Upon going up I saw many hallways and doors like before. Most of which consisted classrooms but there were a few doors that did peak my interest most. I went into a small hallway and approached a big doorway with two doors that easily swung open. Inside I saw rows and rows of chairs lined up on a carpeted staircase set-up with a grand piano in front, too many different instruments behind the chairs on the top stair, and the room designed with musical notes and bars. Obviously I found the school's music room. It had a very calming atmosphere as I heard choir music softly playing in the background; Just like the theme music to Halo 2.

Inside the room already was Mikayla, Tommy, and Shana who were busy rummaging throughout every instrument and nook and cranny the room provided. Most likely searching for the hidden perk Monokuma mentioned. Tommy and Shana seemed to preoccupied helping each other out to notice Mikayla struggling with a drum set that began falling apart on her. I quickly ran over and grabbed the cymbals before they fell over and helped her put it all back. But before I could say anything Mikayla walks off without a glance or thanks for helping.

'She really is down in the dumps right now.' I thought sadly as I looked over and jumped seeing a shadow in the window of the door before it vanished. "Was that..."

But my train of thought came to a grinding halt when I heard a frustrated Shana stomp and growl.

"Grr! There's nothing in here pointing out any kind of perk. Just damn music shit!" She was already making her way out as Tommy followed after. He was trying to help her calm down. I sighed as I made my way out as well.

I saw Marcel and Ollie outside one of the many classrooms and decided to approach them and see if they discovered anything. "Hey Marcel, Ollie. Did you guys find anything?"

The two looked to me with saddened faces. Ollie was the first to speak. "No. The classrooms were all the same as the last two floors."

"The windows were reinforced and blocked off and no sign of escape through any of them. It's a real buzz killer man. Especially since there seems to be no sign of that perk anywhere." Marcel added.

I sighed. "Well it was best to double check. There has to be an oversight Monokuma missed somewhere."

I soon left them alone as they continued their conversation and I soon noticed a big cherry wood door that was uniquely designed with fancy curvatures. Outside it was Paul and Melinda as they looked around it curiously. I quickly walked to them. "Hey there guys. What's up with this room? Why haven't you gone in?"

"The door is locked. We can't get in. Even though this is the most vital room to explore." Paul grumbled.

My head tilted a bit after hearing him say that. "Why's that?"

Melinda looked back with a smile. "Because this is the headmaster's office." She answered.

I looked at her in disbelief. "What! How can you tell? There's no nameplate or sign saying so."

Paul shook his head. "So naive. Just look at this door. It is far too special and unique to be another classroom and every room with unique qualities had a sign. But this one is too well designed for the use of multiple students. This is for the use of a special man, such as one the president would be worthy to sit behind. Or in our case the headmaster."

"And that beady little eyed freak is in there." Melinda added seeing my disbelief. Her eyes narrowed. "Don't look at me like I'm crazy. Monokuma has declared himself headmaster here so it's obvious that is where he is hiding and that is why the door is locked. And if the headmaster is there then that means the mastermind behind this game is also there."

'I'm not saying she's wrong but she does seem crazy.' I thought but that's not the only thing I thought. It was just something felt off here. Theses two seemed off more today then the other days. They seem more irritable than normal which doesn't seem possible but they do.

Before I could think on it further that same laugh sounded as we looked down to see the devil suddenly standing in front of us. We back off from how close he was as he chuckled. "Well you sleaze balls got it right! This is indeed the headmaster's office! My office as it is."

"Then why don't you just let us in? Why are we unable to search here?" I asked him with a hate filled glare.

"Well my rules do allow me to put in certain restrictions on how much you can search the school so there's that!" Monokuma responded.

Melinda just chuckled. "Well that sucks. I can just break the door down... or shoot it down." She emphasized her point by removing her rifle and cocking it.

Monokuma however shook his head. "Nuh-uh-uh. That would violate the rules."

Melinda blinked in confusion. "What rules?"

That's when our handbook suddenly vibrated with that familiar jingle. I had a strong feeling what it would be but I looked at it regardless to confirm my suspicion. Sure enough a new rule was added. "Rule 9: Breaking any lock door is prohibited." It read.

Melinda growled. "No surprise you'd pull something like that. You're no fun." She regretfully unloaded the rifle and placed it back in its pouch.

"Aww. Don't be upset. Besides there is one thing in there you do have access to." Monokuma whispered to us.

Paul looked at him in surprise. "What is it? Tell me!"

"Easy there Charlie Sheen! I was gonna tell you freaks anyways. Sheesh" Monokuma seemed to roll his eyes as he continued. "So with my permission you can access the school files of every student here."

"Our school files are in there?" I asked him.

"Yep! All your previous school lives from before entering Hope's Peak are all listed in there. Including grades and extracurricular activities as well as attendance and any suspensions and explosions. However a dead student's files are unavailable as they are promptly destroyed after they are confirmed dead. This also includes their medical files in the nurse's office." Monokuma explained.

Paul looked utterly disappointed by this knowledge. "Whatever. Come, we are wasting our time here." Paul and Melinda turned and walked off somewhere. I looked back to Monokuma but he was gone too. I groaned as I walked away to see if there was anything left and I noticed one door remained that looked to belong to a classroom but something felt off about it. I noticed the small window had a red curtain behind it to block my view from inside.

I approached that door and cautiously turned the knob not knowing what would be inside. And when my head peeked in my heart lit up.

There were seven rows of cushioned seat set in a stair-like pattern with the back row being higher up than the front row like the seating arrangement at a movie theatre but with one big step for each row of seats. Each chair had a foldable desk tops like the auditorium and in front of that was a stage. A beautiful but quite small stage. There was a piano set up next to wall that was for a level carpeted flooring from the back of the room to the stage on the right side and a brick wall making out the front of the stage with a small staircase on the left side that lead down the same low floors of the first row of seat and that piano. I hypnotically made my way to the right side and walked down the level flooring to the stage with stars most likely in my eyes. The stage had one row of lights set up in the very front with an open red curtain and backstage was very small but had enough space for people and props to hide in the wings of the stage. There were also six small, black curtains that I could see could not only move from side to side but could also rotate to give the stage many different dimensions and setups. I also took note of the small projector above the seats on the ceiling as well as one in the middle of the stage's ceiling and two projector screens with one at the back wall of the stage and one in front of the red curtain. In the very back on stage right however was a small closet filled with props of all kinds. I browsed through to see many different varieties of not only props but costumes. Things from Shakespeare time, the late 1960's, sci-fi gear, modern day, you name it! It was a bit small but the sheer amount of props and costumes were overwhelming!

I soon heard the door open as I exited the storage room and noticed Damian, Luca, and Willie all enter and look around. I cam out from behind one of the black curtains and they quickly noticed me as I approached them. Willie chuckled. "So this is one of your fancy theatres now, ain't it? I gotta say though this place is quite little compared to the auditorium."

I chuckle. "Well Willie this is a little theatre classroom after all. This is where the theatre teacher would teach their class. It's the best place for beginners to learn the basics of the theatre. You can even see the teacher's private office back by the door where they can do their grading." I pointed back hoping down from the stage and approaching the door. The other three went to the door too and peered inside the giant window next to the office door. I heard a collected gasp as I got closer.

Luca looked back at me. "Kai, you need to see this."

I couldn't possibly think anything was so important that I would need to see what's in there. If anything it should be empty. I got in between Luca and Damian and looked in and a gasp resonated from my vocal cords just as they had from the others.

Inside was a pretty dusty looking office inside. I saw office supplies and a laptop. I saw cupboards filled to the brim with paperwork, a theatre teacher's book on the courses for the many classes they teach high schoolers, and scripts of every classic and modern theatre plays you could think of as well as their movies. But what caught me and the others off guard was the fact we saw someone's personal belongings in there. All there was inside was we could see was a Bachelor's degree in theatre and a picture of a woman wearing a blue graduation gown smiling with brown eyes, long, brown hair, and porcelain white skin as she held the same college degree we saw hanging from the wall. Standing next to her was a man with short, black hair and hazel eyes, wearing a marines uniform and holding her sides. We also saw wedding rings on both of their hands. That was all we could see in there but we couldn't believe what we were seeing.

Damian was the first to speak. "I thought all the staff never got here. Didn't Monokuma say they were all fired? If that was the case then why is someone's belonging in there? Shouldn't the office had been cleared out of any personal items?"

"That would be the case wouldn't it. I have a bad feeling about this." Luca murmured.

Willie looked to the door and went to open it but found it wouldn't budge. "No good. Door's been locked up. Can't get in for a closer look."

Meanwhile while they were chatting my eyes stared at the woman as I looked up at the degree and read the name on it. "Casey Jay Bradshaw". That must be the lady in the photo. After all she is the one holding the same degree in the photo. So then the man is her husband or Mr. Bradshaw. I don't know what it was but something drew me to this photo. Maybe I've seen them somewhere before? Was that really it though? Could such a simple answer really be why they seem so familiar? Soon my gaze was averted by someone snapping in my ear. My head shook as my focus was now on Luca who looked at me worried. "Kai? What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing." I replied.

"Are... you sure? You blanked out for a moment there." Luca didn't seemed convinced.

But I smiled reassuringly at him. "Of course I am. You don't need to be such a worry wart."

Luca sighed before smiling. "I guess I do tend to worry too much. Alright I'll stop for now."

"But you are right about one thing. This Bradshaw is definitely a teacher and it looks like she was gonna be this academy's theatre teacher too. But there is one thing besides the fact there shouldn't be any staff here." I noted.

"Oh? What's that?" Damian asked.

"The office has dust in it. Isn't that weird? The entire school is clean as a whistle yet in there it is quite messy. You can even see a dust line barely underneath the laptop." I pointed out and sure enough it is hardly noticeable but with the light on it was crystal clear.

"Maybe Monokuma just doesn't care about cleanin' places we don't have access to. If we can't search the place then why bother cleanin' it?" Willie asked.

"I... suppose that could be it." I said thoughtfully but... was that right?

Willie slapped my back roughly sending me forward a bit before my body instinctually stiffened up to keep me from falling as I straightened back up, feeling the spot his hand connected slightly burn from the slap. "Partner, you're overthinkin' things again. You ain't got nothin' to worry about. I'm sure Monokuma set up this stuff to confuse us. I mean it is part of the lil' theatre after all so I wouldn't pull it past him to come up with something devious like that."

"Yeah I probably am. Sorry." I apologized.

"Ya got nothin' to be apologizin' for. By the way did ya see any hints to where the perk may be?" Willie questioned me.

Think back on it I did explore the entire room, including the storage room but not even with how much stuff was cluttered in there did it shows signs of any kind of perk. So I answered with a solemn shake of my head.

Damian seemed upset. "Aw frizz man. And this is the last room up here we've checked too."

"But that's impossible. Monokuma told us the perk was up here." I said.

"Actually his words were somewhere new. He never specifically said the new floor." Luca noted. I saw his words were for us all yet his eyes were glued to me.

"But we came up from the first and second floors and there ain't nothing new down there." Willie argued. "I betcha anythin' Monokuma lied to us... again."

I was curious about the way Luca emphasized the words something new. Could he have hinted at something? But what? If the perk isn't on this floor then it would be on a new floor and nothing is new down there... except...

"That's it..." I trailed off.

Willie looked at me looking at me in confusion. "Come again?"

"That's gotta be it!" I shouted as I made a mad dash out of the little theatre and past the others. Damian and Willie looked shocked as they called out to me and chased after me when I ignored them and kept running. Luca followed them too.

I rushed past everyone and when they saw me rush past them they would follow too, wondering why I was in such a rush until all the surviving students were behind me. I raced down the staircase to the second floor and across it to the next staircase. I took them down to the first floor and jumped off, skipping the last few steps and landing on the ground. I felt my leg buckle a bit but got up and rushed into the open room directly ahead.

I desperately looked around the school store to see it had changed. I remember seeing the leather straps before when Brenda used it for her murder but in their place were matches. It was just as I suspected. The school store's inventory was updated. Or in other words new.

I immediately began frantically searching through as the other students piled in at the entrance and stared at me in bewilderment.

Shana approached me. "Kai! What's gotten into you!" She shouted but I ignored her as I froze. She didn't like that as she turned my body towards her clutching the collar of my vest. "Listen you little..." But she saw my head didn't turn to look at her and wanting to know what caught my attention her eyes followed mine to the vending machine and she gasped as her hands slowly lost their grasp on me.

I slowly approached the vending machine and saw without a doubt in my mind one slot of the vending machine having only one thing. A small envelope that bulged with the content of the perk inside. I looked at the row it was in and imputed the numbers 1-1-0-3-7. I found it unusual that that one row had such an unusual number compared to the others and no beginning letter but didn't question it as the vending machine rotated it and pushed the envelope out as it feel with a hard thud to the compartment. I slowly reached down and opened the hatch and grabbed onto it. I pulled it out and blankly stared at it before flipping it onto it's back to see it was sealing with a Monokuma stamp and a small message written. It read, "The Perk has been found!".

Shana stared in amazement. "You found it. Kai found the hidden perk."

Everyone heard this and began rushing in despite there being not enough room. I heard them all shouting different things at me. They demanded that I open it and show them what was inside while I heard other demand that I had it to them but before I could respond Monokuma popped up. "Alright! That's enough! Everyone out! You're gonna break something in here and I don't wanna replace it! OUT NOW!"

Everyone quickly scattered out as Monokuma then hopped out behind us. "Alrighty kids! The search for my hidden perk is done! The one who found it first is the one who gets to use it and only them! If I find someone else has used the perk then anyone affiliated with that person getting the perk will result in punishment! No exceptions!"

I looked at him in shock as I sadly held the perk in my hand, now knowing my plan to share it was ruined.

"Anyways now that's all done. I'll see you all at the next class trial! See ya soon kiddos! Puhuhuhuhuhu!" With that Monokuma bounded away gleefully. Everyone began staring at me again like they did before at the curtain. I saw hateful glares and eyes full of suspicion and others who looked fearful or just envious. I guess they're still cautious of me because they think I'm in league with Monokuma or they're just jealous of me finding the perk first. It seemed like no one wanted to stick around as everyone began dispersing.

I saw everyone had left by this point except Luca and I knew why. He smiled as he patted my shoulder. "Congrats on figuring out where the perk was hidden, Kai."

I was silent for a moment before I spoke up. "Don't pretend like it was me who figured it out. You knew. You knew it was probably in the school store. You hinted it to me when we were in the little theatre. Why didn't you go and get it when you had the chance. You figured it out before me obviously so why?"

Luca shrugged as his smile didn't drop at all. "I figured it would be best in your hands. I think you're the most responsible person here and if it fell to anyone's hands it could lead to disaster. Even with me."

I had no words to say as I looked down. 'He gave up the perk because he thinks I'm the most responsible one? I can't believe he'd sacrifice his chance at a perk in this killing game but he did.'

I looked back up to see he was gone. I looked down the hallway to see Luca walking away as he turned down another hallway. I sighed as I looked at the perk in my hand. I figured I should use it now and see what this perk is. I should also do it somewhere secure and private just make sure no one watches me. I don't want to risk them getting executed for breaking the rules of the perk. I went to the only place I knew I could look at it. My room.

I quickly made my way to the dormitory hall and unlocked the door of my room before hopping in and locking it. I ran and sat on the edge on my bed as I held the perk in my hand, wondering what could possibly be in here.

With a slightly shaky hand, I grabbed the seal on the back and tore it in half. Seeing me rip Monokuma's face like that made me wish it was the real Monokuma I could do that to but I shook that out of my mind as I opened the envelope and gasped. I quickly emptied the envelope out as a cell phone landed in my hand as well as a slip of paper.

I sent the envelope down and open the folded paper. It was instructions and a letter. I began reading.

"To whom it may concern,

You are the sole winner of finding the hidden perk! There are some rules you must follow when using this perk.

1. Only you are allowed to use it. Anyone else caught with it will be punished.

2. You may use it only once. You can save the perk for a later use if you wish.

3. They way it works is depending on the person who finds it, you'll receive a special number to use. It will be imputed in when the perk owner is known my the headmaster.

4. After it is used you may keep the perk if you wish but remember it can't be used again so what's the point?

Enjoy~"

After reading it I looked at the phone and contemplated if I should use it now or save it later. I wanted to use it now! Maybe I can contact someone in the outside world but maybe not. It would defeat the purpose of the killing game and us being blocked off from the outside. Maybe Monokuma wants me to waste it now when it might be best to use it later. I was stuck with no idea what I should do.

What should I do?

Use the perk

or

Save the perk?

Hey guys. I know it's been a few months since my last chapter but I've gone through so many changes that I just couldn't keep up with writing. A new job, trying to find a new place to live, and becoming an official part of a community had me so busy I had no chance to write until now. Anyways I'm sorry again and I hope this chapter wasn't a waste. It will continue once you all vote on the outcome! Will Kai use the perk or not? The poll is up on my account and if you want the next chapter I better see a decent amount of votes! Well I hope you did enjoy it and I hope to see you again soon! Until then see ya soon! Puhuhuhu~