Hello to my lovely readers. I really am happy at the feedback I got last round. I think the reason it takes me so long to do things sometimes just comes from anxiousness. Regardless I appreciate the your views, opinions, and votes. I will likely have a poll up at the end of the next set of events so sit tight.

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Back in Ryoma's dream

The scenario unfolding before Ryoma suddenly gave him an odd sense of deja-vu. He wasn't sure if he should be happy,upset, more confused by it.

He was of course happy to see Yvonne's lightly tanned face again. Her lightly dark Dijon yellow hair was done in 2 medium length criss-cross dutch braids and tied into low ponytail. Her eyes were a lighter honey yellow. Said eyes were staring down her opposition without fear or at least doing a good job of hiding any.

The opposition in question could only loosely count as "kids" even taking away their sizes they looked like young adults in the face. If you looked closely enough it even looked like a few had tattoos peaking out their clothing. They were poorly hidden under arm, wrist, and leg bands. One in the back had their player ID tied to something that looked suspiciously like a driver's license. The age limit was 13 to 16 at max for these games. The only visible handy caps the other girls had were prosthetics for their arms, legs, hands, and elbows. Much like everything else Ryoma questioned their genuineness. More then a few people in the audience looked concerned and even the judges didn't seem to sure on the legitimacy of this but they allowed it regardless.

"Aaaaand here's this years newest young qualifiers, Dice Queens! Leading these young ladies is Kim Leem from South Korea. Just 15 herself and already making a big name from a small town someplace hard to find listed within Korea." The narrator announced.

"Yeah, if she's 15 then I'm 6"10 and the twin of Bruno mars. I'm pretty sure a team can't qualify if their area of origin can't be listed to be official to." Ryoma thought to himself.

This entire thing felt rigged clear as day but for some reason no one seemed to object as the referee blew his whistle signaling the beginning of the match. Difference in size or handy caps meant very little in the end compared to skills as the Yvonne's team fought fiercely. Each hit and spike echoed across the field with a noise like firecrackers as the ball blazed back and forth. Other then the obvious reasons, something felt extra off about the Yvonne's opponents.

All the girls had slightly bulky looking gloves that looked more like a mix between normal volleyball gloves and a goalie's glove in soccer. He never really played it but he wasn't sure if they were legal wear for volleyball. During a break a referee came up to a judge and whispered something before the next round started.

"Hold on here folks! The judges have announced the Dice queens might be disqualified on counts of cheating!" The announcer said.

Gasps and looks of various levels of surprise echoed from the crowd. The Dice queen's leader was a had a lot less subdued reaction to the announcement.

"What the fuck!?" Kim yelled angrily. "There's no proof of my teams cheating. Figures these cowardly dwarf bitches can't win anything without making up lies!" She screamed this while looking pointedly at Yvonne. Yvonne looked ready to say something nasty right back, until younger Ryoma's own voice entered the field.

"They didn't tell on you but I did. Doesn't matter if I play this game or not. Needing special gloves to win cause your own hit power is weak makes you the cowards." He stated.

Kim looked ready to explode.

"This has nothing to even do with you tennis ball headed freak. What proof would you even have that we enhanced our hands huh? Show me the proof little boy!" Kim sneered.

"Gladly, one of your teammates dropped this glove when she left the bathroom the same time I was heading in. Catch if you can old lady." Ryoma proceeded to bounce the glove off his racket on to the concreate sidewalk where it sprang a good 10 feet into the air. It unnaturally bounced high against the sands. A normal glove might of bounced lowly and once if at all. This one hopped 6 times with great distance before landing near Yvonne's feet. She examined the glove over before turning the glove inside out to reveal metal springs that seemed battery powered.

"These gloves are pretty heavy for people who supposedly have bad elbows. Not that your gameplay up to this point hasn't made that an obvious lie." Yonnie commented.

"I bet if you check those bands on their elbows and legs they've probably got something like this to." Ryoma added.

"No need, cause you know what? We just wanted to make some harmless easy money with this shit. Who'd want money or gold from a freak show like this anyways? This won't be the last you hear of us!" Kim declared rudely before her and her team were booed off the field.

Having won even if was by unfortunate means, Ryoma tried to talk to Yvonne afterwards. As almost borderline cocky he could be with his athletic talent he didn't have to much confidence in talking to cute girls. No one had to tell him what he looked like wasn't going to be gracing the covers of a sexiest athlete of the week magazine any time soon. Still he didn't think he looked anything too hideous other then still a little sweaty from his last match. He hoped his hands weren't shaking to much as he carried a few slices of street pizza her way when she was alone on the benches.

"Hey, I never got to say congrats for the win today even if it wasn't the best way to win." He internally patted himself on the back for not stuttering.

"Merci beaucoup mon ami, um Ryoma Hoshi right? There's always tomorrows match so I'm not to upset. The games have only just begun after all. Oh, and thanks again for helping my team out today." Yvonne said with a smile.

"No problem, I hate cheaters and especially cheaters in big events like these." he said.

Then she smiled a bit wider upon noticing his slices.

"Are you going to eat both of those or did you bring one as a way to congratulate me?" she asked.

"Oh yeah I thought it would be a nice way to get to know each other if you want to be like friends or..." His mind trailed off for something clever to say but thankfully she saved him the trouble and embarrassment.

"Most boys traditionally ask a girl out with flowers but pizza has always trumped flowers in my book. Wanna sit in the cafeteria and eat them?" Yvonne said with a giggle.

Ryoma could feel a blush forming on his cheeks when she laughed. In slight shock from being read so openly and not wanting to ruin this miracle of a girl saying yes to his advances he just nodded in response.

Chiaki looked at the scene with a smile and laugh of her own while the older Ryoma looked at it with a bittersweet feeling in his gut.

"It might sound super corny to say this but pizza really did taste better with her around. I can practically taste it again. Wish we could share those slices again someday. Is remembering tastes and feelings like this part of my memories coming back into place?" he asked.

"Yes, you couldn't feel this if it never happened after all. Even before your younger self said it, did you already have an idea of what the other team was doing?" Chiaki inquired.

"...Weirdly enough yeah, I mean the gloves did looked weird. With everything else that was off, I guess I would only thought of the gloves if I had seen them before. Still what does all this have to do with the killing game and why I'm trapped in it?" It didn't really add up much to him.

"Well, in the beginning of this you didn't even remember that you met her here and only now remember shaving her game and sharing pizza. I can only guess but I think a part of putting you into despair was to make you forget things about your girlfriend." Chiaki knew it was only a guess but felt she was on the right track.

"Why would they have to do that? Regardless of our happy times wouldn't the fact that she's dead because of me be despair inducing enough?" He pondered.

"Exactly, the fact though that kind of makes me wonder..."

Chiaki then paused and played with her sleeves in thought for a few seconds before continuing her question.

"Before you came here would you have been able to describe her to anyone? Her name, appearance or where she was from?"

It was now Ryoma's turn to pause and think as he chewed one of his candy cigarettes. What did he remember or think he remembered about her? He tried to back track to any previous discussions with anyone about her. It was at this he recalled a brief talk with Shuichi.

"I recall talking to Shuichi at some point about her. I didn't describe her but did say I met her in America when I was...studying abroad? That's what I remember saying but now it really doesn't make sense for me to have said that. My parents were no where near rich enough to have me studying abroad. Plus I don't think I've ever seen much of America outside stuff on TV or radio." He admitted

"Okay, this might be just another guess but if your memories of what she looked like or came from are wrong then what's to say that her even being dead because of you is right? The only way to make it less despairing then her not being dead because of you I think would be..."

She paused to think of her next wording carefully but he seemed to have caught on to her line of thinking.

"Only thing less despair inducing then her not being dead because of me would be if...if she wasn't dead at all right? If she wasn't dead along with my cats, friends, and other people in my family I'd have no reason to feel despair. I'd have a solid reason to survive and get back to something. Right?" A bit of hope in his voice could be heard.

Even though the only thing they were doing was exchanging guesses it felt like a good possibility. Rantaro did say a lot of them had lived mostly happy lives and if all his past hang ups never happened that would be the least unhappy thing possible.

Chiaki nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, that just might be it I think."

Before they could speak further on the matter the scene around them started to morph once more but this time in a noticeable static gray surrounding them. The people and things around them started to slowly fade color. It didn't do this the other times so something had to be happening.

"I think someone's trying to wake you up so it's time for me to leave. Before I go though, either Rantaro or Kaede will have left a blue scarf for you and one other person. I don't know which but I know it's a girl. Remember to not act too different and be as cautious as you can. These are your friends but you might have to fight them at some point. I believe in all of you to come out safe though. Good luck Ryoma."

With one last look back she disappeared and Ryoma woke up to the annoying buzzing from his front door.

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Meanwhile with the cubs.

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"Ha ha ha ha ha, and then he tells me that he's so baller that if a the biggest Rockstar there is came to his concerts, he'd retire the next day! Cool right?" Monosuke chucked at his story which both the cousins were only half listening to. Monosuke wanted to tell them some stories since none of the movies were that good in the AV room. If he noticed there non-interest then he wasn't showing it.

"Yeah, really cool story dude. As much as I'd like to hear another story about your friend I kind of had a question if ya don't mind?" The green bear with wheels looked around as he spoke.

"Shoot away cuz." said Monosuke.

"Well, since me and Monobreve came in so late for the fun I was curious if I could watch the most fun thing I missed so far with the class trial. That's why I wanted to come into the AV room. Bet it be major time despairing for them to accidentally pop in a tape of that and whined up watching it all over. So is there a tape?" He asked.

" You and pops think alike cuz, he's got it right here." Monosuke said this as he presented a disk label Class trial 1# on it.

"The first disk of many which will probably sell really well on the black market when the games through and we've got a full pack." The yellow bear grinned proudly.

"More like the only one that you'll ever make now that I'm here you annoying, sadistic, mustard colored asshole". Monocroft thought this internally.

"Oh right on my dude! While I'm watching this I might need some snacks. Can you go and see if there are any lying around in the kitchen or anyone's got something good on them?" Monocroft asked.

Monocraft waited until Monosuke was out of ear shot and out of sight before turned to his companion.

"Okay, now that he's gone I'm gonna watch this to try and analyze what our classmates are like on trials. You gave me a rough idea of what they were like but I want to see for myself so I can see who might be able to help mental wise more or less in a situation. While I'm watching this do you think you could look around the library and see if you can find that secret entrance I mentioned before?" Monocroft whispered.

Despite the monitors mostly keep track on what the remaining students were up to, neither wanted to chance any ease dropping.

"Sure thing, I might even get to see what's behind that weird door while I'm at it. The cubs should have as much access to everything as the mastermind does." she replied.

"That's true and be careful."

"I will no need to worry." With that said she flew off.

With Kaede out the room he watched the class trial. It was edited funny in a way with colorful pink and yellow texts floating around people's heads. A text box with blue words was in front of kaede when she was silently thinking as if highlighting her thoughts. Despite the seriousness of the trial there was upbeat techno pop music playing in the background. It really did feel like he was watching some surreal reality game show instead of a normal court trial. Little boxes even appeared on screen that said:" Vote now for what you think she'll say next!".

"This really is like a interactive TV show for these people. If I had a controller it would practically be a video game. I kind of feel bad for being kind of impressed by the amount of editing put in." He thought to himself.

As he watched the trial he analyzed his classmates behavior while also adding together what Kaede said about their behavior before the class trial. Some like Korekiyo, kirumi, kokichi, Kibo,and Kirumi were very focused on the bigger details of things. They didn't put personal emotions Kaede had said that only Kibo, Ryoma, and Kokichi were the only ones without alibis that could be confirmed or denied. Unlike kibo, kokichi purposely didn't provided any info as to what he was up to. Throughout the trial the supreme leader seemed to be playing around and teasing his peers.

Even if he didn't have a memory keyword he'd exclude Ryoma along with Kokichi since both were to short to have hit him. His own memory was still foggy in places but he had a strong feeling whoever hit him was at least near his height. That took out them plus Angie, himiko, Tenko, and possibly maki but he wasn't sure.

Another thing Rantaro noted about Kokichi was despite his seemingly childish taunting there seemed to be some strategy to the behavior. Kokichi himself even confirmed in a few parts that he was trying to lure out the killer. It made him think of how interrogators on goofy TV crime dramas would exaggeratedly bully or try to intimidate the suspect or suspects until they baited something out of them. TV style theatrics to a degree might work in real court but could also have the opposite effect. Regardless it was a sign that he was either a possible tricky future ally or enemy to keep tabs on later. Maybe even a bit of both.

On the opposite hand with Kaito, Ryoma, Angie, and Miu, they took the smaller things into account with more emotion that they didn't want ignored. Some even had theories on things only Rantaro and Kaede now recently learned to be true. It showed good intuition and determination for the most part. Gonta in the AV room was pretty suspicious but he doubted it was him that hit him. Naivety and kindness might be easy to fake but not body size for the most part couldn't. Whoever hit him had to have angled their body precisely behind him so they wouldn't be in the camera shot. Gonta's bulk would stick out clear as day in a photo background. Also not to mention he his feet had a pretty strong smell.

"Although they could have had time to Photoshop themselves out if they did get caught in the photo. The cubs do work for them after all." He thought to himself.

It was still to early to make any calls for or against anyone so he kept focused on the a few skills he noted from some of them.

Miu's handiness with gadgets whether she was the mastermind or not could be pretty useful later. Rantaro didn't know much about advance tech but to make a drone along with modified cameras in such short time was impressive.

The rest of his classmates seemed neutral as they simply agreed with whatever the majority started to sway with the exception of Shuichi. You could practically hear the moment the clogs of him mind connected Kaede to be the alleged murder long before his classmates. Kaede told him about the detective's insecurities about his talent and it's merit. Unless it was an act he should really give himself more credit.

No one seemed to behave anything out of the ordinary from when Rantaro first met them or before the trial started. Even still, regardless of who the mastermind was there might be a way to make them ruin their own game if everyone played their cards right. He was only half way finished with the trial when Kaede returned. He paused the video before questioning her.

"Any luck?" Rantaro asked,.

"Not anything on the mastermind sadly but I was able to get info on the next motive from Monophone. Their still editing around what script to follow with who but it's apparently a "fan classic" as she put it. It's called the motive videos of despair that apparently are a favorite to all the monocubs as well. It's suppose to give everyone more fake memories. It also gives people a motive to kill but only for some sooner then others. Kaede explained.

"Did she say who might have the motive to kill the soonest?" Rantaro questioned.

"No, they want to make it a surprise for themselves and the mastermind as well so even they don't know. It would be "too boring" for their boss if they already knew who was going to make the first move and how. That's how she explained it anyway." Kaede said with a shrug.

"Huh, that does make sense on it's own messed up level."

"Yeah and I actually tried thinking of a way to sabotage it but I couldn't think of much. I wish we could just shove them in a bag with the flashback lights collectively and have the excials crush them. If that didn't raise a giant red flag on what on use trying to change how he wants the game to that would be perfect."

"Right uh, what are flashback lights?" This was the first time he'd heard of those.

"Oh right! I forgot to mention there's also these things that look like weird flashlights they've hidden around the schools. Monophone mentioned the fun of them as well since I got her excited on the subject of motives." Kaede then told him where the first one was placed already.

"She doesn't even try to stay in character with her fellow cubs?"

"Apparently she only does when humans are watching. Anyway, the lights work the same as the videos with a more powerful influence on your mental state and mood." She found that as random as anything else in this place.

"So those are the main things that'll make people killing crazy?" He asked.

"Yep. Although I couldn't think of anything to do with the pads I have thought about one thing we could do with the pads but it might be risky." There was a bit of worry in her voice but he trusted her.

"With the limited amount to things we can do while here we've got to make whatever move we can. Tell me." He could finish the video another time.

~later with monokuma~

"Hmmm, so you really think that instead of showing them the light together in a group, doing them individually would make things more interesting? That's your game?" Monokuma questioned.

"Totally! It would be so much more chaotic if their memories contrasted cause it would make them suspicious on who's being honest."

"I agree with Monocroft! Suspicion will bring mistrust and confusion which will eventually lead to murder. Oh we were thinking you could hold polls for the audience at home to choose who they want to be the blackened and the victim plus why. It'll give the audience the thrill feeling like they have some control and with how big the audience is it will still be a surprise when it happens. This IS suppose to be a mystery game plus game show isn't it uncle?" asked Monobrieve

"Pupupu, very right my niece. I honestly didn't think you guys would be much more then stand ins for Monokid but I'm glad I was wrong. Glad I thought of this! Pupupupupu!" Monokuma chuckled.

With the plan in motion the game would once again be afoot.

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Oh my Auta, this took far longer then it should but I'm glad to be done with this chapter. We aren't to far away from the first fight scene but that won't be for another chapter. On that specific note after I'm done with that chapter either before or after it, I'm planning to make a battle chart of each character's battle roles such as support, offense, defense, tanks, fighting styles, etc. That's honestly been a curiosity of mine since before this story came to mind. Hope fans of team rpgs will like that. So sit tight, remember to PROTECT YOUR HEALERS and have a good day.