Danganronpa: ReProgrammed

Ultimate Despair: Part 13 [Deadly Life]

After being pointed in the direction by Mukuro, Chihiro made his way over to the gym. He'd originally gone there with the intention of looking for Kyoko and questioning her, but upon arriving in the lobby, Mondo walked out of the gym first, and to Chihiro's confusion, his face was incredibly pale, and incredibly sweaty. 

"Oh! Hey Mondo!" Chihiro greeted him as he usually would, however, the moment Mondo spotted and heard him, his giant frame jumped, and began to tremble. Chihiro immediately knew that something wasn't right here. 

"O-Oh! H-Hey Chihiro? What's...what's up?"

"Are you...good?" Chihiro asked "why are you so startled?"

"H-Huh? Oh...it ain't nothin'..." Mondo scratched his head, still in a cold sweat. 

"Let me guess. You're here because you just recieved that hint thing from Monokuma, right?" Chihiro asked.

"HUH!? How'd you know that!?" Mondo immediately got on the defensive. Chihiro, fearful he might snap, took a small, unnoticeable step backwards.

"W-Well, Mukuro told me Kyoko came round for the exact same thing, so I'm assuming that you're here for it too."

"I um...I've already been dude," Mondo explained "I just left, and I'm goin' back to where I was..."

"Oh, really?" Chihiro asked "you already got Monokuma's hint? What was it?"

"I-I uh..." Mondo was now shaking like a leaf in the wind, until he suddenly said "sorry man! I gotta go!" and jetted off!

Chihiro called after his biker friend, but Mondo paid no heed. Instead, he kept running, almost like he was...trying to get away from him. Chihiro really had wanted to ask Mondo about what he'd found in the locker room on the second floor. Unless...he was hiding something...

"Ah! Fujisaki!" Monokuma suddenly poked his head out through the door "fancy seeing you here!"

"What is it now?" Chihiro turned around and frowned "can't you see I'm busy?"

"Oh, sorry, don't worry too much about it," Monokuma smiled "it's just that I was about to call you and tell you about this hint thing of mine that you can receive, yet here you are already on my doorstep. So? Wanna give it a shot?"

"No, I'll pass..." Chihiro shook his head.

"Great! Now just come in the hall and-Wait, what!?" Monokuma exclaimed "you don't want it?"

"I don't know what you showed Mondo in there, but to be frank, if he's on edge now, then I want no part of whatever experience that you have planned," Chihiro said "besides, isn't this optional?"

"Grrgh!" Monokuma growled "alright, be like that..."

"That being said, there is a hint that you CAN give me," Chihiro said "do you know where Kyoko is?"

"Hm? How should I know?" Monokuma tilted his head.

"Huh? But...Mukuro told me that she'd come to the gym to get your hint?" Chihiro recalled.

"Look, I don't know what that disappointment told you, but Kirigiri never showed up here, no matter what she said," Monokuma growled "but if YOU aren't coming here to accept the hint, then beat it already!"

"Fine...I'd rather stay away from you." Chihiro frowned and walked away. Monokuma was acting shifty, and he didn't like it one bit. If this clue was going to make something out of him that it apparently did Mondo, then he wanted nothing to do with it.

Chihiro scoured the school up and down, looking for all the reasonable places that she could be. Eventually, she found her, not by herself, but alongside the Alter Ego infested Monokuma unit, both of whom were in the bio lab. To Chihiro's surprise, the two of them had opened one of the drawers on the machines, and were examining a strange shape covered by a sheet.