a/n: Hey there fellow readers, it's me again. Still no proper internet yeah but it's not that bad I guess, I mean it's teaching me to control myself and curbing my internet addiction anyways :P Also to anyone asking about my living conditions, yeah I'm fine. Just give me a mattress and a basic bathroom set and I'm pretty much set for life. Also there's something I want to say, which is that I'm switching the updates to be on Monday rather than the regular Sundays since ya know, last week's update was on a Monday too and stuff so I'm pretty much just retconning it :)

GinMerric unfortunately has run into some bad news with his keyboard: it's completely broken. He's about 80% done with his chapter when it happened so now he's forced to type the rest of his update on his phone, bless him. Also, just to let you know, we'll update on seperate days. I'll be posting on Mondays and he'll be posting on... Thursday's probably. We haven't really finalized a proper day yet but I'll let you know tomorrow ;)

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Chapter 2: Did It Hurt?

[Special Event]

.

{=Beautiful Dead=}

With a deep and heavy sigh, I ran my hand slowly though the dark locks of hair that was still wet. As my gaze casted itself on the soft, carpeted floor, I let my hand fall down, crestfallen. The shadowed spot that outlined the thin frame of my hand started to grow darker as the water dripped from my fingers and onto the carpet. Not even a long and cold shower could make me feel any different than yesterday as I began to recall some past events.

Instead of a happy ending where everyone went on their merry way back to their rooms, quite the opposite happened. There was more arguing between all of the other students as Yevan started ragging on Fujiwara for withholding important information. Of course, while we were less than happy to have known this, it was pretty much redundant to keep arguing about the topic.

Do I blame Fujiwara? No, not really. Like I told him before in the nurse's office, it was a thing of the past. It must've been torture enough to remember that scene permanently and in the end he did slip up and inadvertently gave us the answer. Yevan would have none of that however as she was eager to point the finger at him. After Makoto tried her best to restrain her yesterday, things started to calm down once again as we sat in separate corners of the cafeteria.

Nothing much was said after that and we all went back to our rooms. Kotone gave Fujiwara a stern lecture on not keeping secrets next time- I bit my lip at the mention of that phrase however since well... who really wants a 'next time' when it comes to this?

Shaking my head, as if to drive the dark thought away from my mind, I pushed myself up from the bed. Eager to distract myself from such thoughts any longer, I walked over to the drawer that contained all the identical clothes and sighed. Grabbing my shirt, I lift it over my head to put it on and shut the drawer after taking my jacket... and that's when I heard it.

Ding~!

Dong~!

Ding~!

Dong~!

"Rise and shine you little pipsqueaks! It's 7 am and that means you should be up and ready to go by now. Oh and before I forget, everyone- who is still alive, anyways- is required to show yourself at the garden by 7.30! Anyone who's late will be given candy!" There was a pause followed by a large barrage of empty static as I put my jacket on. It must've been a joke, Monokuma's punishment that is. If that really were the case, we might not even need to attend his meeting at all. "Just kidding! Anyone who's late shall be given the usual punishment: Death! See you all around, otherwise... upupupupu,"

And there's the ol' Monokuma that we know and love. I couldn't help but roll my eyes at that little quip as I proceeded to move for the front door. With a yawn, I fished for my ElectroiD in my pockets. As you can probably tell, I wasn't really in the mood to sleep last night with everything going on. Tried as I might, I always managed to wake up as soon as I fell into a slumber. As a result, I was 'up and ready to go' about half an hour before Monokuma's morning announcement.

Huh...?

A sense of dread started creeping up on me as I rummaged my hand around in my pockets. The tempo of which I was searching myself quickly sped up as I was nearing the door. "Dammit," I thought to myself as I realized that it's missing. "Don't tell me I did it again?" an exasperated groan escaped my lips as I doubled back into the bathroom. Digging around in the clothes bin, I brought out the last pair of pants that I was wearing and searched in their pockets.

...

A-ha!

Of course my ElectroiD was in my old pants. This is a habit that's bound to be the death of me one day. I gave myself a little face-palm as I dumped the used garment back where it belonged and jostled over to the exit door. Hearing the familiar *beep* as I swiped my room key against the scanner, the door to my room slid open to reveal a mostly empty hallway.

{=Beautiful Days=}

"Good morning, my dear marksman," the tall, coat-wearing brunette winked at me as he idly strolled past my room.

Following not too far behind him was the same disinterested face that I'd seen him wear the past couple of days. "I can't believe that Monokuma has another measly little agenda for today. Frankly, I'm getting really tired of putting up with his inane activities," spoken with utter contempt, Akio flicked some of his hair out of his face as he jerked his chin up to show disgust.

Kuno stopped dead in his tracks and did a quick double take as his eyes grew wide in a mixture of... I think, surprise and glee? Whatever his emotions were, it was quickly drowned by his cheeky grin that followed soon after. "I'm surprised to hear that phrase come out of your very mouth!" the smile only grew wider when he noticed Akio's flustered look.

Stepping out of my room as the door closed behind me, I approach the two conversing figures and followed along with their banter as we head out to the elevator. Akio pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at Kuno. "Why's that? It's because you think I'm all about the unexplored and uncharted right?" he hunched his shoulders over and tingled his fingers in the air while making a ridiculous 'ooooooh' sound.

Kuno raised an eyebrow at him and I could've sworn I heard the most subtle sound of a giggle coming from him. "Not really... but when you put it that way, are you all about aliens and stuff?" The doors to the elevator exposed their interior to us and Akio quickly stepped in without hesitation. Kuno chuckled as he followed almost immediately behind him. Even though I was starting to feel a little bit awkward around them, I steeled my nerves to share the elevator space with the bickering duo.

"Ugh!" Akio rolled his eyes as he jabbed the button that commanded the elevator doors to close after I stepped inside. "You're just like the rest of the people I know," he huffed as he retreated to the back of the lift and leaned his back on the metal wall, arms crossed.

"Oh? And why is that, if I may ask?" Kuno smirked as he shifted to the side of the wall Akio was leaning on, leaving me all alone in the centre of the elevator.

"Well, for starters you go around stereotyping me as some sort of supernatural fanatic and then you impose the fact that I chase after aliens!" Akio fumed as he raised a pointed finger at Kuno. The intensity of his actions had caused those long black locks of him to shroud over his eyes, making him look like something from out of the horror movie. "Do I look like the kind of person to do that?!"

From my point in the elevator, I could see Kuno trying his very best to stifle his laughter and honestly I think I'm doing the same! If only Akio could see himself right now, he would've heard how ironic his statement. When a few moments passed without any reaction from the two of us, Akio shook his head to try to fling the hair obstructing his view and yelled out in impatience. "Well?!"

"You do not want me to answer that!" Kuno burst out with laughter as he brought a hand to his forehead while the other was clutching at his sides. Akio's face started to go red when he noticed that Kuno wasn't the only one left in a laughing fit. I couldn't help myself from laughing as Kuno's actions were somewhat contagious. "You really don't want us to answer that!" I managed to get a word out in between boyish laughter but this did little to appease Akio's temper.

"Ugh! You two are nothing but low-life nuisances!" Akio shook a fist at us in a fit of rage and his dark locks flew around his face in accordance. As if on cue, the elevator doors swung open and Akio quickly swerved his head- causing some of his hair to lash out at Kuno, who was standing close by- and took quick steps out the door with an audible "Hmph!"

"Oh dear, it seems I may have upset the crown prince of hell... or something," Kuno chuckled as he nudged his elbow into my ribs. Rubbing the spot of the playful gesture, I followed him out of the lift as he tried to catch up with fleeing Akio. Playing along with the running gag, I mused out loud. "You don't think you could be...," I paused to take a really dramatic gasp. "... cursed?" I brought both of my hands up to my cheek with mouth wide open and Akio rolled his eyes in annoyance.

By this point, Akio had already disappeared past the red, velvet doors and Kuno broke into a jog to catch the handle of the door before it swung closed. "After you, my good sir," he had managed to catch it in time and proceeded to bow down like some sort of bellboy. "Thank you very much," I bowed my head down in response as I stepped through the doorway that lead into the long garden hallway. More laughter ensued from the SHSL espionage and I as we made our way along the extensive corridor, our footsteps echoed loudly against the cold hard floor.

Our joyful laughter, which brought no reminder of the grim events of yesterday, suddenly stopped when noticed that Akio was standing oddly still in front of the entrance to the right side of the garden. His posture was completely rigid and his eyes grew wide open, which seemed to match the state of his slack-jawed mouth at the current moment. "You don't think... it could be another murder, do you?" I looked up to Kuno, my voice pained with agony and despair as the worst possible turn of events flashed before my very eyes.

Kuno however remained calm- but then again when was he ever not calm? He placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder and I'm not sure why it seemed to be working but feeling the weight on my shoulder did help distract me from any troubling thoughts at the moment. "Don't be silly, Yuuta. Don't you remember that Monokuma was the one who summoned all of us here in the first place? Now, unless the headmaster killed one us, which I really doubt he will... not with his own two hands- er, I mean paws- anyways, then you needn't worry your pretty little face about anything,"

Afterwards, Kuno left me standing there, speechless and blushing, as he sauntered his way over to the stunned Akio. Never in my life had I been called pretty and I never really thought I ever would, actually... much less from someone of the same gender as me! I quickly brushed the thought away from my mind as I realized that I was standing in the middle of the hallway like a fool and quickly hurried to catch up to my peers.

Before I was even close to the garden, I noticed that Kuno was also affixed next to Akio in a somewhat similar expression except his was more calm and reserved compared to the fish-face Akio was clearly putting up. When I turned my head to the direction they were looking at, I started to feel my jaw drop little by little as I realized what exactly Monokuma had planned for us this morning.

{=Weekly Despair Magazine=}

The scenic garden that was the epitome of tranquility and peacefulness that nature provided for us was now... defiled by Monokuma's 'renovations' to the area. In the middle of the clearing was a long wooden table draped with black cloth. Assorted flowers had been unceremoniously littered all over the table and the ground nearby carelessly, as if someone just decided to pluck some petals and tossed it in random directions.

What really caught my attention however, were the two large wooden picture frames that looked really familiar. They had the same blasphemous x-shaped cross smeared on the person's portrait in shoddy pink brushstrokes. The same black and white ribbon had draped the top of their pictures as they stood at the centre of the table. Once I saw all the candles strewn about the table in a disorganized manner and the rows and rows of white foldable chairs, I knew exactly what this was supposed to be.

It was a Monokuma-styled memorial service to the SHSL Hairdresser and Martial Artist, Hibiki Yukata and Kenta Shintaka. Their innocent smiles captured within the wooden picture frames belonged to a pair of all-too-familiar faces.

"Ah, what a bunch of early birds you are! I must say, this kind of behavior brings nothing but joy to your dear old headmaster's heart. Oh, I think I'm going to cry!" the irritatingly condescending voice loomed from beyond the table and not a second too soon, out came Monokuma from under the tablecloths. "Upupupu! What do you think? Not too shabby, huh? I stayed up all night just making preparations to surprise my lovely, still-alive, students,"

"Well you did a very job then, I must say," Akio scoffed under his breath, thinking that it wouldn't reach the earshot of Monokuma who was standing quite the distance away from the three of us but the sudden glare in his red eye lens made it obvious that Monokuma indeed had heard Akio's little backtalk.

"Excuse me?" Monokuma sputtered as his body seemed to whir at an increasing volume. Akio took a step back, trembling in fear as Monokuma took a step in his direction with feet that shook the ground. In the blink of an eye, Monokuma seemed to have appeared right in front of our very eyes at a blindingly fast speed. The whiplash of his supersonic travelling speed caused Akio to stumble backwards on his behind. In Monokuma's wake, the grass seemed to have been trampled and scorched in a steady pattern, forming a trail that lead back to his original spot at the memorial table.

"Why would you say something like that now? I thought this was exactly the kind of stuff you hip young little bastards are into these days," Monokuma tilted his head menacingly downwards to look at Akio who cringed when Monokuma suddenly raised his paw in front of his face. A whimper escaped Akio's lips as the sound of metal grinding upon metal was heard coming from Monokuma's paws and I instinctively took a step back away from the unfolding scene. I was definitely not looking forward to ending up in deadly crossfire.

However, instead of drawing out his sharpened claws from his paw, what came out was some kind of paper of some sort. Monokuma stepped back from the shivering Akio and brought the paper up close to his face. I shared a look at Kuno, giving him the what-the-hell look and he simply just shrugged back in response. "See! It says so right here that you, Akio Komiya- sole member of the occult club at your old school- quite enjoy a good memorial service," Monokuma waved the paper in front of his face and he flinched.

While all of this was going on, I managed to make out a picture of someone's face on the front page of the folded paper- which I now realize is actually a flyer. It was printed in white lettering over a black background, along with Akio's non-smiling face boldly displayed on the top corner of the flyer. Akio, whose eyes were closed just a few moments ago, opened one eye slowly to examine the small pamphlet in Monokuma's paw.

His eyes grew wide as he awkwardly crawled forward from his sprawled position. "That's...," Akio tried to snatch the flyer away from Monokuma but he jerked his paw back quickly before Akio could reach it. "That's my old school's published ad for my club! Where on Earth did you get that?" He looked desperately at the mechanical bear who simply tilted his head for a few moments. A low hum emanated from the bellows of his machinery before he responded with a gentle push in front of Akio's face.

"Yes. Yes this is definitely from my old school! I remember that photographer always insisted on taking a picture of me smiling!" He gripped it tightly in his hands until it started to crumple although I was a little bit distracted by the fact that that was the 'smiling' picture the photographer had used. "Where did you get this?!" He asked once again but Monokuma just shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe I went to your old school and dug it up or pried it from the cold hands of your former teachers?" Monokuma simply chimed as he did a few stretches, almost as if to warm himself up to the impending shit-storm that was about to come.

"What do you mean by... prying? Did you-," Akio gasped loudly and dropped the balled up flyer to the floor as he staggered backwards.

"No I didn't kill them. Someone else probably did and they're probably the same person who delivered this piece of juicy gossip to me," Monokuma went on about how he obtained something so sensitive to Akio's past but I was just left speechless about all of this.

"Are you saying that Akio's teachers are dead?" Kuno interjected their little conversation as he picked Akio up from the dirty floor. Despite some grunts of protest by Akio, Kuno pushed the smaller male behind him as if to shield him from Monokuma.

"Quite possibly maybe without a doubt one hundred percent on the fence heavily implied largely hinted at positively non-negotiable 50-50 perhaps supposedly true and/or false," Monokuma went on a breathless outburst of vaguely descriptive words.

"That's... what?" Akio peeked out from behind Kuno and shot Monokuma a confused look. Clearly this was our headmaster's trick into not answering any of our questions in a direct way. Either that or he's just being the obnoxious little troll that he is.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all!" Monokuma spoke in a cheerful, high-pitched tone as he started lay off of Akio and pranced back to the memorial area. "But this is the kinda stuff that you're into, right? The occult and stuff? Upupupu...," he turned around and gave a little wink at the hiding male.

"Yeah I am definitely into the occult but this is not something that's a part of that category!" Akio stepped up from behind Kuno and straightened his outfit in a brisk manner. "I mean, this is a memorial service for god's sake!"

Just when things were starting to heat up, a loud and shrill scream burst out from the direction of the gym. "Oh, HELL NO!" the owner of the voice, as I had now come to realize, was none other than a frantic-looking Yevan. She stood there in the middle of the hallway with her fists clenched so tight that I could see her knuckles turning white. "This- this is...!" her voice was shaking as she quivered in place. She looked like she was about to break down as Kuno and Akio side-stepped to avoid her impending tirade.

"... Memorial service?" her eyes glanced to the right momentarily as her pupils constricted in fear. Yevan kept her face glued in the direction of the other end of this hallway, twitching as she tried to maintain her composure. Akio exchanged looks with Kuno and gulped before switching their attention back at Yevan. However, they were a little too late when just as they were about to turn around, she pummeled past both of them and sent them barreling backwards to the floor.

I darted away just in time as Yevan stomped right by me. Through the sudden rush of air that she made as she tore through the hallway, I could make out her mumbling something out 'dead people' or something like that. I wasn't really in the mood to ask for more clarification since the SHSL Escrimador was known to have quite the temper on her.

"What the hell man, look what you've done now!" Another feminine voice cut through the air and I realized that we were not the only one standing there in the hallway anymore. The fearsome sukeban had arrived first at the scene just in time to catch Yevan marching off into the academic area of the school. She took a glance at what made Yevan upset and yelled back at Monokuma. "You just love to push our buttons don't you, asshole?"

"Eh? Whatever do you mean? Isn't it customary to hold something like this whenever someone close to you passes away? I mean this is what schools do, no?" Monokuma brought a paw up to his mouth in a little 'oopsie-daisy' pose.

"Um...," Kotone poked her head out from behind Makoto and spoke in a soft and hesitant voice. "That is true, but um...," She seemed quite unnerved when she took a gander at the centre of the garden area. The pictures of Hibiki and Kenta loom above the table, basked in the ominous glow of the ceremonial candles.

"Pretty sure what she's trying to say is that by you doing this, it seems pretty suspicious," Tetsu crossed his arms as Kotone went over to help Kuno and Akio up.

"Whaaaaaat? Do you really think so little of me?" Monokuma began to sweat profusely as he started shaking in an exaggerated fashion.

"Yes," All at once there was a unanimous vote by everyone present in the area.

"Wha-?!" Monokuma gasped in shock as he staggered back a few steps. "I- I- how dare you! I would never-!" he continued on with his pathetic charade but when he noticed that none of us were buying it, he simply hung his head in disappointment. "Aw shucks, you guys found me out! Upupupu, very well then, I guess I should just come clean about my hidden agenda for you guys today, huh?" he winked despite all the groaning we were giving out.

"But um, before we can do that however... we're gonna need a full cast. The ones who are still breathing, that is," Monokuma eyed the students who are present and I couldn't help but feel my eyes follow the trail of his gaze. Using the moment's silence as a short breather, I managed to assess the identity of each individual currently in the hallway. I spot Akio straightening out his outfit as usual and Kuno is pre-occupied with wiping dust off of his shoulder. Makoto was tapping her foot impatiently with her arms crossed. Behind her I saw the towering figure of Tetsu who was glaring at Monokuma and a worried-looking Kotone who was clutching her fists tightly. "Oh wait, where did that haughty chick run off to now? Oooooh she is going to get punished so hard, I'll..." Monokuma started going red in the face as he... fantasized about it?

I do not want to find out what goes on inside that bear's head.

"Well I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed, unless you're willing to break your own rule that is," Ryoka took quick, long steps as she walked over to us. It seems that she had just arrived along with a group of a few other students. "I mean you said it yourself in the announcement 20 minutes ago that a student is only required to show themselves at the garden before 7:30 am, right? And Yevan did show herself here before the time limit so she's pretty much not punishable, right?"

"She's right y'know. I mean it is yer own words afrall," Seijun looked like he had just dragged himself out of bed as he mumbled with a drowsy tone. His long black hair looked awfully disheveled and I think... I see a comb sticking out from the shoulder area? Boy he is definitely not a morning person.

"Hey, what are you? Some kind of walking cliché?" Akiko chirped as she plucked the comb out of his hair... or at least tried to when it wouldn't budge. She then proceeded to yank it out with all her might and I could see the veins popping in her neck as she did.

"Here, let me help," Fujiwara adjusted his glasses and aided Akiko in her quest to free the comb from Seijun's dark locks. After a few good yanks, the comb finally came free... along with a few strands of Seijun's hair but he didn't seem to care and simply stepped into the garden with a dreamy look on his face. Now that he's stepped into the light of the garden's glass ceiling, I've only just noticed the dark purple tint in his hair.

A mild yawn filled the hallway as Kimiko rubbed her eyes. "I didn't really get much sleep last night with what's happened and all. I'm just glad that it's all over now," she took slow strides over to the garden and I saw her eyes go completely wide when she saw the gloomy table at the centre. "Are you kidding me right now?!"

"Upupupu! Nosiree, this is no joke! You guys are gonna have full-scale memorial service and I spared no expenses with the decorations this time!" Monokuma clambered up the table awkwardly and beckoned us to come forward. "Hmmm, we're only two people short of perfect attendance... but I guess an 86.67% turnout of alive students is still at an acceptable rate,"

Seeing the rest of the students slowly and hesitantly shuffle into the rows of chairs, I decided that it was probably the only choice I had and started to follow after them... only to bump into someone who hadn't even budged from the spot they were standing it. "Oh, I'm sorry Ryoka," I apologized by reflex. It was something that didn't even popped into my head and I said it unconsciously. However, something about her face made me feel a little worried. "What's wrong?"

She looked up at me, surprised. "Hmm? Oh, nothing," a faint red tint started forming at her cheeks as she did a slight bow. "Sorry, it's my fault. I just got a little distracted," she gave a smile and I responded back with a smile of my own before we parted ways. "86.67...?" was all I heard as her voice trailed off into the distance.

{=Mr. Monokuma's Lesson=}

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Monokuma shouted in an announcer-like voice as if he was hosting a game show or something. I looked around to my right and saw Fujiwara, the person I was seated next to, squirm around in the chair. The somber atmosphere of this supposed memorial service quickly faded away as it was replaced by glaring spotlights and flashy neon signs that seemed to have appeared from the ground. I turned my attention back at Monokuma and it seemed like he was moving his hand around behind his back, probably handling some kind of remote control or something for this fancy light show.

"Wow you weren't kidding when you said you went full-scale on this memorial service," Akiko looked around at the dazzling display in front of her in awe, completely forgetting about the original purpose of our gathering here today.

"Don't encourage that damn asshole!" Makoto shot her and angry look from underneath her shades and Akiko pouted back at her.

Monokuma cleared his throat to bring out attention back to the table and continued on with his little speech. "Anyways, as I was saying, I'm sure you're all wondering why I've gathered you all here today," He tip-toed along the table as he scanned high and low for our reactions. When he saw that there was nothing to be seen, he simply dropped his shoulders and rubbed his shoulders. "Wow, tough crowd, huh?"

"Well, no matter. The show must go on after all. Today we are all gathered here to pay our respects for the dearly departed. I would like to start this event with a moment of silence, please," Monokuma bowed his head down and commanded us to follow suit with a wave of his arm.

"This is ridiculous," No sooner had Akio said that, loud metal music started blaring from the speakers where Monokuma would usually make his announcements from.

{=Sending This To You=}

This is the complete opposite of 'a moment of silence' and Monokuma knew very well that this is no accident. All of the screams and shouts from my fellow chair neighbours were completely drowned out by the sound of a very distorted electric guitar and the demonic screams of a girl blaring through the speakers. Everyone cringed and rushed to cover their ears up with their hands... well mostly everyone. I saw Makoto bobbing her head up and down according to rhythm but I guess I shouldn't really be surprised considering her personality type.

"Ahhhh the sound of silence! Such peace and tranquility is a blessing on a day such as this," Monokuma's voice suddenly grew loud as if he was talking through a megaphone to rise above the noisy volume in the garden. "Ok, time's up! No more silent moments! Now it's time to exchange your vows!" Monokuma's hand shifted again slightly behind his back and suddenly the loud heavy metal music ceased playing, returning the garden to its serene state once more.

"Um, Monokuma if I may say something?" I could barely hear the sound of Kotone's voice as my ears slowly started to adjust back to the more subtle volume of my surroundings. I saw Fujiwara cleaning his ears out with his pinky finger out of the corner of my eye but the ringing sound is still evident in my ears. "Isn't that something that people say during weddings instead of funerals?" Kotone continued with her question in a soft-spoken voice.

Monokuma looked taken aback as he gasped loudly. "Egads! Are you absolutely sure?" he dropped his head in disappointment when he realized that all of us were shaking our head in defiance. "Oh... I see then. It seems I've got my databases mixed up, upupupu...," He blushed and scratched the back of his head innocently. "Oh well, it doesn't really matter anyways. Let's cut to the chase then, here's what I mean when I said I spared no expenses on this memorial service," with a sly smile Monokuma kicked down the portraits of Hibiki and Kenta, despite shouts of it being 'disrespectful' and 'profane' from the members of his audience, and finally revealed the remote that he was hiding behind his back as he pointed to somewhere behind the table and clicked it.

{=Living To The Fullest=}

The ground started to shake all of a sudden and somebody shouted "EARTHQUAKE!" but I wasn't really sure whose voice it belonged to since everybody started to scramble off of their chairs and onto their unsteady feet. I looked around frantically and saw Seijun trying to keep everyone calm by yelling. I don't need to tell anybody that that's not quite the effective technique to settle a crowd down.

Akio looked as bored as ever and simply sat down in his chair amidst all the shaking. He seemed to have quite the talent of balancing during all the chaos... maybe he is also the SHSL balancer? I quickly shake the thought of someone having more than one talent out of my head as I realized that I was getting distracted from the matter at hand.

Monokuma on the other hand was unexpectedly calm as he sat down with his legs crossed on the table. His eyes were closed and made him look like he was meditating or something. When the rumbling started to die down, I thought things would finally get a little calmer, but no... I was completely wrong as more freaky stuff seemed to happened.

By now, we realized that all this extreme shaking was happening because the ground behind the memorial table somehow seemed to have open up to reveal two large gaping holes that were square in shape. They looked to be about the size of a tree stump of a large cherry blossom tree or something but when they started to pop out from the unknown abyss, I realized that Monokuma wasn't done torturing us mentally yet.

What rose from the ground appeared to be unrecognizable and grayish-white in colour but after a while, my brain finally processed what it is that I'm actually seeing. The two large figures slowly rose up from their secret compartment in the ground and I was able to make out that they were statues- statues of our deceased classmates. The ground finally stopped shaking with a loud "Clink!" as the statues of Hibiki Yukata and Kenta Shintaka reached its final position above ground.

I felt my jaw drop as I let out a loud gasp. As if to add salt to injury, the large stone statues of Hibiki and Kenta weren't just posed in a traditional greek sculpture kind of way. Instead, Hibiki's statue had her posed with one hand stretched out high above her head. A pair of scissors was sculpted inside her stone hands and its edge was sharpened to a fine point as it resembled an arrow pointing up to the ceiling. Kenta's statue however was positioned to make it look like he was reaching up for something.

The statues were made to immortalize their final moments in life... and probably when they took the life of another. It took me a while to get over the fact that this is how Monokuma is making us remember our fallen friends. Surely there must be a limit to how far Monokuma will go to aggravate us, right? I mean, even he can't be that cruel, right? There has to be some humanity in that black heart of his...

"WHY?!" a shout had broken the silence that filled the air and everyone's heads turned to look at Fujiwara who was trembling. "Please... just... stop...," he was on the verge of tears as he tried his best to avert his gaze at the newly erected statues. Poor Fujiwara... I mean, he did just survive a traumatic experience with Yevan yesterday and now this.

"This is bad... oh boy. This is sooooo bad," Akio started rising from his chair and muttered something under his breath. He was starting to sweat profusely from the sheer absurdity of the situation. "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad," He started chanting this over and over as he brought his hands up to his forehead. In his unstable condition, he toppled his chair over as he dashed away from the memorial service while screaming something about a curse from the beyond.

His screams however, were cut short when he bumped into someone on the way out. Akio stumbled backwards and landed on his bottom for the second time today. He gasped when he reached the floor and immediately scrambled to get up, clutching at the nearest thing... which happened to be the pants of the deceased Hibiki's twin brother.

I guess they must've arrived during all of the shaking and craziness that I didn't hear them stepping into the garden. Tsubasa hadn't even bothered to look down at the bumbling Akio as his stare was fixed upon the statue of his sister. His eyes were dazed, as if he was in a trance and he's kept quiet this whole time. To his left however was a much more reactive Megumi. She bent over to help Akio up back on his feet.

Akio still seemed pretty out of his mind as he pulled his hand away from Megumi's grasp and ran away back to the gym, his footsteps echoed along the hallway floors. Our dramatic climax was cut a little short however when Monokuma decided to talk again. "Well, well, well, playing it a little close now, aren't we? You guys got here just a minute before my clock says 7:30 am,"

Megumi tilted her head in confusion. "Eh? But you don't have a watch Monokuma," she said, to which we all just face-palmed.

"I meant my internal clock, deary. It's never wrong, upupu!" Monokuma gave a gleeful chuckle at his retort to the pig-tailed girl. "Okay then, no punishment today I suppose," Monokuma faked a yawn to show boredom. "Everyone is diiiiiiii-," he dragged on his pronunciation of those words just like he did during the morning announcement. "-iiiiiiiismissed!" he finished his brief little announcement and was greeted by blank stares.

"What the hell, you telling me that's it?!" Tetsu raised his voice against Monokuma and pounded his fist into his other open palm.

"It's over, you all can leave now," Monokuma looked confused when we would not disperse.

"But what about our feelings?!" Kotone tried her best to argue. "I thought we were supposed to share our impressions of Hibiki, or at least express our condolences!"

Monokuma sighed and raised a paw up into the air as if to shut her up. "Please stop your righteousness act. It's not like any of you even knew her that well to say anything anyways. I don't want you to make judgments based on first impressions and prejudice, after all," he chuckled in delight when he saw how much he was tormenting us.

"Hey that's not fair! I got to know her a bit more on the day of her death. More than anyone here, in fact!" Kimiko retorted but was met with stern looks from Makoto.

"Says the girl who cried wolf," she scoffed. "Don't think I'd already forgotten about your little confession back in the elevator ride to the gym. You seemed pretty relaxed for someone who's 'close friend' just died,"

"Hey! Take that back!" Kimiko yelled back at the sukeban despite being half her size. Either she really had some guts or was getting a little bit carried away by her emotions.

The two of them continued bickering on as Fujiwara looked around nervously. "Hey, uh... Monokuma?" He voiced out hesitantly in a quiet tone as his eyes fell upon the solemn-looking Tsubasa, who was still stuck at his spot on the dirt. "Aren't you forgetting something?" He looked quite concerned as Tsubasa had not looked away from Hibiki's statue from the moment he entered. "You know... someone else who actually does have more of a connection to the deceased?"

Monokuma tilted his head to the side and brought a paw up to his chin before quickly jumping up once while snapping his paws once. "Ah! You're right! I did almost forget something, hmm. Okay, gimme a sec while I configure something alright?" he turned around so that whatever he was doing with that remote control of his was not in our line of sight.

*Beep*

The notification sound rang in my pockets and it somehow echoed throughout the garden when I realized that everyone was also receiving the same notice from their ElectroiD. Rummaging my fingers in my pocket, I stuck my tongue out slightly out of habit as I fished out the small electronic card from my pockets. Apparently, Monokuma had sent all of us a new rule and I swiped the screen to unlock it, feeling a little uneasy at what he might come up with next.

Rule 9: Lame and boring deaths by suicide will not be rewarded after a successful class trial.

What... was I even reading? The fact that there was a 'lame and boring' category for death and murder was really pushing the limits... but then again, this is a deranged, mechanical bear that's locked us all up in here we're talking about. Besides, there was something else about the new rule that I wasn't quite sure about.

"Hey, what's this about a reward? You never said anything like this back at the trial room," I stepped up in front of Monokuma to ask him about it.

"Why, I'm talking about your Monocoins of course!" Monokuma rummaged through his... back pockets? I didn't even know he had pockets underneath all that fake fur but nonetheless, he still produced a small sack of something that was jingling and tossed it at me. With my training and reflexes, I was able to catch it with a swift reach of my arm. The sack itself was no bigger than my palm but it felt quite heavy as I felt the contents move about in my grasp. It looked and felt like a bean bag or something similar, until I peeked inside at least. What I found instead, was a bundle of shiny gold coins... with the face of our headmaster etched into every single piece.

"One for you!" Monokuma went around tossing sacks of gold monocoins here and there for everyone to catch. Fujiwara seemed to be unable to focus and got hit in the noggin with prosperity."You get monocoins! You get monocoins! Everybody gets a sack of monocoins!" Monokuma gleefully shouted as he kept giving out his own brand of currency from his pockets.

"And what the hell are we supposed to do with these? There're no vending machines around here anyways. Besides, I'd just give it a good punch and get a free drink," Makoto scoffed as she held two bags of coins in her hands. I'm guessing one of it is for Yevan, since she is pretty much the only one not put off by the mohawked girl's behavior.

"Hey, hey! What're you saying now? If you break the vending machine then it's punishment time for you, little lady!" Monokuma wheezed out as he tried to contain his anger. His face however had betrayed him as he steadily grew more red and flustered with each breath. "These coins are special. They won't work for anything else other than the mono-mono-machine!" He took a deep breath to calm himself down and in an instant his voice changed to his perky self again. "It's the machine in the toy store room of the dormitory area, in case you're wondering. I was feeling generous so you guys may as well have a little fun with some junk I found lying around,"

"Seriously, that's our reward?" Kimiko looked at Monokuma in disbelief and Makoto was back at her throat saying something like 'I knew you were just in it for the money!'

"Upupu... not at all. Just so you know, something that was previously locked is now... unlocked! See you next murder time! Kyahahaha!" Monokuma burst out laughing as he dove under the table cloth of the memorial table. Makoto and Kuno dashed forward in his direction and with a brief moment of teamwork, flipped the table upside down... revealing nothing but grass and soil underneath it. It seems that Monokuma had disappeared into one of his many trapdoors again.

{=Box 15=}

"Alright, let's get to investigating then!" Seijun called out as he rubbed his eye gently. He seemed to have finally woken up despite being groggy throughout the whole ordeal. He stood up straight and his hair appeared to have been perfectly combed by now.

"Eh? When did you get all cleaned up?" Akiko cried out as she was surprised by Seijun's sudden change in behavior.

"Justice waits for no one! Now, let us split up and search the entire campus area!" Seijun called out enthusiastically and quickly turned around. He marched off into the academic building and left all of us hanging with our mouths open.

"... Okay... that was weird? But I guess if we're gonna start exploring again, we might as well start with a full stomach," Fujiwara trudged off rubbing his head where the sack of monocoins had hit him and fixed his glasses. He was about to make his way into the concrete hallway when he happened to walk past a frozen figure. "Um... I'll whip up something special for you, okay Tsubasa? What is it that you'd like for today?"

He was only met with silence as Tsubasa seemed to be unwavering from his spot. "... Okay, then... see you in the cafeteria... I guess?"

"Hmm, nah. I don't really feel hungry just yet. Actually I don't think I even feel like eating at all... not while we're still here anyways...," Kimiko casted a weary gaze back at the table with the knocked-over portrait and shifted her glance over to the statues. "I think I'll join Seijun first for the investigation,"

One by one we all started filing out of the garden, leaving behind the memories of our deceased friends... or rather our tarnished memories. I really doubt anyone would want to stay here any longer and having to look at the undignified statues Monokuma had brought out. The hallway was filled with echoing footsteps that lead to the left and right exits of the garden. All of them bypassing a certain someone who still had not budged.

"Um...," I spoke up hesitantly, not sure what to say to someone in his state. "I don't think you should keep staring at her like that," as expected, Tsubasa did not respond and kept his glassy eyes fixed on the memorial statues. Even though Monokuma's weirdly planned memorial service didn't exactly rattle our spirits... it was enough to break at least one person. I couldn't handle watching Tsubasa so unusually quiet... it just felt weird if he wasn't barking up other people's business.

I left the garden and stepped into the hallway, having no appetite due to recent events... I guess I should head out to help them search the school building. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw the familiar twin trail of light brown hair and quickened my pace to catch up with her. "Hey... are you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, I'm fine," came the brief and concise reply from Megumi Tsuji. That was... a little bit cold. Did I... do something wrong? She didn't even turn to look at me when she said that.

"I was just wondering, I mean you did hurt yourself yesterday,"

"Mmm, I'm okay," She paused for a moment before resuming "Let's check out the faculty door, yeah? It was closed before so maybe it's opened now," She gave me a small smile before speeding up her steps and disappearing past the doors that lead into the school building.

... Why does something like this always happen to me?

a/n: Alright, turns out the memorial service wasn't going to be all sappy and sad but what did you guys really expect from someone like Monokuma. Anywho, this update originally included the exploration of the second floor, which I am halfway trough writing at the moment, but I decided to post this up by today since well, it's pretty much the deadline and I want to have something up at least. Don't worry, the exploration scene shouldn't take long to finish and I'll have it up first thing in the morning (it's midnight here) so this pretty much means a double update! (I know I've promised that before...) and with GinMerric's chapter, I guess you can call this a triple update week, yikes! Also, I've received the votes for the next chosen FTE individuals and I gotta say, I'm a little surprised ;)