Chapter 44- Altering

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"Hello? Can you hear me?!" Miu called rather obnoxiously, knocking repeatedly on the Monokumas lifeless head.
"Well you messed something up." Kokichi nodded matter factly and pushed away from the table and back over to where Saihara was sitting on a stool, bent double. He still looked pretty sick and Kaede was pretty sure if he attempted to head back to his room, he wouldn't make it all the way. Kaede had to admit, seeing and being with Saihara up close wasn't too bad. He didn't seem in any mindset to cause them any trouble.

She watched Kokichi jump around into Saihara's vision, throwing him a large smile and- if Kaede had seen right- received one back. Was this the genuine Kokichi?
"You little runt!" Miu seethed, slamming her hand down unnecessarily hard onto the table beside the motionless Monokuma. "I didn't mess anything up..." Kaede heard her mutter, more to herself than to Kokichi as if she was trying to convince herself. Kaede observed the Monokuma in scrutiny.

There were a couple wires emerging from a small hole she had seen Miu made earlier. These were then hooked up to a desktop computer about a meter away. Kaede could tell Miu was struggling. As much as Miu tried to hold it together, it was obvious that even for her, this was not an easy task. It was possible that Monokuma had some sort of defense system against this sort of external hacking. Kaede glanced back at the pair a couple of meters away from her. They obviously didn't want her there. She could just about hear Kokichi's groan of displeasure if she were to interrupt them.

"D-do you need any help?" Kaede asked concernedly as Miu stopped her muttering to take a breath, holding a hand to her furrowed brow and her eyes closed tight.
"Huh?" Miu said, opening her eye the slightest amount to peer at Kaede. "Miss Titsalot wants to help does she? And what help do you think you can be?" Kaede blinked at her in disbelief. 'Miss titsalot'?
"I was just trying to help." She said rather defensively and subconsciously crossed her arms over her chest. To be honest she had expected to be shot down in her request, but not this rudely.

Miu surveyed her for a moment and then sighed.
"Fine, you're good with your fingers and shit right, I'll put them to good use." Miu gave a hearty laugh. Kaede flinched. She was just about to retract her offer when Miu began to pry open the head of the Monokuma to expose the clumps of wire and boards. She placed the other side of the head on a nearby desk and stood back to look at what she had done. She huffed and pulled at her collar as if trying to loosen up her air flow. "Now stick your hand in there." Miu said nonchalantly and Kaede gaped at her.
"In there?" She frowned, pointing into the contents of the head, "and do what exactly...?"
"Remove the hard drive, duh! Now stop being such a pussy and stick your fingers in deep."

Kaede bit her lip hard and despite every part of her not wanting to do it-especially after Miu's comment- stuck her hand into the clump of wires. She peered into the darkness of the head and saw something long nudged between 2 large camera looking devices that she suspected were used as eyes,
"I-is that it?!" She asked with a small look up at Miu who nodded slightly,
"Yep, just wiggle it around a bit and it should come loose..." Kaede did as she was instructed and gently pulled at the drive which she just noticed, was only connected by a couple thick wires heading elsewhere around the head. "Don't break the wires." Miu said quickly as Kaede pulled at the drive a little harder than she might've meant to. She uttered a quick apology and finally pulled the drive to its full extent.

"Now don't fucking move." Kaede nodded though she could already feel her arms beginning to twinge slightly at the weird angle she was being forced to make in order to hold the drive. Miu grabbed a cable currently connected to her desktop and connected it to a small USB port on the side.
"I guess they need to be able to upload and download information quickly," Miu muttered to herself as she turned back to her computer, typing furiously.

"Are you nearly done yet, Miu~?" A whiny voice cracked through the typing and it noticeably slowed.
"Just shut your mouth for a change and let me concentrate, you bastard!" Miu swore, not taking her eyes off her monitor for a second.
"Geez! Don't gotta be so mean~" Kokichi trailed off with a fake sniff of- what Kaede thought was meant to be- sadness. Kaede frowned. Kokichi and Miu didn't seem to get on in the slightest... So why was Miu even bothering to help him?

"Iruma..." she began and heard a sharp exhale of breath from Miu in turn, "why are you doing this for Ouma?"
"I would never do this for that fucker." Miu bit back. Kaede could tell in her voice the amount of loathing Miu held for Kokichi. "I'm doing this so I don't have to participate in some dumbass killing game!" Miu finally tore her eyes off the computer to throw Saihara a filthy look before returning to her typing. "That's also the only reason I agreed to make Kokichi that miniature camera so he could-"

"Miu!" Kokichi's voice cracked through the air like a whip and nearly caused Kaede to drop the drive she was holding. "This isn't the time for talking!" Kaede was shocked. Kokichi didn't look in the slightest that he was joking around this time. Kokichi looked genuinely angry. "Keep your filthy whore mouth shut won't you?"
"You piece of shit-" Miu began,
"Kokichi," Saihara's voice interrupted and Kokichi visibly flinched. "What are you using the camera for?" Kokichi's face took on a red tinge which was only accentuated by the lighting.
"Well wouldn't you like to know, detective~" Kokichi's voice lacked its usual confidence and instead sounded rather meek. Had Miu accidentally- or maybe perhaps on purpose- outed Kokichi? It seemed like whatever this camera was being used for, Saihara wasn't meant to know about... It couldn't be to-

"How long ago was this camera made?" Saihara turned to Miu slowly. He was obviously thinking hard and it only seemed to cause Kokichi even more discomfort.
"Don't answer that." Kokichi snapped quickly at Miu who had opened her mouth- probably in terror of what Saihara might do to her if she refused to answer. Miu gave a shrieked cry in response and closed her mouth quickly. Saihara frowned at Kokichi, but to Kaede's surprise didn't press Miu for an answer. Again Kaede felt doubt in her mind. Saihara didn't seem all that bad. He seemed considerate if anything.

The room was silent for a good couple of minutes where the only sound that punctured it was the disjointed typing and clicking sounds from Miu's keyboard.
"I-I'm done, it should work now." Kaede's arms felt like they were about to fall off. It was a wonder she had managed to hold her position for so long. Miu disconnected the USB cord and nodded for Kaede to put the drive back in place, which she gratefully did. Once she had let go of the drive she groaned in discomfort as she stretched her tired limbs. "T-thanks..." Miu muttered shortly and Kaede gave a tired grin.
"Of course!"

Miu reattached the other half of the head and stood back.
"It should just be able to start up whenever..." she frowned and turned to Saihara, "how do you start these things up." Saihara's eyebrows raised,
"I-i dunno..." there was a sputtering noise from Miu, but nothing else. Saihara didn't seem to know anything at all about this school... Kaede pushed this from her mind for the time being and stared at the lifeless Monokuma. There wasn't an on and off switch somewhere was there? She approached the bear and extended an arm. Just as she was about to touch it, the eye flashed red and she stumbled back in surprise nearly knocking into Miu.
"Hey watch it-" Miu said, but fell silent as her eyes fell on the Monokuma.

The bear rose from its layed down position and gave a large theatrical yawn, stretching its arms wide,
"Is this heaven? Am I dead?" The Monokuma looked around at them and sunk in it's posture. "Why are you guys here too? Don't tell me this is hell?!" The bear gasped and Kaede heard Kokichi utter a small chuckle.
"No, but I can make your life a living hell if you don't cooperate with us~"

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