After Monokuma and the Monokubs left, an alarm rang from all of our Monopad's. Quickly slipping my hand from Miu's, I take my monopad out of my pocket and see the screen already turned on and a message displayed on the screen. The regulations. I quickly read through them all with Miu reading over my shoulder, apparently not bothering to get her own out.

"The fuck is this shit!" Miu harshly whispers into my ear.

"I do not understand why someone would...force us to do this?" Kirumi says.

"But the rules are pretty cut and dry. This game doesn't seem like it'll be boring." Kokichi replies, not taking his eyes off of his monopad.

"That's not the problem!" Tenko snaps at him.

"Please lower your voice. It is ruining the atmosphere." Kiyo calmly requests with his eyes still closed.

"I have a question, what does the sixth regulation mean? I do not understand it." Keebo inquires.

"Well, of course, you wouldn't understand, robots are too dumb to understand anything." Kokichi taunts, causing Keebo to sputter.

Kaito looks down at his monopad and reads the rule out loud for us all, "'The killing game and class trials will continue until only two surviving students remain.' Huh, what does that mean? I mean, why only two people?"

"Maybe because you can't do a trial with only two people, right?" I pipe in.

"...That does make sense, it wouldn't be much of a trial." Shuichi agrees, hesitantly looking my way. I give him a small smile in return.

"Q-Quit screwing around...Killing games...School regulations... To hell with all that crap! Who'd go along with something like that!?" Kaito cries in indignation while pounding his fists together before he grabs his monopad and raises it into the air, about to smash it to the ground, when Rantaro cuts in,

"Whoa, hey now, don't do that. School rules say you can't break it."

"If you violate the rules, then the exisals will dispose of you..." Maki continues.

"I don't care about the rules! No way am I playing this messed up game!" Kaito retorts.

"This isn't about 'playing' the game. It's too dangerous to disobey Monokuma right now," Rantaro replies with a sigh.

"Forget about that dumbass-!" Miu starts before I elbow her in the side, shooting her a warning look. I miss the smug look Kokichi sends Miu when I turn away.

"Hey! Who you callin' a dumbass!?" Kaito snaps.

"HEY! QUIT FIGHTING ALREADY!" Kaede shouts at the top of her lungs.

"Whoa! Wh-What the-!" Kaito stumbles back.

"We shouldn't fight amongst ourselves. Right now, we need to work together." Kaede announces, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance. "Honestly...I'd probably be more inspiring if I played a song than gave a speech...Chopin's 'Military Polonaise' would definitely help unite us!" Kaede finishes, pumping her fists into the air.

"Yeah, I could get behind some Bolognese, and I don't even like meat or tomatoes." Kokichi happily informs us.

"You don't?" I whisper, curiously leaning over.

Kokichi meets my eyes and shrugs his shoulders, "Who knows." He cheekily responds. "You?"

"Not really," I reply, slowly shaking my head. Looking back at him, we both burst into hushed giggles.

"Buncha dweebs," Miu mutters.

"Anyway... why don't we work together and search for an exit one more time?" Kaede suggests.

"But...we looked all over that wall, and there wasn't a single hole." Tsumugi quietly responds.

"Now wait just a second. If there's no opening in the wall...Then how did we get inside these walls in the first place." Keebo retorts.

"Oh, good point..." Tsumugi glumly replies.

"That means there must be an opening somewhere! We just have to find it!" Kaede enthusiastically declares. "Whoever trapped us here wants us to fight each other...So let's show 'em that we're not gonna let that happen! We're not gonna fight each other! We're gonna work together! Okay!?"

...

..

Is it just me or does she sound pushy?

Glancing between Kokichi and Miu, I can see that Kaede's speech didn't really motivate either of them all that much.

"Let's split up to find the exit!" Tenko shouts energetically.

"Wait! Um... Maybe it not matter much, but... Gonta find manhole earlier. In grass, behind school building." Gonta announces timidly. Dammit, I don't want to do the death road thing, It's impossible.

"There's no way we've found the exit," I whisper to Miu, "It makes no sense for it to be out in the open like that. It's most likely a trap."

"W-Well, that was obvious to this glamorous girl genius." Miu agrees, twirling a piece of her hair before continuing, "If it's a fuckin' trap, we're not gonna end up doing shit down there, right? Let's just leave the trap to these dumbasses and go do something fun!"

As guilty as it makes me feel, there is no way in hell I'm going down that manhole. Looking over towards Kokichi, who's clearly eavesdropping, gives me an idea. As Gonta keeps explaining, I turn back to Kokichi and tap him on the shoulder,

"Kokichi...I know you were listening to our conversation, so do you want to come with us?" I whisper into his ear.

Kokichi looks at me with a blank expression before breaking out into a grin, "Well... It probably is a trap, so it'll be really boring! I'll keep you company, and protect you from that dumb pig!" Kokichi declares with determination as he slyly glances at Miu. Brat.


The moment everyone begins following Gonta out of the gym, Himiko quickly walks up to us, Tenko hot on her heels.

"Can I go with you guys?" Himiko asks with a yawn

"Eh? What's Himiko talking about!?" Tenko questions in confusion

"How'd you hear us from the other side of the room?" I retort.

"Maaaaaaaggggiiic," Himiko replies ominously.

"Well if you want to, you can come with us, I don't mind," I reply, shrugging my shoulders.

"Great, the pipsqueaks going to be coming with us," Miu mutters under her breath.

"Jealous?" Kokichi slyly questions.

"Shut up, you damn brat!" Miu flushes.

"Wait, where are you all going!?" Tenko questions.

"Well, It was obvious to this genius that the whole exit idea's a fuckin' trap, so we're not goin', those fuckers can go get themselves all killed for all I care, less dimwits to deal with." Miu butts in boastfully.

"If Himiko is joining your group, then Tenko wishes to join too!" Tenko shouts nervously.

"Of course, you can Tenko," I reply, grinning wider when I hear Kokichi groan.

"Um, can I go with you guys too?" A timid voice questions.

Turning around, we see Tsumugi walking up to us with a small smile.

"I'm not sure I like the idea of going down into that tunnel, and I don't want to risk it if it's a trap," Tsumugi says with a thoughtful expression.

"If Tenko can join, then, of course, Tsumugi can join!" Tenko declares.

"Tch, I guess the dweeb can come with," Miu grumbles.

We soon walk out of the gym, before we leave I glance over and see Kaede and Shuichi talking to Rantaro, good. They won't notice us leave until we're long gone.


- Kaito POV

"Hey Kaede, Shuichi, where are the others?" Rantaro asks casually

"Huh, what're you on about?" I ask, confused.

"It appears some of our classmates have decided not to accompany us," Kiyo replies, his eyes closed.

"We are missing six people," Kirumi states, her eyes scanning the room, "Tsumugi, Tenko, Angie, Miu, Kokichi, and Himiko are not here."

Looking around the room, we all quickly see that they really aren't here.

"What? Don't tell me they bailed out on us!" I shout.

"I do not understand why they would do so," Keebo says, looking thoughtful.

"I get Kokichi and Miu not coming, maybe Himiko and Tenko too" Rantaro comments, "I'm not sure about Tsumugi, and Angie, though, they don't seem like the type to not show up."

"Who cares why! I'm going after them," I announce, rushing to the door.

"Kaito, wait!" Kaede shouts, blocking my path, "Please don't! If they chose not to come, it's their choice, we can't force them to come!"

"But-" I try to speak, but Ryoma cuts me off.

"They might've gone to look for another exit, don't just decide they bailed on you with weak reasoning like that."

"Alright, fine," I grumble. Why didn't those guys come with us?

And soon, we all head down the tunnel.


- Angie POV

"Hey, Hey! Angie! Angie! Look what I found!"

Looking over, I see Kokichi looking through a box full of hats and scarves, even going so far as to put three hats on his head with a broad grin on his face.

"Be careful with that dipshit, the world will make you pay if you drop those boxes on me!" Miu yells from somewhere below.

"But Miu, the world wouldn't have to listen to you whine and moan all the time, they'd call me a king, not help you of all people!" Kokichi retorts cheekily.

"Y-You vicious little," Miu starts trembling.

"M-Miu! We're all gonna fall if you keep shaking this thing!" I shout down to her.

"S-Sorry." I hear her shaking voice reply quietly. These shelves are really unstable, who built them!?

As the trembling stops, I lookout around the room once more.

After we left the gym, we'd decided to go to the warehouse to see what we could find, seeing as no one but Miu got a good look at the place, and even then, Miu had barely looked around the room. Right now, Kokichi and I had climbed up the shelves and sat down to check all the boxes we could. Miu had followed after us shortly later and was now somewhere below us.

Himiko was sleeping on a mattress we'd found earlier, with Tenko and Tsumugi occasionally going to check up on her. Tenko was looking through the lower shelves, and anything left lying on the ground, which was mostly sports equipment, and Tsumugi had wandered off to get some drinks from the kitchen and was now on one of the other shelves.

"Angie, Look! I found some stuff you might like!" Tsumugi cries in delight. Looking over, I see her pointing to some boxes on the shelf she was sitting on. I quickly turn back to Kokichi, who's still trying on different hats. "Finish my boxes for me?"

"Nishishishi, anything for Angie!" He replies, pulling one of my boxes closer.

I pause at his words. Huh. Smiling, I swiftly hug him and thank him before jumping back down to the ground and climbing up Tsumugi's shelf.

Reaching Tsumugi, I see her boxes are neatly organized, into sections based on their uses, and whose most likely to use them for their talents, with Tsumugi kneeling in the middle.

"Oh, Angie! You're here, good." Tsumugi turns around and picks up one of the boxes, "I figured you'd like this sort of thing, There's lots of notebooks, paper, pencils, and all sorts of stuff in these boxes!" Tsumugi beams up at me, "I know it's not much, but I thought you might like it. I guess it's my way of saying thank you for letting someone plain like me to come with you guys."

"Thanks, Tsumugi, I appreciate it," I'm still not sure what to think about her, but right now... she's not all that bad. With the stuff she's found in these boxes, I can also test my new Ultimate talent a bit.

"Angie, why exactly do you think the underground passageway is a trap?" Tsumugi quietly questions. "if you don't mind me asking." What?

"well, it just doesn't make sense, whoever brought us here went through a lot of effort, why would they just leave an exit out in the open," I reply, looking down at my hands, "If they made this whole place just for this game, they wouldn't let us leave just like that, I guess that's why It feels like a trap to me."

"Oh," Tsumugi gasps, eyes bright.

"I guess when I say it out loud, it doesn't make as much sense, does it?" I smile, looking back up and into her eyes. In this lighting, her eyes look like they're a startling blue color, not their usual teal. I should be on edge, the only time her eyes were ever this color was at the end of the game...when she changed completely, but I'm not, her eyes look better this way.

"...No, I-It makes sense, even to someone as plain as me when you think about it that way" She pauses, "I suppose none of us thought of it that way, so we were all just going to go down there and do whatever it would take to get out." Tsumugi speaks gently, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Hey, can we have a fukin' break already!? I'm hangin' dry over here!" Miu cackles as she drops down onto the ground.

"No one said you couldn't have a break, you dumb whore!" Kokichi shouts back as he makes his way down the shelves, a box under his arm.

"Nyeh, be quiet!" Himiko groans sleepily.

"Apologize to Himiko, you degenerate, male, no respect!" Tenko bellows.

"Um, we could all just go to the dining hall and get some snacks?" Tsumugi suggests as we climb down with boxes in our hands.

"I think that's a great idea, Tsumugi!" I agree.

"Hey, hey! What's in the boxes?" Kokichi questions, excitedly, while bouncing up and down to peek inside them.

"Just some art supplies for Angie," Tsumugi replies, placing them onto the ground near Himiko's mattress. Shortly after, we all head out of the warehouse and go to the dining hall.


- Kaede POV

"Noticed? I've known for a while that you guys would botch whatever escape plan you had." Monokuma casually retorts.

What! He knew what we were doing!?

"If you knew all along, then this was just a trap," Maki concludes.

"...No, there's an exit." Monophanie chimes in.

"If you all worked together, then you'd manage to reach it." Monotaro cuts in.

"there's nothing sixteen Ultimates can't accomplish if they work together!" Monophanie continues.

"That would be if there were sixteen Ultimates..." Monosuke snickers.

"But half of you bastards aren't here!" Monokid concludes with a shout.

"Puhuhuhu It seems like the rest of your classmates chose not to work together. But if you don't succeed here without them... try, try again." Monokuma pauses before bursting into laughter, "Try as many times as you want until you accept reality! Ah-hahaha!"

After the bears leave, we all stand in silence before trying the tunnel again. Where are the others? Is Monokuma right, did they really not come just because they don't want to work with us?


- Angie POV

"Tsumugi, find anything good?" I question, closing another cupboard with two drinks in my hand.

"Not much, there's lots of food, but nothing stands out to me," Tsumugi replies from the other side of the kitchen.

"I guess it doesn't matter too much, let's just take this to the others." I sigh, "Maybe we can look through this room later, most of the stuff here is just ingredients."

We walk back into the kitchen with six drinks and some snacks.

The moment we placed the food down, Miu and Kokichi had already grabbed half of them each.

That's why we bring a second plate.


-Gonta POV

"Th-This time...! This time...We'll reach the exit!" Kaede shouts

Yes, Gonta must escape, Kaede, right!

"Gonta gonna escape. Become friends with everyone. Gentlemen...never give up!" Gonta shout

As they run into the tunnel, the only thoughts in Gonta's mind are of his bugs and the idea of having new friends when he leaves.


-Angie POV

After sitting down, we all talk for hours about anything we can think of. Eventually, all of us begin exploring the kitchen.

"I wonder what the others are doing now," Tsumugi speaks up, looking slightly concerned.

"Tenko was wondering about that as well." Tenko sheepishly comments.

We all go silent for a moment, thinking.

"Nishishi, maybe they all died," Kokichi laughs, a creepy smile on his face, "They were probably gutted or dismembered."

"Ah, p-please stop!" Tenko shrieks, with Himiko looking sick behind her.

Kokichi just smiles in response.

"Hah-hahahahah you're all a buncha wimps." Miu cackles, eyes bright.

We all end up sitting back down in the dining hall at some point.

We joke around for a while, Tenko almost ends up throwing Kokichi into a wall at one point. Thinking back to the warehouse, I recall everything we found there. The higher levels were more of a mix than anything, the lowest levels had sports equipment, and there was a whole level dedicated to ingredients for food. Basically, the entire place was disorganized from what we've seen so far. Did Kirumi ever actually organize that place in the game? I don't think she ever had the chance.

"Hey, you all know that stuff that was all over the ground in the warehouse? Can we move it all to one of the higher levels, someone might get hurt if it's all left lying on the ground." And it could be used as a weapon, was left unspoken, but the message was clear to some of us.

"Oh, you're right! Some poor girl could get hurt! " Tenko despairs

"Pft, what's the point to that!?" Miu sputters

"Miu! Angie's right, someone could get hurt!" Tsumugi cries

"Aw, but I wanna see that idiot Kaito trip on something," Kokichi grumbles before sighing, "If my beloved wants to do chores, then fine, I'll find some other ways to humiliate that idiot."

"Beloved! Bwahahaha, you're kiddin' me!" Miu cackles as Tenko starts grinding her teeth.

"Uh oh," Kokichi flashes me a wink before running out the dining hall, Tenko hot on his heels and Miu chasing after them.

"It's plain to see we'll be cleaning out the warehouse sooner than we thought we would." Tsumugi comments as the rest of us walk back to the warehouse.

Silently, I breathe a sigh of relief, they agreed to help me. This way, all of the sports equipment will be harder to find.

Especially the shotput balls.


- Korekiyo POV

"Again!" Kaede shouts, rushing into the tunnel, forcing all of us to follow.

We have been continuing this loop for hours, how much longer must this go on, we are only raising our chances of failure the longer we go on.

As we run, I see others fall as I leap past traps. This entire tunnel is a trap designed to crush our spirits. I would stop us from carrying on, but I am much more interested in seeing who will be the first to stand up to Kaede.

Though she is very determined, there are flaws, nonetheless a good friend for sister, I believe I might introduce them one day.


*ding dong bing bong*

"This is an official announcement from the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles." Monosuke starts

"It is now 10 p.m. Nighttime officially starts now." Monotaro continues

"Whether you've been good or naughty, it's time to go tinkle and go to beddy-bye!" Monokid concludes with a laugh.

"The dining hall and gym are locked during nighttime, so be careful." Monphanie urges.

"Kyahahahaha! sweet dreams!" The monokubs laugh before the monitors all shut off.


- Angie POV

"It's nighttime so soon!?" Tenko exclaims in shock.

"Oops, guess we forgot what time it was," Kokichi shrugs.

"Forgetting is like a wound. The wound may heal," Tsumugi pauses, "But it has already left a scar." She finishes sadly.

"Cut the crap! Were you dropped on your head as a kid!?" Miu bellows.

"Miu, Please be considerate! Himiko is trying to sleep!" Tenko pleads.

"I'm still awake." Himiko mutters sadly.

"Oh, who cares!" Miu retorts

"Let's just go back to the dorms and get some sleep!" I cut in happily.

We'd managed to move everything that was on the ground in the warehouse to some of the upper levels. It may not be much, but it's all I can do for now.

"Ooh ooh! Can my beloved give me a piggyback ride!" Kokichi exclaims, waving his arms in the air with stars in his eyes.

"Wh-What! O-Of course not you d-degenerate-!" Tenko sputters before I cut in.

"Sure thing Kokichi."

Geez, Tenko. She looks like she's about to explode.


- Maki POV

The moment the nighttime announcement finishes, some of us groan, we'd spent the whole day here.

I knew this was impossible from the start.

"Okay, everyone! This time for sure we'll-!"

"That's enough," Ryoma firmly states, stopping Kaede in her tracks.

"W-What," Kaede stammers, shocked.

Did she really think that we'd do this all night?

"We've all had enough. You can keep trying, but I'm going to my room." Ryoma declares, before walking to the ladder and climbing out.

"He just left the whole group alone," Kaede whispers, face blank. Traces of anger and shock hidden in her eyes. How can she be angry at him? Someone was eventually going to leave, If he hadn't, I would've.

"Kaede, I urge you not to blame him, we are all exhausted," Kirumi speaks, "I believe it would be best for us all to recover and attempt this at another time."

"I agree with Kirumi, the most logical course of action is to give up." Keebo supports Kirumi's.

"My spirit...is nearly broken." Korekiyo reasons.

After that, we all start to leave, one by one, we all leave the tunnel until only Kaito, Shuichi and Kaede are left.


Friendship Fragments collected!

Kokichi Oma - 1-5

Tsumugi Shirogane - 1-5

Tenko Chabashira - 1-5

Himiko Yumeno - 1-5

Miu Iruma - 1-5


I decided to switch the perspective occasionally to show the story progressing for both groups and the differences to the original timeline. I would have written about Kaede's group going into the actual tunnel and trying to beat it, but I found it impossible to write in a way that made sense. Either way, I find the breaks in between each run more interesting because there is conversation, and all of the characters have a better thought process than merely focusing on the next trap.