[A/N: Just a lot of swearing this time around.]


'I really shouldn't be out like this...'

Stuffing my hands into my pockets, I sigh, walking through the hallways of the building. It was late, and I knew, I should just go back to bed, it's too dangerous to be out right now. I'm sure I'm not the only one who freaked out, especially after whatever the hell that was.

'Look at me. Somebody's going to want to do something tonight, I know it, and yet here I am, walking around like no one's business. I've got a goddamn target painted on my back...'

I come to the doors of the mess hall. I look up at the intimidating doors, and wonder if I should just go back. But, I couldn't, there was no way I could keep myself in that room. I was terrified, and there was no way I could get any sleep, which I could tell from tossing and turning for an hour straight. I didn't want to sleep, I wasn't going to blink my eyes until I know everything is okay, or if I pass out. I didn't plan on the latter.

With shaky hands, I eventually push open the doors of the mess hall. The lights were still on, illuminating the cafeteria. Seemingly, the place seems empty, until something confirms that's quite false.

"H-Hitaka!" a voice calls out, surprised. I quickly snap my eyes to whoever it was, but relax when I see who it is.

"Ah, Sumiyoshi," I say to the girl sitting at the table. She puts something away, of which I'm pretty sure is an ElectroID, after typing something in it. Something seemed to be bothering her. "You alright?"

"U-um, yeah," she stutters. "I... couldn't sleep."

"Yeah, neither could I," I sigh. "Thought I'd come get something to eat."

"Ah..." she then smiles, nodding. "Would you like to eat together, then?"

"Sure, I guess," I say. "Let's go get something."

Sumiyoshi stands up from the table, and follows me into the kitchen. I'm really not that hungry, but, anything to pass the time would be good. The lights are of course still on in here, and for whatever reason, I notice the shelf holding utensils is slightly ajar. Sumiyoshi notices, and quickly closes it, nervously.

I open the fridge, leaning in to see what was in store. 'I'll just grab an MRE, I guess.' I toss them around, until I find one reading Sloppy Joe. Even though I wasn't totally sure if this going to be any good, I decide it's good enough. Sumiyoshi grabs an MRE as well, although I don't see what she got. The two of us are silent, as we grab plates, water, and other necessities we need. We walk back to the table Sumiyoshi was sitting at.

As we prepare our MREs, I notice Sumiyoshi's oddly quiet. I guess I was too, but, I felt like something was up.

"You doing alright?" I ask.

"...Y-Yeah." she says, but it came out really forced.

"You don't really seem alright." I say.

"Just... a lot on my mind." Sumiyoshi says, and goes back to her food.

I knew exactly what it was. The motive. I was still a bit shaken up too, and I could tell it was really affecting her.

"...You have family back home?" I ask, quietly. She understands why I ask.

"Uh huh." she whispers. "Five siblings. My parents are... gone, so I had to take care of them myself."

"That's gotta be tough." I say. "They young?"

"Yeah," she nods, "The oldest one is eight."

"Ah," I wince. "I... guess that motive-"

"Please." Sumiyoshi cuts me off. "D-Don't... bring it up."

"Right." I say. 'Damn... this is bad. Plus, there's the fact that the motive seems to be working well on her, and we're alone...'

"I'm... not going to kill," she says. "I love them, I do, but I can't kill. I just... I can't."

"Same here," I say. "Won't lie, that motive is working for me too, but there's no way I can just... murder someone."

"Good..." Sumiyoshi smiles, but I notice it's a weak one. "Good. Don't kill."

"'Course," I say. "You neither, right?"

"...Yeah." she says.

It's silent again. We wait a bit longer for our MREs to finish up, and after a few minutes, and take them out of the packaging. I take a look at Sumiyoshi's food and see she got some kind of Chili and Macaroni.

"The chili's not bad," I say, as I see it. "I had the chili with beans, it was alright."

"Ah," she says. "That's good."

The silence continues, as we eat. It's not exactly awkward, but it doesn't feel right, either. I feel like I should be saying something. I'm not sure what to say, though, considering I still have my parents, and my only sibling is in his teens, so I couldn't really sympathize with her. Or maybe it's her, is there something she needs to say?

"...Hitaka," she suddenly says, putting her fork down.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"This might seem weird, but..." she starts. "...What would you do if I was gone, tomorrow?"

"...Gone?" I ask. 'Gone? Like...?'

"Like dead gone." she confirms.

"Wh-what do you mean?" I ask, confused.

"I'm just asking," she says. "I'm curious."

"Well..." I think. "I'd probably be pissed off. And I'd do my damn best to find whoever did it."

"Would you be sad?" she asks.

"Uh, yeah," I say. "I would. So would everybody else. No one's supposed to die."

"..." she goes silent again, nodding.

We go back to eating. The rest of the meal is silent. We finish up, and I decide to clean up. I toss the plates in the sink, and the rest of our MREs in the garbage. I'm about to leave, but Sumiyoshi stops me.

"Hey." she says, standing right in front of me, blocking the doors. "Stay strong. Okay?"

"Eh?" I ask.

"I can tell," she says, "You're a strong guy. Just, don't... don't lose. Okay?"

"...Sumiyoshi." I could tell where this was going. And I didn't like it. "Come on. I'm gonna walk you back to your room, and you're not going to die, okay?"

"H-Huh?" she asks.

"We've gotta keep fighting," I say. "Someone once told me this: Never let anything overpower you. Always fight the opposition. And you can't lose any fight, and this is one we just can't lose, okay?" 'He was a hell of a trainer...'

"...Thanks..." she says, tears obvious in her eyes. "I'll keep that in mind. I'll head back soon."

"...Are you sure?" I ask. Sumiyoshi nods, in response. I sigh, deciding there's no point in insisting, and nod back, before leaving.

Something was wrong. I had a feeling something might've happened tonight, and I think I just confirmed that something will happen tonight. But, there's nothing I can do. I can't save everyone. At this point, I feel as if I shouldn't take the escape of death away from anyone, if that's what they really want. I don't want anyone to want that, but... what am I supposed to do?

I run into Kisaki, suddenly. He's in the building, and he looks nervous.

"Kisaki?" I ask.

"O-Oh!" he says, surprised. "Oh, uh, um. Hey dude."

"Hey. How're you doing?" I say.

"...Fine," he says. I can already tell he's not fine. "Is Sumiyoshi in there? The mess hall?"

"Yeah," I say. "Why-"

"Right, thanks," he says. "L-Look, I'm in a rush. I'll... talk to you later... yeah."

Kisaki then walks quicker than before into the mess hall. I didn't like it. I didn't like any of it. I wanted nothing to do with it, so, I just went right back to my room, plopping down on my bed.


DAY 3


"It is now seeeven AM! Time to wake up! Let's make today into the best it can be!"

'Goddamn nuisance...'

Once again, Monokuma's morning announcement jolts me awake. I slowly open my eyes, but, I still feel tired, which was odd considering the fact that I got good sleep for once. I feel like I had a nightmare of some sort, though, last night. Can't remember what it was about. I think I was tied to something...

'Argh. I still feel like sh-'

"Achoo!"

My thoughts are cut off by-

"Aahh... achoo!"

God damm-

"Ugh... agh, achoo!"

'Oh. Nice. I'm sick.'

Standing up, I wobble into the bathroom, using some toilet paper to blow my nose. 'Ugh. Now I gotta go find some actual tissues, sit in bed all day, sneeze all over the place...' I splash some water on my face- nope, that didn't help- and quickly dry it off. I remember the change of clothes I brought the night before, and consider taking a shower. Could bring me back a bit, I suppose.

Grabbing the cough medicine I left on the sink, I take a swig. Well, I don't down the whole bottle, but, probably a bit more than necessary. I wince at the taste, 'how the hell is this supposed to be grape,' but, I feel it doing its magic soon enough.

'So, do these showers really not work...?'

I walk over to my shower, and twist the knob. Nothing comes out. I twist it the other way, but, same results. Apparently, they actually don't. Of course, Monokuma probably disabled them or something, but, I guess that's what the shower room's for.

'Not a fan of showering with others, but...'

I blow my nose again, for good measure, and decide I should get out of here. I throw on my jacket, grab a pair of the clothes I grabbed, and left.

Huh. It's snowing today. The snow is light, and it doesn't seem like there'll be a lot of it today. It's just as cold as usual, no difference there. I don't bother looking, but I don't see anyone else outside. Good.

I put my hood on, and walk to the building. The faster I take this shower, bring back some food or something, the better. 'I guess since I'll be changing I can put my other clothes to wash...'

I can already hear everyone in the mess hall, as soon as I walk in. Whatever they're talking about, it seems to be loud. I hear an argument going on, between who I can't tell, but it seems heated. I decide to stay out of it for now. I open the door to the changing room, walking in.

The first thing I do is look for a camera. Monokuma's always got those cameras everywhere, and I wouldn't be surprised if he had one in here too. I scan the room, and oddly enough, there weren't any cameras around. Apparently, Monokuma hadn't installed one in here. 'Wonder why...'

"Upupu! You can't be looking for what I think you're looking for, are you!?" Speak of the devil.

"Not in the mood, Monokuma." I say firmly.

"What, do you think that me, Monokuma, would put a camera in here!?" the damned bear walks in front of me, with his paws on his hips.

"I'm more surprised that there isn't." I roll my eyes.

"Oh please!" he says. "I don't want to see your weird teenager bodies! That's gross! And probably illegal!"

"...Of all the things that's happening here, you're worried about that."

"Well, yeah! I don't want the fuzz on me, man! I'm fuzzy enough, I'm a bear!"

"Monokuma-" I say. "Just- go away."

"Whaaat!?" he shouts. "Drop! Drop down and give me twenty!"

"You're not a sergeant!" I shout back.

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

"Are you disrespecting an officer of the law!?"

"That's- that's completely different!"

"You're under arrest!"

"You can't do that!"

"Yes I can!"

"Go away!"

"Fine!"

Monokuma disappears to god knows where, and I simply stand there, facepalming. I groan, half to being sick and the other half to Monokuma, and do what I was supposed to do.

I grab a towel from the shelf, and wrap it around myself, as I finish folding my clothes, and leave the new outfit next to them on the bench. I notice there's another folded pair of clothes, on the opposite bench. 'Eh?' I walk into the shower room, and realize... that one of the showers are running?

"Eh?" I hear someone ask.

"...Eh?" I ask back.

"Oh, sh- Hitaka!" a female voice calls out, a familiar one. I see a brown-haired head hide behind the stalls.

"Dakota!" I call back, and look away. 'Of all the people here!?'

"What the hell are you doing here!?" Dakota shouts, from her stall.

"W-Well, I planned on taking a shower!" I say back, keeping my eyes diverted, and walk into a stall at the end.

"S-So you pick now!?" she asks, obviously embarassed.

"Yes I pick now!" I say. "I didn't think you were gonna be here!"

"You should've asked or something!" she says.

"A-Are you trying to say this is my fault!?" I reply. I turn on the shower, and hang up my towel, making sure I'm hidden.

"Yes! It is!"

"But that doesn't-" I start. "Ugh. I'm sorry. I won't look, alright?"

"You better fuckin' not!"

I sigh, and look for soaps to use. Sure enough, there's little bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Good. I get some shampoo, and conditioner, and lather it around in my hair. 'Egh, it's all greasy...'

"...So I guess that was you out there." Dakota suddenly says.

"Eh?" I ask.

"With Monokuma. The fuck was he saying? I couldn't hear shit." she replies.

"Uh... nothing."

"Sounded like something was up," she says. "Did he tell you to do fuckin' push-ups or something?"

"...You misheard."

"Right..."

I continue on, in the shower. The water feels good, oddly enough. I half-expected to burn up and get poisioned or something the second I turned it on. Definitely needed a shower. I start to feel a bit more clean, and fresh, as I stay in there, but of course, this sickness is still there.

"Agh... cough, cough, ugh, shit..." I start coughing, which I guess I should've expected.

"You alright over there?" Dakota asks, and the sarcasm couldn't be more obvious.

"I'm f- cough, fuck- cough, cough, I'm fine- cough."

"So you got fuckin' sick I see." I can practically hear her roll her eyes.

"Ugh, maybe..." I say.

"Well, go back to your fuckin' room after then, shit," she says. "You better not get me sick."

"Don't plan on walking around," this time, I roll my eyes, "I feel like crap."

"You have medicine?" she asks.

"Yeah, yeah," I say. "Suzuki dropped me some."

"Suzuki did?" she asks, puzzled. "Wouldn't'a expected that outta her."

"Yeah, I know," I say. "She got me food, too... and invited herself to eat dinner in my room..."

"Oh hoh hoh!" Dakota laughs. "You must've figured out what that means, right?"

"Not really, no..."

"Oh jeez, you're fuckin' dumber than I thought," she says, "Think about it. Why would a girl want to have dinner with you?"

"I figured she was just being nice?" I reply.

"I swear..." she sighs. "I'm not telling you, figure it out yourself."

'Huh. So I guess she thinks, uh, that, too.'

"Right."

It goes silent again. Which is good. About five minutes later, Dakota speaks up again.

"Hey, I'm done," Dakota says. "...Stay in here, okay? I'll tell you when I'm done. No peeking!" I hear her shower turn off.

"Fine, fine," I say.

Dakota walks out, and I'm left alone. 'I guess I don't need to take much longer in here either...' I take a few more minutes in the shower, mostly just sitting there in the water. I do feel less tired, and could possibly do things today, but, it'd probably be bad if I got anyone else sick, so...

"Yeah, I'm done," Dakota opens the door, and calls out. I notice her hair's not in a ponytail, as it usually is. "I'm gonna head to the mess hall soon, heard 'em fuckin' screaming over somethin'..."

"Yeah, I'll be out of here soon," I say. "Probably gonna go over there, too."

"Right. Seeya." Dakota walks out again.

'Well, no point in taking any longer in here...'

I wash the soap off, and finish in the shower. I turn off the water, dry myself off with the towel, and wrap it around my waist. 'Christ, it's cold!'

Shivering, I walk into the changing room. Sure enough, Dakota's gone, as well as the extra pair of clothes I saw. On the other bench, my clothes still sat, both my old clothes and my new camo outfit. Considering the fact that there's not much room for privacy in here, I take a corner of the room, and use the towel to, uh, cover myself as I throw on the new clothes.

In what I found to be somewhat surprising, the clothes fit. The camoflaged pants were a little big, but fit well enough. The white t-shirt fit almost perfectly, and the only complaint for the camo jacket was that the sleeves were kinda long. Otherwise, everything fit fine. I grab my dirty clothes, as well as my winter jacket, and head out.

"...fucking Christ, what the hell!?" I heard someone shout.

"SHUT UP!" somebody screams back. "WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYONE BEING SUCH LITTLE FUCKS!?"

'That... does not sound good at all.'

I decide cleaning my clothes can wait, and throw them on the floor of the changing room, then run as fast as my legs can take me to the mess hall. Whatever was going on in there was getting louder, and seemingly more out of hand. I tried to apply names to the voices, but couldn't do shit there.

The doors were already open. The first person I saw was Dakota, who'd tied her hair up by now, shielding herself from something. Then I saw the rest of the kids, in a circle around something. I walk up next to Dakota, and see exactly what was going on.

"Oh... why hello there," a mischievous voice says, supposedly to me. 'Is that..?' "I don't think we've met. How foolish of me!"

"Greetings. My name is Kenta Sakuro. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

In the middle of the mess hall, was who I'm pretty sure at one point was Kenta. Now though? Not so sure. His blonde hair had changed, instead of it once being in a ponytail and covering his right eye, it was now in a bob-style, with the ponytail gone, and his bangs now covered his left eye- revealing a large scar just underneath his right. Oddly enough, his eyes were now a vibrant violet color, instead of what I'm pretty sure was green, before.

"You may call me Sakuro," he giggles, "No need to be so formal, right? We're all friends here!"

"Kenta?" I ask. "...Uh, what happened?"

"I don't fuckin' know..." Dakota whispers from next to me. "I walk in, and he's just fuckin' screamin' at everyone, and waving that around."

I look at his hands, and realize something that could definitely be a huge problem.

"Kenta?" I ask again. "Please put down the shotgun."

In his hands, was a rather large, pump-action shotgun. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was loaded.

"I'm sorry," he says, "I think, I said for you to call me Sakuro."

"Your name's not Sakuro," I say. "You're... Keiro, aren't you?"

"...Oh." I see his eye twitch, when I said that. "Hahaha. I see."

"Sakuro," Erik says, suddenly. "Please. It was a mistake, he didn't mean it." I notice Erik is now glaring at me.

"Well, it shouldn't have fucking happened!" Kenta- Sakuro, starts screaming again, pointing the shotgun at Erik. "MY NAME IS SAKURO! CAN'T YOU DUMBFUCKS GET THAT INTO YOUR GODDAMN HEADS!?"

"O-Okay!" I say, putting my hands up in defeat. "I'm sorry! Sakuro! Yes, your name is Sakuro!"

"Hahahaha." Sakuro laughs. "I hope you know something. I am not Keiro. I will never be Keiro. I despise him, and if something like that happens again, I'll blow your goddamn face off!"

"R-Right." I say. "Okay. That's fine."

"Sakuro." Jokuno says, next. "Put down the shotgun. We'll talk."

"Talk about what?" Sakuro asks, innocently.

"...Something," Jokuno says, "It doesn't need to be Keiro. We won't talk about him, if you put down the gun."

"Aww, I dunno about that..." Sakuro says, walking over to Jokuno, twirling the shotgun around. "I've become quite fond of this thing, actually."

"Now, can I ask a question?" Sakuro walks back into the center of the circle.

"Of... course you can," Saya replies, obviously terrified.

"Everybody always looks at me like I'm fucking mental," Sakuro says, a large frown on his face. "Why? What did I do? Like, everyone does it, my- hmm, our, I guess- parents did it, those weirdos outside, all you assholes are, like, what the hell, man?"

"Everyone's always going on about Keiro," he continues. "Psh. He's not that great of a twin. He never lets me play, he never talks to me, like, really, for years he hasn't let me out!"

"...Let you out?" I suddenly gather the balls to ask.

"Yeah!" he says. "I think he hates me. Good, I hate him too. But, here I am, right!? Hahaha!"

"So... if you wanted to change to Keiro, could you?" Erik asks, carefully.

"Maybe..." Sakuro says, crossing his arms, thinking. "Why do you ask, E?"

"E...?" I hear Erik mumble. "I'm just curious. How would we get you change back?"

"...Ohhhhhh." Sakuro says, as if he just found something out. "I see."

"See what?" Erik asks, raising a brow.

"Alright. This goes to everyone! LISTEN UP!" Sakuro says, raising his shotgun in the air, and then pumping it. 'Crap, that's probably not good.'

"Keiro's gone!" Sakuro shouts. "He ain't coming back! As long as I'm in control, you're never seeing that fucker ever again!"

"And as for anyone who wants him back!? Wants me gone!?" Sakuro starts twilring the shotgun around again, making everyone step back. "Just remember I'm the motherfucker with the shotgun."

"...He's got a point." Jokuno mutters.

"H-Hey, uh, look," I say. "That's... great. Yeah. We... couldn't be happier to have you, Sakuro."

"I'm not fucking retarded." he rolls his eyes and stares into mine. "You don't need to talk to me like I'm a damn mental patient."

Erik makes a throat-cutting motion, glaring at me. 'Er. Maybe I should just shut up.'

I simply nod, and Sakuro puts himself between Dakota and I.

"Anyway. I think I'm going to go now." Sakuro smiles, but none of it looks happy. "If you kids need me, I think I'll be in my room... or maybe that storage building, ooh, it's so exciting!" Sakuro leaves, skipping through the building.

"...Can someone explain what the hell just happened?" I ask.

"Yyyeah, that'd be great..." Dakota follows.

"Ugh. We know as much as you two do." Toori replies, scratching his head.

"Oh, hey," Suzuki suddenly walks up behind Dakota and I. 'Eh? Was she not here? I didn't even notice.' "What's going on?"

"No clue," Haru says, frowning. "Kenta randomly went all loopy."

"Mm... I think he might've been right, though." Hizen says, thoughtfully.

"E-Er, what do you mean?" Aito asks.

"He was calling himself Sakuro," Hizen replies. "And, none of Keiro seemed to be left. That definitely could've been a different person."

"Are you saying there's a seventeenth student or something?" Asai asks, confused.

"Not exactly. Or, well..." Hizen starts. "Maybe. Depends on how you look at it."

"Wait, so... Kenta was acting differently?" Suzuki asks.

"Quite. That sounded like a severe case of a split personality disorder." Hizen says.

"Split p-personality?" Masamoto asks.

"It's kind of funny, really," Hizen chuckles, for whatever reason. "It's when you're so insane, you come up with another personality inside your brain. Sometimes, they take over, usually by a trigger of some sort, and then that happens."

"When you're so...?" Toori says. "Christ, man, are you kidding?"

"Sorry?" Hizen asks.

"Do you find this funny or something?" Toori asks. "You- you can't just talk about split personality disorder so... casually. Good thing Keiro didn't hear, he probably would've killed you or something!"

"T-Toori!" Saya says.

"Oh," Hizen scoffs. "If the damned psycho tried anything I would've been burying his corpse before he'd lay a single finger."

"Woah, woah, hey!" Toori shouts. "W-What the hell, man!? What's wrong with you!?"

"Oh for fuck's sake..." Dakota facepalms.

"Oh, calm down-" Jokuno starts.

"Excuse me?" Hizen raises his voice. "And who do you think you are? What are you again, Audio Expert? I bet you just sit on your goddamned computer all day-"

"No, I don't!" Toori cuts him off. "What the hell does it matter, anyway!?"

"QUIET!" Hizen shouts, intimidatingly. "I'm not wasting my time on you anymore."

Hizen then stomps out of the mess hall, muttering curses under his breath, leaving the rest of us standing in our circle.

"Ugh..." Erik sighs. "I don't think anything here could've went worse."

"Well, Hitaka apparently can't keep his mouth shut." Jokuno rolls his eyes. 'Wait, what?'

"What? What did I do?" I ask.

"The only reason things with Sakuro went so badly is because you asked for Keiro," Jokuno says. "You should know when and when not to talk."

"I should!?" I reply, angry. "Why just me? What about- I don't know- Erik? He kept on asking for Keiro after me!"

"I wasn't trying to provoke him," Erik defends himself. "I was simply trying to defuse the situation."

"By doing the one thing that'd provoke him?" I ask.

"Hmph. Actually, Hitaka does have a point." Jokuno says. "Some strategist you are."

"Shut up," Erik growls. "I did nothing wrong, and we're getting nowhere by arguing like this!"

"W-Wait!" Masamoto says.

"You're all so damn idiotic!" Jokuno shouts, ignoring her. "I shouldn't have to be a part of this..."

"Wait! Please!" Masamoto says again.

"And why are you so special!?" Haru shouts. "None of us want to be here, asshole! You've been acting nothing more than just rude to everyone since we got here!"

"Wait!" Masamoto raises her voice, and walks into the middle of the circle, finally catching everyone's attention, and shutting everyone up.

"M-Masamoto!" Aito says, apparently not having heard her, either.

"P-Please! We can't keep arguing!" Masamoto says. "This will get us nowhere!"

"Thank you," Erik rolls his eyes.

"Well, it seems like some true colors have been shown," Jokuno glares at Haru.

"Oh please!" Haru says. "I'm not the only one here who hates your damn guts! Right!?"

"H-Haru! Jokuno!" Masamoto says. "Please, stop! E-Everyone just stop!"

"God... dammit..." Suddenly, a wave of tiredness comes over me. And, I begin to start feeling cold. 'Agh, right...' Of course, I start coughing and sneezing.

"A-Ah!" Dakota says, stepping away. "Don't do that right next to me!"

"O-Oh!" Placide suddenly says. "That's right! Y-You're probably sick, aren't you?"

"Ugh, no..." Haru shakes her head. "Hitaka, you're not gonna get everyone sick, are you?"

"I'll try not to," I say, a bit more ruder than I wanted.

"Look..." Toori says. "Let's all just go back, forget this ever happened, and call it a day. Okay?"

"Well, I hope it'll be that easy..." Asai agrees, and walks out of the mess hall.

"So do I." Jokuno says, following.

One by one, everyone eventually leaves. I stay in the mess hall, though, as my throat's burning, and I need something to drink. For once, I'm alone, thankfully, and I walk into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I find some orange juice, and decide to have some. Filling up a glass, I take a sip.

'Ah, that's better... probably should've been shouting so much.'

I sigh, thinking about everything that just happened. First, there's Sakuro, someone who's obviously going to be a problem, especially considering the fact that he's got a shotgun. Then, there was whatever happened with Hizen, and everything just spiraled out of control. Chaos. Seemingly, there's barely any more teamwork going on. Nobody wants to work together. 'If everyone is so angry with each other, we'll all be gone within a week...'

"Wow! That sure was exciting!" 'Fucking hell...'

"Monokuma, just..." I sigh. "Go away."

"I think this might be my favorite batch so far!" Monokuma jumps onto the table, taking a seat. "Everyone's already in despair!"

"Fuck off!" I say, walking out of the kitchen, with my glass.

"Whaaa? Why? Why do you hate me so?" Monokuma follows me, because of course he would.

"I'd be here all day if I were to answer that," I grumble, as I leave the mess hall.

"Oh! I bet you're falling into despair too, aren't you, Hitaka!?" Monokuma says, excitedly. "You just don't want to admit it!"

This time, I stop. I turn around, to Monokuma.

"I don't want to play your fucking game," I snarl. "But if I have to, then listen: I'm not going to lose. I'm not letting you win. I will never fall into despair."

"Upupupupu..." Monokuma laughs. "They all say that. Everyone thinks they're so high and mighty, but when you really get down to it, no one is. You're all just lying to yourself, and I know, you're nothing but an insecure, sad, brat."

'Wh... What?'

"Stop putting up a show." Monokuma says. "I'm not buying it, and I'm sure no one else is either."


...He's probably right.

I didn't realize until I sat in bed for the next hour or so thinking about it, but dammit, I'm not so sure if I can really deny him.

I'm terrified. I want to go home. I don't want to be here anymore. I'm going to die, aren't I?

'...'

I don't want to lose. I don't want to die, I don't want to let Monokuma win. Someone once told me, you need to win all your battles. I don't think I've lost one yet. So should I keep my flawless record going?

It's gonna be hard. I still haven't gotten over the sudden loss of Kisaki, and Sumiyoshi. Especially since the true killer is still out there, the one who put us here. Can I just let them go free? How would I deal with that? I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I want to know who put me here. Who put my friends here.

'...Friends?'

Hah. Can I really call them friends? After that scene in the mess hall, I'm not so sure. We all seemed like good friends a couple days ago, but, are we still? I'll need to think about that one.

'Or... maybe not...'

Everyone's getting desperate. I can tell. They want to leave. And, the more desperate they get, the more chance someone falls to Monokuma's game and kills. Then, we'll have another murder, another victim, another trial, another culprit, another execution...

'There hasn't been another motive yet, but I won't be surprised if someone kills anyway...'

I sigh, and stand up from my bed. It'd only been a few hours since I last took the medicine, so I didn't take anymore. The bottle said every six hours or so, I'm pretty sure. I decide I should leave for a bit, as I still had things to do.

I put on my jacket, and leave. It's still damn freezing. The snow hadn't stopped, though. Actually, it seemed heavier? Huh.

I walk into the building, and of all people, I see Aito standing in the halls. He seems nervous.

"Aito?" I say.

"H-Huh? O-Oh!" he turns to me, surprised. "Um. Hello."

"Hey, how're ya?" I ask.

"Um, fine..." he trails off, and sighs.

"Yeah... I can tell you're not fine." I walk up to him.

"I don't know..." he sighs, again. "E-Everything's getting to me. The mess hall earlier..."

"Ah, yeah," I put my hands in my pockets. "That was kinda rough."

He looks away. "A-And, um, S-Sakuro's still around."

'Crap, that's right.'

"Yeah... we're gonna need to deal with that eventually." I roll my eyes. "By the way, do you know what happened? I still have no clue."

"I don't know..." he admits. "I think everyone was in the mess hall, except for... you, Dakota, Kenta, and Suzuki."

"Kenta walked in eventually," Aito continues, "A-And, well, he was Sakuro at the time..."

"W-We stalled for time," Aito says, "W-Well, mostly Erik. And Jokuno. Then Dakota walked in, then you did, then Suzuki after..."

"So, wait," I say. "While the three of us were out, Kenta just walked in, and he was already Sakuro?"

"Yeah," Aito nods. "H-His hair wasn't in a ponytail anymore, and for some reason, h-his eyes changed..."

'Huh...'

"Is there anything else?" I ask.

"I don't think so," he shakes his head. "N-None of us know anything."

"Dammit..." I mutter. "So no way to get Keiro back."

"I-I don't know." he says. "I kind of feel bad for Sakuro though..."

"Eh? How?" I ask.

"Well, you heard him, right?" Aito looks downward. "H-He was saying that everyone only wants Keiro, and he never gets attention. M-Maybe that's all he wants?"

"Well..." I sigh. "We still need to do something. Who knows what he'll do, especially considering the fact that he has a shotgun."

"True..." Aito says. "Well, I think I'm gonna go, now. U-Um, bye!"

"Yeah, sure," I reply. "Seeya."

Aito leaves, and I'm left there in the hallway. I decide I should keep what he said in mind.


New Evidence: Kenta Sakuro/Kenta Keiro

Kenta Keiro apparently has some kind of split personality disorder, calling himself Kenta Sakuro. According to Hizen, these usually come out by some sort of trigger, although no one seems to know what Keiro's is. Aito says the only missing people from the mess hall were me, Dakota, Suzuki, and Kenta. Sakuro has a loaded shotgun, too.


'Split personality disorder, huh...'

Well, my clothes were still in the changing room. I figure I should go grab those, and put them to wash. I walk on over to the changing room, but before going in, stop. 'I should probably knock...'

And so I do, but no response comes. Assuming no one's changing, I open the door. Sure enough, no one's there, and my dirty clothes still sit on the floor. Doesn't look like anyone came through here.

I go put my clothes in the washing machine, using the soaps available. While waiting for the clothes, I think of something I should probably do.

'Should go grab the gun, now...'

The building was empty. As far as I knew, anyway. I should be able to sneak it in my pocket without anyone knowing. I didn't really want to take it, but, with Sakuro around, I didn't feel safe. I need something.

I leave the laundry room, and go to the armory. Of course, it's still as it was before, with the missing shotgun.

'Or... wait.'

I start having second thoughts about that statement as I look to the wall with the handguns. Specifically, where the revolvers lay. And I couldn't help but notice a missing spot, just like with the shotguns.

'Agh. That's probably bad...'

I sigh, and take the M1911 I was eyeing the night before off the wall. It's just as it was before. The frame was a bright silver, with a white handle. I hold the weapon, and examine it a bit more. It has a kinda weird weight to it, it's definitely on the heavier side, but it still feels light. Like I could whip it around or something. But, it's obvious that it's a weapon, and even I could tell it was of high quality. And definitely something that could be used to hurt someone.

'Well, a gun's useless without ammo.'

I take a crate, and put it on the table. Inside were a ton of pistol rounds- 9mm, .45 ACP, .357 Magnum, the list goes on. 'What the hell kind of pistol shoots these .357s!? They're huge!'

All these numbers and calibers and other things were hurting my head. I opened up random boxes, seeing the bullets inside, but there was no way I could tell which was for what. I rack my brain for what I could remember from video games and movies, to try and figure something out.

'It's a pistol, right? The 9mm is, well, nine milimeters, so is that the right size...?'

Inside the crates were empty magazines, I notice. Figuring that I probably need those, I grab one that follows the same color scheme as the pistol, and slap it in, and sure enough it fits. I pull the magazine back out, and try to fit a 9mm inside, but no luck.

The Magnum rounds would never work. From just holding the things I can tell it was way too huge. So that's off the list. I continued on, trying the .38 Special, the tiny .25 ACP, some weird Russian one called the Tokarev, until I came across the .45 ACP cartridge.

The .45 ACP fit in the magazine perfectly, so I assumed this was the one. It seemed right, anyway. The magazine fit seven rounds, and so I put seven rounds in, filling up the magazine. It felt wrong, honestly, carrying around a gun with a full magazine. Am I going to be as dangerous as Sakuro, now? Probably. Well, whatever, no one needs to know that I have it.

I stuff it in my pants pocket, making sure the safety is on, and it's able to be taken out quickly. I don't really know why I even loaded it, we'll be safe, right? 'It's just a precaution... I won't even need to pull it out.'

'Well... I guess now I've got the rest of the day ahead of me.'

The time was now almost noon, and I haven't even eaten yet. Needless to say I was starving. Next thing on my list: food.

Seems like while I was in the armory some people came through. I seen the trio of Aito, Masamoto, and Placide sitting together again, and couldn't help but notice Masamoto seemed proud of herself, possibly since she defused the situation in the mess hall earlier? Aito still looked nervous, no doubt because of Sakuro. Placide appeared to mostly be smiling and nodding to everything.

Erik and Jokuno were both sitting alone, which seemed odd, considering the two had some kind of duo thing going on. Honestly, between the accusations at the trial, and today's argument, I sort of felt like their friendship, or whatever it was, was dwindling.

Haru, Asai, and Dakota were sitting at a round table. Dakota looked pissed, as expected, but still seemed to be enjoying herself. Haru, of course, was being loud as always. Her and Asai were in some kind of argument.

"...don't watch horror movies!?" Asai says, apparently in shock.

"N-No, I don't!" Haru replies, blushing in embarassment. "I just, uh, don't like them!"

"Whaaat!?" Asai says. "You probably just haven't seen any good ones. There was this one, uh, what was it called...?"

"Horror movies suck." Dakota scoffs, crossing her arms.

I decide to leave them to their quarrel, although I'm quite confused. Asai starts shouting again, and I start hearing something about chainsaws and blood before I tune out of their conversation. I see Toori, Saya, and Suzuki sitting at a long table by themselves, talking about something. The only people missing from the mess hall were Sakuro, and Hizen, I notice. 'That's not true... we're still missing two more...'

"Yo! Hitaka!" Toori calls me over, and I go join them.

"Hey, Suzuki was just tellin' us about your plan," Toori says, smiling. "It's a good idea. We should do it."

"Plan? What plan?" I ask.

"The funeral," Saya says.

'Right, the funeral...'

"We can hold it tonight," Suzuki says. "While they're still fresh in memory."

"Still fresh?" I ask.

"It's sad..." Suzuki looks down. "They say after losing someone for so long, you begin to forget what they were like. Their personality, their looks..."

"Yeah... that's true." Toori nods. "Though I don't think I'll ever forget them."

"We can't." I say. "Even if we wanted to, I'm sure we can't forget seeing what happened to them..."

Saya nods. "It's probably a good idea to have it tonight."

"Well, there's still a problem, though," Toori says.

"What?" Suzuki asks.

"Sakuro." Toori replies.

"Right..." I sigh. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Haven't seen him since he ran off earlier," Toori says, and I see a look of anger flash on his face. Most likely due to Hizen.

"We should really do something about him," Saya says. "What if he does something? He could do something tonight, at the funeral..."

"That'd definitely be a pretty crappy funeral." Toori adds.

"Then what should we do?" Suzuki asks.

"Tie 'im up?" Toori suggests.

"And how would we manage to tie him up?" Saya asks.

"Uh, I dunno..." Toori says, thinking. "Alright, me and Hitaka'll hold him back, and you two tie him up!"

"Er... with what?" I ask.

"A... rope?" Toori replies. "Huh. I hadn't thought of that..."

"You usually need those for typing people up." Saya sighs.

"We could look in the storage building," Suzuki says, thoughtfully. "There could be a rope in there."

"Well, wait," Toori scratches his head. "I wasn't really serious, I'm not sure if actually tying him up is a good idea."

"Still need to do something, though," I frown at the lack of options.

"We could make him go back to Keiro...?" Saya wonders.

"Hizen said each personality comes out by a trigger..." Suzuki says, to which Toori rolls his eyes, "Yeah, if we figure out Keiro's, then he'll be able to attend the funeral as well."

"Anyone got any ideas?" I ask.

"You guys notice how his hair was all weird?" Toori says. "His ponytail's gone, and his hair's covering his other eye now."

"I noticed that too..." Suzuki nods.

"Suppose Sakuro styles his hair differently?" I joke.

"Well... I dunno, you think it has something to do with that?" Toori asks.

"Wouldn't it be something more serious than a hairstyle?" I ask, raising a brow.

"No, I think it might be possible," Suzuki says, putting a finger to her chin. "Triggers can be anything, I'm pretty sure."

"Is... that our only lead?" Saya asks, unsure.

"Mm..." Toori thinks. "There's gotta be something else."

"Maybe we should try that though," Suzuki wonders. "If we get his hair back to Keiro's, maybe he'll change...?"

"That doesn't make any sense." I sigh. "I feel like it's not that easy..."

"Any suggestions, then?" Toori asks.

I started thinking about something we can do, to figure out what to do about Sakuro. If we attempt to have the funeral tonight, he'll find out, and it could be bad. 'Or... could it...?'

"Should we really be pushing Sakuro away?" Saya suddenly asks. "What if we just... invite him?"

"After that scene in the mess hall." Toori stares at Saya.

"Well, actually..." I say. "If we don't invite him, he'll get pissed. But if we do?"

"Ohh..." Suzuki says, understanding. "If we invite him to the funeral, maybe he won't do anything?"

"Think about it," Saya says, "I think he just wants attention. Why don't we give him some?"

"Guys," Toori says, "He's got a shotgun. And, no offense but, he doesn't, uh, seem in his right mind. Do we really want that around?"

"It's better than getting him angry," I say.

Toori looks away, considering it. I can tell he's not so sure if it's a good idea. Hell, I'm pretty sure it's not, but it's the best we've got right now.

"...Alright," Toori nods. "S'long as we make sure he doesn't freak out, then I guess it's cool. Besides, if we got our eyes on him, he can't do anything, right?"

"Exactly," I smile. "Somebody'll see him, we'll all be together."

"So then it's decided?" Saya asks.

"Well... not really..." Suzuki says, frowning. She then turns around, to the rest of the people in the mess hall. 'Oh, yeah.'

"Should probably let everyone know," Toori says. "Hey! Yo, guys! Hellooo!?"

Toori starts shouting, standing up on the bench. A few heads turn, a few forks drop, until eventually everyone's eyes are this way.

"The fuck are you doing?" Dakota asks.

"What is it, Toori?" Erik asks, sighing.

"Yeah, why are you interrupting us for!?" Haru asks.

"Okay, listen up!" he says. "So, we came up with an idea!"

"And it is...?" Jokuno asks.

"We want to hold a funeral," Toori explains. "For Kisaki and Sumiyoshi. They... they actually died, and we should take a moment to remember them, don't you think?"

The crowd in the mess hall talked with one another about the idea. Thankfully, I could mostly hear murmurs of agreement.

"Yeah," Asai says, "I think that's a good idea!"

"O-Okay!" Masamoto smiled.

"I don't see why not..." Aito nodded.

Erik actually looked away for a moment. I noticed him muttering something to himself, for whatever reason. "...Fine." he simply says.

"And what do we do about Sakuro?" Jokuno asked. "I'm all for the idea, really, but we have bigger problems."

"We're gonna invite him," Suzuki says, like it's no big deal.

Jokuno didn't even say anything. He just facepalmed.

"Yeah," Aito nodded, smiling.

"U-Um..." Placide says. "I-Is that such a good idea...? Wh-what if he t-tries to shoot us or something? O-Oh no, I hope I don't..." Placide started mumbling to herself.

"Honestly? It's better than the alternatives," I say. "We can just not invite him, which we know will anger him further. Or, we can invite him, give him the attention he wants, and we should be fine. Maybe."

"Why does he need to come?" Jokuno raised a brow. "Can we not keep him in his room? Or try to get him back to Keiro?"

"Both of those are probably impossible," I reply. "We could tie him up, but he'll only get even more mad-"

"But he'd be tied up," Jokuno cut me off. "Meaning he wouldn't be able to do anything."

"And," I continue, "We don't know how to get him back to Keiro yet. And, besides... maybe we should actually try to get him on our good side?"

"What good would that do?" Jokuno asks. "I'm sorry to say it- I am- but he's insane. If he comes to this funeral, I can almost guarantee it won't end well."

"Wait..." Aito intervenes, "A-Are you sure?"

"...Sorry?" Jokuno asks.

"I think all he wants is friends..." Aito says, thoughtfully. "W-Who are we to deny him that?"

"I get what you're trying to say," Erik says, "And you're right. I'd rather have another ally than an enemy. But what we need to understand is, is that some enemies are not open to negotiations. We let him get close to us, he takes us out when we're not looking."

"We don't know that..." Aito looks away. "W-We don't know that! We should at least try!"

"Aito..." Masamoto attempts to calm him down, saying something to him.

"We take his gun," Dakota says. "Tell 'im this: give us your shotgun, and you can come. Or you can just fuck off."

"Hrm..." Erik nods, thinking.

"I think that's the only way to do this," Suzuki says. "Are we in agreement? Or are we not?"

Honestly, to my surprise, lots of people actually said yes. A few were hesitant, but everyone eventually agreed to it. We're gonna invite Sakuro.

"...If I can't make you people do the thing that actually makes more sense," Jokuno sighs, "Then fine. Go ahead."

"Alright!" I think about how we're going to do this. "Okay... I'll go find Sakuro, and invite him."

"And take his gun." Dakota deadpanned.

"Yes, and take his gun." I roll my eyes.

"You sure you're up for it?" Erik asks. "He's insane and armed. You realize you could either get hurt or die or you do this."

"Oh, it'll be fine," I say, and I start walking out. "Okay. I'll go get Sakuro. Be back in five."

'This better work.'


"Tch... of course."

"I'm surprised. I didn't think they'd actually do that."

"It's good though! If they were to just leave him, I'm sure he'd be mad..."

"But, now, everyone going to be together, with a madman with a shotgun. This could end badly."

"They have a point though. There's no other way."

"...Hey, guys?"

"H-Huh!? What are you doing here!? You need to go-"

"N-No. It's... it's... him..."

"Him...? Who?"

"...He's waking up."

"Woah, wait!"

"Wait. You mean him? The last...?"

"No d- agh! N-No doubt..."

"Dammit... hold on. This is Kirigiri Kyoko, I need an armed team down to the Pod Room, now! Kamakura Izuru is waking up, I repeat, Kamakura Izuru is waking up!"


IT'S ALIIIIIVE

OKAY I'm sorry yes it's been like three weeks this was supposed to be out like two weeks ago but that never happened. Busy and shit. When I say busy I mean busy RPing. Cuz that's a thing I'm doing. Started RPing. Yeah. Alsootherirlstuffbutwhocaresaboutthat

So this chapter was interesting. Got an insane person running around with a shotgun. Said insane person is going to be at a funeral. Also, I didn't make the chapter last the entire day! If I did that no joke this would be 20k+ words(this one alone was 8,129). Hopefully, the next chapter, should it be uploaded sometime this year(psh if I start it at all), should be the funeral, and some other stuff. Lots of stuff. Anyway, replies to reviews!

Veltrops: Thanks! I'll have to figure out how to make the trials better, yeah. Don't be surprised if I get bored and make the next murder weapon a missile launcher.

Susurruses: I've got a lot planned for that :D Just you wait. Also, sorry about the undertaker, he's currently in asshole mode.

Myshiroyuki: Thanks! Will do.

Hero of the Dark: I figured having things around the kitchen being the murder weapon every time would get boring. :P Thanks!

TheRoseShadow21: It's hard picking certain people :P I still want to write a chapter that's literally just FTEs for six hours straight with everybody

Shadowplayer360: Hah, if I made it any more violent I'd have to make this M rated :P I was gonna make it at least a bit more detailed, but figured the fact that a baby is involved was kinda... enough.

LadyGlitchy: I suppose Kenta got his spotlight? ;)

pikachushinx: Well, it might not have been an FTE, but at least he's got a shotgun now.

Unify: Yeah, seems the arrows don't work. Which sucks. Thanks for the review! :D

mrean22: Thanks man :D

SHSL Slacker: I'LL DO IT I SWEAR(ALSO MAYBE I SHOULDN'T BE ONE TO TALK BUT YOU SHOULD UPDATE YOUR DR FICS)

WELP I guess that's it. Gonna go now. Hey, I think I didn't forget anything this time! Woo.