Chapter 6
"Why is Fujisaki eating Doritos and drinking Mountain Dew?"
"Hello, Naegi." Maizono greeted the hooded boy.
"Hey, Maizono. So what are the three of you doing?"
"We've been learning that you should never have add -ons when it comes to video games." Celeste snarked.
"What?"
"Yeah." Maizono said. "Blue Sphere."
"Maizono, you have two eyes." Naegi said.
"I should hope so." Celeste said. "Otherwise, we'd be in big trouble."
"Damn it Naegi, you too? Wait, Naegi, you know about Sonic the Hedgehog?" Maizono said.
"What?" Naegi questioned. "Yeah. I mean, it is one of my favorite franchises, and considering Kirigiri is basically the human version of Blaze the Cat."
Fujisaki started laughing.
"What's so funny, Fujisaki?" Celeste asked.
"Okay, okay. Blaze the Cat has appeared in Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventure for the Nintendo DS. Do either of you know about Miyamoto's opinions about cats?"
Naegi started laughing too. "You're right, that is funny."
"Huh?" Celeste looked more perplexed than she had ever been in her life.
"Naegi, would you do the honors of explaining this?"
"Certainly, Fujisaki. Okay, at an E3, Miyamoto said 'Cats are interesting. They are kind of like girls. If they come and talk to you, it's great. But if you try to talk to them, it doesn't always go so well.'" Naegi continued to laughed hilariously.
"Okay, I'm just going to smile and nod." Maizono looked confused.
"My original question of why you couldn't play Knuckles in Sonic 1 still hasn't been answered." Celeste said.
"When did you mention that?" Fujisaki asked.
"Never mind." Celeste said, trying to change the topic. "Can you answer the question?"
"Well, I've heard that it was due to collision detection with the saws in Scrap Brain Zone." Fujisaki said. "But there's more to it than that. The color pallettes also didn't match up for well. For instance, Marble Zone is the only zone among the Genesis cartridges to feature any version of purple. No zones in Sonic 2 or 3 & Knuckles use those shades of purple. And Knuckles' normal sprites, even without his socks and shoes, requires three types of reds."
"Really?" Naegi said. "Couldn't they have made new sprites for Knuckles using the reds and oranges from Spring Yard Zone for Knuckles' sprites instead outlined by some black lines? And I know Green Hill had the required greens for his socks too, and a yellow from Labyrinth Zone could have been used as well for his shoes."
"That might work in theory." Fujisaki conceded. "But in practice, that could be unreasonably difficult to code."
"I always thought it was more of the fact that the Spindash wasn't available in Sonic 1, and trying to implement it with the speed cap and air cap would have made it impractical." Naegi continued.
"That could be a possibility." Fujisaki admitted. "I'll run through both of the cartridges code when I get out of here. I'm curious now."
"Speed cap?" Maizono asked.
"Air Cap?" Celeste questioned.
"Speed caps and air caps were present in the original game. The story is that the creator said that Sonic was going too fast, and that it needed to be slowed down." Naegi said, hands folded behind his hand. "But it was more due to making it easier to program. The caps were removed for Sonic 2, and as a result in certain levels on the original Genesis games, you could actually outrun the screen."
"Seriously?" Maizono said.
"Blast processing at its finest." Naegi said.
"What's Blast Processing?" Celeste asked.
"It's a marketing slogan to emphasizing the processing speed of the Genesis's games." Naegi said.
Fujisaki slammed a hand to the forehead. "I just thought of something SEGA could have released for the 32-X!"
"And what's that?" Maizono said.
"Remastered versions of the Genesis titles packed with new features, including a full-blown port of Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic the Hedgehog 1. It would feature a spin-dash, the seventh emerald, and save functions! If Sonic 3 & Knuckles could provide eight save files for the bare-bones Genesis, then the 32-X certainly could have handled the differences in color palette between the original game and Knuckles's sprites. After all, it has 32 color slots instead of 16!"
"Moving on to new topic, Naegi, why do you have your hood up?" Maizono asked.
"Oh, this? I felt like being a bit stealthy."
"How's that working out for you?" Celeste said.
"Not very well. I got a lecture from Ishimaru about how we shouldn't wear hoods indoors. I just slipped away from a debate between Oowada and Ishimaru about whether's it's appropriate to wear hoods in this school environment. Oowada was for hoods, and Ishimaru was against."
"That sounds oddly in character for the two of them." Celeste said.
"Yeah, it does."
"As long as they don't end up killing each other over this." Celeste said.
"I hope you mean literally." Monokuma had appeared. "I would love to see some death in here, it beats listening to you guys discuss outdated consoles from the 1990s."
. Fujisaki stopped eating chips and looked worried. If Monokuma was here, what dastardly suggestions would he pull next?
"No, of course not." Celeste said. "I don't WANT them to kill each other. We've only been in here for a day, imagine if someone saw us. Think about what that says for human nature."
"You're saying like that's not the preferred outcome, but you could handle the alternative." Naegi pointed out Celeste's choice of words.
"See, Naegi gets it!" Monokuma raised his paws. "I knew you would started coming around to my way of thinking!"
"No, I'm still not agreeing with you, you little piece of crap." Naegi replied.
"Do you know what Naegi said to me this morning, Fujisaki?"
"I have no idea." Fujisaki said timidly.
"The words still apply here, Monokuma!" Naegi pointed out.
"He said. He said. 'Now, go away, you crazy little psycho.' Can you believe it?"
. Fujisaki glanced at Naegi and then at Monokuma and then back at Naegi.
"Yes."
"Monokuma, of course, you're a crazy little psycho. You've locked us in here, you're saying we have to murder each other to get out, and you make bears puns non-stop."
"You're flanderizing me! I refuse to be flanderized."
"Too late."
"Naegi, that third thing is rather underwhelming." Celeste said. "Is it really that bad?"
"You've never heard them, Celeste. You've never heard them."
"I can agree with him on that." Maizono seconded Naegi's statement.
"It's an example of Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking." Fujisaki helpfully pointed out.
"Thank you for catching that. I thought I would have to explain it like I did Xanatos Gambit."
"Yeah, well, otherwise you would have become Mr. Exposition."
"[Beat] Giving Mr. Exposition too many lines in succession becomes very dull."
"Naegi, why did you just say 'Beat'?" Celeste questioned.
"That's because it's another trope." Fujisaki replied.
"And also because I mean to say this, 'Beat it, Monokuma'." Naegi interjected.
"Michael Jackson!" Maizono said.
"Michael Jackson?" Monokuma said.
"'Beat it', it's a song by Michael Jackson. You know, the King of Pop?"
"Huh." Naegi looked confused.
"Oh, never mind." Maizono gave up.
"You know Michael Jackson was rumored to be involved in the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3?" Fujisaki said.
"Wait, seriously?" Maizono said. "I had no idea."
"Well, it's just a rumor. But apparently Carnival Night shares some chords with 'Jam', and the credits music for Sonic 3 alone would become the basis for 'Strangers in Moscow'. I think, anyway."
"If it hasn't been confirmed yet, then it's still just an Urban Legend of Zelda." Naegi commented. "Albeit one with more support than most."
"Oh, Zelda. That kid who always becomes that hero of Destiny and who gains the Master Sword to defeat Ganon." Maizono said.
"I think the internet has just lost all respect for you." Fujisaki said.
"What? Why?" Maizono said.
"The hero of the Legend of Zelda series is named Link." Naegi corrected Maizono.
"Seriously? What's up with that?" Maizono said.
"Fun fact, the series is also where the phrase 'Hijacked by Ganon' comes from." Fujisaki said.
"So, if this were to be 'hijacked by Ganon', would that mean someone else ends up usurping Monokuma's operator as the mastermind behind this whole operation?" Naegi questioned.
"No, I'm not going to be hijacked by Ganon! I'm the real and final boss, you got it!" Monokuma looked absolutely enraged.
"You know what, it's a shame we don't have an artillery piece in here with us." Naegi commented.
"Oh, why is that?" Celeste said.
"Because Monokuma is right there and then this 'game' would be hijacked by cannon!"
. Monokuma put his head down on the table as Maizono snickered.
"Oh, Naegi, that was legitimately a good pun-chline." Celeste admitted between chuckling.
"Celeste, not you too." Monokuma looked despondent.
"What do you mean, Monokuma?"
"Naegi always makes puns with the word pun in them! Pun-chline. 'I pull no pun-ches with my humor.' The list goes on."
"Well, it's fitting, Monokuma. You saw fit to incite murder among us so we're going to pun-ish you." Naegi pointed out.
"Argh! I can't stand it. I'm about to leave anyway!"
"Thank you."
. Suddenly, the door opened.
"So, please tell me you're planning to murder right now?" Monokuma asked.
"What kind of idiot would I be to respond to that particular question?" Byakuya Togami had walked in.
"Hey, Togami."
"Hello, Naegi." He noticed Naegi's hood was up. "So that's why Ishimaru and Oowada were arguing about wearing hoods inside outside."
"Yeah... Togami, have they harmed each other in anyway?" Naegi said.
"They've mostly been shouting at each other. But I don't see them physically attacking each other."
"Good."
"You know, it might be good if they finished each other off." Togami remarked. "Our average IQ would go up."
"You and Celeste both." Monokuma said.
"What?"
"He's twisting my words, Togami." Celeste coolly replied.
"I see. I'm not surprised."
"What, you actually trust the word of her over your headmaster?" Monokuma looked comically outraged.
"Well, that's not saying much. You're hardly the most trustworthy 'thing' here."
" 'Thing', I'm a bear who happens to be your headmaster." Monokuma pointed out. "But I suppose you'll warm up to me in time. Everybody always does."
"If we warm up to you, that would be classic case of Stockholm syndrome." Togami coolly replied.
"Togami, what are you doing here anyway?" Naegi asked.
"I came to get some Luwack Coffee. Is that so wrong?"
"No, it's not. I was just curious."
"Now, I have a question for you. Where is Leon Kuwata?" Togami asked.
"Why?"
"I need to ask him something."
"What is it?" Celeste questioned.
"How do you get rid of a stalker?" Togami admitted, pointing over his shoulder to Fukawa, who was peering through the doorway rather anxiously. "She's been following me all day while I tried to figure this place out."
"What the?" Maizono commented. "Why would any girl be attracted to you?"
"Wait, Togami, did you say you came for coffee?" Naegi asked, cutting across Maizono's words before it could seriously escalate.
"Yes."
"Huh, that makes two coffee drinkers in this school." Naegi replied.
"Naegi, what do you mean?" Maizono asked.
"I ran into Kirigiri this morning. She was also drinking coffee." Naegi explained.
"Is that so?" Togami looked almost interested.
"Yeah."
"Why are you telling me this?" Togami asked rhetorically.
. Meanwhile, Kirigiri was almost done searching the gymnasium again. She was at the podium, inspecting every inch.
"I still can't figure out how Monokuma popped out originally." She muttered to herself.
"Hello, Kirigiri."
"Who's there?" She looked up from behind the podium. It was a smirking Leon.
"Hello, Leon."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to figure out how Monokuma first showed up."
"I can see why you would do that. That little bugger came out of nowhere."
"Yeah. And I'm trying to figure it out."
"We already spent basically all of yesterday while Naegi was recuperating trying to figure this out."
"And your point is?"
"My point is, does it really matter how he did it? He did it, and now we should just focus on trying to get out of here."
"That would be a good strategy except he's able to come out anywhere, and I'm trying to figure out how he does it."
"I see. So you want to be able to understand how he can move throughout the school and be able to anticipate it?"
"Yes."
"That makes sense."
"Hey, you two, what's up!" Asahina had arrived in the gymnasium with Oogami in there as well.
"Hello, Kirigiri, Leon." Oogami said.
"Hey, you two." Leon said.
"So what are you two doing?" Asahina asked.
"Well, she's trying to figure out how Monokuma appeared yesterday." Leon said. "I only just got here a little before you two did."
"Really, we tried figuring that out yesterday." Asahina said. "We had no such luck with it."
"I know that, but Kirigiri here thinks that the first step is figuring out how Monokuma can appear wherever he wants."
. He spun around three-hundred-and-sixty degrees.
"Leon, why are you doing that?" Asahina questioned.
"Because I expected him to come out and start prattling about." Leon answered.
"Did you?" And instantly the hairs on Leon's neck stood straight up.
- AUTHOR NOTE: Please go ahead and leave a review or recommend this to fellow fans. I want to hear the reactions from readers.