I went to the courtyard, and saw Seungyeon there.
"Oh hey, I haven't really seen you lately, Seungyeon." Yeeun said.
"I've just been in my room. It's safer that way." Seungyeon replied.
Has it really been that bad for her?
I can't imagine how it must feel to be locked away from the outside.
"Don't you want to go out and talk to the others?" The songwriter asked.
"The only people I trust are you, Youngjae, Eunji, and Miyumi. As you can tell, the latter two aren't exactly available, and Youngjae has been around Hirokazu and Kaori lately. And you've been, god knows where." The actress replied.
"Oh."
"But it's whatever, I'm fine on my own."
"I guess I can't push you to do something that you don't want to."
Hold on, then why is Seungyeon outside?
"Why are you out, then?" Yeeun asked.
"Needed some fresh air." Seungyeon replied.
"You... do realize this isn't actually outside, right?"
"I like to pretend it is."
…
I just left Seungyeon on her own.
It makes me sad to see just how much she's changed.
She's not as a bright as she used to be.
But I guess watching 4 people you knew die can do that.
Anyways, I made my way to the dining hall, in which I found Masahito talking with... Izumi?
"Um, what's going on here?" Yeeun asked.
"Masahito's bullying me." Izumi remarked.
"What? Oh come on! I am NOT bullying you!" Masahito replied.
"Not exactly, but you are getting involved into my personal business."
"Well, it would be nice to actually get to know what the fuck is happening, instead of just being left in the dark."
"Life isn't fair. Some people get to stay in the dark forever. You should be grateful that you're still alive, and you sure as shit don't want to know what exactly I'm doing here."
That seemed to have shut Masahito up quick.
"Yeah, well... whatever." With that, the CG artist quickly walked away.
"Why are you out anyways, Izumi?" Yeeun asked.
"Just wanted to grab a snack." Izumi replied. "Wasn't expecting him to get up all in my case."
"I can kinda understand why everyone is on edge. You did-"
"Shh!" Izumi said. "The cameras are watching."
On cue, Monokuma appeared.
"Ohhhh? Yeeun, what were you gonna say?" Monokuma asked.
"Forget it, it's nothing important." Yeeun replied.
"A confession of love? Your deep dirty secret? Spill spill spill!"
"Hey Monokuma, just how many Monokumas are there?" Izumi asked.
"Eh?" Monokuma said. "What's a Monokuma?"
"Just as I thought. If you aren't going to tell us anything, then we sure aren't gonna tell you anything." The hacker replied.
"Grr... getting talked down to by a 14 year old! The shame!" Monokuma said, then he disappeared.
"Anyways... Yeeun, make sure you pay attention to where you are before you start speaking." Izumi replied.
"Okay..."
…
Today was more of a break day for Izumi, so nothing much really happened.
It's kind of been the same old same old lately.
With that, I went to sleep.
…
"Yeeun, so disappointing."
"You're never like your brother or sister."
"Why is it so hard for you to just be accepting of these kinds of things?"
"It's our life now."
"You have to accept it."
"You have no other choice."
"Honey, we keep on giving you chances."
"But... you just keep on throwing them away."
"Please, cooperate."
"For your family."
"Right, hun?"
It... won't happen again.
I promise you, mom.
"Good girl."
"Now go on and help your dad."
"..."
"I know, Changho."
"The meeting with Enoshima is soon?"
"Yeeun will cooperate for sure by then."
"I promise you."
"..."
"If she doesn't..."
"Then I'll take care of it."
…
Enoshima?
Who is Enoshima?
These thoughts rushed through my head as I woke up.
It was still pitch black, so I guess it's night.
Not like we can tell from underground, anyways.
I walked over to my bathroom, and wet my face.
I just took some time to think about what is going on.
Sometimes I have bad dreams.
Always get reminded of what my family put through.
That's normal.
But... Enoshima?
That name feels familiar...
Why did it suddenly come up again?
That name has been surpressed for years...
…
DING DONG BING BONG!
"It is now 7 AM! Wake up, and enjoy the beautiful day!" Monokuma announced.
...huh?
I was awake last night, right?
It kinda felt like a dream...
I must have been really tired, then...
Anyways, I got up and went to the dining hall
...
Like always, everyone was there to get breakfast for the day
But for a pleasant surprise, Eunji was actually there.
"Good morning." Yeeun yawned.
"Hey, are you alright?" Izumi asked.
"Huh?" The songwriter replied.
"It's just... I thought I felt a vibe or something about you last night." The hacker said.
"A vibe? Are you Cisco Ramon?" Hirokazu remarked.
"Yeah, I don't get that reference." Izumi replied.
"Wait, seriously?" The astrologist replied. "I am in shock!"
"Izumi, what do you mean?" Yeeun asked.
"I just had this weird feeling when I thought about you last night." Izumi replied.
"You sure it ain't love!?" Monokuma said.
"Waaahh!?"
"What." Miyumi said.
"Just wanted to see how you kiddos were going along!" Monokuma remarked. "The casino has surprisingly been low revenue lately, so I had assumed that somebody got murdered! But, it seems that you're all still alive."
"Does it ever end with you, dude?" Masahito said. "You're such an annoyning asshole."
"Ironic of you to say!" The bear replied. "You do realize that your classmates hate you, right?"
"Now that's not true." Takashi said. "Even if Masahito has done less than desirable things, we must all stick together in order to prevent another killing."
"It's quite ironic that you say that after you all shot down my student council idea." Kazuhiko replied.
"You're still with that?" Seungyeon asked.
"The main reason is that you'd put some people on a pedestal, give them a position of power." Miyumi said.
"That is only necessary." Kazuhiko replied.
"Power corrupts. I know it firsthand. I've seen it myself." The detective replied. "If we all treat each as equals, stay together as equals, then it'd only benefit us all."
"Well, since we didn't hold a proper vote last time, what with Eunji missing, I'm sure we can do it proper this time." The racer replied.
"i honestly don't care about this student council thing." Eunji replied. "seems like a waste to me."
"As I said, 10-2." Miyumi said.
"Yoohoo, hello, Monokuma here!" Monokuma remarked.
"Piss off." Masahito said.
"Monokuma out!"
"Of course you'd say that, Eunji." Kazuhiko replied. "You're completely biased towards Miyumi."
"yeah, and what's the problem with that?" Eunji said.
"It fogs your common sense." The racer replied. "Let's all think about this clearly."
"I really don't want to rehash the same shit again." Kaori replied.
"Yeah, dude." Hirokazu said. "Nobody wants the student council. Let it go."
Kazuhiko sighed. "And I was willing to hold a revote. Should've known better. If you won't see common sense, then there's nothing to be done."
Anyways...
Why did Monokuna show up?
…
I was back to my usual spot, at Izumi's lab.
"Yeeun." Izumi said. "You need to be honest with me."
"Hm?" Yeeun said.
"Did something happen last night?"
Did something happen last night?
"I'm... going to be honest." Izumi said. "Don't think any less of me, but... I've grown concerned for you, so I've hacked into your bedroom cameras so I can keep an eye of you overnight."
"Wait, what?" Yeeun said.
"I only watch over you for the night." The hacker replied. "I'd be devastated if something bad were to happen to you while you were asleep."
I guess I can get where she's coming from...
But still, it feels weird to know that I have somebody watching me...
"Last night, I noticed you were awake." Izumi said. "You seemed... distressed."
Last night...?
!
It's all coming back to me!
"Enoshima." Yeeun said.
"...huh?" Izumi replied.
"I had a dream last night. It was an old memory of mine. And in that dream... I heard the name Enoshima."
"Enoshima...? I can't say I've heard that name before, but it sounds like it has to be important. Don't forget, your family is involved in Monokuma's organization."
"The Ultimate Despair." The songwriter said. "Do you think Enoshima is somebody important?"
"I don't know, but I wouldn't recommend saying it in front of Monokuma." Izumi said. "If you ever remember something involving your family, be sure to tell me. If they're members of the Ultimate Despair, and so is this Enoshima person... you might be our biggest breakthrough."
Monokuma trapping somebody here who has something to do with the Ultimate Despair, and a genius hacker who can kill his cameras and quite possibly, end this killing game?
He's a fucking idiot.
We'll get you, Monokuma.
Just you watch.
…
Another day goes by, and I'm back in bed.
My monopad lights up, and I see a message from Eunji.
…
Eunji Park:
Eunji Park: When Miyumi isn't around, I always check my old messages of Ayaka.
Eunji Park: I always message Ayaka, and it hurts so fucking much knowing that she'll never reply.
Eunji Park: Did you know you can send voice messages in here?
Eunji Park: Ayaka discovered it.
Eunji Park: She always sent me voice messages when she felt too lazy to type.
Eunji Park: The amount of times I've replayed her voice messages just to hear her voice in uncountable.
Eunji Park: I miss her so much.
Eunji Park: I want to see her again.
Eunji Park: She's sent me pictures of her on the monopad
Eunji Park: But it's not the same.
Eunji Park: I want to see her in person
Eunji Park: Feel her
Eunji Park: Hear her
Eunji Park: But I can't.
~~Eunji Park is now offline~~
…
Eunji...
I have to see her.
…
I exited my home, and was surprised to see Naomori out in the hallway.
"Oh, hey, what are you doing out this late?" Yeeun asked.
"Oh, um, you know, just going to the restroom." Naomori replied.
"Don't you have a restroom in your room?" The songwriter asked.
"Yeah, but the toliet's busted. So, got no choice but to use the public one, haha." The herbalist said.
"Oh, okay."
"Don't stay out too long, okay?"
"I just wanted to see Eunji."
"Eunji? She's in her room, right?"
"Should be."
"Then you should head over there."
That was weird.
Either way, I made my way to Eunji's room.
…
After a quick knock, and a very weak "come in!", I was now inside Eunji's room.
"Eunji..." Yeeun said.
"yeeun... do you really think we'll get out of here?" Eunji said.
Don't tell me she's losing hope too?
"Of course!" The songwriter replied. "We need to have hope!"
"hope..." The idol said. "i've seen Seungyeon lately, she looks just as bad as I do."
"You two have really been having the worst of it." Yeeun said.
"seungyeon is very emotional, and me... well, you know how close ayaka and i were."
"Yeah..."
"hey, yeeun?"
"yes?"
"i'm going to be at the dining hall more frequently..."
"that's good."
"miyumi has been helping me a lot lately. oh, and... i'm sorry about my messages. i just needed someone to vent to."
"It's okay, Eunji."
…
After that talk, Eunji dismissed me so she could sleep.
So, I went to sleep.
…
Another day was upon me.
DING DONG BING BONG!
"It is now 7 AM! Wake up, and enjoy the beautiful day!" Monokuma announced.
"I wish there was a damn off button for that bear..." Yeeun sighed.
I quickly made my way to the dining hall.
As the usual, everyone was there.
Maybe we're finally getting to some sense of normalcy?
But it'll never be the same without Ayaka.
"Yo." Naomori said.
"Do you think Monokuma will add an additional stipulation?" Kazuhiko asked.
"I dunno." Hirokazu replied.
"I'm sensing that the bear is getting bored, so I figure he might do something to incentive us into killing." Miyumi replied. "After all, it's been days since he announced the motive."
"Yeah, I don't like this dreadful feeling I have." Takashi said.
"Honestly, we shouldn't even bother getting fucking paranoid over this whole damn thing." Masahito remarked. "Who gives a shit what that bear does?"
"Hm, I suppose Masahito has a point." The detective said. "After all, we'd be giving Monokuma what he wants if we get paranoid and start distrusting each other."
It's kinda strange seeing how Masahito has kinda been showing concern for us?
Maybe he's actually growing as a person?
I'm not as angry as I used to be, but still...
I guess we'll see.
Monokuma appeared.
"Did somebody say Monokuma?" The bear said.
"Bruh." Hirokazu remarked.
"Do you just like being an annoyance?" Seungyeon asked.
"Well, it makes people like me! So yes!" The bear said.
"Tell us what you came here for and go away." The detective snarked.
"It's starting to get boring with you guys not killing, so I'm here to spice things up!"
"And?" Kaori said. "What are you gonna do now?"
"I'll add another little something to the motive!" Monokuma said. "Remember, you can only kill up to two students, but for this motive only, I'll spice it up! The classic rule of thumb for wishes is that the wisher gets up to 3 wishes, so what I'll do now is this!"
Monokuma's red eye glowed, which startled the students a bit.
"For this round only, the blackened can kill up to THREE students!"
"What the fuck!?" Masahito said.
"Not only that, but I'll grant 1 wish per student killed!" Monokuma said. "Killed 1 student? 1 wish to grant! Killed 2 students? You get 2 wishes! And finally, you kill three students? You get three wishes! That should really change things up now!"
With that, Monokuma made his departure.
"Umm..." Izumi said.
"There's no way anyone is taking that, right?" Kaori said.
"All I'm going to say, is that the previous two culprits got caught, and they only killed one of us." Takashi said. "To whoever here is actually thinking of doing Monokuma's motive, do you really think you'll kill 3 of us, and actually get away with it? That's 3 murders to cover, which means more room for sloppy mistakes."
The entire room was filled with defeaning silence.
But Takashi's right.
Reika got caught by Eunji like that.
And Ichiro...
He would have been caught too if he had actually killed Ayaka.
"Seriously, Monokuma is full of shit." Masahito said. "Although I suppose, we all need to stick together, now more than ever."
"Yeah, now groups of 4 aren't even safe anymore." Youngjae said. "We need at least 5 or more."
"This doesn't feel okay..." Izumi said.
"We should uh... call it in." Miyumi said.
With that, we all left.
…
About two hours had passed since Monokuma's announcement, and everyone was on edge.
I spent that whole time in my room, thinking about everything.
But eventually, I decided to leave.
And so, I made my way to Izumi's lab, and to my surprise, she wasn't there.
"Izumi?" Yeeun said. "She's not here..."
Izumi always goes to her lab after the morning meet up.
Strange that she isn't here...
…
With no Izumi to speak with, I just made my back to the dining hall, and found Kaori and Hirokazu there.
"Oh hey, Yeeun." Kaori said. "I feel like I haven't seen you around that much lately."
"I've just been with Izumi, how about you two?" Yeeun asked.
"Third floor, mostly." Hirokazu said. "Lots of people go up there now. Kinda odd that you and Izumi don't."
"Her lab is more secure." The songwriter sighed.
"I suppose, but it'd probably be safer to stay upstairs." The astrologist replied.
"So then, why are you two up here?"
"Food." Kaori said. "Everyone should be upstairs, though."
"I guess should head upstairs, then." Yeeun said.
…
And so, I made my way upstairs. I stopped by the second floor very quick, and stumbled upon Kazuhiko, who had seemed as he just exited the classroom.
"Oh hey." Yeeun said. "Kazuhiko, what were you doing in that classroom?"
"Well I was writing out a whole plan for the student council, but since you people are foolish, I came back here to erase it." The racer said.
He really is upset by that whole thing...
"Come on dude, it really would have created a toxic environment." The songwriter replied.
"Yeah yeah, keep on telling yourself that." The racer said. "I'll be going to my room now."
"So, what, you don't socialize?"
"I think I've done my fair share of socializing today."
He barely even spoke at the dining hall...
Whatever... some fricking people.
…
And so, I made my way to the third floor.
I found Takashi by himself, it seemed as if he was just leaving.
"Takashi, how are you?" Yeeun asked.
"Yeeun?" Takashi said. "Strange, I never thought I'd see you up here."
"Well, I'm mostly looking for Izumi." The songwriter replied.
"I don't even know if she's up here, but I was just going to head down." Takashi said. "Are Eunji and Miyumi still together?"
"I'm pretty sure, yeah." Yeeun yawned.
"Then, I'll go find them."
And Takashi left me by myself.
I pulled out my monopad, and checked the time.
It's 10:04 already?
Now it's even more strange that Izumi wasn't in her lab.
…...
…...?
No...
You don't think?
Now I'm starting to get worried.
Izumi?
I ran down the hall.
Where the hell is Izumi?
I just kept on running, frantically searching every room on the third floor.
But maybe I should have investigated the second floor more?
Dammit, I'm being sloppy!
I should have investigated there first.
And then...
I stopped at the workshop.
But... something felt off.
I pulled on the knob, and it wouldn't open.
"Huh?" Yeeun said. "It's locked!"
I kept on the attempting to open the door, but to no avail.
And then, as if on cue, Miyumi showed up.
"Miyumi?" Yeeun said.
"Step aside." The detective said, with a serious look on her face.
I did exactly what she instructed me to.
And almost immediately...
Miyumi picked the lock.
"Miyumi, what's wrong? You're so serious, it's kinda scaring me..." Yeeun said.
"I haven't seen Eunji since the dining hall announcement." Miyumi replied.
Eunji?
Eunji and Izumi have gone missing?
"Have you seen Izumi?" Yeeun asked.
"I found her in the nurse's office, lying on one of the beds." Miyumi said. "She seemed out of it, but I heard her mutter one name... Eunji's. I investigated the first floor, second floor, and I just now saw that you'd already searched here, the third floor."
"What happened to Izumi?" The songwriter replied.
"I don't know, but that doesn't concern me right now." Miyumi said. "This workshop here is the last room that hasn't be investigated..."
"Miyumi...?"
Miyumi's face was unreadable, I couldn't even tell what she was thinking.
"Whatever is behind this door..." Miyumi said, and then... she opened the door.
…
Almost immediately, right after Miyumi opened the door...
We found Eunji there, lying on the ground.
"Eunji!" Miyumi said, running over to her, and picking her up. "Eunji! Eunji, can you hear me?"
The detective checked the idol's pulse.
"Oh thank god." She sighed in relief. "She's alive."
But before I could even take in Eunji's situation...
I looked further ahead into the workshop...
And harrowing despair reared it's ugly head once again.
The songwriter was taken aback by the horrible sight in front of her.
Sitting against the wall, clutching at their own throat as if they were struggling to breathe...
was the corpse of Masahito Kiyabu, the Ultimate CG Artist.
