Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. So, this chapter felt… weird, to write. Thanks to the early reveal of chapter 5, it made the second half of this chapter kinda difficult; kinda awkward. Hopefully, that doesn't mean it feels weird to read for you guys; but if it does, well, you were forewarned. Anyways, onto the chapter, where the class witnessed the third day of the fifth chapter starting. I hope you enjoy.

Note: If you like what I write, and have a few dollars to spare each month, I would appreciate it if you donate to my Pat account. Link is on my Twitter page, with the link to that being on my fanfic bio. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.

Chapter 94: Watching Chapter 5: 100 Miles; Pain of a Junk Food Junkie Part 6

The next scene showed Makoto entering the dining hall. Inside was just Hina, with two trays of food on the table. "Ah, Makoto!" The swimmer exclaimed happily. "Yup, that's Makoto, sure as the sky!"

"Hey, Hina…" Makoto waved at her tiredly.

A concerned frown then entered Hina's face. "You really had me worried, ya know? What happened to you last night?"

"Worried…?" The luckster turned to her questionably at that.

The group also held curious looks at that. "Why would she have been worried?" Taka asked in bemusement. "Could she have tried to contact Makoto during his sickness?"

"Probably. That would explain it…" Sayaka said in agreement.

"Yeah, right after nighttime hit, we all went to get you." Hina revealed. "We were hammering away at your doorbell, but you never answered."

"...And apparently, she wasn't alone." Junko added, blinking.

"So Hina, Hiro, Toko, and Byakuya gathered together to get Makoto?" Celeste summarized, also looking bemused.

"Hey, you forgot Kyoko." Hiro pointed out.

"I have not." Celeste denied it easily. "I'm discounting her since she was there when the masked assassin made their attempt. If she was with the group, Hina would've already known what happened and would've shown a more exponential amount of worry."

"We thought maybe you'd been… you know…" She then quickly added, "I mean, not that'd actually happen! I mean, nobody here would wanna - you know!"

"And this proves further that she was unaware of either the assassination attempt, or of Makoto's sickness."

"Alright. Kyoko wasn't with the group." Leon acknowledged with a nod. "Still doesn't explain shit about why they were knocking on Makoto's door."

"It wasn't meant too, Leon dear. I'm just simply adding context to what we are hearing and seeing." Celeste stated, with one of her 'sweet' smiles. The baseball star shuddered a bit at that hidden venom beneath that smile, and kept his eyes away from the gambler.

"So anyways… what were you doing?"

"I didn't feel good, so I went right to bed. I had no idea you guys even showed up…" Makoto explained, a tad sheepish. "But why did you come to get me? Did something happen?"

"Umm… well, lots of stuff, actually. I'm not sure I can really explain…" Hina said, looking in thought. "Let's go meet up with everyone else, then they can tell you about it!"

"So… is everyone waiting somewhere else or something?"

"Oh, yeah! We all stayed up the whole night!" Hina explained.

"They stayed up the whole night…?" Mondo raised an eyebrow at that. "What the hell were they doing?"

"Something important if they took an entire night for this…" Byakuya surmised, eyes narrowed.

Makoto's eyes widened in shock. "The whole night…?!"

"I lost at rock-paper-scissors so I had to come get breakfast everyone…" The swimmer continued, rubbing the back of her head. Then she perked up. "So you got here just in time! C'mon, help me carry it."

"O-Okay, sure…" Was all Makoto could say, moving towards one of the trays of food.

Hina then headed to the exit, the other tray already in hand. "Everyone's in the gym. Hurry up, I'll meet you there!"

'The gym…? Why's everyone in the gym?' Makoto thought with confusion. "And… the entire night?"

"I already have a lot of questions, and I'm just getting more…" Hiro couldn't help but say, looking lost.

"Well, at least this question will be answered pretty soon." Leon pointed out. "So don't worry about getting a headache there, dude."

The next clip showed Makoto entering the gym this time, the tray of food in his hands. "Ah, there he is!" Hina called out, drawing the attention of Hiro, Toko, and Byakuya.

"This is worse than being late for your wedding, the birth of your son, and your own funeral, all at once!" Hiro exclaimed.

"Jeez. To show up now, like it's no big deal…" Byakuya scoffed in displeasure.

"You made us s-stay up all night, while you slept like a b-baby in your bed…?" Toko hissed.

Some of them would've mentioned how rude they were being. That Makoto was not, in fact, sleeping like a baby, and was pretty much writhing in agony.

But such comments died on their lips when they noticed what the group was surrounding. With the item in question taking everyone off guard.

"Huh…?"

"What are…?"

"How the…?!"

"Why…?!"

Before Makoto could say anything, he noticed the four circling around something. And that something… "What the-?!"

Was the remains of a Monokuma.

"What the hell?!" Mondo exclaimed loudly in shock.

"What are they doing?!" Hifumi squealed alarmingly.

"How did- what the- why on-?" Taka stammered, trying to wrap his mind around this stunning development.

"Why are they tearing apart Monokuma?!" Hiro asked fearfully.

"And how are they not dead?!" Leon voiced incredulously

Those like Makoto and Sayaka could only look at the screen with wide eyes, stun; while those like Byakuya and Kyoko analyzed the scene with narrowed eyes, trying to figure out what led to this.

Even Junko was taken aback a bit by this sudden development; though her analytical mind quickly deduced that she had been absent, and so four of her remaining classmates took the chance to dismantle Monokuma. She probably even left the bear for them to dismantle, so they could be properly distracted, leaving a dead Makoto and a Kyoko with no alibi.

"Wh-What are you doing?" Makoto cried out in shock.

"What does it look like? We're dismantling it to see what makes it tick." Hiro said casually, the main one deep into dismantling the robot.

"Dismantling?!" The luckster repeated incredulously. "But I mean… that's Monokuma you're messing with, right?!"

"Yeah, that's right." Hina nodded, her eyes focused on the remains.

"She's not even fazed…!" Makoto mumbled numbly.

"Can we get some context here? Cause it looks like those four are begging the bear to drop a bomb on them!" Leon stated, completely stupefied.

"You spoke too soon on the headache, man...!" Hiro cried out, holding his head in a panic.

"Clearly, they must've known that the mastermind wouldn't retaliate, at least not immediately." Byakuya theorized, looking down in thought. "They likely found the machine inactive, and decided to take the opportunity to look through its hardware."

"And it being inactive would imply that the mastermind is absent." Kyoko followed up. "With their absence, there would be no worry about being attacked. Thus, our future selves are currently free to do whatever they can."

That… made some sense to the students. Still, many couldn't help but feel alarmed at what's being shown, considering what happened the last time one of them put a scratch on the mechanical bear.

"Relax. There's no danger." Byakuya assured him.

"You say that, but…" Makoto voiced skeptically, still in disbelief. 'What is this?! What are you guys doing?!'

"I'll explain what's going on, Makoto. Cuz that's how much I like ya!" Hiro volunteered. "Byakuya found this fella layin' around, then we tore it apart!"

"That explains shit!"

"We already guessed THAT!"

"Yeah, that doesn't tell us anything!"

"Details! We need details here!"

"That doesn't explain anything…" The luckster said numbly.

"Just before we went to bed last night, I came to the gym to try and talk to Monokuma. I wanted to see if he had any new information about Kyoko's disappearance." Byakuya interjected with a clearer explanation. "And I found him here, just like normal. However… when I found him, he was no more than a regular toy. He didn't react, didn't say a word."

"You're saying… he wasn't moving at all?" Makoto repeated hesitantly.

"I waited until nighttime officially began, but still Monokuma laid here regardless." The Togami heir continued. "I gathered everyone up as quickly as possible so they could take a look. Even then, he still didn't make a move. So I immediately initiated the disassembly process."

"It was Master's s-stroke of genius. A chance to find out what m-made Monokuma tick…" Toko giggled out in praise for Byakuya.

"One thing we discovered is that he's quite a sophisticated machine." Byakuya revealed. "It's leagues beyond any normal remote-control toy. Who has enough free time to invest in something like that, anyway…?"

"B-But besides that, what I'm wondering is… why did he stop moving all of a sudden?" Makoto inquired.

"I thought maybe he'd malfunction, but we didn't find any cause as we were taking him apart." Byakuya stated.

"So if he didn't break down…"

"Then maybe something happened to his puppeteer, the mastermind. Something unexpected." The Togami heir finished Makoto's unspoken conclusion. "I can't imagine any other possibility."

Hearing the more detailed explanation from Byakuya settled the more alarmed students further. "So, if the mastermind isn't controlling Monokuma right now…" Hina trailed off.

"Could it be that they actually are dead?" Taka finished, looking down in thought. "Is the murder we saw in the beginning of this chapter really the mastermind?"

"More importantly, it seemed the mastermind left Monokuma unattended right before nighttime." Byakuya interjected. "And considering Makoto was attacked in the midst of his restless sleep…"

"It gives further credence to the mastermind being the one to attack Makoto." Sakura concluded, acknowledging the Togami heir's thought process.

"And the fact that they left Monokuma unattended… perhaps it was on purpose?" Byakuya further theorized. "They knew the remaining survivors would've taken the opportunity to investigate the machine further… they knew Kyoko was nowhere to be found, even for the others… they must've seen that Makoto was suffering from an illness…"

"So they left Monokuma there… to distract us?!" Hina exclaimed in horror, white as a sheet. "While our future selves were distracted, they would've killed Makoto?!"

"It may have also been to ensure the only person the survivors would point to was Kyoko." Celeste added, eyebrows creased together. "After all, what other options would be, if all remaining survivors were together for an entire night?"

None of the students took the building credibility of the mastermind's involvement too well. Some looked sick, others pissed. What kept them relatively calm, however, was the fact that the mastermind's plan clearly failed.

"Something… unexpected?"

"They were probably so s-scared of Master, they ran away in t-terror…" Toko snickered.

Toko's words shook the group out of their stupor, with more than a few eye-rolling. "Yeaaaaahh, I'm gonna make a hunch and say no…" Leon deadpanned.

"Will never fucking understand the chick's obsession with the asshole…" Mondo grumbled for the umpteenth time.

"Or maybe they got sick or something?" Hina suggested.

"But Monokuma made his announcement this morning, right? Who was that, if not the mastermind?" Makoto pointed out.

"Oh, I'm sure that's a recording." Byakuya deduced easily. "It's set to a timer, and plays as necessary."

"That's true." Hina nodded in agreement. "He says the exact same thing every day, right?"

"Hey, guys? I don't think now's a good time for light conversation…" Hiro spoke up, holding something up from his spot around Monokuma. "I just found something. What is it…?"

When the group got a good look at what Hiro was holding, several eyes widened in alarm.

"A bomb…?!"

"A bomb!"

"A bomb!"

"BOMB!"

Makoto's eyes widened. "I-It's…!"

"It's what?" Hiro asked, completely oblivious.

"He doesn't know what he's holding?!" Sayaka, Leon, Hina, and Hifumi exclaimed simultaneously.

"How the fuck do you not realize that's a bomb?!" Mondo followed up incredulously.

"I- well- I don't know!" Hiro stammered, unable to come up with a half-decent excuse. Mostly due to fear for his future self.

"A bomb." Byakuya revealed casually. "There's one installed in every Monokuma robot, I'm sure."

"A b-b-bomb?!" Hiro exclaimed fearfully, now extremely tense.

"That's super bad! We need to get rid of it!" Hina cried out.

"R-Roger that!"

Before Hiro could make a move, however, Byakuya spoke up. "It appears the bomb has a motion sensor. Any sudden movements, it's sure to go off."

"Why did you have to say that?!" Hiro cried out, looking more panicked for his future self.

"Would you rather have blown yourself up?" Was Byakuya's dry remark, a smirk across his face. "If so, be my guest. There's no one stopping you."

"How come aren't you panicking?!" Hina exclaimed in disbelief. "You're a few feet away from the bomb!"

"Perhaps it's because I have better control of my emotions than you plebeians?" Byakuya said in retort, keeping to himself the real reason for his lack of panic.

"Motion sensor?! For serious?!" Hiro cried out, sounding even more fearful. "Agh… I'm starting to get all shaky…!"

"Hey! Get it together!" Hina scolded him. "You're a man, aren't ya?!"

"I-I'm fine! I'm totally fine! Ah, ah, ah!" Despite his words, it's clear that the fortune teller was incredibly shaky.

"You're so NOT fine! You're all 'ah ah ah'!" Hina retorted in alarm.

"C'mon, man the fuck up!"

"I agree with bro, you need to display a strong will!"

"Yeah dude, grow a spine before the rest of your bones go boom!"

"Can you not gang up on me?!" Hiro wailed, holding his head anxiously. "I don't respond well to peer pressure!"

"Oh, I probably should have mentioned. The motion sensor is off right now." Byakuya spoke casually yet again.

And immediately, tension deflated at that revelation. "You almost gave me and future me heart attacks, geez…" Hiro sighed in relief.

"You enjoyed messing with the fool, didn't you…?" Celeste commented lightly.

"If they would panic over nothing, I might as well find some entertainment over it." Was the heir's response, completely unapologetic.

That got Hiro to deflate, the fortune teller laughing in relief. "Jeez, don't scare me like that!"

"God, you're like the world's most spineless worm of the century!" Hina huffed.

"Preach, sister." Leon and Mondo huffed right after.

"Hiro is in much need of self-discipline and courage." Taka also shook his head in disappointment.

"Can he even call himself a man after that…? Seriously…" Hina sighed in agreement.

"His cowardness can provide some good entertainment at that very least…" Byakuya snickered.

As for Hiro himself? The fortune teller could hang his head while his classmates railed at him for his lack of courage. Makoto and Chihiro could only offer him sympathetic smiles, with Hifumi even patting him on the back sympathetically.

"Hey, come on! The century's just getting started!" Hiro protested. "Don't call the race already…"

"Whatever… just h-hurry up and put the bomb down. Hanging onto it's not g-gonna do anyone any good…" Toko told him.

"Oh yeah, good call." Quickly, the fortune teller dropped the bomb near the disassembled Monokuma. "Okay, it's down! Everything's all good!"

Meanwhile, Makoto's eyes glued onto the remains of Monokuma. 'He'd just stopped moving all of a sudden.' He thought to himself. 'Was it really because something had happened to the mastermind that they weren't expecting…? But what could that have been?'

A flashback of the night before, of the masked man, was shown before going back to the gym.

"It seems more and more likely that it's the mastermind who'll be dead…" Sayaka murmured loudly, a frown across her face. "But if so… does that mean…?"

"That I killed them?" Kyoko finished, still having her usual stoic look. "Assuming that is the mastermind, with the others having stayed together the whole night, and Makoto being as sick as he is, that would be the most likely conclusion."

"I would argue that it's the only conclusion to form." Celeste pointed out.

"So if the mastermind is… is dead… does that mean that survivors can find a way out?" Chihiro asked, sounding both hopeful and conflicted. "They can go and look through wherever to find what they need?"

"This is all assuming that the mastermind is dead." Byakuya stated, eyes narrowed. "And like I said: This seems far too easy."

'Agreed.' Mukuro thought to herself. Despite conflicting feelings, she can still say that she knows her sister better than anyone; so she definitely knows that she isn't so easy to kill.

That fact kept her from jumping to the conclusion that her sister was dead; and kept any negative feelings that would arise from that idea.

"Hey, uh… Makoto?"

"Huh?" Shaking out of his thoughts, he turned to Hina, the one who called him.

"Don't 'huh' us! Did you hear a thing we just said?!" Hiro questioned him.

"...Huh?"

"Wow. You were that lost in thought, dude?" Leon remarked, looking towards his friend.

The luckster could only rub the back of his head sheepishly, a blush across his cheeks. "Well… with the topic in question, can you blame me…?"

"You were definitely ambushed with such a sudden development, true." Hifumi spoke up in thoughtful agreement.

"So that's a n-no. What are you, some k-kind of brain-dead farm animal…?" Toko grumbled.

"S-Sorry…" Makoto responded back sheepishly.`

"We were saying, since we're done dismantling Monokuma, what should we do now?" Hina repeated.

"And we've decided to continue our offensive assault." Byakuya continued off unflinchingly.

And again, the group found themselves alarmed.

"What is he…?"

"Is he suggesting…?"

"To try and uncover the mastermind's true identity, we're going to break into the headmaster's room."

"...Alright, now they're begging for the bear to come and off them!" Leon declared in disbelief.

"Seriously? They're going to just go and break through the headmaster's room?" Hiro cried out, more than a bit nervous.

"With the mastermind absent, it would be the best chance to find out more about the mastermind and/or the school." Byakuya retorted. "Is that really something that we should ignore?"

"True enough, I suppose. This seems like a golden opportunity for them to take…" Celeste hummed in thought.

"Still seems pretty risky though…" Junko remarked with a grimace. "The mastermind can catch them in the act, and rip them to shreds then and there…"

Honestly, the fashionista wasn't really that worried about the group attempting to break into the headmaster's room. With the reveal of the dead body at the beginning, it's easy to deduce that they'll end up distracted and won't get too far in their investigation.

"As I mentioned before, these are risks that'll have to be taken." Byakuya stated with certainty. "With all avenues checked or blocked, moves like this have to be made. A golden opportunity like this cannot be wasted."

Makoto's eyes widened at this. "R-Really…?" He asked incredulously.

"Since the mastermind's appear to have stopped all activity, now's our chance. Wouldn't you agree?" Byakuya reasoned.

"B-But… if the mastermind comes back while we're in there…" Makoto said in slight protest.

"If you're scared, you're welcome to stay here by yourself." Was the Togami heir's retort.

"Or go l-live in the chicken coop, with all the o-other chickens. You can be chicken number s-six…" Toko added her own scathing words.

Immediately, Sayaka scowled at the screen. "He's just pointing out the risk…!" The idol said in defense of the luckster. "You don't need to insult or pressure him like that!"

"With time being limited, in addition to the time spent dismantling Monokuma during the night, my future self likely felt that there's no time for any sort of debate." Byakuya said in response.

"In other words, you're just cranky and in a rush?" Leon remarked with a raised eyebrow.

"Do not put words in my mouth, fool."

Meanwhile, Toko remained silent. A defense for her master, which would've held scathing words, was bubbling from her lips. However, she managed to swallow those words for once, seeing that her future self's own comments were unwarranted.

"This is a battle, a fight to the death between us and the mastermind. We don't have time to deliberate." Byakuya continued further.

"Yeah." Hina nodded in agreement. "I mean, I don't wanna hafta kill each other, or anyone else. But we have a chance now…"

"So? What are you going to do?" Byakuya asked Makoto. "Are you going to run away, or are you going to fight?"

"..." For a moment, Makoto was silent. Then… "You're right. I'll go with you."

"So they're actually gonna break into the headmaster's room…" Chihiro said pensively, biting his lips.

"Aw man, I'm not in this and this already feels nerve-wracking…!" Hiro exclaimed, still looking nervous.

"But Byakuya's right… this is a battle." Taka spoke in agreement with both versions of the Togami heir. "And in order to achieve victory, risk has to be made to move forward!"

"Very true…" Sakura nodded firmly. "It is as Kyoko said; we cannot spend all our time avoiding danger. Doing so will keep us from moving forward."

"So there's no other choice but to do this…" Makoto concluded softly, yet firmly.

Byakuya nodded in satisfaction. "Okay then. We're going to break into the headmaster's room. Everything comes down to this moment. Anything can happen, so prepare yourselves."

"I'll follow you a-anywhere, Master! To all the ends of the E-Earth!" Toko declared dreamily.

"Sakura… if you can hear me, lend me your strength…" Hina said to herself, clenching her fist determinedly.

"I can do this… I'm a man, and I can do this!" Hiro pumped himself up. "I got the will of the entire universe on my side!"

"It feels as though we're gonna be reaching the climax…" Hifumi mused, adjusting his glasses. "However, I get the sense that their investigation will be put to a halt…"

"And why would you have such a sense?" Celeste inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Cause there's still the matter of the masked individual, and their body being discovered."

"..." Silence reigned as tension rose up, many now very uncertain what to expect. Will the group manage to break into the headmaster's room before the issue with the masked assailant comes? Or will that derail the investigation?

The scene switched to Makoto, Byakuya, Hiro, Hina, and Toko all gathered at the headmaster's door, with the luckster attempting to open the door. Suffice to say, the attempt failed. "It's locked. As expected." Byakuya voiced the obvious.

"Looks like Monokuma got the door fixed up…" Junko commented idly.

"Of course. Would've been way too fucking easy otherwise…" Mondo grumbled with a sigh.

"That merely means that they'll have to break it down while the mastermind isn't looking." Byakuya waved off.

"So… what are you gonna do?" Makoto inquired.

"Isn't it obvious? We're going to tear this door off its hinges." Byakuya declared.

"Wait, but… the rules say-" Hina protested.

"We've seen that the mastermind isn't watching us." The heir interjected. "Those don't matter anymore."

"But like Makoto said… if the mastermind did show up while we were in there…" Hiro pointed out nervously.

"Then we'll just have to finish our business before that can happen." Was Byakuya's response.

"Oh, sure. That sounds like a piece of cake…" Leon remarked sarcastically. "Not like they don't know where to look, or how long it'll be before the mastermind possibly gets back…"

"With the five of us searching one room, it shouldn't take any considerable amount of time." Byakuya rebuffed. "We can get in and out before the mastermind even notices we were there…"

"What about the broken door…?" Chihiro pointed out hesitantly.

"It doesn't need to be completely destroyed." The heir stated. "The lock just needs to be broken, and a broken lock is more easily hidden."

"Okay, sure… but…"

"We've come this far, we can't back down now." Byakuya said firmly. "We agreed this is what we have to do. So we have to do it."

"S-So beautiful…!" Toko exclaimed dreamily.

"For serious…?" Was all Hiro could say at the moment.

"We don't have any choice… we're desperate!" Hina pointed out, pumping herself up. "Let's do it! Let's rip this door down!"

"Okay, but… how are we gonna do that?" Hiro questioned, looking at the door. "This thing looks pretty sturdy…"

"Then we'll need something sturdy of our own." Byakuya surmised, looking in thought.

"Oh… what about that one thing?" Makoto spoke in remembrance. "The… pickaxe in the toolshed…"

"Oh yeah! The pickaxe!" Hiro exclaimed, also recollecting the tool.

Makoto blinked… and then his eyes widened, now remembering exactly where the body was located.

"Makoto?" Sayaka, noticing the shock look, turned towards the luckster in concern. "What is it?"

"...Do any of you know where the body was when we first saw it?" Makoto asked the group hesitantly.

For a moment, he merely got looks of confusion from the group. Then a few of his more intelligent classmates had flashes of realization.

"The greenhouse…" Kyoko spoke, getting attention on her now. "The body is in the greenhouse…"

"Wait, for real?!" Hiro cried out in shock.

"How the fuck do you know it's there?!" Mondo followed up right after. "Did you actually manage to catch that?"

Makoto nodded. "It was brief, but I saw a glimpse of the area before it focused on the body." The luckster revealed. "Plus, the floor the body was laying on matched the greenhouse; it doesn't match any of the other rooms."

"...Are you sure you're just an ultra normal guy, dude?" Leon deadpanned. "Cause some scary observation skills there."

That got a blush from Makoto. "A-Anyways, if the survivors are planning to go to the greenhouse to get the pickaxe…"

"...That means that they will encounter the body." Sakura finished, now seeing what's about to take place.

It's a realization the others also made. And the only thing they could do was watch as it all plays out.

"Interesting. That could very well be exactly what we need." Byakuya nodded in satisfaction. He then turned towards Toko. "Now then… Toko, what time is it?"

"W-Well, when we left the gym, it was j-just before 9 o'clock. So it's probably 9 on the dot now…" Toko recalled.

"Okay. Go get the pickaxe and be back here by 9:01." The heir ordered.

"...Seriously?!" More than a few students cried out, baffled and/or exasperated.

"Do you honestly expect such an unreasonable request to be fulfilled?!" Taka scolded, one hand chopping the air. "Such a request is unacceptable in a school environment!"

"Do you ever get tired of bullying her, man…?" Hiro sighed, shaking his head.

"M-Master isn't bullying m-me!" Toko, as usual, was quick to defend her master (Even despite her own reservation about the task given to her future self). "He's j-just showing me a h-high level of trust!"

"Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Leon deadpanned.

"That's straight-up unreasonable!" Hiro cried out incredulously.

"I-I-I…! By m-myself…?" Toko stuttered, also looking shocked.

"Surely you like to have your me-time once in a while, right?" Byakuya offered.

"...Q-Q-Quality time with master?!" Toko squeaked out, a mix of shock and delight within her tone.

"Seriously, where's the bastard that we all know gone to?" Mondo asked dubiously, staring at the Togami heir. "Last I checked, you would never give Toko the time of day."

"Don't misunderstand my generosity, numb-skull." Byakuya said with an eye-roll. "I'm merely making sure things are done in a quick fashion. No more, no less."

"W-Well…" Toko then looked bashful, pushing her index fingers together. "If it's me-and-you time, Master, then y-yeah…"

"You know how much time it took you to say that? Ten seconds." Byakuya pointed out, now sounding more scornful. "Take too long, and I'll erase your existence from my consciousness."

"UnacceptabbbbbblllllLLLLLLEEEEEEE!" And with that, the writing prodigy ran towards the fifth floor, screaming like a banshee.

"...Okay, there's the douche we all know." Leon said dryly.

"And Toko will definitely get that pickaxe in record time now." Junko followed up, just as dry.

"...Wait… if Toko goes to the greenhouse…" Chihiro slowly spoke in realization. "Won't she be the first to see the body?" All was silent as the group processed that simple fact; and what the results will be regarding that fact…

"...Looks like we'll be seeing Genocide Jack soon." Was all Makoto could say to that.

"For serious, though… are we just gonna knock this door down?" Hiro regained his previous hesitancy.

"No problem is solved by running away. Find your stones and be a man." Byakuya told him.

"Definitely!" Hina huffed out in agreement. "Makoto's showing more back-bone than you, and he was against it at first!"

"Not to mention having been out of the loop…" Leon added in.

'He's right…' Makoto thought in acceptance. 'You can't move forward by always avoiding danger…'

A flashback of Kyoko's words was then shown, before moving back to the present, with the luckster clenching his fist in determination. 'Even if it's dangerous, we have to overcome the challenges in front of us…!'

"See? Much more back-bone!"

"Give me a break already…!" Hiro whined, slumping forward. "It's not easy to build up courage like that!"

Meanwhile, Kyoko turned her attention to Makoto, a small smile across her face. "I'm glad to see your future self is taking my words to heart."

"It's not too big a deal…" Makoto shrugged modestly, scratching the side of his head. "You were right, after all. Avoiding danger all the time will keep us from moving forward."

"Still, there are those who would forever remain paralyzed in events like this…" The detective stated. "So to be able to take the step forward, even with the push of others, is commendable."

The lucky student blushed a little at her words, but didn't deny them. "Th-Thanks…"

"Maybe, b-but I'm still super stressed…" Hiro stuttered out. "I'm so tense, I can hardly talk… I'm all flubbust- no… I'm totally flabbag- flapstaf-"

"Fapsauce?!" Genocide Jill, out of nowhere, guessed.

The sudden appearance of the murderous fiend caused several to jump and/or yelp, with Toko letting out her usual shout of fright when it came to her counterpart.

"Shit! Where on Earth does Jill come from?!" Leon gasped, holding his chest.

"The little psycho really can hide her presence…" Mondo remarked, looking just as startled.

"Considering her title, it's not much of a surprise…" Mukuro mused.

"And fapsauce? Huh?" Sayaka repeated the killer's words, wrinkling her nose cutely. "Do I want to know what that means?"

"Likely not, Sayaka dear." Celeste answered, also looking slightly disgusted.

"Gross! Where'd that come from!" Hiro cringed… before his eyes shot open in shock. "Wait, Genocide Jill? Where'd YOU come from?"

"Hello hello! It's the wondiferous, murdiferous fiend, here to greet you with a razor-sharp smile!" Jill declared with her tongue-smile… before ending it with her usual laughter.

"What about the pickaxe? Where is it?" Byakuya questioned, scowling.

"I was supposed to pick up an axe…?" Jill asked back in response.

"No, you seeping imbecile." Byakuya growled. "The pickaxe…"

"S-Seeping imbecile?! Oh, Master! You wound me with your executive-level barbs!" The murderous fiend squealed. "Bushwah! Here comes the bloody nose!"

"Serious, though… did you really forget the pickaxe?" Hina inquired.

"Omega-3 fatty acids, that's what you need! Great for the ol' memory factory!" Hiro suggested.

"Wasn't it already stated that Toko and Jill don't share the same memories with each other…?" Taka asked with some confusion.

"I think so, but it was brief. During the trial of the fourth chapter, I think…" Makoto said in recollection. "So it probably just passed their heads…"

"That seems likely…" Kyoko agreed with the luckster's deduction.

"But I think we already established that their memory doesn't carry over when they switch…" Makoto recalled.

"This is a level of uselessness I find difficult to tolerate…" Byakuya scoffed.

Of course, Toko did not take that well. "I'm sorry, Master! F-Future me didn't mean to faint!" She groveled, curling up into a ball. "It is thanks to whoever put that corpse there! It's their fault! All their-"

"Relax. Doubt my future self will stay angry once they figure out there's a body in the greenhouse." Byakuya said curtly. "Now stay quiet, and let us continue this."

And of course, the writing prodigy went silent like the dutiful dog she made herself be.

"Ah! The lightbulb just went on!" Jill then announced. "That's why I went to their garden, right?! I was supposed to get the pickaxe! Alright, we've solved one mystery! That means they're just one more mystery left!"

"One more mystery…?" Makoto spoke in confusion.

"Yup!" Jill bobbed her head vigorously. "Now we need to figure out the identity of Object X!"

"Now what are you talking about…?" Hina asked, also sounding confused.

"Did you already forget what we were talking about?" Hiro sighed. "You're like, missing out on life…"

"I'm not missing out on life!" Jill denied angrily. "In fact, I found one in the garden!"

"What…?" That statement changed Makoto's confusion to alertness. "What did you find?"

"Kuh… oar… puss…" Jill whispered something unintelligible… before shouting. "Didja hear me?! I said corpse!"

"A corpse…?!" Makoto exclaimed in shock and fear.

And just like that, tension rose back up. Not the tension that came with the previous discovery of the body, no. But a different sort, with more questions and confusion than dread and grief.

"So it begins…" Sakura voiced the unspoken thoughts.

Once again, Toko covered her eyes, preparing for the TV showing the corpse.

"This is gonna be one confusing ride…" Leon muttered. No one could find themselves disagreeing with that.

'Wonder what excitement this'll bring…' Junko thought with interest and a bit of excitement. This is the most blind she found herself throughout the viewing, and it brings all sorts of tingles. Just what type of despair will this bring? She honestly couldn't wait to see!

"That's right! I found a corpse in the garden!" Jill repeated her finding.

'You found a corpse… in the garden…?' The luckster thought with dread.

"Well then." Byakuya spoke up, also looking alarmed. "Before we enter the headmaster's room, it appears we have something else to look into. We're going to the garden."

"O-Okay…!" With that, the group then headed to the fifth floor and the greenhouse.

The scene then switched to the five heading into the greenhouse. "As soon as we entered the garden…" Narrator Makoto spoke. "...I saw it. I didn't want to, but…"

And in the middle of that greenhouse, was the masked individual, flat on their back and a knife pierced through their stomach. "...I saw someone laying on the ground, with a mask covering their face… and there was a knife… buried in their stomach, up to the hilt."

For a moment, there was silence… and then eyes widened in recognition. "Ah- that's Mukuro's knife!" Hina gasped.

"And it's buried in the masked fucker!" Mondo followed up.

"But - weren't they the one that took the mask?!" Hiro pointed out, looking completely bewildered.

"They did - and that would mean someone took it from them, and used it." Byakuya answered, eyes narrowed. The question was, who?

"Wh-What…?!" The present lucky student gasped. "A-Are they really dead?!"

"For sure. But…" Hiro was next to speak up.

"Who… is it?" Byakuya finished the question on their minds.

'Question of the day.' Was the thought of several. Who is, or was, the person behind the mask? Was it the mastermind like many suspected? Or was it someone completely different? Was Kyoko the one to kill them? Did she chase after the masked assailant and fight them?

Those were the questions that were pressing on everyone's mind. And hopefully, they'll get those answers soon.

And that's the end. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Hope that it wasn't too weird or lackluster. The next one should pick up with more speed, reaction wise I mean. Next up, the beginning of Chapter 5's deadly life. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you later.