It was dark, Kazuma could tell that much. It would appear that he was outside during the night. It was deathly quiet in the shell of a city they were locked away in. The only noises he could hear were his own breaths and the gentle blowing of the wind. No one was around, he was by himself. Just like that, he found himself moving but he had no intentions of doing so. It was as if his mind was acting against him, doing whatever he didn't want to do. Further and further into the darkness he trekked.

A figure slowly came into view ahead of him. A loud gasp escaped his throat as he recognized the person. They were alerted to his presence by the noise and turned. Yes, there was no doubt who it was. The light blonde hair covering his unseeing eyes gave it away. Kazuma was facing Mamoru Arakawa. But how? The very boy in front of him was dead, murdered by a broken Katashi.

As if the thought of him alone had made him show up, Kazuma was forced to watch as the psychopath stabbed Mamoru. The poor mathematician cried out in pain, falling onto all fours and trying to crawl away. Down came the knife, paralyzing him. The only sounds out of Mamoru's mouth were sharp gasps. Katashi dragged him closer and then with one swift movement, the guitar came crashing down.

"Mamoru!"

Kazuma let out a yell as he jolted awake. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he panted heavily. It had only been a nightmare. As if he didn't already feel betrayed by Katashi, now his own mind was betraying him by forcing him to watch the brutal murder of one of his friends. He let out a groan, laying back down when suddenly the monitor crackled to life.

"Oi! Hey, bastards! Get up, I've got something to tell you all! Get your asses outside!"

Oh, great. The last time he had an announcement to make, their numbers went from 16 to 14. Kazuma wanted to stay in his apartment, but it wasn't like he had much of a choice. He slowly climbed to his feet, stalking his way out into the hall where the rest of the equally unenthusiastic students were making their way to the elevator.

Just stepping inside the cold, metal cage reminded him of the previous day's events. Of course, this elevator was a lot more elegant and nice, but it still reminded him of the plunge into despair everyone had taken. He shuddered at the thought of ever having to relive that, hoping that the bear had his fun even though he knew that wouldn't be the case.

Kazuma led the group to the doors, a stoic Sumiko and nervous Tenri at his side. Outside, the air was cool on his skin, nicely contrasting the burning sunshine. As he walked forward a few steps, he noticed two things. Monokuma had not arrived yet, and the gate blocking off the next section of the city had been opened.

Just as quickly as he noticed this did Monokuma drop down from above them all. The bear's red eye was glinting in the light and that devilish half-grin was as ominous as always. From the pose the bear was making, Kazuma could tell that he was utterly cartoonish in his flair for dramatic entrances.

"I bet you've already noticed why I've called you out here! Yes, that's right, your prize for succeeding in the trial is more freedom to move throughout the city! Aren't you all just so happy that a nice bear like me rewards you for doing good?"

"I don't care how you reward us, unlockin' a damn gate won't bring our friends back." Sumiko's icy glare was frightening enough to make the bear recoil a step. With her biting words fresh in everyone's minds, she turned and left through the gate.

"Wait-!"

Seeing no one else moving, Kazuma sighed and followed after her. Pushing through the small gap in the gate, he found himself in Despair City's 2nd Ward. There were new buildings all around him. He had lost sight of Sumiko and sighed as he realized she could be in any of the new locations by now. Slowly, the other twelve began streaming in to check out the area.

Kazuma took out his e-Handbook to see just what this new area had in store for them all. The upper-left of the map had a nightclub called Escape. He grit his teeth at the irony of its title. Sighing, he looked to the upper-right. Taking up that space was a large bookstore called Literary Supernova. From how large it appeared on the map, Kazuma definitely figured that it'd be worth checking out. He couldn't help but wonder if any of his own titles had ended up in there, but it was a long shot.

The next location on the map in the lower left was surprisingly a water park. The AquaSplash resort seemed to be a rather big area, filled with different attractions and rides that most water parks have. Kazuma couldn't help but be a little relieved. They all needed something like this, something to just put their minds off of finding someone dead and witnessing an execution. Kazuma decided he'd check out the Escape first.

Wandering over to the doors, he pushed them open and wandered inside. The space was large, stairs descending down into a large pit where people could dance. The place was dark and had a smoky smell to it, the scent in the air presumably being produced by the fog machines that were installed on each side of the room. Blaring in the background was techno music.

As if the club had sensed that someone had walked in, thin neon beams of light sliced through the darkness and began flashing about. Kazuma was grateful for some illumination, just not the possibility of a seizure that the flashing lights brought. He wandered around for a bit when suddenly the door burst open behind him.

In came none other than Misaki, a bursting ball of energy. The daredevil seemed quite pumped about this new area, flashing Kazuma a wicked grin. She began to talk, leaving Kazuma at a loss for words. Honestly, she was getting nowhere. The music in the background was ensuring that no one could hold a conversation, a point which Misaki ignored as she prattled on noiselessly. Giving an exasperated sigh, Kazuma stalked forward and tugged her outside into the open air where they could actually talk to one another.

"Jesus, what were you saying?"

"I was trying to talk to you about how great this new area is! We've even got a water park!"

"Yeah, I saw."

"We absolutely have to go later! We need a quick change of pace to keep everyone happy!"

"I, uh, I get it."

"I mean, we all deserve a bit of a break after yesterday."

"Misaki, yes, I realize this."

"Well, I'm not going to wait any longer. I'll be at the AquaSplash if you need me!"

"R-Right.."

The next spot he had in mind was the Literary Supernova. He trudged over there, letting the warm breeze keep him nice and cool. It was a rather calming day, but honestly it was hard to be too calm after the deaths of his friends. He shook his head the moment those thoughts returned. They all had to move on and keep living for their sake.

The store was in sight rather quickly, Kazuma pushing open the doors. The air immediately got a lot colder once he was inside and he was awed by what he saw. The store was two stories and definitely large. There were rows upon rows of all the different genres. He'd never seen so many books at once, and it was possibly one of the most glorious sights he'd ever seen.

He wandered through the shelves, glancing around at all the titles. He stumbled upon the astronomy section and was not surprised to find Kaede sitting among a pile of books he'd pulled from the shelves. Kazuma found it better not to distract him when he was so intensely into the books.

Deciding he'd further inspect the area later, he turned to leave when he caught a glimpse of someone gracefully leaping from the second floor onto a bookshelf below. The blur of a person was out the door before he could even register who it was. Judging by the fact they left with a few books and didn't pay, as well as the stealthy movements, he could guess it was Sumiko. Well, at least she was still up for stealing. Kazuma sighed, moving off towards the exit and leaving. As he walked out, he realized he hadn't checked for his own titles. Well, now he had two reasons to come back.

He jogged off towards the AquaSplash. He honestly didn't feel like examining the interior at the moment. They could always organize a group get-together, and he'd explore then. He just wanted to get a glimpse of it, just in case. He wanted to see the rides from the exterior, just to get a feel for the area.

Approaching it, he took note of the main attraction. It was a tall, towering water slide that branched off several times. The branching slides weaved around the park before meeting up in the middle where he assumed a large pool was located. He could see the name of the slide from here, the Poseidon. There was a statue of Poseidon beside the door to the AquaSplash, a trident in his hand.

Kazuma examined that statue. It was very well made, looked like marble. He did take notice that the trident was detachable. That was enough to cause a stab of dread in his stomach. This bear seriously had it out for them. He sighed, seeing nothing more he wanted to do at the moment. Glancing around, he stalked off back to the Literary Supernova.

He had free time after all, why not spend it reading?

(A/N:) Yeah, yeah, I know. I took a long time to update, and for that I'm sorry! Had a whole lot of things suddenly dropped on me, so I've been quite busy. It also doesn't help that I've had another dose of writer's block. This chapter and the future ones could potentially take me a while. I know who is murdered and who the culprits are, I just don't have everything mapped out in detail. Speaking of maps, I don't have future locations either. Help on that would be nice!

One more thing to note! I've been thinking about writing another SYOC at the same time, but it'd be a Mirai Nikki/Future Diary one. If you guys are interested and would make a Diary owner for it, do tell me so I know if it'd be worth it or not! See you all later, upupu~