[A/N] Apologies for the ridiculously long hiatus, lovelies. That SHOULD hopefully be the last one in the series (no promises). Thank you so much for bearing with me and being such a wonderful audience. Also, at this point, I'm going to say that Free Time Events are basically required reading at this point. If any new readers have not yet read the Free Time Events, please check them out here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/250876944-drldod-free-time-events

Gou, January 9th, 6:55 am

"Gou. Gou. GOU! You have to wake up! Please!"

My eyes snap open. It takes me a sec to realize nobody was actually talking to me. Agh. It's been a long time since I've had a nightmare like that. Chimon and Fujiko are snuggled up, one in each of my arms, on the bed. When we stopped feeling the need to watch Yuu, we'd decided to sleep in our own rooms again, but tonight, we chose to slumber party the fuck out of this shit. Ren, Azumi, and Yuu each use futons, and Ren's managed to steal Azumi's blanket in his sleep. I chuckle softly, being careful not to wake the others. "Good morning," I murmur fondly.

The door suddenly unlocks and slams open. Fujiko squeals, startled. "GOOOOOOOOD MORNING, EVERYBODY! IT'S YOUR FIRST DAY OF INVESTIGATION! RISEEEEE AND SHINE, MY SWEET CHICKADEES!"

"Goddamn," Yuu groans, "my first dream-free sleep in months gets interrupted by my real life nightmare."

"Well, it's good to know it worked, at least," Chimon responds sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"Where are we to begin, Monokuma?" Azumi asks, shockingly unbothered.

"Puhuhu! Well, you all never got the chance to pick a memento from Wakumi, did you? Maybe it would be right to give her room a once-over!"

"I would say that the most important mystery to me is how to win your guys' love, but this one is actually really damn important," Ren sighs, offering a hand to Azumi.

"It's a good thing I look super cute in my pj's, cause it doesn't seem like I'm gonna get to put on makeup." Fujiko stretches and then jumps out of the bed with enthusiasm.

"Nahhhhh, I'm getting into clothes, I don't even care," Yuu objects. Azumi can't hold back a smirk.

"C'mon, all. Get dressed. Grab something small to eat while we work. Meet outside her room in ten minutes. It's time to stare into the depths of this hell so we can find out what it really is!" I encourage. I swore to Wakumi I was ending this. I will end this.

"Just for the record," Ren interrupts as everyone begins to file out of my bedroom, "y'all are hot with bedhead." I knock on my helmet playfully, reminding him that I wear it even to sleep. He cackles.

The silence is deafening. There's not even a ticking clock, it's just the sounds of my own breath and the process of getting ready. We started this war as sixteen friends, and now there are six. If I can be proud of anything in this fucking mess... I'm proud that Azumi, Chimon, Fujiko, Ren, and Yuu are still loud. In fact, they never really were the assertive ones, back when this all began. But in the absence of a lot of strong voices– Kana, Wakumi, Keiji– they still refuse to lay down. In this silence, in this rumination, I cry. They're tears made out of a combination of pretty much every emotion you could imagine. And, my God, how many of my big words did I learn from people like Azumi and Sayuri? Rumination. Gossamer.

I stop by the kitchen to grab myself a few apples, scolding Chimon lightly for snagging chips instead of anything healthier. He snickers good-naturedly, puts them back, and cuts up a pomelo.

Shortly thereafter, the six of us reunite. "You have 48 hours!" Monokuma announces. I take a deep, shuddering breath and turn the door knob.

Her room is tidy. I see that a few of us are surprised by that, but I'm not too taken-aback. She may have been a temperamental storm, but first of all, she's a first-mate, and she made it KNOWN to me that she would dutifully clean the ship whenever asked. Second, she had the role of the traitor. She was Tozen's killer and she knew she would die as a result. A sun-faded flag hangs proudly over her bedpost. A model ship sits on her bedside table and a long strand of net adorns her wall for her to climb on. My heart feels heavy and we're all quiet.

Yuu, taking the opportunity to try and lighten the mood, clicks his tongue. "Imagine how much of this stuff she touched with spit-covered hands. Y'know, she spat on me twice."

"No!" Azumi gasps in horror.

"Yes. And SOMEONE put clear nail polish over my soap bar."

"Hey, that was back when I still really hated you. All's fair," Chimon teases.

"My germaphobic self hates all of you," he retaliates.

"We love you too!" Fujiko beams.

Mood thoroughly elevated, we inspect the room for only a short period of time before finding a note on Wakumi's desk. "Gou, it's probably best that you read this one," Ren offers.

I wiggle my limbs to get any spare nerves out and then begin to narrate it.

"Mateys,

For once in me life, I gotta be careful with me words. As ye all know by now, I'm privy ta a lot of info about this game, this building, and all of us. But I can't spill all of it, otherwise Monokuma WILL find and destroy this damn note. I'll try ta be as useful as I can be without ticking off the wrong person.

First, I'm sorry. I'm particularly sorry for killing Tozen. I was told ta off him cause I could fuck around the most with his trial. Here's ta hopin everyone figures that out quickly enough. As much as ye all drive me fuckin mad, I don't actually want ye dead. Yippee. That said, I oughta apologize for me general conduct. I'm not good at flowery bullshit but I know I ain't a nice, pleasant person. Me choices were fucked. Pretty consistently. I dunno how this trial is gonna go, but I'm hopin me statement is proven right (and if not, I'm destroyin this letter first chance): even if none of that care was for me, I can tell now that ye're all at least tryin to be friends with each other, despite everything. And I mean EVERYTHING.

Second, some important shit for if ye ever try ta pull a 'last trial' like most of the Danganronpa series. There's a place called the Vault that's designed specifically ta help ye all on your investigation. It's hidden in the pub area of the basement. It's gonna ask ye for a key. Now, ye may start pulling your hair out wonderin what kinda rig they're runnin. But listen close. Ye've had the key all along. The whole damn time. And even if ye lost it, which ye didn't, the mastermind would make sure ye got it back. They've been watchin and listenin real close the whole time, and they can rewatch anythin they want. Ye gotta be careful. This person knows more about us than ye could possibly expect.

Durn. There's so much I wish I could say but can't. Fuck all. Anyway. Best of luck ta ye all. Mutiny for me. No matter what may come, we win. But how much of a pyrrhic victory it is, now that's ta be determined.

Furutani"

TRUTH BULLET: WAKUMI'S LETTER

None of us speak for a long time after that. Ren is shaking and Azumi takes several deep breaths to calm down. I loop the words over and over again in my head. It's a conflicting feeling, seeing those words. Knowing everything she knew, she decided we weren't massive shitheads. She's wrong about none of the care being for her, and she has to have known that, deep down. But she doesn't... think we're awful.

"So... I'm guessing that means it's time to go ransack the pub," Chimon pipes up quietly.

Slowly, we all turn to leave the room. Something from the far corner of the closet catches my eye. Instinctively, I reach out and grab Yuu and Azumi's shoulders. The former jumps a bit in surprise and the latter wordlessly questions me, so I wave them over to check it.

A little porcelain treasure chest, hot glued together messily but nonetheless whole. "She... fixed it," Azumi states breathlessly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fujiko, January 9th, 7:15 am

Y'know, even if this isn't a classroom, the way we, like, literally tear the pub apart reminds me of the first time I met anyone here. When Sayuri and I were trying to find our way out to meet the rest of the group. I remember standing on desks, kicking notebooks, enjoying my time like a cute little hummingbird. For those tiny, brief moments before all this shit started, I thought it was just a fun little escape room. But then, like, my hands started getting zapped, and then we met Monterio and Wakumi taking care of cuts on their arms and legs. What was it she said to us...? Ugh, learning pirate-talk is hard. "U-Um! Do it... smartly and handsomely!" I urge the group.

This gets a brief chuckle out of Gou, who's checking the booths for any secret openings. Ren turns to wink at me. "I do everything handsomely~"

"That's not what that means!" Gou denies.

"I do everything smartly!" Chimon continues.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT IT MEANS!" Gou yells cheerfully.

"Hey! Uh, Gou, Zu, could you help me move this shit? It's way heavier than it oughta be." The two of them scramble over to where Yuu is trying to move the karaoke machine.

"Goodness, you are correct. This is frankly absurd, so I imagine that this simply must be what we have been searching for," Azumi says through clenched teeth. With the three of them combined, they're able to move it without TOO much difficulty, and whattaya know, there's a heavy metal door with a keyhole, a voice recorder, a number pad, the whole works. It's like a waffle with syrup, whipped cream, and strawberries. Except not yummy.

"Okay, guys. We know, according to Wakumi's letter, that we've had the key this whole time. So we shouldn't be having to go on a scavenger hunt to find it or anything," my little dude points out.

"That is correct... if we had not only recently acquired it, I would perhaps have typed in 11037... a gravely important number for both of the first two killing games detailed in the book."

"Ummmm..." I press the record voice button and lean in close. "Chickadees?" A red light flashes. "Nope."

"Okay... if it's something we've had all along, maybe it's something like one of our room keys?" Yuu tries. Each one of us tries, and literally every single one of them doesn't work.

"Mayyyyybe these???" Monokuma suddenly springs up. Ten keys.

"The ones from the victims?" Ren says quietly.

"And the Blackeneds!"

"They're all victims. They're all YOUR victims," Gou glares, swiping the keys from the hell plushie. Monokuma only laughs in that annoying way. He inserts each key one by one. No matches.

"Ugh, this is totally lame!" I complain.

"At this rate, it'd be easier to win over the keys to your hearts," Ren comments, playing with his fishnet gloves in agitation.

"Huh... wait, no, that would make no sense," Chimon whispers.

"Hmm?"

"Nothing, Fuji." His eyes start getting all squinty, like he's trying to think super duper hard. As the rest of the group throw out theories that get weirder and weirder– Azumi uses her e-Handbook to insert all of our birthdays, Ren tries a melody from his first trial with Kana– I watch Chimon try and puzzle something out. He starts to fiddle with his necklace, a habit he adopted on purpose to make himself look scared. Now he does it without thinking. His necklace, a necklace he cares about deeply. His KEY necklace.

"Oh! I totally have an idea! But I have to go get something! Come with me, little buddy!" I drag Chimon back to the Warehouse, where the big ol door blocks sound out from everyone else.

"Try it," I suggest to him softly. "You think it's your key necklace, right? It might work!"

"But what if it DOES work? You know how bad that would make me look, right? It's not even a real key, it shouldn't pair with–"

"Honey, I believe in you no matter what, you know that, don't you?"

"I... I'm scared. I'm so scared. Looking dangerous is the one thing I've tried to avoid this entire time." His voice is tiny and weak.

"Little brother, it's gonna be okay. We're not gonna hurt you. Besides, as much as I pretend like there's, like, literally no way we'll fail... I know we'll die if we don't figure everything out. We need the Vault."

He takes a big, big breath. "Back when my papa was a good person, he told me my heart was the key and to follow it always. I'll give this a try, okay? But I'm counting on you."

"I gotchu, boo! I won't let you down!" I hold out my pinky, and he links his own with mine. Then, like he was never nervous at all, he smiles at me and turns to go back to our ragtag little group. I follow.

When we go back inside, everyone's started looking super duper frustrated, but they still say hi to us. "Alright, Fuji. We're at our wit's end over here. What's your idea?" Yuu asks.

Chimon steps forward. His eyes are closed, but he opens them and suddenly looks really confident. Everyone gets out of the way for him, and he takes off his hat to get the key off his neck. In goes the key with a series of tiny little clicks that we wouldn't be able to hear if we weren't all dead silent. "Oh my God. Oh my God, it's in. Let's see if it turns." With a quaky tone and even quakier fingers, he twists the key left. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod I felt it unlock!"

"Hey! That's fucking awesome!" Gou enthuses, giving Chimon a light slap on the back. The group is split between extreme joy-slash-relief and worry.

"I swear I don't know anything about this," Chimon promises. "I got this years ago, from my dad, and he told me it didn't go to anything!"

Azumi adjusts her hair stick. "Even if it is in my best interest to be skeptical, I am not. If you were the Mastermind, or tied to them, you would not incorporate such an obvious clue." Yuu bites his lip and slowly nods. "Though the alternative options are far from pleasant to think of. In order to make a lock suit your key, the Mastermind would have needed to steal it from you for several hours, possibly days' worth of time."

"Oh, that's really creepy! I wear it all the time unless I'm sleeping or showering!" He shudders.

"Ew, that's so icky!" I agree.

TRUTH BULLET: VAULT LOCK

"So add sleaze to all the insults we can call the Mastermind," Ren rolls his eyes, rubbing Chimon's shoulder sympathetically.

"Uh, guys? I don't like it in here," Yuu says, holding the door wide open.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuu, January 9th, 7:37 am

The room is surprisingly empty. A table and chairs, just like all the other meeting rooms scattered around the building. But there's a string dangling from one end to the other. On it is a series of clothespins, and from each one hangs a photograph of one of the dead participants. The order is most recent to least recent. Despite its simplicity, it's an imposing setup. Wordlessly, we start retrieving the pictures, the shorter members of our group using some of the chairs like step stools. We line them up on the table until the faces of each person stare straight at us. I shiver.

Gou's the first to speak. "Well. No time like the present, huh, gang? Especially on a time limit."

"There are words on the backs. I noticed, though I did not read any," Zu points out.

"And each picture looks like it was taken in the same place. It's outdoors, so it couldn't have been here," Chimon contributes further.

Ren cracks his knuckles. "We can analyze the actual pictures all we want later, but right now, I just wanna see what's written." He takes Wakumi's picture gingerly into his hand and flips it over. "It says: 'Why was I chosen as the traitor, and why now?'"

Before I can convince myself not to, I flip Tozen's. "'Study the fear machines.'"

"'When and how were the loved ones' messages created?'" Chimon reads from the back of Monterio's. "How? Weird question."

"'How were these motives so specialized?'" Fujiko follows up. I involuntarily cringe. Because that's confirmation. At least one motive was designed to fuck with me... and some others were probably tailored for other people. That recording... the reason Sayuri...

Azumi gives me a concerned glance and I do my best to smile reassuringly at her, so she looks at the back of Bisque's picture. "'What is the layout of this building?' Mmm, I suppose that includes any secret passageways."

Gou takes Joanie's. "'Why did our Monoinu unit defect so easily despite hivemind being rule-centric? And why did no other unit defect?'" He also takes the next one, Sayuri's. "'How were such strange objects (for instance, rare ROM hacks, prescription drugs, et cetera) acquired?'"

I shake my head to snap myself out of it and grab Keiji's. "'Why was my tape recorder data deleted?' Ugh, the way these are written like our friends actually wrote them. Making my stomach churn."

"Honestly... for me, it feels kinda nice. Like we get to hear from them again. But I guess I'm probably the weird one in this situation," Fujiko retorts wistfully. "Huh. 'The seasons change, but the crops and flowers are always in season.'"

"And always the same," Azumi adds, "So I suppose we are due for a garden trip." She lifts Hachi's photo close to her face and turns it. She gasps and immediately drops it like it's a bomb.

"What?! What is it?!" I panic.

She takes a minute to collect herself. I come closer to make sure she's doing okay. She nearly grabs onto me to steady her stance but then she switches gears to use the table instead. "I am fine. I appreciate your concern," she reassures me quietly. She picks up the picture again. "'You already have everything you need in order to figure out what WDR stands for.'"

"What?! That's ridiculous! The only information we have on WDR is that weird message in the monitor room," Ren emphasizes.

"That and the little scribbles on the fear machines... there's no way that's enough," Chimon doubles down.

"Well, one of our leads is to examine those. I'm doubtful, but there's always a possibility that we missed important shit," Gou mentions, looking away as if deep in thought.

"I definitely want to do that," chimes in Chimon once again.

"Me too, me too, me too!" Fujiko insists excitedly.

"I'll join you, then," Gou nods. "Yuu, Ren, Azumi, what are you thinking of checking out?"

"If there's anything objective about any of this, it's measurements and schematics. As self-proclaimed king of detail, I can work to diagram this entire building," I offer, "But in order to do that, I need to make sure we've seen every passageway we can possibly find. Will you two help me search?"

"Why would I ever say no to someone seeking my company?" Ren banters in a low tone, running a hand through his hair.

"This was a bad idea," I snark.

Azumi clears her throat. "I, for one, am very open to escort you boys. Though, if you would be so kind, I do have a quick trip or two I'd like to make first."

"With you? Anywhere."

"Flirty mood today, Ren?" she asks.

"Every day. But sure! If this whole thing is ending, I'm gonna make it as fun as possible!"

"Perhaps you have the right idea."

"So plans are made! Fantastic! Let's move out, troops! Forward march!" After saying this, Gou salutes the three of us.

"Byebye, beautifuls! Let us know if anything important comes up!" Fujiko waves. Chimon gives us a tip of the hat, and the three leave together.

"Let us embark, my dear friends," Azumi offers. "If we are to do this in a way that is both diligent and entertaining, we ought not to waste a moment!"

"Where are we going?"

"There is a pressing hypothesis I wish to test, a question we have had for far too long and failed to answer. And it may take a while to resolve, so I figured I might conduct the experiment whilst we hunt. Follow, if you'd please!" I give Ren a glance and he smirks warmly at me. With no objections to be had, we go where she leads. It happens to be the meeting room where we keep the mementos we chose from everyone. She swoops up Keiji's tape recorder. "Since the second trial, we have been wondering why Monokuma wiped all of the pre-existing messages on this tape, and that lead confirms that question's relevance. I am curious about how many minutes of audio this contraption can handle... and whether it begins to auto-delete if it exceeds that threshold."

"Smart thinking. Annnnnnnd... this is actually really good for us. If Yuu is dead-set on drawing this clusterfuck of a building, having a place to record measurements or routes between secret passageways will work wonders."

Azumi clicks the record button. "Investigation Log number one. This is Ms. Hirabayashi, joined by Mr. Bando and Mr. Enomoto. We will be scrounging through every spare inch of this godforsaken building to discover the truth and unravel every mystery of our capture. Mr. Seikiguchi, thank you for your rigorous nature." Ren grimaces at the praise of Keiji, but I give him a quick smack on the arm. "I apologize for defiling your recorder. But if it gives you any peace of mind, you will finally be acquiring the answers you seek and thwarting our opponents. Or my name isn't Azumi Hirabayashi. Signing out for now." She stops recording and then gives us a determined expression, not unlike when she was about to perform for me. "So. Where to next?"