Niles sighs as he walks through the school and the grounds. He was not getting many results so far with his searches. It was starting to piss him off a bit as he kept getting dead ends or was barred by a MonoKub. Every time he had tried to pick a lock, a MonoKub or Monokuma himself would stop his progress and wait for him to leave before leaving the locks. He was inspecting one suspicious building when he heard the door open behind him and whirls around. His hand had instinctively went to grab his bow, forgetting it wasn't there. However, he relaxed when seeing it was Rantaro and only Rantaro.
"What brings a pretty boy out here to a dirty room like this?" Niles questions, looking Rantaro up and down suspiciously.
"Doing my own exploration," Rantaro answers.
"I imagine your luck hasn't been great either" Niles hums out, starting to circle Rantaro.
"Sadly, you're correct. Have you figured out anything here?" Rantaro asks, turning in place to watch Niles.
"Not yet. I was about to begin my search in this dump. Care to join me?"
"I'll join you but do you trust me?"
"Not in the slightest."
"Fair enough. Obviously I trust you enough not to kill me."
"I would normally call you a fool for that but at this rate, I'd rather not get framed for murder nor do I want to be instantly figured out for a crime if I did murder you."
"Exactly why I trust you Niles."
"What a weird turn of events. A situation where I wouldn't normally be trusted yet everyone trusts me... To an extent," Niles hums out. "Anyways, let's get searching."
"Right," Rantaro agrees. The two search the boiler room but only find mostly pipes covered in plant life and a few other objects neither of them knew what they were or what the function was. Niles does however, spot a manhole cover and approaches. He then tries to move it, but it was heavy. He grunts and tries to lift it, but the manhole cover does not budge. His grunting caught the green haired male's attention. Seeing what the Outlaw was doing, Rantaro goes over and assists him. It took more effort than it should have, but the two were able to get it off. Both males take a moment to catch their breath.
"Well, that's something," Niles huffs afterwards.
"Yeah, I wonder what's down there... I can feel a cold draft," Rantaro hums out.
"I would offer to go first but I insist you go first mystery man," Niles says. There was something about Rantaro that rubbed Niles the wrong way and he was determined to figure it out. Rantaro looks at Niles before shrugging and heading down the ladder. The green haired male thought that perhaps by listening to what Niles told him to do, he could eventually gain Niles's trust. It would be nice to have an ally in this wretched game and something told Rantaro that he wanted the one eyed man on his side. Shortly after Rantaro got to the bottom of the ladder, Niles appeared. Rantaro had walked a bit off to the side of the ladder and begins to turn to talk to Niles.
"Ni-" Rantaro starts out, only to get a tanned hand clamped over his mouth. His back hits the cold stone wall behind him as Niles pins him there next to the ladder. Rantaro's green eyes widen in shock at the speed, elegance and accuracy that Niles had moved at.
"Now, you want to tell me you Ultimate? I simply don't believe that you don't know it and that these... Monopads don't know it either," Niles says. His singular blue eyes was cold as it pierces Rantaro's greens. He moves his hand enough so that Rantaro could speak.
"That's not really much to go off on, but I assure you I don't know!" Rantaro answers, not realizing that his body language gave away his lie. Niles frowns and steps even closer to the pinned male, causing their bodies to be pressed together in an effort to make Rantaro uncomfortable.
"Lies are one of my many specialties Rantaro. So I will ask you one more time... What is your Ultimate talent?" the one eyed male growls out.
"It's Survivor," Rantaro says truthfully this time "Don't tell anyone as there's a lot more to this."
"I won't... As long as you tell me everything you know about this whole situation," Niles says.
"Alright. I'll tell you everything I know. But I do hope in return you'll give me some information about yourself?" the green haired student says.
"We'll see on that part," Niles hums out. He then steps back and releases Rantaro from the pin but keeps him close enough to not let him escape.
"So as you know, I have more knowledge than everyone else, which has to do with my talent - Survivor. As implied by the name, this isn't my first Killing Game. I 'won' the previous one... If you can call it winning. There was one other with me but I don't remember who," Rantaro explains.
"Got any proof? While I can tell you aren't lying, that seems a little crazy," Niles comments. Rantaro pulls out his special MonoPad and hands it to Niles.
"That is my proof. I have two MonoPads - the normal one that's nearly identical to everyone else's and that one with the survivor's perk," Rantaro says. Niles taps the tablet and looks it, albeit a bit slowly since he was not used to these oddly powered and seemingly slates. His eye widens upon seeing the map of the entire school... and the rather ominous message.
"And you're trusting me with this information because...?" Niles asks, looking up and handing the MonoPad back.
"You make 17. There's only supposed to be 16. Also, you're not from here... Are you?"
"I have no idea what tells you that that didn't tell the little detective that."
"I noticed how confused and slowly you used the MonoPads. You've never touched a tablet before, have you?"
"Tablet? That's what those bizarre slates are? But yes, I am not from this world. I hail from a Kingdom called Nohr... Why am I telling you this?" Niles says. Rantaro chuckles softly.
"Guess we can only trust each other then, for the time being," the Survivor comments.
"I suppose so. Also, don't tell anyone I'm not from this world. I think it's only fair since I'm keeping your Survivor talent secret," Niles says.
"I agree, it's only fair," Rantaro nods.
"Good. Do you suspect that the mastermind is among us?" Niles asks.
"Definitely, but I can't fathom who it is. But I know it's not you," Rantaro answers. "Though you definitely threw the mastermind for a loop when you arrived as they must have had to make another MonoPad and update everyone's accordingly as to not raise suspicion about you."
"I can only imagine, after all.. I was sent here on accident. But, let's finish this investigation and see about that mastermind room if it's not too late in the day," the white haired male says. With a nod from Rantaro, the two look around the tunnel. There wasn't much to look at except for the suspicious exit sign. Niles goes to step inside, only to be stopped by Monophanie. "Fuck-"
"Wait! Before you go in there, I have some beary important information!" Monophanie exclaims.
"Well, spit it out then!" Niles snaps.
"That's the Death Road of Despair! It's beary, beary hard and you most likely won't be able to clear it! But if you can clear it... You can leave!" the half pink bear explains.
"That so? How can we trust your words?" Niles asks, narrowing his eye. He had difficulty reading these weird bears... If they truly were bears.
"It's the truth! I swear it! I would never lie!" Monophanie says.
"Well, we might as well give it a shot. Only way to tell if she's lying or not," Rantaro says.
"Fine," Niles grumbles. Monophanie then disappears, allowing the two males to enter. Both were dumbfounded by what they saw. It was so... surreal.
"What the hell..." Rantaro says.
"You took the words right out of my mouth," Niles comments. The two then start heading forward, jogging through the Death, as both had a feeling that they would want to move quickly. The dropping golden bombs startled them whenever they got too close to them. The flying ones were very concerning. After nearly getting exploded by a flying bomb and almost trapped in a falling cage, Rantaro and Niles decided to make their way back while they can. After all, they would need some equipment to handle the bullshit that was the possible escape route. "What the ever living bullshit was THAT?!"
"What you just said - bullshit," Rantaro pants.
"I say we get out of here," Niles says. Nodding in agreement, the Survivor heads up the ladder, the Outlaw following. As they exit the boiler room, the notice the sky was starting to grow dark. They then hurry back towards the school, and head to the cafeteria. To neither's surprise, the other 15 students had gathered and Tojo was bringing out food that smelled and looked absolutely amazing. Kaede notices them first.
"Oh! Hey guys! You're just in time!" Kaede smiles. "Tojo just finished cooking dinner for everyone!"
"Wonderful. The food looks and smells amazing," Rantaro says as he walks over to an empty seat and he sits down in it.
"It also tastes amazing! Thank you again Tojo!" Kaito beams. Tojo simply smiles and bows.
"You are more than welcome," Tojo says.
"C'mon Niles, sit down. We can discuss our findings after we all eat," Kaede says, motioning the one eyed man to sit down. Niles then makes his way over, taking the last seat and sits himself between Rantaro and Ouma. He fills a plate, curious about the odd food in front of him. A lot of it looked more like traditional Hoshidan food. Once the delicious but quick meal was done, all heads turned to look at Niles.
"By the look on all of your faces, I take it you all were unsuccessful with your own investigations," Niles hums out.
"You would be correct on that," Shuichi sighs.
"Did you find anything?" Kaede asks hopefully.
"Rantaro and I did," Niles starts out. He notices the hope in everyone's face. "But! It is very dangerous. We discovered a way out. However, upon further investigation, the two of us discovered it was an escape route of death, just like we were told when we discovered it."
"What? What do you mean an escape route of death?" Kaito exclaims.
"What a pain..." Himiko comments.
"Exactly what it sounds like. There were bombs, cages, hovering and moving platforms. It was like a video game. We're going to need equipment to get through," Rantaro says. Some of the hope had dimmed in everyone's faces.
"Equipment you say? Well leave that to me! I am a genius after all!" Miu pipes up. "You'll all be groveling at my feet once I get this solved!" she laughs.
"But other than that, absolutely nothing. Now, if you'll excuse me again, I'm going to retire. None of you are worth my time," Niles says dryly. He stands up and then starts to leave. As he passes behind Rantaro, he runs his calloused fingers on his neck. Rantaro shuddered a bit and watches Niles leave the cafeteria on his own, noting that Niles did not touch anyone else on his way out. Hoping that Rantaro was as smart as he appeared to be, the white haired male hopes for a visitor later in the night.