After waking up in the same room as Kasumi and Yukiko for almost a week, I've forgotten the joy of waking up by myself.
Now…
I don't feel as safe.
That ungodly announcement tone suddenly fills my cell and Monokuma's face appears on the TV in my room.
"Good morning, inmates! It is now 7 AM and that means nighttime is officially over! Rise and shine and make sure to have a beeeeeeautiful day of reflecting on the consequences of your actions…who knows? Maybe you'll get let out on good behavior…NOT!" Monokuma's voice cackles. "...Unless?"
Stupid bear.
Anyway, back to what I was saying.
With them, I had the security of knowing that no one is desperate enough to harm a toddler to get out…and the assurance that Kasumi likes me for some reason so she won't hurt me either.
There are locks on our cells, but still. Even knowing that Ryu and Sting successfully escaped this place and that they have plans to come back for us, that's not going to stop Monokuma from giving us motives. And that's definitely not going to stop one of us from falling for the motive.
We're human and we're teenagers, we're kids. Someone is going to slip, especially with that freak, Gr-
"SORAAAAAAAAAA! WAKE UUUUUUUUUUUP!"
CRASH!
…
"SORA? SORA WHAT WAS THAT? ARE YOU OKAY, SORA?"
I stare up at the ceiling of my cell from the floor, regretting every decision I've ever made that's led up to this point.
"SORA?"
"...I'm fine, Kasumi." I groan, untangling myself from my blankets and picking myself up off the ground. "You startled me, that's all." I say.
Kasumi laughs from the other side of my door. "Sorry, sorry." she says, not sounding sorry at all. "I woke up a little early so I was already walking around when the announcement came on." Kasumi says. "I found…something."
Oh?
"Listen while you get dressed?"
Now that they've rearranged the cells, they don't look all that different. We have a metal bed frame with a surprisingly comfortable mattress, cement floor, cement walls…and a fan. But now that we all have our own room and our clothes, we've been given a sad excuse for a closet: a pipe fitted between two close walls holding my shirts and sweaters and a shelf below it holding my skirts and pajama pants. The only other thing is that we still have our own personal bathroom.
And…that's really it. No decorations or murder kits like Class 78th received.
Not that I'm complaining - Monokuma keeps referring to us as prisoners. That's what we're being treated like (aside from the fan, that was nice of him I guess). At least the stupid bear didn't become a liar between the Killing School Life and now.
"...so they wanted us to find that, right?" Kasumi finishes. "Otherwise they would've, like, blocked it off or something…right?" she asks unsurely.
That's definitely…interesting.
I frown as I pull my sweater over my head.
What could that possibly be used for?
I shake my head and walk over to open my door, frowning again when I see how close Kasumi's face is.
"Were you putting your face on my door?"
"Yeah."
I narrow my eyes. "Gross."
Kasumi just smiles that stupid smile. For some reason, it makes a thought come to my mind.
"Kasumi,"
Kasumi hums, "Yeah?"
"How did you sleep last night?" I ask. "Y'know…after everything."
Kasumi blinks, caught off guard by the question. Then she gives me another dopey smile, "Aww, someone worried about me?" she asks teasingly.
I roll my eyes. "We almost sentenced an innocent classmate to death. Is it so wrong to be curious about how you're feeling?"
Kasumi shakes her head and her smile softens, a thoughtful, pensive look on her face. "I'm…okay, I think." she says and laughs a bit. "I mean, no hate to Masaki but I was more worried about where, um," Kasumi's face falls. "a-ah, you know what I mean, right?" she asks.
I nod.
Sting.
"I know he was held by Future Foundation for a while and Headmaster Naegi thought he was reformed enough to attend Hope's Peak and he seemed nice enough…but still." Kasumi frowns. "What if he suddenly reverted back to who he was one night and decided to finish what he started with my family and that would be the end of my bloodline because to be honest I don't even know if my parents are alive but I don't really care all that much about them y'know because-"
I clamp my hand over Kasumi's mouth, looking at her like she's crazy. "Kasumi," I hiss under my breath. "Are you insane? We talked about this. Keep quiet about your relationship with Sting." I whisper harshly.
Kasumi takes my hand off her mouth, "Not insane. Just a bit mentally challenged." she smiles half-apologetically, half-'I think I'm very funny'.
I roll my eyes
As Kasumi and I walk down the stairs, I see everyone else already sitting at the tables in the main room waiting for breakfast. Some are sitting alone but it looks like most of them have already formed groups.
The group I'm least surprised to see is the evil gaggle of gremlins: Shun, Kaori, and Yume. Well, partially surprised because Kaori still looks strangely hostile towards Yume. I am, however, surprised to see Harlequin rapidly approaching their table. Although, I suppose being the Ultimate Clown, it makes sense for him to bond particularly well with the other two entertainers and someone with a similar personality.
I'll have to keep an eye on that.
Then there's the four who invited themselves into my dorm back at Hope's Peak: Kensuke, Hitoshi, Toshiro, and Takeshi. I guess they became closer while we were separated. Here's hoping that closeness stays outside of my cell here.
There's the odd duo of Greyface and Kanna still with a grumpy Harumi still being dragged around by the much friendlier rich girl. That's…they're…yeah.
A much more pleasant group to see is Mai, Candace, Nemiko, Luan, and Yukiko. Mai and Candace seem to have bonded over…whatever their talents are, Candace has been rather motherly to Nemiko since we've been trapped and Luan is here with his biological daughter. I suppose it makes since he would gravitate towards Candace, even if he's unaware of their exact circumstances right now.
Juriya and Armen are sitting at the same table but they're both silent. They're not even looking at each other, they might as well be sitting at separate tables.
The loners this morning are Kano, Valentin, and Masaki. Kano is sitting at one table with something in his hands - I'm guessing he got it from the Rec Room, Valentin is sitting with his head down at a table, and Masaki is sitting at another with his blanket wrapped around him. The latter two boys look like they're trying to go back to sleep.
Hm…
Shun, Kaori…five, six…Nemiko, Luan…Masaki…twenty-two (not counting Yukiko). There should be twenty-four of us now that Ryu and Sting escaped.
…
…
…
Where's Yosuke and Sasaki?
"Have any of them found it?" I ask, turning to Kasumi.
Kasumi shakes her head. "They didn't come out of their rooms until I was already upstairs waiting for you." she says. "I was watching, none of them walked over there." Kasumi affirms. "Why?"
I frown, automatically jumping to the worst conclusion. "Everyone's here…everyone except-"
"Sora! Kasumi! Come, sit, take a load off!"
Before either of us get a chance to react, Kaori is pulling me down and Shun is pulling Kasumi down.
No…
Shun…Kaori…Yume…Harlequin…Kasumi…all together…my worst nightm-
"Sora Sora Sora Sora Sora-" Kaori chants as she pulls me down further so I'm forced to sit next to her. "You're a boring person-"
"Gee, thanks-"
"You kinda solved the case Ryu created, right? So that means you're smart!" Kaori says. "So you have to have some idea." she says.
I raise an eyebrow. "Some idea of what?" I ask.
"Some idea of what Monokuma meant with his morning announcement!" Shun says excitedly. "What was it? Somethin' about being let out on good behavior?" she wonders. "Do you think he was serious?"
I frown. "Didn't he say 'not' right after he said that?"
Kaori pouts, "Well, yeah, but he said unless right after-"
"What they're trying to ask," Yume starts with a smile. "Is if that big brain of yours recalls anything Monokuma's said that might hint to that 'unless' really being worth something." she explains.
Kaori glances at Yume. "Yeah. What she said." she says with a strained smile.
Harlequin flashes a toothy smile as he plays with Kaori's hair, "Come on, Kaori, loosen up!" he encourages. "Sora and Kasumi are here, isn't that fun?"
"No, I'll let you know if anything comes to mind, though." I say, glancing at Kasumi. "How are you guys feeling, by the way? No…homicidal urges?" I ask bluntly, glancing pointedly at Harlequin.
Shun tilts her head to the side as she pats a confused Kasumi's head. "You mean like, after almost sentencing an innocent guy to death for a murder that didn't even happen?" she asks.
"Exactly."
Harlequin laughs, "Nothing I'm not used to!" he says cheerfully. "And besides, no one actually died, so, even better, right?"
"I'm good!" Shun says and salutes me with her free hand. "Pretty optimistic, actually. We have two pretty capable dudes out there who know where we are and there's no way Hope's Peak isn't looking for us either!" she says with a bright smile. "And if not…we got this either way, right?"
Kaori clears her throat and puts on a creepily accurate Monokuma voice, "We got this either way, right?" she repeats and rolls her eyes. "You're gonna be the real first victim with that attitude." Kaori scoffs with a playful smile.
"Oh really?" Shun raises an eyebrow. "And who's gonna be the one to do me in? You, Miss Copycat?" she challenges.
Kaori yawns and starts looking at her nails. "Nah, if anything it'll be the self-proclaimed leader of this quintet, no? After all, who better to take out the lesser comedians than the Ultimate Comedian herself?" she says, turning to Yume, an unreadable look on her face.
With how Kaori generally looks at and treats Yume, I can't tell if that was a joke or not.
Yume grins. "'Self-proclaimed leader'?" she says. "I don't recall saying anything of the sort but if you insist, Riri-"
"Don't call me that."
"Why not, Riri?"
"Ooooh, are we doing nicknames now? Come on, pick fun names like mine! Let's see, Kaori, you can be-"
"No."
With Kaori's attention fully redirected at Yume and Harlequin, I manage to slip my arm away from her.
This group seems lighthearted enough, even if they're putting on an act it'll be good for the others to see smiling faces instead of…instead of the face Luan usually has on, for example.
Seeing that Shun is fully invested in the Kaori vs. Harlequin and Yume thing, I motion for Kasumi to follow my lead and slip away from Shun.
Once we're both far away enough from the table, Kasumi lets out a sigh. "Y'know, I have no problem with Kaori when she's not with Yume, but together…" she shakes her head. "I get the weirdest vibe."
I nod silently in agreement.
"And what was that about a quintet? There's only four of them. Even I'm not that stupid." Kasumi says.
"You're in that quintet, dummy." I say, punctuating my statement with a slap to the back of Kasumi's head. "Shun is the odd man out with an athletic talent but you all have the same personalities: evil gremlins. I mentioned it to one of them in passing, I guess they liked the idea."
Kasumi makes a kissy face and holds out her arms. "The only group I want to be in is a duo with you, Soraaa~"
"Let's move on to the next table." I say, moving past her.
"Oh my achey breaky heart-"
"You four," I say, approaching the quartet of boys. "Kensuke, Hitoshi, Toshiro, and Takeshi, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
Takeshi laughs, "'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'? I quite like that." he says with a thoughtful smile and shakes his head.
Kensuke taps his chin thoughtfully, "They were…Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death, if I remember correctly." he says.
"Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death?" Toshiro repeats, confused. "What does that make me then?"
"Why, War, of course!" Kensuke beams. "What's the most powerful weapon anyone can easily have access to? Legos!"
Hitoshi makes a sour face, "Well then what does that make me? Famine?" he asks, almost as if someone touched a nerve.
"Obviously!" Toshiro says with a laugh.
Kensuke nods as he points to Takeshi, "And that makes Mr. Yummymoto here-"
Everyone present either chokes on their spit or stares at Kensuke like he just told them Mari Tamatsuki was a guest star on Sun Witch Esper Ito.
"What did you say?" Hitoshi asks, holding back a laugh.
Kensuke blinks. "Wh-What's wrong? I said Mr. Yamamoto?"
Kasumi shakes her head as she barks out a laugh, "No, no you did not."
Takeshi clears his throat, fortunately more amused than embarrassed or horrified. "Kensuke Oishi, I didn't realize you felt this way." he says with a smile. "But I'm afraid I can't quite reciprocate those feelings. We've only just met a few days ago and there's also the fact that I-"
Kasumi pipes up, an affronted look on her face. "Hey now, what's wrong with us only knowing each other for a few days?" she asks. "Sora and I-"
I quickly put my hand over her mouth and narrow my eyes at Kasumi. "I know you weren't going to say what I think you were going to say." I warn.
Kasumi bats her eyes innocently at me.
Kensuke looks around at us, a confused look on his quickly reddening face. "Wh-What? What are you guys talking about? Did I say something weird?"
Toshiro giggles, "That was pretty cute, Ken, I'm rooting for you!" he teases.
Hitoshi rolls his eyes and yawns. "You guys…" he trails off and shakes his head. "Speaking of 'yummy', where's breakfast?" Hitoshi wonders. "I'm starving."
Seeing as how the boys seem to be in good spirits, I don't feel the need to ask them how they're feeling so I drag Kasumi away by the ear before she can say much more.
"Owowowowowowowowowowowow!" Kasumi winces. "C'mon, Sora, don't be like thaaaat." she coos as she breaks free from my hold. "I know you care about me~"
"False."
"Sora."
"Nothing along those lines has ever crossed my mind or been said from my lips."
"So you admit you've thought about it."
My eye twitches.
Kasumi beams.
"Oooo…that's some murderous intent if I do say so myself. I'm somewhat of an expert you know!"
Kasumi and I slowly turn around to face the trio of Greyface, Harumi, and Kanna. "Well then you're obviously not as much of an expert as you think you are." I sneer. "I would never seriously hurt the stupid gremlin."
Harumi rolls her stupid eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Didn't you say some shit about anyone being able to snap under these circumstances, fuckface?" she says with a holier-than-thou grin. "Who's to say you won't end up hurting her someday?" Harumi challenges.
"And who's to say I won't hurt you, you stupid bitch?" I snap, walking up to her. "Don't act like you're unaffected by this situation. You're locked up here with the rest of us with the same color collar as me because we're so terrible they couldn't categorize our sins into one category." I sneer. "You're just like us, trying to stay sane and latching onto someone as an emotional support crutch so you don't hurt somebody." I say, looking pointedly at Kanna. "You're no better than the serial killer you're sitting next to."
Harumi grits her teeth, looking at me with the homicidal intent Greyface was talking about earlier. But, it looks like I've left her speechless. Harumi clenches her fists and shoots me one last dirty look before standing up and storming off.
"Wowee," Greyface whistles. "Who knew you had that in ya, Sora Sugawara?" she says my name with a drawl.
Kasumi swoons and pulls me into her arms, "Baby raccoon! I'm your emotional support person? So CUTE! I'm honored, truly."
"More like my emotional support animal…" I grumble as I struggle to break free from her surprisingly strong grip. "Get your filthy hands off of me, you stupid gremlin."
Kanna shakes her head and smiles apologetically at me. "I'm sorry about her, Sora. I'm trying to, erm, adjust her attitude, but…" she sighs. "It's a difficult case, as you can see."
Oh yeah. I can definitely see.
"At any rate, how are you doing?" Kanna asks. "In good spirits, I hope?"
I give her a strained smile as Kasumi squeezes me harder, making it near impossible for me to move my arms. "Something like that." I say. "What about you?" I ask.
"Well," Kanna starts and looks at an 'innocently' smiling Greyface. "I've convinced our resident serial killer to vow that I'm the first person she kills here so long as she beats me in a game." she says as if what she just said weren't completely psychotic.
Kasumi slowly starts backing away from the pair and consequently, me along with her.
"Kasumi I'm not done talking to them-"
"Yes you are."
Greyface laughs, "Bye bye, Little Red! Bye bye, Blondie!"
"Kasumi-"
"No."
Kasumi drags me over and sits me down at Mai's, Luan's, Yukiko's, Nemiko's, and Candace's table. "You can talk to them." she says and sits down next to me.
Nemiko waves at me with a kind smile.
I sigh.
Candace gives us an odd look and leans forward, resting her elbows on the table and propping her head up with her hands.
Mai raises an eyebrow, looking at her companion suspiciously. "..Candy?"
"G-Good morning, Sora, Kasumi." Luan says with a tired smile.
I frown. "Didn't sleep last night?"
Luan shakes his head as he pats Yukiko's head, "I am, ah, very happy to be reuniting with Yukiko, but…" his smile falls. "I was…afraid…that they might take her away from me again." Luan says. "I just wanted to be sure she would be there all through the night."
Nemiko, who had been writing something down in her notepad as Luan spoke, finishes and tugs on the sleeve of his hoodie, pushing it towards him.
Luan looks at it, his expression growing frustrated. "I am sorry, I still struggle with reading Japanese." he says and looks between Kasumi and I desperately.
Kasumi smiles and reaches for the notepad without missing a beat. She clears her throat, "Ahem. Nemiko says: I know it may be hard for you to trust all of us, especially knowing that we're all here because we're not good people, but surely there's a couple of us you trust to watch Yukiko when you're not around?" Kasumi reads. "Aside from Sora and Kasumi?"
Luan hums, deep in thought as he pats a still sleepy Yukiko's head. "I…I suppose…you and Candace and Mai are being…are…a friendly people?" he tries, a hesitant smile on his face.
Mai smiles. "R-Really?"
Candace beams, finally tearing her eyes away from us. She puts her arm around Mai's shoulders. "Damn right we are, hon." Candace says, pleased. "And Yukiko here enjoys our company too, don't you?"
Yukiko yawns and looks up to meet Candace's eyes. She smiles and points at Candace, "Lion!" and at Mai, "Fairy!"
Candace takes the new name in stride, "I'll take that as a yes!" she says and puts an arm around Nemiko. "And Nemiko here? You like her too, right?"
Yukiko stares intensely at Nemiko as her young mind processes her name, making Nemiko squirm uncomfortably. Then, Yukiko smiles again. "Miko!"
While Yukiko is distracted with a beaming Candace and Mai and a shy Nemiko, I turn to her father. "How are you?" I ask. "Y'know, aside from," I nod my head at Yukiko. "Her."
Luan's face takes on that ever so familiar gloomy and dark look. "If Sting and Ryu do not return quickly enough, I will do whatever it takes to make sure Yukiko is safe." he says seriously. "I…I owe her that much." Luan says and shakes his head. "Um…I believe the girls are having a more…a more good outlook?" he tries. "I just…want to be prepared." Luan says as he turns his gaze back to Yukiko. "If I let my guard down…"
Kasumi smiles reassuringly at Luan. "Don't worry, Luan, Sora and I got pretty good at co-parenting-"
"Don't call it that."
"-so if worse comes to worse," Kasumi continues with a sad smile. "Just know that someone else will be here to make sure she's safe too."
On that sad note, Kasumi drags me away from their table.
"...That was okay, right?" Kasumi says after a minute. "What I said?"
I nod grimly. "Unfortunately, yes." I say as I look around at my captive peers. "Sting and Ryu are making their way back to Hope's Peak but that doesn't mean these people haven't sent anyone after them. And even if they do make it there, we don't know how far we are from the school." I say pessimistically. "Everyone says they're okay but Monokuma can give us another motive at any time. With the escape of Ryu and Sting, that motive has a chance of being worse than the last one to make sure someone actually snaps."
Kasumi sighs, "And Luan said he'll do anything…"
"Exactly." I say and look over towards Armen and Juriya. "Even if he seems a bit too much in his own thoughts, I think Luan has a strong mind. He has Yukiko here to motivate him to stay focused on everyone's main goal: survival." I say. "Armen and Juriya have a good head on their shoulders too, even if their personalities are a bit…Armen and Juriya." I sigh.
"We can hear you."
Kasumi and I jump, turning around to see Juriya and Armen staring at us with unimpressed looks on their faces.
Armen rests his head on his fist, an unreadable look on his face. "I need to speak with you. Finish your rounds, or whatever the hell you're doing." he says.
Kasumi crosses her arms. "Stalker, much?"
Armen scoffs. "It's fairly obvious that you two are going table to table and speaking with everybody," he says. "I don't care what you're doing but when we speak I need both of you to be focused."
"No, no, no, no, hold on," I say, putting a hand up. "Didn't you two have some kind of deal before Monokuma explained all this shit to us? Back when we were in the holding cell for the first time?" I ask. "Something about how you would cooperate with me and use me in whatever investigations you do, not her."
Armen doesn't miss a beat, "Circumstances have changed."
I grit my teeth, "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Listen, I was annoyed with your little deal at first but it was a deal, you don't have any reason to be within-!" I snap but the good doctor interrupts me, displeased.
"Sora." Juriya hisses. "What did I tell you about big speeches? That includes screaming." she says, going full doctor mode.
"I-" I cough. "I'm not screaming."
"You were most certainly raising your voice."
"No I wasn't."
"Does it seem like I'm deaf, Sugawara? I know what I heard."
"Bite me."
"Gladly-"
I slap Kasumi upside her head without missing a beat and turn my gaze back to Armen. "Fine. We'll come back after we talk to the boys." I say, glaring at him one last time before turning on my heel and heading towards the Ultimate Gamer and two sleepy young men.
"Kano." I say.
"Sora." he says back without looking up from the fidget toy in his hands.
"...Kasumi!" Kasumi beams.
Kano pauses, almost as if he were thinking of deeming Kasumi with a response (most likely an insult), and shakes his head. "What do you want?" he asks.
"What did you mean by what you said in the Church?" I ask with a frown.
Kano yawns. "You're going to have to be more specific," he says. "I said a lot of things and got very few answers." Kano says with a scornful frown, thinking back to Harlequin's lack of assistance.
"And as we found out, Harlequin was telling the truth." I say, waving my hand. "But that's not the point-"
Kano continues before I get a chance to finish my thought. "Let's get one thing straight, Sora. I'm not going to fall for some motive the bear comes up with. If I decide to play the role of the blackened, it's going to be for my own reasons." he says and finally looks up from the toy in his hands. "Until that moment comes to pass, I'm content to play the investigator."
Kasumi and I remain silent, letting Kano finish whatever he's trying to say.
"All of you are seeing this whole game in a bad light and you're forgetting one thing - it's a game." Kano says, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of excitement and what I'm pretty sure is psychopathy. "Isn't this exciting? After being forced into that sham of a trial, we know for sure that this is the real deal. A real life death game! It's so thrilling." he grins. "Us, the side of hope, or them, the side of despair…who will come out on top, I wonder? People are bound to switch sides - that's what happens in a game, after all." Kano says. "And whichever side I end up on, I won't lose."
Kasumi gulps, taking a step back.
Kano laughs, "Humans are such interesting creatures, aren't they? Such a wide variety of intense emotions…it makes everything so much fun. I can't wait to see what happens next."
And with that, it's my turn to drag Kasumi away from a laughing Kano.
"...He's kinda scary." Kasumi says.
"'Kinda' is kinda a nice way of putting it." I say as we approach Masaki's table.
Before I can get out a single word, Masaki is already droning on: "I'm okay, I'm not mad, still cold, waiting for breakfast, go away." he yawns and picks his head up off the table to stare dully at Kasumi and I.
"Well alrighty then." Kasumi huffs and walks over to Valentin's table.
I don't leave just yet.
Masaki frowns. "What?"
"...You're not mad because you were thinking about it."
Masaki doesn't say anything so I continue.
"You were close to succumbing to the motive, that's why you're not mad that we falsely accused you of a murder that didn't even happen. You feel guilty." I guess. "Am I right?"
Masaki grumbles and pulls his blanket tighter around him. "...Yeah." he admits. "The tragedy was hard on everyone, I know that. I don't know about everyone here but I had an especially bad time." Masaki says, looking down and frowning. "Another day and someone really would've been dead because of me. So yeah, I'm not mad. Can you leave me alone now?"
Without another word, I leave Masaki to his own thoughts and join Kasumi at Valentin's table.
She's repeatedly poking the sleeping firefighter, saying his name over and over again, "Val. Val. Val. Val. Val. Val. Val. Val. V-"
"Stop being annoying, Kasumi." I say, pulling her hand back. "He probably didn't sleep good last night, we can talk to him later-"
"Upupupupu! Did I forget to return something to our hunky firefighter?" comes Monokuma's irritating voice. He crawls up onto the benches from under Valentin's table and uses Valentin to crawl up onto the table. "Oops!" Monokuma says and pulls out a small bottle and note. "Give this to him when he wakes up, would ya, doll?"
I take both things from him, my eye twitching. "Don't call me that." I say as the stupid bear giggles and disappears to who knows where.
Kasumi leans over my shoulder to peek at the items Monokuma gave me. "What're those?" she asks.
I look down at the bottle first, examining it.
Nuvigil.
"New…huh?" Kasumi blinks.
"Narcolepsy medicine." I answer, glancing at Val. "I guess that explains the random bouts of drowsiness we've seen so far." I say, thinking back to my first meeting with Val back at Hope's Peak and when we reunited in M-Pod.
Kasumi sticks her tongue out at me. "Smartass."
I flick her forehead, putting the medicine down on the table. "My brother…" I frown.
…
…
…
"Sora?"
…
…
…
"Sora!" Kasumi snaps her fingers in front of my face.
I blink, startled. "Huh?"
"Are you okay?" Kasumi asks, concerned.
I shake my head, trying to get rid of that odd fogginess that came over me. I nod, "I'm fine." I say and unfold the note from Monokuma.
Kasumi doesn't say anything else but I feel her eyes boring into me as I read the note.
Valentin Del Rio,
You have my deepest apologies for taking your medication away from you, that was an accident. This is supposed to be a fair game with everyone entering on equal standing. I was previously unaware of your condition, a lack of research on my part. Deepest apologies once again.
We've acquired several pounds of Nuvigil for you and given you a larger prescription. Should the game run so long that you run out of medicine even with these precautions, let one of our staff members know and we will get you some ASAP.
Interesting.
"Will you stay with him until he wakes up?" I ask Kasumi, folding the note back up and handing it to her. "I'll deal with Armen and what you told me about before."
Kasumi frowns, "Are you sure? I mean, I'm the reason he's making you work with him in the first place-"
"It's fine, Kasumi." I say, waving her off. "Val needs his medicine and I trust that you'll keep his narcolepsy a secret - it doesn't seem like anyone else knows and it's not our business to tell. Besides, they're not your crowd anyway, right? You like me because I can match your stupid sense of humor."
"Yeah…" Kasumi trails off and smirks, making a lewd gesture with her hands. "I also like-"
"Goodbye."
I sigh as I approach Armen and Juriya's-
"OOF!"
Why am I falling towards the floor?
"Oh, not again!"
Before my head meets the floor for the umpteenth time, two hands steady me and put me back on my feet.
"Gosh, I'm real sorry, Sora." Sasaki says genuinely. "I was just taking Kanna's advice and I went back to sleep after Monokuma's morning announcement. I must still be a little groggy. I'm sorry!" she apologizes again.
I shake my head, blinking the dizziness out of my eyes. "Don't worry about it." I say. "It wasn't on purpose, I'm not bothered." I say with a small, reassuring smile. "You said you were taking Kanna's advice?" I ask.
Sasaki nods. "I wasn't feeling too well after the trial and Toshiro's story. Kanna saw how I looked and recommended some yoga stuff to do before bed to relax and to stay in in the morning for some extra rest and relaxation." she explains and laughs awkwardly. "I guess it worked a little too well." Sasaki says, adjusting the safari hat on her head. "They serve breakfast yet?" she asks.
I shake my head. "Not yet. So, you're doing better?" I ask.
Sasaki nods.
"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to with His and Her Majesty Pride."
"So it seems we're all already on the same page." Armen says, crossing his arms.
Juriya hums as we stare at the sight in front of us. "So it seems."
"Hello, hello, hello, everybody!" the blue one says. "Boy, it's nice to finally meet you all and it's nice that you've all finally met each other!" they say cheerfully. This one has a more feminine voice compared to the Monokuma we all know.
"Shut the fuck up." the red one says. "We're not here to be friends with them, we're here to teach them." they say, annoyed. This one has a similar voice to Monokuma albeit a bit deeper.
…
As the eighteen of us in Class 80-A and the four people from what I assume to be Class 80-B talk over each other, the red bear grows increasingly angry. Then, he looks like he's about to speak, but he and the light blue bear suddenly drop, and their glowing jagged red eyes suddenly dim, almost as if they've been turned off.
…
"But," the second hooded figure starts. A woman's voice. "since you all seem hellbent on not trusting Tenshikuma and Akumakuma or letting them speak, we'll take you there ourselves." she says and locks the classroom door. She and the man pull down their hoods, revealing gas masks. "Now, go to sleep."
The familiar announcement tone that's played in almost every school suddenly fills the room of F-Pod and Monokuma's face appears on one of the many monitors in the room. I sigh and pull my notepad back, unable to finish writing down my complete thought process for Kasumi.
"Good morning once again, ladies! This announcement is only being broadcasted to F-Pod. Thought I'd let the guys get their beauty rest before I break the despairingly delicious news to them!" Monokuma cackles. "As you've noticed, my dear Guards are throwing out a number of amenities we - uh, you've decided to call them Hanako and Taro, right? The Guard Monokumas are throwing out all of the amenities that Hanako and Taro and I have so graciously provided to you! Since you brats made us take you earlier than planned and we still don't have Akumakuma and Tenshikuma up and running with our virus, this is going to be both your motive and your punishment." Monokuma says and starts dancing while he explains.
Just as Kasumi told me when she gave me a heart attack this morning, a deactivated Akumakuma and Tenshikuma are standing in that dark hallway none of us have had the guts to go down (aside from Kasumi when she'd gone with Yukiko to retrieve her meals and whatever she was doing here this morning).
The two recolored Monokumas are standing in front of four empty prison cells - a single bed, a toilet, and a sink in each.
"Kasumi didn't say this is what the hall looked like when she went with Yukiko to get her food from Hanako." I say. "Just how is it that these people are remodeling the prison so fast?" I wonder. "First the merging of F-Pod and M-Pod and now this…"
Armen scoffs. "I think that's hardly the biggest of our worries," he says. "We need to figure out what the hell they plan to do with them."
"They said they were uploading a virus into them, right?" I ask and turn to Juriya, "Your time to shine."
Juriya rolls her eyes. "I don't know what the inside of an original Monokuma looks like. How am I supposed to tell if there's anything different about these?" she asks. "We don't even know what this virus is supposed to do or how it changes them."
"Simple." I say. "We kidnap one of the Guard Monokumas."
A/N i can taste 2-3 already
