As Fujisaki and I walked to the dining hall, we found Ogami and Asahina waiting for us. Asahina waved and Ogami smiled at me as we walked in.

"Hey girls! What's going on?" Junko called, her feet in the usual position on the table. "You guys look all bright and chipper! What's going on?"

"Secret girl talk!" I giggled.

Junko rolled her eyes. "Oh my god, Sayaka. Spill. The. Beans!"

I giggled again then spoke seriously. "I'm sorry, but this is between us."

Junko shrugged. "Whatever. I trust you."

Ishimaru addressed us all and we quickly ate. However, one person showed up well-past the dinnertime meeting time.

"YOU!" Ishimaru cried, pointing at the latecomer. "This is at least the 5th time in a row!"

"Dude, what?" Owada said. "Come on, it's just fuckin' dinner."

Ishimaru fumed. "It is polite to show up to a scheduled meeting on time! If not earlier!"

"Oh brother." Junko muttered, sinking her head into the table. Celeste, Yamada, Togami, and Fukawa all quickly returned their plates to the kitchen and silently left the dining hall. Asahina and Ogami were having a cheery conversation of their own and thus weren't paying attention. Hagakure didn't even seem to notice what was going on.

"Oh for fuck's sake man! I'm here now! Whaddya want?" Owada groaned.

"Hhrggh!" Ishimaru growled. "It's not just your tardiness! It's your behaviour! Your attitude, your foul language, it's all horrendous! It does not make for good decorum!"

"Decorum!?" Owada yelled. "We're trapped in a FUCKING SCHOOL!"

Fujisaki covered her ears. Asahina jumped in shock at the sudden outburst.

"LOWER YOUR VOICE!" Ishimaru yelled equally as loudly. "It's not just your behaviour, either! It's your looks! The way you dress, it's unacceptable!"

"Oh I see. Mr. Tight Ass over here is gonna judge my fuckin' wardrobe, huh?" Owada cracked his knuckles. "You wear the same goddamn outfit every fucking day! Do you even wash that thing!?"

"Of course I do! I have ten identical uniforms!"

"I can't listen to this." Junko moaned and slowly slumped out of the dining hall.

"I don't know, I think it's hilarious!" Hagakure laughed.

"P-Please stop fighting…" Fujisaki whispered softly.

Angry, I stood up and shouted at them, "SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!"

They fell silent.

"Your yelling is making everyone annoyed or upset! Can't you just settle things like normal people!? Why do you always resort to yelling at fighting each other!? You're making Fujisaki upset!"

Owada's face tensed. "Dammit…"

"Sh.. she's right! We gotta settle this like real men!" Ishimaru growled.

Owada snapped his neck around to face Ishimaru so fast, it was terrifying. "Oh?" He prompted. "What, you want to fight it out or something?"

"N… no!" Ishimaru cried. "I'm no barbarian! I can do better than that!" Ishimaru pointed at Owada. "I challenge you to an endurance contest!"

I slapped my forehead.

"Endurance?" Owada grinned. "Ohoho, you're on buddy!"

"That's right! You and me, sauna. Let's see who can last the longest."

"What the hell are you two idiots playing at!?" Asahina cried. "This is stupid!"

"Silence, you!" Ishimaru cried. "This is a battle between men!"

"Welp, I don't want any involvement in this one. Goodnight, y'all." Hagakure stood up and stretched, then promptly left the dining hall.

Asahina clenched her fists and huffed. "Come on, Sakura. If these two idiots want to kill themselves so badly…"

Ogami shook her head disapprovingly and followed Asahina out of the dining hall.

Fujisaki laid her face on the table and moaned, leaving me the only one to deal with the situation.

"A battle between men, eh?" Owada cracked his knuckles. "You're fucking dead, teacher's pet! I'll show you just how goddamn tough I am!"

"STOP IT! This is totally unnecessary!" I cried, but it was futile.

"Maizono will act as our witness! She will determine which of us is the victor!" Ishimaru announced.

"What!?" I cried.

"Agreed!" Owada yelled back. "Now, let's get to it! He sauntered off out of the dining hall, Ishimaru close behind.

"We better go…" Fujisaki said quietly. "I-I don't know w-what Mondo would do t-to Ishimaru… or vice-versa…"

"Oh… okay. If you're sure about this…" I said.

Fujisaki sat up and nodded.

"Okay then… off we go…" I laughed nervously. We walked to the bathhouse together where we found Owada and Ishimaru waiting.

"Good! You're here!" Ishimaru cried. "Now, wait out here!"

"O… okay then…" I said, very unsure and very scared.

Owada walked into the sauna and Ishimaru followed. I heard the steam hiss as the sauna began to rise in temperature. Fujisaki stood outside the door nervously.

"Y-You think th-they're gonna be okay?" Fujisaki whispered quietly.

"Huh?" I looked down at Fujisaki, who was nervously looking at the door, shaking. "I'm… I'm sure they'll be fine. In a few moments they'll realise how dumb they are and come out. In the meantime we should wait here."

"Okay…" Fujisaki said sadly. She sat down next to the door, keeping an ear on it.

An hour later, they were still going at it. Occasionally they would yell at each other, or pour more water on the rocks to even further raise the temperature.

"Uh… you guys?" I called through the door. "Don't you think this is a little too much? Y-You should come out now!"

"SHUT UP!" They yelled in sync. I cowered backwards and turned around. I sighed.

"This is pointless. Hey, Fujisaki?"

Fujisaki had gone to sleep. She lazily opened her eyes and looked at me. "Yeah?"

"We should get going. I don't think these idiots will be done any time soon." I smiled.

She looked at the door sadly. "A-are you sure? W-will they be okay?"

"They're tough boys. I think they can handle it." I smiled wider, trying my best to reassure her.

"Y-yeah, you're right. They're… pretty strong." Fujisaki slowly stood up.

"Okay… we're gonna go now… don't die in there!" I called out to the boys. They didn't respond. I shook my head. Together with Fujisaki, we walked out of the bathhouse and back to the dorms.

After getting back to my room, I collapsed on my bed. My mind was plagued with worry about the two idiots in the bathhouse. How long were they planning on sitting in there? Will they be okay? What's gonna happen to the loser? I shook my head. On my list of things to worry about, Ishimaru and Owada should have been at the bottom. I forced myself to calm down and, after a while, eventually went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up in a worry. My first thought was of Owada and Ishimaru - were they okay after last night? I considered checking the sauna to make sure they hadn't died in there, but I thought against it. While I wasn't sure about Owada, I was fairly sure Ishimaru still had some self-preservation skills. I walked as calmly as I could to the dining hall. When I walked in, I was met with a shocking sight.

Owada was smiling. "Haha!" He cried. "What'cha talking about, bro?"

"Ha ha ha! No, what are you talking about, bro?" Ishimaru cried back. He beamed and placed his arm around Owada's shoulder. Owada grinned and put his arm around Ishimaru's shoulder.

"I… What?" I asked. I was so confused.

Junko looked at me and shrugged.

"They've been like this all morning." Asahina sighed. "It's so annoying."

Fujisaki was resting her head on the table. She looked like she was sleeping, but she was smiling happily.

"Junko, what's going on? Last night these guys were at each other's throats." I asked as I sat down.

"Why are you asking me? Weren't you the one facilitating their 'macho endurance test'?" She answered.

I gasped. "I was not facilitating it! I was just making sure they didn't kill each other!"

She shrugged. "Beats me then. Why don't you ask them?"

"Okay…" I looked up. "Hey, Owada. What's going on?" I asked him.

Owada grinned down at me. "Yo, thank you so much, chick."

"Ha ha ha, yes! Thank you Maizono!" Ishimaru laughed jovially. "Thanks to you, we're closer than ever!"

"Yeah, we know. It's insufferable." Asahina said.

"What?" Owada growled.

"Ignore her, bro. A woman cannot possibly understand our manly bond!"

"Manly bond?" Junko giggled.

"Ha ha! Well said, bro!" Owada grinned again.

"I'm more confused now than I was last night!" I cried.

"I'm just happy they're not mad at each other anymore." Fujisaki said quietly, not lifting her head from the table.

"Hmm… I suppose that is true." I turned back to Owada. "So… who ended up winning?"

"Winning what?" He asked.

My jaw dropped. "The endurance contest? In the sauna? You guys were quite heated about it." I giggled. "Pun not intended."

"Oh! That! Ha ha! Who cares about that?" He cried. "After you left, we spent our remaining time becoming the bros we are now! Bring it in dude!" He grabbed Ishimaru and wrapped his arm firmly around his shoulder again.

I could not believe what my eyes were showing me. Dazed and confused, I sat down next to Junko and Fujisaki. Once everyone was in the dining hall, it took a few moments for Ishimaru to stop embracing Owada and address everyone. After breakfast, everyone peeled off as usual. Asahina was the first out, probably trying to avoid Owada and Ishimaru. Ogami closely followed.

Junko slowly stood up and looked at me. "I'm not sure what happened just now, but I'm pretty sure it made me homophobic."

I snorted. Me and my pop group would make jokes like that all the time, but hearing it from Junko… it felt different. For some reason.

Fujisaki sat up. "What are you saying? That's an awful thing to say!"

Junko giggled. "Calm down, Miss Keyboard! I'm just joking!"

"Oh. Haha." Fujisaki said, an uncomfortable smile on her face.

"Anyway, Sayaka, I felt like I haven't talked to you in FOREVER!" Junko said exasperatedly. "What do you wanna do today?"

I looked timidly down at Fujisaki. "Don't worry about me, Sayaka. You can spend time with Junko. After all, you two are very close." Fujisaki said.

Junko started sweating. "D- uh, I mean, yeah!"

I giggled. "Sure thing. I'll come by your room in the afternoon, shall I? I feel we still have a lot to discuss."

"Of course." Fujisaki smiled. "Bye bye for now, you two have a nice day." She stood up and skipped out of the dining hall.

"Yo! Chihiro! Wait up, buddy!" Owada cried, finally letting go of Ishimaru to catch up with her. Ishimaru quickly jogged out behind him.

"Well, thank god that's over. Where do you wanna go?"

"Well, we can swing by your room I suppose… Although I kinda wanna check out the library…" I said slowly, simply suggesting ideas as they came.

"The library sounds great! I wonder if they have magazines there." Junko grinned. "Or war novels!"

"War novels?" I asked.

"Yeah! I love a good war novel. I know, right? I totally don't look the type. But you know what they say…"

"Looks can be deceiving." I finished.

"I was gonna say 'Don't judge a book by its cover', but I suppose that works too." Junko smiled happily.

We walked together towards the library, chatting and laughing. Once we got outside the library, Junko stopped me.

"Hey. Sayaka."

"Yeah?"

She breathed deeply. "Before we go in, I wanna ask you something: What's up with you and Fujisaki?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean like, you know…" She blushed.

"Oh my God." I started laughing. "Are you jealous?"

"What? No!" Junko cried. "It's just- until like, yesterday, you and her never talked. What changed?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to talk to her." I said, and then stopped. All I could think of was when I found her staring at the girls' changing room. "I guess I just wanted to…" I breathed in and out. "See what was inside the mind of the Ultimate Programmer. I'm curious."

"So she's a lab rat."

"No! Stop being so mean!" I punched Junko's arm. She didn't even flinch. I recoiled. "What the hell?"

"Oh?" Junko looked surprised and looked at her arm. "Sorry, guess I'm just used to that sort of thing."

"Used to!?" I cried. "What kinda upbringing did you have!?"

"Upbringing?" Junko looked at me oddly. She shuddered. "Maybe now's not the best time to talk about that."

I pouted. "Okay, so when is a good time?"

Junko started to sweat. "Uh… can we drop it for now?"

I could tell I was making her nervous, so I agreed and dropped the conversation. I instead slid open the doors to the library. Unsurprisingly, Togami was already there.

"Oh good, someone's here." He said sarcastically, not looking up from his book. "When you leave, which should be sooner rather than later, could you take this wretched and foul-smelling skank with you?"

I looked at him in horror.

"What the hell's your damage, Togami!?" Junko yelled.

"Hush now, we are in a library." Togami pointed in the direction of the bookshelves. "She's over there."

Following the finger, I found Fukawa, skulking by the bookshelf, eyeing Togami in a very odd manner.

"Oh God." Junko whispered. "We should probably leave."

I ignored her and walked over to Fukawa. She looked scared. "Fukawa?"

"AH!" She jumped and covered her face. "J-just w-w-what d-do you think you're d-doing?" She whispered. "I-I'm trying to g-get closer to M-Master Byakuya!"

I felt my face fall and my stomach rise. My body was twisting up inside me in horror and disgust.

"Master… Byakuya…?" Junko said slowly, digesting the weird situation. She started wandering the bookshelves, clearly looking for a distraction.

"If she wants to serve me so badly she can start by taking a bath. She reeks of rotting garbage and dog faeces." Togami called out.

"Shut your mouth! You're about as foul as she is!" I cried.

"Don't talk to me. I don't talk to murderers." Togami spat, mustering the energy to turn away from us.

I felt my blood start to boil.

"M-Master Byakuya…" Fukawa moaned.

"This is bad." Junko said. "Girl, you need a reality check and a year's worth of therapy, stat!"

"I think she needs a lot more than a year…" I said.

"W-what are you talking about? I-I've never felt better in my whole life!" Fukawa smiled, drool emanating from out of her mouth.

"Ew, put a sock in it already!" Junko said. "Anyway, I found the book I was looking for. Let's go." Junko grabbed Fukawa's collar and dragged her out of the library. "Come on, Sayaka." I trotted out after them.

Fukawa clutched her head in anguish. "Nnnggggghhhh!" She cried. "W-why did you t-take me away from M-Master? Is it because y-you w-want to take him for yourself?" She pointed at Junko angrily. "I won't let you!"

"God no! I wouldn't touch that asshole with a ten-foot pole!" Junko pulled a face.

"H-how d-dare you talk about the U-Ultimate Affluent P-Progeny like that!" Fukawa yelled. "Compared to him y-you are n-nothing!"

"Listen, Fukawa…" I said softly. "Going after him is going to do more harm than good. I mean, all he did was insult you horrifically!" I explained. "Why would you want to be with someone like that?"

"Do you really hate yourself that much?" Junko asked. "I'm being dead serious here, he called you a foul-smelling skank!" Junko held her nose. "Which, to be honest, he wasn't far wrong."

Fukawa clutched her head again. "Nngghh! F-for him to say that about me…"

"See? He's only going to hurt you!" I said.

"He must… r-really care about my well-being!" Fukawa moaned and put her hand on her heart. "Yes, I'll be your clean little girl, Master!"

I slapped my forehead.

"I'd slap some sense into you, but I'm worried you might enjoy it." Junko grimaced.

"Maybe we should just leave her for now…" I said.

"Yeah. Eventually she'll realise he's horrible and abusive and she'll have another thing to add to her stock of trauma." Junko shrugged.

"What on earth could go wrong?" I asked.

Fukawa paid no attention. She just stood in the hallway, her knees shaking.

"Oooookaaayyyy…" Junko said slowly. "Fukawa, we're leaving now." Junko tapped her on the shoulder, but she didn't even flinch. "Welp. I think she's gone for good. Let's leave."

I nodded. As we turned to walk down the stairs, we heard Fukawa cry and jump up, before bursting down the stairs at mach speed ahead of us.

"Jesus Christ!" Junko jumped. "God she weirds me out!"

I shrugged. After getting back to the dorms, I stopped outside my bedroom. "Hey, do you wanna chill in my room for a bit? We didn't get much opportunity to talk today, and there's still plenty of time before I can go see Fujisaki, so…"

Junko smiled. "I thought you'd never ask." She followed me into my bedroom and sat down with me on my bed. I looked at her closely. Being this close, I was able to fully examine all of the details in Junko's face. What did the Ultimate Fashionista look like up close and personal? I could see her freckles dotted all over her face, her jaw slightly sharper than how it looks on magazines, and most pertinently, her eyes: A dull yet alluring grey, as if they're hiding a deep and emotional story behind them.

"Junko…" I said softly.

"Yeah?" She said.

I reached my uninjured hand out towards her, but lowered it. "Sorry, it's nothing."

She shifted herself on the bed and moved closer towards me. "No, please. I… like listening to you."

I smiled and looked deep into Junko's eyes. What a mystery laid behind that mascara. "I just… I feel like you know everything about me, but I know nothing about you."

Junko looked away. "I… can't."

"Why not?" I pleaded. "Don't you think it's only fair?"

Junko looked at me. At first I thought she was about to yell at me, but her body softened as she exhaled deeply. "Come with me." She stood up suddenly.

"Huh? Where are we going?"

"I feel a little tense. Can we take a bath at the bathhouse?"

"Uh… sure?" I stood up. I followed Junko to the bathhouse and walked in.

"Okay. Phew." Junko relaxed and sat down on the wooden bench in the locker room. "Now we can talk."

"Huh? I thought we were taking a bath."

Junko kept her voice low. "Look around."

As I did, I realised what she meant. "There aren't any cameras in here…"

Junko nodded. "I found that out when I checked this place out this morning."

"How did I not notice that last night?"

"Probably because you were too busy babysitting those idiots." She sighed. "Also, at this point we've gotten so used to seeing cameras in every room we've stopped looking for them."

I opened my mouth to speak, but closed it again. She was right. I did stop looking for cameras. So that begs the question: "Why aren't there any cameras?"

Junko shrugged. "You'd have to ask Monokuma. Could be anything."

I took a deep breath. "So, what were you gonna tell me?"

Junko flinched. "Yeah." She cleared her throat. "You want to know more about me, right?"

I was now beginning to feel unsure. "Yeah…?"

"Okay. So whaddya wanna know?" She was stern but surprisingly calm.

"Like, where you're from, or if you have any siblings, what your parents do for a living… Not to mention you've barely said anything about HOW you became the Ultimate Fashionista. Not to mention you look completely different from your photos."

"Like I said before, it's all photoshopped." She snapped. She sighed. "Okay, okay, sorry." She exhaled deeply, drumming her fingers on her thighs. "I… didn't exactly have the best upbringing."

"Oh?" I sat down next to her.

"I practically grew up on the street." She scoffed. "No, I literally grew up on the street. No parents, no job, hardly any food. Just… me and my sister. Against the world."

I was shocked. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "So, what about school?"

"Nope! We taught each other. Well, we were able to enrol in high school eventually, otherwise I never would have gotten into Hope's Peak. But yeah. Apart from that? Nothing."

"What was that like?" I shook my head. "Sorry, stupid question. It must have been awful."

Junko nodded. "Yeah. Mostly."

"So… what's your sister's name?"

Junko looked nervous. "M… Mukuro. Mukuro Ikusaba."

"You have different last names?"

"Yeah. We didn't know our parents, so we just chose our last names. My sister insisted on being different from me."

"Mukuro. That's a nice name. What's she like?"

"Mukuro?" She giggled. "She's… well… a sister, you know?"

I shook my head. "I was an only child."

"Well, yeah. We got on each other's nerves a lot. We fought, sometimes like, physically. But we only had each other, you know? We were a team."

"Older or younger?"

"Older. By like, an hour or something."

"Oh wow! Twins!" I giggled.

"Yeah, I know right?" She laughed. "You wouldn't think so seeing us together. "She's the smart one. Always making the decisions. I'm just… the idiot that follows her around."

"Don't say that! Look at you! You got into Hope's Peak!"

"Yeah and look at me now!" She laughed sarcastically. "Sometimes… sometimes I feel like she's dragging out a dead weight. She's actually tried to kill me a couple times." She giggled. "Like, not actually. She's funny like that." She turned stone-faced and stared at the floor. "I know for a fact that my sister could kill me if she really wanted to."

"Junko, that's awful!" I cried. "You shouldn't let your sister treat you like that!"

"Oh? I don't have an issue with it. Isn't it normal for siblings to fight?"

"Well, yeah, but not on that scale!"

Junko looked at me, surprised. "I suppose you're right. I… guess I never thought of it like that before." She looked back down at the floor. "I suppose… just once… I would like to hear her say… that she cares about me."

I nod sadly. "I'm sorry, Junko. I had no idea that you had to live like that. How did you become a model then?"

"It was actually Mukuro that got me in. Accidentally of course." She chuckled. "I don't know how she does it, but Mukuro has a beautiful singing voice. She sounds like an angel. One day, we were out on the street and Mukuro decided to start singing for food. She drew a crowd pretty quickly!" She smiled. "I started dancing, or rather standing around doing cute poses. Bear in mind I was like, 14. Apparently there was a talent scout among them, some weird dude with a cool hat. He said he liked my poses and that I had potential that could really take off with good training. With that, I did a bunch of amateur photoshoots before hitting it big!" She smiled.

"What happened to Mukuro?" I asked.

Junko looked sad. "Who knows? She vanished. I haven't seen her for over 3 years. She just disappeared, leaving her sister behind."

"I'm so sorry."

She sniffed. "It's alright. Thanks for talking to me Sayaka. I feel a lot better now." She stood up. "It's been a long time since I've talked about my sister. I feel closer to her now. For now I'm going to return to my room." She smiled at me. "You should go talk to Fujisaki now before nighttime rolls around."

I smiled. "Thank you for telling me. I feel… a lot closer to you now. Maybe when we get out of here, we'll find your sister again. I will talk to Fujisaki now, she's probably waiting for me." I quickly walked out of the bathhouse and back to the dorms. I pressed the button next to Fujisaki's door. "Hey, Fujisaki? Are you there?"

After a few seconds, the door opened, and instead of the small frame of Fujisaki, I instead looked up at the tall, imposing figure that was Owada Mondo.

"Oh… hi… Owada…" I said slowly.

"Oh. Shit. Hi, Maizono." Owada said awkwardly. "Sorry, I was just heading out. You seen Taka anywhere?"

"Taka?" I asked.

"You know, Ishimaru."

"Oh! Haha! No I haven't." I smiled. "I didn't realise you gave him such a cute nickname!" I giggled.

"Don't laugh about it, idiot." He grumbled. "He asked me to call him that anyway, apparently it's what his grandpa used to call him."

"Naw, that's still so cute though! I'm glad you guys have come so close."

Owada blushed. "Don't make such a big deal about it. Anyway, I'm leaving now." He pushed past me and made a beeline for Ishimaru's bedroom.

I looked back at Owada with a short glance before walking into Fujisaki's bedroom. "Hey, Fujisaki."

Fujisaki was sitting on her bed, rapidly typing on a laptop. She looked up very briefly and smiled at me. "Hi, Maizono!" She quickly began typing again.

"What'cha doing?" I asked. I sat down next to her and peered at her screen. She had some sort of program running, and was rapidly typing characters I didn't recognise. I could only assume it was code.

"Just doing some coding." She smiled. After finishing a line of code, she closed the laptop and set it down. "How are you?"

"I'm good! What did Owada want with you?"

"He just wanted to talk." She pouted. "We are friends, you know."

I gulped. I never expected Fujisaki to be forceful like that. "Sorry. What did you guys talk about?"

"Oh, Mondo just wanted some advice on something. I can't go into detail… sorry."

I smiled. "That's okay! I shouldn't have pried."

"No, that's fine." She said. "So, what did you wanna talk about?"

"Oh, you know, just stuff. What's it like being the Ultimate Programmer? What kinda programs have you made?"

"Hmmm… I first started experimenting with artificial intelligence when I was younger…"

I gasped. "Artificial Intelligence!?"

She giggled. "Not like your HAL 9000 or anything, I mean basic stuff. I think the first thing I ever made was a program that could draw graphs based on sequences in a matter of seconds, then continue the graph based on extrapolated data."

"Sounds complicated."

"Ahaha, not really. I made that when I was about 10 years old. I was always messing around with my parents' computers. I have done a lot since then."

"Holy crap." I lay down on her bed. "So, what about your family?"

She shrugged. "Oh, you know. I have my mum and my dad."

"So you're an only child too…"

She nodded. "I wonder how many of us actually have siblings. I know Mondo does…"

"Makoto has a little sister. From what I remember. I hope she's okay." I said quietly. "Junko has an older sister as well."

"Really? I didn't know that."

I nodded. "I hope she's okay too."

"W-We'll get out of here. And when we do, we'll know f-for sure." She said quietly. Her stammer returned, so I could tell she was scared.

"Yeah. We just have to be strong until then."

"Strong… yes…" Fujisaki said slowly. "Hey… can I ask you something?"

I nodded. "Yeah?"

"Can I call you Sayaka?"

"Sure. If you want. Was that all you wanted to ask me, Fujisaki?"

"Please, call me Chihiro. It's nice when people call me that name. I… want to hear it more."

"Sure thing, Chihiro." I smiled at her. She beamed happily at me, like a child at Christmas.

"You were telling me about different kinds of strength before… and I talked to Mondo about it."

"Yeah? What did he say?"

"He said you're cleverer than you look, haha." She giggled. "He said you were right, though. Mondo told me his strength comes from his brother and his gang, The Crazy Diamonds. Where does your strength come from?"

I exhaled. "That's… an interesting question. I guess… from music. Being up on stage, dancing and singing with my best friends, it's a wonderful feeling that pushes me forward. And it's not just them, either. It's friends from school, friends from Hope's Peak Academy. Everyone around me inspires me to keep moving forward."

Chihiro smiled. "Yeah!"

"What about you? Do you still wanna get stronger?"

"O-of course! I want to become the person I wanna be!"

"Are you not already that person?"

She shook her head. "Someday, I want to tell the truth. I want to keep the secret I've hidden for so long. So that I may be comfortable in my own skin, instead of hiding behind a veil of lies. I want to be able to look in the mirror and say, 'I am Chihiro Fujisaki. And no-one else.' I want to erase my past and start over. Become the woman I wanna be!"

"Well, I support you every step of the way." I smiled. "Come on, let's get some dinner. I'm starving."

We promptly left for the dining hall and waited for everyone else to arrive. Several minutes later, everyone was in the dining hall, chatting amongst themselves while eating. Eventually, Ishimaru stood up and cleared his throat, presumably to address us all, but was interrupted by the sound of the monitor.

"What?" Owada said. "But it's not nighttime yet…"

"Hello, everyone!" Monokuma cried through the monitor. "I would like you all to assemble in the gym IMMEDIATELY!" He paused. "Please, feel free to take the least amount of time as you please."

My heart sank. If he wanted us to all gather in the gym, that could only mean one thing: Everyone looked around at each other. We all slowly stood up and walked out of the dining hall to the gym. Everyone was silent. I could hear people's footsteps click on the linoleum, each with different pitches and frequencies based on the length of their strides and their style of footwear. Beside me, I could hear Fujisaki's teeth start chattering in fear. Slow and begrudgingly, we entered the gym and waited. Soon enough, Monokuma jumped up dramatically on the stage and addressed us.

"Hello everyone! I trust you've all had a pleasant few days, but I'm bored! Start killing!"

Kirigiri narrowed her eyes. "Is that all you made us come all the way here for?"

"All the way?" Monokuma tilted his head. "I swear it's no less than 200 metres!" He sighed. "No, I suppose you ungrateful brats want a motive, huh?"

"It's not as if we want a motive you weirdo!" Hagakure cried.

"Huh? Do you mean that in a tsundere way? Like you actually want one and you're just saying you don't?"

Hagakure looked confused. "The hell?"

"Just ignore him." Celeste said. Yamada looked oddly intrigued.

"So? What's the motive?" Kirigiri prompted.

"Puhuhu… secrets!" Monokuma laughed evilly and revealed a bundle of small envelopes with each of our names printed neatly on them. "Everyone has some sort of dark and dirty secret that they can't BEAR anyone knowing!" He laughed. He expertly tossed them one by one to each of us. I picked up my envelope and stared at it. It was only then did I notice how much I was shaking. "I dug deep and managed to compile each one of your deepest and darkest secrets! Go ahead, take a peek!"

I looked around at everyone else. They were all shaking in fear. I nervously opened my envelope and read my secret.

Maizono traded sexual favours for fame.

My face turned white and I dropped my envelope on the ground. How the hell did he find that out? I kept that under wraps for years. I was 14, and this photographer wanted shots of me for his 'magazine'. I was practically coerced. My career would have been ruined if I refused. Then he paid me to keep quiet. It was the darkest time in my life, and I made my best attempts to block it out. How Monokuma found out, I'll never know. But he opened old and festering wounds, and I could no longer cope. I collapsed onto my knees and started sobbing. Junko ran over to my side immediately. Everyone else was too stunned to move. Chihiro was shaking, barely making any sound. Her face was expressionless, as if her body simply did not know how to react. The only person who was calm was, unsurprisingly, Kirigiri. But even she had an anger in her eyes that gave her away. Whatever her secret was, it was enough to break her brick-wall facade, even for a brief moment.

"WAHAHAHAHA!" Monokuma laughed evilly. "The looks on your faces! I must commend myself, that digging sure paid off!"

Ishimaru's face was white. "How the hell did you find this!?"

"Puhuhu…" Monokuma giggled. "That doesn't matter now. What matters is what I do with these secrets!"

"What? What the hell are you gonna do!?" Owada growled, his fists tightly clenched.

"If nobody dies in 24 hours, I will reveal all of your secrets to the world!"

"NNNGGHH!" Owada's cry got caught in his throat.

"What the hell!?" Junko yelled. "This is insanity!"

Monokuma only laughed. "Better start killing then!" After laughing some more, he vanished.

Ishimaru struggled to get his breath steady. "Well… what if we just… told each other our secrets? F-for instance, I-" He winced. "I ran down the hall in third grade!" He started sobbing. "Oh, I'm so ashamed!"

"That's not so bad, dude." Owada tried to console him. "But I…" He winced. "There's no way."

Asahina was shaking. "Yeah, me neither. There's just no way. There's just no way…" She sobbed into Ogami's chest. Ogami placed a muscly arm around her.

Chihiro finally moved. Without a word, she turned and ran out of the gymnasium.

"Chihiro, wait!" I cried. I tasted salt. Tears had dripped into my mouth.

"Leave her." Kirigiri commanded. "It's best we all rest for the night. I know it's painful, but we should sleep before we do anything rash."

"She's right!" Ishimaru cried. "As your leader, I order you to stay calm and have a peaceful night's sleep!"

"Screw that!" Owada yelled. "I need to make sure Chihiro's okay!" He turned and bolted out of the gym.

I tried to get up, but Junko stopped me. "Leave them. I'll take you back to your room."

I nodded. I walked with Junko back to the dorms. When we got to my bedroom door, I stopped. "Hey Junko… do you think we should tell each other our secrets? At least?"

Junko looked nervous. "What is there to gain from that?"

I said nothing.

"I'm sorry Sayaka, I just can't. I have too many regrets that I just can't let hurt the people I care about."

I sniffed. "I understand. Goodnight, Junko."

"Goodnight, Sayaka."

The next morning, I woke up panicking. The first thing I did after the morning announcement was race into the dining hall. I had to make sure everyone was accounted for. Everyone else felt the same. My heart was racing, as was everyone else's. A syncopated rhythm that spelled certain doom. After a while, all but three people were in the dining hall: Fukawa, Togami…

And Chihiro.

"I… Is this all of us?" Asahina said sadly.

As if on cue, Monokuma popped up out of nowhere. "Nope! I'm here! I figured it would take a while for you to find it out yourselves, so I'll just tell ya straight:" He took a deep breath. "One of your beloved friends has been murdered!"

Everyone gasped. Ogami clenched her fist in anger.

"Shut up, Monokuma!" Asahina yelled. "Stop playing games!"

"Look around, hotshot!" Monokuma gestured to us. "There are people missing, right? Simple process of elimination!"

No. No. This cannot be happening. I looked around. Owada muttered curses under his breath. Ishimaru was beside himself. I could feel tears in my eyes.

"W… well…" Hagakure said shakily. "I suppose we should… look for them…" He slowly stood up, having to use the table to steady himself.

Kirigiri cleared her throat. "He's right. Whether or not the information is true, we cannot afford to take that chance. We have to make sure."

Slowly gathering myself, I got up and followed everyone out of the dining hall. Ishimaru suggested we all split up to look around. Ogami, Asahina, and Hagakure searched the dorm area, Celeste, Yamada and Kirigiri searched the first floor of the school, and Junko, Ishimaru, Owada, and I searched the second floor. Owada and Ishimaru searched the classrooms, while Junko and I searched the library. Immediately, we found Togami, sitting in a chair, reading a book.

"Togami!" Junko yelled, running towards him. She slammed her hand down on the desk in front of him. He didn't even flinch. "What the hell are you doing!?"

He refused to look up from his book. "I'm fishing, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"We've been worried sick about you!" I cried. "You didn't show up to breakfast this morning!"

"I never agreed to partake in breakfast with any of you. Frankly, my patience for you imbeciles has worn thin."

"BYAKUYA TOGAMI!" Junko screamed. "Quit that arrogant attitude of yours right the fuck now! We thought you were DEAD for crying out loud!"

"Use my first name like that again and it won't be my life you'll have to worry about." He scowled, putting down his book and standing up.

"Ohoho, is that a threat, richie rich? I bet you couldn't even fight your way out of a paper bag, Mr. 'I have everything handed to me on a silver platter'." She spat back.

Togami was furious. He walked menacingly towards Junko, keeping his voice eerily quiet and steady. "I fought to get to where I am now. With blood, sweat, and tears. Not all of them my own. If you ever speak to me like that again, I would consider you an enemy of the Togami corporation and have you killed." His expression softened and he chuckled. "I plan to win this game. I'm not dying any time soon. Especially to a mere plebeian like yourself."

Junko scowled. "I refuse to converse with you further. If you're quite done inflating your ego, we have to find Fukawa and Fujisaki."

"Oh?" Togami smiled, intrigued. "I suppose someone had a secret worth killing for. I will come with you. Not because I'm sentimental, but because I'm curious. Come. Let's go to the pool changing rooms." He turned the lamp on the desk off and exited the library.

"I hate him. So. Fucking. Much." Junko growled.

"N-Now's not the time!" I said. I was so nervous. Out of all the people to be alive, it had to be him. But why the eagerness? Did he know something we didn't? I frowned. My mind went to Chihiro and Fukawa. One of them is dead, if Monokuma was telling the truth. My heart sank. I walked out of the library and to the pool, Junko in tow.

"Took your sweet time." Togami sighed. "Now, let us go to the girl's changing room."

"O-okay…" I said nervously. I went to swipe my eHandbook on the keypad, but Togami stopped me.

"That won't be necessary. The door is already unlocked." Togami said. I watched him closely. He took out his own handbook. He swiped it on the keypad. The door opened. We slowly crept into the changing room.

And what we found was a horrifiying sight.

Suspended like a crucifix, was the bloodied body of my friend.

Chihiro Fujisaki was dead.