Chapter 1: Divided We Fall (Daily Life) - Act 3

"Good morning everyone! It is now 7am, meaning Nighttime is officially over! Get ready to greet another beautiful day!"

Once again, I was awoken by the morning announcement. While I would have preferred more time to sleep, I recalled our promise to meet in the dining room each morning following the announcement, so I quickly changed into my usual clothes and headed down to meet up with everyone else.

Looking around the dining room, I noticed that only Kiyomi and Mamoru were present. Initially, they didn't notice my presence until I sat down at the table.

"Hayato darling! You're here at last!" Kiyomi exclaimed, jumping off her chair and embracing me. This is a little awkward, if I'm gonna be honest.

"So it's true... you two are a couple now." Mamoru quietly commented. "I'm saddened by this. Hayato, you know I had a thing for you."

Brushing aside the flirting from Mamoru, I removed Kiyomi's grip from me. With that I looked around. Many people had yet to turn up.

"I wonder if everyone else plans to skip breakfast?" Mamoru commented. "Or could it be a result of the divided group?"

"That's a good point. You're in Kou's group, right? Why are you here?" Kiyomi asked.

"Because I intend to get some breakfast?" Mamoru replied. "Also, Kou still thinks we should all meet up in the mornings. I think he's a little afraid someone might commit murder at some point."

"Yeah, that's a valid point." I responded. "Killing another will get us out of here, so someone could be desperate enough."

"Oh... good morning everyone."

As we turned around, we noticed Karen standing by the doorway. Unlike all of the other times we had seen her, she was alone today. Usually, Sakuya would be right by her side.

"Morning, Karen. Where's your sister today?" I asked.

"I don't know... I went to her room, but she didn't answer." Karen replied.

"She's probably in the living room." Monokuma said casually, as he appeared out of nowhere. "Like everyone else."

"Why there?" I asked, confused by this statement.

"Because I gathered them." replied the bear. "I should have made it an announcement, thinking about it... Anyway, get to the living room! I need to tell you all something!"


The four of us headed to the living room, where everyone else had already gathered.

"Finally, everyone is here." Kou coldly commented. "Took your sweet time."

"My fault, my fault." Monokuma exclaimed, appearing in front of us all. "I should have told them sooner, but I didn't."

"So why do you have us gathered here?" Kyo asked. "You wouldn't be changing your mind about keeping us locked in here, would you?"

"Upupupupu... Nice joke coming from the Ultimate Observer." Monokuma laughed. "Not even close to letting you out of here. In fact, I'm kind of sad."

Naturally, I was confused by this comment. He's... sad? Why would Monokuma be sad? Unless... "It's because nobody has died yet."

"Ding-ding-ding! Bingo! Hayato, you are my new favourite student!" Monokuma cheered. "That's right! It's because nobody is dead yet! So I thought about why, and know I know. It because there is no motive."

A motive? That makes sense. Although we have been promised freedom should we commit murder, that's really the only reason we'd kill. I guess maybe he's thinking that if he gives us more of a reason to kill another, then someone might actually go through with it. Smart thinking, but I think we're all smart enough to not even consider murder.

With that said, Monokuma pulled out a syringe. It had some sort of medicine inside, by the looks of things. "This is the cure!"

Naturally, we were all confused by this comment. "Cure for what?" I heard Yosuke call out.

"The Despair Disease!" the bear called out. "Dis bear has given you all despair!"

Silence.

"Oh come on! That was a good one!" Monokuma shouted in anger.

"What is this Despair Disease, anyway?" Kyo asked.

"Glad you asked." Monokuma responded, calming down in an instant. "Despair Disease is in the air you breathe. It will slowly engulf you all in despair until you have no shred of hope left over! And this cure is the only thing that will stop it. I will give the cure to whoever graduates!"

"Graduates?" Naoki asked in confusion.

"Whoever kills another person will get to leave and will obtain the cure to this so-called disease." Yuki explained.

"Oh, okay then. I knew that." Naoki brushed off his idiotic question by acting as if he already knew the answer.

"Right... well, go kill someone if you want the cure to this despair disease!" Monokuma concluded. "And will that, I shall take my leave!"

Finishing what he had to say, Monokuma disappeared in an instant. With the despair inducing bear gone, everyone remained silent for a short time.

Finally, Michiru spoke up to break the silence. "Does he think we're all idiots or something? That despair disease is obviously fake."

"Yeah, he's probably just trying to trick us into killing..." Haru added. "Probably."

"You sure? This sounds... like the real deal..." responded a nervous Nagisa.

"We shouldn't be too cautious. But we should also prove to Monokuma that his threats mean nothing." added Yosuke.

After everyone had discussed their thoughts on the motive that was just given to us, we all parted ways. While I'm curious as to whether or not this Despair Disease is real or not, I do hope that nobody is dumb enough to attempt to kill someone else.


A few hours had passed since the motive was revealed, during that time me and Kiyomi had gone back to the greenhouse to have another picnic. To Kiyomi's delight, Sakuya and Karen had also gone to the greenhouse, but had left moments before we arrived. Looking around the greenhouse, nothing had changed since we had last visited, so that made me relieved. Luckily, we had finished the picnic without any thing happening, and without anyone interrupting. As we left, I did notice Kou and Haru enter though. It reminded me of the conversation I had with Kou last night.

"I can see the look on your face. Our team had checked most of the places. I believe Haru and Sakuya are the only ones in my group with remaining tickets at this point." Kou responded to my expression. "I had Sakuya and her sister check out the greenhouse, although it appears they did nothing in terms of investigating."

They probably decided to use Haru's ticket to investigate the greenhouse, since Sakuya and Karen most likely failed to do so twice already. Or perhaps Kou didn't trust their investigation considering they didn't bother the first time? Regardless of the purpose, we didn't speak to them because we had no need to.

Also during the day, we had met up with Michiru and Naoki. Michiru had become curious as to what the contents of the shop were, so she had Naoki carry her there. Literally. She was still on one of the chairs from the dining room, so it appeared he literally carried her while still on the chair. Using some coins we picked up earlier today, I had attempted the Monomono Machine, but I only won a pair of fake glasses. The others didn't win anything of interest either.

We had also spoken with Yosuke, who was sitting in the living room. He said that he enjoyed the quiet atmosphere that the room had presented. While most people had already used their Trip Tickets to visit other places, Yosuke claimed that would be a pointless move, as all rooms will most likely be unlocked soon anyway. Kou had overheard this and started an argument with him about wasting time that could be put to use elsewhere.

As the day concluded, nothing else eventful happened. Me and Kiyomi parted ways at our rooms at about 9:30pm (although it appeared she had wanted us to spend the night together), and I showered before the Nighttime announcement had came on. When the announcement did come on, I got into bed and went to sleep. I had hoped that tomorrow would be as uneventful as today was. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be.


"Good morning everyone! It is now 7am, meaning Nighttime is officially over! Get ready to greet another beautiful day!"

By the time the morning announcement had came on, I was already dressed and out of my room. I didn't sleep much because the motive Monokuma had given to us was still on my mind. I thought that there was a chance someone would believe this ridiculous motive and actually attempt to murder me in my sleep. Obviously my door was locked, so I don't know why I was so paranoid.

As I headed downstairs to the dining room, I turned to look at the living room. It was then when I noticed the shadow of something hanging from the ceiling from inside.

Nervously, I slowly entered the room, and was horrified by what I saw. What I saw was... the lifeless body of one of our classmate, hanging from the ceiling. Several cuts appeared on their face, neck, and chest areas. Blood had dripped down from those three areas and stained their clothes and the carpet below them. The clothes they were wearing - a once turquoise tracksuit - had been stained red. The dirty blond hair of theirs appeared to have had parts ripped out, with some parts lying on the floor, stained in blood.

What had happened was clear. The leader of our group, Yosuke Flar, had been murdered.

Unable to do anything else, I let out a scream. I had no idea how loud I was screaming. All I wanted to do was to wake up. Wake up from this Nightmare I was having, and return back to my normal death-free life. But I couldn't. Because this was no nightmare. It was reality.

Chapter 1: Divided We Fall (Deadly Life) - Act 3

Kyo and Lucas, who had presumably been waiting in the dining room, quickly dashed into the room upon hearing my scream. Neither of them could believe what was hanging before them.

"Holy shit..." the Prince commented beneath his breath.

"Someone actually went through with it..." Kyo commented to himself.

DING-DONG-DING

"Upupupupu... It appears as if a dead body has been discovered! Everyone please gather in the living room at once. I shall explain everything from there."

Moments later, Monokuma set off an announcement alerting everyone else to the corpse's existence. One by one, everyone slowly gathered into the living room. Nobody could believe what they saw upon entering. Yosuke, who had been alive and well only yesterday, was hanging lifeless from the ceiling. Some people had clearly felt nauseous because of what they saw. Others were left speechless or in complete shock.

Within moments after everyone's arrival, Monokuma showed up.

"So one of you finally did it! Upupupupupu... I wonder who it was?" Monokuma chuckled to himself.

"How do we know this wasn't your doing?!" Kaede shouted, finally managing to break past the silence that seeing a corpse had created.

Monokuma slowly walked around the room. "Well it wasn't me. That would be against my own personal rules. It was one of you, and that's that. I even saw it through the cameras. Someone in this room, who you had considered to be trustworthy, had committed murder!

"So does that mean the murderer is allowed to leave, or is there another step to take before they can go?" Lucas asked, certain that Monokuma had another thing in mind.

"Clever you are. That is right. The murderer may leave! But only if they are not discovered!" shouted the monochrome bear. "Which is why I called you all here."

"I expected as much." Lucas commented. "You wouldn't make escape that easy."

"Right you are, pretty boy!" Monokuma responded. "You will be given a certain amount of time to investigate any areas of this mansion that you feel like are related to the case. I'll even be a good little bear and let you access Trip Ticket locations you feel like are connected to the crime for free! Following the investigation, you will all be forced to partake in a Class Trial!"

"A Class Trial? Why would we need to do that?" Haru asked. To be honest, I'm not sure if he's joking or being serious.

"Why? To figure out whodunnit, of course!" joyfully exclaimed Monokuma. "If you can all figure out who the culprit is, then I'll execute the Blackened! But if you fail... I'll execute everyone besides the Blackened! And then, the Blackened will be allowed to graduate and leave!"

Everyone began talking among themselves. We all had no idea as to who the killer could be. But one thing was certain: it was one of us.

To Be Continued...


Chapter 1 is having some short chapters, I know. This is because it's a short chapter. I predict two more acts for Chapter 1. One investigation, and one for Class Trial. Maybe a conclusion act, but that might be combined with the class trial act.

Anyway, if you want to take a guess as to whodunnit, then feel free to. Now I need to figure out how to link the crime to the killer. I already know who it is, but I just need to figure out the final pieces as to how. Investigation will be up soon (probably)