Chapter 5: A day in Despair

Leaning back in my chair, I let out a sigh of relief.

For the last few hours, after my announcement, I was forced to play keep up with the students as they explored the first floor of the building and the dorm rooms. The most irritating of whom was Makoto. With most of them, they seemed content to go to one or two rooms and generally stayed around there. With him? Every time I thought I was in the clear he would walk into another room and ask questions.

It was like clockwork, I answered a few questions and hustled out to the monitor room to see if someone would have needed me, and there he was in another room, asking questions. I'd rush back in, answer his questions, pop out to find another person, rinse and repeat.

The worst one was when I had to improvise while I explained the Mono-machine system to him.

"Damn Makoto, and his natural protagonist nature."

It had only been a few minutes since he had woken up from a bit of a forced nap, and already he was being a pain. Every other minute, I had to follow him on the camera to make sure he was adapting well, only for him to end up in another room where I would have to explain how things work.

Seeing him walk into the class store, I let out a sigh of frustration as I ran into the control room and booted up the Monokuma in the store.

"Hey there, Makoto!" I said, startling him slightly in the process. "Welcome to the school store!"

He looked around for a second, before asking. "School store…?"

"Is there an echo in here?" I deadpanned at him, and he had the decency to blush. "Yes, the school store. You remember how I said, 'all of your basic needs would be accommodated for'? Well, for some of you, 'basic' isn't so basic. So, to help allow you guys to get those 'not so basic' needs, we had this store made."

Not wanting to break my flow I turned towards a Monokuma-like prize crank. "For most of these needs, you'll be given a chance to earn them through here, the Mono-machine."

Turning to him again, I continued. "Now of course, nothing in this world is free, even in a place like this. You'll need to use a special form of currency here if you want something. First ones free though, because I'm feeling generous."

Passing him a token from the counter with Monokuma's face carved into it, I made a gesture towards the machine, silently asking him to use the coin. Watching him as he cautiously placed the coin in and turn the crank, I was curious as to what would come out. See, in the game there were prizes inside each of the little capsules, but they were often times hilariously larger then what the capsule should have been able to hold. It was even stranger now since the size of one of those was barely large enough to hold a tiny trinket, let alone the huge prizes in the game.

Watching him pop it open, we were notably underwhelmed that all that was in it was a wooden nickel.

"What is this thing?" he asked, turning it in his hands. I was about to make a sarcastic remark about his luck screwing with him, when I noticed that in had some letters and numbers on one side.

"Why, that's your… prize voucher." I guessed, before walking Monokuma around the counter and climbing up a stepstool hidden behind it.

"Prize voucher…?" He asked, but handed me the coin when I asked for it. Checking the number on it, I started looking around for the item on the shelves, shuffling a few of them around for a better view occasionally.

"That's right, all of the items here have a special code on them to help me identify which prize you earned. Some items are very common, and you'll find those numbers constantly. However, there are also some really rare items that are one of a kind."

I think he might have understood what I was saying since he went quite on me for a moment, and it was true. Several of the items I was seeing on these shelves were definitely either really common like several bags of potato chips, or extremely rare like the business plans for some company I'd never heard of. It really was all luck as to whether or not you got something worthwhile.

Strangely enough, he had a follow up question. "So, what if I want something else? Not what's on the token."

I had to pause at that, since as far as I could remember the only thing you could do with the prizes was to either hoard onto them, or give them away to the others during the daily life sections in between murders. That was it really. However, that was for the game only. Here, I could change the rules a bit.

"Well, if you're unfortunate enough to get the same prize multiple times, let's say five for example, then you can trade those same five copies back to me for some tokens. If you're feeling especially rich and know what specific name your item is, then you can outright request the item you want right off the shelf. Of course, that is a lot of chances to simply win it wasted on one prize that you could have earned at a cheaper price. Not to mention the fact that the best items can't even be purchased outside of winning them yourself. Ah ha! Found it."

Turning back to him with his prize, I noticed that he had a false innocent look on his face. It took me a second, but I guess I had almost caught him trying to look over the counter to see what I was getting for him.

Ignoring that, seeing as it wasn't technically against the rules, I handed him his prize. "Number eighteen, the 'Love status ring'. Wear it on your right hand, says you're looking for love. Left hand, you found it. On both… Well, then you're just asking for trouble."

He blushed slightly at the implication, but he still took the ring anyway. Though he turned his back slightly on me so that I wouldn't see clearly, I believe that he did slip it on his right, ring finger. I had to suppress the sudden inexplicable urge to squeal in girly excitement. My inner shipper was just going crazy at the sight.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that I'm a big fan of shipping. Not just canon or 'might as well be canon from all the hints we're throwing around'. My favorites tended to be more along the lines of strange to 'unlikely unless events unfolded in an entirely different way'. I couldn't help it that a lot of the writers for the ships I liked the most tended to write them in such a way I found myself enthralled in the very concept.

I do have my limits, and I absolutely draw the line on some things and there is a huge list of things I won't tolerate. But if I can feel the passion in someone's words for these plots of romance, then I find myself getting swept along for the ride.

Instead of jumping on the opportunity, I repressed my shipping instincts and focused on continuing my explanation.

"Now, the Mono-tokens can be found all over the school, in nooks and crannies everywhere I could think of to hide them. Be sure to look carefully. Also…" I trailed off as I had the bear walk over to the door, opening it for the both of us. After he passed through, I pointed at the chalkboard stand next to the door covered in chalk drawings.

"As this school will be part of your livelihood for the foreseeable future, I feel that it's only fair that you all be responsible for the upkeep of the place. Every few days, I will place a few post-it notes on this board with some chores I'd like you guys to volunteer for with the minimal amount of coins you can earn. Once you've taken on one or two, and confirmed it with me, I'll provide you with the tools to complete the task. After you've finished, I'll inspect your work and if you impress me I'll give you more mono-tokens depending on how well you've done."

Turning back to him, I continued. "Right now, it's empty since there isn't anything that needs your attention on the first day, but soon I be putting several up to help you guys. Remember, this is your home now, it's only right to treat it as such. Also, if you don't want your prize, there's likely someone here that will."

Dear lord, I'm glad I only had to make that up once.

Ever since I explained the system to him, he'd been looking all over the place for the coins and then rushing straight back to the prize wheel to try again. It was like watching a gambling addict trying to score it big and failing to get more than a few booby prizes. I was sure that he was just trying to see if there could be an item that could help them escape, and to be fair, there was, but seeing it in action was just irritating and sad.

It was almost surreal to think that this was how most people actively played when they were going through the game, myself included.

Of course, in his defense, he had been knocked out for about an hour beforehand so I guess I could cut him some slack. Shortly after I had finished explaining the contingency plan to the others Kyoko suggested that the students split up into groups of two and explore the place. Byakuya, however, tried to split from the group, not wanting to risk being with a bunch of strangers that might try to kill him. Of course, Mondo didn't think of it like that and tried to stop him from leaving.

Byakuya, being the tool that he is, eloquently demanded that Mondo move out of his way while also insulting his intelligence and social standing, thoroughly pissing off the gang leader in the process. Then, poor old Makoto trying to defuse the situation got between the two of them. This unfortunately just made the biker change the focus of his anger onto the poor boy.

POW!

A strong swing rocketed into the unlucky student from force of the biker gang leader. For a brief moment, the boy flew backwards though the air, unhindered by gravity's grip. Then, the cruel force reestablished its grasp on him, dropping him carelessly on the wooden floor several feet away from his initial standing point with a dull thump, and taking with it his consciousness.

For a minute, no one said a thing. All eyes focused on the unmoving form of their classmate in muted shock; worried that they had just witnessed the first of their rank to be taken from the land of the living.

The most surprised was Mondo. He had no illusions that he hadn't used the full force of his rage in that blow, but he'd never seen someone fly so far from one of his strikes. He also felt an immense amount of guilt for hitting the kid. Yeah, he'd been mad because of this strange situation, and the blond scion wasn't helping anything with his attitude, but that didn't mean he should take it out on the weaker boy.

He just knew that if his brother had seen that, he would have kicked Mondo's ass for that.

Most of all though, he felt fear. Yeah, there was the obvious fear for the lucky student's life as he lay on the ground. The boy had definitely flown a lot further then he'd intended. But besides that, if the boy was dead then that meant he had just committed murder, something he did not want to deal with again.

So, he stood there with the others with his fist still extended from the punch, too afraid that he might have just killed someone, but even more afraid to check and see if he was actually dead.

"Wow," I said, not really surprised at how quickly the situation had escalated. "You know, when I said that you could graduate by killing someone, I thought you'd at least wait a couple days first; not five minutes."

Glancing around at the students, I waited for a moment to see if there would be any movement towards checking on their fellow student. However, when it would seem that wouldn't be any moves to help him from them, I sighed.

I would have figured several of them would have been the first to rush over to help. Sayaka could have been my first choice, seeing as even with having forgotten the last two years she would still have the memories of when they were younger; she should have been the most worried. Yet there she stood with her hands over her mouth in pure shock, not making a single move to assist.

Byakuya probably would have been my second thought seeing as this kind of thing would surely make things more interesting for him. Yet, he remained rooted in place; probably not willing to risk dirtying his hands to check if Makoto was breathing. Jerk.

Strangely enough, not even Kyoko was heading over to check up on him. Even without her memories, as the ultimate detective she was always the first one to check the body in the event of a death without so much as batting an eye. Yet there she stood, stiff as a bloody board.

For a solid minute, none of them made a move. Oh, there was a few token twitches to head for the body, but they remained in place; possibly not willing to paint a target on themselves. So, I decided that, if they're not going to check, then I would.

Walking over to the boy, I placed my paw on the side of his neck where his jugular was to check for his pulse…paw…whoops. Forgot that the bear didn't have a way to check for a pulse. This could pose a problem later.

Fortunately, I didn't need his pulse to see the steady rise and fall of his chest or to hear his steady, if slightly labored breathing with Monokuma's advanced camera eyes and microphone ears. But that didn't change the fact that I was the only one who cared enough to check up on him. Maybe it was because I was the one checking, but that was no excuse.

"Whelp, I can safely say that I have bad news for you…" I paused, letting their assumptions run wild in their heads and slowly drive them into the ground for not helping. "… He's only out cold, no one's getting out anytime soon."

Seeing more than a few frustrated glares aimed at the bear, I awkwardly gestured for one of them to come over. Thankfully, Kyoko seemed to finally resolved to be more worried for the boy laying at the bear's feet, then the bear itself and walked over to check on him.

Moving back to let her work, I gazed at the others with disappointment. These were the guys that I would have to keep alive for at least a year. These guys that I had to live with for a good long while. I suddenly wished I'd told them it was a month, or even a week.

Because of that, I felt it only fair to give them a bit of a scare. "You know, you're quite lucky that you didn't kill him just now. With all of these witnesses around, you'd have been caught so fast that you wouldn't even make it to a trial on a rocket bike before the guilty verdict was handed down. Why, if I wanted to, I could have had you punished right where you stood for doing it to. Wouldn't even see it coming. Just, one second and, boom, dead."

I chuckled a bit at their faces as I started pacing in front of the biker, showing him how unafraid I was of him and his bulk. "Sorry for laughing, but it's just kinda ironic. All he was trying to do was stop you from doing anything too drastic and getting yourself killed, and you nearly killed him because you can't take some criticism. Funny, someone like him looking out for someone maybe three times his weight class despite how much stronger they are."

I made sure to emphasize the word 'stronger' because of one thing. I knew it was his trigger word. The one word that he hated with the fieriest of passions. Both because of when he was a small kid chasing his brother, and because of the intense jealousy he had for those that were stronger then him in both the physical, spiritual, and mental, brought on from his brother's sacrifice to save his weak and ignorant behind.

Even though he had accomplished what was considered impossible by uniting every biker gang in the town under his flag, he still thought of himself as irrefutably weak and tended to fly into a blind rage whenever that word or similar words were used to describe him. And as he glared at me with a look of hate so fiery that I was truly surprised that the bear hadn't spontaneously burst into flames, I knew I wasn't going to be on his list of friends anytime soon.

But I wasn't here to be his friend, I was here to prove a point. "What's the matter? Don't like to hear how you nearly killed someone who wanted to help keep you safe? Maybe you don't like when someone who's weaker then you are willing to actually stand up to you and try to help your weak ass."

I knew I was waving a red cape in front of the meanest of bulls, and they knew it too but I had one last thing to say. "Come on then, hit me. Break the chains holding you back and blindly attack the source of your hatred like you always do. Just like you did to Mr. Makoto over there. Like you do everyone who ticks you off. Just let yourself fly off the handle and try to kill me like you do for every weakling looking to get stronger."

I swear, even when I look back on this later I don't know what had come over me to make me say such terrible, if true, things. At first it was to prove a point, but then I just kind of let go and my thoughts and the words just snowballed from there. Maybe it was some internal resentment I had for him killing off someone I had found so endearing, or maybe I saw him as a twisted mirror of what kind of terrible person I might have become had I not learned to channel my anger productively. I mean it still creeps up rarely, but it's manageable.

But, as I watched him fume, arms outstretched and fingers clawing at the air in a pantomime of strangling Monokuma, face so red you could stand him in traffic as a stop sign, eyes bulging from the pressure, I have no regrets in what I did.

With a few key-strokes, I had a single solitary weapon arm itself, a single shot air rifle that had a poisoned dart in it; deadly if I knew anything about Junko. It was the only weapon in the whole gym that could be easily seen from where Mondo was looking, as well as the others if the gasps of shock were any indication.

"Go ahead." I said in a dead serious tone. "Make my day your last."

Mondo flinched back as he registered my threat, not knowing that I had no intention of following through with it. But even with grit teeth and clenched fists primed and ready, he wasn't ready to take that risk. So, as much as it pained him, the bike gang leader took a deep inhale, and let out an explosive sigh as he backed off wordlessly.

"That's what I thought." Convinced that he wouldn't make any rash actions anytime soon, I turned back to Kyoko as she seemed to finish whatever examinations she needed on Makoto. "So, how's about one of you take him to his room?"

After some debate, mostly by them, both Sayaka and Leon were volunteered to help carry Makoto to his room. And by volunteered, I mean I told them that I would do it if no one else would, and Sayaka all but jumped to help while dragging Leon along to help with the lifting. I was going to point out that Mondo should probably do the heavy lifting since he was the one to knock the luckster out in the first place, but it looked like they had it handled. Besides, he looked like he had a lot on his mind to think about.

Though, to Makoto's credit, he did much better than his in-game counterpart. In the game, he was unconscious for far longer, not waking till the meeting around nine. This time he took it like a trooper and woke up after only two hours of rest. I had to admit, it was rather impressive.

Shaking my head to remove the thought, I briefly glanced at the camera system to see the students gathering in the cafeteria to report their findings. Confident that they wouldn't need my attention for a while, I returned my gaze to the notebook in my lap.

While I was still quite upset at the last entry in the leather back booklet, I was also intrigued as to what happened next to Junko after our unfortunate collision. There were still more questions I needed to know the answers to. So, skimming though the book, I found the entry I'd been on last and moved to find the next.

It took a few page turns, as it seemed that after the last one someone apparently spilled something on the pages, ruining the already difficult to read handwriting, but I eventually found a clean entry.

"It's been about a month now since I worked on Junko's brain, and she's finally woken up. It wasn't for long, a few minutes at most, but she was able to talk to me so I'll take that as a success. While she was up I asked her about herself, see if she was still…well, her. Talked about her family, her past, and school, everything I could think of. While it did take her some time for a few of them, it seemed that she was all there. Though I was right about her being mad about her hair.

Frankly, I think it's an improvement over the dye job she had before; but I won't tell her that.

The school board has been hassling me for an update on her condition, but I couldn't care less about what they want. They already had me work on a monster for them, they don't need to know how she's doing.

Mukuro has been keeping her class from finding out about all of this. Apparently, she's been dressing up and acting like Junko for the time being. It's a rather poor imitation, but it's keeping them from bothering me, so I can ignore it for now.

Once Junko is able to stay awake for longer I plan to put her through some rehab. The nurse from before plans to help with that, but I don't care. As long as she's safe and alive, that's all that I care about. No matter how much of a pain she is."

It wasn't much but it did help explain some things.

For starters, it explained why Mukuro was dressed up as me… I mean Junko. With Junko in medical care, it would be difficult to impossible for her to be able to get close to the student body to begin her plans for the tragedy to happen anywhere near a years' time. By dressing up as her sister, Mukuro would be able to keep the classes from finding out about her twin's condition while keeping up appearances simultaneously.

Also, unlike Junko, who had been all over several forums talking how she was going to attend Hope's Peak, Mukuro was only known to be attending by the headmaster, her sister, and her former squad mates. She was able to disappear with little trouble. All she'd have to say is that she was being drafted again and no one would be the wiser.

It also explained how Junko was able to corrupt the "Ultimate Nurse" Mikan Tsumiki, so easily. I knew that he mentioned her helping him with Junko after our accident and that she was working on the fearful nurse before it, but by being there to help her recover from her wounds Junko had a perfect opportunity to twist the shy girl into one of her "Ultimate Despair" minions early on.

Also, through Mikan, Junko also likely learned about the senior classmates of seventy-seven. With Mukuro focusing on fooling their class, Junko would be able to be in constant contact to eventually corrupt the other class with only a few minor problems. As well as other things she caused over time.

The thought caused a chill to run down my spine. Yet, it also made me think. These guys were twisted, fooled into undying devotion to a person who couldn't care less if they lived of died. But she was gone now, in a manner of speaking, and I was her replacement. Did that mean that I could use their loyalty to help me?

I hated the fact that I was even considering fooling these poor souls, but I needed any help I could get at the moment.

'But, first things first.' I thought as I looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost ten. 'Priorities are more essential.'

Heading back into the control room, I sat down and got ready to begin the first nighttime announcement. Making sure the Monokuma on the chair was prepped right, I pressed the bell.

*Ding dong. Dong ding*

"Ahem, this is your night time announcement, it is now ten o'clock. The cafeteria will soon be locked till morning. So, unless you want to be stuck there, please head to your rooms. Have a pleasant night, and I'll see you tomorrow."

Time to get to work.

First thing I needed to do was asses how much trouble Junko's sister would be to my plans. As the "Ultimate Soldier" she would already be a problem to deal with as it was. Having never been damaged in any battle she'd been in, she would be able to easily dispatch anything thrown at her if given the chance. It was doubtful that even Sakura would be able to stop her killing spree if she had even one real weapon at her disposal.

Not many realize how much of an impossibility it is to avoid damage during a war. Unless you had near godlike reflexes, instinctual danger senses, and amazingly asinine area awareness, or were cowards hiding with their head between their legs, you had very little chances of even being able to last for a few minutes without at least a scrape to a bullet in you somewhere. She did all of the first without a scratch on her, with literally none of the cowering. She was a one-woman army killing machine, and she knew it.

If I were to invoke her wrath, there would be literally nothing I could do to stop her. I could throw countless Monokuma, bombs, turrets, or even all kinds of tanks, and I might be lucky enough to give her the equivalent to a paper-cut. In a one on one fight, I'd be destroyed before you can finish a single blink, and even faster if she had a weapon. And no, I'm not just referring to firearms. Freaking Solid Snake would look at her and say, "Yeah, no. I've fought some stupidly broken things in my time, but I'm not touching that."

The only advantage I had on her was ironically what made her into such a terror.

I was her sister.

No, I'm not joking here. Her devotion to Junko is supposedly what spear headed her drive to never be damaged in any matter. Her obsession to prove to her twin that she was something to be recognized, prove that she was someone to be proud of, not disappointed by, that she would doom the world just to make Junko happy. She had even done so recently!

The only thing she wouldn't do, is the one thing Junko actually wanted her to. Mukuro would never bring her twin the feeling of ultimate despair from being killed by the only family she loved with all her heart. No matter how much Junko berated and belittled her, threatened her and everything she cared for, and even destroyed everything that she treasured; Mukuro refused to take her beloved sister's life.

That meant, as long as she knew me as Junko, I could tell her to do damned near anything and she would damn near drag down the heavens just to get it done. If I tell her to jump, she won't ask how high, she'll jump and pray that it was high enough to not be a disappointment again, so bad was her desire to feel Junko's love.

However, that only applies if she thinks I'm Junko. If she realizes that I'm someone else who just so happens to be using Junko's body, there's no telling how she'll react. Maybe she'll take it well and just accept that her sister just thinks a little differently now. Maybe she'll go ballistic and kill me in a fit of rage. Or, maybe she'll drop so far into despair that she'll take her own life. She might even just completely shut down.

I don't know, nor do I care to find out.

Unfortunately for me, I had to at least make sure that she wouldn't do anything too drastic to the others in her attempts to appease me. Junko. Dang it, it's hard to tell which one I should be referring to at times.

"Okay, we'll see you at the food court tomorrow!" Aoi shouted to 'Junko' as she and Sakura headed towards their rooms.

"Sounds like a plan. Later!" called back the disguised Mukuro as she waved her arm enthusiastically to hide her rapidly growing desires to be away from the both of them. Not out of annoyance or irritation of them, but out of necessity.

Without waiting for the two to walk out of sight, she quickly unlocked her door, and stepped inside before swiftly closing and locking it. Making sure it was bolted shut, Mukuro turned with a sigh before walking further into her new dwelling. It was not out of any malice or fear did she use so much caution, but rather it was because she knew she would be expecting 'company' that she didn't need to the others to go and panic about.

And as she had expected, as she walked into the main area of her room, she found Monokuma fiddling with her standard issue combat knife on her bed.

"Welcome home!"

I kept my gaze locked onto my sister's eyes, grinning despite the deadly glare aimed at the bear. I couldn't help but feel nervous. I hadn't expected her arrival to be when it was, thinking she would be taking her time with the others. So, when my attempts to see what kind of heat she was packing I hear the giggling of her door handle, you can bet I freaked out a bit and grabbed the closest thing I could find in there, before jumping on the bed, pretending that I'd been there the whole time and hoping that she buys it.

But despite that, I also couldn't help but feel excited to have a one on one conversation with Mukuro. Despite the lack of development and depth she'd gotten in the first game, she ended up becoming one of my favorite characters in the game due to the things that came up after the fact. Even knowing that whatever I say to her could mean everything possibly going sideways, I couldn't help but feel slightly giddy at the idea of talking to a character I found so fascinating.

All of the characters of Dangan Ronpa had had their own defining traits that made them noteworthy, but some tended to stand out more than others for their interesting or sympathetic backstories. Mukuro was always one of the ones that I gravitated towards, even when she was disguised.

I always found myself intrigued about her stories about her and Junko. How they we're implied to be from a rich family, and that they, or at least Mukuro were homeless at one point, and that she had been interested in. She had eventually joined the military, despite her age, after running away from her home during a trip to Europe. Somehow, she even managed to impress the military group called Fenrir enough that they gave her advanced training in all sorts of combat and firearms.

But the thing I was going to be using was the simple fact that, during one of her free time events she stated about how while she didn't mind what she did as Junko's sister, nor did she actually hate the world or wish for the tragedy that befell it. She just felt like she didn't have a choice in what she did as long as her twin wanted it.

If I was going to get her to help the others stay alive, I'll have to give her reasons to.

I then had the two-tone bear proclaim excitedly to her, so much that it nearly lost its grip on the weapon when it threw its arms in the air. "I do so hope the accommodations are to your liking, dear sister. I had to pull a lot of strings to get some of this stuff in here."

But, to my surprise, she said nothing. She simply glared at the plushy bear with the most unreadable expression I'd ever seen. Not deterred, but a little perturbed, I decided to try a different avenue.

"So, how was re-meeting our old classmates for you, hmm?" I smiled at her with a sickeningly sweet tone, though I was legitimately curious. How would it be like to have to reintroduce yourself to people that you'd been friends or at least close acquaintances with?

Strangely enough, she stayed silent, awkwardly staring at the bear long enough for my smile to become a lot more stilted. This conversation was becoming a lot more one sided a lot more quickly then I'd imagined it going.

Thankfully, the stalemate didn't last long as she finally spoke it a surprisingly strict tone. "Why didn't you tell me about the 'contingency plan'?"

I was actually surprised, my eyes wide open in shock at how quickly the conversation derailed. I was honestly stunned for a moment at how quickly she had jumped to that part of the conversation I had planned to bring up later.

"Why Mukuro," I spoke in an offended tone, trying to regain my footing of control in the conversation. "You of all people should be able to tell that I just did that on a whim. You know how much I do that."

While my acting made me seem calm outwardly, inside I was panicking heavily. Of course Junko would tell her of her plans beforehand; for the most part. After all, what good is a soldier on the battle field if without their orders? And this game is all but the most dangerous battle field she'd ever been in. So of course, she'd want to be informed of any major changes to the original plan.

"I just came up with the 'contingency plan' as a sort of backup plan. See, the thing is, I know that they won't be able to last for a whole year with each other; especially since I've got you around. I just told them about it as a way to bring them some false hope. Something to hold over their heads as they all hopelessly kill each other, ya know?"

I really hoped that she would buy my quickly improvised explanation. To be honest I had made the plan on a whim. Just a random thought I'd thrown together in a few moments. Though, there was a few things that did actually help me out despite what I'd just told her.

In all honesty, the whole thing had been made in the hope of keeping their whole group together. A way to keep them holding onto their sanity for much longer than a few days. I knew that it was far from perfect, especially considering who all was involved, but it was better than the alternative.

There were many factors I had been forced to consider during and after I was making up the contingency plan. First of all, I knew that by it throwing out at the last minute like I had done I would make it seem like the least reliable option; especially since it was coming right after I had both threatened them with death and nearly blew-up one of them not to long beforehand.

In hindsight, I probably should have waited till around the first motive to mention it, or at least slipped it into their digital rulebook and waited for one of them to find it. But, it was better than never telling them at all, or worst, telling them after someone went and got killed by another.

Even having said that, that also meant that the more virtuous of them would now have more motivation to keep the others alive, as well giving those same classmates more reasons to ignore my eventual attempts to give them incentive to become 'blackened'. With any luck, those ones would be able to keep the others in line.

Next there was the time limit. Yes, I had been forced to make them play this game against our collective wills, but by letting me remain in the seat of control, Junko had unintentionally given me permission to choose how the rules would play out. So, for example, if I only wanted them to play the game for a year, then I only needed them to play for a year; simple as that. Loop holes, baby!

However, if I let them go too easily then I knew there would be no way to prepare them for the hellish world that awaited them. With the deathly toxic air, daily riots in the destroyed streets, constantly rising death tolls, and members of the group calling themselves "Ultimate Despair" running amok, not to mention the several dozens of other crazy things waiting to end their collective lives; I could tell that they wouldn't last a week as they were now.

That was why I chose the time limit to be a year. That way, I could impose motives that could prepare them for what madness awaited them in the world.

"But, what if they do manage to go the whole time?" Mukuro asked, now a bit calmer now that she thought I wasn't keeping things from her, but still not quite seeing what the point would be in giving them another option to choose from. And it was true, with them all thinking that the outside world was still a place that committing murder would get you punished, of course most of them would try to wait it out instead of killing each other

"My dear, sweet sister." I said sweetly as Monokuma shook its head. "Don't you remember? I said, 'if every student votes unanimously that they wish to leave'. Obviously, that vote includes the both of us."

That was something I'd realized just recently. Even if they somehow managed to cling on for an entire year, as long as both of the Despair sisters were there, then the vote would always end up keeping the others trapped inside the school. Eventually, it would cause the some of the class to lose their hope in leaving, or cause the more violent or motivated them of them to lash out in desperation

By making it have to be a unanimous vote between us, I would be able to tell if they were ready for the insanity of the outside without having to see them drop dead before me because I hadn't prepared them. And, if on the very possible chance that some of them wished to stay after I gave them the option, then it would be their choice to make. I wouldn't fault them for it. A rather long timed plan to be sure, but it was defiantly effective.

But, that also meant that, should they all wish to leave…if they all decided to escape this sanctuary to face the world with their heads held high… Then I would embrace that decision with them, no matter the consequences.

But just because I would embrace it, didn't mean Mukuro would as well. That was why I was here now. To get her on my side.

Thankfully, my rushed explanation seemed to appease her curiosity for the moment as she started making her way over to a large dresser I noticed looked eerily similar to the one I'd found in my room. Right down to the excessive number of cosmetics; though the wig stand was new.

To my surprise, with a huff, Mukuro reached up and removed the two hair accessories from the mass of pink, before pulling the wig off of her head. I could have sworn that when you wear a wig over your hair you need at least a few dozen hair pins to hold it down, and while she did have a couple in the back, there was no way that that small amount should be hiding it all so easily.

Running her hand though her sweaty black locks, Mukuro sighed in relief at being free of the overheated head wear, before placing the soaked mass on a wig stand she'd left on her dresser. Then, she folded her arms over her chest and glared at the animatronic with apathy.

"I'm surprised," she admitted to the girl controlling the bear from so far away. "Considering how much emphasis you put on keeping your identity hidden, it's strange that you would be taking to me like this."

It was at this point that I couldn't help but wonder which of us was supposed to be the manipulator all of the sudden. Was she onto me already? Or did I mess up, and my talking with her was something that wasn't supposed to happen. Freaking hell, I haven't had this much trouble talking to a girl since middle school.

The problem with having only seen the game through one person's eyes, you don't get a good idea for what was supposed to happen outside of what was explained to the player character. It makes things so much more difficult than you'd expect; especially since this was a mystery themed title.

"The room's completely sound proof," I pointed out in a deadpanned tone. "Even if it wasn't, I could always have you take them out before they could even think to warn the others. And no one is watching us on the cameras but me. What's with all of the questions all of the sudden? Do you really doubt your little sister that much?"

She flinched back at the accusation I'd presented against her, as if I'd just walked up and slapped her. Her eyes losing their glare as they trailed to the floor, "I apologize, I simply wished to know if the plan had changed any. I didn't mean to upset you again."

I could only stare at the screen, absolutely bewildered by the sudden change from stern solider to kicked puppy. It was as if this girl was on the most finicky trigger between emotions then any kind of mental patent I'd seen in most forms of media. Was this really just from how badly Junko treated her, or was there something I wasn't seeing here?

I may have taken psychology 101, but that didn't make me the "Ultimate Psychologist".

I sighed, "That's fine, that's why I came up to talk to you after all. So, what are your thoughts on the game so far?"

I was honestly curious; I knew that she had too of had some kind of reservations to preforming in this life or death game. Even as the "Ultimate Soldier" there would be no guaranty of her survival, even with the advantages that came with being both my inside man…girl, and as the weapon I could point at where ever and who ever I wished. But, since most of them were her classmates, there was a good chance that she wouldn't be able to react properly in the event that they tried anything.

Not only that, but I wanted a second opinion on my actions thus far. With all of the changes I was making to the rules, there was a good chance that I'd already shot myself in the foot in my attempts to keep the others safe. I needed some clarification if how I was doing things was going to either help or hinder my goals.

For a solid minute she stared at me, seemingly trying to think of my reasoning for asking. Then as my impatient nerves were about to reach its peak of irritation, she asked me, "Why are you asking me this now?

Not really ready for such a question, I threw out the first thing that came to mind. "I just need to know if you're still going to participate considering how you must be feeling right now."

"Feeling?" she asked clearly confused by my remark, which only confused me in turn. Surely it occurred to her what she'd been giving up by going through with the wiping of the other's memories of their time at Hope's peak. Right?

"You know, from their memories the past wo years being wiped out. How all of the friends that you've made are now going to try and kill each other just so that they can return to a world that'll kill them in return. And how even Makoto will eventually be on your list of assassination targets. Did all of that not register yet?"

Immediately, I regretted my words as she slowly froze up with the most haunted look of realization on her face growing drastically across it. Dang it, of flipping course she wouldn't have thought about that. With how blindly she tended to follow along and with her being preoccupied by being in the game, of course she wouldn't have had time to think about the results of her actions.

But why would she? After throwing herself into her new role, the Ultimate Solider had given up her ties with her now former friends, severed her connection to the mercenary group that she had come to call family, and even ruined the school she had come to call home; all to keep her sister's plan on its track. By her own hand, she had essentially wiped herself from the face of the earth. When would this realization ever have time to kick in?

"I mean, if you want to I can pull you from the game," I backpedaled with my hands in the air. "I mean; we'd have to do it in front of at least one of them to keep the suspicion off of you, but if you really want- "

Her hand shot up in the air in the signal to stop, and she spoke in a determined tone that slowly wavered with every word. "No, I want to continue. I won't be a disappointment to you again. I need to continue this for you."

I stayed silent for a minute, honestly unsure if the last comment was more to convince me, or herself. I could still see the conflict in her eyes dancing about, despite the stern and ready expression she wore on her face. Maybe it was just because she was the twin of the body I inhabited, but as I stared into those eyes of hers, I felt like I could see so much of her regrets, fears, indecision, and despair buried deep in those windows to her soul.

"…Okay, Mukuro," I said, concern layered in my tone. "But remember, if you do keep this going, there won't be another chance to back out. Not unless you're willing to make it look like you're breaking a rule."

She nodded her head once in acknowledgement to my warnings, but if anything it seemed to make her seem more determined. "I will do anything you ask, I promise to do everything in my power to give you and the others the despair you always wanted."

"…I see. That's… good to know." I replied to her as she turned back to her dresser, not realizing how much her words had affected me. As if she actually understood what I had intended for the students. As if she could really guess the reasoning behind my last minute addition to the rules. Unfortunately for her, my words had just been an impromptu ruse; a way to keep her blind in her faith to her sister's twisted goals, when the fact I was anything but supportive of said goals. I felt terrible for manipulating her like this, and I only felt worst since this moment could be the thing that got the others killed, but for this to work I still needed her to remain on my side…for now