lore-a-lie

[lore-a-lie]

hey im not trying to pressure you/rush you but i was wondering if you were still writing this or if it was abandoned or? i really like it!!

I’m still working on it! Just been going through a rough patch lately due to health issues. I’m really glad you’ve been enjoying it as much as you have, and I’m very grateful you and others have been as patient with me as you have been. Especially if silence on my end has caused any concerns with this abandonment talk. I’m hoping to have the next chapter done soon! Maybe giving myself a firm deadline would help get back in the swing of things since injury messed up the once-per-month update plan so badly. So, I’ll have the next chapter out this Friday like I used to do! Or barring that, have at least had it ready for beta-ing on Friday so it won’t be out any later than next Monday. If it is out Friday still expect another Ao3 update on that Monday, if not with a bonus chapter than at least to give an idea of how things are going.

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 11: Divining Revolutions

CLASS TRIAL- RESUME

As Kaede gave her silent approval Angie took the moment to meditate before responding in kind. Not that she wouldn’t be willing to lead the cross-examination thingies, even if she wasn’t as familiar with how to really do so.

And it was comforting to see Kaede’s earlier attempt to give up her position of authority was genuine. Or if not, that it was able to become genuine for this moment at the very least.

But still, it wasn’t Angie’s place to make such a call just yet. There was a reason she tried not to be so compelling during these debates. If Atua saw no need for her to act, who was she to act against Him?

Awwright Sugah, ‘Tis the Time to Start Speaking Thy Piece. Ain’t None of Thy Allies Willin’ an’ Able to Surpass the Impasse as Thy art to Bring this Shindig to its Most Unrighteous of Conclusions.

And with that command His Prophet gave the pitiful pianist the acknowledgement she sought. She gave a bright and possibly too eager (or too quick) nod in reply, as Angie tried to see what He needed of her.

The most obvious thing to do is make Kiyo stop being stupid. But Kiyo really liked being stupid, and has never not wanted to talk this much, so that will be tough. Second most obvious is to get Tenko to shed more light on how she could have possibly missed the demon’s attempt to attack him or what happened.

I don’t think my involvement there matters until we clear that up, I only saw the tail end of it. So me talking about it now might just make things even more messy, and harder for everyone else to follow.

But maybe being so obvious was the problem. Maybe Kaede was right to try and bring things back to Ryoma.

“Hey-hey, Tenko? You said Ryoma was okay with you and Sissy-Cersei’s “replace Kiyo” plan right?” Angie asked, with a vague sketch in her mind of what she needed to do.

“Y-yeah. What about it?”

“Was he really okay with you being involved with it?” Angie tilted herself at an angle, to see if it would help her catch any small details or help catch Tenko off-guard. Not that it ever really worked on Tenko (or anyone here really) before, but it was also just fun to see if anyone would react period.

“Why wouldn’t he be?” Tenko tried to ask, to brush Angie’s oddities off as if it was just her being silly. But Kokichi saw through it, like the ridiculous over-thinker was prone to doing even if he was wrong.

“Well gee Tenko, I don’t know.” Kokichi drawled, and Tenko immediately started to cringe. And not in her normal “Ew-why-is-this-pest-known-as-a-male-trying-to-speak-to-me-can-I-kill-it” Tenko cringe-face. The “Oh-no-I-didn’t-think-this-through” type of cringey-face as he tauntly pulled apart her bluff. “Why on earth would the guy who offered to die immediately when put in a murder game to help buy the rest of us time have a problem with a strong, justice-loving, “innocent” girl like yourself trying to get away with “technically” murdering a man? As opposed to say… Offering to take your place in this plan?”

“Wait. What would Tenko’s place in the plan even have been?” Kaito asked.

“Well, it doesn’t make sense for Cersei to use Kiyo’s avatar, since hers and his look so similar.” Kaede started to explain in her teacher-y sorta way she’d do sometimes. “So maybe the plan was for Tenko to use the outdated Kiyo avatar? Like if they were supposed to switch so it was actually his sister who was the “Tenko” Gonta was with when looking for “Cersei”?”

“WHAT?! But that unpossible! Gonta make super sure it was Mini-Tenko that Mini-Gonta was with!”

“Try to think of it like why I was a suspect in the first trial, Gonta. Remember how I was accused because I’m good at dressing up as people? Kaede thinks that they wanted to dress up as each other to trick you.” Tsumugi simplified the situation as best she could, even hand talking to a degree in hopes of helping for once. “But they didn’t! So it IS impossible in that it didn’t happen. But Kokichi’s trying to say that maybe when you and Tenko were looking for “sister” in the woods, that was really Ryoma. Or something like that, I think?”

“So the body by the river could have been Ryoma’s? And we just didn’t see Kiyo’s sister at all before we left?”

“I mean, it’s not like we thought to check if saying anyone’s names would have logged that body out. So it could have been, since we assumed Ryoma was last seen headed to the mansion to leave the sim. Kibo could have seen him heading to the wardrobe instead or something like that.” Kaito suggested.

“Kiyo’s sister would need to be alive then right?” Kibo asked with concern, and hissed at Kokichi to shut it when he started being technical about her “living” status again to continue. But in a twist he looked to their judge. “Monokuma, would it be possible to bring up the simulation’s log? It’s not really “fair” you didn’t give me a chance to check it before the trial in hindsight. I want to see if Kiyo had to log his sister out before he could leave.”

“What, and make this mystery easier for you? Not a chance, this is waaay more interesting! I believe in you~” The bear mocked him with a laugh, and Angie amazed herself once again at her ability to refrain from flipping him off. Even if it meant no one would, with Kokichi not being the right sort of vulgar and Kaito being the wrong sort of immature to fill the void Miu would have gladly filled.

One of many voids Miu would have gladly filled come to think of it! Nya-ha-ha~ I hope she’s watching us with a smile and sassy commentary, wherever she is. And giving this bear the bird he’s asking for. No matter how much it would make Shuichi squirm or Kirumi needed to chide her for it.

I wonder if Rantaro and Himiko are getting along? They’re both laid back people. Or the way we knew them they were. I’m sure no matter what state Ryoma’s in from this that Maki’s already by his side!

I wonder if they appreciate seeing me pray for them so often, even if I was mean to them when they were still with us? Or I’m making them laugh, seeing what I do as being silly or stupid despite my intentions?

… Prophet, the Trials Ya’ll are Still Facing are a Bit Mo’ Important at Present, Are They Not?

RIGHT. Whoopsie-daisy~ Thank you, O’ great and wise Atua for Your divine inspiration!

Snapping out of her trance that was most definitely not a nap, Angie made sure she looked as attentive as she could as she checked to see where the conversation was at.

“-So you think Ryoma wanted to get Kiyo and Angie out of the church to give them an opportunity to perform a kill-and-switch?” She heard Kaito say.

“No, he didn’t want me involved at all. And Ryoma didn’t seem too keen on actually seeing if Cerci would be safe on her own. You know how he can get. The only switching he would have wanted to try was using Kiyo’s appearance to get close to either sibling to see if they could be killed, and then pretend to be the dead one to repeat the process on whoever was left.”

“So you think he was just trying to take a chance to go after either of them?” Kaede asked Tenko.

“Yeah, but it’s not like it sounds like he made contact if Cerci never died! I mean Kiyo said his sister spoke to him when she attacked him, and avatar switching wouldn’t change Ryoma’s voice, right?”

“Right. If they could, we never would have realized Kiyo’s sister was a person instead of an illness.” Kibo agreed.

“We don’t know that she isn’t-” Tsumugi tried to point out, only to be cut off by an offended Tenko trying to keep the point of discussion to the forefront.

“That doesn’t change the core point here!”

“The point that relies on Kiyo being honest? ‘Cause that’s a pretty shitty one to bet our lives on.” Kokichi prodded again, trying and failing to get Kiyo to lash out.

And that was still a problem Angie wasn’t sure how to solve yet.

She knew his sister was still in there, and she thought everyone else did too enough for him to stop being so cagey about her presence. But for once that “edgy” zipper on his face suited how tight lipped he was.

He must have noticed how she kept looking at it too, as Kiyo narrowed his eyes at her and leaned more to Tsumugi’s side. Like he half-expected Angie to try and leap over the boundary between them to yank it open. Which probably would get him to at least say something, but Angie figured getting a human reaction out of him probably wouldn’t lead to a useful one. (But it’s something I can try later I guess!)

So she was left trying to sort out how Ryoma fit in. “Tenko, how do you know Ryoma wasn’t just going to go along with your plan?” Angie slapped her hands to her cheeks in shock, “Could it be Tenko already knew it wouldn’t work because Kore is evil? How mature of you!”

“Hey!” The whine came as expected, “I’m already plenty mature! I know because Ryoma told me so. He thought it’d be safer to kill both of them, but even if he didn’t-” Tenko cut herself off as she started to rub at her arm while looking down with a look of shocked realization.

“If he didn’t?” Kaito anxiously repeated to urge her on.

“If he didn’t get them both then he said he’d still confess if there was a trial.” She numbly repeated, barely blinking despite the tears Angie could see starting to well at the corners of her eyes. But when Tenko got ahold of herself she shook them off and desperately looked to Kaito. “But he wouldn’t have actually meant that, right?! He… I thought you and Kaede were helping him through that stuff! And this couldn’t have been… THAT, right? So we wouldn’t be forced to watch him suffer for my stupid idea?”

“Of course not!” Kaede said seemingly in spite of herself. Perhaps more a reflection of her hopes than their reality. “If he did that wouldn’t explain his cause of death or being found in the pool. We already established that!” (Ah, good point. That does reflect our reality pretty well… Maybe that’s the problem!)

We’re focusing on our reality, when we should be testing Kibo’s reality! He should have some idea of what could “kill” in the sim, even if he hasn't said so yet. And he was there for the wardrobe stuff to some extent from the sounds of things. But I don’t want to spook him, so he doesn’t get stage fright.

“Wait… Kibo, how much of this did you know?” Angie asked with a cutesy and quirky tilt of her head with her hands in place as if to tighten screws to help her think straighter. “If she and Ryoma talked about this in the virtual world near your wardrobe thingy are you suuure you didn’t overhear something about it?”

“... Enough?” Kibo said, avoiding eye contact with everyone as he twiddled his fingers. “I mean I didn’t know Miss Shinguji was involved in this! And I thought Ryoma’s plan was what Tenko had intended…”

Kibo turned to bow to Kiyo in a near panic, voice shaky and air puffing as if his throat was closing up even though he didn’t breath. “I’m very sorry! I knowingly conspired to help murder your sister, and there’s no excuse for that! I completely understand if you can never forgive me for that. Or if none of you can.”

“I… I was worried she was going to kill someone. I had no idea who or how, so I didn’t know what to do! So I thought that since she was your original motive, that getting rid of her could be to your benefit.

“Seeing how you two were fighting, I wasn’t sure if she was going to kill you and use my program to hide it! I didn’t know Tenko was trying to HELP her do something like that!” He shouted, nearly hysterical. “So when I found that avatar by the river I… I panicked. I got out of the sim, to make sure everyone was okay, and while Kiyo was okay, Ryoma… Ryoma wasn’t.

“I thought he succeeded in killing Miss Shinguji and then chose to kill himself rather than risk being executed or making Kiyo worse. If there was no trial for a “murder” like this Kiyo might have done something drastic to avenge her, or hurt himself so I thought it made sense! And I did something stupid.

“I… moved Ryoma’s body, hoping it’d help make what happened clearer.” Kibo confessed at last, staring so hard at the floor it was like he was testing out a new laser vision feature. “Maybe it was also just me being selfish, trying to hide how people could physically die in my simulation despite my best efforts. I took him to his lab and tossed him into the pool from his window, since I thought paralleling the other murder would make his intentions clearer. I’m so so sorry everyone. I didn’t intend to hurt anyone…”

“And what if you were wrong, huh?!” Kaito snapped at him, making Kibo flinch. “You don’t have proof that’s what happened, and you messing with the crime scene doesn’t help anything! Do you even know how Ryoma “killed himself” in your scenario?!”

“Uhhh…”

“Back off Kaito, Kibo said he panicked so it’s plainly obvious he wasn’t thinking straight! I mean who could in a situation like that?” Tsumugi snapped back, taking some pressure off of the robotic boy.

“How exactly did he “die” in your Oh-so-safe virtual world anyway, Keeboy?” Kokichi drawled, but there was a vindictive glint to his eyes and his smug smile was all teeth. “You know something we don’t?”

“I… I mean, he could have taken one of Shuichi’s poisons-”

“BBBZT! Wrong, try again!” Kokichi interrupted with a raspberry in place of an incorrect buzzer, getting more manic in his malice. “Kaito and I were in Shuichi’s lab when the Monokuma file says he died, and I made sure all those poisons are accounted for every time I visit! If he swiped one earlier I’d know.”

The Child Panics, Guilt Turns To Fury, Fanned by Failure and Fear. The One with False Leadership Would Claim Responsibility for This Crime an’ all Crimes Previous if They Only Could. Thy Needst No Reminder of Where They Fall Short. Each Night the Denied Truths Return, The Worst Plague of All.

Ummm, I think you used “Thy” wrong there?

An uncanny echo of silence resounded in Angie’s head, the type that would normally mean Atua had fallen asleep again. But it turned out to be but a pause as she heard His wondrous words return to her.

Ah... My B. I Grant Thee My Most Sincerest of Apologies, Sunspot. Perhaps ‘tis the Sound of Sleep Beckoning Me to Her Bodacious Bosom Once More that Distractith Me So.

“Distractith”? Now you’re just teasing me, there’s no way you used that right!

“Fine! Yes, he died in the simulation but I don’t know how!” Kibo broke down. “There shouldn’t have been any way for him to prematurally sever the connection between his mind and his body. But he was brain dead so it must have happened somehow. I’m not sure if he did it on purpose, or if he had help-”

“Wait,” Kaito said to pause the panicking robot. “Let’s just narrow down what could cause that then, okay? I mean we know where his avatar was found in the simulation, so that can help. Just because he died in there doesn’t make you the killer, so no need to freak out. Just be honest with us! No more lies.”

“So you think the river might be part of it? But he didn’t drown or suffocate.” Kaede pointed out.

“Maybe it like how Mini-Gonta gets scared at the Low-ding Point? Is that what being “brain dead” like? Like sleeping without dreams?” Gonta suggested with a shutter at the thought.

“Maybe!” Tsumugi replied, and put her nerdy knowledge to good use. “Video games would often have water act as boundaries by making you die or respawn if you touch it. Were there any rules like that, Kibo?”

“I… I don’t know.” He quietly said. “I never checked, I never considered anyone going for a swim. I mean even when we have a pool no one really uses it, so I didn’t think there would be any interest.”

… Oh. I get it now. That’s what You’re sorry about.

It’s not Your fault! You were asleep at the time.

But her words sounded like they fell on deaf ears as the void Atua used to be in gave her no comfort.

Angie wasn’t sure if she should share her findings just yet though. It’d be more convincing if she could get Kiyo to lead the others to it first, since he also saw what happened, but she wasn’t sure how to get him to work with her. He seemed far too content with taking the blame for this case, and it rattled her.

They both knew if he was found guilty it would only get him and everyone else who was innocent killed.

If he still wanted to die there were easier ways to do it! Ways that wouldn’t hurt anyone else physically.

I’m not really sure how I would take it emotionally though. I mean, am I to blame for this any? I don’t think I am, I think he enjoys making me mad and how I try to get back at him. He’s annoying like that.

Still, Kaito wants us to help him and Atua agrees with that! Even if Kiyo’s such an ignorant know-it-all.

Is he trying to die like this to save the blackened? To repay them for interfering in Ryoma’s attempt to kill him? Or is this just so he makes sure that even though his “Sister” isn’t real he still makes 100 friends for her? I mean it sounds like he’s close enough that three “admirable” girls would more than met his goal.

Assuming the mastermind isn’t a girl I mean. Technically they’d survive in that case too, wouldn’t they?

If our lives are in real danger, despite what we’ve seen before, how can he accept letting THEM survive?!

Maybe I can use that to talk some sense into him!

“Kiyo, are you sure you heard your sis speak to you when you saw her on the bridge?” Angie tried as a direct question, one he might be more open to answering now. “Or any chance that was Ryoma who was trying to harass you? Or someone else? ‘Cause I know what I saw, but I didn’t hear anyone say anything.”

“... I hardly see why it would change anything,” he muttered. “Even if she didn’t say them aloud we’ve proven her intent and that of my assaulter is one and the same, yes?”

“What happened after the fight?” Kokichi prodded and Angie winced at how blunt he was being. She could tell he was trying to use his tell-y trick again, but with Kiyo like this what good would it be?

But despite her concerns he did confirm some of their friends’ assumptions. Just not in a helpful way.

“She fell in the river. Clearly that much should seem obvious at this point.”

“Did she now? Or was she pushed?” Kokichi pushed again, before Angie could butt in.

This time Kiyo acted more like she was expecting, and only gave a bitter shrug. “Who can say?”

“Come on, out with it!” Kaito snapped.

“And why should I? To what benefit is there? Is it not enough to merely narrow down suspects?”

“Have you really lost it?!” Tenko shouted. “We’ll all die if we get this wrong!”

“As will we all, in due time-”

“Well, what are you being so cagey for then?” Angie asked with a forced brightness in hopes of putting him off guard and cut to the chase. “Do you really want the mastermind to win?”

And while it didn’t work he had no answer for her, which gave her enough satisfaction.

“That’s what’ll happen, won’t it? We all die but the blackened and the mastermind? The killing game will only ever end with two survivors, right?” She continued to needle, and Monokuma began to act like he was getting hot under the collar at her questioning. Despite the whole not having a collar thing.

“No comment!”

“Huh, huh? Who asked you? I was obviously talking to Kiyo, silly!”

Tsumugi giggled a bit at that, probably a case of nerves giving her the flutterbugs, which got some others to laugh between her ensuing embarrassment and Monokuma’s indignation. Still, the levity helped raise Angie’s spirit a little, in light of what Kiyo was showing she would need to reveal.

But Tenko cut in before she had the chance.

“Stop trying to deny what you did then, you degenerate! We know you killed him, and we know that while you want to die, She doesn’t! It doesn’t matter if it was self-defense, or mistaken identity, or anything else! You’re not going to go sliding on another loophole, you murderer!” Her ranting was so non-stop that even Kaede couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

And as she watched her friend try to make her case against Kiyo, without any regard to the other voices trying to be heard in her misplaced fury, Angie felt something not unlike Atua’s artistic urges.

The Ultimate Artist could see it. A lovely set of armor that could reflect the soul of the Ultimate Aikido Master, as ill fitting and out of place such a garment was for the martial art. But for Neo-Aikido it’d work just fine, and invoking the style of the Samurai would be done in the spirit of the great Tomoe.

Such a warrioress deserved nothing less than an armor that would reflect her heart of hearts. And Tenko herself warranted feeling not like a princess as Tsumugi had tried, but a queen ever at the ready to strike.

Layers of lacquered wood and pristine porcelain, woven with leather into skirts for the light flexibility western metal armor could never match. Each strip made the shade of sweet sakura petals so light that the girlish pink would be nearly wedding white under the rising sun. An ill omen for any man who tried to wed her, but their foolish blood would turn it a lucky and evil-banishing crimson soon enough.

Not that it was like the martial artist to seek marital bliss. Her bliss came in simpler, smaller forms daily. But if Angie could make this even half as beautiful as what Atua was proposing, Tenko would adore it.

Still, she tried to will the beautiful image away, before she could get lost in details she would never be able to bring to life. If she didn’t stop now, before the issues of a masked helm could arise, she might not manage to later. It hurt to ignore such god-given artistry that could bring such joy to one close to her.

It was one of many things she’d never be able to do with Tenko again when all was said and done.

There’s only one way to stop this. This must be why Atua’s been so quiet aside from this last vision.

He must be so ashamed of me. I should have realized it sooner.

“So how can you say for sure the degenerate isn’t our real culprit Angie?!”

Four little words is all it should take.

“BECAUSE”

But it’s okay!

“I”

I can do this!

“PUSHED”

I’m sorry Tenko.

“HIM!”

Angie had to take a moment to regain control of her breathing after making that dreaded confession. But at least all of her friends should be safe now. If only from the fate she needs to face for the time being.

“I saw him try to attack Kiyo on the bridge. I didn’t know it was Ryoma, I just saw Kiyo’s Sister picking on him so I wanted to help and it looked like things were getting dangerous! So I snuck up on her, err him, and poked not-Kore’s back to pause them. But Kiyo wouldn’t move, he musta been in shock or somethin’,  and I couldn’t move Kiyo off of the dumb narrow bridge to somewhere safer and keep Kore paused!”

“So you pushed her off the bridge, to keep her away from Kiyo?” Kaede pressed, but thankfully her eyes were understanding. There were no bitter feelings to be found in them, only the pain of true sympathy.

“Yeah! I thought the river’s current would make sure whatever shore she swam to would be far enough away to either get help or snap Kiyo out of it! It’s not like she hurt him yet as far as I could tell, but still...”

“You didn’t know we can’t swim in Kibo’s world.” Kaito numbly supplied as his features at last softened with this final closure. “Ryoma fell out of bounds, breaking the mental connection, and you had no idea.”

“Yes! Angie thought it was harmless! Everyone where she’s from are super good swimmers, she didn’t-” Angie caught herself and tried to slow herself so she could be as clear as possible. So there was no doubts about her words, and her reasons wouldn’t change the truth they had all suffered for. “I didn’t think there was any reason why a river that narrow would be dangerous. Kibo did such a divine job making everything there safe! Atua thought he covered everything. I forgot it could be deadly.”

And with the painful truth laid bare Angie took another look to her friends, trying to gauge their reactions. It didn’t surprise her to see Kokichi held no pity for her, only frustration. She knew his qualms with murder, and he had heard her suggest reviving the dead as sacrifices, firmly setting him against her.

It’s surprising how much more hollow this feels than what I expected getting someone killed would be back then. Maybe this is meant to be a sign Ryoma really isn’t dead! Or maybe that’s wishful thinking.

The others looked at her with different levels of somber airs and hurt understanding. Though Kiyo seemed shocked enough by her willingness to confess that even with his mask he appeared slack-jawed.

And that slack was all the give his mental parasite needed to claw the mask away, giving Angie a second witness if any wanted to argue against her unwitting guilt. Because while Kiyo may have still had a death wish, setting his objective against their own, Kore made it clear she was a very different story.

“It’s true! I’m sick of being considered “dead” or accused of things I know nothing about!” The banshee screeched. “I never saw Kiyo on any bridge, and I only spoke to him after he logged us both out!

“I wasn’t even in the mansion when he did it! It was extremely rude of him, not like my Korekiyo at all.” She snorted as she crossed her arms and gave Ryoma’s portrait a glare, trying to reclaim her usual frozen facade. “Even more so for him to try and drag us all down with him over such minor grievances.

“Honestly, you all you should be ashamed of yourselves! After all that progress, all our work to get him past these frivolous urges, what do you cretins do? You drag my brother’s spirit low enough to relapse, despite all the flimsy excuses he gives to defend you people!” The haughty haunting hussy huffed.

“Huh~ Since when did he need us for that? You seemed to be doing that fine enough on your own.” Angie called, leaning over the railing of her podium as she taunted so she could better aggravate the monster beside her. It’s not like she had anything left to lose anymore with her Lord’s silence, and if she didn’t shut this bitch up herself no one might.

“EXCUSE ME?!” (I can definitely feel Atua’s desire to make an ice sculpture of her, if only to curse her. Not that He can now. It’s probably just out of habit He let me feel this at all. Unless He feels my guilt is lacking and is trying to make me more repentant?)

“That’s why you wanted him to go after Kaede, isn’t it? Somebody was jealous~ Ya meanie.”

“Nonsense, that was his choice-”

“Liar, Liar, pants on fire~” Angie sang over the false specter. She could feel her anger seep over into her smile as she laid her rage bare. “If that were true, Kiyo would have asked me to be the medium before. And Angie probably would have said “yes” like a real dummy! Atua was too busy rage napping to give Angie his divine protection and I wanted Kiyo to mess it up! ‘Cause he acts like Atua isn’t the only true god. But Kiyo didn’t! And then mean ol’ missy sissy got all hissy over him just wanting her to make normal friends with us. Because you don’t want “friends”. You didn’t want him to have any, yes?”

At least Angie wasn’t the only one pissed off any more. Even if she had to quickly swing herself back to avoid the monster’s attempt to slap her, which nearly caused Angie to stumble back over the opposite railing. (Maybe copying Kiyo’s obnoxious way of talking was a biiit much. But that look on her face tho!)

“How dare you accuse me of something like that?!” She seethed, as if letting out steam to reveal how shallow her cold “cool” demeanor still was, no matter how fitting it was for her heartlessness.

“You’re only mad ‘cause she’s right, aren’t you?” Kaede challenged with an accusing point. “You chose the “friends” you wanted, not him. No point backtracking on that, with how you keep pointing out how much lower his “standards” are than yours. And if he got too close to others, he wouldn’t need you anymore, right? You don’t want to risk him moving on with his life, so you’d have to move on too.”

And that was all it took to make Kore really snap. Kinda sad how easy that really was, now that they could fairly safely gang up on her. (But not much more pushing than it takes to set me off either, is it?)

“I won’t let you take him away from me! He’s not allowed to abandon me now! I won’t let him throw me away again, to ignore me while I rot alone like everyone else did! I won’t forgive him. I won’t forgive anyone, no matter how many apologies I hear! Apologize all you want, but I won’t. I won’t. I won’t!”

An’ Thus His Parasyche Shows Her True Nature. The Ghost of a Broken Memory, a Revenant Remnant of a Dying Girl. Desperate to Forget She Was Not But a Child’s Guilt an’ Self Loathing Made Manifest, Grown Willful an’ Proud Feeding from Every Bit of Bitter Bile of His Soul He Thought Suppressed.

Angie was taken aback by His voice, but she knew it best not to question it. If He graced her with His assurances of conclusions she suspected, that was His choice. She had no right to address Him anymore.

She failed Him as His prophet, and everyone He wanted to help by acting through her.

As Angie shook off her brief shock she heard Kaede quelling the sins of Shinguji, with all others quiet. And with discussion settled Monokuma declared it was time for the votes to be cast one last time.

Well, last for her anyway. Though Angie felt no real need to condemn herself to her fate, she did so nonetheless. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to fear if they thought a third soul would be lost tonight. A glance to her side eased her own concerns, as Kore was quick to vote in her brother’s stead.

The last thing I want is for Kiyo to throw his life away after Ryoma died from my attempt to protect him. O’ Atua, I’m really going to die for HIS sake aren’t I? Please show mercy upon me my Lord, I messed up baaad this time. That prick isn’t worth all this harm and heartache! … I mean Kiyo, not Ryoma. Oh well.

Please watch over them all, okay Atua? Even if I wasn’t able to convince them of Your blessings. Amen.

Again, she felt only a sense of emptiness that equalled only the resounding silence where Atua once watched over her as the results were shown. No matter how much guilt Tenko may have felt for her role in setting the tragedy into motion, it was Angie’s face that was lit up in the end.

She tried to handle herself with as much dignity as she could, now that her end was before her. But she had one last thing to do before her execution began.

“Ah. Oh well. I guess I’m going to need to go on ahead. Sorry everyone, but it’s been fun!” Angie said with as much energy as she could, and twirled to give everyone one last looksie. “May Atua protect you all, and may you live long happy lives when the smoke clears,” she offered as a final prayer.

“Whatta bunch of bullshit,” She heard Kaito hiss to himself, and he looked far more conflicted now than he had in previous trials. He was a fair bit paler too, and hearing the way he coughed concerned her.

But before she could draw attention to the ill-boding red flecks she saw on his hand, Tenko drew her into one of the tightest bear hugs she’d ever been given. And considering Tenko’s previous hugs that’s saying a lot.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. It was stupid! If I hadn’t-”

“Hey, hey~ It’s okay, it’s okay! You couldn’t have known, and I don’t blame you or Ryoma! It was my mistake.” Angie rubbed at Tenko’s back, not wanting to make anyone’s stress worse just yet. She knew Kaede also saw the proof of Kaito’s injury, wherever it was. So they’ll be able to settle that later.

For now, Angie needed to try and lessen the damage she was about to do.

And a bit of tradition felt fitting in that moment, so Angie wiggled out of her raincoat and plopped it on Tenko’s shoulders, using the sleeve to uselessly wipe at Tenko’s mucky face. Tenko quickly caught onto what she was doing, as the waterproof material only moved the tears and gross boogers around rather than wipe them up, which got some very wet laughs from those around them as Tenko shooed her away.

“There! You look like you need it more than me, just look at how much rain you have on your faces already!” Angie stuck her tongue out at them in faux-mockery, hoping her own tears wouldn’t be brought up at her tease. “So take good care of it, m’kay? It’s important to keep parts of a person alive, and objects can hold memories just like brains do. So even if it stops being a raincoat, don’t get rid of it!”

With her parting piece said, there was no reason to postpone things any longer. Before Monokuma could snatch her away to meet Atua, and how he would try to break her spirit as he did, she squared her shoulders and gave everyone one last wave.

It was only then it occurred to her that blackeneds didn’t know what their executions were called.

Somehow not knowing made what was to come all the more nerve wracking than the anticipation a title left for those on the other side of the curtain. But she would never let that weakness show. If Monokuma wanted to make her frown or scream in “despair” she’d make that as difficult for him as she could.

That made the setting set before her all the more anticlimactic.

It was a snowy field, with a river nearby much like how the Virtual World’s setting was, and the sky above looked stormy. Angie wasn’t sure if lightning was possible during snow storms, but regardless of it was possible or artistic license that’s the direction it looked like things were going.

And as snake-like ropes bound her struggling form to a post like a lowercase t at the center of a pile of kindling she felt like she was ready to vomit, seeing the blasphemy he was going for.

Around her christianity based cross-of-a-lightning rod she saw ruined depictions of other faiths too. Everything from wooden sculptures like totem heads or scrolls of pagan gods were ready to burn.

Her thoughts were torn between Himiko’s lifeless corpse and the words her other self spoke before:

I’d rather avoid something witchy if I can.

So Monokuma made her take on the role of Joan of Arc (Joan d’arc? I don’t do french! Sorry Kaede) and was going to make the heavens “smite” her for her insolence. The crimes born out of best intentions and poor judgement, including those that happened long before Ryoma may have come to harm.

While there was no true being supporting Monokuma’s murder, Angie took a breath and prepared to accept it nonetheless. She felt an odd calmness within her as she saw the lightning flashes and resulting flames draw near her. As if it was Atua protecting her from the full brunt of her torture.

But when an all too human weight tackled into her, if this was His doing she wished he had forsaken her.

As kind as it is to keep her from dying alone, it was cruel to do so at the expense of one of her friends. But as her would-be savior tried to untie her, urging her to escape the stage, she couldn’t bring herself to voice those feelings. She simply tried to smother the pure gratitude that welled in her chest, and prayed for both of their souls as the thunder kept crashing down.

----

Tenko could only watch in silent horror as Kaito shoved Angie out of the way of the first strike. She watched as he struggled to untie their most innocent murderer, but as hard as she tried Tenko couldn’t hear anything over the sound of Monokuma’s thunder at this point.

But shouldn’t I be the one trying to save her? Or at least be helping him now? There’s only one Exisal left, so this would be as good a time as any to strikeback, wouldn’t it? I promised to protect Angie, didn’t I?!

Would she have ever done the same thing for you?

Tenko could only clench her eyes and teeth as shut as she was able to and looked away in frustration at that insidious thought. But only because she knew the answer.

She knew Angie wouldn’t even have considered saving her had their positions were switched. So in a way it was for the best that Tenko did the same thing, wasn’t it?

Unlike Kaito she had things she could still lose. Opening her eyes gave her a harsh reminder of that.

Gonta was beside her looking as torn and lost as she felt, standing on the sidelines as a “degenerate male” did what she couldn’t bring herself to do. And she knew that if she lept in to help Gonta would have followed her without question, because like Kaito that was the sort of man he was. A noble one.

And Kaito only had to die to prove it to you, didn’t he? Just like Ryoma did. Just like everyone kept saying. But you never wanted to listen, did you Tenko? This is all your fault. You failed Angie, and you’ll fail Kaito.

Her head felt like a mountain as she lifted it and shook her head at Gonta. The heartbreak and failure on his face would be forever ingrained in her memory. Because failing Kaito was the best they could do.

If we try to save him now we both might just end up dying out there with them, even without the Exisal. There’s nowhere for us to run to and he knew that going in. And if we all died who’d protect Kaede or Tsumugi!? Kibo? Even if he could, who’d protect him? He can’t save everyone on his own! He needs us.

Both she and Gonta could do nothing but weep as they saw Kaito try to pull Angie to a safety that didn’t exist. He couldn’t even see where the others were standing in all the chaos of the execution’s set. It was only a matter of time before the cruel god of this hell struck them down, as it gave up on avoiding him.

She almost thought Kaede and some others even began cheering him on, trying to help lead him back to them. But since even standing closer to the stage was enough to nearly drown them out, if that hadn’t been Tenko projecting her own feelings, there was no real point to it all.

So instead of joining in, or risk starting this chant of false hope if her mind was playing tricks, she just went close enough to hug Gonta as the watched. But with the way he held her she figured he was the one really doing most of the comforting. She could only hope she was helping him back in some way.

A part of her hoped the thunder would help mask her own wailing as the inevitable happened, only belatedly realizing a lot of that noise was now her other friends making similar screams. (But not Angie.)

It was only when she felt Gonta lift her that she noticed both of her knees had given out at some point. He still held her protectively, like this was still just a clingy two way hug to him, and carried her back to the group as she shoved her face into his chest to keep him from hearing her babble and whimper.

Not that any of it stopped when he cautiously put her back down, but she thought it would be better than hearing her incoherently try to blame herself for everything that happened. (Keeping him from correcting you for telling the truth was just another selfish benefit. You were just too scared to help.)

As he set her down Tsumugi was the first to cling to her as they sobbed together. A glance to Kaede quickly answered the question of why she wasn’t joining them.

The pianists eyes looked glossy with unshed tears as she blankly stared at the spot they could last make out Kaito and Angie, lost to the flames. She was on her knees, but looked broken in a way the previous trials hadn’t managed.

No one had expected Kaito to interfere, least of all her. Unlike Shuichi, his death wasn’t one Monokuma’s vile rules had forced upon them. He just threw his life away at the last minute.

But why did he do that?! He even cast a vote like the rest of us did, Angie’s guilt was unanimous. Was it just to spite Monokuma, dying in a way he didn’t want? He didn't even like Angie that much! So why-

“What the hell was that moron thinking?” She heard Kokichi cuss to himself, but he made no attempt to snap Kaede out of her traumatized trance. So Tenko decided to do what he didn’t think he could.

Tenko left Tsumugi’s embrace with a pitiful hiccup of an attempt to reassure her, and stretched Angie’s raincoat over Kaede’s far shoulder like it was a blanket for them both. (Is that how shock blankets work?)

Kaede made no indication she noticed, but with how much both girls were sobbing at this point Tenko didn’t mind. And Tenko took notice of how little the dying flames left behind of either of their friends.

It’s not fair! How can a person just… disappear, like that? Like if I didn’t have Angie’s coat it could be like she never existed at all. And everyone else who died in a trial left something behind, so why didn’t Kaito?

Maybe I should try making a momento for him? Like how Angie made her wax memorial figures.

Kaito never went without that printed jacket of his. I could try making the inside of Angie’s coat look like that. It’d be a lot of work, but I think it’d be worth it. Maybe it could help some of the others too...

Tenko distantly heard Kokichi try to stir the pot, something accusatory at either Kibo or Kiyo. She couldn’t be sure which. Whatever it was, she focused on trying to bring Kaede back to them mentally instead.

The two only moved when Gonta helped get them to their feet, so everyone could leave this cursed place in the elevator. But the ride up was deathly silent and as tense as a taught bow-string.

Kibo was the first to go and took off running, with Tsumugi’s lighter footsteps following after him. But the farthest Kaede could get was five paces before crumbling back to the ground and screaming loud enough for the stars to hear her. So Tenko did the same, rather than leave her like this alone and in so much pain.

Tenko looked up to see what Gonta intended to do, and assure him he could go if he wanted to, but the words caught in her throat. He looked to Kokichi, but the boy made it clear he wanted nothing to do with the misguided gentleman. Seeing the heartbreak on Gonta’s face as the small boy swatted a hand away and stomped off in the direction of their dorms, she chose to keep out of it. She’d probably just make more problems otherwise.

Hopefully Kokichi’s not going to hold this against him for long! Kokichi has more reason to hate me for planning a murder than Gonta. Mine got farther than his did, and Gonta deserves better than this.

She turned to see where the cause of all of their misery went off to, but as it turned out Korekiyo stood at the edge of the restored fountain as if he had barely moved since exiting the elevator. He kept… twitching, in a way that definitely wasn’t natural and his eyes were scrunched tight.

When they opened it was Shinguji who looked back at her, and when she removed the mask she was scowling at both of them. As if Kaede and Tenko had played any role in her own mistakes, much less her brother’s mental state.

She strode forward, trying to keep her distance from Gonta showing she was still wary of him, but couldn’t bring herself to leave the area. And not just in a figurative sense.

The hand that reached for the exit instead turned and pulled the mask back into place, and Korekiyo stood idle by the door as he faced them.

“My apologies if I am mistaken, but I am still not to be roaming about campus unsupervised, yes?”

Gonta startled at first, and guiltily looked at the floor before nodding his agreement. “It be better, yes. Gonta not know if Tsumugi go with Kibo or go to her room, so Kiyo could be threat to her.”

“Understood,” Korekiyo replied with a short nod of his own. “If it is not too problematic, should I help you escort our fair companions back to their dorms?”

“We can stand!” Tenko snapped at him after wiping away what tears she could, and refused to feel any guilt at seeing him flinch away. She tried to pull Kaede to her feet alongside her to prove her point, but Kaede’s legs were far less stable.

“Sorry, I-”

“It okay!” Gonta assured Kaede, flushed with humiliation as much as it was from her crying. “Kaede want piggy back? If Tenko can walk, Gonta can carry Kaede easy!”

“O-oh. Sure? I mean I don’t really remember the last time I got carried like tha-AAAAT” Kaede panicked at the end seeing as he was quick to prove true to her word. But even after she got herself situated her embarrassed blush didn’t die down. “Thank you?”

“You’re welcome!” Gonta smiled as brightly as anyone could after their hell of a night. “So we back to dorms now?”

“By all means, lead the way.” Korekiyo agreed, holding the door for the other three, as much as Tenko was loath to accept any “help” from him after all the confusion and death he’d caused.

Sniffling aside, the walk back was quiet, and there were no signs of any of their other friends. But that may have been for the best, as it encouraged going straight to bed if nothing else.

Not even she was ready to offer a “sleep over” after this. Tenko just wanted to sleep and hope this was all a stupid dream her mind cooked up out of guilt over her conspiring with Shinguji.

But it wasn’t. It never was in this horrible place that Angie had wanted them all to consider “home”.

Hell, she couldn’t even remember having a single dream in this prison. But thinking of dreams brought her mind back to her key. It felt like it was so long ago now, but it couldn’t’ve been more than three days. The thought and memories made her stomach do a flip without her in grief, but she held herself firm.

She had to try to appear strong. To help Kaede. To protect Gonta. To keep Korekiyo at bay.

Speaking of that bastard...

“Hey, Gonta, can we talk real fast? I know we all need some shut eye but I have a question first.”

Gonta gave a nervous glance to Korekiyo, who merely nodded and headed for his room for the entomologist’s peace of mind. But while her friend went off to the side so Tenko could hopefully keep Kaede from overhearing and make her worried, the murderer didn’t close his door all the way.

She tried not to think about it too much when she saw Kaede notice that too, and had a few quiet words with the unstable man which netted a nod to whatever she asked of him. Likely just to make sure he would still be breathing when the morning announcement sounded, knowing Kaede.

It would be wasteful for him to die now, wouldn’t it? I don’t know how to handle this. He doesn’t DESERVE to be forgiven! But at the same time… Maybe I should try, to make up for trying to kill him?

Is that what Angie would have wanted? Or would Ryoma rather I not leave the job unfinished?

Since when have you cared about what either of them really thought? Stupid selfish Tenko!

She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she made her offer. “Do you think it’ll be okay for me to help keep an eye on Kiyo? Since without Ryoma and Kaito, we…” The words caught for a moment in her tightened throat. “I don’t want you need to feel like you have to handle him all by yourself.”

“But it not safe! Kiyo sneaky person, could try to hurt Tenko without noticing.”

“I know. But if things with his “sister” really are different now, like if she’s all in his head, we don’t know how that could change things! He could try to hurt you too! Or maybe he won’t be killing anyone else-”

“Gonta can handle Kiyo! Tenko worry about Tenko, okay?” Gonta asked with a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and it took a lot of willpower to keep herself from trying to toss him on reflex. (Though tossing a guy THIS big could be hard even for me. He’s real good about keeping himself grounded and balanced.)

“But-!”

“Ladies shouldn’t talk about butts!” Gonta laughed at his attempt at a pun to try easing her worries. “If Gonta need help, Gonta ask for help. Gonta promise.” He swore as he crossed his heart with his hand.

“Alright. And I will be one of the people you can ask for help, whatever you need, okay?” Tenko reaffirmed, and didn’t allow him to break eye contact with her until he nodded his understanding. “Good! So, I guess that’s settled for now. We can work things out in the morning.”

“Okay. Goodnight Tenko! Don’t worry about bed bugs biting, Gonta already checked and no one has signs of those! Hope you sleep good.” (GAH, WAIT ARE BED BUGS REALLY REAL?! I DIDN’T KNOW THAT!)

“I-... Thank you? Sorry if you were hoping to find some I guess.” She nervously laughed as she headed for her door. “Goodnight!”

Tenko didn’t open her eyes once she entered that room, relying on muscle memory to reach her bed unimpeded. Anything to keep from seeing things that would make what happened that night harder.

But try as she might, the memories came to plague her all the same. And despite her best efforts, sleep refused to come easily. It was only until after her pillow was soaked from her futile fury and endless replays going over everything she could have done differently to avoid her current reality did it take her.

And it would feel like no time had passed at all when the next morning came, unrested and longing for just one night to allow her to dream and escape this hell on earth. Or wherever it was they were.

Not that the truth would help us any. Even if we were in space, Kaito wouldn’t have wanted it this way.

End of Chapter 3: We Lived and Let Them All Die Young

Surviving Members: 7

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 10: The Inmate’s Sonatine

CLASS TRIAL- IN SESSION

Again the students filed out of the elevator and made their way to their podiums. But as Kaede looked around the mockery of a courtroom, she saw that the memorials of the fallen were different this time.

Ryoma’s wasn’t that different, aside from technically not being held at his true height. Much like during the actual trials it was made at the level he participated at, minus the box he’d have to stand on for it. And seeing that cross over his monochrome face stung her all the more with how impersonal his was compared to other students. Just a harsh blocky x, not a trace of his talent or personality to it.

(As if his death was one set from the very beginning, no need to make it at all unique.)

The second alter made it look like their fates being set in stone was unlikely, though. Particularly as it was present on a podium that was still occupied.

BehindHero’s head there was another colorless photo, at the same level of his own regardless of any height differences the siblings were meant to have had. But from what she could see of it, that was Kiyo's photo rather than an image of his sister from his motive video. And it wasn’t because he was blocking anyone’s view of it, despite how seeing it made him tremble like a fragile branch lost in a hurricane.

Instead of being vandalized in red, there was an orange question mark rather than a cross like the others. And while the Kiyo of the portrait’s mask was still on, the dot of the symbol completely covered where his mouth would be while the upper curve hid both eyes from view. Probably to allude to his “sister’s” most overt differences from him, despite having no image of her own to present for the court.

And Kokichi wasn’t about to let them go through another lousy explanation for a process they’d suffered through four times previous after being presented with an oddity like that.

“Jeez Louise, you kids sure like being confusing, dontcha? At least I don’t have to deal with my bumbling brats failing to keep up anymore. I really oughta thank you all for making such an exe-cute-tion possible, don’t I?” Monokuma scratched at his head before exposing his claws like a threat as he fumed. “But speaking of “.exe” you just had to go playing with toys that don’t belong to you! Serves you right for trying to avoid your schoolwork! Kids your age should know better than to waste all day playing video games-”

“Says the robot bear forcing them to play games or die,” Kokichi stated, arms behind his head like he hadn’t a care in the world while his eyes told a much angrier story.

“It gets you all up, active, and social, don’t it? Don’t lump my wonderful killing game in with your newfangled time wasters, mine can teach you real-world skills! Think of it more as a... social culling.”

“Culling would indicate such deaths were natural, doesn’t it? That’s hardly fitting,” Kiyo pointed out.

“Who asked you?!” Monokuma snapped. “Just because I “should” be thanking you for disciplining my uppity upstarts doesn’t mean I’m not still furrrious about you acting all high and mighty, trying to play my system to waste some of my valuable murder victims! Why don’t you just drop dead already?!”

And with Monokuma so distracted Kokichi saw his chance to get to the point. “Speaking of, why don’t we cut to the chase? What’s that question mark about?”

“What are you asking me for?” The bear innocently asked with a tilt of his head. “You’re the ones that kept acting like someone died during one of your little VR chats. But without a body, how am I supposed to believe you? So I improvised! It’s important for all victims, real or imagined, to be present when justice is served!” He nodded his little head and lounged in his throne.

But as he got comfortable a light flashed over his head. “Hey, wait. Speaking of tricking your dear headmaster and judge, you’re trying to make me forget to lay down the rules, aren’t you!” He shouted, puffs of smoke rising from his ears.

“Come on, we’ve been through this already enough, haven't we!? We know what to do. So let’s just jump into it!” Kaito argued.

“Hey! Even if you say that, what do you know? Refreshers don’t hurt-”

“Mastermindsaysyeah”

“STOP INTERRUPTING ME OR I’ll HOLD YOU IN CONTEMPT!”

“Well that “didn’t hurt” either, now did it?” Kokichi asked in his sweetest of tones with a bat of his eyes. &I'm not annoying you, am I?~&

“What would “contempt” even mean for this?” Tsumugi asked, though largely to herself.

“Whatever it is, it’s either deadly or redundant so best not to push it. We’ve all beaten Monokuma to having &contempt& for this kid,” Tenko stage-whispered to her behind her hand. 

“HEY!”

“WHATEVER!” Monokuma roared with a sense of finality. “Any useful questions since you’re all so eager to get on to the main event?”

“Is there anything actually stopping me from going over and strangling the first person to seriously accuse me of murdering my own sister?” Korekiyo asked, hand raised as though they were in school.

“... Ya know, I hadn’t considered that. You’re all normally so prim and proper about everything it’s never really come up before. I wish ya woulda told me if you were planning some Jerry Springer shenanigans, then I could’ve brought my mondo butter to have with some popcorn as you kids went at it! But you know stabbing would probably be easier to do uninterrupted.”

“Alas, I haven’t been allowed to touch anything sharper than a pen in quite a while, and even that’s only because its stabbing ability is so often underrated.”

“... And the fact this is how you try to convince us to not accuse our resident evil psychopath of being a part of yet another double murder makes a pretty good case to take those away from you too,” Kokichi snarked, but since Kiyo had adjusted best he could to the cruel reminder behind him he managed to keep a stoic facade despite the jabs.

“You’re free to say what you will about me in regards to Ryoma’s untimely end, but I assure you I wasn’t responsible for either of these tragedies this time. Certainly not Hers...”

“Ow, you made that pun on purpose didn’t you? B-but what was that he said about butter-” Kaede heard Tsumugi complain before Kibo cut her off.

“Don’t encourage them Tsumugi, we need to focus! First, we need to clarify if this is actually a set of two murders or not. Kiyo’s still here after all, so not only can we not prove his “sister” is dead but when she was killed may not matter for whoever is the blackened we need to find.”

“Sure we can, she’s been dead this entire time! Being here at all is supposed to be enough “proof” of that, right Kiyo? Assuming she ever existed outside of his head in the first place.”

“Please stop that Kokichi, you know what I mean! Kiyo being involved with Shinguji’s death seems unlikely, provided the damage assumedly done to her avatar could have negatively affected her,” Kibo scolded, but seeing he only got raspberried in reply the bot shrugged and looked to Kaito beseechingly.

“Can we just call her a normal name for now? If she’s not here to bitch about it what’s the harm?” The astronaut offered, and explained his reasoning before the bot got too disheartened at being seemingly ignored. “It’ll be easier to focus if we’re not stuck worrying over what to call one of our possible victims, yeah?”

“If you must,” Kiyo answered with a sigh as he shook his head at such a minor gripe.

“YEEES!” Kokichi cheered, eagerly hopping on his platform using the railing for support. “Okay, so who’s the guy we need to thank for finally offing Cersei before she could go all wildfire on us?”

“... From the Odyssey? Odd theme, given how Angie’s addressed her by the birth name of Persephone. Though She hardly turned men into beasts.”

“Sounds like she certainly enjoyed grooming the ones she could-” Kokichi teased, and finally got the reaction from Kiyo he was looking for as his toothy grin only widened in the face of his fury.

“ YOU HOLD YOUR TONGUE OR I WILL BE SOON ENOUGH! ” ( God damn it, we need to move on! )

“Knock it off you two!” Kaede snapped. After getting their attention she tried to calmly propose a real starting point. “I think we should prioritize Ryoma’s case first. We have more evidence there and she might not even count as a victim or be related to this at all.”

“Are you sure you’re not just being biased?” Tenko questioned with a scowl. “Neither case has that much for us to work with. At least with Circe we can rely on more testimonies to add something useful. We know she never left the simulation, and the virtual world isn’t that big. Someone must have seen or heard something!”

“How do we even know for sure that was her body? At least we know Ryoma’s dead, and we know if we get his case wrong we’ll all be dying for it!” Kaito yelled, slamming a fist on his desk. Which he quickly regretted judging from his wince and how he flexed his hand afterward.

“Of course it was her avatar by the river, if it wasn’t hers whose could it have been?!” Kibo argued back.

That’s a good question. But at the same time there was evidence it might not be her original avatar, wasn’t there?

It’s one of the few pieces of evidence for this case that we do have, with how Monokuma rushed us. Could it be a hint that what we found in the virtual world is all we need?

That would explain why Ryoma’s cause of death is unknown, if we don’t really need a murder weapon.

But we need to take this one step at a time. If we rush ahead we could slip up.

And if we do that’ll be the end of us.

“Why are you asking that, Kibo? Weren’t you the one who made it possible for us to change between avatars? How exactly does that work?” Kaede asked him, as she hadn’t been able to before.

“Oh. I mean, it’s pretty simple. You enter the wardrobe, it brings up the list of all of the avatars I’ve made, and among those not currently being used you can select one. Obviously, trading avatars will add your previous one to the list of options, I just wanted to avoid another case like when Kiyo and his sister had identical forms. It’d just make things really confusing.”

Kokichi was quick to see where she was going with this. “And how many avatars don’t we use anymore? Is there an accurate Keeboy option?”

“Well, let’s see… There’s no other version of me, I didn’t see any reason to.” Kibo started and counted along with his fingers as he went on. “Kiyo has three variants, his original, the haircut, and the “gender flip”. Angie has two, the latter with adjustments to how it senses the cold since I had troubles with just updating her original. And Tenko has two, she asked me to make a duplicate of hers so she and Ryoma could test the wardrobe while I was still tweaking it. So that’s three unused sprites in addition to the 10 of us and Kiyo’s sister.”

“Yup! I actually got Ryoma to play twinsies with me!” Tenko said with a smile before her face fell. “It was nice of him... Miss Shinguji was willing to do it too of course! Gonta just thought it’d be a bit too risky so that was a no-go. So Ryoma offered since Angie said she was too busy trying to cheer up the weirdo.”

“I did not! Atua thought it was a bad idea!” Angie objected and puffed her cheeks. “So what if I was having fun?”

“Also you were practically buried in Christmas supplies at the time,” Kiyo added nonchalantly.

“I could have gotten her out!”

“Unlikely. Not unless you would be willing to work with me to get her out of that mess, you would fare no better than my efforts were.”

“Angie wasn’t stuck! There was a lot of fun stuff in there, once you tipped the boxes over,” Angie insisted.

“You weren’t supposed to do that!” Kibo complained. “I set them up like that for your own safety.”

“We’re getting sidetracked!” Tsumugi interrupted. “Was Angie playing in the decorations before or after the walk along the river?” (That’s still losing the point of Kokichi’s question though!)

“Before, getting her out of that mess so Kibo wouldn’t get stressed out by the havoc she had wrought was one of Ryoma’s stated objectives.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh! And Ryoma leaving Kiyo alone to try and mess up my beautiful interactive art piece was weird! Very weird!” Angie eagerly nodded. (So that’s what she meant by he was acting funny. He hasn’t trusted Kiyo as far as he could throw him since the last trial. Did he get over that? When? Why?)

“That… Is not the way I’d describe it.” Tenko stated with a wary look on her face as she poked her fingers together.

“That’s because Tenko has terrible taste!” Angie beamed, while Tenko and Kiyo traded similarly exhausted looks in what might have been their most civil and casual interaction to date.

“Okay, well, at least that helps give us some sort of timeline. But we’re losing the point of Kokichi’s question!” Kaede reiterated, “And we do have evidence that the body we found wasn’t Cersei's avatar.”

“What?! But there was no one else it could be-” Kibo tried to argue.

“Kokichi found Kiyo’s mask and gloves in one of the avatar’s pockets! Unless you mean to tell us that was part of how you designed her, Kibo, I think that counts.”

“Also she was flat as a board!” Kokichi gleefully added, hoping to ruffle feathers.

“I can’t tell if you’re a brave man or a dead one for saying that right in front of a girl’s brother. Or lover,” Tsumugi joked, as she warily eyed the man next to her.

Said man was left looking rather confused. “It’s hardly like he confessed to feeling her up or something. It’s merely a statement of fact, and is a simple observation which does add weight to Kaede’s theory.”

Even if that’s true, why is he so calm about that? Besides, he should know better than anyone if his sister is still around or not! I mean she has no reason to use his avatar. They’re so similar there’d be no point.

Not unless… It wasn’t his sister. And if that was Kiyo’s avatar, who was using it?

This is Kiyo we’re talking to, isn’t it?! They couldn’t have switched! He can’t be dead, not yet!

I know it was his voice I heard when he spoke in the sim, not her’s. So he has to be fine! Doesn’t he?

Why does him dying bother me so much anyway? Is it just because he’s the lesser of two evils?

It doesn’t matter. Not yet at least. I can’t go zoning out right now. Not until we’re all safe.

“So, Kibo? Is that proof enough for you?”

“I… Yes. But when could she have gotten access to the wardrobe?!”

“It’s okay, Kibo, let’s just take things one step at a time. Hell, maybe it wasn’t even her,” Kaito offered.

“If it wasn’t Kiyo sister who could it be? Can Ah-vu-tars be left lying around, like clothes?”

“Well, I didn’t think that they could,” Kibo said with a troubled expression, “They always disappear when a person logs out. But with how unresponsive she was I don’t see how else to explain it.”

“Then maybe we should focus on something else for now,” Kaede suggested. “Did anything weird happen with any of you? Or Angie, you said you were with Kiyo most of the time, did he and Cersei get some time to themselves or something like that?”

The question made Angie look uncomfortable, as she kept nervously looking to Kiyo. But he completely froze up.

“Kiyo? Did something happen?” Kaede pressed.

“I… Nothing of note.”

“Come on, out with it! There’s no point in lying,” Kaito urged.

“Are… Are you sure the person we thought was my sister in the simulation, wasn’t?” he only asked.

“No one would know who your sister was or wasn’t better than you, right?” Tsumugi asked.

“Were you the one that killed her?” Tenko accused. “We all saw you try to hit her earlier, did she say something else to set you over the edge-”

“It was nothing like that!” Kiyo snapped. “I don’t know what came over her, I was alone on the bridge and suddenly she just-” he cut himself off as he clutched at himself again.

“She just what?”

“She… Was still upset by my earlier… “weakness.” She expressed an interest in seeing if there might be a different means of accomplishing my objective.” Kiyo quietly muttered, gripping his arms tighter the more he went on.

“So… She attacked you?” Kaito asked, trying to put together the dots.

“If I had a life I was willing to give she made it clear she would be more than happy to take it off my hands.” He conceded, but it sounded like Kiyo couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“Wait, so she tried to kill you?! And you just kept quiet about it!?” Kokichi shouted.

“As opposed to what? It was hardly anything more extreme than what she’s asked of me before.” Kiyo cooly stated, but his eyes looked distant. Glossed over, almost broken in a way, not that unlike how he looked when she first saw him that morning. “If my spirit could die in the realm Kibo made without ending my body, she was hoping that she could take it over in my stead. Without the need to share.”

“What the fuck?!” Kaito sputtered.

But out of everyone who looked equally shocked and appalled by what Kiyo was saying, and the almost matter of fact way he said it, there was one who barely batted a lash.

“Did you know something about this, Tenko?” Kaede asked. “Were you trying to help her do this?”

“Wh-what gives you that idea?” She sputtered. “I mean come on, I know me and Miss Shinguji are getting kinda close, but I’ve never been able to really talk to her alone! So how could I be involved with anything like that?”

Tenko did have a point, but a look around the room showed Kaede that despite being her strongest witness Angie seemed troubled and unconvinced.

So there might be a contradiction here. I better find it.

“You don’t seem too shocked about her wanting her brother dead.” Kaede shrugged, but tried to keep her voice level and non-aggressive. “Since you were the one to offer the wardrobe to Kibo, I’m wondering if she had something to do with that. Like if she was hoping a feature like that could let her freeze Kiyo like the rest of the female avatars do, to make it so he couldn’t fight back.”

“Well, who doesn’t?” Tenko irritably asked. “His sister said she never actually wanted him to kill anyone, so if we were left with only one of them she’d obviously be the better choice! But that doesn’t mean I have anything to do with that, I had no chance-”

“Is that what she talked to you about when Angie was talking to Kaito?” Angie’s voice cut in like a knife, and made Tenko stop cold. Taking her friend’s ashamed silence as her answer, Angie explained. “Kore used that argument during one of our talks, Kaito was with us but Tenko didn’t want him spying.”

“Of course she didn’t,” Kokichi shook his head with a sigh. “Gawd Tenko, I wasn’t expecting you to really be that stupid.”

“HEY! I am not, and that doesn’t prove anythin-”

“Then why did you want me to make you a second avatar?” Kibo asked, though his tone sounded hurt. “You asked me about how the Shinguji siblings’ limiting would work with avatar switches too…”

“What the hell, Kibo why didn’t you mention that sooner!?” Kaito spoke up.

“I-it was a good question! And Tenko had expressed an interest in dressing up like her friends before so I thought it wasn’t that unusual at the time. With Ryoma there, I didn’t think there would be any problems.”

There was an uncomfortable silence as Kibo stared down at his feet. And Kaede asked the question she didn’t want the answer to.

“Tenko, was Ryoma aware of what you were doing?”

Tenko slouched and swayed herself in her stand as the class waited for an answer.

“Yeah… He caught me talking to Cerci about it when Kibo was distracted. But he didn’t think it was a bad idea or anything! I mean… If there was no body left behind, there wouldn’t need to be a trial, right?” She went on as she fidgeted, body language being more than enough to show her conscience wasn’t so clear as she wanted to make it sound. “That’s why we have that question mark now, right?! So Kirumi would get the justice she deserves, Cerci would be free, and Kiyo wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again!”

“And that’s why you thought the body in the river was Kiyo’s… But wait, does that mean it was Kiyo!?” Tsumugi thought aloud, and all eyes turned to the Shinguji who was still with them, hoping for answers.

“Of course it wasn’t!” Angie insisted, “We never went near the wardrobe, and Kiyo never stopped having short hair! If only one of them is with us then I swear on Atua’s name-”

&If you were with him the entire time, when did that attack on the bridge happen-&

“Does it really matter, if none of you honestly believe you can tell the difference?” They cut Kaito off as they held their hand up as though to cover their mouth. And as he did Kaede caught what it meant.

There’s no reason for him to do that while he’s already wearing his mask, unless it had to do with his sister. Either “Kiyo’s” overcompensating so Shinguji can hide her face while being the only one in there, or she’s fighting with the real Kiyo for control of his body and he’s still winning.

Between the two the latter sounds more plausible, but that wouldn’t explain why he won’t let her out. Even if she attacked him before she can’t do anything out here right? Or is he hiding a witness from us?

Should I try to get him to lose focus so she can tell us directly, or could this be for our own good?

As she looked to the others while weighing her options her gaze met Kaito’s, and he seemed to be having similar suspicions. And if it was Kaito doing the talking, if Kiyo’s sister was in there in any way, she wouldn’t be able to resist lashing out. So Kaede gave him her nod of approval.

“Why should it matter if Kiyo’s Sissy side is out of the picture anyway? Ryoma was real, and we know she wasn’t, so why bother?” he arrogantly said as his chosen taunt. And with the way Kiyo’s right hand spasmed before he physically took hold of it to calm “himself” down they had all the proof they needed.

Kokichi’s forced dry laugher cut them off from making sure everyone else was aware of their discovery. “You better be just stealing Angie’s earlier joke, Kaito. Because if not, you’re getting short-sheeted tonight, and things will only be getting worse for you from there buster.”

“WHAT?! What I say? And how do you expect to manage that, huh?”

“I can pick locks genius, the only one safe from night-pranks is Kiyo!” Kokichi bragged with a dark aura. And past experience led Kaede to assume he had worse in store for Kaito as he went on. “Because unlike Gonta and Ryoma, I can’t get his stupid door open anymore. I don’t have the strength or momentum to move those stupid boxes Gonta barricaded it with. Speaking of, if Gonta wasn’t able to get Kiyo this morning and Ryoma didn’t check on him, how could you get through, Kaito? Sure was lucky you did, considering what he was up to, riiiight?”

Oh. Oh no. He doesn’t seriously think Kaito would kill Ryoma for whatever happened earlier, does he?! Obviously he wouldn’t! He was angry, sure, and even if Ryoma… If Ryoma really did leave Kiyo there to die, that wouldn’t be something to kill him over! Not that I’ll ever be able to ask him about it now…

Jeez, does he really think Kaito would have gone to the effort of trying to get Ryoma breathing again if he had been the one to attack him? Where could the other two witnesses have come from if he did?!

But should I use that truth to make that obvious, even if he’s only putting Kaito on the spot to see if the real killer takes the bait, or let it stand for now? Could lying be to our benefit here? It has before.

… Maybe I should fib a little just to see where this goes. Kokichi might know what he’s doing, and we don’t need to bring up Shinguji’s survival right away. We all saw that reaction just now.

“Can you really say it was lucky?” Kaede asked, and only felt a little bad about the resigned but pained nod Kiyo gave at that as he clenched his eyes shut while Kaito nearly gave himself whiplash at the perceived betrayal. “You really are full of it sometimes Kokichi, you know Kaito’s been doing nightly training sessions. Why wouldn’t he be able to move some stupid boxes out of the way? He didn’t even need my help to do it.” She went on, and hiding his failing health did seem to put Kaito marginally more at ease.

“Besides, it was like noon when we went to get him, wasn’t it? If Gonta couldn’t get him closer to 10, and Ryoma had no reason to bother, what’s there to suspect?” Kaito followed her up, to strengthen her lie. “Why the fuck would I ever want Ryoma dead?! He hasn’t done anything wrong since we woke up here!”

And the only other person who might have known what had happened between Ryoma and Kiyo that morning spoke up as she had hoped.

“Why Kaede lie? You blinking like butterfly trying to take off. Why?” Gonta asked, and apparently Kaede’s partial goal differed from Kokichi’s, given how the boy rolled his eyes at his lessons being put to work.

“What are you talking about Gonta, what could I be lying about?” she bluffed, trying to relax her expression as much as she could to keep any more tells from throwing her off too soon to make her point. “You got to the cafeteria with Kokichi long before we had any idea where Ryoma was, so what’s there to doubt? Going with Kokichi assuming someone moved the barricade before Kaito, if Ryoma visited Kiyo before we did he probably did it right before he got to the cafe himself, wouldn’t he?”

“... So Kaede lie ‘cause Gonta lie?” Gonta asked, looking rather ashamed and hurt by his assessment.

“When did you lie? You had been with Kokichi all morning, haven’t you?” Kaede pressed again, and this time Kokichi was less bored by the direction things were heading.

“Ah. No. Kokichi not there when Gonta check on Kiyo, but Ryoma was already talking to him. It rude to interrupt, so Gonta wait outside until Ryoma finish arguing. Ryoma say Kiyo not in mood to see people, and that Kiyo ask him to drop his audition tablet in dining hall, so Gonta let him be and Ryoma went on ahead before taking a walk to calm down. Gonta no mind ‘cause it gave more time to go over motive with Kokichi! And also practice with lie catching.”

“Oh? So you just left him there because Ryoma told you too? That’s pretty fishy. What exactly was this “argument” about, Kiyo?” Kokichi asked Kiyo, though his eyes kept wandering back to Kaito.

“Nothing worth killing over.” He tersely replied, his right side still acting up on occasion. When it became clear that wouldn’t cut it he continued with a sigh and shrugged. “He wanted to see my audition. To see if the other me was “like his was”.”

Kiyo’s mask quirked like a bitter smirk, but he refused to make eye contact with anyone. “When he saw I wasn’t fit for visitors he had a few choice words to say about the nature of karma. Particularly given that if my memories are reliable, even though I killed less than him, I might have deserved his punishment far more. And yet, by virtue of but a single year, had I been caught the death penalty would have been impossible for me. The dubious benefits of still being a “minor” in the eyes of humanity’s fickle laws.”

“However, Ryoma didn’t fully close my door behind him when he left my life up to the fates. Kaito and Kaede knew that all too well.” He corrected Kaede’s lie at last. “Had Gonta claimed my door was unsealed when they left that would be true, but only because from what I heard he was equally sure the threat I had presented towards our feminine companions before had passed with recent revelations.” He side-eyed Gonta as well. “So if Ryoma’s actions been “wrong”, would Gonta’s be any better?”

“That sounds like a motive to kill to me!” Tenko snapped.

“Nonsense. As far as I’m concerned both were merely respecting my wishes at the time. Unless you seriously believe there is anyone here that would desire retribution on my behalf?” Kiyo countered, “Aside from someone who may have had their own self-interest in mind with such an act, of course.”

“And why should we rule her out?” Kibo asked.

“Because how could she move Ryoma’s body, silly?” Angie replied while pulling a face. “Atua and I never let Kiyo out of our sight, so without him Kore couldn’t have left the simulation! If he died after leaving it can’t be her, and if he somehow died inside of it Kore would have needed an accomplice to help hide it.”

“Besides, if she killed Ryoma, why would Kiyo’s old avatar be there? The only reason we thought she was involved was because we mistook it for her’s.” Kaito agreed.

“So… Kaito saying Kiyo die, and this Kiyo is fake?” Gonta asked after visibly struggling to keep up since the idea of swapping avatars came up.

“I don’t know. Maybe? This is pretty confusing, huh?” Tsumugi laughed at her own difficulty to help put Gonta more at ease. “Maybe explaining it all again in smaller chunks would help clear things up?”

“Nah, we can get back to that later. Even if the body isn’t Kiyo’s or his sister’s, her wanting Kiyo dead could be important.-”

“It’s not about wanting me dead! She’s just scared of what would happen if she experienced dying again!”

But despite his anger towards Kaito, Kiyo didn’t look like he believed a word of his own excuses for her. He was practically turning blue, and grasping at straws like a drowning man seeking a lifeline in order to find any conclusion aside from the obvious. As if the betrayal would hurt less if it was on his own terms.

Like her trying to kill him at all wasn’t proof enough that she doesn’t care about him anymore. At least he’s not trying to blame it on Tenko “corrupting” her or something.

“But why would little-big-sister attacking mini-Kiyo change anything? If that not her body in river, she no die right?” Gonta asked again.

“Not necessarily, but that is a possibility!” Kibo brightly nodded at him, “I mean it fits Monokuma’s reluctance in regards to treating her as a dead student.”

“You don’t need to keep babying him,” Kokichi spoke up, killing Kibo’s attempt to help Gonta feel useful. “Gonta doesn’t need to keep caught up if thinking like this is too hard for him right now. We’re timed here! We can just explain everything right before we vote, and help him understand later.”

“No, it’s better for him to struggle and come to his understanding on his own terms,” Kiyo firmly objected. “There’s nothing gained by simply spoon-feeding him a sequence of events he’ll have little choice but to agree with. His input could help be the difference between life and death for all you know.”

“It’ll be our death if slowing down for him chews up too much of our time! If he doesn’t get it, he doesn’t get it. It happens, and we don’t need to make him feel guilty over it,” Kokichi argued.

“I hardly think that’s fair to say, considering our dear Gonta’s been clever enough that not one of you noticed he’s been prepared to kill me since he first caught wind of a possible murder in the simulation.”

“EXCUSE ME?!” Kaito yelled, but Kiyo didn’t so much as bat an eye with how matter of fact he was being.

“What!?” Kaede shrieked in near unison. “Wait. Gonta, was that why you were waiting in the salon?! You told us you were just guarding the phone because Kibo told you to!”

“Huh? Why would I need him to do something like that?! What are they talking about Gonta!?”

“I dare say that rests my case. Wouldn’t you, Gonta?” Kiyo asked Gonta with what could have been guilt in his eyes. That same strange glimmer in them that he had when confronting Kaito about his disease.

Gonta looked ashamed, as he stared at the floor of his podium. Like he couldn’t bring himself to face his friends. But to build up nerve he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and gave Kaede the quickest of remorseful smiles before answering.

“Yes, Gonta was. Gonta need to protect friends. Gonta thought, if Kiyo survive killing Kirumi, then Gonta survive killing Kiyo if friend die. Either Gonta survive with friends so no threats left, or Gonta die for failing to protect friends from Kiyo. That how “You Break It, You Bought It” rule work, right?”

“GONTA?!” Kokichi screamed at him, looking absolutely betrayed and heartbroken. Kaede could swear the pain she saw was genuine, and with the way Gonta flinched at his reaction she knew she was right. “Were you trying to leave when we got there just so you could make sure Kiyo was physically dead!?”

“You can’t be serious, right Gonta?” Tenko asked, before furiously turning to face Kokichi instead. “YOU, you put him up to this, didn’t you?! I knew it! You hate murder enough to not dirty your own hands, but not someone else’s, right? That’s what a leader does, you delegate-”

“NO. ” Gonta’s voice growled, as the horrible sound of wood cracking filled the courtroom. With his hands flat on the desk area of his stand, it sounded like he scratched deep into its surface in frustration. “This Gonta plan. Kokichi no want to hurt people. Gonta promise to protect friends, so this how Gonta do that! Gentlemen need to take full responsibility for their own actions. And no one else’s.”

Gonta paused for a breath again before taking a deep respectful bow before the class. “Gonta sorry he hurt friends by keeping plan secret. Kiyo not supposed to know about it. Gonta sorry he not be as open as…” He took a ragged breath for a moment. “As Ryoma. Gonta sorry he fail Ryoma. But…” As he paused again he stood straight up and looked Kiyo dead in the eye. “Gonta not sorry about wanting Kiyo dead.”

Kiyo only nodded his own agreement of sorts, “Good, you have no reason to be. On the contrary, I think it was rather astute of you.”

“I… I don’t agree with your plan, but I agree that it proves you’re smart. It’s smart to plan ahead and defend others. But you didn’t need to prove it to us!” Kaito firmly stressed, but his face fell as he went on. “Or you shouldn’t have felt you had to, and you shouldn’t have felt you had to hurt someone for us. I’m happy you didn’t have to.”

“Happy Gonta no get chance you mean. I know Kiyo’s sick, sick with the other Kiyo. Seen parasites like it in bugs.” Gonta said, mostly to himself as if to justify his own idea. “Ants know what to do if worker infected by Cordyceps or similar fungi that take control of ant body. Worker thrown out of colony to protect everyone else. ‘Cause it not an ant anymore. Fungus controls the body, ant mind no matter.”

Kaede couldn’t shake how cold she felt, as she helplessly watched the sweet boy beside her talk like this. But she desperately hoped talking some sense into him would help. “That’s not the sort of sickness we’re dealing with Gonta, I swear! We don’t need to do anything like that and you definitely don’t need to kill anyone for us! It’s not like with bugs, if he gets outside there are people who could help him get better.”

“Do we really want him to?” Tenko bitterly asked.

“It doesn’t matter what we want, it isn’t right to kill him!” Kibo snapped at her, taking her by surprise. “He’s one of us, like it or not. We know he’s not our enemy, so would you stop treating him like one?”

“Yup-yup, Kiyo’s not the one who put us here.” Angie agreed, which took more wind out of Tenko’s sails. “Besides, Atua’s not fond of that sort of reasoning anyway. He’s lost a lotta prophets before Angie ‘cause He forgot to support them when times got tough and His people lost faith and turned on ‘em like that.”

“He’s not our victim either, and if his sister isn’t actually dead that means we have another suspect here. So can we just try to figure out what happened to Ryoma?” Kaede urged.

“But Kore couldn’t have moved Ryoma’s body-” Angie firmly repeated, but the frustration in her voice betrayed her ever-present smile.

“Then maybe someone else moved it!” Kokichi offered up as a new angle of approach. “Or she used Kiyo’s spare body during the crime, ditched it to frame Kiyo, and however she managed to ditch it got her back to the salon so she could log them both out.”

“But he didn’t-”

“And why the hell should we believe you!?” he angrily snapped at her, to which she had little response. But his gaze kept bouncing between him, Kibo, Kiyo, and Tenko as she struggled to find words.

“Why shouldn’t we trust her?! What reason does Angie of all people have to help a man like him!? Yeah, she’s been nicer to him today, but that’s not ‘cause she wanted to!” Tenko spoke up in her stead, seeing Angie’s hesitation. But that only infuriated Kokichi more.

“What sort of reasoning is that?! Why should we all bet our lives on one person telling the truth? Both Angie and Kiyo could be lying, or the sneaky son of a bitch might have tricked her and she’s too proud to admit it!”

“But what would be the point of framing Kiyo? If we voted for him instead of her, why should it matter?” Kaito asked. “They share a body! Either both of them escape or neither of them do, right?”

“Oooh, that is a pickle, ain’t it? I mean, I’d like to think it matters.” Monokuma teased as the twisted teddy scratched at his chin with a blackened paw.

“What do you mean “you’d like to think”?!” Tsumugi asked in a panic, wringing a lock of hair between her fingers to try and spend some of that nervous energy.

“Welllll, there’s no reason for two “different” people to have the same execution. It’s no skin off my nose if the blackened living means one of the spotless will be forced to live the rest of their lives with guilt.” He chuckled and rubbed at said nose for emphasis. “But the odds sure aren’t looking good for either of them, are they? Pu-hu-hu~”

“Hey! Don’t go jumping to conclusions!” Kibo told their tormentor with an unusual air of confidence. “We have no evidence to doubt Angie’s testimony, so the probability of either sibling’s direct involvement in Ryoma’s death are low.”

“Well, it’s not like we have a better suspect, do we?” Tenko complained.

“That doesn’t mean we should just accuse who seems most convenient!” Kaito shot back.

“It’s not about “convenience”! It’s about not getting us all killed,” Kokichi said. “And if there’s no evidence against it we don’t have a whole lotta other options. Do you really want to roll the dice on a suicide when someone else had to be involved to move his body?”

“No! Ryoma no do that!” Gonta objected with tears welling in the corners of his eyes. “He have no reason to. He had family and friend waiting for him.”

“Besides, who here would do anything like that?!” Tsumugi agreed. Kiyo’s “polite” cough was answer enough to that though, so she backtracked. “ASIDE from Kiyo, since Angie says he couldn’t leave.”

The arguing just kept going on in circles from there, and Monokuma watched them bicker with a mix of joy and pride in the worst of ways. But Kaede stayed out of it and tried to focus on keeping track of the theories and objections being fired across the room.

And as she did she noticed she wasn’t the only one. Kiyo was still fighting with himself to stay as much out of the conversation as he could stand. Angie also held her tongue, but she seemed far more conflicted. So much so that Kaede was sure she knew more than she’d shared.

But if she does, why hasn’t she mentioned it? Is it related to why Kiyo’s refusing to let his sister get involved?

Did something happen during their walk? There is the bridge, maybe she saw the avatar in the river before it got caught on the rocks. Or she saw how it ended up getting in the river.

At least she’s more willing to talk than Kiyo is. God, I hope he’s not keeping his mouth shut just to spite us. But if he is still suicidal this could be a way to keep from dying alone. Or risk being stopped again.

Either way, maybe she just needs a little push to talk about what she knows. Hopefully whatever she has is enough to clear things up so we can get this trial over with.

If it isn’t then we’ll have no choice but to hope whatever “Cersei” has can bring us to the truth. I really don’t want things to come to that. She’s too dangerous for us to trust, and the stakes here are too high.

So here’s hoping Angie or her “Atua” will do the trick.

[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 8: Acknowledged Accidentals

Daily Life

Regardless of what she was trying to process, Kaede still managed to get to breakfast early that day. Or it felt like it, as it was early enough that the only other person there was Kaito, who kept glancing at a pair of tablets someone had left in the middle of the table. ( Which means he’s probably not the first person to get here today. Maybe some folks got here before us and got bored waiting for everyone else? )

With a bit of prompting she got him to actually see whose videos were there, and was surprised to realize they were Ryoma’s and Kiyo’s. The implications the auditions contained were even more concerning though.

Two murderers, who both seemed to have never taken a life before this game. One with a lover who could be real, but under very different circumstances, and another whose wasn’t, but meant the trauma of losing a close sibling was still real enough to die for. ( Both people whose auditions show they weren’t as terrible as I was, no matter what they think of themselves now. )

“Who do you think left these out here?” Kaede asked Kaito, in order to break the smothering silence.

“Probably Ryoma and Kiyo. Monokuma would have definitely given it to them first. I mean, I got mine this morning. It’s… kinda a doozy.”

“Yeah, I get it. Mine was too. I don’t think I’ll be adding mine to this pile, not before having Kokichi check it or something.” ( And if he won’t maybe Gonta will be willing to try. I hope neither of them think less of me for this though… )

“Not a bad plan, assuming he can tell how much of these things is legit. But I’ll just keep mine on the backburner for now, it’s prolly all BS. I don’t wanna worry him any, and he might try fucking with me.” Kaito sighed as he scratched at his head, making a face at the thought that got a laugh out of her.

“If he does start teasing me about mine at least it’s not anything super serious. Might accuse me of being victim to a “bitch-be-gone” spray or something at the worst.” ( Saying that’s not a major lie or anything. )

“Oh god I’d love to have me some of that right now! Kiyo’s sister will be the death of me, I’m telling ya,” Kaito said with a hollow chuckle, before turning more serious. “I don’t suppose it’d be too much to hope that Kiyo seeing this might have made her disappear? Things might be rough if it didn’t.”

Yikes. There’s a thought. It’d be easier on all of us if she’d just go away, but with a motive involved…

“I doubt it,” Kaede started, and resolved to make a minor confession. “When I visited Gonta the first time we had him keep an eye on Kiyo I asked him why he talked about his sister in the present tense before we saw his motive video. He said he honestly didn’t know she was dead, like what happened with Kirumi’s previous… “master”. I don’t think he was lying, so his “sister” shouldn’t have been talking to him before then. Wouldn’t make sense for one killing game motive to undo a previous one right?”

Kaito was unnerved by what she said, that much was obvious, but there was also a level of relief there. Kaede chalked it up to giving more backing to the idea this wasn’t some possession after all. But the relief was followed by guilt soon enough. “Fucking hell man. No wonder he was such a mess back then.”

Not really in the mood to continue that train of thought Kaede made a noncommittal noise and got up to get some breakfast instead. At least that way neither of them would feel pressured to talk until the others arrived, even if she wasn’t all that hungry.

It didn’t take too long for others to show up at least, as Gonta and Kokichi arrived before she finished. Though judging from how uncomfortable Gonta looked, he had also seen his video and it unsettled him.

Kokichi’s mood was harder to tell, which was hopefully an okay sign. It’s not like he was easy to read on his good days either. But seeing the liar gave Kaito an idea.

“Hey, just the twerp I wanted to see! Wanna give something a look-”

“Nyo.” Came Kokichi’s immediate rejection, and threw the space cadet for a loop.

“But you love being nosey! Come on, just help a guy out. I just wanna know how legit these things are,” Kaito tried again, taking one of the abandoned audition tapes in each hand as he waved them in front of his face. And got an even huffier and cutesy “nyo”s for his efforts.

“Why not? Kokichi look at Gonta video-”

“So what, now I gotta watch everyone’s dumb ol’ lying mugs? What I get out of it?” Kokichi waved Kaito off, but Keade could tell he was just being difficult for the sake of it, rather than offended by Kaito asking for his help.

“Blackmail material?” Kaede suggested with a sly smirk to “speak his language” and keep the bit going. Which Kokichi gladly accepted hook line and sinker.

“What sort of blackmail? Whatchu got?” he asked with an eager evil smile.

“I dunno~ Maybe a stereotypical blonde bitch? What you got?” Kaede gave as a half-truth.

“A whiny dork who had eyes bigger than his stomach.”

“So… No change then?”

“No more than you did, you mean ol’ blondie!” Kokichi laughed back at her lighthearted teasing.

“We also have a certain tennis star and anthropologist’s videos too, if that sweetens the pot?” Kaito tried to play along, though while Kokichi did seem surprised both were here without their owners he looked warier of how Kaito didn’t say anything about his own. Gonta, on the other hand, was just confused.

“How Kiyo’s here already? Gonta stop by Kiyo’s room and no hear Kiyo when he knock. It weird he sleep in today, Kiyo normally early birdy. And door was still blocked when Gonta come by so he no leave early.”

“Maybe he never got his at all then? I mean if Kiyo can’t get out maybe Monokuma couldn’t get in?” Kaito suggested.

As nice as that could have been Kaede doubted it. “Nah, I don’t think there’s anywhere in this school Monokuma can’t get to aside from maybe the sim. But maybe Kiyo asked him to put it out here instead? Monokuma might have done him a favor like that to see what we’d do. So there is a chance he hasn’t seen it yet in either case.”

“That wouldn’t explain Ryoma’s though, unless he left this out here himself. Not even Angie tried to lock him up, yeah? So what, he just left this out here all on its lonesome?” Kokichi asked.

“I guess we’ll just need to ask him later. Still, do you think you could help us out? I mean you can tell if we’re lying, right?”

“Fiiiiiine,” Kokichi sighed as he started getting a case of grabby hands so Kaito would hand him the audition pile. With a bit more pestering he got Kaede to hand hers over too, and Gonta dropped his own into the mix right after. But Gonta looked fairly concerned when he saw Kokichi add his to the bottom of the group, and his brow only furrowed further when he caught that Kaito’s video was still absent from it.

Kokichi was miffed about that detail too, he made no effort to hide that. But Kaito wasn’t budging so he quietly let it go for the time being in favor of analyzing the others, starting with Kiyo’s to prove he could.

And even from the start he seemed to be having trouble. Not that Kaede wasn’t expecting him to, she had tried warning him that Kiyo was “off” in more ways than normal. But nooo. “All the better to start with him,” he said. “It’ll be fine, even Gonta could handle this,” he said.

With how tense Kokichi’s posture was as he crouched over the small tablet and his refusal to respond to anyone until he was “sure” of his answer he could feel Kaede’s desire to pull an I-told-you-so. But she was too mature for that sort of thing. Obviously. He was just being paranoid again.

The fact he knows it is more than enough for me~ It’s nice to see him be so careful about it! I definitely prefer him being comfortable with his deduction than feeling he has to lie because of the pressure.

Gonta did still try to help, as much as he was able to see past Kokichi’s tiny frame. Kaede didn’t really get what they were saying so she kept out of it, which seemed kinder than how Kaito kept trying (and failing) to butt in and distract them.

But ultimately both agreed that while this Kiyo was different he was mostly telling the truth as far as he knew at the time. Most of the lies were about how open he was to really being made a villain and his “hopes” for the Kiyo everyone knew now, which wasn’t comforting. His anxiety gave them some confusion in other areas, but he did show the type of ticks Kokichi had come to expect from Kiyo so he guessed they were false positives.

However, depending on how much of him was lost to his requested “erasure” it would be impossible to know for sure without a larger sample of how he had been. And that could apply for all of them, even if it turned out Kiyo’s was meant to be (or at least wanted to be) the most complete overwrite.

Ryoma’s was easier at least, even though it started halfway through when Kaito hit play instead of looping back to the beginning the first time Kaede and he watched it together. It didn’t seem to matter for Kokichi’s estimate though, as the only major lies Kokichi caught were whenever he started bragging or attempted to “sell” his joke-of-a-jock concept. Since he didn’t notice any other oddities Kaito kept quiet.

Gonta wanted to think the lies meant more of the Ryoma they knew was real, but Kokichi shot him down. Occam’s razor, the simplest explanation was probably the correct one.

And the simplest reason for the other Ryoma to feel he was lying was if it really was just an audition.

Auditions work best if you’re knowingly exaggerating parts of yourself after all. It’s no fun if the people involved are too “bland” or “normal,” so you need to give yourself some pizazz. And that’s what he did.

I really hope that’s what the other me did too.

Ryoma’s did beg the question of if some of her friends had known each other before entering the school. And if his “girlfriend” character could have been unknowingly based on one of their female classmates.

Kaede didn’t want to linger on that for long though, with how easily that could mean he may never be reunited with her. ( But that does explain why he turned it off so soon after his “real” girlfriend came up. Poor Ryoma. As if losing one girl he loved wasn’t bad enough, he might have lost the same girl twice. )

But before Kokichi could give Kaede’s a look or share his thoughts on Gonta’s video he was interrupted by Tenko’s laughter, as she, Angie, and John made their own late arrival. Angie stopped telling the story that caused it when she saw the tablets in Kokichi’s hands.

“Alola~ Oooh, what’s this, what’s this? Did someone paint their Monopads? Atua approves!” Angie exclaimed after snatching one from Kokichi to give it a complete once over, but didn’t try to turn it on.

“Hey! Mine! You got your own, Angie, paws off!” Kokichi whined as he swiped it back and hid behind Gonta for “security”, though his bodyguard seemed to enjoy watching them play.

“Huh? What’re you talking about this time? I didn’t see anything like that in my room. Where’d you find these?” Tenko asked, and even John mimicked the confused look on her face as much as a pigeon could. But she left her alone in her birdie confusion as Tenko started to scowl and get defensive. “Are you lying just to mess with me again?!”

“Really? We found ours in our rooms, just like the second motive. Neither of you got any?” Kaede asked, very worried about what that could mean.

I mean they aren’t lying, right? Why would they? But with how late they got here maybe they bunked together again, so Monokuma didn’t drop theirs off? If they did get their auditions, how bad must they be for both of them to try and trick us like this? Are they plotting something- No, they can’t be! Nothing could be that bad, even if Angie would Tenko wouldn’t! Maybe they just don’t want Kokichi involved.

“My, how curious! Yet another mysterious mystery! Could this be a part of Monokuma’s motive too?” Angie proposed, squishing her cheeks to emphasize her “shock”.

Kaito nodded at that theory. “Possibly. Could be trying to make us doubt each other more by staggering out motives from this point on. Let me guess, neither of you care what these have to say either, do ya?”

“Obviously! Why you’d guys even bother watching these things, you know they’re dangerous!” Tenko chided, crossing her arms and shaking her head at their decision. Her expression softened as she went on to ask Gonta, “You all okay? It wasn’t too rough on you, was it?”

“Y-yeah, Gonta think everyone fine! But we found Ryoma and Kiyo’s alone, so Gonta worried. Not sure how Kiyo’s get here yet. Hopefully Ryoma okay, his video not bad at all!” He answered, and got excited to tell Angie about one of their discoveries. “Oh, but videos agree with Atua! They say that Kiyo and Ryoma good people made to think they do bad things! Probably?”

“Nyahaha~ Told you so! Never doubt Atua’s divine judgement!”

“Not sure I’d say they were both “good people”,” Kokichi said with a shrug, “But yeah, the Anti-Kiyo probably just had a case of survivor’s guilt or something. They all also say we agreed to be in this game. So that “Kill or be killed” motive at the start might have been a bluff if we were all “willing” participants.”

“I see. Shame Shuichi couldn’t have known that back then,” Kaede mumbled, which got Tenko to give her a comforting hug.

“Well, at least the risks you all made paid off then!” she said with an assuring smile. “If they were too scared to just kill us all right at the start that means any later motives of that type are also fakes, right?!”

“Yeah!” Kaito happily agreed. “So that should help keep some tensions down.” He looked off to the side as he continued. “Doesn’t mean we can stay here much longer though. We still need to get outta here.”

Kaede had no hesitation agreeing with him, and Kokichi and Gonta quickly followed. But Angie and Tenko didn’t seem convinced. Luckily there wasn’t a chance to argue as Kibo and Tsumugi walked in.

“Hello! Sorry we’re late, Tsumugi and I lost track of time in the computer lab. How’s everyone been?” Kibo asked, chipper as ever. Though despite his high spirits Tsumugi looked uneasy beside him, and her gaze kept going back to the space above his head. ( Oh hey, Kibo actually tamed his cowlick thing! Lucky. But why would Tsumugi be bothered by that? It wasn’t a part that broke off was it?! He’s acting okay... Maybe it's just something silly, like one of her anime things again. )

Kaede got straight to the point. “Well enough, did either of you two find these brown tablets in your rooms this morning?” She gestured to Kokichi who waved one with one hand and held the pile with the other. “Kaito, Gonta, Kokichi, and I did, and we found Ryoma and Kiyo’s here without them, but Angie and Tenko say they didn’t get any motives this time.”

“N-no,” Kibo answered a tad too fast to feel honest. “I didn’t at least. What about you, Tsumugi?”

“Nope, not at all. That’s odd…” ( Okay. So Kibo’s lying, and Tsumugi’s trying to help cover for him. This means Angie and Tenko are probably also lying about not getting them. Maybe they all met earlier and hid their videos together? They were all part of the student council, maybe it’s not as dead as I thought. )

“O-oh well! Not like it should be anything to worry about. We’d probably be better off not watching any more motive videos anyway.” Kibo hurriedly tried to move on.

“I dunno, I mean we already started some and I think I’m pretty good at picking out what’s real in them. And who said they were videos, Kiiboy? I figured they would have been games this time, to change it up,” Kokichi teased, clearly enjoying cutting Kibo’s lie to pieces even though he knew he didn’t need to.

“Uuuh... You can play games on these things?” Kibo nervously asked, trying to cover up his slip of the tongue. “I had no idea. I’m not good at touch-pad things, so I just assumed they’d all be videos or maps.”

“Yeah, and it being a plain ol’ map of the school wouldn’t make too much sense! Since we’ve basically unlocked everything by this point,” Tsumugi cheerily offered to help him. “Still, he’s right, why bother?”

“Yup yup! That’s what Tenko and Angie were saying! Even if things seem helpful it’s too risky to just play along with any more of Monokuma’s games.” Angie skipped over to them and gave them both hugs.

“A secret map would have helped narrow down the mastermind though, if Shuichi’s plan did fail back then,” Tenko said with a tilt of her head, as if considering where having that as a motive could’ve led.

“Or help give us an alternative means of escape,” Kaede suggested and sighed. “That’s probably why we got these auditions instead. Both would encourage paranoia, this gives us nothing concrete to help us.”

“What else is new?” Ryoma’s voice came from the cafeteria doors, leaving only Kiyo absent. He found himself a seat, nodding when he saw the pile of brown Monopads in Kokichi’s arms but made no attempt to explain anything - and seeing this acknowledgment without comment bothered Kaito.

“Hey, you didn’t stop by Kiyo’s room did you? Gonta said he tried getting him up earlier but couldn’t.”

“Nope, why would I? I didn’t know,” came the pro’s muted response with a shrug, which only seemed to worry Kaito more.

“Okay, guess I’ll go get him then. Stuff in front of Kiyo’s door ain’t that tough to move from our side, right Gonta?” Kaito asked as he started heading out the door to the patio, missing Gonta’s answer that it was. Still, even if he wasn’t about to make an idiot of himself Kaede went after him anyway.

( Not because I’m worried about Kiyo as much as I’m worried about leaving Kaito alone with someone so spooky, of course. And I’m definitely not entertaining any worst-case scenarios for Kiyo’s unusual delay. )

At least Kaito didn’t seem nervous when she caught up to him, and he appreciated her company without question. That helped settle some of her own nerves as they got past the outer eating area.

When they got back to the dorms the first thing they noticed was how Kiyo’s door was open now. Not much, but enough you could tell from a distance. ( Almost like someone did visit him already, despite what Ryoma and Gonta said. )

Kaede would be lying if she said she wasn't fearing the worst at that. She'd be lying even more if said a part of her hadn't been wishing for this earlier. But that was different.

Kaito didn't have the same reluctance, though he did have similar suspicions, as he knocked on the door. When it swung open from the impact they found some of their fears were well-founded.

Everything was dark and a mess. Scattered and torn pages, books left as if carelessly tossed aside, and even what looked like scattered strands of hair could be seen nearly everywhere.

And in the center of it all was Kiyo. Or it should be him at least, as he looked a lot different now. He was more of a mess than at Maki’s trial, despite there not being so much as a drop of blood on him this time.

He was just sitting there at the edge of his bed, like he couldn't be bothered to notice them. Or like he didn't see anything around him at all, beyond what he had in his hands.

It was just a bundle of red rope, but the way he was focused on it made it seem far more dangerous than that. The look in his eyes as he coldly took note of his guests only made it worse.

They'd seen enough death to know what a person's eyes looked like after they died, but this was the closest she'd seen to someone alive having that same look. It was so uncanny Kaede almost didn’t realize how much shorter his hair was now, which explained the crudely cut clumps around them.

It almost looks like Himiko’s bob, just a lot messier. Is that related to what happened in here?

There was definitely a struggle, but now she wasn't sure there was anyone else involved. Just like she wasn't sure this was Kiyo anymore. But even if it wasn't it didn't stop Kaito from rushing forward to take the rope.

“Woah woah woah, what the hell do you think you're doing?!”

“I imagine that should be obvious Kaito. Is there a problem, or may I have that back?” They asked, and from the tone Kaede guessed it really was Kiyo right now. No matter how much hoarser it sounded. Like he had already strained his voice too much, even before the morning announcement had woken her or she saw her video. (Assuming his room doesn't have some means of soundproofing I haven't been able to notice yet. If not, I should have heard something before, right?!)

How long has he been thinking like this!? He hadn't already tried to do anything before we got here, did he? Gah, I don't even want to know. I'm almost happy his mask covers his neck. Even if it means he could be hiding bruises from us. That is all we should worry about right?! I don't see any blood, but he covers so much of himself all the time... Are some of those scars we saw before self-inflicted? Has he... had thoughts like this before, and we just didn't notice? 

“Hell no! What the fuck, why even ask that?! Of course there's a problem here!”

“How so? Is it not to everyone's benefit to have me gone if I no longer wish to be here?”

“That's not the point! You can't just expect a person to see you like this and not stop you! What the hell happened?”

“I thought Ryoma took my “audition” with him to show it to you all. Was I mistaken?”

“So that's why your video was with his in the dining hall? He said he didn't see you today.” Kaede interjected. “He only just got to the cafeteria too, are you saying this happened before Gonta came by?”

“So he lied. This shouldn't be so surprising at this point, Kaede. Apparently we all have. In more ways than one.” Kiyo replied with little inflection as he gave Kaito a scornful look. “But Ryoma was my first and only visitor, though I believe I heard him speaking to Gonta outside my door after he stopped by.” ( So they both lied to us today? Did Ryoma know that Kiyo was considering- No. No, he couldn’t. He wouldn’t! Right? But why would he have Gonta lie to us on top of that? What’s going on with you Ryoma? )

“That doesn't give you the excuse to act like a coward!” Kaito yelled, focusing on the matter of Kiyo’s audition.

“Kaito! That's not what this is-” Kaede tried to scold, before Kiyo cut her off to attack the accusation.

Kaito’s words brought a fire back to their dull eyes, but only with fury. “What exactly is more cowardly to you then, Kaito: Running away or hiding? The former is what you're considering my actions, yes?”

“... What the hell are you talking about?”

“There's a difference between escaping a situation and taking responsibility for one's actions. A coward is hardly what you can call one ready to face death I think, with how terrifying the unknown is to most. Particularly when it comes to the fate of those who are guilty of crimes unforgivable.”

“Stop making excuses for yourself and think about what you're saying dammit!” Kaito shouted and it looked like he wanted to try to literally beat some sense into the boy.

But when he threw his punch Kiyo caught it, wrenching Kaito’s arm behind his back as he finally stood up.

“Just because you can't stop your own death doesn't give you the right to judge what the rest of us do with our own lives.” Kiyo hissed in his ear, as if that would keep Kaede from catching it. But it didn't.

And those words hit hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

What Kiyo said didn’t make sense. It couldn’t.

“What is he talking about, Kaito?”

“N-nothing, he's just bullshiting-” Kaito tried to say before Kiyo twisted his arm, causing the boy to cut himself short.

Seeing as Kaito was going to continue to try and wave away Kiyo’s accusation his (or is it their?) patience finally gave way and he launched his own frustrated tirade instead.

“Did you honestly think I wouldn't recognize the disease that killed my sister? Obviously the lack of medical attention and stress has been making your symptoms progress faster, but the stages are the same. How many days do you have left Kaito? You can’t have more than a week by now, I imagine.”

“... What?” Kaede barely heard herself ask distantly.

“I told you, it's not-” Kaito began to object before Kiyo kneed him in the stomach and triggered a coughing fit.

One that caused blood to cover his hand as he tried to hide it. Too much to have come just from the impact. Just like Shinguji’s fit from Kiyo’s literal “motive” video.

“So, who here's actually the coward, Kaito? Because I don't think it's me,” Kiyo coldly stated, but the look on his face wasn’t matching how harsh his words were. There was too much sadness there, like he was actively regretting what he was doing. ( Or maybe it’s just because he has a witness while he did it. )

“S-Shut up, dammit! I'm not the one trying to give up on everything!”

“You say that like living is always the better option. The “braver” option.” Kiyo mocked as his voice began gradually raising in pitch, before his tone changed to one much colder. “Don't be so naive, you brat .”

“What are you saying, of course it is! Do you think I wouldn't do anything to stay a bit longer, with so many things left to do?” Kaito shoved him as he got to his feet again.

But it definitely wasn't Kiyo he was arguing with anymore, as a hand tore the mask away.

“The only reason you can say that is because you can't ! You don't have any idea what it feels like to be forced to stay alive! Do you have any idea how long it took to convince him to let me die? Can you even imagine how much agony I was in because he was too scared to let go?! Not even the blood in my own veins was mine after so many damned transfusions! And here you act like I was the coward, not him?”

“I-… Well!... That's… That’s different.” Kaito tried to argue, but his voice was too weak to continue.

“Is it now? Because it sounds the same to me. Just a scared little boy refusing the reality that at some point the best choice is to accept defeat. Particularly against death. No one can truly best it for long. And those that try never get the benefit of a graceful or painless exit.”

“P-please, can you both stop fighting? Why not you just come to breakfast with us for now? Kaito crossed a line sure, but he was right about not leaving you like this. Er, either of you.”

“... Fine. As one of the lives most endangered by us, your words have a lot more weight to them than his do. If you can honestly say you don't think we should do it.” They said, almost taunting her into agreeing with… To that, and honestly Kaede couldn’t be sure which sibling was speaking anymore. The mask was off, but the fact they needed her to “convince” them inclined her to think it was Kiyo for now.

But still, why did he have to ask me that?! That's wrong, but this is so complicated! What do I say?!

“Of course not! Not… Not like this at least. There's no need for this yet! At least… At least wait for us to get out first, okay? Please? No one should have to die in this place. That's just what they want us to do.”

“Ah, spite. The most basic of motivators. But you do make a fair point.” He (they?) conceded, and had no further objections to being escorted to the dining hall.

Kaito rushed ahead upon seeing their destination, probably to give the others a quick warning before they saw the condition Kiyo was in so Kaede didn’t question it. ( I mean something like… this is rough to just have sprung on people. Though if Kaito’s hoping we’ll be nicer to this guy he might be out of luck. )

Kiyo didn’t respond much to his running off either, but Kaede couldn’t tell what was going on in his head at all. So the two just walked in an uncomfortable silence as they followed after him.

Whatever Kaito’s plan was he was still talking to Angie and Kokichi about it away from the table. Kokichi had no interest in playing along with “trying to make Kiyo feel like part of the group” from what Kaede could overhear but Tenko stepped in for him. Which did not bode well.

“Hey, I uhh… Like what you’ve done with your hair?” Tenko nervously said, but her self-doubt made it sound like a question rather than an observation. Self consciously Kiyo paused to comb his fingers through his now almost shoulder length hair as if only now registering what he had done to it. ( Unless it’s not Kiyo right now who's seeing the damage he did earlier. )

“TENKO!” Tsumugi quietly hissed as she learned to the girl’s ear, “This isn’t the time for backhanded compliments!”

“But I do! He might be the creepiest guy on the block but his hair’s always been really pretty. And shorter styles are supposed to suit boys more aren’t they?” Tenko asked, clearly at a loss for how to defend herself.

“Yeah-huh, suuure that’s what you mean. Definitely not projecting Himiko onto him or anything.” Kokichi quipped, though Kaito looked ready to cover his mouth if he had to. “If you are I’mma go steal her effigy to protect her from you~”

“I AM NOT! I’m trying to be nice and you’re not helping! Do you know how hard it is to cut hair by yourself?! Yeah the cuts are a bit choppy but that’s an easy fix and he still got it kinda level.”

“Oh, that’s a good point. After breakfast I guess I could even it out for you if you’d like? I’m not exactly a hairdresser but I’ve had to cut wigs before so that should be similar enough.” Tsumugi offered, after a nudge and some whispers from Kibo. ( Was that his idea? Having another pair of scissors near Kiyo’s neck isn’t the brightest idea right now... )

“I can even add this look to your virtual world’s avatar if you’d like?” Kibo chimed. ( Okay yup, definitely his idea. He’s hoping Tsumugi can buy him some time for what would hopefully be a quick fix. It’s a good effort I guess. Still, I’m not sure Kibo recognizes how dangerous this could be, for any of them! )

“... I’d like that I think, thank you.” Kiyo mumbled out, which made them both smile a little but his own expression was harder to read. “I think it’d be good for my sister and I to not look so much alike in there. Though while I’d appreciate being able to see my handiwork, perhaps someone else can do the cutting?”

He didn’t elaborate why he didn’t want Tsumugi’s help, but he didn’t need to as Kibo took over the role.

“Trouble in paradise?” Kokichi started to croon, but between Kiyo’s violent flinch and Kaito’s clear warning he wisely shut up, leaving a chance for Gonta to ask a question.

“Kiyo no use mirror for hair cutting? Why not?”

Kiyo was silent for a pause. “It stopped working.” (That's one way to say "I broke it" I guess. God, that mess looked like it came straight out of a horror movie.)

“Huh? Mirrors can do that?”

Kaito sighed, “No Gonta, he’s just teasing you-”

“Have you tried giving it a good smack?” Kokichi asked to play along with Kiyo’s joke, which Kaito didn’t appreciate in the slightest.

“Yes, and alas no luck no matter how hard I tried.” Kiyo replied with an air of sarcasm, which made Kaito back down to see how this back and forth would go.

“Did you make sure it’s plugged in?”

“Indeed it is, and there was no unplugging it either.”

“Psssh, noodle arms.” Kokichi snickered “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

“Oh heavens, it never occured to me, “ Kiyo jokingly gasped, “I’ll try that later tonight.”

“Rrrright, you do that.” Kaede nervously laughed as she went back to her previous seat.

After Kiyo got back from getting some food for himself Kaede couldn’t help but notice how he kept alternating between hugging and clawing at himself through his clothes in his solemn seat away from the others, and she had no idea what that meant for him mentally. ( I mean before the hugs seemed like they might be more his sister “comforting” him than his own quirk in hindsight. Are they fighting in there? Or is he just really that uncomfortable being around us right now?)

With a concerned look to Angie for help, as the artist also noticed his odd behavior, the smaller girl nodded at her and leapt to action.

“Hmm, okie-dokie!” Angie said and hopped her way over to sit across from Kiyo, and sat with her hands put together as if in prayer under her chin. Before anyone could voice how suspicious her mood swing was she tried her chosen conversation starter. “Teach Angie about hookers!” ( WHAT THE FUCK READ THE ROOM- fuck it, let’s see where she’s going with this. It’s not like this could make anything worse, right? )

Kiyo was stunned speechless for a fair beat before he settled on sarcasm to answer Angie’s very poorly phrased request. “When a client’s libido and another person’s wallet love each other very much….”

If Kaede hadn’t seen it she could have sworn that keening noise followed by a loud thunk was her final horribly abused brain cell dropping dead, rather than Tenko’s attempt to restrain herself by slamming her head on the table. Seeing Tenko try to follow Kaito’s request made her feel proud, after she quietly smothered the disappointment that reared its ugly head up whenever being nice to Kiyo got involved.

“Not that, historical hookers! Angie doesn’t want to talk about home, so she thought letting you talk about weird stuff would cheer you up too! So Angie wants to learn more about the art of the Geisha.” She elaborated, and Kaede noticed that talking did get Kiyo to stop clutching at himself as he did before.

“... I’m confused. Do you want to learn about Geisha or do you want to hear about actual courtesans? They aren’t the same thing you know. Even Geisha who had affairs with their clients on the side were of the minority. At a glance they were also easily distinguished; Geisha’s robes were tied from the back while Oiran always have their obi tied in front of them. To aid in the act of dressing and undressing you see. Apologies if you are trying to refer more to general prostitution, my forte is more fable than fact, though there were yokai that could masquerade as being of either profession, such as the Jorugumo.”

“... Yes yes, Angie knows!” Angie fibbed, but her goal of getting Kiyo out of his head like Kaito technically asked them to do did seem to be working. “So, so so… What’s the weirdest bits Kiyo knows? Tell me, tell me!” She continued prodding like a child, trying to make her face darkly serious. “Atua demands trivia~”

“Geisha were originally a mostly male profession focusing on playing music, while Kabuki as an artform was started by a woman known as Izumo no Okuni. Kabuki switched to male exclusive performances in an attempt to stop the actresses from selling themselves on the side after the show.” Kiyo rattled off, sounding marginally more like himself again. He even snickered a bit as he got to his own little side note. “Obviously this failed to take into account that instead of stopping the buffet all this would accomplish was change what was “on the menu” so to speak. We were rather like the Greeks in some regards.”

Kaito looked down at his own shirt’s Kabuki inspired design before looking offended at Kiyo for this information. The face he was pulling was enough to get Tenko to start giggling, despite of how easily their situations could have been reversed. ( Assuming she was self aware enough to realize that… )

“Kiyo” stopped being the one talking the moment they noticed Kaito’s discomfort to twist the knife. “Serves you right for not learning your own history first, if you’d let it disgust you so. That is an imported value, as any respect for your roots would show. I believe Ihara Saikaku phrased it in Life of an Amorous Man as “How sad it must be, to restrict yourself to one or two dishes in life’s banquet”. Maybe a lesson about the history of actual Okama will help keep you from making future assumptions about others-”

“Heeey, no fair, no fair! Angie wanted to talk to Kiyo, Ukiyo should wait for her turn!” ( ... Wow, wasn’t expecting a name meaning “purity” to be twisted into the nickname of Edo’s red light district. Clever. )

“Stop calling me weird things like that already!” The banshee practically shrieked at Angie before catching herself, embarrassed by how her temper was still in as much disarray as Kiyo’s emotions were.

“But the set up for the pun was so divine, wasn’t it? Atua must have willed Angie to call you that!” Angie replied without missing a beat, happy to have a new way to needle at least one of the Shingujis.

“He must be eager to take you back then,” Shinguji spat, before she needed to stop her own hand from hitting herself across the face. Given her expression that wasn’t really “her” hand she stopped either.

Because that doesn’t make this whole mess with them any less terrifying, no siree. How do we fix this?! … Also wait does this mean Kiyo seriously just tried to slap her for acting up? Is… Is this a good thing?

Tenko stepped in before things could turn any more violent, diffusing things best she could. Which in this case basically meant selling a trip to the virtual world to give the “siblings” (or whatever they really were) space to calm down. With herself as company for his sister as she’d been apt to offer as of late, though she seemed distressed when Angie expressed an interest in palling around with Kiyo instead.

Though admittedly Kiyo seemed equally confused and suspicious of this change of attitude, blissfully unaware of how Kaito puffed up with pride that he actually got Angie of all people to take his request seriously. So proud in fact that not even Tenko’s attempts to give him the stink eye gave him any pause.

Kiyo still accepted Angie’s offer, in hopes to glean more of her own culture for a change, but he did so with his own terms first. Specifically he insisted on Kibo making the changes to his avatar to match his current appearance first, so that he and his sister would be more obviously distinct.

During the time needed to make the changes Tenko, Angie, and Ryoma could enter the sim early, while Gonta made sure Kiyo didn’t do anything suspicious with Kibo. Though it was then Kaede noticed Kaito had refused to acknowledge Ryoma since they got back, still angry about Kiyo's earlier implications.

This was probably the only time Kibo hadn’t felt he needed to try and argue to let the two of the siblings stay in there alone, since a falling out meant unsavory activities were less likely. Hopefully. Or maybe he was just worried leaving the two alone like this would have been unjustly cruel unlike the times previous.

Gonta refused to let Tenko act as Shinguji’s overseer after hearing her threaten Angie, so he went to perform that duty for her instead. With Gonta down Kibo offered to keep an eye on Kiyo so neither Tsumugi or Kaede would need to try, but Ryoma surprisingly offered to help pick up the slack and help entertain Angie so Kibo could have more time to tinker if he wanted to continue after the avatar changes or simply see if he had any future as the world’s first robot hairdresser while fixing Kiyo’s botched bob.

Kaito passed in favor of wanting to go look through Shuichi’s lab a bit more, and by necessity got Kokichi roped into his plan since the liar couldn’t make a convincing excuse to get out of it. When he asked Kaede herself if she wanted to join them, she decided not to though. And not just because everything about the place was starting to make her more and more frustrated and sick by the day.

With Kaito being there she knew trying to have Kokichi tell her about her audition tape’s lies would just be uncomfortable and raise tensions between the two. It’d be better to leave them alone, she thought, and maybe let them sort out why Kaito was so wary of what Kokichi could see in his on their own.

No matter how it may have frustrated her knowing Kokichi’s offer was on the table and Gonta likely already had his video looked over. But it wasn’t like they wouldn’t have time to do it later or something.

Instead she asked Tsumugi if she just wanted to hang out for a change of pace, to make up for how she abandoned her with Kiyo and Gonta before. ( I don’t want her to think I only hung out with her because I wanted something! And this time there won’t be any dangerous people around to sour the mood. And if she wasn’t actually insulted by me bailing on her in the first place, even better. And this should help me calm down some after what happened in Kiyo's room. )

It was fun, spending time with her. Tsumugi even suggested bringing down some of her cosplay outfits so they could do it in Kaede’s cozy little lab instead of her massive expanse. Not that Tsumugi did much to hide her disappointment that Kaede’s music collection failed to have anything anime related after they finished transplanting some of her “relevant” outfits for the room’s theme, betraying her real goal.

Little surprise there. But still, it’s nice to know anime does encourage musical talents in their own ways! And it is probably a good lesson for me to try harder to keep up with newer music as well, so I can grow.

For someone so “plain” and boring Tsumugi had a bit of talent when it came to playing, much to Kaede’s surprise. Though Tsumugi kept insisting it was just a part of her “getting into character”, playing the part of a pianist character called “Nodame” or something, and hearing her disregard her skill was kinda sad.

Regardless, Kaede was ecstatic to have someone willing to listen and learn with her, if only for a little while. ( And it’s good practice for when Kaito and Ryoma want to try too! Maybe she can even join us. Unless she’s too busy with Kibo again or something, they seem to have been hanging out a lot lately. )

Certainly better company than Angie “Let’s collab together!”-only-to-fall-asleep-to-an-upbeat-song Yonaga or Kokichi’s intentionally mixed signals I've had to deal with before at any rate.

Which made Monokuma’s televised interruption all the more jarring. Though with how late it must have been getting they should have been expecting the nighttime announcement, so that was their own fault.

But when the numbness of their shock subsided, horror took hold and both girls ran to the door.

DING-DONG, DONG-DING

“A body has been discovered!”

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 7: … My False Friends

Tenko knew better than to bother with the stupid screen she found as she headed to her bathroom to get ready for the day. Monokuma had already gotten Himiko killed with the last batch of these tablet motives, and she wasn’t about to risk a repeat regardless of whether it was another movie or a video game.

That motive had managed to break someone as upbeat as Miu so early, and stole Kirumi’s heart from them. And if Miss Shinguji could be believed, it played no small part in her brother’s current levels of bloodlust as well.

Hypnosis, brainwashing, or whatever else kind of trick this was, it was too dangerous to be taken lightly. Particularly since her other friends would still likely take this poisoned bait, thinking they could overcome it despite past evidence stacked against them. They’d need someone like her to help secure them.

Knowing Angie, she’d probably watch hers anyway like the hypocrite that she was, but Tenko could keep her steady. Heck, Angie could at least fill her in on what style of motive the others could be falling for. Not that she could say for sure who all would give into this after what happened last time.

Kokichi definitely, since he’s as paranoid and controlling as Angie is. Besides, the tiny menace seemed to regret not watching his early as soon as his first motive video ended. Better be on guard around him.

Kaede shouldn’t, but she probably will anyway. She’s just too naive for her own good sometimes and Kokichi’s influence hasn’t been doing her any favors. So I’ll just have to look out for her like I do Angie.

Kaito probably will because he’s an idiot. Though…If the theories folks have been throwing around about the videos hypnotising or un-hypnotising people turn out to be true we have nothing to worry about here. He’s loud and the most violent degenerate of the bunch, but he’s not ill-intentioned or dishonest.

Kiyo will because he’s stupidly curious, so hopefully he won’t drag Miss Shinguji down with him any more than he already has. Unless she was able to take control and force him to ignore it, since she’s more sensible. At least there shouldn’t be any way left to make HIM worse than he already is, so I can handle him.

Kibo’s… A lot more of a question mark. I definitely need to get them to practice more with me, so I can get a better feel for them. But even without getting as close as Aikido would allow me I know they’re genuine. Don’t need to toss them around like I did Kaito to know that. But they’re also very insecure. That’s a trait that’s easy for the evil men of the world like Monokuma to prey upon. Maybe learning some Neo-Aikido with me would also help them become more sure of themselves!

So with the K kids done… Gonta might because he’s also more insecure or may think knowing the motive will help him protect the rest of us. I don’t agree with that but I’ll definitely help him keep everyone safe! Including himself. Hopefully the stupid motive won’t be able to dig its greedy hateful claws into him.

Ryoma definitely will. And he could be dangerous if it manages to flip him back to “Killer Tennis” mode. He won’t be easy to defend against if it does, he already proved that to me when he helped Kaede talk to Angie before Maki… The night Kaede wanted to join the student council. But it could also make him self-destructive again. So I guess I’ll just need to wait and see to see what the best approach would be.

Tsumugi definitely won’t! She’s too nervous around this sorta stuff. Pacifistic and nonconfrontational to a fault. Definitely need to rope her into some lessons with me soon, even though it will need to be normal Aikido. Neo-Aikido’s too energetic and aggressive for a sweet soul like her, but Aikido will be a perfect fit!

And as if perfectly timed, her mental game plan was set just as she was ready to start heading out. But when she left the safety of her dorm room she felt a change in the atmosphere around her. With a frown, she took it as a sign most of her friends were either giving into temptation or seriously considering it.

Not that she let that bother her too much. There was little use in banging on everyone’s doors to yell at them for letting Monokuma manipulate them all again. Angie had shown her how poorly that approach worked. So instead she headed to check on all of Himiko’s adorable animals first and (with John happily cooing on her shoulder) arrived at the cafeteria without incident.

She shook all worries out of her head as she found she was the first one there that day. Monokuma wasn’t going to control her, and he wasn’t going to corrupt any of her friends either if she had anything to say about it. For now, it was best to focus on getting a balanced meal to start the day off right.

She’d need all the energy and strength she could get if she was going to help keep all of her wayward companions from being led astray by whatever honey that damned bear tried to trick them with.

And she was going to. She promised Himiko that she would. Just like she promised that night she was going to better herself best she could, so Himiko could be proud of her if she chose to forgive Tenko for how boyishly boorishly forceful she had unintentionally been while the precious girl was still with them.

So Tenko could be worth forgiving.

So her master and parents could see how much she’s been able to grow in this horrible place.

So everything would be able to turn out okay in the end, just like Angie told her they would.

Angie wasn’t surprised to find the tablet on her table. Atua had told her it would soon be upon them. What did surprise her was His request to watch the video, despite His objections in the past.

The frame it was in was also a surprise. Unlike the paint splattered Monokub pads or the striped Monosuke file, there didn’t seem to be an obvious candidate for who this could represent. The two shades of stain on the wood paralleled Monokuma’s Monochrome, like how Monosuke’s did when he tried to take his father’s spot.

An’ so Heralds the Unwanted Arrival of the Unseen Spawn. Beware, My Darlin’ Dewdrop. They ain’t Allied wit’ None but Themselves, Nothin’ like Their Lil’ Bruddahs’ or Sickest of Sistas.

Taking note of His warning she warily turned it on, even if His request was only to assuage her own curiosity with how much He already knew, and watched as her own altered image came to life.

A dark-skinned girl wearing impractical but “formal” clothing and more layers than she’d ever dream of. Way too western-centric “professional” attire, with that dark grey blazer, equally dark blue sweater, a white button-up, stupid string bow, and a skirt that would still break the dress codes that could torment her by “not reaching the tips of her fingers when she had her hands at her sides” as they said it should.

To say Angie hated her at first sight was an understatement. She wished she could have seen that dumb girl sweat for her silly decision to wear clothes that dark, regardless of where she needed to wear that. No way she wouldn’t be roasting if she wore that back home. (She can’t even go for a swim like that!)

“Uhh, Number 262. I hope it’s okay to talk like this, since you do have translators and all. I’m @^&#!@ ^*^@&@, but please just call me @^&!#. You might remember me from a few auditions back, but I promise I’ll be the best foreign exchange student the series has ever seen!” The other Angie said with a near blinding smile.

It was weird to hear herself speaking in her own language again. Not enough to distract from what was being said, which was a good thing given she didn’t see a way to rewind the video yet, but still odd.

Wrong. Alien almost. And the words “foreign exchange student” caused her skin to crawl, but she had no idea why. It wasn’t like she’d ever done that in the past. But this didn’t feel school related either.

Fear Not, Beloved Child. For I Am Wit’ Thee. I Pity the Craven Heretic That Has Stolen Thy Image for Ill Intentions! Totes Bogus My Dude, That Hast Forsaken My Most Righteous of Graces an’ Goodwill.

“Every season’s gotta have at least one, even if they aren’t all that foreign like Celeste was. And with the way I look you have a buncha options for “weird” cultures for me! I don’t even know where I’m from. I’ve been in the system since before I can remember, and it’s not like I’ve ever been able to make any roots.”

The racist is strong in this one. Atua disapproves.

Right On, My Most Sacred o’ Precious Daughters, Preach Thy Holy Words!

“You could even put the “cult” back in “culture”, I don’t mind! Uhh, but don’t worry about that making me more expensive to get for the show or anything! I’ve been saving up since season 50, so I can pay for my own flight to Japan, no problem. Just say the word and I’m there!”

“OH, oh-oh! So Kiyo’s been a pun this whole time! Nyahaha~” Angie couldn’t help but giggle aloud at his expense with a little set of victorious claps before thinking for a moment.

Wait, no, he’s more occult, isn’t he? So that means… I’m the pun?

False Herald o’ Deception an’ Cruelty! Thou Knowest Better Than to Disgrace Thy Fellow Man, Man. May The Ebbs an’ Flows o’ Time Erase Thee an’ All Thy Efforts for Not, Thee Frickin’ Frube.

Hearing her Lord defend her “honor” like that made Angie giggle and normally would have given her the warm fuzzies. But the implications were too serious to permit any distractions. It was one thing to be told by Atua she was right, and could claim her words were his own when they were, but another to hear confirmation of her greatest hope and fear. But now was not the time to dwell on these things.

“Let’s see… Uh, as far as talents go maybe medium would be neat? A spirited spiritualist sort of thing? I’ve always really liked fun characters, like Aoi or Ibuki. ” She offered brightly, before seeming to linger on a sadder memory with a frown. “Or maybe something artsy? Kids always teased me that I only got adopted because I used poetry to “bewitch” my parents into doing it. It’d be fitting if I could use that skill to pay them back somehow. So I’d rather avoid something witchy if I can.”

It was weird to see herself get so uncomfortable in front of a camera, but the girl managed to keep eye contact. Her fidgeting still easily gave her true feelings away in a way Angie tried not to.

In My Most Infinite O’ Wisdoms, Henceforth Shall Dis Grommet be Known as Demona, Speaker of Sorrows. For She Hath Not Deserveth Thy Nomenclature, Sweet Soul of Sunshine. So Saith Me!

Amen!

“Not sure what else I can say that I haven’t before. Just a fan trying to stop being as much a burden on my family, to repay them for all their kindness in a way I can have fun with too. I’m not afraid to die, so any fate you think would suit me is fine! I’m sure this won’t change whatever place the powers that be have in mind for me. What will be, will be and all that jazz! So even if I still don’t make the cut I’ll be glad to enjoy this “semester” all the same! Thank you for this opportunity and I’ll pray to be one of the chosen.”

She ended with a very respectful bow, her hands held together to emphasize her promised “prayer” as the film thankfully ended. At least Angie didn’t need to worry herself over it alone for long.

Her History be Not Thine own, My Prophet. Fear Not for Thyself, Thy Fate is Sealed. Thee Shalt Find Long Lasting Happiness When All is Settled and This Game Bites It, I Promise Thee This.

Like you have to, I already know I will! Your divine presence is always with me after all!

I Thank Thee, My Faithful. I Wish I Coulda Assure All Ye Students Similar Securities. Gnarly lil’ Punks Keep Binding Me, My Influence be Not as It Should.

It’s fine, it’s fine, no one should blame you! I wish I was able to get more sacrifices to help...

Bruh. Chill, Thou Needest Not Fear for Me. ...Question, My Prophet: Would “All Ye” in the Tongues of My Children be “Y’all” with Thine Common Parlance?

… I mean TECHNICALLY it fits? So if you really like it sure! You don’t need to have the formal “you” for it.

Righteous! Many Thanks for Thy Help in Expanding My Wisdom. Formal Language is Hella Wack, Informal Speech is Where itz at!

Not even that dour footage could stop the fuzzies this time, as her Lord’s excitement over “reconnecting” to His modern children however He could was infectious no matter how silly His attempts turned out.

And while He never said it bluntly hearing His voice helped assure her this was an attempt to trick them. Trying to encourage them to again pursue the false hope of escape a rigged scenario, to shatter their faith. In each other, in themselves, and in this rapturous yet tainted paradise they found themselves in.

But the lies they told about who she was before this pale in comparison to the truths it touched on.

This really was a game. Just it was a game show , all for the entertainment of the cruel godless masses.

The good news was that this should mean Himiko and everyone else should be fine. Shows wouldn’t be able to last if they kept killing off their actors and potentially their former audience if this “Angie’s” actions were the norm. But still, she had no way of knowing how the false deaths had harmed her friends.

Not until she either died or won to see them all for herself. She��d been faithfully praying to Atua every night since Rantaro’s death that no physical or psychological harm had come to them. And of course praying for their souls in case of the worst case scenario, since Atua had kept the details to a minimum.

She knew better than to trust that emergency medical attention alone would be enough to save them. It’s not like she or Atua could know when her real friends were swapped with what had to be really realistic figures of them. And they were, no matter what Kiyo, or Maki, or anyone else said to sway her!

Because they all just had to be okay, somewhere else! Because I’m not sure what I’ll do if they aren’t.

But if all that awaits us is a hellish reality that would enable the exploitation of human pain and suffering then I think everyone will finally agree that we’re all better off in here, away from them and their sins.

Even if we had been like them before we’ve seen the light. And now they’ll know Atua was right.

Oh hey, that rhymed! I really should work more on poetry sometime~ Kiyo’s lab could be of help there.

Maybe that can be something we all do together once this “escape” business is finally put to rest.

Even Kaito and Kaede can’t argue against staying in this better reality right? Even if it’s fake for now. And it won’t need to stay that way if we work together! Kibo’s miracle is proves it, with his perfect safe world.

Yes, I see why Atua wanted me to watch this now. This really will help things work out for the best.

After Korekiyo and his sister debated over if they should risk whatever this motive would have in store, they agreed it would likely be worth the risk.

The first motive video’s effect on them might have made things more complicated, but it turned out well enough hadn't it? What could be worse than what that showed?

Particularly if everyone else was going to watch theirs in private as Angie suggested before. Best not be underprepared for whatever may come.

As he began the tablet Sister did her best to focus without commenting on what they might see.

“Nu- Number 108. My name is %@$! #&*! and I know exactly what I'm trying to sign up for. I… I don't have a persona to sell you, b-but I'm inclined to think I have something that will work just as well!”

Oh? An audition of some sort? Odd. I don't remember you being the type to try this sort of thing, Brother.

I don't recognize this clothing either, and something here feels off. Is this really supposed to be me? His posture’s all wrong, he’s stuttering, and his tone is higher. But not as high as you prefer. I wonder why.

It’s worse than that, he has absolutely none of your composure at all. This must be some sort of trick.

“What I'm offering is a blank slate. I heard part of the policy for those you pick is memory erasure with some subconscious suggestions, and I'll sign whatever you need me to to take a step farther than that. Because I'm looking to get more out of this than some mere winnings or an execution.”

… Oh dear. This sounds troubling.

All the more reason to listen.

“I… I want to be erased. My name, my life, you can take all of it. Whether the person you make me into lives or dies after that doesn't matter to me. Boy, girl, or anything else you want this new me to be for you! As long as whoever they are is someone that people will remember, I don’t care what they do for it. Remembered enough that if people see images of me years later, they'll only think of who you created.”

Being made into a girl or “anything else”? Perhaps “he” isn’t the best term for this person, my biology and personal preferences be damned.

Honestly Korekiyo, is that what leaps out to you?

It’s easier to process than the other implications, Sister. I wonder how true this could be about this game.

“I, uh, I don't want to risk there being some conventional afterlife for me. If there is, and I’ll need to face her again, I know she'll forgive me despite the fact she shouldn't! She was too young to know any better. So… So the least I can do is make sure whoever she may find won't be her “big brother” anymore.”

What? But I don't-

Don't be ridiculous, this must be fake! We have no other siblings, you know that as well as I do. What a poor attempt at a lie.

Then why are you protesting so much right now, Sister?!

“I-I realize how it might sound, to want to be replaced when it'd put the stranger in my skin in such a dangerous position, b-but that should just make it more interesting right? To see how far a truly fictional character could go in a “real fiction” setting! To see if they can go beyond what's written for them, or if they play your part to a T.”

Real fiction? Like Reality TV or like a realistic simulation? Though as was brought up before, having access to VR makes the latter unlikely.

Just turn this drivel off Korekiyo, we know it can't be true!

“If they die it'll be their own fault, not mine, and at least they won't be alone, right? They'll have more than enough opportunities to make friends before the curtain call! Though I hope this time around they'll be able to betray others more rather than keep letting themselves be betrayed for a change.”

Well real or fake, someone has trust issues.

For someone who claims they don't care they seem to prefer being cast as a villain over a hero, no?

It's easier to forget victims I assume, too much risk of being overshadowed. Though even a murderer should have that risk, it doesn't sound like they're asking to be the mastermind. Unless that isn't a choice.

“But if they can beat the odds and survive then they shouldn't have anything to worry about! I have no debts that could hold them back, and I doubt even the people that gave birth to me will bother them. And that’s assuming they can even remember that they had children in the first place, if they’re alive.”

Okay, so either an abandoned orphan, runaway, or otherwise disowned individual. Possibly from an abusive household, if my scars don't come from where I remember them. Then they took their younger sister with them or adopted one under their wing, and blamed themselves for her subsequent passing.

Stop humoring this, Korekiyo!

And what exactly is the harm of it, Sister? If this is a fraud why does it frighten you so much? Shouldn't your existence be proof enough? Didn’t Tenko help prove that? Or is there a way to falsify our changes?

Your own trembling shows it’s done you more than enough “harm” hasn’t it? Neither of us wants to hear this, so why haven’t you turned it off yet?!

“I'm more than alright with being made into a monster if that's what you think will help make the world forget me. Might be easier than if my character was a more likable one. I just… c-can't do this anymore. So, this is how I want to end things. By being made a part of the show that helped me get through a lot in the past. Please consider my offer and thank you for your time.”

As the tearful figure faded and the tablet finally turned black Korekiyo barely moved. He was tempted to rewatch it, to look for details he missed that could confirm or deny its authenticity, but he couldn’t move.

It wasn’t only his choice to make anymore. And his Sister was very clear about her objections.

Since you won’t stop indulging this ridiculous farce clearly I need to do it for you, little brother. There’s nothing this video could confirm. Tenko herself proved our physical condition isn’t some trick of the mind.

Everything around us is far more advanced technologically than the world we remember, so can we trust that? Clarke’s third law could be at play for all we know if medical based sciences are included here.

No it can’t, we aren’t one of your mistaken field subjects! If I’m not your sister who else could I be?!

“A… A tulpa perhaps?” He muttered to himself aloud, as if it could help solidify his thoughts.

Not quite what the Tibetan monks had intended, but as an independent thoughtform that could be a fair explanation. Or a program installed into me depending on how far beyond us this technology goes.-

Are you even listening to yourself?!

ARE YOU?! What ELSE am I supposed to think!? If you are real then why- Why can’t I remember your name?

… What?

If you are real, then tell me! How could I have possibly forgotten something that important to me!?

Why you- You pompous little brat! For all your insistence that you “love” me, you have the GALL to tell me you couldn’t even be bothered to keep even that much to heart?!

“THEN TELL ME! What are you?!” Korekiyo snapped. (I’ve proved time and again how much I love you, so-)

Have you really? Is that what you think this all has been?

I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me and more, don’t evade my question now!

I-!… I don’t need to prove myself to some arrogant child who refuses to grow up.

Yes. You. Do. This is my body, and this is all I’ve asked of you.

Is it really now?

I’ve done everything I could to keep you comfortable! To make you happy!

You’ve done everything you could to keep your favorite crutch around, you mean! Just look at the shameful mess you become after just the slightest bit of prodding? You haven’t changed a bit.

This is why no one takes you seriously, you know. Too much of an infant to stand on equal terms with the real adults without my coaching, too delicate to get along with even the other sniveling upstarts.

That-! You’re not answering my question, “sister”.

Or what? Will you start hyperventilating again? Or will you just break down in tears, baby brother?

This is my body. And if you’re not… If you’re just a part of me, I don’t need to humor you any more.

“ Is it now? I don’t think I need your “permission” to be here, Korekiyo. ”

It wasn’t him who stood up and made their way to their bathroom to look at themselves in the mirror. It wasn’t him who smiled at him from the glass and forced him to see it.

But it wasn’t her fist that smashed into it either. And, as no shards proved themselves loose enough to be pried from the frame, it wasn’t her who grabbed a pair of scissors from its place on their sink.

It wasn’t her who lingered on the questions this all raised about what they’d done. What this meant about their murder of Kirumi. Even with her death being assured by her own hand, Korekiyo knew the importance of last words and closure with those close to you. Things he denied her and their friends.

But he wasn’t sure who it was that took their pocket watch with their free hand and chose to look inside it. Couldn’t know if that was his own attempt to prove this whole episode was just a bad dream, or her to check for herself how flawed their memories had always been.

All that mattered was that it fit more with the other Korekiyo’s story than their own. And through the sobs, wails, and broken laughter it was enough for the blades in their hand to be put into motion.

Though honestly who could blame them for laughing? For all of these sick jokes, not even the one in their photo would get their wish.

No matter how they looked at it, they would be dying without a single friend to their name after all.

Tsumugi knew what was coming as soon as she saw that ugly depressed girl on the screen. No matter how long it’s been, there’s no way to forget what you really look like under the characters and makeup.

So that’s how it is huh? They really are trying to pull the plug on me. Oh well. I can still win this.

And even if I can’t I can at least make sure everyone will be entertained. That’s all I really want.

She grit her teeth as she watched the screen and listened to the bumbling brunette’s whiny excuses.

Quitter.

Honestly even “Tsumugi” couldn’t be sure how much of her disgust for the woman she used to be was fabricated. It was common policy to give the mastermind a natural aversion to the writer they used to be, ever since that became the only way for an experienced member of the staff to “leave” Dangan Ronpa.

There was no reason for her to listen to this, she’s only letting it play for the sake of the audience right now. Sympathy for the devil and all of that. “Boo hoo, look at her. Tsumugi just wanted to stop killing people.”

Not that it mattered. The adult who helped set up these teenage bloodbaths was already dead. Nothing from her face to her name was left, there was only “Tsumugi” now. Even if “Tsumugi’s” memories were changed more than she thinks they have been for her role as mastermind, that much will always be true.

No shit brown eyes, no boring black hair in a ponytail. None of the Hope’s Peak Academy uniform inspired apparel she loved so much.

Just Tsumugi.

An average, albeit surprisingly sexy, background character who “promoted” herself to a perky sidekick. Little reason not to, with Miu out of the game so much sooner than she expected. It did Kibo a lot more damage too. At least his change of color opened more merch possibilities, like Fuyuhiko’s eyepatch did.

Letting her play up Tsumugi’s blue color scheme was just another plus. A lot of fun for their truth and lies symbolism in the long run. Even though making Shuichi the decoy protagonist bungled that up already. (It’s almost like those idiots wanted to ruin the foreshadowing of the female lead being bloody pink!)

Blue suited her better than those dingy browns anyway. In anime, even a color that would be flashy in real life became just as plain as what she used to be. Who likes brown anyway? It was too real, like dirt or dung.

As the video finally ended she picked up the tablet and took the time to think. No need to act now, she thought.

My game’s on hard mode now, so what? I still chose this entire cast myself, even if I didn’t write for everyone here. I know how they all are designed to work, and how to best play against that to avoid suspicion and control them. Even if they go off the rails this guideline gives me more than an edge.

I just need to hide this video and a few others from Kokichi, since only mine being gone would be just as bad as letting him see it. We’re the only two mastermind auditions here, even if he can’t understand Angie’s. Showing his to the group will help, but that’s purely an optional step for if he gets too out of line.

Kibo will be just as reluctant as I am to let anyone see his video, and Kokichi’s inclined to suspect him more than me. Kaito will probably not want to let anyone see what a bastard he tried selling himself as. Asking both of them to let me hold onto their videos should probably work out fine, and Kokichi will still suspect Kaito too. It won’t be a whole lot of options for him to narrow down, but it’s a start at least.

Kaede and Gonta’s videos are probably lost causes. As much as she “didn’t believe in humanity” she’s been a lot more trusting of him in particular than we thought when casting her. Maybe they changed that when they caused the protagonist switch. And Gonta would be so heartbroken he’d be just begging for Kokichi to look at this and tell him everything the old Gonta said was a lie. That should be fun to see! I wonder if he'll give another one of his "gentle" lies and tell Gonta just what he wants to hear, or if he'll be honest for a change in his own shock.

Ryoma’s is harmless to everyone but me. No one would seriously think he’s the mastermind, but this gives him that pesky reason to live that he didn’t have before. I could try to make that into one hell of a death flag though, just not sure how yet. Setting him up against Kokichi could work if I can sell him on the idea Kokichi’s the mastermind. He wouldn’t want to risk being wrong like he was about Kiyo again.

Speaking of, that’s one threat negated. Those idiots probably have no idea they just set off Kiyo’s primary failsafe. As if I’d really let my own brainchild go uncontested in a killing game where I could be targeted.

No matter how much he NEEDS to believe his sister’s spirit is with him, if he’s faced with solid evidence that she isn’t he’ll doubt her and break. And he’s had it all along. He’s the only member of the cast who has physical evidence of their past life on him, and as soon as he looks at that photo he’s done.

The only way he’ll survive the night is if the Sister persona takes control to keep him safe, and even then she’d probably make it clear she’s only doing this for herself. There is no love more tragic than one that’s completely delusional and one-sided, just the finishing touch this forbidden romance needed~

Still, there’s nothing she could say that’ll be able to get him back on script. Assuming she can hold herself together even after the dream logic breaks enough for them to see she never had a name at all. At least not one I know of, I barely wrote anything for her. She was just a part of his backstory for the Genocide Jack callback, she was never meant to be a stable or developing character. No need for retreads right?

It’s a shame the audience won’t see the execution that would show just how little she cares about him. Just like they were screwed out of Kirumi’s before, thanks to his stunt. Oh well, the one they got was also pretty good for a rush job I think. Gave me the excuse to get rid of those meddling kids too.

If they can’t get the suicide or struggle on camera maybe one of them will leave a note or something. Or I could make one and plant it to make the voting easier. But that might make things too easy...

With Kiyo gone no one but me and Angie will know what her audition is about, and no one can trust her word on this. Tenko will try to, she won’t allow herself to think any girl could be the mastermind unless pushed to extremes, but that distrust she was meant to have for Angie can’t be completely gone yet.

If I can get Tenko to add her and Angie’s videos that will be more than enough of a buffer to keep Kokichi at bay. And there’s no safer hiding spot than my true research lab, right next to the latest survivor perk.

It’s a shame if the audience saw this audition along with me though. At least they can appreciate what I’m doing in the moment, but still that takes so much of the twist out of it! But I couldn’t NOT watch it. That’d just prove any suspicions our more attentive viewers had about me just like it would for Kokichi.

So there’s nothing I need to worry about yet. Even if I’m not in control I’m the one still on top of things.

Everything will be fine, no matter what those big wigs want. Not that they’d want this to flop either. Waaay too much money’s riding on the season’s success and we all know it. Minus the cast of course.

They just want ME to lose. But I won’t! I’ll be as good a mastermind as Junko was, they’ll see.

A perfect copy, as the Ultimate Cosplayer should be. True blue, through and through. Puhuhu~

I’ll win and I’ll live on. Even if I die I’ll be remembered, and as long as the show continues I’m happy.

Just like she was in the end, happily waving to her friends and players goodbye so many decades ago.

That’ll be more than that truly despair-inducing plain Jane could ever say.

Kibo was rather disturbed seeing the motive in his room, and tried to ignore the guilt that came with his memories of the second motive. More disturbing to him was that no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t bring himself to get rid of it. Worse was that for whatever reason his inner voice kept encouraging him to-

> WATCH THE VIDEO

Yes, like that! He couldn’t think straight with his mind being so conflicted.

> WATCH THE VIDEO

I shouldn’t! I know that! We all do. Nothing good came of the last one, any thoughts that there were are just wishful thinking! I’m not going to-

> WATCH THE VIDEO

Stop it! I don’t want to!

No matter how he tried to resist, his body eventually gave way to his inner voice’s beckoning. Kibo wasn’t even able to shift his focus after turning on the brown tablet, forcing him to risk the dangers of the film.

“Hehe, should I give a number too? 404 sounds about right for us, doesn’t it, Kibo?” Professor Idabashi’s grinning face asked the camera, glee crinkling his eyes and emphasizing his crow’s feet the way that showing off his latest projects to a client always did. The sound of his voice was more of a relief than Kibo ever expected, regardless of if this was before or after the accident shown in his motive video.

Maybe it was because of how out of sorts he’d been that seeing his father was such a simple comfort.

But him being in this video too is concerning. They aren’t going to reveal our loved ones have been roped up into this game alongside us right?! No, that can’t be right. Not everyone had their own “person”.

An offscreen voice let out a garbled noise, making the professor roll his eyes. “Fine, fine. “Protocol”, of course. Number 500, the last of the “auditions”. This, is K1-B0, the Ultimate Robot. Or as I like to call him, “Kibo”. Why don’t you say “Hi,” Kibo?”

The image of an earlier version of himself stalled for a moment before it tried to greet the camera. His wave was choppy and eyes distant. (Is this from before my reboot? I don’t remember being this… stiff.)

“I hope he’ll be everything you asked for and more,” Idabashi said and chuckled at his own pun, to which Kibo couldn’t help but roll his eyes at. (Like you haven’t used that one a million times before already. Well, I guess technically you hadn’t yet. Still, developing your jokes a little would’ve been nice, sir!)

“Unlike his older siblings all of the bugs in regards to the Audience Participation System have been completely ironed out! No risk of being too robotic like Alt-360 or the lagging delays that caused M1-R41’s promo fiasco. Shame what happened to her, but every failure’s a new opportunity to learn I say!”

… What? I had “siblings”? I mean… I guess it makes sense if I wasn’t really his first robot, but why not tell me? What happened to them? And what system is he talking about?

“The APS he has installed, if you pardon the pun, will enable Kibo to seamlessly blend into the cast as a true “audience surrogate” and then, through an online polling program, allow him to act on what the majority of this season’s viewers want him to do. Who he hangs out with, how useful he is in class trials, and even his Love Hotel events will all be free for them to decide! And as all of the options they have available to them are pre-set, nothing he does should take away from the “plot” of the overall story.”

But… I don’t have anything like that. I’ve been deciding who my friends are myself, did he dummy out this feature later on? Did he hide he did it so I could have more freedom for my mental development?

“If all goes to plan Dangan Ronpa 53 will have your highest ratings yet! Combining the appeal of real life or death stakes with the interactivity of the games that launched this franchise, both modern and classic fans will be satisfied. Not to mention the benefits of having a first-person perspective of those raunchy moments you could have with him would get. Guys will just eat that stuff up, especially since the majority picks the girl. Or guy, who knows which side gets the upper hand in a case like this.”

I- No! I don’t know what he’s talking about. What is this?!

“Both genders should find him easy to relate to. He’s obviously based mostly on Makoto, for the retro fans again, so he’ll get both the fans of the “unlucky and overshadowed everyman” and “adorable robot wants to be a real boy” character types. Chemistry with others should come easily to his algorithm too.”

I don’t want to believe this.

“I’ve already had my own child give him a test run, so he should be good to go whenever you are! Just be careful not to let him get too banged up. I made his antenna on the bulky side for both durability and for the “Protahoge” factor as I think the kids like to call it these days, but you can’t be too careful. Probably be best if there was a kid in this season who could help him with his general upkeep too, since the Monokuma and exclusive mascots might struggle with tasks harder than re-attaching his “cowlick”.”

... Your own child? I don't remember anyone like that. But aren't I... If you had other kids why didn't you tell me about any them?

Besides, what do you mean about my- No. Tell me none of this is true, professor. You didn’t make me for something like this!

I wasn’t raised just to be some madman’s tool, was I? To help get these innocent people killed?! To make murdering my FRIENDS easier!?

I should-

> TURN IT OFF

What? No. That’s not right, that wouldn’t fix this! I need to-

> LEAVE

No! That’s wrong too! What’s going on here?!

Before the thing that felt like his inner voice, but different in a way he couldn’t describe, interrupted him again he focused on acting instead of thinking. His head burned as every part of his body felt like it wanted to disobey him. Like it could turn on him or melt from the strain any second. But he accomplished his task, and suddenly it was all gone.

SYS_Check: ERROR

Aud_V_Results: OFFLINE

MAINTENANCE REQUIRED> SEEK REPAIRS

Kibo stared at the broken piece of metal and wiring in his hand and numbly basked in the silence. He could feel some sparks flare around from where he tore out this “antenna”, but for now he ignored it. More importantly, his body was back to moving as easily as it always had before, so he supposed that was a good sign in a way.

As good as anything this video indicated about him could be anyway at least.

It’s so quiet now. My inner voice really is gone, isn’t it? That’s… really all it was.

All I ever was. I was made to be someone else’s set of multiple choice responses for their entertainment. Not be a person of my own. Just be a pitiful excuse for a “human” to act as their stand-in. Their puppet.

Some “hope” that ever was. No wonder the paths they set for me never led us to something safe.

How many of my opinions have been my own, if they’ve already influenced so many of my choices? Reprogramming the virtual world? Joining the student council? My friendships? My feelings? Miu?

It doesn’t matter anymore, does it? Nothing really does. My will is my own now, and no one else’s!

I don’t need to worry about anyone else’s “hope” or “future” anymore. Truth or lies don’t matter to me. I’ll find my own path. In my lab I know I have all I could ever need to end all of this. To ruin their game.

But that would mean I’d be willing to kill everyone here, the same way my inner voices enjoyed our pain. Then I’d be no different than they or the mastermind are. I won’t let myself become what they wanted.

No matter how tempting it may be destroying everything isn’t my answer. I’ll find a better way!

But that doesn’t mean I won’t look through it, and use what I deem fit. Kiyo might be safer now but if Monokuma brings back more Exisals somehow Gonta and Tenko will need all the support they can get.

It may be too suspicious of me to do that just yet though. I don’t want to worry Tsumugi or the others.

I need to do whatever it takes to protect everyone. I don’t care who the mastermind is, that can be someone else’s problem. Until they are revealed with no room for doubt I can’t make any exceptions.

It’s all I can do for them all right now. I can’t risk breaking the cage until I know for a fact it’s safe to be outside. They’re the only ones who are “real” here. It doesn’t matter what their videos may tell them.

I can’t let them see mine. I couldn’t bear them seeing me as some sort of traitor, or as part of the game like Monokuma is. If they stopped trusting me I don’t know what I’d do. I don’t want to risk losing them.

They all matter more than I do.

They’re only human.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 6: Our True Selves...

Daily Life  

When Kaede woke up the next morning she noticed a tablet on her table, much like the ones from the second motive. But the frame was different, and not like the standard Monokuma tablets either.

The new motive sitting before her parodied the black and white she was used to with tones of sepia, nearly wood-like shades of brown from a cream to a dark umber. Smooth as piano’s cover, with accents of a bright green wherever Monokuma’s would have a red of the same intensity.

She considered waiting until later to view it, but worries about how badly the motive videos turned out quickly drowned out the idea. So, like Angie had pointed out that dreadful night, Kaede chose to risk seeing it by herself first, to see what she’d be dealing with.

But as soon as she started it up the tablet fell from her hands as the world fell out from under her. She was looking at a face she knew all too well.

“Number 42. My name is %@^#^ @%@^@!$*, and if I’m selected I’ll definitely make for a memorable run no matter what role you put me in!”

Kaede could only stare dumbly at her smiling face giving this introduction, the tablet thankfully saved by landing on her bed rather than the floor. But as she continued to watch she couldn’t help but wish it had broken instead, regardless of any consequences she might have faced for it.

“I’m perfect for a Killing Game, I don’t have any faith in humanity,” the girl in an unfamiliar navy sailor suit went on. “That’s what you’re looking for, aren’t you? I can fake an innocent facade easily, and if you wanted me to play a part like Sayaka or Sonia I’d absolutely nail it.”

Huh? What is she talking about?! I’m not- I wouldn’t ever want to be a part of this! And no, that’s wrong! Right? I mean… Maybe not in humanity as a whole, but I like to think I believe in others well enough. I mean if I didn’t then… Then all of these murders and betrayals wouldn’t have hurt so much, right?

“You’ll make tons from merch of me, even if I’m not the one with the best rack. Which let’s be real, I probably am. You have nooo idea how pumped I was to learn I matched the Junko Enoshima in that department!- Ahem, sorry got a bit off topic I guess.” She continued with a bit of a blush at her overzealousness.

Junko Enoshima, first death of the first file found in Shuichi’s lab. So “Sayaka” should mean “Sayaka Maizono” from that file’s first case and Sonia should be “Sonia Nevermind” from the second file right? Nice girls on the surface, but only because those pretty facades were needed for their Ultimate talents.

“What I mean is, guys claim to “fall” for me all the time, as if any of them could ever really mean it. So I definitely know I have the looks to knock ‘em dead in more ways than one. It makes things waaay easier for me too, all it takes is a pout or smile and they practically start begging me to play them like a violin.”

Real or a lie, the things she was hearing was making Kaede’s blood freeze. She didn’t have any memories that lined up to what her living echo was referring to, but she couldn’t be sure that meant this was fake. Even if it was, seeing herself brag about being such a callous manipulator made her question herself more than she’d like to admit. (Is this part of why I could bond with Kokichi? Why everyone trusts me?)

“Speaking of, I’m pretty good at piano, so a musical talent would be a pretty good match for me. Not like Sayaka, Ibuki, Ami, or Yumi you know, just like a focus on a particular instrument. Could make for a good “conductor” pun too, depending on how I’m used~” She winked at the camera for emphasis.

Well, that doesn’t sound good. And more names from other files. But if this is true then what does this mean about my memories of my family? Is everything I remember a simulation to “get” this talent? … Is my Ultimate Talent even really mine? Where else did it come from? How could this me “choose” it? If you could be given talents why would they still matter so much?! What does any of this mean!?

“I’ll show you I have what it takes to win this. Just you wait.” Her living shadow finished with a grin.

And with that the other Kaede Akamatsu faded from the screen, leaving the real Kaede with only a black mirror and her own thoughts. Thoughts that couldn’t stop racing and refused to make any sense as they rushed after any and all possibilities, regardless of how contrary the theories that came up could be.

Kaede’s head ached in the aftermath, and she hoped she wasn’t the only one to have watched their tablet. She needed to have someone to share what she saw with, anyone who could help her make sense of it.

Even as a motive it didn’t make sense at a glance. If it was true, and it proved even her childhood memories could be flawed or compromised, what reason would she have to leave anymore?

So much of it was about pianos, and how it affected her relationship with her parents, her sister, her friends… If being a “piano freak” wasn’t true then what in her life was? What was there to go home to?

But Kaede couldn’t afford to think like that. She had more than herself to consider now. Her friends had lost too much for her to lose faith in escaping this hell. There were no better options.

So, regardless of if the words were fact or fiction, Kaede resolved to prove her other’s words true.

She’d show whoever the sick bastard yanking them around was that she and her friends would beat them.

They had to be getting close to the truth to get a message like this, so at odds with what they seemed to know. Which meant they’re almost there. So she couldn’t let anyone give up just yet.

Kaito nearly missed the screen sitting in his room as he got ready to head to breakfast. Considering the aftermath of the previous “video” motive, he almost ignored it and headed out anyway.

Alas, his curiosity got the best of him.

He took a seat on his little-used chair and turned on the odd brown framed device, bracing for an emotional impact. But the only feeling he got from the footage was confusion, so that hadn’t helped.

Seeing himself looking so confident and arrogant while standing in some sort of gym, wearing clothing he didn’t recognize from any previous memories, nearly made him lose focus and miss what was said. But only nearly.

“Number 343, #@!^* #*#*^@ here! So let me give you guys the low down, listen up and listen good! I’m not just gonna be IN Dangan Ronpa, I’m gonna kill EVERYBODY and win!”

Oh Jesus fucking Christ, talk about whiplash. I mean, what the fuck is he talking about? “Dangan Ronpa”? Is THAT what this fucking game thing is called?! Who the hell do you think you are?! Are you me???

“Yeah, yeah I can hear ya’ll bitchin’ already. “But #@!^*, what about the other contestants? You can’t just wreck their shit like that, you’ll take all the fun outta it if you don’t go a little easy on ‘em.” right?” The bastard mocked whoever he was expecting to complain with a terrible falsetto.

Oh my God since when was I such an asshole?! I mean if it looks like me, and sounds like me, it’s gotta be… wait. Holy shit do I have an evil twin? Or some sort of clone? I FUCKING KNEW IT WAS POSSIBLE! POP LIED TO ME!

“Already got it covered, don’t worry. Just leave everything to me! Make me the mastermind or not, doesn’t matter. I’ll be the badass Izuru DR0 offered us and DR3 screwed us outta seeing in action. Total party kill, no need for a fucking trial. ‘Cause there won’t be bodies to find when I’m through with ‘em.”

… Ya know what? New plan. After I get to space I’ll volunteer to be the first man to be sent back through time, with the sole purpose of punching this fucker’s lights out on the off chance it is a past me.

“Only exception I’m making is if some pretty lil’ thing gets my ignition going. Don’t matter how scared shitless they are, with the dough we’d be rolling in all thanks to me. And with that fame, it’d be easy enough to trade her out with some other sweet little honey if she gets too scream-y or squeamish when she finds out about the truth behind her “heroic knight”. After all, ironic talents are the fuckin’ best.”

So this is what it feels like to be angry enough to murder somebody. Fuck, I feel sick. God, I hope it’s not my symptoms acting up again, this room would already give anyone with some luminol the wrong idea.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the red shirts have their time to show off a little. And nobody, and I mean nobody, is gonna see me coming. Trust me, this is one star you’ll never regret investing in!”

Boy, there’s a lotta bullshit to unpack here. Assuming any of this is true at all, which it probably isn’t. What am I thinking “probably”, It can’t be! And not just because I don’t WANT to believe it either, no matter what Kokichi or the others would like to tease me about. It just genuinely can’t.

I could never be a rising star. I’m a dying one.

There’s no benefit to giving someone a fatal illness if they were willing to sign up for this. It’s not cost effective, simple as that. Even for the “drama” potential if this was a show it just doesn’t make sense.

Unless it was maybe to spite this guy for being such an asshole? Or someone close to him/me if it’s personal? But still, why sink resources into “natural” ways to kill people for a sick killing game show?

Maybe it could be left over from a previous “kill or be killed” motive. MAYBE. Or just to make the flashback videos feel more “real”? Assuming the audience already knows about my condition. I mean I'm not sure how you could hide it from them, since even our rooms gotta be bugged or somethin.

Kaito furiously scratched his head as he leaned forward in hopes of quelling what was hopefully bile rising in his throat. Even if it might not have done his lungs any favors either, much less his stomach. But goddamn if vomit doesn’t seem more “normal” and appealing than that recurring sick taste of iron.

If it’s to help the “setting’s” verisimilitude then why use this motive at all?! Could be a sign that this “audition” is the only thing here that’s been scripted? Except again, they’d know I’d never buy it!

It can’t give me any “false hope”, my body’s giving out too much. I know I don’t have time left. And if I was sick before auditioning, and that was real, then why wouldn’t “I” have pointed out why I needed the money? Did he worry it would be more a hindrance to getting picked? Is that why he wanted “fame”?

No. Even if that bastard was gunning for a quick game in order to get his blood money in time to save himself this isn’t me. They could have swapped him out, but I’m still here despite being on a time limit.

So let’s just focus on the bright side. People are watching this, hopefully some more normal than this implies. Can’t really hope for “most” folks watching a snuff series to be any better than that, can I?

This sick son of a bitch won’t be the “Kaito Momota” that people remember. I am. Hell, this freak might not even have that much in common with “me”, who knows what name was censored for this stunt. Still!

No matter what this place takes from me I’m always me. I’m the Luminary of the Stars that will live on even after this body of mine dies! Watchers know full well the kind of man I am! Hopefully I’m encouraging at least some of them to be the best they can be. Examples to look up to are important. Ideals are important.

I can die here knowing I did my best to live up to mine. Knowing I tried to help everyone else here live the best they could. It’s a man’s duty to help and encourage those around him. To go as far as he’s able to, and enable others to do the same.

Nothing’s changed for me because of this. Maybe I should count myself lucky for that. I don’t need it.

I can’t say the same for everyone else. I don’t know how much messages like this could help or hurt them. Could really help Ryoma, or destroy someone like Kiyo. Those rooted in their “pasts” are at the highest risk here.

I can still be a constant for anyone who needs one for as long as my health can hold out. And if it’s not as long as I’d like it to be, Kaede’ll be there too. She’s strong, there’s no way this motive could break her.

Not with a sidekick like Kokichi to help support her. Not with how much everyone cares about her.

Kaito smiled to himself as he nodded as a show of resolve to the viewers at home. Not that they’d know what he was thinking, but he’d figure it’d be obvious he made his own peace with his conclusions.

He almost considered taking a page out of Kokichi’s book, to look for a camera and even give a little speech to the empty room and hope to god he doesn’t just come across like an idiot. Again. (God, Maki will give me so much shit for that next time I see her. I can practically hear her sniping at me already.)

Instead, he just decided to head to the cafeteria and hope he wasn’t too much later than normal. It’d be pretty embarrassing to be the last one there over something like this. Shouldn’t make any of them worry, he thought.

Schedules help keep people from panicking, and any amount of normalcy helps endure insanity like this.

Besides, it’s not like there was any other way he’d like to spend the rest of his time than how he has been.

Despite his previous experience, the second Ryoma saw a new tablet before him he wasted no time to turn it on. Though as it played he reconsidered his decision, in case it was trying to trigger him again.

But at least this time the contents seemed promising from the get-go. He was wearing some sort of suit. Possibly a blazer style school uniform based on the crooked red tie and what was unmistakably a gym floor behind him.

And most importantly the version of him looking at the camera had nothing but determination in his eyes. A far cry from the ones he had now. And this Ryoma’s first words only sweetened the deal.

“Number 21. My name is &%*#@ #*$#! and I’m auditioning for this game because I know someone important to me is.”

There it was. “Important to him”. Whoever this was, even if it was only an actor, they suggested there might be something left for Ryoma outside the dome he was trapped in. Something beyond prison.

But still, I can’t let myself get my hopes up. This could just be baiting me so that pulling the rug out from under me again will hit as hard as Monokuma wants it to. The second things could start going downhill I’ll stop. Watching this whole thing could be a deadly mistake if videos can really “rewrite” who we are.

“I’m not expecting that to affect either of our chances of getting in too much, since it’s not like the audience would know about us unless you wanted them to, I just couldn’t stand by knowing she was going into this alone. I’m well aware of all the risks here. Just like I’m aware my odds of getting in, either with her or in her place, are probably a little higher because of my look. Gotta have a joke entry, yeah?”

“Joke entry” huh? So what, could my depression be something whoever’s behind this “game” forced on me in hopes I’d be an early death? All things considered, it nearly worked. If they can rewrite memories other forms of brain manipulation might not be so far fetched. Thank god for the idiots that saved me.

Or heck, I’ll even thank “Atua” if it’ll make Angie have a more natural smile for a change. I’m really lucky I got stuck with all of these clingy weirdos. Even the ones I could do without by this point.

“I know my folks’ll be horrified when they find out about this, but honestly? I don’t give a fuck. ‘Least they won’t need to find out I asked for it. Unless the stuff they say on the net about you “kidnapping” potential players for the sake of plausible deniability is a load of crap I guess. Either way, it’s better than the alternative, and if I die then it’ll be my own damn fault. ‘S not like I was able to talk her out of this.”

And that’s all Ryoma needed to hear to turn the video off. He was almost surprised it worked, since Monokuma seemed like the type who’d rig one of these so that if you tried to stop it it’d continue just to spite you. But he wasn’t going to complain or question it. He was more bothered by how numb he felt.

It didn’t matter if anything this motive said was true or not. It was enough. More than enough.

It was everything he had been hoping for the first time the motive videos were announced.

He did have people who cared about him outside of this hell after all. People he could come home to. Hell, the way this was claiming it was an “audition” and that his connection to… Whatever that girl was to him, could be missed by outside “viewers” like he hadn’t killed anybody before entering this game. Just like Angie said about Korekiyo. (But unlike that bastard if I haven’t before I still haven’t now. Maki’s still all his fault even without Kirumi's blood on his hands.)

Girlfriend, sister, crush, or whatever she was, she could even still be out there waiting for him. (Or she might be stuck in here with me. Could be dead already if she was. There’s no way to know for sure yet.)

He didn’t know if the burning ache in his chest was worry, anxiety, or a twisted sense of relief, he only recognized the hope this gave him. Regardless, it was probably a good sign that stopping where he did was a good call for now. No way to know if any of this was true in here, but false hope was better than none.

But if he really hadn’t killed all of those people, if he hadn’t spent so long rotting in jail, if his life wasn’t worth any less than the innocent victims trapped in this cage with him, he wasn’t sure what to feel now.

Should he be any more comfortable with the idea of someone else dying if he could give everything to save them? Would the people who destroyed his self-worth and years worth of his memories pay for this?

Would he ever be able to be normal or “happy”, or were even those memories of better times a lie?

Would whoever still loved him forgive him for everything he’d done? Was he still who they’d want to see?

Did that mean the years of suffering he remembers really meant nothing? That he can’t at least know that while he did the unforgivable over a hundred times over he didn’t even save future victims from the monsters he put in the ground? And where would that leave Maki and her “true enemy”? Or his own?

For now he tried to ignore these questions the best he could. Like how he’d clear his head before a match, if any of that were ever true. Maybe watching more of his video later would elaborate on that.

But Ryoma didn’t need to do that yet. He just had to bring this with him when he went to get breakfast, same as always. If everyone got messages like this then trading notes could be important, and if Kokichi was still paranoid about motives rewriting personalities then not seeing all of his own could be a benefit.

He doubted Kaede’d ever want to see them all together again, but having someone with him would be nice if he tried to continue this video later. Nice to know, or be able to think, he could be worthy of that. Of having friends without his demons whispering all the ways they were wrong to think he was decent.

He couldn’t afford to think like that too much though. He needed to stay focused on his goals. To get his friends out of this alive. To keep Korekiyo from hurting anyone else ever again. And now, to return to his family.

To his parents. People who wouldn’t be ashamed to share his name. Who wouldn’t be looked down on because they raised a murderer. Ryoma couldn’t even remember the last time he was able to see them.

Finding out about the girl that meant more to him than the world could come later. Would come later.

For now, he’d just need to take things as they came. And that meant being prepared to help his friends should any of their videos had worse implications for them than his did.

After all the support he’d gotten from them, it was the least he could do.

When Gonta saw the tablet when he woke up he hadn’t known what to do at first. Angie had told him the motive videos were bad, and the way they had corrupted Kirumi and Korekiyo before was proof of that.

But Kokichi told him it had been for the best that they watched it together, to make brainwashing them less likely than had they seen them alone. And Kokichi had been right more often than Atua had so far. Atua's rules did nothing to save people, but Kokichi's attempts failing at least had human error to defend it.

He could take this straight to Kokichi, to see if he thought watching it together would be a good idea, but he didn’t want to burden his friend any more than he had to. So much of the Killing Game Busters’ work was already resting on Kokichi’s small shoulders just because Gonta wasn’t smart enough to support him.

Kokichi’d never phrase it like that, Gonta was sure. He and Korekiyo liked to say it was a confidence thing instead, since that would be easier for Gonta to fix. But Gonta knew the truth. It was kind of them to lie.

Still, Gonta chose to try and take this burden for himself for now. If the video seemed dangerous he could always turn it off, and if it wasn’t then he could at least try to offer some ideas of his own when he took this to Kokichi to see what in the motive video could be useful.

“Number 156, @*^^@ @*%^#@$@. Let’s cut to the chase,” yet another Gonta said from the other side of the screen. Unlike Kibo’s Mini-Gonta this one looked a lot more like himself, but something felt far more wrong with this one. While it’s easy for intent to get lost when filmed this person’s angry aura was unmistakable. And as uncomfortable as the young man’s uniform looked on him, done up so tight it looked like it could rip and send buttons flying at any moment, Gonta suspected that wasn’t it.

But still why there so many Gontas now? Gonta should be the only Gonta! Unless new Gonta wants to be police Gonta, it be cool if Gonta had twin like that. Like Kaede has twin Kaede. But if new Gontas don’t stop coming, friends might get me-Gonta confused with a not-friend-Gonta! No one want that!

“This is Dangan Ronpa, you’re gonna need at least one guy built like me.” He flexed a bit for emphasis, tearing at some of the seams of his ill-fitting jacket. “I want in. And I’m no softy, got that?”

Hmm. That no sound right. This is very different Gonta, because Gonta definitely softy. Lots of friends tell him so, soft like the squishy fuzzy larva of the Pyrrharctia isabella!... That kinda got confused when making itself a chrysalis to go from woolybear to tiger moth, making it a bit too scary looking. But Kokichi say that still cool! Like a beary-bear mixed with a teddy-bear, perfect for protecting kids!

… Why did Kokichi keep laughing whenever Gonta call himself a bear anyway?

“Viewers always think the big guys are soft and sweet. This time they’ll be wrong.”

Viewers sound like smart people, that is exactly how real Gonta is! Sorry not-soft-Gonta is misjudged.

“I’ll crush them. Those expectations, those hopes, and these participants. I’ll squash them all like bugs.”

… huh?

Squashing… Bugs?

Hurting people?

HOW?! WHY?!

WHY MONSTER LOOK LIKE GONTA?!

“Speaking of bugs, that’s my talent. Don’t care how, but I want bugs. Spiders, centipedes, scorpions, killer bees, fire ants, dung beetles, cockroaches, every creepiest crawly you got.” Not-Gonta smiled, but the expression looked foreign on his face. Not at all like Gonta’s smiles, there was far too much malice to be seen there and there was little doubt that feeling was genuine. Like a predator toying with its prey. “Nature’s perfect little machines. Optimized for everything. Always knowing their place and keeping things going without any complaints.”

I don’t understand. I-I can’t understand! What’s “Dangan Ronpa”? Who is this person?! He’s a terse talker, but his grasp on this language is leagues better than mine. It can't be someone pretending to be me, can it? It'd have to be another Ultimate or something if he was, and not even Tsumugi could manage this I think.

But... It doesn't feel like someone else.  He sounds like how I feel when I get too riled up, but that... That can't be right. Emotions don't define how people are! How you handle them is, and I always try to keep control of mine. Even when it gets hard. Because that's what a gentleman should do, to BE a gentle man.

How can he claim that he has a bug talent and want bugs to care for when he doesn’t CARE about them?! Even Korekiyo genuinely loves his studies! This is more like… Like he just likes having power over them. That… That can’t be “love”, right?

What is any of this supposed to mean?

“Guess that’s all I gotta say. So see ya.”

Gonta didn’t know how long it was he sat there, trying to dry his eyes and rationalize what he saw.

All he knew was that he just couldn’t do it. Nothing about it made any sense to him, no matter how hard he tried to process it. He wasn’t smart enough to understand what sort of motive this was.

But Kokichi would be. He always is!

So that’s where he headed, as fast as his legs could carry him.

As the video came to life Kokichi wasn’t sure what to make of it. It was a video of him, obviously, but he was wearing some school uniform he’d never seen before in his life and he was talking up at a camera in a gym or something. The him on the screen felt different though. Nervous. Scared.

He had a bit of a false start at his introduction, but after yelling at some kids who started chanting “Do it, do it!” off-screen to shut up he seemed to get his bearings. Well, he got them better at least.

“N-Number 413. H-hello, my name is #*#!@#! *%^ and I’m only doing this because SOMEONE won’t stop bugging me about it! I-I’m not doing it because I love the show or anything, really.”

… Oh my god. LOOK AT THIS THING! WHAT EVEN IS THIS? IT’S LIKE A LIL’ BABBY BIZARRO ME! Is he even like honestly trying to lie right now? He’s soooo pathetic I can’t even.

“But… Um… Since I am auditioning I would still really want to get in ya’know? J-just for the screen time and the money and stuff! I mean just look at this cute face, audiences would love me!”

Okay, confirming what we already know, assuming this has any truth to it. Which it probably does, since those guys off screen were obviously my guys from D.I.C.E., I’d know those voices anywhere. Finding one sound-a-like might be possible, but nine? Not a chance.

“I can toootally play like the adorable funny best friend sidekick character, and if the theme of this season is going to be “truth vs. lies” I’d be great at that! I’ve always loooved the theatrical mysterious liars in previous seasons, like Nagito and Celeste. Though, I’d rather not be a murderer if I can help it.”

… Yeeeeah, hate to break it to you kiddo but I don’t really think that’s me. Except for the no killing, that’s still me so no worries there. Unless Kaede’s our actual protagonist instead of Discount Kamina or Captain Kibble, in which case maaaybe I could come across like that? Oh fuck wait, did I make myself the sassy gay best friend character type?! I DIDN’T SIGN UP FOR THIS! I TAKE IT ALL BACK, I DEMAND RESHOOTS!

“I-I mean… It’d be way too easy to win a killing game like that right? Where’s the fun in that?”

… Not sure I’m okay where this is heading, why’re we going to Joker town? There IS no “fun” in here!

“As far as talents go… Uh… I kinda sorta maybe have kleptomania so Ultimate Thief would be a good fit I think. But I’m practically king of our school’s chess club- God wait, fuck that sounds so fucking nerdy why’d I say that- W-well I mean it’s still true! So Ultimate Chessmaster could also work I guess? Since I’m pretty sure the Ultimate Lucky/Unlucky kids have been waaay overdone. Even if my name would work well for that pun.” He nervously shifted his weight from side to side as if trying to think about how to say what he was really after as a part of this “role”.

Nuh-uh, not being taken in by how adorably dorky you are, you can’t make me fall for my own act kid. You showed your hand, so what’s the fucking catch?

...Ayyy, wait a sec. Mister editor might've missed something here."Kokichi" can be a luck pun, and with my height being a "little lucky" would fit like a dream. So much for censoring "my" name, unless they only kept the reference here because the one I have now still worked for it.

Still, food for thought. They might have scrambled the audition names just to make us extra paranoid.

“Buuuut Ultimate Chessmaster might be a bit too on the nose though if I’m allowed to try for our season’s mastermind spot or anything though, you know? Er, only if that’s okay to ask for at all!”

what

“I-I mean wouldn’t that be a fun twist?! And being a victim would still be totes okay too, or I could fake my death like Junko did after really pulling at the audience's heartstrings by being so lovable all the time.”

This isn’t funny anymore fucko

“I mean I get it if that spot has certain limits applied to it, like duh they’re THE big bad, but I think I could pull it off! But I’d definitely wanna be a REAL mastermind, not some wannabe with amnesia like Hajime was. Well Izuru, same thing. The sort that’s hidden in plain sight that reeeeally makes you wanna rewatch it all again to see what sorta crafty bastard they’ve really been this whole time you know?!”

No. No no no no no. Non. Nein. Nada. Niet. Nope. This isn’t fucking funny you sick fucks!

But it’s also not a lie. He was completely and utterly honest about his intentions. Unless somehow that person could hide what a great liar he is as a fake out or he really isn’t me on some level.

That’s really unlikely though. It’s hard to fake tells without being too obvious, even I have trouble with it. And he definitely had my tremors whenever he starts getting nervous. This has to be real. It’s gotta be.

Kokichi clasped his hands in front of his face as he tried to control his breathing. He tried to process what this motive was trying to tell him as the “audition” ended. God he’s lucky they didn’t watch these things as a group like the first batch of motive videos, he’d be sooo dead. Unless he’s not the only one.

On the plus side this did give some clues about things, assuming any of it can be true. Which… It probably was. Or more of this setting was faker than he thought, since he knew those voices. But it COULDN’T be faker than he thought, Kiyo and his weird deal with his sister proved that already! Unless there’s some way to fake a guy magically growing and losing boobs on a dime that he doesn’t know about yet. (If it does exist I’m not sure if I want to slap the person responsible for being gross or shake their hand for it having both practical and hilarious potential. Maybe I’d just high five them while wearing a joy buzzer.)

This is some sort of show or game. People know about it and like it enough to willingly sign up for this shit. They might not know how real this is though, they might think it’s like reality TV or something. Hopefully that’s what they think it is, and they’re not talking like deep web red room shit or anything like that.

Masterminds change for each game, or this “season” with how he mentioned rewatching it like that, or at least this one needed to have someone new take the reigns. Some previous masterminds are people named “Junko” and “Izuru”, though the latter played in his or her game as “Hajime”. Deaths in this game can be faked, or they could in previous seasons. Memory alteration has also appeared in past games.

Wait. Hajime? As in Hajime Hinata? From the second of the 52 case files. Are these things acting as the motives now just because Shuichi’s lab already touched on some of this information? Interesting. There might have been a Junko in the first too, but if she was a mastermind that data was expunged. Izuru definitely didn’t come up in the second or sidenotes, so that could be standard procedure. Moving on.

“Talents” are a part of this game, so the Ultimate Hunt stuff was probably just this season’s “backstory”. This likely tied into how the flashback lights work. But flashback lights can’t completely change who you are, even if they can mess with most of you. This Kokichi talks like he does, but doesn’t think like him.

How much of these auditions reflect the actual people they used to be is unclear. This Kokichi’s a terrible liar to be certain, and not just in a Holden Caulfield slang sorta way, but these are still just auditions. Everyone has to be prepared to show off some sort of persona if they want to be picked for these things.

… But what can he do with any of this information? He can’t risk showing anyone this video, obviously. Not even Kaede or Gonta. He’s not that stupid. Not unless maybe he can watch theirs first. If everyone “wants” to be the mastermind in these it won’t be so bad. As unlikely as that case may be if they’re real.

If these were faked then of course they’d all claim they wanted to be the bad guy, the star of the show. But in reality, they’d only need so many people gunning to fill a particular niche in the game’s formula. Killers, victims, leads, rivals, survivors, and all the smaller audience grabbing archetypes in between.

At least Kokichi knew what his desired role was. And he knows that’s not who he is anymore. He doesn’t know who the person he was used to be, but they’re “dead” now. Kokichi Oma isn’t, and that person’s not coming back on his watch. He’s not planning on going out without putting on one hell of a show.

One bad enough that this whole goddamn genre would crash and burn.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 5: Shooting Stars

Daily Life- Free Time

Kaito was confident in his decision as he and Ryoma left the others to handle their own business. He was one of the few who figured he knew what Gonta might have been doing by taking Kiyo and Kokichi aside. “Keep your friends close and your enemy closer” as the saying goes. Kokichi spots a liar like no other, so if anyone would be manipulating Gonta, it’d be him and not Kiyo.

Not sure how I feel about anybody trying to trick Gonta into doing something, but everyone’d be safe at least. Plus if they knock Kiyo out or somethin’ Kokichi could share whatever’s spinning around in that screwy head of his. He’s not dangerous, but makin’ plans without letting any of us know what he’s trying to do can be, for him and us. And if he doesn’t trust Gonta of all people that kid has some serious issues.

And speaking of serious issues...

He risked a quick glance down at his friend again, but Ryoma was already looking at him and cocked an eyebrow in exasperation. Prolly makes sense, whether he’s meant to or not Kaito knows he’s been looking at Ryoma a lot while training this time. It’s not like he could help it, he’s just worried about the guy and moving his body like this just naturally makes him think a lot. ( As hard as it is to do that now.)

“If you want to say something to me, just spit it out already. It’s not like you to keep your mouth shut. Half worried you’ve stopped breathing up there, bud.”

“Ha ha, very funny. Haven’t left the atmosphere yet. But I was just thinking...”

“I’m so proud of you.”

“HEY! Seriously, I was messing at the arcade and the prizes got me thinking. Wouldn’t playing a match be better exercise than basic training?” Kaito offered, keeping his tone as carefree as he could as he kept an eye on the former pro. (As big of a mistake this might be, I gotta get him involved with something new.)

Ryoma stopped dead in his tracks as he glared at the astronaut, but Kaito saw more frustration and guilt than actual anger on his face. “What do you think you’re playing at? I told you that’s all in the past.”

“It doesn’t have to be though! And it’s nothing serious, just a simple match between us men! Unless you’d want to wait a bit, so Kaede can watch. Sure you don’t want to show off to her a little?”

“What’d be the point of that? Don’t be stupid.”

“Nope, not possible! The “point” would just be to have some fun. Live a little, make sure you have no regrets while we’re in here, that sorta thing.”

“If you’re worried about what I said about Kiyo then fine, but hearing you say this stuff worries me too. You sure you’re okay? You’ve been off for a while now, and that little rebellion you offered isn’t helping.”

“Then let's have a match about it!” Kaito suggested with his normal shit-eating grin. “If you win I’ll answer any questions you want, and if I win you’ll knock it off with that suicidal defeatist crap, deal?”

“Well now that you actually bet on it you know you’ve practically lost, right?”

“Then what do you have to lose?! It’s not like time in this “school” matters much until the motive shows up, so why not play instead of train tonight?”

“... Fine. One match. After you finish playing babysitter to Twisted Sister. Isn’t it about time to swap?”

“Gaaah, don’t remind me! Sure you don’t want to trade?!”

“Not a chance, she’d be one thing but Tenko and Angie are another. Not like I’d be much good at playing chaperone in the sim anyway.”

“Fuuuck. Kiyo I can deal with, but she just gives me the absolute creeps. You better show up, you got me? I’ll need something to look forward to after that bullshit. So this is a promise between men!”

“What does that even mean? It’s not like we’ve drank on it or anything. But fine, whatever you say.”

“And don’t forget to invite Kaede! I definitely want her to see me wipe the floor with you to break that “cool” image of yours already.” Kaito called as he headed off, tossing a present to Ryoma on the way.

He didn’t bother looking back to see Ryoma’s expression as he stared at the tube of tennis balls, but he distinctly heard the muttered “Stop with the teasing already” directed at him. Something about it was more disheartened than usual though. (Guess that’s one more thing I’ll need to ask him about! I mean it’s not like he’s tried telling her, right? And she’s bounced back from Shuichi pretty good hasn’t she?)

When he got to the computer room Kibo was just ending his “shift” and removing his headset before double checking the connections for Kiyo, Tenko, Angie, and Gonta. Which alone raised a red flag.

“Hey Kibo, Gonta’s not pulling triple shifts again is he?”

“Nope, just planning on a double. He just switched with Tsumugi, and expressed an interest in sticking around for Kokichi’s shift too. It shouldn’t be too hard on him, but I understand your concern.”

“Okay. Guy’ll just be spending a lot of time with Kokichi and Kiyo today, whatever makes him happy. But try not to let him stay cooped up in there for too much longer than that okay?”

“Not to worry, I’ve already talked to him about possible physical or mental health concerns. If I wasn’t so worried about bugs getting into my vents or anything I’d offer to spend more time with him and his bugs. Maybe he should start releasing them outside, so we could try “bug hunting” as a group activity?”

“Oh shit, I haven’t done that since I was a little kid! I betcha we have honey and stuff in the kitchen too, they’re great for bug traps. We could definitely try doing that sometime!”

“Great! I’ve never actually done that before, so it’ll be a first for me. And the extra space should be safer for both my systems and his smaller insects than staying in his lab would be.” (Yeah, if Kibo got a literal bug that could really mess him up. But I’m sure I’d be able to manage fixing it somehow, I don’t want him missing out on account of his body. I’m sure Gonta’ll understand if some bugs get hurt by accident.)

His hookup didn’t have any issues either, as he felt the moment his consciousness left his aching body without succumbing to the peace of sleep. Honestly, he didn’t realize how much he hurt all the time until he had this chance to be without it. It had just been part of his daily life for too long, despite his medications and painkillers. (I definitely see what Pap-pap meant when he’d complain about his arthritis. Really does change how you see and do things, whether you know it or not. Pain’s just a new white noise you ignore.)

Rather than waste time or heartache wondering if he’d ever see him or G’amma again Kaito focused his mental energy on finding where the three scariest girls he knew would be. Kiyo normally stuck to the buildings, and they’d been trying to keep him and his… “sister”, separated for the most part in here.

Which definitely has nothing to do with ropes or anything that considering would induce vomiting.

So he decided to test his luck outside! They were all outdoorsy people, weren’t they? Exactly. From that point, all he should need to do is follow the sound of giggling or other high pitched noises. Or maybe thomps if Tenko wanted to try her Neo-Aikido with someone who had a built-in bullet time.

I mean, that’s what I’d do, even if I couldn’t film any of it. It’d look awesome and it works against the power of gravity, which is even more awesome! But I’d never flip a girl, even if they wouldn’t get hurt. That’s just not right. And I’m not a girl, so this doesn’t really matter. Could ask Tenko about it though.

It turned out the three of them were just in the “woods” behind the buildings, so they were easy to catch up with. Obviously that thing was the one least pleased to see him, but Angie happily greeted him with a hug and even Tenko gave him a smile and a wave before prying the artist off of him. Angie clung to her as they walked away, chanting something in her native tongue as she and Tenko returned to the stumps they’d been sitting on despite the new awkward weight.

At least with this monster around, if the mental symptoms of his illness started messing him up he could mask it as fear again. Best of all that might be true enough to get by Kokichi without making the kid worry if it came up later. (It’s hard not to feel guilty when you know he sees every little lie as a possible danger.)

His job here was also easy enough. These girls could handle themselves physically just fine if this whatever-it-is tried to hurt them. Keeping their heads straight if “she” tried twisting them around was another story. Tenko was pretty gullible and naive where girls are concerned, and that bias was hard to break, while Angie could just as easily be as much a danger with that as this phantom menace was. (HA! Knew I still had a knack for the Sci-Fi puns! Pffft, “Menace”. Thanks Tenko, that makes it even better. I need to remember that one. Don’t want to waste it right now, Ryoma and Kaede are going to love it!)

“Hey you, get that creepy grin off your face! I bet you’re thinking of something pervy right now, aren’t you?! Creep. Leave it to a man to ruin the pure innocent beauty of female friendship.”

“Hold on there, I’m not! I was just thinking about something okay, I haven’t even heard a word you said!”

“Oh. Then good, keep it that way! Just because you need to be here doesn’t give you the right to eavesdrop.”

“... Orrrr we could let him join the conversation, couldn’t we Tenko? The more the merrier~”

“I agree with Miss Chabashira, I don’t want to risk you two lovely little angels being forced to sit through any more pointless arguments. After Idabashi did us the great kindness of switching with Miss Shirogane I was hoping to have one day of control without conflict.” It said, causing Angie to stick her tongue out mockingly in retaliation while Tenko got all giddy over being called a “lovely little angel”.

“Ouch. Jeez, no need to sugarcoat anything on my account. Guess I’ll just… stay over here I guess?”

“Good! Nice to see  some  people know when to respect boundaries after all.”

So to keep Tenko happy Kaito stayed off to the side, but still made sure to listen best he could. Which could have been better, since there was only so much BS he could take listening to at a time from Kiyo’s not-so-inner demon and the more standard girl talk felt wrong to focus on too closely.

Still, it should be enough to keep either Angie or that thing from doing too much damage. It helped how often they’d act to cancel each other out when one of them tried talking Tenko into something. Shame they also fully talked Tenko out of his anti-Exisal plan, but that could be for the best.

He was the only one running out of time. If anyone else died in his rush to escape he’d never forgive himself. (But it’s not like making them watch me die or have a trial over me would be any better.)

Maybe I can tweak the plan so I could take down that monster solo? I mean at least dying like that wouldn't cause problems for anyone else if things didn't pan out. Might not hurt as much in the long run either- I shouldn't think like that, we're supposed to escape together! I can't betray Kaede like this. What sort of man sabotages a kind promise like her's anyway? Heck, we haven't even had her piano lessons yet. There's too much left for me to do, I can't just let myself die now!

I'll just need to come up with something else. Something better and something fast. I'm not gonna die here, and neither is anyone else if I can help it. Not Ryoma, not Kiyo, nobody! Even if that thing that's supposedly back from the dead makes that a lot harder now. Can't get rid of it without hurting him, right? Both physically and emotionally...

Kaito's train of thought only brought his attention back to the matter at hand. The threat trying to wiggle its way into their group as if it was one of them. Whatever it was it was dangerous. That's why he was here after all. He clenched his fist in frustration as he focused back on the girls and the ghoul with them.

“- Honestly, if you think he talks like an old man now, you should have seen him when he was little. I can’t remember how long it took me to get him to stop calling himself “queer” when he meant... “different” or something.” (Hope I haven’t missed anything super important. But this could be.)

“PFFFT. Oh dear, oh dear. Guess he wasn’t really wrong, was he?” Angie said, smothering a giggle.

“Well no, but still! He was NINE, I couldn’t just let him keep talking like that around his peers.”

“You mean friends?” Tenko dryly offered, with hints of her own snickers.

“If he had those then yes, them too.” The words came from its mouth, sweet as cyanide. “Honestly this whole “making friends for me” has been a big misunderstanding. But I can’t TELL him that, because… Well, I don’t know what he’d do. This isn’t like teaching him not everything has to be written in cursive.”

“...  Murdering people  has been a “misunderstanding?!” Tenko nearly screeched in shock, before checking around to see if that had caught Kaito’s attention. Which she didn’t see, because he knew better than to show that he could already hear them just fine. (Even if it’s listening to this throw “her baby brother” under the bus to make itself look less suspicious. God I hope Angie and Tenko aren’t really buying this crap.)

“I was dying! I told him to “make friends for me”, as in “in my place” or “to make me happy”, because I never had a real chance to have any! Why wouldn’t I, when I was the only person I really knew he had? How was I supposed to know it’d turn into… THIS?”

“Uh-huh. Suuure~” (Good, Angie knows how full of shit this is too. So that leaves Tenko in danger.)

“It was going pretty well too, until that girl he met on one of his travels had an accident when hiking with him. You’ve seen how he gets when he starts panicking, when he started blaming himself I had to do something! So I… told him I’d be taking care of her now, that we’d be best friends, anything to calm him. In hindsight that wasn’t the best of plans, but it was all I could think to do at the time.” (Bull-fuckin’-shit.)

“Hmmm~ Like all you could think to do at the time when you weren’t dead was sexually abuse him?”

“That was completely different! Besides, it sure doesn’t sound like you have any right to judge us.”

“Miss Shinguji has a point. I mean some of your stories raise red flags too, especially with S-E-”

“Whaaaat? Angie’s people aren’t anywhere near this bad! Tenko’s so mean to me…”

“I am not!”

“Are too!”

“Are not!”

Kaito forgot how many times that back and forth went on for before It intervened. But when it did it said something about how close the two were before the three girls started exchanging hushed words.

When he tried to see what was going on he couldn’t make out much. Tenko was red as a beet, covering her face, while Angie had gotten up and draped herself over her friend and rocked her side to side. The fuckin’ flirt, because that’s what always got Tenko looking like that, was apparently teasing the girl over something making weird scissor and crossing gestures with its fingers.

Whatever it was, Angie nodded and knocked their heads together, making Tenko shyly peek out from between her fingers. Angie’s head-nuzzling just caused Tenko to close the gaps again and childishly start kicking her legs from her weird semi-fetal position on her tree stump. (I hope friendships between men are just as confusing to them as watching this pair of gal pals interact is to me.)

As if the world feared some may miss the hint little hearts started bubbling above Tenko’s head too, which gave her a reprieve from Angie’s cuddles as the artist began trying to either catch or shoo away the cutesy animations. The monster’s attempt to “test” if a blown kiss would have the same effect was definitely a case of the latter, pushing Tenko out of the way before chasing after it like a small animal.

As it looked like the abomination’s antics were annoying Angie to her limit and was only using this as an excuse to check in with him, Kaito quickly resumed his earlier position. Which, in his bid to “act natural”, was to try and weave a nearby bush’s branches together. (She’s an artist so maybe she’ll buy it!)

“Oh Hi-oh~ What’s the Kaito been up to?”

“Ohayō to you too I guess. Not much, just… Balancing guard duty with not pissing off Tenko? The usual.”

“Okie-doke. Did Kaito hear Kore’s excuses?” (Okay, she’s just making sure she’s not the only one aware.)

“Trying to make Kiyo out to be the only bad guy you mean? Yeah, and I’ll bet you it’s full of shit.”

“Well, no use betting if they’ll both be on the same thing! Except for Tenko. She won’t believe me...”

“Should you really be leaving those two alone then?” Kaito asked, looking behind her to see Tenko listening and nodding to whatever the threat was saying very intently.

“Not really! But it seemed like a good chance to make sure Angie and Atua aren’t the only ones looking out for her! Not that Angie doubts Atua’s protection, He just thought you’d be a good back-up back-up.”

“Well gee, thanks. I’m a more reliable guy than that you know!”

“... Hmm, Atua says no." Angie shook her head, before clasping her hands in joy to try and give Kaito a different sort of encouragement. "But He praises you for your “wicked positive vibes”! This is why He chose you after all.”

“Well Kaito says yes, and that’s no way to talk to a guy when asking for help!” He snapped back, trying to fight for whatever pride he could keep.

“He knows, He knows. He’s just grumpy because He hasn’t had enough blood sacrifices lately. So on His behalf Angie thanks you!” She chimed before giving him one of her trademark hugs. (Boy it’s weird being at eye level with such a tiny chick.)

“Yeah, yeah. Why don’t you go make sure those two are behaving or something, okay?” Kaito told her after returning the hug and giving her head a good ol’ “good luck” head rub for good measure. She playfully swatted his hands away before skipping back, sticking her tongue out at him as she went.

Not too much else of note happened after that. Tenko made no indication she was aware of Kaito doing his job better than she wanted him to, Angie didn’t sound like she was pushing any agendas, and the monster stayed civil rather than try to shift blame anymore.

The game’s world had no day or night cycles, so Kaito only knew his shift was over when Kokichi showed up. Which was made easier by the fact the boy would not let you ignore the “changing of the guard” as he put it. (Small blessings: Kibo did not give him access to any trumpets or tubas. Hopefully never will.)

He also wasn’t alone, as Gonta and Kiyo were in tow when he found Kaito and the girls.

Seeing Kiyo was enough for Angie and Tenko to get ready to go, though the living lie still went through the motions of cheerfully greeting and clinging to “her brother” as if nothing happened. The boy even gratefully accepted it with even more enthusiasm, not at all suspecting she was trying to screw him over. (Then again why would he? Poor kid. This is too many levels of fucked up. But someone needs to know.)

As Angie and Tenko headed off to the mansion, Kaito beckoned Gonta aside to make sure he understood the dangers here. Can never be too careful, even with Kokichi hanging around. And with the siblings keeping each other’s attention this was his best chance to keep him up to date.

“Hey big guy, you still doing okay? Heard you’re pulling a double today. If you want Kibo could still probably get someone to switch with you.”

“Yup, Gonta good! Kokichi thought it be good idea to hang out for longer and give Kiyo time with Sister Kiyo. So everyone be happy!” (... I mean he’s technically not wrong. He’s way too nice for this bullshit.)

“Good. Really good. Just don’t get too comfortable with how “happy” the two are together, okay?”

“Uhhh, If Kaito saying Gonta need to be vigilant chaperone he no need worry! No un-gentlemanly things will happen, Gonta promise!” (OH GOD NO ACK FUCK GODDAMMIT SHIT I DIDN’T MEAN IT THAT WAY!)

“Not what I meant! I mean good, but… Gah, sorry I made you think of that.” Kaito said, but he was speaking more for himself as he scratched at his neck. So he tried to change the topic to one far more wholesome and help ease Gonta’s concerns about his intelligence. “But hey, nice vocab work there buddy! You been practicing?”

“Thank you! Kiyo and Kokichi been helping a lot with new words.” (... Not the first two I’d trust with this.)

“Good on ya then, keep it up! But still be careful around them okay? And watch out for Kiyo’s “Sister”. She’s been telling Tenko and Angie a bunch of lies lately, so I don’t want her messing with you too.”

“Well fuckin’ duh. What the heck baldy, you going senile on us? Like Gonta’d ever fall for anything she says.” Kokichi snickered as he popped out from behind Gonta. “I mean seriously, it’s not even like he’ll be the one watching her. That’s my job! And she suuucks at this, it’s almost sad. At least Kiyo  knows  not to try.”

“Hey, who you calling bald?! Seriously, I’m like the LEAST bald guy here!”

“Oh yeah, ‘cause gluing some hair to your chin instantly means you have more of it than our two walking wig shops. C’mon, why else would you be geling it up to look  that  ridiculous?”

“Excuse you, just because you haven’t hit puberty yet doesn’t mean the rest of us haven’t. This is completely natural thank you very much! I know you’re just jealous of my style, no need to hide it.”

“Right! If Kokichi like Kaito’s hair he can say so. Just like if Kaito getting bald spot he no need to comb hair over it. Friends don’t judge!” (NOT YOU TOO GONTA!)

“I am not! There’s nothing to judge!”

“Oh really? That’s a change of pace, isn’t it?” A feminine voice came from behind Kaito, who immediately regretted his choice of words. He could practically feel that sick smug smile It had as It glared at his head.

“Indeed, that would be nice to hear.” Kiyo wistfully agreed. And with the moment of distraction gone that was Kaito’s cue to get the hell away from them head back.

“Wha- Well, whatever! Have fun on your double date, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Kaito teased as he gave Kiyo a pat on the shoulder and Kokichi a shove, earning him an eye-roll and the pest gagging himself respectively. Then he made his escape before he could suffer any consequences or embarrassment.

“Okay, we won’t, Gonta promise!” Gonta called as he waved gleefully back, much to Kokichi’s sputtering and the Thing’s jeers about Kaito’s normal behaviors.

A quick look at his Monopad after getting out of the simulation showed it was nearly nighttime as Kaede and Ryoma were already in the Tennis Pro’s lab so he rushed down as fast as he could. There couldn’t be a better chance to play a match, and with how things had been going Kaito couldn’t know if he’d have the chance again. (Even if this means interrupting a “moment” here. I mean, he probably won’t mind!)

It didn’t take long for him to catch up with them, and since his friend wasn’t a human tomato it looked like he had pretty good timing too. He tried to ignore the twinge of irritation he felt, writing it off as a holdover of his frustrations about how closed off the guy could be, as he got their attention.

“Hey~ Look who already beat me here. And you brought our audience, good of ya to not chicken out!”

“Ryoma, what did you rope me into?” Kaede asked, giving the guy a suspicious side glance.

“Somethin’ stupid,” Ryoma answered, but nevertheless nudged her in the direction of the nearest spotter’s seat. (Aww man, I forgot his lab had two of them. Wish there was someone else here to watch.)

Kaito shook the thought from his head before it could distract him from the moment at hand. With as much pep as he could muster he spelled things out for her. “You’re gonna be our ref!”

“You’re having a match already?! You could have given me some warning at least, I would have brought my pants if you did.” She grumbled and only then Kaito and Ryoma realized a potential problem here.

The spotter’s seat was obviously set higher than the top of the net. Since they basically ended training, she wasn’t dressed for exercise. And with how short her skirt was… (OH CRAP. Please don’t notice, please don’t notice, please don’t notice! I swear I won’t look! But hey if Ryoma does I’ll still cover for him.)

“So I just have to speak up if the ball lands outside the court?” Kaede asked, oblivious to the two flushed faces behind her as she reached the latter up to it. After both breathed a sigh of relief (not that her being seated would fix the problem per say) Kaito and Ryoma silently agreed and faced away from her. Just to be safe while she was climbing and all, even if this angle should have been okay until the top.

“Hello~ Earth to space cadets, I can’t be a referee if you guys don’t tell me how!”

“Uh, Yeah! If it bounces on the line you just need to make the call for if it’s legal or not! That sort of thing. Don’t worry about it too much, just go with your instincts!” Kaito nervously answered, and saw that the universe had deemed his stint in the sim punishment enough. With the way Kaede was seated his worries about things that must not be seen were unfounded! At least until she needed to get down.

“It’s really just so you can have a comfortable view for me wiping the floor with him,” Ryoma added.

With a laugh Kaito figured they were ready. “Can it and just serve a ball or something!”

To say Ryoma utterly decimated him was an understatement. There wasn’t a shred of mercy in that man’s eyes the few times Kaito had managed to see them before it was over. And that wasn't including any of the times Kaito purposely avoided the ball for fear of his safety. Surely he had shamed the Momota name for decades to come, and not even the depths of outer space would ever allow him to escape it.

“You can stop groveling on the floor you know. Jeez, why’s every guy here such a drama queen?”

Clearly Kaede had about as much mercy as Ryoma had. It was a dark day for humanity.

“Just leave him be. He’s prolly looking for what’s left of his ego down there. You can go on ahead.” Ryoma told her, heartless traitor that he was. (AND YOU WON’T EVEN OFFER TO WALK HER BACK?! THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT YOUR WINGMAN DUDE! No, I don’t care that he never actually took me up on that offer.)

Ryoma only raised an eyebrow when he noticed Kaito’s glower after she left. “I did warn you this would happen.”

“That’s not it, why’d you pass up on an opportunity like that again, man?! It was all set up for you.” Kaito complained, brushing his pants as he got to his feet. But he knew it wouldn’t keep Ryoma from asking his real question for long. A deal was a deal.

“I told you already, I’m not gonna pursue anything. So what’s really been going on with you?”

For a moment he was tempted to tell him everything. About his illness at least. Then, if worse came to worse, someone would be able to tell the others what happened. Maybe help soften the blow. Help explain why Kaito kept preferring to blame people who felt betrayed for their pain rather than the selfish assholes who broke their trust in the first place. But he couldn’t. As much as Kaito wanted to, he didn’t want to burden anyone else more, and he couldn’t find anything to say in place of the truth.

“It’s because of Maki, isn’t it?” Ryoma asked, encouraging Kaito to take a seat beside him on the floor.

With lack of a better answer, Kaito gave a non-committal shrug as he joined his friend, even though he had to tilt his head at a kinda awkward angle to look down at Ryoma like this.

Seeing as Kaito still didn’t have anything to say, Ryoma tried a different approach. “I ever tell you the story of how I got my cat?” He asked, knowing Kaito would shake his head no. With a wistful smile, he began.

“My girl from America got it for me. Sprung that sweet ol’ grey puffball on me on what I thought was just a normal date. “They said it was blue, so you both match!” she said. Easily one of the happiest moments of my life.” Ryoma scoffed for a moment. “‘Course it didn’t help that she picked the place, an aquarium, so anything would have been uphill from there. Can’t stand fish, but she adored ‘em. Especially sharks.”

Kaito gave a sympathetic chuckle. “Talk about whiplash then, huh?”

“Definitely. I was just lucky the poor little powderpuff was as spooked by those monsters as I was. Shortest trip we ever spent there.” He turned to face Kaito. “You know why I’m able to talk about this sort of stuff now?”

“Let me guess “Because I know she’s in a better place” or something sappy,” Kaito joked, and Ryoma didn’t seem the least bit impressed by it or his attempt to imitate the other’s deep voice for it. (As if we’d have any assurances like that with a girl like Maki anyway. Fuck.)

“Because I took the time to face what happened to her. Tell me, have you grieved for her yet or are you just trying to push and distract yourself from how you feel?”

“Come on, do you think she’d really like a guy crying over her? Totally uncool, a man shouldn’t do that.”

“Screw that garbage. The tough macho types are pretty uncool too, you know." Ryoma said with a look on his face that left little room for arguing or excuses. "You don’t need to cry to grieve for somebody if you physically can’t. I just want to know if you’ve done anything to help yourself.”

“You’re one to talk, it’s not like you’ve done much yourself from the looks of things-”

“I was the one that found her, Kaito. Don’t think for a second I was able to just immediately go and get you or anyone else. How could I? We both thought she was just running late that morning despite agreeing to meet up. I thought I’d be asking Kiyo if he saw her anywhere in case he spent an all-nighter, not… that.”

Kaito’d be lying if he said his throat wasn’t closing up at the memory, and he couldn’t imagine how much that must have hurt. But the benefit of that was he couldn’t say anything to lie about it in the first place. Ryoma must have seen his eyes begin to water some as he seemed more at ease than before.

“The trial’s one thing, but we’ve never talked about it after. Ignoring the pain won’t help here, I know. I tried, and instead it festered and look where that got me.” The Ultimate Prisoner continued to take the burden of speaking off Kaito for a bit longer. “It’s okay to vent. I’m here for you, we all are. We get it.”

“B-but…” Kaito didn’t want to think about how his voice cracked up before he tried again. “She didn’t get the chance to do it.” He wanted to ignore the burning tear-tracks he felt on his face as he spoke. “She hadn’t overcome her true enemy yet. And it looked like she was getting so close.”

“Monokuma? We weren’t that close-”

“Not that!” Kaito snapped, but it only made what he wanted to explain harder to say as he struggled to get enough air in him. “The same one you’re fighting. It looked like she was finally opening up a little.”

God, I hope he understands. They’ve always been their own worst enemies, trying to push everyone away. Thinking they aren’t good enough to have anyone close to them. Despite those morons were just making that harder for them, Maki still made good strides there. She accepted my invitation to the casino, she dragged Kaede into our training nights, she was doing so well and then she- She tried, and Kirumi still- “FUCK!”

Ryoma put a hand on his back, too short to reach his shoulder, as Kaito just screamed and punched the floor in front of him hard enough to hurt. “Yeah. Yeah, she was.”

For the longest time that was all there was to coherently say. Kaito didn’t know how late it was when he calmed back down to head to bed, but Ryoma stayed with him the whole time. A rock to rely on. But when the emotional waves receded, for now at least, Kaito was never more grateful to have him as a sidekick.

And for once that title almost feels right. ‘Cause who am I kidding? I know who’s the real hero here.

If I was we’d be fucked. When I go it’d leave too much of a hole behind me, like the aftermath of a supernova. I’m just the mentor here, and you don’t call their students “sidekicks”.

Still, to support me like this should also mean Ryoma should be okay if I go. And if he isn’t then he can see if Kokichi’s willing to share Kaede some. Thank goodness for her. Real shining star that one.

Worst come to worst I know these people are in good hands.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 4: The Phantom in their Paradise

Daily Life

Kaede woke the next morning with little thought of Monokuma’s odd behavior the night before. It wasn’t like any motives had been put in her room as far as she could tell. He could have just been acting strange for any number of reasons with what had been going on lately, so it was nothing worth lingering on for now.

Ryoma’s odd behavior as she saw him on the way to the dining hall was harder for her to brush aside.

He refused to so much as glance her way and his face was so red he could have had an actual fever. Trying to check in with him quickly proved fruitless as he just picked up his pace, but Kaede couldn’t understand why he’d be avoiding her now. It’s not like they parted on bad terms after training or anything, right?

At least he didn’t have any issues with Kaito at breakfast, but that hardly narrowed things down. Beyond hopefully ruling out him getting sick, considering that “mutating virus” talk before. Or if he does think he’s coming down with something he might be assuming Kaito already had it, who knows.

Out of respect for his apparent desire to keep his distance she sat between Tenko and Tsumugi after getting breakfast this time, since Kokichi was too close to Gonta and by extension Kiyo for comfort.

It was actually odd to see these two here without Angie, as she was the only person missing right now. But neither of the other girls seemed worried so she may have warned them she would be late. Might as well just focus on eating and worry later, if at all.

Considering what Angie did have to show for her tardiness worrying may have still been warranted. She came in bouncing as brightly as ever with her alola’s and hello’s, but her hands and jacket still had a lot of unsettlingly bright pink paint on them that rubbed Kaede wrong for reasons she couldn’t place. (Maybe they’re just too similar to Kibo’s current colors? It’s not like I don’t like pink normally. Hmm.)

Art stuff normally went over her head, and “Atua” is hardly any better, so Kaede honestly wasn’t paying too much attention to what she, Tenko, Tsumugi, and Tenko’s pigeon were discussing. (Especially since of the three the bird’s the one least likely to lose me or tick me off. Sorry John, but you’re not worth it.)

Not until the effigies from before came back up.

“Sooo, Angie has a question for everybody: Hypothetically if Atua made a series of wax sculptures for everyone who’s died so far where might it be a good place to set them all up?”

“... Tell me you’re kidding me Angie.” Kaito blanched at the news.

“Hypothetically I could be!”

“Jesus Christ on a cracker you actually did make more of those wax things didn’t you?”

“I don’t care where you put him Ryoma, his faith has no say here," Angie replied looking rather annoyed (or as annoyed as Angie'd ever show) that any god other of her own was brought up even as a swear. "Soooo?”

“That depends. “Hypothetically” how many does “He” have to find homes for?” Ryoma asked to further humor her, resting his shaking head in his hand.

“... Everyone? So...” Angie began counting her fingers for a moment before continuing. “11? Unless bears only count as half-a-person. But only because they’re bears Kibo!” She quickly added with some frantic hand waving to avoid any accusations of “robophobia” on her part, and her attempt to keep his feelings in mind seemed to make him happy. Or as happy as anyone could be with something so morbid.

“Why on earth would you include our tormentors too? Human losses are one thing, but them?” Kaito objected, looking particularly panicked.

“Aww, but Monophanie was nice. And Atua knows Monodam tried to be good. So it felt mean to leave anyone else out!”

“Oh, oh can I have Himiko?! Or Rantaro if Kaede’s not calling him.” (WHY WOULD I KOKICHI?!)

“... Whhhhy do you want the statue of a dead person Kokichi?” Tsumugi asked with a fair amount of suspicion in her tone.

“Reasons!”

“Why on earth would we ever let you have a tribute to Himiko?!” Tenko shouted, shoving the table a bit as she stood to confront him.

“Because I’m less likely to be a creeper towards her than you are for starters.”

“And you’d be keeping them where?” Angie asked, cutting off any argument the upset Tenko wanted to make. Her eyes started shining with unshed tears with his brutal reminder of how poorly she kept coming across. But she didn’t let any fall or give as much as a sniffle as she focused on John instead, who nuzzled her.

“In my room, duh. They won’t melt honest! Not so sure about not getting dinged up, but hey it'd be better than nothin'.”

“Should I be accusing you of hoarding right now or of protesting too much when you were so quick to consider me a necrophile yesterday?” Kiyo sniped with a glare, causing the trickster to pale.

“... Oh shit, you actually heard that. Whoooooops. Y'know what, nevermind Kaede can keep them!”

“I never said I wanted either of them, why would I?!” Kaede quickly objected.

“You’re so mean Kaede, does that mean you only want the bears to finish your doll collection?!” Kokichi huffed, causing Kaito and Ryoma to snicker some while others like Gonta were left looking very confused.

“I don’t want any of these things, stop putting weird words in my mouth! Can’t we just put them in their original labs or something?!”

“Forgive me if I’m mistaken but if their realism is what makes them “creepy” wouldn’t separating them make it worse? And where would Rantaro and the cubs even go?” Kiyo pointed out.

“We can just put them in Kirumi’s lab or Tsumugi’s then. Probably Kirumi’s since it’s more out of the way and replacing the figures she’d “serve” would be easy enough right?” Ryoma suggested.

“Why even suggest my lab then?!” Tsumugi asked, just as uncomfortable as Kaede was at being dragged into this discussion.

“Space mostly, I mean no one would want these things in Kiyo’s lab right?”

“Only if you understand I would move them myself periodically just to see how you all react to them.” Kiyo teased.

Angie wasn’t amused by the idea of Kiyo messing with her artworks however and responded the most civil and mature way she knew how: by reaching into her coat’s pockets and tossing salt at his face.

“May the power of salt compel you!”

Kiyo however refused to be compelled. It did seem to make him salty in a different sense though with how his eye started twitching. “... That isn’t how this works. At all. First, I know for a fact no salt we have in this place has been purified, and I highly doubt any of your dubious “credentials” could be used to change that. They wouldn’t be able to so much as slow a spirit, much less banish one. Second I doubt any here have the impurities supposedly needed to induce a change within a person’s soul.”

“May the power of Atua compel you!”

“I am genuinely more inclined to listen to the table salt if those are my options.”

“... May the power of Tenko compel you-”

“I swear I won’t touch your statues Angie, no need to go so far.” Kiyo conceded, proving he did have a shred of self-preservation left after all.

“Can I “compel” him anyway?” (Boy we get off topic easily.)

“Tenko no.” Kaede said with a long-suffering sigh.

“Tenko yes!” Angie cheered, as if trying to start a “wave” with her arms as she beamed.

“Your vote doesn’t count Angie! And neither does Kokichi’s.” Kaito said while batting at Kokichi who was primed to throw his own two cents in too. Making both complain, though Angie's was indecipherable to them.

“Awwww but who wouldn’t want to see that?”

“I’d like to not risk executing Tenko today thanks.” Kaede deadpanned back at the brat.

“Have more faith in Kiyo’s durability than that!” Angie tried, in their language again rather than her random ramblings, swaying from side to side.

“No, that sounds like the right amount of faith to me. I’m a killer, not a fighter. I only bested Kirumi because she was surprised and blinded at the time, I’d heard the sort of “tasks” she had done before.”

“Gonta not sure that sort of thing Kiyo should be admitting to.”

“I thought your supervision was as much for my safety as it was for everyone else’s. Were you lying to me?” Kiyo asked with an exaggeratedly shocked expression at Gonta's "betrayal".

“No, but still sound bad.” Gonta said, giving Kiyo his best scowl. Or tried to, but only really managed a cute pout, since he was lacking the sort of terrifying aura he could get when he was really mad.

Tsumugi looked thoughtful again as she spoke more to the ceiling than her classmates after a thought occurred to her. “... Actually if Kiyo acts up, and he really is “possessed” like they say they are, I have one of those cleansing air fresheners that’s supposed to have holy water in it which might help.”

“ You wouldn’t DARE. ” (... Yeah, not many would "dare" when you get like this. Living is kinda nice and all. But why not do it anyway? It’d serve him right and get rid of one of the perpetrators. No! That’s too risky.)

“OHH, OHH, PICK ME! PICK ME! I WOULD! I WOULD!” (I get where you're coming from but please stop making yourself a target Kokichi! If she’s gone and his “limits” go with her, he might actually kill you.)

“H-hey come on Kokichi I’m the one she keeps singling out! If she’s offering it I should have it, not you.” Kaito argued.

“Please, there’s no need to get like this! We don’t have to fight amongst each other. Perhaps we could continue our trip to the virtual world? Or help Angie move her figures?” Kibo interrupted, hoping to stop any fighting he could.

“Or we could try getting rid of Monokuma so we don’t need to deal with this anymore,” Kaito offered. When he saw the series of blank faces look back at him he clarified what he had in mind.

“I’m serious. There’s only one Exisal now, and we know where the mastermind would need to go if they want to make more Monokumas. I mean I don’t think we have any reason to doubt Shuichi was right about the secret of that hidden room behind the bookshelf, he was the Ultimate Detective. So if we can break him when he’s outside the Exisal, and keep eyes on everyone so whoever the mastermind is can’t run off to replace him in case there was another entrance there, we’d be safe right? Either we could break the Exisal too, or maybe one of us can pilot it if we can find where they go when they’re inactive.”

Should I tell him about the grenades? The mastermind may not know I have them, and with them destroying Monokuma and the Exisal could be possible! This could make a good trap for them too.

Before Kaede could decide, Kibo objected. “And what happens if we misjudge things?! What will happen if Monokuma comes back, or if there are already two Monokumas, the one we see and one in the black Exisal? Could we even beat one normal Exisal, much less one that could be even more advanced?”

“I-I agree. I don’t want to risk losing anyone else if we can help it! With one plainly obvious exception.”

After giving Tsumugi an exasperated scowl at her obvious jab Kiyo joined in on this new scrum too. “I hate to disappoint but I’m not one of those suited to such a task. But going on the offensive could be to our benefit, as dangerous as it would be. There aren’t any motives to distract, and it could well narrow down who our mastermind could be. Provided such an attempt doesn’t get us all killed of course.”

“And that being a possible outcome at all is proof we shouldn’t do that yet! Not until we don’t have any options left, like if the kill or be killed style motive comes back so there wouldn’t be anything left to lose. Aren’t you all typically in favor of thinking the “motives” could help find an escape as well, or solve the mastermind question on it’s own? And what if the outside isn’t as safe for us as this place still is?” Angie brought up.

“But a pre-emptive strike could be enough to help us find out how to get out of here before a motive can turn us against each other again!” Tenko began, before she reconsidered her stance. “But… Even if we are immune, the world outside could be worse. I-I mean… I’m not sure I’m okay with doing something so dangerous only to find out everyone’s… gone.”

“Even if the truths we could find may be worse isn’t that worth the risk? At least then we’d know. What happened to the world, any of our friends and families, all of it. Then we could move forward.” Ryoma said, trying to sway her, but with no real success.

“And that’s assuming all that end of the world sorta stuff was true in the first place. We won’t know until we can get out, riiight?” Kokichi suggested, but it was hard to tell if he was doing more harm than good.

“But… Gonta think it safer to act like it is, right? Prepare for worst so good news is better. Gonta no want to risk leaving friends in danger if there chance fighting not be best plan.”

“So we’re basically deadlocked again? Let’s just think on it then. I mean it’s definitely not a bad idea, just a risky one. So let’s just let Kibo continue his tour for now, okay?” (And I’ll think about if now’s the time for Miu’s last gift to us to come into play. It might take two of the bombs to take out that new Exisal after all.)

Kaito wasn’t exactly pleased with the idea, probably for multiple reasons despite enjoying the virtual world for the most part, but no one complained in the end. Particularly not Kibo, who nearly ran up the stairs in his excitement to show off the rest of his hard work to everyone.

The logging in process went by more smoothly than the time before, though Kibo still entered it last to ensure no one had any problems. Well “last” if you weren’t counting Shinguji, which was easy to do.

As he promised before she did have her own avatar this time, but chest aside it wasn’t too different from her brother’s still. It was more like she just had Kibo mirror Kiyo’s sprite and take off his hat so she could use the ornament in her hair like she had supposedly done during the Ultimate talent show. The mask and bandages were also gone in her case, but Kiyo’s wraps were also changed into striped gloves that mimicked them for “safety reasons”.

Kaede hadn’t been the one to ask, so she assumed either Kiyo brought it up or Kibo realized the dangers himself when he was changing Shinguji’s avatar settings. (Or making her settings, whichever works best. Still, I need to stop being so forgetful, that could've been dangerous! Jeez, so many things to juggle.)

Still, despite how… unwholesome the siblings’ relationship was, the two chose to keep things mostly tame. Kiyo more so than his sister, who was clearly enjoying everyone’s discomfort including his own. Which was appreciated by everyone to various extents, particularly those who enjoyed this world.

Kibo still led the way to the bridge while Kaito, Angie, and Tenko trailed close behind. Kaito got quickly sidetracked when he caught sight of a sign near the river that said this place was “Mirai Hills”, and pointed out how “Future Hills” didn’t make too much sense which suited a game world’s location.

The bridge over the river was narrow and didn’t have any type of visible safety rails, so just like the doorways everyone had to go one at a time, but it felt sturdy under their feet. It made sense, with the unbreakable object rule, but was still comforting with how strong the current was under them.

But when they got to the other side there was nothing there, despite Kibo looking as proud as a peacock.

“And here we are! The looping point.”

“... Gonta no understand.”

“O-oh… Hmm, maybe it’d be best to see it for yourselves first. So just follow me, I promise it’s harmless!”

Despite his words when he crossed the point where the world seemed to end he disappeared. Kaito was the first to try to follow, but Kaede could tell he was worried that Kibo made a mistake with the program. Angie pushed Tenko through the rift next, while Kokichi went after them. Gonta insisted Tsumugi go next and that the Shinguji siblings go before he did, leaving Kaede and Ryoma alone.

“S-so, you want to go next or should I?”

“Which would be easier for you?”

“Hey, I’m not scared! … Much. And what’s your excuse Edgelord McEdgyson?”

“Just letting the lady go first Sweetheart.”

“S-sweetheart?” (What? Why is that nickname making me blush like this? It’s just a generic thing, and I teased him first so it’s not that out of line. Jeez, my heart’s still pounding, but it’s not from fear anymore.)

Whatever the reason could be Ryoma looked just as surprised he called her that, sporting a fierce blush of his own. But she didn’t see it for long, since she looked away to hide how red her face felt. And she’d completely forgotten how fast Ryoma could be when he wanted to, looking back to where he was only to see air. (Hey, no fair! So much for ladies first. Not sure I can really blame him escaping the awkward, but still!)

With no choice left Kaede made herself walk through the rift in the world, and met with the weirdest sensation when she did. She knew she’d only taken two steps to get through but it felt like she was moving more than that, despite not being able to move much less see or hear. Like she was sleep walking.

And suddenly she felt awake again, and saw her friends near the church somehow. “Huh?”

“And that’s the map loading point everyone! Only physical objects and people can pass through, which causes some sensory delay. Neat, right?!”

“Well thank you Kibo, I’m impressed.” Korekiyo claimed, making Kibo excited to go on before continuing. “Every time I think I can’t despise this place more you find a way to prove I was terribly mistaken.” (Oh come on, no need to be so mean about it! Why get Kibo's hopes up like that before crushing them you jerk?!)

As Kibo's eager expression sunk like stone Shinguji took the first chance to tease her little brother.“Only because you’re one of the few people who could manage to get cabin fever while outdoors, my dear Korekiyo. Though I think I enjoy hearing your internal screaming more than seeing it like this.”

“When it’s this artificial what’s the difference between this and being inside? It can’t be called “nature” when it’s made so unnaturally yes?”

“Hmmm, I see. Angie mostly agrees but she doesn’t mind it! Much less humid that the real outside is. Sometimes artificial stuff is better, like strawberries or cherry candies!” Angie chimed, nudging Kibo a bit in an attempt to help cheer him back up.

“Gonta not sure how we got here though… ”

Kibo looked ready to answer that, eager to salvage what confidence he could, before Kiyo interrupted with a blinking exclamation mark floating above him. “Do you have a handkerchief Gonta? Monogrammed or not, either will work.”

Gonta checked his pockets and pulled out the desired scrap of fabric, which Kiyo then made a basic loop out of.

“See where the right side now reaches the left? Think of that brief moment of disconnect as our avatars jumping over that small gap. Does this make sense to you?”

“Oh, Gonta understand! Gonta couldn’t see because Mini-Gonta closed his eyes because he got scared when he jumped to other side. Poor Mini-Gonta, Gonta no want to make him scared again.”

“... If that’s how it makes sense to you then I’m glad to be of service.” Kiyo said, giving Kibo a smug look as he did. The poor ‘bot did look rather deflated, much like Kiyo did when his avatar lesson failed before. (Sorry Kibo, It looks like Kiyo doesn’t want to lose his teaching job to anyone… Maybe because with how he is it would be better for everyone if he didn’t try teaching for real later. Unless it’d be at an all boys school?)

“Well now that we’re here we can look inside the chapel at least! Though it’s kinda messy compared to the mansion. I think it’s leftovers from a Christmas or New Year’s event, but it’s all completely safe! All the streamers are gone now, and anything else that could be used as a rope is too short to hurt anyone.”

“Well that’s a shame, ropes can be so much fun to play with.” Shinguji complained as she toyed a bit with her own long locks as she gave her brother a look.

“S-sister!” Kiyo practically hissed, not that Tenko noticed with how she brightened at the change for a far more innocent conversation starter.

“Oh you do cat’s cradle too Shinguji? Master would have me play it when I got too hyper as a kid!”

“Hmm, Hmm~ I don’t think that’s what she’s talking about.” Angie interuppted, giving the sblings quick suspicious glances before locking eyes with her friend again hoping she'd get the message.

“... Ohhhhhh. Nevermind then.”

“I’m not too sure you’d like “playing” with us anyway." Shinguji shrugged, before giving Kaede a once-over. "Miss Akamatsu on the other hand could work.”

“WHAT?!”

“Sister that’s enough, please.” Kiyo definitely didn't beg.

“Fine, fine. Still disappointing, but it’s not like I could do much sewing in here so it’s hardly a loss.”

“May Atua reach out to you both and cleanse your souls of their impurities for your redemption, Amen.”

“Unlikely, Miss Yonaga. If your God wasn't dead before I'm confident he is by now with this group of idiots.”

"Sister, that's not what Nietzsche meant by "we killed him" and you know it."

“I don’t know, maybe something holy could make you a bit less like the just plain creepy stringy haired girls you see in horror movies.” Tsumugi quietly offered.

“My sister is not an onryō! Not all spirits are malevolent ones, death just… changed her a little.” Kiyo said ever on the defensive where she was concerned.

“I’d say it was more like time and illness changed me, but indeed. My mind is still human, thank you.”

“Well of course you’d claim something like that, but what human being would ever want to kill 100 people for company?!” Tsumugi snapped with a surprising anger behind her.

“One whose ill body lead to an ill soul and mind, which my brother has been working to amend for me. What sort of cosplayer would claim to be allergic to dressing up as someone who existed?!” The specter spat back.

“What?!” (Oh god not this again. I don’t suppose we could just go inside without them?)

“How on earth is the act of dressing up in costumes for personal enjoyment as expressions of their passions made invalid simply because they choose to embody the characteristics of the deceased?”

“But that isn’t cosplay anymore-” Tsumugi tried to counter, but there was no stopping the tirade now.

“How is it NOT cosplay?! Your “anime” already HAS characters based on genuine historical figures, so what makes this so different? I had more than ample time on my hands when I was ill to see enough of that drivel to know this for an absolute fact.” Shinguji scoffed as everyone not named Tsumugi tried to put as much distance between the two girls as possible.

The fact this included an exhausted looking Kiyo brought a smug look to Kokichi's face, which the taller boy didn't hesitate to smack him for.

“Because those people did actually exist, it’s not bringing a fictional character to life like cosplay does! AND YOU TAKE THAT BACK!”

“Then tell the Fate series to give Alexander of Macedonia back first because even they knew how badly they messed him up! And apologize for what they did to Gilgamesh of Mesopotamia while they’re at it.”

“T-that’s completely different, those changes are what makes them fictional characters! And you can’t prove that other person existed at all-”

“Are you so sure about that? Because I’m fairly certain we could at least narrow down what he likely looked like, like having a beard for starters. Not to mention how they missed the point of his epic poem.”

Seeing familiar territory Kiyo did feel comfortable enough speaking up. “What exactly makes it so different anyway? These historical figures were invoked in the work itself as expressions of “love” for this subject yes? What of the cultures where dressing up as those that are gone are a key aspect of their beliefs regarding keeping their memories, histories, or stories alive?”

“Kiyo, don’t encourage them. We didn’t pass on a chance for an epic Maki vs. Tenko smackdown to watch a nerd rage debate between our fangirl and your geeky dead sister.” Kokichi said, bringing Kiyo's position more to his sister's attention which got her brother a glare for his "betrayal" of not siding with her stronger.

Shrinking into the group best he could the anthropologist made the smarter call. “Fine, as you wish. But I’m also not going to be the one to stop them should things get out of hand.”

The benefit from the interruption of the yelling match was it gave Kibo a chance to try and help diffuse thing. “Umm, Miss Shinguji? I understand if you think Tsumugi’s argument is disrespectful, but it does appear to be a genuine condition, regardless of if it may be coming from her state of mind more than anything. Could we just go inside please? I’d rather not log you out to give you time to cool off and join up with us.”

“ Fine .” Shinguji said, but the glowing red vein markings that appeared on her head told a different story.

Kibo wasn’t kidding when he said the inside was a mess. Some stacks of full boxes looked like they could easily crush a person if they fell on them, but he did try to make that unlikely by stacking them so the largest where along the wall behind several smaller stacks or placed directly on the pews.

He probably put the “lightest” of the big boxes on top too, with the heaviest on the ground like he did with the pews. I wonder if he had to do this in-game or in the programming.

“Hey wait, Kibo, aren’t those fireworks?! You said all the dangerous stuff was gone!” Tenko panicked.

“... You do realize explosives can’t work if the canister can’t break right?" Kibo asked looking rather insulted that she'd think he'd overlook something like that. "Besides, even if you lit the wick the fire wouldn’t be able to catch onto it. … Assuming fire can work here at all, I can’t remember if I allowed them to do that in the kitchen. Since food not working makes cooking unnecessary anyway.”

“Then why keep something that’s plain useless at all? They’re just teasing us like this.”

“If you think I should get rid of them just ask me about it outside, okay? I just focused on your safety.”

“Actual outside, the school’s “outside”, or the “outside” inside this machine?” Kiyo deadpanned.

“Can it Kiyo, we all know what he means.” Kaito scolded, but when he tied to give Kiyo a pat on his back Shinguji interrupted him by clinging to her brother like she was a vicious koala. Or just a normal koala, if Kaede remembered right. Either way Kaito backed off in record time and everyone tried to ignore them.

As Kaede went to get a closer look at the stained glass window she noticed a familiar looking shape to her left. “Kibo you didn’t tell me they had an organ in here! Ooooh I wonder if it works~”

“Are they that similar to pianos? If I knew that I would have said something sooner, sorry!”

“It’s fine! Is everyone okay with me playing it right now? It’s been awhile since I tried one.”

Upon hearing no real objections Kaede began to play, giving the others some background music while they looked through some of the supply boxes to see if there were any books or games of note here.

Or most of them did anyway. Angie and Kokichi were instead teasing Shinguji with alternate nicknames for her to use, ranging from trying to make her “Kiyo” and Kiyo into "Kork”, which nearly got Gonta to intervene for Kokichi’s safety, to Angie making Shinguji some variant of “Kore” which wasn’t much better.

Kiyo mostly ignored them (minus the "'cause he needs to put a cork in it" incident) and encouraged his sister to do the same, but when some were enough to get him to chuckle under his breath his sister would glare at him until he apologized. (That’s not a good sign. My sister and I tease each other all the time, and we’ve seen Shinguji do the same to him so what gives? Even... “romantic” partners are allowed to do that much, with limits, right? This feels way too one-sided.)

As if in petty revenge for her brother’s “transgression” it sounded like Shinguji started going around, flirting with the girls and what not. Sounded like only because Kaede still preferred focusing on finding simple tunes to play to pass the time. But for whatever reason Kiyo seemed more content than jealous from what Kaede wasn't able to tune out. He was probably the only one who was, as even Tenko seemed uncomfortable despite mostly enjoying her attention.

Which was all well and good until Shinguji made her way to the organ and rested against it to talk to her.

“You have a twin, don’t you, Miss Akamatsu?”

“Yeah, just a little bit younger than me. Why?”

“Have you heard of the old Japanese myth that if star crossed lovers commit suicide they are reborn as twins? I wonder if that’s meant to be a blessing or a curse, keeping them together with a new taboo.”

“If you’re still here I’m not sure if reincarnation is really possible. Wouldn’t you have lost “friends” by now if it was?” Kaede responded, trying to stay as calm as she could.

“You’re no fun. But know my earlier offer still stands, since you’re the only girl who’s shown him enough positive attention I doubt my Korekiyo would object to us “sharing” you, with or without this simulation. It’s been awhile since we played that game with anyone.” (WHAT?! HELL NO! EW. NOT. HAPPENING.)

Before Kaede could recover from her internal screaming to answer, Angie started praying for their souls again and Kibo pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and said “Sister Shinguji” into it. (Like a nun? Weird.)

And in a blink of light Shinguji was gone.

“ANGIE’S PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED, PRAISE BE TO ATUA!”

“No they haven’t, that was just me. I wanted the portable phone to be a surprise. It’s just like a landline.” Kibo explained.

Not that said explanation helped set Angie straight any. “Kibo has become a blessed divine instrument of Atua!”

“... I don’t think I am. Since I denounced Him and all.”

“ WHAT DID YOU DO ? ”

To say Korekiyo was livid was an understatement, but if Shinguji’s resemblance to the likes of Medusa was uncanny his wouldn’t be too far from it either. And all of his rage was targeted at Kibo, who was too shocked to do much of anything as Korekiyo lifted him by his collar. (I guess weights were also made equal. Should we let him vent, like Kaito often does, or stop him right now? Would it look bad if I freeze him right now? Should I let another girl do it instead?)

“We already discussed the way the two of you work Kiyo, there’s nothing for you to worried about! Please calm down!”

“How could I possibly be calm when you took my sister from me?! " He snarled. "How do you know she’ll behave the same as I do, when it’s my body out there?! I can’t afford to lose her again! Do you have any idea what I went through when I lost her the first time?!”

Korekiyo still wouldn’t put him down as he shook him, ready to lash out at anyone who tried to intervene as he ranted. But he hadn’t actually tried to hurt Kibo yet, which was a small blessing.

But with his focus bouncing wildly between Kibo and the others and his hair in such disarray he didn’t notice the small girl sneaking up behind him. Not until Angie popped up beside him and poked his nose with a little spoken “boop”. Like she was trying to imitate pressing a button, which wasn’t too far off.

She kept her finger there as Kaito and Gonta forced Korekiyo’s fingers let go, which wasn’t as hard as it initially looked. Tenko already proved that while the avatars couldn’t move others moving them was easy.

With Kibo safely tucked behind Gonta and Tsumugi comforting him, Angie finally pranced her way back to Tenko and waited to see if this calmed Korekiyo down at all.

Which it didn’t seem to at all when he regained control of himself, but as panicked as he still was he restrained himself to glaring accusingly at everyone else around them. But with the way he was on the brink of tears they didn’t have the same sort of impact as he seemed to hope they would have had.

He wasn’t settled by any of his own attempts to try to rationalize his anger either, most notably pointing out Kibo had no issue with Miu getting away with far more indecent humor than his sister did. Even if that may not be for long, as like Miu she also had problems with socializing due to a lack of proper practice.

It wasn’t until Shinguji came through the church’s doors that he became anything like his usual self again, immediately taking her into a hug with enough force to spin her in the air, before placing her behind him.

While she petted his hair in a way that could appear comforting at a glance, and he clearly took it as such with how he leaned his head into it, nothing about her came across as the least bit concerned. It was more like she was annoyed by Kibo’s stunt more than anything, despite seeing how much it terrified him.

But there was one thing that puzzled her that she needed an answer to. “Idabashi, had I misheard during our little mishap just now or did you address me as “Sister Shinguji” for your portable phone?”

“... Well no one else was giving me something to work with so I wasn’t sure what else I could call you. Without upsetting anyone I mean. Do you need me to change it again?”

“No, not at all. It’s fitting to have a parody of a nun’s title in a false place of worship in a way, no?”

“Sooo, would that make Kiyo your “priest” then?” Tsumugi asked.

“... Tell me you aren’t suggesting that you think nuns, women who have pledged their body and soul to the God they essentially have married, are ever allowed to have sex, much less that their male counterparts can in most practices? And heaven forbid either try with each other,” Korekiyo warily stated.

“Oh, so they’re not like our shrine maidens then Kiyo?” Tsumugi asked again, a bit more confused.

“... My apologies sister, I now know EXACTLY the sort of thing you were complaining about in regards to how disconnected to reality she truly is.”

“H-hey, you could just answer me directly!” (Did you really need to ask for a lesson Tsumugi?!)

“In brief: Anime and manga for any Christian or Catholic practices are often terribly mistaken for working like our own Miko and whatnot, since Japanese creators rarely have a true understanding of how they work or their significance to their believers. Even some Japanese Christians may have an entirely different method of performing their religious ceremonies, since they were separated by most “official” leaders for so long after the religion was once made taboo on our shores.”

“Also yes, some sects may allow their higher ups marriage or sex, but they often value their “virtue” of chastity too much to be particularly common. What need does a “Father” or “Mother” have for biological children when they have so many lambs they need to raise the best they can for their “God”?”

“Okay, okay~ But can you two not do shared lessons? Atua believes one of you is more than enough.” Angie said to try and shut the two up, again annoyed at another religion getting more "attention" than her own.

“In my defense I did say I intended it to be a short one. I have no say on if my sister wants to expand on anything for the sake of clarity.” Korekiyo said with a shrug as his sister quietly giggled behind her hand.

“Just because he has more knowledge of this sort of thing than I do, I also like showing off when I can.”

“Still, Angie makes a point. If you two do this outside things might get a bit too confusing and distract us from what you’re trying to tell us about. So maybe keep it to a minimum at least please?”

“Only if we can finally leave now, Kibo. There isn’t anything left to show us, yes?” Korekiyo asked.

“Right, that’s fine with me since I also showed you the cell phone item. If anyone wants to come back later, like to keep Kiyo and Shinguji in here while they’re normally being watched, just ask me okay?”

With two means of logging out the process went a lot faster than last time, and adjusting to the Shinguji problem was made simpler too. It hardly mattered who left when anymore, as long as Gonta went before those two so they wouldn’t try anything stupid, but few actually thought that either would right now.

This time Korekiyo still had control when they all got out, but for whatever reason Tenko kept looking at him funny. Like she was scanning him for weapons and confused why she kept coming up empty.

“Is there something the matter Tenko? Are you disappointed to not see my sister anymore? I’d more than understand if that’s the case.”

“W-what?! No! It’s just… something’s not right here.” She said with a mild blush. (News flash Tenko: Nothing has EVER been right. Not in school, not on the general campus, not in the killing game idea, and not even in Kibo’s program!)

“And how exactly does that involve me specifically? If it’s another attack on my sister I advise against it.”

Tenko looked disgusted, ashamed, and appalled by what she thought would answer things. “Tenko might need you to kinda sort of need you to take off your jacket again and pad you down. But only the jacket, got it?! It just looks like it’s on the thick side so it’d be harder to find anything than if it was just the shirt under it!”

“Kibo, are you sure everyone’s wires were matched correctly before we went in? Because I thought I just heard our dear Tenko ask one of her hated menaces to disrobe of her own volition. How scandalous,” Korekiyo teased.

“Well I thought I heard  the serial killer with an incister try calling someone else “scandalous” so we might need to check his wires too,” Kokichi joked back, which soured any good mood Korekiyo may have been getting back before.

“Hey, I’m being serious! This is could be important!” Tenko tried to argue despite her embarrassment, and Korekiyo relented with an eye-roll and a shrug as he stood up with his arms outstretched. It seemed like he was already very used to these procedures, which considering his appearance and time traveling he likely was. Either between rightly concerned local police, airport or border security, or a bit of all three types.

As she tried to mimic a pat down, as if from memory of how they were meant to be done, it was clear she was using more force than she needed to as he’d almost flinch with each hit. She was still red as Himiko’s hair but her embarrassment was soon replaced with resolve and some confusion as she avoided looking at his face as she worked. But for whatever reason she kept focusing on his button down’s chest and back.

“I must say, out of everything I expected to be subjected to today being groped by you wasn’t one of them.”

“H-HEY, I AM NOT! I-it’s just a pat down thing!”

“Your areas of focus say otherwise, I’m very well versed in both forms of “attention” I assure you.”

To say she retreated as if touching him would burn her would be an understatement, much to Gonta’s relief due to how “improper” this all was. Everyone else was just confused. But Tenko wasn’t done just yet as she pointed at him accusingly. “Fine, I need you to switch with Shinguji for a bit!”

“If that’ll be enough to put my jacket back on and end this charade, very well.” He replied, very tired of whatever Tenko was trying to do. But as the mask came off her previous observation was made obvious.

“I KNEW IT! Tenko knows a titty when she sees one! Er, wait-” Tenko realized her mistake too late as her friends already began to snicker. Particularly Kokichi, who just had to embarrass her even more.

“Don’t worry we’ll definitely believe you about that~”

“T-THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT! DON’T TAKE THAT OUT OF CONTEXT!”

“Is it really that much better in context?” Ryoma deadpanned with a smirk.

“Nope~ too late. I have never wished I had a recording device more than right now,” Kokichi continued.

“Well we do actually." Kibo happily informed him. "I’ve always had a recording function! I can use the playback if you like?”

“NOOOOOO-”

“YEEEEEEEEEEES!”

Kibo took a moment to prove his claim, though it was oddly old technology compared to the rest of him. Kaede really tried to ignore that and what the metal tape recording did to the sound quality while Kokichi’s grinning face lit up almost as much as Tenko’s fell and turned red.

“Nee-heehee~ Kiiiiiiiiiiibo, have I told you today how much I looooove you?~ <3”

“...No. And I will give you a copy if you agree to never say anything like that to me ever again.”

“DEAL! No lying or take backsies either, pinkie promise!” If Kokichi was any more of a dog he could have probably worked as a fan with how fast his tail would have been wagging as he held out his little finger.

“I’ll pass on that thanks.”

“And you people wonder why I hate men?! How dare you, Kibo, you traitor! You’re just another one of those miserable piles of secrets, just like him!” Tenko wailed and pointed at Kibo accusingly.

“Hey, no one would blame you for hating this guy Tenko, just stop dragging the rest of us into it!” Kaito objected, who finally managed to stop laughing.

“Where exactly am I falling with this? I am being judged based on my brother’s sex or my own? And why are you all acting like this is some sort of shock? He already told you this can happen with our condition.”

“Gaaaah, why did you need to ask Tenko these questions?! I don’t like the images that puts in my head!” (NO ONE DOES! GOD WHY MUST THEY BE LIKE THIS?!)

“Can you just… change back or something now? Because Fem!Kiyo’s weird enough to look at even without your… You. I don’t even know if this means I’ve lost as a woman or not with how weird this all is.” Tsumugi asked, but Keade couldn’t tell if she was more frustrated or depressed by everything going on.

“Kukukuku~ Oh my, does your rudeness truly know no bounds? I must say I’m quite hurt, Miss Shirogane. Honestly, I have no idea how He can still think of the rest of you so highly with how you insist on treating us both.”

“Hey, you monsters have no right to judge us! Though... I guess you aren’t technically a degenerate male. But I’m still not trusting you with anything either as you aren’t much better. And that wasn’t the point!”

Tenko got a hold of herself enough to finish explaining her odd behaviors. “The point was this means you can’t just be some delusion right?! Bodies can’t just do… this. The same thing happened at the party, Miu told me she noticed too so I wasn’t just seeing things! Kiyo’s not binding or anything so this really did just happen... Whatever that means. Beyond being physical proof the supernatural exists I guess?”

“If you wanted to know if they were real you could have just asked-”

“NO! NOT YOU, NOT YOURS.” (Wow, this might be the closest Tenko ever gets to rejecting another girl. But is it progress or just her survival instincts finally kicking in?)

“Maybe it could still be a type of delusion if we were already in some sort of virtual simulation? Wouldn’t that be a wild plot twist! Not sure if that explains the cameras though, those still definitely exist.” Kokichi offered, still doing little to explain things one way or the other.

“Why would we have access to a system like that if we’re already in one?!” Kibo was quick to shoot back.

“For the mindfuckery of it all? Pretty sure that could score it some extra meta cred or something.”

“That would explain how my dear Korekiyo’s able to eat and drink through his masks too, wouldn’t it?”

“Huh~ Are you saying you don’t know how that works either?” Angie couldn’t help but ask.

“Not at all, I’ve never needed to try it. Just like how he doesn’t need to know how to repair our clothing. But He’s always been good at little tricks like sleight of hand or knowing how to keep things out of sight.”

“Sooo how do you not smear the lipstick under there? You both have to know that one right?” Tsumugi started to inquire. Fitting with how important details like that could be to her work.

“Please, you can talk makeup with her later. Would you please just switch back for now?” Kaede sighed.

“Well as you’ve asked me so politely Miss Akamatsu, fine.” She replied, lifting the mask back across the bridge of their nose. And just like that what little of a chest Korekiyo’s body did develop under the white fabric was gone too.

“I do hope everyone’s most satisfied with this little demonstration now. I would very much like to put my jacket back on if you don’t mind.”

“For the record Kiyo: Fuck your sister and everything she represents okay?” (Kaito why are you trying to piss him off?! I know Shinguji scares you but please don’t! Korekiyo wouldn’t really kill you for this right?)

But as clear as the rage was that crossed Korekiyo’s visible features, he soon took a breath and calmed back down. He almost looked hurt before trying to make himself appear less offended and more lighthearted.

“I thought none of you approved of me doing that?” (GAAAH, can we please just forget that’s a thing?! Too gross to think about. And disturbing, on many levels. At least they can’t really do… That, anymore? RIGHT???)

“GODDAMNIT KIYO!”

“Nee-heehee~ Come on you practically walked right into that one Kaito.”

“MOVING ON. Angie you still need help with moving your sculptures right? Let’s go do that.” Kaede said.

“Oh! Yes, yes that’s a divine idea! But Kiyo can’t help. He’s done enough to Maki and Kirumi.”

“I never did anything to Maki and you know that!”

“Except keep quiet about what Kirumi was planning and helped get her killed as a result.” Ryoma coldly stated, taking Kiyo off guard. But despite looking like he wanted to object to that accusation, he didn’t.

Instead Kokichi decided to mess with him some more. “Hey Gonta, you said only good people like bugs right? So maybe showing Kiyo how great alllll your bug friends are will help make him a better person!”

“I don’t dislike bugs in the first place, within reason, due to their cultural significance to many peoples-”

“You confessed to eating them Kiyo, that counts!” Kokichi argued with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Just because you’re willing to eat something, that doesn’t mean you hate the creature killed to make it.”

“... Tell me you’ve never eaten a dog.” Kaito blanched again.

“Define “dog”, and then ask yourself if you really want me to answer that question.”

“Gonta’s forest family big brother ate dog sometimes. But he always kinda mean. Insisted on Gonta getting hands on hunting practice by starting with a bunny he caught. Kiyo remind Gonta of him a lot.”

“... I’m not sure if I should be offering you my gratitude or apologies. However, the point remains that I don’t dislike bugs so-”

“So you shouldn’t mind meeting all of the bugs in Gonta’s lab at all!” Kokichi brightly chimed in, much to the horror that spread across Kiyo’s face.

He hid it before Gonta saw him though, and was all smiles as he replied under the entomologist's watchful gaze despite the frozen venom in his tone. “ You first Kokichi. ”

“That great idea! Gonta take both friends to meet and greet insect friends!”

Gonta didn’t give them much time to react beyond the mutual look of horror found on both of their faces as he practically carried them to his lab. Or literally carried them in Kokichi’s case, who found himself nearly tucked under one arm as the other dragged Kiyo along with them.

The remaining students gave a moment of silence for the two unlucky bastards, but certainly weren’t going to do anything that could risk them sharing their fate. Even if the silence given was more of the stunned variety than a truly respectful one. At least, up until Angie put her hands together and started praying.

“May Atua have mercy on their souls, and should the worst come to pass may He take them under His protection in the great hereafter despite their lack of faith or points. Except maybe Kiyo. May He just not return Kiyo to his sister or something, like have Him give Himiko or Rantaro company instead. Amen!”

“How dare you try to curse Himiko like that, I trusted you!” Tenko wailed, only to have Angie halfheartedly waving her off in some attempt to shush and “soothe” her. Which went as well as expected.

“But they got along, he never actually hurt her, and she was such an innocent girl it may help clean his soul! Maybe. Hopefully. It felt more mean to single Rantaro out. Since blackened like Shuichi and Miu might not help him as much there, assuming he could get along with either of them in the afterlife.”

“Then why not just let him rot where he belongs?!” (Yeah, I’m with Tenko this time.)

“... Angie hopes Tenko isn’t suggesting that his sister can honestly make it to the better place.”

“Not to mention with how fucked up he is being anywhere without his sister could be “Hell” on it’s own.” Ryoma joined in. (NOPE. Get back on topic please!)

“Alright already you guys, let’s stop talking like this okay? Is anyone going to be helping Angie and I carry her memorials to Kirumi’s lab or not?”

“Tenko will!”

“I.. Think I’ll pass. I’ll be out training in the normal spot if you want to meet up later, Kaede.”

“And I’ll go with him to make sure he either actually trains or doesn’t sprain anything else. Like his head,” Ryoma snarked while following Kaito away, who began to bicker with him.

“Hmmm, Kibo, would you like me to try and make you a uniform like your avatar had? And I can throw in a matching hat or some cover up to hide your joints if you’ll keep me some company while I work!”

“Oh! Thank you, that’s very nice of you to offer, Tsumugi. Perhaps after I’m done re-calibrating the avatars to everyone’s desires before I forget anything.”

“Good idea, and I can hang out in there so you’re not as alone until you’re done!”

With all those plans set aside the rest of the bustling students made their ways out the door, aside from Kibo and Tsumugi. Kaede idly wondered why Kaito felt the need to tell her where they’d be, since everyone still preferred to have their monopads on them, but assumed he said it as some sort of comforting habit.

As hard as moving Shuichi’s statue may be for her, she was going to do this. Her friends need her to act with confidence, so she needed to face her regrets and mistakes head on in any way she thought of. Her best was what they needed, so she was going to make sure she kept giving them that however she could.

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[lore-a-lie]

Bonus Chapter: Courting Disaster

Love Hotel

He knew he shouldn’t be doing this. There was no getting around that fact.

Monokuma caught him in a moment of weakness, and he was an idiot for letting his loneliness overtake him. This was no way he should be “reaching out” to others. He knew this wouldn’t solve anything.

The bear told him that if all went well he’d be the only one to really remember this. That throws a lot of suspicion over how “consentual” anything in this love hotel can be. As if anyone would ever want him.

But if his partner really wanted to go that far what was he supposed to do? He wanted some connection sure, any type he could get his hands on like a miserable thief, but not like this. And the last thing he wanted was to make someone else here miserable. None of them deserved that.

Except Korekiyo, but if that’s who he found on the other side of the door it would be an entirely different story.

Monokuma claimed he couldn’t move bodies after all. So if that bastard showed his face no one would need to suffer a trial until at least three people who “visited” this place found him. Two visits minimum.

More than enough time for him to make his peace so he could confess. He was ready for any execution Monokuma could give him after all. Being here has already been a reprieve from what he deserved.

Attacking him like this would be underhanded sure, but it’s not like his “victim” hadn’t done the same. Any guilt he felt for thinking this way was easily outweighed by not recognizing the threat that he was.

In some sick way that was who he was hoping was waiting for him in that room now. At least then he wouldn’t have to put his morals against someone else’s “fantasy”.

But of course he wouldn’t be that lucky. In some sicker sense he turned out even luckier.

Because when Ryoma Hoshi opened that door it was Kaede Akamatsu sitting on that tacky bed.

He should have walked away, but he didn’t. Out of everyone she was the person he least wanted to cause any trouble for, and he definitely couldn’t take knowing he ruined her night on a whim.

She was in her normal clothes again, and considering how short her skirt was he wasn’t sure if this was meant to be a gift or a curse. So he chose not to think about it, and let the awkward silence stay.

Girls are unpredictable after all, and while he’s obviously both under qualified and undeserving the least he could do is try to fit whatever ideal fantasy was in her head to the best of his ability. With some limits.

There was no way in hell he was low enough to let things go too far now. She deserved a lot better.

The silence clearly wasn’t actually doing Kaede any favors as it looked like the longer he kept quiet the more nervous she was becoming. Unless this too could be part of her “fantasy”? Girls can be weird.

“U-Ummm… Do you remember what today is?” She began when the pause got to be too much to bear.

Okay, that’s pretty tame. I mean she’s gotta know where she is, and it’s probably not her birthday. My girl used to tease me about how guys never remembered the important dates or milestones. Maybe her fantasy is just being in a long term relationship? Boy that’s cute. But it suits her. Sweet, simple, earnest.

“Oh? And I here I was hoping you forgot or I got the date wrong. I mean, it’s our anniversary right? Didn’t really find the time to get you anything though, sorry. It kinda snuck up on me.”

“Y-you remembered?” (What? Was I supposed to not know it? I thought girls normally prefer “reliable” guys. Unless she prefers them to be the sort she can help build up into that. Like Shuichi was. Oh well.)

“Was I not supposed to?” he tried asking with what he hoped came across as a smug smirk. It wasn’t like he could really backpedal now right?

“Sorry, it’s just my friends told me boys could get kinda forgetful about these things.” She answered with a blush as she scratched at her cheek in embarrassment. But she wasn’t unhappy about this. Good.

“They’re probably not wrong, but it depends on the guy I’d think.”

“Then I guess I’m one of the lucky ones!” (GOD WHY IS SHE ALWAYS SO CUTE? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS? I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad one anymore, what’s wrong with me?)

After taking a moment to let out some nervous giggles Kaede straightened herself out to ask him a question. One that must have been pretty serious to have her worked up like this.

“It’s okay to not do presents or anything I think. But since it’s our anniversary… I want you to say it, Ryoma…” (Uh oh. Okay. This can’t be too hard, right? What could she possibly want a guy to say here?)

“... I love you?” (Ooookay, no that was not the right answer. Great going Ryoma. But damn if that look on her face isn’t worth it. Geez even her little cowlick is so frazzled it’s practically heart-shaped.)

“W-w-what?!” Kaede’s face was nearly the same red as the cheesy lighting as she tried to recover.

“Sorry, did you want me to say something else?”

“W-well, I mean… I’m not complaining, but it’s not what I was expecting. It’s nice to hear though! Since I was the one who confessed to you and all.” Despite her teacher-like pose she was still redder than a beet.

Ryoma swallowed a bit as he ran through his options. (It’s not like she’d remember this, so why not play along with it? We’re just talking, so it should be harmless. So why not be a bit more honest to yourself?)

“It’s true enough. I still have no idea why you kept chasing after a guy like me anyway.”

“Hey, don’t talk like that! I mean, we’ve been together this long.”

“Just pointing out the obvious sweetheart. You coulda done a lot better than a guy like me.”

There was a distinct gasp as Kaede’s face flushed. For a horrifying second Ryoma worried he’d broken her out of the dream before he realized this was a good thing. (Okay, found it!... What did I say though?)

“... Can you call me that again?”

“You mean “sweetheart”?”

If it was possible her face got even redder as she covered her face with her hands and started kicking her legs like some giddy little kid. (WHY DOES SHE KEEP ACTING SO CUTE?! IS THIS MY PUNISHMENT NOW?)

“This… is the first time you’ve called me something other than just Kaede.”

My heart can’t take this. I’m pretty sure if she gets any sweeter I’ll get diabetes. I know I don’t deserve this. I never will again. I gave all this up a long time ago, so why do you have to keep taunting me like this?

“So, you want me to get in the habit of calling you by a pet name? Do I get one too?” He asked, playing the part of confident naive brat best he could as he teased her a bit. Heaven knows how long it’s been since that stupid cocky kid and everyone he loved died over some dumb bet. But no one else will now.

“Hey, no fair! How come I’m the only one embarrassed by all of this?”

Before Ryoma could come with any response Kaede turned and tried to take him into her arms, which considering their height difference ended up causing her to lose her balance and practically pin him to the bed. Which was marginally less embarrassing than him being treated like a weird teddy bear. Again.

Okay please no gross thoughts, that’s not allowed here. Definitely not in this position. Damn tall people. Well, okay she’s not really that tall. Still, nearly everyone’s “tall” compared to me.

“Uh, sweetheart? You gonna let me up now or…”

Kaede looked nearly as mortified as Ryoma felt, but she didn’t seem like she was going to be moving. (Great. Now how am I going to get out of this? No matter what she thinks she wants, nothing is going to happen here tonight. End of story. Even I’m not that much of a fuckup, I haven’t fallen that far just yet.)

“... Ryoma?”

“Yeah?”

“Hug me.”

“O-okay.” (This isn’t taking advantage of anything right? She’s not against hugs, no real harm done.)

“More like this…” She whispered as she positioned herself so she was genuinely holding Ryoma, and tightened her grip. (Easy for you to say, your arms reach all the way around and then some. Tallll people.)

He really tried not to think about where the way she moved him left him in regards to her body. Not the easiest thing to do, with her heartbeat hammering in his ears, but he did the best he could.

“Can you hear my heartbeat?” (I REALLY WISH I COULDN’T RIGHT NOW SWEETHEART, THANKS FOR ASKING. No gross thoughts, no gross thoughts, think of ANYTHING else. Like… Sharks. Fucking fish.)

“Y-yeah.” (Creepy slimy fish with their cold dead eyes and pointy teeth. Piranha. Barracuda. Whitetips.)

As if taking some mercy on him she finally moved them so her head was on his chest instead, which was a lot less awkward. Not that it stopped his face from burning any, but at least she didn’t comment on it.

“I can hear yours too, Ryoma. It's my favorite melody. It envelops me in a warm, strong embrace... more than any other song can do. It fills me with courage... Ryoma, you play my heart better than I play the piano.” (So fake. I know it is, like it’s a script written for someone else. So stop feeling happy dammit!)

“I know the feeling sweetheart.”

He could feel her giggle as much as he heard it this time. “You called me sweetheart again~”

“Only to build your sense of security so that going back to “Miss Akamatsu” would be hilarious .”

This time her laughter got to the point she had to get off of him, to keep from anyone getting hurt, as she lightly hit at his chest for being a “jerk”.

“Well… If we're being honest, then... I really wanted to hear you say that... It’s like, as long as you give me this courage, I can do anything. What should I do now?” (NOT WHAT I THINK YOU WANT TO DO!)

“Hey, uh… If we’re being honest today then I got something to say too. Sorry if it’s not the sort of thing you wanted to hear though. ‘Cause if you want to try anything… farther, well I… Don’t think I’m ready. You’ve always been braver than I am, you know? Sorry.”

Yeah right, she’s not going to buy this. It’s true, in a sense, but you’re a guy with a pretty girl in a bloody love hotel of all things. Odds aren’t exactly in your favor Ryoma.

“O-oh! No, that’s okay! I wouldn’t want to force you or anything. But it’s not like you’re a coward either.”

Holy shit that actually worked. Hallelujah, the universe doesn’t hate me after all. But try to tell that to Kaito. Hell, it’s not even like he’s wrong. Just look at me. Hard to say I’m not trying to run away, isn’t it?

Trying to help ease her panic Ryoma took Kaede’s hand in his own. It was so different. Where his is tough, worn, and calloused from his hard work at tennis and prison, hers is still soft and barely blemished. A pretty fitting metaphor for them both, probably. All the more proof his hand isn’t the one meant to be here with hers.

With a bit of hesitation Kaede began awkwardly cuddling him and he wasn’t really in a position to object anymore. He did all he could to balance what she needed and what he couldn’t allow himself to do.

It was nice though, as they went back to talking like this. Just a couple of idiots, spending time together. Time only one would remember, while still needing to stay “in character” for the other’s peace of mind.

“Hey, Ryoma? I remember in Tennis the word “love” kept coming up, as if it was the number “zero”. What’s that supposed to mean?”

This doesn’t prove anything. This isn’t meant for me, she’s just adapting to me being here or something. Anyone can use buzzwords for an Ultimate’s talent to make it more “personalized” without meaning it.

“I remember hearing once it was because both players having no points meant they “still had some love for each other” or something like that.”

“I promise that won’t change, even if you let me “score”,” she slyly replied, smiling like a fox who got into the henhouse. Or Kokichi, since the two really have been hanging out together too much for comfort.

That didn’t make the words coming out of her mouth sound any less wrong, even if this wasn’t just based on another one of the hotel’s scripts or something else in the hotel messing with her.

“... Please never say anything like that again, okay Sweetheart?”

“Aww, but you thought it was kinda funny didn’t you?”

You mean “cute” not “funny”, and just because you’re always adorable and I’m a sucker for puns.

He couldn’t help but snort a little at that, there was no saying no to her playful pout. “Yeah I did.”

The conversation went like that until they got tired, but at the very least he was content. Knowing he had no right to be didn’t change that, as he felt Kaede’s warmth beside him. It helped knowing her dreams, if she had anything like that about what happened tonight, would be both pleasant and innocent enough.

The dream was nice while it lasted, but they always need to come to an end. They were too different, even without “ideals” getting in the way. Her courage was a shining light that encouraged others forward and helped keep them together. A sun like that was far beyond his reach now, even if Kaito kept denying it.

All he wanted was for her to be happy. The others too, to a lesser extent. That’s why he was willing to sacrifice so much for them still, if a life like his could be considered in such terms. A life that was already destined for death row shouldn’t be long enough to be worth much right?

He had no future, so he should try to help those that do the best he can.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 3: Neo World Symphony

Daily Life

When Kaede, Kaito, Kokichi, and Ryoma made it to Kibo’s pride and joy, as Kibo predicted both Gonta and Korekiyo were there waiting for them. But neither of them looked particularly comfortable around the machines; Korekiyo in particular kept glaring at one of the ceiling’s vents as if it was solely responsible for his discomfort. Kinda like how Kaito kept giving the hallways outside panicked looks. (But not me for a change! Honest.)

Kibo was too busy to notice; he was fiddling with some of the wires hanging off the machine instead of telling everyone what this was supposed to do. If Kaede had to guess, he was probably trying to buy time for Tsumugi so he wouldn’t need to explain the same things over and over.

“Must we all really be involved with this showing? I have no interest in modern technology, which also applies to this… “X Box” of yours, Kibo. This is hardly a time for games yes?” Korekiyo asked.

“...Dude, you can’t be serious.” Kaito said, looking completely dumbfounded.

“It’s a large cubical computer with an “X” on it and headsets attached to it, what else would I think it is?” He replied, tilting his head a bit as if hehe were confused about why Kaito now had his face in his hands. (Obviously not that! How could a game console ever be this big and mass produced? Even I knew that.)

“W-while you are right in that it is something of a game system, it’s more complicated than that! And while our situation is obviously serious isn’t escapism good to help humans in stressful situations?”

“Escape-ism? Kibo found way out in that kon-poo-ter box?”

“In a way yes! But please, let us wait for the others before we get to into it.”

Kibo was obviously nervous about what his friends would think about his work and went back to making sure everything was still as it needed to be for this demonstration. Kaede and the others didn’t need to wait too long at least, as an out of breath Tsumugi fell through the door a moment later.

It looked like she had tried leaning on the door before it opened by itself, so Tenko needed to catch her before she landed on the floor as Angie giggled. It looked like Tsumugi had run all the way outside to get these two, but the run back hadn't affected either of her more hyperactive companions at all.

As Kibo double-checked that everyone was there and that there would be enough visors and chairs for everyone and he started to explain.

“I realize this may seem suspicious to some of you, seeing how this technology was granted to us by Monokuma, and one of his cubs, Monosuke, helped show me how this program was meant to work. But I assure you, I took every step I could to ensure that the other world this opens up to us will be completely safe! What began its existence as a “killing game simulation” is now merely a “simulation” with little to no risks for its users that even Monokuma can’t interfere with.”

Kibo looked nearly as proud giving this introduction as he did when he was trying to brag about his inventor’s ingenuity or his own features.

“Wait, what? C’mon man, why would you tell Gonta this is some type of exit then? You just said this was something that was meant to help kill us!” Kaito shouted, looking frustrated about getting their hopes up for nothing.

“I didn’t say it was an exit, I said that you could see it as a way out! Your mind leaves our current school setting and enters a safer space for us all to interact in. No Exisals, no Monokuma, no risk of motives.”

“So it’s just like a virtual world, like the Matrix?” Tsumugi summed up, nervous but clearly interested.

“Basically, but it should be incredibly realistic for all of you. I only say “should be” on the off chance my sensory input data works a bit differently than for everyone else, but I can tweak things if I need to! This includes any changes you’d like me to make for the avatars you each will have in there.”

“Neat! Sounds fun. But do we allll need to do this? I mean if Kiyo wants to stay out why not let him?” Kokichi said with a cruel Cheshire cat grin, as Korekiyo looked hopeful at the suggestion.

“I would very much prefer he in particular comes with us actually." Kibo said. "While your consciousness is hooked up with these machines you won’t be able to feel your real bodies anymore in favor of moving your avatars, so even with Gonta’s supervision not including him could be… ill-advised.”

“What’s an “ah-vuh-tar”?”

“A physical incarnation or embodiment of a deity or concept so that it may interact with the world as we know it. Very commonly found among various religions, this word specifically relates to Hinduism. In virtual contexts, it refers to how humans may interact with the worlds created in these spaces, as in essence humanity would all be considered “gods” to those made specifically for their entertainment.” Korekiyo quickly supplied, cutting off Kibo's attempt to explain.

“... Gonta not sure he understand.” Gonta admitted as he scratched his cheek, much to Korekiyo’s disappointment. Before he had a chance to try again Kibo offered a simpler explanation, ignoring the room’s chuckles.

“Uhh… It’s like I made a smaller Gonta for you to control in the world in the box, since you wouldn’t fit.”

“Oh, okay!” Gonta said with a smile, while the probably pouting Korekiyo gave Kibo a bitter look. The robot responded with a nervous shrug, which did little to stop Angie or Kokichi’s laughter.

With a resigned sigh, Korekiyo took a seat. “May we please get this over with quickly then?”

“H-hey, we didn’t agree we’d even be doing this yet so don’t you menaces go making decisions for us!”

“Indeed, indeed! Atua doesn’t trust anything with Monokuma involved either. Angie can understand wanting others to experience your work firsthand, but are you sure it’d be safe? How do we know he didn’t hide a motive in there to take us by surprise?”

“I checked everything, there is no way he could have something like that still in there, and if I did find anything I would have told you all. I highly doubt there’s any way left for me to make this system safer for everyone. I deleted absolutely everything that I thought could ever be used as a weapon, nothing can be broken, and I don’t believe the avatars should be able to take any damage.”

“You don’t believe they can?” Tenko incredulously asked.

“I couldn’t test things too much by myself! But I wouldn’t ask this if I had any doubts about your safety.”

“At least try it you two. If we all stay together what’s the worst that could happen?” Kaede asked, trying to convince them.

Both girls looked pointedly at Korekiyo, who in turn looked at her as if to ask what else could she expect. Kaede just glared at him, while Kibo looked like he had a solution but didn’t think he should mention it yet. Not that Kaito needed to hear it to get back onboard.

“Yeah, we should have faith in Kibo! He’s not the sort of guy to lie about technical stuff.”

“Or at all.” Ryoma teased.

“Pfft, Not well at any rate. It’s not like a robot like him could intentionally put humans in danger, riiight?”

“I told you already Kokichi, I’m not entirely three laws compliant! The professor feared it could create loopholes that may harm my mental development or sense of self-worth if he made them impossible to disobey.” (Wow, that didn't help as much as Mr. Idabashi was hoping then. Poor Kibo.)

“It probably would have been better for you to have gone with that excuse, Kibo. But your honesty also plainly proves your point, doesn’t it? I believe you at least!” Tsumugi agreed, with surprising conviction for a change. (Or maybe it isn’t. Technically this could make us all 2D, or “fictional”, for real right?)

“It’s not that we don’t trust what he thinks he did, but it was the degenerate Monokub that helped teach him how to change Monokuma’s program and he’s still new at this on top of that! But if it means so much to him… Fine. I’ll do it,” Tenko reluctantly grumbled. “But if anything goes wrong in there someone’s gonna pay big time when we wake up!”

“Nothing is going to go wrong, I promise! I honestly believe you all will greatly appreciate this.”

“This isn’t more of your “inner voice” stuff, is it? Haven’t we all moved on from that Atua-type nonsense?” Kokichi asked, obviously trying to get a rise from Kibo again. And as always he got one like clockwork.

“Of course it is, and this has nothing to do with Atua. My inner voice wouldn’t steer me wrong. And while I no longer believe in it either it’s still very rude to dismiss Angie’s beliefs as being “nonsense”!”

“I’m just saying Pinokeebo. For us humans, hearing voices isn’t exactly a good sign of anything.”

“Just because your conscience has given up on you doesn’t mean the rest of us are crazy for having one.” (I’m not really sure I’d call that an “inner voice”, but Kibo is a robot. Maybe that’s just how it is for him.)

Kokichi gave Kaede a scowl when he heard her giggling, but he let Kibo have this little victory and took a seat. It wasn't like he was normally good at comebacks in the first place, and Kibo looked so proud of this.

With all of their biggest concerns addressed as well as they could be, everyone still standing found their own chairs and started setting up the visors the way Kibo told them too. Kaede was a bit confused as to why Kibo hadn’t put the red and blue cables into the ports already, but he claimed it was because he didn’t want to risk making a tripping hazard for anyone as he helped make sure no one made any mistakes.

Gonta nearly did thanks to Angie distracting him for a bit, as he initially put the red “consciousness” cord in the left port that was made to handle the blue “memory” cord, but the mistake was quickly found and corrected. When Kibo was satisfied that everything was finally ready to go without incident he told everyone to put the headsets on and press the button near their temples to enter the simulation.

He quickly mentioned he’d be the last to arrive as he wanted to make sure no one was experiencing any difficulties before going in, since their bodies would be relatively defenseless and wouldn’t feel anything in this sleep-like state, but that was the last Kaede heard before the world went black.

It was an odd sensation, watching as the data passed her by. She expected things to be instantaneous, but there she was, staring at the Ultimate Academy’s handcuffed and scarred emblem with a “Welcome to the Neo World Program” message in the corner of the startup screen.

Something about the name felt familiar, and not just in regards to this machine. But before she could place it a feeling like a flashback light’s vertigo overtook her and she found herself in a parlor.

It was comforting to see she wasn’t alone, as Kaito, Ryoma, Tsumugi, and Gonta appeared at around the same time she did. But they all looked… Different. Her pants were gone in favor of her skirt for starters. And everyone else was… well, cuter, for lack of a better term.

It was like she woke up to find themselves in her Magical Melody game she and her sister would play, with how small and round they all were now. Tsumugi would probably describe this as them being "chibified" if Kaede remembered right. Only these designs might have been even more simplified than any game she'd ever played. And for whatever reason Ryoma looked a lot taller, but he didn’t actually change much otherwise, so the feeling was just surreal. She didn’t even need to look up as much to see Gonta’s face either.

“... Is this what being tall feels like?” Ryoma asked as he looked around, and adjusted to being at eye level with everyone else for a change. His beanie’s horns almost looked like cat ears now with how they‘d been squatted down, which made Kaede giggle and got Ryoma trying to hide his blush.

“I think you mean more like “being average size” in your case. But I was expecting something different too...” Tsumugi said mostly to herself, her disappointment clear as she slouched and stared at the ground, ignoring the almost offended look Ryoma sent her way for her comment. She even got those comical blue lines floating above her head as she did it, like one of Dr. Shrunk’s expressions.

“This feels weird. I can move this avatar so freely it’s like it doesn’t even matter what condition my body was in before.” Kaito said as he did some stretches to prove his point. (Why didn’t he say so sooner?!)

“What condition are you talking about? Did you pull a muscle during last night’s training or something? Jeez, you should tell us when something like that happens you know!”

“Y-yeah, that’s it. Sorry, I didn’t wanna to worry ya.”

“Liar. Like you ever do enough during training to pull or strain much of anything.” Ryoma jokingly scoffed.

“Hey! Come one, don’t be like that-” Anything else Kaito might have wanted to say was cut off by Korekiyo’s arrival, much to Gonta’s relief. Korekiyo was a lot less pleased by this development.

The second he showed up it was like he was on edge, looking around like he was missing something before taking in the state of his new body. Which didn’t improve his mood any. “... I want to leave.”

“No! Kibo say he want to show friends his ver-chew-ul world, so we stay! Kiyo barely here at all, he at least need to thank Kibo for making this for friends.” Gonta scolded him, so Kaede followed suit too.

“Yeah! No need to be so quick to judge it.”

“But everything’s so… quiet now. Warmer too. I don’t like this.” (What’s he talking about? This is the same temperature as it was in the lab, and I thought being warmer would be a plus to him anyway.)

Before Kaede could ask what he meant Kokichi, Angie, and Tenko arrived at the same time, like Kaede’s group did.

“Oh~ so this is the Virtual World huh?” Kokichi started rambling with his little nods and Mm-hmms as he took note of everything around him, toying with the loose belts on his avatar a bit as he did so. He started walking around the room, getting a look at everyone else’s avatars, before he stopped behind Korekiyo with a wicked smile on his face.

Korekiyo barely had a chance to respond before being punched in the face, given the lack of their previous height difference. Angie laughed at that while Korekiyo rubbed at his cheek where he was hit.

“What exactly was THAT for?” (You want the full list? Because we all know you’ve had it coming.)

“Kibo said avatar’s couldn’t be hurt riiight? So I’m just testing that to see if it’s true! Soooo, did it hurt?” Kokichi asked with a grin as if he already knew the answer.

“Of course it did. However I believe he phrased it as making them immune to damage, not pain, so I’m not sure this disproves his previous claim. But you could have just pinched yourself to test this, yes?”

“Nope! Doing it this way shows our senses are connected in here, since we know I didn’t actually punch you. Besides, that trick never worked when I dreamed either, so what’s the point?”

“I see, I see. This place could be considered like a shared dream, couldn’t it? A peaceful dreamland we can enter by sleeping in our own paradise~” Angie hummed to herself.

“If this was Tenko’s dream there definitely wouldn’t be any males in it. But I love how CUTE we are now!” Tenko gushed as she bounced around, getting a look at everyone while nodding her head appraisingly at each of the girls.

And speaking of males, with everyone else accounted for Kibo finally entered the simulation. But his avatar was the most different by far.

His eyes were blue again like they were before Miu died, and the robotic lines under his eyes were gone. He was also wearing a fairly normal buttoned-up school uniform, instead of having his robotic parts exposed and styled to imitate one. There was even a pair of black gloves to hide his hands from view.

It was like he was trying to look more “human” in here, despite everyone else being made to look largely the same. Kaede wasn’t sure if using a virtual program to change himself like this was ironic or upsetting.

“So, what does everyone think? If anyone has any issues with their avatars appearances I can easily make some changes for you later, like my own. I just thought some equilibrium might be appreciated, and making their designs like this made them a lot easier to edit than what the system already had for us.”

“You mean in terms of heights?” Kaede asked him, looking between Ryoma and Gonta again.

“Well yes, that too! But all of us also have the same strengths and speeds, so we’re on equal ground. It’s not like anyone should really need them in here, since nothing can be broken.”

“W-wait, so Mini-Gonta weaker than real Gonta?! Then how Mini-Gonta protect girls from Mini-Kiyo?!” Gonta nearly shouted, while Korekiyo perked at this information.

“O-oh, not to worry! Kiyo’s avatar already has some personal adjustments to it. If he comes into contact with a female avatar, for any reason, he’ll be paused for as long as he’s touching her and for a brief window after it stops. This way Tenko’s not the only girl fully capable of defending herself!” Kibo quickly explained. This did little to comfort Gonta, and Korekiyo merely shrugged as if he saw this catch coming.

“Did that mean you had to make me weaker too though?... YOU REALLY ARE A MALE AREN’T YOU?! MASTER WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG!”

“No he wasn’t, there was no way he could have known this would happen. You’re just way too gullible.” Kaito replied in a teasing tone.

“So you knew about the way our senses would connect, and thus our avatar’s ability to feel pain yes?”

“A-ah. Right, I did leave that out didn’t I? I mean, I haven’t been able to test that much so I didn’t want to worry anyone. The program directly affects the brains of everyone in it in real time, and by affecting the brain every sensation that you think should be occuring in here, like pain, will actually be felt by you. This applies to all five senses, and it’s hard to get rid of any impulses that might be read as negative feelings.”

“Doesn’t that mean that if we think something should have killed us we really could die?” Angie asked.

“I really don’t think so! I mean, even if you think you should be in pain if you can’t see an injury on your avatar that should help right? Please, let’s not linger on this stuff right now. Let me show you the map! So you can all get a better idea of what this world is like.”

Kibo led them all from the room to the main hall to explain all the other changes he’d made to the program, clearly ecstatic to finally have something to show off for himself. And from what Kaede could see he had every right to be. She wouldn’t be surprised if the only other person who could have gotten this program working and made it so (relatively) safe for them would have been Miu herself.

He may have even solved part of their problems with what to do with Korekiyo if this all worked out. The world he had here might not have been that large in the grand scheme of things, but if he couldn’t attack anyone he wouldn’t need to be watched like a hawk. It could give him, Gonta, Ryoma, and Kaito all more freedom in a sense, which everyone could use more of in this hell.

She was impressed by the map she could see at least. There was a church to the left of the mansion they were currently in, that could probably be seen from the dining hall, and even a forest behind them. She wasn't sure where the bridge over the rightmost river could lead to, as there were just squiggles beyond there. There were more squiggles at the end of the road past the church too, which Kibo kept calling it a “loading point”.

However, as he was explaining what he meant by “loading point”, there was a knock from the salon door.

Tsumugi was the first to respond to it, but everyone had a similar thought. “... Huh?”

“Are there NPCs you haven’t gotten to telling us about yet Kibo?” Kaede nervously asked.

“N-no! I mean the program does have the ability to make those in theory but in practice they were way too complex for me to get my head around. We really should be the only ones in here! Monosuke said not even Monokuma or his siblings would be able to harass us since they aren’t compatible with it.”

Everyone was panicked at Kibo’s admission and stayed as far from the door as they could. According to the map there was only one way out of the salon so whoever was inside had nowhere else they could go.

But the figure that did eventually come out wasn’t someone they could have expected.

Kaede looked to her left just to make sure Korekiyo was still there, before facing this anomaly again. He looked to be in just as much shock as everyone else at the sight of his slightly disoriented doppelganger.

“What is going on Korekiyo?” The person with his face asked. But it wasn’t in his voice, though it spoke with the same sort of cadence he had when he used his falsetto at the party rather than his natural register. It was clearly a woman’s voice now. One they had all heard once before, using his full name.

“S-sister?” Korekiyo said, nearly breathless as his eyes darted between her(?) and Kibo, looking for an explanation. But Kibo clearly didn’t have any, if he was even able to follow what was going on.

As it dawned on him that this wasn’t some sort of sick joke he wasted no time going over to his once dead sister and embracing her. Which was still pretty odd looking with Kibo’s avatar designs contrasting with Korekiyo’s normally creepy appearance, and both of them looking identical didn’t help matters.

Kaede tried not to listen to the whispering between the two that closely, which was made easier by having the confused conversations between her friends to focus on instead. It seemed rude to intrude on this unusual reunion.

“Ooookay, will someone explain what’s going on and who the hell this is now? Because I’m confused.” Kaito spoke up when it looked like the two had finished talking amongst themselves.

“R-right, my apologies. Everyone, this is my older sister-”

“And that’s all they need to know. Also, you’re stuttering again Brother. Do try to get ahold of yourself.”

“I… Beg your pardon? I was only going to introduce you to them.”

“And I have no such desire to be put on such casual terms with your bullies, brother of mine.”

“Then how are they supposed to address you Sister? Please be reasonable. And I’m fairly certain that’s a gross oversimplification as well, they are all well within their rights to be distrustful and angry with me.”

“They’ve threatened your life on more than one occasion now for crimes which aren’t even as severe as those of some of their other so called friends. Not to mention one that has proven to be to everyone’s net benefit thus far. And this is ignoring how they’ve been inclined to keep you at arm’s length even before that... minor episode. I do believe our surname should more than suffice for this situation.”

“Kirumi’s murder was no “minor episode”, and now we have Monokuma focused entirely on us!” Kaito interrupted, despite looking almost as ill as he did when the Necronomicon came up.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about how particularly rude you were at the party either, you blowhard!” She countered him with a glare as she removed her mask. Unfortunately for her any intimidation this could have had was undermined by the red blinking lines that appeared over her head to show her anger.

Apparently Kibo had tried his best to recreate Korekiyo’s face underneath it, but since the only time he saw it was at the party the resulting form still had his lipstick. Not that she’d be able to that know yet.

The way it suited her more than him wasn’t lost on anyone else watching though, particularly not Korekiyo himself. But Korekiyo’s face was harder for Kaede to read in the simulation than in person.

“Woah-woah-woah, how do you know this stuff in the first place? And why are you not dead!?” Tenko asked as Kaito began taking a position more behind Ryoma to avoid Korekiyo’s sist- err Miss Shinguji’s wrath. And Kaede had thought Korekiyo was weird before. (And it’s the last person I ever wanted to meet.)

“Because of my beloved baby brother of course.” She brushed her fingers through his hair as she rested her head against his. (Okay Korekiyo having his big sister back was almost sweet but this feels super weird. No wonder he comes across like he has a complex if this is how she normally acted before.)

“Yeah you’re gonna have to give us more than that lady.” Kokichi deadpanned.

“I… suppose there is no other way around this, is there? I assume she’s been the 17th “student” the Monokubs had referenced before, and as they said she’s been here for quite some time now. I do believe I had mentioned having been host to spirits in the past yes? This is whom that event was referring to.”

“I’m still here because he wanted me to be... In addition to some less pleasant circumstances. This is actually my second time having the chance to speak with you all directly. Not that most of you noticed.”

Tenko’s jaw dropped as the gears began to click in her head before sharing her conclusion. “... KIYO REALLY WASN’T A DEGENERATE MALE AT THE PARTY!” (... What? But… I… Huh??? My head hurts.)

“Oh! Gonta see. That why Kokichi thought Kiyo’s lying ticks kept changing. Kiyo’s twitchy side is different from Kiyo’s sister’s twitchy side.” Gonta said softly, as if mostly talking to Kokichi beside him, before the lair tried covering his mouth with his hands.

“Shut UP Gonta, nobody needs to know about stuff like that yet!” Kokichi quietly hissed, looking around as if hoping no one heard what Gonta said. (Lying ticks? You mean like tells? I’ve heard of those before. Was that what Kokichi has actually been trying to teach him about? To keep him from being tricked?)

To Kokichi’s relief it didn’t seem that anyone else did as their focus was more on Shinguji and Tenko still.

“My little brother has NEVER been a “degenerate” you moronic misandrist! Cease your slander.” (Okay no, I’m pretty sure being a remorseless serial killer counts. But you’re probably not much better either.)

“Sister that is really uncalled for. We don’t know why Tenko takes such issue with men still but I’m sure she has plenty of fine reasons for it beyond her Master's teachings.” (I’m pretty sure she really doesn’t. Or she’s just one hell of a hypocrite. I mean why else threaten to hurt or kill my friends for being guys?)

“Justifications are not excuses Brother. My statement stands as firm as it does for the other sexist swine.”

“I believe you are blowing his chauvinism out of proportion. If memory serves Kaito even brought more girls than he did boys when he first tried to make a plan to directly fight back against our captors yes?”

“Did you hear the way he spoke to me, thinking I was you? Did you see the way he reacted to us!?”

“To be fair, trying to make our switches as subtle as possible, without compromising your freedom, was part of the idea was it not? I was honestly more surprised his reaction was part of the minority there.”

“Korekiyo, being surprised people were less horrid than they could have been is never a good thing.”

Kibo cautiously spoke up, to try and curb the sibling’s arguing. “... Do you two need a moment? I could continue showing everyone else around and fill you two in later.” (YES! Thank you Kibo, save us! Wait...)

“Yes, that would be greatly appreciated Kibo. Would a warden still be required for me?”

“I can just wait outside of the salon and they can talk in there if you want. That should work since I can pause both of them if I need to, right?” (And maybe figure out what’s going on here. Just because our strengths have been equaled that doesn’t mean Kibo altered how strong some of our senses were.)

“If you really want to Kaede. But do you really want to? Not being a danger to others was the point of that feature, so I’m not sure a warden is really needed anymore at all.”

“Yup, don’t you worry bout a thing!”

And if I’m outside the door I can listen in and see how any of this fits with the whole “friends” thing. I mean she’s making it pretty clear she doesn’t like any of us, so would that mean Korekiyo’s lost his reason for killing people? Or is this part of an act? But his reactions here have been genuine I think.

“What exactly does she mean by “pausing” us, Brother?”

“Ah. Kibo said he made these digital bodies with a particular quirk in my own, and as you seem to be stuck with my design it would stand to reason it applies to you as well. If we come into physical contact with an avatar that is considered female we won’t be able to move for a brief period of time.”

“Pardon? But I’m touching you just fine.”

“Because you are using my avatar, so it’s considering you to also be male as I understand it.”

“Now that’s ridiculous, why would it-” Miss Shinguji began as she brought a hand to her heart as if she were offended before stopping herself as she noticed something wrong. She tapped at her chest again, before looking down at her hands. Or rather seeing what wasn’t under them anymore. “Oh. That’s new.”

“Huh~ How is that “new”? Didn’t Missy Sissy say she took over Kiyo’s body outside too?”

“What did you just call me? ” (Oh god we’ve actually been dealing with the less horrifying sibling up until now haven’t we? And he doesn’t actively hate us, he’s just a horrible person. This… doesn’t sound good.)

“Moment to talk first, addressing Angie’s antics later if we may?” Korekiyo “suggested” as he urged her through the door, sending Angie a glare over his shoulder best he could as he tried to pacify her state.

Kaede gave a bit of a wave as the others headed towards the dining room before settling next to the door. Ryoma seemed the most reluctant to leave her there alone, but Gonta urged him forward anyway. A little weird, since normally the positions of the two would be opposite, but she wasn’t complaining.

Instead she closed her eyes and focused on listening to the siblings inside. It might still be rude, but this was more a matter of safety than her own interest at this point.

Korekiyo’s voice was as soft as a whisper as he began their conversation. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I know. I’ve missed this too. I nearly forgot what my own voice really sounded like, it’s been so long.”

“If… I may ask, why are you so hostile to everyone? Do the girls here not all live up to your standards?”

“No, no it isn’t that. However it’s difficult for the dead to not envy the living, so I don’t wish to struggle trying to smother that feeling by befriending any of them before you can arrange for a true introduction. You understand, don’t you? It’s like how I could get rather… contrary in regards to your traveling before.”

Well so much for that hope. And now I know she’s definitely as much a part of his crazy schemes as he is, instead of just trying to make excuses for him. But if being around the living upsets her why doesn’t this apply to Korekiyo? Because he’s her “host”? Or because they’re related and been together for so long?

“I see. Sorry, Sister. But still, aren’t you going a bit too far? You know they are all good people at heart.”

“Good people wouldn’t even give the notion of killing you over something so inconsequential a second thought. And yet the people here who don’t openly endorse such a thing can be counted on one hand.”

“Seeing good people pushed to such extremes was part of what I was hoping my discovery would cause, so must you blame them so harshly for that? Murder is hardly a sin that should have carry no aftermath.”

“Your safety matters more to me than your pet project, Korekiyo. At least one of us should keep your well being in mind. But fine, I’ll try to be less… disdainful of those “friends” of yours for you. Within reason.”

“Thank you so much, Sister. And might you consider at least letting some of the girls here get to know you a little better in the meantime? Since I likely won’t be able to make any “arrangements” for a while still.”

“I might. But don’t be too surprised if encouraging me to do so makes me reconsider the exception you tried to make for Miss Akamatsu. Just because she changed her mind doesn’t mean I have yet, and she’s still the girl here who’s been least spiteful towards you. Truly impressive of her, all things considered.”

“Except Tsumugi you mean? She’s one more for avoidance than aggression, so she hardly changed at all.”

“... Technically I suppose that’s true. But from what I’ve seen of her I’m not nearly as interested in Miss Shirogane in the short term.”

“My apologies, but what exactly did she do wrong? She’s passionate, humble, and clearly talented in the ways of making various types of clothing. So you’d have at least that interest in common, yes?”

“Irreconcilable differences of opinion.” (... Please tell me this doesn’t involve Tsumugi’s “shipping” or something like that. I’m not sure I could handle it if things got that stupid with these lunatics.)

“... About what, pray tell?”

“Cultural reenactor erasure.” Her voice sounded, clear and as deadly serious as can be. Kaede couldn’t be sure at first if the long pause was real or just her losing focus while she brought a hand to her face.

Okay yup this is definitely Kiyo’s sister. Maybe I should I have been broader about what sort of dumb I didn’t want to deal with today. ‘Cause I’m not sure this is that much better than the shipping alternative.

When Kiyo did speak next it was clear he was also baffled. “I’m… afraid I’m not quite following, Sister.” (Thank god, at least he’s still normal enough to see how stupid this is too.)

“Her petty “Cospox” must be a fictional construct so she couldn’t be accused of impersonating anyone in this game. Anyone truly concerned with cosplay as an art that serves as an expression of their love for a subject has no reason to try gatekeeping against those who merely have a different preferred topic!” (What? I mean this sounds ridiculous, but also why would Tsumugi ever feel she needed to go that far?)

“... Are you accusing Kaede of lying about what she saw then?”

“No, her honesty isn’t the one I’m doubting. I’m quite confident that the effect was staged, as anyone sufficiently skilled in fabric work and special effects could do it. Either through the placement or prior knowledge of materials she would have a genuine allergic reaction to in order to sell her idea or clever quick use of makeup, as most people wouldn’t want to look too closely at another person’s pain or ills.”

“Might this be something we should bring up to the group then? If there are concerns of a mastermind being hidden amongst ourselves, one of our number still hiding the true scope of her talent would be most suspicious yes?” (Or maybe I should. It’s a fair point at least, if it’s really true. But it’s Tsumugi!)

“I hardly think it’s anything so drastic, Korekiyo. I merely have no desire to argue with her over what should and should not qualify as valid forms of costume play until we really have the time for it.”

Kaede didn’t need to wonder what she meant by that. Time shouldn’t really matter for the dead.

“I see. I’ll… see what I can do to give you both that time then, when I’m next able to.”

“Would you? Thank you Korekiyo. I know you won’t disappoint me.”

The next thing she could hear was a soft organic click and a hum, but Kaede couldn’t be sure what the source was. In another situation she may have mistaken it for a kiss, which would be kinda weird here.

At least she thought it would be, platonic family kisses aren’t really a thing she’s ever been used to, but if she remembered right that was more common in Europe or something. It could be something they picked up from Kiyo’s travels. Assuming that if she did guess it right that the kiss was actually platonic.

Wait why would I even think that?! Of course it is!... But Kiyo never actually said he didn’t have a sister complex, did he? He just got mad when people would accuse him of it. Or maybe the wrong sibling has the “complex” here, with how protective she’s being towards him- GAH brain stop it! Not going there.

No matter how weird something about the two of them feels, it’s probably nothing. Her being so touchy could just be related to how long she’s been dead. It might feel different to touch things for herself again instead of using Kiyo to do it. I really don’t want to think about what this means about the party crush...

“...Brother, if unit Kay One Bee Zero designed you to be male why are you still wearing my lipstick?” (WHY ARE YOU NOT HELPING ANYTHING?!- Easy Kaede, maybe him taking off his mask made that sound. Perfectly innocent explanation. I mean there’s no need to wear it around his own family right?)

“Sister, please don’t actually call him that. I’m fairly confident that’d greatly upset him. It’s only because of him you are here, even if only as a glitch in his system caused by our unique situation. The least you can do is use his creator’s family name for him, yes? He probably just included it because he’s only seen my face with it on. We likely both have your nail polish on under my bandages too for similar reasons.”

“Oh? That’s comforting at least, I merely took your mask off out of habit before. It’d make things go more smoothly for us if we give your friends visual indicators for which of us is which, no?”

“Tell me you aren’t just suggesting this to trick them by switching later. You don’t sound like me anymore so that ruse would end as soon as one of us speaks. And neither of us could keep quiet for that long.”

“... Fair point. I guess we’ll need to settle for only playing that game outside. Shall we rejoin them now?”

“If that’s what you want, then by all means, let’s.”

Kaede tried not to seem suspicious when the two finally came out, but if she failed they didn’t call her out on it. Kiyo’s mask was back in place and Miss Shinguji’s bandages were off, so they were easier to tell apart. With everything in order, the three headed to the dining hall to regroup with the others.

It sounded like Kibo was explaining minor tweaks he'd made to the program in the kitchen since he didn’t have the maps from the entrance to show things off, and specifically going into why the program was made to accommodate certain expectations for what a mansion should have, even though for avatars they wouldn’t work. Eating wouldn’t do anything to mitigate a person’s hunger, and at Tenko’s bizarre prompting he pointed out trying to use the bathroom would likely cause an accident in the real world.

Shinguji got an odd look in her eye as Kokichi pointed out how weird it was to make toilet paper that couldn’t tear. She pulled out her bandages, gave them an experimental set of tugs, and gave a malicious grin at the back of Tenko’s head. Which fell as soon as Kiyo snatched them from her hands.

Luckily for the two of them, no one but Kaede noticed this brief exchange, helped by Kiyo placing himself between his sister and the others. It didn’t stop her from scowling at him, which was nearly enough to make him cave in and return them to her before Kaede intervened and took them away herself.

Shinguji was even less pleased with the realization they still had an audience, but Kiyo looked rather relieved that he couldn’t be the focus of her displeasure anymore. (I’ll definitely need to tell Kibo to simplify those handwraps into gloves or something later, so they can’t be used to strangle anyone.)

In an effort to move on Shinguji chose the most recent lull in the conversation to pose her own question. “I don’t suppose you have an explanation for us too, Idabashi?”

“Huh? Do you mean me? W-well, that depends. I mean the visors are meant to import your consciousness into the program, so I suppose if Kiyo entering the program caused you to take over his body shortly after, it just automatically went through the process again. Which is probably a good thing, as if you tried taking the headset off I’m really not sure what would have happened to either of you.”

“You aren’t really buying her being a ghost in the machine, right Kibo?”Kokichi teased.

“Why not? I mean if they kept exchanging information between themselves mid-party this can’t be a case of Dissociative Identity Disorder, right? At no point did either of them show any signs of confusion, as if they lost time while the other was in control. If they had we would have noticed this all sooner.”

“Huh? But can’t they still “talk” to each other with DID?” Tsumugi asked.

“I believe that’s only in outlandish and inaccurate depictions in the media Miss Shirogane, be you referring to “talking” as either a mental or physical process. Leaving notes or recorded messages is obviously a different story, but multiple alters can’t all be “active” at the same time last I checked.”

“O-oh. I see. I… Didn’t know that.”

“That doesn’t rule out something like schizophrenia though!” Kaito spoke up, probably looking for ANY explanation that didn’t prove anything occult existed.

“Hearing voices is one thing, the voices being able to act on their own accord through the one hearing them is another I imagine. I did research as much as I was able to ensure Sister’s explanation fit. It wouldn’t have surprised me in the least if my grief over her passing had driven me mad after all.”

“It’s not like this matters anyway right? She’s clearly here now, so whatever Miss Shinguji is she’s “real” enough. I’m certainly not going to look a gift horse in the house if it means we get another girl!” Tenko pointed out and gave Shinguji a welcoming smile. (WHY ARE YOU SUCH A BAD JUDGE OF CHARACTER?!)

“Right, right~ And now that we’re all back together you can start going over bigger areas of your “world”, right Kibo?” Angie urged as she turned Tenko away from Shinguji and started marching her forwards.

“Right! So, let’s see… Well, with everything else going on the outside might be better left to tomorrow. For food breaks and everything, I wouldn’t recommend anyone else staying hooked up to this for too long. I’m a different case as I can even charge my batteries while my mind’s still in the machine. Hmm… I haven’t explained the logging out process yet, right? We could either go back to the salon for that, or you can all get an idea of what the area outside the mansion is like by heading to the roof if you’d like?”

“Let’s have a quick look at the roof and then call it a day then!” Kaede offered, which seemed agreeable to everyone. But when they did get to the door at the top of the stairs it became a slightly different story.

It was snowing! Like, actual snow! It was one thing to see a mostly white map and another to see it in person.

Any excitement Kaede felt about the change of scenery was quickly dwarfed by Kaito’s, and surprisingly enough Shinguji’s as well. Though her brother was a lot less pleased about this development, as he appeared to be turning blue out of disgust.

“Whoa! It’s snow! Look, Ryoma! SNOW! Did you ever think you’d see this again?!” Kaito exclaimed, like an excitable puppy experiencing it for the first time, while Ryoma merely shook his head and chuckled.

“And it’s cold! Actual cold, and wet too! It even smells like winter here!” Shinguji agreed, all smiles as she gracefully danced a bit, before realizing the person she primarily enjoying this with was Kaito. When he came to the same thought both paused in their merriment as they glared at each other like squabbling children.

At least before Tenko and Angie interrupted, knocking them over, made stranger by how the pause effect meant Shinguji was stuck mid-air from the impact for a moment. The moment did give Tenko the time to pose her so she wouldn’t fall on her face after she got over her initial confusion, while Kaito was left a grumpy pile on the floor as Angie laughed at them both.

Kaede nearly missed Kiyo’s reply over the sound of her own laughter, but there was no mistaking the pain in his whisper or sadness in his eyes as watched them and he clenched his fists. “But it’s all so fake.”

No one else seemed to hear him, as Gonta and Kokichi took off to look at the binoculars on their left while Kibo showed the nearly empty storage room to Tsumugi to go over how many objects he deleted.

“Kiiiibo, d-did you have to make the snow so-so cold? Angie would like to pl-play too, since she’s never s-seen snow before, but she’s really not dressed for this!” (Poor Angie, her teeth won’t stop chattering.)

“I’d also appreciate my ability to feel the cold lessened if you could,” Kiyo called from his spot near the door.

“Of course, sorry I forgot about that. I’ll see what I can do since I don’t think it’d be good for you to lose the sense entirely. Pain may not be pleasant, but it’s useful, and I think keeping the pleasure centers working is important.”

“Kukuku, now that sounds fun.”

“Hey, no fair! Kiyo said I wasn’t allowed to say any Miu type stuff anymore, so you can’t either! No double standards!”

“... You all do realize that the avatars aren’t detailed in, um… “that sort of way”, right?” Kibo said as he blushed and twiddled his fingers, oddly lacking the steam that would show up when he got like this in the real world. “I kinda forgot that was a thing, Sorry!”

“Oh? So that’s why his body isn’t as different to me as it should be. No matter. That just means we’d need to get a bit more creative, no?” Shinguji teased, though while Kibo sputtered indignantly and Kokichi snickered at his expense, Kiyo tried hiding his blush with his hand and groaned.

“A l-little cold is fine! Like an air-conditioned room would be simply d-divine~”

“Isn’t this place artificial enough as it is? Can we all please leave now?”

“Come on Korekiyo, it isn’t that bad if you give it a chance. When was the last time you even saw snow?”

“About six months ago I’d assume, give or take,” came his dry response.

“Pssh, liar. You keep scheduling trips away whenever the winter months come around,” his sister continued to tease.

“As I now have reason to believe that acting as your host means I’m often colder than those around me are, I’m very sorry if you felt slighted because of that but I don’t think I was out of line for doing so.”

“It’s fine, at least this place helps me make up for lost time. Though Idabashi, why aren’t we leaving any marks in the snow?”

“Oh, that’s a good point! If footprints don’t appear that means we can’t make snow angels later either!” Tenko exclaimed, and began to mime how exactly they worked to Angie after she whispered to her.

“Sorry, it’s a feature from the killing game simulator I can’t override. To make it harder to find murderers in this classic “closed circle” setting I assume,” he said, making the three girls’ faces drop.

As if to test something Ryoma took some snow and rolled it into a ball before rolling it down the sloped roof, and watched as it grew bigger as it went down despite not leaving a trail behind it. “Snowballs still work though, so you guys could prolly make snowmen or something if that will help.”

“We could play “war”!” Kokichi shouted, which made Tenko smile and whisper something again to the confused Angie until she brightened up too.

“What? No, war bad!” Gonta objected, appalled.

“He doesn’t mean an actual war, just a large-scale snowball fight with snow forts and stuff! It’s harmless fun Gonta, I promise.” Tsumugi assured him, before giving Ryoma and Tenko a glance. “Especially if no one can really throw any fastballs now.”

“Ugh, why’d you have to remind me? Where’s the fun in that if you can’t send one of these degenerates flying with a pre-emptive strike?”

“You can still pour snow down their necks or put rocks in the snowballs though. That’s always good for a laugh no?” Shinguji offered with an otherwise innocent looking smile.

“... I vote both Shinguji’s are banned from playing now,” Kokichi said with a nervous look on his face, while Shinguji crossed her arms and pouted which wasn't helped when she saw Kiyo happily nodding with that suggestion.

“I vote we find a better name for her than “Shinguji” too! It’s long and weird.” Angie chimed in with both hands raised above her head as if on a rollercoaster.

“Excuse me? No. Names have a power to them and I won’t have you disrespecting mine. Or ours rather.”

“But it’d make things sooo much easier. Like how about… Miyadera? That’s kinda the same as “Shinguji” right? And it kinda sounds like “murderer” in English too.” Kokichi said, leaping at the chance to troll his fellow troll.

“... Korekiyo how have you not killed him yet?”

“If I killed him wouldn’t we both still be stuck with him?” Kiyo replied with what was probably some sort of smirk.

“Ah, nevermind then. The annoying púca lives.” (The what now? Like that silly cartoon about the girl with a crush on a ninja boy?)

“W-what’s that supposed to mean?! Are you telling us Kiyo’s been killing girls to make a dead harem?!” Tenko shouted, looking ready to attack him for her assumptions. (And why shouldn’t she be for once? She’s not really wrong or anything based on how he described it to me. Still, what the heck's a "pooka"?)

“Of course not, don’t be so crude-” Kiyo started, face red with anger, before his sister chimed in.

“Of a mostly platonic sort yes! More for me than him of course, which is why he uses my standards instead of his own. He’s far less picky.” She was practically beaming while he gave her a blank stare.

“... Sister, I’m not comfortable with you addressing your friends like that.”

“Well Kirumi’s not comfortable being my friend yet, so I think that balances out. She’s still a workaholic, so it’s taking time for her to adapt.” She countered with a wink, which only made Kiyo go pale. Er, paler.

“Seriously, that’s what this was all about?! Making you “friends”?” Kaito nearly shrieked, horrified. As was everyone really, though Kaede and Gonta’s reactions were less surprised than the others.

“Yes, so what? Would you rather it be something more crude, like his own pleasure being his motive? At least he knows I take good care of the lives he sends to me, very few have such comforts for an afterlife.”

“So you think that makes this okay?” Ryoma challenged, eyes dark as he glared at them both.

“Of course it doesn’t! But neither was leaving her as lonely as she was. Possession would only help for as long as I’m still alive, so it was clear a more… permanent solution would be needed to ease her pain.”

“I… don’t think anything good will come of this conversation. Shall we all just log out now?” Kibo offered.

No one was in the mood for playing anymore, so everyone agreed and began going down the stairs one by one. It was almost like they were being filtered, so only one person could go through a door at a time.

“Why not just keep them both here?” Kokichi asked with a cold glare as they reached the salon.

“I told you, I don’t know how that might affect a human! But this does provide a safer means for Kiyo to have a larger degree of freedom, without putting the lives of others at risk, doesn’t it?”

“So, this is the hell you devised for me as punishment for what I did to Kirumi?”

“It’s not like that! I just thought it would help. And if your sister’s here it isn’t that bad, is it?” Kibo asked, looking like he could nearly cry over how his attempt at a kind gesture was being twisted.

“... No. No, it’s not. And I do thank you for your consideration, Kibo. But everything else about it will take more… “adapting” to.”

“I understand. It’s all a bit too sci-fi for me too at times. And there’s still so much left to show you all! But for now, the logout process. In order to log a person out their name will need to be said into the phone you see there. It doesn’t have to be your own name either, just in case someone got stuck or something. But this is the only landline the simulation has in it, which is why it’s also the room you’d log back into.”

As Kiyo’s process seemed the most likely to cause more glitches, and he wanted to leave the most, Gonta wanted to be the first to test it, so that someone would be there to make sure everything stayed safe when Kiyo woke up on the other side, and still be one of the first to get out. And it seemed to work at first, as he disappeared with a bright light just like Gonta had, in much the same way they initially all appeared.

Except his sister was still with them, and Kibo wasn’t sure about how to fix that.

“I may not need to sustain myself the way the living do but I would much prefer to not be limited to this place either, unit Kay One Bee Zero. I recommend you fix this soon.”

“HEY! I’m not a “unit” and don’t call me that! I-I know I need to fix this! I’m just not sure how exactly we need to tell the program to let you out too. I mean you didn’t need to press the button right?”

“Correct. I wasn’t paying too much attention to your little demonstration, but after Korekiyo disappeared with no sign of returning, I took over his body to find out what happened only to see an odd series of computer messages and woke up in this place.”

“Well, it could be good for you to stay in here. This way you could try making friends in a much healthier way than that- than your brother tried to do for you.” Tenko suggested, catching herself at the ghost’s glare. (Oh no. Bad idea Tenko, just because she’s a girl doesn’t mean you can trust her at all!)

Shinguji looked ready to snap at her, before thinking better of it with a grin that had more malice than she likely intended to show. “You may have a point there if you wish to try spending more time with me, Miss Chabashira. It’s not like I’ve really had a chance to get to know you, without your cruel bigotry.”

“S-sure! And a bit of distance would probably do you both some good from what I’ve seen! I mean the way you two treat each other… Doesn’t exactly seem sibling-y. No offense!” (HOW IS THAT NOT OFFENSIVE TO BRING UP EVER TENKO?! I mean you’re not wrong , but it’s still super creepy!)

“No, I understand. You heard before, he’s the only company I had for quite some time before my end. Whether I liked it or not. And well, you know what they say. A brother is a poor substitute for a lover.” Shinguji said, voice smooth as silk as she… flirted with Tenko? Tenko certainly seemed to think that’s what this was. Her face burned crimson and held her hands up as if in surrender when the former leaned close to her. Close enough that Kaede suspected she forgot the avatar's pausing trigger again.

Before things could go any further, not that they could without freezing her, Tsumugi felt the need to correct what Shinguji said with a cold, serious expression on her simplified face. “You mean “son”.”

“What are rambling about now?”

“The line was “A son is a poor substitute for a lover.” And a “poor substitute” is still a substitute, isn’t it?”

“Well, what do you know, the otaku does know at least some true classics. So, what’s your point?” Miss Shinguji’s grin was nothing but ice as she dared the girl to accuse her of what they probably all suspected by this point. (I can only hope everyone’s hoping this isn’t true just as much. It’s just so… sick. And gross.)

“My point is you’re not saying “no”.”

“And why should this matter to any of you? Particularly you, Miss Shirogane. You strike me as the type to be more than interested in these sorts of relationships .” (EWWW. Nononono. WHY?! EVEN IF IT’S A LIE, WHY GO THERE?! Goddamnit both of you, what the hell?! Isn’t two sickos enough? Fucking anime.)

“T-that’s different! I’m an only child after all! Ages and relations don’t matter if they’re all fictional-” (THAT DOESN’T MAKE ANY OF THAT SHIT OKAY TSUMUGI, YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO CONFIRM THIS!)

“Hypocrite.” Shinguji hissed with so much hate the word felt like a curse. “I know what you are. You can tell yourself all the lies you like to make yourself feel more at ease over your “taboo” interests, but make no mistake. Fiction isn’t just a harmless means of expression when it encourages “unhealthy” mindsets. Out of everyone here, if you start tossing stones your own glass house will take just as much damage.”

Kaede took a deep breath before asking the one thing she really didn’t want to. “So, it is true?”

“So what if it is? Is there any point in denying it at this point, Miss Akamatsu? Why should this change anything? Aren’t you all just glad to have yet another “moral” reason to hate Us?”

“Why the hell would we?! We don’t want to dislike him! Or, uh “you”? Fuck it, you know what I mean. Both of you just keep giving us reasons to distrust you! I mean hell, are you listening to yourself? You have to know how wrong this is!” Kaito challenged back, despite obviously being disturbed. On more levels than one, considering what he’s talking to right now.

“If we don’t intend to procreate, why exactly is it “wrong”? Did that make Izanagi or Izanami “wrong”? Zeus or Hera? Obviously yes, humans indulging in relations like the gods only begets genetic misfortune in the long run. But that hardly kept royalty with the “divine right of kings” on their side from wanting to keep things “in the family” so to speak, no? And it’s not like I had many options to choose from before.”

“You’re the one who said “justifications aren’t excuses”, so why are you doing the same thing huh?! You can’t just pretend genetics are the only issue here, power dynamics are too! The breach or exploitation of trust. The drastic change of expectations and boundaries. Not to mention how hard it makes the idea of “consent”. No matter who pushed for it, with your extreme situation could the other really say “no”?!” Kaito shouted back, looking like his anger was outweighing his phobias for the time being. (If she isn’t a ghost what would that say about any of this? This is so screwed up. Would this be more or less disgusting if she’s just an overactive figment of Kiyo’s imagination after all?)

“Well, why should that matter to you?! Even if it started out of pity he clearly came around eventually. If both parties are happy what else should matter? You aren’t going to claim you care about him are you?” Shinguji snapped back, hair wild like a ball of writhing snakes and eyes nearly glowing in their intensity. She leveled her glare at everyone, as if looking for one to claim she’s wrong, that felt like it froze them in their tracks like a monster of myth. (No wonder Kiyo said it was a favorite. The resemblance is uncanny.)

But before the argument could go any further another light flashed and Kiyo was back in the room. He looked about as disoriented as Shinguji did when she arrived, like he was barely able to hold himself up.

“Huh? Kibo, why didn’t that work?” Kiyo began asking before he started to process the looks the others were giving him. “... Did something… Did I miss something?”

“Nothing dear, nothing at all.” His sister replied as she helped hold him steady, taking his hand in hers.

“What? Then why are they all looking at me like-” There was a panic to his voice Kaede wasn’t sure she ever heard before. Not during his motive video, and not during the last trial.

She understood the look in his eye this time. He was afraid of them, as the realization dawned. “... You…  didn’t?” (After scaring the rest of us for so long it should feel better to have it go the other way, right?)

“Apologies brother, I shouldn’t have doubted you when you said they could be quite clever. Would you have rather I lied?” She asked, smiling like nothing was wrong. As if daring him to deny her in a final effort to save some face. Knowing he never would, not with the way he adored her so much. Too much.

“I… see. So no more use hiding it then?” His voice was quiet, as if hoping they wouldn’t hear how nervous this change made him.

“Well, to be fair neither of you did much to hide anything! Like… EVER,” Kokichi snarked.

“Shaddup Kokichi! Let’s just… Focus on leavin’ for now, okay? Any ideas why Kiyo came back Kibo?” Kaito snapped, trying to focus on anything else.

“I think I do. As long as one mind’s still in the machine their body can’t wake up I think, so logging only one out will just result in a loop like this. And if she has his avatar, using his name might work to log them both out. So let’s just try that, and if it doesn’t everyone else can go while I stay and work this out.”

Kibo’s theory seemed right on the money, as this time when “Korekiyo Shinguji” was said into the phone it was his sister who vanished instead of him. Before he had time to panic over that he was logged out in the same breath, and after giving it a minute to assure them neither would be poofing back Kaito was the next to leave.

After Kaito went Ryoma, followed by Kaede and Tsumugi, while Tenko and Angie left right before Kibo so he could catch any other errors that may have occurred. But nothing did for a change.

The only oddity to be found was when they woke up to see Kiyo with his mask off again. Or rather his sister, judging from her painted smile and colder gaze, sitting beside a very confused looking Gonta. Explaining this mess to him later was not going to be pleasant. But her voice was different when she spoke this time, now that she was back to using her brother’s falsetto as a pale imitation of her own.

“I hope you understand if He’s not really up for conversation right now. If there’s no need to hide anything from you all anymore then there’s no problem with me showing up more often, no?”

“Hell yeah, we have a problem with that, brotherfucker! We have enough crazy judgy bitches in here.” Kokichi was quick to claim, earning him her ire again. But this time she kept calm as she replied.

“I’d be more respectful of your elders if I were you, brat.”

“Pretty sure being dead makes ages a biiiit of a moot point.”

“I disagree. While I may have died before I could graduate, and thus “count” as a student, had I not I’d be 23 right now. I’m reasonably confident that makes me the eldest “student” here, as disgraceful as it is.”

“... Wooow. So we got ourselves a case of incest, necrophilia, and statutory rape on our hands! You take the evil bitch cake, that’s for sure. No wonder you’re both so fucked up, with Kiyo having your voice in his head for so long. Did you start telling him to kill people for the funsies, or was that just his brand of evil?”

“Excuse me?! Strictly speaking, the defilement of any bodies has never occurred between us, and if you do wish to claim my age “shouldn’t count” I would still be 17!  So I’ll ignore that last bit of slander for now.”

“It’s only slander if it’s a lie you know, and if you think of yourself as being 23 while your brother is still a teenager I think it still counts. But no matter what the answer really is I’d say you’re both still to blame. Takes two to tango and all. Standing or sideways.”

You do realize if they were intimate before she died he couldn’t have been older than 12 or something right Kokichi!? Assuming Kiyo’s 18 now, which I’m not sure he is. Blaming both for his murders and trying to kill me I understand, but not anything sexual, that’s her fault regardless of who wanted to start it! … Wait, if Kiyo was that young, or younger, when she died was he lying about when she made his uniform?

“Stop talking you two or I’ll make you! Can we all just go now?! It’s late and I’m feeling pretty nauseous.” Tenko said, thoroughly uncomfortable by this conversation.

“Yeah, I agree. Let’s all just call it a night. We can deal with…” Kaito took the second to pause before vaguely gesturing at Shinguji, with a hand to his mouth as if trying to hide how sick he felt. “This, tomorrow or somethin’. ‘Cause we might need a change in the containment plan from now on.”

Angie was the first to leave with that option made available to her, and the others quickly followed suit. She must have been really unsettled by everything, since she'd gotten so quiet. But if she needed any help Tenko was probably the person best able to do it right now, rather than Kaede. Maybe Angie’d be able to help encourage Tenko to stop being so open-minded to people just for being girls while they’re at it.

But before bed, Kaede went by the wisteria again for Ryoma and Kaito’s nightly training, despite Gonta’s vain attempts to encourage following Angie’s nightly curfew before he was dragged off by Kokichi.

As it turned out the pants didn’t help much at all, and sit ups were only slightly easier on her body than the hell known as push-ups. But she still managed to do more reps then Kaito did. Which admittedly wasn’t saying much, particularly not with how having a “ghost” among them was still affecting him, but helped her confidence a little anyway. (Err, wait. Are they “reps” or “sets”? Stupid weird exercise terms. At least with everything going on it’s easier to ignore Maki’s absence now. I’m sorry Maki. I couldn’t help you.)

“Come on Kaito, is that really the best you can do? You’ve still got a ways to go as an astronaut trainee if you can be outdone by a rusty prisoner and a pianist. She even got dressed up just to show you up.”

“H-hey, it’s not my fault! It’s, uh… that pulled muscle acting up again!”

“Where, on your funny bone? ‘Cause it’s sure not anywhere that involves actual work.”

“Ow, you sure they didn’t call you “Killer Tennis” ‘cause you always go for the jugular?”

“At least I had the skills so that I was known for something Captain Usopp.”

Kaede couldn’t help but laugh when the two started bickering. (Pretty sure the only reason he acts so lazy with these is to make us laugh. What else could it be? He can’t really be sick and hiding it, right?)

“Ya know what? Why don't we take a break and just talk tonight?”

“And so the guy who roped us into this nonsense finally gives up. What’s on your mind?”

“I dunno, you’re not supposed to have a topic in mind when you do this sorta thing, right?”

“What? If you don’t have an idea to serve how do you expect anyone to react to it? All a conversation is a back-and-forth of ideas you know. Someone has to put things into motion.”

“... Was that a tennis pun Ryoma?” Kaede asked with a sly smile. Ryoma took a moment to go over what he just said before laughing at himself.

“Old habits die hard I guess.”

“Hm, well here’s a question: Next time we have the time ya wanna try teaching me some piano Kaede? I’m pretty sure I asked you about it before. We could even do it in place of training one of these nights!”

“That depends. How serious were you about using it to talk to aliens?”

“...What?” Ryoma asked, holding back a laugh that nearly lost him his candy cig.

“Dead serious! Music can communicate beyond language barriers!”

“You really liked Macross as a kid or something, didn’t you?”

“Don’t you go dissing Minmay on me man, at least I’m not stealing finishing moves outta manga.”

“Hey, of all the crimes I’ve committed no one's ever tried getting me for copyright infringement.”

“Yet.” Kaito shot back with a cocky smile.

“I don’t think copyright laws even work like that, you guys.”

“Still, is that a yes? Not for tonight of course.”

Ryoma leaned over to her and stage whispered. “Just let him have this excuse to be a lazy bum. We all know he’s just scared that if you keep practicing you’ll be able to deadlift his ass one of these days.”

As Kaito sputtered and started giving his tall tale excuses again Kaede could only laugh.

“You could always ask Kaede to try teachin’ ya something too you know.”

“Yeah right, because clearly I can reach all the keys and foot pedals no problem. Pretty sure I’ll pass.”

“W-well I mean for duets that isn’t really true! Since when you have another person you don’t need to focus on as large of an area on the keyboard after all. And those pedals aren’t always needed either.”

“Heeey, now there’s an idea-” Kaito teased as he ribbed his friend some more.

“Shut up.” Despite his harsh tone Kaede was pretty sure Ryoma had started blushing again, but she wasn’t really sure why. (I mean sure it’d be a beginner duet but there’s nothing to really be embarrassed about. Should I offer to teach him with a smaller piano or something outside? Hopefully one that’s tuned right.)

She hardly noticed when it was time for them to head back to their dorms as they hashed out some ideas for future piano lessons. Hopefully they wouldn’t all just end up being idle talk, but even if it was at least it was fun. Maybe it’d even open the door to watching Kaito and Ryoma play a tennis match soon too.

Though I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to play it myself. I mean, I’ve never really been allowed to since a pianist can’t really afford to let anything happen to their hands. I’d even need to sit out in gym a lot. … Probably why it’s still so hard for me to keep up with these athletic types. Even Kaito’s holding back. I think. Why else would he offer to train with us so late at night if he really wasn’t able to do it himself?

It was all almost enough to forget the chaos of the day by the time she got to her dorm. But when she did, she saw Monodam’s “bed” was still untouched with the little Monomi doll she'd tucked into it the night before, and it all came rushing back. She hadn’t even been in the mood to do her doll checks anymore.

Hopefully that wasn’t a bad sign of anything. Sure, she’d felt kinda… empty at times, but with everything going on Kaede figured that should be expected. Between the flashback lights, and Kiyo-

When exactly did I start thinking of him as “Kiyo” again? It’s not like I’ve forgiven him at all. But it is shorter and who knows what Angie and Kokichi might try as far as “naming” his sister goes. God that’s a mess...

Kaede shook her head as she went to bed, but at least it felt like it didn’t take long to sleep this time.

That just made Monokuma’s visit and pestering about her Love Key all the more annoying though. But despite her nearly literally kicking him out he didn’t seem bothered by her anger. If anything he just found it all the more amusing, for whatever sick reason he had this time.

But whatever it was she decided to ignore it and get whatever rest she could. She’d probably need it.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3, Act 2: From the Diary of a Fly on the Wall

Daily Life

Kaede was feeling much better the next day at the dining hall. She felt a little bad that she hadn’t told Gonta about the flashback light Kaito and Ryoma had found, but it wouldn’t take long to explain. It wasn’t like she was really in the mood to have seen the memories either, after getting what she needed to hear out of Korekiyo, so she was glad Angie and Tenko pushed for them to wait a day.

It was really fucked up, don’t get her wrong. But assuming he was being honest, and he hardly seemed to have a reason to lie with how he kept trying to set her off to see what she’d do, she had her closure.

Not that it made seeing him any easier, as Korekiyo was still one of the first people there along with Kaito and Ryoma. It looked like they were taking over for Gonta right now, since he wasn’t here yet. Neither was Kokichi for that matter. Odd that she hadn’t seen him at all today. Unless he was trying to avoid her.

“Ey, Kaede! Bright and early again I see,” Kaito said, beaming like he normally did as he encouraged her to take a seat by Ryoma. However given his current company his chipper mood was returned with a poorly disguised facepalm by his short companion and a dark glower from his supposed ward.

Seeing such a harsh contrast Kaede couldn’t help but weakly giggle a bit as she sat in the open chair. She was pretty sure Ryoma was giving Kaito a glare, but she couldn’t really tell from this angle without making it obvious she was staring. Probably because of how close it put her to Korekiyo, and rightly so.

I mean I don’t really know how I should be reacting to this either. If they still see me shaken they might lose faith in my ability to lead or make decisions, and if I’m too openly angry or spiteful that might be considered as me being too biased against him or risk someone killing him and lead to a trial. But on the other hand if they wanted me to be more decisive about him I might be seen as too soft right now.

“I could say the same to you. Anything going on?” she asked, trying to avoid looking Korekiyo as much as she could to help keep herself calm. Which was made harder by him being the first to answer.

“You mean aside from there being a thief among us?”

“According the serial killer.” Ryoma quickly brushed him off.

“Why should that matter? Items are missing from my lab and you can’t deny that! Besides, last I checked that applies to both of us and only you earned a tabloid name for it.” (Boy he’s heated over this. Good.)

“What about “Ladykiller”?” Kaito jokingly suggested, also ignoring the possibly more serious subject.

“... That was not a request to be given one. Do try to learn some tact. You’re worse than Kibo.” With the exasperation in Korekiyo’s tone, he was probably gesturing to her to prove his point. Not that Kaede risked looking at him to know for sure.

Though as if to remind her what kind of people she was still dealing with, Korekiyo ended up derailing his own train of thought with another tabloid tangent. “Why must they all have “Killer” in them anyway? Considering our own “Killer Tennis” and how “ Kirakira ” sounds like “Killer-killer”. Though at least we aren’t misusing the word “Genocide” again, like the Genocide Jack fiasco. How could anyone  ever think that was a decent name for a possibly female murderer, given her choice of victims, is beyond me.”

“ENOUGH PLEASE! Do we know the objects being missing means they’ve been stolen? I mean if someone’s watching this game then maybe Monokuma’s meant to take away pieces of evidence so they can’t be used in later cases. You know, to keep later murders from being too similar to the others and keep things interesting?” (God I hope he buys this. I mean if stuff related to crimes is going missing and it isn’t Monokuma it’s probably Kokichi’s handiwork. Or it could just be him tormenting Korekiyo.)

“I didn’t say the relics that are no longer present were ones related to any of the murders from before.” His tone sounded like he was suspicious of how Kaede knew that. But as far as she knew she did nothing wrong so she swallowed and tried to keep her voice level as she explained herself best she could.

“Sorry, I was just guessing. I mean I saw that the katana was still missing from its sheath before and I wasn’t sure I saw that mask back in its case when I stopped by yesterday. What else is missing then?”

“You did what?” Ryoma seemed shaken by that admission. But even though the question was probably directed at her it was Korekiyo he turned to glare daggers at.

“Yes, she visited to give Gonta some more “pleasant” company. Likely to make sure I hadn’t bored him to death with my old books. Nothing you need to worry about, Ryoma.” Korekiyo lied as easily as breathing, and Kaede had no reason to want to correct him. It’d only upset Ryoma and Kaito more, she was sure. He turned to face her as he addressed her question. “Your guess was largely correct, however I’m not sure if the book I was going to use for the would-be seance murder should’ve counted as evidence in that case. However this theory does seem fairly plausible otherwise, as the syringe and other supplies related to Himiko’s death haven’t been returned to Miu’s lab either last I checked.” (KOKICHI LIVES ANOTHER DAY!)

“Aww, Gonta if you were that lonely you could have just locked Kiyo up in there and hung out with me~” Kokichi’s teasing drawl came from the hallway doors, and Gonta stood by his side, looking troubled at the group. They must have overheard, but if Kokichi picked up on Korekiyo’s lie he was content to let it slide. Gonta didn’t point it out either for whatever reason as he took to sitting on Korekiyo’s other side as Kokichi took to Kaede’s.

“Gonta sorry he late! He forget Kiyo also get up early, and Kokichi wanted to teach Gonta about-”

“Not talking to strangers in weird creepy masks!” Kokichi pointedly cut him off as he pointed at Korekiyo and gave him an exaggerated glare, getting only a skeptical look in return. But Korekiyo chose to play along with the obvious lie, as if returning the favor of Kokichi not calling his own out.

“I may be strange, but is it still right to treat me as a stranger? We all knew each other too well for that sort of false distance yes?”

“Gonta pretty sure Kokichi right if Kiyo treats bugs as candy.” (WHAT?! EW, NO! NO. NONONONO. No.)

“Reptites don’t? That’s a surprise, I’d figure they’d have at least one similar recipe considering how many “ethnic” sweets may go into such territories. But not to worry. I wouldn’t dare touch any of your beloved specimens for such a petty treat I promise. No matter how well candied crickets would go with my tea.”

“WHAT THE FUCK, I WAS LYING TO HIM! I mean, it’s not like I haven’t used licensed candies like that for some pranks, but seriously? Whyyyyyy?” Kokichi whined and flailed about, which seemed to help keep Gonta from having a clear shot at Korekiyo if the gentle giant lost his temper. But aside from some breathing exercises and tensing on his part Gonta took the news pretty well! (What a shame.)

“Beggars can’t be choosers when looking into other cultures, and as said they can be quite tasty.”

“Not when people are eating please!” Kaede complained, and possibly a bit too loudly at that.

“ARE YOU BULLYING KAEDE OVER THERE?! Kaede I’m sooo sorry, I had no idea I had left you alone with these immature ruffians!... And Gonta.” (... Did she just- Is she making an exception for Gonta? YES!)

Tenko was quick to run to Kaede’s side to give her an overblown hug as she looked at the boys as if they had done something horrible to her. Tsumugi and Angie were a ways behind her, along with a… pigeon?

It was definitely a pigeon that flew by and sat itself on Tenko’s head, and since she wasn’t overreacting to this Kaede could only assume this was some sort of normal. (One of Himiko’s doves maybe? I haven’t seen any lately. Not since the party come to think of it- ACK, that was days ago! Oh dear, are they okay?)

“Yup, yup! We’re sorry, so sorry, Angie just wanted to try swimming with Himiko’s fishies during feeding time! They enjoy Tenko’s daily blood sacrifices nearly as much as Atua does, so cute~”

“Please stop calling Himiko’s piranha “fishies” Angie, it really downplays how dangerous that could be!” Tsumugi scolded, still obviously distressed by whatever had happened in the dojo.

“It’s fine, it’s fine~ Nothing to worry about!”

“Tenko’s going to make a swear jar for you misusing that phrase at this rate.”

“Can we make one for all the third-person people too? OH, or how about catchphrases, like Ryoma’s?”

“Pretty sure your “it’s a lie” spiel should count enough too if you wanna go there kid.”

“Or it could merely be a genuine swear jar. Kaito would end up paying handsomely for that I imagine.”

“H-hey, come on dude don’t be like that. How’d you like it if we went with a purple prose penalty, huh?”

“Gonta not sure what that mean, but if it make Kiyo talk simple Gonta support it!” (Get back on topic!)

“Knock it off you guys, it’s not like money even really matters if we don’t bring it up. But I didn’t know Tenko was taking care of Himiko’s pets, why didn’t you say anything? I could help sometime if you want.”

“Didn’t I tell you? I guess that was just a student council thing, when I was asking if we could take out the pool’s chlorine thingies so Himiko’s fish could have some more room to swim around. But if you want to help there is something I was going to ask you girls! … And guys, if you agree to take things seriously.” (...I’m sorry what was that? Come on Tenko, I mean I know you can’t use the pool but why would you try to ruin that for the rest of us too?! Even if the water level looks way too low for normal swimming.)

“Kibo isn’t here and Kokichi is so I’m not sure we can honestly say we all will. But go on, shoot.” Ryoma deadpanned with a smirk, to which Kaito jokingly hit him in the shoulder in response to that verbal jab.

“This dove’s been pretty chummy with me for a while now, but I don’t really know what to name her. And before you ask yes I know for sure it’s the same bird! I even gave her a little tag on her foot, see?”

The bird in question did have a little red tie on her left leg, as she hopped from Tenko’s head to her hand at the girl’s prompting to aid in this display. As she began pecking at said tie a moment later, despite Tenko’s attempts to convince her to leave it be, it didn’t look like she was too keen on keeping it though.

“Gonta going to ask how Tenko knows it a girl bird. Birds hard to tell, if boy birds aren’t pretty colors or girl birds aren’t really big. Harder than bugs sometimes, and bugs no always have boys or girls at all.”

“What are you talking about, just look at this face! Of course she’s a girl dove!” (I don’t think that’s how this works.)

“Well what about “Himiko”? She’s probably heard the name enough to recognize it at least, right?”

“I’m not sure I’d be comfortable with that. Like maybe “Yumeno” or “Yumeko” would work, but not just “Himiko”. Not yet.”

“Right, sorry Tenko.”

“Not to worry! Thank you very much for your suggestion Kaede, it was really nice. Maybe that’d work for another bird, later. Like a… sleepy one, or something.”

“Well, if we’re starting this off with dead name suggestions why not we go with the most innocent victim of all: Hedwig!”

“Hey, watch your spoilers Kokichi! And that’s too soon…”

“Oh my god Tsumugi that was years ago, get over it already!”

“You do realize she was named for the patron saint of orphans yes? It really isn’t fitting for this at all.”

“Definitely not using it then. I don’t even know what show you all are talking about.”

“Okay, so something more light-hearted and fitting… How about “Oko-san”? I mean yeah he was a fantail, but out of everybirdie he looks the most like her and that name should be gender neutral enough.”

“I’d prefer not naming her after some degenerate bird if I can help it, but that could work! If nothing better comes up I’ll consider it. Thanks, Tsumugi!”

“If a feminine name is needed how about “Inanna”? After the Sumerian goddess of the many aspects of both love and war, due to her association with doves. I think invoking her suits you.”

“... That’s actually kinda pretty but I hate you so no.” (Thanks for that Tenko, I hope he’s disappointed.)

“Well, there was no harm in trying. You did ask for at least one of us to take your dilemma seriously.”

“H-hey we can take this seriously too! How’s about “John Coo”?”

Some distinct groans came from Tsumugi and Kokichi upon hearing it, but Kaede didn’t get the joke. Tenko did at the very least, but she also didn’t seem to appreciate Kaito’s suggestion. Ryoma however looked like he was very valiantly trying to keep himself from laughing, with the weird grin he was making.

“What, no! I just said she was a girl dove you degenerate male!”

“Um, why’s everyone groaning?”

“A bad pun I assume?”

“Seriously Kiyo? I mean a girl not getting it is one thing but what sort of man doesn’t know John Woo!?”

“And that would be?” Kaede tried to push for an actual explanation.

“That action director guy with the weird pigeon fetish!” Kokichi chimed.

“Then that would be the sort of person who doesn’t enjoy such exhausting displays of overstimulation. And here I thought such a description was limited to Tesla.”

As Kaito and Tenko were distracted arguing Gonta made a sort of chirping to get the bird to come over to him. With the small white dove perched on his finger he made another series of coos at it, to which it seemed to be responding. (I guess he really can talk to animals, huh?)

“Uh, Tenko? Birdie say she like the name John Coo.”

“Well there we have it, John Coo it is! Of course she’d like the name given to her by the Luminary of the Stars!”

“I said no!”

“Aww, I was kinda hoping that she’d at least insist on being called “Miss” John Coo or something.” Tsumugi mumbled to herself. Kaede wasn’t sure how a pigeon could really “insist” on that though.

Ryoma had apparently worked his way through his laughter for now and was the very picture of serious as he gave his two cents on the subject. “Any good pet parent would know to respect her wishes. John Coo is a lovely young lady and this should be her decision to make, not yours.”

“But it’s dumb!”

“Don’t say that in front of her Tenko, you’ll hurt her self-esteem. This is a delicate time in her life and John Coo needs you to support her right now.”

“HOW CAN YOU SAY ALL OF THIS WITH A STRAIGHT FACE RYOMA!?” (Pfft. Of course our only decent gambler has the best poker face. How can he do that over something so silly?)

“Easier for me than you I’m sure.” He replied with a wink and one of the most self-satisfied smiles Kaede has ever seen on his face. She, Tsumugi, Kiyo, and Kaito were all obviously trying to hide their laughter, as opposed to Angie and Kokichi who dissolved into a pair of giggling idiots. Gonta didn’t seem it get it.

“... You’re all horrible and Tenko wants you to know she hates you.” Tenko grumbled. (I can live with this.)

“Nyahahaha, that’s okay because John Coo still loves us! Just like Atua, John Coo is too pure to judge~”

“Only because she’s a bit... slow.”

“Just like both of her mommies!”

“I WILL END YOU KOKICHI-”

“Uh, am I interrupting something?” Kibo’s voice came from the door, looking ready to walk back out of it if the answer was “yes”. Tenko took the opportunity to gather herself and sit back down, with John Coo flitting back to her which helped calm her down.

“Nope, you just missed the christening of John Coo the lovey dovey. Say “Hi” John.” Kokichi chimed, and John did actually give a coo at the command. Or it may have been her attempt to complete her name, if that’s how a pigeon could insist on that. Tenko still seemed sour about it all as she pet the little dove.

“I… See. Sorry if you were waiting for me to use the flashback light. We are actually using it right Angie?”

“I guess… Atua still disagrees with this though.”

“Wait, no one tell Gonta flashback light found yesterday! Why no one get him or Kiyo?” (Because of me.)

“After the mess with the last video we decided to give a delay before we all see this one together again. Since not everyone thinks we should use them, but things could get difficult if we learn something big,” Kaede summed up best she could. No one appeared to have much to add to her explanation, and while Korekiyo understood why the knowledge gap could become a problem Gonta looked a bit confused.

“In case it becomes relevant the last video indicated we all may have been part of the same school, despite us all now having the uniforms from whatever highschool we attended before then. There may also be some sort of government program we tried to hide from, which was why we saw that funeral.” Korekiyo supplied, which made enough sense to Gonta that he didn’t look nearly as lost anymore. Angie and Kibo were more troubled by this information, but Tsumugi and Tenko accepted it without question.

And so, despite the concerns against it, Kaede took the light from her backpack and thumbed the switch.

Again she became nearly overwhelmed by the sense of vertigo with the world warping itself around her. But this time the onslaught of memories it unlocked within her were far from pleasant or comforting. It was like the motive videos all over again.

Meteorites had plagued the world, and led to a significant amount of damage to her hometown. The chaos and sense of end times it caused so many people to feel, as if the sky was literally falling around them. How could she have ever forgotten something this important? Or anyone else for that matter.

This explained the state her house was in though. She and her family had left it long before her kidnapping, so of course it would be a mess now. And this fit Kaito’s “natural disaster” theory from before too, for how so many people could be facing some horrible future outside of these walls at the same time.

It sounded like everyone’s experiences were a little different with this batch of memories, unlike before.

The only one who really seemed to have been in a similar situation to her own was Tsumugi, whose hometown also suffered greatly and had been faced with similar fatalistic groups causing havoc. Not that they were they were the only ones who remembered the cults with their flyers declaring that “mankind deserves damnation” and the other violent gangs that sprang out; Kaito and Kibo clearly saw those too.

As Kibo explained his it sounded like he and his professor were rather protected from the event itself, as he remembered more of the news reports and Internet buzz about them than the actual impacts. Tenko and Gonta seemed similarly disconnected, as they had also only heard about the civil unrest it caused.

Angie’s people were mostly faced with rising waters caused by the meteor impacts, which had led to her being sent to Japan as she could recall, but she couldn’t quite grasp why yet. Korekiyo offhandedly mentioned the madness everyone was facing could be part of why he could get away with killing as many girls as he did, as many people had gone missing, but when pressed he only admitted the number was greater than ninety.

He did also remember that the meteorites seemed to have been the cause of a deadly new disease that sprang up. He had encountered it in his travels rather often too, but never showed any symptoms himself. His sister wasn’t so lucky, and that was what had caused her to cough blood when they saw her film before.

It was hard to tell who was more distressed by this particular addition, Kaito or Korekiyo, but only the latter gave them an explanation for why as he tried to keep himself from having another panic attack.

Apparently her doctors couldn’t be sure if she had caught it on her own or if he unintentionally served as an asymptomatic carrier. He was confirmed to have been conventionally immune to the disease, but that was no comfort if it meant he might have been the cause of his sister’s untimely death.

Ryoma suspected a similar immunity may also have been why his prison let him out early, if only to use him as a means to help others through this calamity, considering it a form of “community service”. Tenko and her master also helped out wherever they could, but she didn’t seem as sure whether some of the “degenerates” they fought in the name of justice she remembered were parts of any larger movements.

Gonta also remembered there was a scientist who claimed that, based on a similar event happening millions of years ago, if nothing could be done all life on earth could be wiped out in an event worse than the end of the dinosaurs. Ironic considering he was raised by some of the few surviving descendants of that time.

Kaito was the first to remember the plan that was humanity’s last hope. The “Gofer Project”. With an “f”, as in the trees used for Noah’s ark, rather than the animal as Korekiyo pointed out, as it unsettled him. Like even with all the countries of the world working together they wouldn’t be able to save many from the metaphorical “flood” they were being faced with. (Of course, he’d worry more about the cultures that could be lost. Not the actual people or animals that could die or go extinct in that. The heartless bastard.)

Not that it mattered how many they were hoping to protect, if Kokichi’s memories about it “failing” somehow were true. But no one else seemed to have memories that elaborated on that.

“... What if that’s the project we were hiding from before? From the previous memory.” Ryoma asked, as no one else provided any theories for it.

“Hmm, maybe! Maybe it wasn’t really a school uniform you saw everyone in back then either.” Angie said, still smiling like she didn’t have a care in the world despite everything.

“No, it was definitely a school’s since it had an emblem on the blazers and everything. I don’t think people would waste the resources on making a uniform for this sort of thing anyway. And how else would we explain why we’re all around the same age?” Kaede replied.

“What if Angie was right before then? About why we should stay in here instead of focusing on the “outside world”. I mean this could be part of the Gofer Project right? So being here’s a good thing. Especially if we’re all here because we’re “immune”, since Kiyo hasn’t made any of us sick yet!”  As Tenko spoke about their possible immunity, Korekiyo looked over at Kaito rather specifically for some reason.

Kaede probably wouldn’t have noticed when it happened, since Korekiyo was still recovering from his panic attack, if not for how Kaito went out of his way to avoid making eye contact with him. She had no idea what this could mean though, since Kaito wasn’t acting too differently otherwise.

“Hmmm, I wouldn’t really say that. Though I suppose you missed most of the “dude eats bugs” thing.” Kokichi’s attempt at a horrible joke was enough to pull Korekiyo from his thoughts, much to Kaito’s relief.

Not that his new thoughts were better. “If you value your life I would refrain from making jest of this.”

“H-hey I thought you said you wouldn’t kill me! ‘Cause I’m a guy.”

“... True. Though it will be more difficult trying to keep things from turning fatal with our lack of medical supplies. Even when the warehouse was open Kaito was right in pointing out so many things we lack.”

“Y-yeah, which is also why this probably can’t be that government project anyway! No matter how much they had to rush they wouldn’t forget to install something that important in here, especially not with the risk of a disease mutating into something we wouldn’t be immune to anymore. Assuming we really are.” Kaito exclaimed, but Korekiyo started giving him an odd look again when the disease came up. (Why?)

“O-oh, yeah that’s a good point.” Tsumugi began, before mumbling “Didn’t really think about that,” mostly to herself again. After calming down enough to stop her stuttering she had a new thought. “But without someone who really knows about that sort of stuff would facilities like that matter anyway?”

“I dunno, I mean things are pretty high tech. Who knows what science can do if they can make Exisals. Maybe we don’t have med stuff ‘cause they injected us with nanomachines to keep us healthy. Or maybe these “flashback lights” aren’t exactly what they say on the tin.” Kokichi suggested as if trying to make the rest of us catch up to him.

“What are you talking about this time Kokichi? I will not appreciate being “trolled” by you again.” Kibo warily complained.

“Sure is convenient how none of us have ANY idea about what we “remember” with these lights before they’re triggered, huh? Kinda like how the motive videos triggered something in Kirumi and Kiyo in a way that was super convenient for keeping a killing game going for as long as they were still in it, riiiight?”

“W-well, of course, they were “motive” videos after all-” Kibo started again before Kokichi cut him off.

“And yet, both of these things came from the same source, didn’t they?”

“Atua agrees that He thinks these lights may be doing us more harm than good! Angie’s not really sure if He means brainwashing though. It could just be undoing some type of hypnosis, and if it is than it only shows us what we all had to agree to have suppressed in the first place.”

“Oh yeah, Himiko told us during our sleepover! Hypnosis only works on people who want it to work and don’t really object to what they’re being asked to do anyway. But… Does this mean we shouldn't use them anymore? I mean they still are our only clues to get out of here right? If we all still really want to.”

“Right. Besides, we can’t really prove any memories are wrong yet,” Kaede said.  “Most of them seem to line up well enough, and if this isn’t related to the Gofer Project there could be a reason for the missing medbay. These still seem to be a risk that’s worth taking for us to find out what’s going on and get out.”

Tenko seemed convinced by Kaede’s reasoning, but Angie and Tsumugi still seemed a bit wary of the idea. No one else expressed any explicit objections though, not even Kokichi who cast doubt on them at all. (Guess he’s just expressing some paranoia? Or maybe he was just lying about that for some reason?)

“It does make sense to use a place that doesn’t have any means to help save lives for a killing game, doesn’t it? No reason to base a project meant to “save humanity” on a prison school anyway. This killing game could be all this was built for, for all we know. It’d explain the death road too.” Ryoma pointed out, the unpleasant reminder never letting him forget the school’s unusual design for long. It was all too easy for the rest of them to overlook it over time, that even Kaede stopping being as aware of it at points.

“True. No sane designer of anything would make something that difficult to get through, not to mention the many codes and regulations it intentionally breaks. It’s clearly made to keep those on the inside from escaping, based on the false “Cleared” message we found. It wouldn’t read right going the other way.”  Kibo said, looking bothered but contemplative.

“So… We still no know much?”

“Well, we do maybe have a better idea of what the world’s like outside. That’s a start, ain’t it big guy? Things can’t be as bad as they looked though, since this place hasn’t felt any impacts or anything! And look at all the plants still growin’ in here, that scientist probably just exaggerated things so folks would really know to prepare for the worst. Better set positive expectations low than high right?” Kaito said to try and cheer Gonta, and everyone else, the best he could.

“I doubt the greenery we see here does genuinely reflect outdoor conditions, as the environment was made to at least support us so by extension plant-life would also be capable of thriving. We haven’t ruled out this being a sealed space yet, like an underwater facility, despite how old it seems to be.”

“Well as I doubt anything more can be gained from this I will be heading to the computer lab if anyone needs me.” Kibo excused himself, and everyone else began to part ways.

Kaede made her way to the fifth floor with Kokichi and Ryoma in tow, intending to visit Shuichi’s lab again. Tsumugi wasn’t the only other person heading that way though this time.

“Gonta going to take Kiyo to see 5th floor, since we no saw it yesterday, okay?”

“Oh, that’ll be great! I can show you my lab now, so if there’s any sort of outfit you’d like me to make you I can definitely do it now. I’m pretty sure even a plain ol’ tux would suit you, mask or no mask.”

“Huh, really? Yes, Gonta like that idea! Many gentlemen have tuxedos. And fancy hats and masks.”

“Do you want to come Kaede? I nearly finished that pair of slacks you asked for~” (As long as HE stays far away from me and keeps quiet for once in his miserable life. I can’t just say no, that’d be ungrateful.)

“Sure, I can stop by! I was just going up there anyway to look into Shuichi’s lab again.”

“For the record Gonta, under no circumstances is Kiyo allowed in that room, got it?” Ryoma glared at Korekiyo as if to emphasize his point. But it was hard to say if he was just saying that or threatening him.

“Oh? Whatever for? And I was so looking forward to seeing if it also invoked victorian era design in much the same way Kirumi’s lab did, given the proliferation of murder mystery series set in that period.” (Because murderer or not he deserves better and why the hell would any of us trust you in his lab now?!)

“Hm… It okay for Kiyo to just look in then? No need to go in room to see that, right?”

“Fineeee, I guess I’ll keep it open for that long.”

“You’ll keep it open? What do you mean?”

“Ah, right you both bailed before Monokuma gave his spiel. Apparently if a student dies before their lab is open, like Shuichi, the lab’s supposed to remain locked. Lucky for us, the way they are locked can still be picked open, so I’m your handy dandy gatekeeper now! Since I always pick it back shut to be safe.”

“What about Rantaro’s lab? Gonta thought it be up there too.”

“Maybe, if it’s behind that big ol’ door thingy, but there’s no way to open that yet. Believe me, we tried.”

Gonta looked confused again by his mistake, but quickly got sucked into Kokichi’s ramblings so it didn’t bother him for long. It was about that point that Tsumugi seemed to realize that by inviting Gonta into her lab Korekiyo would end up being with them as well, as she started nervously glancing between him and Kaede.

In an effort to help ease her mind Kaede tried racking her brain for shows she watched as a kid to find an anime Tsumugi could use as a launching point for her own rants but was coming up empty. Ryoma had better luck with “Prince of Tennis”, and having something to talk about seemed to do the trick.

Apparently he read a lot of series like that back when he still played, and Tsumugi got particularly enthralled by his admission about basing some of his moves off of ones the heroes would use in their works. “Bringing the fiction he loved to life in his own way” as she put it, much like her own passion.

But then she started talking about something called “shunpo” and lost him too, not that she noticed.

When they got to their desired floor Kokichi and Ryoma broke off to go to the Ultimate Detective’s lab like they originally planned and the rest followed Tsumugi.

Gonta and Korekiyo were taken aback by just how big it turned out to be, before Tsumugi led the entomologist to her sewing station and Korekiyo went to look into some of her established sets.

With a flourish she showed off to Kaede the “rule 63 slacks” she designed, whatever that meant. They were nice though! When Kaede tried them on in one of the changing areas they fit well, despite barely giving Tsumugi any really reliable measurements, and while they were different they still suited her.

The color wasn’t too unlike her normal skirts, but instead of music notes they had a bar of piano keys running up either side, adding a bit more black and white to the look. At closer inspection the plum color was pinstriped with the color of her socks, which Kaede tried to ignore as it reminded her of Shuichi, and the bars actually had all 88 keys, 52 white and 36 black, instead of just being a pattern for pattern’s sake.

And now I won’t need to worry about flashing anyone if I need to be more active than usual! Or just walk up stairs or ladders like what happened with Shuichi before. Wait… this means I don’t have any more training excuses either. Oh well. Maybe situps are easier than push-ups? This is gonna suuuuck.

“Thank you Tsumugi, I love it! I hope you don’t mind if I don’t wear them all the time though.”

“Not at all, I’m used to making things people may only use a handful of times! But making “original” stuff is like this is a weird feeling. But so’s my lab having a set focus over a sewing one at all, so it’s plain to see I just gotta get used to it. It’s a shame it opened so late, this would have been great for the talent show.”

“The nature of these sets also strikes me as odd, would you truly need these? The bar for example isn’t terribly unlike the one that already exists in the casino. Even the false labels on the bottles are all the same, and this is supposed to be a high school setting we are in, is it not?” (Okay, so I can leave now! I just need to keep it from being too obvious, so Tsumugi doesn’t feel offended. I need a good moment.)

“W-well, the ones I have here should be non-alcoholic so that isn’t really against any laws I think? Besides, that set there is a lot more like one of my part-time jobs so it’s kinda comforting to have.”

“Why Tsumugi work at bar?! Alcohol bad for young people! Shouldn’t let young lady in. It dangerous.”

“Cosplaying’s expensive work, especially if you want to work with the best materials. Girl’s gotta make a living somehow, you know? It’s not like I’m the only one here who may have faked an ID or two anyway. Kaito pulled something similar for his astronaut test stuff right? And who knows about Kokichi.”

“With how unkind either genetics or puberty has been to him one of those could be how he got here.” Korekiyo suggested, probably as a joke given the look in his eyes. Or at least she hoped that’s all it was.

“Hey, Kokichi looks like he could really be 15 at least.” Kaede said as Korekiyo simply chucked. “... Okay, maybe not much older than that, unless he’s a really late bloomer. Which could also fit Himiko!”

“Gonta pretty sure Kokichi older than Gonta.” Gonta said while lightly scratching at his cheek. When he noticed all the blank stares he was getting from his friends he seemed confused, but didn’t elaborate.

“... I am heavily inclined to doubt that. Though in terms of mental development I can see where this could be coming from. He is mature for his age, when he wants to be. It is odd how our profiles don’t actually list our ages, only our birth dates. I wonder if that could be relevant to our predicament at all.” Korekiyo began to theorize. (He has a point though. But no one's ever asked me about that either. Neither have I come to think of it, I’ve just assumed most of us here are my age-ish. Except Kokichi and Himiko, of course. Ryoma, Kirumi, and Korekiyo too I guess since they all feel like they could be adults.)

“I don’t think so. I mean it’s not like ages really matter in highschool right? Especially not if we can’t have any upper or lower classmen dynamics to work with.” Tsumugi spoke up, still working with Gonta through some measurements. She had to stand on a chair to do so, with how big he was, but if she hadn’t said anything Kaede would have assumed she was too focused on her work to hear them at all.

Content with what she had down she took a break as she skipped off to the working bar that started this conversation. “If anyone would like to try a cocktail I know I could make one right now if you’d like? I can make anything from a Blue Fairy to a Gut Punch! Or to a Sunshine Cloud, if we want to stay alphabetical.”

“WHY TSUMUGI PUNCH PEOPLE?!”

“It’s just the name of a drink, don’t worry. She isn’t actually threatening anyone.” Kaede comforted him, which only seemed to work a little bit since the nature of this work still worried him.

“I would have talked about a Bad Touch instead, but with that one the alcohol isn’t optional.”

“Not exactly the “classiest” bars you worked at I take it?” Korekiyo asked with what could be a grin.

“Nope, not at all. But it was fun and paid the bills!”

Kaede turned down the drinks and took the chance to catch back up with Ryoma and Kokichi. Gonta and Korekiyo didn’t make any attempts to follow her though, as Gonta still wanted to help Tsumugi where he could and Korekiyo took up her drink offer. Only after agreeing that either she or Gonta would take the first sip of her creations though, as he was still cautious around beverages after Angie’s earlier stunt.

Seemed he got to rambling about alcohol’s relevance to other cultures, reflecting drinking ages and whatnot, so Kaede was glad to be out of there. Though Tsumugi sounded like she was having some fun with it, bringing up some sort of “Shrine Maiden Saki” or something from one of her anime, and falling into her own tangent, as a Kunihimo cord from it caused her a lot of issues since the length wasn’t clear.

It was only after she got to the Detective's doors that Kaede realized how lost Gonta must feel with the way those two could talk, and the waves of guilt and regret poured in. (But there’s no saving him now.)

Shuichi’s lab felt so wrong to be in. She couldn’t put her finger on it but something about it was off, beyond how much more dangerous this lab was from some others. But as Kokichi pointed out the first time they got in it made sense for a former blackened’s lab to feel more like Moriarty than Sherlock.

Assuming Shuichi really wasn’t framed by the mastermind, so that someone would die without ending their sick game. Not that it would change the fact he was dead, and they were the ones who killed him.

Kokichi was messing around the chem cabinets as she entered, wearing the silly bowler hat they first found on the small round table instead of the hat rack. Ryoma was keeping him company and Kaede was a bit surprised Kaito hadn’t joined them yet. The tennis pro looked content though, sitting in the rocking chair by the fire with a book in his hands.

“Heey Ka-yay-de~ What can we do you fer this fine mornin’?” Kokichi asked as if he was trying to imitate some British potion seller or bartender as he pocketed another vial for who knows what.

“Depends, did you find another laxative?” Kaede had asked to see how their first experiment went in order to test if this threat could be neutralized by just getting rid of the contents, or at least the dangerous ones; Kokichi had found a “prank worthy” harmless bottle and took it to see if it would stay missing.

She chose not to ask if this stunt had any connection to Angie spiking Korekiyo’s tea earlier, as she figured no answer would really be comforting to her in this situation.

“Yup! So it really does restock everyday. It’s a real bummer, it means we can’t just smash all of these.”

“Not that we should have considered that an option anyway, since some could be air activated for all we know,” Ryoma blankly stated as he flipped another page, as if resigned to being Kokichi’s voice of reason.

“... Oh. Riiiiight. Good catch. But that’s why you were put on Kokichi-watch duty! Nee-heehee~”

“Am I being paid for this?”

“You get to keep your peace of mind, does that count?” Kokichi offered with an otherwise “innocent” grin and a gleam in his eyes.

“Eh, I’ll take it.” Ryoma said with a shrug as he put his book down to address Kaede. “So were you going to look through the files again today?”

“Yup! I mean if this isn’t the first killing game these may be related somehow. It’d make sense for the detective's lab to have clues regarding our biggest mysteries for this game right? Especially since it was meant to be sealed, if he was going to be executed regardless of whether he killed Rantaro or not.”

That didn’t narrow down which files would actually be related though. With 52 to sort through, 5 full rows of ten files with the sixth only having 2 as if waiting for more entries, they couldn’t possibly all be real and even them having drawn crime scenes or photographs wasn’t helping to narrow things down.

She initially sorted them into groups based on which had “Ultimate Detectives” leading their cases, like “Kyoko Kirigiri” from the first and third files with the help of her partner “Makoto Naegi”. But then she noticed that the third kept making reference to the second, headed by “Hajime Hinata” and his partner “Nanami Chiaki”, which also dealt a lot with missing memories and how returning them triggered a killer.

That was also a double murder in fact, but both were done by the same culprit that time. Not two parties similarly affected by memories acting during the same case period. (Almost more like the first file’s 3rd case’s double murder. And this was the 3rd case for this group too. Is this an intentional pattern? I’m not sure how anyone could control something so specific, so this may be a sign of these files just mocking us.)

As a result most of the day before had been spent reading through those connected files best she could, and then trying to find out when the files got close enough to the present that the pictures changed from anime inspired illustrations to photos. No matter which format they were in though the blood kept showing up as pink rather than red for whatever reason. Probably to stress how “fake” this all could potentially be.

She knew she couldn’t really trust these, there were way too many Ultimates and scenarios that got even more outlandish than what her group has faced yet, but there could still be some truth hidden in them. Like they were never outlandish enough for the cases themselves being unfeasible. One in the second file even involved a robot with the same emergency shut off button on the back of his neck like Kibo did, so they were all dangerous to have lying around.

These files and the various poisons was why no one was allowed to be in here alone, and why Kokichi kept it shut at all other times. And if this was how bad Shuichi’s lab was she doesn’t want to consider what Rantaro’s may be like. They didn’t even know what his talent was.

Kaede lost track of time as she poured over the notes, covering murders from monsterous to mundane. The suicides and accidents almost came as a pleasant surprise when they came up, but then there were files that barely had any cases in them. They still had the culprits and how they did it listed, but it was different. Like the person investigating wasn’t the one who caught them, and they got away with it.

At some point Kaito showed up to regroup with Ryoma, so he and Kokichi would bicker when the latter got bored sorting through which poisons had antidotes and how dangerous they were. Kaito helped her sort through the files, but he didn’t really have the stomach for reading them much like Ryoma didn’t.

The background noise was comforting in its own way, much like the sound of the fire was despite her growing urge to just throw a lot of these papers into it in disgust. Sometimes she wasn’t sure if it was because of the actual cases or at herself for not finding any leads to get out of there.

There was another knock at the door as she took something of a rage break, and she was surprised to see Kibo there instead of Gonta and Korekiyo, as she had been expecting.

He looked a lot happier than she had seen him in a while too. “Hello everyone! I have great news!”

“Well this can’t be good.” Kokichi deadpanned as he started looking at a corner again with a smirk. (Is a camera actually there? I don’t see anything, but why else would he keep doing this? What am I missing?)

“H-hey it is! Please don’t be so quick to dismiss my efforts! I finally got the last of the bugs out of the main program the computer lab was made for. So everyone can safely use it now! I’m sure you’ll all really enjoy it if you give it a chance.”

“Of course we would Kibo, I was thinking about taking a break anyway.” Kaede told him with a smile. She was a bit curious what it could possibly be, with how long its set up took, and she didn’t want to waste his efforts. No matter how potentially dangerous anything Monokuma gave them could be.

Kokichi wasn’t convinced though. “Are you sure-”

“Yeah we’re sure, don’t be a brat. Kibo’s been practically married to that thing since he got it, and it’s his first computer project too right? Of course we’ll give it a look!” Kaito urged the boy forward as he stressed how important this was for their friend, all smiles. Despite the floor it would be on.

“Do you need me to get anyone else for you while you go set things up?” Ryoma asked.

“No need, Tsumugi already offered to do so! Gonta and Kiyo should be on their way down there as we speak, so let’s go join them, shall we?”

It was hard to say no, with how happy and excited he was to show off his pet project. So they all followed the robot to see what he had in store for them.

And hopefully find some more clues to what’s going on, since my other leads are coming up empty.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 3: We Lived and Let Them All Die Young

Daily Life

The morose mood of the night before still lingered the next day in the dining hall.

Korekiyo’s early presence hardly seemed to have helped in this regard, though it would be easy to miss with how Angie still went out of her way to speak with him. One only need look towards Kaede and Kaito to see the lingering damage however, a hard blow to those so quick to help comfort those in need.

It was times like this Gonta truly wished he were better able to support others in ways beyond his body. There was little use for physical strength or skills in these trying times. Regardless of the dangers they’ve faced and the empty promises he’s made so often, he has yet to protect anyone here at all.

He failed Rantaro, and by extension Shuichi and thus Kaede. He failed Himiko, so not only was Tenko left to mourn her Miu also had to pay the price making Kibo mourn her in kind. He failed Maki, so he failed Kaito and Ryoma both. He failed Kirumi twice over, rending his one victory moot. He’s failed everyone.

He’s failing his friends worse than any of the language lessons his human family has tried pushing him through, and yet not once has any of them blamed him for that. That may be the worst part of all.

… Speaking of language lessons Gonta should try thinking in Reptite language less. But that so hard. Make Gonta feel more stupid than when he talks. Or try to understand when Himiko or Kiyo talk.

… Well just Kiyo talk now. Gonta… Not sure what to do with him after last trial. He talk hard as it is but he show he is bad guy right? Not Monokuma boss, but still bad guy. Hurt good people sort of bad-

I’m really not sure I can really keep up thinking like that, it’s too difficult on me. It’s bad enough they all must think I have the understanding capacity of a child, I have no desire to think like one too.

If someone speaks to me then I’ll try again. I’ll already be translating their words and sorting out a response anyway. So for now I’d much rather think as myself rather than the brute they may think I am.

Perhaps Kaede and Kaito are also trying to sift through what shall be done with Korekiyo? We can’t leave him be. Not like I did for Kirumi. If I hadn’t just accepted her word that she was better Maki wouldn’t be-

I shouldn’t think that way. I don’t wish to doubt them. It doesn’t suit a gentleman to be needlessly wary of those he’d consider his friends. But are any concerns needless in this place? I’ll just see what I can do!

Gonta nodded to himself a little as he went to join Kaede and Kaito after he finished getting breakfast. They hadn’t really needed to worry about doing that themselves before, when Kirumi was here. The kitchen felt so much emptier and colder with her gone. Worse still by the fact her killer was still there.

He placed himself beside Kaede in hopes that would help block out Angie and Korekiyo for her. She was looking better than yesterday at least, but that’s hardly saying much. But the grateful smile she gave him was still genuine so that made him feel a bit better. Kaito’s warm welcome was also appreciated.

Kaito’s warmth is being forced though, it’s obvious from his body language. At least that much is easy for me to understand. But he’s right in showing his best face forward when in front of a proper lady, to avoid giving her reason to worry! Especially not this one, with so many other problems plaguing her lately.

When the two ate enough they began discussing what they thought may work to help address any concerns the group would have with Korekiyo, due to the revelations of the last trial, as Gonta listened.

It’s not like he’d be of much help during the thinking process anyway. Enforcing their decision would be a much easier task for him, whatever it may be. They’d just need to run any plans by everyone else first when they finish arriving. Though it feels odd that Tenko, Ryoma, and Kokichi still aren’t there yet.

Kaito’s taking most of the lead, even with him as out of sorts as he was. It does make sense that Kaede would be taking the latest reveal harder. The type of betrayal she faced this time was far too personal.

“Hey Gonta, come a bit closer okay? Need your thoughts here big guy.” Kaito whispered best he could, as if that would keep Korekiyo or Angie from noticing what they were talking about. A quick glance at the odd pair showed such an attempt was fruitless, but Gonta complied best he could anyway.

Though the way Angie reached for Korekiyo’s teacup instead of her own while the murderer was distracted was odd. It was too out of the way to be a mistake for her and one of her fists was clenched.

However it’d be best to focus on working out what Kaito wanted his input on for the time being. “So, which do you think would be easier in the long run: tying him up somewhere, like being put under arrest, with you, me, or one of the other guys being responsible for bringing him meals, or just assigning him a “warden” in shifts who could watch him like a hawk?”

“I’m certainly not one to object to being tied up, if that helps make anything easier.” Korekiyo chimed in, as if he were just giving his own two cents about the weather. But why would anyone like to be tied up?

Kaito must have been equally confused as his mouth was stuck open. His face was also turning pretty pink though, so it could be some sort of fever acting up again- (No Gonta don’t be stupid. Kaito said he wasn’t sick before, so why would he be sick now? How could anyone get sick in this clean place anyway?)

The discussion must have caused Kaede a headache trying to understand too, as she put her head in her hands with a groan. To try and help Gonta cautiously tried rubbing a circle on her back, like his grandma would when he got too stressed. Hearing Korekiyo snicker seemed to warrant giving him a scolding look.

Gonta must not be all that good at glares though, as even Angie reacted to it more than Korekiyo did. Weird, since he was told so often before what a scary face he had before even with his cute spectacles.

Gonta wish he know how to say something like “spectacles” right around friends. More gentlemanly word than “glasses”. But he keep messing it up with the verb too much to be comfortable with it for now. Gonta still need more practice first.

“Gonta think either idea work for him. Gonta real good at tying knots and watching stuff!” Gonta assured Kaito best he could. And for whatever reason caused Korekiyo to laugh some more. (Is Kiyo making fun of Gonta or did Gonta say something funny? Should Gonta be worried about making him happy?)

Before he could ask what might have come out wrong Kokichi finally made his appearance. Still odd he could beat Tenko or Ryoma here, he’s the one of them most prone to slinking about the campus. (Sometimes more literally than others, given that time Gonta saw him slip on the stairs and go into a handstand. Unless that’s not how that word’s supposed to work either? At least he didn’t get hurt.)

Odder still was how he chose to focus his attention on Kaito instead of Kaede, but he talks fast so Gonta had trouble keeping up. Maybe he worried Kaede would be cross at him for taking over the trial?

What he could catch was the word “Polyglot”. Gonta has no idea what that word could mean, but it seemed like a sort of word game he wanted to play? So Kokichi must be trying to avoid dealing with the trial’s results and keep everyone else from thinking about it too until everyone else arrives.

Kokichi must be super upset by what happened. He hate killers, so he hate Maki. But she do nothing wrong, and Kirumi kill her before he say sorry about it. And now Kiyo’s a cereal killer and Kirumi dead.

Gonta’s forest family had little sister like that. She love to make others happy when she feel sad too.

Reminiscing instead of paying attention soon proved to be a mistake.

No one’s making sense anymore, and Gonta is very very lost. Kaede at least noticed as he stared blankly at Kaito and Kokichi who were speaking in tongues, and in her infinite kindness took some pity on him.

“You can ignore them Gonta, Kokichi’s just trying to find a way to show off-”

“And failing! Nyahaha~” Angie cackled off to the side, prompting a harmless slap fight between her and Kokichi as he tried to silence her from across the table.

“I AM NOT! Kaito cheats I tell you!”

“Not my fault your Russian sucks dude.” Kaito chimed back, enjoying the show.

After taking a deep breath and rubbing at the bridge of her nose Kaede continued to explain. “ANYWAY, they’re just messing around with the languages they know.”

“Or evidently don’t know beyond the names of local cuisine.”

“SHUT UP KIYO NO ONE LIKES YOU!” Kokichi snapped again, trying to swipe at Korekiyo for his offense only to fail and leave himself open to Angie's assault.

“Has anything really changed in that regard?” Korekiyo asked, barely smothering a chuckle at the antics going on before him.

“Atua thinks Kokichi shouldn’t mouth off at those of us who really can cheat at this.” Angie teased, nearly rendering Korekiyo's muttered words inaudible.

“I hardly see how participating at all can be “cheating.”

“If no one else here can prove it’s a real language you’re speaking it’s cheating Kiyo.” Kaito stated as he rolled his eyes.

“How was I supposed to know none of you people knew any Chinese?”

Korekiyo’s complaint was only answered by a bread roll chucked at his head by Kokichi. Angie happily caught it on the rebound, earning both of them a glare from someone they really shouldn’t be taunting.

Not that either of them could be made to care about that. Gonta bemoaned how so few of his friends had a working set of survival instincts. Not even Kaede or Kaito could really be exempt on that account.

Kokichi and Kaito went back to speaking gibberish again. Or apparently “French” according to Kaede. Her talent must be pretty useful to let her catch onto to these things in addition to making such pretty music.

But this gives Gonta his own opportunity to “show off”! Even if they can’t recognize what he says he can still share some of what his forest family taught him.

“Can Gonta try?”

“... Huh? I mean sure if you want to...” Kaito was obviously pretty baffled by his request. How could he not be with how awkward he is at speaking normally.

“I’m very sorry if this also constitutes “cheating” but I’m most grateful for the opportunity to speak in my truly native tongue.” The words easily flowed from him now. Not that anyone would be able to recognize them as words without proper practice. In all honesty, it probably sounds like a mix of hisses and clicks.

… Correction. A horrifying series of hisses, clicks, and chirps. Oh dear. I didn’t mean to give everyone such a fright. Why’d I have to do something so petty and stupid-

“... Well, this certainly explains a lot. That wouldn’t happen to be the language you grew up with while living in the forest, would it? It’s hardly any wonder why Japanese proves so difficult for you to grasp vocally now.”

Korekiyo was the first to adapt. Fitting given how his studies would require the most familiarity to new and unnatural sounding languages. But Gonta wouldn’t have felt as bad if he was among those scared-

No, that’s mean. An eye for an eye is not the sort of logic a true gentleman should be in favor of. What could ever be “gentle” about such a thing? One mustn’t stoop down to the level of the cruel, like him.

“Um, yes? Sorry if Gonta scare anyone. But that also why it easier for Gonta to talk to animals and bugs. Gonta makes their sounds easier than most people, and Reptites good at understanding others.”

Kokichi was at least very impressed, he practically had stars in his eyes as he beamed up at him like a little kid. “That’s so cooool! Okay, Gonta wins!”

“I didn’t think this was something you can really “win” at though-” Kaede was cut off by another bread roll being shoved in her mouth. Kokichi’s lucky they were small enough that didn’t cause any problems. They should also probably take the hint and keep the dish of those further away from him from now on.

“Nope, Gonta wins.” Kokichi said while wagging a finger in front of her with his cheeks puffed again.

… Yay? Gonta still not know what’s really going on though.

Tenko’s timing couldn’t be better as she stormed through the patio doors. And like the one reasonable human being in the room the first thing did was grab Angie by the hand and practically carried her as far away from Korekiyo as she could. She must have seen them talking through the windows before.

Looks like Tsumugi was following close behind her too, before being left behind in Tenko’s rush to Angie. Ryoma also seemed to have been shadowing them- Ah, maybe he was late to make sure they were safe!

“WHY ARE YOU TALKING TO HIM?!” (A very fair question if there ever was one. But Atua wouldn’t have let her do anything truly dangerous to her health right? He’d never fail his prophet like the rest of us.)

“Aww, good morning Tenko~ But it’s fine, it’s fine-”

“NOTHING IS FINE!”

“But it is! Atua doesn’t think any of that stuff Kiyo said during the trial was true. Except for killing Kirumi.” Angie said, trying to wave off Tenko's very real concerns. Surprisingly enough it was Korekiyo to be the first to dismiss her excuses.

“... Your flimsy sham of a god must be blind, deaf, and stupid. Why would I ever lie about something that’d reduce me to both a pariah and the most likely target of our next case? Does “He” claim Ryoma and Maki were lying too now? You saw little issue in taking both of them at their word before.”

Tsumugi and Ryoma both entered the dining hall in time to hear that accusation, which served to only make Angie more frustrated. (At least Gonta think that was what she feeling. Angie very hard to read. Her face keeps lying, worse than Kokichi’s. At least Kokichi’s face knew how to do more than smile.)

“He doesn’t doubt you all believe that, but yes. Atua doesn’t believe anyone here took any lives before they arrived in this place anymore. And He’s very sorry for letting us think otherwise before!”

“I have 127 reasons why that’s not possible Angie. You and your “god” can’t just pretend I didn’t go to prison for what I did because it’d be more convenient for you that way you know.”

“WHAT THE FUCK RYOMA?!” Kaito shouted in surprise after nearly gagging on his drink.

“I killed the entire mafia family responsible for taking everything I loved from me, how many people did you think that’d be? Hell, even with it only being those most directly responsible this wasn’t that big.”

“... Huh. Well that was significantly more than I was expecting. I didn’t honestly think I’d have the fewest number of deaths on my hands of the three of us. I’d never dream of hurting more than 100 people. It’d be far too easy for their lives to be reduced to little more than mere statistics instead of true tragedies.”

“Is it bad to be glad Maki isn’t here to say how many people she’s killed right now? Because I don’t really want to know what the highest headcount would have been.”

“Hey, it’s not like she had a choice Tsumugi-”

“Don’t be a fool Kaito. Murder is ALWAYS a choice. There is no such thing as a “fair” or “justified” death. And unlike Ryoma or myself she never had any limits on those she’d kill nor did she have intentions to stop should she leave. It’d be a greater disservice to her if you insist on overlooking such things.”

“Y-you don’t know that-” Kaito tried to argue, but Korekiyo was making sense from what Gonta could gather. Even if it meant accepting Kokichi might not have needed to apologize to Maki as badly as Gonta liked to think. (But she still not as bad as killing game. She no deserve to... Maki protected Angie even though they no trust each other! It be better for Maki to not fight Kirumi, but she did for friend's sake. That not something bad people do! Right?)

“And neither do you. If she did change her mind she would have said so to someone would she not?” Korekiyo challenged back.

“He… Does have a point Kaito. Even if she did it to help those kids this was still her choice to go so far, talent be damned. But I’ll bite, what’s your “limits” then?” Ryoma asked.

“I already told you what I’m looking for in the women I target and implications for how many I’ve killed, so why should I share more than that at present?”

“Hey wait, does this mean I can annoy you as much as I want and all your threats would only be bluffs?~” (STOP LOOKING HAPPY AT THAT IDEA KOKICHI! DO NOT TAUNT THE PREDATOR WHO KILLS FOR SPORT.)

“Oh heavens no, I’m more than capable of finding non-lethal alternatives for you Kokichi.”

“Awww…” Kokichi’s feigned disappointment was short-lived however, as seeing Kibo enter caused him to perk back up again. Kibo didn’t give him any time to say any more jokes though, and got to the point.

“So everyone else is present? Good. So speaking of non-lethal alternatives what shall we do with Kiyo?”

“Why settle for not killing him? I have no problems with taking him out if that’s okay with everyone else.” Ryoma said, not breaking eye contact with his fellow murderer as if to emphasize how serious he’s being.

Korekiyo barely batted an eye at the threat before replying. “Are you sure you want to go so far? There’s hardly a need to cause more bloodshed so soon after the last trial is there?”

“Hell no, we’d ever be okay with that! What the hell are you thinking man?! You can’t throw away your life over this. It’s not like it’d be too hard to just lock him up somewhere or keep an eye on him.”

“If I may suggest for people to not “keep watch” or be in charge of bringing me any meals Angie has proven to be less that trustworthy in this regard already. But I’m more than open to any ideas that don’t involve my own death. In general male wardens would likely be the option you’d all be safer with too. Not that I doubt Tenko’s physical capabilities, but if left alone things would quickly escalate I imagine.”

“Huh?~ What is Kiyo talking about? Angie has done nothing wrong. Atua even said He doesn’t think Kiyo’s as bad as he said he is anymore!” Angie complained as she started squishing her face again.

“So I suppose you just tried drugging my tea as a source of entertainment? Or perhaps poison is the more accurate term, considering just how limited our resources are.” Korekiyo leveled her a look, but he’s coming across as more inquisitive and teasing than actually upset despite what he was saying.

Her own expression furrowed and puffed as she took note of the colorful flowery mug he lifted to his mask as if to taunt her to show him he’s wrong. Leaving her with only his original dragonfly patterned teacup if she wanted to prove her innocence by drinking from it herself. But she couldn’t, so she went to pour it out in the garbage before going off to sulk back in the seat Tenko wanted her to take before.

Maybe Kiyo really is monster and that how his face works? Like instead of a zipper that really IS Kiyo’s mouth, and he just have a lot of tiny pointy teeth- No Gonta being silly again. Gonta see Kiyo’s mouth at the party, and it normal. Even if it looked more like lady mouth. But all of him looked more ladylike. … Kiyo couldn’t be a LADY monster this whole time could he? That must be just Gonta silly talk right?

“It wasn’t anything THAT serious. Just enough to get you an itttsy bit sick, since you keep acting so smug. It wouldn’t kill you to at least pretend to have some remorse for what you did to Kirumi you know.”

“Were you really willing to stake your life on that guess, Angie? Or everyone else’s?! Be more careful, please! Your “Atua” has already proven too faulty to trust in life and death situations like this.”

“Gonta agree with Kibo. Gonta can keep close eye on Kiyo, so Kiyo no hurt anyone okay? And no one else hurt Kiyo either. Gonta promise to keep everyone safe, so no trials happen.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea for now. Locking him up could put him in danger and lead to another trial, so a buddy system should work as a compromise for now. Is that okay with everyone else?” Kaede asked, looking around the room for approval. With little better solutions available everyone soon agreed.

Not that this meant everyone was happy about this solution. Kokichi, in particular, looked pretty upset. Gonta liked to think this was more out of worry than anger, but it was hard for him to know for sure.

Kibo also looked more distant than usual. Until his pink eyes lit up, nearly literally, as if something just occurred to him. But whatever the thought that brought a smile to his face was, he kept it to himself.

There was little time to try asking him about it when Monokuma made his sole appearance. Gonta almost missed the little tune the Monokubs would sing as they appeared, but it was silly to linger on that. Besides, for all the bad Korekiyo caused there was now only one Exisal threatening everyone.

“Heyo kiddeos. Boy is it a beau-ti-ful day, isn’t it? No worries, no kids, no stress! Just me on my lonesome taking care of you brats. This’ll make things soooo much easier.”

“Would you just get to the point already? We have bigger problems to deal with right now.”

“Whaaat? Bigger than me? Well that just won’t do now, will it? But don’t you worry bout a thing, ‘cause Papakuma’s got just the ticket to help you all sort out your differences! Some fab-u-lous prizes~”

“Yaaay~”

“Oh, can it Kokichi we all know you’re faker than Tsumugi’s tits.” (Huh? Tsumugi has fake birds? Why?)

“H-hey, leave me out of this! And I’m not flashy enough to do that sort of thing-”

“Suuuure you don’t Princess Padding. Let’s face it, there’s no other way for a cosplayer to keep up with anime babes nowadays anyway. But here you bastards go! The legendary Levistone, and the priceless Ocotobrush can be yours for a mere 999 Monocoins~”

“... But you just said it was priceless?”

“Well it was a figure of speech, so pay the fuck up space chimp!”

“What? Why do I have to, who even has that kinda dough?!”

“I mean it, show me the money. Then you get to have your fun exploring to see if you can find the flashback light I’ve hidden somewhere around here.”

“... Is that really are there is?” Angie asked, sounding rather skeptical about this whole thing.

“Yeah, why should we pay at all for something you’re probably trying to kill us with anyway?!”

“‘Cause I need the cash to help sort out the next motives for you guys, so sue me. Ya see you were supposed to be getting a nifty lil’ card key to push you kids along, but with my cubs gone I’ve decided we’d be going in a different direction. One that suits the way you all wanted to take this story more.”

“W-what are you talking about?” Tsumugi asked, looking very scared. Rightly so with another motive on the horizon, so Gonta went next to her to help Kibo reassure her everything would be fine.

“You’ll see~ I’m sure it will all be very enlightening when it’s done. But for now, you better pay the piper!”

Since it was clear Monokuma wouldn’t give them the items or leave Gonta’s friends pooled what Monocoins they had to make the bear leave them in peace. Hopefully this wouldn’t happen again. (Gonta feels kinda bad he hasn’t been looking for those much so he wasn’t much help. But it very rude to damage school property isn’t it?)

Kibo was quick to take the Levistone and headed out towards Miu’s lab, remembering the odd pedestal there. Rather than split up like they did before everyone else chose to follow him to see what this would unlock, but Gonta made sure Korekiyo stayed as far away from the girls as he could.

It was hard to focus solely on him when they got outside again though.

“Is there something the matter Gonta?” Tsumugi asked.

“Yeah, Gonta just keep seeing bits of tiny bugs. But they no want to talk to Gonta before.”

“Bugs? I thought we said before this campus didn’t have any natural pests?” Ryoma hung back a bit to make sure he was hearing Gonta right. And probably to be ready to help if Korekiyo caused trouble.

“Gonta no think so either at first, and before he thought bugs he see were the ones let out at the party. But they not, these much smaller. And very shy with how they keep ignoring and avoiding Gonta.”

“Weird. I mean I haven’t seen anything when I’ve been at my dojo either so they must be really small. Not that Tenko doubts you at all, you did say your eyesight was super good so I believe you for sure!�� Tenko assured him with a smile and a fist pump. Korekiyo, on the other hand, seemed more perplexed by the information.

“Curiouser and curiouser. If there is a local insect population after all that could help us figure out where we are. The lack of any at all was far more concerning, should Ryoma’s screen cage theory prove true.”

“Yeeeah, we could be somewhere deep underwater or on the moon or ANYWHERE if there’s no bugs at all." Kokichi said. "‘Specially since the weeds had been getting on just fine for however long this place has been a thing.”

“But if we were in space Kaito would still have recognized some stars wouldn’t he?” Kaede spoke up from the front, near Kibo.

“Not a chance. Space is way too big, and I wouldn’t even know where to start if that were the case. But c’mon guys, fuckin’ space? That’s impossible! Being on the bottom the ocean was the safer bet.”

“Are you sure? Sure sure sure? Because things in here have been way more advanced than anything Angie ever expected to see before. A secret sci-fi moon base could maybe explain that.”

“But Zero Escape already used both of those plotlines before…”

“... Gonta not sure he comfortable with that title. But if Kaito say it’s un-possible then it has to be, right?” (Gonta pretty sure he got that word wrong again. Why do “im” and “un” sounds gotta be so alike?!)

“Right! And who cares what some game or show used Tsumugi, that doesn’t rule anything out for us.”

Tenko had the last word on the matter as they stood before the pedestal. It was odd to see how the maintenance was still going on around the school even with the massive losses of the Exisals. But when Kibo placed the stone on the indent available the landscape began to spring to life.

The odd carvings took on a deep red glow as the stone flew straight to the sky. And from that sky came a most unusual looking lab. Somehow. Gonta was pretty sure that wasn’t actually up there before, there weren’t any clouds in the way or anything. He took care to make sure no one fell over at the impact of it reaching the ground. Connecting itself to the lab of the late great inventor. Gonta tried to ignore that.

… Actually that is a very good idea in general. Gonta’s no good at technical stuff anyway, maybe even worse at that then he is in his language studies.

“Fuckin’ sweet! Hey hey, Kibo let’s go check out your rad lab okay? With something this sci-fi it’s gotta be yours!” Kokichi said as he threw an arm around Kibo, despite the latter’s obvious discomfort.

“Are you sure? I mean it could be Kaito’s, could it not?” Kibo offered, but it was clear he already knew it was his. “I would have preferred my lab have a more traditional look to be honest,” he said with a sigh, causing Kokichi to snicker and poke at the robotic boy's face.

“Pfff, as if. Why would Kaito’s lab try to do the architectural nasty with Miu’s lab anyway? It’s gotta be yours! Besides inventors are robots go hand in hand!”

“I… Wha... Can you… not phrase it like that please?!” Kibo sputtered as he blushed and tried pushing the clinging boy away. (Is that like how he makes the pretty lights that change color? Kibo good at that. Very nice of Miu to help him learn it! Gonta miss her. Gonta hope Angie still right that everyone okay.)

“Or ever speak again for that matter. Just because she isn’t here to say it doesn’t mean you have to.”

“Oh, sure I’ll totally play the quiet game with you Kiyo. First to say something loses!”

Korekiyo shook his head as if he thought Kokichi was joking, but the intense stare Kokichi was giving him told a different story. It didn’t look like he had any intention of stopping either until Korekiyo broke.

“Uh, Kokichi aren’t you going to be going with Kibo?” Tenko cautiously asked, getting only a furious head shake in reply. Korekiyo only shrugged and made some weird set of hand gestures to Gonta, as if that explained anything.

Whatever they were must have meant something to Kokichi, as he got pretty mad.

“HEY, THAT’S CHEATING YOU CAN’T SIGN!” Kokichi shouted, which only made the corners of Korekiyo’s mask twitch like he was grinning underneath it.

“You’re very right, I can’t. But you never ruled it out. And I do believe this means you just lost.”

“... Fuck you.” Kokichi said as his parting words, heading off to Kibo’s lab with Kibo, Kaede, and Kaito. (Why we have so many “K” names? Why don’t Gonta have “K” name too? Gonta feels left out.)

“Knock it off already! Geez, if we’re done taking this seriously I’ll be at my dojo if anyone needs me okay? I’ve got better things to do.” Tenko wouldn’t be wrong either. Gonta saw she took some leftovers from her breakfast in a little box before they left, so she probably went to go feed Himiko’s fishies.

They must be a lot happier in Tenko’s lab. It was a bit of hard work from both of them, but the fish had a lot more room to swim around in the area under Tenko’s hanging platforms. He just hoped she really knew what she was doing, with how dangerous they could be if she didn’t feed them often enough.

Hopefully Himiko’s fishies and birdies no try to eat each other now that there no cages, that be sad- Actually, that reminds me, I forgot to ask about undoing the student council’s previous actions before!

“Uhh, should Gonta clear open the death road again? Since that make Kaede and Kaito angry before.”

“Nah, man it’s fine. Without Miu’s tools it’d probably still be way too difficult for us all to escape through there. Don’t worry about it, we’ll find another way outta this place you’ll see!”

“Angie thinks the warehouse should also remain closed! If… That’s alright with everyone else?”

“I can agree with that, it’s a bit too dangerous to leave it like it was before. This should be fine!”

Good. It nice to see Angie, Kaito, and Kaede all getting along again. No need for any Atua.

“Also… Gonta no good with tech-nol-ogy so it okay if he no go up there? Gonta and Kiyo can go find thing for paintbrush instead.”

“I for one am also in favor of the idea. If everyone else is here there is no harm in us heading elsewhere, and I do have a good idea where this item is meant to be used.”

“W-well you can at least wait to see if the flashback light is hidden in there can’t you? I mean if it is then it’d be easier to just see the memories here than to regroup at the dining hall again right?” Tsumugi asked, still obviously nervous being around Korekiyo. She was pretty brave to put what was best for the class before her own wants, by pointing this out to him despite obviously wanting the murderer gone.

“O-oh. Right. Gonta and Kiyo wait here then!”

At least they didn’t need to wait too long. It was fairly awkward, since Angie kept trying to get a rise out of Korekiyo again for fun while Ryoma watched the three of them like a bear waiting for a salmon to leap from the river. Kibo was the first down and he seemed fairly disappointed by his lab.

Gonta felt pretty bad about that. It wasn’t fair for Kibo to be the only one unhappy with his talent’s research lab. And Monophanie said these were all made just for them, to make them happy too.

Maybe this is what he means when he talks about robophobia? It’s terribly unfair to think that by being a robot Kibo has to understand and enjoy technical things. He only learned some computer stuff because it helped to remind him of Miu, not because he liked it at all. Like when Gonta was still new to them so many Reptites would assume that as a primate he would just love bananas as a gift. So. Many. Bananas.

A nudge to his side snapped him out of his thoughts, as Kokichi seemed perturbed by whatever distant and frustrated expression Gonta had on his face in response to those memories. But as they confirmed there was no flashback light to be found here he gave his tiny friend a reassuring smile before heading towards the school again.

Since Korekiyo said before he thought he knew where the octobrush needed to be used, though he was teased a little for not quite understanding what octopi had to do with anything, he lead the way. All the way to the fourth floor and heading towards the hallway of the creepy not-baby-bear statue things.

“This case at least has a fun bit of foreshadowing to it. Torii such as these, also known as “Shrine Gates”, primarily act as entrances to holy grounds. However, some of these sacred spaces may also have other forms of barriers to help protect them from corrupting forces.”

“Every time he uses the word “fun” there should be a massive asterisk after it or something.” Tenko not-so-subtly whispered to Angie, who giggled at that. Korekiyo also heard her and seemed confused.

“Why? This is one of the “tamest” interests I have, and education should be an enjoyable experience for everyone. Any case where it isn’t is the fault of the one doing the teaching, not the one trying to learn.”

“Gonta think that be easier if teachers not hit people with rulers for writing with wrong paw.” Gonta offered as the memory came to mind. One that certainly didn’t help his language lessons any.

One that didn’t help his friends keep their peace of minds any either. Oops. But before he could mentally chide himself for oversharing and needlessly causing them to worry Korekiyo and Kokichi spoke up.

“... I do believe such methods have been banned in most school environments. Was this a private tutor?” Korekiyo asked, and his disturbance about what he learned Gonta struggled with seemed oddly genuine.

Kokichi, on the other hand, went in a far more vengeful and aggressive direction. “Gimme a name and a face and I’ll egg their house good when we get out! And maybe steal something, depends on my mood. They got any stuff you’d like Gonta?”

“Kokichi no!”

“Come on Ka-yay-de, it’ll be fine~” Kokichi insisted despite Kaede’s objection, but before she could push for it Gonta tried to help keep his friend from doing anything that could have serious consequences.

“But that illegal! Breaking law bad!”

“Soooooooooo? It’s fun~ Why do you think I learned how to pick locks?”

“To have a useful skill you could use responsibly for the benefit of yourself and others?” Kibo offered.

“Bitch please, have you even met me?”

“Well speaking of unlocking this should be the place right?” Ryoma asked upon reaching the hanging scrolls. Angie snatched the brush away from Korekiyo and brought the tip to the canvas with a flourish, but much to her disappointment she didn’t need to do anything else.

As soon as the hair hit the fabric patterns began to materialize on the surface of all three scrolls at once. However as soon as the images settled the scrolls rolled themselves up, so Gonta didn’t have time to read anything written on them. He only caught that the left had a Monokuma with some tiny drums and the one on the right was a Monokuma with a weird scarf that he was pretty sure he should know by now.

Behind where the scrolls once were was a new set of stairs to the fifth floor just like Korekiyo predicted. But any sense of foreboding that could come with it was immediately broken by the class’s bickering.

“Ah, how fairly typical for a gateway be guarded by parodies of the dueling gods Raijin and Fujin-”

“Yeah yeah, “humanity is beautiful” cultural bullshit yada yada. Can we go now?”

“Aww, but where did the brush and scrolls go? Angie wanted to keep those…”

“WHY?”

“Every artist worth their salt knows you can never have too many materials Tenko!”

“Pretty sure that’s the sorta thing a hoarder would say too.”

“Hey, watch it Kaito, you can’t judge her!”

“Says the girl who both questioned it first and definitely didn’t kidnap all of Himiko’s “familiars”.”

“I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t count as kidnapping. It’s good she wants to look after them I think.”

“Yeah Tsumugi, that’d be stealing , get your words right!”

“That isn’t what I meant Kokichi!” Kibo sniped at him.

“Okay everyone, let’s just go up and see about the next floor okay?!” Kaede shouted over the noise. She looked a bit bashful as they looked at her, but eventually everyone chose to go up and give it a look.

As if to further prove Korekiyo’s mini-lecture accurate “holy” certainly felt like the word to describe this new space. Everything about it reminded Gonta of the sorts of churches and cathedrals he’d see on TV and cartoons. But with everything so dark he’s not so sure this could ever really be a house of God.

“Hmm~, bad space, Atua doesn’t like it.”

“Well, who cares what your false god thinks anyway? The symmetry and attention to detail is certainly a pleasant surprise, even if the idols we are being presented within it are… more than a little insulting. Particularly if the one is meant to be invoking the six-winged Seraphim of Christianity and Judaism.”

“Symmetry’s so boooring though. Way too tired and tied to western beauty ideals. So Angie’s just gonna go now!”

“Then Tenko’s going too! We’ll just meet up later if someone finds the flashback light okay?”

“Who knew our dear Angie would be so repulsed by the imagery of angels?”

“Kiyo, be nice.” Kaito scolded. (As if it were possible for someone who killed a girl as caring as Kirumi to ever be nice! Even if she killed Maki first, and Maki was also not a bad person. This was so complicated...)

“I like to think I have been behaving very well considering what I’ve put up with from her today. However as nicely designed as this floor may be I would also wish to return to my own lab if that would be alright with everyone. Unless there is something here you’d like to see first Gonta?”

“No, that fine. Gonta can check later. You all know where we be if anyone finds flashback light, okay?” (Tsumugi’s lab not have anything for Gonta anyway, and Shuichi and Rantaro’s lab just have…  sad memories now. This also be easier to keep Kiyo away from anything new he could make plans with.)

That said going back down to the lab may not have been the “safest” place to take Korekiyo. He became rather volatile at the realization that the gilded katana’s blade was missing again. It only got worse when it became clear the stone mask from before was also nowhere to be found. Gonta forgot how actively scary Korekiyo could be when he got angry. (Gonta also not sure hair should move like twitchy snakes. Unless that normal for monster hair? Human hair definitely no react when their people get mad.)

None of that anger was directed towards anyone at least. Not even Kokichi, who Gonta suspected was probably responsible for this, not that he’d ever tell Korekiyo that. So Gonta just waited until he calmed down more before he tried talking to him at all. It’s not like there was much else for Gonta to do in here.

“Do any of Kiyo’s books have pictures? Most are hard for Gonta to read.”

“Of course, give me a moment,” Korekiyo replied, taking a break from his reading to slip other aged tomes from the many shelves around his lab. After finding five that he seemed satisfied enough with he passed them along to Gonta, who awkwardly held the old books as if they were made of glass. “These are all primarily art based texts, so the author’s commentary shouldn’t be needed to appreciate the works they show. They all should also follow a general insect theme, with some arachnids and the like.”

He’s already sorted books like this out? Why do that? For me? Or does Kiyo also like bugs? But Kiyo’s… Not really a good person, right? Why would someone cruel ever like something as small or cute as bugs?

Gonta gave his thanks as he accepted the pile of books, but he was unsure about returning the smile he thought Korekiyo was giving him under his mask. It’s odd, how much and how little things have changed since the last trial. Korekiyo wasn’t acting that much differently than normal, but nothing feels the same anymore. Like Gonta could wake up and all of yesterday would just be a dream. But he knows it wasn’t.

He didn’t know how long they read in silence before Korekiyo started asking him questions about his life with the Reptites. They were all framed as if he was trying to give Gonta a chance to reminisce about better, easier, times but he couldn’t trust how “innocent” Korekiyo’s curiosity was anymore. Not with his promise to his forest family burning in his mind. So he tried to stay as honest but vague as he could.

There shouldn’t be any harm in stressing how the Reptites weren’t all that different from humans. If anything that would help make it easier for everyone to get along, wouldn’t it? Not that Gonta’s smart enough to really know for sure. He’d just have to settle for trying to be the best person he could possibly be to show what positive influences both of his families have been to him. Maybe that’d be enough.

It soon grew easier to talk about his human family instead, well as easy as talking could ever be, and Korekiyo didn’t seem to mind the redirection in the slightest. If nothing else Korekiyo was a good and attentive listener, and his interest always seemed genuine. It’s not like he could hurt any of Gonta’s family from this place anyway. They didn’t have a whole lot of girls around the house anymore either.

His mother still had some problems with Gonta that he didn’t really understand, and she was out most of the time. Both his parents were. Might be how he got lost in the first place, not that he’d ever know. But Grandma was always good to him, always helping him when Grandfather got upset about his lessons.

Of course, it was schooling that lead to Korekiyo giving more of his own input.

“You really aren’t “dumb” you do realize yes?” He said in that way he wasn’t really asking a question but making a statement. His intentions for this were hard to judge but the curiosity in his tone sounded real.

“Huh?”

“There’s more than one way to teach any given subject, and everyone has their own ways of processing information. You aren’t unobservant nor are there any notable problems with your memory from everything I’ve seen and clearly show the drive and desire for learning in areas. If they’re already willing to seek out means of helping you learn outside of conventional school systems your family should be open to the idea of trying something else if their current “solutions” aren’t proving effective for you.”

“Gonta pretty sure Kiyo’s not right about that. Gonta’s an idiot-”

“You are the Ultimate Entomologist are you not?” Korekiyo’s tone got colder at his question. More likely a sign of annoyance rather than anger at being told he’s wrong about something. Like he was speaking to a child that made him repeat himself rather than having given evidence of the flaws in his observations.

“... Yes?”

“Then how can you, a teenage prodigy in a scientific field, be considered anything less than a genius?”

“Because bugs are different! Gonta no good with words, or computers, or...”

“So? I’m hardly any better around technology, average at the very best with my inexperience with them. While your ideal of a “gentleman” may be able to excel at all things that isn’t how people were meant to develop. Not that I am dissuading you from trying, it is a wonderful goal for you reach for! But People always value different types of intelligence and skills, so even if you aren’t in a situation where these are greatly appreciated that doesn’t mean you are “stupid” for lacking in the areas that commonly are.”

“But Gonta not useful here.”

“Oh yes because you clearly aren’t currently performing a task that you are easily the best suited for.”

“... Gonta pretty sure Kiyo being “sar-cas-tic” right now. That not nice.”

“If memory serves Buddhism would also agree with you there. But the point remains, does it not?”

“Gonta not useful in trials.”

“And who not named Kaede or Kokichi has reliably been so thus far? Everyone helps in different ways depending on the case’s context and if I do recall it was your testimony that revealed one of my lies. That’s not to say it might not have been found even without your observation, but you made it easier. Just as you are now making life here a tad less stressful for everyone despite some… unsavory details.”

“Gonta say stupid things.”

“And so does Kaito. Very often I might add. But no matter how he may be teased he is also very far from unintelligent and we can all acknowledge and respect this. Miu was much the same way with her quirks.”

“Kaito different, he still talk good.”

“Don’t pretend as if I don’t know how needlessly difficult my preferred style of speech can make it for others to understand me. And yet here we are, without me talking down to you, and you’ve still carried multiple conversations with me while barely missing a beat.” (SO HE DO KNOW. KIYO IS STUPID JERK!)

“... If Kiyo know that why he not just talk easier?” Gonta complained with a halfhearted glare. But all it did was make the anthropologist laugh. “Kiyo laugh like Reptite do back home. Very hissy, much mirth.”

“Kehehe, now that was a word I wasn’t expecting from you! I don’t believe that’s one even I’ve used lately. But hearing it in use can make it easier for others to learn ways to express themselves they didn’t have the ability to before. Which is part of why I speak like this. I do also just like to show off of course.”

“Gonta no know what he like better, friendly mean people or not friendly kind people. Kiyo easier to understand when he just a friendly weird person before.”

“What can I say, life’s complicated. That’s what makes it and the people you meet in it so very enjoyable. Simple may be safer, but it gets dreadfully dull if it stays that way for too long. Nothing is meant to stay the same, particularly not if they’re people. And not all of life’s changes are considered for the better.”

Gonta assumed there was little point int pushing the issue further. Korekiyo had no regrets he was willing to show, and Gonta wasn’t sure he really wanted to understand his reasons. So instead they fell back into silence reading, or just looking at their respective books to spend the time.

Until there was a knock at the door, and with it an unexpected visitor.

Kaede of all people came through those doors. But she looked so conflicted it was like even she didn’t want to be there or know why she was doing this. As if to prove her resolve she closed her eyes and took a calming breath before she spoke with the coldest tones Gonta had ever heard from her.

“Gonta can you wait outside for a bit? There’s something I need to ask Kiyo about alone. Don’t worry, you know we’re the only ones in here and you don’t need to go far, so I won’t be in any danger. Not unless he wants to try something monumentally stupid.”

“Is… Is Kaede really sure about this? Gonta could just go wait on higher level-”

“I’m sure Gonta. Everything will be fine.” She repeated, with the bitterness and finality of a blizzard. The shift from her natural warmth was nearly as terrifying as the contrast it had with the fire in her eyes so he obeyed. If only because she underestimated how good his own hearing could be. For her own safety.

He leaned against the wall beside the shoji doors, waiting and listening as if hunting for bugs in a forest. Human voices were far easier to catch than any insect’s chirps or wingbeats, but he still couldn’t be too careful. Gonta didn’t want to risk making Kaede feel betrayed again by catching him eavesdropping.

“This is quite the surprise Kaede, what do you wish to speak to me about? Yesterday’s accusation?”

“No. We both know you didn’t believe a word of that. I just need to know… How long have you been waiting to try a stunt like this?”

“Oh? And what “stunt” would that be by chance?”

“Don’t play coy with me Kiyo! This is about your sister, isn’t it? To… “Introduce” me to her.” She hissed at him. It was clear she wanted to yell at him but restrained herself since the sound would alert Gonta.

With how deafeningly silent it was after that Gonta was afraid he missed something until Korekiyo spoke.

“Of course it is. It always is. Everything I do, that I am, is because of Her in one way or another. So, should I take this to mean you wish to go back on your earlier promise? You must hate me ever so much for tricking you in such a heartless way, don’t you?” (She should, we all should, HOW COULD YOU-)

Another pause, as Gonta heard Kaede take a deep calming breath before she replied. “... No I don’t.”

“Fascinating. Are you lying to me, or to yourself right now?” Gonta could practically hear the sick smile Korekiyo must have hiding under that mask as he spoke, and it was making him feel ill. It was too cruel.

“SHUT UP-” Kaede nearly shouted, before stopping herself. It took everything Gonta had to keep himself from charging through those doors and yelling at Korekiyo for trying to hurt Kaede for a reason so… So stupid. (What else could you ever call killing a friend for the sake of someone who was already dead?!)

But he managed to control himself, hands clenched and teeth grinding as he did, and continued listening while wiping all his frustrated tears away. If she came out and noticed those she’d know he heard them.

Her voice was little more than a whisper as she tried speaking to Korekiyo through her anger once again. “Stop talking like that. But… How could you look me in the eye and ask if it’d be okay to MURDER ME?!”

“Oh come off it. It’s not like you’re the first girl I’ve ever asked that question. And until She has her 100th friend you won’t be the last. But you were one of the very few who gave me your permission so readily.”

Gonta felt himself go cold. 100 “friends”. 100 victims.

How close to that number is he at this point? Does it matter? Wanting to go that far speaks volumes, even if he only killed a fraction of that. But… Is it so different from Ryoma or Maki either? They both… They also killed a lot of people before the game right? That was why Angie and Tenko told me to be so careful with both of them, despite only Maki ever threatening anyone and Ryoma being so… broken.

This must be different. Maki’s was for her job, her talent. Ryoma’s was for revenge, and he was finished. He’s just a sad friend who needs our help. What do you even call something this unbelievably twisted?

“... Then why didn’t you try anything when the first blood perk was still in play? I fit your… “standards”, and then you could have gotten out without any consequences. Before Shuichi or Rantaro died.”

“I already told you. I didn’t remember why I felt I needed to ask you that question as I couldn’t recall Sister was already dead. And it’s not like I had an opportunity to when that horrid drone began, the only girl I could have gone after at that point was Tsumugi, as she was the only one in the dining hall that isolated herself with her visit to the restroom. You would likely have been in Shuichi’s company anyway, and I hardly had any need to pick a fight. I was more than content to see how this would all play out.”

“So that’s all there is to it? In the end, this is all because you saw your motive video?” (Just like Kirumi... Why videos do this to us?)

“What else were you expecting of me? To tell you that you were completely mistaken? That I really did believe you’d ever be as callous as to be the one behind this killing game? As if I’d insult your intelligence in such a way. Besides, it doesn’t sound as if you truly intend to let the others know about my motive just yet. Why else would you have sent my watcher away for this chat? So, what are you planning to do?”

“That’s none of your concern Korekiyo.”

“Oh? Why so formal? There really is no need for that. I’m more than willing to accept your change of mind, so this won’t happen to you again. It’s not like Sister doesn’t have other options available in here.”

Rather than responding to that Kaede forced her way out of his lab, nearly hitting Gonta with the door in her hurry. She didn’t seem to notice that though as she tried slamming the shoji screen behind her.

“Tried” being the key term as this style of door has a habit of bouncing back open when you try that, due to their lightweight paper construction. Gonta noticed that a lot back at his human Grandfather’s estate.

He couldn’t find any comedy in that quirk though, when he saw the look on her face. It was like the mask of a monster he saw in one of the plays his human family had tried taking him to. The ones that expressed different emotions depending on the angle you saw it at. (Korekiyo would know what it was called.)

Her face was nearly red and she looked on the brink of tears but she wasn’t embarrassed, sick, or sad. A sharp contrast to her bone-white knuckles, clenched so hard Gonta was worried she’d draw blood soon. There was nothing but rage and hate present on her face, the flame from before fanned into a wildfire.

“Huh? Is Kaede okay? Did Kiyo do something? Or say mean things? Is there something Gonta can do?” He tried asking her, knowing better than to try touching anything that feels cornered. Humans and animals aren’t all that different in that regard. But his gentle voice did snap her from her thoughts.

“O-oh, no. It’s okay Gonta, honest. He answered everything I needed him to. I’ll be alright. You can go back in now, I’ll just head to my room.” She said, giving him what was meant to be a reassuring smile.

As if she hadn’t just heard straight from the monster’s mouth her attempts at kindness were what nearly got her killed. Like she didn’t just prove she was intending to hide this fact from them all so none of them would try to kill him for this atrocity outright. Even though he’s proven he certainly deserved such a fate.

Gonta tried offering her a hug at least before she went, which he was glad she accepted and helped her relax, before watching her go with his own poor attempt at a smile as he childishly waved her goodbye.

He hoped that would be enough to convince her. Enough to hide what he was thinking from her.

Though hiding from Korekiyo would probably prove to be the greater challenge. He was the one who gave him the idea after all, and this would be the safest means to take care of him should Gonta prove unable to stop another murder. Far safer than any of Ryoma or Kaito’s plans offered before, he was sure.

He re-entered the anthropologist’s lab, doing his best to play confused as though he hadn’t heard a word they said. Korekiyo probably wouldn’t find it out of place if the looks sent his way turned out harsher than intended either, since he should know Gonta just saw how he reduced Kaede to angry tears.

Korekiyo gave him a kinder smile, judging by the deceptively gentle look in his eyes, as Gonta returned his book to its original position so they could continue reading in silence like before. It was a smile Gonta had no problems with returning this time. Why shouldn’t he? Korekiyo is giving Gonta a means for him to finally prove himself useful to all of his friends at long last, after so many failures. He should be happy.

After all, it’s my sworn duty as a true gentleman to protect my friends from whatever may threaten them.

And if that means I have to dirty my hands by putting down a dangerous animal to do so, then so be it.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 9: The Trials of a Military Polonaise

CLASS TRIAL- RESUME

Well, Fuck. So much for that plan. Kaede’s too scared to be of any more use here. Looks like she might be having some sort of panic attack, as much as she’s trying to hide it. Probably for their sake, as always.

Kokichi turned away from her to focus back on the masked monster. If she wasn’t going to say anything then it’s up to him to do the dirty work. He can’t risk anyone trusting this murderer later down the line. But he is good at selling his lies, he’s saying what they’d want to hear. Anything to make this less awful.

There’s just too much malice surrounding this more pleasant lie to let it stand unopposed.

“Ooooh, I see. NOW when it’s convenient you did “choose” Kirumi as your victim, is that it? Too bad we already proved that was BS Kiyo. It’s not like the first girl you agreed to act as you medium was Kaede or anything, riiiight?”

The room felt colder and by the look on Kaede’s face, she looked nearly betrayed. Or like he was some horrifying inverted figure for revealing the attack she could have been a part of. (So even despite her reservations about the others she was still hoping her conclusion about what happened was wrong.)

“Whatever are you talking about?” Korekiyo scoffed, making no attempt to hide his annoyance anymore.

“Y-yeah. Gonta remember that too. Tsumugi ask, Kiyo explain stuff, then Tsumugi un-ask. Kaede ask, Kiyo say yes, then Kirumi say she do it. Made Kiyo less happy than when Kaede want to help.”

“Wait, what? But Kaede was completely innocent! If the person who died was going to be the medium why get her involved at all?!” Tenko asked, incensed by the idea an innocent girl’s kind gesture could have been so easily proven to have been a fatal mistake.

Perhaps because she sees how easily she could have been put in that position too, had the spirit for the seance been Himiko instead of Maki. The former’s probably more likely, given Tenko’s protective streak, but it could be a bit of both feelings too.

“... So everything you said to defend killing Kirumi was a lie, is that it?” Ryoma’s voice was ice as those empty eyes glared at Korekiyo. Again the feeling of betrayal was obvious, but some guilt was there too. After the motive videos, it’d figure the two “totally-not-a-suicide-trigger” kids would bond over that a little.

“Huh? Do you think he could be lying about Kirumi being Maki’s killer then, and he only accused her because she happened to be his victim?” Tsumugi asked. Except Kiyo wasn’t. And that’s the problem.

If there’s one thing Kokichi knows it’s tells. He’s always been good at picking up on them fast, and while Korekiyo’s haven’t been consistent when he’s lying there’s always something there. And every time he’s claimed Kirumi killed Maki he’s been telling the truth as far as he knows, and the details check out.

But of course, they would. Kiyo was THERE when that fucking smug dumbass bear told us only one death would have a proper trial at a time. Hell, with Maki, Miu, and Mom dead he’s the only one who could have this prior knowledge unless someone blabbed. He’s probably been planning this imperfect crime ever since, since his claim that he was an “amateur” around fresh corpses of all things was a lie.

Had he been just a bit greedier the monster would boil in hell for this. Dante would even approve, if he was boiled in Kirumi’s blood rather than oil. Korekiyo may have even appreciated the similarity to Goemon’s own execution too, as undeserved as the parallel would be. But he can’t. Not yet anyway. Not for this killing. (Well we’ll all just need to find another way to make him pay for this then, won’t we?)

“Then perhaps let’s just focus on proving whether or not Kirumi killed Maki for now. Even if Kiyo’s previously stated motivation was a lie this still appears to be a more than plausible theory.” Kibo tried suggesting to move things along, before Tenko interupted him.

“What the hell, you can’t just move on like that! This is serious you soulless machine-”

“So is keeping everyone alive!" He challenged back. "We know Kiyo killed Kirumi, but we need to know beyond any reasonable doubt who killed Maki if we want to make sure we get the right culprit. Motives and addressing your robophobia can come later, because if we do it any other way there might not be a later at all.”

“Me, Maki Roll, and Ryoma have been trying to help keep tensions down over some fighting we saw happen between Kirumi, Angie, and Tenko over the whole… zombie motive thing. Kirumi wasn’t happy how Angie completely dismissed Shuichi and Miu as candidates since even if they were murderers they were still our friends and it’s not like they were bad people.” Kaito gave Angie a sad look at that, as if he pitied how close minded she was being rather than angry, as he continued despite the subject matter.

“Some of us would have been really happy to have them back too, even if the scenario’s sketchy as hell. So Ryoma kept an eye on Tenko when he could while Maki’d shadow Kirumi from time to time. Kirumi could have confronted her about that maybe?”

“Y-yeah, I noticed that too. But did you really do anything Kaito? I remember seeing the other two plain as day, but Angie didn’t really need to be watched as much and you definitely weren’t around.” Tsumugi said.

“Of course I helped, I set up the scheduling and kept tabs on Angie through the tracker thingies.”

“So… You just stayed in your room mostly?” Tsumugi asked teasingly, being oddly on task for once.

“I did not! It’s not like I was sick or scared or anything-” (Oh he just makes this too easy. I gotta say it!)

“Did too!” Kokichi shouted.

“Did not!” Kaito predictably shouted back, again providing the perfect set up to continue.

“You toooootally did. Good thing in space no one could hear you scream like a baby riiiight?”

“Knock it off you two, or do you want to die?” Ryoma scolded as he gave both of the boys a glare. (I don’t need someone like you bossing me around!)

“Aww, what’s the matter Ryoma, having one catchphrase wasn’t enough for you anymore?”

That certainly shut him up. Might have put Kokichi on his shit list (or hit list) too but there are bigger things to worry about right now than getting offed in his sleep by tennis balls… Actually no, this was a bad plan. Oh well!

“Maki smart so she may have kept extra close eyes on Kirumi. Since Kirumi got scary before.”

“Angie wouldn’t count as one of her “citizens” either which could have made her a target like me too.” Ryoma went on, before Angie took a go at it.

“Kirumi’s also one of the few who had access to the Necronomicon. Only Kaede and I had really read it thoroughly though, so the ashes Kirumi planted may have been a genuine attempt to revive her. Even if she got to the part about the effigies you need she probably missed the rest of the steps so it failed.”

“Or to take away our chance bring back Himiko and claim she thought bringing Maki back would either replace the seance or stop the need for a trial at all. But did the process really fail Monophanie?” Tenko asked, turning to face the three little bears.

“O-oh, you’re asking us now? Well, I wouldn’t say it failed so much as it wasn’t really done in the first place. But Maki wasn’t one of the four we said you could bring back either, not that it matters now.”

“... So it really was limited to just them?” Kaito looked torn, as if he was hoping she could come back despite everything. (Whyyy does he have to be so contrary? Just looking at this idiot makes me sad.)

“Well-It’s-Not-Like-They-Don’t-Still-Have-A-Sort-Of-Transfer-Student-Already. So-This-Is-Fine-I-Think.”

“Whatchoo talkin’ bout grill-face?” Monosuke asked, giving his brother an odd look.

“There’s-Still-11-Students-Here. I-Mean-Shouldn’t-She-Count? She’s-Been-Here-Since-The-Beginning-And-No-One-Seemed-To-Mind-Her-Before. But-This-Motive-Not-Being-Used-Means-We-Can-Include- Her-With-The-Others-Now!”

“WHAT THE FUCK MONODAM?! That thing ain’t a person in the first fuckin’ place!”

“Are you sure? She’s a lot less spooky to me than fake ghosts are, and the transfer student might not have been made a “person” either.”

“... What on earth?” Kiyo mumbled under his breath, eyes widening. His zipper was flicking about like he was taking short shallow breaths or like he did when he lied, but this was different. He was scared.

A 17th student, hidden among us since the beginning freaks him out of all people? Now we’re talking!

He’s already been the guy with the least reliable set of tells here, even if he’s using the ones from that first trial rather than what he did in the second right now, so he might be our guy. The mastermind’s been good enough to lie without having a tell I can catch, and he did take advantage of the rules now.

If I can beat the mastermind this game won’t be able to continue. Any other victory isn’t worth it, either too many of us die for his fucking shits and giggles or we run away like cowards so he can do this again.

We have to end this. It doesn’t matter if Kiyo is the mastermind of this twisted social experiment he’s been enjoying or if his so-called “sister” set this up as a way for him to vent his bloodlust. They’re done.

“Soooo we’re thinkin’ Maki went after Kirumi ‘since she’d know a killer when she sees one? Wouldn’t that still leave Kiyo as a suspect too? For someone as “innocent” as the rest of us, you sure don’t seem queasy about messing around with fresh bodies. It’s almost like you’re used to this sorta thing.”

“And what perchance are you exactly accusing me of Kokichi?”

Okay, that’s blunter than I was expecting. Welp. Oh well, better go all in. Either I’m right and he’s pinned here or the real mastermind should be quick to try and use the sonuvabitch as their scapegoat.

“I think you know what I’m talking about there, Mister “Seeing everyone suffer gets me off”. Someone’s watching us play this game and for being a participant you’ve been enjoying yourself waaay too much.”

“So what if I’m a sadist? That’s hardly a surprise to anyone I’m sure, and it’s not like you aren’t one too." Korekiyo taunted. "And I’ve hardly had as much of a reason to be as fearful as the rest of you in the first place. You’re right in claiming I have more experience with murder than I previously made clear, I’ll grant you that much. I may even have as much experience with it as Ryoma has had by this point. But if you’re trying to paint me as the mastermind of this game Shuichi had been supposedly seeking, you couldn’t be more wrong.”

… Whooooops. And I thought with Maki I overlooked something. Not sure which case turned out to be worse. The guy’s got balls to just right up admit something like that rather than accept being someone’s scapegoat again though. And he’s good at lying too, even if it’s mostly by omission, so I’ll give him that.

Almost as good as Shuichi was if he wasn’t telling the truth about the mastermind framing him back then.

Kokichi glanced to see how Kaede was taking things, and the answer was “not well”. She barely made a peep since he took over and not only was she still shell-shocked she was crying. It’s no wonder why Gonta was trying so hard to take advantage of his podium spot’s to reach out and comfort her.

Gonta could also probably be ruled out as a suspect, he’s too childlike for this to all be an act. He could prove useful too, between his low self-esteem making him think he’s stupid and excellent physical skills. Either in building him up to someone stronger than he is now or by keeping him as a malleable puppet.

“Seriously, this “mastermind” talk again? What makes you brats think there even is a mastermind?! We bears are more than capable of running this show by ourselves, aren’t we? Just look at my lil’ Kubbies~” Monokuma said, as if hoping to distracted. And immediately sabotaged by his own kids again.

“... But Daddy they heard you complaining about us not following the script. If we were all in charge we wouldn’t have had those would we? You’d just give us normal orders, like you usually do.”

“Yeah, you really shouldn’t try to shortchange them out of their hard work ya’know-” (Them? As in the gender-neutral singular form or as a plural? Gotta keep that in mind for later.)

“SHUT UP! Fine, let’s just see where this pointless wild goose chase of theirs goes.”

The cubs did just that so the class resumed its focus on the traitor among their midst.

“So, that’s what’s been off about you. You killed before this game even started. And a lot at that.” Ryoma said, resignation and rage written all over his face.

But if seeing the last bit of faith his old "friend" had in him fizzle out bothered him Korekiyo sure didn't show it. “Yes, but that hardly matters now does it? I’m still not the blackened here, just like you aren’t. And I couldn’t exactly be open about this sort of thing, with the stigmas I’ve seen held against you and Maki.”

Ryoma again was visibly holding himself back, before he took a deep breath and addressed the bastard again. “... Fine. Then there’s one last thing to check. There’s no way Maki went down without a fight, so let’s make sure all of that blood on you is Kirumi’s. She couldn’t have fought back, so you shouldn’t be hurt.”

“Woah-woah-woah, are you asking him to take his shirt off? In public?! Innocent eyes Ryoma, and no one wants to see that!” Tenko screeched, as appalled as a nun in a strip club. (... I dunno Tenko, never underestimate the power of morbid curiosity.)

“Y-yeah, It ungentlemanly to expose skin like that around others!” Gonta agreed, red as a tomato. (BUT HE’S A GUUUUUY! Doesn’t that make it okay?)

“Well for cosplaying I’ve seen guys and girls go around nearly nude or looking like it a lot so I don’t mind, as long as it will really help prove Kirumi killed Maki. Will we need to check her body too then?” Tsumugi asked and begged waaay too many questions Kokichi wasn't sure he wanted the answers to.

“Ugh, are you talking about the headless one? Do I really have to see that again?” Monophanie complained, which gave her brattiest brother a nasty thought.

“... Well, we do gotta keep this a fair trial right? And it’s not like that broad would mind anymore. What sort of maid would turn down some good ol’ fanservice, even if she had a good head on her shoulders?”

“... That-Was-A-Really-Mean-Joke-Monosuke. But-For-Fairness-I-Will-Go-And-Bring-Her-Back-Here!”

Korekiyo looked on nonplussed as he watched the bear-bot scamper off. “... Very well then, I suppose it can’t be helped. If you truly distrust my alibi that much. I do believe the torso is all that is needed for this, yes?” He said with a resigned sigh as he unbuttoned his shirt, much like he did with his coat before.

It sounded like nearly anyone took a breath at what they saw though. Little blood seeped through onto his skin, but it was hard to say Kiyo was really uninjured. It’s just that nothing on him was recent.

Scar after scar, of varying types and ages, covered nearly everything. He didn’t touch his mask or bandages but they had already seen that those areas were mostly normal compared to the rest of him.

It’s not all stuff that could be self-inflicted or purely exotic from his “field work” either. Kokichi knows cigarette burns and the telltale indents of belt buckles when he sees them. But even if Kiyo ever had a home life as shitty as some of D.I.C.E’s runaways that’d never excuse what he allowed himself to become.

“Are you all quite satisfied with my uninvolvement now? It is rather cold in here if you don’t mind.”

After getting enough shocked nods to his implicit request he started putting both of his layers back on, hiding the gore under his uniform’s coat once again, barely reacting to the wet blood on his skin.

“What the hell happened to you man?” (Leave it to Kaito to show the monster empathy. What an idiot.)

“Life did. Humanity’s cruelties are no stranger to me, which is why I maintain they too can be beautiful.” Kiyo shrugged in reply, as if this was no big deal. Like all of this was something normal. (So he’s probably been conditioned to think it really is, for him at least. Creepy, but not uncommon. Could be a cutter too.)

Right on time, Monodam came back in the green Exisal with Kirumi’s body mostly in one piece. He clearly made the effort to lay her as if her head was still attached, despite it being easier to carry them if they were separated. A low podium was made in the middle of the room to rest her on for everyone to see.

Monophanie’s gag reflexes could be heard acting up again before she inevitably muttered. “So gory…”

“If you’re so bothered by it why not lend her your scarf? It’s more than sufficient to act as her “velvet ribbon” so to speak, as some versions of the tale make it just that.” Kiyo suggested.

“Do we really have to… Undress her too?” Ryoma asked, and was pretty uncomfortable at the idea.

“NO! Er… Gonta means... Forearms should be all we need to see. So rolling back sleeves and taking off gloves should be enough! Few other places defensive wounds could be, arms are used to block self.” Gonta objected, and got a raised eyebrow and what was probably a scowl from sir "so why the fuck did you just make me undress" himself.

Monodam nodded and began to try doing just that, but his paws made the gloves a bit harder to do. When he was done there was no denying the fresh and bloodied bandages that were found there. And unlike Kiyo’s questionable fashion decisions she has no excuses for that.

“Take off the bandages too, please! Atua thinks Maki may have left us another clue here if she could, so put the arms as if Kirumi was protecting her face.”

With a bit more difficulty Monodam eventually managed it, which just got more bitching from ‘Phanie. (Pfft. Fanny. British slang is so fuckin’ weird. God, I’m bored if I think that’s funny. Miu would have liked-)

Kokichi clenched his fists but kept an interested expression best he could as he hopped up and down to exaggerate him trying to catch a peek. Laughing would be a worse idea than usual and it’s not like there’s anything to be upset about anyway, right? Right.

And there it was. While the arms in general looked like a mess with the arms held up there was a message Kirumi probably wasn’t able to notice. Either she was too preoccupied with tending to the wounds or she never bothered to check. If she did she’d probably have cut herself more to cover this up.

There was no mistaking those marks. Just six little lines, three to make one damning symbol per arm.

マキ

Ma-Ki

So, in the end, the pretend child caregiver left her dying message in katakana that even a child could read.

“Leave it to Maki Roll to make sure no matter who won that fight we’d know who did this...” Kaito mournfully said with a rueful grin before slaming his hands on the railing with a curse that made many of their friends flinch.

“Well, there we have it. Kirumi is the blackened without any room for doubt. Shall we begin voting time?” Kibo said, still clearly bothered by Kiyo's role in all this.

Catching his worry Angie saw her chance and took it. “Angie would rather not if we can wait, to discuss Kokichi’s mastermind theory or Kiyo’s motive.”

“Yeah! Just because the absolute menace says he’s just a crazy killer doesn’t mean Kokichi was wrong.” Tenko agreed.

“Aww, you really DO listen to me now! I’m so touched.” (She just makes teasing her sooo easy. And I think it’s helping to keep her from being too depressed. Even if she should be. But this is more fun for everyone!)

“That touch will be Tenko flipping you if you don’t watch it.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’m watching! Allllways watching.” Kokichi said with a smirk and a finger to his mouth as he watched Tenko begin to boil.

“Not. Helping.”

“Nope, I do that too! Let’s face it, even when I’m messing around I’m waaay more help than you are.” He teased again, and nearly got her to burst before Kaito intervened.

“Quit it! Can we disprove Kiyo is the mastermind or not?”

“Hey we didn’t say we’d let you do this! I mean it’s not like letting him talk would be able to get enough of yous to vote wrong just to fuck him over right? So we can just vote now!”

“We-Can-Still-Let-Him-Explain-Himself-So-They-Can-Understand-Him-Better-After-They-Vote, As-This- Is-A-Setting-Where-They-Won’t-Be-Able-To-Punish-Him-Themselves-Yet. His-Reasons-May-Not-Be-As- Scary-As-It-Looks, Like-The-Ones-He-Gave-Before!” (Ughhhh, But I dun wanna hear another of Professor Hannibal's lectures… He’s probably just going to lie his ass off again anyway, so what’s the point?)

“I just like being in the trial room, and there’s no timer on the post voting period so that’s fine with me~” Monophanie agreed with the tin can, causing the tiger to roar his disapproval.

Monokuma let out a long-suffering sigh before he muffled his face in a cushion. But he hasn’t overruled them yet. He should be able to, so why hold back if they’re becoming more trouble than they’re worth?

But at least there was no doubts who anyone needed to vote for, or any reasons to try and get it wrong on purpose. Needless to say, all votes were shown to be for the absent Kirumi, and it was no surprise when the machine confirmed her as the culprit behind Maki’s death. The real surprise would come later.

For now, no one tried to leave but at least they could walk around with their podiums unlocked.

Gonta naturally beelined to bear hug Kaede, who seemed to appreciate it as well as she could right now. Tenko looked tempted to do the same, but chose to stay put so Angie and Tsumugi felt safe to go over to her in their efforts to get as far from Kiyo as possible. Kibo encouraged Gonta and Kaede to join the girls, while he, Kokichi, and Kaito remained more on their own, placing themselves between them and Kiyo.

“Alrighty, then, now you can continue. But don’t take too long or get super off topic okay?”

“Thank you Monophanie~" Angie sing songed, before switching to her serious mode. "So can he be ruled out for mastermind suspects? Atua doesn’t think he is.”

“Well even if we can, that doesn’t mean his sister couldn’t be the 17th student and our real Big Baddie.” Kokichi offered, hoping to get some new information from this song and dance if there was going to be no ways around it.

“That would be most difficult for her, seeing how she passed away years ago. Why did you think my motive video was so noticeably aged compared to the rest of yours?” Kiyo immediate shut him down, without the slightest hesitation or tremor, so it was likely what he was saying was true this time. That's something.

“B-but… You spoke of her in the present tense before-” Tsumugi started to argue before he cut her off.

“Before I saw the video which “reminded” me of this fact, much like Kirumi’s revealed her role as the defacto prime minister, and after said video when circumstances meant it would be easier for me to act as if she weren’t dead.” (Weird. Most of that still feels honest, but something’s still wrong. Like there’s an important detail missing.)

“Hey-hey, Monophanieeee can you tell us if Kiyo’s sister our 11th classmate?” Kokichi pestered.

“W-well, I don’t know-”

“Hell no, we can’t! If we accepted broad guesses you’d just take advantage of us! You chumps don’t even know that bitch’s name-”

“Do not address her in that manner if you value your existence, you worthless machine!” Kiyo snapped, looking every bit like the monster he was.

“... I mean ya don’t even know this upstanding young woman’s name first, so how can you guess yeah?”

“Are we sure Kiyo couldn’t just be the mastermind himself then?” Tenko nervously asked.

“No, pretty sure that’s just him always being a scary ass dude. He’s too obvious to be the real bad guy and he’d have no reason to break the game’s “formula” like this anyway if he was.” Kaito replied, looking equally nervous. Then again who wasn’t, given the literally bloody sociopath in the room with them?

“And what if she still could be our mastermind, but as a ghooost?”

“DEAD PEOPLE CAN’T BE MASTERMINDS TSUMUGI!” Kaito practically shrieked, making Kokichi (poorly) suppress his laughter for the sake of staying on topic.

“Are you sure? I think that’d probably make it easier to act behind the scenes-” Tsumugi tried to continue.

“If either of us had hosted this, which I concur with Kaito in that she cannot, why would I have made myself such an obviously suspicious person and stay trapped in here with you all by myself?" Kiyo objected. "I may enjoy parts of the game to a degree but there is nothing I loathe more than being forced into stagnation. No matter how gilded one may think this place is a cage is still a cage and I want nothing of it, thank you.”

“Then why commit a murder that you wouldn’t have a chance to leave with in the first place?!” Kaito shouted.

The look Kiyo gave him in response seemed honestly confused. After a pause confirming Kaito was serious and the answer wasn't as obvious as Kiyo believed it was he said it aloud. “Because I don’t want to die just yet, nor do I desire to kill the rest of you. You’re my friends after all.”

“Says the guy who was ready to kill one of the few people who willingly hung out with you!” Tenko snapped, looking ready to tear him apart if he tried anything.

“I don’t mind in the slightest if the sentiment isn’t returned, and that was… different. If I may explain?” Kiyo asked, and hearing not solid complaints he nodded and began.

“Shuichi had claimed he was hunting the mastermind before, and that person was truly responsible for Rantaro’s death. The only one who was aware of this plot was, of course, Kaede, whom he trusted, and by making herself our leader we’d be far less inclined to suspect her of any wrongdoing. So when she asked to be the central figure of the seance I assumed it was to sabotage it, much like Kirumi planned to do. Previously she made it clear she was not fond of these sorts of activities at all so it was rather odd yes?”

He’s lying and he knows it. He’s picking his words carefully and his left hand isn’t twitching (or his right, like the second trial), but his eyes are darting and his zipper pull’s flicking. The Ultimate Detective wasn’t wrong when he ruled out Kaede. If there was any real chance he was I wouldn’t have let her get close.

Kaito was even less impressed by this half-assed excuse. He stormed over to Kiyo and grabbed him by the collar as if that could force him to listen, but all it really did was make the sicko look more amused. As that only made Kaito angrier his attempt at an even tone gave way to shouting again as he shook him.

“She was being nice you prick, that’s what friends do! There’s nothing “odd” about Kaede being a good person and trying to help. Besides, she was the one pushing to find who attacked Miu’s lab, and that person was likely the mastermind if there’s one too, so why would she have done that if she was guilty?” (Stop the presses people, apparently Kaito can ACTUALLY be a rational human being for once in his life!)

Kaito continued as he shoved Kiyo away, as everyone else watched. Apparently, the guy could be a bit of a hand talker when he got upset, as if the added effort would help make his words stick. “She was the one who nearly ruined this “game” at the start, and made the mastermind bring out the timed motive. Yes, she was in favor of the motive videos, but in a way she thought would neutralize their threat, not aggravate it. Angie’s been causing more problems for us as a “leader” than Kaede has, she’s never set us against each other.”

“Y-yeah, she’s one of the few here that if there really is a mastermind she can’t be that person at all.” Tsumugi agreed, but she seemed to have her doubts about that for reasons unknown.

“And we know there is one Tsumugi! There’s no other way to explain why someone would attack Miu for trying to make something that could get us through the death road or fight the Exisals.” Tenko pointed out, ever eager to join in on any girl’s personal defense squad, which seemed to have won Tsumugi over.

… Yeeeeeah in hindsight stopping Kaede back then wasn’t my best plan. I wasn’t really thinking straight, Miu just made me so… angry . Himiko’sjob was the sort of good lies that can make people happy, to an extreme! She may have even believed her own gentle lies at points, she was just that much of a naive kid. She didn’t deserve to have that gift bastardized into a fucking death trap by that stupid lewd ass bitch!

But nobody has to know I made an oopsie, as far as anyone knows everything I do is totes intentional. Even if I’m pretty sure I’m not actually using any of this silly sounding slang right anymore. Who cares~

“... Then I simply made a mistake, and all the better that Kirumi insisted on changing my plans then yes? I understand if you all wish to still hold it against me, particularly you Kaede and I’m sorry to have doubted you, but I was merely trying to end the game without putting my own life at risk. Though it would have been interesting, had both of our schemes had gone right neither of our “leaders” would still be with us. I wonder how Kirumi would have felt about framing me had she lived to see my crimes be revealed.”

He’s still using that lie dammit, what was he really trying to accomplish by killing Kaede?! Even this power vacuum bullshit’s just filler to him, it’s not the motive. So what’s he hiding and how do I find it?

“What you mean both leaders? How Kiyo find Kirumi’s plan in first place?”

“Can we pleeeeeeeeeease move on kids? It’s all just blah, blah, blah, where’s the blood?” Monokuma moaned from his throne.

“No, not yet! Why would there be any blood anyway? The blackened’s dead, so the gory part’s done.” Monophanie shot back.

“She joined the student council in hopes of killing Angie to escape this place, as she’s not a citizen and Ryoma wouldn’t work after her first stunt. It wasn’t hard to pick up on her intent to kill, and as she was lenient in enforcing the curfew on me, was experimenting with how to trick the Monopad trackers, and my lab and Angie’s are on the same floor it wasn’t hard to guess I was the one she’d frame for it. And so I felt it best to incline her to keep me the "fall guy", to make it easier to predict her movements.”

“But she never tried to do anything to Angie. Did she convince Kirumi to change her mind? Or did Atua cause her to have a change of heart?”

“No. The night she intended to kill you, Maki and Kaede visited for too long to keep that plan. I assume Maki also caught onto what Kirumi had in mind, which was why she changed targets afterward. I more than understand wanting to get rid of a person who ruined well-laid plans. I didn’t appreciate to be played for a fool or be taken by surprise. She may have pulled the rug out from under me so smoothly nothing else I did needed to be changed, but the fact is she still tried to do so. So I returned the favor.” Kiyo took a moment to pause before continuing, because heaven forbid he ever just SHUT UP.

“Do note that even though I knew my actions in this case wouldn’t end the game like I previously hoped I didn’t lose sight of my goal entirely. By sparing Kirumi the execution Monokuma and the Mastermind do so enjoy they have a no-win situation as far as this “round” was concerned. Either we all got it right, and no one need die for the blackened has already been punished, or we got it wrong and hit a crossroads. Either they kill us all, leaving an unsatisfying end to the game as there would be no winner or they’d have to cheat to keep this game going some other way.” (Cool idea, still not your motive you fucking asshole.)

“What are you talking about? I already pointed out someone has to be watching this, so of course they can’t cheat! Someone other than them has to be involved or there’s no point in making this a “game”.” Kokichi snapped back at him, though he tried to curb his honest frustrations best he could.

“I do believe that proves the opposite." Kiyo disagreed. "Though your naïveté in spite of your cynicism and paranoia is a most surprising development. There is no form of elaborate entertainment that doesn’t involve lying to the audience, and the most common one of all is to let the audience think things can ever be “fair” or “just”. It doesn’t take much to hide the truth from others, and you should know that better than most.”

“Yeah Kokichi, especially if you think this is being filmed or something. That shit can be edited to hell and back, and even live feeds could have something messed with I’m pretty sure. It’d be nice if we knew nothing could be faked, but we can’t afford to trust the guy in charge is being honest with us here.” Kaito chimed in, with a weird expression on his face. Not weird for him, but to have shown towards Kokichi.

Is that… Pity? Sympathy? What the fuck? Isn’t it weird enough that I’ve been called naive by this freak!?

“So Shuichi could have really been framed by the mastermind before, and they lied so he died instead?” Kaede’s voice left only silence in the wake of that question. Because they can’t know if that’s true either. It was Kibo who was the first to speak up with that theory now on the table.

“... That could be plausible. It would fit with attacking Miu, and how it pushed her to plan a murder-”

“OKAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. You brats are talking about cases completely unrelated to anything and already have all of their answers set in their blackened’s tombstones! It’s time for the execution!” Monokuma shouted, getting the button at the ready as he did twice before.

“What?! Hey, we’re-” Monosuke sputtered, trying to get his father away from it to no avail.

“OVERRULED KIDDOS. If you’re not adding anything fun to the game’s formula when taking out the good bits then why not be left on the cutting room floor? I’ll deal with you brats and your fuck ups afterward.”

There was still an execution for this after all. It just couldn’t be for who it should have been.

Which may support Kiyo and Kaito’s theory that the mastermind can cheat. But that’s not fair! Why MAKE rules for yourself if you’re just going to break them?! Does it have to do with the previous killing games? Did our game’s mastermind just steal this concept from someone else, like a copycat killer?

It can’t be a case where our mastermind and the original one are working together. Whoever made this into a game would hate to see anyone cheat, especially their “protege”, so they aren’t in the audience. What if everyone’s families are being made to watch this for some reason? But what’s the point here?!

Everyone looked at each other in a panic as the curtains came back, checking no one was taken. But no one was. And with the title the curtain it was easy to guess why. It was “The Story of the Three Bears”.

No one had bothered to see if the Monokubs had gone missing in the first place, but the bears were still easily the most confused and scared by this new development. But unlike those before them this didn’t have a strict “room” they had to be in yet, it looked more like it was just film of them in the school itself.

It started with the three siblings being trapped in the gym, with some sort of giant hot pot cooking on the stage. Monophanie nearly went over to investigate it when a modified black painted Exisal came out from behind the curtains and attempted some sort of howl before trying to hunt its previous masters.

Confusion soon melted into panic as the cubs made a break for the door, as fast as their stubby legs could carry them, but it was clear this chase wouldn’t be able to go on for long like this. When Monodam realized this it almost looked like he was going to throw the other two into the monster’s way so he could escape alone. But he didn’t.

Upon reaching the exit, using his extendable arms to get the door open as quickly as possible, he shoved Monosuke and Monophanie through and slammed it behind them as if hoping he could buy them time.

Only Monophanie tried looking back, but neither of them paused for even a moment as they tried to get to an exit, probably hoping to get into their own Exisals in the courtyard so they could at least fight back.

Monodam’s fate was firmly sealed, but he appeared to have made his peace about that as he was tied up like a shrimp so he wouldn’t be able to struggle anymore if he changed his mind. But he never did. Even when tossed into the pot and boiled alive he made no attempts to escape at all. Like he wanted this now.

Whatever reasons could be for why that was it didn’t matter as he began to break down due to the heat. Nothing was left of him but liquid metal, that the Exisal mock “tasted” as though it was some sick broth.

And so it returned to its hunt. The distraction was pointless as the two had only just made it past the pink gates when the black beast made chase at its top speed. When both felt its approach they tried to split up as much as they could in the linear hallways.

Monophanie ducked under the cafeteria tables outside the dining hall as Monosuke kept running trying to reach the exit to the patio. But all this meant was the Exisal saw him, not her, and it wouldn’t let him get away.

Monosuke ran like a madman trying to escape an angry mob as he pushed himself to run even faster, barely getting into the cafe. But before he got to the glass doors he panicked and tripped. In his hurry, his glasses fell off leaving him as blind as a bat as he continued to run best he could. And so instead of beelining towards his only hope of escape he accidentally rushed to the kitchen.

When he got his mangled spectacles back into place he realized his fatal mistake but had no time to correct it anymore as the Exisal entered the hall. With no other options left to him tried to hide in the freezer, as if hoping the Exisal would give up and go after Monophanie instead. But it didn’t need to.

Instead, it turned up the dial to make the tomb Monosuke chose for himself as cold as it could be and sat across from the door and waited. Monophanie wouldn’t be able to use the dining hall’s exit either without being spotted from where it camped so there was no rush.

But Monosuke didn’t realize that until his joints started freezing up, and by that point, it was too late. The haughty blowhard had no choice but to either wait for death or run out to meet it. And he chose to wait. He froze like a hobo in some dingy back alley in a matter of minutes with how drastically the freezer worked.

And so death took the second brother for its own. The popsuke that was once a bear was taken back to the cooking pot, broken up and added to the “dish”, along with other ingredients to sell this joke meal.

Monophanie was still running though. But she only made it to the main hall when she was caught too.

However, things were different this time. When it left the gym that final time it brought the pot with it, and with nowhere to hide she was sure she’d just be tossed into the pot like her brothers. But it had other plans for her. Instead, when it caught her it pulled down her scarf like a bib and got out a spoon.

She was horrified as it began to feed her what was once her siblings, and her belly soon swelled as though she were pregnant with some sort of monster. It just kept getting larger and larger as she was forced to eat, as if it was trying to make her explode. But she hadn’t given up yet, weight be damned.

When the Exisal ran out of soup to feed her she made one last dash out the wooden doors. It wasn’t clear if she was blinded by the sunlight or took a moment to bask in this victory, but it was enough.

As she stood outside of the exit she had been seeking the monster broke down the doors rather than opening them, crushing her beneath the heavy boards with a deafening crunch of screaming metal.

With the last of the Monokubs gone The Exisal’s cockpit finally opened, revealing the bashful-looking Monokuma as he rubbed at his head like some ditzy moe-clutz girl making up excuses. Right up until he realized the damage he did to the school’s gates and started fretting about how to put them back.

When he put them back on its hinges the outside of the doors were stained with a pink, yellow, and green mess of colors which gave him pause. But instead of showing any regrets he took out a paintbrush to move around the colors to make it match the original pattern instead and then appreciated his “art”.

And so all of the Monokubs were all gone in one fell swoop as the curtains fell once more.

The students didn’t lose anyone this trial, just like Kiyo thought they wouldn’t. Monokuma sacrificed his enforcers, his “children”, instead while taking up the job for himself with that new mecha. But one was still less dangerous than three, so this is the closest they had ever come to winning more than they lost.

So why didn’t it feel that way? It wasn’t just Kokichi, as he tried to hide the hate in his eyes or the clenching of his fists. Everyone looked just as scared and broken as every time before. Except for Kiyo.

His secret may be out in the open now but he still “won”. He killed Kirumi, and if anyone wants to make him pay for that they’d only be putting their own lives, and everyone else's, at risk. And with the way his eyes gleamed, no doubt hiding a matching grin under that mask of his, he knew that better than anyone.

The only thing that gave him any pause was Monokuma’s return, prancing around as he scattered bits of his cubs around the trial room like he was an overly excited flower girl at a wedding. Or one of his dolls. Kokichi’s pretty sure one of Kaede’s headmaster horde had a similar set of actions programmed into it.

“Oh, this is suuuch a relief now. Those kids were really dragging me down there at the end you know? I mean they were cute, don’t get me wrong, but who knew having kids could be suuuuuch a pain in the tush? Much better running this show solo from now on I think. I even managed to make myself an Exisal to pick up the slack! It’s not easy to modify these things to let me pilot them you know, it’s SUPER complicated.”

Since no one had any response to that he gave a grumpy humpf and continued, holding a paw up at them menacingly as his tone got darker. “But guess what kids? Ding Dong, you’re fuckin’ wrong ! The killing game will never end! And there is nothing any of you can do to change that. Blackened? Spotless? Even a mastermind’s optional in this killing game! The only thing you can do is play, or die. Your choice.”

He turned to address Kiyo specifically as he said his final piece. “You think you’re pretty clever don't cha Leatherface? Well guess what, no vigilante stunts are going to work like that again anymore, intentional or otherwise. New rule: “You kill it, you bought it”! Regardless of the “First Come, First Served” rule if the first blackened is killed then their murderer becomes the new blackened for that case.”

So what would happen if a blackened killed themselves to escape execution? Should I ask? No. He’s just making this up on the fly and not actually thinking things through yet. This would be sooo much easier to manipulate if I could just act like I was having as much fun as he was, but nooo. Stupid motive video.

Again with no responses to his words Monokuma only got more frustrated and walked away. Angie and Tsumugi were going through some of the debris he left behind. Monophanie’s flower and a pacifier that belonged to either her or Monodam could be seen in their hands respectively as they finished. The two whispered something to each other but Kaede was likely the only one who could have caught it.

Tsumugi let out a small gasp as something occurred to her and she turned and pointed at Kiyo accusingly. “That’s why you had Kirakira ’s mask in your lab, isn’t it Kiyo?! Because you fit as one of his potential targets, didn’t you?”

“Never met him myself I’m afraid, but yes that is why I know as much about them as I do. You can’t be too careful, even though I wouldn’t really consider myself a “serial killer”. I suppose the label may not be too ill-fitting, as I do follow certain patterns of my own. The strike to the back of the neck for example.”

“Huh? What’s the matter Kiyo, you think everyone works like titans or something?” Kokichi teased to hide the bile building in his throat.

“What in heaven's name does the back of one's neck have to do with any sort of “titan”? Have I overlooked something in my studies?” Kiyo asked, obviously completely baffled. (... Holy shit for a smart guy this freak can be pretty clueless huh?)

“W-what? But that’s a sensitive area for me too…”

“Tsumugi is a titan: CONFIRMED!”

“I still don’t follow this, would someone please explain what definition of “titan” is being applied here?”

“An anime thing Kiyo, don’t get so worked up about it.” Kaito said to keep this sudden moment of normalcy as long as he could. After everything, it’s hard to really blame the guy for trying.

“Ah, so it’s something more recent. I see. Thank you very much, I’ll need to look into this later.”

“... You research anime ?” (Leave it to the space cadet to focus on that rather than the serial killer thing.)

“Yes, why wouldn’t I? Obviously not too extensively, but it is valuable to see how aspects of different tales are portrayed in the present as this affects how they are perceived in the cultural consciousness. Not to mention how such modern interpretations can be used as tools for educational purposes.”

“Stop getting off track you degenerates! How many people have you killed before now Kiyo?”

“My my Tenko, one doesn’t merely kill and tell you know. That’s a dreadfully rude question.” Kiyo teased as though they were merely talking about girls, causing Tenko to panic and sputter.

“WHA- BUT- So is KILLING PEOPLE! And posing dead bodies! And how does Himiko fit into any of this? She was killed by a blow to the back of the neck too!”

“I didn’t frame Miu if that’s what you are accusing me of, we proved I had no chance to hurt her. I will concede that she would have fit within my preferred parameters for a target, but that was just nothing more than a coincidence." Kiyo waved it off, before scratching at his mask over his cheek as he continued. "It was... rather embarrassing really, I thought someone might have known about me. However as framing me was her goal, Miu’s method, accidental as it may be, fit that remarkably well.”

“Parameters” huh? You only kill cute girls that can actually stand you or something you sick fuck?! But that explains the lie about checking a pulse. Kaede must have seen he was just looking at the wound when she covered for him last time.

“Did Kirumi fit those “parameters” of yours too then? Would you mind telling us this much?” Kibo asked, his tone kept even to an obviously forced degree. It was hard to tell what he was feeling right now.

“Fine, I suppose that’s fair. I only kill admirable young women, and Kirumi was more than a fine example. To be blunt the only two in here who hadn’t lived up to my standards were Miu for… hopefully obvious reasons, and Maki due to having even more blood on her hands than I do with the nature of her work.”

Kibo and Kaito both looked noticeably conflicted with that admission, but kept quiet and avoided his eyes as they all headed to the elevator to leave parts of this horror show behind them. Ryoma’s glare only darkened more as he stared at the monster directly, who couldn’t care less as he went to his usual spot when going down, and Gonta’s grip on the glossy eyed Kaede only tightened as he looked even more distressed.

He’s probably upset by the idea being “good” can make someone a better target than being “bad”. Quite the reversal from Kiyo’s earlier BS reasons. But I’m positive he’s still leaving out something important.

Tenko was the only one who looked as furious as Kokichi felt, but she restrained herself from attacking him by focusing on giving the terrified Tsumugi and oddly blank-faced Angie a similar sort of hug. She was the first to leave the trial ground entirely, so everyone else slowly followed suit. For extra caution Gonta made sure he and Kaede were after Tenko’s group, so he’d be between all the girls and Kiyo, while Ryoma and the others all kept watch from behind him. But there was still something needing to be said.

Kiyo proposed the only reason someone would have to volunteer for his seance was to try and sabotage it from the inside. While that is obviously the real reason Kirumi offered to “help”, seeing how she was trying to make Kiyo as suspicious as possible, that doesn’t need to be the only reason why she did it.

“Sooo we all really sure Kirumi only offered to help this sick bastard to try and screw him over some more?” (Can’t be too obvious, someone else needs to present my lie if I want them to believe it.)

“But of course, what other reason could she have possibly had to interrupt me Kokichi?”

“She’s a maid, she might have been doing it to keep up appearances. Like how she lured us into a false sense of security before, with the way she “took care of us” without asking for anything in return.” (Well fuck you too Angie. I’m trying to make things better, not worse you paranoid brat! That wasn’t a lie.)

Luckily Kaito was the first to take the bait. “No way, she couldn’t have been faking that! So what if she was a workaholic? Kirumi did really mean well by us. She paid too much attention to detail and to all of us for that to all be some trap. Especially before the motive videos happened, and her attitude as a whole wasn’t changed too much after she...”

“Attacked me. Yeah. I don’t think all of that was just a lie to her. Like at the party she was having fun, no murder plans or anything as far as we can tell. She could have tried something back then, but she didn’t.”

“Maybe she realized what Kiyo was going to do the same way he figured her out. Kirumi could have been trying to protect Kaede, or anyone she thought he was going to target. Killing intent can be hard to hide.” Tenko offered, but Angie and Tsumugi didn’t sound too convinced since Kokichi couldn’t see their faces.

“Y-yeah, maybe? I mean she was there when Monosuke gave the rule Kiyo was going to take advantage of too. So she might have tried to keep him from having a chance to kill anyone on his own maybe?” (Way to go Ka-yay-de~ Though seriously, puh-lease! As if someone as determined as Mom would ever do that for you, even if she felt the least bit guilty about what she did to Maki. But it sure is a nice lie, right? Maybe that'll help her feel a bit better too. We still need her.)

“Yeah, Kaede right! Kirumi not… not bad person. Just had… weak moments. Killing game's the one that's bad for causing them! She must have felt bad for what she did, so even if she thought Kiyo bad person that might have… been okay to her.”

Most seemed to like that idea more than the reality at any rate, but Kiyo only snorted at the suggestion. She’d probably appreciate that at leastsomeone here remembered what sort of person she really was, but it’s nicer to think she might not have been as “selflessly” selfish as she normally was in the end.

Even if a murderer like her doesn’t deserve to be remembered fondly. It feels better knowing the others have the option to do so if they really wanted. … Just because Shuichi and Miu have people that still do.

It was hard to shake the train of thought that opened up when everyone got back to their dorms. But it looks like Tenko’s keeping her trend of slumber parties, with how Tsumugi’s not going to her own room. Kaede’s not joining them though, that could be a bad sign in the long run. He’ll leave her be for now.

Gonta, Kaito, and Ryoma also seemed to be considering doing something to Kiyo’s door after he entered his room like nothing changed. Probably just to make sure he can’t slip out at night, to be on the safe side. Might be good to keep a close eye on him in the future, but no way in hell he’s doing that himself.

Kokichi just went back to his room, sidestepping the mess where he could. He should probably pick up some of the evidence for the last case soon, but it’s hard to get the motivation to do it now. As long as he can beat Kiyo to his lab it should be fine, getting up early to cause as much trouble as he can is the norm.

So, for now, he added the needed changes to his whiteboard. (Maki’s gone, Kirumi killed her, and Kiyo’s a sicko who wanted to fuck with us and the system. Done! … Yeah right, as if things could be that simple.)

No need to move any cubs, all were still just annoying and their lives have never really mattered. Dying didn’t even solve our Exisal problem.

I might as well put Kiyo’s photo there too instead of having him be under “suspicious” anymore. Not that he isn’t, hell no, but Kiyo’s probably not the mastermind. Like why Maki was ruled out after her video, but there’s still something wrong with him beyond being a murderer that he’s still got under wraps.

Gonta’s the first to be moved to the “trustworthy?” area since Kaede though, so that’s a plus! Maybe. But no one else should be changed just yet.

Kiyo’s older sister or Kaede’s twin seems like the most likely candidates for the “17th student” right now, out of people I know exist. No one else’s videos focused on anyone who was the right age to be in high school, and that should be a requirement for this “role” to keep the setting consistent or something.

The cubs did make it seem more likely it’s Kiyo’s sister, since they compared her spot to the potential “resurrected” student’s, but if she’s dead how would that work? Could she even be the mastermind?

For now, a placeholder square with a “17” is made in the “suspicious” section where Kiyo’s used to be. A question mark is also added near Shuichi’s photo, if he might have really been framed after all. Kokichi doesn’t know if he was for sure just yet so his position isn’t being changed though.

With that bit of work done he headed back to bed to deal with his thoughts until he could finally get some sleep before stealing creepy things from the scariest guy in the school. What fun. Fun, fun, fun...

At least another person’s reason for being put in “prison school” themed place like this makes sense. But that’s still only 4 out of 16. Unless Kaito lying about his age to try and get to space makes him number 5? What a dumbass.  But still, what’d anyone else here do to deserve being stuck in this hell hole huh?!

Ryoma’s the only one who was open about any sort of remorse for his crimes, and he’s also the only one who went to jail before this happened. But a murderer’s still a murderer so he can’t be trusted. Ever.

I’m the only one everyone knows about who is clearly a criminal, without being a murderer. And there’s no way in Hell am I regretting anything D.I.C.E and I have accomplished so far, we are comedy gold! Having no regrets is why not hurting people is such a firm rule. People need folks like us to help keep things interesting.

Maki was just a monster, she had no regrets or intentions to stop ruining lives for money if she got out. If she did she would have said something. Kaito was an idiot if he thought he’d ever be able to change that.

And Kiyo’s the worst of us all for even enjoying this shitty game. It doesn’t matter how many people he’s killed, he’ll never tell unless it gets “relevant”. What matters is how this genuinely is a game to him, as if we’re all just here to entertain him or help him with his wonky theories about “humanity”. Fuck that guy. Going after Kaede despite everything she’s been trying to do, for him and us, was just icing on the cake.

The only good thing right now is that even if we’re all awful people at least we’ve all touched on the right ideas. Either to end the game, protect everyone, or just fuck with the psycho trying to kill us.

Ryoma can’t be trusted, but he never lied when he’s offered to die for us. Getting him to off Kiyo would be easy, and I wouldn’t really be at fault- No. Kaito would flip again and who knows what that’d set off.

But what else can we do about Kiyo? He’s too dangerous to leave him be, but he did screw Monokuma over pretty good even if that wasn’t his original plan.

The enemy of my enemy will never be my friend and he knows it. If I try to get close again now he’ll know I’m up to something, so he can’t even be used as a pawn.

He’d probably be more like a bishop, with how off-kilter he obviously is. One that’s always treading black, and only vaguely predictable in how he moves. Angie’d be the one walking on white, she’s too dangerous as a wannabe queen to be much else. And yay for puns with our kooky pseudo-religious teammates~

Kaito and Kirumi were our knights. Eager to move, work well even with others around them, but it can be hard to know which way they planned to go.

Ryoma and Maki were rooks, as powerful as they were agile, but hard to get them to a place to move comfortably. Even if you can they tend to be seen as bigger threats than bishops, so they’re too direct.

If Gonta and Tenko can live long enough to be more than pawns they’d fill those roles well too. Better rooks than knights at least, they’re both too blunt. But neither could really earn a promotion to queen.

That’s Kaede’s role. She’s too obvious and decisive to be anything else, a king’s too weak for her.

But am I the real “king” here, or was that Shuichi or Rantaro and we just don’t know we’ve lost yet?

God, I must be tired if I’m wasting time thinking like this, chess doesn’t even fit. Kibo’s piece may not even really be one of ours , how can we tell when the only other robots we know all belong to the mastermind?

And how would we be able to sacrifice a piece that doesn’t really belong to us if that’s how we “win”? Not Kibo’s probably, but the mastermind themselves. Assuming he can’t be that person on his own.

Kaede was probably right about thinking like this not being the healthiest exercise. But she tried to ignore her instincts and put her trust in us anyway and look what Kiyo nearly did with it! Kaito might be even worse than her if he tries to pretend this didn’t happen, like the mistake we made with Kirumi.

How are we supposed to stop the mastermind before all the innocent here die or lose their innocence?

Stupid question, we aren’t supposed to catch them, we just need to do it anyway. Find them, kill them, and just hope it works to end the game early despite Monokuma’s threat-bluff-thing. Must be a bluff.

I mean if the mastermind’s gone how could the game continue?

Unless there was more than one somehow? Like in a bus hijacking, where often one’s the obvious bad guy and their accomplice pretends to be just another passenger? Or maybe their help is somewhere outside of our cage? But this is all just POINTLESS theories, nothing solid!

I need to make sure more than just one or two people can get out of this alive. Waaay more than two.

Rantaro and Himiko are relying on us to end things here so they can rest in peace. No one else in this game’s mattered but them. There’s no need to miss or avenge murderers like the rest of the dead are.

Unless Shuichi really didn’t do anything but attempt a murder. That’s a little different. Unlike Miu or Kirumi he might not have been trying to get all of us killed for their selfish sakes and “the world” if he was at least going to use the first blood perk to go get help if his plan genuinely succeeded.

Those were just excuses they had to try and save themselves at the expense of everyone else anyway. There’s no way to get around the fact they killed someone to try and get their way. Just like all killers do.

I can’t miss people like that at all, no matter who they used to be!

… But that’s a lie, isn't it?

End of Chapter 2: I Spit on Your Grave Expectations

Surviving Members: 10

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 8: Lives on the Chopin block

CLASS TRIAL- IN SESSION

Everyone went to their proper podiums again, with three new crossed out portraits filling up their ranks.

Miu’s was naturally the first that Kaede turned to, her eyes staring back at her from between the three crosses going across her face. She idly wondered if it was because of the girl’s lewdness or a comment on how “strong” her personality was, like alcohol, but it felt fitting in a darkly humorous sort of way. Miu still would have probably appreciated this little joke either way, if she were there to see it. But she wasn’t.

Reluctantly she turned from Miu’s face, past Shuichi’s, to see about those of her other lost friends. It was hard to avoid thinking about whose face would be joining these monochrome memorials after this too. But even that was more pleasant than to really see where Maki and Kirumi’s deaths left them.

Ryoma was alone now, flanked on both sides with dead faces. That of one of his closest friends in this prison, and the other the girl who threatened his life to escape it. But at least the latter’s absence made it easier for Kaito and him to share glances now, for what little support that could give each other.

Though these looks would also mean every time Kaito faced him he’d see the harsh reminder of Maki’s death looming over Ryoma. Kaede couldn’t imagine what seeing that must be like for either of them.

The red lines hardly looked out of place for Maki’s, but the cross was placed less like an X and more like a plus sign. Or more accurately a gun’s scope, given the circle around it. It was almost a blessing her cause of death wasn’t up in the air like Himiko’s initially was, since they at least knew for sure she wasn’t really shot.

Kirumi’s portrait was pretty bland in comparison. The lines were cleaner and crisper than Rantaro’s, but less artistic than Shuichi’s, just a plain formal X on the center of her face. Like checking off a box on a grocery list or a voting ballot. Not that anyone here ever voted for her to do anything.

But there wasn’t much time for contemplation. Their lives were all on the lines again.

“Aww, everyone seems so depressed this time. It’s okay! I’m sure it will be okay! We know what it’s like to watch as your number keeps dwindling one by one but you’ll bounce back. Just like we did!” Monophanie began, taking a triumphant pose with her paws where her hips should be as she looked up to the sky with Monotaro’s scarf blowing in the breeze. The source being the fan Monodam held for her.

“Ya don’t need ta lie to 'em ‘Phanie, they know what they gotta do. Speaking of, youse all best ignore any of what our old paw sez capisce? He’s just an audience this time, we’re still running this show!” Monosuke followed.

“Yeah, yeah whatever. It’s almost nice to have a break for a change. I’ve been doing this for just soooo long you know? This should be so much less stressful, it’s gonna be great for my fur. It’s not easy to keep up this youthful complexion, with how much work I’ve had to put into these games year after year...” Monokuma dismissively replied from his throne, taking out a compact to play with some blush for emphasis as he slighted his most obnoxious son.

“Then-Don’t-Interrupt-Us-Anymore-Father. I-Shall-Do-The-Basic-Explanation-Of-The-Class-Trial.”

“I didn’t agree to that shit! You chumps know the drill by now, if you really don’t know how this works yet then just shut up and watch. Ya argue like a family at dinner over who sent your buddy ta go sleep with da fishes, and vote for “Howdunit”.”

“You mean “Whodunit” Monosuke. “Howdunit” or “Howcatchem”s are completely different types of mysteries. We don’t care how any crime was done, even a completely blind guess would be valid in this courtroom.” Monophanie corrected, again acting like this was some boring comedy routine.

As Monosuke distracted himself bickering with Monophanie over "embearassing" him for his mistake Monodam took over again. “But-If-You-Vote-For-The-Wrong-Person-All-Of-You-Will-Die. If-You-Vote-Right-Only-The-One-Responsible-Will-Be-Punished, With-An-Execution-Made-To-Best-Reflect-Who-They-Were-As-A-Person, Sins-And-All.”

“Oi, not everyone dies if they get the criminal wrong you bucket o’ bolts! If the innocent spotless can’t catch which of them blackened themselves with the blood of their “friends” the killer graduates! They can get the hell outta dodge and leave this place, no strings attached, even if they don’t want to.” Monosuke chimed, while he got his sister into some sort of headlock to "settle" their dispute.

And got an uppercut to his "jaw" for his troubles, as she proved victorious again so she could continue while Monodam nervously watched. (Honestly, with how distracting it is watching them squabble and how dumb they normally are I'm really impressed what they're saying is still coherent. And yet still somehow equally useless. We still know all of this already, so why put us through the entire thing a THIRD time?!)

“And no one is allowed to get out of this without risking bloodying their own hands either. As long as you’re in the minority a wrong vote won’t be held against you, but if you don’t vote we need to kill you. Well, Monosuke will if one of you decides to try, I want no part of it. We’d refuse if we could, I’m sorry.”

“But-I’m-Sure-None-Of-You-Would-Want-That-So-Let’s-Move-On!" Monodam rushed so Monosuke couldn't try picking a fight with their sister again. "Remember-To-Be-Respectful-Of-Each- Others-Thoughts-And-Feelings-As-You-Argue, Even-If-Some-Of-You-Need-To-Lie-And-Accuse-Each-Other.”

“Oh Jeez this is really gonna suck isn’t it? You tykes didn’t even bother trying to stick to your scripts!” Monokuma grumbled behind them, knocking his head against the back of his chair.

“Of-Course-We-Didn’t. What-Is-The-Point-Of-Replacing-You-If-We-Were-Going-To-Follow-Your-Orders?”

Kaito gladly took the opportunity to try and put things back on track.

“Let’s just ignore them for now you guys. Sorry if I can’t be of much help this time.”

“Not to worry, no one blames you Kaito." Kibo quickly dismissed with a sympathetic look. "Between the first victim and your illness this was expected.”

“My what? Who said anything about me being sick?! I’m not sick, I’m as hearty as a horse!”

“Suuure you are Kaito. You really want to admit you’ve just been scared shitless this whole time?”

“FUCK YOU KOKICHI, I ain’t afraid of-”

“No ghost?” Kokichi finished for him with a matching unnatural ghostlike grin on his face and a cackle. (How the fuck does he even make expressions like that?! Who even cackles anymore outside of movies?)

“Please don’t make this one long ghost joke you two, we already had a failed seance and no zombies.” Tsumugi said with a sigh, making Tenko nod her head in agreement.

“Does it count as a failure if we never got to start it?” Angie asked, the picture of utmost innocence.

“We ended up with more dead people than we had when you wackos started, hell yeah it counts!” Kaito shouted, looking appalled he had to point it out to her.

While Angie huffed, Kiyo took the chance to make his argument instead. “It wouldn’t have failed, someone just took advantage of the few of us isolating ourselves for that brief window of time to kill Kirumi. But we should answer the question of who attacked Maki first yes?”

“No! Kirumi’s the freshest so she should be the one we focus on." Tenko shot back, banging against the front railing of her podium with her momentum. "Besides, it’s obvious whoever killed Maki is the one who would have tried attacking you guys. Or BE one of you guys. So Kiyo’s the culprit!” She pointed at him.

Ryoma stepped in before Kiyo had the chance to defend himself though. “Easy there Tenko. Angie’s the one who had the gold on her hands from the gold katana that was used to kill her and it was Angie is who wanted to perform the seance, so shouldn’t she be our prime suspect? The only sources of gold leaf we have are that sword and the supply from her lab, Kaito and I checked.”

“Nuh-uh, Angie would never kill anybody! A degenerate like Kiyo’s way more likely, it was his katana. Besides if there was gold on the underside of all the handles in those rooms wouldn’t that make not getting any on him suspicious? I mean Kirumi wouldn’t since she never tried to leave before… You know.” Tenko trailed off as the memory of the horrifying scene made her lose steam.

“Anyone could enter my lab and take it, and not having gold on my hands still proves I could not have handled that Katana. And with the game’s “first come, first served” rule why should we assume one person is responsible for both crimes? As the only blackened we need to find is Maki’s killer should we not focus our efforts on that culprit first?”

“I agree with Kiyo, there will be time to go over Kirumi’s death later. We can even sort out who killed her outside of the court if we run out of time before we can settle it.” Ryoma said, giving Kirumi’s portrait a wary glance.

“Yeah! Besides Maki has more possible suspects too, so settling her death will take more time.” Kaito agreed.

“Why would the killings be unrelated though, aren’t they a bit too close together to be a coincidence? If we uncover Kirumi’s killer it may help narrow down potential suspects for Maki too, if the two aren’t one and the same. But Angie isn’t responsible for either of these, I swear by Atua’s name.”

“Is “Atua” really their name, or just what they are? Merely asking out of genuine curiosity I assure you.” Kiyo asked, and despite his claim the question had an unmistakable snark to it earning him a glare.

“Hush up you heretic, Angie need not speak His name. That's a higher member benefit.”

“I… I guess the two could be related? I mean Kirumi was the one investigating Maki’s body so maybe the killer chose to attack her just in case she noticed something in addition to wanting to stop the seance.” Kaede suggested, unsure of what else to say.

“Then Kiyo’s still the killer because he chose Kirumi to act as the Medium-”

“No, he didn’t Tenko! Kirumi ask him for job. Gonta may no be able to help but he still hear that right.”

“Exactly. And Angie was the one who chose the rooms we were going to use, I only said they needed to be dark. It would appear the katana used to cut off the head of our maid was hidden under those rooms. Had I been the one to kill her why wouldn’t I have simply used a weapon from Maki’s lab instead?”

“Why would anyone have used a katana in that poor condition then? It is most surprising it is able to cut as well as it is despite its current state. Maki’s lab would be a plain better place to take something like this from, wouldn’t it? It’s probably where the knife Kiyo found in Kirumi’s apron came from too.” Kibo pointed out.

“Oooh I know, I know! Angie had to use it because she’d be too short to reach Kirumi’s neck with anything else!” Kokichi said, hopping up and down as he raised his hand like a kid with a look that screamed he knew he was wrong and just merrily teasing them again. And so Kibo took the bait.

“Negative, that is both illogical and unlikely. While none of Maki’s weapons are as long as the katana’s blade the angle of the cut wouldn’t be this even if that were the case, there’d be a slope to it. Besides Kirumi may not have even been standing when she was attacked.”

“Umm, wouldn’t there need to be a lot of force behind the swing too? Angie isn’t sure why everybody’s only picking on her and Kiyo.” Angie said, looking a little confused as Kiyo only shrugged.

Seeing as it was easy to clear up Kaede explained this one. “It’s because of the announcement. It only rings when three people not counting the killer finds a body, and it didn’t ring until Ryoma caught up to us. Unless anyone thinks I could have done this too?”

“Ah, fair point. I hadn’t noticed. Are you sure that’s when it rang Kaede?" Kiyo asked as he, Angie, and Ryoma took a moment to mentally go over what happened. "Everything was rather hectic at that point of time I'm afraid. I hardly remember the bell ringing at all, and I wasn’t in nearly as much shock as you were at the time, my apologies.”

“Yeah, sorry Kaede but I don’t really remember hearing anything other than you screaming either when I caught up with you three." Ryoma reluctantly agreed, giving Angie a wary glance as she still seemed to be thinking it over and coming up blank. "It could have rang, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t really paying attention to that thing in the first place.”

… Am I sure? I mean a lot was going on and we’ve heard it so often now. I couldn’t really catch what anyone was saying either. And I don’t want to accuse either of them. Or is Kiyo trying to gaslight us, and just tricked Ryoma? Why would he kill Kirumi? He’d have to have blood or something on him right- OH!

“Hmm, maybe you’re right. I mean neither of you has her blood on you- well I mean Kiyo has some on his bandages now but only from touching her, he didn’t when he offered to help- and with how… Messy it all was that’s pretty unlikely, isn’t it? Especially since the killer also posed her.”

“But no one here got blood on them. Could killer have been under boards to stay clean? That why crosspiece cut?” Gonta asked, struggling to picture what might explain this.

“A killer attacking someone from under the floorboards you say? Oh, that sure is nostalgic. Not to mention that mask, or a knife and the same golden katana being present for a murder. So many memories~ Isn’t it lovely how violence keeps repeating itself like clockwork?” Monokuma drawled.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to talk this time! Besides, I think it’s more like an Endless Waltz-”

“Tsumugi don’t let his nonsense ramblings distract you! Just ignore him.”

“And keep your own nonsense nerdy ramblings to yourself too! You’ll just distract us and that’s waaay worse.”  Kokichi scolded, as if to parody Kaito, who gave him a scowl for twisting his words against her.

“Gonta does make a good point though, the cross pieces don’t seem to be related to anything. Unless it made Kirumi trip, to help set up the attack?” Kibo suggested, trying to get everyone back on track.

“No, had that been the case Kirumi would have most likely suffered at least a head wound. We saw Kaede nearly fall prey to it, and who knows what would have befallen her if not for Gonta’s intervention.” Kibo said, though he looked frustrated that this left the boards unexplained for this.

“Then how else would someone hide the blood? I mean there was so much of it and nobody found any sheets or anything to clean any of it up or block the splatter right?” Tsumugi nervously asked.

Let’s see… We ruled out using something to cover them since we didn’t find anything.

Even Angie’s lab doesn’t have a sink so there was definitely no way for anyone to wash the blood off.

… But hiding it UNDER something we’d expect a person to normally wear could work if it covered enough of them. Particularly if they were one of the three checking rooms for the seance, since no one would see them without it. Which would only leave one person.

But none of this is making any sense. What motive could he possibly have to do something like this?

“I think I know the trick to this now you guys. If you’ll let me explain my theory on how this happened…”

Kaede looked around the room, and everyone gave their approval. No one had any distinct ideas after all. So she began painting the scene for them with her words and the sound of her voice the best she could.

“First the culprit set up the three rooms sometime before today. Cutting through the crossbeams and applying gold leaf to the handles would take too long for this to be anything other than premeditated. I can’t explain the floorboard trap, but it could be to help distract anyone who found this by accident.

Today, when someone else suggested these rooms be used for the seance it was time for that premeditation to pay off. They made sure only one person went into each room, themselves, their victim, and the one they planned to frame for this. Ideally, their fall guy was the one who’d suggest this.

They wouldn’t need to do anything for their mark to set themselves up, since they’d likely touch the loose gold when trying to leave the room, making it look like they’ve touched the golden katana.

Not only would the culprit know to avoid the gold there, the victim wouldn’t have a chance to touch it either, so if we didn’t notice the handles we’d assume there was no other way for the gold to be there. They may have even originally planned to clean the other two handles, since they set it up so it wouldn’t matter who went into each room, but obviously they never got the chance so we weren’t fooled by this.

But that doesn’t explain how they kept their hands clean to start with. That ties into how they didn’t seem to get anything on them.

They went under the floor, where the three rooms are all connected, and took off their jacket. They already planted the katana in that crawlspace, so it was a vital area for them both to keep their weapon out of sight and provide a way to get into the victim's room without being seen.

Since there weren't any bloodied covers in this area that means whatever they used to hide the blood they'd get on them is still with them. Here there are two possibilities. They could have left their coat down there to make sure it'd stay clean, dropping it off when they got the katana or vice versa. Or they took off their coat, turned it inside out, and tied it around their waist like an apron to help keep any blood from getting on their legs. I think the latter's more likely here.

After that, they pick up the katana and go to the room they know Kirumi entered so none of the gold would get anywhere they couldn't explain later. They have to act fast because while the rooms are dark since there aren’t any candles it also means she’d be tempted to leave soon. Maybe they even said something to help make her pause or used the seesaw trap to distract her.

Ultimately they succeeded in decapitating her. It could be due to the killer having a light source on them or just the length of the blade covering a lot of the room but their goal was achieved. After doing so they moved her body to the wall near where they entered, posing her as if it was for a twisted tea ceremony.

With how general the pose is in practice even that could have been done in the dark, and I’m not entirely sure why they chose to move her like this at all. It could be to keep her away from the seesaw trap in the center of the room, but it's really hard to say.

To get rid of the gold and blood from their hands they remove the wrappings they put there. The cotton strips could then be used to help touch up any other clean up they need to do on the walk back to the room they’d be expected to leave from. But first, they’d stop to put the blood-soaked katana under the room their patsy was in to further implicate them of this crime.

With the katana gone and blood mostly out of the way they put their jacket back on, over their probably blood covered shirt, and stuff the soiled wrappings in one of their pockets while applying some fresh bandages so that we’d be none the wiser that they changed at all as we’d notice if they were missing.

That’s probably around the time I found Kirumi’s body, since everything happened so fast. It wasn’t hard to look like they were just worried about what was going on when they joined the rest of us, and if they needed to adjust anything else we’d all be distracted trying to find out what was going on even if the body was found sooner than they were planning on.

I wasn’t imagining the bell delay before either. Since they needed to see what I was screaming about as soon as they could to keep from being suspicious, they really were one of the first three to see the body.

So… The easiest way to for us to see if I’ve got this wrong would be for you to take off your jacket Kiyo. Otherwise, there’s no one else who could do it this way. No one could enter or leave those rooms without anyone else noticing, and at least Angie’s hands would still have blood on them if she tried my method.”

The room went silent as they turned to look at him. But despite the horrors he’s accused of he isn’t upset. Korekiyo doesn’t seem bothered by anyof this in the slightest. And that wasn’t the worst of it.

He’s smiling. There’s no doubt about the expression under that mask. He’s accused of murder and he looks like a child who just got a brand new set of toys to play with! Something isn’t right here. I know he’s kinda messed up but this is going too far! How can he possibly be so happy about this right now?!

“Nicely done Kaede! I’m most impressed, I’m sure that’d deductions would make even an Ultimate Detective proud. You’re always so full of such wonderful surprises. You are absolutely correct! But so there is no room for doubt here I will concede, and I do apologize if it is unduly upsetting to any of you.”

There really weren’t any doubts as he laid his coat along the railing of his podium. There’s so much blood his white undershirt could nearly be mistaken for Maki’s top, it’s even worse than his bandages were. He made no move to take off the bandages though, since considering everything he really didn’t need to. But even as he stood before them in his bloodied button down he didn’t seem the least bit nervous.

“Though I must also confess, the trick with the floorboards really is unrelated here. That was just a remnant of a plan I scrapped after seeing it might be too difficult to properly utilize. Though had I stuck with it Kirumi would have died all the same, during the caged dog seance. Any other questions?”

“... What the actual fuck?”

“Do be more specific Kaito. I can’t answer you if I’m not sure to which part of this you are referring to.”

“Are you giving up then?” Ryoma practically growled as he visibly struggled to restrain himself.

“For Kirumi’s murder most certainly! But if you think now is a good time for us to vote you’d be most sorely mistaken. Not unless your death wish has changed to wanting to have us all die alongside you. Because for the terms of this trial, as bloody as I may be, I’m still as “spotless” as everyone else. However, I am grateful you all have allowed me to experience something so close to what our true blackened must have all felt before their ends. It’s a most enlightening and intriguing sensation.”

“What are you talking about?! You killed Kirumi you bastard-” Tenko shouted at him, as if hoping if she got angry enough his confidence would crumble and see he was doomed. But he just wouldn’t stop.

“Indeed I did! But only Kirumi. Just ask Gonta or Ryoma, I was with them when Maki died. Unless you’d prefer I simply tell you all who our real blackened is, the one you all should have been seeking? Now I do understand if you don’t wish to believe me, but it won’t make my words any less the truth. I’m offering to reward you all for your fine work in order to keep the trial up to this point from being a wasted effort.”

What? So he just killed her because he knew he’d get away with it?! Is he telling the truth right now?

“Why did you even go so far then?! The posing, the decapitation, all of it! Why kill someone at all if you know you aren’t going to graduate from it?” Kaito snapped.

“Must you be so hung up on that? Her death has never mattered in this case. But fine. I only meant to cut into her neck enough to be fatal, to assure her a quick death, but I misjudged the sharpness of the blade. I hadn’t tested it enough so I didn’t notice the rust wasn’t an indicator of it being dull, so I put much more force into the swing than I should have. The posing was an attempt to give her some dignity after my mistake. I also thought it may suit an “artist’s” sensibilities, to buy me more time to prove I was not guilty of killing Maki should I have needed it. I do apologize for framing you Angie, I have no excuse.”

Angie’s smile was completely gone as she blankly stared at the monster standing beside her. The hate in her eyes was unmistakable. Had she been someone else she may have even tried to attack him, for the way his apologies as he faced her felt like a mockery. But her resolve was stronger than that so she just watched him in silence, refusing to dignify any of this with a response, until Kaito began shouting at him again.

“How can you say a person’s death didn’t matter?! Like hell we’d ever just let that be swept under the rug. We can’t just ignore what happened to them in order to protect ourselves. She was our friend! Besides, Maki Roll told me she was going to talk to you last night so you still could have done this.”

“And that is true, but she left my lab before I did and I still have my alibi. Gonta was even as gracious as to escort me back to my dorm, in accordance to the student council’s curfew Maki and I both broke. But given what happened I suspect she never actually left the fourth floor.” Korekiyo claimed.

“So what, you’re trying to pin your crimes on Kibo or Angie again?! We don’t need to waste any more time on your lies, I’m ready to vote!”

“And it’d be suicide Tenko, we still have a ways to go to prove anything. I saw both of them that night and if the Monokuma-” Ryoma began to argue before peanut gallery interfered again.

“It’s a Monosuke file you bastard!”

“Oh shut up Monosuke, let them work or I’ll gag you with my scarf!”

“Ohh, kinky.”

“She-Said-Be-Quiet! And-Why-Would-You-Even-Joke-Like-That-Father?!”

“... Fine. If the Monosuke file is to be believed I saw Kiyo at the time it said Maki died. I don’t see thing being some sort of trick he pulled either, she’s too quick to lose to someone like him in a fight.”

“Yeah. Gonta… Not really understanding why he do this but Kiyo not lying about Gonta escorting him. But… That means student council kill Maki? Why?! We… We protect all students. No exceptions!” Gonta said best he could through his confusion, sweat, and tears.

“Exactly! And Angie definitely didn’t see Maki that night. I was working in my lab, no visitors either.” Angie quickly claimed, which got a nod from Tenko and Monophanie to offer some support for it.

Not to be outdone Kibo also rushed to his own defense. “I didn’t see anyone, I was working in the computer lab the entire time! You can even check the log for the program I’ve been fixing, everything is time stamped so I have a solid alibi!”

Korekiyo almost looked bored as he shook his head at both of their panicked responses. “You all seem to be forgetting there was one other person on the fourth floor that night. Kirumi was the one patrolling the halls so Kibo had his time to work and help weed out any of Angie’s unwanted guests.”

“I’m not the culprit!” Kibo shouted over him.

“Angie’s not the culprit!” Angie said at almost the same time and volume.

“You’re both idiots is what you are.” Korekiyo bitterly countered them almost just as quickly.

It was hard to get a word in edgewise as the three kept talking over each other in their efforts to prove they weren’t the culprits. Well, the two were, as Korekiyo simply kept being drowned out as he tried to prove they were panicking over nothing. His argument seemed sound enough though, despite Kaede’s wariness.

Framing Angie for Kirumi’s death in order to make her a suspect for Maki’s would have only worked if he always planned on making her the person he planned to frame, which doesn’t seem like the case.

Kibo’s been completely unrelated to the case so far and has no motive to go to Kiyo’s lab to kill Maki.

But Kirumi’s a different story. She had been so ready to kill after her video she lashed out in front of everyone. Maybe Maki was able to pick up on that and confronted her about and something… Snapped.

“So Kiyo, what you mean to tell us is you killed Kirumi because you knew she was guilty of killing Maki?” Kaede asked, hoping to anything that would listen that this wouldn't blow up in her face.

“Precisely. That is why she put herself in charge of examining Maki’s body, much like how I examined my own victim in kind. Kirumi planted those ashes, not discovered them. I saw her do it since I knew to keep an eye on her already. It’s also when she took the knife Maki had when she fell, hidden under the pieces of the broken banister. I suspect Maki used it in self-defense, rather than the blood being Maki’s, given how its style indicates it came from Maki’s lab, when Kirumi would have likely preferred the equally easy to obtain kitchen knives as she had more experience with them.”

“So what? You mean to tell us you killed Kirumi to avenge Maki since you knew the two fought for some reason you’re not sharing? I’m not buying it.”

“Oh goodness no, if that was my motivation I wouldn’t have needed to do anything. Can you imagine the execution Monokuma would have had in store for her? Kirumi wasn’t the sort of woman who’d be content to go quietly into the night either, so her own futile efforts to elude her grisly fate would have only prolonged things even more. She’d never allow herself to die with dignity if she could help it. Survival was far too important for her. So I spared her that suffering, as beautiful as it may have been.”

“So… Kiyo kill Kirumi to… Protect Kirumi? Like killing wounded animal that can’t get better?”

“Very good Gonta! And not just her either. So far I’ve been the only one of us who hasn’t played a part in sending our friends to their graves, with voting to have them executed. Now I’m the only one with her blood on my hands, rather than having it divided amongst us all. I didn’t think anyone would mind that.”

The courtroom was nothing but arguing as they tried to decide whether or not Korekiyo was telling them the truth, and if he was if it would have in any way justified his actions. He wasn’t wrong in acting like Kirumi would have died either way, had she really killed Maki, but by taking things into his own hands he denied her the chance to defend or explain herself.

Even if that wouldn’t have changed anything in the end, she had a right to a fair trial, didn’t she? Except then they’d still have to see what living hell Kirumi would undoubtedly be forced through to die. But was the alternative Korekiyo made for them really better for anyone here but him?

Korekiyo still let them string themselves along like this, to watch them as they struggled to figure out what happened, when he could have ended things much sooner by just explaining himself. The only reason he could possibly have for this was his own entertainment. He’s already expressed similar sentiments so often pulling a stunt like this wasn’t really that much different.

He’s always been a sadistic creep, but they underestimated just how far he was willing to go with it. Kaede resisted the urge to put her head in her hands to try and block out Korekiyo’s twisted logic.

Head in her hands- Kirumi’s bloody head in her hands- Please I don’t want that image in my head- Wait.

Kirumi was only there because she didn’t want Kaede to be involved. Like Gonta said Korekiyo didn’t choose Kirumi like he was now claiming. So his reasoning for “picking” her must have been a lie too.

When I offered to be the medium before Korekiyo looked surprised but pleased.

Like everything was going according to plan without him lifting so much as a finger.

Kirumi wanting the role initially bothered him, before he adapted. Which means...

It was supposed to be ME in that room, not Kirumi. Kirumi just got in his way.

Korekiyo was trying to kill me.

Why on earth would he want me dead? I haven’t done anything wrong!

Why would he do that even after asking if I could be his sister’s friend when we got out-

… Unless she’s already dead.

That’s why he reacted the way he did during his motive video. That’s why the last words were about some promise between the two of them. The promise to make her some female friends on his travels.

It was reminding him he already failed. Not unless he wanted to try giving his dead sister some dead friends. Like those cruel burial rites where you kill innocents just to give the person who died company.

This is why Kokichi has been weird when he’s around Korekiyo. He realized what he was capable of. That’s why after we got the Necronomicon he’s been trying to make sure I’m not left alone with him.

Maybe it wasn’t just me either. The casino stunt helped keep Korekiyo away from any girls he might go after, aside from Maki. Maki would be able to protect herself though, and she had Ryoma and Kaito too.

Even if Korekiyo slipped away he wouldn’t have an alibi, and Gonta was between him and the school. Tenko was likely the first girl he’d be able to attack, and he wouldn’t stand a chance against her.

Why didn’t Kokichi just tell me? What was he afraid of? Being wrong? Tipping Korekiyo off? Scaring me?

Should… Should I tell them? If… If there is another reason Korekiyo wanted me dead this might really be an isolated incident. The stuff he’s saying is really screwed up, but he isn’t that wrong.

None of us wanted to see another of our friends be executed, no matter what they did to deserve it. And no matter how he did it a quick death would have been a lot less painful than what Monokuma planned.

Well not really Monokuma’s plans. The mastermind behind this game is the one to blame for all of this.

Maybe Korekiyo thinks I could have been the mastermind and he was just trying to end the game? If he gives that as a reason then I’m not sure anyone would be able to trust me anymore, even if I can prove he’s wrong or hiding his real motive. Would anyone believe me? Could I prove I wasn’t the mastermind?

But if he doesn’t think I’m the mastermind then he could go after someone else next. I’d probably be too risky to try killing again anytime soon, but Angie’s cult looks like it’ll be gone now and even if Tenko’s enough to scare him off Tsumugi’s in danger. Assuming he couldn’t just kill Tenko with some trap.

Either way, if I bring this up someone will probably want to kill Korekiyo even more than they already do. And whoever does will just end up being the next friend we execute, even if the victim definitely deserved it.

Which option is the more acceptable risk? Korekiyo killing someone else, or someone killing him? Having to recover from losing an innocent victim, or condemning a sympathetic murderer for protecting us? Can’t there be a third option? Could we really keep him in check without killing him somehow?

What do I do? I… I can’t breathe. I need to focus on breathing. I NEED to calm down. To think this through.

But I don’t know what to do.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 7: Assassination in the Classroom

Deadly Life

Sitting there across from the door was Kirumi, but Kaede couldn’t register what she was seeing at first.

It looked like Kirumi. Her dress was right. Even the way she was seated suited her, even if it was more of a seiza from what she could see than something more victorian like Kirumi generally leaned towards.

But it was hard to focus with how her friend’s bleeding head was seated in her hands like it was a teacup.

Kaede couldn’t be sure when exactly she started screaming, but as Angie and Kiyo appeared next to her she must have. From what little was able to click in her mind the announcement only played when Ryoma joined them. If anyone was able to speak she wasn’t able to tell due to her shock.

Kirumi wasn’t dead a few minutes ago. She was fine and helping everyone. So how could this happen?

Who on earth would risk killing someone while investigating another murder? Did they not know about the first come, first served rule? No one would graduate from this. It was just a senseless act of violence.

By the texture of cotton wraps through her clothing, she guessed it was Kiyo who tried leading her away from the scene, to give her a chance to sit down and collect herself. But she couldn’t make it to an actual chair, instead slumping down against the opposing wall to sit on the floor upon reaching the hallway.

But not seiza-style. She clutched her legs to her chest in hopes of the pressure would help keep the bile burning at the back of her throat at bay. It didn’t matter how dirty anything was right now.

The world kept woozing into and out of focus for some time she assumed, before she felt a familiar purple weight rest her shoulders. She could still feel some of Kaito’s body heat from his jacket as he sat beside her, rubbing circles on her back to further help ground her, and Ryoma flanked her other side.

There weren’t words for how grateful she was to them. But when everything seemed to settle she couldn’t afford to stay like this for much longer. Even if Kirumi’s murderer wasn’t one who needed to be found they couldn’t risk a killer anonymously hiding among them, and it may relate to Maki’s death too.

She kept Kaito’s jacket for the time being as she stood up to try and walk back to the bloody room, which he didn’t seem to mind at all. He looked far more concerned by the fact she was going back at all, but he didn’t object despite how badly he wanted to. At least she wasn’t too sorely needed as a witness for this.

Nothing was changed about the corpse yet. As Kirumi was in charge of checking Maki’s body there was some confusion of who should take over for this one, and it wasn’t a task anyone wanted either. Seeing how Gonta still wanted nothing to do with the role Kiyo reluctantly came forward to try his hand at this again, despite some complaints from Tsumugi and Tenko since he was obviously a suspect for both murders.

Eventually both of the girls were outvoted, but it was agreed upon that he’d be heavily supervised for it. At least there was no need for him to close Kirumi’s eyes the way he had for Himiko, but since Kirumi was posed in such an unnatural fashion even if her eyes were open it wouldn’t have made things any easier.

None of her clothing was damaged, only bloodied, so he assumed for now her cause of death was the wound to her neck. He probably used the term “decapitation” but Kaede was still a bit too out of it to be able to quote him on that, but even if the words weren’t sticking their meanings were for now at least.

Kokichi took one of the candles from Kaede’s shaking hand, taking the moment to try and joke to get through to her, before going to check the area under the floorboards since his small size made it easier for him. It was odd to see someone like him give her a look with so much pity in it. Maybe even guilt.

But that doesn’t make sense. This can’t be his fault. He was still in Kiyo’s lab when this happened, I know I saw his shoes as he ran past me to get to the classroom. So what’s there to feel guilty about? Was it a lie? Like it was just him making a face he thought fit the situation that I happened to misread?

Realizing she never let go of her candles she put the other back into its proper spot. It would have been a lot worse had she dropped it and risked starting a fire. Do they even have fire extinguishers in this place? While that sounds possible and like a massive safety risk Kaede wrote this all off as just the shock talking.

She hadn’t really needed to though, Kibo was there and using another one of Miu’s final gifts to them. The room was already lit with his cushy pink glow, completely at odds with the gore it illuminated.

There was so much more blood here than anyone else had. Why is there so much blood? Even Maki’s wasn’t this messy, and her’s was already so much harder to look at. How did all of this ever fit before?

Kaede needed to get a hold of herself. In case Kiyo or Kokichi forgot to tell anyone she needed to make sure everyone knew about the rules regarding two separate murders. Just in case they were unrelated.

But before she had the chance Kokichi started yelling from the crawl space underneath them.

“WHOA, HOLD UP NOBODY ELSE MOVE UP THERE OKAY! NOT UNLESS YOU’RE AROUND THE EDGES.”

“Huh? What are you talking about Kokichi?”

“I’ll show you what I’m talking about!” But regardless of his claim nothing seemed to change, the only sound was some grunting like he was struggling to reach something. A floorboard knocked a little when a small smack sounded beneath it, but given the pained cry that accompanied it, that wasn’t the intent.

“Ow ow ow, that stupid plumber made this look soooo much easier. Did anyone see the board that moved? ‘Cause I’m going to need someone to gently put some weight on that one or something okay?”

“I think I did.”

“O-oh, nope, someone who isn’t Kaede please.”

In hindsight, his words were probably well meant. But Kaede didn’t have hindsight to keep her rational. She was just a very stressed young woman dealing with a sudden wave of frustration over every stressful thing that life had thrown at her, mistaking his concern for mockery.

And unfortunately for them both, the voice that caused the unintentional insult was right under her feet.

“I said I can do it Kokichi!” She shouted as against his suggestion she stomped on the board as hard as she could. The feeling of the once secure floorboard giving way under her took her by surprise as she fell forward for a moment, looking down at Kokichi’s terrified expression through the new gap.

She couldn’t breathe as time felt like it came to a crawl, before a strong arm lifted her from behind. With his other hand Gonta caught the other end of the board that flew up, the corner only a few inches away from Kaede’s eye. Kokichi’s face still nearly as white as his coat as he took a relieved sigh.

“I said gently! Jeez, for someone who has good hearing you really don’t listen well do you? Hey yo, TERF war, you’re on Kaede watch duty now okay!” Kokichi called up again, mask back in place, pointing at Tenko best he could from where he was. Or rather pointing at what little of her green ribbon he saw.

““Turf war?” What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean Tenko. So why not do your freakin’ job already and keep at least one girl here safe? You’ve reeeeally been bad at it so far, since we’ve lost like half of you by now.”

Tenko turned to look at Gonta as she put her hands on Kaede’s shoulders, ready to led her traumatized friend somewhere less dangerous to recover again. “Gonta can you please just drop the board on him?”

“What?! No, that could really hurt Kokichi! Board very heavy. But nothing was loose before...”

“I think the crosspiece was sawed through on that side, resulting in that seesaw effect we just witnessed. But how and why would someone do that? The warehouse should still be locked, so where else could someone retrieve a saw? Are there any suitable for this in Angie or Maki’s labs?” Kibo replied, eyes and the rest of him still having a surreal pink glow as he spoke. If you didn’t just blind yourself looking at him. Which Kaede definitely didn’t do when she first tried to face him, forgetting where the light came from.

“Uhh… Yes! There should be saws that could do this in Angie’s lab! Angie often uses wood for sculptures, and it’d take a looot longer if she only had small chisels to make them. But Angie locked the doors last night, so no one else should have had access to them she thinks. Nothing has gone missing either.”

“No worries Angie, I don’t think that’s it. Maki has a bunch of serrated blades and stuff that’d probably work and hers can’t be locked. She’s also the only one who’d be able to tell us if anything’s gone too.” Ryoma answered, looking only a little troubled at the idea these two deaths really could be connected.

“This isn’t the only booby-trapped room either! The other two rooms also have the same crosspiece cut. All the rooms are connected down here, and I think I found what was just used to kill Kirumi too.”

“Then why not let's go check down there for now Tenko? I’m sure I’ll be fine, I was just shocked is all.”

“Fine, but only because there are less things that can go wrong down there.”

“What the fuck Tenko, I gave you one job-”

“And it was a stupid one! We don’t know how long we’ll be allowed to investigate this Kokichi, so we best not waste any more time. I’ll be fine.” (But I know nobody will believe that. Just like I didn’t believe Kaito.)

“Yeah, it fine Kokichi. Kaede strong leader! She know what she doing.” ( ... Except Gonta. Pure, gullible, naive Gonta. Gah, he’s like the sweetest not-so-little brother I never had. So I can’t disappoint him now.)

Kokichi was not at all amused as she and Tenko joined him in the crawl space, arms folded and face puffy. But as there was no helping it he showed them where the weapon was, following a trail of blood to the room next door. The room Angie had been checking out before.

There was the missing Katana, still dripping with Kirumi’s blood, along the wall just below the gap in the floorboards you could use to enter the room above it at the end of its bloody path.

The katana that leaves a sticky gold residue on anyone’s hands who touches it. Gold like what I saw on Angie’s before? That doesn’t sound right. Why on earth would she have killed Kirumi like this? They were supposed to be on the same side. And how could something so rusty cut well enough to do… that.

Tenko seemed to have the same thought as she cleaned a part of the blade on her sleeve and then attempted to cut through it. But despite the visibly worn and ragged edge, it had it slid through easily.

“Wow~ Guess it was a good thing Kiyo didn’t want me messing with it earlier. That’s waaay more dangerous than he thought it was.” (Or more dangerous than he told us it was. Was he lying before?)

“I’m not seeing any saws though. Maybe whoever did this already returned the one they used. It might still be a good idea to make sure the warehouse really is locked though, to be on the safe side.”

“Then let’s go check there next Kaede! That’s definitely a safer place to be right now isn’t it?”

“Oh noooooow, you want to do what I told you to-”

“No, Tenko wants to do what she thinks is best for Kaede and everyone else! Why should I listen to you?”

“That’s enough you two. But Tenko, do you think you could lift Kokichi to the boards first? So we can move them before anyone else triggers that seesaw trick and get themselves accidentally hurt. Or worse.”

“Yeah, that’d totally suck. Pretty sure no one wants “death by seesaw” in their obituary. But why me?”

“Because you’re the smallest, the lightest, and aren’t wearing a skirt.” (... I should probably take the universe’s hint already and start wearing pants or something, shouldn’t I? I’ll ask Tsumugi about it.)

“... Uh… How is Tenko meant to get him up there?”

Kokichi chose to answer that one himself as he leapt onto her back with the battle cry of “piggy back~”, nearly sending her careening into the floor before catching herself. When she straightened up and gave him some support the extra height was enough for him to comfortably reach it, pushing it up and to the side from below, exposing the dangerous gap for what it was.

As the two headed for the room Kiyo had checked Kaede noticed the dark bruising on Kokichi’s knuckles. Considering what he had mumbled before he probably got it from trying to hit the first out of place. For someone who acted like such a brat he was pretty good at hiding the pain he must have still been in.

Kaede went back to see how things were going at the crime scene rather than wait by herself in the dark, since Tenko had to take the candle with them to find the missing crosspiece. She had forgotten how close Kirumi’s body was to her exit though, and nearly lost her balance before Kiyo and Kaito helped her up.

“Woah there, easy does it. Find anything down there?”

“The Katana from Kiyo’s lab seems to be Kirumi’s murder weapon. It’s apparently a lot sharper than it looks, it cut through fabric like a hot knife through butter at least so it might be capable of this. But it was under the room Angie was checking before, not this one.”

“Huh? Why would it be there? Angie hadn’t seen it at all today.”

“Are you sure Angie? You have some gold stuff on your hands that wasn’t there before the three of you went room checking you know. Could it have been from something else you touched?” Tsumugi asked.

Angie looked confused as she started peeling off gold from her hands, like she hadn’t noticed it was there before. Maybe as an artist she was just too used to the feeling of stuff being stuck to her hands?

When she proved to herself it was there she contemplated things for a moment, before clapping her hands together. She walked over to the doorknob and leaned down as if to look at the underside of it.

“Ah-ha! Someone put loose gold on the bottom of the inner handle! No wonder I got some on me, if this has been done to all of the rooms like the crosspiece cutting was. But why would someone do that?”

“I am inclined to doubt that Angie, I didn’t find any such residue when I left the room I checked. Though I suppose it is a bit harder to see the lack of gold now given what I’ve been needing to touch. But on that note, I think I can agree with Kaede’s earlier assessment. While I did find a knife with some blood on it inside Kirumi’s apron pocket I doubt it’s involved in this case. Her injury has some flakes of what I can only assume is rust in it, despite the weapon being sharp enough to have cut even her hair in the swing.”

Ah. That’s why he offered to do this for us, and why Kirumi offered to examine Maki too. They’re the only ones here who always have their hands covered so they wouldn’t be directly touching any blood. But why would Kirumi have a bloody knife on her? Who else had any fresh cuts on them? Maki didn’t, right?

“I guess this also means Atua was wrong before. I mean… Kirumi was one of us so shouldn’t He have protected her? But He didn’t. Just like He didn’t do anything to help Maki.” Tsumugi thought aloud. Gonta sniffled a bit as he mumbled and nodded his own approval as Kibo also agreed with her.

The look on Angie’s face was likely the closest Kaede had ever seen her to feeling betrayed. But as she always did she was quick to cover it up, using her empty smile like a mask just like Kokichi did so often.

“W-well maybe this is just how he chooses to test us-”

“Then I don’t care if I fail. If He isn’t helping keep us safe, ALL of us safe, then He clearly isn’t the right answer for us. I’m sorry Angie, but I don’t think I can agree with His rules if we mean so little to Him.” Kibo’s words were firm here, and Tsumugi and Gonta made it clear they preferred his stance to hers.

Tenko and Kokichi made their way up as the student council began to crumble, but ultimately Tenko still chose to stay by Angie’s side, leaving the artist visibly conflicted. Her only follower didn’t believe either. But she wasn’t about to reject Tenko for that. She still needed someone who would listen to her after all.

While Ryoma and Kaito checked around to see if the three rooms were indeed the same in every way Kaede and Kokichi headed to make sure the warehouse wasn’t where any supplies may have come from.

There may have been some bickering over how badly the seance plan turned out to be as they left but she wasn’t really paying attention. It’s not like anyone could have predicted this was going to happen.

No one except for Kirumi’s killer. They’re the only one to be blamed for any of this. Them and Maki’s.

The trip down the stairs was kept mostly in silence, despite her current company. Something about Kokichi felt more conflicted than usual lately, but with how badly everything went she still couldn’t bring herself to ask about it or break the tension. It was hard for her to care about anything right now.

When they finally reached the doors to the warehouse everything looked securely sealed. Some pipes had been slipped through the handles designed to be pulled, before being bent to stay in place, and the nearby broken TV monitors had been moved to further the block the doors from being opened.

Wow, Gonta really went all out for this one didn’t he? I don’t think Tenko could twist metal like that. No wonder Kokichi said he couldn’t get in, nobody would be able to get matches or anything from here now.

There was no time to get back to the others though as the school bell rang again. From the closest monitor, Kaede could see Monosuke acting in his father’s stead again as he demanded everyone head to the trial grounds, picking at the various expensive treats from the faux penthouse set he was sitting in.

It was almost eerie how similar the two could sound when he spoke like this, even though his vocal pitch and accent were so different. Maybe whoever recorded Monokuma’s lines just put on a voice and recorded Monosuke’s too? They were machines after all, the voices had to come from somewhere.

Then again the same could be said for Kibo too couldn’t it? How should I know how any of this works.

Naturally, Kaede and Kokichi were the first to get there before everyone from the fourth floor managed to catch up with them. There was very little time to share any new findings however as the statue began to move again. It looked like Monosuke was really trying to interrupt them as much as possible.

This time she noticed how, despite looking normal enough when Kiyo and Ryoma were talking before, Monosuke apparently took the time to vandalize this sculpture too.

There was a tiny pair of spectacles on it now, much like his own, and rather than cheap yellow paint like what was used on the Monopads the black half was plated in gold to mimic Monosuke’s stripes. The fountain it held now also had what looked like tiny colorful figures based on all four of his other siblings.

Not that it mattered, as the Machosuke threw it like a fastball off to the side to begin the proceedings.

Regardless of any Gods, ghosts, or consciences that may have helped guide them to this point everyone took to their same spots in the elevator once again.

Kaito in front of Kaede, nearest the exit, while Tsumugi stood behind her near the wall. Kokichi was to Kaede’s right, with Ryoma standing between him and Kiyo, who leaned against the rails. And Tenko to Kaede’s left, with Kibo, Angie, and Gonta taking three of the four corners.

It was hard not to notice how empty the left side of the room was now, where so many of the friends stood before. But not as hard as ignoring the figure missing between her and Kokichi used to be.

Kaede liked to think it was just the sense of gravity that pulled on her affecting her stomach as an odd sense of foreboding nearly overwhelmed her. Even it simply being her shock from before catching up with her would be a preferred cause for whatever it was she was feeling, or a case of illness or nerves.

Anything but another omen of the torment that was to come.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 6: The Masked Grave’s Ritual

Deadly Life

Kaede still didn’t want to believe it. She thought she was finally regaining some control of their situation. That things were going to get better. How could this have happened?

Maki was no stranger to bloodshed so who could have possibly killed her? (Was she killed trying to defend herself or did this happen because she attacked someone else? Would Maki really do that?)

The fact this was Kiyo’s lab was a smaller area of concern. Unlike Angie’s lab, his didn’t have any locks so anyone could have done this if they weren’t complying with the student council’s nighttime curfew.

While Kirumi told her and Maki that Kiyo wasn’t Kaede didn’t think this was his doing. Something about how the artifacts were being treated didn’t line up. He was too protective of them before. (Not unless that was an act. Make you think he cared about others damaging them so him abusing them is unlikely.)

His surprise at seeing Maki’s body looked genuine enough when Kaito brought him for questioning. At least Kaito was suspecting him less now than when he first rushed down to see if this was connected to Maki wanting to pay him a visit last night. Not that it was saying much, Kaito’s still quite clearly a wreck.

Ryoma was trying to help ease Kaito’s nerves but he was also too shaken to be of much help. No one objected when the two excused themselves to see if there was anything else around that could be connected. She figured too many felt ashamed of how they treated her and Ryoma before to complain.

“For the sake of our investigation does anyone have any complaints if I go over Maki’s body? Unless Gonta would rather try, as he might be more used to corpses than I am. Not human ones of course.” Kirumi calmly asked. Kaede couldn’t help but notice Kiyo kept glancing at her like he had an objection, but he must have thought better of it as he resumed looking into what else in his lab might be involved here instead.

“Gonta can’t! Gonta not… Not smart enough to be useful like Kirumi. Kirumi smart so she do good. Besides, it not proper for gentlemen to touch a lady without her permission.” Gonta was trying to hide a light blush that came with his explanation, an odd contrast to the tear tracks that still stained his face.

“It is a bit late to ask her about that sort of thing I’m afraid. Particularly if we think we should check her for injuries that may be unrelated to the fall. I doubt anything else could be the cause of death, however. You can see where the banister underneath her broke off from even from where we’re standing.”

Kaede had to crane her head up to see what Kiyo was talking about but he was right, on the highest level there was a break in the rails. With little prompting Tenko made her way up the stairs as quickly as she could to see if there were signs of a struggle or any other clues as Angie followed, hopping all the way. (I’m impressed they have the stamina for that, since that’s on the fifth floor. Why is this so damn tall?!)

While the two were up there, Kirumi informed everyone that she kept finding some sort of ashes on Maki’s body she couldn’t explain. Kaede thought better of bringing up the candles she sent Ryoma and Maki to collect, as she didn’t want Angie to be made aware of her attempt at sabotage, and as neither he nor Angie were here no comment was made about it possibly being the Necronomicon.

This might get messy if it needs to come up in the trial though. Was Maki’s death an accident her killer tried to undo? I don’t know if someone other than Angie and I knew how this motive worked.

Nothing else seemed out of place though, no weapons or injuries on her that didn’t make any sense. Except for that weird stone mask that was laid over Maki’s face, modern looking in all but its medium.

“Why would someone want to drag poor Sun Witch ♪ Esper Ito into this anyway?!" Tsumugi bemoaned, looking torn between whether or not to pick up the mask before Kirumi waved her off to spare her the dilemma. After a depressed sigh, she got a curious expression as she looked around the lad. "Actually why is her mask even in here? It can’t really be culturally relevant right? Beyond like normal festival masks I mean.” (Leave it to Tsumugi to know what the heck that thing was or where it was from. It really is out of place.)

“You aren’t wrong about what it is, but what it represents is a fair bit different." Kiyo began, despite Tsumugi's brief attempts to assure him that he didn't have to. But there was no retracting an excuse for him to lecture. "This is the mask most associated with the serial killer Kirakira Seigi or “Sparkling Justice” who supposedly came from Spain. Naturally given the title and style of their trademark mask I am inclined to doubt that theory, as it’s too distinctly Japanese to think they would consider Spain to be their only point of origin, but they do make for an interesting modern connection to both cultures as a result. Being a serial killer who exclusively kills others of their ilk in poetic gruesome recreations of the targeted serial killer’s preferred methods also taps into various other figures and notions regarding popular concepts of “Justice” and “Karma”.” (Right, that thing again. He talked at me about it before too. It has no right to look this cute with what he says.)

For all her early objections the lesson stirred Tsumugi's geeky interest enough that she was simply bubbling with questions, as if they weren't still talking in the middle of a murder scene. “Is a stone mask really their trademark? What do you mean “they”, is there more than one person who uses this name? Do you think it’s related to that other Kira-”

“No. For all of those things." Kiyo sternly cut her off, but he obviously enjoyed having peaked her interest as he lead her off to a side of the room to continue without bothering anyone's work. "First off, the person known as Sparkling Justice is elusive so their gender is a point of debate, though I do lean in favor of that person being male myself, so I tried being as neutral as I could. Second, typically the mask they use is of the common cheap plastic affairs so I can’t really explain why this is was made to be so much more permanent and without any of its common colors either I’m afraid." And with his more basic deductions done his tone soured. "Third, I just told you they were thought to be Spanish so any similarities this has to a certain older manga are likely coincidence.”

Kaede tried to give Tsumugi a sympathetic smile at seeing her flinch at Kiyo’s surprisingly harsh response before asking a question of her own. “So do you think this mask was used to accuse Maki of something? Or mock her because of her talent? I mean an assassin and a serial killer would be kinda different right?”

“The irony is highly possible if the Kirakira connection to this design is known, and they are distinct enough that all of Kirakira ’s confirmed kills did what they did out of passion rather than a paycheck.”

“Should we be concerned by how our biggest suspect knows so much about niche serial killers?” Kokichi piped up from the second floor, staring down at them with his chin resting on his folded arms. Something felt off about him though. He was smiling like a cat toying with a mouse but there was a new cruelty to it.

“If you want to be that’s your own prerogative I’m sure. I merely felt it best to be aware given how often I travel and get considered to be either highly suspicious or a person of interest in dangerous situations.” Kiyo called back up to him, looking annoyed by how loud Kokichi was to make sure he was heard.

Kaede felt a tugging at her skirt before she looked down to find Monodam looking up at her at a loss. But much like his siblings, he’s also had a slight change in appearance. While he still hardly had any shoulders to speak of unlike the others he had somehow managed to attach Monokid’s shoulder pads to his chassis. (What? If he hates others being afraid of him why is he wearing the clothing of his victim like a trophy?!)

“Why-Did-This-Happen-Again-Miss-Kaede? Did-We-Do-Something-Wrong?” He retracted his arm as he turned to look at Maki, visibly depressed over what he was seeing. “Did-Miss-Maki-Deserve-This?”

“No. I’m not sure your motive even had anything to do with this. I mean all we found are some ashes, and that could have been anything. But don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”

“Kaede, stop being buddy-buddy with a member of the beer-stain bears! Unless you think the ashes matter for something?” Kokichi paused for a moment to look up and theatrically held his hands to his mouth before calling up to the highest floor. “HEY ANGIE YOU STILL GOT THAT WEIRDO BOOK ON YOU?!”

Angie’s head poked over the broken railing looking for Kokichi before she replied, both ignoring Kiyo's seething down below. “Nooope, It went missing sometime yesterday! Why?”

“Any reason why someone might have wanted to burn it beyond it being obviously evil and stupid?”

“Oh? Did someone find an effigy of Maki with ashes on it?”

“Depends, does her fucking corpse count as an “effigy”? ‘Cause this is one duuusty cun-”

And that last bit of vulgarity proved to be Kiyo's last straw. “Can you both please stop yelling?! You’ll find the room carries sound very well on its own.”

“Hey we’re being helpful Kiyo, stop complaining!" Kokichi yelled back down, making everything worse as per the usual. "This isn’t even a real library, Jeez.”

Kiyo's eye actually twitched as he struggled to restrain himself. “Allow me to rephrase then: If you don’t settle down I will come up there and tear out your tongues. ”

“Kaaeeeeeeeeeeeede Kiyo’s threatening meeeeeeeee~” (Oh for the love of-! Isn’t Kirumi your mom?!)

With a hand to her face, Kaede muttered some curses as she shook her head before trying to settle Kokichi's latest mess. “I’m sorry Kiyo, just bear with it for now. Trust me I know how bad loud noises can be. Or maybe you can check out one of the other rooms? Like if the book went missing maybe Angie’s lab has something.”

“Oh yes, because leaving these relics unattended with Kokichi and Angie around is a simply  marvelous idea.” He replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“They are far from unattended." Kirumi was quick to assure him to help de-escalate the situation. "I will do my best to keep them from causing harm to any of your other pieces Kiyo. Feel free to help Ryoma and Kaito if you think it may be of more benefit to us.”

The look she gave him a look that was hard to tell if it was understanding or pity as Kirumi returned the mask to its proper place in the glass case. Kiyo looked reluctant, almost angry, to follow her suggestion but he hardly had any reason not to do so with how much stress seeing his room so crowded caused him.

With Kiyo out of the way, Angie continued to confirm it was probably the Necronomicon that was burned, though she didn’t think a body would count as an effigy in this case. That would explain why Maki was still obviously dead at any rate. Unless the ritual never had a chance at succeeding.

Kaede also felt a bit more at ease going around the room now, and quickly found another distressing detail. The golden katana was gone. The sheath wasn’t, which was why she didn’t notice at first, but the blade was nowhere to be found. When she asked Kirumi confirmed she didn’t see anything that looked like it had been hit by a rusty sword, which only made its absence all the more suspicious.

Seeing nothing else of note Kaede left to see if anyone else had made any progress. Aside from Monophanie’s efforts at repainting parts of the floor with her own puke, which she only just caught before she was going to step in the mess. (EWWWWWW, as if this floor wasn’t bad enough already!?)

Trying to be a bit more pragmatic she phrased things a bit differently. “Are you alright Monophanie? Can’t you just leave this to the others? Who would have the Monokuma file in this case anyway?”

“No! No, nothing's alright! This floor is gross, the body is gross, we can’t stop daddy’s game even if we try, and we still can’t agree on anything! It’s all just making me sick. In more ways than one. Monosuke’s the only one who really likes daddy’s game so he’d have it, but why bother? Nothing here is changing!”

It was odd to see one of her captors driven to such a manic state, even Monotaro’s scarf seemed to be acting in accordance to Monophanie’s frustrations. Things being as they were she was probably also assuming that like the two times prior either she or one of her brothers was going to die soon too.

She wasn’t really paying attention to Kaede though, so she just left the bear to her own devices. With a real horrifying situation on her hands going to Angie’s lab didn’t seem nearly as stressful as before, but she didn’t even have the chance as she saw the three boys were heading back already.

“Did you guys find anything?”

“You mean aside from the wax museum thing she had going on? Not much, Kiyo saw some gold leaf might be missing from her art supplies and Angie’s probably a bit loopier than we already thought.”

“Now now Ryoma, making mementos to honor those that are gone is a common response to grief, and I find her attention to detail to be rather touching. Obviously, they lack the particular beauty that comes with bearing the human soul but she matched their likenesses to an otherwise astounding degree yes?”

“You mean she made things that look like they crawled right out of the uncanny valley of robotics man!” Kaito argued, which given Ryoma's sigh wasn't the first time he made his discomfort over the figures known.

As Kiyo shook his head with a shrug he paused as a thought came to mind. “... I do hope you won’t use such a phrase within earshot of Kibo, that could be considered most rude.” (Actually where is Kibo anyway? Or Tsumugi? Did they go to find Monosuke for the file since it’s late? There’s a better question to be asking here though. We’ll see both of them soon enough I’m sure.)

“Why would gold leaf be missing?" Kaede asked to help address the more relevant evidence. "It’s not like money matters in here or anything. Do you think it could be related to the anthropology lab’s katana? I couldn’t find the blade and it’s the only gold thing here.”

“Huh? You sure Kaede? Kiyo, you didn’t say anything about that!” Kaito said.

“Didn’t I? Must have slipped my mind, my apologies. Besides, it struck me as a more personal issue, given how Kirumi hadn’t mentioned finding rust in any of her injuries. The blade hasn’t been taken care of well at all, so I can’t see how something that rusted could be used here, and had someone recently held the handle or sheath we’d find gold on their hands from where the leaf coating tends to peel off.”

“So Angie’s missing supply could just be someone trying to replace the older gold leaf that came off when they messed with the sword without permission?” Ryoma suggested. (Or a sign someone was setting something up.)

“I could believe that, the sword has been missing since at least last night and I suspect it was taken when I spoke with Kaede yesterday. As its uses as a weapon are limited I didn’t feel a need to worry anyone, given how Maki’s lab allows for equally easy access to a wider array of much more effective tools to use”

“Seriously man? You still shoulda said something so we could help you find it!” Kaito said though Kiyo seemed to just brush him off.

As Ryoma and Kaito continued to ask about the missing antique, Kaede saw Tsumugi and Kibo come out of one of the classrooms Maki and Ryoma took candles from before. It wasn’t clear how long they tried investigating in there, but without the candles Kaede assumed they’d be pitch black so she was confused.

“Hey, aren’t those rooms a bit too dark to be checking? Or are the candles back now? Kirumi did say something about finding ashes on Maki’s body so I’m not sure where else a fire could be from.” Kaede asked them, trying to hide her involvement in the candles being moved to avoid concerning Angie later.

“Not to worry, my new flashlight function was more than sufficient enough to be most thorough in our investigations!" Kibo happily informed her. "Kirumi had said she saw Maki remove a set of candles from this area before, and they are indeed still missing. Aside from that, we didn’t see anything unusual though, so this is unlikely to matter.”

“Even if it is kinda pink for a flashlight…” Tsumugi softly muttered behind him, looking kinda embarrassed for how improvised this "function" was.

“Would you have rathered I used a different color? I should have a more traditional yellow too.”

Before she could get dragged into a debate over Kibo's abilities Kaede quickly tried to excuse herself. “I don’t think that’s the issue, but that’s still good to hear! Now if we could just get the Mono-”

And speak of the devil, there he was. Monosuke’s pacifier was still absent, but he at least had the file in hand that should narrow down when Maki was attacked last night. Or it was a file at any rate. The pad in his paws did look a bit different, like some yellow stripes were doodled on the black half of it last minute.

“No need to get your panties in a twist toots, the Monosuke file’s right here! Just had to get some kinks for it worked out. Nice to see even without using a motive you bastards are still more than bloodthirsty enough on your own to keep this game going! Even when we got some brats insisting on playing house.”

Monophanie was near enough to still overhear him and was none too pleased about his snipe from the look of things. As if to complete the set Monodam came out from Kiyo’s lab too, trying to see what the noise was about which just led to the three bears bickering again. Seeing Monodam wearing Monokid’s shoulder pads did seem to intimidate Monosuke some, though if she noticed Monophanie didn’t care.

As it quickly proved to be just another petty power struggle, and one that didn’t concern the case at hand, Kaede and the others returned to Kiyo’s lab so everyone would have access to the file’s contents.

At the very least it did confirm the fall was what killed her, so the missing katana could be unrelated. She was also killed at midnight which with the council’s curfew further narrowed down their list of suspects.

Being shoved through the railing could also make this look like her killer acted in self-defense. But Maki doesn’t like swords and if she had it then it’d still be here. There’d be no reason for anyone to have hid it, it’s not like we can test blood or anything. Unless they just didn’t want us to know there was a fight?

“See? Atua was right after all! Had Maki heeded His warning like the rest of us she wouldn’t have died-”

Angie barely had time to blink before Kaito’s fist was only inches away from her face, as Gonta stopped him mid-swing. Kaito’s face was more distressed than angry though. Like he couldn’t believe he just tried to hit a girl, but he also wasn’t regretting the attempt if it was enough to make her stop talking like that.

“Bull-fucking-shit! You can’t go blaming the victim for this! It’s not like the killer was following your rules either. Cut the crap with your “divine protection” shit already, you know we’re all in danger right now!”

Despite his words she didn’t seem phased at all. Only a bit of surprise and disappointment showed on her softly smiling face. Kaede could swear she caught a flicker of fear in her eyes, but only for a moment.

“But it’s the truth, isn’t it? Atua said the next victim would die after nighttime again and here we are.”

Ryoma’s eyes were dark and cold but there was no doubt he was nearly as angry about her accusations as Kaito was. Angry enough something about him made him seem larger than he actually was. Tenko was responding badly to it at any rate, but she was posed to try striking at him if he acted against Angie first.

“That doesn’t prove anything. Murders happening when the least people would be out is just common sense on the killer’s part, to limit witnesses, and your rule only made it easier for this to be the case. Don’t go trying to make this sound like this was somehow Maki’s fault. Not without some proof for it.”

That gave her some idea as Angie put a finger to her chin in thought, before turning to Kiyo with a broad grin. “Hey-hey~ that’s an idea! Kiyo said something about wanting to perform a seance before right? Sooo why don’t we just try asking Maki herself?”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were under the impression no one was ever actually killed in this game yes?” Kiyo pointed out, looking suspicious at her suggestion.

“Exactly! So either we can reach Maki, so she is dead and we can just ask her about what happened, or we can’t reach her because she isn’t dead and you and the others will have proof that Atua was right!”

“Or we can’t reach her because Kiyo’s seances are also full of-” Kokichi wisely shut his mouth at seeing the glare Kiyo started sending his way, but Angie’s grin just got larger at the prospect of Kiyo failing too. (Am I seriously watching some sort of occult pissing contest right now? Do we really have time for this?)

“I assure you if all the steps are followed it will work. And we do have all the supplies needed for the Caged Child seance already, we merely need to pick a darkened room to have it performed in first-”

“Why not use a seance you’ve done before huh? Experience would make it easier to work right?”

Kaede was pretty sure Kiyo was pouting as he gave Angie a look. Even his zipper seemed to be frowning. “Well, where’s the fun in that? And besides, I don’t have the supplies for any other seance that would be this… Non-invasive, I suppose you could say. Unless whoever we pick as the medium wouldn’t mind risking some… “Physical changes” while Maki speaks through them.”

“... What sort of changes are we talking about?” Tsumugi looked really nervous over the notion before getting lost in her head again with a finger to her lips. When she came back it was soon replaced with an aura of excitement as a different question occurred to her. “Are you telling me the way Maya and Pearl would change when Mia possessed them wasn’t just a silly excuse to give them her big boobs?!”

“I would say it’d be best for a girl to act as the host to minimize any such risks, but it’s not out of the question no. Though given Maki’s build I’m fairly certain it would have the… Opposite effect on you. However things like the changing of one’s eyes or hair color are typically the more common reactions.” (“Minimize” the risk? Does this happen to guys too? How the fuck is that even supposed to work?! WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT THIS?!?)

“Awww, never mind then. I’m not really sure a plain girl like me would work anyway. Even if red eyes and black hair are the best combination, if I don’t have my blue hair anymore I’ll be even harder to notice...”

“Unless she would have a personal reason to take issue with you I doubt Maki would mind. Any other volunteers? In addition to the host and myself, we need three other people to perform it correctly.”

“What exactly would everyone else be doing?” Tenko asked, looking a bit nervous and guilty as she twiddled her fingers. “‘Cause even if Maki and I kinda look alike I don’t think I’m up for something like being a host either. L-like just in case she’s kinda mad when she comes back.” (Makes sense that if Angie was onboard for this plan the rest of the student council would be too. So I should probably offer to help.)

“Even if she was in a volatile state the medium would be under the iron cage and the dog statue so there no danger of her lashing out at anyone aside from potentially the host herself. Unintended suicides may be something of a... “side effect” in a worst case scenario, but I don’t think Maki was that sort of person. Everyone else would merely be there for the summoning ritual itself, like placing those two objects.” (SIDE EFFECT ?! KIYO STOP BEING SO CALM ABOUT HORRIFYING THINGS. Ugh, I don’t want to do this...)

“Wow~ Kiyo you’re really bad at convincing people aren’t you? But I’ll help you guys out, it sounds fun.”

“Would you rather I lie about the dangers that may be present Kokichi? This was Angie’s idea, not mine.”

As if the terrified look on her face wasn’t answer enough Tenko gave him her most honest of replies. “ YES. TENKO WOULD HAVE GREATLY PREFERRED THAT THANKS. This was creepy enough already...”

“... Ah.” He obviously wasn’t expecting an answer that blunt. “So should I start doing that now then?”

“I’m sure it’s fine. As long as the spirit we get is Maki everything should be okay. She wouldn’t hurt us. Would the medium have to do anything other than just sit there? I could do that I think, but not help.” (Even if Tenko could lift those things by herself I’m not sure I could manage anything else this spooky.)

Kiyo really brightened up at Kaede’s unexpected suggestion, which was nice to see at least. “Yes, I do believe you’d work quite well. Being one of those she was closer to should also make the process go more smoothly. Not to worry, some forms of possession do come with memory loss surrounding the act so if the situation’s setting proves distressing for you it would only be but a... momentary discomfort.”

It almost looked settled, before a solemn but determined looking Kirumi chose to interject.

“No, I think I’d be better suited to this Kaede. Kaito’s still in a rather delicate state and I’m not sure you being involved with this too would help put him more at ease at all. I’d be happy to act as the medium.”

Kiyo was conflicted for a moment as he considered her offer, but even though his eyes indicate he’s still smiling under his mask Kaede couldn’t shake the feeling there’s something crueler about them now.

Maybe he’s disappointed I won’t be a part of this now despite knowing how much I hate this stuff? I mean I am on better terms with him than… basically everyone else, so he might just miss having a friend. Ugh, now I feel kinda bad. This wouldn’t be a problem if Himiko was still here, she’d be up for this.

“On second thought this may be for the best, thank you Kirumi.”

“Are you sure Kiyo? I could try to help with something else if you need me to.”

“No, I think this’ll be just fine. Unless you were exaggerating before about how you thought Kagome, Kagome was “terrifying”, given the Caged Child does have an associated song which it is similar to-”

“Hahaha no, we’re good! You all have fun with that, call me if Maki needs me or something!” (NOOOPE. NOT A CHANCE IN HELL. At least he remembered this now instead of later. Thank you sooo much Kirumi.)

Kaede did her best to ignore the sound of his chuckling and the feeling of Kirumi’s confused stare as she beelined her way out the door to find Kaito and Ryoma. Because she was definitely not running away. She was just trying to help investigate whatever else she could. Absolutely anywhere else.

Besides, finding Ryoma was a good idea anyway. He should know where the candles that belonged in those rooms were which would probably be helpful to have back now. Even if he doesn’t know where Maki left the candles she took, if they split them evenly Ryoma should have at least one for each room.

She found Kaito and Ryoma at the end of the hall, past the three empty classrooms Kiyo wanted to use, into the area that looked more mechanical. Kaito probably took off the second Angie said “seance” as he was clearly having some sort of panic attack again, while Ryoma was comforting him where he could.

At least that’s all she thought Ryoma was helping with before Kaito turned to look at her.

“K-Kaito, are you okay?! You’re bleeding!”

“I know, nothing to worry about. Just bit my tongue wrong earlier, it’s nothing I promise.” Kaito assured her, but Ryoma obviously didn’t buy it which made it hard for her to believe his words. But if he doesn’t want to talk about it there’s probably nothing she could say to convince him otherwise right now.

“Are they seriously going to waste their time on that ghost stuff Kaede?”

“That’s the plan, but I don’t want to call it a waste. I mean I can understand if Angie and Kiyo think it’s the only way they can really help investigate right now. It’s not like we have a whole lot of evidence yet, or any ideas where else to look for some. Speaking of, they probably need those candles back now.”

“Humpf. Likely right about that. Maki and I just put those things in our rooms so I’ll get them. If her’s is locked they’ll still be enough to put one in each room for now anyway. I’ll be right back.” Despite his attempt at an aloof attitude Ryoma was gone in the blink of an eye. It was still a shock to see how fast he could be when he took something seriously, especially up close unlike when he avoided Tenko before.

And this is him being “rusty”, not in his prime or anything! The world of tennis must be super impressive. Maybe I should try asking him more about it some time. He’s mostly just hung out with Kaito, Maki, and Kiyo as far as I know so branching out a bit more might be nice for him. Especially with Maki gone now.

“What are you two talking about?” Kaito asked, but not with suspicion despite their situation. That didn’t make Kaede any less nervous as she decided to answer him honestly, since Angie wasn’t in earshot.

“When I joined the council I was able to look at the motive the bears gave us. It couldn’t be used if Angie couldn’t burn it, so to be on the safe side I asked Maki and Ryoma to hide any sources of fire we could. Since they were the closest to her the candles were the first things to go. Just to buy us a bit more time.”

“Hmm, good thinking then. Ya coulda tried telling me earlier though, I wasn’t going to talk to her.”

“I know, I just didn’t want to risk being overheard or overloading you or anything. Are you really alright? I mean your health wasn’t the best before and now Maki’s…”

“I told you, I don’t need you worrying over me! I’m fine. Guys are tough ya’ know, just focus on yourself.” Kaito tried offering her a cheesy large grin and a thumbs up as if to prove his words, but she knew better. She could see he was pushing himself, but returned his grin with a weak smile and nodded back anyway.

He’s too stubborn to accept anything else from me right now. He’ll just need some more time. Then when he’s ready I can only hope he’ll seek me or Ryoma out. I’m not ready to try fighting with him about this.

Kaede helped Kaito take refuge in the computer lab when she saw Angie, Kirumi, and Kiyo come out of his lab, heading towards the three classrooms. Given what they were saying it sounded like they were just checking to see which of the three should be used for their ritual, to see if any of them “felt” right.

When Kaito insisted he’d be fine there alone Kaede went back to wait for Ryoma and the candles, but she couldn’t tell who went into each room. But Ryoma was true to his word as it was only a matter of minutes before he got back with five candles in hand. Not six. So one room would be short a candle.

She tried asking him about the missing one but he only said he couldn’t find it in Maki’s room. He assumed she may had it with her when she died and then someone else took it, as with the warehouse locked there wouldn’t be that many other sources of fire to burn whatever made the ashes on her body.

Angie’s timing couldn’t be better as she walked out of the middle room at that moment, so Kaede was able to give her the fifth candle to return it to that. Luckily she was too grateful to them for “finding” it to ask how they managed it in the first place, but Kaede couldn’t help but notice her hands had some gold flecks on them that wasn’t there before. At least she thought it was gold, with how they caught the light.

Rather than comment on it, given how messy making art could be and how she just may have missed them before in the lab’s lighting, Kaede took her two candles and headed towards the one on her left as she faced them while Ryoma took the remaining two to the side room farthest right.

She had no idea what a mistake that would turn out to be.

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[lore-a-lie]

Chapter 2, Act 5: The Curious Case of the Siblings Shinguji

Daily Life- Free Time

Korekiyo wasn’t expecting any company as he left the dining hall the next day. He certainly wasn’t expecting it to be Kibo either. But lo and behold here they were, with the robotic approximation of a boy offering him the Story of Tokono. And who was he to turn down such a fine gift? It hardly mattered if the volume could be found in his lab or not, it wasn’t often he was the target of friendly gestures like this.

“So what brings you here Kibo? People rarely offer gifts without the expectation of gaining something in return. May I help you with something?”

“I hope you can? I was just wondering what your stance is in regards to Atua. You must know a lot about many faiths, even if you don’t strike me as religious yourself, given your various studies I assume.”

Ah, I see. Perhaps it would be for the best to tread cautiously then. I have no reason to cause him any undue crisis just yet at any rate.

“I have no knowledge on the sort of Atua she worships so if you’re looking for any particular works of his I’m afraid I can’t be of much service. If you’re asking whether or not I believe there is any truth to her claims of possession or divine inspiration… There are many cases across the globe that boast such claims and it’s nigh impossible to separate true instances from mere bouts of madness. But as in my personal experience, I know other forms of possession to be true among human subjects I see no reason to doubt it being possible in her case either. Does this answer suffice?”

Attempting to convince one who’s been brainwashed that the subject of their belief doesn’t exist would only serve to make things more difficult for everyone at present. Besides, I’m not really lying to him yet.

“So there’s no way to know for sure?” Kibo still looked most conflicted with his answer. ( Was he looking for genuine “proof” of Atua’s existence even if he was at “His prophet’s” beck and call? Most intriguing. )

“In this case no, but that is why this is called “faith” yes? If you choose to believe in Angie that’s up to you, just as none could force me to agree with her either. Not out of any disrespect for her mind you, but in my line of work I find it most useful to keep myself unconcerned with any “gods” I’m presented with. If invoking one is a matter of politeness then I will do what I must, but I’ve encountered too many that contradict each other to believe in more than their follower’s stories they are presented with.”

“I see… So this is what the emotion “faith” feels like. I understand! But to you this is more about putting my trust, my “faith”, in Angie rather than believing in Him?”

... You “understand” nothing Kibo. Faith isn’t an emotion, but rather a feeling based on one's belief- No. That might take a while to distinguish for him. And he is certainly trying to better understand himself. I’ll let him keep this, it should do his self-esteem some good at the very least. Correcting him can come later.

It was likely to Korekiyo’s benefit Kibo wasn’t one to take much notice of subtle social cues like “awkward pauses”, as from what he gathered from the way Kibo looked at him he was assuming his friend was merely talking a while to think through his response. The fact it was a positive one was likely also a sign Kibo was rather poor at reading any of Korekiyo’s expressions too, perhaps due to what his mask covers.

“For myself, most certainly. Humans are the only thing I’m truly concerned about, even if the topic can branch into other subjects such as what’s created through their beliefs. They can provide interesting similarities among different groups of people even if the groups involved had never once interacted.”

“How exactly are you defining “human” Kiyo?” ( ... Right. Persecution complex. How quaint. No matter. )

“Kehehe, am I being added to your list of “robophobic” individuals now? I meant no such offense. I’m certainly open to studying other sapient species should the opportunity arise, such as Gonta’s Reptites, for they provide new means of comparing human cultures. To better see what may be “universal” thoughts among sentient beings and thus sort out what may be more human-centric points of issue. I am an anthropologist after all; the human element would remain my greatest point of interest. As such I am more inclined to think of you in human terms, to better match your mind, rather than robotic ones.”

The issue of personhood would remain an open point of debate I’m sure, but humans have often tried to deny each other this right. Even if his robotic nature does make his case less interesting to me personally.

“I would appreciate not being limited to be thought of one way or the other. I may be based on humans but I’m not sure how accurate your assessment is as there are many aspects of the human condition I am obviously not attuned to. Like… Gender. I have no idea how this would apply to someone like me.”

Why must you be so difficult? I hardly need the reminder about your numerous inadequacies- No. Best not to think about him in such a way. Lackluster as he may be in concept, he’s still more than human enough in practice. Particularly with these horrid animatronic bears serving as a point of comparison.

“There are many things people can’t be sure they truly understand about themselves or others. Even gender as it’s conventionally considered isn’t nearly as rigid or binary as some cultures, such as our own, like to portray and socialize them as. Not that some of us here would likely understand I’m sure.”

Immature as it may be Korekiyo hoped the soft jab at a few of their friend’s expenses would help lighten some of Kibo’s tone, but it was hard for him to tell if it worked as intended. Not an unusual experience for him by any means, so instead he changed direction.

“Do you have any issues with how we are addressing you because of this? Many aspects of your appearance do incline one to treat you as though you are male but I understand if this can prove to be rather vexing for you.”

“Well… No. I don’t think I do at least? It’s not like I know what else I would like to be called, and this is certainly easier for everyone. “It” or “They” are too othering, trying to use female terms for myself doesn’t feel right at all, and anything else sounds... kinda weird to me. But I will certainly keep this information in mind for future reference!” ( There we go, he’s in higher spirits now. Much better. )

“I’m glad I could be of some service to you then. I do apologize if it’s not quite what you were expecting of me. Though given current tensions in the school I find your own visit here most peculiar. Is your council having any troubles the rest of us should be aware of?”

“N-no, not at all! Everything is under control. We even got another member last night. Nothing to be worried about.” Kibo said though he was as bad a liar as ever, since he strove to look anywhere else rather than risk meeting Korekiyo’s gaze. It was always fascinating to see how lying changed people.

This did limit the possibilities on who the new recruit could be if nothing else. But between Kokichi and Kaede this reaction was still a toss-up given Kibo’s personal grievances with both of them as of late.

“I’m sorry but I’ll have to be going now. Student council business. But thank you for your help Kiyo.”

With that not unpleasant anomaly out of the way, Kiyo returned to going over his lab’s works. There was still so much to discover, even with the delightful boons already uncovered such as the original Caged Dog Village’s tragic tome and its related artifacts. Not to mention how they already served to inspire him.

It almost seemed unfair for his lab to be so much larger and densely stocked than the others discovered thus far, but he wasn’t about to complain. A certain artist waltzing in unannounced and messing with the artifacts whilst he was preoccupied on the higher levels was a different story.

“Do be careful with how you are handling those Angie, pieces as old as these can be most delicate. Are you looking for references or inspiration perhaps?” (She’s not one to respond well to hostility, I’m not sure how often she’s ever even encountered it before. So let’s just try to stay calm. She’s no Kokichi. )

“Nope! Just looking. Atua provides me with all the inspiration I’ll ever need. And to ask you a question, has Kaede tried talking to you yet today?” (So it was Kaede after all. Odd choice to join her rival’s cult. )

“No, which isn’t surprising as she’s been giving my lab and to a lesser extent myself a fair berth as of late. Should I be expecting her?” Korekiyo was grateful for the lack of walls to dampen his voice as he made his way to the ground floor. Partly as it’d be less rude to carry a conversation that way and partly to make it easier keep her out of trouble. “Though if you have the time I would love to hear more about what your people and customs are like. If we manage to leave this place I’d enjoy paying your home visit.”

“You shouldn’t keep thinking like that you know. It’ll only cause more problems for us in here. You wouldn’t want Atua to punish you for defying his will now would you?”

How about I “punish” you instead, you conniving close-minded childish-  Calm down. Just avoid the topic. Neither of your opinions will be swayed here. She hasn’t been averse to talking about her culture in the past so simply reframe your request in a way that better plays to her own desires.

“I’d like to see him try, it would be a most unique experience I’m sure. Kehehe, it may even be able to make a believer out of me yet. But I would genuinely like to know more of your background even if the outside is no longer an option. If you think “culture clash” may be an issue you face when relating to the rest of us this could prove to be most beneficial for everyone in the long term could it not?”

There might have been a bit too much venom in his response to count as “calm” but the effort was being made. Angie wasn’t particularly convinced to become any more forthcoming unfortunately, but she hid her frustration with him most admirably with a large smile and hands clasped together in forced glee.

“Hopefully things won’t need to be that drastic for you to see the light! But until you do Angie doesn’t think she’ll be sharing anything just yet. If Kiyo doesn’t trust Angie why should Angie trust Kiyo?”

None of you should but you’re all essentially doing so anyway. Such a beautiful mistake in the making. It’ll almost be a shame when everyone else realizes this. But I’m sure your reactions will be well worth it.

“Why should I trust you in the first place? Given you won’t let anyone but yourself even look at our latest motive, much less weigh in on decisions regarding it. You do realize that the book it claims to be was the fictional creation of a certain Mr. Lovecraft yes? Hardly any reason for us to put stock into its claims about revival, even if you view it as a retrieval. Though with how you invoke your “Atua” for your own benefit I can see why honesty may not matter to you. What people think is more important to you yes?”

“... Angie doesn’t think she wants to talk to you anymore now. She doesn’t need to bother with baseless ramblings. Atua knows something’s wrong with you, and now He thinks maybe she can’t even help you anymore. But hopefully Kaede could talk some sense into you. Or at least make you see you’re wrong.”

I already know I am suspicious and “odd” Angie, your bluffs at knowing anything more are but a waste. Had you any sort of divine “protection” at least one of us wouldn’t be in here right now, would we?

Korekiyo did feel a twinge of what may have been guilt at the sight of her still masking her anger with a small smile as she left his lab in a hurry. He often had troubles dealing with personalities like hers, much in the same way talking to children can prove a most tiresome and fruitless endeavor.

It was a shame he might not get the chance to learn at least who Angie’s people were before her time came, but such is life. She did at least give him something to look into at the present though, even if Kaede may not appreciate him visiting just yet.

He didn’t need to look for her for long, as she was in her lab much like his map indicated. Hopefully his intrusion wouldn’t be too upsetting for her, as he had been trying to make up for his earlier mistake. One never could tell how long a person could be negatively affected by an act of carelessness like this.

It was a pleasant surprise that she didn’t look too bothered by his presence. She even took the time to pause her playing to properly address him. “Oh, hey Kiyo. Are you looking for something? I’m not sure I have many songs here that fit what you said interested you before, but I’d be happy to help if I could.”

“I’m actually here because Angie indicated you may be wishing to talk to me about something. Perhaps relating to why our previous leader has apparently joined our would be dictator’s tyrannical cult?”

“O-oh. Well first off it’s probably not what you’re thinking. Just… Make sure the door is closed okay?” ( And what would she think I’d be assuming? She’s not the weak-willed sort of person who’d genuinely buy into something like this, nor does a new loss of faith feel fitting. But neither was Tenko I suppose. )

Once she was confident the soundproofed door was firmly shut she resumed playing as if hoping the extra noise would further help mask what was being discussed. A pity to see how this game was making her become more paranoid to try and respond to their previous tragedies, but an understandable one.

And there is always something beautiful in the way humans learn to adapt to their situations, for better or for ill. It would be wonderful to see how else our situation might try to change her for the sake of protecting herself and those she has come to care about. Assuming she can last long enough to show it.

“I’ve already talked to Kaito and Kokichi about this but I’m just trying to convince Angie to postpone the ritual for another day. As far as she should be concerned I joined the student council to unite the class again and that means this day is to “convert” you all so the motive will be used as a group event of sorts tomorrow. I didn’t know what else I could do, since trying to stop her probably wouldn’t have worked.”

“So you’d like for us to all play along with this for the time being?”

“If you could that’d be great. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to take the book away from her or something as a more permanent solution for this. I don’t want to risk it being used for real.”

“You do realize Kirumi was likely already attempting something similar yes? Her dedication to Angie’s ideals is obviously untrue, given how worried she is about her supposed wards beyond our current cage. I do believe you even saw firsthand how surprisingly lax she is being with her duties last night, despite how she normally fulfills her given tasks down to their very letter. Unless my ears had deceived me.”

“Well I… I mean I didn’t know for sure before, and I have no idea what she’s actually planning to do when Angie’s really ready to try and bring back Himiko.”

Because you are still all too trusting even with how this place has tried to change you. It’s not like Angie was ever one of her actual “citizens” and Kirumi will do anything to leave this place. Why else allow me to do as I will but try to set me up as her perfect patsy, given the ample opportunities I’d have with how our labs are on the same floor? It wouldn’t even be wrong of you to suspect me of doing such a thing.

“Do you really think she’ll believe you if you claim we’ve all had a change of heart? She’d have more than enough reason to think Kokichi, Kaito, or I are being less than sincere and her disdain for Ryoma and Maki has been equally apparent.”

“I think this does still have a chance of working. And speaking of… Try to go easy on Kaito for awhile okay? He hasn’t been well lately and I don’t want him getting any worse so I’m trying to help with stress.” 

Oh my, now this is interesting. She’s referring to that boorish brute of a boy from the other night, isn’t she? It would serve him right to be paid another visit for how he treated me. Honestly Korekiyo you really do need to raise your standards if you’re honestly considering someone that rude as a “friend” of yours.

Come now Sister, he isn’t so bad. Merely a bit old fashioned and a touch too earnest for his own good. Besides, it isn’t like you to be so active this early, no need to be hasty. Best we not rock the boat just yet.

Unexpected as his sister’s input was it wasn’t hard to keep any signs of his newly divided attention from showing. He’s had years of practice after all, and Kaede had no reason to look for any changes. She’d probably just take any pause she’d notice as being a moment while he considered her request.

“Of course, besides I doubt I’ll be seeing him much today at any rate. I do hope he improves soon.”

Are you seriously refusing me , brother? This isn’t like you either. Certainly not for a miserable lot like this. What could even be the harm of it? I merely want to mess with him a little. You can’t deny you’d like to see how he squirms when pushed too, with how pitiful his nerves are. Unless she’s who you’d rather see?

It’s not like that Sister. If everything is to go to plan it’d be best not to draw needless attention to myself.

Fine. But I think I want to be properly introduced to her next. You’d at least still do that for me, right little brother?

If Kaede saw anything off in his demeanor as he excused himself to head back to his lab she didn’t show it. This was a conversation best held in private, and certainly nowhere near the subject of discussion.

Not that he was terribly taken aback by his sister’s request, odd as the timing may be. He had already even gotten Kaede’s permission to prepare for this occasion quite some time ago, before even Rantaro died, and seeing his motive video didn’t seem to change her mind so this shouldn’t have been a surprise.

It’s not like he’s tried asking this of any of his other friends he thought would live up to his dear sister’s expectations yet either. Admittedly due in part to most already giving their consent earlier, as he didn’t wish to risk making any suspicious by reaffirming statements likely only said to help ease his worries.

Are you sure? She’s proven more useful than most of the others in the trials we’ve been facing in here. It’d be a shame to fail so close to your goal over losing a mere game such as this.

You’re not questioning me now, are you? Kukuku~ it’s a bit late for your rebellious stage, isn’t it?

Never Sister. I’d be nothing without you. I’m sure between Kaito’s experience and Kokichi’s intuition we’d be able to survive well without her. But should I hold back if someone else makes for a better target first?

As long as she’s the one you’re planning on I suppose it would be fine to also take advantage of a good moment. No point in ignoring someone so eager to meet with me if they unintentionally interrupt us. We wouldn’t want to waste an opportunity like what happened to Miss Yumeno again now would we? I was so looking forward to being able to learn more about her, but since you weren’t involved I can’t find her.

… Right. At least Miu’s death was no such loss for you, even if she could be amusing to me on occasion. But I best make sure current plans are going to schedule. I shan’t keep you waiting for much longer now.

At least that was enough to ease Her spirit’s concerns for now. She was still there of course, still watching over him as she normally does to help ease and guide him, but as a silent observer for the time being. This would just mean she’d be more likely to chime in on any of his other conversations from now on.

Particularly since to make sure everything was going as he’d thought they would he’d be visiting with Kirumi next. He already had a bottle of Cleopatra's Pearl Cocktail he assumed she’d enjoy so she shouldn’t refuse his company if he offered to share some with her in her lab. ( Though with its claim to help make one beautiful I’m inclined to think almost every girl here would be at least a little intrigued. )

She took the bait as expected. She hardly even considered his request to be unusual, so perhaps she thought this was a means of repaying her for her earlier leniency. From a certain point of view that could even be considered true. Her bloodlust gave him a safe window to act on his, so he is genuinely grateful.

Even though she could just as easily turn on you instead? I don’t like this little brother. You could have at least indicated to someone you two would be meeting in case something goes wrong.

I’m far more useful to her alive than dead Sister. If she wants to get away with murder in this place she needs someone to take the fall for her instead. Trying to set Ryoma up as a case of suicide was a boat that has long since sailed and with how I am it’d be easy to believably accuse me of killing anyone.

In an attempt to avoid getting lost in his own thoughts in front of her Korekiyo saw fit to break their comfortable silence. “So how does one such as yourself find any comfort among the student council? Has your sense of obligation towards us outweighed that of your supposed role as Prime Minister now?”

“Not “outweighed” so to speak, but I have made my peace with our situation for now. I do hope we can find a means to leave, despite Angie’s beliefs, but I saw firsthand my previous thoughts on how to do so were...deeply flawed. I merely want to make sure everyone’s lives here are as comfortable and bearable as possible until that time can come. And what about your sister? Aren’t you still worried about her?”

She is an amusing one, isn’t she? She’s even trying to avoid directly lying to you as if you were Oma. What a foolish girl. The inexperience of her youth betrays her no matter how mature she pretends to be.

But her heart’s in the right place. It’s only natural for someone like her to think of people as numbers that she can weigh against each other, as if there can ever be truly acceptable losses in any form of tragedy.

“I too have made my own peace of sorts, but at least I’m still being open about my desire to leave. While I’m here I do still have my lab and a unique set of human experiences to observe to pass the time. But your denial of weight begs the question, how do you value others? There are many ways to view it.”

“I could ask you the same thing then. But for me, if I can’t put the needs of my master first then I seek to aid those who can do the most good for others in general. That is why my initial reaction to certain circumstances was to act as though my own life was worth more than that of the rest of you. My master, our nation, still needed my service and on top of that I saw myself as best equipped to help everyone at risk.”

“So you use the perspective of your society as a whole? That’s rather arrogant of you wouldn’t you say? As “Prime Minister” you could easily argue your life was worth more than many larger groups of people. I value all of humanity, for all of their flaws, too much to accept such a thing. A life is worth one life, no more and most certainly no less, regardless of the actions a person may take or their physical condition. My fieldwork exposes me to too many differing sets of morals and values to try and use anything else, and all remain equal in death I find. All I can do to gauge beyond that is how I personally see a person.”

“I’m not putting myself first for the sake of my own needs so I don’t think “arrogant” is the proper word for it." Kirumi objected with a stern glare before she took another sip to settle herself. "It’s hard to really know how you’ll feel about judging others until you are truly tested I think. All I know is that as a maid it’s my duty to serve my wards as well as I am able. They are my only concern.”

Adorable sentiments if they are true, but I very much doubt that. Just look at how she bristles at the revelation of her hubris rather than taking the moment to self-reflect on it. However I do quite admire her spirit and determination, you’re right about that. Too bad you're having another one of those days where you keep getting under everyone’s skin though Korekiyo. Kukuku~

I'm glad you're enjoying yourself but I don't suppose you'd actually help narrow down if I'm the one too on edge or if it's everyone's nerves that's to blame for this, would you dear sister?

Now, why would I ever do something like that? It's so much more fun to see how your "friends" are when angered, given how much of them we've yet to see.

True, but it might be easier to observe all facets of their beauty if I'm not the target of their ire, yes?

Details, details~

“Responsibility is a virtue I more than understand I assure you, nor am I judging you for how you’ve chosen to best balance what you value the most. There is no shame to be had in expressing some selfishness afterall. And I’d certainly put my sister’s needs or wishes before my own as well, should she need me to. I simply don’t feel she needs me to endanger myself or others to leave this place just yet.”

Indeed, for if we play our cards right you won’t even need to leave to finally finish your promise. Though it will be a shame to lose a girl like Miss Yonaga to Miss Tojo, she would’ve made for a fine friend too.

“You accuse me of arrogance and then claim you aren’t judging me? Isn’t that rather contrary?”

“True. Perhaps it is best to say I am not negatively judging you. All aspects of humanity are beautiful to me, even those conventionally seen as ugly or “wrong”. I see nothing wrong with someone as generally selfless as yourself having flaws such as this. I certainly don't look up to you any less for them, if anything I think they make me admire your work ethic all the more." He assured her, which seemed to catch Kirumi by surprise which was a rare feat. She might have even been blushing a tad, since she turned her head away so her bangs hid most of her face. With a smile and a shug he continued. "Focusing only on one's “good” qualities can never give you a real idea of who they were. Humans are interesting because of their imperfections, not in spite of them. If people were perfect they wouldn’t be as wonderfully unpredictable as they truly are.”

As she faced him again she eyed him with some suspicion. He wasn't sure if it was because she was doubting his intentions with this talk or began thinking his words were hallow, but she didn't let him wonder for long. “I see. And do you see any contradiction in how you speak of “humanity” as if you aren’t a part of it?”

Touche. It is easy to sound like one has something of a God complex like this. Not to mention the irony of preaching the benefits of “unpredictability” to someone we’re relying on accurately predicting for now.

“I’m more often an observer than a participant so I’m inclined think it oft comes with the territory. It’s easy to divorce yourself from others. You have those not under your care, I have my subjects of study.”

She hummed a little at that, as if more in thought than agreement, but his answer satisfied her enough. They returned to drinking in silence for some time before Korekiyo made his leave, giving her what was left of the bottle in gratitude for her conversation and company.

It was nearly nighttime when he got back to his lab, but it wasn’t empty when he arrived. Maki had apparently made herself comfortable near one of many bookshelves, though when she heard him come in she put whichever book she was reading aside. If she wasn’t there to read there isn’t much else she could be looking for but him, given the sort of person she was. This was sure to be interesting.

What is she doing here? Send her away brother, we have no need for her company. We don’t need her lingering this late and interrupting Miss Tojo’s plans like she did last night. Even that delay was vexing.

Sister please, if she has been waiting to speak with me the least I can do for her is hear her out. It must be something unusual for her to come here. She’s far from the social type and we haven’t spoken much.

“Good evening, my apologies if I interrupted you. This is quite the surprise, seeing you here.” Korekiyo began as he offered her a brief bow.

Maki wasn't the sort to be offended by tardiness or mince words though. “You didn’t. I was hoping to talk to you actually.”

Why? Korekiyo I do not like this at all. Why must you keep interacting with such dangerous women?!

I hear you Sister but she’s hardly dangerous. Her talent being exposed puts too much suspicion on her to risk doing anything drastic. If she says she’s here to talk then there’s no reason to doubt her about that.

“Really? I’m sorry to have kept you waiting then. How may I help you? But isn’t it a bit late for this?”

“No, it’s fine. And there’s no point in acting like you actually care about any council’s curfews either. But…” Maki paused as if debating with herself for a moment, fiddling with her collar while in thought. Korekiyo took a seat near her as he waited to see what was on her mind. “... The only reason I’m asking you of all people is because no one would believe you if you breathed a word about any of this. And Ryoma indicted you aren’t as clueless about this sorta stuff as the rest of us mostly are. Got it?”

“Understood, but you do realize Angie’s just down the hall and doesn’t always stay in her lab yes?” Korekiyo reminded her but given her glare was less than appreciated. At least until it softened into a frustrated puffy faced pout as she nearly undid her bow with her fidgeting.

Realizing her mistake with a blush she instead shoved an item in front of his face to try and force things along. A mummified monkey’s paw no less. Awfully fitting considering what Monosuke indicated the results of a resurrection could turn out like. And as Korekiyo gladly took her bribe she found her voice.

“How… do you know when you like someone?” He heard her ask in a hushed tone and time seemed to screech to a halt.

… What ?

This… was not good. There is a reason why “May you live in interesting times” is considered to be meant as a curse, not a blessing.

He could only hope any pause on his part was taken as him thinking of a response to her question rather than dealing with the migraine to come. It was hard to tell where his own feelings ended and his sister’s began when situations got like this. But pain was far from a stranger and hiding it came naturally enough.

See what happens when you don’t listen to me?! Honestly, the nerve of this girl! How dare she ask us something like this. She could ask just about anyone else and no one would ever judge HER for whatever silly crush she’s dealing with! No matter how much blood is on her hands I doubt even the target of her affections would ever look at her with such… DISGUST . Korekiyo if you don’t get rid of her now I WILL.

Calm down Sister, she doesn’t know. And kicking her out for such a trivial mistake would be rather uncalled for, would it not? We don’t need her looking into us. Let’s just try to be more reasonable here-

And what, risk you saying too much again? You were pushing it as it was when you let that boy sidetrack you after you tried giving away that damned key! We both know what would happen to you if they find out, even if we do keep my current condition or my friends under wraps! They’d still look at you that way.

Regardless of how little it concerns them they’d still judge you, mock you, reject you, for this. For us .

Just like everyone else did. It always plays out the same, and these people will be no different Korekiyo.

And if I or the friends you’ve made for me do come to light they may very well try to kill you for it! Even if the blood you’ve shead for my sake couldn’t possibly compare to any of her measly blood money hits, or maybe not even match that of Killer Tennis’ bodycount, they’d see you as the threat. And what then?

I know Sister! I… I’m sorry. For everything you… that WE were put through before. But I can handle this.

“... If Ryoma gave you this impression then you know surely he’d be a better person for you to ask about this yes? As far as I’m concerned matters of the heart are a strictly private issue, not one for discussing.”

“Well I- I don’t know how I feel." She stammered, torn between looking embarassed and angered. "It could be something else. The closest I’ve come to feeling something like this was for a girl I knew back at the orphanage. Ryoma and Kaito tell each other everything so I can’t just ask him about anything…”

Okay. So she doesn’t need any personal information about this from me, just an outsider’s perspective. That… isn’t so bad. I just need to keep her the focus of this and act as an interactive sounding board.

BROTHER?!

Oh come now, can you really tell me you aren’t a little curious about our little assassin developing a crush on the world’s densest space cadet? Don’t forget who was the one bringing you those romance novels you’d ask for when you were ill. I remember what you like. And who knows where this could lead?

That was not the same thing! … But fine. If only to further mess with that awful boy. She suits him.

“So you are conflicted on if this is a crush or more… friendly or familial affections? For our own Kaito?”

The shade of the blush on her face alone was almost worth the literal headache, and heartache, that came with his sister’s frustration. For such a cold killer her range of expressions never ceased to amaze.

“... Something like that.” Maki mumbled, though it looked more like she was talking to her poorly re-tied and battered bow than to Korekiyo with her face still aflame. Red was certainly a color that suited her.

“So not quite? Are you also trying to sort out what you felt for your “friend” back then was too?”

“Maybe. So… How would I know?” It was likely a good thing she was too focused on her own thoughts to notice any of Korekiyo’s discomfort as she redirected things back to him. But there was an easy fix here.

“I couldn’t say. For some friends can be just as important as a lover, and to some others even more so. This is what part of what makes it so personal. How much do you think they mean to you?”

“... I’d be more upset if something happened to Kaito than the rest of you. No offense, but that’s really not saying much in this situation. But I was willing to kill for her. So she wouldn’t be forced to.”

“To be fair willing to kill for his sake here would be suicide at best and detrimental to you both at worst. Is that why you’re suspecting you may have felt more for her than just friendship or surrogate sibling?”

Bad move brother. What exactly are you going to say if she can’t figure out if her feelings for this girl were “sisterly” or “romantic”? And you could stand to be just a littleoffended by her lack of concern.

“A bit. I mean… It wouldn’t be normal to develop feelings in a place like this in such a short amount of time, would it?”

“It’s actually more common for strong bonds to develop quickly in times of great stress so it’s far from unusual. Which is why asking someone like Kibo, Kaede, or even Tenko may be more useful to you here.”

“I think you just mean Kaede, the other two aren’t exactly open-minded about me. And if I did Kaito might find out what I asked her about. Or worse Kokichi. He’s been hanging around her a lot lately.”

That would be a lot of fun. Maybe you should tell Oma anyway? It might make him less wary of you.

Sister no. Living is very much to our benefit at present.

“Fair point. Would it be so bad to just try talking to Kaito about this? He’s brash, but not inconsiderate.”

Korekiyo figured the glower he received was answer enough. So much for simply cutting this Gordian Knot. “No need to give me that look, I am being serious. If he had any existing relationships I’m sure he’d say so by now and he’s not the sort of person to play with a girl’s honest emotions. Would it hurt to try?”

You would know all about that, wouldn’t you little brother? Not always a girl’s honest emotions either. But they are ever so fun to toy with, aren’t they? Especially when something in them finally breaks.

“Fine. I guess I’ll think about it. And if any rumors start floating around before then you’re a dead man.”

“That’s a bit drastic wouldn’t you say? It’s not like you or he have been particularly subtle, as I’m sure you’ve noticed from the way Kokichi has tried teasing you both before. But rest assured, I won’t talk.”

“That would be a change.” Maki deadpanned, smirk naturally falling into place with it’s signature quirk.

Almost sad to consider an adorable if unusual physical feature like that might be part of why she hadn’t been adopted by a normal family when she still had a chance. Vanity could make people be ever so cruel.

“Alright, poor phrasing on my part. But it’s not like I’m one to participate in gossip anyway. Honestly I’d have much preferred going into the story connected to the paw you have so graciously given me than something of this nature. Or even how your work has affected your own views on the concept of death.”

“The one with the three wishes that keep going wrong? I think I’ve heard that one before. I think I’ll stop taking up your time though, just in case Kirumi comes by to check on you again. And… Thank you. It was nice to see Ryoma was right. You aren’t as much of a creepy weirdo as you could be. My words, not his.”

… How is an assassin able to be so blind to our intentions brother? Are you sure she isn’t toying with us?

It’s hardly like I’ve had any actual intent to kill around her. Not like Kirumi has. It makes sense she’d be more on Maki’s radar than I am. If you look suspicious enough sometimes you stop being suspicious.

And other times it just puts you on a fast track to be on a first name basis with the local sheriff. Again.

And yet that familiarity served its purpose, as they were still none the wiser and saw nothing wrong with me leaving town as a result even after her delightful daughter “ran away from home”, did it not?

He couldn’t help but laugh a little at the irony of it all while he gave her a partial bow as she departed. “Kehehe. I’m not sure your assessment, blunt as it was, is truly accurate. But I appreciate your praise, such as it is, all the same and do sincerely wish you the best. I’ll be rooting for you, so take care, Maki.”

He couldn’t really afford to spend too much time here himself though either. Kirumi would be less likely to do anything tonight if there was a chance he was still in earshot, and she already made an excuse if anyone rightly thought he was in bed when her crime was being committed with her Monopad trick.

It was tempting to at least try paying Angie one last visit before he left, but all things considered he thought better of it. Too much evidence against him could make proving Kirumi’s guilt harder if Kaede won’t be there to help anymore. But he could live with his last memory of Angie before her death being one that ended on poorer terms. He’s certainly had worse with all the friends he’s helped his sister make.

Getting back to the dorms was rather uneventful at any rate, but it was a small comfort for him to know that Gonta and Ryoma both made it clear they saw him. Witnesses will be a great boon in proving his innocence if the class turns out to be more inclined to trust Kirumi’s word over his own tomorrow. Gonta even insisted on walking back with him, to help ensure Korekiyo was indeed following the curfew now.

What will he and the others do with their leader gone? Would the cult remain without her guidance, or simply fall apart due to a loss of faith? Who would fill the voids Angie and Kaede would leave behind? Kaito? Kibo? Certainly not Kokichi, the imp’s too fond of implicitly pushing people to do what he wants.

He had ample time to think as he got ready for bed. It might not take as much time to undress and take off his sister’s preferred makeup than it does to put everything on but that wasn’t saying much.

Not to mention donning his sleeping mask and whatnot afterward. Sister was a tad too impatient to be in control when their body needed to rest so that was hardly an optional step for him anymore.

But before he entered his slumber he still had one question he needed to ask her first. And as there was no risk of interruptions they wouldn’t need to be as quiet this time. She did prefer to speak for herself.

“Sister, do you suppose voting for Kirumi tomorrow would be enough involvement for her spirit to reach you? I know indirect killings are far less reliable, but it could still work could it not?”

It wasn’t really his hand that reached to pull his mask down anymore, as odd a sensation as it was to lose control of his own body. Though it wasn’t “lost” as much as it was freely given. She didn’t even need to remove his mask to take full control, but it helped make it easier to avoid acting unusually around others.

It was more a ritual with a symbolic restraint they shared than an actual necessity for their symbiosis. Fitting considering its unconventional design, serving as a “fetish” for them in more ways than one.

She used the closest she could manage to her own voice as she answered him. “ How should I know little brother? The only chance we had to really test this was during that first execution, and you had voted for Miss Akamatsu rather than risk introducing me to a boy like Saihara by mistake back then did you not? ”

“Right, of course. But it would be nice to be able to make you two friends tomorrow instead of just one. Then we’d only need one more. Would you rather it be Tenko or Tsumugi? It won’t matter if I’m caught.”

“ Curb your impatience Korekiyo. It makes me happy to see you’re still thinking ahead, but do be careful. Over-eagerness can easily lead to one’s undoing so we mustn’t get too greedy just yet. We can’t let our emotions hasten your judgements and risk making a fatal error this close to our goal. First, we see how things will go. Then I’ll consider our options. Just focus on getting some rest for now, my sweet Korekiyo. ”

“Right, of course. My apologies. Goodnight Sister.”

He felt her response more than heard it as a hand reached to grip his shoulder while the other went around his waist. The closest either of them could get to anything resembling an embrace anymore.

Korekiyo ignored any sense of loneliness the gesture gave him in favor of basking in its intent. He should be used to this by now. And there’s nothing unusual about his pleasures having some pain intertwined.

It’s just a shame not all pains are of a sort I can find pleasure in. But it won’t be for much longer now.

The next day he had nearly finished getting ready for the day when something began pounding on his door. Odd as he hadn’t even heard the morning announcement begin yet, much less the one that signified a body discovery. Things were made odder still as it was Kaito he found on the other side looking ragged, like a man at the end of his rope, rather than a furious Tenko out for his blood.

“Did you have anything to do with this?!”

“... That depends what “this” would be. I’d offer you a good morning but it’s a bit late for that now yes? Did something happen that I should be aware of?” His answer gave Kaito some comfort as he calmed down a bit. Not the announcement choosing that particular moment to come to life helped that any.

Korekiyo really should have tried standing further away from his room’s monitor since he knew this should be coming. Or done something to help brace for how loud its parody of a school chime would be. He did so loathe loud noises like this, almost as much as he hated being bound to one place for too long.

“Okay, so you really didn’t know? That… That’s good at least. It’s in your lab, come on.”

Kaito obviously wasn’t in the mood for much talking so Korekiyo was content to merely follow his lead rather than ask questions. There wasn’t too much he felt he needed to really ask yet anyway.

Not until he saw a familiar head of silver hair in the hallway outside of his lab. Still happily bobbing along as per the usual for her, talking to Tenko standing beside her. At least Tenko hadn’t lost another friend.

Kukuku, I guess Miss Tojo wasn’t as predictable as you thought? This is good though, we haven’t lost my chance to be friends with her just yet. But whose body will we find now I wonder? Did she go for Hoshi after all?

This would explain Kaito’s current state. Or at least his response further narrowed down their options. But it wasn’t Ryoma’s body he found on the floor of his lab, lying there broken and bloody.

It was Maki’s.

It made sense Korekiyo supposed, even if the possibility slipped his mind before.

If Ryoma’s crimes helped ease any issues Kirumi could have with killing one of her citizens then so would Maki’s current profession. And if Kirumi was caught she could argue she acted for the good of the group.

But that doesn’t make this hurt any less does it? I told you, you should raise your standards little brother. Having friends like her would obviously only lead to pain or disappointment for you. They always do.

Never. This is... Bearable. And it's well worth the time spent with her. The same applies for everyone else here. Observing them all has been both informative and for the most part enjoyable, even with these... risks.

He could hardly even tell where the red of the blood ended and that of her clothing began anymore. He’d swear parts of the blood nearly looked pink against her crimson if he wasn’t looking directly at it. Seeing the mask sloppily laid over her face didn’t help either. Particularly given whose it really was.

But he knew better than to let any discomfort show. There was no need for it and it wouldn’t help.  

All he needed to do was make sure her death wasn’t a waste.

Korekiyo looked over to where Kaede and Kirumi were talking as he weighed his options one last time.

Maki may have never been admirable enough to be one of Sister’s friends but at least he could make sure her killer would soon be joining her. And his dearest sister was still in dire need of some company.

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