I'm who now?

by Clemerl

Being dropped into the killing game is always a dangerous place to be as a student of Hope's Peak, not knowing what will happen or who will kill whom. But what happens when the one in charge has a change of heart? Or rather, has the mind of someone else entirely who will stop at nothing to save everyone they can. Even if it dives them to Despair.

40. Bath time Despair

A critical error has occurred on my part.

I have made the single most fundamental, irreproachable, absolutely deplorable mistake of my life so far. As I sit here now, surrounded by foes I dare not turn my back too lest I wish to show weakness in this dangerous situation, I realize now that I've only myself to blame for this tragedy that befell me. I had only my own stupid, idiotic, inability to plan things though that I found myself surrounded by the greatest threat to my sanity, my integrity, and perhaps even my integrity. I was defenseless, bearing nothing more then a single scrap of cloth of meager protection and with foes that I dare not face. In summery, I am in danger, and I had no easy way out.

Let me step back for a second to really paint the picture of how screwed I truly was in right now.

It all started immediately after I had confronted the students as they all walked out of the changing room and taunted them for Hina's big fat mouth. I had given them a brief moment to collect their thoughts before tilting my head ever so slightly.

"You guys seem to be in particularly high spirits." I noted with a smile. "Did something good happen?"

"N-no, nothing in particular…!" Makoto lied as naturally as an asthmatic having an allergy attack.

"Ooh! Keeping secrets, are we now? No fair! I demand an exclusive interview!" I pretended to demand, going so far as to stomp Monokuma's little feet in squeaky fury. The student's nervously glanced at each other as I threw a false tantrum, not sure just how to respond to this.

Fortunately, Hifumi snapped into a quick decision and crossed his arms into an X shape as he shouted, "Denied, denied, super denied!"

"Y-yeah, just because you demand something, doesn't mean we have to do it!" Hina quickly agreed as she mimicked his pose alongside Hiro, Taka, and a reluctant Mondo.

I decided, that now would be a good time to mess with them. I tilted the bear's head just a bit more, and repeated. "Do it…? Like, 'do it', do it?"

"Wait, what?" Hina questioned, a healthy blush creeping onto her face as she misinterpreted my intentionally vague response. "What do you mean, 'do it' do it?"

I gasped in an over exaggerated way. "You can't just say that you're going to 'do it' like that! Are you crazy, pervert!?"

"Wh- you said it first!" She fired back indigent. "Don't make me out to be a pervert here!"

I could have gone on, I could have had her going for at least two more minutes if I was given the chance, however, to her pride's fortune, Celeste interrupted me. "We were just talking about going to the bathhouse. We have not had a chance to relax properly in some time, and were making plans to have a proper soak."

She then sighed, and placed one of her hands on her cheek in a sad act. "Unfortunately, there are no dividers for men and women sections. So, we decided to host a Roshambo tournament to decide which group shall go first. After a long a grueling series of battles, Hina won the match point for us in the girl's side, hence why we were so pleased."

Despite the fact that I knew that was utter bull, I had to give her credit. Celeste certainly knew how to put on a convincing act. If I hadn't known this would happen, I might have even fallen for it. It was at times like this that I couldn't help but wonder if she would have been better off as an actor in either movies or the theater then a gambler.

"Y-yeah, that's right!" Hina cut off my train of thought as she hurried to agree, not quite as convincing. Yet, she made up for it by quickly turning to the boys with her fists to her chest in a pose just like the one from the game. "Okay, boys! Why don't you head on back to the dining hall or something. We're going to take a nice, long bath!"

"Ahh jeez, what're we gonna do, right?" Hiro meanwhile utterly failed to sound convincing in the slightest. Two out of ten level, at best. Needs more disappointment and to say it more naturally. "We lost fair and square!"

"Well ladies, shall we go?" Celeste motioned for the girls to follow her, but before anyone could follow, Mukuro raised her free hand.

"Actually, I'm going back to my room." She said, sounding very honestly disappointed in what she was saying. "I don't know if my leg's healed up enough to risk soaking in a public bath, even if it's just with you girls."

"Are you sure?" Hina asked, concerned for her friend showing itself in full glory. "You could take one of the pepping showers. You don't have to be alone."

Yet, despite it looking increasingly difficult for her to say no, Mukuro insisted with a sad smile. "I'm sorry, but I can't risk it. I've been lucky enough that I didn't get an infection in my leg already from the...incident. I don't want to push my luck any further if I can help it. Not without a doctor or proper antibiotics at least."

"She makes a fair point." Taka agreed, though he sounded sad to admit it. "We've been quite fortunate thus far, but it is no reason to take any unnecessary risks. Junko should rest while she can so that she may make a full recovery."

"Agreed." Kyoko chimed in, casting a glance at Mukuro's bandaged leg as she did so. "We can't afford to take the chance without proper medical staff on hand."

"Oh...okay." Hina relented with a sigh, but then quickly perked up and looked Mukuro in the eyes as she exclaimed, "But, next time, I promise to personally wash your back after this, I swear!"

Mukuro's eyes widened in a brief moment of shock, and she hesitated to respond. If I had to guess, this might have been the first time she had been offered something like that, a moment of vulnerability between gal pals. It made sense since she didn't seem like the type to intentionally form relationships like this, and likely hadn't gotten close enough with any girl outside of Junko that such a thing was possible to happen. Though, Junko would have tried to kill her if she dared to let her guard down like that.

Still, it was enough to make her have a cute little blush as she nodded, stuttering, "S-sure. O-okay."

However, as she limped off with her crutch, I couldn't help but feel...sad. It wasn't her leg that was bothering her. I had seen the thing this morning after all, and between the pills and her giving it the proper leverage it needed, it had sealed up quite nicely, albeit leaving one hell of a nasty scar. It was nowhere near ready for her to begin rehab to build the muscle back up yet, not in the slightest, but it should be fine to soak it in the bath.

No, she had gone back because her identity was at stake. We had managed to hide it so far, but her make up, and wig would absolutely give way in that hot water. All it would take is one person commenting on her hair falling out from under the wig while she cleaned it, or her small chest, or her freckles to get them to realize that something was up, to say nothing of her Fenrir tattoo on her hand. She clearly wanted to be there with them, but as long as she was trying to maintain the identity of Junko Enoshima, there wasn't a chance that she could join in this particular past time.

I made a silent promise, someday I would find a way to make things right for her.

"Well, shall we go?" Celeste offered and shortly after the rest of the girls went with her into the changing room to get ready. I stood there with the guys for a minute, staring awkwardly at the entrance to the bathhouse doing our best to not think about how the girls were in there, getting stripped to their birthday suits, and preparing to bathe.

"...Well, best be off to the cafeteria then." Taka stated, smacking both of his cheeks with a deafening clap that left hand marks behind. The others made to follow him, but with a double take, I quickly moved to intercept.

"Whoa there! Hey! Hooooold it! And you call yourselves teenagers!?" I groused at the startled boys. "Something's strange here, something is very strange!"

Makoto took a step back, gulping at the death glare I aimed at him and the boys. "Strange? What do you mean?"

"What do I mean!?" I parroted back as I took a pudgy stomp forward. "What do you mean!? don't you have even the slightest idea what you're missing here!? What's strange, is that, you've just been handed the most prime opportunity that any hot blooded straight man could ask for, and you lot are just going to pass it up, just like that!?"

I even snapped my fingers for emphasizes, completely throwing myself into the roll of bad influence. It was stupid, potentially criminal what I was demanding of them, but that meant that it was one hundred percent something an ablest like Junko would do. I really felt scummy for doing this, like a personified demon farmer trying to lure lambs to a pack of wolves, but it felt like it was the only time that I could mess with them like this and truly get away with it. A small part of my conscious knew that I would regret advocating this in the near future, and I knew that it was right. However, it was being drowned out by another much loud part saying one thing.

"Let loose the peeping toms, so that we may laugh uproariously!"

I have no idea why the voice sounded like a British women, only that it did and I really wanted to listen to it.

"W-what...what are you saying?" Chihiro asked, not quite getting my implications. Fortunately, some of the others were not so innocent. Oh, sure, they needed a moment to process it, but once they did, the reactions were glorious.

"Wait, do you mean like, peeping?" Hiro was surprisingly the first to put it together. This was of course followed up by a very red faced and very indigent Taka glaring at him like he had become the embodiment of sin itself. Hiro immediately held up his heads in defense, as if expecting the moral to sock him in the jaw for his question. Taka's nostrils flared, but rather then take it out on the hobo, he turned to me with righteous fury in his eyes.

"That is a direct violation of the school's code of conduct!" Taka shouted at my Monokuma, his face red as a tomato and with several blood vessels in his forehead beginning to violently pulsate from the sure pressure.

"Dude, that's an understatement." Leon quipped, looking very disappointed and enraged himself. "What kinda sickos do ya take us for?"

"I hate to agree with him, but the baseball idiot is right." Mondo agreed, ignoring the way Leon snapped a glare at him for that remark. "Looking at chicks when they're in the bath? Doesn't matter what you say, that shit ain't right."

All understandable from their perspectives, and I had to agree with them myself. In my belief, there is little more deplorable then violating a person's privacy like what I was suggesting. It didn't even matter if they were a guy or a girl, it was a disgusting act that I felt was far too normalized in media in the name of fan service.

Was it hypocritical of me to be taunting them like this then? Absolutely. I won't even pretend otherwise. It didn't matter that this was a canon story beat, I fully despised myself for what I was saying. Yet, I had a plan, and I needed one, at least one, person to fall for it.

"Y-yeah. Of course." Hifumi stuttered as he adjusted his glasses nervously. "I would never suggest going to see them in their state of undress. It wouldn't be...proper."

He said that, but I could see the way he was glancing at the bath house entrance with barely restrained lust in his eyes. He really wanted to go in their to look at the girls and to commit the sight of naked flesh to memory. The Otaku had been without a source of erotica for almost a believed month now, and just memory and imagination wasn't going to be enough for much longer. Just by looking at him, I could see the cracks in his constitution, the signs of a man suffering from multiple withdrawals. For a man of vice like Hifumi, living without them would only last so long before something had to give.

"Okay, if you're sure." I shrugged as I turned away, padding off as I dragged out my words in an obviously taunting manor. "I'm just saying, an opportunity like this doesn't come around every day...I dare say that it's the ideal setting of a man's fantasy!"

I muted myself as I spat to the side with disgust. "And it should stay a fantasy."

I jumped up and smacked the button to disconnect the Monokuma from the controls and walked to the observation room and watched with unamused eyes as the boys took turns berating me from where they assumed I couldn't hear. Taka was practically frothing at the mouth as he spat, sputtered and berated the retreating bear with all of his hate, and I'll admit that I was impressed with how many ways he could call Monokuma deplorable without once swearing. He even ran out of Japanese words and started berating the bear in English, French, and Portuguese. I didn't even knew he knew those languages.

Eventually though, something had to give, and with how exhausted he was, he was quick to run out of steam and nearly collapsed on the spot, his face and unhealthy shade of purple and red. Mondo moved quick and caught his bro, looking concerned and after a moment of discussion with the others, agreed to take Taka to the cafeteria to wait with Chihiro and Leon following close behind. However, when Makoto made to chase after them, he made the mistake of stopping when he realized that Yasuhiro and Hifumi weren't following.

"Guys? What are you doing?" Makoto asked, but any further questions were halted when Hifumi covered his mouth with his meaty hand and shushed him. The otaku looked over his shoulder for the four other boys, and when he realized that they weren't going to come back just yet, he turned back to look at the very concerned luckster with a twinkle in his eyes.

Or, that might just be his glasses.

"Come on Master Naegi! We can not let this opportunity go to pass!" Hifumi declared in a harsh whisper before grabbing one of Makoto's arms and standing dramatically. "We must see our man's fantasy!"

"I thought you said you were all about the 2D..." Hiro reminded him with a sigh, but then he perked up and added as he grabbed the distressed luckster's other arm, "Still, I can't say I don't want to see this myself. There's something I've always wondered, and this is the best chance I've got to get my answers."

"W-wait, hold on, why are you dragging me into this!?" Makoto demanded as he struggled futility against the desperate horny teen and the man child; though I noticed he wasn't exactly trying as nearly hard as he could have.

I didn't stay idle though. As they teamed up to drag the luckster into the bath house against his will, I quickly climbed into the vent and hurried down to Mukuro's room, fortunately having commanded the Monokuma to stay out of my way before I went this time. Once I was down, I quickly kicked open the hidden vent in the room, stopping only for a moment to give a startled Mukuro a, "Hey, sis. Hold that thought." before rushing into her bathroom and moving to the next step of my plan.

To what had to be the biggest surprise to Mukuro, I quickly closed the door and began to strip down to my bare self, even removing the hair clips and other accessories until the only thing on me was the wrap hiding the non injury on my leg, before covering myself with one of her largest fresh white towels then throwing open the door and walking out into the room once more with my clothes in one hand, sans boots.

Mukuro took one second to look at me from where she lay in the bed, her injured leg held slightly suspended thanks to the extra pillow she'd stolen from the infirmary, and did a double take as her eyes bulged and her jaw dropped. "J-Junko…? Wha-What are…?"

I paused for a moment as I put my free hand on my hip, one of my eyebrows raised as I looked at her stammering face. "What's with that face? You know I've worn skimpy swimsuits before, Mukuro. I would think that you would know what I look like."

"W-well, that's...that is true, but..." She turned away when the knot of my towel shifted ever so slightly, to which I quickly adjusted it as my brow raised all the higher.

What was that all about? If I didn't know better, I would say that she looked embarrassed. That couldn't be right though, right? I mean, Junko was her sister, there was no way that she hadn't seen the Ultimate Fashionista in some form of less then covering articles of fashion.

"C'mon sis, you're acting like you've never seen me in a towel before." I quipped jokingly, as I gave her a lidded smile. Seriously, I remember some of the magazines Junko had been featured on, and there had been at least a few of her in just barely legal clothing articles.

She didn't say anything in response, instead she continued to refuse to look at me, and slowly it clicked. Maybe, she hadn't seen Junko in a towel before, or at least not frequently. Underwear, sure, she's seen that, but not any less.

Huh. So, if this reaction was any indication, despite being twins, Junko and Mukuro didn't see much of themselves in the buff. That would explain the sudden look of horror she'd given me when I'd climbed in her bed with her. At the time I'd thought it was just because of the implications of my joking, but now, I wondered.

I shook my head, and grabbed the crutch where she'd left it. "I'll be right back Mukuro. Gotta' plan that will really rock their world."

As I walked out, I could have sworn that I had heard her say something, but when I paused to look back in, her face was still looking away from me. I knew it wasn't my imagination at play, but I shrugged it off and decided to deal with it later.

Quickly as I could, I rushed over to the bath house, my bare feet loudly slapping the tiled floor and making me worry that someone would come out at any time and spot me. Yet, fortune was on my side this time and I made it to the bath without anyone coming out of the woodwork at seeing me. I sighed in relief, and after glancing across the hall once to sure, ducked into the changing room and set down the crutch to lean against.

Hobbling in, I silently glanced around. The changing room was just like how it looked in the game, but noticeably more realistic. Obvious notes aside, I thought about looking at the lockers, since they had, foolishly, left it open for the world to see, but I resisted. Alter Ego wasn't my target right now. No, my aim was the three peeping toms currently staring red faced into the baths.

Carefully, I put my clothes down on one of the benches, momentarily making note of the baskets sitting to the side, each individually full of a girl's clothes. Sayaka's wheelchair had been left here as well, and her uniform was neatly folded on the seat. Then, I slowly tiptoed my way behind the boys, making sure that my foot placements were placed as silently as possible so as to not alert my prey. I was worried for a moment that my shadow would give me away as it crept up their backs, but my worries were unfounded. They were so focused that I could have thrown the crutch to the floor and done a jig and they wouldn't have noticed.

I could feel a twisted grin form on my lips that I made no attempt at hiding as I slowly stepped forward, and reached out and tapped Makoto on the shoulder with my free hand. He didn't react at first, so I tapped again, a bit harder, and he flinched, but brushed my finger aside, no doubt believing it to be one of the boys. My eyes shifted into closed slits and I put my full hand on his neck, like a kitten, and this time he was quick to realize something was wrong as he felt thin fingers and fake nails dance on his jugular, and he shuttered in fear.

Slowly, with shuttering stilted movements, the luckster turned with a look of pure dread on his face. I had my hand retract and my fingers danced as I gave him a taunting wave, my mouth parting ever so slightly to show my upper teeth. His once red face became extremely pale, and his arm shot out to elbow the closest of his fellow conspirators roughly, not once letting his eyes leave mine.

Hiro was the first to react since the luckster hit him where his wound was still healing, and he turned to glare at Makoto for it. However, said glare turned into confusion as he looked at the state of the luckster, only to again shift into a similar look of unequivocal, unabashed horror when he saw me standing there oh so casually. Just like Makoto before him, his arm shot out and slapped the round boy next to him, the fat rippling across the otaku's body with each hit.

It took him a few hits for Hifumi to register the blows, his mind was so far gone on the moment that the real world was having trouble holding it's grip on him, but eventually even he couldn't ignore being used like a drum for very long and waved his hand to shush his allies, not wanting them to give him away. Only, when the insistent slapping didn't stop, he turned ready to give Hiro a piece of his mind for putting them at risk of being caught in enemy territory like this, only to pause at the sight of their frozen state.

He blinked a few times as he pondered over what could be causing such a reaction. Yet, all it took was a brief glance at the blond dyed lady, in a towel, smiling like a cat who caught the canary, for him to end up joining them with both of his hands shooting up to grab his face to keep himself from howling in horror.

I almost broke down for half a second as I considered this situation. Three teen aged boys, well, two and one adult, trapped between one very sadistically smiling girl with a crutch in nothing but a towel, and a bunch of other teen girls currently unaware of the situation going on just beyond the curtain, but also being the greatest threat to these boy's lives. It was sad. It was pathetic.

It was criminal how much I was enjoying it.

I was weird, as I watched these three boys stare at me like I was the devil incarnate, I felt a strange sense of euphoria roll up my body, starting from my toes and slowly climbing all the way to the tip top of my head. In this moment, I was in complete control of their fates, and we all knew it well. It was I who alone held their lives in the palm of my hands, dangling their lives above a pack of sleeping, ravenous lionesses that would be baying for these men's blood should they be made aware of their existence. If I felt so inclined, I could simply shout, alerting the girls to the perverted actions of their comrades, and they would never once realize that I had set them up this entire time, using their vice for the visage of the female flesh to bring them here.

Was this what Junko felt when she manipulated people into doing things for her? Is this how she felt when she fooled folks into dancing on the palm of her hands like puppets on strings? Is this what she experienced when she completely and utterly pulled the wool over their eyes with promises of guilty pleasure only to rip the rug out from under their feet to show the pits of despair below? If so, I think I may have, if only for a moment, understood why she did this on the regular. At least a little bit.

Still, I had three boy's attention now, and I was going to make the most of it. I continued to stare at them with my creepy expression in place just a little bit longer, just to let them stew in their terror as they held their breaths. I could see the droplets of sweat building up on their foreheads as they quivered, silently begging with their eyes for my forgiveness. Hifumi and Hiro even held their hands clasped before them, pleading for mercy from whichever deity was listening when they could tell that I had none to give.

I somehow manged to widen my smile even further. Slowly, so as not to startle them and ruin this moment, I held up my free hand and pressed one finger to my lips. As silently as I could, I shushed them, making sure that they knew that they had to listen to my commands. They nodded, to fearful of the recompense to think to question me. Satisfied, I limped closer, making sure that the boys could see me as I slowly approached.

When I got as close as I could without touching them, I leaned in close to the luckster's side and I could hear him swallow when he felt my breath tickle his ear. Then, just loud enough for them all to hear without alerting anyone else, I whispered to them a simple message.

"We'll talk later, boys." I could all but feel the ripple of terror instilled in Makoto and the idiot duo at these words, my promise of a punishment later down the line somehow even worse then had I done so right then. As I leaned back and shooed them off, I wouldn't have been surprised if at least one of them ended up wetting themselves as they scampered away with fear deeply embedded in their hearts.

Ha! Bunch of saps. Now that I had put the fear of god into their hearts, step one was complete. Now, all I had to do was put my clothes back on, grab the laptop for just a minute, and-

"Junko…?" I felt my full body flinch and turned my head to the door of the baths where a confused face stared at me.

"Oh! H-hey, Hina!" I said, quickly grabbing my towel as it shifted, caught completely of my guard by her sudden appearance. "W-what...what are, what are you doing here?"

"I thought I heard something shuffling around out here, so I came to make sure the boys weren't doing something stupid." She replied, adjusting her own towel subconsciously before looking at me with concern. "What are you doing here?"

"A-ah, well, you know." I struggled to come up with an excuse while doing everything in my power not to let my eyes roam. "I was just...well, I just was in the area and, well..."

Come on, you stupid brain, focus! Ignore the attractive girl adorn in nothing but a towel, and how cute she looks with her hair down, and especially the drop of water rolling down her chin and dripping into that forbidden track of land- damn it! Adapt and overcome! Think of something else, say something, say anything.

' has stopped responding. Please restart and try again.' Useless lump of flesh!

Hina's eyes trailed down to look at my towel as I squirmed and a light bulb clicked in her head. "Wait, did you...come to join us in the bath?"

"Yes!" I quickly cleared my throat and said softer. "Yes, I did. That's why I came...to the bath house. I changed my mind, and was wondering if the offer was...still on the plate. But, I can see that it's busy, I'll just come back another time-"

"Of course you can join us!" Hina cut me off as she locked her hands around my arm with a firm grasp. With her eyes closed from joy, she didn't see the terror filling my eyes. "Come on! I'll scrub your back for you!"

"...Oh, goodie." she was so excited that she completely missed the squeak of horror in my voice as she all but dragged me into the absolutely worst place for me. I tried to use the crutch to act as a brake, but it did nothing! Instead, all it did was squeak against the tile as the ignorant swimmer girl all but dragged me to a war zone with a smile on her face.

Now, you might be asking at this point, why am I so freaked out and trying to leave the bathhouse? You're already in just a towel, and it's not like you're a boy peeping on them. You're a young girl, why not take the chance to bathe with these girls and get to know them better? You're just being shy, right?

I have three good answers for you. One: I only took off the clothes to create the appearance of going to take a bath. I had no intention of following through with my believable lie, I only needed to make it look as real as possible in order to sell it too those three idiots. I would have worn a bathing suit underneath, however, unlike the pool that has a ton of school issue swimsuits, there weren't any bathing suits specifically for some godforsaken reason, or at least none that I have found; and I didn't have the time to grab a swimsuit beforehand regardless, not if I was to catch the boys when I did.

Two: I still had the wrap for a fake injury on my leg and did not want to risk it getting loose and potentially getting myself into the worst kind of trouble of having to explain the impossible task of how I manged to heal from a crippling wound in a manner of days without even a scar to show for it. I don't care how good at playing a narrative you think I am, I know I couldn't get away with that lie.

Finally, three, and the one I felt most imperative to note: While I am in the body of a teenage girl of unmentioned sexual preference, my mind was one of a straight, adult male, one who additionally was a firm believer of respecting a women's privacy to bathe without leering eyes on them. I have standards, damn it! It wasn't my choice to be bunny hopped on one leg into a room full of, again, beautiful girls, in the nude.

In the buff. The raw. Au natural. In their birthday suits. Naked.

'This isn't helping.' I am so boned.

As the steam parted before us both, I took in the sight that had captivated the three boys before me, though at a much closer then they ever could have without getting their asses kicked. I tried my best to keep my breath steady as I looked around and almost let out a sigh of relief. With one exception being Celeste currently sitting up to her neck in the water, with a wineglass full of what could only be juice since there absolutely wasn't any wine here, all of the girls had a towel on. Sakura's could be considered debatable since hers was currently only wrapped around her waist and showcasing her rippling back muscles as she cleaned her white locks of hair, but she was mostly facing her back to the door and what little could be seen of her chest from this angle was covered in some loose stands of hair. It wasn't much of an improvement for me, but it was still better for my heart overall.

"Junko?" Sayaka questioned, being the first to notice me and Hina coming through the curtain. She then smiled when I gave her a wave.

"Hey girls!" I slapped on a smile I didn't feel as I limped next to the excitable Hina, doing my best to contain the internal screaming. "Sorry I'm late. Hope you all didn't miss me too much."

Sakura nodded in acknowledgment, but remained focused where she sat cleaning the thick suds out of her hair. Kyoko adjusted her towel with her still gloved hands as she walked over to the bath. She did stop to give her own curious glance at me, but ultimately seem to decide to wait to ask. Jill meanwhile, laughed manically as she looked at me, the traitor, a look all too knowing and taunting.

'There is a special place in hell for people like you!' I tried to convey with my eyes, but to no avail as she just continued to give me that knowing look as she waded into the massive bath tub. I did take a bit of satisfaction when she slipped and fell into the water with a mighty splash, but fortunately she wasn't hurt. So, I decided to instead ignore her and took a moment to breath and center myself.

She did, however, earn Celeste's ire for getting her hair and face soaked, flat out ruining the gambler's make-up and straight up drenching her hair. I turned away, so I didn't get to see their reaction, but if the way Jill's laughter at the black streaks running down Celeste's cheeks suddenly turned into loud splashing and drowning sounds, I could guess how well the Gothic Lolita took it.

'It's just a bath.' I thought to myself as I limped behind Hina as she gestured over to the rows of plastic stools and the prepping showers along the wall. 'There is no reason to get excited. You are not going to break from a bunch of teenagers. You can do this. Stay, calm.'

Maybe if I keep thinking that, I might actually believe it long enough for it to become true.

"Oh, dear." Celeste inquired, ignoring the frantic bubbles coming up from under her hands as Hina helped me over to one of the open stools, conveniently placing me between Sakura and Sayaka. "I must admit, I didn't realize that you were coming. Why ever didn't you join us the first time?"

"Yeah, sorry bout that." I replied, pausing to thank Hina when she passed me the shampoo bottle. "I wanted to make sure that the boys wouldn't be tempted to peep on us. I mean, you're all already are so attractive as is, don't get me wrong, but I didn't want to add the idea of seeing a literal fashion model in the buff to the pot. Adds to the temptation, ya' know?"

"Ah, that makes sense." Sayaka giggled as I began lathering up my hair while Hina stepped back to find the bar of soap and a clean cloth. "I can see how that would be a problem. Boys can be such pervs sometimes."

"Hey, can ya blame them?" Jill laughed as she lounged front side down in the massive tub having apparently managed to get Celeste to realize the folly of drowning her with so many witnesses, her feet lazily poking out of the water as she openly stared at my backside. "With so much prime meat on display, even I wouldn't even be shocked if they were talking about how much they want to motorboat those chesticals and bodacious buttes."

She cackled when Hina and I glared at her with red faces, completely uncaring about me running my thumb over my neck threateningly. Seriously, I don't need that mental image right now. She had to know of my situation if she was willing to be so blatantly taunting me like this.

Yeah, no, she absolutely knew, she was making groping motions with her hands now.

Fortunately, Hina was ever the professional as she turned away from the serial killer with a scoff before smiling at me as she held up the ball of mesh body scrubber. "Okay, ignoring that, let's get scrubbing."

I tensed up and tried not to freak out when she pulled at the towel covering my body, my hands snatching it as I leaned away from her. When she looked at me in confusion, I quickly cleared my throat. "A-actually, why don't you get Sakura's back first? She looks like she's got a lot of surface area to cover; no offense."

"None taken." Sakura replied with a small smile, fortunately understanding what I had meant. "Thou need not worry about myself. Hina hath already assisted with mine back."

Because of course she had. Why had I ever expected otherwise? To make matters worst, Sayaka gave me a look of concern that made me feel extremely self conscious.

"Junko..." She started, staring at my crinkled face as if I were a little kid. "Do you… have you not had a bath with other girls before."

I couldn't stop myself from flinching and tensing up, and that was all the conformation she needed. "I thought as much. You seemed far too tense."

Hina blinked and turned to look me in the eye. "Wait, you've never been in a bath house before?"

"N-no, I..." I looked away. What was this feeling? Embarrassment? Shame? "Okay, look, yes, I've never gone to a public bath house before. I've only been in my own tub and I spend most of the time in showers, 'aight? You happy?"

"But, you are the Ultimate Fashionista, yes." Celeste pushed with an inquisitive stare. "I would have assumed that you were quite used to being seen in very provocative attire, or even a simple state of undress. Surely you must be used to being measured for your outfits, yes? I'm certain you've been in swimsuit issues before as well."

I shot her a scathing look in response. "Swimsuits and outfits are very different from public baths. Plus, I normally measure myself on my own. I designed and model all of my outfits myself too, and I never work with other models. Not even my producers have seen anything beyond my outfits. Outside of my sister, and my mother, I've never been in the bath with anyone else either; and even then it's been at least a decade since the last time. Point is, I've never bathed with multiple people, end of discussion."

I huffed and turned away. I didn't even know why I had gotten so defense like that. It wasn't even something to get so upset about. There were plenty of people that never so much as see a bathhouse, let alone enter one, so it wasn't like I was the only one.

Hina smiled as well as she held up the bar of soup and gave me another giggle. "Relax, I do this for the girls in the swimming club all the time. Don't worry."

"Don't worry." she says. Yeah, right. You aren't the one trapped in a room with attractive girls. God, I felt like a man dying of thirst staring into an aquarium. Full of predators.

"Okay..." I replied, and extremely reluctantly let the back of my towel fall, but I still kept a firm grip on the front. Hina fortunately respected my wishes and didn't push, simply began the process of lathering up my back.

I shivered violently when she touched me, a freezing shiver running down my back despite the warmth of her hands and suds. She paused for a moment, letting me relax a bit before she continued. Slowly, ever so slowly, I began to relax under her careful ministrations.

I wasn't idle for a moment though. I couldn't afford to be, if I was I would end up thinking about how nice Hina's hands felt, and how careful she was being, and freaking hell Ididn'tknowhowtenderthatspotwas!

No, I was more focused on cleaning my hair. I will never understand how people could stand letting their hair get this long. It was heavy, it got caught in everything, it was a complete pain to clean, and it tended to tickle you all the time. Yes, it did look good on some people, I would give them that, but I could never enjoy it in my past life, and it was only the fact that it would have looked suspicious for Junko to walk around with short hair one moment, then long the next that I hadn't cut it. Maybe it was the idea of just getting used to it at its finest, that's the only thing I could think of.

"Hey, Junko?" Sayaka questioned softly whispering, to which I gave a prompting hum. "Do you bleach, or dye your hair?"

Hina paused in her ministration and I turned to look at the idol in confusion. "...Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering since your roots are starting to show." She replied with an earnest grin and a giggle. "Though, I don't see why you would want to dye it, it's such a lovely shade!"

I blinked, and quick as a whip, my hand went to the fogged window and scrambled to wipe the glass clear, while Hina added her own observation. "Oh, yeah! It really is a nice shade. It really pops. I'm kinda jealous."

While I appreciated the sentiment, it did nothing to help the growing anxiety in my chest. Because, they were right. While the majority was still the right color of pink tinted white, my roots had developed a deep crimson red at the very base. It was very subtle at the moment, barely more then a centimeter or two, and when I had it up a styled it wouldn't even be noticeable, but right now it might as well have been a beacon with how stark the difference was with it wet and pulled back like this. Not enough to be an immediate concern, but I would have to fix that soon before anyone else saw.

"Hey, how 'bout, shush." I said in a soft tone that demand no nonsense. "Exnay on the Air-day. I can't risk that getting out, alright? I have an image to uphold."

Sayaka immediately understood what I meant, nodding her head and making a zipping motion with her fingers over her lips. Of course, she would get it, seeing as her entire career revolved around maintaining a certain image for a wide viewing audience. Speaking of…

"Actually, that reminds me, how're you wounds holding up." I asked gently, glancing at Sayaka's towel wrapped body where I knew her cut was just hidden from view. It had been a while since I had last seen it outside of changing her bandages every morning with Monokuma.

As I looked, I also took the time to look at her broken wrist. Well, rather I took the time to look at the latex glove she had covering the make-ship cast of thick wrappings, to keep it from getting wet, obviously. Honestly, I didn't know which if I felt worst about, her wrist or her cut.

Despite how long the cut was, it ultimately shouldn't take more then another week or two to heal as long as she didn't do anything to pop the stitches. Yet, that didn't detract from the fact that it had still been bad enough that she had to stay wheelchair bound for that time.

On the plus side though, I had managed to find some medical cream that should help with the healing process, as well as numbing the pain. It did require that I change her bandages to reapply it after both the morning and nighttime announcements, but if all goes well, then hopefully that will reduce the scaring to an unnoticeable level.

Sayaka gave me a somewhat sad look in response, saying, "They're getting better. I think the cut is doing much better after Monokuma started applying this medical cream to it, because it's starting to look a lot better. My wrist still hurts whenever I try to move my hand though."

Obviously. If I remembered right, damage that severe would take at least twenty weeks to heal normally, and that was with a proper medical cast. All she had was a ramshackle, glorified wrap, and no one with a medical license to be sure that it was properly splinted in the first place. I really hoped I had done that right, because if I didn't, carpel tunnel would be the least of her concerns.

"Do you mind if I…?" I offered, gesturing to her stomach. She took a moment to consider my offer, but after a moment she used her left hand to move the towel off her body just a little bit, just enough to show the injury… and her upper thigh and hips.

Focus, brain. Focus. Amateur doctoring now, horny some other time.

Looking at it without the camera was very different. It was fortunately like she had said, it was getting much better then it had been. Most of the skin had pretty much sealed up, and the angry red color had faded to a dull pink line that ran down her side. The only really bad part really was my stitching work still being thicker then maybe necessary, but it wasn't like I could have done anything about it giving the tools I had available at the time.

Looking back, it sucked that I hadn't had any sutures to properly stitch her up with. Yeah, the sewing needle was fine at the time, but any real medical professional would have had a fit seeing that. I hadn't cared at the time since it was an emergency, however, if I had the chance now, I would have preferred getting the real thing for her to reduce the scarring. Oh well, just one more thing to worry about when they get out of here.

"Well, it's certainly looking better." I offered, before gesturing at my leg. "Better then this thing at any rate. I swear, if it wasn't for those loopy pain meds, I might have just cut this blasted thing off and called it a day."

Sayaka giggled at my self destructive joke, while Hina gave me a light bop on the shoulder, clearly not appreciating the shot at myself. "Junko, cut it out."

Very poor choice of words. "Like I said, I would, but I'd have to find a saw first, and then I'd have to find a place to put the leg after all was said and done. Not to mention the fact that I would need to something to replace it, and I don't think I could work a broom handle. Don't even get me started on the blood loss! By the time I was done, the room would look like Hifumi's nose if he saw us right now." I continued to joke to Hina chagrin and most of the others concealed laughter. They clearly didn't want to encourage this any further then it had already gotten, that was for sure, but I could see the hints of amusement in their eyes no matter how hard they tried to hide it.

I smiled, then I put down my leg, and said to Sayaka, "Well, if nothing else, you can join me, Sakura, Toko and Kyoko it the Scarred Girls club."

Sayaka smiled back at me, and Sakura grinned in silence at the remark. Jill cackled once more and hosted her leg up into the air to show off her tally marks without a single thought to her state of dress, forcing the rest of us to turn our heads lest we see something not reserved for our eyes. Honestly, girl, have some shame!

Kyoko on the other hand froze up and stared at me with a look of shock and a heaping load of suspicion in her eyes. Whoops, should not have said that. That was a slip of the tongue. To make matters worst, she wasn't the only one that noticed my mistake.

However, before either of them could point that out, a pouting Hina gave me a slap on the back. "No fair! Why am I excluded from the club!?"

"...Huh?" I turned to her genuinely confused. "Hina, it was a joke."

"Well, it wasn't funny." the swimmer muttered as she crossed her arms over her bust and pouting. "I've got plenty of scars too."

"Oh, yeah?" I asked, disbelievingly but with a small smile. From what? Swimming too hard she cut herself on the water? Ah, what the hell, let's humor her a moment. "Like where?"

"Here." she said and she put her arm right in front of my face. At first, I looked down thinking nothing of it. Yet, as I looked, my grin died a gruesome death when I noticed something...off. Disconcertingly off. Very, disconcertingly off.

There was a scar, that was for sure, an almost unnoticeable mark of nearly white pink against her caramel toned flesh. It wasn't really easy to spot because of the way it matched up, but there it was. It wasn't just one though, there were a few, though no more then three, all of similar style and shape, though they were very small though. Yet, I couldn't help but think that they looked familiar. After all, it reminded me of a scar I had seen just a few moments ago. Like a smaller, but cleaner yet much older versions of the one on Sayaka's body.

Only these were on Hina's wrist.

A felt a wave of revulsion roll through my body. A cold gripping horror gripped my heart as my throat clenched uncomfortably. Had she…? No...no, surely not. Not Hina. She wouldn't, she, she wasn't the kind pf person who...who would… why were these things on her…?

"Hina…?" I asked, swallowing my dread as best as I could. "Where...where did you get those?"

"I don't know." she said, so nonchalant like she had no idea why I was so freaked out, like it didn't even matter. "I found them when I woke up one morning. No idea where I got them. I think I might of accidentally cut myself on the bed post or something."

She shrugged, not concerned in the slightest or possibly not understanding the ramifications of those small marks marring her flesh. Yet, it did nothing to shake the horror that consumed my very soul.

Why had I not noticed this before? Why hadn't I known about this before? You would think that I couldn't have missed seeing this seeing as I had so many eyes on them at all times, especially when they slept or swam. Yet, for all of my observation, I had completely missed this of all things!?

Then, realization struck me like a jolt of lightning. Hina's tracksuit. The red jacket she wore all the time with the long sleeves covered these small and already difficult to see scars so well that I never thought about it.

Because why would I? Hina has always been the most optimistic person here. Why would she ever think to start that kind of self destructive behavior? Yet, these scars were relatively old, at least a few months, if not a couple of years. Could this have developed during the time here in lock-down, trapped in this school?

I hazard a glance at Sakura, wondering how she felt about all of this. At first, I couldn't really tell beyond the fact that she was clearly upset. Yet, as I looked closer, I could see the sadness in her eyes as she looked at those scars on Hina's wrist. She too didn't seem to know where these marks came from, not when she looked as confused as I was, but she also understood the implications as I had.

She noticed my gaze and realized pretty quickly what I asked of her. No words were said, but she nodded in consent. I relaxed a bit at that, and nodded back at her. Okay, good. That's one load off of my mind. Sakura should be able to look after Hina without any problem. If I'm wrong, then at least Hina would have protection.

Yet, the didn't fix the issue. If Hina had tried something like...that a during the lock-down, did that mean that she had done so of her own volition, or had she been manipulated into it? Had she been pushed into despair so bad that she thought that this was the only way out?

It made me tremble at the thought. For someone to get someone like Hina to anything like that would have to be the worst kind of manipulator to get this kind of result. What kind of suffering did she go through to cause that? Or worst, did someone else do these to her against her will?

Junko. That's the only reason I can think of. She had to be involved, there was no doubt in my mind. I made a note to talk with Jill tonight, get the details on this matter before I make any rash decisions.

As it was, the serial killer was simply looking away from Hina with a visibly upset look on her face. Of course, for all of her disturbing or disgusting tendencies, not even she could laugh about this situation. She might be a serial murderer but that didn't mean she was heartless.

It was while I was thinking about all of this that someone decided that she needed clarification for something I had said earlier. Something I knew was coming, but I couldn't stop myself from cringing internally when it was asked.

"...Junko, if it isn't to much to ask, earlier you said that Sayaka, Sakura, Toko, Kyoko, and yourself had scars." Celeste stated with a look of suspicion on her face. "Yet, as far as I am aware, I do not see any on her person. How ever do you know that Kyoko has any scars of her own?"

While I appreciated the distraction from this depressing topic, I really didn't like that it came with Kyoko's suspicious glare burning at my back. She didn't verbally respond, but she didn't need to for me to know what she was thinking. Fortunately, I had a fall back solution.

With a lidded gaze over my shoulder aimed at the gambler, I pointed at Kyoko in a, 'is it not obvious?' expression. "I don't know about you, but I don't think wearing custom gloves to the bath is normal bathing attire. I mean, I love fashion as much as the next girl, but in my experience, wearing leather gloves in a place like this says one of two things. Either she has a concerning sentimentality for those gloves and won't take them off regardless of the circumstances, which is a whole other problem in and of itself, or she's got something she doesn't want to show. My best guess? I figured horrific scars are the most likely, followed shortly under that by having taken a life and now the sight of her hands makes her hallucinate to see the blood still on them."

I then turned to address Kyoko as well, and gave her unsettled expression a small grin. "Far as I'm concerned though, I very much doubt the latter theory. I straight up refuse to believe that someone with hemophobia would be able to be able to handle being around injured and bleeding people as well as you do."

"Those are some...concerning theories, you have." Sakura commented as she toweled her hair. Her gaze, much like most of the girls, were very troubled by my choice of words.

"Well, it didn't make sense for them to be something sentimental since they look so form fitting." I explained as I looked at her, before turning to the detective while pointing to her gloves to make my point clear. "Adding onto that, I know every company glove manufacturer on the market, and I don't recognize that brand of glove. Thus, adding to the idea that they must be custom made. But the way you handle yourself by hiding in the back all the time until an incident happens, means that you aren't likely in it for the fashion. So, adding all of that together, I came to the conclusion that there must be something like a scar that you feel needs to be covered. Simple educated guess work, ya' know?"

I gave them all a proud smile, quite happy about my train of logic. There, that should keep them from suspecting me in the long run. I looked at them all, thinking that I had satisfactorily explained myself… until I got a good look at their faces.

I wasn't sure if it was a result of the hot bath, but most of them had steam pouring out of their ears and a completely brain-dead expression on their faces. I could just about make out swirls in their eyes, but I could just have been mistaken. The two that didn't have that problem still looked at me with a complete and totally stunned look of their own, completely dumbfounded by my overwhelming analytical prowess.

I tried to shrug them off, giving them a sheepish smile as I rubbed the back of my head. "Eh, sorry 'bout that. I tend to psychoanalyze people based their clothing choices, and how they act with those articles. I try not to do that to people I'm with, but sometimes the habit slips out. It comes with the territory of my job."

"Really?" Hina asked shaking off the brain fog as she pulled on the shower nozzle hose, turning the head on my back to wash off the suds she'd built up there. I yelped at the sudden burst of water, and sighed under the cold water as it quickly warmed up to a far more soothing temperature. They have a good water heater here in this school, props for that if nothing else.

"Oh, yeah. Totally." I explained, letting Hina turn the water on my hair. "I'm not just some pretty face, ya' know? It's how I stay ahead of my contenders. I analyze people's habits, current believes, choices in clothing in special circumstances as well casually and seasonal, as well on going trends in media, then comparing those with patterns of established, assumed, and any recurring direction of previous trends. I am then able to use that data to figure out the exact style that will become popular before it becomes the go to style and thus capitalizing on it before it can go mainstream and staying ahead of the curb. There's a lot you can learn about someone from their choices in life through their clothes."

Somewhere during the beginning of my speech, I noticed that Hina had slowly stopped her movements as I continued. She had even let the stream of water slowly sputter and die near the tail end of my explanation. Curious, I couldn't help but glance at her, and the sight made me snort in laughter.

She stood there with a glazed expression in her eyes, her mind clearly trying and failing to understand all of the data that she'd been blasted with. Bless her heart, she did try, but the incoherent muttering coming from her mouth was all too telling about just how much she actually understood any of that drivel. She was simply not prepared to imagine this kind of complex analytical processing and understating.

It was so cute though, the way her face looked so dazed and confused, the way her nose squished up as her brain struggled to gather cognitive thought again. Honestly adorable, must protect. Maybe that contributed to the way Sakura was so protective of Hina.

"Regardless, sorry to say this Kyoko, but me coming up with the idea of you having something to hide isn't really hard to come to for someone who's living revolves around analyzing people, like me." I offered a small smile. "But, if you don't want to talk about it, I'm not going to force you to talk. Whatever is under those gloves, be they scars or otherwise, are your secret to bare, and if you don't want to show us, that's your choice, not mine."

She didn't seem to calm down any from my speech, if anything she seemed to regard me with further suspicion, but with there being so many people around, she couldn't push to hard with raising concerns or questions that she didn't want to explain or had answers to, so instead she looked away and closed her eyes, crossing her arms as she tended to do defensively.

"It's fine." she said simply, but I could tell that either I or Mukuro would need to answer for this one in the future. Either when she can corner one of us alone, or when she gathers enough evidence to trap Mukuro in during a class trial where we can't run away. She was tenacious like that. Yes, that is certainly that detective in her acting up.

However, before anyone else could say anything else, Jill's laughter cut through the silence as she pointed at my backside. "Still, inquiring fans want to know, you already told us about Kyococo, but what do you think my background is from my outfit? Bet you can' t guess it, can you!?"

"Well, obviously no, not right now. After all you aren't exactly wearing anything, are you?" I quipped, and Jill's laughter suddenly cut out, her face frozen in an open mouth mid guffaw as she considered my words carefully. Then her face snapped into a look of disdain and she pointed at my big stupid grin.

"Touche." she stated bluntly, before bursting out in laughter once more.

I couldn't help it, but whether it was the stress of maintaining my cover, the ridiculousness of the moment, or her stupid antics making me lower my guard for a split second, but I began to giggle. Then it turned into laughter, then outright manic guffawing. The other girls could only look on at our merriment with looks of confusion, but as they glanced at each other, they all found their guards lowering in toe. Sayaka began to giggle along with us and Sakura simply smiled softly at the happy moment. Both Hina and Celeste sighed and shook their heads, the former in befuddlement at the situation before her and the latter in exasperation at the antics happening before her eyes.

The only one that was utterly silent was Kyoko, her inquisitive, investigative gaze never leaving my face for even a moment. I couldn't read her at all, so stone like her face was set, but even without I could still tell what she was thinking. This was not over yet. I had only delayed the inevitable, and she would be coming for me sooner then she believed I would think. Yet another thing I would have to nip in the bud sooner rather then later.

From there, it was relatively normal business. The girls and I all finished up our bath pretty quickly after that without any real interesting thing worth noting. Jill was a big pain during most of the time with her inappropriate comments or behavior whenever we started being too quiet, but it was a pleasant experience.

However, if I thought the bath would be the worst test of my will, I was not prepared for the endeavor yet to come to pass. For you see, the bath was merely the battle. The war came when we were finished and we entered the changing room. Because, as Sakura helped Sayaka and Hina 'helped' me head into the room after the other girls and over to the benches, I was gifted a sight I would forever debate with myself over whether it was a curse, or a blessing.

I got to see a good eyeful of several towels hitting the floor, and to my eternal shame, I bore witness to several very attractive girls, bare as the day they were born, with enough bosom, thighs and bottoms between them all to fuel a person's wet dreams for several months to come. Nothing beyond a cursory glance, and thankfully nothing that was beyond a PG rating, but still far more then I had ever intended to witness. From Hina's sporty frame, Sakura's sculpted musculature, to Toko's petite figure, to Celeste's fair and delicate stature, to Kyoko's pale but otherwise perfect build, to even Sayaka's scared yet still beautiful visage. I turned my eyes, hell my whole body, away as quickly as I could, but it was too late, I had seen the man's fantasy, and it would no doubt be scarred into my mind for weeks, if not months to come. I said nothing, I couldn't, to do so would only damn me. All I could do was ignore it as best as I could.

"See! I told you these things look bigger! Look at the size of these mammaries!" I could here Jill exclaim, followed by Hina's yelp.

"T-Toko! Don't touch them!" I inhaled sharply, but kept my eyes firmly shut as I kept my back to the chaos. My hands quivered as I quickly got dressed as quickly as I could, doing everything in my power to not react to the sound of Sakura chasing the groper around the room. My breath became heavy as I put my hair up into its normal style as Jill sneezed and turned back into a very confused and panicking Toko screaming about being naked. I foisted my towel over to her in clenched fists silently, saying nothing as I finished getting dressed, gathered my crutch, and hurriedly limped out before anyone could say anything to tempt me further.

Screw my plan for Alter Ego, that could wait. Right now, I was heading back to the safety of my observation deck before anything else could go wrong. Fortunately, thanks to me not bringing the cumbersome boots, I was able to leave before Kyoko could get a chance to finish up herself, so I was able to make it unmolested. As I closed the door to my twin's room, I could see that Mukuro had something that she wanted to say, but one look into my absolutely exhausted eyes was enough to shut her up mid word.

"Mukuro, I'll hear it in a little bit. Right now, your orders are not to allow yourself to be alone with Kyoko for any amount of time in the near future. I will deal with it, don't worry just..." I clenched my hand and pursed my lips as I took a deep breath through my nose, then let all of the tension leave with a sigh. "Just...do what you feel is best for now, alright?"

She looked at me surprised, her eyes noticeably wide in disbelief. After a moment, she offered a hesitant and shaky nod, whether not used to being given agency from her sister or just not used to seeing her sister so shaken up is up for debate.

Either way, things were okay for the moment, so I quickly climbed into the vent and made my way back to the observation deck. I hoped that I could take this moment to calm down now. Maybe I could look through the journal some more and see if I could decipher more of the chicken scratch.

However, that was until I looked at the monitors, and saw the way the students looked. The girls had all finished getting dressed and had joined the boys in the cafeteria. Yet, for some reason they were all looking rather tense, unusually so. They were all gathered around Makoto as he held something out, and I blinked.

"Wait, hold on, is that…?" I asked, I couldn't quite make out what I was seeing, so I rushed into the control room and booted up the Monokuma for the cafeteria. I had to get a better look at this.

Unfortunately, I would be getting that look, but not how I wanted. The second I showed the bear's face, I was immediately surrounded by the students, a very unusual sight to be sure. Before I could get more then a quip of, "Oh, what's got you all excited? I know I'm desirable, but please, one at a time." in, Mondo snatched the item from Makoto's hands and shoved it into the bear's face.

"Hey, Monokuma. The fuck is up with this picture?" He demanded, bluntly, and plainly. I was going to give him a silly remark, something to do with trying to taint my eyes with pornography or something of the like, but I took one good look at the photo and suddenly, it was like I had swallowed my tongue.

The picture was of Mondo, minus his jacket, with Leon, and Chihiro in a classroom together, all laughing along together. It looked like they had been roughhousing a bit, but they were so gosh darn happy that they didn't care how they looked. They were just excited to be together in the light of the sunlight shining through the windows and filling the room with midday light.

A room that made no sense if they were only supposed to have met in this school.

Thus, you are caught up now. This is how I found myself in a stupid situation of being surrounded by foes all united in a cause to find the truth by any means necessary, all because of a huge miscalculation on my part. This is how I ground myself in completely and absolutely, totally boned with no easy way out.

Why was that photo there? No freaking clue! It was not there when I checked the art room myself on the first day, so I thought things would be fine. When did it get there? Again, not a clue! Who put that there to begin with? Well, that one was obvious, but still! Thanks to this photo, this had the possibility to explode irreparably in my face.

I needed to think of something, quick!

–

Oh. Well, this seems to be a bit of a problem, now doesn't it? I must admit other me, you had me going for a moment there. Had me in the first half, not gonna lie.

Yes, sharp minded people may have already realized it, but Makoto did find that photo where he had in game, but without the interference of Monokuma to take the photo away, the students won't be so quick to dismiss it as a mistake or prank, will they? Now, let's see how you deal with this dangerous situation.

Also, I have an announcement. I've officially gotten a secondary account where you also find this story. On Archive of our own, Ao3, I've opened up an account under the same name. It's less me making a great change and switching over, and more me wanting a place to safely keep a back up of my story, and I've been told that Ao3 is a great place. Feel free to stop by some time if you want to!