I woke up the next morning, though I was still rather exhausted from the events of the previous day. It still hadn't completely sunk in that Lorenzo and Michiru were dead. All I could do now was just hope no one else would meet the same fate as those other two. After all, life aboard this train wasn't so bad? Monokuma's presence aside, that is. I had gotten used to everyone here, even Kaemon! To an extent, at least. I just didn't think I could stomach the thought of any more deaths. I shuddered as the image of Lorenzo's corpse flashed in my brain, and then the image of Michiru's splattered remains. There was no way I could let that happen again.

As I stood up and got changed into my clothing, I saw the screen in the corner of my room flicker on, with Monokuma sitting in his chair and giving me his dastardly grin once more. Every time I looked at that face, I could only see the face of a sadistic ringleader who wanted us all to die.

"It is now morning!" Monokuma exclaimed. "Get ready for another fun and exciting day upon the Monokuma Express!" After finishing the morning announcement, the screen turned off. I sighed, gathering my phone and camera as I stepped outside of my room and back onto the train. Even though Michiru was gone, I figured it would still be a good idea to meet up with everyone in the dining room. While I wouldn't think anyone would be despicable enough to attempt murder the day after one occurred, I still had to be on my guard.

I yawned as I walked past the main room of the train, and that's when I realized that the train was moving again. I guess we were going to a new stop now? I wished I had gotten more time to spend at the garden, but I supposed this was just fine as well. I was looking forward to whatever stop we would arrive at, though I still couldn't shake the feeling that any of us could turn into killers at any moment. Lorenzo and Michiru seemed harmless enough...

Taking a breath, I sat down in a seat in the main room again. I knew that going to the dining room was probably a better idea, but right now I just needed to take my mind off of things. I wasn't sure exactly how ready I was to face everyone else quite yet. I leaned my head backward as I heard some footsteps approaching - I initially got a little excited at first, figuring it could have been Masaki, until I remembered that he rarely ever wore shoes.

"Oh, hey Kanon!" I heard from behind me. I saw Azizah walking by, supposedly heading toward the dining room. She smiled at me and pushed up her glasses. "What are you doing here, sitting all by yourself?" Azizah asked me.

I yawned again. "I'm just kinda tired," I replied. "Last night really... it did things to me."

Azizah nodded and sat down across from me. "You know, I understand that feeling," she told me, looking down and clasping her hands. "I don't really know what else to say or do besides, I know that while things may not be so good now, that doesn't mean things won't ever get better," She told me. "I'm a lot better with wires and electricity than I am with words or people, but... you know, it's hard to help when tragedy strikes, but I guess I can try,"

I sighed, then looked up and smiled at Azizah. She was certainly helping me out, even if she didn't necessarily believe that herself. "Hey, thanks," I told her, nodding as I forced a smile. Azizah shrugged and smiled back.

"Do not stress too much about it," Azizah reassured me. "It is not an issue for me whatsoever,"

I nodded, still a little tired to think of something to say. No matter what reassuring words I heard from Azizah, the images of Lorenzo and Michiru in their deceased states continued flashing back into my mind. My heart would stop every time, and my skin would crawl, my muscles would tense, and my pores would sweat profusely. There was no way something like this could happen again... right?

"Oh, that reminds me," Azizah suddenly piped up, standing up and heading toward the back of the train. "We have to meet up with everybody else, remember?"

"Right!" I replied, shaking my head and forgetting about the horrific sights I had witnessed just last night. "Let's go!"

Azizah and I made our way to the food room, where everyone else was already seated. They were in basically the same position as last time, and this time there was no one taking attendance.

"Morning, Kanon and Azizah!" Masaki called out to us with a smile on his face. How could he be smiling after something like last night? I suppose Azizah had smiled to me earlier, but she had just been trying to keep my spirits up. Still, Masaki's warm smile was enough to bring a smile to my own face. He was just so cool, unfazed by anything, even death itself. While I was brought to a crying mess, Masaki didn't even seem to be moved at all.

"Good morning to you, Masaki!" Azizah replied, sitting down at the end of the table. I took my seat next to Masaki just like yesterday.

"M-morning!" I greeted him, trying not to sound nervous.

"So... we're here..." Utamuro muttered. Unlike yesterday, where he was a lot more outgoing, Utamuro was looking down at the table and his words were softly spoken. His face was blank and expressionless. I guess he was taking Lorenzo's death pretty badly...

After a few minutes of awkward silence, Hideki slammed his hands onto the table and stood straight up. "Alright, I'm sick of waiting. Without Michiru here, we need to figure out a new leader. For starters, I nominate myself," Hideki announced. I looked at him and raised my eyebrow, a bit skeptical of his abilities as a leader.

"Umm... not to sound contrarian, but you're a policeman. Your entire job revolves around taking orders from authorities. I don't really know how well you'd work as a leader," Hikooki replied to him. "If anything, we need someone with charisma, someone with intelligence, someone who can organize us,"

Saeko's eyes lit up as soon as Hikooki finished his sentence. "Like a collection! You want to have everyone organized in exactly the way you left them, and you want to make sure everyone is in line!"

Daquan scratched his head for a second before giving a nod. "You know, that sounds a little authoritarian... but in times like these, maybe authoritarianism isn't such a bad thing," Daquan mused. "Sometimes you just gotta use force,"

Tame gave Daquan a funny look and then turned down her music. "Hey now, Monokuma's already pulling our strings. We don't need more people controlling us, y'know,"

"I concur," Kenji agreed, crossing his arms and giving a short nod. "While good morals are an indicator of a strong will, an iron fist breaks more than it bends,"

"Who said that one?" I asked him. It was a pretty good quote, perhaps I would use it in the future.

"I did," He replied.

After some more long silence, we heard a childish giggle coming from the corner of the room. We all turned our heads to see Aiko, covering her mouth with her sleeve and giggling.

"You're all just so precious~!" Aiko cooed. "It seems that... though you may not want a leader, you perhaps need some... direction," she noted.

Shiro raised their eyebrow at Aiko. "What are you going on about this time?" They asked her.

Aiko giggled again, until her giggle turned into fake evil laughter again. "Oh, Shiro... a mage such as yourself should understand that which I am speaking about-"

"I'm not a mage!" Shiro defended. "Stop calling me one!"

Aiko ignored Shiro's words as usual, before pulling out a short, cylindrical purple candle from out of her shirt pocket and lighting it with a match. Strangely, the flame turned a dark purple rather than a bright orange like usual. "Before we begin, I'd like to say that I could organize every single one of us into the Dark Siblinghood of Aiko. We'd be a stronger unit than ever~"

Most of us went silent upon hearing Aiko's proposal. There was certainly something... off about her.

Rai shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, yeah, she's a little creepy... but she has a point. Clouds must organize in order to make rain. I think Aiko could make a good leader if we just give her a chance," Rai suggested.

"Hey!" Kaemon objected. "Who says a man can't lead?"

Rai chuckled nervously at Kaemon's notion. "Actually, no one ever said a man couldn't lead, just that-"

Kaemon banged his fists on the table. "I'm tired of this politically correct bullshit! Your eligibility as a leader should be based on charisma and motivation, not on some feminazi agenda-"

Before Kaemon could finish his sentence, Yuki punched him in the side of his face. Kaemon's glasses fell off, breaking as they hit the ground.

"Shut the fuck up!" Yuki shouted at Kaemon. He ducked onto the ground, searching for his glasses.

"You'll pay for that, you stupid bitch!" Kaemon yelled at Yuki, still fumbling around on the ground.

"Whoa, who knew you had it in you?" asked Guadalupe, smiling at Yuki. "I was just about to go do that myself, but then you went ahead and did it for me!"

Masaki sighed and stood up. "Alright, look. We can bicker and argue all we want, but we'll make no progress if we don't brainstorm for a bit," he stated, trying to get us all on track. "What we need is someone intelligent, someone charismatic, someone motivated. Someone like Michiru was,"

"Oh, Masaki!" Asa called out, raising her hand. "Dear Masaki, you are quite the charismatic persona yourself. Plus you helped out tremendously in that trial last night,"

As jealous as I was of Asa for calling this to attention before I could, she had a point. Of all of us, Masaki was among the most laid-back and organized. Plus, with the massive help he was in the previous trial, he had the potential to really get us on track.

"Yeah, I have to agree with Asa," Ryo concurred. "Honestly, Masaki could probably say anything and we'd all listen to him,"

Dammit, Ryo! I liked Ryo a lot and all, but now everyone was saying all the things I wanted to say to Masaki! There was no way he'd see anything I said as anything special now...

Masaki chuckled to himself before leaning back in his chair. "Nah... trust me, I'd make a terrible leader. I'm a bad influence on people. I'm not the kind of person you'd want leading all of you, trust me,"

"Ha!" Hideki laughed, crossing his arms. "Of course you'd make a terrible leader. You all shouldn't organize behind a criminal like Masaki,"

"Hey!" I protested, standing up out of my seat. "Masaki is sweet and gentle! But he's also motivated and organized! He keeps our best interests at heart! Someone like him is a good fit to be a leader!"

Masaki sighed, but was wearing a calm smile on my face as I finished that sentence. "I'm flattered, but you don't need to defend me," He replied to me. "In a sense... Hideki's right. In fact, I had a better idea for a leader,"

"Is it me?" asked Hideki.

"I think he's referring to the one and only Dark Lady~" Aiko replied.

"Are you talking about no one at all?" asked Kenji.

Masaki shook his head at all of those. "I'm referring to Kanon,"

I jumped a bit as Masaki finished that sentence. Immediately, the rest of the group began conversing with themselves about the idea.

"I don't mind it," Azizah replied. "Kanon helped out just as much,"

"Ohhhh, Kanon would make the most kawaii desu leader there is! She's just like a student council president in school anime!" Amy-chan squealed.

I tilted my head at Amy-chan. "Well, I don't really think physical appearance should decide one's status as a leader..."

"All in favor of Kanon as our leader?" Utamuro asked. Everyone except Rai, Aiko, Hideki, Kaemon, Kenji, and Tame raised their hands. In response, Masaki pushed his chair backward and stood up. I was still trying to process all of it - why would anyone want me as a leader? What did I bring to the table that, say, Masaki didn't? There was no way I could live up to Michiru.

"Alright then," Masaki began, clasping his hands together. "Anyone who's not in favor, care to explain your reasoning?"

Aiko went first, giggling a bit before she stood up and blew out her candle. "Why, I simply believe someone like myself would simply be a better leader~" Aiko replied. "After all... if they won't listen to Dark Lady Aiko, then they won't listen to anybody~!"

Rai nodded in agreement, taking a moment to adjust his glasses. "I concur," He replied. "The darkest clouds hold the most rain, you know,"

Shiro shook their head. "Rai, she's clearly not right in the head," They told him, rolling their eyes.

Hikooki sighed in response. "Come on, Rai. You can't act like you're not a little bit scared of her,"

Rai huffed and looked down, unable to reply to Shiro and Hikooki for a few seconds. "I guess you're right..." He replied.

"Okay, that's cleared up... I already know why Hideki and Kaemon are opposed..." Masaki mumbled. "Ah, Tame, Kenji! Why are you opposed to Kanon being our new leader?"

Kenji crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "I don't like the idea of a singular human being the driving force to our cause. While authority has its time and place, Kanon is neither an elder nor a scholar. She is unable to fill the same role Michiru did,"

"Hey!" Yuki called out. "We don't need someone like Michiru! We need someone to guide us!"

Kenji just gave a quiet "Hmph." and crossed his arms again. "That is simply my own opinion on the matter. Feel free to engage in discourse with me,"

Tame cleared her throat and pressed a button on her headphones. Suddenly, the J-pop song blaring throughout the room turned off. "I was just gonna say, Kanon doesn't like... seem like a leader, y'know?" She expressed. "No offense to you, Kanon, I just kinda think someone more, uh... how do I say it... grown-up would make a better leader,"

Hideki chuckled again. "Well, I do have experience enforcing authority, so if we're talking qualifications, I think I win there,"

Kenji nodded at Tame's suggestion, and then spoke up again. "I was thinking that perhaps Hikooki could be our leader, seeing as how he is the oldest one of us,"

Hikooki raised an eyebrow for a second, and nodded. "I mean... that's not something I'm necessarily opposed to," He replied, scratching his chin for a second.

"That's a great idea!" Rai concurred. "I mean, you might not have the same charisma Aiko does, but as far as seniority goes, you're the best! Plus, I have mad respect for anyone with as much love for the skies as I do,"

"Hold on a minute!" Masaki interjected. "If this discourse keeps up, we'll never figure out a leader in time!" He then sat down and sighed. "You know what, maybe we don't need a leader right now. We'll figure that out as we go along,"

I looked down at the table and let out a sigh, partially of relief and partially of disappointment. It was relieving that I wouldn't have to bear the responsibility of being the leader of our group, but it was also disappointing because I was starting to mentally prepare myself for it should the occasion arise. Otherwise, I was completely fine with Masaki or Hikooki being the leader - just as long as it wasn't Hideki or Aiko.

After a brief moment of awkward silence between the 22 of us, we heard a loud "Ding!" ring throughout the train. Then Monokuma's face appeared on the monitor in the corner. Every single one of us turned our heads to face the monitor.

"We have reached our second stop!" Monokuma announced. "We here at the Monokuma Express hope you enjoy your cool stay!" The monitor then turned off as the train stopped. I wondered what sort of place we were at now?

"Well, no time to discuss anything now," Masaki stated, pushing his seat back and standing up. "Why don't we go explore this new place?" He suggested. Every one of us got up as we walked outside the train, and stepped foot in the new location.

This second stop seemed to be situated on a snowy mountainside, with a wooden lodge serving as the station. A small coffee machine stood in front of the train, and a row of wooden pillars held up the roof (also made of wood). Beyond the lodge, a layer of blindingly white snow covered the ground. Oddly enough, no visible snowflakes were falling. A few pine trees were scattered about, also devoid of snow atop the green for some reason.

"Aw, hell yeah!" Yuki blurted out, rushing into the snow. "It's too soft for snowboarding in, but it's nice to finally be in the cold again!"

I suddenly began to shiver as I realized - this place was cold! My legs in particular were exposed to the cold air, with nothing to cover them except my skirt and socks. "Th-this place is freezing!"

Rai chuckled a bit at my statement. "Well, technically speaking, the snow here is a little too soft for it to be entirely freezing here. I'd say it's around four or five degrees here, but it's certainly not freezing." He pushed his glasses up and gave a smug grin, as if he was proud of that joke he made.

"Ha, ha." I replied, rolling my eyes at Rai. "Where can I get some pants?"

"Miss Amari, I do recall us having a change of clothing inside of our rooms, do we not?" Sen asked me, approaching from behind. I jumped a bit, as I was not quite expecting him to sneak up on me like that.

I gave a nervous chuckle. "To be honest... I don't usually wear pants. When I have to get on the ground to take pictures, pants become a little inconvenient,"

"Hmm... you expose yourself to the elements that way. I do not recommend it for your health," He advised me. I raised an eyebrow and scratched my head, being a little confused. A bit unnerved, even.

Before Sen could say anything else, Masaki walked up to my side. "Don't worry about it. I've got a pair of women's jeans somewhere," He informed me. "Probably something in your size, too,"

"Wait, really?" I asked. How did he acquire a pair of women's jeans? That was a little bit suspicious. "Why do you have women's jeans?"

Masaki shrugged. "When you're a master thief, you kinda have to take whatever you can get your hands on. Especially where I grew up," Before I had the chance to ask Masaki anything else, he ran back up into the train in a flash.

"Man, he's fast..." I muttered to myself. I guess he had to be fast in order to get away with thievery.

I was about to head up to the train with him, but Hideki suddenly grabbed my shoulder from behind. I jumped at his touch, freezing in position completely. I turned around to look at his intimidating, cold grin.

"I wouldn't follow him if I were you," Hideki suggested to me. "Guys like him are troublesome. Good girls like you shouldn't be following thieves,"

I stooped downward and pushed Hideki's arm off of my shoulder. "Masaki's my friend... he wouldn't lead me down the same path he walks..." I muttered to Hideki, trying not to stutter over my words. My heart raced as he glared at me, his eyes shielded by his the light from the snow reflecting off of his sunglasses.

After a few seconds of him staring me down, Hideki gave a laugh and turned away. "Friend..." He scoffed, walking toward the lodge. "He doesn't care about you. Save yourself while you can,"

I huffed, now fuming with rage. Something about Hideki made me so... angry. It seemed that when I was around him, he was scary, and when I wasn't around him, he was infuriating.

I went back inside the train and saw Masaki standing in the doorway, holding a pair of black leggings. "Here, I found these," Masaki stated, handing me the leggings. They felt soft and silky, and while not necessarily thick, they would definitely keep my legs warm in this cold. "Aw, thanks!" I replied to him.

"It's not a problem," He replied, nodding his head. I rushed to my room and changed into the new leggings. They itched a little bit, but it was a small price to pay for a little bit of leg warmth.

The two of us went outside to see Monokuma and Kaemon at the base of the train. It seemed that everyone else had taken off already.

"Have you two had your fun yet?" Monokuma asked us, with his eye glowing. Masaki, Kaemon, and I all took a step back as Monokuma's face turned red with anger. My face went red too, but for a different reason.

What did he think Masaki and I were doing, exactly?

"Dude, move outta the way, I gotta record," Kaemon requested. Monokuma turned to him and raised a fist.

"Listen up, porky! I make the rules right now! And I say, no one's allowed back onto the train until you all have spent an hour out here with each other, alright?! I'm getting some things ready for tomorrow..." Masaki and I jumped down from the train as Monokuma jumped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Fuck you too!" Kaemon shouted out. "Fine then... I can handle losing a subscriber... or two... or five..." He muttered to himself.

"What are you going off about?" Masaki asked him.

"Shut up," Kaemon responded. "I wouldn't expect a casual like you to understand,"

Masaki shrugged and walked away. I followed suit, as Kaemon was the last person I would want to be stuck hanging around.

The two of us headed toward the lodge. An air of warmth surrounded us as we approached, offering some relief from the frosty chill of this new stop. A wooden bench long enough to was placed at the face of the lodge, though nobody was sitting there at the moment. It looked roughly long enough to seat two average-sized people. Masaki sat down on the left side and patted the empty right side, as if motioning for me to sit down next to him. I blushed a bit at his gesture, trying to hide a nervous giggle. I sat next to him, trying to keep my cool.

Just act natural, Kanon. I thought to myself. Masaki just stared into the distance, though all I could see was a woodwork of tall evergreens in the distance preceded by a layer of sleet with a variety of footprints riddled about on the surface. I kept trying to say something to Masaki, but I kept freezing in place. What would I even talk to him about? Even if I did manage to start a conversation with him, I knew it wouldn't be anything more than a forced conversation. Something to take our minds off of the atrocities of yesterday's deaths.

"You know, there's something about snow that really is beautiful," Masaki mentioned, out of the blue. It seemed like a ridiculous thing to say, but I guess even someone as cool-headed as Masaki had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for a conversation topic sometimes.

"What do you mean by that?" I muttered to him, trying to seem calm. He could probably see right through me, he was just that good.

Masaki shrugged. "I'm not sure. It's just so cool how water falls from the sky and it's just so cold that it literally freezes before it hits the ground, and creates a layer of soft, frozen raindrops on the ground. It's like a metaphor for rebirth."

I chuckled a bit. What was he even saying? Did he intend for that to be deep? And when did he suddenly decide to become some combination of Kenji and Rai?

Despite how bizarre his wording came out, there was something oddly charming about it. Of course, I found just about everything charming about Masaki.

"Yeah, you're right about that," I replied to the Ultimate Thief. He nodded along.

"Really? I just kinda made that up as I went," He replied to me.

After a few minutes of silence, I felt hands and feet going numb, despite having shoes on. I had no clue how Yuki was able to handle it - it was far too cold out here for anyone to function! And she says that this isn't even that cold?! She was ridiculous.

"Hey Kanon, you cold?" Masaki asked me. He placed a hand on my shoulder. I gasped in surprise, jumping at just the touch of his hand.

"Uh... k-kinda?" I replied, feigning a smile. Okay, now I knew that he wasn't buying it. What was he going to do now? Was he going to wrap his arms around me and share his body heat with me? I knew that huddling together for warmth was one of the most efficient ways for people to heat up during cold weather.

"Don't worry, I've got just the thing for that," Masaki replied. Expecting him to embrace me, I leaned in and tried to hug him first. Unfortunately, he just stood up and raised an eyebrow at me before I could. "Kanon, what are you doing?"

I made a quiet "eep!" sound as I covered my mouth in shame. "N-Nothing, I just..." Fuck, I couldn't think of anything to say. Nothing I could say would sound good! Of course he'd only think of me as someone clingy...

"I'm going inside. I'm certain it's a lot warmer in there," Masaki informed me. "Wanna come with?" He asked me. I was still sitting down, my face still flushed from my blushing.

"I-I'll be right in there..." I mumbled to him, too embarrassed to do so much as even look him in the eye. "Wait, what about Hideki?" I asked him.

Masaki shrugged. "I guess I'll just deal with him. He doesn't really scare me, in all honesty." He walked off and headed inside the lodge. I got up off the bench and was about to head in there myself, but then I heard Yuki call my name out.

"Hey, Kanon!" Yuki called out to me. "Why you goin' in, huh?" She asked me. Guadalupe was right behind her, and wearing a large green, puffy jacket and sweatpants.

"Yeah, why don't you enjoy the outdoors like us? Shouldn't you be taking photographs?"

I mean, Guadalupe had a point. I hadn't really taken a lot of photographs since the picture of the Monokuma statue I took back at the garden. I remembered that Sen told me it would cure my fear of the Monokuma statue, but even with these casual conversations, I still felt that looming fear that he was always watching over us.

"Hey Yuki, watch out!" Guadalupe called out suddenly. I got my camera ready, and snapped a photograph as Guadalupe chucked a snowball at Yuki's stomach. Yuki gave a chuckle as the snowball broke into pieces, and tackled her into the snow. It seemed like the two of them were having so much fun, though I was simply not physically active enough to join them.

I let the two of them roughhouse as I walked around the stop. Even though there would inevitably be some blockade preventing us from leaving, part of me had a growing curiosity in seeing what else was around.

I wandered off north of the lodge. After a few minutes of walking, I noticed a few snowmen of varying heights standing upward.

"Aw look, snowmen! They're so cute-" Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a loud "BANG!". In a reflex, I covered my head and ears as the snowman's head fell off and the body was turned into snowy pieces.

"Watch yerself!" I heard Toko in the distance. Saeko, Daquan, Aiko, Rai, and Hikooki were with them, and all of them were standing atop a hill.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I shouted at them. I dashed to the hill to meet up with them as Toko put their pistol away.

"Hey, Toko was just showing off their awesome skills!" Saeko replied to me, staunchly defending Toko. "Did you know they have a sweet gun collection? I heard they have Teddy Roosevelt's shotgun! It's priceless!"

"Huh?" Something like that wasn't just a collectible! It was an artifact of historical value! How would either Toko or Saeko get their hands on something like that?

Guess that was simply the power of an Ultimate Gunslinger and an Ultimate Collector.

I finally made my way to the top of the hill after trudging upward through the snow. My legs began to ache, as I simply was not used to this sort of strenuous activity. "Ow..." I groaned as I sat down atop a large, rough rock positioned behind everyone else.

"Ah, Kanon, have you come to watch us engage in the ritual?" Aiko asked me.

"What? Ritual?" I asked Aiko.

Rai turned to me and nodded. "Yep! Dark Lady Aiko here is holding a meeting for all of us!" He replied to me. He had a certain excitement in his eyes about this. Just what about this was so exhilarating to him?

"What? You never mentioned this before," Hikooki replied. "And at any rate, I thought I told you not to get me involved in this?"

Aiko giggled at Hikooki's comment. "Any and all are welcome into the Dark Siblinghood of Aiko!" She replied to him, doing a little twirl before flashing a wide grin. "That includes you, mister grumpy pants!"

Hikooki sighed, looking up at the sky. "I'm gonna pretend like I didn't hear that," He mumbled to himself. "Why did all of you drag me over here again?"

"'Cuz ya don't know how to have fun, that's why!" Toko replied to him. "So why not hang with us for some time, huh?"

Daquan nodded. "Yeah, man! No need to be all sad all the time. You gotta take time for yourself sometimes!"

Hikooki gave a short chuckle at Daquan's sentiment. "Hey, thanks," He replied.

"So why not relax, and unwind a bit? I can explain to you in vast detail what each general shape of snowflake means," Rai stated.

"Oooooh, can you tell the mood of mother nature by simply examining each snowflake?" Aiko asked him.

Rai chuckled a bit, nervously scratching the back of his head. "Well, kinda. I wouldn't call it a mood, but I certainly understand how it relates to temperature, humidity, moisture, distance from the ground, and more!" He replied to Aiko. "Wanna hear all about it?"

Aiko gasped and gave another grin in Rai's direction. "I'd love to hear all about your mystical arts!" She replied to him. "Please, explain to me in grandiose detail how mother nature forms and molds its snow!

Hikooki gave a sigh, as if saying "Oh no, here they go again." and sat down. I would have taken a picture, but as Toko had destroyed the snowmen, there simply wasn't much to see over here. I walked away, heading down the hill and toward a different wooden, rectangular building It was around the same size as the lodge, though it lacked the bench that the lodge had in front of it. With my curiosity, piqued, I opened the door and looked inside.

In the building was stored plenty of different materials for outdoor, snowy activities. Jackets, gloves, and sweatpants were hung up and different beanies were placed on hat racks. Snowboards, skis, ice skates, and ice cleats were stacked in different areas as well.

"Whoa, Monokuma really hooked us up..." I muttered to myself. Tame was sitting on a seat positioned by the door, doodling something in her sketchbook. "Oh, hey Tame!"

She didn't reply to me, as she was still drowning me out in her headphones.

"Tame?"

After a few seconds, she turned down her headphones and looked back at me. "Oh, hey Kanon," She muttered to me, looking back at her drawing.

"What are you drawing right now?" I asked her, trying to peek at her sketchbook.

"Hey!" She moved her sketchbook out of my field of vision. "No, I'm not going to show you! I-It's not finished yet!" She snapped at me. Her face went a bright red. "I'm just waiting for Kenji..."

"Where did he go?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Tame shrugged. "See that door right there?" She asked, pointing at a door in the right-hand corner. "He and Ryo went in there a second ago, but they haven't gotten out yet. I wonder what they're doing in there?" She asked me.

"Well, we might need to go in there and take a look-" I replied to her, heading toward the door and turning the knob.

"No, wait!"

Before I could heed Tame's warning, I opened the door open to see Kenji and Ryo stripped down to nothing but black athletic boxers. The two of them were both very well-toned and muscular, and seeing them together really accentuated the height difference. I had to take a breath, as the sight of these two men was enough to send my heart aflutter.

"Th-that's why I told you not to go in..." Tame muttered to me. Kenji and Ryo turned to me with raised eyebrows.

"Please, this space is occupied," Kenji whispered, turning away from Tame and me.

"S-Sorry, maybe you should have knocked?" Ryo asked me. I closed the door, my arms shaking. I turned back to Tame, who was blushing even harder now.

"Wh-whoa, umm..." Tame was completely speechless. "Y-You saw the same thing I did, right?"

I nodded, similarly nervous as her. "L-let's not speak of this..." I whispered to her. After a few seconds of awkward nervousness, I walked out of the recreational room and headed back to the lodge. I walked inside the lodge, noticing several circular tables with chairs at them, a bar with several different foods available, and a hot chocolate dispenser.

"Huh, that's cool..." I poured myself a styrofoam cup of hot chocolate and sat down on a chair, and looked around. Hideki was standing against the wall, Utamuro and Amy-chan were sitting at the bar, Sen was writing something down at a table, Asa was handing out cookies, and Shiro and Masaki were sitting together. I was about to go join them, when suddenly Tomoe approached me.

"Hey, Kanon!" Tomoe called out to me. She poured herself some hot chocolate from the machine and took a drink. "What's up?"

I shrugged. "Oh, nothing, just kinda... I dunno... trying to take my mind off of yesterday, I guess," I replied to her. I took a sip from my hot chocolate. It had a creamy, smooth texture to it, though the taste was hardly worth writing home about.

"Nah, I get what you're saying," Tomoe replied. She gave a sigh and pushed her sunglasses back up. "This is sorta like that point in a movie where all the characters go through some big character development phase. Or well, some of us will, if Monokuma's right..." She trailed off.

I gave a sigh and looked down. I looked around at everyone still over here. Even if I didn't want to believe her, she was right. Not everyone here would survive, and that was all Monokuma's fault.

I looked over at Masaki. My heart skipped a beat, as I wanted nothing but for him to survive. He was my best friend here.

"Sorry, did I kill your mood?" Tomoe asked me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I-It's okay..." I solemnly replied. "I just... you're right. I needed to come to grips with this eventually."

I walked up to the bar and took a seat next to Utamuro. The poor guy still looked distressed from yesterday.

"Utamuro-kun, cheer up!" Amy-chan called to him. She sprinkled glitter all over him, but that didn't seem to do much.

The Ultimate Clothing Designer gave a sigh. "Don't bother, it's not going to cheer me up..." He muttered to her. He had a bagel in his right hand, and would only take a bite a few seconds at a time. So Lorenzo's death really impacted him, didn't it?

"Come on, Utamuro-kun! You can't be sad about Lorenzo-kun forever, can you?" She asked him, poking his arm. "Wouldn't Lorenzo want you to keep going?"

Utamuro shook his head. "I'm not just upset about Lorenzo. I'm upset that he wanted to kill someone... It's true, I can't trust anyone here. How do I know that I can even trust you?"

Amy-chan gave a pout. "Don't do this! You're gonna make me kanashi as well..." She trailed off, also looking down. I guess the sadness of one was enough to drain the happiness of many.

After a long silence, Asa stopped by us and handed us a plate of large cookies. "Hello! Why is everyone so glum?" She asked us.

As if the previous events had not even happened, Amy-chan's eyes lit up as she began to devour cookie after cookie. "Arigato gozaimasu!" Amy-chan shouted through a mouthful of cookies. I guess she just never changed.

"I don't wanna talk about it..." Utamuro replied to Asa.

"Oh..." Asa looked down in disappointment as she turned and looked to me. "Kanon, dear, what about you? You look rather cold. Do you ned to sit in here and warm up a little? I made cookies!"

I smiled at Asa. I wasn't really hungry, but perhaps I'd grab one or two. "Thanks," I replied to her. I needed to get out of there as soon as I could, because Utamuro was bumming me out. More so than even Hikooki did! That was saying something.

I walked by the table Sen was sitting at. I would have said something, but I knew that he would probably just ignore me. He wasn't necessarily the talkative type, and I didn't think he ever really would be.

Before I could go to the table that Masaki and Shiro were sitting at, I felt the air in the lodge begin to heat up. "Huh?"

Azizah came running out of the corner of the room. "I just fixed the heater, it should start warming up in here much more!" She announced.

"Whoa, nice work!" I replied to her.

"It's not an issue at all! This was easy!" She bragged. "I don't want to brag too much, but even with the dusty old wires, this was a simple fix!"

Azizah and I sat down at the table with Masaki and Shiro at it. Masaki smiled at me as I sat down.

"Hey, you've been out a while," Masaki told me. "Where have you been?"

"I was just... exploring, hanging out with everyone else," I replied.

Shiro nodded. "Have you noticed something weird about the snow here?" They asked me.

"Huh?" I raised an eyebrow at them.

Shiro shook their head. "Sorry, I know that's kind of an odd question, but Masaki and I were talking about just how strange the snow here seems. It's soft and slush-like. There must be some chemical in the air causing all this... I wonder if Rai would know,"

Masaki chuckled and leaned back. "Please, nobody has the patience to listen to that guy ramble on. Except Hikooki, and I guess Aiko,"

Azizah nodded. "Yes, this place does seem rather strange... like how the lights and the heater haven't had any maintenance done in forever. I might have to spend a while fixing them, because as they stand now, they're a hazard to us,"

"A hazard?" asked Shiro.

"Mm-hmm! Letting wires grow old like this without replacing them is a fire hazard,"

Masaki nodded in response. "That makes sense. Leave it to Monokuma to do something like this..."

After a few seconds, Monokuma burst into the lodge.

"Hello, students!" Monokuma greeted all of us. "I see we're all having fun here! Well... that's no good, is it? In 10 minutes, I would like all of you to head back into the Monokuma Express, so we can have our next motive!"

Motive.

Of course.

He really wasn't going to let us forget.