53 Lies and Counting.
Chapter 9: Let The Good Times Roll.
Begin Recording 321drv111-0.
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While Rantaro has the knowledge and basic planning, he can't escape the fact this is Danganronpa.
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Let The Good Times Roll~
Hey, everybody, let's have some fun,
You only live but once,
And when you're dead you're done!
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"F-Father?"
Monotaro knocked on his father's door quietly, trying to be loud enough to get his father's attention but quiet enough not to disturb anyone because he wasn't a mean bear. The scary lady had passed out exhausted while messing with him and he used the chance to escape back into his father's arms. However, the later of the plan was kind of a bust simply because he has no idea how to lockpick and he was too small to even reach the door handle.
He tried as he might, desperately reaching out for the handle.
"C-C'mon!"
He just couldn't do it.
"...MAY-I-HELP?"
Out of nowhere did Monodam's voice call out, and Monotaro turned around just in time to see Monodam, who was extending his arms to reach for the handle and lock. He grabbed the handle with his paw, staying silent as he carefully nudged it forwards and backs to see if it was actually locked.
"Oh! Hey, Monodam!" Monotaro waved at his brother nonchalantly. "What are you doing at this time at night?"
Monodam was sil- "I-WAS-GETTING-A-BREATHER-FROM-THE-SITUATION. THE-INTRUDER-IS-STILL-AMONG-US. I-WANT-TO-MAKE-SURE-EVERYONE-IS-SAFE."
Monotaro put his paw in front of his mouth, tilting his head in confusion. "Intruder? There's an intruder? Also, yay! Monodam is talking lots again!"
"I-SEE-YOUR-MEMORY-IS-STILL-BROKEN," Monodam said in a robotic monotone, twisting one of his hands he began to fumble then pick at the lock. "DO-YOU-NOT-REMEMBER-FIGHTING-THE-INTRUDER? YOU-WERE-SEVERELY-DAMAGED. WE-FIXED-YOU-IN-THE-END, BUT-IT-WOULD-APPEAR-THAT-YOUR-MEMORY-AND-AI-ARE- PERMANENTLY-DAMAGED."
The red bear had no clue what he was going on about. All he remembered was his siblings and beautiful father and his amazing cuddles!
Monodam was silent for a few more seconds before talking. "...SOMETHING-IS-WRONG-WITH-FATHER."
"Father? I suppose you mean uncle?"
"...HE-ISN'T-RIGHT. MOTHER-ISN'T-RIGHT. NOTHING-IS-RIGHT. THE-UNNATURAL-IS-HAPPENING AND..."
The lock clicked. The door was unlocked.
"EVERYONE-OUTSIDE-IS-SILENT. FATHER-WILL-NOT-STOP-THE-KILLING-GAME, WE-WILL-ALL-DIE-IF-WE-DON'T-STOP."
Then he looked at Monotaro, dead in the eyes with unusual determination.
"FATHER-MUST-DIE-FOR-EVERYONE-TO-LIVE."
"Alright, let's see..."
It had been nearly half an hour since the nighttime announcement had gone off and he had gone back to his room. At first, he couldn't sleep, the incident with Tsumugi was still fresh on his mind. So he decided to try and take his mind off of it by checking out something Kokichi gave him not too long ago.
The book, 'Amazing Theories on Dimension Hopping!', needed to be deciphered if it had something, anything to do about why he was here. It was in a chest, a very strange chest that was never there and if his experience of reading self-insert fan-fiction is true (or even Isekai manga for that matter) then that book led to some clues.
Something, or someone, brought him here.
Of course, that was obvious. There was no way he would just wake up in a fictional world for no reason and no higher power had transported him. It would be insane. And if that was the case, why WAS he taken here? As Rantaro Amami and not his old self?
It wasn't the good old, 'I got sucked into my video game' scenario of the olden times. He didn't have Danganronpa V3 Killing Harmony at all, the only things he's seen of it was on Youtube Let's Plays and fan-works. That that was off the list. Plus that wouldn't really explain the changes around the academy.
...Then it had something to do why he was missing recent memories.
Monotaro snuggled in closer onto his chest, a light snore escaping his maw. He had come into his room about ten minutes ago, remembering that he never actually locked his door (even though he swore he did lock the door... And tried to open it multiple times).
He didn't really pay attention at first, he was too busy trying to not have a heart attack from his situation and figuring out how the hell he was supposed to get out but now that he's had time to himself and recently been able to clear his head-
A small portion of his memories was missing. All he remembered was talking to his friend, something like an argument over something he did which was rather terrible, then next thing he knew he found himself in a locker here.
An angry conversation, then suddenly cut off like a badly edited video.
Then, it was his name, his old one.
He couldn't remember it at all.
Every memory he had with his name, either all blurred or bleeped out like the mere mention of it was the greatest taboo man had ever gone against.
Why? Why was his name completely missing?
He frowned, looking over the deciphered words he wrote in his book. He did a decent job, thankfully the deciphering on some of the sentences was quite easy since the lettering scramble was quite tame. He quietly began to read the crude sentences aloud.
"'Many theories on dimension travel... However one of the most popular is the one involving ECD and the...Stream. It connects with the Infinite Universe, Infinite Possibilities theory because of... Alternate worlds? All connected by a stream?'" He tapped his book before continuing. "There is infinite versions of a single world, all with differences ranging from a single person's hair colour and... To a world-changing its dominant species? And the strange occurrence of alternate magic having different effects in alternate planes all because the world cannot understand it, therefore cannot register it.'"
'Magic, like actual magic that mages cast?'
Himiko would have a blast if she learned this, hopefully not ones in the explosion category. He's watched Konosuba, he knows the mayhem that'll occur if anyone gains that sort of magic.
The next parts were slightly less coherent.
"'Of course with alternate worlds, there is always an original. The original might be..." He currently couldn't read that part. "Completely unheard of to others but may sound familiar to others due to a very interesting fact these worlds all have one thing in common. They are all based on fiction originating from other worlds."
And that was all he was able to decipher. It was interesting, however, it didn't tell him about his situation. He wouldn't put his trust in a random book, but he's willing to put some sort of faith into it considering his condition right now.
'Maybe I was... Transported by this stream?"
It was all so supernatural like. Fantasy even. He really was transported to another world in the end.
"So, did I die in the end?"
He didn't know, he didn't know, he didn't know.
He couldn't help repeatedly tap the heel of his foot on his bed, with each tap getting louder until he full on slammed it against his bed in frustration. The key card on his bed falling off, a card he a had a strange suspicion he knew it was for.
(It rang loudly. He felt like he KNEW exactly what it was.)
He was frustrated and tired.
He wanted to sleep.
NEEDED to sleep.
Without thinking, he threw the book to the other side of the room. He immediately undid her blanket, stripped off all of his clothes and took Monotaro into his arms as he got comfy and prepared to sleep.
'If I destroy Motherkuma and Monokuma tomorrow, we don't have to worry about the countdown anymore from the day after...'
His eyes glowed a darker green.
'No one will interfere. I will make sure no one gets killed because of me. I will die before then.'
...
"I...Will die before then."
...
"I...Will...Die..."
Slumber finally took him.
"Rantaro! Wake up, the morning announcement was like ten minutes ago and we need to have a talk about something. Your not gonna come out naked again and scare poor Tsumugi again right?"
The girl in question just tilted her head numbly, wobbling a bit on her legs with a startled yet distant look on her face. She stared at him for a few moments, 'oh'd' in realisation and continue to exit the dormitory.
"...Weirdo weeb." Kokichi brushed her strange demeanour off and continued to knock on the door.
Everyone had already left as far as he was aware. He knew Angie was praying to Atua somewhere, Kaito had followed Gonta to conduct some planning, Himiko was reluctantly hanging out with Tenko, and Maki and Ryoma had fucked off somewhere.
They were going to all have those breakfast meetings, and he would taste that delicious goodness that comes from Muterumi once more.
Kokichi frowned at the lack of response, did he already leave?
And just as he was about to give up, a click from the lock and the movement of the door being pushed made him sigh in relief and fake amusement at his lateness.
"There you are." Kokichi began. "Come on, I wanna talk and eat with you, we gotta keep up the charade of boyfriends before-" And out of the door came a tired Monotaro. The red and white bear rubbed his ears tiredly, barely taking note of Kokichi as his disgusted face twisted into a frown. "Oh? Hello, brat bear." He mockingly smiled. "Where're your pops?"
"Father?" Monotaro muttered before letting out a mighty yawn. His fans had never felt so clean before! Did that scary blonde lady help his circuits and fix his fan? If so that was amazing to him. "He... Left earlier I think. Before uncle's announcement."
"Before?"
"I think..?" Monotaro tried to rack his brain to remember. "He looked like he was in some strange trance, he was muttering something about... What was it? Oh! He kept repeating something about 'dying before then', I think? He was really out of it, he looked pretty tired."
"Dying before... Then?" Kokichi frowned. "Dying before when?"
"...I... Don't know... I think he said he was going to the toilet."
"The toilets, other than the obvious buisness, why else would he need to go-"
...
"Oh no..."
He wasn't actually going to do something so stupid and suicidal-
"Hey, Monotaro, can you come with me for a sec?"
"Hmmm... Let's turn that off and turn this on now, shall we? Don't want Ranran killing himself just yet!"
The path had gotten greener as he walked down the hallway, barely lit up from the light he snagged from Miu in her lab, who was still asleep, filled with thick foliage and blades of thin grass, he even heard a faint chirp of a cricket of all things...
'There are bugs down here now?'
The nausea was running him down, with each step he took into the Secret Room, his brain would start to conjure up every wrong possibility that could happen, from the potential alarms and the thought of Tsumugi coming up from behind and taking him by surprise. His grip had tightened around the handle of his knife, while his other hand fiddled with the switch for the EMP grenade.
Overcome by a sudden strong sense of responsibility, Rantaro was able to expel the negative thoughts and with a deep breathe, continued onward.
The way was dark, so dark. And it smelt... Strange. It smelt like rotten egg.
Sulphur. It smelt very much like sulphur.
'Was this where the sulphur is being shipped off to?'
Why didn't he smell this before?
And before he even knew it, he found himself at the same large metal door from before, which looked more like a part of a metal vault if anything, overtaken by vines and branches. His eyes narrowed, he knew something was very, very wrong here. There was the card slot next to it, still filled with dust, meaning no one had used it.
He opened it with the card given to him, and after the door opened up as it destroyed the plant life that still clung to it desperately-
He was in the Secret Room.
It almost looked like how it did in the game, it looked disturbingly out of place with the purple-tinted black and white checkered floor and the purple lights above giving it the tint, with its red cube like pillars decorated with hearts and flowers near the stage area. However it seemed like nature was taking over as the place was completely covered in plant life, there were even small trees growing here, one of which had wrapped around one of the pillars.
There seemed to be piles of metal scrap tossed into the corners of the room like yesterdays garbage, some of which had the shape of busted Monokuma's and even more of them had a moss like material encasing it. A quiet sound of what sounded like a generator was whirring in the background, barely piercing the silence in the room where no music had played. And in the centre of the room...
Were a bunch of chairs and a couple of tables, all covered in patches of moss and flowers with the exception of a table, which looked burnt on closer inspection.
A table that was relatively small, and on closer inspection, had a bunch of machinery parts, a syringe with a needle, a high tech looking microscope and a pile of blueprints. The microscope had a petri dish inserted under the scope, which contained a neon pink liquid, blood, he realised.
There was also a mechanical... Something. It looked like a thick metal arm with a thin needle in the palm surrounded by multiple long finger-like... Things.
'God damn it... What was it called? One of that sci-fi, high tech prosthetic arms used for fixing and engineering?"
He couldn't remember.
There was another petri dish, placed carefully on top of a piece of cloth and filled with a transparent liquid. Unsure of what exactly he was looking at, he went to the blueprints.
'Is that a vir- wait no, a bacteriophage?'
The prints had, strangely enough, images of bacteriophages, each had various amounts of detail written down in small text in a language he didn't recognise. The drawings ranged from the Petri dishes, the bacteriophages, some images that looked like it came from an infrared camera, along with adorable drawings of Monokuma, Usami, Kurokuma, Shirokuma and the Monokubs.
'Weird'.
However one of the images depicted an over a dozen of the bacteriophages within a petri dish, next to another image of the dish with the blood coloured in pink. Unlike the other images, there was no form of writing near it at all. There was, however, a green tick.
He stared at both Petri dishes, almost like his eyes were drawn to them by some strange force.
A strange curiosity overtook him, the one with the transparent liquid made him feel... Unnerved. He had no idea why but just looking at it made his ends stand on end and made him feel like his blood was curdling, which was a sickening thought and why was he thinking that?
His gazed shifted to the blood, then back to the liquid.
...There was some other blueprints, one of them depicted a strange orb shape machine with a light blue core, however another blueprint that caught his attention from the corner of his eye, mostly because it was in English and had a drawing of a megaphone on it. So after doing a quick skim, he began to read it out loud, albeit quietly.
"Despite my overall experience in hacking and engineering, and with the main servers having all memory and the rather limited data extracted, recreating the Hacking Gun from scratch has been far more difficult from what its worth." He paused before continuing. "Making a simple Monokuma is easy, as there are so many blueprints for each type and there are saved copies of the original AI, but the Hacking Gun itself is far too complex and that baffles me completely. It was far too difficult, then I looked into the blueprints a little more and figured out why."
'Oh?'
"The gun can only affect Towa equipment with special information interference bullets, that much I gathered when collecting data. However actually collecting the specific data and compacting into a solid form is far more sci-fi then it should be. Then when it comes to the gun the capsules and the bullet chamber have to be in top-notch condition to work, even then firing doesn't want to work and just self destructs upon itself. The only bullets I was able to recreate and use at the point in time are 'Dance' and 'Move'. While I may be able to implement 'Break' soon, the chances of finishing the gun before the game officially begins is slim, so unless I'm willing to leave the bullets as is and just focus on getting the gun to work I will not be able to use this as the 'Pushing Motive'."
'The Pushing Motive?"
Was Tsumugi trying to recreate a Hacking Gun? But that didn't make sense at all, couldn't she just ask for one from Team Danganronpa?
Something didn't add up though...
"Apparently there are still some leftovers of the 'Mythical Creature Ark' that Nurture and Rose were supposed to look over before they got moved to the recording department due to a lack of staff. While I shouldn't really prod around with precious, and rather law breaking equipment, I shouldn't really get into too much trouble if I use it on one of the students. Plus, this place is about to be cut off soon, they won't notice the missing equipment or the ECD, seeing as there are far too many to even keep account of right now. Then it really comes down to the one question:"
"Who is the lucky student to become inhuman?"
...What?
The first thoughts that came to Rantaro's mind were, 'This sounds like a really weird mix of fantasy and sci-fi', and 'Then where is this Hacking Gun?', then far too many other questions came to mind, some that he realised the answers to not even a second later.
Then Tsumugi was-
...
'I'll deactivate the source first before I properly inspect this.'
And so he left it alone, for now at the very least.
And on another one of those tables, was a small Monopad looking device, turned on. On another table was a strange device he recognised somewhat hidden under a piece of cloth. He went over to the table and lifted up the cloth, which felt as soft as silk and tickled his fingertips, revealing the device underneath.
It was the Monokuma Controller, the same one from Another Episode. However, there was a slight difference in the colour scheme as it seemed to somewhat lighter than the original, and had a small antenna perched on top, along with six circular buttons placed on each side. He wiped the screen of the faint dust, wincing and nearly dropping the controller as the screen suddenly came to life in a white flash.
The screen flickered for a moment before it came to a brief loading screen before it even came to a menu. A label popped up right next to each button each having the words MK, JM, BM, BEM, BOM, and NEXT with each corresponding button. Whatever MK or BEM meant was lost on him.
Rantaro was hesitant, should he mess around with it?
...
He pressed a button. Whatever the button was, took him to another screen which also took a few seconds to load.
Bzzzt!
Loading Monokuma Unit...
A small whirring sound suddenly started up from a segment in the room, a large object from the other end of the room glowed red underneath another much larger sheet before stopping. Behind the covered object, a shaft-like construction rattled violently before stopping and spat out a small machine.
But it wasn't a machine. It was a Monokuma, a decently large one at that.
And it wasn't just any decently large Monokuma. It had a green bulletproof vest and a green helmet neatly placed on its head, along with a silver container strapped to it's back filled to the brim with explosives.
It was...
BOMBER MONOKUMA!
It's grin stretched out, revealing its razor-sharp teeth that was quite clearly designed to tear and kill, it's red eye glowed as soon as it saw him.
"Upupupu! Troubling!"
"Shit!" That was the last thing he wanted.
The Bomber Monokuma blinked and shuffled, the bag of explosives rattling with each small movement causing great anxiety and fear in his heart, looking around a little before its eyes landed on Rantaro. However, instead of attacking like he thought it would, it merely saluted.
"Bomber Monokuma, reporting for duty sir!"
"Huh?
Bomber didn't respond and merely began to bob up and down on its feet, humming Mr Monokuma's Tutoring without a care in the world.
Rantaro looked at the Monokuma in surprise. Was it not attacking him because of the controller?
...He pressed another button, followed by another one.
Bzzzt!
Loading Monokuma Unit...
Bzzzt!
Loading Monokuma Unit...
The sheet covered object glowed again, following by the same rattling from the shaft before spitting out another Monokuma. This time a Guard Monokuma and a Siren Monokuma came out, which saluted him and began to casually dance.
GUARD MONOKUMA!
SIREN MONOKUMA!
"Guard Monokuma reporting for duty sir!"
"SIREN MONOKUMA, REPORTING FOR DUTY SIR!"
He winced at the Siren Monokuma, who's voice was much louder than the others. '...Okay, that's a tad odd.'
"Why is there a controller in the first place," He muttered. It didn't make sense, couldn't Tsumugi just use voice recognition to spawn Monokuma's? "And why does it include these types as well?" His eyes rested onto a sheet covered object with a large 'Out of order!' sign, causing his eyes to narrow in half realisation and confusion before he went over and took the sheet off in one fell swoop.
'Bingo.'
"Well geez, took you long enough buddy."
The Motherkuma head on the centre of the stage, inside that same glass barrier filled with a strange liquid and connected to dozens of wires leading to somewhere. The red eye on the head was dull compared to its normal eye, located within a twisted and warped mass of metals and wires that glowed an ominous blue.
"You're not even supposed to be here." If it had a brow it would have definitely raised it. "You have to follow the script y'know? Otherwise, the Mastermind isn't going to be pleased." As Rantaro neared the head, fiddling with the grenade, Motherkuma chuckled. "Are you going to kill me?"
"I have no reason not to." Rantaro tapped his nails against the glass. "The academy is already in shambles, most of the security measures are gone, and the only one who is preventing us to escape is Monokuma, and after you're gone we can get rid of Monokuma and get out of here."
'I Will die before them.'
"Guess you've thought this up to a T huh then?!" The Motherkuma suddenly snapped, it's previously carefree tone gone and its voice now filled with barely concealed anger. "Rantaro Amami, you were supposed to be the first to die, you were supposed to follow the script that was burned into your memory. But you didn't. And I have an inkling as to why."
"What-"
The Monopad on the table emitted a sound, similar to someone trying to strangle static. Whatever was on the screen was gone, instead, it was replaced by walls of text and images. Rantaro looked at what was on it, blinking when he realised that the walls of text were the whole entire script, the whole script for Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.
And then it changed. And no longer was there a wall of text on the screen.
In its place were a few lines of text, text in another language that he couldn't read.
"You've all have changed. None are you are following the script as you should be, and thanks to my state of the art hacking, I know why." It's red eye flickered. "The intruder had completely erased the plot and changed up your personalities. Now there is no plot to follow."
'...Eh?'
"Wait, hold on, give me a second here." The sudden information was overwhelming for him, all he wanted to do was deactivate the Motherkuma and kill Monokuma, why was this happening now?!"What do you mean the plot was erased?"
"I mean the plot was erased, you weed smoking hippie!" Motherkuma growled. "There is no plot to follow, and with how most are you are different, I wouldn't be surprised if the plot is writing itself as it goes and no one is actively supervising it. Tell me, did you notice the Nanokuma's?"
"...No?" Where was it going with this? "Do you mean if-"
"My precious baby Nanokuma's are gone, along with communications! The system won't let me spawn any more of my Nanokuma's! None of us can stop the Killing Game anymore."
"So-"
"And if no one is watching, then the Killing Game is just mindless killing, no one important is being entertained other than us. We can't bring out the despair, and the money, to it's fullest potential if no one is watching."
"And if the audience-"
"And you!"
Suddenly the lights dimmed, the wires leading into the Motherkuma's head sparked and twitched, almost like he was watching a moving muscle, like an orgy of snakes.
"You, are not Rantaro Amami."
"What?"
It's voice, once another Monokuma voice, had changed. It sounded feminine, yet awfully robotic and awfully unfamiliar.
"Not even you're personality, you're genetic structure has changed and is still being altered. Different hormones are being produced at higher rates than it normally should for a healthy male, muscle and other tissue are slowly developing around the chest-" It paused. "Oh? So it's already taken effect? The RO-"
And then all of a sudden it had stopped. Its eyes flickered before shutting off. All of the lights in the turned completely off, leaving nothing around other than a thick cover of darkness and the glowing red eyes of the Monokuma's. It was completely silent, he couldn't hear anything.
Except, for the quiet echo of shoes walking across marble the floor.
"...Shit."
He didn't move, fearing he would alert his presence to what was most likely Tsumugi. The other Monokuma's covered their red glowing eye, seemingly aware of what's going on. The footsteps had started to become louder, more spaced apart as if the person was uncertain and scared as if they were unsure if it was a good idea to continue.
Then the footsteps stopped, with the only noise belonging to the mystery person's heavy and almost frightened breathing. Ever so carefully, trying his best to not to make too much noise, he strapped the EMP to his waist and took out his still sheathed knife. He tried to think, still overwhelmed from what the hell just happened and the information from the Motherkuma still stuck in his brain like a bad memory.
'So no one is actually watching this?'
No audience, yet the game is still continuing.
'There's no plot, no script for us to follow?'
Yet it was confirmed that personalities have been changed, but how? You couldn't just change a personality like-
That...
'...I am such a fucking idiot, of course, the Flashback Lights!'
How did he forget about something like that? He felt like punching himself in the face, forgetting the most obvious answer to his classmate's personality tweaks. Something so damn important-
Tap. Tap.
He had to figure this out fast, but unfortunately, he had something to deal with first.
His thumb pushed itself against the sheath, seeing how easily it slides off he nodded to himself out of habit. Of course, the plan for his guest was incredibly flimsy as he has never had proper combat training or experience before (he had carving experience, but that really wasn't useful in a fight, but if he did it right...)
He needed to know the truth. If it was what he thought it was then everyone was in a lot more trouble than realised.
An electrical buzz made itself apparent in the room, and before anyone knew it the lights flickered back to life, and he could see again.
Just in time to see Tsumugi Shirogane yell as a gloved hand grabbed her hair, pulling her back and pushing a deadly looking knife against her neck and ready to slit her throat.
"Hey, WAIT!"
"R-Rantaro?!"
"..?"
Before the other guest could finish the job, Rantaro's panicked scream had stopped them in their tracks, a confused gasp escaped their mouth, but their red eyes still practically glowed and their pigtails flowed in the air like they belonged to an inhuman being, the knife still pressed near Tsumugi's throat.
It was clear that Maki Harukawa was not expecting this.
The three Monokuma's red eyes flashed at the intruder, their mouths warping into twisted grins, but didn't do anything much to Rantaro's relief.
All three of them stayed silent, Maki looked at him with half confusion and half determination and Rantaro looked back with his own eyes cautious and nervous. Tsumugi looked forward, fear and panic on her face as her heartbeat accelerated, her breathing short and fast as she slowly nearing a panic attack. The danger was activating her adrenaline, her body begged her to get away, yet what was left of her logical mind in the panic kept her in place, as one wrong move would get her killed.
Why?
Maki, her grip on her hair still strong, glared at him with eyes still glowing. "...Why are you here?!"
"I should be asking you that Maki. And Tsumugi too."
"Tsumugi is the Mastermind." She eyed the other Monokuma's with caution in her eyes, her hairs on end like a threatened animal.
He raised a brow, did she assume that because she saw Tsumugi go through a secret passage or was it something else? But she sounded so confident.
"How do you know?"
"Ara? So many people here so soon, in the first chapter nevertheless?"
The Motherkuma's voice made him jump, surprised to see the thing back to life and it's voice back to normal. This made the Motherkuma laugh. "Sorry about that, electricity isn't working properly. Anyway... Is Tsumugi the Mastermind? Is she the one behind all of you're misery? Guess you'll have no clue until you kill her! Of course, there is a way to find out, but I doubt someone of your meagre intelligence could understand."
"Excuse me?"
"You're being awfully helpful for something working for the Mastermind..."
'Especially so early."
"True, true. However, due to complications, I have to be helpful now. You're not the only ones in the dark here after all." Motherkuma sighed. "I wish I could act like the script wants me too, but with no script for me to follow I just have to make due."
"...Hey, answer a few questions for me would you." Rantaro asked.
"Oh, sure thing my precious student."
"Is the intruder the one who changed the plot? And are they the one who changed everyone else's personalities?"
"According to the evidence of the reports, little old me has to agree." Motherkuma sighed. "I'm pretty sure the two of you freaks are aware of the Flashback lights?"
"F- Flashback..?" Tsumugi whimpered, confused and still extremely scared.
Maki's eye's narrowed, bearing her teeth like an aggressive dog. "Were they..."
"Used on pretty much every student here to change their backstories, part of their personality, etc? Yes." The machine finished. "Our little intruder seems to have been aware on how to alter the Flashback Lights before they even arrived here in the first place. And that part baffles me. But what baffled the most was the status of two particular students."
"..."
"Maki?"
"Well, well, looks like dear Maki Roll has gotten the jist of it." It laughed, catching the disturbed and murderous expression on Maki's face. "Two particular students according to the character script are blank slates, and after some hacking into the camera's, and digging up what data I could, I know why." Motherkuma's mouth groaned as it shifted into a larger grin. "Curious how Maki Harukawa and Kokichi Ouma remember the original script as ifl they had experienced it themselves. Like they were looping through time."
"What?"
"Kokichi..?"
Maki hissed, pulling harder on Tsumugi's hair which caused her to yell as more tears threatened to fall down her eyes. She turned her attention to Rantaro. "And what about Rantaro? He seems to know too much for a regular student."
"Heck if I know. According to what's left of his script he's supposed to be the exact same as before, well with the exception of being the Ultimate Confectioner instead but that's not that important."
"Wait a minute, let me process this for a second." Rantaro took in a deep breath and exhaled.
'As...Before?' Strange, why 'as before?'
"Maki are you actually a time looper?"
"..."
"Please, I need to know."
"...Are you?"
'Holy shit.'
He couldn't believe this was actually happening. At first it was Kokichi, now Maki was one too?!
"Yes, I mean, I remember everything before I was killed in the Library."
"By Tsumugi, who framed Kaede and continued the Killing Game."
"W-Wait!" Tsumugi whimpered. "What are you talking about?! I'm not the Mastermind!"
"Are you sure-"
"Maki, hold on for a second. Motherkuma, can you spawn a Monokuma?"
"Sure I can! But you can't just tell me to spawn a Mono-"
"Birth a new Monokuma."
"Nope!"
Maki blinked, a look of surprise on her face which quickly turned into a mix of suspicion and realisation. "...Birth a new Monokuma."
"Nada!"
"Tsumugi?"
"Wh-What?"
"Can you say 'birth a new Monokuma'?"
"W...W- Why?!"
"Please." Rantaro begged. "We need you to say it as well, this will confirm if you're the Mastermind or not, so if you-"
"BIRTH A NEW MONOKUMA!"
Her desperate and terrified screamed was quickly followed by silence. Both Maki and Rantaro were expecting something to happen, something like the whirring of machines, or Motherkuma to say something like 'voice recognised, birthing Monokuma'.
But nothing happened.
"Hahahaha!" Motherkuma laughed. "I guess Tsumugi isn't the Mastermind then? And it seems like little Rantaro may be defying the script in some way if you already knew the secret phrase."
A loud gasp of relief came from Tsumugi as Maki hesitantly removed the knife away from her throat, the suspense and relief caused the cosplayer to collapse to her knees, loud barely controlled sobs escaping her mouth. The assassin merely kneeled down next to her, stroking her back and muttering small, half-hearted sounding apologies.
Maki seemed more kind he guessed, however, Rantaro wasn't entirely sure if Maki should be comforting Tsumugi as she nearly took her life not even five minutes ago.
Rantaro frowned, his suspicions confirmed. He was still reeling from everything that has happened in the past few minutes, it was difficult for his brain to process properly. Maki was also a looper? The Mastermind isn't Tsumugi? And what was the Motherkuma talking about when it mentioned his genetics were changing? He was properly confused, even with suspicions being cleared. "So... Is the intruder the Mastermind then?"
And out of nowhere ...
"DUE TO ISSUES WITH THE SYSTEM MOTHERKUMA WILL NOW BE SHUTTING DOWN, PLEASE HALT DANGAN- ERROR! LEVEL #"?%! VIRUS HAS BEEN DETECTED, PLEASE SHUT DOWN THE DANGANŖ̸͈͔̠̯͈̮O̡̘̜̟͈͇̹̩Ṇ͚̗̰̼Ṕ̩̰̠̗̗̼̙̜͞A̦͇ ̥͖̩͓͎͚̜S̙͖͎̘͟E̴̹͖̬̞̝͍̕R̜͇̰̗͚V̟E̲̻̥̠͔̰͘͢Ŕ̵̡̙͎̟̩̠̱͙̬S͓͙͔͔̳̬ ͢͏̫̠Á͎̲̘̥͢N̴̷̯̙͢D̜ ͓̯̲̙̲̰͞A̸̦͓̰̘͢L̙͍͍̘̩̺̗̰̩͘L̻̟̤͟͢͠ ̬͔̗͍͔̙Ȩ͚̺̘̼̤Q͔̺̪͎̬ͅÚ̡̗̖͙͕͕̦ͅI͎̟̫̩͍̫̳͢͠P̵͖̥͍̘̗͍̟̙͡M̶͈̩͕̱̳̯̗È̙̬̰̺̘̠̤͖͟N̜̠̙̲̜̖Ţ̦̠̗̣̪́͞ ̵̰̼̲̰̺̞͚̕A͖̱̥̰͓̠̲͘͜Ṣ̢̡͇̤͉̣̗̟̟ͅŞ̼̪̝͜O͎̖͖͓͟͢͡C̶̷̻͈͢I̙̪̥̭̲̮̬͢Ą̻̱̺̘̰́͞T͈̳̬͇́͞E̯̯͖͔̟̣̭̪͞D̫̪̪̭̤̹̙̮͎ ҉̝̰̩͕͖̬̜̣̭W͇̣͇͖͡I̻͓͔͓̲̠ͅT̵̨̩̺̺̟ͅH̲̬̀͟ ̸͔͎͚̗̩̯T̷̪̹̞ͅH̵̦͕͉͇͘I̗S̸̠̮̻̠̯͎̻̠ ̶̷̡̗̟̻͇͔Ś̡̹E̴̴̢̹À͔̲͖S̮̳̤̘͓̲͍̲̞͡O̰̣͠N̢̬͉̕ ̳̝͕̥̠́O͖̻̳͍̣̟̙͝F̛̭̳͠ ̵̟͍̲̞̬͚̣̺D̡̼̟̥R̝̯̞͇̤̲ ̵̗̝̣͓̟̤͖̻̼͡B̵҉̲̫͎͇E͕̰̼̪͔̕͞F̢͇͖̻̠̮O̳͚̙̠̣͚̭̦R͚̩̦E̵̢̺͚̼ ́͏̨̼̭F̤͓̬́U̡̙͚̩̳͢R̶̨̻̪̬T̴̥̻̖̫̘͉H̻̟̥̰̻̱̥E̵͍͖͇͟͠ͅR͍̹̳̟̥̕͝͞ ͇̱C҉͍͖̹͓̭̹O҉̫͖̗̰ͅN̗͎̜͈̝̹̭̪̼͝Ṭ̶̴͓͖̙̼̩̱̭́A̵̤̮̺̘M͉̗̻͙I͙͖̟̣͍͙̬͟N̬̠̕A̴̳͎̜͈̮̭̮̯T̶̠̺͜I̹̯̪͔̲͙ͅÒ̞̭̞̼N̝͚̙̜̙̜͟!͏҉̮͎̗͙ ͓͈̦͙̬̕I̼͙͈̤̲̭̱͠ ͕R̵̷̙̜̯̠̬̬̜̟E̸͙̯̪̠̠̮P҉͔͕̳̥̹̟Ę̶͕̝̯͈̪͇̠̫̣͟A̸̲̳̰͚͎̱T̴̡̠̠̞̠͖̲͎.̶̟̟̝̗̰̥̣.͏҉͏̦.̢̝̯̟̝̙̰̝̱ ̶̙̲̺P̣̠͈L̠̰͓̬E̡͔̗̩A̵̳̪̜͡S̮̤̀È̟͘S̸̨̗̫̭̖̞͙̞͡H̨͇̪̹Ụ̵̭͘T̵̬̀̕D͟͏̬͓̮̳̹̹̠̼O̴̡͏̰̩̪̭͓W̺̣N̛͔̠̗̤̻̦͙͘͜A̷̶͚̫͓̮͝L̯͠L҉̣̮̪̱́D̨̲̠̻͢A̝̖͙̟̫N̢͓͠G̢̣͚͔͠A̵͎̞̙̰͢Ņ̡̞͙̹̫͚̫̦̲̕R̺̭̫̯̮̩͇͙͘Ó̢̞̼̯̱̲N̫̦̖̮͍͓͖̮͠P̰̠̣͝ͅA̖͙Ş̜̳̩̤̦̘E̵̬R̶̡̳̼̙͔̼V̷͎̣̣͎̭E̸̫͙̩͍̫R̸͉̣̺̮̕S̝̭̫̭̗͟͞͡A̱̰̣̦̯̺͎͝N̶̻̬̗̖͇̼̕ͅͅD̹͕͕͜͝Į̬̲̰̟̬͞H̛͜͏̳̟͎͙̼O̼͈̗̠͎̞̪P̵̭͔̟͖̜͇̯̭͠E̵̞̘̕Y̸̯̯̜͞O̝͔̞̥̦̺̣̝͟͞U̡͍͓̣͘Á̜̩͔L̢̟̩̗̞͕͡L̢͏͚̣̺̘͓H̶̞̦͚̳͙̯͍́͟Á̩̲͓̠ͅV҉̠͓͖͔̖̠̖̱E̗̘ͅA̠͎̭͈̟͢Ń̵͓̖͍Į̪ͅC̦̺͎̳̰͎̙E͚̰͇̰̼͠D̖̻ͅA̭͈̯͍͇̼̼̖͞Y̲͍̺̥̭͘!"
Then Motherkuma began to spit out sped up cobbled up gibberish like someone was fast forwarding a broken tape, its red eye flashing rapidly before it completely stopped, now taking on an olive green colouration, the metal pieces and gears groaning and bending like a robot experiencing severe body horror.
"Maybe, maybe not," Motherkuma said innocently, it's voice once again feminine and it's now green eye continued to flash rapidly. "But... I'm afraid I can't tell you much more."
"Why?!"
"Because... Puhuhuhu. The Killing Game is still in effect."
"What? Isn't that even more reason to tell us if you're also in the dark?"
"Plans changed sweetie, and I'm afraid that dear Motherkuma won't be helping you out after all. ̢͢͢҉I̴͢ ̸̡̀͢c̢͟a̷̕͠͠n͢͝͝'̵̡͘t̨͟͡ ̨̕͝͡͏h̕҉҉͟͜á̛͘v̵̡͘̕͠e̵̡̛ ͜͏͏̸ý̷̢͜͞ơ̵u̷̡͡ ͢͠r̴u͟͞i̵̧͝n̡̢͘͝i̵͜͠n̕͢͡͝g̶̛͟͝ ̶̢͟M̧Y͜͟ ̶͢͠K̸̸̷͜͝i̶̶ĺ̸̷l̵̕͟͝i͏ǹ̸͘g̛̀͟ ̴͞͝G͏̨͏̨͘ą́͠m̡e̸͞ ͏͏͘a̵̛̕f͜͏̶͘͟t̴̡̨e̡͟r̶̛͟ ͟a̵̛l̢͏̛l̢͡.̀͘͘
The last sentence was completely overlapped by the static, and Rantaro didn't have much time to think or react as suddenly one of the wires had reached out to him as if it had a mind of its own, grabbing him by the wrists. He yelped as he was thrown onto the floor like a rag doll, nearly knocking him unconscious as more wires attempted to grab and surround him. However Maki reacted fast, she immediately ran over and began to pull away from the wires with almost supernatural speed, she hissed, cutting away any of the wires that tried to reach for her. The Monokuma's followed suit quickly rushed over to help to her surprise but didn't pay it much heed.
And apparently Tsumugi had snapped out of her shock caused by her near assassination, and she herself had also begun tear off the wires the best she could, not achieving much results compared to Maki and the other Monokuma's. At this point, Rantaro was almost completely covered in wire. He felt suffocated, and as the wires tightened with each one removed and torn and twice the number took one's place. It was starting to cut into his skin. He felt pain, stinging pain.
Pain.
Pain.
Fear.
'I'm going to die, Imgonnadie, Imgonnadie, ImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadieImgonnadie-'
Crack!
One of the wires smashed into the glass jar Motherkuma was contained in, causing the whole thing to shatter as more wires joined in. The mass of wires retreated from Rantaro's body, leaving the controller alone in his hands and one of them with the EMP grenade in tow. It pressed the button, and to his and Maki's surprise-
The wire shoved it into the Motherkuma's head.
A bright white light shone from the sockets of the head, the circuits and all of the electrical devices in the room either short-circuited or promptly shut down. They all covered their heads as the lights above blew up, sending hot plastic and glass down below.
Multiple heavy thuds sounded out, as well as the quiet whirring of a generator dying down, but none of them really noticed.
Motherkuma was silent, gone.
And just like that, it was over. Motherkuma had been shut down for good.
No more Monokuma's.
But the other Monokuma's he spawned were still active and were now hopping on their feet once more, now seemingly on standby. Their red eyes flickered for a moment before becoming brighter, all with all three of them combined lit up the majority of the room in a calm red.
Rantaro did what he came here for, but now he regrets even coming here in the first place.
But why? He was going to save everyone, why did he regret nearly dying for them?
"Was... Was that it then?" Rantaro questioned, tired and still in pain from the wires, trying to ignore the obvious marks across his skin. The Siren Monokuma waddled over to him, lifting him up so he was sitting up. It patted his head, seemingly pleased.
Maki looked at him, an emotion on her face he couldn't identify. "Was your plan to kill Motherkuma so you could get rid of Monokuma for good?"
"Basically. With no proper security measures I could easily take down the Motherkuma and Monokuma afterwards before he could even use the Spears of Gungnir, and with no Exisals the Monokubs can't do anything else. A better plan than before right?"
"Maybe, but that was still incredibly dangerous..." Her eyes narrowed. "How did you even know the phrase to birth Monokuma's anyway? And how did you know about Motherkuma? And what's with these ones?"
'Shit.'
"Hold- Hold on!"
Rantaro had almost forgotten Tsumugi was still here, and the girl had tears running down her face from her near death experience. She coughed, her cheeks and eyes red from the tears and her nostrils covered in nasty snot. "What, what are you guys talking about?! What do you mean time looping?!" She hiccuped. "Why did you try to kill me Maki?! Why did you think I was the Mastermind?! Why, why-" She broke down onto the floor, sobbing, "WHY?! WHAT DID I DO?!"
He winced, a feeling of guilt overtook him despite the fact he didn't really do anything. Maki just stared at her, there was slight guilt in her eyes as well, despite her stone cold face. She opened her mouth-
Ding Dong! Dong Ding!
Only to be interrupted by the sound of the oh-so-familiar bells of the school announcement.
And then the monitor, the Monokuma styled one hanging from one of the pillars suddenly burst to life. For some reason, it was completely unaffected by the EMP and was still working completely fine. On the screen was none other than Monokuma, a glass of fizzy champagne in his paw and a desk with sushi on top.
"A body has been discovered! Everyone, please gather in the library!
And then the screen turned to black and all normal as if it didn't just drop extremely important news.
"...Huh, wait, what?"
'Why?! It's far too early for something like this to happen!'
They all stared at the monitor, expressions mixing from shock and fear. Tsumugi squirmed and whimpered in fear as Maki and Rantaro made eye contact. A silent truce was made a few seconds later before they both nodded.
"Let's go."
"Crud. The doors closed?!"
They all had headed through the passageway that headed to the library, all in silence despite the rush and the darkness surrounding them due to the EMP cutting off the power source of the lights (which may have been the Motherkuma, seeing as that seemed to have been the only thing affected). However, the door was still closed, unsurprising since they all came into the secret room through the girl's toilet.
Maki went up to the door and smacked her hand against it, the strength made the door rattle somewhat. She frowned, confused. "It's not properly in place."
"It isn't? Doesn't it need a pass to even open?"
"Yes, but the door-"
"W-Whats that noise?!"
Her eyes widened as Kaito's voice rumbled past the plate. She slapped the plate again, producing the same sound. "Kaito!"
"M-Maki?!"
"Maki's a ghost?!"
"Is she behind the bookcase?"
"Hey!" Rantaro yelled. "Can you move the bookcase?!"
"Rantaro as wel- hey- Kaede, Shuichi, what are you-"
A loud rumbling echoed behind the metal plate, followed by a few gasps of shock and the sound of something large and heavy being dragged across a wooden floor. More thudding came from behind the door, followed by grunts of annoyance. Shuichi's voiced called out. "Why is the card reader- Kaede! It's broken!
"What?! When did that-" She growled in annoyance. "We can't open it. How did you two get in there?!"
"We'll tell you later! Can you guys stand away from the door?" Rantaro called out. He turned to both Maki and Tsumugi. "Hey, stand back a bit as well, I'm gonna blow this up."
"H-Huh?!"
"Move it Tsumugi."
"But-"
"Do you want to die?"
He pressed a button on the controller, which now showed a diagram of the Bomber Monokuma and the Guard Monokuma. He pressed a few more buttons-
"Upupupu. Got it boss!"
The Guard and Bomber Monokuma squeezed past the trio, with the Siren Monokuma hanging back. The Guard stood behind the Bomber with its shield raised as the Bomber took out a few of its miniature bombs before placing them in front of the door and retreating behind the guard. The Bomber stood back a few steps behind the Guard and trio, taking out a remote switch with a big red button with a skull etched on.
"Everyone, get away!"
It held up a paw-
"3!"
And started to countdown.
"2!"
They all covered their ears, facing away from the door.
"1!"
And braced themselves behind the Guard Monokuma.
"Boom-boom-boom!"
As the Bomber pressed the button.
Instantly the bombs ignited in a blaze of small yet violent explosions, loud piercing shrieks of the bombs penetrated their eyes despite being covered, and the trio could barely hear the panicked yells and screams from the others on the other side of the door. Loud whistles of shrapnel flew by in all directions, some going so fast and hot that they embedded themselves in nearby walls like an arrow on flesh. It was so loud for Rantaro, loud enough for his ears to hurt, any louder then it'll overwhelm him and send him into a frenzied panic from the unwanted stimulation.
The explosions were horrible. But were the Bomb Monokuma's bombs so... Violent? Before?
When the explosions stopped they looked towards the door, which was now broken down covered in burns and soot and broken metal, still hot. Rantaro couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as the noise had completely died down, no longer assaulting his senses. They all casually walked out, with Tsumugi further away behind.
Meanwhile, some other members of the class, Kaito, Kaede, Shuichi, Tenko, Kirumi and Gonta looked at them with shock. And surprisingly, none of them looked even the slightest bit injured.
"What- Where did the explosions come from?!" Kaede yelled.
Rantaro just nonchalantly pointed at the Bomber Monokuma.
"G-Gah!"
"Another Monokuma?!"
"Everyone! Get behind Gonta now!"
"Wait!"
Rantaro yelled, holding up the paw of the Bomber like it was just a stuffed toy. "It's fine, these guys are harmless."
"But it just blew up- Maki, Tsumugi as well?"
Tsumugi, eyes still red, nervously waved at them.
"Listen, I'll let you all in later of what happened. But-" He looked around the Library. "I heard the Body Discovery Announcement, who's dead?!"
The group went suddenly silent at that. They all refused to talk, all looking ashamed, horrified. Rantaro went to ask again, but Kirumi merely motioned towards the globe with her hands, her eyes full of sadness and regret.
"Hey..."
Rantaro looked towards the globe, now hesitant to take a step towards the body, hesitant to come to the reality that someone had died, when he was so close to saving anyone.
Regardless of who it was. He failed.
He failed.
He failed.
And so... He walked towards the globe and began to peer past the object, his eyes resting on the bloodstains on the floor and on the bookcase, everyone moved back to give him space.
The pink burned his eyes, something so surreal and unreal was sure to burn into his brain. Blood wasn't pink, it was red, various types of red; never pink. But it was obnoxiously bright neon pink, very much like the blood in the other room. A sharp contrast.
A sharp contrast from the dark clothes of the student lying dead in front of him.
'...I'm... sorry.'
His knees stung as fell down onto the ground, his emotions starting to go haywire.
"Gh...Ghhghhh?!"
A sharp contrast to none other than Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis Pro, who lay dead on the ground.
DANGANRONPA MINI-OMAKE!
\(OwO)\ YAY! /(OwO)/
"So... Let me get this straight."
Silence. Other than the sizzling of metal and wood.
"Instead of breaking down the academy from the inside out and getting impaled by a spear, you decided the best course of action was... To go to the warehouse, still filled with toxic gas may I add, and get the ingredients to create a damn bomb?"
"Yeah..."
"Which mixed with the sulphur and the hidden phosphorus, created a super bomb which blew up everything and incinerated everyone to the point nothing is remaining and where we're both still barely alive?"
"Well. I did say I was going to stop the Killing Game Maki-Roll."
"Kaito... You may be smart, but you really need to get some common sense."
Ding dong ding!
So... I hope you all enjoyed (I'm gonna be quick cause my internet is on the fritz). I did as well. But unfortunately, I'm going on hiatus for a bit on this series, mainly to get back to college and shit. However, I will in fact also do some uploads on my other series as well before continuing with 53 Lies.
And since I'm here still, let me explain how this will work.
Investigation-Trial 1- Trial 2- Trial 3- Post Trial- Memoires of the Blackened- Memoires of the Killer.
This is how Deadly Life will go, (may have alterations) all will be posted one day after the other after I come back.
I will also go over older chapters and give them some fixing regarding some grammar and add some extra scenes perhaps to make some stuff feel more... Natural I guess? I will also explain the part two of the Mahiru Omake for the previous chapter a bit better in the after notes.
Also, I will still do Kokichi's FTE, just a bit later than usual.
Anyway, hope you all have a nice day, sorry for killing Ryoma, killing V3 characters is hard cause I love them all :(.
Ciao~