Chapter 30: Schism Between Students
Classroom 5-C looked like a war-zone. The dried-red blood splattered all over the desks. Naegi would never forget the appearance of this classroom as long as he lived.
"Oh my god." Maizono said. "What happened here?"
"I'll give you a hint. I've changed nothing in this room." Monokuma said, popping out.
Togami seemed unimpressed. "You've been fixing and cleaning up the other classrooms and bedrooms as needbe. So why is this one so special?"
Monokuma chuckled. "That's for me to know." Monokuma quietly left.
"And us to find out." Togami said. "All right, finally, now we're getting somewhere."
"A blood-stained classroom means we're getting 'somewhere'?" Leon asked, incredulously.
"The fifth floor. Final floor. :Last one." Togami said, pushing up his glasses.
"He's planning like this is the finale." Fujisaki said.
"All of you, leave now." Togami said. "I have business with this classroom."
"Why do you get to call the shots?" Celeste asked.
"Well, who else? At this point, it's become obvious that we need a leader. So far we've survived on a combination of luck and our class trials have mostly progressed due to various wild 'leaps' of logic." Togami said.
"When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Kirigiri sagely stated.
"Hey, what are you saying?" Naegi said.
"I'm saying that we've gotten luck so far. The first trial was a double KO. Easy enough. It was handed right in front of us, AND it got rid of Monokuma's pawn in one fell swoop." Togami stated.
"Okay." Fujisaki said.
"Our next trial someone murdered after a death came about due to natural causes." Togami said.
"Get to the point."
"The only reason we were able to solve the third or fourth trial was because Takao here attempted to murder myself and Leon." Togami said. "That's not how this works. And hell, our fourth trial was our third trial's victim."
"What? Would you have preferred a more straightforward where say, Oowada bashes Fujisaki's head in?" Naegi asked.
"No, I'm saying that's it's been implausible the way this has all played out. It feels like the conventions are being broken before they've even been established." . ..Togami said. "Now all of you need to leave. This could prove important to bringing down the mastermind."
. And at this point, Naegi grabbed Togami's shirt.
"Listen, you blond-haired blue-eyed bastard, we don't 'need' to do anything you ask. You're not in control in here, Monokuma is, and our school has been turned into a place where students MURDER EACH OTHER, and you're concerned that it's not playing out like a nice straightforward 'novel' with conventions?"
"Let go of my shirt, you cretin."
"Really? You think you're this 'game's' protagonist? And we're all side characters that all exist to further your goals and ambitions? Newsflash. A protagonist is relative."
Naegi was almost spewing spit in Togami's face at this point.
"Naegi." Maizono had never seen Naegi like this. It had never occurred to her that her old middle school classmate could even reach this level of intensity. It was distressing.
"Whoa, dude. Calm down." Leon said. Was the stress of this game finally getting to him? Or had it always gotten to him and Naegi had just been hiding it all this time?
"The day for 'calming down' has long-passed. The day for 'calming down' ended with Oogami, Enoshima, and the first trial all those days ago." Naegi said, frustratedly. "Maybe if you had bothered to interact with people instead of creating the library into an ivory tower, you would look on them as people, not plot devices to open up new floors and locations."
"Hey, Mr. Derailing reference! They chose to murder people." Togami said. "While it's understandable to feel sympathy for the victims, as for the culprits, it's their fault they didn't properly evaluate risk vs. reward."
"Risk vs. reward?" Naegi said. "Oogami had to murder for the sake of her three century-old dojo and everyone inside."
"If Fukawa had kept her head with Oowada's rage, she wouldn't have died either. And Hagakure and Yamada both chose to murder. Asahina displayed poor judgment, and Enoshima didn't have to swoop in to save you." Togami pointed out. "It really wasn't a smart move on her part."
It took everything Leon and Maizono had to hold Naegi back and drag him out of the classroom.
"You really touched a nerve there, Togami." Kirigiri said. "It probably wasn't wise to do that."
"He needs to let it go. Deaths here are nothing personal." Togami said. "I don't see why he doesn't understand that."
"Togami." Fujisaki said. "That's something he or anybody else shouldn't have to understand. That's something no one should ever have to understand."
"And yet, it's the truth. You must be willing to adapt." Togami said, as Kirigiri was turning to leave the classroom. "You can't just say. 'Oh, they shouldn't have murdered, or put themselves in a position to be victim.' Murder is a very extreme action to take. This scenario isn't encountered in every day life. In here, you have no idea about motivations or reasons or why they did it. I would have thought you would have been someone who understood that considering what happened with Celeste.
"What about you, Fujisaki? Togami asked.
"I think Naegi's right, but this isn't the time to be caring. You can't control what other people do or think or feel." Fujisaki said "You can only control whether you murder or put yourself in obvious situations that make it easier for people to murder you."
"Hey, I know, my White Knight's always right." Genocider cackled.
"Genocider!" Celeste was startled. "Were you always here?"
"Nah, man. But I did see Maizono and Leon dragging Naegi away with Fujisaki in tow. What's happening? A Schism?" Genocider said.
"Yeah, that's the word." Togami said. "A rather eloquent word. A Schism among Students."
"So, Fujisaki, why did you stay? I get why Genocider is here. But you and Takao?"
. Celeste flinched, she still wasn't used to her real name yet.
. The programmer stated his reason. "Because Celeste is also here. And I figured you're not going to make any impulsive moves. I just saw Naegi nearly lose control. As human as it is,if you want to survive, that sort of emotion isn't good for this game."
"Takao?" Togami asked.
"Basically the same here." Celeste admitted. "Call it impulsive, but I can not shake the feeling that we're running out of time and trials to work this out."
. As Kirigiri peered into the dormitory area, Maizono and Leon had stuffed Naegi into his dorm room.
"Hey, man." Leon started. "I know Togami got on your nerves, but he gets on everyone's nerves. You can't let him bother you."
I know that." Naegi sighed. "It's just."
"Just... what?" Leon said.
"I can't really put it into words." Naegi said. How could he? The anger he felt at Togami pushing his buttons like that. Naegi had never experienced it before. And it scared him.
"Listen, I think it's best if you stay here for now. At least until you've calmed down." Maizono said. "Please, do it for me."
"All right." Naegi ceded to Maizono's request, and shut the door.
. Leon turned to Maizono.
"I've never seen him get that mad. I didn't think he could get that mad. He's always been a smartass. He just rolled with everything. Monokuma's motives. The murders. The trials. The dead bodies. All of it. So what set him off?"
"I think I know why. Enoshima literally swooped in and saved him." Maizono explained. "He was unconscious when she died, and I think it bothers him that he never got to thank her. Or maybe it's the fact that at that moment, he realized he needed a bit of luck to survive."
"But he's the Luckster." Leon argued. "Isn't that his talent? What was wrong with embracing it? Good and bad."
"You didn't embrace your talent as the baseball player, did you?" Maizono countered. "I suppose Naegi figured he doesn't need to embrace his own talent either."
"So he wants to change." Leon said. "With the way this school is, he might just get his wish."
. Monokuma popped in.
"So the Luckster doesn't like his talent... hey, hey, guys, where are you going?" Monokuma waved his fists as Maizono and Leon each went their seperate ways. He glanced at the door and at the 16-bit version sign of Naegi. "Well, this is certainly interesting. A rift between Togami and Naegi, the two most popular contestants in the school life of mutual killing." Monokuma decided he would find Togami.
. Kirigiri noticed that Monokuma had left the premises, and knocked on Naegi's door.
"You? What do you want?" Naegi asked. "Judging from what Monokuma was saying earlier, it sounds like whatever you wanted to get you went ahead and did it anyway."
"Yes."
"And..."
"I got the information."
"Hold on. What information?" Naegi asked.
As Kirigiri brought him closer, she explained.
"I got my information that I needed from the headmaster's office." Kirigiri smirked.
"How can I still trust you?" Naegi asked. "If you don't tell."
"I can't tell you. I don't have all the details myself." Kirigiri said. "And besides, we're being watched." Kirigiri pointed at the security camera. "He's already got his eye on me. Even now I suspect Monokuma's working on a maneuver."
"You've made yourself a target." Naegi said.
"Yes. Someone had to." Kirigiri noted.
"No, you didn't. You should have waited." Naegi pointed out. "Look, knowing what I know now, especially about you, as the daughter of the headmaster, it's clear you have some special role in all of this."
"Waited until when?" Kirigiri said, and she whispered. "There was no guarantee how long Alter Ego could keep the headmaster's office unlocked. I had to take the chance when I saw it."
"And what did you find?"
"Have I told you about Mukuro Ikusaba? The 16th student? I found her student profile."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. I found her physical specifications and her talent: Mercenary."
"You think she organized this whole thing."
"I can't rule out that possibility." Kirigiri said, as she got up to leave.
"So that's it, then."
"I'm sorry?"
"You waltz in, drop some information, and leave."
"I saw Monokuma leave the premises. And if I'm right, as long as the mastermind is awake, they can either control Monokuma or watch their cameras. They can not do both. So I want to leave before he realizes we had this conversation. He probably is going after Togami right now."
. Meanwhile, in the library, Togami was doing some research. The archive was large, and while he had been able to find Genocider Syou's file quite easily, finding anything else was going to be a huge pain.
"Go away, Monokuma."
"What'cha reading?"
"None of your business."
"Hey, Genocider Syou, what's he reading?"
"I promised Master not to tell you."
"So... Togami... what's your plan for dealing with Naegi?"
"My plan...There is no plan... He's wrong and he's know it. If he can't put his losses behind him, then there's nothing he'll be able to do. I'll just have to steamroll over him first. And then..."
"And then...?"
"I'm coming after you."
"I'm sure you will."
. Celeste and Fujisaki were in the computer lab on Togami's orders. Classroom 5-C had yielded nothing to Togami's liking. Aside from the bloodstains, he couldn't find anything about whom might had been killed or why. Was it teachers, other students, a governmental donor? It puzzled him. The only reference he could find was that envelope that he and Kirigiri had poured over when they first got the second floor. The two had mutually agreed to leave the contents in the library so anyone could consult them. Hell, he had secretly had Fukawa hand-write a second copy for his own personal use.
"Master, wouldn't I make an excellent secretary?"
"Shut it, Fukawa, and do as you're told."
"Yes, Master."
. There was nothing in the library. He would have thought that Monokuma, for all of his taunting would have left something in here. They were in here for what he said was an indeterminate amount of time, and eventually, someone would scour the library end to end, and find his little trail. The bastard seemed to love leading them on with a Bait-and-Switch.
"So Togami, I saw Fujisaki and Celeste in the computer lab. Your orders? I suppose."
"Yeah, so what."
"You giving orders?"
"Of course, when it comes down to it, I want to be the one to make the call."
"Always?"
"Without hesitation, and no matter the circumstances. If I'm conscious, I want it."
"How clutch of you." Monokuma chuckled, and left.
. Fujisaki and Celeste were in the computer lab. At the young programmer's request, Celeste had gotten some paper and a pen out of one of the classrooms. Fujisaki was trying to gain administrator privileges, but it wasn't going very well, and now he was frustratedly clicking his pen on the paper over and over again.
"You know, you can do something else."
"Yeah—no."
"So why are you sticking around here?"
"Because I want to watch. It's not like I've got anything better to do."
"Since you're going to be here, can you do me a favor?"
"What is it?"
"I want you to keep an eye out for Monokuma. I have a sneaky feeling the bastard is going to interfere if I get too close to something."
"Sure."
"He'll strike like a python, fast, and without warning."
"Python? Like the animal?"
"No, I mean like the programming language that was developed in the late 1980s?"
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, Python was developed in the late '80s in the Netherlands, actually around the same time as the Japanese Programming Language: Mind."
"I see."
. Fujisaki clicked his tongue, and scratched his head.
"Well, I think I'm working with normal operating system. For a second, I was worried that Monokuma had pre-empted me by make this school work with an esoteric programming language like Brainfuck."
"I'm sorry?"
"You know, Brainfuck? The programming language was developed in 1993 as a way to get compilers below 256 bytes. It's mostly a challenge programming language."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. Even simple programs get really complicated. Actually, fun fact, there's a JavaScript derivative of Brainfuck called JSFuck."
"Who made that programming language must have had a weird sense of humor?"
"You mean, the German Urban Muller?"
"Yeah, that guy."
"Huh."
"Hey, what's an esoteric programming language?"
"A programming language designed to push the boundaries, such as LOLCode or Malebroge."
"LOLCODE?"
. Fujisaki chuckled. "Yeah, it's less than 5 years old. But the 1998 Malebroge is the one with the interesting name, sharing its name with the Dante's Eighth circle of hell. You know how when most people envisioned code, it's as a bunch of 0s and 1s?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, you want to know why you don't see ANY 2s?"
"Sure?"
"Because then you get Malebroge. It was designed to be stupid hard to use. I should know. As a matter of fact, Hope's Peak Academy scouted me and bestowed upon
me my title of Ultimate Programmer because of my ability to competently code the damn language."
"Fujisaki, how do you know all this stuff?"
"It comes with being a programmer. I see lots of different programming languages, Lot of midnight browsing online with such Wikipedia searching."
"I see."
"Yeah. It's a good thing that the OS for a lot of these computers are Windows 7. There's a couple of XP and one 98."
"So?"
"It's a good thing Hope's Peak kept their systems up to-date. Otherwise, I could be dealing with Windows Vista. And I don't want that. That's for sure. Vista was received with much worst reception than its predecessor Windows XP."
"Why?"
"It had some issues with backwards compatibility. Incredibly it actually ran programs SLOWER than XP which had been originally released six years earlier. Copying and deleting larger amounts of files was very tedious, if not impossible. So much so that people often chose to 'downgrade' to XP."
"Well, that's some oversight."
"I mean, it's the Sonic 06 of Windows Operating Systems. Crap at deciding what to load and when to load it. Games that ran fine on XP would experience frame rate issues on Vista. "
"You really don't like Vista."
"And I don't like to have Germanium transistors too. But Vista's not the greatest example of C or C++ programming out there."
"Listening to your criticisms, I can tell. Must have been such a pain to program Alter Ego with Vista."
"No strangely, Alter Ego's OS was Windows 7. I mean, I used some Linux sub-kernels to start with, but using those on a Vista would have been a pain in the ass."
"Wait, when did Windows 7 come out?"
"October 2009 for general use. But Alter Ego's physical laptop showed signs of two-three years worth of wear-and-tear."
"Yeah." Celeste noted that Fujisaki was still combining through the system files, trying to look for something.
"Well, 7 did add new features from Vista. There's the desktop slideshow feature, where you can have multiple pictures be backgrounds and turn them into a slideshow. They actually made the start bar 10 pixels taller in order to accompany touchscreen technology that was just starting to become widespread."
"That's cool."
"Yeah, and then unlike previous versions of Windows, 7 can tell you when you need to purchase a replacement laptop battery."
"Huh."
"Yeah, it's very handy. But there are features that were removed."
"Such as?"
"The ability to prevent programs from showing up in a "Most Used" portion. That's something that was possible in XP and even Vista."
"Uh huh."
. And then Genocider came in.
"Hey guys, Master sent me to check up on you guys. What have you discovered?"
"I've discovered that Hope's Peak kept up-to-date on their operating systems. Thank God. I'd hate to work with Vista. And I don't think I could reconstruct XP from scratch, especially in those conditions." Fujisaki said. "Other than that, I don't have any concrete files information."
"Oh, that's not very good." Genocider said. "Master was hoping you would have something by now."
"Listen, do you know how long it takes to find a needle in a haystack." Fujisaki asked. "That's what I'm trying to do."
"You know, you could just burn the hay?"
"Are you suggesting I trash the OS, because that's one way to guarantee that I lose any potential files FOREVER." Fujisaki sighed.
"I'm saying. Get creative. This is your element." Genocider said.
"And I'm telling you, I'm still figuring things out. There are some things I haven't seen before." Fujisaki replied.
"How is that possible? I thought you kept up-to-date on everything computer-related." Celeste said, pacing back-and-forth.
"I did. Or at least I thought I did. I just never expected Hope's Peak to jump ahead of even me. It's like they got ahold of technology that advanced faster than Moore's law would have predicted."
"What's Moore's law?" Genocider asked.
"Moore's law is that every twenty-four months, the number of transistors per high-capacity integrated circuit doubles."
"I'm going to need less technical jargon." Genocider said. "Or at least clarification as to what transistors and integrated circuits are."
. Fujisaki sighed. Of course he couldn't expect a serial killer and split personality of the novelist to have a complex understanding about computers. And a gambler like Celeste? Forget it. Definitely not her specialty. He whirled around in his rolling chair.
"A transistor amplifies or switches electronic signals and electrical power. It's a type of semiconductor device. Using pure Germanium has several drawbacks compared to Silicon or a compound alloy of Silicon and Germanium together."
"Forget the different elemental transistors here, what's a semiconductor?" Celeste said.
"If you say that it's a guy who works part-time on a train, Genocider, so help me." Fujisaki gnashed his teeth, anticipating Genocider's punchline.
"Aww..."
"How you'd know what Genocider was going to say?" Monokuma said, popping up. "Hey, peeps, looks like I should be focusing on you guys instead, something interesting is happening."
"Oh, look, it's an obnoxious half-pint." Celeste sighed.
"Man, I get no respect." Monokuma sighed dejectedly.
"Of course, you don't." Fujisaki pointed out, as he continued to scroll through System files.
"Hey, delete System32, it's a virus." Monokuma said.
"First of all, do you really think I'd be so stupid." Fujisaki said. "Second of all, you've made all these computers into a self-contained system. There's no way a virus could get in if it wasn't already in."
"Hey, you never answered my question." Celeste pointed out. "What is a semiconductor?"
"Yes, well..." Fujisaki said, as he continued to open up command prompts for trial-and-error segments. "Essentially, they're solids that are able to conduct a charge. They're usually crystalline or amophorous."
"Okay, I get what a crystalline solid is, but amorphous?" Celeste said.
"You know what, go read about amorphous solids in a chemistry textbook. I'm sure they're some in the chemistry lab." Fujisaki said.
"Ah." Celeste said.
"Vienna. Blackcomb. Windows 7. Let's see what I'm working with. This appears be the 64-bit version. I already know it's got the DVD-roms because of those motive videos that Monokuma has had lined up as the first motive. But if everything is up-to-par, it should have the following: the 64-bit versions of Windows 7 require 1 GHz x86-64 bit processor, 2 GB of RAM, DirectX9 Graphics Processor featuring model 1.0 of WDDM driver. And also 20 GB of free hard-drive space."
"Vienna, and Blackcomb are weird codenames." Genocider said.
"And Star Wars's codename was Blue Harvest. What's your point?" Fujisaki said. "The Nintendo Wii's codename was Revolution. SEGA's working titles for their hardware were planets. The 32-X was Mars. A 32-bit disc was codenamed Jupiter. And where do you think the SEGA Saturn got its name?"
"What about the other planets?" Genocider said.
"Well, Monokuma's got some SEGA Mercuries, a.k.a. Game Gears in the Student store. SEGA Venus was the Nomad. SEGA Earth went unused. I've already accounted for Mars, Jupiter and Saturn."
"What about SEGA Uranus and SEGA Neptune and SEGA Pluto?"
"There's no indication SEGA Uranus was ever used, and SEGA Neptune was a 32-X/Megadrive Combo Unit."
"What about SEGA Pluto?" Genocider said.
"Well, those two prototypes are SEGA Saturns with a different shell and a NetLink Internet Modem built it in."
"So it would have connected to the Internet in what?" Celeste said.
"1995 or 1996. It wouldn't have been in Japanese Saturns. Yeah, well, where do you think all of those cool features that the Dreamcast had came from?" Fujisaki replied.
"Not this again." Celeste sighed.
"What?" Fujisaki said.
"I don't get it." Genocider said. "What's with Fujisaki and the SEGA Dreamcast? Is it the console he grew up with?"
"Yeah... it was.." Fujisaki trailed off.
"Just like how Yamada's first anime was Neon Genesis Evangelion!" Monokuma interjected, desperately trying to stay relevant to the conversation.
"Nobody cares." Celeste said. "Last time the Dreamcast was brought up, I heard a lecture about all the cool features of the Dreamcast, and the groundbreaking features it had." Celeste sighed.
"Fujisaki, you're a nerd. You know that?" Genocider said, laughing like a maniac.
"Yeah, I know."
"To know so much about hardware." Celeste said. "It didn't seem to be your area of expertise."
"Well, I need a working knowledge of the hardware in order to efficiently write code." Fujisaki said. "I can't rely on the serendipity of Space Invaders programming, now can I?"
"Huh, what's so special about Space Invaders?" Genocider asked. "It's been around since like what, 1975?"
"A little early. It's first release came in 1978. First instance of a 'killer app'."
"A 'killer app'."
"A software that is so interesting it pitches the hardware. Like the Sonic the Hedgehog classics for the SEGA Genesis."
"Hey, if this were turned into a game, I'm sure it would be a killer app for Sony's handheld! The Vita!" Monokuma interjected.
"Shut up, Monokuma." Fujisaki, Genocider, and Celeste said in unison.
"Anyway. Tomohiro Nishikado, the programmer, spent a year custom building a special microcomputer in order to run the game. However, even the custom haredware wasn't powerful enough. The board was not able to display color graphics or move the enemies as fast as he liked."
"Okay." Celeste said.
"Nishikado then discovered the processor could move the aliens faster the fewer there were in on the screen. He decided that it would make the game better by adding a difficulty curve." Fujisaki said.
"You know what, that's really fascinating." Genocider said. "The fewer there are, the harder it is to hit one of the remaining ones."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I originally wanted to have Monokuma make a 'Roll Credits' Joke after Togami said 'A Schism among Students' but CinemaSins didn't exist at the time the first Dangan Ronpa came out. So the reference would have been anarchnoristic. (And I really make sure none of my references are anarchorisnitic. Maybe a few will be hilarious in hindsight though.) Also, I made sure to do some research about the programming. So if anyone spots anything wrong, please mention it in the review, I'll be sure to correct it.
Also, I originally had Leon and Kirigiri stay with Togami while Celeste and Fujisaki went with Maizono and Naegi. But I switched them around partway through writing due to character reasons.
And this is now my first 100k word story!