Chapter 2: The Lost Darling Beneath the Sands

The next morning, Masashi woke up a bit later than usual. Thanks to the talk that he had had with Mari last night, he had had a good night's sleep, but the fatigue and exhaustion from last night's ordeal was still there. Days and days ago, eighteen people found themselves trapped on this ship, but now, two of them were gone, and the situation had not improved at all. It was beyond clear that the mastermind behind the killing game meant business, and it had been foolish to deny that in the first place.

Still, what can we do about it? Masashi thought as he readied himself for the day. Maybe if we figure out why this game is held in the first place… but what clues can we even find?

Once he was done, Masashi left the room, carrying his tablet in his gray jacket as usual. When he arrived at the dining room, a few of the others were already there, the chatter in the room quiet and listless. Those who were here were Faye, Futaba, Tanjiro, and Abraham.

"Ah, Masashi, there you are," Faye said. "Are you all right, by any chance?"

"Oh, yes, no problems here," Masashi answered, though he still appreciated her concern for him. "How about you?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said that I'm all right. Everything that happened last night was all too…" She heaved a heavy sigh.

"Yeah… I'm pretty sure we all feel the same way," Tanjiro said meekly.

"Hmph. Speak for yourself," Abraham replied, sneering. "The damned spectacle was awful, but I've already managed not to let it bother me anymore."

"Is that so?" Masashi said.

"Of course," the waiter answered. "Out of sight, out of mind. It's that fucking simple."

"I don't really think it is," Tanjiro mumbled, not daring enough to say it outright. Nonetheless, Masashi suspected that Abraham would have dismissed his answer even if he had heard it.

"However we may feel about it, we cannot start the day without breakfast," Futaba said, showing her usual graceful expression. "See to it that our meals be prepared as soon as possible."

"Now hang on," Abraham said. "Where is that nun? She's usually up and about by now."

"I believe that she is tending to Kumi right now," Faye said plainly. "I saw her on his door earlier as I headed up here."

"She must've been worried about him," Tanjiro said. "I mean, I don't think Kumi's of the kind that can handle gory imagery."

"Hmph. What a fucking waste of time," Abraham said, his expression becoming bored. "What's the point in having to worry about that stupid little fucker, when he's been playing around and doing fuck all?"

"Hey! Even if you don't like him," Faye said, giving him the evil eye, "he's still a child, a youngling—"

"A dumbass," Abraham forcefully finished. "For fuck's sake, even at his age, he still believes in fairies and dragons and all that bullshit. It's no goddamn wonder that the clown girl almost successfully framed him."

"Uh, you do realize that you were also tricked, right?" Faye said, eyeing him warily.

"And? That does not change the fact that he's a dumbass, and even his so-called friend knew that full well," Abraham gloated.

"I… don't really like what he has to say," Tanjiro added, "but Abraham has a point. Kumi is a bit weird, to say the least, and Haruka admitted that she had taken advantage of that."

"In either case," Futaba said, her voice now having a hint of irritation, "breakfast has not been cooked yet. Faye, surely you can tend to breakfast by yourself, yes? I expect as much from the Ultimate Patissier. And Abraham, you are to start work at once, so I also expect polite behavior from you."

Abraham sighed with frustration as he glared back at Faye. "All right. I see how it is. I suppose the matter can be left alone. We all know which one of us is right."

Faye scoffed. "And while I'm cooking, don't go into the kitchen. Your presence will only distract me."

And with that, the argument ended. Faye stormed off into the kitchen, mumbling something angrily, whereas Abraham showed a satisfied expression as he sat at a table by his lonesome.

"Such a troublesome quarrel," Futaba said as she sipped her cup of tea.

Not long after, Sorao, Maiha, and Arashi arrived, their presence dully acknowledged. Sorao, nonetheless, seemed not to care as he bade everyone a good morning and approached the leading lady with his usual bright smile.

"Ah, Lady Inoshishi, I hope you've not fallen sick or anything," Sorao said with a hint of worry. "After last night's events, I could not stop thinking about how horrible this must have been to your health."

Futaba let out a small sigh as she showed a slight smile. "Ah, Sorao, you did not need to worry about me at all! The execution was very grisly, of course, but a night's rest was enough to let me recover."

"Really? Well, I'm glad you're all right," Sorao said as he chuckled light-heartedly and sat next to her. "It'd break my heart if our beloved leader were to become too distressed."

Wow, talk about being friendly, Masashi thought as he watched the scene with a bit of amusement. It was obvious that Sorao was overblowing his friendliness a bit, however helpful he might be, but amazingly enough, Futaba seemed not to have noticed. In the end, however, she at least found someone whom she deemed to be good company, and if she was happy that way, then he had hardly any reason to complain about it.

Meanwhile, Maiha and Arashi sat at another table. The latter lacked his usual energy and hot-headedness, but he was not so dreary that it looked as if he had fallen into sheer despair. Rather, he showed a much more subdued expression as if he had lost all use of his voice.

"Hey, buddy, are you all right?" Masashi asked as gently as he could.

"I… I am..." Arashi said, not even looking toward him. However calm he might sound, the jig was exposed by his slight quivering. "I'm… I'm just thinking about something, that's all…"

"Are you sure?" Masashi said.

"Y-Yeah… Leave me alone, will you?" Arashi asked.

Maiha said nothing, instead doing her usual routine of focusing her attention at Futaba and Sorao as they chatted happily. Given her attitude toward "commoners", Masashi could definitely say that nothing from her would help Arashi in any way.

I wonder what he's thinking… Masashi thought. Arashi had denounced Haruka right before her execution, and yet, he had shown the angriest reaction, almost breaking one of the rules. His emotions had been all over the place, and so Masashi could not exactly pinpoint what he now felt. It seemed like grief, and it would explain his atypical silence, and yet, Masashi sensed that there was more to it than that.

A few minutes later, Sister Hikari arrived at last, accompanied by Murphy, Sayua, and Kumi. The potato farmer and the cheerleader sat at separate tables (Sayua in particular sitting at the same table as Tanjiro), whereas the nun and the storyteller sat together.

"A-Ah… Sir Masashi, good morning," Kumi said nervously, cracking a slight smile.

"Good morning, Kumi," Masashi said. "Are you all right?"

"I-I am, thank you," the storyteller answered as he went through his satchel and took out the book in which he wrote his tales. "I… I guess I should thank you for defending me. Almost everyone else thought I'd killed Sir Atsushi, but… you still believed in my innocence."

"Ah, well… it was nothing, really," Masashi said as meekly as he could. "But, Kumi, I should also say that I'm… sorry for your loss. I know that Haruka was a close friend of yours, and…"

Upon the mentioning of her name, Kumi grew more and more sorrowful in his expression, and it was not long before he began to burst into tears, albeit slightly.

"I… I know," Kumi said in a choked voice. "I… I don't want to believe she's dead… But… I can't forget it… H-How she was killed…"

"Oh, Kumi!" Sister Hikari said worriedly as she got closer to him and touched him on the shoulder. "We all know how you feel, and I want you to know that I'm here for you, if you should ever need me!"

"Th-Thank you, Sister Hikari…" Kumi replied as he kept his quiet weeping. "I… I just don't know what to do… Sh-She would be here for me, telling me jokes and whatnot..."

"Well… I understand your sorrow," Sister Hikari said softly. "It's all right if you feel helpless right now. We all have different ways to handle loss."

"R-Really…?" Kumi looked up at her, eyes watering. "But… is it even right that I grieve? Lady Haruka wanted me to be happy… Those were her last words for me."

"Well, it is true that she wanted you to become happy again eventually," Sister Hikari said. "But she did not say that you must not grieve. Indeed, that you now grieve is good, for grief is a sign that you can see that something is wrong."

"Still… I don't know whether this pain will ever go away..."

Sister Hikari chuckled. "Oh, that's a common sentiment, but you mustn't fear! I know that it is tough and difficult, but God hopes that we may overcome the trials and tribulations that He has already foreseen. Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord is there for you as your shepherd. He will lead you to safety, as long as you have enough faith to follow Him."

"I… I don't really get it…" Kumi whimpered. "But… if that's what you say, then maybe things will turn out all right for us all…"

"Exactly!" Sister Hikari widened her smile as she physically comforted him more. "You have a little faith right now, and if you hold fast to it, eventually, it will reward you greatly."

"I…" Kumi sniveled. "I… I don't know why, but… there's something about what you say that makes me feel a bit better. So… thank you."

Though the smile that Kumi showed was small, the warmness that Masashi felt in his heart was as great. He had worried a bit that Kumi would be so harmed by what he had seen that he might never recover from his dear friend's loss, but with Sister Hikari's guidance and comfort, she had stopped him from going astray. Over time, they all would overcome this, and sooner or later, they would find a way out of this situation. It might look hopeless, but he now felt faith that they could still fulfill Haruka's last words for them.

Not long after came in the remaining students: Haruyuki, Mari, Red Mask, and Hikari. Right around then, Faye came out of the kitchen and bade Abraham set the dishes for each of the students, and so the waiter rose and headed off to work.

"Well, then… Let us eat!" Futaba said once all the dishes were given the students.

And so the students ate (Abraham being the exception as usual), chattering as they usually did, but there was still an air of unease hanging over them; now that all the students were here, Atsushi's and Haruka's departures made themselves all the more apparent. And yet, the other students kept talking casually as if it were another day.

Ah… I think I get it, Masashi thought. This must be their way of handling their grief.

Most of the others must have let out their grief in private and found some way to cope with the situation somehow. The only ones who were hardly any talkative were Hikari and Arashi; the former was expected, given her usually uneasy nature, but it was still bizarre to see the latter like this, even though Masashi knew that he must be grieving; the reason did not change the fact that his typically upbeat and energetic nature was gone for now. Even Kumi made an effort to be his usual self, talking about his tales with Sister Hikari, Mari, and Haruyuki, all of whom sat at his table. It certainly helped in restoring some energy and glee in his voice.

Some while later, however, someone popped up right before Futaba's table, at which the whole room became silent at once, for it was none other than Monokuma.

"Hey, now, everyone looks pretty alive!" the self-called captain said blithely. "Too bad I can't say the same for your two buddies, though. They sure had a good thing going for them while they were still here."

"What do you want now?" Futaba asked, she and the others eyeing him annoyedly.

"Have you perhaps come to mock us?" Haruyuki asked.

"Mock you? Now why would I do that?" Monokuma said. "This is meant to be a celebratory time! After all, you sixteen have survived the first class trial! I think that you deserve a reward for your work!"

"A… reward?" Masashi said.

"You know, something that'll make your lives a little better as this killing game goes on!" Monokuma answered. "As you may know, Brightmere Mirthyard is a special kind of amusement park! It's made up of sundry ships, and so I figured that an expansion would be good!"

"An expansion? Are you saying that there's another ship available for us?" Sorao asked coolly.

"Yep! Henceforth, that ship will sail abreast of this ship!" Monokuma said as he doffed his white captain's hat. "Let me tell you, managing one ship is hard work, so you can imagine how much harder it is to manage two! Perhaps one day, I can show you the hardships and tiresomeness that I face as a captain."

"No thanks!" Sayua exclaimed. "I'm not interested in your crappy little job!"

"Why, you…! Don't you know that without me, this whole ship might sink?" Monokuma replied with fake anger. "After all, what would you ever do if this ship hit an iceberg or a kraken?!"

"Well, I doubt we have to worry about that. I haven't seen any icebergs at all," Mari said, looking nowhere in particular.

"And there's no such thing as krakens, anyway," Abraham said snidely. "Everyone knows that… Oh, correction: everyone but the fantasy fairy idiot over there knows that."

"H-Hey! How could you say that?" Kumi said, looking a bit shocked that his fantastic thinking had been denigrated once more. "Krakens are real, I tell you! There once was a famous hero who fared through sundry lands, and a kraken was one of the many beasts that he saw—"

"Be quiet, witless commoner," Maiha bade. "I tire of hearing your rank hogwash."

"But—"

"Now, now, Kumi, there's no use bickering with her about this," Sister Hikari said. "Whether or not there are krakens isn't what we're talking about. We're talking about something a bit more serious."

"Serious? You mean adult stuff?" Kumi pouted. "That's boring! Can't we talk about something else instead?"

Monokuma chortled. "Ah, the whining of youth… How I remember the days when I was but a young cub, when I was angry that my father wouldn't give me a higher allowance! Now that I'm older, I'm sure glad that I outlived him and got all his money as part of the will."

"Such disrespectful talk!" Futaba said with a hint of shock and disgust.

"And besides, it's all made-up," Sorao added.

Yeah, here's our captain, saying nothing true and meaningful at all… Masashi thought.

"Anyway, enough reminiscing!" Monokuma said. "To check out the new ship, all you have to do is go to the main deck! The two ships are connected by a sturdy gangway, and as for what the neighboring ship is like… well, I'll leave it to you to explore it! See ya, passengers!"

As soon as Monokuma left, a silence fell upon the room once more, all the students befuddled by the captain's announcement. Masashi had not expected to see Monokuma so soon after the class trial, let alone hear about how they had access to a new ship now.

"Well, then, shall we head off?" Futaba said at last.

"Wh-What?" Hikari said. "Y-You're truly going to do what Monokuma wants us to do? That's pretty careless..."

"Yeah… I'm not so sure about it," Faye said. "Maybe it's a trap of some kind."

"I highly doubt that Monokuma means to lure us into a trap," Futaba said. "Much as I loathe the situation brought forth by this killing game, I can see that Monokuma has hitherto not tried to physically harm us."

"And killing us would defeat the purpose of this whole killing game he hosts, you know," Sorao added. "So I don't think it's a trap."

Faye looked slightly more convinced, but there was still a bit of uncertainty on her face. Nonetheless, she said nothing as Futaba continued.

"Once we are done with our investigation," she said, "we are to meet here again and report our findings. Afterwards, I shall list today's agenda, and we can resume our usual activities."

Our usual activities…

Masashi sighed as the others headed forth to the main deck and left him alone. Futaba was still insistent that her family would eventually come to save them, and so the only thing that they ought to do was wait. But upon remembering Atsushi's and Haruka's deaths, Masashi wondered how many of them would be killed off before the Inoshishis came to resume them. He wanted to believe that none of them would ever try to kill, especially after they all had seen Haruka's execution, but her killing had been enough to awaken him from his silly dream that this killing game would never go on. The best that he could do was hope that Atsushi and Haruka would have become the only victims by the time their rescuers came.


Masashi had not known what he was to expect from the captain, but in the end, he was still awed by the new sight on the main deck. A small part of the main deck's port railing was gone, instead replaced by a secure gangway linked to a ship that looked as great as this one. The other ship, however, looked nothing like this one, even on the surface; for one, the main deck was covered in sandy decoration and palm trees. There was some kind of building in the ship's stern, and there was a fountain not too far from the bow.

After he walked over the gangway, he took a closer look at the fountain. On the circular platform in the middle was set a statue of a sphinx, a mythical creature that had a man's head and a lion's body. Water poured out from its slightly open mouth, the sound soothing and tranquil. Masashi had seen the creature only from pictures of the wonder, and he had wondered at how much work it must have taken the workers to build it. A friend of his that had gone to Egypt for vacation had said that standing before it had let him take in the sight's awesomeness and mystery, though for most of the conversation, the same friend had often complained about how sweltering the weather had been. Luckily, though it looked like a desert here, the weather was tolerably warm.

There was another thing of note: unlike the other ship, this ship had no aperture on the main deck. Therefore, no one could try to use Haruka's trick on this ship. Relieving as it was to see that, Masashi was not so witless as to think that there were no other ways to kill a man.

Once done looking around the main deck, Masashi headed over to the ship's stern, where lay the building that he had seen. The entrance was guarded by two statues of upright jackal-headed beings that each held golden spears, and on the walls inside were hieroglyphs that, though well drawn, most likely meant nothing meaningful or important.

The lower deck was also not like the second deck in the woodland kingdom. Instead of being two hallways linked to one room, it was one great hall that ran from one end to the other, the walls covered with hieroglyphs and sundry drawings of plants. There were three doors on the stairs' left, and only one on their right. Masashi headed off to the first door to the left, and upon first glance, it appeared to be a lounge. There were several golden chairs strewn throughout the room, and more interestingly, there was a fireplace on the wall opposite to the door. The fireplace had a few statuettes of men with the heads of a few different animals, which gave it more of an impression of being an altar of some kind.

"Well, what have we got here?" It was Sayua, who was here with Tanjiro. "You think there's some kind of secret?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure," Tanjiro replied, looking around uncertainly. "I wouldn't be surprised if there were a secret somewhere here. After all, there was a hidden library back in the first ship."

"Well, start looking around, will you?" Sayua said as she sat down on one of the golden chairs and became relaxed. "That's my bidding, and you have to do it now!"

Ah, didn't she say that last time? Masashi thought as he recalled his first experience with her. She had taken him to the playroom and made him look around while she had done nothing at all. Indeed, she had even tried to liven him up with that cheerleader chant of hers, and unsurprisingly, Tanjiro also looked none too excited to follow her bidding. Nonetheless, he followed her bidding and began to look around.

"Hey, Sayua, don't you think you should help out as well?" Masashi suggested softly.

Sayua eyed him critically. "What a waste of energy that would be! I don't need to do any work, when I already have a fan to do it instead."

"Uh, I don't recall having ever become your fan," Tanjiro pointed out meekly.

"What? Come on, buddy, you agreed to be part of my fan club when we first met!" Sayua said. "And besides, less talking, more working! Chop-chop!"

Yeah, definitely like last time… Masashi thought.

"Ah, I've found something." Tanjiro showed them both a brochure that had a map of this ship. Like the woodland kingdom, this ship, called The Great Pharaoh's Palace, had four decks, and they were now on the second deck. The layout of the decks differed, as Masashi had expected.

"Good job, buddy. You'll make a dedicated fan yet," Sayua said.

Tanjiro sighed with a sense of tiredness. "Uh, thanks…"

Though feeling sorry that Tanjiro must bear with her, Masashi would rather look elsewhere, and so he left. As the other two doors on the left side led to the men's and women's restrooms, Masashi thought to check out the room on the opposite side of the hallway now. This room had nothing but sculptures of four animal-headed characters. Before each sculpture was a small stand that listed out information. He read the one by the nearest sculpture, which seemed to have a sun disk on its head:

Ra - the sun god. As the sun gave the world life and sustenance, it is no wonder that he was celebrated as the maker of everything. It was thought that the cycle of day and night was due to Ra's passage through the sky during the day and through the underworld at night.

"Hmm, interesting, isn't it?" It was Mari, who had been looking at the other exhibits.

"Yeah, I certainly know next to nothing about Egypt," Masashi said. "But you know, it's not all that strange. The whole idea of the god representing the sun to be deemed very important, if not the highest, isn't that weird."

"And it certainly has its parallels in other cultures, yes," Mari said, looking at the sun disk. "But it's more amazing that we even get to know about ancient cultures, don't you think?"

"Right. It's lucky that even parts of it survived and were found," Masashi said with a feeling of awe. "We have the archaeologists to thank."

Mari nodded along, though her expression made it look as if she were unattentive. "Well, I don't know much about the history of Egyptian archaeology. Maybe if Atsushi were still here with us, he might tell us a few interesting things about it."

With how normally she talked, it was as if Atsushi's death bothered her not even a little. It was amazing how quickly she had bounced back from the sorrow that she must have felt from his death.

"Hey, Masashi," Mari said, pointing at Ra's sun disk. "Doesn't that look a bit like a lamp to you?"

"Hmm… Well, I can definitely see it glowing," Masashi said. "I'm not sure how pleased Ra would be, though, to be used as a lamppost."

"Well, I'd have someone to talk to at night, at least," Mari said. "It'd be interesting to get to an ancient god every night."

"Sure, but according to the description, Ra's in the underworld at night," Masashi said, "so I don't think you'd get to have him at your bedside."

"Well, that's a shame."

Masashi then turned his attention to the other parts of the room. Besides the gods on display, there was a pedestal with a glowing orb on it. At first, he thought that the four pedestals were meant to be historical pieces as well, but the descriptions said that they were simply there to give the room lighting.

"So it's something the amusement park added for this room," Masashi said.

"Yeah, I don't think the ancient Egyptians used glowing orbs for lighting," Mari replied.

"Not even the gods themselves bestowed them that kind of gift, I guess," Masashi said.

The exhibit room was linked to another room of the same kind, four more gods on display. There, Sister Hikari was looking at a sculpture, and according to the description, it was Osiris.

"I don't know much about the ancient Egyptians," Sister Hikari said, "but I must admit: even though I, as a Christian, must think them to be heathens, I still find their whole belief system a bit interesting."

"Really?" Masashi said.

"Well, the belief system certainly explained many phenomena that the Egyptians could see at the time," Sister Hikari said. "It was part of how they saw the world. Hence, it also influenced how they thought one ought to act. To put it another way, the ancient Egyptians' religion gives us a way to look at how they saw their lives and how they were to live their lives. Religion is more than belief in a higher being: it is practice of values as well."

"Huh… Never really thought about it that way." As he hardly ever thought about religion, he thought that Sister Hikari had a rather interesting perspective about this. "By the way, where is Kumi?"

"Ah, he's exploring another room, I think," Sister Hikari answered. "He seems to become a lot more energetic when it comes to his fairy hunting, which is good, and I think that in a few days' time, he will have recovered on the whole."

"That sounds wonderful," Masashi said. "You sure are doing a wonderful deed."

"Thank you," she said, chuckling. "Of course, if I can, I'll also try to help poor Arashi. If only he were open to my help, however…"

Masashi raised his eyes. "He pushed you away as well?"

"Yes. It is clear that Haruka's death troubles him," she answered. "I tried to talk to him earlier, but he insisted that I leave him alone."

Hmm… I wonder whether there's something in particular about her death that bothers him…

Leaving the nun alone, Masashi went back to the first exhibit room and headed out to the hallway. There was actually another door at the other end of the hallway, but it had a sign that said "STAFF ONLY", like the door in the dining hall. Presumably, it was the door to the captain's cabin, and as expected, it was locked. Seeing no other way to go, Masashi headed down the nearby stairs to the third deck. This deck was also a straightforward hallway, two doors on the left side, and one door on the right. The first door on the left led to a small room with a few tables and chairs, but with many shelves of supplies for arts and crafts.

"This appears to be a room to busy young children with," Haruyuki said, who was with Red Mask and Murphy.

"Why do you look so serious about it?" Murphy asked.

"I find this room to be... inadequate," Haruyuki answered. "It is meant to be a place where creativity and imagination are given life, and yet there is little here that pushes any artists into wanting to draw. Perhaps if there were an image of some Egyptian scenery or an image of a pharaoh, then we would be spurred more."

"Aww, there you go again with that weird talk of yours!" Red Mask said as blithely as always. "I don't really get it, but as long as it has supplies, I think it'll do!"

Haruyuki turned away from the two. "Hmm… Is that so?"

"With how serious you come off, you shouldn't be surprised by our reactions," Murphy said.

"Well, I suppose my words have a lot of gravity to them," Haruyuki said.

"So lighten up, I say!" Red Mask suggested.

Thinking that he had heard enough, Masashi checked out the other room on this side of the hallway. When he entered the room, what entered his sight was nothing but yellow; there were many golden statues, pots, and other such valuable things throughout the room, and the wallpaper was of a much brighter hue. On the other end of the room was a lone chair that had two jackal-headed statues beside it. As the Woodland King had a throne room, so too did the pharaoh have a room where he was to conduct his affairs and meet with those that had an audience with him. Of course, there was no pharaoh here. Instead, the ones here were Kumi, who was looking around the room, and Hikari, who paid no attention to the storyteller.

"Oh, Sir Masashi!" Kumi said upon noticing him. "I've been looking for this fairy for a while now, and I think it's hidden itself in one of these pots!"

"You're not going to break them, are you?" Masashi asked with a hint of concern.

"Well, breaking other people's stuff is bad, so I definitely won't!" Kumi said innocently. "And Lady Hikari! Don't you want to join me in my hunt?"

"N-No…" Hikari answered shyly. "I-I don't want anything to do with your fairy business. Just leave me alone…"

"What? But why?" Kumi said, confused. "I can assure you, fairies don't hurt humans! They're mischievous, sure, but the only thing they'll do upon being spotted is flee!"

"D-Don't bother me!" Hikari said, showing a little scowl. "I-I don't want to be bothered… Just do your silly hunting thing by yourself..."

Kumi cocked his head a bit, looking at her a bit more. "Well, I don't get why you don't want to go fairy-hunting with me, but if you change your mind, you're always free to join. Since Lady Haruka isn't here anymore..." He stopped for a few seconds. "I'd like it very much if you joined me."

Hikari looked away, not acknowledging his words, which shocked Kumi for a few seconds before he silently acknowledged her refusal and went back to his search for fairies. Masashi wondered why Hikari acted so mistrustfully, especially when Kumi was the kind of guy who could hardly hurt a fly, but Masashi also saw that trying to convince her to change her mind would be pointless, so it was best that he leave her alone.

Masashi left and headed off to the room on the other side. To his surprise, it was a great room that had, of all things, a zone for bumper cars. The cars each had great wheels in their back parts, though given how bumper cars worked, it seemed that the wheels had no functional use and were there only for looks. Moreover, the wheels suggested that the cars were meant to look like chariots, though there were no horses attached to them. Despite the cars' odd presence, Masashi admittedly wanted to try the ride out.

"Such a tacky design," Maiha said, who was with Arashi, who looked as quiet and listless as he had been earlier. "The ones in charge should have brought actual chariots. It would be much more entertaining."

"But then how will the chariots be moved?" Masashi asked, already feeling a bit annoyed with this woman.

"Hmph. It is simple: mechanical horses," Maiha answered. "I am sure that they can afford to have mechanical horses. After all, last night's grisly execution involved the use of mechanical elephants, did it not?"

Wow, I wouldn't have expected Haruka's execution to be used as a reason to whine about bumper cars… Masashi thought. She definitely was lacking in grace, however fancy she might be in her appearance and speech.

"H-Haruka…" Arashi mumbled. "I-I… I shouldn't have…"

He wandered off to another part of the room, continuing to look unattentive of his surroundings.

"Is he still bothered by what we saw?" Maiha asked dismissively. "Yes, it was tragic, but it has already come and left, and I know that not all commoners are like that."

Yeah, I should've figured you'd say something like that, Masashi thought before he heaved a tired sigh. As Arashi apparently wanted to be left alone right now, Masashi thought that it was not the right time to delve into his problem. He left the room, and seeing that he was done with this deck, he headed to the stairs going down to the fourth deck.

Unlike the upper two decks, this deck was mostly water that stretched from the platform at one end of the room to the platform at the other. The walls were lined up with lean tall trees and lush plants, and so it was as if the body of water were a river that flowed through a pleasure garden. Even the walls looked a bit brighter, the ceiling painted the color of the heavens. On the platform on the stairs' side were four boats that each seemed great enough to hold four people.

"My, what a pleasant view!" Futaba said, accompanied by Sorao, Abraham, and Faye. "I dare say that if I were not in this kind of situation, I might have this feature implemented in my garden!"

"It sure looks pretty," Sorao remarked. "What's the river meant to be, though?"

"Oh, isn't it obvious? It's meant to be the Nile," Abraham answered, sneering.

"Wow, really? It doesn't really look like the longest river in the world," Sorao said light-heartedly. "Anyway… I bet you're a bit delighted to see this, Abraham."

Abraham looked at him puzzledly. "Hmm? What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I figured that this whole place must have reminded you of your homeland of Egypt."

It was then that the waiter scowled. "My family and I are from Iran, you goddamn idiot! It's the land that doesn't have the fucking sphinx in it, if it helps you remember!"

Sorao raised his hands in front of his chest, eyes widened. "Wh-Whoa, calm down there, buddy! I simply misremembered, that's all."

"You don't seem to have the greatest memory, if you ask me," Faye said with a hint of dumbfoundedness. "And come to think of it, you remember that I'm half-Japanese, right? So what's my other half?"

"Oh, well… Uh… You're… uh… hmm… oh… half-French, right?" Sorao said with an uncertain smirk.

Faye sighed. "With that look of yours, I'm pretty sure that was only a lucky guess on your part."

"Hey, come on, I got it right, didn't I?" Sorao said, looking a bit shocked at being shunned so. "Right, Masashi?"

"I, uh, can't argue with that," Masashi said, unsure as to which side he ought to take.

"Enough of your chattering. There still seems to be a part of this deck that we have yet to explore," Futaba said, her expression one of annoyance. "It seems that we must sail to the other side on the boats given us here."

"Woo-hoo, boat ride!" Sorao said excitedly. "Lady Inoshishi, let's ride together! It'll be fun to go through the river for only us two, don't you think?!"

Futaba chuckled, her face lightening up. "Why, yes, I can certainly see the appeal in it! And to ride it with you… Well, I feel rather excited about it. And given what you've done for me up to now… yes, you definitely are a bit like Maggie..."

"Maggie?" Sorao raised his eyes. "Who's that?"

Futaba let out a small gasp. "Oh, pardon me for the confusion! That's the name of a... very dear friend of mine, to put it simply. She is a rather caring and understanding soul, and, well..."

"And I take it that 'Maggie' isn't actually her name," Abraham said.

"Oh, no, of course not. It's simply a nickname. Her full name is Magdalena Engracia Pinto, I believe," Futaba answered. "As you may tell, she's a foreigner from Spain."

"A foreigner from Spain… I see, I see!" Sorao said, nodding along.

"Let's hope you remember that one, at least," Faye remarked, still looking a bit peeved at Sorao's forgetfulness.

"Well, much as I want to talk more about her," Futaba said, "now is not the right time to do so. We must get back to the investigation at once. Sorao and I shall board one of the boats, and you three are to follow us. Now, let us go already."

And so the leader and her advisor got onto one of the boats, after which it started to move. Without any delay, Masashi and the two others boarded another boat, which had no oars to row with; instead, there was only a button to press, which meant that the ride through the river was automatic. Once he pressed the button, the boat started up and slowly moved through the river's waters.

"Wow… This is pretty good!" Masashi said as he leaned back against his seat. Faye sat next to him, which left Abraham to sit behind them, though the waiter seemed unbothered.

"The flowers here sure are lush, gorgeous, and beautiful!" Faye said.

"Hmph… Why must I have to put up with all this?" Abraham mumbled, looking not too happy.

"Hah, I should've figured you'd be like that," Faye said. "At least enjoy the view!"

Abraham made no reply, continuing to look outside with a stern frown. Meanwhile, Sorao and Futaba seemed to be having much mirth, as Masashi could hear them chuckle even from where he was. The one thing that he could be sure about was that Sorao was definitely a good person to have on Futaba's side; there seemed to be nothing disagreeable about him but his forgetfulness on a few details.

Soon, the five reached the other side of the river. Here, there was only one way forward, and it was by going through a metallic door labeled "STAFF ONLY". Oddly enough, however, it was already unlocked, as Sorao opened it with no problems.

With only one glance, one could tell that this room was highly out of place. There was no ancient Egyptian imagery at all; instead, the walls were of a plain white hue, and the floor was of a subdued blue hue, which, on the whole, gave the room a laboratory's look. But there were no tables or any equipment for chemistry; instead, there were many gray rectangular pods set in a half-circle around the other end of the room. They were long enough to hold in humans, it seemed. And there was one more thing of note: the number of pods was sixteen.

Sixteen… The same number of people in our group…

He wanted to dismiss it as a coincidence, but given how odd the situation was, he was, in the end, more minded to think that this room had something to do with the group. The connection was still unclear, but the more he thought about it, the more certain he grew that the connection was there.

"Puhuhuhu! Curious now, aren't you?"

And out of nowhere, in his usual fashion, Monokuma appeared.

"You're wondering what these things are for, aren't you?" Monokuma said. "Well, hate to break it to you, but it's a secret for now!"

"For now, you say?" Sorao said.

"Well, someday, I'll show you what exactly this room is for. But for now, you don't have to try to open the dang things," Monokuma said. "Trust me, nothing will happen. It's like going on a long and boring sidequest in a game, only to be told that the treasure is the journey itself! What kind of cruddy reward is that?!"

"Opening a pod is hardly a journey, if you ask me," Faye said.

"Either way, it's pointless to open them at this time, it seems," Futaba said.

"Are we done here, then?" Abraham said.

"I suppose so."

"Well, then, see you later! I hope you'll have lots and lots of fun here in this palace!" Monokuma then disappeared, leaving the question of this room's purpose unanswered.

There were no other rooms connected to this mysterious room, so the fivesome could only head back. They looked around the platform on this side of the river, but their search yielded nothing.


The sixteen students met back at the dining hall and reported what they had found. Besides everything that Masashi had already seen during his exploration of the palace, there was one interesting tidbit: according to Sister Hikari, the doors of the exhibit rooms actually had locks. When she had first stumbled upon the room, the doors were already open, but the doors could be locked with the use of keys. Monokuma had given her such keys, being the one to tell her this piece of information.

"Excellent!" Futaba said, who sat at a table with Sorao as usual. "This is a most pleasing development."

"Huh? What's so 'pleasing' about that?" Sayua asked.

"It solves a problem that now plagues us," Futaba answered. "As we are all too well aware of, Haruka had unbridled access to the tools in the storeroom. If the storeroom had had a lock, then she would not have been able to use the rope to her advantage."

"Ah, so that's what you're saying," Murphy said. "If we put the most dangerous things behind a locked door, then there will be far fewer tools to kill someone."

"And putting the tools in one of our rooms would obviously lead to much mistrust," Haruyuki added, "so it would be better to stow the items in the exhibit room instead."

"Exactly," Futaba said, clapping her hands together. "We can prevent such a tragedy as Atsushi's death from happening again."

"But which one of us will be given the keys?" Masashi asked. Though understanding what she was going for, he still saw the fundamental problem in her plan: it needed someone to trust with the keys, and there was no guarantee that that person would not abuse the trust.

"Well, I have two persons in mind to be the keyholders. It is you two," she said, pointing at Faye and Abraham.

"Wait, you're talking about us?" Faye said.

"Indeed. Each of you will hold one key," Futaba said. "And all the items will be stowed in the second exhibit room."

"Ah, because to access that room, one would need keys to both rooms," Sorao said, who looked a tad surprised that he had not been selected. "After all, the second exhibit room is connected only to the first one."

"So all the items will be safe under their guidance," Futaba concluded. "It is a sound idea, is it not? I have selected you two because you have shown to be diligent in your work. You have proven your worth to me, in short. And much as I trust Sorao here, I would prefer that he be not bothered by this kind of work. His services are of a different kind."

"But… don't you think you could've selected someone else for this?" Faye asked with a hint of concern. "After all, we both don't exactly… well, get along."

"Hmph. For once, we agree," Abraham said, looking away from her.

Futaba, however, waved dismissively at her concern. "That is no problem. In fact, it is an opportunity to improve your relations with each other. That is another reason why I chose you two in particular."

"Ugh… all right, then," Faye said. Abraham too made no protest as Sister Hikari handed each of them a key.

"Here's to a long and prosperous relationship," Abraham said half-heartedly as he pocketed the key.

"Now, I believe that is all," Futaba said. "We shall move any dangerous items to the second exhibit room later. In the meantime, I believe that it is time for lunch—"

"W-Wait!"

To many's surprise, the one who objected was none other than Arashi, who had at last spoke at his usual volume.

"Wh-What is it?" Futaba asked, looking a bit annoyed.

"Um… I've just realized something!" Arashi then looked at Hikari, who grew a little startled at the sudden gazes at her. "Hikari, you call yourself the Ultimate Spirit Channeler, right?"

Hikari frowned as soon as he had mentioned her title. "Y-Yeah… what about it?"

"Well… doesn't that mean you can contact ghosts?!" Arashi asked with a bit of excitement. "Then you should be able to contact the ones who are now dead!"

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Sorao said. "I completely forgot about that!"

"If Hikari's really the real deal, then she could channel someone like Haruka," Mari said.

"R-Really?!" This time, it was Kumi, who too looked rather energized. "You mean, we could talk with Lady Haruka and Sir Atsushi again?!"

The others then buzzed with interest as it became more and more apparent that they might be able to talk with the dead.

"N-No way…" Hikari profusely shook her head. "I-I don't want to use my powers…"

"What? Why not?" Haruyuki asked.

"I-I don't want to! C-Can't you understand that, at least?" Hikari said, worsening in her expression. "A-And besides… even if I wanted to use my powers, I couldn't, anyway."

Sorao raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"I don't know why, but… ever since I found myself here, I-I haven't been able to use my powers," Hikari answered, looking down at the floor. "Day or night… I just can't."

"Hmm… I wonder why…" Mari said.

"Hmph. Whatever the reason might be," Maiha said, "the only thing that matters is that she cannot use her powers. The one thing that separated her from the other commoners is now gone."

What joy and excitement that had popped up quickly died down, as the situation ended up not having changed at all. Their two friends were still dead and forever lost to them, and Arashi's question had been the one opportunity for them to deny the effects of their deaths. And speaking of him, Arashi himself had turned back to his unusually gloomy and quiet self, his face full of dreariness. Kumi also looked quite disappointed at hearing this news, but his expression showed only a little sadness, as he had already accepted that Atsushi and Haruka were gone. Meanwhile, Masashi found the seeming disappearance of Hikari's powers to be yet another mystery that he could not stop thinking about.

Things definitely aren't normal now, Masashi thought, wanting to hear what the answers to his questions were. Wherever his curiosity pushed him to go, generally, he would follow. Otherwise, he would not be at peace with how things were.


Well, the second chapter has begun! As you can tell, the setting this time is Ancient Egypt. I already have planned out a few things for this chapter, but I'm still flexible in where I'll go for this part of the story. Now that you've seen the beginning of this chapter, what are your predictions for what will happen? It can be related to which characters you think will die, or how certain characters may change or develop over time.

And once again, thank you for the reviews! I highly appreciate hearing what you guys have to say! It makes me happy to see that you've been enjoying this so far! Hopefully, I'll do well for this chapter!