The morning after exploring the new and available areas, almost everyone within the cafeteria were relaxed. The only people who hadn't let their guard down but played it off were Niles, Rantaro, Maki and Kokichi. It was chill and quiet as everyone had their breakfast and chatted with one another to see what their plans that day would be. Niles and Rantaro were a bit worried as Shuichi had yet to appear, but all such worries were swept away when the cafeteria doors were opened up and in came Shuichi... With the odd device he, Niles and Rantaro had found the prior day.
"Oh Shuichi! There you are! Sleep in?" Kaede calls out to the Detective.
"A-Ah no, I was actually talking to Monokuma about this," Shuichi answers, holding up the bizarre device.
"Well, what is it and what does it do?" Miu asks, looking at it in intrigue.
"Wait, hold up! How do we know this isn't just one of Monokuma's incentives?" Kaito asks, narrowing his eyes at the device. Just as Shuichi goes to answer, Monotaro appears in the cafeteria.
"It's not!" Monotaro says, startling most of the people in the cafeteria. "It's actually another reward!"
"And remember, Monokuma and the MonoKubs can't lie to us," Rantaro says.
"But they can leave information out," Korekiyo points out.
"While true, you can't leave information out on a yes or no question," Kaede says, hoping to calm the vibes in the room.
"Unfortunately Kaeidiot has a point. So Pooichi, you gonna tell us what the shit that is? Or is the bloodied tampon wanna be gonna have to tell us?" Miu says, jabbing a thumb at Monotaro.
"Hey! That hurts my feelings!" Monotaro says to Miu.
"Right! I can explain!" Shuichi says, before anything could start between Monotaro and Miu. "I was told this is a Flashback Light. When used, it brings back memories. Monokuma didn't explain how it worked but it would be nice to remember what was going on before we woke up in this school," Shuichi says. Niles and Rantaro share a look, both getting a bad feeling from the device.
"And that's all it is! Have fun using it!" Monotaro says before disappearing from the cafeteria.
"Alright! Let's use it and get those memories back!" Kaito exclaims, excited about the device know that he knew what it could do and that it was not a motive.
"I... don't think we should," Maki voices. "If our memories were taken away from us, are we sure we want to know what we've forgotten..?"
"I agree with Maki... It doesn't seem very safe... I could use my magic to make it safe.." Himiko chimes in.
"Gonta wants to know what Gonta forgot. Gonta is not very smart and Gonta does not like that he now knows that he has forgotten something," Gonta says. As people started chiming in with reasons to either use or not use it, Rantaro and Niles take it upon themselves to slip out of the cafeteria before anyone could stop them... or notice them gone and drag them back in for that matter. Despite not wanting to use the device, the two were curious as to what the others would decide and if they did use it, what were the memories acquired. Niles leans his ear against the door to listen, closing his eye as he focused. After a few moments, Rantaro speaks up.
"Can you decipher anything?" Rantaro asks.
"Yeah, it sounds like they took a vote and the majority was to use it," Niles says before pushing off the door. A few moments later, the door is opened by Kirumi.
"Oh good, you two are still here. The others asked me to fetch you as we have questions for you," Kirumi says.
"Ah yeah, we did just kinda leave.. I suppose we can answer some questions. We also have a few questions for you all," Rantaro says. With a nod, Kirumi leads the two back into the cafeteria and the two go back to their original seats. As the two take their seats, ten pairs of suspicious eyes, two pairs of unsure eyes and three pairs of indifferent eyes look at them.
"So why did you two degenerates leave huh? Seems pretty suspicious to me!" Tenko says, narrowing her eyes more at Niles than Rantaro.
"I simply did not trust the device and had no desire to have it used on myself. Additionally, it was not mandatory that I used it," Niles answers with ease. It was the truth.
"And you Rantaro? We figured you would have wanted to use it the most being an amnesiac and all," Kiibo says, looking at the green haired male.
"Ah well, the same reason as Niles to be perfectly honest. It just gives me a bad feeling is all," Rantaro says, rubbing the back of his neck.
"You said you had a few questions for the rest of us. I assume that one of those questions would be for what we remembered?" Kirumi asks.
"That would be correct. What all did you remember from the Flashblack Light?" Rantaro asks, nodding his head.
"Well, it was definitely an interesting fact for us all to learn. All of us were on the run from the Ultimate Hunt. We all chose to discard our Ultimate titles and to live as normal college students. How curious humans are... The lengths they will go to keep themselves safe when they are the targeted minority... Keheheheh..." Korekiyo explains.
"The Ultimate Hunt? What was that?" Niles asks, tilting his head a bit. Rantaro narrows his eyes a bit upon hearing the Ultimate Hunt as that was something he remembered before they all had gathered the first time.
"That... We don't know. We can only assume that we were wanted dead by a group?" Kaede answers, shrugging a bit.
"Huh, odd. Now did you all see each other? Including myself and Niles?" Rantaro asks.
"Yeah! We all met up at Hope's Peak University where the administration helped us to hide our identities as Ultimates. Weird that we didn't know each other however," Kaito says, rubbing his chin.
"Well given how drastically different all our Ultimates are, it only makes sense that we might not have ran into each other," Shuichi says.
"I'm rather glad I never ran into you degenerates until this unfortunate situation!" Tenko says, crossing her arms over her chest. "And I still don't think we can trust Niles and Rantaro. Or Kokichi for that matter since he willingly interacts with these two."
"Whaaaat? I just like being friendly to everyone!" Kokichi pouts.
"...Friendly is an overstatement..." Himiko mumbles under her breath.
"Anyways! We all should go about our day, yeah? Tenko, let's plan the pool party for all the girls!" Kaede says, hoping to, once again, dispel the tension in the room despite her own uneasiness around Niles.
"Oh hell yeah! With the pool now available and the fact that we have bathing suits, that'll be a splendid idea! Let's go Kaede and Himiko!" Tenko says, grabbing both girls' wrists and dragging them out of the cafeteria. With Tenko leading Kaede and Himiko off, everyone else starts to disperse from the cafeteria, leaving just Niles, Rantaro, Kokichi and Maki.
"You going to the pool party that's being planned Maki?" Rantaro asks.
"I'll be dragged there if I don't," Maki sighs heavily. "But yes, I plan on observing. I can focus on two out of the three people of interest."
"Splendid. You're such a wonderful person Maki~" Niles says with a smirk.
"And one more thing. You three are hiding something. I want in on this if I'm going to help you with all this... sneaking about," Maki says, her eyes hardening and her arms folded over her chest.
"Well, considering how you have stayed true to your word, I suppose we could let you in on our little secret," Niles says, surprising Rantaro and Kokichi a bit.
"Nishishishi~ My my Niles! I thought you only had eyes for Rantaro! Or was that a lie?" Kokichi grins, tilting to the side, pointer finger to his face. Niles snorts in response.
"I don't kiss and tell you know," Niles responds playfully, watching Maki's reactions.
"That... is unfortunately a normal interaction between them," Rantaro says, shaking his head.
"I won't say I'm surprised to learn that," Maki says to Rantaro. "They are two very similar individuals."
"Me? Similar to Niles? Wow! I'll take that as a compliment! A Supreme Leader being compared to a criminal! That's like, one of my dreams. Thanks Maki!" Kokichi says, grinning widely and with stars in his eyes.
"...I'm just going to ignore that. When do I get to know this information?" Maki asks, turning to Niles.
"After your nightly report," the Outlaw responds. Getting a nod from the brunette, he turns to Rantaro as she heads out to cafeteria. "To my Research Lab?"
"Yeah. We need a more private space. You coming with Kokichi?" the green haired male asks, looking at the Supreme Leader.
"Yeah sure! You guys got information I don't have yet," Kokichi nods. The three males then make their way out of the cafeteria and towards the basement stairs. As they made their way down, anyone who spotted them had subconsciously moved out of the way, not that any of the three were surprised. Niles opens the door to his Research Lab when they reach it and he pokes his head in to make sure that no one was hiding in his to try to see if he or Rantaro were the Mastermind. Once certain that no one was in there, he steps into the lab, allowing the other two males to join him within his lab.
"Ah you haven't been in here before, have you Kokichi?" Niles asks, looking at the purple haired gremlin.
"Nope! You got a pretty nifty lab though!" the Supreme Leader answers as he looks around the lab.
"I'm genuinely surprised you're letting Maki in on this though," Rantaro comments.
"She has a point and she has proved herself to be trustworthy. Besides, since she is an Assassin, we know that she isn't going to try against someone like myself," Niles points out.
"True true! So I'm going to assume that the more in depth answer you two didn't want to use the Flashback Light is because of the information you told me not too long ago," Kokichi says.
"Precisely. The fact that Niles was in the memory further proves that this whole situation is fishy. Now, before we all met up for the first time, we actually all did meet once before, without Niles. I had asked everyone if they remembered the Ultimate Hunt and of course, I was the only one who knew what it was," Rantaro explains.
"So what you're saying is that those memories are all a lie..." Kokichi says.
"Yes. Unfortunately, I cannot remember my life much before this... shit so I can't say how much is true and how much is false," the Survivor frowns.
"How interesting... We need to find the Mastermind and fast. Get out of here so this shit can end and so that I can get back to Nohr. I don't want to know how much time has passed there..." Niles sighs.
"Well, you two want to help me find a way to get into my Research Lab since it's underground?" Kokichi asks.
"It'll give us something to do," Niles says. "But let's not forget about the Mastermind Room. But now is not the time to investigate since everyone is very suspicious of one of us at being the Mastermind and there's no need to throw wood into the fire!"
"Agreed. Let's go attempt to find a way into your Research Lab if it's not too soon to," Rantaro says with a nod. The rest of the day had Niles, Rantaro and Kokichi searching for a way to get into the Supreme Leader's Research Lab as well as keeping an eye out for the Mastermind. For the most part, the three were not bothered by the other students and only really interacted during meal times. When night time finally came, Maki met up with them to report her findings and to learn the shocking secret the three males held.