Entertaining a Small Thought

2nd Arc Part 6: Kubs Pads and Trust

"The orphanage is everything to Maki, being the closest thing she has to a family. She grew up with all the kids there and helped take care of them and their needs, becoming a caretaker of sorts to them, despite what she truly is. However, these precious children that Maki helped protect and take care of... They seem to have suffered from an unfortunate accident. What kind of accident? It's a secret! Find out for yourself. Puhuhuhuhuhuhu..."

Once the video cut off and Monokuma's voice disappeared, I found myself letting the Kubs Pad drop out of my grasp.

"What...was that?" I muttered in shock and disgust. "That was...a motive? That's...horrible! Maki's orphanage! How...Why!?"

"I know," Kaito said as he put his hand on my shoulder. "We can't stay here. Everyone got one, but they seem to have mixed up. We need to all talk about it in the dining hall. C'mon."

I turned to Kaito and nodded, picking up his Kubs Pad and returning it before we headed out to the dining hall. When we got there, everyone was already seated, and panic was very apparent.

"We're here. Sorry for the wait." Kaito told everyone.

"About time." Maki scoffed. "So what is it? Why did you drag us here?"

My eyes widened as I leaned over to Kaito.

"You didn't tell her?" I whispered, a bit angry at that.

"Of course not!" He whispered back. "How the hell do you think she would react if I told her I knew her real talent and her family was in danger?"

"...Good point." I begrudgingly gave a nod.

I'm still panicked by what I saw. Kaito at the very least seems to have calmed down and thought about things a bit. While we whispered, Keebo answered Maki's question.

"It's about the motive we all were given. Those Kubs Pads, to be exact. We can't not talk about it."

"That thing that looks like another Monopad? That was a motive?" Maki asked with a skeptical look.

"Maki, haven't you watched the video on the Kubs Pad yet!?" Tenko asked frantically.

"No. I ignored it because I figured it was something stupid."

Wow...that...might actually have been the right mindset with this. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the others had the same train of thought.

"I wish I did that. I sort of regret turning it on now." Kaede said sadly.

"You don't have to speak up, but this is important, so you should at least listen." Kaito then said.

"So, what are these videos?" Kokichi asked. "They look like our new motives to me."

"No doubt about that. They literally show the words 'Motive Video' when you turn it on." Rantaro said with a dry chuckle that quickly turned to a stern expression. "What I want to know is why they're all mixed up."

"Y-Yeah! Why Gonta get Kaede's video-?"

"No! Don't say it, Gonta!" Keebo shouted.

"...Hm?" Gonta tilted his head in confusion.

"So Gonta has mine, huh?" Kaede said before turning her head to the table with a sad look.

"Huh? Gonta not supposed to say it?" Gonta asked innocently.

"Who fuckin' cares!? We're gonna exchange 'em anyway, right?" Miu asked.

"No, we cannot exchange them." Keebo immediately answered.

"Why not? They're videos of the most important people in our lives." Ryoma asked.

"That's precisely why we can't exchange them. Although we do not know why our motives were mixed up, as long as we don't exchange them, we don't have to see our motives at all." Keebo explained.