After exiting the trial room, every student made their way to the dining hall. There were no words said and the school felt more emptier than ever. Masaru knew they all were still thinking of Nao and her reasons which conflicted them. She wanted to do something right but instead caused a huge loss that affected everyone.

Masaru's eyes were then drawn to the kitchen where the pleasant smell had slightly faded away and made his way back there. The kitchen was the same as usual except for the food that sat on one of the silver counters. Masaru looked down at a platter of fluffy pancakes that were next to two bowls covered in Saran Wrap.

A bowl of rice and a bowl of miso soup.

Once again, Masaru's body reacted on his own and he couldn't stop the tears from streaming down his face. He tried to stifle his sobs that desperately wanted to get out and his knees buckled underneath him as the other students made their way to the kitchen as well.

Masaru felt someone bend down to rub his back and could tell it was Umeda although he didn't look back. He hated to show this vulnerable side of himself but these emotions were out of his control as he had to come to the fact that this would be the last breakfast he'd ever enjoy in this hell of a school.

  *.                  *.                      *.                           *.

Masaru stayed inside his room for the rest of the day and night. Even when the morning announcement rang, signaling the next day, he still did not move and only clutched the fountain pen that was in his hand. He had felt grief before after his former classmates deaths such as Shoji's but this... this was different. He didn't care about his memory dreams, the killing game, escaping or anything else he had been worried about before.

Masaru's stomach rumbled as he buried his head into his pillow but the thought of eating anything not made by the one who always fed them was unappetizing. He heard movement from outside his dorm and was glad no one tried to drag him out of bed and just let him be.

Time passed as Masaru hoped he soon would hear the nighttime announcement but instead a knock surfaced at his door and he groaned loudly.

"I know you don't want to talk," Priscilla's voice came from the other side, "no one does. But I really think we need to discuss what happened."

What's there to discuss? Masaru thought but still lifted his heavy head from his pillow. He staggered over to his door and opened it to reveal Priscilla who was surprisingly still in her night clothes. This was the first time he'd seen her in this attire.

Priscilla stepped inside his dorm carrying Shoji's laptop and Masaru honestly didn't think he was up for a conversation right now. She sat down at his desk and Masaru stared back at her with puffy red eyes.

"Uh... how are you feeling?" Priscilla attempted to ask but Masaru said nothing. She then sighed. "We need to discuss what Seto brought up during the class trial."

"What?" Masaru questioned.

"You even said so yourself, this motive was a bit strange. Everyone else's cards had ridiculous and pointless facts on them so why was Nao's different?"

Masaru thought back on it. "The card Matsuyama got about me was strange as well but the one Nao received seemed like it was made specifically for her. Almost as if they were targeting her for something..."

"Or targeting her as the next blackened," Priscilla said what they were both thinking, "it's like someone was trying to get Nao if not both her and Matsuyama, killed."

"But that would mean this whole thing was rigged," Masaru said, "maybe someone overheard our conversation in the dining hall about 4WD.CO."

"What do you mean?" Priscilla asked, "Monokuma was shut off during that time and the others were looking for a way out." She tapped her foot. "Umeda was the other one present but considering that he hasn't left his room just like you, I doubt he has anything to do with it."

Masaru glanced at his door. "Or someone stuck around to eavesdrop on our conversation."

"Could it have been the traitor?" Priscilla guessed, "it would make sense. Get rid of the two people that could expose the mastermind's identity."

"We should've been more careful," Masaru said, "we let our guards down because we thought we had gotten rid of Monokuma and we put Matsuyama in danger."

Priscilla clenched her fists. "I should've just had you all gather inside my room. I can't believe I was that careless."

Masaru bit his lip. "It's not your fault. We all should've protected him more after all he told us."

"This may very well be the first move our traitor has made," Priscilla said, "I can guarantee it'll be the last. They won't get away with this if the motive really was rigged."

Masaru nodded in agreement. "Right. There is something else I wanted to discuss with you though."

Priscilla raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

"Matsuyama was the only one I confided in about this but the truth is that my memories have been a bit scrambled since we arrived in this school."

"What do you mean by, scrambled?" Priscilla asked.

"There are bits and pieces of my life that I can't quite remember which is why I was sort of unemotional during our very first motive."

Priscilla's eyes widened. "You don't even remember your parents?"

"Not exactly." Masaru sighed. "But what I did recently remember was me in the middle of a crime scene. I was interrogating what looked like a robbery and I seemed to be cooperating with the police. This proves that I really am the Ultimate Detective."

Priscilla gave a small smile. "Well, that's great news but why did Shoji say he didn't remember one being on the student list?"

"I'm not sure but didn't you mention that you didn't remember seeing a list?"

Priscilla shrugged. "That's because I didn't really pay much attention to it. I cannot clarify if what he said was true or not."

"Umeda didn't seem to remember a linguist either," Masaru added, "anyways, when are you going to tell everyone about—" he motioned to the computer in her hands.

"Everyone is still coping with the recent loss so probably tomorrow morning," she answered before standing, "feel better, okay?"

"I'll try," Masaru mumbled and buried his head back into his pillows as Priscilla left his dorm.

....

The next time Masaru awoke, he mustered enough energy to leave his room, still in his night clothes. It wasn't the next day since there was no morning announcement so he figured it was close to night. He stumbled to the dining hall, his hunger getting the best of him, and saw that only one person was inside.

"Oh, you're finally out of your room," Winona said with a smile then looked down at the table she was sitting at, "I haven't seen anyone else except for Priscilla."

Masaru sat down next to her. "Why are you out of your room then?"

"I wanted to make something to eat for everyone but it doesn't feel the same without..." Winona shook her head. "We were a great team in the kitchen." She then looked over at Masaru. "Do you know how to cook?"

"I don't know," Masaru answered honestly.

Winona stood up, pushing her chair back. "Would you like me to teach you?"

"I suppose so," Masaru said and Winona dragged him back to the kitchen.

Masaru spent time learning how to make the pancakes Matsuyama made for them along with other breakfast foods.

Winona and Masaru grew a bit closer.

Masaru stared down at his flat and half burnt pancakes then glanced over at Winona's which were light and fluffy.

"I quit," Masaru complained.

"You'll get the hang of it eventually," Winona assured him right as a bell rang.

"It is now 10pm! Return to your dorms this instant. Goodnight, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs biiiiitttteeee!"

"Gosh, it's already this late?" Winona questioned as she began to clean up their mess.

Masaru threw his burnt pancakes in the trash can. "One more thing. How do you feel about our last motive?" He wanted to know if others felt the same as he and Priscilla did.

"Last motive?" Winona gulped. "Why would you want to talk about that?"

"Don't you find it a little strange? Considering what the rest of our cards looked like- Nao's facts were different."

Winona blinked. "Huh, I guess you're right. But what does that mean?"

Masaru sighed at her oblivion. "Nothing." They both retreated to their rooms after they were done cleaning up and awaited for morning to come.

*.                        *.                       *.                    *. 

When the morning announcement played, Masaru was already up and looking for Priscilla. This was the day she planned on telling everyone everything. He only wondered where they would be doing it.

Masaru entered the dining hall and saw that everyone was present.

Everyone except for Umeda.

Priscilla was standing before the others with Shoji's computer and he guessed she had them all gather together.

Masaru walked over to them. "Where is Umeda?"

"He didn't answer when I knocked," Priscilla explained.

Masaru observed his other classmates who looked extremely sleepy. Mizuno's eyes were still red with bags under them as she avoided everyone's gaze.

Priscilla turned to Masaru and whispered. "I was thinking we can get Monokuma to unlock Umeda's dorm and that's where we'll discuss you know what. That way Monokuma thinks we're consoling our friend instead of plotting against him."

Masaru nodded at the idea then glanced at Mizuno. "Are you okay?"

Mizuno looked up, shocked, then gave a fake smile. "Of course, I'm just... hungry."

Masaru observed the others who most likely felt the same way. "Well, Winona and I made pancakes last night."

"You cooked?" Seto asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yup," Winona said with a smile, "he did pretty good too."

"No I didn't. I burnt mines but Winona's are still edible."

Mizuno laughed a little at that. "Sounds delicious."

"I will eat anything," Toma said, "I have no complaints."

Winona and Masaru fetched the fluffy pancakes from the kitchen. They had ate the ones Matsuyama made after the last class trial but it only tasted like despair. Masaru didn't dare eat the miso soup or rice that was made for him so he left it in the fridge. Maybe one day he could bring himself to eat it.

After breakfast, the group made their way to Umeda's dorm and Winona held a plate of pancakes for him.

"Monokuma get out here!" Seto called out.

Almost immediately, the bear sprung up in front of them.

"What do you kids want?" Monokuma snapped then looked at the door they stood at, "oh brother, you want me to break into another room again?"

"It's serious," Mizuno told him, "Umeda shouldn't be alone right now."

Monokuma pretended to think about it. "But why should I? You all are getting too comfortable with asking me for stuff."

"Do it," Masaru ordered, staring burning daggers into the bear's soul.

Monokuma shivered then unlocked the door with a click. "So barbaric," the bear muttered before leaving.

Masaru was the first to enter Umeda's dorm with the others behind him and Priscilla shut the door tight.

Umeda's room had lively green walls and black carpet. There was a black desk with a whole gaming set up along with a black and neon green gaming chair. There were gaming controllers on display cases and discs of several playable games on a shelf. He had a gray pixel box bed where everyone could see a large mass hiding under dark covers.

"Go away," the large mass addressed them.

"No," Masaru told him and tried to yank the covers off but Umeda had a fierce grip.

"I'm stronger than you, you fool," the bundle under the covers, taunted.

Seto joined Masaru in pulling the covers and they eventually succeeded revealing Umeda who groaned from the loss of warmth. Umeda's green hair was wild and messy, his red sunglasses were on the floor and the only thing he was wearing were black shorts.

"God, put it away," Seto complained upon seeing the guy's bare chest.

"Oh, don't pretend like this isn't a sight to behold," Umeda said as he grabbed a shirt from the floor along with his sunglasses that he put back on. He then looked up at all his classmates. "What do you guys want?"

"Are you okay?" Winona asked and held out the plate of pancakes, "you haven't eaten."

Umeda laughed at that. "Oh, everything's fine. I only recently lost two of my brothers and now I'm completely alone but I'm fine."

Winona frowned. "I didn't mean—"

"You're not alone," Masaru interrupted, "why can't I be your brother?"

"Do you really want to?" Umeda asked.

"No."

Umeda grabbed his covers and threw them back over his head.

"I can be your brother," Toma offered.

"No thank you," Umeda's muffled voice answered, "but I appreciate it."

"Alright, you can keep hiding if you want to but I have bigger stuff to talk to you all about," Priscilla said and set Shoji's laptop down on the desk.

Umeda peeked out from his covers. "Oh, that? I thought we failed, what could you possibly want to talk about?"

"Uh, what is that?" Mizuno asked.

Seto looked closer. "Isn't that Shoji's?"

Priscilla took a deep breath. "Yes, it is and it's also how we shut off Monokuma."

"What?!" Winona shrieked and Seto shushed her.

"How is that possible?" Toma asked.

"Shoji was a hacker and he succeeded in hacking into Monokuma," Priscilla started, "Unfortunately, he couldn't be present when Masaru and I shut the bear off. We thought we would be shutting it off for good but sadly that wasn't the case."

"After we did that, the computer went dead but it's back on now," Masaru said.

"It's back on?" Umeda asked with wide eyes.

"Yes," Masaru said then looked to his other classmates, "also, we saw something interesting during the deactivation. 4WD.CO."

"Oh, right," Umeda commented, "the wealthy dynasty thing."

"The what?" Mizuno questioned and looked to Masaru. "Why didn't you tell us about any of this?"

"I was the first to know what Shoji was up to," Priscilla said, "I let Masaru in on it next and then Umeda and Matsuyama joined us."

"And now you're telling all of us?" Seto questioned.

"Yes." Priscilla nodded. "I need all of us to be in on this together now that we know it works." She opened Shoji's laptop that showed the same deactivate screen.

"Wow," Seto said, staring down at it, "what are you waiting for then?"

"If Monokuma came back this time then won't he come back again?" Winona asked.

Umeda sat up in his bed. "She's right. Are we just going to be shutting off bear after bear until the day we die? I know what I said before, but he'll still find a way to give us a motive and he'll still find a way to make us suffer." He flopped back on his bed.

"Can we get back to the 4WD.CO thing?" Mizuno spoke, "what does that have to do with anything?"

Masaru pursed his lips. "Like Umeda mentioned, it stands for the 4 Wealthy Dynasties. Matsuyama was the one who told us what it was."

Toma blinked. "Matsuyama?"

"Wait, didn't his card say that he was from a wealthy family?" Seto brought up.

"Yes and it was true," Umeda said, "but you all already know that from the class trial."

"And that's why you all said you should've told each other," Mizuno concluded, "because you three knew it was true from the beginning."

"Didn't you say there were four of these dynasties?" Winona asked, "who are the other three?"

Masaru took out his notepad he always kept on him. "The Nakayama, Bushida, and Watanabe families."

"Nakayama?" Mizuno said, "as in Nao Nakayama?"

"Yes," Masaru confirmed.

Seto crossed his arms. "So the two people who could've helped us figure out this clue are now dead..."

"I see," Toma spoke, "the fact cards that were passed out were a little weird."

"So I'm not the only one who thinks so?" Seto asks.

Masaru shook his head. "You're not."

Winona finally set the plate of pancakes on the desk as well. "Are you saying that the motive was..."

"Rigged," Umeda finished for her, "manipulated, biased, whatever you want to call it."

"So what now?" Mizuno asked, "should we confront Monokuma about it?"

Masaru laughed. "You think he'd care?" He looked back at the computer screen. "I think we should wait until that thing gives us our next motive before shutting it off again. That will for sure throw Monokuma off his game."

"Not a bad idea," Seto agreed then glanced over at Umeda, "do you need more time to yourself?"

"No but I am hungry," Umeda walked over to his desk, sat down and devoured the pancakes.

"We should leave now before Monokuma gets suspicious," Priscilla told everyone and the students began to disperse.

Masaru didn't really know what to do in the mean time but he found himself entering the library. He doesn't visit the place much so he began to observe the shelves thinking maybe he'd find another useful book such as the Danganronpa one.

The same old Grimm fairytales stared right back at him with the occasion of a few real tragic stories. Masaru made his way to the last shelf in the back of the library but still found nothing but he wasn't surprised.

As he prepared to exit the library he stopped in his tracks when he spotted a wooden door that was also hidden in the back. The only way he recognized it was because of the faded golden doorknob but the outline of the door was rusted and dusty.

Masaru reached to open it but of course it was locked. He played with the handle for a bit but it still wouldn't budged so he peered closer at the lock. Maybe he could use a bobby pin or something small to—

Wham!

...

......

..........

There was a heavy pounding in the back of Masaru's head and his eyes fluttered open from the darkness he was plunged into. The first thing he saw was a shelf towering over him to his right and he realized he was still in the library.

"Are you awake sleepyhead?"

Masaru propped himself up on his elbows and saw Monokuma sitting on his stomach.

"What the—"

"Sorry for the little discomfort," Monokuma said and hopped off of Masaru, "you were just getting a tad bit too nosey."

"Are you crazy?" Masaru hissed then finally saw that the doorknob he was trying to get through was now gone and it looked like the door had been painted over.

"Did you knock me out?" Masaru demanded, "how long..."

Monokuma knocked on Masaru's forehead. "You'll be fine! It was only about thirty minutes I think."

"Thirty minutes?!" Masaru jumped to his feet and staggered a bit. He turned to the hidden door again but Monokuma blocked his path.

"You didn't see anything," Monokuma told him in a low voice, "run along now."

Masaru stared down the bear for another minute before exiting the library, holding his head. He didn't feel or see any blood so he didn't think he'd have to go to the nurses room. He instead made his way up to the second floor.

Once he reached the top of the stairs, he saw Mizuno and Winona leaving the women's locker room and heading to the pool room in swim suits. He planned to follow them but someone near the game room caught his eye.

Priscilla was staring, almost in a trance, at the side of the wall next to the game room. It was the same way she was staring at the hallway bathrooms a while back.

Masaru waited for her to acknowledge his presence or at least blinked but when she didn't he walked over to her.

"Are you losing your mind already?" Masaru spoke and Priscilla flinched a little.

Priscilla turned to him with a distant look. "I was just..." she glanced both ways down the hallway then back at Masaru with a now serious expression. "Follow me."

"Where? Back to your dorm?"

"Yes." Priscilla sighed. "There is something else on Shoji's laptop that I did not show you."