Chapter 1-1: Suspicions Arise

Beta Read By: Lupus Overkill


"...Yuna Inoue? Doesn't that person go by a different name by now? Plus, they're not one of my experiments, so why should I care about what happens?" Kotori sighed. She was on the phone with a person I still do not know the identity of. "I don't know what the people of the Egyptian and Russian branches are thinking anymore. All these programs are creating soldiers of their own destruction. If you want people to obey you, don't give them the tools to overpower you."

I just sat there. Kazuhiko must be somewhere else in the room staying quiet. No matter how quiet it was, the other person on the phone could not be heard. Or perhaps I had worse hearing than I thought.

...What was Kotori even talking about before mentioning that name? I don't remember. This memory still doesn't give me any clues about who Yuna Inoue could possibly be. Except they must have some sort of connection to the Committee. But who doesn't have that nowadays? Even the ones that act innocent have probably accidentally helped the Committee before.

"...Your quest for power will be your downfall. All I seek is knowledge, so there's nobody to target me. Even if they wanted to take my place, they'll need me alive for some time for my wisdom. It'll be such a waste to everybody if I just die because of a lapse of judgment or somebody's morals, values, or emotions."

I remembered that Kazuhiko flinched from his hiding spot. Wherever he was, however, I do not remember.


For a short moment, the room is completely silent. Even though there should be the sound of the chaos outside, I cannot process anything at this moment. Or maybe the newfound sound of my drumming heartbeat overwhelms every other sensation.

"Ah, shoot, now I can't copy the Ultimate Hope yet, without putting a target on my head," Yugi says. They are still up to no good.

Despite a Killing Game just being announced, Yugi is still relaxed, or pretending to be so. Tricksters are always hard to read. Then again, Yugi could pretend like they're acting they don't care while in reality, they have given into their apathy. Riko raises one of her eyebrows in response to their tactics. Yugi only sticks their tongue out at her.

Yugi's smile however can be more accurately described as a grimace now. They are perfectly still, to the point that it can be described as creepy. It is almost like they have stopped breathing.

"Are you wasting time with another one of these games? These idiots might kill each other, but I have work to do." Chitose scoffs.

Chitose grinds her teeth and stares daggers at Monomi. She is about one second away from trying to beat Monomi to a pulp, but I see that Amaku, Riko, Gennai, and Heiwai are keeping a close eye on the small girl. If she was not so focused on Monomi, she would be berating those four instead.

"I don't know what's going on...I'm just a simple baker..." Amaku pouts childishly.

Like most everybody here, Amaku has very clearly not fully processed the gravity of this situation. The brain is always wired for denial, especially for traumatic situations like this. Nobody wants to believe horrific things like this can happen in real life or to anything they actually care about. Maybe that is part of the reason why victims are never believed, and people like Kotori can continue going around doing whatever they please. Most people do not want to admit that their comfort is at the expense of the suffering of others.

"Don't they teach you kids anything at school nowadays!? Why are all of you so calm!?" Heiwai shouts.

"I'm sure they do. They just haven't experienced...everything...like us. We can help guide them through this," Gennai says.

"Just because we're young, doesn't mean we don't understand!" Ivan rebuts. "We had to live through the apocalypses too-"

"Oh no! We weren't supposed to give you a sweater! It was supposed to be a sweater vest! I already failed and nobody is even dead yet!" Monomi begins pacing around as much as he can in the cramped space. Very good to know he is very bad at changing the subject.

"I would like a sweater vest-"

"Stop wasting time talking about clothing of all things. If we're going to die, what we're wearing should be the least of our problems." Chitose glares at Amaku.

"You don't have to be scared, child! I'll make sure to protect you~" Amaku is giving one of his creepy smiles once again. Perhaps this is going on for so long because people are still in shock. Or maybe they are trying to focus on anything else other than the crushing reality.

"I'm not a child!" Chitose subconsciously puffs out her cheeks.

"Yes, you are~" Yugi teases Chitose.

Instead of paying attention to the chaos children, I decide to see how everybody else is faring. Reactions can tell a lot about who could be Yuna Inoue (that is, if Yuna Inoue is even here with us). It can be assumed Yuna Inoue should be older, but it would not be hard for a person like that to fake their age, gender, background, their whole identity. They would be a weak spy if they can only be what they already are.

Everybody has moved around a bit after the reveal, probably to keep themselves from fainting on the spot. The last thing you want to known for in these games is weakness. It will be hard to have people trust me after trying to stab two people though, so anybody who wants to go under the radar would be wise to point their fingers at me.

Wait a minute…Mononeko forbade anybody talking about my stabbing incident with Yuzuki. If this is to protect me, then why? Monomi seems to know me from somewhere, but I cannot figure out who the fuck he is.

Machi is silently shaking and over in one of the corners. Her eyes are shifting from one person to another, until her gaze stops at me. She stares for a couple more seconds until she returns to what she was doing before. With every passing second, she is hugging herself tighter.

Beni, on the other hand, is openly crying and looks like she is about to fall over any second now. The narrator is hyperventilating and Gennai has run over to her in a futile attempt to make her stop. She still does not take a seat even though there are seats filling this entire room. Perhaps in her panic, she does not even realize her surroundings.

"I don't understand what's going on..." Hanami comments. She does not look at me or anybody else, only directing her focus on Monomi.

"Don't worry, love, everything is going to be okay for you!" Monomi innocently grins. Hanami takes a step back, her facial expressions contorting in horror.

The singer takes any moment she can to move farther and farther away from Monomi. It would not surprise me if Monomi is one of Hanami's obsessive fans, considering it is now a norm for celebrities to be killed by their fans or critics. The Committee always seeks to hire them now since barely any of them make it out of high school.

"This is too much for a prank!" Yasia sweats. She is walking in circles so quickly that I worry that she will set the carpet on fire. "This is a really impressive set and all, but none of us consented to being part of this reality television show, right?"

"If this is a prank, that's too far. I remember the days of the first tragedy all too well..." Gennai says. "You don't want to give this old man a heart attack."

"Who would even think of doing something like that!? Don't threaten my life...or theirs!" Asahi shouts. He balls his fists.

"Don't get fooled by this prank. There are a lot of children nowadays that desire Junko's infamy without the bloodshed. All we need to do is find a way out of this train to the nearest town so we can contact the authorities," Touki responds.

Touki does have a point, since it has now become popular for teenagers to pretend to be Junko Enoshima, especially in countries outside of Japan. From the little I know, it became a trend on websites outside the Committee's control, like Cubed Media. Most of those sites are banned in Committee-controlled countries like Japan. I don't even know what a Cubed Media is or what it does.

"This isn't a prank. Do you think somebody would drag us to this place just for a sick laugh?" Heiwai chastises the other adults. "I've experienced saving too many people from these things to know how they usually end up. Heard too many stories as well with people just not believing it until it's too late."

"You do have a point, Heiwai, but we should examine this situation fully. We don't know everything about the details yet," Riko suggests. "Even if it's not a break, this train should be easier to get out of than Hope's Peak Academy. There can only be one Monomi too, right?"

"This is quite a situation...right, Machi?" Jin awkwardly laughs. Machi nods her head slowly.

Jin is another person that is way too natural. Unlike Yugi, however, I can see the cracks in his smile, the shakiness of his legs, and how uneven his breath is. Not even the masters of trickery can hide their true feelings forever.

"We just have to be calm and be glad none of our loved ones are here with us," Ivan smiles weakly. He holds his chicken securely in his arms, who then pecks him. "...Any human loved ones..."

From the corner of my eye, I notice that Yuzuki is taking slow, methodical deep breaths. Her mask slips, however, when she glares at Monomi. Part of it is hatred, part of it is studying the features of Monomi. There has to at least be a small clue to whoever this is. Yuzuki seemed to at least have a clue of who he was before, but is she not sure? Perhaps just double checking?

"We're in a Killing Game. Yuna Inoue has something to do with this. Do any of you know anything?" Yuzuki questions.

Despite Yuzuki being clear with her words, and everybody turning to face her, nobody has a response. That is odd. Is there perhaps another layer to this game that I do not fully understand yet?

The strange thing about the silence is that it does not seem to be out of confusion, but fear. Almost like the people here fear the name of Yuna Inoue more than a death game.

There has only been one person I have not noticed until now: Norika. When I find her, she is near the opposite side of the room (everybody's footsteps are most likely hidden by the harsh sounds of outside, since the storm almost suddenly seems to have picked up in strength). Despite the long distance away from us, I can understand the flaming anger in Norika's eyes.

"Sorry to interrupt the nice conversations we're having, but I have to inform you about everything in this game," Monomi says.

"You can't surprise me, Monomi. I already know everything you're thinking~" Asahi grins. "Just let me out of here...with everybody else. I can give you anything you want. Fame, fortune, love!"

"Shut it, Asahi," Monomi spits in his direction.

"Perhaps it's not the best idea to try to change his mind," Jin tries to talk down Asahi. Asahi continues gasping in horror as he stares at the spit near his shoe.

"Just get this over with so we can continue on with our lives. If we're in a Killing Game, we better have it finished quickly, or else we'll all lose our sanity," Chitose comments. She may be impatient, but she does have a point. The longer we are in this train, the more likely we will lose everything that makes us who we are.

Even the most virtuous of saints can be corrupted into the darkest of sinners in these games. The best of friends can kill each other and have no more love left. The most innocent of children can murder all of their classmates with nothing but a smile.

"This doesn't work exactly like a normal Killing Game. We still have the basic rules of having to kill somebody and avoid being found in the ensuing trial to escape. You should know about that, but, if you don't, then you can read up on the rules once we give you your student handbooks. Even though most of you aren't students..." Monomi begins twiddling with his thumbs.

"We don't need any of your technology," Heiwai responds. Monomi ignores him.

"There are actual ways to win this game without killing anyone though. All of you can try jumping off this speeding train, into the piles of snow, and try to survive in the freezing cold where there's no civilization for miles. For those of you like me of Japanese or Ukrainian descent, the villagers probably won't be too kind," Monomi explains.

Although most of the world praises the efforts of the survivors of Junko Enoshima's game, there is still a...distaste for Japanese people in certain areas. Japan has been blamed for the creation of Junko, not Hope's Peak in the eyes of those people. Maybe that's why the Committee has gotten away with creating another Hope's Peak in Japan. Some empty words about reforming the Japanese people into their true glory.

As for Ukrainian people, I do not see why they would have people with them. Most people still have a positive opinion of Ukraine except for people from Russia and Belarus.

Even when I was thinking, nobody has responded to Monomi. What are we supposed to do with all of this information!?

"...All of you are still quiet. Are you really that surprised that we could offer some mercy? Guess that isn't too hard to predict. All of you are bastards except for my love~" Monomi then pitches his voice higher. "But I believe I can finally teach all of you to be great members of society if you pass this trial! I believe in all of you!"

"We don't have to kill!?" Beni wipes away her tears.

"There's another way. You have to...oh, how to word this correctly...um, kill any trace of Yuna Inoue except for her body." Monomi is unable to make eye contact with any of us. "I highly recommend just killing her though. There's no way other than that, but I was told to give other options. Even some in our ranks prefer peace over violence."

That is vague. Would turning Yuna Inoue into another person qualify? Brainwashing somebody that we do not know the identity of would be quite difficult, but it is worth a shot. It may be immoral, but survival is more important than the mental health of one person.

"Why can't we just kill you now and get over it? I may not like killers, but I'll gladly stain my hands red to rid the world of filth like you. This can definitely be classified as righteous self-defense!" Norika threatens. She slowly stalks her way forward with her head facing the ground.

"I wouldn't recommend it!" Monomi's shyness is gone and is replaced with a confident grin. "Hurting my precious participants this early would be bad. All of you are stabbing each other too much already!"

"Norika, I understand how you must feel, but you can't-" Yuzuki's words are interrupted by Norika sprinting and then lunging at Monomi. "Norika! Please stop this!"

"Justice must prevail over trash like this!" Norika refuses to listen to Yuzuki. She tackles Monomi onto the ground and starts choking him. Monomi does not seem phased.

Before anybody could stop Norika or even come to her aid (though Heiwai is about to), Monomi harshly wraps his arms around Norika and pulls her down to the ground. He then traps her legs and over hooks her right arm. With shift movements I cannot fully comprehend, he rolls Norika and the force of everything causes her to let go. Then, Monomi stands up, with Norika still on the floor.

"There's not that much room in here, plus I don't want to ruin the furniture," Monomi complains. "If anybody wants to try, go ahead. I'm not immortal or anything. If you manage to kill me, however, you're going to have to deal with her instead. That's impossible though since none of you can ever possibly hope to kill me! It's just not part of destiny!"

Even though there are some hot-headed members in the group, none of them take Monomi on his offer. Norika recovers from her brief fight but does not lunge at Monomi again. That's an improvement.

"What does Yuna Inoue have to do with all of this? Why do you want her dead?" Yuzuki asks. Even now Yuzuki has not learned her lesson of shutting her mouth.

"It's quite simple! Because the mastermind wants to. Oh, but all of you are free to create new motives for your classmates yourselves!" Monomi explains. "Before we go to the next day, though, I have something else to tell you."

"What are you going on about?" Touki takes a small step back.

"I don't have the time today to say that, but I can tell you the last thing. I guess it can be considered a second motive of sorts. There's a time limit. And there's a horrible fate that awaits you if you don't kill within that time." Monomi bites his lip.

"What's the time limit!?" Asahi demands. "I need to know!"

"Can't tell~ It could be tomorrow and it could be years from now. Just know that when it comes close, I'll be sure to give you a twenty-four hour warning! I'm not allowed to, but Monokuma won't stop me from this basic act of compassion!" Monomi then takes some gadget out from underneath his dress and presses one of the buttons on it.

After taking out the gadget and throwing whatever the device is across the room, Monomi once again pulls something from underneath his dress. This time it is a machine gun. We're all going to die.

"So no more misbehaving!" Monomi chuckles sweetly.

"What are you doing with that thing!?" Heiwai shouts.

I hear some screams (probably from Beni, and definitely none from myself) when people finally process what is going on. It is not the time for that, for most people are simply frozen in place. There is not much you can do against a machine gun, even if you have a combat-based talent.

Just that moment, however, gas begins to slowly cover the room from the front and end, causing all of us to slowly make our way towards the middle. Even Monomi does not have a mask on.

"Sorry about this! We've been having some difficulties in the past, so this is just a safety precaution!" Monomi begins to cough profusely.

There is no time for more explanation as all of us succumb to sleep. It must be a strong gas if it can even put me out. After all, Kotori desired greatly for one of her dolls to be resilient against this type of warfare.


Monokuma Theatre!

There is a dimly lit room with grey walls and the only piece of furniture being a comically large golden throne. Smoke pours in from all sides of the room. It is almost if somebody is abusing smoke machines for their poorly done high school play, almost asking for the stage to accidentally be set on fire.

Monokuma slowly makes her way to the stage, all of her movements slow and methodical. Now that she is not actively playing a character, I notice the small details of her walk. How she drags her feet slowly yet strangely still has a little pep in her step.

"We don't have time or the budget to use the normal Monokuma Theatres. Hiring writers just to write nonsense is such a waste of money. It doesn't help that Monomi is so useless at everything she does," Monokuma says, her expression dour and her voice more serious than I have heard before. "Let's take this time to go over the rules and clarify more things about this unique survival game."

Monokuma makes her way to the throne and takes her time getting herself comfortable in it. She crosses her legs lazily and leans on the left side of the throne, balancing her head with her hand.

"As we said before, this game has a time limit. And I have changed my mind and chosen one of you to have knowledge of it. You could have only several hours. Or maybe severe decades! Who knows, maybe the time limit is just fake? If the game is not won or lost within the time limit, all of you will wish that you're dead! This special...punishment is also given to somebody who breaks our most important rule and lives to tell the tale. None of you are allowed to commit suicide, or have somebody aid in your suicide. Life is precious and I refuse to let anybody give it up so goddamn easily!"

Monokuma shifts in her throne, now leaning on the right side instead and crossing her arms.

"There are no other motives, unless you want to create them yourselves. You might be wondering why somebody would do such a thing, but I have seen before and humanity is just so interesting! Us bears can't even begin to understand you."

Monokuma still cannot make up her goddamn mind about how she should sit. Now she has perfect posture and is staring directly at me. Her eyes do not blink, even as they become more irradiated.

"As for the most important thing, this game only has one motive from us and three different victory conditions. One, somebody successfully kills somebody and wins the trial. Two, you find Yuna Inoue and kill her. Either by taking her life, or destroying everything that Yuna Inoue is. Three, the time limit expires. Technically, you win when the time limit expires, but you must accept your punishment. Puhuhuhu~"

Still not blinking, Monokuma walks closer towards me, until she is directly in my face. She starts breathing down her neck while still keeping direct eye contact with me.

"Use this information wisely, Kazuma. I'll always be rooting for you. No matter what, I'll prove my point. Let's see how Karin likes this from the stars."


When I wake up, it is a room that is all too familiar but completely foreign at the same time. I am on the bottom of the bunk bed, but it is too dark to see who else is in the room with me. If there was a placement for the beds, I have long forgotten them during the chaos of the day.

I must have woken up earlier than I was supposed to. There is no sound except for the train zooming by and what can be presumed to be hail hitting the train harshly. Nobody is stifling in their sleep or even snoring.

Before I decide to do anything, there is a loud beep that rings throughout the room. Nobody else reacts to it. It is almost like nobody else is in this room.

There is a tablet on my bed. I pick it up and am assaulted by the too bright lights. When my eyes adjust to the brightness, I unlock the phone by pressing my thumb on the home button. Automatically there are blood red letters on my screen that seem like they have been picked out by an edgy teenager.

YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN SIX MONTHS. USE YOUR TIME WISELY.

Without being given another option, I am forced back to sleep.

"Goodnight, sweet prince~"


So sorry there hasn't been updates for any CS stories since...July. Oh Jesus. My life has been pretty busy like usual, and my dad is actively trying to ruin my life RIP. Hopefully when I settle this then we can finally finally have more updates. This is a shorter chapter, but I promise the next one will be longer to make up for it. Hopefully.

I've been working on this chapter for awhile since I kept changing my own goddamn mind (and hopefully this is the final outline change...knowing me, it won't be). So sorry if it's a little janky.

Reviews~

Last Chapter-

TheRoseShadow21- Sasha the Chicken is truly the best character. Thanks so much~

AnonChan1- KAZUMA IS VERY STUPID OKAY. Ivan will continue doing things because I love him. Kazuma's backstory with Yuzuki will be explored later and I'm looking forward to that angst train. Kazuma is a problem child that pretends he's mature (just like Shiro lmao). Exploring everything about Yuzuki will be fun~ Monomi needs therapy and honestly I would rather be in a room with Monokuma too since she at least is...not whatever Monomi is. This chapter has even more of Monomi being an absolute creep and I love him. Yasia is playing with fire here. I would say this Kazuma needs a hug, and not the person he unfortunately turns into. Chitose and Norika are going to constantly try to beat Monomi and Monomi will be like 'at least they're becoming friends!' :D Jin and Machi will never get a nap. Ivan and Beni are honestly BroTP. FEED ME MORE OF YOUR RAMBLING. Yuna Inoue is Yuna Inoue.

I'm going to explode everybody's heads by the end of this. Monomi will always plan something, you can trust him with that. ;) Whether Kazuma is the mastermind or the narrator, he will always find a way to break the fourth wall. Corruption arcs are always fun~ Thank you very much! Everybody will be suffering, even the sass queens soon. Everybody is truly Norika. Everybody's state of being in CS is being a little shit. Beni is too precious for this world. I love making everybody suffer with Word of God in this series. Kotori deserves to be Kazuhiko'd even more and that's what the audiobook is for. Let's just keep on killing Kotori over and over again. MONOKUMA WILL YEET ALL OF THE STUDENTS. Mirabilis unfortunately is a little bit too dead. Monomi is Monomi. Pet all the doggos in Afterlife Theatre. HEIWAIIIIIIIIIIIII

Opening-

codywhite162- Thanks so much~ Here's finally a new chapter after...like six months. RIP.

TheRoseShadow21- I had fun writing this opening so good to hear you like it :D