These establishing chapters are always a drag - I want the killing to start already!

We didn't get to ogle her amazing armor much longer – the door Kenji and the others tried to get open gave off an overly loud click, and slowly creaked open.

"Time to face the music, huh?" Liam nodded, standing up and raising his arm towards Rocket, who near-instantly glided over, perching on his shoulder. He gave the bird a small smile, smoothing a couple of ruffled feathers with his free hand.

"If it's the bear, don't let anything it says get to you – it's bullshit, and there's always a way out," Hoshika huffed, taking point and disappearing through the door faster than anyone could react.

"Everyone follow the leader…" Matt sighed, offering a weak smile and following suit.

One by one, the couch room grew emptier, until it was just me and Seina, or rather, Void. It's clearly no coincidence, since she comes up close the moment the last person slips out:

"Tell me, who do you trust already?"

There's no way I can answer her right away. I've just met these people; although we're in some ways kindred spirits, all Future Foundation members, I can't say that I trust any of them… especially now, with the looming threat of a killing game.

I want to say that we'll hold out, but despair is a powerful thing. You think losing so much to it would give you some kind of resistance, some kind of immunity…

It's an overwhelming force - warps your view of the world and twists your mind. And it all started with one girl, the one catalyst that doused the world in despair, and gave Kamukura a lit match.

So, who do I trust?

Only myself… for now.

"We should go, Seina."

I notice her lips curling into a frown, but she says nothing, merely touching the rim of her white facemask before turning away and slipping out of the room.

Not wanting to be left alone in the now ominously empty elevator room, I slip out as well…

Two things stick out right away – the view, and Monokuma.

Skypoint Academy, situated in Umag, Croatia, is a brilliant concrete tower, a bright, shining monument to man's defiance against nature's rules – it overlooks the beautiful coast, bordered by blue sky and the sandstone-gold town below.

However, the view doesn't hold your attention near as well as it does.

"Finally!" it cries, throwing up its paws, "any longer, and it'd be time for my hibernation!"

"Yes, we're in stitches," Farran sighed, scratching his chin "just give us the rules and disappear, you ugly thing."

"How could you possibly think the same ploy would work twice?" Evelyn wondered aloud, ponytail swishing, "I'm all in – I'll live out the rest of my life here if that's what it takes, and I'm certain that every single person here will back me up on this."

The call for unity came faster than anyone expected, so the momentary hesitance might've just been the surprise – that's what I wanted to believe, anyway. Nonetheless, to the last one, we all echoed the Ghost Hunter's sentiment, declaring that Monokuma's game will not get the better of us.

"Yeah, that's the same story I got from the first batch – remember how they held up?" it giggled, "No, it's only a matter of time until I find the right mix of pressure and motive – one of yer is gonna crack, I knows it!"

"Don't pretend to be your idol – it's pathetic," the still bored-looking Solvia spoke up, "Junko is dead."

"She's right, it is sad. You think a Monokuma doll and some isolation will break agents of the future foundation?" Amand added, crossing his arms.

Apparently unappreciative of our protesting, the bear merely shrugged, motioning to the wall, where a panel was rising to reveal a shelf stacked with… student ID tablets.

"A student at 26…" Liam sighed, palming one of the devices and scanning his thumb when so prompted, "mother would be proud…"

"Once coded to a student, those can't be re-written or hacked, and will endure any abuse you put it through – including saunas," Monokuma explained.

"There's a sauna here?" 'Lady' Christine asked, eyes widening.

"There's not, that'd be stupid," Kenji frowned, taking a tablet for himself.

"Aww…" she sighed, then went about removing one of her gauntlets, lest she accidentally scratch up the screen.

"As you can see, there's a nifty rules tab right there, and I expect each and every one of you to get well-acquainted with them!" the bear went on, mostly ignored by everyone – only Seina and Amand glared at the bear, their faces otherwise blank.

Finally reaching the shelf, I take my own ID, pressing my thumb against the display and watching my name flash up in stark white font. Interestingly enough, the display language was English for me – the same didn't hold true for Hoshika or Kenji, both of whose screens I managed to steal a glances at.

There were several almost offensively colorful buttons on the display, most prominent of which were the rules and profile tabs. With nothing else to do, I too clicked the rules tab, watching as a heavily stylized list came into full view on the screen.

1. The Student that kills one or more of his fellow student becomes eligible for graduation.

2. Graduation consists of a class trial whose purpose is the discovery of the killer – all students that are able to participate must do so. If the killer is not declared guilty by the end-of-trial vote, he or she has successfully graduated and can freely leave Skypoint. The rest of the class, however, will have flunked.

3. Flunked students will be punished. Students that fail to graduate will be punished.

4. Any action that prevents the headmaster of Skypoint from doing his duty can be considered grounds for punishment. This includes assaulting the headmaster and vandalizing the surveillance equipment.

So far it's pretty much the same thing Naegi the others had to deal with, but there was still one more rule.

5. Students can anonymously request special assignments from the headmaster, and in doing so acquire 'Monokuma Credit', which will provide material intended to make graduation easier.

"This is a straight-up bribe!" Matt frowned, waving his tablet at Monokuma, "You put in a rule specifically to fuck with us, didn't you?"

"This goes way beyond mere fucking, mate…" Silver added, switching off and pocketing his ID, "this is prison-style, dropped-the-soap level of fucking."

"Where'd you get that?" Asami asked, then changed her mind, "actually, no, don't wanna know."

"And what about the windows?" Hoshika spoke up, turning to the still-present bear, "what's to stop us from trying to descend the tower from the outside?"

"…"

It stared at her without a single reaction, then slowly lowered its' paws:

"You're serious?"

"Yes."

"BWAHAHAHAHA!"

And so, the likely robotic Monokuma began rolling on the floor, laughing its' metal ass off. I caught more than a couple of looks of intense desire to punt him straight out the window.

Eventually, however, he calmed down:

"You can certainly try. I did put up a razor wire net a couple of floors below, though, to keep any clever graduates from trying to get rid of their projects that way, y'know…"

Hoshika said nothing, merely nodding and pocketing her ID as well.

"Anyway, that's all the time I've got for you today!" the bear announced, pointing to a door on the far right, "your dorms are that way, and the kitchen is on the other side. Toodles!"

Saying nothing more, the Monokuma began walking towards the corner, which quickly slid open to reveal a wall slit about the size of the mechanical bear, only to click back shut the moment the bear made its' way in.

And just like that, we were alone again.

"So, we ok on the plan?" Matt asked one last time. Boris, Amand and Kenji have already retired to their rooms, and the convenient marker lights next to their doors glowed blue, which meant 'occupied'.

"Yes, but I'll repeat it one more time for exposition's sake!" Silver laughed, then stepped next to the DJ, clearing his throat:

"Self-imposed curfew begins at midnight, which is now. It stops at 7 in the morning, which will be 7 hours from now…"

The excessive obviousness earned him a couple of dirty looks, but he carried on, ignoring them all:

"We'll have breakfast together, then separate into teams – our endgame is finding a way out of this tower."

"Without killing one another," Asami added.

"Yes, without that," Liam frowned, "Hopefully, the Future Foundation is something more than a job for everyone here…"

"AS I WAS SAYING…" Silver continued, intentionally talking over Liam and getting all eyes back on him:

"We will split into teams, then gather back up around 3PM. From that point on, your time is your own, so long as it's nothing shady or dangerous."

"Your ability to parrot someone else's words is astounding, pirate man," Lucille laughed, then nodded approvingly when Silver took her heckling in stride, repeating her comment perfectly, complete with accent.

"Alright, enough of that…" Hoshika sighed, "there's work to be done tomorrow."

Without much else said, we scattered to our rooms – convenient name plates hung below the convenient marker lights, and I wondered if there wasn't a convenient escape route hidden somewhere inside as well.

The door gives a rather secure-sounding click when it closes, and I realize that, as expected, there's no way of hearing anything from the outside – I should've heard Lucille's door closing to my right, but no such sound came, even though she turned to leave mere seconds after I did.

Alright, with no way that anyone can hear me, it's safe to break down now, right?

And yet… I don't feel like screaming. Not anymore than I usually do, anyway.

Yes, I'm trapped atop a tower in a recreation of one of the most devastating events after the tragedy itself, but it's not like I'm clueless as to what's happening. We're all Future Foundation here, and in some way that has to count.

I'm no Naegi – I know that it's only a matter of time until bodies start dropping… But I'll be damned before I just let that happen!

Only problem is… he had Kirigiri, even Togami. I got no one I can trust. Sure, Hoshika seems like she's got our best interests at heart, and we do have a pair of honest-to-god vigilantes, but despite our common ground, I've only just met these people… people who now have legitimate motivation to want me dead.

Still, I didn't decide to join up with the FF for a safe and sheltered life. I won't give in to despair.

With the set-up done, picking Free-Time events is now a thing!

If you drop a review, feel free to pick out 2 characters. Ellie, always the trooper, will feel compelled to seek them out and spend part of the day hanging out.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!