Lock and Key | Naegami

Chapter 1 - The motive

'Everyone, come to the gym! It's motive time!'

I looked at the people around me, scared. Last time Monokuma did a motive, two people ended up dying, one of them which I trusted.

'We should go.. we don't know what he'll do if we're late..' Hina said anxiously.

'Y-Yeah..' Toko said, 'Especially if master is going to be there~!'

I looked away from the girl, slightly disturbed by her actions. After the trial, Toko had grown a strange obsession with Byakuya Togami, causing him to almost never be seen out of the library or locked in his room.

'Let's just go..' I suggested.

The group made its way towards the gym to see Monokuma beating up a salmon. As soon as he noticed us, he threw it across the room, narrowly missing my head.

'Why, hello my amazing students!' He laughed, 'Since you have been slacking off on the killing, it's time for another motive!'

'Just get it over and done with and tell us,' Byakuya scoffed.

'Well... no. This motive is special! You guys are gonna vote for a person to do something for our motive, and I'll choose the top two that were most voted for!'

'I... don't follow,' Chihiro said, 'W-What do you mean?'

Monokuma sighed, before throwing slips of paper and pencils to everyone. 'Just write a name down! Do whoever you think will have the most chance of surviving something, or whoever you hate most, or who you suspect the traitor is! I don't know and I don't care! Just don't put yourself down.'

I looked down at my paper. A person who'd be able to survive almost anything...

My hand wrote almost of its own accord. Kyoko Kirigiri.

'Ok dumbasses, when you've written the name, put them in this box here!'

One by one, everyone put their slips of paper in the box. When the last person, Hifumi, put his in, Monokuma sat down, looking at all the names. 'Hmm, well... the most voted for is no surprise! The closed off, rude, rich boy of the class, Byakuya Togami!'

Byakuya barely reacted to having his name called, but his brow furrowed slightly.

'Oki doki! Now, time for the second person! The short, lucky cinnamon roll, Makoto Naegi!'

Time seemed to stop. What..?

I took a deep breath, trying to hide my fear.

'I'm sorry Makoto, I just thought... you're one of the strongest people here, and I thought you'd have more of a chance of surviving whatever this is,' Hina said regretfully.

'Same with me!' Taka saluted, 'I believe in you Makoto!'

'Meanwhile, I voted for Byakuya because he is an utter asshole,' Celeste spoke calmly, rolling her eyes, 'So if he were to die, it would not be as much as a loss for us.'

'Well, I predicted that Makoto would get voted,' Hifumi smirked triumphantly, 'So I voted Byakuya. Two boys going through a traumatic experience together, a good trope in my yaoi doujins!'

'D-Don't be stupid.. master obviously l-loves me!' Toko exclaimed.

'As if.'

As this was all going on, I just stood there, overwhelmed. It felt like the walls were closing in on me.

I slowly backed away from the group, trying to calm my breathing. As I took a step backwards, I tripped over something on the floor, falling down.

'You can't try escaping me, egg boy,' Monokuma appeared out of nowhere, 'Now, you and Byakuya are going somewhere special! Bye bye!'

Suddenly, something got held over my face, obscuring my vision. I felt myself get light headed as I slowly slipped out of consciousness...

*****

'Naegi, wake up.'

I slowly opened my eyes to find I was lying on the floor in a classroom. Most of the desks had been removed.

'Ng... what happened..?' I sat up sleepily, rubbing my eyes. My head hurt, and my vision was slightly blurry.

'Monokuma knocked us unconscious, before taking us here, I presume. The reason he did it is obviously to do with the motive, but I can't think of why he would need to bring us here..' Byakuya said, standing up from the chair he was sitting in, before looking at one of the cameras, 'Monokuma? Explain.'

Suddenly, a screen at the front of the classroom flickered on to show Monokuma. 'Hey guys! How're ya holding up in there? Feeling bored yet? Well not for long!'

'Just.. tell us what is going on,' Byakuya sighed, irritated.

'Well.. you two are trapped in this room for the foreseeable future! Until there is a murder, that is..'

'H-Huh?!' I stood up, shocked.

'Of course, you still need to live and stuff, so I'll give you food and water, if you do a challenge of mine!' Monokuma laughed, 'Oh, and the bathrooms are attached to this room, but you can't escape from them, so I wouldn't try if I were you!'

'How long was I out?' I asked the bear on the screen.

'Uhh..' he paused, 'A few hours! Maybe four.. or five.. or ten..'

'T-Ten?!' I exclaimed, 'No wonder I'm hungry..'

'Did I hear.. hungry? It's challenge time!'

'Look what you've started now, Naegi..' Byakuya sighed as Monokuma vanished.

'U-Um, you can call me Makoto.'

Suddenly, a small hatch in the wall opened, and a deck of cards fell out. Monokuma came back on the screen. 'I presume you two know how to make a house of cards?'

And that's how Byakuya Togami and Makoto Naegi ended up trying to build a house of cards while in a killing game.