After leaving the elevator Makoto broke off and the rest of us went to the dinning Hall. Taka has calmed down by now. We sat and waited for Makoto. Honestly I was ready for bed. I sat with my head in my hand, and examined my injured one. I moved my fingers one at a time. The movement was slow but they moved. I'm so tired of this school. Before the thoughts got worse Makoto came out of his room, and out of habit I stood up.
" Makoto? Are you ok?"
before he could get a word in, Taka butted into the conversation.
" You sure took your sweet time! I was just about to go get you and drag you back here!"
Makoto muttered a small apology, which was drowned out by Takas next statement.
"So? What happened? Was your room fixed up like he said? I imagine it would be pretty hard to sleep with a rotting corpse in your bathroom!"
He had an innocents smile, but I Jabbed him in the side, giving him a stern look. He looked down at me with an equally confused expression. Makoto ignored Taka, and with a sigh he explained,
"My room was...spotless. There wasn't anything left. Like the whole thing...never happened."
Sakura asked if Makoto wanted to stay in Sayaka's room, but he explained it smelled like her, and he wont "turn away from her death"...whatever that means. The room hanged gloomy until Aoi spoke up, encouraging optimism. Well that was until Byakuya soured the mood with his pessimism.
"We were already "working together" and yet someone was still murdered. Anyone could betray us at this point. Now that it's happened once, it's a question of when, not if, the next one takes place."
He spat, with a crooked smirk.
"Yeah, because S-Sayaka made the first move..."
Toko chimed in, not helping the tense situation. i looked to Makoto and could feel the anger and sadness raiding from him.
" B-But...if we work together against the mastermind, nobody'll have any reason to do something like that!"
Aoi shouted back, but to no admail. Byakuya is an impenetrable force, shown time and time again.
"Keep telling yourself that. I'll be over here in the real world. Working together, fighting a common enemy... Like it or not, it's not that simple."
"what do you mean?"
HIfumi asked, causing Celestia to prance her way into the snooze fest of pessimism.
"The mastermind seems to be much more powerful than we ever suspected. They took over Hope's Peak, which was supposed to be well defended, then modified it to fit their desire. They created Monokuma, which seems to be incredibly advanced, and they're providing for our every need. And the cherry on top is the execution we witnessed. Everything has been planned down to the last excruciating detail. This is not the work of your everyday psychopath. Defying them may be too great a risk..."
I took in her words, but couldnt help too blur out,
"then what are we supposed to do?"
which was a mistake. Byakuya opened his big mouth again.
"Anyone who truly does want to escape...will just have to follow the rules. In which case, the only option is to deceive those around you, and win the game.
from the back distance sniffing was cracking through. We all turned around to see Chihiro, tears streaking down their face. My instances kicked in, as I shimmed my way towards them.
"n-no.. I don't want to live...if it means killing someone else to do it. I don't want to kill anyone else... Leon died because we all voted for him, right? It's no different from us killing him ourselves!"
i patted their back, showing them I was there. They looked back at me with a tear stained face, so i hugged them tight.
"Youre not to blame. Non of us are too blame. The person who trapped us here is the one and only one that anyone should be blamed. Being cut off from the rest of the world and even family can be scary, and he acted on that fear. In the end it was.. it was Monokuma that killed Leon, not you, not us."
they pulled back and nodded at me, seemingly had calmed down. A loud and long ding dong bing bong filled our ears, and the static sounds of Monokuma blared at us.
"Mm, ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now 10 p.m. As such, it is officially nighttime. Soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Oh, and one other thing... It was totally obvious before that you were trying to make yourselves feel better and justify what you did. See you, see you, don't see you, see you! That's about how much I can see you, even when you try to hide! Now pay attention and remember this well! The burden of judging others is a heavy one to bear. So be well aware of your actions! Order and stability rely on the sacrifice and responsibility of everyone! Okay then...sweet dreams, everyone! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite..."
and just like that the progress of making everyone feel not guilty was gone. Yippee. We all went our separate ways, the feeling of guilt and negativity hanging high and mighty over everyone's heads. Taka and I walked side by side, but without a word. I waved him off as I close the door too my room, triple checking the lock. I laid in bed, replaying all that happened the past 24 hours. I felt up the wound on my hand for the hundredth time. It was my one reminder that all this is real.
^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^
As hard as I tried, i gotten little sleep that night. I was on my toes a full hour before the morning bell rang, so I said screw it and gotten an early start on the day. I started with affirmations and cleaning my wound with gritted teeth. Too my surprise Monokuma had called us to the gym, so with heavy feet we marched our way there. Taka and him where doing some sort of work out. i stood in the sidelines and watched them go at it. The two of them almost made me forget that one of them killed a teenager and the is his prisoner! turns out another area of the school has been unlocked, meaning more limited freedom. Ironic aint it? we....or well Taka decided we should spit up to investigate like the ragtag scooby gang we are, and out the door he went. no one had time to protest, so we followed out with him. I staggered out, honestly wanting to go the dinning hall to get breakfast when Taka shouted out to me,
"(Y?N)! The gate blocking the stairs is gone... It would seem a path to the 2nd floor has opened up! But it's also of utmost importance to double-check the areas we already know about, just in case! Aren't I so clever to think of that!? I really impress myself sometimes."
he stood with his hands plastered to his hips. I let out a small laugh, agreeing with him.
"yeah...I'm going to the dinning hall, I'm starving. we start our double checking there."
I started to wobble my way there, and too my surprise, Taka marched behind me. It was a little awkward between us, until he shouted,
"how is your hand? It hasn't gotten infected has it?"
"nope, its alright. it stings a little still, but thats all."
I answered, thanking him for holding the door open for us. We moved back into the kitchen, and it all looks the same. even the knife had been returned... the knife... the imagine of Sayakas mangled corpse haunted my vision, stopping me in my steps. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed a banana, unable to stomach a full meal right now. Taka rounded the corner, surprisingly cheery.
