Chapter 3 Part 8

"GOOD MORNING WORLD AND ALL WHO INHABIT IT!" Monokuma said into the school's intercom. "It's 7 am! Meaning all water and food are back and ready to…uh…just get up already."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

"Sayaka," Tenko said before knocking on her friend's door once again. "I…I was just wanting to eat breakfast with you today…I feel like it would be good for you after yesterday…"

There was no response from the other side of the door. Tenko hoped another set of knocks would attract the pop idol's attention. Still no response. Tenko sighed and crossed her arms.

'She's…she's just getting some extra rest, right?' Tenko thought to herself. 'That talk just…took a lot out of her. Maybe I can make something for her later.'

Tenko would eventually turn her back on her friend's door and make her way towards the cafeteria. As she was approaching the cafeteria door, the Aikido master noticed a distinct lack of sound emanating from the room. This was unusual. This group was hardly known for their indoor voices. Tenko peaked her head inside to see that only Peko was inside, eating a bowl of cereal by her lonesome.

"Oh, hey there," Tenko said before approaching the sword master. "How are you this morning, Peko?"

Peko could only glance at Tenko from the side as she continued to eat her breakfast. "Oh…hello, Tenko."

"You feeling ok?" Tenko scanned the area around her. "And, do you know where everyone else is?"

"No," Peko answered rather abruptly.

"Oh…Ok," Tenko nervously pressed her fingers together. "Oh, hey! We never really got to train together since I tried to set up that girls' self-defense group. We should totally try to train together again. You're already in fantastic shape, I'd just love to see how you can grapple."

Peko paused, dropping her spoon and wiping her lips with a napkin. "If I have time, I'll train with you. However, Miss Ludenberg is very insistent on having us nearby at all times."

Tenko frowned. "Hey, I hope you don't take any offense to this, but don't you think Celeste is a bit creepy?"

"She can be…intense, but due to my line of work, I'm not really intimidated by much."

"Well, that's good for you, but still…she's kind of bossy, right? I mean, she's kind of using you guys like-"

"Tools?" Peko interrupted.

"Well…yeah? I mean, who else would make you paint over a whole school in a day?"

Peko paused once more. After a moment, Peko rose from her seat and stared directly into Tenko's eyes. Tenko gulped at the sword woman's intensity.

"I'll see you later," Peko said sternly before storming out of the room.

Tenko was left alone once more, this time she was left with Peko trash. "Um…sorry?"

Mikan had sat Sakura down on the nurse's bed in her Ultimate Lab. Sakura was attempting to tear off her cast from her right arm, which Mikan was desperate in preventing.

"I've told you that my arm has felt much better," Sakura said as her fingers dug in under her cast.

Mikan gripped onto Sakura's hand and tugged on it as hard as she could, although when compared to Sakura's muscular strength, the nurse's frail body could budge the martial artist at all.

"Y-you can't just take off a cast in t-two days!" Mikan pleaded. "A broken arm needs time for the cells and cartilage to merge the two parts back together! Please stop being reckless, S-sakura!"

Despite how Mikan was trying with all of her might to overpower Sakura, Sakura couldn't help but smile at the nurse. "I appreciate your concern, but I've always been quick to recover, Mikan."

"I-I believe that, but a broken bone is serious," Mikan said. "And as a nurse, I r-recommend you stop!"

Sakura shook her head. "I have to have my other arm free. If I'm to protect this group, I need my full strength."

"S-sakura," Mikan could feel her teeth grinding together. "Listen to me and stop…"

Sakura gently nudged Mikan back with her elbow.

"Sakura, stop ignoring me…"

Sakura's fingers tightened around the top of her cast, which finally caused it to crack. However, Mikan's patience also cracked at that very moment. In a rare moment of rage, the nurse raised her voice.

"STOP BEING SO STUBBORN AND KEEP YOUR CAST ON!" Mikan shouted.

Sakura stopped and released her grip on her cast. It was easy to say that the martial artist was surprised that Mikan could become so angry. Mikan mistakenly viewed Sakura's surprise as fear and immediately took a step back, bowing her head.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry!" Mikan whimpered. "I didn't mean to shout at you."

Sakura looked down at her healing arm. "Stubborn, huh?" A small smile crept across her face. "I guess I am just like Kenshiro."

"H-huh?"

"I must apologize, Mikan," Sakura stood up. "You're right. I shouldn't be so rash and push myself and my injury."

"O-oh," Mikan muttered. 'Wait. Did she stop because I raised my voice? Was that me being…assertive?'

Suddenly, a new aura of confidence flowed through the nurse. Mikan placed her hands on her hips and held her chin up high. "W-well, good! M-maybe next time w-we won't have to argue."

Sakura nodded. "How much longer must I wait then?"

Mikan frowned slightly. "It will take at least six weeks for a broken arm to heal, but worst case…y-you may not be able to use your right arm for a few months…But don't be afraid to stop by for checkups. Just…promise you won't push yourself like that again."

Sakura sighed but nodded once more. "Very well. I promise I won't cause anymore worry. Thank you, Mikan."

"No problem," Mikan smiled.

"But now, I must return to guarding the prisoners," Sakura said before exiting Mikan's Lab and eventually her room.

With Mikan by herself, she looked down at her hands. She thought over the way she took control of the situation. A short giggle past through her lips. "I can't believe I stood up for myself! M-maybe…maybe things are turning around for me."

While Mikan was celebrating a newfound sense of confidence, Sakura retrieved three bags of snacks before returning to her room to check on Mukuro, Korekiyo, and Kokichi.

"I apologize for being gone so long," Sakura said as she entered her Ultimate Lab. "I needed have Mikan check on my arm."

As Sakura approached the three wooden cells, she noticed how quiet the room was. 'That's strange,' Sakura thought. 'I at least figured Kokichi would've made some kind of comment.'

Upon reaching Kokichi's cell, Sakura learned why everything had been so quiet. All three of the bars on his cell window were broken off and the lock on the outside had been unlocked and knocked to the floor. Sakura dropped the snack bags and swung the door open which revealed the three wooden bars on the floor and a single sticky note that read "BRB."

"Mukuro, Kiyo, what is the meaning of this?!" Sakura called out to the other two prisoners, dashing over to their cells and opening them.

Much to Sakura's horror, both Kiyo and Mukuro had been tied up with zip-ties around their wrists and ankles while their mouths were gagged with cloths. Both of them were speaking as loud as they could, but their words were muffled. Sakura untied the gagged around Mukuro's mouth so the soldier could speak.

"Kokichi snuck out the moment you left," Mukuro said with a hurried breath. "The moment either of us knew he was gone, he came back and sprayed us with some knock-out gas. Next thing I knew, we were tied up like this."

Sakura groaned and untied Kiyo's gag. "Why would he bother coming back?"

"If I had to guess, he didn't want us to ruin the surprise for you," Kiyo answered.

Sakura stood up. "Both of you stay here. I'll go catch him." Sakura immediately turned around and sprinted out of the room.

"Kind of hard for us to go anywhere when WE'RE STILL TIED UP!" Mukuro shouted after the martial artist to no effect. Mukuro huffed through her nose and dropped her head against the floor.

Even if it had been a few days since he first awoke in this new environment, Keebo had not quite gotten used to everything. Especially with all the new faces like Ibuki. Keebo had been followed by the rocker throughout the entirety of the day. In this particular case, following Keebo didn't mean Ibuki had kept a decent few feet away from the robot as he traversed the halls. No, she had actually been circling around him, only mere inches away from the robot's face.

'It may not be Miu running her hands all over me, or Kokichi asking me about my body,' Keebo thought, 'but she's certainly getting on my nerves.'

Keebo glanced to his side, seeing Ibuki smiling right at him. "Can I help you?" Keebo asked.

"Ibuki really wants to know if you can play music!" Ibuki said loud enough that even Keebo had to back off and cover his ear.

"Well, yeah, I can play music," Keebo said as he cleared his ear. "I've come equipped with a state-of-the-art sound speaker and over 10,000 songs to play."

Keebo pressed the second button in the middle of his torso, transforming his mouth into a speaker and playing quite the sound. "FIGHT THE POWER! FIGHT THE POWER! WE GOT TO FIGHT THE POWERS THAT BE!"

Ibuki invaded Keebo's personal space by pressing Keebo's button, stopping the music. "No, no. Not like that. I mean can you play instruments? I mean, playing music through electronics is cool and all, but Ibuki is all about live music!"

Keebo took a step backward. "Well, I've tried to play a violin once, but...I immediately snapped all of the strings off…"

"That's ok, you just need to practice more," Ibuki said. "And Ibuki will be the one to teach you."

Keebo raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I mean, I can already play music internally. Do I really need learn an instrument?"

"Of course, Ro-Bro!" Ibuki took a hold of Keebo's hands and began to spin around with him. "Playing instruments are soooo cool cause they got a real feeling! You can feel the metal on strings, you can smash drums as hard as you can, and the best part? You don't got to be perfect!"

"You like imperfect music?"

"Duh, Ibuki knows nothing can be perfect, yet when you screw up, you can accidently make a cool new sound no one thought of!" Ibuki released her grip on Keebo, leaving him to regain his posture on his own while she made the horns hand sign. "That's what makes rock soooooo cooooooool! So, let's stop standing around and let's get to practicing!"

"W-wait, I haven't even said yes to anything!"

Keebo's pleas fell on deaf ears as Ibuki once again grabbed a hold of Keebo's hand and dragged him behind. "Come on! We gotta get the rest of the band together!"

"Band?" was all Keebo could get out as he was forcibly taken away.

It had been far too long since Mondo had gotten a chance to work on a bike. If he remembered properly, the last time he even got to ride a bike, ignoring his execution, was before Hope's Peak happened. And considering how his memories were messed with, who even knows how long that was at this point. But retreating into his Ultimate Lab, everything came back to him. Running his hands across the metal of the rims, smacking the tires to check their sturdiness, the clicks of the ratchet as he screwed and unscrewed the bolts, it took the biker back to his days in the gang. He could remember the hard rock playing on a crappy radio, the clouds of cheap cigarettes mixing with the smell of gas, and the small arguments the runts of the groups would have.

Back then, that was what a man's life was to Mondo. But for this moment, Mondo had to make do with fixing the chopper in his lab. Honestly, there wasn't anything wrong with it. From the first glance and even to a closer look, the motorcycle was in pristine condition. The engine clean, the exhaust didn't have anything blocking it, the handles had the appropriate amount of room to move the front wheel, and said wheels rolled smoothly. But Mondo just had to take it apart. It had been too long for him to work on a bike. So, he took a racket and drill to take all the pieces apart…only to put it all back together again. Just as Mondo had taken the engine out, he heard a knock at the door.

Mondo wiped off the oil on his hands across his paints and left his lab. He opened his dorm door to see his bro, Taka, standing right outside.

"Sup, bro," Mondo smiled. "Sorry I'm a mess. I was kind of working on a bike right now. Everything alright?"

"Of course, bro!" Taka said proudly. "I just needed to speak to you. It's an urgent matter."

"Oh, shit. Ok, man. Come in." Mondo stepped aside to allow Taka to step inside.

Taka immediately took out a notepad from his jacket and stood in the middle of Mondo's room. "Now, the urgent matter I wish to speak with you about is the formation of a student council."

Mondo rolled his eyes. "Bro, we don't got classes."

"Not like that, although I would 100% recommend you catch up on any studies we had original planned to-"

Mondo held up his hand. "Again, our last class was years ago, man."

"Oh…right," Taka cleared his throat. "The purpose of the student council is to set example for the rest of our group. The events of the last trial has clearly taken a toll on all of us. So, Angie and I have decided we need a group that will help everyone raise above this darkness."

Mondo was taken aback. He had to shake his head just to confirm he had in fact heard Taka's words. "Wait, you and Angie? What about that gamer chick? I thought she was fine."

Taka shook his head. "No. Angie and I had discussed that Nanami had been far too lackadaisical with her leadership. After all, she hid vital information of the killing games with us, the identity of the mastermind, and she did nothing to prevent the last murder."

"Bro, wait a sec. I thought I told you to be careful around that artist chick. Why didn't you?"

"Angie has been nothing polite and considerate to me, and she's clearly taken an effort to comfort those that have suffered greatly like Yamada and Hanamura! I hoped you of all people would understand this!"

Mondo grunted and shook his head. "Bro, she's a cult leader and shit! Think about it, man. She worships some god no one knows and she does shit with blood and like forces people to think like her. Don't you see how fucking weird that is?!"

Taka gasped at Mondo's words and took a step backwards. He looked down at his notepad for a moment, completely silent. After around twenty seconds, Taka pulled a pen out from his jacket pocket and crossed something off his list. He finally looked back up to face Mondo.

"I'm…I'm honestly disappointed in you, Owada. I hoped you would be a great asset to the student council…but I suppose Angie was right. I shouldn't have put my faith in a delinquent and a murderer."

It was Mondo's turn to be hurt by his friend's words. He instinctively placed his hand over his heart and his jaw dropped. "B-bro…"

Taka looked away from the biker, and in the ultimate act of disrespect, walked right past him. Mondo reached out and grabbed Taka's shoulder, but Taka pulled away. Taka looked over his shoulder, showing distain towards the biker before turning back and exiting the room. Mondo was left alone, so devastated by the sudden change in his friend that he fell to his knees.

Angie stood behind Hifumi, watching over the rotund boy as he sketched at the drawing pad. It was just the two of them in the art room at the moment, although only Hifumi was at working drawing. He had several crumpled-up pieces of paper on the floor around him and after another unsatisfied outline, added one more to the pile.

"Remember, Hifumi," Angie spoke up, "this piece should avoid all the temptations of this natural world and should only focus on true wonders."

Hifumi looked back at Angie with watery eyes before speaking in a whining tone. "I-I'm trying, Ms. Yonaga. I really am, but…but I can't help it! I find 2-D women beautiful! They maintain their flawless figures and features for all eternity! To me, nothing in the real world comes close!"

Angie kept her smile up but wagged her finger. "We've spoke of this already, no? Those are shallow, physical desires. For Atua's will to be fulfilled for you, you must cast away those desires."

Hifumi frowned and turned back to the page in front of him. 'Something pure…something pure,' the nerd repeated in his mind. Needless to say, the years of consuming and creating erotic content had rotted his brain. Purity and innocence had become lost concepts to Hifumi. Yet, when he looked back over his shoulder to see Angie, he came to an epiphany.

Turning back to the blank canvas, Hifumi began to draw a woman. However, unlike any his…adult doujins, Hifumi refrained from giving this woman exaggerated sexualize features. No ballon tits, no Pixar mom hips, no awkward bodily contortions that allowed a woman to have both her breasts and her ass facing the same direction. No, this woman was beautiful, but realistic. She still had curves and noticeable breasts, but they were hardly focused on. In fact, Hifumi had drawn a massive coat of the woman's body. What became the primary focus in Hifumi's drawing was the woman's face. Her large, bright eyes, her warm smile, and almost angelic looking face. Once Hifumi added the flat bangs and twin ponytails as the final touches, Angie couldn't help but be touched by her follower's work.

"So, you consider me to be a true wonder?" Angie asked.

Sweat began to shoot off from the sides of Hifumi's face, causing his to fidget with his hands. "W-w-well…I mean, you've taught me so much about Atua and how to overcome despair…So, I can't help but think you're pure goodness, Miss Yonaga."

"Nyahaha!" Angie clapped her hands together. "Your words are truly touching, Hifumi! And I must say that your artwork is just as flattering!"

Hifumi grew a slight smirk across his face. "But of course! My heart may have been consumed with the temptations of the second dimension, but that does not mean my skills didn't lacking!"

Angie clapped her hands together once more for her round companion. However, just before their conversation could continue, Taka entered the art room. The student marched over to Angie and powered his head.

"Pardon the interruption, Angie," Taka said loudly, "but I have finished with my student council recommendations as you requested."

Taka handed over his notepad to the artist, who opened it to skim over the list of names inside. She raised an eyebrow and looked back up at Taka.

"You crossed off Owada?" Angie asked. "I'm quite surprised you actually did it. You spoke very highly of him."

A solemn frown appeared across Taka's face. "I know…I gave him the opportunity to understand the benefits of the student council, but I saw you were correct. You can't rely on those that refuse to take action…"

Despite how resolute in his words Taka was, he couldn't hide his sadness with his head hung down in shame. Angie approached Taka and slowly pulled him into a hug, rubbing her hand across his back and softly shushing into his ear.

"Sometimes, my dear Taka," Angie whispered, "the right choices hurt the most."

Ibuki stood at the very edge of the stage, facing off with the four people tuning up their instruments. "Alrightiho, gang! You all got tuned up yet?!"

The four people that Ibuki had roundup to be a part of a make-shift band were Keebo, who had been placed on the drums, Kaede, who was obviously on the piano, Ryoma who had been given a bass guitar, and Gonta, who was on the saxophone. Kaede took no time to setting up the piano, but the rest of the group were having some difficulties. Ryoma wasn't too behind. He was simply playing light notes on the strings in-between twisting the pegs to get the correct sound for him. Keebo, perhaps due to be thrust into the drummer's spot, kept having to rearrange the positions for the snare and bass drums along with the dangling cymbals, which only resulted in him knocking the set over multiple times. Then poor Gonta. The gentle giant clearly didn't know how a saxophone worked, almost shoving his head into the bell.

After picking up the snare drum again, just to knock down the cymbal with his drumsticks, Keebo frowned. "This isn't going to work."

"Of course it is!" Ibuki cheered. "Since you're a robot, you could probably hit every drum really hard!"

"I won't be able to hit a single note if I can't stop knocking everything over," Keebo kept his hands steady around the drum cymbals.

"Oh, that totally reminds Ibuki! Every time we finish a show, we should totally start smashing everything!"

Ryoma raised an eyebrow at the punk rock girl. "A punk band with a saxophone and a piano? You know that's a tonal mess, right?"

"I could give it a try," Kaede smiled. "I mean, playing with Ibuki last time was a lot of fun. I wouldn't trying to be punk. Watch this."

Kaede picked up a pair of sunglasses from the edge of her piano and put them. She gave a toothy grin and held her hands up. "Well? What do you guys think?"

By that point, Gonta had gotten the top of his head stuck inside the bell of the saxophone, giving him a torture device for a hat. "Do Gonta use saxophone like this for punk?"

"Gonta, I don't think you should wear a saxophone in…any scenario, sweetie," Kaede said.

"No way!" Ibuki protested. "Gonta could wear a saxophone for a hat then play with another saxophone! Then he could swap back and forth with them!"

Keebo looked over at Ryoma and Kaede. "Is she just crazy?"

"No, she's just quirky," Kaede said.

"Yes, she's a handful," Ryoma said at the exact same time.

Ibuki stood proudly and chuckled. "Crazy or not, Ibuki totally knows we gotta make a show for everyone! Not only did we not get to have pool party, but Keebo totally missed out on our last party! You need to see our show!"

"But why am I a part of the band then?" Keebo asked. "Doesn't make more sense for me to watch you guys play instead?"

"Hush now, Ro-Bro!" Ibuki held up her finger. "We gotta practice our song list immediately!"

"Wait, what songs?" Keebo asked.

"Ready, everyone?" Ibuki asked.

"N-no, I'm not ready," Keebo began to panic.

"I'm ready, Ibuki," Kaede cheered.

"Then, let's start!" Ibuki cheered.

"Hold on, I'm still not ready!" Keebo raised his voice.

"Ah one, ah two, ah three, ah hot diggity dog!" Ibuki sounded off.

"WHAT SONG ARE WE PLAYING?!" Keebo screamed.

"It's nighttime, everyone," Monokuma said into the intercom. "So, say goodnight to all your little buddies and catch some shut eye. Also, knock it off with all that yawning! It's contagious! It's…it's….it's making….meeeeee yaaaaaaaaaawn…ZZZZZZZZZZZZ."

Super weird chapter, I will admit, but I just wanted to have some fun with this part. Really taking a step away from most of our heavy hitters. We still have Angie, Taka, and Tenko in this part, but I'm glad I got to do stuff with Kaede, Gonta, Ryoma, Mikan, and Sakura. I'm trying to get back to Kaede's arc, so if she seems weird here, I do got a reason for it. Same with Mikan. If I have a problem with anything I guess it's just how rushed somethings felt. With Mondo and Taka, I wish I gave them at least two more scenes before this. Give their bond more weight again. But this train is on a roll.

I just have to say thank you all for your kind words about my writing. It really calm my worries a bit. I promise I won't let any of you guys down. Take care.