Chapter 31: Pinging Masks
I know, two chapters in the same month. When's the last time that happened? But in all seriousness, I'm about to start heading to the meat.
" You know what, that's really fascinating. "Genocider said. "The fewer there are, the harder it is to hit one of the remaining ones."
"Yeah." Fujisaki said, drawing the now- obvious similarities between this School Life of Mutual Killing and Space Invaders in his mind.
. Naegi was back on the fifth floor when Maizono, Leon, and Kirigiri discovered him.
. "Makoto? What are you doing?" Maizono said.
. "Trying to find a way out through the observatory. This is the top floor. Which means that the roof is above us." Naegi replied.
. "Alright?"
. "I wonder how much force a projectile would need to have to break through it."
. "Are you suggesting some explosives?" Maizono asked.
. "Maybe the chemistry lab will have some substances."
. "I feel like you haven't always been a pyromaniac."
. "I haven't. But I'm at my wit's end here."
. "We've only had the fifth floor unlocked for a day. I'm sure we'll think of something."
. Naegi went silent. "That's what we thought after Trial 1. And Trial 2. And Trial 3. It's time to stop hoping we find something. It's time to make our own exit."
. "Seriously?"
. "That won't work." Togami said, walking in. "You expect yourselfs to just wreak some havoc and blow up a way out of here. How unrefined of you."
. "Well, what's your brilliant idea?" Naegi said.
. "A cerebal strategy."
. "Cerebal wouldn't work. He has cameras. If he figures out what you're doing, it'll never work."
. "I know that." Togami said. "It's like trying to beat a chess supercomputer. You have to use a line it's never seen before. Usually never before seen in human history."
. "Seriously?"
. "Hey, Togami." Monokuma said.
. "Yes?"
. "How do you know what Monokuma's seen before?"
. "What?"
. "You don't know what to try. And Monokuma clearly knows more about us than we thought on that first day. Remember the secrets?"
. "So?"
. "How did he get them?"
. "Togami, you have to admit something's a little off." Maizono said.
. "Oh really, you blue-haired Effiel 65 reject, what's your secret?" Togami said, disgustingly.
. "'Blue-haired Effiel 65 reject'?" Naegi noted bemusedly.
. "Yeah."
. "Wait, come to think of it. Why is your hair blue, Maizono? I remember it being black in middle school." Naegi said.
. "Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh." Maizono said, stammering.
. "Oh, come on, I think she just dyed it... Although, given how long we've been trapped in here, wouldn't dye start to wear off?" Togami said, pensively.
. "I didn't dye it!" Maizono said, defensively.
. "Then how did you get it that way?" Leon said.
. "Kirigiri's is a pale purple. You aren't giving her a hard time!" Maizono protested.
. "Just answer the question." Togami said.
. "Yeah, Maizono, you're not going to let them know all about that 'unforunate paintball accident', are you?" Monokuma said.
. "Paintball?" Naegi said.
. Maizono sighed. She would have to come clean.
. "Alright, my Dad really liked paintball. And he had a paintball gun. And once I was messing around with it."
. "Okay." Leon said.
. "I shot myself in the hair foeciles." Maizono said. "I freaked out. But by the time my Dad came home and discovered that my hair was blue, it was too late to get it out. I had blue hair. I thought I had messed up my idol career until the producers said that my hair being blue would be an asset. It would make me stand out. And that's why I have blue hair." Maizono admitted.
. "Okay... wow." Naegi said.
. "Wait, was that your secret that Monokuma used for your motive?"
. "Yeah." Maizono admitted as Monokuma had disappeared.
. "So how did Monokuma know about it?" Naegi shot a glance at Togami.
. "PEPSI-MAN! PEPSI-MAN! PEPSI-MAN!"
. "God fucking damn it. I hate that song!" Maizono shouted, covering her ears.
. "It's the Pepsi Man song, sure it's annoying but it's not that bad." Leon said.
. "No you don't understand. Every time I hear this song I can't get it out of my head. And it brings back some bad memories in the recording studio."
. "Let me guess, at one point you were recording a cover of this song, and it didn't go so well." Naegi jokingly suggested.
. "Yeah."
. "My god, I'm sorry. I had no idea being a pop idol was so stressful."Naegi consoled her.
. "I know, right!" Maizono agreed.
. "They're made for each other." Kirigiri whispered to Leon, as Togami left the garden.
. "I think they are." Leon whispered back.
. Togami left the garden, hands in his pockets, when Genocider came up to him.
. "Master! Master!"
. Togami sighed. "What is it?"
. "Celeste and Fujisaki are still working on the computer."
. "Have they found anything of note?"
. "No. Fujisaki said, the network seemed to have almost been scrubbed clean of files."
. "Scrubbed clean of files?"
. "He's trying to work on it. Said it would take some time."
. "Yes. Tell him to take as much time as he needs." Togami said, waving Genocider off. He looked at the clock. It was about 1 PM. How many days had they been in here since Monokuma first announced to them that they were trapped in here? Too many for his liking.
. "Trial four was around 24 hours ago." Togami said. "And it seems to have brought about quite a splash of character. Naegi, in particular. That fool. He doesn't know what he's doing. I've tried to explain it to him. But he won't listen. Recklessly doing things won't work. We need to outwit Monokuma." Togami continued to think as he wandering around the fifth floor aimlessly, trying to work things out. The dojo didn't seem to have anything useful. But it was playing a song that was going "'Turning Japanese. Turning Japanese. I really think so.'"
. The biology lab was still locked. Nothing in Classrooms 5-A or 5-B gave any indication that Classroom 5-C was the bloodstained horror that was behind its wooden doors. It was bothering Togami. There was something there. Something that would bring this game to a close. He knew it, but what could it be?
. The fourth floor did nothing to appease his mind either. He didn't bother to check the headmaster's office. The chemistry lab held nothing of interest. The Proteins were still in Cabinet A. The Poisons were still in Cabinet C. Antioxidants were still in Cabinet B.
. He strummed around the pillars, along to the music room. "They don't know what they're doing. Nobody else knows what they're doing. I'm the only one who's even been in a situation even remotely likely this. The competition between myself and my siblings. They're gamblers, idols, average-joes, amateur sleuths, and programmers. They have no idea how to lead a group. They can't compartmentalize. They're haphazard. It's up to me to get them straight."
. The grand piano called to him. He sat down in front of it, and folded his arms.
. "Burdened by glorious purposes, Togami?" Monokuma had arrived.
. "You?"
. "Yes, it's me. Did you expect something other than your headmaster to appear?"
. Togami was silent.
. "Aw, is the youngest sibling actually missing his older brothers and sisters?"
. "You."
. "Yes?"
. "What's your objective? Your endgame. Surely, you know that this game can't last forever, and when it ends, no matter how it ends, it's going to blow up in your face."
. Monokuma chuckled. "I think you underestimate me. Me, the great Monokuma? My plans never backfire."
. "Oh, please. The others may not realize it. But you and I both know you're just a coward who refuses to show their face. At least take accountability for your actions. But I can guess what's going to happen. When this game comes apart at the seams, when you're forced to confront the reality that your ambitions are hollow and meaningless, you're just slither away." Togami confidently replied.
. Monokuma laughed. "Oh, this is some rich entertainment. You hear that, everyone?"
. "Who are you... talking to?" Togami said.
. "Togami, since you've been such an entertaining contestant. I'll give you a clue about the nature of this game."
. "Huh?"
. "Gladiators."
. Monokuma left, and Togami put his hand up to his face. "Gladiators? Whatever." He could ask Genocider Shou who still had the literary knowledge of Fukawa, if she knew anything about the subject, just in case Monokuma got ahead to him and altered some of the info.
. "That ought to get his fire going he figures out, if he figures out, the despair will eat at him like no one else in this game." Monokuma talked to no one in particular.
. Twenty minutes later, there was Togami in the library. He had found a novel on the table by Stefan Zweig. The title had been translated as 'Chess'. The novel made have only been about eighty pages long, but it was certainly intriguing from the moment Togami picked it up and began wearing through the pages.
. "Shame there isn't a chess board in the Game Room." He muttered to himself, but he doubted that even if anybody here knew how to move the pieces, they wouldn't be able to challenge. He reminisced about the days as a young boy at three years being taught by his father before his dad became somewhat distant.
. By the age of four, he was able to dispatch his father on the board with ease. It was a triumphant feeling. The son was toppling the father. Togami knew he had the upper hand when he put his father's lack of knowledge about chess's second specialty move (behind castling), en passant on full display.
. True, the move was situational, because pawns had limited movesets, only moving forward, and capturing other pieces one space diagonally, it only could be activated in a certain scenario. In the case, one player had to have moved their pawn up three rows, and the other person had make to the two-space first move adjacent to the first player's pawn. Both would end up on the same row. The first player then had exactly one move to move behind the other pawn and capture the moving pawn as though they had only moved one square. If he declined after the first move, en passant was no longer legal.
. When he first showed it off, his father accused him of cheating, and after learning that it was a legal manuver on the board was quite surprised.
: "The boy is full of surprises. How interesting."
. That game never finished, but Togami was not surprised. Why should he have had to play down to his father's level? If his father wanted to win so badly, he should have studied, should have practiced, should have been prepared that his son could and would grasp what the old man already knew. It was a credit to his father as a teacher.
. Togami sighed. Those days, when he was still trying to impress his father into being the heir of the family, were over now, where he was in over his head as a youngster without even realizing just how perilous of a situation he was in. Now he was faced with an overwhelming task, leaving this school alive. He had too many objectives to complete to end his life here.
. Celeste was on a food run for Fujisaki. At a certain point, she had to heed the programmer's advice that she was only in his way, and that while he appreciated teaching her the finer details of programming, it would have to wait until after they got out.
. "If they got out." Celeste thought to hereself. But unless Monokuma made some sort of slip-up, she didn't see that way. So how could she force a slip-up? There was nothing that had given himself away as to whom the identity probably was.
. It seemed strange that Fujisaki wanted to work alone, but Celeste couldn't really blame what with her constant questions, while endearing at first had quickly grated at Fujisaki's nerves. Celeste was walking back to the A/V room, Doritios, and Mountain Dew in hand, when she spotted Leon, holding a baseball bat.
. "Leon... what are you doing?"
. "Well, Monokuma mentioned that we weren't allowed to mess with security cameras. But everything else is fair game."
. "You never answered my original question."
. "I've got my tool kit in my pocket. And a baseball bat. I'm taking aim at those steel coverings."
. "Oh, so you're agreeing with Naegi?"
. "Yeah, we're too passive as it is. We're eight teenagers trapped in here." Leon replied with a slick grin.
. "So?"
. "Let's give whoever put us in here hell."
. "You're nuts."
. "And what would you have us to do? Sit back and wait for opening."
. "I'm saying that reckless actions will only get you killed."
. "So you're on that prick Togami's side."
. "Yes. Basically."
. "I see. What's that in your hand?" Celeste pointed a transparent orb.
. "Oh, this was Hagakure's. This is his crystal ball. The idiot left it in the laundry room."
. "Ah."
. "Don't worry. I've got something planned with it."
. "I'm sure you do."
. Leon turned around left. He figured that the third floor with its physics lab would be the easiest to work off of.
. Celeste looked at the clock. It was now 7:30 PM. Leon would only have a couple hours to dent into the window coverings before the rest of the students could no longer divert Monokuma's attention.
. Fujisaki was still having trouble working with the computers in the A/V lab. He had been running systems in every command prompt all day, and each other was saying that the integrity of the system was perfectly fine. And that bothered him. If there was some irregularity, he would be able find the source, and maybe use it to gather information about the outside world.
. But now what was bothering him was that upon typing in 'ipconfig', he had come up with some results that bothered him. The main issue was the IPV6. He hadn't seen it adopt widespread use yet, so to see on every computer in this A/V room bothered him. It was still supposed to be in its development and early implement stages, last Fujisaki had heard of it, but how could he not have heard about it? It was replacing IPV4 which had been around since 1982.
. "Soon IPV6 will be the dominant connective conditon, almost making IPV4 look like a propietary programming language to the computers of the future, unless of course, the programmers just leave it in?" Fujisaki muttered to himself. He was having no luck pinging to his home PC, which should still be on and connected online if he recalled correctly and even pathpinging as both IPV4 and IPV6 was yielding nothing. It just came back as a '0 ms LOST/SENT ...'. A connection was starting but not arriving to the final destination.
. "Why?" Fujisaki was seriously frustrated. He didn't have any other IP addresses memorized.
. "There's no way Hope's Peak Academy has a room full of computers with features that only show up on custom PCS. And what's even strange is that they all appeared to be of manufactured quality. Hope's Peak Academy may have recieved grants from the government, but to have this?"
. The rest of the day was uneventful, so when Naegi woke Maizono early AM to tell her something, she feared the worst.
. "Naegi, it's 3 in the morning! Did someone die! Why are you knocking at this hour?"
. "No, no, no. It's not that."
. "Then what is it?"
. "I just had the most amazing thought."
. "And that is?"
. "ORANGES ARE PRE-SLICED BY NATURE! And that is so cool if you think about it!"
. "Dear, I know that is quite the interesting thought you've had, among many other things. But now is not the time to share them!"
. Maizono slammed the door in Naegi's face, which she thought he deserved at least. She already wasn't sleeping well enough as it is.
. "How rude." Naegi deadpanned.
. But upon hearing footsteps, he turned around... and there was a masked figure. Naegi would never forget that mask.
. "Who are you? Are you Mukuro Ikusaba?" Naegi shouted, and gave pursuit. The masked figure whipped around out of the dormitary area.
. Naegi gave pursuit, following the just-revealed sixteenth student. He saw the figure whipped into the gymnasium, past the atrium, where he stopped. "Wait a minute, I need a weapon." and he grabbed the sword that had belonged to Peko Pekoyama.
. "Ah!" Naegi was startled that the gold leave peeled off so easily and stained his hands. No matter, he removed the hilt, and broke into the gymnasium, to find that no one was there.
. "What the hell? Where did he go?" Naegi said.
. "Hello." He turned around, and came face-to-face with the masked figure. The voice was muffled as he expected.
. "So you're the mastermind?" Naegi asked. The sword felt heavy in his hands, unbalanced. How did that Peko Pekoyama manage to use this sword? If she had used the sword, maybe it was only meant to be decorative.
. "Are you Monokuma's operator?"
. There was still no answer.
. Naegi sweatdropped. If this masked operator killed him, there would be no way anyone else could figure it out. But then again Kirigiri knows about Mukuro Ikusaba. So if they couldn't figure it out, Kirigiri could probably make that leap. However, he still didn't want to die. Damn his lack of foresight. There was someone new here and that had excited him. Something was happening. In his gut, Naegi knew he had made something happen. His philosophy paid off, but at what cost?
. Naegi eyeballed the figure.
. "Well, what do you want?"
. The masked figure slowly raised a knife.
. "Alright then." Naegi was eager. In his mind, he was wondering which would pay off? The masked figure's height and reach, or his sword's longer range.
. The next morning, Maizono woke up to a knock on her door. It was Kirigiri. Her expression was grim.
. "What's wrong?" Maizono asked.
. "We found Naegi... unconscious. In the gym."
. "SHIT! WHO DID IT!?"
. "Nobody has admitted anything. But he's not dead. So there's no class trial."
. Maizono breathed a sigh of relief. Her anxiety floated away.
. "He's alive?"
. "Yeah, he's in the infirmary."
. Maizono zipped over to the infirmary. Leon, Fujisaki, and Togami were already there. Upon seeing Maizono, Leon silently sidestepped away.
. Celeste walked in.
. "I heard Naegi was in the infirmary. He's alive, I presume?"
. "Yeah."
. Celeste sighed. "Man, he seems to get beat up a lot."
. "Oh, ho. Are you flanderizing him?" Monokuma arrived.
. "You?" Maizono said. "Did you knock him out?"
. "Me?" Monokuma arrived. "I did no such thing. He was not knocked by me, Monokuma."
. "Oh, quit with the passive voice." Genocider said, arriving on the scene.
. "What?" Leon said.
. "You know, passive voice. Oh right, none of you are writers, like Mrs. Gloomy was." Genocider said.
. "Huh?" Kirigiri said.
. "Yeah, passive voice. It makes it sound like an inanimate object is actually doing something that a human did."
. "Oh?" Monokuma said.
. "Yeah. Get rid of the passive voice. Pretty much all of this is your fault. So take responsibility for it. At least have the honey drums to admit it."
. "Genocider, that's brilliant." Togami said.
. "Thanks master. And plus it adds to the entertainment perspective."
. "What?" Kirigiri said.
. "This isn't entertainment." Maizono said.
. "Oh, but it is." Monokuma laughed.
. "Entertainment for whom?" Genocider said. "No more passive voice!"
. "Why shouldn't I continue to speak in passive voice?" Monokuma argued.
. " Because you've created a game that involves a murder-mystery, and it's a cop out. I mean, a pronoun game. Really? Fujisaki provides enough debate for pronoun game as is."
. "Hey!" Fujisaki protested, having been silent up to that point.
. At 12:30, Naegi awoke and sat up.
. "Ow. My head... Maizono? You're here?"
. "Course I'm here, silly. What happened?"
. "Did anyone see a masked person?"
. "No?"
. "Shit. They got me. Now why didn't they kill me?"
. "Shush. Don't talk like that. I'm just happy you're alive."
. "You know for once I wish this story would go off the rails. Something like... And then the Mario brothers came in and kicked stomped Monokuma like he was a Goomba."
. "That wouldn't work." Maizono said, hesistantly.
. "Do not underestimate the jumping powers of the Mario Bros. Do you know about Bullet Bills and Bonzai Bills, and all the bullet hell enemies?"
. "Naegi, I have no idea what you're referring to."
. "Or maybe the Chaos Emeralds suddenly show up and we undergo supertransformations."
. "No. That's bullshit and out left-field."
. "No, it's not. Fujisaki mentioned them before. So it wouldn't be totally out there."
. "Naegi, if everything we mentioned suddenly came back, we'd have the most insane story that goes all over the place. The literary prowse of Fukawa to have Genocider insist on Monokuma using an active voice would suddenly become super relevant."
. Naegi raised an eyebrow.
. "What if some of us suddenly became warriors and red mages?"
."Not likely. What are you doing, writing a bad fanfiction?"
. "I could write... 'And then Monokuma totally was defeated on a piece of paper and tape it over all the secruity cameras?"
. "Not a bad idea. But we don't have enough paper. And story-wise, it'd be a copout."
. "You're just humoring me, aren't you?"
. "Yes, dear."
. "No, but how awesome would it be if alumni from Hope's Peak came in to provide reinforcements?"
. "We're in a fight over life philosophy and ideals with Monokuma, not some sort of third person shooter."
. "No, wait, Maizono, I have a plausible plan."
. "What?"
. "Get me Fujisaki."
. Maizono left and fetched Fujisaki.
. "What is it that you wanted to see me about, Naegi?"
. "Do you think you can annoy Monokuma with lame puns? The more STEMer they are, the better."
. "What?"
. "Calculus, Physics, Computer Programming's your forte. You must know a few jokes about Computer Programming."
. "Are you trying to turn me into a stand-up comedian?"
. "Perfect. You're halfway there."
. "Maizono, I think your boyfriend is still a little woozy from that hit on the head."
. "I think you're right. Naegi, you should go back to sleep."
. "But I feel great!"
. "GO TO SLEEP!" Maizono glared at Naegi the most withering glare she could muster. He'd hate to admit it, of course, but to be honest, she was scaring him more than the masked figure.
. After Maizono left, Fujisaki stuck around.
. "Hey, listen, I found something on the servers."
. "Is it about Mukuro Ikusaba?"
. "No, it's about the founder of Hope's Peak Academy. Izuru Kamukura."
. "So, how does that help us?"
. "I'm not sure. Just keep it in mind, it might show up again."
. With Fujisaki words in his head, Naegi drifted off to sleep, and when he woke up again. It was 11:30 P.M. There was no one around.
. He walked to the A/V Room. It appeared Monokuma hadn't tampered with any of the computers. He must be confident that Fujisaki wouldn't be able to find anything. He was terribly bored so he sat down, and opened up a word document.
. "Hello, my name is Makoto Naegi. ... And you know what, I can't do it, I feel like Tom Riddle from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Except this doesn't contain my soul. Well, maybe this system of computers contains the soul of Alter-Ego, but does or did Alter Ego have a soul?"
. "We've been here around two weeks. I've lost track of the days. I'm sure someone has kept track. No contact with the outside world, barely over half of whom
we've started with."
. Naegi was just rambling in the word document. It wasn't coherent. It wasn't a story. His thoughts were a mess, the last memory of clarity before he had gotten
knocked out was that he had picked up that sword.
. "Wait, what happened to Peko's sword?" Naegi suddenly thought.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I had had that proposed backstory for Maizono's blue hair ready since the very first chapter. But I could never work it in until now. Another 4,000+ words. More references. Please leave a review. As of the posting of Chapter 31, I've had no reviews on any chapters after the fourth trial. This story is about to get intense. I guarantee you'll never be able to predict what's coming.