Chapter 13
. Fukawa was quietly reading in Classroom 2-B. It was rather brown. "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" a Monokuma chalk drawing beckoned to her.
. "Alone with my thoughts. On the one hand, no Byakuya. On the other hand, nobody else. It's peaceful in here."
. She was alone, reading a book. Lewis Carroll really was interesting, it was rather fantasical. She'd make sure to homage his work somehow in her next work. That really was why her romance novels sold well, because they stood up as actual stories. The characters were fleshed out, and the settings vibrant. Her works tended to explore the depths of characters so that readers would get invested in them and finish the story to the end.
. There was one of type of work she absolutely loathed, the status-quo sequel. The sequel that existed to undo everything from the end of the first book only to repeat everything for the second. She hated those type of sequels. If you had an original story, see to its conclusion, but don't make it drag out, or undo it. She had no problem writing a spinoff, and hell, she had even written a couple of non-romance sequels to her romance novels. But all of those sequels were different genres, and they explored the characters in a different light, or they explored characters that had been side ones in the original. They expanded or continued the story in some way.
. The sequels never quite sold as well as the original, but that had more to due the fact that the romance genre had a devoted fanbase. One of her favorite works to write had been a non-romance sequel where she took a look inside a characters' mind, and explored his backstory extremely thoroughly. She thought of everything there was about him to its conclusion.
. And then the noise came.
. "Oh, hey 'Kawa." Hagakure said. "Don't mind us."
. "Touko Fukawa. What are you reading?" Yamada asked.
. "Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland'." Fukawa replied.
. "WWHHAATT?" Yamada thundered.
. "Ow, my ears." Hagakure noted.
. "Why are you not reading one of my prestigous works? They explore several profund themes that I'm sure you'd be interested in." Yamada asked.
. "'Prestigious' isn't exactly the word I would use for your 'work'." Fukawa said.
. "It is true, genius is never appreciated in its time." Yamada said, sadly.
. "No. I mean, you draw amateur porn."
. "It is not amateur porn."
. "Yes, it is."
. "No, it is not."
. "Yes, it is."
. "No, it is not."
. "Yes."
. "No."
. "Yes."
. "No."
. Meanwhile...
. "How long have you been here, Togami?" Celeste asked.
. "Several hours."
. "What have you been doing?"
. "Reading."
. "Reading? Reading what?"
. "Just a wide variety of things. Say, didn't you hear what I told these two?"
. "Sure. American History, Sherlock Holmes, architecture, and the Great War?"
. "Correct."
. "Go deeper."
. "What?"
. "What parts of American History? And this Great War?"
. Togami snapped his books shut.
. "This is utterly ridiculous. I'll read what I want." He pushed up his glasses as he walked out of the library.
. "What do you think he's doing now?" Leon said.
. "Probably going to bed now." Celeste said.
. "What makes you say that?" Asahina asked.
. "Who knows how long he's been up?" Celeste said. "And the rules do say we can only sleep in our rooms."
. "Sweet." Fujisaki muttered. "I never expected them to have it."
. "Have what?" Leon asked.
. "They have archives of it."
. "Cut the excess of pronoun usage and tell us." Celeste asked.
. " 'xkcd' archives!" Fujisaki grinned.
. "What now?" Leon asked.
. "It's a webcomic." Fujisaki explained.
. "Yeah. Okay. Why would a webcomic be in a library?"
. "Why wouldn't it be a library?"
. "No, what I mean is why would a webcomic be a in paper library?"
. "I don't know, but all I know is... I'm glad to see it."
. "What's so great about this webcomic?"
. "This. I present to you, webcomic 303, 'Compiling'."
. Leon, Asahina, and Celeste took a look at it.
. "The #1 Programmer's Excuse For Legitimately Slacking Off: 'My Code's Compiling'."
. "Fujisaki, I don't get it." Asahina admitted.
. Fujisaki looked bummed.
. "Nobody else here is a programmer." Leon pointed out. "Why would we get this?"
. "It is true. None of our skill sets overlap at all." Celeste said.
. "So does that mean none of us share any common interests?" Asahina asked.
. "I wouldn't say that." Celeste replied. "Just that each one of us inside this school has our own area of 'expertise'."
. "Monokuma's is being messed up." Leon said.
. "You know what we're missing?" Asahina commented. "Someone who can do a little bit of everything."
. "What do you mean by that?" Fujisaki said.
. "I think she means, someone who can do a little bit of this, a little of that. Competent at everything he or she does, but not quite an expert." Leon said.
. "A non-specialist." Celeste said.
. "Well, the closest thing to a non-specialist I've seen among anybody is..." Asahina said.
. "Byakuya Togami. The guy who just left." Leon said.
. "His talent is being the Heir, right?" Fujisaki said. "So there must be a reason to why he's the SDHSL heir."
. "All heirs are born into their wealth." Celeste said. "But what makes Togami so special among various heirs?"
. Just then, they were interrupted.
. "Where is Bbbb-yy-aa-kkuya?" Fukawa stuttered.
. "We don't know." Leon admitted. "He left just a few minutes ago."
. "Oh, I see. ... None of you forced him out of here, did you? I can already tell this place is very important to Byakuya, so none of you go about messing it up."
. "Wwhat are you doing, anyway?" Fukawa asked.
. "Exploring the second floor, what else would we be doing?" Celeste asked.
. "Ah. That explains it."
. "Explains what?" Asahina asked.
. "Explains why I was interrupted in my reading."
. "By whom?"
. "By that obnoxious duo of Hagakure and Yamada. There were so loud. There I was, peacefully reading Lewis Carroll, when all of a sudden..."
Meanwhile, Naegi and Maizono were re-exploring the first floor.
. "With the exception of the storage room now being open, it doesn't look like there's anything new available." Naegi commented.
. "So I guess we go explore it now. See what we find." Maizono commented.
. "You know, Maizono."
. "Yes?"
. "I'm glad you're not dead."
. "Awwww. Thank you."
. Maizono furried her brow. "Should I tell him or should I not tell him? He seems to be doing just fine right now."
. "Hey, Naegi."
. "Yes. What is it?"
. "Uhhh, never mind, it's not important."
. "Maizono, are you sure?"
. "Yes, I'm sure. If it becomes important, I'll let you know, but until then don't worry about it."
. "Positive?"
. "Yes." Maizono said flatly. "So what do we have in the storage room?"
. "Well, it looks like we've got some gym clothes, some candy, other assorted snacks, and a whole bunch of other useful little knick-knacks like nightlights and stuff."
. "We aren't five anymore. I doubt any of us need nightlights."
. "Still, it might be useful. Last thing any of us need to do is to stub our pinkie toe when we get up to go to the bathroom."
. "I hate that. Your foot hurts like hell. And it's always the little toe too. Why is that?"
. "I guess humans are just clumsy."
. "But bears aren't!"
. "Yeah. Wait, ah!"
. Monokuma had just shown up.
. "Monokuma, stop doing that." Maizono complained. "You're freaking us out."
. "I'm freaking you out." Monokuma said. "Well, I am a teddy bear that with black half with a Joker smile."
. "I think it's more due to the fact that you tend to pop frickin' anywhere than anything else." Naegi said.
. "Wait, who's the Joker?" Maizono asked.
. "The Joker? You don't know who the Joker is?" Monokuma said. "You know, he's frequently voiced by Luke Skywalker."
. "Who's Luke Skywalke- wait, that's a dumb question. He's from Star am I talking about?" Naegi facepalmed.
. "Well, I'm quite surprised. Ask Yamada when ya get the chance." Monokuma said.
. "Wait, Yamada knows who the Joker is?" Naegi said.
. "Yeah, of course. I love the Joker. He's only the greatest, the most iconic villain in any medium of all time. He's my idol." Monokuma said as he popped away.
. "You know what, I don't think I want to know." Maizono said.
. "Wait a minute, I think Monokuma just called himself a villain." Naegi said.
. "What?"
. "Yeah. He said he idolized the Joker, and apparently this Joker is a villain."
. "Where are you going with this? Are you saying we're the good guys?"
. "Yep."
. "All of us."
. "Uh huh."
. "The fifteen of us that showed up here on the first day."
. "Yes."
. "Even Oogami and Enoshima, you know the two that killed each other off in a double KO?"
. "Uhhh. Good guys do morally ambigous things all the time..."
. "Sure they do."
. "Hmmm, you know what? I think a better term for Oogami would be anti-hero."
. "Anti-hero? And what about Enoshima? Is she anti-hero as well?"
. "Well, I'm not sure."
. "Of course, you're not."
. Naegi stopped dead in his tracks.
. "Maizono?"
. "Why do you think Enoshima even stepped in in the first place?"
. "We already discussed this. It was because she felt she could do something."
. "I know. But surely she knew that Oogami would kill someone, and if she killed Oogami to stop Oogami from killing someone then she would have been executed herself."
. "I would like to remind you that we didn't know that a killer who couldn't elude detection would be executed until after the deaths of both Oogami and Enoshima, so Enoshima couldn't have known that even if she killed Oogami, she would die too."
. "Do you think she would have still stepped in if she had known?"
. Maizono thought back. "Even if she had known, she probably would have stepped in. I mean some of her dying words were to get Naegi out. But why Naegi? And if Oogami had attacked someone else, would Enoshima have stepped in? Was it possible Enoshima had been lying when she said she didn't have any connection to Naegi? Oh, her memories were probably a little faulty at this point. But if she had had a connection to Naegi, what was it? Had Enoshima developed a crush on Naegi at first sight? No. But she didn't dare ask all, what would he say?"
. "Maizono? Maizono?" Naegi's words brought her back down to Earth.
. "Yes, Naegi?"
. "Forget I said anything, let's just keep exploring the store room."
. "Alright."
. The two spent a further fifteen minutes exploring the storeroom, opening all of the boxes and checking their contents. There was the owners' manual for the microwave in the kitchen, and various other contents.
. "I'm bored, so I'll take the owner's manual." Naegi said.
. Simultaneously,
. "Well, that was rude of them." Celeste said.
. "Of course, when isn't that otaku scum ever rude?" Fukawa replied.
. "Otaku scum?" Leon said. "I'm not the biggest fan of Yamada but..."
. "Let it go, she refers to everybody except her precious Togami in such a manner." Asahina sighed.
. Fujisaki giggled.
. "Why is Fujisaki giggling?" Fukawa asked.
. "Do you read webcomics, Fukawa?" Fujisaki asked.
. "No."
. "You really should."
. "I'll... I'll make a note of that."
. "No, seriously, they're amazing."
. "Alright, if you say so. What's so great about this 'webcomic'?" Fukawa muttered to Celeste.
. "It contains a bunch of programming jokes." Celeste replied.
. "Why would I read a programming webcomic? I'm a romance novelist, not a computer expert."
. "In this day and age, don't you use the computer to write your novels?" Leon asked.
. "Only when I've fully fleshed them out already." Fukawa replied. "By the time I hit the computer stage, I've already figured most of the major key points of the story and written a few prototype passages, scrapped lines, etc. The only computer shortcut I know is CTRL-S for quick save."
. "Prototype passages and scrapped lines?" Asahina said. "What good do those do ya?"
. "Well, they help flesh out the characters a bit more. Sometimes I figure out details I can add to them that I would have missed out on otherwise."
. "So what, you add inconsequential details to the characters, so what?" Leon asked.
. "You fool. In a story, the details are what gives the characters their power. It's what makes you feel about them. It binds the reader to the story."
. "Fukawa, there's a fine line between too many details, and 'slows the pace' down." Celeste replied.
. "Say wait a minute, Fukawa. I didn't know you were a fan of Star Wars." Leon said.
. "What? No, I'm not." Fukawa replied.
. "But you just... You just..."
. "But I just what?"
. "But you just homaged Obi-Wan's 'Force' Lines ... about literature. Come on, nobody does that unintentionally."
. "I'm telling you I'm not a fan."
. "Have you at least seen them?"
. "I've only seen parts of them. When I was very small. And I'm pretty sure I don't remember what I've seen."
. "Well, obviously, you've seen enough of it to homage it."
. "What even is Force anyway?"
. Fujisaki interrupted.
. "Force has many defintions. For instance, it is mass times acceleration. But a more accurate description would be the change of momentum over time."
. "Fujisaki, how do you know physics?" Celeste said.
. "Those are basic physics concepts. See, it's right here, Chapter 1 of this Physics textbook I found here."
. "Oh wow." The rest of the group facefaulted.
. "What? I was setting up a joke."
. "That was a poor joke." Leon commented. "And it's THE Force."
. "Okay, what is THE Force?" Fukawa asked.
. "To quote Obi-Wan, 'The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.' "
. "Well, that's vague."
. "Yeah, frankly I don't give a damn about that midi-chlorian bullshit."
. "Midi-chlorian what now?"
. "Midi-chlorians. Ignore them. The prequels suck. That's all you need to know."
. "Well duh, prequels always suck. By their very nature, prequels are very likely to suck. I mean, since the original audience already knows a foregone conclusion. That, and they tend to have all of those obnoxious tie-ins to the original work, most of which are to the detriment of the story."
. "I think you're overthinking it. Jar Jar just plain stinks."
. "ENOUGH." Asahina cut in. "I think the important question is being forgotten here."
. "And what is that?" Fujisaki asked.
. "The important question. The question that should be on everyone's mind. Is there a way out of here? Fukawa, have you seen a way out?"
. "Nnnooo. I've just been reading. And even if I did, I wouldn't waste my time telling the rest of you. I would just get out."
. "And leave your precious Togami?"
. "Byakuya would be fine. I have faith in his ability to survive."
. "Somehow, I'm not biting. There's no way you'd leave 'your' Togami behind."
. "How would you know what I'd do?"
. "Because I've seen the way you act around him. I would have thought you of all people that life isn't like a romance novel."
. "Girls, girls. Come down." Celeste intervened before the two could go at each other's throats.
. "Woah. Hey, if you two go at it, could you let me get out of the way first?" Leon commented.
. Fujisaki raised a hand timidly.
. "Asahina, Fukawa. Now is not the time to be fighting. Perhaps we should go over the second floor one more time."
. "How would we know what we're looking for, though?" Leon pointed out. "And besides we haven't heard from Ishimaru or Oowada yet. Or Hagakure or Yamada."
. "Oh, who cares about them?" Fukawa asked.
. "They're still here." Asahina said. "And besides we have heard from Yamada. Fukawa said she was bothered him."
. "Personally, I don't really care what they do." Celeste said. "As long as they aren't murdering someone."
. "You snake." Fukawa said. "You don't want them to murder because them murdering makes it harder for you to kill someone!"
. Everyone else gasped.
. "What are you talking about?" Celeste said.
. "I mean, the more people there are, the more suspects they are."
. "But the more people there are, the more eyewitnesses they're could be."
. "The more people there are, the more targets you can choose from."
. "Fukawa,why do you tend to accuse people so much?"
. Fukawa clutched her head.
. "I think it's wearing off. ARGH."
. "What's wearing off, Fukawa?" Naegi and Maizono had arrived on the second floor. "Hey, wait." He shouted as Fukawa dashed out of the library.
. "Do any of you have any idea what she's talking about?"
. "Not a clue." Leon said.
. "Huh."
. "How long have you been on the second floor, Naegi?" Celeste asked.
. "I just came up here. The storeroom has been opened, and Maizono and I were expecting some of its contents."
. "And what did you find?" Leon asked,
. "Some snacks, nightlights. Other odds and ends to make our lives a bit more comfortable."
. "I see."
. "Anything else?" Asahina asked.
. "No, not really." Naegi replied.
. "So the storeroom is open." Fujisaki asked.
. "Well, yeah. Say, what are you looking at?"
. "Someone printed out xkcd webcomics and stuck them in here."
. "xkcd? I love that webcomic!"
. "I know, right. It's like the best webcomic ever!"
. "Maizono, how do you put up with him?" Leon asked.
. "Honestly, these moments are when I find him the most charming." Maizono admitted.
. "I see."
. "The storeroom is open..." Celeste thought. "Hmm, I'll have to check it myself."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I went back and made sure that every xkcd webcomic was one that Fujisaki would have known about. There needs to a Nobel Prize of awesomeness for the xkcd writer. Links in the bottom of the description.
/303/