AN: Okay, update on how I plan to update, I will update every two weeks unless I manage to get another chapter typed in which case I will post another chapter. Feel free to review and I hope you enjoy the story.
I do NOT own Danganronpa
Gymnasium, 0812 Hours
John recovered from the animal appearing faster this time. It was a black and white bear, with the white side designed after a stereotypical teddy bear, but the black side supporting a fanged sadistic grin and a jagged slash revealing a camera lens with a red light. Despite its small size, it gave off a much more sinister presence than Shi-ru, and as John stole a look at the penguin, he could see the hostility rolling off him towards the bear, which began speaking again.
"I am your headmaster Monokuma, and this is the Monokuma Academy!"
"Yeah, right," Shi-ru muttered.
"Shut up you ungrateful bastard, I could have dismantled you but I was feeling generous!"
"You mean you didn't want to do any of the heavy lifting."
"If you keep mouthing off, I'll change my mind you stupid bastard."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm sweeping, I'm sweeping," Shi-ru muttered shuffling off stage.
Monokuma glared after him a moment longer, before spinning around and addressing the students as a whole again.
"As I was saying, I am the headmaster blah, blah, blah, Monokuma Academy, where you will now spend the rest of your pathetic lives!"
John joined the cry of discord, but noticed that Ferris, Rowland, and Alexander remained silent.
"All of you shut up! I'm not done, the youth of today are so rude and ungrateful, I'm letting you all live hear indefinitely, no charge, and all you can do is whine! And there is a way out-GRADUATION!"
There was a moment of silence as Monokuma stood posed on top of the podium before he spun around yelling, "That was your moment, you stupid bird!"
"Hold on, it jammed, I'm not the 'Special Effects Wizard' here," came Shi-ru's voice. A few moments later confetti shot out of few spots on the stage accompanied by a fanfare.
Monokuma growled, before continuing, "ANYWAYS, can anyone guess how you graduate, don't bother you won't get it, MURDER! Any method of course, be it stabbing, burning, drowning, suffocation, dismemberment, etc. etc.!"
This was met with silence. John could see Shi-ru slacking off to one side, so he guessed that Monokuma's pause wasn't for an effect but for a chance for the students to respond. The first to respond was Rowland.
"Prove it."
A chorus of agreement followed, causing the bear to look scandalized.
"I would never lie! But, if you need 'proof' well, you might be beary sorry!"
John didn't have time to wince at the bad pun before a clicking sound came and a Gatling gun dropped from the ceiling, and opened fire on the group of students. John dove to the side, avoiding the fire. When it stopped, he carefully lifted himself as the sound of the gun returning to its hiding place came from above. Looking around he saw that no one was hit, and everyone was either laying still in shock or standing up slowly, staring at the bullet holes in fear. John could hear Monokuma giggling while Shi-ru was complaining about having to repair the bullet holes.
"You would fire on unarmed civilians?" Alexander said as he finally recovered.
"Oh, I wasn't aiming to kill! Now that would just ruin the whole experience wouldn't it if I just killed you all right off the bat? No! That just will not work, and therefore I will only kill one of you if you break one of the rules listed in your Digital IDs!" Monokuma said gesturing towards an empty space, where Shi-ru was slowly dragging a table piled with iPhone looking devices, which were bouncing around dangerously, too, causing Monokuma to harangue him about timing again.
"You know what? I'm done with you bastards for now! If that lazy bird can't get anything set up properly then what's the point? Take your stupid IDs, read the rules, and go kill someone!" Monokuma said after yelling at Shi-ru for a few minutes, before disappearing behind the podium.
Shi-ru sighed, muttered something about damn fucking bears, before switching the hat he was wearing for a baseball cap that read 'Help'.
"These here, are yer new-fangled Electro ID, take yours and only yours since there is a rule about taking someone else's, there are three tabs, basic info about yourself being the first, rules the second, and whatcha call a 'Monokuma File' which ya can't access now because no one's been killed. Yer gonna need these to access yer room, changing rooms in athletic areas, and other 'special areas' y'all got that? Good, cause I'm not explaining it again," and with that he left.
John was one of the first to walk over and pick up his ID, after Rowland and Ferris grabbed theirs. Turning it on, a loading screen featuring Monokuma tormenting Shi-ru appeared, before a menu with three options appeared, though the M. File one was grayed out. Clicking on the Rules box, a list appeared.
Students are to remain in school grounds for as long as they live or until they graduate.
Violence against the headmaster is prohibited and violence against Shi-ru is encouraged.
Damaging school property is prohibited.
The time after 10 pm to 7 am is referred to as night time, during this time some rooms will be locked and water will be turned off.
Lending or using the ID of a living student is against the rules.
To graduate, a student must successfully kill another student and prevent the others from finding out.
No more than two students may be killed by one person.
Class trials will be held a set time the after a body is discovered, attendance is mandatory unless an extreme circumstance arises.
A body announcement will be played after three people discover the body.
More rules may be added as necessary.
"No one would kill right?"
John turned to look at Atsuko who was looking at her ID near the table. She seemed to have asked the question to the world in general.
"Stop and think, and you'll realize the question isn't if but when," Rowland said, "we have a military genius as well as an ex-military scientist responsible for designing weapons of mass destruction, this will inspire fear. This fear piled onto the already astounding fear of Monokuma and his punishments not to mention the exceedingly likely chance of the bear presenting motives to further tempt someone into murder…"
John couldn't help but look around at the stunned expressions on the others' faces, but Billy stepped forward.
"You are also looking pretty threatening, your behavior suggests a superiority complex and you've been giving off the signs that you're a sociopath so you seem a likely man to commit a murder…"
"No."
Silence encompassed the room after Rowland's statement, prompting Alexander to step forward and take charge.
"While I disagree with Citizen Rowland's method…he has addressed our main problems with the likelihood of a murder occurring, we should take steps to avoid this and as such I will now suggest a set of rules to prevent casualties. I suggest movement after nightfall be restricted and a patrol be instated to help enforce this. Besides noting the locations of everything that might be deemed an easy weapon, knives and the like, we should also make attempts to bond the group."
"I second that, you're much less likely to harm someone that's a friend," Billy said.
John nodded, and turned to Chloe as she spoke up.
"There's not much in this section, a few classrooms, the dorms, the cafeteria, the library, and the nurse's office. There was a central room that was also open, but all the other sections were closed off with metal doors. And yes, I was wandering around instead of coming straight here."
"I'm kind of surprised there isn't a map function…" John started by was interrupted by a notification sound from all the IDs at once, and by Shi-ru appearing, shuffling his feet, giving off a general air of embarrassment.
"Don't tell the bear," was all he said before vanishing again.
"So we have a map now," Alexander said, "and it does seem that the greyed out areas coincide with where Citizen Chloe says the grates are, and there appears to be another floor."
Adam stepped forward making an expansive gesture and saying in his booming stage voice, "We should all take a view of the scene for ourselves! I am not stating that we should not trust our fellows who have told us what they know but that we simply experience it for ourselves!"
John winced from the volume that Adam put forth in his statement, and noticed a few others doing so as well.
Ferris stepped forward hands out as if to calm Adam, and said, "Yes, good idea man, just tone it down a bit, we don't need our eardrums bursting."
Adam sputtered as Alexander once again stepped forward, "Scientist Ferris and Citizen Adam are right of course, but before we leave I suggest we implement a buddy system of a sorts, to decrease the chances of a murder."
"I agree," Mary and Rowland said, although Rowland followed it up with "the buddy will be the first to take suspicion if their buddy dies," while Mary said, "it will be a good way to bond."
The silence that followed was only broken by Ferris snickering. John and most of the others turned to the snickering chemist, who said, "What? Can't I have a dark humor?"
"Scientist Ferris, we have just been told to murder each other, this is hardly the time to laugh," Alexander said.
"When is it the time to laugh? Hey Atsuko, want to explore?" Ferris asked, "I would ask Scully but we're already friends and making friends is part of the reason to do the buddy system isn't it?"
Atsuko sputtered a bit at the sudden change in the conversation but agreed, prompting Ferris to begin walking towards the door, leaving her to scurry to match his pace. He paused at the door to let her catch up, before smacking his forehead and saying, "Oh we, should at least have a general knowledge of who's with who so that we can be of assistance," before turning around and leaning against the door.
There was a beat of silence before everyone started collapsing into pairs. John stood by as the pairs formed, not really having the courage to approach anyone. He probably would've stood there until everyone else had selected a partner and gone with whoever was left over, which probably would've been Alexander, but he turned as Paris tapped his shoulder.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but cut off and bit her lip. She started again, hesitated but continued, "Do you-mind if we're, uh, buddies?"
"No, of course not," John said.
Paris opened her mouth as if to say something more, but cut off. John looked at her with polite interest as an attempt to encourage her but she was no longer looking at him. John looked back towards the main bulk of the group, seeing that Alexander had stepped to the center and was clearing his voice, but as having trouble catching everyone's attention again. Deciding to help, John located Adam and caught his attention, gesturing towards Alexander.
Getting the message, Adam stepped forward and boomed, "Our friend Alexander wishes to speak!"
All conversation cut off and all attention shifted first to Adam, and then Alexander, who cleared his throat once more before saying, "Now, that we have established our partners we should state them out loud, although we already know that Citizen Atsuko is with Scientist Ferris, I am joined by Citizen Chloe."
Chloe muttered something under her breath, but no one caught it although Alexander did give her a hard look.
Louise stepped forward next and said, "Wilbur and I have decided to collaborate for now."
The silent pilot nodded, confirming what she said as Rowland stepped forward and said, "Mary has decided to join me in my exploration of this place."
"More like you kept following me…" she muttered from behind his towering figure, but he didn't seem to notice.
The next one to move was Adam, who announced in his usual booming tone, "I have joined forces with the one known as Billy for this adventure."
"Anyone up for a trade?" said Billy.
As Adam rounded on him to glare at him, Amelia stepped forward and laid a calming hand on his shoulder, before saying, "I have partnered with Jane, if you would rather be my buddy, then I will switch."
Adam stopped to consider but Billy beat him to the punch, saying, "I was joking, I'm fine with Foghorn over here."
Adam glared briefly at him again, before Amelia grabbed his ear and said, "If you keep making that face it will freeze like that and you," she pointed to Billy, "will play nice."
As both boy voiced complaints, silenced quickly when she began twisting their ears again, Barry sidled forward and said, "Me and Perdita decided to keep hanging out."
Perdita confirmed this with a slight nod of her head, leaving John to step forward and confirm that he and Paris had decided to be buddies.
The minute he finished speaking Ferris clapped his hands together and said, "Fantastic, we'll meet up in the café, let's go."
Ferris ducked out, followed out by Atsuko. This seemed to signal to everyone else to disperse. John stood to the side with Paris as their fellow classmates filed out, both not speaking. Eventually, they were the only ones standing in the gym. John shuffled his feet for a few minutes longer as the silence became unbearable.
"Should we go?"
Paris jumped at the sound of his voice, before hastily agreeing, and sprinting out leaving him alone. Sighing, he followed her out, walking down the hall way he thought she went down. It wasn't long before he came to a circular room, with several areas grated off. It was very ornate, and echoed slightly as he walked. He didn't see Paris so she must've taken another route. But after a moment he realized that Shi-ru was sweeping on the other side of one of the grates, glancing at him with a look of boredom ever so often.
"Why are these sealed off?" John asked him.
As he moved to respond, Monokuma appeared from behind him shoving him to one side.
"Motivation! For each trial that happens that you survive through, I'll open an area up!"
"Well, why?"
Monokuma drew back, slightly confused by the follow up question, but recovered and said, "To keep things interesting of course! It'd get beary boring if I had to watch you bastards wander around the same area. Things need to be changed up!"
Further discussion was cut off when Paris ran up behind John calling out to him.
"Sorry, I thought you were behind me-ah!"
She skidded to a stop as she caught sight of Monokuma. She drew back spluttering, trying to form a proper sentence.
Monokuma laughed before saying, "I'll be off now, I have important things to do that you bastards wouldn't understand."
He turned to leave, but stopped to yell at Shi-ru for slacking off. He continued yelling at Shi-ru as he walked back to the broom and picked it up and resumed sweeping, before vanishing. Now that he was gone, Paris managed to stutter out, "W-hat w-w-as he do-ing here?"
"Telling me about the grates," John responded, watching as Shi-ru moved out of sight.
Paris nodded before shaking herself to regain her composure. She opened her mouth to saw something but cut off as John looked at her.
Sighing, John said, "What? You've done that twice now, I'm not going to bite, you can talk."
Paris blushed and stuttered a bit before, saying "I, I just wanted to ask-uh, what your life was like before this."
John paused, before gesturing back towards the way they had come, "Let's talk and walk."
Paris nodded, following him out.
After a few moments John said, "There's not much, frankly, it was pretty much an average existence all around. I really am the Everyman it seems, average grades, average life, I could be mistaken for almost anyone with my plain life," he let out a short laugh, startling Paris, "look, I'm Emmet!"
Paris blinked, before saying, "Oh, from the Lego Movie."
John nodded, before saying, "How about you? What was your life like?"
"Ah, well, I'm not very good, at much else beyond soccer; I was only able to do so well with school, they almost wouldn't let me play my grades started getting so bad because I was focusing on soccer so much, and it was such a hassle because our town was too small to have a proper school and my mom wanted me to go to a good school so she had me ride a bus every day to get there."
"Do you have any siblings?"
"No, you?"
"Yes. A brother, I hope he's alright."
The conversation paused as they passed the gym. Not much else of note had come up but classrooms and a few bathrooms.
"I, uh, had a cat," Paris offered.
"Really? What was it like? I never had a pet."
"It was a very mean-tempered thing, heh; it clawed up the furniture to no end."
John joined her in her quiet laughter, sensing that she was opening up to him slightly.
"You have an aggressive style of playing; maybe it influenced you a bit."
Paris shrugged. "I only play that way to win; I'm not all that aggressive off the field."
"I can tell," John said, glancing at her.
Paris opened her mouth but cut off what she was going to say, "Right, that."
"Yeah, if you were more like you were on the field you wouldn't have trouble talking to me, the face in the crowd."
"Not really."
John turned to Paris before smiling and giving a short laugh, "You're right, here, I'm probably the most unique, considering that I'm not here for being spectacular, even Atsuko is supposed to be lucky."
Paris, bit her lip and opened her mouth to say something, but cut off as they were hailed by Alexander. John turned to look around and noted that they were in an entrance hall of shorts, with what looked like a vault door blocking the entrance. A few more metal sheets covered what John understood to be windows. There were also several topiaries scattered about. John also noted that besides Alexander and Chloe, Amelia and Jane were nearby.
"Have you made any progress Citizen John?" Alexander asked.
"Oh, my, GOD!" Chloe said, turning to the tactician, "You don't need to call everyone 'Citizen' all the time, it's getting on my nerves."
"I am merely referring to everyone by their proper title!"
"Well stop it-OW! OW! HAIR!"
"You will respect Alexander's quirks, Chloe, because it is nice," Amelia said into Chloe's ear using her hair as a handle to pull her head down to her level.
"There is no need for such violence Citiz-ah…"Alexander started but cut off at a look from Amelia.
"You are now all my friends. I will not have my friends squabbling like little children," Amelia said, releasing Chloe's braid to place her hands on her hips.
Alexander put his hands up in an attempt to assuage her anger, but her attention had shifted to Paris.
"Are you alright, my dear? You seem a little peaky."
Paris quickly assured her she was fine, but Amelia was not ready to let it drop. "If you need help, Paris dear, come to me, yes?"
Paris nodded, a little flustered, but managed to strike up a conversation with her and Jane as Alexander approached John.
"Citizen John, if, I may refer to you as that?" he started, continuing only after John told him to call him by whatever made him comfortable, "You have made some discoveries yes?"
"Yeah, but I'll tell everyone when we meet up in the cafeteria."
Alexander looked disappointed but nodded. He turned to Chloe and asked her if she was ready to head to the cafeteria. She nodded and they left John and Paris with Amelia and Jane.
"He's a little stuck up isn't he?" Jane asked.
"Yes, but we mustn't hold it against him, it is simply his nature, the little dear," Amelia said.
There was a beat of silence as everyone decided whether or not to try and argue whether or not the title of dear fit Alexander. After the silence dragged on for a bit, Amelia turned to Jane and said, "You're still so thin, are you sure you're getting enough to eat?"
John gestured to Paris to leave as Amelia and Jane began what seemed to be a long running argument. They went down the hall opposite of Alexander and Chloe, hoping to see ether the library, dorms, or nurse's office, which they did. Moving to take a quick look inside the office, John saw Rowland examining some…equipment…that John had no clue what it did. Mary was sitting off to one side with what looked like a sketch book.
John motioned Paris inside before approaching Mary, not wanting to interrupt Rowland.
"Does he know what any of that does?" Paris asked.
"God yes," Mary said looking up from her sketch, "And if you want detailed descriptions of everything about them speak at a level he can hear you."
"Like the level you are at now, I'm not deaf," Rowland said.
Mary rolled her eyes before saying, "Yeah, as long as he's around I don't think we have to worry about any injures, he seems to know how all of this crap works, hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to hook up some Frankenstein contraption if one of us is killed."
"It will still count as a death and a trial will follow."
Everyone jumped, besides Rowland, as Monokuma appeared.
"So! I would avoid that because while it might make the trial speedier I'd still have to dispose of the walking corpse that was your friend!"
Mary glared at the bear while Paris shifted to put John between her and Monokuma.
"Scram."
Rowland hadn't even turned around.
Monokuma looked distressed as he said, "What? Am I being bullied for trying to divulge important information? You bastards are so ungrateful!"
"Ok, what's the information?"
"As long as the injury is not related to a murder attempt I'll patch you up," Shi-ru said from where he had stuck his head in the door way.
"HEY!" yelled Monokuma spinning around to face the penguin making claws appear, "Who gave you permission to divulge that information! I sure didn't, and I'm the only one who could!"
"You weren't 'divulging' it and you probably would've beaten around the bush."
"Why you ungrateful little-"
"Ok, I'm leaving I'm leaving."
Shi-ru vanished with Monokuma darting after him yelling obscenities.
There was a moment of silence before Rowland said, "I'll offer to teach a few more of us how to use these things so that if there is a murder related accident we'll be better prepared."
John nodded and said, "You could teach a few to Mary now."
"Good idea," Rowland said as Mary turned on John with a look of absolute betrayal.
John nodded, before grabbing Paris's arm and dragging her out as Rowland started, "Now, I'm sure you remember-," his voice cutting off as the door was shut.
"John, ah, I think, uhm-," Paris started.
"I agree. Mary is going to be quite mad at me for this," John said.
"Yes, that," Paris responded as they walked into the library.
"Ah, John I see you have found the collection," Louise said as a greeting to them, emerging from behind a bookshelf with a few books in her arms.
John took a moment to try and spot Wilbur, but the pilot was nowhere in sight. Sensing his reason for looking Louise shrugged, a signal to show that he was somewhere in the room as far as she knew. Paris looked like she was going to comment but simply wandered to a nearby bookshelf instead, leaving John to continue talking to Louise.
After a bit of silence Louise said, "Have you seen Ferris or, what was her name, Atsuka?"
"Atsuko, and no, they must have come this way earlier, they're probably hanging around the cafeteria by now."
"Ah, yes, Ferris does have a tendency to move fast, he probably dragged the poor girl along behind him."
"Hmm," John replied looking to where Paris had vanished behind a bookshelf.
"Indeed."
"Do you enjoy your work?"
Louise looked surprised at John's question but looked to one side before responding, "Not really, I have a job because people kill each other, not much to enjoy about that is there?"
John nodded, before asking, "How exactly did you get into forensics?"
"I read a lot of medical books, my mother was a doctor, and I snuck into the morgue one day to look at the cadavers, and one of them was suspicious, and I explained it to the guards, the people who worked there checked it and found I was right. I man from the police station came by a little later talked to my parents, and asked if I wanted to look at a body down at the station, when I left I had helped clear one man's name, convict another, and I had a job."
John nodded, and looked towards Paris as she came back and over to Wilbur as he walked out from behind a shelf, carrying a few books. Louise nodded to him, and he gestured towards the door and without another word they left. John looked to Paris who shook her head, to which John shrugged and followed them out. He watched their retreating backs as Paris stepped out after him. As they were passing the nurse's office, Mary came out looking flustered, and upon seeing John, flipped him off. Rolling his eyes as Rowland calmly exited the room and closed the door, he joined them silently as Mary began speaking.
"I now know how to use and how to improvise from scratch one of fifteen things I need to know according to the Encyclopedia Rowland. I hope you are going to be joining us for some of these, lectures, because I will drag you here if I have to, because you're the one who suggested learning how to use the medical equipment!"
"What did you learn about?" John asked her as they walked.
"How to make a bandage, unfortunately," Rowland said, "she knows nothing about first aid it seems."
Mary scowled before taking a deep breath and smiling as brightly as she could manage. It came off as slightly deranged, and John shifted towards Paris, who was walking on the other side of the hall. To his surprise, Rowland moved away from Mary as well, after studying her for a minute. As he drew level with John and Paris he said, "She seems upset."
John nodded, to which Rowland looked at Mary again and seemed to take a moment to think, before he nodded and said, "Ah, she's mad you volunteered her for learning the uses of medical equipment, yes?"
John nodded again, giving the brainiac a strange look.
Shrugging Rowland said, "My forte is facts, not emotions."
The group proceeded to walk in silence, with Mary eventually walking over and striking a conversation with Paris after she calmed down. John considered joining until they shifted over into girl things he had no chance of understanding. He glanced back at Rowland, but the tall boy seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, even so he spoke to the point and didn't seem one for small talk.
Looking forward, John let his mind wander over the events of the day until Adam's loud voice hailed them on Alexander's behalf again. Turning, John eyed the cafeteria. The room was big for the number of people here and could've probably comfortably sat around seventy. There were doors in the back that probably led to the kitchen, confirmed by Ferris emerging with a plate stacked with food, followed by Atsuko and Louise. The others were there too, some with food, some without. John moved to where Ferris, Atsuko, and Louise were sitting, noting that Paris continued to follow him while Mary went to the kitchen followed by Rowland at a slower pace.
Sitting down and waving off Ferris's offer of food, John turned to face Alexander as he waited for Mary and Rowland to emerge from the kitchen. Confirming their reemergence, He turned and addressed the group.
"Did anyone find anything of significance? Cit-," a grunt from Chloe, "Chloe, and I tried the door at what we assume was the entrance hall after the group disbanded. Monokuma appeared and threatened us with another Gatling gun if we tried again, he also included windows in this."
"I talked to Monokuma at the Central Hall, he said the gates that seal off the other areas will open if we complete a trial," John offered.
"You mean survive," Rowland said.
The silence that followed lasted a few moments before Rowland paused in his eating and said, "It may have been better if I had remained silent."
Mary nodded at him before resuming her eating, at a slower pace, obviously unsettled by Rowland's comment.
Clearing his throat, Alexander said, "Citizen Rowland, what makes you say survive?"
"Logic, Billy, what kind of person would you say controls Monokuma?"
The behavioral analyst looked at the brainiac, before addressing the group, "Psychotic sociopath at least, but more likely a psychopath, a very rich one to be able to set this all up, and they're probably getting some kind of rush from the thought of us killing each other. Personally, I think this level of insanity needs a bit more than simply being locked up."
"Thank you, you might have more but that would mostly be guesswork seeming as Monokuma's actions may well be that of a robot programmed to act a specific way. Now, it is not a far leap to suggest that while the rush they get from watching us…clash…that he would see it fit to deal with those that murder and fail, or, if we fail, that he would treat us with…elaborate death."
Billy nodded, "Yeah, that would fit the nutter's profile alright, although, I'm guessing he would prefer it if we succeed several times before we ultimately fail, at least in their plans."
Rowland nodded and resumed eating as silence fell once again, before looking up and adding, "Oh, and the nurse's office has some fairly advanced equipment, does anyone else think they might be able to learn how use them so I'm not the only able to work the machines."
"Scientist Ferris has worked in pharmaceuticals and I have trained as a combat medic," Alexander said, "we could learn a more in-depth knowledge of the available equipment."
Rowland nodded and once again resumed eating. After a few moments Mary waved at Alexander over Rowland's head, signaling that Rowland had finished his statements.
Nodding, Alexander looked around the room, signaling to anyone else who might have useful information.
Louise spoke out, saying, "There is quite the collection in the library, Wilbur and I have already taken some novels."
Again, Alexander acknowledged what was said before looking around the room. As no one else made any move to speak he sighed and said, "That is less knowledge then I would like but it will suffice for now, unless there is any other announcement to be made, I suggest you go about your business."
The crowd dispersed afterwards, Alexander stopping to ask Rowland and Ferris to speak with him later in private. After the tactician had left, Ferris turned to address John and Paris.
"Have you been to your rooms yet?"
"No, why?" John responded.
"They have all of our stuff in them," Atsuko answered, "I mean, it's designed after my room in my home, except there is only copies of the outfit I'm wearing in the closet, but everything else matches so exactly it's…" she trailed off.
"Unsettling to say the least," Louise finished in a clinical tone.
Ferris nodded in agreement, before adding, "The nameplates are pretty cool though."
"We can go look at them now, ah, if you all don't mind," Paris said, looking around the group.
Louise shook her head, while Ferris waved her off and Atsuko told her it was fine. She still turned to John to confirm that it was alright with him, to which he stood up and motioned for her to lead. They said goodbye to Louise as she went to where Wilbur had sat down, but Ferris gave an excuse of wanting to make sure something was in his room and asked if they would mind if he joined them. John nodded and the four walked out of the cafeteria.
As they walked, Ferris asked, "What do you think?"
"The school itself is pretty nice, but it would be better without the threat of homicide," John answered while Paris muttered her agreement to his statement.
Nodding Ferris let the conversation drop, which seemed uncharacteristic of him.
"Hey, Paris, do you enjoy playing soccer?" Atsuko asked.
Paris looked surprised at the question before responding, "Yeah, I mean-it's fun and all but, since I've qualified for playing in professional leagues at such a young age I get a lot of sponsor deals and such which really helps with saving for college."
"Well that's good! But, won't you probably get a full ride because you're playing on a professional level?"
"Well, yeah, but, the money is still useful."
Nodding Atsuko said, "Yeah, my parents were really happy that I got accepted here because I would probably earn some scholarships, although, they're probably very unhappy now, heh."
"Why, what did you're family do? For work, I mean," John asked.
"My father ran a small shop, we were able to afford a small house but I would never be able to really afford more than community college."
"Heh, same with me, my parents didn't make much money either and I would probably have had to take out student loans."
Atsuko smiled although her expression turned thunderous a moment later.
"It isn't far," she said, "I was supposed to be lucky right, but here I am in a-a-, " she paused looking for a word, "murder game with some of the most talented people in the world."
"Look on the Brightside," Ferris said.
Giving him a look, Atsuko sighed before saying, "I suppose I'll never have to worry about having to choose between outfits ever again, or not being able to get whatever I want to eat."
Ferris smiled before stopping next to a door with a digital screen attached to it, his name shown in white letters.
"Watch this," he said as he swiped his ID across a reader.
An 8bit music track began playing as a sprite version of Ferris walked from the right side of the screen to the middle where a door had appeared, stopping before the door the sprite of Ferris held a key above his head which vanished as the door opened, where the sprite version walked in front of it and stopped as the music ended and a click could be heard as the door unlocked.
Beaming, Ferris opened the door turning around to say good bye. John could see the inside of Ferris's room over the chemist's head. It was fairly messy and disorganized, although knowing the chemist he would know exactly where everything was. Ferris closed the door as the other three walked away, and John noticed that Ferris's door was one of the first in this hallway, across from one displaying Perdita's name.
It soon became obvious that the doors were lined with boys on one side and girls on the other, as Paris entered her room leaving John and Atsuko to continue on their own. Seeing his door, John turned to Atsuko.
"Is yours much further?"
"Yeah," she responded, "on the very end, I got the farthest walk along with Rowland, just my luck yeah?"
Seeing her disheartened look, John said, "Look at it this way, your luck could operate in a cycle right? This could simply be the bad luck part that is counter balancing spat of good luck, which means that some extremely good luck should be coming to you soon."
Thinking this over, Atsuko nodded before giving a short bark of laughter, before smiling at John and saying, "You might be right, and you know what, I'll believe you."
She waved to him and continued her walk down the hall as John swiped his ID, causing the animation. He watched it until his door clicked open, and he entered his room.