Editor: Swordsman795

As we all entered the elevator simultaneously, none of us were able to say a word to the other, as we solemnly waited for it to head back to the main floor, hoping to get some sleep after a long and hectic trial. The trial itself was severe in more ways than one. The musical themed wallpaper for the courtroom was plastered with the burgers made from our once living classmate, the condiments scattered on the floor like paper fell from a printer and the blood's stench permeated the room with something fierce and pungent as if someone just released some nasty gas into the room before they left.

There were now sixteen of us left and the idea that that demented excuse of a children's toy got away with it again, infuriated me to no end. I clenched my fist and looked down at my feet, as most of us were silent as we arrived back to the first floor where our dorms were. We couldn't muster up a word let alone a single sentence as the doors opened up.

"Curse that bear, he's going to pay for this," I thought in my head, "Is there really nothing we can do to stop this from happening…."

Despite wanting to forget it ever happened, I still remember what Toto said, right before he was executed. The fact that we couldn't escape the idea of another one of us killing another classmate, that we would give into our desires to escape and Monokuma would have the last laugh in the end, it honestly sickened my stomach and was a bitter pill to swallow. He was a downright vengeful killer, but his words have me somewhat pensive about what's to come in the coming days.

As the elevator dinged, we all exited at once, with some of us heading straight for their rooms, while others went in different directions to the bathroom, most likely to clean themselves up before bed.

I didn't head for my room, instead I exited the elevator, watched it close slowly as the red door sealed the entrance, whilst I stood leaning against a pillar. This was the second time we had to witness one of our classmates being killed in front of our eyes; being executed so mercilessly and savagely as if they didn't matter, it was grotesque.

First Dietrich….then Yuzuki...then Mei and now Toto….will this nightmare cease….or will we be stuck here forever in some never-ending loop of death and bloodshed? I pondered for a bit, crossing my arms and thinking about what I could do to stop this from ever happening again.

"Why are you moping like a comic book hero on a rainy day?" I heard a familiar voice say, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

I turned around and saw Arihime looking at me with a worried look on her face. Her maroon frizzy hair slightly messy from the stress, her glasses adjusted perfectly on her face and her ruffled blouse and skirt slightly crinkled from being cramped in the elevator for too long.

"Oh, hey Ari..." I responded, relaxing my defensive stance a bit, "How are you feeling?"

"Aside from losing a person I considered a really good friend, the scumbag who killed her almost getting away with it and all of us almost dying horrible deaths, I'm just peachy," she sarcastically stated.

"I can tell your witty nature hasn't diminished one bit," I chuckled, "Don't you ever get tired of being snarky?"

"I mean, no one likes me anyway, so might as well go all the way, am I right?" she smiled mischievously, "Besides, that trial took a lot out of me, I need to recharge for more wacky shenanigans and hijinks yet to come."

I laughed at her silly comment, calming down some more. Honestly, I don't know how she stomachs all of this with a straight face. I've lost an eyeball, my hand was lost in a fight and my clothes look like I fished them out of a garbage can in an alley somewhere. I don't know how I did it, but I was able to get us out of a sticky situation….but at the cost of one our classmates' lives.

"Let me guess...you're still upset about the outcome of the trial," she remarked, looking at my jittery body language.

"Really? What gave it away…" I said chuckling a little nervously.

"Just an educated guess is all," she playfully commented, "I'm not a mind reader like our resident troll, call it….good intuition."

She was obviously referring to William, which I can now understand after seeing him in action. It's like he somehow pushes all your wrong buttons and you want to punch him in the face. I don't know how he does it, but it worked like a charm.

"I don't know how you put up with him, he's a handful...to say the least."

"I think that's the understatement of the century," she chuckled with a small sigh escaping her mouth, "He's crafty and very unpredictable, like a fox, so I have to be on my toes at all times."

"If only he were the mastermind, then I would give him a piece of my mind," I joked, but somewhat wishing it was true at the same time.

"If only it were that easy," she sighed, "Unfortunately he has plot armor or something, so looks like nothing can touch him. Plus, we don't know what talent he is, so we can't get a grasp on where he stands and what he did to become an Ultimate in the first place, and that's saying something coming from someone as nosy as me."

For someone who was so distrusting of Ultimates to begin with, Arihime has shown she's not the rat that most of us believed she was. I never believed for one second that she was going to betray us or anything, it's just that she was put in a situation where she was trapped with the rest of us, and all she wanted to do was just escape like any other sane person here would do.

She's very easy to talk to, almost like a best friend you've known since birth. She's actually pretty mellow too, no wonder most of us guys fawn over her so much.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me Izuhara," she remembered, "Did you get anything from this recent class trial, like a sort of item given to you?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow, wondering what she meant.

"Well, after Yuzuki's trial," she told me, fiddling with her shoulder bag, "I got her handcuffs as some fucked up souvenir and her flash drive as well."

How ridiculous! The idea that Monokuma would kill our classmates and then leave behind their personal belongings as some sort of trophy to be won, wasn't only sickening, but just low. I guess in some ways, it's a memento of the time we spent with that person, be it for a short while or longer than a day.

"That's odd….I only got this weird looking cat toy," I said pulling it out of my backpack, "I guess it's something that Toto used to entertain Black with."

"Shoot…." she clicked her tongue in frustration, "Looks like finding out who put us here isn't going to be as easy as I thought, so much for that."

Her genuine irritation with our situation was plastered all over her pale face, as if her significant other had just canceled out on a date she had planned for the both of them or something.

"Why? Is there a problem?" I asked, a little confused on what she was talking about.

"No, it's nothing important," she said brushing some hair out of her face and fixing her glasses.

"No, if something is bothering you, tell me," I insisted firmly.

"Are you really sure you want to know?" she looked at me with an "Are you serious?" face.

"Yes, I hate to see everyone so upset, it pains me.."

"Okay, okay! You win, just stop with the cheesy theatrics," she grumbled, rubbing her temples in frustration.

Works every time. When you live with so many sisters, you learn that persisting is a sure-fire way to get people to give in to you.

"Well, before she was killed, Yuzuki handed me a flashdrive she had been holding onto ever since she got here," she resumed, "Probably to store her personal information or her prison files on."

"What!?" I reacted, shocked, my eye almost popping out its socket. "Does it say anything about escaping this hellhole?!"

"No, unfortunately not," she sweatdropped a bit, "But it seems that Yuzuki was monitoring the school via the cameras she set up prior to her death."

Well this is a revelation! I mean I know Yuzuki wasn't much for words, but I guess she had her secrets like everyone else here. With all the over-the-top security Monokuma has set up, I'm surprised he let her set up those cameras to begin with.

"That explains it," I shook my head, "But what exactly did the flashdrive have besides boring camera footage?"

"Well…." she trailed off, "I headed over to the A/V room to see for myself, since Monokuma had her room closed off, meaning I couldn't use her room's computer, and what I found almost made me double take a bit."

"What did you see!?" I asked anxiously, getting a little annoyed with the suspenseful build up.

She motioned for me to get closer to her as I did so, she whispered into my ear.

"I saw a hooded figure entering the unopenable door and heading into the room," she whispered as softly as she could, not wanting to alarm Monokuma.

"A-Are you serious!?" I almost screamed out loud, before she covered my mouth.

"Be quiet, you idiot," she growled, "I don't need anyone else knowing this stuff. It's bad enough that I have William to deal with, I don't need to deal with everyone else asking me twenty questions as well."

"Y-Yes ma'am," I replied, "But did you see who it was?"

"Nope...the cloak they were wearing obscured their face and body, so I don't know if it was one of us or some other person assisting the mastermind."

"You mean...there's a possibility one of us….is a rat?" I asked, a little perturbed by her statement.

She nodded her head, "Although it's just mere speculation at this point. I don't have much to base my theory on, but the timestamp for when this occurred said that this was around the time when the Homecoming ball was getting started."

"What?! Y-you mean.." I said, aghast for words.

"Like I said, I'm not sure if we're dealing with a traitor or some random 21st person, but chances are, this person knows something we don't and they may be hostile for all we know."

Wow….so the plot thickens...who knew that the mastermind behind all of this might have some accomplice behind the scenes, helping them orchestrate this entire thing. I just don't understand why anyone would help out some sick freak whose goal is to torture and kill innocent teenagers, but then again, they must be as mentally insane as the mastermind behind all of this.

"Also I'm not sure this is relevant but….the flashdrive did mention something about a Seven Deadly Sins Project, whatever that means."

"Seven Deadly Sins? What do yo-" I said before getting interrupted by the PA over the intercom.

"Ahem! It is now 8PM," Monokuma said sipping on his wine glass, "Nighty Nighty my lovely students, sweet dreams!"

NIGHTTIME

"Well looks like we have to continue this conversation another time," Arihime remarked, patting my shoulder in a sort of comforting way.

"Wait…" I tried to say before she started walking off to her room.

"Oh and Izuhara…." she said stopping and looking back, "Thank you…for proving I wasn't the killer...I...appreciate it."

She blushed slightly, her face trembling and her body squirming a bit, I've never seen this side to her before. She must have been really scared during that trial, I guess the snarky persona is a front to cover for how she really feels.

"No problem, it's the least I could do," I smiled giving her a thumbs up, "You saved my life, so I returned the favor!"

"Good night," she bade me.

"Night," I responded casually.

She smiled briefly, waving to me as she headed off to her room to sleep. I guess I managed to poke a hole in her distrusting shell, I wonder if there's more to her than meets the eye.

I was alone in the hallway, everyone else seemed to have headed off to their rooms to sleep, but I didn't feel like sleeping. I couldn't close my eyes without reliving Toto's execution, gruesome as it was. It was so surreal, but at the same time, it really happened. He died….there was no way around it.

I stared at the elevator once more, before deciding to head back to my room.

As I made my way back to my door, for a second I thought I heard a thud, almost as if someone was still out in the halls at this hour.

"Huh...I'm pretty sure I saw everyone head back to their rooms...even the ones who went to the bathroom.."

I let go of the door handle, walked out of the hallway and headed to where I thought the sound originated from, tiptoeing to not alert whoever was out there, and looked around corners to make sure no one would get the jump on me.

I passed around some more corners and saw a shadow near the changing rooms and decided to peer from around the corner, so that I could get a closer look from a safe distance.

As I glanced around the corner, I saw someone coming out of the changing room, wearing a dark blue hooded type of cloak, their face was obscured by the darkness emanating from the hood and it was too big for me to make out the person's body type as figure exited, headed around a corner as I decided to follow them, hoping that I would get some answers or, at the very least, find out who's lurking in the shadows at this time of night.

The figure walked around some more hallway corridors as I followed closeby, they entered the infirmary, as I kept watching them from safe distances as to not warn them of my presence.

"Who is that?" I wondered, "What are they doing?"

I glanced inside of the infirmary's window to see the cloaked figure messing around with some blood bags, perusing through the different blood types and taking some bags and stuffing it inside of their cloak.

"Why do they need so many blood bags? Are they a hemophiliac?" I thought to myself.

I tried to get a closer look as my hand slipped and scratched the door, alerting the person inside as I quickly ducked into a nearby corner.

"Oh shit...that was close," I sighed.

I turned my head and saw the cloaked figure exiting the infirmary, with the blood bags bulging out of their cloak, and heading back the way they originally came.

As their back was turned to me, I slowly crept out of my hiding spot and did my best to do a silent takedown, as I jumped on top of the figure and knocked them to the ground.

"Aagh!" the figure said as I tackled them to the ground.

"Who are you!?" I said, holding them in a bear hug, "Are you the mastermind!? Or are you their lackey, tell me!?"

The figure kept struggling as they didn't make a sound after that little remark. Thinking I had subdued them, I let my guard down and they headbutted me, knocking me back and using the chance to escape as fast as they could.

"Hey!" I yelled, regaining my balance and shaking off the retaliation.

I chased after the figure, turning corners as they dragged their cloak around, the hood somehow not falling off in the ensuing chase.

"Who are you!?" I screamed, "You can't escape from me!"

The figure started slowing down, and I thanked the heavens for my excellent stamina. As the figure stopped for a second, pulled something out of their cloak and flung it at me like a makeshift weapon.

"Wha-" I recoiled as the object hit me in the face and splattered something all over my body, stopping me in my tracks.

"Fuck!" I shouted, wiping whatever it is, the figure threw at my face.

I blinked a few times to see what appeared to be a pink liquidy substance splashed all over me, my body covered from head to toe in it.

"Blood!?" I exclaimed, wiping it from my body as some of it dripped onto the floor, the packet laid out on the floor with a huge hole in the center.

"The figure!? Where did they go!?" I exclaimed, remembering my main goal, almost slipping on the blood as I dashed after them.

I turned the corner, but it seems the figure had eluded me. Their presence gone just like that, like a summer breeze.

"Damn it!" I said, hitting the wall as hard as I can, my fist clenched tightly.

That son of a bitch escaped! Why do I keep letting potential leads get away? What is wrong with me?! Those words were the only thing that ran through my mind as I checked around the corner and saw the unopenable door. This must have been where the figure got away and hid to.

I felt the metal surface of it and didn't see any locks or handles to open it with. I kept fiddling with the walls near it and felt something bumpy in the frame.

"What's this…" I said to myself, peeling off the wallpaper.

Doing so revealed what looked like a keypad of sorts with a high tech scanner like something you'd see in an action spy movie.

"I've found it…." only realizing soon after, "Crap...I don't know the freaking code…."

I rubbed more blood off my face as I headed back to my room in frustration, not being able to catch the person in the hood or open the locked door. So much for saving the day I suppose.

"Well that was interesting…" I mumbled opening my door and heading straight for the shower to clean myself off.

As I was taking my shower, I kept thinking if there was more to this school than meets the eye. I mean I don't remember much, I only remember walking into this school, hoping that if I get an education then my family and I could live a better life, and then suddenly passing out as soon as I entered the front door.

"I feel like I got somewhere...but somehow...I didn't get anywhere…" I thought, rinsing myself off, "At least I found a clue."

Hopefully there won't be any more murders anytime soon, I have faith that everyone will persevere and not give in to more of Monokuma's dastardly motives.

But like they always say, faith can be a fickle mistress indeed….

Meanwhile outside of Hope's Peak…..

Makoto and the General walked down a narrow, brightly lit, grey hallway as soldiers saluted the General as he passed, to honor his service and his time in the military.

"It seems your reputation precedes you General, even in retirement," Makoto chuckled a bit.

"Well Naegi my boy, I was once the youngest general to enter the army," he said walking firmly with no hesitation in his step, "But I would prefer if people didn't salute an old dog like me all the time, it gets really monotonous after a while."

"But sir, your files say that you managed to stop five civil wars in the span of two days in other countries and somehow you were able to detect multiple terrorist organization leaders' hideouts in the span of a week alone!" Makoto said, a little impressed to be in the company of someone so respectable.

"It's called diplomacy and logical thinking," he stated, "I would prefer to avoid any resort to violence, wasting resources and losing more men and women in the field, once you start to lose diplomacy, all hell breaks loose."

His words resonated through the former Lucky Student's mind as Kawahara received another phone call from one of his soldiers.

"General Kawahara, what do you have to report?" he said to the person on the other end.

Makoto listened closely as he watched him talked on the phone, with a stern look plastered on his slightly wrinkled face.

"WHAT!?" he stopped, as the muffled voice over the phone stuttered a bit, "Alright….well get me results now, we can't afford to waste any more time, understand!"

Makoto felt bad for the General, he was about to retire but was forced into this position once the The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History hit the world like a bullet train. He could practically see the grey hairs sprouting from the General's scalp as he ended the call furiously, grumbling as he continued walking.

"Is everything alright sir?" Makoto asked.

"No, we lost two more students to that bear…" he said bluntly.

"WHAT! That's horrible!" his eyes widened in shock, "What's going on!?"

"Naegi..I don't even know myself anymore.." he said, pocketing the phone and walking off in a different direction, "Ms. Kirigiri is waiting for you by the balcony."

"Understood sir," Makoto was about to salute, but remembered how the General didn't like it as much, "Take care."

He opened the door, the wind from outside brushing against his face, as he saw a woman with lavender long hair and slightly pale skin looking out at the reddened dark sky with a cold look on her face.

"Hey Kyoko…" Makoto said, greeting the woman he was very familiar with.

"What took you so long?" she turned to him, smiling a brief smile.

CHAPTER 2: SLIPPERY SLOPE - FINISHED

Surviving Students - 16

"Danganronpa…" said an eerily, creepy robotic voice.

A/N: Hello Hello Hello everyone, nice to see you all again, I hope you all having a fantastic week and are looking forward to having a great weekend, so am I.

I hope you guys liked this little chapter, sorry for it being so short but it is the ending of the second chapter, last time was different because of the VA intro so I hope this little snippet is okay. I had a lot of free time to make this, so yay...I guess LOL.

Woah this chapter was so much fun to make, yet also tough to get through, thank goodness I have really awesome friends who helped me make the trial flow smoothly and made it make sense in the end XD.

I hope you all enjoyed the last few chapters reading it from Izuhara's perspective, unfortunately we must go back to our resident snarky journalist since she is the MC of the story, but I'm glad to know that some of you like this change of pace regarding the trials and me adding some new touches to the traditional Danganronpa formula, thank you so much for all the love and kind messages you have sent me.

It's funny how once we stepped into his shoes, everyone immediately loved Izuhara lol, instant best boy anyone :3….hopefully Arihime will get the same love as he did, but who knows.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and since the next one is the double murder section, it might take me some time to make, since I have to kill off more of the cast you love so dearly, mwehehehe!

JK, I know it's going to be tough, but with enough time and maybe some help, I think you guys will like this next chapter, I know a certain friend might like it, but who knows in the end.

Once again, I want to thank you all so much for sticking with my story and supporting me in making it come to fruition, I really appreciate it.

I sound like a broken record, but it makes me feel happy to know that people like my way of telling a new DR story. I just love to write is all XD.

Anyway, the poll to vote for the next FTE in Chapter 3 is up if you haven't voted yet, I would also like to hear from you guys in the reviews or PMs what you thought overall about this chapter and what you think the next chapter entails and who will die next.

I hope you all have a fantastic day, night, holiday or whatever it is you celebrate, and I will see you all in the next chapter or whenever I decide to update next.

Happy reading my fellow readers, authors, otaku and all of the above alike.

Bye bye!