A/N: Wow, I'm just so blown back by all the positive responses to the last chapter. Honestly everyone, I couldn't help but smile when reading your reviews. I was also quite surprised by a few things. For one, I'm very pleasantly surprised by the reactions to Jane. I was expecting her to be absolutely hated, but she's been so well-received, it's really kind of amazing. I do love writing her, so maybe that's showing through as well. I'm really glad to see Jenny and Wilson fans as well; as a writer, I probably shouldn't be picking favorites, but I adore them as characters, so it's nice to see some love for them from you guys as well.

Speaking of character love, I can see from the poll that there's a few characters who are clear audience favorites. A few of the results so far aren't so surprising, but there are a couple there who did receive a surprising amount of votes, but of course undoubtedly deserve them. Overall though, the votes have been pretty spread out, even among the popular characters, as at the time of writing this, there is a four-way tie for 1st place. By the way, the poll is going to be up for one more week, so there's still time for your favorites to get enough votes to get a Free Time Event for this Act.

There was also a comment about character relationships beyond the "main characters" (reviewer's words, not mine; I'm not confirming anything about who the "main characters" will be), and I just wanted to say that there indeed will be many of those. I love interpersonal relationships in stories, and especially in a story like this where relationships are often one of the driving forces for the plot. There will be platonic and romantic relationships, so there's no worries there.

And finally, let's talk about theories. There were a few nice ones out there that are very interesting, and while I won't be confirming anything here, I can say that at least one of you might be on to something, heh heh. I especially like everyone's theories about the Mole, they're very different takes from the norm on who it could be. Also, one of you managed to catch a bit of foreshadowing about a certain character. And like all foreshadowing, it will definitely come into play in the future. Nice job catching that little hint!

And so with that, that concludes this Author Note. Act 1 begins now!

Act 1: Et tu, Hope?

"...So, how long are we gonna just keep standing here?" Viktoria asked.

We hadn't moved for what seemed like hours, once Monobear had left us to stew in the aftermath of our meeting. Honestly, it may had only been several minutes at most, but it certainly seemed longer. The heavy tension in the air virtually prevented anyone from moving a muscle, as if it was quite literally weighing us down.

"I dunno," Wilson said quietly in response to the Comedian, "The group paralysis here feels a little comforting ta me, in a way."

"Can I get a chair at least then?" Viktoria asked further, hunching over slightly.

"Why? Got a bad back?" Keahi asked, "I know a couple of chiropractic moves that I learned from a magazine. I could set ya right in a second."

"No thanks." Viktoria answered, perhaps a little too quickly for Keahi's liking if her facial expression was anything to go by. "My back's fine, I'm just too much of a lazy bum to keep standing around like this."

"Ha. Self-deprecative humor. Classic." Wilson said with a small chuckle.

"I can't believe this..." Jenny muttered.

"I can," Jane chimed in, "They're wasting time by trying to cope with humor."

"No, they are wasting time by-" Jenny began to say, before stopping and instead saying, "...Yes. That's correct." She narrowed her eyes at the Avian Vet. "You said something accurate and productive."

"That was just to throw you off," Jane shrugged, "Everytime you falter or your cold and analytical persona cracks, I get a miniature orgasm."

"That's fucking disgustin'," Charlie told her, shaking his head.

"H-Hey guys," Jesse cut into the conversation, if you could even call it a conversation any more, "C-Can we maybe focus on the issue at hand...please?" She looked up to Jenny expectantly after that, as if seeking approval. Unfortunately, Jenny was too busy giving Jane a venomous glare to even notice poor Jesse.

Huh. I just now realized that there's a lot of girls here who's name starts with the letter J. Maybe it was another trend, like how at least half of the students here were tall and scrawny. Of course, those were all likely just coincidences. But still, what were even the chances of that?

"The issue at hand?" Mikhail repeated, breaking me out of my train of thought, "What issue? What is there to discuss?"

"Uh...Rule 7, maybe?" Jean-Peal answered, his response obviously rhetorical.

"Not just that, but also the thing about there being a Mole," Charlotte nodded in agreement.

"Yeah seriously, wasn't that obvious?" Spinel asked.

"But what about it?" Mikhail questioned, a disdainful look on his face, "Do you honestly believe that we should even tolerate a discussion about murder?"

"But, it's a much better option than to just ignore it," Soleil told him, "We all need to be on the same page here."

"I'd hate to be reasonable two times in a row," Jane sighed disappointedly, "But I seriously doubt anyone here actually wants to kill anyone. I can tell you're all too goody-two-shoes for that."

"I hate to admit it, but she's right," Keahi said, "We all know that murder's wrong. And it's not like anyone would admit that they wanna leave so badly that they'd resort to murderin' people. So there's no real point to talkin' 'bout it."

"Let me get this straight," Jenny responded, "The general consensus right now, is that we should not talk about what just happened. We should not discuss that there may already be students in our midst who are planning to murder in order to escape this school. We should not even be wary about there possibly being a saboteur. And ultimately, we should not come together to formulate a plan to not only prevent murders, but to also find alternative ways of escape that do not require bloodshed." She folded her arms, as she gave everyone a surveying glare. "Is that what everyone truly believes is the best course of action here?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Honestly, I was more surprised by how much she spoke. I doubt we'll ever hear that much at once from her again.

"Well, when you put it like that..." Wilson mumbled.

"Obviously, we do need to talk about it," I agreed, "But what exactly did you have in mind?"

"Nothing." Jenny answered simply, "I only wish to facilitate a progressive discussion, and to give those with positive ideas a platform in which to share them."

"So in other words, you're useless," Jane remarked.

"That's ironic, coming from the bird bitch," Viktoria scoffed. Damn, she was usually a nice person, but she also had no problem with whipping out the claws if she wanted to.

"Ooh, nice one," Jane grinned, raising her hand up to high-five Viktoria.

"You do know she just insulted you, right?" Spinel asked.

"Yeah, but I can respect a good burn when I hear one," Jane shrugged. When Jane unrelentingly kept up her hand in waiting, Viktoria eventually just awkwardly tapped her hand with her palm. Jane then told her, "I licked my hand when you weren't looking."

"Eugh!" Viktoria groaned in disgust, as she wiped her palm against the side of her jeans. Raeger instantly was at her side, a bottle of anti-bacterial gel in his hand.

"Where did he even get that?" Jean-Peal asked in slight awe.

Raeger gave him a look.

"...I always keep a care package for Viktoria on my person," He replied, before then putting his attention back on her.

"Will the side antics ever end?" I asked, side-eyeing the duo. Viktoria was arguing that she could disinfect herself without his help, while Raeger was mumbling that she never did it right and that he was willing to just do it for her.

"Doubt it," Charlie grunted in response.

With what could be considered either really great or really awful timing, the monitors on the walls all suddenly turned on and began to play a message. The display showed Monokuma sitting in a large swivel chair in some office-looking room, holding what looked like a martini.

"Eh, this is your Headmaster speaking. It is now 10pm, and night time is now in effect. The water will soon be shut off, and some areas will be restricted. Good night, my students!"

"Wh-What?" Jesse stammered, "B-But it can't have been more than a couple hours since we woke up..."

"...Monokuma wanted to wait until it was late into the day before he woke us up," Aiz slowly said, "He wanted us to go to bed, with the thoughts of murder and traitors on our minds."

"Hmph. That's really sneaky of him," Soleil pouted as he crossed his arms.

"And smart," Spinel added, "Don't forget about that. Paranoia and doubt are rather...powerful, tools." The way he said that, made me think he knew that from personal experience.

"Wait, how are we supposed ta even get to ouer rooms?" Keahi asked, "Aren't the doors locked? The Rules say we have ta sleep in ouer rooms, or we get punished. I guess I could just blow mine open, if I have ta."

"How do you remember the rule about sleeping, but not the one about destruction of school property being prohibited?" Mikhail asked, a grimace on his face, "You are just asking to be punished."

"She does have a point though," Charlotte commented, "There's no way to get into the Dorms."

"Hmm...Maybe there is..." Jean-Peal hummed, "I think I remember the doors having what looked like card readers on them."

"How do you know that what you saw are card readers?" I asked.

"Well, I don't really know that for sure," he replied, "But once we got our Student IDs, I was able to make the connection."

"I guess we just slide our ID through the reader then," Soleil said, "So, I guess we'll just have to continue this meeting tomorrow then."

"Yes, you were all too busy wasting time with your shenanigans to actually discuss the matter at hand," Jenny told us coldly.

"C-Couldn't we just...continue our meeting now?" Jesse asked hesitantly, "Th-The Rules only say we have to sleep in our rooms...a-and that certain areas are restricted during Night Time...I don't think we, uh, actually have to go to bed..."

"We all did just wake up," Wilson noted, "So we should be awake enough to talk...though, I have to admit, I'm a wee bit tired, so I'd be ok with just continuing tomorrow."

"Me too, actually..." Charlie mumbled, rubbing his eyes.

"How?" Viktoria asked with a yawn, "I mean, I'm usually pretty tired so I thought it was just me, but how're you guys tired? We must've been passed out for half the day, at least."

"Just another mystery for us to stew over, I suppose," Spinel remarked, "For the record though, I'm not tired at all." He immediately let out a loud, drawn-out yawn.

"Dude, you just yawned," Viktoria told him, cocking an eye brow, "You look dead tired to me."

"I didn't yawn," Spinel replied blankly, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"What!?" Keahi exclaimed, "Yes ya did! We all heard and saw ya!"

"Nope. Didn't yawn." He said. He then yawned again. "Still didn't yawn."

I could sense another set of shenanigans brewing, so I decided to just bade everyone good night and leave before the antics could start. Some of the other students followed my lead, and left soon after as well.

"David! Wait up!" A voice called to me. I stopped to let them catch up, and once they did I continued to walk, with them at my side.

"You decided not to stick around for another round of shenanigans, huh, JP?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's not really my thing," he nodded, "I consider myself a pretty social guy, but some of the students are kind of draining to talk to."

"I know what you mean," I replied, "They're all nice enough, with one obvious exception, but they've definitely got their quirks. You're pretty normal though, probably the most normal guy here."

"Yeah, I...I guess I am." Jean-Peal said hesitantly. I was about to make a comment about that, when Charlotte then caught up to us as well.

"You guys talking about me behind my back?" Charlotte asked with a frown.

"Wh-What? No, I wouldn't-" Jean-Peal began to protest, but was cut off by the Inventor.

"I'm just messing with you again!" Charlotte told him with a mischievous grin, "You shouldn't take me so seriously all the time."

"Right..." Jean-Peal mumbled.

"I have no clue how you two ended up being friends," I told them, "Your personalities don't match at all."

"Well, we both were worried about you when we first found you," Charlotte said, a thoughtful look on her face, "I guess neither of us really want to leave your side, so we're kind of stuck together."

"You don't have to say that like it's a bad thing..." Jean-Peal sighed.

"Well, you're pretty obviously anxious around me," Charlotte said knowingly, "I would like to be your friend though...are you ok with that?"

"...Yeah, sure," Jean-Peal answered after a moment of hesitation, "I...I'd like to be your friend."

"Good, then it's settled," Charlotte smiled, "We're all friends, and we're all a team."

"I'm glad, because right now, we could all use a friend or two," I told them, "I trust you two, I don't believe either of you will ever murder. We all can watch each other's backs, and protect each other."

"Sounds good to me," Jean-Peal replied, looking more at ease.

"I did tell you I had your back," Charlotte nodded, "And I meant it. I'll do whatever I can to keep us safe. I promise."

By this time, we had made it to the Dorms. We said our goodnights to each other, and then went our separate ways to our rooms. Once I found my door, I slid my ID through the card reader. The door unlocked, and so I opened it and stepped into my room for the first time.

The room was painfully generic. There was nothing inside to suggest that any person with even a semblance of a personality owned the room. It had all the necessities: a bed, a night stand, a dresser with a vanity mirror, a closet, and even a personal bathroom and shower. But it was just so boring...were the other students' rooms like this as well? I doubted it. I also noticed that there was a camera and a monitor in here as well. Well damn, I guess I wouldn't be allowed privacy even in my own room.

Well anyway. I had nothing to do but try to get some sleep, though I doubted I would actually get any rest. I laid down in the bed, and stared up at the ceiling. My thoughts turned to everything that had just happened, as I tried to process it all.

This...was my life now. I had no memories, no identity besides a name, and was trapped in a school by a psychopathic teddy bear who wanted me and fourteen other students to murder each other. It was all just so insane. Why was I even here? Why had I been picked to participate in this Killing Game? I just...I felt like there was darkness all around me, crushing me. There was no light, no answers. I only existed to experience pain...and despair.

...

Monokuma Theater

"You know, I'm a lot less self-aware than I'm usually given credit for."

"A disgustingly-cute teddy bear mascot? So cliche, am I right?"

"But some of you might think that my Earthly form is just a ruse to lower my victims' guards."

"Or that my fluffy design is all based in irony and symbolism."

"Some might even think that my looks are actually a political statement about society."

"But really, there is no point to my appearance. I just thought I looked Cool and Original (DO NOT STEAL™).

"Really, that's all there is to me. Nothing special here."

...

"Good morning, my students! It's 7am, time to rise and shine. Let's all strive to do our best today!"

I woke up with a start. I hadn't even realized I'd fallen asleep last night, the last thing I remembered was mulling over yesterday's events in my head. I sat up, stretching and yawning, before giving a look at the monitor on the wall. So Monokuma was going to act as a sort of alarm clock for us, huh? I had a feeling that would get annoying rather quickly.

I figured I should probably get up and go with the others soon. We had agreed that we wanted to continue the meeting in the morning, but now that I thought about it, I don't think we ever actually set up a meeting place. The Cafeteria seemed like a safe enough bet, since everyone would no doubtedly be hungry and go in for breakfast.

First, however, I needed to take a shower. There was no way I was going to meet with the others looking and smelling like a slob. After stretching a bit more, I went into the bathroom and hopped into the shower. The shower was nice enough, there wasn't really much to say about it. I came out five minutes later, a towel wrapped around my waist as I dug through the dresser for a set of clothes. However, looking through it, all I could find were extra sets of the exact same clothing I'd been wearing yesterday.

"What the hell..." I muttered out loud.

"They're called clothes, David-kun. Maybe you've heard of them." Said a familiar, annoying voice. I turned around, and saw Monokuma standing in my room.

"I know they're clothes," I grumbled at him, "Why are they all just the same outfit?"

"I wanted all my students to have just one signature outfit," Monokuma explained, "It makes it much easier to tell who is who. Of course, that lousy Inventor had to have a similar outfit to the slob Comedian's, so I gave them a little lee-way with alternate costumes. Too bad you have to unlock New Game+ just to see them!"

"That's stupid." I told him bluntly. I guess I'm not really much of a morning person.

"Uwah! Your words cut me deeper than a doctor performing a botched amputation!" Monokuma cried out, "By the way, don't you think you should put some clothes on? Don't you know it's lewd to be bear naked in front of someone as innocent and sexually pure as me?"

"I'm...wearing a towel." I responded blankly. Honestly, I should have felt embarrassed by this situation, but I just...didn't.

"Huh. I guess I must have wiped away your inhibitions along with your memories..." Monokuma mumbled to himself, "Oh! Did I say that out loud? Oopsie!"

I just stared blankly at him.

"...Wow. You're a lot less fun to mess with than I'd planned." Monokuma sighed in disappointment. "Oh well, at least I've got fourteen other of you bastards to emotionally break." With that, he disappeared.

Huh. I think my morning apathy might've accidentally found me a way to avoid future encounters with the bear. Awesome.

Not too long after that, I was dressed and ready to go. I opened my door and stepped outside my room, and saw that Jesse was standing around in the hallway.

"Good morning, Jesse," I greeted her.

"Eep!" Jesse squeaked, "O-Oh, uh, hi, David...S-Sorry..."

"What are you sorry for?" I asked, "I'm the one who scared you."

"I'm...sorry for getting scared..." She mumbled, looking down at her feet.

"Oh, uh, ok," I replied awkwardly, "Um, are you waiting for someone?"

"O-Oh, yeah, I am," she nodded, "Spinel is blind...s-so I thought that I should help him get around."

"That's really nice of you, Jesse," I told her, "I'm sure he'll be grateful for that."

"Y-Yeah..." she mumbled once more, her cheeks flushed slightly red, "O-Oh, you don't have to stay with me, by the way. Go ahead to breakfast...we'll catch up later..."

"Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded, so I continued, "Alright, I'll see you later at breakfast then." I waved goodbye, and then made my way to the Cafeteria. When I entered, I could see that only a few of the students were there: Viktoria, Raeger, Charlie, and Jenny. I was surprised, seeing as I thought I might've actually been late. I was apparently pretty early, but then again, maybe I should've expected that. Teenagers are notorious for sleeping in, after all.

"Good morning, Mister Jameson," Jenny told me, "You're rather surprisingly prompt."

"I'm just as surprised as you are, to be honest," I replied. I moved to sit down while we waited, and decided to sit with Viktoria and Raeger.

"G'morning," Viktoria told me with an overdramatic yawn. She was laying her head down in her arms at the table she was sitting at, with Raeger at her side.

"You look exhausted," I told her, "I didn't really expect to see you here before me."

"Jeez, you can be really blunt sometimes," Viktoria groaned, "But it's not like you're wrong. I usually sleep in late, but somebody decided that I needed to get up early today." I immediately looked at Raeger.

"I only did that because I believed it was the best course of action," he said with a frown, "We cannot afford to waste time sleeping in. If we are going to be a part of the solution, then we must do everything in our power to achieve our goal."

"Dude, what are you even saying?" Viktoria mumbled into the table, "It's too early for your mumbo-jumbo way of talking."

"I...I'm saying that we all agreed to find a way out of the school, so we should do our best," Raeger explained.

"Oh. Well how am I supposed to do anything if I'm dead tired?" Viktoria countered.

"You're always tired, Tori," Raeger countered back, "It would do you some good to be a little more active, you know. An inactive body will actually tire much more quickly than an active one."

"That's just a fancy way of saying you disapprove of my lazy lifestyle," Viktoria said with another loud yawn. The two of them began to bicker back and forth, so I turned to look at Charlie after that.

"Good morning, Charlie," I told him, "How's your morning gone?"

"Eh?" He said, "It's ok, I guess. Why do ya care?"

"I'm just asking," I replied, "There isn't any particular reason."

"Hmm..." He grunted in response. I guess he wasn't much of a morning person either. Well, either that, or he wasn't much for talking. Possibly both.

The rest of the students began to enter the Cafeteria after that, and it became time to continue our meeting. Or at least, I thought so. When the meeting began to start, I realized only thirteen of us were actually there.

"Looks like everyone's here," Jean-Peal noted.

"No, we're still missing Aiz and Soleil," Charlotte said, having also noticed the two missing students.

"Y-You don't think they couldn've already..." Jesse stuttered, unable to finish her sentence. We all knew what she was implying though.

"Nonsense, they were the first to arrive," Jenny explained, "They're in the kitchen."

"Huh? Why?" I asked, "I didn't even see them when I got here, and I was early."

"Oh, right, we forgot to tell you," Viktoria began to answer, "Ok so, apparently we have to cook our own meals. I mean, I guess that should've been obvious in hindsight, since there's no staff here, but we didn't realize that until this morning."

"Soleil I understand, he has a background in cooking, it's his talent," Wilson said, "But why is Little Miss Silent and Unassuming back there?"

"I believe Aiz has quite a bit of skill in the kitchen," Spinel commented, "I haven't gotten much out of her yet, but from the few conversations we've had, I've learned that she can spice up a dish like it's nobody's business."

"I can't be the only one here who thinks they'll poison our food, right?" Jane asked. Everyone fell silent for a moment.

"No way," Keahi said in disbelief, "They'd never do somethin' like that! They're too nice!"

"That is a naive outlook," Mikhail told her, shaking his head, "With that kind of attitude, you may very well become the first target."

"Well ok then," Keahi shrugged, "I'd rather die trustin' people than live as an anti-social loner."

"Whoa, ok now guys, let's calm down a bit," Viktoria told the two of them, as Mikhail's glare hardened, "You're killing my chill vibe here."

"We're also getting off-track. Again." Jenny stated, an edge to her voice.

"Y-Yeah, we should probably get back on topic," Wilson stuttered nervously, "Er, what exactly was it, again?"

"It was about the possibility of the chefs will poisoning our food." Spinel answered, "Those two don't seem like the killing type, but I suppose you can't really know what a person is truly capable of until you've seen them reach their limits. And we've hardly seen anything of them at all."

"I...do not believe they are capable of killing as well," Raeger spoke up. It was surprising to see him speak without being prompted by Viktoria for once. "But even then, I also do not believe that a mass poisoning would go over well with Monokuma."

"And why's that?" Charlie asked, "He wants us dead, right?"

"U-Uh, actually," Jesse said hesitantly, as she flipped through the pages of her notebook, "M-Monokuma wants us to murder each other...I-I think that his choice of words is important there..."

"Does it matter?" Keahi asked, "I mean, either way, death is still kind of the result here."

"Think of it this way," Spinel began to explain, "Death on its own is normal and expected. It'll eventually happen to everyone some day. Murder...now that has a tone of excitement to it, doesn't it? And didn't you notice how excited Monokuma got over the idea of us murdering each other?"

"And don't forget the fact that he called this all a game," Charlotte added, "If everyone died from poisoning, his 'game' would end too early."

"Oi, wait a sec here," Wilson asked, eyes wide, "You can't be seriously implying that the only that reason we're alive, is because it'd be sodding boring to that damn bear to just off us all at once!"

"Yeah...it kinda seems to be the case," Jean-Peal told him solemnly, "And because of that, we can guess that he wouldn't be ok with everyone just being poisoned to death. It's just too easy."

"You got any proof for that?" Charlie asked.

After he said that, I felt something vibrate in my pocket. I dug my hand in it, and could feel that it was my Student ID. Confused, I pulled it out and checked it, and saw that the Rules section was blinking. Tapping the option revealed that a new rule had been added. I took the liberty of reading it out loud to the others.

8. A culprit may not kill any more than two students in their attempt to Graduate.

"Well I guess that answers your question," I told Charlie.

"H-How did he even hear us?" Jesse asked.

"The cameras Monokuma has all over the goddamn place probably have microphones in them," Wilson suggested, "I've repaired cameras like that before, so I've got an idea of how they work. But the ones Monokuma has...they've got to be some pretty high-grade shit to be able to hear what we say so bloody clearly."

"Ugh. I guess we really don't have any privacy," Viktoria groaned.

"Good morning everyone! Breakfast is served!" Soleil declared, having just now exited the kitchen with Aiz as he pushed along a cart with food. He must've felt the heavy atmosphere, as he then said anxiously, "Uh, is everything ok?"

"About as ok as things can be," Charlie told him, "All things considered."

"Our IDs informed us that a new rule was added," Aiz said, "What caused the addition?"

"They thought you guys were gonna poison our food," Jane immediately answered.

"Are ya serious!?" Keahi exclaimed at her, "Youer the one who said that in the first place!"

"I-I'd never do such a thing!" Soleil gasped, hands clasped together in earnest, "W-Why would you say that!?"

"'Cuz she's a sneaky lyin' rat, that's why!" Keahi yelled angrily, "I'm gettin' real tired of her crap!"

"Hey! You're ruining my vibe again!" Viktoria told them, "Seriously, just calm down, we can't keep fighting like this."

"She's the one that started it!" Keahi said.

"You've been involved in both arguments this morning so for," Jenny told her coldly, "You are the common denominator. You will refrain from continuing all arguments at once."

"You don't control me!" Keahi countered, "Who the heck do ya think ya are!?"

The two of them had a glaring contest after that. Sensing the heavy tension, Soleil, began to hand out the plates of food, saying, "Forgive me if the food isn't to your liking. Aiz and I did our best, but our true skills don't lie in cooking meals, I'm afraid. As much as I would love to just serve chocolate for every meal instead, I know that even my superb chocolatiering wouldn't be enough to prevent you all from tiring of its taste. You can only eat so much of something before you begin to hate it, after all. Fortunately, I am not quite there yet when it comes to chocolate, and I don't wish to advance any of you further in that direction either. You know, I have-"

"Soleil." Aiz said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Relax."

"R-Right, sorry," he replied, letting out a shaky breath, "I was just not expecting such a...dramatic morning. I talk a lot when I get anxious, haha."

"So...what next?" Charlotte asked, trying to bring the conversation back on topic.

"I guess we should talk about ways of escaping, and about the Mole," I suggested.

"Well, the discussion about the Mole should be a short one," Spinel said, "Whether or not if it's even true that they exist, we'd never be able oust them."

"M-Maybe we can," Jesse responded hopefully, "I've b-been writing what everyone says down during out meetings...m-maybe I'll be able to find discrepancies."

"Seems like as good a plan as any," I remarked, "Good luck with that, Jesse. We're counting on you." The Sidekick nodded, a bashful yet determined look on her face.

"I guess that just leaves the escape plan, then," Jean-Peal then said, "So, how're we gonna do this?"

"We should explore the school more carefully first," Mikhail told us, being surprisingly helpful, "The building's architecture is nonsensical...I wish to get to the bottom of its mysteries."

"Ya know, that's actually not a bad idea," Charlie said with nod, "This school's weird as hell. It's a little optimistic of me, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a secret passageway or two."

"I really seriously doubt that there are secret passageways in this school," Viktoria said, shaking her head, "That's way too cliche, even for a meme lord like Monokuma."

"Still, it'll be good to look around some more," Charlotte told her, "There could still be things that we missed. And we could search in pairs, to be safe about it."

In pairs, huh? Who did I want to search with though? I looked at the fourteen students there, unsure of who exactly was the best choice. I ended up deciding that I would just partner up with someone that I wanted to get to know more.

Who will you spend time with?

Charlotte Lin

"...Charlotte, would you like to partner up with me then?" I asked.

"H-Huh?" She gasped, seemingly surprised, "Uh...sure. I would like that very much."

"Wow man, I thought we had something special," Jean-Peal whined at me.

"N-No, I didn't it mean it that way-" I tried to tell him.

"Ha, just fooling with you," Jean-Peal said with a small grin, "I know you had to pick just one of us. Let's try to partner up next time."

"Y-Yeah, of course," I replied.

"Hold on, there's an odd number of us here," Wilson pointed out, "We can't exactly pair everyone off since there'll be one person left over."

"Aha, but that is where you are wrong," Soleil announced, "I'm going to be busy in the kitchen for the rest of the day, baking up a sweet surprise. I swear, what I've got in store for you all, will be to die for!"

"Ha, nice, I love your unexpected dark humor, Soleil," Viktoria told him, giving him a thumbs up.

"That wasn't meant to be humorous," Soleil replied with a frown, "In hindsight, that was just a very poor choice of words."

"Anyway," Jenny interjected, her face as stoic-looking as ever despite likely feeling extremely frustrated by all the side antics, "It appears that we have the necessary amount of people to pair up as planned. I suggest that we meet up again at noon, share what we found, then swap search areas with another pair and continue our exploration for the rest of the day."

"Sounds like a plan," Spinel nodded, "A fresh set of eyes will be useful in uncovering new information."

"Please tell me you see the irony in what you just said," Jane begged.

"Don't answer that." Jenny commanded, "Now, let's move out."

Keahi had kept silent since her little spat with Jenny. She was looking down at the ground, her glare still apparent on her face. I could see that her fists were clenched, which made me feel a little wary. I could tell that many of us were expecting her to blow up at any second now.

"...URAAAAGH!" Keahi suddenly yelled, arms pumped in front of her, "Alright! Let's do this thing! Wilson! You're my partner, arright!?" Her entire body tensed, before she then ran to Wilson and began to drag him away.

"AAAHHHHHH!" Wilson screamed, "Why're you screaming!? I wanna partner up with someone else!" Unfortunately for him, it was already too late, as the two of them were long gone.

"...Well that happened." Viktoria said blankly.

And so, once everyone paired up and finished their breakfast (which everyone thought was delicious, though Soleil refused to accept our compliments, and Aiz just nodded in acknowledgement), we all headed out to our destinations. Charlotte and I decided that we would explore the Gymnasium more carefully.

I'm not sure what I expected, but after an hour of looking around, we found a whole lot of nothing.

"There really isn't anything to explore here," I told Charlotte, after checking around the bleachers for the fifth time.

"I know what you mean," she sighed in response, "Wanna take a break? Just for a minute?"

"Sure." I answered, and so the two of us sat down on the bleachers.

Charlotte Lin: Ultimate Inventor

Free Time Event 1

START

"You know, we've spent quite a bit of time with each other, but we still don't really know much about each other," Charlotte noted.

"That's true," I replied, "I guess we haven't really had much time to just talk. We've been busy since the moment we got to this school."

"Yeah," Charlotte nodded, "Why don't we fix that now? We've got time, so why not?"

"Sure," I agreed, "Though, it'll probably just be you that'll be talking. There's nothing I can really say about myself."

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Charlotte said, "I'm sorry, that was inconsiderate of me to forget."

"Not...really?" I said, unsure in what to say, "I mean, you're not really offending me or anything. Honestly, it's kind of hard for me to feel any one way about most things."

"What?" Charlotte gasped, "Did Monokuma steal your emotions too?"

"Not exactly," I answered, "It's kind of hard to explain, but if anything, I feel like I'm just stuck in this permanent state of apathy."

"Oh...I...I'm so sorry..." Charlotte apologized.

"Eh, it's not the worst thing that could've happened," I shrugged, "I know I felt really panicked and shocked in the beginning, so that's proof I can still feel things. Maybe it just takes something extreme now, for me to feel the same way you guys do."

"Wow..." Charlotte said in awe, "How could that bear even do this? He's way more powerful than I could've thought possible." She was silent for a moment, before adding with a slight smile, "Huh. It seems like you managed to talk about yourself anyway. That's quite a feat for an Amnesiac."

"Heh, you're right," I chuckled, "You haven't had a chance to talk about yourself yet though. I guess it's your turn."

"Huh?" Charlotte said in surprise, "Oh, uh, alright then. Um, well, there's not really a lot to say about myself..."

"Sure there is," I persisted, "Everybody's got something going on in their life."

"Well...what would you like to hear?" Charlotte asked.

"Hmm...can you tell me about your family?" I asked.

"Oh, sure," Charlotte answered, "My parents are British and Cantonese, kind of an odd pairing, I know, but they love each other. They pushed me into studying a lot, since they wanted me to get good grades and eventually get into a good college."

"It makes sense why you're such a brilliant Inventor then," I told her, causing her to blush slightly, "I'm sure your parents are proud."

"Yeah, you'd think so," Charlotte replied with somewhat of a frown, "They weren't really all that supportive for the longest time."

"What? Why?" I asked. What kind of parents wouldn't support their child who was trying to pursue their dream?

"Well, inventors don't typically make a living in this world," Charlotte sighed, "Do you know the chances of an inventor having any kind of success? My parents did, and they didn't really like my chances of making it in the field."

The chances of an inventor having success? Somehow, I think I know this...

-25%

-10%

-1%

"...It's only a 1% chance, right?" I guessed.

"How did you know?" Charlotte asked, eyes widened slightly.

"Well, I'd assume the chances had to be really low, otherwise anyone could slap together an invention and make millions," I explained.

"That's a pretty smart guess," Charlotte grinned, though she didn't necessarily look happy, "Yes, only 1% of inventions ever become successful. The actual success rate is actually pretty contended, with some even arguing that it's actually as high as 10%. But, it's generally agreed on that 1% is the general base line for success." Her grin soured, as she continued, "I guess my parents didn't think I could ever be a part of that 1%."

"Well, you definitely proved them wrong," I told her with a reassuring smile, "You said you invented more than just one thing, right?"

"Yeah..." She replied, cheering up a bit, "I broke all expectations when I created my second invention. Creating just one and making it successful is hard enough, but then doing it again? That's practically unheard of. I...I earned that prestige." She furrowed her eye brows. "Er, sorry, that probably sounded really egotistical of me."

"But you're right," I told her, "You earned it. And you did it all at such a young age. It's no wonder why you're the Ultimate Inventor, there probably wasn't even any competition for that spot."

Charlotte looked down, unable to look at me after I said that, but I could see that she was trying to hide a grateful smile.

"David...thanks," She said quietly.

It almost kind of felt like she was fishing for compliments there, but honestly, I think she's just been deprived of praise for much of her life. I don't blame her for wanting to be told something positive about herself. I wonder if there is anything more to her family life though, I'm sure hard-to-please parents can't be the only reason she's like this. Either way though, I feel like I've gotten to know her a little better.

Free Time Event: CLEAR

"Um, maybe we should get back to looking around," Charlotte suggested, "That was a long enough break, right?"

"Yeah, that sounds good," I replied, and so we went back to searching around the Gymnasium. As anyone might've expected, we still found absolutely nothing new by the time noon came around. Tired and disappointed, the two of us headed back to the Cafeteria, and waited for everyone to return.

"So..." Jane began to say once everyone had arrived, leaning back and forth on her heels as she spoke, "I'm guessing everyone else wasted just as much time as I did, right?"

"Yes, unfortunately," Raeger grimaced, "Tori and I did not manage to find anything new in the Laundry Room."

"A-And Jenny and I didn't find much either, at uh, the staircase hallway," Jesse added nervously.

"We didn't find anythin' either," Keahi groaned.

"Oh, I didn't even look around," Jane corrected, "I just kept poking Spinel until he jabbed me with his stick."

"It's not a stick, it's a cane," Spinel said through gritted teeth, "And thanks to you, I couldn't focus on exploring on our group's behalf."

"How could you even try to explore though?" Wilson questioned, "I mean, you're...you know...visually impaired."

"I won't be triggered into a catatonic state if you say the word 'blind', so please stop trying to tip toe around around the word," Spinel sighed, "Anyway, I still have hands. I just try to feel around to get an idea of what something is."

"Now that's what I call determination," Viktoria said, looking impressed, "What room were you searching in anyway?"

"The Trash Room." Spinel answered.

"Er...you do know that there's an incinerator in there, right?" Charlotte asked worriedly, "You could've easily fallen in!"

"No worries," Spinel said, waving off her concerns, "The gate was still blocking the way. Honestly, our search was destined to fail no matter what, since I didn't even have the key."

"Oh, sorry," I spoke up, "I forgot I had the key. I guess I should be the one to go there next to explore." I looked to see who Jean-Peal had been paired off with, since I'd promised to partner up with him at my next opportunity, and saw that he was with Charlie. "Charlie, would you mind switching partners for the rest of the day?"

"Hm?" He grunted, "Eh, sure, I wanted to go check the incinerator anyway. It's been bothering me that the damn bear wouldn't let me see it yesterday."

"Huh?" I said, confused by what he said. When he started to walk up to me, was when I realized that he must had misunderstood me.

"Uh..." Jean-Peal mumbled, looking like he wanted to say something.

"Wait, I didn't mean-" I started to say, but when Charlie stood beside me and looked at me expectantly, I suddenly found it very hard to turn him away.

Who will you spend time with?

Charlie McCrimmon

"...Nevermind." I muttered.

Jean-Peal gave me a look that basically said "I can't believe you right now." I gave him a look back that said "Next time for sure, I promise."

"Now that that's settled," Jenny announced, "Let's head back out. Everyone, look somewhere that you haven't been to yet."

And so with that, everyone left the Cafeteria once again. Charlie and I headed over to the Trash Room, and when we got there I pulled out the gate key and undid the lock. The gate easily slid open after that, and so we were finally able to take a closer look at the incinerator.

"Looks like it turns on and off when we push this button," I said, pointing out the big red button on the wall next to it.

"No shit, that's pretty obvious," Charlie grumbled, "You don't gotta treat me like an idiot."

"Oh, uh, sorry," I apologized.

"Jeez, have a little backbone," Charlie told me, rolling his eyes, "You don't gotta apologize over everything."

"Uh..." I said, unsure of what to say. I ended up just saying my thoughts out loud. "What do you want from me?"

"What do I want?" He repeated.

"Yeah," I told him, "You're being difficult for no reason right now." He narrowed his eyes at me, as if he was contemplating what he should say.

"I'm a little pissed that I wasn't your first choice," he eventually admitted, "I knew you didn't actually want to partner up with me, but I didn't say anything. I get it, that JP guy is your friend. I just thought, after this morning..."

"This morning...?" I repeated. What did I do this morning? "You mean...after I said good morning? Was that bad?" He gave me a strange look after that.

"I thought...nevermind, I'm just being stupid," Charlie sighed, shaking his head, "Really, it's nothin'."

"It's stupid to bring something up and then drop it," I replied bluntly, "Just tell me what's up."

"...I figured you weren't judgin' me anymore, is all," Charlie mumbled, "I'm used to people not wanting to talk to me, but it pissed me off when JP wouldn't even look at me when we were exploring earlier. You're the first person here to try to start a conversation with me, so I guess I got my hopes up when you said you wanted to switch partners."

"Charlie..." I started to say.

"Don't you dare start pitying me!" He exclaimed, "Damn it, I told you this was stupid!"

"It's not stupid," I told him, "I didn't think you'd take any of that personally, but I'm sorry. I mean that."

"...'K." He replied simply.

"I want to get to know you," I continued, "I want to get to know everyone, really. So if you do want to just, hang out and talk, we can do that."

"...Ok." He said again, this time less dismissively.

Charlie McCrimmon: Ultimate Billiards Pro

Free Time Event 1

START

"So...what?" Charlie asked.

"What do you mean, 'what'?" I asked back.

"What're we supposed to say?" He clarified.

"I guess, just whatever you feel like saying," I answered.

"Hmm..." Charlie hummed.

"...Oh," I said in realization, "I just realized, I never thanked you for standing up for me against Monokuma."

"Think nothin' of it," Charlie shook his head, "I just hate bullies, is all. He was going after ya pretty hard, somebody needed to put him in his place."

"Well...thank you," I told him, "That meant a lot, especially coming from a stranger."

"Hmm..." Charlie hummed again. It seemed like the conversation was fizzing out fast. I needed to find away to keep it going.

"...Maybe you could tell me more about your talent?" I suggested.

"Sure, I guess" Charlie shrugged, "I've been playin' pool since the day I could hold a stick in my hand. Well, I never actually started playin' until I was five, but when I was just a tiny little asshole baby, my parents said that I would hit little toy balls around with a stick. Apparently, I'm some kind of prodigy, 'cuz I won my first continental tournament when I was ten."

"Seriously!?" I said in surprise. Ten years old? How was that even possible?

"You don't believe me?" Charlie challenged.

"N-No...I mean, I do believe you," I told him, "You're here as the Ultimate Billiards Pro, so you must have done something pretty major to earn it."

"Well, yeah," Charlie continued, "I guess I barely believe it too sometimes. Just ten years old, and already a god damn champion. They even had a name for me, 'The Tiny Miracle of 8-Ball'. Can you imagine that?"

"I can't even imagine you as 'tiny' in the first place," I said, "I just see you as a really tall ten year old."

"Heh, that's quite cheeky of ya," Charlie said with a small grin, "I'm not even all that tall."

"You've got a good five inches on me, at the very least," I replied, "Even if you didn't have those scars, you'd still look pretty intimidating because of your height."

"...Huh," Charlie said slowly, suddenly much more sullen. Damn, I guess the scars were kind of a sore point with him. I was curious about them though. Had could he have ever gotten such crazy scars?

"Have you ever talked about your scars to anyone?" I asked, deciding to venture forward on the topic, "Or do you just prefer not to?"

"I really don't like talkin' about personal shit like that." He answered gruffly, "Drop it."

"Yeah, sure, no problem," I retreated, "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry." I was quiet for a moment, before adding, "But...if you do end up wanting to talk about it later, I won't turn you down, ok?"

"...Yeah." Charlie replied, no longer looking at me.

I don't know what happened to him, but I felt like, if I could, I wanted to be able to help him in any way possible. I just wish I could get him to open up more, but he seems kind of set in his anti-social ways. I feel like I kind of got to know him better though, at least.

Free Time Event: CLEAR

We spent a bit more time examing the incinerator and Trash Room, but soon realized that we weren't going to be able to find anything else in such a small and empty room. We decided to head back to the Cafeteria, for the last time today. Though we weren't expecting any good news, we still had a little bit of hope that someone had managed to find something.

If only we were so lucky.

A/N: Haha...oh man, this update is late. You see that Author Note at the top of this chapter? Yeah, I wrote it nearly three weeks ago. This has been the longest delay so far since I've started this story. I can't say enough how sorry I am that it took this long to finally post this. Work and family issues took over for a week straight, so I didn't even have time to write for awhile. Not only that, but I couldn't really find a good spot to end this chapter. On the positive side, it's a long chapter, which hopefully will make up for the long delay. On the negative side, it's so long only because I couldn't think of a good spot to end it. Hell, even what I eventually settled for in this chapter feels very unsatisfactory to me. Ugh.

In other news, the poll changed up while I was writing the Free Time Events. Charlotte and Charlie were in the lead, though now Viktoria and Raeger are the new Top 2. Those two have been locked in as the next two FTEs, so you'll be seeing more of them soon. Don't worry though, there's still time to get your favorite character to the top, as Spots #5 and #6 haven't been locked in yet. If you haven't voted yet, then now is the time. You're all free to still vote for Charlotte, Charlie, Viktoria, and Raeger...though the votes will be kind of pointless if you do. I guess I could just remove them from the poll, but I'd like to keep the poll results intact for when I eventually release the results.

Well, that's about it. I really, really hope I manage to get the next update out by next Sunday, but I feel like life really doesn't want me to keep my scheduling promises. Keep your fingers crossed, everyone.