Hello, I'm back. This is a fast updated chapter, isn't it? I just try to get out of my writer's block. Anyway, thank you for the continued support!

Responses to reviews:

Ichinose – good to see that you still admire the young maiden. It will all depend as the story goes…and how I remember these details and not forget them, like Kaede. Kaede completely slipped my mind! Good reasons on why you suspect him, but we still have to wait what Master *chuckles* will do with the guests. Yes, there are cameras in every room, except a very few. You'll never gonna give up on Atsuko and Kaede, huh? Well, just keep on reading.

Nemris – I know, I do take awhile, but I'm still glad you're still on board and never leaving. I shall continue to do my best to upload as often. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll have recovery screen-time in this chapter. Numi is just extremely lucky, it seems. She doesn't even know how to play poker – funfact : Xun, Atsuko, and Kin just guided her as she was playing. I'm just happy to bring back the old cast, that's all. They will be important, no worries.

Okay, now for the story!

Kazuma

"We should keep this to ourselves; tell no one about our encounter." Ryou said towards Masa, Lulu, and I. It was the morning after the video from yesterday. We decided yesterday that we were to meet up in the dining hall early in the morning to discuss what the hackers said.

"Okay." Masa replied.

"I'll keep my lips shut." Lulu said, placing a finger over her lips and smiling.

I gave Ryou the thumbs up. "We shouldn't also act so suspicious." I suggested.

Ryou nodded. "Agreed. Okay, let's move on to our usual business." We all ate together and talked some more until the other guests woke up and entered the hall. Ryou stood up, took his plate and placed them in the bin, and left. Masa did the same, and Lulu went to talk with Numi. I was alone on a table, eating mash potatoes.

Someone then suddenly joined my table, and it was Lexus. "Sup nerd." She greeted, smirking as she set her plate of fish sticks and Caesar salad down on the table.

"That's a healthy plate for breakfast." I commented, ignoring her insult. She just clicked her tongue.

"You're no fun. Anyway, yeah, since I got sick yesterday, Chion suggested that I start eating healthy." Lexus stated, taking a bite from the salad.

I smiled at her. "Chion does seem to care for you."

At that, Lexus choked on her glass of water. "What was that?! He cared?! I DON'T THINK SO!" She retorted loudly. She folded her arms across her chest. "I wouldn't believe anyone would care for a lowly, swearing, overconfident, freakin' short tomboy."

"But it seems like that yesterday when he went to get you medicine." I told her. "Anyway, what kind of diet you had before?"

"Unhealthy diet." She answered bluntly, looking at me dully as she continued to eat.

We then heard a small chuckle. It was from Xun as he walked over to our table. "Ehehe, keep eating those stuff and you'll probably grow out of your shortness. Probably."

Lexus glared at him. "I prefer to shove this trash down your throat, you bastard." And now starts the early arguments between the two. "And where were you yesterday?! I haven't seen you one single f-cking time!"

"Miss me that much?" Xun questioned, and then Atsuko suddenly appeared in between them.

"She may miss you, but her aim is getting better!" She shouted.

"Ba dum tss!" Ryouko sounded near the Comedian, both of them grinning sheepishly as they looked between the Vigilante and Slacker before running off comically.

"….."

"Well, you two have fun arguing." I bid as I stood up and waved at them, and they proceeded to bicker and rant.

After some time reading certain books and staring into space for several minutes, I decided to go to the topmost floor, just for the heck of it. As I walked around and examined a few of the numerous plants, I caught sight of a guy I think I didn't see yesterday. "Hey, Kaede!" I called out. The boy yelped upon hearing my voice. He was crouching behind a shrub, breathing heavily. "Um, you okay?"

"Y-Yeah…kinda…" He muttered as he stood up straight, trying to calm himself down. "…..D-Didn't think that you would come up here…"

"Why's that?" I questioned.

Kaede shrugged. "I-I don't know." He stuttered as he looked around and crouched down again. Okay, now I'm curious. I walked over to where he is and joined him in…bug finding? Kaede was currently holding a stick with a strange looking centipede stuck to it. "Fascinating, isn't it?"

"Hmm, I guess. I've never seen that kind before." I replied. Coincidentally, I did read a book on poisonous insects just minutes earlier. Kaede then began explaining its species, its unique traits that differentiate that with the other ones, and…he stopped suddenly.

He was trembling a bit. "….I shouldn't be talking so much." He muttered and continued staring at the bug.

I then said, "No, you talking is good. Communication is important in maintaining relationships and sanity."

"I am completely sane." Kaede quickly replied.

"I know, just saying." I told him. "What got you into taking interest in these creatures?" I inquired. I noticed him tensing up, like he doesn't want to answer. "Sorry, I was just curious."

"…." He was silent for a bit before stuttering, "I-It's the one topic that I was able to write about and have it published…" He answered.

"Published? So you write articles?" I responded. He nodded shakily.

Kaede fixed his scarf around his neck. "Y-Yes. O-Out of all the articles I wrote about, the one on insects was the one that was published. From there, I began studying on the topic, learning as much as I can about it."

I just looked at him, rather concerned. "And you do this…why?"

He shook his head. "…I prefer not to answer that." He said quietly.

I was about to ask why again, but then we saw Shaun arriving on the floor, so Kaede went and just try to hide again. I stood up and waved at the Bookworm. "Hey."

"Good morning to you, chap." Shaun responded as he gave a small wave before looking around. "Have you seen Kaede? I need to ask him something regarding an insect used in this novel." He asked.

I just placed my hands behind my head. "Um…right here…" I answered, looking down only to see Kaede sneaking away. "Hey, come on, he wants to ask you. It's about insects."

"I-I'm aware…but…" Kaede began to stutter again.

Shaun approached us and looked at both of us. He smiled at us. "Yeah, I want to ask something that's been bogging my mind."

The two just exchanged looks. Kaede stood up slowly and just fixed the beanie on his head. "…Okay then?" He replied. "…What bug is it?"

"This one." Shaun showed as he pointed towards a paragraph in his book, and the two converse and have small talks from there as I left.

I decided to go to a random floor for no reason. I could go back to my suite, but I think moving about is just a good choice for now. I ended up on the thirtieth floor, and it was the Fashion Hall. An entire floor dedicated to top-of-the-line clothing and accessories…someplace I know someone would be. As expected, I found Kin just looking around, his eyes gleaming at the many jewelries encased in glass boxes and shelves. Ryouko was there with him, including an irritated Lexus and bored Xun. I could hear arguing coming from them from I was standing.

"I. Don't. Want. To." Lexus said firmly, stomping her foot in front of Kin. "You can't make me change my entire fashion sense!"

Kin sighed. "But…your hair enough is a mess of colors and styles…" He muttered.

"I think it looks cool!" Ryouko exclaimed.

"Why did you bring me along with you, dwarf?" Xun questioned, yawning.

Lexus snickered at Xun's question. "Cuz you weren't around yesterday, so now I'm just going go bring you around till I get tired or something." She answered.

"Why not just leash Chion and drag him around?" Xun asked. Lexus just clicked her tongue.

"He was with me yesterday when I was sick, so now you're replacing him today." She said.

The Vigilante rubbed the back of his head. "Are you some sort of pet keeper or something? You really like having boys around." He smirked. "Oh wait, maybe you're just a dirty w-e."

The Slacker clenched her fists. "I'm not." She retorted bluntly as she did a round-house kick, which Xun was able to block.

"H-Hey, watch where you're kicking!" Kin shouted, biting on his thumb again as he stood back away from the fight.

I finally came into sight as Ryouko saw me. She waved at me. "Hey, good to see ya again." She greeted in her impersonation of me.

I raised a hand at her. "Hey." I looked over at the two. "Come on you two, stop with the fighting."

Xun cracked his knuckles. "Why should we?"

"Are you the boss of us?" Lexus questioned lowly. Wow, these two know what to say and be in sync.

"No, just saying. Lexus, you were sick yesterday. Should you be moving about so much already?" I inquired.

"You can't tell me what to do!" She shouted at me. "Seriously, why do people think they can push around others?" Xun faked a cough and raise a brow at her. "I boss you and Chion around cuz I got nothin' to do."

"Sadist." He muttered.

Lexus glared at him, but then sighed. "Masochist, the both of you."

Xun just chuckled. "I actually enjoy seeing others suffer from pain and the hardships of life…like here."

"Okay, why are we even on that topic?" Kin questioned as he sighed, leaving.

Ryouko looked at all of us. "Bai!" She exclaimed and left quickly.

It was just me, Lexus, and Xun. Lulu passed, by, but seeing us, she hastily went the other way. "So…what were you guys doing here?" I inquired.

Lexus shrugged. "Kin said he wanted me to change my style because it's 'too edgy' he said." She said while making quoting gestures.

"I'm just here cuz loner here couldn't handle things without me." He teased.

"I can be on my own you know!" Lexus shouted.

"There's no need for you to shout-"

"I don't think you can." Xun answered back.

"I have been f-g living on my own for five years!" She shouted back, her eyes widening, realizing what she said. She gritted her teeth. "F—k off, bastards." She ran off.

I just stared at the direction she left. "I wasn't doing anything." I was curious on what she said, but apparently, she doesn't want to share anything about herself.

Xun cracked his bones a bit. "Gonna go now." He muttered and left. Seriously…

So with the people leaving me behind, I decided to leave as well and head towards my suite. I locked the door behind me and slumped on my bed. I'm not tired. This is my usual habit, sleeping at irregular times. I then heard Monokuma's voice.

"Hoi, guests, I got something I want to talk to you about!"

He seems to be angry. I wonder why. Maybe someone stole his salmon and ate it, leaving its bones for Monokuma to find. That could be his own case to solve, if that's the case. Anyway, I got up, slowly, and made way to my door, but then someone knocked on it. I opened the door, and the person in front of me is Numi. "Hello, Numi." I greeted.

The Diver smiled at me. "Numi heard the announcement, and Numi decided to go down with Kazuma." She said. So we did. We took the elevator and pressed the button for the convention room.

"Why me, exactly?" I asked, looking at her.

"The others already went down." She answered, smiling.

I hummed, hearing her answer. As we waited to get to our destination, I inquired, "What did you do yesterday when you ran off?"

Numi looked over at me curiously, as though she never done a thing. "Oh, well, after Numi left, Numi went to all the different floors to check if the people that come to help us arrived. Halfway through the floors, Numi forgot what to do and what Numi's suppose to be doing, so there."

I managed to catch all of that. "So…you didn't finish?" She nodded her head, and I did the same. "Okay, well, we just have to be patient then and hope that they still will come."

After awhile, we arrived on the sixth floor. We entered and saw everyone else. "What do you think Monokuma has in store now?!" Chion questioned loudly, his arms folded across his chest, looking irritated of course.

"He sounded angry, so maybe there's an issue he wants to talk about?" Shaun suggested, looking curiously around as we waited for the arrival of Monokuma.

Ryouko just let out a small giggle. "Or he's just twying to scawe us." She said.

"I like to think that, but I'm sure it's something more." Shaun replied. At that moment, the said bear entered the room and stepped onto the podium stage. He looks happy, actually, far from his tone from earlier.

"Upupu, good day to you all, my dear guests!" He greeted, bowing before us. We didn't really give a good response. "Oh boo, can't you guys do any better?"

Atsuko just laughed. "I would love to make a joke, but can't, this is already funny." She said, still cackling.

"Ugh, you sound like a dying seal!" Chion complained loudly.

Kaede just stood still in his place, but seems to be having trouble doing so. "S-So why did you call us?"

"Upu? Oh, right." Monokuma began, almost forgetting. He faked a cough to completely get everyone's attention. His eyes glared red. "Who made contact with the hackers?" He inquired in a low tone.

The atmosphere tensed up.

Everyone was silent.

"….Well?"

"We didn't meet up with 'hackers'." Lexus said, quoting again.

"You were sick, so of course you couldn't move about and meet up with people." Chion retorted a matter-of-factly, smirking.

Shaun shrugged. "We didn't meet up with strange chaps, Monokuma." He stated.

The bear got his claws out. "Oh really? You can't fool me." He said bluntly. "I keep a close eye on my security system, and yesterday, there was a breach."

"If you've been paying close attention, then how did they end up breaching in the first place?" Xun questioned, just staring at the bear. Monokuma just clenched his paws.

"Shut up, Xun, I'm not playing around anymore." The bear said.

"Ehehe, that's the last thing you'll probably do." Atsuko began. "It's still on the list though!"

Monokuma just glared over at her. "Shut your mouth, I'm serious about this!" He shouted angrily.

This took us aback. Monokuma was never like this even if we did try to anger him before. Was the breach really a bad issue to him? "…There's no need to shout." I told him.

"Upupu, and do you think I will listen?" He said. "Tell me, which one of you, or which of you, made contact with the hackers? WHO?!"

Some of us looked terrified, like Lulu, Shaun, and Kaede. Kin just kept biting on his thumb, Xun and Lexus looked like they don't care, Chion, Masa, and Numi just stayed quiet, Atsuko had a blank expression, including Ryouko, while Ryou and I just kept our calm.

"I'm going to ask again…who?" Monokuma questioned.

"We nevew saw anyone." Ryouko said quietly, as though afraid to speak up.

"Liars." The bear invoiced.

"What if we didn't really meet with anyone?" Kin questioned, Monokuma glaring over at him. "Then you're just going to accuse us we did? You're getting paranoid."

"I…am not…paranoid." The bear spoke lowly as his crimson eye just blared at us. "I'll leave you all with this: If any of you make any contact with these hackers, whether for the first time or again, I'll make sure that you will be the next ones to die." He said, chuckling lowly as a mist covered him, and he disappeared.

We were all silent.

"Well, he will be 'mist'." Atsuko joked in an uneasy way.

"…." Masa stayed quiet as he looked around. "…Don't let him get to you." He just muttered.

Kaede was already breaking down. "H-H-He said he would kill us!" He shouted.

"I don't like this." Ryouko invoiced. "Monokuma is so scawy today."

Lulu was just trying to calm herself. "Y-Yeah…h-he's too angry."

"I suggest to you all that you try and stay low." Ryou said. "Monokuma said he was serious, so we could get killed."

EH?!

"Just stay calm and don't do anything rash." He told them. "Don't also be too enthusiastic in getting out." He said.

And for the rest of the day, the horrible words the Monokuma spoke were carved into our minds.

We have to be careful.

Okay, I love Monokuma in this chapter, and be sure to expect this side of him in future chapters (I think). Anyway, how was it? If there are typos, I apologize because I might have missed them. Hopefully I got this chapter out fast enough.

Who will be killed and who will be the killer this time?

READ AND REVIEW! ARIGATOU GOZAIMASU