Act 3-6: We Should Have Implemented Hope Shards

We walked back into the meeting room, and Hideki signalled for me to take a seat.

Another meeting, huh? He sure likes those a whole lot…

The rest filed in. He waited until everyone had gotten comfortable before starting again. "Due to the lack of yelling and screaming I'm going to assume that no one has found anything new?"

Unfortunately, that appeared to be precisely the case, as the ennui in the air grew stronger. "What's the point of having these meetings anyways?" Johan asked without any real malice.

"I just wanted to ensure that all of us are still on good terms with each other," Hideki explained. "Both JJ's murder and my attempted murder of Ashley occurred as a direct or indirect result of poor relations, and I am not taking any risks."

At the mention of the attempted murder, Sasha's expression visibly soured. They'd already looked angry, but this was impressive even for them.

I sighed to myself and returned my attention to Hideki. Whatever bothered Sasha, I could afford to wait until the meeting was over to check up on them.

Evidently the others noticed it too, because Nico suddenly interjected. "We're all still gelling well, aren't we? This time, the motive isn't as serious or paranoia-worthy as the last…" she trailed off, trying to decide on the number, "Two, so I think we can get through this without anything going wrong, right? I'd like to think I can still believe in you guys."

"...I beg to disagree." Eric sighed. "It's very possible that someone is selfish enough to sacrifice everyone for the person they care about. Hell, I don't even trust my own bloody self."

The murmurs of assent echoed throughout the conference room, and, much as I'd have liked to deny it, the thought did cross my mind.

And with every whisper that followed Hideki's face grew increasingly haggard. "Then I would like to ask that...if you honestly do plan on murdering someone, please go after me."

Everyone froze up and stared at him, but no one was more shocked than-

Well, me.

"Hideki, you can't be serious!" I cried.

"I am, Ashley. I already broke our group's trust by trying to engineer your murder once, and thus have no objections if anyone wishes to oust me." His voice turned steely. "That doesn't imply I'm going to let myself roll over and die, however. I still urge you all to control whatever thoughts you may have of achieving this motive's resolution-"

He was interrupted by the sound of someone loudly golf-clapping. A cruel grin spread across Sasha's face as they applauded. "I must say, it's nice to see even someone like you take responsibility. I'd be willing to take you up on that offer...were I the idiot you think I am. I second the motion for future murderers to target Kenta."

I paled. "Sasha, no." I grabbed their arm. "Don't encourage him, please! This isn't something anyone can take lightly, and I don't want him to die as much as…"

'You do' doesn't appear to be the right option here.

"I just don't want anyone to die, okay?" I sighed. When did our peace fall apart atr the seams?

"I don't like murder, but when the person who took what should be mine and attempted to poison the only still living friend I've had in years volunteers to die I've gotta throw my two cents in," they argued back, and the revelations sink in.

Took what should be mine? They must mean the leadership role...

"Is this what your whole vendetta is about?" Hideki brought a hand up to massage his head. "Because of my selfish decision, which, need I remind you I never went through with, you wish death upon me."

"Yeah. If I tried to kill someone that someone cared about I'd invite them to try to kill me right the fuck back. Fair is fair, Kenta."

The rest of the conference room had remained quiet before, but Faen broke the apparent tête-à-tête. "Mx. Oryolov, Mr. Kenta, please, this is no place to be openly hostile to each other."

Sasha raised an eyebrow. "I'm openly hostile to most people. Murder games don't change that."

"But surely you can attempt to defuse ze mood? It will not do to have all of us suspicious of each other when such a motive is in ze play." Lucille quietly stated.

"It's going to help." Sasha scoffed. "When there's potential murderers around it's best to be on edge. Properly paranoid."

Matthew looked away. "Being paranoid about it was what lead to Xiang's death, you know. We all couldn't trust each other to reveal our secrets, and Tien might not have done anything if-"

Sasha cut him off. "She would have just murdered him anyway! Do you think that the threat of her precious secret getting out wouldn't be enough to stop that sociopath from murdering someone? Do you think this motive isn't going to give some of you lovebirds ideas? There's at least seven people here with probable motive, and I'm not going to flinch away from saying that I am certainly one of them. We cannot afford to be relaxed in a killing game!" They sighed and leaned down on the table, breathing heavily.

"...Tien isn't a sociopath. She was a genuinely good person who just fell into the wrong set of circumstances."

Nico stole the words from my mouth. "We can't go around suspecting everyone of everything, Sasha. Just because the motive is tempting doesn't mean we have to stoop so low to doubt everyone who could be affected by it."

She paused, before adding as an afterthought. "And when did we all agree that this was a killing game? Do you really want to propagate what Yukari's trumpeting all this time?"

"...I am not agreeing with Nishiyima. But that's what this is. It's a game and we can follow the rules or we can try to prevent murders. By being vigilant. Friendship doesn't stop bad people. People like Lam. You can't call someone who murdered an innocent person in cold blood a good person. My father was far nicer in casual conversation than her. Next you'll call him a good person."

"Pardon." Eric spoke up from the corner. "While I do agree with Sasha that Tien was off her bloody knocker, this is starting to get a tiny bit heated. I don't want someone to get hurt. Can all of you just...calm down? Discuss this civilly if you need to, but this is all unnecessary."

Matthew nodded. "Eric is totally right. All of us need to stop arguing like this. Whether paranoia or calmness turns out to be the right solution, arguing is just increasing the likelihood of murder."

"We're not getting anything done here." Maya snarked, snacking on some popcorn I didn't even know she'd brought. "This boring-ass meeting might as well just adjourn already. It's clear we're not going to make any progress while Sasha and Hideki are both still alive and at each other's throats."

Hideki was quick to respond. "Now, look here, Maya, I'm not-"

"Admit it. Leaders are all the same. I just have the decency to admit it." Sasha sighed. "You guys are...right, actually. Let's adjourn before someone actually gets hurt."

"Sasha, with all due respect, I'm a leader because I want to ensure no one actually gets hurt. Adjourning now would only serve to add fuel to the fire, and if we-"

They rolled their eyes, cutting him off once again. "Doing a damn good job of that, aren't you? Five people are fucking dead. You almost contributed to the death toll. Why anyone is letting someone like you lead is beyond me, because you, frankly, are a shit leader. I say we make this democratic. Hold an election. I don't think either of us would win, frankly, but anyone's better than a murderer."

Guys...

"In fact, I think someone else entirely should lead us." They smiled just a tiny bit. "Ashley is best suited for the role."

Guys- wait, what?!

I blanched once I realized everyone's eyes were now on me. "I'm...Guys, look, I'm not suited for a leader role." My voice came out less confidently than I would have hoped. "I can lead a girls' group, but I can't lead our group because-"

"I wouldn't mind."

Hideki looked at me with one doleful eye. "I am not opposed to the idea of Ashley as our new leader, if that is what it will take to convince Sasha to drop their argument.

"Don't call me Sasha. We aren't friends." They sighed. "This is not a matter of me being pissy for no reason. This is a matter of you being both incompetent and a murderer, Kenta."

"Incompetent and not fit for a leader, perhaps, but what is with you and your obsession with calling me a murderer?" Hideki asked, his fists shaking. "I was straight-up with you all about it, and you still can't trust me?"

"You attempted to murder someone." They glared back. "I'm objectively a terrible, unlikeable person, but I was prepared to reveal the secret that made me miserable all these years to save people. You tried to kill someone over yours. Not only that, your friend. Someone who trusted you. At least Lam had the decency to choose a random victim. Betraying someone's trust like that is the worst thing you could possibly do."

"I-"

It was at that moment that Maya probably decided enough was enough. "Sheesh, leave it up to the Failure to solve your problems for you," she snarked, getting up. Walking over to where Sasha had already gotten into Hideki's face (by glaring right into his eyes- well, eye) during the course of their argument, she crouched down.

"Fuck this shit, get out!"

Launching herself at them, she took advantage of their combined surprise to push them out of the door to the stairwell that led back up to the swimming pool. "Now, you two settle your goddamn argument outside, while the rest of us will Netflix and chill minus the Netflix back in here. And don't you dare come back until the two of you have reached a conclusion, capiche?"

She didn't even give them time to respond before slamming the door.

We stared at her with equal expressions of incredulity, shock, and respect that she actually pulled that off.

"Uh, Maya, y'do realize that the 'chill' in 'Netflix and chill' doesn't refer to actual chilling, right?" Eric muttered under his breath.

"You're in here for a reason. Now shut up, I need a nap." She strolled back to her own seat, before setting her legs up on the conference table and lying back.

He just looked confused. "And that reason is...sex?"

"Don't make me repeat what I did to you poolside."

Several people winced at that. Eric shut up quickly, turning away. "Nevermind it is."

We waited in silence for some time. And some more time. "Uh...What do we do now?" Johan spoke up, uneasy.

Nico turned to me, and I realized that without the other two in the room Sasha's appeal for me to be the interim leader held that much more weight. "Ashie, should we, like, check up on the two of them?"

"I think they'll come back in when they've resolved stuff…" I said uneasily. Resolving stuff didn't seem to be on Sasha or Hideki's agendas.

"Don't you think we should at least ensure zhat zhey're not trying to murder each other outside?" Lucille asked.

It was Jackie who addressed the question. "Not to sound rude or grim or anything, but if one of zhem turn up dead, it should be fairly easy to deduce zhat ze other is their killer, no? And besides, I doubt zhey are ze kind to stupidly kill over an argument."

And with that, our doubts were settled, and we started to talk.

= = Free Time! = =

Free Time with Matthew and Jackie?

[Yes] [No]

I found myself seated next to the usual power couple, who looked much worse for wear.

"When I thought about leaving Gin's sorry ass in the embassy, I didn't expect for this to happen- Oh!" Jackie hurriedly changed the topic. "Hi, Ashley! How are you holding up with your boyfriend and something-or-another-friend arguing out in the hallway?"

Even for you, that was low. "Um...How am I supposed to answer?" I shot back, tired from all the stress and arguing. "The relationship between Hideki and Sasha is tumultuous at best, and I don't think I ever want to see it get to its worst."

"It's unfortunate, really." Matthew scribbled something down on a notebook, before sighing. "I honestly think the two of them would have been good teammates working together in any other circumstance but this. In fact, if we all had worked as a team from the start, maybe we could have prevented both Todd's disappearance and the subsequent murders…"

I groaned. It's been a week, and still no sign of Todd anywhere. Nico is right, where could he have gone?

"Keep up hope, you two." I said, more out of necessity than anything else at this point. Sure, it might be useless, but when the odds were never in your favour to begin with, at least there's something we can still strive for. "Don't let circumstances change who you are, because it's only through the fire and the flames that the real you starts to shine."

"...Did you just quote a line from your hit single?" Jackie asked with a smile, and I immediately bursted out laughing at having been found out so easily.

I took two weeks to write that line!

Matthew patted my shoulder as I calmed down. "I, well, we appreciate the thought though. Thanks a lot, Ashley. I'm sure you're actually a good leader even if you deny it."

I shrugged. There wasn't much I could say against that, but I was still pretty sure that I wasn't going to be leading anyone anytime soon.

Matthew Tanner - Level 2!

Jacqueline 'Jackie' Ressa - Level 2!

Moving on to a familiar face, I sat myself down next to Nico, who waved hello with a yawn. Her forehead had regained most of its natural colour, and a short pat revealed that the fever had gone down considerably, which was good.

"Thanks for checking up on me, Ashie." She smiled, before her expression turned morose and she sighed. "If only the situation could get better in my place - I'd trade a week of being sick and bedridden if it allowed everyone to enjoy a week free of our torture."

I nodded sympathetically. "Penny for your thoughts? It's always better to share than to let it all build up inside you."

= = Free Time! = =

Free Time with Nico?

[Yes] [No]

"For starters, I'm confused," she admitted. "I thought we'd already stuck to one format."

Format? I thought, slightly confused. "What do you mean?"

"Usually, after we've had this meeting, the tone of the group would just cool down and we'd all be chill, but the tension…" she sighed unhappily. "There's just so much tension and animosity in the air. It's hard to keep a smile on your face when everything around you is just threatening to go to shit just as fast, y'know?"

I bit my lip. Nico took the last motive really hard, and judging by the way she was still protectively cradling herself, the revisited memories of her botched surgery must have hung greatly over her head.

"It's alright."

I hugged her. "We all appreciate you smiling, Nico. I'm envious that you can still find it within yourself to keep on smiling for our sakes, but it's okay, yeah?"

She hesitated, before hugging me back. "I know...Thanks for cheering me up, though, Ashie. I needed that pep talk."

"Of course. What are friends for?" I asked, giggling, once we pulled away.

She grinmed cheekily. "To push the blame on after you screw up?"

We laughed it off, and the smile remained on her face...That's definitely a great sign.

Nicolette Birza - Level 3!

After I turned away from Nico, someone else immediately caught my eye.

It was Eric, who was moping in a corner, looking concerned in a shockingly un-Eric manner. Then again, he'd been behaving so unlike himself lately in general.

Maybe the accent wasn't the only thing Eric was faking.

I sighed and walked towards him. No matter how much of him was an act, he looked sad, and I wanted to help.

"Hey, Eric," I said cheerfully as I approached him.

He looked up from the floor, which he'd been staring at. "...hm? Something up?"

= = Free Time! = =

Free Time with Eric?

[Yes] [No]

"Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing."

He sighed. "I'm fine, thank you very much. Absolutely peachy."

"There's no need to be sarcastic. I'm just trying to help."

He sighed again, deeper this time. "Really, I'm fine. Just a bit worried about…" He tilted his head towards the door. "That."

"Oh." I nodded. "I see. I worry about them too, but I'm sure they'll be able to smooth things out. They always do."

"Mhm, probably." He sighed once more, looking far more subdued than I'd ever seen him. "'S just a bit stressful, seeing my bro like that. I don't want either of them to get hurt…"

"Me neither." But was it really possible for them to resolve it peacefully at this point? The two really hated each other a lot… "Maya was impressive, though."

He smiled a tiny bit. "She really was, wasn't she? Bloody brilliant. Still, I can't help but worry one of them's dead in the hallway."

I paled a tiny bit. Would they really...no, they wouldn't. It's not like either of them to kill someone over a dispute.

But would they kill over something else? Something like...the motive?

I shook my head. This was no time for thoughts like that. "Neither of them would murder someone over something like this, Eric. I'm sure of it. I trust my friends at least this much."

"Trust...may be a strong word. Hideki's my bro but Sasha has a point too. Neither of them are totally right, but still...no one here is who they seem." He leaned in slightly, dropping the accent as he muttered "I'm obviously no exception. If I can fake an accent someone else can fake a personality, alright?"

"I...guess so." But I don't want to believe that any of my friends are lying to me...even though it's a real possibility.

He leaned back, accent back on. "Don't worry about it too much, though. We can't get all depressed. That's what the damn pilots want, ain't it?"

"Yeah, that's true." There was something so very off about Eric, but I supposed I'd worry about that later. Hideki and Sasha were far more pressing.

Eric Andrews - Level 2!

"I...I am getting worried about them, though. I kinda want to go check on them."

He nodded. "That's fine. Don't think I'd help much, though."

Getting up, I walked over to the door, aware that what I was about to see might not be pretty. At least I don't hear any sounds of fighting...

= = Free Time! = =

Free Time with Sasha and Hideki?

[Yes] [No]

The last thing I'd expected was to see the two of them with backs to each other, staring at opposite walls, with neither of them speaking a word. It was like I had just walked onto the set of a K-Drama's lovers' quarrel.

Okay, no, just...no.

Approaching Hideki, I tapped him on the shoulder. "Hideki, what's going on?"

He didn't even blink. Or reply, for that matter.

I continued to tap his shoulder, moving on to shaking it, and finally, deciding that there was nothing else I can do, I poked his cheek.

It was then Sasha couldn't take it anymore, and they yelled "Goddamnit, Kenta, your girlfriend asked you a question, answer her!"

Hideki smirked, grabbing my finger gently with one hand. "Made you talk, Sasha."

"I never- Aargh!" They realized their folly.

...What just happened?

"Simple. Sasha and I came to an agreement that whoever could stay quiet longer would make the better leader: me, or you, since Sasha was and still is pushing for you to lead us." Hideki lowered our hands. "Nothing against you, Ashley, but I'd like to lead a little bit longer, if that's fine with you?"

"That's such a stupid way to decide a leader," I could hear Sasha muttering. "I still think an official debate would be better, with ballots and stuff. Y'know. Politics. Popular opinion. The voice of the people and whatnot."

"Yeah. I mean, I don't think I can lead the others. Not yet." I sighed in relief. That went over much better than I had expected it to be.

Walking back to the hallway, I saw the two of them punch each other on the shoulder. But this time, it looked...much more playful.

At least, on Hideki's part, it was.

Sasha's face contorted in indignance. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Trying to get you used to the fact that I still won't pull my punches. I don't expect you to either, but we can settle our differences once we get off this flight." Hideki shrugged.

"That was clearly pulling your punch. Come on, you're gigantic. I should have flown across the room." Sasha...please don't provoke him.

They turned to me. "I'll do what I damn want."

Oops...out loud again.

A laugh from Hideki, though this one was certainly more cheerful than icy. "If you say so. But I don't feel like punching you right now. Come again later, because first we have friends to convince that nothing's wrong."

"Everything's wrong and I don't have friends."

He opened the door. "Says the person who thinks I'm not pulling my punches."

They rolled their eyes. "You're an incompetent leader. Honestly, who put you in charge?"

"The same people who thought Donald Trump running for president was a good idea, evidently." He deadpanned.

"...so the GOP? Good to see this is the same bipartisan situation as the US elections. I'm getting real fucking tired of those. Seriously, though, don't compare yourself to Trump. You're not that bad." They punched him back in the shoulder, and it looked rather hard. "You're close, though." They turned to walk back inside.

"...Good to see a certain someone's still capable of backhanded compliments." Hideki motioned for me. "After you, Ashley?"

Sasha Oryolov - Level 3!

Hideki Kenta - Level 4!

As I entered the room, the intercom blared to life.

"Tut tut...I would have expected that you all would be more motivated by our, well, motive." Monokuma's robotic voice sounded out. At this point, I couldn't tell who was behind it, but it didn't really matter. "Perhaps we've got to...speed things up."

"If your demise is one of them, count me in." Maya snarked.

"Oh shut it, you oversized hairball." He coughed. "Anyways, in lieu of the fact that you don't seem to be taking advantage of our generosity, we'll be imposing a time limit. The goodwill motive ends...tonight, after ten. Should no murder be committed by then, we will revoke it and implement something new. Cheerio!"

...I could literally hear the gears turning in some of my classmates' heads. And whatever they were thinking, it could not have been good.

Jen-jang, I swore inwardly. Now what?

Act 3-6 FIN

11 Students Remaining

A/N: Well. Shit's about to hit the fan. Yes, we're still alive.

QOTD: Who do you think is going to cave to the motive? Who will they kill?

On another note, both of us are writing SYOCs of our own. They're both closed but you can still read them if you're interested.

SD: I'm hyped for Lime's Only The Mad. There has to be something said for the guarantee that only a maximum of four students are making it out of the graveyard of horrors alive!

Lime: I don't think I've been as hyped for a story as I am for SD's Double or Nothing since...well, ever, actually. I can't wait to see how the story plays out and all of the plot that went into it!

SD: So that's all from us. Third murder...likely happening sometime soon. The date it comes out...We'll see. Cheers, and enjoy the long weekend or something. Good Friday TGIF. Whatever. Wwwwwwwww