Danganronpa: Hope for the Hopeless/Chapter 5 - Lodge Life

## Story

Ding, dong, bing, bong.

Like always, Monokuma’s morning announcement rang throughout the school. “Rise and shine everyone. It is now 7 A.M. It is officially morning. It’s time to enjoy another beautiful day here at Newpoint Lodge!”

At that, I opened my eyes as the light of day slowly but surely poured in. Luckily enough, I didn’t have much of a headache nor was I in any daze. But my pulse was faster than it should have been and I had another nightmare to thank for all of that. Not that I was too thankful to have that nightmare in the first place.

*(I- I- there wasn’t an execution this time at least.)*

So, I sat up and took in my surroundings once more. It was the same lodge of course and the same room. However, as I slowly sat up, I noticed something different. Something that made me frown as I tried not to think of its implications. As I looked down at my shirt, I found a somewhat wrinkled white note that was duct taped to the chest of my shirt.

It appeared that my nightmare had some truth to it after all. Nobody plunged a serrated combat knife into my heart while I was staring up at them paralyzed and unable to move, but like in my dream, someone had been in my room. So, I grit my teeth at the realization as I pried the piece of paper off of myself and turned to note around to read.

‘A warning from your friendly neighborhood mastermind: YOU’RE NEXT.’

I couldn’t help but feel a cold shiver rush down my spine as I read that. Just as I suspected, the mastermind him or her self had been in my room and they could have killed me at any moment. However, that was unlikely and it wasn’t even the worst part of the note. The worst part was that I was supposed to be next for something. Probably the next to be murdered. Those were the dots that my brain connected anyways as my breathing shallowed ever so slightly.

*(Alright Nishi, you’re going to be okay. Just check the note for clues and warn everyone at breakfast.)*

I took a few deep breaths. Luckily enough, I wasn’t in a panic, so it didn’t take me too long to calm down and read the note objectively. However, it did not appear as if there were anything on the note that actually gave me a hint at the mastermind’s identity. There were no hair follicles and the warning was printed as if it were written electronically. For all I knew, Monokuma wrote it on the Mastermind’s behalf.

I just shook my head. Then, I swung my feet over the left side of the bed, pushed off, and stood up. Monokuma wasn’t kidding about something being planned for today and the wave of foreboding that came over me was palpable. But, I was still functional. So, I took a moment to pause so that I could probably prepare for the day.

Ding, dong, bing, bong.

I looked at the closest monitor just in time for Monokuma’s image to flicker on the screen once more. At that, the bear spoke. “Ahem. Alright, I know this is early but I know you’re all awake and I’m running a schedule here so you all have twenty minutes to get ready and meet me in the lounge for something super duper extra special I have planned! Oh, and I expect you all to arrive on time. I wouldn’t want to have to punish someone for absence after all. Anyways, I got to go. I’ll see you all there!”

Something in Monokuma’s tone seemed to imply that he wouldn’t be too upset if he had to punish us. But really, him being more than willing to torture us to death was nothing new. So, I ignored that and moved on to something more practical. Namely, getting properly dressed so that I could show up on time and not get executed.

To that end, I went through my routine although it was definitely rushed. I changed my clothes, grabbed my knife, ElectroID, a new watch, my pill bottle, and the note from the mastermind which I folded up and pocketed as well. From there, I finished everything else that I needed to do, made my way towards the door, opened it, headed outside, and shut the door with about five minutes to spare.

After that, I headed over to the lounge. I rounded left around the corner, turned right, went up the stairs, passed the area where all the staircases were, went back behind the AV room, marched down the hallway, and made my way to the door that led to the lounge. It all went without incident, but as I approached the doorway, I hesitated.

*(An early motive can’t be a good sign. With the note and what Monokuma said yesterday, I have a feeling that this is going to be bad. But at the same time, I have to go inside… I guess I had better prepare for the worst.)*

And that I did. I mentally braced myself as I reached out with my right hand, pulled the door open, stepped inside, and let the door close behind me. Upon doing do, I looked to see if there was anything new that immediately grabbed my attention. But the only two new things that I saw that were of note were a half-black and half-white projector hanging from the center of the ceiling and pointed towards the back of the room, and a white projector canvas hanging on the back of the wall. If I had to guess, Monokuma intended to show up a movie, video, or something along those lines.

It was then that I looked around to see who else had made it. And as I did, I breathed a small sigh of relief. Senji and Tanabe were off by themselves, the left corner closest to the projector screen and farthest from the projector screen respectively, Machi and Sanda were both in the far right corner closest to the projector screen although Machi had her arms crossed and glared at Sanda, and Wakuni, Yakawa, and Sama were all to my immediate right in the corner farthest from the project screen. So, it seemed as if everyone had made it.

“Let me get this straight,” I heard Sama say as she put her hands on his hips. Apparently, nobody was aware of my existence. “You dreamt that your life was a musical?”

“Just the part of my life where we were all living here. It was really weird,” Wakuni grumbled as he crossed his arms. “At the end of it, everyone came back and sang a finale while Monokuma road a nuclear missile into the moon. I hear that dreams can have meaning but times like this makes me question it.”

“Actually, they can. At least to the extent that they can be influenced by external stimuli. Sometimes, they’re a way from processing information,” I interrupted by spouting off a textbook answer. At that, the three of them turned to face me but Wakuni frowned and Sama fidgeted at that. So, I quickly clarified myself. “Some dreams are just weird random stuff though. Not everything necessarily has to have a deeper meaning.”

As both of them visibly relaxed at that, Yakawa raised his right eyebrow and spoke up. “Sama, is there any particular why you were worried about Nishi’s comment?”

“Well, I had a dream of my own three days ago and it was pretty weird,” Sama said as she raised her right arm to scratch the back of her head nervously. “It has a happy ending, but it started with me being trapped in a coffin and-”

Before Sama could continue with her dream, the projector whirled to life with a surprising amount of clicks. In response, I turned to face the screen and if I had to guess, everyone else did the same. Regardless, the screen slowly lit up until at last, an image appeared. One that wasn’t immediately horrific, but grew more disturbing with each passing second as its implications sank in.

The image in question was a set of four pictures. In the top right, I saw a group of twelve consisting of six guys and six girls. Like us, they appeared to be in some sort of lounge. Like ours, it also had a fireplace and a series of furniture. However, the furniture was a dark green, the lights were much dimmer because the room was lit only by candles on the walls, the fireplace was unlit, the furniture had cobwebs, and the place general appeared to be like something that someone would see in a haunted hotel. To top it all off, their picture had the caption ‘Class 82nd’.

The second group in the top left had eight people in it consisting of three guys and five girls. Overall, their room was well lit and bore no furniture but I noticed that part of the ceiling and the right wall were made of rock. Additionally, the door behind the group was round, thick, and metallic grey with a bar lock on it. If I had to guess, that group was participating in a mutual killing game that took place in an underground bunker. Regardless, they were labelled as ‘Class 86th’.

And as for the bottom of the screen, the bottom left half bore a blank black screen while the bottom right showed a group of five people with two girls and three guys. They appeared to be standing inside a throne room to what could presumably be considered a castle based on the smooth stone floor, the jagged stone walls, the well lit candle lights that were mounted on golden chandeliers, the knights of armor. Of course, a purple carpet that was embroidered with gold and led up to what I could only guess was the throne. And like the others, they had a class label. In their case, ‘Class 87th’.

*(I see we’re not the only group to suffer from the mutual killing games. As much as I hate to see it.)*

The only silver linings were the possibility of sharing information between groups and the fact that I wasn’t the only one with hair trouble. Firstly, the group of twelve had a man with about an average height, messy chocolate brown hair with a single blue streak that went down to his bangs as well as a strand of hair that stuck up in the front, and dark blue eyes. Additionally, for clothes, I noticed, neat tan pants, a white-buttoned T-shirt with long sleeves that went down to his wrists as well as a collar that was folded upwards, a black tie, and a green sleeveless vest with his school insignia of the left breast.

The next person was in the group of eight people. Like the first person, he was a guy. However, this man was slightly taller and more slender than average and bore neatly combed forest green hair that also stopped at his bangs aside from the strands that stuck up in the front, and had grey eyes. Additionally, he wore a zipped black coat with a bright green inner collar as well as long sleeves that went to his wrists and a bright green cybergrid tree pattern on the right sleeve, a dark green tie, matching black pants to match his coat, a neat grey belt that had a woven grid pattern on it, and black gloves that had bright green palms.

Finally, the group of five had a lady that was slightly shorter than average but otherwise well within the normal height range, had long dark purple unbraided but straight hair that went down to just below her shoulder blades aside from the part that stuck up in the front, and had intense green eyes. For clothes, she wore a light grey short sleeved buttoned shirt, a purple tie, a dark grey long-sleeved coat that when down to her arms and has purple trims as well as a gold music note on the right lapel, dark grey pants to match, and a dark round hat with a flat top and a purple stripe that wrapped around the top half of it. Nonetheless, she did take her hat off the scratch her head and I did notice her hair sticking up in the front.

“Hello?,” The aforementioned female from the class 87th said with a hint of curiosity. After that, however, she showed visible shock her facial expression dropped to a stone faced neutral expression and her tone changed to match. “You are all trapped in your own killing games aren’t you?”

“Well of course they are you idiot,” Some guy from her own group said before he was cut off.

“You realize that you’re going to make her resent you,” The guy from class 86th interrupted with a cold tone as he crossed his arms. “Come to think of it, it looks like you already have. I can tell that much already. I don’t know if Monokuma is harassing your group and trying to break it apart, but you idiots are doing half of his job for him.”

“You’re one to talk,” A girl right behind him from the same class sarcastically replied as she crossed her arms and more or less rolled her eyes at the person.

Regardless, the guy more than a few scowls from the castle group but before he could respond, the guy with streaks in his hair from class 82nd calmly cut them both off. “Instead of arguing, perhaps it would be more productive if we shared everything we knew about the nature of these killing games with each other? If one of the groups escapes, they could always get help and save the other groups.”

“I believe you’re right,” Senji surmised with a fervent nod earning him a glare from Wakuni, Sanda, Tanabe, and Yakawa. However, he failed to notice any of them because he was staring at the screen. “We have wasted too much time already.”

“Indeed we have,” The guy from class 82nd said in agreement. “So first thing is first. Does everyone here understand that we aren’t the only people participating in mutual killing games? That classes in Hopes Peak’s Hokkaido Branch have been systematically subjected to them?”

Everyone more or less agreed with them. The group that had their killing game set in the bunker was the slowest to agree, but they all did. In response, I opened my mouth to say something else. Namely, to tell them about the virtual world, but before I could, the image of Monokuma flickered on in a white backdrop of what had previously been the empty area of the screen. At that, our group mostly winced, the group from the bunker mostly flinched, and the remaining groups just scowled at the monitor as Monokuma’s image rapidly came to life.

“Well, well, well, I can see that this connection is working like a charm,” Monokuma chimed in cheerfully. “Your plan won’t work though. First of all, the next person to try is going to get the axe. Maybe even literally. Second, there’s nothing of consequence that you can share with each other! You’re all here because all four of you guys have figured out about my little killing game spree as Matsumoto whatever pointed out. In fact, your classes are class 82nd, class 86th, class 87th, and class 90th. Yep, I’m willing to confirm that this is happening at a rate of ten classes at a time! Anyways, since you’re also aware of the fact that your respective masterminds are among you-”

“Wait,” Machi interrupted with visible shock at the revelation. “How did you know that we knew about the mastermind?”

“Because the mastermind told me you idiot. I also know about your other discovery about the nature of the world,” Monokuma grumbled before he briefly shook his head. The other classes showed varying degree sof surprise at that ,however. And if I had to guess, they had yet to figure out that they were in simulations. “Now where was I? Oh yeah, before I was rudely interrupted, I was saying that you guys are clever. Too clever for your own good because the masterminds have all agreed to add an additional crossover motive to snuff you all out.”

At that, everyone more or less reacted very similarly to how everyone in class 90th reacted with the exception of Matsumoto and Yakawa who both didn’t even flinch and class 87th, the one in the castle, mostly just shook their fists at the bear.

“Well you can take your motive,” The green haired person from class 86th began with some venom in his otherwise cool calculated tone. “And you can shove it right up your-”

“Just for that Etsuo, I’m instating another unwritten rule. The next person to interrupt me before I ask for questions is going to get punished,” Monokuma interrupted as he narrowed his normal eye narrowed. “And speaking of new rules. That happens to be the motive. For everyone listening, and I would listen because your life might depend on it, the class trial rules have been updated. Whenever somebody graduates, everyone else in this conversation will be punished aside from yours truly. Not just everyone from their class. The rules have all been updated on your ElectroIDs. They may still be tailored to each group but your should be able to find the new rules. You should probably check them out.”

Everyone’s reactions were pretty much the same as when Monokuma first showed up, but a feeling of dread hung in the air as everyone pulled out and checked their ElectroIDs at mixed levels of hesitation. Nonetheless, everyone was doing it so I did as well. I reached into my pockets, pulled out my ElectroID, turned it on, and tapped the rules icon. All the while, I frowned.

General Rules

1. Students are to reside only at Newpoint Lodge and the mountain in which is located. Attempting to leave is a violation of school protocol.
2. “Nighttime” is from 10pm to 7pm so please exercise caution.
3. Sleeping anywhere other than the lodge rooms will be considered as sleeping in class and punished accordingly.
4. With minimal restrictions, students are allowed to explore the Newpoint Lodge and Mt. Veil as much as they wish.
5. Violence against your supervisor, Monokuma, is prohibited.
6. The destruction of monitors and cameras is prohibited.
7. Attempting to force open locked doors is prohibited.
8. If anybody murders a fellow student, they will become “blackened” and graduate as long as they aren’t caught.
9. The “blackened” may only kill a maximum of two other students per class trial.
10. A body discovery announcement will play once three or more people discover a body for the first time.
11. During a body discovery announcement, the supervisor will inform all four classes of the class trial unless he decides otherwise in which case only the victim’s class will be informed.
12. Additional rules may be added at the supervisor’s discretion.

Class Trial Rules

1. Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly afterwards. All remaining students from the victim’s class are required to attend.
2. If a class trial occurs, all students from the other three classes must proceed to their own class trial rooms to witness the class trial. These students will not be able to participate but are required to attend unless the supervisor says otherwise.
3. If the “blackened” is discovered during the class trial, they alone will be punished.
4. If the “blackened” is not discovered, everyone from the victim’s class except the blackened will be punished and the blackened will graduate.
5. If the “blackened” is not discovered, everyone from the three spectating classes will be punished unless the supervisor says otherwise.
6. All remaining students from the victim’s class are required to vote.
7. In the event of two murders, the innocent only need to discover one “blackened” and only that blackened will be punished.
8. In the event of a tie, only those with the most votes are punished provided one of them is the “blackened”.

I swallowed audibly as I looked up. As far as I could tell, we were pretty much at each other’s mercy. One weak link in the metaphorical chain and we would all be dead. Aside from the blackened of course but that provided very little solace to me. As I looked around, I could also tell that I wasn’t the only person who thought that this was bad. My pulse raced as groups stared at each other much like my class had stared at each other for the first time the killing game was announced.

“Upupu, It looks like everyone’s read the rules. Or at least, enough of you to get the general idea,” Monokuma said as he practically glowed with what could only be sadistic glee. “With that in mind, does anyone have any questions before I turn this thing off and get to handing out individual motives?”

“Is this going to be a permanent thing?” I asked as calmly as I could after taking a deep breath. I still blurted it out however.

“Good question. Probably the first useful one I’ve heard in awhile,” Monokuma replied before he briefly put his right hand to his chin in what was probably thought and then lowered it. “The answer is no. The new rules will only last until someone graduates. There’s no point in threatening to punish you all if you’ve already been punished after all! Next question.”

“This isn’t really a question, but there is something I would like to say to the other classes,” Matsumoto chimed in delicately as he looked to the nearest camera. “You don’t need to resort to murder and you don’t need to worry about this motive. Class 82nd is highly competent and we will escape with time. When we do, you have my word that we will not leave you behind.”

“Oh, but you don’t even know where they are,” Monokuma pointed out as he pointed towards the audience with his right pointer finger. “I hate to- no wait, I don’t hate to break it to you. You can’t save everyone. You can’t even save yourself. Now, I believe we have time for one more question. Even if that second one was a statement.”

"Uhm,” The girl from class 87th interrupted quickly before she cleared her throat and continued. “So, how are we all going to keep in touch with each other? I mean, if we’re relying on other people to stay alive, then we need to know who we’re working with.”

“No such luck,” Monokuma said as he lowered his arms and shook his head in mock disappointment. “This video and the class trial videos are the only times you’ll see each other. While I was toying around with the notion of a student exchange program, that turned out to be impossible as well. For all intents and purposes, you all might as well be worlds apart!”

“What do you mean by-” Etsuo interjected as he uncrossed his arms. However, it was interrupted by Monokuma once more.

“I only said I had time for one more question. Not as many questions as you feel like,” Monokuma replied. “But since it really bugs you that much, I’ll remind you of an easy way that you can guarantee your safety. Just be the first to graduate! You won't be subjected to the rules of the killing game anymore if you aren’t playing. Just something to think about. Anyways, see ya soon everyone.”

At that, the images on the screen faded. As they did, the last images I saw of the other groups were them devolving into chaos. And for very good reason as well. Not only did we all have to rely on each other, but the other classes appeared to be surprised at Monokuma’s comment that Machi discovered the true nature of the world. They were completely dependant on us and each other, we were possibly the only people to know that we were all trapped in virtual worlds, and we had no means of knowing if the other groups knew anything aside from the fact that a series of killing games have been going on and that each class has a mastermind in it.

*(And now we have to rely on them to stay alive with a motive that won’t go away until someone graduates.)*

At that, the final mutters in the room faded to an almost tangible silence as we once again took a few glances at the other members of our group. I myself looked around to see how everyone was holding up and unsurprisingly, it didn’t appear as if anyone was too pleased with the situation. Not that I could blame them. Regardless, a few seconds passed before Monokuma emerged from the ground, did a belly flop onto it, and pulled himself up onto his feet.

“Now that we have that out of the way,” Monokuma began as he branded eight black letters with the red Monokuma eye on them in his left hand. “I’ve got a very special motive for you. It's intended for someone who is highly likely to graduate just like the motives for the other groups, but the rest of you shouldn’t let that stop you from becoming the blackened yourselves. On the contrary, this might be your last chance to get out of here alive!”

At that, everyone’s eyes drifted over in Senji’s direction as he crossed his arms indignantly. But Sama looked away first and spoke up shortly after. “What is the meaning of this?! Isn’t one murder motive enough for you Monokuma?”

“Nope! That was just something extra that the masterminds wanted to do on the side!” Monokuma declared as he began to pass the letters out. When I received mine, I realized that they weren’t even sealed. “When you’re finished looking at the picture, put it back in the envelope and I’ll pick it up. You’re free to leave as soon as you see the picture you were given.”

At that, Monokuma finished his run and one by one, we all pulled our pictures out of our respective envelopes. Sanda was the first and Yakawa was the second, but then, I reached my hand inside and pulled out my own picture. Though when I did, my fingers trembled ever so slightly before I bit my lip and suppressed a shiver. It didn’t stop my pulse from picking up, but I calm enough not to show anyone anything other than disdain.

The picture in question was a picture of my family. My mother and father were standing to the left and right respectively. They were standing closest to the brown wooden that sported another gold soccer trophy on it which belonged to my brother, the fireplace below it, and the faded, sun yellow wall. In front of them was me and my older brother Tano. We were both holding up a plaque with a golden soccer medal that he had earned and everyone in the picture was smiling. In fact, as I remembered, it was one of the last times that my brother genuinely smiled.

*(What is this about?!)*

As I looked at the picture, the memory of the event came to me. But more importantly, as I continued to look at the picture, it began to fade. It started from the center and expanded to the corners of the picture, but within moments, the picture was nothing but a blank white empty area as if the picture had been taken of a white void.

*(Huh?!)*

“Monokuma, what is the meaning of this?” Wakuni said in a tone that sounded more annoyed than anything else as he looked up at Monokuma. I looked up as well. And when I did, I noticed that everyone else showed a mixture of confusion, fear, and irritation as well.

“I made the pictures self-dissolving so that you couldn’t force each other to share what you saw. People need their privacy you know?” Monokuma asked rhetorically with a shrug. “But if I were you, I would think of it as what I’m going to do to the memory that the picture contained. You see, unless someone commits a murder or suicide by midnight, and it has to be one of you eight because I’m not letting you off easily if another class has one, then I’m going to apply an extra dose of amnesia to one of you. When I do, that person can say goodbye to the memory or memories represented in the picture!”

It took everything I had to maintain my current composure. But on the inside, I was screaming.

“Well at least it's only one of us,” Sanda remarked with some bitterness in his tone but otherwise a shrug that almost made me scowl at him. After that, he grumbled and I could barely make out what he said. “It is just one of us right?”

“Yes and there’s a reason for that actually,” Monokuma explained as he crossed his arms indignantly. “I plan to make things extra unpleasant for the poor person who’s going to lose their memories if nobody here drops dead. I wouldn’t be too sure of yourself yet though Sanda because he or she knows who they are. If you assume that it isn’t you of course.”

“This is just petty,” Tanabe commented in a fairly quiet tone but with an obvious scowl. “If you think that someone is going to kill someone over one memory, then you’re wrong though so I suppose I’m thankful for that.”

“He’s probably piggybacking off the first motive,” Yakawa remarked before he put his picture in the envelope and tossed it at the ground in front of Monokuma’s feet. “I doubt that he’d rely on something this trivial without the extra punch that the first motive had.”

“You’d be surprised,” Monokuma retorted with confidence in his tone. “Some of the memories I’ve handed out are more important than others. They’re all good memories but some of them are the most precious ones their respective recipient has ever had! And some, are more meaningful than that believe it or not.”

“If someone actually kills someone for a memory, I will be profoundly disappointed,” Machi replied. However, her tone and posture seemed to indicate that she was at least uncomfortable with the motive. Regardless, at that, she did what Yakawa did with her envelope and picture, turned around, and started to head back to the entrance of the lounge. “Whatever, unless you have something else to say, I’m leaving now.”

“Wait, I haven’t told you the good news yet! You unlocked a new area of the lodge as a reward for sending Koike to her untimely demise!” Monokuma said as he raised both hands in an effort to get our attention. Surprisingly, that made everyone stop although Senji narrowed his eyes at the bear. “While you were here, I added an extra door that leads to the basement of the lodge. Its right across from the stairwell to the second floor.”

At that, Sanda, Wakuni, and I all nodded begrudgingly. But after that, I put my picture back in my envelope and the rest of us all took turns dropping them back Monokuma with varying levels of passive aggressiveness. And then, we all turned our backs to the bear plushie and headed towards the door in the same order. I was the first after Machi, then came Wakuni, then Sama, then Sanda, then Yakawa, then Tanabe, and finally, Senji headed to the door. Machi opened it first with a simple push, but it was our responsibility to keep the door open.

Regardless, we all poured out of the room and into the hallway entrance that led to it. Of course, everyone showed signs of being confused or concerned. And if I had to guess, it was because of one or both of the motives. Nonetheless, we made it out of the lounge safely and uneventfully as the door closed behind us.

“Why don’t we sort this out over breakfast?” Yakawa said with a sigh. “We can discuss what we’re dealing with and discuss any concerns that we may have.”

A few seconds passed, but nobody disagreed. So, Yakawa left for what was presumably the cafeteria. And in response, we all more or less followed him. We went down the hall, past the east most pass by the AV room, passed the double doors that led to the elevator shaft, passed headed to the front room of the lodge.

It all went without any major incidents aside from a few glares at Senji. But as we continued our journey to the cafeteria, a disturbing thought came to mind. Between the note and the picture, it was obvious that Monokuma had to know about what happened. And if that was the case, then there was only one possibility.

*(That note to me wasn’t saying that I would be the next to die, it was saying that I would be the next culprit!)*

My heart skipped a few beats but otherwise, everything went normally as we rounded the corner, passed the first aid station, and proceeded down the last hallway to the cafeteria. As Yakawa pulled the door open for us, I took a few deep breaths and luckily enough, it didn’t seem as if anything noticed.

*(Alright Nishi, don’t jump to conclusions just yet. Someone else may have more important memories than you do. We need to wait to see what everyone else has to say.)*

Regardless, we all headed into the cafeteria in the same order as before with the exception of Yakawa who waited until we had all entered, stepped away, and let the door swing closed behind us with a thud. From there, we all made our way towards the kitchen and pushed our way inside. When all was said and done, we stood cramped in the area as the metal kitchen doors closed behind us.

And at that, everything more or less kicked into gear. This time, I just decided to have eggs and Yakawa, who was already making some of his own grabbed a few extra ones for me. As for everyone else, they began to make their own food, some scrambled to put whatever they could on the remaining area of the stove and other just cut up whatever they wanted. Overall, it mostly went without incident but Wakuni pulled a triple chocolate bar out of a cupboard and began to eat it in front of Senji. If I had to guess, it was to spite him. However, Senji seemed to choose to ignore it.

*(And to think. Those two used to be friends. I guess it just goes to show just how good Monokuma is at making people hate each other.)*

Regardless, over a relatively short period of time, everyone finished with whatever they were doing, we all headed out into the cafeteria, I specifically helped Tanabe with his plates, and we all sat down at the center table. In my case, I sat between Senji and Tanabe as well as across from Sama, Wakuni, and Yakawa.

“You know Senji,” Sanda chimed in from the edge of the table as we all began to eat. “I’m surprised you showed up. I thought you didn’t want to deal with us right now.”

“I never said say anything of the sort. I only claimed that I wanted some time alone to think,” Senji defended indignantly. “That aside, I believe that this motive is more important than my personal feelings. We are here to stop another murder from happening.”

“Assuming that you aren’t going to cause another one,” Wakuni growled as he balled his hands into fists. “I think that’s what you meant to say?”

“No, it is not. I have never planned to cause or commit a murder and I never will,” Senji scowled. “How can you be so infantile as to accuse after everything? It’s as if you don't know me at all Wakuni.”

“I’m beginning to think I don’t.” Wakuni said as he glared back.

“Can we get back to the motive? Or rather, stopping it?” Machi interrupted as she eyed the both of them and then sighed when they continued to glare at each other. “I would really rather not go through two back to back class trials.”

“I agree with Machi. I don’t want someone else to get murdered so we need to think about how to stop the motive,” I added after cutting an egg and then looking up at everyone else. Though to be honest, a part of me just wanted to hear what everyone else had to say about their pictures. “I think we should discuss the photos we received. If we can figure out who is the most likely to commit a murder, we might be able to stop them. Senji will go first, then we take turns in clockwise order.”

Luckily enough, nobody seemed to protest the idea. And even luckier, or unluckier, they didn’t have any qualms about the order in which we went in either. Instead, they all more or less just nodded in agreement.

“I suppose that is reasonable,” Senji surmised before he sighed and broke his stare down with Wakuni. “The picture that Monokuma showed me pertained to Koike and when I was working for her family. It is not my most precious memory nor is it too important, but in light of Juichi’s death, it struck a nerve.

“I suppose I’m next then,” Machi said as she bit her lip. As she did, I felt some relief knowing that at least one other memory was serious. Nonetheless, I listened to every word Machi said more intently than I should have as she continued. “Mine was pretty minor actually. It was Halloween, the family was together, we all had fun, and it was a good day in general. Nothing special though.”

“Ah, that means it's my turn next,” Sanda remarked from the end of the table as he rested his head against he hands. In spite of everything, he smiled as well. “The picture I received was one of my first major performance. It was at my dad’s orphanage. Not a big deal in terms of starting my career or anything but my friends were there, everyone else was there, and I made everyone so happy.”

At that, Machi coughed on some rice that she swallowed. But before anyone could react, she recovered and asked as question as she reached out to grab a glass of water. “Wait, your parents run an orphanage?”

“Is it really that much of a surprise Machi? Hmm, well I guess its true that I don’t seem like I come from that type of family. Its true Machi. My parents run an orphanage. It was never glamorous but they helped a lot of people get off the streets. I just wish they spent more time with their own son,” Sanda began to trail off as his smile dropped. “Anyways, who’s next?”

“That would be me,” Sama said before she sighed and continued. “Monokuma showed me a picture of when I first became popular. Well, popular in the sense that everyone loved my reviews. It seems ridiculous now but it meant a lot to me at the time.”

At that, my sense of relief began to fade. Senji’s memory seemed pretty serious but it wasn’t anything close to what Monokuma gave me. And aside from Senji, everyone else seemed to have been given somewhat superficial memories. It was true that some of the memories discussed sounded as if they could be important to the people who had them, but none of them seem like something that someone would kill somebody over aside from Senji’s. Additionally, Monokuma sounded as if the motive was serious. So, I couldn’t help but tense up as Wakuni began to speak.

“Alright, the memory Monokuma gave me was when my brother and I first learned how to shoot guns,” Wakuni chimed in as he visibly relaxed. “It was a lovely little family trip and I was quite fond of it. That said, it's nothing worth killing over and if I do lose it, my brother and I can always just go on another trip if and when we escape.”

“Mine would have to the first time someone thanked me for saving their life,” Yakawa said with a shrug. “The actual act of saving the guy’s life wasn’t pleasant, it never is, but he got back to me some time later and it was the first time ever that I knew that someone would be able to live out the rest of their life because of me.”

At that, everyone turned towards Tanabe who just looked down at the table. Almost as if he didn’t want to speak up. But after a few seconds, he looked up at us and complied. “Please don’t laugh at me but my picture showed when I was first accepted into Hope’s Peak Academy’s Hokkaido branch. I know its always a big deal but for me, it was life-changing.”

And with that, it came down to me. It was the inevitable result of prodding everyone for information of course but it also meant that I would either have to explain to everyone that I was meant to be the culprit or lie to them. As much as I hated myself for it though, and for reasons that I didn’t even understand, I lied to them.

“Well, I guess I’m the only one left then,” I said as I looked straight at them. All the while, I felt sick with how easily I came up with the lie. “Well then. While it doesn’t sound like it was as important to me as it was to Tanabe, Monokuma gave me a very similar picture. It was of a celebration party after I received an acceptance letter to Hope’s Peak’s Hokkaido branch. It was the same deal mostly. My friends and family were celebrating and I knew that my life was going to change. It was probably the happiest time of my life.”

Finally, there was a pause as we all looked around at each other with the clarity that everyone’s explanation provided. The majority of the pictures weren’t worth killing anyone over but as we looked at each other, a few people probably came to mind.

“So,” Yakawa began to say as he finished his meal, crossed his arms, and intentionally avoided looking at Senji. “Now that everyone has revealed what stand to lose, who does Monokuma intend to provoke?”

At that, there was silence followed by a few grumbles among the group as seconds passed by. Based on how people looked around at each other, they had theories if their occasional glances were anything to go by, but ultimately, nobody said anything and disappointment hung in the air until Sama finally spoke up.

“I have no idea.” Sama admitted as she shook her head and sighed after about a second of thought. “I don’t think there’s any way that we can know for sure. And call me crazy but I don’t think Monokuma would make it this easy to stop a murder.”

“I also suspect that the would-be culprit lied,” Senji remarked calmly enough as he tapped the table with his left hand. “Nishi, I applaud your intentions but I am afraid that this event was ineffectual.”

*(You wouldn’t applaud my intentions if you knew what they were.)*

“I don’t suppose that you have any better ideas,” Sama remarked with sarcasm dripping in her tone as she put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him.

“Hmm,” Senji began as he raised his left hand to rub his chin in thought. “I suppose I do have one idea. For now, we could pair up into groups of two. Then, it would be impossible for the culprit to kill someone without getting caught since they would have their partner and their target would have their own partner making three people in total.”

At that, I bit my lip. Truthfully, I didn’t want to hurt anyone despite the fact that it had become obvious that the motive was intended for me. But at the same time, I truthfully, I didn’t want someone to be with me the entire time. I didn’t want to maintain a mask for the last sixteen or so hours before I forgot about the memories. And of course, there was the selfish part of me that didn’t want to guarantee that fate upon myself. So, even though I felt a rush of guilt, I shot down Senji’s suggestion.

“Unless someone decides to become an accomplice like you did,” I interjected calmly and coldly. Senji’s as visibly twitched at that in response. Truthfully, I didn’t have to add the last part, but I did anyways as I finished my breakfast. “I’m sorry Senji, but that would only make the next class trial harder. Assuming there is another class trial which I hope there isn’t.”

“I agree with Nishi,” Wakuni chimed in with a single nod of his nod. At that, most of the others did as well. “Does anyone else have any ideas that won’t make life harder for us?”

Once again, there was a pause as everyone failed to think of another way to prevent a murder until I decided to break the silence and excuse myself.

“I guess we’re just going to have to be careful then,” I said with disappointment in my tone. Even I didn’t know how genuine it was. Regardless, I grabbed my plate as well as my utensils and stood up. “If anyone needs me, I’m going to check the storage room. Then, I’m going to explore the new area.”

“Stay safe Nishi,” Tanabe said as he waved goodbye to me. Of course, I waved back to him.

“You too Tanabe,” I replied before turning to the others. “And the rest of you as well.”

Then, I headed to the kitchen, pushed my way through the doors, and gently laid everything that needed to be cleaned in the sink as the doors closed behind me. The moment they did, I allowed myself to sigh and stare down at the dishes in the sink. I didn’t want to commit a murder and I genuinely didn’t intend to kill someone, but what was I going to do? I didn’t want to forget.

After what felt like way too much time, I shook my head, sighed again, and finally pried myself away from the sink. As I thought about it, I realized that there was one silver lining to all of this and that was that was that nobody had to die. All I had to do was wait for the deadline to expire and nobody would die. It didn’t help the feeling of being metaphorically torn apart though.

Regardless, I set out to do what I promised and made my way to the storage. I headed to the back door reached out with my right hand, pushed it open, turned left towards the greenhouse, and went down the hall past the vending machine and the entrance to the greenhouse as well as the supply closet. From there, I went through the cross section, headed straight for the stairs, turned right, made my way down the stairs, passed the incinerator room at which point I noticed that the control panel was back to normal, and reached my destination at the end of the hallway.

From there, I grabbed the door handle, pulled it open. Like every day after a class trial, a new area was open in the back of the room. As I approached, I saw that it had the same caution tape and color scheme as before. And like many of the previous rooms, this one made me frown. In fact, it also sent a cold shiver down my spine as well.

The new area was almost completely devoid of furniture but it had three things of note. First and foremost, there was a dark brown wooden chair in the middle of the room with black straps for restraining someone by the shins, thighs, waist, shoulders, and wrists. Additionally, the chair in question was nailed down to what appeared to be a light metal grey pressure plate. Second, to the left of the chair was a light grey control panel that contained sixteen switches in a four by four grid. All of which fed into different colored wires that had color codes identical to the students’ color coded jackets and went into a red box below it that had no lid on the front, but instead contained a tangled mess of wires that went into various pieces of machinery and a yellow voltage symbol on the back. From there, I also noticed three red wires feed into a grey metal plate on a black headband. Third, I saw a square white box on the wall to the right close to me with an unlit green light on the top and a note etched into a white plaque below. And finally, there was a single lit light bulb that hung by a grey wire in front of the chair.

I took a few steps closer to the plaque and silently read what it had to say.

‘A game of trust! Strap someone into the chair, put the band on their head, and flip a switch! One will unlock the box you see here and provide a token to receive a never before seen clue to the mastermind’s identity. All of the other ones will fry whoever is in the chair! So strap in and try for the best! Or don’t! One zap and you’ll be on a one way trip to a class trial and possible graduation! The token is only valid if obtained through this game.’

I winced as I took several steps back away from the notice, the chair itself, and the entire room. The chair appeared to have a somewhat unorthodox design given its purpose. But other than that, it was obvious from the very start but the room was set up so that someone had to sit in what was an electric chair to play for a clue and die if the person operating it failed. For a moment, as my mind raced, the possibility that the clue was the same as the one that Senji was given also came to me. But, as I recalled the note claimed that it was never before seen so that concern went away at the very least. Either way, I shook my head in disgust.

*(I have to do something about this. This isn’t just an invitation to murder someone, this is an invitation to torture someone to death. Why did Monokuma even put this here in the first place? Even if I were to kill someone, I wouldn’t strap them to an electric chair and shock them to death. Wait. Why am I considering hypothetical scenarios where I kill someone?!)*

I didn’t even want to know how I managed to let a thought like that even enter my head. But I did. Regardless, I did my best to shrug it off, move on, and look around the room objectively for something to sabotage. I failed at remaining objective about the scenario as the lingering concern and self-disgust drifted in my head, but I did find something to stop the chair from working.

Quickly, I looked both ways, walked towards the wires that led to the headband, knelt down, picked it up with my left hand, and reached into my pocket with my right hand to pull out my knife. From there, I proceeded to cut the wires one by one. Sure enough, just as I thought, there weren’t any currents going through the wires. And within seconds, I was able to stand up, toss the now useless headset against the back wall, and listen as it gave a satisfying smack and then clatter as it hit its target and dropped like a stone to the ground.

*(There. It’ll probably be at least an hour before Monokuma replaces that.)*

As I pocketed my knife, turned around, and began to walk away from the setup, I couldn’t help but feel a mild rush of irritation at knowing that Monokuma was almost certainly going to replace the parts like he always did. But, at the very least, I sent the message that I wasn’t going to participate in his little ‘game of trust’.

With that, I headed out. I pushed the door open, headed into the cold hallway, marched past the incinerator room, proceeded up the stairway, went right at the crossroads, made my way past the hall to the class trial room, passed the back of the AV room, passed the hallway to the lounge, and made my way to the room with all the staircases. Overall, it the entire trip went without incident. However, the image of what I saw still flashed in my mind.

Nonetheless, when I looked around the room, it didn’t take me very long to find the basement entrance. True to Monokuma’s word, there was a single white-doored, entrance that led to a downward flight of stairs that appeared to go straight and then curve off to the left ninety degrees towards the direction of the AV room. Presumably to another downward flight of stairs. Just like he promised, it was directly across from the stairwell that led to the second floor. And thankfully, it lacked a card reader of any kind although that was only fair since none of the new areas appeared to require an ElectroID. Those were usually only needed for individual rooms.

Regardless, I proceeded to the stairs, slowly proceeded down them. From there, I went down the final flight of stairs and gazed upon my surroundings. Overall, it wasn’t too different from the other floors in terms of style and design, but it appeared to follow a different layout than the other floors and follow a different color scheme. Notably, the wall was dark velvety red instead of dark green or dark blue.

As for the layout, the moment I saw the bottom, I saw a T-juncture with a wide window ahead with another room on the other side of it. I tried to look through the window of course, but it had shutters so I couldn’t quite make out what was on the other side. Furthermore, as I stepped down to the bottom of the staircase, I looked both left and right. And as I did, I saw that both areas had T-junctions of their own.

*(Hmm. Based on what I know so far, it looks as if the entire hallway loops around. The only question now is, where should I go first?)*

I took one more quickly glance in both directions, shrugged, and ultimately decided to go clockwise. After all, it mattered very little in the grand scheme of things. Especially in light of everything that was going through my mind at the moment.

With that, I did what I decided to do. I turned left, proceeded down the hallway while I looked around at my environment, turned left again, travelled a small distance farther, and arrived at a dark brown door with a silver knob. From there, I simply grabbed the door with my right hand, turned the knob, opened it, and stepped inside to observe my surroundings. The moment I did, I felt a noticeable drop in temperature and shivered briefly as a result.

The room itself was the same color and design as the hallway, but the room was also lined with eight dark brown desks with four on both sides of the room facing the direction of the far end of the room, sixteen brown wooden four legged chairs with two at each table also facing the far end of the room, and a thick black computer monitor in front of each chair complete with a keyboard as well as a tower and mouse. Honestly, it wasn’t that much different than the layout of the AV room but it lacked the projector and screen at the end.

*(Maybe Monokuma ran out of ideas on what to use this room for.)*

That much seemed obvious. But I wasn’t about to complain. Instead, after a second of thought, I darted over to the nearest seat, sat down in it, started up the computer, and scanned the screen fervently as the dark blue screensaver showed up with Hope’s Peak’s Hokkaido Branch crest in the center of it for anything that would allow me to contact the outside world. And for that moment, while I looked, my pulse raced. Not with fear, but with the hope that the mastermind had gotten sloppy and left us with something we could use.

As it turned out. He or she hadn’t. But more importantly, the only applications on the entire screen included a brochure to some island and a workout video. I clicked the first to see a picture of Monokuma posing in the sand of some beach with a coconut drink that half and black and white swirly straw in his left hand and palm trees on either side of him. Aside from that, the postcard said “Aloha from Jabberwock Island!”. After that, I clenched my teeth and clicked on the video.

My reward for that was a Monokuma in a sleeveless black workout shirt along with a red headband repeating various exercises with random weights on a blank light blue floor with a blank psychedelic void in the background and to a cliche sounding workout song that I admittedly had never heard about before. Sometimes, he had nothing, sometimes he had weights attached to a deadlift bar, and other times, he had individual weights for each hand. But ultimately, the combination of stretches and exercises looped back seamlessly to the start of the video. And when I finally clicked off of both applications, leaned back, and pinched the bridge of my nose with my right hand, I felt a mixture of confusion, irritation, and a feeling that I could only describe to that of a balloon being deflated.

*(What am I going to do?)*

It was then that I heard footsteps approach the room. In response, I stood up and turned around towards the source of the noise. And when I did, I saw Sama Koetsu standing in the doorway looking around and crossing her arms in an unsuccessful attempt to repress a shiver.

“Some creative genius this room is,” Sama remarked with dry sarcasm in her voice. After that, she lowered her arms and her tone became much more friendly. “Whatever. Nishi, if it's alright, could we explore the rest of the lodge together? I mean, two sets of eyes are better than one or whatever stupid phrase that was. I got it from a particularly dumb horror novel but it was years ago.”

Truthfully, I didn’t want her to come with me. I didn’t want to waste time under Sama’s watch, I didn’t want to pretend that everything was alright when it wasn’t, and a part of me just didn’t want to be watched for the time. But, I knew that if the motive wasn't aimed at me, I would have accepted her offer. So, I didn’t have much of a choice.

“You’re always welcome Sama,” I said with a fake smile and a quick nod.

“Wonderful,” Sama agreed with a smile of her own. Probably a genuine smile if I had to guess. “So, I am going to assume that Monokuma didn’t leave anything useful here. But just in case I’m wrong, did you find anything worth mentioning?”

“Unless you consider an electronic postcard to some fictional tropical island or a workout video feature Monokuma to be of value, no,” I answered after I shook my head. “I was actually just about to leave before you showed up.”

“Well, I guess it was inevitable. The mastermind seems intent on making sure that his or her plans go off without a hitch,” Sama remarked before giving a sigh. “I’m actually surprised at how thorough they are to pull something of this magnitude off. Regardless, I’m ready to leave when you are.”

I nodded. And with that, the two of us stepped outside of the room and Sama closed the door behind us. Then, once we heard it shut completely, I led the way down the hallway that I hadn’t gone down yet. Sure enough, I also noticed a right turn ahead to confirm my suspicion that the area loops around the room in the center of it all. Additionally, I noticed another shuttered window on the right side of the hallway. However, I took the most interest in a dark brown wooden door to the left in the center of the hallway. So, like the previous one, I reached out, opened the door, and stepped inside.

When we did, we were immediately assaulted with a distinct odor. And as the two of us covered our noses with our right hands and looked around, we could see why. The room was dimly lit and entirely made of wood aside from a single black metal light that hung from the ceiling. From the floor to the walls to the surprising wedge loft on the ceiling, it was simply cherry wood. All of which created the appearance of a barn right down to the fake image of an outdoor pasture on the far end of the room just past two open red doors. At that, I took a second glance at the loft and realized that everything from the cross beams onward was just an image as well.

But, that wasn’t all that the barn had in it. The barn had its own indoor chicken coop in the far left corner, three pins that each contained a live horse in the far right corner, one with red hair, one with white hair, and one with black hair, a large pin to the immediate left where a dozen of pigs were stuffed, and a very large bundle of hay as well as an open tool shed to the right. What caught my attention amongst it all was that the tool shed was much smaller than the one in the greenhouse, lacked a lock, and was filled to the brim with dangerous-looking farming tools including red electric shears that were useless thanks to a lack of sheep, a grey hoe with a razor-sharp edge, two pairs of gloves with one green pair with orange palms and one blue pair with black palms, and a grey pitchfork that looked particularly dangerous.

Moments passed as Sama looked around the room. And as she did, we both lowered our hands to our sides and it became increasingly obvious to me that I was fixed on the objects. So, with disgust stirring in me, I looked away from the tools and looked back at Sama who had her back turned to me.

*(Geeze. When you’re the target of a motive, the dangerous objects tend to grab your attention, don't they? Of course, it doesn’t help that Sama has her back turned to me and that I- no- bad thoughts lead to bad actions Nishi!)*

Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, Sama didn’t seem to notice how I was acting because when she spoke up, it was about something trivial. “It sure smells in here, doesn’t it? I suppose the animals are nice and all but maybe we should get out of here before it sticks to us.”

“Yeah,” I agreed a little more fervently than I should have. Truthfully, I just felt a small sense of relief for the excuse to get out of the room. “I’ll be sure to tell Tanabe about this place though. I’m sure he’d love it.”

Sama must have agreed because when I said that, she nodded. Regardless, the two of us turned around, I opened the door again, we both head out into the hallways, I closed the door behind us, and the two of us began to continue in the direction that we were headed before we entered the barn area. It was then that Sama spoke up.

“So Nishi,” Sama asked sincerely. “How are you holding up?”

“Well, I’m doing okay,” I answered. Albeit with some weariness in my tone. “Both the motives are problematic and- I really don’t want there to be another murder. But it's nothing that you need to worry about. Just stick with me, and we’ll make it to the deadline. How are you doing?”

“Well, today is a mixed bag. I don’t want to bet my life on the deduction skills of other groups and there’s an impending murder that’s expected to happen before midnight. You know, I’m not that great with class trials,” Sama said before she sighed. “On the bright side though, the Shoda brothers and I are on good terms with each other. As strange as it sounds, I actually feel safer them.”

*(So, Wakuni did what I asked. Good to hear.)*

“I suppose they have that effect,” I genuine agreed. “It probably helps that one of them has a talent dedicated to keeping people alive. It also helps that they’re both here so its unlikely that either of them are going to commit a murder and doom their own brother. They can be intimidating but they are ultimately harmless.”

As I finished what I said, the two of us rounded the next corner and went right down the hallway once more. To my surprise, there weren’t any doors on the right side of the hall here either though there was another long shuttered window. Instead, However, there was one on the left side of the hall close to the far end of it. The two of us briskly made our way there, Sama opened the door, the two of us stepped inside, and Sama closed the door behind us with an audible click.

When we did, we were greeted with the noise of grinding machinery as well as the occasional slosh of water. Fittingly, the room reflected as much. The walls and ceiling were a dark grey divited metal albeit covered in dark grey pipes of various sizes. And aside from where the equipment was, the floor was a rustic brown colored grate with grey trims and water flowing freely underneath it all about three stories down. As for the equipment itself, on the far end of the room, I noticed a grey box with a screen terminal, a yellow heat caution symbol, and two steam vents on the right side. And on the left side, I saw two similarly colored pistons that fed into the machine and alternated between striking the ground every few seconds. Overall, the place looked extremely hazardous.

It was then that I heard Monokuma’s voice behind me. And as I expected of him, he sounded as cheerful as ever. “I see you’ve found one of my favorite rooms in the whole lodge! Welcome to the water pumping station! The room that feeds water to every other part of the lodge. I can’t give you any ideas because I’m not supposed to help but there are so many ways to kill someone with this room.”

As we turned around to face the bear, I just winced as a few of the ideas came to mind. The exposed hydraulic pistons, the steam, cutting them, removing the floor grate, and leaving them to drown so that the blood from their wound tips off everyone that something is wrong but they don’t find the person in time. In fact, you could probably drug everyone unconscious without leaving the room and then kill someone while everyone else was asleep. This room truly was one of the most dangerous rooms in the lodge.

I tried not to think about that last one. I really tried not to think about that last one. Especially since I already knew that Sama would be the obvious victim on account of being the only person to witness my coming here, Senji or Machi would make the perfect scapegoats, and a drug cabinet was available with all of its contents clearly labeled.

*(I hate you so much right now Monokuma.)*

“You do know who you’re talking to right?” Sama deadpanned as she narrowed her eyes at the plushie. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re legit talking to the two people the least likely to do your bidding. Why the heck is the deadline for this midnight anyways?”

“I said it before. I’m on a schedule,” Monokuma explained without budging an inch. For a few seconds, Sama just looked at Monokuma and waited as if he were going to explain himself, but he didn’t. So, Sama just shook her head in frustration and started to leave.

“Come on Nishi,” Sama said as she opened the door with evident irritation in her voice. “Let's get out of here before the floor gives way or something equally bad happens.”

I nodded at that. Not wanting something bad to happen was an excuse for the real reason she wanted to leave. But of all the reasons to leave an incredibly dangerous room, ditching Monokuma was one of the best ones. Perhaps just as good as getting away from all the dangerous machinery in the first place. So, I followed Sama out of the room and back into the hallways. Then, I waited for the door to shut between ourselves and Monokuma.

But the moment it did, Monokuma emerged from the floor seemingly out of nowhere, it a single front flip, and landed perfectly on his feet. He looked as though he were oblivious but my better judgment told me that he was sticking around because we were trying to get rid of him.

“Are you really that worried about the flooring Sama? No trust in Hope’s Peak’s quality modeling?” Monokuma jabbed as he waved his arms around to catch our attention. After that, he dropped them. “I wonder what kind of panic attack you’ll have when the next inevitable class trial rolls in. Assuming you aren’t the next victim. Wouldn’t that be something? All that creativity and linguistics you pride yourself in, gone in an instant.”

“Come on Sama,” I interjected as I started to walk away. Despite everything, not for my own good but for Sama’s. To that extent, I looked over my right shoulder and beckoned with my right hand for her to come. “You have nothing to fear from this motive. You’re with me, remember?”

Sama and Monokuma both followed us and the latter spoke up. “Even if she is safe until the class trial, there’s still the matter of the class trial itself you know.”

“Sama knows what I mean Monokuma,” I added as the three of us round the next corner. Unlike the others, this one contained several doors including two on the left of the hall close to us, one of the right of the hallway in between two smaller shuttered windows, one on the left far away from us, and one on the far end of the hall that was metal instead of wooden and looked as if it were electronically opened. The door had glass and the hallway continued after that, but the glass had metal wire in it. Regardless, I stopped and continued what I had to say. “There might not even be a murder and you know it. The last one only happened because of an accident. And in case you haven’t noticed, we have a perfect record so if there is a murder, we’ll just figure out who the culprit is again.”

“Upupu. Even if you’re right, then what about the other classes?” Monokuma said as he put his arms to his mouth in mock thought. Then, he dropped them. “it's just something that you might want to consider. Your lives are hanging in the balance after all.”

At that, he finally seemed to think that we had enough of him and he jumped back into the wall and more or less vanished without a trace into thin air. Like always, it gave me a headache, but I decided not to question it. Instead, I turned towards the two wooden doors that were next to each other. As I looked, I noticed that they both keyholes on the doorknobs and golden plaques on them. The closest one's plaque said ‘Headmaster’s Room’ and the second one said ‘Headmaster’s Office’.

“I have a feeling that these are going to be locked. They probably contain all sorts of sensitive information,” I muttered to Sama without so much as looking away from the doors. “Nonetheless, we ought to try them. The mastermind may have made a mistake. I’ll try to open the room, you try to open the office.”

*(Though I doubt it will work. The mastermind just won’t give me a break.)*

Regardless, Sama was happy enough to obey the request. We both grabbed the handles, we both tried to turn them. But, neither of the doors would budge. And when I gave up and stepped back, Sama just looked back at me and shook her head.

“You were right Nishi, they’re locked,” Sama relented before she bit her lip. “I really hate that bear and everything he does to make our lives miserable.”

“You and me both Sama,” I said with exasperation evident in my tone. “I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it though, let's just keep searching. Even if we don’t find anything useful, we might find something enjoyable.”

Before Sama could answer, I noticed the lights from the room to our right turn on as the shutters slid open. I took one brief glance through the windows and to my surprise, it appeared to be a fairly nice room. For colors, the walls and ceiling were white save for the three wide windows, but the floor was wooden like the rest of the lounge except for a large square psychedelic carpet that covered most of the floor.

For furniture, It had a square minigolf area in the far left corner complete with a light brown wooden rack on the far wall next to it that contained two clubs and a tube with several gold balls all of different colors. On the far right was a vending machine and a drink machine just similar to the vending machine on the first floor. On the corner right closest to us, there was a cabinet much like one in the game room. In the center of the room, there were two cushiony black couches that faced each other with a polished chess-style mahogany table in between. In particular, Yakawa sat himself down in the one farthest from us.

So, I went down the hallway along with Sama, turned to face the door, reached out my hand, opened the door for Sama, followed her inside, and let the door close gently behind us. It went uneventfully overall but when we entered the room, Yakawa looked up, smiled, and waved at us.

“Hey Nishi, hey Sama. How goes the search?,” Yakawa mused before he looked around the place. “As far as I am aware, I think I found the staff lounge. It took me a little bit longer than I would have appreciated to find the lights but oh well I guess.”

“So far we’ve found a computer room, a room modeled after a barn, a water pumping station, the headmaster’s room, and the headmaster’s office,” I surmised with a faint smile of my own. However, the smile quickly dropped a moment later. “We haven’t found anything particularly useful though. Those last two rooms are locked so it doesn’t matter what's inside of them.”

“That is a shame,” Yakawa said as his own smile dropped. “I’m afraid there aren’t any new clues on this floor then. Not according to what my brother told me anyways. It looks like we’re just going to have to ride these motives out and hope nobody ends up dead.”

“Speaking of which, Monokuma said that he gave the other classes motives to deal with didn’t he?” Sama asked with concern evident in her tone. “Even if we manage to stop this murder, we could all end up dead based on the actions of another class.”

“We’re just going to have to trust the judgement of the other classes,” I affirmed while I bit my lip at the notion of preventing another murder in this class. Ironically, this was the one time where I had the power to prevent a murder and I hated every second of it. Regardless, I continued. “That’s all we can do really. We literally don’t have any other choice.”

“I know that Nishi. I just hope that they can be trusted,” Yakawa said before shaking his head and taking a brief moment to pause. “Anyways, would either of you like to sit down? We can play games and talk about more pleasant things like your talents or something along those lines.”

“Well, I have already volunteered to help Nishi explore the rest of the basement,” Sama said as she tapped her chin in thought with her right pointer finger. “But if you’re still here, I’ll be back when we’re finished.”

“Sama’s right. I still want to see what the rest of the rooms have to offer,” I added with a single nod of agreement. “But if we finish before dinner or whatever is next, I’ll be sure to come back here with Sama.”

“Well, okay then,” Yakawa said with a hint of disappointment in his tone as he crossed his arms. “I guess you’re going to leave, you might as well know what my brother and I have found. That metal door appears to lead to some detainment wing based on what I saw through the glass but the door is locked and Monokuma confirmed that its a locked area. Wakuni meanwhile, found a station to monitor the rooms in the detainment wing though the monitors don’t work. If you leave now, you might still find him in that room.”

“That’s probably what we’re going to do, to be honest,” I admitted before I paused and added one more thing. “And stay safe Yakawa.”

“Same for you two as well,” Yakawa said as he returned a smile and waved goodbye to us. “See you two later.”

With that, we waved back to him and turned around. I pushed the door open, we both went outside, and we both headed in the direction of the metal door without so much as waiting for the door to close behind us. Overall, it was an uneventful trip. But when we reached our destination, the thought came to my mind that the door before us led to the final room that was available to us. And perhaps, my final chance to escape the second dose of amnesia that Monokuma had planned for me. Regardless, from there, Sama opened the door to the armory and the two of us stepped inside. All the while, I fought back a chill that ran through my bones.

My heart sank as I actually looked around the room. It was dimly lit, but based on its appearance, it all appeared to be fairly simplistic. The walls were black and the ceiling was a dark grey panelled ceiling with just a few lights to illuminate the room. As for the furniture, there was a black mesh six-legged swivel chair where Wakuni currently sat, a control panel in front of it with no less than eight different monitors, and a grey square stand on the right wall with a simple black and round coffee machine next to it.

Furthermore, the room contained its fair share of weapons and other dangerous equipment. In the back of the room, there was a caged off area but the door to it lacked a lock on it and behind it were all kinds of dangerous things. For starters, there was black riot gear including the basic clothes, gloves, boots, body armor, a shield, and a helmet with a tinted back visor. Additionally, Guns as all kinds from rifles to shotguns to tear gas launchers to what looked like an assault rifle. And to top it all off, it had all the extra things such as handcuffs, tasers, stun guns, and enough ammunition to kill everyone in the lodge ten times over. All of which were neatly grouped together and hung from hooks on the wall in the back.

For a brief moment, I was fixated on the objects that were meant to be in a secure area. Naturally, it was almost everything that a killer could ever need to get away with a murder. Especially since before this room was unlocked, people had to jump through at least a few hoops to disguise themselves and hide their identity.

*(The guns are loud enough to where a gunshot related murder would be easy to solve. But if I were to commit a murder- I mean, if someone were to commit a murder, then- I mean they could disguise themselves with the gear far more easily than they would with the coats and nobody would even be able to tell what gender they were. The handcuffs and other stuff are just icing on the cake.)*

It was then that Wakuni sighed, shook his head, and swiveled around to see us. As I heard the noise and turned around, I saw that he was frowning. If I had to guess, it was because of either the guns or the locked door he found.

“Hey Nishi, hey Sama,” He said with a quick wave and a dry tone. “Have you seen Senji? The guy left after breakfast and I haven’t been able to find him since. I- do admit that I may have gotten sidetracked with this room but still. He has no right to be running off after that stunt he pulled yesterday.”

“I’m afraid not. We’ve explored the rest of the area and we didn’t find Senji anywhere,” Sama said as she crossed her arms. “Let me tell you though, Monokuma isn’t very original with his rooms based on the first one we’ve found.”

“Well that’s to be expected,” Wakuni said with a sigh as he brought his right hand to the bridge of his nose. “With the way he acted this morning, I’m beginning to think that he might not be so unbiased as he lets on. I think he intends for the next class that has a murder to fail their class trial.” At that, a beat of sweat appeared on Sama’s forehead and Wakuni quickly explained himself. “Sama, that’s just conjecture. I could be wrong and I probably am wrong. Just relax. All we have to do is wait until midnight and we beat this motive. Assuming that Senji is still okay.”

At that, I winced. I didn’t want Monokuma to go through with his motive and I wasn’t too pleased with Senji at the moment, but just like at the class trial room, I didn’t want him to die. And I didn’t want someone else to murder him and die either. Not to protect their memories. They were going to be painful for me to lose them. But they weren’t worth the lives of my classmates.

*(I hope Senji just ran off.)*

I was about to suggest searching for him when Sanda more or less slid across the floor into view of the doorway all while maintaining a perfect balance of his feet. As soon as he did, he just waved to us with a big smile on his face. For what reason was anyone’s guess before he spoke up.

“Hey, um. I hope I’m not interrupting anything here,” Sanda began in a more serious tone as he lowered his hands back down to his sides. “But Machi wants to see everyone in the cafeteria. It's important.”

“Is everyone going to be there?” I asked simply.

“Well, Yakawa is headed there right now,” Sanda said with a shrug. “But other than that, you’re the only ones who haven’t shown up yet. In fact, we even managed to get Tanabe to show up somehow. Don’t ask me how we found him.”

*(It looks like we’ve found Senji.)*

Wakuni must have thought so as well. Because for a moment, he facepalmed himself with his right hand. And when he lowered it, he spoke in agreement. “Alright then. We might as well head there so that nobody is kept waiting.”

And so, we all headed out of the room. Wakuni was first but I followed and Sama proceeded out the door last. After that, we all followed Sanda back to the stairs, climbed them, turned right, climbed the last flight of stairs, turned right again, headed past the front of the AV room, passed by the first aid station, and made our way down the hallway. After that, Sanda opened the door for the rest of us and we all stepped inside.

I wasn’t sure about the others, but my eyes went wide with surprise as the door closed behind us and I looked around. On the table closest to us were about as many sea food choices as one could think of on top of rice, plantains, and other vegetables. Likewise, there were plates and utensils lined out for us as well. Furthermore, Sanda was telling the truth because everyone else was here and everyone other than Machi was neatly sat in the center table. But what caught my attention the most however, was Sanda heading over to Machi who was standing up and appeared to be addressing the class.

“Alright, alright everyone,” Machi said with a surprisingly warm smile. “You’re probably wondering why I brought you all here. Especially when some of you weren’t so easy for either of us to find-”

“Basically, we wanted to apologize,” Sanda blurted out next to Machi as I began to grab a plate. That made me stop and look up. “That, and we found a clue that we’ll be discussing in a moment once we’re finished with the apology.”

“Sanda was a bit blunt but he’s right,” Machi relented with a more neutral tone and a quick nod. “Saeki’s made me think about this for a while, and Saeki’s and Koike’s deaths has given me time to think to myself. As obvious as it is, I’ve come to realize just how horrible of a person I’ve been. But you all know that already. You all have seen the plans I once made to kill you. I- I’m not good with words but- I’m just going to say it. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything I’ve done guys. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness or trust, but I hope someday I can make up for all the bad things I’ve done. And- if- and I only mean if- something bad is going to happen to us soon, then I at least want to try to be the best classmate going forward that I can be before it happens. So Nishi, Wakuni, Yakawa, Senji, Tanabe, Sama, I’m not here to demand forgiveness. But I’m here to apologize and I promise to do everything in my power to make things right from here on.”

“I’m not in the exact same boat, but I would like to apologize as well,” Sanda said as he looked down at the floor and hung his head in what seemed to be shame. “I never tried to kill anyone but I have certainly made light of problems that other people consider to be pretty important. That is doubly true for you Tanabe and I deeply apologize for that. Like Machi, I intend to be a better person going forward and focus on other people instead of myself. That’s why we made this apology dinner here actually.”

It didn’t take too much time for someone to respond. In fact, Sama spoke up before Machi and Sanda could even sit down. “I forgive you both. Sanda, the worst you’ve ever done is annoy me. And Machi, while I would very much not like die some messy and or painful death, I think it's obvious that you’ve changed since then.”

“To add to that, you did abandon those murder plans,” Senji pointed out as he rubbed his chin with his left hand. After that, he lowered it. “I am not in any real position to be forgiving other people and I understand why many of you may be upset with me as well. But because you asked, I forgive you both as well.”

“No problem,” Yakawa said a smile and a nod of his own. “In fact, I’ve already forgiven you a long time ago Machi. I know someone who is trying to change when I see them after all. Just try to treat my brother better from here on out.”

And with that, the easily forgiving people had forgiven the two and it was more or less down to Wakuni, Tanabe, and myself. Not that there was anything at stake here but it did warm my heart to see people so easily willing to move on. Regardless, a part of me had the feeling that the next part wouldn’t be so pleasant. Wakuni and Machi have been irritated with each other since the first class trial, Tanabe wasn’t too happy with Sanda’s behavior as of late, and while I wasn’t going to spit in Machi’s face after this, it wasn’t easy for me to let go of what happened in the first class trial either.

“We have almost never seen eye to eye Machi. And you’ll never be my favorite, but-” Wakuni grumbled and rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. “I can’t hold grudges forever. Especially not after you reach out to us. I don’t have a heart of stone after all. So sure. I might as well forgive you.”

Machi stepped back in what looked like clear and evident surprise that Wakuni had forgiven her. And to be honest, I couldn’t blame her given the feud that Wakuni and Machi had with each other. She recovered quickly, of course, but I saw it and I was pretty sure that I wasn’t the only one either.

“How about you Tanabe?” Sanda dared to ask as he looked up at him. “I totally messed up these past two days. No, scratch that, ever since we’ve found out that we were trapped in a mutual killing game. I can’t promise that I’ll be perfect, but I’m trying to change. Will-”

“Yes,” Tanabe uttered with a quick nod. “Everyone messes up. Sooner or later, we all need forgiveness and it would be pretty immature of me to hold everything you do against you. Don’t get me wrong, some of the things you do hurt, but I need to look past that sooner or later.”

With that, I was the last person. Furthermore, everyone else knew it too because most of the people who sat down looked in my direction and silence filled the air for a few moments as they waited for me to say something. At least, they did before Machi spoke up.

“Guys, Sama, she doesn’t have to say anything,” Machi argued. “I- uh. I know I’ve done quite a few things that have upset her. And while she was unconscious at the summit, I heard enough of her sleep talking to know that the plan I made to murder her reopened old wounds. Wounds that I will not talk about because she is entitled to her privacy, but ones that are there.”

“Its okay Machi,” I said. I felt a lump in my throat but I swallowed. “I refuse to be the only person here that can’t move on. We can’t- we can’t let our past control us. And besides, if something bad is going to happen to us, I don’t want there to be any hard feelings. I forgive you Machi. And uh- there isn’t anything to forgive in Sanda’s case so yeah.”

At that, I grabbed my plate and utensils, grabbed a piece of salmon along with rice, a glass of water, and a side of tofu, and proceeded to find a seat between Machi and Sanda as well as across from Senji, Sama, and Tanabe. All the while, Machi looked as if some burden were lifted and she were on the verge of tears. And for that moment, in spite of everything, including the two motives, all I could feel was happiness for her and for whatever time we had left to eat dinner together as we all began to eat.

“Thank you guys. Thank you- thank you all,” She managed to say. At that, she reached her right hand into her pocket. “Oh, and I almost forgot, we did promise you guys a clue didn’t we? You need to see this.”

At that, Machi pulled a picture out of her pocket and held it up for all of us to see. When I looked at the pocket, both my eyes widened with surprise. Part of the picture was cropped out, but I saw none of than Makoto Neagi posing for a picture with three other people that appeared to be his age. Two of which were men and one was female. The background was that of a fancy dinner party with embroidered velvet and gold carpet, white walls akin to what you might find in greek marble, and a similarly designed ceiling. The room appeared to be neatly lined with dark brown chairs with velvet cushions and round tables colored in similar tablecloth as well. All organized neatly into a grid of tables and populated by dozens of guests. The only thing that was symmetrical in the room was a black marble piano in the back near the far right corner. Below that, there was a description of the picture.

‘Makoto Neagi - Headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy’s Central Campus.’
‘Fujimoto Tadashi - Headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy’s Hokkaido Branch.’
‘Ricardo Durant - Headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy’s European Campus.’
‘Evelyn Rose - Headmaster of Hope’s Peak Academy’s North American Campus.’
‘Picture taken by-’

Below that, the caption was cropped out. But what I saw was more than enough to jog my mind. I didn’t even remember there being a branch of Hope’s Peak in Europe or North America. Nor did I remember the names of anyone but Makoto Neagi, yet here they were. For a moment, I closed my eyes and tried to remember anything that was connected to their names or their campuses, but when I opened my eyes, I came up with nothing.

“It took some problem solving to get this, that and I needed Sanda as a volunteer, but I got it and Monokuma even confirmed that the mastermind was involved in this picture,” Machi said confidently as she pocketed the picture once more. “On a related note, I got the picture from the game of trust as Monokuma calls it in the storage room so none of you need to try it. In fact, please don’t. That chair is very dangerous.”

“Wait, I checked that area out earlier when I was searching for Senji,” Wakuni said as he stopped eating and looked up at Machi. “Machi, did you seriously strap Sanda to the electric chair?”

“We both agreed to it and Machi checked the wiring three times before we even brought it up,” Sanda defended on Machi’s behalf. “I figured Machi had the best chance of figuring out which switch didn’t kill me. Anyways, I was a bit nervous but we both agreed to this and we both were risking our lives so I went through with it anyways.”

“Right,” Senji remarked as he brought his left hand up to rub his forehead and sighed. “So now that we have access to the clue, does anyone have any idea as to how to narrow down which of these four is the person impersonating anyone? It's probable that Makoto or Fujimoto are behind this but there is no guarantee.”

“Why do you think it's one of them?” Sama asked as she raised her right eyebrow at Senji.

“It does not necessarily have to be either or them, but both of them are in the best position to abduct us,” Senji replied calmly as he lowered his left arm. “But that is pure speculation. I am afraid that I have no way to confirm my theory.”

“I can't imagine Makoto doing something like this anyway,” I defended a little more insistently than I should have. “He saved Hope’s Peak Academy, he’s an actual hero. He would never put us through something like this.”

As I looked around at the others, I could tell that they weren’t entirely convinced by my argument. And truthfully, I couldn’t blame them because I myself had absolutely no reason to believe that he was innocent. However, the acknowledgment that it was probably one of the headmasters stung like a knife. Especially with the fact that Makoto might very well be the person behind everything.

*(I really don't want Makoto to be the mastermind. I don’t think I could handle that.)*

“It looks like we have no definitive proof,” Tanabe replied breaking me from my stupor. “I hate to say it, but I don’t think we’re going to find out who is behind this and get out of here before the deadline of the motive. Machi, Sanda, you made a good effort though so thank you. Whatever comes next, thank you all.”

Internally, I winced once more as they brought the motive up again. For a brief moment, I had forgotten, but the fact remained that I stood to forget everything that that picture stood for. Unless I killed someone of course, but I didn’t want to harm anyone.

*(I guess there are no good options for me. This is going to suck.)*

“Which means we had better be ready for tonight,” Sanda solemnly noted with a quick nod of agreement. “I do have a plan though if you’re willing to listen. We don’t have much time before night time anyways. If we all head to our rooms and stay there, the intended culprit will miss their deadline.”

My pulse picked up considerably at that. It only took me a split second to realize that I would be condemning myself to whatever fate Monokuma had in store for me if I let Sanda’s proposal be accepted by the group. But at the same time, I didn’t intend to commit a murder anyways. As painful as the motive was going to be, my classmate’s lives were worth suffering through it.

*(You’re not going to commit a murder anyways Nishi, just let them agree.)*

“Well, that’s as good of an idea as any,” Yakawa said after a few seconds of silence. I knew he was going to accept, but when he did, I felt a wave of cold dread as I mentally reminded myself not to argue. Regardless, he continued. “We’ve gained everything that we can from searching the lodge today. And as Machi has told me before, her drones will still be searching the place.”

“Don’t worry about that. I have search routines lined up like clockwork,” Machi reassured while brushing the notion aside with her right hand. “That said, I will be late heading to bed. I have one more thing that I need to take care of. And before you ask, yes I know how dangerous this is. I’ll have a drone dedicated to guarding me so anyone who tries anything against me will get a non-lethal but very unpleasant shock.”

“Speaking of which, I found something earlier in the storage room. I need to double check what I found but it may be a clue as to why we’re here,” I lied with a surprising amount of ease. Though to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure why I lied. “That said, I do agree with Sanda’s proposal. I’ll be headed back to my room as soon as I can and I’ll show you all the next time we meet.”

“Hmm,” Wakuni grunted. “If people are going to be out, then someone has to stand guard. I’ll stay up for a little while to make sure that everyone comes back safely. Once everyone is in their rooms, I’ll head to mine.”

“It sounds like we have a plan that might actually work,” Sama said with a hint of happiness in her tone. “As long as we stay in our rooms until the deadline, we’ll all make it through this motive.”

“Indeed,” Tanabe agreed in his usual quiet tone with a nod. “Let's all just remember to keep our doors shut though because we don’t want anyone to turn up dead at the last second.”

“Well, it sounds like we’re all in agreement,” I said I grabbed my plate, drinks, and utensils, and stood up. “I have a few notes in my room that I need to grab but after that, I’ll be in the storage room if anyone needs me for any reason.”

“See you around Nishi,” Yakawa said with a wave of his right hand as a few people began to finish up their own food and grab their own plates as well. “And stay safe. Just this once, we only have a little while longer to go to beat this motive.”

*(Yeah. And then I have to suffer.)*

I stopped for a second. But I resumed what I was doing quickly enough. So, I headed into the kitchen, pushed open the double doors, and put everything back where it belonged. From there, I headed back out of the kitchen into the cafeteria, and passed by my colleagues once more. As I did, I noticed that some of them were starting to get up as well. In particular, Wakuni, Senji, and Machi were all not too far behind me. Regardless, I continued straight to the door on the other end of the cafeteria, pushed the door open, stepped out into the hallway that led to the first aid station. It was then, and only then, when I heard the door close behind me, that I allowed myself to stop for just a moment and breath out a heavy sigh.

After that, I drug myself back to my room. I went down the hallway, past the first aid station, through the front room past the AV room, through the area in front of the stairwell, and down the stairs to the dormitory area. After that, I turned left, rounded the corner to turn right, and finally approached my room after what felt like forever as the gravity of my situation began to hit me. That wasn’t to say that I didn’t know already. But without anyone around, there was nothing left for me to do but to think of the consequences of allowing Sanda’s proposal to be accepted.

Regardless, I pulled out my ElectroID, swiped it through the card reader, opened the door, stepped inside, and let it close behind me. Though as it did, something in my room caught my eye. Namely, a half-white and half-black plushie standing on my bed and waiting for me with his arms crossed.

“You’re taking a long time Nishi. Really, I expected a last-minute murder, but it looks like you haven’t even solidified a plan yet,” Monokuma jabbed. “Tell me, was the letter the mastermind had me give you not obvious enough, or do you just not care about your dear sweet brother?”

“Neither,” I said with a scowl as my sorrow turned to anger. I clenched my fists and my pulse picked up. “And it isn’t because I think I would fail either. It's because I don’t want to watch my friends die.”

“Funny, haven’t they been dying at a steady rate anyways? Many of them seem pretty dead to me,” Monokuma pondered as he uncrossed his arms. “You’ll probably all be dead in less than a week anyways. Oh well, I guess,” The teddy bear shrugged. “Who am I to judge if you value complete strangers over the time you spent with your own family before your brother-”

“Why did you pick me?” I interrupted as I narrowed my eyes at the bear. “Of all the people here, why did you decide to put me through this?”

“Oh, so you ARE willing to put other people in harm’s way for personal protection!,” Monokuma said in a tone that sounded like mock astonishment. At that, he jumped off the bed and onto the floor with one simple leap. “Truthfully, I chose you because of the last blood perk you have. It's still in your possession after all.”

With that, my fists unclenched and I stopped in my tracks as the thought of the last blood perk came to my mind once again and I realized that I had a free escape from the lodge. One hat required a murder and the execution of all of my remaining classmates, but one where I did not have to risk putting myself through a class trial nonetheless. And not long after that, I remembered exactly where I left it.

I walked over to my bed, reached down, grabbed the edge of the sheets, pulled them up, and eyed the ticket that inevitably remained beneath them. After that, I trembled ever so slightly as I reached my right hand down to grab the ticket, clenched it, and pulled it back up to my view. Of course, as I did, I immediately took note of the promise engraved upon it.

‘**Last Blood:**

* Usable once upon committing a murder.
* If the owner of this perk becomes blackened, then they can show this ticket to their headmaster, Monokuma, and they will graduate. No class trial, no fuss. All remaining spotless will be punished upon use of this perk.’

*(I don’t even have to plan a murder, I just need to show this to Monokuma. But then everyone else will die just like Monokuma wants. And I don’t want that to happen.)*

“Monokuma, I have long since promised myself that I’m not going to murder anyone,” I muttered without so much as turning to look at him. Admittedly, I waived, but I persisted nonetheless. “I- I don’t care what the consequences are, I don’t care that I could get away with it without any risk of getting caught. I’m not going to do it.”

“Don’t be sour about it Nishi,” Monokuma argued. “Of all the people that the mastermind could have chosen for me to give a motive to, they chose you. They wanted you to take the chance to save yourself.”

“By dooming everyone else,” I replied with a sigh as I turned around and narrowed my eyes once more at the teddy bear. “And by putting me under duress.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know, I do my best work under duress!” Monokuma replied with some vehemence in his tone as he raised his arms at me.

With that, the plushie and I stared each other down. And while we did, I would like to believe that there was an understanding between me and whoever controlled him as I put my hands on my hips. There would be consequences, consequences that I desperately wanted to avoid. But I was not going to commit a murder.

“Just leave me Monokuma,” I replied as adamantly as I could while I uncrossed my arms then swallowed and internally sighed. “It doesn’t matter what you say or do. You don’t control me Monokuma.”

“Fine. Take the time to think about it. Just remember that the deadline is this midnight,” Monokuma said with a cheerful but chilling tone. Then, he jumped backwards and landed backside first through the floor which quickly closed behind him. And with that, he was gone without a trace and I was left to ponder for myself.

And then, I looked back down at the perk that promised my own salvation at the cost of murder and the loss of three classes to execution. Even without Monokuma, the temptation was still there and I felt as if a small part of me wanted to cave in to it. After all, my class would be dead by this point if it weren’t for me anyways.

*(I have- I have no intention of commiting a murder. I just- just need some time to think. Wakuni will expect me to leave my room anyways so maybe I should out somewhere and try to clear my mind. That should help I hope.)*

And so, I pocketed the perk, headed to the door, opened it, and stepped into the hallway. As I did, I honestly expected Wakuni to greet me. But instead, I saw Senji storming off to his own room. He maintained his composure as always, but his eyes were red as if they were sore from tears. Furthermore, the scowl on his and Wakuni’s faces made it look as if they had just finished a heated discussion. It was then, of course, that Wakuni turned around, noticed me, and stepped back to avoid running into me before he staggered back a few steps and recovered himself.

“Of hey Nishi, I didn’t see you there. Can you believe the nerve of Senji? He tried to get us all executed, including my brother, then he hides from us all day and when I confront him about it, he snaps as if he has the right to. He has the audacity to be upset that we saved our lives as well as his and to demand to be left alone to think just because we didn’t throw our lives away from the sake of Koike. I can’t believe that Senji and I used to be friends.” Wakuni shouted his apparently white-knuckled fists shook. After that though, he took a deep breath and unclenched them. “I wish that Koike could have been spared like the rest of us but what Senji is doing is selfish and irresponsible.”

*(It certainly does sound like neither of you took that class trial very well. I wish I could help but I don’t feel so great myself right now.)*

“Anyways,” Wakuni continued in a much more calm tone as he visibly relaxed. “with a potential murder pending, do you need an escort? I could probably get Yakawa to take my place while I go with you if-”

“No, no. Let him get his rest,” I assured him as best as I could despite feeling as if the world were shaking myself. “I’m not going to be gone for very long. And if something does go wrong, I’ll just call for help.”

“Okay but be careful Nishi,” Wakuni warned as he started to frown. After that, he looked down both hallways and then waved goodbye. “Well, the coast seems clear around here at least. Goodbye Nishi, and don’t forget to call at the first sign of trouble. I don’t care if its a false alarm or not. It's better safe than sorry.”

I simply nodded, waved Wakuni goodbye, proceeded down the hall towards the central room with the stairwell, and marched up the stairs out of the dormitory area to find myself in the middle of all the route. From there, I had a conundrum, however. While I didn’t desire to stay put, I had nowhere to go. So, I wandered the lodge aimlessly for what felt like hours towards one of the rooms without any reason in particular. I went to the front room, passed the AV room and first aid room, stumbled down the hallway, and pushed open the door to the cafeteria. From there, I began to sweat as I took the closest seat to the door.

The door closed behind me, but I didn’t even look at it as I heard the door shut. Instead, I yanked the ticket from my pocket, slammed it onto the table, and proceeded to stare at the perk as time began to pass. Once more, I felt empty and as if I were pulling torn apart. All the while, I continued to sweat. And all the while, I could not pry my eyes from the ticket.

*(What am I going to do?)*

I closed my eyes and drew a sigh. As I recalled, Monokuma said that he was going to make the motive unpleasant for me. But this? I would have taken any torture over this. I rested my head on the table and placed both hands on it in abject misery. As I did, my eyes started to water.

“What am I going to do?” I groaned to myself.

As soon as I asked myself that question, the immediate answer came to me. The perk, the ticket that lay before me, was the greatest temptation of all. The only way that I was going to make it through the last hours that I was given to remember would be to destroy the perk. It was risky and it left the perk free for any future culprits to take, but it needed to be removed from my possession for my own sanity.

And so, I pulled my knife out of my right pocket with my right hand, pressed the perk against the table with my left hand, and raised the knife dramatically to stab the ticket. That may not have been enough to render it null and void. But as I readied myself and gave once more sigh, I prepared to cut it into pieces and dump half of it into the incinerator before throwing the other half in a trash can somewhere.

I would have done it too. I would have plunged the knife into the ticket and begun the steps to seal my fate. But before I could, I heard an announcement that undoubtedly permeated throughout the entire lodge.

Ding dong, bing bong.

“Attention everyone. The time is now 10:00 P.M. It is now officially night time.” Monokuma announced as cheerfully as ever. At that, I shivered and made a mental note that I only had two hours to go. “Normally, I would say that you never know what tomorrow will bring. But unless there is a murder in the next two hours, one of you will be receiving a very unpleasant dose of amnesia at our next meaning. So goodnight everyone! And have sweet dreams! They may be the last that you’ll ever have!”

I took one more sigh as I looked at the monitor and then looked back at the ticket that was before me. Admittedly, I hesitated as Wakuni came to mind as the obvious culprit and the desperate, selfish part of me formulated various incomplete plans to kill him. But it only took me a moment to brush those thoughts aside. And as I swallowed and my eyes watered more than they had before, I was ready to take the plunge and seal my fate to losing my most important memories.

*(You lose Monokuma.)*

But before I could do anything else, I heard the door behind me open once more. And so, I lowered my weapon and pivoted around the face the person who interrupted me. Though when I saw Tanabe standing in the doorway catching his breath and leaning against the frame with his left hand, I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh hey- hey Nishi,” Tanabe spouted between breaths all while attempting to wave to me with his right hand. “I was looking everywhere for you. For a moment, when you weren’t in the storage room like you said you would be, I feared that the motive got to you. But I’m happy to see that that hasn’t happened.”

“So you know that the motive was meant for me?” I questioned. When he pushed off the wall, stood completely, and nodded, I continued. This time, with a more warning tone. “Tanabe, if you know that Monokuma wants me to kill someone then you should leave. I don’t want to kill anyone but you know the temptation is there.”

“No, Nishi. I think I’m exactly where I needed to be. For the first time since we’ve shown up here, we have the power to prevent a murder. Shouldn’t I help you if you need me?” Tanabe said as he pointed to himself with both thumbs. Evidently, he recovered because he resumed his normal tone of voice. “And even if I do end up dead, I’d rather be murdered than tortured to death by Monokuma. But again, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because you’re better than the motive Nishi. And I know you don’t want to go through with it,” At that, he lowered his left hand and pointed to the golden ticket with his right pointer finger. “Case in point, you were about to get rid of that last blood perk, weren’t you? I saw you raising your hand to strike it.”

“Well, that is true,” I said as I exhaled deeply and tried to relax. Even as I did, however, I still felt stiff. “It isn’t ideal, Monokuma said a new one would show up in the prize room if this one was destroyed. When that happens, there’s no telling who will get a hold of it. But, I think it's necessary for my sanity.”

“Well if that is the problem, I could take it off of your hands for the time being,” Tanabe offered as he put both of his hands into his pockets and started to walk over to me. “I would give it back of course once the deadline expires. And then neither of us needs to worry about who will get a hold of the perk.”

“Are you sure?” I asked earnestly. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but how do I know that you won’t use it?”

Luckily enough, Tanabe didn’t seem too displeased by my question because he replied with the same tone as he did before. “That is a fair question but I think you’re asking the wrong one. A better question might be, how do I know about the last blood perk in the first place?”

My eyes widened as the question hit me. At the same time, he pulled both of his hands out of his pockets. And in his right hand, he held a golden ticket identical to my own. So, I fixated on the thing as he held it out to show me.

‘**Last Blood:**

* Usable once upon committing a murder.
* If the owner of this perk becomes blackened, then they can show this ticket to their headmaster, Monokuma, and they will graduate. No class trial, no fuss. All remaining spotless will be punished upon use of this perk.’

“Did Monokuma tell you that there was a second one lying around the lodge? Because when I found this, he told me that someone won the other one from the prize room,” Tanabe said as he calmly gazed down at the ticket he was holding himself. “If I wanted to escape Nishi, I could have done it a long time ago.”

“How long have you had that?” I asked.

“Since the day that the summit first opened up. I suppose a long time ago was a slight exaggeration,” Tanabe clarified. “That morning before you met Senji and me actually. I took out a Lycosa Tarantula named Edmond the twenty-seventh. He led me to find a last blood perk in the recreation room near the billiard room. It was by chance but I would say that it was a pretty good stroke of luck. After all, neither of us have used our perks yet.”

“Yeah, it sounds like a good stroke of luck to me as well,” I almost trailed off as I pried my eyes off of the last blood perk and up towards Tanabe himself. As I did, I remembered all the concerns that I had when I knew that someone else had a last blood perk and I felt a flicker of guilt over how I tricked Eto. Nothing compared to how I felt about the motive, but enough to notice it. Regardless, I continued. “Although I would be lying if I said that things weren’t at least a little rough on my end. I’m still not going to kill anyone but this isn’t the most pleasant situation to be in.”

“About that,” Tanabe said as he pocketed his last blood perk. “You don’t have to suffer in silence either. You don’t have to if you don’t want to, but you can always tell me what you stand to lose if the deadline passes. What you actually stand to lose and not that lie you told everyone earlier. I promise not to judge.”

“I-,” I put my left hand to my chin in thought. Mostly because my right hand was still holding the combat knife. And for a moment, I thought about it. But truthfully, I couldn’t think of any repercussions for telling him and he already knew somehow that Monokuma wanted to target me, so I lowered my hand and nodded. “Alright Tanabe. Have a seat and I’ll tell you.”

Tanabe complied. As soon as I finished, he calmly walked over to the seat across from my own and I pivoted in my seat to follow me. Soon enough, he sat himself down in the seat. And although he reached out his right hand to grab the last blood perk on the table, he retracted it before he even grabbed the thing and forced himself to look up at me.

“Like I said,” Tanabe began. “You don’t have to-”

“No, no, it's fine. There’s no reason not to,” I said as I brushed the concerns aside with my left hand and tried to smile in spite of everything. I failed at that part. “Besides, I’d rather you hear it from me than Monokuma. So uhm, let's begin shall we?”

At that, I gave another sigh. It wasn’t hard for me to remember what happened. And unlike the class trials, there was no effort for my recollection. However, the only thing that didn’t make the memory as unpleasant as the closing statements was the fact that it was more unpleasant. In fact, it wasn’t even close.

“Alright, so, I suppose some background is necessary,” I said as I concentrated on the past. “I live in a fairly below-average income household with two parents, a mother and fa ather, and- and I used to live with a brother, Tano Toshiro. He was three years older than me. He was a very smart guy, and he loved soccer, and- I’m droning on. The point is, we didn’t have much. But for most of our lives, we were happy.”

I swallowed audibly and continued. “Another thing that is just as important to know that my family has a long standing history with chronic depression. Though I’m not sure that it's true, some people say people can be genetically predisposed to it. I don’t care why, but it hit my brother hard over time as the two of us grew up. It was gradual, I can’t blame any single thing that happened, to this day, I don’t know why. Maybe it was just a chemical imbalance in his brain and nothing else? I don’t know but the reason matters very little to me. The end result was that that Tano became very depressed to the point where we had to get him treatment.”

“We got him everything we could afford of course,” I continued as I grit my teeth. “He went to a psychiatrist. After that, while he wasn’t locked away anywhere, he did get prescriptions for all sorts of drugs to deal with the problem. Everyone else in the family had to cut back to afford for him to go to the psychiatrist and we may have skipped a few lunches before my friends found out and pitched in. I guess that's why lunches are pretty low on my priority list. But for a short time, for an entire week after a long standing battle with it, Tano looked like he was improving. For that week, it looked as if it was all going to be worth it.”

“And then, everything began to take a downturn,” I continued as I finally dropped all pretenses and looked down at the table. “Tano and I attended the same school, Crossroads Academy. Both of our parents worked long hours and it was a short distance away so we always walked. Normally, we got out of school at the same time. But one day, my brother left school early. I didn’t find out until one of my professors found me outside and asked me where he went, but when I did, I ran home. And that- that was when I found it waiting for me.”

At that, tears began to flow from my eyes. “Tano left a note, a suicide note to be exact. I- he didn’t say where he was going to do it, but there was one overhanging bridge that we used to go to to watch the sunrise. I- I deduced where he was and called an ambulance for him. And after that, I sprinted through the woods the fastest route I knew. A route that went to the forest area below the bridge and led to a trail up the side to the top. It was- it was- it- it was then that I- that I saw him. He was- his lifeless body was hanging off the side of the bridge with a poorly tied noose around his neck. I- should have ran up the trail to get him but all I could do was drop to knees and look up hopelessly.”

The tears began to flow more steadily. “I eventually did make my way up the mountain. I made it to the top just after an ambulance and a few police cars did. I made my way through to his body as the EMTs were placing him in a body bag and begged them to stop it and save him. But- but nobody could do anything. He had been-” I choked for a brief moment, but I swallowed. “He had been dead for twenty minutes since I found that note. To their credit, they tried to save him before I reached the bridge. They gave him four shocks which is rare. But- there wasn’t anything they could do except- bring me back to my parents which one officer did.”

“They- Tano got his fair share of condolences. He was- our classes treated us both well. Oh, the- the police had a few questions for us as well as- as the weeks passed by. They deduced that it was a suicide but- they wanted to know the details.” I struggled to continue. “The icing on the cake is how he died. When I asked the police- they told me he didn’t suffer, that he died instantly. But uh- that was a lie. When I left the room, they thought I wasn’t listening. And- I wished I hadn’t. His neck didn’t snap immediately. He was left struggling for four to five minutes before the noose tightened enough to kill him- and after that, he lasted three to four minutes. The police claimed the rope was frayed so he clearly struggled but we’ll never know whether it was because he came to regret killing himself, or- or if it was merely the pain of asphyxiation.”

“Life was never the same after that, but I tried to move on. To continue my life. To remember him as the person he was before he was struck with depression. And for the most part, I managed. Before Monokuma drug him into this.” I continued. “That’s what the actual picture that Monokuma showed me was all about. It wasn’t just any picture. It was a picture that I kept in my room to remind myself of what life was like before it happened. And to remind myself that Tano used to be different. It was to remind myself of the good times and that- that is was Monokuma is threatening to take away.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tanabe said in a tone that sounded surprised. “Is that why you decided to follow hypnotherapy? To stop other people from having to live through that?”

“No. No, no. I- I was always interested in the human psyche, and the human mind. Nothing good came from his death. If you’re looking for some silver lining, there is none,” I said as I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “In fact, his death continues to hurt us. You know, my parents still blame themselves for his death. They say that the signs were all there, that it's their job to know how their son is feeling, that it's their job to be there for him and that it wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t so focused with work. But it's not their fault! They had no way of knowing let alone stopping what he planned to do! No, it's my fault. I’m her sister! I should have known how he was feeling! I should have been there for him! And if I were there for him when he needed me, this never would have happened! I could have intervened if I weren’t so busy with my life and-”

I never saw Tanabe move. But he must have after I closed my eyes because I felt his hug me with an admittedly warm embrace. My response was to open my eyes and wrap my left arm around him before I looked once more at the knife in my right hand, dropped it, let it audibly clatter on the table, and hug him back.

“No, that’s wrong,” Tanabe argued. Albeit, with nothing but sympathy in his tone. Even if he was wrong, it felt soothing to hear it. Almost as if some poison was being removed. “You did everything you could.”

I wasn’t sure how long it went though it felt as a few seconds. But then, the tears subsided, we both withdrew and I looked up at Tanabe. After that, I wipe my eyes with my hands and sighed. I truthfully, I still felt as if something were being torn from me. But at least I had someone to talk to about it.

“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that but thanks,” I replied before I sniffled. At that, I reached out with my right hand, grabbed the last blood perk on the table, and handed it over to him. “Anyway, take this. In fact, it might be better if you kept it since one person holding onto them both is less troublesome than two people. Besides, you’ve earned it by risk risking your life and sitting through my story.”

It didn’t take Tanabe long to reach out with his right hand, grab the last blood perk, and pocket it. Though soon after he did, I picked up the knife I dropped on the table and placed it in my own pocket as well. And with that, it was over. Tanabe knew the truth, Tanabe had both perks, and short of killing him and taking one, there wasn’t anything that I could do about it. As much as I hated it, there was some relief in knowing that my fate was sealed.

“Hey, uhm,” I drew a sigh and my pulse picked up. A part of me didn’t want to do this but the better part of me knew that it was for the best. “Maybe it's time for me to head back. I’ve already decided that I’m not going to kill anyone so I might as well turn myself in.”

“Well, that would certainly be ideal Nishi,” Tanabe said with a wholehearted nod of agreement. “I believe Wakuni would appreciate it too. If you want, I could walk you back.”

“Yeah,” I muttered before I could say anything else and stood up. “It would probably be for the best if we did. It's selfish of me to keep him up waiting for me and everyone deserves to know the truth. So uh- lead the way.”

Tanabe did so. He headed towards the door to the hallway closest to the first aid station, pushed the door open, and held the door open for me. I, of course, followed him out into the hallway, and from there we continued in the direction of the dormitories without so much as looking back to watch the door close behind us. It was then that a question popped into my mind.

*(Wait. How did Tanabe know?)*

“So, Tanabe,” I began before I gave a minor sniffle. “How did you know that I was the one that Monokuma wanted to target with the motive?”

“Truthfully, it boils down to luck,” Tanabe replied with a shrug of his own. “I was suspicious from the moment that Monokuma gave you a very similar memory to mine. You see, being invited into Hope’s Peak Academy, any branch of it, was like a dream come true. Or more accurately, the end of a nightmare. I’ve always been ostracized. I wasn’t welcome at my school, nobody in my neighborhood took notice of me, and I was the black sheep of my mother’s family. A constant reminder of the fact that she had a sickly child out of wedlock. But that acceptance letter was the first time that I was ever explicitly invited somewhere. It was the first time that I ever truly belong anywhere. At least until Monokuma took that away from me-”

“I’m sorry,” I interrupted. “You shouldn’t have had to go through that. I want to know that you do belong and that their idiots for acting otherwise. In fact, I know just from the time we’ve spent at the lodge that Hope’s Peak Academy would have lucky to have you.”

“Thanks Nishi but you don’t have to pity or console me. The point is that it was suspicious when you lacked the passion in your answer that I felt in my own. Of course, it might not have been that big of a deal to you so I had to make sure,” Tanabe continued. “Luckily, Sama said she was going to look for you so all I had to do to know what you did was ask her. I asked if you mentioned finding something in the storage room like you later claimed and she said no. I told her that it must not have been on your mind at the time, but I thought to myself that the whole claim begs the question of why you didn’t take a picture of it or examine it more thoroughly earlier. You have always seemed pretty eager to find out what is going on and escape this place after all. Finally, I found out that you left your room alone and when I checked the storage room, you weren’t there. That was when I knew for sure.”

“I see,” I acknowledged with a bitter smile. Come to think of it, his suspicion did make sense. “It's a good thing I didn’t snap and kill someone then. I would have been doomed from the start. That and someone else would be dead right now.”

“You had the last blood perk so you would have gotten away with it anyways,” Tanabe mused as he returned a warm smile to me. “Not that any of that matters now. You’ve chosen to spare everyone. Thanks to you, everyone is going to live through this night. So thank you Nishi. I’ll never forget what-”

At that moment, two loud booms echoed throughout the lodge from what sounded as if it were the direction of the dormitory area. One almost immediately after the other. For that brief moment, the ground shook and I staggered back a few paces as Tanabe lurched forwards. But the two of us recovered just as quickly as the rest of the lodge and before I knew it, Tanabe and I were once again steady on our feet.

“What was that?!” I shouted as I glanced at Tanabe with a mixture of concern and surprise.

“I’m not sure but I have a bad feeling about it,” Tanabe replied quickly without so much as returning my glance. Instead, his gaze was fixated in the direction of the noise. “I hope I didn’t speak too soon but if I did, we’d better hurry. There’s no telling who might need us.”

I couldn’t have agreed more. In fact, as soon as he finished saying what he did. I could practically hear my heart race as I sprinted towards the noise. Tanabe was quick to follow as well but as I ran past the first aid station, past the AV room, and into the room in front of the stairwell, I maintained the lead.

*(I hope somebody else didn’t kill someone just because they thought they would be the target for the motive!)*

Regardless, I practically jumped down the stairs that lead to the area, turned left, and rounded two right corners just in time to see a crowd standing between one of the dorm rooms, the coat room, and the laundry room. Senji, Sama, Wakuni, and Sanda were already there and my arrival along with Tanabe’s arrival brought the number to six people. But two people were noticeably absent.

*(Machi and Yakawa. Where are they?)*

“What’s going on and where are the others?” I shouted at the crowd.

That seemed to get some of their attention because Sama and Sanda both looked in my direction. Though as they did, I noticed that both of them appeared to be uncomfortable with the subject. Sama crossed her arms and Sanda just grit his teeth in what was probably the anticipation of something horrible.

“We don’t know entirely what is going on, but it sounds as if something exploded,” Sama replied as a few beads of sweat began to form on her head. “Machi went to see if she could get the door open somehow and to grab something. But we all fear the worst for Yakawa.”

At that, I looked at Wakuni and Senji as well as the door that both of them were staring at. Overall, Senji seemed to be doing much better than the rest of the group in terms of maintaining a calm demeanor, although he was frowning. Wakuni meanwhile, showed very faint signs of trembling. That was fair enough since he undoubtedly feared the prospect of losing his brother.

“I never thought I would be saying this, but I wish Monokuma would show up,” Wakuni said with absolute urgency in his tone. “We need someone to open the door so that we can confirm that my brother is safe!”

*(I have a feeling that this isn’t going to end well.)*

“I do not believe that he is going to give it to us. If Yakawa is indeed dead then he would technically be aiding with-” Senji began only to stop and take two steps backward as Wakuni’s clenched his fists and shot a glare in his direction. “All I am saying is that it may be beneficial to head outside and look through the window. Yakawa’s room should have one after all.”

“First of all, you said the D word. We are NOT going to make wild assumptions about Yakawa’s current state!” Wakuni argued back. He pointed at Senji, pressed his finger into the guy’s chest, and pushed him back one more step. “Second, either Machi or Yakawa are going to get the door open despite Monokuma’s refusal to help.” At that, his tone dropped to one that sounded more erratic and outright scared. “Why isn’t he opening the door?!”

As soon as Wakuni asked that question, the door clicked, the handle turned, and slowly but surely, the door started to creak open to reveal the room behind it, Yakawa’s room. As soon as the door pushed open, a silence filled the air except for the faint metallic buzz that sounded like it belonged to one of Machi’s drones.

Sure enough, when the door opened completely, fear turned to horror. Yakawa didn’t stand behind the door. Instead, it was one of Machi’s drones awkwardly gripping the door handle with a black metallic claw on its underbelly. Otherwise, it looked like the same black quad rotor drone that Machi seemed to enjoy using. However, that wasn’t the main point of concern.

I looked into Yakawa’s room and covered my mouth with both of my hands at what I saw. The floor was tiled and looked as if it should have been a mixture of light grey and white. Likewise, the walls looked as if they were supposed to be white aside from a plain light grey door that presumably led to the bathroom and a plain grey double door that presumably led to his closet. Both of which were on the right side of the room. But instead, most of the room appeared to be coated in a thin line of black soot and shrapnel embedded itself haphazardly throughout the room. As Senji predicted, there used to be a window on the far end of the room much like my own although the window appeared to be shattered despite the lack of glass on the floor and a cold chill emanated from the room.

As for the furniture, I noticed an overturned tan triple racked tray that seemed to serve the purpose of a nightstand based on the grey lamp of the floor near the right wall that was now split in half, On the right wall in the corner closest to me, I took note of a wheelchair identical to the one that Yakawa used to move me and Senji along with a once silver stand that looked as if IV bags were hung from them and a boxy silver device that had a shattered monitor near the top of it. The rack was marred and covered in scrapes and the wheelchair missed a fourth of its left wheel which now lay on the ground and split into two pieces. And as for the device, it appeared to be all but totalled thanks to the loss of its monitor.

But, the left side of the room didn’t fare too much better. On the right side of the room, I took notice of a table with twelve white cabinets neatly lines up with four across horizontally and three across vertically, a silver sink on the top in the center, and a clear stand, now shattered completely along the top, that still had spare light blue medical gloves hanging from it. On top of all of that was a silver-rimmed mirror, but cracks webbed from multiple locations where shrapnel remained embedded in it. In general, shrapnel remained embedded in the entirety of the room and only a few of the cabinets appeared to still be usable.

But the worst of all were the roof and bed. The once white roof appeared to cave in at the center of the room and slant downwards towards the bed. All of course with a crude black metallic pipe that faced the direction of the bed but appeared to have exploded at the end. Overall, the roof presented appearedto be a precarious pile of soot and mortar ready to cave in. As for the bed itself, that was the absolute worst. What once looked like a pristine bed with white sheets covered with light blue hearts as well as a silver frame was now shredded to ribbons and soaked from the top to the floor in a pool of crimson roughly the size of a human being with several pieces of shrapnel, scorch marks, and what looked like the other half of the black pipe embedded in it.

And of course, Yakawa, or at least what remained of him, lay in the center of it all. The entire front half of him was singed, covered in cuts, some of which were deeper than others, and covered in fresh blood. Furthermore, though the bedsheets covered most of his body, chunks of flesh seemed to be missing from his body and littered in the general area of the room to the extent that I thought I saw a piece of intestine hanging from the side of the bed next to his center mass with bore of the tip of the black rod.

Additionally, his arms were much worse off. His right arm was missing entirely up to a point just above the elbow and his left arm was mangled, broken at three points with bones jutting out at sickening angles and attached to his shoulder only by skin and a few pieces of sinew. Finally, his face as scarred and covered in blood, but it was turned to face the rest of us. The only thing that may have brought comfort was that both of the eyes were closed. However, that comfort was lost by the fact that the final facial expression appeared as if it were a grimace and that blood flowed freely from his mouth.

I just kept my mouth covered I felt bile rise to the back of my throat. Of course, when finally I broke free of staring at Yakawa’s body, a quick glance around me told me that nobody else was doing very well either. Senji just stared wordlessly with wide open mouth, Sama looked down at the floor and crossed her arms tighter together, Sanda covered his mouth with his right hand and looked away, and Tanabe also looked away as best as his could albeit an entire shade paler.

But as for Wakuni, he looked as if he were doing the worst of all. His skin seemed to lose all color as he almost fixated gazed on his brother as if he weren’t able to look away. At the same time, his eyes watered and his whole body shook profusely and he gripped his head with both of his hands is if he were trying to shake himself from a nightmare. Overall, he looked as if he could collapse.

Ding dong, bing bong.

“Attention everyone, and I do mean everyone, class 90th has discovered a body! As you all know, that means there is going to be a class trial!” Monokuma said as cheerful as ever over the intercom. In fact, there seemed to be a special hint of sadistic glee in his tone. “For those or you in class 90th, the body is in Yakawa’s room! I’m looking at you Machi upupupu. For those of you who aren’t in class 90th, I would take the time to grab some popcorn and use the restroom because this may be your last chance before you’re called to your own class trial rooms! Anyways, whether you’re the people in class 90th fighting for your lives or the poor schmucks who have to watch and beg that class 90th is correct, I’ll be seeing you all very soon!”

With that, the message ended. And yet, I noticed that nobody felt the desire to look up and acknowledge it. Least of all was me. As I looked back at Yakawa’s mangled body, a thousand thoughts raced through my mind such as how horrible this was, who could have done this, why, and whether or not I could have prevented this travesty. But one stood out among all of my other thoughts.

*(Yakawa, Wakuni, neither of them deserve this! How could someone have possibly wanted to hurt them like this?!)*

## Trivia

* The video with the three other groups wasn’t initially going to appear in the story. But, they were added at the same time that the chapter 4 aftermath was being written.
* It appears that each group has their equivalent of a protagonist. Or at least, other people with ahoges;

1. The one that is with class 82nd, the group in the haunted hotel, is Matsumoto Tatsuya, SHSL Vigilante.
2. The one that is with class 86th, the group in the underground bunker, is Etsuo Keitaro, SHSL Cybersecurity Specialist.
3. The one that is with class 87th, the group in the castle, is Akita Miliko, SHSL Trumpet Player.

* These are all characters that the creator conceived after the story started and therefore, couldn’t be used in the main cast. Overall, they are very minor additions and the creator doesn’t necessarily expect you to care about them, but some additional characters are needed later in the story so it might as well be them.
* There are several clues that foreshadow the fact that Tano committed suicide. Here they are;

1. In chapter 1, Nishi proclaims that it is only the second worst day of her life, not the worst, in spite of the fact that Naya and Yasui both died.
2. Also in chapter 1, Nishi is fixated on the fact that Machi planned to hang her as if it were different to her than any other forms of killing her.
3. In chapter 2, she is immediately infuriated when Tanabe suggest that someone kill themselves to stop the motive.
4. In chapter 3, among other things, Nishi asks where her brother is when she thinks she died.
5. Also in chapter 3, Nishi responds that she does know what it's like to live in a household where something wasn’t right.
6. Again in chapter 3, Nishi still subconsciously resents Machi.
7. In chapter 4, Nishi’s nightmare where everyone was executed involved her getting hung.
8. In chapter 4, Nishi also subconsciously associates her own possible execution with getting hung.

* Overall, Tano’s suicide appears to be one of few things that Nishi is completely irrational about. To this end, Nishi blames herself completely for reasons that she had no control over while absolving her parents of responsibility despite them having the same circumstances.