Y/N POV
"Good morning, everyone! It is now 7am, and night time is officially over! Time to rise and shine! Get ready to greet another beee-yutiful day!"
"Well, come on then Y/N. Do as the bear says, you do not want to be late now do you?" Belial thought.
"Shut up, I'm barely awake as it is." I thought as I sat up and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I climbed out of bed, and did my morning ritual. As I went out of the bathroom, I noticed something I hadn't before. My meditation equipment was here, located in the corner of my room. I usually meditate in the morning anyway to clear my head for the day ahead, so it was great to know I had the necessary items. After setting them up, I lit the incense sticks, sat on the floor in the middle of my room and began to speak a mantra.
After about half an hour or so, I heard a knock on my room.
Then a louder knock.
Suddenly, Taka burst into my room in a panic.
"Y/N! Thank goodness! We were beginning to get worried. You've been missing for 30 mins. Now can you care to explain why you've been gone for such a long period of time?" Taka said, pointing a finger at me.
"Eurgh, not this annoying charlatan again. Can he not calm down for 1 minute?" Belial thought. And honestly, he was right, although I wouldn't admit it of course. I opened one eye and looked at Taka.
"I've been meditating Taka, don't worry. This is usually how I start my day, so it's not out of character for me. I'll be finished in a few minutes so I'll come straight to the dining hall ASAP, ok? Now can you close the door, please?" I asked him as politely as possible. Taka then about turned, and closed the door behind him. Soon the sounds of his footsteps became silent, and I started to meditate once again.
Timeskip
I walked into the dining hall, to see the rest of the group already sitting at their usual spots. Only this time, something was different. Kyoko was there, sitting next to Chihiro, a steely-eyed look fixated on me.
"Yo, Y/N bro! Where have you been? You were gone for like, ever!" Hiro said.
"Dude. Can you calm down? I'm sure there's a reason why, right Y/N?" Leon asked, looking behind to face me.
"Yeah there is Leon. I was just meditating, is all. It was a big deal back at the guild hall. Every morning, we all gathered together in the pagoda opposite the main hall and meditated. It helps to give you a sense of calm, peace and balance, or at least that's what my master Kojiro said. And it seems his words were true." Y/N said, with a smile emerging on his face.
"Wow, that sounds so awesome! Hey, maybe we could all do it sometime, ya know?" Asahina said.
"I mean, I guess we could. But are you sure you would wanna do this with this many people Y/N?" Makoto asked.
"Don't worry Makoto, I've done it with way more people. So I can handle myself just fine. I mean we could even do it this afternoon, if that's ok with everyone?" I asked.
"Yeah bro, I'm down!" Hiro said. The rest of them nodded or showed some form of acknowledgement.
"Then its sorted I guess. We can do it after lunchtime." I said with a smile. I noticed out the corner of my eye that Chihiro was staring at me and blushing slightly. I didn't say anything, but maybe I'd talk to her in a little while.
"As much as I'd love to join in Buddha version 2.0, I've got something else in mind!" A voice came from the opposite side of the table. We all looked over to see Monokuma, who was standing on the end of the table.
"We're not doing anything you have in mind! In fact, the police are probably already closing on this place!" Aoi said, staring at Monokuma.
"Puhuhu...PUHUHU...AHAHAHAHA! The police?! You're putting your faith in the police? Do you know what role the police fill? All they're good for is being a foil, playing the villain or anti-hero or evil organisation. The bad guys come along and destroy them, and shows just how badass they really are. Are you sure you wanna rely on such an unreliable group of losers? I mean come on, if you REALLY wanna get out, all I gotta do is kill!" Monokuma said.
"Hell no, there's no way anyone here would kill another, you stupid teddy bear!" I said, staring daggers at the monochrome bear. Monokuma sighed, and continued with his rambling.
"Well, I gotta hand it to you Generation Z-ers, you've got balls when it comes to dealing with authority. I thought all you kids would be lazy and selfish, but here you all are, working together. But that attitude only goes so far, and you're boring me to tears!" Monokuma said.
"It's like what Y/N said. If you think you can trick us into killing someone, you're even crazier than I thought!" Makoto said.
"Wait I think - yes! That's it! All the mystery ingredients were there. A good atmosphere, a good balance of intrigue and tension, the perfect amount of pressure, but then I've suddenly realised I was missing the vital one!" Monokuma said.
"And what would that be?" Byakuya said, from the opposite end of the room.
"Motivation, of course! Puhuhu, it's so simple! I just have to give each and everyone of you a motive! Why didn't I think of that?"
"Motive? What do you mean motive, buddy bear?!" Leon asked.
"Well, if all of you get your butts to the multi-media room, there's a little video I'd like you all to see. And no, before you ask it is NOT a pervy 'adult' video. It's a special video for each of you showing you what's going on outside the school." Monokuma said, with a small chuckle.
"Outside the school? What the hell are you talking about?" I asked. I was sick and tired of the bear speaking by this point.
"Hehehe! Master's so impatient today! Why don't you all just watch it and find out...Puhuhu~" Monokuma laughed before disappearing under the table.
"He's gone, and once again he left before we could find out any useful information." Sayaka said with a sigh.
"Actually, I don't think that's true. I think we learned something very useful. Monokuma has no intention of standing in the way of our search for truth." Kyoko said, lacing his fingers together.
"But what about that video he mentioned? I'm curious to see what was on it." Sakura said.
"Same here. Now come on, let's go and see what this is all about, ok?" I asked, and the rest of them made their way towards the multi-media room. But only one person stayed behind. It was Chihiro, who was now currently quietly sobbing to herself. I went over to try to comfort her, but she got up and ran away to presumably the multi-media room. I sighed and made my way to the room where apparently our reason to kill someone else was.
As I reached the multi-media room, I noticed everyone else sat at desks, with an individual computer disc. It was almost as if they were waiting for me. As a matter of fact, they were.
"Hey, Y/N. You're finally here! Now come on, let's just watch these discs and get this over with, yeah?" Hiro asked. I took my disc and inserted it into the player and put the headphones on.
"And 3,2,1."
I heard someone, presumably a cameraman said, before an image of Master Kojiro came on screen. Behind him, the two-thousand year old sanctuary of the Twin Mountains Temple stood tall, surrounded by the wide ring of water that made up the moat and the large red moon bridge leading to the direction of the pagoda on the mountain opposite.
"Ah, young Y/N L/N, my best-ever student in all my years of tutoring. Let me, on behalf of all of us here at the Daemonologists' Guild say how incredibly proud that our Arch-Summoner has been accepted into Hope's Peak. We wish you the best of luck, young grasshopper. And remember what I've said to you each and every day of your life: fall seven times, get up eight." Master Kojiro said, before the screen went blank. I thought the video was over.
But it wasn't.
And what I saw next chilled me to the bone and made my blood run cold.
The sanctuary was burning down, its once splendid towers reduced to nothing but ash. The moat was filled with blood and water mixed together. But that wasn't the worst thing I saw in that video. No, there was something far worse.
It was Master Kojiro, strung up on a cross. His head had been decapitated, and pinned into his torso by a giant metal spike. His guts were spilled out, with some of them on the ground around his cadaver. Other charred corpses were strewn around his rotting body.
"By Lucifer... Even I, a Grand Duke of Hell, have to admit that this is a sight I have very rarely seen in all my years. It is truly...despicable." Belial thought. But I couldn't say anything. I couldn't even think of anything else. It was as if time had frozen in place. But then, He said something.
"The Twin Mountains Temple, sanctuary of the Daemonologist's Guild for over two thousand years, has fallen. But why has it fallen? What could've caused such a thing?" Monokuma asked, before it cut to black and a single sentence appeared:
"FIND OUT AFTER GRADUATION."
"T-t-this isn't happening right? This has... It's gotta be false, right? right?! RIGHT?!" I thought.
"I am sorry to say this Y/N, but I think the bear is telling the truth." Belial thought.
I looked down. My hands were shaking heavily, and I felt sick. I rushed over to the trash can and threw up. After wiping away my saliva, I looked behind me, to see the others, none of bothering to hide their fear and confusion.
"What the fuck?!"
"T-this can't be real, right?"
"Yeah, there's no way it's real. Haha... no way at all..."
"I c-can't take it anymore! I can't t-take this! Let m-me out of here!"
But there was one person who wasn't reacting like the others. It was Kyoko, who seemed...calm. Way too calm for a situation.
"I see... so this is what he meant by motive. He wants to fuel our desire to kill each other." She said, with no emotion on her face whatsoever. It was almost...unsettling.
"It is a classic case of the prisoner's dilemma." Celeste said, standing up and facing the rest of us.
"The prisoner's what?" Hiro asked.
"Let me use an example. Imagine two countries are on the brink of war. But both countries want peace, and each commits to scaling back their forces as a sign of good faith. But, there's chance that one country may betray the other, so each country fears lowering their guard. The result is that neither scales back their forces, and they both end up betraying each other. In other words, the fear of invisible treachery becomes the greatest enemy of stability." Celeste explained.
"That kinda sounds like us right now. E-everyone says they'll work t-together, but in our h-hearts we're all afraid someone might b-betray us." Toko said.
"Don't put those awful thoughts in our heads, Fukawa! That's exactly what Monokuma wants us to do!" I said, still with a hint of fear in my voice.
"You can say that, but maybe you're thinking that once everyone drops their guard, you'll just-" Leon said, but I interrupted him, with anger instead of fear.
"I'll just what, huh?! WHAT WILL I DO LEON?!" I shouted so loud, that the whole room went silent and everyone was looking at me.
"This is exactly what Monokuma, or whoever's behind this, wants. They want us to fight. Don't you see?" Sakura said, putting a hand on my shoulder in a comforting, yet threatening way.
"Sakura's right. We all just need to calm down..." Chihiro piped up.
"Okay, then. Maybe we should start by all just...talking. Maybe if we talk about what we just saw, that'll help get everything out of our system. Besides, we're probably all super curious, right?" Junko asked. Ironically, as soon as she said that, Sayaka bolted out of the room, head in hands and screaming, while Makoto tried to chase her down, presumably trying to calm her down.
No one said a word. We all looked at each at each other, already suspicious of each other. The feeling in the multi-media room was mutual with every single person.
What was that feeling?
Despair....
Timeskip
I wandered into the dining hall, but nobody was there. Nobody except for one person.
Chihiro.
She was sat there, crying her eyes out. And honestly, I couldn't blame her. With what we had seen just a few hours ago, I'm sure everyone had that same emotion. In fact, she was crying so loud, that she didn't hear sitting down beside her. She jumped when she finally saw me sitting in the chair next to me, and looked up at me, her eyes still overflowing with tears. I opened my arms and she immediately went for a hug. I could hear her start sobbing again onto my jacket, so I started to rub her back to console her. After a few minutes, she stopped and looked at me again. Her eyes were significantly redder than usual, due to the amount of crying she had done. She sniffled and began to speak to me in an almost silent tone.
"I-I don't wanna die here. How could someone kill someone else? We should all be on the same side, not thinking about murder, right Y/N?" She asked, her eyes still watering, but was doing it significantly less than before.
"Chihiro. I promise you that no matter what happens, you won't die here. In fact, I could make it unbreakable, if you want?" I asked her.
"What do you mean, make it unbreakable?" Chihiro asked me, wiping her eyes with her sleeves.
I got of the chair and knelt in front of the programmer.
"For that, you're gonna have to hold hands for me. J-just for a few seconds though." I said, with a light blush emerging.
"I believe that was what you mortals call 'smooth', am I right?" Belial thought.
I didn't answer, just offered my hands out for Chihiro to hold onto. She timidly grasped my hands. She was also developing a light blush.
"Right, so you don't have to do anything. Just hold my hands ok?" Chihiro nodded. I closed my eyes, cleared my throat and began:
"Oh blessed Saint Pancratius, let it be known that I, Y/N L/N, hath sworn an unbreakable oath to Chihiro Fujisaki, to protect her from harm and the prevention of her to be prematurely carried in the arms of the dreaded psychopomp Thanatos, to the afterlife. If I do not keep that promise, may thee strike me down, so I can be tormented by Verrier, demon of the third hierarchy, for breaking this oath, this promise, which I will strive to keep until the day I die." I then indicated to Chihiro to let go, and opened my eyes.
"There, it's official. I can't break it now. Not that I would want to anyway, but now you know I can't." I got up to leave, but Chihiro took my hand, and looked up at me.
"C-can you m-maybe walk me to my room? I-it's just-" Chihiro began, before I simply nodded. I walked with her, with Chihiro holding my hand tightly with both of hers. When we reached her dorm, she turned around to face me.
"Thanks, Y/N. It's nice to know someone can be trusted, with what's happening and all." She said, fiddling with her skirt.
"It's okay. Now, come on. Go and get some sleep. And hey, maybe we could meditate in the morning, if anyone else wants to anymore." I said, before waving goodbye. As I turned the corner to head to my own, a familiar face popped up out of nowhere. And of course, it was Monokuma.
"Y/N and Chihiro sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Monokuma sang. He had obviously seen what had happened, and was trying his best to piss me off. And it was working.
"Shut your mouth, teddy bear! Now get out of my way!" I said, walking past him.
"Oh my, you seem very hot-headed. Did your dear old master Kojiro teach you nothing?" He said. I snapped, and walked up to the bear, with a purple flame emitting from my clawed hand.
"Don't you...DARE SPEAK HIS NAME, YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU HAVE NO IDEA JUST WHAT A KIND AND COMPASSIONATE PERSON HE WAS! HE'S THE REASON I BECAME THE ULTIMATE DAEMONOLOGIST!!!! IF I COULD, I WOULD STRIKE YOU DOWN WITHOUT HESITATION, AND THEN SLAUGHTER WHO EVER IS CONTROLLING YOU, YOU BASTARD!" I felt my claws getting bigger and bigger, and eventually ripped through the fingers of my gloves. I could also feel Belial's power growing ever more powerful, now coursing more than ever through my veins.
"Oops, struck a nerve there, did I? Well I'll be leaving now! TATA!" Monokuma said before turning around the corner and disappearing. I began to breathe in and out, helping to calm me down. The claws began to retract to their normal size, and the power lowered to its normal level too. The flame snubbed out, and then there was silence once again. I rushed to my bedroom, locked the door, and fell into bed, not even bothering to change. And then I did something I had never done before.
I cried myself to sleep.
********
Damn, that was...deep. I promise that it will get better. Oh who am I kidding? You guys know what happens in this chapter of the game, right? Oh well. And on that, I'll see all you guys, gals and non-binary pals next time!
-B