I found them all outside, which Monosuke wasn't pleased about at all. Despite his earlier implications he was going to make this process as difficult as he could back in the dining hall, the Ninja Scroll still found it's place in what was either the masked ninja's mask or mouth.
Gonta looked rather guilty upon seeing me, but before I could find out why I was being pulled along by Tenko, who was eager to show off her own lab that had recently sprung from the scenery.
It was a welcome relief to see some traditional architecture that wasn't at all related to Kiyo's lab. Not that I wasn't trying to get the memories of it out of my head so I could put the pieces of my most recent restored memories together.
That's not to say the Ultimate Aikido Master's lab wasn't still weird, between the large wooden fighting doll in the back and the odd hanging platforms. I assumed this was related to Tenko's spin on the art as opposed to being needed for the actual fighting style.
Which fits what Monodam said about these all being made for us rather than our talents. Only Tenko and her master know what Neo-Aikido even is. I thought to myself.
"Look Sharla, isn't this awesome?!" The aikido master exclaimed. "I could give you some lessons here later in return for your rifle lessons if you'd like, you may need them given the type of degenerates you keep wasting your precious time on. Actually, that's a great idea, I should give all the girls here some lessons for self-defense, thanks Sharla!"
...But I didn't say anything? I thought before saying "Maybe later, things with the fourth floor were rather... Uh, interesting to say the least. But thanks for the offer, it could be pretty useful. I'm not sure you should limit this to just the girls though."
She got that look on her face like she was impersonating an insulted dead Piranhax. "...Fine. Kaito maybe. Keebo probably, even if his flexibility is awful and his weight could make things awkward. And while Gonta doesn't need it, he might still be fun to teach. But that's it! It doesn't matter how small and punchable he is, Kokichi is off the table! Kiyo too, because I don't ever want to be in a room alone with that guy. Gives me some bad vibes."
That's fair. I thought before asking "Then what's wrong with Ryoma? He's a pretty nice guy, and it might be easier for you to train him, Shuichi, Kaito, and Maki at once since I think they're already doing something similar together sometimes."
"...I'm... not sure I'd really want to teach Maki this either... But Ryoma's a killer too! Why would I want to teach him any of my precious Neo-Aikido?!" Tenko exclaimed. "And even if I did, how would I even demonstrate for a person that size? That'd be too much hassle for me, and like Gonta and Maki he doesn't really need my help."
There was little point in arguing against that, and Angie came bouncing in anyway to see what was going on, putting a halt to that conversation. Monophanie was waddling after her, like a duckling following it's mother, as I focused back on why I came in the first place.
"Hey, hey~ What're you two doing in here huh? Has Sharla taken an interest in joining Atua's efforts?" The platinum blonde-haired girl asked.
"Efforts?" I repeated. "We just discovered two new labs on the fourth floor. Also, yours is one of those two that opened, Angie! It's just down the hall from Kiyo's, so location aside I hope you'll enjoy it. We just thought it might be a good idea to regroup in the dining hall if you're all done exploring too, to trade notes and discoveries. If that's OK with everyone?"
The artist's disposition shifted again, as if taking things more seriously for the moment to think, before going back to her bubbly bouncy persona. "Hmm, That will probably be for the best, for now, we are just about done here. It will be good to establish some new rules too. Keebo, Kirumi, and Tokuko are likely already on their way there anyway, since they had nothing else to do around here since only Tenko's lab appeared. So let's all get going, c'mon, c'mon!"
New rules? For the killing game, like Monodam gave? I thought to myself.
When I got there with Angie and Tenko, everyone else was back and ready to talk about their discoveries. General information about all of the labs was shared, and the artist for her credit wasn't the least bit disturbed by her new floormate or the descriptions of the area around her lab.
Gonta looks like he wanted to talk about something, likely the reason for the guilty expression from before, but the looks from Angie and her cultists was enough to convince him to keep quiet. So things moved onto the discussion of rules, and the tiebreaker scenario Monodam explained while I was gone. But he wasn't the only cub trying to endear themselves to us, they clung to in their efforts to solve their fighting.
Monophanie had told Kirumi about another rule of the killing game that had yet to be touched on, regarding body discoveries. Even if we strongly suspected a missing student was killed, until the requirement regarding students finding and bearing witness to the corpse was met everything would continue to act as if they weren't dead.
Keebo apparently also pushed the issue and had her concede that even if everyone knew where a body was, without witnesses beyond the killer to 'prove' someone was dead the game would continue to proceed as if they were still alive, like a twisted monster.
As there weren't any rules about hiding or destroying bodies, the implications of this rule were very concerning. Particularly since the killer themselves would never count as a witness to help get a case started in the first place.
None of us know what happened to our other friends' bodies really. I off-handily thought to myself.
But then I groaned in pain as more of my memories recovered, and the others clearly noticed as they looked at me with concern or confusion.
"Did you remember who the traitors are again?" Kaede asked.
"Or what happened in the Killing Titan War?" Kirumi followed up.
"Ngh... Yes... I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but one of the traitors still alive..." I muttered.
"Is what..?" Shuichi wondered.
"One of them... is the Ultimate Disciple!" I finished. "They're the most powerful of all of Zanza's disciples!"
If there was any color in the others' faces, they were certainly turning pale now.
Ryoma didn't seem too bothered by the news. "So what you're sayin' is that we should beware the most powerful traitor until you remember their name?"
"Yep. That's pretty much it for now." I answered.
After arguments about who the Ultimate Disciple was flew across the dining hall like sword clashes, the Monokubs called all of us to gather in the gym. The arrangements of the two groups were neatly divided with Angie's group near the left wall while Kaito, Kokichi, and Maki waited for me and the others along the right-hand side. Too bad the artist and the astronaut were arguing again closer to the middle, likely encouraging keeping all of us divided this way, while Monotaro, Monophanie, and Monodam kept turning to look at whoever was speaking as if they were watching an intense battle. Well, Monotaro and Monophanie turned, Monodam's head swiveled.
"Atua says there is no place for murderers in a peaceful academy life like we should strive to have. Ryoma and Maki have too many ties to the horrors of death to simply roam unchecked." Angie argued.
"And I say that's a load of crap and you know it!" Kaito shouted. "What you have us do, lock them up over something they ain't fuckin' gonna do in the first goddamn place?! Ryoma already paid for his crimes, and you can't just going around judging either of them like this!"
Kirumi tried to argue for this idea. "This could be as much as a help to their safety as it is for the rest of us, as if they are supervised then no one else would have the opportunity to attack them out of a misplaced sense of paranoia."
"Speaking for yourself there?" Kokichi chimed in, to the maid's obvious displeasure. "Would you also be one of the people that would be 'supervised' after your own little stunt against Ryoma? I'd be more than happy to keep an eye on my mom if you want me to~"
"Of course not, she's also a member of the student council! She may have lost her temper before but she's better now, and she's in agreement with the rest of us so she's not a danger to anyone at all." Tenko argued, not that the supreme leader was buying anything as he gave her and Kirumi skeptical but nonplussed looks.
"Hey, everyone, let's settle down. What are you talk-" Kaede tried to ask, before Monosuke decided to take control of the situation instead.
"Listen up ya chumps, let's get right down to business! 'Cuz we've got anotha great motive for you all." He exclaimed.
"It won't matter, nothing you can do will make us participate in your killing game anymore. We have Atua to help guide us now." Keebo said.
Geez, he's certainly acting the way Angie wanted now. I thought.
"You must've misunderstood, that's not what this motive is for!" Monotaro nearly shouted.
"What are you talking about? A scary motive like this was left behind by Daddy, so of course it can be used to help with the killing game if Monosuke wants it to." Monophanie said in response to her red brother.
"WHAT-MONOTARO-IS-SAYING-IS-THAT-THIS-IS-A-MOTIVE-THAT-CAN-BRING-EVERYONE-CLOSER-TOGETHER!" Monodam explained. "BECAUSE-IT-CAN-RETURN-A-FRIEND-THE-GAME-TOOK-AWAY-FROM-US-ALL-BEFORE."
'Us all'? Not 'You all'? I thought he, Monotaro, and Monophanie started hanging out with us because they were fighting with Monosuke. Is he really trying to 'be friends' with us now because of the problems between him and his siblings? Why do that when they're the headmasters? I thought.
"Can it, ya tin can! That isn't how this'll work you hear me?! So listen up you fucks and listen good! This here motive is no mere book ya'know. It'll be the most terrifying shit you've ever seen. Because what we got right here is the groundwork to get you all a new 'transfer student'... Of a sort. Right Monophanie?" Monosuke began to explain with a snicker as he passed the duty to his sister like a twisted set of show announcers.
"Of course Monosuke! Because the place they'll be 'transferring' from is Beyond The Grave~ Isn't that just the most fear-inducing thing you've ever heard?! You'll be able to resurrect one of the four people who have died in this killing game back to life, to welcome them back into the class." The pink cub continued.
"CORRECT! BUT-THIS-WILL-ONLY-WORK-ON-ONE-OF-THE-FOUR. WE'RE-SORRY. YOU-WILL-UNDERSTAND-WHY-WHEN-YOU-READ-HOW-IT-WORKS-IN-THE-NECRONOMICON-WE-WILL-PROVIDE-FOR-YOU. BUT-" Monodam tried to say before his red brother interrupted him.
"But nothing! This is a gift for you guys, so be grateful. So choose carefully, 'cuz you only get this one shot. And who knows what they'll look like. Same as before as if nothing happened in the first place? Disgusting zombies still screwed over from how they died? Something in between? Or maybe someone completely new, who knows?! Won't that be a blast to find out?" Monotaro theorized the possibilities.
What? Are they serious right now? Can we really talk to one of our friends again? I thought to myself.
Everyone else seemed to be having similar thoughts as the Monokubs derailed themselves yet again, Monophanie objecting over how she was never told how 'icky' the transfer student could be. So the fact they genuinely don't know what will come of this appeared to be honest at the very least, and if not this being the first she's heard of it does incline one to think the student will be returned to us alive and whole.
Then again, this doesn't sound like something the Necronomicon would leave out, unless they didn't bother reading all of it. I thought.
"There's no bloody way bringing the dead back is possible, right?" Tokuko asked, unamused by the Monokubs' explanation.
"R-Right, 'course it isn't! They're just being stupid to rile us up, no way in hell it's possible!" Kaito insisted.
Tenko wasn't going to take that excuse. "Hey! Aren't you the degenerate who likes to claim the 'impossible is possible'? Why are you changing your tune now, huh?! This could bring Himiko back, you coward!"
In response, Kiyo was the first to make his objection. "Now I may be one inclined to doubt a skepticism born from the hubris that often comes with a purely scientific background but I must concur with Kaito. While many cultures around the globe may have indeed made their own twists on rituals made to grant safe passage for a soul from one life onto the next to one instead meant to bring a person back from whatever 'afterlife' they believe in, none have ever truly succeeded in such a lofty goal. And if merely communicating with someone who has been lost to us is what would be desired from using their suspect methods, we already had the means of contacting any departed spirit in my own lab which would be a more trustworthy alternative."
"Uhh, wait a sec, aren't you contradicting yourself there? And I'm not sure 'trustworthy' would be the word you're looking for." Kokichi pointed out.
You're one to talk, Kokichi. Stupid somehow familiar jerk. I thought.
"Not at all, a spirit needs a vessel to best communicate, and no ritual exists that can bring back the flesh of the departed in such a way to sustain it to a point one could call it 'life'." The anthropologist continued. "A soul might be given a temporary medium or even 'haunt' a particular person or object so they can continue to interact with this world, and that could be seen as returning from the great beyond to some extent, but never in a way that leaves any of the parties involved properly satisfied. Nothing like what is being suggested-"
Thankfully before he could continue his rant any further, Maki cut him off.
"Then that's fine, no need to fo into it more than that." She advised. "If even the closest thing we could have to an occultist specialist doesn't believe it could be possible, then the idiot must be right for once. No more need for discussion. We don't need to go around needlessly humoring dangerous motives anymore-"
"Is it only natural for one so quick to end the lives of others be as quick to rule out bringing them back?" Kirumi asked.
The assassin's glare was enough to nearly chill the room, already feeling cooler than it should as the subject was giving all of us goosebumps, but the maid took her anger head on while barely batting a lash.
"Atua agrees with Tenko and Kiyo. It wouldn't really be so strange for this to be possible in an Eden such as this."
With those words, Angie's followers were all ears, which helped keep the tensions between the two girls from escalating any further.
"Nyahaha! Come now, everything in this new world of ours is odd enough, isn't it? How can we even really know the ones we believe are 'dead' really are? Their bodies get taken from us so quickly, 'crime scenes' cleaned up so thoroughly as if nothing had happened, and even 'executions' so over the top that it just couldn't be possible, right? So far past any suspension of disbelief that all of this must surely be impossible, shouldn't it?" The artist asked.
As the silence of the others considering her words gave her an opportunity, she continued. "Atua surely thinks so. For Atua knows our dead can be 'returned' to us even if 'resurrection' is indeed impossible. Because no one is really dead here. They never were."
But that's almost impossible unless you were like Shulk! I wasn't the only one to check the bodies, Shuichi, Kiyo, and Maki should've noticed this! ...Right? I thought.
"Do you honestly believe a mere imitation could capture the sensation of a warm body growing cold? Surely you jest. And even if my own assessment of Himiko's condition was admittedly amateurish, then Maki or Shuichi would have easily caught such a massive discrepancy with backgrounds such as their own, yes?" Kiyo countered, echoing my own thoughts.
Kokichi looked at him blankly before returning to his grin. I swore I saw a colder look in his eyes as the anthropologist continued.
"We can't prove they aren't at any rate, look at the levels of technology the existence of Monokuma, the Monokubs, and the Exisals shows this place has access to. Even if the murder victims were real, then a means of saving them before the point of no return may have indeed been possible, and they are the only bodies Maki has ever been close enough to check."
"But wasn't the basis of wanting Angie to lead in order to avoid doing what the game wanted by using the motives Monokuma and his cubs gave us like I encouraged before? Is it really okay for you to change tunes like this because this one would be more convenient for all of us if it's true? I… I want you to be right, Angie. Honest, I do. It'd be great if everyone was still alive safe somewhere else, away from here. But we've been burned before, and I don't want a repeat of that. Please let's just think things through."
Kaede's point did raise some debate. This had turned Angie's initial point on it's head, but the bond of the cult, their 'faith' in her and by extension Atua, was strong enough to ignore the hypocrisy at play.
"It doesn't matter in end, student council still able to protect everyone! And Angie our good president. And she says motive to save student won't be used to hurt anyone. If book says rescuing not-really-dead friends mean other friends need to be hurt to work then we won't listen to book, promise. No worries!" Gonta claimed with a comforting smile and absolute confidence.
"So that's what this is, Gonta? A 'Student Council' to end the killing game?" I asked.
"Yup! So Sharla no worry no more. No more killing happen, that why Gonta and Tenko here! We enforce rules Atua makes so people no get hurt or hurt each other again. No more disagreements." The entomologist answered.
"So you think that gives you the right to just set this up under everyone's noses?" Ryoma spoke up. "Like we'd ever agree to this. All this will lead to is either more disagreements or Angie trying to set herself up as a tyrant, Gonta."
The muscular boy looked taken aback by this. But it was likely a good thing the tennis pro said something first as Kokichi looked nearly seething at what was going on. Not intentionally either, as I saw him try to fall back onto his smiling mask from the corner of my eye, trying to keep myself from drawing attention to him.
No one else noticed it, as he was near the back of the crowd while Kiyo took to rambling on about the nature of cults and the reasons why they form in places like this, giving him time to re-adjust. And when he did he cheerily went along with Kiyo's rant in order to highlight the means of Angie's manipulations. Even though he should know they wouldn't listen.
So I was right. He's not OK with this either, damn, he's even more bothered by how Angie's doing this than I am. I guess this just means we'll have to find another way to bring all of us back together. I thought before speaking up. "Please everyone, let's just calm down-"
"Indeed, no need for anyone to worry at all! The student council will take care of the resurrection ritual so no one else has to worry about anything. Atua will decide what we will do with it at a later time."
And with that Angie gladly took the book from Monosuke's eager paws and tightly held it to her chest as she began skipping away from the conversation. It's not like there would have been reasoning with her anyway.
Kaito looked nearly as sick as I felt over things ending on a note like that, but there was nothing else that could be done so everyone began to disperse.
I got inside the boiler room before nighttime began, but it came with an unwelcome discovery.
The manhole cover was put snugly back into place and covered in large rocks so no one could try to attempt to remove it again. It was all too heavy for this to be a mistake, but at the same time, it hadn't been moved before the second trial was held. So while it could be a Monokubs' doing with their Exisals, that may not be the case.
Was this why Gonta looked guilty before? Was this Angie's plan? Why can't she understand staying isn't an option for Kaede?! Rantaro died to prove this fact to us already! If he hadn't, we all would have. I thought to myself.
At least I'll be able to bring this up to Kaede, Kokichi, or Kaito after the get-together. Even if I told everyone tomorrow what happened, It's unlikely any of them would be able to lift the manhole cover to fix it.
I figured I'd might as well call it a night. As I went to sleep I thought Even if that kind of planning hasn't really worked for us yet, it's the best idea I can come up with right now.