Chapter 1: Part 14

Mahiru had waited outside of Kaito's room ever since the morning meeting had ended. She needed to speak to someone from the Ultimate Academy about Angie, but most of her options weren't the best. Miu and Kokichi were antagonistic, Ryoma is difficult to approach, Korekiyo is a creepy murderer, Gonta maybe gentle but Mahiru didn't want to risk insulting bugs around him, and Kaede and Rantaro were busy at the moment. So, Kaito it was. While he definitely had the attitude of a leader, Mahiru could tell he was fairly lazy.

And it showed. She had been waiting outside his door for about five minutes and she was growing frustrated. She even saw him step inside his room before knocking on the door.

'If he's doing anything other than being asleep, I'll be mad,' Mahiru though to herself. 'Oh, who am I fooling? I'd still be upset if he was asleep.'

Mahiru groaned before knocking on the door. "Kaito!" she shouted. "Wake up, you lazy bum! I need to talk to you!"

"Jeez, you sure are loud, aren't you?" a slimy voice called out from behind her.

Mahiru turned around to see Kokichi smirking at her.

"You could certainly get everyone's attention if you keep up that shouting," Kokichi said.

Mahiru groaned. She never had a solo confrontation with Kokichi, and that wasn't something she wanted to change. Yet, there he was.

"What do you want with Kaito?" Mahiru asked.

"Want with him? After he screwed up my final victory, I don't want anything to do with him…Well, outside of occasionally annoying him of course."

"Then why are you here?"

"Well, to talk to you obviously," Kokichi said before stepping closer. "It really is a shame, isn't it?"

Mahiru raised an eyebrow at the small boy. "What is?"

"Angie," Kokichi said. He let out an obviously fake sigh and put on an exaggerated frown. "Such a friendly looking person, but all she seems to do is break apart friendships."

Mahiru's eyes widen. She honestly didn't want to ask Kokichi for help. The thought actually made her want to hurl, but he knew something. He had info that could help her get Hiyoko back, and she needed it.

"What did Angie do in your game?"

"Outside of die you mean?"

"Just tell me."

Kokichi frowned and held up his hands defensively. "No need to be so hasty, Mahiru. A little small talk never hurt anyone. I mean, at least get to know me before you decide to hate me."

Mahiru rolled her eyes. 'Do I really have to humor this idiot?'

"So, what did Angie do?"

Kokichi shrugged. "What do you expect a religious weirdo to do? She formed a cult."

"So, she does try to brainwash people."

"Yep," Kokichi smacked his lips. "She got the key factor of being a good cult leader down…Being charismatic, I mean. She's all smiles, hugs, and art, but the moment she zeros in on what you want, she'll convince you to join her."

"Ok, but what did she do? How did she get everyone to side with her?"

"Well, we were already in a killing game, but by the time she started to form her plan, we already passed the second trial. With four people dead, paranoia forms. And we paranoia forms, things go chaotic. So, Angie made a "student council" in the guise of preserving order."

"But she was really just pushing her own agenda, right?"

"Oop!"

Mahiru raised an eyebrow. "Oops?"

"Yeah, oops," Kokichi repeated. "I just remembered I had something important to do." Kokichi smirked before turning around

"Wha- Hey!" Mahiru said with an aggravated tone. "Don't just walk off in the middle of a…"

But it was too late. Kokichi had already left her alone. Mahiru sighed and returned to her thoughts. 'I imagine Kaito must already know about Angie's cult. He was there for it…I don't know if he was a part of it…Crap, we really haven't planned for anything.'

Mahiru kicked the wall but she only ended up hurting her toes. Her attempt to quell her anger only made her madder and a bit sore. She dropped down to her knee and grabbed a hold of her foot. She cringed as she held onto her foot, somehow thinking that could ease the pain. But then, something caught her eye. She caught sight of Junko walking across the hall. She was ready to brush it off. Afterall, someone walking down a hall is probably the most common thing someone could do. What kept her attention was what Junko was doing. She'd walk up to every dorm room and slice a piece of paper under the door. Then she'd go and do the same for the next one. And then the next one. She even slid one under Mahiru's door.

Mahiru got up to her feet and hid behind a wall to the next group of dorm rooms. She peaked her head out to spy on Junko. The fashion model didn't seem to notice the redhead.

'What is she doing?' Mahiru thought. 'Well, whatever it is, it's suspicious.'

Mahiru lifted up her camera and took a quick picture of Junko.

"Bro! Open up!" Mondo pounded on Taka's door.

Leon joined in and knocked on the door as loud as he could. "Open up, man! We got a problem!"

Chihiro couldn't help but cover her ears. Loud noises always made her feel uneasy and them being angry didn't help her calm down. But luckily, the banging came to an end when Taka opened the door.

"Bro? Kuwata?" Taka spoke up. "I demand to know why the two of you are assaulting my door in such an aggressive manner."

"Bro, we got a major problem going on," Mondo said with a bit of panic in his voice.

Taka's face went pale. "N-no…Don't tell me…"

"No, no body is dead," Mondo reassured him.

"Someone is trying to start stuff though," Leon added on.

Taka turned to the baseball player. "What do you mean?"

Chihiro stepped forward with both of the forged letters. "Someone has been sending these out. I-it's like they're trying to start fights between everyone."

Chihiro handed the letters over to Taka. As Taka read through the letters, Chihiro pointed to the writing.

"They even have the same handwriting," Chihiro pointed out.

"Goodness!" Taka gasped. "This is horrible! We must inform the others immediately! Bro, Fujisaki, Kuwata, get everyone to meet in the cafeteria. I will gather Byakuya and Kaito."

"Right!" the three said before heading off.

It took around ten minutes for Chihiro, Leon, and Mondo to get everyone's attention, but eventually the students made their way to the cafeteria. Some of the students were confused by why they were called. Sayaka and Tenko had been talking to each other all day and had not received any letters. Mahiru hadn't bothered to read her letter. Mikan didn't a letter from Junko. And Junko didn't even bother to write one for herself. Everyone else though, they were pissed. Mukuro walked into the room and glared right into Junko's eyes. Junko would just shrug and smirk at her sister while Mukuro…couldn't do anything. She couldn't blow her cover and she couldn't expose her sister.

Hiyoko stormed into the room with Angie close behind her. She nearly leapt at Mikan but Angie kept a hold of her.

"A titless bitch?!" Hiyoko hissed. "Is that what you call me, Pigbarf?!"

Mikan let out a shriek as she coward away from the small girl. "P-please don't hurt me!"

Mahiru stepped forward. "Hiyoko, calm down!"

"Oh, please don't dismiss her anger," Angie said. "The letter Mikan wrote was far too cruel to simply let go."

Mikan whimpered a bit. "B-but I didn't-"

"Shut up, bitch!" Hiyoko shouted.

Korekiyo slid into the room and locked eyes with Tenko. He approached her with a crumpled-up piece of paper in his fist. "I can't say I'm surprised you'd still be upset with me, but next time you write a threatening letter, at least learn how to spell 'degenerate' correctly."

Tenko instinctively held up her fists as she glared at the slender man. "I don't know what you're talking about, but if you want to start a fight, I'll break your arm!"

When Nekomaru and Gundham entered the room, they bumped their heads together and growled at each other.

"A threatening letter?" Nekomaru said. "I thought you'd have more of a spine to speak to me like a man, Tanaka!"

"I have no patience for your idiotic prattle, beast!" Gundham shouted back. "You may insult my tactics all you want, but you threaten my Dark Devas or my Dark Disciples I shall lay righteous vengeance upon you!"

Miu charged right up to Gonta and slapped him right in the chest. "No regrets, huh? Well, why not tell me to my face next time?"

"Gonta said no such thing!" Gonta protested. "But you say bad things about Gonta! Gonta no like bullies!"

Celeste approached Hifumi and tossed a crumpled-up paper at him. The fat boy jolted at the ball hitting him and froze in fear at the goth gambler. "Anything you want to say to me, pig?"

Hifumi actually let out an oink as he attempted to run away. "M-Miss Ludenberg, w-wait a second!"

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, FATTY!" Celeste shouted as she chased after him, aiming her ringed finger at his neck.

Kirumi on the other hand, approached Ryoma calmly and politely handed the page over to the tennis player. "You didn't write this, did you?" the maid asked.

Ryoma shook his head before holding up a letter of his own. "I guess you didn't right this either."

Kirumi shook her head as well. "I did not."

Tsumugi entered the room and looked at everyone's hands. "Wait, you guys all got letters too?"

"I haven't," Sakura stated. "However, this situation is too suspicious to ignore."

It was just one after the other. Another angry voice would join in on the cacophony of rage as everyone approached physical violence with one another. The more reasonable people like Sayaka, Chiaki, Rantaro, and Mahiru attempted to break up these fights before they could happen, but no one was willing to listen. Everyone just got angrier.

Eventually, the head trio entered the room. Byakuya narrowed his brow. He could feel the blood flow to his head. Kaito was also annoyed and he whistled loud enough to catch everyone's attention. Everyone stopped their squabbling and turned in attention to their group leaders.

Byakuya crossed his arms. "Anyone want to explain to me what exactly is going on?" he said while on the verge of shouting.

Everyone immediately began to point towards each other in an accusing manner and rambled on about…something. Everyone's voices melded together into an incomprehensible noise. Kaito rolled his eyes and whistled again. Everyone went silent again.

Byakuya let out a sigh and adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps I should rephrase that. Taka, do you mind telling everyone what is happening?"

"Of course!" Taka nodded before stepping forward to speak to everyone. "I can tell you have all received letters from each other of a threatening and vengeful manner."

Most of the students nodded at Taka.

"Well, I must inform you that these letters are forgeries," Taka continued. "If you all compare the writing, you will notice the handwriting is the same."

Everyone turned back towards each other and exchanged the notes. Just as Taka had stated, they all had the same writing.

"So, it's more likely that one person wrote these letters to cause this sort of reaction," Byakuya said.

"But who would write these?" Peko asked.

"It was probably Kokichi," Miu suggested. "That asswipe's always trying to start shit…hehehe. Asswipe. Shit. God, I'm a genius."

Kokichi held his hands up. "Wow, wow, wow. I know you all have some reason to believe I'd do something like this, but I didn't do it. So, you can shove your accusations, cumslut."

"C-cumslut?!" Miu gasped.

"Wait," Leon interrupted. "How are we supposed to believe this guy? Everything we've heard about him makes it seem like he'd do it."

"Waitwaitwait, there's Nagito too," Ibuki pointed at the white-haired boy. "He loved to do stuff like this too."

Nagito chuckled lightly. "I'm sorry, but I didn't do it either."

Kaede looked over at Celeste. "Well, what do you think?" she asked.

Celeste hummed for a moment. "They are telling the truth."

"Well, if they didn't do it, who could have done it?" Chihiro asked.

That's when Mahiru stepped up with her camera. "I might have an idea. I was standing in the hallway when I caught sight of…well," Mahiru walked over to Byakuya and showed the picture on display on her camera, "Well, look."

Byakuya took a hold Mahiru's camera and saw a series of pictures showing Junko walking from door to door slipping letters under them. Byakuya narrowed his brows again and looked over at the fashion model.

"Junko Enoshima," Byakuya spoke. "Do you care to explain yourself?"

Everyone turned to look at Junko with varying levels of confusion.

"Wait, Junko did it?" Sayaka asked.

"Seriously?" Leon asked.

Chiaki and Mukuro on the other hand weren't confused. They knew what she was capable of. Chiaki wanted to hit herself for allowing Junko the freedom to pull a stunt like this. Yet, she was too caught up in the new location they were in. Mukuro frowned. Even if she found out what

All those accusing eyes, the building anger, the fact she had been caught, it all filled Junko with despair. She was ready to just laugh at it all, but she had more important things to do. Like actually answering the accusations. Junko smiled and shrugged. "Oops."

"Oops?" Mondo raised an eyebrow. "You…you tricked us into going at each other's throats, made us think we were still enemies, and all you have to say is oops?"

"Well, I mean, take a look at you all," Junko leapt up from her chair and faced everyone. "You guys spent DAYS talking about redemption and forgiveness and all that stuff, but all it took for that little façade to crumble were poorly written letters from yours truly. You guys are just lying to yourselves. You haven't changed at all. You guys are still just a bunch of assholes, and if I could get under your skins so easily, then you won't be able to handle whatever motive Monokuma has in store for you."

Everyone hated to admit it, but Junko was right. They didn't even think of the possibility the letters could be forgeries. They instead let old wounds cloud their thoughts. Even those that didn't read their letters felt guilty. Sayaka hadn't even considered the idea of forgiving Leon. She still didn't, yet that would make her easier to manipulate. Mahiru had been preaching the importance of forgiving each other to Hiyoko, but she had yet to actually confront Peko. She'd been too caught up with the Angie situation.

All of them really were a mess.

"So," Junko cut through their contemplating, "in a way you guys should probably be thanking me."

Chiaki had enough. "No," she said sternly. "You may be right about how we've been handling this situation, but if you really wanted us to be prepared for Monokuma, you would have told us about your concerns."

"Hey, I do care, you know?" Junko said. "Sure, I've got some screws loose, but I do care."

"I'll say you're at least very interesting, Junko," Kokichi said.

"That's enough," Byakuya said. "Obviously we all have something we need to learn from this mess. I recommend we put an end to all of this."

"How about tomorrow at the breakfast meeting?" Kaito suggested. "We can't just dive headfirst into the trauma train, right?"

"A fair point," Byakuya responded. "Tomorrow morning, we leave everything on the table. We all need to confront our killers and reveal all of our thoughts." Byakuya looked over to Mukuro and Kirumi. "That includes whatever secrets you might be keeping."

Kirumi sighed and nodded. "Very well. I suppose I've put it off for long enough."

Mukuro simply crossed her arms and nodded.

"But what about Miss Enoshima?" Hifumi asked. "W-we can't let her do something like that again, right?"

"Indeed!" Taka responded. "That's why I personally will watch over her every second from this moment on!"

"Hmmm?" Junko tilted her head. "Don't I get a right to privacy? What, are you going to watch me shower too?"

"I knew it!" Tenko pointed at Taka. "That well-manner stuff was just an act! You're a degenerate pervert just like all other males!"

"Wh-what?!" Taka gasped. "How could you accuse me of such a thing?!"

"Tenko, he needs to keep an eye on her so she doesn't try anything suspicious," Sayaka pointed out.

Mondo stepped over to Tenko. "Yeah, so lay off him!"

"Well, why can't we have a girl do it instead?" Tenko said. "Junko has the right to not be ogled at by degenerates."

Mikan slowly raised her hand. "E-excuse me," she said softly. "M-maybe I-I could keep an eye on h-her."

Taka nodded. "Very well. Tsumiki, I assign you to look after Enoshima!"

Mondo looked back at Tenko. "That work for you?"

Tenko nodded. "It works perfectly."

"Very well," Byakuya said. "You're all dismissed."

Everyone split off as they exited the cafeteria. Mikan moved over to Junko who gave the girl a playful wink and walked with her back to her room. Mukuro knew Junko being with Mikan was hardly a good thing. She needed to make up for her past. She decided to keep an eye on Junko from then on. Mahiru noticed that Hiyoko immediately went back over to Angie after the meeting. She frowned as she headed back to her room alone. She'd have to tell everyone tomorrow. Mondo was ready to head back to his room, but he felt someone tug on his coat. He turned around to see Chihiro.

"Hey, Mondo?" Chihiro spoke up.

Mondo listened closely to the programmer.

"I forgive you," Chihiro said.

Mondo held onto those words in his heart. He didn't want to burst into tears again, he already hurt his tough guy imagine enough. Still, Mondo smiled at Chihiro. "Thank you," he said softly.

The two smiled at each other before heading their separate ways.

Not as long of a part this time. It was kind of a nightmare to balance all these characters. I really wanted to give some other guys a chance to shine for a bit, so Mahiru, Leon, and Kokichi got a lot of speaking parts here this time. Still need to get more of Gundham, Kiyo, Chiaki, Sakura and the others.

Oi, killing characters really will have to solve that problem lol

I really am proud of how these last two chapters handled the Mondo and Chihiro relationship. They are sure to still have a lot of problems to fix, but they at least can move past their...past now. I like to imagine Chihiro being the first of all these characters to really forgive and learn from their mistakes. Everyone else has so many flaws.

Junko's plan failed this time.

I do keep getting comments with questions about what's going on, and as tempting as it is, I can't spoil anything. That's the idea of a mystery, dudes. So, why are the DR2 cast here? Find out later.

As always, thank you for your patience. I always light up when I see new reviews and follows and favorites. I worry a lot about my writing style. I'm definitely developing it more here than in my college writing classes. I do want to break out into original stuff some day, so I need to know if I'm doing well or not. Those Alan Moore writing tips really got me thinking about if I'm making the characters 3 dimensional enough or not.

Keep on reading and I hope to see you all soon.