Meanwhile, Kokichi was walking around the roof by himself.

There's gotta be something here… he thought. Even a name for this place would be fine…

"Where is she?"

Kokichi looked towards the source of the voice, a girl with magenta hair tied into two corkscrew-shaped ponytails. Behind a metal box near her lurked a girl with black hair and a blank expression… something about her made Kokichi nervous.

"Is she even coming?" corkscrews asked herself. "Maybe I should just—"

Blank-face jumped out from behind the boxes and latched onto corkscrews' shoulders. "BOO!" she shouted.

"Aishi-Chan!" corkscrews yelled. "You scared me!"

"Sorry, Haruka-Chan," Ayano Aishi said sheepishly. "I wanted to surprise you. …Oh, crap, we're lucky I didn't accidentally knock you off the roof!"

Kokichi relaxed. Of course the two were just being friendly.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"You. I heard you talking to your friend."

'Kokona' went rigid. "Wh-what? How much did you hear?!"

Ayano sighed. "What does your father—"

Kokona Haruka backed up. "Um, I don't really want to talk about that."

"You can tell me," Ayano said. "I want to help you."

"N-no. I can't— not now—" Kokona stammered. "I-I-I gotta go. S-sorry."

Suddenly, Ayano dropped to her knees.

"A-Aishi-Chan?!" Kokona cried. "A-are you okay?!"

Ayano lifted her head. "G-get… out of here…"

Kokichi peeked out from behind the wall. "What's going on?!"

"What?! Were you listening?!" Kokona shouted.

"Th-there's no… time to worry about that…!" Ayano cried, twitching erratically. "You guys need to—"

Before the blank-faced girl could finish her sentence, she lurched upwards.

"Heeeello!" a gleeful voice exclaimed. "Looks like I picked just the right time to pop in!"

"What the hell…?" Kokichi muttered.

Kokona froze. "A-Aishi-Chan?! Wh-what happened to your voice?!"

"Oh?" Not-Ayano wondered. "I didn't know the protagonist's surname was Aishi. Puhuhuhuhu."

Upon hearing the laugh, a chill went down Kokichi's spine. Where had he heard it before?

Notyano took a step towards Kokona. "You. You're the test rival, correct?"

"Wh-what are you t-talking about?" Kokona stuttered.

"Oh, she is! Thank youuuu!" Notyano said to… somebody. "Eh, good to know. You can be next after Pokerface over here." She turned to Kokichi, a grin filled with malice on her face. "Now, would you kindly walk over to the edge of the roof?"

Kokichi went rigid. She's going to kill me!

"Oh, c'mon." Notyano groaned. "I said 'would you kindly'. You're supposed to listen to that."

"Um." Kokichi muttered, scrambling to find his voice. "This isn't Bioshock."

Wow. 11/10. Best thing ever to say to someone who probably wants to throw you to your death.

Notyano went red. "Th-that's not the point! Don't make me drag you!"

"Y-you…" Kokichi said. "You'll have to catch me first."

Kokichi bolted.

Kokichi slammed the classroom door behind him. Peeking out the window on the door, he wondered why Notyano wasn't chasing him.

"Hey, um…"

"Who's there?!" Kokichi looked around wildly, gaze eventually falling on the person outside the other door. Was there someone behind him…?

"Um, Are you okay in there?" The person had pale pink hair and an odd —somewhat feminine— posture.

"Hey, that's…" a spiky-haired boy behind feminine-posture muttered. "No way."

"Hey, there," feminine-posture said. "My name is, um, O-Otohiko Meichi. It's, um, n-nice to m-meet you."

"Hi?" Kokichi replied. Why was this person talking to him? And who was— wait a minute.

"M-Momota-Chan?!" Kokichi cried, bewildered. How the hell did he get here?!

Kaito Momota dashed into the room.

"What's going on?! Are you hurt?! Is everyone else okay?! How did you get here?! Where are we?!" Kaito finished his mini-questioning with a string of… flavorful words.

"L-language…" Otohiko stuttered.

"Crap," Kaito muttered. "What have I gotten myself into?"

"U-um, this is, um… A-Akademi High School," Otohiko answered. "What y-you've gotten yourself into, um, I-I mean. Um… W-would you two like a t—"

"Wait," Kokichi said. "What do you mean, 'gotten yourself into'?"

"You IDIOT!"

"I couldn't just let someone else get themself killed in a murder game!" Kaito protested. "I—" He was interrupted by a bout of coughing.

"Am stupid?" Kokichi offered, swallowing the sudden jolt of concern (It wasn't like he had a reason to care about this guy, but…). "Am a selfless idiot?"

Kaito shook his head. "Whatever. So, Meichi-Kun, what were you saying before we were so rudely interrupted?"

Otohiko smiled nervously. "W-Well, um, I-I was thinking that m-maybe, um, since you're n-new here, apparently, you might, um, l-like a tour."

"Oh, sure!" Kaito exclaimed. "Thank you, Meichi-Kun!"

And off they went.

Kokichi peeked out of the closet. He didn't think they knew he wasn't with them.

It wasn't that he didn't care about knowing about this place. Really, it wasn't. He just wasn't in the mood to hear a voice droning on about another weird school, not in the mood to hear Kaito yelling at him to focus, not in the mood to be paranoid that someone would jump out of nowhere and kill all 3 of them (at least if he wasn't with them he wouldn't be as concerned about them), not in the mood to be scared that at any second, Kaito might just drop dead…

Was it weird that he was just… worried? Worried about a possible murderer walking around? Worried about what happened to that Haruka girl? Worried about… just, basically everything?

Ugh, Get a hold of yourself, his thoughts scolded. You're the Ultimate Supreme Leader. The villain. You're not supposed to be concerned about anyone except yourself.

So, the other part of his brain— the smaller one, he guessed, given that it didn't seem to be a selfish piece of crap— replied to the probably-bigger side. Why am I still so worried?

Kokichi shook his head, doing his best to get rid of his paranoia. It's probably fine. If whatever took over that Aishi girl comes into the school, I'm alone. She'll go after the other two before she comes after me.

…Oh, god, why am I thinking like this?

Strangely, there was still no sign of Notyano.

What felt like an eternity later, Kokichi reached the bottom floor of the school. Nobody had been worried about him not being in class or anything yet. Maybe nobody would notice if he just ran to the gate and left this stupid place.

Kokichi looked to the left and right, and dashed across the hall.

Made it!

Kokichi approached the front door, looked behind him to make sure no teachers or anyone was watching, and tentatively opened the door, hoping to see a peaceful walkway bordered by sakura trees and not a person or unpleasant thing in sight…

The sight that greeted him, however, was anything but.

Kokichi, shaking, forced his gaze down.

On the ground before him was the dead body of Kokona Haruka, eyes shut, barefoot, covered in—

Kokichi barely managed to choke out a scream, and then everything went black.