❝ JUSTICE IS WHAT MAKES HUMANS HUMAN .

IT'S A VIRTUE THAT HUMAN BEINGS SHOULD BE PROUD OF . ❞

—pekoyama peko, the ultimate swordswoman

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I don't know how long I've been laying here, just staring at the ceiling from the top of my bed. When was the last time I even moved? Hours ago? Who knows...

I can't stop replaying it in my head, over and over again. The punishment, the trial, the voting... it keeps repeating in my mind as if some sort of cruel joke that won't stop like a record that won't stop playing.

"Could I have saved them?" I quietly ask myself, no one else being in the room, "is it my fault...?"

My finger flinches slightly at the thought, a reflex of defense almost. "Why am I here? What did I do for it to be them instead of me? I shouldn't be here. It shouldn't have been them—"

A knock at the door interrupts my verbal contemplation. I don't move. I don't flinch. I don't do anything. In fact, I think I have a blank expression on. Am I in shock? In denial? Or have I already accepted it?

How do you ever accept something like this?

The knocking continues thrice before I sigh and call out, "It's not locked. Come in."

"It's not wise of you to keep your door unlocked, Funneh," Evelyn's voice advises, the noise of footsteps approaching the bed, "not after what happened."

"It's never going to happen again," I insist, "it can't. None of us are going to kill each other again."

She ignores my response. "I came here to talk to you. It's been a day since any of us have seen you since the trial. It's not healthy of you to keep yourself confided in here, even if Monokuma cleaned your room."

"Am I not allowed to mourn?" I ask, although my voice sound so quiet it comes off as a sarcastic response.

"We're all dealing with our grief. But there's something I wanted to speak to you about," Evelyn explains, "I waited until now to give you time, but I figured you'd be out of your dorm sooner."

"Two of my friends just died and you expected me to be back to normal within a few hours?" I question.

"A day is more than just a few hours. But... I suppose no, I didn't. I just expected you to have been better," she sighs, "but besides that, I know you're hurting."

"Obviously," I sigh.

Evelyn sits down on the edge of the bed beside me, pulls me to sit up, and then says, "I know you feel betrayed. Gold was your friend and she was planning to pin you for it. Evan was your friend and he was the one who murdered her."

"If you're trying to cheer me up, Evelyn, no offense, but you stink at it," I bitterly joke, trying to convince myself to laugh.

"Listen, I wanted to let you know that yes, Gold was planning on pinning you for the murder, but in that moment before she died, I think she wanted to protect you," Evelyn speculates.

"How would you know?" I inquire.

"Think about it. Why would she write the name of the killer if she wasn't protecting you? She didn't want you to be accused and voted for in her dying moments so she wrote the name of the real killer," Evelyn reasons.

"Or she just wanted revenge on the person that killed her," I murmur with a sigh.

"That's also a possibility. I won't lie there. But it's up to you to decide what to believe in the end," she admits.

"...Yeah. I guess so," I slowly agree.

She stands up, brushes away at her coat and skirt as if to get rid of any dust, and starts to walk away. Just before she can get to the door and leave my room, I ask her, "You knew that this case would affect me. That's why you said it was me who had to figure it out, wasn't it?"

"Indeed. So, what do you believe?" she inquires.

I ponder for a moment, staring past her and at the wall as I think. I blink with a blank expression for a moment or so, then softly yet bitterly smile.

"I think she wanted to protect me."

"And you believe that why?" she asks with a smile.

"Wanna search together?"

"Sure. Just as long as you aren't planning to kill me."

"I mean, would you be mad if I were?"

"Wh—"

"I'm joking, haha! I was just tryna cheer you up."

"You scared me!"

"Haha, sorry. But honestly, even if only one of us could make it out of here, I'd want it to be you out of everyone else. Even in the last moments, I'd have faith that you would survive even if I couldn't, Funneh."

"You have faith that I'd live even if you didn't?"

"Of course. That's what friends are for, right? To have faith in one another?"

"Haha, yeah. I suppose that's true."

"...Because even in our last moments, if it were me instead of her, I think... I think I'd want her to survive... even if I couldn't," I slowly say.

"Reasons?" Evelyn questions further.

"I mean, that's what friends are for, right?" I quietly ask, "to have faith in one another?"

She smiles slightly. "I suppose so."

She leaves the room.

"DING DONG, BING BONG! Good morning, everyone! It is now seven A.M! Time to rise and shine!" Monokuma's voice echoes from the monitor inside the room, "get ready to greet another day!"

My eyes open as I sit up, supporting myself on my elbows as I tiredly glance around. Did I fall asleep?

I sit up completely, swinging my feet over the edge of the bed and stare at the floor. Where's that pain from last night? That heartache?

I'd want you to survive.

I didn't... want to kill her.

I stand up and stare at the door to my room.

For them.

I refuse to die here.

That's what friends are for, right?

Really... I didn't...

I start walking towards the door.

For them.

I'm going to get out of here.

I'm going to live.

For them.

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐟𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞

𝗧𝗪𝗢 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥

"Oh, Lunar. There you are," I say, finally finding her standing alone in the hallway.

"Funneh? What are you doing out of your dorm?" Lunar asks, admittedly surprised at my actions, "I thought you'd be mourning like the rest of us. You took it harder than the others. You were close with Evan and Gold, right? Or at least, friends with them."

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄?

[𝘆𝗲𝘀] 𝗇𝗈

𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜......

"Oh. You wanna hang out? Sure. I was just gonna check out the new areas of the school. After the trial ended, Monokuma opened up the next floor of the school for us," Lunar says, "come on."

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫!

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭?

[𝙮𝙚𝙨] 𝘯𝘰

𝗘-𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞: 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐁𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄:

𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐄

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐁𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐒:

-【𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐧'𝐬 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫】

°°°

"Is this... Evan's guitar?" Lunar gasps, her eyes widening as she takes the guitar in her hands.

"Yeah... it was given to me after the trial... after his... execution," I murmur out, fidgeting with my fingers, "I had seen... seen you hanging out with him during the days... before the trial. Like how Gold and I... how we hung out... you and him and a few others..."

"...Yeah. Me, Evan, Kyran, and Rainbow. We all... we all hung out. Our dorms are close. That's why we figured we'd talk to each other," Lunar says, clearing her voice as if not to cry.

"I just figured... you two seemed close to each other..." I try to explain, "so... it would seem best if you... were the one to hold onto the guitar."

"Thanks," she whispers, "I mean it."

𝗧𝗪𝗢 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥

"...So, the new floor has a bunch of classrooms, washrooms, a library, a dance room, and a janitor's closet?" I ask as we wander down the new floor, "that's it?"

"So much for a way out of here," Lunar sighs, shaking her head, "I guess we can search again and just talk if you want."

"Yeah. Maybe we missed something," I agree.

As we wander throughout classrooms and the corridors, the two of us engage in a conversation.

"If you don't mind me asking, how come you aren't all... emo over this?" Lunar tries to sound comforting, but she ends up giggling at the end of her sentence.

I laugh bitterly. "I am sad. I mean, I can't not be. Evan and Gold were some of my closest friends in here. But, if I die here, then I failed them. I refuse to let that happen. If I sulk around, I'll be a target for a killing. I'm not going to die here. For them, I'm going to live."

"You've got something a lot of us don't have," Lunar admits, "you've got a reason to stay alive."

"Everyone's got one. Whether it be to follow their dreams, find their families, reunite with their friends, we've all got one here. Our motive videos had our reasons," I explain, "right? Gold's reason to live was her family and their business. Mine is my family and my career. We've all got one, and those videos showed them."

"Those videos aren't reasons to live," Lunar denies, shaking her head with a sigh, "they're reasons to kill. A life for a life. An eye for an eye. Everything here has a catch, doesn't it?"

"I guess so. What... what was your video of?" I hesitantly ask.

"Same as mostly everyone. Family, friends, my future. I love them all to death. And I mean it. To death. I'd rather die than have to take that away from someone else to see my own reason to live. My parents, my friends, I don't even know if they're safe or okay anymore because of that video. I don't even know if my reasons to live are still... alive," Lunar quietly admits.

"Even if those reasons, our careers, our families, our friends, our freedom, even if those are our reasons to escape, we have reasons to live. In here, all of us, we're all friends, right? Or, going to be friends. We're each other's reasons to live. Those videos, those are reasons to kill and escape. And as long as... as we can believe that, we can survive this. We're going to get out of here," I encourage.

"...Fair enough. If you guys weren't in here with me, I don't know what I'd do or how I'd handle this. I... I'd rather be dead than alone. Being alone and trapped, that's worse than death," Lunar murmurs.

"But we're not alone. We have reasons to escape and reasons to live. And for that, we can't lock ourselves away in grief. We have to escape... for everyone who died," I assure, "and we're going to get out of here. I promised them."

"Yeah. I promise, too."

Both of us continuing on with our conversation, we reexamine the new floor of Yandere High School.

𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐛𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝!

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐋𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐏𝐄 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝗘𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗖𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗦

I glance up at the clock in my room hanging on the wall. I still have some time to kill. Lunar and I finished searching the new floor of the school.

I wander out of my room, locking the door behind me, and stand alone in the hallway of our dorms. Some people are in their dorms, others are around in the school.

Who should I spend the rest of my free time with?

𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐟𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞

"Evelyn? Are you there?" I call out, knocking on the door to her dorm room.

I don't entirely know why I've chosen to spend my day with Lunar or Evelyn, just as if something in my head told me to. It's probably just a feeling.

The door soon opens and there appears the familiar face of Evelyn Wynd herself, poking her head out past the door. "Yes, I'm here. Did you need something, Funneh?"

𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘𝐍 𝐖𝐘𝐍𝐃?

[𝘆𝗲𝘀] 𝗇𝗈

𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜......

"You wish to hang out?" she inquires, pushing the door farther out so that she can completely stand in the doorway, "very well, then. I've been meaning to check out the library of this school considering it was recently opened to us on the new floor anyway. Join me if you want."

𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘𝐍 𝐖𝐘𝐍𝐃𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐥

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘𝐍 𝐖𝐘𝐍𝐃 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐫!

𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘𝐍 𝐖𝐘𝐍𝐃 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭?

𝗒𝖾𝗌 𝙣𝙤

𝗧𝗪𝗢𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗦𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥

"I see that you're feeling much better," Evelyn comments as we wander past bookshelves.

"I don't know if that's the right way to phrase it..." I nervously laugh out, "but I don't feel bad anymore."

"I assume the message I was conveying by our talk last night helped?" Evelyn guesses, running her fingers along the covers of the books.

"Yeah. Although, I used some of my own interpretation," I explain.

"Just as I hoped you would," Evelyn sighs, "I figured you'd have to be the one to solve the case since it so heavily impacted you. Plus, I don't have doubts that another murder will occur. It's still very much possible in our situation."

"Don't say that," I warn with a frown, "that's like jinxing all of us. I don't wanna believe that any of us would hurt each other intentionally."

"You're a good person, Funneh," Evelyn starts to say, "people like you don't deserve to be in a situation like this. Others like myself must deal with these things, but it is not your job to know what we know."

"You say that like... like you know something I don't," I admit, "n-not to be distrustful or anything! It's just..."