Chapter 2: Johnny Beach Goode Part 2 (Daily Life)

Citizens Remaining: 15

"What the…"

I let out as I saw a cardboard cutout of myself in my uniform in full makeup, holding an onion.

"Well that's freaky like Friday…" Gold says as he walks up to me, holding a manga with himself on it.

The two of us, along with Ryuji & Shantae are browsing through this department store filled with manga, anime, video games, movies, and their merchandise. Ryuji squinted as a tv screen showed him in a weird pirate outfit with a skull mask, beating up monsters with a bat.

"H-how did they get this stuff?!" Shantae picks up two games based on her.

"I dunno, maybe the evil guy behind the bear just wants to mess with us." Ryuji says as he picks up a copy of "Persona 5 Royal", "I mean, what? Are they trying to make us think we're not real?"

"Well in this world we aren't, so in a way that's true." I explained it as the three of them looked at me confused.

"I guess, but man I'm getting tired thinking about this crap!" Ryuji put his hands to his head like he was having a headache.

"Yeah same here dude. You guys wanna go get something to eat?" Gold said as he hit a plastic red and white ball with his pool cue.

"Hell yeah! I'm starving!" Ryuji responded as the two of them waltzed out the door, knocking over the statue on the way out.

"I actually think I might get a headache with those two around." I said to Shantae as she nodded in agreement.

The food in this city is actually pretty delicious, if we weren't placed in a killing game, I would have liked to visit this place…. once. Though we haven't seen the rest of it yet, so I'll see if I change my mind later on.

"Man this is so gooood….." Ryuji rubbed his stomach as Gold finished shoving a fish taco into his mouth.

"If we get great food with every area that opens up…" Gold licks his fingers before I bonk him on the head.

"Don't finish that sentence."

"What I was just going to jo— ow! Man, you're just as serious as her…"

Whoever he was referring to, I'm surprised anyone could put up with him for very long back on his world. I leaned back into my chair, looking over the ocean, well the ocean that's still blocked by the giant wall. The breeze kinda felt nice, and if I had some of that waterproof zombie (they were for shoes actually) spray, I actually considered taking a dip in the water.

"How are you all liking it so far?"

It's ruined now.

"It's pretty nice, but why are you here? Come to give us another dumb murder motive?"

Shantae pointed at Monokuma, who just laughed it off.

"Ahhhhh-hahahahaha! To be honest, no! Having your loved ones under my control has REALLY gotten under your skin, so I think that after the next trial, I'll just show you an update!"

"An update? You mean actual footage of what happened, after you messed up their brains?" Ryuji stood up from his seat, like he was about to hurt the bear, unfortunately he can't do that.

"Yup! Plus a quick look at how amazingly bad your homes are!"

"Just shut up Robo-Teddiursa…. wait, speaking of Pokémon, where did you put my partners?!"

"Partners?" Me and the other two looked at Gold as he was getting angrier.

"Exbo, Aibo, Polibo, Sunbo, Sudobo, Togebo, etc., what did you do to them?!"

"Bwa-hahahahaha! You'd really think I'd let you have those things on you? They're still here, but I'M KEEPING THEM UNLESS YOU KILL AND GET AWAY WITH IT. Sure they could be used to murder people, but I think that'd be too easy for you. You did threaten to shove that pool cue somewhere on someone, so maybe…"

"Shut up you stupid… AGH!" He banged the table with his fist, so I just pulled him back before he could do something even more stupid than what he usually does.

"That's enough, we'll look for them as we try to find an escape route." I told him as he was taking some deep breaths.

"Well now, I better get going! Maybe you should cool off in the water later on!" The bear disappeared again, I still wonder how he does it.

"We should get back to the others, they should be done searching the area by now. Stay calm, Gold." I sat up and threw away my trash into the proper container as the goggle-wearing skater grumbled to himself.

Luckily, the rest of them were at the last place we had to check, the stage area. Alice waved at us as everyone was gathered.

"Nothing out of the ordinary here, just a regular stage for a concert." Miles said as he jumped down from the metal rafters above it.

"Dude, you gotta teach me how to do that superhero landing." Ryuji praised.

"So what did you guys find in that department store?" Killua asked from down stage.

"Some really crazy things, posters, games, movies, manga, our faces all over them!" Gold explained.

"That's… very strange. I should go check this out myself later on.' Trunks rubs the back of his head.

"You had a bunch of figures with your hair all gold and stuff! Can you actually do that, or is that just a haircut change?" Shantae grips her fists as she looks at him with sparkles in her eyes.

Sweat rolls down his head as he attempts to say something, "W-well, it's kinda hard to explain but…", I simply just chose to bring up another thing that happened, "Be sure to tell us later on. Monokuma came by to tell us something, there's no other motive right now, but after the next trial he'll show us an update on our home worlds."

"Interesting…" Aoba pondered.

"I-I'm worried about what happened to our loved ones, but I don't want to have another trial again…" Bernadetta looked downwards fearfully.

"I really hate thinking about how everyone is doing back home, but we can't just forget them. We need to make it out of here so we can save them!" Emma raised her fist in the air, her ahoge bouncing with her.

It's true, it hurts thinking about how badly we need to help the people we care about, yet we need to stay focused on escaping so we can be able to help them at all. We also need to find ways to be more cooperative with each other, so that we can actually try that plan I came up with. Not committing murder so that Monokuma opens up the entire city to give us more options of escape. How can we manage to come closer together?

I thought about this for a bit while the other talked before the Ultimate Gastronomist spoke up, "Hey! Why don't we have a big beach party with a concert! That sounds fun, right?"

"What?!" Everyone said in shock.

"Yeah! We can all go get swimsuits from the stores around town, go swimming, then I can cook up some my perfect meals! To end the day off, we can have our Ultimate Idol perform for us with fireworks too!" She giggled while the rest of us struggled to make a response.

"I mean, it does sound like a good bonding experience for everyone but…" I started and then Miles finished, "Yeah, how can you be so sure about pulling something like this off?"

"I'm down for a party, but in a place like this?" Gold spun his pool cue before planting it on the ground.

"I think we should go for it! We could have possibly prevented the first murder by getting to know each other more, so this is the perfect time to do it!" Emma cheered.

"I can do some great dances too if you want to see me!" Shantae twirled around before winking to us.

"I'm actually a member of a band, so I could play guitar and sing with you gals too. I think I know the perfect one to play." Marty raised his hand awkwardly as I sighed, "Alright, whoever wants to have a beach get-together, raise your hand."

Bernadetta, Aoba, Ishigami, Sucy, and Espio didn't raise their hands, although for the latter he didn't really feel like raising his. Majority rule wins out.

"Well, it's been a while since I've been on stage, but I hope this will help motivate us into finding our escape route. How about in three days?"

Everyone who raised their hands nodded as we all split up for the day, the meeting over. I still feel like I could get some things done today, so I think I'll hang around for a bit longer.

Free Time Start

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"I see… a reconnaissance mission for a new killing game… very well. I shall accept this offer, in hopes of those participants to be grateful enough to serve the Tanaka Empire."

The hammy young man dressed in a black outfit and a purple scarf smiled as he was informed of his task.

"Oh! I'll be sure to take good care of some of the hamsters you leave behind. Thank you for taking on such a dangerous request!" A stunning young woman in a dress said, prompting him to blush a little.

"T-thank you. Be sure to provide them with the nutrients they'll need to continue bringing destruction…" He responded, pulling up his scarf while a guy in a yellow jumpsuit grits his shark-like teeth at the scene.

Hopping atop a dolphin that he managed to summon (don't question his powers), the "Dark Lord" heads away from the boat he and his companions were traveling on. The spiky haired young man looking on with the others, seeing him off.

"Hey Hajime, are you sure we can count on him alone? Yeah sure, he'll probably be the last person the mastermind could have predicted…"

"But you don't think he'll be smart enough to find a way to free them, right Mahiru?"

"Yeah! His whole schtick about knowing 'dark magic' or whatever doesn't seem to be the best option. Sure he can command legions of animals, but we have no idea what the mastermind has planned!"

"If he needs any help, he'll contact us. He may be eccentric, but he really does care for 'mortals' like us. Also I did consider everyone else, but I felt his talent could be the most strategic one for this mission. I guess you can say I feel pretty hopeful about his chances of success."

"Ugh, you better be right about this. If you aren't, I can't wait to see the look on your face. I would need to take a photo of it to remember it."

"H-hey, don't be like that… hold on, speaking of photos, remember when you said you'd give me your old camera once we got off the island?"

"I do remember, yes."

"Well, you were about to say something else afterward, what exactly was it?"

Her face almost became as red as her hair, "U-um, it was… ah! I better make sure Hiyoko's not bothering Mikan, bye!"

Hajime was just left there questioning what just happened.

Okay before any of you go theorizing, they are all the real versions of those characters from their own worlds. Though it is odd how the mastermind has managed to gather all that merchandise… oh well! Hope you enjoyed this! Freetime begins next time! Also considering making a list of who's survived thus far so nobody gets confused...