesn't think he's ever seen him like this unless it was for fake crying. "I though we could go to Iruma's Research Lab to pass the time."
"Since when you're friends with her?"
"What do you mean? She's my best friend."
…Well, that's weirder than the other stuff so far. Good thing she's not here to hear that. Miu would laugh at him forever.
"Right, I-I forgot, sorry. But are you sure you didn't hit your head when you woke up or something?"
"Mmhh, nope. Why?"
"No, it's nothing... Just checking. I'll let you go find Keebo, good luck."
"Thanks!" Kokichi waves back again before leaving. He smiled big this time, it's… weirdly cute. If it wasn't because it scared Shuichi.
So, he didn't hit his head. Is he really playing around to get Keebo killed? Shuichi is sure someone with such a title could find a better, crazier way to eliminate someone, instead of being extremely friendly and creeping them out while claiming to be best friends with Miu out of a sudden.
This has to be the strangest plan to come up with. Is there a way it could work out? Going after Keebo makes sense, but out of all he's probably the hardest to kill. The other robots here die very easily, but nothing has reached the point of doing something to their robot classmate.
Shuichi can only hope it stays like that.
· · ─ ·♡· ─ · ·
A new day starts with the Monokubs on the monitor, in their regular bickering with each other to wake everyone up. They never seem to get enough of fighting each other, how does Monokuma leave them around like nothing… Two of them are gone already. And he's waiting for one student to be gone too.
Shuichi tries not to think about that. No one else is going to die, he wants to believe. But yesterday's events weren't a reassuring sign at all. So he stays a little longer in bed, not like he's hungry anyways.… But it doesn't last long as he wants.
The doorbell rings once.
He gets up quickly to fix his hair and clothes in the bathroom's mirror. He should at least be presentable for the day.
Whoever is waiting has patience thankfully, the bell doesn't sound again but they knock softly– Usually people smash the button for him to open. He gets to the door, and is quite surprised by the duo behind it. Korekiyo and Keebo.
"Good morning, Saihara. Sorry if I woke you up, but we need you at the kitchen. It's urgent."
"S-something happened? Please tell me it's not another..."
"A fight broke out."
"What? Who– why are they fighting?" Keebo looks as surprised about this information, guess it was better for Kiyo to tell them at the same time than repeating twice.
"Oma was talking to Yumeno, complementing her magic I believe. She started screaming at him, I assume she took it as one of his joke, but then said magic wasn't real and he was stupid for believe it was."
...Are they talking about the same girl who goes out of her way to tell everyone she's a mage, not a magician? Chaos in this place is nothing new, but Himiko knows better than to fall for Kokichi's tricks. Right?
"It escalated quickly afterwards. Yumeno slapped him in the face."
"What!?"
"Gonta is containing her with Angie and Tenko. Momota is with Oma, but he asked me to bring Keebo. Only you were missing breakfast, I thought I should bring both of you."
Shuichi simply nods, speechless, same with Keebo. They start following Kiyo to the kitchen, in a pretty awkward silence.
How did that happened? Himiko is not prone to violence, not even to Kokichi. At least Gonta is there, Angie and Tenko should also calm her down. And why is he asking for Keebo? He can't still be trying to play nice after getting hit, surely…
.
.
The scene is worse than he thought when they arrived.
One corner has Himiko, grabbed by the shoulders by Gonta. Angie and Tenko are trying to get close, but she keeps throwing kicks at them. On the opposite side, Kokichi crying and hugging Kaito, Maki weirded out while Miu laughs on their faces.
Tsumugi is standing awkarly in the middle, unsure of which side to take. If there's one to take.
"Saihara, Keebo! We need your help, please. Yumeno hit Oma and now she's trying to get the rest of us."
"What did you say?! Say it to my face, four eyes!"
"Yumeno, you have to use your energy against the males, not her!"
Tsumugi backs away further. Is Tenko actually trying to help? That just made Himiko more mad, her face getting as red as her hair. She doesn't say anything when noticing Shuichi and Keebo, instead she stares at them menacingly. He realizes her eyes looks completely different, like she's hypnotize.
"What about Oma? Shinguji said he asked for me…"
"Mmhh, yes, but he's not any better, not trying to kick everyone at least." Tsumugi whispers the last part in case Himiko is listening again. "He hasn't stopped crying. Momota isn't very good at comforting but he only talks to him. Iruma insulted him a few times and he ignored her. It's like a dad and his kid… No no, Momota is better as a big brother." Good to know Tsumugi is still her regular quirky self....
They go to the other corner of the kitchen. It's just as emotional but more quiet than the other side.
"Hey, Oma, look who is here."
says Miu, trying to unbury his face from Kaito's body.
"Ughh, you already did this. I'm not falling for it again."
Korekiyo gives Keebo a light push. Kaito tries getting away from Kokichi to point at Keebo, but the other boy really doesn't want to let go, so he whisper screams at them 'help!' It's not like Keebo can leave him like that... He sighs, approaching slowly.
"H-hi, Oma… Are you okay?" He finally looks up, his eyes also look completly different, besides full of tears. Compared to yesterday, he looks less dead but the same as Himiko. Kaito catches his breath before actually speaking.
"He did that to me, don't worry— At least he's not crying anymore."
"Aww, but I like seeing him cry!"
"Uh?"
Monokuma appears suddenly as always, followed by the Monokubs enjoying themselves pretty loudly. Great! Great. Like this situation wasn't enough on its own. Is this new behavior the next motive? It would be a disaster if everyone got this weird induced hypnosis, considering how things so far are going with mad Himiko and sad Kokichi. Shuichi can't imagine trying to solve a murder case if these crazy robots decide it'll be funny… What if it's already started and he hasn't fallen to it—
"Puhuhu, finally. I though my kids fucked things up and didn't let the Despair Disease around."
"D-despair disease?" asks Tsumugi.
"Yeah, people like fan favorites coming back with a twist! I thought it will be fun if you have to figure out what it is about this time!" The Monokubs praise Monokuma, like that wasn't the worst idea they've had after the stupid videos.
"What do you mean figure out a sickness?"
Monokuma doesn't answer Maki, neither do the Monokubs, they keep laughing and fighting. Is that the only thing they know how to do? They seem to be perfectly fine, although their regular state isn't good to begin with.
"Is anyone else getting sick then?"
"I think we already have enough people sick. At most, someone is getting their symptoms late." He gets mad at that last part, but Monokuma does respond to Tsumugi's question again.
"So we have to play doctor now? Don't think I'm gonna be their stupid nurse because I'll look good on a uniform with my big—"
"I don't need a doctor!!!"
Himiko screams at Miu, trying to get off from Gonta but he doesn't have to try that hard to stop her. Like watching a dad with his daughter throwing tantrums because another kid said something bad about her magic. Miu backs away as a precaution either way, she really likes to throw the stone and hide the hand when it backfires.
"O-okay, I won't be your nurse… You don't have to hit me."
Himiko keeps fighting for a bit even after her apology, nothing new at this point.
Shuichi decides to try something more… productive. Turning to Monokuma again for answers. Sure, they're going to have to figure this out mostly on their own, but there might be another thing he can reveal or give them a little clue about, since he usually does puzzles with hints included as part of the 'fun'. How does he find this funny in his little robot brain, Shuichi has no idea.
"How long does it last?" He goes for a simpler question, like Tsumugi before.
"Who knows! Until something interesting happens."
"…"
…Well, that's not clear at all. At least he responded, that's something.
But the only interesting thing for him seems to be dead students, makes sense that is what he wants. Some of the others also reach the same conclusion by looking at their faces… The others are too busy watching over Himiko and Kokichi to care about more of Monokuma's shenanigans than the one in their faces right now.
And what are they supposed to do with those two, aren't they the most at risk here? There's nothing close to a nursery in this place to keep them there, or for whoever gets sick next.
If what Monokuma said about three people being sick… Could he be next? He was close to Kokichi yesterday, Keebo too but it probably doesn't affect robots, and he was hugging Kaito moments ago. Angie and Tenko have been with Himiko all day, and Gonta's containing her right now. Aren't half of them also at risk of getting sick basically? And that's not considering all the time spent in the kitchen by the others.
For all Shuichi knows, there's also the chance it drives them insane and they kill someone. He already knows to keep an eye on Kokichi specially. He doesn't believe Himiko is in this for the joke. Nothing surprising, but what a tasteless joke if he's faking it. It's definitely an experience seeing him cuddling up to Kaito and Keebo and them not knowing what to do, at least someone is enjoying himself more than the rest of the class. Himiko on the other hand… She's basically fighting anyone who gets on her way at this point. Neither Angie or Tenko could calm her down. Angie started praying for her and Tenko is trying to convince her to use her new fighting skills againts the boys.
Beside their new behavior, they don't seem to show any other symptoms for now. Monokuma didn't even try to specify what effects the disease has. Hopefully it's like a bad fever or cold, since that's the only way Shuichi can think of to explain such an extreme change in personalities for now.
Monokuma and the Monokubs disappear wishing them 'good luck' with their new patients...
Things have calmed down at last in the kitchen and they can finally decide what to do next, since the only way left to find out about this damn disease is talking even more with their sick classmates…