Danganronpa: Prisoner Havoc - Chapter 1

Part 1

Rantaro stared at the bear in front of him, as he realized what had happened… What had happened in his killing game, how history was repeating itself. How he'd ended up the Ultimate Survivor… It was nothing but glimpses, broken memories of corpses, investigations and hoping that it'd end.

But it wouldn't… Not as long as he had this title, mocking him for having lived through such a thing. It was in that moment that the survivor felt an unfamiliar feeling, one that he'd never felt before, even as he stared at one of the murderers he'd managed to pin down.

"Monokuma..." The green-haired boy let out, his voice feeling almost distorted by whatever he was feeling. He didn't care that he was interrupting - this damned bear was just doing the same damn thing as he usually did.

The monochrome bear stopped for a brief moment and looked at him with that horizontal red eye, before letting out a laugh at his expression. "Ohoho… I knew that this would be coming! Maybe a bit earlier than I expected, but… Whatever. I see that you recognize me then, Rantaro?"

The rest of the prisoners all looked at him with varying expressions. He didn't care about them however, especially not whatever they were thinking. He just had this burning feeling in this chest, all directed at the hateful bear in front of him.

It was then that he realized what he was feeling… He was feeling rage. Pure undistilled rage born from the knowledge that no matter what he'd done, he was still trapped… And that now, he was going to witness others suffer as they had.

"I'm-I'm…" His words staggered out, as he struggled to express that distinct emotion. The survivor suddenly knew, all of his being shuddering. His voice came out calmly and monotone, and that was maybe the scariest part of it. "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to find whoever is behind all of this, and end them… I have to. You're not going to do this ever again."

"Rantaro…?" Sayaka's voice resounded next to him, but he barely registered the confused words. "What… What are you talking about?"

"You don't understand… None of you do." Rantaro scowled fiercely, before pointing his finger at the grinning bear, who simply watched. He still felt pissed off beyond belief, but… He was going to use that productively. "He's done this before... This isn't the first, maybe not even the fifth killing game."

"And how do you know about this?" The red-haired girl, whose name escaped him right now, demanded, her hands on her hips as her glare settled on him.

"Oh yes, Rantaro, we all desperately want to know…" Kokichi asked, his voice dripping with contempt for some reason.

'...They have to know. If I want to even have a chance of stopping this without losing people, I need to have their trust. I shouldn't do this… I don't know these people well enough… But unfortunately for me, I've already talked too much.' The survivor recognized, even as the words struggled to form in his mind, his eyes taking in how they were all looking at him.

Some were afraid, others were cautious… Mukuro was the one that stood out, as she seemed… oddly attentive. Something to file away for later.

"I… I participated in the previous iteration of the Killing Game." Rantaro began to explain, clenching his fist and teeth at the thought. "Almost exactly the same deal as this one, except me and my, sorry, the other participants were in a school. We all promised each other that we'd never kill, that we'd resist Monokuma's influence, and get out of here together. And then it started."

He didn't remember how it went. His memories were still fragmented and vague… But he could remember how they died. Viscerally, even.

"It started with a bludgeoning… After that, strangulation." He recited, his voice completely and utterly empty, as he stared off into space. If he thought in any detail about it… He didn't know what he'd do. "The third ones were crushed to death. The fourth was a stabbing. And the last murders were boiled alive and shot repeatedly. I and three other participants were the only survivors of sixteen… I don't know what happened to them, but considering that I'm the only one here… I can only guess."

"That… That won't happen here." The white-haired guy proclaimed fiercely, staring at him as if he was completely alien. "The hopes and talents of everyone here will be more than enough to get us out of here!"

"Komaeda is right, Amami." Byakuya confirmed firmly, pushing up his glasses with intent. "No matter what happened to you and your class, we will not succumb."

"They said the same thing and they were Ultimates too, just like us." Rantaro retorted, staring at them with clenched fists. 'Why is the same thing happening as last time?!' "You're all underestimating Monokuma… He'll find a way to make you kill. I saw it happen with my own eyes."

"Wait a second, Amami…" Ryoma began, even someone like him seemingly somewhat off put by the information. "I don't really want to bring it up, but you only stated how seven people died out of sixteen. And yet, there were four survivors including you… How did the other five people die?"

Rantaro gritted his teeth at the question, brief glimpses of extreme, brutal violence flashing in his mind. "...They were all executed."

"What do you mean by executed?" Mahiru (that was her name) asked, with a concerned frown replacing her glare.

"Ah… Rantaro, I probably wouldn't explain if I were you." Monokuma said, popping out his claws threateningly. "I'll have to punish you otherwise… Man, this survivor stuff is more annoying than I thought it'd be, it's enough to make a bear crave human flesh!"

"I'll be forced to explain it when you aren't around, bear." The survivor stated bluntly, utterly uncowed by the threat of violence… After all, what more could he lose? "Might as well do it now."

"Upupu…" The grinning bear cackled malevolently. "Oh, I hate how right you are… You'd better explain it well, then. I beary much hate having to add onto another person's idiotic explanation."

"Basically, whenever someone dies in some way, there's an investigation into how they died." Rantaro explained, with no small amount of reluctance. It didn't feel right at all to be taking that bear's place, in any way, shape or form and it felt even worse with how afraid nearly everyone looked. "Monokuma gives us until the bastard gets bored, and then we have to debate in a class trial about who it is… If we succeed, the murderer gets killed in a really… horrifying way. That's what this thing calls an execution."

"And if ya don't discover who it is," Monokuma interrupted, with a dark glint in his eyes that saw only pleasure at their suffering. "The murderer gets away with it and escapes… Whilst the rest of you die at my hand! The despair that'd bring would be unmatched..."

"What the fuck?! That's so fucking messed up!" Miu protested loudly, staring at both him and Monokuma with fear in her eyes.

"So… Either the guilty die horribly or the rest of those who are left die, for having failed to bring justice to the victim." Mukuro summed up staring at him with a strange expression. "Karmic."

"That's not karmic at all!" Kiyotaka protested loudly, recoiling at the statement. "How can you call the death of innocents karmic, Ikusaba?!"

"I'm not saying that I share the point of view." Mukuro stated quickly, her face quickly schooling itself.

"Then why say something so horrible?" The punk girl with pink eyes asked, blinking rapidly. "Ibuki just can't understand the logic."

"She's saying it from the point of view of Monokuma." Rantaro intervened bluntly, resisting the urge to add something about whoever was controlling him. He'd already stirred up enough paranoia through his honesty, and that particular point needed a more subtle touch. "Try not to rationalize it, it's just his perverse way of seeing things."

"What a degenerate." Tenko spat fiercely.

"Hey, hey," Monokuma protested as if this was all a massive joke to him… Which it was, the bastard. "I'm a bear, don't associate me with mankind like that!"

"Well I've changed my definition to include you!" The aikido master retorted, huffing in disgust.

"Let's all calm down." Byakuya intervened firmly.

"Finally, let's listen to what our dear leader has to say to us!" Kokichi cheered with such insincerity that it somehow went back around to sound sincere.

"Well damn, getting endorsed by the purple-haired creep… Can we get someone else as our leader?" Hiyoko drawled sarcastically, staring at her fingernails.

"Having Byakuya as our leader is better than not having one, though… Am I wrong?" Komaeda stated, his arms outstretched and open. "And it's not like anyone else is trying."

"I would've tried," Kiyotaka said, crossing his arms unhappily. "But it seems that Byakuya's innate genius surpasses me in terms of popularity."

'Well, shouting at people for being two minutes late isn't exactly a good way to become a leader, especially not among teenagers.' Rantaro couldn't help but idly comment.

"Alright, enough chit-chat!" Monokuma exclaimed darkly, immediately quieting the room with his words. "Ah… The quiet. How I've missed you. Well, anyway, since I was interrupted by Rantaro, I just wanted to say that all of the rules are on your Monopads… And no, I'm not about to say what they are out loud for the few of you who can't read or do up their kimonos. I'm tired from all of this talking anyway."

Rantaro almost didn't want to look at his Mono - no, he wasn't calling it that - his tablet if he was being honest. He hated the thought of being dependent on anything that Monokuma gave him… But the benefits outweighed his emotions far more, and so, he opened the rules.

1. The inmates may not leave the prison by any method.

2. Nighttime is from 10PM to 7AM. Inmates are restricted to the courtyard and its associated areas during this period.

3. Violence towards Monokuma is strictly forbidden, and will be punished accordingly by [REDACTED]. In addition to this, neither Monokuma nor [REDACTED] shall ever participate directly in a murder outside of rule-breaking.

4. Presence at the class trial is obligatory for all inmates, with no exceptions.

5. If the blackened, or murderer in other words, is exposed, they are to be executed by Monokuma and [REDACTED]. If an innocent is instead chosen as the murderer, the rest of the inmates shall be executed and the blackened shall escape.

6. The Body Discovery Announcement will be played when three or more inmates have discovered the body. If the blackened is with two other inmates when the body is discovered, it shall still play, in order to not give away the blackened.

7. The inmates are still free to explore their new home at their leisure during the daytime.

8. Attempts to sabotage the cameras and [REDACTED] are to be punished by death.

9. The inmates are required to be present at the classes that are to be provided by Monokuma and [REDACTED]. Absences are to be punished to their discretion.

10. [REDACTED] is free to punish rule-breaking as it sees fit. The punishment shall fit the crime. Monokuma will only add additional punishments if he deems it necessary.

11. If two different murders are committed by two different murderers, only the first victim found by the inmates shall be blackened. The other murderer will not be executed, even if they are discovered during the class trial.

12. Additional laws will be added by Monokuma and [REDACTED] as they deem it relevant.

"Why is there somebody being redacted in the rules?" Rantaro immediately asked the bear, as he looked up from his tablet. He had a small suspicion that it was the… being that had preceded Monokuma and mysteriously disappeared afterwards, but… He wasn't entirely sure.

"Ohohoho!" Monokuma giggled darkly. "Someone you don't recognize, eh, Rantaro? Seems your previous experiences aren't helping you on this front... Well anyway, you'll have to find out later. They only come out when they're needed after all."

"Nevermind that crap," Miu interrupted rudely, seemingly pissed off about something. "What the fuck is this about 'classes'? Do you think that any of my beautiful, wonderful self needs improvement in any way, huh?!"

"Maybe your personality, you useless bitch?" Kokichi quipped with a self-satisfied smirk, the inventor whimpering in response.

"Don't talk to her like that, you degenerate!" Tenko immediately protested, marching towards the small teen with intent.

"Oh, fine, whatever… What about when Saionji talked about her earlier? You didn't say a thing!" The supreme leader retorted, putting his hands up placatingly.

"Oh, uh…" The martial artist hesitated, seemingly caught between a rock and a hard place.

"She does raise a good point though… What are these classes?" Mahiru stated, smoothly intervening before Tenko fell into a mid-teen crisis. "Rantaro, wasn't it? Did you have something like this in your previous, ugh, game?"

"No, I didn't. We were just left to our own devices outside of class trials and investigations, as far as I remember." He answered with a small shake of his head.

"Ahem! I can answer that." Monokuma exclaimed proudly, even wearing a teacher's monocle for some reason. "Cause you are inmates being punished with a crime, me and my partner have decided to give ya lessons on how to be more productive members of today's society!"

"Today's society? What is that even supposed to mean?" Byakuya demanded, sounding slightly offended. Probably because it implied that a 'Togami such as him' wasn't satisfactory, if he had to guess why.

"Oh… You'll find out later what I mean." The bear said, grinning like he knew something that they didn't. "Just come to the lessons, I don't want to have to punish you… Well, tell a lie, I actually do, but it'd be a waste to use my claws for such an offense."

"Uh… What do you mean that we've been punished?" Nidai asked, scratching his head in confusion. "As far as I know, none of us have done anything like that!"

"How would you even know?" Ryoma countered with an unhappy frown. "You don't know what we've done… None of us know what the other has done."

'Worst thing is that he's speaking from experience.' Rantaro reflected, noticing how nearly everyone turned towards one another, suspicion on their faces. 'Even I've done some questionable things attempting to find my sisters… Mostly in relation to travel permits. They're irritatingly hard to get at times.'

Monokuma only cackled loudly in response, his eyes glinting maliciously. "Oh, you've all done something. Trust me, it's just an inevitability from being here in the first place."

"D-does it even matter? What we've, uh, done is in the past, r-right?" The small girl with brown hair from earlier asked sincerely, sounding and standing surprisingly strong, only for her to falter at the sudden attention. "Oh uh..."

"Don't hesitate now. You have a point after all, Fujisaki." Byakuya replied with a firm nod, closing his eyes contemplatively for barely a few seconds before he spoke commandingly. "It doesn't matter what Monokuma states. I'm confident that no matter what, we'll all be able to work together… It doesn't matter what he throws at us, we'll be prepared for it, and we'll all get out of here. All of us."

'Someone always says something like that…' He couldn't help but muse darkly. 'I'm still gonna help out, I'm not callous or anything. But I'm not going to be able to rely on it, not when defeating the mastermind is the priority. That'll be what ends the game, not solidarity, hope or whatever else.'

"Aw hell yeah! Ibuki can get behind that kinda mojo!" Ibuki cheered loudly, breaking the ice in one fell swoop. It was kinda admirable in a weird way. "You go, Leader-gami!"

"There's a lotta strength behind that statement, I can tell that from a mile away, so you got my support, Byakuya!" Nidai declared firmly, electricity coursing from the side of his eyes at the intensity.

"Pff… At least one of you seems to be kinda reliable." Mahiru said with a small huff, giving every other guy in the room a pointed side glance.

Rantaro glanced at the others, in an attempt to see what they were thinking about this. Most of them seemed to be supportive, but he took note of how Angie's smile seemed almost imperceptibly strained, Kokichi's eyes were rolling, Mukuro's blank stare and Ryoma's unhappy look… Though what he was surprised to see was Sayaka of all people, looking somewhat hesitant, as well as Kiyotaka gritting their teeth.

He was going to have to keep an eye out for them, if only to be sure… Hell, who was he kidding, he was going to watch out for everyone. Someone could be faking after all, pretend to be on the nice side of the fence to take advantage of it.

"Ah… It's so nice to see so much hope in you all." Monokuma appraised, sounding surprisingly sincere. "It'll make it all the more satisfying when I break you all into despair… Oh, the despairful looks on your faces, it's enough to make a bear forget all about salmon."

"When are you going to go away?" Rantaro snapped, finally having had enough of the psychopathic bear. He really wasn't in the right headspace to be dealing with this right now… Honestly, he wasn't sure about dealing with anything right now. He needed to think.

"Oh, Rantaro, no need to be so mean." The monochrome robot grinned maliciously. "It's not my fault what happened to your classmates after all. I just gave them a little… push, and they just got started. You're the one that didn't manage to stop them after all."

It was trying to get under his skin… Make him do something he'd regret. Rantaro clenched his fist in anger, attempting to crush the urge.

"Rantaro… Calm down." Sayaka intervened cautiously, moving towards him carefully, her voice filled with concern. "He's just trying to make you attack it and..."

"Kill you." Mukuro stated bluntly. "He wants to eliminate one of the few that have survived one of these games."

"Don't let this despair crush your hope." Komaeda said with furrowed brows. "Or are you really going to throw it all away? That'd be disappointing."

'Hope… Despair… Those sorts of thoughts are just toxic. Especially in a game like this.'

"Ah well… It was fun seeing ya kids, but I've got… things to set up, upupupu." The bear cackled loudly, as it walked off. It briefly stopped to turn to look at him. "Oh and Rantaro… Actually, you know what? Nevermind. I've said too much already."

"About what?" Rantaro asked in surprise, his eyes wide, but Monokuma was already gone with nary a sound to his name. "Always does that…"

"Ever figure out how he disappears like that?" Ryoma asked calmly, pulling down his cap.

"You got any tact, shortie? Lunatic over here just barely escaped a meltdown." Hiyoko pointed out rudely, gesturing to him with a frustratingly dismissive nod.

"Hiyoko, come on…" Mahiru said, sounding more than slightly peeved at her friend. "Could you just have a bit more tact...?"

"Nah… She's right." He said lowly, making the redhead turn towards him with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not in a good headspace right now. I just need to get my head straight."

"Yeah…" She replied with a sympathetic nod, before her eyes narrowed. "But when you're feeling better, you'd better step up. Already a lot of unreliable people about, and we don't need more, alright?"

Rantaro smiled slightly, in spite of himself. "Don't worry… I'm not about to let anyone down if I can help it."

Mahiru only crossed her arms suspiciously at him, which… He probably deserved that sort of reaction to saying something like that. He wasn't in top form on… Anything today as far as he could tell, after all.

Almost barely a second after the end of that conversation, the distinctive sound of Angie giggling made him almost immediately turn towards her, breaking his stride towards his cell. He briefly considered just ignoring what she was about to say in favour of getting some amount of rest, but… He couldn't.

"Oh… It seems that in our haste, we've forgotten something." The smock-wearing girl proclaimed, with a carefree smile on her face. "Atua just reminded me, but… I believe that only Sayaka, Rantaro and Byakuya have the keys to our cells."

"Hey!" Kokichi protested with a pout. "I was just about to say that."

"Wait… So we can't even lock up our own cells without these three jackoffs?" Miu asked, before letting out a smug laugh. "Sucks to be you guys, I guess!"

"How doesn't that affect you?" Komaeda asked, with no small amount of confusion.

"Ultimate Inventor, bitch, I can just make my own lock and key." The genius explained easily, with a small hop in her step. "Well, see y'all never fuckos, I'm off to get some parts to accomplish that goal, hah!"

"Wait, you're not sharing?!" Nidai demanded in surprise. "THAT'S INEXCUSABLE!"

"Don't speak to her that way!" Tenko immediately protested, glaring at the incredibly tall man with ferocity.

"If anyone needs me, I'll be in my cell," He stated bluntly, not particularly wanting to deal with any of this. Usually he'd attempt to be a bit more charitable, but… Not right now.

A cursory nod to everyone who'd bothered to pay attention later, the survivor walked back to his cell and absentmindedly locked the door behind him. Sitting down on his cot, Rantaro finally allowed himself to stop, slumping against the concrete wall behind him.

He wasn't trying to keep up a mask of social acceptability, nor was he trying to figure out how to stop this madness before it started. He felt too… Drained for any of that.

The green-haired boy let out a small sigh. He'd never been one for moping around, and whilst he didn't feel up for talking to people, he could attempt to sum up the current going ons of the Killing Game.

'I'm definitely writing this down as soon as I can, but I guess that my own mind can suffice…' Rantaro thought with some hesitation. 'To kick things off, the cells are all soundproofed from both the outside and inside. Which means that something can occur in the courtyard and I'd only know if I poked my head out the door.'

A brief glint of sunlight still somberly lit up the cell, but what caught his attention was the quiet sound of waves gently coming along the shore. He'd never registered it before, but now it was the only sound he could hear in the room.

'So… The prison is on the coast of… somewhere. Which means that the only noise that can be heard from our cells is from outside the ship, through the windows… Probably not going to be important, considering how we're not allowed outside anyway, but it's worth noting.'

A sudden realization occurred to him… If he could see outside, there was a distinct possibility that he could recognize where they were. He wasn't a geographical expert by any means, but he'd seen enough coasts and seas in his life to have a small chance.

'I doubt that it'll be that easy.' Rantaro reflected with a dismissive frown, even as the thought annoyingly clinged to his mind. 'But… I might as well attempt to find out. Then if someone wonders, I can just rip off the bandaid and avoid the fallout of whatever revelation could follow.'

With that task in mind, the adventurer considered the room. He didn't even have to look at his cot to know that it just wasn't positioned well enough for him to have a proper look, and he did need to take his time and observe whatever was outside.

The table was the obvious candidate, but he couldn't help but stare at how ominously unstable and creaky it looked. The wind rose briefly in his cell and the table shook, loudly squeaking in the empty soundscape of the cell.

Yeah… No. He was probably going to have to use something else even if, much to his displeasure, he found that the only other possibilities, the chair and the box weren't tall enough.

'Guess that means I'll have to talk to some more people, if they'll even indulge my idea in the first place.' Rantaro thought with no small amount of reluctance. 'Not that I seemed like a total lunatic earlier or anything... I'm blaming that bear if I have to explain myself.'

Grabbing his tablet for a brief moment, he briefly turned it on to see that on the top right corner of the screen, there was a morning, daylight and nighttime indicator, which was currently at the point between morning and daylight.

He considered himself for a brief moment, and grimaced. 'I need a shower… And a change of clothes. I'm going to feel way better after that, I think.'

It only took him about five minutes to wash off all of the grime and dirt that accumulated on his body. He noticed that he had several scars on his arms and back, seemingly from a variety of blades and the occasional burn, and wondered what the hell had happened to him. Most of them could be explained by a variety of adventuring-related dangers, but others… It was harder to pinpoint.

If he had to guess where it came from, it was probably the killing game. Which basically meant that either he'd been the target of a murder, or he'd gone through some seriously terrible stuff during the course of it, both possibilities being distinctively terrible if he was being honest.

'I have to stop thinking about it. At least for now, otherwise I'm just going to go crazy.' Rantaro thought with a shake of his head as he put on the familiar blue sweater and cargo pants, that he was reasonably sure was his usual outfit whenever he didn't need to put on something else.

Absentmindedly pushing away his still somewhat wet hair away from his eyes, the survivor opened his door. He didn't exactly know what he was expecting to find, but he certainly didn't expect to find Byakuya leaning against a pillar, impatiently tapping his foot against the ground, seemingly having decided to wait for him.

"Byakuya? What are you doing here?" Rantaro asked with no small amount of curiosity.

The heir briefly grunted in reply, his eyebrows creasing as he turned around to look at him. "I was just waiting for you to finish whatever it was that you were doing. We have things to discuss."

The adventurer couldn't help the frown that rose on his face at that. "It's about the killing game, isn't it? The one I went through before this."

"Yes." The large prodigy affirmed with a nod, without shame. "If we're to avoid any unnecessary deaths, I need to know everything that I possibly can, and you're the only one that can provide such a thing."

Rantaro briefly glanced around to find that they were essentially the only ones in the courtyard, which would've been surprising, if the grate to the area with all of the doors hadn't mysteriously disappeared. He let out a small sigh. "I don't know what I'm going to be able to tell you, honestly… My memories of that whole event are broken, I only remember the vaguest and broadest of things about it."

Byakuya frowned and looked away, with something approaching… concern on his face. The emotion disappeared as quickly as it came. "I expected something like that… Your reaction to Monokuma was revelatory, to say the least."

Rantaro bit his lip, glancing away towards the sky. "I shouldn't have reacted like that… I just felt so angry. I've never felt that way in my life towards anything or anyone, but that bear…"

The heir may have had a guarded look on his face, but his eyes were surprisingly sympathetic. "I don't know exactly how you feel if I'm being honest, Amami, but I certainly don't blame you for it. We all can become different people at the drop of a hat, depending on our circumstances."

The adventurer couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Heh… I hadn't thought about it like that. Thanks."

"Don't think nothing of it. A true Togami must never let his subordinates become unproductive for any reason." Byakuya proclaimed with a small huff, in an attempt to save face.

'Yeah… Keep on pretending that was all just you and your talent shining through.' Rantaro thought, shaking his head.

"So, to surmise… You don't have anything particularly new to tell me, outside of what you said to everyone earlier." The heir resumed seriously, the brief moment of humanity seemingly gone.

"No." The survivor elected to say firmly. He liked Byakuya, but to say that he trusted the prodigy enough to tell him about the mastermind? "I'm really sorry, but I just don't remember more than that."

Byakuya stared at him with suspicion in his eyes, before frowning. "I had hoped that we'd be able to have more of an advantage then that… But it'll have to be enough."

Rantaro couldn't help but silently clench his teeth, feeling distinctly uncomfortable about holding back what he had. He was practically sure of the necessity, considering how paranoid people were inevitably going to be about this whole situation in the first place, but...

"You should probably introduce yourself to the rest of our cellmates, Amami." The prodigious heir said after a brief, uncomfortable silence. "You may not feel comfortable getting friendly with people so easily, but the benefits will far outweigh that discomfort."

The survivor couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that. He honestly hadn't expected for Byakuya Togami to be preaching about the values of social interaction, but here he was. "I was already planning on doing that for unrelated reasons, but thanks."

"Unrelated reasons?" Byakuya prodded curiously, raising an eyebrow as an unsubtle hint to continue.

The adventurer bit his lip somewhat hesitantly. "It's probably going to sound crazy, but I think there may be a chance that I could recognize the coast that the prison is on. I'm the Ultimate Adventurer, recognizing where I am is a natural part of my skill set."

The Togami heir let out a small thoughtful hum as he chewed on that bit of knowledge, gazing at him with an analytical look. Before Rantaro could wonder what their unofficial leader was thinking however, he noticed Kiyotaka marching towards them with intent, the sun casting his features in a harsher light then usual.

"Hey." The adventurer greeted calmly, hoping that he wasn't the target of whatever he wanted.

"Oh! Hello, Rantaro!" The fierce looking young man replied, as his eyes looked him up and down for a brief moment appraisingly. "You've changed your clothes… They definitely suit you better, even if I'm not sure they're the actual uniform around here."

"I mean… You didn't exactly put on that prisoner outfit yourself." Rantaro pointed out with a small raise of his eyebrow. He noted that Byakuya seemed to be getting increasingly agitated.

The black-haired teen coughed with a mildly embarrassed look, his ears going red. "Don't worry, Rantaro, it wasn't a criticism! I'm reasonably sure that you'd be allowed to wear your usual clothes in these circumstances."

'I would hope so…'

"Out with it, Ishimaru." Byakuya ordered harshly, having finally lost his patience. "What did you come here to talk about?"

Kiyotaka scowled at the prodigious heir, not looking particularly pleased. "Do I really have to be explicit? Whilst you're here doing nothing, our classmates are running amok, doing whatever they please, and we have no idea whatsoever what they're doing!"

"I'm not about to control their every movement." The heir retorted with a small scowl, crossing his arms. "My personality is already irksome enough to some, and I need to keep their faith in me if we are to get out of here."

'This is gonna get ugly, if I don't intervene.' The survivor thought with no small amount of worry, the tension of the situation not escaping him in the slightest. Rantaro immediately pushed them apart with ease, talking before they could get a word in edgewise. "Before you two get too far… How about I go with Kiyotaka to talk to people, see what they're doing, Byakuya? Now everyone is happy, right?"

The two glared at one another for a second, before their gazes eventually fell to the ground. They both looked ashamed of themselves, even if it was more pronounced on Taka's face then Byakuya's… Which he had expected to happen.

"That seems… acceptable." The prodigious progeny said with no small amount of reluctance, as he ran his hands over his suit to straighten it.

"That sounds good to me - you'll be more than an adequate partner for this investigation." Kiyotaka responded, a small scowl on his lips as he turned on his heel and began marching off towards the hallway.

'I… I really do not like that I had to intervene there. Why the hell does Kiyotaka seem… somehow even more angry at Byakuya then anyone else? I don't know the guy very well, but that doesn't seem like something he'd do normally…' Rantaro couldn't help but wonder, as he began to follow the black-haired boy's stride. 'This better not be a sign of something… There's already enough to deal with as it is…'

AN: I swear, it doesn't usually take me a month to write these chapters. I blame this month for seemingly being exam central… Which it probably actually is. But nevermind, it's out now…