It has been quite some time. I had already finished 5/6 of this chapter when I suddenly fell ill. But I finally managed to finish it. So hope you like it! And yeah the title indicates we'll see a familiar face.

I just had finished dinner with the others. After everyone was done they continued their own activities. However, like yesterday, someone was missing, someone who wasn't already dead. Maria H. still had herself locked up inside of her room. At least we know that she eats something. Maria D. brings a plate with food three times a day and knocks on the door. She leaves after that so Maria can quickly take the food inside.

But still, she couldn't keep herself inside of that chamber for the rest of her life. But on the brighter side, this was motivation for me to keep investigating this place. After all there still were some odd things, for example the cut rope of the catapult used during Serena's execution. And tonight I would learn another secret of this place, one that Axel discovered. At least I hope it is useful in our plan to get away from here.

Night Time was close. I was walking through the corridors of the school by myself I had no idea where the others could be right now, but I also didn't care. I just was focused on Axel's secret. What had he been hiding from us? I just don't hope I am walking towards my death, but Axel seems like someone I could take on. Unless he surprises me with a murder weapon, or an incredibly good fighting style. After all, I didn't know much about the guy in the first place. I headed up the stairs to the second floor where the changing room was located, the only room without a camera. I entered an empty room, apparently Axel wasn't here yet, but Night Time has not started yet.

I sat on a wooden bench for five minutes, staring into the distance with thoughts filling my head, when Monokuma's voice was heard through the speakers announcing the Night Time. A few seconds after the announcement Axel appeared around the corner. I immediately was focused on him. He didn't look any different. He still had his hoodie on, his curly hair covering his eyes. I think the most notable change was that he didn't have a video game in his hands. "Hey Axel." I said with a nervous smirk.

"Yaw." he greeted me. Axel passed me and went to the lockers behind me. I stood up and followed him, still keeping my distance, just for safety.

"So what is it that you wanted to show me?" I asked.

"Okay I'm not the best in hacking and programming and that shiz, but I discovered something on this laptop that I found in one of the lockers."

"Why were you searching in the lockers?" I asked.

"I was looking for evidence that Anita murdered Chico and thought something here might have fastened the trial. We all knew she was the killer." he said. And he was right; I never really had a doubt that Anita didn't play a part in Chico's homicide. Axel grabbed the laptop and put it down on one of the wooden benches. We sat next to the laptop as it started itself up.

"It is just a green screen." I said looking at the laptop. There was nothing more than a green color that replaced the black screen from a few seconds ago.

"Okay this is where the shiz goes down." Axel typed something on the keyboard, which was way too difficult for me to see what it meant. Suddenly a floating head appeared on the screen, one of a light-brown haired girl. A cute one as well. But other than that I was really shocked to see a floating head on a computer before me.

"Uhm… what is that?" I asked.

"I think you can better ask who. Anyways, this is an AI created by Chihiro Fujisaki so it seems. I know some things about her, for example her appearance. But what I found even more interesting was what she got to say." Axel turned to the screen. "Alter Ego, tell me about Hope's Peak Academy in Japan."

"Of course onii-chan. The facility is one of the Hope's Peak Academy's around the world. It was the first one to officially be made by Jin Kirigiri."

"Wait a second." I interrupted. "You are an AI created by someone in Japan and were uploaded onto the network? That is how you came here right?"

"Indeed. However because I'm a copy I don't share the same files as my counterpart in Japan. So outside of this building I don't know much. I however have some pictures to provide to you."

"Show us." Axel asked. Then one of the weirdest pictures popped up. It was one of Maria H. and Anita sitting next to each other laughing while Chico is being impatient on the background. I was very shocked, and I saw Axel was too, despite not being able to see his full expression.

"We have to show this to the others." I said.

"No. Let's keep this our secret." the boy looked at me, not that I could see his eyes.

"Why?"

"You're the only one I completely trust around here. You're likely the last one to even think about killing another. I've been observing the group all this time and honestly, I was not surprised by Serena or Anita being the killer."

"So you've been observing us the entire time and got to know our personality?"

"Basically. You know that I'm a game developer, right? Aside from making the gameplay of a game I also write the storyline, make 3D models of the characters and environments and make character personalities. One time I even made some kind of personality game, similar to something like the Sims but more complex and without the building and character design."

"I see. So what is your current opinion on the group?" I asked curious, occasionally glancing at the screen to see if Alter Ego was still online.

"Well at the moment things seem to be okay. I'm only worried that Maria will snap and kill someone out of sadness or something. But whatever, she's locked up in her room… kinda. Seeing as we can't lock our doors. But she'll be fine. I actually think we can keep this up for a few days." he said and a smirk appeared on his face.

"I guess so…" I looked at Alter Ego again. "Well then, I think it is best to put her away for now. But we'll need to show it to the others at some point."

"We will." Axel said casually, in a voice that I didn't have to worry about a thing. Axel put the laptop in a locker, saying goodbye to the AI first. Axel and I didn't speak very much after that, as the other continued playing on his handheld once again. But I wonder what other secrets this school has hidden from us. There also must be an explanation to as why the rope of Serena's execution catapult was cut. Axel and I parted ways and I headed to the cafeteria. Unfortunately Silas and Emy weren't there, but that may be for the better. I would probably tell about Alter Ego if I did.

I looked around and saw Pierce and Helga sitting together at a table. It's a first-timer that I've seen them interacting. I walked up to them.

"Hey you two." I said and sat down next to Helga and across from Pierce.

"Hey Conrad." Helga greeted. "Pierce and I were chatting a bit, talking about the things we did before we came here."

"Oeh, interesting. So Helga, what did you do before all this?"

Helga chuckled. "I was just going to tell it to Pierce." I looked at Pierce who just gave me a nod. "During my middle school I quickly discovered my 'talent' for guiding people around. I don't really know where this talent came from as the others in my family weren't very interested by it. I always said to myself it was because I had a lot of friends over and loved to give them a tour around the house."

"Is your house that big then?" Pierce asked.

"Kinda." she giggled. "My parents made a fair amount of money with their jobs, despite never telling me what it was."

"Could it be that they were involved with the undergrounds of the city?" I asked.

"Yeah, could be. I indeed always took it that they never told me about it to protect me. Because there must have been a reason behind it. However during high school I was the one appointed to guide the new students around the school. In vacations I would take jobs to guide at different sightseeing's, most of them being in Copenhagen."

"Interesting." I said.

"Guys." Pierce suddenly said. "I know it is not… nice… to talk about the dead. But do you want to hear some of Anita's past?" questioning the word nice in his sentence.

"Sure why not." I replied, turning around to face Pierce.

"We talked a lot so she also told me about here past. Skipping all the boring things like her love for designing clothes and stuff, she actually had a pretty terrible life at home. Her parents are divorced and she lives with her alcoholic mother because her father is in jail. Her mother lives from an alimony, which isn't a lot. She works very hard to earn money; luckily she does earn quite some of it as she is worldwide known with her clothing. She tries to take care of her mother, although she doesn't even seem to appreciate it." he told.

"That really must be awful. I am lucky for having such a loving mother." Helga said shocked.

"I do too." Pierce continued. "But still her mother was the most important for her, and she was really really worried about her. How was she going to live without anyone to take care for her? No one who cooks for her, no one who cleans the house. Anita was really a hard-working girl with a lot of stress."

"Yes she always comes off so calm. I can kinda understand that she always was so bitchy, but I cannot forgive that she killed someone." I said.

"I think I could forgive her. A lot of stress, combined with worry, envy, lust and greed can lead to such things. I think she would have spent the money from the previous challenge on her mother… not on those worldwide clothing brand." Helga said.

"Yes, she would have done that. But she thinks it would be stupid if she shows that side of her to other people."

"Poor Anita."

"I know right? Though I also can't forgive her for trying to shove the blame on me. I tried to help her, but in return she sticks a knife in my back, hmm."

I didn't say anything in response, not exactly sure how to respond to him. What he was saying is true, but it eventually is the entire fault of the bear, and not of Anita, or Serena. Despair can be a very powerful weapon. "So… what was going on with you before all this?" however as Pierce wanted to respond we were interrupted by the squeaky voice of Monokuma.

"Oi, you bunch of parasites! I need you all in the gymnasium asap! I've got a beary special surprise for you." he said over the speakers. Speaking of the devil. Without wanting to make him even madder we decided to immediately head to the gymnasium where we met up with the others, with the exception of Maria H. Hopefully she wouldn't be in trouble because of this.

It was quiet the second that Monokuma jumped on the stage. He walked around a bit before turning to his 'audience.' "I've been thinking for a good motive to get more murders starting. But it's really hard to come up with something… but I figured something out. You all have gotten a piece of paper which lists a trait of a certain person, and a secret of another person. With these two pieces of information you should be able to commit the perfect crime. The pieces of paper are in your rooms. I didn't forget poor Maria… hmmm, wonder how long she will last it out here. Anyway, have fun!" he cheered and disappeared in a blink of an eye like always.

"Okaaay. This is something new." Emy said.

"I am actually quite interested in what I can learn from my piece of paper." Jacob said.

"You're not thinking about killing someone, are you?" Éric looked at him with a serious and judging face.

"Éric, you know I would never do such a thing." the chemist chuckled.

"Don't forget to remind me that you're number one on my list when someone is murdered." Violet said slightly angered, possibly because they talked about all of this so lightly.

"Hey guys." I waved a bit around with my arms to grab everyone's attention. "We don't have to resort to things like murder anymore. Instead of that we can just work together to get out of here."

"He has a point." Pierce responded.

Suddenly Silas jumped on my back, out of reaction I immediately carried him, but quickly dropped him again. "Conrad! Conrad! I have an idea! Why don't we just tell each other our secrets right now?" the boy said excited.

"Sorry Silas, as much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, I rather not tell any of my secrets." Violet said. "It's personal."

"I do not mind sharing my deepest secret. It is nothing that I am not ashamed of any part of me. And keeping secrets is a sin in my eyes, and thus will I never keep one." Maria said with a smile.

"No don't bother Maria. Some people won't tell their secrets. Sorry Silas, but it doesn't seem like your idea is going to work." I said to the silver haired boy.

"Awh. Well then, I'll just get something to eat or something." he said and headed straight for the cafeteria again. That guy really has to eat food every 5 minutes I think. I guess the one who gets a note with his trait it will be that. At this point of time we were a united group, nobody headed to their rooms, instead everyone followed Silas to the cafeteria. I was glad for that. Just because no one went straight to their room gave me confidence that no one would be killed anytime soon, I was sure of it.

However in the meantime we could continue with the search for a way out of this place. Obviously Alter Ego was the most prominent to them now, but I can't say anything about her existence, at least for now. But I wonder if she might know who had cut the rope of the catapult during Serena's execution. It really looked like that person was trying to save her, though miscalculated.

It soon became Night Time once again, and we all headed back to the dorms. The evening had proceeded as if it were a normal school day, though we knew in the back of our heads it wasn't. When saying goodnight to everyone, I realized that nobody went in their rooms to check out the notes we were given. I looked around a bit and quickly found the small piece of paper on my nightstand. It was folded so I couldn't see right away what was written on it. I opened it and two things were listed:

Trait – Helga Marchen – has OCD and often worries about nothing

Secret – Emy Spelgraf – ki-

I stopped reading. I don't want to know someone's secret. I cluttered the piece of paper and threw it into the trashcan. With a sigh I plumped down on my bed. I stared up at the blank ceiling for several minutes, I let out another sigh. I stood up again and undressed myself and went underneath the covers afterwards. I was proud of myself that I didn't read the secret. It would only cause trouble. And besides what kind of terrible secret would Emy have. Though I do wonder… what is my secret? I never kept any real secrets. Some bad stuff happened in the past with me; I was in a period of despair but found new hope and continued.

Why am I thinking about this kind of stuff at this late hour? I just need to clear my mind and go to sleep. A new day waits. A new day to look for a way out of here and be reunited with my family again. Yeah… family. I miss them. Especially me little sister and brother. I wonder how they are holding up. They probably don't even think about me that much, and think I'm having a blast at my new school. If only they knew.

A new day arrived once again. I was still alive, and was glad for that. I quickly got dressed and headed out. Like every 'normal' morning I walked along with Silas to the cafeteria. We sat and talked a bit, Silas doing that while munching his breakfast. But aside from the slimy soaked food in his mouth we always have nice conversations. Luckily everyone joined us for breakfast this morning, no people had been murdered, and no people had to be executed.

"What a beautiful day, isn't it! Nipaa~" Rika said cheery.

"It sure is. Well yeah, as nice as a day in this place can be." I responded.

"Be glad that we're still alive." Violet said a bit grumpy, she looked at Silas who had prepared the breakfast. "What is this?"

"I dunno. It's just a mix of breakfast stuff." Silas answered.

"It does taste good." Maria D. responded. She was eating her breakfast as if she was in a fancy restaurant, I never noticed it before, but that's probably how people eat in the monastery. Or Maria just is a very neat eater. Others were not that pleased about the breakfast however; Violet and Jacob particularly weren't impressed by the meal.

"I think I'm going to grab a proper meal out of the kitchen." Jacob stood up and headed to the kitchen, leaving most of Silas' meal on the table.

"I'm coming with you." Violet said, mimicking the actions of Jacob.

"Hmmm… Violet and Jacob sure seem to hang out with each other a lot lately." Helga mentioned.

"They don't seem like friends though." Axel responded. He was playing his video game while putting a piece of food into his mouth every two minutes.

"Aren't we all friends, nano desu?" Rika asked, with a sincere confused look on her face.

"Of course we are." I said with a smile. Rika probably wouldn't notice, but it was a really awkward smile. There obviously still were many tensions among the group. Maria H. still has locked herself away in her chamber. The unknown relationship between Violet and Jacob that suddenly appeared out of nothing and of course the secret Axel and I were keeping. And not to speak about the terrible breakfast that Silas prepared.

Éric smashed his fist on the table. He has finished the breakfast completely; I didn't hear him complain either. "I'm going to get Maria out of her room!" he said. I was a bit shocked by the sudden plan of Éric.

"How would you ever get her out of her room?" I asked. "You're not really close to her or anything. If anyone is, I would say this Maria is the closest to her."

"I know. That is why we will use Maria to get Maria out of her room." he simply said.

"That sounded very confusing." Pierce chuckled.

"But I really have a plan. And I'd rather not get Jacob involved in this, I finally have a cool plan, so he mustn't screw this up." Éric closed in on the rest of the group; simultaneously we all put our heads together with the exception of Axel who probably wouldn't add anything to the conversation either way. "Okay here is the plan. First we send in Maria to just talk with her namesake. As she has done this before it probably won't get her out of the room. However if after Maria has talked with her we should all storm in and do a big groups hug. That will realize we love her and she will join us again!"

"I don't think that would work. But we can always try." Emy said.

"I think it is a wonderful idea. Nipaa! You're such a good person Éric!" Rika cheered.

"Yeah, since when did you become so nice? I thought you were the Ultimate Bully?" I asked with a playful smirk.

"I-I am! But…"

"-You know that often in movies the bully turns out to have a big and sensitive heart. I guess Éric falls under this category." Axel said. We all laughed a bit, even Éric.

"What's so funny?" Violet said, walking in with a simple cheese sandwich.

"Nothing Éric just made a funny joke." Helga said.

"Ow, you're making jokes nowadays." Jacob said, looking down on the blonde bully while taking a big bite from his sandwich.

"Nothing wrong with a good joke, right?" the bully smirked.

"Well, what are the plans for today?" Emy asked, in hope of changing the subject.

"I think I will see Maria shortly. Just to check on her, and give her something to eat for breakfast." Maria said.

"You're going to give my meal!?"Silas asked excited.

"Of course. It was a delight to my tongue, I want my namesake to experience the same delight as all of us did." she said with her kind smile. Although some of us pitied Maria already for having to eat that breakfast. Maybe someone should give her something normal to eat later on the day.

"Well, I'm going to the machine again. I'm quite intrigued by its functions. Are you coming with me Éric?" Jacob asked.

"Well, yeah, of course." he answered and quickly followed his friend. I stood up to throw my leftovers away and clean my plate. Once I left the cafeteria I was stopped by Axel.

"Want to check up on Alter Ego?" he asked. I shrugged my shoulders in response and went along with him. We arrived at the changing room again. The room had not been used in a while by my main investigation group. Not a single time since the last trial.

Axel grabbed one of the locker keys and revealed the laptop containing Alter Ego again. He started it up and the cute face of the girl appeared on the screen again.

"Conrad-kun, Axel-kun!" it shouted out. It was very noticeable that the AI was created by someone from Japan. Although it had been set to English it contained some of its Japanese manners and words. "I have looked around in my database and found another happy picture!"

The head disappeared and a photo appeared on the screen. This time it was one of Aaron, Éric and, to my surprise, me. We were standing in a line with our arms wrapped around each other. Éric standing in the middle as the tallest one and the two of us on each side of him. Only the weird thing was that I couldn't remember anything about it. This picture looked much older than the time we arrived here. The picture obviously was taken inside the building, but the windows weren't barricaded with big metal plates.

"You remember this?" Axel asked.

I shook my head. "No… this was taken before the time we supposedly first met."

"Possible." the shorter one answered, returning to his handheld after looking at the screen.

"Nii-san!" Alter Ego appeared again. "I discovered something else. There are more people in this building! I gained access to some cameras on the closed upper floors and saw some shadows of people walking by. I believe a male and a female, but that's only because the female had big breasts. Maybe the other one is female too, but flat chested."

"Thanks for the info. Is that all?" I asked. The AI nodded its head, so I waved goodbye and closed the laptop. "I suppose you ain't gonna join in trying to cheer up Maria?"

"Nah, I'm not the hugging type of guy. I'll creep away in a corner like always." Axel said. And without saying anything further he locked the laptop in a locker and left the changing room, leaving me alone. I decided to stroll around the school for a bit, and lost track of time. When I checked the time again I saw that I was late for the surprise group hug, which now sounds very pervy in my head, but I didn't want to hurry. I stretched my arms and decided to head downstairs to Maria's room. I approached her door in the dorms and saw the others waiting in front of it.

"You sure took your time." Emy said.

"Sorry, the breakfast was hard on my stomach." I told as excuse.

"Don't worry Conrad! Now we can all hug Maria, Nipaa~" Rika cheered.

"Well, let's enter guys!" Éric said with high spirit. He opened the door. I, and the others, barged in with big smiles on our faces… but those smiles quickly disappeared after a few seconds.

Another chapter done, what is behind the door? Find out next chapter ;p. And thanks again for all the kind reviews.