Ding dong, bing bong!

"Good morning, everyone!" Monokuma's voice greeted on the monitor. "It is now 7 AM, and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"

After the monitor turned off, I got up and stretched. I guess I'd better head to the dining hall before anything else…

I went to the breakfast meeting same as always, but…

"Is this everyone?" Asked Ishimaru. "It feels a little… Small."

Togami and Fukawa had stormed off yesterday, so it wasn't too surprising they hadn't come today.

Ishimaru looked towards the large table in the middle of the room. "Even the table looks bigger, somehow." He mused.

"I assume that is because three people are dead, and two are abstaining." Explained Celeste.

"Yeah, with five people missing, I guess it would feel kinda empty." I said.

"Still… I know Togami's whatever, but shouldn't we go check on Fukawa?" Asked Asahina.

"I vote no." Said Hagakure as he shook his head. "She's super annoying."

"How can you be so cold?" Asked Celeste. "You are like a piece of rock candy."

"What!?" Exclaimed Ishimaru upon hearing that. "No, rock candy isn't cold! It's sweet!"

"…Anyway, Togami's the real problem." Said Mondo. "If we don't keep an eye on him, he might really kill someone. You can see it in his eyes…"

He then got incredibly frustrated. "We got no choice! Get some rope! We're gonna hafta keep him bound and gagged!"

"I think that's going a little overboard…" I trembled.

"He's right!" Proclaimed Ishimaru. "In this situation, there's nothing scarier than when an ally turns loose cannon! It's just like when we were kids, and someone would go crazy at sports day or whatever!"

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" Exclaimed Mondo. "You gonna use the rope to do tug of war or something? Idiot!"

"I'm not an idiot…!" Ishimaru gasped before pointing angrily at him. "You're an idiot!"

"Who're you callin' stupid!?" Roared Mondo.

Before Mondo was about to punch Ishimaru's lights out, or perhaps something worse, we heard sniffling coming from none other than the Ultimate Programmer.

"Huh? What's wrong Chihiro?" I asked worriedly. "You don't look so great…"

"Oh, I'm just going through a little… Self-loathing." She said.

"Self-loathing?" I repeated.

"Well, after what Togami said to me yesterday, I just got so nervous, I locked up. I couldn't say anything…" She explained. "Mondo ended up having to help me out, and even he said I was someone who "Can't fight back"… I… I hate how weak I am."

"Ah, I see." Asahina sighed. "So Mondo made you depressed."

"What!?" Exclaimed the aforementioned biker gang leader. "How's it my fault!? I wasn't tryin' to be mean! Besides, girls are just naturally weak anyway, right!?"

"Gh…" Was all Chihiro got out before sobbing.

"A-Are you… Crying…?" Asked Mondo. Calming down in shock.

"It's cuz you were screaming like a lunatic!" Exclaimed Asahina.

Mondo walked towards the crying programmer. "Hey, c'mon, don't cry…" He said remorsefully. "I-It's my fault, okay? I won't yell at you anymore…"

"Really? Not sure I can believe that…" Asahina muttered under her breath.

"J-Just shut up…" He said to her before turning his attention back to Chihiro. "…I got it! I'll make you a promise as a man!"

"Promise… As a man?" Chihiro asked nervously.

"Maybe I mentioned this before, but ever since I was a kid, there was one thing my brother told me over and over again…" He explained. "He said that, no matter what, a real man always keeps his promises. That's what he left me."

"Left you…?" Yamada repeated confusedly.

Mondo sighed. "Oh, yeah… My brother's dead."

"Oh… I see…" I said sadly.

"Anyway, I don't wanna talk about it." Mondo continued. "Don't wanna make all you guys cry."

He turned his attention back to Chihiro. "Anyway, so you can trust me when I make that promise. So you don't gotta cry anymore!"

"O-Okay." Chihiro said before wiping away her tears. "Thank you, Mondo."

"S-Sure…" Mondo replied. Flashing a thumbs up.

"But… I still don't like how I am right now." She said. "I have to get stronger… If I'm so weak, anything can make me cry… That's not good."

"Still, don't stress out too much about having to get stronger." I reassured.

"No… I want to get stronger." She replied. "Maybe I should… Start working out…"

Sakura chuckled slightly. "In that case, I would be happy to help out anytime." She said.

"B-But then Miss Fujisaki would get smashed into a billion pieces!" Panicked Yamada.

"Shut up, you." Sighed Asahina.

Chihiro giggled happily. "Ohh, finally cracked a smile, huh?" Asked Hagakure.

"Y-Yeah…" She smiled. "Everyone… Thank you."

Looks like Chihiro's gotten some life back. If we keep helping each other out like this, we're bound to get outta this crappy place sooner or later!

Someday, I'm sure…

Still, our biggest concern right now is the other two, who never showed up to breakfast.

What can I do to try understand those two better?