𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘱𝘢: 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳

/ 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 2.1 / 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯

Preston and Nathaniel headed down towards the north-wing of the school, eager to start their search for more answers about this place.

"Hey, you sure you're okay man?," Preston asked him, eyeing Nathaniel's wrist and the bandage that looked more loose than the bandages on his other hand.

"Oh yeah, really," Nathaniel reassured him but he could tell that Preston wasn't convinced but he didn't push on whatever concern he had regarding Nathaniel's state.

His encounter with Easton really shook the life out of Nathaniel, pretty sure that there would've been another body discovery announcement if he hadn't fought back.

He shook his head to snap out of that idea, for the longer he thought about it, the more it haunted him.

Instead, he shifted his attention into their search and exploring rooms at the school that may be open, possibly holding a clue that may help them in their current predicament.

With the doors they've passed by so far, all of them looked unfinished for they were sealed off with wooden boards.

"Could you imagine what would it be like studying here?," Preston wondered out loud.

"Yeah, we'd be dead."

"Oh, come on. I'm trying to strike a positive conversation here. You know what I mean," he pointed out to Nathaniel.

"As far as I've concerned, the only thing this academy is letting us study are dead corpses," Nathaniel replied glumly.

"Wow, maybe that encounter did have a toll on me afterall," he thought to himself, surprised at his glum response.

"Although," he started, catching Preston's attention, "Don't you find that all of these rooms being built all of a sudden to be strange?"

"Who knows? Anything is possible at this point when you have a bear for a principal."

"Exactly! For some stuffed animal robot, running all of these construction for the school while providing us with food and coming up with these motive ideas and class trials. Don't you think something or someone may be controlling it?," Nathaniel pointed out.

"What makes you think that," Preston asked him, confused.

"I was targeting...the mastermind," he remembered Akihiro explain to them.

"Do you remember what Akihiro told us before he died?," Nathaniel asked Preston.

"Not really, between his farewell and confession after the class trial, it all seems like a blur to me," he admitted.

"Well, what if he's right Prest? What if there is a mastermind running operations on this bear?"

"What if," Nathaniel started, regretting the question he was going to ask a little too late, "What if one of us is the mastermind?"

Preston paused, remaining silent for a few seconds of them standing in the middle of the hallway.

When Nathaniel looked up to see Preston's expression, there were tears in Preston's eyes-

-from laughter.

"Oh my gosh! Man, those two did a toll on you, didn't they?"

"Prest, I'm serious," he tried, attempting a scowl at Preston but failed as it turned into a pout.

"Look, Nath. It'll be fine, I don't see why you're worried. Monokuma hasn't appeared in days so there's no need to worry."

"That's the problem, Monokuma could be scheming another motive to drive one of us to-