Chapter 1-3: Blind to the Cruelty of the Beast
(beta read by: Lupus Overkill and Allen Ux Ultor)
(we're the evil mod trio and we're presenting this chapter lmao)
Isn't my dream supposed to be over? From what I heard from the previous Killing Games, participants only had to deal with the theatres. Yet here I am, still trapped in the endless void of my subconscious.
A need attempts to consume my flesh once again. I must resist it. There is no way I will give into temptation ever again. Pain can only be the greatest sense of comfort for people that have already lost their way.
I take one step but my legs are so weighted down it feels like a mile. All the nothingness is like sludge, unable to traverse without wasting all of your energy. My body yearns for sleep it is already receiving. Everything is simply too hard. Life is hard, however, so I continue on, without having a goal in mind. Step after step, wishing for something to reveal itself to me. Yet nothing ever will since life is truly meaningless.
It all reminds me of riding the white horse.
Out of nowhere, the girl in the red dress appears again. I stop as she waddles over to me and looks up to try to stare into my eyes. She is still way too short to do such a feat so I look down at her.
"Why...?"
"Dof kpk fvb mvynla tl?" How can somebody even make those noises? In the world of dreams, almost everything is possible.
Walking up, I realize that I am no longer in my bed. That is concerning, for I must have been sleepwalking again. Considering the amount of pressure my body is going through, that is not that surprising. No matter what, the body will go through stress, as that is part of everyday life. Even moments generally considered happy such as marriages and divorces cause a great deal of anxiety.
What is shocking is that I wake up somewhere I have never been before. It is impossible to see anything because there are no lights on in this section of the room. Looking up, I realize that I am in the other part of my bedroom. I must have forgotten to turn off the lights last night, or accidentally turned them back on. At least it will be easy to find my way out of here. I wonder what time it is since my body is still a little tired. Must be somewhere around three AM.
But I should figure out what is down here first. There could be a hint or something that I can use for my own survival. Though I got to find a light. Part of me is surprised that there are even in this room, and I am glad that I did not accidentally snap my neck going down them. I move slowly towards where I assume a wall will be in search of a light. I would get out the Monopad I got yesterday but it is still upstairs, so the best choice is to be patient and take things slow. On my way towards the wall, I trip on something but cannot tell what it was. Doing all of this with barely any clothing is a weird experience, and next time this happens I will most likely go upstairs and get my clothes and a source of light beforehand. It was stupid not to do those things first. My only defense is that I have only just woken up.
Continuing my journey for a light switch, I eventually make my way towards the wall. It is actually kind of surprising that I only ran into one thing during all of this time. I maneuver my hands all over the wall trying to find a light switch. Because I did not explore much beforehand, I move slowly, since I do not know if Mononeko put a trap in this room or not. Knowing her probably not since she wants us to kill each other, yet they could try to rush the Killing Game and frame somebody for an accident. That would be pathetic to get caught up in that plan. Life and death may be meaningless, but I would still be disappointed to be killed in such a mundane way. At least make my death a beautiful one. Make my corpse into a beautiful work of art.
Eventually, I do find a switch. Due to my brain still waking up, I don't know if it took minutes or hours. All I know is that I got the end result I wanted. When not being with figures with more authority than me, things tend to always go my way, yet that is because I am usually the only person in the room with any sort of working brain cells. Some people like to assume because of my past mistakes that my brain does not function as well as theirs, and I use that idiotic assumption often to my advantage. It is so easy to manipulate old white men when they see you as nothing more than an exotic beauty. Bastards that no longer get any love from their marriages help fund my career and living. Nobody gives any money to creative pursuits anymore if they don't see how it can benefit them. There are so many others with creative talents here so it can be assumed that they too had to indulge in practices the general public can consider to be morally questionable. For the sake of survival, however, morals do not matter. Death doesn't care whether you're a saint or a sinner. Death takes all souls eventually even if you have saved the world from all evil. Even saints can be destined to the depths of Hell due to the greed of those who worship them. Jesus Christ still died after sacrificing himself for the sake of humanity, for death does not care about somebody being the son of a so-called loving God, and humanity repaid him by giving in to the temptations of the devil. In a world where Jesus exists, he would weep about the current state of the world, and people using his name to perform acts the complete opposite of his teachings.
...I only now realize I wasted even more time only thinking to myself. I really should turn this light on.
When I do eventually stop thinking to myself and turn the light on, the first thing I notice is that the walls are painted the exact same way as the top part of this room. The floor is the same as well, but I noticed that long ago due to not having shoes on. Perhaps I should turn around to see the rest of this room.
So I turned around and what I saw before me is certainly a...sight. Most of this room consists of a nicely made orchestra pit that looks way better than any of the ones that the Committee has made. On the opposite side of the room, there are two rows of seats that are red. The part of the room that I am now is a stage that makes this choice of carpeting very weird. None of this looks right. If this is supposed to be our ideal room or something like that, why would everything about this section be so odd? Not to mention that the orchestra pit area is filled with dolls that look like twisted versions of the people stuck in this game playing very dusty and old instruments. And of course, I am the composer. It is strange seeing a doll of me. Is this what people talk about when they mention the uncanny valley? All these dolls are so real but people don't collect dust like this. What is the most strange, however, is that there is nothing else on the stage for me to trip on. Did I really just trip on nothing? That's pathetic of me.
I really need more sleep if I am acting like this. Going back upstairs, I go back to bed and try to go to sleep some more.
I am unable to go back to sleep, so I lay in my bed for hours resting my eyes and thinking to myself. Usually, I would do something else, but there is currently not a lot to do in this room. Which is not shocking considering I have never been the type of person to indulge in simple hobbies. There is a chance I could practice my music, but I do not know where the others are positioned or how thick these walls are. Waking people up early often results in them being angry at you and their thinking to be heavily impaired. In a setting like a Killing Game, it is optimal to get the suggested seven to nine hours of sleep. The teenagers involved should get more considering their brains are currently in a much needed time of development.
"Um, I'm supposed to get you up or something. Well, it's time to get you up and...stuff..." I do not recognize the voice. Whoever is speaking really needs to get more self-confidence. What's important is that's not Mononeko (and I do not know who it could possibly be since it doesn't sound like anybody here or a person I have met). Maybe Mononeko is keeping up character and not doing the morning announcements because of their assumed laziness?
Getting up once again, I check to see whether or not my plan to hide the key has worked. Looking around I see that the key is there, and it seems like none of my belongings have been tampered with. There's no way to know for certain how successful it has been, however. Arranging things to be perfect would be way too easy in this situation, especially since whoever has imprisoned us has access to sleeping gas. For all I know, all of us could have been asleep for years. The key is still here which means three things. They didn't find it, they found it but didn't find it important, or this is a replica. Inspecting the key closer it does look like it is in the same shape. If it is so easy to manipulate everything in this game, and nobody should be trusted, why did Aito give me this? Aito is planning something that somehow involves me, but all I know is that I don't want to get overly involved. It is too late to leave without any harm done, so the best course of action is to minimize the potential hazards of all of these events.
At that moment, I heard the device given to me for the advantage start to beep. Whatever Fubuki had done with it, the effects have reversed. That is good since I do not know too much about electronics, especially the newer kinds. It is not currently needed in my life to keep up with the trends. Even if I wanted to, I learned quickly before that I do not understand the wonders of social media. How did people manage with even more active social media sites before the Tragedy?
Thief: e0orepoifjv0-9iohji90iu ?! [poejfkio0-oij0-f9iuvhji 0-9iu0-r9iufvhu 09iuhuio9iufhv
Gold: A body has been discovered. somebody had a damn stroke alrady
Gold: *already dammit (why isn't there an edit or delete button?! Is the mastermind really that lazy?)
What is going on? I checked this device and suddenly this scene has popped up. This scene consists of some messages sent by people with strange usernames and a box to send in your own texts. The only colors are black for the background, grey for the text boxes, and white for the font. I heard of people, mostly teenagers, using these types of applications before. I believe they are either called group chats or chat rooms.
Guardian: eoiwkjhfuivfhygu90iojh0-9ioujh0-9iuhj89uhdioc
Gold: Keiji, don't tell me you've lost your mind too.
Guardian: no choumi that was Kobi D:
Gold: Wow. The dog gets caps and I don't. Feeling super loved right now.
Guardian: Choumiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Gold: Second place to a goddamn dog.
Guardian: oied09iuhui90iu hjui9f08uihui89eiuhgsdghu8ihi90 ioujh
This is such a strange experience. I feel like I am intruding on something private, but they are the fools discussing this somewhere public. Even with my lack of experience with places such as the internet, I know you have to be careful about what you post.
Sacrifice: Shouldn't we talk about something else? This is giving me a headache ugggg
Pain: omg tlk abt meeeeeee~ *ksses and hggs*
Gold: What the fuck was that?
Future: entering this chatroom was a mistake
Cat: That's current internet lingo used most commonly by teenagers that use the Committee made social media site called The Web. They have never been that good at creating names.
Future: im going,,, later please dont ping me
Cat: I agree with what Yuu said earlier. We should figure out more about what's going on instead of wasting our times with this stuff. I believe there are many falsehoods with the information we've been given.
I do not understand what is going on. Perhaps it will be best to start texting and figuring out more about how all of this works. With this, I could have them give me more information since they might be more willing if we are not talking face to face.
Man: Wait, who is who?
I guess that is my name? That is strangely nice of them. There must be a hidden motive then. Because there is no way that Despairs do anything out of the kindness of their hearts. If anybody has that motive they are either naive or lying to you. Or somehow both.
Cat: I'm guessing that our names are based on the perks we have received. I'm Ichiko. Leonie is Future, Rokuro is Secret, Sora is Key, Chika is Sea, Mizore is Thief, Yuu is Sacrifice, Yuki is Pain, Keiji is Guardian, and Choumi is Gold.
Gold: Yuki's name fits perfectly ;)
Pain: DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD::::::::::::::::
Pain: Nt mai falt cant chge mai name
Gold: Every time Yuki types like that, I lose brain cells
Cat: Like Leonie, don't ping me. I don't need any of you messing things up again. Especially you, Shiro.
That's...not right? Why would Ichiko act this impulsively when she has not shown this behavior before? This only adds tensions that nobody benefits from. And why single me out?
...Wait, Ichiko's name is Cat? More reason for her to not be trusted. How did I not realize it sooner? Cats, in general, aren't trustworthy, but there is added suspicion due to the new mascot of the game. Ichiko may be a good source of information, yet she is too smart for her own good and unwilling to work with others. At least give people the impression of being a team player. Otherwise, your usefulness to them will go way down, which will badly affect your performance in this messed-up social experiment.
Not wanting to deal with any more of that conversation, I decide to get ready instead. Mononeko will most likely want us to not spend too much time in our rooms. Plus, it is healthy to have a good breakfast, and waiting too long can result in messing up the rest of the day. There are many more beeps when I get ready for the day, but I decide to ignore them. Perhaps it will be best to learn how to use the chatroom to my advantage when there are fewer people using it. Having a conversation when you have no information with too many people is only a waste of time. Or maybe wait until Yuki gets off since I agree with Choumi since her texting was giving me a headache.
"Why did you wake me up? It's too early." Mononeko's voice is now the one that is on the speakers. The only reason why I'm happy it's her is that Mononeko is easier to read and manipulate. "...Fineeeee let's get this over with. I can have more naps if everything is done quicker."
Before I can question anything, I notice that the gas has appeared once again. So this is how it's going to be like? Why do they need to resort to such tactics to only get us inside and outside the bedrooms? That is way too much effort for it to not be somehow important.
Wanting to see if I can get any other new information, I cover my mouth with part of my jacket as fast as I could. It is not a good job, but it will have to do for now. Criticizing everything would not be a good move with this little time. All I have to do now is to try to find more clues with the little added time that I do have. A small part of me wants to go downstairs again, but that is too risky not to mention would take too much time. Maybe the bathroom? Or maybe there's something in the vents? No, I don't have enough time to theorize. I may be a smart person, yet even I will admit that I am not good at creating plans at the moment. Because most of the time I have an idea before something like this happens. I should have predicted something like this though, considering what happened yesterday.
For now, I will wait and see if anything happens. Next time I will plan better. This action could worry about the mastermind, but I am certain I will be able to talk myself out of suspicion again. If the mastermind views me as a target, there will be a good chance that I will die. Not even Mukuro Ikusaba could escape a trap and she had much more survival skills than I do. The only reason Matoko did not get executed is because of Kyoko. I refuse to believe something such as luck is something that exists in this world. Sure, Emilynn somehow has the ability to get herself out of death traps, yet that can be explained away with a multitude of different scientific theories.
Wait...Matoko? Yeah, that feels right. Why would I ever think differently? Everybody knows about Matoko Naegi.
Nothing comes from my actions, however. Before I can figure anything out, I succumb to the effects of the gas. This jacket is not made out of super durable material. It does give me a little time which can be exploited later on. The little details are truly important in situations like these. It is impossible for a plan to go entirely smoothly at this scale. One of these times whoever is behind this will slip up. After all, they have already fucked up in so many different kinds of ways. One of those ways is thinking they could outsmart somebody like me.
The last thing I notice as I start to pass out is the sound of somebody opening the door. This is very interesting information indeed.
"There's one thing you always have to remember, Shiro."
"...W-what?"
"That your true family will be a part of you no matter what. There's no way I'm not going to be a part of your life."
My true father was never wrong.
When I woke up, I realized that I am once again in the gym, but this time whoever is behind this made sure to add everybody. I guess having everybody not having information would hurt the mastermind in this circumstance. That information probably could be used to our advantage somehow, yet I do not want to risk it. Mononeko is too much of a wild card at this point. She is lazy and conceited in my opinion, though that could mean that she does not have the patience to deal with things that she does not like. Maybe pushing too many of her buttons will cause her to add and change rules at random in a poor attempt to maintain control over the populace of this space ship.
But the question is why do they need to drug us to get to this point? Isn't that a waste of materials? What could be so important about those rooms that would make Mononeko put in too much effort?
Examining further, I realize something. There's actually a classmate missing. Ichiko Miyashita. What is she planning now? Could Ichiko have found a way already to dodge the sleeping gas that they gave us? As a historian, she possibly knows of ways used in the past to deal with these methods. After all, even before the Tragedy, police forces have been known to use various kinds of gasses on the people that they're supposed to serve.
Focusing more on my surroundings, all of the victims minus Ichiko are placed in the middle of the room. Saitou and Ryusuke are also not here, but I keep forgetting that they are here. Ryusuke is too much of a wild card, and nobody here knows anything about the second Saitou. Anyways, Mononeko is once again on the stage. The cat is laying on the podium asleep until she hears all of us moving.
I also notice Pon-chan isn't here but Kobi is. But nobody cares about that. With them both being cats, Mononeko has probably convinced the cat traitor to work for her using treats or the like. Or maybe my scare tactic was too effective.
"Um, is everybody here? I don't wanna do a role call." Mononeko yawns. Why do I always have the sudden urge to yawn too when she does? Some of the weaker-minded students follow Mononeko's lead, like...actually none of them. I had a whole speech planned out and nobody did it. Maybe I should stop doing these inner monologues because I am the only one who ever listens to them.
"Most beautiful girl in the world you must notice that everybody is here. After all, you're so smart~" Rokuro winks at Mononeko. Please tell me he isn't flirting with a robotic cat. Please. Please end my misery.
"Okay...I'll take your word." Mononeko's eyes begin to droop. "Time for a...press conference...no, that's not the right word…"
"Don't you mean school assembly...or something like that?" Sora asks. He clings to his sister Chika. Those two are too close for my liking. With people knowing others beforehand in a Killing Game, it is almost guaranteed that at least one of them is going to die. That is why it is best to not get too close with others since despairs target those who they can manipulate the most.
"I keep forgetting my notes. Why are these scripts so hard to rememberrrrrrrr…" Mononeko almost falls asleep again only to get jolted awake.
"I could help you with your lines if you're having trouble. I'm sure Fubuki and Natsuki would love to join too!" Kitsu smiles. "After all, this is all some reality TV show, right? There's no way there's another Killing Game! I gotta say whoever is doing the acting is wonderful!" Great, Kitsu is an idiot.
"Wait, I don't agree with any of this!?" Natsuki is acting like a regular person and seems to be scared, or maybe in a state of denial. Even with all that has happened, people are still keeping high hopes by convincing themselves that nobody will die. The whole trauma will most likely process when the first student gets murdered.
"I included you because you're amazing, Natsuki!" Kitsu points directly at the voice actor. Natsuki immediately blushes.
"Don't forget me! I'll help too if that means more people get to feel the power of hope!" Fubuki grabs onto Natsuki and drags the girl over to Kitsu. Then Fubuki puts the three of them into a group hug. In the back of the group, Jun's eyes open up more but his smile is tight.
"Get on with it." Choumi's arms seem to be crossed all of the time. That cannot be good for them, right? I don't know. For all of my knowledge, I don't have much information about the medical field.
"Don't talk. Pay attention to the stage. Please don't misbehave. I'm not paid enough money to make sure all of you don't die uselessly." Mononeko almost falls but is able to correct herself before anything happens. Luckily, even if the reality of the situation has not hit for all of them, everybody is smart enough to stay quiet.
"First the room assignments...do I really need to explain this? Well, there are special rooms for all of you if you behave. That's where you stayed last night. No reason, only to tempt you. Acting well will give you rewards yada yada yada. You kids know how the real world works...maybe. Possibly. Maybe not...Any other time you stay in the room in that white hallway. I don't like being in there. I can't sleep with all that white."
Whoever is planning this thought this through more about Junko Enoshima. Enoshima only gave others negative reinforcement, which made everybody agree to turn against her. With positive reinforcement as well, I could see that people would be less willing to break the rules. Not only do they get out of punishment (which punishment can become numbing if done too much), but they also get something out of it. With how nice the spaceship is, it would not surprise me if there becomes a faction that wants to stay on, even with the assumed crash happening in six months. Six months is more than enough time to brainwash people into joining what is basically a death cult. No matter what, though, I will make sure I survive. Even if everybody else turns against me.
"I could tell you're thinking something real messed up. It would be so amazing to be able to see how your thought process works and differs," Etsuko whispers into my ear. Her sudden appearance makes me jump...a little. Only a little. I hope that Emilynn and Aito don't decide to join her. "Don't worry, Mononeko can't hear me. I don't plan on talking through the fun either."
"You really should not say things like that to other people." Despite my warning, Etsuko still has a grin.
"If you're on bad behavior...don't wanna see what happens then…" Even though she is saying threatening words, Mononeko does not have an intimidating aura. Perhaps that's why there's still a lot of calm. Perhaps a calm before the storm? "Wait, I heard that…"
"Oh no, I've been caught! Whatever can I do?" Etsuko says with dramatical flair. Maybe I should not have not fallen into Etsuko's trap. Anything dealing with her is bad news.
"This scene is taking too long already...I wanna be able to take my nap. So...guess I gotta do this…Breaking the fourth wall is something the mascot is supposed to do, right? It takes so much effortttttt. But fineeee we gotta get moving because we're on a monthly schedule right nowwwwwwwwwww. Maybe we'll get more soon.." Mononeko is the quickest she has ever been when she pulls out a button out of nowhere and presses it.
From the ceiling, there are many copies of Mononeko that almost fall onto us. These copies have a blank expression and every move they make has no personality. Before any of us are able to fight back, all of our limbs are tied with rope and our mouths covered with duct tape.
"Etsuko, this isn't poggers!" Emilynn cries out. Sadly her mouth is the last to be covered. I am grateful to the clones when all that comes from Emilynn is muffled yells.
"Why can't I tie them up for the whole game? I didn't sign up to take care of children. It's so exhausting. I want their nap time!" Mononeko complains. She jumps down from the podium and start rolling all over the stage. I do not know what to make of this behavior. All of this is very strange, but that's a given when dealing with those with questionable sanity.
Catching me off guard, I notice the little girl in the red dress again. This time she is behind Mononeko, trying to catch up with the cat's frantic movements. The girl's legs are too small to finish her goal, resulting in her eventually falling on her face. When she does, the girl begins to cry. It is so annoying! Why isn't anybody else here reacting to it!? Am I seriously the only person smart enough to notice a little girl on the stage!?
...This is not the time to be emotional! Perhaps everybody assumes that she's part of the act. Considering she is around a lot when there is Mononeko nearby, that wouldn't be surprising. Or maybe my brain is so superior to these other beings that only it has the ability to understand the existence of this little girl. The only one that will ever understand is my true father.
"Continuing I guess...fineeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Like I said before, you're stuck in a spaceship in a Killing Game. You'll get your student handbooks after all of this at, like, the door or something. I don't care what they did. In six months, we're gonna crash and die. The Committee found this new planet that's, like, super weird and fiery so like your deaths will be painless and quick at least. I have better cybersecurity than the Committee and I just bullshitted it all in a couple of minutes. Also, if you hear screaming somewhere, just ignore it." So the mastermind plans to not survive this like Junko? But what is the purpose of this game? To broadcast all the technical improvements the Despairs have made maybe? All of our lives are put at risk because of a demo.
If the Committee is the ones who found this planet in the first place, that means they have been hiding a lot. Not even Kotori Hiraoka knew about that, or maybe she did but did not care for it. But Kotori would jump onto the possibility of finding new ways to torture people that have not been recorded before, not the mention even with all the torture, Kotori was still a talented scientist and doctor. Whoever was in charge of this was smart enough to not add Kotori to the team and make sure she didn't even find out about it. Kirigiri maybe? No, she would be bragging about it. Who is doing this? The Irvings? Also unlikely, Wendy and Sasha are obsessed with their image and would brag about it as well.
Oh, you're that piece from earlier~ It is totally you! I should change this up a bitch! You were supposed to be involved, but I decided to save you! Say thanks to your lord and savior...You're Shiro Amari, right? Or did I mix that up too? You would make a good Ultimate Composer, you know.
What is that memory? That's a woman's voice and she sounds drunk but is still somehow able to not slur her words. The fuck is this shit?
"I guess I'm supposed to destroy your view on humanity a little or something...anybody with half a brain cell knows not to trust the Committee. And yet there's people with signs everywhere saying Make the World Great Again and wanting more Irvings. Idiots." Mononeko yawns yet again. The little girl stops crying when Mononeko hops back onto the podium. "The Committee has been researching space travel for the last fifty years in case the Earth gets to the point of being inhibited...no inhabitable...wait, uninhabitable by humans. There's actually space colonies already, but nobody lives in them yet. What a surprise. The government is lying to you. Wow, nobody saw that coming. Dun dun dun."
Nobody here is shocked. Even the most naive would know how this world works. The Committee lies, their subjects obey. Everything is for the good of America, even if the rest of the countries in the world must suffer for it. And, for the Americans, only the rich will prosper, standing on the corpses of those who starve to death thanks to their neverending greed.
"I should move on with the plot. Oh, lookie here, the two missing students. What wonder. Oh, hurray. Come out. Make this quick." Mononeko stares at stage right. Noticing two other people coming, the girl runs behind the scene stage left. Her head peaks out a little from the curtains separating the two areas.
"I'm pan," the substitute says. He still cannot be seen, but his voice carries well throughout the gym.
"Not like that..." Mononeko groans. For once, I feel her pain. I am starting to remember why I never liked hanging out with teenagers even when I was one. Eimu and Yoshi were the exceptions, and that was a horrible idea. Whenever I have friends, it's a bad idea. It's better to just be alone.
"Oh...I should introduce myself again," The new Saitou exclaims as he hops out from backstage. "Hey, the name's Saitou. Saitou Kurokoma! Or Saitwo if you will. I'm the Ultimate Substitute. I'm not really good at much else..."
"Ryusuke please get over here...You can have your existential crisis later...Have your character arc later...Everything later..." Mononeko glares at the curtains from the side Saitou just came out of. Nothing happens.
"I have betrayed my queen! What have you done to me!?" Ryusuke comes running out with his weapon prepared. He tries to strike Mononeko, but Saitou grabs her before it is too late.
Getting a better view of Ryusuke, he is mostly the same. Except they decided to give him a haircut. He no longer has his beard or long hair. Now he is bald. Wow. His head is very shiny.
"You don't have to be killed right now. They are already mad at you. Ryusuke, listen to reason. Please pay attention to my voice." Saitou puts Mononeko down who stays where he placed her. Though the cat is paying close attention to everything that the two are doing. Mononeko is lucky that they had a person like Saitou at standby, or the Killing Game would already not be going according to their deductions.
"First you waste my time, which already makes me want to boil your insides! Second, I'm not Ryusuke! I'm Haagenti, or Ryoichi Homura according to you foolish mortals! Nobody can defeat my queennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn-"
"He still needs to be reprogrammed. Take care of him this time," Mononeko says coldly. More robot copies of her appear from the ceiling and jump onto the stage. Saitou moves out of the way again when Ryusuke uses his Kusarigama to defeat some of the clones. His skills with his weapon are impressive, so it is unfortunate Ryusuke is so unhinged.
The demonologist continues to attack the evergoing hoard, but even somebody as skilled as he is has a limit. After defeating about fifty of the copies, they eventually overwhelm him. It is lucky that Ryusuke is still alive considering he continues to break so many rules. Without even knowing all of the changes to this game, anybody could realize that this behavior is looked down upon.
"The only reason you're still alive is that we've got a plan for you, Ryusuke. This involves too much effort. I'm going to need a lot of caffeine patches and coffee to survive this day." Mononeko does not emote when Ryusuke gets dragged away once again. Saitou is cleverly deciding to stay out of all of this. The substitute has some sort of intelligence to not interact with his original's killer. Although a part of me wants to know more about Ryusuke, considering he has to know some clues due to his assumed reprogramming, it is best to not be involved with him.
"Um, is there anything else?" Saitou asks. It must be awkward to be the only person not currently tied up.
"Oh yes...that was such a long detour no wonder it took so long to write the script..." Mononeko once again gets onto the podium. At this rate, she should create a more efficient way of going up and down it.
"What does that mean-"
"You ask too many questions. Now for the biggest department from usual which is going to be such a pain to manage...Hey, clones, can you untie Aito? Please make sure he doesn't make a mess." When Mononeko finishes speaking, Aito beams. Everybody else is groaning underneath their tape. Despite the overall negative reaction to this decision, the clones follow their orders.
"You must tie me up again, or allow me to tie up my wonderful friends! I love all of them so much! They must suffer!" Aito begins to drool, and I want to be as far away from him as possible. Anybody with survival instincts would know to stay away from this prankster.
"Emilynn McKay, Etsuko Abe, and Aito Watanabe weren't supposed to be in this game. Why are you giving me more work!? And putting yourself in danger! Urghhhhhhhh..." Mononeko is being a voice of reason. If you weren't originally in a game, why would you join one? That makes no sense. All you will end up is doing is causing your own death. "But Emilynn and Etsuko have special circumstances. Aito you don't. So congrats you're a guinea pig for a new idea...Please don't die first, or else my supervisors will hate me. I'm trying to get a raise. And get the Master's approval."
"You can't understand our wonderful message!" Aito winks at Mononeko. "Love is needed to know the meaning of our sacrifices! For we do this all for a reason! I won't tell you what it is though. If you truly care about somebody, you must make them suffer from uncertainty!" Whenever Aito opens his mouth, I get a headache. I do not care about what Mononeko is planning. She can reveal this all with Aito still having tape over his mouth. And keeping that tape over his mouth for the rest of the game. The prankster can get what he needs to survive by fluids. He will be fine. Mouths on people like him do not serve a purpose.
"...Why?" Saitou is already more relatable than the duelist.
"I also love being a guinea pig. Being one means you truly care about the world! Somebody has to take the spot, and I'll gladly make the people I care about into guinea pigs as well-"
"Everything was a mistake..." Mononeko rubs her forehead. "I'm supposed to be testing out this new Jury system. Lemme explain this more to you. There are other changes to the game, but you don't need to know them before the trial. This is actually important info."
Jury? There's a jury system that the Committee uses, but most people agree that it is corrupt. Could it be that the Despairs are better at enforcing the law than the Committee? It is weird though that such a system would be added. Is it to make sure that things are harder...or easier? But why would the Despairs want the trials to be easier? Then again, the Blackened has seemingly never won, so it could be to make sure that trend continues. After all of this planning of crashing a ship into a planet, they could not want that idea to go to waste. But then why is the crashing so slow? Surely they could find a better way of killing us? Like crashing into one of the many more planets or stars on the way, or injecting all of us into space. Why is the time limit of six months? And, if they're being honest about the time limit, why is there more supplies here than needed for six months? With everything in the supply room, people could easily live on this ship for a decade without fearing about food, water, or other essentials.
"That's a good thing. Juries are needed for-"
"Jury!? That's bad! How can we give evildoers the greatest love when there's a jury to stop that!?" Aito interrupts Saitou. Saitou does his best not to sigh but ultimately fails. Not even somebody as laid back at Saitou can deal with Aito's tactics. The only people that can understand him seem to be Emilynn and Etsuko. Maybe I should talk to one of them to get to know his mindset better. The lucky student and psychologist are both hard to deal with, but they are better than being stuck alone in a room with Aito. There would be a good chance one of us would end up dead if that happens.
"As I was saying..." Mononeko pulls out one of her many buttons and presses it. How many of those does she have? And how can she tell them apart? Anyway, with the press of the button, a projector scene comes down and there's now an image of all of us on it. The cat then gets out a stick and points at it. "Here's all of you. Most of you will die."
"What does this have to do with the jury?" Saitou questions. Aito then runs up to the stage and climbs onto it. He stands directly next to Saitou. The substitute tries to get away, but Aito continues to follow him wherever he goes. No matter how fast Saitou goes, Aito manages to follow him. But then again the two of them are just going in a massive circle. Mononeko does not care about their childish antics being distracting and decides to continue on with her presentation.
"It has nothing to do with the Jury...just stating the facts-"
"Nobody will die!" Aito exclaims. Oh no, he's also one of those people. Even if Aito was a sane person, he doomed us. I may not believe fate exists but saying those things only results in negative outcomes. "If they die, it will be all by my hand! And that would never happen since killing people is wrong!" The biggest surprise is figuring out Aito actually has morals. Somebody tried to teach him about the rules, and their attempts mostly ended up in failure.
"Now for the Jury..." Mononeko stares blankly as the slide changes. There is an image of a courtroom with three girls and three boys on opposite sides. Five of them are pointing to the girl placed at the front.
"They all must be really good friends," Aito states. He is now paying attention to the presentation and leaves Saitou alone. Saitou takes a moment to regain his breath and then move as far away from Aito as possible.
"When people decide on who they think the Blackened is, they must convince the Jury to agree with them. If they don't, the trial will continue. People will either decide to try to convince the Jury more, or to pursue a new line of thinking," Mononeko explains. "All of you suck at this. Aito, please don't kill them. Oh yeah, only Aito is on the Jury. Good luck with that."
We're all dead. That's it, we're all dead. Aito is going to kill us all.
"...Why?...The only person I don't want to be...is in charge of everything..." Saitou is fighting back tears. Looks like he has also realized how fucked we are. Does the mastermind want us to all get killed so badly? Or maybe the mastermind wants to party for six months straight before crashing into a planet? At this rate, we do not know. All of these strange decisions are making me not able to get a good read on whoever is behind this.
"Sweet, all of your lives are in my hands! I'll treat them with care~" Aito smiles wider. Saitou takes another step back and accidentally falls off the stage. This is the moment where I am glad I am in binds and not up there. "Great, Saitou! I hate you and your work! Keep it up! For you can show your love of everything to the world at this rate!"
"...There are more rules for the Jury. As a member, you're technically not part of the game. That means you can kill as many people as you want. On the flip side though, somebody can kill you and face no consequences. Killing a Jury member would not result in a trial. Also, for example, if the motive is greed, if you kill a Jury member, you would not get the money. They're only here to help..." Mononeko stops for a moment. "Oh, I forgot the new slides. Whatever. Nobody cares. Die as soon as possible, Aito, so I don't have to deal with this."
With that, the clones finally set all of us free. It hurts somewhat when the tape gets torn off, but, other than that, it was painless. Some of the clones are by the entrance with boxes, assumedly with our student handbooks.
Everybody is still too calm for my liking. Plus, even with it being only a day into the Killing Game, groups are already being formed. I almost forgot these were teenagers and they would like to stick with people that they have met first or before the game. There is only one other person without a group: Saitou. Could it be that the Despairs are giving something to us for this calming effect? If so, then why? Shouldn't they want us to be on edge? I want to focus more on this, but there are already too many questions, and this is low on my list of priorities. This helps me since it is less likely now thanks to Ryusuke once again being out of the picture for there to be death. Though, if the groups continue, it will be harder to kill considering how many alibis can be made. Anybody who wants to disrupt the status quo successfully will first do it by making people question their alliances.
Saitou and I reach the entrance of the gym first out of everybody, though Saitou reaches it after I do. We both get our official student handbook. It is clear what the first thing I do with it is. There are many tabs I will explore later, including yet another group chat, but there is my top priority. The rules. Knowing Despairs, they can be sneaky with the wording and such. None of the Despairs can ever be trusted. Once a Despair, always a Despair. There's no escaping from the past. No matter how much you try to run. Your past will always catch up to you.
...Is that what this is? No, that would be absurd.
Rule #1: You are not allowed to enter space. Don't ask. I don't care if there are spacesuits. You're. Not. Going. Except if you plan to do a murder. Then contact Mononeko and inform her of your plans. :D
Who is writing these? It is not the mastermind, so it must be somebody that is working for them. Or the mastermind is somebody who knows how to act well. Most likely, they are acting carefree for people to lower their guard. It is much easier for teenagers to trust those who they can relate to than somebody that scares them due to their stiffness.
Rule #2: Nighttime is from 11 pm to 6 am. Anywhere is open at night but please don't do anything reckless. If too many reckless events happen, this privilege will be taken away. Be grateful for what you have.
Rule #3: You can only sleep in the bedroom you have been given permission to stay. That means no sleepovers except if given permission by Mononeko.
Who would want a sleepover? I only had one in my life and it lead to...things. People who think sleepovers are a good idea most likely have all of their children murdered.
Rule #4: You are allowed to travel to open places any time in Hope's Peak, just as long as it obeys the rules. Breaking into rooms is not allowed and will result in a punishment. Don't try anything sneaky, or there will be another harpoon through your leg, Asuka.
Wait, why is Asuka being singled out? Did she try to do something when we were away? Or is a reference to the time in which she disobeyed and paid the consequences? If so, why mention it here?
Rule #5: Violence against the headmaster Monokuma is encouraged. Sadly he isn't on the ship anymore, but, if he does find his way on, beat his ass. Mononeko, however, is a good girl, and we will never forgive you for harming her.
Mononeko is not a good girl. Cats will never be good.
Rule #6: Any destruction of school property will be punished. Also littering is not allowed. Us Despairs actually care about our janitors, unlike you Hope Bastards.
Rule #7: Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes "Blackened" will graduate, unless they are discovered. Please at least try to make sure your murder isn't super easy to solve since that's boring for everybody. Give us some entertainment! I know first time murder is hard but...hey, wait, some of you killed before! You should know this shit already! Lazy pieces of shit.
...Some? That means more than one. With that wording, I have to be more careful. That before implies it occured prior to the events of the game, which means that they are most likely not talking about the Ryusuke and first Saitou incident. Ryusuke's anger might have made him kill before, however. None of these other participants can be trusted even more, since there is a chance that one that has a seemingly sweet demeanor really is a serial killer. These lines are clearly added to strengthen paranoia. Maybe? If there was not a purpose, it would have been deleted.
Rule #8: Once a murder takes place, a class trial will begin shortly thereafter. Participation is mandatory for all surviving students. The only exception is when a student is put into the "Hospital." Wait, that doesn't exist here! Goddammit, Aimi, I don't care about how tired you are. Don't copy and paste from before...wait, most of this is copy and pasted! Oh, goddammit!
Rule #9: If the guilty party is exposed during the class trial, they alone will be punished.
Rule #10: If the guilty party is not exposed, they alone will graduate, and all remaining students will be punished for their crime. This should be known by all of you by now. Pay attention to history class, losers.
Typical rules of the Killing Game. I am curious about this Aimi that is mentioned, but that could have been added to throw us off. After all, none of us are named Aimi. Except if people are going by fake names. A lot of people do that nowadays, so that would not be out of the question.
Rule #11: The guilty party may only kill a maximum of two people during any single "Killing Game." If a person somehow gets into another Game, then the death counter will be reset. Because we know how bloodthirsty some of you kids get. Some of your murders put ours to shame.
Rule #12: If two or more people end up killing somebody in a certain period of time, only the first murderer will become the "Blackened".
Why would somebody want to kill more than one person? It would only leave more clues. Even if you have to kill somebody else, it would be best to hide the body or dispose of it some other way. There is only one body needed for you to win. If nobody finds both bodies, that means you have wasted kills. I may not like people, but at least kill others with a reason and not make their lives more of a waste than they already are. Plus, it would be unfortunate to murder with another person planning, so it is best to make certain that nobody else will murder. If I somehow find my way into a trial like that, then the best bet is to make the class focus entirely on the other murder.
Rule #13: There's a Jury member system thing. Mononeko already explained it. I don't want to repeat myself. This is to make sure all of you don't decide to be absolute dumbasses again! The only handbook with a complete explanation is...Aito. Why do I have to deal with him? Why can't we just shoot him into space?
Rule #14: Additional rules can be added at any time. Rules can also be changed. So keep on your toes, bastards!
These are relatively normal rules, but I will have to reread them quite a few times to see if there are any loopholes. There could be a game-breaker that I could exploit.
Once I stop reading, I notice that Saitou is staring at me. Emilynn, Etsuko, and Aito are heading our way. Saitou jumps when he realizes the prankster is with his usual friends and then grabs onto my hand.
"Can you please come with me? I don't want to be stuck with him again!" Saitou gives me puppy dog eyes that are almost impossible to say no to. They obviously do not work for me. Though, I do not want to be here for much longer. There are too many people in this room, and the farther away from Emilynn, Etsuko, and Aito, the better. I do have to talk to either Emilynn or Etsuko later, but I can do that when one of them is alone. Plus, there is an added opportunity of getting to know more about Saitou. He does seem to be one of the more normal participants. The last time I thought that, however, Ayumu ended up being...a lot to handle.
"Alright."
"Let's go to the cool room!" Saitou says. I do not know where he means, but I decide to allow him to take me there. Most likely, Emilynn, Etsuko, and Aito will not follow us there. Even if they did, I am sure that Saitou will run away with me again.
When we stopped, I see that Saitou and I are in the room with all of the video games. He must have similar hobbies to the Meme Squad, minus all of the horrible jokes. Maybe this time I will not be forced to do sports or have weird conversations about bananas and Norse Gods. I have thought of a new purpose for Ayumu's Norse God obsession since it would be amazing to do a concert based on mythology. It would be a good excuse to have a lot of drums which I want to experiment more with.
"Let's spend some time together. There's really nothing else to do right now." Good, I do not have to find a purpose to convince Saitou to talk to me. It is easy to manipulate people like him because they always believe that it is their idea. Everybody around me exists to be used for my own benefit. Everybody in this world is manipulated by something, even people like me. It is impossible to escape.
Do you want to spend your free time with Saitou Kurokoma?
Yes/No
"Sure," I respond to him. Although he has a relatively happy demeanor, Saitou is not screaming into my ear, and that makes him better than most of the people here. And the other Saitou because I can actually understand what he is saying.
"Is there anything you like, Shiro?" Saitou is immediately focusing on me and learning more. That is not the purpose of this conversation. I am supposed to get information from him, not the other way around.
"Music. How about you?" I answer. It is best to give people short, obvious answers before taking control of the conversation. If the question is dodged, then that would make the person too curious. Which leads to them asking more questions. Then, if you continue not to answer, they begin to ask around and investigate. It is annoying.
"Filling in for others when it's needed. Helping others even with difficult tasks you don't agree with is an important thing to do nowadays." So we both have answers relating to our talents? Sadly, that does not give me anything about Saitou. Other than he needs to think better of himself and his talent. Although there have been two other reported talents that are similar, imposter and copycat, it is still an impressive skillset to have.
"Can you show me your talent?"
"Of course!" Saitou closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens his eyes up again, his posture changes. Now his eyes are narrowed and his usual smile has turned into a frown. His hand goes to the back of his neck. Everything about his body language is stiff. "I am now substituting for you, Shiro Amari. It would be a pleasure to deepen our acquaintanceship."
"I don't do any of that," I respond. All of that body language is wrong. I would notice what I do with my body. It is not that hard to pay attention to my surroundings.
"Sorry to point this out, but you are doing it right now. It is not logical to not be observant of your own body language. Then again, for many people, it is subconscious." Saitou bites his lip. Which is something I do not do. Biting lips is a sign of weakness, and it does damage to your lip if you press down hard enough. Considering I most likely do not have chapstick right now, it would not be wise to take part in such childishness.
...Paying attention to my reflection on the television, I realize that Saitou is right. This is not normal behavior, however. Our lives have just been announced to be on the line, so my body is reacting to that stressor. There are also slight bags underneath my eyes. Usually, when I have them, I cover them up with makeup, but that is not possible today. It makes sense that I did not sleep well, since it is not every day you get kidnapped and sent into space. Knowing Einosuke, if I was on Earth, he would have found me already because of all the search parties he would send out. This is the one place I can get away from him.
"...I still don't usually do this..."
"That is what you usually tell people. From my own observations of the matter, you hide your insecurities by-"
"I do not need to listen to this. And there are no musical instruments around to test your skills in that area. So can you stop impersonating me?" It is surreal to have somebody actually be close to you but not yet a perfect copy. I believe this is what they call the uncanny valley. Everything should be perfect, but there is just something missing.
"If that is what you desire, then I will do so." Saitou closes his eyes again. When he opens them this time, his body is a lot freer. Even with all that happened before this, Saitou is finding a way to still be laid back. "Heya, you alright?"
"Of course I am." Even if I was not, I would not trust a stranger with that information. There could still be a chance that Saitou will try to stab me, which is why I have placed myself closer to the door. A person has already died in here, so I am not taking the chances. Luckily, this room is now lit, and Ryusuke is nowhere to be seen. Saitou will have to be careful with the demonologist considering what happened with the previous one. Or maybe Ryusuke is forever fated to kill people named Saitou and somehow get away with it. That would be ridiculous though, even in a world as nonsensical as this one. The only world where that can be a reality is Wonderland soaked with the blood of Alice.
"Just making sure...You know what, I think you would like rhythm games!" Saitou says. He rushes over to the collection of games that they have decided to give us. Many teenagers like him are obsessed with these games and maybe I should figure out why. Some of my siblings would lock themselves in their rooms on their free days and spend hours playing them. Meanwhile, I never had the luxury of free days. For somebody who has always had potential like me, it is constant work. Wasting time doing hobbies is only a sign of weakness. "You're thinking too much again! Your eyebrows are all furrowed, so it isn't good! You should stop that before you develop wrinkles at thirty!"
"That will not happen. This is not overthinking anyway. Everything must be properly thought through-"
"Stop trying to justify your anxiety symptoms. They're not good for you."
"I do not have anxiety!" I protest. There is no way. Even if that did, that would mean anxiety is essential for survival. After all, our brains are wired in the ways they are for a reason. Anxiety is something that is not allowed.
"C'mon, you desperately need therapy. I can already tell that, and I've only known you for like five minutes. Oh, I also found a game!" Before I could object to any of his claims, Saitou throws what looks like to be a guitar over to me. I see that Saitou has found one for himself as well. Out of the many instruments, there are, guitars are one of them that I know the least about. Guitars are usually not needed for orchestras, but sometimes I would add them in to see how they would add to the sound. Classical is usually not known for its use of guitars anyway.
"This is Guitar Hero. It's so cool. Music from before the Tragedy is so much better than it is now...no offense." Saitou awkwardly laughs. Although I should be furious with him, Saitou has a point. Without the Committee, I would be free to make anything I desire. That is not how the world works, however. The Committee will forever be in charge because of the ineptitude of the past leaders.
"None taken."
When Saitou boots up the game, he explains to me the rules. It is simple enough. Press buttons in time of the music. This is way easier than playing an actual instrument. I do play some instruments, but the guitar is not one of them. My main instrument is and always will be the piano. Pianos make the most beautiful of sounds, not to mention that they are truly beautiful to look at. There are many pianos during my orchestras that are hard to move on stage. During times like those, I am glad I am not part of the backstage crew.
"Everything is ready, your highness~" Saitou wiggles his eyebrows. Well then, everything was a mistake.
"I may not play a lot of video games, but I will defeat you." I move closer to the screen but remain standing. It would be hard to sit with a toy that is this big. This guitar is very clucky, and I do not like the way it feels across my chest. People do not have to wear their pianos, which is one of the reasons why I like working with them so much. The less attention there is on my chest, the better.
"Sure, sure, keep feeding into all of your complexes. I'm sure Etsuko would find you even more interesting." What does Saitou mean by that? There is no way I have something like an inferiority complex! It would be stupid to think that I am lesser than others.
Saitou looks through all of the songs while I become more familiar with the toy guitar. It is so weird to hold a string instrument without any, well, strings. I will not admit that I like the feel of the buttons more than the strings. There is no way I will allow myself to get attached to such a silly game. Video games are a waste of time. Einosuke says so, even though he spends much of his free time playing Pokemon harassing the same player for years.
The song that Saitou picks is Ziggy Stardust by David Bowie. I have heard of the song before, but have never listened to it. Everything from that era of music has such a unique sound. Some underground bands have tried to get the same feeling, though the fans of this music complain that it is not the same. Nothing about music has ever been the same. Every era has its own sound, its own personality, and its own expression. Music often reflects the time it was made in.
"Pay attention, Shiro. It's about to start, and I want some challenge." Saitou picks the hardest difficulty, so I do the same. It cannot be that hard. Sure, most of the time you should build up your skill set, but this is music! How hard can it be?
...I lose the game. At least the song is well made. David Bowie was known as a great during his time. Although I cannot understand the lyrics, there is a strange allure to the music.
"You don't play games that much, do you? Honestly, I don't either." Saitou does not seem to realize he got a perfect score while I barely got anything. Or maybe he does and is acting this way to shove it in my face.
"...What do you enjoy doing then? That's not your talent."
"Cloud watching! I'm so bummed we can't do it here. The stars are nice and all, but it's not the same. I can't wait until I'm able to see clouds again." Saitou pouts. He puts down the controller and turns the television off. Following his lead, I take the clunky thing off myself as well.
"Clouds? What is so good about them?" I never paid that much attention to them. They exist in the sky and are part of the weather. That's really it. Some people think Heaven is up there, but that is nothing more than a child's fairy tale. Maybe there is a path to Wonderland, but not to a paradise that will never exist.
"There are so many stories in the clouds, not to mention it's relaxing. To one person, a cloud could be a bunny hopping freely in the grass, and to another, it could be the same rabbit being eaten by a hawk. There's the freedom to be whatever you want to be. So many stories to tell, so many tales to listen to."
"That is ridiculous," I tell him.
"You know what, Shiro, you need to relax. I'm going to claim you as my friend." Suddenly Saitou swings his arm over my shoulder. I regret everything. What is with men on this ship and claiming to be my friend? Maybe I should spend more time with women or nonbinary people.
"I do not want to be your friend." Once again, I am not blushing. Only idiots would ever blush.
"As my friend, you can call me Saitwo!" Saitou says. That is the most ludicrous nickname I have ever heard. And I come from a household where some kid randomly decided to be called W one day. Don't ask, for I don't have any answers.
"There is no way I am calling you that."
"But Shirooooooooooooooooooooo-"
"I regret everything-"
"Sup bitches!" Interrupting the both of us, Emilynn kicks the door open again. She continues to be very lucky to not break school rules. That poor door is going to give out one of these days. Wait...why am I feeling sorry for a door?
"You're going to give somebody a heart attack one of these days!" Saitou warns. Emilynn laughs not caring about the substitute's misery.
"IDC. I do whatever the fuck I want," Emilynn smirks. People with Emilynn scare me. By the looks of it, Saitou is not too pleased with her either. If somebody dies, can it please be one of the people that cause way too much noise? That way I do not have to worry about whether or not my eardrums will survive this own ordeal.
"That's so cool," Saitou responds. I completely misread Saitou then. Maybe I should fear everybody who tries to befriend me. They may all seem normal, but, underneath it all, they are the ones to worry about the most.
"BRB I'm taking Shiro. Gotta be the annoying NPC." Emilynn grabs onto my wrist and then drags me out of the room. She is stronger than I thought she would be. Even though she is a gamer, Emilynn has developed a lot of muscle. That somehow cannot be noticed by just looking at her. Maybe Emilynn is just naturally lean?
Emilynn leads me to the white hallway where nobody else is currently (the whole time she does not talk to me and uses her other hand to play on her phone, which is actually impressive but I will never admit that). They must have been doing something else. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to stay to find out more about what other people are planning.
"I was supposed to tell you something...but I forgot. I have a worse memory than an amnesiac protagonist or love interest." Emilynn taps her cheek. "Whatev, I'm gonna talk to you. Time to advance our social link."
Do you want to spend your free time with Emilynn McKay?
Yes/No
I was already planning to talk to either Etsuko or Emilynn, so it is good Emilynn came to me first. Emilynn may be...hard to understand, though she is much easier to deal with than somebody like Etsuko or Aito. Etsuko would constantly want to experiment with me using her bullshit psychology. Pretty sure there would be a good chance that Aito would just murder me.
"Alright, we can talk. Can you tell me about how you meet with Etsuko and Aito?"
"Etsuko does therapy for both of us," Emilynn replies quickly. If those two are stuck with Etsuko as their therapist, no wonder they have turned out the way that they did. "But let's not talk about my maxed out social links! We're focusing on each other." Is Emilynn trying to fish information out of me for the sake of Etsuko and Aito? That would make her much more interesting but dangerous. I may not have known Emilynn for a long time, but she does not usually seem to be very talkative.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Do you know about Pokemon? NGL best pokemon is Wooloo. Wooloo can destroy the world and I'll be happy." Emilynn is strangely...smiley while talking about whatever a Wooloo is. Seeing Emilynn with this much emotion is kinda freaking me out. Also, what kind of stupid name is Wooloo? Out of all the names they could name something, the company decided Wooloo?
"I do not know much, but Einosuke plays a lot. He has a weird username too," I answer the obsessed gamer. Maybe I should have left her with Saitou and have the two of them distract each other with games for the rest of the game. Also, do the same with the rest of the Meme Squad. Problem solved. Video games have finally proved their usefulness.
"What is it?"
"Something like...Xxmlgtrollmaster666xX-"
"That POS! It's him! I must come with you while we're out so I can declare battle on your fucked up sperm donor! Clair also owes me five bucks!" Emilynn points her finger at me only a couple of inches away from my face. "That bastard won't shut up about the Committee...but worse, he dismisses Wooloo! I will bring no mercy to him while I attack him with my endless army of Wooloo! Hahaha! I even got a shiny!" Somehow during all of this, Emilynn is still playing a game on her phone. Still with only one hand.
"Can you please get your hand out of my face?" I ask her. Emilynn, however, has now retreated back into her shell and is too focused on her game to notice her surroundings. I swat Emilynn's hand out of my face. When I make contact, I get this strange sensation again. Like I should know more about Emilynn than I already do. I thought these weird thoughts were over, but clearly, they are continuing.
...Why is Emilynn's hair white? She is not supposed to look like this. Why do I keep thinking that she should be blonde? Maybe because blonde is so similar to white. But then again, why is Etsuko's hair white? Do Etsuko and Emilynn match with their hair and eye color because they decided to? Or is there something more sinister going on? With Emilynn's personality, she probably thought white hair and red eyes would make her look more like a fantasy character. Etsuko probably would dye her hair and wear contacts for the shit and giggles.
"BC of NOYB," Emilynn replies. Shit, why do I keep accidentally talking out loud with Emilynn around!? "It's like asking a normal girl her weight. My weight is one-hundred and two pounds. LMAO."
"One-hundred and two pounds? Isn't that a bit underweight?"
"IDC," Emilynn says. She removes her face from close to my face and finally plays her game with both of her hands. With the use of both of her hands, Emilynn looks like she is doing better.
Maybe I should ask her more about the Committee and McKays? No, that would be useful information, but I do not want to overstep. Emilynn is already withdrawing herself from the conversation, so I need to find a way to make her invested again. Sadly I do not know any useful memes. I could try to use the type of speech Yuki was using earlier during the chatroom. Why do I get the idea that Emilynn would actually hate that? Emilynn likes more old-fashioned memes, right? Then I got absolutely nothing.
"I could teach you more about memes." Emilynn finally takes her eyes off of her phone. "Young Padawan, let me teach you the ways of the force. So you can become a Meme Master."
"Sure." This is a mistake. Too late to turn back now.
"HAHAHA you fool! Welcome to the world of memes!" Emilynn is way too excited about this. She closes down the game she is playing and goes to the photos on her phone. Maybe, if I get her to trust me enough, I could get Emilynn's phone and remove the video she has of me winning against the goddamn cat. Sometimes victory has a price. Sometimes that price is embarrassing blackmail.
"What have I done?"
"Enter a whole new world~ A fantastic point of view~" Emilynn pulls up a picture. It is of a man and a woman walking down a street together with another woman at the front of the photo. The girlfriend is reasonably concerned about her boyfriend checking the other woman out. There are also words associated with the people in the photograph. The woman in the front is looking at memes while the boyfriend is me and the girlfriend is mom...I do not understand this at all.
"What is the purpose of this?" I question Emilynn. She laughs at me.
"RIP you."
"I am not dead."
"RIP your sense of humor."
"I do not need a sense of humor."
"LOL you do. It's for stress relief. You're gonna lose it." Emilynn snickers. "The Committee hates this meme. That makes it better. Best Meme goes to Distracted Boyfriend. Having this would get me ten years in jail." Why would Emilynn risk such a cruel punishment? For just a laugh? This girl really needs to learn how to reevaluate her life. A meme is not worth ten years of your life.
"How have you not been caught?"
"I'm part of a secret organization on the web spreading around memes to better the world," Emilynn says. The worse thing about this is that I do not know whether or not Emilynn is actually being serious. Everything about the 'lucky' student makes absolutely no sense. Etsuko may have gone insane after trying to figure how exactly how Emilynn thinks. "We live in a society. Of memes. And corrupt government officials. But mostly memes."
Emilynn gets ready to pull up yet another photo. When she is looking through her phone, I notice that the video of me is still on there. There is seemingly an endless sea of memes. How much space does Emilynn's phone have to store this much data? Maybe, because she is distracted, I can grab the phone away from her. That would make things less frustrating for me and so many other people. Aito and Etsuko might stab me, but I do not care what those two think.
"Oh, I could should you the best of the best! Get prepared for Shocked Pikachu-"
Taking my shot, I yank Emilynn's phone out of her hands. For a second, she does not realize that it is gone. Then she sees it in my hands and immediately starts to grab it away from me.
"Gimme it!" Emilynn shouts, her voice desperate. Her eyes are tearing up. I did not think that Emilynn would get this emotional over a simple phone. It is not like anything important is on here, and a phone is not a living thing. This does not seem as simple as a phone addiction.
"Later. First, I need to remove that video you got of me." The moment I reach the video through her sea of memes, I am interrupted by a punch to the face. Holy shit that actually hurt. Before the phone dropped to the ground, Emilynn caught the phone. Guess Emilynn's 'luck' does not only exist in life or death situations. Or maybe Emilynn's phone is so important to her that, in her mind, it was considered to be that dangerous.
"..." Emilynn exits out of the photo gallery and continues playing her game. She decides to ignore me. Now Emilynn is no longer smiling, still looking like she is about to cry.
Now that Emilynn is already emotional, and most likely does not think the best of me, I should fish for more information. Although Aito, Etsuko, and Emilynn have questionable sanity, they have a lot of useful information. It is a risk versus reward for the three of them.
"What did the Committee do to-"
"You're not Shiro. You fucking asshole." Emilynn stomps away from me, not even taking a second to look in my direction even though her game is paused. "You're no protagonist of mine." She then storms out of the room.
That could have gone better. But now I know that Emilynn has an unhealthy attachment to her phone. That could be very useful for the future. Only if there was a way to get internet, it would be even more useful. Sadly, we are all in space, and I do not think that even the most expensive phone plans can extend their reach this far. If Ayano was here, she could figure out a way to reprogram the Monopad...student handbooks...whatever they are called...to send out a signal to the Committee. Although I love music, I will fully admit my talent is useless in a situation like this. There is no way a mastermind would ever be stupid enough to have the key to defeating them somehow be music, especially with all of the musical talents on board.
Perhaps it will be best to go back to the gymnasium now. There are most likely fewer people there now, and the trio of weirdos have probably all left considering Emilynn just finished trying to scold me. Hopefully, none of them are doing something stupid. Actually, they are definitely doing something stupid. All I can do is make sure I do not get killed by their idiocy. If I get my head randomly cut off because of something somebody else did, I will be furious during my last moments alive.
Reaching back into the main hallway, I open the door slightly to the video game room to see if Saitou is doing anything else. I see that Saitou is actually alone with Emilynn and the two of them are now playing Guitar Hero. Saitou defeats Emilynn which she looks surprised about. When she turns, she notices me in the doorway.
"Go away, asshole!"
"I'm sure Shiro didn't mean all of that, Emilynn..."
"He's still a fucking dick!" Emilynn takes off one of her shoes and throws it towards me. Before it can hit my face, I close the door. At least the two of them are having fun with each other.
The reaction is to be suspected, but I did think that perhaps Emilynn would be less expressive with her anger. Whatever she has gone through, it has made her more emotional. A part of me wishes that I can still experience emotions that rawly, but I doubt I will ever be able to again. Even if I did, all emotions do for you is make everything worse. It is best to turn everything off and not form any meaningful attachments.
The little girl appears behind me again and tries to give me a bouquet of flowers. I decide to ignore her. After all, it is not logical to accept flowers. Especially when you find yourself lost, unable to find your way back onto the yellow brick road.
It does not take long to reach the gymnasium again. When I do, I see that the clones have all left, which means that everybody has their Monopads by now. That means the groupchat for all of them is most likely busy right now and I should avoid it as much as possible.
In the middle of the gymnasium, a group of people sits in a circle with a bunch of pieces of paper around them. The people in the group are Ayumu, Jun, Renkou, Himura, Kitsu, Mei, Asuka, and Fubuki. Even with defined social groups already forming, people are interacting with people from other cliques, which is a good sign. They are not idiots who only talk to people that they meet with first.
"Hello, Shiro!" Seina appears behind me, totally not surprising me and making me scream like a little girl. Because of my non-response, Seina giggles. Now Seina has her mask back on, so it is hard to tell her exact emotions. At least her mask does not cover her mouth and muffles her voice. "Do you want to help all of us plan? We got some of the others agreeing to do it later, so that's fine too!"
"What are you planning?" If it is about overthrowing the ship, then that is the worst decision. That would get people killed. Even if we somehow did win, nobody here knows how to redirect a spaceship, and there is only one escape pod. The mastermind does not plan to make it out of here alive, so it is unlikely there are hidden pods on this ship somewhere.
"We're planning a party."
No, scratch that, this is the worst idea I have ever heard. We are all truly going to die.
Holy shit this chapter is finally done. This took forever. THE HELL SCENE OF MONONEKO EXPLAINING THINGS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
...I swear things will update more now for DiOS. Especially because MoDE is planned to once again be on hiatus because it will not stop being the unwanted child of this saga.
Also, if your character is off, just tell me. Because still getting used to them. It is still chapter one. Chapter one is always my least favorite to write. Because I despise beginnings.
Shiro, you're an asshole. I love you.
Also, here's a reminder that the MoDE FTEs are going to be ending soon. If you want to determine who gets more screentime before they brutally die, then vote as soon as possible. I look forward to killing all of your favorites once again. :D
Reviews~
TheRoseShadow21-I will now continue asking that question. Because suffering. Everything with me is because of suffering. I didn't know that, but I'm sure Ayumu did lmao. Ayumu is finally getting the love that he deserves after not showing up for like years. Oops. Renkou, Ayumu, and Saitou team up to all become Shiro's friend. Thanks so much! :D
AnonChan1-I'm being evil with people's memories again lol. Emilynn has corrupted you. Mizore knows all and we should not question her words of wisdom. It be a milkman. I too would want to eat the candy because I can't help myself. Help. THE PERK NAME IS A MY HERO REFERENCE AAAAAA. MONONEKO IS THE CUTEST EVIL ROBOT. Don't worry, Shiro gets worse. Poor Emilynn, that's her comfort object. Shiro needs therapy. FEAR FUBUKI! SHE'S MY CHARACTER! My character equals you shouldn't trust them. Shiro is a goddamn asshole, but that's because of all the trauma. Fuck you Einosuke. Fubuki and Etsuko hating each other makes me laugh. Kaimaru will make you think about that because he's Kaimaru. I'm not saying anything about true father but people are going to hate me for this and I'm going to be evilly laughing while giving Shiro even more trauma. Fubuki will forever make you suffer. The Committee gets worse and worse and this isn't even the tip of the iceberg. It means Shiro needs some goddamn therapy not done by Etsuko. Shiro is a tsundere asshole and I will always love him. I too would cry if life was truly a competition. Emilynn is going to find Renkou and claim him to be the new protagonist. Shiro thinks he's logical but then he hisses at a cat. Emilynn will forever keep that video, and there's nothing you can do about it, Shiro.
Osamu is a very...passionate person. Ayumu is a little bit of a weirdo and I love him. Ayumu and Yasu would be good friends, so it's sad they didn't get in a game together. Shiro this entire story is just thinking he has made a mistake. MONONEKO YES. Shiro may be an asshole about it, but he is actually really smart. Einosuke is a fucking asshole. I made people suffer. Naoko needs all of the hugs even years after her death. Etsuko does need therapy. Shiro will never stop being a damn tsundere asshole. AITO YES! Yes, I love Mononeko so much, and I miss my goddamn cat. Mononeko is second best girl because Etsuko cannot be stopped. Shiro will never admit he has trauma even when he is having traumatic episodes and nightmares and flashbacks. I would also die for Shiro, which means he will suffer more because I would also die for Ayano and we all saw how well that went. Shiro is a dork for music and Alice in Wonderland (sometimes Wizard of Oz if he really feels like it). I would love sticking all the horrible parents together and see all of them brutally die. Watch them all get Kazuhiko'd. SUZUNAMI IS THE PUN MASTER AND ZER PUNS CANT BE STOPPED! To be honest, you shouldn't trust any of the characters. Except Kobi, Ratscal, and Pon-chan, you can trust them. Shouko is never coming back. Shouko was literally created to just be in one scene, and now I guess she's turning into an Ensemble Dark Horse. I love and hate writing Committee Saga so valid. All the pets will team up together with Mochi as their leader and take down the Committee and Team Danganronpa. Cynical Shiro is sometimes fun and sometimes sad to write so I know that feeling. Like somebody please give this poor boy a hug. MONONEKO BEST MASCOT! I WILL NEVER STOP HAHAHAHA! *puts them closer to the children* I'm going to make them suffer like every other character in this saga. Even the villains suffer because KANESHIRO WONT STOP MURDERING PEOPLE. The Master will forever get a headache because Kaneshiro and Mei can't do their goddamn jobs correctly. Shiro is going to be forever in denial. YES.