Chapter 3: Day 2
"So Togami, let me ask you… What do you think of this place?"
The question caused Togami to blink in surprise. Slowly, he turned to look at Kirigiri, who was standing next to one of the beds set against the wall. The lavender-haired girl had asked Togami to accompany her to the nurse's station, where they were to begin their search for necessary items for the repeat Monokuma Casanova. Up until now, she had been quiet, but the question jarred Togami from his search.
"I think this place is a sham and that everyone involved in its creation needs to be fired," Togami answered coldly, tossing a packet of small light bulbs into the box set in the middle of the room. He hadn't been paying attention to what was required to make the previous Monokuma, but at this point, he was willing to throw anything into the box if it meant creating the backup sooner and thus getting off campus.
"So you believe this is an elaborate prank?" Kirigiri asked. Togami watched as she approached him, standing next to him in front of the cabinets. She placed a gloved hand on the countertop and stared curiously at him.
"To a degree," he replied. "Though there are some concerning elements to this whole event." Pointing up at the security camera, Togami remarked, "Somebody clearly had a detailed plan on how they were going to make fools of us, but I have yet to find one security camera that is turned on."
"And what do you think that means?"
"How should I know? And why are you asking me these questions?"
"Because I'm not convinced that this is just some humorous prank," answered Kirigiri. "I think there was supposed to be something more, but then something...happened."
"Well, I would agree that there is nothing 'humorous' about this prank. But there's also no point in pondering over something like that. What matters is getting out of here and making whoever set this up pay for their crimes."
"Hmm, I suppose so…" Finding two boxes of bandages, Kirigiri set one back on the shelf, then tossed the other into the box.
Togami scoffed. "Bandages? You really think we'll need bandages?"
"I'm trying to fill in all the missing items to see what we actually need."
"What are you talking about?"
"Have you not checked your e-Handbook since this morning?"
Togami frowned in confusion and whipped out the e-Handbook. To his surprise, upon turning the device on, his screen brought up a rather complicated menu of items and options. On the left-hand side, a tiny image of each student was shown, along with their current location and assigned task. He and Kirigiri had a pickaxe next to their image, perhaps jokingly indicating they were digging for treasure, while Ishimaru, who had taken charge of the cleaning crew, had a mop next to his. On the right-hand side of the screen was Togami's name, current location, and a small list. All the items in the list, however, were blank. "You think this indicates what we're to find in each room?"
"That's my current hypothesis," answered Kirigiri. "After all, I don't believe Monokuma wants us to fail, despite his erratic behavior. He definitely wants these backups; he wouldn't set all this up otherwise. Therefore, I want to pack as many random items into the box as possible in order to determine what items, if any, appear on the screen."
"Then, if your hypothesis is correct, we can use the e-Handbooks to identify the items we'll need in the future and avoid wasting time searching through meaningless trash." Togami smirked. It was the first logical thing he had heard in two days. Just as he went to put the e-Handbook away, however, he heard the door to the nurse's station open. Both he and Kirigiri turned to see a now familiar head of brown hair appear.
"H-Hey guys!" Naegi greeted, waving as he entered.
"What are you doing here?" Togami asked. "Aren't you assigned to another room?"
"Well, yeah, but…" Fidgeting slightly, he said, "Hina and Ogami keep placing bets on who would find the next item first, and, well, they've pretty much cleaned the room already. So I figured I'd let the other groups know that we're basically done."
"But it's only midday," Kirigiri remarked.
"Right, but… Well, we couldn't find anything else. And we didn't want to jump into another room without asking around."
"I see." Kirigiri glanced around the nurse's station, then shrugged. "I suppose we've scoured most of this room, as well. There's only so much to look at in the span of a few hours."
"I figured we could all bring our boxes to the gym," Naegi added. "It's the largest room, and we can spread our stuff out. Then maybe we can start building if we want, or at least compare what we've all found."
Togami glanced down at the contents of their box and shuddered: a few boxes of light bulbs, some syringes, boxes of bandages, and a bottle of stomach medicine. They were about to look like fools. He hoped the other boxes looked just as pathetic and disorganized only to recall who he was stuck with. He mentally scoffed; he and Kirigiri had a chance of being the most organized, given their competition.
"We'll be there shortly," Kirigiri replied, bringing Togami back to the present.
"Great! I'll go tell the others!" Naegi rushed out of the nurse's station, leaving the two alone once more.
"You don't mind carrying the box, do you?" Kirigiri inquired as she walked towards the door. "That seems like a man's job, if I'm being honest."
Togami scoffed. "More like a plebeian's job," he retorted. He had half a mind to leave the box just to prove a point, but then again, showing up with nothing to the gym also wouldn't serve a purpose. Cursing under his breath, he picked up the box and followed Kirigiri out of the nurse's station and down the hallway. Entering the foyer before the gym, he saw the doors were already open, and the sounds of people talking reached his ears. The duo stepped inside to see a majority of the students already gathered, their boxes set in the middle of the gym floor.
"Bro, there was nothing but junk in that room!" Kuwata shouted as he kicked his box. "Just a bunch of screws and notebooks!"
"We'll no doubt require screws in order to put together the parts," Celeste shot back in her sweet yet bored tone. "I would hardly consider that to be 'junk.'"
"Well Sakura and I found a ton of stuff!" Hina exclaimed. By now, Togami and Kirigiri had approached the group, and Togami swiftly set his box down with the others before fixing the cuffs of his shirt. "We were in the art room, and we found chisels, and blocks of marble, and a few screwdrivers, and, and-"
"Wow, now I feel bad," Enoshima remarked. "Me and Hiro here were up in the gardens. There's a massive, and I mean MASSIVE, plant up there."
"Yeah, and it's cursed!" proclaimed Hiro. "I did a reading of its aura, and there's a 70% probability that by the end of this, it'll eat one of us whole!"
Togami blinked twice at the sheer stupidity of the statement and wished he could shut his brain off to protect it from further damage. He took a few steps back to distance himself from the rest before pulling out his e-Handbook. Recalling Kirigiri's words, his gaze wandered down to the list, and his jaw dropped slightly at the changes on the screen. Just as the girl had predicted, his handbook lit up with all the items discovered by himself and Kirigiri. Not only that, but as he swiped between the rooms on the map, he noted that similar lists for those rooms were also filling up with items. There were still some blanks, but he found that the list for the nurse's station contained most of the items found by them.
Meaning it wasn't just 'junk,' as Kuwata had so idiotically indicated. These were required materials.
"The cleaning crew has arrived!" a familiar voice rang out. Togami scowled as Ishimaru led, almost like a general to a battlefield, his group of cleaners. Behind them was Naegi, who quickly rushed forward towards the center. As he went to pass Togami, however, he noticed the e-Handbook in his hand and smiled up at him.
"So you noticed it too?" he asked, his voice barely registering above the sea of conversation coming from the others.
"What, that our e-Handbooks have lists of materials required?"
"Yeah. It also contains blueprints for certain items that I think we'll need to complete the Monokumas. With this, I'm sure we can get out of this mess sooner than we thought!"
Togami smirked. Naegi was clearly trying to be the cheerleader of the group, keeping morale and spirits up, but did Togami look pathetic enough to require that from such a commoner? "Yes, well, let's see what all is necessary before we start premature celebrations, shall we?"
As if on cue, the sound of a microphone being tapped caught their attention, and everyone turned towards the direction of the main stage. Standing on the podium just as he had done yesterday was none other than Monokuma. All conversation ceased, and silence filled the large gymnasium. Togami frowned, finding it a little more than disturbing how the bear seemingly showed up at random all around the school.
"Awww, you all are such good students!" Monokuma began, blushing slightly and giggling as he spoke into the microphone. "It's as though you already guessed my schedule! You all are just too good!"
"What schedule?" asked Maizono. She had been sitting on the floor sorting through the boxes, and Togami watched as she looked curiously up at the bear with determined eyes.
"Your schedule! I mean, here's the deal. It'd be Easy Mode if you all just spent each and every day and night looking for items. Heck, you'd be done by the end of today if that was the case!" Pointing at them, the bear proclaimed, "So, you can only work in the mornings! Once noon hits, you must stop working and spend the rest of the day relaxing. Maybe you can read, or play some games in the rec room, or…" Blushing profusely, the bear added, "Maybe some time in the hot baths would help you all wind down from a tough day… And maybe add a little fun in your lives..."
Togami growled. "So you want us to create backups for you but plan on handicapping us at every opportunity?"
"What a rich comeback from the Togami heir," countered the animatronic bear. "Aren't you one who feels conflict breeds personality or some other silly notion?"
Togami's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Kirigiri once again took charge of the conversation. "What will happen to us if you find us searching for items in the afternoon?"
"I mean, you can search and do whatever you please, but any items found after 12:00 noon will be discarded and redistributed. That's cheating, after all! And don't worry, I'll be keeping a close eye on the boxes here. Anything, and I mean anything that's added after 12:00, it goes bye-bye!"
"And just what the hell are we supposed to do with all our free time?" demanded Owada. "It's not like we can go outside or something!"
"You can still explore the school campus," Monokuma answered. "Spend time with friends, plan some hang out sessions, get to know one another… Ya know, just like a normal high school. Is it that hard to understand?"
"You mean we can go swimming?!" Hina asked, her eyes wide with sudden happiness.
"That's for you to decide! But now…" The school bell chimed, and Togami glanced down at his e-Handbook to see that it was exactly 12:00. "Your duties for the day are done, and the rest of the day is yours!"
Then, as quickly as he arrived, the bear disappeared behind the podium.
Togami turned on his heel and began to leave the gym. The sound of someone calling his name reached his ears, but he ignored it and stepped out into the foyer. After all, if he was done for the day, then that meant he was no longer obligated to spend time with the others. And that meant he could continue his own investigation for information.