The things Junko showed me were fantastic. For the first time, both love and amazement were factors in my life. Eventually the day came. The event that watching made me feel truly alive. Hope's Peak Academy's biggest, most awful event just solidified the the greatness she would bring to myself.

Five days had passed since the competition began. The deadline was approaching in little over a week.
"So, anyone find anything on our captor?" Sora asked at breakfast.
The other nine were silent.
"I...I see." he said disheartened.
"Cheer up." Ito said, "Look on the bright side. All ten of us are finally getting together for breakfast in the morning."
"Yeah, 'bout that…" Aiyaka started. "See, I'm a busy woman and I don't know if I can hang with you all every morning."
A scoff came from Suzuki. "Hmph, so little miss ponytail's going to go wandering off like usual."
"Heh, so the bread meister can't understand a perfectly timed joke, huh? That's so like you."
"Oh yeah!?"
The air began to electrify with tension between the two girls. The group began to sense the way the exchange was quickly becoming hostile. With the heated words, the two began to grow close to one another.
"Cease this at once!"
Tomoki stood between the two women; arms up on his sides to keep them back.
"This will only help our self destruction if we butt heads."
The display was interrupted by a crackle of the intercom system.
"Good morning, Vietnam! Okay, okay, fine, people here. At this time, please report to the entrance. I've got something to tell you that can benefit you."
As much as Monokuma was a thorn in their sides, the sudden announcement had lessened the tension in the room. With tempers cooled a bit, the group headed to see what the bear had prepared.

The group began to pour into the entrance and noticed a certain creature waiting on the receptionist's desk.
"Welcome everyone." said Monokuma. The bear sat with what seemed to be a smug aura.
"So what do you have for us this time?" Seiji asked.
"Straight to it, I like that." the black-and-white bear said. "I've been thinking about how to make this more fun and it hit me. Then I realized that I don't have a bow and arrow to shoot you with to have you gain powers. As such, here's my prop for ya. If you kill someone and it's not the one working me, I'll let one person be exempted from being killed next round. Think about that, you can survive the trial and keep yourself safe and kill again. A two-for-one deal. How's this sound?"
"Interesting." Takura spoke." I see what you're getting at."
"This is quite a predicament you have potentially left us." added Tomoki.
Monokuma chuckled; scanning the room. As he leapt up, he uttered one last line.
"Think about this and get ta killin'. Bye now."

"So, what do you make of this new motive?"
Seiji looked down at Kirika's head upon his lap for the answer. After Monokuma, everyone else present had left the area and now the two of them had retreated to Kirika's room.
"Seems like an underhanded move." she said, shuffling slightly so as not to fall off the bed. "While you could save a friend, you're able to save yourself. In that case, you could make it clear you were the killer. However, should you stack it and chose someone else, it's easy to raising suspicion on someone else."
Seiji nodded in agreement and added his own thoughts.
"And should someone select one of us, both of us become potential culprits. This move Monokuma has made seems to be him helping to grow the distrust; more so against us."
Seiji began to stroke Kirika's hair when she spoke up again.
"So, who exactly do we trust?"
The question was direct. For all the talk about the captor spreading distrust, they knew trusting someone was just as deadly. One wrong placement of faith and they could each lose their life.
"Out of the other eight, I believe Tomoki is the most trustworthy. Throughout Hope's Peak and even now, he's kept a good headspace and lead us." he said.
"Ito seems the second most likely to be trusted." Kirika added. "Still...about all this."
He suddenly started to pull her closer. As she was pressed up against his torso, he uttered his words softly.
"I know how hard it is for you to put yourself out there. Since we met, you've always been more comfortable by yourself than with others. I know the past few years hasn't help, but the situation might require you to step outside your comfort zone. If anyone can do it, it's the girl I fell in love with."
She turned; locking eyes with him. They came together and locked lips. For that embrace, the pressure melted away. The Game was, but a small thought.

"That's Five!" Takashi shouted as Sora passed by.
"C'mon, concentrate more." Aiyaka pursed her lips.
"That's an interesting statement coming from you." Sora shouted as he entered the stairway.
"True, if anyone would have that said to, chances would be you." Takashi said.
When Takashi had started to take off, Sora had approached him about joining him in exercising. While the Ultimate Cyclist couldn't procure a bicycle, he could still run. Somehow he'd convinced him in running up and down each flight of stairs for the best workout results. After doing it a time and a half, he'd called it quits and agreed to keep track of the number of times Sora did it. He'd settled into the entrance when Aiyaka had approached him. It seemed the storage area had little games stocked and she'd found a deck of cards. Somewhere in her brain, she had thought it interesting to make the Ultimate Architect build a card tower. He'd agreed, but he swore the way she'd convinced him, she had been using her talent.
"Yeah, yeah, 'nuffin I haven't been told a bajillion times. Now, come on, build some more." Aiyaka said.
"You know, when I agreed to do this," said Takashi, "I was under the impression you'd help. Instead you're just watching me do all the work."
"Never said that I would. Where'd you get that idea from?"
"You see, normally when you approach someone with an activity like this you do it together."
"Well...what kind of architect doesn't build their structures all by themselves?"
"All of them!"
Takashi picked up the next cards. Deep down, he knew this was a losing argument, but he had started it. Still, these were the friendly arguments he had missed.
"Oh boy," he murmured, "please be back soon, Sora."
"What was that?"

"So, what did you want to meet me alone here for?"
Ito had done what Tomoki had asked her as they left the entrance after Monokuma's announcement. Here she was in the records room; Tomoki seated in front of her.
"I implore you for assistance in the coming days. With the discourse flowing throughout the group, I fear action may be taken soon. Ito, as a fellow survivor of the atrocities that befell Hope's Peak, please lend yourself to this cause." Tomoki proclaimed.
Ito instantly recalled the horrors she'd seen with her own eyes. She thought of Taru; the latest casualty of this war between hope and despair. It was clear in her head of what her answer was.
"I will." she nodded. "I've also felt an unease in the air. We must not allow unnecessary actions to be taken. On another note, I'd like to ask you something. Preventing a death isn't the only reason for this partnership, is it?"
Tomoki turned his head downward, almost as in thought and gave her a simple response to her question.
"Yes."
"So it is true." Ito started. "I figured that by you keeping people close, you'd be observing them to help find the captor."
"Yet you do not not believe the captor to be myself with these actions aiming to throw you off of my trail and appear as one of the hostages."
"I have faith in you."
"Be careful," Tomoki said, "having faith is important, but in a situation as this, it may come to haunt you."

Night fell over the ten. As dire as the situation could be, nighttime seemed to be a place of solace. Dreaming flowed about as slumber continued. A quiet night was a treat. A calm silent permeated the facility.
Suddenly, the calm was shattered by a voice ringing out.
"Rise and shine kiddos, it's 2 AM. Now, Mr. Monokuma, you may be thinking, why would you wake us up at such an early hour? You see, someone musta been tired if this melodious voice of mine and tried to silence me. Well, too bad. YOU! GOT! THAT! WRONG! Man, I've always wanted to be the one to say that. Anywho, one f you got bumped off and it's time to figure out who. Good luck with everything and see you soon."
It had come to this. One of them laid dead; another a murderer. With this, despair had once again raised it ugly head.
Survivors: 9