AN: I am really bad at keeping up with this
Day 33, 0721 Hours, John's Room
John did not want to get up today.
He had felt a need to keep up the appearance that they would get out and that everyone was up and moving and hopeful for a good outcome. But that was before they reached this point of less than half the students still alive. It was depressing on a huge level, crushing John into the mattress of his bed and holding him in place as the minutes dances by.
No one had come to check on him so John didn't move. He could have picked up a book from beside the bed, he still had some of the books Ferris had handed him when they had first visited the library if John was remembering right, which he might not be if those files were a hundred percent fact.
He had only found Paris yesterday after he had left the Archive Room and she had been trying to coax Mary from her fortress of art supplies she had set up John didn't want to disturb them so he began wandering the halls, his footsteps echoing as he traversed the empty school. He visited the ruined room Monokuma had shown him, to decide if there really was no way out but beyond that, nothing else had seemed to need doing. Paris had left his ID by his door, which he opened just in time for Alexander to show up, walking past without acknowledging his presence. John had slid the ID under Paris's door after the other student had vanished.
They had lost any hope of escape.
Monokuma probably had doubled down on security since Ferris's escape into the underbelly of the school, whether it was a maze of endless catacombs or simply a trash repository or even something else entirely was unclear but any access to it or any other exit would [probably be quickly closed. At least someone made it out. No way for Monokuma to achieve a total victory without hunting the chemist down, and with the ghost of Shi-ru's programming following the sickly student around and intervening on his behalf would be a fortunate boon in finding the true exit.
John wondered if Monokuma was trying to force Ferris back by threatening to execute them unless he turned himself over. John was split over the issue on whether he would want the chemist to turn himself in if such a threat was made. Logic stated that either option was stupid, either for self or majority preservation. But, the chance to tell the bear to stick it would be hard to pass up. But then again, death.
But, fuck Monokuma.
But, dead.
Then again, flipping Monokuma off while exiting the death arena.
But…dying horribly.
Either way, the big point is that someone would die.
Probably horribly.
John paused when he considered what his execution could be. Being perfectly normal would be a hard thing to hit, although, the problem was he was extraordinarily normal. Perhaps a mass production joke? Atsuko would probably have a wheel of misfortune, unoriginal but effective. Paris beat to death with soccer balls might work, or trampled to death by an opposing team of Monokumas. Alexander, firing squad? They did that in old time armies right? Maybe hanging under a pretense of treason. Jane would be tied to a ridiculous amount of fireworks or set through a movie set to be butchered by authentic special effects.
Mary could be crushed into paints, kind of like Barry being cut into instruments.
He wished someone would knock on his door to get him out of his room.
…
No one did.
He would have to get up by his own violation. He tried. He failed. He would wait a few minutes to try again. It took twenty minutes, and then twenty more. And ten more to get properly prepared dressed and five of just staring at the door. Time wasted away as John finally opened the door and exited the room.
The hall was empty.
John had been hoping to see someone.
He moved forward, placing his feet down quietly one in front of the other making noise even against his best attempts. His breathing was loud, so was his heartbeat. Too quiet too quiet.
Step, step, step, step.
John stopped walking.
Huff, huff, huff, huff.
John stopped breathing.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
"Hey John."
John jumped taking in a gasp of air as he spun to face Atsuko who shrank back at his sudden movement, falling backward and scuttling back slightly. They stared at each other for a minute before John said.
"Hey."
Atsuko looked at him for a moment longer before giving a short laugh. Then she laughed again, before continuing to laugh harder. John laughed too, before allowing himself to be swept up in the moment. They laughed together in that empty hallway, inside a giant death arena. Laughed until they cried.
They calmed down enough for John to help Atsuko to her feet, but they still laughed quietly. John stopped laughing first and wiped the tears from his face. He turned and collected his thoughts before turning to face Atsuko. She was still crying, smiling brightly as large tears flowed down her face. John considered asking what was wrong before deciding on a better thing to say.
"FUCK, this shit."
Atsuko started laughing again, having reached a point where anything was funny. John motioned towards the cafeteria, the shorter student nodding and following, still laughing and crying.
"Fuck all of it," she finally got out as they reached the room, "FUCK…it."
John moved into the kitchen, Atsuko scrubbing the tears from her face fresh in his mind as he began preparing breakfast before scrapping the whole thing and getting a mug of coffee instead. Which he dumped down the sink after taking one long swig and instead making breakfast again. Atsuko entered while he was making the second attempt at breakfast, trying and dumping the coffee for herself. Whoever had made it had no clue what they were doing, as it tasted like old boots.
Neither spoke as they prepared food, exiting into the dining area of the cafeteria to eat in silence, the clinking of the silverware giving off a sound somehow less washed out since there was more than one person present. Knowing there was another person nearby made it easier to exist in this confining school, even if they did have free reign of a mostly empty building.
It was probably another tactic by Monokuma to get them to lash out at each other. It wouldn't surprise John if Alexander hadn't deployed this tactic on his enemies at some point, as it was definitely working proving its viability. John couldn't help but wonder what other things Alexander might have done in order to achieve his position of being known as the Ultimate Tactician.
John knew he was employed by the federal military so he had to have ordered men to their deaths. Not to mention he was probably responsible for many deaths at the hands of his men, but John felt that would be a moot point.
Maybe if they just kept doing what they were doing now Monokuma would lose interest. The thought occurred to John as he tried to find something else to distract himself from further considerations of his fellow student. They could just mope around until Monokuma was forced into the endgame they were going for. He doubted any of them had the motivation to murder even if Monokuma whipped out a new form of goad to get them to kill each other.
His thoughts were interrupted when Atsuko spoke.
"I forgive you, you know."
John looked at her as she set her silverware down, her breakfast finished.
"Thank you," John said after a second, deciding that was the best answer.
"I know you were just trying to help, but dude, we're trying to get EVERYONE out. 'kay? Don't try any of that self-sacrificing stuff again, you freaked us all out and how were you planning to pass the info along anyways?"
"Say it, possibly write it down," John answered not looking her in the eye, "Not the best plan I've ever had but it would have helped."
"Not really," Atsuko said, looking torn, "you do realize it was basically a signal to the bear, 'hey, even those of us leading the group are vulnerable to your cunning if you spin it right'?"
John looked away from the other student in shame.
Atsuko sighed and reached across to pat John's hand sand said, "It's okay, never do it again. You really freaked Ferris and Paris out."
"I know, I wonder how he's doing," John said, tapping the table.
"Ferris? The guy's probably already out of Monokuma's reach, especially with Shi-ru's help," the lucky student responded, picking up her and John's dishes.
"I wonder how Shi-ru managed to get back inside the system after Monokuma destroyed him," John said, standing up from his chair to follow the other student.
"I don't know, maybe it was a code he left in case he died to protect someone who was innocent if they were wrongly accused," Atsuko said with a shrug.
"But programs aren't usually that smart right?"
"Do I look like I know anything about advanced programming? Rowland might have known but I've got nothing."
John shrugged and said, "I guess we'll never know unless we find someone who can inspect the system after we get out."
"Yeah, I suppose it shouldn't be too long now," Atsuko said, "There are only six of us left so it's got to be gearing up a big finale."
John nodded, unsure if the finale was something he wanted to see. What if the bear decided to just turn this until a full blown arena and have them kill each other gladiatorial style? That would certainly be skewed towards Paris and Alexander seeing as they were the fittest. Actually, if John managed to survive long in that situation, he would drift up to their level. Not that he would actually be able to kill them.
"Want to go do something?" Atsuko said.
"I was thinking of finding Paris," John said, scratching the back of his head.
"I'll come with you, traveling in groups is still safer right?" the other student said, exiting the kitchen.
John stood still for a moment before following her through the door, were she was waiting on the other side. They exited the cafeteria without talking and began heading towards the center of the South Wing. When they reached it, they decided to check the other half of the wing before moving on to the rest of the school.
They walked down the hall stopping to search the Nurse's Office for the soccer player, finding no one.
"I wonder how much first aid Rowland actually managed to teach Mary," John said, moving over to some of the complex machines that were stored in the room.
"Enough to help someone who's hurt I hope, I wouldn't be surprised if Monokuma refused aid now that Shi-ru is gone," Atsuko said, looking around the small room.
They lingered only a few moments longer before they left the room, heading towards the library. John couldn't help but pause to check a few of the classrooms lining the way but they were empty as always. John wasn't surprised by this as almost no one actually used the classrooms. Jane was the only one who made use of them often, and only as hiding places, but it didn't hurt to check.
They entered the library, silent as ever. John suggested they split up as they searched the room, seeing how large it was. Atsuko agreed but told him to yell if he got in trouble. John nodded before walking towards the area with the staircase leading to the archive room.
It was quiet amongst the books, but not the suffocating quiet of the halls before Atsuko had found him. It was a more pleasant silence, hard to believe in a place where so much murder had occurred. Then again, cemeteries had a peaceful silence, and they were full of corpses. Granted they hadn't been made there but still.
As John reached the area where the stairs began, he felt a sense of trepidation. Something was wrong. And John knew what was wrong after he rounded the next corner.
She was lying on the ground, her neck bent at an odd angel. As he reached her side, he could see bruises that were forming slowly. After checking her pulse, John knew for certain, Jane was dead, a look of horror on her face. He closed her eyes before calling out for Atsuko, knowing what had to come next.