The gymnasium had been quiet this morning.

Monokuma had made a speech, as energetic and triumphant as ever, declaring that a new area of the school had been unlocked after the incredible success of the first class trial. It didn't feel anything like a success, Makoto thought, and he could tell by the haunted eyes of his classmates that he wasn't alone in thinking that. What was there to feel successful about? Their deductions had led one of their classmates – someone who could very well have become their friend, had he been given the time to live – to his death. Makoto had never seen someone die before. Not in person, anyway.

Not with said someone exploding into fleshy pieces all over him with a shower of neon-pink blood, either.

The past twenty-four hours had been the worst he had ever experienced. Trapped in a high school from hell, forced to participate in twisted trials for his very survival. To think that this time last week his biggest concern had been making sure he had packed enough pencils for starting his first semester at Hopes Peak Academy. A school he had once looked at with admiration, and a place he now dwelled in with fear.

After Monokuma's speech there had been a series of little exercises led by the psychotic ursine headmaster. No one apart from Kiyotaka, who seemed to be trying his hardest to keep everyone's hopes alive, took part. No one cared. They ascended the newly accessible stairs in relative silence, still scarred from yesterday, unsure what to say to each other. Was there anything to say at all? Two people were dead. The odds were that more were still to come.

Makoto shook his head.

That wasn't something worth thinking about.

The day passed with relative ease, albeit with continued quietness. Some found the courage to start speaking again, but volumes were muted. Tones were quieter. Gazes were shiftier than ever. The night came simply enough, too. No deaths. No trials. Simply the voice of Monokuma announcing it was night over the monitors, before everyone made their ways to bed.

Waking up the next day, Makoto felt that a certain burden, however small, had been lifted. A day had gone by without a single death. That was still only a fifty-percent success rate considering how long they'd been here, but it was a small dose of hope that he vowed to hold onto for dear life. Maybe the events of two days ago were simply a one-off incident, he told himself, stepping out of the shower and getting dressed. Maybe seeing a classmate burst like a balloon was enough to quell anyone's appetite for murder.

Speaking of appetites… his stomach rumbled. Time for breakfast, it seemed.

Making his way down the red-lit dorm hallway, Makoto made his way towards the dining hall, taking care to give a cursory glance over his shoulder as he did so. No one was behind him. Phew.

Although, just as he approached the entrance to the room, from which the scent of fresh toast and cereal wafted out and ensnared his senses, a red-headed figure stumbled out, hand over his mouth. His skin verged on grey, his white-suited figure hunched over, eyes wide and watering.

Leon Kuwata looked like he might faint at any moment.

Makoto blinked. "Leon? Are you-"

The Ultimate Baseballer glared at him, quickly shaking his head as he stormed past, speed-walking to his room. The sound of him gagging and retching was as clear as a bell. For a moment, Makoto wondered why he hadn't just ran, considering it looked as if he was about to throw up, until a certain school rule surfaced in his mind. Ah. That was right. No running in the hallways.

He kept watching him, eyes glued on the sweat-soaked figure until he disappeared around the corner, seemingly heading to his room. With that, he was gone, and Makoto, still confused, made his way into the dining hall, where a handful of increasingly familiar faces greeted him.

"What's up with-"

"YOU'RE THREE MINUTES LATE!"

Makoto about had a heart attack on the spot, hand over his chest as he yelped in fright. There was Kiyotaka, brows furrowed over those furious red eyes, an accusing finger pointed right in the Ultimate Lucky Student's direction.

"Kiyotaka, it's too early to be shouting so loud," Asahina whined, currently halfway through a box of donuts. "It's only three minutes. Besides, he's one of the first people here! Cut him some slack."

The hall monitor looked back at her, and then back to Makoto. Straightening himself out, arms folding, he almost seemed at a loss for words until, at last, he sighed. "My apologies. I let myself be carried away." He shook his head. "Tardiness is still unacceptable, but… I'll let it pass this once."

That was a relief.

"Thank you," Makoto replied, making his way over to the table the others were gathered around and gingerly taking a seat. Chihiro, Asahina and Mukuro were the only others here besides Kiyotaka, who remained standing.

"Morning Makoto!" Asahina chimed.

"Uh… good morning," he replied. Confident that he could now ask without being interrupted, he waited a moment, before he repeated his earlier question. "What's up with Leon?"

Asahina shrugged, taking another bite of her donut. Her eyes trailed over to a bowl of cereal sitting abandoned at the other side of the table. Half-eaten, a used spoon sat at its side, the light residue of milk still clinging to it.

"He was fine and then suddenly he wasn't," she said matter-of-factly, but her eyes showed her concern. "He said the cereal tasted funny, but he kept eating it anyway. A few minutes later, he turned pale, said he felt sick, and walked out. Did you see him out there?"

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, he passed by me. I think he's gone back to his room."

Chihiro looked down at her own bowl, brows indicating her confusion. "My cereal tastes just fine," she said. "H-How about yours, Mukuro?"

Mukuro, seated at the very end of the table, had a filled bowl in front of her, but it clearly hadn't been touched. She didn't look at the girl asking her the question. As a matter of fact, she didn't look at anything at all. Her eyes, so light blue that they were almost silver, appeared empty as she stared down at the table. Expression blank, shoulders stiff, she barely acknowledged Chihiro's existence. Or anyone's, for that matter.

She had collapsed after the execution two days ago, and the effects were clearly still reverberating through her. Her sister was gone, and her killer's flesh had rained down upon her while a certain teddy bear chucked with hateful glee. To say she was visibly traumatised might have been the understatement of the century.

"I think maybe we should leave Mukuro alone for now," said Asahina, and Chihiro gave a sad little nod of her head.

"When did she get here?" Makoto asked, whispering.

Asahina shrugged again, also lowering her voice. "I'm not sure. She was the only one in here when we arrived, bowl already in front of her. She went through to the kitchen earlier, but she came out empty-handed. I don't even think she knows what she's doing, honestly. It's like… it's like she's lost." She glanced over at her again. "She hasn't taken a bite of her cereal. Hasn't said a word, either."

As the others arrived, the conversation shifted, but Mukuro remained in permanent silence at the end of the table, like a transparent ghost unsure of her time or her place. Talk of Leon, who didn't show his face again, dominated the discussion, all the while Kiyotaka continued to yell at the latecomers, none of whom really seemed to care.

The mood certainly uplifted from yesterday, the day went on, with further explorations of the new floor being launched. Not that there was much to see of course, apart from the library and the pool. Despite the new territory to explore, concerns over a certain baseballer continued to spread, until, late afternoon, Makoto found himself being approached by Sayaka.

"Ah, Makoto! I've been looking for you!"

"Sayaka! Is everything alright?" He asked, immediately worried, mind starting to race. Oh no. Had another body been found? Was someone else dead? Was Monokuma up to another trick?

To his relief, she nodded, a pleasant-as-always smile on her face. "Of course! Well, I mean… as okay as they could be, considering… you know..." she trailed off. Makoto didn't need an explanation. He knew exactly what she meant. Their situation. This school. That damned bear. She shook her head, apparently pushing out the thought. "I was wondering if you wanted to come and see Leon with me. I'm worried about him."

No-one had seen him since he dashed out of the dining hall earlier that morning. Under normal circumstances, it might not have been something to worry about, but in a situation like this… things were different. Very different.

Such was the reason the pair found themselves outside the red-head's door, having already knocked several times with no answer.

Knock-knock.

They waited.

Nothing.

Knock-knock.

More waiting.

Still nothing.

Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock.

Yet more waiting.

Yet more nothing.

Concerns increased, Makoto and Sayaka turned, already starting to leave. Leon wasn't there. Or, if he was, he was apparently in no condition to answer the door. What were they supposed to do? Who were they supposed to inform? Kiyotaka was perhaps the most likely option, being a prefect and all, but-

Click.

The pair of them turned, surprised to see the baseballer's door slowly open. A pale, trembling figure revealed himself in the doorway, lips parted and coated in saliva while pallid skin glistened with sweat. Leon had looked awful earlier, but he looked beyond terrible now. His breath was heavy, his eyes narrowed.

"Leon!" Makoto exclaimed.

"Sayaka… Makoto…"

"Are you okay?" Sayaka asked. "Everyone's been worrying about you. Apparently you walked out halfway through break-"

"I think I've… I've caught something dude," he uttered. "I felt fine when I woke up this morning, but I've spent most of today leanin' over a damned toilet bowl and… and…"

He brought a hand to his mouth, eyes widening again. He retched, glancing in the direction of the bathroom, before he slammed the door closed, shutting the pair out. It was difficult to tell what went on behind the sound-proofed closed doors of the dorms in the school, thought Makoto, but it didn't take a Clairvoyant to predict that he was throwing up again.

Another day came. Another shower was taken. Another set of clothes were hastily thrown on. Makoto yawned, stomach rumbling just like it did yesterday. Just like yesterday, he stepped outside his dorm, and made his way towards the dining hall.

Unlike yesterday, however, there was no baseballer stumbling past him looking like he might drop dead at any moment.

As he entered the dining hall, Makoto noticed that, just like yesterday, not everyone had arrived yet. Chihiro, Sakura and Asahina were all gathered together. Byakuya and Fukawa sat separate from the rest, silent between themselves. Kiyotaka, shoulders as rigid as usual, was currently demolishing a slice of toast with a starved mouth. Mukuro, just like yesterday, sat in the same spot. Heavy bags hung beneath her eyes.

Unlike yesterday, however, she yawned, blinking, clearly struggling to stay awake. It was the first sign of life Makoto had seen from her since the day of the execution. Had she slept at all, he wondered?

As Makoto struck up conversation with Sayaka, who arrived right behind him, the others began to show their faces. Celeste was next, hands neatly clasped in front of her as she walked, with Mondo appearing not long after her. Kyoko was next.

"No sign of Leon?" Makoto asked Asahina, who shook her head, already working her way through today's batch of donuts.

"Nope," she replied. "Sakura was here before any of us and she said she didn't see him, either."

"Do you think we should be concerned?" Sayaka asked, a cautious hand placed over her mouth.

"You did see him yesterday, right?" Said Asahina. "With how ill he looked, I wouldn't be surprised if he's not feeling up to breakfast. The donuts are sorta stale today, too, so I don't blame him for skipping it."

Yet, as Makoto looked around the table, something didn't feel quite right. There was something missing. A certain something that he couldn't place. He scanned the table again, from the cross-legged Byakuya to the exhausted-looking Mukuro, eyes narrowing as he tried to figure it out.

"I'm not amused," said a black-clad figure across the table. Celeste rolled her eyes. "I had been hoping for a chicken-and-vegetable dish for breakfast this morning, but the frozen chicken I saw in the kitchen a couple of days ago is gone. An entire piece of meat has vanished, and now there's none left. Who took it?"

No one seemed to have any idea, and neither did anyone seem to really care.

"Didn't Monokuma say that the food supply would always be fully stocked?" Asked Chihiro, her voice as tentative and anxious as always. "Surely there's more."

Celeste glared at her, looking like she could snap at any moment, but she managed to keep her calm. "No," she said. "There is no more. The last chicken vanished. It was there two days ago and it is gone now. So, I'll ask again… who took it?"

Shrugs all around. Yet again, no one had any idea.

Makoto wondered what part of her expected the chicken to wait for her for an entire two days.

"The dread-head isn't here yet," said Celeste. "Perhaps I'll ask him when he arrives."

Oh! That was it! That's what was missing!

Makoto turned to the others. "Has anyone seen Yasuhiro?"

One classmate turned to another, who then turned to another, and then to another. A myriad of shaking heads, of puzzled expressions, and shrugging shoulders. A lack of Leon, as Asahina had said, made sense. Yasuhiro, on the other hand? He had no reason not to be here.

There it was.

That sinking feeling in his gut.

That awful, terrible sensation that something unbelievably bad was on the horizon. Something that none of them, no matter how hard they tried, would be able to avoid.

"You don't think…?" Mondo trailed off, worry crossing his face.

Celeste shook her head. "I don't think there's any reason to panic. I'm sure he's perfectly fine."

"How do you know that?" Said Sayaka. "How can we be sure? What if..."

"Don't say it," said Asahina, setting down the treat in her hand as the situation seemed to dawn upon her, that same anxious feeling apparently sweeping the room one-by-one. "No. He can't be."

"Instead of panicking," called the smug voice of Byakuya from the rear of the room, "why don't you all go and check his room? I expect you have brains. Use them." He rolled his eyes, promptly turning his back to them all. Fukawa did the same.

Glances were exchanged. A handful of figures, Makoto and Sayaka included, rose from their chairs, wasting no time in making a quick exit, heading to the dorm of the Ultimate Clairvoyant.

Moments later, they were knocking on the door.

They received no answer.

So they tried again. No answer.

Again, they tried. And again. And again.

Still no answer.

The sinking feeling in Makoto's gut was only exacerbated by that lack of response. Yet just when he thought it couldn't possibly grow any more intense, Mondo was pounding on Leon's door. He, too, received no reply whatsoever. Sayaka advised the biker to wait, telling him of how long it took the baseballer to answer the door yesterday.

One minute turned to two. Two minutes turned to five. Leon didn't respond.

With that, Makoto could taste his own heartbeat. It tasted of copper, and it rattled uncontrollably. There was a feeling of powerlessness that swept over him – an awful realisation that there was nothing he could do right now but sit around and wait. Perhaps the pair of them were fine. Perhaps they weren't. It was that uncertainty – that total lack of knowledge – that scared him the most.

There was every chance that the pair of them could turn the corner right now, perfectly happy and entirely fine. Likewise, there was every chance that they might never turn the corner again.

The only truth that could be ascertained right now was that neither of them were in their dorm rooms. So the question was…

...where were they?

When Makoto woke up that morning, he hadn't expected the creation of a search party. Yet a search party had indeed been created, established for the sole purpose of finding the two missing classmates. Breakfast had finished a tad earlier than usual, sacrificed for the greater good of recovering the lost pair safe and sound.

It was decided that the class would split into pairs and cover certain sections of the school each. Makoto and Sayaka had been given the duty of checking the second floor hallway and the classrooms on that floor. Byakuya and Fukawa had been given the pool and the changing rooms, Mondo and Kiyotaka had been given the library while Kyoko and Celeste had been given the much more tiring duty of covering the entire first floor of the school, along with Chihiro and Asahina. Sakura, meanwhile, had volunteered to keep watch on Mukuro in the dining hall, considering the Ultimate Soldier's current state.

Makoto wasn't sure how long he and Sayaka had been repeatedly walking through the hallway, entering and re-entering classrooms, practically patrolling in circles in the hopes that something might change. Desperately praying that a familiar set of red-hair or a giant bird's nest of upwards dreads might appear. Of course, they had no such luck, and the tension in the air was only building more and more by the second.

Searching the same classroom for the fourth time, currently chatting to Sayaka about the outside world, and what their plans were for when they escaped this hellish place, Makoto quickly stopped in his tracks. He fell silent, eyes turning to a cabinet in the back of the classroom. The clear sound of movement could be heard inside. Light scratching and rumbling around.

Makoto turned to Sayaka.

Sayaka turned to Makoto.

He moved forward, focused on the steel doors of the cabinet. "Leon? Yasuhiro? Are you in there?"

He received no reply.

"Guys?"

Nothing.

He stretched out his arm, reaching forward, preparing to open the door, when-

"RAAAAARRRRRRGGH!"

The doors of the cabinet burst open, a growling voice roaring from inside as the figure the voice belonged to bounded out into freedom.

"A-AAH!"

Makoto cried out, falling back, his rear hitting the floor as Sayaka let out a wail.

It wasn't the Ultimate Clairvoyant, and it wasn't the Ultimate Baseballer. Instead, standing at a mighty two feet tall, was the black-and-white menace himself, paws on his hips, that permanent smile etched into his face.

"Wa-ha-ha-ha-ha! You should see the look on your faces right now! I really got you there, didn't I? Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

Makoto rose to his feet, frowning at the mechanical incarnation of evil. "Monokuma..."

"The one and only, buster!" He chuckled to himself again, paws in front of his mouth. "Glad to see I didn't give you folks a heart attack. That would've been a really boring way to take you outta the game. Or maybe not! Death-by-heart-attack-by-teddy-bear sounds like a preeeeeetty memorable way to go bye-bye, dont'cha think?"

"What do you want?" Said Sayaka from behind Makoto, voice trembling in the little monstrosity's presence. "Can't you see that we're busy?"

The bear gave them a looking over, pausing in what appeared to be some sort of contemplation.

"Busy, huh? What kind of busy? Are we talkin' savin' your friends busy? Or are we talking BUSY busy?"

It was obvious what the bear was implying. Makoto refused to justify with a response.

"Jeeeeez, lighten up, will you? I'm only messing with you! If I wanted to see BUSY busy I'd be in the library watching straight-laces and biker boy argue with each other. They're arguin' right now, sure, but it's only a matter of time before they break the tension and get down to the good stuff, if ya know what I mean!" He let out another over-joyed cackle.

Makoto did not, in fact, know what he meant.

And nor did he care to.

"Leave us alone," he said to the bear.

Monokuma's hopes and dreams were obliterated in that very moment, it seemed, judging by just how heartbreaking his sigh was. He bowed his head, sheepishly kicking his feet against the ground. "Awwwww… and I was just about to tell you where your friends were, too…"

"Wait," said Sayaka, "what? You know where they are?"

Monokuma nodded. "Of course I do! What sort of headmaster doesn't know where his own students are? I was gonna tell you alllllll about where they are and what they're doing too, but… well… you said you wanted me to leave you alone." He sighed again. Truly an Oscar-worthy performance.

"No, wait," said Makoto, "tell us. Where are they?"

"No, no, no, I heard you the first time," the bear countered, sighing one last time. "You want me to leave you alone… even though I was just trying to help."

"Wait, don't go!"

It was too late.

The bear was gone.

Ultimately, the search came to its conclusion. Byakuya swore he had searched every inch of the pool, and every corner of the dressing room. He had gone into the males' changing room, Fukawa into the females' (after all, he said, they preferred to avoid the wrath of the gun fixed over the doors). His search had been thorough, and it had uncovered nothing.

Kiyotaka and Mondo reported the same results. Their body language suggested that, just as Monokuma said, they had spent most of their time together butting heads and, most likely, outright arguing with each other.

Asahina and Chihiro found nothing. Kyoko and Celeste were in the same boat. Sakura had kept watch over Mukuro in the dining hall, who hadn't said a word the entire time.

With that, today's search was concluded.

Leon and Yasuhiro, it seemed, had vanished from the face of the earth.

With no choice left, Makoto and the others retired to their rooms that night, not a single one of their questions answered.

None of them slept soundly.

Another day came. Another breakfast endured. Still no sign of Leon, and no sign of Yasuhiro, either. It had been two days now since Leon abandoned his cereal and stumbled to his room. The more time stretched on, the more the uncertainty increased.

The atmosphere in the dining hall that morning was unmistakably grim. The main topic of conversation, of course, was about the whereabouts of the missing classmates, and if there were any other rooms or areas left in the school to be searched.

Had they really checked every nook and every cranny? Had they looked under ever table? In every cabinet? It just wasn't possible for two students to simply up and vanish into thin air in a school like this, was it? A school with steel plates on every exit and only two floors available to explore. How could anyone get lost in a place like this?

Breakfast, like yesterday, was rushed. Again, the same rooms were issued and the same pairs stuck together (to the vocal disagreement of a certain prefect and a certain biker).

Makoto climbed the stairs to the second floor, Kiyotaka and Mondo not too far behind him, ready for another day of investigating. Sayaka had said she would meet him a little later today, considering she had managed to sleep in and still hadn't found the time for breakfast. For now, it seemed, he was on his own.

"People like you need to learn respect for authority, and basic respect for order and decency!" Came the voice of Kiyotaka, barking at Mondo down the hallway.

"Do you ever shut up? Jeez, it's non-stop with you, ain't it?"

The back-and-forth only continued between them. Makoto, on the other hand, kept climbing the stairs in silence.

Step.

Step.

Step.

The last few steps were ahead of him now. He was almost there. Almost on the second floor at last, and-

Makoto gagged, coughing at a foul scent hit him like a ton of bricks. Hand covering his mouth and his nose, he stopped in his tracks. What was that smell? How could something smell so bad?

Braving the last few steps, he continued onwards, reaching the landing of the second floor. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary minus the suffocating scent drifting down the corridor. Everything seemed fine.

Until he turned and stared down the hallway.

Makoto Naegi had come to Hope's Peak Academy with, true to the name of the school, a heart filled with hope. When Leon and Yasuhiro had gone missing, in spite of all the worries and fears and anxieties running through his head at speeds that ought to have been illegal, he had tried to remain hopeful. He was certain that the situation, as tense and nerve-wracking at it was, would end with a happy sigh of relief.

The world around him seemed darker now as he looked down the hallway, his vision darting to and fro, from point to twisted point. Scratching sounds and wailing filled his head; a pollution of noise banging and crashing around, ruining his focus from anything else but the despair that lay ahead.

Ghostly skin. Jet black bruises. A little flash of neon-pink. Red hair and a white jacket. Brown dreads and a flowing olive green coat. Both of them lying side by side, face down, right in the middle of the hallway.

Leon Kuwata and Yasuhiro Hagakure, reeking with what could only have been the very beginning stages of decomposition, were dead.

The situation had ended, alright.

But it hadn't concluded with the happy sigh of relief that Makoto had hoped for.

Instead, it had ended with a scream.