Chapter 1: For the Night is Dark… III

As it turns out, having one grand unifying vision isn't quite enough. At no point when we were filling out the ballots did anyone think about how we're supposed to actually convince Eiko to come out of her room so we can show her the result. I don't think there's anybody she'll listen to now.

"I guess this meeting is adjourned," Haruki declares. "Good luck, Shinji. I hope we're able to pull this off." On that signal, people start filing out of the cafeteria and going their separate ways. Hikari tugs on my forearm, saying something about a possum, but I brush her off as I notice that Nanima's not moving. She's sat completely still, face completely rigid, with her headphones over her ears, and from her nostril a trickle of blood is dripping down her face. I grab a couple of napkins and offer her one, but there's no response. I don't really feel comfortable wiping blood off a girl's face, but I suspect Hikari has no such qualms.

"Hikari, do me a favour and clean her up," I order, and while she's engrossed in that particular activity, I try to think how to proceed. Last time out, removing the headphones worked to get her attention, so once Hikari's cleared off, I cautiously reach for the white headphones.

"Don't!" she screams suddenly, causing me to stumble backwards and lose my footing. I sure as hell wasn't expecting that violent a reaction. Even Hikari looks a bit worried.

"What's going on, Nanima?" I ask.

"Don't touch the headphones!" she cries, clutching at her ears tightly so there's no chance of anyone being able to touch them.

"Those must be some awesome tunes!" Hikari declares, displaying excellent intuition skills. That's definitely going to come in handy later. I try to check if the headphones are plugged into anything, but they're wireless. This goes deeper than I initially thought.

"Nanima, what's going on?" I repeat, hoping to get through to her this time. As a fan, and as a fellow student, I'm deeply concerned by this sudden turn of events. We all need to pull through this together so I'm not leaving her side until I gain some understanding of the situation. I've never seen this side of her before. This must be why she always tries to appear so cheerful and full of life in her videos, because deep down something's seriously wrong.

"I need the headphones," she says quietly. "I need them… to shut out the voices." Voices? What voices? I don't hear anything, and I'm pretty sure if Hikari had heard anything she'd be commenting on it very loudly.

"What voices, Nanima?"

"Th-the ones I hear all the time," she says quickly, as though delivering an urgent message. "They tell me horrible things, say really nasty stuff, and the headphones are the only way I can stop them. That's not weird, is it? Please don't tell me I'm weird." She starts crying uncontrollably, and I send Hikari away to fetch more napkins. I knew there were some nutty things going on in this place, but the last thing I expected was voices inside Nanima's head. Is she really telling the truth? After a sleepless night it's hard to tell, but I doubt she'd have a reason to lie to me. I'm just going to have to trust her on this.

First things first, I need to try and calm her down. The longer she stays in this state the worse it's gonna get. I need to act quickly, say something, anything to stop the torment. I fear to get too close to her in case she lashes out at me.

"Listen to me, Nanima," I say slowly, enunciating clearly to try and ensure she'll hang onto my every word. "You're not weird. Whatever it is you think you're hearing, it's not real. The voices can't hurt you. They don't have control over you. You, and me, and Eiko, and everyone else, we're all gonna get through this. We're gonna work together, we're gonna stop Monokuma, and we're going to escape. You understand me, Nanima?" She nods slowly, tears dripping down her soft cheeks. It's heartbreaking to see one of the few people I've met in this world who's wholeheartedly good go through this trauma. She's brought so much joy to so many others, and yet none of them know of the horrible turmoil she's privately going through. It must be so painful having to keep quiet about that and try to push it aside for the sake of others. From now on, I hope she realises she doesn't have to suffer alone.

"Here you go, Shinji!" Hikari says, still full of whimsy and total obliviousness to the situation we find ourselves in. I take the handful of napkins from her and offer one to Nanima, who accepts it silently, wiping her face and smudging her make-up in the process.

"Don't ever think for a second you're alone," I tell her. Almost involuntarily, I take her hand in mine and look her directly in the eyes. "Remember, I'm always awake, so if you ever have any problems, you come to me, alright? And seems like Hikari likes you, too, so she'll probably try and cheer you up if needs be." I've dealt with people with problems like this before, but that was over the internet. This feels totally different, a lot more personal. It's not easy to describe how it feels, but it's definitely a much more intense type of connection.

"Guys, is it alright if I burn this box?" Hikari asks, bringing me totally out of the moment before I've had time to fully process the connection between me and Nanima. Hikari already has a lit match in her grasp, indicating her willingness to torch everything we've worked so hard to achieve this morning.

"Ask Dulce if she's got more paper if you want something to burn," I snap. I've got serious issues to discuss here. Besides, I think it's time to let the Hispanic do some babysitting for a change. Hikari scampers off like a cartoon character, singing and clapping all the while, still holding the match. I pull up a chair next to Nanima with the intent of guiding her through this troubling time. After a few minutes of allowing her to regain her composure, she's very keen to put that episode behind us and talk about games instead. I think it's a relief for her to have a fan around who's actually got some interest in what she does so she can continue making people smile. I simply let her speak for a while, occasionally replying when she brings something up from her streams, and this seems to cheer her up.

"I really hope we get out of here soon so I can keep doing what I enjoy," she confesses. "Who knows, maybe I'll invite you onto my stream one day?"

"Yeah, that'd be nice," I reply, although having never done anything like that before I can't say how good I'd be as a guest. Would I ever be able to provide meaningful commentary on the madness happening on screen? Probably not, but it's the thought that counts.

"So, uh, what are we supposed to do with the box?" she asks.

"To be honest, I didn't really think that through," I admit. "Shall we go and find the others? They might be able to help us out."

"Sure thing," says Nanima. "But first, I need you to promise me something. Nobody ever finds out about what just happened, okay? How can I keep making people smile if I can't keep smiling myself?"

"I promise, but I can't guarantee Hikari's silence," I say. That's the best I can do for now. Nanima picks up the box, putting her ear to it in case Monokuma placed a bomb inside it. Once she's satisfied that our ballots won't get blown up, we leave the cafeteria behind and I pull out the e-Handbook. The first icon I'm drawn to when I load up the map is Rin, hidden down the corridor between our dorms. How much does she know about what just transpired? She doesn't seem the sharing type, but I'd rather she hadn't known anything at all.

"Wait here," I tell Nanima, rushing off down the corridor to catch Rin. It doesn't take me long to block the librarian's path as she takes things rather leisurely.

"Why, if it isn't the Ultimate Counsellor," she says sardonically.

"Dammit Rin, how much of that did you overhear?" I ask.

"Oh, only about a hundred percent of it," she replies. Why can't she go and follow somebody else for once?

"You'd better keep it in your little black book, or there'll be hell to pay," I warn.

"Really now? We've been so good to each other so far. Why would I want to do anything to break that bond?" Because you could potentially use that information later on? No idea what for, but I suspect she's not just writing this all down for her own amusement.

"Where are you off to now?" I ask, seeing as she already went right past her own dorm.

"To the reception to spy on people," she replies. "There isn't much else to do in here, after all." Yeah, this place is boring as hell right now. If we could access the upstairs facilities then maybe we'd have something to do, but right now, we're stuck with a bunch of clinical tools.

"Lemme get Nanima and we'll come along," I say, although Rin's not looking too pleased about that. She brings out the notepad with a flourish and with her black ball-point starts writing upon its pages. I leave her to her note-making and return to the cafeteria. Nanima's completely absorbed in her handheld gaming thing, and she's sat on the box for maximum comfort. I glance at the screen over her shoulder and she's playing something that looks cartoony, yet extremely unsettling at the same time. There's a ton of bullets flying across the screen and I can hardly make out what's what. While waiting for the madness to end, I check the map again and notice that among the crowd in the reception is Daisuke. How very unlike him to be willingly mingling with his peers.

"Oh, Shinji, when did you get back?" Nanima asks, having wrapped up her current session of wanton virtual destruction.

"A good ten minutes ago at least," I reply. "Seems like people are meeting up in reception. You coming?"

"Sure," she says, much happier than before. She puts her handheld away before picking the box up in both hands once more, carrying it along with us, but as we start heading to the reception, a commotion breaks out in the corridor. Figuring out why Daisuke seems to be entertaining guests can wait. Nanima trails along behind me as I rush onto the scene, and I find all four of our electoral candidates arguing about something.

"I'm not responsible for any of this! I swear it on the Green Ram's curly horns!"

"It couldn't possibly have been me, I was doing my archery practice," Alicia insists. She's in the same sports gear as yesterday so maybe she's got a point. Or perhaps she's hiding something. Great, now I've got as paranoid as everyone else. Fuck you, Monokuma.

"What the hell did we walk into?" I ask.

"Look at these!" Zygoth orders, shoving several scruffy bits of paper into my hand, and I notice he's covering his pocket with his other hand. I don't remember who had his pen last, but clearly they forgot to give it back. I glance at the paper, and it looks to be a series of letters. As I read on, they prove to have been written with a rather malicious intent.

"To whom it may concern,

Tonight, the winner of this vote will die.

Don't try to stop me, or I'll kill you too." Shit! Someone's seen through my plan, and I've got no idea who it could be. I've definitely got an alibi, as does Nanima, so that rules us two out. Nayumi's probably asleep so I'd personally strike her off the list, but that does little to narrow it down to anyone in particular.

"What do we do?" Eiko asks frantically.

"We do what needs to be done," says Haruki. "Where the heck's Ryusuke when you need him?" As though summoned by the gods themselves, the Ultimate Bodyguard makes a timely entrance from his room.

"That sure was an intense workout," he announces to nobody in particular before noticing everybody gathered outside. "Right, what's going on here, then?"

"Somebody's making death threats," Haruki says. "Show him, Shinji." As instructed, I give Ryusuke the notes and he reads them with a frown.

"This is simply not acceptable! We can't allow this to happen! I propose we enforce a curfew immediately! Nobody is allowed out of their rooms until the culprit comes forward!"

"Dude, you can't just do that!" Alicia complains. "You're just a man with no power. You can't tell me or anybody else what to do!" If that's the case, we're just going to end up going round in circles forever. I'm extremely wary of doing the big reveal, as that gives the killer one single target to attack, but on the other hand, we can concentrate all our efforts on ensuring Eiko's safety.

"You're not going to listen to him, but I know someone you would listen to," I say. "Nanima, bring me the box." Silently, Nanima hands over the black box and I tear off the lid.

"Huh? What's he doing?" asks Eiko, the only one who wasn't there when we initially did the vote. I begin reading out the votes slowly, drawing out the tension. None of the ballots are actually marked so I don't know whose vote is whose, but I do my best to figure it out. As I reach the seventh vote in a row for the Ultimate Cult Leader, the reception crew join us and the corridor suddenly feels very crowded. Akira leads the pack with a newspaper tucked under his arm. Where the hell did he get that from?

"Yo, where've you been? The guy with the glasses found this creepy-looking newspaper out here on the table and well, we all kinda started gathering round. Seems like the bear dug up some juicy info on all our candidates. Did you know the girl in green's a murderer?" Does he know that she can hear him right now?

"Akira, let me see that newspaper," I command. He throws me the newspaper, on the front page of which is Monokuma, and today's big headline is 'Election Exposed!' Somehow I don't think this is a legitimate source of information. "You're really going to believe Monokuma?"

"But it's in the papers!" Akira says, clearly flustered. "I knew something was off about that girl! Seriously, nobody normal goes around wearing all green! I keep getting tempted to throw golf balls at her!" That's your issue here? You're going to pick apart her fashion sense now? And still while she's stood right here?

"Don't mock the colours of the Green Ram!" Eiko screams. "I didn't do anything and all you people do is pick on me for my beliefs. None of you are fit to join my flock!" None of us really wanted to anyway. If she keeps playing the victim all the time, it's not long until she becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I'm gonna have to just cut to the chase here.

"Eiko, look at these ballots," I urge, showing her the contents of the box. "We all voted for you. You call the shots. What do you wanna do next?"

"Follow the curfew," she says. "It's safer that way. Ryusuke and Eizou, you two can do rotating shifts to make sure nobody leaves their dorms! Shinji, you keep that fiery witch of yours with you at all times!"

"What about food?" Zange asks. "Y'all can't starve us."

"One of us can bring some to you at the end of a shift," Ryusuke answers. "I agree, keeping nourished is extremely important. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go and help Haru bathe. Eizou, you take this shift."

"Everyone else, to your dorms!" Eiko orders. "Glory to the Green Ram, may he protect us all!" For the next minute or so there's a concerto of slamming doors as people return to their rooms, while I make my way to Dulce's dorm to tell her the news. I rap on the door with my knuckles and I hear some exasperated Spanish before a worn-out Dulce opens the door.

"You're here for Hikari, right?" Yup, that's me. I glance into the room and Hikari's on the floor surrounded by smouldering bits of paper. Wherever did that basket from yesterday go?

"Hikari! We're under curfew!" I call. This really is like being a parent. Bizarrely this statement elicits a squeal of delight from Hikari as she bounces to her feet and comes rushing out through the doorway like a whirling dervish, sliding past Dulce and sweeping me up in another of those forceful hugs.

"We had so much fun, Shinji," Hikari babbles, before trying to tell me all about how she burned up one of Dulce's priceless maps.

"Thanks for having her, Dulce," I say weakly as the last of the air begins to leave my lungs. I thump Hikari on the back and she finally lets go. Sometimes getting physical is the only way to communicate.

"No problemo, Shinji! See you guys around." She closes the door and our curfew officially begins as Ryusuke sees fit to escort us both back to my dorm before going off to give Haru a bath. Now I have a chance to see what Monokuma's written. I'm able to bribe Hikari into staying quiet for a short while by promising she can burn the newspaper up once I'm done with it. I flip it open to the middle, figuring that's where Monokuma would hide his supplement, and indeed, in the very middle of the newspaper is a segment entitled 'The Big Election Special!', with an image of Monokuma giving a speech to a crowd of thousands of people, all wearing Monokuma heads. And there I was thinking he didn't know how to use Photoshop.

I turn the page, anticipating the 'juicy info' Akira tipped me off about, and right there on the left is a picture of Eiko that looks eerily similar to the one on the previous page. She's addressing a large crowd of people in green, some of whom are wearing horned masks. Honestly, this just looks like another bad Photoshop job, so I'm having my doubts about all this already. The hyperbolic titles sure don't help.

'Don't Be a Sheep: The Truth Behind Eiko Uno.' That's almost clever. Almost. I start scanning the page in front of me, looking for the fabled murder gossip, and on the third paragraph, after some details on how the cult got started, I discover 'the startling truth' of how Eiko supposedly murdered her own parents. I read it aloud for Hikari's benefit.

"Aged just thirteen years old, the Green Ram's messenger had her first vision, an apparition of the Woolly One telling her that her parents were demons incarnate, and that they would have to be burned to purge their souls. With these words in mind, she stole a box of matches from the kitchen drawer and set the place ablaze. Miraculously, she survived the inferno, but her parents died, just as she intended…" If that's so, why was Eiko so scared when Hikari brought that flaming wastepaper basket into the cafeteria? Guilt, perhaps?

"Eiko's a murderer?" Hikari asks, and she looks almost horrified. I think. You never can tell with Hikari. "…That's totally awesome!" If it involves fire, then she's pretty much on board with it.

"No she isn't," I say, wondering how everyone around me can be so gullible. "Monokuma's just making stuff up."

"So does that mean there's no killing game?" Hikari asks, almost sounding disappointed.

"Sadly I think that's the one thing he's not lying about," I reply, scanning the next page, a very similar article on Haruki's alleged collaboration with a highly dangerous criminal on one of his albums. Even the accompanying photo looks near enough the same as the one in Eiko's exposé, with the same high-angled crowd shot, just with different lighting, less ram heads and the singer working the microphone instead of the zealot. Yeah, I think I'm done with this. I bet Daisuke had fun deconstructing those articles.

"Here you go," I say, dropping the newspaper in front of Hikari and nodding toward the bin in the corner. "Stick it in there, I'm not sweeping up bits of burnt newspaper." Once again I find myself confined to one small space with the girl who plays with fire. It would have been nice if Nanima had joined us here, but she must have chosen to continue her game in peace. At least people like her have stuff to do. I didn't even get a bookshelf or anything. As Hikari starts singing an old Russian folk song while burning the newspaper, I suddenly start dreading escaping this place. There's no way she'll ever let me leave her behind.

After what feels like an eternity of Hikari-sitting duty, there's a heavy knock on the door. Who could that be? I crack open the door slightly and see Eizou standing in the doorway with a tray of food balanced on one hand. For some reason, the imagery of someone with such a large frame just carrying a tray is slightly comical.

"Ah, it's you. Come on in, Eizou." I usher the sentry in and he places the tray on my bedside table, moving the unused lamp to the floor.

"Hope I brought enough," he says. It sure looks it to me; he's piled so much on it I'm surprised he didn't drop anything. It doesn't even end there as he reaches into those deep pockets of his and pulls out two bottles of water.

"Yeah, we should be fine," I let him know. Hikari takes a bento box and a can of cola off the tray and begins to tuck in. I take a bowl of miso and some chopsticks. Guess I kinda reversed the order of my meals today, but hey, that's insomnia for you. Traditional measures of time don't mean a thing.

"Hey, Eizou, do you think Eiko really burned her parents to death?" Hikari asks, and Eizou spits out a mouthful of water in shock.

"Sorry, just didn't expect you to put it so bluntly," Eizou says, wiping his mouth. "Personally I dunno what to think." Hikari's already gobbled up her bento and moved onto a bag of sweets.

"I wouldn't believe anything that bear says," I opine, picking away at my meal. "Don't you have other people to get food to?"

"Ryusuke's got that covered… I think…" All of a sudden the Ultimate Mariner looks unsure of himself. Most of the time he exudes casualness and calmness, but not now. "I better go check on that." He runs off into the corridor, and I pick away at my rapidly cooling miso soup. I'm not particularly hungry right now with all that's happening, but I need some sustenance. Meanwhile, Hikari's dumped the bag of sweets into the bin and is conducting her own little experiment, watching them burn in all sorts of weird colours due to the dodgy chemicals they put in them.

"Shiny happy people, holding hands!" she begins to sing before Eizou almost smashes the door off its hinges.

"Bad news! And I mean really bad news! Eiko's gone! I checked my e-handbook and there's no sign of her anywhere!" No sign of her? That sounds bad. Really bad. This is a complete fucking disaster. Where the hell could she possibly be?

"Did you try her room?" I ask, in case he's missed something incredibly obvious in his search.

"Of course I did!" Eizou replies frantically. "She wasn't there! Come on! We've gotta find her before…"

"Attention, everyone! A body has been discovered! The investigation to find the blackened will now begin!"

"...FUCK!" I've not seen Eizou get this worked up before. My stomach sinks, and I feel that very same dread I had when I first heard about the killing game. As horrific as the prospect is, I'm going to have to confirm with my own two eyes what's just happened, and more importantly, who was killed.

"Hikari, drop the matches, we're going to see a dead body!" I yell. She lets out a whoop of delight completely inappropriate for the situation and runs ahead of us all. I hang back, wishing to delay the inevitable just slightly, and check the e-handbook to see where the body is likely to be. A large crowd has gathered at the consultation office. How the fuck did she get there without being spotted? I take the shortest route around, cutting through the waiting room and the reception, swinging up from the left and hitting the crowd almost head-on. There's a distinctive smell of bodily fluids in the area, bile and blood mingling in the air to create a foul and powerful stench that lingers in the nostrils.

"Let me through," I order, squeezing past Haruki and Akira, and there, face down in the middle of a puddle of blood in the centre of the room, lies the lifeless body of Eiko Uno, the Ultimate Cult Leader. Our peaceful life in this hospital has ended, and now we have to confront the fact that one of us is responsible for her death…

A.N. And thus begins Deadly Life! Sorry ninjedi, but I had this one planned out for quite some time. Sucks to have to kill anyone off, but someone had to go first. I'm equally sad for the person whose character carried out the deed too, although they won't find out who they are for a few more chapters yet.

Originally this was going to be two chapters, but I realised pretty quickly that I just didn't have enough material to stretch it over two, and when I tried to add more it was messing with the chronology, so I had to go back to the drawing board and restructure things so it'd fit into one neat chapter. Also means less time waiting around for the fun to happen!