Hello readers and welcome to my new chapter. So, I got several suggestions as to what to do with the class trials. Many of you suggested to keep the non-stop debates, panic talk, and the closing arguments. Closing arguments, I think I can do. Non-stop debate may be a bit trickier, but I think I can keep that and make it look as realistic as possible. Panic talk, however, will be a harder time writing down. Any ideas as to how to put it in will be good, same with non-stop debates.
So, with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danganronpa.
Chapter 10: Watching Ch 1: To Survive Part 3
"Wait, hold on a sec!" Junko interrupted, noticing something.
"What's wrong?!" Taka questioned in annoyance.
"What about, uh….what's her name? You know, the silver haired girl." Junko stammered out, trying to remember the name. "Uhh….oh yeah, Kyoko!"
"You're still acting like Junko, Mukuro?" Makoto asked her. "I thought you would've took off the disguise by now."
"The enemy may not know that I'm not really Junko, so I can't risk her safety." Mukuro replied in response. "The enemy might be searching for me, not Junko, so it would be easier for her to hide."
Makoto 'ahhed' and nodded.
"...What about her?"
"She's not here." Junko told him.
That shocked Taka. "What?!" The group took a look around the dining hall and sure enough, Kyoko was nowhere to be seen.
"I wonder where she went." Hina commented in concern. "Has anyone seen her?" To that question, everyone shook their heads.
"Wait, so 'nobody's' seen her?" Chihiro clarified.
More than a few eyes widen. "Could it be that….?" Junko trailed off.
"No, I don't think that has happened." Celeste was the one to answer. "Far too early in the series for the murder to happen."
"I agree. Would be a crappy story if a murder happens so very soon." Hifumi agreed with Celeste.
"Are we seriously treating this like a TV series?" Leon questioned in disbelief. "Are we really doing that?"
Makoto chuckled at this. "Well, other than the fact that it's too early, as Hifumi and Celeste claims, Kyoko isn't one to let her guard down with people she doesn't trust."
"And since my future self doesn't know any of you, I doubt I will let my guard down." Kyoko finished for Makoto.
'Why hasn't Kyoko shown up yet?' Makoto thought. 'Could it be because…..?' He remembers Monokuma's words, the conditions set for them to leave this school. 'Is it possible? Has she really….?'
Makoto shook his head. 'No, no. I'm just overthinking things.'
Taka growled in frustration. "Darn it, Kyoko! You're really going to be late like this on the first day of school?! Not only is she late, she didn't tell anyone she would be late! A most unbecoming personality trait."
Junko rolled her eyes. "Quite the jackass you're being right now."
"Well, what did you expect? I value punctuality! It's everything!" Taka stated.
Junko look at him, stunned. "You're being a real jackass, you know that?"
"Well what do you want me to do?! Punctuality is everything!" Taka stated in defense.
"It's kinda scary how similar our words are alongside our future selves." Makoto commented, chuckling a little.
"Well, this is our future selves, with their memories wiped of Hope's Peak." Chihiro said. "We're bound to have some similar lines."
"Now then, I declare that the first session of the Hope's Peak Academy briefing meetings has begun!"
"Makoto," Sayaka began to speak to the luckster. But then she changed her mind. "Actually, first of all, I've talked enough. Maybe we should listen to what everyone else has to say."
Makoto nodded. "Okay, let's do that."
Sayaka hummed to herself. "You know…."
"Huh? What's up?" Makoto asked curiously.
"I feel like I really really have become your personal assistant, don't you agree?" She asked him, smiling. "I may not be the best assistant in the world, but I'll give it everything I got."
'No….you've already done so much as my assistant.' Makoto thought.
Makoto and Sayaka blushed once again. Makoto, because his thoughts are revealed to all of his friends, and Sayaka, because of the implications of those thoughts. His thoughts also made her feel warm, warm at the fact that her presence is helping him.
And it also gave her the chance to give her rivals a smug look. It took Celeste all of her willpower to not break her mask and let her short-tempered side show itself.
"Okay, so since you're in the dark about all of this, let me lay down out what's been going on." Sayaka continued on speaking. "Everyone split up to investigate different parts of the building, but Byakuya and Taka each went off their own, and so did Kyoko. Leon, Hiro, Junko, and Chihiro grouped together. The same goes for Hina, Sakura, and Mondo. Celeste, Toko, and Hifumi were left over, so they joined up."
Byakuya, who was sitting at one of the other tables nearby, with Toko close by, spoke up. "I wanted to try and find some clue as to who's responsible for imprisoning us here." He explained. "But unfortunately, I made no such discoveries. That's all from me."
"I see. That's disappointing." The present Byakuya sighed. "Well, it shows that we aren't dealing with an amateur criminal, that's for sure."
'No, you're not!' Junko sung in her head. She's far from an amateur, that's for certain.
"Really? That's it?" Taka questioned.
"If I'd uncovered anything, naturally I would have more to say." Byakuya stated, as if it should be obvious. "But I didn't. So I don't."
"Honestly, did you expect me to give out any useless information that others found out?" Byakuya quipped. "That would be a waste of breath."
No one bothered trying to argue with him. Mainly because he got a point.
"R-Right. Understood." Taka responded. He then started his report. "For me, I spent some time looking around the dormitory, and there I made the discovery of the century! I found that there was exactly one room for each person!"
"...Seriously?" Leon stated, a bit dumbfounded. "You're calling that the discovery of the century? Any one could've figure that one out."
Taka had no rebuttal for that. He looked a bit embarrassed.
"Well yeah," Hina said with a shrug. "I figured that out before anything else."
"See?"
"Okay, I admit, that was a bit of an exaggeration." Taka conceded.
"Every door already has a nameplate on it, so I guess they've been pre-assigned." Junko explained to everyone.
"And each room key was attached to a keychain with the owner's name precision-etched onto it." Sakura continued for Junko.
'Well, that confirms that the room I was in was, in fact, my room.'Makoto thought.
"And Chihiro and I found out that all the rooms are totally soundproof." Junko continued speaking.
"Your next door neighbor could scream their lungs out, and you wouldn't hear a thing." Chihiro added.
"Well, each room also has a private bathroom, which could also lock." Celeste added in.
"But it looked like only the female bathrooms had locks on them." Junko corrected a bit.
"Okay, so they got a bunch of rooms ready for us." Mondo stated. "They're assuming we're gonna be here for a while."
"Well, better to have than have not!" Taka said with his usual passion. "At least we don't have to worry about surviving like wild animals."
"Yes. Thank goodness for that." Celeste stated in relief.
"Th-That can't be all you have to r-report, can it Mr. Honor S-Student?" Toko questioned.
Taka thought about it for a minute. "That's all for my report!" He announced. "Let's move on to whoever's next!"
"I guess that's all he has to say." Hiro stated the obvious.
"W-Wow. H-HIs report is s-sooo important." Toko snarked. Taka didn't take much offense to her comment. It's Toko, after all. And he refused to get depressed over such meaningless comments!
Junko then spoke once again. "For what me, Chihiro, Leon, and Hiro did, we went all up and down the school, double-checking the windows in all the hallways and classes." She explained. "We wanted to see if we could get any of those metal plates to come off. And what happened was…."
"Nothing. Not a damn thing." Leon continued for Junko. "We couldn't get a single one to budge even a little bit."
"Those plates must've been screwed on the walls tightly." Taka mused. "They really want to make sure that we don't get out of here."
"Well, Mondo and Sakura haven't tried yet." Hina said optimistically. "Maybe they can pull it off."
"If they could've, our future selves would've been out by now." Celestia retorted. Hina winced.
"Good….point."
"There wasn't any hope of escape anywhere." Chihiro said tearfully. "The school really has been cut off."
"This sucks." Junko groaned. "It really sucks! It sucks, sucks, sucks, sucks, SUCKS! What the hell are we gonna do?!"
"Goddamn, calm down!" Leon exclaimed, getting nervous himself. "You're starting to make me nervous!"
"Yeah, seriously Mukuro, what's the deal?" Leon groaned. "I know you're acting like Junko, but that doesn't mean you have to panic like that."
Mukuro shrugged. "I'm merely doing what Junko would've done in that situation."
After a moment of silence, Hina spoke up. "Well, I guess it's our turn now!" She stated, referring to herself, Sakura, and Mondo. She put on a thinking pose. "We thought maybe we could find some way to communicate with the outside, so we went looking all over!" Then she got a little sadden. "But….we didn't find anything. Sorry."
"I went back to the main hall, thinking maybe we could do something about that giant hunk of metal." Mondo spoke up. "But even with Sakura and me both, it wouldn't budge. We hit it with desks and chairs, and nothin'. It was hard as, like….metal."
Celeste rolled her eyes. "Amazing comparison Mondo." She dryly stated. "Truly."
"Okay, okay, I could've come up with something better." Mondo groaned, seeing how stupid his comment was.
"Ignoring Mondo's lousy comparison," Byakuya began, ignoring the "Hey!" from Mondo. "It seems that the person doing all this got us sealed up and their tracks covered well. And that metal hatch must've been to endure heavy attacks."
"And if that doesn't work, those guns are there to stop people from coming out." Kyoko finished. "Yes, they did made this place seemingly inescapable."
That didn't sound good to the others. It made them very nervous.
"Well, yes, it is metal." Celeste remarked.
"Anyway, if we're gonna out here, it's not gonna be through there." Mondo stated.
That brought Hina's mood down even more. "I feel like I could cry." She said sadly. "But no, I have to hold it in! I have to manage my hydration!"
"I shall tell what happened next." Sakura then spoke up. "It has nothing to do with communicating with the outside world, but it's still worth worrying about. In both the school and dorm areas, there was a set of stairs leading up to another floor."
"But there were gates there, and we couldn't find any way to open them, so we couldn't check it out." Hina told them.
"In other words, at this point, we are only able to search the 1st floor." The martial artist stated. "We can further assume that there is potentially something above the second floor, as well. And if that's the case, there is at least a chance it may lead to a way out."
Byakaya sighed. "No point finding something there. There's not even an escape route at the fifth floor."
"Well, our future selves don't know that, unfortunately." Sayaka pointed out sadly. "They don't have the memories of Hope's Peak, so they couldn't know."
"But if the mastermind is blocking it off, maybe there's something up in those floors that he's hiding." Makoto said optimistically. "Something he added in himself, and doesn't want us to know."
Kyoko hummed at the thought. "That idea does have merit." She admitted. "We'll just have to continue watching and see if your theory is correct."
The others took that into thought. This time, Celeste spoke up. "As for me, Hifumi, and Toko, I can't say we acted as one. Rather, we did nothing as one. We spent the entire time in the gym." She looked down. "Honestly, we are not exactly the types to go running around a school like a gaggle of junior detectives."
"So instead, you stay in the gym while the rest of us work our butts off?" Junko questioned. "Yeah, that's really fair."
Celeste shrugged. "Well, it's not like our help would've done anything."
"Still, it is better to do something to help rather than nothing!" Taka chastised. "Even if your efforts would turn out fruitless, you could at least say you did something!"
"What the hell were you thinking, just sitting around the gym the whole time?" Junko demanded.
"W-Well, it's not like any of you i-invited me along!" Toko defended herself. "Nobody said hey, c-come with us! I blame y-you for leaving me out! I-It's your fault!"
"If you wanted to go with someone, you should've just said something!" Junko retorted.
"A point to the soldier." Leon spoke in.
Toko glared at him. "L-Like I would w-want to go anywhere with a-any of you. The only p-person I'm willing to b-be with is Master."
Leon turn to Byakuya. "I don't envy you. Not at all."
Toko turned away from her. "Hmph. F-Forget it. Like I'd w-want to go anywhere with a dirty s-slut like you."
That got eyes to widen and more than a few faces to pale before they turned to Mukuro. The soldier has her head down, a dark look in her eye and her hands near her knife.
"What?" The soldier hissed in anger.
Toko paled and hid behind the couch. "I-I'm sorry!" She cried out in fear.
That stunned Junko. "Slut….?"
Toko didn't let up. "Your mind is as th-thin as your body. You m-make me sick to my s-stomach."
"I'm really considering throwing my knife at you."
"I-It was future me!" Toko exclaimed in fear.
That got Junko out of her stun state, and got her angry. "I….I don't even know how to react. How can you say something so awful to someone you just met?"
"That's Toko for you." Hiro sighed. "Always has something to say to someone."
"Except Byakuya." Leon added.
"If Mukuro wasn't disguised as me, she probably would've gutted you by now." Junko mused. "I think that's what happened to the last person who called her names."
Toko squeaked a little in fear at that. Not to self, learn to control her own mouth.
"Alright guys, everybody just calm down, okay?" Hiro spoke in. "All this stress is bad for the skin, y'know?"
"Yeah!" Sayaka agreed. "It sounds like you two are so close now you're fighting like sisters!"
Several sweatdropped at that. "Sayaka, I don't think that's what's going on." Makoto told her hesitantly.
"Huh? Then what is it?" Sayaka questioned, a bit confused.
"A verbal catfight." Mondo answered. "That's what it fucking look like."
Makoto sweatdropped. 'I….don't think that's what's going on, Sayaka.'
Sayaka then spoke up again. "So that's what they have to say, huh?" She rhetorically asked. "Then I guess I'm the only one left." She then started explaining what she had done. "I went and had a look around the dining hall. I found a fridge in the back of the kitchen, and it was overflowing with all kinds of stuff. I guess we don't have to worry about food, at least."
"Sure, for now." Hifumi groaned. "But even with all that, there are fifteen of us. How long can the food last?"
"Y-You can just eat sesame s-seeds or something." Toko said callously.
"Huh?" Was Hifumi stunned response. "What am I, a parakeet?"
"You really think a big guy like him could just eat seeds?" Mondo questioned Toko.
Toko shrugged. "H-He look like h-he had enough f-food as it is." Toko voiced out. "F-Fatso doesn't look like h-he'll need anything b-big for a while."
"I'm not in hibernation!"
"I don't think we have to worry about it." Sayaka reassured them. "All the food gets restocked automatically each day. At least, that's what Monokuma said."
That got the group's attention. "You saw him?!" Junko exclaimed in shock.
"Yeah, he came out of nowhere while I was checking the fridge, told me that, then disappeared again." Sayaka explained. "He was so fast, I can't believe someone could have been moving him around with a remote control."
That surprised the group. "I guess he wasn't exaggerating about his control systems." Chihiro murmured.
"It seems so." Byakuya agreed, overhearing what Chihiro said.
"A weaponized toy that can just appear from nowhere." Chihiro murmured loudly, looking a bit nervous. "I can't tell if we're supposed to be afraid or not."
"Our future selves should be cautious, at least." Sakura stated. "Who knows what they would do, along with their capabilities."
Mukuro and Kyoko nodded in agreement with the martial artist. Being cautious is always the best course when dealing with an unknown enemy.
"But was everything okay?" Hina asked in concern. "He didn't try to like, eat you or anything?"
Byakuya face palmed. "If you really think that a machine would actually want to eat a person, then you really are an imbecile."
"Sh-Shut up!"
"E-Eat her?" Hifumi repeated. Then an odd look entered his eyes. "Um, what do you mean by that? I mean, when you say 'eat', what kind of eating are we talking about?"
That gained more than a few disturbing looks, and several of the girls scooted away from Hifumi. Sayaka especially. "Seriously dude?" Leon groaned. "Get some self control here. And a cleaner mind."
Hifumi could do nothing but rub the back of his head in embarrassment. Seeing how it turned out, he had to admit, it was a bit creepy.
That disturbed Hina a bit. "C-Come on, man!"
"What the hell, fatty?! You're acting like some kind of sleazy drunk dude." Leon told the fanfic creator.
"Not like there's a good kind of drunk dude." Hiro murmured.
Byakuya sighed. "They're getting off track from this meaningless conversation." The heir said in aggravation.
"Blame Hifumi for being pervy." Leon said, pointing fingers at Hifumi. "Seriously, what caused you to ask that in public?"
"Um, healthy curiosity?"
"More like a mind down in the fucking gutters." Mondo deadpanned.
"Hey! Stop screwing around, all of you!" Junko exclaimed in anger, breaking the conversation. "Are you still asleep or something? We're prisoners here! We could all die any second!"
That started the group a bit. "Why are you getting so angry Mukuro?" Makoto asked her. "Usually, you're more calm and reserved. I know you're acting like Junko, but I doubt she would get angry about this."
Mukuro sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine." She told him. "Maybe the reason might be shown as we progress." Most in the group took that explanation with no trouble.
Kyoko, however, felt suspicious. Her instincts were telling her that something was off. Whether it was from the show or here in the viewing room, she doesn't know. She'll just have to wait and see. But one thing for sure, she's very suspicious of Mukuro right now.
"She's right." Mondo agreed. "We can't be makin' stupid jokes right now. We gotta do something, or-!"
Just then, a sharp voice cut through Mondo's sentence. "You're all spending an awful lot of time yelling and carrying on." At that time, Kyoko walked into the dining hall. "Do you really think you can afford to do so? Have none of you accepted the reality of the situation?"
"So future Kyoko finally showed up." Byakuya announced. "Hopefully, her search will turn out more fruitful than ours."
"I hope so too! Otherwise, there was no point in being so later!" Taka griped.
When she entered in the dining, everyone turned to the white haired girl. "Kyoko! Where the heck have you been?!" Taka questioned fiercely. "We already started the meeting without you!"
She didn't say a word. Instead, she went over the table and dropped a piece of paper on it, getting everyone's eyes on it. It looks to be a map for something.
Several eyes widen. "Is that….?" Hina trailed off.
"A map of Hope's Peak?" Taka questioned in shock. "But where did the future Kyoko get that?"
"Did the mastermind had it laid around or something?" Mondo guessed.
Kyoko disagreed with that guess. "I doubt it. Otherwise, my future self wouldn't have taken as long. Most likely, it was hidden somewhere."
"Huh? What's this?" Makoto asked curiously.
"It appears to be a map of Hope's Peak Academy." Was Kyoko's answer.
That shocked everyone. "A map?" Makoto repeated in shock.
"W-What the….?" Taka stuttered, also surprise by the sudden info given to them. "Where did you find this?"
"It doesn't matter where I found it." Kyoko stated.
Taka disagreed. "It DOES matter!" He retorted. "You're really freaking us out right now!"
"You know, that could get our future selves to be suspicious of you." Celeste pointed out to Kyoko. "I may keep my secret, but I don't hide information to my allies if I want to gain their trust."
Kyoko closed her eyes. Celeste does have a point. But her future self didn't have that same trust in people as she does now since her memories got wiped. So most likely, she was going to keep a lot of secrets, even when she doesn't have to or if it made her look suspicious.
"Never mind that." Junko cut in. "What's it mean?"
"Just look at it." Kyoko advised. "The building we're in right now is laid out in precisely the same way as Hope's Peak Academy."
"So what you're saying is….this really is Hope's Peak Academy?" Makoto clarified.
"Well, in terms of its construction, yes." Kyoko answered. "But it looks like it's had a number of strange….renovations done to it."
"Renovations?" Makoto repeated. "You mean they added some stuff to the school?"
"Well, they added the metal hatch, guns, and metal platings in the school." Chihiro said. "It wouldn't be too surprising to find out they also added more things."
"But how are they able to get those renovations?" Taka questioned. "I doubt this would have gone unnoticed by the public."
"Renovations?" Makoto repeated.
"I don't know all the details yet." Kyoko told them. "All I found was details about the first floor."
"But then," Chihiro spoke up. "This really is Hope's Peak. We didn't get kidnapped and taken to some other place."
"So stupid it's not even possible." Mondo growled. "This is where the country's future elite are supposed to come and learn?"
"But if this really is Hope's Peak, where are all the other students?" Hina questioned.
"And yet another mystery to add to the long list of mysteries." Byakuya sighed.
"Have they died?" Celeste began listed off the possibly. "Maybe at their home? Or maybe they're suffering the same fates in different parts of Hope's Peak? If the mastermind is doing the killing game at the old school building, it's a possibility that the other buildings are being used the same way or not being used at all."
Taka gulped. "What on earth is going to happen to Hope's Peak in the future?"
"Whatever it is, I bet it's not good." Hina said, a bit scared at the possibilities.
Hiro sighed. "Can we not talk about all this negativity? It's making me bummed out."
"Hey, come on, guys." Hiro sighed. "Let's stop talking about all this….you know, negative stuff."
"But aren't you worried?" Makoto asked. "Things don't look good."
"Worried? What's there to be worried about?" Hiro asked. "I mean, this was all planned out, right? The people in charge of Hope's put this all together, right?"
Sighs of exasperation and facepalms went throughout the group. "Can I just fucking punch him? Just once?" Mondo growled. "Cause his stupidity is really getting on my damn nerves."
"Hey! Don't be mean!" Hiro cried out, using his arms to shield his face.
He then began to laugh. "Man, if I got stressed every time something like this happened, I'd have ectoplasm shooting out of my mouth! Good things come to those who wait, right? So we just gotta chill and everything'll work itself out!"
That caused Celeste to laugh, which gained the other's attention. "Wh-Why are you laughing? What's so funny?!" Toko questioned.
"I-I'm wondering the s-same thing." Toko said.
Makoto turned to Celeste. "Celeste, do you know?"
"I have a guess as to why." Celeste stated. "Let's see if I'm correct on it."
"I am just happy, that is all." The gambler explained. "It seems that splitting up to investigate was a good idea, after all."
"Haven't you b-been listening?!" Toko exclaimed. "Looking around was a t-total waste of t-time! We d-didn't find a way out, didn't f-find who's behind this. We still have no idea what's g-going on!"
Celeste looked mildly surprise at this. "Huh? Is it not clear to you what's going on?" She questioned. Then, she dropped the blunt and unfortunate truth. "It is perfectly obvious that we have been imprisoned in some secret location, with no way out."
"And it seems my guess is correct." Celeste stated, not looking surprised. Byakuya, Kyoko, and Mukuro are the same as well. They saw that statement coming a mile away, plus, for Mukuro, her training doesn't let her react to such news.
The others, however, couldn't react as calmly. "N-No, way out? Our o-other selves are stuck there?" Toko questioned fearfully.
"This is isn't good. This is definitely not good." Junko, pretending to freak out, kept repeating.
Mondo, however, couldn't accept that fact. "The hell with no way out of there!" He denied angrily. "How about punching the damn walls until my knuckles bruises.
"Hell yeah! That could make a way out for us!" Leon agreed with Mondo.
Hiro, however, still didn't believe the situation their future selves were in. "Come on guys, this is just a joke. I'm sure there's a way out somewhere, and when we find it they'll congratulate for us for doing so."
Hina, having enough of Hiro's stupidity and stressed everything that had happened, gave an annoyed glare. "Can't you get it through your thick skull that we're not part of some prank?"
Many looked a bit surprise by her irritated question, but honestly, no one could blame her. Never the less, Sakura placed a comforting hand on Hina's shoulder. "Calm down, Hina." The martial artist said softly to her friend. "Calm down."
Hina continue glaring at Hiro before taking a few deep breaths and calming down.
Taka spoke up. "We'll just have to rely on our future selves to find the answers about Hope's Peak, answers that we can use to our advantage."
"He's right." Makoto agreed with the Moral Compass. "We can't let this bring us down, otherwise, the mastermind will already be winning. We have to stay focussed on the positive aspects about this, or we'll end up losing."
Taka's and Makoto's words brought their spirits up. The group kept their thoughts on the fact that they can use this knowledge to their advantage, rather than focus on the possible outcomes.
And that's the end. I hope all of you liked this chapter. Again, if you have any ideas on how to do the non-stop debates and the panic talk when I start the trials, let me know. Review, favorite, and follow and I will see you later.
