Chapter 1: Part 17

"Waka Waka Waka!" Monokuma rang through the school's intercom. "It's 7 am, which means it's the start of another beautiful day! So, raise and shine and greet the day with full gusto and confidence!"

Despite the chipper tone of Monokuma's announcement, no one really wanted to greet the day. Most of them had already knew how the cycle went. As normal of a life they could manage in captivity, a motive is announced, then a day later someone is killed. Sayaka certainly wasn't excited for the day. Her usual morning routine was slower than usual. As she combed her hair, she spent a good five minutes attempting to slick her ahoge back down with the rest of her hair. She knew it wouldn't work. She even tried to use a hairclip, but somehow the clip snapped in half when her hair strand popped back up. She just didn't want to leave her room that day.

Still, she knew she had to face the facts. "Junko's going to die today," she muttered to herself. She tossed the broken hair clip into the trash bin and finished up the rest of her morning routine before exiting the room.

Sayaka couldn't but notice just how loud the echoes of her shoes clacking against the floor was.

'I guess everyone is as nervous as me,' Sayaka thought to herself. 'Still, I'd at least like to interact with someone.'

At that moment, her mind flashed back to Makoto. 'It may have been odd, but maybe he had a point about just standing around with someone doing nothing.' Sayaka felt goosebumps form on her arms. She rubbed her hands across her arms. 'I never realized how lonely I can get. I need to talk to Tenko.'

Sayaka turned to her right and knocked lightly on Tenko's door. "Tenko?"

The moment a sound escaped to her lips, Tenko swung the door open and dashed right in front of the idol. "Yes, Sayaka?!" Tenko asked.

Sayaka took a step back. "H-hey, Tenko. I was just wondering if you wanted to walk to the cafeteria together this morning."

"You don't even need to ask, Sayaka!" Tenko said with a smile. "I'll always walk with you! Anywhere! You want to go to a volcano then I'll go with you!"

"Uh, I doubt I'll ever go to a volcano."

"That's just an example! I'm just saying I'd follow you to the ends of the Earth."

"Why thank you," Sayaka smiled at Tenko. 'Loyal to the end, huh?'

Just then, Gonta exited his room from right across the hall and locked eyes with Sayaka. He smiled brightly and waved. "Hello."

"Good morning, Gonta," Sayaka said as she waved back to the friendly giant. "How are you today?"

"Gonta feel great," Gonta responded. "Gonta ready for good day."

"You're not worried about the motive?"

Gonta frowned a bit. "Gonta is worried, but Gonta trust friends."

'Oh, you're far too pure for the world, Gonta,' Sayaka thought.

"Well, we shouldn't worry anyway," Tenko said. "We got you, me, Peko, and Sakura to stop anyone from acting up."

"Plus Mondo and Nekomaru," Sayaka said.

Tenko's face scrunched up at the mention of those men. Sayaka frowned at her friend and placed her hands on her hips.

"Tenko…"

Tenko groaned and rolled her eyes. "Fine, I guess we can count on them too."

Sayaka smiled, "That's better."

As the three of them began to walk together to the cafeteria, Tenko's ears perked up to the sound of shoes scurrying across the hall. She turned around to see Mahiru running towards them. Tenko stopped in her tracks to face the photographer. Mahiru skidded herself to a stop before panting heavily.

"Mahiru, is something wrong?" Sayaka asked as she stopped as well.

Mahiru panted as she tried to suck some air into her lungs. "S-sorry to make you worry," she said as she regained her composure. "I just really need to ask Gonta and Tenko something."

"What is it?" Tenko asked. "Is a degenerate bothering you?"

"No," Mahiru said. "W-well, yes but-"

"I knew it!" Tenko interrupted. She balled up her fists. "Who was it? Was it Nagito? He has degenerate written all over him!"

"N-no, it's about Angie."

"Angie?" Gonta raised an eyebrow.

Tenko's hands loosened up and dropped her sides, but her anger and intensity didn't disappear. "What did she do?"

"So, you do know she's a creep then," Mahiru said.

"Angie is nice, but she can be scary," Gonta said simply.

"She tried to set up a student council at the Ultimate Academy," Tenko said.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Sayaka said.

"But she went totally crazy with power!" Tenko continued. "She became a total control freak and she even tried to turn Himiko against me!"

"So, she did this before?" Mahiru asked. She crossed her arms and growled, "Why didn't you guys tell us?"

Tenko understand the intensity in Mahiru's voice. She became very sheepish and pressed her index fingers together. "Uh, w-well, I've been so caught up in everything that I…I kinda forgot to mention it."

"You forgot to mention it?!" Mahiru shouted. She grabbed Tenko by the collar and shook her violently. "Angie's been manipulating my friend and you couldn't have warned me because you forgot it?!"

"Wait, hold on!" Sayaka pulled Tenko out of Mahiru's grasp. "What are you talking about? What is Angie doing?"

Before Mahiru could even respond, Taka rounded the corner of the hall and faced everyone. "Attention!" Taka shouted. "You must report to the morning meeting immediately!"

And with that, Taka turned around and stormed off towards the cafeteria. Sayaka looked back at Mahiru who just groaned and broke away from the group and followed Taka to the cafeteria. Sayaka turned to Tenko and Gonta. She shrugged and led the two of them to the cafeteria.

Sayaka, Tenko, and Gonta entered the cafeteria and noticed how Taka, Junko, Byakuya, Mahiru, and Kaito were the only ones in the room. Junko was still in her handcuffs, but she was nonchalant about it. She had her feet kicked up onto the table as she watched Sayaka and company enter the room. They all sat themselves down and waited, although, that's when Byakuya noticed something odd.

"Tenko," Byakuya spoke up. "Where's Mukuro?"

Everyone turned to Tenko and remembered that, yes, Tenko was the last person to watch over Mukuro.

"Oh, right," Tenko spoke up. "Well, she said she wanted to go to sleep which I was ok with, but then she got really mad when I laid down next to her to sleep too."

"You got into bed with her?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, we're girls," Tenko said. "It's not a big deal."

"You're lucky she didn't get violent about it," Byakuya said.

"Oh, she wouldn't hurt a fly," Tenko dismissed everyone's concerns. "She was super quiet and polite the whole time. She just didn't want to share her bed. So, I left."

"You left her alone?!" Taka shrieked.

As opposed to everyone else's horror, Junko was laughing her ass off as Tenko explained the story. "Woo boy," Junko said. "My poor, useless little sis can't catch a break, can she? Oh please tell me you copped a feel on her."

"W-what?!" Tenko blushed. "Of course not! I mean, I'm sure Mukuro has a nice body, but I would never touch a girl without permission!"

"You sure got into her bed without permission," Junko laughed.

"Enough of this!" Taka interrupted. "Tenko, how could you leave Mukuro alone?! She's a threat to everyone here!"

"No she's not," Tenko said. "If she tries anything, I'll be able to stop her with my Aikido."

"That won't be necessary."

Everyone turned to the entrance of cafeteria and there was Mukuro, still handcuffed. Taka immediately dashed over to the soldier to check the stability of her handcuffs. When they seemed solid enough, he dragged her over to a seat and forcibly sat her down.

"She's still restrained," Taka announced.

"Good," Byakuya said. "I'll find a more suitable replacement for Tenko to guard you."

"Fair enough," Mukuro said.

Mukuro would glance over to Junko. Junko smiled brightly at her sister and waved at her. Mukuro breathed through her nose like she was a bull ready to ram its horns into something. Junko forced out a frown and dragging her fingers down her facing, mimicking a crying expression clearly to mock her. However, everyone else returned to waiting on the rest of their friends.

All of that waiting only resorted in five more people arriving at a reasonable time. Mondo entered alone, same did Chihiro and Rantaro, but they followed by Kaede and Mikan. Kaede had to drag Mikan in by her handcuffs. It was frustrating just to watch as Mikan would stiffen herself up and plant her feet onto the ground as Kaede nearly fell over just trying to pull her into the room. When Kaede finally managed to drag Mikan far enough for the nurse's feet to enter the room. Mikan locked eyes with the love of her life. Mikan immediately broke away from Kaede's grasp and leapt onto Junko's lap.

"B-beloved!" Mikan said as she maneuvered her arms over and around Junko's neck.

Junko smiled and pecked Mikan on the lips. "Hey there, sweetheart. Did you miss me?"

"Every moment I'm away from you, I can feel the urge to kill something."

"That's what I love to hear."

Mondo sighed and lifted Mikan off of the model. "That's enough of that," he said before carrying her to another seat far away from Junko.

Mikan shook violently and ever lunged her hands at his face, attempting to scratch Mondo's eyes out. "Let me go!" she shrieked. "I'll kill you if you don't let me go!"

"Maybe Leon was right to tie her up yesterday," Sayaka said. 'God, did I actually admit that?'

It was only after Mondo had strapped Mikan down to the chair that more of the group entered the room. Teruteru was a bit more nervous than usual. He would glance over at Junko before entering the kitchen to cook. Peko also had her eyes on Junko. She had actually shifted the position of her sword from her back to her hip and she had her hand gripped tightly onto the sword's handle. Hiyoko would leer at Junko from behind Angie before sitting down at the table with her friend. Nagito couldn't sit at the same table as the Ultimate Despair and sat in the corner of the room. Leon had dug his nails into the table as he glared at Junko and even Gundham's dark disciples hissed at her. Hifumi and Tsumugi entered the room with backpacks full of costumes discussing more cosplay ideas before the rest of the group entered. All of them would mean-mug Junko as they sat down.

With all eyes on her, Junko held her hands up. "Ok, who wants to kill me first?" she asked.

"We aren't going to do that," Kaede said. "We learned our lessons."

"wE lEaRnEd OuR lEsSonS!" Junko mimicked. "Please, if you guys actually learned your lessons, there'd be a lot less of you guys here."

"We know you want us to kill you," Gundham said. "And as tempting as it is to slay a demon such as you, I will not give you the pleasure of tainting my soul any further."

"Said Mr. Overlord of Ice," Junko rolled her eyes. "Again, you guys suck ass. You're all liars, killers, and hypocrites. Honestly, the fact you guys are acting like you have any morality now when face to face with the person who ruined your lives, it's honestly insulting. I mean, imagine if some video game tried to pull a stunt like that."

"You do have a point," Celeste said. Everyone turned to the goth gambler with horrified expressions on their faces, but Celeste chuckled. "Oh, please. I'm hardly in the position to lie about what I'm capable of. I'd love nothing more than to strangle you where you stand."

"Finally," Junko said. "You know, Celeste, if you weren't so close to the rest of your class, I would've happily made you an Ultimate Despair."

Celestia smiled back at Junko. "Why thank you. That's why I must decline. I have no interest in your idiotic crusade and in fact, you took away my dream."

"Aww," Junko pouted.

"Let's move on from this conversation," Byakuya said. "If we continue to give her attention, she'll make things worse."

"Ok, what do we even talk about though?" Leon asked. "We're kind of stuck at a dead end."

"Chihiro," Sakura said to the small girl, "have you made any progress with Keebo?"

Chihiro frowned and shook her head. "No. He's got too many holes in his programming. I think he may have lost some important parts when he was destroyed…I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Kaede said. "You just need more time, right?"

"She's had plenty of time," Miu snapped. "Seriously, I got done with my part days ago. If she was such a great programmer, why can't she get her thumb out of her ass and just do it?"

"Hey, knock it off!" Mondo growled. "The fuck do you know about programming a robot."

"Not, much, but I know a bit about not wasting time!" Miu flipped him off.

"Why don't we just settle down," Kiyo said as he rose from his chair. "While I understand the frustrations we have, we shouldn't turn on each other. I'm sure Fujisaki is doing her best."

Kaito's eyes lit up. "You know it's messed up when Kiyo makes sense. But he's right. Fighting against each other is what Junko and this other mastermind want. So, we just need to focus on solving another issue."

"What other issue?" Nekomaru asked.

"We still haven't figured out who was the mastermind of the Ultimate Academy game was," Kaito said.

"Oh yeah," Kaede said. "We never got a chance to discuss that."

"Oooooh, do you think Keebo would know who it was?" Ibuki chimed in.

"That would be the most likely theory," Ryoma added,

"Considering how damaged his memory seems to be," Kirumi spoke up, "there's a chance he may have lost that information."

"Then we'd simply need to wait and see for sure," Celeste said to Kirumi. "Oh, Kirumi. Would you be a dear and get me some milk tea?"

Kirumi nodded her head and headed into the kitchen. Everyone glanced at Celeste for a moment. She really had begun to act like a spoiled rich kid, ordering people around to do everything for her.

'At least she isn't trying to kill me again,' Hifumi thought to himself.

Hiyoko rolled her eyes. Celeste was really just another idiot to her. When she looked away from the goth, she noticed something off about the group. She checked and double-checked. Yep, it was still off.

"Hey," Hiyoko spoke up, "where's that annoying purple-haired guy?"

"Who, Kokichi?" Kaito asked. He looked around the table a few times. "Oh, he's not here….OH CRAP! HE'S NOT HERE!"

Taka rose up to his feet. "Don't worry, everyone!" he spoke loudly. "I shall drag him back here and give him a piece our mind!"

Mondo pumped his fist in the air and cheer. "Hell yeah, bro! Kick his ass!"

"There will be no ass kicking," Taka said, almost gagging when he swore. "However, I will make sure he gets the lecture of a lifetime!"

Mondo was a bit less enthusiastic about Taka's plan, but all the same, he pumped his fist into the air and cheered for his bro. Taka smiled proudly before stepping out of the room and stomping into the hall.

"While that's being taken care of, we should return to the topic at hand," Byakuya said.

"You mean about the other mastermind?" Sayaka asked.

Byakuya nodded. "There is one possibility we haven't covered."

"You mean like another twin sister thing?" Kaede asked. "I mean, I have a sister, but she didn't come to the school with me."

"Well, how are we supposed to believe that?" Leon asked. "After that whole Junko thing, I don't know what to believe."

"Aww, thanks, Leon," Junko smiled. "My little sister did try her best. Glad to hear you fell for it."

Mukuro just groaned and looked away from the group.

"We can believe Kaede just by checking her group," Byakuya continued before anyone else could derail the topic. "No one else matches her looks. Besides, we're overlooking someone."

Byakuya turned his gaze over to Tsumugi. "Tsumugi, you were the last person to die in your killing game outside of Keebo. This would make you the most likely person to be the mastermind of the Ultimate Academy."

Tsumugi's eyes went wide and she backed up in her seat. "W-wait a second, I'm a suspect now?" she gasped in horror.

Hifumi shot up from his seat and faced Byakuya. "I apologize, Mr. Togami, but…there's just no way Miss Shirogane can be the mastermind. She has been nothing but nice this whole time! There's also no evidence she is the mastermind!"

Byakuya held his hand up and the defensive Hifumi went silent. "I understand your concerns, but you can't deny this is the most likely theory."

"And if you're wrong?" Kiyo asked. "Will you just keep her under the same level of security as Junko, Mukuro, and Mikan?"

"It's the only way to be sure," Byakuya said.

"So, we're just going to be paranoid of anyone we suspect of," Rantaro said. "It you plan on putting high levels of surveillance, people are bound to fight back."

"I for one find this an excellent idea," Angie said with a bright smile.

"I understand the concerns," Byakuya said, "but answer me this. Do any of you have any suspicion of Tsumugi?"

With that, everyone went silent. Whether they wanted to believe it or not, Tsumugi was suspicious. She was the last human to die in her killing game and no one was able to confirm her story. Tsumugi's eyes darted around the room, hoping someone, anyone would take her side. Outside of Hifumi, no one looked like they would jump to her defense.

"Th-this is crazy," Tsumugi said. "I mean, I'm the last person that could be the mastermind!"

"That would make you the perfect mastermind though, wouldn't it?" Celeste said with a slight smirk. "The plain girl who absolutely no one would give a second glance towards. Perfect for you to make your move when no one was looking."

Tsumugi began to sweat. She gritted her teeth as she went pale. "This is insane…Th-this can't be real…"

"I'm sorry, Tsumugi," Kaito said with genuine remorse in his voice. "But, we got to watch you. At least for a few days until we can be sure you aren't a threat."

Byakuya looked over at Kaito. "I didn't agree to that."

"Well, I feel like it's the best way to compromise with everyone," Kaito said. "For our sake and Tsumugi's."

Junko leaned forward in her chair. "I don't think there will be any need for that."

Before anyone could even ask what Junko meant, she managed to slip her hands out of her handcuffs and leapt over the table to Tsumugi. She grabbed onto Tsumugi neck before pulling a knife out from her skirt hip. Tsumugi looked up at Junko in horror while Junko just had a twisted smile across her face.

"Time to die, you rip off hack!" Junko screeched and raised her knife into the air.

"Yes!" Mikan cheered. "Kill her, beloved!"

Everyone was so caught off guard by Junko's sudden leap that they had all pretty much frozen in fear. They knew what Junko was capable of and attempting to get in her way could result in something far worse. Yet, when she pulled out her knife, they finally began to move forward to stop her. Yet, no of them would. What did stop Junko was a clanking sound right next to her. She turned to see a small, metal can rolling across the table towards her.

"What the hell?" Junko muttered.

Rantaro noticed the can and immediately knew what it was. "Everyone get down!" he shouted before tackling Ibuki to the ground.

A few of the others ducked to the floor, but the rest weren't fast enough to react. That's when the can's purpose was reveal. It exploded into a bright flash of light that enveloped the whole room. Sayaka fell to the ground and held her hands over her eyes to try and prevent being blinded, but nothing could stop it. And nothing could stop the sudden ringing in her ears. Even when Sayaka moved her hands to her ears, the ringing couldn't stop until it went away on its own.

It would take around a minute for Sayaka's sight and hearing to slowly fade back in. She noticed that she was on the floor. She got back up to her feet and looked around the room to see how much of a mess it had become. The flash-bang canister had broken off into pieces and some pellets had shot across the room, which knocked over several plates and glasses. Everyone else was in varying levels of pain. Some like Mukuro, Rantaro, Kaito, Peko, Sakura, and Ryoma managed to avoid getting hurt but others like Mondo, Leon, Tenko, Ibuki, Nekomaru, Kiyo, and Byakuya all took pretty nasty falls to avoid the pellets but were getting up anyway. Then there were the unlucky ones. Hifumi, Mikan, Gundham, Mahiru, Chiaki, Angie, Gonta, Celeste, Hiyoko, Miu, and Chihiro were hit by the pellets and were still groaning on the floor. Sayaka ran over to Tenko's side and helped her to her feet while Teruteru and Kirumi dashed out of the kitchen to help the others.

"Are you ok, Tenko?" Sayaka asked.

Tenko rubbed the back of her head as she grimaced in pain. "Y-yeah," she said with a pained grunt. "I just dropped to the floor the wrong way. I should have held my head up and stopped myself with my hands and back."

Byakuya coughed a bit as he rose up to his feet. "Is everyone ok?" he asked.

"I think so," Leon groaned. "Jesus, what was that?"

"It was flash grenade," Rantaro said as he helped Ibuki up to her feet. "They tend to have pellets in them that cause pain when they hit you."

Miu groaned as she sat herself up. "No wonder my tits hurt! They fucking rammed right into them!"

Mahiru rolled her eyes before looking over to Hiyoko. Angie had already moved to the small girl's side, but something was wrong. Angie would shake her again and again, but Hiyoko would not wake up. Mahiru crawled over to her friend's side.

"What happened?" Mahiru asked.

Angie shook her head. "I am not sure. I heard her coughing for a moment but then she went silent."

Mahiru joined in on shaking Hiyoko's body, but the girl wouldn't wake up. Mahiru even attempted to perform CPR on her, but outside of the fact she was still breathing, her breath was horse and too raspy to sound normal. Mahiru was beginning to panic when she noticed that Mikan had woken up and got up to her feet. Mahiru immediately grabbed Mikan by the arm and dragged her over to Hiyoko's side.

"I don't care what's wrong with you, help her now!" Mahiru ordered the nurse.

Mikan's eyes darted around the room as her hands shook. "Wh-wh-what?" she asked.

"I said help her!"
"Wh-why? What's going on?" Mikan asked as tears formed in her eyes. "Why am I here?"

Everyone turned to Mikan. She seemingly had reverted to her, timid, normal self. While everyone was busy trying to figure out how the sudden change occurred, Sayaka looked away from everyone else to look at the table again.

"Wait, where are Junko and Tsumugi?" Sayaka asked.

Everyone looked back towards the table where the two confronted each other and, indeed, they were missing. In fact, Nagito was missing as well.

"Well, you think that flash grenade burned them up or something?" Leon asked.

"No," Mukuro said. "Flash grenades don't do damage like that, and if they did their remains would still be here."

Mondo's eyes went wide as he shot up to his feet. "Bro!" he shouted before dashing out of the room.

"Mondo, hold on!" Kaede said before rushing after him.

Sayaka groaned. "I'm going after them."

"I'll go with you!" Tenko shouted as she chased her friend out of the cafeteria.

Kaito looked towards Byakuya. "Want me to go too?" he asked.

"Yes, make sure nothing happens to them," Byakuya said. "Rantaro, Mahiru, and myself will tend to everyone else."

"You got it!" Kaito saluted before dashing out of the cafeteria.

Byakuya sighed as he turned back to the rest of the group. "This is a fine mess."

This took longer than I hoped it would. I also wished it went farther, but it was getting long enough. Work and life have been getting in the way of my writing time. Oh well, at least I got this out when I did. Hopefully I get the next chapter done next week

I'm still trying to balance keeping Sayaka center stage while giving everyone time to shine. These up coming chapters may end up doing that. BTW, how is my vocabulary in this? Is it too limited and repetitive? Or is everything fine. I'm trying to make this interesting to read.

Also, thank you all for reading. I got around 30,000 collective views on this story. Seeing that go up and reviews come in really make this story worth it for me and I'll continue to try and intrigue you with this tale.

Place your bets on what happens next.