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❝ KILL WITHOUT BEING CAUGHT, AND THEN SURVIVE THE TRIAL . . . SOUNDS EERILY SIMILAR TO THE REAL WORLD . ❞

—amami rantarou, the ultimate survivor

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Getting out of bed is starting to feel like a chore after so many days of doing so, like a goldfish swimming in a circle everyday of its life — tedious. Though I want to blame the fear of the killing game behind my reluctance to get up, it's a different feeling (read: being too lazy to leave bed).

By the time I stumble out of my room, yawns still escaping my lips despite the shower that well-woke me up, others are shuffling out of their own.

"Morning," Draco calls out, locking his door behind him as he strides on ahead.

"Yeah, g'morning," I respond, jogging to keep up with him. "I'll race ya there."

After quite a bit of protests from a still-tired Draco ("I am a walking corpse." "Oh, come on. You're alive; you can run." "I SAID WALKING CORPSE. NOT RUNNING CORPSE."), the two of us end up sprinting down the hallways towards the cafeteria.

Upon our arrival, we're met with, "Is someone dead?" and neither of us know how to explain the other just tried to trip each other like the final competition scene in Wizards of Waverley Place.

"You aren't gonna eat?" Aly questions as Draco sits down, his hands empty.

He shakes his head. "I'm just not that hungry today, or at least, right now. Because SOMEONE doesn't take 'no' for an answer!"

"It's not my fault you have the endurance of a noodle!" I defend, crossing my arms.

"ExcuSE ME—"

"Uh, guys?"

"—I totally won the race! Just admit it!"

"One breakfast. I just want ONE BREAKFAST."

"This is how homicide gets committed."

"GUYS! OH MY GOD, LISTEN!"

Everyone's eyes turn to stare at the person who raised their voice — Rainbow. She sighs in relief at the silence that follows her yell. "I was trying to tell you all something important."

"Important?" Evelyn repeats.

"Mhmm! So last night I was going to the kitchen again for another snack, and on my way back, I heard something," Rainbow starts to explain. She points over her shoulder towards the entrance of the cafeteria. "It was coming from the locker rooms in the gym."

"You mean the ones connected to that bathhouse room thingy?" Draco questions.

"Yeah, that," Rainbow agrees.

"Does anyone even use those . . . ?" Aly murmurs underneath her breath.

"Anyway, I went to check it out because I thought maybe it was a clue to help us get outta here," Rainbow continues, before lowering her voice to a whisper so quiet we barely hear it, "but . . . I think you guys should see for yourself."

Rainbow starts to leave the cafeteria, with Evelyn being the first person following behind her. After a few more moments, the rest of us —with the exception of Felicia, Brittney, and Lunar, who still haven't arrived yet— rise to our feet and trail behind her, all of us making our way to the locker rooms.

"Um, I don't see anything," Kyran admits.

"I think . . ." Rainbow says, opening up multiple lockers before stopping, "aha! Lookie, guys!"

Each of us gather around the opened locker, and as I meander to the front of the crowd, I gasp. "What—!"

Inside the small locker sits a laptop, a blank, dark screen staring back at us. Draco approaches it a bit. "Hey, I know that laptop."

"You do?" Kyran questions.

"It's from the library," Draco answers.

"I don't remember seeing it," I whine.

"I remember it, but after I visited the library one time, it disappeared," Evelyn says.

"Yeah. I just thought Monokuma had taken it. It was broken when I found it the first time I went into the library," Draco explains. He turns his head towards the laptop again. "But I guess someone kept it for themselves."

"But it's broken," Kyran adds, "that's what you said, right? Why would someone keep a broken laptop?"

"It's not broken," Evelyn corrects, "look, it's just powered off."

"But it was when I—!"

"Whoever took it must have fixed it," Evelyn murmurs, "and taken it in here to hide it."

"Why hide it?" I inquire, "we're all on the same side." I seriously hope no one brings up the trials after I say that.

Evelyn points around the entire room. "No cameras. See? It's a locker room for a bathhouse," Evelyn elaborates, "even Monokuma understands privacy. Without cameras, he has no way of surveilling us. He can't interfere with someone fixing this."

"But . . . who could have fixed it?" Rainbow asks.

No one has an answer to her question. As the rest of us converse, Evelyn steps up towards the opened locker and touches the laptop. As it powers on, the screen revs to life with flickers of electrical mirrors. Upon a few more seconds, a regular desktop appears, icons lining the side of the screen.

Evelyn moves the cursor to a specific icon, Alter Ego, then clicks on it.

A beat.

And then: "Hey, you're back."

In total, everyone collectively screaming together sounds far too close to a mass homicidal event (which? In this situation? Completely possible, but I refuse to admit that). So much so, in fact, I wonder if Lunar, Brittney, and Felicia hear us.

"Sh!" Evelyn is quick to step in front of the laptop and frantically signal with her hands for us to be quiet. "Monokuma will hear us."

Part of me wants to argue that all of us simultaneously walking into the gym together and then into the locker room is suspicious on its own, but I keep quiet instead.

"Did something happen?"

"Oh God, it speaks." Draco raises his hands in the air, gesturing his admittance of defeat. "Nope, nope, I'm leaving."

Aly grabs the fabric of his shirt's arm and yanks him back into the group as he passes by her. "Get over here! And that's not an 'it'. That's . . . that's Alec."

"But Alec is . . . y'know, dead," Kyran corrects.

"If it's not Alec," Rainbow starts to say, "then who —or what— is it?"

"I don't think they can hear us," Evelyn adds, "at least, if they can, they aren't replying."

"Try typing?" I suggest.

Evelyn nods at my words and turns to start typing. Her fingers move swiftly along the keyboard. I can't tell what she's saying (well, typing), but whatever it is, it gets a reaction out of the Alec(?) on screen.

His expression forms into one resembling surprise, before wilting into a tired stare. "I see." Evelyn types more. "Yeah, he wasn't very open about me," he continues to say, "but it was probably better than way. So, I guess you don't know who I am, do you?"

"Not really . . ." I murmur, temporarily forgetting that he can't hear us.

Evelyn responds for us, and he sighs on screen. "I'm an Alter Ego, A.K.A. an alternate self of Alec in the form of an A.I."

"Like a digital version of him?" Rainbow questions aloud.

"It's probably not entirely like him," Draco denies, "A.I. programs can be really smart, yeah, but it's impossible for them to completely replicate a real person. At most, they can copy, but they aren't just like their real life counterparts if they're based off someone."

"Wait, so Alec created this?" Kyran inquires.

"He was the Ultimate Hacker," Evelyn explains, "maybe not a coder or anything, but he most likely obtained the resources to create this via his talent. Managing to control the code was probably child's play for a hacking prodigy."

"I can't believe it . . ." I say.

More typing, followed up by, "He's dead, right?"

This time, I actually try to pay attention to the keys Evelyn presses: yes he is. How do you know?

Alter Alec makes a motion that looks similar to shrugging, but because the program only shows his face, it's hard to tell. "He told me about the game. And all of you are here, but he's not. So I just figured."

"Wow, he figured that out," Valerie praises.

"Well, it is an A.I. It's supposed to be smart," Kyran adds.

Evelyn moves again: we found his killer. I don't know if that helps, but we did.

"Good," Alter Alec hums.

We're gonna keep you in here. We don't want Monokuma finding out and then breaking you.

"Works for me," Alter Alec agrees, "I've been in here for a while now anyway."

Evelyn turns around after closing the laptop, a final sendoff to Alter Alec having been typed, and says to us: "No one says anything about this outside of this room, alright?"

We all nod.

Each of us make our way out of the room and file out into the gym. There's a heavy silence following us — whether it's because we can't discuss it out loud or because we've been reminded of the last trial, I'm not sure.

Once we all enter the cafeteria again, some of us linger around, foregoing finishing our food. The tension is obvious, which is why Rainbow throws her hands into the air and exclaims, "Oookay . . . I know we're all pretty bummed out, and I kinda feel bad for bringing it up when it's still fresh. So to make up for it, how about we all go to the theater room and just, I dunno, hang out?"

I think for a moment before shrugging with a nod. "Sure. I'll go."

My words are followed up by Valerie and Draco agreeing as well, while everyone else declines politely. Each of them wander off afterwards, leaving the three of us in the cafeteria.

"Are you gonna try to cheer us up?" Valerie inquires.

"If I wanted to make you guys laugh, all I would have to do is tell you a pun." Rainbow grins widely as she picks up a plate of scrambled eggs from the table. "After all, I know they're eggs-tremely funny."

All three of us groan.

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"These costumes are so cool," Valerie compliments as she rummages through a box in the theater room.

"Right? They feel authentic," Rainbow agrees, opening up another box — this one filled with props.

"Hellooooo? Am I too late to the party?" a voice asks, originating from the doorway of the room.

"Oh, Lunar!" I gasp, "there you are! Where were you all this time?"

She shrugs. "I accidentally overslept."

"I don't get how people can sleep through the morning announcement," Draco comments.

"I can sleep through anything if I'm tired," Lunar explains, joining me next to a rack of hanging costumes. "Anyway, I woke up and everyone was already doing their own thing, so I asked Kyran where everyone was."

"Well, at least you decided to join us," Rainbow welcomes.

"Yeah. Figured it'd be fun to—what is that?" Lunar cuts off her first sentence.

I glance over to where Lunar's staring at, finding nothing but the floor and the black rugs covering it. She crouches down near the corner of the rug and pushes it up, revealing a small piece of paper stuck underneath, its edge having barely been covered by the rug itself.

"What?" Valerie asks.

Lunar picks up the piece of paper, before making an extremely confused expression. "Uh . . . guys?"

All of us crowd around her, peering over her shoulder.

"Hold on, is that—?"

The paper turns out to actually be a photograph, consisting of Alec, Gold, and Evan all sitting at a table as they smile at the camera. They're in school uniforms — Yandere High School uniforms.

They even look younger.

"But it can't be," Rainbow denies, "they're dead."

"Look, in the background," Valerie points out with a gasp, "the windows! They're not blocked off!"

"You're right . . ." I murmur, "but Rainbow is also right; they're all dead. And they never wore those uniforms when they were alive either. This photo couldn't have been taken."

"Is it photoshopped?" Lunar suggests.

"It can't be, though. Look, they even seem younger. There's no way they could have photoshopped them into looking younger. Why would they?" Draco denies.

"But if it's real, then how?" I ask aloud to no one in particular — nobody replies.

"Upupupu!"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Lunar groans.

"I'll be taking that!" Monokuma exclaims, snatching the photograph from Lunar's hands, "whoops! You weren't supposed to see that!"

"What do you mean? What is that?" I demand.

"Mind yer own business! Just forget about it. Didn't they ever tell ya kids that loose lips sink ships?" Monokuma responds.

"You don't even have lips—"

"Bye-bye!" And with that, Monokuma vanishes from the room, taking the photograph with him.

"No wonder Alec hid his laptop," Draco grumbles underneath his breath, low enough that only people around him can hear.

"What was that all about?" Lunar inquires.

"Whatever it was," I say, "he didn't want us to know about it."

"Does that mean it really was real?" Valerie asks.

"I . . . I don't know," I admit, defeated, "but it's a clue. Maybe it'll help us somehow."

"All this thinking and worrying is making me hungry," Rainbow whines.

"Honestly, stress-eating sounds fantastic right now," Draco agrees.

"Y'know what? Me too. I think it's a good idea to snack on something while we hang out," Valerie announces, "I'm going to go make us sweets to eat."

"You're the best, Valerie!" Rainbow cheers, dancing around in celebration.

Valerie waves towards us before leaving the room, heading towards the F.C.S. classroom. The rest of us get back to rummaging through the theater room's supplies and materials.

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"—do an impression of me!"

"Seriously? Of you?" Rainbow questions, laughing as she starts searching through the box of props.

"Totally," Draco affirms, leaning back in one of the desk chairs.

Rainbow finds a pair of decorative headphones and puts them on, crossing her arms and making a pouting face, "bLaH, bLaH, bLah. i'M dRaCo. mY tAlEnT iS—" and just like that, she screams a terribly accurate screech.

"I'm being bullied," Draco tries to whine, but his laughing makes it hard to take it seriously, "okay, y'know what, I'm leaving."

"Aw, what? Come on, dude," I protest, still laughing as Rainbow starts spouting more nonsense in her Totally Accurate Draco Voice.

"Relax, I'm not petty—UNLIKE SOMEBODY WHO WON'T ADMIT THEY LOST THE RACE," he coughs, "I'm just going to the cafeteria to eat. I skipped breakfast, remember? I'm starving."

"Alright, man," Lunar hums, "eat some food for me."

He waves his hand over his shoulder and leaves.

"Now that he says that, I wanna eat too," Rainbow admits, "but I'm waiting on Valerie to finish making the sweets."

"Hey, speaking of, she's taking a while, isn't she?" I question.

"I mean, I'm no expert like her, but sometimes it can take a while," Rainbow says with a shrug, "but her sweets are awesome, so I'm willing to wait."

"Yeah, I guess I am too," I give in, and the three of us resume to doing awful impressions.

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"Uh, guys?" Lunar calls out.

"Yeah?" I answer, trying on a ginormous hat.

"I think she's taking too long," she discloses, "Valerie, I mean. Maybe we should go check on her."

"Yeah, we probably should," Rainbow agrees, "not gonna lie, I've got a bad feeling, guys."

"Calm down. It's probably just the paranoia from this place," I assure, trying to ignore my own intuition that agrees with her, "but you're right. We should at least check up on her."

"She'd probably be in the F.C.S. classroom," Lunar says, "I saw her go that way."

I nod and the three of us leave the drama room, walking alongside one another until reaching our destination. When I try to open the door, it doesn't budge.

"Huh," I say, "that's weird."

"What is it?" Rainbow asks.

"The door, it won't open," I explain, tugging on the handle, "it's like it's jammed."

"Okay, um, on the count of three, we all kick the door, got it?" Lunar instructs, "one, two, three!"

All three of us kick as hard as we can against the door, but to no avail. We try pushing and pulling, kicking and hitting, but nothing works.

"Valerie?" I call out, "hello? Are you in there?"

"It's no use," Rainbow groans, "it's not working, and she's not answering."

"Maybe if we take the door off its hinges, we can get in," Lunar suggests, pointing at the hinges on the doorway.

"That could work," I encourage.

"I'll go get some tools from the janitor's closet. Give me a moment," Lunar affirms, before taking off down the hallway.

"Do you think she's okay?" Rainbow inquires, "she isn't answering us."

"Okay, let's just—just try not to think of the worst case scenario, alright?" I try to assure, "besides, if someone were to have killed her, we'd definitely have heard them go past the drama room. But it's only been us."

"Yeah . . . I guess you're right," Rainbow slowly processes my words, "phew."

Soon, Lunar returns with a few tools in hand, and the three of us quickly get to work detaching the door from its hinges. Upon getting them off, multiple things clatters to the floor. I cringe at the noise, but we're all in too much of a rush to check what's fallen.

"Valerie? Valerie! Hello?" I exclaim, bursting in.

"Where is she?" Rainbow inquires.

Lunar moves further into the room, taking a few steps, before freezing instantly. "Oh God."

"What? What is i—"

Rainbow screams upon seeing the body, lying down on the ground beside the countertops, bleeding from the head.

Valerie is dead.

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❝ FEAR IS PROOF THAT YOUR IMAGINATION IS FUNCTIONING . FRANKLY , I FEEL BAD FOR ANYONE WHO CAN'T FEEL FEAR . WITHOUT IMAGINATION , YOU CAN NEVER DEDUCE WHICH ACTION TO TAKE NEXT . ❞

—kirigiri kyouko, the ultimate detective

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