Despite having gone through a trial the previous day, Rantaro and Niles had woken up the most refreshed they had since this nightmare started. The two get ready for the day but despite feeling refreshed and well rested, something told the two of them that besides getting yet another floor and more Labs, something else was going to happen. Regardless, the two leave the dormitories and head towards the cafeteria as was the norm these days. As they walked, Niles stood closer to Rantaro, being a bit more protective now that Rantaro was his. Rantaro on the other hand just smiles and shakes his head at this, but allows it and adores it nonetheless.
As Niles and Rantaro neared the cafeteria doors, they paused as they heard a lot of commotion. Readying his bow just in case, Niles leads the way and pushes the door open. As he steps in, Rantaro right behind, Niles is greeted with one of the most chaotic mornings yet. The table setup was completely different - the large table had been split into two and the smaller table that Rantaro, Niles and Kokichi sat at was in the middle. Where the small table was, was one of the larger tables and Kokichi was seated at it. The other table was on the opposite side with Tenko, Himiko, Tsumugi and surprisingly Kaito. Everyone else was standing looking very confused at what was going on.
"Uuuhhhh... What's going on here?" Rantaro asks, speaking up and breaking the very tense silence, causing everyone to look over at him and Niles.
"If I had to wager a guess, something about picking sides..?" Shuichi supplies, looking over at the green haired male.
"Damn right it is Shuichi! This table is for the Anti-Niles Committee! I don't care how helpful he's been in investigations but he's the most suspicious one here!" Tenko says.
"I'm just surprised you allowed Kaito to be at your table considering he is a dude," Kokichi calls out.
"Kaito has proven himself to not be a degenerate male! Unlike you!" Tenko retorts.
"I suppose trying to get everyone to cooperate and work in harmony is off the table then?" Kaede asks.
"Sorry Kaede! But as long as Niles lives, there will be no harmony!" Tenko answers, arms crossed over her chest. Niles couldn't help but snort upon hearing this and decides to refrain from commenting what appeared in his mind.
"And let me guess, the middle table is for those who are neutral?" Rantaro asks.
"That or if one table needs more space," Himiko yawns out.
"Well, clearly Rantaro and I are at the Pro-Niles table with Kokichi," Niles says, going over towards the table that had Kokichi sitting. Rantaro follows suit as well. To no one's surprise, Kirumi and Korekiyo went to the middle table. Shortly after them, Kaede and Shuichi went to the middle table as well, which was not surprising despite Tenko praying that the two would sit at her table. Miu then looks at each table and thinks back on the past week and what had happened in those short days. Deciding that having Niles on her side would be best, the Inventor walks over to the Pro-Niles table. Some were surprised, namely the Anti-Niles table as they expected Miu to go for the neutral table. The last one to decide was now Maki. There was uncertainty in her red eyes at first - to continue her blending in or to properly align herself. After what felt like an eternity, the brunette finally makes her decision and heads over to the Pro-Niles table, deciding that properly aligning herself was the best option in this situation.
"What?! You actually sided with them Maki Roll?" Kaito asks, his eyes widening with surprise.
"Yes. I trust Niles more than I trust anyone else here. He has no reason to actually murder someone given that both trials have had Tenko accuse him simply cause of his Ultimate Talent," Maki answers, narrowing her eyes at Kaito. "Why you would side with someone who clearly has it out for one person simply cause of who he is makes no sense to me."
"Well Niles certainly has it out for just Tenko!" Tsumugi pipes up, trying to defend Tenko.
"Wrong~" Niles interjects. "I have it out for everyone I don't trust~ Or were you not paying attention to how ruthless I was to Angie and Gonta in their trials?"
"O-oh right..." Tsumugi says, deflating a bit at being proven wrong.
"Though, I must say, I'm rather impressed with how many people trust me more than you considering I'm supposedly some sort of evil degenerate," Niles smirks cruelly as his blue eye pierces Tenko's eyes.
"You probably blackmailed them into liking you! However could someone like a degenerate like yourself?!" Tenko scowls.
"No blackmail here! I just enjoy Niles's chaos!" Kokichi says with a smile.
"He's got a similar sense of humor to me and he's proven himself to be hell of lot more useful than you, ya useless bitch. I've had failed experiments that were more useful than you," Miu adds on.
"I didn't trust Niles at first and like is pushing it. But he's far more tolerable than you," Maki answers, hiding the fact that she was indeed blackmailed into working with Niles at first. But that was neither here nor there as she now knew Niles would most likely keep his mouth zipped shut since she had no intention of breaking their contract.
"And I'm rather offended that you would make such a claim Tenko," Rantaro says, finally speaking up. Rantaro's tone was a bit harsher than most people had ever heard him speak in, surprising all who heard it. He had been chill this entire time as to not cause further problems but hearing all the slander against Niles had pushed him past his limits. He stands up and looks directly at Tenko. "You see, if you had given Niles a chance to show who he was, you'd find that there's more to him than just the shield of cruelness and coldness he puts up. As a matter of fact, what I've been able to see and get to know about Niles within the past eight days has shown me a wonderful person. Not that you could ever appreciate him."
"Wait what-" Kaede says, speaking the words that almost everyone was thinking. It was also just jarring to hear Rantaro speak as passionately as he was. Rantaro then just smiles and turns to Niles, ignoring the nine sets of confused eyes and the two sets of knowing eyes watching him.
"And for the record Tenko, I don't like him. I love him," Rantaro says, stepping out of his comfort zone and pulling Niles into a kiss. Niles more than happily returns it, smirking slightly into it. The smirk widens some as various reactions sounded throughout the cafeteria as the two kissed. After a few moments, Rantaro pulls away, his cheeks pink since he was not one for PDA. He then takes a seat.
"Oh I uh huh," Tenko stammers out before just sitting down. There was an awkward silence afterwards before Kirumi stands up to go take care of breakfast since the morning shenanigans were over with for the time being.
"Proven wrong once more~" Niles says, the smirk still ever present on his lips. He then snakes an arm around Rantaro's waist and gently pulls Rantaro, and his chair, closer to him. The cafeteria was neither boisterous nor quiet after Niles's remark. The Pro-Niles table chatted amongst one another as if it was a normal day where as the other two tables had faint murmuring, and a thank you from people when Kirumi came back out with food and served it to everyone. As breakfast finishes and people were about to stand up, the telltale sign of the MonoKubs' and Monokuma's arrival rings out.
"Well! This is not what I expected this morning when popping in!" Monokuma comments as he appears. "Seems like that little idea of hope and harmony has been destroyed~ Upupupupu~"
"Can it Monokuma, you know most of us didn't believe in that actually working," Niles says. "What do you want?"
"Oh so cruel to your own headmaster!" Monokuma says, one paw to his forehead and the other to his chest. "I am wounded!"
"Hey! Be nice to Daddy!" Monophanie says to Niles, attempting to scold the Outlaw.
"No thanks. None of you scare me," Niles responds, his face unamused. Kokichi snickers in response to the small interaction.
"But liked Niles said, what is it that you desire from us?" Korekiyo asks, tilting his head curiously at the bear.
"Since you asked nicely, I wanted to give you all these as rewards for surviving the second trial!" Monokuma responds, holding a paw out towards the MonoKubs. It takes a solid minute for the MonoKubs to realize that they needed to present something, and once they do, they produce a key, a ninja scroll and a hammer.
"Oh, more puzzles to solve to expand what we have," Shuichi comments, perking up a little bit. He approaches Monosuke who had the scroll and takes it from him. Niles on the other hand, goes over to Monotaro and Monokid to take the key and hammer respectively.
"Alright fools! Have fun with your exploration!" Monosuke says before disappearing with his siblings. Monokuma did linger a bit longer however.
"Is something else on your mind Monokuma?" Rantaro asks, arching a green eyebrow at the headmaster.
"Oh there are many things on my mind~ Like the obvious tension in this room. Makes me a little hot and bothered to be honest," Monokuma answers, fanning himself.
"What exactly is on your mind, Monokuma?" Niles asks sharply, not having the patience for Monokuma's bullshit.
"Alright, alright, I figured I could give you all some answers since you've made it this far! And not to mention, two of you have given me some juicy information~" Monokuma responds.
"Is Niles the Mastermind?!" Tenko bursts out.
"That... I cannot tell you. However, I will say that one of you is indeed the Mastermind! That part was not a lie!" Monokuma answers.
"So there really is a traitor among us then... How intriguing it will be to watch you all interact with this fact and that there is now a divide among us," Korekiyo muses.
"And speaking of this Mastermind, if say a devious plot takes out the Mastermind, do we get to be let free?" Kokichi asks.
"Well, if you kill the Mastermind, there really isn't a point in keeping you all here, now is there?" Monokuma responds in turn. "So the answer is quite simply yes."
"And the Death Road? If we get through that now is it too late?" Rantaro asks.
"I cannot answer that!" Monokuma answers. "Any other questions? Or is that all~?"
"Actually, I wanted to propose a rule to be added," Niles says, surprising everyone. "Since we have these.. groups... I would like to ask that group hunting is not allowed. Meaning that a group cannot hunt one person down or a group does not wage a war of sorts on another group."
"Well shit- That's actually a really good idea," Miu comments, blinking a bit.
"Normally I would give you hell for saying something like that, but you're not wrong," Kokichi says.
"Yes, please pass that rule!" Kaede says.
"As much as I hate the fact that Niles proposed it, I do have to admit that it benefits everyone here to have it," Kaito sighs.
"I'm only agreeing with that as it'll keep the degenerates from harming the good people!" Tenko huffs.
"Interesting proposition Niles! But before I officially make that rule, is there anyone who objects to this rule?" Monokuma asks. After a brief silence of no one objecting, Monokuma pulls out his own MonoPad and updates the rules with the new proposed rule. A cacophony of dings are heard throughout the cafeteria as everyone gets the notification that a new rule had been added. "Obviously, a single person is still allowed a double murder if they feels ballsy enough to~ But have fun exploring and killing each other!"
After Monokuma disappears, the cafeteria is frozen with another tense silence, the Pro Niles group and the Anti-Niles group staring each other down. The tension only breaks when Shuichi awkwardly clears his throat saying that he was going to go find where the scroll belonged as he has an idea on where it might go. As Shuichi leaves, everyone else starts to leave the cafeteria to await the discoveries or to find the discoveries.
"Well, I have an idea on where this key goes, so shall we go to the fourth floor then?" Niles asks, looking at the remainder of people that were there with him.
"Lead on Niles," Rantaro answers with a smile.
"Let's goooooo I'm getting boooorrreeeed," Kokichi whines as he grabs onto Niles's cape and shakes it.
"Let's go before I stab him nonlethally," Maki sighs heavily.
"Kinky~" Miu says with a smirk.
"Damn, no need to out your kinks like that you slut!" Kokichi comments immediately to Miu, stopping the shaking.
"Aaaannd that's enough on that," Rantaro says as he grabs Niles's arm and starts heading out with his boyfriend to go find the next floor. The other three follow behind, and all five find themselves relaxing surprisingly as they travel. It was comforting having a small group that was in a way, a weird little family, even if the newest member was being put on an unknown trial to see if the secrets could be trusted with her.