Act 2-1: Love Is In The Air - Shoot It Down

My name is Ashley Jubilee Jung. I am the Super High School Level K-Pop Idol. I'm going to be attending Hope's Peak Academy, if I can just pass their entrance exam…

Which two of my friends have failed, and, as a direct consequence, have died.

...It's a long story, the details of which I'd rather not go into, because I still feel sick thinking about it, but I suppose a brief summary wouldn't hurt me more than it already has.

In the span of eight hours, I have seen the bloody aftermath of the murder of JJ Jackson, the Super High School Level Lawyer, and the brutal execution of Ava Tremblay, the Super High School Level Hockey Player, his murderer.

And I personally voted to send Ava to her death.

Allyourfaultallyourfaultallyourfault-

It's not...I didn't know Monokuma's punishment had been death...Besides, Ava herself gave the go-ahead. We didn't know it would end like that!

Allyourfaultallyourfaultallyourfault-

It's not my fault, it's not my fault! It's everyone's fau-

It's not everyone's fault. It's Monokuma's fault!

Allyourfaultallyourfaultallyourfault-

It's-!

"Well? Aren't you going to say it?"

...That voice. I should have known it was him.

The face melted out of the shadows once again. The same cruel sneer played on his lips.

"Say it. I know you want to, Juvi."

He's right. This is all my faul...

All my f...

All...

...

...?

I opened my eyes. I must have been crying, because there were drops of water trailing down my face.

Or, well, perhaps it was because I was still under the shower.

Turning it off, I picked up a fluffy towel, and dried myself. However, my mind couldn't keep itself from wandering back to that wonderful little conversation in the recesses of my mind, between my darling stepbrother and me.

...My manager says I can't express sarcasm very well either. I gotta improve on that.

Since it would be poor taste in fashion to wear the same outfit for three days, I switched to one of the outfits I had brought along in my luggage. Today's new attire was a checkered black-and-white long-sleeve shirt and a pair of regular dark green jeans, with a black flannel shirt tied around my waist for good measure.

It's the kind of outfit the gals and I wear just for practicing - makes us look in style.

Unsteadily, I opened the door and trudged down to the atrium. Nothing seemed quite real. It was as though I was in a haze.

I'm following my normal routine. I'm going to the atrium, then I'm going to eat lunch. Nico and I are going to joke around, Sasha will fight with Eric, Hideki will make a joke about his eyepatch, Jackie and Matthew will sit at the same table, and Maya will say something morbid. Same as before, except now three people won't be there.

They won't be anywhere.

Todd Dunham, JJ Jackson, and Ava Tremblay will never again eat lunch.

There were only a few people in the atrium.

"Hey, Ashley. Good afternoon. You look better, you know?" Hideki smiled, but I could tell he was still unsettled by today morning's events.

Did he not bring a change of clothes? He's wearing the exact same thing he was wearing yesterday and this morning!

"Excuse you," muttered Hideki under his breath. "This shirt is slightly bluer than the one I wore yesterday."

"Yeah," I nodded, "I can see the difference."

I couldn't see the difference.

"Regardless, that's six people now." He turned to Maya. "And you said that no one would be coming."

She shrugged. "I guess I underestimated people's ability to walk right back downstairs to eat right after a murder."

Maya had on a slightly different, but nonetheless nightmarish outfit. If the last one's motif was eyes, this one was the whole face. Pitch-black in colour, I could see two of said faces on it - the one featured on the front looked like a smiling cartoonish clown, except warped to the point of the clown looking...deranged. The other was yet another clown, although this one's makeup was running, the cause of which I could infer from his tearstains. Unnervingly enough, this clown was looking up, but at what, I couldn't tell.

"Well, I suppose it hasn't fully sunk in on some of us," muttered Johan, flicking back the sleeves of his oversized white sweater, which was new. He gestured to Eric. "Mostly talking about him, y'know."

"Hey!" Eric adjusted his black vest angrily, "At least I'm not still in my room."

"Everyone."

We all turned to look at the person who had spoken. Her hands rested on the edge of the table, and she wore a long military-styled dark olive coat, over her normal dress shirt and jeans.

"Please..." Sasha sighed slowly, "Just...shut the fuck up!"

"Hey, watch your bloody language!" retaliated Eric angrily.

"Watch your tone!" she replied.

I'm getting a strange feeling of deja vu.

"Both of you stop acting like babies!" implored Johan.

Someone elbowed me lightly.

"This is hilarious," said Maya under her breath, a grin on her face.

"Ugh, why do I have to deal with them…" muttered Hideki to no one in particular. "Will you people just-"

"Eagle One. Calm yourself."

Sasha looked at the person who had just placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're right. I'm sorry, Xiang."

Hideki sighed. "How you ever got to be nominated for a Peace Prize, I'll never know."

Sasha stared at him angrily. "Regardless, we should be doing something, not sitting around and waiting for the others."

"What is there to do, though?" asked Eric.

"For starters, Ashie, could you help me?"

Nico half-walked, half dragged Lucille, who had a blank stare etched on her face, into the Atrium, before setting her down by one of the sofas.

"She's…" she murmured, "Well, she's seen better days."

Nico, like nearly everyone else, was wearing a fresh change of clothes. A simple black sleeveless top, along with detached sleeves hugged her thin frame, going nicely with her short shorts and stockings - she'd kept the laced boots and ring.

I sat down next to Lucille, and watched as Nico tried in vain to incite some sort of positive reaction out of her. Waving her hands in front of her face did nothing - and neither did any funny faces.

"Lucille, do you want some food?" asked Johan.

"Non," she muttered so quietly I could barely hear her, with that same thousand-yard stare etched on her face.

Well, I guess any reaction is better than none at all…

"I suppose I've walked in on a bad time?" Tien asked, stepping in.

"What bloody clued you in?" Eric snarked back in return.

"Language," said Maya.

"We don't have time for this. We have to do some-" Hideki was cut off by his violent, face-first collision with the ground.

"Oh, shucks, wrong person! Sorry, mate! Didn't mean that at all!" Eric immediately rushed to help his accidental victim off of the floor.

"As much as I would have wanted to trip him myself, Kenta's actually right for once," said Sasha. "We need to do something."

Hideki rubbed the back of his head in pain. "Hey, I'm right about a lot of things - and while we're not actively arguing, can I just ask you how the hell you can take a fire extinguisher at a relatively high velocity to the face and barely react but I somehow get tripped by…" he stared as Eric, as though he was trying to figure out how to phrase it politely, "...him."

Sasha shrugged. "Just the way the cookie crumbles."

"Oh, hey guys!"

We turned to see someone entering the room. It was Matthew, and he looked positively disturbed, with blood-shot eyes and a messily buttoned, improperly tucked-in shirt.

"Are you okay?" asked Nico slowly.

"Yeah, I think I'm fine, I just…" he wheezed, "I did just watch someone get brutally killed but...I'm fine."

He was clearly struggling to believe his own words.

"Good day, everyone," said Faen in a confident tone of voice as he walked into the room, seemingly composed, sat down, and stared straight ahead.

"Oh, wow. I think he's in shock," Maya whispered to me. "That's awesome. Never actually seen that happen before."

"Maya, don't be rude. Faen's only human." I whispered back.

"Still hilarious-"

Any reply she had was interrupted by the sound of a door opening, and then closing. Jackie stared blankly at the floor, sat down, and began to stare blankly at a wall. Her mascara had begun to run down her face, leaving two thin black lines framing her cheeks.

"...Bonjour." she murmured.

Evidently, no one was in the mood to talk - it had been the first brush with such a cruel method of death any of us had ever seen.

"Except me."

Not the time, Maya. Not the time- Wait, what?

"Well, it looks like everyone's here!"

Oh no...Not again…

From the top of the fountain, a familiar monochromatic bear leapt down, landing on his feet. He proceeded to shake his body, drenching those of us too close to him.

"I was beginning to think you bastards weren't ever gonna show up!" he crooned, "What, did a little execution get you down?"

"Leave us alone!" Hideki barked, "Ataru or Yukari or whoever the hell's in there, beat it before I make you!"

"Upupu? Why so upset, Surgeon?" he waved his paw at him. "Don't tell me...You actually liked the stupid Hockey Bitc- OOF!"

Whatever he was going to say next was cut off as something struck him on the head, tearing it clean off, and launching it into the fountain.

Lucille breathed heavily as she unclenched the fist that had punched Monokuma. "Don't you dare speak of Ava like zhat."

For a moment, all was silent.

"Okay, fine, never speak ill of the dead whatever, we were wrong."

Yet another Monokuma robot walked in through the doors that led to the ballroom and beyond, its claws gleaming. "But try that stunt one more time, and I'll make sure the chandelier actually kills someone."

I went up and tugged her shoulder, "Lucille, please. Ava wouldn't want you to follow in her footsteps."

For a moment, she was tense, until she sighed, and returned, unblinking and unsmiling, to her seat.

"So anyways, you must be wondering why I've called you all here this afternoon!"

"You didn't call us. We gathered here of our own accord." Matthew pointed out.

"Meh, who gives a fuck? You bastards are all here, so I guess I'll just be giving out some rewards!"

Rewards…? For what?!

"For up and committing murder without me telling you guys to, of course! I mean, I'm supposed to give this to Ava, but oh well, you guys will have to do."

"You're a sick asshole, you know that?" Eric growled.

"Yeah, and you're never getting laid. None of us are perfect."

"Hey!"

"Anyways!" Monokuma snapped his fingers, "You didn't think this airship was so small, did you? My reward to you guys is the second floor!"

Party poppers from nowhere exploded, dropping confetti all over him as he began dancing some kind of...expressionist dance.

"Calling belly dancing expressionist is a bit of a stretch, is it not?" Faen asked.

How is it I never notice when I'm speaking my thoughts out loud?

"Upupupupupupu! That's right, I'm unlocking a new floor for you guys to go to, so look at the fountain and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain and all that shit!"

With that, he disappeared, and I felt the floor beneath me rumble.

The sensation grew in magnitude, and some of us who were standing up had to lean against the nearest possible thing for support. About a minute later, the rumbling abruptly died down, as the unicorn started to move oh my god.

"Is everything on this airship a freaking robot?!" Nico screamed in fright, backing away from the fountain.

The unicorn reared up on its hind legs, before kneeling down, its horn inserting itself into a slot that appeared in the middle of the atrium. When it stopped moving the two-way escalator built into its mane started to operate as the water from the cascading waterfall diverted its flow to either side of the machinery.

"Perhaps...Upupupupu!"

Monokuma made his grand reappearance, standing on the escalator going down. Stepping off at the bottom, he gestured to the escalator going up. "All yours!"

Nobody even twitched.

"I'll three-finger salute anyone who'd like to go first?" Eric offered.

Tien sighed, "Guess I'll be the sacrifice. There's a rational explanation for Monokuma being this generous, and I guess it's up to me to find out how."

Sasha nodded. "I salute you, brave hero."

Eric three-finger saluted her. "May the odds be ever in your favor."

"It isn't odds. It's logic." With a sigh, Tien stepped onto the escalator. All of us watched as she ascended, slowly growing smaller and smaller until she was out of sight.

"D'you think she's dead?" asked Maya after five minutes.

"I'd think she would've screamed," said Matthew, adjusting his glasses with sweaty hands.

"Hey, guys! Come up here! It's safe, but it isn't exactly what you'd expect!"

Sasha was the first onto it, elbowing Eric out of the way and knocking him into the fountain on her way up. Xiang was right behind her. Maya followed, then Johan. The rest of us streamed onto the escalator, with a soaked and miserable Eric bringing up the rear.

Well, except for Hideki and I.

"Why aren't you getting on the escalator?" I asked, foot hovering over the opening steps.

He seemed lost in thought. "I just...I'm not quite sure if it's safe."

"Hey, I doubt Monokuma would wipe all of us out at once."

"...Okay, fine. I'll trust you on this." Hideki adjusted his gloves and stepped onto the escalator.

The sight that greeted us at the top of the escalator was certainly something to behold.

Level unlocked: 2nd Floor Aft!

1st Floor Aft

2nd Floor Aft

Selected Level: 2nd Floor Aft

Swimming Pool

Selected Area: Swimming Pool

A large swimming pool with the Hope's Peak Academy logo on the ground. There is a hot tub off to the side, a large slide built into a staircase by the far wall, and several doors which presumably lead to the changing rooms.

"A swimming pool?" muttered Maya dryly. "That's the big reveal?"

"Well, it is a rather nice swimming pool…" Faen mused.

I could see the metaphorical lightbulb blink to life above Nico's head. "We could have a pool party!"

"Somehow I doubt that would be a great idea, given the circumstances," muttered Hideki.

"It certainly wasn't worth any of you getting worked up over," said Tien as she crossed to the water. "Although…"

She leaned over to the water, sniffed it, and got on her knees.

"What're you-"

Hideki was cut off by Tien rolling up her sleeve to her elbow and shoving her arm into the pool.

He looked right at her. "What was that supposed to accomplish, exactly?"

"I was checking to see if the water was acidic, alkaline or otherwise tampered with in any way. Upon observation, it appears to just be regular water, although there may be long-lasting effects that-"

"You thought there was a good enough chance that it was acid that you needed to check, and yet you stuck your arm in?" Sasha pointed out.

"Better my arm than one of your lives." Tien rolled her sleeve back down. "Regardless, it doesn't appear that there's much more to the pool than meets the eye. Let's explore the rest of the area, shall we?"

We nodded in agreement, before all turning to Hideki.

Evidently, the sight of twelve students all focusing their gazes on him caused him to visibly cringe, before he sputtered, "What are you all looking at me for? Do I really have to tell you people where to go and what to do?"

"No," muttered Sasha angrily, grabbing Xiang by the arm. "Let's go, Xiang."

"I...alright." He stared blankly forward as Sasha dragged him away.

"...Well. That was unexpected." Hideki shook his head, "Then-"

Before he could continue, Jackie grabbed Matthew. "Let us proceed onwards, Matthew!"

"Okay- wait, huh?" he could only gasp, as he was pulled away from our sight.

"..."

Everyone began leaving, and, soon enough, only Hideki and I remained by the swimming pool, once again.

"Okay," I turned to Hideki. "Where do you wanna search?"

He quite resembled a goldfish, if the goldish only had one eye, and was gasping for air.

Sighing in defeat, he shrugged. "...Let's just check the changing rooms. It's the closest."

"Alright then."

Act 2-1 FIN

13 Students Remaining

A/N: Guess what's back, back back

Back again, gain, gain

AFoFD's back, back, back

Tell a friend, friend, friend. -Lime

Well well well. We have returned from the realm of the dead. Or, well, not dead. I'd say we got close though. Mostly because there were a bunch of SYOC-related things we had to do and...yeah. ( I may or may not have had a meltdown over SYOCs because being around SD gives me an inferiority complex - Lime) (Well, I'm sorry, sugar, I'm just good at what I do. - SD) (Don't call me sugar, honey. - Lime) (Go drink your iced tea. - SD) (Fine. Maybe I will. I bet it's delicious. - Lime) In any case, welcome back to our update schedule, because that's what you people ever care about. :3 (Only five reviews on the last chapter? Disgraceful. - Lime)

Anyways, this was a shorter chapter compared to our usual, but after the crazy motown funk of the trial, we thought it best to start lowball. It's also up to you guys to vote in the brand-new Free-Time poll. You may notice that you have nine votes. We are going to have ten free-times, but one of them is going to be something completely different. What that is...well, you'll see. - SD

Now, despite me having been absurdly invested in Sonic-For-Real-Justice (it's like a soap opera! But better!) and SD probably doing things too, we will be returning to our normal 2-3 day update schedule. Prepare yourselves for constant spamming of your emails. I apologize in advance. - Lime