Chapter Text

DING DONG

Ishimaru was ringing the doorbell. I wanted to yell at him to go away, but I knew that I had to go. Breakfast would make everyone feel better, it was something familiar, which would be something to hold on to. I opened my door a crack, revealing not Ishimaru, but Enoshima.

"Uhh," she said, "are we going to meet up for breakfast?"

I looked over to the clock to see that it was 6:50. "Yes," I said hurriedly, "please wake up Makoto and Taka as quickly as possible, we should have already been there."

"They're already there," she said, "I was... awake and noticed you weren't with them. I was wondering why."

"I…I overslept is all," I quickly came up with a lie, "I will be there, just give me some time to prepare." I closed the door before she could respond, and started to get ready.

I had not even begun to fix my makeup whenever I heard the morning announcement. I realized I would not make it in time, so I was going to need to do something to make up for it. I looked around until I saw my notepad, and realized what I could do. I finished getting ready, before sitting down and grabbing a pen.

#

"She said that we were still planning on meeting," I heard Enoshima say, "but where could she be?"

I burst through the dining hall doors, making as dramatic of an entrance as I could. "Hello," I declared, "Excuse my tardiness, but there was something I had to take care of." I glanced around to see that everyone else had already arrived. If I hadn't taken my time I could have beat Hagakure, but I wouldn't have had my excuse ready, all that combined had me arriving almost an hour late.

"Celestia," Ishimaru stood to face me, "if you were going to be late, you should have informed Enoshima of that whenever she asked."

"Yeah," she said, "everyone thought I was making it up."

"I am sorry," I bowed slightly to her, "but at the time I was unaware of what an undertaking I had thought of."

"Huh," Owada asked, "did you do something?"

"Yes," I answered, "I drew up some designs on these." I produced twenty-six pieces of paper, on which I had drawn intricate designs. On half of them were wave-like patterns, and on the rest were the patterns often associated with circuits. "I thought we may need a group activity after yesterday's events."

"I-I don't know that I want to do anything with her," Fukawa spat her words at Maizono.

"You don't really mean that," Naegi looked cautiously at her, "do you?"

"I mean," Kuwata scratched the back of his head, "she was planning on-"

"Do not worry," I cut him off before he could say the words and solidify the idea in everyone's mind, "this is an activity that we will all do, but you will not need to interact with anyone you do not desire to." I realized how far away Maizono was, and almost everyone was pointedly ignoring her.

"So," Kirigiri looked over towards me, "what do you want us to do?"

I smiled that she finally seemed to be taking some interest in what everyone else was doing. "Well," I passed out one of each paper to everyone in the room, "I would like each of you to write some final words to Asahina and Fujisaki. You do not need to share them, but with such sudden deaths, it may very well help us all to find some sense of closure."

"I feel no need to say anything to them ever again," Togami said, "if they would resort to murder so easily, then they should not have been here in the first place."

"D-don't talk like that man," Hagakure raised his hands in a silent prayer, "y-you don't want their spirits coming after us.

"You need not participate," I glared at him, "however even though we only knew them for a few days we should respect their memories."

"You don't really believe that nonsense do you?" Togami asked.

"I would not consider them friends no," I admitted, "but that does not mean we should not respect their memories."

"I am not entirely certain of this course of action," Yamada said, "as Asahina was attempting to kill Naegi, and Fujisaki did kill Asahina."

"They made their choices," Ogami said, "but we should respect their memories."

"If you feel like they betrayed you," Naegi said, "you could ask them through the letters."

"Th-they can't give you any answers back though," Fukawa said.

"Even if they don't answer," Kirigiri said, "some people still find a sense of closure just by asking them."

"How do you know that?" Hagakure asked "Are you a medium?"

"No," she said "I have met people who have going through loss, and they've told me that this helps." I made a careful note of that, and meant to ask her about it later.

"Any other objections?" I asked.

"I already ate," Togami said, "so I'll be leaving."

"Don't go just yet," a cheery voice came from nowhere, "I still have an announcement to make." I continued handing out papers, as if I had not just heard Monokuma speak.

"Wh-what kind of announcement?" Yamada asked.

"I just wanted to let you know, that a whole new world has opened up to you!" Monokuma cheered. "I figured it'd get boring if everything stayed the same, so I figured I should give out some rewards every time you win a trial."

"What kind of rewards?" asked Maizono "A way out?"

"If you want to find out," Monokuma said, "you'll have to go looking," and he vanished.

"I'm leaving," Togami declared, leaving his tray on the table.

"But what about the letters?" Naegi asked.

"We cannot force him to do anything," I said, "let him go."

"But what if he finds a clue," Yamada asked, "and doesn't tell us?"

"Well," I sighed, "I will follow him and make certain that he does not hide anything from us." I exited the dining hall first, silently bemoaning my missed breakfast.

#

"You don't have to follow me everywhere," he said as I walked up beside him.

"With the way you have been acting, there are those who feel you may hide evidence," I said.

"I take it a promise of good behavior won't change your mind?" he said.

"You and I both know it would be a lie," I said, "so why bother. Let us just get this search over with."

It didn't take long for us to see that the stairwell next to the gym had been opened, so we went up it. We passed an area that looked to be a pool entrance, complete with the smell of chlorine, a couple of classrooms bound to be as empty as the ones downstairs, until we came to a library.

The library was covered in dust and cobwebs. After briefly looking around we saw a letter setting out on a pedestal. Togami opened the seal before I tore it from his hands.

"Give me that," he demanded.

"I will give you one last chance," I said, "adapt, or die. You cannot continue to act like you have. You will die. Not by my hands, but by someone else's. You do not have to make friends, or other such nonsense, but you are currently isolating yourself. There will be no one to save you if you keep pushing others away."

"You're one to speak after the trial," he said.

"Wha-" I said, "What does the trial have to do with this?"

"You know very well what changed after the trial," he said, "and no amount of group activities will repair it."

"If you have no intention of helping," I said, "then I may as well leave." I turned around, facing the other way.

"And the letter?" he snarled.

Filled with anger at how he was acting, I turned around and tore the papers to shreds right in front of him.

"WHAT?" He almost screamed "Why would you do that?"

"Oh," I said, "was that important? It looked like an old useless letter to me. It is impolite to go looking through other people's mail."

He stormed off, with a look of incomprehensible rage at my actions.

"After all," I whispered, "I said it earlier, no one needs to read a letter to the dead." I looked at the shreds of the letter I had written Asahina, as I pulled the mysterious letter I had hidden back out.

#

I returned to the dining hall, to see everyone divided off into distinct groups with Owada, Ogami, and Hagakure in one, Enoshima, Naegi, and Kuwata in another. Fukawa and Yamada were each on their own, looking like they were unsure of where to be.

"Hey, Celestia," Owada walked over, "thanks for this... it uh, it helped me feel better."

"I am certain it helped everyone else here," I specifically phrased that to leave myself out. "So, everyone," I shouted to gain their attention, "the second floor of the school has been opened, feel free to go explore it."

"A new level?" asked Yamada, "how exciting." He left, followed by Ogami, Hagakure, Owada, and Kuwata.

"You coming Makoto?" Enoshima asked.

"Uhh," he saw me shaking my head no, "I'll meet you up there, I have something to do here."

"Where is Sayaka?" I looked around to see that she was nowhere in sight.

"She left right after you," Naegi said, "she said she was going back to her room."

"Oh," I raised my hand to my mouth, "I was wishing to speak with her. No worries, we shall see her at lunch."

"So what did you want to talk about?" Kirigiri said, cutting straight to the point.

"I was hoping that more people would have realized that," I said, "as it is, well us four will have to do." I produced the letter from one of the pockets I had sewn into my skirt, "While investigating the library, Togami and I found this."

"Did you read it with him?" Naegi asked.

"Yes," I said, "but he stormed off in a rage before we could talk about it."

"Go ahead and read it now," Kirigiri said, "I want to know what it says."

"From Hope's Peak Academy Executive Office," I read, "Throughout the years we have been committed to shaping the youth who will one day shape the world. We have a long, proud history as an institution of higher learning with full governmental support. Our graduates enter society ready to take on active leadership roles in every major job field. However, Hope's Peak Academy must now lower the curtain on its glorious history, for the time being. This decision was not an easy one to make, but serious issues beyond our control have made it necessary. But make no mistake-this is not the end for Hope's Peak Academy. We intend to reopen our doors as soon as the issues forcing our closure have been resolved. That being said, this is the end for now... And I would like to personally and sincerely thank everyone for your help and support over the years. For now, we are awaiting official governmental authorization to formally cease operations..." It was signed from Headmaster Jin K, but I did not feel the need to read off that.

"What?" asked Naegi, "but wouldn't that have been on the news or something?"

"Yes," Kirigiri agreed, "and it probably was."

"It was not," I said, "even without watching the news, we were bound to hear about something like this."

"Yeah," Naegi agreed, "and everyone was talking about the new students online, so it there was no way we wouldn't have heard."

"While that is true," I said, "I do not believe that is what Kirigiri is saying."

"Yes," she took my statement in stride, "this letter has confirmed my suspicions. I can tell you, but you won't like it."

I thought for a moment before saying "At this point we have very little information, whatever you know will be very helpful."

"If it's so bad I may not want to know," Naegi said, "but I can't turn away, I have to know even if I won't like it."

"From what I can tell," Kirigiri said, "approximately one year ago some event occurred, which caused this school to close. We were sealed in here, from what appears to have been our own choice. Somehow, whoever is controlling Monokuma was able to take over, and wiped our memories."

"What?" Naegi asked in shock, "how can you tell?"

"The dust on the back of the door," I whispered.

"What?" Naegi asked.

"The dust on the back of the door," I repeated, before continuing, "you were not there at the time, but whenever Kirigiri first showed up in the entrance hall, she commented about the dust on the back of the door. No one else realized at the time, but it was because the door had been sealed for a year."

"That is correct," Kirigiri agreed, "add in the motive videos having rooms that looked to have been through long periods of war, even though we were all in them a matter of days ago."

"That's not very strong evidence," Naegi said.

"Do you seriously believe that?" I asked Ishimaru, "that you have not seen evidence with your own eyes of that? I occasionally feel the need to release some anger. I will use my ring to damage an easily hidden part of the wall. After," I paused, "after last night I did that to a certain area, and I noticed nearly a dozen different identical marks, all the exact same size and shape of my ring." I turned to Kirigiri "Whatever happened, must have been horrible. I do not easily get that emotional, and if I did, there is no telling how bad the situation was. We may not wish to tell the others, as this is a very concerning development."

"I thought so," she agreed, "if anyone asks feel free to talk about the letter, but unless it's an emergency don't tell anyone about this."

"Then it's agreed, this information doesn't leave this room," I looked to Naegi who nodded. "In fact," I said, "you should go and show this to everyone else," I handed the letter to Naegi, "they will want to know what is on it."

"We should probably look around upstairs," Kirigiri said, "to find anything you may have missed."

"You can go on ahead," I said, "however I found everything I need. I will meet up with you all later." We all went our separate ways at that.

As I stepped out of the dining hall, I noticed something I had missed earlier, the bath house was now open. Curious to see if anyone else had noticed it, I stepped inside.

The room was pretty standard, with several benches, and lockers along the far wall. There were two doors, one which led to a sauna, and the other to a large communal bath. I was considering whether or not I was likely to spend any time in here, whenever I realized something I had missed. There were no security cameras visible in this room. I went through the lockers, checked underneath the benches, and behind anything else I could think may hide one, but there were no cameras in here at all. I realized this room was going to be far more useful than I initially anticipated.

I went around the first floor again to see if anything else had opened up. The nurse's office was still sealed, as was the other stairwell. The storage room was now open, and held various things that may be useful in the future, and some fabric that I would be able to sew into more clothing. At least that problem was solved, but we were still trapped here, and I couldn't allow myself to forget that.

I returned to the dining hall to see if anyone else had returned to talk about what they'd found, but it was empty. I saw the clock approaching noon, so I started fixing myself lunch while waiting on everyone else to arrive. A few minutes later, Naegi and Enoshima came in to join me.

"So," I asked after they sat down, "how did your search go?"

"The pool looks nice," Enoshima said, "but I'm probably not going to use it."

"Yes," I agreed, "pools are not something I generally enjoy either."

"Oh I love pools," she said, "I just don't like using them by myself."

"The locker rooms have some workout equipment," Naegi added, "so I guess some people will work out there."

"You should join me some time," Enoshima said flatly, "I need a good workout partner."

I had to take a moment to understand that statement. "Why not ask Ogami?" I finally managed to say.

"Sakura's emphasis is on building muscle," she continued, "while that would only slow me down. I just need to be able to..." she trailed off before regaining her normal smile "...to carry around all my luggage. It can get pretty heavy, so it's not like super easy to carry around all the time, but I don't really have a choice."

"What about Makoto," I was still trying to parse the shift in her personality, "would he not make a suitable training partner?"

"Uhh," he scratched the back of his head, "the only way into the locker rooms is by scanning your e-handbook, and it'll only open for the correct gender. There is also a machine gun that will shoot anyone who tries to sneak in behind someone else."

"Specifically a M242 Bushmaster, modified to fire rubber bullets," Enoshima said without looking up from her food, "it won't kill you, but it will hurt."

"It uses rubber bullets?" Naegi asked, "how do you know that."

"Isn't it obvious," she said, before readjusting herself, "I mean, like, real bullets are shiny, but those were just black, so they just have to be rubber."

"Monokuma also added a rule that you can't loan out your handbook," Naegi added, "so I couldn't just borrow yours to get in." Good, because I wasn't letting anyone else touch this thing. Kirigiri knowing was annoying enough, but Naegi could barely remember my name as-is.

"Oh," I said, "however I am not one for physical activity, so perhaps you could ask someone else."

"Like who?" she gestured around the dining hall, "no one's seen Sayaka since this morning, Kyoko avoids everyone she can, and Toko is Toko."

"If you insist," I concede, "but Makoto will have to work out with Owada or Taka."

"What? Why?" Naegi asked in confusion.

"While we are trapped here we will need to stay active," I said, "or else we will stagnate. That, and if I am forced to suffer this, so will you."

"Uh, okay," he accepted that he was just going to have to listen to me.

"Wait," I hesitated, "you said Sayaka has not been seen since this morning?"

"Well, yeah," Enoshima said, "after she left from breakfast no one has heard from her. I was expecting to find her here, but no, it's just us."

"Hmm," I thought for a moment, "she is probably just holed up in her room. She did set up a murder after all."

"But she didn't go through with it," Naegi objected.

"I am not certain that makes a difference," I said, "as far as some of our classmates are concerned. She will either die, or start interacting again of her own volition. It is not our job to rush her."

"But, like we should probably go check on her," Enoshima looked to where she would normally be seated.

"I will speak to her later," I said, "but anything she does I will leave up to her."

We spent the rest of our meal discussing workout plans, and finally decided to meet back up after dinner. Kirigiri never showed up, but without Maizono to force her, I doubted she would spend time with anyone else. I bid them farewell and went to speak with Maizono.

#

It took several rings before she answered it.

"H-hello?" she almost whispered.

"Good afternoon Sayaka," I said cheerfully, "we missed you at lunch, so I came to check on you, may I come in?"

"Uh, no," she said, "I-I want to be alone right now."

"Very well then," I smiled, "I hope to see you tomorrow," I hoped that would encourage her to show up, even if it was not very likely. I went back to my room to think about what to do next.

#

I spent the rest of my afternoon in my room, trying to make myself a new outfit. I started working on the designs for a new dress, but nothing seemed to fit. Eventually I looked up to see that it was almost 7:00, so I went off to meet with Kirigiri and Ishimaru for our strategy meeting.

"Hello," I said to Kirigiri as I walked into the dining hall. I looked around for a moment before I asked "Where is Taka?"

"He said that he wasn't feeling well," she said, "so he wasn't going to make it."

"Oh," I said, "I was hoping that you two found something else, was the letter everything?"

"Yes, there wasn't anything to change my theory," she answered.

"Did Togami ask for the letter?" I wanted to know if he would do even that much.

"After everyone finished looking around he did," she gave off no hint of emotion, "I'd already found everything I could, so there was no reason to hide it."

"Did you notice the bath house is opened?" I said nonchalantly, "It may be a better place for meetings in the future."

"Maybe," she seemed to have gotten my hint, "although Ishimaru won't have noticed yet."

"Yes, we will have to tell him about it tomorrow," I said, "unless you have anything else, I need to fix myself dinner, if I do not eat something now Junko's exercises will be far more painful."

"You and Junko are going to start working out?" she asked, showing surprise for the first time.

"Yes," I said, "I tried to refuse, but she insisted. You may join us if you wish."

"No," she said, and offered no further explanation.

I tried to make small talk with Kirigiri over dinner, but she wouldn't say much.

#

I opened the door to the exercise room, to see Enoshima in a track suit.

"Are you sure you want to wear that?" she asked looking at my black dress, "It doesn't look like it breathes very well."

"I was not sure what to expect," I said, "so I just came in what I was wearing." She was a fashion model; how hard could her workouts be?

"Alright then," she said with a smirk, "let's start off today easy, just one thousand push-ups." She instantly dropped to the mat and started at it. I managed to get ten done whenever she jumped up "Done!"

I dropped to the ground, already running out of breath.

"Next, one thousand sit-ups," she started going while I was still trying to catch my breath. I pulled myself up, and went over to the bench so I could sit down.

She smiled "Done already? I just can't keep up with you."

"I am a gambler, not an athlete," I managed to huff out.

"How about this," she said, "there are school swimsuits in the lockers here, we each do as many laps as we can, winner gets to ask the loser one question, which they have to answer honestly."

I thought for a moment before saying "No."

"Scared you'll lose?" she taunted me, but I was not going to give in with the disadvantage I would have.

"Ask your question, and I'll answer it," I said, "but I am not doing it."

"It's no fun if you just give in," she huffed, "why won't you do it?"

"I do not want to say," it was one of my embarrassing secrets, but one I would admit to if pushed.

"You said you'd answer my question," she looked annoyed at my refusal to say anything.

"Is that the question you want me to answer?" I would honestly answer any question, and I didn't want her saying I cheated.

"Yep," she said, "why won't you go swimming with me."

"It is because I cannot swim," I said in embarrassment.

"What?" she looked surprised, even though this was hardly the first thing I'd hidden from her "Why not?"

"My childhood was," I paused, I'd already answered her question, so I didn't owe her any detail, "busy, so I never had any time to learn."

"Well we're fixing that," she went over to the lockers, "I'm going to teach you how to swim."

"You misunderstand me," I held my place, "I have not learned to swim since then, because I have no desire to. It is beneath me."

"What?" she said in shock, "Be glad Hina..." she trailed off as she hit the name of our deceased classmate.

"Based on our exercises today," I stepped in so she wouldn't get trapped in that thought, "I will have to train for a while before I am able to keep up with you."

"It won't take as long as you think," she said, "don't worry, tomorrow I'll have a training regime for you, you'll be keeping pace in no time."

I spent the rest of the time until the nighttime announcement watching her exercise. She is definitely hiding something, and it may turn out to be more threatening than I originally thought.