Danganronpa: Despair Never Dies/Story/Chapter 2

The main page for Chapter 2 of Danganronpa: Despair Never Dies.

### Second Stop

I woke up the next morning, though I was still rather exhausted from the events of the previous day. It still hadn't completely sunk in that Lorenzo and Michiru were dead. All I could do now was just hope no one else would meet the same fate as those other two. After all, life aboard this train wasn't so bad? Monokuma's presence aside, that is. I had gotten used to everyone here, even Kaemon! To an extent, at least. I just didn't think I could stomach the thought of any more deaths. I shuddered as the image of Lorenzo's corpse flashed in my brain, and then the image of Michiru's splattered remains. There was no way I could let that happen again.

As I stood up and got changed into my clothing, I saw the screen in the corner of my room flicker on, with Monokuma sitting in his chair and giving me his dastardly grin once more. Every time I looked at that face, I could only see the face of a sadistic ringleader who wanted us all to die.

"It is now morning!" Monokuma exclaimed. "Get ready for another fun and exciting day upon the Monokuma Express!" After finishing the morning announcement, the screen turned off. I sighed, gathering my phone and camera as I stepped outside of my room and back onto the train. Even though Michiru was gone, I figured it would still be a good idea to meet up with everyone in the dining room. While I wouldn't think anyone would be despicable enough to attempt murder the day after one occurred, I still had to be on my guard.

I yawned as I walked past the main room of the train, and that's when I realized that the train was moving again. I guess we were going to a new stop now? I wished I had gotten more time to spend at the garden, but I supposed this was just fine as well. I was looking forward to whatever stop we would arrive at, though I still couldn't shake the feeling that any of us could turn into killers at any moment. Lorenzo and Michiru seemed harmless enough...

Taking a breath, I sat down in a seat in the main room again. I knew that going to the dining room was probably a better idea, but right now I just needed to take my mind off of things. I wasn't sure exactly how ready I was to face everyone else quite yet. I leaned my head backward as I heard some footsteps approaching - I initially got a little excited at first, figuring it could have been Masaki, until I remembered that he rarely ever wore shoes.

"Oh, hey Kanon!" I heard from behind me. I saw Azizah walking by, supposedly heading toward the dining room. She smiled at me and pushed up her glasses. "What are you doing here, sitting all by yourself?" Azizah asked me.

I yawned again. "I'm just kinda tired," I replied. "Last night really... it did things to me."

Azizah nodded and sat down across from me. "You know, I understand that feeling," she told me, looking down and clasping her hands. "I don't really know what else to say or do besides, I know that while things may not be so good now, that doesn't mean things won't ever get better," She told me. "I'm a lot better with wires and electricity than I am with words or people, but... you know, it's hard to help when tragedy strikes, but I guess I can try,"

I sighed, then looked up and smiled at Azizah. She was certainly helping me out, even if she didn't necessarily believe that herself. "Hey, thanks," I told her, nodding as I forced a smile. Azizah shrugged and smiled back.

"Do not stress too much about it," Azizah reassured me. "It is not an issue for me whatsoever,"

I nodded, still a little tired to think of something to say. No matter what reassuring words I heard from Azizah, the images of Lorenzo and Michiru in their deceased states continued flashing back into my mind. My heart would stop every time, and my skin would crawl, my muscles would tense, and my pores would sweat profusely. There was no way something like this could happen again... right?

"Oh, that reminds me," Azizah suddenly piped up, standing up and heading toward the back of the train. "We have to meet up with everybody else, remember?"

"Right!" I replied, shaking my head and forgetting about the horrific sights I had witnessed just last night. "Let's go!"

Azizah and I made our way to the food room, where everyone else was already seated. They were in basically the same position as last time, and this time there was no one taking attendance.

"Morning, Kanon and Azizah!" Masaki called out to us with a smile on his face. How could he be smiling after something like last night? I suppose Azizah had smiled to me earlier, but she had just been trying to keep my spirits up. Still, Masaki's warm smile was enough to bring a smile to my own face. He was just so cool, unfazed by anything, even death itself. While I was brought to a crying mess, Masaki didn't even seem to be moved at all.

"Good morning to you, Masaki!" Azizah replied, sitting down at the end of the table. I took my seat next to Masaki just like yesterday.

"M-morning!" I greeted him, trying not to sound nervous.

"So... we're here..." Utamuro muttered. Unlike yesterday, where he was a lot more outgoing, Utamuro was looking down at the table and his words were softly spoken. His face was blank and expressionless. I guess he was taking Lorenzo's death pretty badly...

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Hideki slammed his hands onto the table and stood straight up. "Alright, I'm sick of waiting. Without Michiru here, we need to figure out a new leader. For starters, I nominate myself," Hideki announced. I looked at him and raised my eyebrow, a bit skeptical of his abilities as a leader.

"Umm... not to sound contrarian, but you're a policeman. Your entire job revolves around taking orders from authorities. I don't really know how well you'd work as a leader," Hikooki replied to him. "If anything, we need someone with charisma, someone with intelligence, someone who can organize us,"

Saeko's eyes lit up as soon as Hikooki finished his sentence. "Like a collection! You want to have everyone organized in exactly the way you left them, and you want to make sure everyone is in line!"

Daquan scratched his head for a second before giving a nod. "You know, that sounds a little authoritarian... but in times like these, maybe authoritarianism isn't such a bad thing," Daquan mused. "Sometimes you just gotta use force,"

Tame gave Daquan a funny look and then turned down her music. "Hey now, Monokuma's already pulling our strings. We don't need *more* people controlling us, y'know,"

"I concur," Kenji agreed, crossing his arms and giving a short nod. "While good morals are an indicator of a strong will, an iron fist breaks more than it bends,"

"Who said that one?" I asked him. It was a pretty good quote, perhaps I would use it in the future.

"I did," He replied.

After some more long silence, we heard a childish giggle coming from the corner of the room. We all turned our heads to see Aiko, covering her mouth with her sleeve and giggling.

"You're all just so precious~!" Aiko cooed. "It seems that... though you may not want a leader, you perhaps need some... *direction*," she noted.

Shiro raised their eyebrow at Aiko. "What are you going on about this time?" They asked her.

Aiko giggled again, until her giggle turned into fake evil laughter again. "Oh, Shiro... a mage such as yourself should understand that which I am speaking about-"

"I'm not a mage!" Shiro defended. "Stop calling me one!"

Aiko ignored Shiro's words as usual, before pulling out a short, cylindrical purple candle from out of her shirt pocket and lighting it with a match. Strangely, the flame turned a dark purple rather than a bright orange like usual. "Before we begin, I'd like to say that I could organize every single one of us into the Dark Siblinghood of Aiko. We'd be a stronger unit than ever~"

Most of us went silent upon hearing Aiko's proposal. There was certainly something... *off* about her.

Rai shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, yeah, she's a little creepy... but she has a point. Clouds must organize in order to make rain. I think Aiko could make a good leader if we just give her a chance," Rai suggested.

"Hey!" Kaemon objected. "Who says a *man* can't lead?"

Rai chuckled nervously at Kaemon's notion. "Actually, no one ever said a man *couldn't* lead, just that-"

Kaemon banged his fists on the table. "I'm tired of this politically correct bullshit! Your eligibility as a leader should be based on charisma and motivation, not on some feminazi agenda-"

Before Kaemon could finish his sentence, Yuki punched him in the side of his face. Kaemon's glasses fell off, breaking as they hit the ground.

"Shut the fuck up!" Yuki shouted at Kaemon. He ducked onto the ground, searching for his glasses.

"You'll pay for that, you stupid bitch!" Kaemon yelled at Yuki, still fumbling around on the ground.

"Whoa, who knew you had it in you?" asked Guadalupe, smiling at Yuki. "I was just about to go do that myself, but then you went ahead and did it for me!"

Masaki sighed and stood up. "Alright, look. We can bicker and argue all we want, but we'll make no progress if we don't brainstorm for a bit," he stated, trying to get us all on track. "What we need is someone intelligent, someone charismatic, someone motivated. Someone like Michiru was,"

"Oh, Masaki!" Asa called out, raising her hand. "Dear Masaki, you are quite the charismatic persona yourself. Plus you helped out tremendously in that trial last night,"

As jealous as I was of Asa for calling this to attention before I could, she had a point. Of all of us, Masaki was among the most laid-back and organized. Plus, with the massive help he was in the previous trial, he had the potential to really get us on track.

"Yeah, I have to agree with Asa," Ryo concurred. "Honestly, Masaki could probably say anything and we'd all listen to him,"

Dammit, Ryo! I liked Ryo a lot and all, but now everyone was saying all the things I wanted to say to Masaki! There was no way he'd see anything I said as anything special now...

Masaki chuckled to himself before leaning back in his chair. "Nah... trust me, I'd make a terrible leader. I'm a bad influence on people. I'm not the kind of person you'd want leading all of you, trust me,"

"Ha!" Hideki laughed, crossing his arms. "Of course you'd make a terrible leader. You all shouldn't organize behind a criminal like Masaki,"

"Hey!" I protested, standing up out of my seat. "Masaki is sweet and gentle! But he's also motivated and organized! He keeps our best interests at heart! Someone like him is a good fit to be a leader!"

Masaki sighed, but was wearing a calm smile on my face as I finished that sentence. "I'm flattered, but you don't need to defend me," He replied to me. "In a sense... Hideki's right. In fact, I had a better idea for a leader,"

"Is it me?" asked Hideki.

"I think he's referring to the one and only Dark Lady~" Aiko replied.

"Are you talking about no one at all?" asked Kenji.

Masaki shook his head at all of those. "I'm referring to Kanon,"

I jumped a bit as Masaki finished that sentence. Immediately, the rest of the group began conversing with themselves about the idea.

"I don't mind it," Azizah replied. "Kanon helped out just as much,"

"Ohhhh, Kanon would make the most *kawaii desu* leader there is! She's just like a student council president in school anime!" Amy-chan squealed.

I tilted my head at Amy-chan. "Well, I don't really think physical appearance should decide one's status as a leader..."

"All in favor of Kanon as our leader?" Utamuro asked. Everyone except Rai, Aiko, Hideki, Kaemon, Kenji, and Tame raised their hands. In response, Masaki pushed his chair backward and stood up. I was still trying to process all of it - why would anyone want *me* as a leader? What did I bring to the table that, say, Masaki didn't? There was no way I could live up to Michiru.

"Alright then," Masaki began, clasping his hands together. "Anyone who's not in favor, care to explain your reasoning?"

Aiko went first, giggling a bit before she stood up and blew out her candle. "Why, I simply believe someone like myself would simply be a better leader~" Aiko replied. "After all... if they won't listen to Dark Lady Aiko, then they won't listen to anybody~!"

Rai nodded in agreement, taking a moment to adjust his glasses. "I concur," He replied. "The darkest clouds hold the most rain, you know,"

Shiro shook their head. "Rai, she's clearly not right in the head," They told him, rolling their eyes.

Hikooki sighed in response. "Come on, Rai. You can't act like you're not a *little* bit scared of her,"

Rai huffed and looked down, unable to reply to Shiro and Hikooki for a few seconds. "I guess you're right..." He replied.

"Okay, that's cleared up... I already know why Hideki and Kaemon are opposed..." Masaki mumbled. "Ah, Tame, Kenji! Why are you opposed to Kanon being our new leader?"

Kenji crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "I don't like the idea of a singular human being the driving force to our cause. While authority has its time and place, Kanon is neither an elder nor a scholar. She is unable to fill the same role Michiru did,"

"Hey!" Yuki called out. "We don't need someone like Michiru! We need someone to guide us!"

Kenji just gave a quiet "Hmph." and crossed his arms again. "That is simply my own opinion on the matter. Feel free to engage in discourse with me,"

Tame cleared her throat and pressed a button on her headphones. Suddenly, the J-pop song blaring throughout the room turned off. "I was just gonna say, Kanon doesn't like... seem like a leader, y'know?" She expressed. "No offense to you, Kanon, I just kinda think someone more, uh... how do I say it... grown-up would make a better leader,"

Hideki chuckled again. "Well, I do have experience enforcing authority, so if we're talking qualifications, I think I win there,"

Kenji nodded at Tame's suggestion, and then spoke up again. "I was thinking that perhaps Hikooki could be our leader, seeing as how he is the oldest one of us,"

Hikooki raised an eyebrow for a second, and nodded. "I mean... that's not something I'm necessarily opposed to," He replied, scratching his chin for a second.

"That's a great idea!" Rai concurred. "I mean, you might not have the same charisma Aiko does, but as far as seniority goes, you're the best! Plus, I have mad respect for anyone with as much love for the skies as I do,"

"Hold on a minute!" Masaki interjected. "If this discourse keeps up, we'll *never* figure out a leader in time!" He then sat down and sighed. "You know what, maybe we don't need a leader right now. We'll figure that out as we go along,"

I looked down at the table and let out a sigh, partially of relief and partially of disappointment. It was relieving that I wouldn't have to bear the responsibility of being the leader of our group, but it was also disappointing because I was starting to mentally prepare myself for it should the occasion arise. Otherwise, I was completely fine with Masaki or Hikooki being the leader - just as long as it wasn't Hideki or Aiko.

After a brief moment of awkward silence between the 22 of us, we heard a loud "Ding!" ring throughout the train. Then Monokuma's face appeared on the monitor in the corner. Every single one of us turned our heads to face the monitor.

"We have reached our second stop!" Monokuma announced. "We here at the Monokuma Express hope you enjoy your *cool* stay!" The monitor then turned off as the train stopped. I wondered what sort of place we were at now?

"Well, no time to discuss anything now," Masaki stated, pushing his seat back and standing up. "Why don't we go explore this new place?" He suggested. Every one of us got up as we walked outside the train, and stepped foot in the new location.

This second stop seemed to be situated on a snowy mountainside, with a wooden lodge serving as the station. A small coffee machine stood in front of the train, and a row of wooden pillars held up the roof (also made of wood). Beyond the lodge, a layer of blindingly white snow covered the ground. Oddly enough, no visible snowflakes were falling. A few pine trees were scattered about, also devoid of snow atop the green for some reason.

"Aw, hell yeah!" Yuki blurted out, rushing into the snow. "It's too soft for snowboarding in, but it's nice to finally be in the cold again!"

I suddenly began to shiver as I realized - this place was *cold*! My legs in particular were exposed to the cold air, with nothing to cover them except my skirt and socks. "Th-this place is freezing!"

Rai chuckled a bit at my statement. "Well, technically speaking, the snow here is a little too soft for it to be entirely freezing here. I'd say it's around four or five degrees here, but it's certainly not *freezing*." He pushed his glasses up and gave a smug grin, as if he was proud of that joke he made.

"Ha, *ha*." I replied, rolling my eyes at Rai. "Where can I get some pants?"

"Miss Amari, I do recall us having a change of clothing inside of our rooms, do we not?" Sen asked me, approaching from behind. I jumped a bit, as I was not quite expecting him to sneak up on me like that.

I gave a nervous chuckle. "To be honest... I don't usually wear pants. When I have to get on the ground to take pictures, pants become a little inconvenient,"

"Hmm... you expose yourself to the elements that way. I do not recommend it for your health," He advised me. I raised an eyebrow and scratched my head, being a little confused. A bit unnerved, even.

Before Sen could say anything else, Masaki walked up to my side. "Don't worry about it. I've got a pair of women's jeans somewhere," He informed me. "Probably something in your size, too,"

"Wait, really?" I asked. How did he acquire a pair of women's jeans? That was a little bit suspicious. "Why do you have women's jeans?"

Masaki shrugged. "When you're a master thief, you kinda have to take whatever you can get your hands on. Especially where I grew up," Before I had the chance to ask Masaki anything else, he ran back up into the train in a flash.

"Man, he's fast..." I muttered to myself. I guess he had to be fast in order to get away with thievery.

I was about to head up to the train with him, but Hideki suddenly grabbed my shoulder from behind. I jumped at his touch, freezing in position completely. I turned around to look at his intimidating, cold grin.

"I wouldn't follow him if I were you," Hideki suggested to me. "Guys like him are troublesome. Good girls like you shouldn't be following thieves,"

I stooped downward and pushed Hideki's arm off of my shoulder. "Masaki's my friend... he wouldn't lead me down the same path he walks..." I muttered to Hideki, trying not to stutter over my words. My heart raced as he glared at me, his eyes shielded by his the light from the snow reflecting off of his sunglasses.

After a few seconds of him staring me down, Hideki gave a laugh and turned away. "Friend..." He scoffed, walking toward the lodge. "He doesn't care about you. Save yourself while you can,"

I huffed, now fuming with rage. Something about Hideki made me so... *angry*. It seemed that when I was around him, he was scary, and when I wasn't around him, he was infuriating.

I went back inside the train and saw Masaki standing in the doorway, holding a pair of black leggings. "Here, I found these," Masaki stated, handing me the leggings. They felt soft and silky, and while not necessarily thick, they would definitely keep my legs warm in this cold. "Aw, thanks!" I replied to him.

"It's not a problem," He replied, nodding his head. I rushed to my room and changed into the new leggings. They itched a little bit, but it was a small price to pay for a little bit of leg warmth.

The two of us went outside to see Monokuma and Kaemon at the base of the train. It seemed that everyone else had taken off already.

"Have you two had your *fun* yet?" Monokuma asked us, with his eye glowing. Masaki, Kaemon, and I all took a step back as Monokuma's face turned red with anger. My face went red too, but for a different reason.

What did he think Masaki and I were doing, exactly?

"Dude, move outta the way, I gotta record," Kaemon requested. Monokuma turned to him and raised a fist.

"Listen up, porky! I make the rules right now! And I say, no one's allowed back onto the train until you all have spent an hour out here with each other, alright?! I'm getting some things ready for tomorrow..." Masaki and I jumped down from the train as Monokuma jumped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Fuck you too!" Kaemon shouted out. "Fine then... I can handle losing a subscriber... or two... or five..." He muttered to himself.

"What are you going off about?" Masaki asked him.

"Shut up," Kaemon responded. "I wouldn't expect a casual like you to understand,"

Masaki shrugged and walked away. I followed suit, as Kaemon was the last person I would want to be stuck hanging around.

The two of us headed toward the lodge. An air of warmth surrounded us as we approached, offering some relief from the frosty chill of this new stop. A wooden bench long enough to was placed at the face of the lodge, though nobody was sitting there at the moment. It looked roughly long enough to seat two average-sized people. Masaki sat down on the left side and patted the empty right side, as if motioning for me to sit down next to him. I blushed a bit at his gesture, trying to hide a nervous giggle. I sat next to him, trying to keep my cool.

*Just act natural, Kanon.* I thought to myself. Masaki just stared into the distance, though all I could see was a woodwork of tall evergreens in the distance preceded by a layer of sleet with a variety of footprints riddled about on the surface. I kept trying to say something to Masaki, but I kept freezing in place. What would I even talk to him about? Even if I did manage to start a conversation with him, I knew it wouldn't be anything more than a forced conversation. Something to take our minds off of the atrocities of yesterday's deaths.

"You know, there's something about snow that really is beautiful," Masaki mentioned, out of the blue. It seemed like a ridiculous thing to say, but I guess even someone as cool-headed as Masaki had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for a conversation topic sometimes.

"What do you mean by that?" I muttered to him, trying to seem calm. He could probably see right through me, he was just that good.

Masaki shrugged. "I'm not sure. It's just so cool how water falls from the sky and it's just so cold that it literally freezes before it hits the ground, and creates a layer of soft, frozen raindrops on the ground. It's like a metaphor for rebirth."

I chuckled a bit. What was he even saying? Did he intend for that to be deep? And when did he suddenly decide to become some combination of Kenji and Rai?

Despite how bizarre his wording came out, there was something oddly charming about it. Of course, I found just about everything charming about Masaki.

"Yeah, you're right about that," I replied to the Ultimate Thief. He nodded along.

"Really? I just kinda made that up as I went," He replied to me.

After a few minutes of silence, I felt hands and feet going numb, despite having shoes on. I had no clue how Yuki was able to handle it - it was far too cold out here for anyone to function! And she says that this isn't even that cold?! She was ridiculous.

"Hey Kanon, you cold?" Masaki asked me. He placed a hand on my shoulder. I gasped in surprise, jumping at just the touch of his hand.

"Uh... k-kinda?" I replied, feigning a smile. Okay, now I *knew* that he wasn't buying it. What was he going to do now? Was he going to wrap his arms around me and share his body heat with me? I knew that huddling together for warmth was one of the most efficient ways for people to heat up during cold weather.

"Don't worry, I've got just the thing for that," Masaki replied. Expecting him to embrace me, I leaned in and tried to hug him first. Unfortunately, he just stood up and raised an eyebrow at me before I could. "Kanon, what are you doing?"

I made a quiet "eep!" sound as I covered my mouth in shame. "N-Nothing, I just..." Fuck, I couldn't think of anything to say. Nothing I could say would sound good! Of course he'd only think of me as someone clingy...

"I'm going inside. I'm certain it's a lot warmer in there," Masaki informed me. "Wanna come with?" He asked me. I was still sitting down, my face still flushed from my blushing.

"I-I'll be right in there..." I mumbled to him, too embarrassed to do so much as even look him in the eye. "Wait, what about Hideki?" I asked him.

Masaki shrugged. "I guess I'll just deal with him. He doesn't really scare me, in all honesty." He walked off and headed inside the lodge. I got up off the bench and was about to head in there myself, but then I heard Yuki call my name out.

"Hey, Kanon!" Yuki called out to me. "Why you goin' in, huh?" She asked me. Guadalupe was right behind her, and wearing a large green, puffy jacket and sweatpants.

"Yeah, why don't you enjoy the outdoors like us? Shouldn't you be taking photographs?"

I mean, Guadalupe had a point. I hadn't really taken a lot of photographs since the picture of the Monokuma statue I took back at the garden. I remembered that Sen told me it would cure my fear of the Monokuma statue, but even with these casual conversations, I still felt that looming fear that he was always watching over us.

"Hey Yuki, watch out!" Guadalupe called out suddenly. I got my camera ready, and snapped a photograph as Guadalupe chucked a snowball at Yuki's stomach. Yuki gave a chuckle as the snowball broke into pieces, and tackled her into the snow. It seemed like the two of them were having so much fun, though I was simply not physically active enough to join them.

I let the two of them roughhouse as I walked around the stop. Even though there would inevitably be some blockade preventing us from leaving, part of me had a growing curiosity in seeing what else was around.

I wandered off north of the lodge. After a few minutes of walking, I noticed a few snowmen of varying heights standing upward.

"Aw look, snowmen! They're so cute-" Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a loud "BANG!". In a reflex, I covered my head and ears as the snowman's head fell off and the body was turned into snowy pieces.

"Watch yerself!" I heard Toko in the distance. Saeko, Daquan, Aiko, Rai, and Hikooki were with them, and all of them were standing atop a hill.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I shouted at them. I dashed to the hill to meet up with them as Toko put their pistol away.

"Hey, Toko was just showing off their awesome skills!" Saeko replied to me, staunchly defending Toko. "Did you know they have a sweet gun collection? I heard they have Teddy Roosevelt's shotgun! It's priceless!"

"Huh?" Something like that wasn't just a collectible! It was an artifact of historical value! How would either Toko or Saeko get their hands on something like that?

Guess that was simply the power of an Ultimate Gunslinger and an Ultimate Collector.

I finally made my way to the top of the hill after trudging upward through the snow. My legs began to ache, as I simply was not used to this sort of strenuous activity. "Ow..." I groaned as I sat down atop a large, rough rock positioned behind everyone else.

"Ah, Kanon, have you come to watch us engage in the ritual?" Aiko asked me.

"What? Ritual?" I asked Aiko.

Rai turned to me and nodded. "Yep! Dark Lady Aiko here is holding a meeting for all of us!" He replied to me. He had a certain excitement in his eyes about this. Just what about this was so exhilarating to him?

"What? You never mentioned this before," Hikooki replied. "And at any rate, I thought I told you not to get me involved in this?"

Aiko giggled at Hikooki's comment. "Any and all are welcome into the Dark Siblinghood of Aiko!" She replied to him, doing a little twirl before flashing a wide grin. "That includes you, mister grumpy pants!"

Hikooki sighed, looking up at the sky. "I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear that," He mumbled to himself. "Why did all of you drag me over here again?"

"'Cuz ya don't know how to have fun, that's why!" Toko replied to him. "So why not hang with us for some time, huh?"

Daquan nodded. "Yeah, man! No need to be all sad all the time. You gotta take time for yourself sometimes!"

Hikooki gave a short chuckle at Daquan's sentiment. "Hey, thanks," He replied.

"So why not relax, and unwind a bit? I can explain to you in vast detail what each general shape of snowflake means," Rai stated.

"Oooooh, can you tell the mood of mother nature by simply examining each snowflake?" Aiko asked him.

Rai chuckled a bit, nervously scratching the back of his head. "Well, kinda. I wouldn't call it a *mood*, but I certainly understand how it relates to temperature, humidity, moisture, distance from the ground, and more!" He replied to Aiko. "Wanna hear all about it?"

Aiko gasped and gave another grin in Rai's direction. "I'd love to hear all about your mystical arts!" She replied to him. "Please, explain to me in grandiose detail how mother nature forms and molds its snow!

Hikooki gave a sigh, as if saying "Oh no, here they go again." and sat down. I would have taken a picture, but as Toko had destroyed the snowmen, there simply wasn't much to see over here. I walked away, heading down the hill and toward a different wooden, rectangular building It was around the same size as the lodge, though it lacked the bench that the lodge had in front of it. With my curiosity, piqued, I opened the door and looked inside.

In the building was stored plenty of different materials for outdoor, snowy activities. Jackets, gloves, and sweatpants were hung up and different beanies were placed on hat racks. Snowboards, skis, ice skates, and ice cleats were stacked in different areas as well.

"Whoa, Monokuma really hooked us up..." I muttered to myself. Tame was sitting on a seat positioned by the door, doodling something in her sketchbook. "Oh, hey Tame!"

She didn't reply to me, as she was still drowning me out in her headphones.

"Tame?"

After a few seconds, she turned down her headphones and looked back at me. "Oh, hey Kanon," She muttered to me, looking back at her drawing.

"What are you drawing right now?" I asked her, trying to peek at her sketchbook.

"Hey!" She moved her sketchbook out of my field of vision. "No, I'm not going to show you! I-It's not finished yet!" She snapped at me. Her face went a bright red. "I'm just waiting for Kenji..."

"Where did he go?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Tame shrugged. "See that door right there?" She asked, pointing at a door in the right-hand corner. "He and Ryo went in there a second ago, but they haven't gotten out yet. I wonder what they're doing in there?" She asked me.

"Well, we might need to go in there and take a look-" I replied to her, heading toward the door and turning the knob.

"No, wait!"

Before I could heed Tame's warning, I opened the door open to see Kenji and Ryo stripped down to nothing but black athletic boxers. The two of them were both very well-toned and muscular, and seeing them together really accentuated the height difference. I had to take a breath, as the sight of these two men was enough to send my heart aflutter.

"Th-that's why I told you not to go in..." Tame muttered to me. Kenji and Ryo turned to me with raised eyebrows.

"Please, this space is occupied," Kenji whispered, turning away from Tame and me.

"S-Sorry, maybe you should have knocked?" Ryo asked me. I closed the door, my arms shaking. I turned back to Tame, who was blushing even harder now.

"Wh-whoa, umm..." Tame was completely speechless. "Y-You saw the same thing I did, right?"

I nodded, similarly nervous as her. "L-let's not speak of this..." I whispered to her. After a few seconds of awkward nervousness, I walked out of the recreational room and headed back to the lodge. I walked inside the lodge, noticing several circular tables with chairs at them, a bar with several different foods available, and a hot chocolate dispenser.

"Huh, that's cool..." I poured myself a styrofoam cup of hot chocolate and sat down on a chair, and looked around. Hideki was standing against the wall, Utamuro and Amy-chan were sitting at the bar, Sen was writing something down at a table, Asa was handing out cookies, and Shiro and Masaki were sitting together. I was about to go join them, when suddenly Tomoe approached me.

"Hey, Kanon!" Tomoe called out to me. She poured herself some hot chocolate from the machine and took a drink. "What's up?"

I shrugged. "Oh, nothing, just kinda... I dunno... trying to take my mind off of yesterday, I guess," I replied to her. I took a sip from my hot chocolate. It had a creamy, smooth texture to it, though the taste was hardly worth writing home about.

"Nah, I get what you're saying," Tomoe replied. She gave a sigh and pushed her sunglasses back up. "This is sorta like that point in a movie where all the characters go through some big character development phase. Or well, some of us will, if Monokuma's right..." She trailed off.

I gave a sigh and looked down. I looked around at everyone still over here. Even if I didn't want to believe her, she was right. Not everyone here would survive, and that was all Monokuma's fault.

I looked over at Masaki. My heart skipped a beat, as I wanted nothing but for him to survive. He was my best friend here.

"Sorry, did I kill your mood?" Tomoe asked me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I-It's okay..." I solemnly replied. "I just... you're right. I needed to come to grips with this eventually."

I walked up to the bar and took a seat next to Utamuro. The poor guy still looked distressed from yesterday.

"Utamuro-kun, cheer up!" Amy-chan called to him. She sprinkled glitter all over him, but that didn't seem to do much.

The Ultimate Clothing Designer gave a sigh. "Don't bother, it's not going to cheer me up..." He muttered to her. He had a bagel in his right hand, and would only take a bite a few seconds at a time. So Lorenzo's death really impacted him, didn't it?

"Come on, Utamuro-kun! You can't be sad about Lorenzo-kun forever, can you?" She asked him, poking his arm. "Wouldn't Lorenzo want you to keep going?"

Utamuro shook his head. "I'm not just upset about Lorenzo. I'm upset that he wanted to kill someone... It's true, I can't trust anyone here. How do I know that I can even trust you?"

Amy-chan gave a pout. "Don't do this! You're gonna make me *kanashi* as well..." She trailed off, also looking down. I guess the sadness of one was enough to drain the happiness of many.

After a long silence, Asa stopped by us and handed us a plate of large cookies. "Hello! Why is everyone so glum?" She asked us.

As if the previous events had not even happened, Amy-chan's eyes lit up as she began to devour cookie after cookie. "Arigato gozaimasu!" Amy-chan shouted through a mouthful of cookies. I guess she just never changed.

"I don't wanna talk about it..." Utamuro replied to Asa.

"Oh..." Asa looked down in disappointment as she turned and looked to me. "Kanon, dear, what about you? You look rather cold. Do you ned to sit in here and warm up a little? I made cookies!"

I smiled at Asa. I wasn't really hungry, but perhaps I'd grab one or two. "Thanks," I replied to her. I needed to get out of there as soon as I could, because Utamuro was bumming me out. More so than even Hikooki did! *That* was saying something.

I walked by the table Sen was sitting at. I would have said something, but I knew that he would probably just ignore me. He wasn't necessarily the talkative type, and I didn't think he ever really would be.

Before I could go to the table that Masaki and Shiro were sitting at, I felt the air in the lodge begin to heat up. "Huh?"

Azizah came running out of the corner of the room. "I just fixed the heater, it should start warming up in here much more!" She announced.

"Whoa, nice work!" I replied to her.

"It's not an issue at all! This was easy!" She bragged. "I don't want to brag too much, but even with the dusty old wires, this was a simple fix!"

Azizah and I sat down at the table with Masaki and Shiro at it. Masaki smiled at me as I sat down.

"Hey, you've been out a while," Masaki told me. "Where have you been?"

"I was just... exploring, hanging out with everyone else," I replied.

Shiro nodded. "Have you noticed something weird about the snow here?" They asked me.

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow at them.

Shiro shook their head. "Sorry, I know that's kind of an odd question, but Masaki and I were talking about just how strange the snow here seems. It's soft and slush-like. There must be some chemical in the air causing all this... I wonder if Rai would know,"

Masaki chuckled and leaned back. "Please, nobody has the patience to listen to that guy ramble on. Except Hikooki, and I guess Aiko,"

Azizah nodded. "Yes, this place does seem rather strange... like how the lights and the heater haven't had any maintenance done in forever. I might have to spend a while fixing them, because as they stand now, they're a hazard to us,"

"A hazard?" asked Shiro.

"Mm-hmm! Letting wires grow old like this without replacing them is a fire hazard,"

Masaki nodded in response. "That makes sense. Leave it to Monokuma to do something like this..."

After a few seconds, Monokuma burst into the lodge.

"Hello, students!" Monokuma greeted all of us. "I see we're all having fun here! Well... that's no good, is it? In 10 minutes, I would like all of you to head back into the Monokuma Express, so we can have our next motive!"

Motive.

Of course.

He really wasn't going to let us forget.

### Motive

We could not have been outside for longer than an hour, and Monokuma was already issuing a motive to us.

I suppose even entities like him could grow impatient.

There was a wave of silence as everyone present in the lodge eyed each other. While no one was saying anything, there was no doubt that the same nervousness which befell us yesterday had returned with a vengeance.

No one would kill again, not after what happened with Lorenzo and Michiru, right? Right?

"Hmm, it seems that not everyone is present..." Monokuma stated, scratching his chin. "Where are Yuki, Guadalupe, Rai, Aiko, Hikooki, Toko, Daquan, Kaemon, Saeko, Tame, Kenji, and Ryo?"

"Perhaps they are busy?" Sen suggested, looking up from his papers to answer Monokuma's question. Oh, I see how it was. He couldn't make time for any of us, but talking to Monokuma was alright. I scowled at him and looked away.

"Pipe down, Doctor Feelgood!" Monokuma snapped at Sen. "I don't care how busy you are, if you don't arrive in time, you're as good as dead!"

As soon as Monokuma finished his sentence, Yuki and Guadalupe rushed into the lodge. Yuki was read in the face and her signature sweater was drenched in her sweat. She was wobbling around, looking dizzy.

"Yuki!" Guadalupe called out, catching her before she could fall over onto the ground.

"Oh... sorry about that," Azizah apologized, giving a sheepish smile. "I... completely forgot, please forgive me,"

Yuki was simply too exhausted to reply to Azizah. "Just give her a sec, she'll probably wake up in a bit," Guadalupe assured us. "She always eventually wakes up,"

Seconds later, Tame, Kenji, and Ryo arrived.

"We here in time?" asked Ryo.

"I would suppose so, seeing as how we are not dead," Kenji replied. "Now that only leaves the group that went to the hill..." he muttered as he and Tame sat together at an empty table, with Ryo right behind them.

Only seconds later, Toko burst into the room, twirling a revolver around in their hand. "Alright, Monokuma, what have ya called us in for now?" They asked, sitting down at an empty table and putting their feet up.

Saeko, Rai, Daquan, Aiko, and Hikooki all entered the lodge. Rai, Hikooki, and Aiko sat our table as Saeko and Daquan sat with Toko.

"That leaves only one of us missing," Shiro noted. "Damn, I was just getting used to him not being around,"

"Who are you talking about?" Hikooki asked him.

"I think they're talking about... ugh, Kaemon," I replied. I scowled as the Ultimate Game Livestreamer came to my head, filling the room with his gross body odor and terrible rudeness. I cringed as I imagined Kaemon entering the room - part of me slightly hoped that he wouldn't show up and then be executed!

Masaki nodded. "Ah, I hate that guy,"

"Same here," Shiro replied.

Rai nodded. "That guy is annoying, he goes on about the same things all the time,"

Masaki chuckled a bit, trying to contain his laughter. Meanwhile, Azizah was looking down with a disapproving look on her face.

"Azizah? What's wrong?" Hikooki asked her.

Azizah shrugged. "I don't know, I guess... I think Kaemon has the potential to be a good person, I just think he needs to learn. He can get better, if he allows his heart to be nicer." She mumbled.

"Ah, yes!" Aiko piped up. "If only he can open up his heart, he can see for himself how much better the world becomes! The Dark Lady must first be accepted before she can come to one's aid,"

In the midst of Aiko's rambling, Kaemon burst through the doors, drenched in sweat like Yuki. He was panting and trying to catch his breath as he slumped over on the floor. "Sorry, I was just saving my game," He apologized. "Am I in time?"

Monokuma gave his signature eerie chuckle. "Upupu! You're just in time! If you had been even a minute late, I would have you executed by now!"

Kaemon cursed under his breath and sat down at a table. He glared at all of us and turned away.

"Now then, I would like you all to meet me in the dining room of the Monokuma Express, and there, you shall receive your next motive!" Monokuma announced. My only question was, why was he giving us a motive after not even having been here for a few hours? Was he eager to push a motive already?

"A motive? S-So early?!" Amy-chan shrieked. "No, I can't! This is definitely *not* sugoi!" She wailed in an over-exaggerated fashion, even if she was being genuine about not wanting to kill anyone else.

Monokuma growled at Amy-chan and jumped on a table. "Excuse me, but which of us is the headmaster here? If you aren't the headmaster, you don't get a say in how we run the Killing School Tour!" He scolded her. "Ahem. Now, if you would be so kind as to meet me back inside of the Monokuma Express, we can get things underway without me having to kill any of you for breaking rules!" Before anyone could reply, Monokuma exited the lounge. We all looked at each other one last time, though nobody said anything. With nothing else to do, we all followed suit and went back into the train, meeting up in the dining room as Monokuma had ordered us.

When we arrived at the dining room, however, Monokuma was nowhere to be found.

"Where is he?" asked Tame, scooping some sushi onto a plate.

"Now's not the time to be eating, I don't think," Masaki told her. "But it's still strange that Monokuma hasn't shown up yet..."

"Show yourself, fucker!" Kaemon shouted out. There was more silence.

"Come on!" Yuki shouted. She slammed a pair of fists onto a table, a vein showing on her forehead. She certainly wasn't very happy about this...

"Yuki, I don't think you need to react like that..." I reminded her. She turned back to me, and opened her mouth as if to say something to me. Before she could do that, however, Monokuma suddenly burst through the door, entering the room.

"Upupu~!" Monokuma laughed. "Sorry to keep you waiting, it took a long time to get today's motive all ready!"

Tomoe lowered her sunglasses at Monokuma. "Did ya really have to keep us that long? Some of us were starting to get *impatient*."

Monokuma laughed again. "Ah ha ha! You're all so funny! I wonder, why would you wait for a robotic bear like me? Is there really something so special about me? I'm touched,"

"I am under the impression that you at least have an inkling of the reason we decided to hold out for you," Kenji told him. "It is simply because our lives are on the line,"

Monokuma sighed. "Ah, why you gotta be a killjoy?" Monokuma asked Kenji. I trembled before Monokuma's lighthearted tone - he was just about to give us some reason to kill each other! Why was he so cool with this?!

"Kenji, it is probably best if you do not provoke him," Asa advised the Ultimate Swordplayer. "If anything, it will make you one of his biggest targets,"

"Upupu, right on the nose!" Monokuma replied to Asa. "Just for that remark, Kenji, you get to go first!"

First?

We were being presented the motive in a certain order?

What was going on?

"No more funny business, what's the motive?" asked Hideki.

Monokuma giggled again. "You'll just have to wait and see, Chief Wiggum!" He called to Hideki. "Anyway, today your motive is this!" Monokuma announced before pulling from thin air a black box with a pink splatter pattern over the sides. "In here are envelopes with your names on them, and they each have a secret that you have kept hidden from the rest of the world for your whole lives! It's bound to fill you with such despair, knowing that I know your deepest, and darkest secrets!"

I gasped. I quickly thought about each of my embarrassing or dark secrets. Honestly, I never really had many moments that instantly came to mind. I lived my entire life as nothing more than a regular schoolgirl who *sometimes* took pictures and did editorials, but that was about it. I wasn't particularly worried about what anyone would find out about me, I was more worried about the fact that Monokuma seemed to know our pasts.

He had the power to affect us on a psychological level. I quivered as I imagined someone with a secret they would do *anything* to protect. Anything.

"Anyway, to begin," Monokuma stated. "We will be taking turns, that way there is no confusion! Because he decided to make an example of himself, let us begin with you, Kenji Yang! Remember, if you do not do as I say, you will be executed!"

Kenji gave a huff as he walked up to the box, and Monokuma handed him an envelope which read "Kenji" on the front. He opened up the envelope and eyed the slip of paper he got, then gasped. "No..." He whispered.

"Oop, not letting that happen! Don't you dare say what you're thinking until everybody gets their secrets!" Monokuma instructed him. "Hmm... a boy went first, so a girl can go next. How about you, Guadalupe?"

Guadalupe went up and received her envelope. Then Masaki, then Asa, then Daquan, then Yuki, then Utamuro, and I lost track of it until he eventually got to me.

"Kanon, you're next!" Monokuma called me up. I gulped as I approached the box - I knew that I wouldn't be receiving a secret that I would particularly mind if anybody else got, I just knew that it was bad that Monokuma knew it. I reached my shaking hand into the box and pulled my envelope, and then took a deep breath as I opened it up.

I gasped as I read what was written on the paper. I would have never expected something like this.

It read,

"Masaki Domoto almost pulled the trigger after being released from jail. Sometimes, he wishes he did it."

Nothing could have prepared me for this. I dropped the paper onto the ground as I stood there, completely frozen.

"Kanon? You okay?" Ryo asked me. "Was it... that bad?"

I couldn't answer him. Not after learning this.

Finding out that we weren't getting our own secrets was bad enough. Knowing that Masaki had tried to kill himself was positively terrible. Learning that he sometimes wishes he succeeded broke my heart into millions of microscopic pieces.

*Masaki...* I whispered to myself as tears began to well up in my eyes.

I thought it would end at trying to prevent another murder, trying to make sure we all lived.

Now I had to do my best to protect Masaki. I turned around and looked back at him. He was wearing an expression of concern on his face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Masaki asked me.

"I don't think she's answering right now," Ryo replied. "I think she needs to rest, poor girl's been through a lot,"

I couldn't say anything. I couldn't tell them.

Monokuma... really was a heartless, soulless being. He sure did his best to remind us of that fact at every turn...

### Free Time

Everyone exited the dining room, though I stood in place. I couldn't shake the thought of the horrors that Monokuma had unfolded right before me. I couldn't even approach Masaki about this; I knew that would cause more trouble than it would solve. I also wasn't the best at commiserating.

Trying to get my mind off of things, I took a deep breath and exited the dining room myself. Perhaps I would spend some time with some of my friends in order to forget about what I had just seen.

As I walked through the corridors of the train, I found Asa in the kitchen, wearing an apron spotted with cake batter and frosting, undoubtedly baking something. "Oh, hello dear Kanon!" she called out to me. I smiled at Asa, then gasped as I saw someone else sitting down at a table - Masaki. He looked right at me, and I stopped cold. Now that I knew, there was no way I could approach him so casually.

Of course, now he would think it was weird that I wouldn't talk to him, seemingly from out of nowhere.

"H-Hi Asa..." I muttered to her, trying to keep my eyes off of Masaki. He didn't say anything, and turned away to look down at the table. All I could do was wonder what exactly he was thinking at the moment, and if it had anything to do with Monokuma's twisted motive.

"I'm baking a cake! I think it will help us get our mind off of things!" Asa informed me. "Would you like to help me out?"

Ignoring Masaki, I nodded and gave a smile at Asa. I decided I would spend some of my free time with her.

"Great!" She replied with a warm smile on her face. "Here, put this on!" She instructed me, handing me a white apron like the one she was wearing. "I absolutely require that you wear this, I can't let your uniform get covered in cake mix!"

I smiled at Asa's concern as I put the apron on. It was a little big on me, but if it would keep my clothes from getting dirty, it was worth it.

"Now, I still need to make the second layer, so I'll have you mix that for me!" Asa said, handing me a large mixing bowl filled with a cream-colored liquid cake mix and a shiny metal whisk. I nodded in return, whisking the cake mix as vigorously as I could. "Oh, you're quite good at that!" Asa noted.

"R-really?" I asked as some of the mix splashed onto my apron. "I mean, all I'm doing is mixing-"

Asa gasped. "Oh dear, there's simply far more to it than just mixing! This is a process, it needs to be respected as an art! I believe you're doing that art justice!"

I giggled a bit at Asa's compliments. Just like the baked goods she would make, Asa really was rather sweet. She helped guide me through all the motions, assisting me with the mixing, pouring, and spreading. Even if I spilled a little here or there, she was so patient and supportive.

After about an hour or so, it was all ready to be put in the oven.

"There we go!" Asa announced. "Thank you for all your help, Kanon! I'm sure it will turn out wonderful!"

"Yeah!" I replied. "I mean, you did most of it, so of course,"

"Aw, don't say that!" Asa told me. "Please, take credit when it's given to you! You have so much more to you than you think!"

While it seemed a little over-the-top to give me such high praise for simply helping bake, I still appreciated every last word of what Asa said to me.

"Anyway, I'm going to need to pull this out in an hour or so, would you mind waiting here with me?" Asa asked.

"Well-" Before I could finish my sentence, I turned to see Masaki looking at us again. I jolted a little bit, and suddenly stood up. "I, uh... have to go," I replied to her.

"Oh, it's okay! I understand!" Asa replied. "I'll come get you when it's finished!"

I nodded and walked out of the kitchen, trying to think of my next place to go. With haste, I headed toward our rooms. While the hallway was rather empty, I noticed Saeko exiting her room for a brief moment. Then I realized, I didn't actually know Saeko too well yet.

"Hey, Saeko!" I called out. She looked my way and grinned.

"Hello!" Saeko responded. "What's up?"

I had to think of some way to engage in conversation. What would Saeko be interested in? Given that she was a collector, she was bound to have rather eclectic tastes. "I, uh... I'd like to see what sort of things you have collected!"

Saeko's eyes gleamed the moment I expressed interest in her collection. While I now knew I would probably be here a while, it still would help me get my mind off of... well, *that*. "Absolutely!" Saeko exclaimed at once, grabbing me by the hand as she pulled me into her room. No, she *literally* pulled me off of my feet and into her room.

I took a second to catch my footing again as I entered her room, and all I could do was gasp in awe at everything all around. Any sort of collectible, whether it be anime figurines, old comics, stamps, rare coins, vintage video games, it was all there. Everything was organized by group, with some of the more rare items behind protective glass or plastic. It was almost like walking into a museum of valuable collectibles.

"Whoa..." I whispered to myself. "How did you acquire all of this?" I asked her. "Some of these things must be worth millions..."

Saeko smirked at me, then did a twirl as she gestured toward her anime figurines. "These weren't so rare when I first bought them, but they discontinued them after only the first wave, so now getting your hands on even one is almost impossible!" She informed me. "In fact, this one right here," She began, motioning toward a human-sized robot figure. "Actually was painted wrong, it's supposed to have red arms, not white. For this reason, it's a one-of-a-kind! Worth over one million yen!"

I gasped at Saeko's claim. One million yen, for that? It just couldn't be real.

"And that's not all!" Saeko continued. She did another twirl, before stopping in front of her dresser, where a golden, rectangular cartridge for an old video game was erected. "This is a limited-edition version of the video game World Championships, there's only around 26 of them in the world!"

Only 26?! How did she even get a hold of that?!

"What?! They stopped producing games like that before you were even alive!" I exclaimed, still in disbelief. At this point, I needed to get a lot of pictures of Saeko's room. Her collection would have made for an excellent article.

Saeko gave another smirk. "It's amazing what you can do with the internet and a little bit of exaggeration!"

"What do you mean by that? A little bit of exaggeration?" I asked her, while starting up my camera.

With a nervous chuckle, Saeko grabbed both of my cheeks and looked me in the eye. "Okay, don't tell anyone I told you this, but," She whispered. I nodded, my eyes darting back-and-forth as my temples began to sweat. What was she about to say? "I'm..."

She was...?

Saeko leaned in closer, whispering right in my ear. "There's no way I could afford any of this stuff. I'm actually over one billion yen in debt,"

I gasped as Saeko let go of me. One billion yen in debt?! How was that even possible?!

"How are you one billion-"

"Shhh!" Saeko shushed me before I could finish my question. "If anyone hears, it'll be the end of me!"

I sighed. I suddenly didn't want to write an article about Saeko, given the dishonesty of her collection. It was quite impressive she owned all this, but was it really right, owning all this without paying for it? It was physical piracy.

The two of us went silent for a moment, before she smiled at me and scooted closer. "Y'know, no one really takes the time to talk to me like this. I hang out with Toko and Daquan, obviously, but even they would much rather talk about their talents than mine. You're a good listener, y'know?"

I smiled at Saeko's compliment. Perhaps she wasn't the most genuine of us, but she had a good heart. At least I think she did.

The two of us went silent again, and I looked at the time on my phone. It looked like I had spent a decent amount of time with Saeko, so I decided to see who else I could spend time with. "Well, I guess I'll see you later!" I told Saeko as I exited her room. Saeko waved back at me as I left, and walked outside the train to see who else I could find.

Just as before, I saw Yuki and Guadalupe playing around in the snow, wrestling each other and throwing snowballs. I smiled at the sort of childlike horseplay the two would engage in, hoping that maybe innocence like that would come back to me. I took a picture of Guadalupe pinning Yuki down in the snow, and all I could do was smile at the sense of playfulness the picture had to it. Of course, I also had to get out of there before the two of them spotted me.

I looked in through the window of the lounge to see Amy-chan, Utamuro, Ryo, Rai, and Hikooki at the tables. Amy-chan would walk out in different outfits, while Utamuro and Ryo were watching her. Rai seemed to be going off about something to Hikooki, who kept looking back at him with a bored expression on his face. It looked like all of them were preoccupied, so I left them be.

I walked past the lounge and then to the shack, where a loud grinding noise was coming from. I covered my ears as I walked inside, trying to determine the source of the sound. Inside, I could see Daquan wearing a clunky welder's mask, filing some long metallic object with a saw. Almost as soon as I got in there, Daquan stopped and pulled his mask off. "Oh, good to see you, Kanon!" He called out to me. "What brings you here?"

I shrugged at Daquan's question. "Just passing the time. I see you found a new place to work?"

Daquan gave a chuckle. "Yeah, I didn't wanna disturb anyone back on the train," He replied. "So I'm doin' all my work here!"

I looked around Daquan to see various steel beams and other pieces of metallic equipment strewn about. It looked like he had gotten quite a bit done in the short time he had to do this.

"Wow, you work fast, don't you?" I asked him.

Daquan shrugged. "This is just normal speed for me. My uncle told me to follow this passion no matter where it guided me, so I just kept goin'. I just do it so much that I forget I'm even doin' it!"

I just gasped as I looked at all his creations. While it was mostly just frames and support beams, it was still impressive how he had gotten all of that done. "Where do you get all the materials to make this?" I asked him.

Daquan shrugged. "Mostly just junkyards and dumpsters," He replied. "Back where I come from, people throw that shit away all the time," He informed me. "Actually, most of the time my uncle just comes by and gives me stuff to work with,"

I nodded at Daquan's claim. I thought it was quite sweet how close he was with his uncle, it just furthered my initial impression of him. He was a nice boy, I liked him.

"What are you working on right now?" I asked him.

"Oh, this?" Daquan replied, holding out the steel beam he was working on. "Oh, just a frame for a shelf I've been working on. Saeko wanted more shelves to put more stuff on, because her she thinks her room is getting cluttered,"

Wow, he was a good friend too! Was there any shortcoming he had?

"So, Daquan, what made you want to get into this?" I asked.

Daquan sighed. "I... don't know if I want to tell you," He replied. "I got involved with the wrong people, at the wrong time... if I could change who I was then, I'd be happy, but I don't know if I woulda ever gotten into this,"

I nodded at his statement. I really didn't want to push his buttons, or pry him for information. It was nice of him to talk with me, though. "I'm sorry about that," I apologized to him. "Well... I think I'll go now. It was nice hanging out with you!" I told him. Daquan gave me a warm smile as I walked away from the shack/his new workshop, and headed back onto the train.

What was greeting me there was... quite the surprise.

"Kanon Amari," I heard a tough, overtly confident voice call out. From my left side, Hideki walked toward me with a grin on his face. "Now that it's gotten later, I think I should approach you about this,"

"Wh-what is it?" I asked Hideki, feeling a chill down my spine as I tried to fake a smile.

"Is this true?" He asked, pulling out a slip of paper from his pocket. It read,

"Kanon Amari sent nude pictures to her ex-boyfriend, who still has the pictures."

I gasped. No, there was no way Monokuma should have known that! In fact, I had forgotten all about that!

"Th-that's not true..." I muttered to him.

"A likely story," He replied, putting the note back into his pocket. "How old were you when you sent that?" He asked me.

Oh no. I began to sweat, tugging on my collar as I tried to think of an answer to his question. I had to come up with something that wasn't true, but could sound true.

Hideki smirked at me and crossed his arms. "Kanon, look. In this digital age, it's normal for girls like you to want to send pictures like that to significant others, or even to friends. Lots of them do it,"

Something about Hideki's wording calmed my nerves a bit. I gave a sigh. "He... begged and begged me to send some, and so... I did. It was a little embarrassing, but I'd honestly forgotten all about it..."

Hideki shrugged. "Kanon, I asked you how old you were when you sent those,"

"Oh, right. Well, I was sixteen, and-"

Hideki tilted his head. "Sixteen, huh? How do I put this... that's illegal,"

I gasped again. "B-But you just said it was perfectly normal!"

He shrugged yet again, and turned away. "Yeah, normal, but I never said it was legal. Look, there's not much I can do here, but I imagine you wouldn't want a secret like that going around," Hideki informed me. "Now, I'm an honest guy. I won't tell anybody about this, but I expect you to hold up an end of the deal too,"

I raised an eyebrow. What could Hideki be talking about?

"Don't get involved with Masaki anymore. That boy is trouble. He'll only lead you further down the road of bad choices you're already going down,"

I wanted to protest, but Hideki made off with great haste before I could even say anything. I just stared at the wall and gulped down my insecurities, shaking with a sense of nervousness.

What was I to do now?

### Train Life

A certain wave of dread filled my heart and head as Hideki walked off. *Of all people to get my secret, why did it have to be him?* I asked myself. Now there was no way I could approach Masaki, not with our secrets up in the air like this. I couldn't afford to make things worse for him, or for myself.

All this thinking was beginning to make me feel lightheaded and lethargic. I stumbled toward my room, my eyes twitching as the world around me began to feel slow and heavy. I trudged into my room, shoving aside the door as I plopped down onto my bed, looking at the ceiling. I was too tired to change into my pajamas, or to even take off my glasses for that matter. Before I could even process another thought about Masaki or Hideki, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Not too long afterward, however, I heard an obnoxious "DING-DONG! DING-DONG!" at my door. I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I stepped up and held the door open, to see Utamuro standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey..." I greeted Utamuro in a whisper, giving a lazy hand wave.

"Hey Kanon," Utamuro greeted me, handing me a slip of paper from inside his sleeve, folded into quarters. "Uh... I was told to give this to you," He informed me as I took the slip of paper from him. I opened up the paper to read, "Meet me in the dining hall - M.D.".

"Who's... M.D.?" I asked Utamuro. He opened his mouth to answer me, but I suddenly pieced together who it would be. M.D. - Masaki Domoto. Of course, who else? "Wait... Masaki?" I asked him.

Utamuro nodded in return. "Yeah. He says it's really important," He told me.

No. I couldn't.

If I were to meet up with him and Hideki was to find out, my secret would be out.

There was no telling how everyone else would feel about me then.

"What's it about?" I asked him, clenching onto the slip of paper, which was beginning to moisten beneath my sweaty palm.

Utamuro shrugged. "Not sure, he never told me," He replied as he turned around to walk out. "Also, your clothes are all wrinkled, I'd suggest you change or iron them. Just sayin',"

I looked down at my uniform. He was right, there were wrinkles everywhere. I guess that's what I get for sleeping in them.

Before I could say anything else to Utamuro, he walked out and left me in the room. With a sigh, I walked out into the dining hall to see Masaki leaning against the wall, out of view of the doorways.

"Kanon, there you are," Masaki whispered to me as he gestured for me to come closer. I jumped, looking behind to see if Hideki was around. After looking around, I couldn't see the interrogator anywhere. I gave a sigh of relief as I inched toward him, afraid of what he would say.

"What is it?" I whispered to him, looking into his gentle and caring eyes.

Masaki gave a sigh and turned his head away, looking at the ceiling. "This isn't going to be easy, but... you got my secret, didn't you?" He asked me.

I felt as if someone had pierced a hole through my heart as he asked me this question. I gulped down my anxiety and gave a sigh before I looked up at him and gave a slow nod.

"I see," Masaki replied to me. "What was it?" He asked.

"Y-You..." I felt my forehead sweating as he asked the question, as I tried to muster up all the courage I could to answer him. "You... attempted to commit suicide... and sometimes you wish you succeeded..."

Masaki nodded, looking like he was avoiding showing any emotion. "Ah, I had a feeling," He whispered to me. "Look, don't let that get to you, okay?" He tried to comfort me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "No matter what... it's not anything you did, or ever could do. It's a problem much greater than myself, it's nothing you can help on your own,"

I gulped again, looking down at the ground. Of everyone aboard this train, no one had yet been so helpful to me as Masaki had. He was one of the only people here I could trust, and even during the times where he tried to turn me away, I felt close to him. He was my best friend. Words wouldn't be able to express how bad I would feel if I were to ever lose him.

"B-But... what if you try again?! I can't let you do that! I... I'd miss you..." I told him, trying to hold in tears.

Masaki sighed and let go of me before he walked away. "I understand," He replied to me. "I don't want you to ever have to see that," He told me, looking down at the ground as he headed back toward the hallway. "If anything bad happens to me, I don't want you to feel responsible for it. It's not your fault I'm a selfish, depressed wreck of a human being," He whispered, walking away.

"But you're not-" I tried to call out to him as he walked off. I stood there in silence, feeling my arms and hands trembling as he headed out. What if this triggered something in him that might make him actually do it? All I could do was just hope he would stop himself again. I couldn't risk making it worse.

That's when I had an idea.

What if all of us got together and said the secrets we were given aloud, so that no one was singled out? I would no longer have to worry about anything Hideki could say or do to me, and Masaki wouldn't have to feel alone in all this. Man, if Michiru were alive right now, she would know exactly how to handle this.

I walked past the dining hall and into the scenic room, where I saw Rai, Hikooki, Tame, Kenji, Ryo, Shiro, Asa, Saeko, Toko, Daquan, and Kaemon sitting in a group.

"Hey, everyone!" I called out to them, excited to present my idea to them.

"Howdy, Kanon!" Toko greeted me. "You joinin' our secret-findin' group?" They asked.

I shook my head. "I have a better idea," I replied. "What if we get everyone to meet up, and then say all of our secrets aloud, including who has the secret?"

Kaemon scoffed. "Sounds boring," He replied, playing a game on his laptop. I wanted to point out his absolute hypocrisy, but something stopped me.

"Dear Kanon, we're doing the best we can to figure out who has whose secrets," Asa informed me.

"Yeah, this is the best way of really knowing who might kill someone else," said Rai. "Now, where could Aiko be? She said she would be here by now,"

Hikooki shrugged. "I haven't the faintest clue. Perhaps she just forgot, again?"

Rai shook his head. "She always seems to forget anytime I ask her to hang out,"

"Well Kanon, I think you have a good idea," Shiro informed me, ignoring Rai. "If we get everyone together to reveal their secrets, we can beat Monokuma's little game,"

"That's easy for you to say," Hikooki replied. "The one you got was no big deal at all,"

No big deal?

But weren't these supposed to be life-threatening secrets or something to that effect?

"I, for one, believe that if I let go of who I am, I become what I might be," Kenji informed me, crossing his arms. "Our secrets may be holding us back, including myself. However, once we get past that, we will become greater than ever before. You can consider me an attendee of your meeting,"

I nodded at Kenji with a smile, pleased with his decision.

"Uh, I'll go too," Tame added on. "I mean, I don't really have much to lose from all this,"

Daquan nodded along. "Yeah, and I think it'll bring us closer together. We won't kill each other if we're all good friends, right?"

Toko nodded and gave a grin. "I reckon we're gettin' somewhere now! Kanon, that was a mighty fun suggestion you made! You can count me in now,"

"I guess I can go too," Rai stated. "I mean, I'll try and see if I can get Aiko to come with me, but I'll do my best,"

Saeko stood up and shook her head. "I'd love to go tomorrow, but..."

Toko and Daquan looked at her, raising an eyebrow. I raised an eyebrow at Saeko as well, wondering what she was going on about this time.

"I'm meeting up with somebody tomorrow," Saeko announced.

"Who is it?" Ryo asked her. "If it's not Toko or Daquan, then who could it possibly be?"

Saeko smiled and shook her head. "It's not important," She replied. "Actually, I shouldn't have brought that up. Moving on?"

Toko and Daquan gave a little side-eye to Saeko as Ryo was the next to speak up. "I, uh... don't think I'll have any problem attending," He told us. "Just... please don't laugh at my secret when it comes up, okay?"

I nodded at Ryo's request. "Of course not, this is for us to get closer together. I would never be able to laugh at you for that,"

"I should be able to attend too, dear," Asa informed me with a smile. "In fact, I'll make my special cookies for this event!"

Kaemon looked up from his computer and then looked at all of us. "Uh... maybe I'll go..." He whispered. "Just... don't get any ideas. I still hate all of you,"

I sighed, but I guess it couldn't be helped. I didn't think there was anybody who actually liked him among all of us anyway.

From here, I decided I should present my suggestion to everybody else as well. I had to see who else would be attending this event. I walked away from the group in the scenic room and headed back up to the hallway, where I found Tomoe, Utamuro, and Amy-chan.

"Man, this floor is just disgusting!" Tomoe called out, looking down at the ground with a face of disgust. I looked down to see that she was right - footprints, hair, and other assorted junk littered the floor. "That's it, we need to set up some sorta cleaning schedule for us. I can't stand looking at this ground anymore,"

"That's a perfect idea," Utamuro replied to her. "I think I'll handle it tonight. Who should handle it tomorrow?"

"What about Kaemon?" I half-jokingly whispered.

"Perfect!" Amy-chan exclaimed. "He's so *kitanai*, just like this floor!"

"Will he even do it?" Utamuro asked. "He doesn't seem like the type of person who would clean up so willingly,"

Tomoe gave a grin. "Ah, that's where this chart comes in," She began, drawing a chart with everybody's name on it. "Technically, he doesn't have to do it. But then that means the person cleaning the next day has to clean up everything he didn't clean up, so that's just bad for him in the end. In fact, I think I'll make it someone who hates his guts, somebody like... I dunno... Yuki?"

Yuki was a good choice, she seemed to hate Kaemon more than even the rest of us.

"Perfect idea," Utamuro replied. Tomoe hung up the chart in the hallway, reading:

"Hallway Cleaning Chart:

* Today: Utamuro
* Tomorrow: Kaemon
* Day After: Yuki"

"And then every day, we just bump everyone to the next day, and then we add the next person from there," Tomoe informed us.

I thought she had a good idea going on. I had to hand it to her - that girl was totally organized all the time. Before I walked off, I had to present my idea to them.

"Hey, uh, would anyone be interested in attending a meeting tomorrow? It's to discuss all of our secrets, so that we can beat Monokuma's motive," I suggested to them.

Utamuro nodded. "Not a bad plan. The sooner we can meet up, the better,"

Amy-chan's eyes darted back-and-forth. "The idea of my secret coming out... it's so... *kowai*..." She muttered. "B-But... I guess if it's to beat Monokuma..."

Tomoe shrugged in return. "I dunno. The secret I got was... well, it was real bad. Like, the kinda thing that nobody else should know," She informed us as she walked away. "I'm staying outta this one,"

I sighed, but I knew I had to remain vigilant for this.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed," Utamuro whispered with a yawn. "I feel sleepy all of a sudden,"

Amy-chan gave an exaggerated yawn, stretching her arms out. "I'm going to bed too... *Oyasumi*, Utamuro-kun and Kanon-chan..."

The three of us walked away from the scene as we all headed back to our rooms. I changed into my pajamas and waited for the next day to come, hoping desperately that no one would be dead in the morning.

We had to make sure everybody was safe for this meeting.

*Ding-dong, ding-dong!*

"Good morning, students! It is now seven AM!" I heard Monokuma call out on the monitor. I awakened immediately after hearing Monokuma's squeaky voice.

I had a mostly unremarkable sleep last night. I might have had a dream, but I couldn't remember quite what happened in it. I grabbed my glasses from the shelf adjacent to myself, and changed into my school uniform. With a yawn, I stretched my arms and headed out the door. I figured everyone else would have already been at the dining hall by now, so I made a beeline and rushed to meet up with the others.

I burst in through the dining hall door to see everybody congregated at the tables. I guess everyone had been waiting for me here.

"Ah, so you *did* make it," Hideki commented, giving a wide grin in my direction. I saw an empty seat between Masaki and Azizah, and was about to take my seat next to them. However, Hideki's grin got wider and smugger the closer I got to the seat, his face seeming to read "Go ahead," in the most challenging, taunting way possible. I hesitated to sit down between the two of them, but looking at Hideki's face, I sighed and begrudgingly took a seat between him and Asa.

"Kanon? What's wrong?" Azizah asked, tilting her head in my direction. "I do apologize if I said something which offended you,"

I shook my head in her direction. "No, it's not you, it's just-"

Hideki looked back at me and shook his head. I jumped a bit, feeling my skin crawl as he stared me down.

"It's... nothing, I just wanted to sit by Asa today," I finished up my sentence. I could only imagine what Hideki would say if I mentioned he was blackmailing me.

"Hmm, it seems nobody else is going to say it, so I shall be the one to announce it," Kenji spoke up. "Last night, Kanon made a suggestion to us. For tonight, we should all get together and say which secrets we have, that way everybody knows everybody else's secrets. If we have nothing to hide from each other, not only will it deepen our bonds, but it will also remove the need for us to hide anything from anybody,"

Tame nodded along. "Yeah, I think that's a good idea," She turned her headphones down as she spoke up. "I would be a lot more comfortable with everybody if everybody's secrets were out, even my own,"

Masaki nodded in compliance. "I don't think that's a terrible idea," He whispered. "Well, I'll attend if you guys do,"

Hideki looked at me with a glare and a scowl. "Uh, how about we don't?" Hideki countered Kenji. The Ultimate Swordplayer side-eyed Hideki for a second. "Some people here have *very* sensitive secrets, and throwing them out so willingly wouldn't be so great for everyone. Isn't that right, Kanon?"

I gulped upon hearing Hideki's words. While my secret was rather sensitive, and he did have the means to reveal it to everybody else at a moment's notice, he also knew that it would be far less sensitive if everybody else's were to be revealed as well. Then there was the question of what his secret even was.

"I would attend it," Guadalupe blurted out. "I don't think my secret will be all that bad,"

Yuki nodded along. "Yeah, I think I can handle it as well,"

Aiko gave a wide grin as well. "I think I'd like to attend as well, it sounds like a beautiful idea to share our secrets with each other! It strengthens our siblinghood and makes us who we are!"

"Oh, there was somethin' else I wanted to add to this discussion," said Tomoe. "I'm gettin' sick and tired of this train being so dirty all the time! I'm thinking we need to start a nightly cleaning schedule, if anybody saw that in the hallway,"

Yuki's eyes widened as soon as Tomoe mentioned that. "Hey, I did see that! Why was my name on that chart?"

"We decided it at random," Tomoe replied. "And besides, tonight's Kaemon's night anyway,"

Kaemon glared over at Tomoe. "Hey, I never agreed to this!"

Utamuro shrugged. "I dunno, we never agreed to walking around in a filthy pigsty of a train, but here we are anyway..."

Sen stood up. "Yes, it is a serious health concern for the train to be left uncleaned! We must make sure to clean it regularly!"

Hikooki nodded, not even looking up from the table. "Yeah... I don't think I could handle living in a dirty train,"

"Anyway," began Masaki, standing up. "I've got some things I need to take care of. We're meeting up at 5 PM, okay?" He suggested, before heading out. One by one, everyone else headed out of the dining hall as well, before leaving me all alone in the room. With a little bit of time left before the meeting, I decided to head outside. I found Guadalupe hanging out outside the lounge, when she spotted me pass by.

"*Hola*, Kanon!" Guadalupe called out, waving to me with a big grin on her face. "Yuki and I are going to hang out on the hill with some others, would you like to join?" She suggested. I smiled at her, still looking for a means of passing the time. I nodded as the two of us walked up the hill, where Yuki, Rai, Aiko, Saeko, Toko, Daquan, and Hikooki were waiting for us.

"Hey Guadalupe!" Yuki greeted her. "And you brought Kanon with you, sweet!"

I nodded back at Yuki. "Yeah, I decided to hang out. So what are we all doing?" I asked the group.

"Not sure yet," Hikooki replied. "Toko just gathered us up here for this game they heard about from Monokuma,"

Toko nodded. "Yeah! Monokuma told us that we can get these things called Monocoins if we hit those snow Monokumas with snowballs from this height! We can then use those Monocoins to win prizes n' stuff, I think it's a good idea if we make a game out of it!"

Aiko grinned at Toko's proposal. "Ooh, sounds like a lot of fun! You can consider me up for it!"

"Yeah, I'm down for this!" Daquan agreed.

"I think I'll enjoy playing this game, even if the snow is a bit soft for optimal snowball throwing," said Rai.

"Shut up, no one needs you nerding up the place," Yuki joked to him. "Sorry, that was a joke. Anyway, I'll take the first shot!" Yuki rolled up a snowball in her hand and looked back at us, and we all smiled at her, cheering her on. "Alright everyone, watch and learn! I'm the true master of snow here!"

"Go, Yuki!" Guadalupe cheered as Yuki chucked the snowball at a snow Monokuma below the hill. As if by sheer luck, Yuki nailed the snow Monokuma in the head, reducing it to nothing but indeterminate slush.

"Whoa, a direct hit!" Daquan exclaimed. "Keep it up!"

Toko grinned back at Yuki. "Say, varmint... how 'bout a li'l one-on-one? I think I can beat ya at this," They bragged.

"You're on!" Yuki accepted the challenge. I don't think anyone else even tried at this point as we all watched Toko pick up a snowball and hit a snow Monokuma on the ground square in the center. "Pretty good... but I'm better!" Yuki boasted as she hurled a snowball... which proceeded to miss and land directly on the ground. "Wh-what?!"

"It was just beginner's luck," Toko whispered as they launched another snowball and directly beaned another snow Monokuma. "Two-fer-two."

"No way!" Yuki shouted out, her face starting to go red. "That was... a complete fluke! Lemme try again!" Frustrated, she picked up another snowball and threw it, and once again missed completely.

This cycle continued for the next few hours. Toko would continually hit every snowman from then on while Yuki missed every single one afterward, each time getting more and more frustrated. Eventually, her arm got so tired from throwing snowballs that she had to quit.

"Well, I guess we found out who won this one," Toko boasted as Daquan, Saeko, Hikooki, Rai, and Aiko clapped for them. Yuki squatted down on the ground and scowled as Guadalupe and I patted her on the back.

"You did the best you could," Guadalupe encouraged her. "Anyway, I think it's best if we get going now,"

With every one of us tired out from the fun we had, we all headed back to the dining hall on the train. It was getting close to 5 PM, and Masaki, Utamuro, Amy-chan, Kenji, Tame, Ryo, Asa, Shiro, and Kaemon were already present.

"Ah, you guys made it," Masaki began. "It's almost time for us to begin. Everyone take a seat, and we'll all take turns saying whose secrets we got,"

Instantly, Saeko turned around and headed toward the door. "I can't be here, I've got somebody to meet up with," She told us. "I may be back later,"

"Hey, where are the others?" Ryo asked. "I got someone who's not even present at the moment. I don't think it would be a good idea to reveal the secret of someone who's not here. It seems really disrespectful,"

Masaki nodded. "Understandable. You don't need to say it, then,"

Ryo nodded back. "But I'll stay here too, just in case somebody has my secret,"

"So, when shall we begin?" I asked. "And who wants to start?"

After a few minutes, Masaki began. He pulled a slip of paper from his pocket and read aloud, "Kenji Yang killed someone at age nine,"

Kenji went silent for a few seconds and nodded. "It is true. I did it for no other reason than for self-defense,"

Everyone seemed to back away from Kenji after his secret was read aloud. Even Tame's eyes darted back and forth upon hearing that.

"Anyway," Kenji began, clearing his throat. "Tame Maeda sleeps with a night-light, because she is afraid of the dark,"

Tame gulped, looking down and nodding. "Yeah..." She then pulled her slip of paper from out of her cleavage and began to read. "Ryo Shinobu is homosexual,"

Ryo's eyes widened upon hearing Tame read those words, going completely silent. Kaemon looked like he was about to speak up, but Masaki glared at him, as he kept silent. "Anyway, I guess we'll go with the person next to me... that's Daquan,"

Daquan pulled his slip of paper from his pocket. "Hideki Harada once got the wrong suspect, who is still serving a life sentence. Whoa, what an asshole,"

Ryo gasped, as Hideki wasn't even there. "Daquan, I thought we weren't reading off secrets of people who aren't here!"

Daquan shook his head. "If it's Hideki, who cares?"

Masaki nodded. "I agree,"

I breathed a sigh of relief, giving a devious smirk. Now I had dirt on Hideki, and if he ever tried to say anything, I would just be able to-

Before I could finish that thought, Hideki burst in from the adjacent room.

"Kanon Amari sent nude pictures to her ex-boyfriend, who still has the pictures,"

Masaki looked at me as my face flushed a beet-red. I went completely silent, looking at the ground as my heart pounded faster. My arms trembled and my palms began to sweat.

*What would Masaki think of me now?!*

After a long silence, Masaki looked at me and cleared his throat. "Kanon, your turn,"

I nodded back. "Masaki Domoto almost pulled the trigger after being released from jail. Sometimes, he wishes he did it," My voice squeaked with each word, trying to finish the sentence as slowly as possible. After another long pause, Utamuro spoke up.

"Shiro Sakai once-"

Shiro gasped upon hearing their name, and instantly rushed out of the room. Utamuro hadn't even gotten to finish his sentence yet.

"Oh, uh... never mind then,"

"Yuki Hatano almost died in a snowboarding accident," Rai stated. Yuki glared at Rai from her position.

"That was because of a complete accident!" Yuki defended herself. "Don't make me sound bad in the process!"

"Hey, I was just doing as I was told!" Rai shouted back.

"Both of you, just shut up," Hikooki grumbled to them both. "I'm not going to do this if this keeps up, I"m out," Before anyone could stop him, Hikooki was on his way out of the meeting.

"Actually... I have a cleansing ritual I need to begin," Aiko announced, looking at her phone. "I shall see you all by the next dawn!"

Rai stood up as well. "Wait, where are you going?!" He called out, following her out the door.

There was another awkward pause as Masaki shook his head and stood up with a huff. "Great, this has been a fantastic failure. I think we ended up creating more problems than we actually solved," He muttered to himself as he walked out too. In seconds, each of us walked out of the dining hall. I clenched my fists and kicked the leg of a table, frustrated that everyone now knew my secret, and that my plan ultimately failed. With nothing else to do, I walked out of the dining hall and through the hallway, where I found Saeko standing against a wall, talking with Rai and Aiko. I approached the three of them, wondering what was going on.

"Oh, hey Kanon," Saeko whispered to me. Rai and Aiko turned back to me and nodded at me as I entered.

"Aiko's just helping Saeko with a... moral dilemma, I guess," Rai stated.

"That is marvelously correct!" Aiko confirmed, giving an imp-like giggle. "Saeko, what did you say your trouble was? I apologize, my memory is quite shoddy,"

Saeko cleared her throat and leaned in toward the three of us. "Look, I... I didn't want to say the secret I got, because it's way bad. If anyone found out about this, it would be the end for them,"

"Well, why don't you begin by telling us who it belongs to?" Aiko asked her.

Saeko shook her head. "I'd rather not. Just for their sake," She replied.

Aiko nodded, giving a muffled "hee hee hee!". "Okay. Well, I don't know who it is, obviously, but my suggestion is to be upfront with them. After all, it is said that lies clutter and corrupt one's brain, making them a confused and misguided individual. Reconcile your emotions and be honest, and they are sure to follow,"

"But what if they get mad?" Saeko asked her.

Aiko shrugged. "It's on them, not you. Hearing a terrible secret can come off as a shock, but having someone to talk with can be therapeutic. Remember, you're doing this to help them, and by extension, to help yourself,"

Wow, Aiko sure had a way with words, didn't she? Despite how creepy and off-putting she was, there was definitely something charismatic about the way she spoke. She could have been talking about how ants eating gasoline was causing global warming and people would listen to her.

Rai nodded. "That sounds like an optimal course of action. Sometimes the best way to brave the storm is to enter it yourself,"

I nodded along. "It's hard to argue with logic like that,"

Saeko smiled at us. "Thanks, guys. I'm going to talk to them about it. Just... don't tell Toko and Daquan about this, okay? They're my best friends, but if I don't tell them every last detail, they think I don't trust them..."

I nodded back at her. "Okay, we won't! Just stay safe, okay?" I asked her.

"Got it!" She called back as she dashed out of the hallway.

"Well... I think it's time for the cleansing. Rai, would you like to join?" Aiko asked him.

"O-Oh, absolutely!" Rai replied, shaking a bit as she asked him that. I couldn't help but chuckle at him, he was just so awkward. I really hoped I didn't look like that whenever Masaki said anything to me...

As the two of them took off, I decided to just take a rest in my room. I felt my eyes close on their own as I drifted off to sleep-

**KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!**

-But I was quickly awakened by the obnoxious knocking on my door. I rushed to open the door, seeing Azizah standing in the doorway.

"Kanon! Please, come quick!" She called out, her arms trembling as her eyes darted back and forth.

"Whoa!" I stepped back, my anxiety suddenly skyrocketing. "What's going on?"

"It's Saeko!" Azizah cried. "She's hurt!"

I gasped, my eyes widening as I realized our conversation from earlier. I suddenly forgot about Azizah having been missing during all this time as the two of us dashed to Saeko's room, where Toko, Daquan, Sen, and Hideki had already made it. Saeko was lying down in her bed, and Sen was rubbing her head with a blue plastic glove on his hand.

"Y'all made it?" Toko asked us, looking back. Their eyes were wide and sweat was pouring from their forehead, they looked legitimately shaken up. "She's... not doin' so hot,"

"Saeko..." Daquan muttered under his breath. "Doc, how's she doin'?"

I looked over at Sen and Saeko. He was rubbing the side of her head, which looked to be a wound of some sort. "What's wrong?" I asked them.

"He... he..." Saeko whispered, unable to finish the sentence.

"She seems to have stumbled and hit her head," Sen replied. "She's suffered quite the head injury, but assuming all goes well, she'll be alright,"

"Oh, what a relief," Azizah exhaled.

Hideki nodded and scratched their chin. "Kanon, take a picture of this room," He instructed me. "Don't question it, just do it."

I nodded and silently pulled out my camera as I motioned for Toko, Daquan, Azizah, Sen, and Hideki to move. I snapped a picture of the room. Everything seemed to be in working order, but two objects that stood out to me were a model spear hanging on the wall and a large pink travel bag in the corner.

"That's a good call, Hideki," Toko muttered, pulling their hat down. "Anyway... I reckon that we should be gettin' some shut-eye. We need to give Saeko her space," Toko and Daquan then leaned in close to her. "Please, Saeko... Stay safe for us. Yer our best friend, okay?"

"We just... don't know what we'd do without you," Daquan whispered to her.

All Saeko could do was give a short nod as each of us exited the room. I yawned and went back to my room, feeling somehow even more tired than before. I basically fell asleep the moment I rested my head on my pillow, concerned about Saeko. All I could do was hope she would be okay by morning.

**DING-DONG, DING-DONG!**

I awoke the next morning and headed out of my room. I walked in through the hallway and noticed the carpet was actually clean, and no junk littered the room. It looked completely brand-new.

Just before I could enter the dining hall, I saw Toko and Daquan at the door of Saeko's room, both knocking.

"Damn. She ain't answerin'," Toko muttered.

"Maybe she's sleeping?" Daquan suggested.

Toko shook her head. "Ain't nobody who can sleep through that darn morn' announcement,"

"What's going on?" I asked them as I approached the two of them.

"Saeko hasn't opened up. Nobody's seen her," Daquan informed me.

"Yeah, we tried askin' everybody we've seen. Nobody's seen her since last night. I'm afraid," Toko told me, their voice getting quieter.

Suddenly, Rai dashed over to the three of us, shaking and wheezing.

"Rai?! What the hell is going on?!" Daquan shouted at him.

"I-It's-" Rai struggled to get his words out.

Toko pulled a pistol from underneath their skirt and pointed it at Rai. "If ya got somethin' important to say, I suggest ya say it,"

"C-Come quick! S-Somebody please come!" Rai screamed at us, tears beginning to run down his face. Suddenly, Masaki, Amy-chan, Kaemon, Hikooki, Yuki, Guadalupe, Shiro, Ryo, Kenji, Hideki, and Tame met up with us as well.

"What's going on here?!" Hideki shouted at Rai. "Tell us right now. You've got fifteen seconds,"

"I-I..." Rai sputtered out. "It's outside!"

"Follow me!" Hideki commanded us, leading us outside the train.

"What's going on?" Masaki asked me.

"I... don't know..." I replied, my heart sinking as I only imagined what would be happening up ahead. I didn't want to imagine what was going on.

Masaki nodded. "I just hope it's nothing too bad..."

When all of us exited the train, we saw only the most horrifying sight awaiting us outside.

The tree that stood outside the lodge, with Saeko's body pinned against the trunk, held up by a spear pinned through her stomach. Her dead eyes read nothing but pain and suffering as her blood slowly dripped onto the snow.

"Mother of God..." Hideki whispered.

"No..." Toko muttered, clenching onto the handle of their gun.

"Saeko..." Daquan whispered, tears beginning to form in his eyes. "Saeko!"

**BING-BONG, BING-BONG!**

The monitor on the wall outside the lodge flickered on, showing Monokuma drinking a glass of water again. "A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will begin!" As the monitor shut off, everybody went silent.

"Which of you..." Toko began as a tear dripped down their eye. "Which of you did this?!" They screamed, pointing their gun at all of us.

No one had an answer.

Why would anyone do such a thing?

After we had already pledged not to let this happen.

Furthermore... why would anybody kill Saeko?

### Investigation

Everyone else gathered around, and we all stood around Saeko's body for a few silent seconds, no one quite sure where or how to begin.

"I suppose the first thing we should do is take a look at the Monokuma File," Hideki suggested, pulling out his E-Handbook. I obliged, also pulling out my own E-Handbook and looking at the Monokuma File.

I saw Saeko's full-body picture in the Monokuma File, grayed out with the word "DEAD" plastered over it. There was a large pink circle in her abdominal area, and a smaller one on the side of her head. Next to the picture read,

**Monokuma File #2:**

* The victim was Saeko Nura. The time of death is estimated around 3:10 a.m. The body was discovered outside the snow lodge. The cause of death was impalement through the stomach by a sharp, long object. Hours before death, it appears her head was struck by a heavy blunt object.

Sen scratched his chin and looked at Saeko's body, pulling out a pair of blue rubber gloves and putting them on his hands as he slightly pulled her body along the spear. There was a straw rope tied along the handle of the spear and around Saeko's body, keeping her suspended against the tree. "Hmm, just as I thought. It would take quite a bit of force to spear someone in the abdomen, have it come out the other side, and stick it through the bark of a tree," Sen muttered. He slid his hand along Saeko's torso, sticking his fingers into the wound.

Toko wretched, holding their stomach as their eyes widened. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

"I was too late... if only I could have saved her..." Sen lamented.

"Anything you've learned, Doc?" Daquan asked him.

"The wound is overall bigger than the spear. This tells me that she was actually struck more than once, possibly in a different location than here," Sen informed us. I took the time to remember this information.

Yuki looked down at the snow beneath Saeko's body, which had been dyed pink with Saeko's blood. "There's somethin' real weird about this snow," She told me. Yuki rolled up a ball of snow in her hand, which turned to slush as she tried to ball it up. "See that? Even if it starts to heat up, regular snow doesn't do that. At least not that fast. There's somethin' real odd about that if you ask me,"

Rai immediately butted in. "Yeah, I can agree with that! Last night, I was making the weather chart for the next month, and last night was supposed to hail around this time. There wasn't supposed to be any snow,"

If it wasn't real snow, and it wasn't even supposed to snow, just what was going on?

"Something else I might add," Shiro began, clearing their throat. "It's actually not only possible, but also easy to create snow using liquid nitrogen and water. But I don't know who could have possibly had access to it, because I was in the chemistry lab until 10 p.m. and didn't see anyone go in,"

Hideki scratched his chin. "Damn, it doesn't really look like we're getting anywhere with this," He muttered to himself. "Kanon, you and I are gonna get to the bottom of this," He told me, grabbing onto my wrist.

"Hey!" I shrieked, trying to pull away from him. However, I could not free myself from his iron grip.

"Let go of her!" Masaki tried to come to my rescue, rushing in to get in between Hideki and me.

Hideki huffed and then let go of my wrist, glaring at Masaki. I breathed a sigh of relief, my wrist still aching.

"Fine. But I need Kanon for my investigation this time," Hideki grumbled. "Don't get in the way of this unless you want us all to be executed,"

Masaki shrugged. "Excuse me for not wanting my best friend to be hurt. Fine, you two can investigate this time, but I swear, if you hurt her or make her feel uncomfortable, you'll wish you hadn't," Masaki raised a fist to Hideki, who scoffed and turned away.

"An empty threat from an empty person, real endearing," He laughed. "Come on, Kanon, we've got lots to find out this time,"

I reluctantly went along with Hideki as he started asking various people about where they were during all this time.

"Alright, Toko, Daquan, you two seemed real close to Saeko. What are your accounts of everything happening?"

Toko glared at Hideki and gave a sigh. "Daquan and me attended the meeting, and Saeko left before it could start, sayin' she was meetin' up with someone. Daquan and I tried to ask who it was, but she wouldn't answer. After 'bout an hour, we tried knockin' on her door, but she wouldn't let us in,"

Daquan nodded. "Then that's when we heard her scream, around 10:30 p.m. She opened the door for us - me, Toko, Sen, and you. A few minutes later, Azizah and Kanon arrived,"

Hideki nodded. "Okay... Then where were you after she was attacked?"

"I went to bed, I was too tired after all that," Toko replied.

"I was hanging out with Kaemon all night," Daquan replied. I raised an eyebrow - how could *anyone* be bothered to hang out with him?!

Hideki scoffed. "That's an obvious lie, nobody would hang out with him,"

Kaemon rolled his eyes at Hideki's statement. "Like it or not, it's true. I can confirm it. He was trying to see if he could livestream the outside of Saeko's room,"

Daquan nodded. "Believe it or not, Kaemon actually tried to help me out with it. After a few hours, we finally got it to work-"

Suddenly, Monokuma appeared in front of us out of nowhere. "Hey now, who said you all could go and set up cameras of your own?! That's my thing!" He scolded Kaemon.

Kaemon shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure. You never told us that was one of the rules,"

Monokuma fumed at us, waving his arms around but unable to say anything intelligible. "Fine! But, you better not abuse this power, or there will be absolute hell to pay!"

Without saying anything else, Monokuma disappeared and left us alone again.

"So, Toko went to bed, and Daquan and Kaemon were in the game room... what did you guys see?" I asked them.

"Nothing. The two of us watched until four in the mornin', neither of us saw anything. After that, the two of us just headed to bed," Daquan accounted.

Hideki nodded, scratching his chin. "Kanon, you get all that?" He asked me.

"Uh, yeah," I replied.

"What about you, Kanon? Where were you during all this?" Hideki asked me.

"Well, I just remember being with Aiko and Rai. Saeko said she was meeting with somebody, but she had a really sensitive secret. So she wanted to talk with them in person about it," I told him.

Hideki nodded and gave a grin. "Actually... that's just what we needed,"

"Huh?" I asked him, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"Don't you get it? The person she met up with is the person whose secret she had, and that person is incredibly likely to also be her killer," Hideki informed me.

I nodded, thinking of what happened the night before. "So you, me, Masaki, Kenji, Tame, Ryo, and Yuki are out," I replied, remembering that all of them had their secrets revealed. "So that means it had to be someone whose *wasn't*."

Hideki nodded. "There we go! In fact, the easiest way of solving this one is to find out whose secret everybody had. Then we work backwards from there, and the one that's missing is the one Saeko had-"

Before Hideki could finish, Monokuma burst in again.

"Upupupu~! That sounds nice and easy and all, but for this investigation and trial, nobody will be allowed to say whose secret they had if nobody else knew about them yesterday! Otherwise, they wouldn't really be secrets, would they?" Monokuma told us.

"Shit... that's gonna make this harder," Hideki muttered.

I guess we had to solve this one the old-fashioned way then.

"Well, we should probably ask everybody else about where they were," I suggested. "We should also check out Saeko's room, and there's something awfully suspicious about the hallways as well," I told him.

"Yeah..." Hideki replied, wiping off his sunglasses. "It was all clean, like brand-new. Even though it was Kaemon's night to clean, and he said he wanted no part in cleaning,"

I nodded back at Hideki. "Yeah, yeah. And there's something else concerning me too. Toko and Daquan said that Saeko's room was locked, but after she got hurt, they were somehow able to come in,"

A smile spread across Hideki's face. "See, now we're getting somewhere,"

With all this in mind, the two of us continued asking people where they had been the previous night. The two of us approached Aiko and Rai, both of whom had been awfully quiet this whole time.

"You two, where were you this entire time?" Hideki asked them.

Aiko scratched her chin and gave a shrug. "I honestly don't remember," She replied, giving her signature imp laugh.

Hideki glared at her and raised his fists up. "If you don't give me an answer right away, I'll make you wish you did,"

"Hey!" I tugged on Hideki's arm, trying to stop him from using force on Aiko. "Just because you're an interrogator doesn't mean you can do whatever you want to people!"

Rai instantly spoke up. "We were doing the cleansing ritual! Aiko drew a magic circle in the slush by the hill, and the two of us waited in there while doing some weird latin chants all night!" He testified.

Hideki nodded. "Okay... And did you happen to see anybody else during this ritual?"

"Well... We invited Hikooki to go with us, and he stayed for a few minutes before leaving. But that gives Aiko and I an alibi for the night, and Hikooki an alibi until 9 p.m.," Rai informed us. "We also saw Guadalupe run past us at around 8 p.m. and head back inside the train around 9:30 p.m.,"

Hideki lowered his fists and cleared his throat. "Got it, no further questions," He replied to the Ultimate Meteorologist. Hideki then turned around to face Yuki and Guadalupe. "Alright, Yuki, your secret was revealed last night, but Guadalupe, you're still on the chopping block. Where were you last night?"

"Qué?" Guadalupe asked, tilting her head. "I was with Yuki most of the night, but she passed out again, so I went for a run. I saw Rai, Aiko, and Hikooki sitting in a circle when I passed by them, and I saw Utamuro, Amy-chan, and Tomoe in the lounge, and ran some laps up and down the hill. When I ran back to the train to get a drink of water, it was just Rai and Aiko,"

I nodded at what Guadalupe was saying, though this still didn't really make much sense to me. I looked at the path from the train all the way to Saeko's body, looking at all the footprints that lined the area. I tried looking for any footprints that would have pointed us in the right direction, such as any that went directly from the train to the tree, but none of them fit the criteria. In fact, if I had remembered correctly, there weren't any footprints from the train to the tree in the first place, besides Rai's.

"There's something that's bothering me," I told to Hideki. "Do you remember seeing any footprints from here to the train in the snow before we got here, besides Rai's?"

Hideki shook his head. "I don't recall that..." He replied, looking back at the spear again. "Kanon, look at this spear again," He told me as I inspected the spear once more. I saw a large handprint in the middle of the spear, with a splash of blood in the center. "See this? Somehow, the killer must have had to kill her close-up. The rope tied around her is further proof of this," He informed me.

I nodded once more, snapping a picture of the spear in Saeko's abdomen. "Anyway, I think we've investigated all there is to see out here," I said to Hideki. "Why don't we go check in the train and in Saeko's room?" I asked him.

"Good call," He replied. The two of us walked back into the train, looking at the hallway again. Once again, we noticed that there was no sign that anyone had been there at all; the carpet was clean and free of any litter or junk. "Yeah, there's no way Kaemon could have done this," Hideki muttered to me. "There's no doubt about it, the killer did it," He then looked through a trash can in the corner.

"What could possibly be in the trash can?" I asked him.

"There's bound to be garbage and whatnot in here from the night before," Hideki replied. "Hey Kanon, look at this," He told me as I looked into the trash can. There was nothing particularly of interest in there, besides a broken glass lamp.

"A lamp?" I asked him.

Hideki nodded. "Look above us," He pointed upward, and I looked up to see multiple small shelves lining the walls, each of them with lamps on them except for one in the center. "That's a damning piece of evidence right there,"

I nodded back. "Well, I don't think there's particularly much else to see here. Why don't we investigate Saeko's room?"

Hideki shook his head. "It's locked. I don't think we'll be able to enter-"

Right before Hideki could finish his thought, Monokuma burst into the hallway from out of nowhere again.

"Upupupu~! For this investigation, the victim's room will be unlocked for the time being! Feel free to investigate at your own discretion!" He told us.

"...Never mind then," Hideki mumbled as the two of us entered her room. While it looked mostly similar to last night, *something* about it seemed off. I couldn't tell exactly *what*, though.

"Hey, where y'all goin'?!" shouted Toko from behind us. I jumped at their voice as they entered the room.

"Beat it, cowboy," Hideki told them. "You'll just get in the way,"

"Oh yeah? What if I told y'all that this room is outta order?" Toko asked us.

"Huh?" Hideki asked. "What do you mean?"

Toko adjusted their glasses for a second and pointed at Saeko's display of anime figures. "These were more centered at first," Then they pointed at the old video game cartridges behind a glass display. "These were standing upright, now they're toppled over," Then finally picked up a gold coin on the ground. "And *this* was on the shelf,"

I nodded at Toko's statement. How was Saeko's room all messed up?

"Hey, look what I found," Hideki called out, pulling out an E-Handbook from underneath Saeko's bed. "It's Saeko's E-Handbook. There's got to be some significance to this,"

I wasn't sure exactly what was relevant about Saeko's E-Handbook, but I did know that our doors would only open with them.

"Somethin's botherin' me about her bed, too," Toko muttered before they flipped over their mattress. They shrieked as we saw a horrifying sight - a bloody hole in the center of the mattress.

"...Whoa..." Hideki exhaled, the three of us going silent.

I looked around the room for anything else which would be of note, but all that stood out was the large pink travel bag. Even that didn't look particularly odd except for the wheels being slightly wet.

"There's one last thing I wanted to bring up," Toko began. "See, when we came in here, Saeko said somethin'. She said, "He... He...". I dunno exactly what that means, but we gotta remember it. It might be a clue,"

"Well, I think that's it... even though it doesn't look like we covered much ground..." Hideki muttered. Just as Hideki finished that thought, the monitor in Saeko's room came on.

"Ahem. Investigation time is now over," Monokuma said on the screen. "Please meet me in the main room, and then the Class Trial shall begin!"

"Fuck, I can't say I quite know who did it yet," Hideki muttered. "But, I know I'll solve this one. Come on. I've got some leads already,"

The three of us headed into the main room, where we regrouped with the other 18 students still alive. A nervous silence befell all of us as the same walls from before enclosed around us, trapping us in an elevator once again.

"Did you and Hideki find anything?" Masaki asked me. "Did he hurt you?"

I shook my head. "I promise, I'm fine," I told him. "...I think we're closer to figuring this out, but I still don't have any clue who could have done this. We need to discuss it more,"

Masaki nodded back. "I believe in you, Kanon,"

After what felt like forever, all of us arrived at the trial room once more.

It was time for us to solve the murder of Saeko Nura, the Ultimate Collector.

### Trial and Execution

Once again, all of us took our assigned podiums, this time with Michiru's and Saeko's places being replaced with signs with their grayed-out pictures on them, with a pink "X" splashed across. It sent a shiver down my spine, seeing the eerie images of now three of our dead friends.

"Now then, let's begin with an explanation of how the class trial works!" Monokuma began, taking his seat as I began to think about my opening statement. Looking around all the students still alive, there was only one who could have killed Saeko. But who could it have been? "Well, I *would* explain it, but I'm sure you all know how it works at this point, so it would just be insulting to do it all over again. Anyway... let's begin with this, shall we?"

#### Phase 1: Nonstop Debate

Hideki was the first to speak up. "Let's begin. Unlike last time, we don't exactly have a place to start from right off the bat,"

"The last time most of us saw her was at the meeting, right?" asked Shiro. "She left early because she went to go meet with somebody,"

I nodded. "Yeah. Some of us did see her later, though, so let's start from when we last saw her. Then we can begin to narrow things down,"

"Obviously, most of us last saw her at the meeting. Did anyone else see her later, besides the person she met up with?" asked Hikooki.

Rai perked his head up at Hikooki's question. "Yeah, Aiko, Kanon, and I actually saw her a little after the meeting ended! She asked us how to approach the person whose secret she got," He replied. "Aiko suggested that Saeko go right ahead and be honest,"

"And that turned out so bad..." Toko muttered in response. "Since that person is prolly who got her killed..."

Hideki gave a chuckle. "Y'know who seems real suspicious? *You*, Toko,"

Toko gasped, covering their mouth in silence.

"Toko?" asked Masaki. "That's a really weird assumption. They were best friends with Saeko,"

Hikooki nodded. "It's not a bad assumption. There's lots of evidence that points toward them if you think about it,"

"So, to sum it up," began Kaemon. "Saeko met up with her killer, the person whose secret she got, and got attacked at night. Overnight, she was killed, and her body was found outside, tied to the tree,"

Yuki nodded. "Yeah, and for some reason, there was snow outside,"

"So it must have snowed overnight!" Amy-chan piped up. I suddenly remembered what Rai, Yuki, and Shiro had all said about the snow.

"N-No!" I refuted her. Everyone turned my way, anticipating my argument. "Um... that's wrong. It didn't actually snow last night, Rai and Yuki can confirm this,"

Rai smiled back at me. "Correct, it was supposed to *hail* last night,"

"Yeah, the snow felt fake," Yuki added on.

Amy-chan's eyes darted back-and-forth as she gave a nervous chuckle. "O-Oh... I feel like such a *baka*..."

"What does that tell us, exactly?" Hideki asked. "Do you think the killer was trying to mask the exact time they killed her?"

"Hehehe..." Aiko giggled. "I think it's pointless to discuss something like this so early on. Why don't we first figure out how our keeper of the horrible secret committed this atrocious act?"

"Trying to cover yourself up?" Hideki asked her. "After all, *your* secret was never revealed to us either,"

Aiko gave an imp-like giggle at Hideki's question. "I actually don't remember if you guys figured out my secret. In fact, I don't remember what my secret *was*!"

"She's really not all there, is she?" Kaemon asked.

Hideki chuckled back. "Classic, playing dumb. If you can't remember what happened, you probably can't remember if you met up with her or not,"

"Que? I don't really think she could have done it," Guadalupe replied. My eyes widened as Guadalupe said this - she was right, it couldn't have been Aiko!

"I-I agree with that!" I replied to Guadalupe. "Aiko actually has an alibi!"

"She does?" asked Kaemon.

"She does?" Tame also asked.

"I do?" Aiko asked.

"Yeah, I was there with you!" Rai replied to her. "We were doing your cleansing ritual, remember? We sat in the magic circle you drew on the ground and chanted these weird latin phrases for hours,"

"And if I recall," I added on. "Azizah woke me up around ten p.m. to check on Saeko *after* she had gotten hurt. You were with Rai at the time,"

"Oh!" Aiko giggled again. "Guess I'm safe for this one, aren't I?"

Daquan scratched his chin. "So the meeting ended around six, and Saeko got hurt around ten, and nobody saw her between those times... this means there was around a four-hour period for her to meet up with her killer,"

"What if someone sneaked in there and killed her when she least expected it?" Kenji asked. I immediately spotted the contradiction in Kenji's argument.

"N-No, that's wrong!" I replied.

"Hmm? Did I miss something?" He asked me with a glare.

I remembered what Daquan and Toko had said about Saeko's room. "According to Toko and Daquan, Saeko kept her room locked," I told Kenji.

"Yeah!" Daquan added on. "We tried knockin' and callin' her name, but no matter what, she wouldn't open up!"

Toko nodded in return.

"Well, this is just getting nowhere," Hideki replied with a huff. "But obviously, you two didn't hang around her room all night, otherwise you would have seen who she met up with. When did you leave her door?"

"Around eight-thirty or so," Toko replied. "Then the two of us just took different directions. I hung out in my room while Daquan went to his,"

"So if anything," Hideki replied, his grin growing wider. "You're still on the chopping block,"

"N-No way!" They protested. "I'd never kill Saeko, the two of us were pardners!"

Masaki nodded back. "We should stop looking at this as one big picture, and start looking at it in four separate times. First, from five to ten, when she met up with her killer. Then, around ten, when you guys found her hurt in her room, then overnight, when she died, and finally, the time we found her dead. If we tackle each of those individually rather than looking at it all at once, the big picture should come together,"

Kaemon sighed. "So, whose secrets were revealed last night?"

I thought back to the previous night. "Mine, Masaki's, Kenji's, Tame's, Yuki's, Hideki's, and Ryo's," I replied. "So all of us have alibis for this time, as Saeko couldn't have possibly met up with any of us,"

Ryo clicked his tongue and nodded. "Gotcha. So that leaves everyone else, then?"

Rai spoke up again. "I also had Shiro's secret, but they left before I could read it,"

Shiro gasped. "Rai, please, quiet-"

Monokuma interrupted them. "Hey! Rai, didn't I say that you weren't allowed to say whose secret you had?!"

"I told everyone I had it yesterday, during the meeting!" Rai protested.

Monokuma growled. "Ughhh... Fine. But if anyone says whose secret they had, and they *weren't* part of the meeting, I promise I won't be so easy on you! So... without further ado, let's continue,"

"So it had to be somebody whose secret was never revealed at the meeting," Ryo muttered. "Rai, Aiko, and Guadalupe also have alibis, as do Toko and Daquan,"

"And around 10 p.m., Saeko got hurt," Azizah recalled. "Kanon, Toko, Daquan, Sen, Hideki, and myself all went into her room to check up on her,"

Sen's eyes perked up. "Yes! I believe it was Toko who heard her scream, and then we went into her room to check up on her.

*Wait a minute...* I thought to myself. *How did she open the door if she had hit her head too hard to even finish her sentence...*

"Yeah, and then Saeko opened the door for us!" Toko stated. I gasped.

"No, wait! That's wrong!" I called back. Toko looked back at me, raising an eyebrow. "Could Saeko *really* have opened the door herself? She was too weak to even finish her sentences, how could she have possibly gotten up?"

"How did Saeko open the door then?" Sen asked me.

I had to really think about this one...

#### Phase 2: Logic Dive

I concentrated as hard as I could as I tried to piece together exactly how this would happen, considering every nuance and every possibility the killer could have taken.

*Who opened the door?*

* *Saeko*
* *The Killer*

I had already decided Saeko couldn't have opened the door herself. It had to have been *The Killer*.

*Where was the killer hiding when the door opened?*

* *In the travel bag*
* *Behind the display case*

While either one would have been difficult, I imagined it would be easier to crawl into a huge travel bag than behind a display case. Not to mention, Saeko's display case was transparent, and the travel bag was not. If the killer had kept quiet, they could have hidden inside without detection. It had to be *In the travel bag*.

*How did the killer open the door?*

* *By hand*
* *Thrown object*

I couldn't imagine it being easy to open the door by hand, and quickly hiding inside a travel bag a few feet from the door without being detected. Furthermore, given that the doors opened with the E-Handbooks, it was certainly possible that the killer could have just thrown the E-Handbook at the door and unlocked it. My answer was *Thrown object*.

"I've got it!" I called out, piecing together my answer.

#### Phase 3: Nonstop Debate

"Okay... the killer was inside Saeko's room the whole time," I told everyone. "He could have hidden inside the huge travel bag, and opened the door throwing Saeko's E-Handbook,"

"Egad, is that true?!" Sen asked.

"Interesting..." Tomoe replied to me. "We sometimes have people do that on the sets of movies, so that they can come in during scenes we need to film in one take. There's only so much editing can do,"

"So... The killer was in there the entire time?" asked Azizah. "That is... quite unnerving to consider..."

"What if the killer was among the group that went inside the room, and joined everyone amidst the confusion?" Ryo suggested.

"Not possible," Hideki replied. "I was there, we all entered through the door,"

"So we figured that out," Asa muttered. "But, pray tell, what of Miss Nura's wound?"

Sen scratched his chin. "I initially diagnosed it as a fall, but this opens up a whole new door of possibilities," He replied.

"Actually, now that I think about it," Masaki replied. "It's possible that our culprit hit her on the head themselves, probably in retaliation to hearing their secret revealed to them. And while the blow was not fatal, it was still enough to seriously damage her,"

"Then later on, the killer would have had to attack her fatally," Hikooki replied. "But when?"

"Probably after taking her outside, where they stabbed her to death!" Tame tacked on.

Wait, that wasn't correct! "No, that's wrong!" I replied to Tame.

"Huh?" She asked me.

"It's simple. Her room was a complete mess, which shows clear evidence of a struggle-"

Before I could finish my sentence, Kaemon cut me off.

"Cut the crap!" He shouted out.

#### Phase 4: Rebuttal Showdown

"Don't be such a fucking idiot!" Kaemon called out.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I asked him.

"You know *exactly* what I mean," He replied to me. "Killing Saeko in her room, not possible,"

I raised an eyebrow, trying to listen to Kaemon's argument.

"Daquan and I watched her room all night!"

I nodded at him, this was a well-formulated argument. That didn't mean it was correct, however.

"Not a single time did anyone enter or exit her room!"

I wasn't sure how this tied into his argument, but I just had to press on.

"That obviously means that our killer took her outside *before* Daquan and I watched the cameras!"

I sighed, trying to think of how I was going to refute Kaemon. "That doesn't prove that the killer did all that before! The killer could have carried her out *after*! Her disorganized room is further proof of this!"

Kaemon shook his head again. "You don't get it, do you? If anything, her disorganized room is proof of *my* argument! Because that means the killer never went back!"

I clicked my tongue, trying to come up with a rebuttal. There had to be something that proved Saeko was killed in her room...

"So admit it, there's no evidence that Saeko was killed in her room! Meaning that Azizah coulda done it or something,"

"I'll cut through those words!" I shouted back, suddenly remembering the hole in Saeko's mattress. "Alright, listen up!"

Kaemon scoffed. "You've got nothing,"

"Actually, I've got something," I replied to him. "There was a bloody hole on the underside of Saeko's mattress. What was the murder weapon? A spear,"

Kaemon went speechless. "But... that means..."

I nodded again. "And if you recall, Sen's autopsy revealed that she had actually been stabbed *twice*. There wouldn't be any real reason to stab Saeko twice if they were just going to kill her outside to begin with,"

#### Phase 5: Nonstop Debate

"So, the puzzle is starting to come together," Masaki commented. "Let's recap what we know. It had to be somebody whose secret was never revealed. Saeko met up with her eventual killer sometime between eight-thirty and ten, then she was found injured sometime after 10. It couldn't have been anybody who checked up on her either. That leaves just two more phases for us to figure out - overnight and the cover-up,"

"Wait, why did Kaemon accuse me?" Azizah asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I was wrong, let's move on," Kaemon cut her off, not even acknowledging her question.

"I believe Mister Nakama stated that he and Mister Brown watched Saeko's door overnight?" Asa began.

Hideki nodded. "Yeah, Kaemon did mention that,"

"Guess that means we can add Kaemon to the list of safe people," Masaki replied.

"Goddammit..." Yuki muttered under her breath. "I was kinda hopin' it was him,"

"Shut the fuck up!" Kaemon shouted back at her.

"You shut the fuck up!" Yuki shouted back.

"Is this really the time or place to be having such a fight?" Utamuro asked the two of them.

"Since Kaemon and I didn't see anything, that means that the killer remained in the room until the two of us went to bed," Daquan piped up. "Lucky bastard, there's no way he shoulda known..."

Shiro nodded back. "I was in the lab until I went to bed, and since we've established that our culprit had to go in there at some point, it definitely had to be really late when the killer carried out their plan,"

"Wait, why do you say the killer went into the lab?" asked Hikooki, raising an eyebrow.

Shiro shook their head. "Like Kanon, Rai, and Yuki said before, there was no way that it really snowed outside. The easiest and most convenient way I can think of to make artificial snow is to mix liquid nitrogen and water. Two things you can easily acquire onboard this train. Furthermore, it's really common knowledge that the two can make fake snow when combined, so it's not outside the realm of possibilities,"

Daquan nodded. "Damn... the killer really went through a lot just to carry out this one murder..."

"What did the killer do? Carry her out and pin her against the tree?" Rai asked.

"I think that she was carried inside something. It's too much work to carry a dead body, go back, grab a spear and rope, and try to rearrange her room without getting caught in the span of three hours-" Kaemon suggested.

Wait, there was evidence that pointed to this being true!

"I agree with that!" I consented with Kaemon.

"Whoa, really?" Kaemon asked.

"Yes, I do!" I replied to him. "Hideki, Toko, do you remember the travel bag?"

"The one our culprit was hiding in?" asked Hideki.

"Yes, that one!" I replied. "The wheels were wet. That's good enough evidence that the travel bag was taken outside, despite there being no reason for that bag to go outside overnight,"

Toko nodded. "Ah, I think I get it now..."

"Further evidence is the lamp in the garbage," I added on. "The killer must have bumped into the lamp, as that bag would have been really heavy and easy to lose your grip on. Must have been a misstep,"

"Which is why the room was clean!" Yuki called out.

"You're still cleaning the hallway tomorrow," Utamuro whispered.

"So now this means that we've figured out *how* the killer did this," Masaki began. "Now we need to narrow down the suspects. Kanon, Kenji, Tame, Ryo, Hideki, Yuki, myself, Rai, Aiko, Shiro, Guadalupe, Toko, Daquan, Sen, Azizah, and Kaemon are all out,"

"That leaves..." Kenji began, counting on his fingers. "Tomoe, Hikooki, Utamuro, Asa, and Amy-chan,"

"Actually, I saw Utamuro, Tomoe, and Amy-chan on my run," said Guadalupe. "And I saw Hikooki with Rai and Aiko at one point,"

Everyone then turned toward Asa, whose podium seemed to move toward the center of the circle.

"Oh dear... it appears I've gotten myself into a bad situation, doesn't it?" Asa asked.

Hikooki crossed his arms. "Cut the crap, Asa. You don't have an alibi. Therefore, you killed her,"

Asa shook her head. "Mister Kawata, you must be mistaken. I certainly had no involvement in the murder of Miss Nura,"

Hideki raised his eyebrows. "Wait just a damn minute," He began. "I just remembered something that *proves* Asa didn't do this,"

"It's not my secret, is it?" Asa asked. "Because that would be quite the misfortune for you..."

Hideki shook his head. "Nope. Kanon, think back to when we went into Saeko's room. Can you recall something that clears Asa's name?"

I closed my eyes and entered a deep thought once more. I had to remember something that would clear Asa's name.

#### Phase 6: Hangman's Gambit

I thought back to when Azizah pulled me back into Saeko's room. There had to have been *something* that would prove Asa wasn't the killer, though it would be simple. Something I might have brushed off at first.

*What proves Asa didn't do it?*

F-I-N-A-L W-O-R-D-S-

"I've got it!" I called out, remembering Saeko's last words to us.

#### Phase 7: Nonstop Debate

"What is it?" Asa asked me, tilting her head.

"When I was with the others in Saeko's room," I began. "She was so weak she couldn't even finish her sentence. She could only say one word. 'He'. Asa, you're a woman,"

Asa nodded. "Yes, I am!" She replied, smiling and wiping her forehead. "That's quite the relief, dear. Thank you,"

Hideki scratched his chin. "And with Tomoe and Amy-chan both being girls, that leaves only two people, Utamuro and Hikooki,"

"Didn't you get the memo?" Utamuro asked him. "Hikooki and I both have alibis,"

Then I remembered - Guadalupe didn't see them all at once like she did with Rai and Aiko. They disappeared before she could make it back onto the train.

"No, that's wrong!" I replied to Utamuro. "No, you aren't safe. Guadalupe didn't testify to seeing either of you the whole night, isn't that right?" I asked her.

"Sí!" Guadalupe replied, nodding back in my direction. "By the time I ran back to the train, Utamuro and Hikooki were both gone!"

Hikooki and Utamuro both went silent. Of the two of them, who was it?

Then I remembered - One of them was with his friends, the other was on his own. Which meant...

"I know who did it," I began, looking at the culprit.

"Who did it?" Hideki asked me. "Not like we're counting on you with our lives if you get this wrong, y'know,"

I nodded. "It was... Hikooki Kawata. You're the only one!"

"What?" Hikooki asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What?!" Rai screamed.

"*Nani?!*" Amy-chan shouted.

"Hikooki... Please tell her she's wrong..." Rai pleaded.

Hikooki blinked and shook his head. "...No. I didn't do it," He whispered, looking down.

"That all ya got?!" Toko shouted out him. "Yer life's on the line fer possibly killin' my best friend, and all ya can say is that ya didn't do it?!"

Hikooki shook his head again and glared at me. "I *didn't* do it,"

I glared right back at Hikooki. "The evidence lines up. You're the only one who could have done it-"

"Shut up," Hikooki told me, a little bit more firmly this time. "You have no idea what the hell you're saying. I'm gonna prove it,"

#### Phase 8: Rebuttal Showdown

"What else you got, Hikooki?" I asked him, ready to refute his statement. "If you've got anything else to add, you better say it,"

Hikooki nodded. "Certainly. Your argument rests on the claim that, by coincidence, Saeko's dying words were referring to a person,"

I nodded. It was shaky, but it still suspicious.

"You also seem hell-bent on the idea that Utamuro had an alibi, *despite* not being seen after 9 p.m.,"

Again, that did seem rather coincidental, but still-

"Finally, it's *seriously* coincidental that I would have been able to do all of that, without getting caught. It's quite the risk,"

I nodded again. Was my argument falling apart on him? It would have been rather difficult...

"Doesn't make it impossible!" I replied. "The evidence lines up perfectly against you!"

"Bullshit!" Hikooki shouted back. "You're just assuming things! Like Saeko's dying words, she could have been talking about *anybody*!"

Then I thought about it - Saeko's dying words weren't just talking about the gender of the person.

"I'll cut through your words!" I called back to Hikooki. "No... now that I think about it, Saeko's dying words were aimed *specifically* at you,"

Hikooki tried to speak up, but stuttered over his words. "Wh-what makes you think that?"

I shook my head. "He... He... It sounds *exactly* like the beginning of your name,"

"...It could have been Hideki's name!" Hikooki protested.

"Did you get none of this?" I asked him. "Hideki had his secret revealed *and* entered Saeko's room. He had no part in this whatsoever,"

Hikooki went silent again, as did the rest of us.

"Hikooki... please..." Rai whispered. "You're one of my only friends. You need to defend yourself!" He shouted out. "Please! You can still survive!"

Hikooki took in a deep breath and glared at me, his face growing red.

"What the *fuck* do you think you're saying?!" He shouted, sounding genuinely angry. "You're wrong! You're fucking wrong! You're wrong, I say!"

#### Phase 9: Panic Talk Action

"You're wrong!" Hikooki shouted at me. It looked like he wasn't going to listen to me anytime soon... I just had to sit back and wait for him to wear himself out. "You're wrong, I say! All your evidence is based on coincidence!"

I nodded, just listening to his words. He clenched his fists as tears began to run down his eyes.

"Fuck you!" He shouted at me. "Fuck all of you who think it's me! I had zero part in this! Zero! You just *want* to accuse me!"

We certainly didn't *want* to accuse him at all. If anything, we were hoping he *didn't* do it.

"You have no real evidence! Nothing that innately proves I did any of this! You're jumping to conclusions!"

What was he going on about this time?

"You... you..." It sounded like he was running out of things to shout at me. "...Like that snow bullshit. Why would I go through the process of making fake snow and spreading it over the crime scene?"

Now that I thought about it, it certainly seemed odd that somebody would do it. It didn't really mask the time it took place, and it was quite a hassle.

...But there was *one* thing.

TO - COVER - HIKOOKI'S - TRACKS

"I've got it!" I replied. "Hikooki... Isn't it weird that there were no footprints before we went out to find her body, despite her body clearly being in the open, and that the hallway was clean despite it being *Kaemon's* night to clean?"

Hikooki went silent. "You... still don't know that was me..."

"The evidence lines up, Hikooki," Hideki replied, grinning at the Ultimate Pilot. Tears began to run down Hikooki's face as his argument fell apart.

"No... This... This isn't how it's supposed to go..." Hikooki muttered.

Rai gasped. "Hikooki... Please, tell me this isn't true..."

Toko crossed their arms and shook their head at Hikooki. "Fuck you! You killed Saeko!"

"Anyway..." I began. "I think I know how to sum up this case,"

#### Phase 10: Climax Reasoning

"Act I: This case begins around five p.m. yesterday," I began, recalling every event from this case. "Most of us met up in the Dining Hall to exchange secrets. Just before we could begin, Saeko Nura left the room, saying she was going to meet up with somebody. A few others left the room as well - including the blackened. While the meeting continued as normal, it was brought to a close when we got into an argument, and ended early,

"Act II: Only thirty minutes later, I met with Saeko again, along with Rai and Aiko. That's when we found out Saeko had gotten a very sensitive secret, which we later found out to be the secret belonging to the blackened. Unfortunately, this would be the last either of them saw of Saeko as we all suggested she approach them with honest intentions. Her door was locked for the next few hours, preventing anybody from going into her room.

"Act III: A few hours later, Saeko met with the blackened, hoping to talk with them about her secret. Unfortunately, this went south quickly as the culprit hit her over the head, severely injuring her. Saeko let out a loud scream, prompting Toko, Daquan, Sen, Hideki, Azizah, and I to come to her aid. The blackened, cornered, did what he could to hid himself - sneak inside of a large travel bag in Saeko's room. To further the illusion, the blackened tossed Saeko's E-Handbook at the door, unlocking it and letting us inside. Unfortunately for us, none of us ever saw the blackened in her room. Dismissing her wound as just a fall, we had no idea what Saeko was actually in for. We left her alone for the night, though Daquan had a different idea,

"Act IV: Only a few minutes later, Daquan, with the help of Kaemon, set up surveillance of Saeko's door, watching for any change. The two of them waited for hours, but around three a.m., the two of them left and went to bed for the night. This turned out to be a fatal mistake, as while still inside Saeko's room, the blackened exited the bag and impaled Saeko through the torso, killing the poor girl. From there, the blackened set out to cover their tracks,

"Act V: In the dead of night, the blackened placed Saeko's corpse, the spear, a rope, Saeko's E-Handbook, some water, and a case of liquid nitrogen in the travel bag they had been hiding inside of. They rolled the bag through the hallway, and accidentally knocked over a lamp on a shelf, breaking it as it shattered upon the ground. This would be one of the biggest mistakes the blackened would make. Once outside, the killer impaled Saeko's corpse in roughly the same place, and tied her corpse around the tree. Of course, all this bag rolling and walking left a lot of tracks on the ground. The blackened, mixing liquid nitrogen and water, sprinkled fake snow over their tracks to create the illusion that it had snowed overnight, but mostly to mask the method they used to carry her outside,

"Act VI: In order to cover up any evidence they had left behind, the killer went through the process of cleaning up the hallway, even with the little time they had left. The killer returned the bag and E-Handbook to Saeko's room and flipped over their mattress, and tried to put her room back to its original state. Of course, the blackened didn't quite get every detail correct, leaving behind lots of evidence. If the killer had managed to put Saeko's room back together better, they might have been able to create an unsolvable murder. However, that one piece of evidence allowed us to work backwards and figure out exactly who it was... the Ultimate Pilot, Hikooki Kawata,"

#### Trial End

Hikooki went completely silent as tears ran down his face. "You... you got it right..." He muttered.

"Hikooki, no..." Rai whispered, tears forming in his eyes as well. "Please... please tell me you're wrong! You couldn't! You wouldn't!"

"I did..." Hikooki replied. "It was wrong of me... it was the worst thing I ever did... but I did indeed kill Saeko..."

Monokuma jumped down from his chair again. "All rise! The trial has come to an end! Let the voting begin!" The keyboard with everybody's faces appeared before us again.

Once again, I didn't even hesitate as I voted for Hikooki. I assumed everybody else did as well.

Hikooki sighed, crying into his eyes.

"You... have no right to be cryin' right now..." Toko bawled. "My best friend is dead thanks to you! You deserve everythin' comin' to you..."

"I know!" Hikooki cried back. "I don't deserve to live anymore..."

"Just tell me," Daquan began, holding back tears. "Why did you do it?! Why would you kill Saeko?! She never hurt anybody!"

Hikooki sniffled. "I-I... She had my secret... You s-see... Years ago, I had a g-girlfriend. Her name was Naomi, and she was the sweetest, most beautiful, most adventurous girl I ever knew. We met while the two of us were still in pilot's school..." He began.

"And?" Tame asked him.

"I... never knew any of this..." Rai muttered.

"Yeah... 'cause you only wanted to talk about the different clouds," Hikooki replied. "Anyway... Naomi and I were inseparable. We always talked about wanting to see the world together. She was a grade above me, though. And she was the best pilot I have ever seen. Way better than me. One day, she left on a trip, piloted by herself, of course. I encouraged her to go. She didn't return for weeks..."

"What happened after?" Asa asked him.

"..." Hikooki took a deep breath as tears welled up in his eyes. "...Her father... told me that she had died in a plane crash. I can remember her funeral to this day. I couldn't even give a speech because I was crying so much. I still have all of our pictures together, all the notes she wrote me when we talked about the trips we would go on, all the postcards from the places we said we would go..."

"...That is... quite tragic," Kenji muttered.

"...I don't deserve to be called the Ultimate Pilot," Hikooki declared, taking off his hat. "That title rightfully belongs to Naomi,"

Monokuma laughed. "Upupu~! It's true, you know! Saeko's secret read, 'Hikooki Kawata got his girlfriend killed in a plane crash'!"

Hikooki sniffled again. "She told me... She told me that she experienced loss herself, and that I needed to let go of Naomi, because she was able to let go of her loss... And while she had a point, I couldn't take it. That's when I hit her with the spear. She didn't die, and I felt really bad, looking at her trying to walk and talk. After a few hours, later that night, she told me. She told me... That I would never get better if I didn't get over Naomi. Even in her worst pain, she was telling me I needed to move on... I can't move on so easily! I can't! And so... In a truly despicable act... I killed her,"

"Aw, what a sad sob story!" Monokuma replied.

Aiko sniffled. "Oh no, that's so heartbreaking! It's always a terrible tragedy when two hearts are forcefully torn from one another!"

"That's... really harsh..." Masaki replied.

I tried to withhold my tears as well. While it was hard to forgive Hikooki for this, there was something upsetting about it.

"But let's not shift the focus completely from Saeko!" Monokuma exclaimed. "Saeko Nura once forgot to give her bedridden brother his pills, resulting in his death! Who had that one?"

"I... did..." Guadalupe replied.

"Upupu~! Anyway... I've prepared a *special* execution for the Ultimate Pilot, Hikooki Kawata!"

Nothing could have prepared me for what was next.

#### Execution

**Plane and Simple**

Hikooki sighed as he suddenly appeared in the cockpit of an airplane. He looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Suddenly, his seatbelt strapped onto him, locking him in place as he instinctively grabbed hold of the plane's controls. Then, the plane began to rapidly descend out of the sky.

His face looking panicked, Hikooki pulled the controls as hard as he could, bringing the plane level again. He breathed a sigh of relief, until a bullet shot through the plane's cockpit. Hikooki jumped, trying to undo his seatbelt. More bullets riddled the cockpit, each one conveniently missing Hikooki as he scrambled for his seatbelt, which seemed to be jammed.

With a gasp, Hikooki finally pulled the seatbelt off of himself and rolled out of his seat, running for cover as he ran past all the bullets. He dashed out of the cockpit and into the aisles, bullets shredding apart the seats. In the back of the airplane was a framed picture of an unfamiliar, yet quite beautiful woman. Hikooki gasped and grabbed hold of the picture, until a bullet pierced his stomach. He leaned over, dropping the picture and reaching for it as bullets shredded through his body, spilling blood all over the place. The plane began to spiral downward toward the ground.

As the plane descended, we all gasped in horror as we watched the plane fall toward the ocean. The plane crashed into the water as Hikooki reached for the picture, which began to float up toward the surface. Hikooki tried to swim up there as well, but was still bleeding profusely and lacked the strength to move. Hikooki's face went blue as pink blood surrounded him, his eyes rolling up as his body sank to the bottom.

The picture rose to the surface of the water, but was too wet and dirty to be recognizable anymore.

All of us went silent as we witnessed this horrific execution.

#### Post-Trial

"Serves that double-crossin' outlaw right," Toko whispered through tears in their eyes. "Saeko! Saeko..."

Daquan hugged them and patted their back as Toko cried out some more.

"Hikooki... He was my... Friend..." Rai muttered.

"In a way... I can't say I'm completely surprised," Hideki stated. "But in reality... I don't think Hkooki's the one to blame for this,"

"What the fuck do you mean?" Daquan asked him.

"It's simple," Hideki replied. "Wasn't Aiko the one who told Saeko to meet up with Hikooki?"

"I believe Miss Amane did say that," Asa replied to him.

"What? I honestly don't remember..." Aiko stated.

Hideki chuckled and crossed his arms. "If anything, Aiko... The blood of Saeko *and* Hikooki is completely on your hands,"

"Huh?" Aiko scratched her head.

"Aiko..." I began, looking at her. "This wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself for this. There was no way you could have known." I then turned to Hideki. "If Aiko did this... So did I. I... encouraged Saeko to meet up with him,"

Hideki shrugged and turned away. "Then you're equally guilty, Kanon. In my eyes... You're no better than a murderer,"

I looked down and really began to think about this.

If Saeko hadn't met up with us last night, she and Hikooki would still be alive now.

The elevator took us all back to the train. Just as I was about to enter my own room, Masaki stopped me.

"Hey, Kanon?" He began.

"What is it?" I asked him, trying to hide my tears.

"You... You did nothing wrong, okay? I just... I want you to know that. Please don't blame yourself for the deaths of Saeko and Hikooki, okay? I... Probably would have said the same thing..."

"But... you would have blamed yourself for the same thing!" I wailed. "You... You still feel suicidal all the time... I can't lose you like we lost Lorenzo, Michiru, Saeko, Hikooki..."

Masaki sighed and hugged me again, just like last time. "With you around, Kanon, I have a reason to keep myself alive. Don't worry about me. Please. You've got so much to live for ahead of you,"

He let go of me and went back to his room. My face felt like it was blushing in full, and I wiped my tears on my sleeves as I went back to my room.

I would never forget what I witnessed this day.

CHAPTER 2 END

SURVIVING STUDENTS: 20