CHAPTER 1 · 8 · Motivation

6:55, actually. Noah looks at his watch and shows it to me.
“O-oh, right. It’s time to go.”
I stand up, and so does Chris, while Noah remains seated.
“’kay then, I’ll check on everyone and come back running.”
“Are you sure everyone’s going to be there in time?”
She hesitates before she shrugs, smiling.
“I’d tend to say they’re all probably here already. One thing’s for sure, no one here wants to die.”
Noah nods but doesn’t seem to want to comment any further.
“Are you sure, though..?”
On the contrary, I’m a little worried. I now know how it feels to be so incredibly down you can’t do anything anymore, and it’d never happened to me before, and it was terribly scary, so, knowing that Keith was in the same state not so long ago, and that he doesn’t seem to be feeling much better, I’m scared that… And there’s also someone else whose state I don’t…
“Like, 99,9% sure.”
She smiles sardonically.
“I’d bet my life on it.”
I grimace, but she shrugs again and starts walking. I follow her, realizing we shouldn’t be wasting that much time, and decide to give it a break. I should probably be optimistic too…
Now that I think about it, that’s even what people want me to be. And that’s good! Yes, I’m glad people like Akiro trust me to stay in a good mood. I should follow his lead and stay in high spirits. After all, I was really bummed out when he felt down because of a misunderstanding. We need to support each other, everyone against this stupid bear who’s trying to do God-knows-what with our feelings.
We quickly reach the gymnasium. I hadn’t been there in a while, and my memories of that place immediately make me feel sick – the first time we were in this school, Monokuma threatening us… Lois storming off by my fault. Chris walks ahead and carefully looks around.
I imitate her, not because I think she needs my help, but because I’m curious to see if everyone’s here. It sure does seem like it—everyone was probably early, too. They’re all smart enough not to take risks. Jan’s here, with Alice and Akiro, as usual, I can see Andi, and following her gaze… I meet a wall.
“Staring into nothingness, I see.”
I wished she’d be so worried about Keith she’d be staring at him. But now that I’ve looked everywhere, I realize he’s nowhere to be see-
“Stop trying to be my friend.”
“Hey dude, just trying not to be your enemy.”
I quickly turn around. Lightly pushing Keith by the shoulder, here’s Ben coming in. I’m reassured, but seeing as both seem particularly unhappy, I can’t bring myself to smile.
“And that makes 14… excluding Noah, now there’s only one person missing.”
“Gulp.”
“Ah, don’t worry, she’s here.”
Ben passes us and looks at Chris, emotionlessly.
“You can go get Noah, I guarantee you she’s not anywhere else.”
He keeps walking, pushing Keith forward.
“Do you really have to.. ?!”
“Nah, I’ll just take whatever entertainment I can get.”
Chris doesn’t immediately answer, looking around worryingly. She then checks the time on her handbook and sighs.
“Can’t take risks… Guess I’ll search her or whatever, when the time comes.”
“Y-yeah.”
She quickly walks out, and I stay completely still, dazzled. I don’t know what to think. I don’t know what I’m feeling.
It’s Lois… It’s Lois everyone’s talking about. From what I can gather, no one has seen her since… Except Benjamin. But if she’s here…
I desperately look around.
Where.. ? Where could she be hiding… And why?

…

Every single light around us suddenly turns off, and we find ourselves in complete darkness. I can hear steps behind me – two people running.
“Shit. Just in time.”
Phew.
The chatter in the room quickly stops. No one seems to be moving, until we hear steps – slow, steady steps, of a single person walking.
Then nothing, again.
Is this Monokuma’s party? Is this…
“No way, does he think someone’s going to decide to ki-“
“UPUPUPUPU !”
Red lights suddenly turn on, at first focusing on Monokuma, sitting on the wooden platform against the wall farthest from the door, and then lighting up the whole room, though they make everything seem oddly dark.
“I’m happy, oh, so very happy! Because everyone showed up to my party. Now I won’t have to needlessly kill one of yus!”
“Everyone..?”
I’m willing to bet Emily’s rather pale, as I see her holding Isabella, who doesn’t seem to feel much more confident, tightly. But we all soon look in the same direction, because we can see her.
Standing alone in the middle of the gymnasium.
Lois Davids, whose Ultimate I wasn’t allowed to learn.
“Hey, trying to steal the spotlight, Lois Davids, whose Ultimate we weren’t allowed to learn?”

…

It’s true. All I can do is stare at her. At her hair, as I can’t see her face from that angle… And she doesn’t say a thing.
“Ah, youngsters nowadays, so rude, yes, so rude.”
Monokuma marks a pause, before he starts laughing again.
“BWAHAHAHAHA! You’re making this so entertaining! Magnificent, I say, magnificent! But a bear’s gotta work…”
“Please get to the point.”
“Yes, gotta work… Ah, I’m so unmotivated, all of a sudden… But not so much as YOU GUYS!”
I blink, and I’m suddenly looking at Monokuma again. Like my brain suddenly screamed “attention!” and left me no choice.
He’s standing up, his long claws out of his weird plushie paws, looking unnerved.
“How long do you think you can stay here, using our beds, eating for free?! Didn’t you get what I told you? You’re supposed to kill each other! KILL!”
“Ah, fuck. Here we go again.”
“No… No! We’re not going to do such a thing, and you know it!”
“Ah? Do I?”
His claws retract, and he looks curious.
“What are you gonna do, then? Leave?”
“W-well… Yes!”
“Upupu… So, tell me, miss Chloe, how? When? You’ve been making me wait for quite some time.”
“I… I…”
“Who cares what you think! You’re a waste of time. You already know that we haven’t found the exit yet but we’re not done searching!”
“Ah, sure, if you want, but there’s no exit… Upupu.”
Looks like he’s getting excited again.
“Same speech over and over again, you’re our enemy, we get it.”
“Yeah! What do you want from us anyway? Why did you bring us here? Are you just pissed off because we’re not playing your stupid game?”
Monokuma doesn’t answer immediately.
“Hmpf.”
“Why, yes, I am pissed-off. Didn’t we assess that fact already? But that’s why…”
He sits down again.
“Upupu… That’s why I’m going to help you guys! I’m going to give you the motivation to kill!”
“Huh.. ?”
“So you were right…”
I look at Alice, who’s looking at Jan. He was right… About what? Did he know this was going to happen? No, actually… What’s happening?
“See, while you youngsters were having fun, I was busy observing. And it made my heart throb to realize that… Ah.. ! Some of you have gotten so close, in such a short amount of time, so trusting of each other..!”
“I don’t like where you’re getting at.”
“Which makes me glad, you have no idea! Upupu… So here’s the deal.”
Monokuma gets up again and, dramatically, a white spotlight points at him.
“Some of you even make pretty clear pairs. I’m sure each of you knows who you’re paired with… Unless you’re a loner, or just a part of some group. I don’t care about you, then.”
“In my case, would that be… Ciel?”
It can’t be… I’ve been away for a while, so they may have made other friends they’re at least equally close to… And in any case, why does that matter?
“So… if no one kills before then, in 48 hours, I will murder half of each pair myself.”
“What?!”
I’d never seen Jan look so genuinely upset.
“Upupu… Kill one person, or I’ll kill multiple. In 48 hours, if you didn’t do anything, I’ll kill either Emily or Isabella, AND either Chris or Noah, AND, and, you understand, right?”
Monokuma looks extremely proud. I just now realize I’ve been breathing really quickly. Are his threats really scaring me? I can’t… I can’t even believe…
“Is everyone in a pair?”
“No! Some are luckier. But most of you are. Such as yourself, Lois Davids.”
She doesn’t say anything else.
“This is bullshit! You won’t be able to kill us, we’ll protect ourselves!”
“Yes-“

A sound so loud, so huge, so sudden, it almost gives me a heart attack. It came from the ceiling, and when I immediately look, I can see an enormous robotic arm coming down.
I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out. I can hear everyone else is surprised too, but no one has the time to even realize what’s happening before this… this thing suddenly grabs Keith and lifts him up.

“Wh-WHAT’S THIS? WHAT DID I DO?”
He’s screaming in terror, but I’m completely paralyzed. All I can do is stare, not even close to understanding what’s happening.
“Did I forget to tell you this building is mine, and only I know how to use it? I have my own arsenal of weapons, and if I choose to kill you, I could do it, let’s see, this way.”

“Hurh-hueAAAAARH!”
The claw holding Keith slowly closes down on him, crushing him, while he screams in pain, unable to fight back.

There has to be something we can do… I walk a step forward, looking up at the mechanical arm, trying to think of a way to reach it… But it’s really high, with nothing attached to the floor to climb. One of us here… One of us here has to be strong enough to do something…
…
“N-no, please.. ! Please stop!”
“Hmm?”
I turn to look at Akiro. He’s slowly walking towards Monokuma, rather than the claw holding Keith.
“We g-g… We got it! We understand, so there’s no need to kill him.”
“Do you?”
“Y-yes… We got it. You’re serious, and you can hurt us. B-but you… you have no reason to hurt Keith right now… F-for your game.”
“Hmm… Ah, yes, in that case, you’re right. Upupu… Keith Acker isn’t even at risk with this motive anyway.”
The claw suddenly opens and lets go of Keith. Without saying anything, he falls down, and Oscar is the one to run and catch him before he meets the ground.
It looks like he fainted…
Akiro lets out a huge sigh and falls on his knees. Alice runs towards him and kneels next to him to reassure him, Jan soon following her.
“Haha, that was easy after all.”
Andi laughs, but she’s pale as a sheet. And so are we all. Every single person here is completely pale, everyone’s terrified.
“Upupupu… You’re right, Akiro Lynn, everyone got the message! Upupu… UPUPUPUPU!”
Monokuma starts clapping frenetically.
“Good luck, then… Remember, you have 48 hours before maybe you, or your best friend, or your lover gets the same treatment… Unless you suck. But either way, no cute little boy will be able to stop me then. Upupu…”
Monokuma disappears behind the platform and all the lights turn back to white. And here I am… Completely still and silent.
Noah runs towards Oscar, who’s still holding Keith. He gestures for him to follow him, and seeing that he’s confused, Chris tries to help.
“Noah probably knows first aid!”
I hope Keith’s okay…
“You did great.”
Akiro was so brave…
“We will be fine, sweetheart, I just know it.”
Both Emily and Isabella are tearing up…
I don’t know what to do. I don’t know if I should do as Akiro said, and take Monokuma seriously, or if it was just a method to make him stop. But why would it be, when Keith… When Keith almost died in front us, all unable to do anything to save him.
Was Akiro lucky? Did Monokuma plan to stop from the start? We’ll never know…
“You couldn’t have done anything about it. You were right to protect yourself.”
That voice…
“We can always just say so…”
“Did you see how strong this claw was? If you’d been reckless, we’d have two people to worry about right now.”
“But maybe there’d be less reasons to worry about Keith.”
Ah, right, Ben was standing right next to Keith when it all happened. What did he do.. ? I don’t even remember seeing him move away, but then again, it all happened so fast. Did he really think he could save him, without knowing that it’d happen beforehand?
“That, or it’d have driven Monokuma mad, and you’d both be dead by now.”
“… Pff… You wouldn’t understand.”
She stares at him for a second.
“I understand why you’d think that right now, at least. Come on, let’s go.”
“Sure.”
He sighs and follows her lead, as she starts walking away.
But she’s here – she’s still here. I’m seeing her for the first time since I hurt her, and yet… it’s like it doesn’t even matter. I could as well not even exist, and our situation is much more important than what happened between us. And yet…
“Wait.. !”
I run towards them, and they stop walking. She slowly turns towards me.
“What is it?”
“Lois, I…”
“I’m sorry,” I think, but I realize, “who cares”? Who cares, right now? With what just happened, why would I even think about how I feel about someone who hasn’t even brought up our feud.. ?
“I… I just wanted you to know that… If you’re in danger, you shouldn’t stay alone, you see… You were with us right now, and it was fine. With this motive and all… Please don’t take useless risks.”
I’m staring at the floor.
“Right.”
She leaves, and Benjamin follows her without a word.
…
I guess it’s not that important.
Someone taps me on the shoulder.
“Hey, let’s go check on Keith.”
I look up and turn around. It’s Ciel… They look pale, but they’re okay. It’s all that matters.
“I think Oscar brought him to Noah’s room. Don’t you want to know if he’s okay?”
I nod.
“Yeah… Yeah.”
“Me too. It’s the least we can do.”
Ciel takes my hand and leads me out of the gymnasium.

We walk rather slowly. As we step outside the main building, Ciel sighs.
“This is just too overwhelming. I thought I wanted to go home before, but now, I’d do anything… Wait, no, I wouldn’t.”
…
“… Yeah, that’s it!”
“Uuh… That’s it?”
That’s exactly how I should put it – I suddenly come to a stop.
“It’s overwhelming… That’s exactly how I feel.”
“Well… Yeah, me too.”
I look at Ciel, and they seem confused. But it doesn’t matter much, because they’re also extremely pale, much more so than usual, and I know why, and I hate the fact.
“Ciel, I’m privileged as heck. I mean… Mostly. It’s the way I’ve been living my life. It’s what I’m used to.”
“Okay..?”
“I’m a lucky bastard and I’ve never been through anything remotely tough in my life. So… I’m experiencing so much all of a sudden, and I don’t even know how to explain to myself what I’m feeling.”
“Okay… Yeah, I see what you’re getting at.”
I start laughing nervously. I can see it startles them at first, but they decide to let me be. I shake my head, and suddenly hold their right hand in both of mine.
“Hey, I want to stop being such a mess and making things all about myself. I know I can help people by being optimistic, so… Will you help me understand what and how I’m feeling first so I can get to that?”


Ciel’s cheeks turn red. I didn’t know that was what I wanted to see, but now that it’s the case, I’m glad, and I’m feeling much better already.
“Fuck… Well, uh, yeah, sure!”
I don’t feel great quite yet, but I manage to smile. I let go of their hand, and they look away, with a nervous smile too.
“You’re kinda weird, Neo. I get what you mean, though.”
“Well… I’m glad you appreciate oddness.”
“Pff…”
They let out a laugh.
“Well, anyway… Is there anything else you’d like to talk about? About what happened right now, I guess.”
“Hmm…”
I look away for a second, then back again towards Ciel.
“I feel kind of bad. I was so confused and scared, until you told me we should go see him, I barely even worried about Keith.”
“Ah, I see. Well, you know, it was mostly just an excuse to get you out of here, because I didn’t want you to start worrying all alone. I’m thinking about him a lot personally… But it could as well be a coincidence. First thing that crossed my mind, didn’t cross yours. If you had more time to think about it, maybe you would have thought about it too.”
“An excuse.. ? Am I that worrying.. ? Or maybe it’s just Ciel being very empathetic.”
Probably, even.
“True… You know what, now that I think about it… Is he okay?”
Is he???
I’m starting to worry a little too much, actually.
“He wasn’t even conscious anymore..!”
Ciel nods and points towards the dorms.
“We’ll have to check on him. I don’t want to bother anyone actually helping him, but… I feel like I’ll die if I don’t know.”
They say it so sincerely, so seriously… I know they mean it, even though they don’t even sound that worried. I guess that’s how it is – being fully aware of how you feel. I’m sure I’ll get there eventually… But that’s not important right now. Someone almost died in front of us… I want to know that he is okay.

Because I can’t even imagine him actually being…

We both start walking again, in silence, and we soon reach the dorms. Inside, one door is open: the door to Noah’s room. But we can’t hear a sound…
Ciel and I look at each other, then enter without hesitating much more.
“He’s awake.”
Oscar’s voice greets us. He’s standing next to the door, expressionless as always, staring at each of us in turn.
“Wha-”
“You’re here to check on Keith and he’s awake now.”
I can suddenly feel a weight I didn’t even know was there lifting off my body. I immediately look around the room and find Keith lying down in Noah’s bed, awake indeed, his head turned towards the wall on his left.
I take a few steps inside.
“I’m so glad!”
Keith doesn’t even react. Noah’s the one to turn his head towards me and nod in agreement, as he gets closer to the bed. He quickly turns it back to look at Keith’s torso – he grabs the bottom of Keith’s shirt and pulls on it a little.
“Okay.”
His voice almost a hush, Keith answered without moving an inch. Noah immediately starts to unbutton the shirt, and I understand that he was letting him know what he was about to do beforehand. It’s both a pretty smart way to get around not being able to talk and pretty sweet, given that he’s helping him anyway…
“Isn’t Chris here?”
When I turn around, I can see Ciel addressing Oscar.
“No.”
“Since Noah’s the only person with any medical knowledge, she’s taking his place and guarding the weaponry room.”
Where… is she..?
“I don’t know if I should call it “medical knowledge” but it should definitely help Keith’s case.”
Mina casually comes out from behind Oscar, like we were supposed to… actually, was she hiding on purpose? She has to be aware of their height difference, isn’t she?
“I didn’t know you were there.”
Rough.
“Wh- Oh, but Christ! I wasn’t aware you were here either, you almost scared me, young man!”
She’s being even more sarcastic than usual. Actually, is she usually sarcastic? Either way, she’s clearly being sarcastic, for some reason.
“Please stay calm.”
She turns to look at Oscar, and sighs.
“Right, right, you’re right. I’m sorry, I’m just thinking about a lot of things right now.”
“Such as?”
I would have expected Ciel to be a little more bothered by Mina’s initial answer, but they didn’t even seem to react to it. Did they expect her to act this way, or..? Maybe some things in particular just don’t matter to them.
“A solution. I’m searching for a solution.”
She turns back towards Ciel, but stares at the floor.
“What do you mean… A solution?”
“Well, obviously..! Something to get around Monokuma’s motive, and, or something to avoid… this happening again!”
She points towards Keith – he’s grimacing as Noah touches different parts of his torso, but still looking away.
I look at Mina again.
“But… There’s obviously no solution.”
“Nooo, come on… You, of all people, aren’t allowed to say that. Play your role, believe that there’s a chance until the truth comes crashing down and crushes you.”
“Uuuuuh…”
She’s biting her nails.
“Someone has to do it… We can’t immediately rule out any possibility. But no matter how I look at it…”
“Seriously, you don’t have a single idea?”
“Ideas, I have a lot of ideas, that doesn’t mean they’re worth anything!”
“Tell us your ideas.”
Does Oscar sound… annoyed? It’s tough to say. As always, he’s so hard to read… I may just be projecting whatever I imagine he should be feeling onto his words.
“Sure. But you’ll see they don’t bring us anywhere. For example, I’ve been thinking about what risks this motive exactly brings us.”
“Death?”
I think that so casually, when in fact, I don’t even want to consider the idea that someone may want to put an end to my life.
“The fact that only people who are in pairs are at risk of dying in 48 hours may make us think that we shouldn’t worry about the others. However, Monokuma clearly attempted to make those people feel bad about themselves – so what if some idiot decides to sacrifice themselves for the others? Or who knows, one could go berserk because it makes them feel hated. We don’t know each other enough yet to rule out the possibility of someone being mentally unstable. Basically, what I’m saying is… No matter how I look at it, with that motive, anyone could kill.”
Everyone stays silent for a few seconds, considering what she just said. She’s exactly right… She’s doing her job as a detective, taking everything into consideration, but that doesn’t lead us anywhere.
“I see… And it’s not like we’re perfectly sure of what each pair is, anyway.”
“Well, I could probably figure that out if needed, but in that case, it’d probably be useless.”
“But, uuh… Are we 100% sure Monokuma will kill almost half of us in two days if no one obeys him?”
Mina stares at me in silence for a moment. Do I have a case here? I mean… What good would it bring him? Plus there’s always the question of whether he meant to kill Keith or not…
“No. No, we aren’t. But obviously, we aren’t sure he won’t kill us either, so again, this train of thought leads us nowhere.”
“Ah.”
She looks away.
“I considered it, of course… But even if I were to find the answer, it probably wouldn’t be enough to counteract the effect his actions have had over our minds.”
“But what then? Are we just going to give up?”
“No! Of course not!”
Mina crosses her arms, again staring into nothingness.
“Once I’ve completely assessed the situation, I’ll need to decide on a course of action that’ll hopefully give us an escape route before the time limit… or buy us some time. Whatever it is, I’ll find a solution.”
“I s-“
“Arrrhh!”
Keith’s sudden complaint startles both Ciel and I, and we both turn around to look to

((Sorry))

wards him.
… I feel like I heard something very discrete… Was it just my imagination? It doesn’t make much sense.
Somehow, Keith’s still looking away. I can’t help but get a little closer and look… Huge bruises have appeared on his torso. Noah put his hands away when he screamed, and is grabbing a small notebook on his bedside table. A pen is attached to it, with which he quickly writes something.
When he’s done, he gets closer to us two and shows us the newly filled page.


Noah’s handwriting is terrible…
Ciel must be a quicker reader than I am, because they react long before I can.
“Oh, okay! I’ll go get them!”
Aaaand they’re off.
Noah puts the notebook back down and goes back towards Keith. He pulls on his sleeves a little – probably meaning that he needs to take the shirt off entirely now rather than just keep it open. The latter finally turns his head around, looking worried.
“I don’t want to.”
Again, his voice sounds so much “smaller” than usual. Almost making it sound like he’s usually confident… It’s clear that he’s in shock.
Noah apologetically shakes his head and softly pulls on the fabric again.
“It hurts… Just leave me alone. Please.”
Noah continues to shake his head.
“Keith… I’m sure it’s for the best. It may hurt now but at least it won’t anymore afterwards.”
Hearing him talk like that makes me feel awful. I can’t pretend to know him… But I know it’s not the way he would naturally react to something. What happened to him just now… Must really have been too much.
And it did look terrifying. Is there any fixing it.. ?
I don’t want to think about it, should I?
“I just want it to… Stop…”
Noah doesn’t leave him any choice, and starts to lift his arm off the bed to pull the fabric away. All of his movements are slow, careful, soft even, but Keith looks like he’s in terrible pain.
Though he doesn’t say anything anymore. He lets Noah take the shirt off, only letting out a pained moan when comes the time to lift his back.
Ciel comes back just as they’re done.
“I think I found everything.”
They hand Noah the stuff they gathered – a box of bandages, a bag full of ribbon and a stack of belts. He takes everything and immediately starts bandaging Keith’s torso.

“What’s he gonna do with all of that though.. ?”
Just as I turn around to look at Ciel again, Mina speaks up from the other side of the room.
“You two, while you’re here, come confirm something with me.”
The both of us get closer.
“What now?”
“I’m meeting a bunch of dead ends right now, so I guess it can’t hurt to assess easier things first. It may help me on the long run. So tell me, what do you think the “pairs” Monokuma mentioned are?”
“Oh, uh, well, some are obvious.”
“Of course. As of now we can confirm that Emily and Isabella are one, Chris and Noah are another, and that Keith isn’t in a pair while Lois is.”
“He probably said them because they’re the most obvious ones, though. But next in line are you in Oscar, certainly.”
“Certainly.”
“And Lois has to be paired with Benjamin.”
“Logically.”
“He’s so luck…”
No, he isn’t. Come on, Neo…
“Then… If I’m in a pair, I’ll have to assume it’s with Neo.”
“Yes, and I’ll regard that as a fact: Monokuma’s goal probably being to have as many pairs as possible, if a pair is this likely to be, then it has to.”
“I see. And then… Hmm…”
“Well, then there’s Jan and A-… Oh. Uuh…”
“Exactly. This trio is our final issue. While we could have assumed, with less information, that Keith and Andi could be a pair in their own way, Monokuma has confirmed that they weren’t, and I have reasons to believe he doesn’t lie. This confirms that Andi is alone, as is Keith, and so is Chloe. Which leaves us with Akiro, Alice and Jan – what route could Monokuma possibly have taken?”
“Maybe… He couldn’t decide who to choose, making them all “alone” regarding the motive?”
“Maybe, but maybe not. Since his goal was to eventually introduce this motive, Monokuma must have been paying closer attention than we have. Although from my point of view, the three of them consistently hang out… even whenever one of them is away, the two others tend to stay together.”
But it’s cool that they’re friends… Why did Monokuma have to make an issue out of it?!
“I guess there’s just no way to really know, huh…”
“We could simply regard the three them as a “potential pair”, since there’s a possibility even them don’t know what’s the case. But I’m afraid it’ll strike as a weakness in my reasoning eventually… either way…”
She turns to Oscar, who had been standing next to the door in silence, the same way he was when we first arrived.
“I’m going to need to question them directly in case they have an idea. Oscar?”
“I can’t come with you. I need to guard the room because we need Noah to operate safely.”
“Ah, of course. In that case, I’ll go alone.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
Oscar starts to look away.
“It’s not safe.”
Mina looks pissed.
“Protecting may be your job, but that doesn’t mean I have to accept your protection. I’m not a child, Oscar.”
He doesn’t answer. Ciel and I look at each other, and it seems this situation makes us both feel equally bad.
“So I’ll question our friends and come back as soon as I have answers.”
Oscar is still looking away in silence.
“No—come on.”
“What?”
“He’s worried about you because he cares about you. You know what, I’ll come with you. This way you’ll be sure not to make your friend feel bad, Mina…”
A pause. She looks at Ciel from top to bottom.
“Oh, whatever! Follow me if you want, I don’t care! I’m trying to work here!”
Mina storms off – Ciel looks at me and smiles apologetically.
“See ya later then, take care.”
They quickly follow her outside. Oscar watches them leave.
“He’s right. I want someone to be here in case something happens. Someone else would be fine but she takes risks a lot.”
I can sense myself smiling sadly. That’s a little pathetic.
“I guess Monokuma’s right, you two do make a good pair.”
“But we are also all friends. We mustn’t hurt each other.”
“Yeah…”
Someone taps me on the shoulder. It’s Noah; he hands me the same notebook as before. It reads:


“Uuh, oh, okay.”
I look up and walk towards Keith, who’s now wearing… some sort of contraption made of ribbons and belts. Looking carefully, it actually starts to look like an orthopedic corset.
“Wow… Did Noah know how to imitate one from memory?”
That’s pretty amazing, actually.. ! Anyway, I read what Noah handed me out loud.
“From Noah… You’ll have to avoid moving completely for at least a few days. We’ll take care of you in the meantime.”
Staring at the ceiling, Keith doesn’t answer immediately.
“You’ll take care of me…”
“Of course. We will need to feed you and wash you until you can get up again.”
“… I don’t want this to happen.”
“Getting up again?”
“No..! THIS! Right now! What the fuck is this? Why? What even happened? I’m in so much pain now, just because… Why?! OUCH!”
Keith’s getting so tense it seems to hurt him – he makes it sound like it does, clearly – but he’s not even looking at anyone, just, again, staring at the ceiling.
Noah sits on the bed, next to him, and holds his hand, silently, not that he has the choice to speak. Chris not being there to be his interpreter does make him seem a little different…
Keith doesn’t budge an inch. I imagine it must hurt too much.
“I’ve been doing nothing but rejecting you… I don’t want you to take care of me.”
Noah shakes his head, but he can’t say a thing.
“But the reason you’ve even had the chance to reject us is that we want to help you.. !”
“Yes. We want to because you’re a victim. Like us. Even if you’re rude or not enjoyable we understand because we want to act like you too.”
When Oscar speaks in longer sentences it becomes quite clear that English isn’t his first language… It’s quite charming in a way, in our world in which almost everyone speaks English. And anyway, he manages to get his point across; he’s probably better at it than I am.
“Your enemy is the same as ours. I don’t mean that it’s okay to be rude but if you can’t be it then we have to be the greater person and help you, even if we don’t like you.”
It seems none of us knows what to say after that. For a while, until Noah lets go of Keith’s hand and grabs his notebook. He quickly writes something in it, then shows him.
…
Keith sighs.
“I just want it to be over.”
His voice, now devoid of frustration, is full of pain again. No matter how whoever feels about him… He didn’t deserve this. Monokuma’s a monster, and we can all see it.
Noah simply nods in agreement.
“Can I ask you something? Neo.”
“Hm? What?”
“Can you bring food to me, Noah and Keith? This way I can guard the room and Noah can be here if he needs help.”
“Oh, okay! Of course, I’ll go grab something!”
I turn around to show Noah my polite smile, which he reflects, then I walk out. Given what just happened I’m not really hungry myself, but of course Oscar would think of giving everyone proper sustenance. I don’t think I’ll eat tonight, but I’ll see what I can grab.

…
Andi. She’s sitting on a tree branch, alone, staring at the sky – or should I say, in our case, the high ceiling.
“Hey.”
No answer. She doesn’t even move an inch.
“Andi?”
“Not this again…” She still doesn’t react.
“Andiii!”
“Hmm.”
Her face doesn’t move, and that’s all she answers. Well, at least it’s… something. I turn around the tree to try and more-or-less face her.
“Why- no, how did you get up here?”
“I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you… don’t know?”
She finally looks down and I meet her gaze, which I can’t read at all.
“Do you always know why you do everything?”
“I mean… When it comes to climbing up trees, yes, I’m pretty sure I always do know.”
She looks away again.
“Huh.”
“Most importantly, how are you gonna get down?”
“Dunno.”
Hmm… I’d seen Andi ignore me before, I’d seen her staring at nothing too, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her act quite like this. Is it normal? I don’t really know her that much yet. Actually, I think it’s safe to say that I don’t know her at all.
Maybe she just needs to be left alone, but… I can’t be sure. I guess I should talk to her a little more, and if she’s really unresponsive, then I’ll give her a break. After all…
“What is it, are you worried?”
“Worried?”
I sure wish she’d look at me, or express any emotion for that matter. Is she trying to imitate Oscar now.. ?
“About Keith. Isn’t that why you came all the way here?”
This is probably the tree closest to the dorms there is.
“Ah…”
She stands up—she stands up! On the branch! Is she feeling suicidal?!
“Well, yeah, that’s why I came here. I thought I should check on him, but then decided against it.”
“I-I thought you didn’t know-”
“I just don’t know why I ended up climbing up this tree.”
Okay, okay. Yes, makes perfect sense. I guess I’m just- stressed-out since-
“Please, just find a way to come down.”
“Nah.”
“Why?!”
She finally looks at me again. She’s so high up…
“I don’t want to.”
“Oh come- seriously, what are you doing?!”
She doesn’t answer immediately.
“What do you want from me?”
Something about her lack of expression makes her look dead serious.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m worried!”
“But there’s no reason to worry about me.”
“Yes, there… Wait a minute. Why do you think that?”
She sighs loudly and starts looking away again – except this time she’s looking at the dorms.
“I don’t KNOW! Why would I have to know why I think or feel a certain way?”
I guess I thought about just this very recently…
“Because-”
“No, you know what? Here’s the issue: I don’t care. I don’t want to know.”
No answer from me this time. She turned around angrily, to look at me, and I’m just too taken aback to even think anything.
She takes a step forward on the branch she’s standing on.
“As a matter of fact, I think it’s weird that you… Whoops.”
“Whoops?”
Ah, “whoops” indeed. Before I realize it, Andi’s taken a wrong step and she’s falling down the tree.
I start running in her direction, but it’s going to be too late..!
“Oh no!”
I throw myself forward, hoping I can catch her at the last second and… she falls directly into my arms, making me stumble down and fall as well.
“Oof!”
My head falls directly in something soft. It takes me a second of staying still to realize what just happened.
“I’m free on Thursdays, if you’re that interested.”
“What..?”
That’s the time it takes me to realize I should maybe lift my head up.
Which I do and… Ah. Maybe that’s what Monokuma meant when he said I was a story protagonist or whatever. I was lying face down in Andi’s chest.
One second. Two. And now I feel like I’m going to implode.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”
I throw myself backwards and fall back sitting. She’s staring at me in silence… “Expressionless” again… Oh, well, if she murders me now, I think I’ll understand.
“Thanks for saving meeee!”
Wait, what? She’s smiling now?
She darts up and combs her hair with her fingers.
“Phew, that was a close one. I’m such a dumbass for not thinking before I act!”
“What..?”
I’m completely confused. She stretches her arms before looking at me, now in a perfectly good mood.
“Not getting up? You hurtin’ somewhere?”
“N-no…”
Staring at her, I slowly get up. Yes, I’m fine, but… Is she..?
“Cool then! So what were we talking about? Hmm.”
She puts her index finger on top of her lips and looks slightly away, pretending to be deep in thought. Until she suddenly points it at me.
“Yeah, you were about to tell me how Keith’s going, weren’t you? So?”
“No I wasn’t! I wasn’t at all!”
I’m at a loss for words. I guess… She must be making fun of me or something. Maybe she just wants this to be over with quickly.
Hm, maybe that’s it. She’s putting on this parade because she doesn’t want me to worry about her and stay here any longer. Because the way she was acting just now… Those were her true feelings, were they not?
“Yes. Right. Keith…”
Actually, what should I even tell her? I didn’t think about it beforehand. I didn’t even think about telling anyone about him. But I’m going to have to, right? Everyone has to be worried. It’s just so upsetting that I have to fill everyone up on sad news.
“Well… He woke up, so that’s good. And Noah’s taking good care of him, but… He seems to be in a lot of pain, and Noah says he shouldn’t move at all for a few days.”
“Huuh? Not at all? But that’s just Noah saying it, right?”
“I mean… Yeah, but he probably knows what he’s doing. And Keith seems to be trusting him.”
“Hmm…”
She looks away again.
“In that case… That’s good, I guess. Yeah, you know what, very good, even.”
“…Very good?”
She looks overly enthusiastic now.
“Yeah! ‘cause if he can’t move, he won’t be able to avoid good ole Andi! I’ll finally be able to take my revenge on this guy! HaHA!”
Before I know it, she’s running towards the dorms.
“Wait, no..!”
Heh, too late.
Well… I guess this is none of my business, though Andi’s giving me one more person to worry about here. I was wondering if Monokuma’s motive hit her too hard… But she gave me no clear answer here. Maybe now’s not the right time, though. This is just too recent… Even I haven’t had the time to really think about it. So maybe I should suck it up and give her a break, for now.
I’ll go back to my current mission: fetching some food for Keith and his caretakers! Maybe I should worry less about the depth of Andi’s emotions and more about basic survival. With that in mind, I start walking again and quickly reach the main building.
No one seems to be in the hall, but in the dining room Alice, Jan and Akiro are sitting at the main table.
“Oh, hi again, Neo, here to grab a bite?”
Jan and Akiro are facing me, while she has to turn around and sit differently to see me. It’s a bit hard to read the mood, since I could tell they weren’t exactly chatting it up, but all of them welcome me with a smile.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t cook anything tonight. I just don’t feel really up to the job right now.”
“Oh, really? Well it’s fine… I mean, I understand, of course, and it’s not like you always have to cook for everyone.”
I get a little closer – they’re sitting nearby the kitchen anyway, and I’m not exactly on a timer, thankfully.
“For sure, it’s just nice to have an excuse to be with everyone regularly.”
“But I don’t think everyone’s in the mood for eating tonight, so…”
“Hm-hm, that’s why I won’t beat myself up over it.”
I look at them all in turn. If I had to guess, I’d say they’re all feeling down, but somehow, they still manage to remain completely calm.
“So I guess you’re not feeling too well?”
I’m looking at Jan. I don’t know why I had to make a case out of his feelings especially… I guess it’s that I expected him to pretend he was totally fine. Maybe I was expecting him to lie, in a way… But it’s obvious that his chill attitude is simply natural to him. Being honest about his emotions… Makes it seem even stronger.
He nods.
“Yeah… I’m pretty upset. I’m sure I’ll be fine, but I need a break for now.”
“We all do. I hope everyone’s taking it slowly tonight… If they can, of course.”
Akiro was looking at Jan, but he moves his gaze to meet mine.
“You and Ciel went out to check on Keith, right? Is everything alright?”
I can’t help but stare at him.
“Yeah, Ciel was literally just here with Mina, but she didn’t give us a single second to actually talk.”
Stare.
“She looked pretty upset, though... I guess I can understand her attitude.”
Stare.
Akiro seemed lost at first, but his face suddenly becomes bright red.
“Wh-what’s your pro-problem?”
With embarrassment, of course. “Ah, I’m so sorry~”
I let out a chuckle. Damn, it’s probably not all that appropriate, but he’s just too adorable… And I need to lift my spirits.
“Nothing, I’m sorry.”
“What’s up with you two?”
“N-nothing! C-come on, answ-answer the question.”
Aw, he looks really embarrassed. I feel kind of bad, but at the same time, I think it’s a good thing that he can be upset about something so silly rather than worry endlessly about our serious issues.
I’m still pretty curious about his stutter, though, but now’s definitely not time to bring it up.
“Yes, yes, sorry, I was trying to catch a break too, you know? But well, as you said, not everyone’s exactly resting. Noah’s taking good care of Keith, while Oscar decided to keep an eye on him.”
“How is he, then?”
“Hmm…”
I sigh. I really wish there’d be nothing to be upset about.
“He woke up and all, so that’s reassuring. But according to Noah, he should better not move at all for the next few days. He seems to be in a lot of pain anyway…”
“Poor dude.”
“Ah… At least he’s a… alive. At least.”
Akiro’s face has gone back white, and he’s now staring at the table in front of him.
“What is it you’re thinking?”
Jan’s looking at him.
“Something like “I should have done something sooner”, right?”
Akiro doesn’t move, but he looks like he’s feeling uncomfortable.
“Wh… What of it?”
“You’re the only one out of us who was actually helpful… You should be proud of yourself.”
No answer.
“Yeah, Akiro, come on. You probably even saved his life. You were great!”
“If I… If I had kn-known it would work… I would… I would have said something –s-sooner…”
“If we’d known it would work we would all have immediately said what you said. But you’re the one who thought about it, and dared to do it without even being certain it was a good idea. Seriously, that was cool.”
A pause, then Akiro starts laughing nervously.
“C-cool? Y-yeah, right, I was so cool, st-stuttering and saying basic stuff!”
“Eh, if someone knows how to make stuttering cool, it’s you.”
Akiro’s face is red again. Alice suddenly stands up and goes around the side of the table to reach him and hug him from behind.
“You’re the reason everyone feels like we can take a rest! I love you soooo much, man.”
He’s smiling a little now, and this exchange is making me feel a little better too. It’s true… We were probably all paralyzed with fear, and what Akiro did was really cool. He’s the best!
“Hey, I totally agree! Thank you for being so brave, Akiro.”
“Hmm…”
Still embarrassed, but looking a lot better already, he doesn’t seem to know what to answer. But I don’t mind.
“I’m glad to know you three can be so strong together, really.”
Alice has let go of Akiro, and is simply standing behind him with her hand on her hip.
“Hey, we’re all being strong in our own way. I can feel it.”
”Hmm…”
Yeah. I’m sure she’s right.
“Ha, probably. Either way, I need to grab some stuff to eat for Noah, Oscar and Keith, in case they’re hungry, so I’ll be going.”
“Oh, sure! You’re sure to find what you need laying around the kitchen.”
I smile, and turn around to face the kitchen’s door. I’m pretty sure I’d never been here before… It’s a bit weird to still be discovering new places at this point, but in this case it’s completely my own fault. I walk in and look around – the room is so perfectly clean, I wouldn’t have guessed it was being regularly used if I didn’t know. It’s fairly wide for a kitchen and there are a lot of cupboards, and even two fridges!
I start opening random cupboards and discover a lot of plates and cutlery…
Knives…
“No, no one wants to harm anybody.”
Until of course, I find those that are filled with different types of dry food.
“So, what should I take?”
I think about it for a while, and decide to grab white bread, cheese, biscuits and a pack of bottled water. Should be fine… There’s even a basket lying around, so I put everything in it and leave, feeling like a stereotypical maiden bringing food to the wounded.
I didn’t spend that much time in here, so of course, the trio’s still here when I come out. I smile, but right as I’m going to say goodbye, I remember there’s something I’d been wondering about.
“Oh, by the way, do you know who’s guarding the weaponry room right now? I heard Chris went there to replace Noah, but now…”
Alice shakes her head.
“Nighttime would have been Chris’ turn anyway. It just doesn’t make that much of a difference with them two, so whoever told you this probably didn’t remember Noah’s turn technically ended at 6.”
“Oooh… Okay.”
That makes a lot of sense.
“Well, then, I’m off. Good night, I guess!”
“Good night!”
“Good night…”
“Gooooood night.”
I finally leave the dining room, and again don’t cross paths with anyone in the hall. I know for a fact that Chris is upstairs, but where is everyone else? Ciel and Mina could be there too, and the others… Maybe almost everyone’s gone back to their rooms already. It’s not that late but the shock… Must have made us all exhausted.
I don’t see anyone outside either. It’s probably for the best.
I’m left alone with my thoughts… And I realize I didn’t even ask Alice, Akiro and Jan what they thought about the possibility of two of them being in a pair. That being said, Alice made it sound like Mina had questioned them thoroughly already… So it may also be for the best that I didn’t think about doing the same. They deserve their break.
I just wonder who it could be, out of them three… I can only figure the three of them equally close to each other. If maybe one of them was close to someone else too… and everyone loves Akiro, but I can’t imagine him being closer to anyone than he is to Alice and Jan.
What does that change, though, if they don’t know either? In any case, they’re obviously very good friends, and that’s something to celebrate, not to worry about.
Yeah.
I’m soon inside the dorms again, and Noah’s door is still open, but this time, I can hear someone chattering inside. I get closer…
“I’d love to play you a little guitar to soothe your sorrows, but you know, some motherfucker trapped two Ultimate Musicians in here without any instruments.”
“Andi”. I didn’t take her seriously when she said she was going to take her revenge… Or at least, I expected her to wait a little longer.
“Oooh, and everyone loves that Jan guy, right? We could go for a duet. Yeah, that’d be sooo cool! But no, of course, no guitar or piano in sight. Well, in your case, you’d have had to deal with me anyway, ‘cause bringing a piano in here would be muuuch harder than a guitar.”
“I didn’t say I wanted anyone to play me anything.”
Keith looks annoyed. Noah, on the other hand, who standing next to the bed, looks distraught by Andi.
“Ah, you wouldn’t know. Whatever it is about my personality, you’d love my guitar playing. I am an Ultimate or whatever the fuck that means, after all!”
“I don’t… care…”
“Thank you, Neo.”
Ah, it seems at least someone noticed me. I look to my left and here’s Oscar, still standing by the door.
“Oh it’s nothing! Well, I didn’t really know what to grab, sooo I brought some basic stuff.”
He looks down a little to check out the inside of the basket, which I’m showing him.
“It looks perfect. You should give it to Noah.”
“Sure!”
I turn around again, and can see that Andi’s now sitting on the side of the bed.
“You’ll love me soon, big guy.”
“Like hell I will.”
Keith seems to be in for a treat. Well… I actually think it’s fine. I feel like I understand Andi’s goal here. If he’s busy being annoyed by her, he won’t necessarily think about his own pain – something like that. I can imagine that being her train of thought, and if it isn’t, well, I’m fine with it working out this way.
As I think that I walk towards Noah, who notices me after a few seconds of staring confusedly at Andi. He starts smiling again, and when I hand him the basket, looks inside before he gives me a thumbs up.
“Don’t hesitate if you need anything else!”
“Hey, dude, I’ll be here for a while. Consider taking a rest?”
I hadn’t noticed Andi was looking at me. Her tone is so much calmer, all of a sudden.
“Huh? Why?”
“You look like a zombie.”
“What? Really?”
“No way!” Why would I? I look around, and notice that Noah’s frankly nodding.
“Reeeaaalllyyy?”
“Yep.”
Did Keith really bother to lift up his head just to confirm it?!
Why would I look tired? I… I…
I suddenly take a break to think about myself and realize that yes… I may actually be forcing myself to stay up without just falling apart. When did that happen? I felt fine when I got up from “catching” Andi… So…
Is my body just trying to slowly push me to rest? Maybe… Maybe that’s the case. I haven’t been catching a single one since what Monokuma did…
“You have been working hard. Take it easy now, we want you to be fine tomorrow.”
…
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
I smile nervously. Man, now that they’ve told me, I’m starting to feel ridiculously exhausted. I look at everyone and smile at them each.
“Okay then, I’ll be going. But really, if you need help for any reason… Don’t hesitate to wake me up!”
Noah nods.
“It’ll be okay.”
“Of course… Good night, then.”
I leave the room, and quickly reach mine. Handbook on the lock, and in I am.

“Phew.”
I quickly lay down on my bed and close my eyes. That feels nice…
Ah, I think I’ll avoid thinking about anything for now. Catch a rest, as they say… I’ll figure everything out tomorrow.

I slowly drift away to sleep. I can’t exactly tell how time passes – I can hear people moving around at certain moments, doors closing, a vague chatter coming from what I’m guessing is Noah’s room… At some point, I hear a voice in particular. It’s not loud in the least, but everything’s so silent, it stands out to my ears.

“You should know that I won’t let anything happen to you.”

I already don’t remember who said it and what it was, though…

…
…
…