"AHHHHHHHH!"
Kaede took a step back and tried to make out more figures in the semi darkness. What was wrong with this place? Why was he here? Who else was here?
She bumped into something large and hard---a wall? A quick look over her shoulder proved her wrong. It radiated a pale gold glow, and there was so much blood covering the front.
It was the gold block that had squashed Shuichi to pieces. Which meant this blood was...
Kokichi tugged on the tail of her vest and shook his head. There was no point thinking things too thoroughly in this place. It would only cause them to go insane.
She leaned on the block and sighed, trying to imagine a better place. What had she done to be shoved into hell? This was hell, wasn't it? The bodies, the darkness, the loneliness? Was there even an exit?
"How long have you been here, Kokichi?"
Kokichi rummaged in her formerly white backpack, which was now covered with ungainly red stains that were turning browner at the second.
"Kokichi?"
He grabbed something small with a triumphant expression on his face. Kaede thought this was the first time she was seeing him smile because he was genuinely happy. Which was really sad, given the circumstances they were in.
He stood there fiddling with the thing that he had stolen from her backpack with a look of immense concentration on his face.
When he lifted it up to show her, Kaede noticed with a start that it was the back side of the blueprints for the cameras that Miu had drawn for her, so many weeks before when she and Shuichi tried to catch (and kill) the mastermind. Shuichi had given the blueprints to her for safekeeping just before they had parted in the dormitory.
What he wrote was:
<em>For a couple of hours. Before that, when I just woke up, I was lying on a hydraulic press that was inches away from crushing me. Then, Monokuma popped up, told me I was dead in terms of the killing game and had to go where all the dead people go </em>
That message looked like something that Kaede would just roll her eyes at and throw out as a lie in normal situations, and she knew that, which made her sad. However, now meant that she had to try to believe the kid who was notorious for spinning all sorts of cruel lies in order for them to return to the surface.
"Oh," Kokichi put the paper down. "Can you return to the place with the hydraulic press? Is it safe?"
<em>I dunno. I counted the people here, and it's not everyone who died. Monokuma might have spread the bodies out.</em>
"Why does this place not stink then?" Kaede risked a step. "I thought bodies were supposed to rot over time. Like Rantaro...it's been almost a month, right?"
<em>Maybe Monokuma froze the room before we came in.</em>
Kaede tried to calm herself down when a horrible thought hit her smack dab out of nowhere. A thought that made her go all weak in the knees. A thought that, if she thought about it, wasn't impossible.
"A-Are you sure they won't b-become un...undead or something? Like z-zombies?" It was an unbelievable fact in the daylight, safe in her own home, and not in a dark creepy room filled with the bodies of her late classmates, most of whom died horrible, painful deaths. Monokuma was wicked enough anyways---it wasn't really hard to imagine that he would break the door of the living and the dead.
Kokichi's face whitened, and he buried himself in Kaede's body, snuggling his face against her stomach. A reminder that she wasn't the only one who was scared here.
They just stayed there, trying to stay warm. Kaede was really regretting ever bringing up the notion of the living dead.
<hr>
"They've had enough time. Start it up,"
"But my lady, it hasn't been a full day yet!"
"Who cares? All of them are too shaken up to look at the clock anyways. Start the light up!"
"Right, you godamn shmuks! Assemble in the Ultimate gym! It's time for the next motive!"
Monokuma's words in the cafeteria the previous day had ripped the group apart. There was no point being friends now, if killing was the only thing that was going to keep one alive here. This motive was probably something cruel and unusual made to amplify that killing spirit.
Kaede didn't even know what she was supposed to do now. Her body subconsciously stood up and headed towards the door. What could she do but obey? She didn't want to throw her life away via the exsials.
The hallway of the dormitory was empty. Either K̵̡̢̧̛͓̼̫̰̊͐̎̾͒̍̾̿̏́̈̾̿a̷̹͔̯͈̽̄̈͘e̷̬̲͚̥̾͌͒d̸̡̧̢̢̘͚͕̟̤̣̝̖̪̲̓è̶͓ had been unusually slow in moving from her bed to the door or everyone hadn't processed Monokuma's words yet. She decided to believe it was the latter and rushed out of the room, heading towards the outside. The sky was dark and stormy, the type of weather that seemed to warn for a rainstorm in the normal world. Still, this wasn't the normal world, was it? It had never rained in the Ultimate Academy before, unless one counted the horrible second motive when Monokuma turned those sprinklers on.
She made it to the gym, where only Tenko was waiting. The two of them exchanged a dark glance before shifting their eyes to the centre stage, where the exisals were waiting with a strange metal contraption that was so deep in the rock/steampunck theme that Ḵ̵̡̜̠̺̱̻͑͗̑̑̈̑͑͋͊̌a̴̡̖͓͍̘̿͘o̶͙̙̥͉̮̻̝͑͑͋͆̓́̈́̂̂͂͠ḑ̷̥̘̦̰̻̬̯̯͕̬̖̤̍͆̔̿̄̅̐͂̕̕͠͝ĕ̴̲͕͍̤̱̏̈͐͛̆͘͘ couldn't make out a shape that she knew.
Ḯ̵̧͓̘͈̟͈͙̫̞͇̎̄́͗̅̏͐͌̽̚f̸̧̢̢̗̩͙͈̮̞̞̜̰̖̻̄́͠ ̶̧̡̬̞͖̮̪͔̟̤͎͚̲̮̋̚͜ͅͅs̸̛͓̜̳͎̦̰̣̮͓͚͚͙͙̐͗̔̄̃̀͂̊ͅh̷̢̢̢̥̩̣͇̞͈̞̏͑̒̒̈́̈͛̓́̓̐̅͌̀͠ē̴̝͍̺͎͔̬̯̄̀̔́̓̏̿͝ ̵̧̙̗̜͚͚͈̭̩̥̀̋̈́̃͛̃͐̇̎͋̄̏ḧ̴̭̗͍̗̦̳̲͈͎̳̖͈͎̣͕́͒̋̈́͑͛̇̇̀̍̅̈́̉̀̚̕͜a̶̧̧̢̛̹̐́͝d̸̤͍̒͆̽̊̌̆ǹ̸̩̪̤̣̯̬̩̇̏̎̏̿͗̀̕͘'̵͖̞͖͔̰̯̺̾̊̑͂̾̊̕͜t̴͉͓͖͈͌͗̿͌̕ ̷̛̭̗͎͓̻̖̤̫͖͈͓͇͚̟̩̃͑̑̅̐̆͐̓̈́̂͜͝ͅb̸̧̧̹̼͇̖͕̠͎͍͓̲̗̘͇̤͚́̈́̐̉̽͋̄̈̎͆͑́͊̚͠è̵͇̇̏͆͐̈́̉́͑̍̓̚͜ȩ̸̧̡̢͎̻͈̠̤̲̤̰͙̽̋̀͌n̶̢̛͔͍̹̝̓̄͛̌̈́̈́̇͌̈́̿͗ ̴̥̣͖̫̭̦̒͑̓̀̀̍͠ţ̵̧̢̛͇̠̳̫̲͙̥͚̱̼̜͚͈̓̾̓̌͗͒̊̌̚͝͝h̷̡̢̯̖͔͕̗̘̝̱͕͋͆̎̀̿͐̃̏̍͛̂̄͂̚̕e̷̦̩̼̩͕͙̳̓̄̂̊̕͜r̸̡̛͚̯̊̐͗̀̒̍̓̈́̇̅̓͘͝͠ë̴̡̮̤̳̞̪͈̗̠̭͇͓͎͚͈͈̿̿̍͛͋͗̈̋̇̔͊̄͗̆͜͝ ̶̛͔̗̩̠̤̟̼̠̭̋͊̎͂̾̆̚ẉ̸̧̪̪͕̫̯͕̩̊̎̐̒̉̽̑̌̂̾̌h̶̗͖͕͆̅͑͒͌̓́̄̌͗̕ȩ̷͍̝͐̇̊͂̒̓͛͝ń̸̡̻̙̰̦̲̤̗̪̮̠̝̽͛͆̈̐̈̓̈́̈́̾͘ ̵̧̣̭̱͚͉̯͕̱̲̙̈́̌̄͛ͅí̵͇̪͎͔̮̦͕͕͍͖̪͈̺͌̏̆͂̍̊̇t̷̙̪̫͕̠̩̝̹̦̍̒͌͐̒̈́͛͊̅̃͆͘̕͜͝ ̶̰̙̣̱̟̘̎ẅ̵̡̪̥̞̫̱̰̳̼̟͎͚̖́́̓̊̇́͂̓͗̕ͅạ̴̣̯̻͖̒̈́͌̏̌̈̾̌̈̐͘͝s̵̩̗̖̗̥̰̹̟͇̮͒̃̔ ̷̢̢̡̛̛̪̼̰̟͈͇̖͓͈̰̮̱̄̿́́̉̍̍̔̏̆̈́̚͝m̸̡̺̻̈́a̸̰͚̥̗̅͛̋͑͌̓̔̅̎͗̄̃̏̽̓̚ḏ̷̨̨̛̲̼͈̱̝̟̯̳̽̓̋̑͒è̸̢̹̠̞̖̻͍̺̦̻̯̉̄̔̋̇̐̇̒͊ͅ
Slowly, people started filling in. And when K̸͙͙̝͚͔̺̬͈̪̊̍͆̾́̃̈̎͋͛͝ā̴̡̢̛̖̲̺̳̹͉͇̜̯̦̥̲̬̔͆̈́̈́̂̈́͋͊͊̑̿̚͘͜ō̴̧̦͙̬̥̟͙̲͚͙̪̦͊̑̌̐̒͛̀̎̈́̕r̴̡̡̛̻̪̺̪̬͚͇̀͂͋̊̒͑̇́̇̉͘͜͠͝é̴̞̫̪͍̝̖̺͕͕̈́̇̋͜͝ͅ said filling in, she didn't mean it literally since there was only a handful left, looking hodgepodge in the great green canvas of the gym. None of them said anything, just eyed the cannon warily and waiting for the headmaster's arrival. Queen Junko had been right when she said she knew exactly how to rip this already failing group by the seams and turn them all into sworn enemies.
It was easier than she thought, destroying all of her sister's hard work. And satisfying.
"Alright, kiddos!" Monokuma popped out on the stage. "THIS TIME...IT'S A BODYSWAP MOTIVE!"
