Stage ?: Monochio's Multiverse
Saori Hidaka—third-year Ultimate Calligraphist—woke up with an undignified snort. "Whuzzuh? Whozzat? Where'm I at…?" Sitting up slowly, blue eyes still caked with sleep, the purple-haired girl struggled to find her bearings. "What the…? Where am I…?" It looked like a school, but no school she recognized. No, wait, she did recognize it! Sort of. It was like a dream, where everything was vaguely familiar, but not quite right. In some ways, the school looked like Hope's Peak Academy. In others, though, it looked like no school she recognized or ever attended. It was as if Hope's Peak had been fused with… someplace else. Saori could only shake her head in confusion. Before she could muse on it further, though—
"H-hello?! Is anyone there?!" Someone cried out from just down the hall, around the corner, and Saori's heart took off in her chest, not just because of the surprise of hearing the voice, but because….
It sounds exactly like mine! And sure enough, a few seconds later, the person in question rounded the corner and Saori got the second shock of her life. Oh my God! It IS me!
And at the same time, the purple-haired girl who just rounded the corner stopped dead in her tracks, eyes and mouth going comically wide. It was clear that she was thinking the same thing as her doppelganger.
In unison, they cried out, "Who are you?!"
ooo
"Ok. This. Is. Weird." Shinobu Inuyose deadpanned, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes suspiciously. She and 11 other DJs stood in the cafeteria of the strange, dreamlike academy. In particular, the pink-haired gamer girl could not take her wary eyes off of her doppelganger. Of course, they shared the same name. The difference, though, was that the OTHER Shinobu called herself the… "Ultimate FPS Gamer". What a weird flex. I mean, I'm pretty baller at shooter games too, but I don't, like, self-identify that way!
"What could it mean?" Haruna Kasuga was the first to fret.
"Could it be some sort of… Divine happenstance?" Her doppelganger asked. Similar to the OTHER Shinobu, this Haruna introduced herself as the Ultimate Chairman. Whatever the heck that even meant. The first Haruna Kasuga's eye had twitched upon hearing that.
"You call THIS a miracle?" The Ultimate FPS Gamer snorted at the Ultimate Chairman, gesturing around them in disbelief.
"I pray it is not demonic influence!" The first Haruna fretted, and the second crossed herself rapidly in response, earning a snort from both Shinobus.
"Well, we can just sit around here doing nothing," Maho Akashi—Ultimate Cook—finally spoke up.
"No shit, Sherlock!" the Ultimate FPS Gamer snapped, earning a gasp from half of the room. "Oh, what?" she complained, crossing her arms even tighter and narrowing her eyes even further. "We're highschoolers! We know what cuss words are! Stop being such babies! Besides! Why are you booing me? I'm right! We don't know jack shit about where we are or how or why!"
"S-so… Does that mean we have a mystery on our hands?" One of the two Saki Izumos asked softly, touching her chin, tilting her head, silver eyes flashing. The other Saki Izumo—second-year Ultimate Astronomer—was the only one to stay completely silent, but her sharp, silver eyes never stopped moving, not even once. As the others were slowly starting to understand, they were in some sort of strange alternate universe, a parallel dimension. It was like a rift in space-time, allowing them to see other versions of each other from other universes.
So… That Saki IS me… but different… Then that proves… that the multiverse is real…! Huh… Talk about Discover Universe… thought the Ultimate Astronomer. Although they did not know it yet, both Sakis had Synesthesia, meaning they saw color when they heard music. But the ultimate Astronomer was unique in a slight advantage she had over her non-Ultimate counterpart. She could see even the truth and lies in people's words. The truth appeared golden, and the lies appeared purple. That was how she knew that despite the strange, scary situation in which they all found themselves, she could trust her doppelganger. The Ultimate Astronomer could literally see her earnestness and truth.
"I agree with Saki and Maho," one of the two Aoi Miyakes finally spoke up. "It's worth it to at least try to find a way out of here. Either we succeed, or we don't and we can regroup, or we might even run into someone else that knows something."
"And you aren't worried about the danger of that?!" One of the of Saoris shrilled.
"Well," said the other Aoi with a dark smirk, "that's why we split up and search for clues! We already have the perfect partners picked out…"
ooo
The two Mahos covered the ground floor. "Well. This is probably a clue," said the first.
"What? What is it? What did you find?" asked the second. They were no longer in the cafeteria, but the kitchen. The Maho Akashi that proclaimed herself the Ultimate Cook had to repeatedly be reminded not to get too distracted by the fancy accoutrements inside.
The first Maho pointed to a series of tiles strewn across one of the kitchen countertops. They looked like scrabble tiles, and they spelled out "THIS IS A CLUE". Well. That made it easy and obvious, didn't it? But what did the clue mean…?
ooo
The two Shinobus covered the academy's fourth floor. "Woah!" Four eyes and two mouths went wide. "Would you look at this?!" They were standing inside what had to be the most high-tech and futuristic computer lab either of them had ever seen! The room was long, the ceiling was slightly low, and everything was black with veins of blue energy and electricity pulsing throughout. Monitors of every kind filled the room, but the piece de resistance was at the center-back of the lab.
It was a small, circular, black platform with six chairs—they looked rather like the kind one would see when they went to the dentist—sitting in a circle. Metal helmets hung above every seat, thick, black cords snaking up into the darkness above. There was a control panel just in front and to the side of the platform. The two Shinobus practically raced towards it, both of their eyes practically starry.
"The Virtual Vision Vida Verse Virtual Reality (V4-VR) Machine of…" The Shinobu first to arrive to the panel read the title on the screen.
"Of…?" The second demanded impatiently as she caught up to the first.
"It doesn't say." The first Shinobu tapped the panel screen. Even though there were clearly characters beside the word "of", they were illegible, like when a text file became corrupt, and all the lettering went haywire.
"Well, I guess that's a perfect excuse to test this bad boy out!" The second Shinobu grinned wickedly. She was the Ultimate FPS Gamer and had every intention of testing the V4-VR machine regardless of what else they had to accomplish there. The first Shinobu rolled her eyes, but secretly, she was on the exact same page. Four minutes later, the two girls had uploaded their consciousness and found themselves… in outer space?!
"Is this Among Us, Dead Space, Galaga, or Star Rail?" the first Shinobu joked, deadpanning.
"No, wait, I think this is… the next clue! Look!" The second Shinobu became uncharacteristically serious as she pointed. They were indeed suspended in space, but there were two large galaxes hanging in the starry sky before them. They didn't need any confirmation to suddenly feel it inside. One of those galaxies belonged to one Shinobu, and the other to the other Shinobu. "So is this… a multiverse…?"
They heard a soft cackle in the distance. Nyahahaha…!
ooo
The two Aois were just one floor below, but the moment the first reached out to touch the doorknob to the third floor—
"Watch out! Get BACK!" The second Aoi lunged, grabbing the first by the arm, but it was already too late. Their world was suddenly enveloped in blinding white light, and by the time it subsided, they were… outside?!
"N-no… It can't be… It has to be an illusion…!" The first Aoi looked around, gasping. When they'd peered out the strange academy windows earlier on, what little they could see through the boarded up panes of frosted glass made it look like night was falling. But now, the sun was high in the sky like a warm, midsummer midday! Aoi turned to her doppelganger and was alarmed to see the other girl still doubled over. "Aoi?!" she cried. Man, it feels weird to talk to myself like that…
The other Aoi moaned, and her body began to shimmer and flicker in and out of existence like a glitching hologram. No, wait, she was… transforming! And by the time it was complete, the first Aoi could only stare at the second with a slack jaw. The second Aoi was mostly unchanged, although suddenly, her hair was a long longer, and something about her expression didn't seem quite right… "A-Aoi…?"
"What the—?!" Now it was the other Aoi's (was it even Aoi?) turn to recoil. The first Aoi was quick to notice how low and coarse and almost… aggressive the second one's voice was now. "Wh-who the hell are you?!" The first Aoi recoiled again.
It took several minutes, but the two were eventually able to piece their mini-mystery together. "I am… Shiyake, sis, the Ultimate Protector! And I am your… "big brother"." Shiyake smirked, long, dark hair billowing like a cape in the nonexistent wind. As Shiyake would explain, this version of Aoi had a story that was similar—yet slightly divergent—to the first Aoi. Their parents died in a car crash when they were infants, and they'd been inside the vehicles at the time. But what set the second Aoi apart was that the trauma of her crash was so great that she developed DID as a way to cope with it. Her alter—a protector and persecutor—was given the name Shiyake, a mutually agreed upon name.
Likewise, the second Aoi's Talent—Ultimate Jam-Maker—also somewhat stemmed from the traumatic car crash. That Aoi began to love working with her hands, as a way to connect with the world when the dissociation and isolation became too much. That was also why she took to DJing. The sensation not just of the discs, but the knobs and dials and switches and sliders and more. In particular, though, that Aoi's true Talent lay in food, particularly, jam. Yes. That was right. Jam-Maker didn't mean music in this context.
"It's a lame Talent, I know," Shiyake drawled with a scoff. "But it helped her. What can ya do?" The first Aoi also learned that her Talented DID-having counterpart identified as genderfluid because of Shiyake, though she was only out about it to her unit-mates, and no one else. "Hmmmm… I don't remember how we got here, but… it feels strangely familiar," he murmured, then he brushed past the first Aoi without another word. She could only blink in confusion and surprise, and several minutes later, she did it again as Shiyake unveiled something to her. Carved in various trees were four dates: 6/7/2022. 3/8/2023. 7/24/2023. 1/19/2024.
ooo
The two Harunas took the sixth floor, the topmost floor, the administrative floor. They crept cautiously through the darkened halls of the principal's office. The first Haruna muttered nervously under her breath.
"I say! This place is atrocious!" There was dust and cobwebs everywhere, papers strewn about desks, and some of the monitors flickering on and off, creating an eerie strobing effect even though the two Harunas were certain they were alone. Mostly certain, anyway.
"What are we even looking for?" the second asked, almost sounding a little angry with fear as they passed the receptionist desk.
"Let's just keep looking. There's still at least one more hallway we missed." The first tried to remain calm and helpful as she looked down the hallway past the receptionist desk. There were six offices, three on either side of the hallway, and it was in the sixth where they found their answers.
"Hope's Pinnacle Academy?" the first read. All the other offices were completely and utterly empty, but the sixth had a single, paper file. The subtitle read: "The Fourth Academy".
"Hope's Pinnacle?" the second echoed, narrowing her eyes. Why does that sound… Familiar? I know Hope's Peak, obviously, I'm a student there! But what is… Hope's Pinnacle Academy…?
ooo
The two Sakis took the second floor. "Hey! Saki! Look what I found! Can you help me with this?" The first Saki pointed to a locked door. "Can you use your Synesthesia to see if anything is inside?" she asked hopefully.
"It doesn't work like that!" the second Saki waved her hands, eyes widening in worry. She'd tried to explain to her doppelganger about how she could see the truth and lies in people's words, and even though it was more than what the other Saki could do, it wasn't like X-ray vision!
"Oh," the first Saki sunk slightly in disappointment and embarrassment.
"But we can still try to find our own way in," the second Saki insisted, brushing past her doppelganger. The door was indeed locked, but a quick sweep of the classrooms of the second floor offered up the key eventually, taped to a poster of the planets hanging up in a science classroom. The key unlocked the door to reveal a computer lab, far smaller and less grand than the one on the fourth floor. But the dead giveaway was in the single computer whose monitor was on, the white light cutting through the darkness.
The computer itself was unresponsive to any and everything either of the two Sakis tried to do to it, but resting on the keyboard, bathed in the glowing light of the monitor, was what looked like a silver pencil. The second Saki picked it up first, turning it over in her palm, inspecting it. Her name was carved on the side, as was the word "Implememor-E".
"Implememor-E?" the first Saki read out loud, leaning over the second's shoulder to read the inscription.
"It sounds familiar," admitted the second Saki. "And it sure sounds like the word "memory"…"
ooo
Last (and they would argue least) were the two Saoris covering the fifth floor.
I hope I don't embarrass myself around her! That would REALLY be embarrassing, heheh… Managing to embarrass my own doppelganger! But it does sound like something I'd do. I'm pretty pathetic, after all… The irony was that both of them were thinking the exact same thing about each other, but the moment they pushed open the doors to the fifth floor, their jaws dropped in amazement like the two Shinobus on the floor below.
"This has got to be the biggest auditorium I've ever seen!" cried one of the Saoris, her voice echoing around the large, empty space. It's practically an entire opera house!" she continued as she and her doppelganger made their way down the red-carpet aisle between the countless rows of red cushioned seats. Dead ahead was a massive and beautiful wooden stage framed by ruby and bloodred curtains. Spotlights hung over head, but they were all off. The only thing on the stage was a large, untouched DJ turntable.
"WOAH!" The two Saoris exclaimed again, eyes going even wider, almost as wide as the black and white discs resting atop the turntables. It was the largest and most advanced, fancy, and high-tech setup either of them had ever seen. A red needle rested atop the black disc, pinning something to it. One of the Saoris carefully lifted the needle to inspect it. It was a pamphlet.
"At the opera tonight…" the first Saori read out loud. She opened the pamphlet and was sorely disappointed. All that awaited inside were a few cartoonish and childish crayon sketches of cat that was black and white with red patches all over. And the word "FUN" was written in red crayon too all over. FUNFUNFUNFUN! The first Saori had just turned to the second to ask, when—
"Nyahahaha! Let the class trial… begin!"
ooo
"Woah! What the-?!" 12 disgruntled voices cried out and arms shielded faces as blinding spotlights from above suddenly shined down on the students below. They were now standing in a ring of podiums, the floor black and white tile, red carpet creating a ring around the circle of podiums. Perched atop a throne just behind the podium closets to the back of the room was what looked like a big, fat robot cat.
Nyochio! One of the Maho's eyes flew open. Muni! Did she—?
"Nyahahaha! My name is… Head-cat-sterrrr Monochio!" The robotic cat purred, using its black, white, and red tail to mimic a drumroll on the wood armrests of its little, red velvet-cushioned throne.
Monochio? Now Maho couldn't help but scoff quietly to herself. Just what the heck is going on here?! What's with all these lame imitations?
"If you wanna solve the mystery!" the robot cat continued, "you gotta put together alllllll the clues! And present your case in court before the judge! Who?! What?! When?! Where?! Why?! How?!"
"B-b-b-but we're not lawyers!" the two Saoris both began to panic, gripping their heads in worry.
"Dumbasses," The Ultimate FPS Gamer shot them both a deadpanning look.
"So you're the one that kidnapped us and brought us here?!" Shiyake demanded, pushing forward, glaring at Monochio bravely.
"Nyope!" Monochio popped the "p".
"Then who—?!"
"You already know the answer to that!" A sing-songing tone. The other students raised their voices in protest. At least, 11 of them did.
"No, wait…" the Ultimate Astronomer murmured, touching her chin, lost in thought. "I… think I understand it now… I mean, not really… But… I think Monochio wants us to play along in its little game…"
"Are you crazy?" One of the Mahos whispered at her. She only shrugged in return. Did they have any other choice?
"Excellent!" the robotic cat purred. "Always knew you had the heart of a protagonist in your chest, Saki! You already got those special eyes and special powers. Now, we can only hope that heart of yours stays IN your chest! Nyahahaha!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" The other Saki rested a hand over her own heart, rearing back, but the headcatster ignored her.
"All rise! Let's get on with the first nonstop debate already!"
ooo
"S-so… What should we talk about first?" The first Maho opened the debate, face and voice uncertain.
"Well… Seems like Monochio's issuing us a challenge to unravel its little mystery…" The other Maho—the Ultimate Cook—touched her chin.
"Yeah, so quit chatting and get on with it already!" the Headcatster snapped suddenly, its black, white, and red tail lashing. "Hop to it! Double time!"
Both Saoris recoiled. "Jeez! Its entire personality changed!"
"Is it some sort of neurological condition?" The first Haruna asked worriedly.
"Or personality disorder, I wonder?" The second Haruna—the Ultimate Chairman—narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Imbecile! I am a programmed robot! Now! Focus! The class trial?!" Monochio yowled while the first Haruna flinched.
"Pfft. Ok, Drill Sergeant Nasty…" The first Shinobu muttered, and the Ultimate FPS Gamer snickered under her breath as well.
"We should start by discussing all the clues and evidence we found during our search," Aoi finally said, taking charge of the conversation. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Shiyake. As a contrast to earlier, when he chatted freely with her, he was now like a stone wall. His long, dark hair billowed behind him ominously. His eyes were narrow and distrustful. He frowned, refusing to speak. His arms were crossed. Aoi knew his insight would be invaluable, but he wanted to observe the trial first before throwing all his cards on the table…
I see the truth! As the second Saki's eyes continued to dart around the trial room, she studied every face and classmate carefully. Every time they spoke, she saw colors surrounding their mouths and heads, the blurry outline of their words slowly becoming clearer and clearer. It was her Synesthesia at work! And she was determined to discern the truth through ear and eye. When Monochio spoke of being a programmed robot, the color of its words indicated that it was telling the truth. Now, it was time to test something out…
"I agree with that!" She lunged forward, pointing at Aoi. It surprised the entire trial room, including the first Saki, as she was known for having a rather demure and submissive personality. This second Saki had a streak of boldness in her. "We—that is, the other Saki and I—went to the second floor and found something rather interesting in the computer labs…" She and the other Saki recounted the tale of the Implememor-Es and all that they saw inside. It was an explanation—albeit a vague one—on how they got to the strange, dreamlike academy in the first place. "I—we—saw a glowing light, perhaps like some kind of portal! But even more, there was a singular figure hunched over at a desk… but we could not make out any sort of features or details. But I believe that we saw the one responsible, and even how they did it."
"Portals?" the Ultimate FPS Gamer scoffed. "You mean like the video game?"
While the conversation continued, the Ultimate Astronomer kept her eyes on Monochio, waiting to see if the cat would confirm or deny, and if she could utilize that to discern the truth.
"It was a short snippet of a memory, and even what little we saw was blurry, but… I feel like I remember this academy being a fusion hybrid of several others…" She turned to her doppelganger who nodded in agreement before taking the story over.
"It appears that half of you come from an academy known as Hope's Peak. You are all either first, second, or third year students there. As for me and my people? Well, we're a little bit more spread out… Maho, Shinobu, and I attend Yoba High. Aoi and Saori are from Seiho University, And Haruna is from Arisugawa!"
"University?" Hope's Peak Saori and Shiyake looked at Seiho Saori and Aoi in surprise.
"Y-yeah, I don't know how I got in either," Seiho Saori muttered embarrassedly.
"Anyway, Headcatster Monochio, I believe that the "how" of your grand question is that we were drawn here by a powerful force capable of bending reality and manipulating and warping the universe—or universes—at will. Is that correct?" Hope's Peak Saki asked the feline fiend.
"You don't have to be so polite, ya know?" Yoba Shinobu muttered under her breath. Monochio, meanwhile, shook its head, smirking.
"Can't tell! Can't tell! However, it appears that you have submitted your first clue! Now! Onto the next question!"
"Wait! You won't at least give us a clue about if our clue was correct?!" Seiho Saori and the two Shinobus both protested… loudly.
But Monochio only sneered at them and flicked its tail again. "NEXT! Who?! What?! When?! When?! Where?! Why?!"
ooo
The two Harunas locked eyes and nodded once before turning to face Monochio again. "We'll go next!"
"Oh. You will. Will you?" Once again, Monochio's personality switched abruptly, its tone now completely and utterly flat.
"Huh?" All the students recoiled, some stunned, some suspicious.
"Y-yes…" Arisugawa Haruna cleared her throat and tried to sound brave. "When I—we—were exploring the… administrative offices…" Her tone became delicate, as if worried about potential backlash upon confessing she'd been sneaking around the principal's office, but Monochio remained stoic, utterly emotionless. "We found a file in the sixth office…"
Hope's Peak Haruna took over, a little sterner and more confident than her Arisugawa counterpart. "Headcatster Monochio! We have reason to believe that this is neither Hope's Peak, nor Yoba, nor Seiho, nor Arisugawa! This is… a new school you created, isn't it? Hope's Pinnacle?"
As she spoke, half the trial room felt a shiver run down their spines. Monochio, however, remained unremoved. "Do you have. Anything. Other than. Baseless conjecture and. Speculation? What is. Hope's Pinnacle?"
For a second time, the two Harunas exchanged worried glances. Their eyes swept around the rest of the trial room, but even though some of the students met their gazes sympathetically, no one was willing to interfere directly. Only the two Harunas could explain what they found on the sixth floor. So they steeled their nerves and resolve again before Arisugawa Haruna decided to take the stand.
"All right then." Monochio sighed, practically drawling. "How about a. Panic Talk Action?"
"A- a- a what?" Haruna asked, then before she knew it, the trial room filled with frantic music as she was asked to defend her position.
"N-now see here! I am a member of the Disciplinary Committee!"
So, O wise Chairman, what did you find in my humble office?
"I am forever faithful to the format!"
So perhaps you understand the ways in which I rule with an iron paw.
"In the name of God, law, order, truth, and justice will prevail!"
Only if you can solve my mystery. So, little girl, what did you find?
Even though Haruna stumbled and fumbled in the beginning, plucking up the courage to call Monochio out, the answer finally spelled itself out in her head. The subtitle of the file: the Fourth Academy. Of course, as a non-native to this timeline, Arisugawa Haruna knew little of Hope's Peak. But from what she and her doppelganger studied and learned together, it sounded as if Hope's Peak was the original academy, and Hope's Pinnacle was a derivative built specifically to house the 12 DJs (or rather, the Hope's Peak six and all of their associated classmates, even though only the DJs were sucked into the mirror world to meet their "twins").
"This school is… "Hope's Pinnacle"… is it not, Monochio?" asked Hope's Peak Haruna as Arisugawa Haruna caught her breath, still looking a little shake by her confrontation with Monochio. The Headcatster, meanwhile, only flicked its tail once.
ooo
"Awwwright! Is time for da fird minigame of da cwass twial! :3"
"Woah, what the fuck?" Hope's Peak Shinobu snorted and recoiled as Monochio's face suddenly became unbearably cute and squishy-looking.
"Whosa next? What clusies didja find?" Its one eye was wide and shiny, innocent as it tilted its head back and forth.
"Well, I kind of want to keep talking about what our two Harunas found, and the two Sakis," said Yoba Shinobu, stroking her chin as she turned to the redheads and white-haired girls pensively.
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! You can't just STEAL dere clues! :3" Monochio pouted adorably. "Dey aweady did da clue for da "where" question! I hided unique clues for each of yous! Now you gotta catch—err, find—em all! :3"
"Oh, you insufferable dumbass!" Hope's Peak Shinobu complained. It seemed like Monochio was just being difficult, but Yoba Shinobu—who had a slightly better temperament than her Hope's Peak counterpart—gasped in realization.
Git gud and get on my level! "All right, Monochio, you want a duel? Then I'll give you one! Rebuttal showdown! You and me! Right here, right now! I am… DJ Kunoichi!"
"Cringe," Hope's Peak Shinobu muttered.
"Like you wouldn't have had a similar, dramatic intro," Hope's Peak Maho teased her quietly. Hope's Peak Shinobu shot her a death glare in return.
Monochio and Yoba Shinobu, meanwhile, were too focused on each other to do anything but ignore everyone else. "When the other Shinobu and I went to the fourth floor… We found a giant VR machine!"
"So? What does dat haff to do wit anyting?" Monochio purred, tilting its head back and forth again.
"We were able to hook ourselves up and log in! I didn't get it at the time, but… I think I know why we were restricted to one part of the map!"
"Weestwicted? Why don't you tell us about where you hided?" Monochio asked slyly, a deadly note entering its tone.
"Outer space!" Yoba Shinobu declared, loud and proud. "It didn't make sense at first, but… I think it was proof of the "what" question!"
"Wat, indeedio, my wittle pink fren!" Monochio giggled, hiding its long, toothy mouth behind a cutesy, curled paw.
"We saw the portals too, like what Saki saw! Except they looked like… spiral galaxies, and I'm sure that they represented the different universes we came from! So that's the "what", obviously. Somehow, the writer Saki saw managed to drag us from our worlds into this… Hope's Pinnacle!" That was why none of them—even the Hope's Peak students—fully recognized the school, and why it looked like a fusion of multiple schools.
Shinobu was ready for Monochio to continue to rebuttal showdown, but the moment she finished speaking, its personality switched again.
ooo
"Ohohohoha!" It laughed airily.
"Oh, not this again!" Hope's Peak Shinobu sighed impatiently, crossing her arms. Man, and things were JUST getting good, watching my Alt get to snap back at that stupid, annoying, little piece of shit!
"Verily! This fanfic is already far too long for what is appropriate!" Now the headcatster had a royal, regal British accent. "Therefore, we must insist upon our most loyal subjects hastening the process along. We mustn't dally too long on any particular student!"
"Loyal subjects?" Arisugawa Haruna recoiled while Hope's Peak Haruna crossed her arms and scowled.
"Like we'd ever bow to you!" Hope's Peak Saori tried to look and sound brave, but they could see her legs shaking through the podium bars.
"Ha! Execution awaits all those who fail to pass our final exam!" Monochio's sickening smile spread from ear to ear as it sat up taller.
"Execution?!" The entire trial room protested.
"Tis a Danganronpa fanfic! But of course!" The headcatster waved its paw, dismissive and disdainful.
"Danganronpa? The heck's that?" Yoba Shinobu muttered, catching the two Mahos' eyes. They could only shrug in return.
"Shiyake…!" While everyone else panicked, Aoi leaned over to her doppelganger. For the entire class trial, he hadn't said a word. He barely even moved a muscle. Even now, with her whispering to him, he remained impassive, arms crossed and eyes narrowed distrustfully. "Our friends need us to protect them!" He still wouldn't even glance at her. "I need you to protect me…!"
Shiyake's lip finally twitched. For a moment more, he held his resolve, but then he noticed Monochio looking directly at him. "Oh, all right, very well, you stupid, ugly, mangy cur," he murmured, voice steadily growing louder.
"Wait, huh?" Seiho Saori blinked in confusion.
"Aoi…? Is that even really… you?" Hope's Peak Saki was the first to ask a direct question. The words coming from Hope's Peak Aoi's mouth… I don't see truth or lie, but that voice is not Aoi's!
"Like "DJ Kunoichi" before me," Hope's Peak "Aoi" continued. Yoba Shinobu flinched in minor embarrassment. "I will issue you a duel! On my honor! My right to defend or die trying!"
"Ohohoho! You talk such mighty game, little hero!" Monochio cackled, tail swishing back and forth tauntingly.
"Who are you?" Several of the students murmured at the same time. Seiho Aoi's long-haired doppelganger only smirked, smile spreading slowly.
"I am… Shiyake. The Ultimate Protector. And Smiling White Knight!" All at once, the trial room shifted, and "Shiyake" was suddenly clad in white plate metal armor, wielding a long, shining, silver and white sword with blue running up and down the sides. It was Argument Armament time.
"You erased all of our memories, didn't you?"
We shall neither confirm nor deny!
"Well, you forgot about someone! Me!"
Are you certain it was not intentional?
"Because I am not one of your regular, silly little cast members! I do not fit so well into your "perfect story"!"
Mmm… That much is… somewhat true… He has no true equivalent…
"So I REMEMBER! I came from that world of Danganronpa! And the others from a world known as D4DJ!"
So? What does any of this mean? Why bring it forth as "evidence"?
"Those dates Seiho Aoi and I found in the forest? Are the dates of YOUR origin!"
It didn't seem like a significant thing to any of the other students, but Shiyake—as he'd just finished telling Monochio—was almost like… an exception to the rules. He could sense what mattered most to Monochio, and that was ensuring every little part of its mystery was discovered. That was why it kept nudging the class trial along, sloppily written as it was. And as for Shiyake, he understood the significance of the four dates he and Aoi discussed. The first was the date in which the idea of the crossover began. Then the date in which it was first written. Then the date in which it was first posted. Then the date in which the main storyline was complete. He smirked as, sure enough, Monochio's hackles fell… He'd won again!
ooo
"Hmm. Well done, class. You have exceeded expectations." Monochio's latest personality sounded similar to the flat-affect one, though it was slightly less robot. Likewise, when the cat turned away to stalk back to its throne, the next time it turned around, it was suddenly wearing glasses. It pushed the glasses up its nose with a claw before continuing. "Now, there are two more clues you have yet to give me, however, I only have one personality left. I believe that you should be the one to start, Ms. Akashi."
"Me?!" The two Mahos pointed at themselves, then looked at each other.
"What was the clue you found on the first floor? Please, do show and tell the rest of the class?" Monochio gestured with its tail again as it this time pulled a clipboard and pencil from behind its throne, as if prepping to take notes on all that the two Mahos said.
"Well… We found these…!" Yoba Maho held out what looked like a handful of dice, except instead of numbers, there were letters.
"When we found them," continued Hope's Peak Maho," they were facing up in such a way that they said, "THIS IS A CLUE" but we couldn't figure out what." She looked at Yoba Maho, both of them sighing softly in frustration, but looking at one another understandingly.
"Maybe it's a metaphor for the fact that this whole thing is like a giant game to it?" Yoba Saki suggested.
"Or maybe it's saying it's spelling out our doom!" Hope's Peak Saori murmured hopelessly.
"I say, that looks rather like a game of scrabble, does it not? Perhaps the game title is indicative of something?" Hope's Peak Haruna theorized.
"Oh great! Yeah, sure! We're scrabbling for answers! How about that?" Seiho Saori fretted.
"Are you certain it is not Bananagrams?" Hope's Peak Saki suggested next.
"Nah, looks more like… Boggle if you ask me," muttered Yoba Shinobu as she and Hope's Peak Shinobu leaned closer to the dice.
"Well, first of all, we need to decide if the clue is the message itself," Yoba Maho began.
"Or the medium," Hope's Peak Maho finished. "That is, if we're right about the game title itself being important."
"Ah! So it seems as though my class is split down the middle!" Monochio raised its eyebrows as its tail snaked forward, wrapping around a lever to the side of its throne. The circular center of the room—painted like a giant DJ disc—began to spin, slowly pushing the podiums out into two opposing lines. Then the disc began to spin in reverse, drawing the two lines together again until they were face to face.
"Oh, God…" Hope's Peak Saori gripped her podium tighter.
"It's time for a little Debate Scrum!"
"So, do we think the game is important, or the text?" Yoba Maho asked.
"Personally, I think the game is important," said Hope's Peak Shinobu. "Because the message itself doesn't really say much."
"Hmmm… It's true that the message alone is rather vague," Yoba Saki touched her chin, eyebrows furrowing as she thought hard, "but what good is knowing what game it is? Sorry, I mean, how does it benefit us?"
"I think I'm starting to get it. Or at least I think I have a theory about how it benefits us," said Hope's Peak Saori, sheepish and hesitant. "Maybe knowing what exact game it is will give us more insight into Monochio's game."
"It's true that in the end, this is Monochio's game and all his doing," Seiho Aoi nodded. "But how can we be sure what exact game this is?"
"I think… we can identify what game it is based on the dice!" Hope's Peak Haruna spoke slowly at first, but the longer she stared at the dice in Maho's hand, the stronger the memory became. "Boggle! It is indeed Boggle!"
The moment the Debate Scrum finished, the DJ disc at the center of the trial room began to spin again, returning everyone to their original position in the ring of podiums.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Hope's Peak Saori was gripping the podium again as if her life depended on it.
"But what does Boggle have to do with anything?" Yoba Shinobu shook her head. "I still don't get it!"
"Wait. I think I do…" Hope's Peak Maho whispered. "Could it be… the name of the game-master?"
Hope's Peak Saki kept her eyes glued to Monochio's mouth, but even if it hadn't spoke, the sinister, sneering smile that spread slowly across its cold, metal face said a thousand words.
"Is Boggle your true identity, Monochio?" Yoba Saki breathed as Hope's Peak Saki continued to study its responses closely.
ooo
A fog suddenly filled the class trial room, and when it finally rolled away again, a new girl stood at the center of the all the action and attention. Monochio was curled up in her arms, purring contentedly. On the throne and on either side of it were three portraits. The leftmost was that of a man with long, dark red and glowing, red eyes. The rightmost was a girl with blue hair and glasses. The middle was a blonde with huge pigtails, her arms crossed, hands in the sign of the horn, tongue hanging out. A crown and two bear hairclips were perched atop her head.
"Woah! Who the fuck are you and how the fuck did you get in here?" Hope's Peak Shinobu recoiled.
"Didn't you just say it yourselves?" the girl at the center of the room asked playfully, stroking Monochio's fur. "I am Boggle. Mastermind of this little excursion. And I am here to issue you your final challenge. Why? Why did I—?"
"Time out!" Yoba Shinobu held up her hands in a T. "How do we know this isn't another trick? What if Monochio is the true Mastermind?"
Boggle smirked at the pink-haired gamer girl. I admire your natural mistrust. Well, if it's proof ye want, it's proof ye shall receive… "Very well then. Good point. Shall we?" She glanced over her shoulder, and the middlemost portrait of the blonde girl came to life and cackled.
"I'M THE MASTERMIND! JUNKO ENOSHIMAAAA!"
"No, I is da Mastermind!" Monochio piped up from Boggle's arms.
"No, actually, it's me!" Boggle winked. Time for a good old fashioned Mass Panic Debate! Hope the students can keep up!
"It's always, always me." Junko's personality suddenly switched as she sighed and rolled her eyes, bored, looking at her nails.
"No. Twas US this time around!" Monochio cackled in its royal, regal voice.
"And yet, I'm the one behind both of you…" Boggle said quietly, still smirking.
"I'm the one that fuckin' inspired it all!" Junko grinned, crossing her arms and throwing up the sign of the horns again.
"But I was. The one. Given. Authority to. Take over this little. "Killing" Game," Monochio droned.
"And just who gave you that authority?" Boggle asked slyly.
"I am my own separate entity, a character not created by you." Suddenly, Junko was pushing a pair of glasses up her nose as she pushed her chest up, accentuating her already-large, round bust.
"Listen up! I'm the mascot here, ok? This is how Danganronpa always goes!" Monochio insisted angrily, its drill sergeant personality back.
"But we aren't living in our old, regular reality anymore, are we?" Even though Boggle spoke, the two Saoris cried out at the same time.
"Boggle! It IS you!" They could easily rule Monochio out as the mascot. It was the Mastermind in one way—the face of the Mastermind—but as it said in its closing line, it was the mascot. This is how Danganronpa always goes. The mascot is never the true Mastermind. And Junko…? Well, she outright said she was her own separate character, unrestrained by their reality, which Boggle hinted at as well…
"Because we're visiting an entirely different timeline, an AU—!" Hope's Peak Saori began urgently.
"Then Boggle is the only and realest thing here! The mascot is just a mask she wears, and Junko is only a source of inspiration! But the real Junko Enoshima is not here," Seiho Saori continued grirmly.
"So this entire thing, is…" Seiho Aoi breathed, eyes widening slowly in understanding.
"Just a giant, fucking fanfic," Shiyake crossed his arms and scoffed, looking down disdainfully.
"Ding, ding, ding, ding!" Boggle smiled calmly as Monochio leapt from her arms. She vanished then reappeared on the throne, the three portraits of her three inspirational Masterminds vanishing instead. "Ah, my dear muses! I may not be as infamous as Ms. Tsumugi Shirogane, or as Talented as Ms. Junko Enoshima, but I did the best I could! And I did it my way! Indeed, I am the Mastermind! At least of this pathetic little game. Ah, but it is still the symbol of Ultimate Indulgence, is it not? For I know I and I alone am the audience, and the author! It is whatever I want! And if no one else shall hear it, then I shall tell all of YOU the story!"
She took in a deep breath as if to go on an epic, rambling rant wherein she revealed all of her master plan, but she abruptly changed her mind, whipping out her phone to check the time. "Now, this class trial is getting kind of long… So I'll skip the Closing Argument and go right into the real meat and potatoes of EVERY Danganronpa game! The executions!"
"Execution?!" The two Mahos recoiled. "You were serious about that?"
"I only meant me, silly!" Boggle waved a dismissive hand.
"Wh-what?! You can't execute yourself!" Hope's Peak Haruna's eye twitched as she struggled to comprehend Boggle's words.
"Who says I can't?" Boggle scoffed back. "It's only fair! And it's all part of the story!"
"B-but wait, that still doesn't explain the why…" Seiho Saori murmured.
"Doesn't it?" Boggle tilted her head, eyes locking with the purple-haired DJ. You were the one who inspired this particular fanfic, after all… That is why I made sure you found the clue that you did.
It was Hope's Peak Saori who understood it first, eyes widening as she gasped softly. "Fun! Y-you did this… in the name of fun?!" Just like the pamphlet said… The others shot Hope's Peak Saori a disbelieving look—this hadn't been fun at all!—but Boggle only smirked and nodded.
"In the name of entertainment! I am no DJ, but I'm something of a remixer myself, aren't I?" She gestured to the crowded trial room.
"You find this fucking fun?!" Hope's Peak Shinobu snorted, hands clenching into fists as she shouted angrily at the "Mastermind".
"Write your own Killing Game if you don't like mine," Boggle replied with a shrug. "Side note, I never understood why some of the sci-fi stuff of this game was considered more credible than the magic. What is sci-fi but magic remixed? And what is magic but science that has yet to be discovered? What one might call hypnosis or a mind control spell, for example, another might say is a microchip inserted into the brain, or the power of memetic suggestion. In other words, same result, different package. That is why, in MY game—the Killing School Transfer—I called upon both!"
"Uhhh… What? Sorry, I got lost like four paragraphs ago," Hope's Peak Maho muttered. Yoba Maho chuckled and rubbed the back of her head embarrassedly, agreeing with her counterpart. The two Shinobus both crossed their arms and nodded in annoyed agreement. Hope's Peak Saki, meanwhile, studied Boggle long and hard. Her words were ludicrous, but golden. Never once did Saki's Synesthesia detect a purple perjury.
ooo
"S-so… If you're the one who brought us here… How do we get back?" the Ultimate Astronomer asked timidly. For once, Boggle didn't answer out loud, only waving dismissively again. She rose from her throne, however, and looked at Monochio, curled loyally by her feet.
"Care to do the honors?" Boggle asked sarcastically.
"Oh boy would I!" The cat hopped up and traded spots with Boggle. Once it resumed its position atop the throne, a big, red button rose up from the floor—a tile sliding away to reveal an endless abyss below—and Monochio happily slapped it with its retractable, prehensile tail. "Now, say it with me!" The headcatster yowled gleefully. Boggle looked over her shoulder to smirk at it, then they spoke in unison.
"It's… PUNISHMENT TIME!"
GAME OVER
Irhaboggle has been found guilty. Time for the punishment!
"Fanatic Fanfic Fan's Frantic Finish [Deadline Crunchtime]"
The trial room was thrust into darkness once more, and the next time the lights came back on, there was only one, single, solitary, flickering lamp hanging overhead. Seated directly beneath it, amidst the darkness and the shadows, was Boggle, hunched over a laptop, chained to the desk. As the chains around her neck and wrists clattered and clanked, she typed away as fast as her fingers could go. Sometimes the students watching from the shadows even thought they saw smoke emanating from the keyboard.
A clock hung overhead, green, though as the second hand ticked on, more and more of the clock became red. Likewise in the distance, execution music began to play. Softly at first, then louder and louder as Boggle's typing became faster and faster. Time was ticking! Time was ticking! And she had so much to do, so much to finish, before the deadline! Faster, faster, faster. Type, type, type. Word after word flowed from her fingertips as thought after thought flowed from her brain. She had to complete the story! And she had to do it all alone…
Almost there! Almost got it! Almost done! Straining, leaning towards the bright computer screen, Boggle's eyes grew wider and wider as her heart pounded in her chest. Her fingers were a blur. The clock kept ticking, more and more of the green replaced by red. Then at last—
"Ha! Got 'em—!" Boggle had just finished raising her fists triumphantly in the air when the entire computer blew up in her face like a bomb. Although she hadn't been aware, the system was overheating during the type she was typing. She was blasted back out of her seat, the monitor soaring overhead. It landed inches away from her head, her face bloody from the glass and explosion. She coughed and rasped as she struggled to roll over and glance at the flickering light of the screen.
Upload failed. Then the screen flickered off and died. And so too did Boggle.
ooo
Saori Hidaka woke up with an undignified snort. "Whuzzuh? Whozzat? Where'm I at…?" Sitting up sleepily, blue eyes still half shut, the purple-haired girl struggled to look around, squinting. "What the…? Where… am I…?" It took her a moment to find her bearings, but once she did, she realized she was in… Her apartment complex. She sighed in relief. Wait. Relief? Why relief? Did I have a nightmare, or something…?
She shook her head, trying to remember, but her thoughts were quickly interrupted by her phone buzzing on her nightstand.
Rika Seto: Hey, sleepyhead! You up yet? Remember, you and me and the rest of M4 were supposed to grab breakfast at the campus café today!
"Oh, shoot! I overslept!" Saori fell out of bed, racing to the door, all events of the previous night immediately forgotten.
Meanwhile, in another dimension…
Saori Hidaka—third-year Ultimate Calligraphist—woke up with an undignified snort. "Whuzzuh? Whozzat? Where'm I at…?" Sitting up sleepily, blue eyes still half shut, the purple-haired girl struggled to look around, squinting. "What the…? Where… am I…?" It took her a moment to find her bearings, but once she did, she realized she was in… Hope's Pinnacle Academy. Oh yeah, that was right. "Man, what a weird dream…!"
"Oooh, did you dream of me?" A playful voice asked from the doorway.
"Rika!" Saori sighed, but she was unable to conceal her delight and relief. Even though she could not fully remember or understand why she could feel the lingering remnants of dread finally, slowly leaving her body, the moment she saw her girlfriend standing in the threshold…
A fiery Ultimate Arsonist robot grinned and waved. "C'mon, we were gonna meet the others at the cafeteria." She held out a cold metal hand, which Saori was more than happy to take. She could not deny a tiny bit of guilt that she was still alive and human while Rika had to be brought back in a robot body, but it was better than not having her back at all!
"All right, I'm ready," Saori smiled at the other girl with an unusual amount of cheer and confidence. Rika's metallic face lit up in response and she happily led Saori from the M4 dorm room to the Hope's Pinnacle cafeteria. All was well.