Sorry for the hiatus. I had some stuff to take care of. And I also wasn't completely sure on how to pace the progress. Nevertheless, it's hard to believe that 27 1/2 months later, I'm still writing this story with no signs of stopping. This feels like an odyssey in the making. Meanwhile, Rajon Rondo has signed with New Orleans! Pels stacked! League fucked!
Chapter 38: (7-15-17)
. "Crank up the tunes." Monokuma said, over the intercom. "How to Save A Life" by the Fray."
. "Okay, now he's just taunting us.." Kirigiri said.
. "Here's your key." Togami said, tossing her room key back to Kirigiri. "Now, what is it that you wanted to show us?"
. "Follow me." Kirigiri said, as she led to the group to the other second floor staircase. With the master key, she unlocked the gate that barred access and raised it slightly above head level. They all followed her up to this new area. Upstairs looked like a war zone, there was collapsed rubble every where. A red door was visible in the distance. The circular lights shown down.
. "This doesn't make any sense." Togami said. "Why is only this part of the school destroyed?"
. "No idea." Kirigiri explained.
. Fujisaki rounded a corner on the right. "There's a locked door here."
. "Yeah, I know. I tried to open that one. It wouldn't surprised me that if something's blocking it from the inside."
. "Wait, Genocider go back downstairs and guard the staircase. I wouldn't be surprised if Monokuma tries to interfere with us going through this area."
. "Aye. Aye." Genocider agreed to stand guard.
. "Before we continue, Kirigiri." Maizono said. "I have to ask. How did you unlock this?"
. "With this key."
. Kirigiri dangled the key in front of the rest of the others.
. "Is that Monokuma's treasure?"
. "Yes."
. There was a slam as Maizono pushed Kirigiri against the wall.
. "So that's why Monokuma framed Naegi. Because of you. He's sitting in a dumpster."
. "He's alive."
. "No thanks to you, you fully intended to sacrifice him, didn't you? After all, you voted for him."
. "What kind of idiot votes for herself?"
. "What kind of coward lets someone else take the fall for their murder?"
. "Except I didn't murder her. And neither did Naegi. We got played, plain and simple. Monokuma analyzed the situation, and set us against each other."
. "And now you're blaming Monokuma? When are you going to learn to accept the truth? He's in a dumpster, should be dead, and it's all on you. What could possibly so important about you?"
. "Monokuma mentioned that the headmaster's name was Jin Kirigiri. If you haven't pieced it together yet, I'm the headmaster's daughter."
. "And that gives you the right to live over someone else?"
. "It gives me the authority to say that the headmaster is not Monokuma's operator."
. "Well, duh, What kind of person would let his own daughter get thrown into this?" Leon pointed out.
. "It is theoretically possible, so never mind that, how can you tell?" Togami said.
. "Answer!" Maizono said, still gripping Kirigiri's jacket.
. "His speaking style and mannerisms don't match up with my father."
. "Of course, that makes sense." Celeste said. "I use that tactic all of the time when gambling, the more familiar you are with your opponents the better of a feel you can get for their moves and what they are most likely to do."
. "How do we know you're not lying, and you're not another mole?" Maizono said. "I mean, Monokuma could have let you into his office. And then double-crossed you with this trial in order to get rid of you. Can't spill your secrets if you're dead."
. "If her amnesia claim holds up." Fujisaki said.
. "Huh."
. "Kirigiri claimed she had amnesia." Fujisaki said. "What would stop Monokuma from simply using it again as needed instead of setting her up as a fake culprit? I mean that seems awfully risky, and considering how Monokuma takes great care with his plans, it seems like if he could come up with something that posed less risk, he would have done it."
. "Maybe the gains from getting Kirigiri dead would be much greater?" Togami said. "After all, it's easier to take big risks and gambles in the market if you have enough money in the bank to negate any potential loss."
. "I'll leave that thinking stuff to you." Leon said. "Are we continuing to explore?"
. "No." Togami said. "Listen, I think we've been up here too long. Let's go back."
. The seven of them went back. Kirigiri locked up the gate again, so as to prevent Monokuma from messing with the contents of the new area.
. "There you guys are." Monokuma was waiting around the dorm rooms. "I was wondering where you guys all vanished off too. Our viewers don't like empty space."
. "You're really buying into this."
. "Oh yeah, the followers are really getting a kick out of this. And even non-fans can't turn away."
. "It gnaws at people's fascination with the macabre." Togami said.
. "You call it macabre. I call it despair. Same way that something warranting the title of 'Most Despairing Incident in the History of Mankind' could also be called World War III. Different names, but they refer to the same thing. You're a history buff, it could be the same way World War I has different names pre-World War II and post-World War II."
. "What does he mean?" Leon asked.
. "Prior to World War II, World War I was usually titled as 'The War to End All Wars' and referred to in shorthand as 'The Great War'. After all, aside from Monokuma, would ever want to a sequel to one of the worst events in mankind?" Togami said.
. "And yet the elements of the sequel swallow up all the attention." Monokuma said. "Maybe the first one is only a setup for a greater picture, a greater scope. Gets people used to the setting and mechanics, and then you can introduce all sorts of players and new possibilities to the world."
. "Versed in military history, or are you just binge-reading on the internet?" Togami said.
. "Maybe."
. The students left to go to bed. There were all up the following morning by 8:30 AM and having breakfast when a new voice broke out of the monitor.
. "Hello!" A cheerful girl could be heard.
. "I remember her." Celeste said. "We heard her when we discovered Asahina's body."
. "Guess who's back. Back again. Ibuki's back. With a Friend. - No, seriously, this game's Camerawoman."
. "Hello, hi. I'm in charge of the cinematography. And I have to say, you guys are pretty photogenic."
. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Leon shouted.
. "I take it you're the photographer from Class 77-B, Mahiru Koizumi." Kirigiri said.
. "How did you know?" Fujisaki whispered to her.
. "The Headmaster's office."
. Togami glared at Kirigiri.
. "Damn." the other girl's voice admitted. "Might as well admit it, I am Mahiru Koizumi."
. "Which makes 'Ibuki' Ibuki Mioda. Class 77-B's Musician." Kirigiri extrapolated.
. "Correct, I have provided the soundtrack for this game. You think the viewers want to watch the boring parts, I spice it up."
. "I take it then there's a time delay between recording and broadcast." Togami said.
. "What? You thought everything was real-time?" Mahiru asked. "Of course, what else should I have expected from a guy such as yourself."
. Togami was mad.
. "That makes two people from Class 77-B." Fujisaki pointed out.
. "This Ibuki Mioda sounds like a really basket case." Leon said.
. "It all keeps adding up. I think I'm cracking up." Ibuki said.
. "So what do we do now?" Fujisaki asked.
. "Nothing we can do." Genocider said.
. "ARGH. This is insane."
. "Our actions are on display for the whole world to watch." Fujisaki said. "Our parents and our friends have seen us commit murder and solve it, and we're supposed to react like this is normal."
. "Picking up Naegi's slack?" Monokuma had arrived.
. "Somebody has to." Fujisaki pointed out, as he sat backwards on a chair in the cafeteria, lost in thought as he assessed the current situation.
. "Hey, what are you drinking?" Kirigiri asked.
. "I'm trying out these energy drinks." Fujisaki said.
. "How many have you had?"
. "This will be my third."
. And at that moment, Ibuki Mioda blurted out. "Ooooo, I have something to play."
. "Ibuki, what is it?" Mahiru sounded exasperated.
. "I get knocked down, but I get up again!"
. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Maizono said, in equal exasperation.
. "Why?" Fujisaki said.
. "You are never gonna keep me down."
. "Tubthumping by Chumbawamba. It sounds different, but those are the lyrics." Maizono said.
. "What?" Celeste said. "Isn't that song like-"
. "From 1997? Yes."
. "We were basically toddlers or in pre-k when the original was released then." Togami pointed out.
. For few minutes, only the song played in the background while the students sat in the cafeteria.
. "How did you guys like my cover?" Ibuki was ecstatic.
. "Browser Wars were more entertaining." Fujisaki said, suddenly hyper.
. "I think the energy drinks finally got to him." Leon said.
. "Well, considering he shows signs of an elevated heart rate, duh." Genocider said.
. "Huh?" Maizono said.
. "I'm a serial killer. I know things about the human body!"
. "Yeah, if you thought only console wars were a thing, oh no, prepare for browser wars!" Fujisaki said, preparing to ramble.
. "You know what? Fine." Togami said.
. "The Mosaic Wars set everything up."
. "Damn it." Leon said. "But what else do we have to do? Lay it on us."
. "Well, considering in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Tim Berner-Lee came up with the first World Wide Web browser as a member of S.E.R.N. Berner-Lee came up with HTML and HTTP with that time frame. His browser would later be renamed Nexus."
. "Fascinating." Leon was engrossed in the story.
. "Boring!" Ibuki shouted.
. "Shut up." Mahiru replied. "Fujisaki explaining shit gets some of our highest ratings."
. "Nexus actually had a great many deal of interesting things about it. Actually it was renamed to avoid confusion with the Internet, then known as the World Wide Web."
. "Haven't I heard of Nexus?" Maizono asked.
. "Smartphone. Goodle released a smartphone called the Nexus."
. "Ah, so that's it."
. "Anyways, back to the original Nexus. Written in the multi-platform language, Objective-C, for NeXTSTEP, the passive browser saw its initial release was Christmas 1990, only a day after the SERNhttpd. Development for Nexus took only about two months, but it would end up being released before SERNhttpd. Nexus was discontinued January 14th, 1994."
. "NeXTSTEP?" Kirigiri said.
. "Yeah, NeXTSTEP was a Unix based Operating System first released on September 18th, 1989. The latest version in 1995 with a pre-release possibility as late as 1997. In summary for its importance, it's where ElectronicAppWrapper, the first software and application distrubtion catalog was first developed. Now the rights for the whole family belong to Apple, so a lot of Apple's software, especially the Mac OS X code descends from this family of software."
. "Holy shit. How do you keep this stuff straight?" Genocider asked.
. "I don't know. I don't care. I got it straight." Fujisaki said. "Actually, it's my knowledge of these facts that I'm somewhat proud of."
. "By mid-1992 and early-1993, a whole bunch of browsers showed up. Actually come to think of it, I think all of them or most of them originally received funding from a bill passed in December 1991 thanks to some American politician.
. "Welcome to the world." Monokuma said. "Please continue, Fujisaki."
. "Fuck you." Fujisaki said. "Anyway. Back to those first browsers, most of the really early ones, such as Line Mode Browser, ViolaWWW, Erwise, Midas WWW, and MacWWW, also known as Samba. All of them crowded out Nexus. But none would conquer quite like Mosaic was released, the UNIX-based browser easily beat out the other browsers that were already on the market."
. "So that's the browser a computer at Jurassic Park probably would have used." Maizono said. "Huh, how about that."
. "What?" Kirigiri said, flatly.
. "You know, Jurassic Park was released in 1993. And at the end of a computer with a UNIX system becomes important."
. "Yeah, I've seen Jurassic Park." Fujisaki said. "So I guess that's right. Huh, how 'bout that."
. Leon was stunned. "We're really bored, aren't we?"
. "Wait, so what about the browsers Mosaic took out." Genocider said. "What about them?"
. "So the losers to the Mosaic all have their attributes." Fujisaki said.
. "I'll start with Line Mode. While Nexus worked on SERN computers, Line Mode would be written so that it could be used on X Windows Operating Systems, an OS that Nexus was unable to ported to. It could only display text. There were no images nor cursor functionality. Lee partnered up with Henrik Frystyk Nielsen and Nicola Pellow, two fellow members at SERN."
. " The first step is the one you believe in. The second one might be profound." Ibuki commented.
. "Unlike Nexus, Line Mode was written in C. The first stable version came out in January 1992."
. "What does it say that we're younger than web browsers?" Leon joked.
. "It says that we're truly living in the future." Maizono joked.
. "Line Mode was another cross-platform browser, capable of being used a multitude of computers such as Apollo computers and IBN RS6000. Eventually, it would be supplanted at SERN by ViolaWWW."
. "ViolaWWW?" Maizono asked.
. "Hey, where's Kirigiri?" Leon pointed out.
. "Forget it." Ibuki's voice could be heard over the intercom. "Fujisaki, continue explaining, our ratings are getting really good. People love character-driven exposition dumps."
. "Wow, the world must have really turned upside down." Fujisaki was hyper.
. "Come now, as long as either you or Naegi do something, morale is at an all-time high when it comes to the female fandom." Mahiru said.
. "Seriously? I don't know whether to be grateful or offended." Leon said.
. "Genocider." Togami said. "Go find her."
. "Aye. Aye." Genocider did as Togami asked.
. "Yeah, ViolaWWW." Fujisaki continued. "It was inspired by Hypercard, last updated in 1998. The Unix-based browser was meant for media development, publishing, and browsing. Which reminds me, last I checked its website is still up."
. "It's still up?" Leon said.
. "Yeah. I know." Fujisaki said. "After all this time, it's still waiting for people to find it. I imagine it doesn't get that many hits per year."
. "I'll say."
. "As for Erwise, the next one, I'm getting to that one."
. "You're really breezing through this topic." Maizono said.
. "I'm just give a quick browse through them for you guys." Fujisaki said.
. "It's almost like you're a professor." Togami said, continuing to humor the small programmer.
. "Erwise was a master degree project by college students. However, even with the support of Berners-Lee, none of them continued with the project because they lacked the proper funding, and like MidasWWW I can't find much about it."
. "Really?"
. "Yeah, it saw a smaller market and the last MacWWW had some odditites of its own. It shared a developer and some source code with Line Mode. It needed a mouse and MacOS support, otherwise it would be reduced a text mode browser. And another thing, it only opened a new window with a double-click. Actually, SERN released it as a commercial product for 50 European Currency Units."
. "Oh, right, mid-90s. Pre-Euro." Togami said. "Smart of them making it the same amount of currency regardless of country. Although, I supposed one could have abused the exchange rates."
. "It was the mid-1990s. The amount of effort required was probably not worth the money saved." Fujisaki said.
. "I suppose you're right." Togami said. "Although the thought of that amuses me."
. "Well, those are all the browsers Mosaic beat out. And the Netscape beat out Mosaic handily."
. "Netscape?"
. "Oh yeah. Actually it shared many developers with Mosaic, but was purposefully designed to not share any source code. At its peak, it had over ninety percent of the market, but it lost the first browser war to Mosaic's revenge."
. "Mosaic's revenge?" Leon said. "The browser came back?"
. "As Internet Explorer. I know about the punchlines about Internet Explorer, but at its release, Microsoft pulled a SEGA and packaged IE with their computers, allowing it to gain a large foothold on the market. Netscape would be acquired in a merger deal, but before it happened, its source code was released in order for development to be continued."
. "So has it been continued?" Celeste asked, genuinely curious.
. "Oh yeah, it's called Firefox."
. "Firefox." Leon said, incredulously.
. "The names have changed, but it's still the same way. An ebb of high and low for each side. And as long as the Internet exists, neither Mosaic nor Netscape nor any of their derivatives will maintain a majority of the market. Of course, Chrome could bust it wide open."
. "Oh yeah."
. "It just keeps going." Fujisaki said. "Two sides, locked in eternal combat."
. "Just like Hope and Despair!" Monokuma shouted.
. "Oh, you're still here." Celeste said, looking bored.
. "What's wrong? You don't like your headmaster?" Monokuma looked dejected.
. "Aww, what's wrong? Can't handle not being a center of attention you diva." Maizono said, with a forced smile.
. "That's rich, coming from you." Monokuma replied.
. Leon stared at Monokuma.
. "I found her on the second floor." Genocider said, suddenly reappearing.
. "Alright, alright."
. "Togami, what is the meaning of this?"
. "Oh you know, Fujisaki is explaining the browser wars. We thought you might want to hear it." Maizono's smile was forced.
. "Oh wow, you can feel the tension." Ibuki shouted.
. "Thanks for the commentary." Mahiru said.
. "Browser Wars." Fujisaki said.
. " You're still putting those energy drinks are still in your system. Even though it's been what? Three hours?" Celeste flatly stated
. "Yeah."
. The rest of the day was spent among themselves. Togami was in the headmaster's office. Genocider spent time tailing Togami. while Fujisaki spent time in the A/V Room. Right before nighttime, Kirigiri went into the cafeteria. Maizono was sitting there, eating a sandwich.
. "Hey, Maizono?"
. "Yes."
. "Why is there a second sandwich?"
. Maizono went quiet.
. "Oh, right. Naegi."
. Fujisaki was back in the A/V room next morning.
. "Damn, I wanted to follow up on that program. No dice."
. "What program?"
. "It seems this program got into this system. Most of the substance is encrypted."
. "What's the program called?" Maizono asked.
. "Amadeus." Fujisaki said.
. "'Amadeus'?" Maizono said. "Like the song 'Rock Me Amadeus'?"
. "Let me guess, you did a cover of it."
. "Yeah."
. " It is such a good song." Ibuki had returned as commentator. "Don't worry, Leon. Mahiru is busy with something else. But don't worry, I can keep the viewers entertained."
. Maizono turned back to Fujisaki.
. "Wait, you built Alter Ego using a program that you knew little to nothing about."
. "I can't edit the code, but I can run it. And read most of it." Fujisaki said.
. "Ultimate Programmer, huh."
. "Really, that's what bothering you."
. "Well, I mean."
. "Next thing you want to know is Alter Ego's battery life."
. "Yeah, now that you mention it. How DID Alter Ego's battery last that long? It's running super advanced software on a computer that probably isn't in the best of shape."
. "Don't worry about it. I had it covered." Fujisaki said.
. Togami was in the Headmaster's office.
. "Don't you know you're not supposed to be in the Headmaster's office?" Monokuma appeared and asked indignantly. "Students are not permitted to break locked doors."
. "But I didn't break it. Which means you're trying to create a restriction. Cats' out of the bag."
. "Stupid Alter Ego. Destroying the electronic lock. And here I thought nobody would get in after Oogami died."
. "Uh huh."
. "So you like in here, huh, Togami?" Monokuma asked. "I can see it now, Headmaster Byakuya Togami, molding young minds into your perception of great individuals."
. "Trying to play on my ego?"
. "Too late for that."
. "Ah. Here we go. Class 77-B."
. "Wait, what? Is that what you were after?"
. "Partially. That and I'm sure they still have the files on Class 76."
. "You're pretty smart. Togami, I'll give you that."
. Togami flipped through the pages until he found the profile he was looking for.
. First up, Ibuki Mioda: Ultimate Light Music Player (Ultimate Musician).
. Former High School: Shiba Academy.
. Height: 164 cm
. Weight: 42 kg
. BMI: 15.6
. Blood Type: AB-.
. Scouter: Koichi Kizakura
. "That's the same guy as the one who scouted me. They really are comprehensive" Togami thought to himself. And then brain stopped. "Shit, shit, shit. Blood Type. Why didn't I think of that?"
. Togami quickly grabbed Class 78's file. He looked at Kirigiri's blood type. It was B+. He took the page of Mukuro Ikusaba's file out of his pocket. It listed her blood type as B-.
. "If I had been smart enough, I would have gotten a blood sample, gotten some blood from the infirmary, gone to the chemistry lab, and mixed some of the corpse's blood with some B positive blood and some B negative blood. Our only two suspects for the victim were Kirigiri and Mukuro. If the corpse's blood rejected the positive blood, then that it would have meant the blood sample was B negative. Thus it would have been confirmed to be Mukuro."
. Togami was in disbelief that he didn't think about possibility of blood type testing, but he continued to read Ibuki's file. After releasing a hit single, she broke up with her band due to 'Creative Differences'. He read the notes sections from the scout, Kizakura.
. "Ever since I scouted her, Ibuki has gone to the beat of her own drum. Mioda has a tendency to elevate the moods of everyone around her. Her first semester has seen her spend many hours in the music room and her room has been converted into a de-facto recording studio. She loves experimentation, and despite her heavy metal repertoire cites the Beatles as her favorite band. As she put it, "the amount of creativity and innovation that they used while recording their music was decades ahead of its time, even more so, considering the fact that they had to deal with technical limitations. Even though she may be three years older, her dynamic with her classmate, the Ultimate Dancer, Hiyoko Saionji may lead to amazing results."
. After he finished reading it, "Damn, I should have been smarter."
. "Smarter about what?" Celeste asked.
. "Trial 5. We should have tested the corpse's blood type using the infirmary's blood as a base. Thanks to this page, we knew Mukuro's blood type."
. "And what if Kirigiri had also been B-negative? We didn't know both blood types at the time." Celeste flipped through the pages. "Do you even know how to test something like that? And by that logic, Asahina could have been up there. She was B negative as well. Blood type can only prove that it's not someone. Not that it IS someone."
. "Personal experience from one of your gambling runs?"
. "You could say that."
. Togami turned back to the files. Mahiru Koizumi's was up next.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: It's so nice to have my computer back. And to not have writer's block when it comes to setting up the next sequence of events.