As the morning came, the students were greeted by the sounds of the morning announcement chiming throughout each of their rooms, waking up the groggy students from their restless sleep. Makoto struggled to open his eyes to great the new day.
"My body feels heavy." He complained, still incredibly tired from the night before. After Monokuma's announcement of there being a motive for them to begin the killing game with each other being given to them in the morning, he and the others begrudgingly decided to turn in for the night, believing that it would be better to face the demented bear's attempt well rested and prepared then fatigued and weary.
Unfortunately for Makoto, the entire concept of being told there would soon be a reason for someone to attempt a kill and not being given the motive right away, had allowed him time to dwell on what the motive could possibly be, and had unfortunately caused him to stay awake for most of the night tossing and turning, before he strangely passed out around three. Afterwards, what little sleep he had managed to get was filled with anxiety induced nightmares.
Not wanting to be the cause of delay, the boy slowly forced himself out of his warm, comfy bed and began his trek across the room towards his shower room. Taking a moment to grab the door handle, and momentarily forgetting that Monokuma told him that the frame wasn't properly set, he walked straight into the door rather than through it. Now more awake, and in a bit of pain, he then actually opened the door while holding his poor nose, and headed to the small sink next to the personal standing shower.
Glancing into the mirror of the medicine cabinet hanging over it, the fatigued luckster gazed at his haggard appearance. There was a noticeable amount of darkened space under his eyes, signifying how his body felt about the loss of a proper night's rest, and his hair was a veritable mess from his late night tossing. There was also a noticeable dimness in his eyes from just how tired he felt.
Sighing, he splashed some cold water into his face, and after rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, grabbed a small comb that he'd picked up a few days ago from the supply closet and attempted to calm the rat's nest his hair had become overnight. Once he had managed to get it to a somewhat manageable level, aside from the ahoge that always popped up no matter what he tried, he was about to brush his teeth when he caught sight of something unusual in the edge of his vision.
On his right wrist was a band, black in coloration and about an inch in diameter, wrapped tightly around the limb in a seal less connection. On top of the accessory was a very familiar jagged red eye of the Monokuma that pulsed slightly in unison with his slowly increasing heartbeat.
"What-
"-the heck are these?"
Kiyoko turned to regard the others as Mondo as he fiddled with the band on his right wrist, visibly upset that it had been put on his person in his sleep. Looking around at the other students gathered in the cafeteria revealed them all to possess similar metal bands on their own wrists. If she were to glance at her own arm, she knew she would bear witness to one such band of her own.
It seemed that overnight they'd all had an uninvited guest visit and slip one of these strange bands onto them. There was no doubt in the amnesiac girls mind that their captor was the one to give these new pieces of gear to her and classmates. Considering that they were the only one who could possibly infiltrate their locked domiciles to place these onto their person, it was rather obvious, all things considered.
"I'm not sure," Junko stated, just as confused as the others. "But, I know it clashes with my…everything."
Despite several of the others shaking their heads or rolling their eyes at her comment, I knew 'Junko' wasn't lying about her confusion at the new accessory.
This hadn't been a part of the original plan. I knew that, and I could only guess what was going through her mind at me not telling her what I was doing.
This most likely didn't sit well with her. Why hadn't her sister told her about these new developments? Did she do something to upset the despair loving sibling of hers in some way? Or was this part of another of the endless tests that her sister constantly gave? Or was this just another of her little 'whims' she tended to have? All of this and more probably ran through her mind as things were progressing in a way she didn't understand.
She didn't know the answers to these questions, but considering what I had planned, I couldn't just let her in on my scheme just yet; no matter how much it served to frustrate and annoy her
"They're kinda creepy," commented Asahina, staring at the lightly pulsing red light as it seemingly glared back at her. "I mean, what's with the blinking?"
That was something the others were wondering too, and several of the more curious and inquisitive were actually ether poking or prodding at the dim light. Some of the more naturally aggressive of them, Mondo, and Leon, were trying to use their raw strength to pull their own bands off; not wanting the bracelet on them any longer than necessary. Considering their situation, and the last time something had been acting unusual nearly caused one of them to be blown up, many of them shared the sentiment; even if they didn't act on it.
Unfortunately for them, whatever they were made of was far more durable then the meager strength that ether of the two were able to surmount, and the far more physically stronger, Sakura, wasn't attempting to remove her own; more so from being unwilling to risk angering their captor then being unable to break her own bond. So the bands stayed put, locked tightly to the wrist of each of the teens and one childish adult.
"Creepy!?" shouted my Monokuma's eerily high pitched voice from behind them in an insulted tone, causing several of them to jump back from shock. "I'll have you know they are highly sophisticated, technologically advanced, monitoring systems made for the purposeful observing of the vitals, pulse, and blood pressure of the wearers; they are not creepy."
The sudden appearance of Monokuma caught everyone off guard, many stunned into mild panic induced silence at the bear's outrage. Kyoko, being one of the few that recovered quickly, decide to take the initiative to question the monotone bear.
"So they're heart monitors?" she asked, to which my two color bear instantly lost his look of fury that I had been faking and gave her a nod of confirmation.
"Yep, that's right, but there's more than just a simple pulse checker. They're the 'Mono-lifeline'! Patten pending."
Ignoring the looks of incredulity aimed my way, and a comment of "Seriously?" from one of them, the bear and I continued our spiel, the bear pacing as it did so. "You see, after the near tragedy in the gym, which was unfortunately only near, I realized that I had no real way to make sure when you bustards up and died on me. Outside of the camera systems and Monokuma's, of course. If one of you guys managed to just, oh I don't know, got killed out of sight of one of the cameras, then I'd never be able to properly tell who the blackened is and we'd have to leave it up to luck and chance!"
Turning to face them fully now, Monokuma pointed dramatically towards them. "…And while that might be something someone like Makoto or Celeste might enjoy, I refuse to have luck rule over your lives! If someone is going to die, then it's going to be because someone killed them, or because they were punished; no exceptions!"
Both of the mentioned students glared at the bear for his remark, but I remained unperturbed. To the surprise of many, but unfortunately not me, Byakuya stepped forward with his own observation.
"I'm assuming then that these are the 'gift' you spoke about last night." The half and half bear tilted his head slightly, seemingly confused by the prodigy's words. But internally, I was laughing my ass off at being able to have another chance to mess with him.
"Huh? What do you mean? Why would a precautionary measure to keep you from cheating be a gift? Kind of defeats the purpose of calling it a 'gift' then."
Several eyes widened at the bear's remark, but were unable to comment as I had it cross its arms and grip its chin in contemplation. "Though, I suppose, if I really think about it, I guess you could call them gifts. I mean I am giving them to you out of the kindness of my heart, and free of charge to boot! I guess, they kinda are gifts then. Huh. Well, then I guess you could say this is just part one of your gift!"
Confused looks passed over each of the students, concerned over what the maniacal bear could be indicating. What could possibly be their so called 'gift' if these bands weren't it? Feeling a bit brave, Makoto cautiously spoke up. "If this is part one, then what's the other part?"
"I'm glad you asked!" I replied through the headmaster bear excitedly. "I've got a special movie set up for each of you over at the place that movies can be played. If you'd like to receive your real gift, simply go to that place and watch your own specialized movie to find out what it is. See you then!"
And just like that, the bear left their sights once more, leaving only a sense of trepidation and fear in its wake. The students gazed upon each other, wondering who among them would be the first to say anything. It didn't matter at the moment who it was to speak up to them, anything would better than this foreboding silence.
"So, who's going first?"
I watched as best I could from my camera as poor Makoto watched his video, his face becoming more and more horrified by the second. After being more or less volunteered by Mondo to check out the A/V room first, he had reluctantly gone to check it out for the others. Inside, he had found a cardboard box I'd had one of the Kuma's slip in earlier sitting on one of the dozens of monitors. Within the box he had found several CDs labeled out one for each of them. Curiosity taking hold, he had taken his own CD, plugged in one of the headphones into a monitor, and proceeded to watch.
At first, it wasn't all that bad. It was a simple video, his parents and younger sister offering words of praise and encouragement, wishing him well on his enrollment to Hope's Peak. The shire amount of cheer and enthusiasm they were giving him actually caused him too momentarily forget where he was and the situation he and the others were in.
However, then the screen filled with black static, startling him at the abrupt change. Then a new image formed that would cause his blood to run cold.
His wonderful and beautiful home that he had sent so many happy memories in was torn to shreds. Windows were shattered, cushions were ripped apart, and his family was nowhere to be seen. Then, before he had time to truly absorb what he was seeing, those horrifying words appeared on the screen.
*Look for the answer after Graduation! *
It was the same video from the first motive of the game. A true work of despair that makes you want to harm the nearest warm body. But it wasn't the only piece of Junko's sickening handy work. Each of the students had their own personalized video that used similar dirty tactics that were disgusting in how they manipulated them.
Makoto got off pretty hard, but he was just the tip of the despair iceberg. Each of them were terrible clips following the same theme. First, the people that they loved, respected, and treasured were placed into a familiar environment where they would offer they're words of support, love, and occasionally wisdom. Even those that couldn't give a damn for the people in the videos at least had a nice clip involving their family members promising to watch over the creatures the respective student; to my shock.
Then, those happy feeling would be dashed as things would take a dark turn where those same comforting locations would be fade back in destroyed, everything nice with the environment ruined, and if their loved ones weren't missing, then they would be found on the ground, seemingly unconscious or possibly worst. Living with the knowledge that their loved ones could be badly hurt or worst was a terrible feeling to have to deal with, but to know that whatever had happened to them could have only been done because of them was devastating to say the least.
"Goddamn it! I got to get out of here! I-I have to make sure they're safe." As the Luckster was proving right now. Screaming and swearing like a lunatic, saying things he didn't mean, making promises he couldn't keep, all while so distraught that he didn't even notice that his fellow classmates who had arrived to check up on him had been rendered stunned silent in the door by his shouting. Even the more stoic of them, Kyoko, Byakuya, and Celeste were shocked into a wide-eyed stupor by the normally optimistic boy and his uncharacteristic behavior.
"M-Makoto?" Sayaka, cautiously asked, having been the one to retrieve the others. "…What happened?"
The mentally hurt boy turned to look at them with a look of shock, as if seeing the students for the first time. Then his head tilted down in shame, upset with himself for losing it so easily when he had been one of the ones most dedicated to keeping everyone hoping for their eventual release. Between him and Kiyotaka, it was honestly difficult to tell who had been putting more into keeping spirits up and, asking them to stay calm and work together. Yet here he was acting what to them seemed like an irrational maniac.
However, after that video Makoto would need time to process what he'd seen. His nerves were shot; he couldn't form a proper sentence if his life depended on it. Wordlessly, he pointed over to the box, filled with the other DVDs that Monokuma had left out for them. A moment passed before everyone silently approached the box, retrieving their labeled CD as they did, and headed over to watch their own videos.
But, what images that were shown on each of them caused them to pale drastically.
I watched from my spot behind my console, sitting with my arms crossed over my generous bust and my feet propped up, staring at the students as they watched their friends and family encouraging them for their joining the prestigious school. Wishing them well in their studies, telling them to give it their all, find some people to befriend, and such things practically plagued these videos. A few of them, like Leon's and Sayaka's videos primarily focused on their former team and band respectively preforming a cheer and a song in recognition of their time together. Some were like Hiro's and Hifumi's and had a member of their family being a bit overbearing before they cut out. But, even those had a feeling of pride throughout.
The only exception had been Mukuro's, since I was still here and a mercenary group like Fenrir wouldn't want their faces to be shown on an easily accessible disk, she had not originally had one made. This meant to me that Junko had recorded one of her own for her twin to watch, which I confirmed when I watched the one labeled for her and found a particularly dark sight with an even darker message contained on it.
I knew this because I had looked through each of them to make sure they wouldn't cause as much of a problem as they did in game. Originally, Sayaka's had cut out about halfway through, only to show all of her band mates unconscious a minute later underneath a Monokuma banner. This is what sparked her attempt to murder one of her other classmates.
Now, I obviously didn't want to simply let thing go that way again, but I also didn't want to be playing a guessing game as to who would make the first attempt. So instead, I was going to play a far more risky card. A gamble that would hopefully bring them closer towards helping each other, rather than killing each other.
I was going to combine motives.
"W-What the hell is this!?"
The shout of the Ultimate Clairvoyant echoed through the room, summing up the collective thoughts of his fellow classmates. Similar cries of outrage and disbelief burst forth from several of the others. Ranging from Leon slamming his fist into the keyboard, Celeste silently stewing in carefully concealed fury, to Chihiro breaking out into tears; the reactions to their videos were several shades of despair.
"Y-You son of a bitch!" the enraged shout of the Ultimate biker burst forth as he glared at the screen in front of him.
"It must be fake…I-it has got to be fake." Taka said to himself quietly, trying to convince himself that what he had seen couldn't happen. "And, even if it wasn't… There's n-no way… Dad would never give in… never."
Byakuya stood stock still, seemingly unaffected to a casual observer. However, if one would look closer they'd see that his hands were gripping into his sleeves and his teeth were grit tightly. "So, this is the kind of game we're playing."
"W-Why is this happening?" the meek Programmer begged for an answer as she watched
"T-this can't be real. This h-has to be fake right!?" Hina practically shouted, completely appalled by what she had just witnessed. Her body shook as she wrapped her arms around herself to keep steady. Never in her life had she wished that everything was a dream, but no matter how much she pinched herself, she wasn't waking up.
As for the others, similar looks of dismay and frustration passed over their faces. Sakura and Leon gripped their fists in anger as the watched their home and former team respectfully, get demolished by more of the strange masked people leaving nothing but destruction and bleeding forms behind. Toko and Hifumi stared with wide unfocused eyes as their beloved friend and family were grabbed by similarly disguised persons. Even Celeste was glaring at the screen with utter loathing. The only ones who gave no outward response were Kyoko and Junko.
In the case of the former, her video was a piece of her past. Back when she was still a happy, smiling little girl who was playing in a field with her papa, mama, and grandfather, just enjoying life. It was obviously a homemade film considering how often the camera danced around, but the smiles on their faces and the laughter in their voices made the entire thing so enjoyable you couldn't help but get swept up in the honest joy. But then the voice of Monokuma kicked in as the clip changed to the field completely aflame and those happy emotions left you with nothing but dread. I can still remember what it said oh so clearly.
"Such a beautiful scene, a loving father playing with his cute little daughter with not a care be found between them. Such a lovely portrait of hope, isn't it? Ah, but alas, it wasn't meant to last. Now they're gone, and there's no telling what happened to them. And the father whom the cute little one has grown to despise is gone, her worried mother fretting at home, and the grandfather who holds all the answers you seek is nowhere to be found. Where could they have all gone?"
*Look for the answer after Graduation! *
However, despite how shocking this information was, she didn't even flinch. Oh, the look on her face was far from okay, but she was defiantly refusing to show how much the film had gotten to her. I could only speculate how deeply she was taking in the information and how she was doing her best to analyze it from a realistic standpoint. But I couldn't focus on her for too long, despite how much I desperately wanted to so that I could pick her brain.
The real focus I had though was the last student. 'Junko' I guess, had intentionally waited to grab her DVD last and was quietly observing her fellow classmates, possibly trying to decide how she felt about the amounts of despair practically rolling off of them. But as she watched hers I couldn't help but feel a small bit of smug satisfaction and hint of pity at her horror stricken face.
Her video was vastly different from the others in that, it didn't start out nice at all. No family to wish her well, no friends to offer words of encouragement, not even good tidings from her former group. No her started with death and despair, and ended with death and despair.
From the first scene, you could only see dozens of dead bodies. All piled atop each other in multiple piles, blood pooling on the ground down the horror stricken faces of each corpse. And to make matters worse, every single body, while different in either height, race, or gender, all shared two similarities.
The military grade flak jackets, and a wolf shaped tattoo on their right hands.
Then came not the voice of the sick little bear they'd been dealing with, but the twisted words of a woman, that only she and I knew all to well.
"Hello dear sister! I hope you've been enjoying your time getting to know the others all over again. So, what do you think of my little 'motivational gift' hmm? All of that stupid gang that took you away from me, all finished in a truly despairing fashion. Gawd damn, it took me so freaking long to get it all set up for you, but I did it!"
And like that, she appeared on screen, showing that she was in front of some sort of green screen effect that allowed her to walk amongst the decaying. But even knowing that this was my face now, it didn't stop the shivers I felt when the sick girl, Junko Enoshima smiled that twisted, perverted smiled.
"But I'll admit, if you're watching this then you know how freaking bored I'm getting up here! Ugh, I thought you said you'd keep that from happening if I let you play as me, yet here we are. We're still without a single god damn dead body. Oh, what to do, what to do?"
I had to resist the urge to groan at her complaining. I had grown up with the belief that whining would never get you anywhere in life, and that complaining over something you couldn't control was a waste of energy and resources. So to see what was essentially my body moaning and groaning like that really didn't make me feel all that good.
"Hey, I got an idea! ~ If you could go kill off Makoto, that would really get things going in a heartbeat! So if you'd don't mind, would you kindly go and kill that pain in the ass first chance you get? Thank you oh so very much!"
I couldn't help but sneer at disgust when I'd first heard her say that. Oh course that sadist would follow up the deaths of several people Mukuro loved by telling her to kill the only boy she'd ever gained a crush on. It was just the kind of sick action that woman of despair would want to see. But then all of that disgusting cheer left the face of this crazy woman who I'd taken over, leaving just the nastiest glare I'd ever had the misfortune of seeing.
"And if you don't, well, then I guess you can go join these fuckers again on a more permanent biases. I lost you to them once, I'd rather not do it again unless you make me. Understand? … K, bye!"
And with that abrupt change in tone, the video ended. When I'd first seen it, I had the combined urges to vomit, smash the accursed DVD, and to harm the next person I saw; not necessarily in that order. However, because I literally couldn't do the last two, on account that I needed the former, and the latter wasn't possible from the control room without lethal repercussions. I really wasn't feeling up to being sick again either, so instead I decided to use my rage to fuel my attempts to look for something I could do to save them.
That was how I'd stumbled upon the communication relay that directed me to Soda. As well as a few others.
But in the here and now, as Mukuro finished her video and glanced over at the shell-shocked luckster, or rather, her new target, I knew that if it wasn't for the fact that someone else would be beating her to the punch, I'd have to keep a closer eye on her.
But when I thought about it, it made sense; in a twisted, mentally disturbed way. Junko and her sister seemed to believe that they needed to cause each other to feel despair, solely because they were twins who could understand each other. Or at least, that's what was implied.
Now, it would only be a matter of time now before the first killings began.
"…For Sayaka, there is no place to return to. So here's the big question…What, oh what could have caused her beloved Idol group to fall apart like this?"
*Look for the answer, after graduation!"
Sayaka's entire body trembled as she watched her closest friends and rivals lying on the floor of the stage, completely unmoving. She could barely hear Monokuma jeering at her through the screen, her movements almost robotic as she reached up and removed her headphones letting them fall to the floor with a near silent clatter. Her mind tried desperately to deny what she had seen, tried to force away the images now burned into her retinas.
Unfortunately, every time she closed her eyes that horrible image of her former idols appeared, refusing to let her be. Then in that moment, something deep within her snapped.
At that same moment, she felt someone's hand gently land on her shoulder, sending a wave of shock though her body. Without a second thought, she jerked completely away from the limb as if it were on fire, practically throwing herself against the wall as she did so. Not stopping to see who it was that had touched her, out of fear and shame she made to rush the door, a single thought bubbling to the surface and escaping her lips as she ran.
"I-I have to get out of here! I need to get out of here right now! I can't…I can't be stuck here any longer!"
Unfortunately for her, her request to leave was denied in more ways than one. Instead of rushing through the door, she slammed right into it, the resounding metal slam echoing though the room and startling the others as she practically bounced off and onto the floor. Unconcerned for the fact that her palms were screaming at her from the rough landing as well a few of her classmate's calling for her in concern, she quickly leapt back to her feet and grasped the door handle to part of her freedom.
In her flustered state, she couldn't remember whether it was a pull or pushing kind of door, nor did she really care; the suddenly claustrophobic feeling room preventing any thought other then, "escape!" Slamming her full weight into the door again and again, she tried to force the door open; but to no avail. The strangely locked door refused to budge in the slightest despite her efforts.
Just when it seemed she was about to reach a whole new level of frustration, there was a shout from the other side of the room that caused a sudden chill to run down their spines once more.
"Hey, pipe down will ya!? The show is about to start, and I for one don't want to miss it!"
Everyone's eyes quickly snapped towards the front of the room were just before the projector was the irritating source of their frustrations and anguish, Monokuma. Suspiciously enough, placed just next to him was a ridiculously massive bag with man red and white stripes on it and stuffed to the point of overflow with what appeared to be popcorn.
"You!" growled Mondo as he stomped furiously over to stand next to the half and half fiend. "You've got some fucking nerve showing your face here! What's with these twisted videos, you sick bear bastard!"
If Monokuma was intimidated, it hid it very well. "Well, obviously they're prologues. Honestly, haven't you ever heard of a trailer? You know, little snip bits of the full movie to get you all hyped up or just even intrigued about it."
Mondo growled at being spoken to like he was intellectually challenged, but before he or anyone could say anything else to their captor, the lights in the room suddenly dimmed and the projector was activated. As some soothing music began to play, Monokuma shushed the room once more.
"Welcome to the show! This picture is sponsored in part by, the Despair Lifeline Hotel!"
A beautiful sounding woman's voice spoke in a calm and southing tone, introducing the students to a scrolling view of a rather nice looking hotel overlooking an equally nice looking part of some kind of city. But, even though the appearance seemed nice, the sudden cry of Monokuma startled them out of truly appreciating it.
"Gah! Commercials! Hate them." Just to put emphasis on this, the bear threw some of the popcorn it had been holding at the screen. Not able to respond to the pelting of wasted food, the video continued.
"Have you ever wished to give someone you care about some time to themselves? Have you ever wanted to send them away from it all where they can be kept safe from the world at large? Even if they don't want to themselves? Then send them here to live their lives in luxury. It doesn't matter who it is, we'll take them out of their home, jobs, what have you, and we'll place them into their own personal rooms to spend the rest of their lives in!"
A sense of foreboding filled the hearts of the students at the woman's words. This sounded far too similar to what they were experiencing for comfort, and it didn't help matters that when the view changed over to show off the high quality hotel rooms where a figure was pounding at the door to their room. But, to the horror of the class, one of them especially more so then the others, the person they quickly identified as female started to shout in protest to her imprisonment.
"Let! Me! Out! Come on!" the unidentified girl shouted as she banged her fist repeatedly on the door with every word, only stopping to occasionally ram her shoulder into the locked blockage, or to jiggle the unresponsive doorknob. After a minute of her violent physical and verbal assault on the poor door, the teenaged girl growled as she briefly paused to brush away her ahoge that had fallen into her vision during her assault. Then, she turned around and the students caught sight of her rather normal looking face and her sailor style school uniform as she turned again to kick the unmoving door so hard she practically flung herself onto the floor with a cry. That seemed to set off one of the students enough that he called out the name of the girl in panic.
"Komaru!" shouted Makoto in worry, greatly concerned about his younger sister being held against her will. But, before he could do anymore, the video moved over to include a rather "fluffy" young woman, a deeply tanned boy in a green sport jacket, and a pink haired woman in a blue coat, all being taped from different rooms. As each one appeared, the woman's voice rang through, continuing to advertise the hotel as if there wasn't people being held hostage.
"Have a younger sister who's a more interesting protagonist then you? Or maybe your sister is to overbearing and successful for you. Maybe you have a loving, yet slightly jealous brother that you want to keep safe. Or just maybe you feel that you mother has been smoking too much for your liking as she tells you to be more careful with your money; no worries, we'll lock them up safe and sound from the outside world."
The otaku Hifumi was frozen with terror induced shock at the sight of his sister, Fujiko Yamada, as she sat in the hotel room with her sketching pad. From the large amounts of wadded up balls of paper surrounding her, and her frustrated expression, he could tell she had been stress drawing. It was something that he knew that she only did when she was feeling ether extremely upset by something or something was causing her to worry.
Poor Hina was holding her hands over her mouth as she tried to contain her scream of both fear and relief at the sight of her younger brother, Yuta Asahina, sitting on his bed and staring out of the bulletproof glass that served as his window. She felt very conflicted as she looked at him. She was happy that he was alright considering the fact that her video showed him getting dragged away by a bunch of strange men, yet she was concerned that he was being held captive at all. Not to mention the fact that he looked a bit thinner then she remembered.
Hiro was grabbing at his massive locks of hair as he looked at his mother, Hiroko, trying to convince himself that it was staged, that it was just another part of this massive prank the school was pulling on them. But it was getting increasingly difficult to do so as he kept staring at the corner of her mouth where her noticeably absent cigarette was replaced with her thump as she chewed on her nails; a habit he knew she only did when she had been without a smoke for longer than a day or so. And, if he were to judge by how small her nails currently were, and by how twitchy she was currently, it had to have been at least several days to a few weeks since her last one.
But as these students were trying, and failing to compose themselves, the screen changed over to show three new rooms and the people contained within. While there was a cry of outrage and a few for it to be changed back, it was pointless as the sick excuse of a commercial continued unhindered.
"Not so close family members bugging you to get together with them in a way you're not comfortable with? Maybe your father is too busy in the force, or they're spending too much time on the computer at work to spend time together with you anymore. Not a problem, we'll keep them away from all forms of communication and technology so you don't need to worry about them bothering you during their stay."
Leon lowered his head at the sight of his overly loving cousin, Kanon Nakajima, as she stared hopelessly with eyes empty of emotion at a single photo frame on her desk, a picture held within the worn wood that he knew too well. It was a photo of when she had first became the manager of his middle school baseball team. It wasn't the best picture he'd ever been in. It was at an awkward angle and he had blinked in a weird way because of the flash on the camera going off a bit early, but she had absolutely loved it simply because it was the only picture she had where he had willingly hugged her first. Just seeing it again caused the walls of his stomach to gain knots, and the haunting look it her eyes only caused him to feel that much worst.
Taka meanwhile, was trying to keep his composer as he stared at the man he knew as his father, one Takaaki Ishimaru, as he stood and walked back and forth on a well-worn stretch of carpet. His graying hair was a severely frazzled, and it looked like the man hadn't had a proper shave in a long while, but there was no mistaking the officer of the law who had been a major influence throughout the moral compass's life.
Sweet little Chihiro was doing her best to keep from bursting into tears at the sight of her father, Taichi Fujisaki sitting in a chair by the hotel bed, cleaning his glasses with a piece of cloth despite the lenses being completely spotless. The elder Programmer looked fine from an outsider perspective, but to Chihiro, the signs of emotional fatigue was extremely apparent. She had seen him like this only a few times in the past, usually after he'd had a particularly difficult time at work. But, never did he seem as lifeless and hopeless as he did now, and it only made the Ultimate Programmer desire nothing more than to reach through the screen to give him a hug; despite all logic telling her it was impossible.
"If you've got a friend or rival, never do you have to worry about them ever again! You can send even your second in command from your gang, or maybe one of your fellow stars if you feel they get a bit too demanding.
The Ultimate Biker gang Leader, Mondo, knew that when the image of his second in command and elite guard, Takemichi Yukimaru, appeared on screen that things were going to be bad for the gang; even without the memory of the picture in the first video, he could say that much.
But, seeing his closest and most loyal member of his and his brother's gang doing what looked like an insane amount of push-ups in a wife-beater shirt while using his bed to elevate his legs to intensify the exercise, all the while stating something about 'avenging Leader-sama's gang', it painted a horrible picture into the biker's mind that made him gnash his teeth in furry and clench his fist so hard that had his nails been just the least bit sharp, he would have caused his palms to bleed.
Sayaka didn't bother looking back at the screen, not willing to risk seeing how her fellow idol was. She was already frazzled seeing them all in her video ether unconscious or dead; she didn't know which it was and she was too afraid to find out. It wasn't that she didn't care about if one of them was alive or not, if anything she was relieved to know that they might have all survived; she was just terrified that she wouldn't be able to see their faces on stage again. She was full of despair at the thought that after everything they did…what she did to get them to the top, which was now possibly all in vain…
So she ignored the image of her coworker to focus on getting through this infuriating door, away from the people that were now in her mind registered as obstructions to her goals; no matter how much it disgusted her to think that way of anyone, even her friend Makoto. But, at the moment she didn't have time for disgust or personal feelings or even morals. She need to get out of here.
No matter the cost.
"Worried about your elders, be they close friends or employed by your family or relatives of yours? No worries, we'll take great care to ensure their tired old bones are kept protected and completely safe until their inevitable passing."
The heir to the Togami line, Byakuya silently grit his teeth at the sight of his main butler, Aloysius Pennyworth, for the second time in such a short interval; still being held against his will, though comparatively in much nicer conditions this time around. In a living situation where he had to focus on staying on the top, even among his own siblings, the man had been one of the few people in his household that he could put his full trust in. So, seeing the elder caretaker that had been so supportive of him being used like this, he felt it was only logical that he would feel upset.
Still, as he glanced at his peers and competitors in this twisted game he kept his expression as neutral as possible. In this situation where it would be kill or be killed, he knew giving them any semblance of weakness to exploit against him would be foolhardy. So he would keep quiet for now, and when the time came he would stand victorious in this so-called game.
Kyoko gazed intently at the elder man who the bear had claimed to be her grandfather with full scrutiny, watching his movements for any sign of deception or hint that he was anything other then what their mutual captor claimed he was. Now that she had a clear video of his current looks, she needed every second to analyze the hunched back man. Just from how quickly this advertising announcer was going through each of the video clips, she could guess that she wouldn't have longer then a moment. But if her constant observations she'd been making since the start of the game were any indication, she would be able to make plenty in the short time given.
"And pets? No problem; whether it's a cat groomed for high society, or even an overgrown stinkbug, we'll keep your little buddies secured in one of our special hotel rooms."
Celeste stared blankly at the black cat in a frilly collar on screen as it glared at the camera recording it from atop a rather fancy pillow. The part that had her internally fuming though was the fact that this same roundish cat was held within an almost unreasonably large pet carrier. Grand Bois Chéri Ludenberg was not some animal to be caged, and the fact that someone had the gall to not only take her treasured companion from his home, but to lock him up like a common creature really rattled her chains. 'When I find out who the hell did this Bois, heads are going to fucking roll!'
The introverted Toko had always had difficulty making friends. Even if you ignored her rather painful betrayals from several people, she still had difficulty interacting with people. So, when she had found a creature that was avoided even more then she was, you can bet she picked it up as a pet first chance she had.
But now that pet, Kameko she had named the stinkbug, was being held captive in a small cage. Far too small to escape through the bars, yet large enough for the demented captor to gaze upon her form, thinking who knows what kind of sick and pervert-
She cut off her thoughts before they could escalate any further into one of her many fantasies. There was a time and place for that kind of thing later.
"We'll even take in your sick and injured and give them the care they need to recover from whatever ails them, be it crippling disease or someone recovering from surgery on their brain…even if they should probably be in the hospital, our loving care takers will keep them alive and well instead."
Sakura had many a moment were words would fail to properly describe how she felt; not because of any form of linguistic problem on her part, no. Rather, there were points where her ability to describe how she felt about something was lost in the haze of combat, or the rage of being unable to do anything. Seeing her rival, Kenshiro, the only one who she could never defeat no matter how hard she trained, stuck in a bed looking tired, pale, sickly, and sporting a shade of white hair instead of his usual dark locks, it cause such a level of hopeless rage to flow through her that had this been one of Hifumi's manga there would have been an intense aura flying everywhere from her.
She had known when she accepted her invite to Hope's Peak that he was terminally ill and was given six months to live. When he was in the hospital, he passed onto Sakura the title of the "strongest person in the world", which she planned to hold on to until he got well again. But, to think that his disease would have progressed so far already. By all accounts she had only received the title from him a few weeks ago. Just what was happening here?
The solder in disguise 'Junko' had…mixed feelings as she gazed at the picture that was supposed to motivate her. Unlike the others, hers was a static image from when the real deal had her head bandaged up when she had been recovering from her emergency brain surgery. The person who had taken it had apparently noticed through her disguise that she wasn't the real deal right away, and managed to sneak in to her sister's room and snap this picture before attempting to blackmail her with it.
Obviously, they didn't do their research on who exactly it was they were attempting to blackmail, otherwise they wouldn't have had her meet them in a dark ally, with no back up. Her sister had looked at her so proudly when she learned of it; even if she never got the guy's name.
But why would her sister use a picture of herself instead of a clip of Mukuro? Especially since she could have easily just used a clip from the past few days when she in her room with her wig off. Hell, if she'd had said anything Mukuro would have put on her old outfit and walked around to make it more convincing. And that was after using such a powerful motive with the first video. What was her sister thinking?
"And all of this is at the low price of simply staying alive in our wonderful academy and wearing our special little product, the Monokuma brand, Mono-Lifeline! Patten pending."
More than a few of the disturbed students deadpanned at the usage of the same words Monokuma used earlier, but besides a muttering from them at least being consistent, there was no real notable response to that. As the picture of the band appeared on screen, the woman then delivered some news they all would agree that they could have gone their whole lives without.
"Now, you may be asking 'How does this all work?' Well, it's quite simple. These bands have been made to withstand all manner of water, heat, cold, impact, and inside every one of our Mono-Lifelines are an array of components that range from a pulse monitor, to a special feature of our own design; a heart powered, wireless, detonation device."
"What!?" Shouted several of the students before many of them renewed their efforts to remove the bands on their wrists. But once again, they refused to budge.
"So long as you have your device attached to your wrist, your pulse monitor will be constantly sending out a complicated signal to the Despair Hotel that basically tells us that your heart is still alive and pumping, and that your lifeline 'volunteer' should be kept among our guests; among the living ones, anyway."
As soon as that was said, several of the class stopped trying to remove their bracelets, choosing instead to look at them more closely. The more naturally aggressive or fearful, however, continued to pull and push on their arm accessory thinking something bad would come of continuing to wear them any longer. That all stopped, with the next thing the women said.
"However, if at any point your Mono-Lifeline should be removed, or should you meet a cruel fate at the hands of another, a signal will no longer be able to be received and your lifeline will regrettably then be forcibly removed from our care…via the fifty pounds of C4 grade explosives that have been painstakingly lined into the frame work of their rooms."
"S-Say What!?" Hifumi shouted in complete shock at the simplified image of a person in a room surrounded in dynamite on screen. Instantly, everyone stopped trying to take off their bands, some even going so far as to hold out their arms as if they held some kind of deadly creature to be avoided.
"If you wish to remove your lifeline from our care, as disappointing as that is for me to say, you need only to either graduate from your lovely school or outlast the contingency plan, where upon doing so your headmaster will then provide to you a map to your lifeline's hotel location, as well as the key to their room, a compass, and your own certified graduation diploma; which is necessary to the checkout proses. We hope to see your continued presence and we'd love to see you soon. Despair Lifeline Hotel. Where despair is your lifeline."
With that, the screen faded to black as the lights came back on.
As the film came to a start and the door that I had locked remotely closed I couldn't help but reflect on the presentation I had presented them with. As a whole, the entire thing could have been made better. Truth is, I had actually planned to skip the DVDs entirely and settle for the little showing I had been working on.
Unfortunately, with my announcement the night before I had to edit the entire thing together in only a few hours' time. Add in the fact that I had no idea how the editing software in this universe worked, the fact that I had to search through the entre database to find those clips, had to find that picture of Junko in those files of hers, had to scan it into the computer, after finding out where the damn thing could be scanned into there in the first place, and that's not even including the time it took me to go downstairs to put those bands on them, come back to the control room when I realized that the gates were still down, then walking back down, realizing that they had locked their doors so I had to go back up to get the headmaster's override handbook, then going back down again.
Honestly, it took me most of the night to get it all put together. And that wasn't even including the little chat I ended up having with one of the students that I certainly felt was unexpected.
By the time I was done, I damn near passed out. Then the real kicker in the whole thing, I woke up early and realized that I hadn't inserted any voice over to tell them what they were seeing!
It's actually why I rushed and put out the disks. I needed time to finish the tape before they got too touchy and blew themselves up. So, since they were of a similar bane, I went and put the disks out to give me some time to record. I didn't have the time to change the voice's tune with some kind of voice modifying software, let alone try to find it in the mess of a desktop, so I settled for lowering my voice and voicing it over that way.
Incidentally, it made me sound a little too sultry to not creep myself out.
It took a few takes, but I managed to get it done just before they finished their videos. After that, I quickly locked the door, activated the Monokuma in there, and proceeded to play along. Strangely enough, that unit came with the popcorn; I had nothing to do with it.
Now, I had to lock the door or else Sayaka would have run out and missed the important fact that one of her group was both still alive, and was waiting for her. Before she only saw the tape and assumed the worst, then jumped into a reckless act that cost her in the worst of ways. Now though? She knew that her friend was waiting for her and was safe.
Then there was the fact that, now that they all knew who was waiting for both themselves and the others, there was a strong reason for them to bond. Granted, it would most likely be over mutual hatred for me for holding both them and their loved ones against their wills then it would be over their relationships to said loved ones, but it would still be bonding!
So what if I lied a bit about there being bombs in their hotel rooms? If it kept them from killing each other, who was I to complain?
" ….. Wait. Why did I tell them that there were bombs in their hotel rooms? That makes no sense!"
The sudden realization nearly caused me to fall out of my chair as I thought about the implications. Why did I tell them that there were bombs in their hotel rooms? I mean, yeah, it would theoretically keep the more timid from acting up for fear of losing their most beloved person/thing. But it would just as easily provoke the more foolish or aggressive into doing something stupid! Dang it!
"Arrg! Yes, Miss nurse, I seem to have caught a case of 'foot in mouth' disease, served with a side of my own words. Find me in the Alps! Why did I say that!? Gah!"
Well, the damage was done, so there was no use in whining about it. I'd just have to hope that none of them were dumb enough to try anything.
"Even so, this isn't the first time something slipped in that I didn't notice till later. Hmm… I'm going to have to watch that in the future."
I probably would have continued that line of thought, but a powerful yawn distracted me. "Damn this weak body of hers. If this was my body, I would have been able to do all of that without being nearly this tired."
I knew it was petty of me to continue harping about it, but I just couldn't help bringing it up. Back in my old body, I was able to pull off all-nighters without too much of a hassle; I mean yeah, I would need a couple of days of proper bedrest afterwards in order to recover, but I was still able to do it in the first place and that's what counted.
With Junko, it was clear that she never pulled that kind of thing in her life and went by a very strict sleeping schedule. The second the clock hit ten it was like all of my energy just faded instantly. It really baffled me since she had to have stayed awake to know every time who the blackened was, especially since most of the crimes had been committed way after midnight.
"What the hell was that!?" the sudden shout on screen returned my attention back to the students as the video came to a close. Briefly stretching to remove a small kink that had been developing in my spine I placed my hands back on the keyboard, ready for my follow up performance.
"Show time."
"Upupupu." The laughter of the strange bear echoed around the room as every monitor in the A/V room lit up to show his cuddly and disturbing face. "Now that's a commercial that keeps your attention. Am I right?"
"Monokuma!" Demanded the biker practically frothing at the mouth. "Are those twisted videos real you bear bastard!?"
The sadistic bear, once again unintimidated by Mondo and his shouting, simple chuckled in his strange way. "Upupu. Looks like y'all are finally getting the picture!"
"Indeed," gravely spoke Kyoko as she stood up from her seat, "I get it all too well. This is what you call a 'Motive,' isn't it? To find the answer to our question. To see if our loved ones are alright. To say, 'I want out of here … even if it means killing someone'."
In that moment, Makoto was completely frozen by the terrible words spoken by his classmate. The idea that anyone would ever think of doing such a thing continued to escape his grasp of mentality. He simply couldn't process the idea that there would be someone amongst them who would intentionally do something like that.
There was no denying the truth though, after what he had felt himself watching both that video and commercial, no matter how much his mind begged them to be false. "He gave us all motives. This is how he sets up the game; if we want the see our loved ones again…"
He didn't dare finish that thought.
"He just wants us to believe it…" Taka proclaimed loudly, despite how much his clenched fist quivered. "Those videos must be fake! That's the only explanation! We must stand united against this threat!"
"Y-Yeah. Yeah!" Hina joined in, slightly hesitant at first, but quickly latching on to the idea proposed by The Ultimate Moral Compass. "These DVDs and that commercial are complete bogus, aren't they!?"
For a single solitary moment, many of the students desperately hoped that they were correct in their assumptions. They prayed that the bear was simply pulling an elaborate prank on them and would pop out and say something like, "Fooled you!"
But it wasn't to be.
"How rude! Of all the nerve! After all the effort I had to put in to get that put together, you all think that it's CG or something! I mean, seriously!" As the bear continued to rant, the students felt their hopes and prayers slowly die out without a single sign of recovery. The possibility that their loved ones were truly trapped without any rescue was becoming truer with every word from the animatronic bear.
However, even with this being thrown into their faces, a small voice spoke up to ask a very important question. The others didn't know if it was because of desperation to know, a desire for confirmation, or even some need to assist the others in finding out their own questions, but all eyes were brought towards the meek little Chihiro in surprise as she spoke to their captor.
"B-But, they're safe. R-right?" The bear turned to regard the small child who'd interrupted its rant with a look that Makoto could almost swear was sympathy. But just as soon as it appeared, it vanished, replaced with the sadistic look he knew so well.
"Oh I'd love to tell you, really I would, but you'll have to find out for yourselves!" The bear laughed, its demented tone driving a wedge of fear into the hearts. "Besides, it looks like one of you might already be planning to find out on her own."
Instantly, Makoto turned back to the door that his friend had been trying to force open, having taken his eyes off of her to watch the video as did the others. Only now, the door was wide open, obviously having been unlocked at some point during or after the video, and more importantly, Sayaka Maizono was nowhere to be seen.
"S-Sayaka!" shouted Makoto as he bolted out of the room to find his friend, fearful that something might happen to her; if it hadn't happened already. As he did though, one of the others surprisingly called out to him.
"Leave her be," stated Byakuya in his usual demanding tone. "You'll just be in the way."
However, while Makoto did take that into consideration, such demands were ultimately pushed to the side. "I can't do that! She's my friend! There's no telling what could happen to her with Monokuma around!"
And with that proclamation he took off, chasing after his classmate with reckless ambition; never once realizing what his 'friend' would end up doing to him before the day's end.