"No."

"No?" Monokuma repeated, as if to be sure. "All those keys and you don't even wanna use them? Man, is your ranking gonna drop like a stone…" he added, quietly, as if to himself, before grinning like a madman.

"Or is it? Get dressed."

Monokuma had an iron grip for a plush, but Kokichi could feel the stiff servos under the plush padding though Daisuke's right hand. Which sucked even more, because now Daisuke couldn't even talk to him.

They should have just used a damn~

And with a flash of light at the end of the service tunnels, Daisuke found himself very much alone.

Daisuke had no control over any movement anymore. It wasn't too much of a difference from when Kokichi was in control, output wise, but this hyper-brainwashed version (if he had a better term he'd be using it) wasn't a person. It felt more like a robot- who had been given manuals on how to operate a human, but had never actually done it before- was wearing his skin, and he was being dragged along for the ride. His breathing alternated between too slow and too fast, his eyelids weren't quite cooperating.

Daisuke would sigh if he could, but he didn't have the concentration to take over just his breathing. With this version of… whatever… it was going to be all or nothing, like the night before. At least he knew it was fairly easy to push his consciousness upward over this AI facsimile of Kokichi. There was literally no resistance when he did the night before.

Daisuke assumed it was because this consciousness didn't possess the will to live Kokichi did.

"Who are you?" Monokuma barked at him.

"Ouma Kokichi," Daisuke's mouth drolled.

"Where are we?"

"My castle," his mouth replied, without missing a beat.

"Kneel," Monokuma ordered, and Daisuke's body complied. The bear procured a pocket flashlight from who-knows-where and quickly flashed it across his eyes.

"Good," the bear muttered, quietly, before ushering Daisuke's body down the hall, sliding back a panel to enter the Love Hotel from a secret side entrance, guiding him to a room.

"And don't forget to smile!" Monokuma added cheerily, before slamming it shut.

XXX

Daisuke's Love Hotel controlled body found his cloak at the base of the bed, and flung it on with a theatrical flourish Kokichi would have appreciated.

"My queen," his voice intoned calmly as the door slid open, an incredulous Tojo Kirumi on the other side.

Well, this would be… unusual.

Kirumi sat prim and proper at the edge of the bed, smoothing her skirt as she looked up pointedly at Kokichi.

That was new.

"My queen," not-Kokichi repeated, kneeling before her, and shielding his face with the cape as he did so. "I am at your mercy, as I am every blood moon."

"Are you now?" Kirumi asked, squinting, mildly amused. "Monokuma told me I am to be taking care of you."

"Why, never!" not-Kokichi piped. "And certainly not tonight; you must conserve your strength."

"I'll assume this has something to do with my –ahem- queenly duties."

"Have… have you changed your mind, Your Highness? Not that I would ever go against your judgement."

Kirumi tried very, very hard not to laugh, eyes bright, and a hand blocking her face and smile. Daisuke was allowing the script to run, for now at least. "You would never?" she asked incredulously after her momentary lapse in composure.

"If you did not wish to sire me, I understand. I have never been your best servant."

'Sire me?' Daisuke thought to himself.

Kirumi offered a gentle smile. "Do you wish to be a vampire, Ouma-san?"

Daisuke immediately understood. The blood moon, the queen, siring- it was a cheesy vampire romance novel. Playing out, using his body as a puppet.

"If it means being with you forever, I will take the oath," his mouth replied without delay. It's not like the puppet-Kokichi needed to think.

Kirumi motioned to pat the bed next to her. "I will not allow it."

Cautiously, puppet-Kokichi sat beside her, adjusting his cloak to spread out in a cascade behind him on the garish bed.

"Have I failed you?"

"It… no, it isn't that," Kirumi replied, hesitation in her voice. "I just…" she said, starting, then staring towards the door.

She muttered aloud. "Monokuma did say you'd have no recollection of this…"

She inhaled deeply. "I saw something yesterday that troubled me deeply. I am still trying to process what I have to do, and how."

Daisuke panicked internally. Whose motive video did she get? It wasn't his, or Miu's, or Tsumugi's… well, it could have been Miu's but it didn't seem like Miu gave a rat's ass about her motive video at all.

Daisuke also doubted she received Kaito's or K1-b0's, Kirumi didn't know them before this game and their 'people on the outside' would have been too insignificant for her to care about. Shuichi, as a detective, might have some dirt on his, or Ryoma or Himiko as celebrities…

Wouldn't Kirumi's backstory have had her working for the rich and wealthy? Would she be panicking like this if all of them were in her own video?

"Ouma-san?"

Daisuke didn't even realize his body had been conversing with Kirumi without him.

"Well, if it troubles you this much, my queen, I can wait until you've dealt with… whatever issue this is. I trust you'll make the right decision."

"The… right decision," she replied softly, looking down. "Ouma-san, do you know of the trolley problem?"

Puppet-Kokichi shook his head.

"Imagine you are a train conductor, and your brakes are failing. You're in the process of slowing the train down, so the passengers on board will be safe. There is a fork in front of you, with the path you are on containing a herd of cattle, and another path with a single old lady. You won't be able to slow down in time. Do you stay on the track and hit the herd of cattle- but also likely derailing the train and injuring the passengers, yourself included- or switch and hit the old woman, likely killing her? What if, instead of cattle, it's a class of schoolchildren, but hitting them won't derail the train?"

Daisuke's body frowned. "Cows versus old lady… I think I'd take my chances on the cattle. People can survive derailments. But between children and old lady…."

"So you'd take an entire train of people gravely injured over killing a single woman?" Kirumi's voice wasn't mocking, or harsh.

"Well, in that case, if I could just purposely derail the train, I'd do that. There'll be some damage, but nobody outside gets hurt. Not even the stupid cows."

Kirumi frowned, clasped her hands, and stood up from the bed. "Thank you, Ouma-san. I will be off now."

Kirumi strode from the room, and slammed the door far harder than necessary.

Daisuke sat there in shock. This… hadn't been at all what he expected, and, while he wasn't too happy about temporarily losing Kokichi, the experience wasn't at all uncomfortable, just… odd. And now, he had someone in particular to keep an eye on tomorrow. Kirumi either was planning something huge, or she was planning to try and stop someone else. Kokichi could at least narrow some suspects down that she'd feel the need to keep an eye on- Ryoma, Shuichi (except Daisuke knew that he wasn't going to attempt murder, so Daisuke would need to keep out for Kirumi trying something preemptive), Himiko… who else? Miu, Kaito, Tsumugi, and K1-b0 probably weren't on her watch list, nor Kokichi… probably not Gonta, as he was raised in the wild.

Who did that leave? Shinguji was something of a wild card as a scholar, and Maki was being exceptionally secretive for a daycare worker… Tenko could probably overpower Kirumi with ease, but she didn't seem smart enough to pull off a cover-up after a murder, Angie was… someone to watch, due to her sheer unpredictability and… and Kaede and Rantaro were dead.

Kaede and Rantaro were-

"Knucklehead!" an irritating voice screeched as the door flung open. "Alright, back to bed with ya!"

Daisuke's body dutifully sat up.

"Okay, so explain to me what that was all about, Arukawa," Monomuka snapped, suddenly.

Daisuke's body, thankfully, ignored them and walked aside the animatronic. Daisuke knew he wouldn't have been able to.

"What?" Monokuma replied to itself, its tone different- as though it was confused by the question- but the voice the same.

"I have you set this up to see how far we can push this, and all that happens is some philosophy BS. Trains my ass," the bear replied to himself gruffly. Daisuke realized quickly that this wasn't a conversation he was meant to hear, so he paid even closer attention.

"I'm not going to make every scenario that extreme. You saw what happened to Kokichi last night. I'm not trying to break these kids."

"I am."

"Well, you're an asshole. And furthermore, you're not in charge of this, and you know full well what the testing parameters are. I've already alerted your boss."

"My boss is the one who asked you to push them three steps further than they can handle!"

"Your boss doesn't have any control over my facility, Watanabe, and- I know you're going to say funding- it's in my contracts that he doesn't. Even though we're getting quite a bit of our pay from you. This is a medical experiment, a medical facility, and you and your people have no say here and if you go off script again I will personally expose this to the media. Yes, even if it shuts down Danganronpa completely. Trolley problem your ass, I'd do what our thrall here would. Crash the damn train."

A long pause. "Arukawa… is the fucking mic on?" Monokuma roared, teeth bared.

" I don't see any lights on the mic, do you?" it replied sweetly as it paused, probably so whomever this Watanabe person was could check the Monokuma control console. "And even if it were, all we have is a zombie. Kokichi isn't even in there right now. It's just a placeholder consciousness that will be deleted as soon as I bring him back to his room. It's not like there's anyone in there to remember anything."

It was almost like Professor Arukawa was speaking directly to Daisuke.

"Look at your dutiful little puppet, Watanabe," Monokuma sneered. "Because even if I don't force a delete, this would only last an hour or two longer. And it took weeks of willing brainwashing to even get to this point. I honestly don't see what use this would be to you; when you forced even the shell of a shell of one of my kids to do something they didn't want to, you saw how his body reacted last night. Kokichi bolted. Hardly of use for what you're looking for. Faster to just train willing spies yeah? And now, if you'll excuse me, I have a job to do."

Monokuma paused, and pulled out the pen light again. "Still completely under," he- no, Arukawa- muttered, after flashing the light across Daisuke's body's eyes. "Let's… get you to bed."

Daisuke's body was dragged back up the hidden elevator to the dorms, to his room, to his bathroom, where Monokuma slammed the track drawer to initiate one of the memory lights. Daisuke's body shuddered and gripped the sink, first confused, then angry, whipping behind him.

Monokuma was already gone.

Kokichi flopped in bed, showered, pajamas, sighing. Daisuke forced control over his hand, and his body winced, before relaxing and inhaling sharply to let himself to give up the appendage.

' I… sort of remembered you existed this time. I felt like something was missing when I snapped awake in front of the sink,' Kokichi tapped. 'But… you're not upset. What the hell happened?'

' Kirumi,' Daisuke replied, tapping out the whole name. ' And… well, this might take a while.'

Kokichi closed his eyes and tried to even out his breathing, to pretend he was sleeping, as he took in what Daisuke had witnessed.

' You think the producer lady knows you're aware?' Kokichi asked, after Daisuke had finished.

' I dunno. Could have been a tech or something that left the mics running. There's absolutely no way it was an accident, someone on the other side is trying to feed us information somehow. Maybe K1-b0 told someone about our arrangement- that's all I can think of.'

Kokichi drummed his fingers as he tried to rack his brain. ' Either way, she's looking out for us, but if that's the case, why let us kill each other?'

Daisuke rubbed a circle on his thigh. He understood what was being asked, but really had no idea of an answer, either. ' She was trying to see if I could take over. That's all I've got. Maybe she's doing this, not knowing if I did or didn't.'

' It's not worth our energy, at least not right now,' Kokichi finally replied. ' What is worth it is finding out what Kirumi knows. Someone here does have a reason to kill, and we need those videos to find out. We've gotta collect them all, and I need a talk with her. Sooner the better.'

' No more bodies,' Daisuke replied. ' Please.'

' No more bodies.'

Kokichi woke up, dressed, went to the casino to lockpick the prize counter and take more keys. There were only so many of them they'd make, right? Especially since they were chipped, not just shaped. They'd be more expensive to make. He rounded to the cafeteria next, before the rest of the students got there.

"Is this done correctly?" he heard from the doorway to the kitchen as he made his way inside. Of course Fate would prevent him from having a private conversation with the maid. K1-b0 was holding a knife, shaking nervously, like a leaf.

A 100-kilo finely made robot was clearly afraid of the blade in his hand.

Kokichi watched as Kirumi narrowed her eyes. "Like a machine has processed it- wait, no, K1-b0-san, please understand that as a compliment!" Kirumi added as it looked like K1-b0 was upset from her answer. "It is considered the mark of a fine chef to process chiffonade cuts so perfectly like that."

K1-b0 instantly relaxed. "I can't eat so… I wanted to at least help with making food," he replied, looking down at his feet, embarrassed.

"Well, next, let's learn how to separate some eggs," Kirumi said, sharply, but cheerfully. I need a lot of whites for meringues, and a lot of yolks for some pasteis de nata."

Kokichi quietly shuffled out, sighing. He'd have to get ahold of Kirumi later. For now, though, it was time to corner Gonta.

"Heeeeeeey friend," Kokichi jeered at his largest classmate, grinning like the Cheshire cat as he ran down the paving stones to the lower courtyard, where, just as before, Gonta was peering through the grass.

"Nothing," he muttered sadly. "Not one bug."

"There's lots in your lab though, right?" Kokichi asked.

"Not same. Lab bug wonderful- yes!- but bug should be in nature. Why no nature bug make no sense. Want to show friends how good Gonta can be with bug, but ones in cage scare them. Too big, too many leg, they say."

"Maybe…" Kokichi said, thinking aloud. "Maybe you could introduce them to bugs a little more slowly? Show them I dunno, butterflies or ladybugs first, then slowly start showing them the horned dynastids or something."

"You know your bug!" Gonta cried with joy. "Gonta so happy!"

"Whoa there, big guy," Kokichi protested as he was scooped up in a massive hug. "Ease up, please, I've only got one spine."

"Gonta forget his own strength," Gonta said sheepishly. "Gonta sorry."

"Eh, don't worry 'bout it, big guy," Kokichi wheezed after Gonta set Kokichi back down on the grass. "But you know, since everyone's so on edge, maybe we could do a little insect meet and greet, like tonight? Get everyone together, and you can teach us all about bugs!"

Kokichi never saw someone's eyes light up like Gonta's did by his suggestion. "Yes! Gonta love idea! Teach everyone about bug and maybe… if all of us in same room, no murder happen. No need to if everyone like everyone, right?"

Kokichi was dumbfounded. "You knew?" he squeaked, uncharacteristically.

"Gonta see Ouma is strange. But he try his hardest to make everyone happy, in weird way. Ouma save Gonta during trial by forcing truth. Ouma mean, but mean well. You gather everyone to try and find something to like together."

Kokichi shrunk a little. He almost felt bad that he'd also be gathering up the motive videos as well, but he needed to find out what would be so bad to want to kill- or possibly, by Kirumi's reaction, prevent a killing- that a simple short film would do it.

Almost.

He grinned.

"Wanna go collect everyone up for me?"

"Gonta would love to."

Shuichi's video- his uncle. Daisuke politely correcting that it was Ai's homeroom teacher. Kokichi sighed and shook his head, slipping out of Tsumugi's room and into the next one in line.

Maki's room looked positively unused, and no motive video. She probably carried hers with her. He frowned and kept searching up and down through the rooms. Given the conversation from the night before, she might even have Kirumi's with her, Kokichi mused.

K1-b0's video was an order gentleman -Professor Iidabashi- bound up in a machine lab, a small device on his neck smashed to bits. Daisuke confirmed the man was K1-b0's creator and actually real. For once. It was right there for the taking on Himiko's bed.

Tenko had Himiko's in her room, and it was the creepiest so far, just a man tied up and dangling over a shark pool, cutting quickly to a B-horror movie style text of "HIS GREATEST PERFORMANCE- CAN HE ESCAPE?!" which flashed on the screen for just a few moments before going dark. Morbid, but Himiko was far too lazy to commit to a premeditated, organized murder for her master, especially since the video itself didn't even tell her where to find the man if she did manage to win the game and leave.

Miu had Korekiyo's, which was oddly of Korekiyo himself talking to the camera, telling him to remember who he was there for, before narrowing his eyes to a film cut short. Unsettling.

Miu's video rolled an "Under Construction" banner, with Monokuma snidely remarking that Miu had nobody on the outside waiting for her. That was… kind of sad actually, even with the videos being fakes. Into the bag it went with the others, while Gonta was out chasing down the rest of their group. Of course, K1-b0 had hers in his room. He was too nice to not show it to her.

Some of them were definitely more motivational than others, but none really seemed all that frightening other than Korekiyo's (and that was just… kind of weird), Kokichi realized, as he found Kaito's pad lying haphazardly on Shuichi's desk. He'd grab Tsumugi's from Korekiyo's room, if it was still there. At least he knew what was on it already.

It wasn't even like the dorm room locks were hard to pick; he could have a room open in about ten or fifteen seconds, tops. In the end, he had eight videos aside his own; Maki's, Ryoma's, and Kirumi's were nowhere to be found. And none of the three of them had videos in their rooms.

So they likely all had their videos swapped in a circle, which meant two things- who had Kirumi's video, and whose video did Kirumi have?

Kokichi frowned, leaving the dorms to near darkness outside. At least he narrowed the issue down to one-of-three. And of them all…

Maki was absolutely the most suspicious.