So… long time no see, eh? Yeah, I have a bit of explaining to do, don't I? Well, to put it simply, I lost a lot of motivation when it came to this particular story. Don't get me wrong, I had everything planned out and ready to go, and I was excited to get this thing out to you guys, but the actual writing process has been a slugfest.

Now, that's not to say that I disliked writing this chapter, but there were some bits where I was really self-conscious about certain things, such as the motive, the way how the chapter progressed, the grammar issues (because I don't have access to Grammarly Premium anymore, there are a lot of unsee grammar issues that I don't know about/haven't fixed because I don't know them) and even the victim at the end.

Because of that, I was really worried.

However, I've gotten over those things, so henceforth, HERE I AM!

Now, as I said in the last chapter (which was 4 months ago! HOLY SHIT!) that the Daily Life Chapters are going to be the longest, bar-none. Currently, this chapter is sitting at almost 30K words. 30K WORDS! That's insane! So yeah, the length is also a part of why there is such a delay.

So, please, no matter how long the wait is between chapters, know that it does not mean that I am abandoning the story. It just means that the next chapter is either going to be super long, or I am having writer's block.

Also, school and having a Job do tend to hinder the writing of this. So there is ALSO that to consider.

BUT! Enough excuses, let's just jump into this long-awaited installment of ULTIMATE DANGANRONPA – CROSSOVER MANIA!

[SIDE NOTE: IT SHOULD BE SAID THAT THE AUDIO TRIGGERS SHOULD BE ABIDED TO GET THE FEELING OF THAT PARTICULAR SCENE! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO, THEY ARE MERELY THERE AS SUGGESTIONS! I ALSO ADDED A DAY COUNTER TO THE LAST CHAPTER OF DAILY LIFE. HOPE THAT EXPLAINS ENOUGH ABOUT WHY THERE ARE NOW DAY COUNTERS IN THIS CHAPTER AND THE LAST COUPLE]

[Chapter 2 – A Tale of Lies and Secrets – Daily Life]

[Play: Despair Syndrome 1]

[Day 5]

Tomura Shigaraki was not what you would call a sympathetic man. He was quite the opposite. Nine times out of ten, he was a cruel, pessimistic, "die for all I care" kind of individual. However, when push came to shove, he would scrape aside everything he could to take care of those he held dear.

While that list wasn't a long one, it was one that Tomura did have, and the likes of Dabi and Toga were on that list. He was glad that they were safe for the time being, however, he knew that it wouldn't last for long.

In fact, if he had any thoughts in his head at the current moment and time, it would be of one thing. Monokuma ensured the fact that they would not be safe.

He tossed and turned in his bed, not knowing whether or not he'd wake up back in his lair, or back in his cabin. He dreamed of waking up from this existential nightmare, this horrific dream, this despair-filled hellhole. He dreamed of waking up in a place where there was no such thing as a Monokuma, or a place called Mono-Mono Camp.

But just like what his dad always told him when he was young, that was a foolish dream. To suddenly wake up back home, after the death of Midoriya and Daphne? Yeah, right, what an absolute joke.

He knew that wasn't going to happen, so why bother thinking about it? If he knew he wasn't going back, why bother even dreaming about it?

Why even hope that would even be an outcome?

The answer to that was a simple one. He had a wish to fulfill. Even if he wasn't a genie, he wanted to uphold it, because to him, at the end of the day, he partially sympathized with Midoriya.

Before Izuku died, he told Shigaraki to prevent more murders, and to make sure his family made it out alive. Now, granted, Shigaraki didn't know why he would choose him over literally anyone else, but here he was, and now Izuku was dead.

He died because he thought he was putting Daphne out of her misery, and he died under the belief that his parent and sibling, child, or whatever Eri was to him, would be safe.

Shigaraki would've thought that the death of that insufferable brat would be wonderful. But after seeing what he went through… he felt a pit in his stomach.

Monokuma knew far too much for his own good. He still pondered over the fact of how Monokuma knew about the Nomu, or how he knew about the doctor.

But more importantly… who was the one behind this insane killing game that forced friends and family against their loved ones.

Just Shigaraki was about to toss and turn again in his sleep, trying to shut out his thoughts…

*DING-DONG-BING-BONG!*

"A-hem, this is a Mono-Mono Camp special announcement! It is now 7:00 AM! You know what that means~! It's time to RISE AND SHINE! Stretch those legs and run around! Make sure you give it your all! Who knows? Today just might be your last!"

And without any room for argument, Shigaraki sat up, a groan escaping his tired lips. He wanted so badly just to ignore the damned bear and go back to sleep. However, he also knew that by doing that, he'd miss the morning meeting.

"Damn everyone and their punctuality," Shigaraki groaned, flexing his hand. He remembered what Izuku had given him. Whatever was on the letter the brat gave him seemed like it would be important. Then again, it could also be something that didn't matter.

He hadn't bothered to read the note yet. He might later if he had the time, but he highly doubted that he would have that spare time. Groaning, he stretched out his arms and walked towards his front door. Upon stepping out, he was met with an empty campground.

All the doors, except two, were open, those two being Daphnes and Midoriya's. He shrugged it off. The less he lingered on the past, the better. They were dead now, so it didn't matter.

Leaving the campgrounds, Shigaraki walked down the beaten trail. Up ahead, he spotted Max walking by his lonesome, his head low and his hood up. A part of him wanted to speak to the kid, but a little voice on his shoulder told him not to, and to let the kid be.

He probably felt guilty about Daphne. Or maybe he was just being Emo. Whatever the case may be, he didn't want to know.

Keeping a safe distance away from the boy, they eventually found their way to the cafeteria, and when they got inside…

.

.

.

Everyone was there, either sitting by themselves, standing with one or two people or glaring at everyone else. The tension in the air was palpable, so much so that it would take a knife and then some to break it.

After Shigaraki closed the door behind him, he scanned the room. Deliah and Harry were together, as were Jaune and Ruby. Dio and Erina were also together, though they were distanced just a bit. Monika, Nikki, Neil, and Natsuki were all huddled in a corner, with Natsuki openly glaring at Max. And lastly, Shaggy was comforting Velma at one of the front tables.

There was some food on the massive table in the center of the room, and seeing as no one was going to stop him, the teal-haired man approached the buffet table, snagged a rice ball, and quickly stuffed it in his mouth.

He was a bit peckish, but he wasn't super hungry. How could he, especially after what happened yesterday. He still couldn't get those pictures out of his head. Izuku's mutilated and headless body… Daphne's wilted form up against the wall… it was too much.

It hadn't even been a week, and two people were already dead. He wanted to address it, hell, he was sure Monika did as well, seeing as she had taken up the mantle as team leader, but she was oddly silent today.

While he hadn't interacted with Daphne a lot, she seemed to be a nice person from the outset. He wanted to get to know her more, but sadly, that opportunity was dashed away… completely.

He took another rice ball from the table, keeping an eye out for someone, anyone to break the silence, when finally…

"Alright, enough of this shit," surprisingly, it was Max who spoke. Shaggy immediately glared at the boy, who returned the glare. "Are we seriously just going to sit around and do nothing?" Max spat as Shaggy snarled.

"Yeah, but you're the one who got us into this mess. Like, if you hadn't—"

"Shut the fuck up!" Max snapped, causing Shaggy to widen his eyes. "Yeah, I get it, I fucked up. You don't think I don't know that? Well, newsflash, fucko, I do. Happy now? It wasn't my fault that your friend was wandering around acting suspiciously, always wondering in the shadows, giggling to herself every so often like a fucking creepazoid. I thought she was the one who put us here, so I acted accordingly!" Max replied, sighing.

"You… you dare accuse her of being the one who put us here?!" Shaggy yelled, slamming his hand on the table, causing Velma to jump. For a split second, Shigaraki saw the man's eyes flash red. "I knew her for two years, she would never do something like this!" Shaggy shouted, only for Max to scoff.

"Oh, yeah, and I was supposed to know that? Wow, look at what we have here, a real Grade-A genius. Well, guess what, I didn't know her! So how the fuck am I supposed to know jack about her!" Max snapped back.

Shaggy was about to leap over the table and grab at Max, when, in the blink of an eye, Shigaraki snagged the thin-mans arm, applying a surprising amount of strength into his grip for a man his stature. His eyes were filled with murderous intent, and his blank, pissed-off stare spoke volumes of what would happen if Shaggy so much as blinked the wrong way.

"Don't. You. Fucking. Dare." Shigaraki spoke as Shaggy paled. "I don't give a shit about whatever the fuck you two are talking about. I don't care why Max did what he did. At the end of the day, it was Izuku who killed Daphne. If there was anyone to be angry at, it shouldn't be Izuku, it shouldn't be Max, it should be Monokuma," Shigaraki said, letting go of Shaggy, who sat back down.

No one made another peep. Everyone kept to themselves, and just like that, they were back at square one. As the silence continued, Shigaraki ate two more rice balls before letting out an aggravated sigh. This was supposed to be a meeting, not a "sit in silence and mourn the dead party."

"Alright, we need to stop keeping silent and actually discuss something, anything, I don't care," Shigaraki spoke up, causing Dio to raise an eyebrow.

"Really, well, how about we discuss about what Midoriya dropped for you to pick up at the trial?" Dio stated, causing Deliah to raise an eyebrow.

"Wait… Izuku dropped you something after the trial? What was it?" The brunette asked as Shigaraki flinched ever-so-slightly.

"It was a note," Shigaraki said in a solemn tone of voice. "Before you ask, I haven't read it yet, mostly because I…" Shigaraki paused, shaking his head. "I don't want to read it yet," the teal-haired man finished, looking at Dio. "Is that okay with you, smart ass?"

The blond Victorian boy simply shrugged. "Well, so long as it wasn't something about the mastermind behind all of this, I could care less," Dio replied, glancing over his shoulder. "Though, now that someone has been murdered… how long do you think will it be before the domino effect begins?"

[Play: DISTRUST]

"The… domino effect?" Nikki questioned, tilting her head to the side. "What's that?" The bluish green-haired girl asked as Neil bit his thumbnail before responding.

"Well… to explain it in a simple sense. Once something drastic happens, in this case: A murder, within a secluded group of people, it's hypothesized that, as a metaphorical line of dominoes, similar actions will take place in rapid succession from one another," Neil explained, causing Max to scoff.

"Come on, really? I mean, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind leaving this place, but after seeing what happened to Izuku, I'd rather not push my luck." As the Ultimate Camper finished his sentence, Shaggy muttered something under his breath, shaking his head before sighing.

"Well, it's not like it's impossible. Like, I don't want to doubt anyone here, but there is a serious chance that one of us could… crack under the pressure," Shaggy stated.

"NO!" Deliah shouted. "NO! I refuse to believe that anyone else is going to kill. It's Max's fault anyway, Izuku only killed Daphne because she was suffering!" the brunette said, tears welling up in her eyes as Max waved her off.

"Whatever, as I said, I realized my mistake, I jumped to my own conclusions, I acted hastily, yadda, yadda, yadda, I get it. Now can we please jump from that subject to something more important?" Max regarded the brunette harshly, causing Deliah to shrink into herself.

"Hey, don't talk to her like that!" Harry snapped as Max rolled his eyes.

"Look, I don't give a shit what you guys say, think, or do. I'm more interested in what we do now, seeing as there are now only 14 of us left. Didn't one of you shmucks mention something about there being a door with the number 14 on it?" Max asked as Velma hummed.

"Now that you mention it… yeah, I remember saying something like that," the detective said, causing Max to shove his hands into his pockets and walk towards the door.

"Well, why don't we go check it—"

[Stop OST]

Ding. Dong. Bing. Bong!

"A-hem, this is a Mono-Mono Camp announcement! Everyone, please meet up by the massive wooden door by the Greenhouse area! Once you're there, wait for me to show up, until then, have a despairingly amazing morning!"

[Play: Beautiful Death]

"Well, You heard that bastard bear. Looks like I had the right idea," Max remarked, walking out of the cafeteria. Everyone gave each other a glance before following suit. Shigaraki stayed behind everyone, not wanting to be noticed. Murmurs came from a few select groups of people, namely Nikki, Neil, and Max, while others kept to themselves, like Monika or Velma.

Upon making it to the massive wooden door, those who hadn't seen it were left stupefied.

"Damn… I can't say that I'm impressed, but it's definitely nifty," Ruby said, staring up at it with indifference in her voice.

"Well, it's not like I like the fact that it's here. It's just another reminder that Daphne's gone…" Velma muttered.

"Yup…" Shaggy agreed, looking at the floor.

"Look! The number on the door is changing!" Harry called out, pointing up at the door. As soon as he did, everyone turned to look at the numbers.

[Play: MOMOMOMonokuma]

The numbers blanked out. Where the original number 1 was, another one came up. Where the six had been, a 4 took its place. The number changed from the colour red to green, and then…

[Play: Mr. Monokuma's Lesson V3]

"Hey, Hey, Hey!" Monokuma showed up in front of the gate, his arms raised in the air as if he were congratulating someone. "Congratulations, my wonderful campers, you successfully survived a Camp Trial, and unlocked a new part of the camp!" Monokuma exclaimed as Erina frowned.

"Well, it's not like we wanted to, you damnable demon bear!" Erina spat as Monokuma waved her off.

"Bah, you're just not in the spirit yet. Regardless, you've opened up a new area for you to explore, new sights to see, new objects and places to kill in, and so, so much more!" The black and white bear said, a devilish smirk on his face.

"It's like you're reading off of a script. What were you doing anyway, rehearsing to get us to hear your spiel?" Dio asked, glaring at the bear with a demeaning stare and crossed arms.

"W-Well… maybe I was, maybe I wasn't!" Monokuma said, fake sweat pouring off his forehead. "Grrr, you shouldn't be bullying the Camp counsellor in the first place! You're lucky that isn't a rule, otherwise, that would make things extremely and ridiculously unfair," Monokuma said, huffing as Nikki glared at the bear.

"You know, you're ruining the idea of stuffed bears for me. The longer I look at you, the more I want to punch your stupid bear face," Nikki stated bluntly as Monokuma fake cried.

"You're so mean…!" The bear said, shaking his head, the fake tears going away. "Whatever, let's just open this door, shall we?" Monokuma said, clapping his paws together.

[Play: 3rd Island Theme song]

The wooden doors began to shift, move, and open. First, they pulled backward, then, they slid a few inches to their respective sides. Afterward, the doors swung open, revealing a sprawling town-like area. From what Shigaraki could see, there were some old-looking stone buildings, like the kind you'd see in the Australian outback.

Well, it wasn't like Shigaraki knew what the Australian outback looked like, so he was only guessing. Be that an educated guess, or just a simple run-of-the-mill guess, he didn't even know himself.

The surrounding area was lush, with grass growing out and around the old dilapidated sidewalks. Mixed in, there were a few other unremarkable things like wilted and dead trees, and other stuff surrounding the abandoned-town-vibe the new location was giving off.

"What the hell are we looking at?" Jaune questioned as Ruby rubbed the back of her head.

"It almost reminds me of Vacuo…" Ruby stated. No one else questioned what it was the black and red-haired teen said, seeing as they chalked it up to being a place that she probably had seen where ever it was she came from.

"Well, what are you waiting for! Explore, see what there is to behold! Don't just stand there, move it!" Monokuma stated, raising his paws forward in a threatening manner before then running through the doors and behind the wall, disappearing without a trace.

"Well. We heard the bear, let's get moving…" Natsuki snarked, grabbing Monika's hand and yanking her forward. As everyone filtered through the door, Max and Nikki were the only ones, along with Shigaraki, who had stayed behind.

"Come on, Max! Let's go check it out!" Nikki said, a smile on her face as the black-haired boy shook his head.

"Ugh, come on, Nikki. I'd rather just stay in my cabin!" Max groaned, only for Shigaraki to roll his eyes. The teal-haired man approached the boy before grabbing him by his hood.

"Wha—! Hey! Let go of—"

"Shut it, brat, let's go. You too, Nikki," Shigaraki said, walking through the door with the two kids in tow. As soon as they stepped through the gates, a refreshing feeling blasted over the Criminal Mastermind. It had been a while since he had seen something familiar to him, even if it did look run down.

He felt a rumbling in his pocket as he dropped Max to the ground, who promptly picked himself up. "Stupid asshole, I was going to go anyway!" Max spat, causing Shigaraki to roll his eyes.

"Sure he was…" Shigaraki thought, looking at this Monopad. The map section had a "new" marker over it. Tapping on it, he was able to get a view of what was in this area, at least, the important spots.

The first marker was of two faces, one black, one white, both styled after Monokuma with a fancy ribbon underneath them.

The second marker was some sort of leg being propelled by a rocket with the words "Corner Store" Underneath it. It was pretty obvious to figure out what that was going to be for.

The third marker was that of an arcade machine. A smirk appeared on Shigaraki's face upon seeing that. He'd have to check that place out the moment he had the chance, that was, of course, if his suspicions were right.

The fourth marker was strange. It had a black stick figure, and around it was multiple stains of blood with the words "Museum of the Blackened" underneath it. A part of him didn't want to go there, but another part of him knew that it was probably important.

The final marker was that of a statue of Monokuma, with birds and butterflies around it. He would also have to check that out, just to see if it was anything important.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Nikki's voice popped out of nowhere, giving the teal-haired man a bit of a fright.

"Shi— I mean, damn kid, do you really need to jump out of thin air like that?" Shigaraki asked the girl, who only smirked in response.

"Well?" Nikki replied, putting on an innocent act as Shigaraki shook his head out of sheer annoyance. He just wanted to get this stupid shtick over with so he could get back to exploring the place and finding out a way to get out.

"Fine, what do you want?" Shigaraki replied, giving in to the child and her faux look of innocence.

"Yahhh!" Nikki cheered, composing herself before pointing straight ahead. "Let's keep going this way, then…" she glanced over to Shigaraki's map on his Monopad. "I want to go to that strange statue, mostly because I think I already know what it is," Nikki said, a huge smile on her face as Shigaraki raised an eyebrow.

"You think so?" Max piped up, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Well then, lead the way, Ms. Ultimate Adventurer," Max stated, a nonchalant look on his face as Nikki smiled, running on ahead, not waiting for the pair to catch up.

After their impromptu run, the group of three made it to what appeared to be a gate, and behind that gate was what appeared to be a…

"A PARK! Yes, I knew it!" Nikki said, smiling, grabbing onto the gate like a monkey. "Let me in! LET ME IN!"

[Play: Mr. Monokuma's Lesson V3]

"HOLDDDDD IITTTTTT!"

The booming voice of that stupid black and white bear rung out as it suddenly showed up out of thin air, in front of Nikki, causing her to fall to the floor in fright.

"GAHHH!"

"PUHUHUHUHU!" Monokuma tauntingly laughed at the girl, his smile seemingly increasing, though that might have been Shigaraki's own imagination. "That's what you get for trying to break in to private property! You see, the Park is not available yet. Due to an incident revolving around… well, old landmines that I had forgotten to clean up, me and my replicas are working on removing them so that no accidental deaths occur! After all, that would ruin the fun!" Monokuma said, turning to face the gate.

"Ugh, really? I was hoping to do some climbing in the trees…" Nikki pouted as Monokuma scoffed.

"Well, that's gonna have to wait till tomorrow, now doesn't it! Scram, before I decide to count this as a new rule, and ding you for breaking it!" Monokuma snapped, disappearing.

[Play: Beautiful Lie(Ver. B)]

"Well, ya heard him, let's get outta here…." Max grunted, crossing his arms, looking over at Shigaraki's map. "Let's check out that strange museum place that's on the map, can't be that far from here," the black-haired boy commented, walking ahead.

And indeed, it was not. Just down the road, not even a few minutes away, was the museum. The building was a massive, white building with the doors and windows painted in black and white, representing Monokuma. It was a sickening feeling. The colours black and white were tainted with that bear.

Damn that fucking bear.

"Well, this is certainly… huge…" Nikki commented, putting her hands behind her back.

"You think?" Max scoffed, crossing his arms. "Museum of the Blackened? Don't tell me this…?"

"I think it is," a new voice cropped up as the group of three turned around. Dio, along with Erina stood there, both studying the building as well. "Why don't we take a look inside? I'm interested to see just how many people have fallen victim to this sick game, if not out of morbid curiosity, then out of genuine concern."

As Dio finished talking, the girl beside him looked away absent-mindedly. "Dio… I…." Erina started, letting go of his arm. "I want to stay out of that building. Please?" The blond-haired girl asked as Dio gave her a worried look.

"But, Erina, what if something bad happens to you?" Dio asked, raising an eyebrow. "I don't want what happened to—"

"No! Don't you finish that sentence, Dio Brando!" Erina interrupted, puffing out her cheeks indignantly. "You know I'll be fine. If it makes you feel any better, I'll wait at the top stair, that way you won't have to worry. I just…." Erina paused, looking away. "I don't feel comfortable entering a building of glorified murderers, okay?"

Dio frowned, letting out a brief sigh before shaking his head. "Alright, if you say so…." And with that, the blond-haired boy began walking up the stairs. Max looked at Shigaraki, Shigaraki looked at Max, and Nikki looked at both of them.

"So… shall we…?" Shigaraki asked as the two kids nodded. The group followed Dio into the building, and what they were met with was a long corridor, some red curtains, and two Monokuma heads—one white, and one black—both of which were keeping the curtains up in front of the hallway. Dio blanched at the décor of the place, sticking his nose up at it.

"What a pitiful sight. Honestly, I can't even begin to pick this place apart. Whatever, let's just move forward, after all, the quicker I leave, the better."

Dio walked ahead, not bothering to wait up for the group of three, who felt equally as disturbed as the blond had been. They didn't stick around for long, however, as they got to the hallway….

"Leon Kuwada – Ultimate Baseball star (The one who started it all): Murdered Ultimate Pop Sensation Sayaka Maizono with a stab to the gut. Execution: The 1000 Blows," Shigaraki read off of a plaque with a picture of a red-headed wannabe punk rocker. "Kinda disturbing…."

"Not as disturbing as this one!" A shout came down further from the lane, with Dio looking away with disgust. "Come check this one out…."

They did as they were requested, running down the hallway to catch up to Dio. When they did, however…

[Stop OST]

Their hearts plummeted. Shigaraki was speechless. For the first time in a long time, the teal-haired boy was speechless. He hadn't seen this one coming. Not by a long shot. "No… that can't be possible. She's—" Shigaraki stopped that train of thought. No. He looked over at Dio. The boy was clearly dressed like one of those 19th-century boys. His style of speech and mannerisms were also out of date.

Was Monokuma able to resurrect the dead just so they could participate in these heinous crimes against humanity? How many of these people were reanimated corpses? It was truly outrageous. Something was going on here, and Shigaraki didn't know what, but if this one poster had been any sort of indicator that something was wrong, then he didn't know what was.

[Play: Trapped By The Ocean Scent]

"Hana Shimurathe Lil' Ultimate Girl Scout…" Max readout, looking at the picture of what seemed to be a little girl with black hair, equally black eyes, soft facial features, and an exuberant smile. "It says here she murdered two people named Mahoro Shimano, the Lil' Ultimate Twin Sister, and Katsuma Shimano, the Lil' Ultimate Twin Brother. Both of them were murdered via poisoned cookies, both of which were made by Hana. Her execution was known as… Brotherly Decay? I don't get it. But still, getting a little kid to murder someone? That has to be some of the sickest shit I've ever had the misfortune to read."

Shigaraki couldn't help but feel a pit grow in his stomach as he looked at the plaque. He felt a wave of despair wash over him. It wasn't possible. It had to have been a bunch of nonsense created by Monokuma just to mess with him specifically.

"Hey, look, it also says here something about the game itself that this Hana person was a part of. It was apparently called the 'Danganronpa – The Lil' Ultimate Killing Game.' It almost sounds like a T.V. show, don't you think?" Nikki commented as Dio huffed.

"Well, whatever this "T.V." is, it sounds stupid. But in any case. It does sound like something you see in a play, albeit more… morbid," Dio stated, earning a few raised eyebrows.

"Do you, not know what a T.V. is?" Max asked as Dio shrugged.

"Not particularly. Quite honestly I don't care," Dio said, crossing his arms.

"You're missing out, but whatever, we'll talk about that later. What I want to know is this… when did this killing game take place? Clearly, this was recent, no doubt about that. But how recent exactly? That is something that'll have to be answered later, but for now—"

"This should be impossible." The sudden speaking and interruption of Max from Shigaraki caused the group of three to look at him with a mix of confusion and annoyance.

"Well, you're right, it should be. But—"

"No, you misunderstand. Hana Shimura cannot have done this. She's… she's dead," Shigaraki interrupted Max again as Dio scoffed.

"Well of course she's dead. She got executed. Are you—"

"NO! YOU DON'T GET IT! SHE DIED YEARS AGO! BEFORE THIS BULLSHIT HAPPENED! SHE DIED 15 YEARS AGO! SHE DIED BECAUSE OF ME!" Shigaraki interrupted Dio with anger in his facial features, his teeth bare and his hands clenched up into fists.

"W-What are you- what do you mean?" Nikki asked, recoiling from the shout. Shigaraki took a few deep breaths, tears almost seemingly coming from the Criminal Mastermind's eyes as he rubbed away at them.

"H-Hana… Hana was my sister. She was two years older than me at the time, and I… back then, I wanted to be a good guy. But…." Shigaraki stopped, looking away. "I activated a superpower. A Quirk, kinda like Midoriya. Do you remember how on day 1, he mentioned something about One For All?" Shigaraki asked as Dio raised an eyebrow.

"Well, yeah. I thought he meant something about the three musketeers. Are you saying that…!" Dio asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes. Izuku Midoriya had a superpower called One For All. However, something had been blocking it, making him unable to use it. The same thing happened to me. I have a superpower called Decay. Back when I was younger, I didn't know how it worked, and when I was playing tag with Hana…." Shigaraki paused, shaking his head. "I think you can tell what happened to her just by the name of my power alone."

The group of three was mortified, especially Nikki.

"Y-You… you killed your sister?! I-I mean, of course, it sounded like an accident, but still! Wait a second, then how is she—" Nikki was interrupted by a glare from Shigaraki, which caused her to keep her mouth shut. There was a brief moment of silence, then, finally, after cursing under his breath, Shigaraki spoke.

"I don't know. Quite frankly, I don't care. However, I am furious. Once I find out how he did that, I'm going to rip his bear face off of his bear head and shove it up his own bear ass!" Tomura snarled, glaring at one of the statues of Monokuma that separated each entry.

[Play: Beautiful Death]

W-Well, I think we should leave then. This place is giving me goosebumps anyway. Plus, I think us staying here for much longer would be pointless. All this place has to offer is some insight into the past Killing Games this deranged madman has run over the years," Max said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Agreed…" Dio muttered, turning to exit the hallway. Everyone else followed suit. When they got outside, Erina was sitting there, waiting for Dio. When the blond girl saw him, she stood up as Dio took her hand.

"Dio…?" Erina said, concern on her face as Dio said nothing, continuing the walk with her in tow. He was clearly disturbed by the ensuing events, Erina knew that much, so whatever he saw in there was unsightly.

"I don't want to talk about it. We're leaving. Now!" Dio spat, picking up speed, practically dragging Erina behind him. Shigaraki watched as the pair left, only leaving him and the two children.

"I think we should follow in their footsteps. This was a mistake, we shouldn't have gone in there…." Max said, crossing his arms.

Wordlessly, the group left, wandering aimlessly. They weren't even following the map for a while, simply soaking in the deserted atmosphere this place had to offer. However, it didn't take them long till they stumbled upon another massive building. The group stopped in front of it, noticing a faded-out sign that said "Activity center" above the doors.

Shigaraki looked down at his map and sighed. It was the location with the logo of an arcade machine. The frown on Shigaraki's face changed to a look of indifference. The "Museum of the Blackened" soured his mood, maybe this would be different.

"Let's check this place out…." Shigaraki said, walking up the stairs to the front doors. He pressed his hand up against the door and pushed, causing the door to open a crack. Shigaraki walked inside, followed by Max and Nikki, and when they entered the building, they were greeted by rows and rows of arcade machines, a vending machine plastered to look like Monokuma, and a prize corner shelf of some sort.

"Huh… this place looks like a lot of fun…." Max said, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah! I mean, even though this place doesn't match up to the glorious forest, it'll do for now… I suppose…." Nikki said, her expression downtrodden as Shigaraki shrugged, walking up to one of the machines. He read the label on one of the machines and raised an eyebrow.

"Tap Monopad to spend Monocoins, requires 3 Monocoins per round?" Shigaraki said with confusion in his tone as he fished out his Monopad. He hadn't realized it, but in the upper right-hand corner, there was an icon in the shape of a coin with the number 74 beside it. "huh, neat…."

Shigaraki pressed the Monopad against the machine as the coin count went down to 71. The game booted up, and it was a first-person shooter game. The character wasn't holding a gun, rather a megaphone, and the objective was to kill all the Monokuma's before the player character died. The manchild smirked and began to play. He hadn't even noticed that Nikki and Max were watching him, both enamoured at his skill. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Shigaraki to die, causing his eye to twitch.

"Stupid enemies…" the man grunted, reaching for his Monopad. He was about to submit himself to another round but quickly shook his head. "Nope, we gotta keep going. I can't stay here for hours on end and play these stupid games…." Shigaraki muttered, stuffing his Monopad back into his pant pocket.

"Er… I hate to be the one to break the silence, but what's that machine with Monokuma's face on them?" Nikki asked as Shigaraki turned to the machine in question. It was a vending machine with tinted glass, a place to press the Monopads against, and a handle turner like you'd see in a gumball dispenser, just without the coin hatch.

"Huh, now that you mention it, it is kinda weird, isn't it?" Max said, huffing.

"Well…. Since you asked!"

[Play: Mr. Monokuma's Lesson V3]

Monokuma appeared in front of the group, however, Nikki, nor Max, nor Shigaraki had any reaction to his random appearance this time around. "Huh? You guys didn't jump like all the other times. Oh darn, have I desensitized you all now! Damnit! I thought this was going to last for a little bit longer than last time! Shucks..." Monokuma said, sulking before shaking his head.

"Bah! Whatever so you guys want to know what this thing is or what?" Monokuma asked as Shigaraki sighed.

"Listen here, you bear asshole, just tell us, none of your shenanigans, just spit it out," Shigaraki growled as Monokuma sighed.

"The youth these days, so disrespectful. Then again, what should I expect from someone like yourself? Anywho, these are Mono-Mono Machines! You tap your Monopad on them, it takes away a single Monocoin, and you get a random prize! Whether this prize is useful or not is up to you! Go ahead, try it!" Monokuma said, stepping aside as Max walked forward, pressing his Monopad against the small monitor.

The machine rocked from side to side before the hatch at the bottom opened, spitting out a box of some kind. The box had a gold lid, and the bottom was a murky white plastic. "So… what now, do I just… take the box?" Max asked as Monokuma nodded vigorously. The black-haired kid grabbed the box, then opened it.

Inside the box was what appeared to be a bottle with three skulls on the label. The bottle was dark brown, not see-through, but there was some sort of liquid sloshing around in there. "What is…?"

"Oh! You got the legendary prize! It's a bottle of Monokuma's Special Poison! Congratulations! Use it wisely~!" Monokuma said, a devious smirk on his face as Max nearly dropped the box and its contents.

"Gah! What the fuck!" The boy cried, catching the box with an angered scowl on his face. "You gotta be shitting me! It just dispenses murder items!" Max growled, causing Monokuma to shake his head.

"No, you nincompoop! It doesn't JUST dispense murder paraphernalia! It also dispenses other random stuff! You just so happened to get one of the rarest prizes, which just so happened to be a very special poison! I suggest you keep it refrigerated at all times, just so it doesn't lose its potency! In fact, I'll even put a refrigerator in your room to keep it in! Oh, and before you think about disposing of it, you cannot! If I see it not in your possession, unless it is in the new fridge I will install in your cabin, if I find it lying around the camp somewhere, I will punish you, got it! Can't have someone steal your prize, right?" Monokuma said, his red eye glowing ever-so-slightly.

"Uh… but that's not a rule…? You can't do that!" Nikki bit back, only for Monokuma to tilt his head.

"Really now? I'd double-check that if I were you!" Monokuma said as a ding came from everyone's pockets. Shigaraki booted up his Monopad and saw a new notification. He tapped the notification and was met by a new rule from the rule book.

12 – Under any circumstances, no matter what it may be, you are NOT allowed to toss, give away, or borrow your gift from the Mono-Mono-machine, unless of course, it is during free time. This excludes yellow lidded items, as they are one of a kind and cannot be gotten again.

13 – Monokuma can add rules as he pleases.

Shigaraki scowled as the bear snickered. "See! It's a rule now! Now you have to obey me! Puhuhuhu~!" and with that, Monokuma disappeared once more, leaving the group of three by their lonesome.

[Play: Beautiful Lie(Ver. B)]

Max groaned, putting the lid back onto the capsule. "Damnit. Well, it looks like I don't have much of a choice but to keep it, now do I?" the black-haired boy groaned, putting it underneath his armpit. "I'm gonna go back to my cabin to put this thing away, that way people don't give me the stink eye. I already have a bad reputation as it is, especially with big goofy and lanky, as well as that dweeb. Peace."

And with that, Max left the building. Nikki shrugged, putting her hands behind her head. "Well, I think Max will be okay. So let's just continue, besides, If the park isn't open I might come back here later, just to see what I can get!" Nikki said, a big smile on her face as Shigaraki sighed, shaking his head.

"You put too much faith in that guy…" and with that, the now pair left to go find another place they hadn't yet seen. As the pair walked to their next destination, Nikki couldn't help but speak up.

"Hey… uh, thank you for defending Max back there. You know? In the Camp Trial…." Nikki said, looking away with a sombre expression. Shigaraki raised an eyebrow, confusion strewn on his face.

"Uh… thanks? What spurred this on?" Shigaraki asked as Nikki smiled, though it was an empty smile.

[Play: Welcome To Despair]

"E-Er… well… nothing really. I just never got to thank you for protecting my friend's innocence. Even if he kinda… spurred the murder on. But I know Max! He wasn't going to harm anyone, and if he did it would've been an accident, or hell, I…! Er…. Ugh!" Nikki said, stopping her left foot down on the dusty road. Shigaraki stopped walking, as did Nikki. The teal-haired girl stood there, her arms at her sides as she looked down at the floor.

"Max can be such an idiot! He doesn't think with his head half the time and only thinks about himself! He's selfish, arrogant, rude, and a massive jerk! But you know what, it's because of that he's my friend because he's Neil's friend! But… urgh! He never thinks things through! He just acts, and his actions cause people harm! I get that to him, he thinks everything is a joke, and that his actions don't have consequences, and blame the Camp that we previously went to for teaching him that, but still!" Nikki said, tears hitting the road as Shigaraki grimaced. "Sometimes, I think about what Monokuma said, that if Midoriya just left Daphne to bleed out, that I'd have to see Max go through one of those executions. I have nightmares about it. I don't want to see my friend go through something like that—I don't want to see any of my friends die! I know that I like to put on a tough girl act all the time, but I can't help but shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen to them, or worse, that one of them is going to die!"

Nikki began to shake uncontrollably. Her shoulders look tight, and the aching, almost far too real sobs echoed in the empty street. Shigaraki could only look on with sympathy in his eyes. He knew what it was like to feel that way. While it had been long before he had truly met Sensei, he knew what it was like to be fearful of death, and those around it.

Shigaraki took careful steps toward the young girl. He made sure that he didn't come at her too quickly. When he got close to her, he knelt down to her and enveloped the girl in a hug. Nikki's eyes widened for a second, her eyes moving to look at his face. There was a brief moment of silence before Nikki placed her head into his shoulders and cried. She just cried.

Nikki never liked to feel weak. It was one of the things that made her feel wrong. Her mom always told her that being weak wasn't okay. One of the reasons she went camping at Camp Campbell was to not look weak in front of her.

Crying made her feel weak. She wanted to lash out. She wanted to get mad. But all she could do was cry. All her mind would allow her to do was cry. Cry a sad river of tears until she could cry no more.

Eventually, the two separated, and Shigaraki ruffled the kid's hair. She wiped the tears from her eyes as the man remained silent. Shigaraki let out a deep, almost vented sigh, before talking.

"Don't think too hard about it kid. I know that sounds insensitive, but truly, it's the best thing to do. It's what everyone else is doing. Most of us know by now that death is going to be frequent here now that The Killing Game has officially started. But, the best we can do at the current moment and time is to just let things go. Thinking too much about this is what drives paranoia, what drives regular people to turn into killers. The best thing you can do is to wait, think clearly, and ignore it. I can't say if it'll help you, but it might."

Shigaraki's response was intentionally hollow. He didn't want to instill too much hope in the girl. He knew that there were limits to it, as he had seen back at Deika. The Meta Liberation Army had hoped to defeat him. They had hoped so much that the crushing despair of their loss drove their leader to give in to him.

He knew hope was a bad thing from personal experience, too. It was like a drug. Once you got too attached to it, you couldn't let go of it. It was for that reason that Shigaraki never hoped too much. However, he also knew how bad Despair could be.

Despair had been the reason Izuku had killed. Despair had been the reason why Daphne was killed. Despair was the reason why they were in this camp, to begin with. If it had been up to him, he would've already turned this place into dust. However, he didn't want to have The Mastermind or Monokuma draw suspicion on him.

So, with that in mind, he turned around and started to walk. "Let's go. I don't want to stay here for too long. We still have things to do. Unless you want to go back to your cabin. I can escort you there if you want?" Shigaraki said, glancing over his shoulder. Nikki shook her head, looking at the ground.

"N-No. The last thing I want is to back out just because I cried." A confident smirk found itself on her face as she wiped her eyes again. "So don't even bother saying that crap. Besides, I want to see the rest of this place, too!"

[Play: Beautiful Days]

The mood had lifted directly after that. Shigaraki felt a small smirk come to his face. He may not have been good with his own feelings, but he was pretty damn good and sensing others. Probably had something to do with hanging around Jin as much as he had.

"Well then, let's not stand here and talk all flowery and stuff and get a move on," Shigaraki said, his smirk faltering as his face went back to being neutral.

"I don't know half of what that means but okay!"

And with that, the two of them continued their exploration of the new area that they had found themselves in. Their map had gladly pointed out that there were only two more spots: The place with the leg strapped to a rocket icon, and the place with Monokuma's face split in half, each face being filled in by a mirror image, decorated with a ribbon underneath.

Their first stop on the list of places to be was the location with the leg rocket icon. The walk to the aforementioned location wasn't a long one, and when they had gotten there, they were greeted by Deliah, Shaggy, Harry, and Velma—all of which were snacking on food, but not any kind of food, the kind of food you'd see at a corner store. In other words, cheap ice cream.

They all sat on the side of the road, in Deliah's case she had been standing, all enjoying their treats. When Deliah noticed Shigaraki, she stopped sucking on the juice pop in her mouth and smiled. "Oh! Heya, Tomura! How's your tour of the place going?" the brunette asked as Shigaraki shrugged.

"Honestly, could be better," the teal-haired man responded as Nikki looked at the group with wide eyes.

"Oooo~! Where did you get that from! You have to tell me!" Nikki said, smiling like a madwoman. Shaggy could only chuckle as he finished eating what appeared to be a cat-shaped ice cream sandwich, licking his fingers, then pointed in the direction of the corner store.

"Over there. It's got a bunch of snacks you can get. Although, you have to use your Monocoins. Apparently you just… find them while wandering around. They're like little caches that everyone can claim once a day. Most of them had already been claimed by, go figure, Dio," Shaggy paused, rubbing the back of his neck. "That kid, he's always ahead of the curve. You'd think that his Ultimate Talent would be something like "Ultimate Entrapuner, or something along those lines instead of "Ultimate Manipulator." I haven't seen him doing a lot of Manipulating, so…?"

Shigaraki sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Well, that means you've already been manipulated by him. Someone who's considered an Ultimate didn't earn the title by just receiving it from a lottery or some shit like that. That's why I'm always wary around him. You can never know when the words that are coming out are truthful or another attempt at manipulating you. Keep that in mind next time you see him," the teal-haired man said, crossing his arms.

"O-Oh! Damnit!" Shaggy cursed, huffing. "I knew something was up… grrr…!" Shaggy growled before relaxing, shaking his head. "Well, you know what, I guess that's on me for being so gullible. Whatever. I honestly don't care. Besides, he hasn't made me do anything bad yet, now has he?" The snack tester said, shrugging.

"True. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, all things considered. Though that Erina girl… I don't like her, something's… off about her," Deliah said, tapping her chin in thought. "It's like she's putting on an act. Maybe it's just my knack for pointing out this sort of thing…." The brunette said, earning raised eyebrows from everyone.

"Hey, Deliah. Just a quick question. What even is your Ultimate Talent?" Shigaraki asked, giving her a confused look. "The details on the Monopad don't say it. So you must know, right?" The teal-haired man said, crossing his arms.

"Actually, yeah, he makes up a good point. Do you know what it is?" Velma asked. Seeing as she had been quiet the entire time, the Ultimate Detective decided to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way as she took a sip out of a Slurpee. In response, Deliah hummed in thought.

"Er… about that. I don't remember. I know I have one, but I just can't put a finger on what it is exactly," Deliah said, shrugging as she put her hand that was on her chin down and by her side. "Uh… where's Nikki? Wasn't she just here?" The brunette asked as Harry nodded over to the store.

"She ran into the store with her Monopad in the air," Harry said. Then, without warning, Nikki ran out of the store with a bag in one hand and her Monopad in the other as she tried to shove it into her overall's front pocket.

"Uh… how much did you—"

"All of it! I'm officially broke~!" Nikki interrupted Shigaraki with a joyous smile on her face. "Oh-ho-ho-ho, I'm going to have one HELL of a sugar high!"

Shigaraki didn't waste any time snagging the bag of treats away from Nikki, who looked at him with puffed-up cheeks and an annoyed glare in her eyes. "HEY! Why'd ya do that!" The little kid spoke as the teal-haired man pulled out a bag of ketchup-flavoured chips and handed her back the bag.

"I smelt the ketchup chips. I get the ketchup chips. You are not fighting me on this." Shigaraki's voice became extremely defensive yet also threatening at the same time as he uttered his sentence, causing everyone in the area to shiver.

"Alright, we get ya loud and clear buddy…." Harry said, recoiling from the sudden emission of killing intent coming from the manchild. It eventually disappeared as Shigaraki smirked.

"Good. Now, Nikki, let's get to this last place. It's already 4:50 PM, and I would LIKE to get to the cafeteria and make a sandwich before it hits 10:00 PM, m'kay?" Shigaraki said, already beginning to leave the group behind.

"Oh! Well, okay, I'll see you guys later then, bye!" Nikki said, waving goodbye to Deliah, Harry, Shaggy, and Velma.

The walk to their next and final location was a bit of a long one. The sun had begun to set, and by the time they got there, it was 5:30 PM, halfway till nighttime. As they approached the massive building with the black monokuma face and the white monokuma face acting as a banner, Ruby, Jaune, Monika, and Natsuki had exited the two front doors, talking to one another.

"I'm telling you, that movie was amazing! Sure, it was a bit on the violent side, but it was a nice distraction from everything!" Ruby said, a wide smile on her face as Natsuki coughed into her hand.

"Well, the fact that I had to cough up 50 Monocoins out of my 73 was a bit of an annoyance, but at least it was somewhat worth it. Horror movies, man, honestly the worst…" The fuchsia-haired girl said, crossing her arms in disgust.

"So, everyone got 73 Monocoins after the end of the Camp Trial? Interesting…." Shigaraki thought, observing the group. He looked over to the building and gave it a closer look. It was pitch black in colour, with a sign that read: Monokuma Theatre. "A movie theatre? Hmm… I might have to check that out. Natsuki said it cost 50 Monocoins… I have more than enough for a single ticket."

"Well, I'd like to agree with Ruby, seeing as it was a nice distraction, though a bit tasteless on Monokuma's behalf. Then again, what was I to expect from such a horrid monster," Monika said, a small attempt at a half-hearted smile as her green eyes darted over to Shigaraki. "Oh, Tomura! It's good to see you! How has your tour around this new area been?" Monika asked the teal-haired man as Shigaraki shrugged.

"Honestly, it could've been better. I had Max with me, but he went to his cabin after he won a prize at the Game Center just down the road," Shigaraki said as Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"And no one went with him? Are we sure we can even trust him to be on his own after the stunt he pulled yesterday?" Jaune asked as Ruby looked away sheepishly.

"I don't want to be negative, but yeah, Jaune is right. Max did attack and nearly kill someone. Izuku may have been the one guilty of the crime, but…." She left the statement unfinished as Shigaraki groaned.

"He's a kid, give him a break. He was scared and wanted to leave, realized what he did had been wrong, and while he ran away from his problems instead of trying to fix them, what would you had done if you were in his position, would you have panicked like he did and run, or would you try to rectify what you did?" the teal-haired man countered as Monika shook her head.

"I think we should leave this topic in the past and look toward the future. After all, we can't think about the past, now can we? It would be bad for us if we continued to think about those we lost," Monika said, a reassuring expression on her face as Nikki nodded.

"Yup! I agree with the poet. I don't like thinking about the past. It sucks, most of the time," the kid said, swaying side to side. "Hey, Shiggy boy, can we NOT go in there, I kinda want to go see if the park is open now!" Nikki said as Monika looked as if she had just remembered something.

"Oh! I was going to hold a meeting at 6:30 PM, and it'll take an hour to walk back to the cafeteria, so I think we should all head back. I already told everyone that I had passed by, so they're probably going to start heading back soon as well. That, and Monokuma said the theatre was going to be closed for a while. Ruby made a mess of the chairs by accident. He wasn't too pleased with that," Monika said, glancing back at the redhead.

"H-Hey! I apologized…!"

"Well, you know what, I think we should just leave. It's getting cold over here, and the longer I stand here, the more my body shakes, so please, if we could get moving, the better," Natsuki snapped, starting her way down the path, half of what she said falling on deaf ears as the now group of five gave each other a quick glance, before then following the pink-haired tsundere.

[Play: Beautiful Death]

Just as Monika had predicted, it had taken an hour to walk from the new area back to the main camp, and by extension, the cafeteria. Shigaraki surmised that it would take 30 minutes if one had to run from one side to the other. He would have to keep that in mind, it could prove useful later down the line.

It took a few minutes for the rest of the surviving campers to gather in the cafeteria. Everyone sat with who they were comfortable with, resulting in the mood being lighter than it was this morning. There was silence, no one volunteered to talk. It took a few minutes, but eventually, someone spoke up, and that someone was, surprisingly enough, Neil.

"S-So, Uh… I didn't get to see much of the new area that Monokuma opened up, considering I left it for my cabin after I got anxious. So… can someone fill me in on what exactly there is?" Neil asked as Nikki turned to face the brown-haired boy.

"Well, there's a Park, there's a museum displaying recent and past killers from previous Killing Games, there's an activity center, there's a corner store full of treats," Nikki shook her plastic bag to represent the proof behind the store's existence, "And a theatre! Though I never saw inside of it cause it got closed off."

Natsuki scoffed, crossing her arms as she leaned against the table. "Trust me, you aren't missing much. It's got a receptionist desk, two double doors that give access to a screening room, some arcade games that are impossible to win, and a drink and popcorn dispenser. And it's all coloured black and white to fit with that bear's massive ego!"

"Hey, was anyone able to get into the park? I ask because Monokuma told us that it was closed off. Apparently the fucker was removing mines out of the floor," Max quipped, adjusting himself in his chair.

"I can confirm that. I couldn't go in either. On my way back around I tried to check if we were able to go in, and Monokuma shooed us away like flies. It was quite degrading," Dio responded, straightening out his tie. "In any case, I don't think there is much else to talk about, although, Shigaraki, if I recall, back in the museum, we learned something. Care to share it?"

[Play: Boy's Life In Despair]

"What's he talking about, Shigaraki?" Deliah asked as Tomura glared at Dio.

"Asshole, you know that I—"

"I know, Shigaraki. But I quite honestly don't care. It's been troubling me ever since, and it also makes me wonder something. But until you reveal what it was we found, I can't voice my opinions. So please, I think it necessary that we put issues we had in the past aside and stop leaving our fellow campers in the dark."

Dio's explanation, while annoying, made sense to the teal-haired man. Letting out an annoyed sigh, Shigaraki sagged his shoulders, closed his eyes for a second, opened them, and proceeded to talk. "I found out that the game before us had… my sister in it."

"Y-You're what!?" Harry nearly shouted, stopping himself before shaking his head. "No, no way, you can't be serious. That… that's insane… forcing teens and pre-teens to kill one another is bad enough, but little kids? How old was she?"

"No older than six," Shigaraki responded as Natsuki looked away, almost as if she was about to get sick on the floor.

"Oh my god… that… that bastard. I can't even believe that he would do that!" Natsuki said through grit teeth.

"I don't mean to sound distant, but, what does this mean? Outside of the fact that Monokuma has conducted a Killing game with even younger kids than us, what doest his mean?" Velma questioned as Ruby nodded.

"Yeah. It's bad and all, but, I'm just as curious," Ruby responded as Shigaraki grimaced.

"That's the thing. It should've been impossible for that to happen. Not just because it's wrong, nor because it sounds outlandish, but because… because…." At this point, Shigaraki was looking at the floor, his skin even paler than before. "Because when I was five years old… I killed my sister due to an accident revolving around the awakening of my Quirk."

Silence.

Stunned, silence.

"Y-You're kidding right?" Deliah gaped, a nervous look in her eyes.

"I wish I was," Shigaraki responded, looking away with an almost sad expression on his face. "As I said, it was an accident, and technically speaking my first kill. It wasn't that I wanted it to happen, I wasn't even sure about what was going on at the time. I just reached out to her, trying to get her to help me, but when I snagged her dress, she turned into a pile of blood and ash."

More silence. And then fear. Fearful expressions all lined their faces. The scar on his lip twinged as everyone in the room started to give him judgmental glares, though they quickly shifted it to looks of pity.

"So… let me get this straight. You accidentally killed your sister with your Quirk, or whatever you called it, but because of that you're saying that it is impossible for her to have been in a killing game because she's been dead for… well, you were five years old back then, you're 21 years old now according to the date your Monopad says, so…." Velma started, putting on a thinking face before speaking again. "16 years. Am I right?" The Detective asked as Shigaraki nodded in silence.

"Exactly. And Tomura would be right to think that as well. If his sister has been dead for 16 years, how did she wind up in a killing game? Specifically the one before ours?" Dio interjected, earning a few people's attention.

"What do you mean, "before ours?" How is that even possible?" Shaggy piped up, a confused expression on his face as Dio smirked.

"Well, that's where my theory comes in. Something tells me that there is more than meets the eye going on here. The way some people dress, the way how everyone talks differently. The way how some people have superpowers here that are being repressed by the barrier around this camp, and how others are simply normal, regular humans. Call me crazy, but I believe that all of us are not from around here. At all."

Dio's words were met with confused silence, skeptical looks, and one particularly annoyed expression from Max.

"Well, no shit, sherlock. Of course, we're not from here. If we were, we wouldn't be in this stupid fucking situation!" Max snapped as Dio shook his head.

"No, you fool. That's not what I meant. If you really are that daft, I think I can prove what it is that I'm trying to say by asking someone in this room a very simple question," Dio started, his eyes drifting around the room before meeting eyes with Jaune. "You, Jaune Arc, what year was it before you were brought here?" Dio asked as Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Why are you asking such a dumb question? It's 2019, isn't it?"

Alarm bells started to fire off in Shigaraki's head. He finally understood what the purpose behind Dio's question had been. "He's wrong. It's 2108. Not 2019. That would be the pre-quirk era… Wait a minute. Oh my god…!"

"Huh?! What are you talking about? It's only 2003?" Shaggy said, crossing his arms.

"What? No! It's 2017, dumbass! Both of you are wrong!" Natsuki interjected as Dio scoffed.

"Do you all see what I mean? Here, let me answer my own question. Before I was sent to this very camp by unknown forces. The year for me was 1879."

Dead silence. Nobody could say anything after that. The fact that Dio just so casually blurted that out with the hint of superiority that he did went to show then and there to everyone that he had been right. Right about what, exactly, nobody knew.

Then, a lightbulb went off in Harry's head.

"Wait a moment. Are you suggesting that we're… all from different points in history?" Harry asked as Dio snapped his fingers.

"It's the only thing that makes logical sense. Think about it. I don't know what half of this technology is, because none of it exists where I'm from. There is no such thing as a "monitor" and there is no such thing as a "monopad" and so on and so forth. If we were all from the same place in time, we would all likely know what everything was around here, but all of your expressions and actions have led me to believe otherwise. Somehow, Monokuma has pulled us from our respective places in time, placed us here in this camp, and is forcing us to kill each other for his sick amusement. This would also explain Hana Shimura's presence in the last game, seeing as she hadn't died yet at the hands of Tomura."

The more Shigaraki thought about it, the more Dio's words were starting to make sense.

The lack of knowledge around Quirks.

The lack of the younger kids talking about All Might.

The outdated technology.

Everything. Made. Sense.

"W-Well… uh… wow…." Monika was barely able to talk. She looked incredibly worried and confused. Her eyes were wider than saucers, and there had been a collection of sweat pooling on her forehead. "Okay then. That's… alright. I think we should call off the meeting for now. Everyone get back to your cabins. I think we all need to process this information a bit more carefully so as to not rock the boat anymore, so to speak."

Nobody raised a counterpoint to that statement. Everyone agreed. Today had been nothing but confusing. The new area that had been unlocked after the death of both Daphne and Izuku. The closing of the park that had been due to the late removal of Mines of all things. Time travel nonsense that Monokuma could do.

It was all too much for Shigaraki's mind to handle.

So, once again, without eating anything that day, even while his stomach protested it, Shigaraki Tomura went to his cabin, ignored everyone that tried to talk to him on his way there, slammed the door shut, and threw himself on his bed.

His mind was racing a mile a minute. What Dio had said was the only thing that could've possibly made sense. And that was the most annoying part.

Dio was right.

Dio had been correct about something.

Underneath all that snark, underneath all that sass. Dio was smarter than he looked. He was right about something. And Shigaraki knew that Dio was going to rub it all in every chance he got.

A wave of sleepiness drew over the older man, his eyes fluttering shut as his mind went further into the depths of unconsciousness.

[Monokuma Theater: Play Mr. Monokuma's Lessons V3]

Oh! My! God! Do you guys have any idea, any at all, how hard it was to get the author of this story to GET OFF HIS ASS and finish writing this thing? Well, I sure as hell do. I had to gouge his arm out of his socket and not give it back to him until he actually sat down to finish it! Ugh, people, these days are always so LAZY!

Er, now, what else was there that I was going to say? Oh! Yeah! Thank you all for being so patient! I know it's been a while, and I know things are boring right now, but they will pick up! Promise you that! Puhuhuhuhu~!

Oh, and here's Monokuma's fun fact of the day! A-hem: Did you know, that during the process of this story's creation, the character that was selected had been chosen during a game Call Of Duty Zombies? I know! How COMPLETELY unrelated is THAT!

Anyways. That's all for me! Now back to your regularly scheduled Despair!

[Play: Welcome To Despair]

[Day 6]

*DING-DONG-BING-BONG*

"A-hem, this is a Mono-Mono Camp special announcement! It is now 7:00 AM! You know what that means~! It's time to RISE AND SHINE! Stretch those legs and run around! Make sure you give it your all! Who knows? Today just might be your last!"

Shigaraki groaned. He didn't want to get up. He just wanted to sit there and waste away. He didn't know why he felt like that. Perhaps it was because he was too comfy in his bed? Probably. It was 7:00 AM. It was way too early for him to be up anyway.

So. He simply… fell back to sleep.

.

.

.

.

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*

There was a set of rapid, frantic knocking on his door. He didn't know why, and he didn't care. Whoever it was could go choke on a rabbit's foot for all he cared. He just wanted to get some more sleep. He didn't want to have to think like he did yesterday.

The last thing he wanted was to even bother thinking about what had happened yesterday. So many revelations had been made in such a short amount of time that it hurt to think about. Hana being in a killing game and dying due to an execution called brotherly decay. The revelation that Monokuma could somehow Time Travel to bring people to his sick and twisted killing games.

The revelation that this has happened 100 times over already….

He didn't want to be here. He didn't want to be in this stupid killing game—then again no one did, but him especially. He didn't want to think about how it must've been for Hana. Alone. Scared. Wondering where she had been put. Having to stain her hands red, only to be killed hours after she thought she could've escaped whatever hell she had been in.

Hana was alone.

Shigaraki was alone.

"What if I do the same thing she did? What if I snap under pressure?"

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK*

The knocking was more frantic now. How long had it been since he last checked the time? He could vaguely hear someone saying his name. He didn't know who it was.

"Just leave me alone." Shigaraki thought.

He just wanted to be alone.

"No." A new voice in his head? That was strange. "No, you moron. I'm you. Well, I'm the more rational side of you. Grrr, whatever, you know what I mean! Get your ass up and out of bed! You need to face the world with the same anger and ferocity you did when you were corralled in this pigpen! You still have your Decay ability, even if it is extremely limited at the moment. You're still YOU! Now, get out of bed, Tenko Shimura. Get up, and face the day with all you got."

"I don't want to. You can't make me."

"Listen to yourself! Do you even hear what you're saying?! What about all the people who you care about? Dabi? Toga? Twice? Spinner? Magne? What the hell is going to happen to them if you don't find a way out of here? What about the other people here who look up to you? What about Deliah? Harry? Nikki? And even Max, to some extent. You can't just wallow in your tears and pretend your problems don't exist."

"You don't know who I am then. You're not me, and you know you're not me."

"Yeah, because I'm the guy who actually killed your sister. Our sister. Your Tomura Shigaraki. Sensei's greatest weapon of mass destruction. I'm Tenko Shimura. The real you. I'm the one you threw away just so you could forget about everything and act like a man baby when things didn't go your way. But unlike you, I don't give up."

"Go away."

"Oh hell no. I'm not going away. Not anymore. Don't you even remember why you're here? Don't you remember the promise you made to Izuku? Don't you remember what your dream was? You can't fulfill any of those by wasting away in your bed, now can you?"

Shigaraki's breath hitched. His consciousness was right. He knew it was true. He knew that Tenko was right. Just how far away from his original self had he strayed away from? Even if Tenko was just a broken half of who he truly was, Tomura knew full well that Tenko was correct. He couldn't just lie here and waste away.

There were people who depended on him. There were people who looked up to him. There were people who needed him. Dabi, Toga, Spinner, Twice, Magne, Ms. Midoriya, Eri, Deliah, Harry, Nikki, and Max. He couldn't just forget about them.

He had a choice. A choice to say in the cabin, or the choice to get up, get dressed, and start the day a new.

He chose the latter.

Getting out of bed, Tomura walked over to a fresh pair of clothes, swapped the dirty ones with the clean ones, then walked towards the door, twisted the doorknob, and opened it up to greet the new day.

[Play: Beautiful Days]

The sky was bright blue, and the sun was in the center. Just how long had he barricaded himself inside his cabin? Shigaraki honestly didn't know. But, by the looks of things… it was at least midday. "How the hell did I sleep in for that long?" The teal-haired man said, scrounging around for his Monopad. Pulling the device out of his pocket, he glanced over it and saw the time. "1:30 PM?! Holy shit! I guess I was really sleep-deprived if I slept for 21 hours."

And then, out of the blue, a ferocious roar that originated from Shigaraki's stomach cut through his thoughts as he doubled over. "FUCK! Ow, okay, I get it, I'm hungry."

The teal-haired man scanned the area, making sure the coast had been clear. Nobody was there, which was good. Well, actually, the opposite was true. There was someone. And that someone was Deliah.

"TOMURA!" The brunette cried out, running towards him, and in a surprise turn of events, hugged him. "O-Oh my god! W-we thought something bad happened!" Deliah blabbered, earning a raised eyebrow. Something bad? To him? Yeah, right.

.

.

.

"Oh… I forgot…" "Uh… I take it a sorry isn't going to cut it?" Shigaraki joked as Deliah let go of the older man with an annoyed scowl.

"Absolutely NOT! You made everyone think that you had DIED! Do you realize what happened while you were… actually, where were you?" Deliah cut herself off to ask the question, raising an eyebrow as Shigaraki glanced over to his cabin, nudging his head in its direction.

"Asleep. Why?"

The response was something that Deliah, apparently, had not been expecting, as her jaw had dropped from the sheer ridiculousness of his assertion. "Y-You were asleep?!"

"Yup," Tomura responded, popping the P. Deliah shook her head in disbelief before letting out a sigh of relief, a timid smile on her face.

"W-Well, it could've been worse…." There was a moment of silence between the two. Then, Deliah spoke up again. "S-So… uh… do you want to head to the Cafeteria and get some food?"

"Well, I suppose I have some free time… I might as well,"

[FREE-TIME!]

[Do you want to Hang Out with Deliah Edwards? Y/N]

[Y]

[Play: Becoming Friends]

"Sure. I don't see why not. I'm starving," Shigaraki replied, earning a half-smile from Deliah.

"Great! Well then, let's go. We don't have all day really, considering you wasted most of it sleeping," Deliah said, a bit of sarcasm leaking from her tone as Shigaraki rolled his eyes.

Upon getting to the cafeteria, Deliah and Shigaraki made some pancakes. During that time, they had burnt a majority of them, but instead of getting frustrated, Shigaraki merely laughed it off and continued trying until he got them perfect. Afterwards, they sat down to eat, and by that time, it was 3:00 PM. Once they finished eating, Deliah spoke up.

"So… you said you're The Ultimate Criminal Mastermind, right?" Deliah asked as Shigaraki raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I am, what of it?" Shigaraki asked as Deliah smirked.

"Can you tell me one of your first jobs you did? All legends have to have a starting story to kick off their career, so why not tell me yours?" Deliah asked as Shigaraki sighed.

"Well… hmm, let's see. My first ever mission. That brings me back. Well, you see. Back then, I was a bit more altruistic then, however, that still didn't mean I wasn't ruthless. Basically, my first real mission was a basic robbery. Nothing too big. Though the two people who I robbed ended up dead by the end of it, I made away with 50,000 Yen, which is roughly… er, I think five thousand dollars in North American money."

Deliah nodded, crossing her arms as she thought about something.

"Well, that's something that I could never even hope to relate to. But… mind if I tell you about something interesting I did before I came here?" Deliah asked as Shigaraki shrugged.

"Why not," the teal-haired man said as Deliah smiled.

"Well, so, a couple of weeks before all of this started, I met a living, sentient animatronic, and his name was Springtrap. Now, Springtrap was a good person, at least I thought he was. I should've seen the signs before it all went south, but… whatever, it's all in the past. Anyways, I later found out that he was possessed by a long-forgotten serial killer. Needless to say, I don't talk to him anymore," Deliah said as Shigaraki huffed in amazement.

"Damn, that sounds like some Ultimate Bad Luck you got there," Shigaraki joked as Deliah rolled her eyes.

"If that was my talent I'd rather die," Deliah snarked as Shigaraki let out a chuckle. Deliah couldn't help but giggle along with him.

"Do you know what happened to him afterward?" Shigaraki asked as Deliah shrugged.

"Honestly? I don't know. I also don't care. As far as I am concerned, he can go die in a fire. For everything that he did to those kids, for all of the emotional abuse he put me through, all of it," Deliah replied, looking away with an annoyed expression.

Shigaraki stayed silent for a moment, crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair. "I see… well then, all the power to you, if he really is how you say he is, he should burn in hell for what he's done," Shigaraki replied as Deliah rubbed the back of her neck, a small smile on her face.

"Thanks… I just. Heh, I find it funny. You and Springtrap are kinda similar. Your voices, the way you act. But you don't have that toxic, abusive side that he has," Deliah said, looking back at Shigaraki. "You're a nice guy, even if you have your own faults," the brunette said, smiling.

[Friendship with Deliah raised – 1 out of 5]

"Well, I better be heading out. I've been meaning to check out the activity center a bit more. See you later, Deliah," Shigaraki stated as Deliah waved goodbye.

"See ya, Tomura!" Deliah said as Shigaraki exited the building and made his way to the activity center. He didn't pass anyone else on his way there. He probably had to assume that everyone was still searching for him.

He felt bad for putting people through that, but then again, it wasn't his fault for wanting to sleep, now was it? As he stepped inside the building, he was met with someone he never would've expected to be in this place.

"TOMURA?!"

Nikki ran towards him and tackled his leg, causing him to nearly fall backwards and hit his head on the metal door handle. Thankfully, he was able to catch himself on one of the walls nearby. "Shit kid! You almost slammed me into the door handle. That would've killed me, ya know?"

"Shut up! You jerk! Everyone thought you got killed! Everyone's searching for you in the park since it was opened earlier this morning! They all thought you'd be there since it's the last place left to check!" Nikki said, looking up at him after she let go of his leg.

"Well… er… you know what, fair enough," the teal-haired man said, straightening himself out.

"So… wanna play some games?" Nikki asked, wiping at one of her eyes.

[Do you want to Hang Out with Nikki? Y/N]

[Y]

"I don't see why not… besides, I need to get rid of this funk. Playing a couple of rounds of… hmmm… how about that one over there?" Shigaraki asked, pointing towards the one with a go-kart icon overtop the screen.

"Oh! Yeah! Let's do that one!" Nikki said, a smile on her face, all of the sadness gone from her eyes as the pair walked over to the machine.

For the next hour and a half, the two raced each other in a game called MonoKart 69. Shigaraki won a majority of the time, 7 wins for Shigaraki and 4 wins for Nikki, and ended up spending 25 Monocoins in the process, leaving with only 55 Monocoins to spare. It was then when he called it quits.

"Alright, alright, no more. I can see that you're getting frustrated…." Shigaraki stated, crossing his arms as Nikki huffed.

"It's not fair! Harry played against me earlier and completely beat me, 9 to 0. At least you let me win some, though. You're nicer than Harry is, too…." Nikki complained as Shigaraki snickered to himself.

"Well, he is the Ultimate Gamer, so I guess that makes sense," Shigaraki stated, uncrossing his arms as he shuffled his hands around his pockets. "So… Nikki, what do you exactly plan to do once you get some alone time in that park?" Shigaraki asked as Nikki grinned manically.

"Oh-ho! I'm going to climb everything I see on sight, and if I've climbed it once, I'll fucking do it again!" Nikki snickered, a crazed look in her eyes. "NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STOP ME! I AM INVINCIBLE!"

Shigaraki slowly backed away, taking one step at a time to not disturb the blue-haired girl. "Uh-huh… that's nice… um… I'm gonna… go now, bye!"

And with that, Shigaraki left the activity center.

[Friendship with Nikki Raised – 1 out of 5]

[FREE TIME OVER]

[Play: Beautiful Ruin]

As Shigaraki sped-walked away from the building, he spotted someone in the distance, hurriedly walking around with visible panic on their face. As they got closer, he could make out what the person was saying.

"Like, Oh my god. What hell? Where did he go? If we don't find a body, will that mean that the killer will get away? If he's dead…. Oh no, oh no, no, no, no—"

It was Shaggy. And he was… worried? "Uh…." Shigaraki didn't speak for too long as Shaggy bumped into him, and stumbled when he did.

"O-Oh! Sorry there, Tomura. I'm just trying to find Tomura. I'll see you back at the cafeteria…." And with that, Shaggy continued on his way… that was, until he stopped dead in his tracks, turned around, and his eyes widened, a shit-eating grin on Shigaraki's face as he realized what it was he had just said. "Wait a second… TOMURA?!"

"In the flesh," the teal-haired man said as Shaggy let out a sigh.

"O-oh god! You… do you have any idea how badly you scared us, man! Ruby was panicking, and Erina nearly lost her marbles when we didn't find you at the park! Oh god, everyone's going to the cafeteria to discuss your absence… Monika is NOT happy, at all. We need to go there now, or else she's going to unload on everyone!"

And before Shigaraki could get a single word in, Shaggy grabbed him by the wrist with his unexplainable strength and RAN back towards the cafeteria faster than he could even blink. Just how fast was this guy?! Was he some sort of superhuman?!

Upon entering the small building, Monika was in the middle of downing some sort of drink in a mug.

"I can't BELIEVE IT! It hasn't even been a day, and someone else is—"

"I FOUND HIM!" Shaggy shouted at the top of his lungs, slinging Shigaraki into the center of the room. The teal-haired man screamed, sliding across the table and nearly crashing into Monika. Everyone froze at his appearance, and as soon as Shigaraki shuffled his way back onto his legs, dusted himself off, glared at Shaggy for throwing him, and took a noodle cup out of his hair (how it got there he didn't know) then sighed.

"Hi."

Chaos erupted.

[Play: Finding Peace Party]

"TOMURA!" Ruby cried out, shocked at his sudden arrival.

"OH MY GOD, YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME?!" Neil exclaimed.

"WHAT THE—" Erina started, being interrupted by Dio.

"WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU!" The blond spat, glaring at Shigaraki.

Shigaraki covered his ears as everyone looked at him with astonished expressions, glares, or in Monika's eyes, a slightly annoyed, yet also happy expression.

"Seriously! Where the fuck were you dude!" Max stated, looking at him with wide eyes.

"I was in my cabin. Asleep. Then I woke up, walked out of the door, and Deliah saw me. I went to the cafeteria, had breakfast with her, then went to the activity center, played games with Nikki, then ran into Shaggy, and he dragged me here," Shigaraki stated as Natsuki twitched an eye.

"You mean to tell me…. That despite knowing that we were looking for you—because I'm assuming Deliah told you—you instead went to play VIDEO GAMES!" Natsuki shrieked as Shigaraki bounced from the tips of his shoes to the heel before responding.

"Exactly," Shigaraki said, as Natsuki's jaw dropped.

"Y-You! I- I- WHAT THE FUCK?!" Natsuki spluttered as Shigaraki shrugged.

"What? I thought Deliah was going to speak to you guys once she found me and after we ate. Honestly, can you blame me?" Shigaraki said as Dio clicked his tongue.

"Damn you, Tomura. Just… damn you. I may not like you, but the last thing I want is to be put through another one of those trials…." Dio said as Erina nodded.

"While I can't say I don't like you, Tomura, you gave us quite the scare! Please, at least try to find us next time. I have a feeling this will be an all too often occurrence," Erina said, placing a hand on her chest, smiling.

[Play: Beautiful Ruin]

"Well… at least you're here…. That's all that matters now," Neil said, sighing. "So… uh… what now?" Neil asked as Monika sighed.

"Well, just so this NEVER happens again. Monokuma!"

And just like a fly being summoned due to crap piling up in a toilet, Monokuma showed up.

"You rang~?" The half and half animatronic bear said, hands behind his back, his smirk omnipresent as Monika groaned.

"Yes, unfortunatly. I have something to request of you, if you'd be so kind as to oblige," Monika asked as Monokuma huffed.

"Shucks. Depends on what it is Ms. Poet. Whaddya want?" Monokuma asked as Monika glanced over to Shigaraki, then back to the bear.

"If you could, please increase the volume of Shigaraki's monitor in his room? The last thing we want is to waste our time looking for him if he sleeps in a little too long. It's already 3:00 PM, and we had better things to do with our time." Monika asked as Monokuma crossed his arms.

"Nope! No can do!" Monokuma said as Monika raised an eyebrow.

"Why, if I might ask?" Monika asked, giving the mono bear a skeptical look.

"Well, you see poet, it's because if I make it any louder, then it would defeat the purpose of having one in the cabins! Plus, the despair on your guy's faces when you couldn't find him was amazing! So, NO! I will not do as you ask, poet."

As Monokuma finished what he said, he disappeared, much to Monika's chagrin. "Damnit. Well… there goes that idea. Hmm… Shaggy?" at the mention of his name, Shaggy turned to look at Monika.

"Er… yes?" The snack-tester asked, a nervous look on his face.

"Do me a favour, and every morning, if Tomura isn't awake by the time we have all gathered in the Cafeteria, then I would like you to knock on his door until he wakes up," Monika said, a curt smile on her face as Shaggy nodded.

"Y-yes ma'am!"

Shigaraki groaned, crossing his arms as he took a seat in one of the chairs. "I honestly don't see what the big deal is with me getting some extra sleep. Just because I can sleep in through that annoying bear's morning announcement, doesn't mean I should be punished for it," Shigaraki quipped as Monika sighed.

"Tomura. In any other circumstances, I would agree with you. But after what happened with Daphne and Izuku, if we don't have people accounted for, then it will be assumed they have gone missing, and that a death has occurred. Please?" The poet said, giving the teal-haired man an apologetic look.

"I-" Shigaraki was about to retort, opening his mouth to do so before closing it. "You know what, fair enough."

"Alright, so now that we've settled that. I have things to investigate. That park opened up a lot of mysteries that I want to explore. Shaggy, come with me, you too, Shigaraki. I have a few things I want to ask you once we get to the park," Velma stated, catching the two people off guard.

"Er… sure, I don't see why not."

"Eh, I got nothing else better to do."

And with that, the group of three left the room, saying their goodbyes, as they walked to the park. Upon getting there, Shigaraki looked up at the now open gates, a sign plated the front gates that listed off a set of rules.

MONOPARK RULES AND REGULATIONS:

1 – No Littering: If you drop a piece of paper on the floor, for example, and don't pick it up after 10 minutes, you will be fined 10 Monocoins. If you do not have that amount, you will be put into debt.

2 – NO MURDER IN THE PARK: This is the only spot that can be considered a safe zone. Of course, violence is allowed—punch someone till your heart's content, but if they die, you will be PUNISHED!

3 – Park closes at 5:30 PM. Anyone caught sneaking into the Park past 5:30 PM will be punished!

"Do you notice anything strange about these rules?" Velma asked as Shaggy scratched his chin.

"Well… I mean, I think the No Murder Rule is the odd one out. I don't know Monokuma would have a no murder rule in one location in a Killing Game. Maybe he doesn't want his park to have bodies?" Shaggy stated as Shigaraki shrugged.

"Well, if that's the case. That's kinda stupid. I mean, that defeats the whole point, doesn't it?" Shigaraki added, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, really think about it, why would there be a safe zone outside of the trial zone in a killing game?"

The two looked at Shigaraki, both contemplating exactly what it was he just said. Shaggy and Velma looked at each other, then Shaggy glanced back to Shigaraki, all the while the teal-haired man tilted his head.

"What, did I say something wrong? I'm right, and you two know it."

"No, No. We're not saying you're wrong. But… it's just… are you saying you don't like the fact that there is a safe zone?" Velma questioned as Shigaraki shook his head, a flabbergasted expression dawning on his face.

"No! Of course, I like the idea. I'm just trying to get into the head of the guy who's controlling Monokuma. Why would they want a safe zone if they were actively trying to get people to kill one another? It just doesn't make sense," Shigaraki clarified as Shaggy shrugged.

"I mean, to be fair, he does have a point…. But hey, I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If this is a safe zone… well, you know where I'll be spending a majority of my time," Shaggy said, smirking.

"Hmph, well, regardless, let's continue," Velma said, walking past the gates and into the actual park itself. What the group of three was met with was a giant statue of Monokuma in the center, surrounded by park benches. The statue itself was of a more human Monokuma with water pouring out of a clam, which the Monokuma held. Underneath the statue was a fountain bowl, and surrounding that were a bunch of sunflowers.

Splitting off from the Monokuma statue were four paths, and in between the crossroads, just adjacent to the Monokuma statue, were some pointed signs.

There was a sign pointing to the left that reads: Monokuma Theatre.

A sign pointing to the gate that read: Main Camp Area.

A sign that pointed behind the statue that read: Museum of The Blackened.

And a sign that pointed to the right of the Monokuma Statue that read: Rocket Kick Corner Store.

Surrounding all of that was a bunch of trees, shrubs, and tall and short grass, all deliberately planted in the way that it was to look vibrant. As Shigaraki looked around, he saw the usual cameras that had been dotted around the area, as well as the monitor that had been attached to the Monokuma statue's chest.

"I have to say, for a psychotic monochromatic bear, he sure does know how to garden..." Velma commented as Shaggy frowned.

"We shouldn't be giving him any credit, no matter how… truthful it may be…." Shaggy said, looking away as Shigaraki shrugged.

"I still don't know why I was brought here," Shigaraki said as Velma sighed.

"Well, you haven't been here before, right?" Velma replied as Shigaraki nodded. "Well, I thought you'd like to see what this place was all about. That, and I have a few questions I wanted to ask you regarding what Dio spoke about this morning while you were asleep," Velma asked as Shigaraki raised an eyebrow.

"About what?" Shigaraki asked as, in the back of his mind… "I swear to God if he brought up what my Quirk can do…."

"Is it true that you could disintegrate things just by touching them?" Velma asked as Shigaraki cursed under his breath.

"I personally believe that's a bunch who bullshit. No person should be able to do that. It sounds like something from a superhero comic," Shaggy said, crossing his arms with a skeptical look in his eyes.

Shigaraki looked around for something until he saw a rock on the floor. Picking it up, he kept it in one hand, then pulled back the glove part of the shirt he wore. Velma raised an eyebrow, as did Shaggy. Then, he placed the rock in the uncovered hand. He put each of his fingers on the rock, applying no pressure at all, then showed it to the pair.

The two watched in horror as the rock began to crack and turn to dust over the course of a minute. By the time Shigaraki's Decay had finished doing its job, there was nothing but a pile of dust on the floor.

[Play: DISTRUST]

"Was that… did you just…? Huh?!" Shaggy nearly jumped into Velma's arms out of shock as Velma shook her head as if she saw something that looked fake.

"H-How did you… no, that has to be fake. You had to have something up your sleeve," Velma said, worry all over her expression as Shigaraki shrugged.

"My Quirk, Decay, makes it so that anything all five of my fingers touch literally Decay's. The smaller the object, the faster it Decays. For example, to Decay an entire person would take up to an hour of me constantly holding on to them, starting at the first point of initial contact," Shigaraki explained, slipping the two fingers back into place. "Of course, if two of my fingers are covered up, then the effect doesn't work, and my hand works as intended, but outside of that, if my hands are bare, then my Quirk will always activate if all five of my fingers touches that object."

At Shigaraki's explanation, both Shaggy and Velma looked at him as if he was some sort of crazy lunatic.

"Y-You gotta be kidding me! That's… that's a bunch of nonsense! There's no way you can do that—"

"I'm from the future, remember? You come from 2017, do you not?" Shigaraki interrupted as Shaggy paused.

"Y-Yeah, we do… but what does that have to do with you having supernatural powers?!" Shaggy said, his tone shaky.

"Well, simply put, Quirks haven't shown up for you yet. They stop popping up in the 2020s. After that, Quirks became widespread. So it's understandable that you don't see these as normal. But for me, and for the departed Izuku, they are very normal," Shigaraki explained as Velma sighed.

"Alright… I get it. Still, that doesn't mean it's bizarre…." The Detective said, crossing her arms.

[Play: Beautiful Death]

After that, the mood calmed down back to normal, though Shaggy was still a bit off-put by the whole decaying rock thing.

"So… what else is there that you wanted to talk to me about in private? Or can I go now, it's like…. 5:00 PM. The park closes in half an hour, and I doubt we'll have enough time to talk to one another because of that. So…?" Shigaraki left that question open-ended as Shaggy and Velma both nodded.

"Fair enough. Alright, then we'll leave you be then," and with that group left the park, going in their separate directions.

As Shigaraki entered the main cabin area and entered his cabin, he sat down on the edge of his bed. He wasn't tired, nor did he plan to go to sleep, however, he just wanted to be by himself. He let out a sigh and looked at the piece of paper on his desk. The note that Midoriya gave him. On the edge of the note, something was taped to the edge of the paper.

He let out a sigh, and began to read over the note:

"I know that All Might would not be happy if I did what I was about to do, but I have no real choice. Not anymore. I committed a crime so heinous that I do not deserve this gift. I murdered someone, and because of that, I no longer deserve this power I now have. The only other person on this island that can handle the power of One For All, is, unfortunately, you, Shigaraki. You're the only person here who can handle its strain.

I tapped a strand of hair onto this letter. When you decide to eat the piece of hair is whenever you decide to. Eating it will transfer the Quirk. Don't ask me why it works like that, but it just does. Hopefully, this note wasn't useless, and I was convicted of my crimes. I don't know if I'll fight back against the truth, but if I do, then that just goes to show just how much of a coward I truly am if I cannot accept the weight of my actions.

I'm sorry it's come to this. But please, keep the promise I make to you at the end of the Camp Trial.

-Sincerely, Midoriya Izuku.

Shigaraki blinked a couple of times after reading the letter. One For All? Eating hair? Was this some sort of joke? "No, Midoriya wouldn't waste my time like this. It's probably the truth. I guess I'll just have to keep that in mind in case things get dicey…." Shigaraki muttered, tucking the note into his dresser.

He looked towards his bathroom, smelt underneath his armpit, recoiled, then shuttered. "Alright, Tomura, you stink. Take a shower," the man muttered to himself, standing up and grabbing a clean pair of clothes, Tomura walked into the shower room, locked the door behind him, and began to take a well-deserved shower.

After he finished cleaning himself, he turned off the showerhead, dried off, brushed his hair so that it didn't look like a rat's fur coat after a rainstorm, got dressed in a clean pair of clothes, then stepped back into the main part of his cabin. He put his dirty laundry into the laundry shoot, then sat back down on his bed.

He looked at himself in the reflection of his Monopad, and realized just how skinny he now looked—not that he wasn't skinny before, but now he was way skinner.

"Damn… I'm really neglecting my needs, aren't I?" Shigaraki thought, poking at his cheeks, which looked a little more caved in than usual. "Shit… this isn't healthy. I need to get something in my system, otherwise, I'm gonna look more like a skeleton…." Shigaraki stated before glancing at the time.

Apparently, he had spent an hour in the shower, as it was now 6:00 PM. "Crap… I better go now, just you know, maybe so I don't have to worry about anyone else bothering me," Shigaraki muttered, walking towards the front door of his cabin, opening the door, then stepping outside….

[Play: Mr. Monokuma's Lesson V3]

…Only to be met by Monokuma, standing in front of his doorway.

"Hello, Mr. Shimura~!" Monokuma taunted as Shigaraki took in a deep breath, controlling his anger so he did not punch the bear square in the face.

"What. Do. You. Want." The teal-haired man growled out, glaring at the bear.

"Well~! Just so that you don't forget, you forgot to find my action figures last time you had free time!" Monokuma said, bringing out his claws on his black paw. "I am NOT happy!"

"Well, it's not my fault that I don't care. Last time I checked it wasn't a rule," Shigaraki spat back as Monokuma looked down at the floor, faux sadness rolling off of the bear.

"Oh… you're right. And it's not like I can make it a rule either. Damn. You suck, Mr. Shimura. But don't worry, I plan to get payback. Oh yes sir I do! Well, Bearwell!"

[Play: Beautiful Death]

"Well… that was certainly… interesting," Shigaraki thought, a bit of sweat coming down from his forehead. "But what did he mean by 'I plan to get payback…' that's not very reassuring," Shigaraki muttered, leaving the campsite and heading towards the cafeteria.

Upon getting to the Cafeteria and entering the main hall, he was met with Ruby eating a bowl of soup. As soon as the girl made eye contact with him, she smiled, slurping back the noodles in her mouth and waving to him. "Heya, Tomura!" Ruby said.

"Sup," the teal-haired man replied, stepping towards the kitchen.

"Nothing, really. Uh, just so you know, I kinda made a mess in there. So watch your step, hehe," Ruby said, a small, embarrassed blush on her cheeks as Shigaraki rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, okay," Shigaraki muttered, entering the Kitchen, only to be met with water on the floor, and even some noodle flavouring mixed in. "Okay… that's a yikes from me," Shigaraki muttered, grabbing a nearby towel and throwing it on the floor. Using his foot, he wiped up the mess, then put the towel in the garbage, seeing as it had been ruined by soaking up too much water and noodle flavouring.

Opening the fridge at the end of the kitchen, Shigaraki grabbed some pre-cut, pre-cooked meat, some bread, some cheese, and a freshly cut tomato. Closing the fridge and opening up the new loaf of bread, Shigaraki grabbed a bread knife, but two slices of bread off of the loaf twisted the knot back on the bag the loaf of bread came with, put the bread back in the fridge, put the bread knife in the sink, then assembled his sandwich.

Grabbing a small plate and placing the sandwich on said plate, Shigaraki walked back into the cafeteria's dining room and sat across from Ruby.

"Oh? What kind of sandwich is that?" Ruby asked as Shigaraki took a bite out of it. After swallowing, he took to answering Ruby's question.

"A ham, cheese, and tomato sandwich," Shigaraki answered as Ruby cringed.

"A poor man's BLT. Yeesh, did you really not want to cook or something?" Ruby asked as Shigaraki shook his head.

"I can't cook to save my life," Shigaraki replied as Ruby scoffed.

"Yeah, neither can I, and I at least try to cook. Have you ever heard of the saying: Don't knock it till you try it?" Ruby said, smiling.

"…the last time I cooked anything, outside of when Deliah helped me make pancakes and you with those cookies, I nearly burnt down my house," Shigaraki retorted, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Er… well, you can still try, can't you?" Ruby asked as Shigaraki took another bite out of his sandwich and shrugged. Swallowing again, Shigaraki put his sandwich down on his plate and sighed.

"I mean, I guess. How about this. Wake me up an hour before everyone else, and you and I can help with making breakfast. I mean, how hard could that be?" Shigaraki suggested as Ruby's eyes seemed to somehow sparkle with excitement.

"OH! That sounds like a great idea!" Ruby said, picking up her empty bowl. "Well, I'll see you later then, I'm just gonna put this in the sink then leave, have a nice rest of your meal!" And with that, Ruby entered the kitchen, did as she said she would, then left.

Shigaraki simply chuckled to himself, eating the rest of his sandwich in silence, taking his plate into the kitchen, then huffed. "I might as well do the dishes, seeing as no one else is going to," Shigaraki said, turning on the kitchen sink and grabbing a sponge and dish soap. After what seemed like two hours of doing everyone's dishes, he looked up at the clock and frowned, placing the last plate on the drying rack.

"Damn… it's already 8:00 PM? Seriously?" Shigaraki moaned, yawning. "Two hours until the nighttime announcement. Damn. I think this is my first time staying up this close to that bear's automated message…." Shigaraki continued, yawning again. "Damn, even though I got a lot of sleep last night, I'm really tired. I'm probably going to clock in for the night."

And with that, Shigaraki left the cafeteria and headed straight for his cabin to get a well-deserved rest. After all, he had an extra busy morning when he woke up—he had breakfast to make with Ruby, and considering that she was more of a morning person than he was, he was going to need all the rest he could get….

[MONOKUMA THEATER: PLAY: Mr. Monokuma's Lesson V3]

Can you believe the nerve of some people? You probably don't know what I mean. So, allow me to explain: if you read the tags of some fanfic or another Fanganronpa you stumble across, and you don't see a character that you like from a series you like, that doesn't give you the right to write a nasty review or comment or privately message that author about how the story is bad, or send death threats, or harass them! Not even I, Monokuma, would do something like that! And I'm not exactly the nicest of bears.

Oh well, I guess that there are just some people out there who are worse than little ol' me. Puhuhuhu~!

[End of Monokuma Theater –Play: Beautiful Death]

[Day 7]

Shigaraki awoke to the sound of knocking at his front door. Rapid, fast-paced knocking. The teal-haired man groaned, sitting up before looking at the time. It was 5:30 AM. "Ugh, what could someone want this early in the morning?" Shigaraki thought, pushing the covers off of him.

He had taken his shirt off, seeing as it got hot within the cabins, revealing his bare chest and abs. What? A villain had to work out to keep getting away with the crimes one pulled off. Though, to be fair, what was once a six-pack was now a simple four square, seeing as he hadn't kept up his routine. That, and his arm muscles had deflated from, once again, a lack of working out. But still, he was a relatively fit person.

Brushing back his shaggy teal hair, Shigaraki went to grab the door handle, only for it to crack."Right, place a pinky, turn it to dust. I need to remember that I'm not wearing that specialized shirt." Shigaraki thought, lifting his pinky so he didn't damage the door handle anymore.

Turning the handle and opening the door, he was met with Ruby, who was still knocking, now doing so on his chest, only for her to stop with wide eyes, and a small patch of red to appear on her cheeks. "O-Oh! Tomura! Uh… you didn't forget, did you?" Ruby asked as Shigaraki rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

Ruby was wearing her usual outfit, though there was a lack of a cape and hood. "Don't you usually have a hood on the back of that?" Shigaraki asked, yawning as Ruby rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"U-Uh… I might have put it in the laundry… and I don't have any more replicas… so I have to wait for them all to be done and for Monokuma to return them after the morning announcement…." Ruby admitted, looking away, embarrassed.

"Uh-huh… hold on, let me get a shirt on, then we can actually get started on making breakfast," Shigaraki said as Ruby nodded.

"Got it! I'll meet you there!"

And with that, Shigaraki closed the door, walked over to the floor and picked up the shirt he had taken off before getting into bed. It was relatively clean, so there wasn't much of a point in wasting a perfectly good shirt. He grabbed the brush on his dresser and brushed his hair—he had horrible bedhead—and after he was done making himself look presentable, he made his way out towards the cafeteria to help Ruby with making breakfast.

Entering the kitchen, he saw Ruby getting busy with making pancake batter. "Come on, Shiggy! We got some work to do! Natsuki's going to be here in an hour to make breakfast, so I want to make sure we get most of it done before she does!" Ruby said, wiping some batter off of her forehead.

Shigaraki smirked, grabbing one of the aprons hanging off of the rack and putting it on, grabbing a hair net, and getting to work.

Over the course of an hour and a half, they were able to make three plates of pancakes, 12 pancakes high, 14 bowls of Miso Tofu Soup, 28 over-easy and sunny-side-up eggs, 56 breakfast sausages, and a full sheet of cookies.

"Phew, that was a lot of work… and we didn't burn a single thing!" Ruby said, smiling as Shigaraki wiped the sweat off of his forehead.

"Yeah… also who knew that this place would heat up like an oven from all the cooking…." Shigaraki muttered as Ruby giggled.

"Yeah, but I mean, constantly having the oven on and frying things does add heat to the room, doesn't it?" Ruby said, her smile widening.

And then…

*DING-DONG-BING-BONG!*

"A-hem, this is a Mono-Mono Camp special announcement! It is now 7:00 AM! You know what that means~! It's time to RISE AND SHINE! Stretch those legs and run around! Make sure you give it your all! Who knows? Today just might be your last!"

The morning announcement played, and when it did, Shigaraki and Ruby brought the last plate of sausages. When they entered the main dining room, Natsuki stood at the doorway to the cafeteria, eyes wide and jaw open.

"D-Did you guys…?" Natsuki stammered, looking at both Ruby and Tomura with wide eyes.

"Yup. We wanted to get it out of the way so that you didn't have to work all the time for us… sorry if we took away your fun…" Ruby said as Shigaraki placed the plate of sausages down in front of him at the table.

Natsuki shook her head, closed her mouth and blinked before smirking.

"Ha! Are you kidding me? I don't mind at all! Thank you, seriously, that put a lot of weight off my shoulders this morning!" Natsuki said, smiling with a thumbs up.

"No problem, Hazamada-san," Shigaraki responded as Natsuki rolled her eyes.

"Natsuki's fine, no need to be formal, Tomura," Natsuki replied as Deliah walked into the cafeteria.

"Oh. My. God! Wait, did Ruby and Shigaraki do this?!" Deliah asked as Jaune rubbed the back of his head.

"I was actually kinda worried when Ruby didn't answer her door. I didn't know you woke up early," Jaune said as Ruby giggled.

"Well, it was a surprise. Tomura and I got up extra early to do this stuff you all, and besides, I wanted to get his anti-social butt up and talking so he didn't scare us like yesterday," Ruby said as Tomura chuckled to himself.

"I knew there was an ulterior motive to this. Oh well, it was harmless. Besides, I'm feeling a bit more rested than I was before. Maybe… maybe I can actually get to know these people some more. Maybe I don't have to hide away like I normally do. I can just be… myself."

"Ah, I see," Shigaraki said, looking over to Monika, who simply nodded, as if to say 'thank you.'

"Thanks, Ruby, Thanks Tomura, that was really sweet of you guys," Velma said, looking at the two. "Although, I have to ask, what time did you guys wake up?"

"5:30 AM," the pair said in sync as Max scoffed.

"Jesus. I know that old saying: The early bird gets the worm or some shit, but damn. I'd rather choke on dirt than get up that early. Even 7:30 AM is too early for me," Max said, taking a seat and a paper plate from the stack on the table.

As the group of 14 people began to take food from the table and have their breakfast, Shigaraki couldn't help but feel a bit of hope bolster in his heart. Things were getting better. That was all that mattered. But even so… Shigaraki couldn't help but feel as if something bad was going to happen.

He thought back to what Monokuma had said. That he was going to get payback, somehow.

"Why can't I shake the feeling that something is going to happen to disrupt the peace? Monokuma doesn't seem like a very patient person. There's no way he would let us be for 3 days and not throw something at us," Shigaraki thought, glancing up at the time.

It had been an hour since they started breakfast, and now people were starting to clean up and throw out their paper plates. A good portion of the food was finished. The majority of the people had already left after disposing of their garbage. The only ones remaining were Monika, Natsuki, Harry and Deliah, who were putting the rest away in some Tupperware so that it could be saved for later, and Shigaraki, who had decided to hang back to keep the group of four company.

Originally, he was going to help them put stuff away, but Monika insisted that he step back for a bit and take a break, considering he cooked all the food with Ruby. In response, he did as he was told, seeing as he found arguing with the poet to be a dumb idea.

She seemed to be more of a leader than a poet, though. Perhaps there was a reason for that? He'd have to find out at some point. Maybe when he got the chance to talk to her? "I'll ask her once I have some more free time, and if she isn't busy, of course,' Shigaraki thought, watching Monika exit the kitchen with another Tupperware box.

Monika walked up to the last remaining eggs and put them into the container, smiled, then closed the lid. "That should be the last of it," Monika said, walking towards the kitchen door. "I'm going to put the last of this in the fridge, then we should all find something to—"

[Stop OST]

*Ding-Dong-Bing-Bong*

The familiar bell echoed inside the cafeteria, and as soon as it did, Natsuki, Deliah, Harry, Monika, and Shigaraki stopped whatever it was they were doing, and looked up at the Monitor just above the doorway.

'And I jinxed it… fuck…'

The bear's repulsive image came up on the monitor as he held a martini in one paw, and a vine of grapes in the other. His sick smirk was on the broadcast for all to see as he cleared his throat.

"A-hem! Greetings everyone! I hope you've had a despairingly amazing morning! But, I must ask for the remaining 14 of you to come to the bonfire! I have a special announcement waiting for you all! Don't keep me waiting, puhuhuhu~!"

[Despair Syndrome (2)]

"O-Oh no…" Deliah muttered, grabbing her left wrist with her right hand and looking down at the floor as she did so. "That can't be good…."

"You guys don't think…?" Harry left the question ambiguous, but everyone knew exactly what it was he was asking.

'You guys don't think that he has another motive for us, right?' Shigaraki thought bitterly, balling his hand up into a fist. "Well, we better not keep him waiting. Who knows what he's going to do if any of us are late," Shigaraki said, standing up from his spot on the bench.

"But—" before Deliah could say anything more, Monika spoke up, interrupting her in the process.

"He's right. As much as I don't want to know what Monokuma wants, it would be a bad idea to just ignore him," Monika said, worry on her face as Natsuki sighed.

"Y-Yeah… I don't like it either, but the quicker we get this out of the way, the better it'll be for us," the fuchsia-haired teen said, walking over to the door. Everyone else in the room quickly followed suit and made their way to the bonfire.

Upon arriving, everyone else was standing there, a few looks of concern and a few looks of anger were speckled around the circle as Neil spoke up first.

"T-This better not be what I think it is. It's too early for this crap to be happening again," Neil stammered, swallowing back fear.

"Yeah, there's no way this is happening again!" Nikki parroted, only to tilt her head. "Uh… what's happening again?" The young girl asked as Max facepalmed.

"You're such an airhead, Nikki. Think about it a little bit, then you can talk again," the ravenette said, crossing his arms.

"Oh! Okay…." Nikki cupped her chin, then her eyes widened with concern. "Oh… is… is he going to give us another one of those… er, what are they called again?"

"Motives," Dio spat with disdain in his voice. "And just when things were starting to get good, too…."

"I know, right!"

And then, he appeared.

[Mr. Monokuma's lesson V3]

"YOU!" Ruby shouted, pointing at him accusingly. "What do you want with us now, huh!" Ruby spat, glaring at him. Shigaraki recoiled at the sudden hostility. He had never seen Ruby act like that before. Not to mention the anger on her face. It was a sight to behold.

"Yeesh! Did you grow a backbone? Seriously? And here I thought you'd remain that meek, timid little huntress like you have been since that place got destroyed, puhuhuhu~!" Monokuma said, covering his mouth with both his paws as he laughed.

"H-Huh?" Ruby stammered, backing away. "H-How did you—"

"Save it, little red riding hood!" Monokuma snapped, his claws out and his eye glowing red. "I know more about you than you know about yourself. So don't you dare talk out of line again, got it?!" Monokuma snarled as Ruby let out a little 'eep' in response. "Ah… back to the status quo. I feel better now."

"What do you want, Monokuma. Haven't you ruined our lives enough? We've already lost two friends, and I'll be damned if we lose more," Velma spat, glaring at the bear as he tilted his head.

"Friends? Who said you guys were friends? You've only known each other for 6 days, and one of them has already betrayed you long before Izuku died!" Monokuma said, earning confused ramblings from everyone in the crowd.

"W-What do you mean?" Erina asked, looking at Monokuma with a worried expression.

"Oh? Didn't I tell you before?"

[Play: Mr. Monokuma After Class V3]

Monokuma's arms spread out, almost as if he was engulfing us in his presence. His eye somehow glowed brighter than it had before, and the sharp side of his mouth even glowed, as if he was about to spew fire out of his mouth. And with a more sinister tone of voice, he spoke.

"Amongst you, right now, lurks a traitor."

Everyone froze, faces pale at the revelation, and fear rampant.

"A-a traitor?!" Deliah sputtered as Dio glared at Monokuma with a nasty look.

"A backstabber, you say? Prove it. How the hell could there be a traitor if none of us knew where we were?" Dio spat, teeth bare and anger visible on his face.

"Oh? And who's to say that one of you isn't lying about their knowledge? Huh? You don't know if anyone around you can be trusted. Someone amongst you is a no-good, filthy spy working with little ol' me!" Monokuma said, cackling.

"So. Is that your motive? That there's a traitor among us?" Harry said, calming his nerves. "Because if that's all you got, then you're wasting our time," the gamer said as Max scoffed.

"Yeah. I had a feeling someone here was up to no good anyway. You're gonna have to try harder than that," Max said, crossing his arms.

"Oh? Who said that was the motive? I was simply just saying that to get your suspicions up! You all have been way too chummy lately, so I wanted to break that up! This way, the motive can work as planned!" Monokuma said, drawing out what appeared to be letters with everyone's names written on them. As soon as he had them, he passed them out to everyone, of which they all had confused expressions on their faces.

"W-What is this?" Jaune muttered, looking at the envelope worriedly.

"Yeah, like, what are these, man?" Shaggy said, holding the envelope in front of him with one hand.

"Well~! I'm so glad you asked! Inside these letters… are your deepest, darkest, most hidden secrets!" Monokuma said as everyone's faces contorted into one of shock. Several people began to open up their letters and read the contents and were mortified with what they saw.

"W-Wha—how did you—?" Natsuki stammered, a shade of green appearing on her cheeks, almost as if she was about to vomit.

"What the—there's no way!" Harry nearly shouted, almost dropping the letter.

"No… that can't be…!" Erina squealed.

Reactions like that all echoed around the bonfire as Shigaraki opened his letter, and frowned upon seeing what was inside.

Tomura Shigaraki is not The Ultimate Criminal Mastermind's real name! His real name is Tenko Shimura! Tomura Shigaraki is a fake name given to him by his adopted father to make him feel more in line with everyone else, and to wash away his guilt for murdering his entire family!

"Why can't we just destroy these?" Neil said, scrunching up the piece of paper.

"Oh, do whatever you want with those! I have plenty of spares that I can read out whenever I want! In fact, if you want to keep those secrets all to yourselves, someone is going to have to take away yet another campers life! Oh, and to make it all the sweeter, you have 48 hours to do the deed, or else I'll air out your dirty laundry for not only all of the camp to hear, but for the whole world to hear!" Monokuma said, his voice turning more sinister the more he talked.

"Y-You can't—"

"Save it!" Monokuma interrupted Ruby again, only for her to cower in fear once again. "Jeez, what is it with you hero types, always saying 'you can't do that, I won't let you,' or 'I'll stop you once and for all!' It's all so cliché!" Monokuma said, waving his black paw in the air. "Anyways. 48 hours starts now! You know what has to be done if you don't anyone to find out about your secrets! Bye now!"

And with that Monokuma left everyone alone. 'Not only was there a traitor in our group, but if someone didn't die in 48 hours, then everyone's secrets will be voiced to the entire world. I mean, my secret isn't that bad, but I can't even begin to imagine what everyone else's secret is….' Shigaraki thought, looking at everyone who stood within the circle.

[Play: Trapped by the Ocean Scent]

"Hmph. He's going to have to try a lot harder than that to get any of us to kill… right guys?" Ruby said. Her confidence seemed to return once Monokuma left. Although, no one responded to her. "…guys?" Ruby sounded a little bit warier when no one responded. Eventually, though, Monika spoke up.

"She's right. We can't let Monokuma break us this time. While the traitor in our group is a far bigger concern than these secrets, I—"

"Speak for yourself!" Natsuki snapped. "I don't want my secrets being spoken out loud, fuck that!" the pink-haired teen spat as Monika glared at her.

"Then are you saying you're going to kill?" Monika's voice began dangerous all of a sudden, and when that happened, Natsuki shrunk into herself.

"I-I… of course not! I saw what happened to Izuku, too. I don't want to die like that. But I know one of you dumbasses will. And if that's the case, you can count me the fuck out! Later, losers," Natsuki spat, walking away from the circle as Monika sighed.

"I'll talk to her. You guys go find something to do," Monika said, following after Natsuki.

"S-So… that's it? Right? We just have to wait out 48 hours, and no one will die? Right?" Nikki was the one to speak up next as Max put his hands in his pockets.

"I made a mistake the last time this shit happened. I won't make it again. You can count on my word. But I think I'm going to follow in Natsuki's footsteps. Don't go looking for me…. Oh, and Tomura, I want to speak to you, just not now. I slip a letter under your door when I want to. But right now…. I just want to be left alone," Max said, putting his hood on over his head and walking away.

Nikki and Neil went in their separate ways without a word. Dio and Erina went in the direction of the new location, same with Shaggy and Velma. That left only Harry, Deliah, Ruby, Jaune, and Shigaraki alone at the bonfire.

Silence overtook the area as glances were given out to those in the circle. Until…

[Play: Nightmare in a locker]

"So… uh… should we just stick together, or should we…? I don't know. Go our separate ways?" Jaune asked, looking at everyone, anticipating an answer.

"We all know what will happen if any of us are left alone while a motive is active. I think it would be safer if we stuck together," Harry said as Deliah nodded.

"Yeah. Staying together would be a better option," the brunette said as Shigaraki sighed.

"I…." Shigaraki started, looking down at the piece of paper in his hand. "I'd rather just be by myself," Shigaraki muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"B-but—"

"No buts. I want to be alone. Besides, I can handle myself. The only person here who really poses a threat to me is Shaggy, and I doubt he has an ounce of harmful blood in him. Besides, this is a bunch of nonsense," Shigaraki interrupted Ruby before turning away and heading towards the beach.

"Now, if you excuse me, I need some time to think. And Ruby?" Shigaraki started, looking over his shoulder at the silver-eyed girl.

"Y-yeah?" Ruby asked.

"Watch over those two, please? I don't want anything happening to them," Shigaraki stated, glancing over to Deliah and Harry. Ruby followed his line of sight, then nodded.

"Sure thing!" and with that, Shigaraki went his own way, walking towards the beach. At least there he knew he could be by himself, and there, he could think clearly.

.

.

.

.

.

[Location – Unknown, time – 7 days in the past. Play: REAL/FICTION]

"I see, I see… this is very interesting. You want to help me?" A person marked in nothing but shadows asked as another mysterious figure stood before them.

"Yeah. But only if you keep your end of the bargain. I don't want my friends hurt. They mean more to me than anyone else in the world," the mysterious person said as the Shadow figure snickered to themselves.

"Hmm… alright then. But just remember, if you kill someone, I won't hesitate to enforce the rules. After all, I can't out you as the traitor, but I can make sure the rules are enforced. The motives affect you equally, as well. However, I won't break my promise. Your friends won't be harmed. Got it?" The Shadow figure said, folding their arms.

"I understand…."The mysterious person said, looking away, shame on their face.

"Alright! Your job is simple, then. All you have to do is spread distrust and despair within the group in any way you possibly can. It can be subtle, or it can be obvious. Hell, you can even pick on certain people if you want. And if you have to, you can even kill someone. But only do that if feel like things has gotten too mushy. It's the last resort. After all, I would hate to lose my helper so early in the Killing Game," The Shadow Figure said, smirking.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Can I go now?" The mysterious person asked as The Shadow Figure waved them away.

"Yup! I'll have Monokuma take you there soon. Sleep tight, my little helper~ Puhuhuhuhu~!" The Shadow Figure said, putting on a gas mask as a pink substance filled the room.

"H-Hey! I-I thought we… had… a deal…." And then, the mysterious person went limp. Soon, the person began to snore, and The Shadow Figure took off the gas mask.

"Puhuhuhu. Oh, you poor, naïve child. You thought I was going to spare you from being put in that camp even if you helped me? What would the point in that be?" The Shadow Figure said, snapping their fingers. As soon as they did, Monokuma popped into the room, grabbed the person, then left. "Now… I think it's time to get this game started. After all, once it does, I can have some real fun. No one would ever expect it."

As the Shadow Figure sat alone in their room, surrounded by several monitors, they watched as The Traitor among the group was placed within the main area of the camp. Once they were, the figure pressed the button to begin the game.

Slowly but surely, everyone began to wake up.

"Let the Killing Game, commence… AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

[Present Day – Location: Beach. Play: Beautiful Lie]

It had been a few hours since the motive was announced. Shigaraki sat on one of the beach chairs, overlooking the ocean as he held the piece of paper in his hands. He took in a deep breath and sighed. "I can't just sit here for hours on end and do nothing. I have to find something to do…" Shigaraki muttered, fishing out his Monopad.

When he looked at the time, his eyes widened. "Shit, it's already 4:30 PM?! How the hell did that happen!" The man said with alarm. "Damn… I guess I really did just let time pass. Whatever, I should probably go somewhere, do something. Maybe I'll play some more arcade games. I got nothing else better to do," Shigaraki said, getting up from the beach chair and stretching out his back and arms.

Leaving the beach, Shigaraki walked to the cabin area, trying to spot someone, anyone to talk to, but, once again, found no one. "Damn… are they all at the park? I mean, I guess it's a safe zone, but…" Shigaraki muttered, sighing. "Should I even bother? I mean, everyone's pretty tense right now as it is."

"Oi, Tomura," the voice of Max caught the man's attention, causing him to turn around. Max was standing by the center fountain, sitting on the edge of it. "C'mere, I want to talk with you. Since everyone's at the park, I wanted to speak to you alone," Max said, putting his hood down.

Shigaraki shrugged, figuring that it didn't matter all too much. The teal-haired man approached the boy and sat next to him. "So, what's up?" Shigaraki asked as Max scoffed.

"Well, you could be a bit more subtle about it. Bah, whatever," the ravenette shrugged off, sighing. "I wanted to know… who do you think is the traitor?"

At that sudden question, Shigaraki raised an eyebrow. "Who do I think is the traitor?"

"Yeah. I can tell that was what was on your mind before I left. It was on everyone's. So, I want to know who you think it is," Max said as Shigaraki scratched the back of his head.

"I… I haven't really thought about it. But I have my suspicions," Shigaraki said, glancing over to Max as the boy crossed his arms.

"…and?"

"I'm not going to tell you," Shigaraki said flatly, causing Max to scowl.

"Seriously? Why not?" Max asked as Shigaraki shook his head.

"Do you think I'm stupid? I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to get a common consensus and use that poison on the person whose name gets said the most, right?" Shigaraki said, narrowing his eyes at the boy, who recoiled.

"I—!"

"C'mon, Max. I know people like you. Hell, I used to be like you. I get it, you're worried about yourself and you want to make sure that the traitor is dead. But you don't know the circumstances that they were in. The Mastermind behind all of this most likely devised some sort of scheme to make them betray us. For all we know, they could be in a worse situation than we are, okay?" Shigaraki continued as Max glared at Shigaraki.

"You don't know that! For all we know, they could be the Mastermind's, right-hand man!" Max snarled as Shigaraki shrugged.

"You're right, they could be. But I know you tend to rush into things. You know, like Daphne?" Shigaraki said as Max looked away.

"Low blow, asshole," Max snarked as Shigaraki scoffed.

"Yeah, well, maybe that will get you to think. Because if someone does die due to poisoning, I'm going to be all over you, Max, and don't forget it," Shigaraki said, standing up. "I'm watching you, so don't do anything stupid, go it?" Shigaraki stated, stuffing his hands into his pockets and walking away from the blue hoodie-wearing boy.

"Max is a bit of a stubborn asshole, but he has a point. However, at the same time, until we know the truth behind the matter, and until we know for sure who the traitor is, we can't kill whoever we suspect the most. Because at the end of the day, we don't know if we'll be sacrificing someone who was innocent or who was roped into it the ordeal," Shigaraki thought, frowning.

As the teal-haired man left the main campsite, he stared down at the unlit bonfire. And when he saw it, he had an idea. "If the others are still at the park, then maybe… yeah, I know exactly what can lift our spirits."

And with that, Shigaraki ran off to the park. Upon arriving, he glanced at his monopad, just to make sure he had some time to talk to everyone before the park closed. "5:10, I have 20 minutes. That's all I'll need.'

Shigaraki stepped into the park and noticed that everyone was hanging around the statue, though they were spread out. "Oi!" Shigaraki called out, catching everyone's attention.

"Huh? Oh, what's up, Tomura?" Jaune asked as the teal-haired man smirked.

"Well, I had a bit of an idea, you know, to get everyone's spirits up, especially after the motive announcement."

"Oh? Well then, let's hear it. I've been waiting for someone to come up with something. This mood is so dreadful," Erina said, smiling half-heartedly.

"I was thinking… perhaps we could all meet up at the bonfire and, well, have a bonfire," Shigaraki said as Monika spoke up.

"Oh! So you mean a party?" The poet suggested as Deliah smiled.

"A party? Are we sure, though? Wouldn't Monokuma try and stop us?" Deliah asked as Harry shrugged.

"Well, I don't see why he would. I mean, think about it, all he wants is for us to kill each other. I'm not saying one of us will die at the party, but isn't it like, a cliché that someone dies at a party? So long as he sees it like that, we should be fine," Harry stated as Ruby rubbed the back of her neck.

"I don't know… when would he have this party?" Ruby asked as Shigaraki hummed.

"What about… Tomorrow, 4:30 PM? The sun begins to set at those times, and we can't exactly have a bonfire in the middle of the day," Shigaraki said as Natsuki nodded.

"Then it's settled. We'll have the bonfire at 4:30 PM, tomorrow night. Now, what about—"

But just before Natsuki could continue…

[Play: Mr. Monokuma After class V3]

"HOLD IT!" Monokuma showed up out of nowhere, catching almost everyone off guard.

"Gah! Where did you come from!" Nikki shouted, jumping back in confusion.

"Ah! Didn't you know? I'm magical! I can come out of anywhere, anytime, and anyplace!" Monokuma said his usual ear-grating voice ever-present as Dio scoffed.

"Whatever. What did you want, you annoying, despair-crazed bear," Dio spat as Monokuma growled.

"Well, you guys are in the park past the time limit allowed! Usually, I'd punish you all, but since pretty much all of you are here, you guy's get a free pass. But don't think it'll happen again! Now, GET OUT!" And with a mighty roar, Monokuma seemingly grew in size with massive muscles.

"I'M GOING TO STOMP YOU ALL FLAT IF YOU DON'T GET OUT!" Monokuma's voice became twice as deep as usual, and when it did, everyone began to run as fast as they could.

"RUN! MONOKUMA'S TURNED INTO A TITAN!" Ruby shouted, running ahead of everyone else.

"H-Hey! Don't leave us in the dirt!" Neil cried as Nikki dragged him behind her.

"Come on slowpoke! We gotta get out of here!"

Once everyone made it out of the park, the gates closed behind them. Leaving the massive Monokuma stuck behind the gates, and the exhausted group of 13 people catching their breaths.

[Play: Beautiful Death]

"Holy… crap… that was… insane!" Harry said, catching his breath as Deliah used him as a support.

"You're not… kidding!" The brunette said as Monika sucked in some air.

"Well… at least on the bright side. No one got flattened, so that's a plus," Monika replied as Shigaraki cleared his throat.

"Agreed…."

"Alright, so," Dio started, collecting himself. "We'll all meet at the bonfire by 3:50 PM, and if someone doesn't show up, then what? Do we assume they're not coming?" Dio asked.

"No. I think we should have a group of three people go looking for them unless someone can vouch that they're busy," Velma stated as Shaggy raised an eyebrow.

"Why only three?" Shaggy asked as Velma grimaced. That one expression was enough for anyone to catch the hint, and as a result, everyone went silent.

"Right…." Deliah muttered, looking away.

"Wait, I just realized something. Where's Max? He wasn't with us at the park," Neil stated as Shigaraki waved him off.

"He's at the cabins. I ran into him earlier. We talked for a bit, though I think someone should keep an eye on him. He's getting antsy about the traitor," Shigaraki said as Nikki smiled.

"Don't worry, Neil and I can watch'em," the blue-haired girl said as Neil nodded.

"Y-Yeah. We won't let a repeat of what happened with Daphne happen again," the scientist said, a confident expression on his face.

"Good. That's once less problem we have to deal with," Jaune commented as Ruby hummed.

"Still. It's a bit concerning. Didn't Daphne die because of a misconception as well? Sure, Max started it and Izuku finished it, but I think I can sense a pattern starting to form. Maybe we should make sure Max doesn't come to the party, just in case he starts something with someone else," Ruby said, crossing her arms.

"You do have a point. That little shit tends to get a little in over his head. At least from what I've seen of the brat," Natsuki said, scowling.

"I'll watch over him," Dio said, stepping up. "As much as I want to go to this party, I feel like everyone else's safety is more important. Plus, I know a thing or two about self-defence. So if he tries anything with me, I'll teach him a lesson he won't ever forget," the blond-haired boy said as Erina smiled.

"Awe, that's sweet of you, Dio. I think Jojo is rubbing off on you," Erina said as Dio scoffed.

"That blue-haired twit isn't 'rubbing off' on me in the slightest. I just have a better sense of self-preservation," Dio said, looking away.

"Let's all meet up tomorrow. Right now, I'm tired. I just want to get some sleep. Especially after today. Monokuma really knows how to lessen a mood, doesn't he?" Harry said, yawning.

"Alright, let's head out. Remember, we meet up once in the mornings at 7:30 AM, and again at 3:50 PM for the party. Everyone, please be safe. Especially with all the tension in the air because of the motive," Monika said as everyone let out an affirmative grunt, yes, or okay, and headed for the cabins.

When Shigaraki entered his own, he sighed, staring up at the ceiling. "At least no one died as a result of the motive this time around. At least, so far. I don't know if this will continue, but maybe, just maybe, everyone will make it out of this motive alive. I hope so…."

And with that final thought of the day, Shigaraki laid down on his bed, turned out his light, and got some shut-eye. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting endeavour.

[MONOKUMA THEATER – Play: Mr. Monokuma's lesson V3]

You know. I would like to bet you guys something. How many of you skipped down to this part because you didn't want to read all of that 'boring filler' huh? If you're one of these people—SHAME ON YOU! How can a character's death impact you if you don't even know them? What's even the point of reading a Fanganronpa if you're just going to skim over the chapter just to get to the juicy details!

Alas, I guess it's partly people's lack of attention span. Most people can't even sit through a good movie anymore without getting up to use the bathroom, or playing on their phones! Damn you Tiktok and Youtube Shorts! Damn you!

But! If you're one of the people who has read this entire way, then, from the bottom of my bear heart… Thank you so much for reading Ultimate Danganronpa – Crossover Mania!

[MONOKUMA THEATER OVER – Play: Beautiful Morning]

[Day 8]

*DING-DONG-BING-BONG*

"A-hem, this is a Mono-Mono Camp special announcement! It is now 7:00 AM! You know what that means~! It's time to RISE AND SHINE! Stretch those legs and run around! Make sure you give it your all! Who knows? Today just might be your last!"

Shigaraki let out an annoyed groan. He had to get up, not because he wanted to, but because he was obligated to. The day before yesterday was a shit show because of him, and while he made it up to them by making breakfast in the morning, the last thing he wanted to do was have a repeat of it. So, with that in mind, he flipped the covers off of himself, got out of bed, had a shower, got dressed into some clean clothes, then made his way toward the cafeteria.

By the time he made it to the building, everyone was already there, and when he walked through the door, Monika smiled. "Good morning, Tomura, so glad for you to join us today," the off orange-haired teen said, her hands put together in an overly friendly manner. "While you were late by 15 minutes, I suppose you have a good reason?"

"Yeah. I was taking a shower so I didn't smell like a garbage dump," the teal-haired man replied as Monika nodded.

"Fair enough. Alright, now, I want to know where everyone is going to be before 3:50 PM, alright?" Monika asked as Max rolled his eyes.

"Well, I won't be going to that stupid party. I have no intention of getting to know more people, just so someone can die again," Max spat, crossing his arms.

"Alright, who told him?" Shaggy barked as Nikki attempted to hide in her chair.

"Hehe… sorry about that," Nikki apologized.

"As I said, I have no intention of showing up. I'm just gonna be in my cabin all day anyway. Once this stupid meeting is over, this will be the last you shmucks ever see of me till the motive has passed," Max said, huffing.

"Alright, at least we all know where Max is going to be," Jaune said. "As for myself, I'm going to be in the park for a bit, probably until 2:30 PM, then I'm going to go to my cabin to have some me time."

"I'm probably going to do the same," Deliah said, groggily.

"You okay, Dels?" Harry asked as the brunette half-heartedly smiled.

"Oh, me? I'm fine. I just got little to no sleep last night. I was a bit too excited for the party to actually get some rest," Deliah admitted sheepishly.

"What about everyone else?" Monika asked, looking around the room.

"You don't need to know where all of us will be. It's not prudent you know in the first place. Just know that we will be around," Dio stated, crossing his arms. "besides, I haven't decided what I'm going to do today."

"While you are right, for everyone's safety—"

"Monika put a sock in it already. I don't think anyone's going to actually fall victim to the motive," Natsuki said, looking at her with an annoyed expression.

"But didn't you say when the motive was announced that you didn't want your secret being revealed?" Dio questioned as Natsuki glared at the blond-haired manipulator.

"Yeah, and then I said that I wouldn't do anything. But I already know that someone else is going to snap and do the deed anyway. As you said, remember? The Domino effect? Someone's gonna kill. But I know for damn sure it won't be me. The last thing I want to do is get executed like green bean did," Natsuki snarked.

"Hmm… alright then," Dio stated, putting his hands by his sides. "If that's everything, I would like to get some breakfast into me, then leave for today's activities."

And with that, everyone had some leftover food from yesterday morning, then went on their separate ways. Shigaraki stood outside of the cafeteria, stretching his legs before yawning. Pulling out his monopad, he looked at the time.

"It's already 8:00 AM. I guess I do have some free time right now, so I might as well find something to do…."

[FREE TIME – Play: Becoming Friends]

Shigaraki was about to leave the cafeteria, however, just before he could leave….

"Oi! Tomura!" Natsuki's voice called out, causing Shigaraki to turn around and face the Cafeteria. "Oh, good, you're still here," the pink-haired teen said, a small smile on her face. "Could you help me clean up the kitchen? Monika usually does it but she has to set up for the party," Natsuki said as Shigaraki looked over to the left.

"Well…."

[Do you want to hang out with Natsuki? Y/N]

[Y]

"I don't see why not, sure," Shigaraki said as Natsuki nodded.

"Great! Thanks, Tomura, you're a lifesaver!" Natsuki said, a big smile on her face as the two entered the cafeteria, then the kitchen.

It turned out that there was a massive mess leftover from when Natsuki made dinner for those who were awake last night. There were left-off pots and pans, dirty cooking utensils, plates, and some stains on the counters. Thankfully, there were two dishwashers, meaning that most of the stuff that could fit within a dishwasher would fit in the aforementioned machines.

The rest of the bigger stuff that didn't fit in the dishwashers had to be done by hand, much to Shigaraki's dismay.

"Oh come on, you big pansy! You're THE Ultimate CRIMINAL MASTERMIND! How can you be squeamish around some dirt?!" Natsuki reprimanded.

"Well, there is a difference between blood and guts and sticky grease stains and stuck on chicken skin!" Shigaraki complained, scrubbing away at one of the bigger plates used to hold a TURKEY for some reason with the rough end of a sponge.

"Is there now?" Natsuki asked, rhetorically, though there was a small snicker in her voice that Shigaraki did notice.

"Are you making fun of me?" The teal-haired man said, putting the now overly large CLEAN plate on a drying rack. In response, Natsuki burst out laughing.

"Of course, I'm laughing at you! You've killed people before right? And you're jumpy at food stains! That's hilarious!" Natsuki said through exuberant laughter. Shigaraki frowned, looking at the soapy water before smirking. He dipped his hand in the water, then proceeded to flick it at Natsuki's face, causing her to recoil.

"H-Huh?!" Natsuki said, startled, wiping her face. She looked over to Shigaraki, an annoyed look on her face. Then, the expression changed to one of mischievousness before she dipped her hand in the soapy water, and flicked it toward Shigaraki. The water made contact, and he did the same thing back.

A domino effect occurred in which, for the next hour, the two flicked water at each other, laughing and mocking one another. It got to the point where it was 10:00 AM, and the two had spent most of their time getting each other wet rather than cleaning the kitchen.

When the two stopped goofing around and cleaned up the rest of what they had to, by the time they finished, it was 11:25 AM. Once the two were finished, they walked out of the kitchen, Shigaraki wiping his face off with a towel, as was Natsuki.

"That was fun, I needed to do something like that," Shigaraki said as Natsuki smirked.

"I never thought you had a more goofy side to you until now. You seem like an okay person, Tomura," the pink-haired girl replied, a half-smile on her face as Shigaraki shrugged.

"Eh, I don't usually show that side of myself too often," Shigaraki said, rolling his shoulders as Natsuki huffed.

"Well, if you excuse me, I'm going to go unwind for a bit, see ya later, Tomura!" And with that Natsuki went on her merry way, leaving Shigaraki behind at the cafeteria.

[Relationship with Natsuki increased – 1 out of 5]

Shigaraki cracked his neck and began to walk toward the cabins. He needed to grab something from his own before he continued to do anything else. That thing was the note from his cabin given to him by Izuku. If there was any better time to make use of it, it would be at the party.

As he entered the cabin area, just before he could enter his cabin, he felt someone tug on his arm. He looked over to see who it was, and was met with Max. "Uh, can I help you?" Shigaraki asked, raising an eyebrow as Max rolled his eyes.

"I want to talk, alright? Don't need to be an asshole about it."

[Do you want to hang out with Max? Y/N]

[Y]

"…okay, sure," Shigaraki said, letting go of his cabins door handle.

"Bet. Alright, come with me, I want to talk somewhere private," Max started as began to walk away. Shigaraki followed, a little wary of what Max was up to as he walked into his cabin. Shigaraki reluctantly followed suit, and what he was greeted with was something out of the ordinary.

There was a giant whiteboard in the center of his room with poorly drawn faces of those who were alive, and two faces with Xs on them in pink marker. There were some notes beside everyone's poorly drawn faces, most of them off comments or how they were related to one another. But outside of that, there was nothing too out of the ordinary about it…. Outside of it just existing, of course.

"W-Where did you get that?!" Shigaraki said, confusion in his tone as Max smirked.

"I bought it, how else? I used the rest of my Monocoins to get it because that way I can put my thoughts down on something without losing it," Max started, flipping a pen in his hand. "Both mentally, and literally, I mean," Max continued as he caught the pen on the tip of his index finger.

"You put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?" Shigaraki said, looking around the rest of his room, which had been more-or-less identical to his own.

"Well, when one has trust issues, you usually have some form of outlet. In this case, I have my whiteboard," Max stated, crossing his arms. "Now, I invited you to my cabin so we could talk about what I mentioned yesterday. I want your opinions on people. You know, so I can flesh out my own?" Max said as Shigaraki sat down on the edge of Max's bed.

"Listen, kid, I swear—"

"Stop, just listen to me for fucksake," Max interrupted, glaring at him. He gestured over to the Mini-fridge in the corner of his room, and when Shigaraki saw it, there was a lock on it. "Monokuma has the key to that lock, and I can only get it from him if I actually want to do a murder. Otherwise, he won't let me have the shit. Right now, I have no want to do someone in, and besides, getting a second opinion is always important, wouldn't you say?" Max asked as Shigaraki sighed.

"Alright, alright, fine… just, Max I swear if you do anything stupid—"

"I won't!" The ravenette snapped, glaring at Shigaraki. "Now, c'mon, let's hear it, I want some of those opinions of yours."

For the next couple of hours, the two shared ideas. Each new piece of information Max got, he wrote it down on his board. It turned out that Max had also had a knack for observing people, and in turn, Shigaraki learned a lot of things about some people that he hadn't known before—such as Nikki's habit to, somehow, project her mind to others like a psychic person.

He also learned a thing or two about how Shaggy can gulp down an entire sandwich in one go without chewing, much to Shigaraki's dismay and appetite—he guessed Shaggy really did earn the title of Ultimate Snack Food Tester.

In turn, Max learned about Shigaraki's Decay ability in detail via him destroying one of the pencils he had in his drawer—much to Max's annoyance. Max also learned that Natsuki had a bit of a soft side to her as well.

"Well, that was interesting. Thanks. Oh, and before you go, I still want your opinion on who you think the traitor is," Max said as Shigaraki rolled his eyes.

"Never in a million years, Max. All I will tell you is that I know it isn't you," Shigaraki stated as Max rolled his eyes.

"Wow, thanks pal, really are helpful," Max grumbled as Shigaraki snickered, exiting the kid's cabin. Checking his Monopad while closing Max's cabin door behind him, he saw that it was 3:00 PM.

"Shit, 50 minutes until the meet-up. Hmm…." Shigaraki thought, stepping away from the cabin. "I still have some time left, so I might as well go check out that Movie Theater. I never did see the inside of that place."

And so, Shigaraki walked to the Monokuma Theater. By the time he go there, Velma was already approaching the place. And that was when he got an idea. "Actually, hold off on that thought. I'll check out the theatre later. I wanna have a chat with her first." "Hey, Velma!" Shigaraki called out, catching the detective off guard.

"O-Oh! Shigaraki, I didn't see you there. Uh… what's up?" Velma asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, nothing. Uh, hey, do you wanna chat for a moment? I'm kinda bored," Shigaraki asked as Velma smiled.

"Sure, why not. Uh… after, you wanna see the movie that's in there? I have enough Monocoins for my own ticket, what about you?" Velma asked as Shigaraki nodded.

"I have just enough," Shigaraki said, looking up at the available movie. "Attack On Monokuma, eh? Kinda stupid sounding if you ask me," Shigaraki said, crossing his arms.

"Well, most stupid-sounding things turn out to the good. So I decided to give it a shot," Velma said, her expression returning to neutral. "So… what do you wanna do?"

[Do you want to hang out with Velma? Y/N]

[Y]

"I actually wanted to ask you about your secret," Shigaraki said, causing Velma to go wide-eyed.

"H-Huh! Why?" The brown-haired detective asked, glaring at Shigaraki as the teal-haired man put his hands up in a defensive manner.

"Whoa! Ease up, I was just curious. Plus, if you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine. Sound fair?" Shigaraki said as Velma went quiet for a few minutes. The two stood in awkward silence, until eventually….

"Alright, fine. You pass me your paper, I'll pass you mine, okay?" Velma said as Shigaraki nodded, getting his note out from his pocket, and Velma hers. The two exchanged papers, and when Shigaraki opened hers….

Velma Dinkly, The Ultimate Detective, is a closeted lesbian! Not only that, but she is so afraid about coming out about it that she even tried hooking up with Shaggy Rogers, The Ultimate Snack Food Tester!

Shigaraki blinked, looking up at Velma. "Your gay?" Shigaraki whispered as Velma folded up his piece of paper and passed it off to him.

"And your name is Tenko Shimura, and you murdered your family?" Velma said, crossing her arms.

"Accident. Same reason as to why my sister died," Shigaraki explained as Velma nodded, looking away.

"I see… and yes, yes I am. But don't tell anyone. As long as you don't say anything about my secret, I won't spill the beans on yours, Tomura," Velma stated as Shigaraki nodded.

"Got it. Besides, that's what friends are for, right?" Shigaraki asked as Velma smiled.

"Exactly. But… I do have a question. Why me?" Velma asked, genuine confusion in her eyes. "You know Deliah and Harry more than me, so why ask me?" The brunette continued as Shigaraki sighed.

"To be honest, you're more mature than them. That, and you're the closest right now. And to be fair, I don't care much about what those little kids are hiding. The adults and almost adults are what I'm more worried about. Normally, nine times out of ten, teenagers have more grievous secrets that can determine how others see them. That, and I know if I talk to you about yours, you wouldn't react violently," Shigaraki explained as Velma hummed.

"I see… but still, it's a bit dangerous, don't you think?" Velma asked, raising her eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" The teal-haired man said, confusion in his tone of voice. Velma simply huffed, shrugging.

"I don't know. Going around asking people about their secrets is a dumb idea. You might get yourself caught up in the crossfire between something dangerous or not. I know you have that Decay ability, but it won't save you if someone actually decides to go out and attack you for asking or figuring out their secret," Velma stated, crossing her arms. "In other words, I don't want something bad to happen. You'll be tempting fate by asking stupid questions like that."

Velma looked at her monopad before sighing. "Damnit. It's 3:30. We need to get to the bonfire, otherwise, we're going to be late—"

"HEY, YOU GUYS!"

Out of nowhere, Harry's voice came out of nowhere. The blond-haired boy walked up to us, coming at us as if he had been running. "Did any of you see Deliah anywhere? This is the last place I haven't checked, and, well, I just wanted to be sure. She said she was meeting up with someone somewhere in the new area, and since you two are here, I thought that it might've been you guys?" Harry said, wiping off the sweat from his forehead.

"Uh… no, I haven't seen her. We were just about to get to the bonfire. She's probably there right now. But, I guess we could check here," Shigaraki said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Great!" Harry said, a smirk on his face, looking up at the movie plaque above. "Attack On Monokuma? Really, that's kinda dumb," the blond-haired kid said, walking up to the doors. "After we find Deliah, we can leave to the bonfire. Besides, a group of four is always better than a group of three, right?" Harry said, putting his hands on the two push-to-open doors.

And when those doors opened….

[Stop OST]

They should have remained closed.

A wave of nausea hit the group of three as Harry stood in the doorway, horror on his face.

The scene in front of them was something that none of them wanted to see.

It was unfair. It was cruel. It was…

Pure Despair.

[Play: Body Discovery C]

Laying on the floor on their side, hair covering their face, and a small pool of blood around their neck, was Deliah Edwards, their Ultimate Title Unknown to everyone, and now, will forever remain that way….

|A Tale of Lies and Secrets – Daily Life – End|Deadly Life – Begin| 13 Campers Remaining|