AN: And the time for another chapter has come! Thanks to all of you who are reading this, and I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible.
After that, things returned to normal as they could in such a situation. The students returned to their schedule of going about the day. The most notable change was Ferris. The chemist soon started to wake up later and later, his skin becoming grey and mottled with splotches of random colors with his veins turning a distressing off-purple color. His coughing became more violent and frequent as time wore on, Shi-ru eventually giving the chemist a series of pocket handkerchiefs, stating that the blood Ferris was coughing up was starting to resist his attempts to wash it out.
Jane also suffered visibly, often seen with red eyes and a running nose, getting handkerchiefs from Shi-ru at Amelia's insistence. Several other students acted off, though it was much more subtle. Louise would often slink off to her room to sulk, which Wilbur gladly followed suit, John suspected he might have been the hemophiliac because the pilot had switched to a diet consisting mostly of things that could be prepared and eaten without any sharp objects. Perdita seemed pale although she covered it up well enough, although her hands had started to shake and she was becoming extremely paranoid.
The others also acted with a little more paranoia in their actions, even John began to feel himself questioning whether he could truly trust his other classmates. Only Alexander and Rowland acted totally normal. Ferris was trying to act, normal but visibly struggling with his declining health.
Day 13, 1020 Hours, the Cafeteria
"He still isn't up?"
Atsuko turned to look at John before shaking her head and resuming her watch for the ailing chemist. Taking a seat next to the supposedly lucky student, John joined her in her quiet watch.
"I was thinking about trying to put a party together."
John turned to look at the side of Atsuko's head. She had spoken without turning to face him.
"What do you think?"
"Ferris might think it's an attempt to cheer him up," John said.
"Well, that would be part of it. The other part would be to try and take everyone else's mind off this grim business."
John nodded to the girl's statement noting Paris's return from her room, saying she needed to run and grab something quick. John noted that only Alexander and Rowland really took the buddy system seriously enough to attempt to stay with their buddy at all times, the others, him included, more than willing to break apart in the library and near the dorms, the most notable example were Barry and Perdita who were almost never seen together.
It was another twenty minutes of quiet conversation before Ferris stumbled into the cafeteria. The chemist had deteriorated further since the last day, developing tremors in his hands and visible leaning against a wall for support. Atsuko stood up and walked to his side, assisting him to the table where he sat for a few seconds before coughing heavily into a handkerchief he had been clutching.
John stood up and went into the pantry, Paris following as they moved to get Ferris some food. There was no need to prepare anything, because John spotted a meal no doubt prepared by Amelia hidden away in a spot that was out of sight. The actress had started preparing food for Ferris when the chemist consistently began to wake up last. It was getting harder and harder not to tell Amelia what was wrong with the chemist, as the actress had started to grill each of them, John, Paris, and Atsuko; in turn.
Bringing the food out to the table John set the plate in front of Ferris who began to eat it without question. The first time someone else had brought him food, Ferris had joked that if they hoped to kill him by poisoning that they would have to get something stronger than any of the chemicals he had seen because his whole body might as well be saturated with toxins that would break them down before they had a chance to take effect. This had not gone over well, with Amelia cuffing the back of Ferris's head stating that was not an acceptable topic to joke about, which Ferris just shrugged at.
As the chemist continued to eat, starting a conversation with Atsuko, John and Paris took their leave, John whispering to Atsuko that he would run the party idea pass Alexander and the others if he saw them, the Asian student nodding in response.
Once they were out of the cafeteria John turned to Paris and said, "You know where Alexander went?"
Shaking her head, Paris responded, "We could try the entrance and gym area first, it'll be much easier than checking the library, right? Or do you want to check the library first, either way I fine-."
"Let's go with your first idea," John said, cutting off her nervous babble.
They walked in the direction of the gym, not seeing anyone until they were almost to their destination when Barry and Perdita exited the gym. John raised his eyebrows in mild surprise and noticed Paris looked surprised as well as the vocalist and musician approached them.
"Hey, John, Paris, what are you two doing here?" Barry asked in his lazy tone of voice.
"We're looking for Alex," John said, noticing that Perdita crinkled her nose at the mention of the tactician, "Atsuko was thinking about organizing a party. You two could perform for us, I'm sure Shi-ru has some instruments hidden away somewhere that you could use."
"Yeah, that sounds pretty bitching," Barry responded, "I'll show, gotta make sure Shi-ru has stuff though if you want me to perform."
Barry then gave a small wave before heading towards the store, vanishing inside.
"Tch, he didn't even ask for details," Perdita said, looking after Barry with mild disgust.
John noticed Paris's expression darkening slightly and stepped in before a fight could break out, "Are you going to come as well?"
"I might grace your little party with my presence but, I highly doubt it will compare to the others I have attended," Perdita the swept away.
Paris glared after her, before saying, "S-she's still a-an insuf-insufferable bitch."
"Well," John said, "Chloe managed to improve after a few days at least."
Paris gave him a look before shrugging and managing a small smile, "I-I suppose s-she did."
John returned her smile with a more genuine one before checking the inside of the gym, failing to see Alexander. They continued to the Central Hall, all the grates still sealing off access to the rest of the school.
"Guess we are going to have to search the library for him," John said, Paris nodding in agreement.
As they were walking to the library though, they saw Alexander exiting the nurse's office, followed by Mary as the sound of Chloe yelling was heard inside the office.
"What's going on?" John asked as he and Paris got to a comfortable distance for conversation.
"Citizen Rowland and Chloe are having a difference of opinion," Alexander responded.
"O-over what?" Paris asked.
"Which one is the bigger prat or something," Mary answered, rolling her eyes, "although that was using Rowland's words, I think, I tuned out the minute the conversation stopped making sense."
John nodded before saying, "Atsuko is thinking about setting up a party."
Mary looked interested at this although Alexander narrowed his eyes.
"Why?" the uniformed student asked.
"S-she th-thought it would t-take everyone's mind off t-things," Paris said, stuttering slightly under Alexander's glare.
The tactician nodded after a moment, relaxing and saying, "Yes, that would be a good way to check on everyone's condition and keep morale up."
John, nodded and would have said more but Chloe stomped out of the clinic, muttering under her breath. Mary entered the clinic as Alexander moved to follow the survivalist, John debated internally for a moment before moving and stopping Alexander.
"I think Perdita is showing withdrawal," he said quietly under his breath so Paris couldn't hear.
Alexander paused but kept his face plain, probably acknowledging the fact that this was a touchy situation to be discussing where anyone could here.
"I will keep that in mind," the boy responded after a second, turning and moving after Chloe's rapidly disappearing form.
"What was that about?" Paris asked.
"Oh, just telling him Ferris is getting worse, we should go check on him and Atsuko anyway," John lied with as straight a face as possible.
He could tell the soccer player didn't buy it but he also knew that she would be too timid to question him outright after he had cut her off with the suggestion of visiting the other two. John felt bad about taking advantage of her timidity, but didn't feel she would take the information well, considering her and mostly everyone else's dislike for the pompous Perdita.
She nodded after a second and they began walking towards the cafeteria, knowing that if the chemist and lucky student had decided to move they would be going fairly slowly. They found them in the entrance hall, Ferris leaning on Atsuko slightly. John couldn't help but notice that as well as his horrible complexion the whites of his eyes had turned greenish and his hand was trembling. John still had trouble figuring out what exactly Ferris had been exposed to that could cause such a dramatic failure of his internal organs.
"Al-Alex-," Paris paused for a breath, "Alexander, said he thought your i-idea was good, Atsuko," Paris said.
"The party-," Ferris began but was quickly cut off by another voice.
"A party! Now why didn't anyone consult me?" Monokuma said as he appeared with a bored looking Shi-ru.
"No!" Atsuko said, glaring at the bear, "You are not allowed to screw with this!"
"Did you forget who here is in charge?" Monokuma said in a dangerous tone that made the lucky student pale, "I can screw with whatever I want and none of you can stop me!"
There was silence after that statement, even Shi-ru who usually took a la-de-da approach to Monokuma was shifting uncomfortably.
Satisfied with the reaction he had received, Monokuma said, "Great! I'll help you bastards get things organized, you know, refreshments, stage for entertainment, make not coming a punishable offense, and clean up even!"
"W-w-wait!" Paris cut in, "W-what w-w-was t-the middle o-one?"
"Set up the stage for entertainment," Monokuma said, ignoring Paris's further protests to yell at Shi-ru to start working, the penguin grumbling in response.
Silence fell as the two vanished into nothing again. John knew he was watching the two, but the minute he blinked they had vanished, raising the question of exactly how they did that.
Turning back to the others after a few fruitless seconds of trying to locate where the two robots had vanished, John noticed that Ferris was making soothing gestures at a fuming Atsuko.
"That stupid bear is going to do something to screw everything up, I know it!" she said.
"He must likely won't."
Heads turned to face Rowland and Mary, who had appeared in the hall behind John and Paris. The tall brainiac stayed silent for a few seconds after he spoke, leading Mary to almost elbow him to continue his thought.
Before she could, he held up a hand towards her and said, "I am merely thinking how to word this, I believe our captor sees this as an opportunity to incite something. As he wishes for us to be the ones who shed blood, he is unlikely to interfere directly, possibly taking the time to reveal another motive sometime during the party."
John grimaced and looked towards the door sealing the entrance. It was steel or something similar and it was guarded by a Gatling gun. No way out there. The windows were all sealed with those plates, also a no go on escape. They had no access to the roof and there was no way to tunnel out. He had thought through all of this before, so why was he reviewing it again?
To not feel like he was accepting his fate, to feel like he was attempting to get out.
But, was it even possible?
Was there any hope?