The Graduate Meeting of Mutual Killing

by ReadingForever

Sixteen former students of Hope's Peak are trapped in an underground bunker, under the ruling of the loathed Monobear. The group tries to find who exactly put them in this situation, and the reasons behind it, while trying to survive, all before they die of starvation.

38. Chapter 6 - Abnormal Days I

CHAPTER 6: The Angels, The Devils and The Humans

The six remaining graduates strolled into the lounge in the first section, and sat on the chairs and the edge of the fountain. The six of them had one resolve: to end the mutual killing game in the next hours. With that in mind, they all knew they needed as many clues as possible to pinpoint the Mastermind's name, although Hikasa insisted that it was Kudo, since Chiba had said it.

-"Again, wait until we have evidence before you accuse"- Yukio chastised, rubbing his temples –"So, we need a plan. Akane-chan?"- he turned towards the leader. The Chemist stood on the edge of the fountain.

-"Okay, there are six of us and a lot of ground to search in. Let's see…Yamaguchi-san, take this list"- Akane gave Yamaguchi the list she had found in Chiba's room. It was risky to entrust people with this, especially since they couldn't watch each other to ensure the Mastermind didn't hide evidence, but she was willing to take the risk –"Go into each room and see what you find. If there's something that isn't included in here, take it with you. If there's something suspicious and it's on the list, it's worth noting, too"- Akane also gave her Monobear's claw –"This should ensure you enter all the bedrooms"-

-"Understood"- Yamaguchi nodded, taking the claw. Akane, satisfied, turned to Kudo

-"Kudo-kun, you'll search into the trash compactor for the last few letters. Also take anything else you can find"-

-"Why do I have to go headfirst into a heap of trash?"- Kudo grumbled, clearly not happy with his task. Akane didn't bother to reply. Instead, she talked to Hikasa.

-"Hikasa-kun, keep an eye on him. Sorry, but you're still the prime suspect, Kudo-kun, it's merely a precaution"-

-"I won't let any funny business happen"- Hikasa promised, laying a hand on Kudo's shoulder. The Philanthropist scowled, disliking the prospect of the next hour in the trash compactor. Akane couldn't avoid smiling at the vehemence Hikasa showed. She knew she could trust him in that regard. Then, speaking to the next one.

-"Yukio-kun, Monobear opened the large steel door at the end of the Hallway Museum. You go and examine what you can find over there"-

-"Exploring the new places, got it"- the Assistant stood up, signaling he was ready to go ahead.

-"Toyotomi-kun, there's this file drawer in the fourth section. Monobear claimed it as his, but I couldn't avoid noticing that he didn't give any authorization about it. I…I think there's something going on in here. See what you can do about that thing, if you need, get permission to open it, but make sure you find out what's in there"-

-"That'll be easy"- Toyotomi grinned, confident.

-"And what will you do, Ogata-san?"- Kudo asked, leaning forwards from his seat. Akane got down from the fountain edge.

-"I'll deal with Monobear's Office. There must be something useful in there!"-

-"Seems good to me. Alright, let's kick bear ass!"- Yukio said with enthusiasm, but only Toyotomi responded in a similarly frivolous way. The Assistant left, feeling awkward after that failed attempt to raise the enthusiasm. Everybody got to the places agreed, hoping that each one would find something valuable and decisive to bring down the one responsible for the whole mutual killing game.

The prospect of investigating by herself Monobear's Office wasn't a nice one. That place gave her the creeps, as she feared punishment. The failed execution from the second trial was still fresh in her mind. However, after taking a few deep breaths, she entered.

The office was intact, as if there had never been a dead body. The desk and the rug had been cleaned, everything was spotless. This calmed Akane a little, as there would not be any reminder about Matsukaze's death. The Chemist quickly searched around for anything they may have missed back in the second trial that could be worth noting now, but there was nothing new. The old computer on the table was still the only thing of interest.

Akane tried to switch it on, but nothing happened. That's when she remembered she'd need Monobear's claw, but she had given it to Yamaguchi. Instead of going back to retrieve it, she decided to get a new one. Opening the closet where the spare Monobears were stored, she took one and forcibly tore off one of the claws. She froze, suddenly fearing being punished for 'harming the headmaster'. Monobear didn't suddenly appear to kill her, so she supposed that as long as he didn't notice, it'd be fine. Quickly hiding the spare Monobear among the rest, she got back to the computer, passing the claw through the slit on the computer tower.

The Chemist peered around the desktop of the computer, confused. How am I supposed to find my way through this? I'm not good with computers!

-"Click around until something happens. That's how you learn to do something"- Akane had heard the last few words before, but that had been several years ago. She didn't need to turn around to know whose mental image was with her now.

-"About time you appeared"-

-"Don't blame me. Listen, I don't have long. You're healing at a heightened pace, so let's make this quick: see that icon? Click it"- Toriumi directed, pointing to a black square on a corner. Akane clicked on it, opening an interface.

–" ? Whoever programmed this has no originality"- Akane commented

-"It's concise and to the point. Nothing more was needed. Let's see…here it says 'Coding'. Take a look"- Akane obeyed, and displayed a humongous amount of coding. She felt sick of merely thinking she could need to read it all. She was sure that it'd take most of the ninety minutes, which were already turning into less and less time –"Don't waste time; I doubt there's anything good in here. Click on 'Options' on the main page"-

Once Akane clicked 'Options', another window appeared. There was only one thing she understood among the many ticked boxes –"'Activate AI without user input'. That sounds like it's an option for the AI to execute itself without the Mastermind having to sit here and direct the bear"-

-"I don't understand"- Akane simply stated

-"You don't need to understand beyond the phrase "Monobear can control himself". The Mastermind could be dead and the game would continue"- Toriumi explained in a few words.

The software that contains the Monobear AI, and can allow it to control itself at any time without the Mastermind's input

-"Good, something to keep in mind. What else could there be in here…"- Akane closed the Options window and looked around. Something got her attention –"'Recent Changes Log'. Could it be worth checking?"-

-"I'm your own mind, Ogata-san. Don't ask me"- Toriumi replied sourly. Akane sighed and clicked on the button. Most of the entries in the log had the same user.

–"fujisaki-c' Sounds familiar to me. I think that in the mutual killing game that was broadcasted there was a Fujisaki"- Akane commented.

-"There are thousands of Fujisakis in Japan. It could be a coincidence"-

Akane scrolled down to the most recent logs. There were more users, and the first one she saw made her blood boil 'enoshima-j'. Ignoring the wave of nausea she felt, Akane read the rest. –"Look at that. There are two entries with 'oyama-y'"- Akane clicked on them to find out more, and the window displayed a specific section of the coding, highlighted. –"I still have no idea what any of these stuff means'-

-"Wait! Over there, there's an icon"- Toriumi pointed at a side of the screen, where a tiny piece of yellow paper was alongside the code. When Akane hovered over it, a sign with the word 'Comments' appeared. Hoping it'd be meaningful; she opened the comments and wasn't disappointed, as it was a quick comment from the programmer. –"Look, Toriumi-san: 'Hijacking code. Is Veritas expecting this bear to leave the headquarters? Can you say PARANOOOOOOOIA'"-

-"This could be vital. There's a code that allows to hijack Monobear, and it was by this 'Veritas' person's orders. It could mean that at some point in the past, or maybe later, there's a chance Monobear gets hijacked'"-

-"And is that good for us?"- Akane wondered, unsure. Toriumi shrugged, but the dead tutor did add: -"But if there's no signal, then it's impossible that person could hijack Monobear, unless 'Veritas' is in the shelter as well"-

Hijacking Code

A code that allows somebody called 'Veritas' to hijack the Monobear AI. Added by one 'oyama-y'

Akane was going to reply to Toriumi's assertion, but she noticed that Toriumi was starting to look almost transparent, until she faded completely. Unsure of what that said about her mind state, she decided that it had been enough poking around the computer, and decided to see where else she could go.

After turning off the computer, Akane looked around for the last time, her eyes stopping on the door with the keypad. She approached it and looked at the three empty spaces that represented the code to open the door. If only I knew what the code was, I could find something good…

In her musing, she put her hands in her pocket, touching a piece of paper she had forgotten about. After taking it out of her pocket, she raised her eyebrows. It was the paper that Chiba had in her pocket, with three letters. For a moment, Akane wondered if it could be the solution to that door, and holding her breath, she slowly put in the three letters 'TCK'. Much to her surprise, the door rumbled and opened quickly, exposing a hallway and a stairway that descended into the darkness.

Password (Update)

A piece of paper found in Chiba's pocket. It has 'TCK' scribbled on it, as if it had been done in a hurry. It's the password to the door in Monobear's Office

Somewhat nervous, Akane descended the stairs until she reached a well-lit hallway. She could see an odd contraption far away, but there were several alternate doors, which she found out led to even deeper into the ground. Just how deep does this shelter go? It was starting to seem as if the graduates hadn't seen not even half of the shelter.

Ignoring the doors for the moment, Akane walked to the contraption. She examined it, amazed. It was something like out of a torture chamber. There was a seat with several thin rods pointing to where the head would be located, and it was clear the machine couldn't be operated by just anybody.

-"Do you like it, Ogata-san? You have been on it already!"-

Akane turned around to find Monobear standing on the hallway. The Chemist stepped back. –"You gave us authorization to investigate anywhere, including your office. This is part of your office"- she quickly stammered. She was making some good progress; going back to zero would be disastrous.

Monobear thought for a moment, weighting Akane's words. Finally, after what it seemed like an eternity, the bear sighed –"I did. I should keep my snout closed next time"- he conceded, but then taking a more menacing stance –"But don't open the door closest to this room. Nobody will know that you died in here. It'll be as if you vanished in thin air"-

Akane gulped and nodded. She was willing to accept any condition in exchange of being let to investigate around, but at the same time hoped that whatever was behind that door wasn't vital to the Mastermind's identity. –"I'll know if you disobey. This'll be the only warning"- and with that, he turned to leave, but was stopped by Akane.

-"Wait! Monobear, what's this…"- she eyed with disgust the machine –"…thing?"-

-"It's beautiful! This wonder of mechanics is what allows us to remove, add and restore any type of memories. I call him 'Memory Restoration Machine'!"-

-"Not very original, eh?"- Akane commented, smirking –"But it's alright, not everybody can be creative"-

-"Shush! You have no right to criticize me!"- Monobear snapped. Akane noticed the strange change in behavior, and so did the Mastermind, as they reeled back –"Eh, eh, I mean, that's the name Enoshima's followers gave to the machine. It's not my fault"- and after that, Monobear practically ran away, leaving Akane alone in the room.

…what was that?

Memory Restoration Machine

A machine that allows the Mastermind to remove, add or restore any memories. It's theorized that all the graduates were forced to be affected by it at some point.

Akane examined every inch of the machine, but didn't find anything that could hint its owner. A powerful organization such as the Future Foundation could own this she thought, but didn't get farther than that.

Leaving the machine alone, Akane decided to see what else she could find in the room. The machine filled most of the room, but there was a laptop on a desk. She turned the laptop on, but everything in it had been wiped out with the exception of a two icons on the desktop. One was the usual file browser, but the other one was unfamiliar. After clicking on it, only a black screen emerged, but nothing else happened, no matter how much she typed or clicked around.

Giving up, Akane examined the desk drawers. Only one drawer wasn't empty. Curious, Akane retrieved the objects found in the drawer. They were a lot of flash drives, all of them identical. Taking one, she inserted it into the laptop, after somehow managing to close the black screen, and browsed the contents. There was only one file, with the same icon than the software. Akane opened the file, and once again the black screen appeared, this time with text.

Akane couldn't understand anything of what she was seeing. It was all undecipherable, so she highlighted a part. Several options appeared, among them 'watch', 'edit', 'save' and 'delete'. She clicked on 'watch'.

It seemed like a video of a reunion, in the conference room in the shelter. Standing on the podium, there was Chiba, speaking about SHSL Despair and the type of measures needed in order to counter him. In that moment, the camera turned to the right, and Akane saw herself on the screen. –"I can't believe I'm here. Aren't you afraid?"- She heard herself say. –"I'm not afraid"- Akane recognized Yukio's voice. The video ended.

Wondering what was that, Akane scrolled to the top and selected a few lines, pressing 'watch'. This time the video showed a public bathroom she didn't recognize. Yukio was reflected in the mirror, his face wet as if he had just washed it, but that wasn't what got Akane's attention. The Assistant didn't have any camera or anything. In fact, when he looked forward, it was clear that the video apparently came from Yukio's eyes. Akane gasped when she realized she was watching some of Yukio's missing memories.

In the video, Reiji entered, and put his hand on his brother's shoulder. –"Yukio, Father is okay. He just needs lots of rest"-

Yukio nodded, acknowledging the news –"Will we really be capable of continuing the trial? We're merely middle school students"-

-"I'm sure we can. Let's do our best!"- Reiji beamed with excitement –"It's time to show what's out worth. Besides, you underestimate your own abilities. You're the best lawyer I have ever met"-

-"Even better than Father?"- Yukio replied, seemingly amused. Akane couldn't hear Reiji's reply, as the video ended.

The Chemist had to take a moment to process what she had found. She had, almost literally, found everybody's missing memories. In her shock, her fingers accidentally grazed over the keyboard, activating the 'edit' option. In there, there was a space to type. The only explanation she could find was 'Type the new memory. Press 'Save' when the modification is finished'

-"Are you saying that this thing can let one edit somebody's memories?!"- Sawashiro shouted. Akane jumped, taken by surprise, but when she saw it was her dead friend she calmed down –"This is…Ogata-san, this is incredibly important"-

-"So in here there must be my memories, too. I must find it and…"-

-"No!"- Sawashiro interrupted –"You don't have time to check each one until you find the correct one"-

Akane reluctantly agreed. The only thing she hoped was that when everything was over, she'd have time to come back and take the laptop and the flashdrives. That's when she counted how many there were.

Shady Flashdrives

Fifteen flashdrives, each one with the missing memories of one graduate. There's also a software that allows to edit the memories.

Akane had started to go towards a hall on the other side of the room when she felt she stepped on something. Lifting her foot, she found a tube of what looked like oil paint, of a light skin tone. She carefully examined it and looked around, in case there were more. The only thing she found was a small crevice on the wall. After putting her fingers in there, she pulled and found it was a cover for a hole on the wall, painted to look like the concrete the shelter was made of. In the hole there were several other tubes, scissors, needles, and what looked like cloths of different colors, and threads of a light purple color, as thin as a hair.

I have seen these tubes before… Akane remembered that in the trial, Toyotomi had showed one of them. And what had he said about that?

-"Those tubes have some compounds I invented for my work. I'm a rather smart guy, after all!"-

Prosthetic Makeup

A set of objects that could be used to create disguises and modify the body and face. It's believed that Toyotomi has created some of the compounds used

Akane picked a few of the tubes and a handful of thread, and put them in her pocket.

After looking around for a moment, she decided it was time to move on. Akane entered the hallway on the opposite side of the entrance she had gone through. A few meters after entering she found a wall, and on it, what seemed like a ladder embedded into the wall. She ascended slowly, wondering what it would be for. Looking upwards, she saw a ray of light.

When she got to the very top, she found that the light was coming through a vent, way too small to pass through it, but what she saw at the other side got her very anxious. Akane gasped loudly, and fearing they could have heard her, she hurriedly climbed down the ladder. Once she was safe on the ground, she tried not to hyperventilate from the panic she was feeling. She recognized very well the masks, and had seen the fearsome guns they were holding. She had also seen the strange machine that was doing something to the door, but she was sure the end result would be that the door would be broken, somehow.

The people outside…they're rioters!

It's only matter of time before they break the door. If they get in here, we'll all die!

The People Outside

During the two days or so, there have been rioters trying to enter the shelter.

While Akane was trying to calm down, she looked at the ground and frowned. There was a flat object in a corner, something she had recognized. She lifted it to take a better look, and confirmed what it was.

A Future Foundation envelope had been lying there, as if it had been thrown through the vent she had looked through. Wondering if it was a message for the Mastermind, she peeked at the content, a note. No matter how many times she read it, she didn't understand.

-"These people are useless and won't kill him. If you don't hurry up and break that damned door down, Volkos won't die, and the whole plan will go down the drain. Stop standing around and DO SOMETHING"- she read aloud, wondering how much this affected what the graduates thought about the Mastermind.

Letter in the Vent

A letter, in a Future Foundation envelope, apparently passed through the vent. It says: "These people are useless and won't kill him. If you don't hurry up and break that damned door down, Volkos will escape, and the whole plan will go down the drain. Stop standing around and DO SOMETHING"

Putting the letter in her pocket, she hurriedly walked back to the short hall with the doors. Not daring to open the one Monobear had explicitly forbidden, she chose one of the other three, finding what looked like a small study. There wasn't much to see. Just a shelf with nothing in it, a desk, and a chair. There was nothing else except a few pens and a stack of Future Foundation envelopes in the drawer.

Future Foundation Envelopes

A bunch of envelopes marked with the Future Foundation logo. Both Curtis and Chiba had them in their bedrooms. There were envelopes in the Locked Section study.

As there was nothing else to see in the study, she returned to the hall to open the second door. It was far more interesting than the other one. There was a big screen embedded onto a wall, with what looked like a map of the shelter. She approached the screen and found a keypad.

-"You're too curious for your own good. Don't you have other places to be?"-

Akane was once again startled by Monobear. He was standing on the entrance, tapping his foot onto the ground impatiently –"How long before you finally leave?"-

-"I must find as many clues as I can to unmask you"- Akane said, disguising her nervousness, and trying to focus on the keypad. She randomly chose one of the buttons and pressed it while Monobear was getting nearer. In that moment a strange clicking sound echoed on the ceiling. Akane looked upwards to see that a small section of the ceiling was now showing the sky through a grate, but her attention returned to Monobear.

-"I'll have to put a limit to…put a limit…I…limit…"- Monobear had tried to say something, but the moment the chute on the ceiling opened, the bear started slurring. He twitched, falling onto the floor, until he managed to turn around, staring at the ceiling. Intrigued, Akane approached him. Monobear's eyes were moving, the Chemist could see that he was trying to focus. Finally, after a minute or so, he managed to stand up, but instead of continuing to berate Akane about how she was still investigating the Locked Section, he looked around as he didn't recognize where he was.

-"Monobear?"-

The bear finally bothered to pay attention to the graduate. He laughed, but not with his usual 'upupu', or the more energetic and mocking laugh he had. It was more of a victorious laugh, as if he had succeeded in doing something he wanted for a long time. –"Hi there! I think I got a short circuit or something, yeah. What was your name?"-

-"…uh?"- To say that Akane was confused was an understatement. There was no trace of the bad mood Monobear had showed less than five minutes ago, he seemed to be in better mood now. Just in case, Akane got her guard up. It could be some sort of farfetched plan, for all she knew.

-"Nevermind, here are the memory banks…"- Monobear slumped over and didn't move. …what?

Akane decided to ignore the last minutes and looked upwards, to the chute. She knew that the moment it had opened, Monobear had started to behave strangely –"What could that be for?"-

Chute on the Ceiling

A chute, located on the Locked Section. The moment it was opened, Monobear started behaving strangely.

-"Ogata-san?"-

Monobear was once again functioning, and was examining the screen –"You're Akane Ogata, aren't you?"- The Chemist nodded. The bear murmured something that sounded like 'let's get to business', and then ordered –"Press those buttons"-

Supposing that could be an authorization to continue prodding around, she obeyed, pressing one of them. The map of the shelter didn't change. She examined the map. There were no marks indicating what room was what, but her memory allowed her to pinpoint several key place, and based on that deduce what the other rooms were. She noticed that there was nothing marked beyond the long hall that was the fifth section. She also noticed that in Monobear's Office, the Locked Section was marked as stairs, but the section itself wasn't visible –"That did nothing. Press another one"- Monobear ordered.

The next button showed the Locked Section. Akane confirmed that there were two places more to check, but looking closely, she noticed that one of the two were more stairs, leading even deeper into the shelter. –"How deep does this shelter go?"- she wondered aloud.

-"There's no information to answer that"-

Akane hadn't expected Monobear to try to answer to that in any way. –"What's going on with you?"- She couldn't stop herself from asking. Monobear looked at her blankly, but he crossed his arms and cackled.

-"There's nothing going on with me! I'm as normal as always! Haha! Haha!"- Akane didn't reply, so Monobear once again hurried her to continue pressing buttons.

For a while more, Akane and Monobear looked over the maps. The shelter went down for another eleven floors. Akane couldn't believe that the place was so large, as most of the rooms unexplored were of a considerable size, and apparently, built deeply into the city. Finally there was another button that didn't activate a map. Instead, several dots appeared on the maps. –"This is new, let me see…"- Monobear fell onto the keypad and then to the floor as if he had been deactivated, changing the map to the one showing the sections Akane knew, just that this time it had the dots. While Akane tried to decipher the meaning of those dots, Monobear stood up again. –"Those are sensors that let waves be spread around the shelter! They allow me to be activated in any place in here"- he informed.

-"…Thank you for the information, I suppose"- What are you planning? Why so...helpful?

Sensors

Embedded into the walls of the shelter, there are sensors that send and receive waves. Could be the mechanic behind Monobear moving.

In that moment, Monobear once again deactivated, falling to the floor. Akane decided to leave while the bear wasn't bothering her, for once. She was starting to get weirded out from his behavior. It didn't help that when she was about to leave the room, Monobear was on his feet again, and apparently, in bad mood again.

-"You! Get out of here! I should have left this room off-limits too. Get out!"- He pushed Akane out of the room, almost throwing her onto the floor of the hall, and closed the door. –"No entering back there"- he ordered, and left to who knows where. Akane took a moment to try to process the almost bipolar changes Monobear had during the last few minutes, but chalked it up to the Mastermind trying to confuse her. Whatever. There are a lot of rooms to check and way too little time. I better hurry.

Not knowing how long it had been since she got out of the trial room, she entered the last room in the hall, finding a big metallic board covering the wall. On it she could see several crevices, where she supposed she could put her fingers and pull. She counted fifty of them, around forty with a light indicating there was something in there, and wondered what their purpose was. Knowing that she wouldn't find out until she checked the content, she grabbed a random one and pulled. That was something she regretted instantly.

The cabinet opened with a loud sound, fully extending itself, revealing the charred and almost unrecognizable body of Aya Sawashiro.

She knew it was her because a few parts of her face and kimono were still intact, somehow. They were unique enough to know it was her. Grossed out and almost traumatized, Akane pushed back the body into the board, and hurriedly left the room.

That was a morgue! Everybody's dead bodies are in there! But then why are so many lights on? Could there be even more corpses?

Morgue

A morgue in the Locked section, storing the dead bodies of the graduates. There are more than ten bodies in the morgue, according to the lights of the morgue

Trying to forget the horrible sight of Sawashiro's corpse, Akane practically ran down the stairs leading to deeper into the shelter. Just as the map had indicated, there were several other rooms on a hall. She peeked quickly into each one, realizing with each one what they were. She made mental notes of each room, as she knew she had found the rooms where the executions were done. All of them were huge, and once again made Akane wonder how they were built, and why.

In the first one she found the stadium where Toyogushi had next one had the huge camera contraption that pulverized Ginchiyo. Next there was a platform with what seemed like giant weights mixed with a torture contraption, hanging over an endless pit. Then there was a room with a huge canvas at the end, and a few elements strewn around that looked like paint cans and duct tape.

There were more stairs after those four rooms. The second part had what looked like a chess board with sixteen Monobear on one side and four turrets on the other side. The next room had a mock trial room with guillotines. The one after that was the classroom where Toriumi had died electrocuted, and the last one was like the Conference Room, just that it had a big trapdoor near the podium, and a chair with ropes.

The last floor of had five rooms. The first one was tiny and completely empty, besides a few holes on the walls. The second one was the room was the old room where Sawashiro lived her last moments. The next one had a lot of sewing needles and a copy of Junko Enoshima's clothes. The one after that featured a giant glass flask in middle of the room, and the last one…Akane recognized the pistons and the platform. She knew that's where she almost had died.

So I got knocked down into a coma when ascending through these halls, eh?

-"Ogata-san, didn't you notice? There are only thirteen execution rooms"- Sawashiro pointed. Akane realized that it was true, four plus four plus five. There should be fifteen or so, maybe even sixteen. Did I miss something?

Execution Rooms

Deep into the shelter there are thirteen rooms intended for the executions, each one with something relating it to a graduate.

Akane returned to Monobear's Office, and found a clock. She didn't remember the exact time the trial had ended, but she calculated there were a little more than forty minutes left. It was also 2:00 PM. Seeing the time gave her another pang of hunger and a reminder she should use as little energy as possible.

-…Akane-chan! Akane-chan!"- She heard far away. Exiting the office, she crashed against Yukio, who had been running.

-"Ow! What happened? Is somebody hurt?!"- Yukio really seemed to be in a hurry, but Yukio shook his head while trying to regain his breath. When he finally was able to talk, he wheezed.

-"Akane-chan…come with me…you won't believe it…"- and with that, he started to drag her to the fifth section.

They walked quickly through the Hallway Museum, getting to the end where the steel door she had seen was now opened, and a long stairwell was found. It descended for a few minutes until Akane saw that once another steel door indeed had been opened. Now a big amount of junk and scrap and varied trash had spilled all over the floor. It was as if Yukio had needed to make a path to enter the room behind it. The two graduates carefully treaded over the trash until they got to a big room.

Akane looked around. It was more like a dumpster, there were obscene amounts of trash and scrap. –"Is this all? A junkyard?"- Akane asked aloud, disappointed. Her companion said that he had spent a good amount of time putting away the junk, as when he got there, a mountain of trash had literally blocked the path. It was obvious that the door had been covered by junk.

Yukio continued pulling her through the mountains of trash until they got to a point where it was less cluttered. At the end of it there were two harnesses. Yukio quickly commented he had put them apart when he found them around, in case they needed him to carry stuff.

-"But carry stuff where? We got hands, Yukio-kun. Wouldn't that be enough?"- Akane asked.

Yukio pointed to a door which was open, and beyond it there were several bars embedded into the wall, forming a ladder ascending onto the darkness above. The end was so high that she couldn't see it. –"Where does it lead?"-

-"Let's go. You'll see. Have enough energy for it?"-

Akane nodded, determined to find what was so important that Yukio felt the need to race around to bring her here. Grasping the ladder, both of them started ascending.

It turned monotonous quickly, and soon turned into an automatic movement. The more they ascended, the more intrigued Akane got. How deep into the ground where they?

-"If you get tired tell me, Akane-chan, and we'll rest. But make sure you don't fall"-

-"I can continue"-

Akane had no idea how long they had been ascending, but just when she was about to complain of the time they were wasting, she saw something resembling a trapdoor above her. Light was shining through it, although obviously an artificial light, it represented something positive. Maye what was up there was good!

The Chemist reached the end of the ladder, and stayed on the floor, gasping for breath slightly. Yukio followed her, but he didn't stay on the ground. Instead, he stood up, signaling around. –"Akane-chan, look around and tell me what you see"-

Akane obeyed. She stood up and saw a small room, mostly empty. On one side she saw what seemed to be an incinerator, with a good amount of ashes. On the other side, there was a shutter, and beyond it, Akane could see a door, and a section of a hallway. Everything had a sense of familiarity, strangely. –"It's curious…I feel I have been here before"-

-"I couldn't believe it, Akane-chan. We do have been here before. Don't you recognize it?"-

-"…Should I? What place is this?"-

Yukio grasped the shutter, sighing. –"I suppose it's logical you don't remember this place. It's not that outstanding, and it did take me a while before I realized it"-

-"Again, what place is this? You do make it seem like we have been here!"-

-"We're into a Trash Room, but we're not in the shelter anymore"- the Assistant stated. Akane didn't quite understand his affirmation, until Yukio expanded it and inadvertently made Akane's soul jump. Just a few words did that:

-"We're inside Hope's Peak right now"-