After a full day of trying to figure out to do with cell phone, I had decided that I needed to use the perk. If it was a chance to escape then I had to take it now before anyone else was killed. I opened the flip phone and dialed the only number on it. It began ringing.

I heard the dial tone with each ring. I trembled as it continued with no answer, scared of who might answer... or who might not answer. But then it stopped and I heard it. "... M-m-moshi moshi?"

My heart leapt at the voice. I knew it too well. "M-Manako? Is that you?"

"... K-Kai?" Manako stammered, "... Oh my God, Kai... Thank God you're alive..."

"Manako! God Manako! I can't believe it! It's been hell in here! Five of my schoolmates are dead and this demon bear is still forcing us to play this sick killing game. But you already know that since it's being broadcasted." I said trembling more as I spoke to my childhood friend.

"It's been hell here, too..." she said with a whimper. I could tell she was crying by the sound of her voice. "Mariko got executed for attacking Monokuma right at the start, and Sam got murdered by Daniel..." She trailed off after saying that before she continued. "... Kai... I... I know about Sienna..."

My head dropped down. "So my suspicion was right. You're in a killing game too. Why is this happening to us?" Then I looked up realizing the last thing she said. "Wait... Sienna? What about her?"

"... Someone put files on my computer..." she told me, "... The files contained videos of Daniel and Sienna together... And the night of my first trial... I saw... I saw a girl murder Sienna..."

I looked down. "That was Brenda, the Ultimate Collector. I'm... I'm sorry about Mariko, Sam, and Daniel. I lost five good friends here. Also why are you getting videos of Daniel and Sienna?"

"I don't know..." Manako sighed, "I don't know what's going on anymore, honestly... one of my classmates, Alice, was telling me about how all the rooms have a gap between the dresser and the bedroom wall... Apparently it's easy to hide things there... That's where Alice found the murder weapon before the investigation of the last trial."

"What the hell is going on? Why are we in these killing games?" I figured it was pointless to ask but felt like he needed to anyway.

"I don't know..." Manako sighed.

I then heard a voice in the background. Must've been someone else in the room with Manako but then I thought of something and quickly spoke up.

"Manako, please tell me you know where Terry is right now. Monokuma has done something to him." I said distressed.

"I don't know..." Manako said, sounding down, "I can't even contact my parents..."

"If my theory is correct..." A new and very accurate Australian voice suddenly popped in, indicating the speaker phone must gave been turned on. "... It might not be so simple..."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Also who is this?"

"Alice Spencer, Super High School Level Pilot." Alice introduced, "And as for why it's not simple, let me explain..."

I heard rapid keyboard typing on their end. She must have a laptop on hand. I would've asked if we could use it to find help but if Manako and Paul both can't access the outside world then I doubt Alice could.

"I've been doing research up until the killing games, I have..." she began, "Apparently since the beginning of this year, there's been increased activity from anti-government militias and Alternative-Political influence groups in America. Surprisingly, this has been going on long before the current election, but it's possible the election was the catalyst. However, despite this, there's been talk among the internet of something simply called 'Despair'."

I blinked in shock upon hearing that all too familiar word as I stood up and began pacing, taking in what Alice told me and Manako next.

"Right at the beginning of this year, members of an Anti-Government Militia based in a town in Colorado took an entire government office hostage, demanding that Federal Agents release one of their members that they claimed got arrested in a sting earlier that week. But here's the kicker; The member they were demanding doesn't exist. It was merely a ploy to buy them more time. When Federal Marshals moved in and apprehended them, it was revealed that the militia had killed all the hostages already. Needless to say, the Marshals gunned all of the militia men down, save for one, who they apprehended. When they questioned him, he said he was instructed to do this, and that 'Despair' is coming."

"It sounds like he was working for Monokuma and the masterminds behind our killing games." I theorized.

"It seems that the masterminds behind all this are trying to marshal all the Anti-government, Fascist, and Anarchist groups in the world against the powers that be..." Alice continued, "there's been stories of violent incidents all around the world lately... Far more than there ever have been... And not only that..."

Suddenly I heard Manako, who had been quietly soaking in this news as much as I had, gasp in shock. That did not help ease my already tense and overwhelmed mind.

"... Apparently the Hope's Peak Los Angeles class went missing..." Alice said.

If they could see my face right now then they'd see the utter disbelief. "Missing? What do you mean the class and staff went missing? Sure the staff seem to have vanished from here but we've been here since the first day Hope's Peak Academy opened to the public and televised since the killing game started."

"That's the weird part..." Alice said, "Only the students went missing... The staff... well... One of them was found in his apartment, hanging from the ceiling with a belt... His computer was on, and there was a instant message left open that mentioned 'giving the order' or something... It's possible it was an inside job..."

"So, what about the Japanese Campus?" I heard Manako ask, "Has anything come up about them?"

"Nothing..." Alice replied, "Classes have been going on regularly there..."

"But that makes no sense at all. How could we have gone missing? There's just no possible way. Trapped with no way out yes, but missing is impossible. When was the article dated?" I asked bewildered beyond reason.

Things then got eerily quiet as she looked for the date before I heard a beeping most likely from the laptop and the all too recognizable laugh of the damned Monokuma.

"... Uh oh..." Alice said as I heard desperate clicking and no one telling me what was happening.

"Guys? What happened?" I asked worried as my pacing grew faster when they didn't respond.

Then a shout rang into my ear, hurting my eardrum. "Shit!" Alice cursed, "Bloody blighters got me computer..."

Suddenly the phone had Monokuma's voice call out. "You're time is up! You have 10 seconds remaining!"

I felt my heart rate increase in despair and anger. "What? No! You didn't say anything about a time limit! Manako!" I cried out as tears formed in my eyes, clouding my vision.

"Kai!" Manako exclaimed, "Listen, the night I arrived in Las Vegas, I heard a voice! It said that finding 'him' is the key to saving everyone! I... I don't know..." Her sentence was cut short when I heard some static interference but it quickly went away. "I'll find a way out of here... I'll find you... I... I promise!"

That's when the phone quickly shut off. No hang up, no dial tone, not even a light. It just died. I stood there frozen in place and time as my heart also had ceased all movement and sound. At least to me that's what it felt like. Soon my legs gave way as I collapsed to the floor on my knees and my arms hung lumpy down my sides, the phone bouncing out of my hand.

My brain was trying to process what happened just now. I was able to speak with my only close friend in my life before coming here to find out she was also trapped in a killing game, some government marshals apprehended some terrorist associated with Monokuma and the mastermind, and that my class went missing? I tried in every way I could think to try and make heads or tails of all this but all it did was mash against each other harshly and give me a major migraine.

Feeling my head throbbing I stood up and stumbled slowly over to the door. I tried to fully grasp all the information that was suddenly thrust on me but all that was happening was more questions popping in and more confusion.

I clumsily tried to grab my lock before I soon unlocked the door and opened it. I stepped out and closed the door, not even bothering to lock it as I walked out of the dormitory hallway. Soon I heard another door in the hall open and close and footsteps running up to me.

"Hey Kai!" I heard Luca call out to me as he caught up to me. I saw him with my peripherals but made no move to look at him. I was too out of it to fully acknowledge him as I'm sure he saw my red eyes and a thousand-yard stare on my face.

He looked concern at that moment. "Buddy? What happened? Did you use the perk?"

I silently nodded as he continued asking me more questions. "So what happened? Was it a way out? A way to call help? Are you getting out alone or will we all get out together?"

I don't know what came over me but at that moment Luca's questions began overwhelming my already overwhelmed mind and the next thing I knew was me turning so suddenly at Luca and my voice very loud as I began shouting. "Dude just lay off! I got enough on my mind right now! I don't have time for your ridiculous questions!"

When my frustration was done belting out I registered the shock and hurt on him and I backed away instantly feeling regret. "Oh, Luca… I'm… I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to explode at you like that."

Before I could apologize more Luca raised his hands up. "No no. It's fine. I should have realized you had something big on your mind. How… rude of me."

I knew by his tone he was clearly hurt and now I felt even more terrible. He was just concerned and curious about me and the outcome if the perk and I made him feel like he was getting on my nerves.

"I had no right to get angry at you," I said with my head hung low.

"Well, you won't have to worry about me getting you angry," Luca replied as he began walking away, his hands now tucked into his jacket pockets, "Because I'll be sure to not get in your way for a while. I'll let everyone else know to be careful approaching you too."

He made it sound like a favor but I took it as a way for a bad rumor to begin spreading since that's exactly what would happen. But the sad part was how true that bad rumor is. The new information Manako gave me plus the now overwhelming urge of guilt and sorrow I felt made me just collapse onto my hands and knees as I began to silently weep.

Suddenly I heard a door quickly shut back in the dormitory hallway and my head jerked back to look behind me. But I saw nothing and no one in the hallway. Obviously, no one walked past me and Luca to get to the dorms so they must have been coming out of their room and saw everything that happened before retreating back in their dorm to avoid being caught. I was wondering who saw us but I decided it doesn't matter right now. I needed to get my mind off everything and fast. I was in a very high emotional state and I couldn't let anyone else see me like this.

I quickly wiped at my lightly wet eyes and quickly stood up before I continued walking out into the school commons area. I kept walking until I noticed someone inside the library through the entrance doors.

I entered in, curious as to who it was since I couldn't make out any features from how far they were seated. But upon walking closer I was stunned to see it was Marcel of all people, nose deep into an encyclopedia. "What the heck is he doing?" I wondered.

I soon approached him but he seems to be too focused to notice me standing next to him. I looked down at his fast scrolling eyes and whisper to him, "Marcel?"

He gasps in surprise as he jumped up which in turn made me jump up and let out my own surprised yelp. After a second of silence, we both let out an exasperated sigh before we both began lightly chuckling.

"Hey Kai my main man! You gotta give more warning to a dude before you sneak up on him like that." Marcel laughed as I rubbed the back of my head.

I blushed, embarrassed. "Yeah. I should've called out when I came in. Sorry about that. I was just surprised to see you in here of all places, reading an encyclopedia of all things. That doesn't seem like you."

Marcel sighed out in frustration. "Yeah well I'm trying to at least but for whatever reason, this book is impossible to read. I think it's written in Mexican or Britain or some other language that isn't American."

I wasn't gonna bother to explain how he just mistook those nationalities for languages, I just wanted to see what he was talking about. I peered over his shoulder to look at the encyclopedia only to immediately recognize he was holding the big mahogany book upside down. I didn't even tell him that I just showed him by grabbing the book and flipping it right side up.

Marcel immediately blushed and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Um… th-thanks. I'm still trying to not be a total mess up."

"Hey don't worry about it, man. Everyone has off days. Even I do." I smiled at him.

Marcel shrugged. "I guess so. I'm just surprised you're even out and about right now."

I looked at him confused. "Really? How come?"

"Well," Marcel seemed hesitant but replied, "It's because Luca was going around and telling everyone he ran into you and that you shouldn't be bothered right now. Also, he seemed really sad and I wasn't able to find out why."

I felt my body seize up again as I knew exactly why as the shame of our encounter hit my gut like a brick wall. But I quickly shook it off to ensure he didn't see my reaction to his statement. "I don't know." Was all I replied with as I took a seat to his right at his table.

Marcel seemed convinced I didn't know so he just nodded slightly as he went back to the encyclopedia. I looked at him still curious about why he was even attempting to read such a large and informative book.

"So you never gave me a proper answer before for why you're reading that book," I said to Marcel before he looked back. He then nodded as he then closed the book and placed it down before he propped his elbows on top of it.

"Listen… if I tell you, ya gotta promise me not to tell the others. Not yet at least. Can ya do that for me? Bro to bro?" Marcel asked me looking very serious which was another surprise to add to the list for today's surprises. But I nodded regardless.

With that confirmation from me, Marcel looked down at his hands that rubbed together nervously as he began. "I wasn't always a complete idiot. Actually, I did pretty well in school. I had loved surfing ever since I first saw that surfing penguin movie."

I thought for a moment before the movie's title popped into my head. "Surf's Up yeah?"

Marcel smiled at me. "That's the one. No surprise the Ultimate Actor knew exactly the movie I was talking about. Well anyway ever since I saw that movie I became a surfing addict of sorts but I never let it interfere with my homework or grades. That is… until the incident."

I adjusted myself as I sat up more in my chair as my curiosity also perked up. "What incident?" Marcel looked up sadly as he seemed to recall the memory in his mind as he continued telling it to me. "Well my parents were happy to have me as a son but they had another joy in life. You see my parents were dog showers to a champion red toy poodle that they raised his entire life. Boomer was their pride and they won multiple championships with him and he was the go-to breeding champ who always produced the perfect litter of champion puppies."

"Sounds awesome. I wish I could have a dog but Terry wouldn't let me after I smuggled in a stray dog that was majorly covered in lice, scabs, and ticks all over it." I quickly recalled laughing at my past.

Marcel chuckled too. "Tubular man. Yeah, a dog really is cool but put him in my care at the time and that leads to a world of regret."

"What happened?" I asked worried how this story would turn out.

"Well one day my parents were out of town on a business trip and I was home alone with Boomer. My parents told me not to leave the house and to keep an eye on him to ensure he was being taken care of. However, I really wanted to, despite the fact I had a radical relationship with the little dude already but I knew there was going to be a great set of waves that day. I have a fifth sense when it comes to the waves."

I blinked. "It's a sixth sense actually." I corrected him.

He shrugged as he continued. "Well, I just knew there was gonna be like major smoking waves out at my usual surf turf so I grabbed my board and ran out. But not before I made sure Boomer had enough food and water and his favorite toy before I left. But I was in such a rush to get surfing I didn't notice the front gate didn't close all the way."

I looked down sadly. "Did he get out and run over by a car?"

Marcel lightly scoffed. "I wish. That would've been way better for him."

If my interest wasn't peaked before it definitely was now. "But yeah he got out when the gate popped back open but he followed me all the way to the beach. I was so focused on the waves I saw that I didn't notice him a ways behind me. I hopped into my board and began paddling myself out into the ocean. But Boomer was a persistent little dude and really wanted to be with me so he dropped his toy in the sand and hopped right in the water and began to try to swim out to me."

"When I got up to surf what would have been my first gnarly wave of the day that's when I noticed my little buddy was desperately trying to reach me but was having trouble with swimming through the waves. That when it happened. All of a sudden I heard the other people screaming in terror as everyone was making a beeline out of the water to the shore and soon I saw why. I saw the fin of a shark gliding across the water and headed straight for my little dude. I immediately used the wave to get me back to the shore as fast as possible but even with my surfing speed the shark was just faster and it grabbed Boomer just before I could. I saw my little buddy get practically eaten in one bite." Marcel began lightly trembling as he paused for a moment to compose himself.

My hand was already covering my agape mouth as I felt tears prick at my eyes. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry to hear that. That's such a terrible thing to witness."

"I was 10. I was so traumatized to see him die such a brutal death but I never blamed the shark, I blamed myself. If I had just made sure the gate closed behind me he wouldn't have gotten out and followed me out to where the hungry shark was. But I didn't and I had to deal with the consequences the minute I told my parents the truth. My father struck me multiple times and both parents scolded me. I already had to deal with some bullying in school but now I was getting it constantly at home because of my mistake."

I shook my head at that. "That's so not right. I understand that Boomer had a lot of money and time put into him and his championships but you were 10. Kids tend to overlook things easy no matter how careful they are. You shouldn't have been blamed so harshly like that."

"Yeah but he was my family's main source of income with his puppies and since we some all the puppies we couldn't raise another champion up to replace him and my parents resented the idea if replacing him with anything other than one of his puppies but everyone refused to sell us back a puppy that was young enough and so my parents were forced to get everyday jobs with time clocks and bosses and they resented those jobs and me for putting them in that predicament. And the blame I felt for what happened caused me to not care about anything but surfing and soon my grades began dropping and dropping until the point in high school where I nearly dropped out entirely before I got the invite to join Hope's Peak Academy. My parents told me how much of a dumbass I was after the incident so I guess I soon became the stereotypical dumbass surfer dude they thought I was," Marcel explained.

Again my head shook in disappointment upon hearing this unfair treatment he was getting from his parents. "I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope they still aren't in your case nowadays for what happened."

Once again Marcel looked down. "Well, actually they haven't. They died about a year after the incident."

I again had to cover my mouth as a gasp resonated from between my clasped fingers. "No."

Marcel nodded. "Yeah. Unfortunately, they were driving to work one day and suddenly their car wasn't slowing down. Turned out the brakes had been sabotaged and they crashed into a telephone pole. They died immediately upon impact. Police believed it was done by a gang of juveniles looking to cause some mayhem and trouble. Been an orphan ever since."

"Oh, Marcel. I'm… so sorry man." I whispered sadly.

Marcel then gave me the most reassuring smile I had ever seen. "It's fine buddy. I've come to terms with their deaths. With all of their deaths. It is sad to think about but I'm made stronger from it. And I like to think I'm being made stronger with the deaths of our friends here. After all, when someone I care about dies I would want to keep living on for them. You know what I mean right?"

He did have a point. After all, I'm literally carrying a piece of everyone who has died with me so that their memories can live on. So I guess in a way I'm helping them live on with me continuing to live for them. "Yeah, Marcel I get what you mean."

Marcel smiled at me. "Well, that's why I was trying to read the book. I wanna try to be smarter than I am now and I need to work hard now so I cannot be a waste of everyone's time."

"Marcel, you will never be a waste of time. Listen I want to apologize for the way I treated you. I feel like I've not been fair to you and I feel bad for not getting to know you sooner." I asked him for forgiveness which took him by surprise.

"Well… thanks, bro. I didn't realize you felt that way but I'm glad you wanna make it up to me. Also, it's not your fault we couldn't talk. After all, the king of dickbags is too busy ruling the dictators club with his right-hand bitch at his beck and call." Marcel whispered to me with a sly grin.

We both erupted in laughter and soon settled down before talking some more. I learned more about his surfer buddies, the different moves he could pull off and what they were called, and the foster families that have tried to take him in.

I got so lost in my conversation with Marcel that I didn't realize how much time passed until I saw the clock on the wall. It was now 7 pm and we had been talking for over 6 hours straight! Marcel and I soon got up and headed for the cafeteria to get dinner not only with a newfound bond of friendship but a mutual understanding of each other. Now when I look at him I don't think of him as the dumb idiot who knows nothing but the misunderstood boy with a tragic past who needs to be treated with the respect he deserves.

So sorry for how late this chapter came out. Life has been a real mindfuck and not to mention when I tried working on this chapter twice I lost all the work I put into it! So I lost a lot of motivation to rewrite everything over again. Hopefully I can back into writing on a more timely manner. Well I hope you enjoyed the chapter and Marcel's free time event! Until next time though I'll see you later! Puhuhuhuhu~