Maki was lying down on her bed. How had it come to this? Sixteen people trapped in some weird building and now they have to kill each other?
Letting her hand rest on her forehead, the girl took the Monophone out of her pocket. It was some kind of smartphone what Monokuma gave to all of them. Maki hadn't investigated hers yet. She pressed a button on the black and white phone's right side and the phone's screen lit up.
"Maki Harukawa" was the first thing the device displayed and right after that 5 icons popped up. One what looked like a map, another looking like some kind of bullet, a weird symbol, a some kind of speech bubble and one circle what had no text or picture whatsoever
Maki decided to check everything and started with a red icon what looked like a map. Maki tapped the icon and it took 5 seconds from it to open. Maki wasn't surprised about how it looked. Normal map showing 5 floors with black and white colors.. Not particularly interesting.
The second one was a grey circle with some kind of a bullet on it. It differed from the map a lot - no matter how many times Maki tapped, it didn't open up. The girl thought it was really weird. If it didn't open, why was it there in the first place?
The third one was some weird symbol. Maki had no idea what it was. She just tapped the icon and was greeted with a bunch of rules. No leaving the arena without permission. Nighttime from 10pm to 8am. No violence against Monokuma. Monokuma doesn't participate in the murder. Body discovery announcement plays after 3 or more people discover the body. Only the killer can tamper with the crime scene. Class trial will begin a few hours after the body's discovery. If you find the blackened, only they will get executed. If you pick a spotless, everyone except the killer will get executed. Breaking your Monophone is prohibited. Breaking the rules will result in a punishment or in other words, execution. Maki didn't find the rules interesting. They seemed to be the the same as always.
The fourth one was a speech bubble. It grabbed Maki's interest and it wasn't a letdown. Right after the app opened, instructions were laid out.
"Here's a handy-dandy messaging app! Each one of you has a code what is like a phone number! The code follows a simple system, so have fun trying to break the code! Without a code you can't message anyone, so try your best at cracking it! Upupupupupu! You can send any kind of text messages, so for example you want to trick your victim into going somewhere, this is the perfect way! But remember that the messages will be saved for 48 hours, so be careful!" - Monokuma
Maki stared at the instruction message and found how to close it. It was simple looking program. In the upper left corner it displayed the owner's full name and code. In the upper half was the 'write new message' option and in the lower half was the 'view already sent messages' option. Maki stared at her code. 131119. What could something like that mean? She was thinking any possible things on her head, but nothing came to her mind. Maki gave up and checked out the fifth icon. But when she tapped it, a message was displayed. "Folder not exist or access denied." What could that mean? Why is the icon there in the first place if her access is denied? No, it most likely is the 'Folder not exist' part what's wrong. Maki rolled on her side and went through the sides of the Monophone with her thumb. And it was a hit. On the right side of the phone was a hole, just big enough for some sort of memory card. But Maki didn't have a memory card. She glanced around the room once more to make sure. No, there was nothing on her red couch or on a table. Or on the table on the right side of the bed. It was weird. Where could she find the memory card?
She climbed out of the bed and streched a little. She grabbed the room's key from a clean, red table next to a red couch and stepped outside if her dorm room and looked down.
The dorms were located on a hallway above a big circle what was beginning of three hallways and two staircases, but part of the wall was missing, revealing the first floor. Obvious design choice for a murder. The little hallway, which was more like an extended balcony after the second thought was making a big circle 3 meters above the first floor. Not deadly if not landed in some weird way, but it still was a danger. You could easily hurt yourself to the point beyond repair and that would make you an easy target and not only that, a target you wouldn't really feel as sad to kill as someone completely healthy and okay. And if you left something in the big circle, like a bunch of knives or spears, you could stab your target just by dropping them down.
The dorm door on the opposite side of the circle opened and a girl stepped out. It was the one with a half-shoulder length brown hair and parts of it were tied up on the sides to create a little pigtails. When the girl turned around, Maki recognized her. Hana. Hana seemed have to notice her too because she wasn't moving even when the stairs down were right next to her. She was waiting for Maki. It was weird. Hana had met Maki only yesterday and she's waiting for her? It wouldn't be weird in any other situation, but this was life and death. Maki could be holding a knife behind her back ready to stab her - which Maki wasn't going to do. But even when Maki's intentions weren't something like that, Hana had no way of knowing that. How naiive.
Maki walked along the green, worn-out carpet, before she reached Hana. Hana was looking down a little bothered. "Good morning..." She mumbled. She sounded really sleepy like she hadn't had sleep last night. Maybe that was the case. Hana seemed like that kind of person to Maki, especially under the situation's pressure. After a few seconds she went down a stair and was going to fall down before Maki grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. They sat on top of the stairs.
"Are you okay?" Maki asked. Even when she hadn't known Hana for long, she found herself being worried about her. Maki had no idea why. She wasn't that attached to people before, right?
Hana didn't answer. Maki started to get really worried. She put two fingers under Hana's nose to check her breathing. Maki felt a soft flow of air coming from her nose. Good, she was breathing. Probably she had just fallen asleep. That wasn't a thing to be happy about. Sleepwalking in this place could be fatal. Maki didn't want anyone to die and the others probably felt the same. Maki took Hana's key from her right pocket and after opening her door carried her back inside. It wasn't a good thing to wake up a sleepwalker. Maki put Hana back to her bed and put the key back to her right pocket. She turned around and saw Kazuki at the door, blocking her way out.
"What do you think you're doing?" Kazuki said with demanding voice. His midnight blue eyes felt like they were made of ice. It was like he was looking straight into Maki's soul. "What are you doing in Hana's room?"
Maki tried to stay calm. "Hana was sleepwalking and I carried her back to her room." She was showing no emotion in her face. Just the usual, neutral expression would make her look less suspicious. Maki understood why Kazuki was so suspicious of her, she could have a knife with her or something. No, even a string would be enough.
Kazuki squinted. He was thinking should he trust in Maki or not. Was Hana really sleepwalking? Or did Maki pick her lock open or something? "How did you get into her room?"
"I used her key."
"Then you probably can tell where her key is." Kazuki said and stepped into the room. "That should prove if you really used it. If you were doing the bloodier job, you'd have no idea where the key is. And don't try anything, I'm not going down that easily."
"It's in her right pocket."
Kazuki tapped Hana's right pocket a few times. There was something inside and that something was most likely the key Maki was talking about. He sighed in relief. "Come now, the others are in the cafeteria. I was coming to get you and Hana since you're the only ones not there yet."
Maki nodded and followed Kazuki. When the two got out of the room, Maki closed the door and Kazuki checked three times that it was truly closed. He clearly still didn't trust Maki. "C'mon now, let's go." He nodded towards the staircase. It was like Kazuki was interrogating her. Kazuki kept a close eye on her from the stairs to the big circle, to the cafeteria hallway and until Maki had opened the door and stepped in.
"That took awfully long", Rio was sitting on a chair and kicking the air like a little child. Maki could barely see her from behind the table, since her hands and her head were the only things above the table.
"We were already thinking of coming as a group there." Hotaru was standing next to a smaller table and looked at the two with worried eyes. "I didn't want to-"
"We didn't want to." Hibiki cut Hotaru's words and corrected her.
"Yeah, we didn't want to consider the possibility that something bad had happened." Hotaru was once again playing with her dark violet sleeves.
"Well, that luckily didn't happen." Kazuki quickly glanced at Maki and went and sat on the table. Maki came after him and took a seat. She knew that Kazuki had left out the part of her being in Hana's room and was glad about it. It could've become a big drama what wasn't good for anyone - especially for her and Hana.
"What did you want to discuss about then?" Rin asked. She was leaning on her hand what she had placed on the table. "I have other business to do than just sit here. And if it's not important, I will leave to do my business."
"Calm down a little, Rin." Tsubasa said. "You will have time to do that. So why you can't just listen what they have to say?"
"She isn't the only one who doesn't want to be here." Suzu said. "I have nothing to do with you lowly people." Maki saw Rio looking at Suzu angrily. If a stare could kill, Suzu would be dead.
"We're here to discuss about two things." Hotaru started. "First of all, we need to make sure we know each others' codes. The ones we use for messaging. And secondly, we need to explore the areas we have open. We went to our rooms right after Monokuma's... announcement. We didn't explore the area first."
"Oh, it's just that?" Rin leaned backwards in boredom. "Not interested."
"I don't think sharing our codes is a good idea." Sora had taken a spoon from their belt and was playing with it. "If we do, we will be easier targets for everyone. I doubt that everyone will be sharing their code."
"We can decrease the chance of them used in a murder with that!" Hotaru slammed her hands on the table. "We need to do it. If we know who is who, we need who has been messaging to people!" Hotaru's expression was a mix of begging and despair.
"Haven't you realized yet?" Chika crossed her arms and stared at Hotaru with green eyes. "If no one knows no one's code, we can't send messages in the first place and enabling the option of being able to message people."
"But then someone can break the code-"
"No, they can't." Chika's didn't hesitate to bring her point up. "Have you ever broken a code? You need two or more pieces to make sure that the code works how you think it does. If it works with yours, someone else's code can break the whole theory."
"That makes sense." Shin said. "Akakawa is correct. Breaking a code isn't that simple. However, if you want to reveal your code, you can do that. But don't blame us for you being the first victim, Miyamoto."
Hotaru stared at Shin. "I trust that they aren't that kind of people. I'm telling my code. Does someone have paper and a pencil?"
Sora searched their bag quickly and gave a piece of paper and a pencil to Hotaru. She thanked Sora and wrote numbers on the paper. "My code is 8152011821." It was a lot longer than Maki's 131119. Maybe the code referred to something's length.
"Are you stupid?" Chika sighed. "Now you gave everyone the possibility to break the code." Hotaru didn't care about what Chika had said, but walked to one of the tables in the cafeteria and put the paper on there.
"I hope you all will be able to gather the courage to write your code down." Hotaru said with a smile. Maki wasn't sure what she was thinking. Maybe she wanted to know everyone's codes to plot a murder? Maki couldn't help but think it was very unlikely. She couldn't cross out the possibility either.
Rin sighed, stood up and walked out of the cafeteria. "I don't need to know anything else you're talking about." She said before opening the door and closing it behind her.
"You said something about exploring the floor, isn't that right, Hotaru?" Ayumu pointed out. "We should get going. And one important question. Where is Hana?"
"Hana is still sleeping." Maki said without thinking much. Maybe her answer was way too quick. "I can go and ring her doorbell a few times to get her."
"Maybe we should get someone to go with her." Kazuki said. "To cross out the possibility of you know what." He glanced around the room to see if someone was volunteering.
"I can go." Kanade said with a little shaking voice. "I don't think I would be much help when investigating the area anyway..."
"You three can explore after you have waken up Hana, right?" Hotaru closed her eyes and smiled. "We'll do the investigating, but it's good for you to glance around."
"She's right." Kazuki said. "And it's the best to go in groups anyway."
It didn't take long to do the groups. Kazuki, Sora, Rio and Masami would be going in a group and so were Hotaru, Hibiki and Ayumu. The third group was Ichirou, Shin, Chika and Suzu who were kind of leftovers and then there was Maki and Kanade, who were going to wake up Hana. Rin had gone somewhere and no one was sure where. They left the cafeteria leaving Ichirou, Shin, Chika and Suzu behind to investigate the cafeteria.
Maki and Kanade made their way quickly to the second floor. Kanade sat on the ground and stared at the bottom of the stairs. "I wonder why Kazuki didn't want you to do this alone. I mean, you don't seem to be that kind of person who would kill someone."
"Hana was sleepwalking this morning." Maki pressed the doorbell. "She was about to fall down the stairs when I caught her. I noticed that she was still sleeping and brought her back to her room. When I turned around to leave, I saw Kazuki blocking the door. He probably thought I was going to kill her."
Kanade looked at Maki while she pressed the doorbell again. "That makes sense... But you weren't going to kill her, right? I mean, you can do nothing about sleepwalking. You might find yourself in some weird places when you wake up. Then you just think how you even got there in the first place." Kanade looked at Maki with a little embarrassed smile.
"You sound like you're speaking from experience." Maki said and pressed the doorbell once more.
"I do." Kanade said. "I used to sleepwalk a lot. And sleeptalk." Kanade's smile faded away. "My parents always told me what I had done or said at night. Multiple times. Then everyone at home just laughed at me... It wasn't fun. It's good thing that I have stopped doing that."
Maki heard footsteps and the door opened. Hana looked at Maki with her sleepy blue eyes and yawned. "Good morning..."
"Good morning, Hana." Kanade said and waved a little. "Are you ready to search this area?"
Hana had no idea what Kanade was talking about and Maki quickly explained what they had been talking about in the cafeteria.
"So... we're now searching this area...?" Hana asked. "Can we go and eat something first...? I'm hungry and I feel like I can't take another step without food." Maki thought about it for a while.
"I think it should be okay. We can glance around later after all." Maki said. "And if it's like Monokuma said, we're not leaving soon..."
"Hey, don't stay stuff like that..." Kanade objected. "We can't believe than we can't get out of here before doing that..." Even when Kanade was against believing Monokuma, her tone of voice told that she had already given up.
"Bears don't lie!" Monokuma came running up the stairs. Hana screamed in surprise and Kanade looked terrified and only Maki was able to stay calm. "You won't get out of here aaaanytime soon! Upupupupu! Of course if you kill and get away with it in the Class Trial, you will get out!"
"W-What do you mean 'anytime soon'?" Kanade tried to be confident but she was still trembling. "You're letting us out of here?"
"Well, I mean you kind of get out of here, if you're not alive!" Monokuma laughed. "Do you even have anything to lose in here? If you can't kill, you're just here waiting for someone to kill you!"
"That's not true..." Hana mumbled. "We should be able to find a way to defeat you-"
"Are you so sure about that?" Monokuma asked with a wide grin on his face. "No matter how many times I'm defeated I won't go down! No matter if it's one or twice or fifty times!" After finishing his sentence he ran the stairs down and disappeared. The girls stared a while to the direction he had gone to before Kanade spoke up.
"We we're going to eat something, right? Are we going now?"
Hana and Maki nodded and followed Kanade down the wooden, creaking stairs. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Hotaru, Hibiki and Ayumu already were there.
"Ah, you got Hana up." Hotaru said with a smile. "We're going to the cafeteria, are you three coming?"
Hana nodded a little and waited for Maki and Kanade to follow the trio before following herself.
"Did you find anything interesting?" Kanade asked from Hotaru. She was playing with her turquoise hair. "I mean, me and Maki weren't a big help."
"We didn't." Hotaru answered. "We found a library, an infirmary and a laundry room. We searched them, but aside from Hibiki finding some medicine, we found nothing."
"You're forgetting something." Hibiki sighed. "Overdosing is a thing. Someone might do that and I wouldn't be that surprised. And there was bottles we didn't recognize."
"Shh, you're not supposed to mention that..." Hotaru said with her cheeks full of air. "If you do that someone might-"
"If I don't, it's going to make me more suspicious." Hibiki looked down. "Games should be fair for everyone."
"Are you thinking this as a game?" Hotaru didn't believe Hibiki's words. "I'm trying to make the murder as unlikely as possible!"
"For me it sounds like you're plotting one." Hibiki didn't say more, he just walked faster and disappeared to the cafeteria.
"Is that true, Hotaru?" Ayumu asked. "Even when I know about many languages and their histories, it doesn't help with humans and their words. I really wish it would though."
"It is not true." Hotaru turned around. Her dark green eyes were full of tears. "I am just trying to keep everyone safe... If I don't, who will?" She tried to fight the tears, but they fell on her cheeks and from the cheeks on the floor. Even when Hotaru had asked a question, no one answered. They just stayed silent. After a few minutes Hotaru collected herself, wiped the last tears from her face and opened the cafeteria door.
Remaining participants: 16
