When I finally opened my eyes again, what I saw was a bedroom of some sort.

"Ng… Gah…" I groggily said as I stood up before I looked around. "Huh…? Wh-Where am I?"

As if it had become a part of my daily routine, I woke up in yet another room I'd never seen before.

"Okay, so… Where am I now?" I asked myself.

Aside from the security camera and the metal plates, I was lying down on a bed. On a desk next to it was a notepad. I guess the school must have given one to each of us. Underneath it was a set of drawers. Inside one of them was… A toolkit? I figured that it must be brand-new since it's still in the shrink-wrap.

On the floor next to the bed was some kind of lint roller. I guess we're supposed to clean up after ourselves…?

In the middle of the room was a table with something on it. When I looked closer, I saw that it was a key with my name attached to it. I figured that it must be the key to this room. And since my name is written on the tag, it must mean that its mine. So I held on to it.

Next to the table was a trash can, and above it was a piece of paper.

It read:

"Announcement form Headmaster Monokuma. Each room's lock has been designed to completely protect against tampering or lock-picking. Remaking an individual room key is quite troublesome, so please make sure not to lose yours. Your room comes furnished with a shower, but please note that the water is turned off at nighttime. Also, the bathrooms in the girls' rooms include a lock of their own. Finally, we've prepared a small gift for each of you. For the girls, a sewing kit, and for the boys, a toolkit. The sewing kit includes a map of the body's vital organs. One stab will do the job, girls! As for the boys, we believe a strong blow to the head with any of the tools should be ample. Don't think! Just feel! And let's enjoy ourselves!"

After reading it, I took the sheet of paper off the wall, crumpled it up, and threw it in the trash.

The white door in the room lead what I think is the bathroom, but when I tried the handle, it wouldn't open. So I supposed it was locked.

"I think I'm starting to understand." I said to myself. "This room must be my assigned dorm room."

Someone must have carried me here after I fell unconscious from Mondo's punch. So that answers that question, the next being…

"What's everyone else up to right now?"

There's only one way to find out…

I rushed out of the room to meet up with all the others, but there was someone waiting for me there. It was like something out of an old TV show…

WHAM!

"Ahh!" Grunted the person I hit.

"Oof!" I grunted at the same time before I noticed who it was. "…Maizono? S-Sorry! Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine." She replied. "I hope you're okay… Sorry about that…"

She had an embarrassed smile on her face. I stood up slowly.

"Are you okay, Maizono?" I asked her. "Are you hurt?"

Maizono chuckled as she slowly stood up. "You make it sound worse than it is. I'm completely fine. I know how I look, but I've actually built up some pretty good muscle jumping arounf on stage!"

"That's good then…" I said as breathed a sigh of relief.

"But…" She began worriedly. "Are YOU okay? You know, from when Mondo hit you?"

That's true… I got knocked out right there in front of everyone. I guess I revealed my lack of cool right from the beginning…

"Oh, uh, I'm fine!" I replied. "Nothing wrong here!"

"Oh, that's good." Said Maizono. "I was kinda worried…"

"Th-Thanks…" I said. "By the way… What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I came to get you." She explained.

"You came… To get me?" I asked.

"Well, if you really are feeling better…" She began. "I was hoping you could come to the dining hall."

"The dining hall? Why?"

"After you got knocked out, everyone decided to go and do their own thing." Maizono explained. "We decided it would be more effective if we split up to investigate. So, we agreed to get together later on and talk about what we'd each found out."

"So does that mean it's almost time to get back together?" I asked. "If that's what's going on, then of course I'll go with you!"

"Good." Said Maizono. "I'll go ahead and meet you at the dining hall, then."

And with that, we both walked to the dining hall together.

"It looks pretty clean, so that's good." Maizono said when we got there. "…Er, I guess that's not really important right now, with us being prisoners here and all."

"Yeah, that's true." I agreed.

Nobody was there waiting for us. We don't really have much choice. I guess we should just wait here for now.

"Hmm… Okay, let's just wait here." Maizono suggested.

"Huh?" I gasped. "You heard that?"

"Like I said, I'm psychic." She said before giggling. "Come on, I'm just kidding! Seriously, I just have amazing intuition."

Is it really just intuition…?

"By the way, Naegi…" Began Maizono.

"Huh?" I asked. "What is it?"

"W-Well, it's just…" She stammered. "I know this is kind of continuing the self-introduction thing, but I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure. What is it?" I asked.

"Naegi… Did you happen to go to Blackroot Junior High?" She asked. "Were you maybe… In class 2?"

"Y-Yeah, actually… I was." I responded.

"I knew it!" She exclaimed happily. "I went there, too! I was in class 4, though. Do you remember me?"

"Do I remember…?"

Even back in middle school, she was a celebrity with all kinds of "ultimates" surrounding her. How could I forget? Almost as surprising as her question was, I still couldn't believe she remembered me!

We'd never even talked to each other, but somehow, she still knew who I was.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked. Noticing that I didn't respond right away.

"Oh, yeah." I replied. "I'm just surprised, is all. I wouldn't have thought you'd remember me."

"We went to the same school for three years, of course I remember!"

"Well, that's true." I replied. "But there were lots of students in out grade, right? Plus, I've never been the type of person to ever really stand out. I'm average at everything, and all my hobbies are totally normal. Even "normal" would call me boring."

"What are you talking about?" Asked Maizono. "You're so strange!"

That completely caught me off guard. "S-Strange?" I stammered. That's-!"

Maizono giggled even louder. That somehow mysterious smile of hers made my heart grow calmer. Her smile was the nicest smile I'd ever seen…

"Anyway, I'm really glad that I know somebody here." She said. "Talking to you has made me feel a lot better about all this… You're amazing, Naegi!"

"N-No, I'm really not…" I embarrassingly said. "I'm nothing at all compared to all you "ultimates"."

"But YOU'RE the one that helped me find my courage again. Not any of those "ultimate" students." She happily explained.

"Thank you for saying that…"

"And to thank you for helping me out, I'm going to become your Ultimate Assistant!" She suddenly said.

"Huh?" I asked confusedly. "My assistant?"

"Yup!" Maizono giggled. "I'm your assistant now! I'm going to help you as much as I can, so let's get out of here together!"

When she says things like that, it just gets me pumped up! Which is nice, but still, everyone else is still late. Besides that, I don't even know what time it is right now. There must be a clock around here somewhere…

The clock was above the menu over the serving window to the kitchen. It read…

"What!?" I exclaimed. "7 o'clock? At night?!"

"You were unconscious for a pretty long time…" Maizono spoke up.

I see…

Without being able to look out a window, I've lost all sense of time. If I have to stay in this place for too long, I might just go crazy…

"I can't believe no one's here yet." Said Maizono. "But I'm sure they'll start showing up soon…"

Almost like he'd timed it, Ishimaru threw open the dining hall doors right as Maizono said that.

"Ah, Naegi! Maizono!" He greeted. "So you two got here first, huh? Too bad… I was sure I'd beat everyone here. I guess that just means that I don't have enough fighting spirit yet! Well I won't give up! Next time, I swear I'll win no matter what it takes! Justice shall always prevail!"

"That's a bit much, don't you think?" Asked Maizono.