Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

    The Monokubs had made an announcement for all 16 Ultimate students to go to the gymnanism for the “opening ceremony.” Once everyone arrived the Monokubs came out of nowhere, now inside each of their ‘Exisals,’ large mech suits with gatling guns attached to them.

    “Alright you bastards,” said Monotaro from his Exisal, “Now that you are all here, we can get this killing game started!”

    “What!?” exclaimed everyone.

    “Wait one sec,” said Monosuke, “..10,11,12...There’s one you youse bastards missing!”

    “Shit,” said Monokid, “Did we lose one already?”

    “Uh oh,” sighed Monophanie, “Daddy won’t like that…”

    Kaede’s head was spinning. Killing game? Another ultimate? Daddy? What exactly is going on here? Kaede turned towards Shuichi who was seemingly deep in thought. The others weren’t fairing much better, judging by the blank expressions on their faces.

    “Hey! You two!” yelled Monokuma while justering to Kaede and Shuichi, “You bastards come with me, we can’t start the festivitives until EVERYONE gets here.”

    “Yeah, you can’t throw a surprise part if there’s no one to surprise!” Monotaro called out.

    Kaede and Shuichi were “escorted” through the grassy halls, to an empty classroom. The Exisal waited outside as it was way too big to fit through the doorway. The classroom was very similar to the one Kaede, and Shuichi woke up in, with barbed wires lining the windows, and rows of desks.

    “Um,” said Shuichi, “We should probably check the lockers. That’s where we came out of”

    Kaede nodded her head, “Good idea Shuichi, let’s get looking.”

    Kaede and Shuichi proceed to search each locker, only to find that there was in fact no 17 ultimate student to be found.

    “Huh,” exclaimed Kaede, “Do you think we’re in the wrong room?”

    Shuchi was about to answer when something shuffling could be heard in the room.

    “Did you hear that?” asked Shuichi, perhaps Kaede’s sensitive hearing could locate the unconscious student.

    “Yeah, it came from in there,” Kaede pointed towards a wooden cupboard into the back of the room.

    “Um, Shuich...”

    “Yeah…”

    “Why don’t you open the door?”

    “Uh, sure...”  

    Shuichi went to open the door ‘I guess she’s scared, to be fair we don’t know anything about this person, leaving the possibility of them being dangerous.’

    “Okay, here we go…” Shuichi quickly opened the cupboard door, causing a boy to come tumbling out landing face first on the floor.

    “...Oops,” Shuichi said innocently.

   The small boy had light brown skin, black hair a bit shorter than his own, combed to the side. He was about Kokichi's height if not taller, and was wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, and blue hoodie, with a patch with the word “EVO” on the shoulders and the back from the look of it. He also had a blue and black backpack on his back.

    “So...what now?” Kaede asked.

    ‘Uuhhhh, where am I? It feels so cramped. Did I get stuffed into a locker? No, this smells too much like pine-’ My thoughts were interrupted as I fell out of...whatever I was in, and onto the ground. I open my eyes, and look up at my surroundings, immediately noticing I appeared to be in a classroom, then I notice a boy wearing a baseball cap, and a girl with blonde hair, a pink sweater and purple eyes… ‘Woah... she’s pretty, I mean-what?’ I quickly get off the floor.

    “Uh..hi!” I sputter out, “Who are you guys…”

    “Oh!” Kaede exclaimed happily, “My name is Kaede Akamatsu and this is Shuichi Saihara, what’s yours?”

    “My name…, my name is…” I struggled to say. ‘My name, what is my name? My mind feels completely empty, Why can’t I remember my nam-’ Eric.

   “My name…. is Eric…” I say.

   “Is...that it…?” asked Kaede.

    “I-I don’t know” I strained to say.

    Kaede turned to Shuichi, who put his hand over his mouth, thinking to himself quietly.

    “Well...what about your Ultimate talent?” questioned Kaede “Do you remember that?”   

    “Ultimate...talent?” I said, “That sounds familiar...”     

    Ultimate FGC Pro...

    “I’m the Ultimate FGC Pro,” I stated.

    “FGC?” that one was from Shuchi.

    “Yeah,” I respond, “It stands for ‘Fighting Game Community,’ it’s basically playing fighting games competitively in tournaments, online, etc.”

    “Wow, That’s pretty cool!” Kaede exclaimed, “You and Shuichi have such cool talents, he’s the Ultimate Detective, I’m just the Ultimate Pianist“

    “...Can you remember anything asked,” he asked as he removed his hand from his mouth.

    I tried to remember something, anything about myself or how I even got in that cupboard, but I just kept drawing blanks.

    “Ugh, I can’t seem to remember-” All of the sudden I got this weird feeling in the back of my neck. “Danger!” I yelled out as jumped in front of Kaede and Shuichi.

    All of the sudden the door  was slammed open, revealing a yellow mech suit.

    “Hey!” yelled Monosuke “What the hell is taking you bastards so long! We have a schedule to achear to you know!”

    “What is that thing!” I shouted.

    “Um,” Kaede speaks up, “I forgot to mention that 14 other ultimate students are currently being held captive in a school, inside a giant bird cage, by a bunch of stuffed panda bears….”

    “.....uh...” I had a deadpan look on my face.

    “We’ll explain on the way” said Shuichi.

    As I entered the gym I noticed the 14 other ultimate students, and the 4 other exisals that Kaede and Shuichi mentioned. I couldn’t comprehend what was happening, waking up in a abandoned school, run by a group of homicidal bears, without any of my memories. ‘I feel like an anime protagonist, and not in the good way.’

    “Hey what took you virgins so long!” yelled Miu, “Were you busy having a threesome by yourselves, while I had to stay with these losers?”

    ‘...what?’

    I guess that must be Miu, Kaede described her as ‘rude, lewd, and crude,’ looking at the others, and based off what Kaede and Shuichi said, it wasn’t hard to figure out who was who. Everyone had their eyes on me, trying to figure out if I was a threat or not. One guy about my size looked deep in though, I guess he must be Kokichi.

    “...Anyways,” my thoughts were interrupted by Kaede, “This is Eric, he’s the Ultimate FGC pro, and it seems he’s lost his memories.”

    “That’s suspicious…” that came from the shortest guy in the group, Ryoma.

    “Yeah!” yelled Miu, “How don’t we know that your the guy who put us in here!” 

    “Nyeh?” sighs Himiko, “But this guy is small, and doesn’t look like a bear”

    “Ooh,” exclaimed Tsumugi “Maybe he can turn into a giant bear when he bites himself!”

    “Oh no!” scream Tenko, “Don’t worry Himiko all protect you from this degenerative male with my Neo-Aikido!”

    “So you’re like the opposite of me, you can’t remember anything except your ultimate talent, and I can remember everything but my ultimate talent” said Rantaro.

    “Wow, that’s funny!” cheered Koikichi “It’s like the bears are playing a cruel joke on you, unless one you is lying , then it isn’t nearly interesting .”

    “You know this has taken far too long, I’m just going to do my intro.”

    “Father!” all five Monokubs shouted.

    ‘Father? Their creator?. Maybe we’ll might finally find out what we’re doing here.’

    We all watched in silence as the gym went dark. Soon the spotlights on the staged turn on, shining brightly. The bad feeling at the back of my head returned. Then another bear leaped on top of the podium. This one was noticeably larger, and more menacing.

    “I am the god of this new world…”

    “That’s a bad sign” I whispered.

    Everyone beside me appeared to be frozen in their tracks, no sly comments were coming out at the moment. Kaede in particular looked the most nervous.

    “...and the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy! The one the only...Monokuma! Nice to meetcha!”

    “Yayyyyy! Father’s here!” cheered Monotaro.

    “Hell yeah! Another epic entrance from Papa Kuma!” shouted Monokid

    “Daddy is soooo cool” beamed Monophanie.

    “....” Monodam is as silent as ever.

    “My cute little cubs! You’re all so freaking cute!” Monokuma said in frustrated manner, it appeared that his left eye was glowing. 

    “The only reason I can tolerate your tiresome antics is cuz you’re all so cute. Even when the prologue is going way too long, I’ll allow it because you guys are cute”

    ‘Prologue...’

    “Wh-What is this? What’s going on?” Kaede asked weakly.

    “Here comes a new challenger…” I deadpanned.

    “Jesus! How many of those fucking teddy bears are there!” yelled Miu.

    “That is no ordinary teddy bear,” Korekiyo said mysteriously, “I can see it..the despair and madness swirling around that cursed thing…”

    That guy, Korekiyo, was right. Every part of my body screamed bad things coming from ‘Monokuma’ he whole aura screamed pain. He was clearly a bigger threat than any of the Monokubs, even with their mechs.

    “Hey, show some respect!” Monokuma yelled, “I’m the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles!”

    ‘Wait am I a juvenile? Is Kaede a juvenile? Nooo, she seems so nice-wait did he say ‘headmaster’ ?’

    “...Headmaster?” Maki speaks up.

    “It appears to be some sort of autonomous robot with a built-in AI, like me…” Keebo says nervously.

    ‘Perhaps, or maybe they're being remotely controlled by whoever is running this thing...’

    “Well that may be, but what I’m worried about is this ‘killing game’ you mentioned,” Rantora stated, “What exactly does that mean?

    “Puhu...huhuhuhuhu…” Monokuma laughs creepily.

    “What is so humorous?” Kirmi asked calmly.

    “Puhuhu...I want you students with your Ultimate-level talents to participate in a killing game.” Monokuma said cherily.

    “K-Killing game? Us?” Kaede stuttered.

    “Yeah, that’s a hard pass” I respond.

    “Huh, You don’t want to do it?” asked Monokuma

    “C-Course not!” Gonta yelled, “Gentlemen don’t hurt people!”

    “Well that’s too bad, because if you remember we have you trapped in here, and with the Exisals you can’t defy us” Monokuma cheered, “In other words...I hold the power of life and death and every one of you.”

    “Y-You gotta be kidding me,” Tenko cried out, “Why would friends killing each other?!”

    “Who said you guys were friends?” questioned Monokuma innocently, “You aren’t friends, you’re enemies out to kill each other.”

    “E-Enemies…?” Shuichi breaks his silence.

    Dang, he trying to scare us into killing each other, this could get bad, I have to do something to defuse the situation…

    “Aw man, I don’t remember having friends, and I was really hoping I’d get the chance to make some” I joked.

    “How are we supposed to kill each other?” asked Ryoma, “Are going to give us weapons?”

    “What’s the matter with you, small dick!” yelled Miu, “Are you planning to get your vengeance on all the beautiful people!

    “I’m just asking for information,” Ryoma replied, “We can’t do anything if we don’t know anything”

    “Weapons? How barbaric,” Monokuma responded, “At the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles killing games are refined and sophisticated experience!

    “How so?” asked Kirumi.

    “Alright maggots,because I’m only going to say this once, unless you ask me to repeat then I'll repeat it again,” stated Monotaro, “Basically if of you bastards kill someone, a class trial will be held. Here it’s he your job to figure out ‘who dunnit.’ If your correct the killer or the ‘blackened’ will get punished....”

    ‘That sounds a bit racist…’

    “...But,” said Monosuke, “If you guess wrong then everyone but the killer or the ‘spotless’ will be punished instead, and the killer will graduate from this academy. This process repeats until there is only 2 students left.”

    “You said punishment?” I questioned, “What do you mean by punishment?”

    “Well this is a killing game, sothe punishment is more serve, simply put the consequence for getting caught or failing to find the blackened is death”

    This caught everyone off guard not only did they have avoid being murder, but find out the culprit as well, getting them killed too. Anyway you slice it was a lose-lose situation.

    “This feels like some twisted game show” I say coldy.

    “I-I don’t want...to be in a killing game,” Shuichi stuttered,“...It’s wrong,I...I’d never do that.”

    “Well unfortunately for you that’s the only way you’re getting out of here,” Monokuma announced, “Okay, let’s get this killing school semester underway!”

    “W-Wait just a minute!” yelled Kaede catching everyone by surprise, “No matter what you say...We won’t do it! We’ll never participate in a killing game! What ever you have planned I won’t you let you get away with it”

    ‘Huh, Kaede sounds like a superhero with that attitude…

    “Puhu…” Monokuma laughed “I can’t wait to see how long that attitude last...Hahahahahaha!”

    Monokuma and the Monokubs burst into laughter. Everyone had the look of fear and dread on their faces, everyone expect Kaede who stood there looking face forward with determination in her eyes. She really did looked like the hero of this story, a story that I am now a part of. Who am I? I’m….nobody, and I’m definitely not the hero of this story.

Spike Chunsoft

And

Marvel Comics Present

Danganronpa V3.1

Justice vs Despair

*Cues intro (a combination of the Spider-man trilogy intro, and the V3 intro)

Chapter Text

The Mono-family finished up their chorus of laughter. We we all in silence trying to process everything that had happened. Psychopathic robot bears, ultimate students, killing game. This whole situation felt outrageous, like the plot of a novels. Our silences was interrupted by the sound of...a phone notification? I reached into my backpack trying to find the device. Was it a phone? Where they too stupid to take our phones? Please let them be too stupid to take our phones. However the alarm wasn’t coming from a phone, instead a black and white tablet. It appeared that everyone had one.

“What is this thing?” I asked Kaede

“Oh, I forgot to mention that we all woke up with these weird tablets” said Kaede, “There are called monopads. ”

“What, they decide to let us play Tetris in case we get bored from killing each other,” I joked.

‘Wait, Tetris , I remember Tetris! I mean, that’s kinda useful information’

The monpad listed the rules of the “school.” You wouldn’t think a murder game who have so many rules. Breaking any rules will lead to death, and Monokuma can just add rules whenever he pleases. It’s clear whoever running this doesn’t just want a simple murder cagematch, and something closer to a sophisticated game of murder chess.

“To hell with all these rules.” Kaito screamed angrily, “Who’d even commit murder in the first place!”

“Nishishi...I don’t know Kaito, maybe Monokuma’s right, maybe we're not friends but people who’ll anything to get out of here!” Kokichi said with a creepy smile on his face.

“Why you…why the hell would you say something like that!” Kaito returned.

“H-Hey!” Miu said, “I-I’m too gorgeous to die here, so you all better not try to kill me”

“I’d said, no one's going to die here!” Kaito said with frustration.

“Hmph, how we suppose to trust a degenerate male like you! You'll probably go after the girl first because you think their weak, degenerate male!” Tenko growled.

“HEY!! STOP IT!!” Kaede’s scream silenced everybody. “We shouldn’t be fighting with each other!.Right now we need to figure a way out of here *together.* ”

“Kaede’s right,” Shuichi followed up, “We might not need to worry about this killing game if we get out of here.”

“Besides,” I continue, “Killing someone is like, the worst thing you can do in this situation.”

“Oh..” question Tsumugi, “How so?”

“First of all you have to kill someone, which is hard enough, but you also have to construct a murder mystery, so people don’t figure out you’re the culprit with the limited resources in this school. Secondly we’re all Ultimate students, and one of us is the Ultimate Detective if someone commits the murder, we’re going to figure out. Finally you have to trust the homicidal bears will keep their word, and not just kill you immediately afterwards”

“......”

Everyone was in silence.

“Um, anyway I know that if we just work together we can beat these bears, oh I wish I could play some inspirational music right now, Chopin’s “Military Polonaise would really get everyone motivated,” said Kaede, “And, hey if we, no *when* we get out of here we should all be friends.”

Shuichi nodded, “We should look for an exit. We got in here somehow, so there must some way to escape.”

“Good idea Shuichi!” cheered Kaede

“Oh, um thanks” Shuichi said while covering his face.

“Oh, um Gonta find manhole earlier, does that help?” Gonta asked innocently.

“Gonta!” Kaede grabbed Gonta’s hand with both of hers, and started shaking it up and down, “That’s perfect, where did you find it?”

“Oh thank you, Gonta not sure if that was important, Gonta can take friends there,” Gonta replied with a small blush on his face.

“Yes, please do” said Shuichi.

Everyone followed Gonta out of the gym, leaving me Kaede, and Shuichi to stay behind.

“That was pretty good what you did back there” I say to Kaede, “You managed to get everyone to hold hands, and work together.”

“It’s nothing special, I couldn’t done it without you and Shuichi backing me up” Kaede replied.

“You really shouldn’t sell yourself short Kaede” Shuichi chimned in, “I don’t think most people could do what you did, especial me.”

“Hey you shouldn’t sell *yourself* short,” I said, “I mean I know a thing or two about being short, and you did your fair share of work”

We all giggled at my stupid joke.

“Anyway we should get going, don’t want to get left behind” I say while exiting the gym alone.

Kaede turned to Shuichi, “He seems nice, what do you think Shuichi?”

“It’s strange, we have two students with missing memories, one without their talent, and one with only their talent. It feels suspicious” Shuichi said.

“Do you think one of them is lying? Asked Kaede.

“I...don’t know, sorry” Shuichi said.

“You don’t have to apologize”, laughed Kaede, “Anyway we should get going.”

With that, Shuichi and Kaede headed to meet the others.

Not going to lie, I really thought they would follow me. It felt unnerving walking around this post-apocalyptic looking school all by myself. This place is like a maze. I manage to make my way outside. This place is huge! I didn’t figured that there would *this* much space. This place was the size of a large university campus. There was several other small buildings outside. There were also a lot of random rubble scattered around. Perhaps this place use to be an old abandoned school they repurposed for this killing game. I make my way to the rest of the group inside the boiler room.

‘A boiler room? Aren’t these usually in the basement?’

A few seconds later, Kaede and Shuichi join the rest of us. Shuichi walks over to the manhole and kneels down. I walk up beside him.

“I guess this is the manhole Gonta was talking about” I say.

Shuichi nods, “It appears so, hmm looks like it might be hard to lift…”

“Hahaha!” chuckled Miu, “A hole near a bush, sounds familiar...”

“What are you talking about?” I say puzzled, “Anyway let’s get this manhole cover off, and see what’s underneath.”

I lifted up the manhole with ease, and place it gently beside the hole.

“Wow, you must be pretty strong to lift that so easily” said Kaede

“Atua agrees, that’s pretty amazing” cheered Angie

“Heh, if someone his size could lift, then I’m sure it’s not *that* heavy” pouted Kaito

Kaito walk over to the manhole cover, trying to pick it up.

“Huff, Huff, Come On! *pant” Kaito strained to lift the manhole cover.

“Kaito! Be careful that is how you get a hernia” Keebo cautioned.

Kaito managed to lift it above his knees, before dropping the cover on the ground, with a large *CLANK.*

“Eric do you also know magic?” asked Himiko.

“I don’t think so?” I replied.

“Ok, now that the lid its off let’s check underneath” said Shuichi.

We all climbed down the ladder, entering a large area with pipes and barrels everywhere. More noticable was the large tunnel, with a wooden arrow sign pointing inside reading “exit.”

“That’s not a good sign” I said.

“How is that not good sign,” asked Gonta, “say ‘exit’ on it, is not where we want to go?”

“Yeah that’s the problem, its *too* obvious, if it truly was the exit, you think it’d be more secretive.”

“Oh sorry, Gonta not very smart” Gonta said sadly.

“Don’t worry about it big guy, your plenty smart.” I pat him on his back, which is a little hard for me considering our sizes. Something about this interaction feels familiar.

‘Danger!’

“Everyone! Look out!” I turned around yelling.

Monokuma jumped down from the ceiling.

“Oh, what do we have here? I don’t believe it, you’ve managed to beat me so easily” Monokuma sarcastically commented.  

“Hmph, should’ve have known it couldn’t be this easy” Ryoma grunted.

“Hey now, don’t look so down, that tunnel really does lead to the exit, promise” Monokuma said sincerely or as sincere as he could.

“I assuming there’s a catch” Maki said bluntly.

“Ohoho no catch really, if one of you manage to make it to the end, I’ll gladly let you *all* go free! Ain’t I the nicest?” said Monokuma.

“Then it’s probably nearly impossible to get through then, you would go through all the effort to kidnap us if you were going to lets us out that easily” commented Rantaro.

“That would make the most sense…” Shuichi concurred.

“Like a final boss that input reads your moves, and just blocks everything…” I say.

“I guess escape really is impossible…” sighed Himiko.

“Hey, we’re going to get out of here,” encouraged Kaede, “Monokuma just told us that tunnel lead towards the exit. We’re all Ultimate students, if we work together I know we can overcome any obstacle Monokuma puts in front of us!”

“Yes, yes work together, it’ll just make your despair greater when you realise the only way your going out of here is by playing my killing game” Monokuma warned.

“Alright, you heard the lady let’s go kick some ass!” yelled Kaito.

“I just hope Monokuma doesn’t get upset when we win and go back on his word” I smirked.

We all proceed into the tunnel where we reached sever like area. Immediately most people noticed the floor was a bit slippery. Himiko immediately falls down and almost knocks everyone of the ledge. Kaito attempts to jump over a gap between two platforms, but ends up falling down, and getting swept away in the current. Ryoma makes the jump but gets knocked over by some mini Monokuma-looking drones.

‘Great, not only do we have to parkour around this obstacle course we also have to watch out for hazards as well’

Tsumugi ends up knocking over Tenko. Maki gets taken out by the explosive golden eggs. Gonta takes out Kokichi in the process of jumping. Eventually I’m the only one else, casually going making my way deeper. I slide under the golden eggs avoiding then sensors. I easily leap from platform to platform, and make my way through a more industrial looking area.

‘Man, who’d know I’d be this athletic, this has been a breeze so far!’

I keep going in deeper, deeper, and deeper dodging traps, and platforming.

‘Good lord, how long is this thing? I feel like I’ve been doing this for hours. I hope the others are okay, Monokuma said he’d let us go, even if one of us made it.’

“Stay focused Eric, you don’t want to mess up now and-”

‘Danger!’

All of the sudden, the floor underneath me closed. I almost instinctively raised my right hand, pushed down my ring, and middle finger, and flicked my wrist. Nothing happened, and fell into darkness.

When I came to I was in front of the tunnel, and everyone had gathered around me.

“Hey are you okay?” Kaede said with concern.

“How, how did I get here?” I wondered.

“Forget that!” Miu raised her voice, “Did you find the exit?”

“Well...”

“Well I guess it’s plainly impossible” Tsumugi sighed.  

Everyone looked so worn out, I guess they had attempted the tunnel while I was still going.

Kaede spook up “Hey, we can’t give up yet-”

“...Knock it off already” Kokichi said bitterly.

“What?”

“You kept on forcing everyone to ‘keep going’ and ‘never give up’ when it’s not possible to win, it’s like torture..”Kokichi said with tears in his eyes.

Kaede looked around, she could tell by everyone’s facial expressions that they agreed with Kokichi. Was he right was she just making everything worse?

“I’m so sorry everybody, this is my fault, I shouldn’t have push you so hard”

“No Kaede, this isn’t your fault” said Shuichi, “You were just trying to-”

“I think this is Kaede’s fault” Maki said coldy.

“Hey what’s wrong with you guys, Kaede is just trying to *save* everyone” I reply.

“And look where that got us” Kokichi said slyly, “You can do whatever you want but *I* going to figure my own way out.”

“Hmph, so much for working together” Ryoma grunted.

‘Ding Dong! Bing Bong’

All of the sudden, the screen on the monitor in the room turned on.

“This is an official announcement from the Ultimate Academy For Gifted Juveniles” started Monosuke.

“It is 10 pm. Nighttime officially starts now,” Mantaro followed.

“So go to sleep!” yelled Monokid.

“Sweet Dreams” all the Monokubs cheered before the broadcast turned off.

“Well I suppose we should get some rest” sighed Kirimu.

Everyone exited the tunnel room, with me, Kaito, Kaede, and Shuichi staying behind.

“...” Kaede was in silence.

“H-Hey, don’t worry Kaede, I’m sure they’ll turn around. Um anyway I’m going to call it a night” Kaito said before leaving.

“Hey Kaede, this isn’t your fault, you’re just trying to help everyone” I say.

“Yeah, but I ended up hurting everyone instead” she sighed.

“You shouldn’t listen to what Kokichi said, you weren’t forcing us to do anything, at least I don’t think so” Shuichi said camly.

“Thanks Shuichi,” Kaede said softly, “We should get some rest”

“Kaede,” I say, “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“I’m fine, just tired” Kaede put on a smile before leaving.

I make my way to the dorms. There are two levels of rooms, with each room having a sprite of owner. There also appeared to be an extra room where no one slept due to the odd amount of students. My room was on the bottom floor, right next to Kaede’s. I enter my room, grab the key on the table, and take my backpack off. Compared to the main school, the dorms looked very nice with a contemporary design.

“Weird, they only gave me copies of the outfit I’m wearing now, like I’m a cartoon character or something”

Once I was stated searching my room, I start to take off my shirt and head into the bathroom. As I looked at the mirror, I noticed something strange, my body was totally ripped!

“Woah, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised considering how athletic I was, but seriously, I have a 6-pack!”

After my shower, and pulled out a notebook and a pencil from my bag. I then proceed to write.

“Eric’s log 1,

This is what people do in these kinds of situations right? Anyway I am writing this in order to get my thoughts straight. This is clearly not the work of a singular person. Kidnapping all of us wouldn’t be easy, and couldn’t be done alone. The is also the point of the money behind an operation like this; heat, clothes, water, electricity, robot bears, mech suits, the buildings, that tunnel, the land itself would cost millions of dollars. Whoever is doing this is clearly putting in a lot of effort, but for what purpose, is this just for this group of people’s entertainment? Unlikely, so my current theory is that this is a show being broadcasted on the dark web. It would explain why these people would go to such lengths and make such a complex game. People are probably betting on who will live, and who will die. That would also explain the existence of the bears, and their action; they’re some sort mascot, providing comical relief. That leaves one problem, how are the watching us? Even if this wan’t been broadcasted, whoever is running this would want to keep an eye on us….”

I look over my shoulder to the monitor in my room.

“The monitors; they appear in almost every room. The Monokubs used it to broadcast an announcement, perhaps it works both ways…”

I put my pencil down, if I’m right then I need to be careful from this point forward, working with everyone will be difficult if they can stop whatever plans we have as we make them. I lean back in my bed.

“How am I going to save everyone….”

*sob

‘What is that? Is that crying?’

I listen closely, it’s coming from Kaede’s room. What Kokichi said, what *everyone* said must have really upset her, she just didn’t say it.

“Damn, she was just trying to help them, and this is how they treat her!” I growled.

*sigh. Poor Kaede, she’s as scared as everyone else but she’s trying to be strong for everyone else…

‘Kaede, she feels familiar..., maybe she reminds me of someone I know, I just wish I could remember who…

With sounds of Kaede’s crying, I drift to sleep with tears of my own.

Chapter Text

I wake up to complete white. There nothing around me but empty space.

“Where am I?”

‘Danger!’

I turn around to see a dark skinny figure crouched on the ground in an animalistic stance. It has large white eyes glaring menacingly at me.

“Who are you?”

“....”  I says nothing.

“Who are you!”

“You know who I am” I talks.

“What? What do you mean-”

It lunges at me, and the last thing I see is it’s deathly glare”

I wake up to complete darkness. Something feel wrong. This doesn't feel like my bed, I look to my side and see the monitor. No, I can’t *see* the monitor...I just feel it next to me. Wait, that’s no right. The monitor was attached to the ceiling, not the floor. I look up and “see” my bed, and my bag, and my notebook.

‘What’s going on did the Monokubs glue my stuff to the ceiling?’

No, no my stuff isn’t on the ceiling, *I’m* on the ceiling.

“AAHH!” I let out a high pitch scream.

With this revelation I quickly fall from the ceiling and land first on the ground.

“Ow” I groan.

What is going on? First I’m super strong, then I parkour across Monokuma’s obstacle course like it’s nothing, then wake up attach to the ceiling. It’s like I have super powers or something.

….

‘Oh my god, I have superpowers.’

At times like this I really wish I had my memories. Wait a second... with these powers I can save everyone. They clearly don’t know about my powers, because if they did they would tell everyone, or at least give me a handicap, the killing game would be unfair otherwise. I could just murder everyone right away with my strength and speed. I need to tell Kaede, and Shuichi about this...

---

I need to be careful from this point forward, working with everyone will be difficult if they can stop whatever plans we have as we make them.

---

No, no I can’t. If I tell them Monokuma will find out as well. I also can’t go being reckless with my powers either. One false move and I lose my ace in the hole.

‘Thank god, it’s dark in here or I’d drop my combo, before I even started it’

…

‘Why can remember fighting game stuff, but not having superpowers?’

After getting dressed I exit the Dorms, and head towards the dining hall. It was mostly empty except for Kirumi looking through the pantry.

“Oh Eric, I didn’t expect anyone to be up this early” said Kirumi, “Would you like me to make you some breakfast, I plan to offer my services to everyone, free of charge of course.”

“Thanks but doing things myself might help me get my memory back” I reply.

“I see, so it is your request for me not to do things for you” she stated.

“I mean that’s a weird way to put it, but yeah” I answered.

“Well in that case there is many ingredients, and packaged food in the pantry, if you change your mind simply ask” Kirumi said.

I walk into the pantry and was shocked by the amount of food. There was packaged food, fresh food, frozen food, and many ingredients from various countries.

‘They even put in a loaded pantry, how much money does they guys have to burn?’

I eventually settle on a bowl of cereal, and a banana. I finish my food, and wash my dishes. I sit back down on the table, watching Kirimi prepare various dishes.

“Um Kirumi” I speak up.

“Yes” Kirumi responds.

“I don’t have anything to do right now, mind if I help you prepare breakfast” I ask.

“Is that your request?” she asked.

“Yeah it is” I returned.

“In that case grab a apron, and wash your hands” Kirumi similed

“Yes ma'am” I respond.

The other students slowly filled up the room. Kaede and Shuichi were the last ones to enter. Kaede looked nervously around the room, before taking a breath.

“Um, Hey Everyone,” Kaede said apologetically, “I would like to apologize about what happened yesterday, I wasn’t being considerate of everyone's feelings. I was too focused on escaping and I got everyone hurt.”

“Hey Kaede,” I speak up, “You don’t have to-”

“Wow what’s wrong with you guys,” Kokichi pouted, “Kaede is just trying to help us, and you go and blame everything on her!”

“Wait a second!” Keebo spoke up, “You were the one who turned everyone against her.”

“Well that was just a lie!, Kokichi exclaimed, “After all I only lie to help, and that’s the truth!”

Right, Kaede and Shuichi told me Kokichi liked to lie a lot for no apparent reason. He’s pretty bad at it though, not hard to tell he’s just trying to manipulate people. For what purpose, to get people on his side? To remain ambiguous? Hmm…. My thoughts were interrupted by the danger sensation returning. Monokuma was approaching.

‘3,2,1….’

“The time had come and so have I!” cheered Monokuma as he dropped from the ceiling.

“NYEH!”Himiko screamed.

“OoOh” Miu moaned.

“Phuhu...So for the surprise, but I have an important announcement” Monokuma said with anticipation.

“Oh,” said Gonta, “Does this mean you are letting friends go?”

“Of course not!” yelled Monokuma, “No I’ve realised that killing someone can be imitating, all that pressure to create the perfect crime, especially if your a beginner. So to combat this, I’ve made an exception.”

“What kind of exception?” Rantaro questioned.

“I’ve decided that the first murder will *not* have a class trial, yup that's right, the first one’s a freebie!” cheered Monokuma, “I call this a motive. ”

“I see, so you’ve removed the biggest drawback of killing, clever” said Rantaro.

‘Dang, The bear knows if anyone kills, the more likely other people will kill as well in the future...wait a second...’

---

“Besides,” I continue, “Killing someone is like, the worst thing you can do in this situation.”

“Oh..” question Tsumugi, “How so?”

First of all you have to kill someone, which is hard enough, but you also have to construct a murder mystery, so people don’t figure out you’re the culprit with the limited resources in this school...”

---

‘Did they...did they get this idea from me?! This is bad, now the only reason not to kill each other is for moral reasons.’

“Damn it! I’m tired of your nonsense, I’m going to knock some sense into you…” Kaito said before charging towards Monokuma

“Kaito no!” I said tackling Kaito midair.

“Rise and Shine Ursine!” the Monokubs yelled before charging in.

*SPLAT

“Violence against father is forbidden,” yelled Monotaro, “Any violence against him is punishable by death!”

“Uhh, Monotaro,” said Monophanie, “What’s that on your foot?”

Montoro raised the exisal’s leg revealing a pink puddle and pieces of fluff and electronics.

“AAAHHHH!” yelled the Monokubs.

“You killed father!” cried Monophaine.

“It-it was an accident, I swear!” painiced Monotaro.

“So did we win?” asked Himiko.

“Um, I don’t think it’s that simple…” said Kaede.

“Yeah, he probably has other bodies” Shuichi adds.

“Hey don’t be such a downer Kaediot,” said Miu, “You and your small tits were the one who wanted to escape outta here.”

‘Kaediot? Small tits?’

“Yeah Kaede, I thought you’ve learned to respect our feelings” pouted Kokichi.

“Hold on a second, do you really think that *one* bear was running this ENTIRE operation?” I say annoyed,

“Of course not, there is also Monokubs” says Gonta.

“I don’t think that’s what he was referring to” says Kirumi.

“Oh, sorry” Gonta apologizes.

“Hey! Why can’t you guys just accept the truth, or you *want* us to stay trapped here?” Kokichi said angrily.

“Of course not-”   

“Okay! End of discussion, I’m going to go pack my things, see ya!” Kokichi left in a hurry.

“And we have to bury our father” cried Monophanie.

“Huh, why would we do that?, did I forget again?” asked Monotaro.

“So long! Bear well!”

After the Monokubs left we all went our own separate ways. Kaede still seemed upset, despite trying not to show it. Kaede quickly left to her room, Shuichi quickly following her.

‘Should go after her...no...no, she doesn’t need me.’

Having nothing better to do, I start exploring the school. I haven’t gotten the chance to properly investigate. Perhaps there’s another possible exit aside from the tunnel. I eventual make my way to the basement. In the left room was some random bar games, on the right was the library.

‘Dang, they only have generic movie theatre games here.’

However beside the DDR machine was a door with a picture of an arcade stick.

‘Oh, nevermind…’

I open the door, and enter….heaven. Inside the room there was a giant flat screen TV with various console connected with it. There were also a large cabinet contain several different fighting games, there were some other games thrown for good measure. There was also numerous arcade machines.

‘This is like a fighting gamer paradise, aside from the TV which probably has a good amount of delay on it…I’m tempted to just start playing...but I still have exploring to do, and fighting games are best enjoyed with others anyways.’

I leave the room, closing the door behind me. However as I do so, I noticed Kaede and Shuichi walking down the stairs. Kaede seems better.

“Hey guys what’s up!” I greet them.

“Oh, hello Eric, we were just…” Shuichi paused.

“...just going to the library to investigate, you know trying to escape and all...” Kaede finish for him

“Hey, I was just doing the same thing, mind if I join you?” I asked.

“Um, we kinda wanted to investigated...alone…” said Kaede.

“Oh...sure, that’s okay. I’ll see you later” I replied.

“Yeah sure” said Kaede.

We went our separate ways.

I walked out of the school and into the courtyard.

‘Did they really not want to be around me? Did I do something to make them upset? Do they just find me weird…’

Great, I finally got some friends I could trust and I blew it-

‘!’

I quickly grab at the air beside me. Opening my hand, I see there’s nothing there, not even a fly.

‘What! I could swore I sensed something small flying around me. Maybe it’s just my nerves.’

I sit down by the small ninja statue with the fox mask. To be honest I’ve been feeling paranoid since yesterday. That tunnel change everything, how I saw our kidnappers, how I saw the other students, how I saw *me.* Who are these guys? Are they really doing this for pure entertainment? And more importantly who am I? I lose all my memories *and* have superpowers, that can’t be a coincidence.

*sigh…

I pull my notebook and my pencil out of my bag and start sketching. I start sketching the greenery and move on to the environment, sketching the statue beside me.

“I’m going to name you Yusuke, Yusuke what do you think I should do?”

“ You have to beat their rubbish mentality into submission” I reply in a goofy voice

“Wow, that’s kinda violent don’t you think? Besides, if I fight the bears on head-first the other could get hurt or even killed in the crossfire”

“ Perhaps, but you’ve got to use your powers, it’s the only advantage you have against the bears”

“But how?”

‘This is ridiculous, I’m just talking to myself using a weird voice’

‘ Who are you calling ridiculous shorty? ’

‘Your one to talk, small fry?’

I burst into laughter from talking to myself. Even if no one wants to hang out, at least I have Yusuke.

“Hey what are you doing?” Kaede asks.

“AH!” I scream, “...oh, uh, nothing just drawing...”

“Wow, that’s pretty good!” Kaede cheered, “Maybe you should work with Angie once we get out of here”

“I would, but she might want to use my blood as paint” I joke.

Kaede sits down beside me.

“Hey are you feeling okay? You look kinda down” Kaede says with concern.

“Heh, I could say the same about you” I reply.

“Pfft, me? I fine. Seriously though you looked worried” Kaede responded.

“I just worried,” I sigh, “What if we can’t escape? What if someone gets desperate? What if outside world is apocalyptic? I don’t know….what if I’m a bad person?”

Kaede has a bit of shocked expression on her face.

‘I shouldn’t have unloaded all this on her she probably feel worse than before’

“Hey don’t worry,” Kaede put her hand on my shoulder, “We’re going to get out of here just fine and be friends. I promises that remember?”

“Yeah” I answer.

“And don’t worry, I might not have known you for a long time, but I can tell your a good guy,” Kaede said nicely, “And who knows maybe you’ll find out you have a great life! Who knows maybe you have a special someone wait for you...”

“Heh, I feel like if that was true I would definitely remember...”

“All you can do is move on step at a time and try your best, ok? Remember we’ll be here to help you along the way!” Kaede smiled.

“Hmm, you know Kaede, you remind me someone, I just wish I could remember who”

“I’m sure you’ll remember eventually”

“I hope so...”

“Hey Eric, if you could kill the mastermind behind all of this, and save everyone would you?” Kaede asked.

“Hmm I don’t know...If had the option of *everyone* living, of course I would take it. However we might not get that choice. And in that case there’s only choice I can make. Rather it be them than one of us. This is real life, not a comic book, I don’t know if it’s possible to beat these guys otherwise.”

“Yeah...you’re right...thanks Eric.” Kaede looked melancholy.

“Hey Kaede,” I quickly reply, “Um, I was just wondering, what exactly is motivating you”

“Motivating me?” Kaede tilted her head.

“Yeah, you’re seem so determined to save everyone, and are always thinking about rest of us instead of yourself, and I was just curious. People can’t be that selfless without having *some* reason, especially in this kind of situation”

“Yeah I guess so,” Kaede responds, “It’s the same reason I play the piano”

“.....?”

“It’s because I want to see the smiles on everyone's faces, it makes me happy you know?” Kaede smiled.

“Yeah, I think...I think I feel the same way” I returned a smile

Kaede got up, “Well, It’s getting late,I’d better get going to sleep, see ya!”

“See ya”

Kaede leaves me behind, and I got back to sketching this time of picture of Kaede.

Thankfully this night I went without any weird nightmares. I wake up, get dressed, and head to the dining hall. I don’t know why, but I can’t help but feel like something bad is going to happen. Entering early as last time, I make some breakfast and help Kirumi out, while I wait for the others to come.

“I wonder what’s taking them so long,” Himiko sighed, “I hope they get her soon, I’m tired of this place already…”

“You know Himiko if you’re always feeling tired you really should eat more” I recommended.

“Hah! Maybe that explains why your tits are so flat!” Miu laughed.

“Also,” I followed up, “I really don’t think this is over”

“I appreciate your concern, but I don’t think there is anything to worry about,” said Keebo, “Monokuma is dead and can not-”

‘!’

Keebo was interrupted by Monokuma wearing a green suit, and a gelled hair.

“After getting killed, I went to heaven, where I became the Spirit Detective! With my spirit bomb, I can destroy any demon (or ultimate student) who comes my way!”

There was various reactions all across the room, some screamed, some stay silent, and Tsumugi looked angry.

“That’s a terrible cosplay!” said Tsumugi, “And its spirit gun, not bomb.”

“Hump, why can't you kids appreciate hard work, I spent a long time trying to get the hair right” Monokuma mumbled.

“I hate to be that guy, but I told you so. Although I really hoped I was wrong” I depanned.

“Okay I’m dropping this gag,” Monokuma sighed, “...Anyways, what I actually came here for. *ahem, Starting now a new motive is inplace.

‘Another one?!’

“If a murder does not take place before nighttime, two days from now, every student participating in this killing game will be murdered, ripped to shreds by thousands of Monokumas from the special Monokuma making machine.” Monokuma laughed maniacally as he left us.

‘No no no...this can’t be happening. I-I can’t beat all  thousands of Monokumas, at most maybe I could save myself...’  

I looked at everyones shocked reactions, it was starting to become a trend now.

‘But there’s no way I can save everyone…’

“W-We can’t die like this” Tsumugi shuddered.

“Shut up! No one...no one's going to die!” Kaito yelled.

“Atua please accept me and my friends into heaven…” Angie prayed.

“Himiko, I-I’ll protect you with my life!” Tenko trembled.

“...” Himiko was silent.

“H-hey, Monokuma is probably just bluffing, there’s no way he would just kill us” I tried to calm everyone down.

“Hhmm, do you really want to test that theory” said Kokichi calmy.

“.....” I was silent.

“I’ll take that as a no, anyways things are looking interesting I wonder what’s going to happen...” Kokichi left the dining hall.

“W-Wait,” yelled Kaede, “We haven’t come up with a plan yet.”

“You’ve tried your best kid, but you’ve still got a ways to go” Ryoma promptly left as well.

“Hmph, figure it a plan yourself” Maki said coldly.

One by one everyone left the dining hall.

“Hey quick question,” Rantaro said, “Does the phrase ‘Ultimate Hunt’ mean anything to you.

“I don’t think so” said Shuichi.

“Okay, it’s probably nothing...” Rantaro left the dining hall.

Eventually Kaede and Shuichi left the dining hall, leaving only me.

I felt ill, like a huge weight was pushing my soul down. I wanted nothing more to just throw up on the spot. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream, I wanted to smash this place to pieces. What was this feeling…..sadness, agony, despair….. pain ...I felt pain.

Chapter Text

I lied in my bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. I trying to think of different ways to get out of here but I nothing  can come up with is helpful. At the most I could save myself, and maybe someone else if I got lucky. Is there really no way out of this, is this real how we die?

*sigh

There’s no point just lying down here, I should find something to do. I make my way to the game room. However before I get there Monokuma jumps me.

“You…” I growled.

“Oh! Such aggressiveness, that’s the emotion you’re going to be needing” Monokuma laughed.

“What do you want” I said annoyed.

“Oh, I just wanted to tell you about your Ultimate Lab! ” cheered Monokuma.

“Ultimate Lab? Is this best fighting game lab in the world?”

“No silly, this is where you can hone your talents, and maybe find a good way to kill someone. Here’s an idea, try crushing Ryoma with an arcade machine, or, or maybe beat Kaito to death with an arcade stick or, or-”

“Okay, you’ve made your speech, get a move one” I pointed to the stairs.

“Hmph teenagers, so disrespectful” Monokuma pouted.

“Sorry, but you’ve lost my respect a loooong time ago, now leave me alone”

Monokuma left without saying another word. I enter my lab and turn on the television. Maybe indulging myself in my talent will help me remember something. At this point I’m trying to do anything that has the chance of helping us.

“Now, what game to play…”

I browse the rows of games and come across a game called ‘Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3.’

“Hmm, this looks interesting”

I boot up the game and jump into the training mode.

“There’s a lot of characters, who do I pick?”

I eventually choose Spider-Man, Phoenix Wright, and Dante. Something just gravitated me to pick them. I started messing around with them, Dante is has a LOT of different moves befitting his stylish nature. Phoenix wright is a lawyer? He has a very unique playstyle and attacks by yelling tellings like “Objection!” and “Hold It!” and “Take That!” Spider-Man feel more traditional, focussing heavily on fast rush down, and comboing. Playing these characters feels very...natural especially Spider-Man.

“Spider-Man…”

“Oh!” My thought were interrupted by Kaede?

“Hey...Rantaro...Th-That tickles…”

“It’s okay, I’m almost done…”

“A...haha...pleasure hurry”

‘What the..”

I burst out of the door.

“Hey! What’s going here-”

In front of me was Rantaro...painting Kaede’s nails with Tsumugi watching?

“What are...What are you guys doing?” I asked, “I heard weird noises”

“Look Eric!” Kaede cheered, “Rantaro is painting my nails!”

“Yeah...so?”

“I’ve never had them painted before, do they look good?” she asked.

“This is a weird place for to have your nails painted for the first time...Oh yeah, it looks...uh good...I guess...”

“It’s too bad I don’t have any rhinestones it would look good with your french slant” Rantaro said like it was the most common knowledge.

“You seem to know a lot about this stuff, maybe your the Ultimate Makeup Artist” I suggest.

‘Certain would explain his outfit...and his personality’

“No, I just have a lot of sisters, and you sorta pick up on things” Rantaro dismissed.

“Hmph, normies…” Tsumugi said while glaring daggers into Rantaro.

‘I didn’t find anything super useful, but at least Kaede and Rantaro weren’t-no nevermind not going to think about that right now...’

After that fiasco, I decided to hang out with Rantaro. He also has memory loss, however his is much more specific than mine. It’s possible his ultimate talent might be a clue.

“So Rantaro” I question, “What exactly *do* you remember. Your Ultimate talent should reflect your life, right.”

“Let’s see, I was born into a very wealthy family. I wasn’t like other kids my age, I spent most of my time traveling the world on my dad’s boat, sometimes with my sisters.”

“Wow, that must be nice, so maybe your the Ultimate Traveler or Tourist” I suggested.

“No, no that does feel right” Rantaro replied.

‘Okay maybe that’s too broad’, I thought, “Well, what exactly do you do when you travel?”

“Well it varies from place to place, sometimes I do some sightseeing, sometimes I dabble in the culture and sometimes I have to run from the local gangs…”

“Woah, how does that happened?” I question.

“You know how it is, you go around asking to many questions, you get the crime families after you’re head” Rantaro said calmly.

“These adventures sounds dangerous” I assert.

“Yeah there are that’s how I lost my-” Rantaro stopped himself, “Sorry it’s nothing…”

“I going to assume that you almost said something personal”

“...basically”

“Well you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. However I can tell you do need to talk about this to someone. If not me then someone else you feel comfortable with.”

“Wow that’s unexpected, usually people are really pushy about it” Rantaro crosses his arms, “You’re a pretty cool guy, you know?”

“Thanks...but seriously, you should talk to someone about this, you put up a nice act, but I can tell it’s hurting you on the inside”

“Hmm, I guess you’re right, I haven’t really openly talked about it to someone” Rantaro sighed.

“If I could make a suggestion, Kirumi is out of a job, and you seem like you can afford her help,” I recommend, “She can probably help you find whoever your looking for.”  

“Thanks…” said Rantaro.

“It’s no problem” I respond.

I make my way back to my room, and call it a day.

This is it, the day of the deadline. The day where we could all die. My only hope was that Monokuma was bluffing. He clearly had put a lot of effort into ‘game’ he wouldn’t just let that go to waste right? Otherwise they’re all toast.

‘I guess I rather die innocent, than live as a murderer’

They only problem was the other students, what if someone gets desperate? It’s definitely possible with a deadline like this. Plus with the first blood perk, they might get off scot free.

‘I *hate* this. I keep having to go off assumptions, and assumptions can be dangerous’

I tried to relax in my lab but I was too nervous to play any games right now or sit still in my room, so I paced around the academy anxiously waiting for something to happen. Is probably due to my powers making me so jumpy. There was nothing I wanted to do more than just run , to move, let my thoughts drift away and be free . But I was stuck in this school, stuck in this killing game. I decided to keep an eye on the other students, it seemed the everyone other than Kaede and Shuichi was at the dining hall, or in there room. It’s weird how I can sense people without actually seeing them. Also what exactly *are* my powers?

‘Super strength,speed, agility, sticking to walls, sensing my environment without sight…kinda like a bug or something...’

I continued to wander the halls after taking a quick bathroom break.

‘I wonder where Kaede and Shuichi are? Maybe they have a plan’

Then as I passed through someone classrooms I heard them talking.

“...I’m not a real detective, Kaede. What kind of stupid detective is afraid of finding the truth?”

“I wish there was piano here. I would play you a song to help cheer you up!”

‘Looks like they’re having a private conversation, I should leave.’

“Kaede…?”

“You noticed, huh? Yeah...I’m shaking, too. But I’d be a mess if you weren’t here, I would be so lost. With you by my side I feel like I can do anything. So, please...be more confident. I believe in you, so you should definitely believe in yourself!”

I slowly backed away from the door and walked away.  

‘Why...why do I feel weird?’

All of the sudden, loud music started playing from the monitors. Along with several flashing images tell us to kill each other.

*click, clack

At the same time I heard the sound of footsteps, it appeared a large amount of students were heading to the basement? Why? Now I was really anxious, something bad was going to happen, and there was nothing I could do to stop it…

‘Danger! Below me!’’

I jumped backwards looked down, but there was nothing there that was a danger to me

‘The basement!’

I proceed to run back to the staircase leading to the basement, and hurried down the stars. Along the way I ran into Kaede, Shuichi, Tenko,and Kaito.

“Eric?” Kaito said surprised, “What you doing here?”

“Something bad is going to happen” I say, “I can feel it.”

“Hurry!” yelled Shuichi, “The mastermind is going to get away!”

‘Mastermind?!’

We burst through the doors, revealing a hidden door behind a bookshelf closing.

“Where’s the mastermind?” Shuichi question.

We slowly approached the bookshelf, where we saw...Rantaro Amami...dead on the ground.

‘No...I...failed’

Someone screamed it was probably Tenko, Kaito was speechless, Shuichi seemed unable to react to the current situation, and Kaede look riddled with guilt. She’s probably blaming herself for this. The other students I saw Kaito and Tenko with came running into the room.

“Hey, Gonta heard a scream is everything oka-AAAHHH!” Gonta screamed.

“Rantaro’s dead” said Maki, “The killing game has started”.

“No...that can’t be true...” Kaito said frustrated.

“No that’s wrong!” Kaede yelled, “I think that Rantaro was the mastermind”

“Mastermind?” I question, ‘So Rantaro was working with our kidnappers? That feels...wrong. I just talked to him.’ “Wait, in that case. How did he die? We all entered this room together...”

“Hmm..” Shuichi thought to himself.

‘Shuichi’s talent is going to come into use now’

*Ding Dong, Bing Bong

“W-What?!” Kaede stammered.

“A Body Has Been Discovered! Everyone Please Gather in the Library” Monokuma said though the monitor.

“N-No this can’t be true...that means…” Kaede looked pale.

“Rantaro isn’t the mastermind, and one of us killed him” Maki put bluntly.

“N-Not necessarily…” I refute, “He was killed close to the door, perhaps the mastermind killed Rantaro in an effort to kickstart the killing game.”

“No, I put dust on the card reader by the door, if the mastermind went through the door the dust would’ve fallen to the ground.” Shuichi explained.

“That means one of us really did kill Rantaro” Himiko looked depressed.

“Hey what the fuck happened!” yelled Miu as she entered the library.

The remaining students rushed into the library.

“It’s seems that a murder has occurred” said Kiyo.

“Nishishi...finally things are getting interesting” laughed Kokichi.

“How could you say something like that you degenerate male!” screamed Tenko.

“Stop giggling” I say, “I know your scared, stop trying to hide it”

“Phuhuhu...finally! I was starting to get bored with you kids” said Monokuma.

“S-So Rantaro isn’t the mastermind?!” Kaede stammered.

“Nope! If that was the case the killing game would be over automatically” said Monokuma.

‘So even if there are thousands of people working on this, we only have to kill one person…’

“But if Rantaro isn’t the mastermind, why did try to open the door? How did he even know about the door” asked Kaede.

“I-I don’t know, I don’t know. I can’t figure this out. He has to be the mastermind. He...” Shuichi stammered.

Shuichi looked like he was having a meltdown, unable to figure out what was going on

“Shuichi...” Kaede said with concern.

“I can’t do it, I can’t figure it out…” Shuichi was breathing deeply.

“Shuichi, c-calm down, we can figure this out!” Kaede grabbed his hand.

“Well lucky for you, since the first blood perk is in play, you don’t have to figure it out. Doesn’t that fill you with despair, knowing you’ll never figure out the answer” Monokuma giggled.

“Aww, but that’s boring” Kokichi pouted.

“Nyeh, investigating would be a pain…” Himiko sighed.

“Now would the murderer of Rantaro Amami, Ultimate Who Cares, please step forward”

“….” Nobody moved a muscle.

“Um, I said whoever killed Rantaro please step forward…”

“ ….”

“What’s this? Does one of you actually *want* a class trial! Well in that case I’m a generous bear, so we’ll hold a class trial! Better get investigating after a certain amount of time the trial will begin!” Monokuma left.

“What’s going on?!” I yelled, “Who’d in their right mind would want to have a class trail”

“I agree” said Keebo, “What could they possible have to gain from a class trail”

“Perhaps, they don’t simply wish to escape but to also kill the rest of us” Kiyo said creepily.

“What…?” Kaede stuttered.

“E-Eh? One of you virgins want me to die as well” Miu speaked, “H-Hey you losers better figure this out”

“It’s must have been one of the males, a girl would never do something like this” said Tenko.

“Gonta is a gentleman, would never kill Rantaro” said Gonta.

“Atua says that Rantaro killed himself” said Angie.

“That’s not real evidence” said Maki.

“Well of course *I* killed Rantaro, but that’s just a lie” said Kokichi.

“I think I saw this in an anime once and in that-”

“EVERYONE BE QUIET!” Shuichi yelled, “We can’t just stand here and point fingers, we to do *actual* investigating and we need to do it together. The only way we can figure this out is by working together, otherwise we’re as good as dead.”

Everyone was shocked at this Shuichi’s outburst. No one thought the detective had it in him to speak out like that.

“Wow that was impressive” I break the silence.

“Shuichi right, Monokuma said we only have a certain amount of time before the trail began, so we need to hurry” Kaede seemed to have her spirit back.

“But there is so may of us, how should we proceed” Kirumi asked.

“We should split up into groups, there’s an even amount of us now so there should be any problems” said Shuichi.

“I see that way no one can tamper with evidence” sadi Tsumugi.

“We should start with the cameras. Hopefully they managed to capture the killer” said Shuichi.

“Cameras?” I question, “When did you set up cameras”

“Right we didn’t explain our plan to catch the mastermind” said Kaede.

“Plan to capture the mastermind?” I say.

“Alright everyone there’s something you need to know” said Kaede.

Kaede explained her and Shuichi’s plan to stop the mastermind, and how the mastermind could be one of us.

‘Wow they actual had a pretty good plan, while I was just running around the place like an idiot’

“That means we can use the cameras you guys set up to find the culprit” Kaito said with a grin, “Though I’m slightly offended you didn’t tell us.”

“We couldn’t tell everyone or there’d be a mass panic” Shuichi explained, “No one would trust one another”.

“That’s why I think this is the masterminds fault” said Kaede, “They’re the only person who could get the chance to kill Rantaro. It would also explain why they didn’t take the perk.”

‘But if they didn’t come from the door where did they enter, and how did they leave?’

“Hey” Monophaine interrupted, “Um, I could develop the pictures while you investigate.”

“And how do we know you won’t just tamper with the pictures to ‘balance’ the game” said Ryoma.

“Yeah, thanks but no thanks” said Kaito.

“I could develop the photos if that is what you wish” said Kirumi.

“That would be great” said Kaede, “Just make sure you take someone with you.”

“Preferable Kokichi” I add, “I don’t want him messing around with the crime scene”

“Wow, you I’m the killer, I’m hurt I thought we were friends” Kokichi burst into tears.

“No, however you might tamper with the evidence to make things ‘interesting’ I say.

“Well that’s too bad because I’m taking those-” Monophaine started.

“Here you go Kirumi” I say as I hand over the camera.

“What?! So fast!” Monophanie exclaimed.

“Ha!” Miu laughed.

“Hmph, suit yourselves...So long, bear well…” Monophanie sighed.

Everyone split into groups and started to investigating. While Kokichi and Kirumi went to develop the photos. Somehow I ended without a group so I figured I would investigate with Shuichi, and Kaede.

“Wow Shuichi you were very assertive back there” said Kaede.

“It was nothing…” Shuichi blushed.

“Hey guys, mind if I investigate with you?” I ask, “I everyone else is taken...”

“Sure!” said Kaede, “Okay let’s do this”.

*Beep Beep

“Huh, my Monopad is ringing” says Kaede.

I pull out my Monopad instead of its usual menu, it read ‘Monokuma FIle 01.’

“Looks like some kind of case file” said Shuichi.

‘The victim is Rantaro Amami, Ultimate ??? The victim’s body was discovered in the library. The estimated time of death is 9:10 pm. The victim was subject to blunt force trauma to the back of the skull resulting in cranial fractures and immediate death. No other injuries were detected.’

“How were they able to do an autopsy report so fast?” I said.

“That’s something we can worry about later right now, we should start investigating the body” said Shuichi.

Rantaro’s body was facing the bookshelf adjacent to the bookshelf in front of the secret door with a bloody shot put ball close by. There was a lot of blood, leaving the ground and the bookshelf drenched. Rantaro body was also covered in blood particularly his left hand, with a noticeable wound on the back of his head. Kaede looked pale staring at Rantaro’s body.

“It appears that the shot put ball is the murder weapon, it matches the wound on the back of his head.” said Shuichi.

“Judging by the splattering marks on the bookshelf, Rantaro was standing up when he was hit from behind by the shot put ball. We’re looking for someone about Rantaro’s size, and strong enough to hit Rantaro in the head.” I deduce.

“Woah” said Kaede, “You’re pretty good detective”

“Uh thanks” I reply.

“I wonder shouldn’t he noticed his attacker” said Shuichi.

“Ah, the monitors!” Kaede exclaimed, “During the final hour of the deadline, Monokuma was blasting that weird music. That’s why they didn’t hear the culprit”

“Ha! You’re pretty good yourself” I say.

Shuichi proceed to check his person, only finding his Monopad in his pocket.

“This proves it,” said Shuichi, “If he was the mastermind he’d have the card key on his person.”

“If that was the case, why did he even come to the library?” said Kaede.

“He probably discovered the door earlier, and like you guys, planned to intercept the mastermind before the deadline” I say, “But luckily for us, this might just give us the chance to stop the mastermind.”

“Yeah, I won’t let Rantaro’s death be in vain. I’ll use the class trail to expose the mastermind and save everyone” Kaede pumped her fists.

“Well I think that’s everything we’ll get from the body” said Shuichi.

“Ok in that case...” I whip out my notebook, and draw a diagram of the library, including the body, the murder weapon, the bookshelves, the cameras, and the vent, “Okay we can refer to this in the future”

Also in the library Miu was messing around with a controller.

“What’s with the controller?” I ask, “Are you using a drone to collect data for the investigation.”

“No dickcheese! I’m using a drone in order to take pictures for the investigation.” laughed Miu

“Isn’t that basically the same thing” said Kaede.

“Shut up small tits, no one asked you!” said Miu

“Y-You shut up! My chest is way better than your nasty cow udders!” yelled Kaede.

“*inhales, OOOOOOOHHHH!” I yelled jumping up and down. “You just got told!”

“Heeeee!!!” Miu stuttered.

“....” Shuichi was both speechless and blushing.

“My girl!” I cheered “High five!”

Kaede gave me a high five, and we proceeded out of the library.

The game room was our next spot as it’s right next to the library and that’s where Kaito and several other people were gathered.

“So Kaito what exactly were you guys doing here” Kaede asked.

“Well I gathered everyone I thought could put up a decent fight against Monokuma and went to somewhere they couldn’t get the jump on us” answered Kaito seemingly proud of his answer.

“Yeah, but you also trapped yourself in the basement where you had no chance of escape. Not to mention there’s not enough a lot of space to fight” I say.

“Butl...you...see...Monokuma wouldn’t have never expected it!” Kaito cheered.

“Anyways Rantaro was a part of this group as well correct?” said Shuichi, “Did you notice him leaving.”

“Of course!” said Kaito, “He said he needed to go to the bathroom, but when he didn’t come back, me and Tenko went looking for him”

“That’s when we met up” Kaede said, “Did you notice anything suspicious? Did anyone else leave the group?”

“I don’t think so, but Gonta was in the by himself in the movie room” said Kaito.

“We should talk to Gonta” said Shuichi.

“Ok, you guys do that while I search my lab, I’m the only one who’s been in it long enough to tell if anything been tampered with” I said.

“Right” Shuichi nodded.

I entered my lab, and checked to see if anything was out of the ordinary. However it appeared the room hadn’t been touched since I last entered.

‘There was a secret door in the library, maybe my lab also has some secrets...’

I began to move around the stuff in my lab, checking behind the arcade machines and cabinets for any secret doors. Unfortunately my search turned up empty.

‘I guess that makes sense, they would put secrets in more common areas to access them easily without arousing suspicion.’

I walk out of my lab and enter the A/V room, inside Kaede and Shuichi were both blushing at a dvd. Gonta and Himiko was also in the room.

“Hey guys I didn’t find anything in my lab...you ok?” I question.

“Y-Yeah we’re find” Kaede stuttered, “Just investigation…”

“Ok, well did you find anything?”

“Well we found this sliding door that leads to the library, it only opens a crack thought…” said Kaede.

“And the screen could be rolled up and used for a pole” Shuichi added.

“So?” I question, “It’s not like it could’ve been used to kill Rantaro”

“...right” Shuichi sighs.

“So Gonta” Kaede moved on, “What exactly were you doing in here by yourself?”

“Oh, Gonta was watching a bug movie to get himself pumped to fight Monokuma” said Gonta.

“Are you sure you watching a movie?” said Himiko, “Or were you killing Rantaro!”

“No, Gonta would never hurt friends” said Gonta, “You gotta believe Gonta, Gonta gentleman!”

“It’s okay Gonta I believe you” I comfort him, “You’re the lowest on my suspect list”

“Thanks Eric, Gonta should introduce you to bug friends!” Gonta yelled.

“I’d like that” I nodded, “I’ve always thought spiders were really cool”

“Okay, I think we’ve searched everything you need to in here, let’s go” Kaede suggested.

We left the library, and began to ask people for the alibias, mostly everyone was either at the dining hall or with Kaito in the basement. The rest where in their rooms. However Kiyo noted that Tsumugi in particular left to use the bathroom and was gone for awhile.

“Interesting…” Shuichi said.

“Do you think that Tsumugi could’ve disguised herself and commited the crime?” said Kaede.

“It’s possible...what if the Rantaro with Kaito and the others wasn’t actually Rantaro” I theorised, “But Tsumugi is cosplay?”

“We’ll have to ask her to be sure” said Shuichi.

We made our way back to the library where Tsumugi and Miu were still investigating.

“Tsumugi, I’m just going to cut to the chase-since you’re the ultimate cosplayer you could disguised yourself  as one of us” said Kaede.

“Cosplay isn’t a disguise!” Tsumugi burst out, “Besides I can’t cosplay a real person, even if I wanted to…”

“What do you mean by that?” Shuichi questions.

“It’s called cospox, whenever I try to cosplay as a real person my skin becomes red and itchy, It’s better if I show you” Tsumugi said as she grabbed Kaede hand and head off.

“Hey where are you going!” I exclaimed as I went after them.

“H-Hey wait!” Shuichi yelled.

Tsumugi brought Kaede to the first floor and into the girl’s bathroom, while me and Shuichi waited outside.

“So...ah...what now?” I turned to Shuichi, “You want to go first to 5 in Street Fighter?”

“Uhh...:” Shuichi paused.

“I’m just kidding that would take too long…” I joked.

We waited a few minutes as Kaede and Tsumugi were doing...whatever they were doing in there. However Kaede exited with tears in her eyes, causing both me and Shuichi to rush to here.

“Kaede! Are you okay?!” Shuichi panicked

“Who did this? Was it Tsumugi! I’ll mess her up! I’ll really do it, I’m not sexist!” I said furiously.

“I-I’m okay, but Tsumugi couldn’t have disguised herself…” Kaede whimpered

“Kaede what happened in there?” Shuichi investigated.

“It’s-it’s nothing, but Tsumugu was telling the truth, shes gets an allergic reaction when attempting to cosplay a real person” said Kaede

“Heeeyyy!” cheered Kokichi, “What’s going on! I figured I should save you some time that I’m the killer, but that would a lie, and I know you hate lies. Also Kirumi done generating the pictures like you asked.”

Everyone gathered in the storage room. We were all eagerly anticipating what the photos would reveal to us.

“I developed the photos to your request and organised them into 3 folders for each camera” said Kirumi.

“Thanks Kirumi” said Shuichi.

“Hey!” yelled Kaito, “Don’t keep us in suspense! Open it!”

“Ooh, I wonder who it is?” Angie squished her cheeks.

Shuichi opened the folders, and flipped through all of the pictures. There were pictures of Rantaro entering with his Monopod in his left hand, opening the hidden door, walking up to the bookcase, and...all of us entering the library.

“What?” Kaede exclaimed.

“That’s it?!” I gasped.

“Gonta don’t understand, where is culprit?”

“Maybe he was killed by a ghost” said Tsumugi.

“Ghost?!” Kaito yelped.

“Don’t be an idiot” said Maki.

“I don’t understand how was the culprit able to avoid being captured on camera?” said Keebo.

‘Damn it! It’s like the more I investigate the less I understand. Maybe Shuichi is having more luck-’

*Ding Dong Bing Bong

‘What! No, not now. I need more time!’  

“Alright! It’s time for what you’ve been waiting for-the class trial! Please assemble in front of the Shrine of Judgement in the courtyard. Phuhuhu...hope your ready!”

“Damn! We’re out of time” said Kaito with frustration.

“We will have to figure out the rest in the trail” said Keebo.

“I-It’ll be fine, we’ll be fine!” Kaede encouraged, “We’re going to expose the mastermind and save everyone..who’s left. Let’s go!”

In a few minutes we arrived at at the ‘Shrine of Judgement’ all eagerly anticipating the class trial. Shuichi in particular looked nervous.

“Hey don’t worry Shuichi, this not up to just on you. We’re going to figure this case out together. I’m sure we can crack this thing if we work together.” I said

“Right...thanks” Shuichi nodded.

“I feel like you say that a lot”

“...sorry”

“You also say that a lot too” I chuckled.

All of the sudden the ground began to rumble as the Monokuma statue began to sink and a pathway leading to an elevator rose behind the waterfall from the water.

“This guy really likes being dramatic…” said Himiko.

“Atua please protect us in this class trail” Angie prayed.

“I guess we have to get in the elevator” said Kaede

We entered the large elevator one at a time. All of us nervous about what would happen next. Everyone was mostly silent during the ride down, except Kaede who was whispering to Shuichi.

“Hey Shuichi remember what I told you before?”

“....”

“I think everyone is afraid of learning the truth. But the people who are willing to find the truth are the ones who get to choose the path you they’re on. But if you don’t, you won’t know what path your on; you don’t get to choose. It’s the choices that make us who we are. So please...choose to fight for the truth, even if it’s scary. I believe in you.”

“.....”

“You know I use to be like you, so unsure in myself I thought I would vomit on stage. Then I thought of all the people I’ve made smile thanks to my performances”

“...Kaede”

“Alright! Let’s expose the mastermind and save everyone!”

‘That speech is feels familiar, very familiar. This is weird, that speech it makes me feel scared and brave at the sametime, happy and sad. Why?’

The elevator stopped and the door opened revealing a strange circular looking courtroom, with Monokuma sitting in the judge’s bench, and his kids in the jury.

‘This is it. Even with all my powers I could save Rantaro. But I won’t let his death go to waste. We’ll find the killer, take down the mastermind. I won’t let anymore of my friends die.’

Chapter Text

There were 17 podiums arranged in a circle, and each podium had one of our names behind them. At the podium where Rantaro would have standed was a picture of his face with a red ‘X’ over it. We each stood behind our designated podium. I was positioned beside Miu and Maki...great.

“Ahem” Monokuma cleared his throat, “Now then, let’s begin with a basic explanation of the class trial! During the trial you’ll present arguments for who is the culprit is and vote for ‘whodunnit.’ Vote correctly and only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person...I punish every person *besides* the blackened, and that person will graduate from this academy! Also refusing to vote will result in your death, so you better vote for someone! Now let’s get this first trial underway!”

“So we just talk about things until we figure out the killer?” I said, “I’d figured it would more structured like a real trial”

“But real trials already have a suspect for the culprit, we do not.” Kirumi pointed out.

“Well I’d say Kaito is a pretty big suspect! He was one who gathered everyone in the basement” Kokichi smirked.

“Why you!” Kaito yelled, “Tenko was with me the whole time!”

“Hey now!” said Kaede “We can’t just yell out random accusations without any information. I promised to expose the mastermind, and I plan to do it!”

“Kaede’s right” said Shuichi, “First we need how the murder happened. We should be able to figure out the killer from there.”

“But where do we start?” Tenko asked.

“May I suggest we go over the sequence of events” said Kirumi.

(Nonstop Debate Start!)

“During the last hour of the deadline, Kaito gathered several people including Rantaro to the basement to fight Monokuma...” said Ryoma

“...But then Rantaro left to the library, right?” said Tenko

“Where he was killed after opening the hidden door” said Maki”

“How did he know about the hidden door?” asked Keebo.

“Ha, That means that Alvancado boy was the mastermind! I did it! I solved the case!” yelled Miu

“No that’s Wrong!” Kaede yelled.

(Break)

“Miu we already discussed this, Rantaro can’t be the mastermind” said Kaede.

“Eh? Why not!” Miu yelled.

“Because if the mastermind was Rantaro this killing game would already be over” I said, “Monokuma said it himself.”

“Oh…Well maybe he’s lying to cover it up! Maybe there’s two masterminds!” said Miu

“I find that...unlikely” said Keebo.

“It’s likely that Rantaro found the hidden door by accident, prior to the deadline” said Shuichi.

“Plus if Rantaro’s the mastermind, then who killed him?” I add, “I doubt someone would try to cover up the mastermind’s murder.”

“Nyeh, if Rantaro’s not the mastermind, where do we go from here?” asked Himiko.

“Maybe we should go over everyone's alibis” Shuichi suggests.

(Nonstop Debate Start!)

“Me, Miu, Kirumi, and Kiyo were in all the dining hall” said Tsumugi, “Oh, but I went to the bathroom for a bit”

“As I recall, other than Tsumugi, nobody left the dining hall” said Kirumi

“And me, Gonta, Angie, Himiko, Tenko, Kaito and Rantaro were in the game room” said Maki

“We were all together” said Kaito “So none of us had the chance to kill Rantaro”

“The rest of us were on our own” said Ryoma.

“Oh, Atua says one of *you* is the killer!” cheered Angie.

“No that’s wrong!” Kaede yelled.

(Break!)

“Uh, which part?” Tsumugi questioned.

“The guys the game room, you weren’t *all* together” said Kaede, “Gonta was by himself in the A/V room. That makes him a suspect”

“Gonta was watching bug movie to bug movie to prepare to fight Monokuma!” yelled Gonta Gonta no kill Rantaro!”

“But Gonta wasn’t the only one who was alone during the time of the murder” I say, “Besides, it’s Gonta! No way he could be the killer or mastermind.”

“That’s true however Gonta was in the A/V room which is right across from the library” said Kaede, “That makes him a suspect. If we’re going to find the truth and expose the mastermind we should to discuss any detail that could be important.”

“I guess so…” I sighed.

(Nonstop Debate Start!)

“Gonta was all alone in the A/V room” said Tenko

“If I’m correct there is a door in the A/V that right across from the side entrance in the library” said Kirumi.

“That means Gonta could have killed Rantaro without anyone noticing” said Maki

“Yeah, but that door only opens an arms length there is no way someone like Gonta could fit through” said Kaito.

“...But what if he threw the shot put!” exclaimed Tenko, “Then he could have killed Rantaro without even leaving the room!”

“I knew it was Gonta, it’s always the big guys” said Himiko.

“No that’s wrong!” yelled Kaede.

(Break)

“Gonta couldn’t have thrown the shot put” said Kaede.

“Ah!” Shuichi exclaimed.

“Shuichi got it” said Kaede.

“What is his arm too big or something?” questioned Tsumugi.

“No” said Shuichi, “When we arrived at the library the bookcase hiding the hidden door was closing…”

“...Meaning it would impossible for Gonta to hit Rantaro at that angle” Kaede finished.

“See Gonta told you he innocent!” Gonta cheered.

“I believe in you Gonta” I said.

“So who else had the chance to kill Rantaro?” said Keebo, “Everyone has an alibi downstairs, and everyone upstairs would have been noticed if they went to the basement.”

“Maybe it was the mastermind, and they were already in the hidden room” said Kaede.

“I’m sorry Kaede, but I don’t think the mastermind is the killer” said Shuichi, “If the mastermind went through the door, the dust I put on the card reader would have moved.”

“Oh…” said Kaede

“Well now we’re back at square one…” I sigh.

“It seems we keep on hitting dead ends” said Kiyo.

“Oh Gonta had question” Gonta spoke up.

“Oh what is it?” I said.

“Uh, Gonta not smart boy so maybe answer is obvious, but why killer not in pictures?” Gonta asked.

“I think we were all wondering that” said Kaito.

“Um, Miu” said Kaede, “You set up those cameras right, can you think of any reason why the culprit wouldn’t appear in the cameras?”

“Oh are you asking for *my* help” said Miu, “Well for your information Kaeidiot, the camera’s have a 30 second interval between pictures.”

“Why didn’t you mentioned that earlier!” I yelled.

“Heee...I-I didn’t think it would be important…” Miu whimpered.

“So a person could use the time intervals of the camera to kill Rantaro” said Kirumi.

“Woah, I guess that means Miu is the-” said Kokichi.

“No Miu has an alibi” I shot down Kokichi theory.

“Aww, you’re no fun…” Kokichi sighed.

“Huh sorry, I rather not waste time” I retorted, “Anyways Miu, who else knew about this interval”

“Just me and the small dick detective” Miu remarked.

“Shuichi?” Kaede said with concern.

“You too! This is very important information that could lead us to our killer, why didn’t you mention it!” I said.

“Perhaps it’s because Shuichi is the killer” said Maki

“Shuichi! No way! He would never kill Rantaro!” yelled Kaito.

“The detective being the killer, what a twist” Kokichi smirked.

“Shuichi was the one who set up the motion detector correct?” said Kirumi

“Uh...yes” said Kaede.

“But Kaede was with Shuichi the whole time right?” I question.

“Well when Kaito and his gang went downstair, Shuichi went to check on them” said Kaede.

“Oh ho,It seems like that Shuichi is our most likely suspect” said Kiyo

“So it was a degenerate male in the end” said Tenko

“H-Hey...wait a minute” Shuichi stuttered.

“Atua says if you admit to your crimes now he’ll shorten your punishment!” Angie cheered.

“Hold on, me and Shuichi were together when the receiver went off, meaning Rantaro was still alive!” yelled Kaede.

“Also Kaede would notice if Shuichi had the murder weapon on him, it’s not like he could hide it under his hat” I added.

“He could have already hidden it in the library beforehand” said Maki, “and for the receiver he could have disabled the receiver and taken down the motion detector after killing Rantaro. Then faked the receiver going of in front of Kaede.”

‘This isn’t good! Shuichi definitely didn’t kill Rantaro, but how do I prove it…’

(Nonstop Debate Start)

“So Shuichi went downstair with the receiver…” said Keebo.

“He waited for Rantaro to enter the library...” said Tenko.

“And BAM! Killed him with the shot put” said Kokichi.

“He proceeded to turn off the motion sensor with the receiver…” said Himiko.

“And used it to make Kaede *think* the murder happened” said Kirumi.

“No that’s wrong!” yelled Kaede.

( Break )

‘Phew, Kaede thought of something’

“Shuichi couldn’t have turned motion sensor” said Kaede, “B-Because *I* had the motion sensor.”

“Oh well I guess he couldn’t be the killer after all, whoops” said Kokichi.

‘Kaede is lying...but in this situation there is not actually a way to 100% prove Shuichi innocent.’

“Even so, that degenerate male has to be the killer!” said Tenko.

“Yeah, even if he didn’t have the receiver, he’s the most suspicious” said Ryoma.

“Yeah like why the hell why didn’t he mention anything about the time intervals for the cameras! Huh!” yelled Miu.

“You also did that remember?” said Tsumugi.

“Heee...S-Stop bringing up the past” Miu speaked.

“What do we do now?” said Keebo, “We’ve eliminated mostly everyone as the killer.”

“Are we going to die?” Himiko sad sadily.

Everyone began to argue among themselves. I was at a blank if Shuichi wasn’t the killer and it wasn’t the mastermind, then who? I looked at Kaede who seemed to being having a conversation with Shuichi. Shuichi was looking...different. There was confidence in his eyes, but also remorse.

‘Maybe he’s got this case figured out’

Then Shuichi said something that silenced everyone.

“...Kaede is the culprit.”

“Wha?” said Kaito, “You’re joking, right?”

“No, Kaede killed Rantaro” said Shuichi, “And I can prove it.”

“...” Kaede was silent.

“That doesn’t make much sense, Kaede with you in the classroom right Shuichi”

“I never said she went to the basement” said Shuichi.

“Didn’t go to the basement? I’m sorry I don’t plainly understand” said Tsumugi.

“When we were setting up our trap for the mastermind, Kaede tried to set up the books to cover the vent in the library. We thought the mastermind might try crawling through the vent” Shuichi explained, “But even when it was clearly impossible, Kaede went on organizing the books for a while”

“So?” said Maki.

“The room Kaede and I were in had the other vent that connects to the vent in the library” Shuichi continued, “If she arranged the books in a specific way she could make a type pf Rube Goldberg machine to kill Rantaro.”

“But how would she know Rantaro would even go to the bookshelf!” yelled Kaito

“The specific camera near Rantaro dead body was taped by Kaede. She used the flash from the camera to lure Rantaro in the proper position” said Shuichi, “And in the photos you can clearly see the light from the flash.”

“I-I...damit!” Kaito said with frustration.

“It would also explain why the culprit didn’t appear in any of the pictures” Shuichi added, “And how the culprit transported the murder weapon, Kaede has a backpack.”

“You don’t have any proof Kaede did any of this, it’s just a theory!” yelled Tenko.

“Actually...I do” said Shuichi, “Miu you took pictures of the library using that drone, right? Can we see them?”

“Sure, knock yourself out” said Miu.

Shuichi went through the drone pictures, one of them revealing the top of the bookshelf, beside Rantaro body. Sure enough a small ramp was made with books.

“No way?” Kaito was looking pale.

“Kaede?” Tenko whispered.

“...”

“But why? Gonta can’t accept this unless Gonta knows why!” Gonta whimpered.

“Wow after all that talk about friendship, she goes and kills Rantaro!” said Kokichi.

“So she was just tricking us” said Maki.

“No that’s wrong!” said Shuichi, “That couldn’t father from the truth! Kaede didn’t kill Rantaro to escape, she was trying to save all of us!”

“Save us?” Tsumugi questioned.

“Kaede was trying to kill the mastermind. She just wanted to save everyone from the deadline” Shuichi said with tears in his eyes, “That’s why she didn’t take the first blood perk, she rathered save everyone and die, than just save herself.”

“...” Kaede also had tears in her eyes.

“I’m right, aren’t I” said Shuichi

“Yeah, sniffle, Y-Your right, your a really good detective you know?” Kaede stammered.

“Kaede…”

“I was worried about the time limit, that even we exposed them they would still try to kill us all, but then when I realised Rantaro wasn’t the mastermind, I thought I could expose the real mastermind first, then everyone one who be saved but me” Kaede continued.

“Kaede?” said Gonta.

“You should hate me, I’m nothing but a hypocrite and a murder!” Kaede began to sob

“...”

This entire time I hadn’t spoken a word, I couldn’t speak a word. It felt like my heart stopped beating, like the whole world is falling apart, like, like I couldn’t breathe. I felt heavily, I felt empty, I felt pain.

‘Kaede…’

---

“Hey Eric, if you could kill the mastermind behind all of this, and save everyone would you?” Kaede asked.

“Hmm I don’t know...If had the option of *everyone* living, of course I would take it. However we might not get that choice. And in that case there’s only choice I can make. Rather it be them than one of us. This is real life, not a comic book, I don’t know if it’s possible to beat these guys otherwise.”

---

This is...this my fault. I’m the one who told her to kill the mastermind, I’m the one who gave Monokuma the idea for the first blood perk. I’m the one who sat on my butt doing nothing while the deadline was approaching. I’m the one who could have apprehended the mastermind. I’m the one with superpowers, and I can even anyone!

‘This is my fault.’

‘I’m responsible.’

‘...’

‘...Is this how this ends…’

‘Is….’

‘Is Kaede going to die….?’

‘No…’

‘No she can’t…’

‘I-I…’

‘...’

“Shuichi can you end this…” Kaede wept.

“OBJECTION!”

Everyone’s heads turned. I was standing up straight, pointing my finger at Shuichi with intensity and with a serious look on my face.

“I object!” I yelled.

‘No...I’m not going to let anymore people die because of me! Even if I have to take on the entire world, I’m going to save Kaede!’

Chapter Text

“Shuichi I’m trusting my wish, to save everyone, to you” Kaede cried

“But why? Why put your trust in someone like me?” Shuichi said sadly

“I...Shuichi can you please end this” Kaede wept

“OBJECTION!” I yelled out.

Everyone immediately looked my way in confusion.

“Eric?” Kaede sad with tears in her eyes.

“Huh?” Tsumugi questioned, “To what?”

“I object...to Kaede being the culprit” I take a breath.

“HUH!” yelled everyone.

“Hey weren’t you listening, Kaede already confessed to the crime!” said Miu.

“Ignore him, he’s just being overly emotional” said Maki.

“And maybe your not emotional enough!” I retaliate, “I uh, just feel like we’re missing something…”  

‘That’s just a bluff, but it need time to think of a way to prove Kaede innocent’

“Something we missed?” said Kirumi.

“I plainly thought we’ve discussed everything” said Tsumugi.

“Look kid, I know you don’t want to accept that Kaede’s the killer, but there no point in delaying the inevitable” said Ryoma

“Oh, maybe he’s trying to save Kaede, by getting killing everyone!” said Kokichi.

“No! I just feel like we've overlooked something important” I said, “Kaede was the one who said we should look into every detail. Besides at this point we’ve got nothing to lose!”

“What’s this?! The trial isn’t over yet?” said Monokuma, “Oh this looks like it’s going to be interesting!”

“Hmm this isn’t something you see every class trial” said Monosuke.

“Wow, it’s like when you think this movie is going to end, but there’s still an hour left in the runtime!” said Monotaro.

“Oh no, I don’t think my heart can take any more of this drama…” said Monophanie.

“I don’t know about you, but I have a rock hard rager right now!” yelled Monokid, “I feel like I bully Monodam non-stop!”

“...” Monodam was silent.

“What exactly is this thing we’ve overlooked” said Maki, “It’s better not just be a *feeling* your have, right?”

“O-Of course not, I can show you what is bothering me…” I say.

‘Okay I need to find something, anything out of place of Kaede’s story, something that doesn’t add up if she’s the killer’

(Present Evidence)

‘Wait a second, what’s this?’

“Take That!” I yelled.

‘I don’t know how this exactly relates to this case, but it’s the only I’ve got!’

“The photos?” said Tenko, “What wrong with them?”

“Could everyone take a look right here!” I said pointed to the monopad in Rantaro’s last picture.

“Nyeh, what wrong with his monopad?” said Himiko.

“It’s not the monopad itself, but rather where the monopad is” I said.

“Huh, Gonta doesn’t understand” Gonta said.

“You see in this picture you can clearly see Rantaro monopad in his left hand” I explained, “However when we searched the body, the monopad was found in his pockets”

“Atua says Rantaro put his monopad in his pocket before he died. Yay mystery solved!” Angie cheered

“Sorry, but that doesn’t add up. This picture was taken seconds before Rantaro died” I retorted, “Also Rantaro’s left hand was noticeable more covered in blood than his right, probably because he had his arm stretched out, like in this picture”

“What does this mean?” said Keebo

“It means that someone tampered with the crime scene” I stated.

“But who could have gotten the chance to tamper with the crime scene, and why did the feel the need to move Rantaro monopad?” Kiyo questioned.

“I don’t know about the motive but as for who moved the monopad I think I have an idea…” I say.

(Present Person)

“Take That!”

‘A person who could have tampered with Rantaro’s body before we arrived on scene I can only think of one person…’

“The mastermind, it must have been-”

“No that’s Wrong!” yelled Shuichi.

“Shuchi?” I questioned.

“I’m sorry I know where is is going” Shuichi said sadly.

“What? Don’t you see there still a chance-”

“I get it, I really do. I want nothing more for Kaede to be innocent, but she’s the fact is she’s not. Kaede told me to fight for the truth, so I’ll prove you wrong!”

(Rebuttal Showdown)

“I’m sorry but your logic doesn’t hold up”

“The mastermind couldn’t have tampered with evidence”

“Because they never entered their room”

“The dust on the card reader proves it”

“It would have moved if they used it”

“Then how did Rantaro monopad magically appear in his pocket?”

“It’s possible that if they were careful enough that the dust wouldn’t be moved”

“Rantaro could’ve put his monopad away before he died”

“The mastermind had no reason to move the monopad”

“Besides even if the dust didn’t move the motion detector would have gone off”

“The mastermind didn’t enter their room and that’s the truth”

“Objection!”

(Break)

“Sorry, but there is a flaw in your logic” I said.

“What?” Shuichi said shocked.

“You keep acting like that door is the *only* way for the mastermind to enter that room” I explain, “But that doesn’t make sense, what if someone broke in they would be trapped”

“Yeah, as an evil genius myself, I know you always have multiple exits for your secret lair” Kokichi sad happily, “Never know when the cops will show up”

“And for why the mastermind who tampered with evidence, I think I’ve figured out the solution” I said.

“You do? Please Eric share it with us” said Keebo.

“Well I was looking at the pictures again with the monopad in mind, I thought of something interesting”

“Interesting like magic?” sadi Himiko.

“No as in, why is Rantaro holding his monopad in the first place?” I said.

“Hmm, I didn’t think about that I guess he didn’t have much of a reason” said Kaito.

“Then I thought, when did he find out about the hidden door? It felt weird that he knew about it and didn’t act at all until the deadline. Even if he found it beforehand, he should have know that he couldn’t enter the room without the key card” I continued, “Then it hit me, what if Rantaro’s monopad was special?”

“In what way?” Shuichi asked.

“I...don’t know. There’s many possibilities...like what if his map had the hidden room on it, or what if his monopad acted as a key card” I theorised, “If that was the case…”

“It would give a reason for the mastermind to tamper with Rantaro’s monopad” Kirumi finished my sentence.

“Exactly!” I concur, “And guess what that means, we have a new suspect in this murder case”

“So Monokuma tampered with evidence, I guess that’s better than Kaede being the culprit” said Himiko.

“No hang on just a minute buster!” Monokuma yelled “*I* would never directly kill anyone or tamper with evidence, it’s against the rules”

“Funny, you just said *you* wouldn’t tamper with evidence, but what about your boss?” I smirked.

“....no comment” said Monokuma.

“C’mon, where did all that attitude go?” I joked, “Just one sentence and you fold faster than Miu!”

“Why you…!” Monokuma said with frustration.

“I guess this means I’m on the right track” I said confidentiality.

‘Now I just need to prove Kaede innocent...’

“Even if the mastermind tampered with evidence, it doesn’t change the fact that Kaede still killed Rantaro” said Maki.

“Hmm I suppose so, but at least now we got new information out of this” said Tsumugi.

‘No, I have to hurry…’

(Nonstop Debate Start!)

“So the mastermind tampered with Rantaro’s monopad” said Kaito.

“So does this mean the mastermind is the culprit?” said Angie.

“No, Rantaro still died to Kaede’s trap, the shot put ball being the murder weapon is proof of that” said Maki.

“The shot put ball matched Rantaro wound and had his blood on it” said Shuichi.

“So this was just a waste of time…” Himiko sighed.

“Objection!” I yelled.

(Break)

“It’s possible that mastermind could have used the shot put ball to murder Rantaro” I said.

“What do you think they caught it midair!” yelled Miu.

“No, if the shot put ball had missed it’s target, the mastermind could have picked up and used it kill Rantaro” I explain.

“Nishishi, ‘if’ I’m no ultimate detective, but even I know that’s not good enough” Kokichi smirked.

“Kokichi right, you better have some evidence” said Ryoma.

“Actually I think I do” I said.

‘These two pieces of evidence should prove that the shot could have missed’

(Present Evidence)

‘With this I think I can prove Kaede innocent!’

“Take That!”

I pulled out my diagram of the library and Miu’s picture of the floor plan.

“Ladies and gentlemen, If you could please look at these two pictures” I said, “If you look closely you see that where Kaede trap leads to, and where Rantaro body was discovered are on opposite sides of the same bookshelf!”

The ramp made by Kaede led to the left side of the bookcase, while Rantaro’s body was on the right.

“What?!” said Shuichi.

“Wow” cheered Angie.

It was only a few minutes ago everyone believed Kaede to be the killer, but now that had been overturned. Everyone had varying degrees of shocked reactions. Shuichi in particular looked speechless.

‘I-I did it, I proved-’

“No that’s Wrong!” Kaede cried out.

“Ah Kaede! What are you doing?” I said surprised.

“Stop...just stop”

“What do you mean? I’m going to-”

“You’re *going* to get everyone killed, and I have to stop you”

“Kaede…”

(Rebuttal SHowdown)

“I killed Rantaro”

“Nothing you say can change that…”

“I know it’s hard, but you have to accept it”

“What are you talking about”

“Don’t you want to live!”

“Besides you could be innocent!”

“Of course I want to live!”

“But I don’t want to live if everyone else dies!”

“Everything you’ve said thus far has been theoretical”

“Maybe the shot missed, and maybe the mastermind has another way into the room, and maybe I’m innocent”

“You don’t have any device proof”

“I just a horrible person who killed Rantaro”

“So please, just accept the truth”

“Objection!”

(Break)

“The truth... the truth , whose truth is it!” I said frustrated

“Huh?” Kaede said still crying.

“Is it’s Monokuma’s truth? The mastermind’s truth? Your truth? ” I continue, “There’s more than one truth to the world. If the world’s truth is that you’re just a killer, than I want nothing to do with it!”

“Eric…” Kaede whimpered.

“Because your not some horrible murderer! So even if you tell me your guilty, if everyone here tells me your guilty, if the entire world tells me your guilty, I refuse believe them!” I yelled.

“But why, would you do that for me?” Kaede wept.

“Because I believe in Kaede!” I screamed, “Because I believe in my friends!”

“But I-I...” Kaede stammered.

“I’m sorry, I know this is painful, but please let me help you…” I say sadly.

“Y-You still need proof, proof my trap did kill Rantaro” Kaede whimpered.

‘Kaede wants to believe she’s innocent, but her guilt won’t let her. I need to prove with absolute certainty that she’s innocent, but how?....Maybe I should turn my thinking around….instead of proving Kaede innocent, I should focus on proving the mastermind guilty!’

(Present Evidence)

“Take That!”

‘Heh, Jackpot...’

“Hehehe” I laughed.

“What’s so funny” Maki asked.

“Nothing really, I just realised something funny. I guess you would call this a wake-up super”

“Excuse me?” questioned Kirumi.

“The Monokuma file, it specifically says that Rantaro died from a blow to the back on his head” I explain, “meaning-”

“Rantaro was killed from behind, and that Kaede’s trap couldn’t have killed him” said Ryoma.

“Ah!” Shuchi gasped

“You know, in fighting games wake up supers are a common thing for a newbie to get hit by, it’s one of first thing you learn to block. Yet in high level play, it’s common that in the heat of the moment, to get too focused on the highly technical you forget about the basics” I explain “Everyone was too focused on the specifics, that they forgot about the most basic piece of evidence in any case, the autopsy report. In other words wake-up super.”

“S-So I’m not-” Kaede stammered.

“I think that matter has already been decided” Kirumi said with a smile.

Kaede fell to her knees and started crying. This tears however weren’t full of pain as they were before, instead I got the sense of relief from them.

“Kaede!” Shuichi quickly rushed towards Kaede, kneeling beside her.

“But is the mastermind is the culprit, then who is the mastermind?” Tenko asked.

“I...don’t know” I answered honestly, “There are a lot of possibilities, anyone who was alone at any point is a suspect. But there’s the possibility that none of us are the mastermind.”

“But then who do we vote for?” said Himiko, “I’m getting kinda tired”

“Good question...Hey Monkuma!” I shouted.

“Yessss…” Monokuma snickered.

“Is the blackened someone we can actually vote for?” I question.

“Ding! Ding! Ding! We’ve got ourselves a winner” Monokuma cheered, “You’re right the true killer of Rantaro Amami is none other than the mysterious mastermind!”

“Nyeh, does this mean we win?” Himiko asked, “Can we finally go home?”

“Oh so sorry, but the mastermind isn’t a official participant of this killing game, so they *won’t* be executed”

“Wow you talked about having a fair killing game” Kokichi  “But the second things turn bad for you, you break your own rules. How disappointing I was beginning to have fun.”   

“Oh I wouldn’t say we’re getting off scot free, this is a class trial. *Someone* has to be executed!” said Monokuma.

“Just not the people in charge” Kiyo said slyly.

“But Father who will be executed?” asked Monotaro.

“We’ve broken the rules enough as it” said Monosuke.

“Oh maybe we can not have an execution this time” Monophanie suggested, “I can’t take the gore anyways”

“Hey how about we just execute Monodam, it’s not like he does anything anyways!” Monokid laughed.

“....”

“Don’t worry I’ve already got a solution, eenie meenie miney-you!” Monokuma pointed at Monokid.

“Wha-” Monokid shouted.

“Alright let’s give it everything we’ve got! It’s punishment time!” Monokuma pulled out a gavel, and slammed down on a bright red button. The screens in the room changed to a 8-bit sprite image of Monokid being dragged out screen by his father, with text reading “MONOKID HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY. TIME FOR PUNISHMENT.”

‘Ah, Danger!’

A hole in the ceiling opened up and a wire with a collar attached grabbed Monokid by his neck, pulling him into the ceiling. The screens in the room showed, what appeared to be a rock concert with Monokuma on center stage.

‘HEADBANGER’

The scene tranistioned to Monokid who was much, much smaller than his father, sitting on a giant electric guitar. Monokuma picked up the guitar, and began using Monokid as a pick. Monokid head was repeated smashed against the strings of the guitar as Monokuma began to pick up speed. Monokid face was completely covered in blood as his father played the last note, dropping him on the stage. Monokuma then proceed to smash the bloody Monokid with his guitar, breaking it and leaving Monokid in pieces. Everyone was in shock at the graphic violence displayed.

“Oh...my...god” Kaito stuttered.

“Thats...that’s what they would’ve done to me?” Kaede shuttered.

“He’d do that to his own son...” Ryoma grimaced.

“Who cares? He’s just a robot anyways” Kokichi laughed.

“T-That’s robophobic!” Keebo yelled.

“Father why would you kill Monokid” Monophanie cried.

“He was like the brother I never wanted!” Monosuke wept.

“I-I’ll carry on your wish...you wish to get drunk and eat honey! I promise Monokid” Monotaro whimpered.

“IT’S-OKAY” Monodam finally spoke.

“Monodam…?” Monophaine said.

“WE-CAN-FINALLY-GET-ALONG” said Monodam, “I’LL-MAKE-SURE-OF-IT”

“So Long Bear Well” The Monokubs exited the trial room.

“Aw I love those kids, so quick to bounce back after I brutally murder their brother” Monokuma cheered.

“Hey bear boy, I have a question” I shouted.

“Oh well I’m alway open for questions, ask away!” Monokuma laughed.

“The culprit wasn’t someone we could vote for, the mastermind was using Kaede’s trap, and you weren’t willing to kill the mastermind. I’m going to ask this once” I stated, “Was this whole thing just a plan to kill Kaede”

“Kill...me?” Kaede questioned.

“...You think you’re real smart dontcha…” Monokuma said seriously, “I wonder how long you’ll last”

Before anyone could reply Monokuma left the room.

“So what now?” Gonta asked.

“I suggest we rest, this trial has taken a toll on everyone” Kirumi suggested.

“Yeah I’m so drained from all the work I did today” Kokichi cheered.

“You didn’t do anything” Maki replied.

Everyone slowly made their way to the elevator. Kaede was leaning on Shuichi.

“Hey Shuichi!” Kaito cheered, “That was really cool how you stood up for yourself, I’m proud of you man”

“...right” Shuichi said dully.

Despite Kaede being still alive, Shuichi looked offly down.

“You were cool too Eric” Kaito turned to me,“It’s like you became an entirely different person during the last half of the trial”

“Um...thanks!” I rubbed the back of my head.

The elevator ride was quite and melancholy, but in almost a peaceful way. Rantaro was dead, nothing could change that. But now we were one step closer to getting out of here.

“Hey Shuichi, I’m going to go to my lab okay?” Kaede said softly.

“Yeah...I’m going to take a walk...get some air” Shuichi responded.

“Okay...I see you later” Kaede walked into the school, while Shuichi wandered in the field.

‘Something's wrong with Shuichi, I should talk to him...’

“Hey man, are you okay?” I asked.

“...I’m...fine...” Shuichi said sadly.

“I thought you would be happy, Kaede’s innocent” I reply.

“And *I* almost killed her!” Shuichi said frustratedly.

“....”

“I was too useless to figure it out” Shuichi continued, “My deductions is the reason she was put in the that situation, if I was smarter, if I was better-”

“Objection!” I yelled, “That’s wrong and you know it. Did you forget everything Kaede said to you”

“...”

“She chose you! She trusted you! She believes in you, and so do I!” I shouted.

“But I-”

“I got lucky, in most other situations that was the wrong choice” I continued, “ Being emotional can help you, but it can also blind you from the truth. That’s why such a good detective you're completely unbiased, I would never would have suspected Kaede or figured out that crazy murder contraption by myself. You’re willing to find the truth, no matter how much it hurts.”

I put my hand on Shuichi’s shoulder.

“So stand up straight and look forward, Kaede...Kaede needs you, more than ever” I smile, “So she never ever gets into the situation where she tries to sacrifice herself”

“Yeah...you right. Thanks Eric” Shuichi smiled, “I’m going to talk to Kaede”

Shuichi leaves and I sigh to myself.

Inside her lab, Kaede pulled out some music sheets and sat down at her piano.

‘I’m sorry Rantaro, because of me, you ended up losing your life, but I promises that I’ll stop the mastermind for you, for everyone’

Kaede’s thoughts were interrupted by her lab door opening.

“Kaede?” Shuichi entered the room.

“Ah! Shuichi your hat!” Kaede exclaimed.

Shuichi’s hat was no gone, and an ahoge had taken its place.

“I’ve decided that I’m not going to hide from the truth anymore, it was the truth that ended up saving your life” Shuichi smiled.

“I was right, you do look more handsome without your hat” Kaede smiled back.

“Thanks...Hey Kaede, I was wondering that song you talked about ‘Claire de Lune,’ could you play it for me” Shuichi asked, “I would like that”

“Of course!” Kaede nodded and began to play the piano. The charming song fill up the room, it felt like Shuichi was dancing over a clear lake on a full moon. Even though neither of them said a word, it felt like they were communicating subconsciously.

‘We’re going to save everyone and face the truth together, okay Shuichi?’

‘Yeah, we’ll do it together’

On the other side of the door I was listening to the music, with tears in my eyes. It was funny it ended being my determination that saved Kaede, not my superpowers. There had been so many revelations that happened in course of these few hours, some many truths and some many lies. But there was one thing that I was absolutely sure about.

I was in love with Kaede Akamatsu.

Chapter Text

I walk into the storage room, nobody else is around except me. I pick up one of the shot put balls and toss up into the air a few times. I walk and walk and I keeping walking. I can hear the sound of my footsteps they sound nice.

*click clack

I look at the shot put ball again, it feels smooth in my hand. I smile at it before using it to bash Rantaro’s skull in

“AH!” I screamed.

I looked around me...I was laying in my bed.

‘A dream...it was...a dream’

I shake my bed, and put on my hoodie and backpack, and slip on my shoes. It kinda sucks having to sleep in jeans, but it’s not like I have any other alternatives. After a quick trip to the bathroom I headed to the dining hall as usual. As I approached I began to smell something good, opening the door I could see that Kirumi was preparing several dishes.

“Woah, what’s the occasion?” I asked.

“Kaito has suggested we eat together from now on, so I took it upon myself to make everyone breakfast”

Kirumi had prepared food for us in the previous days, but this was on any entirely different level. These meals, no these dishes weren’t something you just throw together, this was the stuff rich people eat.

“I can see why you’re services cost so much, this is insane!” I cheered, “Are you sure your a highschool student?”

“I technically finished my education a few years ago” Kirumi stated, “But I am indeed the age of a typical high schooler”

“So your saying you found a clue?” Kaito entered the room.

“Gonta not sure, it might be nothing” said Gonta.

“Hey Kaito! Gonta! How are you guys doing?” I ask.

“I’m fine, but Gonta says he found something” said Kaito.

“Really? Could you tell us what your found” Kirumu asked.

“Gonta found a rock, with writing on it”
“Writing? What did it say?” I asked.

“Um, it read ‘horse a’ but Gonta not know what it means” Gonta answered.

“It sounds like some sort of code…” I thought aloud.

“Perhaps we should discuss this when the others arrive” Kirumi suggested.

“I guess so…”

Once the morning announcement went off the others began to fill in quite quickly. Despite a murder happening yesterday, everyone seemed in high spirits. Like usual Kaede and Shuichi were the last to enter, both of them looking different.

“Shuichi your hat!” Angie excalmied.

Shuichi was no longer wearing his baseball cap, it was kinda weird seeing his entire face. In its place was a ahoge similar to Kaede’s. Funny enough Kaede was now wearing Shuihci’s hat, covering her own ahoge.

“Um...did...you guys switch hair styles?” I asked.

“Ah...no” Shuichi said embarrassingly.

“Hey guys, I have an announcement to make…” Kaede looked a bit pale.

‘This can’t be good…’

“I’m sorry...for everything. All the stuff that’s happened over the past days have been my fault. As our ‘leader’ I take full responsibility. I know after killing Ranatro, none of you trust me anymore, but I still hope that the rest of us can escape, and that you can at least be friends with each other.”

“But Kaede you didn’t kill Rantaro” said Kaito

“Yeah, yeah, we proved that yesterday” said Angie.

“You mean Eric proved that yesterday” said Maki, “You didn’t do anything”

“Atua doesn’t remember you helping…”

“I did kill Rantaro, the mastermind used my trap, used me, to kill Rantaro” said Kaede.

“...And If you keep up that mentality, it’s going to happen again” I said.

“Eric, that was uncalled for!” Keebo shouted.

“This isn’t all on you, we all made mistakes that led us here” I ignored Keebo, “Shouldering all the blame won’t fix anything. If I remember correctly that’s the reason why you didn’t share you plan with anyone”

“That proves it, I *am* responsible for what happened and nothing can change that” Kaede countered, “This proves my point that you shouldn’t trust me or forgive me.”

‘Dang it, I just made her feel worse, good job me’

“That being said, I’m going to be better, I’m going to keep my promises. So even if you don’t trust me I’ll do whatever I can to save everyone who’s left, and I swear I’ll never be so drastic ever again!” Kaede proceed to bow deeply.

“No that’s wrong!” Shuichi shouted.

“Huh?” Kaede said with confusion.

“Kaede if you hadn’t done what you did yesterday none of us would even be here” Shuichi said, “The deadline would have run out and there’s a good chance Monokuma would have killed us all, or the mastermind would’ve found someone else to frame for murder. I’m sad that Rantaro’s gone, but because of you we have gotten closer to stopping the mastermind. Everything you’ve done since we woke up here has been for everyone else. So if you tell me I can’t trust you, then you’re just wrong”

“Yeah I agree, I’ll trust Kaede all the way” cheered Kaito.

“I agree” said Keebo.

“Kaede Gonta friend, so of course Gonta trust Kaede!” said Gonta.

“Nyeh, not trusting you would be a pain…” Himiko sighed.

“If Himiko trusts Kaede, then so do I!” Tenko yelled.

“You might have small tits, but you’ve been pretty dependable so far” said Miu.

“I also trust Kaede” said Kirumi.

“I actually killed people for a worst reason, so when comparing me to you, I’ve still got a ways to go” said Ryoma.

“If everyone trust Kaede, then I guess I *have* to trust you!” Kokichi cheered.

“For the record I don’t really trust you, but I don’t heavily distrust you” said Maki

“Atua is all about forgiveness, so I definitely trust Kaede” said Angie.

“I must say Kaede observing you over these past few day have certainly been entertaining, so I trust you as well” said Kiyo.

“I plainly trust Kaede as well” said Tsumugi.

“....”

“Eric?” Keebo said with hesitation.

“What? Of course I trust Kaede, I pretty sure I yelled that yesterday” I said.

“Yes that was quite humorous” Kiyo chuckled.

“That being said” I continue, “Please, next time you have thoughts like that please tell someone, anyone, you don’t have to be strong all the time”

“Wow I don’t know what to say…” Kaede began to tear up, “Thank You! Thank You so much, I don’t deserve you guys...”

“Actually I’d say it’s the other way around…” said Shuichi.

“Wow so cheery!” said Monokuma, “Usually people are pretty mopey after the first trial, you guys must be really be warming up to the killing game”

“You know you’re really starting to getting on my nerves” I said aside.

“What do you want?” said Maki.

“Oh, are you putting another deadline on us again!” Kokichi cheered.

“No deadlines are soooo last chapter. I actually have a gift for you all!” Monokuma cheered.

“Chapter?! Gift?!” questioned Tenko.

“Since you all survived the class trial I thought I would reward you”

As if on cue (which probably was the case) the Monokubs showed up.

“Rise and Shine Ursine!”

“WE-HAVE-A-GIFT-FOR-YOU” said Monodam.

“...” the other Monokubs were silent.

“I-HOPE-THIS-LEADS-TO-ALL-OF-YOU-GETTING-ALONG”

Monodam handed some items to Kaede, they included a red sphere, a ocarina, a crank, and a passport.

“Some prize, it just a bunch of trash” said Miu.

“Then it’s like looking in the mirror, right?” Kokichi laughed.

“I think these items seem like they belong with parts of the school” said Shuichi.

“Yeah, I though some parts of this school looked odd” I add.

“Well you kids enjoy that, if you excuse me there is some delicious salmon that requires my attention” Monokuma left.

‘PLEASE-GET-ALONG!” the Monokubs left.

“Oh before I forget, Gonta found a clue that might be important” said Kaito.

“Really?” said Kaede.

“Gonta found rock with strange message” said Gonta.

“Apparently it reads ‘horse a’ whatever that means” said Kaito.

“Hmm, could just be graffiti” said Tenko.

“Why would someone write that though?” asked Keebo.

“It appeared right after the class trial was finished, can’t be a coincidence” I said.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see” said Kirumi.

“So Kaede, how should proceed from here” asked Kiyo.

“Oh um, we should see what these things do, then work from there” said Kaede, “Of course if any of you have any better ideas…”

“Naw that makes the most sense” said Kaito, “Besides maybe we’ll find a new way out of here”

“Shuichi, you’re the detective so you should lead” said Kaede.

“Uh, right!”

“...And if I would be okay, I could join you, if you wanted” Kaede said shyly.

“Yeah that would be good” Shuichi smiled.

“I want come too” I said, “If that’s alright with you two…”

“Sure, it’s no problem” said Shuichi.

“Alright let’s do this!” I cheered.

“...After you eat breakfast” said Kirumi.

“After we eat breakfast!”

Everyone began to eat, Kaede however still looked a bit pale and was using Shuichi’s hat to hide her face and avoid eye contact.

“Hey Kaede” I whispered, “I know you feel guilty, and nothing I say can change that.Guilt is a good thing, it lets us know when we’ve made a mistake. So use that guilt, let it power you, let it fuel you, let it motivate you to be better. That’s all any of us can do.”

“...You’re right, thanks Eric” Kaede whispered back.

“It’s what I’m here for”

Once we finished breakfast, me, Kaede, and Shuichi went off to investigate these new mysterious items.

“So where should we start first?” asked Kaede.

“Well I’m pretty sure I know where this crystal ball goes, let’s head there” I suggest.

“Good idea” said Shuichi.

We arrived at the dragon statue. The statue itself resembles more of a traditional chinese dragon than the typical medieval one. It was noticeable missing one of its eyes.

“Well here we are” said Kaede

“If I’m right then this orb should fit right...in here” I slid the orb into the eye socket.

The ground began to shake violently and the statue and the wall behind it began to crumble.

“Kaede!” Shuichi yelled.

“Both of you get back!” I stuck my arm out.

The wall behind the statue along with the statue itself turned to rubble, revealing a new hallway.

“Woah I guess there’s parts of the school that we have to ‘unlock’” said Kaede amazed.

“But to unlock them we have to complete a class trial” said Shuichi.

“Almost like the mastermind wants us to survive the trials” I added, “Make sense this game has seemed rigged against the blackened from the beginning.”

“This place looks kinda dusty, like no one's been here for a long time” said Kaede.

“That’s strange, if that’s the case” Shuichi wondered out loud, “Then how long have they been planning this?”

“We should check this new area out” I suggest.

Walking through the dark hallway we came across a fancy looking door.

“As, this must be another Ultimate Lab” said Shuihci.

“I wonder who it belongs to?” said Kaede.

Opening the door, we were greeted to a fancy looking dining room table, with mannequins in the seats.

“I guess this is Kurumi's lab, wonder what’s in here…” I wondered.

“Probably cleaning supplies, fancy materials, utensils” said Shuichi.

“I wonder if there’s any extra clothes in here” said Kaede.

“I doubt other than maybe some maid uniforms...” Shuichi began to blush.

“Huh? Are you okay Shuichi?” Kaede asked.

“Y-Yeah I’m fine...it’s nothing” Shuchi stutterd.  

Kirumi entered the room before I could ask why Shuichi was blushing.

“So it would appear that this is my lab” said Kirumi.

“Yeah seems that way” I said.

“I wonder what supplies they have in here, I should get to work and take inventory” said Kirumi.

“That’s a good idea, make sure you share anything important, we’ll explore elsewhere” said Kaede.

“Of course” Kirumi went searching through the large closet on the right.

Moving on we went up a staircase, and found another door, with a imagery of several bugs, and other insects on it.

“This must be Gonta’s lab” said Shuichi.

“Hey...you don’t think they have live insects in there, do you?” Kaede said nervously.

“I mean...probably” I said, “But they probably in containers”

“Ah...ok then” Kaede nervously open the door. Inside Gonta was already inside. The lab itself looked like a forest with grass on the ground and actual trees somehow growing inside. As I suspected there were many different species of insects, bugs, etc. in containers.

“You know, I was not expecting this” I said.

“Oh friends do you like Gonta’s lab” Gonta cheered, “Gonta finally have bug friends”

“Yeah...it’s...uh...nice” Kaede said cautiously.

“Would friends like to hold bug friend?” Gonta asked.

“No no, we’re good” said Shuichi, “There’s still places we need to investigate.”

“Oh Gonta understands, good luck” said Gonta, “Huh?”

“What’s wrong” asked Kaede.

“Bug friends seem...scared” The bugs in the room seemed on edge.

It was strange, my 6th sense was giving me a weird feeling. I could feel all the bugs in the room, more specifically I could feel that they were afraid of me.

‘Are they reacting to me? But why? Does it have to do with my powers?’

“Hmm bugs usually only act this way in the presence of a predator” said Gonta.

“Or maybe they just don’t like us” I joked, “Either way we  should get going”

“See you later Gonta” said Kaede.

Exiting Gonta’s lab, both Kaede and Shuichi exhaled.

“I’m glad we got out of there” sighed Kaede

“Yeah, a few more minutes and I would have screamed” said Shuichi.

Going up another set of stairs we found another lab, appearing to belonging to Ryoma. Inside there was a fancy looking tennis court with some of those machines used for training. There what looked like a changing room in the back. Ryoma was also in the lab, and didn’t look too happy to be there.

“Pretty cool tennis court you got here” said Kaede, “Bet it’ll be good for practicing”

“Hmph you forget, I don’t play tennis anymore” Ryoma grunted.

“Right” said Shuichi, “After what happened with you and the mafia”

“Still though, it be a shame to waste a perfectly good tennis court” said Kaede.

“You can use if you like, I don’t really care” said Ryoma.

“Have you really lost your passion for tennis?” I asked, “Or does it remind you too much of your mistakes.”

“...You’ve still got a ways to go before you change my mind” Ryoma left his lab.

“Poor guy, I wonder what we can do to help?” said Kaede.

“There’s not much we can do now” said Shuichi, “I’m sure Ryoma will play tennis when he feels like it”  

On the opposite side of the hallway was another ultimate lab with a large red door, leaving no clear indicator of who this lab belonged to.

“I wonder who’s lab is this” I went for the doorknob.

‘Danger!’

Maki quickly opened the door and closed it shut.

“What do *you* want?” Maki said harshly.

“We were just investigating these new areas” said Shuichi.

“So can we see you lab?” said Kaede.

“No”

“...why not”

“That’s none of your business”

“I beg to differ” I said, “We’re all this killing game, so it is our business”

“Please Maki we need to thoroughly investigate everything” said Shuichi.

“I said no”

“What’s the big deal?” said Kaede, “It’s just your lab. What’s so special about it”

“What do you have embarrassing baby photos in there or something?” I said.

“No, just go away” said Maki angrily.

“No” said Kaede.

“What?”

“I said no” said Kaede aggressively, “You clearly hiding something, and I refuse to take anymore risks. We need to know what you have in there”

“I don’t you understand, this is *my* lab, and *I* don’t give you permission the enter” Maki eyes almost seemed to glow.

“I don’t think *you* understand, we are in the middle of a killing game. We’ve already lost one person, and I refuse to lose another. So I don’t care about your ‘permission’ we are seeing the inside of your lab”

“.......”

Maki and Kaede stared each other down. Neither willing to budge.

“Kaede let’s go” said Shuichi, “It’s not worth wasting time.”

“....fine” said Kaede, “I you ever change your mind-”

“I won’t” said Maki.

Kaede and Shuichi began to walk away, while it stayed behind a bit.

“Listen” I whispered, “Whatever your hiding in there, we’re going to figure this out eventually, the question is, are you willing to take responsibility for it?”

“Hmph, you don’t have a clue about my lab” said Maki.

“Heh” I began to walk away, “You know for the Ultimate Child Caregiver, there are a lot of sharp objects in there…”

“What?” Maki said confused.

“Make the right choice, or someone will make it for you…” I ran after Kaede and Shuichi.

“How….”

‘Weapons...I sensed weapons in her lab. The question is why?’

After checking back up with Kaede and Shuichi downstairs, we found a mysterious treasure chest.

“Huh, how did we miss this?” said Kaede.

“I wonder what’s inside” I said.

“I don’t know, but it could be dangerous” said Shuichi

‘I’m not sensing any danger, but I still should be cautious...’

Before any of us could make a move, Angie dashed in and opened the chest.

“Oh I wonder what’s in here?” she cheered.

“Angie wait!” said Kaede.

“Aha it’s a flashlight! How divine!” Angie held up a weird looking flashlight.

“That’s a funky looking flashlight” I said.

“We should see what is does” said Kaede

“No, it could be dangerous, we should…” said Shuichi.

“I wanna press the button” Kaede said abruptly.

“Wha?”

“I wanna press the button” Kaede reaffirmed.

“Kaede...don’t press that button” I said, “I could be explosive for all you know”

Kaede looked like she was really struggling not to press the button.

“Ok...I won’t press the button...for now”

“Well I’m going to find out what this does, bye-onara!” Angie ran quickly.

“Angie No!” I yelled.

“Angie Yes!” Angie ran out of sight.

“That won’t end well…” said Shuichi.

“Well I guess we should continue investigating we still have 3 other items that we haven’t used yet…” Kaede suggested.

“This is going to take awhile…”

Moving onward we found Himiko on the first floor standing by a wall. The wall had 2 passports on it, and  spot where you could put another one.

“Hmm, my magic is reaching to this wall…” said Himiko.

“Yeah, looks like we the passport goes here” said Kaede.

Shuichi simply nods, and places the passport in the hole. The wall began the crumble similar to before, revealing a medieval looking hallway.

“You did it Shuichi!” Kaede cheered.

“Nyeh, no my magic caused the wall to collapse…” said Himiko.

“Wow Himiko that was amazing” I took off her hat ruffling her hair.

“Nyeh stop it!” Himiko whined, “Actually that feels kinda good...keep petting me!”

“Uh...Eric?” said Kaede, “We should get back to investigating...”

“Right”

We began walking down the new hallway.

“I figured I’d indulge her with her ‘magic’ stuff” I said, “Seems important to her”

“Haha, You don’t have to explain yourself Eric” Kaede laughed.

“Then again if Tenko were here…” said Shuichi.

“I’d already be dead…” I deadpanned.

This hallway was different than the previous one, only leading to one door. The door was blue and had several magical looking circles with strawberries in the middle.

“This must be your Ultimate Lab, Himiko” said Kaede.

“It even has strawberries to match your hair!” I said.

“I knew sense magic behind that wall!” Himiko cheered.

Inside Himiko’s llab was several magic equipment. There was a box sawed in half, a box with swords stabbed inside, a guillotine, etc. There was also large cauldron in the middle of the room.

“What look at all this stuff!” said Kaede.

“What’s the cauldron for?” asked Shuichi.

“That pot is for collecting mana!” said Himiko, “Don’t touch it!”

“I’m assuming you use mana to do magic” I said.

“Yup, but only trained magican can use it, if a non-magic user touches it in its pure form you’ll turn into a goose.”

“I guess we’ll avoid that then…” I said.

“A lot of this stuff seems dangerous” said Shuichi.

“Don’t worry with my magic, all of these things are perfectly safe for me to use”

“It’s not you I’m worried about though”

“Yeah a lot of this could be used for weapons…” said Kaede.

“Make sure you keep this stuff safe Himiko” I said.

“It’s the duty of every magician to make sure magic doesn’t end up in the wrong hands” said Himko, “Though it sounds like a pain...Oh, I’ll do it if you give me more head rubs”

“Uh...sure?” I said.

‘She really acts like a cat sometimes…’

“It’s kinda weird that red orb opened a whole of rooms, but the passport only opened one…” Kaede thought.

“Yeah what’s the point of closing off these labs anyways?” I wondered.

“Hmmm, I can’t think of a motive for them to do that, sorry” said Shuichi.

“Well we still have this crank and the ocarina, we should see where they belong” said Kaede.

“Ah! I think I figured it out!” Shuichi exclaimed, “Outside there was the monument with music notes on it, and those weird vines…”

“Let’s go check it out” I said.

---

Just as Shuichi had said, there was a large stone monument in front of a section of the school covered in vines. The monument itself had a line of notes inscribed on it.

“This looks like this will be your speciality Kaede” I said.

“Do you even know how to play an ocarina?” asked Shuichi, “It’s pretty different from the piano.”

“Yeah well luckily for me the holes on the ocarina are labed, and the small melody seems simple enough” said Kaede, “Okay let’s do this.”
Kaede began playing the notes inscribed on the monument, causing the vines to crumble away revealing a door with a picture of dolphins above.

“Okay that one doesn’t even make sense!” I said.

“Is this a magic ocarina or something?” Kaede looked at the ocarina closely, “What should we do with it?”

“I don’t know, I doubt we’ll need something like that again, but I guess holding on to it can’t hurt” Kaede stuffed the ocarina in her bag.

“Hey I think there is a swimming pool in there” I said.

“Really, how can you tell?” asked Kaede

“I can see through a swimming pool through the glass”

“.....oh”

---

The pool room was very large with a glass ceiling, two change rooms, various swimming equipment, and the very large swimming pool.

“Wow this place is pretty large” said Kaede.

“Yeah, but what’s with the pool, it starts really shallow then goes very deep” I said.

“I wonder where these windows lead?” thought Shuichi.

High above the pool was two large windows opposite to each other. The one on the right was slightly more elevated than the one on the left.

“It looks like the one on the left leads to the gym, and the one on the right leads somewhere on the 3rd floor, near Maki’s or Ryoma’s lab” I said.

“This place is pretty nice, if we weren’t in a killing game I won’t mind going for a swim” said Kaede.

‘Danger…’

“Just make sure you don’t swim after nighttime!” said Monotaro.

“Huh?”

“Rise and Shine Ursine!”
“CONGRATULATIONS-YOU-HAVE-FOUND-THE-POOL” said Monodam.

“And according to new school rules, swimming in the pool is strictly forbidden after the nighttime announcement, and until the morning announcement”

“That’s too bad, I really like swimming under the moonlight…” said Monophanie.

“Why do you care If we swim at night?” asked Kaede, “Seems pretty weird to me”

“JUST-FOLLOW-THE-RULES-AND-GET-ALONG” said Monodam darkly before exiting on his own.

“Monodam has gotten scary after Monokid…” Monophanie sighed.

“Wish we could go back to the good old days” said Monotaro.

“So long bear well!”

“I don’t know if the people who made those bears are either really smart or really dumb” I deadpanned, “You know it’s probably both…”

“They updated the rules on the monopad” said Shuichi.

“But why would the add the rule in the first place, to make murdering in the pool harder?” I wondered.

“It's weird, the more information we get, the more questions I have” said Kaede, “They keep doing weird things that it feels like we’re missing something big”

“Maybe if we can figure out how they think, we may figure out how to stop them” said Shuichi.

“Great, try to understand the homicidal bears, and their homicidal leader, like that’ll be a walk in the park” I said sarcastically.

“But we don’t have much of a choice” said Kaede, “It might be hard, but I trust that we can beat these guys if we work together.”

“Well we only have the crank left any idea where it might go?” I ask.

“I think...I think I recognize this shape” Kaede pointed to the base of the crank which was hexagonal.

“Alright...” I sighed, “Let’s finish this, I’m getting kinda getting tired.

As the three of us were walking to our destination, Kaede turned to me.

“Hey Eric, are you feeling okay?” Kaede asked re-adjusting her hat.

“Huh, what do you mean?”

“You kinda seem out of it...”

“What do you mean, I’m fine!” I smiled.

“You’ve been acting okay, but I can tell somethings been troubling you since yesterday”

“Well it was kind of stressful, a lot of things happened so quickly...”

“That’s right I forgot, I didn’t properly thank you yesterday”

“Huh?”

“You proved me innocent, if you didn’t the mastermind probably would have just executed me”

“I mean, I guess…”

“Not to mention you had to go against everyone to prove me innocent, even myself”

“I-I couldn’t have done it without Shuichi’s setting up the argument. All I had to do was disprove it, what I did wasn’t special really.”

“Still though, the fact is you helped save my life, so I should thank you someway”
“Really it’s okay, I’m good.”

“Hey you know what I should play piano sometime!”

“Uh sure...I guess that’s fine”

“Then it’s settled!”

“Hey look what I found!” said Shuichi.

Shuichi pointed to a rock on the ground with graffiti on it.

“This must be the rock Gonta was talking about” I said.

“ horse a, What does it mean?” Kaede wondered.
“Seems like some type of code” said Shuichi.

“But for what exactly?” I wondered.

---

Across from the student dormitories was a large wall in the shape of a hexagon covering a section of the school. It kind of looked like a miniature castle with a huge wooden door and everything.

“This is one of the areas the exisals were constructing on” I said, “Wonder what’s in here…”

“Well we’ll find out right now” Kaede pulled out the crank a sticking it to a hexagonal hole by the drawbridge.

“Creak, Creak, Creak”

The lock on the giant door came undone.

“Okay let’s open this door...Huff...Huff” Shuichi struggled to open the large door.

“Do you need some help?” said Kaede.

“No I’m fine….Argh!” Shuichi strained.

“Shuichi you going to hurt yourself, let me” I said

Shuichi moved out of the way, and using my super strength I casual open the door.

“Hey you loosened it up for me!” I said.

“Yeah...right…” Shuichi said disappointed.

‘What is with that, I didn’t Shuichi would be one to care for manliness…’

Inside there were two large buildings, one looking like a hotel, and the other a casino.

“Hotel Kumasutra?” I said, “Is that pun on something…?”

“Hmm...I don’t know…”  Kaede pondered

“...” Shuichi looked nervous.

“What’s the point of having a hotel if we already have beds?” asked Kaede.

“Maybe they have nicer beds” I thought.

“Yeah or maybe it’s super fancy and you can order room service and stuff!” said Kaede.

“We should go inside” I suggested.

“Huh?!”

“Yeah we should investigate everywhere” I said, “Plus it seems suspicious”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea…” said Shuichi.

“Huh? Why?” asked Kaede.

“It’s nothing…” Shuichi reached for his hat to cover his face only to realise there was nothing there.

“Uh okay let’s see here…” I tried to open the doors, “It’s locked”

“Phew…” Shuichi exchaled.

“Too bad, this place seems like something Kaede would like” I said.

“Huh?! W-Why would you say that!” Shuichi shouted.

“Because it looks very pink in there” I said point to the glass, “Seriously everything in there is pink, check for yourself”

“...”

“I wonder how we get in here...” said Kaede

“The lock looks like it’s pickable” I said, “If we come back later, maybe I could-”

“No! No, let’s please move on…” Shuichi sighed.

---

“Woah this place is fancy looking” said Kaede.

“Yeah I was kinda expecting something stupid, but this is pretty nice” I said.

“But again why would they build this, what’s the point of having-”

‘Danger...great…’

“You nerds need to stop sweating the small stuff” said Monosuke, “You have a cool casino run by yours truly, be happy about it!”

“You guys run this casino?” Kaede asked.

“Yup, and we also give out special prices for the lucky winners” said Monotaro.

“Thought they are mostly pointless...” said Monophaine.

“BE-SURE-TO-GET-A-LONG” said Monodam.

“Song long bear well!”

“Hey it says we can win a ‘key of love’ I wonder what it’s for…” I said.

“Maybe it’s for the hotel back there” Kaede suggested.

“Well you need 10,000 monocoins to buy it, so there’s no point-”

“Finally something I can use my talent for!” I said.

“Yeah, with your video game skills I’m sure that it’ll be a breeze for you” said Kaede.

“Now hold on just one second!” Shuichi shouted, “I...uh don’t think we should investigate the hotel...”

“Why not?”

“Well...I just have a feeling that it won’t be important...detectives intuition” said Shuichi.

“Okay, if you say so” said Kaede.

“Really?”

“Yeah I trust your judgement” Kaede smiled.

“In that case, I think we done here” I said, “We should check back on Angie”

“Right let’s go!” Kaede hurried off.

“See” I patted Shuichi on the back, “Kaede trusts your judgement”

“It’s strange...my judgement almost got her killed…” said Shuichi, “Why would she…”

“She’s probably feeling the same way about you honestly” I said, “Anyways we should hurry”

“...Yeah let’s go”

Walking back into the school we ran into Tenko.

“Hey Tenko, did you know where Angie went?” asked Kaede.

“Yes, Angie said for everyone to meet in the gym for some sort of an announcement” said Tenko.

“Huh, I wonder if she figured out what the flashlight does” said Shuichi.

“Either that or she’s making us participate in a daily prayer” I said.

“We should get going, everyone’s probably waiting for us” said Kaede.

At the gym everyone had already arrived, and were commencing in small talk.

“There you are!” yelled Miu, “You sure know how to keep a girl waiting!”

“Okay everyone listen up, I have a special announcement!” said Angie.

“Have you figured out what the flashlight does?” asked Shuichi.

“Flashlight?” Kaito questioned.

“Here look at this!” Angie pulled out the light, “Atuta has blessed us with a sacred item.”

“Huh?” said Himiko, “Is it magic?”

“Angie” said Kaede seriously, “Did you figure out what it does?”

“Nope!” said Angie, “So I asked Monokuma!”

“And he told you the answer?” asked Tenko.

“Yup!” cheered Monokuma, “And I’ll tell you too!”

“Really? You’ll give away your secrets *that* easily?” said Kokichi.

“Of course I’ll answer *any* question given to me!” said Monokuma, “Ask away”

“How do we escape?”

“By winning the killing game of course!”

“Who’s the mastermind?”

“The person who pays me.”

“Why are you doing all of this?”

“Because it’s too much fun!”

“Am I ever going to get marrrrriiiieeed” Kokichi jokes.

“Nope, you gonna die alone!”

“Tell us Monokuma. What is this flashlight?” asked Angie.

“First of all it’s *not* a flashlight!” Monokuma, “It’s a flashback light !”

“As in the plot device?” I said.

“No!-Well yes actually” said Monokuma, “It gives you back lost memories”

“How can a flashlight give us back our memories?” asked Kaito.

“Hmm perhaps some sort of hyponization using a special kind of light” Kiyo theoried.

“No, the light from it stimulates the basal ganglia and hippocampus causing a deja-vu effect” Monokuma explained.

“So we didn’t lose our memories, they were just hidden away in our brains and we don’t know where to find them” I said, “And the light will basically reminds our brain where those memories are located…”

“Hmph...showoff” Monokuma sighed.

“Why?” said Kaede

“Huh?”

“Why are you doing this? Why give us back our memories? Why now?” Kaede questioned.

“This certainly sounds suspicious, and that’s coming from me!” said Kokichi.

“It’s another award!” Monokuma cheered, “For doing a great job at the trial, you guys really made this one fun and interesting.”

“Sorry, I’ll try to be more boring next time” I snarked.

“Whether you use the light is up to you” said Monokuma, “I won’t force you to do anything. But tell me this, don’t you want to know how you’ll got here?”

“...”

“Don’t *you* want to know who you are?” Monokuma pointed to me.

“I..”

“Whatever the case my job here is done, see ya!” Monokuma quickly left.

“So what friends think we should do?” asked Gonta.

“Well that light is plainly suspicious,” said Tsumugi, “But won’t knowing how we got here be useful information to escape?”

“Yes it would” said Shuichi.

“I don’t really care either way, I’ll go with whatever one decides” said Ryoma.

“I think we should do it” said Kaede.

“Really? Weren’t *you* the one who was the most suspicious about the light?” said Kokichi.

“Yeah, but doing this will get us closer to the truth, and that gets us closer to us escaping this horrible place” Kaede looked down, “So I’ll do whatever it takes, if you don’t guys don’t want to it’s fine.”

“Well after that I *can’t* back down!” said Kaito.

“Yeah I’ll do it to” said Shuichi.

“If Kaede do it, than so will Gonta” said Gonta.

“And if the degenerate male agree than I won’t back down either” said Tenko.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, expect me.

“I’m assuming you agree as well Eric?” asked Keebo.

“No I don’t”

“Huh?” said Kaede, “Don’t you want to get your memories back? This is your chance.”

“I know but...this just feels...wrong” I sighed.

“Wrong?” said Shuichi.

“Well what if Monokuma was lying and the light does something weird to our brains, what if hypotheses us into wanting to  kill each other, what if it gives us fake memories?” I explained, “What if I remember something bad, like I’m actually a serial killer or something...:”

“But don’t you want to know who you are?” Shuichi asked.

“...I do, but I also want to stay on the safe side” I said.

“It’s okay, it probably for the best that at least one of us stays out anyways” said Kaede.

“Okay everyone say Atuta!” Angie pointed the everyone including herself. Meanwhile I got behind her to stay clear. The was a large flash of light and everyone just...froze, completely expressionless.

“Um are you guys okay?”

“...”

I walked up to Kaede and waved my hand in front of her face. There was no response until suddenly.

“I deserve to die with this rotten world…” Kaede mummbered.

“I want to die with everyone else…” Shuichi whispered.

“Wha-What?” I gasped, “Hey are you okay?!” I shaked Kaede quickly.

“I remember everything…” said Kaede, “I remember the Ultimate Hunt.”

‘That thing Rantaro mentioned…’

Kaede continued, “I erased my talent to escape the Ultimate Hunt, if I didn’t I would have-”

“T-They were going to do horrible things to us!” Miu said meekly.

“...A fate worse than death…” Himiko sighed.

“So I assume we all remembered the same thing” said Kirumi.

“It would appear so…” said Kiyo.

“I wonder, does this killing game have anything to do with the ultimate hunt?” said Keebo.

“That would line up with the evidence we have…” said Shuichi.

“I bet they are a bunch of degenerate males!” said Tenko.

‘It looks like I was right about a large criminal organization being behind this’

“So these Ultimate Hunt guys kidnapped Ultimate Students and put them into killing games, but why?” I wondered.

“Huh? Because they obvious aren’t right in the head!” said Miu.

“I think he means why the killing game, why not just kill us” said Ryoma.

“Well maybe that’s too boring for them, I always get bored watching executions, but that’s a lie” said Kokichi.

“Which part?” said Himiko.

“No why the whole murder mystery thing?” I said, “Unless these Ultimate guys are actually very sosphiscated.”

“It also begs the question, why specifically take Ultimate students in the first place” said Shuichi.

“Oh hey are you guys feeling okay? Any side-effects? Drowsiness? Hungriness? Homicidal Urges?” I asked.

“No I feel fine...” said Kaede.

“Me too...” said Shuichi.

“That’s good, because you guys were acting a little weird after you got hit by the light” I said, “It was like you were in a trance or something...”

‘And what was that weird stuff they were saying, felt out of character for the two of them...unless...’

“Well are we done here?” said Kokichi, “Cause I’m getting bored…”

“Yeah I suppose we’ve node everything we’ve need to for today...” Kaede adjusted her hat.

“Alright I’m going to hit up the casino!” cheered Kaito.

“I’m going to check out the pool, the degenerate males better stay away” said Tenko.

“I’m going back to my lab, don’t follow me” said Maki.

As everyone was exiting the gym, I noticed that Kaede was using her hat to cover her face, just as Shuichi had done in the days before. Shuichi himself was deep in thought; trying to put the pieces together. Cleary what they saw had shakened them.

I layed in my bed. Even though there still bright outside, I didn’t feel like doing anything. Kaede was right, I wasn't feeling well. Was I just getting sick or did it have to do with what happened yesterday…

‘I don’t yet it...I should feel happy, falling in love is supposed to be a good thing, but I can’t help but feel...guilty.’

I sat up and clenched my fist.

‘Why? Why do I feel so guilty everytime I go near her?!’

It felt like I was being pulled in two different directions. One part of me wanted to spend every second with her, and the other to stay as far away as possible.

‘Doesn’t really matter anyways, she’d never like someone like me.’

I looked down at my hands.

‘I don’t even know what I am’

Was the guilt a sign? A sign of what I was? A freak? A monster? In that case I don’t know if I want to know who I am.

‘I just hope that I’m not the bad guy…’

---

Waking up the next day, I noticed my room was a mess. The furniture was turned over and the tv was broken. It looked like a fought had broken out in my room while I was sleeping.

“What happened?” I scratched my head. How did someone get into my room? Who were they fighting? How did I not notice, my danger sense should have picked up any threats…I kneeled next to the floor, looking at the scuff marks on the ground.

“By the furniture and the marks on the ground, it looks like the fight started in the middle of the room and progressed to the bathroom…”

I walked up the bathroom door, there was several slashes against the door, as if someone was trying to break in. Turning the knob, I noticed the lock was broken. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Inside I found something chilling...Laying down in the shower was Kaede covered in blood.

“Kaede!” I screamed rushing towards her. Kaede weakly opened her eyes.

“How did this happen?” I said, Kaede had several cut wounds all over her body, and one major stab wound in the stomach.

“Eric?” Kaede said weakly.

“Don’t worry I’ll get you help” I took off my hoodie, and put pressure on her wound.

“Why…?”

“Don’t talk, save your energy!”

“Why would you do this to me?”

“Huh?”

“I thought we were friends…” Kaede began crying.

“What are you talking about…”

“Why would you try to kill me?”

“I don’t understand-”

Looking down in my hands I noticed I was holding a bloody knife.

“What? No...I...that’s impossible” I drop in in my hands.

‘I did this...this is my fault. I invited her into my room and I-’

I suddenly felt chills down my spine, turning around I saw the figure from my previous dream standing in the doorway.

“Y-You did this!” I shouted.

“We did this” it responded.

“Eric…” Kaede said weaky. I rushed back to her.

“Kaede I’m so sorry...I didn’t mean to…” I said.

“I-It’s okay I deserved it didn’t I?” said Kaede, “I deserve to die…”

Kaede closed her eyes and went limp.

“KAEDE!” I cried.

“Everyone we care about dies...remember that…” the figure said.

Darkness encased the entire room, and I felt like I was falling. I began to close my eyes, and the last thing I saw was a silver spider web cutting through the darkness.

---

‘Danger!’

I woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily.

“What was that?”

My danger sense had woken me up from my dream, to my right I saw the Monokubs holding some colorful tablets.

“Ah, he sees us!” said Monotaro.

“Quick book it!” said Monosuke.

“Why couldn’t Monodam done this!” said Monophaine.

They put down one of the tablets on my desk, and skuddled out of the room in a hurry. I got out of bed and picked up the tablet. It was similar to the monopads, but much more cheap looking. It read ‘Kubs Pad’ on the back.

“What’s this for?” I turned on the tablet. A video began playing.

‘Maki Harukawa’s Motive Video: What’s Your Motive?’

“Heh, looks like I hit the jackpot” I smiled.

Chapter Text

‘Ultimate Assassin, huh? Explains a lot...’ I thought to myself as I was making breakfast. After helping Kirumi cook for a little while now, I’ve decided to try cooking more complex meals for myself. Wel more complex in comparison to what I was making before.

‘It’s strange though, out of all the things to pretend to be and she chose a child caregiver, she doesn’t come across very kid friendly...’

I swiftly cracked 2 eggs and began stirring.

‘What’s even weirder is that the monopads listed her lie as her ultimate talent...’

I added some salt, pepper, and chopped up red onions to the mix.

‘Which must mean Monokuma decided to keep her true talent a secret…’

I poured the mix into the hot frying pan.

‘But then why reveal her secret now, and why so bluntly, they basically straight out told me, figured they’d make it more dramatic...’

I flipped the omelet by lifting up the pan into the air quickly

.

‘And why give me Maki’s kubs pad? Was it simply a mix-up or…?’

Finally I dropped the omelette onto my plate.

‘Maybe it’s a good thing, I imagine some of the others would freak out if they found out. Ultimate Assassin is a pretty intimidating talent, and definitely would be effective in this killing game. That being said I don’t think I have to worry about Maki too much. By the sound of her video it seems like she has a good heart under that cold personality. From that video she seems to really care about the other children in her orphanage...’

I furrowed my brow. Not only did the video show a bit into Maki history, it implied that the children at her orphanage were in danger.

‘Involving innocent kids in this…it’s too far!’

I sat down and ate my omelete angrily with a piece of toast. Some of the others were beginning to fill in. They were all discussing the new motive. 

“Tsumugi, did Atua give you a motive video too?” asked Angie.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t my own” Tsumugi answered, “Seems plainly suspicious.” 

“Interesting. Did everyone receive a motive video that was not their own?” asked Kirumi.

“Maybe, we’ll have to see once everyone gets here” I spoke up.

For once Kaede and Shuichi weren’t the last to arrive, with the rest of the group shortly arriving after them. 

“So I guess we should talk about the elephant in the room…” said Kaede, “I assume that everyone has gotten a kubs pad and a motive video?”

“Yes, but it wasn’t mine” said Tenko.

“Man this motive is much less interesting than the other one...” whined Kokichi, “They didn’t even give me the right one...”

“It’s curious. Why would they decide to give us someone else’s motive video?” asked Kiyo, “Doesn’t that defeat their purpose?”

“It’s possible they made a mistake while giving out the videos” said Shuichi.

“Nyeh...another motive?” sighed Himiko, “Does this mean someone else is going to die…?”

“No!” yelled Kaede, “I-We’re not going to let that happen…” She pulled down her cap.

“How shall we proceed? Should we watch the videos or…?” asked Kiyo.

“Well if it’s a motive than we should probably shouldn’t right?” said Kaito.

“Kaito’s right, watching the videos is too risky” Shuichi agreed, “We would be doing exactly what Monokuma wants.

“Hold on, maybe we should watch the videos” I suggested.

“Huh?!” exclaimed everyone.

“Wow I’m surprised,” said Kokichi, “I guess you want to speed this game up huh?”

“No, it’s just…” I replied, “I think we shouldn’t keep secrets from each other. That’s what lead to the first class trial.”

“...But even still, won’t watching the motive videos make someone want to commit murder?” asked Tenko.

“I...don’t think so” I replied, “If we watch them together that is.”

“I see, if we watch them together, we can make sure that no one gets tempted” said Keebo.

“Oh! We should all pray to Atuta afterward,” suggested Angie, “To keep evil thoughts out of our heads.”

“Hmph, as long as I get to watch my video, I’m game” said Ryoma

“Kaede, Shuichi, what do you think?” asked Kirumi.

“Hmm, I don’t like to do anything related to a motive...” said Kaede, “But Eric does have a point, plus I was thinking I should let him watch his anyways…”

“Wait you mean my motive video...” 

“Yeah, I have it,” said Kaede, “And it has some information about your past.”

“Hey, that’s great good for you man!” Kaito slapped me on the back. I recoiling in pain shortly after, “Ow man, you are way sturdier than you look.”

Gonta raised his hand, “Gonta have a question.”

Kaede nodded back in return

.

“How we all going to watch video on such a small screen?” 

“Hmm, I suppose it would be a bit difficult…” said Shuichi.

“Hahahah!” laughed Miu, “Once again you virgins are being saved by the gorgeous girl genius, Miu Iruma!”

“Huh? Is the fat cow talking again?” said Kokichi

.

“...f-fat cow….” Miu had a really strange look on her face.

“...uh Miu?” said Shuichi.

“...uh...yeah, like I was saying I could wire up the pads to the TV downstairs…” said Miu, “It’ll probably take me a couple of days...”

“Ok, we can think up a new strategy for escaping in the meantime,” said Shuichi.

“Yeah good thinking Shuichi” said Kaede.

“Well if we’re done here, I’m going to my lab, Kirumi leave my dinner at the door” Maki abruptly walked away.

“H-Hey Maki, wait!” Kaito went chasing after her.

“Hey guys!…” Kaede sighed, “Well I guess this meeting is over.”

“So we can do whatever we want now?” asked Himiko.

“Yeah, at least until Miu finishes setting up the pads,” said Shuichi.

“Good, I’m going to my lab, and restore some of my lost mana”

“Ooh, can I accompany you Himiko” asked Tenko, “I want to watch you in action!”

.

“Nyeh, I don’t see why not…just don’t touch anything”

“A couple of days, huh?” Ryoma sighed, “I guess I can hold on for a couple of days…”

As everyone flooded out of the room, Kaede and Shuichi handed me a kubs pad.

“Huh, what this?”

“Your motive video” said Shuichi

“I thought we were waiting to watch them together?”

“Yeah, but me and Shuichi figured that you shouldn’t have to wait so long to see your video, it contains your past after all” said Kaede.

“Have you watched all of it?”

“No, just a few seconds of the beginning” Kaede replied.

“Okay then…Here we go” I nervously store at the blank screen, before finally taking a deep breath and turned it on. Similar to Maki’s video text with my name appeared on screen.

“Alright back by popular demand, it’s time for the motive video! Who’s the most important person in *your* life?” Monokuma voice spoke through the pad. The screen transitioned to a picture of me playing fighting games at a small arcade.

“Born into a poor family, Eric $@!#?\ would enter local fighting game tournaments at a young age to help support his family...”

‘They censored my last name…’

The next picture was of me at some tournament, there was a large audience, and I was looking strangely confident…

“...And at the age of 12, he entered and won an international fighting game tournament, beating out players from all across the world. After finding success in tournaments he moved to posting internet videos, from tutorials to gameplay”

A series of clips played of me playing games on some livestream

“C’mon, Fight me!”

“You like that asshole!”

“YOOOO! Let’s go!”

“I’m going for a mixup and this guy isn’t even using his brain!”

“Holy shit, that was a good game”

‘Did I just curse…?’

Monokuma continued, “Fighting games changed his life, giving him money, friends, and even a girlfriend.”

‘Wait did he say girlfriend?!’

The screen transitioned to a group of 4 people I didn’t recognize. There was 3 guys, and standing in the middle was a girl with red hair, and green eyes, she kinda looked like a model. They looked visibly upset.

“Please Eric, please come back to us, we miss you so much...” said the girl.

“Unfortunately, shortly after this recording some very unfortunate happened. What happened you ask? We’ll you’ll have to find out yourself…” The screened turned black. I had a bad feeling inside my stomach. That person in the video felt completely different from myself, the cocky attitude, the cursing, it felt...wrong. Not to mention that I apparently have a girlfriend! Which just makes this situation with Kaede even worse. It’s strange though...I didn’t recognize any of those people, they don’t even feel familar, they might as well be strangers to me…

“Eric, are you feeling okay?” asked Kaede, “H-Hey this is pretty great news right? You seem like a normal person and you even have a girlfriend!”

“...Hey Shuichi?” I spoke up.

“Y-Yeah?” 

“Do you think…” I exhaled, “Do you think my memory loss, may have changed my personality in some way?”

“Changed your personality?” said Kaede.

“I’ve never seen something like that myself, but it’s certainly seems like it could be possible…” said Shuichi, “Why do you ask?”

“That “me” in the video, I do recognize him at all, feels like a completely different person than me” I answered.

“Yeah, I was thinking some of that seemed out of character for you, said Kaede.

“I thought the same,” Shuichi agreed, “B-But maybe it’s just an act you put on in public, I know my parents were the same.”

“I guess, but I also don’t remember any of the people in that video” 

“Yeah, but you lost your memories right? So it makes sense you wouldn’t be able to remember them.” said Kaede

“No the thing is, I don’t feel anything when I see these people” I replied, “I know I must have a mom, and I don’t know anything about her, but I still remember that I love her…”

“What does this mean?” asked Kaede.

“I can think of two possibilities,” said Shuichi, “Either the entire video was somehow fabricated, or Eric’s right, and his memory loss heavily impacted his personality to the point that he’s basically a different person.”

“Neither of those theories sound very good...” said Kaede, “If he video’s fake, it means Monokuma can fabricate us very realistically or if the video’s real, it means Eric’s not really himself anyone.”

“W-Well that’s just my theory, I could be wrong, I’ve certainly been so recently…” Shuichi stumbled.

“H-Hey don’t look so glum!” I cheered, “It’s not a big deal, it’ll be fine! You guys still have your memories so even if Monokuma made fake footage, you’d be able to recognise-!”

I had a big realization mid-sentence.

“Hey! Are you okay?” asked Shuichi.

“I just thought of something, we would know if our own video was a fake, but someone else wouldn’t…” I said, “So what if you saw a video that showed that someone else is secretly a murderous assassin for example…”

“I see, if you saw that it might make you want to...murder them...” said Kaede.

“Even though it’s possible they could be completely innocent...” added Shuichi.

“Does this mean that the kubs pads being mixed up was on purpose?” asked Kaede.

“Maybe?” I shrugged, “But we don’t for sure if videos could be fabricated, it just a theory. Anyways most of those problems should be avoided if we watch the videos together.

“Hopefully,” sighed Shuichi, “We’ll have to wait until Miu finishes her work to find out. In the meantime we should get back to investigating.”

“Yeah, sitting here isn’t going to get us out of here any faster, let’s go,” Kaede left the dining hall, with me and Shuichi following behind.

‘It’s possible that Maki isn’t an assassin after all,’ I thought to myself, ‘I need to be careful, it’s clear from the last trial the mastermind has a lot of tricks up their sleeves. Luckily for me I have tricks of my own...’

“So Kaede I’ve been meaning to ask you…”

“Ask me? About what?”

Kaede, Shuichi and I were examining the walls of the cage trapping us, hoping to find any structural weaknesses.

“I was looking through the monopad, specifically at the profiles they have on us” I flipped through the monopad, showing Kaede’s profile, “It lists bicycles as something you dislike.”

At the sound of the word bicycle Kaede became flustered, “Y-yeah, so what?”

“I just found that very curious, why don’t you like bicycles?”

“W-Well it’s nothing in particular, I-I just don’t like them very much…”

“Keade…”

“Yeah?”

“Do you not know how to ride a bicycle?” I put bluntly.

“....no,” Kaede whimpered, pulling down her cap.

I erupted into laughter, “That’s hilarious!”

“H-Hey!” Kaede punched me in my shoulder to little effect, “D-Don’t make fun of me, riding a bicycle is scary!”.

“Wow I didn’t expect this from you Kaede” said Shuichi, “I guess you work better with piano pedals”

With Shuichi’s comment Kaede became even more flustered.

“Ah! Sorry I didn’t mean to offend you,” Shuichi quickly apologized, “I just thought it was cute!” 

“I’m not sorry, that’s too funny” I chuckled.

“S-Shut up!” said Kaede, “Hey, let's get back to work!” 

“Right, right” I let the last if my laughter out.”But hey Kaede...”

“Yeah?”

“Once we get out of here, the first thing I’m going to do is teach you how to ride a bicycle” 

I pressed my hand to the wall caging us in this school, it felt cold. It was made out of some type of metal, thought he wasn’t sure exactly what type. The wall itself looked very sturdy, it would take a lot of force to break through.

“I wonder…” I looked at my hand, curled into a fist and struck the wall with all my strength.

My fist left a large dent in the wall, but didn’t seem to affect the wall’s structural integrity.

‘Damn, if I wanted to break through it would take a little while. I don’t know if I could break it fast enough that everyone could escaped unarmed. I can only use this strategy as a last resort.’

I looked up to the opening in the cage, where the sun was shining brightly.

`I can’t go through the wall, but maybe I can crawl over! But if I do that they’ll surely see me.’

I glared at the top of the wall, something about it looked off . I picked up a small stone and with my super strength, threw it over the tall wall. Only for it to bounce off the sky and land back at my feet.

“What?!” I yelled, “Hey Shuichi, Kaede over here!”

Shuichi and Kaede immediately stopped their investigating and headed towards me.

“Hey did you find something?!” asked Kaede.

“Yeah,” I answered, “I figured something out, the sky’s not real.”

“The sky’s not real?” questioned Shuichi, “What do you mean?”

“I threw a rock over the wall of the cage, and it bounced off”

“You managed to throw a rock over this huge wall?” Kaede

“Uh...yeah” I replied,”Anyways this can only mean one thing. We’re not in a giant bird cage. We are in a giant dome.” 

“A dome?” said Shuichi, “Then the sky...”

“Is some sort of screen” I answered.

“Then I guess we can’t climb over” sighed Kaede, “But why even have a fake sky?”

“There could be many reasons,” said Shuici,”Maybe they want to control the day and night cycles, making days shorter or longer without us noticing.”

“Or maybe they don’t want us to see the real sky,” I said, “For all we know we could be indoors or even underground.”

“Uggghhh...” Kaede rubbed her temples,”This keeps on getting more and more complicated...”

“Maybe we should take a break and have lunch” I suggested.

“Yeah that seems like a good idea,” said Shuichi.

“I guess so…” Kaede sighed, heading to the dining hall with one question in her mind, ‘How am I going to save everyone?’

Kaede wasn’t feeling very hungry even with Kirumi’s great cooking. Escape was looking harder and harder. But she couldn’t give up, she HAD to save everyone, she owed to everyone after what she did. Even if she was innocent, she was still responsible for Rantaro’s death. 

‘But the only way out of here seems to be through the tunnel, and no one is willing to go through with it again,’ thought Kaede, ‘The only other way is to kill-’

Kaede shook her head at the thought. She pulled out her monopad trying to distract herself.

‘Eric talked about our profiles, I wonder if there is anything interesting there…’

She flipped through the profiles, stopping at Eric’s profile. 

“Hey Eric” said Kaede

Eric swallowed the food he was eating before answering, “Yeah?”

“I was just looking through your profile on the monopad,” said Kaede, “It says hear your have a dislike of needles”

Eric stopped cold at that word.

“You made fun of me for being afraid of bikes, but you’re afraid of needles, am I right?” Kaede declared proudly.

“N-No more needles”

“Huh?”

“No more needles,” Eric began to tremble with a dead, icy look in his eyes.

“H-Hey are you okay?!” Kaede yelled.

“P-Please no more needles!” Eric cried, falling out of his chair, “I don’t need anymore needles!”

Kaede quickly ran to Eric’s side, grabbing his shoulders and gently shaking.

“C-Come on, snap out of it!” Kaede began to panic

“Is Eric okay?!” Shuichi rushed to her side.

“I-I don’t know, he just started freaking out!” Kaede yelled back.

“...get away...run...before I…” Eric said weakly before passing out.

Shuichi quickly leaned in and put his head on Eric’s chest.

“He’s just passed out,” Shuichi sighed, “I think he’ll be okay. What happened?”

“I don’t know, I just told him that the monopad said he disliked needles.” said Kaede.

“Hmm, perhaps that brought back up some trama from his past, like PTSD” Shuichi theoried, “It must have so traumatic it still affects him with his memories gone.”

“Geez, I don’t want to know what happened to him to cause that,” Kaede looked down at the unconscious Eric, “Poor guy...”

“Yeah,” Shuichi agreed, ”We should bring him to his room”

Kaede nodded and picked up Eric by his armpits, while Shuichi carried his legs. They carried him to his room as carefully as possible. Having to explain to Kokichi that they were not carrying a dead body. At his dorm they took off his backpack and laid him on his bed.

“So what do we do now?” Kaede asked Shuichi.

“I don’t think there’s much we can do until he wakes up” said Shuichi.

“Well I should probably stay with him, just in case anything happens” said Kaede, “I’d feel guilty leaving him alone, I was the one who put him in this state after all.”

“I’ll stay too.”

“You don’t have to Shuichi, don’t you want to do more investigating”

“This is more important right now, plus investigating isn’t the same without you or Eric. So I’m going to stay.”

“Okay then” Kaede smiled, “I guess we should start by making him more comfortable. Let’s take off his hoodie and shoes. We should also wipe the sweat off his face.”

Taking off Eric’s hoodie, Kaede couldn’t help but noticed Eric’s toned arms. He looked like a superhero, a very short superhero, but still. Kaede then eyed his stomach area.

‘I wonder if his stomach is as toned as his arms’ Kaede thought turning red, ‘Might as well take a look...’

Kaede lifted up Eric’s shirt gazing at his abs, just as Shuichi walked in with a wet towel.

“Uhhh...Kaede?” asked Shuichi, “What are you doing?”

“N-Nothing, just check for any injuries” Kaede stammered, “He could have hurt himself when he hit the floor! Just pass me the towel!”

“Okay sure,” Shuichi handed off the small wet towel, and Kaede began wiping the sweat off of Eric’s face.

‘Just who are you Eric…’

Just what am I?

When Kaede mentioned the word needles, I was hit with a tidal wave of feelings, coldness, sadness, fear, and most importantly pain , so much pain. Images flashes in my head, appearing and disappearing faster than I could figure out what they were. I was only able to get a grasp on one image. It was a powerful image, making me feel calm yet also deathly afraid, but in that moment I finally figured out what I was, I figured out just what kind of monster I was. 

I was a Spider.

Chapter Text

I slowly opened my eyes, blinking slowly as my vision began to clear. Getting up, I realised I was in my room.

“Aw, what happened to me?” I yawned, rubbing my temples, “I guess they carried me to my room. I hope I didn't worry them too-”

Looking to my right I saw Kaede, lying in my bed sleeping.

“AH!” I screamed,  fumbling out of bed and falling on the ground.

“Owww!” groaned Shuichi as I landed on top of him.

I quickly rolled off Shuichi and got my footing.

“W-What are you guys doing here?!” 

“See Shuichi!,” said Kaee, “I told you me sleeping in the bed was a bad idea!”

“S-Sorry, I just didn’t want you sleeping on the floor!” Shuichi fumbled.

“Guys, guys, calm down,”I took a breath, “I’m not mad, I just want to know what happened.”

“Well after you had your episode you fell asleep,” Shuihi explained, “Then we carried you back here to look over you, until you woke up.”

“We didn’t feel good leaving you by yourself,” said Kaede, ‘Incase something happened...“

“Well, uh thanks!“ I rubbed the back of my head, “Sorry if I scared you.”

“You shouldn’t apologise,” Kaede pulled down her cap, “I'm the one who did this to you.”

“H-Hey, c’mon it’s not that big of a deal,” I said,”You have no way of knowing that would happen, hell, I had no way of knowing that would happen.”

“Even if it was accidental, it was still my fault,” said Kaede, “Just like with Rantaro...”

Shuichi and I took a quick glance at each other, neither knowing how to respond to that.

“Uh, so hey did your episode trigger any memories?” asked Shuichi.

“Yeah, can you remember anything now?” Kaede followed up.

“Uh, well technically yes,” I answered, “But it’s really blurry, all I can remember is being in a lot of pain .”

“Pain? So hearing the word needl-” Shuichi stopped himself, “Hearing that word triggered, some memories of a traumatic event most likely involving...those things.”

“So ‘those things’ are a clue for finding Eric’s past” said Kaede.

“Right if we can figure out what happened between Eric and ‘those things’ he might remember more things,” Shuichi theorised.

“Hey guys, you don’t have to say ‘those things’ you can call them needles-” a cold shiver went down my spine, “Nope, nevermind.”

“What do you think happened to him to cause him this much trauma?” asked Kaede.

“We don’t have much to go off of,” said Shuichi, ’But it’s most likely some kind of injury involving ‘those things.’”

“Hmm, by the stuff he was saying it seems like he was injected with a lot of them, and he was begging for them to stop...” said Kaede, “Sounds awful.”

“But why would something like that happen to you  in the first place?” Shuichi wondered.

“I don’t know” I said, “But I can’t imagine it's very good,” Did this have something to do with my spider powers?

After finishing breakfast the tree of us discussed what to do next.

“Did anything happen after I passed out?” I asked.

“Hmm, nothing in particular, Shuichi did go off to train with Kaito for a little while,” said Kaede.

“Training?”

“Kaito wanted me to help with his astronaut training” Shuichi rubbed his shoulder, “My arms still feel really sore from those pushups.”

“Training, huh?” I said, “Maybe I can join next time.”

“I don’t see why not,” said Shuichi, “Despite your size, you’re a better fit than me.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, I’m sure if you worked hard you could be really strong!” Kaede cheered.

“I don’t know about that, but thanks,” Shuichi rubbed the back of his head.

“Anyways what’s the plan for today,” I asked.

“I think we should probably go investigate new areas so more,” said Kaede, “See if we missed anything.”

“That’s a good idea, where do you guys want to start?” asked Shuichi.”

“That casino seems suspicious, as well as that hotel,” I suggested.

“Then c’mon let’s get going,” Kaede waved towards the casino.

There were already a couple of people inside the casino by the time we got there. Kokichi, Kaito, Korekiyo, and Ryoma were standing in front of the games.

“Hey what’s up guys!” I waved.

“Oh it’s you,” said Ryoma.

“What are you guys doing here?” asked Kaede.

“What does it look like?” Kokichi said sarcastically, “We're here to play some games!”

“I’m surprised you'd agreed to play games Ryoma," said Shuichi.

“Well, I need something to do while we wait for Miu to finish her work,” said Ryoma.

“I tried inviting her, but she threw a wrench at me,” said Kokichi, “It really hurt...of course that’s a lie, no one's fast enough to hit me...”

“I’ve also come here to waste time,” said Kiyo,”Waiting for those videos, have made me quite anxious, and I need something to distract me.”

‘Must be worried about what he’ll see in his motive video, who would be worried with their friends and family in danger.’

“Hey since you’re here, why don’t we play some games!” said Kaito.

“Oooh, it’ll be fun to take on the Ultimate Detective,” Kokichi smirked, “And see Kaito lose of course.”

I’m not going to lose to you!” yelled Kaito, “You underestimate the luminary of the stars.”

“Alright, I’m game,” I pounded my fist, “Even if it’s not a fighting game, I can’t back down from a challenger!”

“I guess I’ll play...” said Shuichi.

“Geez, we’re supposed to be investigating,” said Kaede, “But I guess it’s okay.”

“Alright, let’s rock!” I raised my fist to the sky.

From there we spent time playing the various games the casino had to offer. Me, Kokichi, and Ryoma were dominating the competition. The games were naturally luck based, so Kaede and the others got a couple of rounds in...well except for Kaito, who never won anything.

“And you’ve lost again Kaito...” said Shuichi.

“I-I can’t believe it...” Kaito muttered.

“Why do you keep going on the slot machines, it’s the most luck based game in this place,” I said.

“If it’s so luck based…,” Kaito aggressively pointed towards Ryoma, “Then why does he keep winning?! It’s like the gods themselves are against me!”

“What can I say, I’ve just got a knack for this stuff,” said Ryoma.

“Kaito may not be incorrect,” said Kiyo, “Luck and karma is a big part of many cultures, so it’s possible that Ryoma is being favoured by some powerful deity.”

“Hmph, if that were the case I wouldn’t be in this situation...” Ryoma grumbled.

“Well anyways Kaito’s all out of monocoins, so he’s eliminated,” said Kaede, “Shuichi, Kiyo and I dropped out, so now it’s only Eric, Ryoma, and Kokichi.”

“Alright let’s do one more game, all or nothing,” I suggested.

“Yes! Now this is the kind of thinking I like!” Kokichi said with enthusiasm, “Maybe we’re not so different after all...”

“Fine, but what game should we play?” asked Ryoma, “I’m down for anything.”

“Oh, how about roulette!” said Kaede.

“Roulette?” said Shuichi.

“Y-Yeah, I’ve always wanted to watch roulette...” said Kaede, “...it just looks fun with the ball spinning around...”

“Okay then...roulette it is!” I said.

“Too bad for you, I’m confident in my skill of roulette,” Ryoma smirked.

“I prefer Russian Roulette honesty,” said Kokichi, “Too bad...”

‘I’d actually be good at Russian Roulette with my ability to detect danger. You know what I’m going to call that ability my Spider-Sense! Yeah that sounds good.’

“Alright let’s rock!” I grinned.

Kokichi, Ryoma and I sat around the roulette table. We each had our own poker face. Ryoma had a relaxed look, Kokichi had a large grin, and I leaned back in my chair, rocking it back and forth.

“Alright this is how it’s going to work,” said Shuichi, “The game is only going to be one round, and you three have to go all in.”

“Oh what dangerous stakes!” said Kiyo, “I’ll enjoy watching to see what choices you make.”

‘It really is all or nothing, I was acting confident before, but I’m not good at luck based games. Oh well, my as well go crazy. Not like these monocoins are worth anything...’

I quickly put all my coins on Red 21, covering the space so no one could claim the number. Ryoma, and Kokichi both gave me a strange look, clearly puzzled by my actions. I kept my poker face and remained silent. Ryoma and Kokichi played very strategically, spreading out their coins across several spaces.

“Alright all votes are cast,” said Kaede,“Let’s spin the roulette.” 

Kaede cheerfully spun the roulette wheel, the white ball spinning around inside. As it was turning the white ball went across various spaces, before starting to slow down. Everyone had their eyes focused on the ball as it slowly landed on...Red 21.

“21! I WON! YEEEEAAAAHHHH!” I yelled, jumping up and down, “I’M THE BEST! I’M THE BEST! WHHHOOOOHHHH!”

Everyone looked at me with various degrees of shock.

‘I didn’t know Eric had this kind of side to him’ thought Shuichi.

‘Wonder if he acts like this, when he plays other games’ thought Kaede.

“Oh how marvelous.” said Kiyo, “Wining does seem to bring out a different side of people.”

“Wow, he won even when I was cheating” Kokichi laughed.

“Hmph, guess I’ve still got a ways to go...” sighed Ryoma.

“D-Damn!”  said Kaito, “How are you so lucky, and I’m not! Tell me your secrets!”

“That is between you and God my friend,” I said, “Aw man, I wish this was real money, I could really use it. Let’s see what the prizes are in this place.” I made my way to the prize corner, gazing at the prizes. With the monocoins I had, I could afford anything I wanted.

“Oh, what are you going to buy with your money?” asked Kaede.

“Hmm, good question…,” There wasn’t anything particularly interesting there except for-”Key of Love?” 

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” said Kaede, “We thought it opened that pink building next door, Hotel Kumasutra”

“Well it’s either that or...maybe it’s the key to my heart,” I put my hand over my heart.

“I doubt that’s the case” Kaede chuckled

“I was hoping we weren’t going to check out that hotel...” Shuichi muttered

“You’re right, Shuichi,” I gave him a thumbs up, “We should go check it out right away.”

“That’s not what I said-” 

“Awww, you leaving already?” Kokichi whined, “I understand though, I wouldn’t want to spend anymore time looking at Kaito’s stupid face either. ”

“H-Hey!” Kaito growled, clenching his fist, “Man, today it not my day..”

I twirled the key around my finger as we approached the door to the odd pink hotel. Hopefully this would be the key to unlocking this building’s secrets.

 ‘Aw man, that was awful. I’m going to need to work on my material. Can’t be relying on puns in a fight-Huh? That was a weird thing to say-I mean think-I mean say-’

“Hey Eric?” asked Kaede, “Are you going to open the door?”

“Y-Yeah sorry,” I stuttered, “I dozed off for a second.”

“I still think this is a bad idea,” said Shuichi, “This place gives me nothing but bad feelings...”

“And that’s exactly why we gotta get in there, bad things are usually important,” I twirled the key once more before putting it into the keyhole.

“Click-Click”

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong”

“It does work, the key doesn’t fit...”

Shuichi breathed a sigh of relief.

“Really? Are you sure you’re doing it right?”

“Okay hold on,” I twisted the key in every way possible, but the lock wouldn’t budge, “Seriously! If it’s not for this door, then what’s the point of having this thing!!!!”

“Maybe it’s just a souvenir”

“Awww man, I spent so many coins on this...” I groaned, “Welp, that was anticlimactic. What do we do next?”

“Shuichi, any ideas?”

“Uh, well we’ve done a lot of exploration, so maybe we should rest and think over the information we have now, and go from there,” Shuichi rubbed the back of his head, “If you think that’s a good idea...”

“I guess that works, but then what do I do with this thing?” I held up the key, “It’s not particularly useful”

“Just keep it in your room, that’s where I’ve been keep stuff I find,” said Shuichi

“Or you can give it to your maybe-girlfriend,” said Kaede

“Who definitely isn’t real,” I quickly replied, putting the key in one of the pockets of my backpack. Shuichi and Kaede both looked at each other for a moment, saying nothing in response. 

We each separated headed back to our rooms. There was a lot of information to process and with my incident, I didn’t have much time to process it. I slipped my backpack by my bedside and sat down.

‘So I’m some sort of spider-human hybrid. How does something like that even happen. Was my mom a spider and my dad a human? Did I step into a teleporter with a spider? Am I from an alien planet of spider people? You know I’m starting to release that the more questions I have answered the more questions I have. I wonder if my powers have anything to do with the situation we’re in. A situation we are no closer to escaping from.’

Knock, Knock

The knock on the door snapped interrupted my train of thought. Wondering who might want to speak with me, I opened the door. 

“Sup,” I said to Kaede, “You need anything?”

“Hey Eric, I actually wanted to talk to you,”  said Kaede.

“Me, really?”

“Yeah, while Shuichi is figuring things out, I wanted to help you recover your memories.”

“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” I said, “But you don’t have to, my issue isn’t that important compared to everything we’re going through.”

“No that’s wrong, your amnesia has clearly been troubling you,” Kaede challenged, “You passed just yesterday.”

“...”

“I really didn’t like seeing you suffer like that, without being able to do anything about it,” Kaede tipped her hat down, “I promised that I would save everyone, so I’m going to do whatever I can to help my friends.”

“Alright then, afterall who am I to refuse the request of a nice lady,” I smiled, “So where do we start?”

“I think we should with your talent,” Kaede suggested, “After all, it's the only part of yourself that you remember.”

“Right, that makes sense.”

“So tell me about your talent, what do you enjoy about it?”

“Hmm, I feel like I’m being interviewed, this is fun” I chuckled, “Well there’s a lot of things I like about fighting games. The interesting characters, the varied art styles, the deep gameplay, all the crazy things you can pull off if you’re skilled enough. There’s nothing funnier than doing cool things with a cool character. Then you bring in a competitive element, competition in fighting games is more intimate and personal than other games, because it’s 1v1, no teams, no outside help, just your character vs your opponent's character. And unlike sports anyone can get good, regardless of who they are, or where they come from. I’ve seen a disabled player use his own face to press the buttons on the controller, and win!”

“W-Wow!”

“Uh sorry, I went on a bit of a tangent.”

“N-No it’s fine, it’s just you remind me of how I talk about piano,” said Kaede, “It’s nice to see someone else talk about talent so passionately.”

“Speaking of, why did you start playing piano? What’s your story? I’m curious”

“Geez, we’re supposed to be talking about you”

“Well maybe If you talk about your life, it’ll remind me of something in my life!”

“Okay then,” sighed Kaede, “Well I’ve been playing piano almost all of my life, I played so much that I would sometimes forget to eat and sleep.”

“Huh, that feels familiar,” I rubbed my chin, “I actually think I’ve done something similar. This is working, keep going.”

“Uh, well I’ve performed in many piano competitions all over the world”

“That’s pretty cool. I’d like to see one in the future.”

“Yeah, one time a king from foreign nation came to watch one, and kneeled down and said god was in my fingers.”

“Wow that’s amazing, you must ridiculously good! I guess they don’t call you the Ultimate Pianist for nothing!”

“I don’t think I that special, I don’t hold a candle to the greats like Debussy or Chopin”

“Who cares about that!,” I replied, “There’s nothing wrong with being humble, but you gotta acknowledge your own abilities.”

“Anyways, what else is there to talk about…?” Kaede tapped her forehead, “I’ve never had anyone ask me about my talent before, so this is a little hard for me. Most people ask me to stop talking about piano.”

“Really?” I questioned, “Because I’m very interested, you really seem to love piano.

“Yeah it’s really important to me,” said Kaede, “I’m at my happiest when I’m playing the piano. Seeing the smiles on people's faces. Music is a universal language that connects everyone that hears it, allowing for all kinds of emotions to be invoked. When I’m older I hope to compose music for movies, tv and even games.”

“Heh, I’d like to play a game you’d work on,” I replied, “Sound design is very important in games, and I’m sure whatever you work on it’ll be great-.”

All of a sudden my Spider-Sense went off. 

Kaede’s ears perked up.

“Somethings happening outside,” Kaede and I both said simultaneously. 

“Huh?” How could she have known-

“I hear something going on outside” said Kaede,”It sounds like everyones running around frantically. I can hear Gonta yelling”

‘She was able to hear that? I barely heard anything.’

“Right let’s check it out,” I walked over the door with Kaede following behind me. I slowly opened the door a crack and peeked outside. There I saw  a furious looking Gonta grabbing Shuichi, who was screaming as Gonta carried him away.

“S-Shuichi?! Why is Gonta taking him?” asked a painiced Kaede.

“No idea,” I replied, “C’mon let’s follow him, see what he’s up to.”

“R-Right, let’s go,” Kaede nodded nervously.

We went after the rampaging Gonta as he entered the main school building from the dining hall. Eventually we tracked him to the hallway near the first floor bathroom, making sure to keep our distance. He was no longer carrying Shuichi. 

“Huh?” I said, “Where did Gonta put Shuichi?”  

“Hmm, well if I had to guess, I’d say he’d probably take him to his lab,” Kaede theorized,

“Yeah I guess that makes sense,” I replied, “But for what purpose?”

My Spider-Sense began to tingle when Gonta stopped dead in his tracks, before turning around and facing them, “GONTA CAN HEAR YOU!”

The next events happened within seconds. Gonta charged towards us, Kaede screamed, and I picked her up and used my spider-speed to dash into the closest room. I gently put Kaede down and took a look at our surroundings. It looked similar to the boys bathroom, except red and mirrored. Realising where we were, I covered my eyes.

“W-Woah! What happened?!” Kaede panted heavily.

“Uh, well when Gonta charged at us, so I grabbed you and dove into the nearest room,” I explained, still covering my eyes.

“What are you doing?” asked Kaede.

“We're in the girls bathroom” I explained, “I’m not suppose to be here.”

“Well I don’t think anyone’s going to mind at the moment,” said Kaede, “Y’know since there’s nobody in there.”

“Well I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

KNOCK! KNOCK!

“GONTA KNOWS YOU’RE IN THERE! YOU CAN”T RUN FROM GONTA! GONTA WILL CHASE YOU TO THE END OF THE EARTH!” 

“That gives me any idea,” said Kaede, “Hey Gonta! This is the girl’s bathroom, I true gentlemen wouldn’t come inside.”

“Oh you’re right, Gonta so sorry!” Gonta apologized, before leaving. His footsteps gradually get quieter and quieter.

“Phew, he’s gone”

“Yeah good thinking Kaede,” I complimented her, still covering my eyes.

Kaede sighed, “Alright let’s head to Gonta’s lab, so you can finally stop covering your eyes.”

“Okay, but I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell people about this” I requested, “I don’t want to be called a pervert.”

We finally reached Gonta’s lab, from inside the doors we could hear a large amount of screaming and buzzing.

“Oh my god…” Kaede stared at the door terrified.

“Well I think we found where Shuichi is...” I said, “Alright Kaede you stay back and I’ll go in there and save everyone.”

“That’s fine by me, I don’t really like bugs...” Kaede shivered.

I opened the door, and immediately a swarm of bugs came rushing outside, flying past me but never getting too close.

‘I guess they recognize me as their predator.’

“Eric, you’re here!” Shuichi shouted.

Inside the room were the disgusted faces of Shuichi, Tenko, Keebo, Miu, Tsumugi, and Angie. Gonta was also there and looked sad at seeing his bug friends go.

“Bug friends, wait don’t go!” yelled Gonta.

“Atua has sent our saviour!” cheered Angie, “We are finally free.”

“Thank goodness, those bugs were crawling all over me,” said Tsumugi, “Just like that one cosplay convention...”

‘Well the bugs actually went inside of me,“ said Keebo.

“S-Same here...” Miu shivered.

“I’m just glad Himiko wasn’t there to experience that hell.” Tenko cried.

“Alright what exactly is going on here Gonta?” I crossed my arms, “Why did you do this?”

“Well, Kokichi told me that everyone here hated bugs,” Gonta explained, “And told me to set up this insect-meet-and-greet to show you how great bugs are.”

“”Kokichi, of course,” I sighed, “Gonta, you just can’t grab people and hold them hostage like that. It’s not very gentleman-like.”

“O-Oh...” Gonta frowned,”Gonta didn’t mean to...”

“Well it’s a little too late for that now.” Tsumugi glared at him.

“Yeah grabbing girls without consent is classic degenerate male behavior!” yelled Tenko.

“Hey are the bugs gone?” Kaede peeked her head from the door, “Ah, Shuichi! I’m glad you're okay!”

“Y-Yeah I’m fine,” said Shuichi, “I feel disgusting, but otherwise I’m okay.”

“Glad to hear it, I was really worried about you.”

“Can you two go bone somewhere else, gross! Speaking of, I’ve got to take a shower. Heh, maybe you two could take one together. Heh, heh!” Miu laughed as she exited the room.

“A shower seems nice right about now,” said Tsumugi, who also left the room.

“I need to make sure the bugs didn’t do any internal damages, excuse me my friends,” Keebo also exited the room. 

“I saw Himiko talking to that degenerate male KokichI earlier, I’m going to make sure she’s okay,” Tenko said, rushing out of the lab with Angie following behind her.

“I wonder why Kokichi set this up?” said Kaede.

“Yeah, me too,” said Shuichi, “Whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

“Gonta’s so sorry,” Gonta sobbed on the floor, “Gonta’s didn’t mean to hurt anyone...” 

Kaede was right about to speak up, but I raised my hand up and gave her the ‘I’ve got this’ look. She nodded in response and I sat down next to Gonta.

“It’s okay big guy, I know you weren’t trying to do anything wrong,” I consoled, “You just wanted your friends to appreciate the same things you do. There’s nothing wrong with that. You just let your emotions cloud your judgement.”

“Well Gonta’s never been a smart boy”

“Not smart, are you kidding? You’re the Ultimate Entomologist! That’s a big deal, it means when it comes to studying bugs and insects, you’re the best of the best.” 

“Really, do you think Gonta is smart?”

“Absolutely!” I cheered, “Hey tell you what, later you and me can talk about bugs together.”

“You want to talk about bugs with Gonta?”

“Yeah, I think Spiders are pretty cool.”

“Oh! Gonta will gather as many facts about spiders for next time then!” Gonta cheered.

“You do that big guy. I’ll see you later buddy” I stood up and waved goodbye as Kaede, Shuichi and I left the lab.

“You handled that well,” said Kaede.

“Yeah it was almost like you have experience doing this before,” Shuichi theorized.

“I get what you mean...” I pondered, “...I think I know someone like Gonta. I’m not sure who exactly, but he reminds me of someone from my past.”

“Well at least something good came out of this situation” Kaede shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess I owe Gonta one”

“That’s good and all but I’m still worried about Kokichi,” said Shuichi. 

Kaede nodded, “Me too, he put Gonta up to this for a reason.”

“Who knows with that guy,” I shrugged, “We’ll have to interrogate him when we find him.”

“On second thought I don’t have the energy to deal with him tonight” Shuichi slouched, “I’m pretty worn out from today’s events.”

“*sigh, that’s okay. Hopefully this is just one of Kokichi’s pranks, I don’t want another murder on our hands...” Kaede gripped the brim of her hat, her expression deadly serious

“Whatever he’s up to we can handle it,” I said, “Now let’s get some rest, and start fresh in the morning.”

We all nodded in agreement, and headed back to our rooms once more.

I was having a hard time falling asleep, most due to the fact that everytime I fell asleep I had a terrible nightmare. Also my spider-powers give me a lot of energy, so I just don’t feel tired.

“Hmm, maybe I should go after Kokichi myself.”

Knock! Knock!

“Huh, maybe he decided to come to me instead,” I got up and answered the door revealing Kaito, and not Kokichi.

“Sup man,” Kaito greeted cheerfully. 

“Oh hi Kaito,” I replied,”What brings you here?”

“Well Shuichi told me you wanted to train with us,” Kaito explained, “So I’ve decided to formally invite you. Would you like to join me, the Luminary of the Stars as we train to become men!”

“Alright!” I pumped my fist, “Let’s do this.”

I followed Kaito to the courtyard, where I saw Shuichi without the black jacket he normally wears. By the look on his face he clearly didn’t want to be here.

“Shuichi? What are you doing here?” I asked, “I thought you said you were tired?”

“I am,” Shuichi deadpanned, “But Kaito insisted I still train today.”

“You can’t just quit on your second day!” said Kaito, “Even if you’re tired you’ve just gotta keep pushing yourself! That’s what a man does.”

“Okay so where do we begin?” I said, taking off my hoodie.

“Let’s start with 50 push ups and then 50 sit ups!” Kaito exclaimed,”Then we go from there.”

The three of us got on the ground and began doing push ups. Thanks to my spider-strength doing 50 push ups was a breeze, Kaito was going at a normal pace, however it looked like Shuichi was struggling.

“My arms…*huff*....feel…*pant*...like jelly,” Shuichi gasped, “Why...do you…*huff* do this to me!”

“C’mon I can’t have a weak sidekick!” said Kaito, “I’ve told you before people are relying on you, so you need to get stronger emotionally and physically. Besides, a little exercise never hurts anyone, right?”

“Sidekick?”

“Yeah Shuichi’s my sidekick now!” Kaito put one hand on Shuichi’s shoulder causing him to struggle further, “If you want I can make you my sidekick too.”

“Heh, no thanks,” I pointed at myself,”I’m no one's sidekick.”

After finishing the 50 push ups, we moved onto the sit ups.

“Aren’t the stars beautiful,” said Kaito.

“Well they would be,” I replied, “If they were real.”

“What?!” 

“We…*huff*...figured out that…*huff*...the sky’s not real...” Shuichi continued to struggle.

“You figured that out and didn’t tell us!” Kaito exclaimed.

“Whoops,” I said nervously, “Sorry. It just never came up.”

“A-And it’s not like…*gasp*...we can just…*pant*...run around the campus..*huff*...everytime we figure something out,” said Shuichi.

“I guess that makes sense,” Kaito sighed, “But if you figure out anything important, you better tell me!”

We continued to do sit ups for another minute before I spoke up, “Shuichi, I wanted to wait until we were alone but there’s I need to ask you something.”

“Y-Yeah,” Shuichi stopped his sit ups.

“Why is Kaede wearing your hat?” I asked.

“Yeah, I've been wondering about that too,” said Kaito.

“Oh that...” Shuichi sighed, “Well the whole reason I used to wear that hat was to avoid eye contact. I’ve always had a hard time facing the people I’ve caught, not to mention their families. So I used that hat to hide from them, to hide from the truth...”

I listened intensely on Shuichi’s words.

“...But then Kaede helped me. She helped me be brave, to face the truth. So I don’t need it anymore. On the other hand Kaede feels responsible for what happened to Rantaro. She feels like she’d betrayed everyone’s trust. She came to me the morning after the trail and told me how scared she was to face everyone, so I gave her my hat.”

“Even after all that she’s still putting on a brave face while trying to save everyone,” I chuckled, “She’s a real hero.”

“Yeah she is...” Shuichi smiled.

“Heh” Kaito laugh, “Looks like I was right,”

“About what?” asked Shuichi

“Nothing, nothing...” Kaito grinned.

The three of us just layed on the ground, looking at the stars. Even if they were fake, they still looked beautiful. The nice moment was unfortunately interrupted by a familiar sound.

Ding Dong, Bing Bong

“A Body Has Been Discovered! Everyone Please Gather in the Pool.”