"As long as you're alive, it's a given that there's things you don't want other people to know about you!" Monokuma continued. "So I did a little investigating of my own, and I dug up some of your darkest secrets!"

He then reached behind him and pulled out a bunch of envelopes. One for each of us. "And those embarrassing memories and secrets are all contained in the envelopes I have right here. I'm going to hand them out now, so take a second to take a peek!"

As Monokuma spoke, he tossed the envelopes at our feet. Once, mine was in reach, I quickly snatched it up and nervously pulled out what was written inside…

My entire body went rigid when I saw what it said.

"Naegi wet the bed until he was in 5th grade."

"What…!?" I gasped. Looks like I wasn't alone, though.

"H-How…?" Asahina trembled.

"How'd you find out about this?!" Ishimaru exclaimed.

"You have 24 hours!" Monokuma spoke up amongst the commotion. "If someone doesn't become blackened by then, all your deepest, darkest, most embarrassingest secrets will be exposed to the world! Maybe I'll roll by in a crowded intersection in a van strapped with loudspeakers and spill the beans! Wouldn't that be sooo embarrassing!?"

"So that's what you meant by "Motivate"?" I asked.

"Yup, you got it!" Monokuma nodded. "They're all pretty unpleasant, trust me. None of you want me to reveal that stuff, right?"

"It's definitely something I'd rather people not know, but we'd never kill over something like that!" I snapped.

"Wh-What'd you say!?" Monokuma gasped.

"He's right! Your plan is doomed to fail!" Agreed Ishimaru. "No one's gonna murder someone for this kind of thing!"

"O-Oh no…" Monokuma lowered his head. "Is it because, for better or worse, your memory is still a way to connect to the outside world? I have stuff I wouldn't want anyone to know no matter what, so I assumed you'd all be the same… Which is why I put so much effort into preparing this next motive!"

He then turned his back away from us. "Maaan! You're saying you really won't kill each other over this stuff? That just sucks!"

He sighed. "Well, what can ya do? Okay, then in 24 hours, I'll expose all your secrets just to make myself feel a little better! So sad, so depressed! Farenotwell…!"

With an almost convincing look of depressed dejection on his face, Monokuma receded into the gym's depths.

"I didn't know what to expect at first, but… Maybe we dodged a bullet on this one." Said Asahina. "I mean yeah, having those secrets revealed is gonna be totally embarrassing, but that's seriously not enough to give someone a reason to kill, right?"

"Good news, everyone! I have a brilliant idea!" Ishimaru proclaimed. "Why don't we all just confess the secrets in those envelopes right here and now? If we do that, any and all motive for murder will vanish! That's pretty smart, right?"

He cleared his throat. "Okay, so my embarrassing thing is-"

"I d-don't want to hear your stupid s-story!" Fukawa interrupted.

"What!?" Ishimaru gasped.

"Besides, I don't… I don't w-want to talk about it…" She continued. "I don't c-care what anyone says, I don't want to talk a-about mine!"

"Neither do I." Added Celeste. "Not because it is unpleasant, but because it is impossible."

"Well, it's just human nature to wanna hear it when you say it's impossible!" Said Yamada. "C'mon, it'll be good for ya!"

"Absolutely not." Celeste sighed.

"It's okay, just a little bit." Yamada continued. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon…!"

"As I said-" Celsste began, but Yamada kept insisting. Pusing her to the limit. "I said I don't wanna talk about it, you human bag of lard!"

"Kyaaah!" Yamada screamed in fear.

"I agree with them." Said Togami. "There's no need to discuss it."

Ishimaru looked around for confirmation until his eyes fell on the Ultimate Programmer. "What do you think, Chihiro?" He asked.

"Um…" She stammered before tears began forming in her eyes. "S-Sorry, I don't really want to talk about it right now. B-But I also don't want to leave things the way they are. So maybe I can talk about it later… After I try my best to become strong… Then I can tell everyone."

"If you don't wanna talk, you don't have to." Asahina shrugged. "I'm not super excited about it, either…"

Mondo sighed in defeat. "If everyone's that much against it… Even if my bro's the one that suggested it, I gotta say no."

"W-Well, that's okay, then." Ishimaru said. Giving up. "Either way, if it's just a few secrets, I'm sure nobody's about to kill anybody over it."

I sure hope he's right… A secret so bad, you'd kill someone to keep it…

Nobody's got something like that, right?

"Okay, I'll stop with all the secret talk. But each of us has 24 hours to get ready!" Ishimaru explained. "Having our secrets exposed isn't going to be fun, but it's not like we're gonna die cuz of it! So, you know, um… Don't do anything hasty!"

"The way you keep repeating it kinda makes me worry even more…" Worried Yamada.

"Oh… Uh, okay, sorry." Ishimaru said. "I know it's gonna be tough, but…"

Just then…

Ding dong, bing bong!

Monokuma came on the monitor and announced it was nighttime.

"Nighttime already, huh? Okay, let's all call it a day." Said Hagakure.

"Good idea. We need to prepare for tomorrow." Said Sakura.

I was left with an anxiety I just couldn't shake, but we left things as they were, and things left as they lay.

One by one, we headed back to our rooms.

Secrets or memories you don't want anyone to know about, a way to connect to the outside world… Honestly, all that crap Monokuma was spouting didn't have any effect on me. There's no way anyone would kill over stuff like that!

At least, that's what I thought…

But maybe I was just being optimistic.

Which is probably why, without too much of a struggle, I fell fast asleep.

But what I didn't know is that even then, a tragedy was taking place.