The brothers arrived at the park where there was a large stage in the middle of the park, everyone was there as well.

"Jeez… what is it this time? This is annoying." Kazuichi complained, making Izuru roll his eyes.

"If you're so annoyed why didn't you just not come?" Fuyuhiko said, looking annoyed himself.

"Well… who knows what would've happened if I didn't…" Kazuichi replied.

"Hm, that is a good question. You should've tested it out for us." The small teen said with a smirk on his face.

"You probably only came because you're scared yourself." Mahiru said angrily.

"What did you just say?"

"I'm saying even a high-and-mighty gangster like you can't handle those monsters. Isn't that right?" The redhead accused.

"You bitch!" Fuyuhiko looked furious.

"G-guys, stop." Nagito said nervously. "We're all friends here so-"

"Eh? Friends? When did you get that idea?" Fuyuhiko replied. Hajime seemed a bit taken back at this.

"Alright, since there seems to be some confusion, I'll make this clear. I will not hesitate to kill you." Fuyuhiko threatened.

"Excuse me?" Mahiru asked incredulously.

"I said. I. Will. Not. Hesitate. To. Kill. You." The yakuza repeated.

"Fuyuhiko, just… try to calm down a little." Hajime said, trying to ease the tension.

"Don't say my name so casually! You have no idea of the world I come from, do you? Where I'm from, it's kill or be killed... Those have always been the rules I've had to live with. Hell, those new rules Monokuma set up are much easier for me than Monomi's "Let's be friends" crap!" Izuru narrowed his eyes at Fuyuhiko, getting a bit angry.

"Oh be quiet!" Mahiru yelled at him.

"Don't treat me like a kid you bitch!" Fuyuhiko yelled back.

"Stop it. This petty name calling is getting us nowhere." Peko said calmly.

"Shut up! Why should I join this farce where we all pretend to be friends?! Hey, if anyone wants to test me, just step forward. I'll kill you here and now…" At that, Izuru stepped forward, only a few steps from Fuyuhiko.

"Go ahead. I'd like to see you try." Izuru looked down at Fuyuhiko, arms crossed.

"You little shit! Don't think I forgot about what you did earlier!"

"What? When you tried to punch me and you fell in the pool?"

"BASTARD!" Fuyuhiko let out a scream and attempted to punch Izuru again. Instead of stepping out the way, Izuru caught the smaller male's wrist in his hand, gripping it tightly.

"This attitude of yours is getting old. You are not better than all of us here. You might think you are because of your family, but you are not. Here, you are our equal. You are just as powerless as the rest of us, and you need to stop acting all high and mighty, it's going to get you into trouble. If you ever threaten someone like that again, I will not hesitate to kill you." Izuru said while squeezing Fuyuhiko's wrist tighter, making the shorter boy let out a yell of pain.

"Izuru stop!" Hajime rushed forward and grabbed his brother, making him let go of Fuyuhiko's wrist. "That's enough." He was very disturbed at his brother's behavior. The way his brother spoke was so emotionless and cold, even while he was threatening Fuyuhiko's life.

"Um…" The tense moment was broken as Monokuma appeared again, wearing a tiny suit, right in front of Hajime.

"AH!" Said boy yelled, stumbling backwards.

"Oh, sorry, did I come at an awkward moment? You guys looked like you were having an argument so I didn't want to interrupt. Guess I did anyway." Monokuma said, sounding a bit awkward.

"What do you want?" Izuru asked curtly.

"I just decided that, in spirit of our tropical environment, that we should have some fun! So I've set up a two man comedy routine!" Monokuma explained.

"There's only one of you though." Ibuki said. Suddenly, as if on cue, Monomi appeared as well, wearing a dress.

"What? Why am I dressed like this?" Monomi asked.

"Ah, thought so." Nekomaru said.

"Anyway! Let's get this show on the road!" Monokuma said, pulling Monomi onto the stage.

"Gooood evening everyone! I am Monokuma!"

"A-and I'm Monomi."

"Together we're the Monokumas!"

"Now, for my first act, I will use my mind reading technique!"

"You can read minds?"

"Yup! And I will use it to guess your favorite food!"

"You can do it! Here's a hint, I'm a rabbit."

"Ca…"

"Go on…"

"...davers."

"What? I don't eat dead people!"

"It's your turn now, Monomi! Let's hear your best killer joke!"

"W...What are you talking about?! I...I'm no killer!"

"Oh, you'll be fine. It's easy! You just have to know the secret to appeasing the God of Comedy. ...Speaking of, which do you think is better: draining your blood while you're still alive, or waiting until after you die?"

"Why such a cruel question?!"

"Oh come on! If I'm going to summon the Comedeity I need blood!"

"Why does a God of Comedy need blood!?"

"Pretty please?"

"No! I will not let you take my blood!"

"Jeez, you have such a bad temper sis. You guys better be careful, Monomi can get scary when she's angry. She's like the tutorial boss!"

"That's no menacing at all!"

"But you should be careful, she's a bad girl. Just between you and me… Monomi selfishly stole all your memories."

Everyone, who had been looking at the scene with a mixture of annoyance and boredom suddenly tensed up in shock. Izuru's eyes widened and he could feel Hajime's body go rigid.

"Not one of you bastards remembers how you arrived on this island, do you? That's because Monomi took you bastards' memories away!"

"W...What are you saying?!"

"By the way, those memories she stole? They aren't just some silly, clichéd stuff like the details of your arrival here. Oh no... She took away several years you bastards spent at Hope's Peak Academy!" Izuru could feel his heart speed up at those words, and he clutched his chest.

"...Howawa!?"

"Aaah... It's such a relief to get that out in the open! Memory loss is so old fashioned, after all... A cheap story would shamelessly leave that revelation hanging until the endgame! Can you imagine?! Fortunately, I'm not that cowardly." Hajime could almost feel the irony in those words.

"S...Stop it, please!"

"Upupupu. Surprised? You bastards aren't actually freshmen! But you've all forgotten that, so you think you still are! Isn't that just rotten? And... it's such a familiar plot device... Is this plagiarism?! It's not even original!"

"Y...You really can't do this!" Monokuma suddenly punched Monomi in the face, sending her flying. "Gyaaaaaaaa! That's not what they mean by punch-line!"

Everyone was silent, too shocked for words. Their memories had been erased? Several years? What… was going on?

"What was that all about?" Byakuya asked, finally breaking the silence.

"Oh, you mean that 'school memories' thing? It's simple! Your memories have been erased!" Monokuma said again.

"Ha ha, ha ha... huh? This can't be, right? I mean, yesterday was Ibuki's first day at Hope's Peak Academy! And we got taken here straight after that…" Ibuki was obviously trying to sound cheerful, but it was obvious she was disturbed.

"You only think that because your memories have been taken away!" Monokuma said, far too cheerfully.

"B-but how?! That's impossible!" Hajime yelled.

"I wonder how many years it's been? How long have you all been students there? ...And what happened to your families and friends? That's one more thing to be worried about, isn't it?" Monokuma taunted. That made Izuru wonder. Although he didn't have any friends besides Hajime, and he didn't care too much for his parents, he was still a bit worried.

"A...All of our school life memories were taken?! I haven't heard a sillier story in my life!" Nekomaru screamed

"He's right! No way my memory's gone!" Kazuichi agreed.

"Y...You can't listen to what he's saying! Don't listen to him!" That only made Monomi sound suspicious in Izuru's mind however.

Everyone was freaking out, yelling out denials and shouts of fear. Izuru felt Hajime start to hyperventilate next to him, which made Izuru grab his brother's arm tightly, getting his attention. Izuru mumbled 'breathe' to his brother, making Hajime do his best to breathe slower.

"But don't worry! I'm a kind bear so I'll give you back your memories!" Monokuma said happily.

"What?!" Monomi cried out.

"There's a catch isn't there." Izuru said.

"Upupupupu~"

"Don't tell me… the catch is?" Chiaki said, sounding scared.

"That's right! I want a killing out of you bastards! This is my one and only non-negotiable condition!" Monokuma yelled, laughing. "You guys want your memories back right? So kill kill kill! Make it a murder to remember!"

"Hey, asshole! I've let you say whatever's on your mind for way too long!" Akane said, looking furious.

" Oh? Why so angry? All I did was give you a motive out of the kindness of my heart. I mean, before now you bastards were too scared to kill, weren't you? Well, I guess that's natural. Humans come out of the womb bawling. You're cowards from the moment you're born." Monokuma said. "And that's why I had to give you bastards a motive. You needed some justification in order to kill."

"Give me a break, do you really think anyone here is going to kill just because of your delusional stories?" Byakuya asked.

"He's right! I don't even believe that story anyway!" Mahiru agreed.

"Maybe you don't. But someone else here might." Monokuma said sinisterly.

"What…?" Mahiru asked.

"You don't know jack shit about each other. You haven't even noticed there's a traitor among you!" With that, everyone froze. Traitor?

"Why are there 17 of you? Only 15 students were supposed to come on this trip, so why are there two extras? There must be a traitor here, that not even iI/i knew about! Hell, there might even be two for all I know!"

"What the fuck are you saying?" Fuyuhiko asked angrily.

"He's just trying to confuse us." Peko said.

"But... can you really be sure of that? You know nothing about each other, after all. You don't know each other's true natures… Would any of you even notice if one of you was scheming murder? I don't think you would! Do you?!" Monokuma taunted, letting out a laugh.

Everyone went silent again, looking at each other distrustfully.

"You see, if I'm right and there really is a traitor among you, that would be a terrible thing. Don't you want to get revenge on the imposter who's trying to trick you? Are you really going to let them get away with this? Of course not! Your only choice is to attack first! Whoever's the fastest is going to win this lottery! If you want to survive, you'll have to kill before you get killed... Ahahahaha!" With a final laugh Monokuma disappeared.

"Um... Is one of us really a traitor...? It isn't me! I may look suspicious, but... I swear, it isn't me!" Mikan cried, tearing up.

"WHO IS IT?! TELL US RIGHT NOW! THE MORE YOU POSTPONE IT THE MORE YOU'LL REGRET IT!" Nekomaru screamed angrily.

"Calm down. There's no traitor. Why would there be? We shouldn't even have this silly discussion." Byakuya said sternly.

"Exactly! There's no evidence for it at all." Teruteru whimpered out.

"Monomi, you can confirm it." Peko turned to the rabbit, giving her a terrifying stare.

"Um... You see... If you dwell too much on the past... you'll lose sight of the future... So ...Fix your eyes only on the future! L...Let's all do our best to live on!" With that, Monomi disappeared as well.

"Ah, she ran away!" Akane yelled, shocked.

"Feh. Worthless rabbit. Memory loss... traitors... that's straight out of fairy tales." Fuyuhiko said, huffing.

Hajime figured that Fuyuhiko was right. There was no way there was a traitor among them. But… he couldn't help but think about what Monokuma said 'You don't know each other's true natures.' Even though he knew Izuru like the back of his hand, he was still shocked when Izuru had threatened Fuyuhiko's life. He'd never seen his brother act so… threatening before.

*Ding dong dong ding*

"Ahem, This is an announcement from Hope's Peak Academy's Field Trip Executive Committee... It is now 10pm. Please rest peacefully, along with the soothing sound of the waves. Well then, pleasant dreams. Goodnight…" The nighttime announcement rang out.

"What do we do now?" Chiaki asked.

"We should disperse for the night. Sleep and clear our heads." Byakuya suggested.

"That's reasonable. Although it's doubtful we will be able to sleep very well. But it is good to think to ourselves." Izuru agreed. Everyone mumbled in agreement, leaving to their own cottages.

Back at their cottage Hajime groaned, falling onto the bed.

"A traitor… Or even two…" Hajime muttered.

"You're thinking the same thing I am aren't you?" Izuru asked.

"That we're the traitors… since we can't remember our talents?" Hajime muttered into the bed.

"Yes… But just that doesn't make us traitors. Besides, we're just as clueless as everyone else. I have a feeling that the traitor knows they're the traitor." Izuru explained. Hajime hummed thoughtfully. It was true. It'd be better for the traitor to remember their identity.

"For now, let's just sleep." Izuru said.

"Yeah… g'night bro."

"Goodnight."