Chapter 38: Day 35

"Now THIS is what I'm talking about!"

Togami hated the sigh of relief he released; however, he wasn't the only one to do so as Monokuma cackled and pointed at the Monokuma backup created. Deciding to go as crude as possible while taking into account the bear's sadistic personality, Togami did his best to throw his preconceived notions of a "heavy arms Monokuma" out the plated window. In short, he had designed the backup to be a toy weapon. He noted how excited Owada and Kuwata had been at the thought of attaching a cannon to the backup, confirming his suspicions that it may be low enough on the entertainment totem pole to satisfy the bear.

Monokuma's smile made him realize that he had been trying too hard these past few backups.

"This is every man's dream!" Sweating profusely, Monokuma excitedly turned to the students. "A freakin' cannon out of the chest! Man, what a time to be alive! How the hell did you all even know how to make this!? It's incredible!"

"We just made it from all the items around here," Naegi answered.

"Yeah, even I was like, 'damn man,' we did it!" Hiro pointed out.

"I'll admit, a cannon was not what I had in mind," Celeste remarked.

"Yo, but ain't it awesome?!" Kuwata exclaimed. If Togami didn't know any better, the Ultimate Baseball Player was just as excited about the toy as Monokuma was.

"Alrighty, let's give it a go!"

Togami's eyes widened as Monokuma pressed the button on the backup. Immediately the engine kicked on, and the sound of the toy coming to life echoed in the gymnasium. The backup's arms raised in a triumphant pose, but as it did, it began to move backwards, the force from the cannon causing it to lift off the ground. With a cackling smile to mimic the real Monokuma's, the toy lunged backwards as the cannon propelled it back into the bleachers. The force was enough to cause a small explosion that pierced everyone's ears, with the sound of metal parts falling to the ground mixed in. Togami instinctively flinched and held his hand up to shield his vision from the wreckage.

And when the light from the explosion dimmed, he saw the backup splattered into pieces on the floor.

"WHAT THE SHIT?!" Monokuma pointed at the group. "Are you all trying to kill me with that thing?!"

"Wh-why the hell did you press the button?!" Enoshima exclaimed.

"Because the button was there!" Monokuma argued. "Why would you install a button you wouldn't want to be pushed?!"

"Well, the blueprint said it needed something to turn it on," Naegi noted. "But we figured if we put the cannon on the front, it would tell you not to–"

"Forget it! I want another one of these, stat!"

"Are we even going to be able to pull that off…?" muttered Hiro. "I mean, the idea was cool, but damn was it a pain in the ass to build."

"And how do we know the next one won't blow up like that?" inquired Maizono.

"I could possibly program something," Fujisaki noted. "But even then, I'm only good at computer programs. It would take me a while to engineer something like that."

"Forget it!" Kicking a piece of the backup that had flown off, Monokuma placed his paws on his hips and growled at them. "I've had it up to here with these backups! You've all been getting by on technicalities, and it's clear you need some time to figure things out! You need to think about what you're doing, reflect on who you are and what you want to be, decide on how you want your future to play out…"

Everyone looked curiously at one another before Naegi finally asked, "Uh, what are you talking about?"

"I mean, you all are getting a vacation!" Clapping his paws together, Monokuma took a step back, and everyone watched as a tile in the floor suddenly retracted, revealing a square hole. In its place, a tall container suddenly appeared and shot upward, and Togami could see through the plastic all sorts of oddities within. The container didn't stop rising until it was nearly seven drawers tall, all incredibly wide and surprisingly deep.

"What is that?" asked Taka, looking curiously at it.

"Is that a video game in there?" inquired Yamada, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

"Wait, I know that movie!" Enoshima exclaimed. "Hey, Monokuma, what's the deal with this?!"

"Your backups suck, that's the deal!" Patting the tower, Monokuma explained, "So I decided you all need some time to relax and think. Think, think, think as we bears say."

"You're making it so we can't work," Kirigiri observed. "And for more than just one day."

"Precisely! You're getting the next 5 days off, starting today. No work, no jobs, no nada. And because you all are teenagers who have the attention spans of goldfish, I knew I would need some supplies. So, you've got movies, you've got video games, you've got books, you've got popcorn, you've got gummies, you've got music, you've got–"

"We get it, already!" Owada interrupted. "There's a lot of shit here!"

"But…why are you doing this?" asked Fujisaki. "This is…kind of nice, to be honest."

"Think of it as a warm-up," answered Monokuma. "Because after your vacation is up, you'll have one final backup to make for me."

"Final backup?" thought Togami, ignoring the cheers from the other students. "But wait…the timing…" Togami frowned. "This bear never does anything for our benefit. What is his angle? And–"

"Why would you give us almost double the amount of time for a final backup?" asked Kirigiri, her voice silencing the other students' celebrations.

"Because it is going to be your biggest project yet," Monokuma replied. "And if it isn't done right, you all are going to be in some serious trouble."

And there it was. The threat sent Togami's way all those days ago, now out in the open. But as he looked around, he saw most of the students were focused on the tower of objects. Half didn't seem to even be listening to Monokuma. He sighed heavily.

"This is going to be a massive problem," he thought bitterly. "And that's exactly what he wants."

"We should take this to the warehouse," Ogami noted, smiling more at Hina's enthusiastic expression than the tower of toys.

"Yeah, let's see what all's in here!" exclaimed Maizono, whose eyes were wide with excitement.

Togami waited and watched as the others, Naegi included, began pushing the tower out of the room. He then looked back at Monokuma, who was smiling cheekily at the scene unfolding. "So we report back here in five days to finish your backup… And you're just going to watch us until then?"

"What's the problem with that?" Monokuma looked up in confusion at Togami. "And I mean, I don't need to watch you kids havin' fun. Especially you and Naegi. Ew, gross." Togami scoffed at the statement, but before he could counter it, Monokuma added, "Besides, why aren't ya thanking me? Now you have all the time you want to look into your little investigation, after all."

"So that's what this is about…" Kirigiri's voice caught Togami's attention, and he glanced over to see that she, too, had stayed behind. He quickly looked around to see it was only the three of them in the gymnasium, the rest of the students having taken the tower of items elsewhere. Kirigiri frowned down at the bear as she said, "You're giving us time to complete our investigation before the final backup."

"Well, I don't know if it'll be enough time. In fact, I'm pretty sure it won't be. But I figured it might give you a push in the right direction."

"But why would you want us solving this puzzle before the final backup?" asked Togami. "None of this is making sense… Wouldn't learning what's really going on here make us want to leave even more? Does he just want to get rid of us at this point? No… No, that doesn't make sense, either, even with Monokuma's idea of the word." Togami frowned, watching as Monokuma sauntered up next to the podium. "Just what is that bear's game here?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out, Chief," Monokuma countered. "Let's just say that I've thought it over, and now, I'm kinda excited to see you all solve the mystery. I can't wait to see your faces when you figure it all out!"

"Oh, we'll solve it, all right," Kirigiri declared. Togami glanced over to see her glaring at the bear.

"I look forward to it! Well, toot-a-loo! And have fun with the games! Don't let them distract you from your fun investi-ma-gation!" Another tile of the floor disappeared, this one underneath Monokuma, and the two watched as he vanished from sight, leaving them alone in the gymnasium.

Togami released a heavy sigh. "So, what do you think?"

"This is a trap, plain as day," Kirigiri remarked. The two looked at one another with serious expressions. "The problem is, I don't know which exactly is the trap. Are the games supposed to lure us away from the investigation…or are we supposed to allow ourselves to be distracted and avoid the search?"

"Figuring out Monokuma's motive may be pointless," Togami replied. "The bear isn't known for running on logic."

"Not our logic, but he does run on a type of logic. He wants something. Why would he suddenly be excited about us solving this riddle?"

"Well, it would be ludicrous to stop here. We should continue investigating, and then proceed from there."

"You think we'll honestly solve this mystery in the next five days?"

"Aren't you the Ultimate Detective?" Smirking over at her, he said, "If you of all people are giving up, then I'm not even bothering."

Togami watched as the frown slowly morphed into a smirk across Kirigiri's lips. "Hmph, you're right," she finally conceded. "I wouldn't be living up to my Ultimate title if I gave up this easily, now would I?" Letting her arms fall to her sides, she nodded and said, "Okay. Giving up now isn't an option. There are too many mysteries to solve. So let's keep moving forward, even if that's exactly what Monokuma wants us to do. We've made it so far, haven't we?"

Togami nodded when the sounds of the gymnasium doors opening echoed throughout the room. He looked over to see Naegi blink in surprise at them. "There you two are!" Rushing forward, he asked, "What are you guys still doing here?"

"Chatting with Monokuma," Togami answered. "The same reason anyone gets left behind in this school."

Naegi chuckled slightly. "Well, you guys have to check out that tower of stuff he gave us! There's tons of things in there! And Hina came up with the idea of hosting a party on our last day of vacation!"

"So everyone's already jumping onboard with this 'vacation' nonsense," Togami observed.

"What kind of 'party' are we talking about here?" inquired Kirigiri, much to Togami's surprise. He glanced over to see her staring curiously at Naegi.

"Well, kinda like a school festival thing," Naegi answered. "There's a lot we can work with, and Maizono pointed out how we haven't had anything school-related occur since we woke up in the classrooms. So she wants to put together a sort of festival in the music hall, and we can set up games, dancing, music, that sort of thing."

"Hm… I suppose that sounds like fun." Kirigiri smirked and nodded. "I'll have to check out this tower, then."

"It sounds like a pain," Togami argued. "It's still gathering items and putting something together, isn't it? The same thing we've been doing since we arrived?"

"Yeah, but at least we have a bit of control over it," Naegi answered. "And Monokuma won't yell at us for it." Naegi's eyes widened as he smiled and asked, "Maybe you could play something for it on the violin?"

"I…" Togami huffed in frustration and shook his head. "I'll consider something, I suppose, if everyone else is participating. But the investigation has to come first."

Naegi nodded and smiled. "Yeah, we have time for that, too, now!"

"So what's going to be our first step?" inquired Togami. He glanced over and blinked in surprise; Kirigiri was already heading towards the exit of the gym. She threw a curious smirk their way and chuckled.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked. When Togami's frown deepened, she replied, "I'm going to check out this tower of items Monokuma gave us."

Togami sighed in defeat before peeking down at Naegi. "Come on, let's go and see this tower…" he trailed off. Naegi nodded, and the two walked side by side out of the gymnasium.