We entered the cafeteria, still recovering from the horrific events of the last few hours, to see a bunch of pizza boxes sitting on the table for us. It was dinner time but I doubt anyone would be able to hold their food down after seeing Kenny's brutal execution. Eric walked to the table and sat down first grabbed a few slices and began eating.
"How can you eat right now after what you just saw," Heidi asked.
"I don't want it to get cold" Eric replied. "We can't waste time mourning the dead, will probably be back in the trial chamber tomorrow because someone else got killed."
Eric's insensitivity to what had just happened angered Wendy and Butters, the two of them walked over to him and yanked the chair out from under him. He hit the floor and without even blinking Butters and Wendy each put a foot on one of his arms.
"How fucking dare you," Wendy said. "One of our classmates is dead the other brutally executed, how can you care so little about human life or our situation that you'd joke about it happening again?"
"Simple" Eric said. "Kenny killed and got what he deserved, if we mourn them forever then we won't be able to move on with our lives." "Honestly we shouldn't even be mourning Kenny, he was nothing but a killer and he died a killer."
That statement pushed Butters over the edge and he began choking Eric out, it took Craig, Clyde, and Myself to yank Butters off him.
"Butters don't," Craig said. "You'll only end up joining Kenny and Bebe in the afterlife."
"Yeah well maybe it's worth it" Butters shouted leaving the room, Wendy went after him while the rest of us stayed behind. I was keeping composed but, in all honesty, if Butters hadn't done it I would have.
"Let me tell you something right now Eric, if you continue to torment Butters and Wendy over this I promise you you'll regret it." I stared at him pure fire in my eyes, "I'll happily become the blackened and face death if it means you won't be able to bully the rest of us anymore."
I don't think I've ever sounded so menacing before I scared even myself. Eric backed off after, he took some slices and left, the rest of us sat down and began to eat, hoping that food would numb the pain a little, even though we knew it wouldn't. No one spoke a word, everyone just ate and then adjourned to their rooms to sleep. I heard a knock at my door as I was getting ready for bed, it was Butters.
"Can I come in?" he asked. I let him in without hesitation, he hugged me almost instantly. "I-I can't handle this anymore Mike, Kenny's only been gone for a few hours and I already want to end it just to see him again."
Butters being suicidal over this was not a good situation for any of us. "It's ok you can stay here until you feel better we can talk as much as you want, believe it or not, Butters there are people who love you, gone or not." Butters and I sat on my bed for what felt like hours talking I didn't realize it until the next morning but we had fallen asleep together. I woke up the next morning to an unconscious Butters lying in my arms, I guess during the night we tossed and turned enough to the point where we just started cuddling to make it easier to sleep. I shot up after coming to this realization and the jolt woke Butters up. He got his bearings and realized what was going on.
"Oh geez, we didn't hook up last night did we Mike," Butters asked.
"What no of course not" I answered quickly.
"Oh, good I was worried there for a second, I'm gonna go get changed and head for breakfast." Butters laughed awkwardly and left the room. Did he want to hook up, no he couldn't have, he and Kenny were in love and he just lost him I must be imagining things. I quickly got myself together and went to breakfast. I walked in to see Wendy, she looked like she had been up all night.
"Damn Wendy what the hell happened to you," I asked.
"I was up all-night setting this up" she answered pointing to a long table with a sign that said, "Honor the Fallen". On it was a picture of Bebe and underneath was a bin.
"What's in the bin," I asked.
"I went back to the library this morning and found these on a table, they're pictures of all of us" she answered. "Hopefully we will never have to use them but we should at least put Bebe's picture up."
"What about Kenny," I asked.
"I still can't forgive him, but I think Butters should put his picture up it'll make him feel better knowing we're mourning Kenny alongside him. Everyone else trickled in Butters the last of us. Wendy gathered everyone around and explained the table and the pictures then she turned to Butters.
"Here Butters." She gave him Kenny's picture, "you should do the honors, he may have been a killer but he's still one of us."
Butters smiled clearly appreciating the sentiment, he put Kenny's picture next to Bebe's and we all sat down to Breakfast. Halfway through the meal Monokuma appeared.
"Heya future killers and victims how goes it." No one answered we just looked at him pure disgust on our faces.
"What do you want you son of a bitch" Kyle asked.
"Now no need to be hostile I just came to let you in on a few things" he answered. "First the second floor has been unlocked as well as some first floor and basement areas that weren't accessible. You'll find that seven ultimate research labs have opened up as well."
"Ultimate research labs," I asked.
"Yep special rooms for each of you that cater to your special talents, now let's see here I won't tell you their locations but the labs opened up were Nichole's, Heidi's, Tweek's, Clyde's, Jimmy's, Kyle's, annnnnd, oh" Monokuma stopped short.
"What's the last one," Wendy asked.
"Well it was Bebe's but since she's dead I'm afraid you can't access it, just another rule of the killing game I'm afraid. Also, on the second floor, you'll find a botanical garden as well as a nurse's office." "Welp that's all the help I'm giving later losers" Monokuma left after that.
"We should probably go check out the new areas," Tweek said.
"Right but we need to discuss something first," I said. "I'm assuming everyone has noticed their motive videos in their rooms by now." Everyone nodded, "has anyone watched them" they all looked at each other and replied no. "Alright then let's make a new rule right now, no one is to watch their motive video we will lock them all in the lockbox in the kitchen."
Everyone agreed and went back to their rooms picking up their motive videos and bringing them back. The lockbox requires two keys to open, everyone agreed that I should hold one and Craig should hold the other if anyone tries to take Craig's he'll knock the crap out of them and I'm hiding mine in my room. From there we split up to search each of the new locations, the six with opened labs went to their respective labs, Butters, Stan, and I checked out the nurse's office, and the others checked out the garden. Inside the nurse's office were two beds, a nurse's station, and a cabinet. Stan being our designated doctor checked out everything in it.
"We got medicines, supplements for drinks, and poisons," he said. We shouldn't have been surprised but we were regardless.
"Oh geez, they put poison in there too," Butters asked in a panicked tone.
"It's fine," Stan said. "We all saw Kenny's execution, no one would be dumb enough to kill knowing that could be their fate." We got a message from Wendy in the garden with Henrietta and the others, she asked us to join them there. Eventually, everyone had assembled, even those with labs.
"I called us all here because we need to know what we're dealing with and since we're all here anyway will investigate the garden while we discuss."
"Right so first things first then," I said. "The seven who have labs what was inside?"
"My lab was a smaller version of the library but it had something interesting inside of it, I brought it with me so we could check it out," Nichole said.
"My lab is attached to this garden actually," Heidi said, "inside was everything I would need to tend to it as well as a station for plant-based experiments."
"Craig and I checked out my lab," Tweek said. "The inside looked like what would happen if a coffee shop banged a small-town bar," Craig said. Not the most specific description but I got the gist of what he was trying to say.
"Mine's a locker room with equipment from every sport imaginable," Clyde said.
"Mine looks like the inside of small comedy club, complete with open mic night style stage and four tables and sixteen chairs," Jimmy said.
Lastly was Kyle's "mines much bigger on the inside then it looks. There's a whole temple in there, it looks like the inside of a synagogue, pews, an altar, everything I'd need to perform ceremonies. While I discussed the labs with them, Wendy led the others on an investigation of the garden, when she returned she told me that all they found was the side entrance to Heidi's lab and the small shed in the back with gardening supplies.
After we were done investigating we went to Nichole's lab so she could show us the thing she mentioned to me earlier. We gathered around her as she sat down at a wooden table in her lab.
"Alright here's what I found" she started. She opened the book to the first journal entry. It turned out to be a research experiment journal for tracking progress.
"It's called the Project UA," she said.
"UA, what does UA stand for" Craig asked.
"No clue" she answered, "anyone got any ideas?" We all looked at each other with no idea what it stood for.
"Could it be some fake thing Monokuma put in here to mess with our minds?" Wendy asked.
"Did somebody say my name?" the familiar and unwanted voice said from behind. We turned to see Monokuma standing right behind us.
It probably would do us no good but I asked him anyway as if it was a reflex. "Monokuma, what does UA stand for."
"Oh, so you found the first piece of the puzzle already aye" he answered. "Welp I'm afraid I can't help you there if I gave you all the answers what would be the point of the game." So, it all ties into the game, no surprise there. "Anyway, I just came to tell ya one more thing I forgot to mention earlier, there are four decks on this ship plus the basement and the pool deck above deck four, in these decks you'll find special rooms as well as the rest of the research labs, if ya want access to them then all ya got to do is find the blackened when the next murder happens."
"Like theirs gonna be another murder," Butters said.
"Oh, I think there will be" Monokuma responded ominously. "After all you won't find any more clues about Project UA on these two floors." With that Monokuma left and we all looked around the feeling of despair washing over us at the prospect of being in the dark about this mysterious project and of course being trapped here by extension.
"Nichole what does the journal say, any specifics," Token asked.
"A few things" she answered. "We've successfully located and contacted the fifteen subjects for this experiment, once they are transferred to site Alpha preparations will be made, these fifteen are the last hope for humanity's survival." We all looked at each other shocked at the paragraph Nichole just read aloud.
I thought for a moment and then a realization came to me, Butters noticed it and before I had a chance to speak he asked. "Mike what're you thinking?"
"There's only one reason this information was left for us to find" I answered. "Fifteen people were chosen for this project, care to guess who those fifteen people are?"
Wendy quickly came to the same realization as I did. "The fifteen people, you think it's talking about us?"
"If I had to guess" I answered. "Which leads to an even bigger problem."
"What do you mean," Tweek asked. At this point everyone was looking at me, I knew this answer would freak everyone out but secrets won't help in this situation.
"Do the math guys, counting our departed friends, what's our count total." Everyone quickly figured it out as well.
"There's one too many people on this boat to be in the UA project," Heidi said.
"Exactly" I answered. "Which leaves us with two options, one bad, the other worse."
"Oh geez," Tweek said starting to panic.
"Either this project UA is just a distraction or worse one of the people on this boat is a spy and probably the one masterminding this whole game," I said. Everyone started to look around suspicious of one another.
"Everyone please," Heidi said raising her voice, we all looked at her. "This isn't the time to be turning on each other, the simple fact of the matter is this is just a way for Monokuma to get another murder for his crazy game." "We go crazy wanting to know more to the point that will kill for the information, we can't let that happen."
"What we need is a distraction," Craig said. We looked at him confused, "we need to take our mind of this killing game and this information." He paused for a moment then continued, "I got it, Tweek why don't you hold a coffee tasting."
"A what," he asked confused.
"It's like a wine tasting but with coffee, don't forget because of Bebe's case no one was ever able to try your coffee and you have space and materials in your lab," Craig said. "This is a good chance for us to get to know everyone better." He was really speaking directly to Tweek but we could tell he intended for all of us to hear it.
"That sounds like fun," Heidi said.
"I'm in" Clyde said.
"Ugh wait everyone, this is way too much pressure for me" Tweek said. Craig quickly hugged him and he calmed down instantly, it's like Craig's hugs were a sedative for Tweek.
"I'll help you babe I promise" Craig said. Tweek hesitated but then agreed to the coffee tasting.
"Ok but I'm gonna need time to prepare and plan this." "Give me three days to figure it all out I'll let you know once I have the details sorted out."
"Not interested" Eric said, heading for the door.
"Where are you going" Kyle asked crossing his arms.
"Where do you think back to my room of course" he answered. "Look nothing personal but I got no interest in hanging out with all of you, if the name of the game is survival then that's what I'm gonna do, so screw you guys, I'm going to my room." With that he left us, not that his usual "fuck off" attitude bothered us at this point.
"Why don't we go eat dinner" Heidi suggested.
"You guys go ahead I'm gonna see what else I can find on this UA project, maybe a book in here will give me some clues, I'll catch up in a bit" Nichole said. With that we left her lab and went to dinner. All seemed well, a small moment of peace, before a tragic hell storm.