Author's Note: If y'all wondered what happened to SIDE:CONTINUE, it got pushed aside in favor of this. FNAF Sister Location came out and I got to entertaining a certain... idea... and that was that.

I've never written anything horror related, so, no joke, it's been hard to sleep at night while I've been working on this :'D I'm such a wuss.

Five Nights at Monokuma's

Monokuma's Pizza

Makoto Naegi squeezed the brake handles on his bike, easing to a stop in front of the old pizzeria. Monokuma's Pizza.

The place had been burned out and abandoned for years, but the city had yet to tear it down. The windows were boarded up and caution tape was still plastered across the door from the original investigation of the fire. It had always struck Makoto as curious why the owner had abandoned it. According to the news, the fire occurred in the middle of the night and no one was killed, there was only property damage. Makoto had only been a little kid at the time and never visited the pizzeria himself, but he recalled something about "state-of-the-art entertainment technology." The only thing he could figure was that the damages had been so severe, the owner simply couldn't recover financially. Still, it didn't explain why the building had remained untouched for nearly a decade.

Of course, there were rumors that the place was haunted. His friend, Sayaka Maizono, was a bit of an expert on urban legends, and the ones that circled the old pizzeria were standard fare. Official reports stated that the fire was caused by faulty wiring, but it was rumored that a night security guard actually died in the fire—or the fire was started by the guard himself. Some people claimed that if you peered in the windows at night, you could see the guard's ghost wandering the halls.

Not that Makoto believed any of that stuff.

It had been an accident, plain and simple. If a guard had really perished in the fire, a body would've been found. There was nothing strange about faulty wiring, and if the owner had sacrificed building upkeep for this technology, disaster would've struck eventually.

He couldn't help wondering, however, what exactly the technology was. Sayaka had told him that they were amazing, lifelike human animatronics who could sing and dance, but Makoto had a hard time believing that. If that sort of technology existed, wouldn't it be better used somewhere else besides a rundown pizzeria?

He stared at the building a few moments longer before swinging off his bike and walking it over to the sidewalk. He stepped up to the window, peering in through a small crack between the boards. There wasn't much to see inside. It was dark, dusty, and untouched. The ghost rumors made him wonder if anyone had ever broken into the place, but he couldn't make out any signs of disruption in the lobby.

It was as if time had simply ground to a halt inside, and had not moved past the day before the fire.

Has it really sat here all these years, undisturbed? Makoto wondered. Rumors of a death would keep the general public away, but surely the place had to have been home to squatters at some point. Otherwise, where would the ghost stories come from?

Curiosity finally got the better of him and, checking to make sure the street was empty, he crept around the side of the building. The alley was eerily clean, as if no one even dared to pass through it. A padlock was on the gate of the fence that blocked in the back door, but Makoto scaled the chain-link easily. He scanned the empty pad of cement behind the building. There must've been a dumpster back there at some point.

The back door itself was partially boarded up, save for two planks leaning against the side of the building.

So, someone had broken in. Makoto reached into the space and gripped the doorknob, feeling it turn easily in his grasp. I knew it wasn't a ghost. Someone broke in here after the place shut down to use as a hideout.

He nudged the door open and peered inside. The hallway was dark, visibility quickly petering away within several yards. He could barely make out a restroom sign.

Sneaking inside was a terrible, terrible idea, but… He had his cell phone, didn't he?

Crouching down, he slid through the gap between the rotting boards. The scuff of his shoes on the gritty tile was too loud in the empty hallway, sending a shiver down his spine. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and lit up the screen, shining it down the corridor. Men and women's restrooms were to his left, while the wall on his right was covered in posters and papers. Stepping forward, he closed the door behind him. There wasn't any point in leaving it open; his phone was brighter than the fading afternoon light.

He crept forward, angling his phone screen toward the wall. Countless children's drawings had been taped up around the pizzeria posters. Most of the drawings were crudely done in crayon, but he could pick out commonalities in the art. There were bears—a lot of bears. A black bear, a white bear, a pink bear—although that one sometimes looked more like a rabbit—and bi-colored bear. One of them was probably supposed to be "Monokuma." They were on the posters, too, but their presence was overwhelmed by the grinning girl in the center. She had bows in her voluptuous blonde pigtails and wore a short pink dress with a cupcake skirt. The name plastered at the bottom was "Junko Enoshima."

Had she been an entertainer at the establishment? Even if she'd quit working there after the pizzeria burned down, she might still be living in the area. Did she know anything about what caused the fire?

Suddenly, Sayaka's words floated back into his mind.

"They had these incredible human robots who could sing and dance! They were so lifelike, people couldn't even tell they were animatronics."

Makoto stared at the poster. It was clearly touched up, since it was a poster, but Junko Enoshima looked real enough. There was no way she was an animatronic.

The hallway ended, opening up into a large dining hall. Or, what used to be a dining hall. The place was in ruins, the floor covered in soot and half-burned tables. The remnants of a large stage were at the back of the room, presumably where performances were held.

Makoto was hesitant to enter the room. His phone was bright, but there was something about poking around an abandoned building alone that was putting him unreasonably on edge. Coming back another day with Sakaya was starting to sound like a good idea.

He shuffled slowly into the dining hall, furiously scanning every dark corner. Every time he looked somewhere else, the shadows in his peripheral vision seemed to churn. But there was nothing there. No one, no evidence of anyone—not a single soul.

Which, he noted, was odd. The boards had been torn away and the door was unlocked, and yet…

Perhaps it had just been someone curious, like him.

As he crossed the dining hall, flicking his phone light to and fro so he didn't trip or anything or fall through the floor, something up on stage caught the corner of his eye. At first, he thought it was just track lighting that had fallen, but there was something too… delicate about it. As he inched closer, his heart dropped into his stomach and he froze in terror.

An arm… a leg… a head…? Is that a body?

The hand holding his phone trembled, causing the light to bounce. It glinted off the side of the skull like—metal?

Steeling himself, Makoto approached the stage. It was indeed parts of a body strung up like a marionette. The torso was twisted at an odd angle, not lining up with the legs at all. The arms were spread, hanging limply. And the head was almost horizontal, as if it was being depicted to having had its neck snapped.

It was a woman, the short dress on its body burned and torn.

"...Junko… Enoshima…?"

His words were like a knife sliding through the stillness. It was her. It had to be her.

Who did this?

The shaking light picked up the glint again, making him look a little harder at the body. It made him sick to do so, but something was definitely wrong. Her hair was gone, which made sense if she'd died before the fire, but if she'd died before the fire, she'd be nothing but a skeleton by now. And something was sticking out of her severed arms and legs…

Wires?

"N-No way…" he whispered. "It's really… an animatronic? That's… That's impossible!"

But there she was. Robot Junko, torn apart, dangling above the stage.

"Why…?"

He couldn't come up with a reason. But if the last person who'd come into the pizzeria saw that, it made sense if they'd hightailed it out. That was beyond just being creepy.

Looking at it, it almost felt like… a sign. A sign for who, though, Makoto didn't know.

Leaving now was definitely a good idea. The best idea, in fact. Even without the creepy marionette Junko, the place was going to give him nightmares. But sludgy curiosity still nagged at the back of his mind. He was already aware the whats were terrifying, but if he never knew the why, it would be even harder to sleep.

If he found nothing else, he could chalk the marionette up to vandals with a disturbing sense of humor.

Makoto reluctantly turned away from Junko and headed over to the first door off the side of the stage. The knob was difficult to turn—it looked like it had gotten coated with something like paint. Smears of it were on the doorframe as well. He managed to wrench the door open, but it only swung in a foot or so before hitting something. It didn't budge any further no matter how hard he pushed on it, so he squeezed himself through the gap. From the small glimpse he'd caught of the room, it appeared to be costumes and spare parts—

There was someone standing behind the door.

Shrieking, Makoto dropped his phone. For a brief second, light flashed on the frizzy white hair, shredded clothes, and the partially torn-away face before the phone smacked into the ground and the room was plunged into blackness, save for a single, glowing yellow eye.

"Wh-Who…? Wh… Wh-What…"

It was no use. He couldn't even form a coherent sentence. Fixing his eyes on the yellow dot above him, he crouched down and blindly groped for his phone. His fingers closed around the case and he jammed the on button, but nothing happened. The fall had broken it.

What was he supposed to do?

The glowing eye hadn't moved. It was just another animatronic, right? It was damaged, just like the one on the stage. Well, maybe not that damaged, but after a fire and a decade without maintenance, it was impossible for it to still be working.

They just… sing and dance, right? Makoto shakily got to his feet. The animatronic was so much taller than him. It's just a little creepy-looking. There's no reason to be afraid of it.

He forced out a laugh to try and drown out the blood roaring in his ears. Sayaka would never let him hear the end of it if she saw how scared he was. If they were together, they'd have a good laugh over getting spooked and continue merrily on their way. He could just… continue merrily on his way, too.

It was even convenient that the animatronic's eye was lit up, otherwise finding the door again would take way too long.

Swallowing thickly, he shuffled, inch by inch, toward where he approximated the door was. He kept one hand outstretched, but found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the yellow glow as he got closer to it. It was standing right behind the door. All it would have to do was reach out and—

No. It was an animatronic for children's entertainment.

Not a serial killer.

His hand brushed something hard and metal, and he jumped, squeaking, but it was just the doorknob. Grasping it firmly, Makoto hauled his heavy body back through the small gap in the doorway and slammed the door shut behind him.

He did it.

He was out.

Out, he realized, in the pitch black dining hall with no light. Trying to cross it blindly would be a nightmare in its own right; debris was everywhere, and he couldn't speak for the floor's stability. He would just have to use the wall to feel his way around to the other side. That was fine. As long as he could leave.

It was a painstakingly slow journey—one that required him to pass in front of yet another opening—but eventually his fingers hit the next wall. He shifted, changing walls, and cast a glance behind him instinctively. Not that there was anything, just blackness and a little yellow light.

Makoto's blood ran cold.

He flattened his back against the wall, blinking rapidly, but the glow remained hovering where it was. How far away was it? A few yards? A few feet? Was it moving closer?

How had the animatronic gotten out of the supply closet without making any noise?

"L-Look, I'm n-not trying to d-do anything," he stammered, fully aware that he was pleading for his life to a machine. "I-I'm j-just trying to leave… I'll g-get out… a-and I won't bother you anymore!"

A noise like radio static split the room. It began high-pitched, then lowered, then raised again. Makoto could've sworn he heard clips of words, but they were too garbled to make out. He slowly edged away from the sound with his back against the wall. The animatronic had to be making it. It was definitely broken, but clearly not broken enough.

The wall suddenly fell out behind him and he realized he'd been dumped into another hallway. A dim red glow was coming from a room further down, and Makoto ran toward it without thinking. The glow turned it to be, thankfully, an emergency light in what looked like a security office. Makoto darted in and turned, catching a glimpse out the glass window. The yellow eye was hovering outside.

The animatronic was following him.

Glancing around the room in panic, his eyes landed on a door switch. He slammed his fist into it harder than necessary, and a heavy metal door slid down, providing him with a solid barrier between himself and the animatronic. Turning, he noticed a second doorway behind him and shut that one as well.

He was safe. Safe, but also very, very trapped.

The window was too dirty to make out much on the other side, but Makoto drew in a sharp breath when he saw the yellow eye come into view again. A hand, black and mechanical, pressed against the glass. The fingers slowly closed, then drew away.

Bang!

The glass shuddered with the force of the punch. Makoto leaped backwards, catching his foot on the edge of the desk chair, and crashed to the floor. His heart beat wildly in his chest. If the animatronic smashed the window, he was as good as gone. He held his breath, waiting, but the next hit never came. The animatronic withdrew its hand again, and then the eye was gone.

Did it… Did it leave?

Makoto wasn't about to open the door and check.

He surveyed his hideout instead, idly wondering if there was anything he could possibly use as a weapon. The room was undamaged, but there wasn't a whole lot in it. Just a desk with a computer, a table fan, a couple empty pizza boxes, and a stuffed bear in the corner. He went over to inspect the bear first, as it was the most out of place.

It was half-black and half-white, like some of the drawings near the bathrooms, with a round tummy and oddly protruded bellybutton. While its plush body was squishy, it was surprisingly heavy when Makoto picked it up. The white side of it reminded him of a polar bear, but the black side's red eye and sharp-toothed grin was a little scary.

"I don't suppose you'll protect me, will you?" Makoto asked, holding the bear up. He half-expected it to come to life as well, but was relieved it didn't. "...Nah. You don't look particularly reliable, anyway."

He took the bear with him over to the desk and sat down. There wasn't much else to do besides examine the computer. Saying a silent prayer, he pushed the power button.

While the machine booted up, he glanced at the various sticky notes attached to the monitor. A couple were just combinations of letters and numbers—passwords, most likely—but there was one note that caught his attention. Pulling it off the monitor, he read it over.

"Junko – show stage

Monokuma – show stage

Usami – show stage

Shiro & Kurokuma – pirate's cove

Nagito – parts and service

Izuru?"

Frowning, Makoto read it a few more times. Junko was an animatronic, so it was probably safe to assume the rest of the names on the list were animatronics as well. The show stage was in ruins, so it was possible "Monokuma" and "Usami" had been destroyed in the fire. He wasn't sure where "pirate's cove" was, but "parts and service" sounded like the room he'd found the one-eyed animatronic. "Nagito," if the locations were still accurate. That left "Izuru" with the question marks.

Makoto glanced down at the bear in his lap. "You're not Izuru, are you?"

The bear did not reply.

This was all well and good, but why had someone bothered to write down the locations of the animatronics in the first place? Unless there was a reason their locations needed to be monitored, because they roamed at will, like Nagito was currently doing.

Makoto wasn't sure whether he liked having a name to call the yellow-eyed animatronic or not.

The computer finally prompted him for a password and he typed random ones from the stickies until one was accepted. He opened the security program, feeling excitement bubble up when fuzzy images of the pizzeria came up. The cameras were still working! He flipped through the various locations, but everything was still. Nagito was nowhere to be seen. Either he was hiding somewhere or he'd moved into one of the camera's blind spots.

The notion that Nagito might be aware of the cameras was too frightening to dwell on.

After fruitlessly studying the camera feed for any signs of movement, Makoto went into the control settings to see if there was any way to make the images brighter or clearer.

Options

Surveillance Log

Makoto hovered the mouse over the "Log" tab, then, after a moment's hesitation, clicked it. Sets of recordings popped up on the screen, all dated from ten years prior. There weren't very many of them, though. In fact, there only seemed to be log data from five nights.

Taking a deep breath, he selected the first night.