It was quiet in the building. The only thing you could hear was your own thoughts and your steady, rhythmic footsteps making soft sounds as they came in contact with the grass floor.

"Hey, have you seen anything going on around here?"

You tightened your lips and furrowed your brow slightly.

"If there is anything that I could note, it's that I saw Shuichi and Kaede just a moment ago. They spoke about something, and I overheard them saying that they should hurry to the library."

Your footsteps now made a more distinct and loud pacing noise as you reached the stairwell.

"Thanks for the news, Kirumi."

A chill went down your spine; you were cold. Hot air goes up leaving the area below colder, which was only reasonable in your case considering that you were now in the basement. It was dark, and it seemed like almost no one was around. You tried to navigate through the place until you heard voices, coming out of the room you were walking towards. They came closer, near the staircase you had just went down. You hid quickly, pressing your back up against one of the cool walls, and listened.

"Kaede...please don't tell anyone what I showed you. I don't want to cause a panic." Sounds like Shuichi, you declared in your mind.

"Y-Yeah, I understand..." With that, the footsteps of more than one person could be heard. They grew softer as they supposedly started to ascend back to the school building's first floor. Within a moment, you decided to come out of your spot and look around: no one was there now. Alright, now let's get this over with.

You walked over to the library. Your hand floated around the room's doorknob until finally clutching it and swinging the door open. Immediately you were hit with the smell of old books; you had to cough a little since there was a lot of dust. Now what were they talking about...? Your eyes scanned the room, not finding anything that really stuck out to you. You muttered a curse word under your breath whenever you heard...

Ding dong! Bing bong!

What was funny was that the monitor you were watching actually had the volume set down a bit lower than the other times you've heard it through other monitors. The screen flashed on, but there was only Monodam, who was as composed as ever. It stayed like that for a while until it suddenly just turned off. I guess that's the nighttime announcement. I wonder...where the other cubs are at? You shook your head, deciding it wasn't important.

You headed to your dorm, seeing a few others go to the dormitory as well. They would wave at you, and you would wave back with an unfazed expression; it was a motion you returned only to be polite. You unlocked the door to your room, finding that the lights had already dimmed by themselves. You sighed. "I'm so tired..." you mumbled while landing face down on your bed. "Hopefully I can get more sleep tonight." You crawled underneath the covers and closed your eyes.
***

You woke up from your rather unceremonious sleep and looked around. It was the same dark room that had greeted you the first time you woke up in the room. Oh...so I'm still here. You slapped yourself a bit trying to see if it was still just a dream; but rather than relieving you with the taste of fiction, it only woke you up more. You weren't quite sure as to why you kept hoping that is was all just a dream at that point. Looking around, you noticed that your clock read '6:48'. Not that much more sleep than last time...but it's something.

After getting out of bed and dressing yourself, you decided to walk around the school grounds for a bit. You didn't even bother to try going into either the gym or the dining hall, for you remembered that they were off limits until the official morning time. You then noticed a small figure outside doing the same thing that you were doing: just roaming around, minding their own business. Now who is that...? You walked over.

Getting closer to the person, you realized that it was actually Ryoma. Oh, yeah, of course it's him, you thought, considering how big his outline was... Shaking that out of your head, you decided to approach him and maybe even start up a small chat. Careful not to startle him, you subtly tried to get his attention; and you were successful.

"Hey Ryoma," you called out while waving.

"Morning (Y/N)," he said, turning to face you. "Didn't think I'd see you of all people out here so early."

"Why are you out so early?" you countered, trying to humor him.

"Morning didn't start at 8 a.m. back when I was an inmate at prison. We'd start at the crack of dawn," Ryoma explained to you. You immediately felt the guilt sink in as you regretted asking that question. Prison...why's you have to make him remember that out of anything else?

"Oh, oh, uh, sorry. I didn't mean to make you bring that up..." you trailed off. Damn, this is—

"Nah, it's all good," the teen said, cutting off your thoughts. "Anyway, I'll be heading off now if it doesn't bother you." You nodded your head and let him be on his way. You figured that it was probably around seven after your all's talk. Not knowing what else to do, you started walking around aimlessly. You had been walking along the school's border, so you eventually came near the boiler room. A thought came into your mind. Looking at the door, you let out a small breath, and reached out for its handle.

Longer stems of grass tickled your ankles through the grated floor as you made your way around to the manhole. It seemed that the cover hadn't been touched ever since the whole escape situation. You crouched down to it and looked inside silently. I wonder what the passage looks like... you thought curiously. You blinked at the dark space below you before turning around and gripping the ladder, making your slow but steady descent. You almost instantly shivered from the cold air that clouded you.

You looked around to see the sign that read the word 'escape' on it. You turned back towards the other empty space, remembering how all of the others had been laying there once after a failed attempt of making it through...whatever was in the tunnel. However, this time, you'd be alone. Before you could have any second thoughts you forced yourself to go in the direction of the tunnel. What you saw next utterly horrified you.

You were greeted with the sight of moving platforms, bombs, flying bombs, set cages and other traps. What hope you may have had and clung onto was diminished at that moment. It was like your heart stopped, only to get ripped apart and crushed; but yet, your mind was giving you the order: run. You sprinted forward, shoving a gate open. You had to jump in order to avoid a false floor trap. Then came the moving platforms. You tried to run onto one of them, but it moved awkwardly causing you to nearly miss it. You were hanging onto it like it was the end of the world, with only everything up to your elbows managing to find ground. You could feel your face getting hot, and started to pull yourself up to where your entire body was on the platform. All of a sudden, something that felt like a mini explosion happened behind you, causing you to tumble forward. Your chin fiercely hit something else before you fell and saw darkness.
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"Ow..." you said as you woke up, rubbing your chin. There was the faint taste of iron in your mouth, leading you to believe that you had probably bit your tongue a bit on your fall. Still, though, you managed to drag yourself back to the passage. This time, you would make sure not to make the same mistake again. You had ran through to the part where you fell the last time. Taking that last attempt for experience you were able to make it across. A bead of sweat rolled down from your forehead to your cheek. Gah, damn it! More moving platforms. You somehow made it past another section of moving platforms. You had to slow down your pace a bit from lack of breath, and when you continued moving you didn't see that you had to jump; eyes widening, your foot found no ground and you fell.
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"This time, I swear..." you mumbled to yourself, "this time...I'll make it." Push open the gate, avoid being hit by bombs, make it past the moving platforms, make it past even more moving platforms, jump to avoid falling. So far, so good. Running through darkness, you found yourself in a new room. In contrast to the other room's grey painting, the new area was a bright blue. Not having time to look anywhere else, you just shot your gaze straight ahead. You didn't notice what was above you until...clunk!—it was too late. The sound of heavy metal against the metal floor sounded out, and echoed loudly in your ears. You felt yourself being pulled up, and then everything went dark—for the third time...
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You woke up, with aches, pains, and bruises being apparent all over your body. Your fast breathing was ragged, your throat was coarse, and your lungs were scratchy. Did what I think just happen...happen? You sat up after noticing you were lying down, and immediately you felt that you wanted to hurl. You clasped both hands around your mouth while your gray eyes got watery. Something wet rolled down your face, but this time it wasn't sweat; it was tears. You were crying. Out of frustration with yourself but also out of the immense pain. Through cloudy eyes you were somehow able to see a golden light spilling through the manhole. I need to leave, now, you told yourself. Blinking away the tears, you forced yourself to get up.

I never knew I was that weak...such a shame... Get your act together, (Y/N), geez. You looked around once you were outside again. Hmm...it must be around 8 a.m., if not later.

You stumbled like a newborn giraffe on roller skates to the dining hall. Resting your hand on the door handle, you pulled the door open only to find all of the other students there. "Oh, so this is a daily thing now, huh?" you said while regaining your composure.

"(Y/N)! You're here! We were about to go send someone to look for you~!" Kokichi said as you walked over. The other teens either gave him a confused look or rolled their eyes and muttered something. However, your main attention was on Kaede who was speaking.

"I mean, it just seems too easy. I don't think it'll end like this," the Ultimate Pianist said.

"I wonder... Do you wish the killing game would have continued?" Korekiyo asked her while pulling down his hat.

"N-No, not at all—"

"Then don't ruin our happy moment, you f*ckin' skank!" Miu yelled hostilely.

"Hey, Kaede... I don't know what you're so worried about," Kokichi said from beside you. "But Monokuma is dead now. There's no way the killing game can continue, y'know?" All of a sudden, a certain black and white bear appeared out of nowhere.

"And that's my cue to appear, kuma!" Monokuma seemed to have grown cat-like ears in place of his bear ones. He also had what looked like a mini skirt on, with weird blue orbs beside him.

"...What?" Kokichi spoke with a frightened look on his face.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Tenko screamed loudly. You gave her a quick glare while covering your ears.

"M-Monokuma!"

"H-He's still alive!?

"No, no, are you guys blind or something, kuma? I ain't Monokuma, kuma," the not-Monokuma announced. Gezz, why does he have to say 'kuma' after literally every sentence? you asked in your head. He's like one of those...cat people who say 'nya' after every sentence. "After dying in a tragic car accident, I've been reborn as a Yo-Kai! Call me Jibakuma, kuma!"

"Jibakuma...?" Kiibo repeated slowly.

"From now on, I'm the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy, kuma! You might feel uncomfortable at first, but eventually you'll get used to it." A weird silence filled the room for a second. "...Huh? Did I slip up?"

"No duh, you f*ckin' fraud! Go find another car to run you over! And this time, stay dead!" Miu shouted.

"Ah geez... It's such a low level cosplay, I can't bear to look," Tsumugi said weakly.

"I have an important question..." Korekiyo started. "Haven't you mistaken ghosts for yokai? Yokai are mythological creatures first created back when humanity lived close with nature." Of course no one else but Kiyo would bring this up... you thought with a sigh. He is the Ultimate Anthropologist after all. "Back then, they were the embodiment of unexplainable natural phenomen—"

"Man, you guys are buzzkills! I was all set for adventure before you stared yelling at me!" Monokuma said almost defensively. He threw his skirt away to somewhere, as well as all of his other costume parts. "This is why I hate teenagers! I'd have cash for days if I was dealing with the under ten crowd!"

You raised your head a bit. "Then why the hell did you kidnap and trap seventeen teenagers, you f*cking idiot?"

"Rise and shine, ursine!" Oh for fu— You helplessly watched as the five different colored bears appeared in the dining hall. You put a hand up to your face.

"Geez, it's loud in here. What's all the ruckus about... Wait, WHAT!? Our father, who we thought was dead, is actually aliiiive!" Monotaro spoke.

"No way! Papa Kuma's too hip and modern to resort to the 'death is cheap' trope!" the blue bear interjected.

"You should have told us you were still alive!" Monophanie pouted. "We've been making stew with your body."

"Wait, if Papa Kuma's standin' here, then whose body is in the stew pot!? Wahhhhh! Which Papa Kuma is the real one!?"

"No, they're both real," Monokuma answered.

"Huh? But, Father, you said there's only one of each of us. That we're unique, like snowflakes."

"Oh...well, yeah, there's only one of each of you guys. But I've got loads to spare," the black and white bear went on. Geez, you quickly thought in your head. He's like a first father trying to give his kids moral lessons...and is doing terribly. You chuckled at your own comment. Sometimes I'm the funniest person in the world to myself, you said in your head, rolling your eyes.

"Gahhh!? Why do you get to have spares and we don't!?"

"Of course you don't get to have spares! Do you really think anyone in this day and age would tolerate the 'death is cheap' trope!?"

"...Huh? What does that mean?" the pink bear asked.

"But now we know," Monosuke spoke up. "This school...has a machine somewhere that can make a whole lotta Pops. Just activate that machine, and you can have as many spare Pops as you wa—" He was cut off by Monokuma, who started picking up the cubs, and...

"What the actual f*ck, eww...!" you exclaimed in disgust. The black and white bear was picking up his cubs and started licking them all.

"Hell no!" Monokid yelled.

"This is an emotional reunion, so you all gotta take your licks!" Monokuma returned.

You just stood in your place, watching the whole scene unfold before your very eyes. You crossed one arm and held one of your hands to your mouth as your brow furrowed. Never did I ever believe I would see something so utterly terrifying as this... you thought. Hell, this may be worse than see that underground passage...

"What's wrong, (Y/N)~?" a voice playfully cooed at your side. You turned and found Kokichi talking to you. "It's nothing bad. Just a creepy father-like bear showing love to his younger cubs. And besides..." He gave you a sly look and smirked. "It's just some tongue action, few licks. I mean, everyone has one y'know." He stuck part of his tongue out at you, in which you in turn quickly and sheepishly looked away. You made a disgruntled noise which only caused the boy to giggle at you.

"Does this mean...the killing game is going to continue?" you had focused your attention to the speaker, who was Tsumugi.

"C-Continue?" Kaede repeated. "The killing game...is going to continue...?"

"What a pain..." Himiko spoke up.

"That's not the problem, donkey face!" Miu said loudly.

Kokichi's demeanor all of a sudden changed quite rapidly. "Wh-What do you mean...the killing game...is gonna continue?" Again, he changed his appearance, dramatically spreading his arms out wide. "I mean, that sounds a bit less boring...so I guess it's okay!" His voice sounds weird. More specifically, it was just his tone that bothered you. You looked into his eyes. He glanced at you for a moment, and quickly turned his head away from you. He seemed...almost shameful...?

"No, it's definitely not okay!" Tenko countered.

"So that's how it's going to be..." Rantaro said softly. "If we want to end this...we have to take down Monokuma and the person behind him." Kill the bear and its actor...or actress...or—you know what? Nevermind.

"I predicted there would be a spare," Kirumi sighed, "but I did not expect it to be built within the academy."

"Is that so?" Monokuma asked, putting his paw up to his face. Then did you also assume this next exciting development?" He seemed to grow bigger as he widened his arms outward and his red eye began to glow. Sh*t, you immediately thought. "Ahem! Now then, I'm pleased to announce an additional motive!"

"An additional motive!?" Kaede stammered in disbelief.

"A time limit is now in effect! If a murder does not occur by nighttime, two days from now..." the bear paused for effect. "...then every student participating in this killing game will die! Mauled to shreds by countless Monokumas from the rumored Monokuma-making machine! So unless you wanna end up as pink smears, you might wanna take this game seriously! Ahhhhh-hahahahaha!"

"T-Time limit?" Gonta said as a question.

"What? Everyone will die?" Ryoma questioned in his monotone voice.

"What!? That's not fair!" Tenko said loudly while glaring daggers at Monokuma.

The black and white bear just said, "Geez, why'd you guys even come to this school if you're not gonna do the killing game?"

"I think that you're forgetting the fact that you forced us here," you said flatly, het there was still venom laced in your tone.

"Quick question, Father," Monotaro decided to speak up. You rolled your eyes, seeing that none of them were going to even acknowledge your comment. "What do you mean by 'countless Monokumas'? I thought we were up once time ran out."

"Damn right! Let the Exisals do their thing next time!" the blue bear said.

"But...I'd rather not go through that again... I'd feel bad if you guys tired yourselves out," Monokuma said, seemingly sad.

"But if we let the Exisals get popular, we could have a real cash cow on our hands, y'know?" Monosuke pointed out. "The merchandising rights alone would make us richer than the sultans."

"Hmmmm, sultans huh? Very tempting, but..." the black and white raised his hands up in the air angrily. "I won't let you kids ruin your futures! You need to have your own kids and ruin their futures!"

"D-Daddy! You love us so much!" Monophanie said with tears coming out of her beady eyes.

How long is this going to take? you thought. Almost as if on cue, Kaede spoke up and said, "Th-That's enough!"

"Oh. You're still here."

"Of course! We never left!"

"Why are you doing this!?" Kiibo yelled. "How much suffering do you want to put us through!?"

"I see... Well, if you're suffering, you all better hurry up and start the killing game," Monokuma responded. "Puhuhu... Then you can say bye-bye to the suffering."

"Y-You b*stard!" Kaito yelled.

"Don't you realize that working together is pointless? So just knock it off already. You know what you gotta do, don't you?" The bear held his stomach and continued speaking. "You're surrounded by strangers, neither allies nor friends. No need to worry about them." Strangers... you repeated in your mind. You scanned the room to take a good look at everybody. Even though we've introduced each other...Monokuma's right. We really are nothing but strangers at this point.

"Plus, you got the First Blood Perk! That means the first kill is free!" Monosuke announced while pushing small glasses up his face.

"But...the killing game is gory, huh? I'm starting to feel a little queasy..." Monophanie said.

"Hell yeah! And if they don't play then they're dead anyway, and that's way more gore-ay!" Monokid yelled out.

"I see... If it's gratuitous, over-the-top gore, I might be able to stomach that..." The pink bear then brightened up. "Forget the killing game, then! It'd be better for you to just die together!"

"Shut up and get the F*CK back!" Miu shouted, much louder than any of the Monokubs.

"...Well, whatever you guys decide next is all up to you. Do whatever you want," Monokuma told everyone. "You can all die working together, or you can survive on your own. It's your call." With that, Monokuma and all of the Monokubs left the dining hall. Looking around, you noticed that most of the other teens had basically the exact same expression on their face. If the others hadn't felt utter fear and despair whenever they were told they were forced into a killing game, then they were sure to have felt it right at that moment.

Word Count: 3713

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