"Everyone, this is the Monokuma announcement, meaning that it's time to rise and shine!", dang Monokuma on the intercom system. "Remember, only two days remain before punishment, so be sure to use your remaining time well! I won't be so forgiving this time, after all..."

Celeste woke up moderately good this time, despite dealing with absolute hell yesterday. With her stand appearing beside her, she couldn't help but think back to the enemy stand that helped her yesterday, of all things.

Just who could the user be?, asked the gambler to herself. Automatic stands operate entirely different than average stands, meaning that the user can simply pretend he or she doesn't have a stand even if it's active.

"Mimi?"

As Celeste looked up at her stand, she heard a familiar childish voice ring out, "What are you going to do about it?"

"...I'll definitely work on it later, that's for sure", the gambler responded to herself, getting ready for the day.

Maybe someone like Kyoko could help me out with this, the gambler continued while applying makeup. I bet she has some theories of her own.

Speaking of...

...No, don't think about her like that, the gambler reprimanded herself. There's a good chance that she doesn't even feel the same way, so I won't bother thinking about it anymore for now.

It was hard to face such a truth, but it was true, nonetheless. To think one's bond can easily be severed with something as simple as memory loss.

But whatever, this killing game is proving to be a bigger issue than anything else.

As soon as Celeste got out of the bathroom, she found her stand waiting for her, carrying the gambler's fake drills. Putting on her hair drills and poker card earrings, the gambler stepped out of her dorm, ready to begin the day.

Or well, that would have happened if it wasn't for what she encountered in the hallway.

A little earlier...

"Remember, only two days remain before punishment, so be sure to use your remaining time well! I won't be so forgiving this time, after all..."

As Monokuma continued talking on the intercom, Mondo was preparing to begin the day, as well. He couldn't help but worry about Chihiro, who just recently got caught up in a...weird situation, to say the least. The idea of reincarnation as a sort of amalgamation seemed impossible, yet the programmer got to witness it firsthand...

As the bike rider put on his trench coat, he could only hope that his friend was okay.

Upon leaving the room, though, he found out that he couldn't have been more wrong.

There in the hallway stood Chihiro, but with her hair all messed up, but that wasn't the thing that first caught Mondo's attention. He, alongside Celeste, noted that her face looked horrified, as if she didn't sleep at all. The programmer stood still, not making any sound.

That is, until she walked up to Mondo weakly and told him, "Sayaka's last memories... Her final screams and horror...It kept replaying on my mind the entire time I tried to sleep..."

The bike rider could only stare back wide-eyed at his friend's words. He tried to come up with something, but nothing came to his mind.

"...Are you still seeing them?", asked Celeste, trying to sound as unaffected as possible.

"No...but", trailed off the dichromatic girl. "I feel I will if I try to sleep again..."

"But you're still okay, right?", asked Mondo. "Beside from that, nothing else is hurting you?"

"...No", simply answered the girl weakly.

"...Okay, that's good", remarked Mondo, trying to sound reassuring. "Here, let's go to the cafeteria, okay? The day will get better, trust me."

"...Sure", Chihiro answered, the emptiness in her eyes only slightly gone. Both her and Mondo went to the cafeteria, leaving the gambler alone with her stand.

"Mimi?"

"...No, of course I didn't expect that", responded the gambler. She then remembered what Monokuma said yesterday:

Usually, one forgets their memories when this happens, but it seems that Chihiro is a lucky case!

But if that means that Chihiro was also able to remember Sayaka's last memories, then perhaps the programmer wasn't as lucky as it first seemed.

"...What a wonderful start, that's for sure", remarked the gambler sarcastically, both her and her stand headed for the cafeteria...

A while later...

Around an hour or two later, everyone was already gathered at the cafeteria. A few handful were trying to cheer up Chihiro from her nightmare, with Aoi and Sakura offering to help her get used to her new form. After that, everything seemed to go smoothly.

Until it didn't.

"Now that everyone has finally calmed down, it is my turn to speak up for a moment", Byakuya spoke up, Aoi giving a small groan of annoyance.

"What do you want to say?", glared Mondo.

"While we were playing Monokuma's little game yesterday, your friend Junko there told me some very interesting information."

Everyone then looked at Mukuro, who just stared back unassumingly.

"You said yesterday that you've worked for the mastermind", remarked the progeny, "Tell me, would you like to elaborate more on that?"

"Guys, we don't need another fight right now-", tried speaking up Taka, until a crystalline tentacle covered his mouth.

"...Let master speak", demanded Toko in a threatening tone. Everyone looked surprised at the writer, even Byakuya.

The progeny, though, soon recomposed himself, quick to continue, "Anyways, Junko has admitted to working with the mastermind. I'm sure we all expect a response now that the truth has been exposed."

Everybody seemed to face the soldier now that Byakuya finished talking, awaiting for her response.

"...Yeah, I worked for her", simply stated the soldier as she stood up, everybody else still looking at her. "I was planning to tell everyone about it when the game finished, but it was put on hold because of what happened with Fujisaki". She then pulled her wig off, revealing a short mop of black hair. Everyone widened their eyes in response.

"What the..."

"Truth is, I'm not Junko Enoshima. Junko's my sister, the one who's controlling the killing game. My real name is Mukuro Ikusaba."

Meanwhile...

Diavolo woke up to see a bleak gray sky outside, the clouds still as thin as ever.

"...Well, at least the sky isn't red", the Italian remarked as he put on his tattered trench coat. He couldn't help but think back to that fruit that Monokuma was carrying yesterday.

Was that fruit something that Giorno created? His stand ability allowed him to create living things, after all, mused the Italian to himself. No...I've seen what that boy can do. If he were to create a miracle, it wouldn't be as half-assed as a fruit that simply gives you another problem.

He then stepped out into the balcony, surveying the plain sky above him. His empty jade eyes simply moved around in somber motion as he stated:

"...Yeah, I'm definitely glad it's not red this time."

A little later, back at the Killing Game...

Everyone soon disbanded after eating, just finishing in listening to Mukuro's words a few while ago. While they were indeed shocked about a truth as wild as hers, they didn't plan to do much to her in the end, possibly except monitoring her actions a little more.

Truth was, nobody wanted to kill each other. They were too tired, too frustrated.

Too scared.

It was this fear that kept the entire class in check, bonding them in an invisible way as a means to stand up against Monokuma and the mastermind. Only few admitted it, but they were glad that such a situation was happening.

Nobody could bear seeing a death in front of them, after all.

"I'm just glad that nobody is killing each other anymore, much less consider it", remarked Makoto, training with both Sakura and Aoi with their Hamon training. "Sure, not all of us are getting along, but at least we're managing to hold on."

"It definitely seems that way", said Sakura, exhaling a deep breath. "We are now starting to think more calmly now that none of us are too desperate to get out of here anymore."

"Speaking of, didn't Celeste day that the outside world was ruined?", asked Aoi. "If that's the case, then what's the point in escaping? She wasn't lying, was she?"

"No, she wouldn't have a reason to lie", answered the luckster. "But even if it is true, it would still be better than be forced to kill each other, isn't it?"

"Indeed", responded the martial artist. "Hopefully I t's just a matter of time before we find a way out of here."

Suddenly, a knock was heard on the door, everyone turning to face the entrance. After taking a small break, Makoto ran up to the door and opened it, revealing Chihiro on the other side.

"Oh, Chihiro!", said Makoto. "Are you feeling better? Mondo did say that you saw...Sayaka's last memories when you slept."

"Yeah, but I'm feeling a little better now", responded the programmer, trying to form a smile.

"I see...", trailed off the luckster before asking, "Well, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, well earlier Sakura and Aoi offered to help me with a few...girl things, so I came here for that", responded Chihiro with an embarrassed blush.

"Oh, umm...", stammered Makoto, suddenly feeling just as awkward as the programmer. "Well, they're both here, so...". He simply moved to the side, allowing Chihiro to see both girls.

"H-hey guys...", the dichromatic girl waved awkwardly.

"Oh Chihiro, you did arrive!", cheered Aoi, Sakura giving a small smile. "Come inside already, we need to get started!"

"Yeah, but...", trailed off Chihiro. "Don't think I'm a pervert or something, okay? I'm still getting used with looking like this and I'm not trying to use this to my advantage or anything."

"Don't worry, we aren't thinking that", replied the martial artist. "We trust that you're respecting Sayaka, especially since you're not the type of person to do perverted things."

"...Thanks for understanding", simply remarked Chihiro as she stepped in, joining the girls in the middle of the room. Makoto could only watch as Chihiro was doing her best to move on with her life, not only continuing for herself, but for Sayaka, as well...

He couldn't help but admire her resolve.

"Hey Makoto, can you step out please?", pouted Aoi. "We're about to begin some girl talk here."

"Huh? O-oh yeah, sorry!", the luckster stammered before closing the door, leaving the girls to chuckle at his antics.

Outside, the luckster took his time to recompose himself. He eventually began his way, walking off to find someone else to talk to in the meantime.

Might as well talk with Yasuhiro and see what he's up to, Makoto thought to himself. Hopefully not offering anyone any expensive fortune readings.

Meanwhile...

"Just what the fuck are you doing?", asked Sakakura, turning to face Koichi on a sofa. He was seemingly playing with a yo-yo, his hat tipped down as always.

"You've never heard of a yo-yo?", asked Kizakura amusingly. "Geez, you have no childhood. It's a children's toy."

"Hey, I do have a childhood!", responded the boxer. "It's just that I didn't waste it playing with toys!"

"Really? I'd imagine that you'd have a boxer action figure or something", remarked the talent scout.

"And you still didn't answer my question!", continued Juzo, trying not to answer the boxer action figure remark (he had a lot of those, he just didn't want to admit it).

"It's just a way to get my mind off things", responded Koichi. "Don't pretend like yesterday was not a crap-ton of things piled up atop one another."

"Well, you're right about that", sighed Sakakura, sitting down beside him. "Just as we're overwhelmed by Junko, she seems to pull another surprise out of nowhere."

"To think she once had a boyfriend", the talent scout chuckled to himself, Sakakura raising an eyebrow.

"What happened to him?"

"She killed him."

"Of course she fucking did."

Both members then saw Diavolo enter, the Italian pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Well, look who just woke up", spoke Koichi. "Had a goodnight sleep?"

The Italian didn't respond at all, just mindlessly drinking his coffee.

Koichi then turned to Sakakura and said, "By the way, I got to see why Tengan's interested in him. He can apparently skip time."

The Italian froze his movements and simply turned to face Koichi.

"Skip time?", asked the boxer incredulously. "The fuck are you talking about?"

"Hey Italian, show him", said Koichi, turning to face the gangster.

If this happened a year ago, both members would probably be dead. Diavolo spent the entirety of his life hiding both his identity and ability to others, even going as far to kill his loved ones.

But a lot has already passed since then. The Italian didn't have a reason to hide anymore.

So instead, he disappeared out of the room, the cup of coffee in his hand now broken on the floor.

"What the...", trailed off the boxer with a bewildered expression, Koichi chuckling at his reaction.

"I told you he could skip time."

Author's Note: Chapter 35 done! Wow, I received a lot of comments instantly, which is slightly overwhelming, but still welcomed! I'm going to take the time to respond as many as possible:

• SparkyBoi: Well, Chihiro is now referred as a girl, so you could guess what she has 'down there' now...

Yeah, nobody tries to bring that up around her.

• Knight of the V Table: Thank you for suggesting names for Toko's stand! Now, I'm terms of why I chose Fu Manchu, I can only respond by saying that it seemed to fit better. I was seriously considering Steppenwolf as Toko's stand name for a while, but in the end, Fu Manchu was the eventual victor.

• IzuOchaShipper99: In terms of Chihiro's stand, even the programmer's stand has fused! While Sayaka did not have the potential to control her stand or even see it, she still had a stand nonetheless, so that ended up fusing with the electric dragon thanks to the rokakaka. It's just a matter of time until we see what Chihiro's stand now looks like.

Also, nice theories for who the enemy stand's user is. They'll eventually come to light, trust me...

I'm sure everyone's confused as to why I decided to suddenly bring up the rokakaka this far into the story, much less use it with Chihiro and Sayaka. Well, here's my answer: It simply came up as a stray idea. After pondering on whether it was a good idea or not for a good while, I eventually said, 'screw it, it's going in the story', and voila, we now have something else to deal with.

Also, this is the last time such thing will happen, as Monokuma himself said that he doesn't plan on using the rokakaka in the Killing Game anymore. He only ever used it to sell them to dying/troubled people for a despairing price, more as a hobby of some sort than anything else.

Besides, he doesn't plan giving anyone second chances anymore...

Well, that's it for the replies, I thank everyone for your support and reading the story thus far! Keep the theories, ideas, and feedback going and until the next entry, I'll see everyone later!