She scanned the area around her with a calculating eye, her body slightly tense as she did so.
She was not going to die, she assured herself. After all, she reminded herself, Master Byakuya saw the value she held as a spy, so he would obviously make sure she would not perish at the hands of one of the students.
Still, she could not hold back her slight unease as she scanned her fellow students. She quickly noted that she was not the only one who seemed uneasy though, as she soon saw how the others looked around their fellow captives with distrust.
She felt a mixture of pride and worry fill her at her at the sight of this.
Yes, she felt pride for Master Byakuya at how well he was able to announce the game and how he was able to set the stakes so high for the students already.
But despite this pride, she could feel terror well up within her as well.
Going into the game, she thought she had seen it all. She had believed that she had seen the lowest point that a person could devolve to.
But now, looking around at the fear-filled students before her, she could tell that this game would change all of that.
She could already see the calculating gleam in the eyes of some of the students. With the right conditions, they would snap, causing chaos and grief in their wake as they desperately tried to save themselves from this mess of a game. They would claim to feel remorse for it later, but at the end of the day, they would have still devolved into their basic instinct. What was that instinct you may ask?
Simply put, kill or be killed.
And the one who would cause this devolution would be one of the people she held closest to her heart.
Her uneasiness grew with the thought of her brother sitting back in the control room, his blue eyes fixed on the screens before him as he smirked at his victory. There would be no remorse for his actions within him. No, he would instead celebrate his accomplishment of pressuring a former colleague into murdering someone they had once considered to be a precious friend.
She would be lying if she said the very idea did not send a shiver down her spine.
Still, she pushed the image out of her head quickly, guilt welling up within her at her thoughts.
The purpose of the killing game was to showcase the power the Togami Corporation held. It was meant to show that there was no use in resisting their reign and that if anyone dared to question them, they would not hesitate to destroy them.
She should not be worrying about how her broth-... No, there she was, slipping back into that tempting daydream.
She should not be worrying about how Master Byakuya would be affected by the mess. He would be fine as long as the Togami Corporation survived after all.
So, she had to put all of her energy into protecting the purpose of the killing game and making sure that nothing went against their plan.
If only for his sake.
Just as the thought filled her head though, a soft voice filled the gym.
"We should investigate the school."
Her gaze was suddenly drawn to the Ultimate Detective at her words, as were the gazes of the rest of the surviving students.
If the sudden attention fazed the young woman, she did not show it. Instead, she stared back at them defiantly, cold determination clear in her gaze.
"B...But the bear says we are trapped! What good will investigating do?!" the Ultimate Writer protested after a while, fear clear in her voice.
Kirigiri turned her gaze to the timid girl, not at all fazed by her protest.
"We need to understand our situation as soon as possible. Yes, we are apparently in a killing game of sorts, but the only way Monokuma will win is if we give in to his childish demands. Our main priorities should be to figure out exactly what resources we have for survival in this school and for cementing the idea that we will not turn on each other. Is that understood?"
Kirigiri's voice echoed in the gym as she looked at the students before her, almost daring them to argue against her. When it was obvious that no one would though, she turned away from them, swiftly making her way to the exit.
"Good. I will be investigating on my own then."
She raised an eyebrow at the Ultimate Detective's words as the rest of the gym broke out in protests at this.
"What the hell?! Are you stupid?! Why would you want to go alone?!" the Ultimate Fashionista protested, crossing her arms over her chest deviantly.
"It is not safe to be alone classmate! Allow one of us to join you!" the Ultimate Moral Compass begged, worry clear on his face.
Kirigiri kept on walking.
"I work better when I am by myself. I will give you any information I have later on." she said simply as she walked away.
The uneasy feeling from before seemed to intensify with the unexpected departure from Kirigiri.
"Damn it! Who does she think she is! Telling us what to do then ignoring those very words and walking outta here like no big deal!" the Ultimate Gang Leader growled, anger clear on his face.
"S-She probably is in cahoots with the guy behind this! I b-bet she is talking with the person behind this, laughing with them about how best to k-kill us all!" the Ultimate Writer piped up again, a dark expression on her face.
"No she is not!"
This time, her gaze was pulled to Makoto Naegi, who was now glaring fiercely at the Ultimate Writer to her immense surprise.
"E-excuse me?! H-how can you say that after what she just did?!" the Ultimate Writer shot back, shock clear on her face at the young man's protest.
"I do not believe that any of us is working with the person behind this! We can not just write her off because she wants to be alone! If we do that, we will be doing exactly what the mastermind wants! He wants us to suspect each other and drawing conclusions on Kirigiri just because she wants to investigate by herself would mean we were doing just that!"
She found herself raising an eyebrow at Naegi's defense for the Ultimate Detective. Quickly, she scanned her brain for any information she had on the relationship between the duo before the memory wipe had occurred.
From what she could remember, the duo had been incredibly close. In fact, she had listed the duo as being in a potential relationship down the road due to their close friendship.
Still, it did not make sense for him to be so offended by the Ultimate Writer's words against someone he just met. After all the memory wipe…
…. Had not worked properly on him.
She felt her eyes widen slightly as panic began to well up within her.
Just how much did the boy remember?
Still, she did not dare to let her panic show on her face. She forced herself to keep a neutral expression on her face as she took a step forward, bringing all attention to her as she did so.
"Naegi is right. We have no need for divisions at the moment. Right now, we would do well to follow the advice of Kirigiri and examine what we can of the school so we can have a better understanding of our present situation." she stated.
There were some grumbles within the students at her words, but no one truly seemed to be against the idea of studying their surroundings.
She forced a small smile onto her face at this, trying her best to keep up her facade as long as possible.
"Good. Now let's get to work solving the mystery ahead of us. Who shall be working with who in terms of investigating the school?" she questioned.
"Um… I will work with Sakura and Maizono I guess." the Ultimate Swimmer said, sniffing slightly still from her earlier crying fit after the death of Hagakure.
The Ultimate Moral Compass nodded at this.
"Very well! I will work with Leon and Oowada then!" he announced.
The Ultimate Fashionista sighed at this and rolled her eyes.
"Fine, me and Mukuro will team up then."
"Umm.. I'll work with Yamada and Fukawa then." The Ultimate Programmer piped up then, nervousness clear on their face.
Naegi turned to her with a weak smile, wariness clear on his face.
"I guess that means that the two of us will be working together then."
She nodded at his words, inwardly delighted by this turn of events.
This was her chance to find out more about the Ultimate Luckster, as well as an opportunity to figure out what had gone wrong with the memory wiping procedure in his case.
"I am sure it will be very worthwhile then."
So hey guys, guess who decided to upload this early?!
Sorry for the constant repeat for everyone's titles, but I feel like Shinobu would address everyone with their titles as they are just Ultimates to her. She sees them as merely students, not companions, so she addresses them with their titles. Well, except Naegi, because she is trying to figure out what the hell is going on with him.
Also, on term of Fukawa's paranoia, I just always saw her as being one of the more paranoid students in the games, even if she was one of my favorites after Ultra Despair Girls was released. Due to her being the Ultimate Writer, I figured her imagination would go a bit farther than the rest of the students as she uses it in her writing and in some of her ... ah... more interesting daydreams.
Still, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! :)
Next update: Friday