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.]

25. Chapter 4-1: The Rust on Penjar

Chapter 4-1

Ironman and Ironwoman

---

There was a great deal of commotion going on when Fiora's eyes opened. She found herself sitting up on a cot of sorts, as someone commented on her waking up. The movie maker was inside of what appeared to be an office? No, it was a police station.

She was lifted up by a hand on her arm, and escorted into another room. It was an interrogation room. Fiora didn't know exactly what was going on, she still felt half awake.

Someone sat across the table from her. She stared at her, the detective regarding her with a highly keen stare. Fiora shrank in her seat, highly uncomfortable and confused.

"I must apologize for your treatment, Miss Stenton," the detective said. "I just hope you can forgive the officers at the scene."

Fiora shook her head, and rubbed her temples. "Yeah, well, it's not often you get threatened to have your head blown off by the police for being a victim, eh."

The detective sighed, but spoke with a firm but fair tone. "You have a lawyer coming to talk to you soon, so as you knoo', you do not have to say anything if you do to want it."

"I joo'st want to knoo' why I'm being treated like a criminal!" Fiora shouted furiously. "I was kidnapped off of the street, imprisoned in that parking garage, and almost murdered! I didn't hurt anyone! Why…"

She pounded the table, hissing in air as she tried to keep her emotions under control. "Why am I being treated like this?"

The detective gave her a moment before speaking. "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves furst, Miss Stenton. My name is Detective Carol Chrome. I have bin put on cases involving Despair, including and especially regarding Killing Games. This Killing Game that you were in, it is one of many that has been happening in our country.

"This is happening all over Canada, not just in our city. The reason why you are under suspicion is because of an unfortunate amount of involvement with those who host these games, and what has happened to survivors of these games. We're trying to see where you might fall, based off of your file."

Detective Carol pat a vanilla envelope on the table, and Fiora stared at it incredulously. "My… my file?" the movie maker stammered. "But I doo'nt have a file! I've never bin in trouble with the law befur!"

"Ah yes, maybe calling it a file is a bit unfair, it should be much more of a profile than anything else."

The detective tucked her blonde hair behind her ears as she opened the envelope, and started reading through it. "Fiora Rhonda Stenton, age twenty-one, born to Peter and Rwanda Stenton. It says here that they passed away when you were fifteen?"

Fiora nodded, her breathing hitching for a moment. "Melbourne's Great Fire, in Australia; we were on vacation."

"You have my sympathies, that must have bin hard fur you."

"I've managed, mostly due to my career…"

"Yes, a'boot that, your profile says you are a graduate of Hope's Peak Academy."

Carol closed the profile envelope, and continued, "You have heard the rumors, that Hope's Peak Academy is where it all started in Japan?"

Fiora bristled as she crossed her arms. "I refuse to believe that. Besides, it wasn't the Hope's Peak Killing Game that was broadcasted to our country, how all this madness started."

"I agree with that, but you see, that has set a great deal of people on the edge about Hope's Peak graduates. While there is no exact proof, there are many who believe that where there is smoke, there is fire, when it comes to that school.

"And here you are, a Hope's Peak graduate, who survived a Killing Game. There are those concerned you could be more involved that you let on, Miss Stenton."

Fiora swallowed nervously, and muttered, "Is that how it is, then? That I'm guilty in some way because of my Hope's Peak history?"

"That's something that a lot of people have started saying, and that's why it's important to seek 'oot the truth, no matter how much it hurts. Joo'st remember, if you are proud of your history with Hope's Peak, recall those you cared a'boot, think a'boot why you received your Ultimate title, Fiora Stenton…"

Detective Carol reached up and rubbed her collar, where Fiora saw a pin attached to it. It was a Hope's Peak Academy crest, the kind of pin that Hope's Peak graduates were given.

"One doesn't have to be an Ultimate Detective to piece together the truth," Carol said. "Because if the Ultimate Movie Maker was truly involved in this Killing Game, then why was the camerawork so terribly shot? Surely, she woo'd put her incredible skills to do a better job…

"And if she can find a future for herself after losing her parents to an unexpected tragedy, then surely she can find the strength inside of herself to carry on, eh."

Fiora stared at Carol, and then there was a knock at the door. It opened up, and a professionally dressed woman entered the room. She glanced between the detective and Fiora, and let out an aggravated sigh.

"Seriously? You are questioning my client before I can show up?" she snapped. "How dare you!"

"It's alright, Miss Salihan, I do not believe there will be much need for professional defense here. Still, thank you fur showing up."

"What is that supposed to mean… wait. How'd you know my name?"

Detective Carol chuckled as she stood up. "Your reputation preceded you, and I wanted to make sure Miss Stenton had the correct representation should someone wish to try and charge her. I should give you some time with her."

The detective walked out of the interrogation room, much to the confusion of the two ladies there. Miss Salihan shrugged, and reached over to shake Fiora's hand. "My name is Moji Salihan, and I'll be your defense in case they try to throw any charges at you."

"Um, okay, you really think they'll do that?"

"Honey, the carnage and savagery this global event is causing us is so intense, the law is trying to arrest anyone who so much as sniffs in the wrong direction. I'm going to ensure that they don't charge you without proof."

"Oh. Well, good, because I am innocent. Though I think that detective knows too."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because," Fiora managed to smile, as she ran a hand through her hair, making her ahoge bounce, "we have hope."

---

Day 10, ? PM

?'s House

The room was completely silent, except for gentle breathing. The person laying on the bed stirred slightly, and then went back to the shallow breathing that had consisted for some time. The one watching over them noticed this, and let out a sad sigh.

"I doo'nt knoo' why you did it, honey," Kimiko said, shaking her head as she watched Fiora, "and I'm not really the right person to say this, but you truly shouldn't have."

The biker gang leader shifted her shoulders, trying to get comfortable as she continued to talk to the unconscious Fiora. "I mean, you're such an excitable girl, but you've had it rough since we got here. It got serious fast, didn't it? Way too serious, and I kind of thought you were goofy when I furst met you. But…"

She chuckled a little, and said, "Maybe excitable and a little silly aren't so bad. I wish I knew what to say to you to help… maybe I should joke? Be serious? Would that help?"

Kimiko sighed, then muttered, "We're really making Canadians look suicidal, girl. Joo'st… whatever's going on in that mind of yours, Fiora, we'll help you when if you… no, when you come back to us."

---

Day 10, ? PM

Eastern Plaza

Outside of the former Science Lab

There were twenty humans and four Monokubs at the plaza, staring at the gigantic pile of rubble that used to be the Science Lab. A thick cloud of dust was in the air, though only over the remains of the building; it was as if the mists had control what would move through the city, and the dust had no such permission.

"Someone really hated science class," Odelios remarked.

"Haw haw haw, this is awesome extreme," Monokid cheered. "Dad's gonna be so pissed! Hell yeah!"

"Oh dear, Daddy will be pissed," Monophanie fretted. "Even his statue got destroyed, and I have no idea where the pieces of him were."

Crystal stepped forward, and turned towards the graduates. "Alright, who did this? Please, step forward."

"You seriously think someone's going to admit to doing this?!" Blake declared. "Monokuma will nail their ass to the wall, as a start!"

The military adviser glared at him, then attempted to keep her calm demeanor. "If Monokuma opened the door and triggered the explosion, then he can only accuse himself."

"Someone destroyed an entire building in Penjar," Pyrrha spoke up. "Do we really think he'll be so forgiving towards whomever did this?"

Souma walked over to Crystal, and said, "Maybe it wouldn't be the best approach to have someone out themselves."

The military adviser growled as she rubbed her forehead in frustration. "We cannot just do this, people! We cannot have secret missions and destroying buildings! We cannot work like this!"

"I don't see why not," Saiko remarked, much to the group's surprise. "It seems to be the only way this group knows how to work together."

She huffed as she crossed her arms, adding, "Considering every case has been serious cases of betrayal and monstrous behavior, do you really think we can trust each other at this point? I only trust those I knew before we all got in this mess."

"Wait, what are you saying?" Souma implored, staring questioningly at the forensic investigator. "Are you implying that we cannot work together at all?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I not make myself clear?!"

"Saiko, please," Hara pleaded, but the shorter woman shook her head defiantly.

"No! No I'm sorry, Hara, but this merely proves once and for all that we cannot work together! Someone blew up a fucking building in this town where we need answers, not destruction! How do we know that the Science Lab wasn't obliterated to prevent us from finding answers?"

There was a silence in the group, as they took this into account. Shuuya, who gently caressed the bandage over his cut, spoke out, "What would your recommendation be, Saiko?"

"I'm not your leader, I'm not anyone's boss here! I know for a fact that none of you would listen to me, or Hara, or Isaac, if any of us tried to organize this group!"

Aka stepped forward, appearing just as frustrated as Saiko. "She's right, you know? All the trials have taught us is that we cannot trust anyone here!"

"Aka," Hikari spoke up as she approached her, "that's quite the thing to say."

"Really? Takeo betrayed us, Jin was a serial killer, Samson an agent of Chaos, Emanuel turned to Despair, and Shinobu had that secret plan behind our backs! Only Angelique was innocent, as far as we know. And that's not including the other troubles we have here!"

Her glare turned first to Ishiku, then towards Yejoon. The magician couldn't look her or anyone else in the eye, and the artist was busy studying the ruined lab; however, as if he knew he was being subtly addressed, he looked over his shoulder towards the group.

"I've been nothing but cooperative with you all this entire time. I even had to leave my flower in the care of someone else to help investigate this devastation. Maybe you should all be asking yourselves more important questions than arguing about trust issues."

"Trust issues are the reason all this shit keeps happening," Yitro barked, gripping his sword's handle in outrage. "I lost one of my closest friends to the animosity this town brought in. It's like all of you were drawn here, and it's been nothing but chaos!"

"Maybe Emanuel was right," Futaba remarked bitterly. "Maybe we've all been so wrapped up in our own personal issues, we cannot solve anything."

"We really going to heed the words of that bastard?" Ishiku replied with as much bitterness in his words.

There was another pause, then the most frustrated of sighs, which sounded like a steam whistle, came from Hikari. The beautiful model stomped her foot, and shouted, "What does it matter? Investigating, trying to find the answers, you really think we'll find the answers by working together, by searching and studying the places in this God-forsaken town?!"

She slammed the tip of her parasol on the floor, and then pointed it at the Monokubs. "You think they'd surrender the answers to us if we all worked together perfectly, all cogs and gears spinning as they were supposed to? No! That's not how Killing Games work, that's not how Despair works! Whoever is behind all of this is going to hide the answers, until enough of us die."

She spat out the last word with such fury, it startled everyone there. Hikari reached up and rubbed at her eyes, and continued, "That's how it has been, every time, no deviation. When we get up tomorrow, there will be more buildings for us to explore, more questions for us to ask, but there will never be the answers. We can look and search and ask all we want, but it doesn't matter.

"And that's because whatever Mastermind is in power won't give us those answers until he or she bores of us murdering each other. We've given them what they wanted, and I doubt it's going to stop anytime soon. Why would it? We came here willingly, we stay here willingly, because we want those answers…

"And that means that good people like Angelique and Takeo and Shinobu will have to die, entertaining whatever Mastermind is here, dying for us to get the answers we want. That's why Kimiko and Fiora tried to… tried to kill themselves, because whatever evil is here messes with our minds that terribly.

"What makes you all think this'll be any different if we work together or not? Amongst a serial killer, an assassin, people who work behind our backs, the Entity of Chaos, the Seed of Despair, and whatever else is lurking here, why don't you all stop deluding yourselves into thinking there's any shot at solving this while there's still so many ways that Monokuma and his wretched children can hurt us?

"Just do whatever you want now. If we're here to stay, then stop expecting others to follow any lead. We have to watch out for ourselves, and do what we want, until we finally get what we need."

After that, Hikari turned on her heel and walked off. She didn't look back, didn't slow down, until she was out of sight. The steampunk model left the group in silence, until Aka spoke up.

"You know what? She's right, I have no reason to trust any of you unless I feel like it, so don't ask me to work alongside you. And I especially don't like how many of the men here are trouble makers."

"Wait, what?" Souma blurted out. "When did this become a gender thing?"

"You're kidding, right? The serial killer, the arsonist, the assassin, the dishonored foreign knight, the convicted swordsman, the traitor who almost got us all killed for sex, and more? All men."

"Oh, like the women are any fucking help," Blake shouted at her. "You whine and get all emotional, being so fucking useless most of the time, and then get in our faces and say our gender is the problem! Maybe if the women here weren't so busy caring about feelings or trying to kill themselves, we would have had more progress!"

Aka scoffed, and added, "And my parents wondered why I am a lesbian. Maybe the women should just stay the hell away from the men, we could actually get some shit done without you. It's not like you're going to find out who or why this fucking building got blown up…

"I'm just going to head off then, because today has been the abso-fucking-lutely worst. I doubt Shinobu's body was even cold before whichever one of you guys caved the building down on her. Good night."

She stormed off, in the same direction that Hikari went. The group was once again met with silence, but only for a minute.

"Maybe if there is going to be so much distrust," Ken remarked, as he started to walk off, "it would be best for me to not work with any of you."

"Oh sure, Mister Higher and Holier Than Us," Blake snapped, "act like you're not any better than us still! Fucking arrogant douchebag!"

"Like you're any better," Anzu hollered.

The three of them walked away, and then Crystal, rubbing at her head as she felt a migraine coming on, stormed off as well. Pyrrha glanced around at the group, regarding some of them, then hurried away without saying anything.

Ignatia turned and left too, silent as ever but with far more attitude. Drake followed after her, but she didn't seem to acknowledge him at this point. Shuuya left without a word as well.

"I'm so tired of that accusation," Ishiku spat out. "I was trying to help! I was… God damn it, I hate this place, I hate it so much."

He glanced at Monophanie, who stared down at the dusty ground to avoid his look. With that, the magician left the scene, trembling in his outrage. Odelios hurried after him.

Yitro sighed heavily. "In every Killing Game that was broadcasted, people would try their best to work together. There was still death, there were still murders, no matter how hard they tried to unite. Though they felt forced to in so many cases, we don't have that luxury, if one could call it that.

"All I want is to find out why Angelique had to die now. Is it truly just a waiting game, where we're at each other's throats over history, suspicion, and even gender?"

"Hate to break it to you, handsome," Futaba said with a dismissive shrug, "but if my years in anthropology have taught me anything, it is that when the blame starts to stain, it's very difficult to get it out. We might as well accept that."

Both the swordsman and anthropologist left after that, both deep in thought. Eisei watched them go, then started on a new lollipop as he glanced up at Souma.

"Maybe you should give a speech tomorrow, my friend?" the dentist replied. "I think what we need is for the Ultimate Public Speaker to give us the proper motivation, with morale and trust so very low."

"I'm afraid if the distrust has gone so deep as to warrant a war of genders, I don't know what words can be said from me," Souma replied with a sad shake of his head. "Aka and Blake truly opened, as they say, a can of worms with their comments."

Eisei tilted his head to the side, staring up at Souma in confusion. "Is that something fishermen say? Why would the common folk have a can full of worms? What's the point of that, and why is opening it up an expression?"

The humans remaining at the Eastern plaza all had a small laugh at Eisei's expense, which made him even more confused. Then the dentist chuckled lightly and shrugged, saying, "Alleviating the tension with humor is a good distraction, but I doubt it will be enough."

"We should probably get some sleep, my friend," Souma said, patting Eisei's shoulder. "Tomorrow, I will do what I can to try and mend the wounds our group has suffered. Can I count on your support?"

"Yes. About assisting you with helping the group, not about the sleeping, I need no assistance with that."

Saiko audibly chuckled, which truly confused everyone there. They all stared at her, and then she replied, "What?"

"What?" Hara asked, glancing between her and Eisei.

"What?" Eisei inquired, staring at Saiko. "Are you referring to our night of-"

"There's no need to go into details about that!" the forensic investigator blurted out.

"What?!" Hara squeaked, a smile quivering on her lips. "Wait a minute, what's this about-"

"No need! For details! We're all going to bed, now!"

Eisei scratched his head, and remarked, "I don't think any of us have a bed big enough for all present…"

"Eisei! Please… honey… stop talking."

"Okay."

"'Honey'?!"

"You stop talking too, Hara!"

The group was about to leave, when Yejoon's voice called out, "Isaac? Could I speak to you in private for a minute?"

The reporter regarded him, and visibly moved away. He glanced at Hara, Saiko, Eisei and Souma, and grumbled, "I don't really want to talk to you, Yejoon."

"It is very important, but for your ears only as of now. I insist… please?"

The masked artist saying 'please' was an oddity of itself, but the way he said it sounded so very genuine. Or, at least to Isaac, it made him sound human. The reporter didn't like to think of Yejoon as a human, but there was something nagging at him to hear him out.

"Curse my reporter instincts," he thought, then turned to Hara. "I'll be just a minute."

"Are… are you sure?"

"I don't think he'll hurt me, honey. Don't worry about me, I'll be back home soon."

He leaned in and kissed her, and she managed a brave smile for him. She, along with Saiko, Eisei, and Souma, walked off together, though Isaac could hear a bit of their conversation.

"So, Eisei," Hara asked, shy as ever but her curiosity winning over, "why is Saiko calling you the same thing my fiancé just called me?"

"Hara, it's not important," Saiko hollered.

"Why are you hiding the fact that we-"

"NOT IMPORTANT!"

They were eventually out of hearing range, so Isaac had to summon his courage and approach Yejoon. The two of them stood side-by-side, staring at the wreckage of the Science Lab. No words were said at first, and Isaac took a moment to see if the Kubs were still around; they were not.

"Most everyone here fears me, though some simply hate me," Yejoon said, continuing his observation of the destruction behind his mask. "You are the oddity amongst them, the combination of both that confused me at first. I thought it could be something personal, but I know I could never have killed someone you know."

"Get to the point, Yejoon," Isaac grumbled.

"I assure you, this is part of it. I have theorized that the reason for your feelings towards me must be because of something involving either artists or serial killers, and there's a high probability it is the latter. You need not say anything, I am certain I am right."

Isaac took several deep breaths as he crossed his arms, so very tempted to up and leave right now. If it wasn't for his insatiable curiosity, he truly would have hiked off.

"If you have a personal reason to hate serial killers, it stands to reason that your career as a reporter has led you down their paths before. And you also were highly involved with the Tragedy, so you have more of an understanding how someone like me works."

"I loathe the idea of being told I can understand how a bloodthirsty murderer works."

"Have no fear, it is not because, as pop culture would have you believe, it means you are like me. No, you are quite different, but you and I still can consider what is in front of us, as well as the big picture, on the same level. This…"

Yejoon extended his hand and gestured to the rubble. "This was done by someone who wishes to hinder the progress of those like you. Someone wants to annihilate leads and possible answers, to extend the Killing Game's time."

"The others think Monokuma is outraged about something like this, that the rule was meant to be an aggressive stance against it," Isaac said, "but if it were, the Mastermind wouldn't let that loophole work against them so effectively, like this."

"Hikari is not far off when she says we're here at the desire for the Mastermind to see us kill each other. The lab being destroyed makes it more interesting, lengthens the time it'll take for whoever is behind this to get to their own point. That begs the question, however…

"What is the point of this voluntary Killing Game?"

Isaac took a deep breath. The smell of concrete and metal, so much of it, was in the air. It reminded him that this building had somehow appeared out of nowhere only a few days ago, and now it was gone.

"Revenge? Despair? A new world order?" the reporter listed off. "It is like there are a hundred pictures overlapping, and we have to pull off the wrong ones to find the correct one."

"I may have to borrow that descriptive analogy, if I can," Yejoon said with a small chuckle. "There may also be more than one picture in mind here."

"There's obviously something sinister and even supernatural behind all of this," Isaac said. "The nightmares, the visions, the messages and warnings, they make me think there is another angle to all of this."

"Kimiko and Fiora both tried to kill themselves after these visions, and a name came up in both of their cases: Junko," the serial killer commented as he tapped his chin in thought. "That was where I heard that name beforehand, Kimiko brought it up before she tried to shoot herself."

Yejoon clenched one of his hands rather tightly. "I do not consider it a coincidence that this name is connected with those that tried to end their lives. Does the name Junko ring any bells with you in the history of the Tragedy?"

"There is this rumor about someone at Hope's Peak Academy, called Junko Enoshima. Someone pretended to be her during that first Killing Game, her sister, I believe. It begs the question, if Junko was supposed to be in that Killing Game but someone pretended to be her, whatever happened to her?"

"Ever follow up on that rumor?"

"All roads about Junko Enoshima seem to dry up before they are even traveled down. Her involvement with Hope's Peak has been redacted and denied, but then again, so have many others who were exposed during the Killing Game."

Yejoon nodded, and remarked, "All roads, except for the ones that led us to Penjar, to this town where people who see her in visions try to kill themselves."

The two men exchanged a meaningful glance. Isaac gave him a shadow of a nod, and remarked, "Not to mention the items in relation to those who died during that Killing Game."

"Keep your friends and loved ones close to you, Isaac, because this game has truly started, and we don't know the Mastermind's own motive. I predict that tomorrow, we will have to handle a motive to further drive the group apart.

"I'm not about to have you all tear each other part when Fiora is in the crossfire. She's far too stubborn to leave this town, no matter what, and I may lose my restraints if someone else were to happen to her."

Isaac nodded again, and then turned around to leave. He started to walk away, then paused and turned back to ask, "Do you genuinely care about her, Yejoon?"

"Why do you think I promised to stay away from her from here on?"

The reporter, realizing this was the only answer he was going to get, walked away. Yejoon stared at the Science Lab's remains some more, and then realized he still was clenching his fist.

Staring down at his hand, he cursed it mentally, as it had failed him. For the first time in his long history of violence and artistry, the hands he relied on for these hobbies had failed him.

---

When the door was kicked down to Fiora's house, Yejoon could see her swinging from the noose, swaying back and forth. He moved, faster than most could follow, into the house as he pushed past Isaac.

There was a flash of steel as he threw a dagger at the rope, slicing through it. Yejoon caught Fiora before she hit the ground, and he laid her out on the floor.

"No no no," he mumbled, moving swiftly to loosen the noose around her neck. "You stupid girl, you stupid, stupid girl! Come on…"

He pulled the rope off, and checked for a pulse. Yejoon had never done so before, he never cared about the survival of someone enough to know how to properly check for it. The beating of the heart was something he stopped, and thus he felt panic when he could not locate it.

"Fiora, Fiora wake up," he commanded, patting her face. "No no, you couldn't have been hanging for that long! Get up!"

"Move."

The normally effeminate voice of the dentist had a sense of command that couldn't be ignored. Yejoon turned, seeing Eisei move through the crowd of people trying to figure out what was going on, and got to Fiora's side. He checked for a pulse, and began the proper steps to resuscitate her.

After a minute, Fiora let out a heaving gasp, before collapsing again. Her breath was shallow, and she lay very still.

Eisei wiped her forehead, and let out a sigh of relief. "She might be alright, it's too early to tell. I don't know how long she was hanging there, but if we're lucky, she didn't suffer brain damage. We're just very lucky she didn't break her neck when she fell with that around her neck."

The dentist stood up, and regarded the room. "Did she do this herself?" he asked.

"Yes," Yejoon mumbled. "She was only one in here, and the door was locked."

Isaac moved into the house, checking the bathroom and closet, and came back. "He's right, there's no way anyone was in here."

"If you gentlemen could help her up onto her bed so she can be comfortable, we do have other issues as well," Eisei commented. "That explosion that shook the entire town, we should investigate, pronto."

"But we cannot just leave her here," Isaac said, as he lifted Fiora up along with Yejoon helping.

"I'll watch her."

Kimiko was inside the house, and assisted in moving Fiora gently onto the bed. The biker gang leader moved her fellow Canadian to its center, and then picked up her fedora from the floor. "Everyone needs to check 'oot that explosion, I'll watch over our movie maker."

---

Yejoon sighed, kicking at a stray piece of concrete. "And now, we play the waiting game, my little flower. I wonder if my sister is laughing at me from Hell right now, at how much I've failed thus far."

---

Day 10, ? PM

Housing District

Hikari Tetsuhime's House

Aka walked into Hikari's house, relieved that the front door was unlocked. The steampunk model wasn't in the bedroom, so the skier called out, "Hey, sexy, are you in here?"

"In the bathroom, Aka."

The skier wandered towards the bathroom, and then noticed that Hikari was in the tub. Aka, despite having seen Hikari naked, been intimate with her when she was naked, still felt an incredible rush at the fact of the model being nude with no clothes on.

Hikari glanced over the edge of the bathtub, wiggling her fingers at the skier. "Howdy honey, thought you might want to check up on me. Seems I guessed correctly, but I have to ask, do you really think I'm up for sex? After what happened?"

Aka chuckled and leaned against the bathroom door frame. "I gotta admit, yeah. But you know what? I was rather concerned about you. You laid it on thick to the group, though you kind of missed my follow-up."

"I could hear you shouting, Aka-honey. You really think the men are the problem?"

"I'm not a man-hating lesbian, but I'm concerned with how dangerous the ones here are. And they seem to keep getting you in trouble. Ken and his honor, Ishiku with his lies, and yet, you're usually defending them…

"I told you all about the thrills and such I'm into, but I don't like putting others' lives in danger for thrills. I wouldn't like seeing you get hurt or killed."

Hikari sighed, as she ran a hand through her raven hair. "Aka, I know our relationship is a little odd, it's not romantic but it's not one-night stand. But it's like you're concerned about me as if we were dating one minute, and then the next you just want to have sex with me."

Aka pulled her goggles off of her purple hair, and set it down on one of the counters nearby. "Hikari, you said to everyone that the Killing Game is more like a waiting game right now, so I want to know what you'd like. Should I stay or should I go, give it to me straight?"

"I didn't have the door unlocked because I wanted you to stay away from me, Aka-honey."

Hikari washed her hair some more, and the gentle splashing of water covered up some other movement noise. There was some light thuds, the kind that clothing made when it fell on the ground. The steampunk model turned to hear it, only to see someone climbing into the bathtub with her.

Aka had slipped in with ease, and then her arms wrapped around Hikari's shoulders, acting as a cushion for the model's noggin. Pressing up against Hikari in the tub, that rush of sexual delight raced through them both.

"Tell you what, Hikari-sexy," Aka purred as she touched her forehead up against Hikari's. "You know what I think? You want to be that adventurous soul that I saw when I first got here, flirting with all the other girls. You want that, but you don't want to come off as desperate or as a slut; I know, I've been there many times before."

"And yet you seem to have," Hikari spoke, shivering as she felt Aka's hands on her, "no problems. Are you saying I need to get it on with other ladies here?"

"How about this: we spent tonight together, and tomorrow, we both try and seduce another lady! You finally open up some, we get the women in this group to work together!"

"Alliances through seduction and sex?"

Aka moved in and kissed her, running her fingers through the model's raven hair. She moved in, their breasts and stomachs pushing up together. Her hands trailed down and felt up her curves, her thighs.

"You seem to resemble a steampunk Jamie Bond," Aka whispered. "I know that you want to do this, and I think you need a new flavor of female if I'm getting too spicy for you."

"Hmm, but you are in the bathtub, so it appears you can cool down with me."

The two snuggled up closer, and continued to kiss and touch each other. Heavier, churning splashing would soon follow.

---

Day 10, ? PM

Housing District

Isaac Bellamy and Hara Pathik's House

Hara drummed her fingers together, as she heard Isaac explain everything he and Yejoon discussed. The explorer heard everything, and then sighed heavily.

"Isaac, do you remember when we got to interview the people who were saved from the moon?" she asked him.

"Yes, why?"

"They went through hell, and it was all at the delight of two terrible people. One who wanted to just murder people, and one who wanted to corrupt others as well as prove how much more smarter they were. Those poor people who had to die on the moon, that was for their entertainment.

"Yejoon is a combination of those two villains. He wants to kill, he wants to corrupt. No matter how much concern he shows for Fiora, how he works with us during the trials, his motivations are quite sinister."

Isaac sighed too, and said, "I considered all that, but at the same time, can we deny he's right? That Hope's Peak Academy, this Junko Enoshima, the supernatural events, they're all connected here."

"It definitely feels like the kind of scoop you'd chase after. Funny how what sounds like conspiracy theories are now more part of our reality."

"All too true." The reporter flopped on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm just concerned about you, Saiko, and maybe some of the others here. The death and corruption here is getting out of hand… and I feel like we're going in circles."

He groaned in frustration, then someone flopped on the bed too, but more so on him. Hara smiled down at him, and said, "Nothing difficult is ever easy, this is worth investigating, and we're not going anywhere.

"Now I know that you can stay up all night going over your ideas and theories, but we're going to tackle the problem after getting a good night sleep. So you calm down, and we'll gather up our forces and resources and troops tomorrow!"

Isaac chuckled and caressed her face. "Yes, Drill Sergeant Pathik."

"At ease, my love."

---

Day 11, 9:25 AM

Housing District

Ishiku Shyre's House

Finished with a shower and changing into his clothes, the magician tried to hum a tune to keep his mind off of his worries; however, it wasn't working. No matter how much he tried to get his mind off of everything that happened yesterday, he wasn't able to pull himself out of the horrible depression threatening to overwhelm him.

"Don't be a whiny pop song about heartbreak," he tried to joke as he tightened his gloves. "Everyone goes through bad times. Sure, those bad times don't involve falling for a girl who turns back into an unfeeling, robotic bear cub after midnight… and an entire group of your peers blaming you for everything."

Smacking his forehead, he tried to figure out what he should do next. That's when his eyes rested on something that he had still kept secret from everyone else.

Peko Pekoyama's sword, the one that had been showcased at the Science Lab's weapons testing room, was now kept inside of his closet. He had figured that although the weapons needed to be destroyed, this sword meant something to someone. Plus, it was a really cool sword.

It had been a miracle that no one had noticed he had kept it hidden on his person, but that was exactly what a magician was good at. Though he couldn't reveal he had it now, because he could only imagine the questions to follow.

"So does that make you a total hypocrite now?"

"Why didn't you use that when Emanuel went crazy?!"

"You're not a man at all, are you?"

The second question was the one he was actually ashamed of, because thinking back, he really should have pulled it out when Emanuel turned to Despair in the trial room. The truth was, he was scared out of his mind, and didn't even consider it until the horrible event was over.

The shame he felt, the secret he was keeping, they were both eating at him. This town was definitely putting him through stress, but he had vowed to not let it get the best of him. So when he picked up his staff, staring at that emerald clasped by the faux skeleton hands, he felt quite better.

As he was about to head outside, the TV turned on. The magician pursed his lips as he prepared for more insanity.

---

(Day 11 has begun!)

(Monokids' Town Hall Greeting)

*The four Monokubs are standing at the front steps of Town Hall. The lack of Monotaro there throws off their line-up noticeably.*

Monokubs - "Rise and shine, ursine~"

Monokid - "Just to let you dumb bastards know, there is a lot of new stuff for us to go over, as the rules of Penjar have changed drastically."

Monophanie - "If you could all collect at the cafeteria, have breakfast, we'll be making our announcement after you've all had a chance to eat."

Monodam - "…"

Monosuke - "Hey, it was youse's line next, Monodam. What's the matter?"

Monodam - "…"

Monophanie - "Leave him alone, he's been very quiet since Taro died."

Monosuke - "Youse think that's the reason? He's usually quiet, ain't he? But then again, he did take it hard when Monotaro died."

Monokid - "Which do we call him by now, Taro or Monotaro?"

Monophanie - "Well, he was our brother, but he was human when he died… so I'm kind of confused."

Monokid - "Here, I have a way to decide which to call him."

*Monokid pulls out his guitar, and smashes it on Monodam's head. The green Kub falls onto his back, with, quite unusually, a large lump growing from the top of his head.*

Monodam - "OW."

Monophanie - "Eeek! Monokid, why'd you do that? How's that decide anything?!"

Monokid - "We were deciding on something? I kind of forgot what we were talking about."

Monosuke - "Ugh, let's just see all of youse at the cafeteria this morning, because youse are gonna need to hear what the rules are."

Monokubs - "So long, bear well~"

---

Ishiku rolled his eyes, and muttered, "Try not to think of her as a person anymore, Mason. She's gone… the lab is gone… there's absolutely nothing you can do about it."

---

Day 11, 10:00 AM

Penjar's Public Cafeteria

This morning, in the cafeteria, everything seemed different. The group was mostly quiet, dividing up into smaller groups, with Pyrrha and Odelios working on the breakfast as usual.

The clown and the romance writer were probably the least tense people in the building. Pyrrha inquired about Ishiku, and her concern for him seemed quite genuine to Odelios; it was like she could sense the heartache, and wanted to help out.

In the cafeteria, many were seated alone: Yejoon, Blake, Yitro, Ken, Ishiku, Crystal, and Hikari. Aka was trying some moves on Anzu, but the actress didn't appear all that interested.

Drake and Ignatia were seated together, but she was still giving him the silent treatment in terms of text. Isaac, Hara, and Saiko were together as usual, with Souma and Eisei seated across from them at the same table.

Shuuya and Futaba were seated close to the door, quietly discussing what they could. Last night had made both of them leery of the others, and yet despite a desire to work alone, they found the other good to bounce ideas off of.

The cafeteria was mostly quiet, but then the last two graduates walked in. Fiora, wearing her fedora down so far that it almost covered her eyes, walked inside with Kimiko. The biker gang leader was close to her, but the movie maker appeared ready to break away.

She was trying so very hard to play it cool, but Fiora had indeed pulled her hat down too far, and ran into a table because she hadn't seen it. As she stumbled to regain her balance, Kimiko rushed over to help.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Fiora said to her, then noticed that the graduates were staring at her. Some of them appeared highly concerned, some confused; it was hard to tell with Yejoon when he had his mask on.

"Hey, um, everyone," the movie maker said, tugging her hat up a little, "I joo'st wanted to say… soo'ry. It was a stupid thing that I did. Really, really stupid…"

Yitro walked over to her, and pulled her into a firm hug. Fiora hugged him back, and let out a sigh of relief. "I… I doo'nt knoo' what came over me."

"Just remember, you're not alone here," the swordsman said. "I think all of us were highly worried about you, but you don't have to go into details."

"But shouldn't I?" Fiora turned to address everyone in the cafeteria. "I mean, we're having such trouble with information, maybe I should tell you all what I saw in my vision, about Shinobu, about the lab."

"Oh, really? We're not going to talk about you trying to put a bullet in my brain?"

Blake stood up, furiously crossing his arms. He glared with the utmost contempt at Fiora, who withered slightly at the ferocity of the stare. "You were ready to murder me in front of everyone, and I'm supposed to just say, 'that's alright, mate, water under the bridge'?! That ain't gonna fly, you-"

"Did any of us ask for your opinion?" Anzu snapped.

"He does have a point," Futaba spoke up. "After everything that has happened, are we really going to readily accept Fiora?"

"Wait, let's not jump to conclusions of distrust so quickly," Ken pleaded, holding his hands up. "How has she betrayed this group's trust? It's not like she could have blown up the lab."

Fiora's eyes widened, then she looked to Yitro and Kimiko. "The lab's bin blown up? Wait, which part, eh?"
"All of it," Yitro said.

"ALL of it?!"

"Someone set up a trap at the front door, and when Monokuma opened it," Kimiko explained, "the entire building went doo'n."

Fiora stared in surprise, then chuckled a little. "That kind of explains some things. Wish we could have gotten Monokuma blown to bits on film."

She would have said more, but someone slammed their fist down on a table, causing her and the other two to flinch. The three turned to see that the graduates had broken down into a furious argument, with no one's point able to be heard over the shouting and furious clamor. Kimiko let out a defeated sigh, and took Fiora's hand.

"Come on, let's get you some breakfast," she said over the shouting to her. "It's bin like this since last night, eh; they're really at each other's throats."

Despite the rather intense arguments happening in the cafeteria, Fiora was greeted with a rather lovely surprise when she walked over to the kitchen. Pyrrha had prepared a stack of pancakes with chocolate chips, butter and syrup nearby.

"Hey honey, please don't ever hurt yourself again," the romance writer said, as she hugged Fiora. "We're here for you!"

"Yeah, I mean, you wanna know something?" Odelios said with a big grin on his face. "I have some of your movies at home, I want you to autograph them when we're done here."

Fiora stared at them incredulously, to Yitro and Kimiko, and sniffled. "You… you really do care. I'm soo'ry, I'm so very soo'ry, I doo'nt knoo' why I did it, I joo'st…"

As the four of them tried to calm her down, the cafeteria was starting to get ugly with the argument. It wasn't until Isaac let out one of his high-pitched whistles, and Souma stood up on the seat of the table.

"Everyone! Can I have your attention? Please? Thank you," the public speaker said, and then he cleared his throat. Eisei clapped lightly, a combination of pride and excitement to see his friend at work.

"Listen, we're tearing this group apart with the fighting, the arguing, the grudges. I know some of you are very conflicted with trust and safety. I must ask you all, remember why you are here.

"Someone drew us all here, someone is putting our lives at risk, but we all have our reasons to stay. If you look deep into yourselves, you'll know the answer why. You cannot deny that what is here, what we will discover, is of the utmost importance.

"That is the key here, and though the circumstances are grim, think to yourselves: what does one want in life most of all? To have left an impact, to have brought change, to do something good that'll last long after we are gone.

"So please, do not let the tension and worry get the better of you. We need to discuss our problems, here and now, and settle them before our group splinters and fractures more. It's time to talk now, it is time to have order amongst us."

Souma took a deep breath, and then smiled as he added, "Who'd like to speak first? Let us begin."

The graduates exchanged glances, quiet for the most part except for another round of light clapping from Eisei. The dentist stood up, and opened his mouth to speak.

"RISE AND SHINE, URSINE~"

The four Kubs leapt up into the air, landing at the table that Souma had given his speech from. Monokid landed in the rest of Saiko's breakfast, and the forensic investigator glared at him.

"You mess with my food? You are so damn luck I cannot hit you," Saiko remarked. "Hope you enjoy syrup on your dumb butt."

"Rock on, short stuff!" Monokid declared, then kicked the plate onto the floor. "Don't worry, Monodam will clean it up."

"…" Monodam remonstrated.

Souma groaned as he stepped off of the seat, staring at the Kubs. "What is it? Couldn't you have waited a bit longer?"

"Longer? But youse was done with youse's speech," Monosuke argued. "We gave youse that, so don't youse be critical of us."

"Though it was a very nice speech, Souma," Monophanie said, clapping her hands together.

"It was indeed," Eisei said, clapping as well.

The small pitter-patter of small hands lightly applauding filled the cafeteria for an unusual pause. Souma stared at the Kubs, then said bluntly, "So what do you want."

"Well, Mr. Future Foundation member, we've come to give you all the news on what's gonna happen next," Monokid said, strumming on a new guitar. "The northern plaza is open, as well as several fucking rockin' new buildings and a field!"

"Though there are going to be, ah, limitations," Monophanie said, "to what you can do. You see, we've noticed a great deal of hostility in this group, especially last night."

"Yeah, youse is really dividing up Penjar," Monosuke said with a shake of his head. "And we're not going to get a good rating if youse is gonna fight like cats and dogs."

"Or rather, men and women," Monokid said. "Because after what we saw last night, the real problem is about boys and girls! Guys and dolls! Bastards and bitches! Dicks and cu-"

"What?! Why is this a gender thing?" Souma exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "Why are you making this a gender thing?"

"Oh, maybe," Aka said with a flip of her purple bangs, "he can see the truth too."

"Heh, really now?" Blake snorted. "Because all I see are dumb women ruining everything."

"Do you practice trying to be an asshole?"

"I don't need to, because I don't sugarcoat the truth. The women here have contributed zero, less than zero!"

Souma groaned loudly, slapping his palm against his forehead. "Where did all of this come from? When did gender become a focus in all of this?!"

"Youse cannot deny," Monosuke said, "that it's really becoming an issue, and we're going to step out in front of it!"

"I mean, look at Monokid," Monophanie said, "he's quite the version of toxic masculinity."

"Hells yeah!"

"So we're really wondering if we're dealing with dangerously violent men and unreasonably emotional women here. Maybe it is time we had a split."

"Hells yeah!"

"Youse all are going to have a few rules to follow, okie-day?" Monosuke remarked. "Because when we take youse to the northern plaza, we're going to split up the group into two groups: men and women."

"Hells yeah!"

"They got it, Monokid."

"Hells yeah!"

"Is… is he stuck?"

Monophanie walked up behind Monokid and swat him in the back of the head. The blue Kub fell on his face, and yelled into the table, "I got a rock-hard rager!"

"I think he's a little too excited," Monophanie remarked. "He's starting to say things like if they were sound bytes."

"How weird. Monodam, you take care of him, I'll handle the guys when breakfast is over."

"BREAKFAST-IS-RUINED."

"Thatta boy, Monodam, let it all out."

"SO LONG, BEAR WELL~"

As the four Kubs hopped off the table (three hopped, one was dragged off), the graduates exchanged confused glances.

"They're really going to do this?" Hikari asked. "They're going to try and split us up?"

"About damn time," Aka remarked.

"I could definitely give this a try," Futaba added.

"If you all are going to salute this notion," Ken said as he shook his head, "then fine, I am willing to try it out."

"Wait a minute, what?" Fiora exclaimed, staring at everyone from the kitchen. "You all want this? You want the Kubs to divide us?"

"Anything to keep you," Blake snapped, "the hell away from me."

---

Day 11, 10:31 AM

Penjar (General)

Behind Penjar's Public Cafeteria

After everyone finished up her breakfast, the Kubs escorted them all out through the back door of the cafeteria. There was a pathway, leading across a couple streets and between two rows of buildings. Then the group was introduced to quite the extraordinary sight.

With a short hill downwards, two concrete paths curving towards the buildings down in this plaza and a third one in the middle leading to a larger Monokuma statue, a grassy area that was like a well-maintained district greeted them.

On the leftmost side of the district was a tall, lengthy building that had two large doors apart from each other. Next to it, in the northwest corner, was a baseball field with home plate and the chainlink backing right at that corner. Next to that was what appeared to be a bowling alley, but most of the neon lights were burned out.

On the rightmost side of the district was what appeared to be a spa and beauty parlor. At the northeast corner was what appeared to be a stables and free-range area for horses. Finally, on the eastern side of the top road was a clothing store, far greater than the tailor shop that had been near the Science Lab.

The observant graduates noticed that while all these buildings were new, they still had that faded, time-worn look in its entirety. Glass windows were crusty, metal was rusted, and all of the plants and grass were dead. This was most noticeable with the most prominent place of them all, right at the middle of the far road, between the bowling alley and the clothing shop.

The biggest, grandest of them all was the gigantic, three-story building that appeared to be a hotel. The graduates stared at it, and, as if on cue, the neon lights at the front buzzed to life briefly.

"A love hotel?" Shuuya inquired, raising a hotel. "Okay, there's no way a ghost town had a giant love hotel."

"Not to mention a baseball court, not exactly a Japanese staple for a small town," Eisei commented. "This is quite ridiculous."

"Your face is ridiculous," Monokid shouted. "We worked really hard on all of this, and this is the thanks we get!"

Isaac rubbed his temples, and muttered, "You have to be kidding me. I went through this area so many times with Hara and Saiko, how did you turn time-ravaged buildings into this? Over night!?"

"IT'S-MAGIC," Monodam suggested.

"Magic doesn't exist," Ken snapped at the green Kub.

Monodam slouched, muttered something under his breath that sounded like a defeated sigh, and started to wander off. The other Kubs observed the graduates, and then began to speak.

"So here's the deal," Monosuke announced, "youse all are gonna hafta work on exploring this area of Penjar split up, because we cannot trust the genders to work together anymore!"

"Oh come on, seriously?" Souma balked. "Why are you pushing that?"

"Don't argue with the new rules, fancy pants," Monokid shouted. "And there's gonna be some real strict ones, so we ain't got time to fuck around!"

"Okay then, just say what they are," Saiko muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Youse see, the left side of the northern district, the hall of fame building, the baseball field, the bowling alley," Monosuke explained, "that's for men only. Only men are allowed on that side, because it's for manly men and their manly desires!"

"I don't bowl," Blake muttered.

"I don't play baseball," Shuuya remarked.

"There's beer at the bowling alley," Monokid shouted.

"I'm more interested," the pyro said with a grin.

"There's actually a lot of really fun little things you can find around there, and it'll be all away," Monosuke said with a chuckle, "from the whiny, emotional females who keep dragging youse all down!"

There were a lot of dirty glares at him, but he merely laughed again and fanned himself with money. "Maybe youse can get some things done without them screwing things up left and right, whether it is doing secret missions behind your back, carving up mercenaries, or wanting to stop all progress because of 'feelings.' Upupupupu!"

"I feel like he's just trying to be offensive at this point," Crystal remarked.

Monophanie cleared her throat, and turned towards the ladies. "Okay, girls, you'll have next-to-full access to the spa, the stables, and the clothing store! There's loads of fun stuff to do, we're going to have a blast!"

"Clothing? Spa? What the hell!" Kimiko shouted indignantly. "We're not on vacation, and we're not fucking shopping! And… wait a minute, do you have horses at the stables?"

"No, we cannot bring animals into Penjar," Monophanie admitted sadly. "Sorry."

"You're soo'ry, eh? Stables with no horses, how wonderful," the biker gang leader grumbled. "What, you think because girls like ponies, we would like an empty stable?"

"See what I mean, guys?" Monosuke said, laughing once more. "Whiny, emotional dames! Upupupupu!"

"Haw haw haw!" Monokid shouted. "Let's make armpit noises at them to gross them out!"

The blue Kub tried, but metal armpits don't really make gross noises. As he clinked and clanked, trying to gross out the women, the humans stared at the Kubs in utter bafflement.

"Okay, what about that large hotel you have at the center?" Yitro asked. "Who gets to go in there?"

"Why, you all do, of course," Monophanie said, clapping her paws together. "You see, those are your new homes for your stay here during this social experiment of Penjar!"

"What!" Odelios declared, gripping at his orange hair and wild hat. "We're staying in a love hotel? But this is so sudden! I didn't bring my red lingerie, or extra batteries for my-"

"You're seriously going to make us stay at a love hotel?" Fiora asked, then she tapped her chin. "Huh. Interesting premise for a movie, I gotta say."

There was a rude snort, and Blake said, "Only someone who cut off oxygen to their brain would think so. Oh wait, that's right…"

Fiora moved over to hit him, but Ishiku and Yitro held her back. The movie maker wasn't energetic enough to truly struggle, and gave up just to stomp away from the group for a little while.

"Feisty emotional beings, aren't they," Monosuke said, then laughed. "Youse see, the love hotel is divided up. Mens' rooms are on the left side, women's on the right, and there is a kitchen and a gym on both sides. However, there are rooms, and an open cafeteria in the center…"

"Yes, because that will be the only place you can meet up," Monophanie explained. "If you choose to venture into the center portion of the love hotel, well… heeheehee!"

"She's giggling," Futaba said matter-of-factly, then peered around at the others. "Why is she giggling?"

"It's because we set up a chapel in the center of the love hotel for youse all," Monosuke proudly declared. "And if you venture into the center of the love hotel, then you volunteer yourself to be married to someone from the other side!"

The amount of "WHAT!" that came from the group was quite impressive in sync. The Kubs all giggled impishly, except for Monodam who returned to explain more.

"ONCE-A-MALE-OR-FEMALE-ENTERS-THE-CENTER-PORTION-OF-THE-HOTEL," he explained, "THEY-HAVE BEEN-REGISTERED-ON-OUR-SPECIAL-GUEST-LIST. ONCE-SOMEONE-OF-THE-OPPOSITE-GENDER-ENTERS-THE-CENTER, THE-TWO-ARE-DECLARED-MARRIED."

"You know, some of us aren't straight," Hikari remarked.

"THOSE-ARE-THE-RULES," Monodam elucidated.

"But Monodam, sweetheart," the steampunk model pleaded, kneeling down in front of the green bear, "it's not right to do something like that. That won't help us get along."

"PERHAPS-WE-CAN-CHANGE-THE-RULES-IF-YOU-ALL-GET-ALONG-FOR-ONE-DAY. WHO-DO-YOU-WISH-TO-MARRY?"

The steampunk model blushed, and stood up, muttering, "Um, n-never mind, I'm not in a rush to get married."

Aka chuckled and blew the model a kiss, before Hikari rushed over to get her to stop. As the two held a short, quiet conversation between the two of them, Monodam continued.

"A-MARRIED-COUPLE-WILL-FIND-ALL-OF-THEIR-THINGS-PLACED-IN-ONE-OF-THE-CENTER-ROOMS."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Hara said with a smile.

"Did we mention that these center rooms," Monosuke said, "are what we like to call the Fancy Orgy Raunchy NC-17 Intense Kinky Advanced Tantalizing Excess rooms?"

Hara's smile disappeared fast, and she whimpered, "That doesn't sound pleasant at all!"

Odelios mouthed letters as he tried to spell out the room's lengthy room, and declared, "Hey, that spells out-"

"In these rooms, youse will find," Monosuke continued again, "some of the best hentai and porn on the TV and magazines, all sorts of kinky toys and gadgets, props, costumes, and the biggest, most comfortable bed you've ever seen! Upupupupu! Plenty of lube and other tools in the room too!"

"We plan to wash the sheets every morning," Monophanie squeaked out.

"This is the most depraved thing," Shuuya remarked, "I've ever heard in my life."

"I could get used to it," Anzu said with a naughty titter in her voice.

"So can I," Blake said with an equally naughty laugh.

"Oh, what a shame, I'm no longer interested."

"Bite me, bitch!"

"NOW-NOW-NOW," Monodam interrupted the fight. "THAT-IS-NOT-GETTING-ALONG."

"So, what exactly are the benefits to this?" Crystal asked, rolling her eyes. "There has to be something other than a set-up that sounds like it comes from some erotic video game."

"Will we even know who is next on this list?" Eisei inquired.

"One at a time, please," Monophanie pleaded. "Okay, so, besides having a room together where you can enjoy yourselves and really get along, vowing to officially work together as man and woman, you will be allowed to the other side of this plaza!"

"So you cannot visit the other side unless you're married and are going over with your partner?" Drake asked, red in the face just by saying it out loud.

"Yes, and there is a good reason for that. You see, some of the places on each side cannot be entered unless someone of the other gender is with you. So if you want to find out all of the mysteries of this plaza and the buildings, you're going to have to find a married partner!"

"A partner you have to sleep with in the same bed within a glorified sex dungeon," Crystal muttered. "Wait, we're not expected to have sex with our married partner, are we?"

"No, you don't have to," Monophanie said comfortingly.

"What a relief."

"But the marriage isn't official until you do, bitches," Monokid shouted with all the over-the-top gusto that a rock star would make an announcement over. "There's no going over to the other side of the plaza until you make that marriage official!"

"Okay, this is getting gross," Futaba remarked.

"You really are going to push this on us?" Souma balked, gripping his head. "What kind of sick joke is this?"

"Sheesh, youse was all humping each other a few days ago," Monosuke complained. "What, did you all dry up or something?! This is what we're talking about, youse all are just so emotional and whiny, youse gotta work together!"

"I don't know why you all are complaining so much," Saiko remarked. "We already have a couple here ready to get married, it's not like we have to look hard to find a man and woman who don't hate each other."

"Saiko," Isaac and Hara shouted, both red in the face.

"What? It's true!"

"Oh, um, about that," Monophanie said, nervously scratching the back of her little head. "We had to make an exception for the two of you, since you already have an official engagement, and we're not legally allowed to override that."

Saiko glared at the Kubs. "What's this now?"

"Isaac and Hara are already registered as married, and they have one of the best center rooms already," Monosuke explained.

"Have fun banging your butts in that bitching bed," Monokid guffawed.

"But since youse two cannot get married in our chapel," the orange Kub continued his explanation, "youse don't get the benefits of our form of marriage. So youse two are exempt from being able to visit the other side, even with each other, for today at least."

Hara and Isaac exchanged glances, confused and embarrassed about all of this attention. Hara sighed, and muttered, "Okay, so we cannot help with these gender-specific doors. Sorry, everyone."

"You really don't have to apologize," Saiko remarked, glaring at the Kubs some more. "We all know they prevented your help because you were the easy answer to this."

"Oh, my poor breaking heart," Monosuke said with a guffaw and a half. "Youse gonna wanna hear more of our explanation before you insult me more, toots!"

"What my brother means is," Monophanie said, "that one of you asked if you'll know who is registered as the next potential spouse for the other side. The answer is no."

"Wait, what?" Kimiko said, staring incredulously at the Kubs. "We can get a spouse at random? But how will we know who it is?"

"Oh, we'll tell you that, fo' sho," Monokid declared. "Once the two have been picked, you'll be informed who your spouse is, and if you wanna consume the marriage!"

"'Consumate,' Monokid," Monophanie corrected him.

"It's right either way, haw haw haw!"

"This is ridiculous," Blake shouted. "You only get the benefits if you have sex with this so-called spouse, but we cannot expect any of those women to comply to this."

"Oh, suddenly we're the problem," Aka shouted. "You're a bunch of violent bastards and untrustworthy cads!"

"You're just unreliable and stupid, you collective pack of carpet-munching lezbos!"

"Will someone shut these two up," Ken remarked, rubbing his forehead. "Everything gets heated up every time they open their mouths!"

"Yeah, just can it, you two," Saiko declared. "You're not making things easier! We need to find a solution for this!"

"I have a question," Eisei spoke up, raising a hand with a lollipop stick in-between his fingers. "You say we're only allowed on our side, but what happens if someone violates those rules?"

Monokid chuckled deviously, then laughed diabolically. "Then you're at my mercy, little fucker!"

"Oh God, not you," Ishiku complained, staring furiously at the blue Kub. "You tried to kill us in the Science Lab! You're the reason Shinobu was impaled on that rebar!"

"But I didn't kill her, so it's all water under the fucking bridge," the rocking Kub responded. He chuckled, then he started to wander off. "Hold on a second, I need to get something for my new job."

As he waddled away, Monophanie clapped her paws together. "It's so wonderful he's taking on new responsibilities! It's like he's growing up as a bear."

"He's so much better at being in control than Monotaro ever was," Monosuke agreed.

"…" Monodam negotiated.

The blue Kub was only gone for a minute, and when he came back, he had what appeared to be a sniper rifle in his hands. He was also wearing a military helmet, and hi-tech goggles over his eyes.

"Haw haw haw, I'm the new hall monitor here," Monokid shouted. "We got sensors outside this plaza, and inside the love hotel, so trust me when I say, I'll know! And I gotta fucking shoot someone now, this feels so fucking good in my hands!"

"Dear God in heaven, the bear has a gun now," Souma mumbled, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Oh, is that even real?" Futaba asked dubiously. "I swear, how could you even operate it?"

Monokid stared at her for a few seconds, then he shouted loudly, "HEY DAD! WHERE YOU AT?!"

From down the pathway came a'waddling Monokuma, waving his paws up in the air. "Hey there, my adorable widdle Kubs, did you start the explanation about the love hotel already? I wanted to help with that, I haven't shown up since that damn building blew up in my face again-"

BLAM!

The shot was so loud, so sharp, everyone's hearing was deafened with a slight ringing as a replacement for a few seconds. Monokuma's face, most of his head, had been obliterated by the sniper shot. As the body slumped over backwards, the graduates could make out a faint chuckling from Monokid.

"Boom, headshot."

"EEEEEEEEEK!" Monophanie screamed, adding to the ringing in people's ears. "Daddy!"

"No, now we're involved in killing him?!" Monosuke panicked. "I'm not ready for this new lifestyle!"

"THIS-WAS-YOUR-IDEA," Monodam scolded them. "YOU-DECIDED-TO-GIVE-HIM-THAT-GUN."

Monokid growled, and started to turn the gun towards Monodam. The green Kub scurried away, but was suddenly picked up and held close to Drake's chest. The cartoonist turned his back to Monokid, and shouted, "You leave him alone!"

The blue Kub growled in aggravation, and muttered, "Fine, I guess I'll just have to take care of you later. I'm watching you, Monodam, always watching you!"

"So, is that it?" Yejoon asked casually, observing the northern plaza. "You will shoot us if we trespass?"

"First, I will approach you and let you know that you have only a few seconds to get back to your side. Then, if you are on the wrong side still, I will blow your FUCKING HEAD OFF!"

"Eloquent. Is there anything else?"

"Yes, there is something else!"

Monokuma popped up in front of the large group, crossing his paws. Some of the graduates glanced towards where his last body had fallen, and noticed it was gone.

"Don't you think I don't know what you think I don't know! My beloved Science Lab is now a pile of rubble, and it's going to make everything so much more difficult for me! So trust me when I say…"

The despair bear raised one of his paws, the claws extending in the most intimidating manner, as they gleamed in the light. "My Kubs and I have made this highly uncomfortable for all of you because of this transgression. Though I doubt you need more animosity towards each other with how much you're at each other's throats…

"But it's going to give me such a happy case of despair to know that while I struggle with you all, you're struggling much, much more. These rules we have for the northern plaza, you had better hope two of you will grow a spine, a pair of balls or ovaries, however you want to put it. Because if someone kills someone else, this plaza will be cut off from all of you…

"FOREVER!"

The graduates exchanged glances, and then Isaac spoke up. "Okay then, let's plan something out-"

"NO!"

"NO!"

"NO."

The bears yelled in unison, and then started scurrying around the bunch. The guys were moved towards the left side, and the gals were pushed to the right. They didn't have much time to talk, for the ones that wanted to. Monokuma glanced between the two groups of gender-divided graduates, and then rubbed his paws together.

"Communication will be a little bit difficult for you all, since I assure you, you won't be able to shout across the field to the other side. The mists are going to prevent that kind of yelling. If you want to communicate with the other side, you might have luck shouting inside of the hotel, though I doubt it, and then everyone will know what you're up to.

"Now… go!"

The two groups stared at each other from afar. Isaac waved over to Hara, who clutched her shirt over her heart and waved back to him. Yejoon gave a small wave to Fiora, who slowly turned away when she saw him.

Saiko frantically waved, shaking her head when some of the guys thought she might be signaling to them. Eventually, it became apparent she was trying to communicate with Eisei. The dentist waved back, and then showcased a little surprise when she gestured towards him, herself, and then the love hotel.

There was a slight blush on Eisei's face, as he nodded. This let him see there was a laser dot on his chest.

"HOLD IT, WOMAN!"

Monokid marched over towards Eisei, pointing the sniper rifle at the dentist. "Are you already trying to break our fucking rules? No girls on the left side!"

"I'm a man," Eisei commented.

"Bullshit! You have that girly hair, the girly clothing, the girly face, the girly 'girliness'!"

"EISEI-IS-A-MAN," Monodam called from Drake's arms.

"Um, son, that one actually is a boy."

"I assure you," Eisei spoke up again, "I am a man. If you need to inspect my genitalia-"

"I so do not care, whatever you identify as, or however it works! I'm a simple bear with a simple sniper rifle! So you're going to the other side, so says I! Remember, my rules, my judgement! Off you go!"

Monokid reached over to Eisei's jacket collar, and yanked him along. Eisei's feet dragged on the floor, as the dentist calmly crossed his arms and puffed his face up, the lollipop stick in his mouth sticking up indignantly.

Then he was thrown down on his back amongst the women, staring up with slight consternation on his face. "This is not the finest moment for my pride."

Saiko walked over, and helped him up. "Damn it, I think he may have known about us, that's why he threw us over here."

"That may be a possibility, or it is an unfortunate coincidence that he wished to be an aggressive jackass."

"Wait a minute, Saiko," Hara spoke, a smile fighting to conquer her face, "what do you mean by 'known about us'?"

The women all stared at Saiko, who became quite red-faced and started to sputter. "I… that is… I don't have to answer that!"

"Is there any particular reason," Eisei questioned, "why you refuse to tell your friend that the two of us engaged in intercourse during that aphrodisiac outbreak?"

"EISEI!"

"Oh dear, did I overstep my bounds? My apologies."

"I swear to God, I am gonna-"

That was when Eisei placed a lollipop in her mouth, making her go silent for a moment, and murmur how unfair it was before walking off towards the plaza. Hara was giggling a great deal, as the rest of the ladies were rather confused by this.

"So, Eisei is now considered a woman as far as Monokid is concerned?" Futaba asked. "That's just going to make things even more difficult with a possible marriage."

"Are we seriously considering that?" Crystal asked.

"If we are, one of you straight or bi girls are going to have to do it," Aka remarked. "Hey, mime girl… ugh," she shivered when Ignatia looked directly at her, "s-sorry, still not good with clowns… or similar performers. Aren't you straight? Could you and that cartoon boy hook up for us-"

Ignatia stormed off indignantly, flipping an indignant hand signal back towards the women. She also indignantly kicked a trash can, getting some good distance on it.

"I am guessing that's a no of sorts," Hara commented.

"We might as well take a good look around, eh," Fiora said, smiling at the group. She rubbed at her neck, where some of the marks left by the rope were still present. "It'll be so nice to spend a little time with you all, rather than… naw, you knoo' what? I joo'st want to help 'oot. Let's do dis den."

---

Day 11, 11:02 AM

Northern Plaza

Outside of the Hall of Fame Building

The Hall of Fame building had a large sign declaring what it was, overblown like anything sporty and/or celebratory would be. There were two doors, a good distance apart at the short end of this long, rectangular building.

The door to the left was unlocked, with a label on it stating, "Hope of Fame" for some reason. The door to the right, labeled "Despair of Shame" was locked. There was an electronic palm reader next to the locked door, with the female symbol at the top.

"Guess half of the hall is going to be closed off until we have someone from the female side," Shuuya remarked as he inspected the door.

"THAT-IS-CORRECT," Monodam said from Drake's arms.

The bounty hunter/assassin stared at the green Kub, then glanced up at Drake. "Why on Earth are you carrying him around?"

"I… I don't trust Monokid to not shoot at him when we're out in the open," Drake stammered, clearly nervous over Shuuya's stare. He stared to shiver when the bounty hunter didn't stop.

Yitro walked over and pat Shuuya's shoulder. "You're scaring the kid, come on now."

"Sorry, sometimes that side of me doesn't turn off, especially when the Kubs are around," Shuuya said with a shrug.

"B-but Monodam isn't our enemy, and after Taro died," Drake mumbled, glancing nervously to the side. When Shuuya stared at him again, the cartoonist squeaked nervously and turned away.

"The Kubs are still our enemy, for the most part," Shuuya stated. "Even if Taro died for a noble cause, we don't know how much we can trust them."

Yejoon, standing nearby, sighed as he adjusted his mask. He tapped his walking stick on the ground, and said, "Maybe we should just inspect this building rather than have yet another debate? Let Drake hug the bear, it's not going to hurt you."

Yitro and Shuuya glared at the artist. "Do you really like tempting fate?" Yitro snapped. "You do realize that Shuuya and I would gladly destroy you if you give us a reason?"

"Please," Drake pleaded, "no violence."

"I see no reason to continue this argument," Yejoon remarked, and then headed into the building via the left side door. The three guys followed after hastily.

The inside of the building was very lengthy, well-polished walls and floor. On the left side was a series of memorial plaques, with tall, electronic touch screens underneath each one. The right side was almost the same, just that they were framed pictures rather than memorial plaques.

The four young men instantly recognized the people in the frames on the left side of the building: it was them. The twenty-eight graduates were lined up alongside that wall, starting with the six who were now dead; their pictures were in grayscale.

"My, how morbid," Shuuya remarked as he studied these pictures. "I think at this point, they're just trying to rub it in our faces."

The door slammed against the wall as someone burst through, and they turned to see Monokid march in. "Where's Monodam?" he shouted, glancing around furiously. Drake turned away from the sniper bear, and Monokid groaned in frustration. "Damn it, I still cannot get a clear shot at the fucker!"

"Hello to you too, Monokid," Yitro commented. "Why are you here, anyway? We're not breaking any rules."

"I just wanted to see how you reacted to our prestigious hall of fame, it has some of the best moments in Killing Game history! Hehe, even if one side is kind of just starting."

Yejoon ignored him, and turned to the other wall. He stared at the pictures, and commented, "So you have the survivors of the Hope's Peak Academy Killing Game opposite from us?"

Drake looked over that wall, and noticed so many familiar faces. He winced when he saw some of them, and said, "I met some of those people when I went to Hope's Peak. So many didn't make it…"

The cartoonist studied some of them, and Yejoon watched him through the corner of his eyesight. Drake stopped in front of several of them: Kyoko Kirigiri, Kazuichi Soda, Mikan Tsumiki, Kirumi Tojo, Celestia Ludenberg, and Kaito Momota.

"IF-YOU-WISH-TO-KNOW-MORE-ABOUT-THE-PERSON," Monodam explained, "TOUCH-THE-TOUCH-SCREEN-TO-TURN-IT-ON. THERE-IS-A-LOT-OF-INFORMATION-ON-EACH-PERSON."

Drake nodded, and pressed the touch screen under Kaito's picture. The screen turned on, and displayed a bunch of profile information on the Ultimate Astronaut, like his age, birthdate, talent, and physical description. The cartoonist tried swiping the screen, which moved onto another page of information.

"He's dating Akane now?" Drake spoke aloud, staring at the touch screen in confusion. Glancing over at the gymnast's portrait, he repeated himself, "Akane? Her? And him? Oh gosh, I didn't see something like that, but good on them."

Shuuya raised an eyebrow, and said, "Drake, as interesting as that can be, we should probably focus on something more important: the people we're stuck in this town with."

He walked over to Jin Nahm's portrait, and pressed the touch screen. The same kind of information came up, and Shuuya swiped through the pages. It wasn't until he got to a page that had something very interesting that he stopped.

"List of Victims?" Shuuya read aloud, and then saw a whole list of names, mostly Korean by nature. The first two were a man and woman, with the last name of Nahm. The bounty hunter bristled with fury, and glanced over at Yejoon. "So, does this confirm it? You two really did start your murder spree by killing your parents?"

Yejoon chuckled, as he approached his own portrait. He flipped through the touch screen's pages until he got to the victims' list. "Ah, memories. Each one of these, I can recall."

"Sick fucker," Yitro snarled.

"Fucking sick, bro," Monokid cheered.

Shuuya went over to Takeo's, and read it a bit more closely. Though when he got to the list of victims, there was a long list of [REDACTED]. "What's this? You cannot list the people he killed?"

"IT-IS-MOSTLY-BECAUSE-WE-DON'T-KNOW-THEIR-NAMES," elucidated Monodam. "TAKEO-WORKED-ON-MANY-COVERT-MISSIONS-AND-WE-DON'T-KNOW-WHO-HE-TOOK-OUT."

Shuuya inspected Angelique's next; her list of victims was entirely blank. Next was Samson, and there was a rather lengthy list, ending with Angelique's name. Though the bounty hunter recognized a female name with a familiar last name.

"Esmerelda Wilson," he read aloud. "Wait, I thought he was responsible for Crystal's sister's death, not that he killed her."

"We put people there who could be considered his fault, as if he did the deed," Monokid said. "We figured he would appreciate that, the Chaos-loving bastard he was."

"My, how noble of you."

"No! NO NO NO!"

The sudden shouting from down the hall startled everyone, and there was a sudden impact noise. Yitro had punched one of the touch screens, cracking it. The others ran over, as Monodam said, "PLEASE-DON'T-DAMAGE-THE-DISPLAYS."

Yitro huffed in fury, and the guys could see what had upset him on the slightly cracked screen. There was one name on Yitro's list of victims, and it was his brother's.

"I did not," the swordsman shouted, "kill my brother!"

"Really now?" Monokid said, snickering a great deal. "Because his name is up there. Maybe it was all your fault, buddy! Haw haw haw!"

Yitro shouted a few curse words and stormed out of the building. The three guys exchanged glances, and Yejoon spoke first. "This can only mean two things: Yitro is really responsible, or the Kubs are using this hall as another way to get under our skin."

"We should look at everyone here, just to see," Shuuya said, "what the Kubs are going to assert. Even if Yitro wasn't responsible for his brother's death, there was still involvement, and that might be all the Kubs have to go on."

The three guys started to check all of the profiles. This went rather quietly, as they were trying to analyze what they saw.

Some of the graduates, like Shinobu, Ken, and, much to Drake's horror, Ignatia, had a list of names on the victims page. Though when the cartoonist stared aghast at the list, Shuuya approached him and spoke in a more comforting tone.

"Don't forget, a lot of us were forced to defend ourselves during the Tragedy. Self-defense, working together with groups, they might be why names are up here.

"Before she died, I had a conversation with Shinobu. She worked with a group while she was stuck in France, fighting for their lives underneath the Eiffel Tower. They had to kill to survive. It is probably the same for Ignatia."

Drake nodded, though remained quiet for the most part. The search through the profiles continued. Both Yejoon and Shuuya weren't surprised in the least when they saw Drake's profile had zero names under the victim list.

Drake wasn't the only one with a clean slate, as some of the others had apparently never killed: Angelique, Anzu, Eisei, Souma, and Hara were all clean as well. Though even with this seemingly good news, the three were rather dubious.

Shuuya scrolled through the list that was under Fiora's supposed list of victims. "The Kubs listened everyone that died in the Parking Garage Killing Game under her name. That's ridiculous, she was clearly a victim of that game, and there's no way she was involved."

"Or was she?" Monokid said, cackling. "Or maybe they're up there because they had to die for her to survive? Haw haw haw, you won't know unless you interrogate her or something!"

"Silence, you vile bear," Yejoon snapped, his hand clenching into a fist. "My little flower has been through enough, there will be no more violence towards her."

"Well then, let's hope all you fuckers have the same mentality that our resident double-hundred serial killer has towards Fiora, haw haw haw!"

Shuuya crossed his arms, and watched as Monokid waddled out of the building. The bounty hunter/assassin turned towards Drake and Yejoon, and said, "There is a small grain of truth to what he said."

"Wh-what would that be?" Drake stammered.

"Some people may jump to conclusions over what is stated here. They made it so that we have to intimately trust whoever we marry to bring her over to this side, but now we have an entire hall that points out that they could all be killers."

"B-but Hara and Anzu have a clean page!"

"And Eisei too, since he's over there," Yejoon remarked, "but I have a sneaking suspicion he is straight. Also, amongst the other ones with clean pages, Angelique is dead, and Hara is disqualified."

"And regardless of her nature, Anzu does not seem like the kind of person to risk marrying and consummating someone at random," Shuuya said. "Especially since she, like all the women, are leery of some of us."

"THIS-REALLY-HASN'T-BEEN-OUR-BEST-PLAN," Monodam admitted, "AT-HELPING-YOU-ALL-GET-ALONG. THIS-ISN'T-BECAUSE-OF-THE-DISEASE-KNOWN-AS-COOTIES, IS-IT?"

The three guys didn't really say much, they just considered their options. Even if they could only see half of this hall, it had already brought up a lot of unfortunate implications and distrust. Whatever was on the other side, it made them all wonder even more.

---

Day 11, 11:12 AM

Baseball Field

Home Plate

Ken stared out at the open field, examining it as he tried to picture it in a better light than it currently was. The grass was all dead, the mists of Penjar were like a floating, ground-level cloud that coated the area, and he hadn't even found any equipment to play the game with.

The cavalryman sighed, and leaned against the chainlink fence, staring aimlessly forward. There was a slight clinking noise, and he turned to see Odelios pressing his face up against the fence near the Novoselician.

"You wanna play some baseball, big guy?" Odelios asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

"I don't know where the equipment is, sorry," Ken responded, and shook his head. "Besides, we should not be so distracted. We have a goal, a duty even, to investigate this place and learn the answers that they have subtly slipped in."

"Doesn't explain then why you're staring so forlornly at the field, sir."

Ken rubbed his eyes, and then muttered, "We had baseball in Novoselic. I got to play it some times, and I loved it very much. I wish to play it again, just to feel something of my home. Alas, I doubt there is a star to shoot to make a wish upon."

"Perhaps we could play a game after there's been a good inspection of everything we can look through here."

"Perhaps… but I must admit, I don't fully trust everyone, male or female, here. After the trial we just had, it made me realize, like with my home, anyone can fall to Despair. There also seems to be more sympathy for the Kubs than our cause."

Odelios sighed, and leaned his back up against the fence. "You're thinking of Ishiku, aren't you?"

"Where is he, anyway? I would have thought you two were attached to the hip after everything."

"He wanted a little space, so he went off to the bowling alley without me. I don't mind, he's been through a lot. Listen, Ken, I know you're saying it is hard to trust him, but I really do. He's my friend."

Ken shook his head. "It's not just him, it is… people I thought I could trust. Hikari is a good woman, but she trusts people I cannot. Fiora considered murder, Blake callously disregarded others' deaths. What am I supposed to do?"

The clown and cavalryman were silent for a minute, facing away from each other, wondering what exactly they could do. Eventually, Odelios spoke.

"So did you know that one of my greatest inspirations was an Ultimate too?" he said, grinning as he thought back. "Satsuki Iranami, the Ultimate Clown, a year older than me, is like one of the best clowns ever! She could do stunts, tricks, and make you laugh when you're feeling your worst. God, I have such a crush on her, I hope she's doing alright nowadays.

"Did you ever have a crush on one of your seniors, so to speak? I wonder, was there ever another Ultimate Cavalryman? Ooo, what if she was a girl, would she be a cavalrywoman? Would I get away with making jokes about breastplate with one?"

"Odelios, what on Earth are you doing?"

"If you want to make the world a better place, you should know about the people that make it good. I though I should tell you about some good people I know."

"You digressed quickly."

"I tend to do that."

The two were quiet for a few moments more, and then Ken spoke. "People always asked me if I had a crush on our princess, but she was fairly younger than me. Still, it's not hard to see why, she was such an amazingly vibrant and wonderful young lady…"

---

Day 11, 11:24 AM

Bowling Alley

The large building was quite colorful with working neon lights and screens inside. There were sixteen aisles, all of them polished and ready to play on. An arcade was located at the right side, as well as a VIP lounge with glass walls showcasing who would be in there.

This VIP lounge had a stripper pole stage, with cushy seats around the stage. A second stripper pole in the buildings of Penjar was really starting to make them wonder what the Kubs thought of casual life.

To the left side of the bowling alley, was a bar much like at the tavern except slightly larger. There were TVs at this bar, though none were on. Monosuke was at the bar, wearing an apron and cleaning a glass.

"Youse really want another one?" he asked the sole customer at the bar. "It's not even noon yet, ya mook."

"I'll tell yoush when I ish done, youse shee?" Ishiku slurred, staring at the bear. "Beshidesh, if Emanuel ish dead, yoush need a new drunk, right? I volunteer for the poshishun."

Isaac and Souma, who had been searching around the bowling alley for anything that appeared out of place and finding more than enough of that, approached the bar. Souma sighed as he surveyed the drunk magician.

"I'm afraid Mr. Shyre has given up on trying to help out with the investigation," the public speaker said. "Do you think this could be a one-day event, or is he stuck like this?"

The reporter shrugged, then glanced to his other side. When no one was there, like every time he subconsciously looked, he sighed miserably. Souma pat his shoulder, and said, "I know you miss her, but you're truly helping us out still. Your eye for detail is highly reliable."

"Hara and I work together on cases like this all the time. This is the first time I haven't had her by my side for something so important and dangerous," Isaac admitted, then he crossed his arms and sighed. "I mean, we're not that lovey-dovey kind of couple that needs to be with each other over everything. We have our own hobbies, our own ventures, but for something like this…"

"You don't have to explain yourself, I understand that you would want her by your side during this dangerous escapade," Souma said. "Do not worry, you will see her at night, and I believe she'll be close to friends on her side."

Isaac nodded, then smiled at the public speaker. "Thanks again, for everything. You really are trying hard to keep everyone together."

"I feel like the more I see of this place, the more we truly need to ensure we find the answers. You're very capable, Mr. Bellamy, and I just hope you'll do as well with me figuratively taking your fiancé's place temporarily."

"Whoa, that sure does sound forward."

"Looking back at it, yeah, I kind of realize how bad it did sound."

---

Day 11, 11:25 AM

Northern Plaza

Outside of the Love Hotel, Near the Western Door

Blake observed the length of the gigantic hotel, and tried to see if he could see the other entrance that the women would have to use. It was so far away, he would only be able to recognize them by clothing and hair, and he doubted his voice would reach them, especially if the mists were dampening sound again.

The pyro observed the grass field that was in front of the hotel as well. There was a neon pink line of paint, starting on the right side of the hotel's left entrance, and trailed towards the grassy field. It extended through the grass, visible through the mist, and showcased a very clear point.

"Right, don't cross the line, Monokid," Blake said. "Man, you would be a metal badass if you weren't such a fucking freak show at the same time."

He sighed, then entered the love hotel. The wallpaper was a lustful red with hearts running up and down, and the carpet was a rich crimson as well. Everything inside was clean, pristine, and set a mood real fast. The front room was empty of people, which made sense since this wasn't a staffed hotel anyway.

Blake groaned as he approached the front counter, as if he was going to check in. He leaned against it, glancing around, and muttered, "Hi there, I'd like a room, please. Though with who, I dunno, because of how screwed up everything is. Goddamn, I just now realized how difficult this is gonna be. Damn my big mouth."

The pyro punched the counter, and rested his head against it. Mentally and verbally cursing himself, he eventually pushed himself away from there. He moved through the western lobby, and found the kitchen and cafeteria area.

There were restrooms, a gym, and even a small indoor pool. All of the rooms were done with a sensual, almost outright erotic set-up. The colors, the decorations, nothing explicit but definitely suggesting something in particular, it really started to exasperate Blake.

"We get it, you want us to shag," he muttered. "Get stuffed, you damn bears."

"And who is mostly at fault for that?" he mentally chastised himself. "You going to blame Fiora for bringing up your biggest shame, and Aka for being bitchy, until you delude even yourself? Or are you going to realize that your desire to win an argument became the most important thing, and you insulted all of the women to win that debate?"

"Get stuffed, me," he grumbled, pushing the thoughts aside.

He continued down the only hallway he could find that appeared to run through the entire hotel's first floor. The elevators and stairs up to the rooms were in this hallway, along the way to the center.

Before he reached that center, there was a large sign hanging up on the wall that read:

WARNING!

Beyond the line that you see in front of you is the center area of the love hotel! To step into the area will register you for the marriage list! This means you!

Once registered, you may explore the center part of the love hotel, but you may not cross over to the other side until the marriage is made official. You know what we mean.

Also, consider the fact all marriages that are made official are permanent, there is NO divorce in Penjar. Consider that before you all get married, finalized or not, and until death do you part.

Signed,

The Reverend Monokuma

and

His Flock of Four Adorable Monokubs

Blake raised an eyebrow, and wondered if there were any specific rules to setting this place in fire. It was kind of silly to consider, with everything that happened, but there was a certain appeal of destroying yet another important building of Monokuma's.

Before he could contemplate any more, he could see someone far, far down the hallway. Despite the distance, the blonde hair and the large-collar jacket she was wearing, Blake could tell it was Crystal. She was reading what appeared to be a sign on the wall at her side.

As she scanned the words, Blake called out to her. His shout traveled down the hallway prominently enough to warrant her attention. She glanced over at him, and he chuckled lightly before calling out, "Hey there, blondie. What do you say we put our differences behind us, and get you an all-plaza pass?"

He didn't know if she could properly hear him, they were so far away that he didn't know if his words were comprehensible that far. Crystal offered no verbal response, but one of her fingers sent a message to him.

She turned on her heel and walked off out of range. Blake snorted, and went back to exploring his side of the love hotel.

The military adviser sighed heavily as she walked into the lobby of their side of the love hotel. She could hear some rattling within the cafeteria, and could see Futaba rummaging through some of the food and drink set up. Anzu was exploring the lobby, before looking behind the front desk.

"Why are you looking there, Anzu?" she asked the actress.

"Because a camera and a microphone have taken us into that vision world, and I think it was an insect containment case that Eisei was holding? At this point, it could be anything that sends us to this evil version of Oz."

Crystal rolled her eyes, though part of her found amusement to the reference that Anzu had made. "You want to go there again? Assuming that is an actual place?"

"Crystal, sweetie, we've got far more questions than answers, and I refuse to wait around waiting for something to happen. Also, I'm certain that with how the group is now, no one is lining up to consummate a marriage."

The military adviser had to admit, she had just found the idea repulsive. "Yes, especially since it seems the Kubs found a way to prevent anyone willing from doing it. I'm actually surprised you haven't volunteered."

Anzu stood up straight, and stretched her thin body out. "Ngh~ Well, the problem is, there's, what ten guys? Isaac is unavailable, Yejoon and Blake are never going to touch me, Drake and Souma are too pure to even consider it, so do I want to risk it? Unless you think porn stars aren't allowed to be picky?"

"I've never been one to judge you for what you do for a living. I'm actually impressed you are perfectly okay with a bisexual lifestyle, when I'm still kind of coming to terms with it."

"Really? Was that because of the orgy we had a while back? Ooo, who'd you do?"

Crystal blushed, and sat down in a plush chair nearby. "Um, that's personal, I'm sorry. Maybe we should switch the subject."

Anzu giggled impishly. "You mean I shouldn't focus on sensual subjects when we're in a love hotel? You're, like, the oppose of Futaba. I had to fend the girl off of me for a bit, she's amorous right now."

The military adviser groaned, and muttered, "Well, to be honest, we're kind of running low on options."

The actress twirled one of her blue bangs around her fingers, and strut over to Crystal. She was really swishing her hips, as she leaned forward. This gave the blonde a good glimpse down her sundress, her black bra quite the sexy contrast to her pale skin.

Anzu sat down in Crystal's lap, straddling her on the chair. She let out a sensual purr, and cupped Crystal's face as she slowly, but very surely, gyrated her thighs against the military adviser's. "What we need," she whispered, "is at least to plan something out. What do you think would be a good first step?"

Crystal was red in the face, and her body slightly froze up, but her hands moved towards Anzu's hips. She slowly held onto her, as her breathing became heavier. "Um, well, the… the best route would be to have people who could never finish this false marriage to register first."

"Mmmm, I think I see the logic in that," Anzu groaned, and she cupped the back of Crystal's blonde head. Pulling her face into the warm, soft embrace of her chest, she pushed herself up against the adviser's facial features. She could hear, and feel, the excited breathing against her skin.

"Y-yeah, b-because, that way, the guys and gals who could do it would more likely find a partner they could… do… do it with."

Anzu purred again, and rubbed her chest up against Crystal's face some more. Then she pulled back a bit, and caressed her face. "But then problem is getting the guys to agree to this plan, and seeing who would agree to admitting that the girls won't shag with them. Mmmm, you know what?"

The actress leaned in, and placed her lips against Crystal's. The kiss lasted for a few good seconds, and the next one was a touch longer. Running a hand through the military adviser's hair, she whispered, "I need to go over some details with another person good at social planning. One minute…"

The raven haired lady pulled herself up off of the military adviser. A bead of sweat ran down Crystal's forehead, as her breath was almost visible with how heated it was now. Anzu strut over to the cafeteria, leaving the lady like that for now.

Futaba was finishing a pastry that was left in a transparent drawer. She noticed Anzu, and said, "Mmm, hey there beautiful. You seem to be in good spirits, despite it all."

"I'm not a gloomy girl, despite the fact that I could easily resemble a goth if I so wanted."

"I could totally see you in a green 'n black top and skirt, or maybe something black with white and red trimming."

Anzu laughed, then said, "So Crystal and I were going over what we should do about the marriage issue, and we considered getting everyone on both sides who'd never finish that deal register first, get them out of the way."

"You're asking a bunch of guys who aren't gay to admit that all of the women won't have sex with them. Men aren't historically known to line up the admit to that."

"Oh, don't be silly, men are a bit more complex than that. Besides, we have to consider what women would actually help us here; unless you all lost your libidos?"

Futaba chuckled, and corrected her glasses. "No, mine is still here, and probably more interested than ever. After Shinobu, Emanuel, and Taro, it's looking more and more like we could die… if we weren't on borrowed time already."

The anthropologist noticed the concerned frown from the actress, and shrugged. "Sorry, but after all I have seen, with Killing Games practically becoming a culture of its own, I find that patterns tend to form. Hikari was right when she said that the Killing Game won't end soon, because the Mastermind still has use for our deaths."

She turned away from Anzu, and went back to searching through the food articles on the countertop. "I'm not a pessimist, but I'm not exactly an optimist. Could you give me a good reason to strive when it feels like a ticking timer to the next death?"

Futaba reached towards one of the baskets, eyeing the fruit with a particular want for an apple. She stopped suddenly when she felt a pair of warm hands on her shoulders, and soon to follow was the lithe form of a lady up against her back. The sensual pushing of Anzu's body features pressing against her made Futaba's breath hitch.

"A good reason? Listen, even if this marriage set-up is something that the Kubs and Monokuma cooked up, it doesn't mean we should ruin the chance for more information. They're counting on us being nags, that we don't even like sex so this is something we'd never do…"

Anzu's hands explored Futaba's hips, against her stomach, and up to her chest. There was quite the erotic gasp from the anthropologist as she felt her breasts caressed at the underside, then fully cupped and squeezed gently.

"Mmm, I know you of all people aren't a prude, and it's not like there are guys you haven't considered that are here. I think what you need is motivation…"

The actress released one of Futaba's breasts, reaching up to cup her chin and tilt her face to the side. She kissed her, over her shoulder, and quite deeply. Futaba melted into the kiss faster than Crystal, and returned it quite a bit. Anzu caressed the gal's face and neck.

"Mmmph~ And also, we aren't going to get anywhere by fretting over what we cannot do. So why don't we plan something out instead?"

Anzu pulled herself away and off of Futaba, and then motioned for her to follow. Now the three ladies were in the lobby, and the actress grinned slyly at both of them.

"So you two can definitely think of a way to communicate with the other ladies, and the guys, on what to do," Anzu suggested. "Why don't you two collaborate, and get us somewhere good to go? I'm gonna check the other places, real quick, but I'll be back soon."

Anzu strut, her hips popping, as she walked away. She giggled, and thought to herself, "Still got it~ Now that I've jumpstarted those two to work on the problem at hand, I think their excitement will lead them to not be so defeatist over this motive."

The actress made it to the door, when she heard Crystal say something that sounded like, "So we… we were thinking-mmph~!"

Anzu paused her exit, and turned back to see Futaba and Crystal making out, rather passionately too. The anthropologist pushed the military adviser onto one of the lobby couches, and the kissing and groping intensified.

The actress blinked, staring at the two squirming, kissing, moaning women. She slapped her palm against her face, and muttered to herself, "Aw shit, I did it too well."

---

Day 11, 11:27 AM

Stables

Front Gate to the Main Pen

Kimiko leaned against one of the posts, staring out at the fenced area where the horses would normally be allowed to run free. She crossed her arms and scanned the area, seeing nothing but mist, rotten wood making up the stables area, and more mist. It was depressing, very much so for her.

The biker gang leader turned her head and spat, feeling just an incredible disgust for this place. Snorting angrily, she felt like stewing there for a little longer.

"This isn't the place I would think of finding a lady like you."

Kimiko turned her head to see Hikari strutting up the path, right towards her. The steampunk model had a friendly smile, maybe a touch more than friendly? The biker gang leader felt her face flush, and she turned away.

"I'm no lady," she responded.

"Now come on, a rough and tough biker woman can still be a lady. I firmly believe in that. Though I am curious why you're here."

The rough and tough biker woman sighed and rubbed her head as she felt the steampunk model eye her up. "Okay, when I was younger, I spent a lot of time at a ranch. Riding horses is something I loved doing, and this kind of made me think back to happier times, eh.

"Besides, it also made me think of how much I am supposed to be this rough and tough woman that you describe me as, but I'm failing miserably. I've bin nothing but tears and failure since I got here, and I fucking hate it."

Kimiko swung her fist downward and thumped the post she was leaning against. "I guess I'm no good at this, I never should have come here. But I'll be damned if I just up and leave when there is still work to be done; I'm not going to let others risk their lives when I should be helping."

The biker gal kicked at the ground, and added, "Don't worry a'boot me, Hikari. I'll get to investigating sooner rather than later. Maybe I'll find another one of those items that takes me to that cursed Hope's Peak. That'd joo'st be my luck, eh."

She tapped her chin, then turned to look at Hikari. "Were any of the Hope's Peak students equestrians?"

Hikari didn't answer this, she merely walked up in front of Kimiko, and leaned her parasol up against the wall nearby them. Her delicate hands reached up to caress Kimiko's shoulders, which was still intimate despite the leather jacket getting in the way.

"I think the problem is, you're stressed and emotional, and that's not a good combination for these circumstances," Hikari purred, and her pretty face moved in closer to Kimiko's. She caressed the gal's leather jacket, until she slipped her hands underneath and touched the bare skin where the biker's sarashi doesn't cover her.

"Wh-what?" was all Kimiko managed to say. It was hard to formulate words when the type of woman that she rather liked was touching her. It was her who did the advancing most of the time. "Um, are you doing what I think you're doing?"

"Flirting with you? Yes, yes I am."

Hikari leaned in, and her cheek nuzzled Kimiko's. Their noses grazed, and the warm breath from the model bathed the biker gal's face. Kimiko felt her breath hitching, and yet she managed to speak, "Wh-what about Aka?"

"Oh, she and I are taking a bit of a break. We wanted to explore our options, and it made me realize I was kind of slut shaming myself all this time. I shouldn't be ashamed to approach women I like, and I like you."

Hikari pushed herself up against Kimiko, pulling open the biker's jacket. Thus her corset was mushed up against Kimiko's breasts, and that warmth sent a heat through the biker gal. She Hikari kissed her, the kind of long, sweet kiss that made Kimiko weak at the knees.

"I like a lot of things about you, and even if you think you've only been emotional, you've been strong, stronger than I think you realize. Plus, I love your accent, your nobility, and hasn't it been obvious I love tomboys?"

Hikari slid one of her legs up and down against Kimiko's, as she giggled and added in a whisper, "I even like how protective you get over me."

"Wh-what?"

"You would go after Aka every time she flared up, and though you really don't have to worry about her, the way you sound so concerned," she kissed Kimiko, rather deeply. "Mmmm~ you taste so good, you know that?"

"Hi-Hikari, I-"

Kimiko kissed her more, the kind of luscious kissing that really did it for her. Her hands trembled, wanting to reach forward that perfect body that the model sported; something was stopping her, however.

"So I have gotten the feeling you like me, and I like you. What's stopping you?"

Her hands moved towards Kimiko's chest, one of them stopping over the biker's heart, to feel her heartbeat. She looked into Kimiko's eyes, and then her actions froze instantly when she saw something she didn't expect to see.

Tears. Kimiko was fighting it, but she couldn't prevent herself from sobbing once. "Hi-Hikari," the biker said with a sob, "I cannot risk this."

"Risk it? What do you mean?"

"You… you doo'nt understand. An… Angelique, I opened up to her, she opened up to me. We told each other a'boot those we lost, and… and then… I lost her too."

Kimiko took Hikari's hands, clenching them, and said, "It's true, I do like you, I have a certain attraction to beautiful, feminine ladies like you, despite my biker bitch lifestyle. And no matter what has happened, you've shown you can keep a level head during terrible times.

"But you said so yourself, this Killing Game isn't going to end until more of us die. I'm not going to risk it a'geen, because…

"I should be the one who dies, not someone like you. I'm soo'ry, I'm so soo'ry, but… you shouldn't associate with me."

Kimiko walked off, rubbing her eyes, not looking back. Hikari watched her go, unable to comprehend what just happened. The steampunk model tried to think of what went wrong, how did it go wrong.

"What does this place do to people," she whispered, "that makes even a confident woman like that so fearful of taking a chance?"

---

Day 11, 11:31 AM

Spa and Beauty Parlor

The main lobby of the feminine parlor connected to many different rooms, all of which were related to luxurious grooming. There was a hot spring spa, wax 'n massage room, nail salon, hair salon, and even a medical room. One of the doors was locked, with a blue, male symbol above a palm reader panel next to the door.

Hara and Saiko were staring at this door, which was in the hot spring room. Monophanie watched them, being something of a tour guide to them.

"So here's one of these mystery doors," Saiko remarked. "I seriously wonder what could be in them. Could it be a trap?"

"You think we rigged doors to explode in our precious town?" Monophanie declared, placing her paws over her mouth. "That would be horrible!"

Hara sighed, and said, "Your father could have done that as revenge."

"Well, how about when you have a nice young man come over, I could open the doors for you all since you technically have permission? That would be safer, yes?"

"You'd do that for us?"

"I want you all to enjoy this lovely place we brushed up for you all, not fear about being blown up."

Hara stared at the pink Kub, and then nodded. "Alright, th-thank you."

Saiko glanced between her close friend and Monophanie. "Yeah, that's nice and all, but what do you mean by 'doors'? There's more than one of these?"

"There's more than one in this building itself," Monophanie remarked. "Two in the spa, one in the clothing shop, and there is a supply closet at the stables that require someone from the other side. But can we trust the men to behave themselves, to not try and kill one of us?"

"Wh-what?" Hara stammered. "Do you really think they're that unstable?"

"The last two murders were a man killing a defenseless woman," the pink Kub pointed out. "And so many of you have pointed out that most of the men are dangerous or fools, so I'm going by your opinions. My brothers are kind of dangerous too, maybe it's best they stay over there."

Saiko groaned and rolled her eyes, muttering, "I refuse to get sucked into this debate again. Monophanie, can you show us where the other door in this building is?"

"Sure! Follow me~"

The two women and the bear walked through the building, towards the hair salon where Monophanie said the other door was. Sure enough, it was near the back of the room, but something else caught their attention.

Pyrrha was seated in one of the large chairs of the hair salon, and Aka was caressing her, smooching her cheek and ear. The romance writer swooned happily, as Aka nibbled at her earlobe. As the skier started to feel up the redhead's side, there was an awkward pause to those who had just entered.

Saiko broke the tedium with a frustrated shout, startling everyone. "What is this?" the forensic investigator cried out, storming over to the two. "We're supposed to be conducting an investigation, and you two are making out instead?"

Pyrrha was instantly red in the face, and stood up from the chair. Aka, shocked at first, frowned at Saiko as Pyrrha inched away from them.

"What the hell is your problem?" Aka asked, glaring at Saiko. "You don't get to tell me what I can do, what any of us can do. I was just talking to Pyrrha, and we were hitting it off. It's none of your business."

"It is my business when we have a duty to find out what is going on in this town, with Penjar, with everyone! You think you can just ignore responsibility and let the rest of us do all of the work?"

Pyrrha was wincing terribly now, almost appearing ready to cry at how ashamed she was feeling. Hara moved over to her, and she gently rubbed the romance writer's shoulder. "Saiko, please," the explorer pleaded to her friend, "you're being really harsh."

"Hara, all Aka has done since we've gotten here is try to sleep with the other women. We are in a dire situation, and she hasn't given a damn!"

"Oh, like you're any better!" Aka snapped. "Every trial, all you've done is side against the innocent! So why don't you back the hell off, and let us do what we feel like doing?"

Saiko scoffed, her glare becoming more unfriendly by the minute. "It's not good enough that you're sleeping with the hot model, you have to try and shag the other girls too? Do you have any self-respect?"

"I," Pyrrha muttered, "I just was feeling alone, I wanted to feel some company… it hasn't been easy here for me."

"Pyrrha, we're here to find out the answers to this city, not to try and find company," Saiko pointed out.

"Oh, now you're telling her what she can and cannot do with you around?" Aka spat out. "Who the fuck died left you in charge? I don't answer to you! Besides, you're the giant hypocrite here!"

"And how do you figure that, you bitch?"

"This whole problem, the twist the Kubs put in as a motive or whatever, it can be fixed as soon as one of the men and one of the women sleep together. But I'm a lesbian, I'll never have sex with a guy…

"Yet here you are, the straight woman telling me that I should do more for the investigation. Why haven't you gone to the love hotel and registered yourself, if you're so concerned with what we're supposed to do?"

"Oh, I should whore myself out immediately, because you can't or won't contribute?" Saiko stormed to the other side of the hair salon, facing one of the shelves with all the hair trimming and grooming tools. "Is that your contribution? Get others to do things so you can have sex and fool around?"

"Better that than sulk around and tell everyone what you think they should be doing, you dumb cunt," Aka replied with a tedious roll of her eyes. "I thought you said last night that you weren't interested in leading us. Maybe you are projecting, because you have Eisei on this side, so you can fuck him as much as you want-"

There was a sudden rush of movement, as Saiko had grabbed a hair brush and hurled it at Aka. The skier dodged it, and the brush clattered against the wall. There was a highly tedious pause, then Aka snarled angrily.

"I see how it is, you're one of those types of women, aren't you?" the skier seethed. "You don't like the idea of women having sex, enjoying it, because you hate the very notion that we can, and will. You're just a nag, an awful, narrow-minded nag who wants to boss people around.

"You have all the capability of furthering this investigation by yourself, but you won't, because you don't want people to think that you enjoy having sex! And yet you fucking think we'll get results for this dumb place, from any of the stupid buildings! Like from this!"

Aka grabbed one of the container boxes, which had a few combs, brushes, and a fancy pair of scissors. She hurled it at Saiko, who managed to dodge the projectile. The box smashed to pieces, the tools scattered around the floor. Aka heaved in fury, and continued.

"You think the Mastermind slipped the answer to it all in a hair salon? That we'll find out who did this and why and how because we looked at buildings that were constructed overnight? By the Mastermind himself? Oh sure, maybe it's in one of these hair dryers!"

She yanked a hair dryer's plug out, and aimed it at Saiko. Pyrrha sprinted over, and grabbed her arm, pleading, "No! Please, stop this! You're going to hurt each other. We don't need to do this."

Aka panted heavily, staring down Saiko before glancing at Pyrrha. "All my life, I've had to put up with women like this. They stick their nose in my business, tell me I'm not allowed to do this or that, and yet they cannot get their own damn affairs in order. They're worse than any guy.

"I don't want to be the target of her frustrations, when there is nothing else I can do except what I want to do. I'm sorry, Pyrrha, I'll see you later. I just… need to get away from her."

Aka dropped the hair dryer and stormed out of the building. Pyrrha slumped in one of the chairs, burying her face in her palms, as Hara hurried over to Saiko to make sure she wasn't hurt.

As Saiko tried to assure her friend she was fine, there was a series of soft electronic clicks. The three women glanced over at Monophanie, who was using a cell phone to send a message. The pink bear sighed heavily as she muttered, "Monosuke wants to know how the women are doing on our side."

"How are you even getting cell phone reception?" Hara asked.

"Kuma-Optics provider, works with our phones and none others," Monophanie explained. She stared down at the phone, sighing heavily. "Monosuke says that all of the guys are conducting investigations, and are working well together. The only one who isn't helping is Ishiku, who got drunk pretty quick in."

The pink Kub tapped a bunch of keys, narrating what she was writing. "The vast majority of the women are flirting or fighting, only a couple of them are actually investigating. Nothing is fine here."

"What?" Pyrrha spluttered. "Why are you telling him that?"

"Because it's the truth?" Monophanie replied, confused by the question.

"How do you know what's happening with the other women?" Saiko grumbled.

"Never doubt the power of Kuma-Optics, which has eyes all over our new plaza," the bear Kub said cheerfully, holding her phone to her chest. "It's amazing what we can do, and ensure that we all have a better future blessed with technology…"

Her phone beeped, and she examined it, expression quickly slumping. "He just sent back 'lol' written a hundred times and a bunch of emojis with goofy faces."

"Well, this is just great," Saiko angrily snapped, crossing her arms. "You're telling me that most of the women are too busy arguing or flirting to do anything, while most of the men are being responsible?"

"Goes against every stereotype we saw in cartoons, doesn't it?" Pyrrha said nervously, earning herself a glare from Saiko. The romance writer cleared her throat, and added, "W-well, it's not like you're the exception to that, Saiko. And while I'm not either, I think we've all had a really bad start."

"Bad start?" Hara repeated miserably. "What are we going to do? I mean, everyone on our side is emotional or illegible for that marriage motive. If only we had gotten along better, but after the last trial…"

She sunk into one of the chairs, shaking her head. "Gender doesn't even really matter at this point, it's all just anger and frustration and desire. If we could communicate effectively with the men, could we still plan something out?"

"Hara, sweetheart," Pyrrha said, walking over to her, "I know this looks bad, but let's not lose faith, okay? I know I come off as a hopeless optimist, but let's just try to make things work."

---

Day 11, Throughout the Day

Northern Plaza

The first day in this new district for the town was not very progressive, for anyone. No one showed any willingness to head to the center part of the hotel, and thus there was no communication between the male and female sides. Without knowing when or even if someone would show up, even those who wished to communicate with others didn't waste a lot of time hanging around the hallway where they'd have to shout to communicate.

Talking about the possible marriage motive was also a major dud on both sides. The women (and Eisei) were all unwilling for a number of reasons, one of the biggest being that they didn't want to risk being the "partner" for someone they hated; they had no idea which of the men had already thrown their hats in.

The men tried talking about it to some degree, but somehow the conversation changed subtly every time. It was like all of them were concerned about appearing as perverts or worse, so none of them were sure who was willing to do it.

At the least, both sides found all of the doors that were locked for them until someone from the other side made it over. On the male only side, there were two rooms in the bowling alleys, a storage shed next to the baseball field, and the other half of the Hall of Fame building.

As none of them could find any baseball equipment, they theorized they were in that locked shed. What could be in the bowling alley was highly confusing, but some of them were guessing that there would be more history and biographies in the Hall of Fame's locked area.

Yitro had calmed down since the electronic accusation from his Hall of Fame bio. Everyone on their side, sans Ishiku, had a look through the hall as well, though some of them were not keen to see what their own panels said.

Odelios had to help Ishiku, who became so drunk that he was a vomiting mess by the early afternoon. The magician was so distraught, he could barely be understood as he tried to explain why he was doing this.

On the female side, nothing of interest had been found, even from those who took the search seriously. Anzu, Kimiko, Fiora, and Eisei spent a good deal of time searching every last corner of the clothing store. They even inspected pockets and bags, wondering if maybe the Kubs had stashed something away.

Aka was still fuming over her fight with Saiko, who wasn't very agreeable for the rest of the day; the forensic investigator refused to talk to Eisei, as she turned away and said it wasn't appropriate every time they crossed paths. Ignatia had spent a great deal of the day knocking things over, and avoiding them.

Crystal and Futaba, who ignored the questioning stares from the others, tried to help Pyrrha make dinner for everyone. It wasn't easy or fun, and the strain of the group being divided and uncommunicative was starting to affect them.

The men had a similar feeling with their own dinner, and no one really said much. It didn't help that Monokid and Monosuke were asking them over and over who they wanted to get married to. Drake had to hide Monodam from Monokid's line of sight everywhere they went, as the blue Kub carried that sniper rifle at all times now.

The only thing they got was when Monokid was badgering Souma about getting married, and said at one point, "What about the singer woman with the big chest and the glasses?"

"She's dead," Souma had remarked.

"You got anything of hers? That would qualify."

"Are you kidding me?" Blake asked. "We can marry someone by having an item of their's?"

"So long as it was something that is very close to the person," Monokid explained, "and you bring it to the chapel, you can do that. That's our loophole."

"But you took everything that belonged to them," Shuuya remarked. "Jin, Angelique, and Shinobu don't have anything left that is their's."

"Hehe, well, youse know," Monosuke chuckled, "that sounds like a youse problem, not ours."

"Wait," Yitro said, standing up, "I have Angelique's locket! It's in my… room, the house I was living in. Didn't you bring all of our stuff to these rooms?"

"NO," Monodam said, "WE-WANTED-YOU-TO-HAVE-A-FRESH-START-HERE. THE-ONLY-THING-YOU-HAVE-IN-YOUR-ROOMS-ARE-ADDITIONAL-CHANGES-OF-CLOTHING-AND-WHATEVER-WE-HAVE-GIVEN-YOU-HERE-IN-PENJAR."

The swordsman sighed heavily, and muttered, "Okay, that's it. I'm done with everything. I'm going to my room, it's been a long, long day."

"I swear, you dumb Kubs," Blake snarled, "you make up the rules as you go along."

Monosuke chuckled as he fanned himself with his money. "Well, youse know, we have to do something if youse guys aren't going to play along! At least with the previous motives, we knew youse were all doing something with it. But youse've all avoided the chapel like the plague!"

"Don't worry, Monophanie is telling the broads about this new rule, though I doubt it fucking matters," Monokid declared. "I mean, from what I heard, they're all making out and catfighting as if it were a dirty movie! Why can't you fuckers be that interesting?"

"Because we hate you and want you to suffer too~" Odelios suggested.

After this odd conversation, the men all headed to the elevators and the stairs up to their rooms. When Isaac started to wait for one of the elevators, Monosuke pulled at his pant leg. "Hey buddy, what are youse doing here? Youse got one of the center suites with your lovely lady! Come along now!"

Isaac was led to the center of the hotel, and he finally could see the chapel. There was a bunch of white folding chairs in front of an altar, which was a white gazebo (yes, indoors) decorated with fake roses, ivy, and paper cutouts of Cupid-Monokumas. The reporter winced at the thought of anyone getting married here.

As it turned out, the women were also done with dinner and the day, so Hara was led to this center area with Monophanie. The two got on the golden elevator across from the chapel, and were sent to the third floor.

Up on this floor, the carpet and wallpaper and even the ceiling all a rich red color, they saw one of the doors (which was also painted a ruby red) that had a plaque with their names on it. When they opened it, both of them almost fainted in embarrassment.

The room was divided into three sections: a hot tub with a ladder and a slide into it on the tiled left side, a gigantic circular bed with a heart shaped headrest and a ferris wheel chandelier above it on the carpeted middle, and resembled a sex dungeon complete with the whips and bondage cross and other gadgets in the brick wall right side.

The left and right side had diaphanous curtains, as if that would give some modicum of privacy. There were also two horses like a merry-go-round would have circling the bed. The lights coming from the ceiling were tinted pink, bathing everything in a loverly light.

"I can't sleep here!" Hara squealed in horror.

"Sleep? Youse want to sleep?" Monosuke asked.

"Hara, I don't think you understand," Monophanie said, "what a love hotel is exactly."

"But you're making us sleep here for the duration of this motive! We have to sleep here if we're going to stay here!"

Monophanie blinked in surprise, then glanced at her brother. "She has a point."

"So does Isaac, he's supposed to use his!" Monosuke declared. "Look, we don't make the rules."

"You literally," Isaac shouted, "just got done saying five minutes ago that you made a new rule!"

"Did I? Huh, I guess I forgot that. Maybe Monotaro is haunting me to forget things. Upupupupu! So youse is sleeping here, and that's final!"

"Sorry," Monophanie whimpered, and then the two scampered off with a, "So long bear well~!"

Isaac and Hara braved into the room, and looked around. There were two cabinets against the souther wall, which Hara assumed was where their changes of clothing would be stored. When she opened one and pulled out a lacy article of lack-of-clothing, she almost fainted again.

"I… I… I…," she stammered, then noticed Isaac was looking at her. "Please oh please do not ask me to wear this."

"Hara, come on, you really think I'd do something like that?"

"No, no I know you better than that. Sorry, but after everything that happened today, I thought you'd be tempted to ask me."

Hara shut the cabinet drawer and sighed. "The women are all concerned, and there's so much fighting and distraction going on. I don't know what we're going to do about it."

"Hara, you and I are the only people who can effectively communicate with the other side. What we need to do tonight is discuss a plan, and then share it with everyone else tomorrow."

"You do remember we're talking about me, right sweetheart?" Hara muttered as she nervously played with her orange bangs. "You're asking me to lead a bunch of women who are suspicious, horny, and/or defeated already. How am I supposed to rally them?"

Isaac walked over and cupped her face, looking into her eyes. "Hara, you pulled through at the last trial, you made sure that people listened and we got out of that hell, all because of you. I have faith in you, my love, and we will get through this. Together."

They kissed, holding each other close. After this brief but sweet bit of romance, they both found themselves feeler much calmer.

"It's… kind of a shame, really," Hara whispered. "There's a couple things in here I wouldn't mind trying with you. … But not the BDSM dungeon! Nothing from there!"

"Thank God, if you admitted you wanted to try that, I would have wondered who you were," Isaac said with a laugh. "Though you know what? Let's spend this evening planning out tomorrow, and get a plan ready. We can do this, my love."

"I know. But… if I am going to sleep here, can we at least find out how to turn off those merry-go-round horses?"

"Why the hell are those even here?"

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Day 11, 9:30 PM

Love Hotel

Fiora Stenton's Room

All of the "normal" rooms in the love hotel were slightly similar to the "luxurious" rooms in the center that Hara and Isaac had. There weren't hot tubs or BDSM dungeons in the other rooms.

The pink lights, over-the-bed chandelier, and the merry-go-round horses circulating the bed were all in the "normal" rooms, in case you were wondering why quotation marks were being used. The dark red 'n black carpet, red wallpaper and ceiling, and even the furniture that was a dark reddish black, it was all so over-the-top.

Fiora was afraid to think of what the bathroom would even look like. Still, she had had a long day, and decided to shower off. The bathroom was like another world, because while the door was black 'n red on the room's side, it was a smooth silver on the side for the bathroom.

The walls, ceiling, and counters were all this sleek silver that made Fiora think of a space station movie set. The floor was black 'n white tiled, even in the shower. Inside the shower were non-slip strips, and a plastic chair. Fiora wondered why that chair was there, then decided that was not the best train of thought.

Removing the chair and showering, Fiora changed out of her clothing and into a nightie that she found in a drawer in the bathroom. She walked out and faced the bed.

"Okay, how do I turn those off?" she asked herself as she stared at the horses.

There was a knock on the door. For a brief moment, she feared it was Yejoon. Then, realizing it couldn't be, she went over and opened it. The movie maker was rather surprised to see Anzu standing there.

"Hello, Fiora, mind if I come in?" the actress asked, twirling one of her blue bangs around in her fingers.

"Um, sure, yeah," Fiora said, trying to play it cool though for some reason her heart started to pitter-patter. When Anzu strut into her room, she asked, "Can I help you?"

"I'm here to help you, Fiora."

"Oh, um," the movie maker scratched the back of her neck, and, almost subconsciously, tried to hide her neck from Anzu's line of sight. "That's okay. I'll be alright alone, I've done well enough most of my life."

Anzu walked over to her, and took one of her hands in hers. "Fiora, I know you don't want to think about what happened, but we still are. We're worried about you, just like we were with Kimiko. You have to realize, what happened, that wasn't natural.

"I don't believe you, of all people, would have tried to kill yourself unless something affected you. I want to make sure that not only is that gone, but that you are going to be in better spirits sooner rather than later. I miss the excitable movie director that spoke about her passions, and drove Monokuma crazy with theories on Mr. Beardsley."

Fiora chuckled lightly, and stared into the girl's crimson eyes. "Um, well, I woo'dent mind the company, but…"

"Oh don't worry, I'm not here to bang you, I'm not that forward. Sex isn't something you do to forget bad things, it is used when you feel really good about someone, or you're being paid for it in front of a camera; money can feel really good."

As Anzu joked and Fiora eventually started to get into the sway of the conversation, they moved towards the bed. There was only a pause as Anzu tried to find a way to turn off "these fucking stupid horsies, why the hell do they even have these, are they in every damn room?!"

Soon the two were on the bed, and Fiora stretched out on the admittedly very comfy mattress. She let out a relieved sigh, and then she felt something rather comfy and soft on top of her as well. Anzu giggled as she pressed up against Fiora's form, and kissed her sweetly.

The kiss that turned into several made the movie maker's head swim in delight, but she still was focused enough to ask after them, "I… I thought that you…"

"I said no sex, doesn't mean I cannot spoon and hug and kiss you a great deal, sweetheart."

"Wh… why are you being so nice to me?"

Anzu brushed her blue bangs to the side as she looked into her friend's eyes. "There was a girl I know a while back, one of the most charismatic women you've ever met. She could put up an incredibly graceful appearance, her manners, her words, her actions, all of them were like an upperclass lady.

"But she was manipulative, secretive, and incredibly selfish. She would take people for everything she could get, and leave them with nothing as if that was just a normal occurrence in life. All with a charming smile on her face, as if she had to do this to prove to everyone that she was better than them.

"One day, she decided she wanted something that couldn't be won through her ways, so she used people like she always did. But this time, people died, good people who deserved a better fate. She died too, a victim of her own hubris, but she went out acting like she deserved better, and all the attention and glamor she could get.

"I… I don't want to be that type of person, I never want to be like that. And as I am comfortable with myself, and who I am, I don't mind pressing up against a woman or man, and making them feel desired, wanted, loved.

"Because guess what, Fiora? I do like you. And I'm not going to let you forget that you are worth something. So come on, for one night, you and I can be kissing friends."

Fiora swallowed nervously, as she felt her hands move to Anzu's body. "Um, would you also like to discuss what we should do tomoor'ow?"

"As long as I can hear that adorable accent of yours~"

The two snuggled up, and commenced making out. It was a warm, sweet embrace for them, something that couldn't be interrupted even by the revolving horses.

What else was happening in the other rooms, across all of the Love Hotel, was sleep for the most part. This had been an exhausting day, and the majority of them were unsure what to do the next day. They would have to plan something out, but they just wanted to sleep tonight. Some found this very hard in such gaudy rooms, especially with those damn equine circulating the damn bed!

Though sleep wasn't on the mind of everyone in the Love Hotel…

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(Day 11 is over~)

(Monokuma Theater)

*Monokuma is wearing a cowboy's stetson, chilling in an old-time salon. There are three Monokumas wearing feminine wigs and frilly dresses, dancing to the music played by a Monokuma musician tickling the ivories of an old piano.*

Monokuma - "Sometimes in life, you gotta sit back and take in the good sights, the good sounds, the good smells. My kids are always telling me they love the smell of cut grass, like after you've run a lawnmower over it in the early afternoon."

*Monokuma is now slamming open the salon doors with pistols in both paws, firing wildly at shots coming at him from outside the salon.*

Monokuma - "But isn't that just barbaric? Enjoying the smell of cut grass? You mean you like the smell of a living thing being sliced mercilessly? How would you like it if someone said they enjoyed the scent of decapitated people in the morning? Or the wafting aroma of the masses bisected on an early summer's day?"

*Monokuma is standing in the middle of a field, with a gun twirling around in his paw. Around him are a lot of dead bandits, as well as the Monokuma salon dancers.*

Monokuma - "Why don't you think about the implications of your words before you say them?! You really think we're going to let those kinds of offensive statements go on in this day and age? See, this is why you gotta take some time to lean back and enjoy the good things, before you get branded as a violent lunatic.

"This is Monokuma, Killing Game Extraordinaire, signing off for the night! Please take care of yourselves, do not let my best son snipe you tomorrow! Phuhuhuhuh!"

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Day 12, 12:37 AM

Spa and Beauty Parlor

The front door to the parlor opened up, and someone stepped in. With one of their hands busy holding something that occasionally dripped, they were quick to move throughout the building without leaving too obvious of a trail. Eventually, they found their way to the hot spring room, where one of the locked doors with the male symbol over the palm reader was.

A palm was placed on the scanner, several mechanical blips and beeps taking place as it did its electronic duty. A few seconds later, there was a pleasant chime and the sound of the door unlocking. When the door was opened, what was in this secretive room was quite the sight to behold.

"My, how very interesting. It's all starting to make sense now."

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22 Graduates remain in Penjar.