Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

…

…?

I woke up drowsily and slowly. Though my eyes were still adjusting, I could see enough to know I had no idea where I was.

???: “You’re awake.”

The sudden voice startled me, and I quickly jolted my head to the direction where it was coming from.

KAEDE: “Eh?! You— You’re not… I mean, you only have one—!”

???: “Eye? That’s a rude thing to point out.”

KAEDE: “Uuh… Sorry…??? I— I just… Didn’t know cyclopses even existed.

???: “You didn’t???”

KAEDE: “I, um, thought they were fictional— like from cartoons…”

???: “…Hm.”

???: “Then, we might be from different universes.”

The cyclops said it so casually that I assumed it was a joke and laughed, but she just looked at me sternly when I did.

???: “…”

KAEDE: “…”

???: “Anyway.”

???: “What’s your name?”

KAEDE: “O— Oh…! My name is Kaede Akamatsu.”

???: “Hm.”

???: “I assume you’re the Ultimate Pianist?”

KAEDE: “How— How did you—?!”

???: “The front of the bed you were laying on had that title carved into the side of it.”

There was a brief pause, but I eventually spoke.

KAEDE: “S— So! What’s your name, miss?”

???: "Turanga Leela; Ultimate Pilot."

???: “Before you say anything, my eye never stopped me from being a pilot.”

KAEDE: “G— Good for you, then…??? I wasn’t even thinking about that…”

LEELA: “Sure, you weren’t.”

LEELA: “Anyway, enough chitchat… I’ll just get straight to the point and tell you everything I know about this situation.”

KAEDE: “Wait, what?! You know what’s going on?! Why did—?!”

LEELA: “I never said I knew what was going on! All I said was that I’d tell you what I know; I investigated a bit, since I woke up before everybody else.”

KAEDE: “‘Everybody else’???”

LEELA: “Yeah. There are more people here than just us… Most of them are still asleep.”

LEELA: “Besides us, this dorm has three other people. I walked a bit outside— not too much— and counted a total of five dorm rooms.”

KAEDE: “Ahaah… This is all so weird…”

LEELA: “Tell me about it. I don’t even *want* to think about why we’ve been kidnapped in the first place.”

LEELA: “Anyway.”

Abruptly, Leela walked up to another bed and shook another person awake, looking both concerned and slightly irritated.

LEELA: “Wake up…!”

She half-whispered, which made the other person groan and stretch his arms. 

LEELA: “I’m serious, Fry, we’ve been kidnapped!”

The person— “Fry”, slowly sat up and smiled warmly at Leela. He didn’t seem to fully understand the situation just yet.

FRY: “Hi, Leela.”

LEELA: “Yeah, hi. Like I said, we’ve been kidnapped!”

FRY: “Damn.”

Irritated by Fry’s lack of concern, Leela groaned.

FRY: “Sorry, I—“

Before Fry could finish his sentence, a girl jolted out of bed and beamed.

???: “Hey-hey!!! I heard you guys talking about… Well, I dunno, but it’s probably super-duper-pooper-scooper rad!!!”

KAEDE: “I… I’m sorry, who are you?”

???: “Oh, did I forget to introduce myself? Whoops~!!!”
???: “‘I’! ‘Buki’! ‘Mio’! ‘Da’! That’s my name: IBUKI MIODA!!! I’m the Ultimate Musician!”

FRY: “Wait, we were supposed to do introductions?! Crap!… Lemme think of a cool intro for a sec…”

FRY: “…”

FRY: “Okay, got it! My name’s Phillip J. Fry!!! It sucks, but I’m the Ultimate Bad Luck; still, I hope we can be friends!”

IBUKI: “These intros’re cool and all, but does anybody know who that weird dude staring at us is???”

Ibuki happily pointed to a short boy clad in white, who was, indeed, staring at us. In shock, I stepped back a bit.

???: “...”

FRY: “Ugh, dude??? Are you okay???”

???: “...”

???: “Bahaha!!! You losers got sooo scared~!!!

IBUKI: “Did we?! Mannn, I wish I could've seen myself!"

???: “Yeah, I think you peed yourself~!!!"

FRY: “Wait, really? I didn't think I did!"

LEELA: "He's lying, Fry. Whoever you are, just shut up and introduce yourself."

???: “Uurgh, fiiine. You guys are no fun..."

???: "I'm Kokichi Oma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader!"

KAEDE: “Ultimate Supreme Leader???”

KOKICHI: “Yyyep! I'm the super supreme leader of an evil secret organization with over ten-thousand members!"

FRY: “But—! Evil is— bad!!!”

KOKICHI: “Oh, yeah. I totally forgot about that! Whooops!"

KOKICHI: “Wellll, it's too late to change my evil ways now. Guess I'll just have to be evil for the rest of my life."

Frankly, Kokichi was really annoying me, though it was probably just me overreacting because of this weird situation.

However, I didn’t want to let one person ruin my optimism. I quickly came up with an excuse to leave:

KAEDE: “…”

KAEDE: “I should… Meet the others, probably.”

KOKICHI: “Eh? But we’re the only ones here, stupid~!!!”

KAEDE: “Actually…, I don’t think we are.”

I gestured towards Leela.

KAEDE: “Leela said that—“

KOKICHI: “Whaaa?! It can talk?! Woaaah!!!”

LEELA: “You little…!!!”

KOKICHI: “Oh my god, it CAN talk!!!”

FRY: “You’re calling it ‘it’ like its some sort of object—“

FRY: “Aw, damn it! Now I’M doing it, too!!!”

KOKICHI: “Dumbass~!”

KAEDE: “Guys, guys! No fighting; stay positive!”

Ignoring my protests, Leela swiftly went up and roundhouse kicked Kokichi.

I hated myself for wanting to leave them be so bad, but everyone was so caught up in the argument that they didn’t even seem to acknowledge me at this point.

Kokichi and Leela were fighting, Fry looked like he was still processing everything, and Ibuki was distracted with fidgeting her hands, a big smile on her face.

KAEDE: “I’m going… To visit the other dorms, now.”

I didn’t get a response; everybody was too preoccupied with their own activities.

Chapter Text

When I exited the dorm, I noticed the label on the door read “TEAM 1”. 

Like Leela had told me, there were five dorm rooms, including ours. All the dorms were labeled “TEAM” followed by a number from one to five.

I decided to visit the “TEAM 2” dorm next.

I knocked on the dorm’s door. To my surprise, a child opened the door slightly; he looked no older than twelve!

???: “What?”

He sounded irritated.

KAEDE: “Oh, uh, hello!”

KAEDE: “Um, my name is Kaede Akamatsu; Ultimate Pianist. I’m going around introducing myself to everybody.”

???: “…’Kay.”

KAEDE: “…”

KAEDE: “And your name is…?”

???: “Why the fuck would I tell you my name? I don’t know you.”

KAEDE: “I… How old are you…???”

???: “Ten.”

KAEDE: “Then— Who taught you that language…?!”

???: “What, you mean ‘fuck’? Everyone knows what ‘fuck’ means, you fuckin’ weirdo.”

KAEDE: “H-Hey!!! You shouldn’t be talking like that!”

The boy stared at me for a while; his expression eventually changing from a mildly irritated one to a sorry one.

???: “I’m sorry, I just— The situation right now— Us not knowing where we are, I…”

???: “I don’t wanna sound like a puss, but… It’s stressful, ya’know?”

KAEDE: “I understand; I feel the same way actually. It’s pretty stressful.”

???: “Yeah…”

???: “Listen, I’m sorry for getting mad like that. I’ll introduce myself, since you wanted me to…”

???: “My name’s Kyle Broflovski; Li’l Ultimate History.”

Oh, yeah; I forgot about Li’l Ultimates…!

Though, aren’t they supposed to be in a different building from us regular Ultimates? Or at least different dorm rooms…

My thoughts were infuriated when Kyle opened the door slightly and stepped aside. The door made a slight creaking sound when it opened.

KYLE: “You said you were going around introducing yourself to everybody, right? There are more people inside.”

KYLE: “They’re… Really fucking annoying, though.”

I entered, and saw four other people— one girl, three boys.

The girl excitedly ran up to me, waving her arms slightly.

???: “Hi-hi-hi~!!!”

She grabbed my hand and shook it while smiling.

???: “You’re, like, Kaede Akamatsu, right?!”

KAEDE: “H-Huh…?! You know about me?”

???: “Welll… I overheard your conversation with Kyle— you said you were the Ultimate Pianist!!!”

???: “Such a cool talent! My talent’s kinda weird: ‘Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist’.”

???: “Oh! And my name’s Midori Gurin; so the player knows.”

KAEDE: “‘The player’???”

MIDORI: “Mhm-mhm!!! We’re in a video game, and the player probably doesn’t see who my name is until I say it!!!”

MIDORI: “It was probably something like three question marks or ‘girl number one’, ehehe~!”

…Now I can see why she’s the Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist…

KAEDE: “It’s, uhm, nice to meet you, Midori…!”

MIDORI: “Mhm-mhm!!!”

MIDORI: “If you want, I can introduce you to my team members. Can I introduce you to them? Can I, can I?”

KAEDE: “Sure???”

Midori just giggled in response as she walked up to a short male with glasses, and pointed at him.

MIDORI: “This is Puff-Puff!”

PUFF: “Dafuck?”

MIDORI: “He’s the Ultimate Band Leader!”

PUFF: “I— I can do my own introductions, bitch!”

Puff-Puff eyed me for a moment, then looked back at Midori, crossed his arms coolly, and said:

PUFF: “‘Kay, so that’s the chick I’m introducing myself to?”

Midori nodded.

PUFF: “Kehe, alright.”

PUFF: “Like the green chick said, my name’s Puff-Puff; Puff-Puff Humbert. Ultimate Band Leader.”

Two males chimed in: one blond, one brown-hair. They were a bit away, but was apparently still overhearing our conversation:

BLOND: “‘E leads our band!”

BROWN-HAIR: “Yeah, but he’s kinda a dickballs.”

PUFF: “Oh, fuck off, dildos!”

KAEDE: “Uuh…”

KAEDE: “And… And who might you two be…???”

Midori’s eyes lit up and she raised her hand enthusiastically.

MIDORI: “Ooh! Ooh!!! I know this! I know this one!”

MIDORI: “Like they said, they’re part of Puff’s band! And— And—“

BROWN-HAIR: “We can introduce ourselves, mama.”

MIDORI: “M—Mama—!?”

The brown-hair didn’t acknowledge Midori’s visible confusion, and continued to talk.

BROWN-HAIR: “Name’s Axel Chains; Ultimate Drummer! You’re hot!”

KAEDE: “What?!?!”

BLOND: “You can just ignore ‘im, ‘e’s—“

AXEL: “I’m just tryna’ shoot my shot, bro!”

AXEL: “So! Wanna bang?”

KAEDE: “N—No—!!!”

KAEDE: “Hmph… What kind of girl do you take me for?!”

AXEL: “Haha, my bad, dude!”

KAEDE: “…”

AXEL: “…”

There was an awkward pause.

Eventually, the blond male chuckles nervously and broke the silence.

BLOND: “Guess I’ll introduce myself now, eh?”

BLOND: “My name’s Benatar Gates! I’m the Ultimate Guitarist, but I play other instruments as well!”

KAEDE: “Nice to meet you, Benatar!”

PUFF: “It’s not nice to meet him, he kinda sucks.”

BENATAR: “Oi!”

PUFF: “Chill, dude, you should know by now that I’m just ‘taking the piss, bruv’!”

AXEL: “Nah, but you do kinda suck.”

BENATAR: “Oi!!!”

KAEDE: “I—???”

Midori probably sensed that I was a bit uncomfortable, so she grabbed my hand and semi-forcefully led me outside.

When we reached the hallway, Midori smiled and giggled, then spoke:

MIDORI: “Benatar’s, like, the Megward-The-Wizard of the group.”

KAEDE: “The… What???”

Midori didn’t elaborate; she just laughed as if I said something really funny.

KAEDE: “…”

MIDORI: “Hehe…”

When her laughing dies down, I awkwardly giggled slightly.

KAEDE: “I’m gonna… Meet the people in the other dorms, now…”

MIDORI: “Okie-dokie~!!!”

Chapter Text

Two dorms down, three to go!

Next was the “TEAM 3” dorm.

When I knocked on their door, I was greeted by a very muscular, intimidating man with a grin.

???: “Hello!”

Contrary to his appearance, he had a very feminine and high-pitched voice.

KAEDE: “Oh—! Nice to meet you, Mister!”

KAEDE: “My name is Kaede Akamatsu. And you are…?”

???: “My name is Daisaku Bandai; Ultimate Farmer!”

DAISAKU: “You know, if you shoot a duck, I’m scared of toasters.”

KAEDE: “Eh?”

DAISAKU: “It’s just a saying I made up just now!”

KAEDE: “What does it mean…???”

DAISAKU: “I have no idea, tee hee!”

DAISAKU: “Maybe it means ‘bird skin isn’t yummy no matter how you cook it’!”

KAEDE: “…Oh…?”

At first, I was pretty scared of him because of his stature, but he seems kind!… Albeit a bit odd.

DAISAKU: “Do you wanna come in, Kaede?”

Daisaku gestured inside, and I nodded.

KAEDE: “Oh, uhm, yes—! I would; thank you!”

He giggled girlishly at my comment and walked inside. I followed, of course.

A young, angry-looking girl frowned once I got inside.

???: “Another one? Ugh.”

She stared me down for a short moment, then said with a hint of irritation:

???: “Your name.”

KAEDE: “Huh—?”

???: “Your name. Say it. Your talent, too.”

???: “You DO have a talent, right? Hopefully it’s a competent one.”

I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that she just sounded rude by accident.

My assumption in mind, I smiled and introduced myself.

KAEDE: “O—Oh! My name is Kaede Akamatsu; Ultimate Pianist.”

KAEDE: “And who might you be?”

???: “I don’t DO introductions.”

Before I could reply, another young girl spoke up. She had green hair and a blue dress.

??? #2: “Her name is Mandy Grimm, the Li’l Ultimate Math!!!”

MANDY: “You… You idiot!”

??? #2: “H—Huh—?!”

The green-haired girl sniffled.

??? #2: “Monaca! Was! Just! Trying! To help! Mandy!!!”

??? #2: “Monaca! Was! Gonna! Introduce! Herself! As well!!!”

KAEDE: “I…”

The girl, presumably named Monaca, quickly snapped out of her tantrum when she saw me again… She might have forgotten I was even there.

MONACA: “Hi, Miss Kaede.”

She sniffled slightly.

MONACA: “Monaca will introduce herself, now.”

MONACA: “Monaca’s name is Monaca Towa! I’m the Li’l Ultimate Homeroom!”

MANDY: “What a pathetically useless talent.”

Surprisingly, Monaca didn’t throw another fit at Mandy’s words. For some reason, she actually smiled. 

MONACA: “You’re so cool, Big Sis Mandy!”

MANDY: “‘Big Sis’??? Cool???”

MONACA: “Mhm!!!”

MANDY: “I can tell you’re trying to manipulate me. It’s not going to work.”

MONACA: “Grr…”

MONACA: “Monaca! Just! Wants! To be! Friends! With—!”

Monaca was interrupted by another young-looking girl with a dark look in her eyes.

???: “Can you guys shut the hell up for five seconds?!”

KAEDE: “I— There’s another little girl???”

???: “I’m seventeen, you nasty bitch!”

KAEDE: “H— Huh?!”

KAEDE: “I— I’m sorry, Miss, I just assumed you were younger…”

She blushed, clearly still angry.

???: “Yeah, yeah, I get that a lot!”

There was an awkward pause for what seemed like the millionth time today.

???: “…Hey, you’re Kaede Akamatsu, right? The pianist?”

KAEDE: “Y— Yes, I am! How did you know?”

KAEDE: “Are… You a fan, or…?”

???: “No, I’m not a fan!!! I just…”

???: “You don’t know me? I’m Hiyoko Saionji! Ultimate Traditional Dancer!”

KAEDE: “Now that you mention it…!”

I actually *have* heard of a traditional dancer named Hiyoko Saionji.

Though, I never really went out of my way to find information about her; I just heard her being mentioned in conversations.

I never expected her to be so crass!… It’s ironic, given her, um, lack of height.

HIYOKO: “Hmph! I can’t believe you forgot about me, you— you— meanie!!!”

KAEDE: “No-no-no—! I— It’s not that; just—“

HIYOKO: “Kehehe, you should see the look on your face!!!”

HIYOKO: “Like I care what some nasty pig thinks of me!”

KAEDE: “N— Nasty pig?!”

Hiyoko snickered maliciously and eyed another girl— who I, admittedly, didn’t notice before; she seemed to be purposefully obscuring herself by laying down on her bed.

HIYOKO: “Maybe you and the nurse will become good friends, since you’re both sooo disgusting!!!”

???: “H— Huh...?!”

???: “I— I didn’t mean to be disgusting! I’m so sorry!!!”

KAEDE: “...Um… Hello???”

???: “…Oh! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself!”

???: “Uum… Is it okay if I introduce myself…?”

KAEDE: “Eheh… I… I don’t think you need permission to do that.”

???: “O— Oh…! You’re right, I’m so sorry, forgive me!”

???: “M— My name is— Mikan Tsumiki…”

MIKAN: “From the bottom of my heart, I — I really hope we can get along…”

She’s… Pretty timid, to say the least…

Even so, she seems very nice! I smiled warmly at her, internally hopefully she would calm down a bit.

MIKAN: “Oh… Ahahah…”

For a moment, she smiled back, but she looked shocked soon after.

MIKAN: “O— Oh—! I’m sorry for laughing—! It’s just—“

MIKAN: “I’m so happy you smiled at me…— I just assumed that meant you liked me— Gah! I’m sorry for assuming that—!!!”

KAEDE: “…”

MIKAN: “I’m so sorry! Please forgive meee!!”

KAEDE: “You… You don’t have to apologize, Mikan…”

MIKAN: “Ehehe…”

MIKAN: “A— Ah—! I didn’t mean to laugh like that…!”

KAEDE: “…”

As inclined as I felt to help Mikan boost her self-confidence, I also really wanted to visit the others.

I felt bad, but…

KAEDE: “I… Should go meet the others.”

KAEDE: “But— We’ll talk later, okay?”

As I left, I could hear Mikan talk quietly to herself. I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, but it sounded like it kept switching from and angry tone to a reassuring tone to an emotionless tone.

Chapter Text

Next was the “TEAM 4” dorm.

Once again, I knocked on the door; once again, someone answered.

This time, the person who answered was a stoic-looking girl with gray hair.

???: “Hello?”

KAEDE: “Oh, hello—! I’m Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist!”

KAEDE: “What’s your name?”

She looked at me blankly for a while, then finally spoke quietly:

???: “…”

???: “Ayano Aishi. Ultimate Stalker.”

KAEDE: “Ultimate Stalker—?!?!”

AYANO: “You looked shocked.”

KAEDE: “Uhm… I am, a bit…”

AYANO: “…Okay.”

KAEDE: “…”

KAEDE: “…Can I come in—?”

AYANO: “Oh. Yeah, you can.”

When I walked in, I was immediately greeted by an excited looking girl who was getting uncomfortable close to me.

???: “The Ultimate Pianist, yah, yah, I know. I overheard you talking to Yandere-Chan, LOL.”

KAEDE: “‘Yandere-Chan’?— Wait—“

KAEDE: “Y-You were eavesdropping—?!”

???: “Yeah? LOL, it doesn’t really matter. It’s not like you were talking about anything important, LMAO.”

KAEDE: “It’s still a bit…”

KAEDE: “Anyway! What’s your name and talent?”

???: “I was waiting for you to ask me that, LOL! I’m Sierra Pirschen, the Ultimate Paparazzo!”

KAEDE: “‘Ultimate Paparazzo’, huh…”

KAEDE: “What does that entail?”

SIERRA: “Mostly just getting info on people’s private lives, LOL.”

I assumed she was joking and laughed, but Sierra just looked at me deadpan.

SIERRA: “What?”

KAEDE: “I… Y— You’re serious???”

SIERRA: “Why wouldn’t I be?”

I’ve never seen a jerk with such innocent eyes… Besides Kokichi… and Hiyoko…

Now that I think about it, I’ve met quite a few jerks here!

KAEDE: “I… Sierra, you know leaking someone’s personal life isn’t okay!?”

SIERRA: “Huh? Why not?”

KAEDE: “I—??? How do you not know this?!”

SIERRA: “Welp, we all have flaws we need to work on, teehee!”

KAEDE: “Hmph…”

Done talking to her, I turned my back away from Sierra. To my surprise, a kid was right behind me!

He was wearing a mask, for some reason, and had a brown motif.

KAEDE: “Ah—!”

???: “Hi. Chickens have large talons.”

KAEDE: “…???”

KAEDE: “Hello…??? Uhm, were you watching us the whole time?”

???: “Was that bad? I’m so sorry. O how could I be such a bad child. Please forgive me.”

I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not; he was so deadpan about it.

KAEDE: “…It’s fine…?”

???: “Yay.”

The boy raised his hands in the air unenthusiastically. 

???: “I’m so glad… Hey, do you ever wonder why you say ‘ahh’ when you take a sip of soda?”

???: “Actually, I’ve never drank soda before. I think I’m too young to. But I’ve seen other people drink it, and they say ‘ahh’.”

KAEDE: “…”

???: “Oh, uhm, I think I should introduce myself right now.”

???: “My name is Jataro Kemuri and I’m the Li’l Ultimate Art. I’m the Li’l Ultimate Art because I’m really good at arts and crafts.”

KAEDE: “Well, um… Nice to meet you, Jataro!”

I extended my hand for a handshake, but Jataro just looked at me oddly. 

JATARO: “Yuck. I don’t like to touch people.”

KAEDE: “…Ah.”

Suddenly, a young girl chimed in. With an innocent smile, she said:

???: “Don’t mind Jataro. He wants to be hated.”

KAEDE: “He… What???”

???: “Yeah, he’s such a creep!”

JATARO: “Kehehe… Yeah…”

Despite the girl’s insults, Jataro was still smiling— moreso than he was before, actually!

To break another potential awkward pauses, I said:

KAEDE: “Jataro… Why would you want to be hated?”

JATARO: “…I like paperclips.”

I sighed slightly at Jataro’s response. The girl giggled at that for a second or two, but then her eyes widened.

???: “Oh! Where are my manners. I forgot to introduce myself!”

The girl curtsied.

???: “My name is Kotoko Utsugi, and I’m the Li’l Ultimate Drama!”

KOTOKO: “I love girly things and peeled chestnuts! If it’s totally adorbs, I love it!”

KAEDE: “‘Adorbs’? Like, cute things?”

KOTOKO: “No, no, no! Not all cute stuff is adorbs!… Even though all adorbs stuff is cute, teehee!”

KAEDE: “Uh… Huh.”

I had… No idea what she was talking about.

Kotoko continued. 

KOTOKO: “My least favorite food is unpeeled chestnuts. My favorite food is—“

???: “Quit your incessant dribble!”

I turned my direction to the sound of the voice. The person speaking— actually, it wasn’t a person at all!

It (he?) was a birdlike creature, though he had mostly human proportions.

KOTOKO: “Who are you?”

Kotoko asked, confused.

I was surprised she wasn’t reacting that strongly to seeing a literal monster.

???: “I’m far beyond your intellect, is what I am!”

???: “Though, if I MUST owe you a proper introduction…”

???: “Berdly Lonbarudee, the Ultimate Librarian.”

Since I had met Leela, I should have been more open to the idea that monsters would be in here, but it was still pretty shocking and a bit scary.

BERDLY: “Quit staring!”

He whined, offended.

KAEDE: “O— Oh…! Sorry, Berdly!”

BERDLY: “Hmph!”

BERDLY: “Begone! And when you come back, I hope you’ve learned some manners!”

Though I felt like Berdly was just looking for an excuse to kick me out, I nodded with a smile and left, since I was also looking for an excuse for me to leave.

Chapter Text

Last but not least: the “TEAM 5” dorm!

I knocked on their door. It was opened by a tall-- and, honestly, pretty scrawny— male.

???: “Hello?”

His voice was raspy and deep.

KAEDE: “Hello…! I’m Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist.”

???: “…Okay.”

KAEDE: “…”

KAEDE: “…Can you introduce yourself…?”

With slight hesitation, the male replied.

???: “I’m Harold McGrady V, the Ultimate Beatboxer.”

HAROLD: “Though I could easily pass as an Ultimate Ninja as well… But, I guess a beatboxer is cool, too.”

There was a pause for what seemed like the millionth time today. It was awkward for me, but Harold seemed completely unfazed. Visibly speaking, at least.

KAEDE: “…May I come in?”

HAROLD: “Oh, okay.”

When I walked in, nobody seemed to really acknowledge me. Everybody looked like they were off doing their own thing.

Specifically, there were two duos: two young boys, and a pink-haired girl with a… Reindeer?!

Like Berdly, the reindeer was standing on two legs and had humanoid proportions. Her unique looks inclined me to visit her (and the pink-haired girl) first.

PINK-HAIR: “Eh? Who are you???”

She sort-of sounded like she was interrogating me…

KAEDE: “O— Oh…! I’m Kaede. Kaede Akamatsu. Ultimate Pianist. And you are…?”

PINK-HAIR: “…Huh???”

PINK-HAIR: “W— Well, I’m actually kind of busy right now, so if you could leave—!”

REINDEER: “N— Natsuki…!”

PINK-HAIR: “Uu… Fine--! I GUESS I can introduce myself. Be grateful!”

Though the pink-hair was clearly joking, there was a small tinge of genuineness in her statement.

PINK-HAIR: “I’m Natsuki; Natsuki Kyarakuta-- I know, I know, my name is weird— Anyway! I’m known as the Ultimate Poet!”

KAEDE: “‘Ultimate Poet’? Can I read some of your poems?”

NATSUKI: “N— No!!!”
NATSUKI: “I— I mean—!! Maybe later…”

Natsuki looked embarrassed, which saddened the reindeer. To change the subject, the reindeer spoke up:

REINDEER: “Oh, I— I almost forgot to introduce myself, fahaha!… Sorry.”

REINDEER: “My name’s Noelle Holiday; the Ultimate Tutor!”

KAEDE: “Nice to meet you both…!—“

Faintly, I overheard the other duo of two boys talking. It sounded like it was about us.

???: “Haha, what lesbos, amirite?!”

??? #2: “Haha, yeah!”

Apparently, Natsuki heard that as well, and she stormed up to the boys, pouting.

NATSUKI: “What did you just call us?!”

One of the boys answered completely innocently:

??? #2: “We called ya lesbos!”

NATSUKI: “D— Do you even know what that is?!?!”

??? #2: “Uuh… I dunno, actually… Awe, geez, it’s not somethin’ bad, is it…?”

NATSUKI: “I— I mean… There’s nothing wrong with it, b— but—!!!”

NATSUKI: “You sounded like you were using it as an insult—!”

???: “We WERE using it as an insult. At least, I was.”

NATSUKI: “You little—!!!”

Whether on purpose or just because he was bored of the current subject, the innocent boy said:

??? #2: “I overheard ya wanted introductions, or somethin’?”

??? #2: “W— Well, I’ll introduce myself!”

??? #2: “My real name’s Leopold Stotch, but most fellers just call me Butters. I’m known as the Li’l Ultimate Dance!”

BUTTERS: “Though, just between us, I don’t like dancin’ no more…”

KAEDE: “…Well, nice to meet you, Butters! But…”

I looked at the other kid: he looked more… nefarious than Butters. Way more nefarious.

KAEDE: “Who’s your friend?”

BUTTERS: “That’s my buddy Eri—“

???: “I can introduce myself, dumbass.”

???: “Eric Cartman; Li’l Ultimate Lunch.”

CARTMAN: “You can just ignore Butters from now on. He’s a puss.”

BUTTERS: “Hehe, yeah!!!”

Butters laughed, but Cartman didn’t sound like he was joking… Poor Butters!

CARTMAN: “Anyway, don’t you think—“

Cartman was interrupted by stats noise coming from the room’s loudspeaker.

After a few seconds, the noise stopped— instead, a giddy, childlike voice came through.

LOUDSPEAKER: “Erm… Ahem! Testing, testing; one, two, three!!!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “This is an announcement from your headmaster! Please report to the gymnasium IMMEDIATELY to avoid punishment!!!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “All will be explained there! Upuhuhu~!!!”

“All will be explained”…?

I sure hope so.

Chapter Text

I reached the gymnasium and walked into the room.

I was one of the last people to enter, from the looks of it.

…

There was a lot of chatter— so much that I could barely hear myself think!

I overheard small snippets of conversation. Unsurprisingly, most were discussing the current situation.

???: “Hello, hello—?”

That sounded like the same voice from the loudspeaker, but it was coming from the gym’s stage. That made almost everybody stop conversing with each other.

KYLE: “Who ARE you?”

???: “I’m your headmaster!”

MANDY: “Just show yourself already. Your voice irritates me and I want to leave.”

???: “Hmm… Alright!”

What happened next was… confusing and trippy.

Some sort of animatronic bear popped up from behind the podium!?

KAEDE: “...?!?!”

BENATAR: “A teddy bear, eh???”

CARTMAN: “That costume sucks ass.”

???: “I’m not a teddy bear, and I’m NOT in a costume!”

???: “I… Am… MONOKUMA~!!!”

FRY: “Mono… Ku… Ma???”

MONOKUMA: “Yyyep! Your headmaster!”

HAROLD: “This is really cool, actually. But that’s just my opinion.”

NATSUKI: “Eh?!?! This— This obviously isn’t a good time to say that—!”

MONOKUMA: “Would you all quit yer yammerin’?! I’m TRYING to explain to you guys about your Killing School Life!!!”

IBUKI: “Our what-what-WHAT School Life!?!”

MONOKUMA: “Ooh! That got your attention, didn’t it?!”

MONOKUMA: “Yes, all of you Ultimates have been chosen for a very special KILLING GAME!!!”

BERDLY: “‘Killing Game’?! Surely you’re joking! Obviously, the police will bust you soon enough!”

CARTMAN: “Police are dumbasses, idiot. They won’t be able to find this place.”

DAISAKU: “Eh? You— You shouldn’t be talking like that!”

MONOKUMA: “QUIT TALKING!!!”

Everybody stopped.

MONOKUMA: “That’s more like it!!”

MONOKUMA: “Now then—!”

MONOKUMA: “You guys are bright young kids… But if I have to watch you do the saaame boooring thiiings over and over and over again, my cute li’l head’s gonna explode!”

MONOKUMA: “So! To make this more entertaining, I’ve come up with an amaaazing idea!”

Monokuma jumped up and unveiled a giant spinner— it was divided evenly into eight sections, each with a number on it.

MONOKUMA: “The idea is simple: whenever I get bored, I’ll give you guys a TEAM CHALLENGE! If your team loses, yer up for elimination~!!!”

MONOKUMA: “And then—! And this is the cool part—! I’ll let people from the OUTSIDE WORLD vote on which of the losing team members should die!”

JATARO: “Oh?”

HAROLD: “Realistically speaking, there’s no way people would actually vote to see one of us die.”

MONOKUMA: “Oh, you poor, naive children. Also…”

MONOKUMA: “I! SAID! NO! TALKING!!!”

The room quieted down again, though there was still a lot of murmuring. Monokuma seemed satisfied, though, and continued.

MONOKUMA: “School rules and other such things are explained in the ‘RULES & MECHANICS’ section of your Monopad, and—!”

MONOKUMA: “Wait! I forgot to give those to you, didn’t I?! Doh, I KNEW I forgot something!!!”

On cue, Monokuma turned swiftly around. Before we could ask what he was doing, he turned back and pulled out a bunch of tablet-type things.

MONOKUMA: “Go long!”

He started tossing the pads to each student. Soon enough, he tossed me one.

Inspecting it, is definitely was some sort of digital device. I tapped it, and the screen brightened.

“WELCOME, KAEDE AKAMATSU”, the screen read.

There were two icons on the screen, labeled “RULES & REGULATIONS” and “STUDENT ID”. I tapped on the former, and it brought up a screen:

SCHOOL RULES & REGULATIONS

01. Students may reside only in the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

02. “Nighttime” is from 10PM to 7AM. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

03. Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

04. Refusing to attend mandatory meetings is not permitted and will be punished accordingly. 

05. Every few days, Monokuma will issue a team challenge.

06. Mechanics of the challenge vary, but the losing party will be up for elimination.

07. There will be a poll regarding the students up for elimination. Votes will be from people from the outside world.

08. The student who receives the most votes on the poll will be executed.

09. The Killing Game will continue until there are five survivors.

10. Additional school regulations may be added if necessary.

I reread the rules a few times, not believing the situation that was happening.

AXEL: “This sucks balls!”

HIYOKO: “No shit, you nasty pig!!!”

PUFF: “Bitch, you’re insulting people even right now?!”

PUFF: “If your team loses a challenge, you’d definitely get voted off, dumbass.”

HIYOKO: “O— Oh yeah?! You’re just gonna believe what some stupid, sadistic furry has to say?!”

SIERRA: “LMAO! But— Wouldn’t the furry get mad at you ‘cause you said that? I wouldn’t wanna get on his bad side, LOL.”

AYANO: “The ‘furry’ left a while ago.”

Ayano nudged her head in the direction of the stage. She was right; Monokuma wasn’t there anymore.

FRY: “He left!”

KOKICHI: “Nooo? He’s right there, can’t you see~?”

Kokichi pointed to the empty stage.

KOKICHI: “I think you need glasses!”

BUTTERS: “H— Hey! But I can’t see him either!”

BUTTERS: “It looks to me like the feller left! Do I need glasses?!”

KOKICHI: “Unfortunately, I think it’s worse than that. You guys are blind, and only have a week left to live…”

BUTTERS: “What?!”

FRY: “Really?!”

PUFF: “Stop fucking with kids and dumbasses already.”

PUFF: “I dunno if you forgot, but we’re still in a fuckin’ death game.”

Once again, there was silence.

As much as we wanted to get our minds off it, there was no denying it.

Monokuma had announced a Killing Game.

We could pray that it was a joke all we wanted, but we knew, deep down…

He was hellbent on bringing out the despair in all of us.

Despite that… I still had hope to go on!

Monokuma will not control us. 

Chapter Text

It was quiet for a while, until Mikan spoke up:

MIKAN: “U— Uum… Wh— While I hate to be annoying on the silence, I, uum, want to check in and, uum…”

MIKAN: “I’m very sorry for talking, but, are you guys alright…?”

NOELLE: “It’s… A lot to take in… Thank you for asking, though…!”

There was another pause.

MONACA: “Monaca is tired… I wanna go to bed...”

KOTOKO: “I agree! The whole ‘Killing Game’ thing is pretty scary, but I think a good night’s rest is very important!”

LEELA: “You two…”

LEELA: “I know you’re probably too young to understand what’s going on right now, but try to be a little more concerned right now!”

JATARO: “I’ve never seen a person with one eye before. I’ve also never seen a person with three eyes, or four eyes, or five, or more.”

JATARO: “What do you call the pits of your elbows? Do you call them elbow-pits?”

MIDORI: “I think you do!”

HAROLD: “Actually, you call it the antecubital fossa.”

KYLE: “Dude, does that really matter right now?”

BENATAR: “I agree. It’s proper scary to think about it, but… I think we ‘ave to at some point!”

DAISAKU;: “You guys—! This— This might just be a big joke!”

DAISAKU: “M— Maybe the bear was just playing a mean prank on us!”

MIDORI: “That would be a pretty bad joke…”

BUTTERS: “He— He does have a point, though. They’re some awfully mean people out there who pull awfully mean pranks like this!”

CARTMAN: “Why don’t you break a rule and find out if it’s a joke or not?”

KOKICHI: “Agreed~!!!”

BUTTERS: “N— No…! I don’t wanna…!”

Another pause. At this point, I was recognizing a pattern…

Soon, though, Ibuki abruptly broke the silence:

IBUKI: “It’s getting late. I’ma hit the hay!”

IBUKI: “You guys wanna meet up tomorrow?”

NATSUKI: “Eh??? Where did that question come from?”

IBUKI: “Just ‘cause you guys seem cool!!!”

MIKAN: “B— But, uum… Where…?”

IBUKI: “Uuh… Hm!”

IBUKI: “I’m-a pretty-pretty sure there’s a cafeteria somewhere in this school! ‘Cause, like, ya’know, what kinda school DOESN’T have a cafeteria?!”

HIYOKO: “W— Well, I’m not gonna meet up with you and you can’t make me!!!”

IBUKI: “Chillax, I’m not forcing you!”

IBUKI: “Juuust sayin’, if anyone wants to meet up… You know where to find me~!!!”

Ibuki made finger-guns.

MIDORI: “Hm… I’ll meet up!!!”

SIERRA: “Me, too!”

KOTOKO: “Me three!”

JATARO: “If I go, I’ll just ugly the place up… But I’ll go anyway, hehehe…”

PUFF: “Hey, if this involves chicks in any way, I’m in!”

AXEL: “Same!”

FRY: “I don’t think there are any birds here…”

BERDLY: “Excuse you!!!”

KAEDE: “Ehehe…”

I laughed nervously, not really knowing what to say. Nevertheless, I was glad people didn’t immediately succumb to the despair of the situation.

Before anybody could say more, Monokuma’s voice was heard over the loudspeaker:

LOUDSPEAKER: “Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It is now 10 PM! As such, it is officially nighttime.”

LOUDSPEAKER: “The dining hall and gym will soon be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited.”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Okay then...sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite..~”

MONACA: “It’s 10 PM already?… No wonder Monaca is so tired!”

MANDY: “Monokuma said the gym will ‘soon be locked’, and I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not spending tonight in here.”

Mandy left without further word. Ayano also left without saying anything.

BENATAR: “I guess we should leave then, eh?”

PUFF: “No shit.”

By now, a good portion of people had retreated back to their dorms, presumably.

At this point, I was getting tired, too, even though it was only 10 PM. I assumed the Killing Game announcement drained my awake-ness… If that makes sense. 

I returned to my dorm and practically collapsed on the bed.

“Tomorrow will be a new day,” I thought to myself as I drifted to sleep, “I just have to remain positive.”

Chapter Text

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 AM and nighttime is officially OVER~!!!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another bee-YUTIFUL day!”

Monokuma’s giddy voice played over the loudspeaker and woke me up.

I stretched, yawning. I guess the whole “Killing Game” wasn’t just a nightmare, huh? Still, though, I had to remain positive!

As my vision adjusted from waking up, I saw that the rest of my dorm-mates had woken up from the announcement, too.

FRY: “*Yawn* I just had the weirdest dream!”

KOKICHI: “Woooah… By any chance, did it involve a sadistic bear announcing a ‘Killing Game’?”

FRY: “Holy crap, how did you know!?”

KOKICHI: “‘Cause I’m a psychic!”

LEELA: “No, you’re not. The ‘Killing Game announcement’ wasn’t a dream; it actually happened.”

IBUKI: “Kokichi’s a psychic?! Then— Can you tell me what I’m thinking of right now?!”

LEELA: “He’s not a psychic!”

KOKICHI: “Don’t listen to her, music-girl! I know EXACTLY what you’re thinking!”

KOKICHI: “You’re thinking of how cool I am, right~?”

IBUKI: “Hm… Yeah, I might’ve been thinking that!!!”

KAEDE: “’You might’…? You’re unsure…???”

IBUKI: “Listen, he’s the psychic; I’m not!”

FRY: “I don’t see the big deal… I forget what I’m thinking about all the time.”

FRY: “Uuh… Anyway! Ibuki, didn’t you say you were gonna have a meetup-thingy in the kitchen today?”

IBUKI: “Crap! I knew I forgot to do something!!! See’ya!”

Ibuki bolted out of the room while frantically waving goodbye.

FRY: “Oh.”

I pondered for a bit on what to do. Eventually…

KAEDE: “I might join Ibuki in the kitchen, actually…”

KAEDE: “Staying in our dorms like this is probably what the bear was.”

FRY: “There was a bear in the dream I had, too!”

KOKICHI: “That’s ‘cause your dreams became real!!! Oh nooo~!!!”

As I exited the dorm, I could overhear Fry and Kokichi conversing, though I didn’t know what about.

When I entered the kitchen…

IBUKI: “Awe, but you ARE cute!”

NATSUKI: “Uu… I am NOT!”

NATSUKI: “Just because I’m short doesn’t mean I’m ‘cute’! I’m TOUGH.”

NOELLE: “Um… You can be tough and cute at the same time…!”

IBUKI: “Yeah, but Tsuki-Tsuki’s mostly cute~!!”

NATSUKI: “‘Tsuki-Tsuki’?! Really?!”

IBUKI: “Yeah! It’s a cute nickname!!!”

NOELLE: “Ibuki, I— I don’t know if, um….“

NATSUKI: “…’Tsuki-Tsuki’ is a pretty cute nickname…”

NOELLE: “Eh…?!”

NATSUKI: “What, I can’t acknowledge when something’s cute?! I’m not arrogant, you know!”

NOELLE: “I— I know…! I just…”

IBUKI: “I didn’t think you’d admit it that quickly!!!”

IBUKI: “Assumed you were a total one-hundo-percent tsundere!!!”

NATSUKI: “‘Tsundere’?!”

NATSUKI: “B— But— I don’t have a crush on anybody…”

NOELLE: “Platonic tsundere, maybe? Fahaha...—“

NOELLE: “T— That sounded mean, sorry…!!! I just wanted to be funny…”

NATSUKI: “Hmph… It’s fine, I guess.”

Without even looking in my direction, Ibuki said:

IBUKI: “Yo-yo-yo, Kaede!”

KAEDE: “E— Eh?!”

NATSUKI: “Kaede?! How long were you standing there, creep?!”

KAEDE: “O— Oh, sorry! I was just… Lost in thought, I guess…?”

IBUKI: “You can sit with us, y’know~!!”

IBUKI: “‘Don’t be a stranger’! People still say that, right???”

NATSUKI: “Hmph. I GUESS you can sit with us. But no creepy-talk!”

KAEDE: “I— I wasn’t even thinking about anything like that…!”

KAEDE: “I’m sorry that I acted a bit creepily, but I really don’t have any bad motives behind my actions…!!!”

Natsuki pouted.

NATSUKI: “…”

NATSUKI: “Hmph. Well, fine. Apology accepted…”

NATSUKI: “And I guess I’m sorry, too… I know it’s not an excuse, but the bear’s announcement made me really on-edge…”

NOELLE: “The bear…”

Noelle laughed quietly and very nervously.

NOELLE: “I… Really hope he’s bluffing about the, uhm… The dying part…”

IBUKI: “Samesies! I know it’s only been a day, but I already like you guys a lot!!!”

IBUKI: “Plus, my goal is to make super best-friends with everyone here, and that’d be-a pretty-pretty hard with people dying…”

NATSUKI: “EH?!?! That’s not funny, Ibuki!!!”

IBUKI: “Sozz! I wasn’t try’na be funny, though; I really do wanna be friends with everyone here!!!”

KAEDE: “Still, Ibuki… I know your heart’s in the right place, but… You should be a bit more series when talking like that, eheh…”

However, before Ibuki could even respond to my statement:

*DING DONG, BING BONG!!!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing, one, two, three! This is a school announcement from yours truly!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “The first challenge has been prepared~!!! Hope you guys’ll like it… Wait, what am I saying?! I hope it bring you DESPAIR, duh!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Get to the gym ASAP!!! And remember, failure to show up will get you EXECUTEDDD!!!”

NATSUKI: “Eh?! Already?!”

NATSUKI: “I hope he’s just playing some sort of sick prank, ugh…”

KAEDE: “Me, too… Still, though…”

KAEDE: “I’m really sorry for being negative, but I don’t really want to risk being executed, eheh…”

NOELLE: “Me, too…”
NOELLE: “Maybe he’ll tell us this is a prank when we enter the gym…?… I hope.”

IBUKI: “Only one way to find out! So, lets go!”

IBUKI: “Come onnnn!!! Come-on-come-on-come-on-come-on-come-ON!!!”

Ibuki rushed out.

NATSUKI: “Hmph… She’s way too happy for a death game…”

NOELLE: “It might be some sort of coping mechanism… Maybe…”

NATSUKI: “I guess… But… But still…”

There was a pause.

KAEDE: “…Should we go to the gym?”

NOELLE: “I, um, think we should…”

NATSUKI: “Hmph… Whatever.”

With that, we walked out to the gym. Though we were practically next to each other, we didn’t converse. It was an uncomfortable silence, but I had a feeling that talking would make the situation even more awkward.

Chapter Text

When we entered the gym, Monokuma was already there.

MONOKUMA: “The first challenge of the Killing Game; ooh, I’m so excited!!! My widdle bear body can BEAR-ly contain itself!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Puhuhu, get it?!?!”

AYANO: “Just tell us the challenge already.”

MONOKUMA: “Woah, you guys’re really ready, aren’tcha?!?! Well, mmkay!!!”

MONOKUMA: “I call this challenge ‘TRUTH OR TRUTH’!!! I’m pretty sure there’s at least one idiot per team, so I’ll explain the rules for those guys.”

MONOKUMA: “I’ll start by asking a randomly-selected person a question. Said person MUST answer the question truthfully, else their whole team will be UP FOR ELIMINATION~!”

MONOKUMA: “After that, the last person questioned can pick who’ll be questioned next. If they want, though, they can just let ME pick again~ Of course, I’ll pick randomly, since I’m a very-beary nice and unbiased cub~!!!”

DAISAKU: “So… It’s just truth or dare without the dares???”

MONOKUMA: “Uh, a-DOY! That’s why it’s called TRUTH OR TRUTH!!!”

MONOKUKMA: “Anyway!”

Monokuma skittered away, but quickly came back before anybody could question it. When he came back, he brought a large spinner with everybody’s name on it.

MONOKUMA: “LEZZGO!!!”

He spun the wheel pretty violently. It spun, and spun, and spun, and landed on…

MONOKUMA: “MIKAN!!! Truth or truth?!”

MIKAN: “I… I… Um…”

MIKAN: “…I’m sorry!”

HIYOKO: “You better be sorry, you nasty pigbarf!!!”

MIKAN: “Eek—!!!”

BERDLY: “Can you imbeciles just get on with the challenge already?!”

HAROLD: “Why would you want that? Whoever loses dies.”

HAROLD: “We should stall more, actually!”

MONOKUMA: “AHEM!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Mikan!!! Your truth is…”

MONOKUMA: “Do you have a crush on anybody here yet?!”

AXEL: “—And is it me?”

LEELA: “What are we, five?…”

AXEL: “No, I’m twenty-three, I think. Maybe younger or older, I dunno; I don’t really keep track of that shit.”

KYLE: “Are… Are you serious???”

AXEL: “Haha-yeah.”

KOKICHI: “Grr, enough fillerrr!!! I want Mikan to admit her undying love for me!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Well, Mikan? Do you have a crush or not?!”

MIKAN: “I, um!!! I… Don’t have a crush on anybody here yet! I’m so sorry!!!”

NATSUKI: “Hmph. You don’t have to apologize for everything, you know…”

MIKAN: “Forgive meee….!!!”

MONOKUMA: “WOW, that’s pathetic!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Anyway; Mikan, who should be questioned next?!”

MIKAN: “Um… Um…!!!”

MIKAN: “I… I don’t know… I pick myself again!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Grr, that’s not how it works!!!— Whatever, I’ll just pick!”

Monokuma spun the wheel again angrily.

MONOKUMA: “Next up isss… Sierra~!!!”

SIERRA: “OMG, yay!!!”

MIDORI: “Congrats, Sierra!”

BENATAR: “Eh, you shouldn’t really be celebratin’…”

MONOKUMA: “Sierra!!! Your truth is…”

MONOKUMA: “What is your biggest regret in life~?!”

SIERRA: “Hm… Probably that I forgot to clear my search history before I got kidnapped, LOL!!!”

NOELLE: “You’re saying that like you could have predicted getting kidnapped…”

Monokuma looked confused, but nonetheless continued on:

MONOKUMA: “Apparently, that’s not hyperbole; she’s being completely honest!?”

MONACA: “How are you able to tell?…”

MONOKUMA: “Hmm… I have my ways~!!!”

MONACA: “That didn’t answer Monaca’s question!!!”

MONOKUMA: “ANYWAY!”

MONOKUMA: “Sierra, who would you like to go next?~”

SIERRA: “Hmm… Well… I don’t really hate anyone here yet, LMAO.”

SIERRA: “You can pick for me!”

Monokuma simply giggled and spun the wheel again.

MONOKUMA: “Next up is Butters!— Ooh, I’ve got a good one for him!”

BUTTERS: “Uh-oh…”

MONOKUMA: “Butters! Little buddy-boy! Your question isss…”

MONOKUMA: “What was the biggest slip-up or mistake you made in life?”

BUTTERS: “Oh, gee…”

CARTMAN: “Butters, I swear to God, if you make our team lose, I’ll kill you.”

BUTTERS: “Oh, gee!!”

Butters was deep in thought for a few moments, then finally spoke up:

BUTTERS: “I don’t think I can say it, fellas…”

CARTMAN: “God dammit, you piece of shit!!!”

FRY: “C— Calm down, guys! It’s not like you’re gonna die if you lose!”

BUTTERS: “Waa!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Weeeelp, that settles it!!!”
MONOKUMA: “Team 5 will be UP FOR ELIMINATION!!!”

MONOKUMA: “To the people from the outside world: vote your least favorite member of team 5. The member with the most votes will be EXECUTED!”

JATARO: “Who is he talking to…?”

A slight pause, then Ibuki smiled and spoked:

IBUKI: “Woo-hoo!! That game was fun! Sucks that someone has to die, though!”

NATSUKI: “You… Stop talking like that!!!”

KOTOKO: “That’s pretty insensitive! A kid might die, you know!”

IBUKI: “Sorry, sorry—!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Um, anyways…”

MONOKUMA: “You guys’re free to leave the gym!!! I’ll make an announcement when it’s voting time!”

Monokuma promptly left. Most seemed saddened, with a few exceptions of anger or obliviousness from more of the… Unintellectual classmates.

KAEDE: “Come on, guys… We can’t let Monokuma win! We HAVE to remain positive!”

I said, trying to lighten the mood.

PUFF: “Positive deez nuts, bitch!!!”

FRY: “What does that even mean???”

Chapter Text

Shortly after Team 5’s loss, most people left the gym, probably seeing no reason to stay.

Looking around slightly, I realized the only people still here besides me were Team 5, and, for some reason, Kyle and Berdly.

CARTMAN: “Well, nice going, dumbass, we’re gonna die now!”

Cartman snapped at Butters.

BUTTERS: “Oh, jeez!!! I don’t wanna die, Eric!”

CARTMAN: “You should’ve thought of that before fucking up the whole challenge for us!”

KYLE: “You know people are probably gonna vote you if you keep acting like a jackass, right?”

CARTMAN: “Tch! Yeah— Yeah, right! They’ll obviously kill off Butters for fucking everything up…!!!”

NATSUKI: “Y— You know it’s things like that that’ll get you killed here…!”

HAROLD: “Statistically speaking, bully archetypes are more often voted off in user-decided fiction than the innocent, pure characters… Even if the innocent character ‘fucks up’ the challenge.”

BUTTERS: “I’m not innocent… I’m a bad child who needs to learn to behave himself!”

The conversation ended there rather abruptly. Nobody really knew what to say. Eventually, Cartman exited in a huff without saying anything.

BUTTERS: “Wait, Eric, wait up!”

Butters followed.

Natsuki left, too, again without saying anything.

Sooner or later, only Kyle and I were left. He looked saddened; head tilted down to the floor.

KAEDE: “Um… Kyle? Are you alright?”

He looked up at me with irritated eyes.

KYLE: “Obviously fucking not—!!”

KYLE: “I… Know Butters and Cartman. Like, I knew them before getting into Hope’s Peak.”

KYLE: “Butters doesn’t even know the shit that’s happening right now. He’s a kid who still has a whole fucking life to experience and the stupid bear is just gonna kill him sooner or later!”

Kyle failed to acknowledge the fact that he was a kid as well, but that was the least of my concern.

KYLE: “And Cartman… I don’t know how to feel about him.”

KYLE: “He’s evil; he hates me, and I would go as far to say I can’t imagine him ever redeeming himself.”

KYLE: “But… It feels wrong to let him die. It feels wrong to let ANYONE die!”

Trying to cheer him up, I said:

KAEDE: “Nobody is going to die, Kyle. I’ll make sure of it…!”

KYLE: “Oh, fuck off! This isn’t a fairytale, it’s real life!”

KYLE: “…I think I’m gonna leave now. I don’t really want to talk to you right now. Sorry.”

Kyle left. Shoot, did I anger him?

…

The nighttime announcement played very shortly after… Weird coincidence, but I shrugged it off and exited to my dorm.

When I left, Ibuki, Fry, and Kokichi were already asleep. I didn’t see Leela in the dorm at all.

…

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! Testing, testing, one, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It’s morning time, and the votes are in!!! Team 5, report to the gymnasium IMMEDIATELY!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Other teams are not permitted in the gym, but are more than welcome to watch the gym’s live footage through their Monopad!”

The announcement woke me up. I looked around, and it seemed it woke up Ibuki and Leela as well.

KAEDE: “Hi, guys…”

I said drowsily.

IBUKI: “Gyaaah!!! I’m super-duper scared ‘cause of the announcement!!!”

LEELA: “We all are, but you don’t have to phrase it like that. It’s insensitive.”

IBUKI: “My baddd~!”

Ibuki frantically shook her head around for a second, then looked back at me and Leela.

IBUKI: “Fry and Kokichi slept through that?!”

IBUKI: “Woaaa! Heavy sleepers!!!”

LEELA: “*Sigh* Tell me about it.”

Suddenly, our Monopads buzzed and soon lit up.

LEELA: “That must be the ‘gym footage’ Monokuma was talking about.”

KAEDE: “Yeah…”

As much as I didn’t want to view the potential death of a classmate, I felt like it was, in a way, rude to ignore it.

…Plus, morbid curiosity exists…

MONOKUMA: “Whassupppp~!!!”

The Monopad displayed Monokuma in a gym, with a yellowish-white board next to him. The board displayed crudely-drawn versions of the Team 5 members at the bottom.

CARTMAN: “The fuck’s the board for?”

MONOKUMA: “Visual effect, little piggy~!!!”

CARTMAN: “AYE!!!”

Monokuma grinned and giggled, then continued on.

MONOKUMA: “The people who are safe are…”

MONOKUMA: “Harold, with two votes!”

An audible sigh of relief, probably from Harold. Monokuma drew two tally marks above the drawing-Harold’s head and a “2” above the marks.

MONOKUMA: “Noelle, with three votes!”

Another sigh; a more shaky one, from Noelle, probably. Monokuma wrote three tally marks and “3” above drawing-Noelle.

MONOKUMA: “Natsuki, with four votes!”

NATSUKI: “Jeez…”

I couldn’t see her, but I could tell Natsuki was pouting. Monokuma did the same with drawing-Natsuki as he did with drawing-Noelle-and-Harold.

MONOKUMA: “That leaves Butters Stotch and Eric Cartman.”

MONOKUMA: “Butters, Cartman, one of you will be leaving to the afterlife.”

Monokuma was uncharacteristically stoic and serious in his tone. I could hear Butters whimper a bit.

MONOKUMA: “The person who will be eliminated is…”

…

…

…

Another pause, more uncomfortable than all the other pauses combined.

MONOKUMA: “Eric Cartman, the Li’l Ultimate Lunch.”

Cartman, who probably wasn’t listening, yawned.

CARTMAN: “What about me?”

NOELLE: “Y… You’re getting… Um—“

HAROLD: “Monokuma is going to execute you.”

CARTMAN: “Damn.”

NATSUKI: “You… You know what that means, right?! You’re gonna—“

Suddenly and VERY abruptly, a claw-machine-esc chain shoots down and grabs Cartman by the neck, much to everybody’s shock. It retreats to a darkish room, and the screen on our Monopad cuts from the gym’s footage to footage of the room Cartman was dragged to.

The room’s lights seemed to turn on, and I could see the room better. It looked like a bedroom of a house— specifically, a little kid’s bedroom: it had plushies surrounding the bed and lots of piled-up laundry.

The claw releases Cartman, who trips a bit, but doesn’t fall. He frantically shakes his head to look around in an attempt to figure out where he is. His soon focuses his gaze on one of the plushies, which looks to be a cartoon frog, I think.

To Cartman’s shock and confusion, multiple Monokumas jumped out from the ceiling and plopped onto the ground. They quickly began tearing up and damaging the room’s contents, including the plush that Cartman was focusing on, which caused him to go from scared and confused to angry.

Cartman lunged at one of the Monokumas, but the other Monokumas noticed and tackled Cartman. They swiped at him, causing him to bleed and bruise pretty quickly.

Despite his usually crude and aggressive personality, Cartman almost immediately started bawling when he was attacked, submitting to his fate practically the second he was mauled.

After a bit, the Monokumas had complete obscured the now-injured Cartman. A few seconds later, they all stopped mauling and backed away, revealing Cartman’s lifeless corpse.

Chapter Text

Almost immediately after the execution, Kokichi hopped out of bed.

KOKICHI: “The fat kid died? Woaaa… Do you think that’ll stop world hunger~?”

KOKICHI: “Y’know, despite all his faults, Monokuma seems like a good guy— solving world hunger like this!”

FRY: “Quit it with the ‘world hunger’ talk…”

It seemed that Fry had woken up as well. He groggily got out of bed wearing only his underwear, and nonchalantly put on his clothes right then and there…

LEELA: “Fry!!!”

FRY: “Yes, captain!”

He saluted, but continued to change.

IBUKI: “Woahoho! Changing in front of three girls is pretty-pretty bold, I must say!!!”

FRY: “I don’t see what’s wrong with it.”

KOKICHI: “Of course YOU wouldn’t~!”

FRY: “Oh, okay.”

Kokichi pouted, irritated by Fry’s lack of offended-ness. Leela growled at Kokichi.

LEELA: “Do you even care about a child’s death?! Or are you just too stupid to understand the concept?”

KOKICHI: “Just because your boytoy is stupid doesn’t mean Cartman is!”

KOKICHI: “Waaa, you hurt my feeeelings!!!”

He did an obviously-fake cry as Leela got visibly more infuriated, which Kokichi apparently found amusing. 

KOKICHI: “Nishihi~!!! You look even uglier when you’re mad—!!!”

LEELA: “Alright, you asked for it!”

LEELA: “Hi-YAH!!!”

A gasp escaped me, and I felt inclined to end this fight.

KAEDE: “Y— You two, please stop fighting!”

KAEDE: “We all just have to remain positive. The situation isn’t the best right now, but—!”

KOKICHI: “Haaah? We’re not fighting, we’re playinggg~!!!”

LEELA: “No, we’re not. I kicked you in hopes it would knock some sense into you… Also, I really wanted to hurt you.”

Why would she admit to that???

LEELA: “Unfortunately, you still seem to be the same, bumbling idiot.”

FRY: “Hey! Not all of us bumbling idiots are mean like Kokichi!”

KAEDE: “I— I don’t think any of you are idiots…”

FRY: “Well, thanks, but I think you’ll be disappointed…”

KOKICHI: “Nihihi, at least you’re aware—“

Kokichi’s eyes widened.

KOKICHI: “Oh, wait! Fry, I gotta tell you something in private; just us boys, ‘kay?”

Fry looked confused, but didn’t look further into it and simply nodded.

FRY: “Uuh… ‘Kay.”

IBUKI: “Oh-oh-oh! Can you tell me, too?!”

KOKICHI: “It’s boys onlyyy~!!!”

FRY: “I’m a boy!”

Kokichi stared blankly for a second, dropping his playful facade.

IBUKI: “Darn it, I’m not a boy!”

LEELA: “Well, I’m not leaving. I don’t trust you alone with Fry.”

KOKICHI: “Jeez, fine, you can stay!!”

KOKICHI: “Wait, oops, did I say you can stay? I meant to scram!!!”

Leela crossed her arms.

LEELA: “I’m not going anywhere!”

KAEDE: “M— Maybe we should just let them have their boy-time, Leela…?”

IBUKI: “Ibuki here to chime in!!!: It’d also let us have our girl time!!!”

The cyclops paused, then groaned in slight annoyance.

LEELA: “Ugh, fine.”

She turned to Kokichi and crossed her arms.

LEELA: “But if you hurt Fry, I’ll kick your ass.”

KOKICHI: “Girlboss~!!!”

Trying to end this banger, I nudged Leela and quietly pointed towards the door.

She looked irritated, but didn’t argue; she nodded and walked away with me without bothering to say her goodbyes to Kokichi or Fry.

Ibuki was the first to exit— hyperactively running out into the hallway, jumping up and down with excitement.

IBUKI: “Let’s go to the-the-the…”

IBUKI: “…Gym!!! Yeah-yeah-yeah!!! Ibuki loves the gym!”

The musician didn’t even wait for a response as she ran to the gym.

I chuckled nervously.

KAEDE: “I guess we should follow her…”

LEELA: “I guess… Still, she should’ve waited for us.”

KAEDE: “W— Well, you can scold her once we get to the gym…!”

LEELA: “Ugh, fine.”

The walk to the gym was quiet; Leela didn’t seem up for conversation— she walked with a stride that was professional and no-nonsense.

It wasn’t a very far walk, so we reached the gym pretty quickly. Ibuki was there, more than happy to see us.

IBUKI: “Hooray!!! You a—!!!”

She was interrupted by the sound of girlish giggling coming from the other side of the gym.

Looking there, I saw…

SIERRA: “Say cheese— Wait, no— say ‘Cody’!!!”

MIDORI: “I dunno who that is but CODY!”

There was a snapshot-esc noise as Sierra tapped on her Monopad.

IBUKI: “Woa-holy guacamole!!! The Monopad comes with a camera?!”

MIDORI: “Well, a-doy! Of course it does, silly!”

SIERRA: “Yeah! You guys really didn’t know that? LOL.”

Leela rubbed the back of her neck, confused.

LEELA: “‘LOL’? Isn’t that ancient slang?”

KAEDE: “Er… It’s actually pretty modern, Leela.”

MIDORI: “It probably wasn’t in her time!”

KAEDE: “Her… Time???”

MIDORI: “Well, duh! She’s from the future!”

KAEDE: “Huh?!”

IBUKI: “Oh-oh-ohhh!!! That makes sense!”

IBUKI: “I assumed she was, liiike, some sort’a cool cyber alien!”

LEELA: “I’m a mutant.”

The self-proclaimed mutant paused to think, her single pupil looking away, then back at Midori and shrugged slightly.

LEELA: “Now that you mention it, most of the tech here *does* seem really old-fashioned.”

LEELA: “I never really put much thought into it, since there were obviously much more important things to think about.”

SIERRA: “OMG I just noticed you only have one eye!”

Leela huffed, crossing her arms.

LEELA: “…”

LEELA: “Well, I guess I’m flattered that it wasn’t the first thing you noticed about me.”

Sierra giggled.

SIERRA: “Yeahhh… It probably *should’ve* been obvious that you were, like, a monster, buuut I’m too busy experiencing Wi-Fi withdrawal, soooo~!!!”

KAEDE: “Wi-Fi… Withdrawal?”

SIERRA: “Wait, you mean you guys aren’t experiencing Wi-Fi withdrawal as well?!”

MIDORI: “I am!”

IBUKI: “Ibuki is!”

IBUKI: “…Wait, no I’m not!”

Sierra gasped; she might have been offended, but it was hard to tell.

She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the loud sound of stomping footprints coming from the gym’s entrance.

We all instinctively looked towards the source of the noise, and saw…

…

...

...

Chapter Text

MONACA: “Demons!”

KOTOKO: “D— Don’t worry, Monaca! Most of them are about-to-bes.”

BUTTERS: “Yeah!!!”

Monaca started tearing up and flailing her arms.

MONACA: “But! Monaca! Doesn’t! Want! Them! Here!!!”

MONACA: “Why! Are! You guys! Being! So! Difficult?!?!”

KOTOKO: “Gah—! I’m so sorry, Monaca!”

JATARO: “Am I being difficult, too? Gehehe…”

LEELA: “What are you kids even doing???”

KOTOKO: “Hey! Don’t bring our age into this; we’re just as competent as you guys— If not more!”

BUTTERS: “Yeah!!!”

Leela groaned.

LEELA: “Fine. What are you *people* even doing?”

KOTOKO: “Better!”

For the most part, Monaca had calmed down. She smiled, walked up slightly towards Leela, and struck an anime-esque pose posed.

Kotoko then did a similar pose to Monaca. Jataro and Butters clumsily and frantically tried to replicate the pose, but didn’t do a very good job at it…

MONACA: “We’re the Cutie Crusaders! Monaca is the leader, hehe!”

MIDORI: “Uwa… That’s adorable!”

SIERRA: “Adorbs!!!”

KOTOKO: “Exactly!”

KAEDE: “So, ahah…”

KAEDE: “What do you ‘Cutie Crusaders’ do?… Do you have some sort of goal???”

JATARO: “Our goal is to make it so no other kids die.”

KOTOKO: “The Eric kid was kinda a poop, but he never deserved to die!”

KOTOKO: “Shame on these ‘outside world’ people for killing a kid!”

IBUKI: “But-but-butttt!!! It’d still be bad if an adult dies!!!”

JATARO: “Hehe… I think adults deserve to die more than kids…”

MIDORI: “Haha! That’s messed up!”

LEELA: “That isn’t something to ‘haha’ about!”

LEELA: “With all due respect… You brats have no idea what you’re talking about.”

BUTTERS: “No, I think— I think we know what we’re talkin’ about.”

KOTOKO: “Yeah! Maybe— Maybe YOU guys don’t know what you’re talking about!”

KOTOKO: “Hmph!”

JATARO: “Yeah, and—“

Jataro was interrupted by Monokuma’s voice from the stage.

MONOKUMA: “Hiya!!!”

KAEDE: “Huh?!”

JATARO: “Oh, I’ve been interrupted.”

JATARO: “Oh, well… It’s not like people care about what I have to say, hehehe

MIDORI: “M— Mister Monokuma, how long have you been on that stage???”

MONOKUMA: “Huh? Oh, I just got here.”

SIERRA: “But none of us saw you get up there!”

Monokuma laughed giddily, and spoke smugly.

MONOKUMA: “Yeahhh, I can kinda-sorta just appear outta nowhere like that. Cool, right?!”

KAEDE: “But what are you doing HERE?”

MONOKUMA: “Welllll, since you asked… I was preparing the new challenge for you all!”

IBUKI: “Whaaat?! Already?!?!”

MONACA: “Monaca is still coping over the death of Cartman!… I think.”

Monokuma didn’t give a verbal answer; instead, he just giggled and clapped his animatronic paws together.

Suddenly and abruptly, rows of desks appeared out of seemingly nowhere. There were game-show-esque buzzers atop the desks, as well.

BUTTERS: “Holy shit!”

KOTOKO: “Watch your language! Bad words are used only by demons!”

BUTTERS: “A— Aw, geez, I’m awful sorry…!”

JATARO: “Do you ever wonder why your ‘bottom’ is in the middle part of your body?”

JATARO: “Or if cereal is a soup? Wait, if cereal is a soup, would that make oatmeal a soup, too???”

JATARO: “Anyway, I don’t know why a bunch of desks just appeared out of thin air like that. Maybe I need glasses. I think my eyes are broken.”

IBUKI: “Waah!!! Mine are, too!!!”

LEELA: “Your eyes aren’t ‘broken’, the stupid bear just…. Conjured desks out of thin air???”

IBUKI: “Ohhh, that totally makes sense now! Phew! Glad my eyes aren’t broken!!!”

I couldn’t tell if Ibuki was being sarcastic or not… And, judging from Leela’s confused expression, I don’t think she could tell, either.

LEELA: “…”

IBUKI: “…”

KAEDE: “…”

MONOKUMA: “…”

Monokuma attempted to contribute to the silence, but eventually let out a cackle.

MONOKUMA: “Bwahaha!!! You guys sure to love your awkward silences!”

MONOKUMA: “I’m gonna play the announcement over the loudspeaker, ‘kay?”

Monokuma used his own paw as a microphone, but his voice was somehow heard over the loudspeaker.

MONOKUMA: “Testing, testing, one, two, three! This is a school announcement from yours truly!”

MONOKUMA: “The second challenge has been prepared! You know the drill: GYM, ASAP!!! GRAAAH!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Monokuma, OUT!”

Chapter Text

The few of us who were already at the gym waited (admittedly impatiently) for the others to arrive.

People came in at roughly the same time shortly after the announcement.

Some of the last to arrive were Fry and Kokichi.

To my surprise… They seemed to be getting along fine.

FRY: “So you really lead, like, a dozen-thousand people? And you’re not lying?”

KOKICHI: “Nope!… Well, maybe a little, nishishi!”

Visibly irritated with a hint of confusion, Leela stormed up to the two now-buddies, confronting mostly just Kokichi.

LEELA: “What did you do to get so friendly with each other all of a sudden?!”

KOKICHI: “Uuh, guess I’m just a nice person~! Duh!”

FRY: “Plus, it’s—“

Once again, our conversation was interrupted by Monokuma’s growling.

MONOKUMA: “Shut yer yaps and lemme explain the challenge!!!”

Monokuma gestured towards the desks with buzzers on them.

MONOKUMA: “You see those desk-thingies? For every seat, there’s a buzzer close by.”

MONOKUMA: “You may be asking ‘why is there a buzzer for each seat?’ Well, SHUDDUPPP, I was getting to that!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Anyway! Everyone here has a SUUUPER-embarassing secret that they’d just HATE to admit!”

MONOKUMA: “Soooo… I thought I’d incorporate those embarrassing secrets into a CHALLENGE!!”

DAISAKU: “Eh?! But— But how?”

MONOKUMA: “Quiet, you!”

MONOKUMA: “I’ma read out a contestant’s deepest, darkest secret! HOWEVER, I won’t say who’s secret it is!”

MONOKUMA: “It’s up to the contestant who HAS that secret to admit to their oh-so-embarassing-deep-dark-secret, ya dig?!”

AXEL: “Nobody says ‘ya dig’ anymore, boomer!”

BENATAR: “Right, but don’t you still call things ‘uber metal’…?”

MONOKUMA: “QUIETTT!!!”

MONOKUMA: “IF the person admits to their secret, their team will score a POINT! The last team to score two points is UP FOR ELIMINATION!”

MONOKUMA: “Now, everybody take a seat!!!”

Somewhat frantically, we all sat down on a desk. Most sat next to their team members, and I was no exception.

MONOKUMA: “Alright! Ya ready?!”

KYLE: “As if anybody would be ready for this!”

Monokuma ignored Kyle, and began reading out the first secret off of a piece of paper.

MONOKUMA: “First secret!!!: ‘I mourn the loss of my dead brother, and don’t want anybody to know how weak I truly am’!”

There was a pause. Monokuma giggled. After a few long seconds, I heard a buzzer noise.

I turned around to see Noelle with her head down in shame.

NOELLE: “That… Would probably be me…”

Berdly looked at Noelle in concern. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself.

MONOKUMA: “Bahaha!!! What a LOSERRR!!! *Ahem* Next secret!”

MONOKUMA: “‘I think I’m in love with my best friend, but I’d rather die than admit it’!”

Complete silence.

MONOKUMA: “Anyone???”

More silence. Monokuma simply laughed hysterically, then calmed himself down and read the next secret.

MONOKUMA: “’I’m sad that Cartman died, because I really cared about him, even though I hate myself for caring!’ D’aww!!!”

A buzzer was hit quickly and somewhat violently by Kyle.

KYLE: “That was me.”

BUTTERS: “Wha— Why would you keep that a secret?”

KYLE: “BECAUSE, Cartman is a jackass and I hate him!”

BUTTERS: “Oh.”

A short pause.

MONOKUMA: “Next secret!: ‘I care little to none for the lives of anybody besides my crush’!”

After a very brief pause, Ayano hit her buzzer.

HAROLD: “Huh??? What’s that supposed to mean?”

AYANO: “Simple: I feel no emotions other than love towards my senpai.”

Ayano smiled slightly upon saying that.

KOKICHI: “Bahahaha, what an emotionless weirdo!!!”

HIYOKO: “You’re one to talk!”

Monokuma suddenly read out the next secret without warning.

MONOKUMA: “‘I peed myself until fifth grade’!”

With a surprising lack of reluctance, Fry pressed his buzzer.

FRY: “Yep, that was me!”

KOKICHI: “That’s it?! Damn!!! Would’ve been SOOO MUCH COOLER if you were a secret criminal!”

FRY: “But— Criminal… Is… Illegal… To be!!!”

There was barely a pause before Monokuma continued:

MONOKUMA: “Next secret is a simple one!: ‘I’m neglected at home’!”

A pause.

MONOKUMA: “No one? Well, I guess—“

A buzzer went off. I turned around and saw Natsuki, flustered. She spoke up.

NATSUKI: “It’s— It’s not like it matters!!”

MIKAN: “I— I’m so sorry to hear that… If— If there’s anything I can do to help, please don’t be afraid to—“

NATSUKI: “Shut up!!!”

MIKAN: “Eeeep!!! Please forgive me!!!”

HIYOKO: “Are you SERIOUSLY trying to make YOURSELF seem pitiful in this time, you disgusting pigbarf?!”

MIKAN: “N— No!! I’m so sorry; that wasn’t my intention…!”

NATSUKI: “Hmph…”

MONOKUMA: “Team 5’s got two points; they have IMMUNITY now!!!”

NATSUKI: “Ha! You’re welcome!”

MONOKUMA. “Next secret— Ooh, this one’s good!”

MONOKUMA: “‘I know who’s masterminding the Killing Game’.”

KAEDE: “What?!”

JATARO: “Did you put that there as, like, a funny ha-ha?”

MONOKUMA: “Nnnope! As your headmaster, it’s my moral obligation to never lie to my students!”

HAROLD: “But it wasn’t your moral obligation to keep them alive.”

MONOKUMA: “Correct-o-mundo!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Now, then! Is anybody willing to fess up to this deeeeep, daaark secret?!”

As expected, there was complete silence; nobody wanted to admit—

*BUZZ*

MONACA: “Monaca knows.”

MANDY: “WHAT?!”

MONOKUMA: “HUH??? You— You weren’t supposed to tell them, you stupid little kid!!!”

Monokuma then laughed.

MONOKUMA: “Nah, just kiddin’! She’s lying.”

MONACA: “…”

Monaca beamed, uncharacteristically calm about the situation.

MONACA: “Sorry! Monaca just wanted to win for her team!”

MONOKUMA: “D’aww… How cute! Y’know what?! I’m givin’ you a point, just ‘cause of how wholesome you are!”
MONOKUMA: “MAN, I love friendship!”

BERDLY: “WHAT?!?!”

KOTOKO: “Good job, Monaca!”

AYANO: “She’s not even on our team...”

MONOKUMA: “Every time you complain, I’ll add another point! Now she’s at two points and her gets immunity!!! Yay!!!”

PUFF: “The fuck?!”

HIYOKO: “Yay!!! Glad someone stupid is dying and not me!”

DAISAKU: “Eh?! Just because our team has immunity doesn’t mean you get to be rude to people, Hiyoko!”

KAEDE: “…”

MIDORI: “Hm-hmm… Anyone else find it weird that Monaca’s team got two points by lying??”

SIERRA: “Yeah!!! It’s sooo sus!”

MONOKUMA: “AHEM!!!”

Monokuma yelled. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Monokuma so angry before… It was so jarring.

MONOKUMA: “NEXT!!! QUESTION!!!”

MONOKUMA: “‘Deep down, I know crave love and affection, even though I’m trying to convince myself I want everyone to h—“

Kokichi pressed his buzzer before Monokuma could even finish.

KOKICHI: “Ooh!!! That’s me, that’s me!!!”

KOKICHI: “I sooo want love and affection!!!”

FRY: “I can give you some, if you want—“

KOKICHI: “Ew, what? I was lying! I was lying and all you idiots fell for it; bahaha!!!”

KAEDE: “Lying???”

LEELA: “Probably because he thought Monokuma would give him a point like he did with Monaca.”

KOKICHI: “Gaaah!!! I keep forgetting it can talk!”

MONOKUMA: “Grr… Grr… You’re not an adorable little girl like Monaca… But I GUESS you could pass for an adorable little boy…”

MONOKUMA: “FINE!!! You get immunity!”

KOTOKO: “That is SO unfair!!! Why should that gremlin get points just for lying?!”

JATARO: “Monaca did the same thing…”

I was confused and shocked, though I should have been at least a bit thankful that Kokichi somehow gave our team immunity.

It looked to be down to Team 2 and Team 4, but something odd happened. Monokuma was sweating profusely (even though I assumed he was a robot) and looked terrified!

MONOKUMA: “Uum… Uum… Team— Team 4 wins immunity! Team 2, you’re up for elimination!!!”

He quickly disappeared, leaving us all incredibly confused.

AXEL: “These challenges are bullshit!!!”

Chapter Text

Puff-Puff growled and raised his fists in the air.

PUFF: “No, seriously, what the FUCK was that?!?!”

AXEL: “For seriously!!! That sucked so much balls!”

AYANO: “I’m relieved my team isn’t up for elimination; however, Monokuma was acting unrealistically nervous.”

HAROLD: “It’s like he was keeping a really embarrassing secret.”

HIYOKO: “No shit he was nervous; it’s not like you’re making some grand revelation by pointing it out!”

Ironically, Kyle of all people groaned at Hiyoko’s crassness.

KYLE: “Jeez, why do you gotta so fucking rude all the time?”

KYLE: “I know it’s a death game, but being mean is gonna get you voted out.”

MONACA: “Monaca doesn’t think you should mention the death game…”

AYANO: “But he’s right; meanness gets you killed. Did you all forget what happened to Eric Cartman?”

The room went silent. Nobody dared to talk for a bit; eventually, Daisaku spoke.

DAISAKU: “But… Don’tcha think it’s impolite to call him out like that?”

AYANO: “I’m assuming everybody thought the same thing, when he died.”

AYANO: “‘Oh, he was the worst one, it makes sense that he was the first to die’. I guess I was wrong.”

MIDORI: “‘Worst’ isn’t exactly the best word to say, though…”

Ayano looked like she was about to say something, but stopped herself. 

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing! One, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It is now 10 PM. As such, it is officially nighttime!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Soon, the doors to the dining hall and gymnasium will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited.”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite…”

The loudspeaker went silent after that.

DAISAKU: “Looks like we better get a move on, huh…?”

MIKAN: “Yes… I— I don’t really want to be locked in the gym tonight… I think.”

NATSUKI: “You ‘think’?!”

MIKAN: “Eep!!! I mean— I mean I *know*!!! I’m sorry for phrasing it wrong!!!”

Natsuki gave Mikan a concerned look.

NATSUKI: “It’s fine, jeez! You don’t have to be all scared about it!”

Mikan whimpered loudly, but didn’t say anything.

A few seconds passed. By now, everyone else had left.

I left, too; it should go without saying that I didn’t want to be locked in the gym.

I entered my dorm and lay down on the bed, eyes open.

LEELA: “Are you alright?”

I noticed Leela— Crap… For a brief moment, I had forgotten about my teammates and let them see me all mopey like this.

KAEDE: “Huh? Oh, yeah...! I’m fine!”

Leela looked almost annoyed with my response, but didn’t question me further and just sat on her bed, fidgeting with… Something. I didn’t know what; I was too ashamed to look up and show my sad face to my teammates, eheh…

With nothing else to do, I eventually drifted off to sleep…

…

…

…

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 AM and nighttime is officially OVER~!!!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another bee-YUTIFUL day!”

I woke up, groggy… Ugh, I already loathed that bear’s childlike voice…

KOKICHI: “He didn’t announce the results?”

IBUKI: “Hmm-hmm, yeah! Last time he gave the results as soon as the announcement played!!!”

FRY: “Huh? Isn’t that a good thing— That we have more time until another, uh, d— death?”

KAEDE: “Hey! It’s not like we’re certain the bear will kill again…!”

KOKICHI: “I dunnooo… He seemed pretty adamant about the whole ‘Killing Game’, though!”

LEELA: “Yes, but he also looked scared at the end of the last challenge. Hopefully, that means something.”

IBUKI: “Uh— Uh— It means Monokuma’s scared of us, a-DOY!!!”

FRY: “Why would he be? Are we scary???”

KOKICHI: “You’re not, but someone else here is~!”

KOKICHI: “You knowww, someone who may-or-may-not be in this room… And has purple hair… And is a cyclops… And is named Leela.”

LEELA: “Cram it!”

Kokichi laughed almost triumphantly.

KAEDE: “Hey! You— You guys shouldn’t argue, you know!”

KOKICHI: “Yeah, Leelaaa… Why are you being so meannn?”

FRY: “But— You were meaner…!!!”

KOKICHI: “Whaaa? You’re arguing, too, Fry? Man, and here I thought we were friends!”

FRY: “Uuh… We’re still friends, just… D— Don’t make fun of Leela!”

KOKICHI: “…”

FRY: “…”

KAEDE: “…”

I looked around; I noticed Ibuki’s hungry expression.

IBUKI: “I’m starvinggg!!! If I don’t get a meal quick, I’ma eat one of youuu!!!”

Ibuki was drooling an unhealthy amount. She frantically waved goodbye and bolted out the door.

LEELA: “What an abrupt exit…”

KOKICHI: “But now I’m hungry, too!!! Fry: go make me a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich!”

FRY: “Why me?!?!”

KOKICHI: “Uhm, ‘cos you’re really cool and strong, DUH!”

Fry glanced at Leela.

FRY: “He’s not leaving me alone… I don’t actually know how to make a sandwich… What do I do?”

LEELA: “How the hell am I supposed to know?”

KOKICHI: “How do you not know how to make a sandwich?!?!”

FRY: “I— I know that you gotta use bread to make it…!!!”

LEELA: “Oh, Lord… I’ll make your damn sandwich, Fry.”

FRY: “It was for Kokichi, actually…”

LEELA: “Well I’ll make one for both of you!!!”

KOKICHI: “Oh? But all I did was insult you!”

LEELA: “Fair point, but if it gets you to shut the hell up, I’ll make a stupid sandwich.”

Leela smiled passive-aggressively.

KAEDE: “…”

I was observing the conversation, not knowing what to say. Leela looked at me.

LEELA: “Are you coming?”

KAEDE: “O— Oh! No, thank you… I’ll just explore around a bit…”

LEELA: “Suit yourself.”

Leela basically stormed out, and Kokichi and Fry ran after her in excitement.

( FREE TIME EVENT )

After about a minute, I walked out of the room and into the hallway. To my surprise, I saw Ibuki!

KAEDE: “Ibuki?!”

She waved.

IBUKI: “Kaede!!! Hi!!!”

KAEDE: “I thought you were going to get a meal?”

IBUKI: “I DID get a meal!!! T’was a healthy bowl of cereal!”

IBUKI: “I scarfed that down like a wolf, bahaha!!!”

KAEDE: “So… You already ate your meal???”

IBUKI: “Yeppers!!!”

Hm… Should I ask Ibuki to hang out?

> YES

> NO

(You selected “YES”.)

IBUKI: “Okay-dokay!!! We can make such beautiful music together~!!!”

…

I spent some time with Ibuki…

…

IBUKI: “Ah! Yes, yes!!!”

KAEDE: “What…?”

IBUKI: “Um, um!!! Were you ever in any school clubs!?”

KAEDE: “Huh—? Oh, um, I was in the music club…!”

IBUKI: “Darn it!!! Ibuki wanted you to herself!”

KAEDE: “Huh?!”

KAEDE: “What do you mean by that?!”

IBUKI: “You should join Ibuki’s music club!”

KAEDE: “Join your… Music club???”

IBUKI: “Mhm-mhm-mhm!!!”

IBUKI: “Oh— But you can’t play the piano, ‘cause I already have someone in my club already called dibs on the piano.”

(Then why would she ask *me* to join her music club???)

KAEDE: “I… Don’t really play any other instruments.”

IBUKI: “That’s a-okay! You can just pretend you’re playing an instrument while a music track plays in the background!”

KAEDE: “T— That’s not something an Ultimate Musician should say…!!!”

IBUKI: “Whatevs, whatevs. Just choose the musical instrument you wanna use!!!”

IBUKI: “Remember— no piano! Oh, and Ibuki has dibs on the guitar, so no guitar, either!”

I don’t really have an interest in any of this, but I should at least choose something…

> HARP

> BASS

> DRUMS

(You selected “DRUMS”.)

KAEDE: “Then… I guess, the drums?”

IBUKI: “That’s awesome!!!”

IBUKI: “All, right, it’s decided! Drums are great, ‘cause—“

KAEDE: “W— Wait! Ibuki, I never said I was going to join your music club…”

IBUKI: “Whaaat?! Why not?”

KAEDE: “I— I’m sorry, but I don’t even know how to play drums!”

KAEDE: “Isn’t there an Ultimate Drummer in this school, too? You can ask him to be in your band…!”

IBUKI: “Bleh, but Axel’s already in a band!”

IBUKI: “Ibuki wants a closed relationship!!!… In bands, I mean!”

Ibuki continued to try and persuade me to join her band, to which I kept politely declining.

I eventually parted ways with Ibuki and went back to my team’s dorm.

Ibuki and I grew a little closer today.

I crashed onto my bed with a thud. I might had fallen asleep if it weren’t for—

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing, one, two, three!!!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It took a biiit longer than usual, but the results are IN! Team 2, get’cho feet over to the gym IMMEDIATELY!”

LEELA: “Oh, Lord. This again?”

KOKICHI: “Hoorayyyy~!!!”

IBUKI: “Kokichi!!! This isn’t a ‘hooray’ moment!!! This is a ‘AAAAAH’ moment!!!”

My Monopad screen lit up, as did my team members’.

KOKICHI: “Hey, hey!!! You guys wanna all watch on the Monopad and M-S-T-3-K this~?!”

FRY: “No!!!”

LEELA: “What the hell does that even mean?”

KOKICHI: “Oh, I keep forgetting she can talk…”

As the others bantered, I silently watched my Monopad, fearful.

Like last time, the screen displayed Monokuma in a gym; a yellowish board next to him that displayed drawings of the Team 2 members.

MONOKUMA: “Team 2, you lost the challenge, which means YOU’RE UP FOR ELIMINATION!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Tsk-tsk… If only you did better…”

MIDORI: “That challenge was super-duper rigged, thoughhh!”

AXEL: “Hey, uh, I’ve been meaning to ask… Who’s birthday is it?”

PUFF: “Fuck’s that even mean???”

As the band members were bickering, Monokuma drew two tally marks below the drawing of Kyle.

MONOKUMA: “Kyle is safe with two votes!”

KYLE: “Oh, shit! Only two votes?”

MIDORI: “Aweee, that must mean they like you!!!”

MONOKUMA: “Axel is safe with six votes!”

Monokuma drew sir tally marks above below-Axel.

AXEL: “Metal!!!”

AXEL: “Wait, six votes?! Who voted for me?!”

AXEL: “I take my ‘metal’ back! That’s, like, the opposite of metal! That’s the anti-metal!!!”

BENATAR: “Mate, you’re safe…”

AXEL: “I may be safe from death physically, but does it even matter if my heart is shattered?”

BENATAR: “Wot does that even mean?”

AXEL: “Dunno; thought it sounded pretty sick in my head, so I said it.”

MONOKUMA: “Midori is safe with eight votes!”

Monokuma drew eight tally marks below drawing-Midori.

MIDORI: “Sugoi!!!”

PUFF: “Wait, does that mean—“

MONOKUMA: “Benatar, Puff-Puff: One of you will be executed tonight.”

PUFF: “Shit!”

BENATAR: “It’s gotta be one of us, eh…?”

MONOKUMA: “The person who will be executed is…”

Monokuma drew one tally mark below drawing-Benatar, then one below drawing-Puff, then one below drawing-Benatar again.

Monokuma kept drawing in this pattern until both drawings had eight tally marks below them.

For dramatic effect, Monokuma paused, laughing giddily at the situation.

He drew a ninth tally mark above the drawing of Puff-Puff.

MONOKUMA: “Puff-Puff Humbert, the Ultimate Band Leader.”

PUFF: “WHAT?!?!”

AXEL: “Does that mean…?”

BENATAR: “Puff, run—!”

Due to the screen’s angle, I couldn’t see whether or not Puff-Puff was actually running.

Either way, it didn’t matter, as a mechanical claw shot out to off the screen and came back dragging a very angry Puff-Puff.

The claw dragged him to a dark room; the Monopad’s screen suddenly cut to some sort of band stage.

The claw let go, and Puff-Puff was literally dropped into the room. He looked around for a bit, confused.

Eventually, a microphone dropped from above, confusing Puff-Puff further. He stared blankly at the microphone.

He semi-reluctantly pickled it up, looking around again. He pondered for a bit.

A mischievous and spiteful grin spread across his face as he held the microphone close to his face.

Puff-Puff then starting singing about Monokuma; about how much he sucked and how he was wayyy cooler than that stupid bear. It was immature and childish, but I genuinely admired his boldness.

The song went on for about a minute or two, until—

The Monopad’s screen abruptly turned off, leaving me (and my team members, when I looked up at them) shocked.

Chapter Text

IBUKI: “He EXPLODED?!?!”

LEELA: “At the risk of sounding insensitive… Why would he even pick up the microphone in the first place???”

KOKICHI: “Wowww, Leela… That’s sooo mean!”

LEELA: “Oh, please. YOU of all people wouldn’t care even if I WAS being mean!”

LEELA: “…Which— I wasn’t!”

Leela paused.

LEELA: “Either way… Oh, poor Puff-Puff! His bandmates are probably feeling terrible right now, too...!”

FRY: “Oh, yeah! I forgot about that!”
FRY: “Two of Puff’s teammates were his best friends, huh…”

IBUKI: “Sniffle, sniffle!!!”
IBUKI: “Ibuki just realized that— If one of Ibuki’s friends dies, she won’t know what to do with herself!!!”

FRY: “Huh? Wait, you know people here?”

IBUKI: “Um, no, but…”

IBUKI: “Hypothetically speaking!!!”

KAEDE: “Speaking of knowing people…”

KAEDE: “Leela, did you and Fry know each other before this, uh… Situation?”

KAEDE: “I remember you woke him up in the very beginning, and—“

LEELA: “We’re dating.”

Leela interrupted, speaking flatly. Fry beamed at her comment.

LEELA: “…Kind of.”

KOKICHI: “‘Kind of’?”

FRY: “Um… We’re pretty on-again-off-again…”

FRY: “Of course, if it were up to me, we’d be on ALL the time!!!”

KOKICHI: “Wowww, Fry; if you loved Leela so much, why’d you tell me she was a fat, ugly pig?!”

FRY: “I never said that!”

KOKICHI: “Whoops! I could’ve sworn you said that…”

KOKICHI: “Oh, maybe it was me who said that!”

KAEDE: “You… Really like targeting Leela, huh…”

IBUKI: “For-realsies! Switch it up a bit; there’s no VARIETY!!!”

KAEDE: “I didn’t mean it like that—!”

KOKICHI: “Oh, come onnn… Leela’s a big girl, she can handle it~!”

LEELA: “Don’t phrase it like that.”

The conversation may have continued if not for—

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing! One, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It is now 10 PM. As such, it is officially nighttime!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Soon, the doors to the dining hall and gymnasium will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited.”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite…”

FRY: “Guess we should get some shut-eye, huh…”

IBUKI: “Gwahhh, but I don’t wanna sleep!!!”

I was pretty exhausted mentally after seeing one of my classmates die, and that probably tied into my physicality, because…

KAEDE: “I’m really tired…”

KAEDE: “I mean— You guys are great, but… I think I’d function better with a good night’s sleep…!”

KOKICHI: “Nihihi! Can you really have a good night’s sleep after someone died?”

KAEDE: “Huh?!”

FRY: “Hey! That was totally out-of-line, Kokichi!!!”

KOKICHI: “You’re riiiight, my baddd~!!!”

KOKICHI: “Kaede, I’m reaaally sorry for saying that!”

Kokichi smiled, but I could tell it was sarcasm.

I wanted to be the bigger person and ignore Kokichi, so I drifted off to sleep.

…

…

…

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 AM and nighttime is officially OVER~!!!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another bee-YUTIFUL day!”

I got up, yawned, and stretched; my team members did the same.

IBUKI: “Gyaaah!!! That teddybear’s voice already makes me so-so-so MAD and SCARED!!!”

KAEDE: “For me, it only makes me mad, eheh…”

LEELA: “Ditto.”

There was a quick pause. Fry’s stomach grumbled.

FRY: “I’m really hungry…”

IBUKI: “But we just woke up!!!”

KOKICHI: “A fatass like Fry could survive, like, a month without eating!”

FRY: “I’m barely even pudgy!!!”

I heard footsteps coming from the hallway, but I doubted anybody else noticed or cared.

I meekly waved goodbye to my teammates— who didn’t even seem to be paying much attention to me— and exited to the hallway.

I walked out, and saw…

BENATAR: “Oh! Um…”

AXEL: “Hi, Kaede.”

The two bandmates seemed really on-edge; it was obvious why, so I didn’t bring it up.

KAEDE: “Axel, Benatar! Hello!”

BENATAR: “We were just, uuh…”

AXEL: “Walking to the dining hall…”

BENATAR: “Gonna ‘ave a scran…”

Team 1’s door suddenly opened, and Kokichi boldly walked out.

KOKICHI: “Ohhh! If it isn’t the bonehead and his boyfriend!”

BENATAR: “Oi.”

AXEL: “What’s a boner-head?”

KOKICHI: “Hey, hey! How’s it like to have a dead teammate, huh?”

BENATAR: “Uh… I— Pardon?”

KOKICHI: “Ya’know, since your teammate died.”

KOKICHI: “What was his name again? Puffy? Yeahhh, that guy was a real loser~!”

KOKICHI: “I’m actually kinda glad he died so we wouldn’t have to see his ugly face ever—“

Without warning, Axel stormed uncomfortably close to Kokichi and…

KOKICHI: “Gah…!”

AXEL: “You think it’s fuckin’ funny to joke about our friend bein’ killed?!”

BENATAR: “Axel, I don’t think—!”

AXEL: “Shut UP, Benatar; this doesn’t INVOLVE you!”

BENATAR: “Technically, it does…”

KAEDE: “Guys, guys—! No fighting, please…!!!”

KOKICHI: “Keheh… He started it…”

KAEDE: “Axel— I— I understand you’re feeling bad, but you might kill him…!”

AXEL: “Good!!!”

Benatar simply walked up to Axel and put a hand on the drummer’s stiff shoulder.

Axel turned his head at Benatar.

AXEL: “…You suck, man…”

He dropped Kokichi; the impact made a slight thud.

For the first time in a while, Kokichi seemed genuinely nervous. Breathing heavy, he persisted, giving a laugh and saying in a mocking tone:

KOKICHI: “I— I didn’t know you… Were so in love with Benatar, bonehead…”

BENATAR: “It’s completely platonic!!!”

AXEL: “Yeah! Completely the-thing-Benatar-said!!!”

KAEDE: “Um…”

I was at a loss for words, which seemed to happen oddly often; it was unlike me, honestly…

AXEL: “I’m not gay, dude!”

KOKICHI: “It’s not a bad thing if you’re gay, Axel.”

AXEL: “Of course it’s not, but—“

AXEL: Wait, we’re talking about how much of a dickballs you are, not about me being gay or not!!!”

BENATAR: “Axel, I think we should just walk away from Kokichi. It’s obvious ‘e’s, uh, not gonna change…”

Axel audibly groaned, but then laughed.

AXEL: “You’re such a fuckin’ puss, Benatar!”

The insult made Benatar chuckle nervously. Clearly wanting to be away from Kokichi, he nudged Axel towards the kitchen.

AXEL: “Huh? Oh, fine.”

They didn’t say a word as they walked towards the kitchen together, leaving me alone with Kokichi.

KAEDE: “Ko— Kokichi, are you alright…???”

Part of me felt like I was enabling his bad behavior by asking that, but I still felt a bit bad when he got choked.

Kokichi stood up and grinned.

KOKICHI: “Neeheehee~! Of course I’m fine, silly~!!!”

KOKICHI: “You think that idiot REALLY hurt me?! It was a lie— I wasn’t ACTUALLY hurt!!!”

Kokichi limped back to the dorm, and I’m pretty sure I heard a faint groan from Leela when he came back.

…And now I was alone in the hallway.

( FREE TIME EVENT )

I found Berdly investigating the storage room.

BERDLY: “Gah… I find it odd that some have yet to investigate this school thoroughly.”

Hm… Should I ask Berdly to hang out?

> YES

> NO

(You selected “YES”.)

BERDLY: “I shall accept your proposal for bonding time!

BERDLY: “…Oh, do you think this wretched place has video games?”

…

I spent some time with Berdly exploring the school…

…

After a bit, Berdly and I found a staircase leading up to… Something: probably another floor.
For some reason, it was barred up as if it was a jail cell.

KAEDE: “Huh?!”

BERDLY: “Eh? Have you not discovered this yet?!”

KAEDE: “I… Sorry, I was busy with… Other things, I guess. I really should have been more attentive, huh…”

BERDLY: “Gah! You should have known this, Akamatsu!”

KAEDE: “You’re right… Sorry, I— Don’t really know why I’m being like this.”

BERDLY: “Gah… It’s fine, I suppose.”

Berdly and I continued exploring for a bit, but we eventually parted.

Berdly and I grew a little closer today.

Chapter Text

I went back to my room and sat down on my bed, sighing slightly with a smile.

It was meditating, sort of, to just sit on the edge of my bed; the rest of my team were out doing their own thing, so it was just me in the room.

…

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!*

KAEDE: “Huh?!”

I went towards the door and opened it.

KYLE: “Hey.”

KAEDE: “Kyle— Huh? What are you doing here? This isn’t your dorm…!”

KYLE: “I know. That’s why I knocked.”

I laughed softly.

KAEDE: “Eheh… I guess that makes sense.”

KAEDE: “So, um, how can I help you?”

Kyle sighed.

KYLE: “Yeah… About that.”

KYLE: “Is it cool if I, uh, ask for some… Advice, I guess?”

KAEDE: “Advice—?”

KAEDE: “I mean— Of course I can give you advice, but… Why me, specifically?”

KYLE: “I know, I know; we’ve barely talked. It’s just… Everyone else is either creepy, an asshole, or an idiot.”

KAEDE: “Well, that’s debatable—“

KYLE: “Ugh, never mind, then.”

Kyle lowered his head and was about to leave before I spoke—

KAEDE: “No, no, don’t go! It’s fine if you came to me for advice, I just…”

KAEDE: “Don’t think that I’m the only good one here…”

KYLE: “I never said you were good!”

KAEDE: “Oh, I—“

KYLE: “I’m sorry— I just— God, I can’t believe I’m doing this…”

KYLE: “Okay, so have you seen the ‘Cutie Crusaders’ yet? Monaca, Jataro, Kotoko, and Butters all formed this weird-ass group who’s goal is to prevent Li’l Ultimates from dying.”

KAEDE: “Yes, I… Saw them. A bit before the second challenge.”

KYLE: “They’re fucking crazy!!! And they keep insisting for me to join, but I’m not gonna do that shit!”

KYLE: “But… God, they look so fucking sad when I turn them down; I know it’s probably guilt-tripping, but I can’t help but feel like shit, and— God dammit, I shouldn’t be ranting like this; sorry, Miss.”

KAEDE: “…Uum, well…”

KAEDE: “I… Really don’t think you should feel bad.”

KYLE: “Seriously…? That’s it…? That’s all you have to say?”

KAEDE: “What…??? You were the one who came to me…!”

KYLE: “…Yeah, sorry; I’m pretty fuckin’ shaken from all the deaths… I— God, I’m just jealous of your positivity, aren’t I?!”

His question seemed rhetorical, so I didn’t reply.

KYLE: “I guess my advice isn’t actually ‘how do I deal with the Cutie Crusaders’; it’s more like ‘how the fuck are you this happy all the time’???”

KAEDE: “I— Well…”

KYLE: “Fuck, nevermind. Sorry I put you on the spot like that, I guess. Bye, Miss.”

The boy left without saying another word. I keep seeming to accidentally annoy him…

…

The rest of the day was uneventful. 

Eventually—

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing, one, two, three!!!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! Get yer butts to the gym A-S-A-P!!! The next challenge is waiting~!”

KAEDE: “Ugh…”

I groaned, but reluctantly made my way to the gym.

Chapter Text

I was actually one of the last to arrive at the gym. By the time I got there Monokuma was already there, grinning.

MANDY: “So. What do you want now?”

MONOKUMA: “Glad you asked, girlie!!! Today’s challenge is gonna be a pretty-pretty cool one!”

HIYOKO: “Psh! Like YOU could do ANYTHING even remotely ‘cool’!”

MIKAN: “Uum… I— I don’t think you should, um, provoke him…!”

Monokuma giggled, but ultimately ignored Hiyoko’s insult.

MONOKUMA: “Today’s challenge is a TALENT SHOW!”
MONOKUMA: “One member of each team will be tasked with entertaining Monokuma. Obviously, the team with the worst entertainment will be up for elimination.”

MONOKUMA: “Oh, but you didn’t think it’d be THAT easy, did’ya?! Since you’re Ultimates, you already have a lotta talent. Sooo… You CANNOT showcase your Ultimate talent in the show!”

MONOKUMA: “You guys can practice the talent show wherever, but the show itself will be hosted on the gym’s stage. Good luck and try not to die~!!!”

Monokuma promptly left.

DAISAKU: “Erm… What now?”

AYANO: “You heard the bear. Each team has to put on some sort of show for Monokuma.”

Ayano turned away from everybody and headed for the gym’s exit.

AYANO: “If you need me, I’ll be exploring the school.”

KOTOKO: “Huh? But what about the talent show?! If our team loses, then it’s your fault for not participating!!!”

JATARO: “Is it my fault, too? My fault for being sooo ugly and disgusting? Ehehe…!”

Ayano left without responding.

…

After a bit, we had all exited to our dorms.

…

POV: None

( Hello! This is an author’s note. Think of this as the green text from Danganronpa that serves as a tutorial. )

( Anyway, this will be the first chapter of New DanganRonpa UNIQUE to actually switch from Kaede’s point-of-view to a third-person perspective! )

( I did this because I wanted to showcase teams besides Team 1 preparing for the challenge. All teams will be showcased. )

( Thank you for your time! The story will continue now. )

…

At the Team 1 dorm…

IBUKI: “So! What’re we gonna do?!?!”

IBUKI: “‘Cause without my talent, I’m worthless, wahaha!!!!”

KAEDE: “Is that really something to ‘wahaha’ at…???”

LEELA: “…Well, does anybody have any special talents besides their Ultimate?”

KOKICHI: “Hmm… ‘Ultimate Supreme Leader’ is a pretty vague talent, sooo…”

KOKICHI: “I think I’m gonna sit this out, knowww? Just in case I accidentally use my talent.”

FRY: “It’s no problem! You can help us with the talent show!”

KOKICHI: “Aw, mannn, but I don’t wanna work on thisss!”

KAEDE: “Uum… We should figure out what we should do for the talent show.”

FRY: “Isn’t that what we’re talking about?”

LEELA: “Fry’s actually pretty creative, sometimes. One time, he actually got a lot of money by playing the holophoner!”

FRY: “Yeah, ‘cept my regular hands are all slow and janky now.”

IBUKI: “Kyaha!!! I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

FRY: “Wait! I’m getting a headache-with-pictures—“

LEELA: “An idea.”

FRY: “Yeah, that!… What if I taught Kaede how to play the holophoner!”

KAEDE: “Me—? Hold on—! I don’t even know what a ‘holophoner’ is!”

KOKICHI: “Bahaha, so stupiddd~!!! Isn’t it obvious?”

KOKICHI: “Fry knows Leela, who’s a futuristic space alien, riiight? A holophoner is probably one of Leela’s futuristic instruments, DUH!”

IBUKI: “Was it really THAT obvious???”

FRY: “He’s right, though…”

KAEDE: “Eheh… Well, as long as ‘holophoner’ isn’t a fancy way of saying ‘piano’, then I’d be more than happy to perform it for the talent show!”

…

At the Team 2 dorm…

MIDORI: “Ooh! Ooh! Dibs on performing for the talent show!!!”

AXEL: “Dibs on her performing, too!”

AXEL: “‘Cause, like, if I’m not performing stuff to at LEAST a dozen hot chicks, I’m not motivated, ya’know?”

BENATAR: “Is that why you’re so cross during practice?”

AXEL: “No shit! I don’t know why you guys even made me go to practice. It’s not like I don’t know how to play the damn drums.”

KYLE: “We should really be focusing on the talent show right now.”

BENATAR: “Right, sorry!”

MIDORI: “‘Kay… So it’s, like, settled that I’m performing, right?”

KYLE: “Uh, sure.”

MIDORI: “Yay!!! I promise, I’ll do my super-very-best!”

…

At the Team 3 dorm…

MANDY: “I’m not performing.”

HIYOKO: “We weren’t even asking for you to, nasty bitch!”

MIKAN: “Waa… P— Please no fighting…!!!”

MANDY: “This isn’t a fight, she just insulted me to feel better about herself.”

HIYOKO: “Psh! Like I need YOU to feel better about myself!!!”

MIKAN: “Gah—! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!!!”

MANDY: “Shut up.”

DAISAKU: “Hey! You two should learn to fix a wet cat!”

MANDY: “What?”

HIYOKO: “What does that even mean?!”

DAISAKU: “Teehee, I have no idea~!!!”

MONACA: “…”

MONACA: “Hm… Monaca thinks that Miss Tsumiki should perform!”

MIKAN: “M— Me…?!”

HIYOKO: “Hell no!!! She’d ruin everything with her pigbarf-ness!!!”

DAISAKU: “Your insults could use some work!”

DAISAKU: “…Wait! No! You shouldn’t be insulting people at all!”

MONACA: “But if Miss Tsumiki performs, then Hiyoko wouldn’t have to do any work for the project!”

MIKAN: “Huh—?!”

HIYOKO: “…Hm… I GUESS it’d be good to let the pigbarf do everything herself. As long as she doesn’t screw it up!!!”

MIKAN: “I— Um— I’ll try my best, but—!”

MANDY: “Okay, so you’ll do all the work. Nice chat. Goodbye.”

DAISAKU: “Waa… I’m so grateful for your sacrifice, Mikan!!!”

MIKAN: “I, um, I…!!!”

MIKAN: “…I’m sorry!!! I’ll do my best!!!”

…

At the Team 4 dorm…

KOTOKO: “It stinks that Ayano isn’t here! Ugh, adults can be so cold!”

BERDLY: “Ah, I would say it’s less about her being an adult and more about her being a, er…”
BERDLY: “Well, I shouldn’t use the diction I want to say in front of children!”

KOTOKO: “Hey!!! Us children are just as mature as adults, if not MORE mature!!!”

SIERRA: “This is, like, really LOL, and stuff, but we should be deciding who should perform!”

JATARO: “If I perform and do really badly, does that mean that you guys will all hate me?”

KOTOKO: “Ugh, why are you so obsessed with people hating you?! It’s so creepy!!!”

JATARO: “Oh… But is it creepy enough for you to hate me? Ehehe…”

SIERRA: “Awe, you two are totes-adorable~!!!”

BERDLY: “While it’s debatable on whether or not they are ‘totes-adorable’, we SHOULD be focusing on the challenge!”

BERDLY: “I volunteer myself to provide the entertainment to Monokuma! All in favor?”

SIERRA: “I’m down with that~!!!”

KOTOKO: “Make sure it doesn’t have any unpeeled chestnuts! I hate those!”

JATARO: “Do you guys know that elephants can’t jump? At least, I’m pretty sure it’s elephants that can’t jump. I remember it was some type of animal that couldn’t jump. I forgot which one. Wouldn’t it be funny if it turned out that kangaroos can’t jump, since they’re known for jumping?”

BERDLY: “You two make no sense!… But, I’ll take your odd, off-topic responses as confirmation that I can host this team’s talent show!”

KOTOKO: “Hmph! It’s not polite to say a lady makes no sense!”

…

At the Team 5 dorm…

BUTTERS: “Fellers, fellers! I got an idea!”

BUTTERS: “Let’s say one of us could use our ULTIMATE TALENTS for the talent show!”

HAROLD: “Monokuma said we couldn’t do that.”

BUTTERS: “Oh… Right. Dang it, I thought I really had somethin’ there!”

NATSUKI: “Geez, you’re… W— Well, you’re only a kid; I shouldn’t be too hard on you— Forget I said anything!!!”

NOELLE: “…”

NOELLE: “…Uum, does anybody want to volunteer to do the talent show…?”

BUTTERS: “I don’t really wanna do it…”

HAROLD: “Beatboxing is but one of my many mad skills. I could probably amaze Monokuma by doing something else, like a magic trick or kung-fu.”

NATSUKI: “You?! Kung-fu?! No offense, but I doubt that someone like you could do that!”

NOELLE: “N— Natsuki…! Fahaha, that’s a little too far…!”

NATSUKI: “Uu… You’re… You’re right. Sorry, I guess…”

HAROLD: “Apology accepted.”

HAROLD: “Make sure to take this as a lesson in never judging a book by its cover. If you let me do the talent show, I promise you I could bewilder Monokuma with my mad kung-fu skills!”

NOELLE: “Uuh… Sure, Harold…”

BUTTERS: “Kung-fu?! Neato! I can’t wait to see that!!!”

NATSUKI: “W— Well, you better not lose…!”

…

After a while, Monokuma was heard over the loudspeaker:

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing, one, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ladies and gentlemen, practice time is officially OVER!!! Head over to the gymnasium and SHOW ME WHAT’CHA GOT!!!”

…

POV: Kaede Akamatsu

The team and I rushed to the gymnasium; I was grasping the holophoner.

To be frank, Fry’s lessons weren’t exactly comprehensible. He seemed to assume I knew most of his futuristic terms already, and kept going on tangents.

The rest of the teams entered shortly after, with Ayano being the very last to enter.

KOTOKO: “Ayano! There you are! It’s not nice to leave us like that!”

AYANO: “…”

Ayano didn’t respond to Kotoko’s statement, instead just walking next to the rest of her team.

JATARO: “Ohh… She’s ignoring us… Prolly ‘cause I’m on this team… Figures she’d hate me…”

MIDORI: “Yandere-chan’s like that around everyone!”

KYLE: “Who the fuck is Yandere-chan?”

AYANO: “She means me.”

MIDORI: “Mhm!!! It’s just a cute nickname I gave to Ayano!”

AYANO: “It’s not cute. Stop calling me that.”

LEELA: “If you guys are done bantering, can we talk about how Monokuma isn’t even here right now???”

With that, everybody looked around the gym. Like Leela said, Monokuma was nowhere—

MONOKUMA: “Whoops! I forgot to do that cool popping-up thing! My bad!!!”

Monokuma talked as he suddenly appeared from the gym’s stage.

KOKICHI: “There you areee~!!! Can we start the talent show already, I’m boreddd!!!”

NATSUKI: “Jeez, you sound like a bratty little kid!”

MONOKUMA: “Puhuhu… Wow, you’re really excited, arent’cha? Bet’cha can’t wait for someone to die~!!!”

KOKICHI: “Mhm-mhm! This Killing Game is GREAT, Monokuma~!”

DAISAKU: “Are you… Sucking up to Monokuma???”

NOELLE: “I— I think he’s being sarcastic…”

Before more banter could happened, Monokuma made a loud “AHEM!” which brought everyone’s attention back to the stage.

MONOKUMA: “Team 1 will go first!”

…

I played the holophoner to the best of my abilities. Although Fry’s advice wasn’t really good, my skills as a pianist made for a fairly decent performance… In my opinion, at least.

Team 2 went next, and Midori put on a one-person show for Monokuma.

Then came Team 3 with Mikan, who initially tried to put on a comedy routine but got heckled by Monokuma himself, causing her to profusely apologize for the rest of her performance.

Team 4 had Berdly reading from a book he wrote, and Team 5 had Harold performing surprisingly agile fighting movements.

…

Once the talent show ended, Monokuma simply yawned.

MONOKUMA: “Aargh, you were all so boring!!!”

MONOKUMA: “BUTTT… If I HAD to choose the MOST boring, it’d be… Drumroll…”

Monokuma faked a drumroll.

MANDY: “Just spit it out already!”

MONOKUMA: “Team 3!”

MIKAN: “W— What…?!”

MONOKUMA: “Yeahhh, your whole ‘woe-is-me’ shtick got old REALLY quickly…”

MIKAN: “But— But I wasn’t…”

Mikan trailed off.

DAISAKU: “G— Guys, let’s try not to blame Mikan for this… Blame Monokuma for being a meanie-poo!”

MONOKUMA: “Waa, maybe… Maybe YOU’RE the meanie-poo, huh?!?!”

Monokuma recieved a look of annoyance from most of us.

Chapter Text

After the challenge, we all retreated to our dorms.

IBUKI: “The challenge today made me wonder…”
IBUKI: “Who are the people who’re voting us?”

FRY: “Huh? What do you mean?”

IBUKI: “Like, ya’know how Monokuma tallies up the ‘votes’ he gets on who should be killed?”

LEELA: “I’ve wondered as well. Who the hell would willingly vote on who gets to die?”

FRY: “Maybe Monokuma’s just making those numbers up!”

KOKICHI: “Why would he do that?”

KAEDE: “Huh?”

KOKICHI: “There’s no reason for him to make up numbers.”

KOKICHI: “If you wanna say he’s pretending to be fair— Why would he do that? He doesn’t care.”

KAEDE: “That— That’s wrong! No way other people willingly vote for our deaths! I refuse to believe it!”

KOKICHI: “Monokuma seems to be enjoying it. Is it really that hard to believe others are, too?”

LEELA: “Oh, lord… Cut it out, you two! It’s almost nighttime, and—“

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing! One, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It is now 10 PM. As such, it is officially nighttime!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Soon, the doors to the dining hall and gymnasium will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited.”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite…”

IBUKI: “Gwahh!!! Leela, are you psychic?!”

LEELA: “No, I’m just used to when nighttime announcement plays.”

KOKICHI: “That’s kinda sad!”

IBUKI: “That’s-a pretty-pretty sad, yeah!!! Meant you’ve gotten used to the Killing Game!”

KAEDE: “Kokichi, Ibuki, stop it!”

I sighed.

KAEDE: “Let’s just… Go to bed, alright? We’ll feel better in the morning.”

FRY: “Someone’s gonna die in the morning!”

KAEDE: “…”

KAEDE: “We have to remain positive.”

And with that, I sighed and sat down on my bed, eventually drifting asleep.

…

…

…

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! Testing, testing, one, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It’s morning time, and the votes are in!!! Team 3, report to the gymnasium IMMEDIATELY!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Other teams are not permitted in the gym, but are more than welcome to watch the gym’s live footage through their Monopad!”

KAEDE: “Already—?!”

FRY: “Told ya so!”

LEELA: “Fry!!!”

FRY: “Sorry!”

KOKICHI: “Nooo, Fry, keep going! Keep going about how Kaede is a dumb bimbo~!”

FRY: “What?!”

KAEDE: “WHAT?!?! Kokichi, how— How dare you—!”

The Monopad lit up.

Once again, it displayed Monokuma in front of a board. Crude drawings of the Team 3 members were at the top.

My team went silent as we watched the Monopad in fearful anticipation.

MONOKUMA: “Team 3, you lost last night’s challenge, which means you’re UP FOR ELIMINATION!!!”

MANDY: “Obviously; get on with it!”

DAISAKU: “Eh? Why are you in such a rush???”

MIKAN: “C— Could it be that… You hate me?!?!”

MIKAN: “If I did anything wrong, then… From the bottom of my heart, I— I sincerely apologize…!!!”

HIYOKO: “Shut up, Pigbarf! Let the stupid bear get on with the votes so you get executed!”

MIKAN: “What?!?! W— Why me?!”

MONACA: “Monaca thinks Hiyoko said that because you made us lose the challenge!”

MANDY: “The Cartman kid was the first to die, even though Butters made them lose.”

MANDY: “The votes seem to be less about who loses the challenge and more about who’s the meanest.”

DAISAKU: “Uwa… N— Not to be rude, but you’re not exactly the nicest yourself, Mandy…”

MONOKUMA: “QUIETTT!!!”

Team 3 stopped bickering; Monokuma put one tally mark over drawing-Daisaku and one over drawing-Mandy.

MONOKUMA: “Daisaku and Mandy only got one vote each, so they’re safe!!!”

He put three tally marks over drawing-Mikan.

MONOKUMA: “Mikan is safe with three votes!”

MONOKUMA: “…”

MONOKUMA: “Monaca, Hiyoko, one of you will be eliminated.”

Hiyoko audibly whimpered.

MONOKUMA: “The person who will be eliminated today is…”

Monokuma tallied up Monaca and Hiyoko’s votes.

MONOKUMA: “…Monaca Towa, the Li’l Ultimate Homeroom.”

MONACA: “W… What…?”

MIKAN: “I— I— I’m so sorry that it had to end this way, Monaca! I know it should have been me who died instead of you!!!”

MANDY: “Monaca, huh? Can’t say I expected that.”

MONACA: “…”

I heard footsteps. Monaca casually walked up to the gym’s stage, smiling.

She looked… Empty, somehow. Like a husk of the Monaca I had met on the first day.

MONACA: “Monaca has an announcement, and you better listen!”

MONACA: “I wasn’t going to reveal this until later, but, seeing as I’ll die soon, I have no other choice.”

MONACA: “Monaca knows who started the Killing Game. It was a classmate. Someone on a team.”

DAISAKU: “Wha—?! Who?!?!”

MONACA: “…It wouldn’t be fun it Monaca snitched.”

HIYOKO: “Seriously?! Who cares about ‘snitching’, telling us who started this game could literally save our lives, you selfish, ungrateful brat!!!”

Monaca said nothing at all, and just kept smiling silently until a claw grabbed her and forcibly dragged her to another room.

The Monopad’s feed cut to that room.

It looked like an elementary school’s room, with Monokuma sitting at the teacher’s desk.

Monaca didn’t move.

After a bit, the room around her began to crumble, and a particularly large piece of the building lands on Monaca’s back, injuring her.

Monaca perked her head up.

Another piece landed on Monaca’s head.

Monaca’s arm twitched frantically.

Then she stopped moving altogether.

The Monopad turned off.

Chapter Text

IBUKI: “Holy crap!!!”

KOKICHI: “Bahaha!!!”

FRY: “Why are you laughing?!”

Kokichi shrugged and giggled childishly.

KOKICHI: “I’unno!”

Everyone in the room looked at Kokichi, except for Leela— surprisingly.

LEELA: “Poor Monaca… She was just a child.”

KOKICHI: “Eh? You’re not gonna pummel me anymore?”

LEELA: “Oh, Lord… I’ll do it later.”

FRY: “I dunno why you’d even ask that, Kokichi…”

FRY: “But, uh, yeah, it’s sad that Monaca died, but didn’t Cartman die, too?”

LEELA: “Cartman, yes…”

LEELA: "..."

Leela didn’t say anything else.

KAEDE: “I— I know things are sad right now, Leela, but they’ll get better! We— We just have to believe in ourselves, and we’ll beat

—“

LEELA: “Shut the hell up!”

KAEDE: “Huh—?!”

LEELA: “You seem like a nice enough girl, but don’t you understand that your attitude seems pretty insensitive in this situation?”

LEELA: “I’m sad; someone died, and I deserve to be sad!”

KAEDE: “…”

KAEDE: “…I’m sorry.”

Leela sighed.

LEELA: “Thank you.”

Another awkward pause.

KOKICHI: “Buuut, why was Monaca’s death the one that made you snap, huh, huuuh?! You’re pretty badass, you should be able to handle a little death!”

KOKICHI: “I mean, if anything, you should’ve snapped at the death of your ugly-idiot-french-fry-boyfriend!”

Kokichi gestured towards Fry; who waved happily.

LEELA: “Fry won’t die. I won’t let him.”

FRY: “Y— Yeah!”

KOKICHI: “Ohhh, that’s adorable! It almost makes me wanna NOT remind you that you don’t have a choice who dies or not~!”

KOKICHI: “Almost.”

IBUKI: “Uaaagh… Are we just gonna stay in this room bickering all day, or can we go outside to the dining hall? I’m-a STARVIN’!!!”

KAEDE: “Ibuki, nobody is forcing you to stay here, eheh…”

Ibuki opened her mouth wide in shock for a good while, then bolted out the dorm immediately after.

FRY: “She’s fast.”

KOKICHI: “Wowww, really? I wouldn’t have known if it weren’t for your extremely high intellect!”

FRY: “Um… Are you being sarcastic?”

KOKICHI: “I dunnooo~!”

KAEDE: “…Hm…”

KAEDE: “I’m probably gonna hang out with some other people a little more— N— No offense, though! I just wanna get to know them better…”

Leela nodded affirmably.

LEELA: “It’s fine, Kaede. I’ll probably get going, too. Sierra and Midori invited me to hang out with them the other day… I wonder what they’re up to.”

LEELA: “Goodbye.”

When Leela exited, Fry suddenly frantically stood up, raising his arm upwards.

FRY: “And I’ll come with!”

Fry left in a hurry, leaving me alone with Kokichi.

KOKICHI: “So, Kaede—“

I exited before Kokichi could finish his sentence.

( FREE TIME )

He has his quirks, but Daisaku seems like a really nice guy. I wonder what he’s up to!

I entered the Team 3 dorm, assuming he was in there. When I entered, instead of seeing Daisaku…

MIKAN: “H— H— Here’s your water, Lord Mandy—!!!”

MANDY: “Stop shaking. It’s going to spill the water.”

MIKAN: “I’m so sorry, Mandy— I mean, Lord Mandy!!! Please forgive me!”

MANDY: “And cut it out with all that ‘please forgive me’ junk. I don’t DO forgiveness.”

MIKAN: “I— I understand, Lord Mandy—! I’ll do my best to satisfy you!”

KAEDE: “I— What’s going on?!”

MIKAN: “Kaede! Oh, um, h— hello…!”

MIKAN: “Lord Mandy, um, r— requested I get some water for her…!”

KAEDE: “‘LORD Mandy’?”

MIKAN: “W— Well, you see… She, um, requested I call her ‘Lord Mandy’…!”

KAEDE: “What?!?!”

Mandy crossed her arms and stared directly at me… For some reason, there was something about this little girl that made me terrified of what she was capable of.

MANDY: “Soon enough, everyone will call me ‘Lord Mandy’, and—“

Mandy stopped for a few seconds, putting her hand on her chin and looking away.

MANDY: “Hm. On second thought, you— You guys don’t have to… Call me that.”

When she spoke, her frown was even more prominent than before, and she was visibly struggling to get the words out.

MIKAN: “Are— Are you sure, um, Lord Mandy? Or— Or should I just call you ‘Mandy’ now…? I’ll call you anything you want me to…!”

MANDY: “Ugh. Whatever. Just call me ‘Mandy’.”

MIKAN: “…Thank you, M— Mandy… You’re really nice…!!!”

MANDY: “Shut up.”

KAEDE: “…”

KAEDE: “Um… Anyway!…”

KAEDE: “I hate to be a bother, but does anyone know where Daisaku is?”

MANDY: “He’s probably in the gymnasium. He likes going there.”

KAEDE: “Oh—! Thank you so much, Mandy!”

I waited for Mandy to respond, but she just glared at me, so I waved goodbye and left to the gym. 

…

I entered the gym, and…

DAISAKU: “Come on, throw the ball!”

HAROLD: “Because of your height, I don’t think it’s very plausible that I’ll be able to score; you’d be able to block it too easily.”

HAROLD: “I’m trying to articulate a location in which it would be hardest for you to block my throw.”

DAISAKU: “A blind man can choose not to listen!”

HAROLD: “What?”

DAISAKU: “Oops, sorry! It’s a saying I just made!”

DAISAKU: “It means ‘please, just throw the ball already’!”

KAEDE: “…”

DAISAKU: “Oh, Kaede, hi!”

KAEDE: “Hey, guys! Mind if I hang out with you two?”

KAEDE: “Oh, but it’s alright if you two are busy right now—!”

HAROLD: “You can hang out with us.”

DAISAKU: “Of course! You know what they say— Curiosity satisfies the fish!”

KAEDE: “Huh?”

DAISAKU: “Just another saying of mine!”

HAROLD: “What does that one mean?”

DAISAKU: “Um… I have no idea, teehee!”

I laughed softly and smiled.

…

The three of us continued to talk to each other; Harold never threw the ball.

Daisaku, Harold, and I grew a little closer today.

Chapter Text

My interaction with Daisaku and Harold lasted until about dinnertime… I only realized how much time had passed once I heard my stomach growl.

KAEDE: “Ah… I guess I’m hungry.”

HAROLD: “That makes sense. It’s six o’clock. PM, I mean.”

KAEDE: “It is?!”

DAISAKU: “Already?!”

DAISAKU: “Phew! Time really flew by, huh?”

KAEDE: “It sure did, eheh…”

HAROLD: “Well, if you feel hungry, you should get something to eat.”

HAROLD: “Skipping meals can lead to irregular digestion patterns and nutrient deficiencies, among other things.”

DAISAKU: “Woa… You’re really smart, Harold…!”

KAEDE: “I… I guess I’ll go to the kitchen, then, eheh… Do you guys wanna come with?”

HAROLD: “Oh, I’m not hungry. I had my dinner early.”

DAISAKU: “Mmn, I usually have my dinner a bit later; sorry, Kaede!”

KAEDE: “Ah— No worries! It was really fun hanging out with you guys!”

I waved goodbye to them and went into the dining hall.

…

I entered the dining hall. There were good amount of classmates there, but the ones who stood out to me the most were…

JATARO: “…Oh, and I once tried to eat bird skin. I cried cooking it a bunch of times, but it wasn’t yummy. Also, I wonder is aliens exists.”

Leela chuckled.

LEELA: “You tried eating bird skin? Why?”

JATARO: “Oh, I saw a bird and I thought he looked tasty ‘cause he reminded me of candy ‘cause he was pink-colored like cotton candy and—“

JATARO: “I’m boring you, aren’t I? Figures you’d be grossed out by someone disgusting like me.”

LEELA: “I don’t hate you.”

Jataro’s eyes widened.

JATARO: “What?… Oh, you must be lying, huh? You wanna get my hopes up just so you can tease me, ‘cause you hate me that much.”

LEELA: “What?!”

LEELA: “Jataro, why do you think everybody hates you so much?”

JATARO: “‘Cause it’s true… And I wonder if elephants can jump.”

LEELA: “It’s not true, and they can’t.”

I observed Leela and Jataro for a few more moments, before finally walking up to them.

KAEDE: “Hi! Mind if I sit with you two?”

LEELA: “If it’s okay with Jataro, sure!”

JATARO: “If someone were blind and deaf, what would they dream about?”

KAEDE: “Er… Is that a yes or a no?”

JATARO: “I wonder why the person who made ‘pen’ decided to call it that. I think someone should make another word for ‘pen’.”

JATARO: “But you can sit here, Kaede. Doubt you’d want to, though, since you hate me sooo much…”

KAEDE: “I don’t—“

LEELA: “Jataro, nobody here hates you…”

JATARO: “Hehehe…”

I ignored Jataro’s creepy chuckle and sat myself down across from him and Leela.

…

The three of us talked for a while, listening to Jataro’s odd ramblings whenever he talked.

Jataro, Leela, and I grew a little closer today.

…

After a bit—

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LEELA: “Oh, lord.”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing, one, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! Get yer butts to the gym A-S-A-P!!! The next challenge is waiting~!”

JATARO: “Ohhh?”

KAEDE: “Ugh… Another one.”

Begrudgingly, we all entered the gym.

Chapter Text

We entered the gym…

MONOKUMA: “Today’s challenge is a cooking contest!”

MONOKUMA: “Y’see, we’ve been here for who-knows-how-long, and I haven’t eaten since we got here!!! And you know who’s fault THAT is?!”

HIYOKO: “Yours, obviously!”

MONOKUMA: “Huh? Nah, nah, it’s you guys’ fault.”

BUTTERS: “Er, how?”

Monokuma ignored Butters’ question, continuing on as if the boy hadn’t said anything.

MONOKUMA: “Each team will have the kitchen all to themselves for ten minutes to create a meal. Once the ten minutes are up, they’ll have to bring the meal to me so I can eat it!”

MONOKUMA: “I’ll rate the meal on scale of one-to-ten, and announce over the loudspeaker which team can go next.”

MONOKUMA: “Of course, whoever gets the worst rating will lose the challenge and—“

NATSUKI: “Wait— Ten minutes?! We only get ten minutes to make you a meal?! Are you out of your mind?!”

MONOKUMA: “NOW you ask that?! Girlie, you should know by now that I’m not exactly the most normal headmaster!!!”

NATSUKI: “Uu… I— I know that, but, still—!!!”

MONOKUMA: “ANYWAY!”

Monokuma interrupted, raising a clawed paw.

MONOKUMA: “Team 1 will get the kitchen first. I’ll be staying here in the gym, so make sure to come here for when the thirty minutes are—“

My team and I bolted out to the kitchen before Monokuma could finish.

…

POV: None

…

In the kitchen…

IBUKI: “Huff… Puff… Ibuki’s tired alreadyyy!!!”

LEELA: “Oh, stop it. It wasn’t that far of a run.”

LEELA: “Anyway… We should first decide on what meal to make.”

Kokichi rummaged through the kitchen.

KOKICHI: “Hm… There’s a lot of candy in the pantry! Why don’t we just give him some shitty box of chocolates and call it a day?”

FRY: “But we’d lose the challenge!”

KOKICHI: “Relaaax, it’s not like you’d be the one to die if our team is up for elimination. Well-meaning dumbasses are always the fan-favorites!”

FRY: “Uh… Thank you?”

KOKICHI: “See what I mean?! That type’a idiotic statement is hard to hate~!”

FRY: “Uh… Are you— Flirting with me???”

LEELA: “Well! Anyway!!!”

LEELA: “I don’t think candy classifies as a meal, but…”

LEELA: “Maybe making a dessert for the stupid bear would satisfy him?”

IBUKI: “Hm… Ibuki doesn’t know if 15 minutes is enough time to bake a cake.”

FRY: “It’s not like we have a lot of time to think about what to bake…”

KOKICHI: “Mhm! Let’s bake a cake~ Come on— Come on— Come onnn~!”

IBUKI: “Mmn… Alrighty, fine! But only ‘cause it was funny when you repeated ‘come on’!”

FRY: “Funny? How?”

KOKICHI: “You wouldn’t get it, Fry.”

LEELA: “…Cake it is, then.”

…

The fifteen minutes passed by quicker than Team 1 expected, and they ended up with a half-baked cake.

Ibuki was the one tasked with delivering the cake, despite Fry wanting himself to deliver it. (“I’M the delivery boy!” He protested.)

Monokuma rated the meal a solid seven-out-of-ten, and announced over the loudspeaker that Team 2 was up next.

…

Midori smiled innocently, clasping her hands together in excitement.

MIDORI: “So, so, so! What do you guys wanna make?”

KYLE: “Grr… I just wanna get this shit over with. These stupid challenges always piss me off.”

AXEL: “Seriously! These challenges suck balls. He should make me decide the challenges, instead!”

BENATAR: “Right, I think we’re getting off track ‘ere.”

BENATAR: “D’you reckon Monokuma would fancy somethin’ like fish an’ chips?”

MIDORI: “Benatar, you sound more British than usual!”

AXEL: “Yeah, yeah, we can all make fun of Benatar’s stupid accent later.”

AXEL: “The bear would just want a fish, right? He wouldn’t give a balls about the ‘chips’, so we don’t need ‘em!”

KYLE: “I still don’t really understand HOW a robot can eat anything in the first place…”

MIDORI: “Magic, duh! We’re all in a video game!!!”

KYLE: “…Sure we are.”

…

Team 2 had decided on giving Monokuma a slightly-cooked fish, which Monokuma enjoyed a lot. It was a perfect ten-out-of-ten, according to him.

Once again, Monokuma made an announcement over the loudspeaker about how Team 3 was up next.

…

DAISAKU: “…”

HIYOKO: “…”

MANDY: “…”

MIKAN: “…”

MIKAN: “…Uhm… So… I— I’m sorry for speaking up, but, uhm—“

HIYOKO: “Gross! Who said YOU could talk?!?!”

MIKAN: “I’m so sorry—! I— I didn’t mean to make you mad; please, let me make it up to you!”

HIYOKO: “Yeah, yeah, whatever!”

HIYOKO: “Make yourself useful and bake something already!”

MANDY: “Cool it. We still don’t know what to make yet.”

DAISAKU: “Oh, I have an idea! Why don’t we make him a… Well, you know what they say—“

MANDY: “Your stupid phrases aren’t making this challenge any easier.”

MANDY: “…Let’s just make him a sandwich.”

HIYOKO: “Wowww, Mandy, for once on your life, you said something NOT completely braindead!”

MIKAN: “I— I can make the, uhm, sandwich, if— If you want…!”

DAISAKU: “Ehh? You shouldn’t have to do every challenge all by yourself!”

DAISAKU: “…Plus, you DID lose the last one…”

HIYOKO: “Oh, Mikan can make the sandwich this time… I have something special planned that’ll guarantee our victory, so it won’t matter how shitty Mikan’s sandwich-making is!”

MIKAN: “Uu— Hiyoko—!!! I— I— I’m really sorry if my sandwich turns out to be really bad!!!”

HIYOKO: “Yeah? Well, it’s fine.”

HIYOKO: “‘Cause that means next time we lose, YOU’LL be voted out for screwing everything up!!!”

MANDY: “Idiot, talking like that will just guarantee your death more than Mikan.”

Mandy thought for a moment, then shrugged.

MANDY: “Uuh… Then again, I don’t really care.”

…

So, it was decided— Mikan was once again tasked with singlehandedly doing the challenge; this time wasn’t as hard, though, since she only really had to make a sandwich.

She was also tasked with bringing the sandwich to Monokuma, which she did— Surprisingly without tripping.

Next was Team 4.

…

KOTOKO: “I think we should make a pastry! It’d be super-duper adorbs!”

AYANO: “I agree.”

BERDLY: “Ditto.”

JATARO: “Me, too…”

SIERRA: “Mhm!”

KOTOKO: “You can’t change my mind on this; it’s clear you’re too—“

KOTOKO: “Wait, wha—? You agree with me?!”

BERDLY: “Is that not what you wanted, Utsugi?”

KOTOKO: “Well, duh, but I didn’t expect ADULTS of all people to be on board!”

JATARO: “Ohhh, I’m not an adult… Does that mean you forgot about me?”

JATARO: “That makes sense, since I’m sooo forgettable and ugly, your brain just blocks me out, guehehe!”

SIERRA: “Jataro, why do you always insult yourself?”

JATARO: “Whaa?”

AYANO: “That seems sudden…”

SIERRA: “Well, I just wanted to know! He seems to be, like, really obsessed with the idea that everyone hates him!”

SIERRA: “Jataro! Nobody hates you, LOL!”

JATARO: “…Nnn…”

AYANO: “For now, we should focus on making pastries. You can deal with Jataro later, Sierra.”

Sierra pouted, looking away from Ayano.

SIERRA: “Ugh, fine…”

…

Team 4 made the pastries, but the time limit was up before they could be cooked well.

Ayano reluctantly delivered a tray of underbaked pastries to Monokuma.

Last but not least was Team 5.

…

BUTTERS: “Boy, what should we make for Mister Monokuma, fellers?”

NATSUKI: “Well, unlike the other teams, *I* actually know how to bake stuff!”

HAROLD: “But the time limit is really unfair… Only ten minutes.”

HAROLD: “Unfortunately, my mad ninja skills can only get me so far in challenges like this.”

NOELLE: “Your… Mad ninja skills?”

NATSUKI: “Ugh, now’s not the time to play pretend— We only have ten minutes!”

HAROLD: “I’m not playing pretend.”

BUTTERS: “Fellers, fellers! We’ve gotta stop arguin’ and make somethin’ for Monokuma!”

NOELLE: “What about cookies?”

Natsuki put her hands on her hips and grinned smugly.

NATSUKI: “Actually, while you weirdos were arguing, I actually prepared some cookie batter!”

NOELLE: “Already?!”

NATSUKI: “Uu, well— I— It’s not fully stirred yet, but it’s not like it matters!”

BUTTERS: “W— Well, actually, that seems like it’d matter a lot…”

NATSUKI: “Hmph. Well, I’m not gonna argue with a little kid…!”

…

Because of the time limit, Team 5 was just left with a pile of barely-cooked cookie dough to give to Monokuma.

Harold was to deliver it, but when he walked down the hallway…

HAROLD: “No! The cookie dough!”

HIYOKO: “Hahaha!!! You loser; it was so easy to trip you, too!”

HIYOKO: “I should do it again later!!!”

HAROLD: “Gosh, that is SO NOT COOL!”

HIYOKO: “YOU’RE not cool!!!”

HAROLD: “Ugh…”

Harold got up and picked up the empty tray, not bothering to clean up the cookie dough on the floor. He delivered the tray to Monokuma with no comment.

…

POV: Kaede Akamatsu

…

I was in my team’s dorm with Fry, Leela, and Ibuki when I heard noise coming from the loudspeaker—

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! This is a school announcement.”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Well, it should go without saying that the losing team is… Team 5!!!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Like, seriously, what were you THINKING giving me an empty tray?!?!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Anyway!!! It is now 10 PM. As such, it is officially nighttime!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Soon, the doors to the dining hall and gymnasium will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited.”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite…”

Monokuma finally shut up, leaving me confused and concerned.

Even though my team wasn’t up for elimination, it’s still terrifying whenever one of my kind-of-classmates has a chance of dying.

Chapter Text

I tried to drift off to sleep after the announcement, but was woken up when I heard shuffling coming from the room after who-knows-how-long.

I was about to try and find some sort of light source until I heard the door close abruptly.

Curious, I exited the room myself, and found…

KAEDE: “Fry?”

He jumped at the sound of his name, obviously startled.

FRY: “Kaede—!”

KAEDE: “Fry…? It’s the middle of the night, what are you doing out?”

Fry scratched the back of his neck nervously, slumping a bit and smiling.

FRY: “Hey, sorry if I scared you. I found a note saying to meet in the gym around this time. I think someone dropped it, or something.”

KAEDE: “Uh… I— I don’t think that note was meant for you, Fry…”

FRY: “But it might be! You know, I’ll never know until I go.”

FRY: “You can come with me, if you want… Maybe the note was meant for you!”

KAEDE: “I…”

Truth be told, I had a weird feeling about this, but I put my bad thoughts aside— I can to stay positive, after all…

KAEDE: “…Alright, I’ll come.”

KAEDE: “Just— Let’s be careful, okay?”

I smiled, and Fry smiled back.

FRY: “‘Careful’ is my middle name! Wait, no it isn’t— But if it were, it would make sense ‘cause I’m so careful all the time!”

Fry nonchalantly walked down the hallway. I followed.

We entered the gym and saw…

KAEDE: “Kotoko?!”

KOTOKO: “Kaede? FRY?! What are you two doing here?!”

FRY: “Well, I saw a note on the floor saying to meet in the gym, and—“

KOTOKO: “Well, it wasn’t for you! You’re SO not adorbs!”

FRY: “Hey!”

KAEDE: “Um, but— But who WAS the note for, Kotoko?”

KOTOKO: “Mandy!”

KAEDE: “Mandy? But— Why her?”

KOTOKO: “Because I have a dress that she would look SUPER adorbs in!”

FRY: “Why would you wanna give Mandy a dress in the middle of the night?”

Kotoko looked down, suddenly flustered.

KOTOKO: “W— Well, I was also thinking we could, um, hang out me a bit— Just the two of us…”

FRY: “But why make it all secretive???”

KOTOKO: “Because! I don’t want any stupid adults getting in the way of a girls’ night!!!”

KAEDE: “…”

KAEDE: “I… Kotoko, adults aren’t all bad—“

Kotoko interrupted me with an irritated groan.

KOTOKO: “Ugh!!! You sound JUST like a stupid, smelly, demon adult right now!!!”

FRY: “Huh, should we go, then?”

KOTOKO: “YES! And tell Mandy I said hi!”

FRY: “But it’s the middle of the night!”

KAEDE: “Uum, I— I can tell her in the morning! She’s probably sleeping right now…”

That made Kotoko pout.

FRY: “Can we go back to bed?”

KOTOKO: “You’re the one who came here in the first place!”

Fry’s eyes widened a bit at Kotoko’s words. He chuckled upon the realization.

FRY: “Ohh, haha, I forgot!”

FRY: “See’ya, then!”

Fry waved and casually walked back.

KAEDE: “Ah— I should go, too.”

Feeling bad for barging in, I bowed at her.

KAEDE: “I’m… Very sorry for intruding, Kotoko!”

KOTOKO: “…”

Kotoko tilted her head at me and smiled.

KOTOKO: “Well, at least you apologized.”

KOTOKO: “Plus, I *guess* the gym isn’t really a private room…”

I said my goodbyes to Kotoko and went back to my team’s dorm to fall asleep until morning.

…

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! Testing, testing, one, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It’s morning time, and the votes are in!!! Team 5, report to the gymnasium IMMEDIATELY!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Other teams are not permitted in the gym, but are more than welcome to watch the gym’s live footage through their Monopad!”

..

I could hear Fry groan at the announcement, likely still tired from the whole event that happened in the middle of the night.

KOKICHI: “Hey— Hey— Fry? You okay? You alright? You look tired!!! That’s not in-character! You’re supposed to be charmingly oblivious~! Stop breaking character!”

Fry blinked.

FRY: “…Huh?”

LEELA: “Shut up, Kokichi.”

I looked at Leela, she was carefully watching the Monopad’s screen. I peeked over to look at her screen. It showed the gym— So far, none of the Team 5 members seemed to have arrived.

LEELA: “You have your own tablet, Kaede.”

KAEDE: “Ah— Sorry!”

IBUKI: “Uh-oh… Execution time!!!”

Ibuki was looking at her own Monopad, too. I didn’t take a proper look at Kokichi or Fry, but I’d assume they were doing the same.

…I was stalling for time, I realized. I really didn’t want to witness another execution, but I couldn’t just ignore it!

By the time I actually looked at my own Monopad, Monokuma was already tallying up the votes on that damn board.

MONOKUMA: “Natsuki is safe with five votes!”

Monokuma tallied Natsuki’s votes.

NATSUKI: “Eh?! Who’s voting for me— Who’s voting for ANY of us?!?!”

BUTTERS: “Well, m— maybe Monokuma’s got li’l critter friends that want us to die? I— I don’t really understand…”

MONOKUMA: “AHEM!”

BUTTERS: “I’m sorry!”

NATSUKI: “Hmph…”

MONOKUMA: “ANYWAY!”

MONOKUMA: “Noelle is safe with seven votes!”

NOELLE: “Ah…”

NATSUKI: “At least we’re safe…”

HAROLD: “So either me or Butters will die today.”

MONOKUMA: “…The person who will be executed today is…”

MONOKUMA: “Harold McGrady V, the Ultimate Beatboxer.”

HAROLD: “WHAT?!”

MONOKUMA: “Any last words, Harold?”

Monokuma snickered, and Harold inhaled like he was about to say something. Before he could talk, though, a claw grabbed him and pulled him to another room.

Once again, the camera cut to wherever the claw dragged Harold to— His own personal execution room.

This one started like Puff-Puff’s: a microphone dropped from above. Harold was confused, but didn’t pick it up.

He just stared at the microphone blankly for a bit until—

Harold was shot. Someone or something shot him in his left leg. He tripped and fell, looking more confused than before, but also terrified.

He was shot again in the arm, and he hissed. Another shot, in his right leg, caused him to screech.

He used his good arm to pick up the microphone and starting rapping, I think?— I can only imagine he did so because it was the only thing he could do, and there was a slim chance of his singing stopping the shooting… Or something.

Whether it was coincidental or not, the gunshots actually stopped when he started rapping… But Harold was looking increasingly weaker due to the rapid blood loss caused by the wounds.

For some reason, he stopped what he was doing to try and tend to his wounds. Basically the second he let go of the microphone, he was shot in the forehead.

It was traumatizing, and I hated that something like this has happened four times now.

I needed to get out of here.

WE needed to get out of here.

Chapter Text

FRY: “Wait— Why’d he stop singing?”

IBUKI: “He was too hurt to sing!”

KOKICHI: “Well, that’s four deaths now, huh~? Bummerrr…”

KAEDE: “Kokichi, that’s—!”

Noise emitted from the Monopad; our attention diverted.

MONOPAD: “Hm… By the way, you maaay wanna explore the school a li’l bit more! Not to spoil anything, but some things may have changed around here~!!!”

The Monopad turned off, leaving me and my team members confused.

IBUKI: “Huuuh?!”

LEELA: “What does that even mean?”

KOKICHI: “Hmm? It means new rooms have opened up, dummy!”

KAEDE: “There was a staircase leading up to something before, but it was barred up… Maybe it got, um, un-barred?”

LEELA: “That would make sense. I doubted the stupid bear would keep a second floor locked forever, anyway.”

FRY: “Why doubt it? The bear is evil, after all…”

IBUKI: “Well, either way, I’m itching to see the new floor! It’s like I got them ants in my pants, yeah-yeah-yeah!!!”

I nodded at Ibuki, smiling. I really didn’t know how to respond to her sometimes.

IBUKI: “C’mon-c’mon— Let’s go!!!”

She ran out the dorm before I could even say anything. Leela stood up soon after.

LEELA: “I’m going to check out the new floor. Fry, you’re coming.”

FRY: “Mmkay!”

She turned towards me.

LEELA: “I think you should investigate, too, Kaede.”

KAEDE: “Ah— Yeah!”

I nodded. Leela nodded back and exited, taking Fry with her.

It was just me and Kokichi now. Kokichi was surprisingly silent, so I left to see the new floor.

…

It surprised me how big the second floor’s rooms seemed to be! Curious, I entered a random room.

KAEDE: “A library?”

MANDY: “Could you keep it down? I’m trying to read.”

KAEDE: “Oh— Sorry…!”

So far, library looked fairly standard, but I wanted to explore every nook and cranny.

I noticed a door. I curiously walked closed to the door to open it, and…

AYANO: “It’s locked.”

I hadn’t realized Ayano was right behind me until just now. Startled, I flinched.

KAEDE: “Ayano—!”

AYANO: “I startled you.”

KAEDE: “Ah… Y— Yes, you did; sorry.”

AYANO: “It’s fine. But, like I said, the door you’re trying to open is locked.”

AYANO: “You could try forcing it open, but I’d advise against it. That being said, there’s nothing in the Monopad’s rules that explicitly says you aren’t allowed to do so.”

I thought on Ayano’s words; she seemed to take notice of that and opened her mouth to speak until Mandy interrupted.

MANDY: “I swear, if either of you says even one more word, I’ll beat you.”

We both looked back at Mandy, though Ayano’s gaze seemed more angry than confused.

MANDY: “You two can talk later. This IS a library, you know.”

Ayano didn’t respond, instead just walking out of the room.

KAEDE: “Mandy, that’s—“

MANDY: “Leave.”

KAEDE: “Fine…”

I was pretty much done exploring the place, anyway. I just wished that girl could learn manners.

…

I entered another room, and—

MIDORI: “A pool?!”

SIERRA: “OMG, do we even have swimsuits?!”

MIDORI: “Maybe there’s a changing room?!”

SIERRA: “OMG, I wish Cody was here!!!”

KAEDE: “Oh— Sierra, Midori?”

MIDORI: “Oh? Hi, Kaede~!”

SIERRA: “Guten tag! Haha, that’s German for ‘good day’!”

KAEDE: “Good day to you, too…!”

MIDORI: “…I have a question!”

MIDORI: “What kind of school has a pool, anyway…?

SIERRA: “IDK… Guess anything is possible in a place like this!”

MIDORI: “We should go swimming later!!!”

SIERRA: “I wonder if Monokuma gave us swimsuits to change into!”

MIDORI: “I hope he did— You’d look SO cute in a frilly swimsuit!”

SIERRA: “OMG, thank youuu!”

KAEDE: “…”

It was cute that the two had developed some sort of acquaintance, but part of me felt like a third wheel now in this situation…

…

There was only one more room on this floor that I hadn’t explored yet… Guess I should enter.

KAEDE: “An… Infirmary”

NATSUKI: “Is this some sort of cruel joke? Monokuma probably put this here to piss us off!”

NOELLE: “Huh?”

NATSUKI: “Like hell Monokuma would give a shit about our health— He’s put us in a fucking death game!!!”

NOELLE: “N— Natsuki…”

KAEDE: “Maybe Monokuma didn’t even make this school himself! He— He probably just stole some random school!”

NATSUKI: “I… Well— I— Never really put much thought into it!”

NOELLE: “…Ah, that reminded me of something— There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you…”

NATSUKI: “Eh?”

KAEDE: “Ah— Should I leave…? This seems private—“

NOELLE: “Ah, no— I— I was asking you, too, Kaede… K— Kind of.”

NOELLE: “Well— A lot of humans here have been surprised at my appearance…”

NATSUKI: “Sorry, geez…”

NOELLE: “Ah— No— Don’t be sorry!”

NOELLE: “I just meant…”

NOELLE: “Are… Are we from different universes?”

NOELLE: “Sorry; that sounds silly, but—“

NATSUKI: “We’re probably from different universes.”

NOELLE: “Huh—?”

NATSUKI: “In my universe, monsters don’t exist…”

KAEDE: “Mine, too… I actually talked to Leela a while ago, and found out that she was from the future…”

KAEDE: “I don’t really know how that works, but…”

NATSUKI: “Eh? Leela? She’s the cyclops, right?”

NATSUKI: “I’m surprised you got her to say anything about herself.… Whatever.”

NOELLE: “Huh?”

NATSUKI: “She just— Seems pretty secretive! It— It’s not like I was ever prodding her for information, or anything, but…”

KAEDE: “But what?”

NATSUKI: “It’s nothing— Just— I tried talking to her once, and she was a total jerk…!!!”

KAEDE: “A jerk???”

KAEDE: “I… She’s strict, but I wouldn’t call her a ‘jerk’. You two probably just got off on the wrong foot.”

NATSUKI: “…”

NATSUKI: “I was trying to be nice… It’s her fault she took it the wrong way! But…”

NATSUKI: “I GUESS I could apologize, if it makes her less of a jerk…”

NOELLE: “W— What did you even say to her…?”

NATSUKI: “Nothing, jeez!”

NOELLE: “Sorry…”

NATSUKI: “It’s… Fine, I guess. I’m sorry for being kinda mean about it.”

…

The conversation had ended soon after that. After a bit, I said my goodbyes to Noelle and Natsuki and went back to my team’s dorm.

Chapter Text

There were two options for how I could spend the rest of my day— Staying in my team’s dorm and hoping I drift asleep, or actually going out and spending time with others.

This room was already getting me sad, so I decided to spend some of my free time with someone.

( FREE TIME )

I haven’t spent much time with Ayano yet…

I looked for her and eventually found her in the gym.

AYANO: “Did you need something?”

Hm… Should I ask Ayano to hang out?

> YES

> NO

( You selected “YES”. )

AYANO: “If you want to, sure.”

…

I spent some time with Ayano.

…

AYANO: “Kaede…”

AYANO: “Why did you choose to interact with me?”

KAEDE: “Huh—?”

AYANO: “I can’t think of any benefit in doing so, but I doubt you’d want to hang out with an Ultimate Stalker for no good reason.”

AYANO: “So, tell me, Kaede…”

AYANO: “Why choose to spend your time with me?”

She glared at me sternly, though she also somehow looked confused.

KAEDE: “What…? Do I really need a reason to hang out with a classmate?”

AYANO: “Not inherently, but your thought process is what I’m confused about.”

AYANO: “Why ME? Why not somebody more… Normal?”

KAEDE: “What?! Ayano, you—“

AYANO: “Never mind. I don’t know what I just said…”

She forced a warm smile and laughed calmly.

…Despite her forced smile, I felt like me and Ayano grew a little closer today.

Chapter Text

I eventually said my goodbyes to Ayano and went back to my room. After about a minute or two…

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Testing, testing, one, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! Get yer butts to the gym A-S-A-P!!! The next challenge is waiting~!”

KAEDE: “Ugh, already…?”

I sighed and went to the gym.

…

MONOKUMA: “Today’s challenge is what I like to call an ‘Awake-A-Thon!’!”

SIERRA: “Wait— That was already a challenge in TD!”

MANDY: “Who cares?”

KYLE: “Yeah, he’s fucking killing us! It’s not like he really cares whether or not he’s stealing ideas.”

Monokuma growled at the commotion.

MONOKUMA: “AHEM! As I was SAYING…”

MONOKUMA: “Today’s challenge is simple— Whichever team has all their members fall asleep first loses!”

IBUKI: “Ohh, so it’s like some sorta big sleepover!!!”

JATARO: “Ooh, but my team has five members… So my team probably won’t lose…”

JATARO: “But if we DID lose, I’d be the one executed, gehehe! ‘Cause everyone hates me sooo much!”

NATSUKI: “Wait, yeah— This isn’t fair for OUR team! WE only have THREE members!”

MONOKUMA: “Rr… You’re right!”

MONOKUMA: “Okay, I’ll pick three members of each team to participate! The others don’t have to be in the challenge!”

KOTOKO: “Jataro, why did you have to remind him?!”

JATARO: “Ohh… I made someone hate me again… But I don’t think cows’ milk tastes as good as goats’ milk.”

MONOKUMA: “HEY! I’m not done talking!!!”

The room went quiet again.

MONOKUMA: “Since only three members of each team are participating, I’ll tell you who’s participating!”

MONOKUMA: “For Team 1— Kaede, Kokichi, and Fry will participate!”

FRY: “Huh?”

KOKICHI: “Hmm? You better not get in my way, then, Kaede~!”

KAEDE: “What???”

MONOKUMA: “For Team 2— Axel, Benatar, and Kyle will participate!”

MIDORI: “Uwa… Why am I the one left out?”

BENATAR: “I don’ think this is something you’d wanna do…”

MONOKUMA: “For Team 3— Hiyoko, Mikan, and Daisaku will participate!”

HIYOKO: “Eww, that means I’ll have to spend time with MIKAN!”

MIKAN: “T— Thank for calling me by my real name…! I— I— I really am grateful!”

HIYOKO: “Shut up!”

Mikan flinched and nodded quickly.

MONOKUMA: “For Team 4— Berdly, Sierra, and Kotoko will participate!”

BERDLY: “Ha! At least now we’re guaranteed not to lose!”

AYANO: “What?”

BERDLY: “I— I mean… The mere fact that I’M participating in the challenge proves our team will triumph!”

AYANO: “…”

The silence this time only lasted for a second, but it was enough to annoy Berdly. He looked away, seeming embarrassed.

MONOKUMA: “…Aaand, Team 5 only has three members left— Butters, Natsuki, and Noelle! They’ll all be participating, of course.”

…

BENATAR: “Er, so… Are we supposed to stay in the gym until a team loses?”

MONOKUMA: “I’m glad you asked~!!! Participants are required to stay in the gym during the challenge. Exiting the gym results in an instant loss!”

NATSUKI: “Like, for the entire team?”

MONOKUMA: “Nah, just for the person who left! I may be cruel, but I’m not mean!!!”

BERDLY: “Those two statements are contradictory!”

MONOKUMA: “ANYWAY.”

MONOKUMA: “For non-participants, you cannot enter the gym until the challenge ends~! Entering during the challenge will result in an instant loss for your team!”

LEELA: “What?!”

Monokuma raised his claws.

MONOKUMA: “You heard me!!! Get outta here or your team’ll lose, raaa!!!”

…

There was some angry muttering, but non-participants left the gym.

…

KOKICHI: “GOD, I’m already boreddd!”

KOKICHI: “Can’t we just, like, lose and get it over with?”

FRY: “Hey— If we lose, that means one of us’ll die!”

KOKICHI: “Someone’s gonna die either way!”

FRY: “But— I— I don’t want it to be one of us!”

KOKICHI: “You really don’t get it, huh?”

Kokichi walked up to Fry…

KOKICHI: “You’re being an idiot again.”

FRY: “I am?”

KOKICHI: “Oh, for sure. You’re making a fool out of yourself! Phew, good thing I’m here to stop you before you embarrass yourself more!”

FRY: “Leela said not to listen to you when you’re like this—!”

KOKICHI: “Are you seriously saying you value a MONSTER’S word over mine~?”

FRY: “Yes!!!”

KOKICHI: “Oh… Really…? That makes me so…”

Kokichi started sobbing.

KOKICHI: “WAAAH!!!”

FRY: “W— Wait! Don’t do that!”

…He immediately stopped crying, and snickered at Fry.

KOKICHI: “Kidding! I don’t care what you think!”

BENATAR: “Oi, can you be quiet already? You’re giving me a bloody ‘eadache…”

DAISAKU: “A watching owl never intrudes without good reason!”

BENATAR: “…Pardon???”

DAISAKU: “Oh, sorry! What I mean is— I’m agreeing with you.”

BUTTERS: “O— Ooh, boy, drama sure is startin’ pretty fast, ain’t it?”

KYLE: “Seriously…”

…

Ironically, not much of note happened after that until about three hours in.

BERDLY: “I’m famished…”

NOELLE: “If… If you’re hungry, you really should get something to eat…”

BERDLY: “Exiting the gym results in me losing, Noelle!”

KOKICHI: “Actually, I heard the first team to lose gets a prize!”

SIERRA: “LOL, really?”

KOKICHI: “Monokuma told me just now, yeah, so—!”

Fry bolted out of the room before Kokichi could finish.

KOKICHI: “…”

FRY: “What are you guys waiting for? We gotta get the prize!”

KAEDE: “Fry, Kokichi was joking…”

KOKICHI: “Whaaat? No, I wasn’t!”

MONOKUMA: “Yes, you were~!!! Fry’s out!”

BUTTERS: “Oh, well— Well it’s a good thing Monokuma said so, ‘cause I was— I was gettin’ real close to leavin’ to get the prize!”

HIYOKO: “There is a prize!”

BUTTERS: “There is?! Oh, boy!”

NATSUKI: “There isn’t a prize!”

…

Six hours in…

HIYOKO: “Monokumaaa? Can I have some gummies? I’m hungryyy…”

MONOKUMA: “If you’re that hungry, just walk to the kitchen!”

HIYOKO: “Then I’ll lose your stupid game!!!”

BERDLY: “You ARE aware that Noelle and I had this exact conversation mere HOURS ago?!”

HIYOKO: “No one was asking you, birdie!”

BERDLY: “It’s BERDLY.”

HIYOKO: “Whatever… I could call you ‘ugly duck’ and you’d still know I was talking about you!”

BERDLY: “What?! How dare you—!!!”

HIYOKO: “Anyway— Hey, pigbarf!”

MIKAN: “Oh, um— Are— Are you talking to me…?”

HIYOKO: “Obviously I am, idiot!”

MIKAN: “Eek—!!! I’m so sorry for questioning—!!!”

HIYOKO: “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Can you get me some gummies from the kitchen?”

MIKAN: “U— Um… But— I’m sorry, but wouldn’t that disqualify me…?”

HIYOKO: “Who cares! It’s not like you were capable of winning this challenge anyway!”

MIKAN: “Y— Yes— You’re right—! But… Um… I— I won’t be able to re-enter the gym to get gummies…•

HIYOKO: “Are you saying I should go out and LOSE?!”

MIKAN: “N— No— I—!!!”

HIYOKO: “Then get me gummies, idiot!”

MIKAN: “Eep—!! R— Right away, Miss Saionji!”

Mikan ran out.

MONOKUMA: “Aaand that disqualifies Mikan!”

NATSUKI: “Ugh, I forgot you were still here…!”

…

By the time twelve hours had passed, some people had already fallen asleep— Specifically, Axel, Hiyoko, and Kotoko had fell asleep.

DAISAKU: “Oh, gosh— I’m the only one on Team 3 left…!!!”

BENATAR: “Awe, keep your ‘ead up!”

BERDLY: “You’re encouraging someone who’s not even on your team?”

BENATAR: “What? Nothin’ wrong with that…”

There was a pause, but Monokuma spoke up—

MONOKUMA: “Ahem!!! Everyone, listen here!”

MONOKUMA: “Since it’s been about twelve hours, it’s about time I introduce your first actual challenge!”

KAEDE: “What? You said the challenge was just staying awake!”

MONOKUMA: “Well, yeah, that’s the ACTUAL challenge… What I MEANT was giving you guys somethin’ that’ll make it hard to stay awake!”

Before I could ask what he meant, Monokuma aggressively threw what looked like a smoke bomb on the floor… I suddenly became drowsy.

Monokuma just laughed.

MONOKUMA: “If you couldn’t tell by now, these bombs are full of SLEEPING GAS!”

KYLE: “What?!”

BERDLY: “You… T— That’s cheating!”

MONOKUMA: “How’s it cheating? I didn’t say anything against sleeping gas!”

NOELLE: “Still, that’s… A bit unfair, don’t you think…?”

MONOKUMA: “Girlie, LIFE isn’t fair!!!”

KOKICHI: “So we’re just gonna fall asleep in, like, two minutes? How boring…”

KYLE: “Boring? Do you want the challenge to continue???”

KOKICHI: “I mean, I’m obviously bummed about the whole ‘people-dying’ thing, but we can’t just STOP Monokuma from killing us.”

KOKICHI: “So might as well make the most of it anyway~!!!”

KYLE: “Are you serious?! What the fuck is your problem?!”

KOKICHI: “I’m not serious— It was a lie! I’m actually reeeally sad about all the dying!”

SIERRA: “Um… Is that sarcasm?”

KOKICHI: “Whaaat? I would NEVER lie to you guys~!!!”

BUTTERS: “Gee, that’s awful nice! I— I would never lie to you, neither!”

…

It had only been about another half hour, but the sleeping gas was making everybody drop like flies…

Kyle, Natsuki, and Sierra all fell asleep and were eliminated.

Three teams had only one member left— Team 2 with Benatar, Team 3 with Daisaku, and Team 4 with Berdly.

My team still had both me and Kokichi, and Team 5 had Butters and Noelle.

Eveyone remaining was really tired and out-of-it. It was uneventful until…

MONOKUMA: “Ooh? What’s this? It looks like Berdly fell asleep! You know what that means, riiight~?”

MONOKUMA: “Team 4 is UP FOR ELIMINATION!!!”

KAEDE: “…“

KAEDE: "Shut up, Monokuma..."

Chapter Text

I passed out the moment I heard that Team 4 had lost.

I don’t know how much time passed until--

*DING DONG, BING BONG!!!*

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! Testing, testing, one, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “It’s morning time, and the votes are in!!! Team 4, report to the gymnasium IMMEDIATELY!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Other teams are not permitted in the gym, but are more than welcome to watch the gym’s live footage through their Monopad!”

I woke up— I was lying in my bed in my dorm. Someone was nice enough to bring me back to my room, I suppose…

KAEDE:  “…”

FRY: “Oh, cool, our team didn’t lose!”

KAEDE: “Wait— Did Monokuma not announce the losing team to you guys once the challenge was over???”

IBUKI: “Nnnope! Guess he only told you guys!”

FRY: “He didn’t tell me!”

KOKICHI: “That’s because you left the challenge room, idiot!”

FRY: “You told me there was a prize!”

LEELA: “What the hell are you guys—?!”

Our Monopads lit up.

LEELA: “…Oh, Lord.”

MONOKUMA: “Team 4, you were the first to fall asleep during the challenge, so you’re UP FOR ELIMINATION~!!!”

AYANO: “Not ALL of us participated in the challenge, you know.”

JATARO: “Even though I didn’t participate, I know I’m gonna get voted out…”

JATARO: “Oh, well. I hope you guys all do better without me… You’re probably gonna do a lot better, because I was just bringing you all down… Ehehe…!”

KOTOKO: “True!”

MONOKUMA: “AHEM. Anyway…”

MONOKUMA: “Kotoko and Sierra actually didn’t get any votes, so they’re safe!”

SIERRA: “OMG, am I the fan-favorite?”

KOTOKO: “We both are!”

Monokuma drew a talley mark below doodle-Berdly.

MONOKUMA: “Berdly is safe with only two puny votes!”

BERDLY: “Two votes too many! What imbeciles would vote for me?!”

KOTOKO: “I mean… You’re KINDA adorbs?… But I understand why you got just two votes.”

MONOKUMA: “Well… That just leaves Jataro and Ayano.”

MONOKUMA: “The person who will be executed today is…”

JATARO: “Well… Goodbye everybody… And my favorite color was always green, but I also like red and blue.”

JATARO: “Anyway, I think I’m gonna die now. Goodbye.”

MONOKUMA: “Ayano Aishi, the Ultimate Stalker.”

AYANO: “I… Guess I should have expected this.”

SIERRA: “You got TEN VOTES?!”

AYANO: “Clearly.”

SIERRA: “But— Wait— Why is it, like, you don’t care? You’re going to die?”

AYANO: “If I’m being honest, the chances of escaping this place on our own are… Very minimal.”

SIERRA: “…Huh?”

AYANO: “I don’t think you’d understand, Sierra… If you want me to reveal it, I can— I really don’t have anything to lose. But, I’m warning you that it will—“

Ayano was cut off by that damn robotic claw, dragging her to her execution room.

This time, the execution room was a high school. Ayano’s eyes widened a bit, and she flinched, for some reason.

Someone approached Ayano… A man. I didn’t recognize him at all.

Ayano blushed and clenched her chest tight upon seeing the man; she looked extremely bashful, but was grinning widely.

The unknown man walked closer and closer to Ayano, who became increasingly flustered.

When he got extremely close to her, he took out… A knife. And stabbed her. Multiple times.

The Monopad turned itself off.

Chapter Text

KAEDE: “…”

KOKICHI: “That one way a lot faster than I expected~!”

LEELA: “Oh, shut up, you bastard!”

Kokichi frowned.

KOKICHI: “Geez, Leela, I never would’ve expected such hostility from YOU of all people…”

KOKICHI: “I always saw you as sort of a cool big sister, but I guess you just hate me…”

LEELA: “I DO hate you!!!”

FRY: “Leela!!!”

KAEDE: “Guys, guys— N— No fighting, please?”

IBUKI: “Yee, I’m not a fan of fighting, either… Unless it’s, like… A rap battle!!!”

Ibuki’s eyes suddenly lit up and she waved her arm in the air hyperactively.

IBUKI: “OH-OH-OH— I have an idea!!!”

KAEDE: “Yes?”

IBUKI: “How abouttt… Weeee…”

Ibuki’s big smile faded.

IBUKI: “…Ummm…”

LEELA: “Oh, lord. Do you even have an idea???”

IBUKI: “Nope~!!!”

IBUKI: “Buuut… It got you two to stop barking at each other like wolves, huh? Right? Am I right? Am I right?”

LEELA: “Stop that!”

Ibuki saluted.

IBUKI: “Mmmkay! Sorry! From now on, my lips are sealed tighter than a zipper!”

LEELA: “Thank you… I think.”

IBUKI: “Mhm!”

…Silence.

KAEDE: “Well… I’m gonna go to the dining hall for breakfast. Anyone wanna come?”

LEELA: “Sure, why not?”

IBUKI: “Hmm… Hmmmmm…”

Ibuki’s face scrunched up.

IBUKI: “HMMMM!!!”

IBUKI: “…Nah~!”

KAEDE: “That was… A lot of buildup, Ibuki…”

IBUKI: “Timing…”

IBUKI: “…”
IBUKI: “…”

IBUKI: “…Is everything~!”

FRY: “I don’t even know what you’re saying…!”

KAEDE: “Ah— How about you, Fry? Do you wanna come to the dining hall, too?”

FRY: “Sure, if Leela’s coming.”

Kokichi stood up and stretched.

KOKICHI: “Well, I’m gonna be in the gym. If you ever need me, that’s where I’ll be~!”

IBUKI: “Hmm-hmm~ You’re not going to the dining hall, either~?”

KOKICHI: “Oh? Of course I’m not! I don’t wanna be a third wheel to Fry and Leela, unlike some people~!”

Kokichi looked at me.

KAEDE: “Hey— I was the one who proposed the idea in the first place…”

KOKICHI: “Ah, yeahhh, suuure~”

FRY: “No, I’m pretty sure Kaede was the one who proposed it.”

KOKICHI “…”

KOKICHI: “Hmm… Well, Fry, I’ll be honest, that’s not the dumbest thing you’ve said, buuut~!”

KOKICHI: “You’re still COMPLETELY wrong!”

FRY: “I’m not wrong!”

KOKICHI: “Are you sureeee?”

FRY: “Well, now I’m not…! Stop tricking me!”

LEELA: “Kokichi, stop it!”

Kokichi groaned audibly.

KOKICHI: “Fineee… I should know by now you’re idiotic enough to try to kill me.”

LEELA: “Damn right! Fry, Kaede, let’s go.”

Leela grabbed both me and Fry by the hand and walked us to the dining hall.

…

…

…

[ POV — None ]

A few months before the events of the Omniversal Death Game… The Ultimate Fashionista, Junko Enoshima, sits on her throne.

JUNKO: “…”

JUNKO: “…”

JUNKO: “…”

JUNKO: “…”

Junko fidgeted for a while until she froze, her eyes widening. She smirked.

…

…

…

???: “Junko! We came as soon as I wanted to.”

JUNKO: “Uu… Hellooo~?”

Junko’s “cute” personality instantly changed to a violent, harsh one.  

JUNKO: “Could you have taken any fuckin’ longer?!“

Chapter Text

About a week before the Omniversal Death Game…

Junko spoke in her “cute” persona.

JUNKO: “…And all we need is a wiiidle bit of your monies~!”

ZAPP: “How much would be ‘a widdle’? Sounds like alien gibberish, if you ask me.”

Junko stuck her tongue out mockingly, having changed to her “tough” persona.

JUNKO: “Fuckin’ all of it, shit-face! Fuck you, pay me!”

ZAPP: “Hm… You make a very convincing argument, Miss Enoshima! The money is yours, so long as you don’t kill off my Leela!”

A nod from Junko, now in her “teacher” persona.

JUNKO: “Then the transaction is final, Brannigan. I appreciate your help in funding.”

…

[ POV — Kaede Akamatsu ]

Fry, Leela, and I arrived a the dining hall. We each got something to eat and sat down at one of the tables.

Fry talked while eating his food.

FRY: “I think Kokichi’s mad at me.”

LEELA: “Oh, lord. First of all— Swallow your food before you speak!”

LEELA: “Second of all— Who cares what Kokichi thinks?”

FRY: “I care!”

Fry lowered his head.

FRY: “I get that he isn’t the best person, but I still thought he was cool! Just like Bender!”

LEELA: “Bender isn’t cool!”

KAEDE: “Um… Who’s Bender?”

FRY: “He’s my best friend!”

LEELA: “…Yeah. That.”

KAEDE: “Oh… Well—“

*DING DONG, BING BONG!*

LEELA: “Oh, lord.”

KAEDE: “Wh— Already?!?!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Ahem! Testing, testing, one, two, three!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “I just wanna say that… The next challenge… Is…”

LOUDSPEAKER: “…”

LOUDSPEAKER: “…”

FRY: “Just tell us already!!!”

KAEDE: “I… Don’t think he can hear you…”

FRY: “Should I talk louder?!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “…The next challenge is NOTHING~!!!”

LEELA: “What???”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Mhm~! I’ve been working you guys down to the bone, huh… I’m reaaally sorry…~”

LOUDSPEAKER: “As an apology, I’m putting ALL of you up for elimination!!!”

KAEDE: “Huh?!?!”

FRY: “That’s not an apology at all!”

LOUDSPEAKER: “Puhuhu!!!”

After the laugh, there was silence.

KAEDE: “…W— Well, at least there’s no challenge…?”

Fry and Leela glared at me. I lowered my head.

KAEDE: “…Sorry.”