Danganronpa: Despair Never Dies/Story/Chapter 1

The main page for Chapter 1 of Danganronpa: Despair Never Dies.

### First Stop

I stepped outside of the train and onto the concrete platform below, side-by-side with Masaki. This first station we arrived at was inside a large closed space, with a flat concrete ground and a rounded, concave ceiling, like a half-cylinder. The bright, yellow sun shone through the transparent window which made up the station's ceiling. One would be able to see tree branches and various shapes of green leaves brushing against the roof window, giving a natural vibe to the area. Flowers, bushes, and small trees of all kinds were planted all around the station, directly underneath the window ceiling to absorb sunlight.

Right in front of us was a short, thin sakura tree only around 159 centimeters, only two centimeters taller than myself. The pale, pink blossoms were radiating with their color, appearing to be healthy and watered to perfection. It was the type of tree you could never take a real picture of, just one you would create in Photoshop or some editing program such as that. Something like this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I pulled my camera out of my bag and turned it on, positioning it for a photograph of the perfect sakura tree. With the satisfying "Click!" of the camera taking a picture, I had saved a photograph of the tree.

"Oh my Kami, it's a sugoi sakura tree! It's *sooooooooooo* kanari!" Amy-chan raved, her eyes gleaming as she gazed at the pink-blossomed tree before us all.

"Welcome to the MonoGarden!" Monokuma announced to all of us, leaping out of the train and facing us. "We take great care of our flora here! Feel free to explore this station at your own leisure!" Before any of us could say anything else, or acknowledge the fact that it was nigh-impossible to make ourselves comfortable knowing that we had to kill each other in order to graduate from Hope's Peak Academy, Monokuma jumped back into the train. "At 10 pm tonight, meet me inside the main seating area of the train, and I'll show all of you your rooms!" He ran to the left, disappearing without saying anything else.

There was a long pause after that. We all eyed each other, glancing back-and-forth at one another.

Suddenly, one of us spoke up. Michiru pushed her glasses back, before walking up to the sakura tree. "If the sakura is in full bloom, that must mean it is in the middle of winter..." she noted. "Very interesting. Didn't we come to Hope's Peak Academy during the summer?" she asked us all. Everyone murmured among each other, conversing with each other at varying volumes. I could not make out any words anyone was saying, but it seemed that everyone was agreeing with Michiru. I thought she was probably correct - after all, I *did* receive my letter in the middle of July.

"I think you're right," Daquan spoke up, scratching his chin. "I remember it like it was yesterday. It was sometime in July. My uncle was so proud that I got that letter and he told me not to even worry about the cost."

"Yes, yes!" Lorenzo added. He clicked his tongue, looking at the ground and then back up. "We were in the middle of our July sale when I got that letter."

A wide, creepy grin spread across Aiko's face as she gave a sinister giggle. "Maybe we've entered a time warp! The Dark Lord loves to do that. He's told me about it." She suggested.

I raised an eyebrow at Aiko, still unable to make heads or tails of anything she said. Ignoring her, I stepped in the middle of our group, pulling my phone out of my bag. While it had clearly displayed the current time (3:48 PM), today's date was missing, even though it always displayed that as well. "It's not..." I couldn't even get the words out as my hand quivered, my heart pounding out of my chest. "Even showing the date?!"

Masaki gave a sigh and scratched his chin. "That's the thing, no one really knows what day it is today. We've all tried looking at our phones, going on the internet to find out... nothing is even showing up."

Unable to comprehend my current situation, I placed my hands to the sides of my head, my phone dropping out of my hand and cracking the screen upon hitting the concrete ground. I didn't care enough at the moment to be upset at that.

"We... don't know how we got here... or what day it is... or where we are..." I whimpered, my legs trembling as I struggled to keep myself on my feet. I felt a hand rest onto my shoulder, and I turned around. Masaki gave a warm smile, even though I could tell as well as anyone that it wasn't genuine. I definitely appreciated him trying, though.

"Kanon," He began. I gulped, looking into his gray-blue eyes as he forced a smile in my direction. "It'll be alright. Just... trust me on this."

I sighed in response, unable to say anything else. I even though Masaki wasn't exactly helping me feel better about my current situation, I was at least glad he was there to help me through it. I took a deep breath, sitting beneath the sakura tree and looking up at the windowed ceiling overhead. The tree branches and leaves swayed with the wind, occasionally brushing against the building and letting out a muffled scratching sound. If Michiru had been correct, then the winter air would be cold to feel if we had been outside. Instead, it seemed to be rather warm in here, like a perfect summer temperature.

After a minute or so passed, I could see Yuki's face turning a beet red and dripping with sweat. Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth as her eyelids twitched. "It's so... hot..." she gasped, her body swaying side-to-side.

"Hey, Yuki?" I asked her. She jumped back inside the train, and then turned back toward me.

"The heat is no good for me," She muttered, gasping for air between words. "I need to get to a room with air conditioning!"

Before she had the chance to run off, I heard Guadalupe's voice from behind. "Yuki!" she called out. "I found a room with air-conditioning! Come on, you've gotta see this place!" Guadalupe then ran toward Yuki, who was still swaying from side-to-side. The poor girl could barely stand. Guadalupe then picked up Yuki, carrying her like a princess, and began to dash away, running off in the distance toward a darkened room in the left corner, away from the train.

I leaned against the sakura tree, wondering exactly how used to the cold one would have to be in order to get heat stroke from lukewarm temperatures. Masaki sat right next to me. Only a few feet away from us sat Tame and Kenji, sitting beneath a plum blossom tree. Tame appeared to be sketching something in her notebook as she bobbed her head back-and-forth with the music she was listening to (which was loud enough for Masaki and I to hear, and most definitely Kenji as well), while Kenji was still reading that Lao Tzu book. It was a picturesque scene, really - the two of them seemingly in bliss, relaxed and beneath the same tree. I pulled out my camera again, and snapped a picture of Tame and Kenji beneath the plum tree.

That's when it hit me - I had plenty of photograph opportunities in this place! Who knew what gorgeous plant life I would find, and which beautiful locations I would see, which people would allow me to snap candid photographs of them? I wanted to find out. A dorky smile spread across my face as I pondered the endless opportunities a place like this would give me.

"Hey, Masaki?" I asked the Ultimate Thief, whose eyes were closed as he leaned against the sakura tree. He opened one eye and turned his head to me.

"Hmm?" He barely even moved his mouth. Oh no, was he annoyed with me?!

I gasped, frantically pushing my glasses back up against my face and standing up. "Umm... I'm gonna go, uh... check out the place, and see if I can get any good photographs! You wanna come with?"

Masaki inhaled, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Nah, not right now," He replied. He then looked at me, and opened his eyes up and this time gave a genuine smile. "But I'd like to see all the pictures you take when you're done! I know they'll look amazing."

First, I approached Tame and Kenji, still in the same position they were just five minutes ago when I snapped their picture. "Umm..." I began, trying not to disturb their peace too much. It was at that moment that I was at a loss for words again - how would I say anything without being too invasive or forward? Then, both of them looked up at me as Tame's J-pop music stopped, and Kenji put his book down. My heart pounded as I struggled to finish my sentence.

"What do you want?" Tame asked me, mumbling with her words.

"I, uh..." My tongue felt frozen in position - I simply could not finish my sentence. What was I supposed to say now? Two of the most antisocial, quiet people among us, and neither of them seemed particularly interested in talking to me. Crap, I really did make this every bit of awkward as I imagined I would. *Stupid Kanon...*

Kenji looked away from me, burying his face in that Lao Tzu book again. "One should not open their mouth should their tongue hold words of no value." Kenji mused, his voice trailing off as he finished his sentence.

I tilted my head at him and raised an eyebrow. "Is that a Lao Tzu quote? Or is it Confucius? Or someone else you've read?" I asked him.

Kenji rolled his eyes and sighed. "No, I just made it up right now."

"O-oh..." I turned back to Masaki, and then looked at Kenji and Tame again. The two returned to their silent activities as Tame's J-pop music blared again. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, I walked away from the two of them, deciding it was better to just let them sit in peace.

I walked a little further away from the train, looking around at all the beautiful plant life surrounding me. Up ahead, I saw a wooden platform, standing no higher than a foot but being at least a meter long and two-thirds of a meter wide. It was painted with a crude gray, and pieces of the coat were chipping off. I saw Amy-chan, Daquan, Asa, and Azizah standing in front of the platform, which I now realized to be a rectangular stage of some sort.

"This stage is perfect!" Amy-chan exclaimed, her eyes gleaming with excitement. "I was going to hold my performance on the train, but I think I'll have it up here on this stage!"

"That is simply a marvelous idea!" Asa replied, beaming at Amy-chan. "I'll provide catering~!"

Azizah gave a warm smile as well, as she pulled a pair of metal pliers and a black wire wrapped in a circle from her pockets. "I can be your stage manager! Leave light and sound to me!" Azizah assured them.

"And I can build structures to hold up the lights!" Daquan added on, giving a sort of half-smile.

Amy-chan cheered as she jumped up, striking a few poses and blowing a kiss. At one point in her posing, she kicked her leg upward, giving us a full view of her hot-pink panties. I stood back a little bit, blushing slightly as I approached her. *She's tall, energetic, busty... and I'm short, tired all the time, and only a b-cup...* I thought to myself as I approached the four of them.

"Um, excuse me," I began, pulling my camera out of my bag.

Amy-chan gasped as a huge smile plastered onto her face. "Kanon-chan!" she cheered as she ran up to me and squeezed me in a tight hug. I tried to push against her, but she was simply too strong for me. She was far stronger than one would expect! I struggled to breath as my face went in between her massive breasts.

"Let go!" I tried to yell. Though it came out sounding muffled and unintelligible.

After a few seconds passed, Amy-chan finally let go of me. I panted, trying to catch my breath. "Amy, what was that about?" I asked her.

"Are you okay?" Asa asked me, putting a hand atop my shoulder. "Your face looks awfully red..."

What? Of course it was red! Not only does the face typically get redder after a few seconds of suffocation, but I was also being asphyxiated inside of Amy-chan's gigantic boobs! It was embarrassing, to say the least... though under the right circumstances, perhaps a bit comfortable.

"Well, I guess I'm alright," I replied, taking the time to catch my breath. I flicked my braids behind my ears again, before thinking about what it was I was going to say. "If you'd like, I can take pictures for the show! Amy, you'd be a fantastic model!"

Amy-chan giggled and blew another kiss in my direction. "Arigatoo~!" she cooed, winking at me in return. Though she was annoying, I had to admit - the girl was *adorable*. Tall, slender, curvy in the right places, with a cute and approachable face. Man, if she were a little bit less obnoxious, I might have had a bit of a girl-crush going on.

Daquan cracked his knuckles, and began heading back to the train. "I'm gonna start making some rods and beams," He told us all as he walked away.

"I wonder if Utamuro would be willing to make me a kawaii outfit..." Amy-chan muttered as she also ran off, her arms at her sides as if trying to replicate the stereotypical "girly run" of anime series.

"Good heavens, look at the time!" Asa called out, looking at her phone. "I better get back inside so that my cookies don't burn! Wouldn't want that, would we?" She similarly dashed off as well, leaving me with Azizah at the stage.

Azizah pushed her glasses back up, and put her arms to her sides and gave a sort of half-smile. "So Kanon, you wanna help me set up?" she asked me, reaching into her pockets and pulling out a pair of pliers.

I gave a nervous chuckle as I stepped back, and shook my head. "O-oh, not really," I replied. "I haven't spent a day working with electricity. Photography is more my thing, really-"

Azizah chuckled at me before putting the pliers back into her pocket. "I'm just teasing," she assured me. "But really, I've got some time to kill before Daquan's done with all his work... I think I'll just sit over here and read a little bit." Azizah then moved underneath an oak tree as she pulled out a small travel-sized book, though the wording of the cover appeared to be in a completely different language. I would have never been able to read a language like it - it just appeared to be scribbles to me.

"What language is your book?" I asked Azizah. She looked into her book for a couple of seconds before she looked back up at me.

"Huh? Oh, it's just Arabic," she replied. "This book isn't anything too special - it's just a math book in Arabic."

I tried to say anything else, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Who reads a math book for fun? Someone like Azizah must have been a much more diligent and hardworking person than I could ever be. While she was still absorbed in her book, I snapped a sneaky photograph f her as I saw a rounded doorway situated to my left, just across from Azizah's position. There wasn't a door to speak of, but it seemed that another room would be waiting for me on the other side.

I stepped through the doorway, and walked out onto another concrete platform. The soothing, therapeutic melody of water rushing in a stream echoed throughout the chamber. To my right was a small canal where a stream of water was surging from one side of the room to the other, with not a single obstacle in the stream to obstruct the passing water. On the other side of the stream was another window, which spanned across the back wall. One would not be able to get near the window, however, as it was situated directly above the cascades below. I took a deep breath, looking down at the stream below, when I jumped at the sound of a gunshot.

*BANG!*

I basically had a heart attack upon hearing that. My limbs trembled as I got myself on my feet, and then noticed Toko standing in the corner of the room, holding up a smoking pistol.

"Gotta say," they began, spinning the gun in their left hand before pointing it at the window behind me. "Wasn't expectin' the window to be bulletproof."

"Toko!" I practically screamed at them. They raised an eyebrow at me, and frowned. "You can't just go around scaring people with your guns like that! It's dangerous!"

Toko sighed and rolled their eyes. "Alright, alright. Sorry 'bout that, didn't mean to spook ya or anything," they assured me. "Anyway, there's just a lot more room to practice shootin' than in the train."

I gave another sigh, trying not to be too upset with them. Toko seemed like the kind of person to stay as far away from as possible, especially given the conditions we had to graduate. If anyone had massive potential to kill every single one of us, it was Toko.

Suddenly I heard loud, echoing footsteps approaching us from behind. Whoever was approaching us had to be wearing high heels, judging from the sounds of the footsteps.

"Toko, what are you doing?" We both heard at once. I turned around to see Michiru, with a stern and annoyed expression on her face, and holding a thick textbook at her left side. She pushed her glasses up and scowled at Toko. "I do not mean to be rude, but some of us are trying to study here."

Toko just gave a chuckle and twirled their pistol around again. "Sorry, brainy, I'm just doin' my own studyin'!" Toko laughed.

Michiru then rolled her eyes and huffed. "Well, can you keep it down? I have eighty-six subjects I need to be studying right now, and in the past hour, I've only studied about twenty-seven. I'm falling behind quickly. The last thing I need is your noisy gunplay distracting me."

Toko shrugged, about to pull the trigger on her gun again. Suddenly, a monitor up in the corner of the room turned on, to reveal Monokuma sitting down in a chair.

"I have an announcement to make!" Monokuma stated, crossing his arms. "Thanks to complaints, we will no longer be allowing the carrying of ammunition on your person during the daytime! Thank you!"

Before anyone could say anything else, the screen turned off. Michiru gave a sigh of relief. "Thank *god*."

Toko sighed as they reached into their pockets, pulling out two large, rectangular boxes of bullets. "Great. I guess I'll be back." Without saying anything else, Toko ran off, dashing aback to the train.

Michiru sighed, pushing her glasses back up. "Oh, Kanon..." she muttered, sitting down and looking out the window. "Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person here who's just... sort of ordinary," she said to me, lying down and looking up at the ceiling. "I could probably get some of my studies done here. It's a nice place." She told me, seeming to forget about the previous statement about considering herself mostly ordinary. Of course, I didn't quite believe that. If Masaki was to be believed, Michiru was able to do anything all of us were. If anything, she was the *least* ordinary out of any of us.

"But Michiru, you're the Ultimate Scholar! What makes you think you're ordinary-?" I asked, but before I could finish my question, she gave an obviously faked cough.

"We're on a different subject now, Kanon," she interrupted me. "I humbly request that you allow me to catch up on my studies for now. If I have any time, we may converse later."

I sighed, walking out of the canal room as I let Michiru sit there and study. Back in the main garden room of the station, I saw another doorway to my right, and behind the still-reading Azizah. Making my way past the Ultimate Electrician, I walked to the doorway on the right, and found myself in a blindingly bright room, with transparent walls and ceiling. This room had significantly less trees, only a large bush in the corner and three bonsai trees planted in a triangle, and in the middle of the three trees stood a large, stone circle hued with a faded bronze color, etched with a compass inside the circle and a metallic beam angled upward at 45 degrees sticking out in the center. Roman numerals were etched around the outside, in clockwise order: VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XII, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX. A shadow was being cast from the beam in the center, in between the IV and the V. It took me some time to figure out, but I soon realized that it was a sundial.

"Oh, hey Kanon!" I heard a baritone, nasal voice from behind. I turned around to see Rai standing behind me, holding a black, metallic briefcase in his right hand. "I see you've found the sun room."

The sun room? Well, it would explain the large sundial.

Rai set his briefcase down and looked up at the ceiling. "Yep, not a single cloud to be seen. Just as predicted." He sat down on the sundial and stretched his arms out. "Honestly, I needed some fresh air and free time outside of the train. Hikooki is honestly a nice guy, but *man* he's depressing!"

I chuckled a bit at Rai's statement. He was absolutely correct. Even though I might have talked to Hikooki only once, it was still true that just talking to him seemed to suck the energy out of the room. Rai was definitely an upbeat individual though, even if he went on about meteorology way too long for anyone else's patience. "So, uh..." I tried to think of a conversation topic not directly related to meteorology. "What's in the briefcase?" I asked him.

Rai gave a forced, nervous half-smile as he turned away, not answering my question immediately. "Well, uh..." He chuckled a bit before rushing back to his briefcase and picking it back up. "Don't take this the wrong way, Kanon, but, well... I can't tell you." He murmured, before bowing in my direction. He cleared his throat and took a moment to adjust his tie, then fixed his glasses a bit. "S-sorry, I guess I'm not really the best at social interaction."

I smiled at Rai, giggling a bit at him. There was a sort of geeky, awkward cuteness about him that I liked quite a bit, even if I didn't really like to listen to him rave about meteorology all day.

Before I could say anything to Rai, we heard loud voice screaming, "Spirits, tell me how to harness the omnipresent energy of the sun!". The two of us jumped upon hearing that, though Rai was visibly a little more shaken up than I was.

I laughed a little bit, seeing Rai's red face and maladjusted glasses, which he rushed to readjust immediately.

"H-hey, don't laugh at me!" Rai nervously told me. He turned away, still flushed.

"Why don't we go check behind the bush in the corner?" I suggested, trying to get his mind off of the subject. I had a feeling that he knew just as well as I did who was there, but I still wanted to see what was going on.

I pushed back the leaves and branches of the shrub, and peered behind the plant. Rai looked over my shoulder as well. Behind the bush, to no one's surprise, was Aiko, sitting in the middle of a pentagram surrounded by a circle drawn with red chalk. Three purple candles lit with an ominous blue flame stood at three different points of the circle, forming a triangular shape around Aiko. As soon as we spotted her, Aiko turned around and jumped, flailing about before she turned a beet-red.

"Hey!" Aiko shouted at us, before turning away and hunching over. "Don't scare the spirits away!"

Rai chuckled a bit, scratching his head. "It's kinda cute how she really thinks she's invoking spirits like that."

Cute? To me, Aiko seemed like the last person who would be considered conventionally "cute". She had ratty hair, her mouth always seemed to be fixed in an eerie grin, and her eyes were a deep red and bloodshot. Even her irises were a blood red! Was that even possible? In what universe could Aiko be considered "cute"?!

"You... think she's cute...?" I whispered to Rai, trying not to focus on him or Aiko. "A-anyway, I probably should be headed out of here... I'll leave Aiko to do whatever it was she was doing." Before I could give Rai or Aiko the chance to say anything else, I bolted from the scene and ran out of the sun room right away.

Trying not to think about Rai or Aiko, I hurried back to the middle station. I wondered if Masaki was still there? Before I could have an actual answer to that question, though, I bumped into a tall, marble statue carved in the shape of Monokuma, standing tall and crossing his arms. I stepped back, a bit intimidated by the imposing statue.

"So the statue makes you uncomfortable too?" asked a familiar voice from behind me. I turned around to see Hikooki, with his arms crossed and staring down the statue. "Gotta admit, that statue is creepy as all hell. It's like he's saying 'I'm your god now' or some shit like that. Gives me the creeps."

I nodded, agreeing with Hikooki as he said that. I looked at the statue's ugly, haunting face as I backed away a bit. I didn't want to spend too much time here with Hikooki, as I figured I would more than likely become depressed just by listening to him.

"This place would be awesome for a movie!" I heard Tomoe call out from our right side. She walked up to us, and put her hands at her sides as she grinned at the statue. "Kinda gives it a dystopian feel, y'know? Like one of those young adult novels that become movies. I bet I could direct a really good one, if someone wrote a nice script."

Tomoe scratched her chin, and I backed away a bit. There was something the slightest bit unsettling about the way she was so happy about the statue. Though, I doubted there was anything too wrong with her.

"Ah, it appears that you are afflicted with an overlying fear, or anxiety. Do you suffer from depression or anxiety? It appears that you do." I heard a voice behind the three of us. We all turned around to see Sen, holding a yellow file folder in his gloved hands.

I tilted my head at Sen. I didn't necessarily believe I suffered from depression or anxiety, but I wasn't exactly quick to disregard the idea entirely. "Um... I'm not sure..." I whispered to Sen. It didn't take a genius to figure out that I wasn't super comfortable around the Monokuma statue, but at the same time, part of me was genuinely curious about whether Sen could diagnose me at a distance, similar to Rai's ability to predict the weather months ahead.

"Egad!" Sen shouted, flailing his arms about and stepping backward. "How have you not had a thorough diagnosis yet? Your mind could be in jeopardy as we *speak*! Well, you're a photographer, right?"

"Well, I'm more of a photojournalist, really-"

"Then it's settled!" Sen interrupted me before I could finish. "Why don't you snap a picture of that statue? That way, you can face your fears at any moment, and it will be a reminder of how there are bigger and scarier things in life, always."

I looked down at the ground, and then at my camera, and then back at Sen. It made a little bit of sense, honestly. Although part of me thought that since he was a doctor, Sen would be better suited for physical ordeals. At the same time, what kind of Ultimate would he be if he wasn't qualified to take on mental health issues as well? I sighed and snapped a picture of the Monokuma statue, and Sen nodded in return.

"Look, I'm going back into the train," Hikooki announced. Hikooki, now *that* was a person Sen would have to diagnose and help out. The guy seemed to drain all the happiness out of the room with his presence alone. Just like that, Hikooki disappeared.

"Hey Sen!" called Tomoe. Sen turned his head toward the Ultimate Film Director.

"Hmm?" He asked, opening up his folder and flipping through the files.

"Is there an official name for film addiction?" she asked him.

Sen scratched his head for a few seconds before speaking up. "The official term is 'Filmomania', or, if it becomes sexual, 'Filmophilia'." He replied. Tomoe chuckled in response, giving a side-grin.

"Interesting," she replied. "Filmomania sounds like the name of a movie to direct! We gotta get a script written on that, stat!" she called out before running back toward the train. Feeling that I had explored the area just enough already, I decided to head back to the train myself.

Sen stayed behind as I made my way back to the train. No one was inside the main car, but I noticed a familiar group of faces in the food car - Kaemon, Saeko, Shiro, Hikooki, Ryo, Lorenzo, Hideki, and Utamuro. Each of them were sitting at the table, with plates filled to the brim with food.

"Oh, hello Kanon!" Lorenzo called out to me. "Why don't you take a seat? We're discussing something I believe to be rather important at the moment."

I took a seat between Lorenzo and Saeko, who was seated next to Utamuro. Across from us sat Shiro, Ryo, and Kaemon, and Hideki and Hikooki sat at the end.

"What's going on?" I asked Lorenzo.

"We're having a group meeting!" Saeko replied, smiling wide. "Lorenzo decided to hold a group discussion."

Utamuro nodded. "Yep. We're just trying to figure things out, that's all. We wonder if there's a way to get out of this without having to kill anyone."

Hideki chuckled at Utamuro's statement. "That's funny, kid. Like anyone's gonna kill *anyone* under my watch. That's just not possible. Nothing slips past my eyes."

Saeko's eyes lit up at Hideki's statement. "Do *you* have a photographic memory too, Hideki?" she asked. "I *never* lose anything in my collection, because I just feel it all, wherever I go? If someone were to touch anything without my permission, I'd unleash hell on them!"

"Hey, I get the same way with my cameras!" I replied to Saeko. "Looks like we have something in common!" I probably shouldn't have said that though, because immediately she squeezed me tightly. If she were any strong at all, she would have snapped my back in two.

Hideki glared at Saeko and I. "A-*hem*. I was *talking* to you."

Hikooki sighed at Hideki's statement. "What are we even doing? It's not like anyone listens to authority these days."

Hideki laughed in return. "They do if you scare 'em right!"

"Hey!" Lorenzo called out, slamming his hands on the table. "I called this meeting because we need to figure out if there's a way out of here that doesn't involve killing others! Bribing Monokuma didn't work, so that's out. Ryo, Hideki, are either of you strong enough to break those windows?"

Ryo shrugged. "And risk breaking my hands? That would hurt. What good is a basketball player with a broken hand?"

Hideki sighed. "Didn't Monokuma already say that trying to get out of here is against the rules? I'm not even gonna try to chance it."

Lorenzo sighed, sitting back down. "Man, you really are a killjoy, Hideki. Always a stickler for the rules."

Hideki chuckled again. "Look, kid, I don't make the rules. I just enforce 'em."

"Alright, we're clearly getting nowhere," I spoke up. Everyone turned toward me, and quieted down. "We need to think of something else. Does anyone know how we even got here in the first place?"

Everyone took a deep breath. The place was silent for a few seconds, before Shiro spoke up.

"I know that different types of benzodiazepines can cause memory loss, but the idea that all of us just got collectively drugged at once seems rather silly, if you ask me." They stated, tapping their fingers on the table.

"All I can remember is going into the school, and then somehow I was on this train," Utamuro spoke up. I nodded in response, as that was how I got here too. Everyone seemed to agree with Utamuro's notion, nodding and speaking amongst themselves.

"I see we have a meeting in session," called a voice not currently at the table. We all turned around to see Michiru, still holding that book in her arm. "Everyone, allow me."

Lorenzo sighed. "What do you know about group meetings that you specifically think *I* don't?"

Michiru simply pushed her glasses back up as she took a seat at the other end of the table. "I got everyone to shut up for a minute, didn't I?"

Lorenzo just gave an irritated "tch!" as he turned away.

"Um, Rakuyama-san, what ideas do you have?" asked Saeko.

Michiru set her book down onto the table. "Listen up. Monokuma's own rules aren't enough. What we need to do is make sure no one kills anyone else. We can ensure this by setting our own ground rules. First, I'd like to propose that every morning, we meet up here, at this table, every morning."

"Sounds reasonable to me," replied Shiro. "I'm usually up early to do some work anyway."

"Same!" Ryo called out. "Gotta get my morning routine in!"

"So that settles that," Michiru noted.

Kaemon rolled his eyes and slumped back. "I'm not sure, I do livestreams really really late. I don't think I'll even have the time to get up early."

Michiru glared at Kaemon. "Don't make me have to think of a punishment for breaking the rules."

Hideki grinned as he pulled his baton from his belt and smacked his palm. "I've got a few ideas,"

Ryo glared at Hideki. "I'm going to mess you up real badly if you even entertain that idea any longer."

"Anyway!" Lorenzo called out, trying to get everyone's attention again. "We've got a meeting here."

We spent the next few hours bickering amongst each other, and the rest of the students came in and argued with us. We weren't able to figure anything out, though - and that's when the monitor turned on again.

"Attention class!" Monokuma announced. "It is now nighttime!"

As Monokuma announced that, a metal sheet folded over the windows of the hotel room and the station. "Everyone, follow the arrows to your right, and keep going until you reach your rooms!"

We made our way through the different cars, until we found our bedrooms. The rooms on the top floor belonged to, in order, Utamuro, Amy-chan, Kenji, me, Masaki, Guadalupe, Hikooki, Asa, Toko, Kaemon, Saeko, and Daquan. The rooms on the bottom floor belonged to, in order, Aiko, Lorenzo, Shiro, Yuki, Ryo, Tame, Rai, Tomoe, Sen, Michiru, Hideki, and Azizah.

"Now, remember," Michiru began. "Everyone is to meet up in the dining area tomorrow morning! Anyone who is not there will be considered *dead*."

We all nodded in agreement as we went into our respective rooms. I opened my door and saw... well, I guess I shouldn't have expected much. It was nothing more than a compact room with a single bed in the corner, and several shelves loaded with cameras. My jaw dropped as I eyed every single camera in the room in awe - vintage and modern cameras, each of them I had to try out at some point! I yawned, and put my camera down as I unbuttoned my shirt and slid my skirt down, then changed into my pajamas and laid down in bed.

I sighed, hoping that I wouldn't be the victim of a killing that night. We all agreed that no one would kill, didn't we? I couldn't be bothered to ask myself any longer, though, as my eyes felt so heavy that they closed themselves, and I drifted off into a deep slumber.

### Motive

I woke up the next morning from an awfully strange dream. All I could remember about it was being in a room full of Monokumas, and we were in a theater watching Monokuma give a speech about something called "Danganronpa: Despair Never Dies", whatever that was. It sounded like the name of a terrible fanfiction. I couldn't remember much else, though.

I rolled over in my bed, and reached out for my phone upon the nightstand. The time was 6:58 am, and morning was almost here. I was awfully worried that I would come across a dead body. What if it was Masaki? I shook my head around, trying to shake that feeling. There was absolutely no way someone would commit murder right now, right? None of us had the capacity to do such a thing. If anything, we were all going to find a way off of this wretched train and beat Monokuma's sadistic little game.

Right?

Before I had the chance to ponder about this little game any longer, Monokuma's smug face appeared on the monitor in the corner of my room. He was sitting down in his chair and was holding a glass filled with water in his hand. "Good morning, students!" Monokuma called out to us. I gave a yawn as Monokuma's image on the monitor disappeared, and then I jolted awake as I suddenly remembered. We were all supposed to meet up every morning to see if everyone was okay. I knew that I would raise some suspicions of I was not there.

I hurried to dress myself up again, frantically buttoning up my shirt and sliding my skirt on as I stepped into my shoes. I opened up my desk drawer and pulled out my favorite camera. I had completely forgotten to take any pictures yesterday, but I knew I would have plenty of opportunities to do so much later. If I made it out of this twisted game alive, I knew I would have quite the story to write about it. An editorial like this would certainly catch the attention of important figures in news media everywhere.

Trying not to sidetrack myself from the morning meeting, I rushed out my door, and in my haste, I almost bumped into Masaki, who was just to my left and seemed to have just left his room. I immediately blushed and almost lost my balance, trying to regain my composure. My heart beat as soon as I made eye contact with him, staring into his warm gray-blue eyes and gazing upon his rugged smile.

"O-oh, good morning, Masaki!" I greeted him, trying not to seem as flustered externally as I was internally. "Y-you just getting up too?"

Masaki shrugged and tilted his head at me. "Good morning to you too, Kanon." My heart skipped a beat as he said my name aloud. I couldn't help from giggling a bit in response, to which he gave a soft chuckle himself. "Yeah, just going to the morning meeting like we all agreed to last night." I nodded, being at a loss for words at this point. What was I supposed to say? I could barely even open my mouth without thinking of something he might misinterpret. I didn't want him to think I *liked* him. First I needed to win him over, and so far it seemed like he had better things to say about the other girls than he did me. "So, Kanon, wanna walk to the food car with me? I can understand if you'd rather go alone."

Instantly my heart stopped and I felt like I would fall over onto my face. Was Masaki asking me if I wanted to walk with him?! The butterflies were starting to take over as my brain overloaded with ideas for responses. "Uh... y-yeah, sure!" I replied, trying to keep my cool around him. Awkward as I was, though, he could probably read me like a newspaper article.

He gave a sort of half-smile as he tilted his head left, toward the food car. The two of us walked side-by-side, but I remained silent. *What am I supposed to say now?* I asked myself, trying to come up with a good conversation topic. I twiddled my fingers a bit as the two of us just kept walking. How could Masaki just remain so cool about this? Was I not attractive or charismatic enough? Was he just blissfully unaware of my own nervousness? Or was he just that good at masking his own insecurities? Damn, I really needed to learn from him.

"Man, I really hope no one died," Masaki stated after a few minutes of awkward silence. That's when it all clicked in for me again - there was the possibility that someone died overnight. I really hoped that wasn't the case, though. I took in a deep breath and gulped, trying to keep my mind off of the fact that many of us may as well die here and now.

The two of us made our way to the food car. I noticed this time that in addition to the two tables situated next to either wall there was a third, shorter table in front of the exit on the other side of the room. Ryo and Saeko were sitting at the leftmost table, Hideki was sitting at the back table, and the rightmost table was empty. Masaki and I took a seat at the empty table. I looked back at the front of the room to see that Michiru was standing at the entrance, holding a clipboard with a sheet of paper on it. She pushed her glasses up as she wrote something down.

"Good morning to you, Masaki Domoto and Kanon Amari." Michiru greeted us, not taking her eyes off of the clipboard. "It appears that everyone else is asleep, or on their ways here..." she then muttered something indistinct under her breath as she continued scribbling whatever it was she was writing down.

"Kanon! Masaki!" Ryo greeted us with a wide smile spread across his face. Despite it being the early hours of the morning, Ryo seemed to have plenty of energy. Must be the hard work of an athlete. "You guys sleep well?"

I gave a nervous chuckle, and shrugged. I didn't really have much trouble falling asleep last night, as the day tired me out. That said, besides the surreal dream involving the Monokumas, I didn't quite remember much of my sleep. Maybe that was an indicator of a good night's sleep? I wasn't quite sure.

Masaki leaned back in his chair and just gave a subtle shrug. "Kinda, I guess. Better than sleeping on the floor, that's for sure," He replied.

Hideki sneered at Masaki as he finished his sentence. Masaki rolled his eyes in response, and promptly ignored Hideki.

"Ryo, do you have a basketball collection?" I heard Saeko ask Ryo. He gave a quick chuckle.

"Yeah, I do!" he replied. "They're not for playing with, though."

Saeko's eyes lit up as soon as Ryo finished that sentence. "That's awesome! I admire anyone who can keep up a collection for so long!" she cooed, her eyes glimmering at Ryo. "I have two very rare basketballs myself, if you'd ever like to see them..." she mused in a sultry voice. Ryo raised his eyebrow in response, and then just chuckled.

"Are they signed basketballs?" he asked her. "Those are worth even more."

Saeko winked at him and tilted her head up, before giving a suggestive "Maaaaayyybeeeee~. I'll even let you touch 'em, if your hands are clean enough."

Michiru raised an eyebrow at Saeko and sighed. "Basketballs, Saeko? Really? All the euphemisms in the world, and you decided to go with "basketballs"?"

"Euphemisms?" Ryo and Saeko asked at once. They both looked at each other, and then at Michiru. Masaki and I looked at each other, and just shrugged.

"Wh-what? I'm just talking about basketballs!" Saeko defended herself. "You know, the big, round, bouncy ones?"

I leaned back, suddenly understanding what Michiru was talking about. Saeko sure had a weird idea of seduction. Especially at seven in the morning...

"Yeah, I don't see what the big deal is." Ryo stated.

"Hey, kid." Hideki began. "What kinda "basketballs" do you think she's talkin' about?"

"I'm just talking about normal basketballs! They're part of my big collection!" Saeko continued to defend herself, getting beet-red in the face. It didn't look like she was doing herself any favors here...

"Hey, leave them alone!" Masaki interrupted them. "Just let them discuss whatever without butting into their conversations."

Michiru pushed her glasses up and cleared her throat. "Ahem... my apologies, Saeko. I never really... thought about it, but I suppose it is entirely possible you were referring to... actual basketballs. Just... don't speak with that sort of voice when you discuss said basketballs."

Saeko puffed her cheeks out and crossed her arms. "If I were talking about that, I would have said so..." she muttered.

After a few awkward seconds, Lorenzo and Yuki were the next to enter. Lorenzo was dressed in his suit from yesterday, ironed to perfection with nary a hair or wrinkle to be seen. Yuki, on the other hand, was in a gray tank top and gym shorts, sort of like she had been wearing pajamas. Her snow white hair was a mess of knots and tangles, and a pair of dark circles formed underneath her eyes. She wore a tired, neutral expression as she propped herself right next to me, and Lorenzo sat across from us.

"Morning!" Lorenzo called out, waving to us as he gave a wide, beaming smile. His teeth glimmered and shone, being almost blinding to the eyes. What kind of toothpaste did he even use?

Yuki took the seat right next to Lorenzo, and rested her head on the table. She mumbled something indistinct as she closed her eyes, about to drift off to sleep again.

"Yuki!" Michiru snapped. Yuki's eyes twitched as she lifted her head up.

"Leave me alone..." she yawned. I guess she wasn't so fiery when she was tired.

"Heh... Miss Yuki here is a bit tuckered out from last night." Lorenzo stated to us as Yuki's head swayed back and forth.

"I kinda figured." I replied, trying not to focus too much on Yuki. Who knew what she was even capable of when she was angry? She was tiny, but anyone able to win a snowboarding competition with a broken leg was worthy of respect in my book.

Lorenzo then nudged Yuki a bit, giving her a short smile. "Hey, why are you sweating, anyway? It's only like 70 degrees in here."

Yuki puffed her cheeks out and glared at Lorenzo as he finished his sentence. "It's way too freakin' hot, okay?" she replied, groaning at him. "Now leave me the hell alone, 'kay?"

I turned to Masaki, who just gave me a shrug. "I dunno, she seemed a lot less hostile last night. It wasn't even that hot last night..."

The next ones to arrive were Daquan, Guadalupe, Hikooki, and Kaemon. Daquan and Guadalupe looked bright and ready for the day, while Hikooki looked like his usual gloomy self while Kaemon, like Yuki, looked tired and sleep-deprived.

"Good morning, Daquan, Guadalupe, Hikooki, Kaemon," Michiru greeted each of them. "Good to know you are all still here."

"No shit," Kaemon snapped at Michiru. "Why are we here? I stopped in the middle of my stream for this."

Michiru rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated huff. "Just making sure everyone is alive and well..." she replied, scribbling down everyone's names.

Kaemon sat next to Hideki, while Daquan sat between Saeko and Ryo. Guadalupe took her seat next to Yuki while Hikooki sat in the corner, distanced from everyone else.

"Morning!" Guadalupe called out to each of us, beaming wide. She held a plastic water bottle in her right hand. "Kanon, Masaki, you two look ready and raring to go! Figure it's gonna be a good day, huh?"

"Y-yeah!" I replied to Guadalupe. I enjoyed talking to her, as she was always so upbeat and positive. Still, it amazed me how anyone could have so much energy so early in the morning. Yuki and Ryo certainly didn't, and they were athletes as well.

Masaki chuckled at Guadalupe and clasped his hands. "I guess I'm just ready for anything, really. Kinda what being a thief is all about."

Hideki grinned at Masaki after he finished his sentence. "Y'know, kid, you really remind me of a famous thief I keep hearin' about. But I wouldn't worry too much. I feel like he'd be taller than you."

Masaki shrugged and leaned back in his chair, not paying much mind to Hideki. Honestly, it was always just so fascinating how every situation which came his way, he would remain cool and collected about.

The next ones to arrive were Toko, Rai, and Sen. Toko strutted inside and pointed both of their guns into the air, flashing a wide grin.

"Hate to ruin the fun, but the show's over!" Toko shouted out. My heart skipped a beat as I jumped in panic, along with seemingly everyone else. Except for Masaki, who remained with that unfazed expression on his face.

"Don't worry, guys. They didn't load those guns." Masaki reassured everyone. "The rule about ammunition, remember?"

Everyone gave a collective "phew!" as Toko took their seat next to Saeko and Daquan.

"Man, you gotta stop scaring everyone like that!" Saeko nervously laughed. "You almost had me on the ropes a second ago!"

Daquan chuckled too, leaning back as if nothing had happened. "Just don't go too overboard with it next time!"

Rai took his seat between Masaki and Hikooki. Immediately Hikooki turned to face him as the two began a conversation about the weather, or something to that effect. Sen took his seat in the corner between Ryo and Kaemon, and immediately began scribbling something down on a sheet of paper, without saying much.

*That guy is so quiet...* I thought to myself. Perhaps he was just more introverted, but he was even quieter than Hikooki and Tame. Perhaps he just felt lonely?

"Hey, Sen?" I called out to him. He was still fixated on that paper. Kaemon looked over at him, trying to sneak a glance at that paper. Sen immediately shielded it with his other arm, blocking Kaemon's view.

"Oh, uh." Sen then looked up at me and cleared his throat. "Pardon me, Kanon, I'm just quite busy at the moment. See, as a doctor, I don't get an especially large amount of downtime." He continued scribbling on that paper, without even allowing me to say anything else.

*Well, that was kind of rude...*

Kenji, Aiko, Tomoe, Utamuro, and Azizah were the next to arrive. Kenji sat across from Saeko, and promptly opened up a book he was reading. Aiko sat next to Yuki, diagonal to Rai.

"So that's why the cumulonimbus-" I heard Rai rambling to Hikooki. As soon as Aiko sat down across from him, Rai stammered over his words and pushed his glasses upward, taking a minute to catch his composure. There was definitely something adorable about his geeky and awkward nature, it just... was still jarring that he was interested in Aiko.

"Dark Lady Aiko Amane has awakened from her deep slumber!" Aiko called out, clasping her hands over the table as she gave a soft grin. "Is there anyone who would like to have a meeting with me? We can discuss how we are going to survive in an environment such as this."

Rai instantly jumped as she finished that sentence. "O-oh, I'd love to! I, uh... I'm pretty free today!"

Hikooki sighed and raised an eyebrow. "I dunno... it seems a little shady to me." He replied to Aiko.

Aiko just shrugged, and then focused her attention on Rai. "I look forward... to seeing you." she replied, raising an eyebrow and widening her grin. Rai's face flushed with a beet red as he turned to Masaki and I.

"Guys... she talked to me! She actually talked to me! This never happens!" Rai whispered, his eyes lighting up with a sort of excitement. I smiled in return.

"Great!" I replied to him. On the inside, I was a bit irritated that he thought that Aiko was the first to actually talk to him, even though I had talked to him too, just the day before. What was he even going on about?

Tomoe took her seat at the back table, somewhere between Hideki and Hikooki. "So, what're we all gathered here for?" Tomoe asked, putting her feet up on the table. "Aside from the fact that all of us gathered up here makes for a scene picturesque enough for a film."

Michiru sighed again. "Tomoe, didn't I tell you all last night? We're all gathered here right now because we need to keep track of everyone. If we're all here, we're all alive. Does that make sense?"

Tomoe shrugged and poured some lemonade from a glass pitcher into a clear glass, which she proceeded to drink from. "Sure, somethin' like that."

Utamuro took a seat between Lorenzo and Yuki, and took a minute to adjust his top hat. "Sorry, but a fashion designer like myself needs his beauty sleep." He informed us all.

"Don't you think that's kinda girly?" Hideki asked him.

Utamuro side-eyed Hideki. "Yeah, I heard your girlfriend is into men in touch with their feminine sides." He replied, grinning at Hideki.

Hideki tried to say something back, but gave up before he could think of anything.

Then, Azizah sat down next to me. "Morning, Kanon!" Azizah greeted me, flashing a big smile on her face. "You ready for the day?"

I chuckled a bit, giving a sort of half-smile. "Yeah, kinda."

"Good!" she replied. "Anyway, I can't stay long, there's something I must do before it's too late today." Azizah announced.

Michiru raised an eyebrow at Azizah before taking the time to write down whatever it was she was writing. "Hmm? Well, I already got your name down, but I think it would be best for you to wait for everyone else. I'm sure this meeting won't take too much longer."

Azizah bowed her head down and muttered something indistinct, supposedly in a language I couldn't understand.

"Hey, if you're gonna pray, don't do it in front of me, 'kay?" Kaemon shouted out. Everyone turned toward him and glared, with the exception of Azizah. "What?"

Azizah took a deep breath and looked up. "No, I wasn't praying," she clarified. "I was just talking to myself, that's all. I don't pray when I'm in big groups, unless I'm worried about something."

Kaemon rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Your God isn't real. There, I just saved you hours of your li-"

Before Kaemon could finish his sentence, Ryo smacked him on the back of the head. His glasses fell off and onto the table.

"Hey!" Kaemon shouted at him. "Am I not allowed to speak the truth?"

"Shut the fuck up." Ryo snapped at him.

Kaemon mumbled something indistinct as Kenji looked back at him and glared. "Are you quite finished yet?"

In the midst of all this, Asa, Shiro, and Tame entered the room. Without so much as a word, Tame took a seat right next to Kenji as the two sat together in silence, just like before.

"Good morning, everyone!" Asa greeted everyone in the room. She wore a big smile on her face as she brought in a large bag full of yellow sugar cookies. "Sorry I'm late, I was making cookies!"

"Heh... don'tcha think that coulda waited?" Lorenzo asked her. "But hey, I like cookies, so you get a free pass from me."

Guadalupe gave a chuckle. "Man, I could really go for some cookies right now! I mean, I'm supposed to be on a diet, but... rules are meant to be broken, who cares?"

"Uh huh..." Tame noted, beginning to doodle something in her sketchpad as per the usual.

Shiro then sat down across from Rai and next to Aiko. "Morning. Sorry, I'm not exactly a morning type of person."

"You and me both," Hikooki replied with a sigh.

"Well~." Aiko began, grinning in Shiro's direction. "If you'd like to improve yourself, and get better at dealing with the harsh rays of the morning sunlight, I would be more than happy to help you in that regard~."

Shiro sighed at Aiko. "I'm not interested," they replied. "Is it something to do with what you believe to be magic?"

"I can do that too, but no, this doesn't involve any sort of real magic." Aiko replied to them. "Rai is joining me for a meeting today, if you'd like to come along as well."

Instantly I noticed Rai tense up for a moment, before Shiro side-eyed Aiko and just gave a stern "No.". Rai breathed a sigh of relief at that moment.

"Hmm, suit yourself." Aiko replied.

Ignoring Aiko, Shiro turned their head toward Michiru. "Hey, can we make this quick? I might have made a scientific breakthrough last night and I'd like to continue my research."

"Just wait until attendance is finished!" Michiru snapped at him. Suddenly, the room went very quiet as there was an awkward pause.

"Hey, uh... you alright?" asked Lorenzo, scratching his head.

Michiru took a deep breath and adjusted her glasses. "Yes, I'm... fine. Sorry, I just want to get this over with... and it seems Amy-chan isn't here yet."

That's when it sunk in again. What if... she was dead? No, there was just no way. No one here would kill anyone! Not even the suspicious ones like Sen or Aiko! We all knew better than to actually kill! Why, we would live out the rest of our days on this train before that! After all, it had everything we needed.

Before my thoughts could go into full swing, Amy-chan burst through the door, dressed in her flashy clothes and makeup. "Here I am!" she called out, doing a twirl and bringing all the attention of the room to herself. "Sorry, an idol has to be presentable at all times~!"

Michiru nodded, writing her name down. "Alright. Good news is, we're all alive, and now we have to make plans. So, does anyone have any ideas for getting out of here?"

Lorenzo raised his hand.

"Yes, Lorenzo?" Michiru called upon him.

"I'm actually totally cool with just staying here," He admitted. I sighed in relief, as I wasn't the only one thinking that.

"Wh-what?" Masaki called out. "But... don't you miss your family, your friends, your life?"

Lorenzo leaned back in his chair and shrugged. "I don't see what's so bad about the train life, honestly."

There was a short silence thereafter. Yes, it was nice aboard this train, and we would probably make good friends with each other, but we all had lives before coming here. After all, we were all Ultimates with promising futures and excellent talents. There had to be important people in our lives who missed us and wanted to see us again. Was Lorenzo seriously suggesting that... he was fine with not going back? His family must have been worried sick about him. If not, he must have had friends who missed him. Surely there was a life he had back home which he thought about periodically. The point was, there was simply no way any of us would be okay with just spending the rest of our lives here on the Monokuma Express.

Before Lorenzo could finish his thought, or someone else could speak up, the door burst open as Monokuma entered the room. As always, he was wearing that sadistic grin upon his horrible face.

"Upupu~," Monokuma chuckled as his red eye glowed with an eerie light. "I figured that someone would say something like that... after all, why commit murder to escape from a place anyone else would kill to live in?"

Lorenzo clapped his hands as his eyes lit up. "Yes! See, finally you say something I actually agree with. See guys? Monokuma understands us."

For some reason, I couldn't help but feel that perhaps Lorenzo was being naive, or idealistic. I didn't trust Monokuma for a second. There was simply no way there wasn't a catch to what he was about to say.

"Sit down and shut your mouth for a second!" Monokuma snapped. Lorenzo jumped, and sat back down, instantly going silent. The whole room got silent as Monokuma spoke. "But if you would like to survive, follow me into the computer room. If you're not in there within five minutes, you can consider yourself as good as dead."

Kaemon rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Yeah, like *you* can actually do anything. You're all talk."

Monokuma turned his head toward Kaemon, and grinned widely as he dashed toward the Ultimate Game Livestreamer. Before Kaemon could even react, Monokuma swiped at him with his right paw, from which three sharp claws extended. Kaemon ducked down and held his arms over his head, gasping as Monokuma stopped himself right before he could strike Kaemon.

"Still think I'm all talk, kid?" Monokuma growled. Kaemon was gasping and quivering with an unwavering sense of fear, and he was unable to say anything in response. Everyone went silent and focused their attention on Monokuma, not daring to say a word. He then jumped back into the center of the room as he walked out, motioning for us to follow him.

We all got up and headed toward the computer room. Masaki walked right next to me, and nudged my shoulder.

"What?" I asked him, whispering. His face was fixated in front of us, not really looking in my direction.

"I'd be careful of Lorenzo," Masaki whispered to me. "Someone as carefree and naive as him... they don't stay that way. And once they change... boy, do they change."

Lorenzo walked up from behind us. "Hey, did Masaki just say my name?" Lorenzo asked. Masaki shrugged, not answering his question. I similarly stayed quiet, trying not to make Lorenzo feel targeted. "Hey, I asked you two a question! When I ask a question, I want an answer!"

After a few minutes of walking, we all walked into the computer room. Each monitor displayed a picture of one of us, indicating which computer seat we were supposed to sit at.

"Hey!" Kaemon called out. "This isn't the computer I sit-"

Monokuma turned to Kaemon and bared his claws one more, and Kaemon shut up instantly. "Now, just sit down, and put on those headphones."

Just then, we heard a J-pop song blaring from Tame's position.

"Yes, you too, Tame!" Monokuma shouted out. Tame sighed as she took off her headphones.

Each of us sat down in our assigned seats as we placed large, bulky headphones upon our heads. They were heavy and faded with a dark brown, like the ones used in the Nineties. I noticed that Masaki's seat was right next to mine, and Lorenzo's was on the other side.

"It'll be okay," Masaki told me, nodding at me. I gulped, afraid of what Monokuma would showcase to us.

"Nice, we get a cool train ride, *and* a fun little video!" Lorenzo mused as he leaned backward.

"You ready?" Monokuma asked us.

"Yeah." Masaki replied, nodding.

"You betcha!" Lorenzo responded.

"Why not?" asked Michiru.

"Sure, whatever." Yuki muttered.

"Actually, I need to take a second to-" Amy-chan began, but before she could finish her thought, Monokuma pulled a remote control out of... seemingly nowhere, and pressed a big red button on the front. Suddenly, my computer screen flashed with a bright white light... and one would not *believe* what I saw.

I saw a video of... myself. I was taking pictures at what appeared to be Hope's Peak Academy. I snapped photographs of the clouds, of birds, of a few students playing games. I was developing film and typing up stories to go along with the pictures. I could see myself writing the school's newsletter, and asking people questions. But that's when I saw Masaki. He approached me, standing outside the school's office and handing out copies of the newsletter. Although I couldn't hear what he was saying, I looked very pleased and happy talking to him, as he did talking to me. I wanted to turn to see what Masaki was viewing on his screen, but I couldn't take my eyes off of my own screen.

But... what exactly was this? When was this? How did Monokuma obtain this? Did any of this actually happen?

Before I could get an answer to that question, my computer screen shut off and the sound stopped.

"There we were, class!" Monokuma announced to all of us. "What was that, you ask? Oh... it's sort of just what your lives would be like right now had you never gone aboard this train."

A few of us gave a long gasp. Kaemon, Lorenzo, and Yuki in particular seemed the most shaken up.

"What?!" Lorenzo shouted out, red in the face and beginning to shake profusely. "No... I... I won't believe it!"

Monokuma snickered. "Upupu~... Weren't you the one talking about how much you actually like the train life?" He asked.

"N-not anymore!" Lorenzo shouted at him. "I... I want my life back!"

Not even taking the time to listen to Lorenzo, Monokuma dashed out of the room. We all sat there in silence for a few seconds, before the chaos began again."

"I need a way out of here!" Kaemon screamed. "I could be at home, all alone right now!"

Yuki shivered in her seat. "I could be out snowboarding! I can't be here any longer!"

"I want to be the writer of a newsletter!" I called out, giving in to the pressure myself. "I don't want to be here..." I whined.

Masaki patted me on the back. "It's okay, we'll find a way out... I promise."

I blushed as Masaki touched my back. His hands were just so... gentle. So caring.

"I want a massive audience!" complained Amy-chan. Tears were welling up in her eyes as she cried into a tissue.

Kenji closed his eyes and sat down, sighing. "I need to be in peace right now."

"Settle down!" Michiru commanded to all of us. All eyes in the room fixated upon her.
"Everyone, just remain calm! The most we can do is try and find a way out."

Tomoe shrugged and scoffed. "Look, we've already checked everywhere. There's no way outta this place."

Mihiru chuckled and gave a grin. "You're obviously thinking in only one dimension," Michiru stated, before showing us her clipboard. A detailed map of the train and the garden stop was present on the sheet of paper. "As you can see, most of the exits are blocked off... but with a little bit of prying, and perhaps learning Monokuma's true intentions, we can find a way out of this forsaken hell."

Aiko grinned. "But, why would we want to escape from hell?"

Shiro rolled their eyes. "Aiko, we're not *actually* talking about hell..."

Hikooki sighed. "What's the point? Monokuma knows this place better than us. And it's not like my life is any better outside of this train than in it. I'm heading out." Before anyone could say another word, Hikooki exited the room.

"F-fine then!" Michiru snapped. "Everyone else who is interested in finding a way out, why don't you come with me? There's bound to be an exit somewhere around here."

Before Michiru could walk away, Amy-chan slowly began to raise her hand. "Umm... Michiru-chan?"

Michiru turned her head toward Amy-chan. "What is it?"

"Umm... well, Azizah, Asa, Daquan, and I were all planning to hold a big concert here... and as much as I'd like to get out too, I was thinking... do you think we can hold it off until after the concert?" she suggested.

"Yes, that's a perfect idea!" Azizah added onto that. "We'll be able to think more clearly if we're not stressed."

"Hey, my uncle Nelson always told me that! 'Always make time for yourself', he told me," Daquan stated, with a calm smile spreading across his face.

Michiru sighed, and then sat back down. "Fine... we'll focus on this later. Besides, a concert would bring us closer together. We need to make sure no one actually kills anyone else. It's harder to kill anyone when we're all together." she noted.

I nodded in response. As much as I wanted to get out of here, I didn't know how much use it would be trying to escape. And I loved Amy-chan's music, so there was no way I would miss this concert.

"Anyway," Michiru began, looking up at all of us. "Why don't we begin setting up for the concert? It may take us some time to begin. I'll help plan everything. Asa, Azizah, Daquan, you three know what to do. Amy-chan, why don't you begin rehearsing?"

Amy-chan grinned real wide. "Yes! I'll do that!"

Azizah, Daquan, and Asa all dashed to their stations immediately afterward.

"Well, everyone else, you all have some free time. I suggest finding something to do in this time. May as well get used to this." suggested Michiru.

I supposed she had a point. I had a little bit of free time.

### Free Time

I looked around the computer room, and noticed that everyone had taken off to their respective stations. I knew Michiru, Daquan, Amy-chan, Azizah, and Asa would be busy all day, so I wouldn't be able to hang out with them. The only one still left in the room was Kaemon, who was now playing an action video game of sorts and talking over it, his voice echoing through the room quite loudly I might add.

"Yo welcome back, it's Nakamon347 here, and already we've got another subscriber! Thanks, uh... X-x-x-BloodyMoonlight666-x-x-X. Nice name, by the way." Kaemon basically shouted out. I couldn't stand listening to his annoying voice any longer and promptly exited the room. Perhaps now I would have time to hang out with Masaki? If I could find him, at least. He never did tell me exactly where he was headed for.

I walked out of the computer room, leaving Kaemon behind. I then went into the food room, and I saw Saeko and Toko eating from plates loaded with food. *How do they maintain their figures eating that much?* I asked myself. They must have had incredible metabolism.

"Howdy, Kanon!" Toko called out to me, their mouth loaded with food and their voice being almost completely indistinguishable as a result. A few gold-brown crumbs scattered over their face.

"Chew with your mouth closed! That's gross!" Saeko reminded them. Despite her having a massive amount of food on her plate as well, she managed to keep her face and her side of the table clean. "Kanon, you gonna join us for a meal?" Saeko asked me. I looked around - I guess everyone else was out doing something else this day. While I certainly would have enjoyed spending more time with Saeko, the truth was that I could never be around Toko too long, mostly because they still unnerved me. What if one day, they were to pull a gun out and it... was loaded? There was no way I would allow myself to be a victim to that.

"Uh, no thanks," I replied as I walked out of the room, trying not to make eye contact with Toko. Saeko gave a sigh as I left for the scenic room, just to be anywhere else. I wondered if Masaki was in there? It seemed like the type of place he'd frequent.

As I made it to the scenic room, I noticed that at first, it seemed that I was alone in here. *Where is everyone else?* I asked myself. I looked around, seeing if I could spot Masaki anywhere. That was, until I noticed in the rightmost corner that Lorenzo was sitting by himself. *What's he doing all alone?* I asked myself. I figured he'd be hanging out with Utamuro right about now.

"Hey, Lorenzo?" I called out to him. Lorenzo turned his head to me, his face expressionless. He looked as if he had been spending quite a bit of time worrying about something, or that he was just bored and tired. There wasn't much way one couldn't be, with these early hours and such.

"Oh, hello, Kanon." Lorenzo called back. He gave a sigh as I approached.

I tilted my head at the Ultimate Entrepreneur. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

Lorenzo just shrugged and leaned his head back, as I sat across from him at the other seat. "I dunno, I guess I'm just... worried."

Well, I certainly didn't want to just leave Lorenzo hanging like this. I figured I would go seek out Masaki later. I was bound to run into him at some point, wasn't I?

"What are you worried about?" I asked him.

Lorenzo sighed again. "It's my business. See, without me to run it right now, I'm just... worried about whose hands it's in. I've spent years making clever marketing strategies in order to keep my business afloat, and the last thing I need is for it to be taken over by dirty communists-" His voice started to tremble as he approached the end of that sentence, but then he stopped himself and sighed. "Sorry, I don't wanna ramble too long. Anyway... what brings you here to talk with Mister Lorenzo Ricci himself?" His face suddenly shifted dramatically as he raised an eyebrow and gave a confident grin in my direction. What was going on?

"Uh, Lorenzo?" I asked him. He wasn't flirting with me, was he?

"What is it? Clearly something must have driven you here for you to have chosen to hang out with myself. Could it be because I am a clever businessman? Or because I am rich? Or is it my sense of style that brought you here? They say the clothes make the man." Lorenzo mused in a flirtations manner, seeming to look at me up and down. Truth be told, I wasn't really too into this. Lorenzo was trying way too hard to impress me, and I could just sense it.

I gave an awkward chuckle, turning my head away from him for a second. "Lorenzo, you're not trying to flirt with me, are you? Because it's not really working."

Lorenzo gave a nervous chuckle as he pulled on his tie a bit. "Sorry 'bout that, I guess my methods don't really work on you. How about we make up for it over dinner tonight?" He asked me.

I sighed again. "Lorenzo, please, I'm not interested in you like this."

He clicked his tongue and then clasped his hands as he looked up at me again. "Alright, if you won't respond to my advances... then I have to ask you about someone else."

Someone else? I barely knew anyone here! His methods didn't sound like they'd work on *anyone*.

"Who exactly... are you talking about?" I asked him.

Lorenzo chuckled a bit and looked down. "You, uh... you promise not to tell anyone?" He asked me, his face suddenly flushing red.

I shrugged. "Of course." I replied. Truth be told, I was probably going to forget about it anyway, or not really care.

Lorenzo sighed. "M-Michiru," He replied. I gasped a bit as a smile spread across my face. The smartest, most talented student aboard this train, and definitely one of the most attractive as well. It didn't exactly come as a surprise to me that he had a crush on Michiru.

"Aw, that's kind of cute," I replied. "But, if someone like me wasn't impressed with your advances, what makes you think she will be?"

Lorenzo chuckled again, and then shrugged. "Not sure, I haven't figured that out yet. I'm hoping money will be enough to make her fall for me."

Money? Was Lorenzo really this desperate?

I chuckled a little and then cleared my throat. "Why don't you actually try and get to know her a bit? Talk to her about things she might like? Learn more about her. I'm sure Michiru would appreciate it if you actually took interest in her."

Lorenzo sighed, and then looked up at me with a smile. "Thanks, Kanon," he thanked me. "You know, you're pretty cool. You're really nice, cute, and I'm sure you're not a communist. You're not, right?" He asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't know economics very well, but I-" I realized he was flirting with me again, and I just rolled my eyes. "Oh, you almost had me with those compliments there! Try that on Michiru."

"Right!" Lorenzo answered as he suddenly got up and dashed away. Something told me he was going to screw this up. Regardless, I noticed that I still had quite a bit of time left, and Masaki had to be around somewhere.

I walked away from the scenic room, and up toward the middle room. I began walking toward all our rooms, hoping I'd come across Masaki. Just as I entered the gym room on my way there, Guadalupe almost bumped into me. She was sweating from her forehead and on her clothing, and a white towel was draped over her shoulders. She was carrying a bottle of water in her right hand too.

"Oh, hey Kanon!" Guadalupe greeted me as she drank from her water bottle. "Where you going?"

I turned away for a second, not wanting to admit that I wanted to meet up with Masaki later. What if she thought I liked him? That would be embarrassing...

"I'm, uh... just taking a walk, I guess." I replied. "Just passing time before Amy-chan's concert."

Guadalupe nodded and leaned against the wall. "Yuki's probably out right now, and it seems most everyone else is busy. Wanna hang out for a little?"

I shrugged. I didn't yet know Guadalupe too well, and she seemed like someone who might be fun to hang out with. "Well, sure!" I replied. I didn't quite know what else to say.

"Nice!" Guadalupe cheered as she set her sweat rag down onto the ground. "Hey, if you're going ot hang out with me, you wanna maybe set up a training routine for the two of us? Yuki can't really afford to exercise in the train, so having a partner would be awesome!"

I gave a sheepish smile as Guadalupe proposed the idea of a training routine. Even though I got out quite a bit and would spend a lot of my days walking, I still wasn't exactly the most physically fit person around. Alongside someone athletic like Guadalupe, there was just no way I would even compare. "I don't know... I'm not really that athletic." I replied.

Guadalupe chuckled a bit before getting onto the treadmill, and pressing a few buttons as she began to run. "Silly Kanon, that's the point! It's to help you become more athletic!" she encouraged me. Well, I certainly wouldn't want ot be rude to her, even if I hadn't the slightest clue how to get my body in shape. Running for even fifteen seconds would have me sweating and on my knees, so I had no idea what Guadalupe's plans were. "So, before we start, take off your uniform." Guadalupe instructed me.

I turned a beet-red almost instantly. "M-My uniform?! Guadalupe, that's so embarrassing!" I cried out.

"Relax, you can keep the skirt on. Your uniform looks heavy. And trust me, you do *not* want to get that thing sweaty!" She informed me. I cursed under my breath as I unbuttoned my shirt, and threw it onto the chair, leaving me in a blue bra and my skirt. I was blushing madly as I tried to cover my chest.

"I-Is this necessary?!" I cried. "What if one of the boys sees me?!"

Guadalupe shrugged. "Like I said, they're all busy right now," she reminded me. I took a deep breath as I took in what she said. If Masaki were to see me, I wouldn't be able to talk to him again. However, I just had to trust that what she was saying was true. "To begin, get on the treadmill next to mine!" she puffed as she continued running on her treadmill.

With a doubtful and skeptical mindset, I stepped onto the treadmill beside Guadalupe's. I saw a few buttons on the front, but the ones that stood out to me were three on the right which read "Slow", "Moderate", and "Fast".

"If you're not quite an athlete, I'd recommend going on 'Slow'," Guadalupe suggested to me. In a moment of stupidity, I pressed the "Moderate" button. I instantly regretted it as the treadmill began to move.

"Wah!" I cried out as I felt myself beginning to fall over.

"Grab onto the handles next to you!" Guadalupe instructed me. Before I could fall over completely, I grabbed onto the handles and kept myself upward. I started to get a grip on my footing as I ran in place, feeling myself sweat from the hot air and motion. Within seconds, I was gasping for air.

"G-Guada-!" I couldn't even finish my sentence because of my shortness of breath. I tried to reach for the button again, but I didn't want to risk falling over again.

"You're doing great!" Guadalupe encouraged me some more. "Just keep pushing on and you'll get it!"

I wheezed, sucking in all the air I could as I felt my legs beginning to tremble. How was *this* the "Moderate" option?! I felt like I was going to be violently hurled off of the treadmill! "G-uada-!" I tried shouting out, but my lungs weren't pushing the air out. My face must have been a bright blue-red. I was dripping with sweat, and coupled with my embarrassment, I felt like I was going to die. "L-Lupe!" I screamed.

"Kanon?!" Guadalupe shouted out as her eyes widened. Her face quickly went serious as she stopped her treadmill, then reached over to mine and turned it off. I took a moment to catch my breath as I sat down onto the ground. "You alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah..." I muttered, fanning myself off. In this moment, I was *glad* she suggested I remove my uniform. I would have been baking alive if I were to be in it!

"Want me to grab you some water?" Guadalupe asked me. I nodded as I thirsted for the taste of some sweet, cold water. Guadalupe dashed off as she tossed a towel my way. I wiped the sweat off my brow as only a few seconds later, Guadalupe returned with a bottle of water.

"Thanks," I mumbled, gulping down the water as I exhaled a relaxed "Aaahhhh...". I leaned back, just happy to be alive.

Gudadalupe chuckled again as she sat down next to me. "Maybe we should start you off a little more slowly. But hey, thanks for training with me anyway. We'll have to do this again, just not so quickly."

I smiled at her as she picked up her sweat rag and walked out of the room. I took in a deep breath as the door on the other side opened.

"Hmm?" I called out as Ryo entered.

"Oh, sorry!" Ryo apologized as he covered his eyes and turned away. What was wrong? Then, I looked down at myself, and saw my uniform on the floor behind me. Oh, *shit*.

I scurried to put my uniform back on, frantically buttoning it back up. I couldn't even look Ryo in the eyes; I was just too embarrassed! After a few seconds, I heard him calling from outside the gym.

"You decent yet?" Ryo asked.

"Y-Yeah..." I replied. He then walked in, and to my surprise, he didn't look nearly as flushed as I did. I figured he would, seeing a girl dressed in a bra on accident and whatnot. "Sorry, didn't mean to intrude on you like that," He apologized to me. "I didn't know you were starting a workout routine. You should have let me know!"

I gave a sheepish smile and then shrugged. "I... kinda did, but I'd rather not get into that right now," I replied to him.

"That's alright," He answered, scratching the back of his head. I just sort of stared at him in awe - not only was he *easily* the tallest one here, his arms and legs were on the muscular side. Damn, this man was a hottie! He might have have been quite as high on my priority list as Masaki was, but Ryo was hardly lacking in the hots department whatsoever. "You just kinda waiting around for the concert?" Ryo asked me.

I nodded at him, trying not to stare at his muscles for too long. "Y-Yeah, just kinda passing time," I replied. "Hey, while you're here, may I do an editorial on you? I've always wanted to do a story on a famous basketball player." I pulled my camera and a journal out of my bag.

In response, Ryo flashed a wide grin in my direction and shrugged. "Of course! I never turn down one of these."

"Perfect!" I cheered as I raised up my camera and kneeled down. "Can you strike some poses for me?"

"Sure!" He answered, rushing toward an orange, shiny basketball in the corner of the room. First, he spun the basketball around on his fingertip, then he held the basketball at his waist as he showed off the sides of his arm and leg, and then he tossed the ball over my head. I jumped, as I wasn't expecting him to toss the ball at me, but I instinctively pressed the button on my camera and snapped the picture. I looked over all three pictures - they all turned out decently, and I thought they captured Ryo's athleticism perfectly. "How did they turn out?" Ryo asked me.

"See for yourself!" I replied. I handed him the camera as he looked through the pictures and nodded.

"Oh, nice! I think they turned out well." Ryo complimented my shots. "Well, now what?"

I cleared my throat and then pulled my journal and a pen out. "First question. What's it like winning a really close game?"

Ryo leaned back and smiled at me. "It's a real rush, let me tell you that. Like... at first, you can't even really believe that it happened, and you sort of just keep looking at the scoreboard just to make sure you landed it. And then everyone cheers you on, and your team congratulates you, and it's just exhilarating," He replied to me.

I took a minute to write all this down, occasionally nodding back at him. "Okay. How do you usually go about your training?" I asked him.

He shrugged again. "I try to do different things every day, you know. One day I'll lift some weights, other days I'll go for a run, but one thing I always do is practice basketball from home. I just want to help out my team, you know?"

I nodded, jotting everything down. Ryo was just so calm and ready to be interviewed, it was a little surprising. While I'd done interviews for people at school for the yearbook and whatnot, and I had done some editorials on locals, I'd yet to interview someone famous like Ryo. I never believed he would just be this calm about it.

"Okay, final question," I began, taking a second to clear my throat. "What would you say you'd be looking for in an ideal partner?"

Ryo chuckled a bit, and shrugged. "Well, uh... that's a hard question. I can't say I've really taken the time, to, uh... think that through..." Ryo turned away from me, his face flushing red as he twiddled his thumbs. While he'd been relaxed just a minute ago, he now looked nervous.

"Oh, sorry. Is that a question I shouldn't have asked?" I asked him.

Ryo shook his head, and took a deep breath. "No, it's fine. It's a question that I might need to think about. You know, tell you what. When I do figure it out, I'll let you know."

I nodded in return as I stashed away my camera and journal. "Thanks, Ryo. This was a pleasant experience."

Ryo nodded as well. "And thank you, Kanon! I had fun with this as well."

Right before Ryo and I could finish everything up, Lorenzo burst into the gym.

"Lorenzo?" Ryo asked, tilting his head. "What's going on here?"

Lorenzo adjusted his tie as he grinned at us. "Well, I'd just like to let you know that the famous Amy-chan Sakura's concert is beginning in only a few minutes, and I'm just coming in to make sure everyone's attending! It's really important we're all there, you know?" Lorenzo reminded us.

"Oh, right!" I answered. "Okay, we'll be right there!"

With that, Ryo, Lorenzo, and I made our way out of the train and walked toward the courtyard.

### Train Life

Ryo, Lorenzo, and I stepped out of the train, where we saw everyone gathered around outside. Amy-chan was standing on the stage, breathing into a microphone to test out its volume. Daquan was setting up some steel beams to hang lights from as a ladder was positioned near the stage, while Azizah was installing wires and sockets behind the stage. I could also see Asa handing out cookies to everyone else, who were each gathered in their own groups.

"Ah, so you three have made it," I heard Michiru call out. She jotted our names down on her clipboard and looked at us. "Though Kanon, I must say I'm quite surprised not to see you with Masaki this time," she muttered to me. I couldn't help but blush profusely as she mentioned that.

"Um... I, uh... wanted to hang out with Ryo!" I sputtered out. "Y-yeah, the two of us were hanging out."

Michiru nodded. "Right, right. Anyway, just make sure that you all stay here, okay? I'm going to be keeping watch of everyone who enters the train again."
e
Then, Lorenzo piped up, saying something completely unrelated to the topic at hand. "Y'know, Michiru... smart girls like you are hard to come across."

I huffed a bit as Lorenzo finished that sentence. Yes, I understood he was just flirting, and I knew that Michiru was definitely smarter than most of us here, but did he have to go and throw me, as well as every other woman in the world, under the bus like that?

Michiru nodded, not taking her eyes off of her clipboard. "Mhmm. Yeah, sure." She muttered, sounding like she wasn't even paying attention to him.

Lorenzo sighed as he started to walk away from Michiru's direction. "Never mind..." He murmured as he instead approached Yuki and Guadalupe, who were adjacent to us. Oh no, this wouldn't be good. I followed Lorenzo along, just to make sure he didn't say or do anything stupid. "Hey, Yuki!" Lorenzo called out in a flirtatious manner. Yuki turned her head to the Ultimate Entrepreneur and raised her eyebrow.

"Lorenzo, what do you want?" Yuki asked him. Guadalupe also gave him a side-eye as Lorenzo took a minute to adjust his tie.

"I've been wondering. How can you be around snow so much, if you're just so hot?" He flirted, raising his eyebrows at Yuki. The Ultimate Extreme Snowboarder just gave a huff, and then kneeled down and pulled up a gray snowboard with the name "Hatano" written diagonally across it in white letters from underneath the train. "Hey, how did you do that?" He asked. I honestly didn't know either.

Yuki shrugged, and without answering his question, whacked him over the head.

"Ow!" Lorenzo shrieked as Yuki put her snowboard back underneath the train. "Geez, I was just giving you a compliment!"

"Girls don't like nice guys," I heard Kaemon blurt out. "Just forget about it."

"Clever observation there, Kaemon," Michiru noted. "But speaking as a woman myself, I actually love nice men. Turns out men like you just aren't as nice as you think."

Kaemon and Lorenzo went completely silent for a few seconds before Utamuro approached us.

"Hey, Lorenzo, Michiru?" Utamuro began. The two of them turned toward Utamuro, who appeared to have something on his mind. "Umm... Amy-chan says she'd like to wear a new outfit for her performance tonight, so I'm going to need to go inside and work on a new outfit for her.

Michiru nodded and then turned a page on her clipboard, and wrote Utamuro's name on the paper. "Alright, just be back before too long, okay?"

Utamuro nodded. "I'll make sure of it! After all, I *am* the Ultimate Clothing Designer! I can have a new outfit finished in no time flat!" He then ran inside the train in a flash.

While I was out here, I looked around the area where everyone was outside. Rai, Aiko, and Hikooki were standing near the window of the train, with Hikooki staring off into the corner of the courtyard while Rai and Aiko were talking with each other about something. Tame and Kenji were underneath the same tree as before, sitting in total silence. Shiro was in their own corner, staring up at the sky, while Tomoe was sitting in the back trying to work a video camera. Strangely enough, it seemed that Masaki, Hideki, Toko, Sen, and Saeko were nowhere to be seen.

"We're about to start any minute now..." Michiru noted. "Alright, I'm going back inside the train to look for the others. Lorenzo, you've volunteered to be my assistant event planner, so you're coming with me."

Lorenzo jolted a bit and then nodded. "Y-Yeah. I'll go look for them with you," he replied as the two of them went back inside the train.

"Hey Kanon, you excited for the show?" Daquan asked me as he approached, his arms covered in dust and burn marks. I cringed a bit as I saw his arms, but he was still smiling as if he wasn't affected at all. "We all put a lot of work into making this concert the best ever. Now, all we're waiting on is the new costume," he told me.

"Yeah, I'm excited!" I replied. "I bet this is going to be great! I just can't believe you set all this up in the matter of a few hours..." While I shouldn't have been so skeptical of the Ultimate Steelworker's abilities, it still bordered on inhuman how quickly he was able to set it all up."

Daquan chuckled a bit and patted my shoulder. "Nah, this is nothing. You should have seen the time my Uncle Nelson and I helped with an entire construction site!" He boasted. "But really, I just hope you have a good time."

"Hey, thanks, Daquan." I thanked him and nodded.

"Don't mention it. I'm just happy to help out." He replied.

Suddenly, Masaki walked out of the train, with his hands in his pockets. He instantly walked up to me, and I giggled a bit while trying to hold in my blushing.

"Hey, Kanon. What's up?" He asked me.

"N-Nothing... just kinda waiting for the show to start, what about you?" I asked him.

He shrugged and leaned against the train. "Not really much," he replied. "I see that everyone else is out here right now, except for a few. What time is it?" He asked me.

I looked down at my phone, to note that the time was 7:30 pm. In only two hours and thirty minutes, it would be night time again, and time to go back to sleep. "Seven-thirty," I replied. Masaki nodded.

"Alright," He replied. "You know, I'm really hoping no one dies. I don't think anyone would kill anyone else right now, but I just... I still hope nothing happens, you know?" He told me as he walked up to Asa and grabbed a few cookies from her. He handed two of them to me.

"Try them!" Asa encouraged me. "I spent a very long time on these cookies, so please eat as much as you'd like! But also remember to save some for everybody else."

I nodded, trying not to think too hard about what Masaki told me. I took a bite out of one of Asa's cookies, and instantly I felt my hands stuffing them into my mouth. They tasted so perfet, as if someone rolled up heaven and put it into a cookie. "This is amazing!" I complimented her, with a mouth full of cookie crumbs.

Asa giggled at me. "Just remember not to talk with your mouth full! It's impolite, you know!"

My eyes widened as swallowed it down instantly, my face flushed red after Asa finished that sentence. I just hoped Masaki didn't think I was weird or gross after that moment.

Masaki, Asa, and I talked for quite some time, waiting for Utamuro to be finished on Amy-chan's costume. After some time, Masaki's eyes widened.

"Oh, shit." He whispered. "We need someone to stand guard while they're all in the train," Masaki noted to us.

"I think Michiru is already doing that," I replied.

Masaki shook his head. "She's taking roll of everyone who's still there. We need someone to actually stand guard, in case Michiru isn't there during a murder."

Asa and I nodded for a few seconds, trying to figure out who would be fit for the role of security guard.

"What about Hideki?" I asked.

Masaki shook his head again. "No way, the guy is way too gung-ho about this. We need someone more subtle, more casual."

Suddenly, Hikooki walked toward us. "Ahem," He cleared his throat. "I could do this. Let me let you guys in on a little secret," He began, leaning toward Masaki, Asa, and I. "I'm suspicious of Lorenzo," He whispered to all of us. "The way he talks like he knows something all of us don't, the way he volunteered to help Michiru plan this event out of nowhere, how casual he's being... he's definitely planning something,"

We all stood there in silence for a few seconds before Masaki spoke up again. "I can see what you mean..." He muttered, nodding.

After a few seconds, Lorenzo walked back out again and approached us. "Hey so, I've decided that I'm going to wash some clothes for us. I need to wash off some of mine, and I'm wondering who else would like their clothes washed?" He asked us.

Hikooki leaned toward us again. "See what I mean?"

I nodded, seeing exactly what Hikooki meant. Lorenzo spoke in a tone that was all too casual and cool-headed. The way he offered up something like this, the way he tried to make us acquainted with him. The first thing a murderer does is make you feel comfortable with them.

"Oh!" Yuki called out. "I keep sweating in everything I wear. Go into my room, and you'll find plenty of my clothes."

"Mine too!" Guadalupe called out. "I really work up a sweat when I work out!"

Lorenzo nodded. "Okay. I'll go get the washing machine ready." He dashed off back into the train, disappearing from sight again.

"This isn't going to end well..." Hikooki muttered. "I'm gonna go stand guard." Hikooki walked back up to the train, leaving the rest of us behind.

After a few more minutes passed, the lights on the stage flickered on. An assortment of pink, blue, and yellow lights flashed around the stage as Amy-chan was spotlit up front. But weren't we waiting for her outfit to arrive?

"Okay, my new outfit is taking a while to arrive here, so I'm just going to begin my show now!" Amy-chan announced. We all cheered and clapped as Amy-chan made a pose onstage, and the intro to a J-Pop song began. I even saw Tame take off her headphones and Kenji take his eyes off of his book as they turned to face Amy-chan.

Azizah approached us, dusting off her hands. "So, what do you all think of this light display?" She asked us.

"You didn't install anything dangerous in there, did you?" asked Kaemon.

Azizah shrugged. "Nope, just regular spotlights. Nothing too fancy or out of the ordinary."

Kaemon scowled and crossed his arms at Azizah. "I've got my eye on you, you know."

"I think it looks great!" I told Azizah. "You did a fantastic job on these lights!"

Azizah smiled at me and nodded. "Thank you. I'm not usually the type to listen to music, but this should be fine,"

"We all set?" asked Daquan.

Asa scratched her chin. "We're still waiting for some of the others. Miss Nura, Mister Harada, Mister Kawata, Miss Rakuyama, Mister Ricci, Mister Ikehara, Mister Ozawa, and Mx Matsura are currently not present."

"I'm tired of waiting!" Amy-chan shouted out. "Anyway, they're going to have to catch these next few songs, because I'm starting now!"

We all cheered as Amy-chan began her first song, doing her dance routine as the lights flashed and strobed in time with her music. Daquan and Azizah stood at the side of the stage as Asa stayed put, occasionally handing out sweets to the rest of us. I took a few pictures of all of us, as I relaxed and listened to Amy-chan's beautiful music. I was having such a good time, I almost lost track of where we were, and the circumstances in which we were under.

Then, at around 8:30, after a few of Amy-chan's songs, Sen and Hideki dashed out of the train. Sen walked toward Yuki and Guadalupe, while Hideki walked toward Masaki and I.

"Oh, it's *you*." Masaki huffed. "What do you want?"

Hideki grinned and crossed his arms at Masaki. "I've just been making sure no one's up to no good on that train there. And I came out here to keep my eye on you, mister Ultimate Thief!"

Masaki sighed and shrugged. "What are you gonna do? I'm a thief, not a murderer."

"Leave Masaki alone!" I demanded. "He's not doing anything bad!"

Hideki chuckled. "An accomplice, eh? I'm keeping my eyes on you." Hideki then stood next to us, as we tried to simply ignore him. Then, we overheard Sen talking with Yuki and Guadalupe.

"Yuki, I regret to inform you that your poster has gone missing," Sen informed her.

"What, how do you know I had a poster in my room?!" Yuki shouted at Sen.

Sen shrugged. "You keep your door open to let the hot air out, don't you?"

Yuki gulped, and then she dashed into the train. "I'll be right back!" she assured Guadalupe and Sen.

"Please hurry before Amy-chan begins her next song!" Guadalupe called out.

After a few more minutes went by, Amy-chan kicked her leg up into the air as the music started again. "Who's ready for more kawaii sugoi music?" Amy-chan asked us all. We all cheered again as she started another dance routine, starting up her singing again. I took more photos of us all around - Amy-chan on the stage, Daquan and Azizah at the side, Masaki, Hideki, Asa, Ryo, and I near the train, Rai and Aiko near the window, Tame and Kenji underneath the tree, Shiro and Tomoe opposite us, Guadalupe and Sen waiting at the train's door for Yuki, and Kaemon playing a game on his laptop off in the corner.

Then, Aiko started to shout something only barely coherent. "Everyone! Everyone! Listen to me!" she cried out. Amy-chan stopped her music as all of us who were outside (except for Amy-chan, Daquan, and Azizah) all dashed toward Aiko, whose eyes were beginning to glaze over as she held her hands up to her cheeks.

"Aiko, what's wrong?!" Rai shouted out, holding onto her shoulders. "Are you okay?!"

"A horrific 'bang!' sound! It rang like the dark lord's bell which tolls as yet another is dragged to the depths of hell!" Aiko screamed. Then, her face wormed its way into a giant, toothy grin. "And it... sounded so beautiful."

Hideki took a deep breath as he pulled his sunglasses down. "Mother of god..." He muttered to himself. "I'm gonna need some smart people to help me with this." He announced. He then looked at me, and then at Masaki. "Kanon, Masaki, you're coming with me. We're getting to the bottom of this."

Masaki stood still for a second, and then turned away. "I... I don't want to work with you, Hideki..."

Hideki shrugged. "Fine then. Kanon, just you then."

"M-Me?" I asked, jumping a little. What if... the worst had happened? There was just no way I was mentally prepared to see what I was about to see.

"You heard me. Come on." Hideki demanded. The two of us went into the train's main room, which seemed just normal enough, except the heater was turned on for some reason. However, the atmosphere was rather... eerie. Something just wasn't right. I could feel my stomach sinking as I mentally prepared myself for the worst.

Suddenly, Michiru and Hikooki ran toward us.

"Did you hear it too?!" Michiru asked, her hands shaking and her face sweating. She was carrying that same book underneath her arm.

Hideki shook his head. "No, but Aiko did. We're gonna check it out."

Hikooki nodded. I came as soon as I heard it. I just... I have no idea where it was..." He muttered to himself.

Hideki, Michiru, Hikooki, and I all walked down the hall, past the food room and into the TV room....

...And before us stood a sight none of us could have ever prepared for.

A pink splatter against and a bullet hole in the wall, with the dead body of Lorenzo Ricci leaning against the wall. A bullet hole was in his head, with pink blood dripping down onto his suit and onto the floor. His eyes were still wide open, looking horrified. Across from Lorenzo was Yuki, unconscious and against the opposite wall, wielding a gun in her hands.

**BING! BONG! BING! BONG!** We heard the awful bell ring throughout the train. Suddenly, the monitor in the corner turned on, and the face of Monokuma appeared on the screen.

"A body has been discovered!" Monokuma stated, his voice as eerie and creepy as ever. "After a certain amount of time has passed, a Class Trial will begin!"

I stopped. I couldn't possibly believe what I had seen.

"Wha...?" Yuki groaned as her eyes opened up. She screamed as she let go of the gun and saw the horrors which unfolded before her.

"No..." Hikooki muttered out. "I couldn't... stop this..."

"Who... would do such a thing..." Michiru whispered to herself. "My promise... I couldn't keep it..."

Who would kill Lorenzo? Sure, he was kind of weird and creepy to girls, but that didn't mean he deserved this...

### Investigation

After the discovery of Lorenzo's body, everyone else ran inside the train as quickly as they could. We all looked at the corpse for a few seconds and then turned to Yuki. Before we could say anything, Monokuma burst into the room wearing the same facial expression as usual. "Upupupu, the first murder has taken place! Now, you all have to find the evidence that leads toward Lorenzo's killer! After a certain amount of time has passed, a class trial will begin!"

"A class trial?" asked Hikooki.

Monokuma nodded. "This is where the culprit, or as I like to call them, the *blackened*, will be determined by a group vote! If you guess correctly, the blackened will be executed! If you fail and guess the wrong person, everyone else will be executed instead! Also, attendance is mandatory for *all* surviving students."

My heart skipped a beat as Monokuma finished that sentence. What if... we were to guess wrong? I didn't want to be wrong about this.

"Also, if you check your E-Handbook, you will see that the Monokuma File section has been added!" Monokuma informed us. I quickly pulled my E-Handbook out of my bag and tapped the "Monokuma File" option. There, that's when I saw a full-body picture of Lorenzo, grayed out with the word "DEAD" plastered over it in pink, stenciled letters. The rest of the file read this:

**Monokuma File #1:**

* The victim was Lorenzo Ricci. The time of death is estimated to be around 8:45 p.m. The body was discovered in the television room on the Monokuma Express. The cause of death was a gunshot to the head, which killed him in seconds. No other external injuries were found, and no chemicals such as poison were detected. His face looks surprised as if he had caught off guard.

"Now, get to work with your investigation! I'll see you all later~!" He then dashed out of the room without a trace as the 23 of us just stood there in silence, trying to think of something. First, we all eyed Yuki.

"I-I..." Yuki stammered, her voice trembling and her arms shaking. "I didn't do it! I swear I didn't!" she cried.

Hideki scoffed. "That's what they all say," He replied.

I took a deep breath. I was sure that if I investigated this case thoroughly, I could figure it out.

"Everyone!" Masaki called out. "Look for evidence that leads toward Lorenzo's killer. Kanon, care to help me out?"

I jumped a bit as Masaki said my name, but I nodded. "Yeah, I'll help you out," I replied.

"I'll help out as well," Michiru offered. "I'm sure I can be of assistance."

Masaki nodded. "Sure. You're smart and reasonable, I'm sure you'll help us out as well."

Michiru pushed her glasses up and clung onto her book. "Alright. I say we begin by inspecting Lorenzo's body."

Masaki, Michiru, and I slowly approached Lorenzo's body. I plugged my nose as the overwhelming stench of rotting flesh and blood clogged my sinuses, but it seemed Masaki and Michiru were less fazed than I was.

"As you can see here, there's a bullet wound in his head," Masaki noted. "This means that the killer got him with a single shot,"

While guns were certainly much different from cameras, I knew that getting a good shot with a camera could take hours, and it was certainly a test of trial and error. Hitting someone with a fatal shot on their first try would be next to impossible.

"Look up here!" Michiru called out, bringing attention to the bloody bullet hole in the wall. "You know what this means? Lorenzo was standing up right as he was killed."

I snapped a photograph of the scene, just to keep it around as evidence should it come up again.

"Wait, look here!" I began, seeing a clean pocketknife in Lorenzo's hand. "He was wielding this as he was killed, I see."

"Excellent observation, Kanon!" Masaki called out. "But... why did he have a knife with him?"

I looked around in the corner to see a poster featuring a picture of a red-haired man on a snowboard, jumping through the air. "Hey, is this the poster Sen was talking about?" I asked. "Only Yuki would own a poster like this."

"Huh, you're right..." Michiru muttered to herself. "But how did it get here?"

"Maybe we just have to search for more clues," I suggested.

"Great idea!" Michiru replied. "I know the first place to look, too,"

Michiru lead us to a laundry room just below the science lab, where a large white washing machine and dryer were situated. A basket full of clothing sat upon the dryer - and it seemed that it was all full of Lorenzo's clothes.

"Oh, now I remember!" Masaki called out. "Yeah, only about 45 minutes before he died, Lorenzo offered to wash some clothes,"

"But..." I muttered, trying to wrap my head around the situation. "None of this makes sense. It should take almost two hours for a wash/dry cycle to be finished. 45 minutes is less than half of that," I pointed out.

Michiru rummaged through the laundry pile, and then pulled out a black bra. It was one which would be much too big for myself, but definitely not big enough for, say, Tame. "A bra? Funny to find this here..." Michiru muttered to herself. "...And it's Yuki's!" She then turned the bra toward us, pulling a tag on its side which read "Yuki" in black marker.

Masaki scratched his chin. "Oh, right! Yuki was the one who said she needed her clothes washed! But then... why is only her bra present? That seems a little weird,"

Michiru shrugged. "Lorenzo was always kind of shady. Wouldn't surprise me if there was a pair of her panties in here too," She then dug through the clothing again, and then her eyes widened. "I... feel something in here," She announced, before pulling out a piece of paper. "What's this?"

Masaki, Michiru, and I all looked at the paper and read its contents. It had been written in blue ink that was starting to run, but if one looked at it carefully, they could read, "Someone will die tonight. I need to-". There was more to it, but the ink was smeared beyond comprehension.

"Who left this here?" asked Masaki. "And more importantly, who wrote it in the first place?"

I thought to myself for a little bit, not yet coming up with a real answer. I looked at the setting the dryer had been on, and I noticed it was on its highest setting. "That's strange," I noted. "It doesn't look like there was a full enough load to put on its highest setting,"

"Hey, why don't we go search for more clues?" Michiru suggested. Masaki and I both nodded as we made our way back to the television room, where I could see Hideki, Utamuro, Yuki, Guadalupe, Daquan, Kaemon, and Sen. Utamuro was in a chair, shaking, while Yuki was looking at the ground and Hideki, Sen, Daquan, and Guadalupe were standing. Kaemon was sitting in the corner, writing something down.

"Ah, you guys are back," Hideki noted to himself. "I interrogated Utamuro and Yuki, but I couldn't quite get any answers out of 'em," He told us.

"How many times do I have to tell you?!" Yuki shouted. "I'm innocent! I'm being framed!"

Hideki stomped on the ground. "*I'll* be the judge of that, thank you very much," He replied.

Michiru pulled her clipboard from under her shoulder again. "Hideki, if it helps you out, I made a list of everyone who was either in here to begin with, or came in here during the concert," she informed him, handing him the clipboard.

Hideki nodded. "Okay. Saeko, Toko, Lorenzo, Utamuro, Sen, Hikooki, Yuki..." He muttered to himself. "Alright, I guess I'll go interrogate Hikooki next," He then walked out of the room.

"Hey, Utamuro?" I called out, approaching him. The poor guy could barely even look my way; he was shaking too much.

"S-Sorry, I'm just having trouble taking this all in..." He muttered to himself. "One second, Lorenzo was with me, talking with me and hanging out as I was making that new dress for Amy-chan, and the next second, I find him dead in the room... I never even heard him leave," He muttered.

Masaki nodded. "Alright, so what you're saying is that you were with him some time before he died?" He asked.

Utamuro nodded. "Yeah. But I was so focused on Amy-chan's dress, I probably didn't even notice when he left. I also noticed that my knife was missing from the sleeve of my shirt, where I always put it..."

"Was it... this one?" asked Masaki, who handed Utamuro the knife Lorenzo was holding.

Utamuro gasped. "Yes, that's the one! Where did you find it?"

Masaki pointed at Lorenzo's body. "He had it in his hand when we found him dead."

Utamuro cringed a bit as he walked away. "I'm um... going to wash this off real well... I just... it doesn't, umm... feel right,"

"Masaki, I didn't even see you take the knife. How did you do it?" asked Michiru.

Masaki shrugged. "Ultimate Thief, remember?"

Michiru nodded. "Okay. Hey, why don't we ask Guadalupe if she knows anything?"

We all approached Guadalupe, who was standing near Yuki.

"Guadalupe, you know Yuki better than the rest of us. Do you think you can give us some insight on this case?" asked Masaki.

Guadalupe nodded. "Yeah, there's one big thing I've noticed," Guadalupe began. "Feel how hot it is in here? I looked at the heater, which turned on at around 8:00 p.m. This means that by the time Yuki got in here to retrieve her poster, the train was already heated up," she noted.

"What is the significance of that?" Michiru asked.

Guadalupe scratched her chin. "Yuki can't really handle the heat. She gets heat exhaustion really easily because she's so used to cold,"

Masaki nodded. "Alright... that makes sense. Thanks,"

"Now, why don't we ask Sen what's going on?" Michiru suggested. Masaki and I nodded as we approached Sen this time. He was inspecting Lorenzo's dead body, pressing down on the bullet hole on his head.

"Damn, if only I was a bit earlier... I could have saved him..." Sen muttered to himself.

"Hey dumbass, pretty sure he died instantly. Gunshots to the head would do that," Kaemon remarked.

Sen turned to us, ignoring Kaemon's comment. "As you can see here, the bullet wound is small. When someone is shot with a gun at a close range, the entrance wound is bigger and wider. This wound is small, which tells me it had to have been done at a long range," He informed us.

"Speaking of which," Daquan piped up. "From a range like that, it would take either ridiculous skill or luck to hit from a distance like that," He muttered to himself. "Even more so if the murder weapon was that pistol Yuki was using. Pistols are for close-range,"

Michiru's eyes lit up. "I have a new suspicion here..." she muttered to herself. "Kanon, Masaki, can you two go investigate Saeko and Toko? Those two are making me suspicious at the moment..."

"On it!" I replied, as Masaki and I walked toward the game room, where we saw Toko and Saeko sitting near the pachinko machine.

"Alright, what do y'all want?" Toko asked the two of us.

"We just have a few questions," Masaki asked. "Where were you two during the time of the murder?"

Toko shrugged. "I was in the bathroom the whole time," They testified.

"I can confirm this!" Saeko responded. "I kept watch on them. They must have eaten something that didn't agree with them."

"So Toko was in the bathroom the whole time..." I muttered to myself. "Saeko, did you see anyone pass by beforehand?"

Saeko scratched her chin. "Let's see... First, I saw Michiru and Lorenzo pass through here at around 7:45, and they just took our attendance to make sure we were both here. Shortly after, Utamuro passed through here, and we didn't see him come back through until the body discovery.
Then I saw them both pass through again at 7:52. Michiru came back through here at 8:03, and then went back at 8:30. Only five minutes later, Hikooki came in here and went downstairs," she explained to us. "And then at 8:45, that's when I heard the gunshot,"

"Thanks," I replied, jotting everything down in my journal. "Masaki, do we have any other questions?"

"I've got one," Masaki began. "Toko, do you think this pistol was the one used to kill Lorenzo?" he asked.

Toko scratched their chin for a second, taking the gun from Masaki and feeling around the muzzle. "Definitely not," They replied. "The muzzle is cold, but the handle's warm. Whoever had it was just holding it, and there's no way it coulda been fired anytime in the past few minutes," They informed us.

"Thank you, Toko and Saeko," I thanked them. "Who else should we talk to?" I asked Masaki.

"Let's go meet up with the others," Masaki suggested.

"Good idea," I replied. Masaki, Saeko, Toko, and I met up with everyone else, now present in the living room.

"Masaki, Kanon, you're back!" Michiru called out. "Here, while you were talking with Saeko and Toko, Kaemon showed me this," She then handed us a sheet of paper with a rough map of everyone's positions at the time of Lorenzo's death.

"Oh, this is really helpful!" I replied. "I hate to admit it, but Kaemon really came through and helped us out here."

Kaemon shrugged. "Hey, when you game all the time, you gotta make maps. Not that a casual like you would understand,"

"Anyway," Michiru began, pushing her glasses up. "I've cracked this case already. I'm ready for the trial,"

Masaki chuckled to himself. "Nice, I've already cracked this case myself," He responded. How did these two figure it out so quickly? I was still rather stumped myself.

Suddenly, the monitor turned on again, showing Monokuma sitting in his chair again. "Time is up! Meet me in the main room of the train, and then we will begin the Class Trial!"

I gulped as all of us walked into the main room of the train to see Monokuma standing before us.

"I'm still confused after all that," Rai muttered to himself. "What if we don't guess correctly?"

"I don't think that'll be an issue," Masaki replied.

Before anyone else could ay anything, four walls shot up from underneath us, enclosing us in an elevator-like space.

"Oooh, this is just like the elevators at all those conventions I go to!" Amy-chan mused. How could she possibly be so childlike at a time like this?

I stood next to Masaki, my heart pounding harder every time. *What if we couldn't do it?* I kept asking myself. I sure hoped we could figure this one out.

### Trial and Execution

After a few minutes, the elevator came to a stop. The 23 of us stepped out of the elevator and we entered a dark room with 24 different wooden podiums, each of them arranged in a circle. At one podium stood a sign with a grayed-out picture of Lorenzo's face on it, with a pink "X" drawn on it as if it were blood. Seeing the symbol of our dead friend was certainly unnerving, and I felt my heart pump faster as we approached our podiums.

"Everyone has an assigned podium!" Monokuma announced to us. "Behind each one is one of your names. Find yours, and that will be your podium for the trial!"

I gulped and approached the podiums. "Kaemon, Tame, Rai, Yuki, Hideki..." I muttered, reading off all the names until I found my own. "Kanon," I muttered, standing up at the podium. I sure hoped that I could figure out who the culprit in this case was...

#### Phase 1: Nonstop Discussion

"So," began Michiru. "Let's acknowledge the elephant in the room. Yuki, why were you in the room with Lorenzo at the time he died?"

Yuki jumped a bit at Michiru's question. "What? There's no way it could have been me! I went in there *way* before he died!"

I scratched my chin at Yuki's statement. "No, that's not it!" I replied. Everyone turned to me as I pointed out the contradiction in Yuki's argument. "Yuki, you went in there at 8:30, and Lorenzo was found dead at 8:45. Not that much time."

Yuki gasped. Her hands started to shake as her eyes darted back-and-forth.

"Yes, Yuki..." Michiru noted. "Not to mention, it's quite suspicious that you were found holding the gun that killed Lorenzo," Michiru pointed out. Yuki gasped again, but then, I caught a contradiction in Michiru's argument.

"No, wait!" I called out again.

"Hmm?" Michiru asked, turning her head toward me.

For a split-second, I forgot exactly what I was saying. "Um, uh..."

"The gun Yuki was holding wasn't the one that killed Lorenzo," Masaki stated. "Toko, isn't that right?"

Toko's eyes lit up upon hearing Masaki's statement. "Oh, yeah, that's right! The gun Yuki was holding was too cold at the time to be the one that Lorenzo was shot with!" They pointed out. "Guns heat up at the muzzle after they're fired!"

Yuki gave a sigh of relief. "Whew, thanks, guys," Yuki exhaled, closing her eyes wiping sweat off her forehead.

"Of course," Michiru began, pushing her eyeglasses up. "Your name hasn't been totally cleared yet, Yuki,"

"What?!" Yuki cried out.

"But... didn't we just establish that the gun that killed Lorenzo wasn't the one in Yuki's hands?" asked Rai.

Michiru pulled the bra with Yuki's name on it out of her shirt. "Yuki, this was found near the crime scene. Care to explain?" she asked.

Yuki shivered as she looked at the bra in Michiru's hands, and then blushed. She looked down at the ground and gulped. "Umm..."

Michiru pushed her glasses up and gave a soft "Hmm.". "Seems you don't have much in the way of words," she began. "I'll ask again - why was this nea the crime scene?"

"I don't know!" Yuki cried out. "I-It doesn't... belong to me..."

"Oh, really?" asked Michiru, showing everyone the tag. "It does say *your* name on it,"

Wait, this *wasn't* Yuki's bra? Or was it? If it wasn't, how did it get there?

"What if it's incorrectly labeled?" suggested Tame. "This could be a setup. I wouldn't doubt it if two girls here had the same boob size, you know,"

Saeko piped up. "Wait a minute! I'm an expert at spacial recognition!" She called out. "I've actually taken note of every single girl's chest size here! Yuki's is unique among us!"

Yuki gasped again, her face going a deeper red.

"Just as I thought," Michiru noted.

"It's approximately Yuki's size as well, give or take," Saeko informed us.

Yuki, the killer? No... that just didn't seem right. I knew there had to be evidence that cleared her name somewhere.

"That makes a little bit of sense," Hideki mused. "But let's focus on another mystery. Why was Yuki asleep when Lorenzo's body was found?"

I thought for a minute, but I remembered Guadalupe's account. "I've got it!" I replied. "Remember the heater that was on?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, it was really hot in there..." Kaemon mumbled.

"Yeah, I remember that!" Azizah replied. "It was turned on at 8:00 p.m.!"

"Not just that," I replied. "According to Guadalupe, Yuki gets really bad heat exhaustion. Remember yesterday? She was on the verge of fainting, and Guadalupe had to carry her back into the train!"

Yuki huffed, her cheeks puffing out as she looked down. Her face was starting to get even redder.

"Hold on!" called out Kenji all of a sudden.

#### Phase 2: Rebuttal Showdown

I jumped at Kenji's sudden dismissal. "Y-yes, Kenji?"

"I highly doubt Yuki fell asleep immediately," Kenji stated. "It's more likely she shot him, and *then* passed out moments after,"

While he made a good point, I couldn't help but feel there was something he was glossing over.

"But Yuki would have been struggling to stand during all that!" I replied.

"Adrenaline can push one's body far beyond its usual limits," Kenji pointed out. "If Yuki really wanted to kill him enough, her body would have allowed her to for only a moment or so,"

I took in a deep breath, and tried to come up with something - anything - which would clear Yuki's name. Then, I suddenly remembered the Shaun White poster in the corner - the reason she went back into the train in the first place.

"The Shaun White poster!" I replied. "She would have made a move toward *that* before killing Lorenzo!"

Kenji gave me a quiet "Hmph.". "Perhaps she was so consumed with rage, she targeted Lorenzo first? Sun Tzu has taught me that humans will go to war for the pettiest of reasons,"

I gulped again. Oops, looks like that didn't quite clear her name. I just knew it wasn't Yuki though!

"All she would need to do is run into Toko's room, pick out a gun of her choice, and fire away," Kenji explained to me.

"Wait!" I called out. "Saeko never saw Yuki during her time in the game room! If Yuki had gone past the game room to grab a gun, then she would have mentioned so!"

#### Phase 3: Nonstop Debate

Everyone sat in silence for a few seconds as Yuki took a deep breath. "I told you I didn't do it..."

"What about the bra, Yuki?" asked Michiru. "Why was that there?"

Yuki blushed with a beet-red and took in a big gulp. "I... don't wear a bra..." she murmured.

Kaemon gasped at that statement. "What?! No fuckin' way!"

Yuki nodded, her face still flushed and looking down. "They get too hot..."

"That raises a question," Hikooki began. "If it wasn't Yuki's, then whose was it?"

"That is an interesting question," Masaki replied. "Kanon, do you remember when we were in the laundry room?"

My eyes widened as I remembered what Masaki was talking about. We found the bra inside of the clothing pile atop the washing machine. I remembered the note, but I didn't think that was relevant to what Masaki was saying. No, what I remembered was the "High" setting on the dryer.

"The dryer!" I called out. "It was placed on 'High'!"

Masaki nodded. "That's correct. Anyone want to take a guess as to what happens when the dryer is on too high of a setting? I bet Utamuro knows the answer to this one."

"The clothes shrink!" Utamuro replied. "That means the bra *wasn't* in Yuki's size!"

Michiru clicked her tongue and pushed her glasses up. "Okay then. I guess this means that Yuki's name has been cleared..."

"Alright, we've established who it's *not*," Daquan began. "Now, why don't we figure out who it *was*?"

"I like where you're going with this," Masaki replied. "First, why don't we discuss where the killer was when Lorenzo was killed?"

Aiko gave a wide grin. "I know~! The killer must have been in the TV room with Lorenzo, and ran away as fast as they could!"

I instantly spotted a contradiction in Aiko's claim. I remembered Sen's autopsy. "No, wait!" I replied. "Sen, didn't you say that the bullet hit him from a big distance?"

Sen piped up immediately. "Why, yes I did!" He replied. "The bullet wound and the hole in the wall were too small for him to have been shot from the TV room,"

"Maybe someone moved the body?" suggested Tame.

"No, that couldn't have happened," Masaki replied. "There was a blood splatter on the wall as well."

"Ohhh, none of this makes any sense!" Amy-chan wined. "There's no way you can shoot someone in the train from a distance!"

Kaemon cleared his throat. "Uh, no. Sweetie, let me handle this. If it's too much for you to figure out, the train has these things called *doors*. If Lorenzo and the killer were both in the doorways, they could have fired from all the way on the other side,"

I wasn't exactly a fan of Kaemon's condescending tone, but he was correct. It wasn't a stretch to say that someone killed him from a room or two over.

"Hmm... if my old suspicion was wrong, then I have a new one," Michiru began. "Toko. It's pretty tough to hit a target from that kind of distance, correct? Ultimate Gunslinger?"

Toko nodded. "Yeah, I reckon it'd be pretty tough for someone to hit from that distance," They replied. "I mean, unless it was me."

Michiru chuckled and pushed her glasses up again. "Just as I thought. Not even trying to cover up your shame,"

Toko chuckled again. "Hey, I never said it was me. Just ask Saeko, I was in the bathroom the whole time,"

Saeko piped up. "Yes, I was! They were in there the whole time!"

Michiru nodded. "Okay, okay..."

Masaki scratched his chin for a minute. "Hey, Michiru. Didn't you have a list of all the people who were in the train, or who came onto the train before Lorenzo died?"

Michiru's eyes perked up. "Yes, I did! Here you go!" She handed the clipboard to Masaki, who reviewed the list for a few seconds.

"Alright. Hideki, Sen, Saeko, Toko, Lorenzo, Utamuro, Hikooki, Yuki..." Masaki muttered to himself. "Well, we can rule out Lorenzo, obviously. Hideki and Sen went outside and were out there during the murder. Toko has an alibi, and we've cleared Yuki's name... this leaves Saeko, Utamuro, and Hikooki,"

"Wait, me?!" Saeko asked. "B-But... I was waiting for Toko the whole time!"

Masaki chuckled at Saeko's statement. "Yeah, but Toko *was* in the bathroom. According to Kaemon's map, you were alone at the time of the murder."

Saeko quivered as Masaki kept pressing on. "Th-there's no way it was me! I swear!"

Was it really Saeko? I honestly didn't think it was.

"We'll get back to her," I replied to that. "In the meantime, we still have Utamuro and Hikooki,"

"Ah, yes, Utamuro," Michiru began. "If I recall correctly, you were with Lorenzo not too long before his death, correct?" she asked him.

"W-well, I suppose that's true," Utamuro muttered. "But he was my friend! There's no way I'd ever kill him!"

Asa then spoke up all of a sudden. "Hold on! Utamuro was supposed to be making a new dress for Amy-chan! Utamuro, did you have it with you?"

Utamuro's eyes lit up at that question. "Yes, I did!" He fumbled around his shirt and pants, but made a horrified expression. "I... can't find it..."

"Well, you're in luck!" Monokuma remarked, pulling a white, frilly dress with sparkles and glitter adorning the lower section. "It looks like you spent a *long* time on this, Utamuro!"

"Sooooo *kawaii*!" Amy-chan gushed. "Utamuro, you made that for me?"

Tomoe lowered her sunglasses for a second. "Whoa, that's really awesome, even by *your* standards!" She complimented him.

Utamuro nodded. "Yeah... I wanted to make it extra special for you,"

"Wait, I just remembered something," Ryo began. "Utamuro, you carry a knife with you, correct?" he asked. "I remember seeing a knife in Lorenzo's hand at the time of his death.

Utamuro nodded. "Yeah! Now that I think about it... I hung my shirt up so that my sleeves wouldn't get ruined. And I didn't even hear Lorenzo leave..."

"I've got it!" Ryo called out. "The killer must have taken the knife, and placed it at the scene for a red herring!"

Wait, that didn't seem exactly right. "Wait!" I called out. "He..."

"He...?" asked Hideki. "Come on, Kanon, spill the beans!"

#### Phase 4: Hangman's Gambit

I thought long and hard about why Lorenzo was holding onto Utamuro's knife. He definitely had a reason to have it with him, and it seemed like an awful lot of trouble to give it to Lorenzo in order to create red herring.

Then, I remembered when Masaki, Michiru, and I went into the laundry room. Michiru had found something in the laundry besides the bra.

L-O-R-E-N-Z-O'-S N-O-T-E-

#### Phase 5: Nonstop Debate

"I've got it!" I called out. "Inside of Lorenzo's laundry was a note saying that someone would die at 8:45!"

"Why would Lorenzo write down his plans at all?" asked Asa. "It seems like it would leave behind a lot of evidence,"

"He *was* trying to be a better event planner," Utamuro replied. "It's likely that he wrote it down so that he wouldn't forget, and he tried to destroy the note when he put it in the washing machine!" He sighed and looked down. "Man... it upsets me that he tried to commit murder then..."

This meant that whoever killed Lorenzo was aware of his plan. But who could it have been?

"If I recall correctly, Hikooki was talking about how suspicious Lorenzo was," Hideki stated. "It makes sense that he would have found the note and killed him,"

Hikooki gasped. "What?! No, there's no way it could have been me! I was keeping guard!" He defended himself. "There's a rule against carrying guns, remember?"

While that was a good point, it simply wasn't correct. "No, that's not it!" I replied. "The rule is against carrying *ammunition*. There's no rule against carrying a loaded gun!"

"What?" asked Hikooki. "That... makes zero sense."

Monokuma shrugged. "She's right, y'know!"

Hikooki gulped again. "N-No! I'm not the killer, I swear!"

"You don't exactly have an alibi, though," Tame replied. "The map says your position was unclear,"

"Yeah, now that you mention it," Asa replied. "I do remember dear Hikooki saying Lorenzo was suspicious,"

Hideki nodded. "Yeah... You probably saw the note and killed him!"

"No I didn't!" Hikooki shouted out.

Shiro scratched the back of their head. "Tell us, where were you then?" They asked.

Hikooki sighed. "I was downstairs, in the scenic room," He replied.

I remembered - Saeko could confirm this! "I agree with that!" I called out. "Saeko, didn't you say that Hikooki went downstairs only minutes before Lorenzo was shot?"

Saeko's eyes lit up. "Yes, I did!" she confirmed. "He went downstairs at exactly 8:45!"

Hikooki breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally..."

"Wait!" called out Tomoe. "This means... we've got no one else! There's no one else it could have been! Is this killer a secret teleporter like in a movie?" she asked.

Masaki chuckled. "Actually... I'm not entirely sure that's true," He mused. Everyone took a second to look at him as he grinned. "Like I said, I had this one figured out from the very beginning. Kanon... think back to all the evidence. There's only one person here it could have been,"

My eyes widened as I figured it out. I gasped - I didn't want this to be true. No! It couldn't have been!

"But Masaki," Azizah began. "We cleared up everyone who was on that clipboard,"

"They..." I replied, stuttering over my words. "Weren't on that list..."

"Go on, Kanon," Masaki encouraged me. "If you don't... we may very well die here,"

I took a deep breath and looked in the direction of the killer, now that I had finally figured it out.

"Michiru Rakuyama."

Michiru gasped, jolting as she tried to hold onto the book under her arm. "Wh-what?! Me?! Th-that's preposterous! I would never do such a vile, heinous thing!" She defended herself.

"The evidence lines up, Michiru," Masaki pointed out. "You and Utamuro were the only ones who went into the living spaces. But Utamuro was working on the dress. As such, you're the only one who could have grabbed a gun and been in a position to shoot Lorenzo,"

Michiru huffed. "That's ridiculous! There's no way I would ever do such a thing!"

"Unless, of course, you saw that note," Daquan pointed out.

"I didn't even see the note!" Michiru pointed out.

"Wait a minute..." I thought for a second. I decided to remember what Michiru was saying here. "Saeko, what's Michiru's breast size?" I asked her.

Saeko's eyes lit up. "Oh! Her bust is 89 centimeters! That's only one size above Yuki's!"

"What? How do you know that?" Michiru asked her. "There's no way that isn't just a lucky guess!"

I was putting more pieces together in this case. "Michiru, this means that you could have purposely shrunken your bra in the washing machine and written Yuki's name on it! And if you did that... that means you had to have seen Lorenzo's note in the washing machine!"

Michiru gulped. "N-No... that's simply not at all true!"

"Yeah..." Masaki began, scratching his chin. "And the times Saeko saw you, as well as the times on the heater and on the washing machine, all line up as well. It's why the washing machine and dryer were stopped early. And if you had access to Toko's room, you also had access to Yuki's room. Allowing you to set Yuki up perfectly,"

Michiru huffed again. "I swear, I'm *not* the killer!"

#### Phase 5: Panic Talk Action

Michiru turned my way and instantly screamed at me.

"This is preposterous! Preposterous, I say! I would never kill another student! Not after I had spent so long saying I'd protect everyone!" Michiru shouted out.

I stood there, ignoring Michiru's baseless claims and waiting for her to say something which I could actually refute.

"I can't believe you'd accuse me of such a vile act! Such a heinous, disturbing, immoral act such as murder!"

I continued just listening to all the things she was saying. Eventually, she would have to crack.

"Y-You're just- you-" Michiru was red in the face and sweating bullets, but she it seemed she was all out of things to say. She took a deep breath and leaned back... and then, she leaned forward again. "If I really had a gun to kill Lorenzo with, where did I put it, hmm?"

I remembered - the gun was nowhere to be found. The most logical answer was back in Toko's room, but Michiru never went back in there during the investigation. Then, I looked at the book underneath her shoulder.

IN - THE - BOOK'S - PAGES

"I've got it!" I called out. "Michiru... can we see your book?"

Michiru gasped. "M-My book? Why?"

Masaki shrugged. "Y'know, if you really didn't do it, then you would have no reason not to show it to us,"

Michiru sighed and opened up the book under her arm, and a large square had been cut out of the book's pages. Inside the empty square was none other than a pistol.

#### Phase 6: Climax Reasoning

"Alright, I've cracked this case!" I began. I thought about every single detail of this murder, and how it happened in order. "This case begins before 8:00 p.m. Lorenzo snapped and put in effect a plan for murder - who he was going to murder was unclear, but he wrote his plans down so that he would not forget. During Amy-chan's concert, he and someone else went back inside the train to check on everyone who was not present.

"Then, to destroy his evidence, Lorenzo offered to clean some dirty laundry, with his plan inside. By chance, someone walked into the laundry room, opened up the washing machine, and found the only partially-destroyed note inside. That's when their plan begins. They put their bra into the dryer on its highest setting, to shrink it down.

"Lorenzo went into Utamuro's room to hang out with him while he worked on Amy-chan's dress. Taking advantage of Utamuro's occupancy, Lorenzo grabbed the knife from his shirt and walked out, looking for an unsuspecting victim.

"Knowing that they had little time to end Utamuro's plan, the killer turned on the heater and placed Yuki's Shaun White poster and a gun inside the TV room, setting a trap. Sen stumbled upon the poster and ran outside to inform Yuki, who went inside to retrieve said poster. Inside the boiling heat, Yuki passed out, giving Lorenzo an opening.

"Of course, this was all part of the murderer's plan. Two rooms across, the killer had a gun with them. Just as Lorenzo was about to make his move, the killer fired their gun, killing Lorenzo instantly. Then they put the gun away into their book, hiding it from the rest of us. Isn't that right... Michiru Rakuyama?"

#### Trial End

Michiru sighed. "Yes... you figured it all out," She muttered to us.

Monokuma jumped down from his chair. "The trial is over! Let the voting begin!" He called out. Suddenly, a keyboard with everyone's face appeared in front of us. "Just press the face of the person you think is the killer!"

Without any sort of hesitation, I pressed the button of Michiru's face. It seemed that everyone else did too.

"I suppose it was inevitable," Michiru muttered to herself. "All I wanted... was to protect all of you."

Yuki scowled. "Your plan involved putting me directly in danger! If you were a little slower, I could be dead right now!"

Michiru sighed again. "I know... but I did what I had to do,"

"If you were just trying to protect us, then why did you defend yourself so much? If you'd convinced us you weren't the killer, you'd go home free while the rest of us would die!" Hideki asked her.

"Monokuma didn't tell us that until Lorenzo was dead," Michiru replied. "And also... I just know more trials like this are going to happen in the future. People a lot more convincing than myself. I simply wanted to test you all to make sure you could figure it out," She pushed her glasses up and sighed.

"Oh man, talk about a plot twist!" Tomoe called out. "That was... something I wasn't expecting."

"Just one last question," asked Masaki. "I know you're the Ultimate Scholar, and as such, you're really good at everything, but how did you get the aim to take down Lorenzo in just one shot?" He asked her.

Michiru sighed again. "You see... when I was 13 years old, an intelligence agency took interest in my IQ and my talents. They trained me to be good at everything - math, science, physical education, self-defense, you name it. One of those things they taught me... was gun handling."

Toko gasped. "Yer a gunslinger too?!"

Michiru nodded. "Perhaps not the sharpest shooter in town, but my assets made me invaluable to the agency. I've assassinated several political figures in my life, all at the request of the agency,"

All of us stood there in silence. Michiru, an agent and an assassin? Who would have ever thought? She just seemed like a regular, overachiever schoolgirl.

"And I do it... all because I want to protect others. Not everyone can be me. I'm me... so that everyone else can be them. And if someone like Lorenzo were to pose a threat to all of us, then it would be up to me to deal with him," Michiru admitted.

Yuki growled at her. "I'm still not gonna forgive you for using me as a pawn in your little plan,"

Michiru sighed. "Okay. I'll just take solace in knowing that at least I did my job,"

"Does she have to die?!" I cried out. I could feel the tears dripping down my face as I realized that Michiru was now set to be executed. "She just wanted to protect us..."

Monokuma jumped up again. "Nowp, the votes have been decided!" A large roulette wheel lowered from the ceiling behind all of us, with pixilated versions of all of our faces on the screen. A ball rolled around it for a few seconds before it landed on Michiru's face. That's when the roulette wheel disappeared, and a black screen appeared in its place. Red pixels appeared onscreen, depicting Monokuma and Michiru. Red text was displayed above, reading,

"Michiru Rakuyama has been found guilty."

"I've prepared a *special* execution for Michiru Rakuyama, the Ultimate Scholar!" Monokuma cheered. What happened next... was something none of us would ever forget.

#### Execution

**Shred of Knowledge**

Michiru's eyes darted back-and-forth as a large crane claw-machine burst from a door behind Michiru, and instantly gasped around her neck. It pulled her behind the door, and suddenly the walls dropped down, leaving only a transparent window between us and her. Michiru was being suspended above a school desk, and she was wriggling her legs and pushing at the crane to get free. Then, a wave of cold air enveloped the room as a layer of frost developed around her body.

With her eyes still darting side-to-side, Michiru's body couldn't even move. Suddenly, two large, metallic walls closed in on Michiru, seeming to encase her completely... then the pulled back, to show that she was inside the frame of a book. I gasped - my heart pounded from the anticipation of what was going to happen. How was she going to be killed?!

Then, the floor seemed to open up. Two metallic, cylindrical objects rose upward, with protruding spikes spinning around rapidly. I gasped, trying to look away as they closed in on Michiru, shredding through the book, and... through her. Blood and paper was sent flying everywhere as the disgusting *whirr!* sound rang throughout. After a few seconds, the shredders dropped down. All that remained were the shreds of paper and bloody mess around the area, with no recognizable part of Michiru to speak of.

I would never forget the horrors which I witnessed that day.

#### Post-Trial

"Wow..." Rai muttered to himself. "I... I don't know what to say to that..."

"Yeah..." Tame replied, scratching her head. "That was... brutal."

We didn't really have much else to say as we took the elevator back up to the train, with everyone seeming a little bit more depressed than usual. No one said a thing until we all walked back to our rooms, at which point Masaki stopped me.

"Hey, Kanon?" Masaki began.

"What is it?" I replied, not really being in much of a talking mood.

Masaki shrugged. "I just wanted to say, you... you didn't do anything wrong, okay?"

I could feel a tear running down my eye as Masaki said that. "I just... I could have stopped her..."

Masaki took me in an embrace and patted my back. I went speechless as I felt his warm arms, his soft hands. "It's okay. There wasn't anything you could do. If you hadn't exposed her, then... we'd all be dead. Don't listen to the bad thoughts, because they'll just keep you in despair. You need to have hope. Please, Kanon. Have hope. Even when it looks like there's no hope left."

I wiped a tear off my face as Masaki told me all this. "O-Okay," I replied. "Th-thank you, Masaki."

He let go of me as he headed to his room. "We'll talk later," He told me. "Tonight, we should both get some sleep,"

I nodded, hoping I wasn't blushing too much. I went back into my room, and even though I was mentally exhausted, I couldn't really sleep too well. What I had seen was just far too hard for me to sleep with right now. The image of Lorenzo's dead body and Michiru's unrecognizable remains were burned into my mind. There was no way I could let this happen again.

CHAPTER 1 END

SURVIVING STUDENTS: 22