Fanganronpa: Epigone

Chapter Four- Disguised Truths

Masaru rode back up to the main floor in the elevator with the rest of his silent classmates. This time they had lost three friends and only nine of them remained.

Everyone understandably went to their own dorms since the trial did take place during nighttime and Masaru couldn't help but feel a sense of loss from the one- up they had on Monokuma. Shoji's computer was beyond repair and now they were back to square one.

Just as the despair started to dawn on Masaru, he felt someone tap his shoulder right as he reached his own room. He turned around and saw Priscilla standing before him.

"Tomorrow morning meet me in my room," she told him.

"Why?" Masaru questioned, "all that progress we made is gone now."

"It's not."

Masaru stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

Priscilla didn't elaborate and retreated back to her dorm. That despair Masaru almost fell into now turned into new curiosity and a little bit of hope. He didn't know what Priscilla had in store for him but he pushed it aside for now and went inside his room to get some well deserved rest.

...

"It is now 7am! Get ready for another beautiful day!"

The morning announcement went off but Masaru was already up and out of his dorm. He didn't get much sleep but there were more important things to worry about as he approached Priscilla's door. No one else was in the hallway and he knocked three times before she opened up, looking completely rested.

Priscilla let Masaru inside and he observed her room. Her dorm walls were lilac purple and there were paintings and white display cases that showed off historical relics. She had a black desk and black chair while her bed sheets were a darker shade of purple.

"What were you talking about last night?" Masaru got straight to the point, "Shoji's computer was destroyed so what do we do now?"

Priscilla stayed silent and walked over to her closet. She pushed back some clothes then pulled something out that confused Masaru more than he already was.

"Where did you get that?" Masaru asked, staring down at the silver laptop in her hands.

"I didn't tell you about this because no offense, Shoji didn't trust you all that much back then," Priscilla explained, "of course he grew to like you but he still didn't want me to say anything."

Priscilla walked over to her desk and set the computer down. "When we first started working together, Shoji told me of something ever happened to him then the tiger painting should be the first thing I inspect. I didn't really understand what he meant by that at the time."

Priscilla then opened the laptop that revealed the screen with Monokuma's evil eye that now read 100%.

Masaru blinked. "That doesn't make any sense... Shoji had two computers?"

"Yes. The one he carried around must have been for show and he would switch it out behind the tiger painting every time he showed us his progress. He was probably preparing to switch them again that night but then Herb..."

"So the computer that Shoji used to fight back was the decoy," Masaru stated and felt a bit of hope at that fact.

Masaru looked back down at the screen that had a next arrow button under the 100%.

"I want to check something first before we go any further," Masaru said and Priscilla nodded her approval. He clicked out of the progress file and back to the files Shoji had on all of the students.