I'm fairly sure I didn't get any sleep that night, given how I woke up terribly tired. I blinked my weary eyes as I rolled over onto the floor with an unceremonious plop. A low gurgling from my stomach alerted me to the fact that I'd probably need to do some eating as soon as it was convenient to me. Firstly though, I needed a damn shower. At the bare minimum, I refused to go traipsing around Danganronpa smelling worse than Hifumi of all people.

A flicker from my TV alerted me to the familiar morning announcement from Monokuma, announcing to us that nighttime was officially over. Perfect, that meant I could actually bathe. A few minutes later, I was humming a little tune and washing myself with the body wash and shampoo combo provided. A hot shower or bath always did wonders for my mood back home and this was no different. Granted, my situation in general still sucked, but at the very least I could calm down and cool my head. As soon as I was all washed up, I dried myself off and slipped into my spare lawyer suit. I had to say, it would be a major pain in the ass having to sleep in a suit, but it wasn't the most uncomfortable thing in the world. I guess I was just used to having some actual sleepwear.

I let out a small yawn as I wandered to the dining hall, finding that I was the first person there it seemed. Looks like I had the kitchen all to myself. Pushing through the double doors, I was amazed at just how much food there was. Fruits and veggies of all shapes and sizes, snacks, a fridge full of dairy products and even some fresh looking cuts of meat. On the one hand, I had to wonder just why Junko was going to the effort of keeping the pantry this well stocked, but then I remembered what Monokuma said. Junko wouldn't get her jollies by starving us out, no sir. She wanted to watch us break down from other factors. More despair inducing factors that would give her the greatest high imaginable.

Always was a particular kind of sociopathic bitch, weren't you, Junko? I mused to myself as I fished out two eggs. Today's breakfast would be simple: two eggs over medium with a couple strips of bacon and some orange juice. Nothing terribly fancy and something I could easily make back home with great success. A dab of vegetable oil here and some cooking later, it was all done. If I closed my eyes and smelled the food, I could've been mistaken for thinking I was back home.

As I stepped out into the dining hall proper, I found that I wasn't alone. Chihiro looked in my direction, giving me a smile as I took a seat right next to the programmer.

"Good morning, Tony," he said. "How did you sleep?"

"Morning, Chihiro," I replied, taking a bite out of my eggs and bacon. "I slept… about as well as anyone could sleep around here, I suppose. How about you?"

"Oh, I…" Chihiro trailed off, looking a bit nervous before regaining his composure. "I… guess I'm okay for now. It's just…"

"This whole situation is just insane for you too, yeah?" Chihiro meekly nodded. "I don't blame you for being scared, Chihiro. I think everyone is at least a little nervous, it's just that some people like Mondo aren't really showing it. After all, just a little bit of fear on our face is ammo for that dumb bear."

"I know…" Chihiro hung his head dejectedly. "But still…"

"Like I said, don't worry about it for now, Chihiro," I tried reassuring him. "Let's talk about something else. We didn't get a lot of chances to talk yesterday anyway, so why don't we do that now? I still dunno a thing about you."

That seemed to brighten Chihiro up a bit, though he did look a bit confused. "Huh? Why are you interested in me…?"

"Well, you are the only other person present right now." I gestured to the still sparse hall. "But I won't force you if you don't want to talk."

"No, no, it's fine," he said. "It's just… I dunno where to start…"

I thought for a minute about what I knew about Chihiro, aside from the fact that he hid his being a boy from the public. So I figured I'd ask about something I was always curious about. "Well, why don't we start with your talent? How did you get into programming to begin with?"

That seemed to do the trick. Given how familiar and comfortable computers were to Chihiro, he immediately jumped on the topic like a rabbit drawn to lettuce. "Well, I've always been a bit weak, I suppose. I always got really tired easily when I was younger, so I could never play outside with my friends. My dad always had a few computers at home, so I'd spend all day poking around with them, playing games, stuff like that."

"A few computers?" I raised an eyebrow. "Why so many?"

Chihiro's face faintly flushed a bit. "Oh, right. My dad's a software engineer. He's made a bunch of different programs for companies over the years. And one day, I found a program for database software. In short, a user gives information and the software would take your info and find what you were looking for. But I ended up adding a feature that allowed you to say what you needed without needing to type anything."

I nodded, following along. "So, basically a kind of search engine combined with voice recognition?"

"Yup, exactly!" Chihiro nodded, another smiling coming to him. "It took a couple of weeks to get it right. For something like voice recognition, accuracy is really important. And Japanese isn't an easy language to understand either. It's a lot easier writing a voice recognition program for English."

"Well I'd say that's pretty impressive, Chihiro," I said with a smile of my own. "I couldn't even begin to understand how to program and your first program involved voices."

Chihiro giggled, his face falling just slightly. "Of course… It didn't take long for my dad to find out I messed with his program without permission. I thought I was gonna get in so much trouble, when he surprised me. He gave me a big hug and told me how proud he was. Turns out my voice recognition was able to take natural speech and pull out key search terms to retrieve information. He even told me it could change the face of software recognition around the world!"

Now I was really impressed. Chihiro couldn't have been older than nine or ten when he wrote that code and he was already changing the landscape of software worldwide. And presumably, he didn't even have that much knowledge on coding beforehand. That on its own was definitely worthy of a few awards.

"That's amazing, Chihiro," I said. "Definitely a lot more amazing than someone like, that's for sure."

Chihiro's cheeks turned a faint pink-red. "Well… development costs for the software are still pretty high, so it'll take some time before it becomes more widespread. But, that's how I became addicted to computers and programming."

It was right then and there that I decided that Chihiro Fujisaki must live. It wasn't because he was a genius with computers and programming, no. It was because this person, without question, was one of the most innocent souls in the pot of chaos and misery that was the Danganronpa universe. He may not have been the most confident person around, but it was clear that Chihiro was like a bright light in a dark, desolate space. I didn't know how I would manage it, but Chihiro would survive this nightmare.

"But… that's not gonna help us at all here…" Chihiro continued, this time looking defeated. "Programming won't get us out of here, will it? I'm not strong like Mondo or Sakura, I'm not smart like Byakuya or Kyoko... I'm entirely useless…"

"That's not even remotely true," I suddenly interjected. "Chihiro, just because you're not the best doesn't mean you're even close to useless. I can't exactly use my talent all that well here, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up, and neither should you."

Chihiro whimpered slightly. "B-but…"

"No buts, Chihiro. Don't put yourself down, we'll get through this. Besides, who says there isn't a computer floating around? It's a high school, there's gotta be at least one computer here. Just keep your chin up, you're capable of so much more than you think. Definitely a lot more capable than me at least."

It didn't look like Chihiro was entirely convinced, but he did at least seem like he wasn't about to cry anymore. So that was a win in my book.

"Okay…" Chihiro nodded. "Thanks, Tony..."

"Don't mention it," I said, giving the boy a smile. "Oh and just one more thing?"

"What?"

"Never compare yourself to Byakuya. You have more talent in one finger than he'll ever have in his whole life."

With breakfast having passed, it was time to get something productive done. I hadn't explored the first floor personally myself, given the events of yesterday could probably be forgiven. Everyone might've already done some searching already, but it was entirely likely that they overlooked something. I rationalized that while Kyoko's father did a bang-up job in sealing Hope's Peak, he must have overlooked something. After all, the man had no idea what Junko was really like until it was far too late. And Junko wasn't perfect, she must have overlooked something too, even the slightest detail. At least, that was the hope I insisted on carrying around. At the very least, it was worth a shot.

I scanned the map in my handbook, deciding that I'd start with the laundry room. It was always the room that went without much notice in the game, maybe there was a secret there? Besides, I had to wash my other suit anyway, so it was really more like killing two birds with one arrow. After collecting my leftover clothes, I made a beeline straight for the laundry room. The laundry room was about what you'd expect, seven washing machines all lined up perfectly in a row with a white table right in the center, the floor decorated in cyan and blue tiles. However, there wasn't a single dryer to speak of, just some clotheslines already set up from one end of the room to the other.

Guess we have to dry our clothes the old-fashioned way, I shrugged. I found an empty washer and started it up. That was step one down, now I just had to take a look around. Just like how Edgeworth went about things, I couldn't rest until I had examined every nook and cranny of the laundry room. I combed over the walls, looked behind the dryers and washers, even going as far as to feel for any kind of pressure tiles on the floor. But still nothing. I knew I needed to have a bit more patience with investigations, but after what felt like a near half hour of searching, I felt like I'd just wasted my time. Though curiously enough, I did find a few bronze coins, all of which were minted with Monokuma's insufferable face. Pretty sure that meant I could use these at the giftshop. Maybe if I was lucky enough, I could find the escape button. But I pressed on regardless, making another pass by everything I've investigated already.

"Is there something you're looking for, peasant?"

Whatever decent mood I had evaporated into a fine mist as I cursed under my breath. Slowly I pulled myself to my feet, turning to face Byakuya.

"Well, good morning to you too, Byakuya," I sarcastically greeted. "I guess sleep hasn't quite pulled that stick from your ass yet."

Byakuya glared but kept his peace. "I'll ask only one more time; what're you looking for?"

"What, isn't that obvious?" I shrugged. "I'm looking for a way out, even a secret one. I haven't taken my own look around the school, so I figured I'd go and do that today."

"Well, allow me to do you a small kindness and save you some time." Byakuya pushed up his glasses, giving his lenses a slight tint. "There isn't a way out through here."

"Well aren't you a party pooper," I said. "And how would you know anyway?"

"Because this is the first room I searched through yesterday, you dullard," Byakuya glared. "I searched this room from top to bottom and found nothing. You're only wasting your own time."

Inwardly, I knew that arguing with Byakuya was a waste of time. He was an asshole, plain and simple. There wouldn't be much change in that department for a good while and until then, he'd just be an irritating rich kid with a chip on his shoulder. A dime a dozen in these types of stories really. At the same time though, I couldn't just stand there and take Byakuya's abuse. Makoto might've had that kind of patience and kindness, but I was not Makoto Naegi.

"Alright, whatever," I shrugged. "Here's my own question; why the hell do you care about what I do?"

"Why exactly would I need to justify my actions to a peasant such as you?" he asked. "I noticed you coming in and decided that your time could be spent elsewhere, perhaps somewhere that may actually contain an escape instead of floundering around like a fish on land."

"Right, whatever." I really did not need this crap today. "So are we done, Byakuya?"

Silence. An unnerving silence to say the least. It felt like Byakuya was trying to be as awkward as humanly possible and succeeding in spades. A small noise broke through the air, alerting me that my clothes had finished washing. Definitely a lot faster than I expected. Without another word, I picked my clothes from the washer, grabbing clothespins to hang everything out to dry. It was strange, usually this tended to work better in the sun last I checked. Oh well, it'd dry eventually I guess, probably by evening time.

"I suppose we are," he scoffed. Without even another sound, Byakuya turned on his heels and left the laundry room, leaving me quite alone.

"Christ, what a dick." I pocketed my hands and sighed. Well, if the laundry room was out of the question, that didn't mean there wasn't a way out anywhere else on the first floor. I wasn't about to let someone like Byakuya get me down; I had to keep moving.

By the time I collapsed into a chair in the dining hall, it was already half past four. My investigations, just like everyone else's, had turned up emptier than my savings account. Granted I hadn't quite explored the gym fully just yet, but it was just far too big for something like that, especially when the day was almost over. But I suppose it just went to show me that if there was a way out on the first floor, it wouldn't be in plain sight. Junko probably did have secret escape routes hidden all over the school, but you probably had to activate them from that hidden room of hers where she controlled all of the Monokuma robots. So it dawned on me that trying to find a secret passageway wasn't going to work. And since we were stuck on the first floor…

"Christ, why is this so complicated?" I sighed, burying my hands in my face.

"My, but don't you look troubled, Tony."

I looked up to see Celeste gracefully taking a seat right next to me, a fresh cup of tea in hand like she was royalty or something. It was just a bit weird how I felt myself becoming slowly more used to Celeste's presence, though it could just be that when it came to her and Byakuya, I'd vastly prefer being around Celeste so far. Celeste was definitely like a rose, beautiful but thorny. With her, you might not have always known what you were getting yourself into, but unless your name was Kiyotaka Ishimaru or Hifumi Yamada, you were generally safe. By contrast, Byakuya was more akin to a Mossberg 500 shotgun. Blunt, to the point and ungodly painful.

"If I had to make an educated guess, you spent today trying to search for a way out of here, no?" Celeste smiled, taking a sip of her tea.

"That obvious, huh?" I asked with some wit. "Well I've come to the conclusion that if there is a secret way out of here, we won't go finding it stumbling in the dark. All that's going to do is wear us out."

"Perhaps the smartest thing I've heard today," Celeste said through another sip. "Personally, I find it ridiculous that everyone is still insisting on finding a means of escape. If it were that easy to leave, then would we truly be trapped here to begin with? No, no, for now all we can do in the end is adapt until such a means of escape is possible."

That was the thing about Celeste. She kept going on and on about adapting to the situation until she herself decided that she'd just kill someone to escape. Two people, technically. So she was a two-faced hypocrite, but then so was I. After all, I wasn't actually a lawyer and she wasn't actually French. Maybe that was why she was so weirdly interested in me, we both weren't what we said we were. Of course, there was nothing to be gained by revealing what I knew about Celeste early right to her face. Plus I lacked any actual proof.
"Starting to think you're right on the money there," I said. "That said… I can't help but feel nervous."

"Oh?" One of her eyebrows rose. "Nervous how?"

"That someone's gonna snap and actually kill someone. Don't get me wrong, Celeste, I wanna believe in everyone here and assume they won't snap, but I've seen a lot of cases with this premise. Someone believes they have no choice in the matter, they're pushed to their logical extremes and then…" My voice trailed off, letting Celeste know exactly what I was inferring to.

"An understandable fear to be sure," Celeste said. "But there is little that can be done for now. If nothing else, it would appear my self-imposed rule regarding nighttime is being followed for the most part. Perhaps a sign that things will be peaceful, no?"

I sighed. "I hope so, Celeste, I sure hope so."

The two of us just sat in silence for the most part after that, just quietly enjoying the other's presence. It really was odd how a fellow liar could be such decent company, but I couldn't help but feel a bit more relaxed with Celeste. Of course, she didn't know what I knew regarding what was going to happen. How Leon would kill Sayaka, how Mondo would kill Chihiro, how she would kill-

No. I thought to myself. No, it doesn't have to be like that. I can still try to change things. I can keep them all safe.

I was pulled from my thoughts by Makoto and Maizono walking in, Makoto looking tired in particular. He turned to me and Celeste and brightened up. "Hey guys, how're you both doing?"

"I suppose we're doing just fine, Makoto," Celeste smiled, taking a final sip of her tea. "Simply enjoying the peace for now." She paused, her eyes locked onto an odd golden smudge in Makoto's hand. "Makoto, what is that in your hand?"

Makoto looked confused until he realized what Celeste was referring to. "Oh, this?" he laughed. "Well, I was helping Sayaka find something to defend herself with just in case of emergency, and we ended up finding this golden replica katana in the trophy room near the gym. It was covered in this thick sheet of golden leaf."

"But it was a bit too heavy for me," Sayaka admitted, "so I encouraged Makoto to take it himself. We wrapped some newspaper around it and brought it back to his room."

"I see," Celeste hummed. "I suppose that explains the smudge on Makoto. And while I do hope you two plan on keeping the peace here, I will admit that having a means of self-defense is certainly better than not. But Sayaka, that does leave you without something to use in an emergency, no?"
Sayaka paused, realizing the flaw in her plan and how she had effectively just wasted her and Makoto's time before Makoto shook his head. "It'll be okay. Because if worse comes to worst, I'll be the one who protects Sayaka. No doubt about it."

I could see Celeste's eyes roll just a bit at Makoto's sudden declaration, though I couldn't help but smile a bit. He could say he was normal all he wanted, but Makoto was totally playing up the protagonist role whether he wanted to or not. Sayaka looked taken aback for a second before she faintly blushed red. "M-Makoto…" she mumbled, giggling a bit. "Thank you for saying that…"

The four of us simply sat there in silence for a bit, fishing for a topic now that Makoto and Sayaka were here. Eventually however, Sayaka spoke. "Actually, I wanted to ask this to Makoto, but I'll ask you two as well. Tony, Celeste, do you two have a dream?"

A dream? That certainly caught me off guard. "My dream?" I actually had to think about it for a minute before finally answering. "Well, I can't say it was my dream as a kid to be a lawyer. I actually always wanted to go to space. Living in Florida near the Space Coast, I was exposed to a lot of shuttle launches and the like, y'know? But in the end, lawyering ended up being my calling, not being an astronaut." A brief memory played in my mind, sitting on my dad's lap in the backyard, watching my first shuttle launch like it was the coolest thing in the world. Happier times before… circumstances reared their ugly head.

"Do I have a dream?" Celeste didn't take very long to think about it. "I would like to live in a grand, gothic mansion, being waited upon by dozens of handsome butlers in vampiric clothing."

Makoto and Sayaka just gave Celeste an odd look for a solid minute, not sure if she was even remotely serious or not. Before either of them could begin to question the gambler what in the actual living hell she meant by that, Celeste let out a small laugh.

"A mere jest, I assure you. No, I would like to keep my dream a bit closer to my chest if you wouldn't mind."

That just left Makoto, who turned to Sayaka with a smile. "Well, what about you, Sayaka? Do you have a dream? I'd love to hear it."

"I…" Sayaka stumbled a bit, trying to find the right words before continuing. "As far back as I can remember, I've always wanted to be a star. I never knew my mother and my father had to work two jobs just to provide for us. I was always home alone more often than not, and I felt really lonely…" Her gloomy expression brightened just a bit. "That is until I first saw a pop star live on TV. She looked so pretty, like a princess. And she could sing, dance, just about anything. But more important than that was her smile, a smile that caused the crowd to go wild, a smile that even began to melt a bit of my loneliness…"

A small, contented sigh escaped Sayaka's lips as she continued. "I decided that's what I wanted to be someday; I wanted to be able to give that kind of encouragement to other people. It took lots of hard work and training, but in the end, I guess I was able to become my dream."

Makoto's eyes went starry. "Wow… That's amazing, Sayaka," he said. "You were actually able to do it in the end. Compared to you, I feel outright lazy."

But as Makoto finished his praise, Sayaka's smile began to droop just a bit, her expression hardening. "It wasn't all fun and games, Makoto. I did whatever it took to reach that dream, I mean it. Even things that weren't so… pleasant." Her eyes wandered away for just a bit, as if she couldn't bear to look any of us in the eyes. The implication might not have hit Makoto right away, but I could only begin to imagine what Sayaka meant by that. Celeste certainly seemed to get the gist of it too.

"I honestly believed that as long as you kept chasing your dreams, they had to come true eventually," Sayaka continued, her expression now considerably more stony. "But to do that, you can't take your eyes off of your dream. Not even for one second. Even if sometimes it feels like a bad dream… Whether you're awake or asleep, it doesn't matter. To make your dream a reality, you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to turn your dream into reality."

To say the atmosphere in the hall felt claustrophobic would be the understatement of the century. Makoto looked flabbergasted, trying to find the meaning behind Sayaka's words. Celeste gave the Ultimate Idol a measured gaze, her best poker face on full display. And the moment my eyes and Sayaka's met, I felt genuinely scared for my life. It wasn't that Sayaka was physically stronger than me or anything, that wasn't the issue.

It was her eyes. For the faintest of moments, it felt like the mask that Sayaka hid behind, the "Idol" as it were, slipped for just a moment and everyone present could see just what was underneath. A girl forced to do anything and… god forbid, everything, just to stay competitive in the music industry. Her eyes looked like two purple hollowed out husks. That look was the look of someone who had everything in the world to lose.

I couldn't believe I was saying it, but I was afraid of Sayaka Maizono.