I was notified there's a TvTropes page about my story.

Thank you everybody. Really, thank you.

Yukio idled around the shelter. The place wasn't so bad when people weren't killing each other at the slightest motive, but it sure could get boring if one didn't keep the mind busy.

The Assistant absent-mindedly entered the Lounge, and sat on the fountain edge. A splash behind the fountain startled him, almost making him fall. What in the…

-"Did I scare you? I'm sorry"-

Curtis emerged from behind the fountain. He had a tube of what looked like oil paint in his hands, and carefully he had been adding drops of water into it.

-"Why are you taking water from the fountain?"-

-"The plumbing of my bathroom is faulty. I need water for this"- he signaled the tube of paint.

-"You find time to paint while we're locked in here?"- Yukio asked. The Artist shrugged while he mixed the contents of the tube.

-"Whatever helps one to keep the mind busy"-

-"But what could you be painting at a time like this?"- Curtis didn't reply. He instead changed topics, and quickly hid the tube of paint in his pocket.

-"I'm more concerned on what you do to get rid of boredom! If you get bored, won't you kill?"-

-"I…I think I have better control than that…"-

-"That's what everybody says, but even the kindest and mentally healthy person can break down under the right conditions. I'd say this shelter has all the requirements for that"- Curtis spoke with great confidence, which Yukio couldn't avoid noticing.

-"You sound as if you went through that before"-

-"I have lived in this world. People fell into despair, and I was the one in charge to find the reasons, so I could help them. If I didn't do it, then who?"-

-"Did anybody close to you fall into despair?"- Yukio asked. Curtis shook his head vehementl

-"Nobody close to me. There aren't any people in this world that could be called 'close to me'. They're already long gone, so I dedicate my life to help strangers to not to fall into despair. No matter what I have to do"-

Yukio was surprised. Curtis hadn't struck him as the type who would do such a thing. That made him realize how little he actually knew the rest of the graduates. –"But what can an Artist do to help?"-

-"Yeah…what can a simple and insignificant Artist do…"- he said bitterly. Yukio, noticing he had said something he shouldn't have, hurriedly changed his tone

-"B-B-But surely Kudo-kun and you would do a good team! You both seek to help others, and he's a Philanthropist. Surely if you go with him you'll be able to learn a thing or two"-

-"…I have known Kudo-kun for a good while already. I do work with him, you know!"-

-"You do?"- Kudo had never mentioned anything about Curtis before, much less that he worked with him –"Why hasn't he said anything about that?"-

-"Have you ever asked? He's of that type of people that replies 'oh, you never asked'"- Curtis said, smiling slyly –"But leaving that aside, we should find a way to keep you entertained at least for an hour. You're too much of a good person just to be let fall into murder. Let me think…"-

-"Oh, it won't be neces…"-

-"I insist. Come with me, there's something I'd like to do but I need help"-

Curtis grabbed Yukio's wrist and pulled him until they reached Curtis' room. He swiftly opened it and finally let Yukio's wrist go. –"Sit over there, please"- he pointed at the bed.

While Curtis rummaged in his desk, Yukio looked around. It was far from what he thought the Artist's room would look like. There were no canvases or paintings or anything similar. In fact, it was mostly empty. Maybe everything he uses as an Artist is in the desk or the closet

-"Aha, here we go"- Curtis took a measuring tape from his desk and approached Yukio –"This may be somewhat odd and awkward, but I'd be really grateful if you helped me.

-"Uuuuh…alright…"- Yukio replied, unsure.

Curtis spent the following hour measuring everything about my face

-ooooo-

Yukio went towards the cafeteria, weirded out by Curtis' behavior. That wasn't what he expected. The Assistant calmed down telling to himself that he was merely measuring his face so he could…paint a portrait, maybe?

Whatever that was, he didn't have too long to think about it.

-"Bastards! Come to the Conference Room. It's time to stick to hurry things up once again!"-

Great

Monobear's voice sounded through the speaker, startling Yukio. After he calmed down, he slowly went towards the Conference Room, wondering what the teddy bear would want now.

Much to his relief, he noticed that Sakurai's body was now gone. While the screen was still broken and the chairs were still in disarray, at least the corpse wasn't there. Where did Monobear put it?

All the graduates soon arrived, taking the fallen chairs and sitting on them. When everybody had reunited, Monobear appeared behind the podium.

-"There are less and less graduates each time. I'm starting to get lonely and saaaad…"-

Nobody replied. They knew it was a waste of time to say anything. They just let Monobear try to goad them into protesting or saying anything, until finally the robot gave up .

-"Whatever. Since I value very much your happy lives, I have decided to help to make it even better! If you surrender to the murderous thoughts you sure have and survive the trial, your prize will be…"-

Monobeat stopped dramatically, while everybody else had a bored expression –"…a wish! I'll concede a wish to the culprit who manages to get out of here!"-

-"A wish…what type of wish?"-Toyogushi mumbled, half-asleep.

-"Whatever you want! Money? Power? All the honey you can eat? My charming presence for the rest of your life? Anything is fair game!"-

-"And what if we ask for something you don't want or can't do?"- Toriumi asked, seemingly interested

-"Then it'll be a waste of a wish, but the culprit will still get out of here"-

-"Non-Nonsense. Who here would kill for a promise that may not even be fulfilled?"- Yamaguchi said, clearly unsure of her own words. Judging by the rest of the graduates' expression, everybody had something to wish for.

This was a motive that had effectively piqued everybody's curiosity and attention. Monobear was pleased.

The motive reunion lasted less than the other three times, mostly because, since the graduates didn't protest or cry in outrage, it all ended quicker.

-"Wow, a wish. That is actually an interesting motive"- Yamaguchi muttered. She had shown some reticence, but the truth is that she was as interested as the rest

-"Whoever kills and is successful could really improve his or her own life outside"- Yukio commented –"I would wish for a way to restore Reiji to normal"-

-"Remove the despair from him? Hah! How could that even be done?"- Toriumi said, with obvious contempt. The Assistant shrugged

-"Maybe there's a way and the Mastermind knows it"-

-"But remember this is Monobear. I'm sure there may be some kind of hidden clause in the whole wish thing"-Curtis reminded everybody. This killed most of the discussion, as the graduates saw that, even if they got away with killing, it didn't guarantee they'd get what they wanted –"I think we should all keep our eyes on everybody else. We all saw that this motive wasn't really rejected by anybody. We all are potential victims to a killer"-

-"But we have been all together for a while already. Don't we have some kind of connection that will stop us from killing each other?"- Yukio asked naively.

-"The sad truth is that we don't really know much about each other"- Yamaguchi replied, gloomly –"For all we know, one of us may be plotting murder now, leading to our collective deaths"-

Nobody talked for a while, knowing how grave their situation was now. The scarce food and an appealing motive practically guaranteed somebody's death. But who would give into murderous intent first? And who would be the victim?

-ooooo-

Yukio was in his room, looking at the heavy statue that had been included with his room and wondering if there was any way he could use it in a murder. While he was indeed thinking about that, he was sure that he wouldn't really do it.

He wasn't willing to kill anybody in the shelter. If they still were complete strangers, he would, but now that he had been some time with them he just couldn't look at them as if they were disposable people.

Besides, although he knew what he would wish, he had no idea if Monobear would be able to remove Reiji's despair or if he knew a way. Yukio wouldn't risk killing and being caught for something that may not even be possible.

However…the temptation was still there. The Assistant hoped he would resist.

For some reason, thinking about restoring his brother to normal made him want to talk to Reiji. With that in mind, Yukio left his room and went towards the abandoned bathroom. When he entered, he saw Reiji sitting on the floor, as if he had been thinking about something.

-"…Reiji?"-

The SHSL Despair lifted his eyes from the floor –"Yukio. What do you need?"-

-"…I just wanted to talk"-

-"There isn't anything to talk. I'd be grateful if you left me alone"-

-"Reiji, how did you turn into a SHSL Despair?"-

-"Oh, it was wonderful! Amazing! Enoshima-sensei enlightened me with her words and showed me the truth!"- Reiji was speaking with great admiration –"She showed me what I hadn't realized before and gave me a purpose in life!"-

-"…Didn't you have all that before? I'm sure you did…"-

-"I did have some purposes I don't remember now, but they were aaaaaall lies. Enoshima-sensei told me that"-

-"Reiji, you and I were a legal team. You had a purpose"-

-"All I was to you was an Assistant, wasn't I? You looked down on me, didn't you? I wasn't as good as you, SHSL Law Assistant forever"-

-"Reiji, do you really think I thought of you as less than me?"- Yukio asked, hurt. Reiji nodded without a doubt. The Assistant sighed –"Enoshima really did do an amazing job on you"-

-"She's the best. Maybe you would have been the one to follow her if things hadn't gone as they did"-

Reiji's words piqued Yukio's curiosity. -"What?"-

-"Oh, did I say too much? I'll now zip my mouth and say nothing!"- He made the gesture, liking how disappointed Yukio looked. Yukio sighed, defeated, and left the room.

What did Reiji mean? Would there have ever been a situation where he would have followed Enoshima? No, I wouldn't have fallen for her despair…

…right?

Reiji taunted me until I left.

-ooooo-

-"This is really odd"-

When Chiba entered the cafeteria, she nearly threw a fit when she saw what had been done. Somebody had taken out everything that was on the pantry and laid it on the table, and when Chiba tried to open the pantry, she found out it was locked.

Her grunts of exasperation got some graduates' attention, who soon wandered into the cafeteria wondering what had made Chiba so angry. Yamaguchi had been the one to utter that line.

-"More like moronic. We're running out of food and somebody was doing who knows what with it. Hopefully nothing was lost"- Hikasa grumbled. Chiba messed with her hair and shrieked "who did this?!"

-"Calm down, Chiba-san! It's all okay"- Yukio tried to calm down the hysterical Strategist, but she continued her rambling

-"No, it's not okay! Don't you see how bad this is?! Somebody is messing with the food! What if it was tampered in any way?"-

-"Ugh, I doubt anybody here would tamper the food. Besides, there's nothing of the sort that would…oh"- Yamaguchi remembered the laboratories and the cabinets with chemicals –"B-But I'm sure nobody here would do that. Besides, you jammed the cabinets with the chemicals, Chiba-san, it's impossible anybody took something from there"-

Chiba slowly snapped out of her hysteria, taking deep breaths until she calmed down. –"Alright, two of you go check the cabinets. If there's any unlocked or the glasses of the cabinets is broken come back here immediately and inform us"- she ordered. Toyogushi and Yukio obeyed, and a few minutes later they came back

-"We checked all the chemical cabinets. All of them are exactly as you left them, and nothing is broken. I think the food is safe"- Toyogushi informed, panting. Chiba nodded

-"That's a relief. Sorry for the spectacle, everybody. I just…kind of lost control…"- she apologized. The graduates responded with gentle words.

-"We should put the food in the kitchen"- Curtis said the obvious, and grabbed a few of the cans. The rest followed his example, and soon all the food items that were in the pantry now were neatly organized in the kitchen and the fridge.

Nobody claimed responsibility for what had happened. –"If none of us did it, then who put all the food out of the pantry?"- Kudo wondered aloud

-"I bet it was Reiji. It's the only logical conclusion"- Toriumi stated, confident.

-"He's tied in that bathroom, I did it myself. Besides, any of us could have done it and then lie. It's that simple"- Curtis intervened, taking the dust off his hands. -"Besides, I think it's more puzzling that the pantry is locked. I didn't even know it needed a key"-

-"It surely came from that lot of keys Monobear has in his office. I'll interrogate him and try to find out who got permission to enter the office"- Chiba left the cafeteria and called for the bear. Nobody followed her, trusting she'd tell them if anything good surfaced.

-"Like hell Monobear is going to answer truthfully. Well, as long as nothing bad happens, that pantry may as well stay locked, for all I care"- Curtis said

-"Is Reiji still tied?"- Yamaguchi asked to Toyogushi and Yukio. The latter nodded.

-"We checked when we went to the fifth section. He's still tied to that toilet"-

-"It's official. One of us lied. But why would one put all that food out of the pantry and lock it? I see no reason for that"- Toyogushi added. Everybody around shrugged in response. Nobody had any idea why that would happen.

-ooooo-

Yukio was wandering around in the shelter, thinking about the incident with the pantry. During his walk, he passed in front of the infirmary. My turn is next, but I may as well be here for a while first

The Assistant entered the infirmary. Toriumi was on the side, reading. From the entrance, Yukio could see that Toriumi's hands were slightly shaking, and seemed to have cried.

-"Toriumi-san"-

She lifted her eyes from the book, and looked away quickly while she removed her eyes and dried her tears –"Oh, it's you"-

-"Is there something wrong?"-

-"It's nothing. I was reading a sad story"-

I don't think The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sad story Yukio suspected what really made Toriumi be like that, but he prudently decided to not to say a thing. He wasn't going to force Toriumi to open up to him.

-"Were you and Ogata-san good friends?"-

-"Not exactly. I did teach her literature while she was in Hope's Peak. She really knew jackshit about that"- Toriumi smiled, nostalgic

-"Why did you get into the tutoring business?"-

Toriumi didn't answer for a moment, and then started talking with her normal tone. –"Ohmoto, since I was a little girl I knew I was privileged to have such a great mind for academic matters. My parents saw great potential, and filled me with knowledge about everything they could think. I noticed my own potential as well, and studied a myriad of other topics as well.

While I was in school, I not only say potential in myself. I saw it in several of my classmates. It wasn't easy, but I convinced them to study with me. I found out the flaws they had in learning, and taught them everything they needed to overcome them. I didn't merely teach: I formed them into good students"-

The more she talked, the more proud she sounded –"I wanted them to realize that they could achieve great things, just like my parents and myself had realized about me. And I can assure you that I was successful. All of my students are amazing and I'm not humble: most of it was because I taught them to tap into their potentials"-

-"…Wow"- to see that Toriumi was capable of feeling proud of her peers was something he hadn't thought she could do. She always seemed so cold and distant, but maybe it was merely because one didn't know her well.

Or maybe because she didn't see potential in the people she talked to, which was a much less kind explanation.

-"Have you considered teaching any of us something?"- Yukio asked. Toriumi grimaced.

-"We're all already adults. There's nothing I can teach you lot. Your minds are closed to any outside influence, and I don't have the time nor the will to get through your thick skulls"- and with a huff, she opened her book and continued reading.

Toriumi and I spent time in a glacial silence.

-ooooo-

When Yukio arrived to his room in that night, he wondered if when they all woke up there would be a dead body.

The motive really was dangerous. Just in case, the Assistant pushed his desk until it was against the door. He knew that the only way to enter his room was with the keycard, but he deemed a necessary protection to put a barricade in front of the door. As an afterthought, he pushed his bed so it would be an obstacle for anybody who tried to enter through his bathroom door. It was even less likely, but once again his nervousness got the better of him.

After he felt he was safe enough, he let himself slip into an uneasy dream, filled with Reiji, Monobear as a stereotypical genie, and being underwater.