Danganronpa: Ultimate Collapse - IC

[Aravhorn]

Haruka Yukimura, SHSL Special Tactics Law Enforcement Unit, 6th Division

Haruka knew from the moment she heard the announcement that whatever Monokuma had in mind was up to no good, and she was even less surprised when Sakai, the Graffiti Artist, handed her the picture of Akemi bound to a chair in a dark room. 'Bastards...' Despite her concern for the safety of her little sister, Haruka's gaze remained impassive, and she wasted no time to set aside those feelings and focus on the situation at hand. There was no use in worrying about things that were beyond her control; she learned that lesson the hard way.

Her attention briefly fell on Rieki, the businessman, who asked others to confess whenever they've decided to murder someone in cold blood. While the idea had its merit, it was naive of him to assume that someone who could turn against their former allies under the pressure of despair so easily would have the courage to face the consequences of their actions. Nonetheless, Hayabusa summarized her thoughts fairly well (much to her surprise), so she decided instead to announce in a calm voice to everyone who was still in the mini hall: "Everyone shall meet in the dining hall. Immediately."

As she said those words, a painful itch ran through her left arm. 'Damn it, not again...' For a brief moment, she almost forgot about her missing limb, and tried to grasp it with her right hand, only to feel the empty space that it left behind. 'Need morphine...' Despite the fact that biotechnology has advanced dramatically in the last few years (special thanks to Kanou Technologies™) and allowed a person to experience the same feelings with their cybernetic limbs as if it were a real one, Haruka didn't like the idea of having a foreign object being shoved into to her body. However, due to the demanding nature of her profession, it was either that or being dismissed from her duties due to crippling injury, leaving her with no choice but to comply. Unfortunately, due to a sick twist of fate, she was supposed to have her replacement arm installed next week...

With a steady pace, she headed to the medical room, hoping to find anything that could ease the pain. When she got there, Haruka stumbled upon Mr.Riley, who apparently came there to get some clean bandages and was now writing down the medical supplies they had in stock.

"Did you find Morphine in there? Tramadol, maybe?" She asked as she slowly approached the nearest cabinet.​

@SolemnOath

 

[SolemnOath]

Alex Riley/ SHSL Manager / 2nd division​

When Haruka entered the room, Alex didn't look behind him to check who it was. Though that was because he knew she was coming, something obvious due to him having his tablet open on the map so he could easily see all the dots of the other students. When he was asked for Morphine and Tramadol he paused a moment before he gave a nod. "I think this place stocked better than HQ." He said before pointing at a cabinet that was near the ground. "There were several pill bottles of Morphine in the cabinet over there." He said as he went back to counting some supplies that were in one of the over head shelves. After writing something down he backed off a bit as he took the paper off his clipboard. Moving over to the wall he taped it there.

On the paper was a rather detailed list of the quantity of the items in this room, along with a location for each item. After he tapped this their he gave a small nod of approval. "this may help if someone is looking for something and is in a hurry." He said as he looked over at Hakura. "Speaking of looking for things. Are you all right? Morphine isn't the lightest of painkillers."
@Aravhorn

 

[Daydream Heroine]

Tomoko Hayashi - SHSL Soccer Player

I really shouldn't have stayed up so late last night, Tomoko thought. It was still morning according to the clock, but way later than she usually woke up. She got up, got dressed, then left her room. According to the tablet, there were several people in the gym. I didn't really talk to anyone other than Lelei yesterday. It might be good to see if there's anything the others learned...

Tomoko walked to the gymnasium, taking in her surroundings. They certainly tried to make this place drab-looking...I wonder if it was built specifically for this "game"? That'd be troublesome, though, because it'd mean that whoever is behind this, they planned it out way in advance...

Finally, Tomoko arrived at the gym. All of the students that were there looked horrified, angry, upset. One or two were even crying. Then she saw a picture on the ground, and picked it up.

"No..." Tomoko whispered.

It was Mai Obata, Tomoko's teammate and best friend. She was still injured, Tomoko could see the cast on her leg. And some people with masks were restraining her. Why...?

She overheard someone saying that someone else would have to die in order for their loved ones to be saved, but Tomoko wasn't sure who it was.

There's gotta be a way...There's gotta be a way to save everyone without killing anyone.

Tomoko knew she needed to calm down, and that she probably couldn't think clearly because she hadn't eaten yet. I should go to the kitchen, get some food. That'll clear my head.

Of course, when she got there, one of the girls was holding a pan menacingly, asking who took the knife. There was an empty space in the knife set. Viola, who was also in the room, was clearly upset.

"Hey, put the pan down for a second. Be reasonable. Did you check around the kitchen to see if someone just misplaced it...?"

 

[Galaxi]

Lelei Vivecca ~ SHSL Pharmacist
​

Lelei felt her knees getting weak as she listened to the announcement. The reality of everything was sinking in. She looked at the photo at her feet, hesitant to pick it up. Eventually she had to though, she knelt by it and flipped over the piece of paper. She could feel herself getting weak, her head spinning. Her stomach felt like it was wrapping around itself. Her grandmother, that's who she saw before her in the picture. One of her only living relatives, she had always been very close to her. It made her sick to think something could happen to her. Why couldn't it be her mother...or her father... She sighed, sliding the picture into her labcoat and standing up. Her hands were balled up into tight fists as she made her way out of the room, ignoring everyone else around her. She had to get her mind off it, the only way she knew how.

The girl headed to the medical room, the only place she felt she could get some peace. If she kept busy surely she could stop all these gnawing thoughts. Lelei knew she had to hold onto her hope. She wanted to believe, she really did, that everything would be okay. That future foundation was going to come and help them soon. It was getting harder though, and this was only day two. She just had to hold out for a bit longer, believe in her colleagues. They couldn't give into Monokuma's threats and games. That's exactly what happened last time with those school kids. They had two days, two days to find a way out, or for someone to find them. That was plenty of time.....right? She sighed, turning the corner and entering the medical room. To her surprise there were already two others there. She felt a bit uneasy, she had hoped it'd be empty.

Trying her hardest to stay positive though she forced a smile. "Ahh, sorry. I hope I'm not interrupting." she said, walking to the medical bed by the wall and sitting on the edge of it. She knew is she didn't sit down she would collapse, her knees would give in for sure. The smell of all the plastic bottles, the medicine. It was so subtle yet so familiar to her. It was calming, it was what she knew and right now she needed to surround herself in something familiar, something to keep her mind off that dreaded photograph in her pocket.

@Aravhorn @SolemnOath

 

[Neobullseye]

Momouru Rieki - Master Chef: Anger Management Edition?

One after another, Momouru's colleagues rejected his suggestion. Of course, it wasn't like he expected anything else. After all, even agreeing to it would imply that one was willing to kill; if there was no murder, then there would be nothing to admit to in the first place. What did surprise him though was the comment that it may be for the best that the murderer would not confess, by virtue of them having no reason to kill anymore. Momouru couldn't deny there was a certain logic to it. If the killers survived every time and weren't stupid -- or insane -- enough to kill more than once, then it followed that one-third of the group was guaranteed to survive, if only by virtue of there being nobody left to kill. Conversely, if the killers were caught every time, then it was potentially possible for the entire group to be eliminated. Considering this, the path of least loss was for the murderers to never get caught. Of course, the problem with that was that the only survivors would all have fallen to Despair, not to mention that there was no way to know what people would do if Monokuma pulled another stunt like this.

Either way, there was no point in discussing this any further at the moment, considering how nobody was willing to listen anyway. No need to waste his breath and energy when there was no profit to be gained from speaking. When Haruka suggested for everyone to go to the dining hall, Momouru just nodded. "Very well," he spoke, then joined everyone at the dinner hall.
.
.
.
Well, that didn't take long at all. Though Momouru had arrived quite late on the scene, it wasn't all that hard to add up all the details; apparently someone had taken a knife or something, and now Chikako was trying to threaten the entire group in the hopes that whoever had taken the knife would admit to it and give it up? As if that would solve anything; people cold kill with a freaking wad of paper if they wanted to. Well, he had to admit, if this girl would club someone to death (preferably someone not him) right in front of everyone, the resulting trial would be ridiculously easy. It would spare everyone a lot of paranoia, while at the same time saving the captured loved ones. Of course, the flipside was that it wasn't all that impossible for him not to be the one at the round metal end of the stick, and he wasn't exactly planning to lose his life already. Well, might as well try to defuse the stuation.
"Uh... Okay, now I don't want to give cooking tips to the Ultimate Chef," Momouru spoke up, "but I'm pretty sure that that's not how you're supposed to use a frying pan. Could you please place that back on the stove where it belongs?"

 

[Aravhorn]

Masuyo Hayabusa, SHSL Thief, 5th Division

With nothing better to do, Grifter decided to heed Haruka's advice and headed to the dining hall. As he was on his way, however, he couldn't help but notice Haruka rushing to the medical room, for reasons he could only imagine. Eventually he shrugged it off and walked inside the dining room, just in time to witness a peculiar scene. Chikako was standing menacingly near the kitchen, frying pan in hand and with a panicked look in her eyes. Around her, several students were trying to calm her down, but to no avail. Judging by some of the comments made by his peers and the discovery from yesterday, Masuyo quickly pieced together what was going on.

He quickly rushed between Chikako and the group and slightly raised his hands to make a distance between them.

"Woahwoahwoah, guys, let's just all calm down a bit, shall we? 'Cause all this yelling surely ain't going to make Chikako stop swinging that pan like a baseball bat, alright? No offense, of course." Grifter shrugged apologetically while looking at the alarmed cook. "Now, I think that she has a point; we need to find that knife, wherever it may be. I mean, sure, maybe someone took it to make a bunch of box-o-lanterns and they accidentaly misplaced it or something, but still, it would put the rest of us at a disadvantage if someone actually stole it to shank one of us. So if someone still has the blade in their possession please 'fess up. We won't hurt you. I hope." ​

@Everyone currently in the Dining hall @the.complex-of-constellations

 

[Neobullseye]

Thalia - Act 1-3 - Searching for a light.

Silently, Thalia made her way towards the planetarium room again, not even bothering to check if anyone was following her or close the door behind her once she got there. What did it matter anyway if someone was tracing her? It wasn't like someone would be out for blood this shortly after Monokuma's... announcement, right? And even it if was... Well, there would be one way for Thalia to set Clio free -- not to mention all the others--, without even staining her own hands. It... It would be a noble sacrifice for hope, right? ...Yes, it would, she told herself, biting her lip to try and override the voice inside her that claimed otherwise. If the only choice was between one person suffering and multiple people suffering, if you had to choose between saving one and saving many, was it not better to choose the latter? Though in her plays the main lead often found a way to somehow save all against odds, she had no idle hope that she could do the same. This was not theatre, this was reality. And reality... reality was harsh. She could soften the outer edges, but the icy core of reality could not be melted even by the warmest lie.

Shaking her head, Thalia walked further into the room, towards the star map on the far end. The stars... Shining beacons of light and warmth in a dark and empty galaxy. How she longed to be like that, to spread the light of hope again. But how could she do that, when she couldn't even save those closest to her heart? How could she make the sun rise again, when she was still trapped in eternal night? A sigh escaped the girl's lips as she retrieved Cleo's picture from her pocket. "Clio... I don't know what I should do anymore. What can I do?," Thalia whispered to her sister's image, tracing her finger across the depicted girl's hair. "I... I just..."

Looking up, her eyes landed on the riddle once again.
"What has legs but cannot walk?
Has a heart, but cannot feel?
Was once loved, but now revolts?
Is silent, but sounds like an army?"

...Maybe the riddle held the answer to her problems? It wasn't like her situation could be made even worse, as far as Thalia could tell, so she might as well try something. But she still had no idea what the solution would be.
"Legs.. A foundation? But Violet and I already guessed the Future Foundation, so that can't be it," Thalia thought out loud. "The building itself then, maybe? Or... Hope's Peak Academy? 'What has a heart, but cannot feel.' A heart, a core, a central hall. Again, the building would fit; perhaps the Trial room? We loved Hope's Peak, but looking back, despair has tainted it with crimson red. The building, of course, is silent -- and yet, with all that has happened there, the screams of despair could stifle an army..."
The actress frowned at her own jumps in logic. even she had to admit that all of this was a bit forced. And yet, without anyone else here to give her ideas, all she could do was just follow her own random thought processes.

 

[Aravhorn]

Haruka Yukimura, SHSL Special Tactics Law Enforcement Unit, 6th Division

Without saying a single word, Haruka grabbed the morphine bottle from the cabinet and placed it near the sink while she filled a nearby glass with water.

"I'll be fine." She said, her gaze focused on the glass. "You should be more concerned about treating your own wounds instead."

Given the current circumstances, while Alex' intentions may have been benevolent, Haruka couldn't take the risk of revealing about her condition to anyone, despite how obvious it may seem at first glance, and even if said person was a former colleague of hers. After turning the faucet off, she checked the dosage on the label, and after making sure everything was in order, she took a single pill and swallowed it. At that moment, Lelei walked into the room and sat on the edge of the bed, trying her best to look positive. When she asked if she was interrupting anything, Haruka simply looked at Lelei and shook her head before walking towards the exit.

"We'll be holding a meeting in the dining room soon to discuss our next move. It would be better if you both came along."

And without waiting for an answer, Harukaleft the medical room, en route to the dining hall.​

@SolemnOath @MisterJ

 

[SolemnOath]

Alex Riley/ SHSL Manager / 2nd division​

Alex focused on what he was doing as Haruka got her pills. "It was some friendly concern, I'm no doctor, so if something was up, I wouldn't actually be able to help you." He stated simply as he rolled his neck a bit his eyes moving over to his tablet which showed another student approach the medical room. "But seems someone is coming that could help you if you need it." He stated as he held his clipboard by his side while putting his pen in his pocket. Making sure to grab his bandages he put these in his pocket as well before he looked over at Harkua with a simple, but soft smile. "As for my wounds they are nothing to be concerned about. I mainly change bandages now so no one has to see the ghastly sight, its just my eye that needs constant care."

It was at this time that Lelei entered the room it only took one glance for Alex to note she didn't look well, her posture, the way her smile seemed to not want to be there. "Its okay, there was nothing to interrupt." He stated in a calm tone as he looked at Haruka. "I'll be there in a bit, I plan to go to the kitchen to take stock in there as well." After saying this he watched the woman leave before he turned his attention to Lelei as he adjusted his coat a bit. "I see the motive doesn't sit well with you, unless you are simply ill." Offering the other a small smile he kept his eyes on her. "I'll leave you alone to give you time to calm yourself, but when you can, I think you should come into the dining room and join in on the discussion." He stated as he now moved to the door.

Before he exited he looked back at Lelei. "Depending on whats in the kitchen, I'm hoping to make a little pick me up for everyone, it works wonders for my clients so I'm sure it will help you here as well." Giving her a nod and keeping him smile he left the room as well.

With that he walked to the kitchen, passing right by the dining room to get there. When he entered the kitchen he had to blink a bit at all the people that seemed to have crowded in there. Looking at Chikako and everyone else he simply raised a brow in light confusion. However, rather than get himself into the tangled mess of people he simply walked by them. Taking out his pen and holding up his clipboard he started to take stock of every single thing in the kitchen. For he had only took a small glance of everything the pervious night. As he did his work he listened on the conversation in silence, not wanting to get involved with what was going on.

@Aravhorn @MisterJ
@Everyone in the kitchen

 

[Neobullseye]

Thalia Melete - Act 1-3 cont. -- Never give up.

After a few seconds of nothing, Thalia assumed that her most recent answer was wrong too. Not that she expected anything else, cosidering she was just thinking out loud. Ah well, it was just one more wrong thing to add to the list of things that were not the answer. Scratching the back of her head, she went over the lines once again. Maybe she should just go and get the others, to see if they had any idea what was going on? ...Then again, that would have its own consequences too, not the least of which was the fact that she had to explain why she ran off on her own instead of joining the rest. I might as well stick around here for the moment, see if I can finish this riddle. Let's see... The answer is not the Future Foundation, nor its buildings. Hope's Peak Academy is also wrong. Hmm... If not that, then what could it be? What would be revolting to the Remnants of Despa- wait a minute... Who ever said this has to be revolting to them?
...Maybe she was making this too complicated. After all, what good is a riddle if nobody knew the answer? Sure, there was the chance that the main reason for all of this was just to keep them occupied with something pointless, but then again, wasn't the whole point of this that the Remnants of Despair wanted them to kill one another? That was why the time limit was there. That was why they had kidnapped all of the Ultimate's loved ones. That was why... That was why... Stop it. Focus. Just focus on the road ahead. There is always a path to hope, always a way out of despair. You just need to find it and take it, no matter how rough it may look at first.

Biting her lip, Thalia looked up at the riddle once more. "Fine, new approach," she muttered to herself. "Now... Instead of assuming a figurative meaning, let's take this as literal as possible. Maybe that will give me some new ideas..."
Tracing her finger across the lines one by one, she spoke out loud to focus her thoughts. "Legs that cannot walk... An injured man's, perhaps? A dead man cannot walk at all. A heart that cannot feel... A heart devoid of emotion is but an empty shell; it might as well be dead." Death, death, death... Was there truly a reward for this? Or was it just meant to make them accept the killing game and get them to... No, don't think about that now! Just pretend there is a purpose if you have to.
"Moving on...," she whispered, trying to get herself to focus again. "...Something that was once loved, but now revolts. If I assume that the lover is disgusted, what could it refer to? Why would a loved one cause revulsion? What would they have to do to trigger such a reaction?"
The actress shook her head. Taking it literally, most of the riddle lines had some kind of negative aspect to them, dealing with lack and loss, disgust and distress. But how could all of this be silent, yet sound like an army? Though Violet and Thalia had already thought of the option of a homophone, she was unsure what the answer was supposed to he a homophone of. "Army, swarmy, carmy, Starmie..." ...No, nothing of that had anything to do with it. Something else military-esque then? like a soldier, or a gun? A company, a hero, a cor-
...Of course If this was a killing game, then what could possibly be a more fitting answer than that? "...Is the answer 'a corpse'?," Thalia asked the air, assuming that Monokuma was listening in on her. "A corpse has legs that cannot walk, a heart devoid of life and love. Though the person they once were was surely loved, a rotting corpse can only bring revulsion. Finally, the word itself sounds like a corps."

@Daz

 

[indiquilli]

Chikako Kimura, SHSL Chef, 13th Division
"Maybe pay attention to where you're going next time!" Chikako practically shouted. She wanted to scream, her stomach was churning, and she felt vaguely like throwing up (no she didn't no she didn't no she didn't, she swallowed, she could handle this). More than anything else... she was so angry. Never mind that no one seemed to be taking her seriously; a knife was gone. Maybe telling the others about the knives was a bad idea. She shifted slightly so she was leaning on the counter behind her, her arm aching slightly from holding the pan. No one understood, but it was so obvious. Someone was... someone was...

Chikako shook her head as someone else entered the room (Tomoko, it was Tomoko, she knew names, names were a thing that existed that she could remember. High school reunions. High school reunions with knives and wow her arm was hurting.) But that wouldn't really work anymore. Someone was planning to kill, and they'd taken the knife to do it. Someone had decided that their loved one was worth one of their lives, and it hadn't taken long. And she didn't know who it was, and no one was going to admit that they had the knife, but the only people who'd been in here before her... well... were they the only people who'd been in here before her? That didn't help.

She shifted the pan to her left hand and took a deep breath before nodding at the still-open drawer. "Someone," she murmured with gritted teeth, glaring at each of them in turn, "took the knife. And I haven't even cooked anything in here yet." She paused, willing her stomach not to grumble, closing her eyes. There were enough people here that she could at least be heard. Deep breaths. She lifted the pan again to point at the drawer, tried to smile gratefully as Grifter entered next. "You can count them in there. One of the weirder ones is missing. Someone's planning something. I don't know what, but considering that the freakin' bear just gave us all a reason to be at each other's throats..." Suddenly sheepish, Chikako scratched the back of her head with her right hand and grimaced. "I'm sorry, Violet. It's just... it's just been a long day." She chuckled mirthlessly. "We haven't even been awake for that long, and the knife is missing, and now there's a bunch of people they say they're going to kill if... if..."

Then she blinked, registering what Momouru had said, and the pan hit the stove with a small clang. "God, I'm just so tired. I don't want any of this to be happening." She was cold and she was shaking. Or shivering, or something. She felt, she felt so small and, she needed to curl up into something. Before she processed what she was doing she'd moved to hug Grifter, the person closest to her. Chikako squeezed her eyes shut and tried to will herself to calm down, to swallow down the pressure that was building up behind her eyes. She sniffled. "Oh god I don't want this to be happening," she croaked, hugging him tightly. Deep breaths. Deeeeeeeep breaths. "Can't we just..."

Couldn't they just find a way out of this place? There had to be some way out. There had to be.

 

[Daz]

Thalia Melete - Act 1-3 cont. -- Never give up.

After a few seconds of nothing, Thalia assumed that her most recent answer was wrong too. Not that she expected anything else, cosidering she was just thinking out loud. Ah well, it was just one more wrong thing to add to the list of things that were not the answer. Scratching the back of her head, she went over the lines once again. Maybe she should just go and get the others, to see if they had any idea what was going on? ...Then again, that would have its own consequences too, not the least of which was the fact that she had to explain why she ran off on her own instead of joining the rest. I might as well stick around here for the moment, see if I can finish this riddle. Let's see... The answer is not the Future Foundation, nor its buildings. Hope's Peak Academy is also wrong. Hmm... If not that, then what could it be? What would be revolting to the Remnants of Despa- wait a minute... Who ever said this has to be revolting to them?
...Maybe she was making this too complicated. After all, what good is a riddle if nobody knew the answer? Sure, there was the chance that the main reason for all of this was just to keep them occupied with something pointless, but then again, wasn't the whole point of this that the Remnants of Despair wanted them to kill one another? That was why the time limit was there. That was why they had kidnapped all of the Ultimate's loved ones. That was why... That was why... Stop it. Focus. Just focus on the road ahead. There is always a path to hope, always a way out of despair. You just need to find it and take it, no matter how rough it may look at first.

Biting her lip, Thalia looked up at the riddle once more. "Fine, new approach," she muttered to herself. "Now... Instead of assuming a figurative meaning, let's take this as literal as possible. Maybe that will give me some new ideas..."
Tracing her finger across the lines one by one, she spoke out loud to focus her thoughts. "Legs that cannot walk... An injured man's, perhaps? A dead man cannot walk at all. A heart that cannot feel... A heart devoid of emotion is but an empty shell; it might as well be dead." Death, death, death... Was there truly a reward for this? Or was it just meant to make them accept the killing game and get them to... No, don't think about that now! Just pretend there is a purpose if you have to.
"Moving on...," she whispered, trying to get herself to focus again. "...Something that was once loved, but now revolts. If I assume that the lover is disgusted, what could it refer to? Why would a loved one cause revulsion? What would they have to do to trigger such a reaction?"
The actress shook her head. Taking it literally, most of the riddle lines had some kind of negative aspect to them, dealing with lack and loss, disgust and distress. But how could all of this be silent, yet sound like an army? Though Violet and Thalia had already thought of the option of a homophone, she was unsure what the answer was supposed to he a homophone of. "Army, swarmy, carmy, Starmie..." ...No, nothing of that had anything to do with it. Something else military-esque then? like a soldier, or a gun? A company, a hero, a cor-
...Of course If this was a killing game, then what could possibly be a more fitting answer than that? "...Is the answer 'a corpse'?," Thalia asked the air, assuming that Monokuma was listening in on her. "A corpse has legs that cannot walk, a heart devoid of life and love. Though the person they once were was surely loved, a rotting corpse can only bring revulsion. Finally, the word itself sounds like a corps."

@Daz

With his characteristic laughter, Monokuma emerged from the shadows. "Ding ding ding, we have a winner! And you're prize is~..."

A compartment opened up from the ceiling, a large mass falling from it and landing at Thalia's feet. It was hard to make out in the dimly lit room, but the object was distinctly a corpse - you could tell from the smell if nothing else. If Thalia looked closely enough though, she might recognise that this was the corpse of the SHSL Sculptor, one of Thalia's classmates at Hope's Peak.

"A corpse! Kyahaha, doncha love it? The answer is the prize!" Monokuma cackled. "What, you look disappointed? Expecting something more? Well, I guess I can tell you the word 'corpse' is a password to something around here... you'll have to figure out what for yourself though."

 

[Neobullseye]

"Thought as much," Thalia feigned calmness when Monokuma showed himself. As much as the bear creeped her out, at least this time he didn't pop into existance right behind her or give her an heart attack in another fash- "AAAAGH!," Thalia screamed as the body of Ayumu Natsunari, the Ultimate Sculptor, fell right in front of her feet. In a panicked reflex, the Ultimate Actress tried to backdash away from the corpse, only to hit the star map she had been standing right in front of, this in turn causing the poor girl to knock her head against the wall. Yelping in pain, Thalia sunk to her knees and closed her eyes, trying to bite away the pain as she rubbed the back of her head. Once she opened her eyes again, they were met by the cold, cold stare of Ayumu's dead eyes. Once sparkling with life, now they were as dull and lifeless as the raw material he often worked with. And that stench... "Oh god," she cried out, rolling away from the body just in time to prevent herself from desecrating it, instead spewing her stomach's contents in a nearby corner.

 

[Rithas]

Hiro Doku- SHSL Poisoner

The revelations of the motive still digesting in people's mind. Hiro flicked through the map. Thinking on his next step, his eyes landed on the planetarium room. He remember the fact that there was apparently a riddle that needed to be solved. The thought that they should just locked Thalia and Violet in there till they figured it out crossed his mind, but he doubted it would be accepted.

As he made his way to the room, he saw the door was a creak open. He heard a thump, before the sound of a woman screaming. He sighed quietly, hoping that he wouldn't have to be the one to find the first murder victim. Pushing the door open slowly, his eyes washed over the scenario. A corpse, and a puking Thalia.

He calmly walked over to the corpse, "A pun..." He sniffed. "Definitely not fresh, been here longer then we have at least. Though that's obivous, as we could of solved this riddle as soon as we awoken." He looked over the cadaver. Some faint itch of him recognizing the victim. Most probable a past pupil of hope's peak, given the trend of things the last few days. He put the back of his hand to the mans arm. Cold and rigid, and a little bit sticky. That body was cramped up in the ceiling afterall.

His eyes flickered up to Monokuma, he had the temptation to ask on the choice of victim. But common sense told him it was probably just something to do with despair and chaos. A waste of life.

"Did you know him?" Hiro asked, turning his head to the sick wordsmith. Face blank. "Did he have a talent?"

@Neobullseye

 

[Daydream Heroine]

Tomoko Hayashi - SHSL Soccer Player

Well, at least she put the pan down...but man. Clearly this whole thing has really hit her hard, Tomoko thought. She walked over to Chikako and put her hand on Chikako's shaking shoulder.

"Hey, it'll be alright. We'll find that knife and put it back where it belongs. Okay? Nobody's going to get hurt. We won't let anyone get hurt, okay, Chikako?"

Tomoko looked over at the other six people in the room - Grifter, Momouru, Violet, Alex, Ken, and Tatsuya.

"Okay, does anyone know who else besides the eight of us came into the kitchen between yesterday and right now? I know Lelei and I came in here really quickly last night to get a small snack, but I didn't take a knife when I left, and I don't think Lelei did either," Tomoko said. Lelei couldn't have taken it, she's a sweet kid.

"That's nine of us, so what about the other half? There's eighteen of us, right? Also, if you came into the kitchen before, say so. You, guy who's taking notes-" Tomoko said, looking over at Alex, "take notes on who came in and who didn't and when."

Tomoko took a deep breath, then let it out.

"Okay, who wants to start?"

@the.complex-of-constellations
@SolemnOath
@Aravhorn
@Neobullseye
@Solaresque @Rithas
@Everyone in the dining hall

 

[The Tragedy]

Logan Vickson- SHSL Cardteller
"Well I haven't been in the kitchen till now, last night after we went over the information we gathered i went to bed" Logan put his deck in his pocket and leaned on the counter "Do we have any sort of time frame for when we can be sure the knife was still in the kitchen to now?" He walked over to the drawer and looked inside of it, he had a suspect in his mind, the one person who everyone would know had direct contact with the knife. She could be making this entire story up, just to have them at each other's throats. However, he shouldn't jump to conclusions yet. He turned back around and looked down at his cards, flipping them over, he wasn't getting any straight answers, which wasn't uncommon for such an open situation, so he was left with questions being replaced by different questions as he flipped the cards. He put the cards back in the deck and started shuffling.
@PEOPLE IN THE DINING HALL

 

[SolemnOath]

Ken Tanaka/ SHSL Architect / 12th division ​

Ken leaned against a counter as he watched people swarm into the room, all reacting to the cooks actions. He said nothing as he lightly poked Loki's beak while she attempted to nip his finger though she kept failing. "Its getting crowded in here." Despite his boredom and his longing to get away from the crowd he waited a bit, as he hoped the crowd would simply disperse, alas that wasn't the case as now one of them was starting to interrogate about the knife. This only caused Ken to roll his eyes and sigh. "What a pain." He grumbled as he softly grabbed looking beak to get her to stop trying to nip him. Looking at the group he raised a brow. "So we going to do a class trial on a missing knife? You guys have fun with that." Shoving off the counter he let go of his bird beak as he picked up the bowl of unpeeled fruit. "I on the other hand, will go do stuff that doesn't require being threatened by a chef wielding the worlds deadliest weapon~" Snickering a bit at this he moved towards the door just expecting Rin to ghost behind him like he usually did.

"You should stay." Alex said as he kept writing stuff down on his paper.

At this Ken let out another groan, almost child like as he looked behind him at Alex. "Whyyyyyyyy, I got things I wanna do."

Alex looked over at him as he nodded at the fruit. "You like fruits? I was thinking of making smoothies, I found a machine that could make some, and I know several recipes that I give my clients to give them energy or just to lift their mood."

"You want me to take a smoothie from someone I don't even know during a killing game?"

At this Alex laughed softly. "I'm not going to poison it, besides the offer isn't only for you."

Ken thought about it a bit. "Meh, if others have it and no one drops dead then I'll happily take it~"

Simply shrugging Alex just kept writing. "Do as you will."

"I plan to~I hate being told what to do." With that Ken gave a wave and walked out of the kitchen with his bowl of fruit in hand.

After he left the kitchen (not stopping or looking back if anyone called out to him) he let out a groan. "Geez, it was getting crowded in there. Ah well~Time to go exploring! First stop the storage room~" Grinning a bit he turned around and started to walk backwards as he looked at his two companions. "I thought we would never get out of there, people just kept piling up. I could feel a headache piling up, which is rare for me because I'm used to hearing talking, I mean I do it alllllllllll the time~" He couldn't help but snicker at this as he tilted his head to the side. "By the way, did anyone else hear a scream? Or was I just internally screaming for people to leave so I could leave without making a scene?" He asked them as he reached into his pocket.

He had intended to just pull out the knife that everyone was just raving about to peel his mangoes, but before he grabbed it he stopped himself. In hindsight, maybe taking the knife out right now wouldn't be a good idea? Or would it even matter? He doubt Rin would try and take the knife away, and he doubted Tatsuya would...but he couldn't be too safe in this situation. So letting out a sigh he removed his hand from his pocket. "I should have peeled these in the kitchen....guess I'll just use one of those box cutters to peel them. Oh! Another by the way, who do you think took the knife she they are raving about~" He asked with a simple hum.
@Everyone at the kitchen @SolemnOath @the.complex-of-constellations @Solaresque

Alex Riley / SHSL Manager / 2nd division​

After Ken left Alex went back to taking stock of everything that was there. As he did so he choose to respond to the girl that spoke to him earlier. "Miss Hayashi, I do have a name." He said with a light laugh. "Alex Riley by the way." Standing up he pulled out a machine he had spotted earlier and placed it on the counter. "I could take notes, but....all in all does it really matter?" He asked with a raised brow. "There are a lot of us and anyone could have taken, and can you blame that person? This may just be my personal opinion, but in a situation like this, being armed only makes sense. There's a chance someone took it and misplaced it. But if a person has the knife, it could be for self defense. I cant blame that person for wanting to make sure they can at least put up a fight if someone tries to go after them." As he spoke he looked at the machine and smiled softly. "This is in good condition, this place really does have everything a restaurant would have hm? A smoothie machine, perfect."

Placing his notes down he looked at the group, keeping his friendly smile. "If you want to question everyone about the knife I wont stop you. But how many have had breakfast? I know Miss Kimura has yet to cook anything for us. I'm planning to make some smoothies, if you have a fruit you like I can make you one, as I told Ken, I have some good recipes that can cheer you guys up or relax you as well. And no, its not poisoned." He said as he adjusted his second coat.
@Everyone in the kitchen

 

[Vitreus]

Tatsuya Yamazaki - SHSL Street Fighter
_______________________________________________________________________________________
​

As time proves consistent, chaos only breeds further chaos, and as people began to file into the kitchen to add to the disorder, Tatsuya felt rather disgruntled and quite out of place. Crowds were okay at times, discussions were all well and good, but he liked the quiet and most certainly preferred his personal space unchallenged. Besides, being around a bunch of people he only very vaguely recognized reinforced how much he desired not to be in this situation. Given he now had what he needed, he'd best leave before the situation got any worse, if that were any possible...

The raven-haired male stepped over to the door as at least six or so people now stood witness to Chikako's concern, brow furrowed as he glanced back at the chef who seemed to tire out very quickly and was now seeking solace by hugging the shit out of some dude. Nice. If this whole situation was about to devolve into some sort of crying fest though, Tatsuya didn't want to have to deal with an inch of it. It's not that he didn't understand how distressing their circumstances were; he just simply wasn't one to succumb to the emotional baggage that plagued those involved. Unless that baggage was anger. In his case, frustration came in wild surges and it was relatively hard not to retaliate with an aggression of his own. But so far, by some miracle, he'd managed to keep his cool and wished to keep it that way, though being around a bunch of people who behaved themselves far too obtrusively was not by any degree going to help.

"Yeah, no thanks," he muttered under his breath, and having had enough of this over-dramatic situation, was quite glad to see Ken had decided it was about time the three of them would head out of there. He'd have left on his own otherwise, but this would do. Glancing back at the mess of individuals one last time, Tatsuya felt a subtle relief in returning to the hallway, although that was something to be relatively dubious of given Ken had been returned the opportunity to talk as much as he liked.

Lifting a brow as the architect started to ramble on about whatever on their way to the storage room, Tatsuya followed along with a half-attentive ear; the rest of his attention was lost to his surroundings, as uninteresting as they seemed. His indifference would keep him grounded against getting annoyed at Ken for blathering on too much about pointless things. Every so often the guy would say something somewhat consequential though, and to this Tatsuya would pay a little regard.

At the mention of a scream, the street fighter had tilted his head, but shrugged in having not heard anything significant. Admittedly his hearing wasn't exactly excellent anyway, but the people in the kitchen had been loud enough and he was more inclined to believe Ken was simply hearing things. What Tatsuya could provide some thought on was what had happened to the knife. The ebony-haired man remained silent for a moment, eyeing Ken's gleeful expression, before breathing a curt sigh.

"Who knows. Who cares?"

Retrieving and snapping open his resealable bag of roasted pumpkin seeds as they walked, Tatsuya spilled a few into his hand before tucking the rest of the packet away.

"If I thought my fists weren't enough, I'd have taken a knife as well. Whilst the sulky chef was watching. It's not a big deal."

The street fighter clarified this somewhat unfeelingly, clearly unperturbed by the situation at hand. In his opinion, it was only logical that a person would find for themselves some means of self-defense. Otherwise things came down to who had the fittest physique with which to attack or defend themselves, a matter which did not bother Tatsuya in the slightest as he thought himself at an advantage, but still that did not keep people from thinking up more creative ways to kill others. Whether it was with a knife stolen from the kitchen drawers, or someone smothered someone else to death with a blanket dragged from their very own mattress, what would it matter? Hiding a couple of knives, as ill an omen as they were, would not resolve the fact that people would be inclined to kill one another to deliver themselves from this place.

Uttering something of a derisive huff at the morose thought, Tatsuya squared his shoulders then and tilted his head back to empty the seeds from his hand into his mouth, biting back against the salty taste as he worked on separating seed from shell. At the very least they had their necessities fulfilled, having been provided food and drink. Despite captivity, it was a decent space in which to live, too. It was really left to the finer things, like the desire to see their loved ones safe and sound, to gnaw at their conscience. Although imagine Monokuma had also thought to take their staples away...

Spitting out the empty shells onto the tiled floor, Tatsuya dug his hands back into his pockets and let his gaze wander, expression austere. It was a rather chilling notion, but the man could not promise he'd have been as patient in the desire to simply wait out any such situation as he did now. Self-preservation was essential, and in the street fighter's eyes, no time spent dwelling on one's moral standing would or could ever change that.

 

[Neobullseye]

Momouru Rieki - Valuable words

"Thank you," Momouru said to Chikako, his voice calm but serious. "I can understand you are upset about all of this, but please, try to remain calm and rational about all of this. Even if one of us did have the knife, they likely wouldn't admit to it while you were swinging that thing around," he said, nodding at the pan Chikako had discarded. "Or if they did, it might have ended in a fight, with either you or the knife-holder ending up as the obvious Blackened and the other one as the victim." ...Actually, that might not be the worst-case scenario. If nothing else, it would mean that he would get to live for another round and that no innocent person is voted for. Then again, this would mean that all the remaining people would still have a reason to kill and a chance to be killed, meaning that more people could potentially die, but...

"Indeed, we can hardly blame a person for wanting to have a weapon for self defense," Momorou nodded in response to what Alex said. "And yet... If only a few are armed, that drastically increases the odds of murder happening. The numbers are already stacked against us with Monokuma's motives; it would be foolish to make it even worse."
The salesman scratched his chin for a moment, then walked over to the drawer to inspect the contents. "Hmmm... Well, it looks like there are just enough knives to arm everyone. So one thing we could is to even the tables,. That is, we give everyone a knife, ensuring that if someone took the missing knife for malicious purposes, they no longer have the advantage of attacking an unarmed and defenseless person. ...Of course, the problem with this is that we do not know who took the knife, meaning that we run the risk of having one person with two knives and one person without any, making the one unarmed person an obvious target to everyone else." Somehow the Salesman doubted that anyone here was willing to take that much of a risk. He, for one, was not going to be the only unarmed person in the entire school. Of course, it wasn't like these blades were the only weapon in the building; they were just the most obvious ones. Besides, Momorou thought, if someone really wanted to kill, they would find a way to do it even if all of the obvious weapons were disposed of.
"If you wish, you can try to ask people who took the knife," he continued, showing his own empty pockets to show that he didn't have it. "Just, be sure to be calm about it; don't be hostile towards anyone. If they don't want to answer the question, just let it be. If you suspect that a certain someone has the knife, tell the others. And whatever you do, do not demand they give up the knife, and especially do not, I repeat do not try to take it away from them by force. That is just asking for either yourself to get killed or become the Blackened. Remember, killing in self defense, however reasonable a defense in a normal court, still counts as killing here and will still make you the Blacke-"


"That's correct!," a familiar voice chimed in from somewhere, interrupting Momorou's explanation. Moments later, Monokuma popped out of a kitchen cabinet, knocking over a few bottles of powdered spices in the process and spilling their contents on the ground. "Whether it's a murder, an accident, a murder, self defense or even a murder, it all counts as the same thing; murder! I mean, all of these involve one student taking the life of another student, riiight? So it's totally the same!," the bear cheered. Grinning, Monokuma then waddled over to Chikako. "By the way, miss Salty... As much as I want all of you bastards to kill each other, I really can't suggest doing right in front of an entire group. After all, that would make for a very boring Class Trial. And if I get bored, I just might end up finding another source of amusement... Seriously though, I'd expect the Ultimate Chef to be able to cook up a better plan! I guess you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer after all, eh? Puhuhuhuhu~! Well then, I'll leave you bastards to planning your murders. Remember, the clock is ticking..."
With that, Monokuma dissapeared again, leaving through the same cabinet he used to enter the room.


-----------------------

Thalia Melete -- Act 1-5 - Dark core, shining surface.

So, someone had followed her. Thalia wondered for a moment how much he had heard, then figured it did not matter all that much. She was planning on sharing what she had discovered with some people anyway, assuming it was anything useful. And well, considering what she discovered, there was no way she was going to keep it a secret anyway. Quietly the actress listened to what Hiro was saying,wiping away the mucus with her left sleeve, then rubbed her face with her clean right hand, using the moment her face was hidden from view to put on a more neutral expression than she was feeling. When she looked up, her face still showed signs of the stress that would be expected of her situation, but her deeper emotions were hidden from view. "This is... this was Ayumu Natsunari, a classmate of mine," Thalia spoke, her voice sounding somewhat coarse due to the fact she just spilled her guts, but was otherwise stable. "You may know him from the statues he made; one of them is even in the main hall of the Future Foundation's main buiding, if I am not mistaken." She looked at the body, then shook her head. "Alas, such a grim fate has befallen him; his stars were struck down from the sky. Will our own paths differ from his, or shall we too... "
Thalia didn't finish the sentence, not wanting to speak her thoughts out loud. "...I think I'm going to my room. I need a shower and a change of clothes," she told the Ultimate Poisoner. "Please tell the others that the riddle has been solved and what... no, who we found in this room, then search for where the answer goes. Do not... Do not let his life go to waste," she uttered, gesturing at Ayumu's body. With that she left the room, her gait slow but steady.

 

[Aravhorn]

Masuyo Hayabusa, SHSL Thief, 5th Division

Out of all the things that could've happened at that very moment, Chikako falling into Grifter's arms certainly wasn't one of them. Caught off-guard, Grifter desperately tried to come up with what he was supposed to do in this sort of situation, but the warmth of Chikako's chest pressed against his body made it extremely hard to concentrate.

"Whoa, h-hey now..." Grifter chuckled nervously as he fruitlessly tried to hide his blushing face behind his jacket's collar.

As Chikako began to speak, her shaky voice on the verge of sobbing, Grifter mustered up all the courage he could and gently wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly.

"There, there, now..." Grifter tried his best to sound confident, for Chikako's sake. " Don't worry, I won't let anything bad happen to you. You have my gentleman's promise." he smiled and lightly patted Chikako on her back, just when Tomoko approached them and placed a hand on her shoulder. As she reassured her that everything will be alright, Grifter could feel Chikako's grasp get more relaxed, and soon enough she let him go.

"Well, I haven't entered the dining hall after yesterday's get-together till now, so I couldn't have snatched the knife during that time period. Although Mr.Gambit raises a good question; knowing the last time anyone saw all eighteen blades intact could give us an idea about who our mysterious knife snatcher might be. "

Then, just when he was saying those words, Grifter noticed a peculiar scene with the corner of his eye. '...Or maybe we won't have to look out for them after all.'

To a regular person, someone reaching into their pockets might seem like a small, innocent gesture, but to people like Masuyo it was much more than that. To him, whenever someone was checking their pockets, it usually meant that there was valuable loot to be found inside. And given how briefly Ken kept his hand in his and how his hand lightly flexed underneath the clothing, it could only mean one thing: he was hiding something. And it was begging Grifter to be brought to light.

After setting his eyes on his target, Masuyo quickly devised a plan. Or more precisely, he didn't need one; his current situation would do the job for him.

When Alex asked everyone about the smoothies, Grifter knew that it was his cue.

"Nah, man, I'm good. After hearing that bear's swell morning announcement I don't really feel like eating anything." Grifter crossed his hands behind his head and walked backwards towards the exit, completely oblivious to whoever was on his path. "I think I'll just check how the others are doing for now. I also gotta find Haruka too; she's suspiciously late to her own meeting. " Then, as he finished saying those words, he quickly turned around and broke into a jog, like he always does, just to immediatelly bump into Ken and accidentally making his bowl fall from his hands. "Oh, shi-"

And now, now he had a distraction. While the bowl was still falling to the ground, Grifter pushed Ken's shoulder with one hand, as if trying to regain balance, in order to shift his focus from his other hand, which swiftly swiped the long metallic item from Ken's pocket without him even noticing. And then, with one final move, Masuyo slid the slim object into his hidden sleeve pocket, which was simply a series of straps and a simple metal latch mechanism attached on the inside of his black leather jacket . As an added lucky bonus, the inertia and trajectory of the falling bowl caused by Masuyo's collission hid his hand from Tatsuya and co. just long enough for him to finish his masterplan.

One and a half seconds. Not too shabby, everything considered. By the time the fruit hit the ground and the ceramic bowl smashed into pieces, Grifter managed to regain his balance and was already standing next to Ken.

"Well, fuck... " Grifter scratched his head with an apologetic smile on his face. "Sorry about that, Keanu. I should've paid more attention on my way out it seems, haha..." he let a nervous laugh as he slowly approached the door to the hallway. "Sooo... yeah... I think I should be going now. See ya!" And with that, he proceeded to try and leave the dining hall.

@the.complex-of-constellations @The Tragedy @Daydream Heroine @SolemnOath @Everyone Else in the Dining Hall
​