Chapter 1: Part 3

Sayaka paused for a moment as she stared at opened fridge in front of her. She knew that Tenko wanted to be surprised by her meal, but it just happened to be one of those moments where she had all the options in the world, yet she couldn't make a decision. She tapped her chin lightly as she thought about her choice. However, something went wrong. She didn't know what it was, but she felt a chill travel up her spine. She slowly turned her head and looked behind her shoulder. She saw Teruteru standing right behind her with a smile on his face. Her face went pale.

"Can I help you, Teruteru?" Sayaka asked nervously.

"No, I have everything under control," Teruteru said before stepping closer to Sayaka. "But what about you? Anything I can help you with?"

Sayaka narrowed her brows as she looked down at the chef. "I can scream for Tenko if you aren't careful."

Teruteru immediately took a few steps back and scratched the side of his face. "R-right," he said. "She could…. Sorry… So, why are you in here? I'm just about done with your meal."

"I know, but I wanted to make something for Tenko. I just don't what to make her."

"Hmmm, what does she like?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, that's not helpful," Teruteru said before shrugging. "You may just have to guess."

Sayaka sighed a bit as her attention returned to the fridge. So many options. She didn't want to make Tenko wait as everyone else got their meals. That's when it hit her. She didn't need to make something too fancy. She could just make Tenko what she herself always made for lunch, sushi with a side of rice, oranges, and broccoli. Due do how often Sayaka made it, it wouldn't take much longer than 20 minutes to get it back to Tenko. With that, Sayaka got to work.

Everyone was waiting patiently for their meals, but even after all that talk of relaxing the rest of the day, none of them could stop thinking about their predicament. It wasn't hard to understand why. They died. they have no idea where they are, they don't know if the world is even still safe, and they don't know where the rest of their friends are at. That last one was particularly concerning. Their friends' status could be affected in so many ways by all the other factors surrounding them.

"What do you think happened to everyone else?" Kaede broke the silence in the room.

Everyone else looked around a bit before Taka responded. "You mean those that aren't here, correct?"

"Obviously, dumbass," Miu said as she rolled her eyes.

"How about you keep your mouth shut or I shove some soap down your throat?" Mondo growled out.

Miu immediately shrank down in her seat and blushed, but before she could go off on her usual suggestive rant, Kaede covered her mouth.

"Yeah," Kaede said. "I mean, we talked about it briefly, but we got caught up in investigating this place."

"We did theorize that them not being here meant they survived the killing game," Sakura said as she crossed her arms. "I hope that theory is true."

"Well, who's to say they didn't still die and just ended up somewhere else?" Leon asked as he scratched the back of his head.

"Because that goes against the pattern already established here," Byakuya stated. "We all died and ended up here. The logical explanation as that our classmates survived the killing game. Whether by escaping Monokuma's grasp or simply refusing to continue his game."

"So, you think they gave up on trying to escape?" Chihiro asked.

"Nonsense," Gundham said with a chuckle. "Hinata, Souda, and Owari are fools, but they are not ones to simply surrender." Gundham then whispered under his breath, "They better after all I've done."

"I can say the same for Mr. Naegi and Miss Kirigiri," Hifumi said. "They were always so determined to fight against the mastermind."

"Same with Maki Roll and Shuichi," Kaito said. "Sure, she was a bit standoffish and he was a bit self-conscious, but they would never give into Monokuma."

"Can we be sure about that?" Rantaro asked. "I mean, from what I gathered we've all tried many different ways to break out and yet we could never accomplish that."

"No," Chiaki said. "I…I believe they all escaped."

"I believe so too," Peko said. "My master…Fuyuhiko is not one to give up."

"We all hope for that," Rantaro said. "But then that just leaves what happened to them next."

"If the footage of the destroyed world is real, then their chances of survival aren't too high," Kokichi said.

"It has to be fake though!" Tenko spoke up. "Monokuma lies all the time! It has to be a fake!"

"But what if it's the truth?" Kokichi asked. No vitrail, no teasing. It was an honest question.

"No way!" Tenko slammed her hands against the table. "Just like Sayaka said, nothing about that makes sense. Why wouldn't we have known about the world being destroyed in the first place?"

"Perhaps Monokuma did erase our memories," Kiyo said.

"So, if the world is destroyed and they did all escape the killing games, what happened to them next?" Mondo asked.

"I think I'll agree with the 'their dead theory'," Junko said with a nonchalant shrug. "I mean, they're just a bunch of teenagers. They aren't really trained to live off the land or fend for themselves. Without a functioning society, they're kind of screwed."

The moment Junko said that, she could feel her mind game take effect. Just one seed of despair was enough to put everyone in doubt. All of those they had grown close to, hell in Class 77 and 78's case they had known them for years, they could all be long dead since. God, she just wanted to burst into laughter. The looks on all of their faces just filled her with glee. Some may say getting off on the suffering of others is something only the lowest of the low would do, but was that really so strange? Those same judgmental people would laugh at videos of a skater hitting themselves in the crotch with their own boards, so was Junko's source of enjoyment really that off?

"No," Chiaki spoke up again. "We can't start thinking like that. Chances may seem slim, but as you all said, our friends aren't the kind of people that give up. And as long as there's that chance they're safe, we should hold onto that…I think."

Kaede smiled and pumped her fists. "Yeah! We can't let all these possibilities get to us. I know that I can't give up on Shuichi until I know for a fact what happened."

"Y-yeah," Chihiro spoke up, still a bit timid in speaking out loud. "I…I'm not going to give up."

Mondo smiled a bit at Chihiro. He would have chimed in with his own comments, but he knew it was for the best to not follow Chihiro.

Nevertheless, the speeches of Chiaki, Kaede, and Chihiro was enough to turn everyone's moods around. They felt motivated to break out and search for their friends. Even Mukuro felt motivated to help them all escape. Out of curiosity, she glanced over at Junko. She smirked to herself as she watched her sister try to keep a straight face.

'I guess Junko was right,' Mukuro thought to herself. 'It is fun to watch others suffer.'

Just then, Teruteru pushed the kitchen door open and he stepped into the cafeteria while dragging two trollies filled to the brim with food. The use of all the spices and sauces on the well-done meats and cooked vegetables looked like they came out of a high-class restaurant or a very fancy cookbook. Teruteru smirked as he approached the table.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Teruteru spoke aloud before bowing down, "dinner is served."

Gonta and Kirumi rose from their seats and began to pass out food to everyone.

"Holy shit," Miu said. "I didn't expect you to actually be capable of doing anything right."
Mahiru smiled a bit as she handed a plate over to Hiyoko. "Teruteru is a perv, but he is actually a good cook."

"Please, call me chef" Teruteru winked at Mahiru.

The redhead shivered.

"Oh, and before I forget," Teruteru dashed over to the trolly and back over to Celeste with a tray which held a freshly baked tiramisu and a well brewed cup of tea. He bowed down on one knee and presented it to the gambler.

Celeste raised an eyebrow as she took the tray and set it down in front of her. She delicately picked up the cup and sipped lightly on the tea. She paused to let the taste linger in her throat before placing the cup back onto the tray.

"I'm impressed," Celeste said. "It's on par with my favorite coffee shop. And it's certainly better than my last tea maker."

Celeste glanced over at Hifumi, who gulped at the devil red eyes staring at him.

Teruteru chuckled a bit and smiled at Celeste. "I'm flattered by your words, love. I'm more than willing to be your personal chef and tea brewer if you'd like."

"I'll consider it."

Teruteru took a deep breath, his heart fluttering at the mere chance of serving Celeste. With that fire in his heart, he cheerfully sat himself at the table and began to eat. Everyone who was watching the interaction couldn't help but feel some amount of disgust or cringe at Teruteru's attempts at flirting.

"My god is this guy a fucking simp," Miu said as her face retracted in disgust.

"I mean, sure, Celeste is hot in a weird goth way," Leon whispered, "but he's really desperate."

"Oh, and you're not?" Mondo snarked at the baseball player.

Tenko was about to chime in about Leon and Teruteru being degenerates and the like, but her attention was caught by Sayaka finally returning to the table with a boxed meal. She smiled brightly at the idol as she placed the boxed meal in front of her.

"Here you go, Tenko," Sayaka said with a bright smile. "I hope you enjoy it."

"I know I will, Sayaka!" Tenko cheered before opening the box and digging into it. The moment a single spoonful entered her mouth, Tenko fell in love. It was the best food she ever had. Was it just because Sayaka made it? It was definitely a factor, but it also helped that it was good overall on top of that.

"Well?" Sayaka asked.

Tenko swallowed a big chunk of the rice down with some water and smiled. "It's fantastic!" she said. "Thank you so much!"

"No problem," Sayaka said before sitting down to eat as well.

Everyone enjoyed their meals. As much as people like Gundham, Miu, Byakuya, or Leon would hate to admit it, Teruteru was a top tier cook. The meats had just the right amount of juice in each slice without being completely damp. Others like Ibuki, Hiyoko, Nekomaru, Taka, and Gonta completely forgot about their surroundings as they scarfed down their meals, not even caring about how messy they were being. Poor Mahiru had to keep wiping off crumbs off Hiyoko's lips. Chiaki, Chihiro, Mukuro, and Kirumi didn't eat that much. Just enough to count as a full meal rather than the full feast everyone else was having. And Peko…poor Peko.

Peko recalled the last time she had Teruteru's cooking. While the more important fact in that part of time was that Teruteru murdered Byakuya, she couldn't help but remember the more embarrassing side. Whatever was in the food, whether it was an odd spice or sauce, it caused her stomach to become so upset that she had to…relieve herself. She certainly didn't want experience that bathroom trouble again or the mockery she would receive from her classmates.

Unfortunately, Nekomaru took note of Peko's hesitation. He pointed and laughed. "Hahaha! Scared of getting the shits again, Peko?"

Peko's face turned pink as all eyes in the room turned towards her.

Leon groaned as food fell out of his mouth. "Dude, we're eating here!" he complained. "I don't want to hear anything about someone crapping, man!"

"You just joined in on that," Mahiru lectured. "Seriously, can you guys not be so disgusting when we're eating?!"

Tenko slammed her hands against the table before shouting at Leon and Nekomaru. Unfortunately, her mouth was full at the time so all she said was a bunch of mumbling.

Mondo pinched the bridge of his nose as his classmates began to bicker amongst themselves. "I can't stand this," he grumbled.

"Hey, don't be so hard on them," Rantaro said with a calm smile. "Sure, they're certainly chaotic, but it's not too different from having a lot of siblings. You know how that is, right?"

Mondo looked over at Rantaro. Siblings was a sore subject for the biker, but he maintained his composer. 'I can't do that again,' he thought to himself. 'Never again.'

"A bit, yeah," Mondo said as he scratched the back of his head. "I only had one brother, but…my gang was basically my family. Always hanging out, always having to get them out of deep shit. What about you?"

Rantaro chuckled a bit. "I'm the oldest of eight and the only guy. I can definitely relate to having to get them out of trouble."

"Shit man, sounds rough!"

"It can be, but like you said, they're family. So, we got to stay strong for them. And we got to stay for the rest of them too."

Mondo smiled a bit. "Yeah, yeah. Still not gonna enjoy. May have to go for a drink after we all get out of here. What do you say I get you a drink too?"

"I'm not normally one for alcohol, but after two killing games?" Rantaro shrugged. "I'll try a drink."

"Awesome, man," Mondo smirked.

Taka cleared his throat to interrupt the two. "I would just like to remind you of the legal drinking age in Japan," Taka explained.

Mondo rolled his eyes. "Come on, bro. Cut us some slack. We've gone through a lot of shi-"

Taka narrowed his glare at Mondo.

Mondo coughed a bit. "We've been through some stuff, ok?"

Taka sighed. "I understand that we've all been stressed, but it's not what lawful people should do!"

"Bro, remember who you're talking to."

Taka sighed again. Arguing was a waste of time by that point.

It took around fifteen minutes for everyone to finish their meals. The meal was such a sense of relief. Not having to think about killing games, death, imprisonment, even for a few minutes, it was the best. Just eating with people, it made everyone feel like they were normal students for the first time in a while.

Ibuki belched before patting her stomach. "Woo boy!" Ibuki shouted. "That really hit the spot! Thanks, Teruteru!"

"It was my absolute pleasure to service you all," Teruteru said. "I'm always happy to help out such lovely people."

"Yeah, don't push it, tiny," Miu spat out.

Teruteru smirked and muttered, "Oh, I'm far from tiny, Miu."

"So, we're done here then, right?" Ryoma asked. "I'm honestly ready to go to bed."

"I suppose we are done here for today," Byakuya said with a light nod. "Now don't forget that we will be discussing the events of our killing games tomorrow morning. It will be best for us to get it out of the way."

"I'd also like for us all to be respectful towards everyone as they explain themselves," Taka said. "These are…difficult subjects to delve into and it would go much smoother if we done interrupt or lash out at others."

"That may be difficult," Kiyo said. "Some of us aren't likely to have sympathetic motives."

"It doesn't matter, Kiyo," Kaito gave a stern look to the masked man. "Everyone's going to explain everything honestly. I'll make sure of that."

Kiyo sighed. "Very well."

"So, our rooms are just down the hallway?" Leon asked.

Chihiro pulled out her MonoPad and checked the map. "Yes, they are."

"Alright, I think it's time for a shower and hit the hay," Leon rose from his seat.

Just then, one of the lights on ceiling shifted aside and Monokuma fell out of the opening and landed smackdab on the middle of the table. Monokuma's entrance of course led to a mix of shouting and groans.

"Hold it!" Monokuma shouted to all of the students. "I have one more announcement to make before you head to your rooms!"

"God damn it, what the Hell is it now?" Mondo growled out.

"Now, don't act like that," Monokuma smirked. "After all, this is something you're all just going to love."

"What is it?" Sayaka asked.

"For those of you not at the Ultimate Academy, you will notice that there's an extra door in your room," Monokuma explained. "Said room leads to each student's Ultimate Lab!"

Miu let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God! That was the only room in that shit heap I liked!"

"What's the Ultimate Lab?" Chiaki asked.

"I'm so glad you asked, Chiaki!" Monokuma cheered. "These Ultimate Labs are room built specifically for you all to focus on developing your Ultimate Talents! For example, your lab is filled to the brim with video games and consoles!"

Chiaki's eyes lit up as a small smile formed on her face.

"Just think of this as my final welcome back gift for all of you. I can't wait to see you all enjoy them! Now, I'll leave you all be for the night. Ta ta!" Monokuma waved everyone goodbye before flipping off the table and sliding into an air vent near the floor.

Everyone was left in silence for a moment. It took moments like that for everyone to remember that their captor was a dumb looking stuffed animal. Their lives are a vile joke. However, some good news was there too.

"My lab better have a fucking bike in it," Mondo said.

"I don't see why it wouldn't," Ryoma said. "My lab still had plenty of tennis supplies despite my attempts to abandon it."

"Oh, oh!" Ibuki perked up. "Ibuki bets my lab's like my garage! Loooots of space to rock out! Oh, same with Sayaka's too!"

Sayaka gave a weak smile to the Rockstar. "Um, I don't think my style is that close to rock and roll."

"We can check though!" Tenko said to Sayaka.

"It seems the investigation never ends," Byakuya said. "I recommend you all investigate your labs once before heading to bed tonight. Who knows what we could find in them…"

"You are all dismissed!" Taka announced.

Almost everyone split off from the cafeteria and followed the maps to their respective rooms. Most of them were ready to go to sleep, but some were incredibly curious about their labs. Taka, Mondo, and Nekomaru formed together to check out each other's Ultimate Labs and the same went for Ibuki, Peko, and Kaede (although Peko didn't seem to have much of a choice in that decision). Meanwhile, Tenko followed Sayaka back to her room.

"So, are you going to check out your lab, Sayaka?" Tenko asked from behind.

Sayaka shook her head. "It's been a long day. I haven't had a chance to really sleep since…well…"

Tenko frowned out of sympathy to Sayaka. "Yeah, I understand that. I mean, people try to say death is like a long nap, but I never felt like I was asleep when I woke up here…If that makes sense."

Sayaka wasn't in the mood to answer that. "There is always tomorrow to check it."

"Oh, yeah. There is, isn't there?"

Sayaka double checked the map to take note of it. The layout of the dormitories was similar to how they were in Hope's Peak. The rooms were lined up across the walls of three long hallways that bent around a section in the middle. This time, the middle section was converted to hold more rooms for the students. After all, there were obviously more people living together. Sayaka was a bit relieved to see that her room was in a very similar spot to where it was last time. She took a single turn and stopped right in front of her room.

"Well, where we are," Tenko said.

"Yep," Sayaka responded. She took a glance to the rooms on the side. To the right of her room was Mukuro's room.

'This will make it easy to find her and ask her what's going on with he,' Sayaka thought to herself. 'She's still too fishy to me. And that picture…'

Sayaka's train of thought was cut off when she noticed the room to her left. Hanging from the door was an 8-Bit rendering of Tenko's head.

"Hey," Sayaka pointed at the door. "Looks like we're neighbors."

Tenko gasped. "REALLY?!" She dashed over to the door to confirm it. Yep. Their rooms were next to each other. Tenko spun around and held Sayaka's hands. "This is exciting! We can hang out like all the time now! I can dash over in case any degenerate males try to assault you!"

"T-tenko, please don't talk about stuff like that."

"But I mean it!" Tenko gave Sayaka a stern look. "If you need anything, I'll come over to help in an instant."

Sayaka found Tenko's offer both relieving and off-putting. Obviously, she'd like to have some alone time, yet needing protection, especially after what happened last time, was something she loved to have.

Sayaka nodded. "Alright," she said. "If I do need anything, I'll come to you. And same goes for you. If you need anything-"

Tenko smiled and held her hand up. "Don't you worry about me, Sayaka! My neo aikido will protect me from any degenerates."

"Um, but what if a girl comes to attack you?"

"Impossible! Girls aren't capable of the same level of violent rage as men!"

'I've met plenty of other idols that would disprove that,' Sayaka thought.

Tenko gave Sayaka a bright smile before letting go of her and heading towards her door. She looked back to her friend as she opened her door. "I'll sit with you tomorrow morning, right?"

Sayaka gave a bright smile back and nodded. "Of course!"

That was enough to warm Tenko's heart. She waved Sayaka goodbye before heading into her room and shutting the door behind her.

Sayaka turned to her dorm room and entered. She swiftly locked the door behind her and checked through her peep hole to see if anyone else was in the hallway. After a minute or so of seeing nothing, Sayaka sighed. She stepped away from the door and moved over to her bed to collapse atop it. It felt like everything came back to her at once. She betrayed a friend, tried to kill someone, died, came back, was put into another killing game, the world might be destroyed. It was too much. It was draining. She shut her eyes and forced herself to fall asleep.

So much talking! This was honestly a lot of fun to write. Doing dialogue that informs and develops characters as they move the plot forward was so satisfying to me. I at least hope I pulled it off well.

Speaking of things I may have trouble with, I've noticed I fucking hate trying to explain a building's layout. A room? Sure, I can do that, may make it too long, but a single room works fine. It also can be interesting and important for establishing a feeling for readers to attach to. A hallway that bends around or whatever? God, I fucking hate it. It feels boring and I always lack the proper words to describe it.

Outside of that, it was also nice to write more for characters like Mondo, Nekomaru, Chiaki, Peko, and Kaede. I do still struggle with Chiaki. Getting her way of speaking right is hard, but Peko's a lot easier. It may be because she has a lot more human elements to her like embarrassment and annoyance to work with when compared to the almost always composed/tired gamer. Mondo and Nekomaru are big angry guys with soft hearts and it's hard to fuck that up. And Kaede is the chipper yet normal one, so she's easy to write as well.

Also, Monokuma is guaranteed to have a silly entrance every time he shows up, so prepare for that.

Anyways, thank you all for reading. Keep on reviewing and spreading the word. It means so much to read all the nice things you guys have to say to me. It actually makes me feel like I have some writing potential.

P.S.

I have no idea how this site enforces rules for ratings when it comes to violence. Danganronpa has some rough deaths, I already know the first execution is intense. So, let me know if I have to pump this rating up at some point