Three Days Later

Day 8

*Ding Dong Bing Bong*

I was soon awoken by the morning announcement and growled as I threw the pillow over my head to tune out Monokuma's irritable voice. I was very annoyed these last few days ever since I rejected Paul's offer to join his little cult. He and Melinda did everything they could to either guilt trip me with my decision or make me reconsider it. I was getting sick of hearing it so I've locked myself in my room from everyone and snuck out at an hour when no one would be at the cafeteria so I could get food.

The great thing was I wasn't being disturbed by the Ultimate Hacker or his ragtag posse but I was so bored having locked myself up these last three days. Not to mention I haven't contributed at all to finding a way out of this academic prison we're trapped in. I do feel bad for blocking myself from all my friends too so I decided to head on out of my dorm and help out. Maybe I'll chat to more of the others and get to know the others more now.

I soon hopped out of bed and got myself looking presentable when I heard a doorbell. I blinked in shock as I walked to the door, hoping it wouldn't be Paul, anyone associated with him, or even Luca. Sure I made it look like I wasn't upset with him for not telling me his motive video's content but I was in truth. Still am actually. I was willing to divulge my motive to him yet he couldn't do the same for me? Was I wrong in thinking I could trust him? I hope not.

I answered the door to find Sienna there. Alone. Without Mikayla. "Hey Kai." The small girl said looking up at me.

"Um... hi?" I responded a bit bewildered.

"I came by to see if you were okay." Sienna told me. "You've been gone for a few days now and I was getting worried."

I smiled at her. "I'm better now. I was just a bit under the weather. Didn't want to spread something around." I fibbed. I didn't want her to think I was purposefully avoiding the others.

Sienna looked down. "It's just that... Things have been kinda lonely without you. A lot of us look up to you and admire you. You bring something... nice when we see your smile. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's something to do with you being a celebrity or something. I really have no clue but whatever it is I like it and I miss it."

I soon knelt down in front of her and placed my hand on her head. "I'm sorry. I promise I'll be out here where you can see me from now on."

She soon smiled like she smiled at Mikayla. She suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me to the cafeteria where everyone else had congregated.

"Well look who decided to join us." Shana growled.

Sienna looked to her. "Kai's feeling a lot better! He can finally join us!"

"Mmhm." Shana hummed with a look of utter disbelief at me as she continued eating her food.

I felt my throat catch a bit as I cleared it out with a inward cough. I soon grabbed myself a plate and made my breakfast. I sat down with Mikayla, Sienna, Damian, Willie, Luca, and Brenda. I spoke to the others and told them about me being sick but avoided conversation with Luca as he seemed to be doing the same thing.

Pretty soon breakfast was done and we all began separating but before we did I saw Tommy and Shana walking over. "Hey guys." I waved to them.

Shana spoke up. "Just so you're aware I didn't want to talk to you but Tommy insisted we chat with you since it has been a while since we last saw you."

"You wanted to talk with me?" I asked a bit shocked.

Tommy nodded. "Of course! You and I have had some great time chatting but I hadn't seen you in a while so I figured now would be a good time to continue where we left off."

"Oh sure! But where should we talk?" I asked. Shana would be the one to answer. "We're going to the gym to try and find something that might help us escape whether it's an opening or some kind of tool. Since you've been helping all of us out by sitting on your ass all day I figured you would help us while we talked."

I slightly cringed at her harsh words. "S-Sorry."

Tommy quickly spoke up. "I'm sure whatever the reason is it was good enough for wanting to be left alone." Shana squinted her eyes at Tommy for a second before she walked away. Tommy and I shrugged as we followed suit.

We soon made it to the gym and Shana took charge as she began ordering us around like an army commander to her petty soldiers that got stuck in her squad. She had me check the windows and flooring to see if there were any cracks that we could use to get out. Tommy was searching around the boys locker room and the bleachers while Shana checked the girls locker room and the storage rooms.

After looking for an hour we decided to take a break when we all came back empty handed. We were feeling a bit hungry from the search and Tommy offered to grab some snacks from the school store. Shana glared at him and it was obvious why that would be. He quickly picked up on this and promised to show that he would have anything lethal on him when he returned.

After a few minutes of Shana and I just sitting their awkwardly not saying anything, Tommy soon returned and placed the three granola bars he had down and emptied his pockets. I soon saw he had a lot of small fossils in his many vest pockets, various tools he most likely used out on the field, and the magnifying glass I saw him use the first day we all met. I also saw grains of sand fall out and chuckled.

"Guess you like to keep things messy too don't ya?" I joked but I saw the icy glare shooting me down from Shana and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. Tommy didn't seem to mind though as he also lightly laughed. "Yeah. I was in the Canadian badlands for my last expedition just a few days before I arrived here. I didn't have time to wash my clothes. Besides carrying fossils around doesn't exactly help either." He admitted, looking a bit embarrassed.

To avoid saying anything else that would further make things weird I snatched one of the chocolate chip granola bars Tommy brought and began eating it. Shana grabbed the other chocolate chip one and Tommy happily took the oatmeal and fruit one that was left over. We ate in silence for a minute which didn't help ease the tense atmosphere we all were feeling. I decided I would try to break it by speaking to Shana first.

"So Shana I'd like to take the time to learn more about you since we're on break right now." I said to her. She opened one eye at me as she continued chewing the snack in her mouth. After a minute she swallowed as she opened her eyes, not facing me at all. "If we're going to do so then make it an easy topic that I can discuss fast. We need to keep looking for a way out."

"Right. So then something I was curious about is when you last showered." I immediately regretted wording my question in such a way as her head bolted in my direction as she seemed to somehow grow horns and catch fire. "What the hell do you mean by that you pervert!" She screamed. Tommy seemed to almost choke on his granola bar at our exchange, not from laughter but from fear.

"No! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to word it like that! I just meant that it doesn't really look like you try to keep yourself clean considering you are still covered in dried up dirt. I mean have you even used the shower in your room?" I quickly rephrased myself. She seemed to calm down a bit but huffed as she looked away again.

"As a matter of fact no I haven't. What's the point of making myself clean?" She asked me. I scratched my cheek lightly feeling nervous. I felt like I probably wasn't going to get anywhere with her but I pressed on. "Well so you can make yourself look presentable to other people. You do that you could make so many friends."

Her head slowly turned to me and I instinctually braced myself in case she was about to thrash me but I saw calm eyes, a stern expression, and a small frown. All of those features made up one lightly confused face. "Why would I want to do that?" This follow up question caught me off guard as I saw Shana shift her body to face me more. I knew by this gesture she was about to open up.

"I honestly can never keep myself clean no matter how much I try to clean up because I work with my father everyday in his mines. Besides it's not like I would want to change that. I like getting messy and sure I've been made fun of at school for not keeping myself clean but that's not exactly something that bugs me. I won't try putting on a mask to hide myself so others will like me. I like who I am and if people don't like me then I have no reason to acknowledge what they do or say."

Shana finished speaking which left me and Tommy smiling at her. "That's really amazing of you." I admitted.

Shana rolled her eyes at me. "Oh please it's how most everyone here works. It's nothing special. Just look at Melinda and Paul. They're not afraid of showing their true colors. Also I don't know when I will be outta here so I'm gonna stay like this to keep me feeling more comfrotable."

"Well," Tommy spoke up, "I still think it's awesome that you aren't ashamed of who you are. I wish I could be proud of myself." Shana and I both looked to each other then over to him in disbelief.

"Why do you think that? Surely you are proud of your talent and the discoveries you made as a paleontologist." I said feeling worry well up in me.

"Oh no I am proud of my time as a paleontologist but I mean I am ashamed of my normal self." Tommy replied. He looked up to see our confused expressions and chuckled lightly before he continued.

"You see I went to this fortune teller sometime after I had discovered my first fossil on the museum property. A friend had offered me a pass to see him since he made frequent visits to this guy, praising how much he helped him. I was skeptical about it at first because I had to do it online since this fortune teller lived in Japan and had a thirty percent chance of getting correct predictions. Anyways what I expected to happen was a bunch of voodoo hippie BS, a prediction that wouldn't be remotely close to coming true, and for the guy to charge me a ridiculous amount of money."

"I bet the guy was a total scam." Shana growled.

"That's what I had thought at the time too when my parents paid him. Little did I know that I actually was one of the thirty percent of people whose predictions would come true." Tommy said sadly.

My eyes narrowed a bit. "Why do you say that? What did this clairvoyant say to you?"

Tommy cracked a sad smile. "He told me that I have been granted incredible luck with my talents to find fossils but due to having such amazing luck the universe decided to balance it out and also grant me the worse luck when it comes to my everyday life."

"But you can't seriously believe that idiot was telling the truth." Shana responded angry.

"I didn't believe it at all until I was twelve when my parents finally allowed me to go on those excavations. The first day I got back all my friends hadn't bothered to see me return. In fact they only dropped by to beat me up. I haven't been able to make any new friends since then, I haven't had a date or girlfriend ever, and my relationship with my family seems to be dwindling away slowly. And to top it all off I finally thought my luck would change when I was invited to become a student here only to find myself trapped in a killing game. If that isn't bad luck then I don't know what would even come close to that."

I straightened myself to look at him directly in the face. "Listen to me, Tommy. I think your letting this prediction of yours get to your head. Sure you've had it rough but everyone has a difficult life. It's nothing to worry about. If you let yourself think something is real then you make it real."

Tommy was still bearing that weeping smile of his as he shook his head at me. "I know what you're trying to do Kai and though I appreciate you trying to help, I'm afraid this is the real deal. I didn't think about that prediction for years and then it just happens to come true? I'm just a lucky guy with his career who has an unlucky streak with everything else as well. I can never catch a break, never get friends, never get a girlfriend, never..."

Before I could even process what happened next Shana rose up from her seat and decked Tommy so hard he fell near the edge of the pool. I panicked with how close he was to falling in. Shana on the other hand didn't seem too concerned about that at the moment. Tommy also looked just as shocked as me as he just realized his glasses had been knocked off. He was quick to find them and checked to see if they were damaged.

He then looked up at Shana who just glared down at him. "Just shut your damn mouth. You think you don't have friends? Well guess what you have them! Us! All of us are in this fucking killing game not just you! Don't you dare think for one moment you should feel sorry for yourself when we are all in the same predicament dammit! You should consider yourself lucky for multiple reasons. You're lucky you haven't died like three of our friends had, that you have friends here who want to help you just as much as they want to help themselves, and you should be extra lucky that I didn't just get you killed just now."

Tommy looked behind him at the pool and shivered despite not actually getting wet. He slowly put his glasses back on as Shana knelt down in front of him. "All you think about are the negatives of your life. If you just try to see things in the light then your life would be a lot more... brighter." Suddenly Shana flipped the switch on her helmet and shot the light down into Tommy's face. He recoiled with a shout, turning his eyes from her. She quickly turned it back off and soon began laughing loudly.

I didn't really see the amusement in blinding someone but after he regained composure of himself, Tommy was laughing too. Shana soon fell to her back, laughing even harder and gripping her sides. Then out of nowhere I felt something well up in my gut. It felt like I was slightly coughing but soon realized it was me trying not to laugh. But seeing those two laughing it up made me eventually bust a gut as I soon joined them as our laughter echoed throughout the pool area. We tried to stop but couldn't find the strength to do so. We were nothing but hyenas at this point.

After what felt like ages, we eventually died down as our laughter dwindled into a sound of silence. When we fully composed ourselves we looked to one another and we all smiled at each other for a moment. Despite the ferocity Shana displayed towards me and Tommy I felt like I have really gotten to know them better. We soon got ourselves back to our feet as we searched around the pool for an hour but once again having no luck so we called the search for a way out off for now.

I decided to just stop by in my dorm for a quick nap. Once I got to the dormitory hallway I went to my door to unlock it. I stepped in and approached my bed looking forward to resting my eyes for an hour or two.

However my train of thought was quickly halted when my doorbell rang in my ears. I turned back around and answered the door. To my surprise no one was there. I looked down the hallway and down the corridor to the cafeteria and could not see anyone. 'Must have been Marcel or someone playing a dumb prank,' I thought as I shut the door and began walking back to the bed.

But then the doorbell rang again! I let loose an internal growl and stomped back to the door, open it, and once again see no one! I was starting to get really pissed off at this. This time I closed the door and waited right there with my hand already on the golden globe knob, ready to catch whoever was bugging me.

I waited for a few minutes before I grew impatiently frustrated. I soon gave in as I took my hand off the door and turned away. Then the doorbell sounded and I immediately spun back and opened the door in that instant! Only to find the hallway completely deserted like nothing had stepped foot on it. I sighed. "Maybe I was just imagining it." I said to myself.

"Maybe it's the Ghost of Christmas Past?" A voice whispered directly in my ear from behind.

I leapt forward with a startled yelp out the door to see Monokuma hovering in the air in my room. My eyes narrowed at him as he cooed evilly. "Aw sorry Kai boy! I couldn't resist messing with you. Which includes this hologram." Suddenly the floating Monokuma vanished in a whirl of fuzzy static before flickering away like he was an old television that was turned off.

"Besides I wanted your opinion on something." His voice sounded from behind me again. I twirled around in shock once more as I growled at him. "Will you cut that out!" I demanded him.

"Then stop being such a pussycat! Sheesh. No one can ever have fun with an uptight actor." I only glared him down as he continued. "Well anyway I need your help."

I nearly snorted at him. "And why the hell would I do that?" I exasperated. He simply laughed. "Because if you don't I have the grounds to expel you from this academy." His red eye quickly lit up as his cutesy voice was now dark and low. "And from this life. Capiche?" Seeing as I realized it was against the rules to defy a direct order from the supposed headmaster I responded with a nod.

"Good! In that case!" He then quickly disappeared. Before I could register what would happen next.

*Ding Dong Bing Bong*

An announcement suddenly rang out on the monitors throughout the school. "Attention students! I have an exciting announcement and Kai Brugger has offered to help me with this exciting announcement for you all! Please meet up in the auditorium in five minutes! Puhuhuhu!" The screen went black as soon as it turned on. I felt my blood boil but at the same time turn cold at that. That damn bear just set me up! I immediately ran my way to the auditorium.

I got there within a minute with how fast I was running. I slammed the doors open and rushed in towards a few of the already congregated classmates of mine who all wore suspicious looks at me.

"So that's your game is it? You sided with the bear?" Paul spat at me. I tried to reply but needed to catch my breath. I hadn't run that hard since the time I was recording a movie where I played a victim in a serial killer movie and was the last survivor, only to die at the end of the film. Before I could speak up I was knocked over. I looked up to see Willie had been the one to do so. "I don't git you Kai. I thought you were gonna try and help us outta here. Guess I was wrong to trust a white-eyed, lily-livered snake like yurself."

"No you guys got it wrong! Monokuma is making it seem like we are working together! He only approached me and.." But I was cut off by the door slamming open as Shana stomped in as steam blew from her nose at the sight of me. "Why I outta smack the hell out of you for this big shot!"

"I'll be more than happy to assist you, sweetie." Melinda cooed. Shana glared over to her. "Shut it pig shit! He's mine."

Before anyone else could do anything I saw the rest of the class come running in. Brenda and Tommy ran up and took hold of Shana's arm, holding her back as she kicked at me madly. "Let me go!" She screamed at them. "Please everyone stop! We don't know if this means anything!" Mikayla shouted out. "Like hell that announcement should be taken seriously! Kai is an awesome guy! I wouldn't lose any faith in him if I were any of you." Brenda defended me.

"Besides this is Monokuma were also talking about and he's the last one here I would ever believe. Except maybe those four, ya dig?" Damian said pointing to Paul and his group.

That's when I saw Luca step forward. "I haven't had a reason to doubt Kai before and I won't start now. Has anyone even heard Kai's side of the story yet?" The room went silent. "That's what I thought. You all jumped to conclusions about Kai's motive when Kai might know the real reason for that announcement."

"Did somebody say... motive?" Monokuma's voice echoed throughout the auditorium walls. We all looked over to the stage to see the same desk sitting there as Monokuma bounded up from behind and landed on top of it. "Glad to see all my students are getting along so swimmingly!"

"Getting along? E-Everyone's fight-ting each other." Sienna said cowardly as her body lightly trembled. "Shut up! If I say you're getting along swimmingly then just keep swimming you sons of fishes!"

"Was that suppose to be a pun as much as a sensor? Also did you just reference what I think you just did?" Brenda asked as she looked at a smiling clown fish pin she had on her vest. Monokuma chuckled. "Take it however you like! Anyways it's as the Ultimate Tracer said, 'Cheer Love! The Calvary's here!'."

Luca deadpanned at him. "Wrong traceur."

"Well close enough. Anyways it's just like he actually said about Kai's motive. In fact it's not just his motive, this one new motive is for all of you! And I chose Kai to be my lovely assistant since I know out of all you brain dead losers he'll know how to play the part." Monokuma sighed out happily.

"That's why he mentioned me in the announcement! That's the only reason! It's not like I want to cooperate with him but he left me no choice." I said a bit exaggeratedly at them. I saw most of everyone's faces soften into understanding, some looked at me with mild skepticism, and the rest looked like they didn't care too much. Bet I don't have to say who is who in those scenarios.

"Anyways Kai come on up to your place on the stage so we can get this show on the road!" Monokuma cheered. I sighed out in annoyance as I made my way up. I saw Luca and a few of the others try to make a move to stop this but I shook my head, making them stop as I continued up to my spot next to Monokuma. You would think that being the Ultimate Actor meant you need to be center stage but Monokuma did drop the word assistant earlier so I bet that was a cue to stand at his side instead. Looks like I was right.

"Good on you Kai! You decided to let little old me have the spotlight this time? I'm so honored. So now let's begin!" Monokuma leapt up as a red button appeared on the desk and he stomped down onto it. Quickly I saw three big ropes drop down from the ceiling. and stopped at different points on the stage. "Alrighty boys and girls! It's time for the next motive for your American Killing Game! But this time Kai here will choose the next motive for you all!"

'So the spotlight comes back on me and not in a good way.' I pondered for a moment as I saw the eyes of my peers shift to me again. "So then whenever someone dies we can thank Kai?" Paul asked Monokuma but was approached by Tommy. "He's being forced to choose dumbass! This is still all Monokuma's fault!"

"No! It'll be whoever kills that will be at fault! But the shenanigans that comes from a random motive is so thrilling to watch! I can't bear it any longer! Go ahead and pull the lever Kai!" Monokuma told me. I breathed out heavily as I looked at each rope and decided it probably wouldn't matter anyway since they all most likely do the same thing so I went for the one stage left closest to me. Which in case you don't know theatrics is the left side of the stage the audience would be facing. I reached out and gave the rope a great big tug down. Suddenly I heard Monokuma shout as if he was falling. "WRONG LEVER!"

I would have been confused had I not heard a huge scuffle above me. I looked up in horror as I saw a giant blue canoe start falling down straight at me. I quickly jumped off stage without thinking as the canoe smashed into the stage with a thundering boom. I braced myself for the pain of crashing into the ground but found the landing to be kind of soft but still hurt. I slowly opened my eyes to see Luca underneath me. 'Did I just jump into him somehow?' I wondered in confusion. But after a second I realized no one was this close to the stage when I went up which meant that Luca must have ran up when the canoe started falling to try and help me. Then I once again realized that because I was taking so long to comprehend this, I was blankly staring at Luca with him staring back and everyone standing around us. They all stared at us with either relief or confusion tucked in the depths of their eyes.

I quickly pushed myself up and over to get off him so Luca could sit up. I looked away embarrassed as my cheeks burned up. "S-Sorry." I apologized to him.

He sat up and looked at me before looking down. "Just good to see you didn't get hurt."

We heard Monokuma moan on the stage as everyone looked back to him and what I didn't see about the canoe was now very visible as my eyes widened in fright. Monokuma popped out of the canoe that was filled to the brim with packets of $100 bills! He hugged a few wads close to his chest and sighed pleasurably. "Ahhhh~ There's nothing like one million smackeroons to get the next killing underway!"

I felt my body tingle with despair at the sight of that. "The next motive for us to kill is one million dollars?" I asked shakily. Monokuma began laughing crazily like before. "Yep! It's the next motive that you have chosen Kai! Bet that one stings don't it?"

I looked down in shame. Luca saw this and became quite flustered. "What does he mean by that?" But I couldn't say anything before Monokuma spoke up. "That's not what's important right now. What is very important however is this! The next person who kills and gets away with it will not only get to leave but will also get to take this sweet prize money home too! What a bargain!"

"This is sick man! No one would ever kill someone for cash!" Damian shouted angrily.

Marcel blinked a bit as he mindlessly spoke up. "Could I just have some of that money if I hurt someone just a tiny bit?"

Damian looked like he got hit with a brick to the head. "Oh frizz. I forgot not all of us have a sense of self control."

Marcel suddenly froze as he felt a tremendous force behind him and shakily turned around to see Paul's sadistic eyes glare into his soul. "Don't even think about it." Marcel gulped as he stepped further away from the cash. Damian sunk even lower. "And lack major agency."

"However this money won't be available forever! All I'll say is this money has an expiration date that will remain a mystery to you hooligans and it's not too long from now! If you want this money to go along with your freedom then there better be a murder here soon. Otherwise this lifetime opportunity will be gone forever!" Monokuma called out cheerfully before he began laughing wildly again. "AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Suddenly the canoe was hoisted back up through the ceiling with Monokuma and the money inside and the three ropes followed suit after. We were once again left all alone with nothing but a deep feeling of despair hit the pits of our stomachs. Well at least it had for me as unsightly memories flooded my brain. My body began shaking badly like I was having a seizure but showing no indication of having one. But it still freaked out more than a few of the others as their cries and shouts to me became jumbled and messy, mixing and mashing into each other to create a vortex of cluttered questions in my head. I soon felt what I thought were hands latch themselves onto me as I was most likely carried out of the auditorium.

Everything for me was black. I wasn't able to react, to hear, to feel. Nothing was there. I was alone in the darkness. I knew this darkness too well. I thought I had made it vanish years ago but it managed to find it's way back into me. I didn't want to admit it to myself but it was too late as I was consumed by the familiar yet fiendish darkness. The darkness of my past. It was cold but stung like fire to the skin. Irritated and unquenchable. I was lost in it again. I was sinking in it fast with no way out. No way out. All alone. All alone. Just dead...

Whoa! Something seems amiss with Kai huh? Wonder what's got him so worked up. And what did he mean by the darkness of his past? Well I know but will you know next time? Will you know if someone dies over the new motive? Will you know anything new? Probably not but have hope for now that you will and feel the despair until then because...

BIG NEWS! Due to a request I cannot refuse I must take a break from writing this story for now. Don't worry though I should be able to continue writing soon. And the reason will become clear... eventually. But until then feel the despair of waiting for an unspecified amount of time until I return! Puhuhuhu! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!