(3rd Person's POV)

DING, DONG! BING, BONG!

"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7 a.m. and nighttime is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"

"Ngh...Mmph..."

Sora groaned. It took longer than usual for her to open her eyes, but they opened nonetheless.

"Nggghaaa..."

 The small blonde let out a deep sigh as she sluggishly got up and out of her sweat-stained bed. Those chills, those aches, that loss of energy...they had all disappeared in the night. The only thing left of Sora's state was the teen herself, drenched in sweat... But it wasn't because of any sickness she had caught, either. It was because...

That dream I had... Sora thought.

What even was that. ...Hell, was it even a dream? Scrambling the depths of her mind, Sora began to reel them up and into her memory. ...That's right. Last night...

...Sora came down with a strange fever, and was unable to get a good night's rest. And then...she heard...a voice. It was her, saying words that she couldn't understand. And then...she woke up.

There was a strange individual, who Sora couldn't tell whether it was male or female. They were standing next to her bed, wearing a mask, a coat, and...they were holding a knife...

...Sora wanted to say that she fought the attacker off, but...she doesn't really remember all that well. She felt like her mind had been detached from he body, burning up with fever. She was somewhere far away, watching her body move on its own.  And because of that...she doesn't remember what really happened all that well. 

But she did remember bracing for impact... After that, her mind blanked out again. The only thing she can recall are random noises and sounds...they felt like two people fighting. But the next thing she remembered...

Was Kyoko, standing there and staring at her. But...what was she doing there? How did she even get into Sora's room?

"That was...such a strange dream..." Sora murmured to herself, placing her head on her head.

But...was it really a dream? It felt so real... Is there anything that proves that it actually happened?

Sora frowned as she recalled the memory again. That knife that the attacker had looked strangely familiar...

Walking to her desk drawer, she opened it up to find that the knife...was gone.

"What." Sora deadpanned as she blinked in confusion. "There's nothing here? But...I'm sure that this is where I put that knife 'Kawa gave me..."

That means...the knife that they told me to keep safe...!

Sora sighed. She had a feeling that "dream" felt too real. ...But even though it's true, things don't make sense... Why would someone attack her? Who was behind that mask? And...why was Kyoko...?

What the heck is even goin' on...?

Sora sighed as she stared at the door. "Maybe...I should mention this to the others. Maybe then I'll know what's goin' on..."

---

After going through her morning routine, Sora exited her room and walked to the dining hall. Opening the doors, the only person she saw was...

"Ah, Shirayuki!" Hina exclaimed as her face lit up. "Yup, that's Shirayuki, sure as the sky's blue!"

"Oh, Hina." Sora said.

"You really had me worried, ya know? What happened to you last night?" Hina asked in concern.

"Worried? What are you talking about?" Sora raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, right after nighttime hit, we all went to get you. We were hammering away at your doorbell, but you never answered. We thought maybe you'd been...you know..." Hina nervously rubbed the back of her head. "I mean, not that that'd actually happen! I mean, nobody here would wanna--you know! So anyway...what were you doing?"

"...I went to bed early. I was feelin' a bit under the weather." Sora calmly explained. "I'm pretty sure I went to sleep before you guys showed up. ...But why did ya wanna come get me? What happened?"

"Umm...well, lots of stuff, actually. I'm not sure I can really explain..." Hina pushed her index fingers, struggling to come up with a way to explain. "Let's go meet up with everyone else, then they can tell you all about it!"

"...Everyone's waiting somewhere?"

"Oh, yeah! We all stayed up the whole night!"

"...The whole night?" Sora tilted her head a bit. Whatever the others came to get her for, was it really that important...?

"I lost at rock-paper-scissors so I had to come get breakfast for everyone..." Hina nervously chuckled. "So you got here just in time! C'mon, help me carry it."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it..." Sora rolled her eyes.

"Everyone's in the gym. Hurry up, I'll meet you there!" Hina ran off.

The gym...? Why the gym, of all places? And...they spent the entire night in there?

"Is this really that important...?"

---

"Ah, there she is!" Hina spoke up while the other students turned to her.

"Shirayuki, you're here!"

"This is worse than being late for your wedding, the birth of your daughter, and your own funeral, all at once!"

...How can someone be late to their own funeral...?

"Jeez. To show up now, like it's no big deal..."

"M-Mistress...where were you? You k-kept us up all night..."

The voices of Hina, Makoto, Hiro, Byakuya, and Toko filled Sora's ears with their presence. She noticed that they'd formed a circle around...something. Walking closer to get a better look, Sora found out what that "something" was.

"Huh...?" Sora folded her arms behind her back. Spread around them...was the remains of a disassembled Monokuma. "What...what're you guys doing...?"

"What does it look like? We're dismantling it to see what makes it tick." Hiro answered casually.

"I-I get that, but...isn't that Monokuma you're "dismantling"...?" Sora could feel a bead of sweat nervously roll down her head.

"Yeah, that's right." Hina nodded without even turning to address the blonde.

"...Did a miss out on something?" Sora muttered to herself.

"Relax, Shirayuki. There's no danger." Byakuya spoke up.

"You say that but..." Sora's patience was being tested as a tick mark appeared on the side of her head. "What're you even thinking?! That's Monokuma you're messing with, isn't it?! How is that "not dangerous"?!"

"It isn't! What do you want us to say?" Hina responded.

"To be fair, that's what I thought when you first started doing it..." Makoto remarked.

"Well, I guess I'll handle this. I'll explain what's goin' on, Shirayuki. Cuz that's how much I like ya!" Hiro grinned.

Sora rolled her eyes. "Whoopee..." She said sarcastically.

"Togami found this li'l fella layin' around, then we tore it apart!"

"...Why?!"

"Just before we went to bed last night, I came to the gym to try and talk to Monokuma." Byakuya spoke up. "I wanted to see if he had any new information about Kirigiri's disappearance. And I found him here, just like normal. However...when I found him, he was no more than a regular toy. He didn't react, didn't say a word."

"...He wasn't moving at all?"

"I waited there until nighttime officially began, but still Monokuma laid there motionless. I gathered everyone up as quickly as possible so they could take a look. Even then, he still didn't make a move. So I immediately initiated the disassembly process."

"It was Master's s-stroke of genius. A chance to find out what m-made Monokuma tick..." Toko smiled.

"One thing we discovered is that he's quite a sophisticated machine. It's leagues beyond any normal remote-control toy. Who has enough free time to invest in something like that, anyway...?" Byakuya wondered.

"But...why did it stop moving...?" Sora asked.

"I thought maybe he'd malfunctioned, but we didn't find any cause as we were taking him apart." Byakuya said.

"Soo..." Sora made a "go on" gesture with her hand.

"Then maybe something happened to his puppeteer, the mastermind. Something unexpected. I can't imagine any other possibility." Byakuya assumed.

"...What's that supposed to mean?" Sora tilted her head.

"They were probably so s-scared of Master, they ran away in t-terror..." Toko smugly smirked.

"Or maybe they got sick or something?" Hina guessed.

"But Monokuma made his announcement this morning, right? Who was that, if not the mastermind?" Makoto asked.

"Oh, I'm sure that's a recording. It's set to a timer, and plays as necessary." Byakuya replied.

"That's true. He says the exact same thing every day, right?" Hina said.

"Hey, guys? I don't think now's a good time for light conversation..." Hiro made a fearful gulp as he pulled something out. "I just found something. What is it...?"

"...OH." Sora would say.

"What's wrong? What is it?!" Hiro asked in a hurry.

"That's a bomb." Byakuya told the fortune teller. "There's some installed in every Monokuma robot, I'm sure."

"A b-b-b-bomb!?" Hiro stammered in fear.

Hina eyes bulged wide open. "That's super bad! We need to get rid of it!"

"Roger that!" 

Byakuya shook his head. "It appears the bomb has a motion sensor. Any sudden movements, it's sure to go off."

"M-Motion sensor!? For serious!? Agh...I'm starting to get all shaky...!" Hiro shivered.

"Hey! Get it together! You're a man, aren't ya!?" Hina yelled.

"Yes, because "bravery" is a known character trait for Hiro to have." Sora rolled her eyes in sarcasm.

"I-I'm fine! I'm totally fine! Ah, ah, ah!"

"You're so NOT fine! You're all "ah ah ah"!"

"Oh, I probably should have mentioned. The motion sensor is off right now." Byakuya said.

Hiro sighed in relief. "Ha-ha-ha-ha! Jeez, don't scare me like that!"

"Kami, you're like the world's most spineless worm of the century!" Hina puffed her cheeks in annoyance.

"Hey, come on! The century's just getting started! Don't call the race already..." Hiro said.

"Whatever... Just h-hurry up and put the bomb down." Toko ordered. "Hanging onto it's not g-gonna do anyone any good..."

"Oh yeah, good call." Hiro nodded.

THUNK!

"Okay, it's down! Everything's all good!" Hiro exclaimed.

The bomb wasn't Sora's main focus and concern, however. Her eyes were staring at the broken Monokuma. He'd just stopped moving all of a sudden. Was it really because something had happened to the mastermind that they weren't expecting...? But what could that have been? When she thought about it...

...She couldn't help but think back to yesterday. How she was attacked by that masked figure.

"Hey, uh...Shirayuki?" Hina called out, knocking Sora out of her thoughts.

"...Hm?"

"Don't "hm" us! Did you hear a thing we just said!?" Hiro asked.

"...Eh?"

"...M-Mistress isn't really the best at p-paying attention. She's so scatterbrained...at l-least she's got her l-looks...!" Toko grinned as she blushed.

"...I'm not even gonna address that one."

"We were just saying, since we're done dismantling Monokuma, what should we do now?" Hina told her.

"And we've decided to continue our offensive assault." Byakuya said. "To try and uncover the mastermind's true identity, we're going to break into the headmaster's room."

Sora tilted her head. "Oh?"

"Since the mastermind appears to have stopped all activity, now's our chance. Wouldn't you agree?"

"I mean, yeah, but...what about the mastermind? Sure, they seem busy at the moment, but if they come back while we're in there..."

Byakuya frowned. "If you're scared, you're welcome to stay here by yourself."

"C-C'mon, Mistress...you're not a coward, are you?" Toko smirked. "A chicken, maybe?"

"T-That's not-"

"This is a battle, a fight to the death between us and the mastermind. We don't have time to deliberate."

"Yeah. I mean, I don't wanna hafta kill each other, or anyone else. But we have a chance now..." Hina agreed.

"So? What are you going to do? Are you going to run away, or are you going to fight?" Byakuya folded his arms as he stared at Sora, expecting an answer.

"...Why are you looking at me like this is a tough decision for me?" Sora rolled her eyes. " Of course I'll go with you. Sora Shirayuki is a lot of things, but a coward ain't one of 'em."

Byakuya nodded. "Okay then. We're going to break into the headmaster's room. Everything comes down to this moment. Anything can happen, so prepare yourselves."

"I'll follow you two a-anywhere, Master! To all the ends of the E-Earth!" Toko giggled.

Hina sighed, lifting her head upwards. "Sakura...if you can hear me, lend me your strength..."

"I can do this... I'm a man, and I can do this! I've got the will of the entire universe on my side!" Hiro assured to himself.

"We can do this..." Makoto smiled, eyes shining in determining. "As long as we stick together, we'll end this deranged killing game!"

The students each found determination in their own ways, and when they were ready, we left the gym. Her target was the headmaster's room, on the 4th floor of the school.

Chapter 34: End

To be continued...?