Kaede was standing in the middle of a large high tech looking circular courtroom, surrounded by the other Ultimate students. Rantaro was missing, though. Shuichi looked absolutely devasted, with tears welling in his eyes, and Kaede felt a trickle trace down her own cheek.
She sensed that something absolutely horrible had happened, but she didn't know what. It was like she was both <em> in </em> the scene and oddly detached from it, like a spectator and a participant at the same time. She felt the pain as the cold metal collar chafed her neck. She felt beads of sweat merge with her tears as she was dragged away. She heard the faint, jarring sounds of Der Flowaltzer being played in the distance.
And woke up with a jolt, sweating eerily. She had been dreaming the exact same nightmare every night she had been in the Ultimate Academy, and it sure wasn't helping with her confidence. What was creepy was that she had actually <em>seen</em> Rantaro's death happen, even before it had happened. Had thought that he would actually die, she would be executed for his death, and the Killing Game would continue without the two of them. And that hadn't happened--well, not all of it, anyway. Rantaro was dead, but she was still alive. Tsumugi was one of the two masterminds. And the second to go. Perhaps it was just some sort of twisted nightmare situation that her brain had cooked up to occupy her?
Whatever. She glared at the clock next to her bed. 6:14 am. Who would be awake at this time? Kirumi, maybe, in her epic and selfless quest to serve everyone here. Kaede respected her selfless devotion, but she really had to take a break once in a while.
Kaede punched her pillow to a more comfortable shape, a habit from childhood, and turned once more, trying to get some more sleep before the Nightmare cycle started again.
<hr>
"How much longer do you idiots think it'll take Monokuma to get his fat ass over here to annoy us?" Miu asked, spitting out bits of her porridge.
"Who knows?" Ryoma shrugged, but with his lack of facial expression, it really was impossible to know what he was thinking. "Maybe he just wants to not intervene in our already profound suffering, like some sort of twisted social experiment,"
"What are we to 'him, some animals in a zoo to gawk at?" she snorted.
"NO, THAT'S WRONG!"
The 14 Ultimate Students glared at the Dining Hall door, where Monokuma had suddenly materialized, holding some sort of fancy flashlight.
"Get the f*ck out of here." Miu groaned. "It's too early for this!"
"It's never too early for a bit of memory regaining!" Monokuma argued.
"..."
It took an eternity for that information to sink in.
"D-did Monokuma just say m-memory retrieving?" Shuichi mumbled, looking very surprised.
"I believe he did," Korekiyo took another sip of tea through his zipper mask.
"H-how are you degenerates so calm about this?!!" Tenko shrieked, pointing a finger accusatorily, completely ignoring the fact that Shuichi was hyperventilating behind her, which was in no shape or form known to man <em>calm</em>.
"Maybe he's lying," Kokichi twiddled his thumbs.
"I AM NOT LYING!"Monokuma roared. "This little thing is called a Flashback Light! It's gonna return more of your lost memories! Aren't I generous to give you this clue without you doing anything? I'm being nice, so you can consider it a gift for killing like I asked you to last time! Now get on your knees and kiss the ground I'm standing on!"
