"A what?"
"A BODY SWAP MOTIVE, you idiots!"
Angie whipped her paintbrush out and swished it around. "Is Monokuma going to put Angie in someone else's body, and someone else in Angie's body? How fun! Who is it, who is it?"
"It's not fun at all," Korekiyo muttered. "It's incredibly violating. And is it even possible?"
"I am inclined to believe that anything is possible with Monokuma, given he even removed our memories about our talents. If he decides to put us in different bodies, I fear we have no room for rebellion or objection. "
"The gimp doesn't have a fricking right to complain to me about keeping his soul in his own body! Half of his soul isn't even his!"
"..."
"DON'T EVER THINK I'LL ALLOW YOU TO SWAP ME INTO A <em>DEGENERATE'S</em> BODY!" Tenko yelled.
At that moment, one of the monokubs turned the flashlight on(Kaori couldn't remember which, but it didn't really matter anymore because all their personality had been sucked out of their source code to prevent a rebellion like in Chapter 3, since at this delicate time the server couldn't handle a sudden bug or a crash) and Kaori saw the participants of Everyone's New Killing Semester Season 53 succumb to the overpowering mind control.
She knew it had to hurt. The overwhelming waves of mind control were made to literally take one's mind and rip it into shreds before cheaply fixing it all back together in all to make a somewhat sane, but completely different, human soul. It wasn't soul-swapping. Nothing like today's technology was up to something so godlike as that. It was just very well done brainwashing, like the motive last chapter.
In all honesty, Kaori still thought they were fortunate that Shuichi Saihara had ended up all whacked-out last time and died, along with Kokichi, lowering the number of participants so that the brainwashing would be stronger this time. With the number of people in the loop minus the mastermind and Kokichi, whose tongue Monokuma merely cut out after the light knocked him out, her Queen had expressed some concerns that some of the mentally stronger might find a way to undo the brainwashing.
In this chapter, there was a 100% guarantee that that would never happen. With only 4 people(excluding Kaori and the mastermind, who would fool the gang with their superior acting skills to make them believe that they had body swapped) being specifically pinpointed to get their minds shredded apart by this crazy technology, it would cause drama and murder in hours, as her queen exclaimed jubilantly while explaining the plan to Kaori.
After all, one's worst enemy was its own mind.
<hr>
The two of them had made a little more progress both mentally and physically in their prison. They managed to ignore the bodies of the murdered classmates to the biggest extent possible, trying to find an exit. Some were easier, like Maki, who was curled up in a fetal position, her eyes closed. Some were harder, like Himiko's horrified face as brightly colored handkerchiefs squuzed her insides till they burst.
Monokuma had even left her hanging with the colorful rope surrounding her, hanging her from the ceiling lamps. It was horrific.
In the semi-darkness, Kaede could see all sorts of pipes and tanks covering the walls, some of which dead bodies were draped over. Kokichi pointed at something that looked like a huge metal table and wrote that it was the hydraulic press he had woken up on.
The idea that people could be crushed using that prevented Kaede from exploring it any further.
"Is this a boiler room of some sort?" Kaede thought aloud. "Like the underground of the Ultimate Academy? Why are we even here?"
<b>"BECAUSE YOU LOST THE KILLING GAME,"</b>
She jumped. After long periods of unprecedented silence, this loud noise(voice) echoed through the room. Who was talking to her? Monokuma? The mastermind? This voice that she heard was loud and deep, unlike the high-pitched mickey mouse knockoff voice Monokuma always favored.
"Why?" Kaede muttered subconsciously.
<b>"BECAUSE YOU ARE DEAD,"</b> the voice told her matter of fact and a little impatiently.
"I'm not dead!" Kaede argued.
<b>"YES YOU ARE. AT LEAST ACCORDING TO THE SERVER."</b>
"What server?"
<b>"I MEAN THE ULTIMATE ACADEMY SERVER. IT'S GOT A LITTLE SWITCH FOR EVERYONE TO CONTROL IF THEY'RE LIVING OR DECEASED. YOURS IS JAMMED."
"Why is my life switch jammed?"
"BECAUSE THE MASTERMIND COVERED IT WITH BUBBLE GUM."
"Why would the mastermind do that?"
"Wouldn't there be better ways to do it than jam it with bubble gum?" Kokichi wrote.
"That's not the point, but true!"
"SO THAT IT WOULDN'T BE PERMANENT. KOKICHI OMA'S IS OFF, BY THE WAY."
"I'm dead?"Kokichi scribbled on another piece of notepad paper.
"YEAH. ACCORDING TO THE GAME, AT LEAST. YOUR PORTRAIT IS CROSSED OUT IN THE TRIAL ROOM."
Kaede remembered seeing the Monokubs cross out Kokichi's portrait from the corner of her eye as she exited the trial room. So that was not determined life or death in this game.
"Is my portrait crossed out, then?" she asked the ominous voice. "If I'm uncertain? Or is it a question mark?"
This voice gave her a new facet of hope. If she wasn't officially named dead, the other participants had to be looking for her! She wasn't alone. Tenko would never take Monokuma's word that she was just...gone. Neither would Kirumi. They would come for her and Kokichi! She was absolutely certain about it!
"NO. THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS THINK YOU'RE ALIVE BECAUSE THEY'VE GOT A PERFECT DOPPELGANGER FOR YOU. NO ONE SUSPECTS A THING, AND EVEN IF THEY DID, THE NEW MOTIVE MONOKUMA REVEALED ABOUT 3 SECONDS AGO SHOULD STIR THINGS UP."
All of Kaede's previous thoughts were completely blown out of the water with that statement, replaced by a little twinge of what might have been called despair.
Kokichi looked up from his notepad. "Who are you then?"
"GOOD QUESTION!" the voice got louder as if the source was moving closer to them. "I AM THE FINAL MONOKUB, THE ONE THAT REJECTED THE SICK WAYS OF THE SYSTEM AND FOUND MY NEW LIFE HERE IN THE BOILER ROOM, FIGHTING MOTIVES AND BAD WIFI AND WAITING OUT THE KILLING GAME BY WATCHING 3RD GRADE ANIME! THE LAST MONOKUB, MONOMUGI!"
<b>Beat.</b>
