(AN: Ugh for some reason I haven't been getting notifications on when you guys post reviews. I was left thinking no one cared anymore .-. JK of course, but I still got to look into that… One thing I realized is I never posted the place and time like I usual do, so you might notice that. About Free-Times, I'm not sure about them anymore. I mean, the closeness level will still exist and Keiko will bond with the others via storyline as you will see in this chapter, but Free-Time seems a bit strange to hold when they're supposed to be racing the clock in an effort to escape. But I'll find a way to do it – just know that the scripted Free-Times won't be every chapter, and it'll be in more of a random pattern. You can still vote for your Free-Time character though, since each chapter I imagine will have a minimum of two Free-Times, excluding the big bad last one of course.
Reven228 – I know. The ending was weird, wasn't it?
Kougari – Oh..! This ending..! So strange..!
Monobu – Sweet review! Thanks!
King okami – EVEN MORE WEIRDNESS! :D
MizunashiFuyuko – Yes… let us all take a moment to say our prayers. … … Anyways, thanks for the review! I love long reviews! No warning necessary! I embrace longness! (twss)
TheRoseShadow21 – AND YET AGAIN MORE WEIRDNESS! WHAT'S GOING ON WITH THAT DIVER?!
Ode 30 – Mirai is innocence incarnate, so he shouldn't creep anyone out, lol. Good thing he doesn't though! Thanks for the review!
Cartoonfanatic1 – Naw, you just didn't see Micky enough. He's "fabulous!"
Wmsm5ever – No review posted here is cheap! That sounds really preachy or something, but yeah, lol. Meowykins is a good shooter, don't you think? Thanks!
FateOblivion – It would be sad… wait, are we talking about the same person?)
Soundtrack: A Dead End to the Ocean's Aroma
The bullets stopped firing. Meowykins got up and let out a large sigh, rubbing his belly as if he just had a large meal. Monokuma continued to quickly board up the glass so water would leak in, except that the water had already filled up to our hips. I could feel us all panicking, as I swished through the water to look past the window. My suspicions were confirmed just then. They had shot a man. The man had ventured up to our little glass bubble, in an effort to rescue us. Blood spilled out of his back like a gutted fish thrown into the water.
"Upupupupu!" Monokuma said, laughing as he struggled onto a floating table. "Nothing like shooting a helpless man to make a bear feel good about himself!"
"A dog too!" Meowykins exclaimed. "Meow!"
Everyone else came to my side and looked at the man, floating helplessly through the water, turning red around him. Before he sank to the floor, Monokuma disappeared in front of our eyes, and appeared outside of the walls, swimming towards the man and bringing him towards the entrance.
"W-why's he bringing him here?!" Kirei screamed.
"Because we can't have a man electrocuted out there! Duh!" Meowykins scolded."We need to preserve the body..!"
"Why?!" Yoshinori screamed. "It's bad enough you shot him to death!"
"Forget that..!" Furo said nervously. "Did you see Monokuma? He literally boarded up the windows as it broke..!"
"It wasn't his best work," Meowykins admitted. "As you can see, water is up to your hips."
"I-It's cold," Mirai shivered. He cuddled up into a ball and sank into the bottom.
"There is something wrong with him," Ryoko sighed. "Anyways, we should go to the entrance, you think?"
"That… that's probably best," Shougo said nervously. He didn't want to know what was out there... Neither did I. But we had to look.
I picked up Mirai from the bottom of the water, and then the fourteen of us headed out into the entrance hall. Opening the doors, the water spilled out into the hallways, and laughs could be heard from down the distance.
Location: Main Entrance Hall | Time: 8:32 AM | Chapter Two | 48 DAYS LEFT
Running as fast as we could, we eventually arrived at the entrance. Everything here was familiar. I remember being brought here and fainting… then being sent to my room. It was a disgusting memory that I couldn't erase – everything that happened here was. Including the dead man that lay down in front of me right now. Monokuma wrapped himself in a towel, and sat down, sighing.
"I'm bushed!" Monokuma sighed. "Someone grab the poor bear a glass of water please!"
"You're a stuffed toy!" Yoshinori snapped. "You don't drink water!"
"Hey! I take offense to that!"
My head rose nervously, shaking wildly as I leaned towards the body. His diving suit was stained with blood, but not to the point where the emblems and words stitched onto his suit was unreadable. I turned the body around, remembering that I saw some sort of logo on the back while he was floating. What was shown was a large red shield, with the words "Future Foundation" wrapped around it.
"What..? Future Foundation..?"
"Yup," Monokuma said, as he got up stretching. "That man is a member of the evil Future Foundation. Watch out! His dead body might eat you or something."
"Um, evil?" Takayashi asked. "How so?"
"Well, for one thing… they might have put a certain sixteen students into this underwater school, maybe?"
The words sunk in. It sank faster than a stone thrown into the ocean. These people were the people that threw us in here?
"That doesn't make sense," Noah observed. "Why would they come here then?"
"I don't know," Monokuma sighed. "They are a weird bunch of people."
"More importantly, if they locked us up in here, are they working with you?"
"…Nope," Monokuma replied. "Monokuma Co., and Future Foundation are completely unaffiliated. Unrelated. No relation whatsoever. Nope! None at all."
"T-then, what's going on?" Kirei asked nervously.
"Hmm, you could say, maybe that I'm saving you in a sense," Monokuma replied, laughing sinisterly.
His words made me grow angry. Saving us..? No way..!
"How is locking us up in an underwater coliseum, just so we can kill each other, saving us in any way?! What are you talking about, huh?!"
"Upupupu, so naïve," Monokuma laughed. "You really don't want to know what I'm saving you from… in fact; maybe death is better than what the Future Foundation will bring upon to you!"
"What do you mean?" Shougo asked angrily. "Nothing is better than death..!"
"Mmmhmm, take it from the lawyer man who tried to take us to death!" Micky laughed. "Honestly honey, get a grip! Get over yourself too while you're at it, you aren't some sort of fucking hero."
"Save your brawls for later," Furo snapped.
"I've heard of the Future Foundation before," Yoshinori said. "There's no way that they're doing this to hurt these people!"
"How do you even know?" Monokuma asked suspiciously. "…Well, I don't give a crap about that. What I do want to show you though is just who's under this diving suit…"
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Why is that important?"
"Upupupu," Monokuma laughed. "Sometimes, despair can be better than hope. Keep trying to get hope, and all you'll do is despair at the end… it's how things work. You gain hope in a relationship, and soon that person will be leaving you, and all you have left is sadness."
"What are you talking about?" Kaito asked. "People might grow sad, but it's those experiences that help us grow..! Everyone needs sadness and hope. It's a balance!"
"Save your preachings," Monokuma sighed. "You sound like a children's Bible, or fucking Naruto dancing around naked in Fiore. I don't need to hear you lecture about growing up… Meowykins!"
Monokuma pointed at Meowykins, and Meowykins ran up, arching his arm over his head. Monokuma pointed at the dead body next to us, and Meowykins nodded. Walking towards the body, he grabbed the wet suit, and opened it up.
There was… definitely a person in there. He was a little younger than I expected though. His brown hair was outstretched and balled up, probably to fit in the wet suit. He was… wearing a black jacket under the wet suit too. In between the black jacket, I saw a green sweatshirt, and a white t-shirt underneath that. That's all. He looked like… an ordinary person. Nothing special about him at all. Except he managed to reach us, right? That means something, I guess.
Though he definitely didn't look anything… "evil" like.
"Upupupu," Monokuma laughed. "This dead man was an important player to the Future Foundation, you know! It's good that he came over just to die himself."
"If he's an enemy to us, why did you kill him?" Mirai asked.
"Never said he was our ally," Monokuma said. "We just said that they put you in here."
"Are you telling the truth?" Unmei asked, clenching her teeth.
"T-this is getting really out of hand," Rhyssa said. "I'm already under too much stress as it is..! Just… cool it Rhyssa! Things are going to be okay!"
"Great… now the diva cracked under the pressure," Furo sighed.
Monokuma walked over to the dead body, and grabbed a machete from Meowykins, who pulled one out from his back. We all looked in horror as Monokuma separated the head from the man's body. We watched as Monokuma kicked the head aside like a soccer ball. We even watched Monokuma throw the dead body into the submarine, letting it rot in there for eternity.
"This man… Upupupu, how I have bad memories of this man," Monokuma started. "You see, he was one of my first little pupils. A man always obsessed about hope. I mean Jesus Christ, he wasn't as bad as that white haired pixie, but he was so corny, always talking about hope this, and hope that. Well, hope on this! This man you see was a part of a previous venture… where we locked up sixteen kids just like you into an all-out brawl!"
"You mean he's been through this before?" I asked. "You've done this before to other people!?"
"Oh, that's a different story," Monokuma laughed. "I don't want to let the cat out of the bag too early, you dig?"
"Was he the winner?" Takayashi asked, somewhat excitedly.
"Oh, he survived," Monokuma sighed. "It's a shame, but he's dead now anyways."
"Weren't you going to tell us his name?" Noah asked, interrupting the current flow of conversation. "If this man is so important, I'd rather we get things over with and be on our way."
"You look terrible," Monokuma observed, ignoring Noah's words. "You should take some ibuprofen."
"Silence," Noah said, returning to the personality that I knew. The hard brash one, that is. "Who is that man? Why are you making such a big deal out of him?"
"Oh, you don't know about him right now," Monokuma said. "But you will. The dead man lying down on the glass floor… his name is Makoto Naegi. Super Highschool Level Bad Luck, so I'd like to say… or as the other weirdo's call him, Super Highschool Level Hope."
Monokuma laughed wildly as we all watched, more confused than ever. "Hope is dead! We got the beacon of hope..! At last!"
Music halts
Location: Unknown | Time: Unknown | Chapter Two | 48 DAYS LEFT
Soundtrack: Persona – Aria of the Soul
…Why?
Why again?
"I thought you said I wouldn't be brought back here," I said.
"The old man didn't bring you here this time," Nanako said. "I haven't forgotten our promise. The one where I told you that I would help you on your journey."
"This is hardly a journey," I said, sighing. "It's massacre."
"Perhaps," Nanako said.
Nanako walked up, and put something into my hand. It was a file.
"Makoto Naegi," Nanako said. "I believe that man was found dead in front of you, no?"
"Yes," I said. "What of it? Why is he important?"
"I feel like it is quite useless to tell you about it now," Nanako said. "You will in fact have no memory of it later… But perhaps you'd like to read it for yourself anyways. For future reference."
"…I'd rather not."
"Suit yourself. This is only information to help you."
"I don't want to feel like something's missing," I sighed. "I already feel that way enough."
"I noticed," Nanako said, sighing. "Anyways, the old man did not lie. You will not meet with him for a while. However, perhaps we can… have these small visits with each other still."
"…So you can help me?"
"So I can help you."
"…Alright. I don't mind, as long as you don't bring me here during the middle of the day."
"Excellent," Nanako said. "I will bring you here when necessary during your sleep. Is that sufficient?"
I nodded, and Nanako smiled. I didn't want to accept her help. But I didn't have any other options. Sometimes, it's best to take a risky path. I didn't feel like Nanako was lying, either… and I hope that she wasn't.
"I will see you again soon," Nanako said.
A bright white light shined, and I fell down through it again, going through a familiar process.
==NANAKO'S REPORT CARD HAS BEEN UPDATED==
ID: Nanako / Role unknown.
|||Nanako made a promise to Keiko to help her along this "journey."|||
Closeness Level: 3 == Level Up! == 4
Location: Keiko's Room | Time: 7:00 AM | Chapter Two | 47 DAYS LEFT
"…Nngh."
My mind felt fuzzy as I woke up in my bed. I felt very faint as I got up, and stumbled around my room. The day before was extremely strange – discovering the dead body of someone who apparently was trying to kill us. Makoto Naegi… I felt strange. I wasn't sure why but... I felt uneasy about him. Why did he attempt to save us? I didn't get it. Outstretching my arms, I sighed.
"Oh yeah, I fainted," I said to myself. I remembered. I remembered fainting soon after Monokuma was reveling over the death of this Naegi person. I thought about those words very carefully. I fainted. I fainted… meaning someone had to carry me here..? Who carried me here? Of course, a few moments later, I had an idea already.
Cautiously, I checked my closet, under my bed, and even in the bathroom. There was no Mirai to be found. I guess he finally got the memo that I didn't want him to stalk me in my sleep, or maybe someone else carried me to my room. Sighing, I got changed like usual. Still dizzy, I creeped slowly out of my room, and I nearly screamed when I saw someone lying down in front of my door. If you had to take a guess, the answer would have been fairly obvious.
Soundtrack: Soul Eater In His Mind
Mirai was lying down in front of my doorstep. Like usual I guess. At least he wasn't in my room this time. Still a tiny bit annoyed, I shook him awake, and he snorted as he woke up abruptly.
"O-oh, master," he yawned, rubbing his eyes. "You're okay… that's good."
"Yeah," I said, sighing. "Thanks for not waiting in my room this time, I guess."
"You're welcome," Mirai said. "I remember what you said. I remembered that you didn't like me hanging out in your room, so I decided to protect you from the outside." Mirai nodded proudly to affirm himself.
"I guess that's okay," I mumbled. "I still think other people need help more than me though."
"...But, I don't want to protect anyone else," Mirai said. He sounded a bit confused. "I don't know why… but I'd rather protect you. It's strange… I think."
"It is," I said. "But I appreciate the thought."
Mirai nodded, and sat back down on the ground. He was much quieter than usual. From the position he sat in, I could tell that he was deep in thought. I sat down next to him, yet he didn't react. He continued to stare forward, biting his thumb.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
He shook his head, and buried his chin into his arms.
"I'm just thinking about something," Mirai said. "You don't need to worry about me, master."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "I could help, if you want…"
"It's nothing anyone can help," Mirai sighed. "I just… I'm thinking."
"About what?" I asked again. "You can tell me…"
Mirai looked at me. His eyes looked like those of a kicked puppy, and I was unsure of how to react to the whole thing. But he started talking, and his words were slightly ominous, but mostly depressing.
Soundtrack: All All Apologies
"Master," Mirai said. "What's your best memory?"
"…My best memory? Why?"
"I… I was just wondering," Mirai said. "…S-so?"
"Um, okay," I started. "Hmm… my best memory..? Probably when I won my first horse race… Yeah, I was really happy when I cut the ribbon. I was able to please my parents… I felt proud of myself for winning the gold medal. I think it was just the memory of starting my talent that I love so much. Why? What about you?"
"…Me?"
"What's your best memory?"
Mirai looked back down, twiddling his thumbs. "Um…"
Confused at his reaction, I asked again. He still didn't respond, and he only twiddled his thumbs in a more awkward fashion.
"…I'm sorry," he said. "I can't tell you."
"Why not?" I asked, concerned.
"…Master, do you remember lots of things?" he asked me.
"I guess so."
"…That's good," Mirai said. "Try not to forget things… especially those happy memories. Since those happy memories are treasures to you, right?"
"Of course," I said. "Um, Mirai, what's with these philosophical questions?"
Mirai didn't respond for a while, but spoke eventually. "You know… my talent, right? I can't remember it."
"That's okay," I said. "It could be because of how you got knocked out when you got here. Or maybe it was from shock. Memory loss from shock is common, I've heard."
"But…It's not just my talent," Mirai said sadly. "…I want to remember, but I can't. I can't remember anything about my parents, or my childhood, or my past life, or anything. All I remember is my name…"
He forgot most of his memories? He doesn't know who he is? I looked at him, stupefied. I had no idea he was carrying this burden.
"Then there's the fact that… I feel like I need to protect you," Mirai continued. "I don't know why… Hmm…"
Mirai's eyes squinted a bit out of sadness.
"…I want to remember though. Because I'm sure that I've had lots of good memories… with my parents and with other people. But I don't know what you have to do with it. And I don't even remember how to relate to anything. But I want to remember…"
Mirai sniffed, and I could feel his sadness seep into me. I felt bad about all the times I hit him or something along the lines of that… I guess, his attraction to me has to do with his memories?
"I don't want to disappoint you, but… I don't think I'm a part of your memories," I said. "The first time we met was when you took me to the cafeteria when I first got here."
"…That's even worse," Mirai sighed. "I'm confused… then why do I feel the need to be around you?"
"I-I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean make you upset. I just didn't want you to be disappointed later either."
"I understand," Mirai said. "…I want to remember really bad though."
"…Maybe it has something to do with how you were knocked out," I said. "It did something to your brain, maybe?"
"Will my memories come back?" Mirai asked hopefully. "Will I be able to remember things again? Like my past? Like my family?"
I stared at him sadly, but gave off a slight smile.
"I don't want to remember this place," Mirai said. "I-I mean, I don't want to forget you, master, but, if I just had memories of everyone here dying… I'd be sad. So, that's why I'm asking you, someone with lots of good memories… I'm going to remember something, right? I'll remember who I really am, right?"
I nodded, reassuring him.
"I'm sure eventually," I said. "We need to get out alive first though, right?"
Mirai nodded, and smiled again, showing the same smile that I used to know. "Right!"
I smiled back at him, and got up, preparing to leave. Mirai called out to me, and I turned around to acknowledge him, still unsure of what he had to say.
"Master," he called out. "When we get out, and I still don't remember anything about myself, you could help me look for my memories, right?"
I pondered this thought. We didn't know each other too well, and he was still mysterious. His lack of knowledge for the common world, and his lost memories... they were strange and pitiful. But I didn't want to make a promise I couldn't keep. Of course, telling him I couldn't now would probably hurt him more than ever.
"I don't know," I said, being truthful. "I don't really know what to think about the future, and what I'm going to do when we get out. But I promise we'll stay friends."
"…Okay," Mirai said, a bit disappointed. "I understand…"
I nodded, and smiled. I wanted to leave Mirai alone for a while – everyone needed time for themselves. As I walked away… I just pitied Mirai. I couldn't imagine being in his shoes and losing his memories. I probably couldn't live with that.
==MIRAI'S REPORT CARD HAS BEEN UPDATED==
ID: Mirai Minoshiro / Unknown talent
|||Mirai revealed to Keiko that he lost his memories, and the urge to protect her.|||
Closeness Level: 3 == Level Up! == 4
Location: Cafeteria | 8:26 AM | Chapter Two | 47 DAYS LEFT
Soundtrack: Beautiful Morning
I arrived at the cafeteria, for the daily meeting, and it seemed like I was late, as everyone else (excluding Mirai) had already arrived. It was pretty late, I suppose.
"Where have you been?" Micky asked. "Sweetie, you got to be quicker than that..!"
"I had to take a shower," I sighed. "I'm sorry for being late."
"We were just finishing up our meeting and breakfast," Unmei said. "We were talking about that Makoto Naegi person."
"From what Monokuma told us, the Future Foundation was the group that locked us in here," Noah observed, no longer looking like a mess. "However, somehow, Monokuma took control of the school, and instead of the Future Foundation taking a hold of the situation, Monokuma himself did."
"But then we thought that Monokuma couldn't do everything alone," Kaito said. "I think whoever is controlling Monokuma and Meowykins are the same person."
"The problem that awaits us right now is who Monokuma is working for," Hikaru said. "However, I do not think that is exactly necessary for our survival."
"So we need to find out who Monokuma is working for?" I asked. "Yeah, I agree Hikaru… I'm not sure that will exactly help us out somehow."
"Either way, what's decided right now is that Makoto Naegi was of little importance," Noah continued. "Monokuma described that man as an important player in the Future Foundation. As a result, that man, who was someone who put us in here, had to get us out from under Monokuma's control."
"He didn't anticipate the machine guns though!" Takayashi sighed. "Pew, pew, pew!"
I nodded in agreement with everyone, and headed to the kitchen to grab some food. Sitting down, the others prepared to leave.
"Hey, where's Mirai?" Rhyssa asked.
"He's a little depressed," I said.
"Hmm, is it just me? But I can't imagine that weirdo being depressed," Yoshinori said.
I hesitated for a minute, but decided that if Mirai wanted his memories back, it should be a bit of a group effort instead of him relying on one person.
"You know how he doesn't know his talent, right?" I asked. "That's apparently because when he got to this school, he lost all of his memories."
"That's why that little tyke's a confused mess?" Micky laughed. "Oh lord! Help me God! I've been put in with a bunch of weirdos!"
"You're the strangest one here!" Ryoko yelled. "A-anyways, if he lost his memories…"
"He just remembers his name," I said. "I feel bad for him."
"Y-yeah," Rhyssa said. "Maybe we should go talk to him?"
"Was wondering why that dude was so strange," Furo sighed. "I guess that's the reason, huh?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, and we all took a minute to think about Mirai's past. I'm not sure memory loss correlates to the fact that he has very little common sense, but it makes sense within the context of forgetting your talent. Mirai definitely wasn't the lying type, so I presume he doesn't remember anything about his family or childhood either.
"Well, I'm gonna go comfort the little guy," Takayashi exclaimed. "Besides, he needs to eat, or he'll turn into a skinny mess!"
"And I'll snap him in two," Micky joked. No one laughed.
"You're pretty close to Mirai, aren't you?" Rhyssa asked me. "I see him hanging around with you all the time. He even goes into your room at night…"
"Y-you saw that?!"
Rhyssa laughed. "Yeah. You should really lock the doors next time."
I sighed in relief. She didn't see Mirai break the lock apparently, which would have just added a lot of strange tension in between us.
"Anyways, if you want company, I can hang around for a while," Rhyssa said.
"Thanks," I replied. "You know, you're a lot different than you seem on TV."
"The network insists that I maintain a certain personality," Rhyssa replied, dejected. "I'm a little upset about it, since I don't really get to act myself. Sometimes, my TV personality even affects me in real life… I'm so stressed out all the time because everyone calls me a bitch and stuff, even though I'm really not."
"I know you're not," I said. "I admit though, I was a little intimidated when I first saw you."
"I could tell," Rhyssa said comfortingly.
I looked past Rhyssa and saw Micky filing his nails with a knife. He seemed to be a bit… high maintenance for a bodyguard, and I did find that to be a bit strange.
"He's eccentric, isn't he?" Rhyssa asked me. "You know, he walked up to me once and touched my butt."
"Are you joking?" I asked. "I mean, I could sort of imagine it."
"What a pain in the ass," Rhyssa sighed. "…Oh! Sorry, that was my TV personality."
I looked at her a bit funny, but wiped that confusion off. I talked with Rhyssa for a while. She really was different from her TV personality. She does have sporadic moments of rudeness though – probably what she said about the TV personality invading her real life. I couldn't imagine all the pressure she feels… and now even more so that we're stuck in this underwater cesspool and forced to kill each other, or race against the clock in an attempt to escape.
==RHYSSA'S REPORT CARD HAS BEEN UPDATED==
ID: Rhyssa Kaeda / Super Highschool Level Host
|||Rhyssa has to act a certain way in front of the cameras. Micky apparently touched her butt.|||
Closeness Level: 1 == Level Up! == 2
I finished my breakfast, and put my tray away, and prepared to leave with Rhyssa.
"So, what did we decide to do next?" I asked her.
"We need to find out how to actually escape this school," Rhyssa said. "We've had too much free-time lately, so we decided we actually had to find out how we're going to escape."
I nodded. She was right – we have been slacking off, because of the recent murder. But that can't faze us anymore… we're going to have to figure out a way to leave this place, this "school."
"Alright," I said, suddenly motivated. "Let's do it! Let's escape!"
Our newest resolve... stop the murders, and leave this school once and for all. Let's do it! Let's solve these mysteries!
Continued in Chapter 2: Section III
(AN: Not a very exciting way to end the chapter, I realize… But next chapter will apparently see our heroes trying to find a way to leave this place..! Will they succeed? Anyways, TBH, I feel like my writing is dropping in quality as I make more chapters. I'm not sure if it's because I feel less motivated, or it feels like I'm writing the same thing each chapter… Or maybe it's because I'm rushing? I don't think I"m rushing but maybe I am. Who knows... Idk. Hopefully you guys will still like the story.
See you next time!)