[Song: Nightcore - I do it solo (lyrics)]

Rantaro's POV

Kokichi didn't come back to the class, even after the lunch bell rang. I went out to look for him and surprisingly gotten permission from a teacher. I bet they weren't paying attention to what I was saying.

When I had walked outside and looked around, everything seemed normal.... "Kokichi! Where are you!"

I yelled out his name and searched around the courtyard. I checked all over the school grounds but I couldn't find him.

I looked out onto the area just outside the school bounds. It seemed out of the ordinary for someone to suddenly disappear without a trace. The worst part was that no one seemed to even care.

I couldn't have cared less where I ended up. As long as I found Kokichi. I tried calling him but he wouldn't pick up his phone.

Everything seemed to be going... Okay. At least when it came to my surroundings. That it until someone put a bag over my head.

When I woke up, there was 6 people in the room. They all masks on but I could the color of two people's hair. Two of them had brown hair both were definitely male. I couldn't tell for the other's though. They all had hoods on.

"What the-" "I recommend that you just listen, questions can be answered later." The one on the far right said. They were tall and had a watch. Their mask only covered the top of their face. It was a black and white masquerade mask. I could see their eye color which was light blue.

I nodded in slight hesitation. The one on the far left probably smiled. "Great!" They said in a happy tone. They had a green gas mask on and were a bit shorter, probably only a few inches difference, than the one across from them.

"We've noticed that you're quite close to Kokichi." The person fourth in the half circle (going left to right) said. They were either a short and lean male or female. They had a white plague doctor mask and had a black jacket.

"Although not all of us can be here, we've come to ask you something." They stopped and the guy next to person with a gas mask turned to me.

They had mask with a half smile on one side and half from on the other. "You see, we plan on getting Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba caught. As she is extremely detrimental to several people's safety."

Then the third person spoke. He had no mask, instead a zip-up hoodie. He was also quite short. "It's clear that she has been engaging in illegal activities and definitely been mistreating Kokichi. If we're able to convict her then she can be put away for good."

The person next to him, who seemed to be a female, spoke. They had a much more innocent looking mask. Theirs was a gray cat. They had a soft voice but I couldn't exactly tell whether they were male or female since that person and one with the others had voice distortion devices.

"But we don't really have much to go off since she's good at covering her tracks! So... If you would..." The person at the far left finished their sentence..

"Although I hate asking for help, if you would.... Please help us, you are much closer to Kokichi and could probably get more information since Junko doesn't think highly of you. She may also want you close to Kokichi in order to hurt him. So perfect bait."

They clicked their tongue and turned away from me while crossing their arms. "There. Happy?" I thought about it for a bit. "Okay, but first..... Who are you?"

They all looked at each other and nodded. "For now, we can't give you that information but what we can tell you is this." The person with the plague doctor's mask said.

"We're much closer to you than you think. But we'll definitely meet again."
The lights blacked out and I was sitting in total darkness.

Next thing I knew, I felt a pain in the back of my head. When I woke up, I was back at school in my seat. "What in the world....?"

I could hear the bell ring and people rushed in. I had a massive headache so I couldn't even think about what had happened.

I was still extremely confused so I didn't even think about trying to analyze the situation. I ended up going to the infirmary and falling asleep there....wondering who those people were...

{763}