Chapter 3: Part 15

"It's a wonderful morning, kids!" Monokuma cheered through the school's intercom. "As such, all of the tasty food is available, and all the soothing hot water is back on! I sure hope you all enjoy it to its fullest! It would just be a shame if someone wasn't able to experience the joys of life!"

Monokuma had been doing his best to turn the act of waking up each and everyday an unbearable experience. However, this time it crossed a line. It was clear what he was alluding to, and it stung everyone as soon as they had woken up. Kaede in particular was affected negatively by the morning announcement. Thoughts of her friend and fellow musician in pain began caused the piano player to breathe rapidly along with her heartbeat skyrocketing. She dashed into her bathroom and splashed water into her face, yet her panicking didn't stop. Her neck started to itch, as if something was crawling underneath her skin.

She grabbed onto her neck, rubbed it, scratched it, let go of it, she tried everything she could make this pain go away, but nothing worked. Kaede was no longer thinking about the pain Ibuki was going through, instead memories of her own hanging reemerged. Kaede took deep breaths to calm herself down.

'Screw this,' Kaede thought to herself. 'I…I should get some breakfast. That should calm me down.'

Kaede got into a new change of clothes and made her way to the cafeteria.

'I haven't felt like that in like a week,' Kaede thought while clearing her throat. 'I thought I was done with it. I need something to distract myself today.'

Kaede stepped through the cafeteria door, but that's when everything worse. There was already someone in the room. The person that had been taken away the previous night, Ibuki Mioda. Kaede's eyes widened, and she dashed over to her, grabbing onto her arms.

"Ibuki!" Kaede shouted out loud. "Are you-"

Before Kaede could finish her question, she was able to take a proper look at the rocker. Ibuki was a still as a statue and she had a slight slump to her posture. Ibuki's two hair horns had been undone, creating long bangs that covered her face much like a ghost from a Japanese horror film. Kaede brushed her friend's hair to the side, revealing how…lifeless Ibuki look. Her eyelids were droopy, just barely showing her eyes. Despite the fact they were open, Ibuki's eyes lacked any light in them and her gaze was on nothing. It was just empty. Then the worst part were the scars at the center of her forehead. They were two, small, black dots.

Kaede released her hold on Ibuki and covered her mouth in horror. Her heavy breathing and sore throat reemerged as tears poured from her eyes. Other students soon filed into the cafeteria, stopping just like Kaede did upon looking at Ibuki.

"Oh shit," Leon whispered to himself before rushing over to Ibuki's side. "Is she ok?"

"N-no," Kaede whimpered. Tenko rushed over to Kaede's side to comfort her.

"Shit, man," Mondo's fists shook in anger.

"Curse that Monokuma," Taka clenched his fist.

Chiaki stepped through the small crowd surrounding Ibuki. A frown formed across the normally stoic gamer's face before slowly hugging Ibuki. It didn't matter her that Ibuki couldn't respond or even process what was going on. Chiaki just needed to be there for Ibuki. A moment of silence was held for everyone to gather their bearings on the situation.

Eventually, Gonta stepped over to Chiaki's side and pointed to himself. "Gonta…Gonta should feed Ibuki?"

Chiaki let some air out through her nose before releasing her hold on Ibuki. "Yeah…let's get something to eat."

Kirumi stepped over to Gonta to speak. "You should get applesauce or some yogurt for her, Gonta. Ibuki won't be able to chew food properly by herself."

Gonta nodded and made his way into the kitchen. Kirumi took a hold of Ibuki's arm and slowly led her to a seat. As Kirumi sat Ibuki down, Celeste stepped forward and leaned in to inspect Ibuki. She waved her hand in front her and even snapped her fingers right by her ears.

"Monokuma certainly did put her through the ringer," Celeste commented.

"Can you stop that?" Hifumi asked. "She's not some sort of toy!"

"I'm simply seeing how far gone she is," Celeste responded. "I doubt I was the only one curious about that."

"Except we actually care about what happened to her," Hiyoko hissed at Celeste's group.

Peko glanced off to the side. "I care…" she muttered.

"Enough of this," Shinji stood up from his seat. "We are not going to fight again. We have more pressing matters to deal with."

Taka watched as Shinji took control of the room. Despite their shaky relationship, Taka couldn't help but agree with the sentiment. Taka shot up from his seat. "Henso is right! We have to deal with Ibuki's situation, Rantaro, and solving the mystery of the killing games! I suggest we all have some breakfast then discuss our options together!"

Mondo smirked a bit. "Hell yeah, bro!"

With that, the group got up to make themselves their morning meals. Gonta walked past the group with two cups of yogurt in hand and sat himself down next to Ibuki. Feeding someone who was braindead made Gonta a bit anxious. Outside of having to take the effort to open Ibuki's mouth, gently place a spoonful of yogurt into her mouth, then closing it on loop, Gonta really had to pray that Ibuki's body would instinctively swallow her meal. Luckily, no such problems arose while everyone returned to the table with their meals. After around fifteen minutes of eating, the group were ready to discuss.

"The first thing we should settle is who should look after Mioda," Taka said.

Peko raised her hand. "I'm willing to take care of her."

Celeste shook her head. "No."

Peko turned her attention towards her current retainer, her eyes widened. "What? Why not?"

"You'll be far too preoccupied with me to help Ibuki," Celeste explained. "And, clearly, assisting Ibuki will be a full-time commitment."

Peko frowned. "But…"

"Can't you just let her help her friend?" Keebo asked the gambler.

"I'm well aware I'm not well liked amongst most of you," Celeste explained. "And if any of you decided turn that hate into an attempt on my life, I'd like to have my bodyguard with me."

"Then maybe I can?" Kaede raised her hand. "I've got plenty of time on my hands. Plus, I can easily make some room for her in my dorm."

"I don't see anyone having a problem with that," Chiaki said.

"Gonta still help if Kaede wants," Gonta spoke up.

Kaede smiled at her giant friend. "Of course, Gonta!"

"Great!" Taka cheered. "Akamatsu and Gokuhara will take care of Mioda until we can find a way to return her to normal!"

"Wait, what?" Mahiru asked. "Do you not know how a lobotomy works?! You can't just undo it!"

"But Monokuma said that he could," Taka said.

"He was probably lying about that, dude," Leon said.

"He wasn't," Celeste spoke up. "His lies are obvious. They're often stated in the middle of his jokes or followed up with some sort of sarcastic comment making fun of it."

"So, we can save her?" Chihiro asked.

Celeste sighed. "We can…only by following the motive. Which is why I'll make one final proposal. Simply have one of ourselves kill themselves and-"

"For the last time, you stupid goth!" Hiyoko shouted. "We're not following your stupid plan!"

"Why not?" Celeste asked. "Let's say we force Rantaro to kill himself. We get avenge Nekomaru and Kaito's deaths, we get to continue our investigation, and we restore Ibuki. We get nothing but befits by doing this."

Angie placed her hand on Hiyoko's shoulder. "While Hiyoko's words may have been harsher than needed, she is corrected. Killing is a disgraceful action, an insult to the very life Atua provides for us."

"So, Atua would rather us standby and allow the bard to suffer?" Gundham smirked. "Your measly god must not be all powerful then."

"Y-you kept your mouth shut, Mr. Tanaka!" Hifumi growled. "I won't let you blaspheme the great Atua!"

"Can we not get into this fucking argument again?" Miu rolled her eyes. "We're trying to deal with a retard here, not your retarded religion!"

"Watch your fucking mouth, chick!" Mondo cracked his knuckles.

"Ny-nyeeeek!" Miu screeched. "I-I'm just trying t-to get back on topic. Don't c-corner me with your….big, strong arms…"

"Oh, the images that's bringing up," Teruteru licked his lips.

Ryoma facepalmed. "Not this crap again…"

"Can't any of you focus on the topic?" Shinji asked.

"I'm focusing," Nagito said.

"And yet you haven't said anything useful since we got here," Mukuro responded.

"Is this seriously how all of you guys been acting since you got here?" Keebo asked, irritation lingering in his voice.

The entire group broke out into a bickering match. Not an argument. An argument would involve everyone bringing up reasonable points of discussion. Bickering is everyone tossing petty insults towards one another. The original point of discussion was getting lost. Desperate to get everyone's attention, Sayaka stood up from her chair and shouted.

"SHUT UP!"

Everyone at the table went silent and turned their attention to the pop idol. Realizing how harsh she sounded, Sayaka sat back down, cleared her throat, and bowed her head.

"I'm sorry, but I just really needed to say something," Sayaka said. "I…I'm not saying that we should go along with Celeste's plan, but she does have a point. Monokuma is really the only one here that has any chance of undoing Ibuki's lobotomy. He said it himself; he brought us all back to life."

"Plus, there are other oddities here," Chiaki said. "Like myself…I think."

Taka placed his fist against his chin as he pondered until an idea came to him. "Wait a moment! We're not out of options! We still have Tsumiki! Perhaps, she can come to a solution! She is the Ultimate Nurse after all!"

Everyone at the table looked towards each other, not sharing in Taka's confidence.

Shinji blew air through his nose. "Well, it's our best option at the moment."

"Where is she anyway?" Chihiro asked. "I didn't see her at all yesterday."

"I did for a bit," Sayaka said. "She…isn't taking things well with Rantaro."

"Figured as much," Mondo said before standing up. "Might as well check on her."

The rest of the student body rose from their seats and exited the cafeteria.

It took around two minutes for everyone who was at the morning meeting to reconvene by Mikan's door. Taka knocked lightly on the nurse's door, which resulted the door creaking open, exposing a pitch-black darkness that laid inside.

"What the hell?" Mondo said as he pushed his way into Mikan's room and then flicked on the light switch.

With the room illuminated, everyone saw that Mikan had left it in shambles. Pillows, blankets, and bedsheets tossed and scattered across the floor, all the drawers pulled out from the shelves, and various medical tools scattered into the floor. Only some of the group was able to step inside, and they had to be careful with where they placed their feet to avoid tripping and injuring themselves.

"Damn, didn't think she'd be taking things that bad," Miu commented.

"Was she attacked?!" Kaede asked.

"This doesn't look like a fight took place," Sakura answered as she examined the room. "It looks as if Mikan did it herself."

Teruteru knelt down next to a pile of clothes. "Maybe she was just looking for something."

"This isn't a sign of someone who lost something," Chiaki said. "She must've had some sort of panic attack…I think…"

Sayaka stayed out in the hall, but still peered through the doorway to survey the area. As she pondered over what could've happened, her eyes widened. She slipped by the rest of crowd before making a dash back to her room.

Despite how little room he had to maneuver his feet, Rantaro was able to tap his foot against the walls of his cell. The way each tap would create a metallic echo would surround him was pretty much the only form of entertainment he had. It certainly kept him busy while left alone in Sayaka's room. As he raised his foot back up to repeat the process, he heard the sound of the main door creaking open. Rantaro smiled as he held onto his growling stomach.

"Ah, you're back, Sayaka," Rantaro spoke up as the sound of footsteps grew closer. "I hope you ate well."

As the footsteps closed in on Rantaro's location, he noticed how he didn't hear any responses. Clearly, it wasn't Sayaka that was in the room with him. He could think of only one other person that would bother to visit him.

"Hey, Mikan," he said.

Rantaro could see the nurse stop in front of him through the cell bars, however he noticed a change of her demeanor. Instead of being hunched over and fidgeting with her fingers, she stood tall and her fists clenched. Before he could ask anything, Mikan knelt down next to cell. Rantaro could hear the lock to the cell door rattling and banging against wall which was then followed by a loud thud. For the first time in several days, Rantaro's cell was opened, but it wasn't as appealing as he hoped it'd be. He was face to face with Mikan, who had a wicked smile across her face, black spirals in her eyes, and even messier hair.

"Hello…lover boy," Mikan said with a sinister yet seductive tone.

Rantaro raised an eyebrow. "Wha-"

Mikan grabbed onto Rantaro's collar and yanked him out of his cell. "Be a good boy and keep quiet."

"M-Mikan, what's gotten into you?" Rantaro asked with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Do you want me to cut you?" Mikan asked before pulling out a scalpel and holding it just a centimeter away from his throat.

Rantaro would've normally been terrified by such a threat, but he was far too preoccupied by figuring out what had caused Mikan's sudden change. That's when it hit him.

"Wait…Mikan, you didn't use those trigger words, did you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Mikan giggled as her face went red. "I was so miserable after what you did…but now? Now I love it! You aren't afraid of killing anyone in your way! And you certainly found ways of making that…weak me feel all tingly."

"Mikan, you didn't have to do this…"

Mikan furrowed her eyebrows. "No. I did."

The nurse began to drag Rantaro behind her, almost tearing the collar of his shirt off. Before she could leave with her hostage, Sayaka's door was swung open by Sayaka herself. Mikan immediately held Rantaro in front of herself and placed the scalpel against his neck.

"Stay back, idol slut!" Mikan shouted.

"What is going on?!" Sayaka shouted back.

The sudden shouting gathered the attention of the rest of the student body, and they surrounded Sayaka's doorway. The sight of the crazed Mikan threw everyone into a panic.

"The fuck happened?!" Miu screamed.

"Did you do this to her, Rantaro?!" Mahiru immediately accused the lime-haired boy.

"N-no, not at all!" Rantaro proclaimed.

Mikan let out a manic giggle. "I did it to myself. Hehehehehehe." She glared at Hiyoko. "So, no more getting called names!" She then glared at Rantaro. "No more being tricked!" She finally turned her attention to the rest of the class. "No more weak me!"

Sakura and Peko took a step forward, ready to incapacitate Mikan, but the nurse held pressed the scalpel slightly into Rantaro's neck.

"STAY BACK!" Mikan shouted, which both fighters acquiesced to. "I'm in control now! I make the demands!"

Mikan then looked at Sayaka. "You still have that master key, don't you? You're going to give it to me."

"What?" Sayaka gasped.

Mikan dragged Rantaro along with her as she stepped towards the pop idol. "I want to get into my beloved's room. You got the only way in. Give it to me."

Seeing the blood dripping out of the side of Rantaro's neck, Sayaka reached into her skirt pocket. However, before Sayaka could put on the key, Celeste snatched onto the idol's wrist, keeping her in place. Mikan's grip on her scalpel tightened.

"I'll kill him," Mikan threatened.

"And?" Celeste smiled. "Killing him only results in your own death."

Angie stepped forward. "You have no plan, no? You are letting your anger confuse you."

"Shut up," Mikan said.

"Your devotion to Junko is self-destructive," Angie continued.

"Shut up!"

Angie smiled as she held her arms out. "Reject her, Mikan. You know she never truly loved you."

Mikan paused for a moment, but she was far from simmering down. Memories from her weaker-self began to flash through her mind, of her crying from constant betrayals and her understanding that the ones she loved were toxic. As she pondered over her actions, she noticed both Sakura and Peko sneaking through the crowd. Mikan took a step backward and pushed the scalpel deeper into Rantaro's neck.

"Nice try, but I know you guys are just tricking me," Mikan said before shooting glances at both Sakura and Peko. Both of the girls paused in their footsteps. "You might not care about murder, Celeste, but the rest of these…vermin? No, no, they want to play the "virtuous" heroes. So, either you let me go or I'll kill him."

Celeste remained where she stood, however no one else shared her confidence and they all stepped to the side, creating a path for Mikan to move through. As Mikan began pass through the group, she held her hand out towards Sayaka.

"Keys, now!" Mikan demanded.

'I can't give her the key,' Sayaka thought to herself. 'She says she just wants to go to Junko's room, but that could be a lie…Would…letting Rantaro die be the right decision?'

As Sayaka weighted her options, Rantaro looked into Sayaka's eyes. "Sayaka, just give it to her."

"What?" Sayaka asked.

"I know it's a big ask, but I need you to trust me on this," Rantaro said. "Please, give her your key."

Sayaka was puzzled for a moment, but her face quickly softened. She reached into her skirt pocket, fumbling around inside it for a few seconds before pulling out her key and dropping it into Mikan's hand.

The nurse grinned wickedly. "Good girl. Maybe I'll spare you when the time comes."

Mikan giggled like a manic child as she and Rantaro exited the room. Mukuro turned her attention towards Sayaka.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Mukuro spat out with venom in her tone. "Do you have any idea what an Ultimate Despair is capable of?! What if she finds something in Junko's room that can kill us all?!

"She won't be able to get into Junko's room," Sayaka said before pulling out another key from her pocket. "I gave her my room key. I still have the master key."

"Ok, but won't that only keep her busy for like a few seconds?" Mondo asked.

"Yeah, so we kind of need a plan immediate," Tenko said.

"Why can't we just sneak up on her and knock her out?" Leon asked. "That fixed her last time."

"What if that was just dumb luck that worked?" Kaede asked. "I mean, didn't Chiaki's group needed a simulation to fix her brainwashing?"

"Yes, we did," Chiaki said. "But we can still give it a try. It did work after all…I think."

"Very well then," Celeste spoke up. "I shall have Gundham and Peko subdue her."

"I'll join them," Sakura said.

"Me too," Tenko added. "My Neo Aikido has several moves for disarming people."

"No," Celeste said.

"What, why not?!" Hifumi asked. "Miss Tsumiki is dangerous! Outnumbering her is our best option."

"First of all, Sakura still has an injured arm," Celeste listed off. "Secondly, Tenko's far too careless, she could easily provoke Mikan into killing Rantaro. Finally, I've officially lost confidence in any of you in handling any life-threatening situations."

"Hey!" Mahiru placed her hands on her hips. "Weren't you the one willing to let Rantaro die just to keep investigating?!"

"Yes, I was. Yet, that's an actual solution. None of you have offered any alternatives. None of you are willing to act. You're all comfortable sitting aside while your ideas of a functional group fall apart and let murders happen or cults to form. Clearly, the only way any of us will survive is by following me."

Celeste folded her hands together and smiled politely. "Any objections?"

Everyone in the room was silent.

Celeste's smile grew. "Good. Now, Gundham, Peko, deal with Mikan."

Gundham bowed his head. "I'll shall vanquish this devil with ease, Witch."

Peko bowed her head as well, but didn't speak. The two dark students exited the room. Sensing the power dynamic shifting, Angie knelt down next to Teruteru.

"Go with them," Angie whispered.

"A-are you sure?" Teruteru asked. "I'm more of a lover than a fighter."

"But you are cunning," Angie patted the chef on the back. "And your size will make you easy to miss."

"Hmmm," Teruteru stroked his chin. "Fair enough. I won't let you down, Angie."

"I know you won't," Angie said before planting a kiss on the chef's forehead.

A kiss! Especially from an attractive woman like Angie? That was enough to light a fire under Teruteru and he immediately dashed out of the room, which Celeste surprisingly allowed. The gambler turned her attention to Miu.

"It's safe to say we'll need another cell for Mikan to stay in," Celeste said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm already on it," Miu said as she dragged Nagito out of the room.

"And while we're dealing with loose ends, we shouldn't let Kokichi run around free anymore, can we send a group to catch him?" Celeste asked.

"I'll get the little shit," Mondo said.

"Me too!" Tenko said. "If Kokichi tries anything, I use my Neo Aikido to stop him!"

Both Mondo and Tenko exited the room.

This left the rest of the group to face an unfortunate truth. In just a matter of moments, Celeste single-handedly took control of the group and made decisions to solve their problems efficiently. As awful as she was, Celeste was smart. And the worst part was that she knew it. The gambler sat herself down on Sayaka's bed and smirked.

"In just a few minutes, you'll all see how much can be done when you follow me," Celeste said.

Most of the group felt a chill run up their spines. However, both Angie and Chiaki simply stared at the gothic girl, already planning ways to get back at her.

Nagito was hard at work setting up three iron walls for a new cell. Doing it by himself was less than glamorous as each time he thought he had a wall straight up, it would fall on him as he turned his back. Again and again, the slabs of iron smacked his back, which only made following attempts to set the walls up slower and more painful. Why wouldn't Miu help him on her project? Why, because she was busy sitting at her security network, rewinding footage from the previous day. Nagito was curious as to what Miu was up to, so he tilted his head a bit to peak over her shoulder. However, taking his eyes off his work allowed all three of the iron walls to crash down onto the lucky student.

"Can you keep it down, Nagicuck?" Miu asked. "I'm trying to focus here."

"Sorry, Miu," Nagito let out a polite chuckle as he pushed himself out of the rubble. "But it's a bit difficult to…do this by myself."

"Eh, you'll be fine," Miu waved her hand nonchalantly.

Nagito was eventually able pick himself back up onto his feet and lumbered over to Miu's seat. "What are you doing anyway?"

"I'm looking through security footage from yesterday. You see, that monochrome fuckwit said something the other day that really got me thinking."

Nagito rubbed his chin as he thought back to what Monokuma said. "He said…something about a little birdy telling him about Ibuki smashing a guitar."

"Yeah, that," Miu said as her eyes began to dart across the various camera angles across three different floors of the school. "I tell ya, this is a real pain in the ass."

"Maybe…right before we got into the auditorium? That would explain why he'd announce it then rather than any earlier?"

"Yeah, but we were all basically together the whole day. Even when we went to the locker rooms to change, no one would have a chance to be alone."

Nagito shrugged. "I think it'd still be worth a shot."

Miu blew air through her nose. "Fucking fine, I'll check."

Miu fast-forwarded through the footage in the locker rooms, starting with the men's. It was difficult for her to refrain from making any lewd comments about seeing shirtless men, most of them in good shape, drying off their wet bodies, taking off their swimsuits, and seeing very private things. But Miu had to remain focused. There was more at stake than getting her rocks off. Yet, naked men changing was the only thing of note in the footage, with it ending with all of them exiting the room one after the other.

The women's locker room footage wasn't any different…at first. Plenty of attractive women, all of them joking around, drying themselves off, and changing. The one person who seemed to be separating herself from the rest of the group was Angie. She had sat herself off in a corner, staring at Hiyoko who had been chatting with Mahiru as they changed. Angie didn't look mad, scared, sad, nothing. She looked empty as she watched them. As all the ladies got dressed and exited the room, Angie was at the end of the line and paused when she was all alone. After peaking her head out, she stepped back to the center of the room and locked upward, shouting something. That's when Monokuma jumped out of one the lockers to face off with her.

Miu leaned back in her seat. "Well, I'll be a shit covered dick…"

This took a few rewrites to get right. Maybe I am having trouble with all the moving pieces after all. Sorry. I'm honestly starting to annoy myself with how at odds everyone is with each other. I know murder mysteries/horror stories kind of rely on character stupidity to keep the ball rolling, but I've been trying my hardest to avoid that as much as a I can for this. I'm sure Chapter 4 will slow things down for these poor kids.

Also, in case anyone asks how did Mikan unlock Rantaro's cell, paperclips as lock picks. Rantaro also understood Sayaka's intuition and allowed her to come up with giving Mikan the wrong key. I'm trying to get back to other character arcs. Bringing back Kaede's trauma from her hanging, Keebo's slowing losing his patience with the group as opposed to doing...nothing so far, sorry about that. I'm so ready to give Gonta something to do, I just need to know what.

The scene I'm most proud of in this chapter was Ibuki's scene, which is a shame since it was made too short. But seeing her as an almost zombie after her being taken "off scene" is so creepy and sad. I'm also glad that plot point stung. Danganronpa should sting a bit.

I can't think of anything else to say, so have a good day. Keep commenting and sharing. Have a good St. Valentine's day or Valentine's day of you're a heathen! JK