Danganronpa: Shuri's School

Chapter 18: Third Floor Investigation

The next morning, after everyone ate in the Dining Room, Monokuma called us all to a meeting in the gymnasium. Monokuma stood before the 12 of us, 5 boys and 7 girls, and I already knew why we were there before he started speaking.

And, of course, I was right.

"Goooood morning everyone! As you all may know, you found the correct Blackened yesterday. The fact that it wasn't unanimous doesn't really matter to me; majority rules, and you got it right! As a reward, I have unlocked the third floor as of 7am this morning!"

Monokuma jumped up and down a few times in excitement, then added, "Some of you may find this floor more interesting than others, though..." He glanced at Peko, then Maki, then at Akane. "Alright, this meeting is over, let's enjoy another beeee-autiful day at Hope's Peak Academy!!", Monokuma cheered, and then disappeared from existence, the way he always seems to do.

Everyone paired up...well, except for Byakuya, who seemed thoroughly disinterested in the third floor, returning to his dorm instead. Soda went back to his dorm, too, muttering something about not giving up, but still looking shaken from yesterday's trial. Akane and Hina paired up immediately. Nagito and Kokichi left immediately after Akane and Hina did. Kirumi, seemingly concerned about Ibuki, requested to join her, which Ibuki accepted. Mikan, seeing Ibuki leaving with Kirumi, asked Peko to go with her to the third floor, which Peko obliged.

That left me and Maki, and I was debating on whether or not to even speak with her. Deciding to risk it, I walked up to Maki, who was already glaring at me.

"You want me to go to the third floor with you, don't you." It wasn't even a question from Maki's lips, just a blunt statement. She sighed, then nodded. "Fine. Let's go."

We walked up together, side by side, out of the library and up both flights of stairs. Maki was completely silent the entire time, just staring ahead. That was fine with me, because I didn't have much to say anyway.

As we reached the third floor, Maki stopped at the top of the stairs, putting a hand out to the side. "Wait."

Maki stared off into space for several moments, seemingly listening to her surroundings. Nodding, she motioned to continue. We made a left at the first intersection, as there was just a hallway with windows leading out to the courtyard ahead of us.

To our left were two classrooms, 3-B and 3-A, but they looked much like all the other classrooms. We reached a T-intersection, and of course, there was a gated-off stairway going up.

"So even THIS is not the top floor. Interesting..." I said, half to myself, half to Maki. She gave me an annoyed look, and I remembered there were supposed to be 5 floors, as they could be seen from the Courtyard.

Turning around, I saw we were in front of a "Shop Room". Walking inside, we saw drill presses, band saws, sanders, and lots and lots of wood and metal. It looked like a fun place to build stuff, but I was more concerned that this could be an execution site, with the blades and drills inside. Maki and I exchanged looks, then walked back out.

The next room was a Track Room, with a long running track taking up most of the room. The corners were banked at an angle, so you could keep your running speed without running into the walls.

I nodded. "Good place to run, get some adrenaline going. Could help stay in shape, too."

Maki shook her head. "I don't run unless I must. Running draws attention."

I nodded, her statement making sense as an Ultimate Assassin. Maki then continued.

"Besides, during training, they'd make me run until my legs gave out, until my lungs burned. And if I stopped moving, they'd-"

"I get the picture, Maki. It's ok. I know your training was brutal, by every definition of the word." I cut her off, preferring to avoid a triggered flashback. Seeing nothing other than a banked track, we left, with the courtyard windows now to our right.

We reached an intersection, but nothing was down to our right, so we kept walking forward, towards a door marked "Dojo". Another, wider hallway met us to our right as we reached the door, but nothing seemed to be down there either.

Inside the Dojo was a number of punching bags: Small ones that you only punched, larger body bags for punches and kicks, various dummies to test holds on, and even an odd punching bag with sticks coming out of it. Intrigued, I asked Maki about that one.

"That one's for practicing blocks and parries. You block the sticks, and counter attack. Or you can just block; whatever."

Towards the back of the room was a wrestling mat. Half of it was solid white, and half of it was black, with a red design resembling Monokuma's red eye. Unlike a wrestling ring, however, there were no turnbuckles, no ropes, and no ring apron; just the mat on the floor.

I looked over at Maki. "Bring back any memories?"

Maki took a deep breath. "We practiced unarmed combat in places like this. If your weapon gets knocked out of your hand, you still need to do your job. Failure was not tolerated, and would be punished severely."

"Think you would spend any time in here?" I asked.

Maki looked at me like I grew a second head. "What? Why would I? Fighting for no reason is stupid."

I was very surprised by this answer, figuring an assassin would have to train regularly to stay sharp, but I decided that was a question I didn't want answered. I just rolled with it, and followed Maki outside the Dojo.

Nothing else seemed to be on this floor, though it seemed we had just circled a large room with no door. I put my hand on the wall, pushed a little bit, then banged it several times. It felt like any other wall in this place.

Maki looked at me, annoyed. "Why are you beating the wall?"

"I just...it feels like there should be something here. This is too thick to just be a simple wall, and it doesn't feel like a weight-bearing pillar either. It bothers me..." I took several steps back, glaring at the wall, feeling something was very wrong with its existence.

Maki shook her head. "This is stupid. Who cares if it's a wall or a pillar? There's no doors, no windows, so there's nothing there." Maki then turned around and walked off, leaving me to stare at the wall.

I didn't like this. Not. One. Bit.

But why? Why did this wall give me such a feeling of unease, of...mistrust?

I decided I would speak to Byakuya about it, and see if he had any answers. Before I could, however, Kirumi approached me.

"Shurinku? Byakuya has a message he requested I deliver to you."

I nodded. "Odd, but ok. What does he want?"

Kirumi responded, "He requests that you return his reading glasses to him, at once."

...What?!!