Hello! Hope you enjoy this part! Please read the authors note at the end of this part once you're done! Also let me know what you think of this part!

DANGANRONPA: OFF THE RAILS

Chapter 1 – Freedom's End

Part 3

A few days had passed since the first night shifts as a routine started to be formed. After group one did their scouting, followed by group two, the focus shifted from information gathering to simple security. The night shift would have one group of two watch the back four cars while the other two watched the front four. As for the method of how to watch said cars at night… that was what needed to be figured out. So, after groups three and four attempted two different methods of surveillance, it was now the second night shift for the first group.

Shunso was sitting in his chair as he looked around the room. At the moment, he was in the sixth car (observatory) hallway as he looked over at his partner for the night, Chizure, who grabbed a stool from around. "So… if I may as Mioka-san… I'm not the only one bored, am I?"

This caused the forger to laugh a little before shaking her head. "No, I'm feeling a little bored as well. But then again… we're simply look out. Move to the seventh car in an hour?"

"Yep… man… personally, I have an idea of how to improve it but yeah… that can wait after we get some sleep after our shift." Shunso rubbed his eyes as Chizure gained a curious look… before smiling.

"Well… why don't we play a game?" This caused Shunso to stop and turn to Chizure with a raised brow. "Oh don't give me that look. We might as well do something to pass the time."

"…Fine." Shunso turned his chair to face Chizure as he raised a brow. "So… what are we gonna play?"

Chizure tapped her chin as she before she smiled. "How about 'Never have I ever'? We can even play it where we try to get points as we say stuff we have done." This caused Shunso look confused but shrug.

"Sure… first to three points or so?" "First to three points! You want to start?"

"Why not… never have I ever… stolen from a convenience store." This caused Chizure to blink a bit before shaking her head. Shunso raised his thumb as he could see the questioning look on the forger's face. "Was never really the most well off. When I was younger, I'd nick a bag of chips or a chocolate bar if I was hungry. Had to run away at times when I was caught."

This caused the forger to blink before laughing a little. "Mister Intelligence Officer used to be a bad boy huh?" Shunso just scoffed and gave a tired glare. "Oh shove it. Your turn Mioka-san."

"Very well… I'll stop. Hmmm… never have I ever… plagiarized a story." Shunso chuckled a bit before shaking his head. "Surprisingly enough, never did that. Never had the need to. Though to be fair, every student has most likely done it at some point."

Chizure smiled a little as she raised her own thumb. "Tie game now. Your turn!" "Alright… alright… hmmm…" Shunso pondered a bit more before shrugging. "Never have I ever had a single mother?"

Chizure gave a grin before she nodded, which caused Shunso to snap his fingers in frustration. "Darn. So we both get a point… what happens if we tie at three points?" "Hmmm… then sudden death until one of us says something the other hasn't?" Shunso just shrugged. "Eh. Doesn't matter to me."

"Then we'll do that. That is if I don't win here. How about… never have I ever worked with the police… wait." Shunso just stared at her and raised a finger before he laughed. Chizure just facepalmed and gave him a tired look. "…It's late at night… I'm not fully functional in the head at the moment."

Shunso just laughed for a little bit more before rolling his eyes. "Yeah yeah… anyways… I can win this sudden death easily. Never have I ever been thrown off a cliff."

This caused the forger to stop and look at Shunso in shock. "You were what?" Shunso looked at her confused before he stopped and looked away for a bit. He looked down and sighed. "…hour's up. Let's move on."

Needless to say, the mood took an awkward shift as they started to head onto the next car. Chizure looked at the intelligence in front of her as she spoke up. "…Do you… mind if I ask what you meant?"

"…Not now. I'm not in the mood to deal with this now." The forger nodded as she remained silent. And for the rest of the night, the two stood guard in silence.

A few days had passed, and it was late at night as Shunso headed towards the university lab as he was going to look around even more. However, what caught his eye was a familiar blonde-haired strategist grumbling at one of the tables. Raising a brow, he moved over and noticed her sitting in front of a chess board. "…Mind if I join in for a game?"

This pulled the strategist out of her grumbling as she nodded. "Sure." However, a grin then appeared on her face. "But are you so sure? Facing the Ultimate Strategist in a game of strategy?"

"Yeah." Shunso just shrugged. "It seems like it would be an interesting game. So why not?"

"…Oh." She sent a suspicious look at the intelligence officer before grabbing the board and flipping it around so she would be playing black. "…You start."

Shunso nodded as he moved in closer as he moved his first piece. And the two continued to play, Yokona spoke up. "…So why did you challenge me to a game of chess? Check."

The intelligence officer raised a brow and shrugged. "I mean… I've never got to play much but when I did, no one wanted to. I guess I'm just trying." He then moved a piece to take himself out of check.

Yokona gave him a glare as she scoffed. "I swear… you're too carefree." Seeing the confused look, Yokona continues. "Seriously… you're an intelligence officer, yet you seem very nonchalant about things. Not like the others but more… you have the knowledge and skills to be more serious, yet you aren't. It's irritating."

"…Well… I guess it's due to my career to be honest. Check." He looked the strategist straight in the eye as he shrugged. "I've been doing my job and been looking around every day for new clues or points I missed before. But there's not much to go off of and there's only so much I can do. I'm a guy in a fucking wheelchair…"

Shunso sighed and he rubbed his eyes a bit. "I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not being nonchalant… rather, I'm waiting. I keep doing what I can do but I still try and work on what I can. If you don't agree… then how do you think I should do it then?

This caused a smirk to grow on the girl's face. "Oh? Asking the master now. Fine… I'll say what I think." She moved her rook which took his bishop as she looked him dead in the eye.

"…You're being too kind to the others. Check. We've been kidnapped onto this train for a killing game. A game where people are going to backstab you. And yet, people are being… kind and putting belief in one another. You are too it seems. So, I'm expecting that someone is going to backstab you or one of the others. And when that happens, I'm going to say I told you so."

"…Ah. I get it." Shunso nodded as he moved his piece. Looking at the board, he chuckled lightly. "…To be honest… I see what you mean. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to spend time with the others. Rather… I'm playing the long game I guess…"

He slowly moved his chair back as he started to head to the exit. Yokona looked down at the board and sure enough… stalemate. She turned to the retreating intelligence officer with a slight glare. "I want a rematch!"

"…Another time Iwakiri-san. For now, I got other things to take care of." As he was heading towards the door however, he stopped and turned to look at the strategist. "Also… trust me when I say this… I'm not carefree… I just don't show it." And with that, he was off.

After a few more days, Shunso woke up to a knock at his door. Looking at the door confused, Shunso shuffled himself over to his wheelchair as he opened the door to find a familiar redhaired sidekick. "Heya!" …Shunso just closed the door slowly as Wally stopped it from closing. "Waitwaitwait!"

"…What is it Wilson-san? It's too early for this…" The sidekick chuckled weakly as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry… also, you can just call me Wally" Shunso just groaned and rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. "It's fine… now what is it you wanted to tell me Wilson-san?"

"Ah! Right! So, as you know, last night I was on night shift with my group, and I was with Takeshi as my partner. The girls took the back cars for the first half of the night as we took the front cars… when suddenly, idea!"

Shunso looked at him with a raised brow as he motioned him to continue. Wally had a massive grin on his face. "I thought, 'Hey! There's a bachelor pad as a room… soooo… why not have a guys night?' And that's why I came to you. Wanted to see if you wanted to stop by tonight for a guys night!"

The intelligence officer gave the sidekick a deadpan expression as he slowly closed the door once more. As the sidekick was going to leave, he heard a voice coming from the small gap in the door. "…What time?"

"…What? Oh! It's going to be at seven. Give us a few hours to hang out, game, and do all the usual stuff ya know?" All he got in return was the door fully closing on him.

After going back to sleep and doing the usual business of investigating, Shunso found himself outside of the lounge room in the fourth car. Opening the door, he saw Wally, Takeshi, Hastur, & Satoru, sitting around in beanbag chairs or on the couch in the room, surrounded by chips, pop, sweets, and other junk. Wally noticed Shunso entering and got up with a grin. "Ah! Kamata-san! You're here!"

Before he could say anything, Wally rushed over and grabbed Shunso's wheelchair and brought him into the middle of the room. "…Wilson-san…" "Come on man, I keep telling you, just call me Wally!"

Shunso groaned and shook his head. "Wilson-san… please don't grab my wheelchair without asking." Wally blinked before his eyes widened. "Oh! I'm so sorry man! Oh man, my bad."

The intelligence officer just rolled his eyes as he looked around. "Where are Huang-san, Minami-san, and Nishino-san?"

Hastur, who had been reading a book, looked up and smiled. "Well~ Our stoic leader wishes to have plenty of rest before our shift in the shadows while our poker player was tired. As for our therapist friend… apparently he adamantly refused to come."

Takeshi could be seen sitting there a little skittish with a bottle of water. "Wilson-san, Ginka-san, and I e-each tried… still the same response."

Shunso just shrugged and grabbed a pop as he looked around. The next few hours were filled with video games, card games, and just chatting with one another. Snacks and drinks emptied out and happiness at an all time high. The boys were laughing and having fun as Wally walked up to Shunso. "So… what do you think so far Kamata-san?"

"…It's… interesting." He looked around at the others with a small smile. "Never really had a 'guys night' before. So this is a new thing."

Wally chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Besides the Commander, I never really had a male friend. But even then… well…"

"More a mentor?"

"Bingo." Shunso chuckled at that response as he smiled. "…You know, I know what you mean Wilson-san. It's always been difficult with people my age. So… this has been a fun twist."

However, before Wally could respond, the nighttime announcement went off. Hastur would tell the others he would clean up and Wally would walk with Shunso back to the dorms as the sidekick would speak. "Man… told you a party was a great idea!"

As they were walking away, one person stopped and spoke out loud. "…a party…"

It was late at night, right before the nighttime, when a familiarly awful voice could be heard. "Upupupupupu! This is an announcement! It is almost 10 pm and officially nighttime! Entry to certain locations have will be locked soon so please head to your dorms! Entry to the locked locations once nighttime starts is strictly prohibited! Sweet dreams~… Is what I would say, but I have something more important to share! So please make your way down to the end car!"

This caused Shunso to raise a brow as he started to wheel himself to the end car. Some of the others passed him while he passed some, but either way, they all reached the end car where… there was no bear to greet them. A minute passed… then five minutes… and soon enough… an hour passed. Everyone was sitting down around on the floor, waiting for the bear to show up.

Kuniyoshi groaned as slowly stood back up. "Screw this… This dang bear isn't even here! Why the hell were we even called here?" "Well… it's attitude like that!"

And upon those words, Conductorkuma popped up from behind the judge's stand… with a large powdery wig underneath their conductor's cap. Everyone stared at the bear in confusion as they just continued on in a rant. "See! Nothing! No respect for your honourable judge, conductor, and overall BEARy handsome host… I swear… It's at times like these where I wonder what is wrong with the youth these days! No murders!? IT'S BEEN TWO WEEKS! This is a killing game! Instead you've been… chatting! Having parties! What the hell!?"

This caused a grin to appear on his face as Conductorkuma continued. "Butttt… I realized why! There are two large reasons as to why you're acting so… confidently. The first is that I've given you all too much power! None of you are willing to step up and actually follow through to kill someone! But we have a solution to thatttttt… Reason number two! A MOTIVE!"

Before any words could be said, a loud sound could be heard behind the group towards the strange four jail cells. Slowly, platforms rose up from the ground and in each cell was a different object. In the first cell was a pile of food boxes and cans. In the second cell was a sleeping bag and a pillow. In the third cell was a case of water and a case of pop. And in the final cell was… nothing.

Suddenly, parts of the wall opened up to show a large screen that turned on. On the screen showed a progress bar and a timer that had the numbers "07:11:59:59" and continue going down. Everyone turned to the bear in confusion as they simply laughed in wicked glee. "Put simply… that timer is now the law! The timer is split into days, hours, minutes, and seconds. So it's a total of eight days! And after every two days… a cell will be locked away… permanently. Including everything in it!"

They moved over the judge's stand and slammed down a gavel as if calling for order. "SO! From this point onwards, you will lose your power as I remove your privileges! And the only way to stop this is to murder! Upupupupupupupu!"

The ultimates were silent as the bear hopped back behind the stand and disappeared. Turning to the cells, Li Wei spoke up first. "Okay… the first step at hand is figuring out what these privileges at risk are. The first cell is showing… food… so that means we'll lose the ability to eat. The second is… most likely sleep. And the third is water…"

Takeshi nodded somberly as they spoke up. "Y-Yeah… I believe it's step up in a w-way to last as long as possible. A-A person can last between eight to twenty-one days without food… and people start to h-hallucinate after three to four days. As for water… we can only survive three days without it."

Shunso however, was looking at the last cell and rolled closer. He stared at it for a solid few minutes before he turned to the combat medic. "…how long can a person last without air?"

"…W-Without air? Only a few minutes before they would be decease-" The medic's eyes widened as he looked at the last cell with worry. "…O-Oh… oh no…"

The intelligence officer could only nod. "Yeah… the last privilege is the very air we breath. When that timer hits zero…"

…The Ultimates were silent. The game has changed once again… only this time… who knows how long they will last.

[Motive Drop – Loss of privilege]

[Time remaining: 07:23:53:44]

-TO BE CONTINUED-

16/16 REMAINING

Hello everyone! PurpleSweetness here!

…Ummmm… happy new year? Been a while? Okay. So, a few things first. Mainly why I haven't posted in a while… and the answer? Life.

University, other obligations, and much more. That combined with being stuck with my writing? Yeah… it's been a struggle… but here we are! The motive!

This motive was an interesting to come up and God, did I ever wanted to post this part so much… but no. I needed to finish. So, yeah. Here we are. The motive.

So… the struggles of how to move forward… I'm gonna try to do whatever I can? Like, I have ideas… so many ideas. But it may take a little long time. And I hope you'll stick around for this crazy train ride. I want to have people happy with my work and I do their characters justice but overall; I just hope you all enjoy this.

But… a big thing… I'm going to try and write as best as I can. If I don't play a character exactly, please let me know. But yeah… I'm going to try my hardest.

And with all that now said… That's all for now! I'll see you guys next time!

PurpleSweetness signing out!