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Chapter Text

11:03am, Classroom 1-C

Lucky.
It was something that was hard to determine. What did it mean to be lucky? It was something Makoto Naegi had heard questioned sometime before, though he never paid it much mind at first. He never considered himself a lucky person, after all. He didn't think he was especially unlucky either. Luck, in its extremes, was largely something that happened to others.
Yet when a lottery was determined to place someone in Hope's peak academy, he was the one who won it, to gain the title of Ultimate Lucky Student. He would be able to join the ranks of the top students mankind had seen, and he was eager to explore it.
And then... he memory of events went blank. Now he was stuck in darkness, currently sprawled out on what felt like a desk. Was he in a classroom?
Light slowly began to return to his eyes, consciousness gradually returning to him as he started to gather information of his surroundings. He appeared to be in a classroom of some sort, though he shuddered at the notion that he had no idea what classroom it was. There was no class in session, no teacher, no book at his desk, nothing at all. And he appeared to be the only one here... that was, until he investigated the far corner of the room.
A figure was slumped over the desk, showing a little sign of movement as they started to come round as well. It was on looking closer that something was noticeable to Makoto. He recognised this person...maybe it was the long hair currently hanging off the desk, or the fact that he could tell he has heard them before as they start to vocalise their own confusion at being here, still oblivious to the other person in the room.
"Sayaka?"
The name escaped his mouth before he had a chance to say anything. The girl slowly rose before turning her head to him.
"Hmm... yes, that's me, sorry I'm looking like this... Makoto Naegi, right?"
Makoto was a little taken aback, he had seen her in the past and knew of her becoming the Ultimate Idol, wanting a chance to speak to her in the academy, but didn't know she knew his name.
"How did you..."
"Oh, it simple really, I'm psychic!" On seeing the look of Makoto's face, she giggled, "Just kidding, I remember seeing you around when we were younger, and I have really good intuition."

Glad to hear that she recognised him, he smiled and waved before looking around again. The place was still a mystery to him.
Turning to Sayaka, he added, "Do you know where we are? I don't remember getting here?"
"Me neither. It's odd... should we look around, wherever we are, it's better if we stick together, right? We can catch up while we're looking. I'd like to actually get to know you."

Makoto blushes a little as he nodded before their talk with interrupted by sound coming from outside the classroom. It sounded like someone having an argument.

Makoto glanced over to the door, taking careful steps to see what was going on, Sayaka following closely behind.

11:07am, Canteen

Sonia Nevermind had found herself in a similar position to Makoto, though she had awoken to a greater amount of noise. She could hear talking in the distance but couldn't register what it said due to being barely conscious. She stirred a little, not being ok the most comfortable position, once again with no memory of how she came to be wherever she was at the moment.
This was a level of discomfort that would take some getting used to, nothing like her life back home. Still, she was fully prepared for life being different in Hope's Peak. Having the title of Ultimate Princess led to a few differences compared to what the others had, and she'd be surprised if anyone travelled nearly as far as she did... but there was still a gap in her memory. Struggling to find something familiar, all she could feel was the tapping on her arm from something... much smaller than a human. She slowly open her eyes, seeing that she was perched on a cafeteria table and the thing tapping on her appeared to be a small hamster.

"Well done, Jum-P! The mysterious figure awakens!"

Sonia blinked one confusion before looking up and quickly trying to make herself more presentable. She had no idea she was being observed back here and needed to make a good impression. The hamster, Jum-P she assumed its name was, was still looking towards the both of them.

"Do not feel the need to put on a facade, I'm simply looking to seek out knowledge of who you are...," the owner of the voice added, his scarf flowing with what looked like two more hamsters waiting on it."

"Oh, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting... I'm Sonia Nevermind, I'm the Ultimate Princess. Are you joining Hope's Peak too? And is this little guy yours?"

"He is no mere 'little guy'! He is Jum-P, the Mirage Golden Hawk of the Four Dark Devas of destruction! I am their master Gundham Tanaka, though some know me as the Ultimate Breeder! You have a lot of courage to stand before him so boldly."
"Sonia giggled, before noticing a perplexed look on his face, "Oh, don't mind me, it's just that I'm not used to people speaking like this to me, seeing me as something other than royalty. It's... quite refreshing. You said four 'Dark devas of destruction'... forgive me, but I can only see three..."

"What? Jum-P is there, Dark Devas, Male yourself known! Maga-Z, Cham-P, San-D!"

The two hamsters perched on Gundham joined Jum-P on the table. Gundham observed, noticing one of them was not present.

"You are correct! San-D appears to have gone off somewhere. Everyone, we must make haste to discover what machinations he has planned!"

It didn't require much searching, as a voice could be heard from the corner of the room, from who could easily be seen as being the largest person in the room.

"San-D is very cute! Are San-D's friend around here?"

Gundham made no delay in sprinting over to where the larger guy was, sat at another table which had a fourth hamster sitting at it, moving its little head as he speaks. Sat opposite from him was a girl who was dressed in a nurse’s outfit. It dawned on Sonia that she could probably deduce her talent without any difficulty. But the boys'... that was a little trickier... but there was something noticeable there...

"Gundham... did you speak to either of them before?"

"No, I didn't utter a word to anyone until you broke your slumber."

"...then how did he know San-D's name?"

"That... is something that is a mystery to me as well. Speak Colossus! How have you managed to pierce the determine to name of the Supernova Silver Fox before you?"

The girl sitting nearby jumped back at Gundhams' sudden outburst, though the 'colossus' didn't seem to mind to much, seeming to listen to the Hamster once more.

"Oh, hello! You must be Gundham! San-D told Gonta his name! And Gundham's name too! Oh, sorry, Gonta forgot! Gonta's name is Gonta Gokuhara! Gonta is the Ultimate entomologist!"

Sonia began to lose track of the number of times he said his name. Nevertheless, he seemed friendly enough, though Gundham was still fixated on the fact that Gonta could supposedly communicate with the four Dark Devas and had started speaking of how Gonta was of a similar rank to him, leaving Gonta to use San-D as a way of translating what Gundham was saying. She couldn't help but find the conversation amusing, though she turned to the girl sitting near him, not wanting her to be left behind.

"I'm Sonia, pleased to meet you."

The girl spoke out in little more than a whimper.

"I-I'm sorry, was I interrupting."

"No, not at all, I think Gundham might've found a kindred spirit, that's all. Don't be nervous, you've done nothing wrong.

"Oh, alright, if you’re sure. If I had, I'd try to make it up to you. I'd do... whatever you say..."

Sonia quickly realised that this had nothing to do with her title, rather being something born out of her own nervousness. She didn't know what the girl meant, and felt it was better that she didn't.

"That won't be necessary. If it's alright with you, could I get your name? And your talent?"

"Oh, of course, I-it's M-Mikan Tsumiki... the Ultimate Nurse."

"Mmm... a pleasure to meet you... you seem nervous, but still sat next to Gonta, did you know him beforehand?"

"N-no, he just seemed friendly, and he was talking about trying to be a gentleman. It was nice to see someone like that, especially when I don't know where I am.”

“You have no idea either.”

She looked a little crestfallen as Sonia shook her head in reply. It looked like everyone might be in the dark here.

11:10am, Dormitory 3

Booting-Up.

Memory-Functions-Compromised.

All-Other-Functions-Seemingly-Normal.

The diagnosis provided to a figure currently situated outside an unfamiliar room eases him slightly, but it brought about more questions than answers. Where was he, and why was he powered off, sitting outside a door to a room, a nameplate bearing a familiar name present, his own name... K1-B0. The production name of the Ultimate Robot.

"Holy fuck... is there an actual robot here?"

"No, just a pile of scrap metal. Even a pea-brained bitchlet like yourself can be able to see that."

Ki-B0 couldn't help but feel a flash of annoyance at this, raising to make it clear to whoever spoke that this was not the case.

"I am not scrap, I'm a fully functional Robot!"

The source of the second voice, a smaller male, merely shrugs.

"Nee-heehee... just kidding! Anyone could see it was just a joke!"

KI-BO didn't seem to be amused by this, promoting him to add, "But maybe Robots don't have a sense of humour, so you didn't see the joke."

"I may be a robot, but I'm a normal person like the rest of you, and won't accept comments like that! Well... my status as a robot makes me an Ultimate..."

At that point, it dawned on him what the last things in his memory was, "Actually, I was meant to be attending Hope's Peak, was it the same for you two? I'm K1-B0, but you can call he Ki-Bo."

The girl was first to answer, "Fuck, yeah it was the same here... wait, you don't know who I am. You're looking at the gorgeous girl genius, Miu Iruma! I'm the Ultimate Inventor, so let me know if you gave any problems, I could fix you up reel quick!"
"Hehe, you're looking at the Ultimate Supreme leader Kokichi Ouma! Leader of a group totalling over ten thousand. Not an organisation you want to mess with...."

"Fuck that!" Miu interrupted, "I want to hear more about the fact that we have an actual robot here! So many questions, and once I know them, I can fix up all kinds of amazing shit for you."

Kii-bo glances between them before rationalising that it did no harm, "Sure, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have."

Miu attempted to start of the questioning, but Kokichi cut across her.

"Do robots have dicks?"

11:11am, Ground floor Corridor

"You cannot believe for one second that such a pathetic disguise would work. Even the common masses that plague this place must be able to tell the difference... at least lose some weight before making such a display."

"A typical statement of a lowly commoner. The genuine article would know just how important maintaining body fat is. And you think to imitate my likeness?"

The two figures were standing in full view of anyone who happened to pass by. Rows of classroom door occupied an otherwise empty corridor. As they continued their disagreement, the door to classroom 1-C opened to reveal Makoto and Sayaka, looking to see what was going on, only to find two men, who would look extremely similar if not for their vastly different body types.

"Erm..." Makoto stammered a little as he saw the other two, finding them a little intimidating, "Were you two in the middle of something?"

"Nothing of relevance to you," the skinnier of two snapped, "but since the two of you are here, I'll get the introductions out of the way, Name's Byakuya Togami."

"Well, that is my name, I have no idea who this is," the larger built 'Byakuya' responded, "Tell me you two, what are your names and talents?"

Makoto backed up a little at the less than friendly introduction before giving a response, "Well, I'm Makoto Naegi, and I'm also the Ultimate Lucky Student."
"Sayaka Maizono, Ultimate Idol," Sayaka responded cheerily, waving to both of them. The larger Byakuya was the first to speak.

"Luck, how did you become an Ultimate in that field." He barely seemed to pay any note at all to Sayaka.

"Well, I Er... I was part of a lottery to decide who got to be a part of Hope Peak and I ended up winning..."

"So, in other words," Byakuya adjusted his glasses as he responded, "you do not have any talents or abilities at all, having got in here by sheer chance. How pitiful."

Makoto didn't give any response, what was he meant to say to something like that? Besides, the pair had returned to their disagreement, clearly unwilling to carry on the conversation. Makoto could only hope who they met next was less dismissive.

11:15am, Canteen

Sonia had left Gundham to continue conversing with Gonta while she continued with introductions. Seeing the others already talking, it dawned on her that she may be more behind than she originally thought. As she approached the entrance to the dining hall, looking to search further, she noticed two of the figures had retreated into a corner, both with their eyes on something in one of their hands. Curious, she went to take a closer look.

On closer inspection, she realised that the pair, both girls by the looks of it, were hunched over a video game being played. Buttons were clicked as a little character Sonia didn't recognise moved along the screen. Once the level, from what she could tell, was complete, one of them looked up to find Sonia glancing at the screen with curiosity.

"Oh... sorry, I didn't realise you wanted to speak to us."

A quick tap of the shoulder brought the one playing the game to look up as well, before pausing the game to speak.

"Sorry, I got a little too focused on my game... I think. Introductions, yes, that's it. I'm Chaiki Nanami, the Ultimate Gamer."

"And I'm... Chihiro Fujisaki, nice to meet you."

Chihiro seemed a little nervous around people, so Sonia didn't want to push too hard.

"A gamer... so that's why you're staying over here, do you play games a lot Chihiro?"

Chihiro hesitated a little, "We did at first, but Chaiki was feeling tired, so we rested for a bit," turning to Chaiki, Chihiro added, "We probably should make more introductions."

"Hmm..., I'll gather my thoughts and come along..."

Chaiki yawned in the middle of her sentence, before lying back against the wall.

"I'm sleepy."

Sonia deduced that it may be better to come back to them later.

11:15am, School Main Entrance

It didn't take long for Makoto and Sayaka to find someone else. As the pair made their way to the entrance of the building, they found voices emitting from the same direction, one of which was incredibly loud. Makoto strongly considered covering his ears before going over to find out who it was.

In the entrance stood someone who was much bigger than anyone they'd seen before. He seemed to be trying to spur on the crowd that had formed around the entrance. Makoto counted them, realising there was six of them, but the one person easily towered over anyone else who was present there.

"You're too quiet with the introductions! Try it like this! I AM NEKOMARU NIDAI! And I am the Ultimate team manager!"

Makoto couldn't help but believe that he'd be better of playing in a sports team than managing it, but he had heard something about this guy. Wasn't expecting him to be so boisterous, though. Sayaka giggled from the side-lines, before speaking to Makoto.

"At least he appears to be more sociable."

That much was true, even if they didn't all seem to appreciate it. One of the others, complete opposite to... Nekomaru, he said his name was, was trying to slink off away, his hat obscuring most of his face. He didn't get very far, as he seemed to want to leave the building, and Nekomaru was currently blocking the entrance. He sighed before hearing the others out. One of the other students responded cheerily to his speech.

"Nyhaha! I'll try! I am Angie Yonaga. I am the Ultimate Artist!"

She wasn't anywhere near as loud as Nekomaru, but she was still shouting, which seemed to be good enough for him. "And I'm Tsumugi Shirogane! I'm the Ultimate Cosplayer!"

Nekomaru smiled at the pair, before continuing.

"Not bad! With a little work, you'll be there in no time! What about you, what's your talent?"

Nekomaru focused his attention on one of the three remaining students. The other student gave a lazy wave before replying.

"Such a moving display of talent, immediately motivating the others around you. It brings such joy to hear it. Unfortunately, my talent is nothing compared to yours. I'm Nagito Komaeda, nice to meet you all... and my talent is luck."

This got Makoto's attention, entering the conversation with Sayaka following behind him.

"Did you just say your talent was luck?"

"That's right, the Ultimate Lucky Student."

Makoto looked blanking before adding, "I have the same talent."

Nagito looked a little disappointed, but quickly brushed it off, "They selected two of us, that's odd, I wonder why..."
Sayaka joined in with the conversation, "Did you both get in the same way? You were selected by lottery, right?"

Both of them nodded before the found themselves joined by a fourth person, the same one who was trying to get away earlier. He spoke in a surprisingly deep voice as he addressed the others.

"Strange place we're in here. Hope you don't mind; I'll be out of your way soon."

Makoto listened, recognising the sour tone of his voice.

"That's alright, we're happy to talk to you," Sayaka smiled as she turned to the others, Makoto nodding in agreement, "are you an Ultimate too?"

"...I was."

"What do you mean by that?" Makoto asked.

"I used to be the Ultimate Tennis Pro. But that man, Ryoma Hoshi, doesn't exist anymore. I'm only a shell of what he was. Why did they brought me here, that's the question."

Nagito's expression seemed to sour at this. He glared at Ryoma before adding, "So you've simply given up on your talent. What could make you give up hope so easily as that."

Before Ryoma could give any form of retort, Nagito left swiftly, leaving just them. Ryoma shook his head.

"Somehow, he didn't seem like he'd get it. Still, this place is better than prison in any rate."

Makoto snapped back to attention before questioning him. "Wait, did you say prison?"

"Hmm? Yeah, that's... a long story, but it's when I became this shell, and my talent was no more... I think I was scouted because they hoped to restore my talent... but I haven't played in ages... it doesn't matter, you probably want nothing more to do with someone like me."

A part of Makoto wanted to hear more, but it was tricky to concentrate with how loud Nekomaru was being. The last of the students around here was making his introduction.
"I'm Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! Even crying children adore the Ultimate Astronaut!"

The guy in question was really getting into Nekomaru's method of introduction, gesturing wildly at the same time, to the exasperation of some, though Nekomaru seemed pleased with this.

However, this cued in the introduction is someone else, who didn't seem pleased with this.

"Why are you being so loud? You're causing a disturbance here?"

Makoto thought that he wasn't exactly being quite himself but decided against vocalising this. Nekomaru was just laughing it off, which seem to annoy the other student further. He carried on.

"It's my duty to keep things running smoothly here, and then includes making sure that everyone abides by the rules! Still... I will introduce myself, I'm Kiyotaka Ishimaru, the Ultimate Moral Compass!"

Makoto decided to move on. It looked like those two may end up disagreeing, since Nekomaru was insisting on staying a loud as ever, while Ishimaru didn't look ready to back down. Realising that this could get annoying quickly, Makoto and Sayaka left, but not without noticing that Ryoma had taken the opportunity to slink off.

11:20am, School Library

Kii-bo's search of the school had led him into the library. On entry, he stopped to observe the size of the place. It was larger than any room he had encountered so far and the height of it meant that it stretches to the next floor, with a staircase in the middle, though from what he could tell, there was only one entrance. He noticed it scanned him on the way in, though he didn't know why. As he wandered in, he nearly walked straight into someone, who had his eyes on a bookshelf in the corner.

"Hey! Watch where you're doing dumbass!"

"Oh, sorry!" Kiibo quickly backed up upon seeing the shorter male, "I didn't see you there."

Whatever the right thing to say was, it clearly wasn't that as he shouted in response, startling some of the others in the library, "You think you're being fuckin' funny! You got something you want to say!"

"... I’m just going around making introductions..., but I see I have caused some bother."

"Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu."

"Huh?"

"That my name, I'm not going to get all friendly or any shut like that, but I'll give you my name... we done here?"

"I... guess so."

Fuyuhiko left after that, leaving whatever he was looking at. It was only after he left that Kii-bo realised that he hadn't asked for a talent. Sighing, he glanced over to where Fuyuhiko is looking, to spot another male looking out from behind it.

"Is he gone?"

"Huh, oh, if you're talking about the guy that was just here, he's gone."

"Ooh, that's a relief, that guy's the Ultimate Yakuza, didn't predict that he'd be here as well, you've got to let me know if you see him around!"

*He clasped his hand together and faced Kii-bo, who just looked blankly, "Ultimate Yakuza... what an unusual talent. I'm afraid my knowledge of the Yakuza is lacking, other than that you should steer clear. Did you do anything to annoy them?"

"Nothing like that, I swear!" The guy protested his innocence, though Kii-bo didn't seem convinced. "I was just looking to see if there was a shop around here, wanted to grab a few brewskis."

"I am unfamiliar with that term, what do you mean by that."

"Oh, I just mean getting a drink or two. I guess you don't need it, since you're a robot. But a few alcoholic beverages to kick back with while I work out where we are."

Kiibo couldn't tell if he was joking or not, "This looks like a school, you won't find anything like that in here!"

Another voice cut them off from just behind. This voice was loud, did the recipient bit understand libraries, Kii-bo thought to himself.

"Not if you think like that! If you find anywhere let Ibuki know!"

The other guy turned to the newcomer, who Kii-bo could only assume was named Ibuki and have her a thumbs up.

"Sure thing! I'll let you know straight away. You seem cool, so I'll help you out. I'm Yasuhiro Hagakure, the Ultimate Clairvoyant!"

The girl rocked her head from side to side before throwing out a peace sign.

"I, Buki, Mio, Da! Ibuki Mioda! Ultimate Musician! A clairvoyant, does that mean you can predict the future?"

"That's right," Yasuhiro seemed pleased with Ibuki's interest, "I can predict a definite future of anyone, I'm right 20% of the time, no matter what I predict. It should even work for Robots."

20 percent isn't that accurate, Kii-bo thought to himself, but before he could voice anything like that, Yasuhiro suddenly froze before addressing Ibuki.

"In fact, I'm getting something about you right now, I'll even give it to you for free if you spread the word for me!"

"Ooh sounds fun!" ibuki didn't seem to mind the accuracy rate, "Let Ibuki know!"

"Right, here goes... it would appear, there there is someone else here, and the father of your children and of her children, will be the same man!"

"..."

Silence, as Ibuki looked on in awe at the prediction. It was down to Kii-bo."
"Erm... I think that one might be one of the 80%"

Chapter Text

11:30am, 1st floor Corridor

Greetings were taking their time for Sonia, and the group had already started moving before she woke up, meaning that they could be anywhere. While she had managed to find one of the others, he had developed what she would find to be an annoying habit of following her around. While she could tolerate the idea that some of them may be in awe at seeing a princess, this guy was beginning to be a bit much. She'd managed to get a name and Ultimate from him, once he managed to get it out: Kazuichi Souda, the Ultimate Mechanic.

"Miss Sonia! There's some overs other there!"

He pointed towards what looked like a nurse’s office, before nearly attempting to pull Sonia over, though he refrained in time. Now she'd just have to get him to just call her Sonia. Still, a nurse’s office, useful to have, especially with an Ultimate Nurse by their side.

Getting closer revealed two more students were present, a casual looking green haired male, and a girl who seemed to huddle herself away from the guy, who seemed to only want to be friendly. Spotting the other two enter, he beckoned the over happily.

"Oh, hey there, you guys wind up here as well? What a situation I've landed in again, though it can't be worse that some of the ones I've encountered before. Anyway, I'm Rantaro Amami. Nice to meet ya."

He extended his hand out to them. Kazuichi glares, but Sonia interrupted by taking his hand and responding.

"Sonia Nevermind... and this is Kazuichi Souda. It is indeed a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm the Ultimate Princess. I take it you also have a talent."

"Indeed, I did briefly forget, getting here, but sure what happened, but I'm the Ultimate Adventurer. Funny how that happens... a Princess, pardon, may I ask you where of?"

"Of course you may, I hail from Novoselic."

A few seconds passed before Rantaro added, "That would explain, I have heard of it, but I haven't seen it yet, if you happen to have the time, I'd love it if you could tell me more."

"It'll be my pleasure."

Souda flashed a look of irritation before throwing himself into the conversation.

"So kind of you Miss Sonia! There is someone else to talk to here as well!"

Kazuichi gestured to the other person. Rantaro took the opportunity to whisper to Sonia.

"Quite the character you have joining you, someone you've known a while."

"Not at all, we only just met here as well."

The girl hadn't said anything, but Sonia could've sworn she saw her peeking up to hear the conversation now and again.

"Huh? You wanna talk to me?" The girl appeared to be on edge while she spoke, not looking up to speak to any of them.

"Indeed," Sonia confirmed, "I would like to get your name if you don't mind."

"It's Toko Fukawa, and since everyone else is asking, not that you're interested in me, I'm the Ultimate Writing Prodigy."

Rantaro has a look of recognition to this, "Ah, one of my sister's was a big fan of yours. You specialise in romance don't you?"

Toko nodded, leaving Kazuichi somewhat confused.

"Really, you're not what I expected from a Romance novelist."

Before he could carry on his stream of consciousness, she seemingly took offence to that, retorting, "What? I know what you're thinking! Clearly she's never seen romance since she's so ugly!"

"What, no! I didn't say anything like that. Sure, you're nothing like Miss Sonia, but..."

Rantaro smirked at His predicament before adding, "Bad move."

Sonia, seeing that Fukawa was about to get mad, decide to make a quick retreat, "Well, if was lovely meeting you both, but I have other introductions to make."

As she left, she could only hear the cry of, "Miss Sonia, don't leave me here with her!"

She realised he'd probably catch up before long, but perhaps she'd get a moments peace.

11:33am, School Grounds

Kii-bo has meant to carry on his exploration outside, only to find, just outside the back exit, that there were already some figures outside that looked posed to face off against each other. On closer inspection, Kii-bo realised that both of them were girls, and were standing face to keep, though there was a gap of at least 3 meters between them. To the side near Kii-bo stood a line figure watching them, the most notable thing about him being his hair, sticking out far beyond his head. He didn't to anything, until Kii-bo tried to approach one of them. The guy then stepped towards him, intent on stopping him.

"The fuck you think you're doing?"

Kii-bo pauses before answering in confusion, "I was just going to say hello to them..."

"You can't do that now, there facing off or some shit like that!"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't fuckin' know, but when they meet, they just kept staring at each other, like they're gonna fight. I know that look, when guys size each other up. Didn't think a couple of chicks would do it. Anyway, don't interrupt them. You want to introduce yourself, than tell me your name. I'm Mondo Owada, Ultimate Biker Gang Leader."

"O.K, I am Kii-bo, I may be the Ultimate Robot, but here I'm just another high school student."

"What, so you were created to come here or something?"

"Yeah, the professor wanted to test how well my AI can learn among other students, even Ultimates."

"I don't get it, but good for you I guess."

Over with the others, the two seemed to have lowered their guards against each other simultaneously, both giving the other a nod.

"I see, my names Peko Pekoyama. I'm the Ultimate Swordswoman."

"...Mukuro Ikusaba, Ultimate Soldier."

Peko nods in recognition, "You stance makes sense now."

"Same."

Mukuro didn't feel the need to say anything else as she turned to leave before taking up her stance once more at another student who seemed to be passing by. The other student, didn't seem to respond.
Mondo watched as he saw, ready to go over if he needed to. Peko was also watching, but said nothing. Mondo spoke quietly to Kii-bo.

"I could tell Peko and Mukuro were on the same wavelength, but this chick is different somehow, I don't get what she's doing. Shit might go down."
The new girl didn't budge. The other three stood still in their positions for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, Mukuro turned away and left.

Kii-bo looked blankly at the exchange before adding, "What was that about?"

The newcomer glared at Kii-bo before responding, "I have no idea."

"Oh, well, a pleasure to meet you! I'm the Ultimate Robot, Kii-bo!"

"Maki Harukawa... Ultimate Childcare Giver."

Everyone else looked a little sceptical, so she added, "I know, I don't look like someone who likes kids. To be honest, I don't, they just like me for some reason..."

Peko kept her eye on Maki, but said nothing as Mondo shrugged and left, leaving Kii-bo to work out what had happened there.

11:40am, School Grounds

Sonia has not managed to completely shake off Kazuichi in her attempt to meet everyone, an attempt that led her to the gymnasium. The scene she saw was one she could easily expect, several students who looked like they were ultimates one that field were training themselves here, content to make use of the equipment while they had access to it.

One of the people who didn't appear to match that description was at the time trying to shake off the encouragement of another girl. In doing so, she pulled her hat, which on closer inspection looked like a witch’s hat, over her face.

"HIIYA!"

Kazuichi jumped back as the more energetic girl shouted out, which caused the other to cover her ears.

"Nyeh! Not so loud!"

Sonia looked over to the pair before going over to meet up with them. Kazuichi followed, which caused the energetic girl to glare at him for a reason unknown to her.

"Good afternoon! Are you both training!"

Turning away from Kazuichi, the girl replied, "That's right! Did you want to join us?"

"Eh, I'm not, she just came along to drag me into it... I was gonna practice my magic before she showed up." The voice from under the hat disagreed with her.

"Magic..." Kazuichi mused as he glanced over both of them, "Are you some sort of magician?"

"No, not a magician," she replied bluntly, "I'm Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Mage. I do magic, not tricks."

"Oh, how wonderful!" Sonia responded, "If it's not too much trouble, could you show me sometime?"

"When I've recharged my mana, I can."

"And what about you?" Sonia turned back to the other girl.

"I'm Tenko Chabashira! Hiya! I'm the Ultimate Aikido master!"

"Aikido Master?" Kazuichi interjected, glancing over Tenko, "I thought someone with that talent would be a more muscly type, whole you're more..."

He cut off, realising that Tenko did not look happy in the slightest, whatever Kazuichi had done, it was clear to both of them that she was not happy.

"Degenerate Male! Always commenting on women's bodies like they're just something to look at. Say something like that again and I'll throw you across the room!"

"What, no! I didn't mean it like that, I..."

It was clear by Tenko's mood that she wasn't going to let it go there. Sonia noticed that Himiko had used to distraction to get away. Seeing that this would take a while, she leaves the two of them alone for now. At least she got Kazuichi away for a while.

11:45am, School Grounds

Going outside the building revealed to Makoto and Sayaka that they appeared to be in some sort of school facility. There were a number of buildings around them, though none were as big as the one they just left. Apart from that, there was a large grassy area where a couple of students could be seen. One of them didn't notice either of them, she was preoccupied with looking further out through the lens of a camera while the other noticed them but stayed resolutely silent. Seeing as he might end up disturbing the girl with the camera, he shuffled over to the other girl, intent of making a good first impression.

"Um... hello?"

She didn't say anything, but turned to face Makoto, before taking a cursory glance at Sayaka. Since she didn't respond, Makoto reasoned that he'd have to add more to get a response.

"I'm Makoto Naegi, what's your name?"

"...Kyoko Kirigiri."

"O.K.... erm... what's your Ultimate talent?"

She looked away at this dismissively, "I don't see why you need to know that."

"Oh," Makoto said despondently, "By that, do you mean you don't want to tell me?"

"...I don't need to, so I'm not going to."

"Oh... alright."

Makoto realised that saying anything note was unlikely to get him anywhere, and Sayaka had gone over to the other person taking a picture, so he walked over to the pair of them.

"Makoto!" Sayaka shouted to him as he approached, "Come here and say hi!"

The stranger waited until he got closer before speaking. She had placed the camera back around her shoulder, attached by a strap.

"Hey, do you have any idea how we all got here, or did you just wake up here too?"

Makoto sighed, "Yeah, I just ended up here as well, I guess that happened to everyone here, right?"

"Huh, that is strange... still, you've got to keep it together, don't look so nervous, you've got to help with keeping the girls here safe."

"W-wait! Do you think we're in danger here?"

"I don't know, but people don't suddenly wake up in a strange place like this. We don't know how we ended up here, and why... so man up and keep an eye out."

She looks over Makoto before adding, "you seem decent enough though. I'm Mahiru Koizumi, and I'm the Ultimate Photographer."

Makoto stumbled a little bit with his response, "I'm Makoto Naegi, Ultimate Lucky Student, you were taking pictures as part of your talent just now, weren't you?"

"Yup, if you look over there...," she pointed over to where she was taking photos, "I noticed that the Ultimate Fashionista is part of this two. Modelling shots aren't my thing, but I wanted to capture the moment of seeing her while I was here. Plus, I was curious to take a photo of her when she wasn't posing for the camera. She doesn't look all that different, perhaps she noticed me."

If she had, she wasn't making any attempt to communicate that to them. It was only when they heard a shout coming from the groups left that she paid any attention to them.

"There's a pervert creeping on girls here!"

Whoever the girl was that shouted it, she was pointing in Makoto's direction, not making the same accusation towards the others. Makoto quickly attempted to defend himself.

"What, no, I was just... trying to introduce myself to everyone..."

It was at that point that the pair that were talking headed over, their attention caught by the shouting from the much shorter girl. One of them, dressed as a maid, ran over, while the other, the one Makoto assumed was the fashionista, took her time in joining them.

"I heard shouting from over here, did anyone need my assistance?" She spoke upon arrival to the group.

"Yeah!" The girl who shouted responded before Makoto could offer any response, "I caught this perv spying on you, I bet he was doing the same to others!"

"Erm..." Sayaka attempted to interrupt, "He wasn't spying on anyone, we were just having a conversation."

"You shouldn't be so quick to jumping to conclusions."

The girl didn't seem convinced, or at least was being defiant about it.

"Well, he's got a shady look to him, so you better keep an eye on him."

The maid gave a bow to them, "If there is any issue, I will do what I can to assist. That is the job of a maid. My apologies, I'm the Ultimate Maid, Kirumi Tojo."

Sayaka leaned over to Makoto and Mahiru, adding, "I heard she got that reputation for being able to complete any request given to her."

"That does not mean, however," Kirumi responded, "that I will do anything that is asked of me. Still, I am here to serve, and as long as the request is reasonable, I shall do everything in my power."

"And I'm Junko Enoshima! Charmed, I'm sure!"

Junko finally caught up to everyone before flashing a smile and giving everyone a wave. It definitely seemed to Makoto like she was posing for a picture, though Mahiru had put her camera down when they were interrupted.

"What about you," Makoto turned to the one who interrupted them, "You're the only one left that hasn't introduced themselves."

"Ugh, fine!" She retorted, "but this doesn't change anything, you're still sketchy, and a total wuss! I'm Hiyoko Saionji, Ultimate Traditional dancer!"

Before Makoto could make any attempt to decipher what exactly Hiyoko had against him, a voice, seemingly coming out of a speaker, surrounded them all.

"Attention, this is you headmaster speaking! Everyone make their way towards the gymnasium for a special announcement!"

11:49am, Outside School Shop

Kii-bo spent some time looking around the outside. It was told to him that people often appreciated the sun. While he had no understanding of such things, it at least gave him some idea of where to look, and the weather was what his creator would call 'pleasant'. As he looked around, he noticed a small shop in the distance, a number a chairs and tables set outside it, an umbrella providing shade to the figure sitting underneath it. Dressed in elegant dark clothing, her hair showcasing two long drill pigtails on either side. She tapped her foot against the ground, looking into the distance, before noticing Kii-bo's approach. She smiled as he approached, pausing in her tapping as she greeted him.

"Greetings, I don't believe we have been introduced, you look rather curious, if I may say so."

A second passed before Kii-bo replied, "Ah yes, as you can probably tell, I am a robot. Kii-bo, the Ultimate Robot, to be precise."

"That would explain it. I am Celestia Ludenburg, the Ultimate Gambler, but I'd like it if you called me Celeste."

"Oh, alright then, Celeste."

It was relieving to see someone acting normally, Kiibo thought to himself, some of the others were... eccentric to say the least. His thought process was interrupted by a round male carrying a tray in a hurry approaching from the area Celestia was looking towards. He placed the tray on the table.

"Your tea, Milady," he said with a bow, before noting the robot next to her, "Oh, a robot? Hmm... a robot in the school among normal students? I'm getting inspiration as we speak!"

"Erm...," Kiibo interrupted, "Can I ask you for your name?"

"I am Hifumi Yamada, Ultimate Fanfic Creator and appreciator of the 2D arts!"

"You're a student, but you’re serving another?"

"I'm not the only one," Hifumi gestures to another table, where an athletic girl was being served food by a shorter guy wearing a chef’s hat. Kiibo could probably guess his talent.

Suddenly, Celestia tosses the cup her tea was served in aside, startling Hifumi.

"W- what was that about, was it not to your liking?"

Celestia sighed, "For milk tea to be made properly, milk needs to be included in the brewing, not after."

Getting up, she continued, "Learn to do it better next time. My patience is thin, perhaps the maid I saw earlier can do a better job."

She left with Hifumi following after, leaving Kiibo on his own.

"She's got him wrapped around her finger, to take control so easily, I bet there's a lot she'll do to you, given half the chance..."

The chef had decided to join in with Kii-bo, before adding "please, join us if you'd like, I could cook something for you too. Oh, where are my manners. Teruteru Hanamura, they call me the Ultimate Cook, but I'd prefer it if you called me the Ultimate chef."

"Hello, I'm K1-B0," Kiibo replies, "Unfortunately, seeing as I'm a robot, I am unable to eat."

"Ah, that is unfortunate, well, all the more for my companion here, I've never seen someone get so much pleasure from my cooking before."

Pausing briefly, she glanced over to Kiibo.

"That's 'cos this food kicks ass! Shame you can't eat it. I'm Akane Owari, Ultimate Gymnast. Sorry if I forget your name, I can't remember them well. Well, apart from Teruteru... can't forget someone who cooks so good!"

Kiibo was left wishing that he had the ability to taste as well, and thinking about what else he could be missing out on. As he was thinking, two other students approached the trio, seemingly intent of exploring the grounds themselves.

"Excuse me, you three haven't found anything while your here by any chance?"

The source of the question seemed to be hiding some of his features under his hat. The girl beside him was not hiding at all.

"I haven't found anything of note."

Kiibo said, "Were you looking for something?"

"I noticed that this place doesn't seem to have any exits of any kind, every way we go just leads to a wall. I tried investigating, but it's come up short so far."

"No worries! I'm sure we'll find a way soon enough, even if it is a mystery... anyway, are you Ultimates as well?"

"That's right," Kiibo nodded, "K1-BO, Ultimate Robot, but please call me Kiibo."

"A robot, that's... unexpected, to say the least, I didn't know technology in robotics had come that far. I'm Shuichi Saihara. They call me the Ultimate Detective, though I'm only new to it."

"Nice to meet you Kiibo! In Kaede Akamatsu, the Ultimate Pianist."

"It is strange though," Shuichi mused, "None of us have any memory of how we ended up here, and there's no one else to give us any idea. What bought us here?"

As if on cue, the announcement played over the school, giving some hint to them.

"Attention, this is you headmaster speaking! Everyone make their way towards the gymnasium for a special announcement!"

"Well, that might help us," said Kiibo, "Shall we be on our way?"

11:52am, Gymnasium

Having managed to break free from Kazuichi, Sonia found herself checking out who remained to speak to. The gymnasium wasn't packed, but still had a few new faces around. Two girls were training together, mostly doing warm up exercises, while two boys were standing in the side lines. Seeing that the girls were occupied, she focused her attention on the boys first.

"Like, I'm not interested in carrying it on any further, I'm gonna use my time to become a singer instead. Bet there's loads of people here with music talents to practice with. And it's bound to make me a hit with the girls," boasted one of the boys, a spiky red-haired student. The other, one of the few students she saw dressed like a normal student, was a little perplexed in response.

"If you say so," he spoke softly, taking his time with his words, "but wasn't it what got your here in the first place? Changing talents can't be easy."

"It's a new version of me! You can forget about the old me!"

"Pardon me," Sonia interrupted, "Do you have a moment to make introductions?"

"Oh, of course," came the reply, "I'm Hajime Hinayana, please to meet you."

"Yo, the names Leon Kuwata. What's up?" The red haired boy followed up with his own introduction.

"And I'm Sonia Nevermind, could I ask what your talents are, out of curiosity?"

"Oh, well," Hajime stuttered a little, "Leon's the Ultimate Baseball Star, even if he wants to do other things."

Leon scowled a little, and went to protest, but Hajime carried on, "As for me, well, to be honest, I can't remember what my talent is..."

"You can't remember?" Sonia asked, "Do you have amnesia?"

"I don't know, I can remember everything else, I think. It's just anything related to my talent that I have no idea about. Maybe I'll find out what it is after being here longer... however we ended up here."

"Indeed, that is the bigger mystery..."

As Sonia spoke, she saw the two girls making their way from the centre towards the trio. Both of them took a drink out of a water bottle before speaking.

"Phew! That's the best, nothing like a nice break after exercise!"

"Yes, I must say, I don't know many who can keep up half as well as you do. I'd like to train with you more, if that's alright with you?"

"Sure, lets train again sometime!"

As they arrived, the noticed the others and made their own introductions, saving Sonia from needing to ask.

"Heya! I'm Aoi Asahina, but you can call me Hina! I'm the Ultimate Swimming Pro!"

"I am Sakura Ogami. The Ultimates Martial Artist."

Sakura looked over the trio as she spoke, as if analysing them.

"Hmm... not to best training partners... I suppose you two have talents outside of physical fitness?"

Hajime simply nodded as Sonia agreed, "That's right, is it that obvious?"

"It is when you've trained long enough to see what effect it has. Unfortunately, you two wouldn't make for good training partners. Him, on the other hand...," she gestures towards Leon, "He has potential, but has let it slack too much."

"Who cares about all that?" Leon protested, "I've got my own stuff to work on, stuff I don't need to work out for, it's not like I put much in my baseball anyway."

"I see," Sakura concluded, "It would be futile to try to change your mind. Shall we be going, Hina?

At that point, the Announcement played across the gymnasium.

"Attention, this is you headmaster speaking! Everyone make their way towards the gymnasium for a special announcement!"

"Hmph, looks like we'll have to stay here for a little longer."

Chapter Text

12:14pm, Gymnasium

The Gymnasium was slowly being filled with the student of the Academy but, as they were still unfamiliar with this place, and they were scattered all over the place, many had not yet reached the Gymnasium for the announcement. As Byakuya looked around, he noticed that whoever had given the announcement also seemed to be missing.

“How rude…,” he muttered to himself, not concerned with trying to make pleasantries with the other students, “you’d think that at least the person who told us all to come here would make an appearance. This is a waste of time. Between this and having to deal with that ridiculous imposter posing as me… he could at least lose some weight if he’s going to attempt such a pathetic disguise…”

Not to mention the fact that the Imposter was perfectly willing to associate with the others, something that the real deal wouldn’t stoop so low to do. For the time being, he looked to assess what he knew about the current situation. He knew that this group composed of students of similar age, all of which were Ultimates in their chosen field, save for one who was apparently accepted into Hope’s Peak based on a lottery. If he had known that such a thing happened, he would’ve been less likely to accept the position. After all, he only accepted due to the possibility of winding worthwhile partners in business, nothing someone would be by sheer luck. Coupled with talents like Idol, Artist and the array of sporting talents, he was getting irate. Time was being wasted in his opinion as the rabble made their way into the Gymnasium. He had done a head count and, with the newest entrants, about forty-four in total were present, including himself. Two more came in, the students known as Chihiro and Chiaki, though Byakuya hadn’t made any attempt to talk to either of them. He could only observe the pair, noticing a gaming console in Chiakis’ hand allowed him to work out her talent without needing to ask, not something that he had any interest in, but Chihiro was a mystery to him for now. Perhaps when whoever summoned them here was ready to begin.

As each second past, him tapping his foot rhythmically on the floor as his patience grew even thinner still. He took a seat as another student made their way in, looking every bit as agitated as Byakuya felt. Fuyuhiko, upon entry looked over the group, as if looking at someone, before walking elsewhere. Odd behaviour, he thought, before paying it no further mind.

The final student to arrive was Yasuhiro Hagakure, an untidy figure who had little regard for the idea of getting here on time. Byakuya looked at him in surprise, contemplating whether Hope’s Peak considered ‘Ultimate Stoner’ to be a talent. To his dismay, this guy walked up to him.

“Yo dude, was it here that we were told to arrive.”

“A small sigh escaped Byakuyas’ lips, “Obviously, or we wouldn’t all have gathered here.”

Another announcement could be heard from one end of the gym, relieving Byakuya from having to listen to anything else he had to sat.

“Hey there, howdy, hello! Is everyone here? Let’s see, one, two, three…”

Was the person doing this deliberately to annoy him? He couldn’t tell, the voice was being spoken through a microphone and the owner had still not introduced themselves yet.”

 “Forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight! Good! Then let's get things rolling!”

It was at that point that a small black and white bear appeared from a makeshift stage in the back of the gymnasium, jumping on the top before giving a little bow to everyone. The students occupying the gym appeared to be as dumbfounded as Byakuya was.

“A teddy bear, really?” Hajime commented as the bear looked, assuming it could see, at everyone.

“I am not a teddy bear! I’m Monokuma, the school’s headmaster!” came the bears reply.

“Gonta’s confused, isn’t the headmaster… a person? Monokuma… look like teddy bear.”

“Do not trouble yourself over it, Gonta,” Kirumi added, “I am sure the headmaster simply elected to use this bear to add something to the introductions. Why he did this, however, I cannot be certain.”

“Stop fuckin’ with us!” Fuyuhiko shouted over the others, “enough games, the real headmaster better show himself now.

“I’m not some toy to be used by anyone! When I say I’m the headmaster, I mean it! Now, all of you listen up, I have some announcements to make! So, bear with me, and I’ll make it quick.”

“Do you have a point to make, whoever you are,” Byakuya said, “Or are you just here to make pathetic puns.”

“I was just getting to that! Sheesh, so impatient these days, you youths,” Monokuma said with annoyance, “You’d think you could just settle down for a minute and enjoy a good quality joke to start off proceedings. I don’t know why I bother, when no-one appreciates it. Really, of all the…”

“Get to the point already! Mondo shouted across the gymnasium, “No one gives a shit!”

This did what was intended, as Monokuma stopped before continuing, “Alright, alright! Jeez, is this how you’d always treat your headmaster. Fine, well then, where’s my notes… oh here they are. Ahem!  Let us commence with a most noteworthy and memorable entrance ceremony! First, let's talk a bit about what your school life here will be like. You few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world. And with that, we of course made the decision that you will start a new life here, within the confines of this place, letting your talent grow as you enjoy your stay here! Now there will be some rules to follow, of course, but we’ll deal with all of that later. Also, some of the facilities aren’t ready yet. Don’t worry, they’ll be up and running soon enough, and there’s plenty of room for you all until then!”

Monokuma made a noise as if clearing his throat, if he even needed to do that before continuing, “Now, you might want to know how long this is going to last…. Well, it’s permanent! You guys will all stay here for the rest of your life! Don’t worry, we have all the resources to keep you alive in here!”

“Ah, heh, very funny…,” Hagakure laughed nervously in response, “Nice little introduction prank you have here…”

“It’s not a prank!” Monukuma rebutted, “Did you see any exits when you were looking around?”

Silence fell on the group, broken shortly afterwards by Makoto, “Ah, no, everywhere seemed to be closed off, and heavily barred as well.”

Monokuma laughed “Puhuhu! That’s right! As you can see, I’m 100% serious about all that I say! You’re all completely cut off from the outside world, so you don’t have to worry about anything out there. Enjoy your new life! From now, until the day you die!”

“U-until we die?” Hifumi stuttered, “But that’s ridiculous!”

“People from outside will come to find us even if that happened!” Kaede added, “So it wouldn’t be forever!”

“They can try, but they won’t succeed!” Monokuma explained, laughing as he did. “You doubt me know, I knew that was coming, but you’ll all see the truth sooner or later. You’re all stuck here with no way of getting out…”

The student all started murmuring to themselves, before Monokuma’s voice broke through the dull noise.

“Well, that’s not exactly true. There is one way out of here…”

“Well, spit it out!” Byakuya snapped impatiently, getting more annoyed by the second.

“You see, living in here requires everyone to live here in harmony, correct? Like one big happy family? Well, if someone doesn’t follow that, well, they wouldn’t be able to stay in here. So I added a little thing called the graduation clause for anyone who disrupts the harmony enough”

“And what would count as disrupting the harmony?” Celeste interrupted, stepping forth just a little, “For you to go through all this, and the fact that most, if not all of us don’t agree with your arrangement, you can expect us all to do so pretty quickly!”

“Feel free to do so, if you’re up to it! You see, the only way for you to get out of here…. Is to kill someone. That would count as disrupting the harmony.”

“K-kill?” Ishimaru froze in place, starring at the bear in disbelief of his words.

“You heard it!” the bear confirmed, “Use any method you want, stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, poisoning, the possibilities are endless!”

“The bear speaks nought but deceit!” Gundham proclaimed, the hamsters posing in his shoulders, “Cease with the nonsense immediately!”

“Just let us go already!” Hifumi yelled in a vain attempt to get a response. Byakuya scoffed at the notion, if the owner of this bear was serious, then something like that wasn’t going to stop them.

“Let you go? Nonsense? You’re the ones who do nothing but blabber on. You want to be let go? Well, do what I told you and you can go! If not, then you’ll have to suck it up. Like it or not, this place is your home now, and you better get used to it. If you think staying here is not worth it, you know what you need to do! Now get out there and…”

Monokuma’s speech was interrupted by a projectile flying towards him at full speed, before slamming straight into his head. Not stopping there, it went straight through, sending wires everywhere as the projectile fell to the ground and came to a stop, revealing it to be a tennis ball.

“I thought he’d never shut up,” Ryoma quipped, putting down a tennis racquet. There must’ve been some around here, Byakuya though to himself. He could at least agree with this guy on one thing. The peace was soon broken though, as the animatronic bear started beeping.

“Fuck, it’s gonna blow!” Miu shouted as the masses cowered from the bear, which, true to the inventors shouting, did explode, though fortunately no one was near enough to be hurt by it. Once that had finished, the voice of Monokuma appeared behind Ryoma.

“Violence against the headmaster is in violation of school regulations! Consider yourself lucky, I'll let you off with a warning this time, but you'd better be careful from now on. Any naughty boy or girl who violates my rules won't get off with just a little swat on the butt. Anyone who breaks one of my rules with be swiftly dealt with. Next time, the explosion will happen much closer to you. And I have more spares than you can deal with, along with some helpers, so don’t try anything. And I have helpers and security cameras everywhere. If you break a rule, I’ll know! Speaking of the rules, you’ll need to know what they are! Well, I have a handbook for each of you detailing what these rules are, so look at them at your own leisure and make sure you don’t break any of them, the results won’t be pretty.”

As Monukuma spoke, he gestured to the stage where he once stood. At some point, enough handbooks for everyone had made an appearance. Slowly, the students gathered to collect the handbooks, which turned out to be electronic devices. The devices were easy enough to operate, and Byakuya found the rules easy enough to find.

Rule #1: Students may reside only within the school grounds. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time.

Rule #2: "Night-time" is from 10 pm to 7 am. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.

Rule #3: With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope's Peak Academy at your discretion.

Rule #4: Violence against headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.

Rule #5: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered.

Rule #6: Lending your e-Handbook to another student is strictly prohibited, as is intentional damage of a handbook.

Rule #7: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students.

Rule #8: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be executed.

Rule #9: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be executed.

Rule #10: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of three people during any single "Killing Game."

Rule #11: You are free to investigate this campus at your own discretion. Your actions in this regard are not limited, except if doing so would break another rule.

Rule #12: Masterminding a murder does not count you as a guilty party, but it is not against any rules to do so.

Rule #13: Monokuma will never directly commit a murder. He also cannot manipulate evidence.

Rule #14: The "Body Discovery Announcement" will play when three or more students discover a body.

Rule #15: Further, there may be new additions to the school rules according to the convenience of the headmaster.

Byakuya switched the handbook off once he had finished reading. The suspicion was that the last rule was in place as a just in case measure, to deal with any potential ways of getting out of here. The murmurings of the crowd indicated that he wasn’t the only one to think of that idea. AT least there were some in here with common sense, he thought to himself. While others were either shouting to be let free or even still denying that anything was happening at all.

“Everyone read it? Good!” Monokuma didn’t bother to wait for a response, “Then there’s no excuse for anyone breaking the rules! This handbook is absolutely vital to a healthy school life, so don't lose it! When you start it up, it will display your name. Always make sure you have the right one! As stated in the rules, don’t go intentionally damaging them! I’ll be the judge of whether or not it was intentional. Don’t worry though, these things are near indestructible, as well as waterproof, so accidental damage shouldn’t happen! Well then, that wraps up everything, pretty much. Oh, I have some helpers in the first area, but they’ll introduce themselves when they finished getting everything ready. That reminds me, at 2pm, another area will be open, giving you more places to explore, and for four lucky students, a place to hone your talents! Please enjoy your time here, I’ll see ya later!”

Monokuma promptly jumped off the stage, gone before anyone could find out where he was heading, leaving the students in a state of shock, in some cases denial and in others, panic.

“Well…” Mahiru broke the silence, “What can we do from here? No ones going to take up the offer… right?”

“I am!” came Kokichi’s response, accompanied by his snickering, “Get real, who’s going to admit to something like that. That’ll ruin the whole game!”

“You think this is a game!” Mondo yelled, “The fuck you talkin’ about!”

“It does play a little like a game,” Byakuya interfered, “One where the goal is to win by managing to deceive everyone else, by being deceitful and knowing how to survive. A deadly killing game, but a simple game nonetheless.”

He of course, wouldn’t say his other thought of the game. No point playing with an open hand.

Kyoko nodded solemnly before adding, “It leaves us in a difficult position, in a group of new people, who have no idea who we can trust. Anyone could be planning to partake in this game, and no one knows what anyone is capable of. Though with the rules as written, it would be apparent that no one can get out simply by taking out everyone involved. The three-person limit puts a stop to that.

“It leaves a lot of questions,” Kirumi’s voice, soft, but still hearable, added her opinion, “not only the question of why they’d put in in such a situation. What could anyone hope to gain from it.”

“A hostage situation perhaps?” The suggestion came from Celestia, “as Ultimate’s, we could be seen as being of value.”

Korekiyo countered the suggestion with, “If that were true, why would our captors encourage us to kill each other? If we do that, we won’t be of value to anyone.”

“Why’re we even talking about this, it’s clear that whoever did this is just all kinds of fucked up!” Fuyuhiko interrupted.

“That could also be the case. We don’t know for sure that there even is a plan at the moment… but remember,” Byakuya concluded, “That a set u like this would take a lot of money to set up, especially if you’re concealing the location. A standard lunatic would never be able t pull something like this off.”

“W-which would make them all the more dangerous, right?” Mikan was hiding off to one side, but was still listening to the conversation and picked this moment to speak up.

“The only thing we can do is see if there’s any clues either here or in the next area,” Shuichi suggested, “It could give us an idea of where we are, or even a potential escape, at least until we have a better idea.”

“I agree with Shuichi!” Kaede added, smiling, “We can report out findings afterwards, if we all scan through the place!”

“We better go in groups though…” Sakura added, “so no one gets tempted to pick someone off at the first opportunity.”

“Do as you like,” Byakuya scoffed, “But I’m not waiting for someone else to decide what we should do. I’ll be going alone.”

“Do you, like, have a death wish or something,” Junko asked, “That’s just, making yourself a target.”

“Someone planning something could easily target someone close. I have no intention of making things east for them. If you’re simple enough not to realise that, you won’t last long at all.”

“What’s your fucking problem?” Mondo stepped forward, fist clenched, in Byakuyas’ direction, “Like we’re gonna let you go off on your own and plan shit!”

“Violence isn’t the answer!” Ishimaru protested, “but he has a point, you could plan anything on your own.

“Your just scared of getting into a fight and standing up to yourself! He should be put in his place before he starts something.”

“Get out of my way, you lack the significance to even come close to deciding what I do. I have every intention of surviving this, and I won’t let your stupidity stop it.” Byakuya made to leave, but Mondo was still in the way.

“You wanna say that again, I’ll kick your ass!”

“If you didn’t understand it the first time, there is no point in me repeating myself…”

“Alright, that does it!” Mondo aimed to get closer, but Kirumi got between them, “Move, I don’t want to hit a girl, but this guy’s pissing me off.”

“Forgive me, but this is hardly the time, besides, no one can get far at the moment, we only have a small area until the second area opens. In the meantime, I suggest we break for lunch. I will be checking our supplies and can prepare anything that is requested of me.”

“Hey, don’t forget me!” Teruteru added, “if we’re stopping for lunch, don’t forget you have the Ultimate Chef at your service. Though I wouldn’t mind getting to know our maid here a little better…”

“I can assist wherever possible. Within reason, of course.” Whether Kirumi had encountered Teruteru before, Byakuya didn’t know, but there seemed to be a warning in her words at the end. It wasn’t important to him though, as he used the opportunity of everyone agreeing to lunch plans to slip away for now.

He knew that such a thing would probably be short lived, but it was a time for him to gather his thoughts and make sure that he had the rules completely memorised. There was much that was unclear, but from first impressions, he wasn’t impressed by anyone he spoke to. It was sill early, but he didn’t see anyone as much of a threat, though he’d need to learn everyone’s talent to make sure. It was unknown who’d put them there, but to Byakuya only one thing was important.

They were in a game, and he had no intention of losing.

Chapter Text

1:05pm Canteen

Attempting to organise lunch for forty-eight students was a task that, as the Ultimate Maid, Kirumi felt at home with accomplishing, especially with Teruterus’ help. However, these were far from ideal circumstances and a few obstacles quickly became apparent.

Firstly, there was the issue caused by the start of this ‘killing game’. Everyone was proceeding with caution, and some were even insisting on preparing for themselves. This initially resulted in the kitchen becoming incredibly cluttered, to the point that everyone was getting frustrated. It had taken some time to get everything sorted out, but eventually they came to the agreement that as long as some of the students were keeping an eye on the catering, it was unlikely that anyone would attempt to tamper with them in any way. Teruteru didn’t help matters by joking about the use of ‘special aphrodisiacs’. At least, Kirumi hoped he was joking. 

The second was a more practical problem, though an easily solved one. With so many unfamiliar students, they needed to organise everyone so they could take note of the various dietary requirements and preferences of everyone involved. Kirumi took charge of this while Teruteru was setting up, moving through the aisles with speed and efficiency. She didn’t spot everyone, missing the real Byakuya, though she still was unaware of that fact, but most of the group was here, discussing their plans and forming groups for the exploration to take place later. She made a mental note to join one of them in due course, but for the moment, she was too busy to engage.

Reaching Teruteru, she began to relay her information, “I have acquired all the information necessary, which I shall write up at the earliest convenience. For now, I have made notes for us and I’ll go over them with you. Gonta and Chihiro are both vegetarians, and Gundham is vegan… at least, that is apparently what he was trying to say, I’m afraid I have yet to master his speech patterns. Fuyuhiko is lactose intolerant, and…”

Kirumi continued to give the list of every student at the preferences. Teruteru nodded as be began preparing a variety of different ingredients to make something for everyone. Kirumi noted just how quick he worked, as well as the fact that he seemed much more focused than before. Rather than keeping up with his usual commentary, he was focused entirely of his work. It was his talent, after all, and there was much to prepare, even with Kirumi’s help. Teruteru’s efficiency, as well as his insistence on handling certain parts of the meal himself, left her to move between helping and listening to the others plan for the opening of the new area. Some of them had formed groups of their own already, which puzzled her. Everyone was on edge with the announcement of the game, yet some of them showed no issue with trusting anyone at this point. She could’ve understood after a while getting to know each other, but this was too early for her.

Or perhaps for some it was just the idea of sticking together being better than being alone. There wasn’t anywhere, with the possible exception of the bedrooms, that could be considered safe in any way. Leaving the thought aside for a moment, she took in the conversations that were taking place between the students. Shuichi and Kaede were engaged in conversation, others being present but not talking.

“Do you think there could be a way out in this new area? I know they don’t want us to escape but…” Kaede showed some hope despite everything.

“Even if it doesn’t, there might be a clue telling who put us here, or why. It’s worth a look, at least.”

“You’re right! If we all work together, we can get ourselves out in no time! Maybe someone else here can help with that. Do you have any ideas?”

“Actually, I have one, when looking around, I realised that the handbooks have a section with profiles of everyone here. After skimming through them, I discovered the presence of someone by the name of Kyoko Kirigiri. If I remember correctly, she Is part of a line of great detectives. If she has more experience than me, I’m sure she will be an asset to getting us out of here.”

“That’s right! But don’t sell yourself short! You still have the talent as well, whatever you think of it!”

“Thanks, but it’s not important now. All that matters is getting is out of here.”

“And what makes you think this area will get us out?”  A voice interrupted the pair, belonging to Celestia, “It would be a poorly thought-out game if a way out were to present itself that early. Indeed, if you aren’t willing to kill to get out of here, I’m afraid we’re going to have to get used to life here.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t find a clue there!” Kaede protested, with Shuichi adding his own query.

“Does that mean you won’t be joining the exploration?”

“I will still be there, as I wish to see what facilities await us. Who knows, perhaps it will make living here reasonable enough that most of us won’t even care about trying to escape. After all, our host seems intent on keeping us alive, at the very least, even if the living conditions have much room for improvement.”

Kirumi left them to their conversation, having what she suspected confirmed. There was little unity among them, even if they weren’t at each other’s throats. This was going to be a difficult start to say the least. She would, of course, investigate it herself, her other duties allowing. For now, she would return to assisting Teruteru, who was deep in concentration.

“Do you require any assistance at present?”

“Ah, Kirumi, so wonderful of you to grace me with your presence once again. Indeed, I feel there is something that you can assist me with. Though that will have to wait, it is neither the time or the place, it would… make a mess of the kitchen…”

“I feel I may need to explain to you that my service has its limits. I meant in regard to the cooking.”

“Aha, just a little joke of mine…,” when Kirumi didn’t show any amusement, he continued, “Well, for now, making sure the ingredients are prepared. As for what to do first, I was thinking…”

1:59pm School Main Campus South Exit

By the time that the gates to the next area were scheduled to be opened, the majority of the students were waiting patiently by the gate. Some were chatting amicably among themselves, others were silently waiting, while some were simply looking disinterested in anything, merely here to join in with the others, or seeking the safety that comes with being part of a larger group. Kyoko had left herself to watching the clock, learning that the handbooks also has a clock among their many functions, instead of conversing with the others. Some were too eager to give out information to complete strangers. She had even chosen to hide her talent for now, even though that had proved to be a futile effort. In her mind, revealing it would end up putting a target on her head. Though with another student with the same talent, it was unlikely to draw attention to her.

At least she thought it wouldn’t, but she had attracted the attention of one of the other students. Kokichi Ouma, the Ultimate Supreme leader. Not a talent she could completely understand, the handbooks didn’t go into the specifics.

“Nehehe,” he laughed to himself after trying to sneak up on her. She’d noticed, but hadn’t said anything, “You kept your talent hidden, but know we know! You wouldn’t be hiding something from us, would you? You should know that I absolutely despise liars!”

“That is none of your concern,” she snapped, “it is only natural to not divulge every bit of information to complete strangers.”

“You don’t trust us, Shuichi does! He must be the better detective; he knows how you get peoples’ trust. You’re being really suspicious, with all your hiding, and the fact your talent is the same as his. Or is that just a lie?”

“Believe what you want to, it makes little difference. But I have no way of editing the handbooks.”
“Unless you were the mastermind, then you could lie about your talent and have the handbook display a lie!”

“That may be true, but couldn’t Shuichi or someone else do the same thing?”

“But he’s not a liar like you?”

Kyoko didn’t any further comment, as she suspected he was only trying to irritate. Besides, she had seen the clock tick over and the gate began to open.

As the gate opened, a new area presented itself to the group. A vast area, consisting mostly of grassland, with several buildings accompanying it, the largest of which was accompanied by a large sports court. It didn’t look particularly out of place for school grounds, which did leave her wondering about future areas. How large could this campus get?

“That’s everything!” Came the voice of Monokuma, played by a speaker, “Say hello to the kubs for me!”

“I have no idea what he means” Mahiru sighed in response, glancing at the others, “Shall we begin our search?”

2:10pm Sports Hall

“Now this is more like it!”

Nekomaru had stopped upon entering the first building that he found. With the sport court waiting outside, it was no surprise that this was l large sports hall, filled with equipment for any sport he could think of. From the obvious to the obscure, there was equipment for any sport he could think of. Already he had plans formulating in his head to get the others involved in this. The situation may be far from ideal for him, but he would make the most out of this, and there were sporting ultimates here as well. He quickly rushed to the equipment to examine it all, plans already formulating in his head to work with the other students. If there was so much in here, he had to wonder what the other areas. Others, however, did not share his enthusiasm.

“Could you keep it down? There’s no need to shout about everything!” Mahiru followed behind, one hand on her head as she tried to keep her distance from him.

Leon followed in as well, clearly less impressed by the display, “Yeah, man. It’s just a bunch of sports equipment. Nothing to get excited about.”

“Nothing to get excited about? Aren’t you the Ultimate Baseball Star?” Nekomaru turned towards Leon as he said that.

“Yeah, but I don’t do that shit anymore. I’m better off doing other things.”

“But you were scouted for your baseball, right? Wouldn’t joining Hope’s Peak mean you’d have to continue naturing your talent?”

“I didn’t ask for any of that! It just happened. Besides, playing baseball had so many regulations that I had to follow. I don’t care about all that, I just want to do my own thing, you know?”

“Sounds like you want to shirk any responsibility,” Mahiru added, “You’ve got to put hard work into whatever you do, right?”

“Get off my case! This isn’t a sporting school anyway! It’s just for talent, and I’ve got a new talent to start!”

Mahiru glanced at Leon before adding, “You’re trying to swap your talent for another on a whim?”

“It’s not as stupid as you’re making it sound! I’ll be the Ultimate Rock Star before you know it! I’ve even got the look going already!”

“Looks aside, have you been playing an instrument for long?”

“Well, no, but I can practise, it’ll happen soon enough…”

“Sounds like you’re goofing off to me.”

“No one asked, just get off my case with the baseball, alright?”

“Not happening,” Nekomaru replied, getting closer to Leon, “My talent involves bringing out the best in everyone, and that means making sure that people like you don’t put them to waste!”

Leon started to back away defensively, “Hey, chill, man, it’s not like there are baseball players here to practice against.”

“I’ll find a way to keep up with your training! You’re not going to laze around on my watch.”

“Oh yeah, just try to make me work”

“Guys, calm down a bit, you’re being way too loud

“EVERYONE-GET-ALONG.”

The trio was interrupted by an unknown, robotic sounding voice. Neither Kii-bo’s or Monokuma’s voice sounded anything like this to them, so it drew their immediate attention.

“And who are you?” Mahiru was the first to ask, “are you one of the… kubs mentioned earlier?”

“THAT-IS-CORRECT. I-AM-MONODAM-AND-I-AM-ONE-OF-THE-MONOKUBS. I-AM-HERE-TO-MAKE-SURE-EVERYONE-GETS-ALONG.”

“But… we’re in a game where we’re supposed to kill each other, why would you want us to get along?” Mahiru asked.

“KILLING-IS-FATHERS’-IDEA-NOT-MINE. IF-EVERYONE-DOESN’T-GET-ALONG-KILLING-WOULD-RESTORE-THE-BALANCE.”

“We’re no killing anyone,” Leon protested, “we just disagree of something, that’s not enough to kill each other over, right?”

Nekomaru laughed. “Of course! But don’t think I’ve forgotten about it! We will come back to this!”

“Maybe you should focus on that later, we are meant to be finding out anything we can about this place.” Mahiru reminded the others, “Monodam, you said your name was?  Can you tell us more about the area? Are there others?”

“INDEED. BUT-THEY-ARE-NOT-READY-YET. IT-WILL-BE-A-WHILE-FOR-THE-OTHERS-TO-BE-READY. WE-APOLOGISE-FOR-THE-INCONVENIENCE. MORE-WILL-COME-LATER. PLEASE-BE-PATIENT-UNTIL-THEN.”

“I’m assuming you can’t tell us the way out of here?” Mahiru responded.

“ONLY-WAY-IS-TO-PLAY-FATHER’S-GAME. BUT-THAT-WILL-BREAK-THE-HARMONY-OF-THE-SCHOOL.”

“You call this harmony?” Leon asked, gesturing wildly, “Locking us awayin a school where we can’t get out without killing each other. Yeah, perfect harmony we’re in here. We might as well go; this robot isn’t going to say anything useful.”

Leon stormed out of the room, leaving Mahiru and Nekomaru behind. Nekomaru considered following him, but decided it was a wasted effort and stayed behind.

“SORRY-I-CAN’T-BE’ANY-MORE-HELP.BUT-I-WILL-MAKE-SURE-THAT-EVERYONE-CAN-GET-ALONG.”

“You’ll have a tough time doing that,” Mahiru said, in a much softer tone than before, “being stuck in here is making everyone’s emotions run higher than usual, and the threat of death makes it hard to trust each other.”

“IS-THAT-TRUE? NO-MATTER. WE-WILL-FIND-A-WAY. WE-WILL-ALL-GET-ALONG. NO-ONE-WILL-STOP-US-FROM-GETTING-ALONG. EXCUSE-ME-I-NEED-TO-THINK-ABOUT-WHAT-YOU-HAVE-SAID.”

Monodam left before either of them could say anything else, leaving them to question what happened.

“DO you think that thing was really unaware that we can’t get along like this?”

Nekomaru shrugged in response. “No idea. You’d have to be mad not to see the problem, but a sane person wouldn’t lock us in this game in the first place. So whoever made that thing won’t be thinking rationally.

“That makes sense, in that case, might there be a weakness here. We should keep looking.”

“Couldn’t agree more!” Nekomaru shouted in approval.

“You could agree a little more quietly though…”

2:34pm Ultimate Tennis Players’ Lab

"Ultimate Tennis Player's Lab..."

 Ryoma stood outside the lab, seemingly reluctant to step inside, even after Kaito had excitedly opened the door and bound inside. It looked like despite the labs being built for one person, anyone could enter if they pleased. Also, since there weren't enough buildings, the labs must be being added one at a time.

"Yeah, come on!" Came the voice from inside, "This is an opportunity to take up your talent again!"

As Ryoma entered, he responded, "I've told you before, that part of me doesn't exist anymore."

"And I've told you before that's bullshit! I don't know what happened to bake you think that, but I'm not letting go that easily! Not when it's one of my heroes trying to give up without good reason."

"You wouldn't think that if you knew the truth..."

"Try me."

"I'll pass, no reason to go into all that. Besides, aren't we meant to be exploring the area?"

"Yeah, and that's exactly what we're doing? Who knows what we could find here, a clue can be anywhere! That's what the detective says so it must be true!"

In truth, Kaito seems more focused now he was in here, and clearly didn't want to leave. Ryoma stepped in to see what it was like. True to the large building, the lab with set up with multiple courts and even an electronic scoreboard that could be brought out with a switch. Racks filled with racquets adorned the walls and a basket full of tennis balls sat in the corner of the room.

"Why would there be a secret in a place like this?"

"Who knows, whoever's behind this probably isn't thinking straight, it could be in an odd place."

"Hmm, you still have a long way to go. Thinking outside the box is good, but only if you know what you're talking about. Besides, you're clearly thinking about something else, otherwise you wouldn't have a racquet in your hands.”

"You got me, come on, there's plenty of time, just one game won't hurt."

"You're not leaving in the middle of a mission, are you?" A voice cane from outside, before the source entered the room after them. She revealed herself to be Mukuro.

"Of course not, just having a little break, that's all." Kaito protested his innocence while Ryoma went to check for any hidden secrets on the room.

"You can go that after we've finished looking around. Still, it's strange that this place is still built to provide for our talents, maybe the person or group behind this seized something that was meant to genuinely help us."

"But they're not all here," Ryoma added, "There's not nearly enough room for nearly fifty labs to be placed here."

"True, but that bear hinted at there being other areas, so maybe they'll appear later on, and we can pursue our talents then," Mukuro reasoned, causing Ryoma to turn back to her.

"You mean those of us who remain in this game."

"Hey! Don't talk like that," Kaito interrupted, "None of us are gonna play that damn bears game."

"You sound pretty sure about that, but you don't know anyone here."

"Yeah, but killings a whole 'mother thing! None of us would be able to do that!"

"Why not try asking the soldier among us, just what it takes to drive someone to kill?"

Mukuro sighed, "Don't drag me into this, this is a completely different scenario."

Ryoma bossed before continuing, "All I'm saying is that you can't say people here can't kill if they're pushed strongly enough. You said you knew about me earlier Kaito, you must know what happened in that case?"

"You talking about Killer Tennis? That was ages ago."

"So was the last time I played, what's your point?”

"My point is that you should put that all behind you and find something fun again. You enjoyed tennis when you played, right? So do it again!"

"Times change, besides, that person doesn't exist anymore, I'm nothing more than a shell of what was once the Ultimate Tennis player. You should focus your efforts onto something else."

"But..."

"You might as well stop," Mukuro interrupted, "It's clear that he won't be swayed."

Before Kaito could give any other response, a voice carried across the room, attracting the attention of all three of them.

"These room were set up so you could all work on your Ultimate talents. Not using them would be a waste."

The voice revealed itself to be belonging to another robotic bear, red and white, his scarf glowing behind him as he approached the group.

"I don't care for all that. Besides, you're leader is trying to make us kill each other, why bother with developing our talents?" Ryoma rebutted.

"You're already giving up on it. Well, father would be happy, but what about if you take the opportunity and survive?"

"There's no chance of that happening, I have no reason to escape after all."

"Who are you anyway?" Kaito added.

"I'm one of the five Monokubs, Monotaro! I'm here to help out the students, as well as helping father run the school!"

"Father... by which you mean the bear that announced we were all in a killing game?" Mukuro came to the conclusion before addressing the bear in front of her.

"Yeah, that's right and there's five of us in total! I lead the group, but the others will help out as well!"

Ryoma stayed away, leaning against a wall while participating in the conversation, "What kind of help, you mean with our talents, or are you talking about participating in the killing game?"

"We don't interfere with any murder plans, that wouldn't be fair, but in day-to-day life, we can help, and answer any questions that you may have."

"Alright, then, who's the mastermind behind all of this?" Mukuro glared at Monotaro, waiting for an answer.

"There are exceptions to what we can answer, of course. Wouldn't want the game ending too quickly, and father would be very mad!"

"I see, well, I wasn't expecting you to give any useful information..."

With that, Mukuro turned around and left the building.

Ryoma nodded before adding, "I think she had the right idea, maybe it's time to report to the others what we've found."

"Alright," Kaito agreed, "But don't think I've forgotten, we will have a tennis game at some point."

"You're persistent, I'll give you that, just hope that you don't piss off the wrong person with that."

2:56pm Ultimate Breeders Lab

The ultimate Breeders Lab was a little more difficult to find than the others, mainly due to the number of trees surrounding it. It hasn't proven too difficult for the combination of Gonta and Gundham, with the gentleman's keen eyes managing to find the building hidden almost instantly. Following alongside them were Shuichi and Kaede, who had been caught in an attempt to find bugs, but they were mercifully distracted by the hidden building, which they all entered.

The area seemed more like an animal sanctuary then anything else, leading to a series of spacious room, all plenty for the residents to move around in, with the means for them to be let outside and traverse the school.

"Such an array of demonic beast lay here. It appears that this place is one for I, Gundham Tanaka, to work my foul arts!"

Kaede looked towards Gonta for an answer, which he was able to provide, "This place for Gundhams’ talent, had lots of animals for him to take care of."

"It is curious...," Shuichi started, "Gonta, you said that you can translate what the hamsters are saying, and they translate what Gundham's saying, right? How do you have such an ability when your talent is specific to entomology?"

A moment passed with Gonta seating himself next to the door of one of the rooms Gundham was exploring. Before he broke the silence, a small Shiba Inu bound outwards before joining him. Surprisingly, the dog seemed to be well behaved, just sitting next to Gonta as he spoke.

"Gonta always loved bugs, so even when little, would walk off on own to go searching for bugs, but Gonta ended up getting lost for a while..."

"When you say a while...," Kaede started, in between petting the dog, "How long were you lost for."

"Parents told Gonta when he return that it was about eight years."

"Eight years?" Shuichi lifted his head up, focus on Gonta, "How did you survive for that long?"

"Gonta got taken in by a new family while he was lost. This family was family of wolves," Gonta pauses, but noticed the others only showing stunned silence, "It took time, but Gonta learned how animals communicate in that time, so when come back, Gonta can still do it. That why Gonta can talk with Devas."

"That's...," Shuichi started. "Quite the story, though it would explain some things. If if weren't for you explaining it, I'm not sure I would've believed it."

"It true, Gentlemen wouldn't tell lies!"

Shuichi stepped back a little, Gonta's response having been louder than what he would've expected. Kaede looked up at that point, having been distracted by the dog up until that point. He couldn't help but note Gonta had moments of... what he'd probably call intensity. Even if he spoke about wanting to become a gentleman. Only time would tell if he was being genuine about that. "It's alright, I wasn't accusing you, I was surprised, that's all."

Kaede paused briefly, nodding in response as the dog looked up towards her, clearing wondering why she had stopped.

"I guess it makes sense that some of the Ultimate's ended up gaining their talents in different ways. I can't wait to hear what the others have to say!"

"That's assuming they're all as open as Gonta," Shuichi pointed out, "I suspect some will be guarded about themselves, given our situation."

"You mean, in case it can be used against them?" Kaede asked.

"That's right, even if we can trust each other, doesn't mean everyone will, and those who are trustworthy will need to prove it."

"But would people really kill just to get out of here?" Gonta was still listening to the conversation, dispirit not saying much, his attention shifting towards the animals.

"It depends," Shuichi added, "I have no intention to, but for the others, who knows, it depends on how desperate they are to get out, and how capable of being ruthless they are."

"...Gonta not want to believe anyone in here bad. Gonta met people here that seem nice. Like Shuichi and Kaede! And Gundham! He nice to all animals, including bugs!"

"Kindness to bugs is how you tell if someone's good or not..." Shuichi made a mental note to himself before something else came to mind, "Come to think of it, where is Gundham anyway. He's taking his time in there..."

It was at that moment when Gundham's voice carried over to where the trio was sitting, an exclamation of anger at something that was present in the room.

"Foul Creation! You do not belong here with my servants of the underworld. You are an envoy of that monstrosity that sealed us in this cursed place. Begone from here at once, or you shall invoke the wrath of my four dark devas of destruction!"

This was followed by something running away from the room as fast as it was apparently capable of. Another mechanical bear, not dissimilar to the precious, only this time with a pink and white colour scheme. Upon entering the arena, she took refuge behind Gonta, trying to avoid Gundhams' anger.

"How mean! That boy started yelling at me for no reason! I was only trying to help!"

While Gonta seemed content with letting this bear hide behind her, Shuichi was not so convinced.

"Aren't you in league with the one who trapped us here?"

"Yes, but I'm not as mean about it as the other Monokubs. Besides, we even made nice little labs for you to foster your talents in. Still, the loud one doesn't seem to be thankful for it."

"It's hard to be grateful when you're trying to make us kill each other," Kaede continued, "that is what you're after, I mean."

"It's true daddy wants that, but I think it's cruel. Thinking about all the blood and gore from killing someone... makes we wanna puke!"

While she makes a motion to demonstrate the fact, Shuichi stops her.

"Please don't, I'd rather you didn't, you'd mess up Gonta's suit for starters."

Gundham emerged from the room to continue his pursuit of the bear.

"There you one, cursed Ursa of steel, you're dark uttering spring have no place here!"

"Eep! I'll have to go now, see you bastards later, remember, I can help you with your talents."

With that, she quickly ran out of the room, with Gundham making sure she didn't come back in a hurry.

"...How many bears are in this place?" Gonta asked, checking around the room.

"Probably no more on here," the answer came from Shuichi, "But there's probably more elsewhere. We've found all we can here, I think. We can report back to the others, see what they've found."

As they turned to leave, Kaede checked the doors to make sure they were all closed behind them, before turning back to the dog that moved to follow.

"You'll need to stay here, can you be a good boy and do that for me?"

When the Shiba didn't give any response Kaede turned her attention back to Gonta.

"Gonta, do you think you could help with translation?"

"No problem, leave it to Gonta!"

3:40pm Ultimate Writers Lab

Fukawa had attempted to move out on her own while searching the school. They weren't many that she was inclined to hang around with, and this left her trying to find a place to retreat away from everyone. Her searching led her to what turned out to be her own Ultimate Lab, hidden away in the corner of this area.

On entry, she noticed that despite this place being built for her, there was nothing to prevent anyone else from entering. On the contrary, there were multiple writing desks across the room and plenty of writing materials for others to join in.

"So much for privacy here..."

Toko stepped further into the room, taking it slowly as she scanned the area. As she stepped, she could hear the creaking of the wooden floorboards. A flash of irritation crossed her face as she looked for a less noisy spot in the room. Books were piled in all corners, but a closer inspection show her that these were all romance novels. Seeing as there was no one else here, and this lab was clearly meant for her, she picked up one of the books and found a seat for herself.

She didn't get much opportunity to read, however, before she heard the creaking of the floorboards once more. Turning her head around without leaving her seat, she could see the figure of Hifumi Yamada entering, with Angie following shortly behind.

"Nyahaha! Atua says that this place will be perfect for his art!"

Hifumi nodded in agreement before adding, "A comfortable little hideaway, yes, this place is exactly right. Still, you're the Ultimate Artist, right? Can I see you work sometime? I'm curious as to how you perform your works."

"I'm nothing more than a vessel. The art is the creation of Atua. Whatever Atua wants to create, he uses my body to make his works come true."

"Oh, is that so? I wonder if this Atua would be able to help me with my manga?"

"Atua does not draw manga, but his blessings will help you if you devote yourself to his service! A small offering will be enough for him!"

"W-what kind of offering?"

"It's nothing to worry about, I'll just need a small amount of your blood, that's all!"

"No! I better not do that! Is there no other way to gain his blessings?"

Fukawa stood up, quickly interrupting the pair of them with glare.

"Are you going to continue to ignore me? Besides, this place is MY ultimate lab, not either of yours! Find somewhere else to practice whatever your talents are!"

Angie simply smiled before carrying on, "But it is the will of Atua that this place become accessible to everyone! That way we can live here in harmony!"

"I'm not handing over the one place built for me, and you using religion as an excuse to get what you want isn't going to work on me!"

"Oh my, Atua is just trying to make sure everyone here is happy... if you defy the word of Atua, he will place a curse upon you. He is very disappointed in you..."

"I told you, it won't work on me, there's nothing for either of you here!"

"Is there any manga here?"

With that question, Fukawa quickly turned her ire towards Hifumi.

"Why would there be manga? That stuff's a waste of time!"

"Don't act like your work is above others just because it's a different genre. You just don't get it!"

"Why would I want to get it? Most of it is just smut written to create some fantasy to get off to. No substance to it at all!"

"I won't accept this slander! You insult my honour and life's work like that!"

"Are youse all gonna carry on with this boring crap? Youse bastards have a bigger problem to deal with than arguing over this? If youse gonna fight like this, at least get the killing game started. The wait for the killing is gettin' boring!"

The next bear, a bespectacled one with a tiger print on his left, revealed himself to be waiting in one of the corners. He didn't approach them, simply waiting to hear how they'd respond. Seconds passed between them.

"Are you one of the kubs Monokuma mentioned," Toko broke the silence.

"No shit, Sherlock! I mean look at us. We're clearly his flesh-and-blood cubs! Of course he'd mention us, we're here to help keep this killing game going!"

"I've seen enough killer bears without coming here!" Hifumi cried out, "Who'd even design such a thing?"

"That's none of your business! If youse want to figure that out, youse gonna hafta look harder than this."

"Nyahaha! So you say there are secrets in here?"

"I ain't making any promises, but if youse keep looking, and opening more areas, then youse might find out more, well, those of youse still alive anyway."

"A-and of we don't kill anyone," Toko asked.

"Well, then youse all are stuck here!" The bear pushed on his glasses, however they were being supported, "But youse think it won't happen. Let me give youse some free advice. There's no well of telling what kind of people are in this killing game. Not all of youse bastards are gonna be nice once this game starts. How'dya know there aren't Ultimates here that are killers already?"

"W-what makes you say that?" Fukawa stammered our a response, to which ten bear shrugged.

"I was just making a suggestion. But even if there isn't, there are ways to get someone to kill somebody, youse just need to find the right reason. I mean, youse three were already arguing before I said anything."

"That doesn't mean anything," Hifumi protested, "a disagreement like that isn't a reason to kill!"

"Suit yourself, I'm only trying to give youse lot some advice. If youse don't wanna listen that ain't my fault, but no point in sticking around here if youse keep ignoring your superiors."

At that point he disappeared behind the books, leaving Toko and Hifumi looking befuddled at the exchange. Angie, on the other hand, appeared to now be paying any attention to him at all. Took shrugged it off, before talking to Hifumi again.

"You see what we're in, can you blame me for wanting to keep this place to myself?"

"Hmm... if we all had one, it would be easier, but I'm not killing anyone to make that happen."

"What's so good about this place anyway?" Asked Fukawa, "Can't you do your work somewhere else?"

"But there aren't any resources there, I can't draw with just a location!"

 Hifumi gestured around the lab, which confirmed just how well equipped it was. It was quickly apparent That this would be sufficient to last a while, and that was assuming they wouldn't get restocked at some point.

"F-fine, how about a compromise? There's no rule against moving stuff out of the labs. If I leave what you need out for you to take, will you not disturb me while I'm working?"

Angie frowned at her, "That isn't what Atua has in mind. He really wanted..."

She was quickly interrupted by Hifumi, who had his own opinion on the matter.

"It's a deal!"

4:27pm Ultimate Cosplayers Lab

The last lab to be revealed in this area turned out to be the Ultimate Cosplayers lab, a room that was split into two halves. One half was dedicated to the creation of cosplays, with a wardrobe that, upon opening, revealed itself to contain a staircase going underground, showing that this lab was far more spacious than the outside would indicate. The other half contained a miniature stage with a complicated looking machine built to provide backgrounds to the stage. While they were props to go with the staging, these were minimal in comparison. Not the that bothered Tsumugi in the slightest.

"They really have everything in here... pulling out all the stops to allow me to complete my cosplays... only..."

As she trailed off, Junko and Ibuki followed close behind, at which point Ibuki started looking around with a frantic energy, leaving the other two standing near the entrance.

"Is something wrong with this place. There's many costumes here, I could've thought it was my lab."

"Oh, it's just, with us being trapped here I won't be able to show anyone outside of here the cosplays that's I make here... have you ever considered cosplaying, Junko?"

"Not really, cosplay's all about being someone else, I've only ever been me when I dressed up. But you make all your costumes as well, don't you? All the wigs as well? I guess that's why the wardrobe is empty for now, it's waiting for you to create something and fill it up!"

"Maybe, but it'll be a waste to make them and have no one use them. I do wear them, but I prefer making them to wearing them so... wait!"

As she interrupted her own train of thought, she quickly spun round to face Junko.

"But you’re the Ultimate Fashionista! If someone could show off my cosplays, it's you!"

"But," Junko responded lazily, "I don't know anything about the characters! I can model for them, sure, but I won't be able to recreate them the way you do!"

"Modelling them would still help me a lot! Plus, I'm curious to see what they'd look like on you. I think they'll look amazing on you! I'm too plain to pull some of them off, but you'd do wonderfully!"

"It's your talent, you sure you want others to do the cosplaying for you. If you're an ultimate, I'm sure you’re doing fine, even if you think you're plain or whatever."

"That's fine with me, being able to show off my cosplays is the most important thing, that's what makes me happiest."

"If it works for you, then sure! I'll help you out sometime!" Junko responded, flashing a peace sign to Tsumugi, "We'll char more later, but first, what's Ibuki been doing while we were chatting."

The sound of rustling could be heard from further within the room. Upon turning to face the source of the noise, Ibuki could be seen, or at least the bottom half of her, which was currently sticking out of a box, various props scattered around the surrounding area.

"Huh?" Tsumugi faltered before adding, "Ibuki, what are you doing, please don't make a mess of my lab!"

A few seconds passed before Ibuki climbed back out of the box, and re-joined the other pair, her hand rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

"Oh sorry," Ibuki started, "Ibuki noticed something strange in one of the boxes, so Ibuki thought there might be more like it."

"Something strange?" Tsumugi repeated slowly, "what's strange about it?"

"Well, there's a bear hiding away in one of these boxes, like that Monokuma one, but this one has a rockin vibe! Like he's gonna start headbanging any minute. Looks more like he should be in Ibuki's lab than this one!"

Ibuki lifted the bear out of the box to show the others. True to her description, it looked more like something that was Ibukis' style than Tsumugis'. It even had a little guitar in its' hands. It was a blue and white bear, with stars over its' eyes, and was currently being shaken by Ibuki as she gestures towards the others.

"Eh, maybe it's because your lab isn't here yet? So, they just stored this thing in here for now...,"

Junko gave as a suggestion, before Tsumugi looked up in realisation.

"That thing does look a lot like Monokuma, come to think of it... it's plain to see that holding that thing will probably be bad if it starts to do something."

Ibuki shrugged in response, "It's just a stuffed bear, not a talky one like the others, nothing to worry about."

As Ibuki spoke, she started to examine the bear from all angles, before tipping it upside down. This seemed to be too much, as the bear started to scream loudly.

"Hell no! You punkass better let go of me now, or else this room will be decorated with your blood!"

Ibuki yelped before quickly dropping the angry bear robot, causing him to land on the floor with a thud.

"What the hell?" the bear yelled, "what did you drop me for? I should kill you for that. No violence against the headmaster or his kubs, you hear me?"

"Sorry, but you said to drop you, so I did..."

"But wasn't the rule specifically against violence towards Monokuma?" Tsumugi added, keeping her distance from the bear, "That means we don't have a rule for you."

"He forgot to protect us? Well, fuck, but he needs us to help with the killing game, so it's important to keep us adorable kubs in working order. Oh, and Monodam as well."

"So...," Junko stepped forward, surveying the bear, "what should we call you, I mean, like, I assume you're not called Guitar bear or something?"

"Hell no!" he protested, "what kind of stupid fucking name is that? You bastards better listen to this, 'cos I'm only gonna say this. The name's Monokid, so you better remember it!"

"I...I'll try," Tsumugi stayed back while responding, though Monokid didn't look impressed by this at all.

"You're too scared! You're gonna make the killing game boring if you act like that! Papa said the killing game would start already, but nothing’s happened yet. You're all just looking around doing nothing! I'll be back when something actually happens! Can't be bothered until you actually start playing the game!"

Monokid takes the opportunity to leave through the front door, leaving the others behind. Moments pass without anyone saying anything, before Tsumugi breaks the silence.

"So... about the cosplays I could make here..."

5:06pm Recreation Room

Chaiki had found a room in the same building as the sports hall and Ryomas' lab which turned out to be a large recreation room. Vending machines covered the nearest wall to the door and the inside of the room was filled with pool tables as well as regular tables, with a selection of board games resting on a shelf at the far side of the room. A seating area occupied one corner, which also featured a magazine rack. A dartboard was attached to one of the walls with the darts resting underneath and one wall had a television mounted onto it.

Chiaki took a seat before being joined by Makoto and Asahina. The pair behind her were busy taking in the sights around them, while Chaiki had taken a seat in the seating area, having taken a quick look herself.

"This doesn't look too out of the ordinary." Makoto said, "Just an ordinary looking recreation room from the looks of it."

"It's bigger than the ones I've seen, but there are a lot of us, so that makes sense." Aoi said as she looked at the games on offer.

"Do you play those games often?" Makoto asked.

Asahina looked back, holding one of the darts in her hand, before moving away from the dartboard and taking aim at it. With a quick flick of the wrist, the dart sailed out of her hands, narrowly missing the bullseye.

"A little." she acknowledge, "Played against my brother a lot when we were kids. But I prefer doing something where I can move around more! Running, basketball, those kind of things! And swimming of course, but there's no pool here. Why, in a place with so much facilities is there no swimming pool?"

"I think that Monokuma's kept some stuff back, he said that this would be the first area, could that mean that there's more to come?"

"If they are, can he hurry up and bring the one with a swimming pool over? I need to keep swimming or I'm gonna lose it!"

"Calm down!" Makoto raises his hands as he spoke, "Hopefully it wouldn't be too long, and you play other sports, right? We've got other ultimates that you can work out with, at least until you find chance to swim again!"

"Putting myself against other ultimates... that may be just the challenge I'm looking for!"

Asahina looked a little happier after that, which left Makoto wondering, but he left it there, since at least she'd cheered up. He glanced over at Chiaki, who was still resting in her place, having not moved since sitting there.

"Hey, Chaiki, are you still awake?"

"Hmm? Sorry, I nearly dozed off there? Did you have something to say?"

"Well, I was wondering whether you played these games often. Your talent is games, right? Does that just mean video games?"

"Hmm... my talent is just that, I think. I've played other games a little, like when they release a console version of a popular board game, but I prefer playing at home with a controller."

"Doesn't it get lonely, playing on your own?" Makoto sat near Chaiki as he expressed his thoughts to her.

"Lonely? It's how I've always done it? And sometimes I talk online to other gamers, so it's not as lonely as you may think."

Aoi joined in with the conversation, "You should play games with the rest of us. Don't just stay in your room while your here, join in with us, and if there's ever a place here where you can play video game in here, invite us over. We'd love to play with you sometime!"

"Well, maybe not everyone," Makoto added, "but some of them. Yeah, once we know each other a little better, you'll know who'll join in with you."

"Perhaps, but when meeting people, they sometimes don't want to wait for me to reply. When I'm working out what I want to say, others get bored and go..."

Chaiki slumped a little in her seat, looking down to her game. Asahina joined them, turning her attention toward Chaiki, her tone going significantly softer as she spoke.

"It can be hard, when you struggle to speak with others. I couldn't speak much with the other girls in my class, I wasn't very ladylike and preferred sports, so trying to talk to them was always a bit awkward. But here, I found Sakura! And Akane! There'll be someone here that you'll be able to talk to. And besides, if you want to play a game sometime, I'll happily play!"

"We could ask around when we get back." Makoto suggested, "We've found about all we can in here anyway."

The three began to make their way out of the Rec room, with Chaiki lagging a bit behind the others, who waited for her to catch up.

"I'll think about it." Chaiki said about half a minute afterwards.

6:23pm Canteen

"So, in conclusion, there are Ultimate labs for four of the students here, in addition to extra sporting facilities and a recreation room for our leisure?"

Sonia went over the information provided to her, met with nods and confirmation from the other students. All were sat in the dining room, having pushed the majority of the table. A few of the students were missing, namely those who spoke of not cooperating with the others. But that was only the small minority of them, and the others were discussing both the situation in and the possibility of getting themselves out of there.

"No clues as to where we are, or why?" The Imposter questioned after waiting for Sonia to finish.

"Nothing as of yet." Kiyotaka stood up, shaking his head, "Though that is no surprise, I wasn't expecting to find a solution this easily, not with this elaborate set up..."

"Dammit!" Mondo slammed his fist on the table, causing Himiko, who was slumped on the table near him, to jump up in shock. "How hard can it be to find a fuckin' exit on here?"

"Do you have an answer to that? Ishimaru retorted, "If not, don't complain at us for not finding anything. You're too focused on using violence to solve the problem rather than thinking about it."

"Clean put your fuckin' ears, I never said anything about using violence. I already know that shit doesn't work when Monokuma pulled that explosion stunt!"

"You're too much of a coward to do anything else, that's it. You dress up like that and shirk any actual responsibility for your actions."

"You dunno shit about me. All you're fuckin' doing is talking shit. Calling me a coward, you're the one who's a coward, all talk and no action!"

"Enough of this!" Nekomaru bellowed, "You too can battle it out later! In a real battle. Not shouting at each other without getting anything done!"

The pair turned their ire towards Nekomaru, the three glaring towards each other before Mondo got up and started to exit.

"I'm done with this shit, later..."

He left the others behind, the majority of them looking towards the exit as he did.

"Well, erm," Ishimaru started, "Now that interruption is out of the way, we can carry on..."

"You weren't innocent in that yourself..." Mahiru said quietly, though decided against making it heard.

"Indeed," Kirumi began, "In order to make sure that we are not going to be killing at the first opportunity, we need to make our experience here as comfortable as possible. I will of course be acting in accordance with my talent in order to assist with this, but we may need to take additional measures."

"The new area helps a little bit," Hajime offered, "At least one making things less cramped."

"But the inability to go far could be a problem," Celestia countered, "If fighting breaks out, the close proximity could be a problem..."

At this, several of the eyes turned towards Ishimaru.

"Why are you looking at me?" Kiyotaka protested his innocence, "I'm not the one prone to violent outbursts."

"You could do with not making assumptions about people, you know little, if anything about the rest of us here," Korekiyo suggested.

"Else your gonna piss someone off and make yourself a target." Fuyuhiko added.

"In other words," Kirumi concluded, "we all need to be careful. We are in a situation where nobody knows each other and therefore cannot predict what someone would do. Tensions will rise if we cannot accommodate for it well."

"Would it be wise to create a system of order among ourselves?" Ishimaru suggested, "We could choose a leader."

"Like, no offence," Hagakure butted in, "But I've only just met you all, I don't know who would be best or who can be trusted, are any of you sure yet?"

Everyone looked to each other before many of them started shaking their heads.

"It is too early to decide anything, but should we come up with anything," Sonia said, "then please do discuss it. The path forward will make itself clear soon enough.

"I know!" Angie piped in, "Atua says if we all follow him, then his blessings will protect all of us!"

"Atua again?" Fukawa snapped, "we need something that we know is there, not some god to guide us."

"You are testing his patience...," Angie rebutted, "surely you don't want to fall victim to Monokuma's whim?"

"How we go about surviving this place can wait until we've thought about it more," Kaede suggested, "we can put every option on the table and talk this out!"

"And w-what about those not here?" Mikan asked.

"We won't force anyone unnecessarily," Kirumi started, "but we will need to make it clear that everyone will be a part of this, in order for us to survive. Perhaps they can be persuaded to come. Until then, meeting adjourned."

11:43pm School Main Area

 As night fell, most of the students had retired into their own rooms for the night. However, two of them took the opportunity to meet away from prying eyes. Fuyuhiko and Peko both looked to each other before starting the conversation.

"You know what my duty is to you." Peko started speaking first, which resulted in a flash of anger from Fuyuhiko.

"And you remember what I fucking said when we signed up for Hope's Peak in the first place. You're free to be your own person here. You're not in service to me anymore, and that's it! My only order is for you to keep yourself safe."

"The fact that I was ordered to keep you safe is still there, and I can fulfil that duty if you only say the word."

"I will not, I'm not escaping this place without you. If we're getting out, we're doing it together."

"But master..."

"No buts, and while we're here, call me by my name, we don't want anyone knowing about the connection between us, it'll just cause trouble for both of us. I'm not going to get buddy-buddy with everyone here, but if we can cooperate and survive, I'm not getting in the way of that. And you should too. If you make friends, have fun with them, just don't get yourself killed out here."

"Of course, mas... Fuyuhiko."

"Good, now we shouldn't be out this late, someone might see us."

"Of course, we don't know if anyone here is going to be out at night."

"Too fucking true... well, goodnight Peko."

With that, Fuyuhiko retreated to his room leaving Peko to her thoughts. Be your own person... something that was easier said than done for her. But it was something she'd do, for the sake of her master, former or otherwise.

Chapter Text

8:30am Canteen

The mood at breakfast was still tense, but at least according to Kirumi and Teruteru, everyone seemed to be accounted for. Some of the students simply picked up what they wanted to eat and left immediately afterwards, but others stuck around, even if the conversation was lacking in places. Kaede could only assume on watching that everyone was still on edge.

Kaede took a seat near Shuichi and Ryoma. "There had to be some way to calm everyone..."

"Can you blame them?" Ryoma said. "They're worried that someone will strike soon enough."

"Well, nobody's done that so far! If we can work together, we can find a solution!"

Shuichi stopped eating to turn to Kaede, his hand fidgeting with his cutlery, "Do you have any ideas?"

"I do have one."

"Really? Well, what is it?" Ryoma responded.

"Well," Kaede started, "someone must've created this, and Monokuma. This mastermind must be the one controlling everything, so what we need to do is expose who they are in order to escape."

Ryoma looked sceptical to this, sighing before slipping a candy cigarette into his mouth. "It could work, but finding the mastermind is easier said than done, and that's assuming there even is one."

Kaede didn't seem too phased by this, as if it were something she was expecting to hear, she leant in closer to the other two, her voice quietening. "That's why I'm not saying anything to the whole group yet. I want to get a few looking first, see if we can get any clues." "I can understand getting the detective to help, but I wouldn't be much use. Besides, I've given up on escaping anyway. I know that I end up part of someone else's attempt to escape..." "Don't talk like that!" Kaede protested, glaring at Ryoma. Shuichi backed off a little at the sudden outburst. "We're going to get out of here! Don't be so quick to throw your life away!"

"It's nice that you can think like that, even now." Ryoma glanced down before continuing, "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything hasty, just like to keep realistic about it. I can make a suggestion, if you like?" "I'll be glad to hear it!" "Keep a lookout on what's here so far. If Monokuma wants us to kill, he must've given us plenty to kill with. I'd suggest looking around more thoroughly and keep track of what's actually here. Like with the cosplay lab, the props there include fake weapons. Better make sure that they're all fake, just to be safe of course." "You've put a lot of thought into this...," Shuichi pointed out. Ryoma made no attempt to deny this. "Look, I'm not gonna do anything here, but I was a killer in the past. If you've heard of the Killer Tennis story, that's me. One of the students here already knows, so it's possible the others will find out anyway."

Kaede looked around at everyone, able to hear snippets of conversation among the more social of the remaining students. "I don't want to think anyone here is planning anything..." "Me neither." Ryoma concluded, "But you can never be too careful... you never know what might make someone snap."

Free Time Events Start

10:13am School Grounds

The morning provided an opportunity for Kii-bo to explore the school more thoroughly, leading him to explore the less populated areas. The outskirts of the main area seemed to be deserted apart from himself, which, if nothing else, would give him ample time to think without interruption. His room was an option for such things, but he didn't like being closed in there for two long, electing to only use it at night to recharge. Besides, this place was quiet enough, if you discounted the rusting from above him getting progressively louder. Wait... rustling? Kii-bo quickly jolted his head upwards towards the source of the sound, noticing among the trees the sight of something black.

"Is someone up there?" Kii-bo quickly took a step back, not looking away from the tree, his steps bringing him nearer to the main building. Whatever it was in the tree sighed before starting to reveal itself, the black thing he saw proving itself to be a boot. "Didn't expect you to see me here." The figure revealed herself to be Mukuro. She stayed in the tree, glancing down at the robot, her gaze hit leaving for a second. "Is there any reason you're following me? You're not here to kill me, are you?" Kii-bo asked hesitantly. Mukuro showed little change in emotion as she responded, "If I was, you wouldn't be able to talk to me now. I am the ultimate soldier, in case you forgot." "No, I remember. I was just wondering why you were hiding away and seemingly following me here." "Curiosity, mainly. Plus, something needs to keep an eye on you." "On me? Why would you say that?" Mukuro jumped down from the tree, managing to land gracefully on the ground. She took meticulous steps towards him. Even with him taking another step back, she quickly hit close to him, before taking a hold of his arm, looking at it intently. "I'll make myself clear, do you have any weaponry on you?" "What, no! I wasn't build with anything that can be used to harm people? Don't you know the first law of robotics?" Kii-bo tried to struggle against Mukuros' grip, but it immediately showed itself to be a fruitless endeavour. Mukuro was clearly too strong. "The laws of robotics won't stop people from making machines aimed at killing others. It is only natural for humans to develop new methods in order to bring swifter resolutions to war. Creating a robotic weapon is just another way of doing that. However..." Her grip loosened on him a little, but he still couldn't break free. "You do not have the strength to overpower a human. That would be quite the oversight of someone who was trying to make a weapon..."

"That's because I wasn't built to be used as a weapon! I was built to create a robot that better simulated a human. I was made with an AI that can learn like a normal human, and my strength was intentional made to be weaker than an average human!" Kii-bo spoke the last line with a sense of pride, either oblivious to the downside or not caring about it. Mukuro hesitated for a moment before finally letting go. "Sorry, I had to be careful. You never know who could be dangerous around here. I needed to make sure you weren't one of them. But I didn't know they were creating robots for such a reason." Kii-bo retracted his arm the moment it was free but didn't make any attempts to leave at that point. "You didn't? Robotics serves many purposes, many which could be used to help others. But I've heard that some find it less favourable to receive help from robots, as they'd rather interact with a human. They say it's more personal, or something like that."

"Well, I suppose it's because people might want to talk. Robot's don't feel any emotion, so even if they're programmed to talk, it must feel fake to them." Kii-bo suddenly backed away from Mukuro, before taking a different stance, pointing towards her with a scowl. "I resent that remark. Robots are perfectly capable of feeling emotion and are not these mindless death machines you've been thinking of! I will be making a record of all robophobic remarks that you have made!" Kii-bo spun around before attempting to leave Mukuro behind. It didn't take long for her to catch up. "Wait!" She managed to reach him, making to grab him but stopping herself at the last minute. "Look, judging by your reaction, I said something that I shouldn't have. I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by that. If you make a response like that, you must have emotions. I guess robotics is a lot more advanced than I remember."

"We'll, alright, if you take more care with what you say, but I won't tolerate it again?" Seconds passed without anything said between them, neither sure of what to say. Mukuro looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't. "Do you want to say something?" "I don't know, it's just, what I said, I think it sounded like something said to me before. I don't let emotions get in the way, so I used to get accused of being a robot. Now robots are also better at showing emotion." "You still have them, even if you don't show them right?" Mukuro glanced over, towards one of the walls where the area ended, "That's right, but on the battlefield, letting emotions get in the day is a sure way to get killed. It's probably the same here."

"They're still a crucial part of living, at least that's what I'm told. Still it's hard to read the emotions of others sometimes. Is that why you're on edge." Mukuro looked away, not wanting to meet Kii-bo's eyes. "I suppose, but I wouldn't know where to start..." "Maybe by not seeing them as your enemy would be a good start. I mean, yes, it's a killing game, but none of us are here by choice, so give them a chance. And no more sneak following, you'll only scare them." "I'll bear that in mind, but still," Mukuro got close to Kii-bo before continuing, "there's probably some here that'll take the chance, so it better to be cautious." "Sadly, that is also true, but how do we sort those from the ones who're innocent victims? Only time will tell..."

11:46am Library

"You said you don't remember what your talent is, right?" A voice broke the silence of the library, interrupting Hajime's attempt at reading. He placed the book down, next to the piles of other books he had gathered, before checking who had spoken to him. He saw that Rantaro was standing not far behind him, taking a look at the books that Hajime had amassed. The books had no connection apart from being informational in nature. "Yes, I still have no idea what it is, I thought maybe checking different books could give me a feel of what it is."

Silence fell between them as Rantaro glanced over the books once her, his expression more serious as he seems to consider the options. After a time that seems longer than it actually was had passed, he responded. "Maybe there's another way of thinking about this. What if we thought about the other question... why did you forget?" As Hajime gave him a blank look, he continued, "The rest of us remember our talents, so it doesn't make sense that one person would forget their talent. I mean... I forgot mine for a moment, then it came back, which was weird, but perhaps there's a reason that you forgot." "Why would I forget something like that?" "Who knows? Maybe there's a part of you that wanted to forget. There was something behind your talent that you don't want to know. Or perhaps it's related to this killing game." "Are you saying that I'm behind this?" Hajime stood up to face Rantaro, who stepped back a little before defending himself. "No, not at all!" Rantaro protested, "I'm just thinking of possibilities. I have no idea why you forgot your talent. I just remember what I was thinking as I tried to remember my talent."

Hajime fell silent as he returned to his seat, picking up a book that fell as he rose, before continuing with what he read. "...There is one thing I remember, though it doesn't tell me what my talent is..." Rantaro had a small smile as he pulled up a chair and took a seat next to Hajime. "I'm listening." "We'll, I know that I always wanted to attend Hope's Peak academy. I saw the students like, well, celebrities to be honest. So getting in would've been a dream come true for me. But I have no memory of actually working on my talent. I was determined to get in, that's what I know. But this... I'd just a nightmare. I didn't want this..."

"Well, talents can be varied, some are specific, while some are more broad. It'll be difficult to find what it is by chance. You don't remember anything you had a talent for before?" Hajime shrugged, "No, honestly, from what I remember, I was, well, average really. I don't recall excelling in anything. "But still, you're here now, so it just be something. Maybe there's some event in your past that relates but you haven't noticed it. When I forgot, I still remembered travelling a lot, just not that it became a talent." "Oh yeah," Hajime interjected, "You're talent is adventurer, that sounds like one of the more exciting talents of the ones here." "Sure, it's got its fair share of excitement, there's also great risk in it, as well." "Such as?" Rantaro shook his head, "I can't tell you that. It might put you at risk. And some of it... is personal. I can't go into it. Sorry."

Hajime said nothing, questioning to himself why the sudden secrecy came about. Before he could form a question, however, Rantaro brought the subject back to Hajime's talent. "Maybe your talent isn't related to one of these books. Could it be a sporting talent?" Hajime noticed the change of subject, but Rantaro's expression told him not to press it. Considering his options, he responded, "It's possible, but I wouldn't know where to begin if that's the case." "We'll," Rantaro suggested, picking up and flicking through one of the books left at the back of the table, "maybe Nekomaru could help you there? He's worked with Ultimates before, I bet he'd know if you had potential in a sport. There's plenty of sports not covered by the Ultimates here, maybe he can spot something."

"That...," Hajime responded, "actually might be a good idea. I'll look into asking him. Do you know where he is now?" "Don't know." Rantaro shrugged, "But if I had to guess, I'd say he's helping someone with his training, or at least trying to. So probably outside, or in the Gymnasium." Hajime got up immediately and went to leave the library, before Rantaro spoke to stop him. "Hajime, I get that you're eager to find him, but you can't leave without clearing all of this up," he gestured towards the pile of books Hajime had accumulated, "I'll help you, just no leaving in it for someone else to clear up." "Oh, alright, sorry, got a little carried away there..." As they started clearing up, Rantaro asked, "Why are you so worried about what your talent is. Aren't you more worried about the killing game?" "Of course I am." Hajime located a stepladder before searching for the right shelves, "but it's still something huge that missing. And what if my talent could help get us all out of here?" "That is a possibility, I didn't think of that," Rantaro mused, "maybe whoever put us in here intentionally wiped your memory of your talent. It's sounds unlikely, but this whole thing is weird anyway, what's a bit more weirdnes?"

The pair, with a newfound eagerness to decipher the truth behind Hajime's talent, took to the task of book sorting with increased vigour. With that, it only took minutes for them to put the remaining books back into the correct locations. With that done, the two looked towards their work, the library showing no signs of Hajime's research. "Now that we've done, you need a hand in finding Nekomaru?" Rantaro offered his assistance to Hajime. "Sure, but are you sure about this? Didn't you have something else to do?" "Nothing important," Rantaro rebutted, "Besides, I think helping out a friend would be more productive. If we're going to get through this, we need to make and count on our friends, right?" "I never really thought of it like that. It'll be difficult getting everyone to trust each other in here, but maybe, over time..."

"Indeed, still, better not let your guard down. We still don't know everyone around here, and if we try to hard to co-operate, Monokuma will find a way to mess that up for us. But that hasn't happened yet, so for now we just have to be careful."

1:03pm Outside Ultimate Breeders Lab

The wooded area surrounding the Ultimate Breeders lab provided both shade and quiet to the residents of the killing game. Therefore, Chaiki had picked this as a prime location for gaming to herself. She had managed to get through the morning undisturbed, before the desire to take a quick nap had taken over. Seeing as there was no one around, this had seemed like a good idea, but once she was awake again, she felt something on top of her. Slowly, she opened her eyes to discover what had been placed upon her. The discovery was that a cat had wandered by, and also concluded this place to be good for a nap, and had taken Chaiki's lap to be an ideal spot.

The creature was sleeping peacefully with left Chiaki with another issue, how to get up without disturbing the cat. Without any ideas, she could only spend the next few moments trying to come up with ideas. Failing that, she concluded that all she could do was wait for it to wake up and move of it's own accord. After a little while had passed, she heard footsteps as another figure made an appearance , looking through the trees. Gonta Gokuhara was taking a walk with intent to visit the Ultimate Breeders lab, but stopped in his tracks, noticing Chaiki sitting there on her own. Concerned for her well being, the need of the killing game still fresh in his mind, he approached her slowly. "Oh, good afternoon! Your name... Chiaki, right? Gonta not expect to see anyone here?" "Ah, I got a little sleepy and decided to rest for a while." "But, sleeping outside is dangerous!" Gonta protested, "Gonta not want to think anyone here dangerous, but If someone plays Monokuma's game..." "Ah, that's right, but to call it a game... games are supposed to be enjoyable for all to play, not something that harms those playing." "That right, Chaiki's talent is games, right? So Chiaki know all about them?" When Chiaki nodded, Gonta remembered his point, "...but Chaiki should rest in room or something if she sleepy, just in case." "Yes, but I can't at the moment, as..." she gestures to the cat still sleeping on her, "I don't want to disturb it's sleep."

"Oh, that true, then would it be alright if Gonta stay with Chaiki for now? That way, Gonta can protect Chaiki if someone come along?" Chaiki looked around to see no one else in the vicinity, but she could easily sense the worry on Gonta's face, so didn't give any objection, turning her game back on. "I don't mind, having some company would be nice, I think. As long as you don't get bored. I'll play a game while I'm waiting." Gonta sat down on the grass next to her, taking a curious look at the game she was playing. "Gonta not know much about video games. Was never allowed to play them when little. Parents always say they were too violent..." Chaiki jolted up to look towards Gonta, her focus taken off her game momentarily. "That's not true of all games at all!" Chaiki spoke louder than usual as she made her point, almost getting up before remembering that the cat was still on her, causing her to stop what she was doing, "I mean, some are, but games are about making fun for different people, and some don't like violence at all. There are games about co-operation, making things, all sorts of things! Here, I'll show you..." Chaiki picks a game that would better suit her explanation before re-positioning herself, allowing Gonta to get a better view of what she playing. Switching the console on, she started the game up. Gonta watched as she stated up the game, moving her character along an area which to Gonta looked like it was filled with crops. "This is a farming game," Chaiki explained, "The aim is to make your farm as successful as possible by growing and selling crops. In this game it helps to be nice to the people you meet as well."

Gonta watched without saying anything for a few minutes, carefully observing what the game has to offer. Chaiki leaned against him as she brought the console to be in better view for him. Gonta looked to be deep in thought as he watched. "Chaiki's game look a lot nicer than what Gonta was told...," he said quietly. "Yeah, I think some people make a decision based on one game they've heard of, but there's so many out there, there's something out there for everybody." "Gonta sees," Gonta hesitated before adding, "would Chaiki be willing to show Gonta other games like this sometime? Gonta would like to learn more!" "Sure, while we're here, I'd like to be able to play games with someone else."

The conversation turned to focus on different aspects on the game being played, with Gonta stopping on occasion to ask about something and Chaiki giving an answer before continuing. This carried on until the point where Chaiki finished her game with a yawn, before switching the power off.

A few moments later, Gonta felt something brushing against his leg, the opposite side to which Chaiki was sitting. Gonta noticed that this was the cat, having woken up from its nap and now demanding attention from the entomologist. Gonta held out his hand, inviting the cat over, who accepted the invitation immediately. It was only after a minute that Gonta realised that the feline was no longer resting on Chaiki. "Oh, Chaiki can get up now! Chaiki?" Gonta looked back to Chaiki to discover that she had fallen asleep again. Only this time, she had fallen asleep on Gonta. While Gonta was easily strong enough to move Chaiki, that would probably wake her up. And, he concluded, that wouldn't be a very gentlemanly thing to do. Which meant he'd become quickly aware of the new situation. "Oh, now Gonta's stuck..."

3:30pm Gymnasium

Akane was on her own in the gymnasium, bored with her training and looking for something else to do. She had wanted to fight with someone, but her attempts to do so had proven fruitless for the entire day. Nekomaru had left a promise to do so later and Sakura was no where to be seen. Still, Akane wasn't disheartened, and there were plenty of other students for her to spar with, she just had to find them. She ran over the potential options based on appearance along the remains of the class. There was another guy with muscles to rival Nekomaru and Sakura, though he didn't spend much time in the gym, and was never seen soaring with Nekomaru, so she didn't know if he'd be willing. Aoi was seen here more often (and Akane learnt her name after she shared her donuts after a workout session), but she wasn't built to fight, even if she was a good workout partner.

She didn't have too much longer to consider her options, and Mondo walked through the door, set a bag down nearby, and started looking over the gym equipment. She looked over, noticing that he seemed like he'd be able to put up a fight. "Hey, you! You're names Monny, right?" Mondo turned around quickly until he could see Akane, sporting a grin and she stood facing him. "Huh, no, my name's Mondo, not Monny, get it?" "Oh, right, sorry, I keep forgetting peoples names. So many here, you know. Anyway, you look pretty strong. You know how to fight?" "Of course I know how to fuckin' fight!" Mondo shouted defensively, "I lead a fuckin' gang. You can't do that if you're weak! What kind of question is that?"

"Perfect, then fight me!" "What?" "You and me, fight, now!" Akane declared. "I need someone to fight with, and you're here! Now get ready, and taste my full power!" "What, no!" Mondo protested, "Ain't no way I'm fighting you." Mondo backed off while still keeping his eye on her, ready in case she made a move. "Why not?" "I don't fight chicks. Men who do that are the worst of the worst. It's my word as a man never to hit a girl, and I'm never going back of my word." "What, you don't think I'm strong enough? Come on, I wanna fight!" "It doesn't matter how strong you say you are, I'm still not doing it. Besides, girls are naturally weaker, it wouldn't be a fair fight..." "Stop worrying about that and fight me already! You say girls are weaker, but that's just an excuse is you don't get your ass beat by one!" "What's it take to get in in your head," Mondo protested, "I ain't fighting you, and that's not gonna change!" "And what're you gonna do if a girl tries to kill your to get outta here. You just gonna stand there and take it? Your honour or word or whatever won't be much good to you then!" "Then I'd defend myself without harming them if I can! I'm not gonna fuckin' stand around to die, but if it's not to stop me dying, then there ain't no reason to fight!"

"Then pretend I'm trying to kill you or something!" Akane gave Mondo no more time, preparing herself to take the first swing. If Mondo wasn't going to start the fight, then she would have to. "What the hell are you... ack!" Mondo was interrupted by Akane making an attempt to charge him, jumping back just as she was about to land a kick onto him. "What kinda crazy... you fuckin' serious? Get in into your head already!" Mondo was quickly pushed into the defensive, doing all he could to avoid Akane's reckless barrage of swings. Her strikes were more focused on power than anything else, lacking any discipline. But that didn't mean they were easy to avoid. Mondo was managing, barely, but he was quickly being pushed into a corner.

He glanced to his side to see if there was any way out of this, but his escape had been cut off as Akane approached, she paused, looking towards Mondo with clear determination. "C'mon, you can't keep running! Fight back, if you call yourself a man!" That was all the warning she gave before swinging her leg in his direction. If Mondo didn't respond quickly, it wouldn't connect for sure. On a quick instinctual move, he raised his arm, and caught her leg mid-swing. "Finally fighting back? About time!" Akane joyfully declared. However, Mondo wasn't doing anything for else to react. Has was still holding onto her leg with an uneasy look as he face was turned away from her. Akane stopped and stared at him blankly. "Huh, why'd you stop?" "You're showing everything, when you kick..." "What?" "When you kick like that, people can see up your skirt!"

Chapter Text

8:17am Canteen

Breakfast was met with silence for many of the killing game participants the following morning, with many giving worried glances over towards their fellow students, some being more subtle than others. Some were looking intently at one student, before realising just how obvious it made it that they had that persons video, while others were making it a point to look literally anyone else. Others had either not watched the video or were successful in being more discreet about it and were making sure not to draw attention to themselves any more than necessary. Still, no one had actually addressed the issue out loud. Until Kokichi took the opportunity to stand on one of the tables and call out loud enough for everyone to hear.  

"So... whose video did everyone get?"   

Over half of them turned their heads to him in confusion, a few others were simply trying to ignore him in the hopes that he abandoned this train of thought. Those hopes were not met, however, as he listened expectingly for an answer from somebody at least.   

"And what make you think anyone would be stupid enough to tell who we have," the rebuttal came from Byakuya, who hadn't even bothered to look up from his breakfast. "Anyone who did that would be making themselves a target."   

Kokichi simply laughed, "Nehehe! Then it would be obvious who killed 'em! How about we watch them together? That way everyone knows the same thing."  

"Isn't that dangerous though," Mahiru responded, "If someone has a strong motive, then you would guarantee they would find out about it."   

"What are you worried about. Don't tell me you think the person you've got will kill for the motive?" When Mahiru fell silent, Kokichi continued, "It could be a bonding exercise, grouping together and all that!"   

"I don't think I want anybody knowing what my motive is..." Chihiro responded. "We'll, somebody already does, so what's the rest of the class... or do you have something to hide yourself?"   

"That's enough, Kokichi."  

Kirumi stepped out from the kitchen, looking sternly at Kokichi, before adding "Sharing the motives can only cause trouble. While I will respect the will of everyone else involved, I cannot recommend such a course of action. Besides, you are disturbing everyone while they are having breakfast."   

"Alright, mother..." Kokichi stressed the final word, causing Kirumi to frown, but she left it, returning to her work. While Kokichi stayed true to his word and returned to his seat, the damage was done, and already there were additional murmuring among the group, debating what the course of action should be.  

Kaede was sat with Shuichi in one corner, turning their focus away from the others after Kokichi stopped. "I'm not sure how Kokichi thinks that would help, I don't know what my motive is and I don't think I want to know," Shuichi said, looking to Kokichi, who had started pretending that nothing happened. "A bonding exercise would help, and that way, no one would suspect anyone of hiding from them..." "But that mean everyone would know, and if someone has a strong motive..."  

"They'd be a target of suspicion, at the very least," a third voice was heard as Korekiyo showed up, "Apologies for the interruption, I believe that is where you were going with that?"   

Shuichi stumbled his reply, "Uh, yeah, pretty much."  

 "I must admit, I'm curious as to what motive that bear would consider trying to get me to kill with,” Korekiyo surmised. “But at the same time, I am fully aware that is information that should be kept secret, as well as the knowledge of whose video I have obtained."   

"I don't think they'd be strong enough to kill over," Kaede objected.   

"Kukuku, perhaps not fit the majority of us, but you never know what some might be capable of, that is the nature of humanity, you see, an ugly part of the beauty within."  

 Shuichi considered his words, trying to find a way to phrase what he is thinking about what was said before giving a response, "You have an... unusual way of thinking about things."   

Korekiyo chuckled, more to himself than anything, "believe me, you are not the first to think that. When you have studied different cultures to the extent that I have, it causes quite the different viewpoint. I completely understand how most would be unable to find any beauty in certain parts of humanity. But I find that it only highlights those that manage to break though the struggle and come out strong. Some might find that a grim outlook, and I've certainly not seen anything like this before. But if you find such an outlook unnerving, then I can only suggest that you pay it no mind. To offer something more relevant to the issue at hand, the issue may lie in the unfamiliarity with each other, since we don’t at this point have sufficient knowledge about everyone, leaving too many questions. Even with my attempts to socialise with the others, I have found that many have chosen to be guarded around me, so my own information is somewhat lacking."  

"We don't know each other, which makes it hard to tell what we're capable of, or even who would have the stronger motive..." Shuichi conceded.  

"I'm not giving up of everyone!" Both Shuichi and Korekiyo jumped at Kaede's outburst. "We're looking for a way out, right? As long as we still have hope to find one, there won't be any need to play the game!"  

Korekiyo nodded, "I hope your right, it really would be a shame if everyone here fell to the random killings. Such a waste of good talent and beauty. Thus, I wish you all the best luck with your plan. As for me, I will do whatever I can to learn about the others, perhaps I may be so lucky to find someone among us who is able to decipher an early escape from this."  

Korekiyo excused himself as suddenly as he appeared, attempting to mingle with Gundham. Shuichi and Kaede couldn’t hear what was being said, but he seemed to be willing to strike up a conversation at least. Shuichi couldn’t help but feel there was something about Korekiyo that he would have to watch out for.   

‘ He talks a lot, but I feel that there is some guard to what he is saying. Kaede seems more genuinely open... could that be a possibility of him planning to kill. Observing in the name of his talent gives him a somewhat convenient excuse. I know I shouldn’t be suspecting people so quickly, but it never hurts to be cautious, at least for now...’  

“Something on your mind, Shuichi?”  

Shuichi broke his thoughts to notice that Kaede’s eyes were on him, a look on concern on her face as he realised that he must’ve zoned out for a moment. Briefly, he considers revealing every thought, every detail on his suspicion with Korekiyo. Everything he analysed about the admittingly brief conversation. But as he did, he concluded there were more downsides, especially if it turned out that Korekiyo was entirely innocent.  

“Er... no, sorry, got lost in thought there for a moment. Don't worry about it.”  

Aoi Asahina stayed near the corner of the canteen, not even bothering to speak to anyone, slumped on the table. Her face sported a troubled frown as she stayed in her position, not even registering when she was being approached. Even as Tenko started to attempt to strike up a conversation, Aoi showed no sign of recognizing that she was being spoken to. It took a quick nudge from Tenko for her to notice that there was someone nearby.  

"Hina! Hey Hina, can you hear me!" Tenko yelled as she waved a hand in front of her.  

Aoi instinctively moved her head back before catching a glance at Tenko. "Woah, sorry, must've zoned out a little there."  

Aoi gave a nervous laugh, but Tenko didn't seem convinced. Taking a seat opposite Aoi, she looked her in the eye, her voice reduced to a hushed tone as she spoke.  

"You look like something's weighing you down? A degenerate isn't causing you trouble, are they?" Tenko shot her attention to the groups nearby, looking to see if Aoi would point one of them out, though Aoi would only dismiss the notion with a shake of her head  

"Oh, no, it isn't anything like that! Well, unless you count Monokuma as a degenerate... actually, that would make a lot of sense."  

"Worried about what's on your motive video?" Tenko looked around, making sure they couldn't be heard as she aimed to get Aoi to confide.  

"No, not mine. The thing is..." Asahina sighed before continuing, her own doubts about revealing what she knew causing her to hesitate. In the end, the idea that someone could possibly advise her won out, causing her to admit, "I watched the video that was left with me and well. The person whose video it was... the video was empty. According to Monokuma, they have no loved ones outside of here, and nothing to live for."  

"What, nobody at all. Are you sure? They didn't have anyone at all? That's..."  

Tenko fell silent, her expression more solemn as she processed the information, "That's... I wouldn't wish that on anyone, not even a degenerate..."  

Aoi didn't even pay attention to Tenko's last comment, "Yeah, so I don't want them to see it. If they do, I don't know what they'd do..."  

"And that degenerate was going on about everyone sharing the videos! Well, no worries, no one agreed with his stupid plan, so all we have to do is make sure whoever this person is that this video was meant for doesn't get it! They don't know you got them, right?"  

"N-no..."  

"Then we'll keep it a secret from everyone else! I won't even ask who it is, so I can't tell anyone! And there isn’t anything telling us who has each other’s videos at the moment, so whoever the person is who has the video is, they shouldn’t know you’ve got it."  

Aoi breathed a slight sigh of relief at her words, though there was still a thought in her mind.   

'I hope it will be that easy..., for now, I think I better keep it hidden away, I’m worried about whether Kokichi might do something since we didn’t agree to his plans.' 
 
“Yeah, that degenerate’s definitely up to something! Still, if he goes anywhere near the girl’s dorms, I’ll throw him out in an instant!” 

"You really are persistent, you know that?"  

Ryoma spoke without looking up, noticing that Kaito had approached him once again, even though he had gone out of his way to avoid anyone by hiding himself away in a corner. That did not dissuade Kaito, who had spent the majority of his time trying to seek him out. Without waiting for an invitation, he sat down opposite him, clearly intent of making another case.  

"Look, I get it, you say it's all behind you, that you don't want to play tennis anymore..."  

"Good, you finally get it, what's your point?" Ryoma replied bluntly, staring him down, waiting for Kaito to say whatever it is that he actually came here to say.  

"The point is that even if you don't play, you can still give pointers, right?"  

"You looking to play tennis yourself?"  

"Not just that, but it's gonna be a bonding exercise for some of us! Gonna get Shuichi down, for starters! And maybe some of the others who aren't speaking out enough."  

A second passed before Ryoma said, "Basically, you're trying to get the unsociable members of this little game and attempt to force them out, am I right. If you think that will work, you've got a lot to learn. Besides, you all know how to play, right? What do you need my input for?"  

"What're you gonna do if you don't? Worry about what's on your video? Try to find it. This way, you can at least forget about it, even if just for a while."  

"Eh, I think I know what's on my video already," Ryoma rose from his chair and made to leave, "but I get why a distraction might help. Alright, if you can convince others to give it a try, then I'll give a hand. But remember, I'm just giving a hand, alright? I won't be getting back into the game or anything. I meant what I said about the Ultimate Tennis Player not existing anymore. But if you just want someone to give a couple of pointers, then I suppose I could do that for you. Who knows, it might help pass the time. It has to beat staying alone with my thoughts. I’ll meet you, and whoever you want to bring with you, in the Tennis room at 5pm. Get a few others, and I’ll help out a little.”  

“Got it! I can round ‘em up in that time easily. See you there!”  

As Kaito left him alone, Ryoma could only watch what was going on, before returning to his breakfast. He still had a lot of time to kill before heading to the Tennis court, so he got up himself to leave, only hoping to himself that he wasn’t going to regret this. As he passed the others on his way out, he took notice of the different groups, chatting away to each other. To be able to do so in such a casual way, despite the situation they were in, was something that Ryoma couldn’t understand.   

‘Maybe in time I can think like that. No, I shouldn’t think like that. Those times are long gone. If I’m not the first one to die to this game, I’ll be surprised....’  

12:39pm 1st Floor Corridor 

While the accessible area had been completely explored by this time, not everyone had seen everything and that left some to check out what had been missed in the exploration. The classrooms stocked nothing that was out of the ordinary for a classroom, meaning that they had not generally been the centre of attention for any of the killing game participants.  

Which left it to be quite a surprise when Kazuichi, on passing, discovered several of the classrooms to be in a messy state, books strewn everywhere, with no one in immediate sight. He peered into one of the rooms, only to be unable to find out anything of use. There was no note, no evidence of who was doing this, nothing. Nor was there any indication of why the room as messed up as it was. The only thing he could think was that perhaps the person responsible was still around. This led him to walk further in, noticing a trail of rooms that had been given the same treatment. The search didn’t take him every long before he encountered something else, a pile of cleaning supplies thrown into the middle of the corridor, a door to a supply closet open, a boot sticking out as a bucket was hurled from the inside of the closet, narrowly missing the Mechanic.  

“W-watch it, will ya!” he shouted out in surprise, “You coulda hit someone with that”  

A loud bang rang out from the inside, along with a series of curse words, before the boots’ owner kicked the door open and glanced back to see who had disturbed her, revealing herself to be Miu Iruma. 
 
“The fuck you doing there, grease monkey?” she snapped back at him, “what, you trying to get glimpse of my ass or something?” 
 
“W-what, no! It’s nothing like that!” 

Miu simply laughed, “No need to lie to me! I can tell you were staring at me! All virgins like you are the same. Can’t touch, so you stare whenever you can get away with it. Look, if you wanna think of me during your next tug session, I won’t stop you, but stop fucking shouting when I’m working!”  

“You’re working in there? It looks like you’re making a mess of the entire floor.”  

Miu lifted herself off the floor before walking up to Kazuichi, “You shit-for-brains wouldn’t get it, but I’m the genius that’s going to get all our asses out of this sick game! You think I’m making a mess? I’m searching this school top to bottom to find something.... anything that I can use to make an invention to get us out of here! Something to overpower that bear, or blast a hole in the fuckin wall, I don’t care, as long as it gets us out of here! At least I would be... but so far there’s nothing but Junk in here!”  

“Yeah... you were expecting to find something useful in here?” Kazuichi asked, “If there was something that would get us out of here, wouldn’t Monokuma’ve had it removed by now.”  

Miu closed the gap between them, her face uncomfortably close to his as she retorted, her voice quieter than before, “Of course... if he knew what it was. But I’m Miu fuckin Iruma, the gorgeous girl genius and Ultimate inventor. That means I can come up with shit that no one else can! If Monokuma thinks something is junk, who cares? There’s no chance that whoever’s behind this knows more than I do, so I can find something they’ve missed! You’re a mechanic, right? Try building something out of the stuff here. If you do something good enough, perhaps I can use it to make a super invention capable of getting us all out of here. If you do that, you’ll get more chance to ogle my tits!”  

“What, no!” Kazuichi protested, “I was just passing by! Besides, I only have eyes for Miss Sonia!” 
 
“Really? You simpin’ for her? Everyone knows I’ve got a bigger rack than her, why settle for her. Fuckin virgin move, that’s what it is, and so soon after getting here after all. You after her money or something?” 

“No, of course not! Sonia is a woman of grace! And there’s nothing wrong with her...” he cut himself off before he could finish that sentence. Hastily, he decided to change the subject, “but using the stuff around here, it’s a long shot, but it could actually work. Is this the only place you searched?” 
 
“Of course it will fucking work, duh! I told you, I’m a genius, and I’m gonna get all of you outta here, so you all better bow down to me. If you help, you might get some of that as well. Who knows, maybe it’ll be enough to get ‘Miss Sonia’ to bone you! But... no, I only just got started with this plan, so I haven’t searched the rest of the area yet. Probably nothing useful in the sports bit, but maybe the rec room will have something useful, if you can pry it from the gamer chick long enough.” 

“You think we should get any of the others in on this? Maybe Kii-bo's built with something that can help us...”  

“Don’t go fuckin telling everyone! Monokuma’s bound to hear us that way. If we’re doing this, it needs to be on a need-to-know basis. No telling every fucker about this. Now Kii-bo... that might actually be a good idea, but that’s it, unless we both see someone else as a good idea. No way of knowing who can keep their trap shut around here, or even if everyone’s on our side to begin with.” 
 
“You think there might be a traitor?” 

“Well, it’s a fuckin’ possibility! Getting' so many of us in here and trapping us? Pretty big job, if you ask me. Bet someone here might’ve leant a helping hand somewhere, to get us all here. We don’t know everything going on in here anyway, like why we’re here, so yeah.”  

“Alright, I’ve got it, I’ll keep my lips sealed for now,” Kazuichi conceded the point, “So, first we do an inventory check?”  

“Of course, the more we have to work with, the better! Take away anything you think is useful but take a note of anything else. I can make a use out of anything, so even if you can’t see it, I whip up some amazing shit that’ll get us all out of here!”  

‘I’m not sure how true that is...’ Kazuichi thought to himself, but he didn’t say anything about it, instead nodding as he took note of the plan, ‘ I have to be quick here, before anyone bites and starts this killing game. If I were playing it, I’d be thinking of who would be the easiest target right now... someone small, or easily fooled, or someone who doesn’t make a lot of friends. Actually, there’s a lot to think about, but it could be used to make me less of a target, I’ll try to bear that in mind, but it won’t hurt to work with Miu on this... I think.  

2:30pm Clasroom 2-B

Yasuhiro Hagakure sat slumped at one of classroom tables, trying not to fall asleep at the group that was speaking in the room. Kaede, the larger Byakuya, Kirumi, Kiyotaka, Mahiru and Angie were discussing the scenario they were in, and somehow, Yasuhiro had found himself dragged into the proceedings as well, something about it being ' the will of Atua' or something like that. Yasuhiro didn't consider himself particularly religious, acknowledging it as a possibility but nothing more. Didn't explain much of anything else, including why he was included in this meeting, he wasn't expecting to contribute much anyway.  

 "Are you even paying attention?"  

 Yasuhiro jolted up to see Kiyotaka looking sternly back at him. Yasuhiro gave a small shrug in response.  

 "You're supposed to be the eldest here!" he continued, "start acting like it and show some responsibility. This level of tardiness is completely unacceptable. You may've been a lazy dropout before you got here, but you're still an ultimate somehow! I'll have to write you up for this, can't let the others think that such attitudes will be tolerated!"  

"Aw, c'mon Taka, what do you need to be so harsh for? I showed up didn't I? More than most of them did."  

 "We're straying from the point," Kirumi intervened, "for the benefit of anyone who wasn't paying attention, we're trying to come up with the best strategy to survive this place. It will only be a matter of time before someone either locates their motive video or becomes sufficiently desperate to find out what's on it. All we can do is better prepare ourselves for it."  

 "The best-case scenario would be for us to escape as quickly as possible," the Imposter added, "but that is proving more difficult than we anticipated. Kaede suggested the possibility that there is a mastermind among our numbers, but even if there is, we have little to clue us in."  

 "Should we tell this to the others?" Asked Mahiru.  

 "Er... I haven't made a prediction, but I think that's a bad idea," Yasuhiro responded, "call it a hunch, but if all of us think there's a mastermind, wouldn't someone go out of their way to try to kill the mastermind?"  

"Indeed," the Impostor agreed, "It is an incredibly risky move to make, and we have no guarantee that one even exists or that doing such an act would end the game. In order to keep such a rash move from happening, I would suggest keeping this between those of us present for now. Besides, is there is one, we don't want them getting wind of the fact that some of us suspect the truth."  

 "But where does that leave us?" Mahiru asked.  

 "Aha!" Angie suddenly shouts out, startling the others, "It has been made perfectly clear to me from Atua! What he wants is for us to adjust to our new life here in harmony! We have been given what we need to survive! If we stay here and get along under the guise of Atua, no one will need to be killed under the killing game?"  

 Kaede shook her head, "It's a nice thought, but there's no way everyone is going to accept a fate like that. Especially if someone has a big motive on their video."  

 Yasuhiro nodded in agreement a little too quickly, "Yeah, what she said! Uh... not that I know anything about anyones motives videos..."  

 "Disregarding his poor attempt at telling a lie..." the Imposter chastised him as he spoke, "he has brought up the point that motives will overpower any attempt to prolong our stay here. I understand what you are trying to do Angie, but it doesn't seem to be practical at the moment."  

"What do you mean? Atua's guidance is the perfect way to get everyone aligned to the same thing. If we are all united under his belief, there will be no need to kill anyone!"  

 "The issue," Kirumi started, "Is trying to get everyone to follow a religious belief that I greatly suspect the majority of students haven't even heard of. Even those who have are unlikely to change their world view as easily, especially with the tensions as high as they are."  

 "Do you doubt the words of Atua?" Angie glared at Kirumi while Yasuhiro looked nervously for any exit.  

"It's not a question of whether I doubt it, it's a question of whether anyone in here doubts it. Trying to unite all of us in this way, you must've already seen that some of us aren't open to reasoning with the others, and that's just in general. Trying to convert some of the more stubborn classmates would be next to impossible."  

 "Well, once Atua spreads his influence, it'll be harder for them to resist his influence. Everyone will end up seeing the light, and we can be essentially free after that? What do you say, Yasuhiro?"  

 Yasuhiro Hagakure froze in place as he heard his name being said. He faltered for a long period of time over his answer.  

"Err... why are you asking me about that?" He tried to back away as he spoke, but eyes were on him all of a sudden, "I mean, until you told me about Atua today, I hadn't even heard of the dude, I just said I was open to hear about him and all, not that I was converting or anything. Never really gave much thought into religion, you see."  

 Angie glared at him, before quickly discarding the expression and replacing it with a smile, "Of course! It's just a matter of time, once I've showed you the light."  

 Within a second, Angie had closed the gap between them, leaving everyone in the group questioning what she was planning to do.  

 "Atua knows, Yasuhiro, and he has told me the truth. Your life outside the school has had its struggles hasn't it, leaving you in a state of worry for your own safety. Looking for a way and a place you can be safe."  

 Angie followed up by pulling Yasuhiro into a hug. He was too taken aback to give any sort of response, allowing it to happen. She carried on talking while still holding on to him.  

“It will all be alright if you show faith in Atua. You see, Atua is like a protective mother, always keeping her children safe, no matter what happens. As long as you follow Atua’s word, his guidance will keep you protected in here, and you’ll never need to worry about the outside world ever again! Doesn’t that sound nice?”  

“That... does sound nice...,” Yasuhiro hesitated, before seeming to go along with Angie’s word, “My fortunes haven’t given me an answer, so maybe this uniting thing is worth a try...” 
 
“Nyhaha!” Angie laughed before addressing the others, “See?  Yasuhiro understands the truth! Atua has spoken, and we need to live out our lives here peacefully without any thoughts of escape. That will only lead to temptation and once that happens, there will be no hope for survival for any of us. Please, follow his advice before it’s too late! He is watching over all of you, all you have to do is call out to him...” 

“He was drawn in rather easily,” Kaede muttered to the others.  

The Imposter added, barely louder than a whisper, “I’ve heard a little bit about him, when I was looking into the other students, sound like he’s acquired a few enemies along the way. No wonder he got drawn into the idea of protection. If we could really achieve what she’s saying, then for him, being trapped could almost be safer than whatever’s waiting for him out there.  

“What’s that,” Angie leaned in closer to the others, “You’re not keeping secrets from me, are you? I warn you; Atua hears all and knows all, and you would not want to bear his wrath. He may be peaceful normally, but he still should never be angered.”  

“Miss Yonaga...” Kirumi interrupted, “I assure you it is nothing of the sorts, and I will of course be considering the path you laid out for us, but we will need time to address the positives and negatives of every course available to us.”  

“Hmmm...” Angie stayed still for a moment longer, before backing away, smiling as if nothing had happened, “Well, alright, as long as you see the light in time, and quickly, before anyone gets taken in by the darkness that bear produces, then Atua’s blessing will be waiting for you. For now, I shall be patient, and prepare my teachings for anyone who is ready to hear them. Bye for now! Yasuhiro, you should join as well, Atua has a message he wants me to deliver to you...”  

As Angie left, Yasuhiro shrugged before following. Silence fell among the others before the imposter broke it. “I feel like we should address that.”  

“If you mean her zealous attitude,” Kirumi responded, “Then I must say I agree. Considering how her approach is now, we must consider how she may respond when others don’t follow her so quickly. She may be able to convince some, so we should be wary of her intentions.”  

Kaede added, “It should be harmless enough, if she’s just trying to keep everyone safe. Sure, I still think there’s a way for us to escape, but Angie uniting everyone doesn’t seem too bad.”  

“I wish I could agree,” Kiyotaka responded, not looking at anyone, “but I believe caution should be taken, just in case. There’s something... off, about the whole thing...”  

4:00pm Ultimate Tennis Players' Lab 

As Ryoma entered the Ultimate Tennis players’ lab, he was faced with not only Kaito Momota, but also Gonta, Nekomaru, Aoi, Shuichi and Mikan waiting patiently for him. All of them had taken to time to change into sporting gear before Ryoma arrived, and the equipment was all set up for him to be able to start when he arrived. He glanced over at them, all seeming to not know what the say, expect Kaito, who just smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Wondering what he got himself into, Ryoma started to address them.  

“Right, well, I came here to offer advice if any of you looking to improve your tennis game. Since I don’t know how good any of you are I’ll start by asking; do you all know the rules to play?” When his question was met with nods from the others, he took it as his cue to carry on, “That’s good, in that case, it might be worth playing a few rounds so I can look at how you’re doing. I can offer any advice on your game from there.”  

“A-aren’t you going to play yourself?” Mikan responded, her gaze moving to Kaito for a brief second. Ryoma quickly deduced that Kaito hadn’t been entirely honest when roping in the others.  

“Ah, as I said to Kaito, I don’t play anymore, and I’m probably too out of shape to show how I used to play. I don’t see it being any use...”  

“You say that...” Nekomaru interrupted, “But there’s no chance that your skills are all gone. Besides, you’re not teaching professionals here. I’m sure you could be rusty for 20 years and still teach us all a thing or two. Besides...”  

Nekomaru approached the court, racquet in hand, before facing Ryoma once again.  

“As a manager, it’s my job to determine just how ‘out of shape’ you really are.”  

“You weren’t my manager.” 
 

“That’s true, but your manager isn’t here, and I am, and I can’t let potential talent go the waste like this. One match, that’s all I ask. And don’t just throw it, I’ll know if you do.”  

Ryoma’s gaze didn’t leave Nekomaru, the return showing that he wasn’t going to let up for a moment. After a deep breath, he conceded, “One point, you get first serve.”  

As the others waited at the side of the court, all of them could feel the tension, especially with the serious look Nekomaru was giving them, expect for a brief momemt, where he seemed to smirk just a little before brushing it off. Kaito, on the other hand, has an expression that only showed excitement, almost jumping in his spot as he awaited the face off.  

Ryoma stood on his side of the court, his stance clearly showing someone with experience at the game, ready to dart over to any part of the court at a moment's notice. Nekomaru, on the other side wasn't slouching either, looking out for any part that could be a weakness, before even beginning his serve. True to expectations, he couldn't find an obvious fault. A smirk fell across his expression, this would be a challenge after all, despite Ryomas' previous protests.  

"Ready when you are," Ryoma said calmly, keeping his eye on Nekomaru, "the rest of you, watch carefully, in tennis, there are many things to look out for, stance is one of them. Now, let's see how he plays..."  

 Nekomaru laughs in response, before throwing the ball into the air, "No going easy on me! I may but be the Ultimate but underestimate me and you'll go down quickly! Now, try out my power serve!"  

True to his words, when he swung, he swung hard. Perhaps a little too hard, Shuichi observed, as the ball travelled towards the back line. It's going out..., Shuichi thought to himself, before noticing at the last minute that the ball was about to drop suddenly. Ryoma was already there, however, and effortlessly swung back, knocking the ball into the area furthest from Nekomaru, making it difficult for him to reach. The resulting swing has much less power than the first, and Ryoma took his chance to strike, breaking through Nekomaru's defences and scoring the point.   

 As they got ready to go again, Shuichi commented, "I could've sworn that was going to go out. I would've probably left it."  

 "And that," Ryoma responded, "is one rule of tennis you should always consider, unless it is obviously going out, you should assume that the ball is going to go in and play it. Otherwise, you will let a lot more points get scored. If you think like that, you still have a long way to go."  

"Perhaps it would work for everyone to start playing against each other, two see where everyone's at with the game," Nekomaru suggested, "with a few quick one on ones. We can continue our game later, once everyone is practising."  

"Alright, it would give me an idea of where everyone is at, so who's up next."  

 After a small amount of deliberation, Aoi and Mikan ended up at the pitch first, in the case of Mikan, there was some heavy encouragement from Kaiti first. As they both stood in position, Ryoma stopped them before starting to give some pointers, noticing Mikan's nervous grasp of the racquet   

 "You want to be in a ready stance when she begins, be prepared to quickly move in either direction and take a swing, clutching you racquet like that is going to make things more difficult for you. Aoi has the right stance, so try to copy that."  

“Um... l-like this?” Mikan adjusted her position, not getting it entirely right.  

“That’s better,” Ryoma said gently, “but try not to be so nervous, if you relax more, you’ll have a better time of it.”  

“O... Okay!”  

Ryoma wasn’t entirely convinced, but he stepped back to allow them to begin, this time with Aoi serving. While she was by no means a professional, she was able to make a decent serve towards MIkan. Though she still seemed uneasy at the ball coming towards her, she managed to make a swing that connected with the ball, only for the ball to fall short of the net.  

“Oh...,” she said, dejected, “It didn’t make it, I’m sorry...” 
 
“These things take practice,” Ryoma added, “But the reason it didn’t make it is because you didn’t follow through. Don’t halt your swing the moment you hit the ball and it will go further. Still, part of the problem is your nerves, which should go with time. But not a bad start at all. Next two, who’s up this time?” 
 

The next two to stand on the pitch were Kaito himself along with Gonta, who had picked up the ball to start. However, when the two got into position, Ryoma interrupted them.  

“Hold on a minute. Gonta, are you left handed?”  

“Huh?” Gonta paused before looking back at his hand, looking over to Kaito, who had his raquet in his right hand, “oh, Gonta’s using a different hand to everyone else...”  

“If you try to hit the ball left handed in that position with your left hand, it will end up flying off the pitch. Try serving from the other side.”  

As Gonta and Kaito repositioned themselves, Ryoma added, “Responding to a left handed server is different so many tennis players can struggle with it. Some say that left handed players are at an advantage because of this. It probably doesn’t apply to newer players, as they haven’t gotten used to any serves. Well, we’ll see how this goes... begin when you’re ready.”  

With a nod from Kaito, Gonta launched the ball into the air. However, the ball went too far forward, causing Gonta’s attempt to swing at the ball to hit it later than anticipated, causing it to shoot straight into the net at an incredible speed, enough to rip through the net on impact before striking the floor on the other end. Ryoma just stood there in shock, trying to process what had happened.  

“Sorry, Gonta didn’t hit that right,” he apologised to the others, “Gonta didn’t mean to break the net!”  

“That’s... alright,” Ryoma tried to reassure him, before adding, “you definitely don’t need that much power in your swing. If you hit it as intended, it would’ve struck the back wall and easily gone out. Perhaps a bit of strength control would work.”  

“Still, that was a good show!” Nekomaru chipped in. “What training do you do for that? Even I would need to find something new to adequately train you!”  

“Gonta, not do anything like that...”  

As Gonta conversed with Nekomaru, Ryoma examined the net with Shuichi. 
 
“That really did a number on this. We have a spare I think, but we’ll wrap this up for now.” 

“That’s a shame, will you help us again?” Kaito asked.  

“I’ll consider it.”  

As everyone started to disperse, he noticed Gonta and Nekomaru conversing, as well as Mikan and Aoi. If nothing else, it seemed to serve to unite them, at least a little. Kaito was even giving some of his ‘advice’ to Shuichi, who didn’t even get a chance to play, but perhaps next time.  

Next time... he thought it without knowing it. Perhaps he was actually considering it. Still, as he started to take down the ripped net, he couldn’t help but show a smile, even though it was just for a little moment.  

 10:57pm End of School Grounds

With everyone taking care to keep the owner of the motive video they received secret, Sayaka was having a hard time of finding out what was on her motive video, though she had a sneaking suspicion. After all, once the motive was revealed, the faces of those in her idol group immediately flashed to mind. And if the video she saw, the video of Kaito’s grandparents, were any indication, then her group could also be in danger. A new determination to get out of here waved over her as she started to form a plan into her head.  

Initially, she had thought of baiting someone to her room, but the volume of people and close proximity to the others made it all too likely that she’d be heard in that event. The alternative was to use the cover of darkness to strike someone at night when most were in their beds. After all, that would leave no witnesses, and with hardly any alibis, the case would be entirely based on guesswork, without having to find a patsy to pin the blame on.  

Finding a weapon was the easy bit. The kitchen was well stocked, and considering the bear’s game, that was probably intentional. Finding a time where no catering was being done, she stole a paring knife from the kitchen and his in on her person. Still, she acknowledged that she would have to act immediately. Once Kirumi and Teruteru arrived in the morning, it wouldn’t take any time for them to realise one was missing, which would get everyone's’ attention. If she was going to strike, she had to do it quickly.  

Going into the furthest spot from the dorms that was possible, she took in her surroundings before waiting to see if anyone would show up. She could hear footsteps and turned to see who it was. She didn’t catch anything, so she continued until she found someone standing on her own, Ibuki Mioda. Upon approaching, Ibuki noticed her and waved to her.  

“Heeeey! Sayaka! What brings you here?”  

Realising she’d been seen, Sayaka had little choice but to attempt to stall for time. Trying to reach for the knife in a subtle way, she hesitantly replied, “Oh, nothing, I just wanted to go for a walk. You’re out late as well, something bothering you?”  

“Oh, no, nothing like that!” Ibuki rebutted, “Leon wanted to talk to me, he had some big band idea in his head, but I turned him down. There was no vibe there at all, and he had never played an instrument before. I think he just wanted something to help him pick up girls.”  

Sayaka saw an opportunity, focusing on sounding sympathetic until she got the chance to strike. “Oh dear, I know what you mean, I’ve had a few like that myself, I bet you see it all the time.”  

“Yeah, it’s no big deal, but they usually know something at least, not expecting to be a mega star without any practice. Ah well, these things happen...”  

As Ibuki looked away for a second, Sayaka saw her chance, drawing the blade out and making her approach quietly. It was all for naught, however, as Ibuki turned back to face her.  

“Maybe next time, eh? What do you... What are you doing?”  

Ibuki’s voice turned into a shout when she saw the knife. Sayaka looked around briefly, but there was no one in sight. Mentally congratulating herself for picking a remote location, she drew closer to Ibuki.  

“Look, I’m really sorry about this, but I have to get out of here. I can’t stay in here worrying.”  

“We can find a way out?" As Ibuki backed off, she found herself against the edge wall, backed up with nowhere to run. Sayaka rushed towards her, blade drawn....  

Only to find her strike interrupted by another hand grabbing a hold of her wrist. Ibuki looked towards her savour, finding...  

“Leon?”  

“Yeah, it’s me, I heard shouting and came back to make sure everything was alright. Didn't expect to find someone trying to kill ya, now, drop the knife, or I’m not letting go.”  

Sayaka didn’t move, simply staring at Leon while she cursed her lack of foresight. Ibuki did mention Leon earlier and she’d forgotten that.  

“Please, just drop it already. I’m not gonna sit here and let you stab someone.”  

Reluctantly, she dropped the knife, which Ibuki quickly picked up.  

“I-I’m going to take this back to the kitchen.” Her voice had reduced to a tremble as she rushed away. Sayaka was left with Leon.  

“What’re you going to do,” she asked.  

“Nothing. Just, what the hell? What possessed you to go that far?”  

“I had to get out, you’ve seen the danger on the videos!”  

“Could be fake for all we know. If you’re that worried, work on finding a way to escape!”  

Sayaka tried to protest but couldn’t find the word. If nothing else, she had now drawn suspicion towards herself, and others were likely to find out. She just stayed there dejected, knowing that she’d started the attempts at killing, and things were about to get more dangerous from here.  

Chapter Text

10:27am, Sayaka's Room

As the morning dawned, Sayaka hesitated in her decision of whether to leave her room or not following the events of the previous night. She had made her decision, and it backfired horribly. If word about this got out, everyone was going to be distrustful of her and there was nothing she could do to change that. She inwardly cursed to herself, it was a foolish plan to say the least, and as she looked back, it could've gone even worse.

What if Ibuki had turned the tables on her somehow. Then she'd be dead, the first one taken in this game with no chance of reuniting with those she cared about.

And there was the others as well, surely they had similar situations but hadn't resorted to trying to kill someone yet?

Or perhaps they had a no one's the wiser? She tried to push the thought out of her head, it was only making her more paranoid, more desperate to escape. But if she did anything now, she'd likely be the first suspect.

So that left her at a massive disadvantage, she'd painted the target on herself, and now was left to deal with it. The first to succumb to the killing game. In her mind, some could just think she was a natural killer?

Her thoughts were broken only by a knock on the door, a voice following it belong to Kaede.

"Sayaka, are you there, you weren't a breakfast so I just wanted to check up on you."

Sayaka sighed in relief, initially startled by the knock. From the sounds of it, she hadn't heard anything, so Leon and Ibuki must've not brought it up at breakfast. It was some comfort, if only a small one.

"Yeah, sorry, I wasn't feeling too good, so I decided to rest up a little, at least until I feel better."

"Oh, alright, did you want to make an order? Kirumi asked me to check."

"No, it's alright, I can do it myself when I feel up to it."

"Alright, see you later then."

All went quiet, so Sayaka was left back to her thoughts. How long would it be until someone snapped? Who would they go for. She stepped slowly across the room to her door.

Checked it. Locked.

She looked up at the window before moving over and closing it. At this moment, shutting off seemed like the only thing she could do.

Who could she even turn to? Even if no one said anything now, she couldn't guarantee that it would stay that way.

She looked over to her beside desk, the motive video she received being on it. She'd looked, in a moment of curiosity, only for it to turn out not to be her own.

Why they gave her Tenko's was a mystery to her. They hadn't interacted that much and she didn't seem to approve of her hanging around with Makoto for some reason.

Makoto... he would've been out at risk from this as well. She was trying to sacrifice a lot... 45 others to be precise, over the notion of seeing those close to her again.

She wanted to scream so badly, but didn't want to attract attention, so she muffled it with a pillow. She'd have to come out eventually, even if she didn't want to, else everyone would know something was wrong.

She just couldn't do it now.

11:11am, Student Store

Kirumi had spent most of the morning going over the list of dietary requirements for all the other students, as well as they're meal requests for the evening, in order to get everything ready for Teruteru. This may've been a long and arduous task, but she was getting through it all with ease. However, when she got near the end of the list, she found something that she considered to be an issue.

Hiyoko had, when asked to provide a meal request, simply put 'gummies' as her answer. While Kirumi was willing to accommodate most requests, she couldn't simply ignore the fact that what she requested was not a meal and had no nutritional value. She would not be doing her job if she let such a thing pass. As a result, she found herself tasked with trying to find the Ultimate traditional dancer.

Finding her proved to be a task that was not without its own difficulties as Hiyoko could be anywhere, and at various points, someone would interrupt her with a request, but it did dawn on her to try the store to see if she was buying any more sweets for herself. Looking through the stalls, she was quickly revealed to be correct as Hiyoko was stacking an alarming amount of sweets into a basket.

"Good morning Hiyoko, could I have a moment of your time?" she said in a calm manner, stepping out to make herself visible while Hiyoko looked to her briefly, before continuing with what she was doing.

"Huh? What do you need to speak to me about? I didn't ask for any of your services. Not yet anyway, shouldn't you be waiting on one of the others hand on foot? You can speak, just don't interrupt me."

Kirumi paused before continuing, "While I do offer my services as a maid here, I am not bound to one person and would be remiss in my duty if I didn't attend to anyone here, and that included cases when I become aware of something that needs addressing. And that happens to be why I have needed to speak to you."

"Well?" Hiyoko started to show her impatience, "If you need to speak to me, hurry up, I haven't got all day?""

While Kirumi could talk to her about her tone, she decided against it, as she had plenty to attend to today, and doing so would probably be time wasted. Glancing back to her basket, she continued.

"It is regarding the meal plan you laid out for me. I'm sure you're fully aware that I cannot accept that as a viable plan. I can fulfil most requests but they have to take into account consideration for basic nutritional needs. I will need a proper request list for you if you want to choose your meals."

A pause fell between them, with Kirumi being unable to tell what Hiyoko was going to do next. Hopefully, it'd be a simple case of a promise to get back to her with a proper list of foods. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case for her.

Because how Hiyoko responded was by starting to cry.

"Waaaaaaah! You said you'd get us what we wanted, but now you're breaking that promise, why are you being so mean."

To Hiyoko's surprise, Kirumi didn't falter to this at all. In fact, she kept her composure completely.

"If you think I'm unfamiliar with this tactic, I'm afraid I have to inform you that you are gravely mistaken. I have served many families in my time as a maid, and many children, as well as a few of the more immature adults, have attempted to employ such a tactic against me. And despite your size, I am fully aware that you are not a child. So we can do this one of two ways, either you get back to me with a list... a proper list, or I will be forced to decide for myself, and I'm sure you'd at least want some say in the matter."

"What are you, my mother or something?" Hiyoko snarked in retaliation.

"Please refrain from calling me that, I am not anyone's mother, nor am I acting like it. I am doing my job sad a maid, nothing more."

"I was just joking..."

*Kirumi calmed a bit, following her response, "My apologies, it is simply something that gets rather old to hear. For some reason, some tend to conflate the two."

And then there was the issue of students like Kokichi, who would insist on calling her mum even after her insistence not to. It had become increasingly clear that getting through to him on the matter was going to be something she couldn't achieve anytime soon.

"So what? You going to be keeping an eye on everyone's diet here?"

"They have a choice, as long as there's some sense to it."

Hiyoko fell quiet briefly before adding, "but why go through with all this, you're not contracted to serve us, right?"

"True," Kirumi conceded, "but I need to keep working towards my talent, else I find that I lack the necessary skills when I end up needing them most."

Hiyoko was left with a question that she couldn't resist asking, "why did you pick that for a talent, anyway?". Curiosity was something she couldn't leave alone, and there was something she couldn't see an answer to.

"I did not seek to make it a talent worthy of ultimate status. That was just the conclusion of what occurred."

"But it's serving others, don't you want to take the spotlight?"

"Those in the spotlight, as you say, can only flourish with those who are behind them, you must have others backing you up."

"Yeah, but that's just because they can never match up to me! And that's not an answer. Why would you pick to spend your life serving others?"

Kirumi started to show a flash of irritation, but remained calm at her prying. "That is something only I need to know, my personal reasons are exactly that, personal. Do not think I will divulge them to people I barely know. Now, I've said my piece, and if you've any intensified being able to choose meals, you know what to do. Until then, I must go, as this conversation has caused me to fall behind."

Kirumi left with a bow, leaving Hiyoko to continue. Seeing someone the crying act didn't work on... that was new. She'd have to think of something else. But that she had a few secrets of her own, and Hiyoko wanted to know. Now it was just a question of how to find out.

12:53pm, Canteen

There were an ever growing number of thing Maki took issue with being trapped in the academy. The lack of ability to get out being the main one, but the other was just how cramped it felt at times. There were few places the go, and a class of near 50 students trapped together, not counting the Monokubs, which Maki preferred not to think about at all. But it meant that it was incredibly difficult to find somewhere where she can be left to her thoughts on her own. She'd attempted to get away by declining to join the others in eating so she could have the cafeteria to herself. She knew how to cook, so she set about cutting up some vegetables to start off her meal.

Maki was very perceptive, and had learnt to stay on watch, so when a second person entered , she became instantly aware of it, as well as the fact that those footsteps were heading in her direction. Knife in hand, she quickly turned around to face whoever approached her.

"H-hold it, Maki roll, I'm not here to hurt you!"

Kaito raised his hands as he saw the knife presented in his direction. Maki looked to him, not yet lowering the improvised weapon as she tries to get a read of him. In such a game, approaching unannounced was a dangerous move. Did this man not have any grasp of the dangers of doing such a thing? Though that was not the only thing she took notice of.

"What did you just call me?"

"Maki Roll!"

Kaito grinned as he gave an answer, leaving Maki barely able to tell how to respond.

"Well, don't. I don't know where you came up with that nickname, but please stop."

"But nicknaming is what friends do?"

"And we're not friends, so what you're saying makes no sense."

"But we can be!" Kaito insisted.

"No, we cannot, in case you forgot, we have to kill each other in this place. Friendship would only lead to betrayal."

"If we form bonds, it makes us not want to kill each other. That's why I'm doing it!"

"What are you getting at?"

"It's simple. The harder life is in here, the more someone's going to try to kill in here. But if everyone works together, they can hold off until either someone rescues us, or we find our own way out. That way, no one gets killed, you can count on it!

Maki looked blankly at him before adding, "Do you honestly think that will work, there's no chance that everyone will co-operate. The game has already been set in motion with us all looking out to see who'll strike first. Take my advice, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when someone will strike first."

"And I say that isn't for sure yet. Nobody's killed anyone yet, so that means it might never happen, so why say it's definite? You say it's impossible for us to live it out, I'll make it possible!"

"...You're so annoying."

Kaito grinned, "I call it persistent."

"Whatever you call it, it's still annoying. How do you even plan on uniting everyone?"

"That's the simple part!" Kaito finally seemed to get to the point of staring this conversation, "I'm starting a training group every other night. Nothing brings people closer than exercising together. Plus, we need to keep fit when I'm here somehow. It's a win-win!"

"If you want to try that, knock yourself out. Just... make sure you watch your back when you do it."

Maki attempted to return to her meal preparation, but after a couple of seconds, realised that Kaito hadn't moved anywhere.

"Are you done, yet?" she asked bluntly.

"Not yet, got to let you know where we're meeting?"

Maki took a moment to process, returning to her work as she responded, "and you really think that I would sign up for such a thing? You're pushy, but I am not interested, I prefer my solitude."

Maki groaned before relaxing just a little, "You're not going to let this go, so I'll make a compromise. I'll go... once. If you want me to do more, prove to me it's not a waste of time, then maybe, I'll do more."

"You got it, Maki Roll."

"I'm still not allowing that ridiculous nickname."

Kaito grinned. "For now."

"That will not change. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like some time to myself now, especially if I'm putting up with this. When were you planning to meet?"

"Tomorrow night, 10pm, outside the Tennis Courts. See ya then!"

And without warning he left, leaving Maki to her thoughts. He was pushy, to say the least, and an optimism she wasn't used to dealing with. Only one word left her mouth after he departed.

"Idiot."

15:36, Classroom 1-A

"For someone who's given it all up, you don't look all that rusty."

Nekomaru made the observation to Ryoma, who was looking out of one of the classroom windows to himself. Ryoma didn't turn round, continuing to stare off while talking.

"Do you think I didn't mean it when I said it was behind me?"

Nekomaru shook his head, "No, you weren't lying, I was just surprised, I thought that, with the skills being unused... it's probably because I never saw the full extent of what you can do. A shame I never got to be your manager."

"A shame?" Ryoma finally turn around to look at him, dumbfounded. "Knowing everything, I thought you'd think it's a lucky escape."

"An opportunity to work with your skill level, honing it? No way I want to escape from that. And, as for what happened either... I wasn't there, I'm not fit to judge when I didn't see, or experience it. That's not the duty of a manager."

Ryoma rose from his seat briefly, before sticking a candy into his mouth. "I thought you said you weren't my manager, so why does that matter."

Nekomaru took a seat, pondering what Ryoma said, "True, but it'll still be bad practice. And just because I'm not your manager, doesn't mean I can't offer a hand. Even if that's working out what you want to do with your life instead.
"You say that as if I've got a life to live after here," Ryoma added, solemnly.

"I know your history, and they must've let you out for a reason. Sure, your past is what it is, but does anyone here actually see you as a threat?"

"They shouldn't," Ryoma confirmed, starting to wander around the classroom. Nekomaru watched as he did before Ryoma carried on speaking.
"My targets were the mafia that took everything away from me, and I wiped them all out. And no, I am aware of the Yakuza member in here with us, and he has nothing to do with it. I'm no vigilante, I'm not looking to take him out, so everyone's safe from me."

"If they let you come to the academy in the first place, they must at least be considering a release for you. That's got to be something right? Even if you don't use it to play tennis, just find something else you're passionate about."

"You say that as if it is easy,"
Ryoma's steps can be heard whenever there is a pause, his walking is consistent. Nekomaru didn't have an immediate answer, but he wouldn't be a manager, and an ultimate at that, if he gave up so easily. He just needed to look at things from a different angle.

"Let's think this a little differently, back then, what did you do, when you weren't playing tennis?"

"Mainly spent time with loved ones, a family, girlfriend... and my cat, of course."

And there was a potential clue for Nekomaru, something that might given him an answer as he smiled as the realisation.

"Are you a lover of animals, Ryoma?" he asked.

Ryoma stopped in his tracks, looking a little puzzled as this question, "I guess you could say that, I like cats the most, but other animals as well... but what are you getting at?"

"Excellent!" Nekomaru said a little too loudly, "you know there's a lab for Gundam's talent, and a handful of animals wandering about. Why not spend some time with them? You could help Gundham out, or visit the lab. They can be therapeutic as well."

"Are you suggesting some form of animal therapy?" Ryoma looked straight at him as he took in the suggestion offered to him. "It's not going to take away everything I've done, not keep us safe in here."

"Maybe not," Nekomaru responded, "but it can give you some comfort while you're in here. It's worth a try at least, particularly if it gives you something you can be passionate about."

"Maybe, there is something that can be done here. I'm at least a willing to attempt it," Ryoma concluded, "I have nothing better to do anyway. Everyone else just seems interested in getting me back into tennis."

"That is as my first thought as well, and don't get me wrong, I'd love to see you find that passion once more, it's clear you haven't lost your skill. But I know forcing it won't work, and it's not laziness in your case. If it comes back, I'll help you where possible . But no pressure, all right?"

"You're a lot more calm than I was expecting," Ryoma mused,
"When we were meeting for the first time, you wouldn't stop yelling."

"And that won't do either of us any good here. Nothing wrong with enthusiasm, but it only works for some things. Like getting nervous people out of their shell. Not for dealing with trauma."

"... You're playing it off as me being more innocent than I actually am. Regardless of my motive, I committed sins ten others here wouldn't dream of."

"And seen things others wouldn't dream of. Your point is...?"

Silence fell between them, the pair at a standstill. Neither seemed willing to completely concede to the other. But still, Nekomaru could feel that there was an understanding of sorts between them. Even if only a small one. The two stood, facing each other as time passed. Neither had any idea how long it was, it probably felt longer than the reality. Ryoma eventually broke the silence with a sigh.

As Ryoma left, Nekomaru stuck around for a little longer, contemplating the conversation.

"You don't know it yet, but there's still a flicker of hope in you. And as long as you do, I'd be failing if I don't help out with that, one way or another. You'll stop pushing soon enough, as long as no-one gets to us first. A killer would have to be pretty confident if they tried to get NEKOMARU NIDAI!"

17:22, Library

Celestia waited, sat at a library, tapping her foot impatiently, an old book about vampiric legends opened at a page that she found took her interest. A perfect way to spend an afternoon, in her opinion. At least it will be, when Hifumi actually returned with the Milk Tea she'd ordered him to fetch. Until he bothered to do that, her day could still be improved. Still, it was nice to at least have someone wrapped around her finger, even if he wasn't the most efficient.

Or someone that fitted her very particular standards, at all. After all, she had a specific aesthetic she was after in her company, but none around here were appropriate for that.

Interesting... maybe, a good match? Not at all.

Perhaps she could get Hifumi to leave once he returned, then she could have her peace.

More than whoever it was looking over her head.

"Excuse me, did you want something?" she said irritably, turning to face who was behind her, before instantly changing her tone once she saw it was Sonia behind her.

"My apologies, I didn't realise it was you, did you need my assistance with anything?"

Sonia simply stood with a smile as she said, "Oh please, don't feel like you need to treat me any differently to anyone else here. While I'm among the rest of you, I'm just another student. You just happened to pique my curiosity."

"I'm honoured, but I fail to see what has got your curiosity."

"If I'm not mistaken, one of my number has left this very room in order to serve someone here. Since we're alone here, I deduced that was you."

Celestia gave her a blank look l, responding, "Is that something of note, there are those who serve, and those who are meant to serve, we simply are part of the former. I am of a higher class myself, you see."

Sonia giggles a little, causing Celestia to shoot her a confused look, "Did I say something you find amusing?"

"Just a little... surprising is all. Keeping such a hierarchy up even in such a situation. Are you one of noble standing? There's something about your manner of speech that gives that impression."

"Of course," Celestia flips a page of her book, "It's little surprise you could tell something like that. Yes, though not quite at your level, of course. Still, I have my own standing. And as for the way I speak, well, I believe you would know all about that, your own accent gives something away. I admit to having never been to Novoselic, but my travels have taken me close in the past. I spent most of my time in France, of course, but it was a shame that I never got a chance to visit your nation."

She had an intense look as she surveyed Sonia, who simply kept her smile, though it looked a little more awkward than before, Celestia noticed, and diverted her eyes back to her texts.

"My apologies, I have, somewhat of a fascination with the way nobility works in cultures other than my own. Especially those of European countries. So it's hardly any surprise when you caught my eye. Still, the manner you have around the others who are here... don't match what I would expect of royalty. The very idea of putting yourself at the others level... it's rather not what I expected, to not take the opportunity to rule over the common folk here. Or is it that the monarchy works in a different way for you than what I have seen of other countries?"

"I don't think it's any different," Sonia replied after some consideration, "I have seen much of the royals of neighbouring lands and the airs they put on. And they don't seem that much different from what I've experienced, the castles look similar to the ones I reside in as well."

Celestia snapped to the attention at the mention of a castle, "You don't say? That's something most can only dream of. It's always been a desire of mine, to own a castle of my own. But even with my own affluence and my talent for gambling, I have yet to acquire the means in order to do so. Quite the ordeal it is. Should we make it out of here, I hope I'll get the chance to see yours in person."

Sonia clasped her hands together, "Of course, I believe that once we're back, Novoselic could benefit from the knowledge of several friends I've met here!"

Celestia looked like she was going to say something, but hesitated, simply returning to her original smile and adding, "Of course, but please, as you invite ten others, please don't forget to invite me as soon as possible. My schedule is rather busy, but for such an opportunity as this, I'm sure I can find a clearing."

Celestia wondered what Sonia could see in the others, still, maybe getting some insight from them wasn't the worst, even if none of them immediately appeared to match her... ideals.

Sonia nodded in understanding, "I will let you know once all has been arranged. In turn, I would like to know more about you. What standing do you have that allows you such authority over others. I'm sure it's quite something!"
"Er... yes quite," Celestia showed just a flicker of hesitation, "but that is a story for another time, I'm afraid. I don't mean to be rude, but unfortunately, I will need to retreat to my readings for now, at least once my... assistant returns to me."

Sonia nodded in understanding, "Indeed, I don't mean to interrupt you any further. Consider my curiosity satisfied for now. I need to make some further introductions myself, get to know the others."

Celestia felt a flash of irritation, seeing Sonia see the others as just as worthy of attention, but didn't draw attention to it. At least this allowed her to not address her questions straight away.

"Very well, until the next time. I wonder if you'll find someone of interest to you. Well, we've probably got some time here anyway, just don't let the game claim you in the meantime."

17:25, Canteen

"I did not expect one to be reduced to a mere minion so quickly..."

As Hifumi had set to the task of acquiring Celestia's tea, he had found himself face to face with the ultimate breeder, stood in the way of the door, facing him.

"Hehe, I am no mere servant," Hifumi laughed as he adjusted his glasses, trying to manoeuvre his way around Gundham, "I just have respect and a desire to help those in need, like a true hero of the people. Still, for one such as yourself to associate yourself with 'normal' people, well, I can tell that this is an unusual circumstance."

"And what are you implying with such a declaration? Have you perceived into the unknown to uncover something about my identity. Speak mortal, for my sealed arm will only remain so for so long, and if you test me you'll received its wrath!" Gundham exclaimed, gripping on his right arm and scowling at Hifumi at the same time.

Hifumi gave a small chuckle in response, "You cannot fool The Alpha and the Omega! I have seen many characters like you to know the depth of your image. It is a case of the Chūnibyō! Though to meet a real life case is something else!"

Gundham's scowl turn to a look of outright fury, "Do not mock me in such a way. I am not a work of fiction in one of your stories. I am sent by the devils themselves. It is an act of mercy that I not punish your for your insolence!"

"I see, well, I didn't think you'd take kindly to such ideas." Hifumi continued to attempt to find a way around him, but to no avail. "But what would an overlord want with me? That's the real question isn't it?"

Gundam stayed resolute as he stood his ground. "Merely giving what advice I can to the mortals around me. Be wary of what heed to pay to the Ebon witch, for if she has you wrapped around her finger, it'll become more difficult to resist her in this deadly game! Take charge of yourself, at least, or become swallowed in darkness, unable to resist the pull by yourself!"

"Ah, you're one of those types." Hifumi gave a smug smile. "Your specialty is beasts correct?"

Gundham glared, not letting his eyes leave Hifumis. "Indeed, though what you aspire to ascertain from that is unknown to me. With your previous conclusions I don't except this one to have any accuracy behind it either. But if you're going to persist with your outlandish theories, then out with it already!"

"Hehe, but of course," Hifumi responded with a snicker, "It's really quite simple. You're following the theory of the Alpha male. Ascribing the traits of the wolves to our lives here. But why the suggestion to me? Don't you want to be the Alpha yourself?"
"As I thought," Gundham snarled, "A ridiculous theory derived by base assumptions. Allow me to shred those nonsensical ideas you have!"

Gundham started to gesture wildly as he continued to speak.

"Firstly, if you knew anything about wolves, you would know that the concept of an 'Alpha Male' is largely based on a fallacy, and not sometime that actually takes place in the wild at all. And I have no need to command those that reside here and, my point is, neither should anyone else residing in this ursine hell!"

Hifumi didn't speak, waiting to see if Gundham was going to say anything else. When he didn't, Hifumi responded, "It's just a cup of tea anyway, and perhaps have my own motivations for helping out."

"I do not deny that. But you're first claim was that of being a 'hero to the people" and yet now you speak of your own motives. How quickly the mask fades when it faces even the slightest amount of scrutiny!"

Hifumi, long since having abandoned attempting to get around Gundham, mocked him in retaliation, "I'm putting on a mask? How about your whole darkness persona?"

With both sides facing off, neither wanting to back down, a silence fell between them. It seemed to last for a few minutes before it broke. A low, roaring laugh coming from Gundham.

"You do not back down so easily! That much is true! A relief to say the least, if it weren't, it would only be a matter of time before a simple cup of tea became a strong-armed accomplice!"

Hifumi scoffed, "I wouldn't be cowed into helping like that. I have a sense of justice after all, and slaying a life goes against that. It doesn't matter who makes such a suggestion!"

"I do hope you keep to that word, the machinations that are present here... what we have seen is most likely only a precursor for what's to come.

At least if that accursed bear intends to make good on keeping up with this game. The last thing we need is someone who is easily felled by the first silver tongue they hear! If any of the champions of fate present in this apocalyptic academy intend to be swayed by that abomination's persuasion, such talents could quickly be used in a corrupted plot!"

Gundham took a step to the side as he kept his gaze upon Hifumi, not quite done, but not keeping him from leaving either.

Hifumi responded, "Ah yes, the perils of one who has the high charisma stat, swaying others to their whims. Quite the conundrum indeed. But only time will tell who has that trait among us. I will be on the lookout for as by who try to alter the wills of our comrades."

"While also making sure you are not prey to it yourself!"

"I will not allow myself into such be a thing. I leave it as is, a simple cup of tea."

22:58, Classroom 3-C

As night fell, the Imposter glanced out of the window of the highest point he could find. Night would be an ideal time to sneak around, after all, and the perfect time for someone to strike. In order to keep others safe, he'd have to be as vigilant as possible.

Vigilant enough that he heard the footsteps behind him and quickly turned to face the person approaching.

"I was wondering who was here," the voice belong to Kyoko, "I'm not armed, and that appears to be true for you as well."

"Of course, I wasn't expecting anyone here, did you get the idea to stake out this place as well."

"I considered it, but was more concerned with checking that was you were doing."

The imposter thought for a moment before responding, "There seemed to be a sort of... tension growing today. Almost as if something happened, though I don't know what. Any attempt at unity could break before we get very far as this rate."

"Did you think it was likely to work?" Kyoko said, eyes raised.

"In all honesty, probably not," the Imposter admitted, "But it was worth a try."

"Perhaps, still, keeping an eye out is the best move. But it's still surprising that you would do that."

"Wait!" The Imposter called out. "What are you planning to do?"

"Nothing." She replied, "I don't need to plan anything. I just need to observe. And find out anything I can."

"Then who are you?"

"That is for me, and me exclusively, to know. You have your secrets, and I have mine."

She left without another word. He went back to observing the area from the window, but saw nothing apart from Kyoko returning to the dorms.

Giving up, he followed suit 10 minutes later.

The Imposter paused, before turning to her.

"What do you mean?"

Kyoko looked at him, taking time to get a read of him.

"I know a lot about the data of the Ultimates here. There's been several interviews after all. And the way you act is inconsistent with the way Byakuya Togami has been presented in the past. Either you have changed heavily in the time frame or... well, the fact that there are supposedly two Byakuyas walking around makes the alternative answer quite obvious."

She takes a step towards him. The Imposter backed up against the wall.

"Either way, you're drawing a lot of attention, and suspicion, towards yourself."

With that, she turned and walked away just as quickly.

"Just thought you should know that, whoever you are."

"Wait!" he called out after her, "Who exactly are you, anyway?"

"You're not the only one with secrets, remember that."

With that, she left without another word. The imposter returned to observation, but aside from the brief moment of seeing Kyoko return to her dorm, he saw nothing. Eventually, he gave up and followed suit.

Chapter Text

8:45am, Outside Student dorms

With each day passing, the motive videos continue to weigh on everyone's mind. Attempts to get each other's videos to find their own has been met with failure. Maki had completely dismissed the one she got. She'd taken a glance at who she got, and there was nothing new of note. Still, it was a concern for her. Less what was on the video, but who saw it, that was another matter. Still, she needed to find out. If the recipient hadn't seen it, that was enough for her, but chances were, that wasn't going to be the case. Kaito... was acting far too sociable for it to be him. If he saw the video, surely he'd stay away. No, if someone had seen it, and not said anything, then it must mean they're keeping their distance. Hoping that she was right, she headed out of the dorms to the canteen.

"Hey Maki-roll!" And she managed to walk very little before Kaito has sprung up again.

"Were you waiting for me out here?

"Partly, I was also waiting to recruit more for the training session tonight. Thought I'd catch some on the way to breakfast. Glad to see your joining."

"Only to get people off my back. If I don't show up, some idiot is going to think I'm up to something. My presence doesn't mean anything. I have no intention of socialising, either there or at training. It's just a way of passing the time."

"For now," Kaito replied, "But it's only a matter of time, trust me! But if you wanna do it that way, then go for it!"

"Don't make me regret this..." Maki mumbled to herself, "Who're you trying to get to join?"

"No-one in particular, but someone will be hiding away to themselves and I'll bring them along!"

"Unless they refuse..."

"And miss an opportunity to be a sidekick to the Luminary of the stars? No chance!"

"And what makes you think anyone would want to be a... sidekick?"

"Why not? When I get out of here, I'll finally reach the stars, and every sidekick will be a part of that legacy! Imagine it, first escaping a deadly game, then straight into exploring uncharted territory!"

Maki glared at him, "You say escape, but do you have a plan on getting us out of here? If not, you're just being naïve."

"It's early yet, but in time we will, just got to hold onto hope and one of us will find a way."

"This is a waste of time," Maki concluded, "Think what you like, but if you're not careful, that attitude will get you in trouble. Not that I can stop you. We're all in this on my own, only an idiot would think differently. Don't keep spouting this nonsense at training, it will only distract me."

She turned to leave, hearing the slight footsteps before they stopped coming after her. She paused. A couple of seconds later passed. Then she left.

9:29, Student Canteen

The cluster of breakfast didn't seem that much different from usual, with the groups on mingling in different formations. Korekiyo has stayed in a corner observing and making his own conclusions. He noticed that the musically talented students weren't sitting together. Kaede was less unusual, since she commonly stuck with Shuichi, but Ibuki and Sayaka appeared to have seated themselves on opposite ends of the cafeteria.

"Very curious..."

"You have some observations, I assume."

Korekiyo glanced up, noting Kyoko standing across from him. He simply chucked in reply. "Nothing especially noteworthy, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't take note of little changes around here. Dynamics are starting to form, and in our position, it's worth taking note of what they are, and what could cause it to change." He lets a small silence occur, before adding, "Don't take that to mean I have any nefarious plans, I am little more than an observer, after all, something like this could make a fascinating study into what could push someone over the edge."

"You sound almost as if you have something to gain from this," Kyoko gave a sceptical look.

Korkiyo sipped his tea before adding, "If you think that means I'm involved in trapping us here, you can disregard that thought. If it were me, I wouldn't also subject myself to this game. My study would be completely futile if I were to fall in this game, after all. No, I would be observing, probably from a safe distance, in case my captors happened to get out, intent of finding me and holding me accountable. Of course, our captor probably has a different motive for keeping us, and that could result in them needing to stay close by. Still, I'm not the detective here. I've spoken to him, but he's not quick to draw to conclusions."

Kyoko took a seat opposite him, "What would your observations about the group be?"

Korekiyo raised an eyebrow, "And what's got you so curious? Not that I mind talking about it."

"Nothing too important, but it could help with survival."

"Well, I think two of our musically inclined have had some sort of falling out. Perhaps the stress has gotten to one or both of them, but I feel it may be more than that. No one has died yet, but that doesn't mean nothings been planned, or even worse, attempted. Still, this is just speculation at the moment."

"Indeed," Kyoko nodded, "Nothing to act on, but certainly worth consideration."

"Another note is that we may have a zealot on our hands. Not a likely issue yet, but could be a source of division among us, or be someone who could act volatile. I'm sure if you've met her, you don't need me to explain who I'm referring to."

As Kyoko took this in, he asked, "Have you noticed anything?"

"Nothing as of yet, but I'll keep you in mind if I do."

Kyoko could feel his eyes on her, as if searching for a weakness, a tell, anything. It felt like at least a minute before he averted his gaze. "Oh, that is a shame," he concluded, "I was hoping someone had some extra insights, but I suppose I haven't seen you socialising much. I must admit, you are one of the more mysterious ones currently."

"I ask that you not read too much into me. I am sure you have no need for such information."

"Ah, you have your own secrets... well, I won't pry. I'm sure anything that needs to come out will do so in time. I assure you, it's simply my curiosity getting the better of me. Though being so closely guarded, it could be dangerous, no one knowing your motives could lead to paranoia around you."

"Perhaps, though the same could be said for looking too far into something you shouldn't."

Korekiyo let out a short chuckle, "Duly noted."

On the far table, Chihiro was alone, typing away on a laptop, before hearing a voice.

"Oh Chihiro, working on another project."

Chihiro looked back to Tenko, pausing typing. "Er... y-yeah, I thought I might be able to make something that could help us out of here. It's not going well so far, but I'll keep working at it."

"Nice to see you're hard at work trying to protect us all. Better than what the males are doing at the moment. Degenerates just keep trying to get with the women here and not doing anything to help."

A third voice spoke out, "I think that's just Teruteru."

The voice revealed himself to being Rantaro, standing a little distance from the two looking over.

"You would say that," Tenko snarled at him, "but you're just the same as all the others, I bet."

"Don't hold Teruteru's perversions on all of us," Rantaro chided, "I assure you, we don't all act like that.

Chihiro piped in, "Sorry, but I'm with Rantaro here, I don't think they're all that bad, sone of them are nice."

"That's because they haven't shown their true colours yet. But I swear through them, and that includes you! Don't think I don't know what the ring you're wearing means. You're just looking for the next innocent girl to draw into your perverted little games!"

Rantaro fiddled with the black ring on his finger while replying, "While I could comment of your... stereotyping view of such people, I feel you have massively got the wrong idea. While it is true that those with an inclination towards... partner sharing, do wear these rings, they avoid wearing them of this finger as wearing them here implies... well, the exact opposite. If you knew what this symbolised you'd know that seducing anyone here is the last thing on my mind."

Chihiro added, "Oh, I see what you mean, now you mention it."

Tenko turned her attention to Chihiro, "You understand what he's on about?"

"I-I think so, I've seen reference to that in the internet, it does cause some confusion due to two close but opposite signs being present, but yeah, I think I know what Rantaro is talking about and if so, then he definitely isn't interested."

Rantaro shrugged, "Even if I was, I have way too much on my plate to even give it much consideration. If I'm able to get out of this place, I can continue, but at the moment, being here, I can't do much. Would've thought having an adventurer talent would've gotten me out of scrapes like this, but I can't find any opening."

"Same here," Chihiro responded with a sigh, "I was hoping I could get into a system, or something, but to no avail."

Tenko added, "I tried breaking the way out, but nothing would budge. Whoever made this place made it I too sturdy. And I don't know which way would get us out of wherever we are anyway."

"Based on a few patrols I've made, I don't think we're near any other civilisation either," Rantaro concluded, "Which is a shame, we may've been able to get their attention. It makes finding help from the outside much harder."

"That leaves us stuck for a plan, but it's still early," Chihiro added.

"Yes, we just have to hope that nothing happens in the meantime, if someone has enough of a motive to strike, the longer we take, the more panicked they'll become. Just in case, I've been trying to steer clear of the person I have the motive video for."

"I'm not worried about that!" Tenko added, "but that's because I didn't get a degenerates video!"

"It might be better not to call that out," said Chihiro, "If someone is desperate, they might be looking for clues as to who they have."

"Oh, yeah, I probably shouldn't shout that out..."

Ryoma heard Tenko talk, realising from what she said that she had a girls motive video and shifted away. Using the fact that everyone was talking, he went around undetected. But still unable to determine whose video he had. He'd hoped that he could simply strike a deal using the video he received, but no such luck, they're all jumbled. He gives up on that group and starts to move over to the next group. Until he heard a footstep directly behind him.

"Skulking around won't help you get what you want."

Ryoma noticed even without turning around that whoever was behind him was someone who towered over him. Nekomaru continued, "Still looking for your motive video? Keep that up and everyone will think you're planning something."

"There's something I need to know."

"And you can't see that this desperate search is going to draw even more attention to yourself."

"Look, as far as I know, my video is empty," Ryoma took a piece of candy from his pocket and tossed it into his mouth, "All I'm looking for is a reason, any reason, to make it out of here alive."

"You think there's a chance your video is empty? Monokuma's motive doesn't make sense with an empty video."

"Actually, it makes perfect sense," Ryoma rebutted, "Think about it, for a murder to happen, there needs to be a victim. Someone with no one waiting outside for them would be an easy target, someone who doesn't have any concern about defending themselves."

"And what if your motive is empty?" Nekomaru paused before hastily adding, "I don't think it is, but have you thought about it?"

"Then nothing changes," Ryoma added, "It's not like I plan on handing myself over to the first person that finds their video. But some might have really strong reasons to get out of here. We have a royal, for starters, hers could be the fate of an entire country for all we know."

"These videos won't help anyone," said Nekomaru, "obsessing over finding yours, it can't do you any good, can't you find meaning here, it doesn't have to have anything to do with your talent if that isn't going to work for you. Just... something."

"Still acting as a manager, I see, you have a long way to go in that case."

"Of course! Managers are forever learning from those they work for. I don't think that'll stop. Do of course I have somewhere to go!"

"I've seen your kind many times before, but your approach is... something different, is it just your talent, or..."

Ryoma fell silent as his gaze focused on Nekomaru. If he was thinking anything, he quickly brushed it off.

"Well, it doesn't look like I'm going to find anything here. If someone here knows they have mine, they have some reason to keep it from me. Is it for the best? Honestly, I couldn't tell."

"Could be, I'm not interested in finding mine, it's out there to drive us into doing something we'll regret, so why bother with it. We're kept it together so far, why change that now?"

1:57pm Classroom 1-B

Shuichi looked towards those around him, clutching a notepad. "Has anyone found anything of note?"

Akane was the first to start, "I tried to find a way to climb over the barriers, but no matter what I climbed from or how hard I leapt, I couldn't get nearly high enough. I think there's some more buildings over though, I saw what looked like one as I tried to leave through the classroom window!"

Ibuki piped in, "So she asked Ibuki to listen out near the sides to see if there was anyone there. Ibuki didn't hear anything though."

"Noted, though please don't do anything that will endanger yourself, Akane." Shuichi took notes, "The question is, what purpose do these buildings serve, if we don't have access to them? If there aren't any outsiders we can alert, then assumably they belong to whoever's keeping us here."

"If they belong to whoever's keeping is here," Sonia added, "Is there a reason we don't have access to them? It feels rather crowded in here as times."
"Not the first point I'd make, but it does leave questions." Shuichi glanced between everyone present before continuing. In addition, Kirumi, Sakura, Hajime, Chiaki, Kaito and Kazuichi were present. Though Kazuichi was paying more attention to Sonia than the conversation, leaving Shuichi to conclude she was the only reason he was there. "Perhaps we can find a way to get through to one of them. Not an easy feat, considering the obstacles, and of course, let's not endanger anyone in the process. We have no idea how volatile Monokuma's temperament is yet."

Hajime added, "Wouldn't we need to be quick, though, we can't guarantee the videos won't fall into the wrong hands sooner or later?"

"That is a concern," Shuichi said quietly, "It does feel like, unless it's a wide scale bluff, that one of them would cause this peace to break, seeing how scattered it already is."

It was Kirumi's turn to ask something, "And what about you? If something does happen, you'd be the one most positioned to solve it?"

"It looks that way, but my possession of this title is questionable to say the least. Anything I've done could be accounted to luck."

Sakura shook her head, "You may think that, but from what a know about the Ultimate Talent program, I don't see how anyone could get in on luck alone, unless they were accepted as an Ultimate Lucky student. It may be that you are not seeing the full picture of your achievements. I don't know what caused you to receive your title, but it has to be something substantial."

"I do agree, I think," Chaiki added, "but perhaps this isn't the best time to discuss it. If we can't access the surrounding areas, is it possible to scout what they actually are?"

"There could be one way," Shuichi started, "...Kazuichi Souda, was it?"

Upon hearing his name, he turned around to face the others, seeing all of them apart from Sonia face him. "Huh, what do you mean?"

"Couldn't you make something that could scout ahead and see what's on the other side of the walls more accurately?" Shuichi clarified.

"In theory, yes, but it would be a case of getting the materials sorted for it first. I've been trying to find anything to help us out, but the materials provided don't give us much to work with. And the rules prevent us from taking apart a surveillance camera in order to repurpose it. And the labs we have access to are all irrelevant."

"Guess we'll have to keep looking then," Sonia concluded.

"No worries!" Kaito added, "With everyone here, we'll be out in no time! For now, let's keep looking around and keep the peace between us. Anyone who wants to join the training session can meet me in the fields at 9pm! Stay strong, and listen to my sidekick here, while I find more to join us!"

Kaito left on his own. The others watches before resuming their conversation.

"I understand what he's saying, but it seems naïve," Kirumi said.

Shuichi nodded, "I think that's just the way he is. But denying the danger is an issue in itself. We can already see not everyone is willing to get along."

"At this point," Chaiki piped in, "We can only hope he's right."

3:13pm School Grounds

"A training session would give me chance to work out when there isn't a pool around. "Aoi mused over the idea when Gonta made the suggestion.

"That good to hear! Gonta tried convincing others, but it not go so well... Tenko threatened to throw Gonta, then Gonta asked if Tenko could really do that, and Tenko got annoyed and stormed off."

"Yeah, she does do that," Ali shrugged, "Dunno what that about, maybe she'll come round at some point. Who knows?"

"It isn't something we should push any further into," Sakura added, "No one's going to change a mind so securely set in a few days, especially with everyone constantly on guard. Still, back to the subject of the training. I hear it is Kaito Momota who is organising this, correct?"

When Gonta nods, she continues, "An astronaut would need to go through vigorous training in order to be successful. Though I must admit, I am curious as to what training you perform. The muscle level you have... considering your talent is in a scientific field, it's is especially surprising. Would you be willing to divulge the training practices you have engaged in during the training session."

"Gonta... didn't really think of them as training practices. Nekomaru said things Gonta do for fun, Nekomaru would call intense training. Maybe it's due to the way Gonta lived in the past. When Gonta found humanity again, already looked very different. Some found it... intimidating, thought Gonta looked scary because of it."

As Gonta looked dejected at this though, Aoi added, "Don't worry about it, give it time and everyone will see you for who you are underneath them. Plus you around Nekomaru and Sakura, who both have lots of muscles as well, so it doesn't seem as strange."

"I do understand your predicament Gonta," Sakura said solemnly, "Even among the students here, some find my physique to be intimidating. It's takes some time to become resilient to the looks you get. It does help to be in the company of those who are more accepting."

Sakura looked between those around her. She notices Peko standing off to the side and attempts to bring her into the conversation. "Would you be willing to give the training session a try?"

Peko does not move from her spot, but she does respond, "I'm not sure, it may be viable to try working alongside others, even if my approach is usually a solitary one."

Peko shuffles a little uncomfortably, so Sakura adds, "No need to feel pressured to join in if you are not interested, I just feel like you could benefit your craft by expanding your knowledge of exercise systems, and the same goes for the rest of us. Plus, if Kaito intends to make this a regular occurrence, I'm sure he would welcome newcomers at a later date."

"It is, something to be considered." As Peko spoke, Sakura noticed her gaze of everyone else, as if sizing them up, "You have given much to consider, perhaps I shall see you there."
She walked off without another word.

"Curious," Sakura turned her attention back to the others, "Of all the students here with athletic talents, she is the one I know least about. Usually, I've heard of at least a tournament, but for her, her record's blank. No note of achievements, no knowledge of where she trains or anything at all."

"Guess she wants to keep it secret for some reason," Aoi suggested.

Sakura nodded, "Perhaps, though it is only speculation, not worth paying any mind to. With any luck, she will divulge any information in due time. For the time being, perhaps we should make our own efforts to get others to join us in this. An endeavour like this will only strengthen our ties, which is exactly what we need in here."

"Why don't we split up for now?" Aoi suggested.

"That make sense," Gonta agreed, "cover more ground that way!"

As the trio split off, Sakura considered her options on who to convince.

'I don't think I'll convince anyone too easily intimidated, Aoi might serve better in that case. There are some I would like to try my hand at sparring against. Gonta and Nekomaru are obvious choices, but perhaps one of the others would join as well, I did hear that Akane is always looking for a sparring partner. Perhaps she should be the first person I ask...'

5:35pm Recreation room 

Chiaki sat in the corner bid the recreation room, playing an RPG on her handheld. She'd drawn the attention of Himiko and Tsumugi , who were both looking at the game from above.

"I don't see many players playing Rikardo in this mission, why is that?" Tsumugi asked, fixated on the game.

"Oh, that's because he doesn't have a lot of MP at this point of the game, and the boss doesn't take a lot of damage from physical attacks." Chaiki kept playing the game as she answered.

Himiko pouted, "Why do Mages need to rely on MP? Wouldn't they be better if they could just go 'whoosh' and cast the spell? Imagine what I could do if didn't have to keep recharging my MP. I could have us out of here so quickly..."

"Well, that's would make them too powerful, I think," Chaiki said between moves, "Magic attacks are really powerful, so if you could keep spamming them, there'd be no reason to use the melee characters. I think it's better to have a variety of characters that are usable to suit different playstyles, and the non magic characters don't get forgotten."

"You ever thought about designing games" Tsumugi asked, "A game built by the Ultimate gamer, that's got to be amazing."

"Hmm... I'm not sure, I've dabbled a bit, but gamers often think they know what makes the best game, but that doesn't always work in practice. Some try to do too much. If I was, I'd need to work with many others to make something truly good. There's potential in that, I guess. I definitely prefer playing, and I'd need to decide what I want to make."

"Nyeh, sounds like a lot of work..."

"You can't take shortcuts in gaming," Tsumugi agreed, "or the players will let you know about it."

"Everyone wants different things," Himiko concluded, "if my magic let me make a brand new game, that would be much less of a pain."

"Where would you even begin making a game, Tsumugi stepped away, looking for something to take notes with."

"Maybe what type of game you want, or maybe even what story you want to tell," Chaiki said absentmindedly, "If the parts don't match up, the game won't be liked as much, sometimes themes just don't match. But then again, if you can make something different that works... that's a risk versus rewards thing."

"The question is how much of a risk you want to take," Tsumugi stated trying to map something out, "Perhaps designing characters could be a good angle as well. Maybe Hifumi would have some ideas."

Himiko looked over to her, "Are you actually trying to make something?"

"I was just going over ideas," Chaiki, "But if we don't know how long we'll be here, it might be nice to find something to help us pass the time. If we can get others on board. We'd only be able to do such much here, but with the layout... perhaps."

Tsumugi seemed to be focused on making some designed and Chiaki had resumed progress on her game, so Himiko was left to herself. Moving away from the others, she decided to take a rest. At least these two didn't seem to be up to anything. If they were, well she wasn't in much of a position to defend herself.

9:28 Dormitory corridor

Shuichi hadn't made much progress with finding any more information on the academy or how to escape it. He only left his room after checking the time, realising the time for the training session was fast approaching. He might as well get there early, so he tidied up his work, making sure it was arranged efficiently for when he got back to it.

As he left his dorm, and entered the corridor, he noted just how quiet it was at this time. Perhaps no one wanted to be out at night if they felt their life was at risk. A valid concern, especially in this game. But it did leave Shuichi wondering how long this paranoia would remain at just that. He didn't mean to be pessimistic, but working as a detective had caused him to see the worst case scenario. He looked around the dorms, looking for anything unusual.

The click of a door opening. He turned round quickly. Gonta stood there waving cheerily.

"Hello Shuichi!"

The tension Shuichi inadvertently felt began to drop. Gonta was part of the training session, he was just doing the same thing. He began to feel at ease. Gonta, in the little time they knew each other, seemed to dislike any conflict.
'For the best', Shuichi thought, 'if Gonta did want to kill me, I won't be able to win that fight. No, don't think like that.' Shuichi shook his head, causing a look of concern from Gonta.

"Is Shuichi alright?"

"Oh, yeah, it's nothing, I just got distract..."

It was then he saw it, a door had been left ajar, the dorm to Ryoma's room. Shuichi stepped closer.

"One moment, Gonta, and please keep your voice down, I need to check something."

Gonta stops where he is as Shuichi looked into the room. No noise, no sign of a disturbance, and no Ryoma. Shuichi steps in looking for anything unusual. It doesn't take long, for him to see a note dropped beside the desk. As Shuichi picks it up, he feels his hands trembling, anticipating the worst. Hesitantly, he opens it and reads.

"From one prison to another, I can see that there is no life for me out there. My motive video is almost certainly empty with no one out there for me. I know some is you were determined to get us all out of here, but that is naivety. It is with that I made my decision. Rather than be killed by someone in this sick game, I will take matters into my own hands. I wish you all luck with getting out of here, as you all probably have people waiting on the other side. For me, it feels only fitting that my death comes about by the thing that got me into this situation in the first place. Let the Ultimate Tennis Lab become my final resting place."

Shuichi froze momentarily, a suicide note of all things. But when he thought about it, he had no idea when this note was written. It was a low chance, but perhaps there was still time.

"Gonta!" He shouted as he left the room. "We need to go now!"

"Oh, Okay! Gonta will follow!"

Shuichi broke out into a sprint with Gonta easily able to keep up with him. The nighttime outside was quiet save for their running, the other attendants hadn't left yet by the looks of it. Shuichi doesn't even register another set of footsteps approaching.

"Hey, what's the rush." Aoi ran alongside them.

"No time!" Shuichi responds, "If we don't hurry, someone may die!"

Aoi said no more as she followed, the three of them ended up at the entrance to the Ultimate Tennis lab.

Shuichi could barely manage to put his hand to the door, what would he see in there. He didn't know how long he hesitated, he could hear nothing except his own heart pounding. He felt the hands of Gonta and Aoi also press on the door, covering his hand.

"We've got to do it," Aoi said solemnly, "On the count of three... one... two... three."

They pushed, Shuichi hoping that there was nothing on the other side.

But that hope would quickly be dashed, as there is no place for hope in a game like this.

The interior was a mess, with scattered chairs and objects Shuichi couldn't make out, until Aoi flipped on the light.

And promptly let out an intense scream.

The killing game had begun, and taken its first life.

As there, hanging from the scoreboard was the limp, lifeless body of Kaito Momota, the Ultimate Astronaut.

Number of students remaining: 47