Chapter 1 – Doing What We Can – Daily Life

The next few minutes felt kinda dreamlike for Tsumugi. She didn't know how exactly it happened, but she eventually found herself inside a dorm room.

It was a large and comfortable dorm room, even including an attached bathroom. Tsumugi left the room, and discovered that it was one of the rooms in the building that seemed to be the dormitory. Specifically, it was the room that apparently belonged to herself, judging by the image atop the door, which was a chibi version of her.

Upon realizing this, Tsumugi thought seriously about the possibility of simply going back inside her room and trying to get her thoughts under control. However, she rejected that possibility for three reasons: One, she realized that staying alone without doing anything would just make her even more confused. Two: She wanted to know what the others were doing in regards to what was happening. And Three: She was afraid of staying alone, even in an ostensibly safe place like her own room. She didn't know those other people after all, so she didn't know if one of them was the type who would be willing to kill.

So, she walked out, and started seeking the other students. She saw Maki Harukawa, Ultimate Child Caregiver, reading a book in the library and looking completely unapproachable. In the AV Room, she saw Gonta Gokuhara and Ryoma Hoshi, Ultimate Entomologist and Tennis Pro, who were watching some sort of documentary about bugs.

Then she was walking through the corridors when she finally found someone who was willing to speak with her. It was Kaede Akamatsu, Ultimate Pianist, and she was walking around together with Shuuichi Saihara, Ultimate Detective.

"Are you okay?" Her first words were of concern "You seemed really out of it while on the gym, Tsumugi."

"I..." She hesitated "I'm better. At least I'm able to think now. What are you doing, by the way?"

"Ah, me and Shuuichi are going around, trying to figure out what's going on here, and find a way to escape." Kaede said "If you want to have something to do, why not go around the school again? There are three 'Ultimate Research Labs', places for us to refine our talents. Your Lab hasn't opened yet, but it could be fun to look at the others."

"Really? What Labs are open? And what do you mean by saying that mine isn't open yet?" Tsumugi asked, already feeling better, just from having something else to think about.

"Each Lab is specific to one Ultimate. And Monokuma told me that the other Labs are still under construction, so it seems like everyone will get a Lab at some point." She stopped for a moment "As to what Labs are open... It's my Lab, Miu's Lab and Kokichi's Lab."

Kokichi Ouma, the Ultimate Supreme Leader. It would be interesting to see the other two Labs, specially because she wanted to know whether Miu was working on something to help them escape.

So she thanked Kaede for the idea and left. She first went to Kaede's Lab, because she probably wouldn't spend too much time inside given that Kaede wasn't there. The Lab was behind a music note door at the second floor of the school building.

Tsumugi went inside, and it was pretty much exactly what she expected it to be. There was a piano and a keyboard, as well as entire shelves containing musical records and a variety of music players that could be used to play those records.

Tsumugi looked around, but she was too shy to try touching the piano, and she didn't have the necessary musical background to identify the records, with the exception of a few that had been used in anime. The Cosplayer left with vague thoughts of asking Kaede to suggest something for her to listen later.

Next she went to Kokichi's Lab, which was a very interesting experience just to get there. Somehow, a whole stairway into the underground had appeared in the middle of the entrance hall of the school building. Tsumugi slowly descended the stairs and walked through the corridor to Kokichi's Lab.

She saw that Angie Yonaga (Ultimate Artist) and Kaito Momota (Ultimate Astronaut), were there as well. The former seemed to be sketching something, while the latter was playing with a remote controlled copter. Looking further into she room she saw that Kokichi was sitting on a throne-like chair in a raised dais on the side.

He noticed Tsumugi's approach and waved at her:

"Helloooo, Tsumugi! Welcome to my humble lair." He said.

The Cosplayer looked around and felt surprise. That really wasn't what she was expecting.

To be fair, Tsumugi wasn't really sure about what she was expecting. Considering that Kokichi's Talent was Ultimate Supreme Leader, it was difficult to imagine what it could be about.

And looking at the Lab... She still wasn't entirely sure. There were masks and wigs of multiple types, there were gloves and joy buzzers, there were very detailed designs for things like cannons that shot fish. It was a mess, roughly speaking.

Since it wasn't likely that she would be able to guess what was the point of all that, she decided that it would be better to ask, so Tsumugi walked towards Kokichi and spoke:

"Looking at this Lab, I still don't know what your talent is all about."

Kokichi smiled at her "It's pretty simple. I am actually the leader of an evil organization dedicated to causing worldwide mayhem by way of pranks."

Tsumugi looked at him, and then looked around at the Lab once again. Organization and Pranks were indeed two things she thought of when looking at it.

Still, she had to ask:

"Are you serious?"

Kokichi put his hands behind his head and answered "Who knows? I'm a liar after all."

Tsumugi shot him an unimpressed look, but Kokichi didn't seem the least bothered.

"If you want, I'm taking applications for joining D.I.C.E." He said "All you need to do is put on one of those clown noses and swear the oath." He produces a red clown nose from somewhere.

"I'll pass for now." Tsumugi said.

She decided that it wasn't likely that she would be able to get anything else out of Kokichi, and while the Lab was interesting, she really wanted to go and see what Miu was doing.

So she left Kokichi's Lab and made her way back towards the outside. And once she left the underground, Tsumugi simply had to leave the school building and she was able to see the Ultimate Inventor's Lab on the area outside.

The lab was a one floor building with a high-tech aesthetic. Tsumugi just had to walk up to the door and it opened automatically, allowing the Cosplayer to get inside.

And the interior was just like Tsumugi had imagined. A huge amount of mechanical parts scattered haphazardly around, machines and tools spread atop several tables, some of them pretty normal, while others had purposes that he couldn't begin to guess. And in the middle of it all was Miu Iruma, happily working some kind of bolt cutter to separate certain parts.

Tsumugi waited until Miu was done with her task before speaking:

"Hey, Miu."

The Inventor turned around to look at who was talking, panic in her face, but it disappeared once she saw that it was just Tsumugi.

"Oh? You're here?" She spoke, trying for casualness and failing "What's the matter? Were you finally unable to resist coming to see me?" Her tone changed to become mocking "I know it is a sin to have such an amazing body together with an amazing mind, but if you want to get my favor, you'll need to work hard!" She said in a teasing tone.

Tsumugi smiled. It seemed like Miu was still herself, despite the situation. Perhaps it was because she had her Lab, and thus felt more comfortable? That thought made Tsumugi think of her own Lab that was apparently still under construction. Regardless, she answered Miu with:

"I just felt bored, so I decided to go look at the Labs." She smiled "I already saw the others, but didn't feel like staying there, so I decided to come see yours." She spread her arms "Are you doing something interesting?"

Miu seemed to not have expected something like that, so it took a bit for her to answer:

"Well... Of course I'm doing something interesting!" She recovered her bravado "I am the gorgeous girl genius who will change the world! Everything I do is interesting!"

Tsumugi didn't mind it "So, what are you building?" She asked.

"Well..." Miu seemed a bit awkward, but eventually she began explaining.

And apparently that was the secret to having a normal conversation with her, because she didn't display any more signs of her... boisterous personality while they were talking about her inventions.

She did praise herself endlessly, but that was a lot easier to handle than her usual self. And the things she had to talk about were actually very interesting, specially when she talked about how she needed to do a lot of strange things to be able to prepare the small parts of the mechanisms, which were frequently too small for normal methods to work.

Tsumugi actually managed to forget about her worries, and she lost track of time. Eventually it got late, and the Cosplayer thanked Miu and went back to her room.

The first day was done.