Chapter 1: Part 13

"Rise and grind, students!" Monokuma cheered through the intercom. "It's 7 o'clock in the morning and may I just say, it is a beautiful day! I recommend you all face today with full gusto!"

Mikan grumbled a bit at the announcement. She was far too comfortable to want to move and she was just in the middle of a wonderful dream. It was just her and Junko. No one else. Just them. Junko held her close and kissed her all over. She was loved in ways she couldn't even imagine. Then after? It was just them. Again. They just laid together in bed. Holding each other close and smiling towards one another.

Mikan couldn't help but smile. She wished she could stay like that forever. Yet, she had to wake up. She tried to sit herself up, but her arm was stuck. She tried to tug it out again and again, but there was no way it would get out as long as Junko laid there…

…

Mikan's eyes widen as she came to fully realize what she had just seen. Junko was in her bed, naked! No. She wasn't in her bed. Mikan was in Junko's bed. Mikan's face turned completely red. She was too shocked to even do her usual shriek and fall routine.

Instead, Junko let out a yawn and sat herself up. She smacked her mouth a few times before looking at Mikan.

"Well, good morning, beautiful," Junko said with a tired smile. "Aren't you a great sight this morning."

Mikan could barely speak. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Junko laughed as she stood up. "You too stunned by my body, sweetie?"

Mikan just stared at Junko.

Junko shrugged before picking up her lover's clothes and tossing them over to her. "We might as well get dressed. Can't imagine Taka being too thrilled to see two naked girls."

Junko walked over to her dressed and pulled out a copy of her usual outfit. As she got dressed, she looked back at Mikan. The nurse was still staring at her.

"Are you enjoying the show?" Junko asked.

"D-did…" Mikan spoke up. "Did we…"

Junko smirked widely. "Oh yeah. We did." Junko finished getting dressed and walked back over to Mikan. "And you were a blast."

Mikan buried her face in her apron.

"Oh, don't be upset," Junko placed her hand on Mikan's shoulder. "I loved every second of being with you. You're such a good girl. You even wrote all those letters for me."

Mikan lifted her head back up. "Y-yeah. It took a lot of time…but I c-c-couldn't think what to write for T-tsumugi. I-I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll work on Tsumugi's letter. Now, why don't you get dressed?"

Mikan nodded and began to get dressed.

Sayaka sighed as stared at herself in the mirror. She couldn't believe that the stupid ahoge was still sticking up after all this time. She was fine with rocking her new hair style for a few days at most, but she hoped she would've gone back to her regular hair style. Granted, she didn't have any producers hounding her about her hair. She didn't have to really take orders from anyone anymore. But another problem accrued to her. The pointy hair reminded her Makoto.

'It will never leave me, will it?' Sayaka thought to herself. 'Not until I leave…'

Sayaka balled up her fists. "I have to leave. I have to make things right for Makoto. For everyone…For me."

Sayaka finished getting ready and stepped out of her room. Sayaka walked down the hallway by herself for a single minute before a pair of arms wrapped around her stomach and gripped her tightly. Sayaka almost lost her balance, but she readjusted her footing to stay up. She sighed before looking at the person hugging her.

"Hi, Tenko," Sayaka said.

"Hey, Sayaka!" Tenko smiled brightly at her friend. After a few moments for Tenko to truly appreciate the hug, she gently let Sayaka down and released her. "I missed you yesterday."

"Sorry about that," Sayaka said. "Ibuki was very insistent I'd practice with her."

"Well, that's ok," Tenko said. "It must've been a while since you got to practice, right?"

Sayaka nodded. "Yes. Although, I don't think that I'm a good fit for her style. She's a bit more punk rock than pop."

"Oh really?" Tenko asked. "I thought you two would get along great."

"I mean, Ibuki is nice and certainly passionate about music, but our tastes just don't line up."

"Hmmm," Tenko pondered for a moment. "I don't really get it, but as long as you're okay now then everything's fine, right?"

"I guess so."

Soon, the two girls were cut off by the sound of a door closing behind them. They turn around to see that Sakura had stepped out of her room.

"Hello, Sakura!" Tenko waved at the buff girl.

"Greetings," Sakura said. "I take it you're on your way to the morning meeting."

"Of course!" Tenko said before grabbing a hold of Sakura's hand. "Want to walk with us?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Tenko before nodding. "Very well," Sakura said.

Tenko smiled brightly as she led Sakura and Sayaka to the cafeteria. Taka, Byakua, and Kaito were already in the room while Teruteru was in the kitchen. The girls sat themselves down and waited for everyone else to arrive.

It took a few minutes, but everyone eventually arrived. Mondo sat himself down next to Taka, Peko was followed by a cheerful Ibuki, Hifumi and Tsumugi came in talking about their cosplay project, Chiaki and Kaede were talking to each other as well. Nekomaru came in pestering Leon about a new workout plan. Mahiru, Gundham, Nagito, Gonta, Rantaro, Kerokiyo, Mukuro, Miu, and Ryoma all entered individually. Celeste entered the room followed by Kirumi, who pulled a seat out for the gambler to sit down in. Chihiro had to wobble her way into the cafeteria as her legs were still sore from her workout the previous night. Angie and Hiyoko entered the room hand in hand. Mahiru frowned as she watched her small friend accept the fraud's lies. Mikan and Junko entered the room and then finally Kokichi.

"So, we can finally begin," Byakuya said.

"Well, what else is there to discuss?" Tsumugi asked. "We already explored everything we could find."

"Well, we can't give up," Kaito shouted.

"But what are we supposed to do?" Peko asked. "We certainly can't break out of the dome."

"And all of the other floors are blocked off," Leon added on.

"And we all know the only way we can get to those other floors," Kokichi said with a smirk.

"That's enough of that," Byakuya said. "It has become clear to me that the only thing we can do is wait for Miu and Chihiro to complete their work on…Keebo."

"Huh?" Miu raised her head up from her plate. "Oh yeah. I already finished."

Everyone turned around to Miu.

"Wait, what?" Tsumugi asked.

"What? Are you guys surprised?" Miu asked before rolling her eyes. "I can make an animatronic in my sleep. I finished him right after I got back to my room yesterday. Now, I can finally get back to my other inventions."

"That's great, Miu!" Kaede smiled. "Looks like we'll get our answers soon!"

"U-um," Chihiro mumbled a bit. "I don't know how long it will take for me to complete Keebo's reprogramming."

"Seriously?" Miu raised an eyebrow. "You're still having trouble? Aren't you supposed to the Ultimate Programmer or something?"

"Yeah," Hiyoko hissed out. "You sound pretty worthless right now."

"Now, now, Hiyoko," Angie placed her hand on Hiyoko's. "We mustn't be rude. We cannot blame Chihiro if she faces difficulties."

Chihiro frowned as she hung her head in shame. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry, Chihiro!" Taka spoke up. "It takes time for things to be done correctly, so take as much time as you need!"

"Yeah!" Kaede pumped her fists. "I'm sure you got this!"

Chihiro lifted her head back up and gave a small smile. "Th-thank you."

Tenko let out a squee. "God, you're so cute!"

"So, is that all we need to discuss?" Ryoma asked.

"It seems to be," Byakuya said.

"Well then, why don't we just relax and enjoy our meals?" Teruteru asked. "After all, I did work long and hard on all of this."

"Um, duh we're going to eat it," Leon said. "And seriously, can you not say things so creepily? You make everything awkward."

"Oh, was that a joke about your crotch?" Mahiru groaned, finally taking her attention off of Angie and Hiyoko. "Seriously, can't you not do that for one second?"

"Wh-what?" Teruteru began to sweat nervously. "Y-you are just reading too deep into things. Hehe."

"Why don't we move on from this conversation?" Celeste said before turning to Kirumi. "Kirumi, would you be a dear and give us all something to drink?"

Kirumi bowed her head politely. "Of course," she said before heading into the kitchen.

"Hmmm, so a mistress/maid relationship, huh?" Teruteru's mouth drooled.

Tenko smacked the back of Teruteru's head. "Keep your mind out of the gutter, degenerate!"

As Teruteru rubbed the back of his head, Gundham spoke up. "Well then, what else is there to discuss?"

Celestia smiled at Gundham. She took particular note of how gentle he was when he petted his cat. She returned to the discussion at hand. "I think it's time for us to face the reality of our situation."

Mondo groaned. "We just said that we aren't killing anyone."

"Yet, Monokuma certainly won't make that easy for us," Celeste explained. "What I suggest is that we remove some of the temptations around us."

Byakuya adjusted his glasses. "So, we confiscate any potential weapons we come across? I certainly agree with that."

"As do I!" Taka shouted. "Very well! Everyone, let us spend the rest of this day turning in any potential weapons-"
"Now, hold on!" Teruteru spoke up. "You don't on taking my silverware, do you? I need those to cook! You need them to eat!"

"That's not up for discussion," Byakuya said. "If it can be used to kill someone than we must dispose of it."

"Not to say any of this is a bad idea," Kiyo spoke up, "but you guys may have your work cut off for you. A lot of things can become weapons if someone's creative enough."

"Particularly with blunt objects," Mukuro added on.

Byakuya and Taka looked towards each other for before looking back at the group. "We'll figure something out," Byakuya said.

"I recommend we start with the storage room," Taka said. "I would like a group to accompany me in retrieving any dangerous items we can find."

"What I'd like to know is what you plan with these weapons?" Kokichi asked. "Surely you're not going to just keep them for yourselves."

"Of course not!" Taka shouted. "We shall dispose of them in the furnace!"

"I'm sure that will take some time to burn it all," Ryoma said.

"I am willing to wait!" Taka said. "I will do whatever it takes to protect my fellow classmates! So, who wishes to join me?"

"Count me in," Mondo said with a smile.

"I can help for a bit, but I got some cosplay to work on later today," Tsumugi said.

"I'll join," Sakura spoke up.

"Me too," Chiaki said.

"I'll lend a hand," Kaede said.

"Same here," Rantaro said.

"Gonta love to help," Gonta said with a smile.

"I…won't be joining you," Kiyo said.

"Dude, why did you even speak up then?" Leon asked.

"Because I do have a suggestion on who should accompany them," Kiyo explained.

"Really now?" Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

"I believe Miss Ikusaba should join you."

Mukuro raised an eyebrow and turned to the masked man. "What?"

"I believe your experience as a soldier would be most insightful for this assignment," Kiyo said. "I'm sure you've seen your fair share of…odd weapons. Am I wrong?"

Mukuro remained silent. She scanned the room a bit before nodding. "Fine. I'll go with you."

Taka smiled and held his arms out. "Excellent! Now we can begin our task!"

"Then our meeting is adjourned," Byakuya said as he rose from his seat. "I recommend that we all reunite for another meeting tonight before dinner to discuss any other precautions we must take. Until then, stay safe."

And with that announcement, everyone went off in their separate directions. Mahiru took another glance at Hiyoko. The small girl didn't even look back at her as she held hands with Angie. Mahiru frowned. She didn't know what she could do.

'Maybe one of her classmates knows,' Mahiru thought.

Sayaka made her way back to her room and grabbed a hold of her doorknob.

"Sayaka! Wait up!"

Sayaka sighed a bit. She put up a smile and turned around. "Hello, Tenko."

Tenko slowed down as she reached the blue haired girl before coming to a stop. She pointed dramatically at Sayaka before proclaiming, "I'm guarding you today!"

Sayaka raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" she said before thinking to herself. 'She already acts like she's my bodyguard. Why's she making a big deal about it now?'

"Aren't you already guarding me?" Sayaka asked.

"Well, yeah but all that talk about temptations and stuff got me thinking," Tenko began to explain. "What if that degenerate Kuwata tries to kill you again? Or any other degenerate like Mondo, Kokichi, or Kiyo? I got to make sure no one tries to hurt you!"

Sayaka frowned a bit. Bringing up Leon seemed to still get to her. Yet, she kept her composure to ask a question. "Do you really think they'd do that? Honestly, outside of Kiyo all those other guys seemed to only have-"

"Don't let those degenerates trick you again, Sayaka!" Tenko interrupted before grabbing a hold of the idol's hands. "I'm going to keep you safe! Come on!"

Before Sayaka could protest against her friend, she was already being dragged to the next door. Tenko kicked open her door and quickly shut and locked it once both girls were inside.

Tenko smiled at Sayaka. "Make yourself comfortable."

"O-ok," Sayaka said. She looked around the room to see that it was identical to her own room. She figured she shouldn't be surprised by that revelation. She recalled how Makoto and her had similar rooms back at Hope's Peak. While she appreciated Tenko's gesture to be comfortable, there really wasn't much to do in the room. Sayaka pulled out a chair from the desk and sat down.

Tenko kept up her smile and sat down in a neighboring chair. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"Oh, um, I haven't really even thought about that yet," Sayaka played with her hair a bit.

Tenko hummed for a moment before getting an idea. "Why don't you tell me about your bandmates?"

Sayaka's eyes lit up at the mention of her bandmates. She smiled brightly and faced Tenko. "Really? You want to know about them?"

"Of course!" Tenko said with just as bright of a smile. "I mean, you asked about my teacher and family, so I'm curious about what your friends are like."

Sayaka smiled before explaining herself. "We all met fairly early on during our audition process. We talked for a bit, but none of us were sure we'd actually meet each other again. Auditions can be grueling and very few girls make it all the way through. Luckily, we all passed and we ended up getting paired together for our band."

"And you just became friends like that?"

"Oh, immediately," Sayaka said. "We were all so similar it felt like were we've known each other for years. We all…we all came from lonely homes. We had all lost someone. So, we kind of became sisters for each other…Whenever life on the road became too exhausting or we'd become frustrated with balancing our lives or trying to write a song, we'd be there to comfort each other…I kind of wish I met them sooner. But when we did write music, we were in sync. We understood what everyone wanted to bring to the table in terms of sound, lyrics, themes, everything."

Tenko listened intently to Sayaka's tale. She didn't quite under the musical side of Sayaka's story, but she could relate to the bonds she formed with these girls. Having a bond so strong that they were like sisters, it sounded wonderful.

"They sound like great friends, Sayaka," Tenko said.

"Yeah," Sayaka smiled.

Tenko then shuffled a bit uncomfortably in her seat. She knew what she wanted to say next, but she obviously knew it was a sore subject. "So, you were willing to risk it all for them then…"

Sayaka's smile fell. She turned her head away from Tenko. "Yeah…even at the cost of hurting a friend…"

"Do…do you want to talk about it?"

Sayaka sighed. "Not really…but…I know that I've been holding this inside for too long. It's why I'm here."

Tenko scooted closer to her friend, letting her know that she would be there for her without having to speak a word.

Sayaka took a few deep breaths before she spoke. "Makoto didn't deserve what I had done to him. He…he was the nicest and most pure-hearted person I had ever met. I had known him since middle school and when I finally got to meet him, he was kind of everything I thought he would be and more…And yet, I used him to get back to my band. I…understood it was wrong. I was framing someone who had been nothing but sweet to me just to get back to my friends…"

"Well…maybe he understood that you value your friends that much more," Tenko said.

"That doesn't make it right!" Sayaka snapped at Tenko. She noticed how rude she sounded and sighed. "Sorry. I get what you mean. You are right. I did care about my friends more, but I cared about him too…At least, now I know what I need to do."

Tenko raised an eyebrow as she kept listening to Sayaka.

"I need to get out," Sayaka continued. "I need to find my friends and my dad…but I need to find Makoto too. I need to make things right with him." Sayaka looked over to Tenko. "I know you don't really care for guys all that much, but to me, Makoto didn't deserve that. No one does."

Tenko nodded a bit. "I know you said you cared more about your friends, that's why did all of that, but you seem to hold this Makoto guy up in high regard too."

Sayaka blushed a bit as she twirled a bit of her hair with her finger. "Something like that, yeah."

"Well, I may not understand how a guy could seem so great, but I know I got to help you get out to see him again!"

"Really?"

"Yeah!" Tenko made fists with her hands. "I mean, we both got friends we need to see again. All of us do. But I made a promise to you specifically, and I plan on keeping it. Even if it is to help you see a degenerate male."

Sayaka smiled a bit. "Trust me, Makoto's no degenerate." She then took a hold of Tenko's hands. "I should make a promise for you too."

Tenko had taken a hold of Sayaka's hands more than enough times throughout their short time together, but this was the first time she recalled Sayaka grabbing a hold of hers like this. She blushed as she finally noticed just how soft the idol's hands were. 'Keep it together, Tenko!' she thought to herself. 'I can't freak Sayaka out! She's got something to say!'

"I'm going to help you find Himiko," Sayaka promised.

Tenko's eyes widened and gripped tightly onto Sayaka's hands. "R-really?!"

"Y-yeah," Sayaka let out a small groan as Tenko almost crushed her hands. "I mean, you've been doing so much for me, I really should help you too."

"Yay!" Tenko leapt over and hugged Sayaka tightly. "I know we'll get out of here and find them! You can count on me!"

Sayaka was left gasping for air as Tenko crushed her with her hug. 'I really got to set some boundaries for Tenko or she'll crush me.'

Taka opened the door to the storage room. He held the door open for his group as they carried in empty crates.

"Remember to be careful!" Taka said. "We may be dealing with sharp objects and other dangerous tools!"

"You got it, bro," Mondo said as he was the first one to get to work. He kneels down next to a box and starts to shovel bits of shrapnel, bolts, and screws into his crate.

Sakura and Gonta proceeded to do the same as Mondo, but Kaede and Chiaki were a bit more delicate when picking up pieces of sharp metal.

"You think maybe we should have worn gloves?" Kaede asked as she picked up items with the tips of her fingers.

"As long as you are careful, you should be fine," Mukuro said as she dug through another box. She picked up a few sharp pieces of metal and glass, but she also picked up a bowling pin, a broken trophy, and even a lightbulb. "I'd also recommend you all find objects that can be used as blunt objects or can shatter."

"And once done we all safe, right?" Gonta asked.

"Of course not," Mukuro said.

Kaede raised an eyebrow. "Don't say it like that. We at least make it harder for people to try and kill us."

Mukuro shook her head. "All of you should know what something is capable of when you're desperate."

"That's enough, Ikusaba!" Taka shouted. "While I appreciate your assistance in this task, your attitude is making us more anxious!"

"Trust me, I hate it too. But you can't respond to this with such a paranoid mindset. What, are you going to start taking all of Nekomaru and Sakura's training equipment because they can hurt someone?"

"Of course not," Taka said. "Who would use workout equipment for…"

Taka stopped himself as what he had just said hit him. He looked over at Mondo and saw how all the color in his face had drained away. The biker tried his to keep his attention solely on his continued investigation, but a few side glances were made.

Taka frowned and looked back at Mukuro. "So, you're saying this is truly a meaningless effort?" he asked.

"No," Mukuro said. "You are correct in saying that it at least limits all the obvious choices for weapons. But people are always able to find a way."

"You could have said it like that earlier," Chiaki said. She looked unusually angry at the soldier as her eyes looked like they wanted to stab her. "We're all on the same side, so if you have an issue with something you should just say it."

Everyone looked at Chiaki. They took a few steps away from the gamer and gulped a bit.

"Why don't we just get the rest of this stuff then head back?" Rantaro suggested with a nervous smile.

"Y-yeah," Kaede let out a nervous laugh, "I-I think I got some hammers to put up."

Mukuro sighed as the rest of group returned to filling their crates full of sharp, blunt, and breakable junk. In all honesty, putting several pounds of metal into a milk crate would obviously make them hard to carry. Well, aside from Sakura and Gonta. The two giants had no trouble carrying up to four different crates at once. As for everyone else, they struggled.

Kaede felt a little bored as she shoveled through all the junk in the room. She really wanted to kill some time, so she figured she'd try and talk to someone. She looked over her shoulder to see Chiaki being very thorough in her investigation. She divided all the different kinds of dangerous materials in groups of sharp and blunt objects.

Kaede chuckled. "You get a good night's sleep, Chiaki?"

Chiaki's attention shifted from her piles of scrap to Kaede. "Huh?" Chiaki said with a puzzled look.

Kaede's amused smile shrank. "You're…you're working really hard. You must have gotten more sleep, right?"

"Oh," Chiaki said flatly. "No. I got as much sleep as a normally get."

"Oh," Kaede said back. "I just thought that, since you aren't passing out, you got more sleep."

"Nope," Chiaki said before turning back to her research. "I'm just focused right now."

Kaede raised an eyebrow before returning to her own search.

Meanwhile, Taka moved his investigation near to Mondo. He knelt down next to his bro and spoke. "How goes the investigation, bro?"

Mondo groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Bro, I'm already getting…" he looked over to his bro. He needed to avoid swearing more. "Annoyed. I'm not meant to be arching my back so much."

"I understand that this job will cause some discomfort, but we must be thorough with our search," Taka shouted. "We must make sure we have eliminated all possible dangers. Only then will we able to truly be comfortable."

"For the time being at least," Rantaro said.

Mondo groaned before looking at the green haired boy. "Oh, don't you join in on the paranoia, dude."

Rantaro chuckled a bit. "Sorry," he apologized. "I have a bad habit of doing that."

"Well, kick it," Mondo said. "I don't think bro can handle any more of the depressing crap."

"I know, I know, but it's hard for me not to look at something from every angle," Rantaro said. "Especially now that we know that my murder was a bit more dubious than we originally thought, who knows what getting rid of all the weapons will actually accomplish."

When Kaede her Rantaro bring up the circumstances of his death, she dropped the object she just picked up and turned to look at the rest of the group. "As long as we're on the subject, what do you think the deal with me is?"

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Well, the whole point of these killing games are the rules on how the trials work," Kaede explained. "If the guilty person is discovered, they get executed. If not, everyone else does. But we clearly found out I'm not guilty of killing Rantaro…so, what's the deal with me?"

"Well, that piece of crap bear probably just wanted to frame you," Mondo suggested.

"But why was I the target in the first place?" Rantaro asked. "Why would they even want to take that risk when Kaede already had the plan in place to kill someone?"

Everyone went silent for a moment to think of any possible reason behind the mastermind's actions, but none of them could. All the reasons were beyond their understanding. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, they returned to their investigations. It took around an hour for the group to become satisfied with how much dangerous scrap they've collected. They all carried their own crates out of them room with Taka leading the way.

Just as Taka stepped out of the room, his crate crashed right into a wondering Nagito's stomach. The collision caused Nagito to fall to the floor and Taka to drop his crate. Everyone rushed outside to see what the commotion was.

"Ow!" Nagito groaned as he held onto his stomach.

"My goodness!" Taka gasped before rushing to the pale boy's side. "Are you alright, Komeda?"

"Y-yeah," Nagito said before standing himself up. "Sorry. I should have been paying attention."

"Yeah, kid," Mondo said. "You get yourself into all sorts of messes, huh?"

Nagito laughed politely. "Yeah. Guess it's just my luck." Nagito looked down at the mess around him. "Oh. Let me help you clean that up."

Nagito knelt down to the floor and began to pick up the bits of metal scrap. Taka smiled as he joined in on cleaning up.

"Thank you very much, Komeda!" Taka said, loud as always.

Chiaki knew better than the rest of her companions. She didn't hate Nagito. She knew of his past as an Ultimate Despair, but she also knew of what he truly wanted to be. The Ultimate Hope. She kept an eye on him as he cleaned up. "So, why were you walking this way, Nagito?" she asked.

"Oh, I was just wondering around," Nagito said as he kept cleaning.

"Wow, you must get bored really easily, Nagito," Kaede said with a light laugh. "I guess I can't really blame you."

"Don't you have anyone to talk to?" Rantaro asked. "I'm sure your classmates would be willing to spend time with you."

Nagito placed his hands in his jacket pockets and smiled. "Nah," he said. "They have more important things to do than spend time with trash like me."

"You still on about that?" Mondo said.

Nagito chuckled a bit. "Sorry. I know you said not to do that, but I just-"

"Can't help but view things that way?" Rantaro finished Nagito's sentence.

Nagito tilted his head a bit before laughing. "Am I really that predictable?"

"No, no," Rantaro said. "I actually got into an argument about that a few minutes ago."

Nagito chuckled a bit before turning around. "Well, I should get going. I don't want to get in your way anymore."

Just as Nagito was about to walk away, Chiaki stepped forward. "Nagito, wait," she said with a surprise amount of sternness in her voice.

Nagito paused and looked back at the gamer.

"You're not worthless," Chiaki said. "People do care about you. I know you want to do what's right, but please…don't do anything reckless."

Nagito took in Chiaki's words. He thought them over…then smiled at her. "You really were always the best of us," he said before walking off.

Chiaki sighed before returning to the rest of the group. Everyone gave a look of concern to the gamer. They had heard of Nagito's more unsavory moments, but to see Chiaki attempt to reach out to him made them wonder just how bad Nagito's state of mind truly was. It also made them consider that there may be more to Chiaki than being the sleepy gamer she had presented herself as.

"Let us not waste any more time," Taka said before leading the rest of the group to the trash room.

Leon had been in his room ever since the morning meeting. He didn't want to admit it to anyone, but the discussion on temptations to kill really got under his skin. He laid down on his bed and tossed a baseball up into the air only to catch it when it fell back down. Again and again. It soothed him, but it also became a habit, something to do as he entered deep thought.

'Every time it seems like we got things under control, someone just has to bring up something that screws it all up,' Leon thought to himself before tossing his ball back into the air and catching it in his glove. 'I sure as hell don't want anyone getting tempted to kill me. Especially Sayaka. I wouldn't even be in this mess if it weren't for her.'

Leon caught his ball once again, but paused his routine. A thought occurred to him. 'I wouldn't have killed anyone if it weren't for her, right?' Leon sat himself up on his bed and pondered more. 'I mean, I didn't plan on killing her. Hell, I didn't plan on killing anyone.'

Just as he had absolved himself of that guilt, Leon remembered what Celeste said to him before he died. "You had your chance to leave Sayaka be and lay low, but you didn't," her voice echoed through his mind. "You wanted to take that chance to kill her, didn't you?"

'Hell no!' Leon tossed his baseball against the wall only to catch it as it bounced back. 'I was trying to help her! It was an accident…Right?' Leon groaned and smacked the side of his head. 'Damnit, I'm letting that goth bitch get into my head! I wasn't trying to kill her, I know that!'

Leon looked down at the baseball in his hand and growled. "And this stupid thing isn't helping!" Leon chucked the ball at the wall, but instead of catching it again, the ball was able to smash right into his face. Leon groaned as he held onto his nose. "Freakin baseball…If it weren't for that stupid sport, I'd never be sent to Hope's Peak."

Leon removed his hands from his face and was thankful no blood has pouring out of his nose. Leon laid back down on his bed and stared back up at the ceiling. 'God, was this really how my life was supposed to go?' he thought to himself. 'Be good at something I hate, kill a hot chick, and then get killed by stuffed animal? Did I do something wrong?'

Leon ran his hands through his hair as he let out one more groan. He was ready to just nap for the rest of the day. He closed his eyes and placed his head down on a pillow. However, he wouldn't get a chance to drift off to sleep. The sound of the doorbell ringing woke Leon back up. He groaned as he rolled out of bed. He slowly made his way over to the door, but he stopped once he noticed a folded piece of paper slip underneath the crack of his door. Leon knelt down to the floor and opened up the paper. His cyan eyes ran across the words on the page as his anger boiled over.

"That bitch!" Leon shouted.

Mondo returned to his room with cuts all over his hands. That wasn't new for him. Making all the adjustments to his bike over the years took plenty of blood, sweat, and tears, so getting his hands cuts open didn't hurt him anymore. Still, even a rough and tough biker dude needed to avoid infections. He entered his bathroom and began to wash his hands, absolutely lathering his hands with soap. As he washed his hands, he heard his doorbell ring. He peaked out of the bathroom and saw a sheet of paper slide under his door. Puzzled, Mondo turned off the sink and made his way over to the piece of paper. He picked it up and read the letter.

'I will never forgive you,' the letter read. The handwriting was a bit messy. Almost as if the writer was in a hurry, but that wasn't important to Mondo. What was important was who wrote it. At the very bottom of the page was someone's signature. A signature that really struck a cord with him. 'Chihiro.'

Mondo frowned at the paper. He hung his head down and let the guilt flow over him. The guilt built up and built up inside him until it finally got to his head. He put the paper into his pocket and stepped out of his room. Each step he took down the hallway caused his heart to sink deeper and deeper. He knew this confrontation had to happen at some point, but he wasn't ready. Honestly, he doubted if he would ever had been ready. Yet, it had to be done. Especially after he read that letter. He finally reached the door to Chihiro's room. He took a deep breath and banged his fist against the door.

It took a moment, but eventually Chihiro's door did open with the programmer poking her head out. "H-hello? Is there something I can…" she said before noticing who it was that was standing before her. Her eyes went wide and she stumbled backward. "M-Mondo?"

"We need to talk," He said.

Chihiro was petrified with fear of the giant man in front of her. She didn't know what brought about the need to finally have a confrontation, yet it made sense. Everyone had been highlighting the idea of giving each other second chances. Perhaps she did need to forgive Mondo. Or at the very least, find out exactly why he killed her. Sure, she knew that the motive was about secrets and Mondo's secret was…extreme. Yet, he didn't seem like he planned. He suddenly just…snapped. Chihiro remained quiet, but she stepped aside to allow Mondo to enter.

Chihiro watched as Mondo came to a stop in the middle of the room. He took a quick look around before turning back to face Chihiro.

"I know…I know that what happened is…" Mondo paused and cleared his throat. "Chihiro, listen. I…we need to talk about what happened."

Chihiro gulped, but stood her ground to listen.

"I…I never wanted to kill you," Mondo spoke. "I know that doesn't make sense, but I didn't. I never thought about killing any one during our game, but…hearing you talk about what you went through, how you were willing to improve yourself and let your secret out…" Mondo began to breathe heavily.

Chihiro couldn't help but feel nervous around the stressed looking Mondo. She took a step back, wanting to avoid another incident. Yet, she kept listening.

"I…I couldn't help it," Mondo said. "I got jealous."

Chihiro raised an eyebrow. "Jealous?"

"You were willing to let everyone know your secret, but…I couldn't," Mondo continued. "I was scared. I was scared of what everyone would think. Especially bro…And being scared reminded me of the truth…I was weak. I was weaker than you…"

Mondo paused and hung his head down in shame.

'I don't understand,' Chihiro thought to herself. 'How could he think he's weaker than me? Is it really just because I was willing to let my secret out?'

"And for me to have done that do you," Mondo spoke with a shaky voice, "especially when you came to me for help? It's fucked up! It's something only a coward would do!"

Mondo began to openly sob as he spoke. He tried to wipe away the tears, but they kept flowing. "And I know you can't forgive me. You wrote that letter after all…And you shouldn't. What I did is something you can't just forgive. I…I don't deserve it. I don't even deserve to be alive again. You don't have to forgive me, kid, but…"

All the bravado and strength Mondo had put up disappeared. He dropped down to his knees and bowed his head as he let all of his tears pour out. "I'm sorry! I'm so fucking sorry!"

Chihiro frowned as she watched Mondo, a guy she looked up to, break do into tears. She couldn't help the fact she was still nervous around him, but her empathy could not be ignored. She approached the biker and gently placed her hand on his back. She slowly rubbed his back in a circular motion. And they just stayed like that. They didn't know how long they stayed there, but they just let all the emotions out. Mondo let his sadness and regret pour out while Chihiro did her best to be supportive and comforting. But eventually, Mondo was able to regain his composure. Sure, his eyes were still red, but he was able to lift his head back up and face the programmer. Chihiro smiled at Mondo, which surprised the biker. Yet, he felt her comfort. He smiled back at her.

However, there was one thing that bothered Chihiro. Something Mondo said didn't make sense. "So," she spoke up, "you said you came here because of a letter?"

"Oh, yeah," Mondo snapped back to normal. He dug around in his pocket before pulling out the letter. "It was…It was a pretty heavy thing to write, but I get."

"Can I see it?" Chihiro asked as she held her hand out.

"Oh, sure," Mondo said before handing said letter over to the programmer.

Chihiro curiously read through the letter. She read it, then reread it, then reread it again. Chihiro looked back at Mondo.

"Mondo," Chihiro spoke up, "I didn't write this."

Mondo looked at Chihiro. "What?"

Chihiro handed the letter back to Mondo. "I didn't write it," she repeated herself. "That's not my handwriting."

Mondo looked down at the letter then back at Chihiro. "Really?"

"Yeah," Chihiro said before grabbing a notebook from her desk and opening up to show several handwritten notes. Sure enough, the style was written. Chihiro's handwriting was neat and clean while the note Mondo had was messy and filled with eraser marks. "See? The styles don't match."

Mondo looked at the notebook then back at the letter. Mondo's face went red and he grinded his teeth. "Son of a bitch!" he shouted. He shot up to his feet. "So, someone wants to fucking play games, huh? Well, I'll show them!" Mondo stormed over to the door.

"M-Mondo, wait up!" Chihiro shouted before following him.

The two of them made their way out of the hall and Mondo immediately began to storm off in a random direction. Chihiro did her best to keep up with Mondo, but she quickly ran out of steam and came to a stop.

"M-Mondo," Chihiro called out.

It was enough to catch the biker's attention. Mondo spun around and grabbed a hold of the programmer's wrist. "Come on," Mondo said. "We got to make that bastard pay."

"But we don't even know who wrote the letter," Chihiro said.

"Don't worry, I'll figure it out."

"And…then you're going to fight them?"

Mondo stopped in his tracks. After having a conversation like they just had earlier certainly made his actions hypocritical and short-sighted. He grumbled a bit and scratched the back of his head.

"Look," Mondo spoke back up, "we'll go see bro. He'll get everyone together and we'll talk about it."

"That bitch!"

Mondo and Chihiro were interrupted by a sudden shout from the hallway. They turned to see Leon slam his door behind him. He noticed them looking towards them and approached them.

"Yo, have you seen Sayaka?" Leon asked.

"N-no," Chihiro shook her head. "I at least haven't seen her since breakfast."

"The aikido chick probably dragged her off somewhere," Mondo said. "The hell got you so mad?"

Leon pulled out a letter similar to Mondo's. Same messy handwriting, same theme of mocking a killer, it was just this time it was addressed to Leon. Mondo and Chihiro looked toward each other then back at Leon.

"Even after she gave her sob story to everyone, she's still trying to screw me over," Leon's face went red and a vein popped onto his forehead. "I'm going show her!"

Mondo grabbed a hold of Leon's shoulder. "No, you're not."

Leon pulled himself away from the biker's grasp. "The hell do you mean no? She's trying to start a fight with me!"

Mondo rolled his eyes, pulled out his own letter, and shoved it into his face. "Here!"

Leon raised an eyebrow and skimmed through the letter. He processed what it said and the handwriting…then said something stupid.

"Why did Sayaka write to you too?" Leon asked.

"She didn't, dumbass!" Mondo growled.

"Someone seems to be forging these letters," Chihiro said.

"Wait, who…" Leon paced back and forth as he pondered his next thought. "Who would want to do that?"

"We don't know," Mondo said. "We're going to see bro to figure that out."

"Alright, I'm going with you," Leon said.

And with that, the three students headed off to solve this rising problem.

That took longer than I hoped it would. It also didn't go as far as I hoped. I wanted to get to the next part of the story in this part, but this part was going on too long. I am proud of the scenes I did here. I was a bit worried that I jumped everyone on the paranoia train too early, but I needed to set that up eventually. I'm very proud to how the Mondo and Chihiro went.

Again, sorry I took so long. My schedule is a nightmare.