Chapter 2: Hot and Cold! Heat Up or Cool Down

Part 1

We stood in front of the entrance for the school waiting nervously awaiting our fate. Suddenly the door slowly swung open allowing light to pour into the entrance hall. "Okay everyone! Head towards the building towards the left from here!" Monokuma instructed us. The building in question was shorter and was ice blue and had red flame pattern. We all stood at the entrance, hesitant to enter.

"So...this is it." I muttered to myself.

"What are waiting for!" Homura roared as she opened the door before entering the reception.

"Welcome to Hope's Peak Academy…"

"Climate Studies Building!" Ilaria finished Monokuma's grand introduction.

"Hey! Don't steal my thunder!" Monokuma complained.

"Ilaria, how do you know?" Colette asked.

"Oh...errr... before the break of the summer I started making chocalatté here...expearminting with different temperatures." Ilaria replied.

"You mean experimenting?" Hirano corrected.

"Sí" Ilaria nodded.

"I have always wondered what this building was for?" Botan asked.

"Feel free to explore!" Monokuma declared to us. "And by 'Feel free' I mean you have to!" The building had four floors. The ground floor only had three rooms, two large, spacious bedrooms with king size mattress. It was dressed white linen and blanket like you get in a hotel. The frame was mahogany and it was accompanied by a mahogany desk. There was a cubicle in the corner where the toilet presided. The third room, the reception, was a large empty room with pieces of furniture decorating the room. It had a large TV against the wall to the left and at the reception desk, opposite the TV, there was a monitor resting on the table. All the walls were an egg yolk white next to the desk was an elevator with a minigun stationed near it.

"Hey bear-thing! Why is there a minigun here?" Kohana said speaking to Monokuma.

"Don't worry! You will find out later! It's going to be beary useful!" Monokuma giggled.

"Hey! How the heck are we supposed to use the elevator!" Teinosuke exclaimed punching the elevator door. Daisuke simply walked up to the elevator looked at it for a seconds before tapping his e-Handbook on a scanner on the right of the elevator resulting in the door to slide open. "Show off." The Warrior mumbled before strolling into the lift.

The second was an icy blue colour with shiny glimmer to everything. The air was icy cold resulting in me shivering. "S-s-s-soooo cold…" I stuttered. The elevator was in a corridor and they were 8 accessible rooms from said corridor. Directly opposite the room was a thermostat.

"-10°C!" Masaaki exclaimed before folding his arms to contain heat. Below the thermostat were seven winter style, furry jackets hanging of the wall increasing in size from left to right.

"So cold...M-Masaaki...warm me up!" Homura shivered grabbing Masaaki's muscular arm.

"H-Hey...G-Get off!" Masaaki tried to shake Masaaki.

"This is Endothermic Cryogenic Floor! It is made for studying things at cold temperatures! SO COOL RIGHT!" Everyone stared at Monokuma at disgust except for Ilaria who was scratching his head.

"Oh...I get it!" Ilaria spoke a long while after the original pun was made.

"Jeez...I know English is not your first language but that took too long to realise." James criticized resulting in Ilaria bowing her head. Six of the rooms were bedrooms although a lot smaller than the ones on the ground floor. The beds were half the size that of the ones on the ground but there was no toilets in any of of the other room was large fridge cellar which was even colder. They was a ocean blue mat on the floor with a pillow on floor. They were shelves filled with frozen meat and jars and and chemicals in the fridge.

The last room was the biggest room of them all and was a lab. Numerous desks with cupboards beneath them. They were sinks embedded in the desks with long white taps erecting from the desks. They were 2 gas taps on the desk for every sink. The cupboards under the desk had Bunsen Burners with other heating equipment. Just like the first floor they were no windows. At the end of the corridor there was monitor just like the first floor.

"T-T-That's weird? I thought wate-e-er freezes at 0°C?!" Collette spoke. Jester nodded in agreement."Then how is this water still liquid?" Colette spoke as one of the taps was open. Daisuke placed one of his fingers on the torrent on the tap and placed the tip on the tongue.

"Just as thought! It contains salt." Daisuke replied calmly. His voice was not affected by the cold.

"S-s-so? Does salt have ice melting power?!" Colette was now curious, her eyes glimmered despite the cold atmosphere.

"T-That's sounds a bit farfetch-h-h-ed." I sighed.

"Based on the taste it is not Table Salt but De-Icing Salt. This decreases the freezing point of water hence it can be in a liquid state at such temperatures." Daisuke elaborated.

"Oh!" Colette said before taking a photo of Daisuke and me at the sink.

"Colette please! Warn us beforehand!" I moaned before rubbing my eyes.

"Daisuke this is strange? Your left eye is purple now but in my previous picture it's orange." Colette pondered.

"See, you camera refracts the light at the lense altering the colour to look orange. My eye has always been purple." Colette was scratching her head.

"Hey Monokuma?" Tomo called out. Unlike the others, the chill appeared to have no effect on her. "This floor does not have a toilet!"

"Pupupupupu….HAHAHAHA! You are gonna love this!" Monokuma laughed before reaching behind his back into hammerspace. "TA-DA! Introducing Momokuma's Excrement Bucket!" Monokuma unveiled a dark gray bucket with Monokuma's face emblazoned upon it.

"You mean we have to use that! NO WAY!" Kohana detested.

"Alright! That sounds radic-"

"No it doesn't!" Teinosuke raged pushing Akira out the way. "Monokuma! You are taking the piss! You still haven't give my back my sword!"

"I see what you did that Teinosuke! Taking the piss!" Monokuma giggled. Teinosuke was speechless.

"You boys have it easy you can stand up while peeing!" Homura exclaimed. "Monokuma how are we girls suppose to use it!"

"Simple! You simply crouch!" Monokuma giggled.

"It reminds me when I went hunting in the forest." Tomo recalled.

"Don't worry everyone gets one! All you have to is add a small 'Monokuma's Excrement Treating Chemical' to the bucket, do your business then add lots of water!" Monokuma spoke as he was demonstrating causing slight distress to us. "One you are done then come into the lab and pour it down this sink." Monokuma said referring to the sink at the very back of the lab. It had a red metallic label which read 'Excrement Only!' "In case they are any chunky bits you can always use garbage disposer incorporated into the sink." Monokuma flicked a red switch to the right of the sink resulting in a grinding noise to fill the room.

"Hey, can't we all just use the toilets on the ground floor?" I questioned while Monokuma was still demonstrating.

"Pupupupu...Taka you will soon find out why some of you can't use them!" Monokuma laughed. "Well guys that concludes our tour of the Endothermic Cryogenic Floor! It's has been beary interesting, I can bearly contain myself...but things are about to heat up! So let's go the second floor."

Monokuma was not lying as the third floor was the completely the opposite to the first floor.

"So...hot…" Isobel complained.

"This is the Exothermic Pyrogenic Floor!

The layout of the floor was the same as the the first floor. But the tiles and colour scheme was a sun orange. The thermostat read 50°C. Instead of a coat rack beneath it, there was a fridge with seven water bottles in it. Each around 500 millilitres. Just like the previous floor it had six bedrooms to the right of the elevator and a lab to the left. However instead of a large fridge there was large oven in place but there was still a mat with a pillow on the floor. It is a crimson red instead. Instead of frozen meat there was meat there were boxes on the shelves. There was also a monitor on the floor.

"I need a drink…" Masaaki whined as his hand reached towards the fridge.

"NO!" Monokuma shouted resulting in Masaaki's hand retracting his hand. "Bad Masaaki! Bad! These drinks are off-limit for the time being."

"Monokuma...you are telling us we can't do a lot of things and you are not even expanding upon it." I told the half-white half-black bear.

"Don't worry Taka! I said all will be explained soon!" Monokuma brushed my query to the side. He is up to something...and whatever he did it can't be good.

"HOT! HOT! HOT!" Amy wailed. I entered the lab and saw Amy fanning her hand in the air and the water gushed out of the tap. Steam ascended from the sink. Just like the lab beneath us, there was also an 'Excrement Only!' sink at the back.

"Amy you should be more careful." Botan turned off the tap.

"I guess it...err..boils down to this!" Ilaria had a cheeky grin on her face. "See...I can...err...do pons…"

"Please don't." James spoke. "Also it's pronounced 'puns' not pons."

"So I assuming there are no toilets on this floor either." The Huntress enquired.

"Nope! But since the hot climate can cause the excrement to stink add a small drop of 'Monokuma's Happy Fragrance' for added delight!" Monokuma held a small purple bottle which had a daisy flower on it.

"Anyway! Time for the last floor!" Monokuma instructed.

The third floor was the roof of the building. It had completely barren with a high metal fence around the perimeter. The top of the fence had barbed wire and the fence a yellow warning sign saying 'Danger! 10'000 volts!'

"Shocking! Isn't it!" Monokuma laughed.

"Ok, can we just stop with the puns." James seemed vexed. The only noticeable in the whole floor the large TV in the centre of the floor. It was on and there were three columns on the screen. The titles of the columns were 'Neutral' 'Heat Up!' and 'Cool Down!'

"At least it's not too hot or too cool here." Isobel sighed out of relief.

"Ok! Now this is where the fun begins...and where despair will blossom….ahhhh…" Monokuma started shivering with excitement.

"Get on with it!" Kohana yelled.

"So intimidating…anyway! The game we are about to play is Heat Up or Cool Down. Allow me to explain the rules of the game! The 16 of you will be split into 3 groups. One group will have 2 people and other two will have 7. Each group will be imprisoned in one of the floors and will not be allowed to leave those floors."

"What! In those extremes conditions!" Homura yelled.

"Yep! Every two hours, however, I will allow a switch for another person in each group." Monokuma explained.

"I see now! This is the motive!" I realised.

"Pupupu...HAHAHA! Taka, it is not just the motive but to ensure that despair blossoms. Seeing you guys shivering or sizzling...suffering." Monokuma giggled again.

"You sly bastard!" Masaaki roared.

"Based on the number of bedrooms on each floor, the group with two will be on the ground floor and the other groups will be on the other floors." Daisuke concluded.

"And the miniguns is to ensure no one but those switching use the elevator." Tomo added.

"DING DING DING! Correcto!" Monokuma did a thumbs up. Monokuma reached behind his back a pulled a remote from behind his back. "Times to Heat Up or Cool Down!" Monokuma said as if he was gameshow host before pushing a button on the remote. Abruptly names appeared beneath the columns on the screen. Under Neutral it read Tomo and Daisuke. Under Heat Up it read Botan, Amy, Ilaria, Masaaki, Homura, Akira and Colette. Cool Down it read Teinosuke, Taka, Hirano, James, Kohana, Isobel and Jester.

"Damn it! I kinda was looking forward to peeing in the bucket." Tomo seemed disappointed. This is going to be brutal.

"Everyone into the elevator now! I wanted to see despair now! I want it…" Monokuma shivered again. Before ushering everyone into the elevator. When it arrived on the second floor, Botan, Amy, Ilaria, Masaaki, Homura, Akira and Colette departed off the lift.

"Well I guess we won't see each other in a wh-" The elevator doors slammed shut cutting off Colette who tried to say farewell. The lift doors opened onto the first floor.

"Good luck everyone! Don't worry we will see each other soo-" Tomo was interrupted by the doors sliding closed.

So cold Jester wrote on his notepad. It was indeed freezing.

"D-d-do you think we can wear this jackets?" Isobel asked.

"I d-don't see why n-not?" Hirano spoke. I approached the jackets and checked the sizes of the jackets. They ranged from XXS-XXL.

"S-so who is going to get w-which?" I wondered.

"J-J-James is the biggest one here so he should get the XXL…" Hirano declared.

"The coat may add a bit of class." James smiled taking the biggest coat.

"No offense Jester but you are the smallest one here. Followed by Hirano." Kohana spoke. This resulted in Hirano and Jester taking the XS and XXS jacket respectively.

"Based on our bodies...Teinosuke is muscular so he should take the XL coat then Isobel gets the Large then Kohana gets the Medium and Small to Taka." Hirano spoke.

"I am taking the large coat! Fatso can take the Extra Large!" Teinosuke declared taking the large coat of the rack. Kohana grabbed the coat.

"Teinosuke I hate people like you. Selfish and judgemental." Kohana expressed.

"Kohana, you are always interfering with my actions. Do you want to fight the Ultimate Warrior again. I am a superior fighter. Although my strong suit is with a sword, I can still fight one on one." Teinosuke declared.

"You do not know who you are messing with." Kohana glared at Teinosuke who glared.

"Guys...come on we need to work together! We are basically hostages here!" I cried out.

"I agree, Taka is right!" Hirano agreed. Abruptly Teinosuke punched me in the stomach causing saliva to splatter out of my mouth and me to collapse on my knees.

"Taka!" Isobel, Hirano and Jester gathered around me.

"This just got interesting…" James remarked.

"Taka! You always pissed me off!"

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR SHIT!" Kohana exclaimed before doing a roundhouse kick smashing Teinosuke's head into the wall resulting in a huge crack to form in the wall where the impact occurred. Teinosuke flopped down onto the floor. Blood oozed out of his head. Is he alive...we all stood there...in horror.

A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! I hope you in enjoy this chapter.