Mists of Penjar

by The Kobold Necromancer

Graduated students of Hope's Peak Academy want to know how Despair was able to spread so fast and ruin so many lives. In an abandoned town known as Penjar, where windless mist creeps down old streets, they have come to find the answers. But Despair, and its Kubs, still have plans even in this seemingly forgotten place. [Part 1 Spin-Off of Crit Fail's Legacy of Despair Series.]

21. Chapter 3-4: Case 3 Investigations

Chapter 3-4

The Dark Depths of History

---

"Ever since I was young, I have always been interested in the past, the history of Japan, of the entire world. There's a lot of material to go over when you study that, but when I was accepted to Hope's Peak, I found that it had a rich and intricate history of itself.

"Though as I tried to dive more and more into the history of Hope's Peak, the more the staff, my classmates, the spirit of the academy itself, reminded me of something important: while the past is certainly worth looking at, the future is just as if not more important. And when I focused on my future, on everything this grand academy was giving me, I felt… so very fulfilled.

"It is the happiest I have been, to not only study history, to graduate as a historian, but also to be a part of history. Now it's time for me to go ahead and not only make it, but make my future. And I wish for all of you to do the same thing, because I believe in all of you!"

-Shinobu Takahashi's graduation speech

---

Day 10, 10:11 AM

Science Lab

Organic Creation Room

The terrible sight of Shinobu's body, impaled on rebar and slumped on the wet floor, was made all the more awful by how the emergency red lights didn't stop flickering. It was like the power itself was trying to make the scene more unnerving to those there.

The Body Discovery Announcement happened shortly after 9:30 AM, so people were already up and dressed. Some of them were there almost right after the BDA, having sprinted to the lab. Most of them arrived over time, confused at first and then horrified at the sight of her dead body.

Though as the humans collected in the building, and the Monokubs walked about to assess the damage, the one who could still be called both sprinted into the lab. He was screaming, with tears rolling down his eyes, as Drake and Ignatia tried to catch up with him.

"Shinobu," Taro cried, racing through the building so fast that he almost collided with several people. Some of them tried to stop him from rushing in, but he couldn't be stopped, until he saw her body.

Taro stood in place, in front of her body, until he fell to his knees in front of her. He sobbed, reaching out to her, until Saiko stopped him.

"Please don't touch her body," the forensic investigator declared as she attempted to hold him back. "You'll ruin any evidence."

"I don't care!" Taro wailed, as Isaac had to come in and help Saiko hold him back. "Shinobu! Why?! Why did this happen? I… I…

"The… the tanks! Put her body in the tanks, we can…"

The white 'n red-topped young man glanced up at the containment tanks, only to have his hopes as shattered as they were. Taro shivered, and then he sobbed wretchedly more.

"Wh-why?" he screamed as he clung to Isaac, heaving as the emotions appeared to overtake him. "Why would… why did this happen to her? Shinobu… I'm… I'm so sorry! I AM SO SORRY!"

Isaac had to pull Taro from the room, holding him up as he was able to stand on his own, overcome with grief. The reporter helped him walk out of the ravaged lab room, down the hallway, and into the main lobby. As he placed Taro in one of the chairs, the Monokubs all stared up at him.

"Oh come on, buddy," Monosuke declared, "youse only knew her two days!"

"It was ten days total, actually," Monophanie said. "I mean, that's true, right? I think it is… how long have they been here?"

"What? Are you losing your bear memory too?" Monokid hollered, holding up a new guitar and strumming it behind his back. "That's his thing! Or it would be, if he were a BEAR again! Like he SHOULD be!"

"STOP-INSULTING-OUR-BROTHER," Monodam ordered. "HE-IS-IN-MOURNING. THAT-IS-NOT-HOW-YOU-GET-ALONG-YOU-BASTARD."

Monokid snarled, and swung his guitar overhead towards Monodam. The instrument smashed against the green Kub, breaking in two as Monodam fell down. "OW."

"Don't you tell me what to fucking do, ya putz! You pansy! Taro should be one of us again! Why isn't he?"

"That's a very good question," Monokuma, entering the lab while wearing a lab coat that fit on his bear body, said. He had a clipboard and a pen, and was taking notes. "Why isn't my favorite son an adorable Kub again? Tricky, very tricky tricky!"

"Daddy, what do you mean 'favorite'?" Monophanie protested, clasping her paws on her face. "You cannot play favorites! That's not right!"

"Why is he youse's favorite anyway?" Monosuke said, fanning himself with money. "Did he do something that I could do to be your favorite? Come on, Pops, spill the beans-"

Monokuma growled, as he dropped the clipboard and pen. He reached behind himself, and pulled out what looked to be some kind of medical uzi, as in it was a gun that had hypodermics as ammunition.

"Stop being so competitive, and let your father," he said as he cocked the medical gun, "have his moment!"

Numerous hypodermics were shot, the Kubs scattering as well as the humans who were standing in the main lobby. Monokuma chased after his Kubs, with the hypodermics sticking out from all of them.

"Yeow! Pops, that was not medicine," Monosuke protested.

"Ohhhh, that's the good shit, right there," Monokid slurred, slumping onto his back and making drug-addled noises.

"Eek! Daddy, I thought you were anti-vax!" Monophanie protested.

"…" contributed Monodam, who had needles sticking in his eyes as he stood motionlessly.

For the humans, this display of callousness was ignored for the most part. Most of them had gathered in the hallway, as they contemplated what was going on.

"Where's Fiora?" Kimiko asked quietly, glancing at the others.

"There's an office behind the main desk," Crystal said, "and we put her on the sofa in there. Yitro and Yejoon are watching over her. Why?"

The biker gang leader held up a soaked fedora. "This was in that lab room. I thought I should give it to her, eh."

"Yeah, give it to her," Emanuel snarled. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, exuding a kind of fury that the others could feel. "Like we'll need to give it to her later when she wakes the fuck up."

"Oh for God's sake," Anzu declared, glaring at him, "don't start that now-"

"She is the main suspect, and none of you can doubt that," the detective snapped. He pointed into the lab room, towards Shinobu's body. "She was only a few yards away from Shinobu. Who else?"

"It's far too early to jump to conclusions," Hara said, her voice calm as she watched Saiko from afar. "Maybe… maybe we should consider splitting up, searching this science lab in all the areas, as well as other areas of importance."

"Are we allowed?" Aka asked, glancing back into the main lobby as Monokuma finished up his medical dart attack on his own children. "Don't we have to wait to get permission?"

Kimiko walked out of the hallway, to the office room, not waiting for an answer. Hara took a deep breath, as she surveyed the others, the crime scene, poor Shinobu's body.

"Listen, I know I'm not Isaac when it comes to these things," she said, "but I understand how these work by now, and… though it hurts…"

She clasped her hands over her heart, as she continued, "Shinobu was a friend to a lot of us, she wasn't someone I think any of us had problems with. She always wanted to help us, so we should help her."

"She was always so curious," Ken spoke, staring in the opposite direction from her body, "about Novoselic. So inquiring, but always so polite and well-mannered."

Eisei hung his head, running a hand through his hair as he muttered, "We truly lost a good soul here. I feel so responsible…"

"Hey, standing around feeling bad about it," Futaba said, facing them, "isn't going to bring her back to life, or solve this mystery. We need to work together, like we've done before, and find out who or what killed her."

"Though it should be obvious," Emanuel added, glaring in the direction of the science lab's office.

The graduates were silent after this, wondering what the next step was. The feelings of doubt, sorrow, and suspicion were starting to fester in all of them. None of them wanted to think about who could have done this, and even the concept of how and why were stumping them.

"What's got you all so upset?" Monokuma said, marching up to them, his lab coat billowing behind him from the wind blowing in from outside. He held up his medical dart gun, as he continued to speak in that mocking, sadistic voice that made all of the graduates shiver given then circumstances. "I'm the one who should be most upset!

"After all, it was MY science lab that has been wrecked! I'm never going to get the deposit back on the supercomputers or the building or the life-creating containment tanks! Argh! Oh well, looks like I can always turn into a historical site. It already has a piece of that pinned up, now doesn't it? Phuhuhuhuhuh!"

"Bastard," Ishiku spat out.

"Little freak show," Souma replied, crossing his arms.

"Monokuma, we're not really in the mood for your usual cruel humor," Shuuya remarked, staring down at the bear. The two locked in eye contact, as if they were daring the other to try something. "Do we have permission to officially start the investigation?"

"Seems to me you already started," Monokuma remarked, glancing down the hallway to observe Saiko inside of the destroyed containment tank room. "Hey, short stuff! No jumpstarting the investigation! Upupupu, ironic, considering…"

"Hey!" The bounty hunter/assassin reached down, grabbed Monokuma by the stuffing in his chest, and lifted him up. He glared into the evil eyes of the despair bear, and thus there was fear into the puppet's returning stare. "When can we start the investigation, exactly?"

"Upupupu… now I see why you are an assassin. I may have peed a little, but since I'm a doctor now, I'll consider it a urine sample…"

"When." Shuuya slammed Monokuma up against the wall, pressing with his arm. "Can. We. Investigate?"

"Eeek, don't hurt Daddy," Monophanie shrieked from the hallway's entrance. The pink Kub was decorated with syringes that stuck in her metal body. "He's a man of medicine right now!"

"He'sh Doctor Feelshgood," Monokid slurred from down on the floor.

Shuuya ignored them, and stared down Monokuma. The bear chuckled nervously again, and then responded, "Well, Shuuya, since you have pushed the point, I wanted to say that none of you have had breakfast, but if you're so keen to start…"

"We are," he responded.

"Then you have to wait fifteen minutes for my now adrenalized Kubs to go get you all some breakfast bars! Upupupupu-URK!"

The assassin pressed the bear against the wall with certain force. "You don't want to test me, Monokuma," Shuuya hissed, his red eyes flashing in fury.

"Oh, what good has killing me ever done you all? You sure put on a good show, but remember that I'm still in control. And if you want to do an investigation over your friend's dead body, you really should get some food in your bellies.

"Though I gotta say, you do make so mad that you foiled my plans, Shuuya," Monokuma said, putting his paws on his hips in a pout. The Monokubs were scurrying out of the building, syringes dropping off of their body as they went. "I had originally hoped to see who tried to leave my precious lab first… because I want to know who ruined it."

"Why not ask the unconscious puta in the office?" Emanuel remarked, raising an eyebrow at the bear. "She was the only one in here other than Shinobu."

"Oh, I would, but she's UNCONSCIOUS, ya dingus!"

---

Fiora was sitting in the corner of a room, shivering as she wrapped her arms around her legs and pulled them up against her chest. She glanced around the classroom she was now in, observing how unusual it was.

The vines were all over the ceiling and the far wall. With the wicked red lights shining in the room, the plants were curling and moving, as if it gave them special strength.

With a heavy sigh, the movie maker glanced up at Mahiru, who was sitting in the desk next to her. "What's going on?" she asked Fiora.

"What do you mean by asking me that?" Fiora snapped, glaring up at her. "I'm in some freaky warped universe where there are evil plants in some twisted version of Hope's Peak, as the man who tried to kill me once is doing it a'geen!"

"That wasn't a man on the intercom. Is that what you heard?"

Fiora stared at Mahiru, and then nodded. "What, you heard a woman?"

"Yes, a woman who is far worse than anyone you can possibly imagine."

"Why do you have to be so cryptic?"

Mahiru sighed, and leaned back in her chair. She stared at the chalkboard in this classroom, which also had Monokuma sketches, as well as stupid expressions, drawn in colored chalk. "Fiora, I'm afraid that my memory is spotty, even during the times of clarity."

"Well, what do you knoo', if I may ask? Please, I knoo' I should be pissed or scared, or so scared I piss, but with everything I've heard a'boot you…"

"What?" Mahiru asked, staring wide-eyed at her. "Did Eisei tell you all about me?"

"Huh? Eisei saw you?"

The photographer rubbed her forehead, and muttered, "Gosh, I am so ashamed right now. But Fiora, you cannot be shivering on the floor like that, because you're going to have to take care of yourself here. No one else can do that, no boys willing to step up and help out."

"Why does it gotta be boys?"

"Don't you know that-"

Mahiru stopped suddenly, and gripped her forehead with both hands. With the pained cry she let out, Fiora stood up and walked over to her. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asked the photographer, intrepidly rubbing her shoulder.

"I'm… I'm sorry, but the more this realm changes, the more agonizing it gets for me."

The photographer shivered, and Fiora could sense the pain she was in. She reached down and pulled the redheaded photographer up, and pulled her in for a close hug. "It's okay. Listen, I'm here fur you, okay?"

"FIORA!"

The blaring, shrieking voice from the intercom startled the two women. Fiora could definitely distinguish this as a female now.

"When I find you, I'm so going to make you pay! You turned my playground into some weird, warped version of it by your very presence!

"And it's fucking rad," the same woman, though with a totally different personality and tone, continued to rant, "how it looks now! Like if I wanted to redesign Hope's Peak, maybe we should call this fucking Despair's Peak! Hahaha!"

"Okay, ignore the psycho hose-beast," Fiora said to Mahiru, holding her close. "Joost talk to me, okay?"

"I… I'll try. Fiora, you should know that because you were forced into an unconscious state, that's why you are here. That's why Kimiko could be here a second time…"

Fiora rubbed Mahiru's shoulders, and looked into the girl's eyes. "Wow, this is so freaking bizarre. But I need to ask, where exactly is this place?"

"It's another realm, between life and death. I'm trapped here, as well as someone else, or maybe more than one other."

"Wait, what? Are all the victims of Hope's Peak here?"

"I don't know, I see them in so many different forms, so many times, so many… many deaths…"

Mahiru took deep breaths, shaking, but managing to keep her calm. She stared into Fiora's eyes, as she continued.

"And… I think it's my fault."

"What?!"

The world shook, with sound so loud it left nothing but a ringing in Fiora's ears. She was knocked down again, a blast making her hit the floor. The movie maker held Mahiru tightly, trying to prevent her from being hurt.

When she glanced over Mahiru's shoulder, she noticed a good portion of the wall had been blown away. Outside was bathed in a dark version of the hateful red light, like nighttime was illuminated by the moon shining the same kind of apocalyptic end times scenario down on them. (That was how Fiora thought it was, her description, not ours.)

Metallic clanks and heavy impacts could be heard outside. The sound of missiles launching came, and then an explosion rocked the building as another room was eviscerated by a blast.

"Where are you hiding, Fiora?!" the woman on the intercom demanded to know.

"Okay, time to move," Fiora remarked, helping Mahiru up. "Let's find a safe spot from the evil, omnipotent woman and her missile launchers!"

"N-nothing phases you, does it?" Mahiru muttered as she clung to Fiora, trying to find strength in her legs.

"After the last couple days I've had, what I heard, what I learned… little else could phase me, eh."

---

The Monokubs had returned with breakfast bars, bottles of milk and canned coffee. As unusual as it was, no one was going to argue or protest the quick type of breakfast. An empty waste bin behind the main desk was packed full with the wrappers, bottles, and cans shortly after.

"Very well then," Monokuma said, pacing back and forth in front of the entrance to the containment tank room. His paws were kicking up water, and the brim of his doctor coat was soaked. "You've all had food and drink, and I think we're almost good to go."

"Any additional rules?" Saiko asked, crossing her arms as she stared down the bear. "You seem so insistent that we don't venture outside."

"Oh, it's perfectly alright to go outside," the bear said in a way that implied that it probably wasn't alright. "I mean, I cannot stop you. So, let's see if we can find the answers to this tourist murder and the far more important issue of who blew up my lab! Now…"

INVESTIGATION START!

Saiko turned towards the group, but she was mostly addressing Hara. "I'm going to start inspecting Shinobu's body. Any help would be appreciated."

As the short lady walked off towards the containment tank room, some of the others stared at Hara in confusion. "Are you in charge?" Eisei questioned, raising one of his violet eyes.

"I… I can give suggestions," the explorer said, nervously wringing her hands. She stopped when she took a deep breath, and said, "Let me help us all out and get some organization in this."

"Oh fuck that," Emanuel snapped, glaring at her. "I'm not going to stand around and wait to be filed off. I'm investigating that room, and that's final."

As he stormed towards the room, Hara glanced over at the others. Before she could speak, Ishiku said, "Yeah, sorry, I need to check out something upstairs, so I cannot stick around here."

The magician walked off, but before he made it to the stairs, he noticed Monophanie standing among the Kubs. "Fannie… I mean, Monophanie, can you come with me?"

"Ugh, seriously?" Aka scoffed. "You're still after her, when she's like that?"

"Haha," Blake said with a snide grin. "You fucked that thing, you weird sicko."

Ishiku glared at them, but said nothing as Monophanie scurried over to him. The two walked upstairs, despite the jeering and snickering that was coming from humans and Kubs alike.

"I think we're messing around too much here," Hara said, crossing her arms as she kept herself calm. "Drake, Ignatia, Eisei, Souma, please help Saiko in that room where… where Shinobu is.

"Odelios, Aka, Anzu, can you help upstairs with Ishiku? We should go through the other large rooms in this lab. For the chemistry lab on the other side of this building, the following should go there: Blake, Kimiko, Futaba, Pyrrha, and Crystal."

She glanced around, and said, "Some of us should go outside to investigate… if you are all okay with that?"

"I can do that," Ken said, raising his hand. "However, I'd be more comfortable with someone by my side, an extra pair of eyes never hurt."

"I can do that," Hikari said, smiling over at the Novoselic cavalryman. "We may find something rather important out there."

"That might be what Monokuma doesn't want, so be careful," Shuuya said to them, eyeing the bear who was watching them all. "If he doesn't want us to find something, it's a safe bet that it is something crucial."

"I think everyone is good to go now," Hara said, with a confident smile. "Allow me to check with Isaac on anything else we should look, but let's do this. For Shinobu, and for our survival, everyone!"

The groups left in their designated areas. Hara walked over to Isaac and Taro, the latter still utterly miserable. The explorer frowned in concern, and glanced at her fiancé. "Do you want me to talk to him?"

"If you could," Isaac said as he stood up. He pat Taro's shoulder, but the young man didn't acknowledge it; he was too busy staring at the ground, covering his wet, red eyes. "He's been inconsolable thus far, though."

"He lost someone he cared about," Hara reasoned. She looked around the lobby, noticing Monosuke and Shuuya were also in the room. The explorer leaned in and whispered to Isaac, "You think it's genuine?"

"I know how to read people, even those who have been corrupted with Despair," he replied quietly. "If you could get a second opinion, and also find out anything you can from him, that would be wonderful."

Hara nodded, and kissed him before he left for the containment tank room. The explorer sat down next to Taro, who only regarded her for a second before staring down at the floor again.

"I don't know what to do," Taro whimpered.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, but know we're going to do everything we can find her killer," she assured him. "But please, anything you can think of would greatly help us out here."

"That's the problem, I cannot," Taro muttered bitterly. "I'm a human still, I'm not part of the loop, as it were. You see, when I am a robot, I know what is going on, I know the answer to these things…

"It's like input is uploaded into my head, even if I'm constantly forgetting things. Like, I'm sure I'd forget your name if I were a Kub, but I know your name is Hara."

Taro stared at Monosuke, who was in a staring contest with Shuuya. "My brother probably knows what happened, he'll probably be of more help than me. Though I doubt he would even if he could give details."

Hara regarded Taro, watching his eyes, his body language. "Taro, why did you care so much about Shinobu?"

The red 'n white-topped young man wiped at his eyes, and said, "Because she actually cared about me. I… I didn't think that was possible. As long as I have been conscious, for so very long, I only had thoughts about responsibility, of Penjar, of my amnesia…"

"You had memories of forgetting stuff?"

"Yes, that was something that Shinobu and I talked about. You see, I don't know why, but I've always been forgetful, but I've always been dedicated. She and I would talk about that, she wanted to know more about me, and she was so nice…"

Taro sniffled as he thought back to Shinobu. "I wanted to learn as much as I could about her. The more I learned about her, the more I wanted to never to forget her. She became my reason for becoming… a better person!"

"What?!" Monosuke snapped, losing the staring contest to glare at Taro. "That's blasphemy, and youse know better than that! Our purpose is to better Penjar, to help Father, to keep this Killing Game going!"

Taro frowned at his orange Kub brother, and replied, "I don't ever want to be a robot again. I won't ever forget Shinobu."

"Yeah, yeah, big time emotions because you're in a human's body. But just remember, youse are obligated to do this! Youse cannot resist the call of your calling!"

The red 'n white topped young man winced and refused to look at his brother anymore. Hara tried to get the conversation away from Monosuke, by asking Taro, "So why are you human and they aren't?"

"Yesterday, I was told by Father that I was changing back to a human today, at 10 AM," Taro explained, his voice growing weary from emotion. "I couldn't disobey that, I had to go. It is… complicated, I know." *TRUTH BULLET*

"But you cannot now that the containment tanks have been destroyed?"

"Yes, until Father gets them fixed, I cannot be put back into my original body, as Monotaro," Taro explained. "I guess it'll have to wait until this trial is over."

"Youse said youse got to go back to normal at 10 AM?" Monosuke asked, staring at his brother. "That's weird, I was told I had to go at 8 AM."

Taro glanced at his brother, then went back to talking to Hara. "That's news to me, actually. I had no idea that we had different schedules." *TRUTH BULLET*

Hara intertwined her fingers as she stared at Taro. "Why did Shinobu want to stop that?"

Taro stared down at the floor, then spoke. "She wanted to do something about my condition, she said that she didn't want me to be a slave anymore to my Father, to Penjar."

"That sounds like her. She was highly compassionate, from what I saw."

Taro stood up and said, "Here, why don't I show you what she got her so excited about this plan… I wasn't even sure she was going to do something like this until I found out about her."

The young man glanced down the long hallway, unable to see Shinobu's body clearly, but knowing she was there. He sighed, then added, "I don't want anyone else to forget about her either."

Hara stood up as well, smiling at him. "Please show me, it might help us all."

"I'm going with you," Shuuya commented. "No sense in standing around here."

The three of them left the science lab, as Monosuke stood there, baffled. He crossed his arms, and shouted, "Well fine! Leave me here all alone, why don't youse? I don't mind monitoring the lobby! I'll be the secretary!"

He waddled over to the chair, and sat down in it, spinning around lazily. That's when the office door opened up…

---

Day 10, 10:40 AM (Several minutes after the start of the investigation.)

Science Lab

Office Room

Yitro stared at the unconscious Fiora, wondering what was going on in her mind right now. Her breathing was slightly shallow, and she appeared to be in distress with how her face was wincing every now and then.

The girl's hat was placed on a small desk nearby, still wet and thus making a small puddle. Her head had been bandaged where she had received a bloody wound. Yitro was rather confused why she was wearing one of the Monokub jackets, though the flashing red lights that were on made it hard for him to tell which Kub it was themed off of. *TRUTH BULLET*

The swordsman glanced over at Yejoon, who was leaning against the wall. The artist had his masked pulled down, so Yitro couldn't see where he was looking, but he had a sense of where his eyes were.

"I don't think she needs two people watching over her," Yitro remarked.

"Then you can go," Yejoon offered. "I don't wish to leave her side when she's like this."

"Yejoon, while I dread an argument during all of this, you should not be the one to watch over her."

"And why is that?" he snapped, then shook his head and placed his fingers on the mask's forehead. "No, forget it, I don't wish to argue about this, mostly because I will kill someone who vexes me any further."

"You know I don't fear you," Yitro said with a determined frown, "but you should consider Fiora's side in this."

Yejoon stared at the swordsman, and Yitro could notice the tensing of his arms. While Yitro was confident in his abilities, he really didn't want to deal with the skilled serial killer losing his temper.

"Right now, Fiora is the prime suspect, and you can bet your ass that Emanuel is going to go hard on her. When she wakes up for the trial, we're going to have to be ready to argue against not only him, but those whose who will agree with him.

"Now when she wakes up, what is she going to want to hear: you ditched the investigation to watch over her, or that you worked to assure the case against her wasn't going to be as strong?"

Yejoon scoffed, then muttered, "You know, I can perfectly well gather what you're insinuating… and I hate the fact that you're right."

The artist pushed off of the wall, and silently walked out of the room. Yitro sighed in relief, and glanced over at Fiora.

"What happened to you, Miss Movie Maker?" he asked, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair.

---

"Run! Run faster!" Mahiru shouted, as the two sprinted down the dark corridor. The murderous red lights weren't as bright down here, but they still cast an ominous glow.

"I'm only running as fast as I possibly can, eh!" Fiora hollered. The heavy metallic footfalls of what looked like a mech, the thing firing missiles from earlier, were thudding heavily on the floor above them.

The two young ladies hurried forward, and then ducked into a room that appeared to be a rather impressive library. Mahiru searched for a lock, but found nothing. "Okay… this isn't good… but they may not find us in here."

"What is going on here?" Fiora snapped, rounding on the redhead. "I mean, what did you mean that this was all your fault?!"
Mahiru sighed heavily, as she stared at the shelves full of old books. "I'm the only one who seems to realize what is going on in this damn school. This Killing Game that never ends, that keeps resetting itself…"

"Ohhh, I get it," Fiora said, clasping her hands together, "it's like when you're in a video game, and you reset it when you lose or do something wrong. Save scumming, that's what it is called, eh.

"Maybe you should find 'oot what the player is trying to do. Is there a lewd ending to this game? Maybe they're going for the lewd ending, and you have to get specific conditions for that."

Mahiru stared at her, her jaw dopped in utter bafflement. "What was any of that just now?" she asked. "Did you hit your head, or are you really that stupid?"

"Hey, I'm not stupid! If you doo'nt knoo' what's going on here, then my theory has just as much merit!"

"This isn't a video game, this is," Mahiru growled and paced back and forth. "Look, I don't have a lot of time, so please, understand me when I say that this is a different realm, not a game, a realm!"

Fiora tilted her head to the side, and remarked, "But maybe whoever is in charge of the realm is save scumming?"

"It's not… jeeeeeeeez."

Mahiru covered her face with her hand, shaking her head… and then she started laughing. Her giggling sounded so sad to Fiora, the movie maker was worried what was going on.

"You remind me so much of my classmates," Mahiru explained, glancing over at Fiora. "They were a crazy, loud, wild bunch, but I loved them. Fiora, you have to…"

There was a sharp noise of static, and that was when Fiora and Mahiru realized there was a TV in the corner of this library. It had turned on, and music that was tense, nerve-wracking levels of tense, played as images started to flash across the screen.

Fiora had paid attention to Hope's Peak Killing Game, so she could recognize the people that were being shown. That made it far worse to see all of them brutally murdered.

Shuichi, the shy detective boy, was sprawled out at the bottom of the stairs, neck broken. Kazuichi, the nervous mechanic, was slumped at a cafeteria table, bloody foam dripping from his mouth. Chihiro, the shy programmer, was dangling from a noose in a bedroom.

Akane, the wild gymnast, had a fire axe lodged in her neck as she lay on the floor. Byakuya, the arrogant progeny, had been riddled with bullets. There was no recognizing the charred corpse of the explosion victim…

"No! No no no, please stop," Mahiru screamed, turning away from the TV. "I don't want to see this anymore!"

"Mahiru, what the hell is going on?!"

"This happens every game, every single time. There's no stopping the death, the carnage!"

"But shouldn't there be a class trial over a murder?"

"There's never been a class trial," the photographer cried out, clenching her arms around her body. The music grew even louder, and she flinched. "It has always been a massacre, with random victims, random perpetrators! And I haven't found any way to stop it…"

"Why doo'nt you tell the others this? Just make them understand!"

Mahiru shook her head, muttering, "I don't remember it all until I am close to my death. It's something that hits me, reminding me of every failure I've been through. Every miserable, painful, awful…"

She sniffled, then a noise in the outside hallway alerted the two gals. It was metallic, like something being dragged on the floor. And it was growing closer by the second, which was so confusing to Fiora because anything being drug on the floor out there should have been drowned out by the blaring music.

Mahiru seized Fiora's shoulders, sharply bringing the movie maker out of her thoughts on the noise levels. "Listen, Fiora, you cannot tell anyone you saw me here! I'm the consistency, I'm probably what they are looking for!"

"There's no time for the pronoun game, tell me who is they!"

"Chaos, Despair, the agents and leaders of it had a part in all of this, though I still think I did too! Please, you have to realize that whatever this realm was made for, it cannot be a good thing if evil people find out about it!

"The Seed of Despair, the Entity of Chaos, they're both in Penjar! Fiora-"

A heavy bang could be heard at the door, someone was kicking at it. Mahiru flinched, but continued, "Fiora, don't let your anger get the best of you. The mists saw what happened, they aided it, but a person is still in control of their actions. Remember that, it was a person!" *TRUTH BULLET*

"Mahiru, I doo'nt-"

There was another kick at the doors, and they splintered at the hinges, at the door handles. Both came crashing down, and standing on the other side was the world-famous model, Junko Enoshima. She huffed as the dust cleared, and then laughed.

"Oh, was it unlocked? Oopsie! Still, I like to make an entrance, sha' know?"

She clutched the metal bat in her hands, and grinned at the two ladies. "There you are, Fiora. And Mahiru, the ever-present thorn in my side."

"Hey you back off," Fiora shouted, pointing at the model. "I doo'nt knoo' your deal, but you stay the hell away from her-"

There was a rush, so fast that the movie maker couldn't follow. Warm liquid splattered on her face and side after a blink of her eyes, and a second blink noticed Junko wasn't at the doorway any more.

She slowly turned, and saw Mahiru's body, head smashed in fatally at the side, slumped against the book shelves. It was her blood on Fiora's face, on Junko's bat.

Fiora shrieked in terror, but it was cut off as Junko moved right up in her face.

"You and I are going to have a chat in private, B-Movie Maker. I got wicked cool plans for you!"

---

The containment tank room still had a few inches of water in most of the area. Eight humans and one robotic Kub were exploring the scene, though only a single being there had on aquatic gear.

Monodam waddled around, watching the humans through the lens of his goggles. The snorkel in his mouth appeared ridiculous, but he had fallen over and had his face entirely underwater, so it seemed appropriate.

"IF-YOU-HAVE-QUESTIONS," he said to the humans once again, "YOU-MAY-ASK-ME."

"I have one," Isaac spoke up. "Wasn't it against the laws to destroy this place?"

"FATHER-ONLY-DEEMED-THE-MONOKUB-BODIES-OFF-LIMITS-TO-HARM. THE-SECURITY-SYSTEM-ON-THE-COMPUTERS-HERE-WAS-GOOD-ENOUGH."

After this information, Isaac took a quick scan of the entire room. Near the right side of the room, a large portion of the ceiling was gone. There was a gaping hole right in front of the door that was for the workplace room; Kimiko was standing in the doorway, trying to see how to get into the room with such a large gap.

She waved down to Isaac. "Hello there. Find anything yet?"

"No, not yet, will let you know when."

"Okay then! I don't know how we're going to get into this room, the hole is way too big."

Isaac nodded, then continued to scan the containment tank room. There was a large hole in the far wall, with the mists seeping into the room from the outside; it made Isaac think of the opposite effect of bleeding. *TRUTH BULLET*

One of the large metal shelves that had all the super computers on them had slumped over, the top part lying against a thick table that kept it a little less than a forty-five degree angle.

Drake and Ignatia were observing the shelf, and so the reporter walked over to them. "See anything interesting?" he asked.

Ignatia tapped at the base of one of the super computers. They were all screwed in tightly, with other signs of them assuring they could not be removed from the shelves. They weren't even falling off at this angle.

The mime knocked at the back of some of them, even pushing. It did no good, none of them would break away from the shelf. *TRUTH BULLET*

"That's not the only thing we noticed," Drake said, moving underneath the shelf to the other side, the side that was next to the large hole in the wall. He reached down and pulled up a large power strip that was submerged in the water.

"This fell off into the water," he said, very gingerly holding onto the cord. "And there's electric burns around the sockets, I think it fell in. But don't these things have safety features for that?"

"You're thinking of hairdryers, most things aren't waterproofed like that," Isaac remarked. "So the power strips were on the shelves rather than the floor?"

"Far as we can see, all the power strips are on the shelves, yeah," Drake confirmed. "They're all on the left side, zip-tied to the back bar. This one fell off for some reason, the zip tie that kept it on the shelf was broken." *TRUTH BULLET*

"Okay, just be careful with that thing. That might have been what caused the blackout, and why we have to deal with these emergency lights."

Drake nodded, and placed it back on the shelf as best he could. Ignatia raised an eyebrow at him, and moved over to inspect the power strip and zip tie some more. Isaac decided to leave them to that, and turned back to the others.

Emanuel and Yejoon were inspecting the wreckage, Saiko and Eisei were at Shinobu's body. Souma was looking inside the broken containment tanks at first, but he became distracted by a smashed table.

"What's got your attention?" Isaac asked Souma, who was pulling ruined papers out from the water.

"It looks like they had some kind of paperwork that was kept next to the tanks," the public speaker said, sighing as he stared at a completely illegible paper. "Whatever it could have been, it might have been important.

"Sadly, it seems the water and destruction killed all hope of finding out what they had planned, except for this."

Souma held up a laminated paper that was mostly in tact. Isaac took it and read it over fast, what he could make out.

It appeared to a description of each of the five Kubs, and what their human forms would look like. The details were very specific, right down to nose size and even mentions of reproductive organs.

Written at the right side of each description was a time, or at least for the ones that were still there. The laminated paper had been damaged, and thus only two times were visible.

"Monotaro, 10 AM. Monokid, 8:30 AM. Monophanie… something at 7 or 4, I cannot make out the time," he read aloud. "What do you think this means?" *TRUTH BULLET*

"I'm not entirely sure, but what I do know is that these machines have been in use in some way," Souma remarked.

The public speaker reached into one of the broken containment tanks, and dipped his fingers into it. Sniffing the water on his digits, he offered the scent to Isaac, who stared at him in confusion at first. Then the reporter relented, and sniffed Souma's fingers, then recoiled.

"I… I recognize that smell," he said, shocked. "It's blood… it's more than that, but the blood is the most prevalent."

"Indeed. Whatever liquid was in this tank, there was blood in it too," Souma said, crossing his arms as he frowned in concern. "Though I believe that there is a reason for this. Monodam?"

The green Kub waddled over to the two men. "YES-YOU-BASTARD?"

"Adorable. Anyway, your human bodies, what happened to them after you were returned to your mechanical bodies?"

"DISINTEGRATION."

This provoked a reaction from the two men, as well as Emanuel who overheard this. "You're kidding," the detective said, walking over to the conversation. "You melted down your human bodies?"

"THE-BIOLOGICAL-FORMS-WERE-NO-LONGER-NEEDED-NOW-THAT-WE-WERE-DONE-TESTING-THEM," Monodam explained. "FATHER-DECREED-AFTER-THE-UPLOAD-WAS-COMPLETED, OUR-HUMAN-BODIES-MUST-BE-BROKEN-DOWN-FOR-FUTURE-PRODUCTS."

"Where in Hell do you store biomass or whatever you call that shit," Emanuel questioned, "anyway?"

Monodam knocked on the base of the containment tanks, the metal bastions they were set upon. "IN-HERE. IF-YOU-ARE-WILLING-TO-DONATE-BLOOD-FLESH-ORGANS-OR-HAIR-FOR-FUTURE-PROJECTS, YOU-ARE-MORE-THAN-WELCOME-TO." *TRUTH BULLET*

"Fuck that," Emanuel remarked. "We all know that this sick place is meant to be a weapon for Despair, you guys were just the test subject."

"What do you mean?" Souma asked him, stroking his chin in thought.

"Think of it, if they can make human bodies at will, and upload any personality they want into them, they could have an army of Despair fanatics," the Bête Noir said. "You could even make versions of people in power, and send them in place of the real thing.

"It's going to be a very difficult time when world leaders could easily be replaced with Despair leaders."

Souma glanced down at the laminated paper, and gasped in shock. "Good heavens, the cloning possibilities are diabolical! Do you think Despair has other facilities like this? Monodam?"

"I-DO-NOT-KNOW."

"Wait, does the Future Foundation know about this?" Isaac asked the public speaker. "That Despair has this kind of technology?"

Souma glanced to the side, then said, "I'm not at total liberty to say, but it has been a dreadful possibility. With how much we've seen Despair experiment with mind swapping, body changes, and the like, the possibility of evil cloning has been considered." *TRUTH BULLET*

Emanuel growled, and rubbed his forehead. "Well, guess we owe it to Shinobu if this was her doing. We sure as hell don't want Despair clones running around like madmen."

Isaac nodded, then cast a glance at Shinobu's body. Saiko and Eisei were still inspecting it, both of them with lollipops in their mouths. The reporter walked over to them, as did Emanuel.

"Hey, Saiko," Isaac said, "any chance you know how she died?"

The forensic investigator nodded. "There's no doubt about it: she was electrocuted."

"What? With all this destruction?"

"I would have a better idea if I could open her up, but yes, I'm positive about it. She has all the signs of someone who died from electrocution." *TRUTH BULLET*

Emanuel flicked some of the water off of one of his shoes, only to stick it back into the water. "Probably got zapped when the water flooded the area. Lucky for her, it was probably fast."

"Nothing is lucky about what happened to her," Saiko replied with a dark frown. "She still suffered, I have to say. This rebar sticking out of her chest? That was painful, and possibly fatal."

"So she would have died from bleeding out?" Isaac inquired.

"Maybe, she lost a lot of blood, but I don't know if that's all before or after she was electrocuted; I'd still stake my reputation on the fact that the electricity killed her.

"But Shinobu," she took a deep breath, and continued on with a more morbid tone, "looks like she suffered from other things. She has tears in her clothing, cuts and other injuries on her body."

Emanuel glanced over the dead woman, and scoffed. "Why's she got one of those fucking Kub jackets on?"

The flashing red lights made the color difficult to discern which Kub the jacket was based off of, not to mention all the bloodstains; however, it was quite different from her academy staff uniform, standing out. Eisei raised his hand, and spoke as if he were in class again. "I believe the amount of pockets those jackets have would be a reason."

With great care and permission from Saiko, he moved Shinobu's body slightly to get behind her. As he moved, he spoke, "You see, there is a pocket in the back of the jacket, near the hem of the thing. It's even got a zipper on it, quite convenient if you want to have something secret…"

He unzipped this pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper. There was so much blood on it, and the red lights were flashing unhelpfully, Eisei stared at it with no results. "I'm afraid I'm not sure what it says, it has so much of her blood on it." *TRUTH BULLET*

"Here, let me take a crack at it," Emanuel said, holding out his hand. "I know a trick or two to get writing out of ruined paper like that."

"That would be very useful," Souma remarked. "We lost so much information, I'd like to try to find one clue intact."

"You sure about that?" Eisei asked, glancing up at Emanuel dubiously.

"Hey, if you don't trust me, lollipop," the Bête Noir said with an annoyed scoff, "I'll ask someone to help me. How about…"

He glanced over at Drake and Ignatia, the latter of them trying to climb up on the tipped over computer shelf. "Hey, mime girl! I need a second witness to handle this note in another room! Come join me."

Ignatia stared at him, then glanced at Drake. The cartoonist nodded, and said, "I'll search outside here, but as far as I see, it's all rubble."

The mime shrugged, and headed over to Emanuel. She tapped her foot impatiently, causing slight splashes on his feet. He glared at her, and the two stepped out of the room.

"What a duo," Souma said with a dry chuckle. "Okay, let's keep looking, there may be more clues here."

"Hello down there!"
They glanced up, to see Kimiko waving up at them. "We need someone who can make the jump across this gap! Any of you feeling able to do so?"

Yejoon adjusted himself, and said, "I believe I can make that leap. Be up there in a minute."

---

Kimiko stared at the large gap, then glanced back at everyone near her. "Of course you all realize we had to ask the serial killer because none of us thought we could do it."

"I'm used to jumps only when wearing skis," Aka grumbled.

"A circus performer knows how far they can leap," Odelios said, taking a very proud pose. "And I safely can say that I'm not capable of making it! I could always verify it if you want me to fall on my face in that watery room!"

"Oh shut up," Kimiko remarked with a roll of her eyes. "Why don't you hang out with your friend instead of doing stand-up?"

Odelios glanced over at Ishiku, at the far end of the pathway. The magician was seated on the floor, talking quietly with Monophanie.

"Hey look, if my friend says he requires privacy, then he gets it," the clown responded. "But wait a minute! You could always toss me!"

"No," Kimiko remarked with a slight smirk, "you're not a dwarf."

"Ooo, you got the reference! Hooray! Still, we gotta wait for foxy slayer to get up here, so… anyone got a deck of cards?"

"I refuse to be called Foxy Slayer," Yejoon remarked from behind the clown. Odelios yelped, completely startled, and leapt up in the air. As he backed up and hid behind Kimiko, the artist sighed and shook his head. "It's just not the same way Fiora does it."

"Can you just leap the gap then?" Aka grumpily asked, crossing her arms. "I hate the feeling of not being able to do anything worthwhile."

Yejoon glanced down the walkway, noticing Ishiku and Monophanie as well. "Why don't you inspect the weapons testing room then?"

"It's locked," the skier remarked. "Ishiku tried it, and couldn't get in, so he's talking to Monophanie to try and persuade us to let us in." *TRUTH BULLET*

She then chuckled deviously, and added, "Or he's trying to cope with the fact that he stuck his dick in that, ya know?"

The artist rolled his eyes. "Say, wasn't Anzu supposed to be up here with you? I'm noticing a distinct lack of sass."

"She left when she couldn't go into either room," Kimiko said, "though she didn't really say where she was going.

Yejoon nodded, then observed the gap in the floor of the workplace room. He took a few steps back, then sprinted forward. He moved so quickly, the three watching him could barely follow his movement; he was on the other side of the gap in what felt like a second.

"That was easier than I expected," he declared. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll conduct the investigation of this room."

Aka face-palmed, as she muttered, "Great, a super athlete serial killer, so nice to know he can kill us before we'll know we're dead."

"Well, maybe we should help out someone else then," Kimiko suggested.

"What's the point in that? I mean, there's about six people in the other rooms, we'd just be getting in the way."

"If that's how you want to be, whatever then," the biker gang leader remarked. "That seems to be your modus operandi anyway."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Kimiko rounded on Aka, glaring at her fiercely, "I doo'nt like how you used Hikari."

"Oh, what? You want in her pants too? It's none of your damn business anyway," the skier shot back. "Like you're any better! You hooked up with that singer with big tits as soon as you could!"

"Hey! It wasn't like that, it wasn't anything like that!" Kimiko stomped up to get face to face with Aka, who didn't back down from the angry biker. "How dare you say such a thing!"

"Oh please, you're bisexual, a biker girl punk, and a nearly suicidal mess," Aka retorted, crossing her arms. "You're the very definition of someone who would play it all loosey-goosey."

Kimiko seized Aka's tracksuit by the lapels, but the skier didn't react except to smirk at her wickedly. "What's the matter, did I touch a nerve?" she mocked Kimiko. "You're no different from me, but don't go acting like you're better than me."

Odelios nervously cleared his throat. "May I remind you two that we have a very crucial trial upcoming, and now is not the time to get into conversations about relationships?"

"Oh no no no, don't stop them now, clown boy!" Monokuma, who had snuck up on them, cackled. He was tucking into a tub of popcorn, snacking as he spoke. "I haven't seen a good catfight in ages!"

"Where the fuck did you come from?" Kimiko asked, glaring at Monokuma.

"What do you care what we do?" Aka snapped. "We all know what you want at the trial."

"Where'd you get popcorn?" Odelios asked. "And can I have some?"

Kimiko let out a long, frustrated groan, and shoved Aka away. "Fine, whatever. But this isn't over, I'm going to have words with you after the trial, bitch."

"Sure, if we survive it," Aka remarked, brushing herself off. "I mean, you were so much help last trial, just moping and acting like a big emo biker bitch!"

Odelios and Monokuma chowed down on popcorn as the fight started to reignite; however, Kimiko would deny them the chance at a girl fight, when she simply glanced at the gap in the workplace room. "Might as well put myself to use and help the serial killer, rather than stand around here like this cunt."

She took a running start, and leapt over the gap with a couple feet to spare. Turning around to give Aka a one-finger salute, she ventured into the workplace room. The skier merely shrugged, and remarked, "Yeah yeah, go hang out with the murderer, what a dumb whore."

Monokuma cackled, wolfing down popcorn. "Woohoo! I missed these!"

Odelios nodded as he sipped from a soda bottle. "I know, sometimes you have to take a step back and appreciate the things in life, like seeing two females attacking each other and hope that it results in things you see on the internet!"

"That's my boy! You're like the oldest son I don't have anymore! And… hey wait a minute, where did you get soda-"

"Hey, clown boy," Aka said, looming over the startled clown boy and the confused despair bear, "you wanna go somewhere, make ourselves useful somehow?"

"I'd rather wait until Ishiku convinces Monophanie to open up the weapons' testing room?"

"What? Those adorable little Kubs locked up the weapons? How sweet of them, to consider that their Father would want first crack at them!"

Monokuma handed the popcorn tub over to Odelios, adding, "Hold my popcorn, and let me go get some of the sweet instruments of death for you all! I gotta feeling that we might need some today, phuhuhuhuhu!"

As he waddled over towards the other side of the walkway, Aka stared down at Odelios. "Why do you encourage him?" she asked.

"It's more agreeable than antagonizing people!"

---

Day 10, 10:55 AM (Shortly before Yejoon entered the Workplace Room)

Science Lab

Chemistry Lab/Room

The five humans and the single Kub in the chemistry room were inspecting every inch of the place. They checked the shelves, desks, fridges, even the medicine room. Monokid watched them, casually strumming at the guitar. He hummed to himself, until Crystal approached him.

"Monokid, can you open that special fridge with the electronic lock on it?" she requested. "I need to see what is in there."

"Why?"

"Because it's important to the investigation, that's why!"

"How?"

"Damn it, you said so yourself that there were explosive chemicals in there, and explosions ripped this building apart!"

Monokid stared blankly into space, then muttered, "I did?"

Crystal growled in frustration, and then glanced at the others. "Could one of you get another one of the Kubs? Monokid isn't interested in helping us with the investigation."

Futaba nodded and left the room. Pyrrha walked over to them, staring down Monokid. "What's the deal, honey? You know you're supposed to help us out. Don't you want the trial to be exciting?"

"You know what's very exciting? Drugs!"

Monokid grabbed a vial of yellow liquid, and swallowed it down. He belched loudly, a goldenrod bubble floating from his mouth. Flopping back down on the table, he moaned, "Oh yeah, that's the GOOD stuff!"

Pyrrha took note that the vial was labeled, "Edible Dishwashing Liquid." She raised an eyebrow, and said, "Right. Crystal, I think he's being difficult on purpose."

Staring at the blue Kub, the military adviser remarked, "You know what? I think you're right. It may be for petty reasons, or something else altogether." *TRUTH BULLET*

Futaba came back in the room, Monosuke alongside her. "Thanks for inviting me into the investigation, toots," he said appreciatively, "I was going crazy sitting out there doing nothing!"

"If you could just open the fridge with the dangerous chemicals and such, we'd appreciate it," Futaba said. "Or is that not allowed?"

"Oh, it's allowed, alright. I have no idea what's up with Monokid… maybe he's missing that human body of his too much."

As Monosuke started to work at the numeric key code on the fridge, Pyrrha noticed there was a piece of paper stuck underneath one of the pieces of science equipment. She pulled it out, and started to read it. "Hey, I think I found something. Blake? Could you come here?"

The pyro walked over to the three ladies, and observed the piece of paper with writing on it. "Huh. Yeah, I recognize a lot of these chemical names, but it looks like whoever wrote it added a cheat sheet."

"I thought it was a bit odd, since I never saw notes like that when we went on the tour of this place," Pyrrha explained. "Maybe it's a note by Shinobu? It does have nice handwriting, and she seems like the person to have good penmanship."

Blake tapped at the listing, noting each one in particular. "It seems that Shinobu, or whoever made this list, was interested in three kinds of explosives."

"Explosives?!" Crystal declared. "Good heavens, why would she want that?"

Futaba noticed that Monosuke had finished opening the fridge, and moved over to it to examine the inside. Before long, she placed four different beakers full of liquid on one of the tables, as well as a variety of other tools.

"These were all stored on the same shelf," the anthropologist remarked, correcting her glasses. "And I think I recognize the scientific names on the beakers."

"Okay, someone want to walk me through this?" Pyrrha said, scratching her head. "Because I'm looking at a bunch of fancy-colored liquids right now."

"You're looking at the materials for some very powerful liquid explosives," Blake remarked. "I worked with all of these in the past."

"How comforting to know," the romance writer said as she took a few noticeable steps back.

"It looks like the Kubs, or whoever made this good shit," the pyro continued, "color-coded them as well. I'll skip the scientific names, I think most of you would get lost. Let's go with the colors, but first off…

"You see this dull liquid here?" he said as he pointed at the sealed beaker with murky gray liquid. "That's what you could call the stimulant. You mix that in with one of the colored fluids, and it'll become the type of explosive that you'd want.

"According to the notes, once you've done the mixture, it requires a sudden and violent impact to cause the explosion," he couldn't help but chuckle as he pointed at a written sentence at the bottom of the note.

"Throw it like a baseball!"

"That'd do it," Blake remarked. "I'm kind of surprised that someone like Shinobu knew all this."

"There's an instructional booklet in the freezer section of the fridge," Monosuke remarked. "Youse can read that, but there's a lot to read! If she had to read it, she'd have to be a speed reading maniac!"

Crystal raised an eyebrow. "That sounds entirely possible, for Shinobu to be a speed reader. Maybe she did set this all up?" *TRUTH BULLET*

"Now, just a quick crash course," Blake said. "The red liquid," he said as he pointed at the sealed beaker with the crimson fluid, "is a type of explosive fluid that, when given the stimulant, it's like a shredding explosive.

"It'll cut through all sorts of shit, but it is mostly used as a tool to destroy a bunch of unwanted stuff. You set it off in here, it'll destroy everything on the counters, but the counters will just get all scratched up."

Crystal rubbed her chin. "I think I've heard of this Red explosive. Definitely sounds like an explosive that Despair fans would want…" *TRUTH BULLET UPDATED*

Blake nodded, and pointed at the beaker full of cerulean liquid. "This beauty, however, would do the opposite of Red. Blue is used for heavy blasting, specifically for very strong materials, like, well, buildings."

"That has to be what was used on the ceiling and the wall," Futaba said. "But now I'm wondering why Shinobu or Fiora would be throwing that around in the building they were in." *TRUTH BULLET UPDATED AGAIN*

"And finally, we have Yellow," Blake said, grinning at the goldenrod liquid in its sealed beaker. "Believe it or not, that's an EMP blast in liquid explosive form."

"What now?" Crystal remarked.

"Now that sounds like something Shinobu would have used," Pyrrha declared. "An explosive EMP? I don't want to ask how it works, because I'm sure it's very complicated, but would she just throw that at the computers?"

"Oh yeah, Yellow isn't terrible dangerous to humans, so you could chuck it into a room and fry everything electronic in there," Blake remarked. "Now if you were too close to a Red or Blue blast, you'd be dead, for sure." *TRUTH BULLET UPDATED YET AGAIN*

Crystal examined all of the tools that Futaba had pulled out. "It seems that Shinobu had everything she needed to make bombs out of any of these colors. There's the short glass tubes with stoppers, could they be made into explosives?"

"Hell yeah, mix the chemicals, and then chuck them at where you want to blow up or ruin," Blake said. "Girl knew her stuff! I'm actually kind of sad now that she's gone, even if she was a flat-chested shy thing."

"Oh how you must be grieving," Pyrrha remarked, rolling her eyes. "But I think we found out what she would be doing here!"

Monosuke snickered, and then said, "It's all very interesting, but I'm curious how she got this stuff."

"What do you mean?" asked Futaba.

"I mean that youse need the number code that is the passcode for everything in the building, and I don't know how she could have gotten that! None of us could tell her, human or robotic, we were ordered not to…

"Not to mention how we have a bit of a security system going on right now in this here building," Monosuke continued, standing proud with his information. "This entire place has hidden microphones, and if it hears voices that don't belong to use Kubs or Pops, the entire place will go on lockdown!"

"But it isn't against the rules here to interfere with the lab, isn't it?" Futaba inquired.

"Yeah, but mark my words when I say that if we found out about anyone who tries to ruin our lab," the orange Kub snickered as he adjusted his glasses, "we would make their life a complete and utter hell! I'll let you know how at the trial." *TRUTH BULLET*

"Shinobu obviously found a way around this," Crystal remarked. "Though we should go and discuss this with everyone else, and inspect the crime scene to see if we can find-"

Crystal was interrupted when the entire place shook. An explosion on the floor above them startled everyone and everykub inside. There was yet another bombing, in the very building they were investigating.

---

Day 10, 11:05 AM (Shortly before the most recent explosion.)

Science Lab

Outside in the Perimeter

Hikari and Ken were walking around the building, the former shaking off her wet parasol and the latter keeping a firm grasp on his sword's handle. The steampunk model was still visibly shaken from having seen Shinobu dead, and was trying to talk to Ken about it.

"You know, I wish this didn't keep happening between us," she admitted. "You and I always seem to be in the same place whenever bad things happen, and I hope you don't think I'm a jinx."

"No, of course not," Ken said with a smile. Hikari barely returned it, so the cavalryman started to suspect. "But that's not all that is bothering you, is it?"

"Shinobu obviously had a big plan going on, and there were people she trusted. It makes me wonder, did we really ruin our trust in the others with what happened last time?"

Ken sighed, as he scratched the back of his head. "Part of me wonders if I am living on borrowed time right now."

"The phrase is actually… oh wait, you got that one right. But why on Earth do you feel that way, honey?"

"Hikari, realistically, I should have been dead when Novoselic collapsed. I should have died during the second trial, instead of Angelique. Honestly, I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

The steampunk model smiled, and reached out to rub his shoulder. "Honey, if you had died if you had killed Yejoon, then who knows what Samson would have done afterwards? Besides, if we go down the road if 'should I have died,' then I'd get hung up on when I almost died in Novoselic."

Hikari glanced around the area, trying to spot anything sticking out of the ordinary. "Haven't we circled around the lab twice now? I doubt we'll find anything, what do you think?"

Ken was about to respond, but then he noticed Drake walking outside of the Science Lab. The cartoonist kicked at the excess water on his shoes, then studied the surrounding area. He noticed the steampunk model and the cavalryman, waving at them shyly.

"Find anything, sweetie?" Hikari asked him. She glanced at the busted wall, wincing at how prominent the damage was. "Oh goodness, it looks much worse from here; however, why are you searching out here? Do you think someone left out here?"

Drake nodded, then squat down. There were wet footprints, or at least something that resembled them. "Look here, there is some kind of marking, like… the dust settled from after the explosion, and then someone stepped here."

Ken squat down near where Drake was, observing what the cartoonist was looking at. "Yes, it seems like whoever did this scraped their feet around to ensure we didn't know the actual size of their feet are." *TRUTH BULLET*

As Drake and Ken tried to inspect the footprints that were there (difficult when there was still mist in the air), Hikari was distracted by her own thoughts. She felt a little silly, but she breathed in deeply, then spoke:

"Would now be a bad time to admit I'm the Entity of Chaos?"

Both Ken and Drake stared at her with wide eyes, as she continued, "And I'm actually totally straight, because I'm such denial despite my lifetime of flirting with women."

Hikari stared at them, as Ken stared at her totally aghast. Drake appeared petrified, then he blinked as the realization dawned on him. "You're lying," he stated.

"I sure hope that would be obvious, but I wanted to be incredulous about it," Hikari admitted, scratching her head underneath her fancy hat. "So I guess the truth serum is out of the mist now, that was quick after poor Shinobu's death." *TRUTH BULLET*

"Monokuma must want to make sure he doesn't accidentally cause a confession," Ken remarked. "How'd you know, Hikari?"

"Because I didn't have any more urges to confess things on my mind. There was," she paused, then twirled her parasol around on her shoulder as she signed, "there are things on my mind right now, but I remember how much that truth serum mist made me want to speak my mind over anything and everything.

"The most important that's grinding my gears, however, is something I happened to notice about Shinobu and Fiora. They were both wearing those dreadful Monokub jackets."

Ken stroked his chin, asking, "You don't think it was a coincidence?"

"I think that, for whatever reason, the group in the lab were wearing those, yes; however, you and I didn't see one discarded anywhere around the place. Though if there was another member, they would have had to get rid of that jacket quickly." *TRUTH BULLET*

Drake nodded, saying, "If they didn't, we'd connect the dots really quickly."

"And when I showed up alongside Crystal and Hara, we didn't see anyone else other than the Monokubs. I know it was intense, but we would have noticed someone running around with a bright, tacky jacket like that."

Drake rubbed his head, trying to piece together this mystery. He noticed both of them were looking at him, and he grew nervous. "Is… is something wrong?"

"Oh, sorry," Ken said, "but you've been very good about solving these things. I kind of suspected you would have a theory amongst the three of us."

The cartoonist rubbed his head, shyly looking away. "Oh, I don't think I'm that important…"

"Darling, don't sell yourself short," Hikari said with a smile. "I admit, I'm a little stumped as to where that jacket would be, if our theory is even right."

Drake glanced around the area, trying to think of the nearby buildings that it could be stored away with. All of the abandoned buildings would be a poor choice, he imagined, due the fact that the thick layers of dust and cobwebs; anyone going through them would leave a very prominent trail.

"If they didn't store it in some random building, and they couldn't risk going around holding or wearing it," Drake remarked, "then maybe they stored it some place nearby."

"Inside of the lab?" Ken guessed.

Hikari cocked her head to the side, noticing the nearby tailor shop. "Or maybe they hid it in plain sight?"

She embarked towards the store, with the two following close behind. When she entered Ye Olde Tailor Shop, the steampunk model beelined towards the racks of jackets. Rummaging through them, she muttered, "Can you two help me out? We don't know how much time we have left, look for any jacket that appears to have been…"

Ken cleared his throat, and the model spun towards him with a hopeful gasp. Then she winced, when she saw him holding up three jackets.

"That doesn't help narrow it down," she muttered, before noticing Drake was also pulling other jackets from the rack, all of them dusty or dirty in some ways. "Oh grinding gears, it's a lost end."

"Actually," Drake said, "with so many of them soiled, I think we can tell that someone deliberately did this. Someone wanted to hide the fact that they wore one of these jackets, the soiled ones were probably to make us think it was a dead end."

Hikari nodded, then asked, "Though I'm curious, why take the time to dirty numerous jackets like this?"

The cartoonist observed the jackets he had, then the ones Ken had. A quick survey of some of the other jackets led him to a conclusion. "The dirty jackets are of Monokid, Monodam, and Monophanie. And I think I remember Shinobu was wearing a Monotaro jacket, and Fiora a Monosuke one…"

"How on Earth did you know that with the emergency red lights flashing?" Ken inquired.

"I notice details like that. Monotaro's jacket has a thick collar, to mimic his scarf. Monosuke is striped on the colored side. So whoever was part of the Shinobu's secret team had one that was for one of the other three, I'm sure." *TRUTH BULLET UPDATED*

Hikari contemplated this, and asked, "Are you sure? You think Shinobu would do something like that? It sounds highly conspicuous."

"We don't know what our late historian's plan was," Ken said, "nor the intricacies to it. Though I wonder, I just wonder with her creative mind and her way of processing things, if there was meaning to who wore which jacket."

"As tacky as the jackets are, I could see her doing something like that," Hikari said with a sad smile. "I mean, I know I would. But then we have to think about who that implies, because there is a broad number of suspects for Monophanie, Monodam, and Monokid." *TRUTH BULLET YOU-KNOW-THE-DRILL-BY-NOW*

"I hope this is relevant," the cavalryman said. "I wouldn't want this to explode within our faces!"

Before either the cartoonist or the steampunk model could correct him, something exploded within the Science Lab.

---

Day 10, 11:05 AM (Shortly before the most recent explosion.)

Penjar Grade School

Classroom 04

"This is what Shinobu was looking through a lot of the time," Taro explained, pulling the history textbook from the desk. "She was fascinated by it; she told me so many things about the world that I never knew."

Hara took the book gently, and started glimpsing through it. Shinobu had cleaned most of the dust off of the aged pages, so she didn't know where to begin. Shuuya watched over her, then glanced at Taro.

"Did she mention anything in particular, Taro?" he asked, staring at the young man. "More importantly, what was the last thing she talked about from it with you?"

"The story of Gilroy Lanceson and Jibri Patando," Taro said, smiling proudly. "She told me all about those two, about their fight against slavery, and abolitionists."

As Taro spoke, showing Hara some of the sections that Shinobu took a particular interest in, Shuuya watched and observed. He went very quiet, as his thoughts about what this could mean, but also on Taro.

The bounty hunter/assassin had slain a lot of horrible people, before and during and after the Tragedy. He had studied the monsters behaving normally in society, the ways that those suffering from or immersed in Despair. There were tells, some of them very hard to notice unless you were looking for them, but he was familiar with many of them.

Taro showcased no tells, and that confused him. Shuuya knew he was created, molded, and made to be like a member of Despair. Was this slightly clueless young man who used to be a Kub just that good at acting that Shuuya couldn't pick up on it?

"There's only two answers to this, really," he thought. "One is that Taro is a devious Despair fanatic that is so immersed in it that my years of training cannot pick up on any tells. The other is that his free will is his own, that he genuinely liked Shinobu, that he's… human.

"Either way, I don't know how involved he is in this," he concluded, narrowing his eyes on the white 'n red-haired young man talking with Hara. *TRUTH BULLET*

After a few minutes, they heard a noise in the main lobby of the school. Shuuya gestured for them to remain there, and left the classroom to inspect who it was.

Emanuel was at the main desk, studying a piece of paper that Shuuya could smell the blood on it from where he was. Ignatia was leaning against the desk, watching him work.

The Bête Noir was busy with the paper, until he noticed the bounty hunter/assassin nearby. "Hey there, Shuuya, what are you doing here?"

"I'm helping inspect something that might gleam some light on Shinobu actions. What are you up to here?"

"Needed a damn place that isn't full of flashing red lights to discern this bloody note," Emanuel remarked. "Ignatia came with me to make sure I'm not up to no good, as is the norm with this group."

He showcased the bloody paper to Ignatia, then some notes he had been writing. The mime studied both, then shrugged and gestured for her to carry on. Emanuel did so, continuously holding it up to the light.

"She wrote this in Japanese, but that doesn't really deter us," Emanuel remarked. "Everyone who studied and graduated at Hope's Peak learned Japanese and English." *TRUTH BULLET UPDATED*

Shuuya shrugged as well, and said, "Well, I'll leave you to that then. I'm going to check back on Hara and Taro."

"Taro's here?" the Bête Noir said, pausing his work. He took a deep breath as he asked, "Please tell me you aren't trusting a word out of his mouth?"

"I'm a professional, just like you are. I don't trust anyone here until I get the answers I want. So trust me to do my job, and I'll trust you."

Shuuya walked back into the classroom, where Hara was immersed with the history textbook. Taro was watching her silently, appearing rather confused.

"Did you learn anything, Hara?" Shuuya asked her.

The explorer placed the book on the desk, and said, "I think I did. I'm fairly certain I know why Shinobu was in the lab… it was because of him."

She pointed at Taro, who appeared rather surprised. "Wh-what? What about me?"

Hara stood up, holding the textbook in her hand while keeping it close to her. "I think Shinobu saw you as being enslaved by this place, Taro, and she wanted to give you your freedom."

"But… but… I'm not a slave! I don't have to do anything I don't want to."

"Could you leave Penjar if you wanted to?" Shuuya asked.

"Well, I guess if I wanted to now, I could. I mean, I couldn't leave when I was a robot, there's things I have to do…"

Taro slowed down his speech, and his eyes widened. "N-no. Are you… did… did she… I cannot believe that she would risk her life for me! I mean, aren't we your enemy? Isn't that what you're all saying?"

The young man collapsed in a desk chair, shaking slightly as he gripped his knees. "I… I don't know what is true anymore."

Hara walked over to Shuuya, slightly nervous as the bounty hunter/assassin's red eyes focused on her now. "Don't tell anyone this until the trial, but I think Shinobu did this for Taro, and maybe the other Kubs too." *TRUTH BULLET*

"It's highly confusing for me to comprehend that, but you might have known her better than me," Shuuya admitted. "So what do we do now?"

The answer for that came with a muffled but still prominent explosion, the sound coming from the Science Lab. Shuuya didn't remember reacting to it, except for the fact that he was running out of the school before Hara finished asking, "What was that?"

The bounty hunter/assassin sprinted towards the Science Lab, leaving everyone else behind as he could move fast when he wanted to. When he made it to the Science Lab, there were some of the graduates in the lobby.

"What happened?" he pushed Futaba, who was one of those in the lobby. "What was that explosion?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it came from upstairs!"

Shuuya was up the stairs within seconds, and he came to the walkway to see quite the sight.

The area around the doorway to the weapons testing room had been eviscerated. The building itself suffered from severe cosmetic damage, but whatever had been in the weapons test room, all close by the entrance had been completely destroyed.

Ishiku, Odelios, and Aka were all at the other side of the walkway, thunderstruck by what just happened. Monophanie peeped out from behind Ishiku, and whimpered, "Is… is it over now?"

Yejoon landed on the other side of the workplace room's gap, back in the walkway. "What in the world was that then?" he asked, as Kimiko made the jump as well.

Shuuya cautiously approached the weapon testing room, and noticed he was stepping in pieces of black and white material. He paid little heed to that, and studied the ruined remains there.

He could instantly recognize what the objects had been: the weapons. Everything, from the modern-day guns to the medieval swords and maces, had been collected to this area, and were now obliterated.

Though that wasn't the only thing amid the wreckage. He found an incredible amount of shredded metal, some of it painted. *TRUTH BULLET*

Several of other graduates were up on the second floor now, some of them approaching the room too. Blake stopped short when he saw the incredible destruction, and then he whistled lowly.

"Guess now we know what happens when you use the Red," he said.

"What the fuck just happened?" Kimiko shouted. "Did another bomb go off in the weapons room?"

Eisei walked into the room, casually staring at everything inside. He picked up a piece of cloth, studying it carefully. "Looks like someone either wanted to get rid of evidence," he remarked as he looked at the coral coloring, "or this was something else entirely."

"Goddamn, that's the last thing we need right now," Yitro said, wiping his brow. "Could Shinobu have set this up?" *TRUTH BULLET UPDATED, AS YA DO*

Monophanie wandered up to the group around the weapons testing room. "Either way, I have to suggest to you all that you hurry up on your investigation. You normally would be given more time, but when Daddy gets back, he's not going to be happy with you all."

"What?" Yejoon inquired. "What are you talking about?"

Monophanie pointed down at the ground, and all of them realized they were stepping in Monokuma remains. "Daddy, no," she added pitifully.

"Thank goodness it wasn't one of us," Yitro said with a heavy sigh.

While most of the others agreed with him there, Yejoon was staring down the swordsman. "If you're up here," the artist said, "then who is with Fiora right now?"

Yitro's eyes widened, he cursed, and sprinted downstairs. When he burst into the office room, Yejoon close behind him, they were both greeted with a horrific sight.

…

…

…

Fiora was gripping her head with both hands, arching her back, and screaming in utter agony.

---

"I hope those aren't too tight for you, my movie maker," Junko Enoshima said, as she pat the leather straps that bound Fiora's wrists to the chair. "But I cannot have you running off until I make my pitch!"

Fiora struggled against the bonds, as she glanced around the room that she had been forced into. It was like a computer room, with a ton of screens and equipment. The movie maker had no idea what was going on ever since the model had taken her hostage, but she didn't like it.

"You killed Mahiru," she snarled at Junko, "I doo'nt have to listen to a damn thing you have to say."

"Oh, I think you'll want to, since you doo'nt knoo' what it's a'boot, eh," the pink-haired model replied, grinning maliciously as she imitated Fiora's accent rather flawlessly.

The movie maker growled in frustration, and stared at her, taking deep breaths. She rotated her wrists slightly, as she asked, "Fine, let's hear it."

"You see, I'm starting to get very, very bored of this never-ending Killing Game that I'm stuck in," Junko said. "I'm starting to see repeats, and who wants reruns? No one, that's who!"

Fiora's eyes widened, and then she struggled in her chair some more. "Wait! Wait wait wait, you don't have to do this! You're just a victim of this Killing Game! I can find a way to help you!"

"Why would I do that? Or for that matter, why would you do that? After all, I'm the one who started it all."

The movie maker fell silent, staring incredulously at Junko. The model laughed, and continued, "Yeah, I know, teenaged supermodel ruined the world, hard to believe, huh? But I so totally fucking did it!"

She procured a pair of glasses from one of her pockets, and put them on, speaking more intelligently. "According to statistics, I am quite possibly the most dangerous person there ever was, but that would be a lie because 90% of statistics are made up. Also, I'm not recorded."

"Wait… you started the Killing Game at Hope's Peak?" Fiora inquired. "You did that?"

"I did much, much more than that," Junko said, precociously holding her hands on her face and cooing as she spoke. "I've been a bad, bad girl. But it's not over yet~"

"I thought you were pitching a movie idea," Fiora shrieked, trying to scoot back with the chair. "And I don't want to do sequels!"

Junko stomped her foot on the seat of the chair, in-between Fiora's legs and coming dreadfully close to her groin. The movie maker swallowed nervously, and stared up at the girl with a mile-long venomous grin.

"What if I said it was more like a direct-to-video idea, but a little bit different? Like, let's say, a direct-to-life idea!"

Junko moved off to the side, rummaging with some things on a desk. "You see, in this Killing Game within another realm, one only realizes of it all happening when they are close to dying, so I have to act fast. The only problem is, for all of my many talents, doing things quick and subtle is just not one of them, so that's why I had to take you alive and tied up as if we were going to have kinky fun…"

The supermodel slipped something around her forehead, and turned around. There was a metal strap against her skin as part of the band, with a long cord connecting the center of it to another headband like the one she was wearing.

"Because I just don't know who is my classmate, and who is an invading person, except for that biker girl that came by here a few months ago."

"Months?!"

"Yeah, time is funny here, so I've gathered. I mean, I already know quite a bit about you, Fiora, this place kind of lets me get glimpses into Penjar every now and then. So believe me when I say I'm doing a big-time favor…

"Because you're just going to die pretty soon anyway."

Fiora felt her blood run cold, and during that moment where her heart skipped a beat, Junko slipped the headband onto her. "So you'll be happy to hear that I'm going to help you out, as a friend, as someone who knows you."

"You… you know nothing a'boot me."

"Fiora Rhonda Stenton, age 23 and birthday February 7th, blood type B negative, orphaned at a young age, creator of over twenty feature-length films, survived an amateur Killing Game, contemplating a murder of her own, and part of Shinobu Takahashi's plan to undermine Despair within Penjar."

Junko chuckled, and pat Fiora's head. "Don't worry, I have a good idea what it is like to be you. You see, one of my best features is how much information I can process, how much I can memorize and handle. It's how I managed to start my own special brand of entertainment.

"It's how I got to learn about all of my friends, and how I could predict their every move. Now, the big problem with that last part wasn't always flawless, especially with those thick with Hope."

Junko rolled her eyes, leaning in towards Fiora. She almost mushed her breasts up against the movie maker's face. "So I knew there was always a point where I could lose, and that kind of Despair, that wondrous, intoxicating, suffocating feeling of divine Despair… I know where that goes.

"That's why there are such things as contingency plans. Though I don't think I really planned for this one, but so long as I am Junko Enoshima, no realm can keep me down for long!"

The supermodel placed a chair in front of Fiora, and plopped down in it. "There's a little something that I considered, which would be uploading my consciousness in someone else's body. But it's so tricky when someone's already there, so give me a few minutes with you, and eventually…"

She pat Fiora's cheek, and then giggled, "I'll be taking care of your body from hereon in!"

The movie maker struggled aggressively against her bonds, as Junko held up a device that both of their metal headbands were connected to. She grabbed one of the switches, and said, "Good-bye, Fiora. Let's see what will be last on your mind."

The supermodel flicked the switch, and soon, she could hear the inner thoughts of Fiora throughout every part of her brain…

…

…

…

[Attack of the Eye Boogers! Movie Production! Hope's Peak Academy! Mother! Yitro! Saiko! Monosuke! What would happen if every color looked like a version of wood? When's the last time I had pineapple? Someone ought to cure death, that'd be handy.]

[Souma! Hikari! Shinobu… oh why Shinobu? Boxing gloves that aspire to be boxing boots! Sharks, bigger sharks! Multiple-headed sharks, sharks in natural disasters, sharks that are undead, sharks that are robots, sharks that are undead robots! Wait, didn't I vow to never do sharks? Maybe just one.]

[Crystal! Monodam! Blake! Aka! B-Movie Maker, Z-Grade Movie Maker, Straight to the Bin-Movie Maker! What if alcohol made someone smarter the more drunk they were? Boot to the head! Dumbest ways to die! Critical Failure! You are tearing me apart! What a pretty punk! Trust the spiders, trust all of the spiders!]

[Clothing hangers as a hidden weapon! Odelios! Pyrrha! Father! Despair! Hope! What's in-between? Is there an in-between? What if the in-between is where I am? What is my purpose? Death. Murder. Life. You're on an island, Charles Joe! I wonder if I should renew my subscription to Prism of War when I get home? Who's the next Smash Ultimate DLC? REVENGE! SPITE! NOTHING TO LOSE!]

[The Garage Killing Game! Why am I here, what is my life? Is this real life? Where did the expression "cool cat" come from? Is it alright to like a meme even when it's overdone? When is it overdone? Monokuma! Futaba! Shinobu! I like winter. Winter is a fun season, and a nice title.]

[Has someone really killed Shinobu? Cotton candy! Jumping jacks! Monophanie! Emanuel! Hara! Punching things to see if they break! Zombies! Vampires! Zombie vampire pirates! Excitement! I really like my hat but maybe I should get a new one after all it has been through.]

[I don't want to be crushed, that's the last thing I want! Guns! Swords! Staplers! It's been years, why do I have Dumb Ways to Die still stuck in my head? Why here? Why now? Why me? Why why why why okay stop it, it sounds whiny now. I wonder who would pick me if I was a character in a dating sim... what if you made a movie off of a dating sim? Ooo.]

[Sequel to "The History of Prehistoric Cavemen"? Is it trashy to have a bikini babe in cavemen times? Oh, has that been done? What would my parents think about that? What if I made a movie based off of a minor character from a story I liked, would that be relatable? Potatoes!]

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Junko gripped her forehead and shrieked at how freaking overwhelmed she was! She slumped out of the chair, kicking and screaming as she tried to handle this rush. "What is this?!" she hollered. "What are you?! Why would you make a sequel to that zombie caveman movie, that movie SUCKED!"

Fiora felt her body start to relax, as Junko was failing to handle the movie maker's mind. Her incredible scatterbrained and imaginative thoughts gave her a chance to focus on something else as the supermodel was distracted.

"Nngh, good thing I practiced this," she muttered as she twisted her wrists, pulling back with her arms, "to ensure… hostage situations… were real!"

"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Junko shrieked, rolling on the floor as her limbs flailed about. With sweat running down her forehead, she grabbed the headband and yanked it up and off of her. "FUCK! How could anyone's mind be that cluttered and confusing?!"

There was the feeling of being shocked at Fiora's forehead, a very painful jolt, and she yanked back with her body. Her arms slipped out of the leather straps, and she reached up to try and pull the headband off of herself.

Junko kicked at the legs of Fiora's chair, pitching the movie maker forward. She unintentionally headbutt the supermodel in the stomach, which made the evil girl's eyes go wide as the air was driven from her lungs. "Hunnngh!"

Fiora grabbed at Junko, trying to pin down this wicked and powerful young lady. Without any weapons to use, Fiora's mind thought to what she had, and thus that was her split second decision to drive her forehead down into Junko's.

The metal part of the headband slammed into Junko's forehead, dazing the model. Fiora, heaving and straining as she gripped the supermodel's shoulders, and slammed her forehead into Junko's again.

"DON'T!" THUNK!

"EVER!" THUNK!

"DO!" CRACK!

"THAT!" CRUNCH!

"A'GEEN!" SMASH!

Fiora drove her head down one last time, and then, as the haze of pain and blood and rage tunnel vision died down, she slumped to the side. The carnage ran down her bloodied forehead, and she couldn't see straight.

It was then that the door to the room opened, and she could hear frantic voices. Someone walked over to Fiora's side, and spoke. "Miss? Miss?" They pulled the headband off of her, and called out, "Oh goodness gracious, what happened?"

"Whatever did happen, Junko's head looks like someone took a fucking sledgehammer to a watermelon," someone else shouted. "What the fuck is going on here!? Who is that girl?"

A hand cupped her face, and Fiora couldn't really see who it was at first. Then she could make out a face, a squat face on a squat young man. He smiled softly at her, and whispered.

"You need to go back now, Fiora. Don't let her influence you at all. The words of Junko Enoshima should never harm another soul."

Fiora smiled up at Teruteru, and murmured out with a slow drawl, "Washat who I jusht got a headful of? Hehe, well, I got in thar purdy good… she'll try a'geen fur shure. Ha!"

The last thing Fiora could make out was Teruteru's horrified expression, before bright light started to fill her sight. The pain started to go away, and she welcomed it…

---

Day 10, 11:20 AM

Science Lab

Containment Tank Room

"You sure you don't want to be searching that explosion site?" Saiko asked Isaac, who was rummaging around the side of the room opposite from the tanks.

The reporter paused for a second, overhearing the furious shouting and screaming that was coming from upstairs. Emanuel and Ken had returned at separate points, but both were furious that an explosion could have gone off during an investigation. This had led to arguments amongst the survivors, despite the warnings from Monophanie that the investigation would be over sooner rather than later now.

"I'm good," he assured her. "If they find something up there, we'll hear about it when the trial starts. There's something I am more interested in finding here."

The reporter stopped rummaging through the stuff on the floor, and found something amid the flooding and rubble. Underneath the desk were a couple of cracked vials, the plugs missing and whatever liquid they may have contained long gone due to the water. *TRUTH BULLET*

"I think I found something important," Isaac said. "Rather lucky, considering we'd need a fully fledged team of professionals as good as you handling a scene like this if we wanted the real details."

"Wish in one hand, crap in the other," Saiko muttered, as she stared at Shinobu's body. Then, with a length sigh, she reached forward and closed the dead woman's eyes. "There's nothing more I can find out from her. I only hope we found enough."

The series of coincidental timing struck again, as right after she finished saying that, the overhead speakers blared to light. "A-HEM! Ahem. Ahem ahem ahemy. Attention, tourists of Penjar! The time for investigation is now over. Please report to the front of Town Hall, at the front steps, within the next ten minutes. Anyone not there may be subject to immediate execution!

"AND IF I FIND OUT WHICH ONE OF YOU BLEW ME UP," he was bellowing into the microphone, causing a painful reverberation in the building, "EVEN IF IT WAS ONE OF MY DARLING KUBS, I SWEAR TO DESPAIR…

"I WILL GIVE YOU SUCH A PINCH!"

There was a clatter of the microphone being hung up, and then a moment of silence as everyone took in Monokuma's outburst. Isaac sighed as he walked alongside Saiko out of the room, away from Shinobu's body, and joined the others in the lobby.

The reporter hurried over to Kimiko, and asked, "So, what did you find in that workplace room?"

"Nothing much, there's only two things to note," she said as they left the building. "That glass containment shelf that the Monokubs' mechanical bodies were being stored in? It was empty. Also, everything in the room was unlocked, except for another long shelf a'boot the same size as the one the Kubs were in.

"It had one of those electronic numeric lock codes on it too. I doo'nt knoo' if we ever inquired a'boot that, but I think we were always preoccupied with every other room in that damned lab." *TRUTH BULLET*

Kimiko sighed and stretched her arms, her leather jacket making a little noise. "This is going to be rough, I am pretty sure. Even Yejoon seemed rather fixated on the little details."

"I'm actually surprised that he investigated rather than watched over Fiora. Speaking of which, did anyone get her?" Isaac asked.

As he searched the crowd, Hara came over to him. The explorer still had the school text book in her hands, and she was carrying it close to her.

"Honey, do you have a minute?" she asked. "I think I know why Shinobu was in the lab."

"Okay, Hara, but one minute. I want to make sure Fiora is with us."

Hara winced, then pointed to the back of the group. Leaving the science lab were Yejoon, Fiora, and Yitro; however, the woman was being supported in walking by the swordsman, as she seemed… out of it.

"Wheee, we're going fur walksies!" Fiora cheered, grinning stupidly. "I like walking, it's my third favorite form of moving forward! Do you all like daisies, I like daisies!"

"Ever since she woke up," Hara explained, "she's been goofy. I know that may be a normal reaction after being knocked out, but it seems rather strong…"

"I wasn't like that when I woke up," Kimiko commented, staring in concern at the giggling movie maker. "Something may have happened to her, something like what happened to me when I was unconscious."

"Tell me 'boot the bears, strong woman holding me up," Fiora cheered.

"Somehow I doubt we'll get a straight answer out of her, but are we sure," Isaac winced at having to say it, but he still managed to get it out, "she's not faking it?"

"Yitro introduced himself to her when she woke up and asked them who they were," Hara said, trying very, very hard not to smile. "She kissed him full on the lips, and declared he tasted like pancakes."

Yejoon had his mask down over his face, and was striding forward without any digression from his path to Town Hall. Isaac had to resist smirking like his fiancé was struggling to do, and added, "Yeah, with how much she fears him normally, she could never bring herself to do that."

The group made their way to Town Hall, all of them gathering as a group together. They were talking amongst themselves, trying to gather as much information as possible. The Monokubs all stood at Town Hall's main stairs, as well as Taro.

The Kubs glanced up at him, as he stared back at them. The white 'n red-haired boy muttered, "Oh, um… am I still part of this?"

"Do you look like a Kub?!" Monokid shouted, raising his fists in a rage. "You're no brother of ours anymore!"

"While that might be a bit harsh," Monosuke remarked, "youse is taking the elevator down with them. You couldn't make it through the usual route."

"Sorry, Monotaro," Monophanie whimpered. "But there's nothing we can do about that!"

Taro visibly slumped, then he took a deep breath. "It's Taro, remember?" he replied, before moving over to the graduates.

"Oh, someone's too good for us now!?" Monokid shouted, stomping his feet. "Well I wouldn't let you back if you got on those stupid body parts you call 'knees,' and BEGGED me!"

As this infighting carried on, most everyone was in front of Town Hall with time to spare. The only one who wasn't present showed up a couple minutes later.

"Anzu!" Kimiko called out to her, as the actress sprinted over to the group. "Where have you bin? You had me worried there, girl!"

"Sorry! But I went to Shinobu's place, I wanted to see if there was something, anything there at all, to tell us why she," Anzu paused, and took a deep breath. "Why she was in the lab, and why she died. It's still kind of hard to say it out loud, you know?"

"Yes, I agree," Kimiko said. She eyed a notebook that Anzu was clutching. "Did she write anything down?"

"I glanced through the last entries, she had a pretty good journal, but she left out whatever her plan was in here. What she does have, I don't want to read it out loud just now, but I will if it is necessary. At the very least, we have a sample of her real handwriting, in case there is any verification needed?" *TRUTH BULLET*

Before anyone could comment on Anzu's find, the main doors opened up. Monokuma, wearing all kinds of armor and protection that made him look like a bomb squad member, waddled out.

"Okay, people," he shouted, standing confidently. "Why don't we all go on down into our trial room, and start our life or death agreement to tourism in our proud town?"

"I'm all for that, Pops," Monosuke declared.

"Oh, I hope everyone finds the right answer," Monophanie cried out.

"I'm fucking raring to go!" Monokid hollered.

"…" disseminated Mondam.

Monokuma waved them in, and then waddled awkwardly as the armor wasn't really easy for him to move in. The Kubs followed, with Monokid walking backwards so he could wave and make faces at Taro. He continued this odd pace until he slipped in through one of the ruined doors, and was gone from sight.

As the graduates poured into the dreaded Town Hall, one of them hesitated. Taro was staring in the building, appearing lost and upset. Anzu stopped next to him, and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I cannot go in there," Taro whimpered.

"What? Did they tell you that you aren't allowed anymore, since you're still human?"

"No, I'm allowed. But… if I go in there, then… it's all true. Everything that happened is official, including… especially that Shinobu is dead."

Taro rubbed his eyes, they were still red from the crying he had done. Despite the same color type, Anzu felt that that red stood out from his hair, singular eye pupil, and his clothing. It stood out, because it made him look human.

"I don't want to go in there," he admitted, "because that's where the truth comes out."

Anzu nodded at him, and said, "Yes, and the truth burns, but you cannot let it stop you. Taro, I know this must be difficult for you, but there is nowhere else to go. So don't ignore the door in front of you, and know this: you're not alone."

She extended her free hand, which perplexed him for a moment, until he reached out and took it. The actress guided Taro forward, as they walked through the ruined Town Hall.

The temperature seemed to drop when they entered the building, but if that was because the place was truly cold, or if it was a nervous reaction, they didn't know. Every footstep echoed, sounding like hammering heartbeats. The elevator felt an eternity away.

The group was gathering up inside of the elevator by the time Anzu and Taro caught up. Some of them glared at the young man, but no one was going to start a fight here. Monokuma waved at his human son before he pressed the button.

The door to the elevator slid shut, and with a mechanical rumbling and slight lurch, the elevator started to go down…

Down…

Down…

Down to however low the trial room was…

Down to where the truth burned and bit…

It was no different from the last two times, the dread and fear was still as palpable and desperate. Even with two prior victories, the confusion and mystery to this case was draining hope from them with each second.

At long last, the elevator stopped. The door scrolled open, and despite the trial room having changed last time, this new look was just as shocking.

The floor, ceiling, and walls were all a slightly tanned white, like a used mattress's color. It made the place look like a padded room, complete with Monokuma's podium and the trial placements all having a hospital-styled cleanliness to them.

The statues were completely opposite from the safe and clean look of a place of healing. They were lanky, gaunt figures that had bandages wrapped around their arms, legs, and face. Their mouths were wide open, exposing razor-sharp teeth.

On each hand and foot, there were lengthy claws. These monsters were like monstrous humans, each of them wearing something resembling a hospital of sorts: a nurse outfit, a doctor coat, a patient's robe, a broken straight jacket.

And of course, each one was a busty woman with their breasts almost spilling out of their top, especially with how they were all posed to be lunging forward or glaring down their prey threateningly. These statues were perfectly sculpted, and it was an unnerving coincidence that the death was in a lab of sorts, while these medical monsters were looming over them.

Monokuma had discarded his bomb squad gear, and was seated on his throne with a happy smirk on his evil face. The four Monokubs were in their appropriate places, excitedly watching everyone get into place.

The one who should have been up there but wasn't observed the trial room. Taro glanced at the positions for the participants of the trial room, seeing Samson and Shinobu's added to where they originally stood.

The young man walked over to Takeo's spot, and picked up his memorial stand. Placing it a short distance behind them, he then took the mercenary's spot.

"What are you doing, Monotaro?" Monokuma shouted, sitting up in his seat. "You are not a tourist!"

"It's Taro, Father," he replied, staring down the despair bear. "So long as I am human, I am not one of you, as I have been told several times. So my place is here, amongst the humans."

"Traitor!" Monokid hollered, shaking his fist at Taro. "Hypocrite! Person I don't like and I'll let you fucking know!"

"Oh well, I think you'd look odd on the Kub platform, so I'll let it go," Monokuma said with a lazy wave.

"Are you kidding me?" Emanuel shouted. "He's still working with you! He's against us!"

"Well then, maybe you should just treat him like you do everyone else you don't like," Anzu snapped, crossing her arms as she stared down the Bête Noir, "and ignore and insult him as he contributes more than you ever do."

"Fuck you, puta," the detective spat out. He finished whatever drink he had in his flask, and added, "Besides, it should be obvious to everyone who killed Shinobu."

"I'm on a merry-go-round!"

Fiora was sitting on the railing of her position, and was whirling her hat above her head. "Wheee! Giddy-up, cowgirl! Wheeeeeeee! I feel like a rainbow!"

Blake let out a loud laugh, and glanced at Yitro. "Still proud you stuck your dick in that?"

Yitro didn't dignify this with an answer. Ishiku, on the other hand, looked over at Monophanie as he remembered where she would be here. The pink Kub saw him staring, and waved at him as subtle as she could.

"Are we all ready then?" Monokuma asked. "Because as hilarious as it is to see you all argue about each other's sex and love lives, I'm far more interested in getting things going here! So let the third trial of Penjar begin! Let your passions and accusations explore here!"

Monokuma clapped his paws together, then pumped his fist into the air. It echoed around the trial room, reverberating around as if it wanted to rub this dreadful truth in over and over again.

This mysterious town with the mysterious premise, now hosting yet another mysterious trial over a mysterious death…

*Jin glares forward, three fingers correcting the rim of her owl-themed eye mask.*

*Yejoon stares through the eye holes of his fox mask.*

*Crystal stares downwards, as if surveying a map or field.*

*Isaac is leveling a studying stare straight forward with a hand extended, as if wanting an answer.*

*Fiora is smiling and laughing as she wobbles on her feet, still appearing QUITE out of it.*

*Aka has a hand on her skiing goggles perched on her head, looking bravely forward.*

This was the trial for Shinobu Takahashi, the Ultimate Historian. She cared about solving the mysteries, as she cared about a great many things. While she could be argumentative, she was highly passionate. Was it that passion that got her killed?

*Saiko has her hands on her hips, glaring downwards at someone or something.*

*Drake is nervously glancing to the side, while holding his sketchpad up and close to his chest.*

*Souma has an arm raised as he is apparently in the middle of delivering a speech.*

*Hara has her hands clasped together, staring anxiously forward.*

*Shuuya is glancing over his shoulder, with his arms crossed defiantly.*

*Eisei has a lollipop in his mouth and looks half-interested in whatever is going on.*

Why was she in the lab? What caused the destruction, what was the plan she had? Everything about this trial seemed to be an enigma, but the biggest one was who killed her, and that seemed to be the one they knew the least about.

*Blake is cracking his knuckles and growling in frustration.*

*Ignatia is glancing from the side, seemingly uninterested.*

*Hikari is taking a confident pose with a smile, hand on the brim of her hat and her chest stuck out with pride.*

*Shinobu is holding a finger up, trying to prove a point about something or other.*

*Odelios is holding up a rubber chicken and pointing at it, as if to accuse it of the crime.*

*Yitro has his arms crossed and eyes closed, scarf pulled up slightly over his mouth.*

If only Fiora was in a right state of mind to talk, if only they had more time to study the lab… there were many things they wanted right now. Though there was one thing all of them wanted and wanted it most of all: to get out of this trial alive.

*Ishiku is grinning and holding up one of his signature chocolate coins in-between two fingers.*

*Samson glares forward from underneath the brim of his hat.*

*Takeo pumps his fist into the air with gusto.*

*Emanuel gives a tired stare from the side as he is holding his favorite flask close to him.*

*Ken salutes and stands proud, staring up to the sky.*

*Angelique has her hands over her heart, silently praying.*

That's why they were going to move forward, with determination and passion, to find out what Shinobu's plan was, what happened in that lab, and who killed the good historian. There was no time to let worry and dread get them down…

*Kimiko is pointing forward while shouting defiantly.*

*Pyrrha is making a heart with her hands, a sad but sweet smile on her face.*

*Futaba has a finger touching her glasses, narrowing her eyes.*

*Anzu stares forward defiantly, her frown and posture confident and ready.*

*Taro crosses his arms as he stares forward, using his red eye more prominently, as he joins the debate.*

And thus, it is time to begin the Town Trial of Penjar!

---

Truth Bullets for Case 3:

…

Science Lab - The lab's front (and only) door, as well as important other areas of the building have a lock with a complex numeric code that must be entered. Only the Kubs knew them, but they wouldn't say it, unable in Kub form and unwilling in human form. The building had a voice detection to ensure anyone who spoke inside who wasn't the Kubs or Monokuma, and was inside without permission, would be sealed in; grave but unknown punishment would follow.

Containment Tank Room - The lab room with the containment tanks and supercomputers was where Shinobu's body was found. The ceiling on the right side has fallen into the room, and the western wall also has a large hole blown out of it, with the mists creeping inside. The tanks have all been destroyed, and the room has water from side to side; the water didn't go into the hallway, due to a short rise that was too tall for the water level.

Computer Shelf - The room had large shelves with computers bolted and sealed down, with the power strips zip-tied to the back left bar. The one closest to the western wall fell over and landed on a desk at an angle, right in front of the large hole. It is at a lower angle than a higher one, thus making crawling under it impossible without getting wet.

Power Strip - The power strip of the tipped over shelf fell from the shelf when the zip tie broke. The power strip was most likely the cause of a fatal electric shock in the water, and the reason the main power was out in the building.

Cracked Vials - Amid the rubble and underneath one of the desks in the containment tank room were two cracked vials, similar to the vials that were in the special fridge alongside the explosive fluids

Returning to Kub Form - The Kubs were ordered to come to the Science Lab, and surrender their human bodies to return to their robotic bodies. The containment tanks were meant to retract all of their mental structure, then dissolve the body down into biomass for future usage.

Human to Kub Schedule - Taro was scheduled to return to his robot form at 10 AM. Kidd was scheduled at 8:30 AM. The others are currently unknown when.

Cloning Project - It has been a long-standing concern of the Future Foundation and other forces that Despair leaders are trying to clone human bodies, either for armies of followers, or to replace prominent people of power with Despair-infused versions. This lab seems to be perfecting this process.

Locked Weapons Test Room - Ishiku said the room to the weapons testing room at first. The others saw him talking to Monophanie for a while, but she did not unlock the door for him. Monokuma was eventually the one to go and open the door.

Liquid Explosives - In the chemistry lab room, there was a specific fridge for some of the most important chemical mixes in the building. These were the following: Red, the eviscerating explosive; Blue, the building buster; and Yellow, the electronics eliminator. There was also the stimulant necessary to turn them into these explosions, as well as small vials with stoppers to ensure using them like grenades.

Locked Fridge - The special fridge in the chemistry lab containing the liquid explosives also had the numeric lock; someone had to know the code to get the chemicals.

Wet Footprints - Amid the rubble outside of the building where the wall was blown out were footprints from the wet soles of someone's shoes. They rubbed their shoes around to hide any prints or what size they were.

Monokub Jackets - The Monokub jackets are distinctive, with a special pocket in the back. There are ones modeled after each of the five Kubs. Shinobu was wearing a Monotaro-style. Fiora was wearing a Monosuke-style. Someone tried to hide the fact another one was worn, but which Kub-style it was is unknown.

Shinobu's Autopsy - Shinobu Takahashi died from a fatal shock of electricity. She was impaled on a jutting piece of rebar, and had taken some other relatively minor injuries such as cuts and bruises. Saiko fully believes that she died from the electric shock and not from bleeding out. Time of death is unknown.

Shinobu's Secret Paper - There was a paper in the secretive pocket of Shinobu's jacket, one covered in blood and making it very hard to read. Emanuel and Ignatia worked to try and decipher what was written, which was in Japanese.

Shinobu's Reason - While nothing is fully confirmed, there is evidence that points that Shinobu's plan was to stop Monokuma from having the Kubs return to their robotic form; they lacked free will in those bodies, which she compared to slavery.

Shinobu's Journal - Anzu found Shinobu's journal in the historian's house, containing entries she made while she was in Penjar. While the last entries are not very informative, Anzu has taken interest in them.

Fiora's Condition - Fiora was found unconscious in the hallway leading up to the containment tank room, facing away from it as if leaving. She was injured, but eventually woke up; unfortunately, she's in a state where she is incredibly goofy and nonsensical.

Monokid's Attitude - Monokid was extremely unhelpful to the graduates during the investigation, continuously refusing to do what was required of him, and laying on his back most of the time.

Taro - As the containment tanks have all been destroyed, Taro remains a human. Thus he has the free will and drive to partake in the trial as a member, instead of an observer. He seems genuinely upset over Shinobu's death, as he was quite close to her in the time they had.

Workplace Storage - There were two shelves with the numeric lock on them, one of them being the display case that the Monokubs' bodies were stored in while they were human. It is empty now. There is another shelf, though completely metal with no glass panel, nearby it roughly the same size. Neither of them could be opened.

Explosion - There was an explosion during the investigation, inside of the weapons testing room, nearby the door. Everything in the room had been moved to the blast site, including what appears to be all of the weapons, metal shredding of various colors, and fabric. Monokuma was utterly destroyed when he opened the door.

Mists of Penjar - The mists were infused with a powerful truth serum that the longer someone was in it, the more truthful they were. Staying in the mists made people blurt out confessions against their will, and prolonged exposure to the mists would even lead people to take action with what they truthfully want. This effect was gone after Shinobu was found dead.

Mahiru's Warning - In Fiora's vision of an altered version of Hope's Peak Academy, Mahiru gave her a warning about the circumstances of Shinobu's death, as well as to contain her own anger. Junko killed Mahiru, then tried to take over Fiora's body, but failed due to the volume of the movie maker's thought process.

---

…

THE TRIAL WILL COMMENCE SHORTLY!